office, he was met by israel s new prime minister. mr biden will also meet the palestinian president. that s it for me for now, i will be back later in the evening. now on bbc news, hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. 25 years ago, almost 1.5 million christians lived in iraq. now there are around a quarter of a million. and after years of war and sectarian violence, many of them have been displaced from their ancestral homes. can anything be done to reverse this trend toward extinction? well, my guest is archbishop bashar warda of erbil, home to the largest remaining christian community in a country, a region where christianity has deep roots. does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year af
home to the largest remaining christian community in a country, a region where christianity has deep roots. does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year after year? yeah, i would say it s dangerously low in number. challenging, because i ll be honest with you, there is no one reason for our family to stay. i cannot convince them unless we do something for them. yes, we live in a safe environment in kurdistan, in erbil and duhok, but still, challenges, it s everywhere and especially when it comes to the whole region as middle east, christians have lost trust. it s notjust about iraq. speaking about syria, lebanon and the number of the christians declining. so everyone is thinking how to get out safely, while as church leaders
welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. 25 years ago, almost 1.5 million christians lived in iraq. now there are around a quarter of a million. and after years of war and sectarian violence, many of them have been displaced from their ancestral homes. can anything be done to reverse this trend toward extinction? well, my guest is archbishop bashar warda of erbil, home to the largest remaining christian community in a country, a region where christianity has deep roots. does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year after year? yeah, i would say it s dangerously low in number. challenging, because i ll be honest with you, there is no one reason for our family to stay. i cannot convince them unless we do something for them. yes
is unshakeable as he arrives there on his first middle east tour. protestors gather in washington to demand more action on gun legislation as newly released video of the texas school shooting sparks more anger about the police response. welcome to newsday. it s sevenin the morning in singapore, and four thirty in the morning in sri lanka where president gotabaya has not honoured his promise to resign. he flew out of the country, to the maldives, about 2k hours ago. but in a public letter, he said he was appointing the prime minister to be the acting head of state while he was absent. that s led to anger among protestors, who wanted both men to quit. meanwhile, a curfew is in force and the prime minister and now acting president ranil wickremesinghe has told the military to do whatever is necessary to restore order. from colombo, our south asia correspondent rajini vaidya nathan reports. their target heavily guarded. their mood determined. as news spread that prime
does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year after year? yeah, i would say it s dangerously low in number. challenging, because i ll be honest with you, there is no one reason for our family to stay. i cannot convince them unless we do something for them. yes, we live in a safe environment in kurdistan, in erbil and duhok, but still, challenges, it s everywhere and especially when it comes to the whole region as middle east, christians have lost trust. it s notjust about iraq. speaking about syria, lebanon and the number of the christians declining. so everyone is thinking how to get out safely, while as church leaders, we are trying our best, really, to hold to everyone, especially the needy, the qualified, because over the