Too bad; We Ethiopians are in an age where we face suffering, hatred and violence wherever we go. Even if we are in Ethiopia, Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Australia, we will not escape the challenge anywhere.
It is surprising that when the Jewish US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is heading to Ethiopia; Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu too planned to go to “Pergamon” Berlin; However, they delayed their visit because the Western media are shouting loud that “Israel is violating human rights”.
The German government is under pressure for hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was due to arrive in Berlin later Wednesday and facing strong criticism over planned legal reforms.
On the eve of Netanyahu’s departure for Germany and ahead of a planned trip to Britain, 1,000 writers, artists and academics wrote to the two European nations’ ambassadors urging their governments to scrap the visits.
👉 So let’s compare this with the situation in Ethiopia and encounter ‘double standards:
When the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heades departs for Ethiopia to meet the barbaric Gala-Oromo Ahmed Ali, who massacred more than a million Orthodox Christians, all the media and governments that said, “We will fight for human rights” say and do nothing. Hypocritical, ugly and dirty world!
💭 Mixed Jewish-Arab city has been a flashpoint of nationalistic crime in the past.
Israel Police have arrested two Arabs on suspicion that they set fire to the “Beit HaGadzo,” a cultural center for Ethiopian Jews located behind the pre-military training school in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood of Lod.
“We will not be silent,” local residents responded, and announced that they would be holding a demonstration. “At 8:30 p.m. we will all gather at the site for the evening prayer and raise a cry of protest.”
Investigators from the Lod Police Station used advanced technological means to investigate the crime leading to the swift apprehension of two Lod residents aged 18 and 25, who are suspected of the arson. At the conclusion of their interrogation, it will be decided whether to ask the court to extend their detention.
🔥 A fire broke out Tuesday at a US drone factory in Latvia that has built drones for Ukraine’s military and NATO allies.
Two dozen police cars, nine fire engines and five ambulances deployed to the scene of the fire at the factory run by US firm Edge Autonomy on the outskirts of Latvia’s capital, Riga.
The cause of the blaze was not known but two people were taken to hospital, Latvia’s emergency services tweeted, adding a third person was receiving treatment at the facility site.
“A high-risk fire has occurred in the production building, sparking a lot of smoke,” the fire service said on Twitter, urging local residents to keep their doors and windows closed.
Hours after some 50 firefighters were dispatched to the scene rescue services reported the blaze was under control as police launched an investigation into the incident.
The California-based company produces long-range unmanned aircraft for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, according to its website.
“Cause of fire that destroyed heritage-listed church in St John’s Wood may never be known„ Reverend Kate Harrison
👉 A commentator wrote:
“CCTV footage? Or has that mysteriously disappeared?
Very interesting- it’s now becoming very common across Europe that these church’s that can stand for a 1000 years and over the last ten years many have just ignited – it’s incredible interesting how this has now become the norm, what’s become the biggest concern is the main media don’t say a thing, I suppose no one in Britain seems to care about culture or faith. A female vicar………….have you read the Bible lately?
A dilemma it is – I wonder why or who would do this ? Have you noticed how in every city that becomes “diverse”, all the churches mysteriously start catching fire?
It’s time for the reincarnation of Sherlock Homes the fictional character to present the fictional facts to satisfy the said media and local groups that represent Britain today or do we need just a policeman with bollocks to take on the media and present who or what group may seek to want the loss of ANOTHER CHRISTIAN CHURCH ⛪️ ..„
👉 I say: The church was burned by the usual suspect arsonists, destroyers and murderers; by 🐷 Children of Lucifer Morningstar:
☆ Ishmaelites (Mohammedans)
☆ Edomites (Atheists & Masons)
☆ Citizens of Sodom
♰ This beautiful church described as a historical treasure and which has links to the Royal Family has been tragically destroyed in a fire.
St Mark’s Church in St John’s Wood, which is grade 2 listed, was home to many significant memorials, artifacts and mosaics, and had strong ties to Queen Victoria’s son Prince Leopold, whose tutor was vicar there for around four decades, and the Prince himself laid a foundation stone there in 1877.
Built in 1846 to replace a small temporary building which had been set up to cater for the expanding population of St John’s Wood
Survived being hit by an enemy bomb in 1941 during World War Two, with work to rebuild its spire being completed in 1955
The interior features several memorials including one commemorating the tragedy of the Herald of Free Enterprise, a cross channel ferry which capsized off Zeebrugge in 1987
The floor and walls are decorated with ornate mosaics including multicoloured and gold depictions of Bible passages
Robinson Duckworth was appointed vicar of St Mark’s in 1870 after spending four years as Prince Leopold’s tutor. Prince Leopold also laid the church’s foundation stone when it was built
Duckworth was immortalised as the duck in the jury box in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and was in the boat when the writer first told his famous story.
