ISIS Identifies Christianity as Its Number One Enemy

Iraq’s Christians have been forced to flee or
face certain death in the path of ISIS terrorists

In an updated version of its propaganda booklet, “Dabiq,” ISIS clearly identifies its No. 1 enemy – Christianity.

The cover photo shows a black ISIS flag flying over the Vatican. The booklet describes the terrorist army’s desires to conquer Rome and “break the cross,” according to Arutz Sheva, an independent Israeli news network.

According to some Islamic traditions, the Islamic prophet Muhammad predicted that the occupation of Istanbul, Jerusalem and Rome would pave the way for the Islamic messiah or mahdi.

The declaration surfaces amid growing concern over the widespread persecution of Christians in the Middle East. ISIS has executed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Christians throughout Iraq and forced many to flee the country. Up to 100,000 Christians remain in the capital of Baghdad, as ISIS is now within eight miles of the city.

A joint conference between the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem and the World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem was held earlier this week to discuss the dire situation for Christians.

“Across the Middle East, in the last 10 years, 100,000 Christians have been murdered each year. That means every five minutes a Christian is killed because of his faith,” Father Gabriel Nadaf, who has campaigned for Christian Arab rights and for local Christians to support Israel, told the United Nations Human Rights Council in September. “Those who can escape persecution at the hands of Muslim extremists have fled. … Those who remain, exist as second if not third-class citizens to their Muslim rulers.”

An estimated 12 million Christians lived in the Middle East, according to a July estimate in the London Guardian. But that number has been thought to have decreased drastically since the ISIS summer takeover of nearly half of Iraq, including the city of Mosul, which had been home to Christians for 2,000 years.

As Islam jihadists have gained ground throughout the Middle East over the past three years, the Christian community has faced persecution in a number countries, including Egypt, Iraq, Libya and Syria.

In Egypt, Coptic Christians have been targeted by violence from the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi groups. There have been reports of church burnings and killings of Christians.

In Syria, al-Qaida-linked rebels have threatened to kill Christians who do not join the fight against President Bashar Al-Assad.

Iran has persecuted Christians relentlessly as well, recently making headlines for burning the lips of a Christian man caught eating during the Ramadan fast.

More Mass Graves in Mexico but Still No Sign of 43 Missing Students

Vigilante groups have been joining in the search for the students in Guerrero state

People searching for 43 missing Mexican students say they have found new burial pits.

The 43 have been missing since they clashed with police almost three weeks ago in the town of Iguala.

Vigilantes who joined the search said they had found six new burial pits, at least two of which contained what they believe are human remains.

The search had been stepped up after forensic tests showed bodies found on 4 October were not those of the students.

The latest burial pits were found by members of a group of vigilantes who had travelled to Iguala to help with the search.

Student hangs up posters reading "They took them alive, we want them back alive"
at the fence of the Attorney General's Office

They said they had found six pits, two of which looked freshly dug but had not been used yet.

They searched three of the remaining four and said they found what looked like human remains, clothes and hair in two of them.

If confirmed, this would bring the total number of mass graves found around Iguala since the students' disappearance to 19.

So far, forensic experts have only concluded tests on 28 bodies found on 4 October. They could not be matched with the DNA provided by the relatives of the students, raising questions as to who was in the mass grave.

It is also not clear how long ago the grave may have been dug and by whom.

About 50 people have been arrested in connection with the students' disappearance, with the vast majority being local police officers.

The officers are believed to have been working for a drugs gang, known as the Guerreros Unidos.

The missing students all attended a teacher training college in Iguala, about 200km (125 miles) south of Mexico City.

The college has a history of left-wing activism but it is not clear whether the students were targeted for their political beliefs.

They disappeared after clashes with the police on 26 September in which six people died. Eyewitnesses reported seeing them being bundled into police vans.

Another Gay Lobby Attack on Christianity - Houston, This Time

The city of Houston has issued subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city’s first openly lesbian mayor. And those ministers who fail to comply could be held in contempt of court.

“The city’s subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Christina Holcomb said in a statement.

“The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions.”

Houston's lesbian mayor, Annise Parker

ADF, a nationally-known law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, is representing five Houston pastors. They filed a motion in Harris County court to stop the subpoenas arguing they are “overbroad, unduly burdensome, harassing, and vexatious.”

