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WASHINGTON, DC – President Donald Trump signed a law on Tuesday combatting genocide of Christians in the Middle East, legislation supported by the Knights of Columbus and a broad array of faith-based organizations. Christians are being systematically wiped out in Syria and Iraq, along with other religious minorities in parts of the Middle East. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and former Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) spearheaded the passage of H.R. 390, the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2018, which the president signed in an Oval Office ceremony. Both congressmen stood with the president as he signed the...

The Strasbourg shooter has been identified as Chérif Chekkat, a 29-year-old man born in France who has a long criminal history. Having been convicted 27 times for robbery and other crimes, Chekkat was sent to prison between 2013 and 2015. That’s where he became radicalized and was placed on a watch list by French authorities. From

Last Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party voted down a motion to freeze funding for the Palestinian Authority until it stops its “pay to slay” imbursements to terrorists and their families. The motion stated that “with the payments, the PA knowingly and willingly supports terror against Israel and makes this a worthy financial business.” But Merkel’s party wasn’t moved. One day later, a Palestinian terror attack seriously wounded a pregnant woman. The baby, who was delivered in an emergency procedure, held out for a few days and died on Wednesday. In October during a visit to...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday used a terror attack at a famous Christmas market in a small, scenic town in France on Tuesday night to once again argue for more funding for U.S. border security - despite no evidence of links between terror attacks in the U.S. and illegal immigration over the southern border. His call came a day after he threatened to shut down the government if he doesn't get $5 billion for a border wall. "Another very bad terror attack in France," Trump tweeted. "We are going to strengthen our borders even more. Chuck and Nancy must give...

THE Pakistani man who brutally stabbed to death a Dublin-born lecturer outside a university in France this week has claimed the Irishman "insulted" the prophet Muhammad. English language teacher John Dowling, 66, was knifed 13 times outside Pôle Universitaire Léonard de Vinci in northwest Paris as he left for lunch on Wednesday. Now 'Alli R.' – the 37-year-old former student student under arrest for the killing – has confessed that he held a personal grudge against the teacher after being kicked out for failing exams last year. Catherine Denis, the Nanterre prosecutor involved in the case, said Ali harboured...

The young 29 year old of North African descent, but born in the French city, fired at a Christmas market. He later collided with the security forces. He is wounded. Six injured are in serious condition. Cherif, 29 years old, born in Strasbourg, but of North African origins, the attacker who killed three people last night in the French city and wounded 12 others. Cherif was reportedly radicalized during one of his periods in prisons and was listed as dangerous on police records.  In fact security forces had wanted to arrest him just yesterday morning for involvement in a robbery...

Several people have been wounded in a shooting incident in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, police say. The French Interior Ministry confirmed a "serious public security incident" in the city and urged residents to stay indoors. The shooting is said to have happened close to a Christmas market in one of the central squares, Place Kleber. One report citing the French fire department said one person had been killed, but this was not confirmed. Security official have cordoned off the area and trams have been stopped, according to reports. Local journalist Bruno Poussard wrote on Twitter that there had...

OSLO (AFP) - Yazidi activist Nadia Murad, a survivor of sex slavery by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), implored the global community to help free hundreds of women and girls still held by the militants in her Nobel acceptance speech on Monday (Dec 10), saying the world must protect her people. "The protection of the Yazidis and all vulnerable communities around the world is the responsibility of the international community," Ms Murad told the ceremony in Oslo.The 25-year-old shares the Nobel Peace Prize with Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege, who has spent more than two decades treating appalling...

ISIS release pictures of their new gold coins they say will 'break capitalist enslavement' - so why are they still paying their deranged gunmen in US dollars? ISIS have released a new hour long video, showing off their latest propaganda tool - their very own coin currency. The video, which includes a dreary and distorted history of world economics, shows the smelting of gold, silver and copper coins. Dramatised by clips from Hollywood war films, the film accuses the US of 'confiscating Americans real wealth through an executive decree' with the introduction of the Gold Reserve Act in 1934. Yet...

The Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety and the Pittsburgh police are investigating the distribution of anti-Semitic pamphlets in the city’s neighborhoods, The Hill reported on Sunday. “The Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police are aware of and are investigating the dissemination of anti-Semitic pamphlets in Pittsburgh neighborhoods, including Squirrel Hill,” the department said on Twitter. “Such hate-filled material will not be tolerated in Pittsburgh — not by residents, city officials nor Law enforcement,” the statement added. “The Department of Public Safety assures the community that we are taking this matter very seriously and will follow...

