Fox News is reporting that Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, the Vatican’s observer to the United Nations, will be testifying before Congress on the level of Christian persecution in the Middle East and around the world.
Chuillikatt is expected to focus on the Middle East according to prepared testimony.
“No Christian is exempt,” the text reads, “whether or not he or she is Arab.”
The hearing before a House subcommittee will be focusing on the underreporting of assaults on Christians, the targeting of Christian communities and areas in major cities along with the need to protect human rights for Christians.
The hearing will receive information on kidnappings of women and children by Islamic militants in Syria as well as beheadings of Christians who refuse to convert to Islam at the demand of the terrorists.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced Friday that all of Syria’s unfilled canisters for use in chemical weapons has been destroyed.
The announcement marks a major step in the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons abilities.
The destruction of the canisters were near the city of Homs which had been inaccessible due to fighting from the country’s civil war.
The experts from the OPCW also verified that buildings used to construct chemical weapons have been partially destroyed. The buildings will be completely razed.
The joint OPCW-UN team said they plan to remove most of toxic materials from Syria by the end of the year to meet the mid-2014 deadline for destruction of all weapons.
An official with the United Nations says evidence is growing against Syrian President Bashir al-Assad.
Navi Pillay, head of the U.N.’s human rights office, said a panel investigating the abuses in the Syrian civil war has found “massive evidence” showing the crimes were initiated at the highest levels of the Syrian government including the head of state.
Pillay later denied knowing the names on the investigator’s secret list of suspects but her remarks about a head of state being involved goes against all previous U.N. investigations into war crimes. Investigators, who work independently of Pillay’s office, have previously said evidence points to high levels of the government but did not implicate al-Assad.
The U.N. Human Rights Office says that accountability for war crimes should be part of any agreement ending the civil war.
The question about al-Assad remaining in power is a point of contention between the United States and Russia as the superpowers work to bring the sides of the war to the peace table.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his housing minister to take a second look at plans to build more than 20,000 new homes in the West Bank.
Netanyahu said the move would create an unnecessary confrontation with the international community at the same time the Israeli government is asking the west to not make a deal easing sanctions on Iran.
The Palestinians said they would appeal any construction by the Israelis to the U.N. and that they would immediately end peace talks.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last week said any settlement activity by Israel would be “illegitimate” and state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. would be seeking further explanation from the Israelis on the construction issue.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced Thursday that all the equipment in Syria that could manufacture chemical weapons has been destroyed.
The U.N. mandated deadline for the destruction of the equipment was Friday.
The inspections of all locations were determined to be completed after equipment at two sites that inspectors could not reach were confirmed to be taken to sites where the inspectors could see them destroyed.
The inspections and the destruction of equipment was part of an agreement at the UN that stopped the U.S. from striking militarily over the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons on civilians.
Syria has until the end of June 2014 to destroy their chemical weapon stockpile.
A large scale military operation has been launched in northern Mali in an attempt to keep Islamic terrorists from being able to regroup and attack the country’s government.
French, Malian and United Nations forces are working through the north of the country after a series of terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The terror group last launched a homicide bombing of a United Nations Stabilization Mission at a Malian military base. Civilians and two Chadian peacekeepers were killed.
A U.N. spokesman said the offensive against the terrorists is aimed at preventing a resurgence of the terrorist group. French troops drove the terrorists out of the major cities in northern Mali earlier this year just before the terrorists could attack the nation’s capital.
French military staff said that today’s action was the first major combined effort of the three military groups. They also said this was the first in a regular series of actions that will be taken to keep the terrorist group from being able to establish any kind of permanent influence in the region.
Chemical weapons inspectors in Syria for the dismantling of that country’s supplies have found themselves blocked from parts of their mission due to the ongoing violence.
Over the weekend, mortar attacks took place near the hotel where inspectors are staying and several IEDs were detonated in vehicles during visits to inspection sites.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says this is the first time their inspectors have been unable to complete a scheduled visit.
The OPCW is being asked for the first time in their history to destroy a chemical weapons armory while an active war is taking place within a nation. According to the group’s reports to the UN, nearly half of the 20 sites have been inspected and equipment destroyed.
The UN resolution requires the destruction of all stockpiles by the end of June 2014.
A second team of chemical weapons experts is heading to Syria to boost the efforts to destroy the country’s weapon stockpile.
Under the terms of a UN resolution all chemical weapons mixing and filling equipment in Syria must be destroyed by the beginning of November.
The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the Syrian government has submitted additional information updating the original weapons disclosure. He called the actions a “constructive beginning [of] a long and difficult process.”
Members of the OPCW reported on Sunday that members of the Syrian government were using cutting torches and angle grinders to destroy warheads, aerial bombs and equipment that could mix chemical weapons.
A team of international chemical weapon disarmament experts has arrived in Syria to begin their work on removing the country’s chemical weapon stockpile.
The mission was set up after a joint U.S.-Russia deal supported by the UN.
The experts with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons are tasked to destroy chemical weapons during an active war for the first time. Syria’s foreign minister said that seven of the 19 sites that contain chemical weapons are in active combat areas.
The BBC is reporting that truces between the government and local militia will likely be necessary to reach the seven locations.
The country is believed to possess more than 1,000 tons of chemical weapons. While not confirmed, Syria is believed to also have the extremely deadly VX nerve agent.
The U.S. and Russia reached an agreement on a draft resolution for ridding Syria of chemical weapons and have brought it to the full UN Security Council.
UN diplomats said a vote in the 15-member Security Council could take place on Friday and break a deadlock in the UN over how to deal with Syria. Russia and China have blocked Western-led resolutions against the al-Assad government three times. Continue reading →