Rev Michael Youssef broadcasting on TV in Arab World

  Rev Michael Youssef from Atlanta broadcasts Arabic Christian TV programs to the Arab World on two transponders, namely Hotbird and Nilesat. The channel is called Al Malakoot (the Kingdom) in Arabic.  More information on where this channel and many other Arabic Christians channels can be viewed, can be found HERE

Islamic Republic of Sudan

The Sudanese newspaper Rai al-Shaab (Opinion of the People), owned and controlled by Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, recently published an article that potentially provides new and important insight into Sudan's terrorist ties to Iran. MORE HERE

Egyptian government tries to force Church to change its ethics

The Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt says there is no power on earth that can force it to violate the teachings of the Gospel. This was affirmed in a communiqué responding to an Egyptian High Court ruling that the Church must grant permission to divorced people to marry again.

Egypt only recognizes civil marriage when it is accompanied by a religious marriage.  The Coptic Orthodox Church is continuing with legal appeals to the May 29 decision, according to Bishop Armiya, secretary of Orthodox Pope Shenuda III. The May decision rejected an appeal already presented by the leader of the Coptic Church and reaffirmed a lower court ruling.

The case at hand has been brought to the courts by Hani Wasfi Naguib, a divorced man who wants to re-marry.  "There is no force on earth that can oblige the Church to violate the teachings of the Gospel and the laws of the Church based on 'what God has joined together let no man put asunder,'" the communiqué affirmed. MORE HERE

Roman Catholic Bishops Deplore Mideast Christians’ Plight

In a document presented here on Sunday by Pope Benedict XVI, bishops from across the Middle East called on Christians to become a dynamic minority in a conflict-ridden region and attributed their declining population here to “instability” caused by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Iraq and unrest in Lebanon. It also lamented the rise of “political Islam,” and said Christians suffered in countries where Muslims often “make no distinction between religion and politics.” MORE HERE

Egypt in trouble over Gaza blockade

The silver lining in the tragedy of Israel's brutal raid on the Free Gaza flotilla is a new urgency about lifting the blockade on Gaza and addressing the territory's humanitarian crisis. Calls for the blockade to be lifted have been made in the Arab world, in Europe and even, albeit more timidly, by the Obama administration. But Israel's siege is not the only thing that has been highlighted: the role of Egypt, Tel Aviv's silent partner in the blockade, has also been brought to the fore. This is an uncomfortable development for Egypt, which denies playing any role in the blockade even as it closed its border with Gaza at Rafah since the June, 2007 Hamas takeover.MORE HERE

Next drought in Africa can lead to war over Nile waters

Unless the current standoff between the Nile riparian states is broken to provide for a unified management of the Nile basin for the first time then the next great drought could send the region back to the brink of a water was, predicts The Independent HERE

Bangladeah blocks facebook over blasphemy

Bangladesh says it has blocked the popular social networking website Facebook over a page that urges people to draw images of Islam's prophet Muhammad.  Chief telecommunication regulator Zia Ahmed said Sunday that access to the site has been temporarily blocked because it was publishing caricatures that may hurt the religious sentiments of people in the Muslim-majority nation.

Thousands of Muslims protested in Dhaka last week against what they called the website's "blasphemous content" because of a page called "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" that encouraged users to post images of the prophet.

Pakistan earlier blocked Facebook over the same page.