“Political and social commentary is not a crime,” Holcomb said. “It is protected by the First Amendment.”

The subpoenas are just the latest twist in an ongoing saga over the Houston’s new non-discrimination ordinance. The law, among other things, would allow men to use the ladies room and vice versa.  The city council approved the law in June. Good grief! Did the good people of Houston have any idea what they were voting for as mayor?

The Houston Chronicle reported opponents of the ordinance launched a petition drive that generated more than 50,000 signatures – far more than the 17,269 needed to put a referendum on the ballot.

However, the city threw out the petition in August over alleged irregularities.

After opponents of the bathroom bill filed a lawsuit the city’s attorneys responded by issuing the subpoenas against the pastors.

The pastors were not part of the lawsuit. However, they were part of a coalition of some 400 Houston-area churches that opposed the ordinance. The churches represent a number of faith groups – from Southern Baptist to non-denominational.

“City council members are supposed to be public servants, not ‘Big Brother’ overlords who will tolerate no dissent or challenge,” said ADF attorney Erik Stanley.  “This is designed to intimidate pastors.”

Mayor Parker will not explain why she wants to inspect the sermons. I contacted City Hall for a comment and received a terse reply from the mayor’s director of communications.

“We don’t comment on litigation,” said Janice Evans.

However, ADF attorney Stanley suspects the mayor wants to publicly shame the ministers. He said he anticipates they will hold up their sermons for public scrutiny. In other words – the city is rummaging for evidence to “out” the pastors as anti-gay bigots.

God's Grace Community Church, Houston

Among those slapped with a subpoena is Steve Riggle, the senior pastor of Grace Community Church. He was ordered to produce all speeches and sermons related to Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality and gender identity.

The mega-church pastor was also ordered to hand over “all communications with members of your congregation” regarding the non-discrimination law.

“This is an attempt to chill pastors from speaking to the cultural issues of the day,” Riggle told me. “The mayor would like to silence our voice. She’s a bully.”

Rev. Dave Welch, executive director of the Texas Pastor Council, also received a subpoena. He said he will not be intimidated by the mayor.

“We’re not afraid of this bully,” he said. “We’re not intimidated at all.”

He accused the city of violating the law with the subpoenas and vowed to stand firm in the faith.

“We are not going to yield our First Amendment rights,” Welch told me. ‘This is absolutely a complete abuse of authority.”

Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, said pastors around the nation should rally around the Houston ministers.

God's Grace Community church

“The state is breaching the wall of separation between church and state,” Perkins told me. ‘Pastors need to step forward and challenge this across the country. I’d like to see literally thousands of pastors after they read this story begin to challenge government authorities – to dare them to come into their churches and demand their sermons.”

Perkins called the actions by Houston’s mayor “obscene” and said they “should not be tolerated.”

“This is a shot across the bow of the church,” he said.

This is the moment I wrote about in my book, “God Less America.” I predicted that the government would one day try to silence American pastors. I warned that under the guise of “tolerance and diversity” elected officials would attempt to deconstruct religious liberty. 

Sadly, that day arrived sooner than even I expected.

Tony Perkins is absolutely right. Now is the time for pastors and people of faith to take a stand.  We must rise up and reject this despicable strong-arm attack on religious liberty. We cannot allow ministers to be intimidated by government thugs.

The pastors I spoke to tell me they will not comply with the subpoena – putting them at risk for a “fine or confinement, or both.”

Heaven forbid that should happen. But if it does, Christians across America should be willing to descend en masse upon Houston and join these brave men of God behind bars.

Pastor Welch compared the culture war skirmish to the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto, fought in present-day Harris County, Texas. It was a decisive battle of the Texas Revolution.

“This is the San Jacinto moment for traditional family,” Welch told me. “This is the place where we stop the LGBT assault on the freedom to practice our faith.” No, at best, all you can do is slow it down. Christian persecution will happen in America and it will happen much sooner than anyone (except me) thinks.

We can no longer remain silent. We must stand together - because one day – the government might come for your pastor.

Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is "God Less America."

Synod's Interim Report - “The World Truly does not Need a Counterfeit Gospel.”

Cardinal Gerhard Muller (r) leaves the hall where the Synod on the Family was taking
place last week. He reportedly slammed the Synod's mid-term report as 'shameful.'

