Senior US officials said on Tuesday that representatives will begin formal talks with the Taliban “within a few” days at a new office in Doha, Qatar.The Afghan Taliban opened the office to help restart talks on ending the 12-year-old war, saying it wanted a political solution that would bring about a just government and end foreign occupation.Senior Barack Obama administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the record, described the office opening to AP as a stepping stone to full Taliban renouncement of al Qaeda.

Full Story –>  US to begin peace talks with Taliban ‘within days’ – AFGHANISTAN – USA – FRANCE 24.

(World Watch Monitor) Four attacks within the last three weeks in Niger have raised the specter of a growing Islamist threat in the country.

In the latest attack on Tuesday (June 11), unidentified armed men attacked a paramilitary barracks on the outskirts of Niamey, the capital.

At the time of writing, Niger authorities have not made any announcement, but local media say there were no casualties and the attackers managed to flee.

Full Story –> Upsurge in attacks signals growing Islamist threat in Niger.

At Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference, Senator Rand Paul stated, ““It angers me to see my tax dollars supporting regimes that put Christians to death for blasphemy against Islam, countries that put to death Muslims who convert to Christianity, and countries who imprison anyone who marries outside their religion” 

Full Story –> Rand Paul decries ‘war on Christianity’ | WashingtonExaminer.com.

Baltimore, Maryland (CNN) – As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are hoping the Man of Steel lands not only in theaters, but also in pulpits.

Warner Bros. Studios is aggressively marketing “Man of Steel” to Christian pastors, inviting them to early screenings, creating Father’s Day discussion guides and producing special film trailers that focus on the faith-friendly angles of the movie.

The movie studio even asked a theologian to provide sermon notes for pastors who want to preach about Superman on Sunday. Titled “Jesus: The Original Superhero,” the notes run nine pages.

Full Story: Superman: Flying to a church near you – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs.

Buried deep in a report, which has received a lot of fanfare and criticism and has been used by media elites to declare that social conservatism is a dying cause, is a stark and poignant fact that gives hope that the pro-life movement is far from antiquated.

The report is a College Republican National Committee report that surveys the youth vote, what 18 to 29 year old registered voters care about and their views on many of the pressing political issues of the day.  That report shows that a majority of young adults oppose abortion; and not only do they oppose the barbaric life-ending practice personally, they believe that in all or most cases it should be illegal.

Read Story — >  Young Americans are Pro-Life | Pro Life, American Center for Law and Justice ACLJ.

(Morning Star News) – A judge in Upper Egypt found a Christian teacher guilty of defaming Islam today and levied a massive fine against her after prohibiting her lawyers from presenting a single witness during the trial.

Dimyana Obeid Abd Al-Nour escaped jail time, but she was fined 100,000 Egyptian pounds (US$14,270), far beyond her ability to pay.

She is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, her father, Ebed Abd Al-Nour, told Morning Star News. He said his daughter did nothing wrong.

“I am very upset right now by the sentence,” he said. “My daughter is innocent and should not have been given such a sentence.”

He then became overcome with emotion and declined to comment further.

New York Magazine has a worthwhile article on New York Yankee’s relief pitcher Mariano Rivera, that highlights his faith and his post-baseball ambitions to plant a church.

“Sportswriters often discount athletes’ religiosity as a sideshow, and the secular viewers of cable TV may prefer the bloodless scrutiny of slo-mo video than to give credit to divine causes, but the full story of Rivera’s career is unmistakably a story about faith.”

via Mariano Rivera’s Final Season and His Greater Calling — New York Magazine.

President Mohamed Morsi issued a decree for building St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church in the New Nubaria City.  It is the first decision for building a church since Morsi took office.

A  Former Egyptian Member of Parliament, Mohamed Abu Hamid, said that the decision is simply an attempt to placate the Egyptian people after a series of public demonstrations called on the citizens to overthrow the regime.

Abu Hamid stressed that the decision does not change the fact that the Brotherhood’s regime is sectarian and shows no signs of change.

Full Story First Church Built in Egypt Under Morsi Gets Presidential Decree.

ABC News reports that Islamic extremists associated with Boko Haram gunned down 13 people, mostly youth, in Northeast Nigeria over the weekend.

The attack took place Friday in Maiduguri.  This area has come under increased security from the Nigerian Military in efforts to combat the increased terrorist attacks  from Boko Haram.

The attack was directed at members of a youth vigilante group that has been established to help point out suspected terrorist members to the military.  

The gunmen were reported to have hid their assault rifles in a coffin that was being transported by a van.  This allowed them to drive through various security check points undetected.  

AP reports that the terrorist approached the youth in the van, then pulled the rifles out from the coffin and opened fire killing 13.  They continued shooting until they ran out of ammunition.

The military intervened killing 8 of the terrorist. 

Frontlines.tv has reported on the increased violence in Northern Nigeria over the past year.  Boko Haram has indicated that their sole mission is to rid the country of christianity and establish an extreme Islamic state.  

The people of Nigeria are beginning to fight back, and are finally getting some support from the government.  However it seems that the government is unable or unwilling to bring an end to the atrocities committed by Boko Haram.

Islamic Extremists Kill 13 in Northeast Nigeria – ABC News.

(Morning Star News) – In February, sustained night-time attacks by “villagers with the hand of the government behind them” in Vietnam’s Central Highlands destroyed the homes and thousands of coffee plants of ethnic Sedang Christians. Eventually four families in Ngoc La village, Tumorong District, Kontum Province – 19 people in all – were forced to flee for their lives.

They were taken in by the president of their Christian Mission Church, who lives in Kontum Province, where they remain to this day (see Morning Star News, Feb. 26).

After various levels of the government received numerous pleas and written petitions for redress, in May officials promised a solution was imminent. A Christian in contact with the displaced Christians said Tumorong officials and provincial police began negotiations with them in May.