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Another Christian community at risk in Africa as extremists and war take their toll
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Christians in Sudan are daily facing hunger, misery and terror. The new Open Doors World Watch List for 2026, which ranks the worst countries in the world for the persecution of Christians, placed the country at No. 4, up one place from last year’s report.
There are an estimated 2 million Christians in the conflict-ridden northeastern African country. Sudan’s civil war has raged past the 1,000- day milestone with 150,000 people reported to have been killed and more than 13 million displaced. Christians have lived in Sudan since the late first century.
Many of Sudan’s Christians live in the Nuba Mountains, part of the Kordofan region. Rafat Samir, general secretary of the Sudan Evangelical Alliance, told Fox News Digital that the «Nuba Mountains now, where the majority of our church members are coming from, is under siege and bombing every day for the last six months or seven months. Last week, after Christmas, they bombed our church, hospital and school.»
NIGERIA NAMED EPICENTER OF GLOBAL KILLINGS OF CHRISTIANS OVER FAITH IN 2025, REPORT SAYS
Sudanese pastors’ wives studying the Bible at a Christian conference in the Nuba Mountains. (Open Doors)
Adding to the misery, a report by MEMRI, citing Christian Daily international, said 11 Sudanese Christians were killed, as they took part in a procession to their church for a religious celebration on Christmas Day by a drone operated by the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces. 18 others were injured in the attack. MEMRI reported the SAF are backed by the Muslim Brotherhood.
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, «Since the April 2023 outbreak of conflict in Sudan, we have witnessed significant backsliding in Sudan’s overall respect for fundamental freedoms, including religious freedom. This backsliding especially impacts Sudan’s oppressed ethnic and religious populations, including Christians.»
In a Fox News Digital report last year, Christians were said to be eating grass to survive. Samir says the position is even more bleak in 2026: «even the grass is gone now.»
«The conflict is accelerating the erasure of ancient Christian communities and sacred heritage,» Mariam Wahba, research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital. «These losses will be far harder to reverse than the rebuilding of roads or ministries once the guns fall silent,» she said.
CHRISTIANS TARGETED IN SYSTEMATIC KIDNAPPING CAMPAIGN IN NIGERIA BY JIHADI HERDSMEN, EXPERTS SAY
Outdoor Bible study at a pastor’s conference in the Nuba Mountains, because meeting in a regular building is too dangerous, they set up a temporary place under trees and between rocks, to be invisible from the sky. (Open Doors)
Ideologically, Sudan’s Christians face a hostile future, Samir of the Evangelical Alliance said. «Both sides in the civil conflict are daughters of the Islamist movement in Sudan, and the Islamic ideology of both of them is to not have tolerance for others. They consider everyone different from them is against them. The Christian is considered their enemy as part of their religious ideology, and opposing them their religious duty.»
He continued, «So whoever does something to harm Christians is considered favorable to the law or to Allah.» Samir went on to say, «the country is getting back to the dark ages.»
Repeated and continuing attempts at getting the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the opposing militia, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to reach a ceasefire have failed. Both sides admit they are still fighting and, it’s clear, killing civilians with sustained energy, particularly in the central Sudanese region of Kordofan, home to many Christians.
«The United States is committed to ending the horrific conflict in Sudan,» a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, adding, «Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working with our allies and others to facilitate a humanitarian truce and bring an end to external military support to the parties which is fueling the violence. President Trump wants peace in Sudan.»
The Evangelical church in Omdurman, Sudan after being bombed even though it was not in a combat zone or used by any warring forces. (Open Doors)
The spokesperson continued, «The suffering of civilians has reached catastrophic levels, with millions lacking food, water and medical care. Every day of continued fighting costs more innocent lives. The war in Sudan is an enduring threat to regional stability.»
The U.N. says fighting is increasing in Kordofan, with U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk telling reporters in Port Sudan on Jan. 18, «I am very worried that the atrocity crimes committed during and after the takeover of El Fasher are at grave risk of repeating themselves in the Kordofan region, where the conflict has been rapidly escalating since late October.»
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«The Kordofan states are extremely volatile,» he continued, «with relentless military engagements, heavy shelling, drone bombardments and airstrikes causing widespread destruction and collapse of essential services.»
Wahba said that «while the United States remains kinetically active across neighboring theaters, it is unlikely to wade directly into Sudan’s civil war.»
Members of the Sudanese army’s Special Mission Forces battalion in the Northern State hold a parade in Karima city on May 19, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
«President Trump», Wahba added, «has signaled a clear desire to see the conflict resolved — an objective echoed by both Egypt and Saudi Arabia — but translating that consensus into outcomes on the ground has proven far more difficult than the rhetoric suggests.»
«For now,» Wahba continued, «U.S. policy is centered on convening regional stakeholders and pressing for alignment among them, while prioritizing humanitarian corridors, aid delivery and coordination with partners willing to host talks. Washington is acting as a facilitator, not an enforcer.»