ROME -- "Undignified, shameful" and "completely wrong." This was the terse assessment of Cardinal Gerhard Muller, the head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, about the Synod on the Family's so-called "relatio," or midterm report, in one of the Synod's "small groups," as reported by La Reppublica.

Indeed, while Cardinal Raymond Burke has perhaps been the most vocal of the Synod fathers in his opposition to Monday’s interim report, what is becoming more and more clear is that his concerns are shared by many of the Synod fathers.

Thus far, most of the critics are voicing concern behind closed doors in the Synod hall, especially in the circules minores, or small groups, that are meeting this week to review and revise the report, known as the Relatio post disceptationem, or “report after the debate.” Of the three English-language small groups, LifeSiteNews has confirmed that pluralities in at least two were strongly opposed to the relatio.

Among the cardinals to speak up inside the Synod are George Pell, Marc Ouellet, Gerhard Müller, Raymond Burke, Angelo Scola, Andre Vingt-Trois, Carlo Caffara, Timothy Dolan, Fernando Filoni, and Stanisław Ryłko.

But several bishops and cardinals have openly criticized the document in public fora, insisting it is not a fair reflection of their discussions and is simply unacceptable.

There is of course, Cardinal Burke’s frank statement to Catholic World Report that "faithful shepherds ... cannot accept" the document, which he says betrays an approach that is "not of the Church."

But even at the Vatican’s own press conference Tuesday, South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier made it clear that he, along with the English-language small group he is moderating, are quite displeased.

He acknowledged, as many other fathers have, that he was “surprised” the relatio was published, and said the media circus that the relatio’s release occasioned, with reports across the globe signalling a “softer” approach or outright rejection of Church teaching, has meant that the Synod fathers are now “working from a position that is virtually irredeemable.”

“The message has gone out that this is what the Synod is saying, this is what the Catholic Church is saying, and it’s not what we are saying at all,” he said. "No matter how we try correcting that ... there's no way of retrieving it." 

That's how the gay lobby has always worked - tell a lie, the bigger the better, and once it's out there, the hapless media will make it real.

South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier discusses the Synod on the Family's
interim report at a Vatican press conference on October 14, 2014

"The message has gone out and it's not a true message," he added. "Whatever we say hereafter is going to be as if we're doing some damage control."

He lamented in particular that the document, meant as a provisional summary of the debates, wrongly suggests its proposals met widespread agreement among the fathers. As an example, he highlighted paragraph 24, which states: “The Synod dialog has allowed an agreement on some of the more urgent pastoral needs to be entrusted to being made concrete in the individual local Churches, in communion cum Petro et sub Petro.”

When a representative of Voice of the Family, a coalition of pro-life and pro-family groups, asked him if the Church would consider rescinding the document, Napier said that would be too “radical.” But he stressed that it is a provisional document under review, and he clearly believed it would be thoroughly revised for the final report.

Others to raise concern in interviews include the Synod’s Polish representative, Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki of Poznań, who said it departs from the magisterium of Pope St. John Paul II and is guilty of the “sin of omission” in its presentation of Catholic doctrine.

Latvian Archbishop Zbigniew Stankiewicz, in an interview with Vatican Radio published on the website of the Polish Bishops Conference, said the document risks “dancing to the world’s music” and succumbing to secular influences. “My impression is that the vast majority of the bishops are thinking well and will not let go and surrender to this pressure,” he said. “The world truly does not need a counterfeit gospel.”

In terms of the Synod discussions, on Tuesday, the Vatican released a summary of the interventions from bishops reacting to the relatio on Monday morning after it was read.

According to the press office, Synod fathers noted that “the word ‘sin’ is almost absent from the Relatio,” and that the document should adopt “the prophetic tone of Jesus’ words … to avoid the risk of conformity to the mentality of today’s world.”

On the issue of homosexuality, the summary says “the need for welcome was highlighted,” but notes that fathers said the document should take care “that the impression of a positive evaluation of such a tendency on the part of the Church is not created.”

“The same care was advised with regard to cohabitation,” the summary added.

The Synod document must also “face in more detail and more decisively not only abortion, but also that of surrogacy,” it said.

The Synod organizers have been at great pains to stress the “fraternal spirit” at play in the Synod. But however polite the discussions may be, it’s clear that the orthodox critics of what seems to have emerged as the unofficial “party line,” as expressed so well in Monday’s relatio, clearly believe that the very integrity of the Catholic faith is at stake.

