Congressional Members Urge State Department to Address Forced Marriage, Forced Conversion of Coptic Women and Girls in Egypt
WASHINGTON, April 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Eighteen Members of Congress, from both parties, expressed "concern over continuing reports of abductions, forced marriages, and exploitation of Coptic women and girls in Egypt".
Writing on the 16th of April to Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, Director of the State Department's Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Office, the Members noted that they had received disturbing reports documenting "a criminal phenomenon that includes fraud, physical and sexual violence, captivity, forced marriage, and exploitation in forced domestic servitude or commercial sexual exploitation, and financial benefit to the individuals who secure the forced conversion of the victim."
NHS relax superbug safeguards for Muslim staff... just days after Christian nurse is banned from wearing crucifix for health and safety reasons
Muslim doctors and nurses are to be allowed for religious reasons to opt out of strict NHS dress codes introduced to prevent the spread of deadly hospital superbugs.
The Department of Health has announced that female Muslim staff will be permitted to cover their arms on hospital wards to preserve their modesty.
MoD apologise over Catterick Garrison firing range "mosques".
The Northern Echo
THE Ministry of Defence (MoD) started to dismantle models of mosques built on an Army firing range last night after being accused of helping to radicalise young Muslims.
North-East Islamic groups had condemned the seven cutouts erected on military ranges on Bellerby Moor, near Leyburn, North Yorkshire.
UAF Fascists Disrupt Caged EDL Anti-Islamisation Protest in Dudley, Nine Arrested
UPDATE: EDL Member stabbed, Another attacked by Muslim with Broken Bottle
Thousands of fascist agitators descended upon a city centre protest organized by the patriotic English Defense League (EDL). The UAF -- Unite Against Fascism -- members got violent, and two officers were injured following ugly clashes: one fractured a finger, the other was bitten by a police dog. A police helicopter was also dispatched to assist the officers on the ground. There was a total of 7 arrests.
The European Union has announced the creation of a working group to assist Christian minorities in countries where they are persecuted.
The initiative launched by Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is to help EU member countries' embassy staffs know how to intervene on behalf of persecuted Christian minorities.
Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff may not be a household name, but she is now a high-profile personality in the growing movement against radical Islam's steadying foothold in Europe.
A mother and an activist, Sabaditsch-Wolff was launched into the heart of the anti-Jihad movement, and she is currently on trial after a November 2009 article written by an undercover journalist at one of her seminars categorized her as a cold woman who spreads vitriolic rhetoric against Islam. However, Sabaditsch-Wolff insists that all she is doing is telling the truth, and she fully expects to stand trial on charges of hate speech.
On Friday evening, the 19th March, 2010, hundreds of members of the Coptic Orthodox Church and several other non-coptic denominations including, Ethiopian Orthodox, Melkite, Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical and Assyrian Churches, gathered at Martin Place in Sydney for a Candlelight prayer vigil. The aim of the vigil was to honour and commemorate the Christian martyrs in Egypt and to pray for all those Christians who are suffering in Egypt and around the globe.
Assyrians in Australia Rally in Support of Egypt's Persecuted Copts
AINA
The Assyrian Universal Alliance, Australian Chapter, joined hundreds from the Australian Coptic community, Australian Christians from various backgrounds and political and religious leaders to support calls by the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church in Australia to condemn the Egyptian Government for the violation of basic human rights of the Christian Copts of Egypt.
Press conference on religious persecution of Christian minorities draws diverse panel
Voice of the Copts
Justina Uram Mubangu -DC Examiner
On Friday, March 12, representatives of human rights organizations and advocates for religious freedom came together for a press conference at The National Press Club in Washington, DC. Sponsored by Voice of the Copts,
Russian 'Bin Laden' killed by Moscow's special forces
Russia exulted in the death of a terrorist dubbed "the Russian Bin Laden," yesterday claiming it has proof he was behind a deadly train bombing last November that left 28 people dead.
The FSB intelligence service said a special forces operation had resulted in the death of Sheikh Said Buryatsky, an Islamist convert whose real name was Alexander Tikhomirov.
Voters in four EU countries reportedly favour by a wide margin banning burqas from being worn in public. The Financial Times reports as follows on Nicholas Sarkozy's proposed ban in France and the public reaction.
More than half of voters in four other major European states back a push by France’s Nicolas Sarkozy to ban women from wearing the burka, according to an opinion poll for the Financial Times.
World Council of Churches EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Bossey, Switzerland 23-26 February 2010
We, the executive committee of the World Council of Churches (meeting from 23 to 26 February 2010 in Bossey, Switzerland), send you greetings in the precious name of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ!
PARIS — The Swiss government reacted blandly on Friday to the latest rhetorical sally from the eccentric Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, who called on Thursday for a “jihad” against Switzerland. The two countries have been sparring since the Swiss arrested one of Colonel Qaddafi’s sons and his wife in 2008 on suspicion of beating their servants.
The UK welcomes the Egyptian delegation to Geneva. We recognise Egypt’s commitment to improving human rights and welcome its willingness to discuss challenges.
We note Egypt’s positive steps towards safeguarding human rights in several areas. In particular, we welcome the National Council for Human Rights’ creation and the establishment of a minimum quota of seats for women in the People’s Assembly. However, challenges remain.
Designation on identification cards used to discriminate on basis of religion.
By Damaris Kremida and Will Morris
ISTANBUL, February 5 (Compass Direct News) – A European court on Tuesday (Feb. 2) ordered Turkey to remove the religious affiliation section from citizens’ identification cards, calling the practice a violation of human rights.
Religious minorities and in particular Christian converts in Turkey have faced discrimination because of the mandatory religion declaration on their identification cards, which was enforced until 2006. Since then, citizens are allowed to leave the “Religion” section of their IDs blank.
UK: Judge Cherie Blair gives man reduced sentence because he is devout Muslim
Secular society upset by Judge Cherie decision
By Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent
A senior judge could be called on to investigate a complaint that Cherie Blair handed down a more lenient sentence to a man who had been convicted of fracturing a person’s jaw because he was religious.
COPENHAGEN: The face-covering burqa and niqab veils worn by some Muslim women have no place in Denmark, Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said onWednesday, adding his government was considering restricting them.
