Acts of violence based on religion or belief are on the increase globally. This includes atrocities that amount to genocide and crimes against humanity. While such acts of violence (and also severe deprivation of human rights) affect all religious groups (especially minority religious groups), over the recent months, report after report has been raising the issues that relate to the persecution of...
A movie director who once called Bartlesville home for a time in his life, Terrence Malick, will be honored with his own medallion outside the Circle Cinema Oklahoma Hall of Fame in Tulsa. Although Malick won't be able to attend the ceremony and the viewing of his latest movie, A Hidden Life, family members will be there to accept the honor, said David Kimball with Circle Cinema in Tulsa.
Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - There will be no decorated Christmas trees in the churches or streets, no celebrations and no reception at the patriarchate. The head of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church announced that the community would not hold public celebrations of Christmas out of respect for those killed and wounded in recent anti-government protests, that have caused so far hundreds of deaths...
The largest protests in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein signal the rejection by most Iraqis of the country's post-2003 structure and government, the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil told the UN Security Council Wednesday. Since the beginning of October, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis has been protesting government corruption.
An innovative exhibition hopes to renew support for victims of the Islamic State (ISIS) -- particularly the Yezidi community. Five years since their heartland of Shingal was torn apart by ISIS in early August 2014, little has changed for the Yezidi ethno-religious minority of northern Iraq.
Iraq remains gripped by protests, but the violent response of the government toward those asking for their rights has created an environment of uncertainty. Within the Nineveh Governorate, residents are prohibited from protesting, but the community still remains impacted by the demonstrations.
According to David William Lazar's American Mesopotamian Organization (AMO), Kurdish tribes close to the ruling Barzani family of the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) have stolen Assyrian Christian lands in Northern Iraq.
A team of Italian and Iraqi archaeologists has unearthed hundreds of cuneiform tablets in central Iraq. They also uncovered some clay coverings and seals with the tablets. The collection of cuneiform texts is one of the most important finds of its kind in many years and is opening up a window into the complex and sophisticated culture of Ancient Mesopotamia.
My Assyrian great grandfather planned to become a priest. He became a communist instead. I first came to know him as a child at the house of his daughter, my mother's maternal aunt, Nora, in Iran's capital, Tehran. His midsize photo hung on the dining room wall. A black and white portrait of an unsmiling middle-aged man. I cannot say I liked the photo.
The Archbishop of Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, has accused Britain's Christian leaders of failing to do enough in defence of the vanishing Christian community in Iraq. In an impassioned address in London, the Rt Rev Bashar Warda said Iraq's Christians now faced extinction after 1,400 years of persecution.
Amid deadly protests in Iraq, a people's uprising in Lebanon and continued suffering in Syria, Catholic leaders of the Middle East called upon officials of their homelands to "ensure safety, peace and tranquility and stability for their citizens.
Representatives from Assyrian communities around the world gathered in Jerusalem on Sunday evening to attend a conference hosted by the Committee for the Resurrection of the Aramaic Language and the Tikkun Movement highlighting the survival of the ancient language, which was once spoken throughout the Middle East.
Budapest (AINA) -- The Hungarian government hosted the 2nd International Conference on Christian Persecution in Budapest on November, 26-28, 2019, shedding light on the plight of Christians around the world (AINA 2019-11-26). More than 600 people from 40 countries participated, among them patriarchs, cardinals, politicians, and Christians from across the globe.
Istanbul (AINA) -- The Istanbul Branch of the Human Rights Association Commission Against Racism and Discrimination published a report highlighting severe rights violations against the Assyrian Nun Verde Gökmen, who lives alone in the church of St. Dimet in the village Zaz (Turkish İzbırak), in the Tur Abdin region in southeast Turkey.
Chicago (AINA) -- In September of 2014, Attorney Robert DeKelaita was indicted for helping a handful of Assyrian (also known as Chaldean or Syriac) asylum seekers obtain asylum. The government, represented by the US Attorney's Office, alleged that the means used to obtain asylum for the handful of the witnesses chosen to testify against DeKelaita was fraudulent.
(AINA) -- On May 4-5 the Salahaddin University in Erbil, Iraq and the French Institute of the Near East (IFPO) organized a workshop titled Christianity in Iraq at the turn of Islam. Its aim was to discuss important institutional changes for Christians in areas of the collapsed Persian Empire and retreated Byzantine Empire which were conquered by Muslims.
During the years of World War I 75% (750,000) of the Assyrian population in the Ottoman Empire was systematically murdered. That genocide of Assyrians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 is a fact, but it has largely been forgotten by the world.
(AINA) -- When speaking about the Ottoman Empire and Turkey today, it is not their contribution to civilization that comes to mind. Instead it is human rights violations, confiscation of land and property, genocide and genocide denials that are most frequently discussed in the public discourse. Today's Turkey is still far from being ruled by democratic principles.
A team of Italian and Iraqi archaeologists has unearthed hundreds of cuneiform tablets in central Iraq. They also uncovered some clay coverings and seals with the tablets. The collection of cuneiform texts is one of the most important finds of its kind in many years and is opening up a window into the complex and sophisticated culture of Ancient Mesopotamia.
Ancient Babylonian 'omens' reveal timing of an extraordinary solar storm that's mentioned in the Bible As long as humans have walked the Earth they have looked to the sky for signs of things to come. Ancient Assyrian sky gazers even carved their findings on tablets which have now revealed when a major solar storm hit the planet.