Christians in North Korea Hold Worship Service with Japanese Visitors

Is this a sign that North Korea is loosening its grip on Christians?

By Elizabeth Shim

Pongsu Church (pictured) hosted visitors from Japan last week, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper reported Monday.

File Photo by KCNA/EPA

Bongsu Church is a Protestant church in the Konguk-dong of the Mangyongdae District of Pyongyang in North Korea. It is one of just a handful churches in the country and one of only two Protestant churches, the other one being Chilgol Church. - Wikipedia

(UPI) -- Christian groups based in Japan recently took part in a state-sanctioned church service in North Korea amid tensions following Pyongyang's multiple rounds of weapons tests.

Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper based in Japan, reported Monday Japan-based organizations Korean Christian Church in Japan and the National Christian Council in Japan visited North Korea from July 27 to Aug. 1.

North Korea has consistently ranked as one of the world's most religiously repressive societies. U.S. nonprofit Open Doors has said the regime ranks number one in the world for religious persecution, a statement Pyongyang has denied.

The delegates met with North Korean members of the Korean Christian Federation and engaged in "deep exchange," the Choson Sinbo said in a report that included photographs of a worship service.

The church service took place at 10 a.m. July 28 at Pongsu Church in Pyongyang, with members of the three organizations in attendance. The church has previously received foreign visitors, including the Rev. Billy Graham.

The North Korean Protestant church's pastor, Song Chol Min, said the gathering signaled progress.

"We passionately welcome our brothers and sisters visiting Pyongyang who come here to worship on the Lord's Day," Song reportedly said.

Participants at the service prayed for peace and unification of the Korean Peninsula, sang hymns, delivered sermons and built new friendships, the Chosun Sinbo said.

Kim Jong-hyun, chairman of KCCJ, said he "felt a familiarity" with the North Korean participants, who "prayed and used the Bible."

"We were moved by their singing of hymns in the same language as ours," said Kim, an ethnic Korean based in Japan.

Japanese Christians, including Takuya Iizuka and Michio Sano, reportedly apologized for Japan's discriminatory practices against Koreans and for the colonial past, according to the report.

Japan's occupation of the Korean Peninsula resulted in Korean migration to Japan, including the recruitment of forced laborers.

Some of the Korean migrants who resettled in Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II, were remembered at a memorial for Korean victims of the atomic bomb, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Monday.

Why So Many of Us Dread the Real Insanity of Sharia Law, As We Should

War on Christianity - Iran To Execute 8 Christians

For Leaving Islam

 Media is silent to avoid damaging Islam's image

The Politics Online

The shari'a regime in Iran cracks down on the Christian minority. 

Security officials from Iran’s Intelligence Ministry raided the homes of eight Iranians converts to Christianity on July 1, in the southern city of Bushehr, carting them off to solitary confinement. 

Under Iranian sharia law Leaving Islam or converting from Islam to Christianity is punishable by death.

Christians in Iran are not allowed to practice their religion publicly. The persecuted Christian minority in Iran are forbidden from sharing their faith with non-Christians. Consequently, church services in Persian (Iran’s national language) are not allowed. 

Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Assyrian community in Iran totaled approximately 200,000 people. However, since then many have fled and in 2015 only 32,000 Assyrians were left in the country, mostly in Tehran. 

Iran is cracking down on its Christian minority, but the media and the UN are silent in order to avoid damaging the image of Islam. 

Since 1979 Khomeini’s regime has executed tens of thousands of Iranians. The regime has killed thousands of Americans. This regime hasn’t changed in 40 years, Germany, Britain and France should join the US and impose sanctions against the sharia regime in Iran.

Three Women Sentenced To 55 Years For

Defying Compulsory Hijab In Iran

Radio Farda

Iranian women’s rights defenders Monireh Arabshahi (Center), Yasaman Aryani (Left) and Mojgan Keshavarz (Right) have been detained in Shahr-e Ray prison, outside Tehran, since April 2019. 

Three women held in custody for "disrespecting compulsory hijab," or the so-called Islamic dress code, have been sentenced to a total of 55 years and six months.

A "Revolutionary Court" in the capital city of Tehran delivered the verdict to Monireh Arabshahi, Yasamin Ariany, and Mojgan Keshavarz who are behind bars in the notorious Qarchak prison.

Arabshahi and Ariany's legal counsel, Amir Raeesian, told Ensaf News website August 1 that if the verdict is upheld, his clients would be sentenced to ten years to serve, each.