Since the ordination of the first women in 1994, its make-up has changed quite drastically. Between 2002 and 2012, the number of female full-time clergy increased by 41 per cent while number of full-time male clergy dropped nearly at the same rate. Now women comprise one in five members of the full-time clergy and there are far more part-time clergy the majority of whom are women.
At this rate the Church will soon mirror the medical profession and suffer all the same problems that feminisation has brought with it – a ‘part time institution’ working in its female clergy ‘s (family friendly) interests rather than for its congregation.
And guess what, as the wimmin have risen, church attendance has fallen. It’s halved in the forty years since my dad retired with more churches losing congregation members than are gaining them. If there is no correlation between these two trends, then I am the Pope.
People might approve of the idea of women vicars for all sorts of politically correct reasons. Who would dare not? That doesn’t mean they like them in practice.
But instead of waking up to this self fulfilling downwards spiral of destruction, all the Church of England feebly does is push it further. Having women bishops has become more important than dealing with declining church attendances – as though ‘gender equality’ was of spiritual significance. It is not. It is purely ideological and political. It says more about women’s demands for status and power than about any godly calling – more about the modern female ego than about spiritual humility that is for sure.
No wonder that so few self respecting, serious and educated young men, as my father was, would want to sign up to this part-time feminised force to answer their calling.
For the more women are ordained as ‘self-supported members’ (providing their own financial backing while working part-time elsewhere) and thereby are allowed to be a vicar without the burden of doing the real job, the fewer real jobs there are for men. No wonder the number of women ordained has begun to exceed those of men.
No wonder congregations drop off and no wonder there are fewer baptisms, weddings and funerals in church.
No wonder at all when those leading the Church are too blind to see this connection or are too ready to sacrifice their belief and their mission on what can only be described as the altar of gender politics.
❖ The Church of England has announced its support for a proposal that will allow congregations to bless same-sex unions but maintain a traditional definition of marriage.
❖❖❖ [Mark 13:1-13] ❖❖❖
1 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!
2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
4 Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
5 And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:
6 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.
10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.
13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
🔥 Fortunately, no one was hurt; 10 children and the bus driver managed to extricate themselves from the car before it was completely engulfed in flames in the city of Nimes, in southern France.
💭 Fr Isaac Achi of Ss Peter and Paul Church in Kafin Koro, in Niger State, was murdered by assailants who set fire to his house in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Fr Collins Omeh, the assistant priest, was shot while trying to escape the building but survived his injuries and is being treated in hospital.
According to Diocese of Minna, the priest is “responding to treatment”.
Fr Amanchukwu Emeka, the chancellor of Minna Diocese, said: “Please pray for healing mercy from God for Collins.”
Some media reports have claimed that the gunmen doused the outside of the building with petrol and set fire to it after failing for more than an hour to break in.
Sources told Aid to the Church in Need, the Catholic charity for persecuted Christians, that they believed the attackers’ initial motive was to kidnap Fr Achi.
One said: “Because of the dimension and the duration of the assault, we can say that it was planned and organised.”
During the attack, Fr Achi managed to contact relatives, who alerted the police, but no-one attempted to rescue him during the attack. He had previously survived a bombing of 2011.
The attack took place the same day that Fr Michael Olofinlade of Ibadan Archdiocese in south Nigeria was kidnapped.
Last year a total of 28 priests were kidnapped in Nigeria and four were murdered. Aid to the Church in Need revealed in “Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2020-22” that about 7,600 Christians were killed in the country between January 2021 and June 2022.
Speaking in November at the report launch, Bishop Jude Arogundade of Ondo, Nigeria, told the Houses of Parliament that the persecution of Christians in his country by Islamic militants is tantamount to a genocide.
He said: “I strongly appeal to this important body and all people of goodwill to compel the Nigerian government to stop the genocide.”
He urged UK politicians at the very least to “ask for help from other countries before Nigeria is overrun as is the case of Afghanistan”.
“The entire nation is on the edge, apprehensive of a major offensive that may sweep round the entire country,” he said.
The bishop had earlier emerged into the international limelight last summer when he publicly criticised Irish President Michael D. Higgins for blaming “climate change” for the massacre of 41 Catholics, including many children, by Islamists during a Mass at St Francis’ Church, Owo, a parish in his diocese.
