Iran ( President Rouhani Wished Pope a Merry Christmas - 5 arrested for Christmas celebration ) ???

Sunday, 29 December 2013

Reports from Iran indicate that five Christian converts from a house-church in eastern Tehran were arrested during a Christmas celebration. Iranian Christian converts face constant restrictions and persecution.

 

According to Mohabat News, Iranian security authorities raided a house, owned by Mr. Hosseini, where a group of Christians had gathered to celebrate Christmas on Tuesday, December 24. They arrested Mr. Hosseini , Ahmad Bazyar, Faegheh Nasrollahi, Mastaneh Rastegari, and Amir-Hossein Ne'matollahi.

The report received by Mohabat News stated: "These Christians had gathered to worship and celebrate birth of Jesus."

The Committee of Human Rights Reporters reported that armed plain-clothes security officers raided the house-church, insulted and searched those in attendance, thoroughly searched the house and seized all Christian books, CDs, and laptops they found. They also took the Satellite TV receiver.

The authorities also searched a neighboring house , because those present were observing the raid. They insulted and beat the father of the family and warned them not to speak with anyone about what they had witnessed.

There is still no update about the whereabouts or condition of these arrested Christians.

In recent years the authorities have intensified their pressure and threats against Christians around Christmas, and increased their surveillance of churches.

Many Christian converts have been arrested or faced other persecution around Christmas in recent years. A large number of Christian converts were arrested in Tehran in the past few years as part of pre-organized attacks by government authorities.

Honduras ( 4 women Killed in a " Drive by " shooting - Refused to pay extortion money )

TEGUCIGALPA – A drive-by shooting at a bar in the northern city of San Pedro Sula left four women dead, Honduran police said Monday.

Three of the women were pronounced dead at the scene, while the fourth died later at a hospital, a brief official statement said.

A fifth woman wounded in the attack remains hospitalized, authorities said, but they offered no information on her condition.

The shooting occurred around 12:30 a.m. Monday in the El Benque neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, Honduras’ second city.

The women may have been killed for refusing to pay extortion money to a gang, according to unofficial accounts. Protection rackets are a major source of income for youth gangs in Central America.

Honduras suffered 85.5 homicides for every 100,000 residents in 2012, compared with a global median rate of 8.8 murders per 100,000, the Violence Observatory at the National Autonomous University said in a study released in February.

Syria ( At least 15 Palestinians have died of hunger in besieged refugee camp )

At least 15 Palestinians have died of hunger since September in a besieged refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees told AFP on Monday.
“Reports have come in over the weekend that at least five Palestinian refugees in the besieged refugee camp of Yarmuk in Damascus have died because of malnutrition, bringing the total number of reported cases to 15,” UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness told AFP.
He warned of a deteriorating situation in the camp, where some 20,000 Palestinians are trapped, with limited food and medical supplies.

“Since September 2013 we have been unable to enter the area to deliver desperately needed relief supplies,” Gunness said.
“The continued presence of armed groups that entered the area at the end of 2012 and its closure by government forces have thwarted all our humanitarian efforts.”
Most of the Yarmuk camp in southern Damascus is under the control of the armed opposition, and it has been under a siege by troops loyal to President Bashar Assad for around a year.
The blockade has resulted in a humanitarian crisis, and the exodus of tens of thousands of the camp’s 170,000 residents.
On Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights NGO reported five people in the camp had died of malnutrition, including an elderly man, a disabled man and a woman.
UNRWA chief Filippo Grandi addressed the situation earlier this month, warning that conditions in Yarmuk had “progressively deteriorated.”
“If this situation is not addressed urgently, it may be too late to save the lives of thousands of people including children,” he warned.
Gunness said UNRWA was calling “all parties to immediately heed their legal obligations and facilitate the urgent provision of humanitarian assistance to Yarmuk and other Palestinian refugee camps.”
Syria is officially home to nearly 500,000 Palestinian refugees, around half of whom have been displaced by the deadly conflict that broke out in March 2011, becoming refugees for a second time.
More than 126,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict

China ( Eight Die in Clash with Police in China’s Xinjiang Region )

BEIJING – Eight attackers died Monday in a clash with police in the remote northwestern region of Xinjiang, where tensions between Chinese authorities and the native Uighur people have been on the rise.

