News

     PARIS – AFP — Iraq’s Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi urged Iraq’s Christian minority not to flee the country on Wednesday and called on the international community to help protect it from extremists. According to Christian leaders, 250,000 of the 800,000 Christians who lived in Iraq six years ago, …

By Tona Ishaq Mosul, Iraq – AINA — Since the invasion 2003 the situation of the Christian Assyrians in Iraq has deteriorated. Churches have been destroyed, several priests have been killed and at the end of last year thousands of Christians were forced to leave the city of Mosul in …

     Damascus – CDF — Committees for the Defense of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria (CDF) condemned the arbitrary transferring procedures by the Syrian authorities against the Assyrian Syrian activist and writer Osama Edward Mousa Kario , member of the C.D.F , and other Syrian citizens . C.D.F …

       Al Hamdanyia, North Iraq – AINA — Thousands of Assyrians participated in a procession through the Assyrian town of Baghdede to celebrate Palm Sunday according to the Syriac Orthodox Church rite. The town of Baghdede lies just a few kilometers from the city of Mosul where there are …

     Kirkuk – AsiaNews — The US troop pullout is creating a “vacuum’ that could end up in “civil war” and “Iraq’s division”, said Mgr Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, as he confirmed the death of five Iraqi Christians killed in late March and early April. Iraq’s “ethnic and religious …

     WASHINGTON – ICC — International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on April 1 and 2, four Iraqi Christians were killed in Baghdad and Kirkuk. Though the perpetrators of the murders are not yet indicated, Islamic fundamentalists, criminal gangs and other armed groups have been behind attacks against Christians …

     USA, Modesto CA – ado — the newly appointed US-born bishop of the Western California diocese of the Assyrian Church of the East, secretly ordered the priests, deacons and sub-deacons of St. Zaia Cathedral in Modesto that they, and all other clergy of the Assyrian Church of the East …

     Northern Iraq – AINA — Authorities in northern Iraq’s Dohuk province have said they will not allow any celebration of the traditional Assyrian New Year known as Akitu. The celebration, which is normally held on the first of April, marks the beginning of the Assyrian new year according to …

     Söodertalje, Sweden – AINA — The annual meeting of the Social Democratic party in the town of Söodertalje chose on March 28 Mr. Yilmaz Kerimo as the parties new leader. A longstanding member of the Swedish Social Democrats, Mr. Kerimo, has been elected into the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, …

Dear Secretary Clinton: USA – AINA — I recently received two responses from the Department of State to two different letters I had written regarding the plight ofIraq’s besieged ethno-religious minorities, specifically the ancient Christian community. Both of the letters were signed by the acting assistant secretary for Legislative Affairs. …