Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in Washington D.C. Friday where President Obama welcomed him and his wife to the White House. Despite the pleasantries, tensions were high between the world leaders over allegations of Chinese cyber spying, territorial disputes between China and its neighbors, and Beijing’s economic policies.
Chinese and U.S. officials do hope the world leaders can cast aside their differences to talk about one area of cooperate, the global fight against climate change. However, the cooperation was overshadowed by major disagreements.
President Obama reassured the Chinese President that the U.S. would continue to discuss its differences with China.
“We believe that nations are more successful and the world makes more progress when our companies compete on a level playing field, when disputes are resolved peacefully and when the universal human rights of all people are upheld,” President Obama said in his welcoming speech.
Xi gave a similar statement during his speech, stating that the two countries would have to use respect and compromise to improve relations.
Despite the speeches, experts report that the relations between the two countries are at its most adversarial in decades. This is due to allegations of cyber attacks between the two nations, the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, China’s economic situation, and China’s violations of human rights.
Obama-appointed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has issued an injunction on behalf of two Catholic groups that claim the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that birth control be provided through insurance plans violates their freedom of religion.
The order was issued late New Year’s Eve, just before the mandate was to go into effect.
The injunctions were on behalf of Denver-based Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged and Christian Brothers ministries. Justice Sotomayor said the Obama administration must present their case against the Catholic groups by 10 a.m. Friday morning.
Justice Sotomayor was joined by judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in issuing injunctions. The injunctions from the appeal court included the Archdiocese of Washington, DC and Catholic University.
The Catholic groups faced a fine of $100 per day per person if they did not comply with the law and if they drop their health care coverage will be fined $2,000 per full time employee after the first 20 employees.
A lawyer for the charities said the groups are being given the choice of violating their religious Scriptures or face crippling government fines.
A federal judge has ruled that Catholic groups do not have to immediately comply with mandates in Obamacare.
The Pittsburgh Diocese challenged the law because of the requirement that all employees would have to be provided with contraceptives.
“The issue with the services in the mandate is that they either go against preservation of human life or involve the actual taking of human life,” Bishop David Zubik told the court during emotional testimony.
At issue was charities connected to the church not being exempted from the law’s contraception mandate. The Church said that any charity connected to the Diocese had to maintain the teachings of the church.
The injunction is only preliminary and those involved expect it to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Idaho senator James Risch is making an appeal to the Iranian people for Christian Pastor Saeed Abedini, jailed in Iran’s brutal Evin prison for his faith. Abedini has been in prison for nearly 300 days suffering long periods in solitary confinement, beatings and torture at the hands of Iranian jailers.
Abedini traveled to Iran to help build an orphanage. He had lived in Iran prior to becoming a U.S. citizen and had been a key people in the home church movement. He was arrested in 2009 and released after pledging to stop organizing house churches. Continue reading →
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality has released a report that says that since the Muslim Brotherhood has overtaken Egypt harassment of women has skyrocketed.
The UNEGE report says that 99.3% of Egyptian women have experienced some form of sexual harassment or violence. Continue reading →
Within a day of news reports that the wife of Pastor Saeed Abedini, jailed in Iran for refusing to renounce his faith, was going to speak to a United Nations conference seeking help in gaining her husband’s freedom, the White House has released a statement in the case of the jailed American pastor. Continue reading →
The wife of jailed Christian pastor Saeed Abedini is going to address the United Nations Human Rights Council in an attempt to gain her husband’s freedom after failing to gain any support from the U.S. government.
Naghmeh Abdeini is going to talk to the Council about Saeed’s failing health and abuse in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. Continue reading →
Attacks on Christians have been on the rise in Indonesia according to a report from Human Rights Watch.
HRW’s report, researched over a year between August 2011 and December 2012, showed that the government has made little attempt to stop Islamic extremists from taking violent action against Christians in the nation. The report states “harassment and intimidation of minority communities by militant Islamist groups has been facilitated by the active or passive involvement of Indonesian government officials and security forces”. Continue reading →
Human Rights Watch has reported that Syrian government forces are dropping Russian-made cluster bombs on populated areas in an attempt to destroy rebel forces.
Cluster bombs are banned by 77 countries because of the threat they pose to civilian populations in war zones. For example, if a cluster bomb does not completely detonate upon impact, the remaining bombs can act as land mines and explode when picked up or stepped on. Continue reading →
The High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations has stated that the massacre of over 100 civilians in Houla, Syria by government affiliated forces could amount to a crime against humanity.
The international community needs to “make all efforts to end impunity and ensure the accountability of perpetrators,” Navi Pillay stated. Continue reading →
