ISIS Training Child Soldiers as Young as 5 to Carry Out Terror Acts

CM Editor
-
0
ISIS Training Child Soldiers as Young as 5 to Carry Out Terror Acts

Christian Post report– Terror group ISIS has released a new video of one of its training camps in Syria, where children seemingly as young as 5 are seen performing drills and obeying the militants’ commands.

The Daily Mail noted that the 9-minute video of the Farouk Institute for Cubs in Raqqa, Syria, is one of numerous propaganda materials the terror group has released displaying its influence over youths.

In the video, the young boys, all wearing camouflage uniforms, are performing drills as instructed by a militant teacher. The teacher shouts questions at the children, who shout back in unison.

The children are also seen reciting Islamic prayers while bowing to the ground.

The U.S. and a broad coalition of allies has been actively engaged against the terror group, which has captured a number of cities across Iraq and Syria. ISIS, which refers to itself as the “Islamic State,” is seeking to expand its territory and establish an Islamic caliphate on the region.

The jihadists have also in the past released photos of 10-year-old children being trained to use assault rifles and kill people. ISIS has reportedly been using child soldiers in its many battles for territory across Iraq and Syria.

An Iraqi security official, who wasn’t named, shared some of the tactics ISIS employs on young children with NBC News.

“They teach them how to use AK-47s,” the official said. “They use dolls to teach them how to behead people, then they make them watch a beheading, and sometimes they force them to carry the heads in order to cast the fear away from their hearts.”

The United Nations Human Rights Council has spoken out against the operations of such youth camps, which violate international law that prohibits children from being used in war.

“The existence of such camps seems to indicate that ISIS systematically provides weapons training for children,” the U.N. has said. “Subsequently, they were deployed in active combat during military operations, including suicide-bombing missions.”

Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst for the Clarion Project, said that such camps are held in high regard among ISIS supporters.

“If you believe the ISIS caliphate is the best place to be and Allah commands you to go there, you’d want your family there, too,” Mauro said, according to Fox News. “For ISIS supporters, this is like signing your kid up for the best private school.”

Source: Christian Post

ACN Pledges $2.8 million Emergency Aid to Help Christians in Syria

CM Editor
-
0
ACN Pledges $2.8 million Emergency Aid to Help Christians in Syria

Catholic Herald report– Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic charity helping persecuted Christians around the world, has pledged $2.8 million in emergency aid to help Christians in Syria.

They have “benefited only to a limited extent” from relief provided by the United Nations and secular nongovernmental organizations, the charity said.

“In many cases, Christians are reluctant to register themselves with aid agencies (and) formally identify themselves as Christians for fear of extremist Muslim reprisals who persecute Christians for their faith and their perceived support of the Syrian regime,” it said.

“Relief efforts have been hampered across the board,” the charity added, “due to continued fighting and the dramatic rise” of the Islamic State, known as ISIS.

Aid to the Church in Need will fund a number of projects to help sizable Christian communities in Aleppo, Homs, Damascus and other Syrian cities and villages hard hit by the war, said Father Andrzej Halemba, the head of the charity’s Middle East section.

Since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in spring 2011, the death toll has exceeded 200,000, according to several monitoring groups.

Hundreds of Christians have died and tens of thousands have been driven from their homes, the charity said. “Countless families are without a reliable source of income; children and youth are barred from continuing their education: half of all the country’s schools are damaged, destroyed or used as shelter for fighters.”

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian Christians have become refugees in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan.

Official estimates put the number of people affected by the war in Syria at 12.2 million people.

About 7.8 million have been displaced internally, while 4.8 million Syrians live in barely accessible parts of the country or in active war zones. Some 5.6 million children are directly affected by the war; 3 million students are no longer able to attend school.

Father Halemba, citing concerns of local church leaders, said there is “a new and, unfortunately, justified fear of religious cleansing. The Islamic State openly shows its murderous intentions against anyone who does not bend to its brand of extremism.”

Aside from “confronting the threat of ISIS,” the international community has “drifted into a form of neglect of the Syrian crisis,” the priest said.

