Christians forced to flee Islamic State last year are still living in refugee camps and losing hope of ever returning home. Mosul-born Chaldean Catholic Sahar Mansour is now living in the refugee camp at Ankawa after being driven from his home by militants last year. There are more than 1,700 Syriac Catholic families living in the camp, ministered to by priests including Father Bashar Kthea, who himself fled from Qaraqosh last August. Qaraqosh was once home to Iraq's largest Christian community. It was overrun by Islamic State jihadists in 2014. Writing on behalf of Father Kthea to Catholic News Service Mansour said there is growing discontentment and frustration in the camp, particularly among young people for whom there are few prospects. ‘The majority of the young people are thinking not to stay in Erbil anymore and they do their best to flee,’ Sahar said.

Last week there was a gay pride parade in Jerusalem. An orthodox Jewish man rushed into the parade and stabbed six people, wounding two seriously and one very seriously. The Supreme Court ordered that some homes built illegally in Beit El (Jewish settlement in Samaria) should be destroyed. This took place on the anniversary of the expulsion of the settlers from Gaza. Riots ensued that pitted Jew against Jew. On Monday a delegation of Jewish and Muslim religious leaders convened outside the Department of Pediatric Intensive Care at Sheba Medical Centre, to pray for the well-being of the victims of the Jewish firebomb terror attack on a Palestinian family last Friday morning. Also far-right activist Meir Ettinger was arrested for heading a cell planning to commit a series of violent acts against Palestinians. As part of the plan he branded ‘the revolt’ which would light the flames of conflict and anarchy in Israel. See also: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4687342,00.html

According to state-conducted research, widespread fracking and fracking wastewater injection have transformed the state of Oklahoma from a place that had an average of two tiny earthquakes a year to the most seismically active area in the United States. In fact, the massive surge in fracking-related quakes has even alerted Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) as to the existence of many formerly stable and dormant underground faults that it didn’t previously know existed. EcoWatch reported, ‘Oklahoma was never big earthquake country but in the last six years their numbers have surged, going from an average of two a year over 3.0 magnitude to 585 last year, surpassing California as the US’s most seismically active state.’ The state of Oklahoma has even set up its own earthquake website, whereon it states this rise in seismic events has the attention of scientists, citizens, policymakers, media and industry. After 35 fracking earthquakes rocked Oklahoma in the first week of July the state has had more pressure than ever on it to put a damper on the cause before things get out of hand.

On Sunday General Nshimirimana's pick-up was hit by two rockets and sprayed with automatic gunfire - days after President Nkurunziza was declared winner of a controversial election and months of fierce government crackdowns on opposition and an attempted coup. General Nshimirimana was behind the crackdown on protests and foiling the coup attempt. A source in the presidency said, ‘The situation is very serious, the general was essential, we are trying to manage a difficult situation. Our boys want to take revenge. You cannot imagine what the General represented for us.’ Another top pro-Nkurunziza general said, ‘They have declared war and they will see what they get. Then a second assassination on Monday of human rights defender Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa (one of the last remaining human rights activists working during the crisis) has increased risks of a new season of war. Targeted killings have been part of the landscape recently, but none as high-profile as these two, and arms are proliferating among civilians, with shooting through the night in many neighborhoods.