1. Since 2015, Qaisar and Amoon Ayub, two Pakistani Christian brothers, have been in Jhelum jail for online blasphemy. They were accused of posting offensive material against Islam on their website in 2011. Both fled the country and were on the run for 4 years but got arrested when they returned home. According to the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement, they have been sentenced to death. The sentence was read inside District Jail Jhelum. The Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement has been representing the accused and plans to appeal the sentence before the Lahore High Court.
2. Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway were hacked to death and one beheaded on camera while camping in the Atlas Mountains. On Monday morning, the bodies were found. The footage shows a woman screaming while a man cuts her neck with what appears to be a sharp kitchen knife.
One of the women was decapitated and the other was found dead with a severe neck wound. In the video, a man is heard saying in French: "This is for Syria, here are the heads of your Gods." Four suspects had links to ISIS and had sworn allegiance to the terrorist group. A video recorded a week before the murders showing all four men pledging their allegiance to so-called ISIS leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, has been authenticated by investigators and gives weight to suspicions Ms Jespersen and Ms Ueland were killed in an act of terrorism.
3. Roxli Doss, an 11-year-old girl was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. Parents "only have God to thank" for the miraculous cure as the tumor mysteriously disappeared. Doctors have no explanation for why she is able to go horseback riding after suffering from cancer. Dr. Virginia Harrod said that the girl went through weeks of radiation even though there is no cure. In August, the family held a benefit and all they could do was pray for a miracle. The family said they only have God to thank.
4. Several leader of the Lev Tahor Cult have just been taken into police custody. Police raided two out of three Lev Tahor owned properties in Mexico. A young child from one of the families was found to be in the Lev Tahor "safe house" in Mexico. The child has been reunited with his mother in Guatemala. Charges may include kidnapping, sexual abuse, extortion, running a cult, child abuse, intimidation and many other charges. Lev Tahor include women and girls wearing black head-to-toe coverings day and night, arranged marriages between teenagers.
5. 'all Muslims should leave Israel', a post that the son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on Facebook resulting him from being banned from the social media platform for 24 hours. A spokesperson from Facebook said: “Yair Netanyahu posted several posts which included hate speech – this clearly violates our community standards. Due to that, this content was removed from our platform, as we would do for anyone posting similar content about any protected characteristic. Following this, Yair Netanyahu decided to share a screen shot of a removed post and called people to share it – which is the same as writing the hate speech all over again.”
6. A family in Michigan says the priest who spoke at their son's funeral used his time to talk about how suicide is a sin and condemned their son for his "sin" in front of everyone attending the service. 18-year-old Maison Hullibarger took his life on Dec 4. The family said they told the priest their requests for what should be included in the speech to honor their son. The father politely made his way up to the altar and asked the priest to stop but he would not stop and continued to condemn their son as a sinner.
7. After a lawsuit brought by Christian groups, a Louisiana library backed down from its educational "Drag Queen Story Time" event. Two military-themes Christian organizations - warriors for Christ and Special Forces of Liberty filed the lawsuit. Before the library announced its decision, Delta Lambda Phi President Brad Parfait says they had planned to rent a private space at the library to have drag queen story time without the library's official backing.
8. A mother from Wales, Carly Ann Harris, murdered her 4-year-old daughter Amelia in order to please God. Ms. Harris described herself as "a fallen angel and had to prove her strength", adding that her daughter would have to be "cold-washed and burned". She told Amelia: "You're going to see the angels. See you in heaven." "On that day, Carly Ann Harris placed Amelia in a bath full of water and deliberately drowned her," the prosecutor Michael Jones QC said. She then took the body out of the bath and outside wrapped in toilet paper and covered in a sheet. She placed her body on a coffee table and then set fire to Amelia's body.
Update: The jury was convinced she was legally insane, which means she won't receive jail time.
9. Catholics are not obligated to follow laws that contradict their faith, the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said. He wants Church to ignore the State. Concerning the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill, which goes before the Seanad this week, Archbishop Martin said, “There’s a clear Catholic teaching that if legislation is against the basic principles of faith of people that they can’t be forced to carry it out.
10. Freedom From Religion Foundation said the cross in the Finley River Park holiday display violates the principle of separation of church and state. The southwest Missouri city of Ozark is taking down the Christian cross. An Ozark citizen contacted Freedom From Religion Foundation about the display which prompts then to file the complaint.