In Iran if a prison term is unusually long, a shorter sentence is set to be served. Usually, the shorter sentence to be served is a little more than half of the original long prison term.

In an interview with Radio Farda, Mojgan Keshavarz's attorney, Mohammad Moqimi, also verified the news but said that her client would appeal.

The verdict was delivered to the prisoners in the absence of their lawyers, Human Rights Activists News Agency, HRANA, reported.

The three had been charged with "assembly and collusion to act against national security," "propaganda against the regime," as well as "encouraging and preparing the grounds for corruption and prostitution."

However, Moqimi told Radio Farda that his client, Mojgan Keshavarz, had merely protested compulsory hijab and had nothing to do with other charges claimed by the prosecutor.

Ironically, none of the attorneys were allowed to represent their clients during different stages of issuing the indictment, interrogation, and trial.

Amnesty International (AI) had earlier also protested depriving the accused of the right of having access to legal counsels.

Why Iran's Hardliners Are Tightening Enforcement Of Hijab?

According to AI, "In April 2019, Yasaman Aryani, her mother, Monireh Arabshahi, and Mojgan Keshavarz were all arrested after posting a video that went viral on International Women's Day. In it, they are seen walking without headscarves through a Tehran metro train, handing flowers to female passengers. "The day will come when women are not forced to struggle," Monireh Arabshahi is heard saying while Yasaman Aryani hands a flower to a woman wearing a hijab, saying she hopes to walk side by side in the street one day, "me without the hijab and you with the hijab".

Sources say that because of this video, Yasaman Aryani and Monireh Arabshahi are facing charges that include "spreading propaganda against the system" and "inciting corruption and prostitution."

Furthermore, AI reported that the detained women were under heavy pressure to make self-incriminating testimony in front of TV cameras.

Branch 28 of Tehran's Revolutionary Court that condemned the three is presided by a notorious judge, Mohammad Moqisseh, who is well known for issuing harsh verdicts totally based on the reports compiled by intelligence agents.

Reportedly, while delivering the verdict, Moqisseh told the three, "I will make you suffer!"

Moqisseh is the same judge who on March 11 sentenced the prominent Iranian lawyer and defender of women's rights Nasrin Sotoudeh to nearly forty years.

A day later, Sotoudeh's husband, Reza Khandan, announced that only the longest sentence of the verdicts would be served, which is ten years imprisonment (for "encouraging corruption and debauchery and providing the means").

Iranian women defy threat of decade-long jail sentence by taking photos of themselves without headscarves

‘Women in these videos are braver and angrier than before,’

says Masih Alinejad

Maya Oppenheim Women's Correspondent

The Independent

Wearing the Islamic headscarf is compulsory in public for all women in Iran ( AFP/Getty Images )

Iranian women are sharing videos of themselves removing their headscarves in public, despite a recent ruling they could face 10 years in jail for doing so.

Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and prominent activist based in the US, started a social media campaign in 2014 encouraging women in Iran to share self-portraits without the Islamic veil, which she then goes on to share on her Facebook page called “My Stealthy Freedom”.

Ms Alinejad said campaigners had carried on sending her pictures and videos even after Tehran’s Revolutionary Court ruled they could face up to 10 years in prison on Monday.

“Today I have received lots of videos from inside Iran. And women in these videos are braver and angrier than before,” she said.

Ms Alinejad said Iran’s government was “scared of women practising civil disobedience and engaging in peaceful protest”.

Wearing the Islamic headscarf is compulsory in public for all women in Iran – with those who do not wear a hijab, or are seen to be wearing a “bad hijab” by allowing some of their hair to show, facing punishments spanning from fines to imprisonment. 

Female athletes have to wear the hijab during competitions.

Amnesty International says women and girls are regularly stopped in the street by morality police and vigilantes.

The head of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court said those sharing protest videos with Ms Alinejad – who Tehran considers to be acting on behalf of the US – could be jailed for up to a decade under laws relating to cooperation with an enemy state.

“All those women who send the video footage of removing their hijab to her will be sentenced to between one to 10 years of jail,” Musa Ghazanfarabadi told the semi-official Fars news agency.

According to Amnesty International, at least 39 women were arrested last year in connection with anti-hijab protests.

Raha Bahreini, a researcher at the human rights organisation who specialises in Iran, said the country’s laws are written in a “very broad and vague manner” and this can be used by courts to increase penalties for women’s rights protesters.

She said: “This is a distressing pattern which shows that they want to increase their crackdown on this peaceful movement and they want to punish those who dare to defy compulsory veiling laws with very severe penalties”.

