Thursday

March 17, 2016

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War, Syrian Civil War

The United States Secretary of State John Kerry says ISIL has committed genocide against Christians, Yazidis and Shias in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq. (BBC)

The Islamic State reports commander Hassan Aboud has died of wounds sustained about two weeks ago in a battle near Aleppo, Syria. He was injured when a vehicle he was in struck a roadside bomb near Khanaser. (The New York Times)

Papua conflict

Three construction workers are shot dead in Jayapura, Papua, by a supposed armed group, according to Indonesian police. (Radio New Zealand)

Arts and culture

Radar scans at the tomb of Tutankhamun, Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, reveal two chambers adjoining the tomb, raising prospect of finding the resting place of Queen Nefertiti. (The Guardian)

The Vatican is replacing Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S., with French-born Archbishop Christophe Pierre, currently the Apostolic Nuncio to Mexico. Viganò, who is 75, the statutory retirement age, in 2015 arranged the unexpected meeting between Pope Francis and controversial Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who refused to follow her state's law on same-sex marriage. (New York Daily News via ChristianNews.net)