By Jochen Bittner HAMBURG, Germany — It was a warm June day in a northern German village, and I was talking to a Syrian friend outside a local shop. I had just bought some ice cream and offered to share it, but my friend refused. He was observing Ramadan: no food or drink until after sunset. “If Continue Reading
Canada Struggles as It Opens Its Arms to Victims of ISIS
By Catherine Porter CALGARY, Alberta — As leader of one of Canada’s largest refugee agencies, Fariborz Birjandian, a refugee himself, has years of experience welcoming the world’s most vulnerable — Kosovar Albanians fleeing ethnic cleansing, Burmese Karens evicted from Thai refugee camps and Continue Reading
Spurned by U.S. and Facing Danger Back Home, Iranian Christians Fear the Worst
By Miriam Jordan LOS ANGELES — They sold their homes and possessions, quit their jobs, and left their country — they thought for good. The Iranians, mainly members of their nation’s Christian minorities, were bound for a new life in America after what should have been a brief sojourn in Austria for Continue Reading