Last year, an Iranian woman was sentenced to two years in prison and 18 years of probation for removing her headscarf in a protest.

Shaparak Shajarizadeh said she had been sentenced for “opposing the compulsory hijab” and “waving a white flag of peace in the street”.

There has been mounting resistance to the enforced hijab over recent years in Iran – with some women shaving their hair and dressing as men. Many women are opposed to being forced to cover their heads and protesters have removed their hijabs and twirled them on sticks in defiance.

 Women attacked for trying to watch football match in Iran

Women’s rights are severely restricted in Iran. Iranian women have been barred from watching stadium football matches for most of the 40 years since the Islamic Revolution. The clerical regime has been reported to have hired security forces since August last year to deal with women who attempt to sneak into the stadium with men’s make-up.  

Some 60 per cent of Iranian women have experienced domestic violence at least once in their life, according to official data.

Last year, Iranian state TV was forced to apologise for a segment which featured a relationship expert tell domestic violence victims to kiss their husband’s feet. 

“Even if your husband is a drug addict, if he beats you, just do it and you will see a miracle in your life,” the expert was said to have told viewers. 

The woman, whose advice was roundly mocked on social media, told spouses to “slowly give him a foot massage” and then “kiss his feet”. 

She said this would relieve a husband’s stress and help prevent strokes and heart attacks. 

Hmmm. Wonder if I should ask my wife to do that for me?

Catholic Archbishop Warns of ‘Rainbow Plague’ Threatening Poland

FILE PHOTO: People take part in the annual "Equality Parade" rally of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights supporters in Warsaw, Poland June 3, 2017. © Reuters / Agencja Gazeta/Slawomir Kaminski

The archbishop of Krakow in southern Poland is facing backlash for comparing the “red plague” of Communism to the gay rights movement, describing the latter as a “rainbow plague” brainwashing his countrymen.

"Our land is no longer affected by the red plague, which does not mean that there is no new one that wants to control our souls, hearts and minds," Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski said on Thursday, delivering a mass to mark the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising against the Nazi occupation.

Jedraszewski argued that the communist ideology and the LGTB-championed ideas of equal rights for sexual minorities are effectively rooted in the same source.

"Not Marxist, Bolshevik, but born of the same spirit, neo-Marxist," he said, calling the global gay rights campaign that has rolled down to Poland a “rainbow disease.”

The cleric’s outburst predictably drew ire from the liberal opposition to and critics of the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Robert Bierdon, Poland’s first openly gay politician and the leader of the pro-EU Spring party, called the archbishop “the devil incarnate” and accused him of crossing the red line “impassable in a democratic state.”

"I am gay, and I’ll let him say it to my face that I am the plague. I’d tell him about my childhood and how I wanted to commit suicide after I read that being gay is a disease,” the politician said, adding that he would be penning a letter to Pope Francis in hopes he would “intervene” in the situation.

A number of LGTB-related controversies have rattled Poland, a deeply Catholic country, this year. Last month, a conservative Polish newspaper sparked outrage after it introduced ‘LGTB-free zone’ stickers, which were immediately compared to the Nazi posters warning Jews to “keep out.”

In May, a Polish LGTB activist was arrested for offending religious beliefs after she printed out posters showing baby Jesus and Madonna with rainbow halos over their heads.

Gay rights events in Poland are often marred by violence. A pride march in the city of Bialystok in late July quickly descended into chaos after gay rights activists were confronted by a group of anti-LGTB protesters, who pelted them with rocks, bottles and firecrackers.

Germany to Ramp Up Security at Swiss Border After Migrant Pushed 8yo Boy Under Train

FILE PHOTO: A police officer stands guard at the Frankfurt station © REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

Days after a foreigner killed a young boy by pushing him and his mother under a train, the German interior minister has recommended stricter checks at the country’s Swiss border and advanced security measures at all rail stations.

“I will do everything in order to put intelligent controls in place on the border,” Horst Seehofer told Spiegel magazine in a follow-up to the harrowing incident at Frankfurt station, in which a 40-year-old Eritrean man assaulted an eight-year-old boy and his mother.

The immigrant, believed to have lived in Switzerland since 2006, pushed the pair onto the tracks seconds before a high-speed train, the Intercity Express, arrived.

The mother managed to roll out of harm’s way but her child was killed. The attacker then attempted to flee the station but was pursued by a group of passengers and was eventually apprehended by police outside the Frankfurt terminal.

