Christians Growing in Niger Despite Brutal Assaults by Muslims

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Photo Credit: Christian Today The faith of the Christians in Niger continue to grow despite a series of violent attacks from January 16 to 18 that left more than 70 churches in ruins.

The attacks were perpetrated by Muslims who were angry at the latest Charlie Hebdo cartoon that depicted Mohammad carrying a sign expressing solidarity with the victims of the attack on their editorial offices earlier this month.

Now, Christians are holding meetings and services in their own homes under the protection of the Niger police.

“Last night the church members met for prayer as the pastor, who lost everything, encouraged them by flashlight to not only stand strong, but to move forward and to know that this attack will grow the church,” Christian Headlines quoted a letter from a missionary couple in the Niger. “The room was dark on the outside but illuminated by the fire in the hearts of His people, even as stones were being thrown on the roof.”

The violence began in the city of Zinder on January 16. By January 18, the destruction and attacks have spread to the capital city of Niamey. The perpetrators specifically targeted Christian buildings and properties, leading Mahamadou Issoufou to condemn the attacks on live TV. (Read more about the Christians growing in numbers HERE)

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Boko Haram Strikes Strategic Nigerian City, Slaughtering Dozens

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsIn fierce fighting Sunday that killed more than 200 combatants, Nigerian troops clashed with Islamic extremists who attacked Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeastern Nigeria, from three fronts.

At the same time the insurgents continued scorched-earth attacks on villages some 125 miles to the south in Adamawa state, slitting throats of residents, looting and burning homes and abducting dozens of trapped women and children, according to Vandu Kainu and other escaping survivors.

Adamawa state legislator Adamu Kamale appealed for troops to protect civilians in Michika, where six villages are under attack. “The attacks have continued since Friday with no presence of security operatives,” he complained.

The multiple attacks come as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital nearly 1,000 miles southwest of Maiduguri, over fears of violence around critical Feb. 14 elections.

Kerry met with President Goodluck Jonathan and his chief rival candidate, former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari. Kerry told reporters afterward that he won pledges from both to refrain from violence. (Read more about how Boko Haram strikes HERE)

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Japanese Hostage Assumed Murdered by ISIS

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By Martin Fackler. Japan’s prime minister expressed outrage on Sunday at an image released Saturday that appeared to show the decapitated body of one of two Japanese hostages captured by Islamic State militants, and President Obama condemned what he called a “brutal murder.”

The kidnappers had threatened to kill the men if a Friday deadline passed for a $200 million ransom from Japan. On Saturday, a video appeared in which one of the hostages, Kenji Goto, a 47-year-old journalist, was shown holding a photo of what appeared to be the decapitated body of the other hostage, Haruna Yukawa, 42, an adventurer.

The prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said that while experts were still analyzing the photo, it had “a high chance of being real.” Speaking on a television debate show, Mr. Abe condemned the apparent killing of Mr. Yukawa as an “outrageous and unforgivable act of violence,” and demanded the immediate release of Mr. Goto. (Read more about the hostage assumed dead HERE)

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Japan Left Speechless After the Supposed Killing of a Hostage

By Fox News. Japan’s prime minister said Sunday he was “speechless” after an online video purportedly showed an Islamic State militant killing one of the two Japanese hostages.

Shinzo Abe told Japanese broadcaster NHK the government is still reviewing the video, but it was likely authentic. Abe offered his condolences to the family and friends of 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, who was taken hostage in Syria last year.

Abe did not comment about the message in the latest video that demanded a prisoner exchange for the other hostage, journalist Kenji Goto.

“I am left speechless,” he said, stressing he wants Goto released unharmed. “We strongly and totally criticize such acts.” (Read more about Japanese hostage assumed murdered by ISIS HERE)

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Green Party Says Western Militaries Bad, ISIS Rebels Good

Joining al Qaeda or ISIS should not be illegal, the leader of the Green Party has said. She could see no conflict between that and her party’s wish to downgrade much of Britain’s military. The party plans to turn a number of British military bases into nature reserves, convert military engineering firms over to manufacturing renewable energy technologies, and scrap the nuclear weapon deterrent.

Speaking to Andrew Neil on today’s Sunday Politics, Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party confirmed that the Green Party’s policy document states that “it should not be a crime simply to belong to an organisation or have sympathy with its aims, though it should be a crime to aid and abet criminal acts or deliberately fund such acts.”

“This is a part of our policy that I think dates back to the age of the ANC and apartheid South Africa,” she said.