“I can’t breathe” were the final words uttered by Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he was set upon by a Saudi hit squad at the country’s consulate in Istanbul, a source briefed on the investigation into his killing told CNN on Sunday. The source, who has read a translated transcript of an audio recording of Khashoggi’s painful last moments, said it was clear that the killing on October 2 was no botched rendition attempt, but the execution of a premeditated plan to murder the journalist. During the course of the gruesome scene, the source describes Khashoggi struggling against a group...

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was livid last month when he summoned top military officials to a video conference at the Pentagon to press them about an investigation into a 2017 ambush in Niger that killed four Americans on a Green Beret team. His anger, Pentagon officials said, came from seeing news reports that junior officers were being reprimanded for the botched Niger mission while the officers directly above them were not. Days later, a senior officer who had largely escaped punishment was told he would be reprimanded. Another senior officer’s actions before and around the time of the mission were...

International human rights attorney Amal Clooney accused President Trump of putting the lives of journalists in danger with his rhetoric in a speech at the United Nations Correspondents Association Awards this week. She said that journalists were “under attack,” in “autocratic regimes from North Korea to the Philippines to Hungary.” “The U.S. president has given such regimes a green light and labeled the press in this country the ‘enemy of the people,’” she argued. President Trump has used and tweeted the “enemy of the people” label about media he considers to be “fake news.” “And of course, two months ago,...

A new German-Franco document that was presented on Thursday, states that EU countries that refuse to take refugees should pay to escape their responsibility, Reuters reports.The measure is seen as a form of “alternative solidarity” in which EU member states pay into the EU’s budget for developmental projects in Africa.The document aims to prevent renewed conflicts over taking migrants. By paying off their responsibility to take migrants, EU rows with countries that don’t want to take migrants or refugees could be prevented. Among other things, the document does say that a situation should be avoided in which all countries prefer...

The passing of President George H. W. Bush and the ruckus caused by the Yellow Vests in France make this a good time to review the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait. Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait and as a deterrent to those who might oppose him, he threatened environmental warfare. This threat took advantage of the concerns first aired by a group known as TTAPS, an acronym of the names of the authors, Turco, Toon, Ackerman, Pollack and Sagan. They had postulated that a nuclear exchange would induce a “Nuclear Winter�. The TTAPS climate model was a...

President Trump marked Hanukkah Thursday evening at a White House reception that included eight survivors of the Holocaust. In an East Room event, Mr. Trump recalled the fatal mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in October, calling it a “sinister anti-Semitic attack.” “In the aftermath of that wicked assault, we reaffirmed our solemn duty to confront anti-Semitism everywhere it occurs,” the president said. “We must stamp out this vile hatred from the world.” The president then introduced eight Holocaust survivors, calling the era “history’s darkest hour.” He told the survivors that they inspire the world with their courage,...

A U.S. attempt to get the United Nations to condemn violence by Palestinian militant group Hamas for the first time failed on Thursday because the draft resolution fell short of votes needed in the General Assembly. The resolution required two-thirds support and while Assembly resolutions are non-binding, they can carry political weight. The U.S. text received 87 votes in favor, 58 against, 32 abstentions and 16 countries did not vote. In an earlier procedural move requested by Kuwait, the 193-member body narrowly voted to require two-thirds support and not a simple majority for adoption of the draft resolution. Outgoing U.S....

Murtaza Ahmadi went viral in 2016 after pictures of him emerged wearing a makeshift Lionel Messi shirt fashioned out of a plastic bag. The Afghan boy’s humble tribute to his Barcelona idol touched the hearts of many, including, it seems, Messi himself. Murtaza would receive a package from the player via UNICEF, which included a real signed shirt, and he later even met his hero in a friendly played in Qatar. But those moments of joy have been replaced by dark times. The seven-year-old has been forced to flee his home after receiving death threats. His family say his fame...

China is demanding the release of telecoms giant Huawei's chief financial officer, who has been detained in Canada. Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company's founder, could face extradition to the US. She was arrested in Vancouver on 1 December, but the news was not made public at her request. The charges remain unknown but the US has been probing Huawei over possible violation of sanctions against Iran. China says her detention is possibly a rights abuse. Ms Meng has sought a publication ban on the details of the arrest, which has been granted by the courts. Huawei said it...

ERBIL — US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey urged other countries to share a larger burden in facilitating the conditions for peace in Syria, while floating the idea of the United Nations enforcing a no-fly zone for parts of Syria. "Remember we were present not in northern Iraq but over northern Iraq in Operation Northern Watch for 13 years. That can be a UN force," he said on Tuesday, referring to the joint US-UK-Turkey no-fly zone in the late 1990s that protected Kurdish areas from the air force of Saddam Hussein. Jeffrey briefed reporters in Washington, D.C., after...