With its emergency assistance, Aid to the Church in Need said it will, among other things, provide 4,500 vulnerable families with money funds to pay for oil, gas electricity and cover rent for four months; ensure medical supplies for communities in Aleppo and Hassake for six months; pay for repairs at a half dozen schools; and help repair badly damaged churches, catechetical centers and diocesan offices.

Source: Catholic Herald

Christian Florist Who Refused Flowers for Gay Wedding Reject a Saving Deal Saying It’s an Act of Betrayal

CM Editor
-
0
Christian Florist Who Refused Flowers for Gay Wedding Reject a Saving Deal Saying It’s an Act of Betrayal

Christian Post report– After a judge ruled last week that Washington florist and Christian grandmother Barronelle Stutzman violated the law when she refused to provide arrangements for a same-sex wedding, Stutzman rejected a tempting settlement offer that would have spared her from losing her home and business, because it would have forced her to turn her back on God.

As Stutzman was found guilty of violating Washington’s non-discrimination law last Wednesday for declining to service the wedding of Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed in 2013 due to her Christian belief of marriage, Stutzman runs the risk of losing not only her business but her house and life savings once a summary judgement is reached.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson offered the 70-year-old Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s flowers, a settlement on Thursday that would have spared Stutzman the high, bankrupting legal costs that she could incur as a result of the summary judgement.

he settlement offer would have required Stutzman to pay just $2,001 in fines and legal costs. However, the settlement also would have required Stutzman go against her religious beliefs and agree service gay wedding requests.

“I am prepared to settle this matter for a penalty of $2,000 under the Consumer Protection Act, a $1 payment for costs and fees, an agreement not to discriminate in the future, and an end to further litigation,” Ferguson said in a statement.

The next day, Stutzman sent a letter to Ferguson rejecting his settlement and stating that the settlement would have required her to betray Jesus Christ, much like Judas did.

“Washington’s constitution guarantees us ‘freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment.’ I cannot sell that precious freedom,” Stutzman’s letter asserts. “You are asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver. That is something I will not do.”

Stutzman’s letter added that Ferguson continues to prove that he does not understand the true meaning of “freedom.”

“Your offer reveals that you don’t really understand me or what this conflict is all about. It’s about freedom, not money,” Stutzman wrote. “I certainly don’t relish the idea of losing my business, my home, and everything else that your lawsuit threatens to take from my family, but my freedom to honor God in doing what I do best is more important.”

Although Stutzman has been portrayed by some media outlets as being an intolerable bigot for refusing to serve a gay wedding, Stutzman served Robert Ingersoll for over 9 years before he asked her to provide floral arrangements for his gay wedding. Even though Stutzman had built a great relationship with Ingersoll, she could not in good faith put her full heart into making floral arrangements for Ingersoll’s wedding and thought it would be best to decline to Ingersoll’s request.

After much social media uproar, Ferguson’s office filed a lawsuit against Stutzman, although no official complaint was filed against her. After the state filed a lawsuit, the couple filed a lawsuit with backing from the American Civil Liberties Union.

“I pray that you reconsider your position. I kindly served Rob for nearly a decade and would gladly continue to do so. I truly want the best for my friend,” Stutzman’s letter stated. “I’ve also employed and served many members of the LGBT community, and will continue to do so regardless of what happens with this case. You chose to attack my faith and pursue this not simply as a matter of law, but to threaten my very means of working, eating and having a home.

“If you are serious about clarifying the law, then I urge you to drop your claims against my home, business, and other assets and pursue the legal claims through the appeal process,” Stutzman added.

Stutzman further added that the state’s laws present a double standard when it comes to protecting citizens’ differing beliefs on marriage.

“Our state would be a better place if we respected each other’s differences, and our leaders protected the freedom to have those differences,” Stutzman wrote. “Since 2012, same-sex couples all over the state have been free to act on their beliefs about marriage, but because I follow the Bible’s teaching that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, I am no longer free to act on my beliefs.”