Now, Seehofer wants to introduce “occasional, temporary checks at the border with Switzerland” to screen foreigners. Both Germany and Switzerland are in the visa-free Schengen area, but travelers crossing their border aren’t subjected to any controls.

The issue needs to be dealt with immediately, Seehofer warned, mentioning that a total of 43,000 unauthorized arrivals had been registered in Germany last year. The conservative politician was once at odds with Angela Merkel over imposing limits on incoming immigrants, but this time the Chancellor “is fully on my side on the issues of security.”

Messages of mourning, candles and flowers are placed by people for the boy who died at the main train station in Frankfurt

© REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

Border checks aside, Seehofer also urges ramping up security at railway stations. He didn’t expand on that but said it could involve installing safety barriers or locks on the platforms – similar to those already in use in London and Paris. Such countermeasures could potentially cost billions of Euros, the minister acknowledged

Just another expense for Merkel's Madness.

The Frankfurt tragedy re-ignited a heated migration debate that reached its climax back in 2015 and 2016, when Germany opened its borders to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers – mostly from the Middle East and Africa. The heavy influx of migrants saw the crime rate going up and also led to the resurgence of the far-right extremists ready to use violence against foreigners and “pro-refugee” politicians.

Corruption is Everywhere - But in Twitter and American Politics?

Tulsi Gabbard most-Googled candidate during debate…

raising questions over ‘muted’ Twitter trend

© Reuters / Stephen Lam; © Google

While presidential challenger Tulsi Gabbard was the most searched for candidate on Google during the second round of Democratic debates, her rankings on Twitter stoked accusations that results were being manipulated.

Ahead of the Wednesday night debate, former VP Joe Biden dominated Google’s search rankings. But Tulsi came out the clear winner across all fifty US states after the event started. Directly trailing Tulsi in the search trends was California Senator Kamala Harris at number two, while Biden held onto third place.

GoogleTrends✔
@GoogleTrends
 Before and after: the #DemDebate candidates in search.https://trends.google.com/trends/story/US_cu_o_FMW2oBAACFKM_en …#CNNDebate

By large margins, Gabbard also repeated her victory in separate online polls organized by conservative media outlets, crushing Breitbart News’ poll with 50 percent of the vote, and winning out in the Drudge poll at 39 percent.

The dovish Hawaii Congresswoman likely bolstered her search numbers in tangling with her fellow Democrats on stage, drawing wide praise and attention online after confronting Harris on her tough-on-crime record as a criminal prosecutor.

Contrasting her rankings on Google, Tulsi didn’t perform quite as well in Twitter’s “trending” category, a fact many on social media found suspicious. Some users suggested Tulsi was being deliberately “throttled” by Twitter to limit her reach on the platform.

The Red-Headed Libertarian
@TRHLofficial
 Why did you remove Tulsi from trending @Twitter ?

A number of commentators also thought it strange that Syrian President Bashar Assad made it into Wednesday’s trends ahead of Tulsi, despite her name consistently dominating that of Assad’s in Google searches.

Strange? It's absolutely bazaar. Assad wasn't even in the news yesterday.

Michael Tracey✔
@mtracey
 Somehow I have a hard time believing that “Assad” is the top trending item in the United States but “Tulsi” is nowhere to be found

video 2:25

Others went into more detail in their speculation, with one user noting, in a lengthy thread, that at least one member of Twitter’s communications staff previously worked for Kamala Harris.

Currie Dobson
@Ventuckyspaz
Replying to @Ventuckyspaz
I'm sure @NickPacilio has nothing to do with why Assad is trending #1 for me while Tulsi Gabbard will not appear in the United States trends at all. Hey Nick care to explain why @TulsiGabbard won't appear on the trends list correctly? How is this not blatant political censorship?

Skeptics argued that Twitter’s algorithm, coupled with individually-tailored results and settings, were behind the discrepancies. Others suggested that the theory doesn’t add up, because hashtag “KamalaHarrisDestroyed” trended later.

Dylan Els
@dylanels_
Replying to @pharaohfire
Also, if Twitter was suppressing Tulsi, I don’t think they’d have her breakout moment of the debate trend — because that’s what the anti-Kamala hashtag is all about. So Tulsi might not be trending right now, but her big moment at the debate is, which still gains her exposure.

However, this is far from the first time questions have been raised over whether Twitter and other platforms are purposely skewing what users see in terms of trends. Notably, during the 2016 election, conservative critics accused Google of returning search results favorable to Hillary Clinton over other candidates, though the tech giant denied its searches were biased.

