US, Taliban resume talks on ending war…
June 30, 2019
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted that the “seventh round of talks between US representatives and the negotiation team of the Islamic Emirate have begun in Doha.” The talks mark the seventh round of negotiations aimed at ending America's longest war...
A potential deal would see the US agree to withdraw its troops after more than 17 years in Afghanistan. In return the Taliban would guarantee the country never again became a safe haven for violent extremist groups, as happened with Al-Qaeda before the September 11, 2001 attacks. The negotiations have so far centered on four issues -- counter-terrorism, the foreign troop presence, an intra-Afghan dialogue and a permanent ceasefire...
Leading U.S. lawmakers and government investigators suggest that Christians are now the world’s most persecuted religious group amid reports of mass killings and other attacks in China, Nigeria, Iran, and other nations…
June 30, 2019
From North Korea, viewed by advocacy group Open Doors USA as the worst country for Christians, to Syria, where Christian minorities were viciously targeted by Islamic State militants, the June 27 hearing offered a global overview on persecution. It also examined sources of anti-Christian bias and American policy responses.
Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, who heads the U.S. State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, also expressed his worries about the reported repression of Christians.
Citing a recent study by U.S. thinktank Pew, Brownback noted that, “Christians face the most widespread harassment of any religious group, targeted in 144 countries globally.”...
Burkini Dispute Shuts Down Public Pools In One French Town…
June 30, 2019
Reviving a three-year old debate over what constitutes appropriate swimwear for women at the beach, a French city shut down its only public pools after Muslim women attempted to swim wearing burkinis despite a ban on them in the city. The city of Grenoble in southeastern France closed two municipal pools this week after Muslim women went swimming twice in the city’s pools wearing burkinis as a form of civil disobedience...
“Freedom of conscience. Free access to public services. #burkini” the group said in a Tweet, with a photo of burkini and swimsuit clad men and women in a pool in Grenoble on June 23. The women were fined roughly $40 by officials when they exited the pool...“I choose to dress this way because it gives me freedom... one woman said."...
According to a 2017 Pew study, France has the highest percentage of Muslims of any country in Europe, in large part due to an influx of migrants over the past several years.