The appeal, entitled "#MockingGod", is aimed at cartoonists and caricaturists from all over the world. The best drawings are to be published in the satirical magazine to mark the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack.

On 7 January 2015, Islamist terrorists broke into the editorial offices of "Charlie Hebdo" and killed twelve people. The magazine had previously published cartoons of Muhammad.

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The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported that the 14 Catholics, several of them very young, were killed in North Kivu by members of the ISIS-affiliated militia called the "Allied Democratic Forces."

Diverging from his prepared statements on May 25, the pope said: "I would like to stop and thank God for the testimony of martyrdom that a group of Catholics from Congo, from North Kivu, have given in recent days."

Francis added that "their throats were slit simply because they were Christians and didn't want to convert to Islam."

According to a report by International Christian Concern (ICC), the Allied Democratic Forces also carried out an attack on the Christian village of Ndimo in Ituri state.

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When French-born Muslim Elyazid Benferhat heard of the deadly Islamic extremist attack on a church in Nice, he decided to act.

Benferhat and a friend gathered a group of young Muslim men together in the small southern French town of Lodeve.

The group stood guard outside the town's cathedral for the All Saints' holiday weekend. Their goal was to symbolically protect it and show solidarity with Catholic churchgoers.

Parishioners at the 13th-century church were deeply touched. The parish priest said their gesture gave him hope in a time of turmoil.

Benferhat was born in France and grew up speaking only French, his mother is a native of Algeria.

"But I am also Muslim ..., and we have seen Islamophobia in this country, and terrorism," he told The Associated Press.

"In recent years, every time Islamic extremist violence strikes France, French Muslims face new stigmatization, even though we had nothing to do with it."

When three people were killed in the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice, Benferhat said he was so sickened that he wanted to do something "so that everyone wakes up."

Benferhat works for French oil company Total and coaches at a local football club.

He talked to a Muslim friend who was in Nice that day, "and we had this idea. We needed to do something beyond paying homage to the victims. We said, we will protect churches ourselves."

They recruited volunteers among their friends and at his football club, and guarded the church that night and again for Sunday Mass. He said they also coordinated with local police, after France's government promised to increase security at sensitive religious sites.

"It's very good, these young people who are against violence," the cathedral's priest, the Rev. Luis Iniguez, told the AP. He hung a photo of the 'guards' inside the Gothic cathedral. "People were happy to see that," Iniguez said.

Benferhat said the response has been "90% positive." But there had been online invective from some far-right voices.

Benferhat and his group intend to to repeat their action for Christmas. He is encouraging Muslims in other towns to follow Lodeve's lead.

Due to Covid-19 all religious services are banned in France until Dec 1.

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The family - a mother and father, two daughters aged nine and 12, and two sons aged 16 and 18 - were linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) which supports IS, said national police chief Tito Karnavian.

Local media reports say they may have returned from Syria, where hundreds of Indonesians have flocked in recent years to fight alongside IS.

The mother and her two daughters were wearing niqab face veils and had bombs strapped to their waists as they entered the grounds of the Kristen Indonesia Diponegoro Church and blew themselves up, said national police chief Tito Karnavian.

The father, JAD cell leader Dita Priyanto, drove a bomb-laden car into the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church.

His sons rode motorcycles into Santa Maria church where they detonated explosives they were carrying.

A police bomb squad also safely detonated an unexploded bomb that was discovered at the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church.

Police said four suspected JAD members were also killed on Sunday in a shootout during raids linked to a deadly prison riot this week.

Five members of Indonesia's elite anti-terrorism squad, and a prisoner, were killed in clashes that saw Islamist inmates take a guard hostage at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta. IS claimed responsibility.

Karnavian said Sunday's attacks may have been revenge for the arrest of some of JAD's leaders and for the prison crisis which eventually saw the surrender of the radical inmates.

"The incident angered them ... and there were instructions from IS in Syria, so they waited for a moment to take revenge," he said.

The Pope offered support over "the severe attack against places of worship," while President Joko Widodo called for Indonesians to "unite against terrorism."

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• radionz.co.nz
• straitstimes.com
• tvnz.co.nz
• theguardian.com
• channelnewsasia.com
• Image: thegaurdian.com

Analysts believe the Islamists organised the protest at the behest of opposition parties hoping to derail Busaki's re-election in February.

There have been calls for Basuki to be imprisoned, or even executed for blasphemy and hate speech.

10,000 demonstrators took to Jakarta's streets last month and as many as 50,000 people on 4 November.

