Islamists Behead 14-Year-Old Assyrian Christian

WORLDNETDAILY.COM, Oct. 31 — A 14-year-old Assyrian Christian boy who was working a 12-hour shift maintaining an electric generator was murdered by Islamists, the website reported.

The youth was identified as Ayad Tariq, who lived in Baquba, Iraq. He was at work on Oct. 21 when a group of men went into the power plant shortly after his shift began at 6 a.m. The men asked him for his identification and, according to other witnesses, questioned his identification card’s reference to him as a “Christian.”

Are you truly a “Christian sinner,” they asked. “Yes, I am Christian but I am not a sinner,” he replied. The insurgents then called him a “dirty Christian sinner,” grabbed his limbs and held them while beheading him, the witnesses reported.

There are about 2.5 million Assyrian Christians in Iraq. Rev. Ken Joseph Jr. of the Assyrian Christians organization said, “The Assyrian Christians are one of the last remaining Christian communities in the Middle East,” but tens of thousands of Assyrian Christians have fled in recent months.

Integrated Housing Key to Northern Ireland’s Future

BELFAST TELEGRAPH, Oct. 31 — Community relations activist Trevor Ringland said Northern Ireland will not reach its full potential unless Catholic and Protestant families live side by side, the Irish daily reported.

Ringland, chairman of the One Step Campaign and a former Irish Rugby International player, said a development in Enniskillen, which will have Protestant and Catholic families living side by side, could be a catalyst for very significant change. A total of 93% of social housing developments in Ulster are segregated, and 97% in Belfast.

Carran Crescent, the development that will become home to 20 Protestant and Catholic families, is the first mixed housing estate to be built in Ulster in the last few decades. “We cannot have a truly modern, dynamic and successful society and economy if our community continues to be divided along sectarian lines,” he said.

“No society can be vibrant and prosperous if the resources of the entire community are not pooled and if two sets of services such as schools, libraries and health centers are required due to division where one would otherwise be necessary,” he added. “Carran Crescent has to be the shape of things to come and must only be the tip of the iceberg. Division in Northern Ireland serves no one.”

Majority of Portuguese Favor Abortion, Poll Shows

REUTERS, Oct. 31 — Opinion poll results showed that nearly two thirds of Portuguese are in favor of abortion, after Portugal’s parliament approved a motion for a referendum to legalize abortion in the prominently Catholic country, according to Reuters.

Portugal is among the remaining countries in Europe that are pro-life. Abortion is currently allowed only if the mother’s health is in danger, if the unborn child is deformed or in the case of rape.

But a survey from polling firm Marktest showed that if the referendum on abortion were carried out today the referendum would win with 63% of the votes.

The socialists, who had promised a referendum on abortion in February’s general election campaign, want to decriminalize having an abortion in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

For the referendum to go ahead it still needs to be approved by conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva.