News

Germany supports group behind Turkish coup attempt – Erdogan spokesman
March 19, 2017 By Faith Matters

Germany supports group behind Turkish coup attempt – Erdogan spokesman

Turkey on Sunday accused Germany of supporting the network of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric it blames for last year’s attempted coup, comments likely to aggravate a diplomatic feud between the two countries. Germany and Turkey have been locked in a deepening row after Berlin banned some Turkish ministers from speaking to rallies of expatriate Turks […]

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Man killed at Paris airport planned to ‘die for Allah’ – prosecutor
March 19, 2017 By Faith Matters

Man killed at Paris airport planned to ‘die for Allah’ – prosecutor

A man shot dead by French soldiers at Paris Orly airport on Saturday shouted he was there to “die for Allah” and tried to seize a soldier’s assault rifle, apparently intending to open fire on passengers, a prosecutor said. The latest in a series of attacks in France forced the evacuation of France’s second-busiest airport […]

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An inside look at Banksy’s West Bank hotel
March 14, 2017 By Faith Matters

An inside look at Banksy’s West Bank hotel

These murals on the walls of a West Bank hotel in the Middle East have brought more interest onto the conflict in the region and follow a range of Banksy murals that have been painted onto the entrance to the West Bank and at checkpoints within the Holy Land. The latest Banksy murals leave a […]

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Trump Middle East envoy meets Netanyahu in Jerusalem
March 14, 2017 By Faith Matters

Trump Middle East envoy meets Netanyahu in Jerusalem

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Monday, Netanyahu’s office said, as the new administration tries to restart peace talks with the Palestinians. A statement from the Israeli leader’s office said Jason Greenblatt “reaffirmed President Trump’s commitment to Israel’s security and to the effort to help Israelis […]

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Turkey promises harsh retaliation after Netherlands bars ministers
March 12, 2017 By Faith Matters

Turkey promises harsh retaliation after Netherlands bars ministers

Turkey told the Netherlands on Sunday that it would retaliate in the “harshest ways” after Turkish ministers were barred from speaking in Rotterdam, as a row over Ankara’s political campaigning among Turkish immigrants escalated. President Tayyip Erdogan said “Nazism is still widespread in the West” after the Netherlands joined other European countries worried about political […]

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Jordanian soldier who shot Israeli schoolchildren freed after end of sentence
March 12, 2017 By Faith Matters

Jordanian soldier who shot Israeli schoolchildren freed after end of sentence

A Jordanian soldier who was convicted of killing seven Israeli school girls two decades ago has been released from prison after serving his sentence, family sources said on Sunday. They said Ahmad Daqamseh was now in his family home in the village of Ibdir near the city of Irbid in northern Jordan. In July 1997, […]

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Pope signals elderly married men could become priests
March 11, 2017 By Faith Matters

Pope signals elderly married men could become priests

Pope Francis has said he is willing to consider ordaining older married men as priests in isolated communities, but has ruled out making celibacy optional to tackle a shortage of clergy. The shortage has prompted calls from some progressives to end the ancient tradition of celibacy for Roman Catholic priests. Such a move would represent […]

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Trump’s new travel ban will worsen refugees’ woes: UN
March 8, 2017 By Faith Matters

Trump’s new travel ban will worsen refugees’ woes: UN

President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban on refugee resettlement will worsen the agonies of refugees, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday. Speaking at a press briefing at the UN headquarters, Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for Guterres, said refugees are ordinary people forced to flee war, violence and persecution in their […]

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Last letters – From Mosul schoolboys to Islamic State ‘martyrs’
February 27, 2017 By Faith Matters

Last letters – From Mosul schoolboys to Islamic State ‘martyrs’

“My dear family, please forgive me,” reads the handwritten letter discarded in the dusty halls of an Islamic State training compound in eastern Mosul. “Don’t be sad and don’t wear the black clothes (of mourning). I asked to get married and you did not marry me off. So, by God, I will marry the 72 […]

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Philadelphia Jewish cemetery desecrated by vandals
February 27, 2017 By Faith Matters

Philadelphia Jewish cemetery desecrated by vandals

About 100 headstones at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia have been knocked over, police said on Sunday, in the latest apparent vandalism incident at a Jewish burial ground in the United States. A Mount Carmel Cemetery visitor called police on Sunday morning to say the gravestones of three of his relatives had been toppled, police […]

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