Vatican Family Review Signals Dramatic Shift in Catholic Attitudes Toward Gays

I posted this story on my other blog a couple days ago, but felt it was important enough to warrant posting here as well. I have several comments at the bottom.

Pope Francis is said to be more relaxed about homosexuality than his predecessors

Senior clerics taking part in a review of Catholic teachings on the family have called on the Church to adopt a more positive stance on homosexuality.

A preliminary report written by bishops during a Vatican synod said homosexuals had "gifts and qualities to offer".

The report does not challenge the Church's long-held opposition to same-sex marriage, but some gay rights groups hailed it as a breakthrough.

Conservative groups rejected the report, one labelling it a "betrayal".

More than 200 bishops have been taking part in the synod since 5 October. It was convened by Pope Francis to debate abortion, contraception, homosexuality and divorce.

Monday's report, issued half-way through the two-week meeting, said: "Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community. Are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our communities?"

Analysis: David Willey, BBC News, Rome
Pope Francis' emphasis on concentrating upon positive rather than negative aspects of human sexuality seems to have won over many bishops attending the synod.

His predecessor Pope Benedict referred to homosexual relationships as "intrinsically disordered" in a Vatican document written in 1986 - when Benedict was chief theological adviser to Pope John Paul II.

Pope Francis on the other hand told journalists returning from a Catholic Youth Festival in Rio de Janeiro last year: "If a person seeks God and has goodwill, then who am I to judge?"

Pope Francis is the first pontiff ever to have used the word "gay" in public rather than refer to "homosexuals".

Pope Francis arrives to celebrate a mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican,
Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014

Breakthrough or betrayal?

The document adds: "Without denying the moral problems connected to homosexual unions, it has to be noted that there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners."

Human Rights Campaign, a leading US gay rights organisation, said the document set a "dramatic new tone".

The London-based Catholic gay rights groups Quest called parts of it a "breakthrough".

However Voice Of The Family, a conservative Roman Catholic organisation, rejected the interim report as a "betrayal".

The group's co-founder John Smeaton called it "one of the worst official documents drafted in Church history".

Last year, a survey launched by Pope Francis suggested that the majority of Catholics rejected Church teaching on issues such as sex and contraception. 

So, I wonder if this is the motivation for the church changing its attitude toward gays? Is Catholicism a democracy or a theocracy? Shouldn't the church's attitude on homosexuality be formed by the Word of God? Is the Word of God the least bit ambiguous about how God feels about gays?

One would think that after the church was nearly destroyed by myriad gay pedophiles in the priesthood, that the church would adamantly oppose any attempt at inclusion of gays. One has to think that they are totally focused on the gays here, and unconcerned about how it will affect the church. Yes, gays have gifts and qualities to offer, but they also have negative qualities, like a much higher ratio of pedophiles than do heterosexuals.

One more issue is that the church could end up endorsing members engaged in sex outside of marriage, and inevitably, priests engaged in gay sex. I don't see how anything good can come out of this.

China's Out-of-Control Construction Industry Defies all Logic and Sanity

The Ordos Shopping Mall sits empty, much like the rest of the city that surrounds it.

China's ghost cities aren't going away. Even as Beijing wants local governments to move away from GDP targeting and is more focused on developing social housing, wasteful construction still plagues China.

A report from CLSA's Nicole Wong, cited by The Wall Street Journal, found that the problem lies in the excess supply in China's third-tier cities. Vacancy rates for homes constructed in the past five years stand at 15% but are projected to rise over 20% in 2016-17, according to Wong. The very concept of vacant homes in China is barely fathomable for me.

Rob Schmitz, China correspondent for Marketplace/American Public Media, recently ran a story titled "China's economic boom leaves a trail of ghost cities." We reached out to Schmitz to get an update on Kangbashi and Yujiapu.

Here is an excerpt from our email interview with Schmitz:

Business Insider: How has Ordos changed now from when it first started making headlines a few years ago?

Rob Schmitz: I first visited Ordos in October 2010, the same year many other Western journalists had reported on the city. When I returned this year, there were a lot of interesting differences. Back in 2010, the few people who lived there seemed defensive about the Western media labeling the place a ghost city. This time, everyone I spoke to had come to an acceptance that Kangbashi (the proposed new city of Ordos) was most likely going to remain mostly vacant, and many seemed OK with that.  

