Hundreds of Egyptian Christians recently gathered for a two-day worship festival in Egypt within 15 miles of a terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 28 believers in May. The Days of Harvest event at Maghagha in Minya governorate (5-6 October) was one of at least six large-scale conferences that have drawn Christians for worship and teaching and that have […]
EGYPTIAN CHRISTIAN FESTIVAL GOES AHEAD CLOSE TO MASSACRE SITE
Hundreds of Egyptian Christians recently gathered for a two-day worship festival in Egypt within 15 miles of a terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 28 believers in May. The Days of Harvest event at Maghagha in Minya governorate (5-6 October) was one of at least six large-scale conferences that have drawn Christians for worship and teaching and that have […]
Women and Wars
Supporting women survivors Modern wars, like those in Syria and Iraq, take place, not on battlefields, but in narrow streets and densely populated cities. Airstrikes on buildings, car bombs in markets, snipers on rooftops – these don’t discriminate between fighter and civilian. Over the 20th century the proportion of civilian casualties in war climbed from 5 per cent to 90 […]
The Briefing – September 2017
The deep conflicts and crises of the region continue, even as the region is poised for an historic new development in northern Iraq. In Syria, so-called Islamic State (IS) continued to relinquish control of more of its territory, including parts of its self-declared capital of Raqqa. IS forces in Deir El-Zour are now under severe pressure from two sides, from […]
Welcome for TV channel that aims to boost education and co-existence in the Middle East
Middle East satellite TV broadcaster SAT-7 launched its latest channel, SAT-7 ACADEMY, on 1 September. Broadcasting around the clock in Arabic, its top class educational programmes will offer complementary learning opportunities to millions of children and families throughout the Middle East and North Africa who have been displaced by war. It will also provide supplementary learning to millions more who […]
SAT-7 to launch educational channel for refugees
A new satellite television channel, SAT-7 ACADEMY is set to launch on 1 September. Broadcasting around the clock in Arabic, the channel will offer millions of displaced or refugee children complementary learning opportunities through a variety of television programmes. War has forced thirteen million children out of school across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).[1] Schools that have not […]
The Briefing – August 2017
Simmering tensions and long-held mistrust have come to the surface this month in mass protests in Israel and continuing deadlock in the Gulf. After two months of sanctions on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, there has been no sign of a resolution. Despite previous tensions with Qatar, the current rift is the deepest ever. Diplomatic relations have […]
Feeding the energy of youth
Youthful energy, enquiry and potential. These aren’t characteristics that immediately spring to mind when we think of the Arab world. But in a region where one third of the population is aged 15-29 and another is under 15, they reflect the dynamic potential of these countries, if only obstacles like conflict, weak political participation, scant job opportunities, and discrimination didn’t […]
MIDDLE EAST “GOING BACKWARDS” SAYS SAT-7 CEO
Founder and CEO of Christian satellite TV broadcaster SAT-7, Dr Terence Ascott, painted a gloomy picture of the Middle East in its 2016 Annual Report. Warning that the entire region was “going backwards in development terms”, he pointed to a series of grim statistics that underline the crisis across the Middle East right now. The Arab World comprises just 5% […]
BRIDGING THE EDUCATION GAP
Once a world leader in medicine, mathematics and science, the Arabic-speaking world today struggles to meet the education, health and societal needs of its citizens. Brutal conflicts have left millions out of school and have increased pressure on host countries that are running shift systems for local and refugee children. But the “education gaps” in the region aren’t only the […]