For Your Information

November 9, 2012

Reuters published the following article written by Aaron Maasho on November 9, 2012.  

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A U.S. panel on religious freedom accused the Ethiopian government of trying to tighten control of its Muslim minority amid mass protests, saying it is risking greater destabilization of the Horn of Africa region.

For Your Information

November 9, 2012

The following article written by Charlie Butts appeared on OneNewsNow.com on November 9, 2012. 

A United Nations official has delivered a firm statement on international religious freedom with which USCIRF agrees.

Elizabeth Cassidy of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) was present when Heiner Bielefeldt, the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, delivered the report to the General Assembly.

For Your Information 

November 9, 2012

McClatchy Newspapers published the following article written by Hannah Allam and Jonathan S. Landay on November 7, 2012. 

Foreign policy wasn’t the issue that got President Barack Obama re-elected Tuesday, but with upheaval in the Middle East, a war to end in Afghanistan and strained relations with superpowers Russia and China, it’s sure to play an outsized role in shaping his legacy as he enters a hard-won second term.

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November 6, 2012 

The following article written by Eric Schulzke appeared in Deseret News on November 6, 2012. 

When a punk rock group got sent to prison for a protest at a Moscow cathedral earlier this year, Katrina Lantos Swett was an ocean away— but not all that surprised. To her, the harsh reaction reflected a tight link between the Putin regime and the Russian Orthodox Church.

The following article, written by Lucy Provan, appeared in Daily News Egypt on October 14, 2012 at http://dailynewsegypt.com/2012/10/14/bahais-in-egypt/.

Baha’s cheerful smiling face belies his family history. When Baha’s father, a Quranic sheikh in a village in Upper Egypt, converted to the Baha’i faith, their neighbours accepted his choice and the small community lived in peace. This changed early one morning in 2001, when armed men in army fatigues took away his father, mother, two uncles’ and one uncle’s wife. His father was sent to Tora prison for nine months, his mother for seven.

The following article, written by Gary Feuerberg, appeared in The Epoch Times on September 27, 2012 at http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/fighting-for-ones-belief-295651.html.

The following article, written by Hannah Allam, appeared in McClatchy, Seattle Times, Myrtle Beach Online, One News Page and QWT News on September 26, 2012 at http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/09/26/169777/uns-focus-on-middle-east-eclipses.html.

The following article appeared in Voice of America on September 22, 2012 at http://editorials.voa.gov/content/no-new-day-for-irans-bahai-leaders--146313755/1493128.html.

The spring festival of Nowruz, celebrating rebirth and new beginnings, is now over. But there was no “new day” for the seven Baha’i leaders who languish in prison in Iran. Instead, April 1, 2012 marked the 10,000th day the two women and five men have collectively spent behind bars.

The following article, written by Jill Nelson, appeared in World on September 21, 2012 at www.worldmag.com/2012/09/wreckage_by_night/page1. 

It was in the early hours of the morning on Sept. 6 when Pastor Vasili Romanyuk’s phone rang. A group of men backed by local police were demolishing his Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church, housed in a three-story building nestled in a Moscow suburb. As word spread, congregants arrived at the scene hoping to save the building, but their efforts were futile. By dawn the church was in ruins and some of its most valuable contents were missing. 

The following article, written by Ashley Fantz, appeared in CNN, WTVR- CBS 6 and Catholic News on September 20, 2012 at http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/20/spike-in-religious-restrictions-in-u-s-and-world-pew-center-finds/.