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Across the globe: Syria, Quran burning and Iranian Pastor
by Tom Anthony February 27, 2012
Newscast Media HOUSTON, Texas — As fighting churned on in major cities, Syria held a referendum on a new constitution, an offer of reform that critics dismissed as too little too late and Western leaders labeled a farce. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who joined delegates from sixty countries to call for Assad's ouster, dismissed the vote as an empty gesture. She said, "It's a phony referendum that is going to be used by Assad to justify what he is doing to other Syrians."
The hunt goes on for an infiltrator who shot and killed two U.S. officers inside Afghanistan's heavily guarded interior ministry in Kabul. The Taliban claimed its people were behind the shooting aimed at avenging the burning of Qurans by NATO personnel last week. The victims were among several officers who are in Afghanistan to train and equip that country's security forces. Meanwhile a suicide car bomber has killed nine Afghans, most of them civilians, in an attack on a military base in eastern Afghanistan that, once again, the Taliban have claimed as revenge for the burning of Qur'ans by foreign troops.
The White House and the U.S. State Department have issued statements demanding the immediate release of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been imprisoned in Iran. Last week, the American Center for Law and Justice announced that Iranian courts may have already quietly issued an execution order for Nadarkhani, who is currently imprisoned on charges of apostasy and attempting to evangelize Muslims.
The stand-off over Iran's nuclear program is showing more signs of straining the global economy. The price of Brent crude oil has climbed more than five percent in the past week. And gasoline's prices keep rising. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to international sanctions. U.N. nuclear officials visited Iran but failed to resolve the crisis.
The Vatican has made an official request to gain access
to a 1500-year-old Bible worth $28 million being held by the Turkish
government. There is speculation that the Bible may be a copy of the
Gospel of Barnabas —
a part of Jesus' ministry Muslims believe is part
of the original Gospels. The Bible is handwritten in gold lettering on
loosely strung together animal hide and written in Syriac —
a dialect of
Aramaic – Jesus' native language. Add
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