Source: Christian Post

 

Britian Becomes First in the World to Introduce Three-parent IVF Procedure

CM Editor
-
0
Britian Becomes First in the World to Introduce Three-parent IVF Procedure

Christian Today report– Britain will become the first nation to legalise a “three-parent” IVF technique which doctors say can prevent some inherited incurable diseases but which critics – including Churches – fear will effectively lead to “designer babies”.

After more than three hours of debate, lawmakers in the House of Lords voted on Tuesday for a change in the law to allow the treatments, echoing a positive vote in the lower house earlier this month.

The treatment, called mitochondrial transfer, is known as “three-parent” in vitro fertilisation (IVF) because the babies, born from genetically modified embryos, would have DNA from a mother, a father and from a female donor.

Although the techniques are still at the research stage in laboratories in Britain and the United States, experts say that now legal hurdles have been overcome, Britain’s first three-parent baby could be born as early as 2016.

Mitochondrial transfer involves intervening in the fertilisation process to remove faulty mitochondrial DNA, which can cause inherited conditions such as heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy.

Mitochondria act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells, and around 1 in 6,000 babies around the world are born with serious mitochondrial disorders.

Responding to the vote, Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust medical charity, commended lawmakers for a “considered and compassionate decision”.

“Families who know what it is like to care for a child with a devastating disease are the people best placed to decide whether mitochondrial donation is the right option,” he said.

Mark Downs, chief executive of the Society of Biology, hailed “a great day for UK science” and said the landmark decision “will ensure mothers who carry faulty mitochondria can have healthy children free from the devastating conditions”.

But Marcy Darnovsky, director of the campaign group The Centre for Genetics and Society, called the move a “historic mistake” which turns children into biological experiments and will “forever alter the human germline”.

“The techniques … are relatively crude and will not in and of themselves create so-called designer babies,” she said.

“However, they will result in children with DNA from three different people in every cell of their bodies, which will impact a large range of traits in unknowable ways and introduce genetic changes that will be passed down to future generations.”

Source: Christian Today

University of Virginia Student Plans Prayer Vigil to End Sexual Violence

CM Editor
-
0
University of Virginia Student Plans Prayer Vigil to End Sexual Violence

Christian Today report– University of Virginia (UVa) Christian student organisation Seek His Face is planning a 72-hour prayer vigil and campus prayer meeting this week to end sexual violence.

More than 30 student ministries and organisations are expected to participate in the intercession from February 26-28.

UVa has been under investigation for years by the Education Department over their handling of sexual violence cases. The campus’ history drew national attention when Rolling Stone published an article in December about an alleged gang rape at a fraternity party.

A female student alleged that she was attacked at a frat house as part of an initiation ritual, and was dissuaded from reporting the crime by her friends. Many facts of the case were not verified by the magazine, and were found to be untrue after other news outlets investigated.

However, the presidents of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) banned their sororities from participating in events during Boys’ Bid Night earlier this month.

The fraternity ritual marks the end of rush week, and is one of the biggest party nights on college campuses. At UVa, the night had been linked to binge drinking and allegations of sexual assault.

Traditionally, sororities party with their brother fraternities on bid night, but NPC sorors were forced to abstain.

Seek His Face hopes the prayer vigil will alleviate the problems on campus, and encourages both students and community members to participate. A prayer meeting will be held on February 28 at 7 pm at Ern Commons, 714 Alderman Road.

Source: Christian Today

France: Muslim Leaders Boycott Jewish Event After Being Blamed for “All” Violent Crimes

CM Editor
-
0
France: Muslim Leaders Boycott Jewish Event After Being Blamed for “All” Violent Crimes

Christian Today report– Muslim leaders boycotted a Jewish community event in France after the head of the organisation behind the event said Muslims were responsible for “all” violent crime in France.

The President of France François Hollande used his speech at the event to set out his plan to fight antisemitism.

The annual dinner was organised by the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF), an umbrella organisation for Jewish community groups.

Shortly before the event, the council’s president Roger Cukierman told the French radio station Europe 1: “All violence, and we must say this, all violent acts today are committed by young Muslims. Of course, that’s a small minority of the Muslim community and the Muslims are the first victims.”

This led the French Muslim Council to boycott the event, which came amid mounting inter religious tensions in France.