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«This posture reflects both constraint and caution. Sudan presents few reliable leverage points, no unified opposition partner, and (there’s) little appetite in Congress or the White House for another open-ended entanglement in a fragmented civil war. The result is a policy that remains fluid and reactive, and is shaped less by strategy than by crisis management,» she said.
Despite everything, the Sudan Evangelical Alliance’s Samir has hope, «The Holy Spirit is moving and God’s hand is working in our country. I can tell you through this evil, this darkness, the light of love of our God is lighting in many hearts. The devil is stealing people to death every day. We pray that let us Christians live for one day more, for one day more to proclaim Jesus’s message.»
christianity religion,africa,conflicts,persecutions,state department,terrorism
INTERNACIONAL
El gobierno español busca regularizar a medio millón de inmigrantes sin papeles: qué pasa con los argentinos
El Consejo de Ministros español se apresta a aprobar este martes el inicio de la tramitación de un real decreto para regularizar a alrededor de medio millón de inmigrantes que llegaron antes del 31 de diciembre pasado y que demuestren al menos cinco meses de residencia en el país.
La medida fue pactada entre el oficialista Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) del jefe de gobierno Pedro Sánchez y el partido izquierdista Podemos.
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El Ejecutivo comunicó esa iniciativa después de que la secretaria política y eurodiputada de Podemos, Irene Montero, anunció el acuerdo con el PSOE con el objetivo de regularizar a alrededor de medio millón de personas.
Según datos oficiales, unos 415.000 argentinos residen en España en forma legal. El 44% de ellos tiene doble nacionalidad. Pero se desconoce cuántos viven en ese país sin documentos, aunque son una minoría con relación a otras nacionalidades latinoamericanas.
Qué implica el proyecto de regularización de inmigrantes
Al tramitarse como un real decreto, el gobierno español no requiere de su convalidación parlamentaria y puede esquivar así la falta de apoyos que los socios del ejecutivo encontraron en materia migratoria.
Según Montero, la medida implica “que tendrán papeles todas las personas que estuvieran en España antes del 31 de diciembre del año 2025 y que puedan demostrar al menos cinco meses de residencia”.
Podrán hacerlo con el empadronamiento municipal, pero también con otros medios como un informe médico, un contrato de suministro eléctrico o un certificado de envío de dinero, algo muy demandado por las entidades sociales debido a las dificultades que muchas veces enfrentan las personas en situación de irregularidad para acceder al padrón.
Pedro Sánchez busca regularización a medio millón de inmigrantes sin papeles (Foto: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq)
La admisión a trámite de la solicitud ya dará una autorización de residencia y trabajo por un año y suspenderá automáticamente los procedimientos de retorno o las órdenes de expulsión por motivos administrativos o por trabajar sin permiso que pesaran sobre la persona.
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Al término de ese año podrá solicitarse una autorización ordinaria conforme al reglamento de extranjería.
Fuentes del Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones precisaron que este real decreto tiene como objetivo garantizar derechos y dar seguridad jurídica a una realidad social existente.
Gobiernos liderados tanto por el PSOE como por el conservador Partido Popular (PP) aprobaron desde los años 80 hasta ocho procesos extraordinarios de regularización de inmigrantes con los que intentaron reducir el creciente número de inmigrantes extranjeros sin derechos y luchar también contra la economía informal.
Más de 840.000 inmigrantes viven en España en situación irregular
El centro de análisis Funcas (Fundación de las Cajas de Ahorros) informó este lunes que la cifra de migrantes que viven en España en situación administrativa irregular sigue creciendo y ya se sitúa en 840.000 personas.
Por origen, destacan las nacionalidades del continente americano (760.000), que representan el 91 % del total de la inmigración irregular, y en especial la colombiana (cerca de 290.000), la peruana (casi 110.000) y la hondureña (90.000).
Las nacionalidades africanas (50.000), asiáticas (15.000) y europeas (14.000) se encuentran a bastante distancia.
Los datos son anteriores a la última reforma del reglamento de extranjería español, que entró en vigor en mayo de 2025 e introduce cambios para flexibilizar el acceso a la regularización por arraigo. Por eso se estima que la cifra es menor y se situaría en medio millón de personas.
Fuertes cuestionamientos de la oposición
El líder del PP, el conservador Alberto Núñez Feijóo, dijo que la política migratoria del jefe del Ejecutivo español “es tan disparatada como la ferroviaria”, tras los accidentes de tren de la última semana.
En un mensaje en la red social X, Núñez Feijóo escribió: “Hasta 46 muertos. Cientos de heridos. Ninguna dimisión. Y la primera respuesta de Sánchez es una regularización masiva para desviar la atención, aumentar el efecto llamada y desbordar nuestros servicios públicos”.
