President-elect Donald Trump declared that he has named Iraqi-American attorney Alina Habba as his presidential counselor. "She has stood with me through numerous trials, battles, and countless days in court--unwavering in her loyalty and unmatched in her resolve," Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social.
On Monday, 9 December, the leaders of all the Churches and ecclesial communities present in Aleppo met for the second time with representatives of the armed groups that have taken control of the Syrian city. It was the first meeting after President Bashar al Assad fled and the rebels also took Damascus.
Christians in Syria face uncertainty about their rights and freedoms after Islamist rebel forces conquered Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus. Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and U.K., took control over Aleppo last week, followed by Homs and Damascus late Saturday night.
Kochi -- Patriarch of Antioch and the head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Ignatius Aphrem II, who is on an apostolic visit to Kerala, urged the faithful to pray for Syria. Addressing the faithful on the 40th memorial day of Catholicos Baselios Thomas I, the patriarch said he would cut short his visit and return to Damascus on Tuesday morning due to the crisis in Syria.
Around 700 BC, the Neo-Assyrian emperor Sargon II began building a new capital city, named after himself, in the desert of what is now Iraq. Archaeologists have long thought this grandiose project had barely gotten underway when it was abandoned, leaving only the ruins of a construction zone. But a newly published survey of the site upends that idea.
Kochi -- The Patriarch of Antioch and head of Syriac Orthodox Church Ignatius Aphrem II proclaimed Malankara metropolitan and president of the synod of Jacobite Church Joseph Mor Gregorios as the new Catholicos on Sunday. The Patriarch is likely to cut short the trip and return to Lebanon on Tuesday following the turmoil in Syria.