Tag: USA

Canada confirms pastor detained in North Korea

March 6, 2015 North Korea China, Hyeon Soo Lim, Kenneth Bae, North Korea, South Korea, USA

The Canadian government has confirmed to the family of pastor Hyeon Soo Lim that he has been detained in North Korea. This follows earlier reports that nobody had heard from Lim, 60, since he crossed the Chinese border on 31 January. Lim, who is married with one son, grew up . . . Read More

Canadian pastor ‘not heard from’ in North Korea

March 3, 2015 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, North Korea, South Korea, USA

The head pastor of a large Canadian church has failed to return from a humanitarian visit to North Korea. Reverend Hyeon Soo Lim, 60, had made hundreds of trips to the secretive state where he helped oversee an orphanage, a nursery and a nursing home. Speaking on behalf of the . . . Read More

UK in need of a Global Envoy for Religious Freedom

December 22, 2014 Andrew Bennett, Canada, Religious freedom, UK, USA

Writing for The Telegraph, British Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander said, “A future Labour Government would appoint a Global Envoy for Religious Freedom.” He said there is no time to waste and that the UK has fallen behind others, such as the US and Canada, that are showing stronger leadership; . . . Read More

Analysis: Distinction between ‘moderate Islamists’ and ‘militant extremists’ is misleading for Western governments

November 14, 2014 Iraq Islamic extremism, Islamic State, USA

The fight against Islamic State is now a top-priority of the international community. Islamic State was seriously underestimated, not only by the US. It took the international community so long to acknowledge the threat of Islamic State and to confront them, that they now seem already rather well settled . . . Read More

North Korea unexpectedly frees US detainees

November 10, 2014 North Korea Barack Obama, Kenneth Bae, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Pyongyang, USA

Two Americans who had been detained by North Korea returned to the US on November 9. Christian missionary Kenneth Bae was sentenced to 15 years hard labour for crimes against the state two years ago and Californian Matthew Todd Miller was sentenced to six years of hard labour after he . . . Read More

Pakistan court upholds death penalty for Asia Bibi despite serious legal loophole in trial

October 17, 2014 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Sheikhupura, USA

The first Christian woman to be sentenced to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws had her appeal rejected by the High Court in Lahore on Thursday. Aasiya Noreen, commonly known as Asia Bibi, received the death penalty in 2010 after she allegedly made derogatory comments about the Prophet Mohammed during an . . . Read More

Iran appears to fight Islamic State, but are their ultimate goals too similar for comfort?

October 16, 2014 Iran Behnam Irani, Hamas, Hassan Rouhani, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, Islamic State, UK, UN, USA

ISISKarl-Ludwig Poggemann / Flickr / Creative Commons It says something about the depths of worldwide revulsion to the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” that Western powers such as the US and the UK have been sitting at the same table with Iran to discuss how to defeat the deadly Islamist movement . . . Read More

Recently engaged man loses his fiancée, mother and nephew in IS Baghdad bombings

September 15, 2014 Iraq Baghdad, Islamic State, USA

Alghadeer shopping area after the bombing. Baghdad, IraqCourtesy of Ankawa.com The violent jihadist incursion into Iraq is suspected of attacks in Baghdad Sept. 10 that killed about 30 people and injured several others. Three car bombs exploded minutes apart in Alghadeer, a Shi’ite neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad. The bombings . . . Read More

Pakistani Muslim NGO highlights forced conversion of Christian women

June 9, 2014 Pakistan USA, Women

Christian girl in Central Pakistan.World Watch Monitor A Pakistani Muslim NGO says that every year between 100 to 700 Christian women, “usually between the ages of 12 and 25 are abducted, converted to Islam, and married to the abductor or third party”. In its investigative report “Forced Marriages & . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy

March 27, 2014 Pakistan Blasphemy, Joseph Colony, Lahore, Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League, Prophet Muhammad, Sawan Masih, USA

Lahore, Pakistan – A year after Muslims devastated the predominantly Christian Joseph Colony; the man at the center of the controversy has been sentenced to death for blasphemy because of claims that he insulted Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. Sawan Masih’s sentence, handed down March 27, is based on a conversation that . . . Read More

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