President Higgins had suggested moral parity between the massacre “and any attempt to scapegoat pastoral peoples who are among the foremost victims of the consequences of climate change”.
Bishop Arogundade said, however, that “terror attacks, banditry, and unabated onslaught in Nigeria and in the Sahel Region and climate change have nothing in common”.
Any informed person could see “that alluding to some form of politics of climate change in our present situation is completely inappropriate”, the bishop continued.
“Terrorists are on free loose slaughtering, massacring, injuring, and installing terror in different parts of Nigeria since over eight years not because of any reasonable thing but because they are evil — period.”
The scale and frequency of attacks by jihadists means Nigeria is now rated as the seventh most dangerous country in the world for Christians, according to the Open Doors human rights group.
💭 In the video, armed men burning civilians to death in Western Ethiopia. Some of the men in the crowd are wearing Ethiopian military uniforms as well as uniforms from other regional security forces.
🏎️ Jay Leno Is Recovering After Suffering Serious Burn Injuries From a Gasoline Fire
Former Tonight Show host Jay Leno was seriously burned when one of his vehicles erupted in flames at his Los Angeles-based garage, according to TMZ. “Jay was in the L.A. garage where he stores his cars on Sunday when one of the cars erupted into flames without warning,” people with direct knowledge of the incident told TMZ, adding Leno was burned on the left side of his face.
The 72yo comedian was rushed to Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles, where he is currently recovering. Variety reported Leno suffered “serious burns” but is in stable condition.
“I got some serious burns from a gasoline fire. I am ok. Just need a week or two to get back on my feet,” the comedian said in a statement.
Leno was expected to attend The Financial Brand conference in Las Vegas Sunday, but organizers said he suffered a “very serious medical emergency” that prevented him from attending.
“His family was not able to provide us very many details, but there was a very serious medical emergency that is preventing Jay from traveling.
“All we know is that he is alive, so our prayers go out to him and his family tonight,” according to an email from organizers.
Leno’s garage is located next to Burbank Airport in Los Angeles County. It’s reported he has 181 classic and rare cars and 160 motorcycles.
“Given the current market values, Jay Leno’s car collection is worth over $52 million,” DuPont Registry wrote in a blog post in July.
☆ Today and tomorrow Ethiopian Christians celebrate ‘Meskel’. Today’s Meskel celebration includes the burning of a large bonfire, or Demera. Iranians protest in front of their London embassy Iranian & Ethiopian embassies are neighbors. Wow!
☆ President of the fascist Oromo regime of Ethiopia, Sahle Work Zewde was in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
This lady is one of the most cruel beings Ethiopa ever has seen. In the past four years, under her presidentship, over a million innocent Ethiopian Christians have been massacred, the whole region of Tigray besieged and starved, over 200.000 women and girls even monks were brutally raped. And this by the evil Oromo regime of Abiy Ahmed Ali she works for. Yet this lady has never spoken about this sad and serious matter. No condolences, no remorse, no regrets, no in fact this callous ‘woman’ made a mockery of her fellow girls and women by continuing to work for the criminal regime. We in Ethiopia are surprised that she was allowed to travel to Britain – then she and her genocider boss Abiy Ahmed Ali must face either the International Court of Justice, or after death they will have to face the divine court of justice over the genocide of Northern Ethiopian Christians.
💭 A “Feminist” Government: And It’s Repulsive Rape Cover-ups.
In 2018, Ethiopia appointed it’s first & Africa’s only serving female head of state. It also got the first female Supreme Court president. A female politician was now a chairperson of National Election Board. It even created a brand new ministry, named it Ministry of Peace & handed the leadership over to a woman. Out of 20 cabinet members, 10 of them were women. A notably male dominated post, the Defense Ministry, was also to be lead by a woman for the first time.
Ethiopians rejoiced, the rest of the world applauded and media covered this change with flying compliments. Representation mattered. This was seen as something that can level the gender field. Having a 50% women led cabinet was impressive by any standard since the global average for female government ministers is 18.3 percent . More than a dozen countries have no women cabinet members at all.
President Sahle-Work Zewde said in her first parliamentarian address vowed to be a voice for women — famouslytelling MPs that if they thought she was talking too much about women, that she had only just begun.Not only was this move symbolic, many believed it would open the door for gender parity. Who wouldn’t want that?
Mrs. Ashenafi, the Supreme Court President, was the founder and executive director of the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association. A woman in a high court could do wonders. So this too was welcomed as a much needed step to move Ethiopian women’s agenda forward.
