Conflict/War

A missionary couple who founded a church in Monterrey, Mexico have been found slain in their home and were buried on Thursday as dozens of gatherers paid their respects.

John and Wanda Casias, originally from Texas, were found by their son, Shawn Casias, on Tuesday, who discovered that someone had broken into their home, ransacked their possessions, and left the missionaries strangled. His mother had a gash from a blunt object on her head and an electrical cord around her neck, while his father, discovered a few hours later in a small storage room, had also been strangled with an electrical cord, the Associated Press reported.

Apparently, a number of valuables had also been taken from the home, including a couple of computers, a plasma television, a safe that had been chiseled out of the wall and their Chevrolet Suburban car. more >>

A Bible college in Sudan functioning under Franklin Graham's missionary ministry, Samaritan's Purse, was bombed Wednesday and the ministry alleges the attack was launched by the Sudanese air force.

The Heiban Bible College in the Nuba Mountains in southern Sudan was hit by eight bombs in the afternoon local time, on the first day of school, as the campus was full of students, teachers, and teacher's families, the ministry said. No one was injured. Two of the bombs landed in the compound and destroyed two buildings. There were also grass fires inside and outside the campus, workers said. The full extent of damages is yet to be determined.

"We have been working for years in Sudan," Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham said in a Wednesday statement. "Today our Bible school in Heiban in the Nuba Mountains was bombed by the Sudanese Air Force. No one was killed or hurt, but buildings were destroyed. Please pray for the safety of believers, and that God would intervene." more >>

The three men connected with the 2010 Our Lady of Salvation church attack in central Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 52 people, have had their death sentences confirmed.

They were initially sentenced to death on Aug. 2, 2011, with an accomplice receiving 20 years in prison, and now the Iraqi appeals court confirmed that the men will be executed for their crimes, AFP reported.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an affiliate of al-Qaida, accepted responsibility for the attacks, where militants stormed the Our Lady of Salvation church on Oct. 31, 2010, and killed 44 worshipers, two priests and seven security guards, as well as wounding dozens of others. more >>

Three Americans are hiding in the U.S. Embassy in Cairo fearing that Egyptian authorities are looking to put them under arrest.

The U.S. citizens, one of whom is International Republican Institute Egypt Country Director Sam LaHood, have said they were "afraid of their lives" and have been prevented from flying out of Egypt, a CNN report revealed.

Egyptian security forces are reportedly looking for them after raiding the offices of several non-governmental organizations last month looking at groups that may have received illegal foreign funding and may have been operating without government licenses. more >>

Aid agencies are expressing concern that up to half a million refugees could be fleeing Sudan into South Sudan in the coming months if Khartoum does not extend humanitarian agencies access to its people in need.

A combination of wide-scale food shortages and conflict are pushing Sudanese populations living in the southern Blue Nile and South Kordofan areas across the border and into the newly established, but equally volatile, Republic of South Sudan.

An estimated 80,000 people have already fled Sudan, and Ramiro Lopes da Silva, Executive Director of the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP), suggested Monday that up to 500,000 Sundance citizens could end up fleeing south in a "worst-case scenario" outcome. more >>

As the eradication of Islamic extremism in Nigeria appears to lag, and the animosity between the Muslim population of the North and mostly southern Christian population fails to cease, many observers call for the Christian community to put a greater pressure on the Nigerian government.

The international Christian community can do a lot to help, by pressuring the Nigerian government to take decisive action to prevent more of the religious violence, Regional Manager for Africa at International Christian Concern (ICC), Jonathan Racho, told The Christian Post recently. ICC is a watchdog group monitoring global Christian communities for instances of persecution.

"At this point Nigerian Christians need a lot of help," Racho said. "People from all over the world should put pressure on their governments so that their governments put pressure on the Nigerian government. The international community needs to push for change in Nigeria." more >>