Better known by his Chinese nickname "Ahok", he became Jakarta's first non-Muslim governor for 50 years when he took over from Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in 2014.

He is the first ethnic Chinese Indonesian in the post.

A prominent Muslim scholar and former rector of the State Islamic University in Jakarta, says the protests are purely political.

"They are using the blasphemy issue as an entry point to challenge Jokowi and pressure him," said Mr Azyumardi Azra.

"If you look at their posters during the demonstration, there is no mention about banning alcohol, banning gay and lesbian groups, nothing like what they normally protest about,"

Analysts like Azra believe the Islamists organised the protest at the behest of opposition parties hoping to derail Busaki's re-election in February.

They see this as an opening salvo against his backer, Joko, aimed at settling scores and ultimately denying the president re-election in 2020.

Ahok is seeking a second term as Jakarta governor. He is a possible running mate for Widodo in the 2019 presidential elections.

He is popular with Jakarta's middle class. He is adored as a blunt speaker who doesn't tolerate corruption and articulates a vision to make the chaotic, dysfunctional city more like clean, orderly and efficient Singapore.

"It's a sad development in Indonesian politics when race and religion are being used by politicians," said Philips J. Vermonte, the head of the politics and international relations department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.

Source

• bbc.com
• nytimes.com
• bangkokpost
• Image: bangkokpost

"We stand alongside all innocent victims of terrorism in peace, solidarity and humanity," said Hazim Arafeh, president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand.

"The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand condemns all terrorist attacks and joins the rest of the world in deep sorrow as we mourn men, women and children murdered by terrorists and extremists."

The Auckland Council of Christians and Muslims has also unequivocally condemned the recent terrorist acts in Paris, Beirut and Sinai.

They say it is simply not possible to claim religious sanction for such heinous acts.

"The call to be peacemakers in the midst of human division is a central, though frequently forgotten, tenet of both the Christian and Muslim traditions."

The Council has invited all New Zealanders to reaffirm their commitment to thoughtful and consistent peace making as a primary expression of their humanity.

Asif Koya, president of the International Muslim Association of New Zealand, told the New Zealand Herald that he condemned what has happened and feared widespread and indiscriminate recoil on the Islamic community.

"I'm sure Muslim's in France will be affected and I wish them well for the pressure they will come under," Koya said.

"Obviously we are very saddened for all the victims and everyone affected. We condemn any act of violence."

Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy urged New Zealanders to recognise "that terrorism has no religion and that Muslim Kiwis unreservedly and wholeheartedly condemn extremism and violence."

"The Human Rights Commission stands alongside Muslim New Zealanders in their continued and uncompromising call for peace," said Dame Susan.

"Hate starts small but so too does hope. Terrorism has no religion and neither does humanity: we urge Kiwis to stand together in humanity."

On Sunday about 100 people from the Muslim community gathered in downtown Auckland to protest against terrorist group Isis.

Both young and old gathered at the Aotea Square and called on world leaders to unite against the group Isis.

One woman told the group Isis had again struck its deadly hand on the people of France.

But many other people around the world - including in Afghanistan - had lost their lives to terrorist actions.

"Though 120 people have been killed in Paris and the world is shaking right now, but what about the people, the thousands who have been killed [already]? Whoever knows about it?"

The speaker said now was the time for the world's leaders to come together to fight Isis' regime.

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• nzherald.co.nz
• hrc.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• 3news.co.nz
• Image: nzherald.co.nz

Anglican Archbishops Philip Richardson and Brown Turei, and Roman Catholic Archbishop John Dew, said last Sunday was an opportunity for churches across the country to pray for, and so stand with governments and churches across the globe, wanting a safe return of the young women.

Archbishop Richardson says the kidnapping has outraged nations and there is a deepening sense of anger at how more than 200 lives can disappear for weeks.

"Our General Synod, the governing body of our church, convenes tomorrow in Waitangi and it will be praying for a safe return of the girls and that this issue will highlight the ongoing work still needed to stop trafficking of children. I encourage prayer across our country."

Archbishop Dew asked people to pray for young women and their families.

"This will have caused untold suffering for the families, desperate to have their precious children returned safely.

"This action has shocked people around the world, as global citizens we are outraged that such an injustice can occur on young, innocent and defenceless people such as these," says Archbishop Dew.

"In our relative comfort and security here in New Zealand, in the quiet moments when this news story comes to our thoughts and attention may we take just a few moments to pray for the young women and their families, and for a peaceful and safe outcome," he said.

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