Por su parte, el líder del partido ultraderechista Vox, Santiago Abascal, tildó de “tirano” a Sánchez por impulsar esta regularización que, a su juicio, promoverá “el efecto llamada para acelerar la invasión”. “¡500.000 ilegales!”, escribió Abascal en un mensaje en X, en el que afirmó que Sánchez “odia al pueblo español” y “quiere sustituirlo”.
(Con información de EFE)
España, inmigracion
INTERNACIONAL
Democrat who broke with party says his DHS funding vote a ‘mistake’ after 2nd Minneapolis ICE shooting
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One of the seven House Democrats who voted with Republicans to advance a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill last week is now characterizing his vote as a mistake, highlighting growing unrest among moderate Democrats over the department’s funding even as lawmakers look to escape a looming government shutdown.
In the wake of a deadly clash between immigration enforcement and agitators in Minnesota over the weekend, Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., apologized publicly for his vote in a post to Facebook.
«I failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis,» Suozzi said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a key agency in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown efforts.
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Rep. Tom Suozzi, left, pictured next to ICE agents, right. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images; Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
«I hear the anger from my constituents and I take responsibility for that. I have long been critical of ICE’s unlawful behavior, and I must do a better job demonstrating that,» he added.
The other six Democrats contacted by Fox News Digital did not respond to inquiries about their votes.
Suozzi’s comments come as Democrats in the Senate are signaling growing opposition to passing the DHS bill and funding the government ahead of a possible shutdown on Jan. 30. The DHS bill, which includes funding for ICE, is part of a four-bill package that the House of Representatives passed last week.
The political outlook of the DHS funding bill changed over the weekend with the death of Alex Pretti.
According to DHS, ICE officers shot and killed Pretti, 37, in a confrontation on Saturday when Pretti attempted to disrupt law enforcement activities while in possession of a firearm. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said agents acted in self-defense.
Pretti is the second civilian shot by ICE in the past month.
The Friday before Pretti’s death, Suozzi and six other Democrats broke with the rest of their party to advance a DHS funding bill that the majority of the party had condemned as inadequate in its provisions on ICE.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testifies before the House Committee on Homeland Security in the Cannon House Office Building on Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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Even with new body camera requirements, additional training mandates and some reductions in funding, Democrats saw the package as unlikely to prevent future deadly clashes between ICE and agitators.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of over 70 lawmakers, said they wouldn’t support a spending bill that didn’t include greater guardrails for ICE.
«I am glad to announce that the Congressional Progressive Caucus has adopted an official position to hold ICE accountable. Our caucus members will oppose all funding for immigration enforcement in any appropriations bills until meaningful reforms are enacted to end militarized policing practices,» Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said at a press event shortly before Republicans unveiled their DHS bill last week.
Their calls were soon adopted by party leadership in the chamber.
Now, with the death of Pretti, what little support the DHS funding had among Democrats is dwindling further.
Suozzi, who had highlighted his role as one of seven Democrats to support the bill on his website, called on Trump to end his ICE deportation campaign.
«The senseless and tragic murder of Alex Pretti underscores what happens when untrained federal agents operate without accountability. President Trump must immediately end ‘Operation Metro Surge’ and ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis that has sown chaos, led to tragedy and undermined experienced local law enforcement,» Suozzi said.
An ICE agent is seen standing in front of a house in a residential area. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The Senate is expected to vote on the bundle of four bills in the coming days. Questions remain whether negotiators will modify the DHS package to avoid a shutdown if Democrats remain united in their opposition.
If modified, the package would have to be taken up again in the House. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he has no intention of bringing the House back in the coming week.
congress,democrats,minnesota,politics
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China’s sudden removal of senior military leaders, including allegations that a top general leaked sensitive information to the United States, is raising new questions about internal turmoil inside the Chinese Communist Party and the readiness of the People’s Liberation Army.
Experts told Fox News Digital that while many details remain unclear, the scope of the apparent purge points to mounting instability under Chinese President Xi Jinping, with potential implications for regional security and rising tensions around Taiwan.
Beijing has not publicly confirmed espionage allegations, but reports published in Western media describe an extraordinary shakeup within China’s military leadership. Analysts caution that the lack of transparency makes definitive conclusions difficult, yet say the pattern of removals itself signals a system under strain.
TAIWAN GENERAL WARNS CHINA’S MILITARY DRILLS COULD BE PREPARATION FOR BLOCKADE OR WAR, VOWS TO RESIST
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, shakes hands with delegates attending the first People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force Party congress during his inspection of the PLA Rocket Force, in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Gang via Getty Images)
Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the non-partisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the developments appear driven by political control rather than an imminent move toward conflict.
«These unprecedented purges reflect Xi’s clear focus on control and cohesion — ensuring the People’s Liberation Army is politically reliable, centralized and obedient before it can be tasked with high-risk operations,» Singleton told Fox News Digital.
