The Lebanese army said on Friday that is has arrested in the eastern Bekaa Valley a Syrian suspected of belonging to …

The police officer executed by gunmen in a street outside the office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris was a Muslim. His name was Ahmed Merabet.

The story of Merabet's confrontation with the Paris terrorists is turning out to be one of the most poignant in the whole affair.

And it's proof, if further proof were needed, that Muslims are much more frequently the victims of Islamic terrorism than Westerners are. According to the Global Terrorism Index, 80% of all the deaths from terrorism in 2013 were in Muslim-majority countries Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Since 2000, only 5% of all deaths from terrorism have been in developed countries — although they have been among the deadliest.

Pamela Engel, Michael B Kelley and Dina Spector

French policeHandout photos released by French Police in Paris of Cherif Kouachi (L), 32, and his brother Said Kouachi, 34

Here are the two suspects in the murder of the policewoman:

Authorities in northern France are closing in on two brothers who allegedly carried out an attack against a satirical magazine in Paris. 

Simultaneously, a man thought to be connected to the suspects has taken hostages in eastern Paris.

Special forces and anti-terrorism personnel have surrounded a printing business in the small northern town of Dammartin-en-Goele after at least one person was taken hostage by the suspects. 

In eastern Paris, there has been a shootout at a kosher supermarket involving a man suspected of killing a policewoman on Thursday. Witnesses told the Associated Press that the gunman has an automatic rifle and that there are multiple hostages and people are wounded. At least two people have been killed and at least five hostages are thought to be inside the supermarket, according to AFP.

Denver, Colo., Jan 8, 2015 / 05:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The number of persecuted Christians in the world has topped 100 million, according to a new report that says even non-violent persecution of Christians has increased, amid continuing violence. “Even Christian-majority states are experiencing unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination and violence,” David Curry, president of the California-based Open Doors USA, said Jan. 7.

Curry’s organization has worked to help persecuted Christians for over 60 years. It was founded by a Dutchman known as Brother Andrew. He smuggled Bibles into Eastern Europe, whose communist regimes severely restricted Christianity and other religions. He said Open Doors USA’s 2015 World Watch List shows “a staggering number of Christians are becoming victims of intolerance and violence because of their faith.” The list ranks the 50 countries where it is most dangerous and difficult to be a Christian. It defines persecution as “any hostility experienced as a result of one’s identification with Christ.” These can include imprisonment, torture, beheadings, rape, and loss of home and assets.