Reconstructing the History of Assyrians in Ukraine
A leading scholar from the University of Customs and Finance in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Professor Dr. Artur Margulov appeared recently on the Assyrian think tank Platform Turabdin to share his extensive research into the harrowing and often overlooked history of the Assyrian minority in Ukraine and the broader Soviet space.
Omid, Turkey -- Kurdish filmmaker Rojhilat Aksoy is facing trial in Turkey on charges of "publicly insulting the Turkish nation and state institutions" after organizing a screening of the animated documentary film "Aurora's Sunrise," which addresses the events of the Assyrian Sayfo Genocide and Armenian Genocide of 1915.
Mehri, Sirnak, Turkey -- A major development has occurred in a 6-year-old mystery in southeastern Turkey, with a court ordering the arrest of the primary suspect in the disappearance of Hurmuz Diril. Apro Diril has been detained in connection with the case file regarding Hurmuz's disappearance, which has remained unsolved since his wife, Smuni Diril, was murdered under unexplained circumstances...
As many military analysts feared, the U.S. and Israeli air campaign over Iran has quickly broadened into a conflict that now engulfs much of the Persian Gulf and Holy Land regions. Iraqi Kurdistan has endured missile and drone attacks from Iranian or Iraqi proxy forces that have targeted the Erbil airport and the headquarters of a remnant U.S. military presence in Erbil.
Kyiv -- Assyrian-Ukrainian heavyweight judoka Yakiv "Yasha" Khammo, an Assyrian athlete who has steadily built a reputation on the international judo circuit, began the 2026 season with mixed results but renewed ambitions as he looks toward the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Pope Leo XIV announced this week that he had accepted the resignation of Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako from the leadership of the Chaldean Church in Iraq and throughout the world after more than a decade of service marked by major pastoral and political challenges.
Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation submitted by Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako from the office of Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans, in accordance with Canon 126 §2 of the Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Churches (CCEO).
Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Bishop Emanuel Shaleta, a Chaldean Catholic bishop arrested in San Diego last week on charges of embezzling Church funds. The Vatican also announced March 10 that Leo has appointed Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna, a Chaldean Catholic bishop from Iraq, to oversee the Catholic Eparchy of St.
Researchers are painstakingly reconstructing the oldest-known map of the night sky -- previously thought lost forever -- by X-raying parchment that contains the star catalog hidden beneath other text. The map of the cosmos is thought to be the work of the renowned ancient astronomer Hipparchus, who lived from around 190 to 120 BCE, long before the invention of the telescope.
As the war in the Middle East continues to escalate, with the spectre of a broader regional conflict looming, the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, has voiced his alarm. "As Patriarch, I am deeply concerned. No one knows where this war will lead," he told Vatican News today.
A chapel and Christian housing complex in northern Iraq has been damaged by a rocket and drone attack. No injuries have been reported at McGivney House, affiliated with the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil, after the incident in the evening of 4th March.
Baghdad -- Rana Georges, an Iraqi Assyrian woman, remains in detention three days after security forces arrested her in Baghdad following the circulation of a video clip on social media showing her celebrating the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Skokie, Illinois (AINA) -- A flag raising ceremony was held in Skokie, a suburb of Chicago, with a population of 68,000, 25,000 of which are Assyrians. The Assyrian flag was added to the flags of other nations in Sculpture Park. The flag will be permanently displayed there. Skokie is referred to as Little Assyria.
(AINA) -- Dr. Sophia Isaac is a scholar, educator, and cultural advocate whose own life reflects the very journey she studies. Born in Urmia, Iran, and brought to the United States as a child before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, she grew up navigating the space between two identities--Assyrian heritage and American life.
(AINA) -- The Assyrian Arts Institute (AAI) is an organization founded by Nora Betyousef Lacey in 2017 and claims to support Assyrian arts. AAI has sponsored a few events since its founding, including an Assyrian women's choir.
(AINA) -- On July 12 Iraqi president Abdul Latif Rashid repealed the decree recognizing the appointment of Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church and which appointed him to the office of the waqf (وقف), the endowment which oversees all church property. The details of the events leading up to this action are exhaustively covered in this report by MEMRI.
Three hundred and fifty years separate us from the last medieval Maronite epigraph, that of Our Lady of Ilige dated 1277 and the new inscription, dated 1628, at Mar Chalita of Ghosta, which marks the beginning of a renaissance that Lebanon was to experience under Ottoman rule.