According to the US State Department annual report, "almost 80% of the global population live with restrictions to limit their freedom of religion.”

One person dies and five terrorists are killed in Cambrils as they were carrying out a second terrorist attack. More than 100 people have been injured in the Las Ramblas jihadist terrorist attack. 

Europol says 142 failed, foiled and completed attacks were reported last year. Most arrests were related to jihadist terrorism. One-third of the total number of arrestees were 25 years old or younger.

A number of Muslim groups are actively seeking a Caliphate, although their conceptions of it differ. These groups include Al-Qa’ida, Daesh (IS), Hizb ut Tahrir, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

A truck bomb exploded near the foreign embassies and the Afghan presidential palace. Most of the victims were civilians. The Taliban have denied carrying out the attack.

Between eight and ten gunmen attack a bus carrying Coptic Christian to a monastery in Minya. Egyptian Christians have been violently persecuted in the last months.

Why would someone take their life and the lives of people they have never met, including an 8-year old girl, in the most despicable way? What were they hoping to achieve?

Christian leaders from Egypt, Sweden, Spain, react to the terrorist attack. Christian organisations in the UK express their thoughts.

The canton of Zurich calls its cities to prohibit the Salafist campaign “Read!” because it makes an apology of radical Islamism.

At least 45 people killed and more than 100 injured in two attacks. The Egyptian President decrees three months of state of emergency.

Three churches have been banned for religious activities and another one was attacked in the last month. Banners against Christian candidate Basuki Tjahaja "Ahok" were rife all over Jakarta.

Around 400 Christians threatened by Daesh, arrived in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya “exhausted, with urgent needs for food and children’s clothing, and terrified.”

During her first press conference, Nikki Haley stated that the UN has “breathtaking double standards” with Israel, but the US  “will not turn a blind eye to this anymore.”

According to Open Doors, 215 million Christians suffer “high, very high or extreme persecution”. North Korea continues at the top of the World Watch List. Africa is the region in which more Christians are killed because of their faith.

Nationals of Germany, Belgium and France among victims of New Year’s Day attack. In Turkey, 300 people were killed in terrorist attacks in 2016.

The World Evangelical Alliance and other evangelical groups ask governments to protect the Christian minorities.

Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar survived Daesh slavery. “There remain more than 3,500 child and women held hostage as slaves under Daesh. Every day they die a thousand times”, they told MEPs.

All of the victims of the attack are members of a Protestant Batak Church, three other children are injured. In recent demonstrations, radical Muslims protested against the influence of Christians.

Soldiers and priests go into temples for the first time after Daesh (ISIS) lost control of the Christian cities. Courtesy of Open Doors. 

Qaraqosh, the so-called “Christian capital”, is among the cities recovered. Christian refugees held a vigil to celebrate it. Experts believe the advance to Mosul will be long and difficult.

Three in ten victims are civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 15,000 children have lost their lives since 2011.

Another concern is the governmental regulation of religious groups to stifle the freedom to worship. The report also takes aim at the genocide against Christians carried out by Daesh and Boko Haram.

The funding of mosques will be controlled, and he imans will receive training. 20 mosques have been shut down this year.

Another hostage is seriously wounded. "Two soldiers of the Islamic State had carried out the attack”, the Daesh-linked Amaq news agency confirmed.

The attacker, who came to Germany two years ago, had his asylum claim rejected after a year and had tried to kill himself twice .