Iraq: Islamists Calling for the Complete Extermination of Christians in the Country

“Iraq (MNN) ― More Christians have been fleeing Iraq in recent months than ever before.

Carl Moeller with Open Doors USA says extremists are calling for the complete extermination of believers in the country.

‘We’ve been calling this a ‘religicide’–which is the systematic destruction and elimination of a religious group simply for being that religious group. And we see this now unfolding in a very shocking way,’ says Moeller.

The number of Christians in Iraq has dropped dramatically in the last few decades, dropping from 850,000 believers in 1991, to 550,000 believers in 2003, to 345,000 believers in early 2010. Now perhaps less than 250,000 Christians call Iraq home, a number which includes those who have been permanently displaced from their homes.”  Read more.

Clinton Warns Intolerance Threatens to Hijack Arab Revolutions and Spread Extremism

By Matthew Lee – “BERLIN — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is warning that rising intolerance toward women and religious minorities threatens to hijack democratic transitions around the Arab world and spread violent extremism.

Clinton told an award ceremony in the German capital on Friday that she was disturbed by recent developments in post-revolt Egypt in which women and Coptic Christians were singled out for attacks and abuse. She said such incidents test the unity of pro-democracy demonstrators whose peaceful protests ousted Egypt’s authoritarian president and could fracture the reform movement.

Clinton said she feared similar backsliding elsewhere in the Mideast…” Read more.

Muslims Attack Christian Village in Pakistan After Christians Accused of ‘Blasphemy’ and ‘Desecrating the Koran’

By Jibran Khan – “Gurjarnwala (AsiaNews) – Hundreds of Muslims attacked the Christian village of Khokarki this morning a few miles from the city of Gujranwala (Punjab), forcing its inhabitants to flee. According to AsiaNews sources, anonymous for security reasons, the attack took place following a dispute between Christian Mushtag gill and some local Muslims, who had accused the man and his son of blasphemy.

Mushtaq, 60, and his son, are accused of having desecrated the Koran. The police arrested them yesterday, after complaints of some Muslims who claim to have found torn pages of the Qu’ran in a bag hidden near the home of two Christians.” Read more.

FBI Counter-Terror Official: Al Qaeda ‘Thrives’ After Dictators Fall

By Lee Ferran – “On the same day reports emerged of a new al Qaeda video that praised the revolutions sweeping the Arab world, one the U.S.’s top counter-terror officials warned the terror organization ‘thrives’ in the political unrest that follows.

‘The governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen have drastically changed in the last six months,’ FBI Assistant Director of Counter-Terrorism Mark Giuliano said Thursday. ‘They are now led by transitional or interim governments, military regimes, or democratic alliances with no established track record on counterterrorism efforts. Al Qaeda thrives in such conditions and countries of weak governance and political instability — countries in which governments may be sympathetic to their campaign of violence.'” Read more.

Radioactivity Rises in Sea Off Japan Nuclear Plant

By MARI YAMAGUCHI – “TOKYO (AP) – Levels of radioactivity have risen sharply in seawater near a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in northern Japan, signaling the possibility of new leaks at the facility, the government said Saturday.

The announcement came after a magnitude-5.9 earthquake jolted Japan on Saturday morning, hours after the country’s nuclear safety agency ordered plant operators to beef up their quake preparedness systems to prevent a recurrence of the nuclear crisis.

… The level of radioactive iodine-131 spiked to 6,500 times the legal limit, according to samples taken Friday, up from 1,100 times the limit in samples taken the day before. Levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 rose nearly fourfold.” Read more.

Christian Beheaded by Islamists, More Face a Menacing Upsurge in Attacks Across the World

“Recent incidents of brutal anti-Christian violence and persecution suggest that vulnerable believers are facing a menacing upsurge in such attacks across the world.

