Athens, Greece was hit by a strong magnitude 5.3 earthquake Friday afternoon.

According to ABC News, the Mediterranean Island’s capital city experienced the earthquake around 2 p.m. local time.

The Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center reports that the quake hit about 14 miles north of Athens and lasted for only a few seconds. 

Nonetheless, the quake caused people in the streets to run out of fear, left several areas in the city without power and knocked out phone lines across the city. Reportedly the local fire department was also called to help people trapped in elevators. 

According to the Associated Press, following the quake, authorities surveyed areas near the epicenter via helicopter for damages. Government Spokesperson Stelios Petsas shared that several abandoned buildings had been damaged as a result of the quake, one abandoned building in the western district even appears to have collapsed from the shake. No deaths or serious injuries have been immediately reported, however.

“There are no reports of serious injuries … I urge members of the public to remain calm, in Greece we are well acquainted with earthquakes,” Petsas said in a statement.

Senior seismologist at the Geodynamics Institute Gerasimos Papadopoulos noted that the Friday afternoon quake was felt across southern Greece. He also shared that this may not have been the “main…

The son of a Pakistani governor who was killed for his support of Christian Asia Bibi says he too supports the mother who was wrongly charged with blasphemy.

“Eight years later, the woman that my father gave his life to defend has been found innocent by the highest court in the country,” said Shaan Taseer, according to Faithwire. ”For this ladies and gentlemen, I want to congratulate each and every one of you. Asia Bibi’s acquittal is a victory for humanity, it’s a victory for human dignity and it is a victory for common sense.”

Taseer’s father, governor Salmaan Taseer, was shot and killed in 2011 by one of his bodyguards after he said he supported Bibi.

“My father as the governor at the time said, ‘No, not on my watch. I will not let this injustice take place for this woman, not when I am governor,’” Taseer said, adding that his father “threw his weight behind Asia Bibi” and “met with her in prison.”

Bibi was charged with blasphemy in a Pakistani court and sentenced to death. In late 2018 she was acquitted, but she was not allowed to leave the country until May 2019.

“As we celebrate these victories, we must be mindful of the challenges ahead,” he said. “While Asia Bibi — the world’s most famous prisoner victim of blasphemy is a free woman — I want you all to know that there are 200 Asia…

Syrian Christians are calling on the United States to help protect them after Turkish troops were seen gathering on the border between the two volatile nations.

The Syriac Military Council, which is supported by the United States government, has warned of a potential Turkish offensive on the Eastern Euphrates River region in Syria, which would put thousands of Christians at risk.

“The Turkish army started to remove the wall between Turkey and Northern Syria in the Tal-Abyad area,” the military council said in a statement. “Turkey has amassed its forces and its jihadist proxies at that point. It clearly aims to invade Northern Syria.”

The authority told the Catholic News Service that there is “no U.S. military presence,” in the area where military forces are taking up position – something that is extremely concerning for the region’s Christians.

“Anywhere these troops come inside northeast Syria will be tragic, like in Afrin,” Syriac Christian political leader Bassam Ishak told the outlet. Last year, Turkish-led forces captured the town of Afrin, forcing out many of the Christian-majority population.

Ishak added that the safe zone Turkey has proposed includes “areas where Kurds and Christians live.”

“If Turkish forces come in, the expectation is that they will push out the inhabitants and turn the region over to…

Illinois is the latest state to forgo federal family-planning funds under the Trump administration’s new Protect Life Rule.

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker announced Thursday the state would not abide by the new rule and instead would use state money to fund the 28 organizations that received the federal funds distributed through the Illinois Department of Public Health. About $2.4 million in annual funding was at issue. 

“Under my administration, Illinois will always stand with women and protect their fundamental right to choose,” Pritzker said. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the Protect Life Rule in February, prohibiting federal Title X money from going to clinics that “perform, promote, refer for, or support abortion as a method of family planning.” Title X is a $300 million federal family-planning program. 

Another part of the rule will go into effect next year requiring Title X recipients to financially and physically separate their abortion services from their non-abortion services.

Critics like Pritzker call it the “gag rule” because it prevents family planning clinics from discussing abortion with patients. Two federal courts ruled the Trump administration can enforce the rule while lawsuits against it proceed. 

“While I’m committed to bringing as many federal dollars to the state as possible, I refuse to…

An American amphibious attack ship shot down an Iranian drone over international waters in the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump announced the incident Thursday and said it in self-defense after the drone came within 1,000 yards of the USS Boxer and ignored calls to turn around. According to the Associated Press, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said the drone “closed within a threatening range” before the Boxer shot it down.

This marks the latest episode in rising tensions between Washington and Tehran. President Trump placed the blame squarely on Iran, saying it marked the “latest of many provocative and hostile actions,” the New York Times reports. 

Iran initially said they didn’t know anything about a drone being shot down, with foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif saying, “The drone issue is being investigated but based on the latest news I have from Tehran, we have no information about losing a drone.” 

On Friday Iranian officials flatly disputed the Pentagon’s version of the story, saying the Boxer did not shoot down a drone. They further alleged that the “unfounded claim” aimed to ratchet up tensions in the already volatile region. Iran’s deputy foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi suggested that the U.S. may be covering up an incident of friendly fire. He tweeted, “We have not lost any drone in the…

The principal of a well-known Manhattan school announced her retirement after a teacher caused a stir in the community by showing a pro-life video in her 5^th-grade class. Principal Iris Chiu announced to a group of parents during a parent-teacher forum that her last day at PS 184, known as the Shuang Wen School, would be in August, Faithwire reports.

The controversy started in April when Ju Ling Wei showed a video of which featured teenagers staging a drama in which they pretended to be a baby in the womb during an abortion. According to Gothamist, the video was the work of a young group representing the First Assembly of God in Smithville, TN at an Assemblies of God fine arts festival.

Parents expressed their frustration and anger soon after. Liset Reyes, whose 10-year-old daughter was in the class, told the New York Daily News that, “I was really, really upset and angry and appalled. I was crying. We don’t even discuss the birds and the bees.”

Ishmael Alvarado was taken aback when his daughter asked him, “What’s abortion?” He added, “My kids still believe in Santa Claus. They’re still innocent.”

A student named Isabella told The New York Daily News that Wei asked the class “What do you think abortion is?” She said Wei then told the class that it was when the doctor gave the mother “a shot to kill the baby.

Principal Chiu sent…