Anti-Christian Attacks Rise In France, Israel Hails 'New Era' Of Relations With U.S., Trump To Develop Missile Defense System Against Iran, N Korea

Anti-Christian Attacks Rise 38 Per Cent in France

Anti-Christian attacks in France rose by 38 per cent in 2016, a pressure group has said.

The Observatoire de la Christianophobie said instances of “Christianophobic” attacks in France rose from 273 in 2015 to 376 in 2016, with a significant number happening in December. These include attacks on churches, other places of worship, and threats on social media.

Examples include blasphemous graffiti on the interior of one church and an attack on the figure of Christ at a memorial to Catholics killed in the First World War in the town of Fournes-en-Weppes.

The most notorious anti-Christian attack, however, was the martyrdom of Fr Jacques Hamel at the hands of two Islamists while celebrating Mass at his church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.

Fr Hamel reportedly shouted “Be gone, Satan!” as the men slit his throat, something Archbishop Dominique Lebrun mentioned in his tribute to him. In a memorial service with members of the Muslim community present, the archbishop explicitly addressed others who may be tempted by extremism.

“You who are tormented by diabolical violence, you who are drawn to kill by a demonic, murderous madness, pray to God to free you from the devil’s grip,” he said. “We pray for you, we pray to Jesus who healed all those who were under the power of evil.”

There is increasing evidence the rise of Islamist violence in France is leading to a cultural reawakening of the country’s Catholic community, long silenced by the Republic’s strict secularism laws.

France’s Jewish community has also suffered increasing anti-Semitic attacks in recent years, leading to record numbers of Jews leaving the country for Israel.

Nearly 8,000 Jews left the country in 2015, a number far higher than any other country in Europe, creating one of the largest migrations of Jews since the formation of the state of Israel.

Israel hails 'new era' of relations with President Trump

Israel welcomed the inauguration of President Donald Trump after eight, often tense, years with the Obama administration, vowing to make the alliance between Israel and the US “greater than ever” and heralding the start of “a new era.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu preempted the inauguration to offer his congratulations to “President Trump,” apparently because the inauguration took place after the Sabbath had started in Israel.

He tweeted “Congrats to my friend President Trump. Look fwd to working closely with you to make the alliance between Israel&USA stronger than ever.”

That was echoed almost immediately after the inauguration by Israel’s ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer, who tweeted: “Congratulations President Trump! Israel looks forward to working with you to make the US-Israel alliance greater than ever.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said this would herald a sea-change, particularly at the United Nations, where Israel recently suffered one of its worst reverses in recent years, when President Obama refused to use the US veto in a resolution that condemned Israeli settlements.

“A true friend of Israel will enter the White House today,” said Danon in a statement. “Thank you President Trump for your unequivocal support, we look forward to welcoming you to our capital of Jerusalem.”

“After the shameful resolution that was adopted by the Security Council, Israel looks forward to strengthening our most important alliance and leading together towards a new era at the UN,” he said.

Trump to develop missile defense system against Iran, North Korea

The administration also stated it would make defeating "radical Islamic terror groups" its top foreign policy goal.

The Trump administration intends to develop a "state of the art" missile defense system to protect against attacks from Iran and North Korea, the White House said in a policy position posted on its website on Friday.

The statement, posted on the White House website within minutes of Donald Trump's inauguration, did not provide details on whether the system would differ from those already under development, its cost or how it would be paid for.

The administration also stated it would make defeating "radical Islamic terror groups" its top foreign policy goal.


Trump, a Republican, used his inaugural address on Friday to promise to "unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth."

In the statement, titled "America First Foreign Policy," the Trump administration said, "Defeating ISIS and other radical Islamic terror groups will be our highest priority." ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State.

In order to "defeat and destroy" Islamic State and similar groups, the new administration said it "will pursue aggressive joint and coalition military operations when necessary," work to cut off funding for terrorist groups, expand intelligence sharing, and use "cyberwarfare" to disrupt propaganda and recruitment efforts.

Trump's speech and the statement echoed his campaign criticism of former president Barack Obama and his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, for not using the phrase "radical Islamic terror" to describe Islamic State and other hardline jihadist groups.

Trump speech shows America getting what it ordered

America is getting what it ordered on Election Day.

If anyone was expecting an evolution from Donald Trump the candidate to Donald Trump the president, never mind.

The new president delivered an inaugural address Friday that was straight from his campaign script — to the delight or dismay of different subsets of Americans.

Trump gave nods to unity and began with kind words for Barack and Michelle Obama, but pivoted immediately to a searing indictment of the status quo and the Obama years.

Presidents past have promised an American Covenant, a New Frontier, a Great Society.

Trump sketched a vision of “American carnage.”

Then he promised to end it with a nationalist “America First” approach to governing.

It was a speech for Trump’s supporters, but maybe not those who voted for somebody else.

When Trump told the crowd on the National Mall and watching from afar that “everyone is listening to you now” and spoke of a “historic movement the likes of which the world has never seen before,” he seemed to harking back to his voters.

His pledge to make things better came wrapped as a nostalgic paean to better days long gone.

“America will start winning again, winning like never before,” the new president said. “We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.”

A shallow magnitude 6.5 - 67km W of Kirakira, Solomon Islands is the 6th major quake of 2017, could be more in the coming days

Earthquake of magnitude 6.7 strikes off Solomon Islands

 A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the South Pacific nation of the Solomon Islands at a depth of 33 kms (20 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said on Friday.

There were no immediate reports of damage.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said there was no Pacific-wide tsunami threat.

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre said in a separate statement that there was no tsunami threat to Australia's mainland, islands or offshore territories.

Solomon Islands's National Disaster Management Office was not immediately available for comment.

The undersea quake struck 71km (44 miles) west of the city of Kirakira