When quizzed on whether that meant people would be allowed to be members of al Qaeda or ISIS, she replied “Exactly. What we want to do is make sure we are not punishing people for what they think or what they believe. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Married British General Coming Out as a Homosexual

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Photo Credit: Daily Mail A British Army general who is secretly gay plans to reveal his sexuality after being angered by a colleague’s warning that such an admission would amount to career suicide.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, the general – who is married with children – takes issue with the Army’s insistence that gay and lesbian soldiers no longer face discrimination.

He said: ‘The Armed Forces cannot claim it is an equal opportunities employer when the view persists that any senior officer who announces he is gay will see his or her career go up in smoke.’

A veteran of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with nearly 30 years’ service, he is the most senior officer to admit he is gay, and the first British Army general to do so.

In observations that will dismay the Ministry of Defence, which has made great strides in improving the Army’s image, he said homophobic bullying and abuse are still common. (Read more about the married British general HERE)

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Cruz Files Bill to Ban American ISIS Fighters From Returning to the U.S.

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By Adam Kredo. Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) [filed] legislation on Friday to ban American citizens who fight alongside the Islamic State (IS) and other terror groups from returning to the United States, where they pose a significant terror threat, according to sources in the senator’s office.

Cruz, who first proposed the legislation last year, seeks to strip those Americans who travel abroad to fight with IS (also known as ISIL or ISIS) of their U.S. citizenship rights and stop them from coming back stateside.

The bill, known as the Expatriate Terrorist Act (E.T.A.), tightens and updates existing regulations by which a U.S. citizen effectively renounces his or her citizenship.

Cruz said that he is filing the bill partly in response to President Obama’s Tuesday State of the Union address, which he described as “detached from reality” on the foreign policy front. (Read more about the bill to ban American ISIS fighters from returning to the U.S. HERE)

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Charlie Hebdo Protests Erupt Across Southern Asia

By Khurram Shahzad. Tens of thousands across Afghanistan, Pakistan and Muslim-majority Indian Kashmir took to the streets on Friday for southern Asia’s biggest protests yet against satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s cartoon portrayal of the Prophet Mohammed.

Up to 20,000 demonstrators in the western Afghan city of Herat and 15,000 in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, burned French flags and chanted slogans calling for France’s downfall, while a smaller Pakistani protest saw an effigy of France’s President Francois Hollande set on fire.

In Srinagar, the largest city on the Indian-controlled side of the disputed region of Kashmir, police clashed with a contingent of around 3,000 demonstrators after shops and businesses were ordered to close by a leading Muslim organisation and several separatist groups. (Read more from this story HERE)

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ISIS Says Countdown For Japan’s Hostages has Begun

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NY Post By Mari Yamaguchi and Elaine Kurtenbach. Japan promised Saturday not to give up “until the very end” on efforts to rescue two Japanese hostages threatened with beheading by Islamic militants demanding a $200 million ransom, after a deadline passed with no word from the captors.

Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group posted an online warning Friday afternoon that the “countdown has begun” for the extremists to kill 47-year-old Kenji Goto and 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa. The extremists gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe 72 hours to pay the ransom, and the deadline expired Friday.

The posting, which appeared on a forum popular among Islamic State militants and sympathizers, did not show any images of the hostages, who are believed to be held somewhere in Syria. (Read more on how ISIS says countdown for Japan’s hostages has begun HERE)

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Was the New ISIS Hostage Video Filmed Indoors?

By Associated Press. The video of two Japanese hostages being held by the Islamic State group seems, like past IS videos, made in an arid, desert setting. But suspicions are emerging that the message was not prepared outdoors at all.

An expert in these videos said it was more likely completed in an indoor studio with a false backdrop made to appear that it was outdoors.

Kenji Goto, a journalist, and Haruna Yukawa, who runs a security company, are seen kneeling in orange jumpsuits with a masked man holding a knife between them. The hostage-holders are threatening to kill the men if the Japanese government does not pay a $200 million ransom.

The video, posted on militant websites Tuesday and identified as being made by the Islamic State group’s al-Furqan media arm, appears to have been filmed in the same location as those showing American hostages James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig and British captives David Haines and Alan Henning. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Obama Admin. Bribed Iran to Stay in Nuke Talks With $11.9 Billion in Payments

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By Adam Kredo. The Obama administration on Wednesday paid $490 million in cash assets to Iran and will have released a total of $11.9 billion to the Islamic Republic by the time nuclear talks are scheduled to end in June, according to figures provided by the State Department.

Today’s $490 million release, the third such payment of this amount since Dec. 10, was agreed to by the Obama administration under the parameters of another extension in negotiations over Tehran’s contested nuclear program that was inked in November.

Iran will receive a total of $4.9 billion in unfrozen cash assets via 10 separate payments by the United States through June 22, when talks with Iran are scheduled to end with a final agreement aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear work, according to a State Department official.