There has been an increase in vandalism on mosques following the Charlie Hebdo murders and the shootings in a kosher supermarket. There has also been a rise in antisemitic attacks in France, including on hundreds of graves at Jewish cemeteries.

Mr Cukierman told the 700 guests at the dinner that he hoped relations will be “rapidly re-established” with Muslim leaders in France.

President Hollande called for “faster and more effective sanctions” against racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia. His government will unveil a new plan to fight hate crimes next month.

Source: Christian Today

 

Six Dead After Young Girl Carries Out Suicide Bombing in Nigeria

CM Editor
-
0
Six Dead After Young Girl Carries Out Suicide Bombing in Nigeria

Christian Post report– A young girl thought to be only 7 years old has killed herself and five other people in the town of Potiskum in northeast Nigeria, following a suicide bombing blamed on terror group Boko Haram.

So far, five people were killed with the girl while 19 others have been taken to hospital for injuries,” revealed Buba Lawan, described as a local vigilante leader in an article for AFP.

Boko Haram has been aiming to capture more towns in Nigeria, and has employed suicide bombings on a number of occasions.

Over 13,000 people are believed to have been killed since the first attacks started in 2009.

Security guards and vigilantes noted that they had tried to prevent the girl from entering the market on Sunday, where the attack was carried out.

“We sent her back four times, because given her age, she did not have anything to do in the market,” Lawan said.

“When we were screening people, she bent and tried to pass under the ropes, some distance from our view. That was when the explosives went off.”

He added that “we have barred women from entering the market to prevent further attacks.”

The suicide bombing follows news that 158 women and children that had been kidnapped in northeastern Nigeria in December have been reunited with their families. BBC News pointed out that the details of how they were released or managed to get away from the militants are not clear, but they were handed over to the state authorities for counseling and rehabilitation.

The group of girls is different from the 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from the boarding school in Chibok in Borno state in April 2014, however, an incident which sparked international outrage.

Boko Haram has used a number of the young women it has kidnapped in its bomb attacks on Nigerian towns.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has meanwhile admitted that Nigeria has been largely unprepared in the fight against the Islamic extremists.

“Probably at the beginning, we, and I mean myself and the team, we underrated the capacity of Boko Haram,” Jonathan told the local ThisDay newspaper.

He promised, however, that his military will manage to defeat Boko Haram, and said that it has recently acquired more arms and ammunition to accomplish the mission.

Source: Christian Post

American Christian Missionary Rev Phyllis Sortor Kidnapped in Nigeria

CM Editor
-
0
American Christian Missionary Rev Phyllis Sortor Kidnapped in Nigeria

Christian Today report– An American woman working as a Christian missionary in Nigeria has been kidnapped.

Rev Phyllis Sortor, a misisonary with the Free Methodist Church, was taken away by masked gunmen in the central Nigerian town of Emiworo, Kogi state, at around 10am (9am GMT) according to Kogi state police spokesman Sola Collins Adebayo, quoted by AFP.

“Early this morning we received a report that Rev Phyllis Sortor, our missionary in Nigeria, was abducted from the Hope Academy compound in Emiworo, Kogi State, Nigeria by several persons,” the Free Methodist Church said on its website.

In the same statement, Bishop David Kendall urged prayer.

“The US Embassy has been notified, and the State Department and the FBI are working with local authorities to find and rescue her. We are calling on the US church to join together in prayer for Phyllis’ safety and speedy release,” he said.

Nigeria is one of the world’s worst country’s for kidnapping, a major criminal enterprise that makes millions of dollars a year.

Criminal gangs have kidnapped scores of expatriates in southern and central Nigeria over the years. Central Kogi state has also had low level activity by Islamist militants linked to insurgent group Boko Haram, security sources say.

A US State Department official said authorities had heard the reports but could not make further comments in the interest of privacy.

According to the Free Methodist World Missions website, Sortor works through leadership development and International Child Care Ministries (ICCM). “She is financial administrator of Hope Academy and the Hope extension school at Ikot Ntuk,” the site reads. “A special friendship with a clan of nomadic Fulani has given Phyllis the opportunity to open additional schools for Fulani children and their parents. Phyllis teaches at the modular Bible school and Wesley Evangelical School of Theology (WEST) and supports Community Health Evangelism and area women’s literacy.”