«This does not mean conflict is imminent, but it does show how seriously Xi treats the prospect of having to use the military in the coming years.»
Singleton said some observers have compared the developments to past authoritarian crackdowns, but argued a different historical parallel is more instructive.
«Some analysts are comparing these developments to Stalin-era purges in the late 1930s. There certainly are echoes, but I think the closer analogy is Moscow in 1979 — when Soviet political leaders pushed for the invasion of Afghanistan despite strong military warnings that it would be unsustainable and devolve into a costly guerrilla war.»
He warned that China may now be facing a similar disconnect between political leadership and military reality.
«Xi’s purges may reflect a similar dynamic: political urgency to speed up invasion planning over Taiwan colliding with a military that senior Chinese officers know isn’t ready yet.»
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Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, reviews the troops during his inspection of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army PLA garrison stationed in the Macao Special Administrative Region, south China, Dec. 20, 2024. (Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
China expert Gordon Chang, told Fox News Digital the uncertainty surrounding the purge highlights the depth of instability inside China’s system.
«There’s no way to make sense of this right now,» Chang said. «All we can say is that the situation is fluid, that the regime is in turmoil, and probably the People’s Liberation Army is not ready to engage in major operations because dozens of senior officers have been either arrested or removed.»
«This is an extraordinary situation,» he added. «And this means that China, the country itself, not just the regime, but the country itself is unstable.»
Chang also addressed reports alleging that a senior Chinese general was accused of providing sensitive nuclear-related material to the United States, claims that have not been officially substantiated by Beijing.
«The Wall Street Journal reported that the Ministry of National Defense has accused General Zhang Xiaoxiao of providing core technical material on China’s nuclear weapons to the United States,» Chang said.
«That is really extraordinary. It also doesn’t sound right, because General Zhang just would not have that many opportunities to pass that type of material to the U.S.»
Chang emphasized that his assessment was speculative. «This is just a guess, this is speculation,» he said, adding that such accusations may serve as justification for harsh internal punishment rather than reflect confirmed espionage.
He also pointed to past intelligence failures to underscore his skepticism. «We know that the CIA has not had a good track record in China,» Chang said, noting that about 30 CIA assets were executed after being uncovered several years ago.
«It would be stunning that the CIA has been able to reconstitute itself and get that type of material from one of the most senior figures in the Chinese regime,» he said. «At this point I have to say that trust but verify.»
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Members of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy march during the rehearsal ahead of a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, Sept. 3, 2025. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
The continued removal of high-ranking officers, Chang argued, points to deeper fractures within the Communist Party itself.
«We are seeing a whole class of leadership being junked,» he said, noting that the detained general was the most senior uniformed officer in China and second only to Xi Jinping within the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission. «To arrest and detain him is extraordinary by itself.»
Singleton said that while purges may weaken China’s military in the short term, they could create greater risk over time.
«Purges can degrade near-term readiness, but over the long-term they increase political control over the military and reduce dissent, easing the path for riskier decisions down the line,» he said.
Turning to Taiwan, Chang said a deliberate invasion remains unlikely given the current turmoil and the complexity of such an operation.
«I have never thought it was likely China would start hostilities by invading the main island of Taiwan,» he said, citing the challenges of a combined air, land and sea assault and the instability inside the military.
CHINA’S ENERGY SIEGE OF TAIWAN COULD CRIPPLE US SUPPLY CHAINS, REPORT WARNS
The military exercises mobilizing the Chinese PLA Navy, Army, Air Force and the Chinese Coast Guards, which are deemed as a punishment to Taiwan’s call for independence. (Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Still, he warned that instability does not mean reduced danger. «Although it’s unlikely that China would start hostilities deliberately, it’s highly probable that China will end up in a war,» Chang said.
«Not like it’s China deliberately starting one, but China stumbling into one.»
«I don’t think Xi Jinping is in a position to de-escalate a situation because of the turmoil in the Chinese political system,» he added.
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U.S. President Donald Trump greets Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of a bilateral meeting at Gimhae Air Base on Oct. 30, 2025 in Busan, South Korea. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Taken together, analysts say the military shakeup underscores a growing paradox inside Beijing: as Xi tightens political control, instability may deepen rather than fade, increasing the risk of miscalculation at a time of heightened regional tension.
China’s embassy spokesperson in Washington D.C., Liu Pengyu, told Fox News Digital, «The Party Central Committee has decided to open disciplinary and supervisory investigations into Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli on suspicion of serious violations of discipline and law. This decision once again underscores that the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission maintain a full-coverage, zero-tolerance approach to combating corruption. Corruption is a major obstacle to the progress of the Party’s and the nation’s cause. The more resolutely the people’s armed forces fight corruption, the stronger, more united and capable they become.»
china,xi jinping,taiwan,asia
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