Iran received $4.2 billion in similar payments under the 2013 interim agreement with the United States and was then given another $2.8 billion by the Obama administration last year in a bid to keep Iran committed to the talks through November, when negotiators parted ways without reaching an agreement.

Iran will have received a total of $11.9 billion in cash assets by the end of June if current releases continue on pace as scheduled. (Read more about from “Obama Admin. Bribed Iran” HERE)

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Saudi Arabia’s King Dies

By BBC. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz was the fifth of his brothers to take the throne and became king in 2005, reports Caroline Hawley

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has died, royal officials have announced, weeks after he was admitted to hospital.

King Abdullah, who was said to be aged about 90, had been suffering from a lung infection.

A statement early on Friday said his 79-year-old half brother, Salman, had become king.

Abdullah came to the throne in 2005 but had suffered frequent bouts of ill health in recent years. (Read more about Saudi Arabia’s king dying HERE)

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Airstrikes Have Killed Over 6,000 ISIS Soldiers

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By Kelly Cohen. More than 6,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed, a top U.S. official said Thursday.

Though the Pentagon has been reticent to discuss exact numbers, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones told Al Arabiya News Channel Thursday that U.S.-led airstrikes have “taken more than half “ of ISIS’ leadership.

Jones also described the airstrikes as having a “devastating” effect on ISIS.

“We estimate that the airstrikes have now killed more than 6,000 ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq,” Jones said, adding that the airstrikes have “destroyed more than a thousand of ISIS vehicles inside Iraq.”

Jones reiterated that the statistics were “not so important in themselves,” but that they “do show the degradation of ISIS.” (Read more about the airstrikes killing ISIS soldiers HERE)

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Volunteers Secretly Battle ISIS

By Alexander Smith. A network of anti-ISIS “commando cells” has carried out hundreds of guerrilla attacks in a city seized by the Islamist militants, Iraq’s vice president told NBC News.

Dubbed the “Mosul Liberation Battalions,” the little-known resistance movement has killed “a large number” of extremists through operations including sniper attacks, blasts using homemade bombs and raids on weapons-storage sites, according to Osama al-Nujaifi.

Battalion members include former military officers and tribesmen as well as students and local businessmen. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Woman Dies After Farewell to Favorite Horse

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Photo Credit: BBCA cancer patient has died after a final farewell to her favourite horse outside the hospital where she was treated.

Staff at Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan granted Sheila Marsh’s last wish, by arranging a visit from two of her horses on Monday afternoon.

The hospital said the 77-year-old, unable to speak properly due to illness, “gently called” her favourite horse, who then nuzzled her cheek.

Mrs Marsh, who used to work at Haydock Park Racecourse, died early on Tuesday.

The grandmother from Wigan had six horses, three dogs, three cats and other animals. (Read more about the woman’s farewell to favorite horse HERE)

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Christian School Shut Down for “Bigoted” Views on Muslims; Outspoken Vanderbilt Professor Targeted by Muslims

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By Eleanor Harding and Mario Ledwith. Pupils at a Christian school have been branded bigots after a young boy gave the wrong answer when asked what a Muslim was.

Durham Free has been told to close after inspectors branded it an educational failure and said some children displayed ‘discriminatory views’ toward people of other faiths. The boy’s answer to the Muslim question apparently included a reference to terrorism.

But teachers said the verdict was grossly unfair and based on a throwaway and ignorant comment made by a single pupil. They said the school’s Christian ethos made it an easy target for officials who wanted to show they were promoting the Government’s diversity agenda.

A second Christian school in the area has been put into special measures. Inspectors also concluded its children were intolerant after allegedly asking ten-year-old pupils what lesbians ‘did’.

Teachers at Grindon Hall Christian School in Sunderland said the critical Ofsted report came as a shock because it was performing well. (Read more about the Christian school shut down HERE)

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Muslims Target Black Vanderbilt Professor

By Eric Owens. A black Vanderbilt University professor’s op-ed critical of Islamic terrorism has touched off a wave of protest by Muslim students and other critics.

The op-ed author is Carol Swain, a longtime professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt and a self-proclaimed political conservative. Her op-ed, entitled “Charlie Hebdo attacks prove critics were right about Islam,” appeared in The Tennessean (Nashville’s main newspaper) on Jan. 15.

Swain, who opposes burqas and advocates stronger efforts at assimilation for American Muslims, argued that radical Islam “poses an absolute danger to us and our children unless it is monitored better than it has been under the Obama administration.”

In response, Muslim students, led by Vanderbilt undergraduate Farishtay Yamin, took great offense.

Yamin told The Vanderbilt Hustler, the campus newspaper, that she “could not believe her eyes” when she read Swain’s column. The student also quickly labeled Swain’s opinion as “hate speech.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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