About two years into this gender reform, the country found itself in a political turmoil. The Prime Minister, a 44 year old Nobel Peace Prize recipient who was behind these gender reforms, announced a start of what would be a deadly conflict. This was followed by a complete black out of an entire state, Tigray, where this armed conflict was happening. The state housed over 6 million people. Women, children, elderly were trapped in a a highly secretive war operation. It is a well known fact that women pay dearly during armed conflicts especially a conflict of this kind were absolutely no media was allowed in.
Pressure was mounting on the The Prime Minister to ease up the black out. As the state opened up ever so slightly, horrific stories of war crimes started surfacing. Rape being on the top of the list.
The stories were gruesome to say the list. The Prime Minister defended his “operation” that happened in total darkness. “No women & children” he said “were harmed during this operation”. The families of the people of the state that were attacked begged to differ.
Most accounts detailed rape cases of Ethiopian woman by Ethiopian & a foreign army.Ethiopian Soldiers expressed their concern to Reuters. A soldier who refused to be identified said women were being raped, after the city fell to federal forces. The Prime Minister had allied with the neighboring country to defeat his political rivals. In doing so, he seemed to have no say in controlling the erratic behavior of the soldiers.
On an audio account, a witness told a reporter how “At the beginning of the war, soldiers would have their way with any women they wanted but after they were told to be careful of AIDS, they started raping little girls whom they believed to be safe from this disease”.
Desperate for answers, concerned citizens turned to the gender reformed government & its women “Leaders”. Surely they are here to speak for their sisters, mothers and children. They said so. The world thought so.
Days, weeks, and months passed. The ladies in high places chose the the age old technic of avoiding responsibilities related to rape & women grievance — Silence. There was no direct or indirect addressing of such horrific victims account. There was no urging of an immediate investigation into the matter. There was no expression of absolute outrage. There was no message to families of alleged victims to stay calm or that they are with them.
The last time the Press secretary mentioned rape was back in 2018 – right after she was appointed. The post was of a generic lip-service type she had come to be known for.
Four months into this war, The President decided to travel to the war torn region. Part of her photo-op visit was to include a stop at a hospital were rape victims were also being treated. At the entrance, the President was politely asked by doctors and other stuff members to not go in with military men who accompanied her. The victims were traumatized & the sight of men in uniforms was additional trauma. The president took a personal offense to being morally lectured. So she refused. She demanded that the military men be allowed in with her. The hospital stuff reported that on catching sight of the soldiers, the victims began screaming, crying and shaking with fear. The president had to remove herself from the spot immediately since no amount of comforting or assurance could calm the victims down. She left — leaving the victims a little worse than she found them.
Her office then released statements & pictures. Showing her interacting attentively & kindly with locals. This would surely get her boss the good PR he very much needed. Still no mention of rape allegations. Continued silence. The president warned at the beginning of her term that she will exhaust the men by speaking up for women issues. Two years into her seat & tested with real life challenge, the world could see she has no intention of delivering on that promise.
It has become obvious now that the ladies in position of influence and power in Ethiopia have chosen to politicize the suffering of women. They too have decided to utilize the same weapon of covering up rape allegations just like men in history had. If you don’t talk about it, it has not happened. Some of their supporters believe them. Many more others are left wondering if this gender reform was genuine or if it was implemented merely to strengthen the power of the men behind this reform.
Amidst such horrifying moment, they all found time to stay connected on social media discussing everything but the war and war crimes. The Supreme Court President posted a glossy picture of herself with other women “leaders” of the country in the President’s office. She said she was so proud. Proud of the recognition the president had secured from Forbes as the only African woman to be listed “The World’s Most Powerful Women 2020” were the likes of
Vice President Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, Sheikh Hasina Wajed & Rania Nashar were featured. The picture was clean. The office was modern. The ladies were smiling. On the pictures they share and topics they chose to discuss — Their male colleagues don’t need to be nudged, everything is under control & all is well in the land of the feminists.
💭 The Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Annunciation to the Theotokos, in São Paulo, was destroyed in a fire yesterday and today. It had been founded in 1904 by Syrian and Lebanese immigrants, seven years after the first Divine Liturgy in Brazilian history had been celebrated in a room in the same street. The community had mostly merged with that of the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral, but there were still weekly liturgies that kept the memory of the temple alive. Only the altar survived, but some icons could be retrieved from the walls.
The fire started in a nearby store, and it doesn’t seem anyone was hurt.