For example, in Afghanistan the Muslim Taliban have beheaded an Afghan Christian, Abdul Latif, in Herat Province. A video of the murder sent to Barnabas Aid shows one of the killers saying:

All praise be to our creator almighty god that he helped and blessed the holy warriors … so that we can implement the commandment of god on this infidel … so that he is punished according to his wrong deed, he is punished according to the commandment of god so that it is a warning to other infidels.

They shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘god is great’) over and over again during the beheading, and they bring an execution notice to hang on the wall.”  Read more.

Texas Wildfires Continue Widespread Destruction, Evacuations

“GRAHAM, Texas – Wildfires sweeping across hundreds of thousands of acres in parched Texas killed a firefighter, forced hundreds of evacuations — including an entire town — and destroyed dozens of homes on Friday, officials said.

Strong winds were fueling fires that spanned about 655 square miles, according to the Texas Forest Service. Some of the fires have been burning for a week or more, including three in West Texas that have charred a combined 400,000 acres.”  Read more.

Solar Activity Heats Up

“… The pot is starting to boil. ‘Finally,’ says Fisher, ‘we are beginning to see some action.’

As 2011 unfolds, sunspots have returned and they are crackling with activity. On February 15th and again on March 9th, Earth orbiting satellites detected a pair of “X-class” solar flares–the most powerful kind of x-ray flare. The last such eruption occurred back in December 2006.

Another eruption on March 7th hurled a billion-ton cloud of plasma away from the sun at five million mph (2200 km/s). The rapidly expanding cloud wasn’t aimed directly at Earth, but it did deliver a glancing blow to our planet’s magnetic field. The off-center impact on March 10th was enough to send Northern Lights spilling over the Canadian border into US states such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.”  Read more.

‘Million of Martyrs are Marching to Jerusalem’ and ‘Here We Come’: Protesters in Egypt Call for Jewish Genocide

By Roee Nahmias – “Hundreds of Egyptians protested Thursday evening in front of the Israeli consulate in the coastal city of Alexandria. Egyptian security forces were deployed in the area and blocked entry into the consulate building.

The protesters waved Palestinian flags and called to expel the Israeli ambassador and open the Rafah crossing at the border with the Gaza Strip.

Demonstrators held signs reading ‘Gaza, my only love’, ‘Million of martyrs are marching to Jerusalem’ and ‘Here we come’ – written in Hebrew.

The crowds also called to launch a ‘third intifada’ on May 15, as initially stated on the popular Facebook page, which stirred controversy in Israel.”  Read more.

Pro-Palestinian Activist from Italy Tortured and Murdered … by Palestinians

“Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni, who worked for Palestinian freedom and rights, was kidnapped in Gaza sometime in the last 24 to 48 hours.

He was then terrorized and beaten, as could be seen from a videotape showing him blindfolded. The videotape, which had an Islamist song soundtrack and an Arabic-language commentary scrolling beside Vittorio’s image, showed a forearm reaching over and roughly grabbing Vittorio’s hair to pull his head up for better display to the camera. Red contusions and blood were visible above and below his right eye. His eyes were tightly covered with strips of black adhesive tape pressing tightly across his face and around his head.”  Read more.

Earthquakes Cut Power in New Zealand, Rattle Windows in Australia

“BRISBANE, Australia – Moderate earthquakes rattled parts of Australia and New Zealand on Saturday, including the devastated city of Christchurch where power was cut to thousands of homes, officials said.

No major damage was reported from either quake, and no tsunami warning was issued.

The magnitude-5.2 quake that struck Christchurch was far less powerful than one that levelled office blocks and homes in the New Zealand city on Feb. 22, killing at least 169 people and devastating the downtown area.”  Read more.

At Least 17 Dead as Severe Storms Hit Deep South

“Vicious storms smacked the Deep South and toppled trees like dominoes as tornadoes howled through towns. Seven deaths were reported Friday in Alabama, Fox News has learned, including a man killed when the storm tossed a mobile home nearly a quarter of a mile across a state highway.

Combined with earlier reported fatalities in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi, the confirmed death toll had risen to 17 by early Saturday — the deadliest storm of the season so far.”  Read more.