Advertising account suspended
Gmails auto-flagged as junk

Last week, Tulsi filed a $50 million lawsuit against Google, arguing the company abridged her right to free speech by suspending her advertising account after the first round of Democratic debates; she also accused the company’s email service, Gmail, of auto-flagging her campaign’s emails as junk mail at “a disproportionately high rate” in contrast to other candidates.

Don't know why anyone would suspect a conspiracy?

Gabbard is the only one  in the race who can bring some sanity back into the White House. As stated in her summation, trillions of dollars are being wasted on military endeavours that only bring the world to a more dangerous place. Such money could be used to make the world a much better place rather than a more frightening place. Perhaps a good argument she could use against Trump.

Former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler Charged in Emissions Cheating Case

Corruption is Everywhere - Certainly in German Car-Making Business

By Daniel Uria

Rupert Stadler, former CEO of Audi, was charged with fraud on Wednesday in connection with the company's role in an emissions cheating scandal.

File Photo by Mark Cowan/UPI | License Photo

(UPI) -- German prosecutors charged former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler with fraud Wednesday for the car company's role in a diesel emissions cheating scandal.

Stadler, 56, and three other people not named, were charged with developing illegal software applications known as "defeat devices" that were installed in vehicles sold under the Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche brands to cheat diesel emissions tests, prosecutors said.

The four also were charged with falsifying certificates and illegal advertising.

Prosecutors stated that Stadler was aware of the manipulation, but failed to prevent vehicles with the cheating software installed from being sold.

The charges relate to nearly 435,000 Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen vehicles designated for sale in U.S. and European markets.

Stadler worked for the Volkswagen series of brands since 1990 and was arrested in June 2018 in relation to the case.

In October of last year, Audi was ordered to pay $930 million to German regulators after admitting its role in the scandal.

Audi issued a statement on the latest charges, noting that the "presumption of innocence continues to apply to all defendants" until the allegations against them have been clarified.

They paid $930 million dollars in fines; I think we can presume a lack of innocence!

Should they not also be fined for the extra emissions those cars contributed to pollution and global warming?

"Our company continues to cooperate fully with the investigating authorities in order to clarify the circumstances that led to the diesel crisis," the company said. "This clarification is a prerequisite for the successful new start."

Netherlands, Switzerland Suspend UNRWA Funds as UN Investigates Corruption

Corruption is Everywhere, Even in the UN

By Darryl Coote

Palestinian men pile bags of flour outside an aid distribution center run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency

in the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of Dair Al Balah, on Wednesday. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

(UPI) -- The Netherlands and Switzerland have suspended funding to the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees days after an ethics report alleged widespread mismanagement and misconduct.

The 10-page confidential ethics report alleged that members of an "inner circle" at the top of the United Nations Relief Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East engaged in "abuse of authority for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives," according to Al Jazeera, which was the first to report on the revelation Monday.

Netherland's Foreign Trade and Development Corporation Minister Sigrid Kaag said it would be suspending its $14.5 million in funding "until we have received a satisfactory response from the U.N. in New York," Holland's NOS broadcaster reported.

The minister said they have been in close contact with both the U.N. and the UNRWA and that "we have expressed our great concerns and asked for clarification."

Earlier, Switzerland said it would temporarily suspend all future funding until the U.N. completes its investigation. It had already donated about $20 million to the agency this year.

The United Nations said in a statement that the accusations in the report were being investigated by its New York oversight committee and that it would not comment on the ethics report until the probe is completed.

"Everything circulating now, including in the media, is 'allegations' and not findings," the statement by the agency's spokeswoman Tamara Alrifai said. "If the current investigation -- once it is completed -- were to present findings that require corrective measures or other management actions, we will not hesitate to take them."

The agency has been suffering since the United States in 2018 announced that it would no longer be giving the UNRWA funding, citing its unsustainable model to deal with the crisis. The United States historically gave the organization $360 million annually.

However, on Wednesday both China and Kuwait donated millions of dollars to the embattled foundation.

The UNRWA said Kuwait donated $5 million to aid Palestinian refugees in Syria while China donated $1 million to support the agency's food assistance initiatives in Gaza.

"The government of China supported UNRWA's work for many years," China's Ambassador to Palestine Guo Wei said. "This year, with regard to the financial difficulty UNRWA faces, China continues to support UNRWA and its work."

I hope their investigation will follow the money to see if any part of it makes its way into the hands of Hamas or Hezbollah. I strongly suspect it does. I seriously doubt that the UN has the will to go that far.