Iraqi Christians Now under Threat of Extinction; Sectarian Tensions Drive Christians Out of Area

An international humanitarian aid organization has found that Christian living in the formerly ISIS-controlled Nineveh Plains of Iraq are now in danger of extinction, the Christian Post website reports today (July 14, 2020).

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) published a report this week in which it states that political and sectarian tensions are driving Christians out of the area. 

ACN conducted several surveys to identify and report on challenges facing Christian living.

"The findings ... make clear that restoring the stability of the Christian community in this post-conflict region is only possible with a concerted effort focusing on security, education, and reconstruction," the ACN report states.

Jehovah's Witnesses Place Conventions Online; Reject In-Person Conventions Due to COVID-19

The Jehovah's Witnesses have canceled their large-scale in-person annual three-day conventions around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Religion News website reports today (July 13, 2020).

It is the first time since 1897 that the Witnesses will not hold their in-person conventions.

Instead, they will meet online.

The conventions will be free to stream and will be available in over 360 languages at jw.org.

Woman Dies Due to Attending a "COVID Party;" Felt It Was OK to Attend Party of COVID Carrier

A 30-year-old woman, who died last week at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas after attending a so-called "COVID party,"realized before she died that the dangers of being close to a COVID carrier are indeed real, the ABC News website reports today (July 12, 2020).

The final words of the unidentified woman before her death were: "I think I made a mistake. I thought this was a hoax, but it's not."

Dr. Jane Appleby, chief medical officer for Methodist Hospital, said in a recorded statement that the unidentified patient told nurses about the party, which she said was hosted by someone diagnosed with coronavirus.

Appleby said she shared the story to make sure people understand that the virus can affect anyone.

Turkish Court Rules Hagia Sofia Can Be a Mosque; UNESCO Says It Needs to OK Its Museum Change

A Turkish court ruled this week that Istanbul's famous Hagia Sofia -- originally built as a breathtaking Greek Orthodox Church -- can be converted from a museum into a mosque, the Yahoo News website reports today (July 11, 2020).

Turkey's current president, Tayyip Erdogan, has been pushing for the site to be a place of Muslim worship, but the court ruling is likely to bring global condemnation.

The World Heritage site was at the center of both the Christian Byzantine and Muslim Ottoman empires and is today one of Turkey's most visited monuments.

UNESCO said that it must be notified of any change in the status of Hagia Sofia museum and a change may need to be approved by its World Heritage committee.

Fauci: May Be Aerosol Transmission of COVID-19; Number of Cases in the US Has Surged to Over 3M

The new coronavirus is likely spreading through the air to some degree, the top U.S. infectious disease official said today (July 10, 2020), one day after the World Health Organization (WHO) urged further studies on the ways the virus is transmitted, according to the Reuters website.

"Still some question about aerosol but likely some degree of aerosol," Anthony Fauci, the head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a panel session of a COVID-19 conference.

The number of cases in the U.S. has surged to more than 3 million, as states that quickly reopened bars and restaurants have reported sharp increases.

Fauci said that to battle the global virus, there needed to be multiple vaccine candidates. Vaccine makers are aiming to have hundreds of millions of doses ready for early next year, and as many as one billion in some cases, he said.

Harvard,MIT,Northeastern Sue Feds on Ed Policy; Barring Foreign Students from US Studies Is Bias

Northeastern University in Boston last night announced it was joining Harvard University and MIT in a lawsuit against the U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over a new rule that threatened many international students with deportation, the MSN website reports today (July 9, 2020).

The new federal policy said students whose courses no longer had an in-person element because of the COVID-19 pandemic, would lose their permission to be in the U.S. and might get deported.

The federal order means students taking only online courses would have to transfer to courses with some in-person instruction or leave the country.

Harvard President Lawrence Bacow wrote in an email yesterday:"We believe that the ICE order is bad public policy, and we believe that it is illegal."

Trump Rips Fauci on Negative COVID Comments; Claims US Is in "Good Place" Despite Virus Surge

President Donald Trump yesterday publicly criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci for his comments on the coronavirus pandemic, and said the U.S. is in a "good place"despite a surge in COVID-19 cases, the Newsmax website reports today (July 8, 2020).

"We've done a good job," Trump added. "I think we are going to be in two, three, four weeks in very good shape."

Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, earlier yesterday warned against "false complacency" in the dropping death rate among coronavirus patients.

Nearly three million people have been infected with coronavirus, and more than 130,000 Americans have died from the virus.