Algeria has cut diplomatic ties with the UAE, given its ambassador 48 hours to leave the country, and closed its airspace to UAE planes. The Abraham Accords, the Sahel, and Western Sahara have fuelled the rift. For Algerian President Tebboune, “Wherever they set foot, blood flows."
Bishop of Arbil: "A heavy Cross for our Church, ahead of Easter". The cause of death is still unknown. The pope's expression of sorrow.
Reformers cannot win: 130 of their candidates have been barred from running in the country’s 200 ridings and the Supreme Leader has come out against them. But the ballot is not a test of Ahmadinejad’s popularity.
Telegram from Benedict XVI to the Chaldean patriarchate: "decisive condemnation" of the killing of a "zealous pastor". A brief profile of the archbishop of Mosul.
With the killing of Archbishop Rahho, the Sunni stronghold confirms its place as the most dangerous area for the Christian community. According to an autopsy, the bishop has been dead for five days. In 2007 alone, 47 Christians were killed in Iraq.
State Department’s 2007 annual report fingers repressive North Korea and monk-killing Myanmar as the worst offenders. Iran is blamed among others things for stoning adulterers to death. Human rights violations are systemic in China where journalists, dissidents and even their lawyers are threatened and arrested.
The United Arab Emirates are considering a plan that would give its nationals discounts on 14 food items and gas to offset rising prices and inflation.
Lebanese Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants meet to discuss the Christian presence in the country. For Patriarch Sfeir this presence is a positive factor. Armenian Catholicos Aram I stresses a “dialogue of life” with Christians’ Muslim brothers.
US and Iraqi forces involved in the area stress that both security and a political solution are needed. The city is considered al-Qaeda’s last urban stronghold. Terrorism affects every area of the city, drawing support among residents tired of inhuman living conditions, playing on the city’s ethnic and religious cleavages. The situation raises concerns about the fate of Bishop Rahho who was abducted on 29 February.
The appeal was launched by the Archbishop of Kirkuk, 12 days on from Msgr. Rahoo’s abduction. To the Bishops and Christians of the world: “do not remain indifferent to this suffering, do not leave us alone to face this trial”. Amid increased fears, today in Kirkuk 15 Muslim leaders ask once again that the prelate be released.
Law and fatwa claim that only man can drive. Driving has thus become the litmus test for the battle for equality. In past demonstrations women behind the wheel were arrested and condemned.
A growing number of young Iranians are declining to go to the polls next March 14. There's increasing disappointment among them toward politics and toward a system that leaves no possibility of choice.
An unofficial deal seems to be in the works thanks to Egyptian mediation. The Palestinian movement will stop rocket launches; in exchange the Jewish state will stop targeted attacks and military raids.
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