Empty street in front of vacant residential complex in the city of Kangbashi, Ordos.

I spoke to one of the largest developers while I was there and he told me that Kangbashi had a population density similar more to a city in Canada or the U.S. than of a city in China, and he thought this was a draw for the city. But my conversations with folks didn't confirm this. I've never seen a city of similar physical size in Canada nor in the U.S. as empty as Kangbashi is today, and most of the people I spoke to during my latest visit didn't seem very happy to be living in a place where most of the buildings were empty.

Another big difference between this time and last was that the Ordos government has moved its headquarters to Kangbashi, so there are more people there during the day around the city's civic center. That said, the government of Ordos has actually increased the size of the city since 2010 by building more skyscrapers and infrastructure including a park with a large lake, three sports stadiums, and a skyscraper office park on the banks of the lake which are under construction.

I walked through a development of more than a dozen 20-story high-rises built adjacent to this office park, and there were no signs of life. The same developer I mentioned above also expressed concern over the fate of three gigantic sports stadiums built specifically for China's 'Ethnic Minority Traditional Sports Games' of 2015 outside of Kangbashi. It was surprising that after being admonished by China's own state-run press, Ordos' government has continued to build at the same rate as it had done before.

Ordos is a province in north-central China, in Inner Mongolia, about 500 km west of Beijing.

Ordos has issued a construction ban to halt any further wasteful projects,
scheduled to go into effect in three years. Before then, the government is
spending hundreds of millions of dollars on three gigantic
sports stadiums for the 2015 Chinese Ethnic Games.

The last difference from last time is that real estate prices in Kangbashi have plummeted since my visit in 2010, and I met dozens of migrant workers who were renting vacant office spaces as apartments for as low as $65 a month. These spaces weren't built to house people, but one office building I visited was full of migrant workers at night, living in windowless office spaces and using an office bathroom down the hall to bathe.

I also visited a government office in charge of mediating disputes between shadow bankers and those who couldn't afford to repay their loans. This is a very big problem in Ordos, as most businesses there would never qualify for a loan from a state bank, and now that the local economy is doing so poorly, many businesses have gone bankrupt. The office was in charge of repossessing whatever assets they could get from those who owed money. Their storage room was full of refrigerators, flat-screen TVs, and shelves full of dozens of bottles of high-priced Baijiu (Rice Wine) which they had seized.

BI: Do the people that you meet in these ghost cities have any plans of returning to their hometowns or are they optimistic?

RS: Many have already returned home. Those who are left are looking to make a little money and then leave when the economy finally fizzles out for good. Keep in mind that nearly twenty miles away from Kangbashi (the largely empty city) is Dongsheng, which is known as the old city, and actually has a functioning economy and population, so many people are watching this unfold from there.

Construction work on Yujiapu, planned to be
"the financial capital of the world,"
has been largely put on hold
(above is an artist's conception)

BI: Some, like Stephen Roach, have argued that these ghost cities can be explained away as part of China's urbanization plan. In your experience, does this add up?

RS: Perhaps some of them can, but for the most part, I don't agree with this statement. While it is true that some cities are filling up – the outskirts of Zhengzhou, which the TV program "60 Minutes" profiled a couple of years ago as a ghost town is a good example of a city that has defied early criticisms – other cities like Ordos do not fit neatly into China's urbanization plan.

Roach uses the Pudong district of Shanghai as an example of a place that was built, stood empty for a while, and then filled up, the message being other empty cities like Ordos just need time. It's important to remember that 1. Pudong was built in the 1990s, before China had even entered the WTO and was on the cusp of more than a decade of double-digit GDP growth. China's economy today is very different. It's slowing down and China's economic planners are taking the first steps to rebalance the economy from one built on investment-led growth to one built on consumer growth. That's not an easy transition to make, especially for an economy of this size, and it's going to require years of slower economic growth. 2. Pudong is in Shanghai, which is strategically located and is home to one of the world's largest ports. Ordos is in the middle of the desert and is running out of groundwater. If it's running out of groundwater while it sits largely empty, how could it survive if suddenly full?