In 2016, Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church visited The Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Annunciation to the Theotokos, which was founded in 1904
✞✞✞ Lord, have mercy. ✞✞✞
👉 UPDATE: Egypt Church Fires Resurface Matters Of Rights, Restrictions And Discrimination Against The Country’s Christian Minority.
“Copts are threatened by many factors including discrimination in many aspects, lack of safety and security and sharia imposed on them in many situations in addition to racism and violence,” the Coptic researcher argued.
💭 Egypt: At Least 41 Christians Dead After Fire at Saint Mercurius Church in Giza
💭 Fires Erupt In More Coptic Orthodox Churches In Egypt As Authorities Still Deny Any Foul Play.
The fires broke out in two churches in southern Egypt and in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
Preliminary findings released by the state indicate that both the Alexandria and Minya fires were caused by “electrical faults”.
Fires broke out on Sunday in two churches annexed to monasteries in southern Egypt, with another fire breaking out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, amid official denial of foul play, state-run Ahram online newspaper reported, citing the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Centre.
The two fires that erupted in the southern Egyptian Asyut and Minya provinces were extinguished with no casualties. the report added. The Asyut fire was put out by firefighters, also with no causalities, Asyut governor Essam Saad said in a statement.
The fire started in a garbage pile near the wall of the monastery’s residential buildings, the governor added.
The fire was under the control of the local fire department Saad noted, and he urged the media not to publish unofficial statements regarding the incident to avoid sparking fears among citizens.
Photos published by local media showed huge flames and smoke around, outside and inside the three churches.
Social media activists shared online videos of the blazes showing huge losses inflicted on the churches.
Later in the day, a fire erupted in a church in Alexandria, leaving one man injured. No further details were immediately available.
Preliminary findings released by the state indicate that both the Alexandria and Minya fires were caused by “electrical faults”.
No official statements have been released so far by the prosecution-general, the interior ministry or the official spokesman of the Coptic Orthodox Church on the new fires.
The fires coincided with the celebrations of the Assumption of Mother Mary to Heaven amid huge gatherings of Copts.
Earlier last week, similar fires erupted in three Egyptian churches, one in Minya and two in Giza province west of Cairo.
The first blaze that broke out in the working class Imbaba neighbourhood in Giza claimed the lives of 41 worshipers, including 15 children and the church priest.
Meanwhile, Bishop Ermia, a member of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church, did not rule out foul play in contrast to the authorities’ official narrative.
“[The fires at churches] occurred systematically…..this is an alarm to the state. We need to join forces to be able to surpass this crisis. I don’t talk about the economic crisis and the rising prices. We all suffer in this world,” he said. “But when the country loses its lovers and those who backed it[the Copts], this is a dangerous start of further hazardous issues. This must be stopped. This should be investigated.”
“What I worry about…is the timings when these incidents take place,” the bishop added.
Egyptian Christians are known for being supporters of the regime of Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. They make up approximately 10 to 15 per cent of the 103 million population of Muslim-majority Egypt; most of them are Coptic Orthodox. They are among the world’s oldest Christian communities.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on August 17, 2022
London Bridge station is CLOSED and trains re-directed as 70 firefighters tackle massive blaze
The station is closed and all train services through it are severely disrupted
The fire began under a bridge next to the station and has spread to a car park
Around 70 firefighters are currently at the scene tackling the blaze in Southwark
A large fire has broken out next to London Bridge station forcing it to close as 70 firefighters tackled the massive blaze.
The station is closed and will remain so until further notice, with severe disruption to all journeys.
The London Fire Brigade received its first call to the incident at 9.29am this morning.
It sent around 40 firefighters, but 10 engines and an extra 30 personnel were later also called to the scene. Fire crews from Dowgate, Whitechapel, Shoreditch, Shadwell and surrounding fire stations are in attendance.
Local residents are being advised to keep their windows and doors closed to protect against the smoke, which has also spread into railway tunnels close to London Bridge station.
Several buildings in the vicinity of the fire have also been evacuated after it emerged a railway arch was completely alight.
London Fire Brigade reported that the fire was brought under control at 11.20am, but Southwark Street is closed between Southwark Bridge Road and Lavington Street whilst crews continue to work to make the scene safe.
The station has completely closed while the Jubilee line has been part suspended between Wembley Park and Stanmore, with severe delays on the rest of the line.
Both London Bridge station and Southwark Underground station remain closed, and no injuries have been reported.
Major disruption between London Bridge and Waterloo East is expected until at least 3pm this afternoon.
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Addis Ethiopia Weblog 