The confrontation occurred around 6:30 a.m. in Yarkand, near the traditional Uighur center of Kashgar, government Web site Tianshan News said.

Nine people armed with knives and explosive devices attacked a police contingent, setting at least one vehicle on fire.

The police opened fire and killed eight of the assailants and the ninth attacker was taken into custody, Tianshan said.

Two police and 14 militants died earlier this month in a similar incident on the outskirts of Kashgar.

Authorities blamed that clash on bands who “promote religious extremism in Xinjiang,” an apparent reference to the mainly Muslim Uighurs.

Sixteen people died in a battle between Uighurs and Chinese security forces in Kashgar just four days before the start of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008.

The following year, more than 200 were killed amid fighting between Uighurs and Han Chinese in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital.

The Uighurs, a Turkic people, complain that China is seeking to suppress their culture and religion and that Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang favor Han Chinese settlers.

China, meanwhile, seeks to portray Uighur militancy as a facet of international Islamic terrorism.

Mexico ( Baby Born in Police Car in Mexico )

MEXICO CITY – A baby was born in a patrol car while officers rushed the mother to a hospital in Tlaxcala, a state in central Mexico, the Federal Police said.

Officers spotted an automobile that had broken down on the Tlalpan-Apizaco stretch of the Mexico City-Zacatepec National Highway and stopped to help the motorist.

Officers approached the vehicle and saw a man and a woman inside, the Federal Police said in a statement.

The woman, identified as Maria Blanca Carrillo Sanchez, was in labor and the driver, Alejandro Ramos Ramirez, asked the officers for help.

The officers moved the woman into the patrol car and headed for the nearest hospital.

“During the trip, the woman gave birth in Radio Patrol Car 12826 of the Federal Police, and the officers provided the needed first aid and kept the mother and child stabilized until they reached the Regional Hospital in Apizaco, Tlaxcala,” the law enforcement agency said.

The mother and newborn were taken away by medical personnel at the hospital’s entrance and are being treated by doctors, the Federal Police said.

The Federal Police Academy in San Luis Potosi trains officers in first aid and paramedic skills, the federal law enforcement agency said.

Missing Woman ( Her last " Youtube video " singing to strange lover ) See video

Russia ( 17 killed " Terrorist target Olympic Games " ) Danger alert

Another deadly blast has rocked the Russian city of Volgograd, killing at least 14 people aboard a trolleybus during today's morning commute. The explosion comes a day after a suicide bombing in the city killed at least 17 people and injured more than 40.
The explosions raised concerns about terrorism six weeks before Russia hosts the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

At least 14 people died in the trolleybus explosion and at least 28 people injured, according to the Russian Health Ministry. A 5- to 7-month-old baby suffered multiple head injuries and was unlikely to survive, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. The baby's gender has not been disclosed.
A total of 27 people are in hospitals, including three children, Skvortsova said. The condition of most patients is "from relatively satisfactory to moderately severe," she added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the National Anti-Terrorist Committee to tighten security measures across Russia, with the additional measures in Volgograd.
The White House condemned the attacks and offered its "deepest condolences to the families of the victims" before saying the U.S. government would "welcome the opportunity for closer cooperation for the safety of the athletes, spectators, and other participants" at the upcoming Sochi Olympics.
U.S. officials have said that Russian cooperation on anti-terror strategy for the Olympics "could be better," according to an analysis written by Homeland Security Policy Institute Director Frank Cilluffo and LAPD Deputy Chief of the Counter-Terrorism Bureau Michael Downing and featured on ABCNews.com today.