If all of these ghost cities and ghost suburbs were part of a master plan hatched in Beijing by the central government, I'd imagine we'd see more affordable housing, as that's what is needed in China. Instead, most of the housing that's been built in these empty districts are luxury condos and villas. I have a hard time believing people will eventually move into these empty complexes in the next five years, especially in the scenario of a cooling economy. The other thing to keep in mind is that many of this new housing isn't built well, and it's hard to imagine them retaining their value over the time it may take for China's economy to return to its glory days. I think another danger is that once housing prices begin to plummet – which we are already seeing initial signs of in second tier cities in China – it'll devastate the financial stability of cities like Ordos. 

I think it's important to remember, too, that the ghost city phenomenon in China is partially due to how local governments are forced to finance themselves. Local governments in China are in a perpetual cash squeeze because they have to hand over a bulk of their tax revenue to the central government and because the central government often orders localities to build all sorts of infrastructure projects but Beijing often neglects to help with funding. Because the Party owns all of the land in China, local governments solve their funding problems by seizing land from their poorest residents, giving them a paltry sum in return, and then they sell the land to developers, essentially flipping real estate on a massive scale. Of course this has the added benefit of raising GDP figures, increasing the chance that local leaders will be promoted within the Party.

BI: Do you see more Chinese ghost cities propping up? Is it possible that some ghost cities are worse than others?

RS: I think each ghost city/ghost suburb should be treated differently – each of them has its own unique background and circumstances. Some of them will survive – we've already seen that happen in places like Zhengzhou and even in some of the exurbs of Shanghai that have filled out – but many won't. I was talking with Arthur Kroeber at GK Dragonomics a couple of months ago, in my mind one of the best experts on China's economy, and he was telling me about the city of Guiyang and how the province it belongs to, Guizhou, has an 80% debt-to-GDP ratio, which is incredibly dangerous. 

Arthur's usually pretty bullish on China's prospects, but he threw his optimism out the window when talking about the empty suburbs of that city, where hundreds of thousands of apartments sit, empty, while the largely mountainous province continues to plod along as one of China's poorest. The FT's (moving to The Economist soon) Simon Rabinovitch did a great story about all of Guiyang's empty housing, and what's happened there looks pretty scary. 

I think whether we see more ghost cities popping up depends on whether the central government is serious about promises to overhaul the GDP-based local official evaluation system and the way that local governments finance themselves.

BI: What's the most bizarre experience you've had in China's ghost cities?

RS: My first morning in Kangbashi, I woke up and walked through the empty hotel lobby to take a look outside onto the public square. There wasn't a soul in sight, and the first birds of spring were singing outside. The only other sound was Muzak pumping through the speakers from the hotel. As I looked around for any signs of life, I suddenly recognized the song. It was a Chinese version of Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" played with a Chinese erhu.

China's most famous ghost cities

More Mass Graves in Mexico near Iguala

Federal police officers have taken over an investigation into a mass grave near the
city of Iguala after accusations of collusion between local police and drug cartels.

The governor of the southern Mexico state where 43 college students disappeared after a confrontation with police said Saturday that some of the bodies recovered from clandestine graves last weekend did not match the missing young people.

Guerrero state Gov. Angel Aguirre did not say if all of the 28 bodies removed by forensic experts had been identified yet. The remains had been severely burned, and experts are conducting DNA tests in an effort to identify the dead.

The governor spoke at a news conference in Iguala, the city where municipal police have been accused of working with a drug gang in the disappearance of the students on Sept. 26.

Aguirre also made no comment about what authorities might have found in other mass graves that were discovered in the same area as the first site on the outskirts of Iguala. That find was announced Thursday by Mexico's attorney general, Jesus Murillo Karam.

26 police officers in custody

Vidulfo Rosales, a lawyer representing families of the missing teachers college students, said he had no information about identification of any of the remains. He said it was regrettable that authorities had not first informed the families before releasing the information.

Aguirre told reporters that no more arrests had been made in the case.

On Thursday, Murillo Karam announced the arrest of four people, raising the total in custody to 34, including 26 Iguala police officers. He said the new suspects had led investigators to four new burial pits near the site where authorities unearthed 28 bodies last weekend.

The 43 students have been missing since two shooting incidents in which police gunfire killed six people and wounded at least 25 in Iguala. Prosecutors alleged that officers rounded up some students after the violence and drove off with them. Police are believed to have turned over the students to a local drug gang that apparently had ties to the family of Iguala's mayor, Jose Luis Abarca, who is a fugitive.