Urban Christian News: Middle East Archives

Syrian Christians Live In Uneasy Alliance with Bashar Assad's Regime

By UCN on May 16, 2012 8:53 AM

A Syrian Christian man stands at the entrance to a monastery in Mishtaya, Syria on Dec. 25, 2011. (AFP/Getty Images)

Hani Sarhan is a Christian who says none of his relatives works with Bashar Assad's regime or has anything to do with it.

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Iran Hangs Man Convicted of Killing Nuclear Scientist

By UCN on May 15, 2012 12:39 PM

Majid Jamali Fashi, left, appears at his trial at the revolutionary court in Tehran on August 23, 2011. (Raheb Homavandi / Reuters, file)

Iran has hanged a man it said was an agent for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad whom it convicted of killing one of its nuclear scientists in 2010, Iranian state media reported on Tuesday.

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Dozens More Syrians Die After Two Bomb Blasts In Damascus

By UCN on May 10, 2012 1:12 PM

Smoke rising from burning cars at the scene of two bomb blasts in Al Kazaz, a residential area in Damascus, Syria, on May 10, 2012. (SANA via EPA)

Two suicide car bombers killed 55 people and wounded 372 in Damascus on Thursday, state media said, in the deadliest attacks in the Syrian capital since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 14 months ago.

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In Letter, Imprisoned Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani Says He Has Surrendered to God's Will

By UCN on May 9, 2012 5:24 PM

pastor-youcef-nadarkhani-shown-in-an-iranian-PRISON.jpg

I have received a letter from brother Youcef Nadarkhani regarding his current condition, his thoughts about his persecution, and his response towards the burning of Qurans.

Continue reading In Letter, Imprisoned Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani Says He Has Surrendered to God's Will.

Kuwait's Parliament Considers Making Insults to God, Prophet Mohammed Punishable by Death

By UCN on May 9, 2012 2:27 PM

The Kuwaiti Parliament apparently thinks that bringing development to Kuwait does not come from job opportunities, but rather from banning swimsuits.

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Artifacts Shed Light On Biblical King David

By UCN on May 9, 2012 8:19 AM

Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shows off an ark, or stone shrine model, that was found during excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, an ancient settlement southwest of Jerusalem. (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

An archaeological dig near Goliath's biblical hometown has yielded evidence of Judean religious practices 3,000 years ago, pointing up fresh historical connections to the stories of King David and King Solomon.

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Al Qaeda Plot to Bomb Plane Bound for U. S. Thwarted

By UCN on May 8, 2012 6:43 PM

Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, a bomb maker. (Yemen Interior Ministry, via Associated Press)

The Central Intelligence Agency, working closely with foreign partners, thwarted a plot by the branch of Al Qaeda in Yemen to smuggle an experimental bomb aboard an airliner bound for the United States, intelligence officials said on Monday.

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Syrian Conflict Transforming Into a Guerrilla War, 1.5 Million Syrians at Risk

By UCN on May 8, 2012 1:06 PM

A Syrian man shot while smuggling medicine over the Lebanese border is carried into a field hospital in Qusayr, nine miles from Homs in restive central Syria on Monday. (AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

World powers share a "profound concern" that Syria is descending into civil war, international envoy Kofi Annan said Tuesday, but nations remain committed to his six-point peace plan and have pledged to deploy 300 cease-fire monitors there by the end of the month.

Continue reading Syrian Conflict Transforming Into a Guerrilla War, 1.5 Million Syrians at Risk.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Introduces Unity Government

By UCN on May 8, 2012 12:59 PM

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Kadima party leader Shaul Mofaz shake hands before holding a joint press conference announcing the new coalition government in Jerusalem, Tuesday, May 8, 2012. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Now backed by a parliamentary supermajority, Benjamin Netanyahu has tremendous room to maneuver on Israel's most pressing issues: peace with the Palestinians, possible war with Iran, and the growing rift at home between religious and secular Jews.

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Iranian Protestant Pastor Sentenced to Six Years

By UCN on May 5, 2012 5:45 PM

A supporter of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad displays her hand painted with the Iranian flag, also used as a sign for his party, at his final election campaign rally, on Azadi street in western Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

After detaining 33-year-old Christian pastor Farshid Fathi for 16 months without indictment, judicial authorities finally sentenced him to six years in prison in April 2012. Fathi's indictment is part of a continuing pattern of discrimination and prosecution of Christian converts in Iran.

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