In her latest newsletter, dated January 20, 2015, Sortor writes of the ‘joy’ of a new school opening in Enugu. “We have worked long and hard on this school, and are so thrilled that yesterday, January 19th, 2015, we were able to open our doors for the first time!” she writes.

“We began with 82 children, 58 of whom are Muslim, Fulani kids from one near-by camp! (There is a second camp preparing to send their children as well!) We have two excellent, Hausa-speaking teachers for these Fulani kids! The Fulani parents are wonderfully cooperative – sending food and water with their kids, organizing a Parent-Teacher Association – giving us Fulani security guards for the school! We have 6 teachers altogether; a tutor/chaplain, bursar, driver and ‘mother’s helper’. All are wonderful Christian people who I know, with God’s help, will make this school great!”

Source: Christian Today

The 16 Most Dangerous Places for Female Travellers

CM Editor
-
0
The 16 Most Dangerous Places for Female Travellers

Metro report– Some countries many holiday makers long for have dark records of foreign women being harassed and sometimes even abused on the streets.

Exotic locations such as India, Moscow and Colombia were all included on the list of locations with the most unsafe transport systems for women created by YouGov.

However London and New York both featured in the top 16 as well.

Experts say that while people expect these attitudes towards women in countries such as India, holiday makers travelling to places such as Morocco and Turkey should also exercise caution.

(Picture: Getty)
(Picture: Getty)

India has seen a high number of rapes and sexual assaults directed towards women in the past few years, however social outcry has forced the government to attempt to turn the country into a safer pace for women.

Although attitudes towards women are getting better in Europe and North America, females are still regularly abused in the form of cat calling and curb crawling in places such as Paris, London and New York.

Julie Kreutzer, co-owner of website the International Women’s Travel Center, told MailOnline: ‘I’m truly appalled at how unsafe and how unfriendly some places are. You can’t even enter some countries if you’re a woman, yet most travel websites just skirt around the issue and prefer to focus on what lipstick a woman should wear.’

Many travel guides such as Lonely Planet contain sections on safety for female travellers, however Ms Kreutzer says these statistics show that ‘women are not welcome everywhere’.

However other travel bloggers say the worst case scenarios are always reported on, and that potential travellers should not be put off visiting a country because of this.

The full list of most unsafe cities for women to travel in is:

1. Bogota, Colombia
2. Mexico City
3. Lima, Peru
4. New Delhi
5. Jakarta, Indonesia
6. Buenos Aires, Argentina
7. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
8. Bangkok
9. Moscow
10. Manila, Philippines
11. Paris
12. Seoul, South Korea
13. London
14. Beijing
15. Tokyo
16. New York

Source: Metro

 

Teenage Pregnancies Rate Falls

CM Editor
-
0
Teenage Pregnancies Rate Falls

BBC report– Office for National Statistics data show the under-18 conception rate is now 24.5 per thousand women compared with 27.9 per thousand the year before.

This is a drop of 13%. Pregnancies in under-16s also fell.

At the same time, however, the conception rate among women over 35 has been rising.

Historically the UK has had one of the highest teenage pregnancy and abortion rates in Western Europe.

In recent years the government put a series of strategies in place in an attempt to get these figures down.

But the sexual health charity the FPA says there is no room for complacency.

Harry Walker, a spokesman for the charity, said: “We are no doubt still seeing the lasting effects of the government’s 10-year teenage pregnancy strategy.

“But the danger with getting good news year on year is that people start to take their eye off the ball and forget that the figures we are seeing today are the result of a complex series of actions over a number of years by professionals at a national and local level.

“Any complacency now and we will see a knock-on effect in years to come.”

The charity says the UK is still lagging behind other countries in Western Europe.

According to their records in 2012 the UK had lower teenage pregnancy rates than only Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia of the 28 countries of the European Union.

Source: BBC

 

1...3,6753,6763,677...3,893Page 3,676 of 3,893