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      ‘Shhh or I’ll shoot you’: family of jailed Christian woman tell of Israeli raid

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 13 April - 11:00

    Troops took Layan Nasir away at gunpoint from her home in the West Bank and her parents haven’t been told where she is

    The Israeli troops arrived at about 4am last Saturday to take 23-year-old Layan Nasir away at gunpoint from her parents home in the West Bank town of Birzeit. There was no arrest warrant or charges, and her parents haven’t been notified where she is held.

    The only Palestinian Christian woman currently in Israeli detention, her case has been raised by the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. “I’m shocked and deeply concerned,” he said in a post on X. “Please pray for Layan’s safety and swift release.”

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      Argentina court blames Iran for deadly 1994 bombing of Jewish center

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 12 April - 15:52

    The attack, blamed on a suicide bomber, killed 85 people, wounded 300 and devastated Latin America’s biggest Jewish community

    A new ruling by Argentina ’s highest criminal court has blamed Iran for the fatal 1994 attack against a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, declaring it a “crime against humanity” in a decision that paves the way for victims to seek justice.

    That massive blast at the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), was blamed on a suicide bomber driving a stolen van loaded with explosives. It killed 85 people, wounded 300 and devastated Latin America’s biggest Jewish community.

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      Ten years on from Chibok, what happened to the 276 Nigerian girls snatched from their school?

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 11 April - 07:00

    While some were freed or escaped, the authorities’ waning interest and ongoing mass abductions by militants has left campaigners and families of missing pupils in despair

    When her Boko Haram captors told Margret Yama she would be going home, she thought it was a trick. She and the other girls kidnapped from their school in Chibok , in north-east Nigeria’s Borno state, had been held for three years and had been taunted before about the possibility of release.

    Conditions where they were being held in Sambisa Forest were harsh. Food and water were limited, the work was hard and the surveillance from the Islamist militants was suffocating. But then came the day in May 2017 when the girls were escorted to a Red Cross convoy on the edges of the forest.

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      British Muslims describe Eid festivities as ‘heavy’ due to Gaza conflict

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Wednesday, 10 April - 17:41

    Thousands of Muslims in Rafah attend Eid prayers outside ruins of mosque

    Millions of Muslims across the UK celebrated Eid on Wednesday after the first sighting of the new crescent moon, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

    The Baitul Futuh mosque in London, one of the largest in Europe, welcomed more than 5,000 people to pray and celebrate the three-day festival, one of the most important holidays in the Islamic calendar.

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      Crisps as communion: Italian TV advert accused of blasphemy

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 9 April - 13:59

    Viewers association has called for Amica Chips to suspend the campaign over a lack of respect towards practising Catholics

    An Italian TV advert that depicts nuns eating crisps instead of altar bread while receiving holy communion has been accused of blasphemy by an outraged association of Catholic TV viewers.

    The 30-second advert for Amica Chips – one of Italy’s top crisps brands – takes place in a monastery and opens with nuns preparing to receive holy communion. Their mother superior realises that the tabernacle is empty of hosts, and so fills it with crisps.

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      On Fire review – smoke-filled disaster movie asks God to help out with climate crisis

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 9 April - 10:00 · 1 minute

    Co-director and star Peter Facinelli must rescue his family trapped by a wildfire, but while he digs deep to save them the film dodges the really big question raised here

    It is a truth almost universally acknowledged that eco-thrillers are films that preach to the converted. So, fair dos to this environmental drama for also preaching to another cohort of the converted: Christians. The script shoehorns in a few prayer scenes to appeal to viewers of faith – though cynics might think it is a shameless attempt to cover all audience bases. The story follows a family caught up in a wildfire raging out of control in California, shot in a throwback style to vintage disaster movies of the 80s – though clearly on a tight budget that really shows in some cheap smoke-machine effects.

    Dave (played by co-director Peter Facinelli) is a builder who lives with his eight-months-pregnant wife Sarah (Fiona Dourif) and their teenage son in a house in the California forest; his elderly dad is in a mobile home in the garden. None of them are too concerned when a wildfire tears through a neighbouring community. Still, their home isn’t insured, so Dave drives off to the hardware store for supplies. He’s out when the evacuation order is issued for their area. Somehow Dave must dodge the police roadblock to reach his family and get them to safety (while finding time to squeeze in the odd plea to Him upstairs for help).

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      Vatican calls gender fluidity and surrogacy threats to human dignity

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 8 April - 15:12

    Infinite Dignity declaration reaffirms church’s position on gender reassignment, abortion and euthanasia

    The Vatican has described the belief in gender fluidity as “a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God”, as it released an updated declaration of what the Catholic church regards as threats to human dignity.

    The new Dignitas infinita (Infinite Dignity) declaration released by the Vatican’s doctrinal office on Monday after five years in the making reiterates Pope Francis’s previous criticism of what he has called an “ugly ideology of our time”.

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      UK churches keen to host heavy metal bands after duet with organist is a hit

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 6 April - 15:06

    After ‘bonkers gig’ at Huddersfield town hall paired doom metal bands with pipe organist, churches are keen to get in on the act

    It was a “bonkers gig”, pairing heavy metal with a pipe organ – a musical curiosity that the bands thought would surely seldom be repeated, if ever.

    But Pantheïst and Arð, the doom metals bands who performed the concert at Huddersfield town hall last year, have been inundated with requests to repeat the performance – with churches leading the way.

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