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 DR. PAUL DHINAKARAN TO PREACH IN DELHI
The National Capital Region is getting ready to host the
Delhi Prayer Festival 2009 at Ramlila Grounds, from 27
to 29 November, 2009. Dr. Paul Dhinakaran and family are
the special speakers for the Festival. The first
planning Committee Meeting held on 8th July at CNI
Bhavan Auditorium witnessed a wholehearted participation
from all Christian denominations.
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ACQUITTALS IN SABHARWAL MURDER CASE UNFORTUNATE:
CONGRESS
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Monday
said it was unfortunate that all accused in the H.S.
Sabharwal murder case were acquitted by a Nagpur court
and questioned the role of BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh
government in the acquittal. "This is unfortunate. We do
not comment on court outcome but from day one, the state
machinery was hand in glove with the accused. The
blinkered, one-sided view of the Madhya Pradesh
government has led to this..." party spokesman Abhishek
Manu Singhvi told reporters here.
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ARTICLE 377: ACA APPROACHES SC
The Apostolic Churches Alliance (ACA), a body of
like-minded churches and Christian l eaders based in Kerala, expressed its deep disappointment and strong
protest at the ruling passed by the Delhi High Court on
July 3, 2009 regarding decriminialisation of gay sex in
India. Pr. Sam T. Varghese, the General Overseer told
Praise the Almighty that ACA has filed a petition in the
Supreme Court against the recent High Court judgment.
"While we would like to make it absolutely clear that we
do not see individuals involved in such acts as
“criminals”, we are vehemently opposed to such kind of
“behaviour” and believe that it is an altogether
unnatural act, a perversion of God's design for His
creatures", he said.
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AZAD FAVOURS LATE MARRIAGES TO CURB POPULATION GROWTH
NEW DELHI: After a long break, the
government is talking family planning again. In what
marks a change from the "population dividend" argument
that replaced "parivar niyojan" of the 1970's, health
minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has suggested late marriages
as a means of checking population growth. In a country
where even now women in their mid-20s are seen to be
getting "past" the marriageable age and where, in rural
areas, girls in the age group of 16-18 getting married
to boys in their early 20's is still very the norm,
Azad's idea may sound somewhat radical.
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SCHOLARSHIP SCHEMES FOR MINORITIES
New Delhi: The Delhi Minorities Commission
(DMC) of the Government of NCT of Delhi conducted a
seminar on scholarship schemes for students of minority
communities at YMCA here on July 11, 2009. Around 200
delegates from various minority communities and related
organisations attended the seminar.
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KANDHMAL VIOLENCE A BLOT ON ORISSA: CHIDAMBARAM
NEW DELHI: The UPA government on Wednesday
said last year's anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal
district of Orissa was a "blot" on the state and
expressed concern over hundreds of displaced still
living in camps. Replying to questions in Rajya Sabha,
home minister P Chidambaram said a large number of
people were displaced in Kandhamal and 800-900 people
were still in camps. "Kandhamal was a blot on the very
face of Orissa. It is shame that minorities were
targeted," the home minister said, drawing noisy
protests from BJP members.
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NATIONAL |
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DEATH FOR THOSE MAKING SPURIOUS LIQUOR: GUJARAT GOVT
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government has on
Wednesday declared that there would be a new law which
will make death penalty mandatory for people who
manufacture spurious liquor. The government has said
that the punishment for the crime would now range from a
minimum of seven years to execution.
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CHRISTIAN LEADERS URGED TO STUDY MAHAPATRA REPORT ON
KANDHMAL
New Delhi: The Church leaders in India
have out rightly rejected Justice S.C. Mahapatra’s
interium report on violence in Kandhmal that took place
in 2007 and 2008. The report has sited “conversion and
anti conversion ‘and obtaining “fake “caste certificates
by the ‘Pana Chriwtians’ as the main source of tension.
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ANTI CHRISTIAN HOARDINGS IN CHHATTISGARH
Hindu extremists allegedly from the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (World Hindu Council) and Bajrang Dal (Youth
Wing of the VHP) put up three anti- Christian hoardings
in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, sternly warning the Christians
not to preach in the area. The signboards put up in
three different places said, "Preaching about Jesus
Christ is strictly prohibited in the area, and a penalty
of rupees 1130 will be imposed on those found guilty."
The hoardings also have pictures of Hindu deities along
with names of the extremists group.
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FIRST CONVICTION IN KHANDHAMAL
July 2, 2009: The fast-track court in
Kandhamal District sentenced a 58-year, a tribal leader
named Chakradhar Mallick, resident of Dampidhia village,
Daringbadi block, Kandhamal who had set the house of
Loknath Digal a man belong the same village on fire and
threatened to kill him.
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BIGOTRY ALIVE FOR CHRISTIAN DALITS
Centuries ago, as their forefathers faced social and
economic deprivation, many low-caste Hindus embraced
Christianity. But in one corner of southern India, their
hopes for equality remain unfulfilled hundreds of years
on. Called "pariahs", hundreds of Dalit Christians
continue to face discrimination - not from Hindus but
fellow Christians.
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CENTRAL RESERVE POLICE FORCE HAVE BEEN WITH DRAWN
FROM KANDHAMAL
In a major development, the last batch of Central forces
deployed in the trouble-torn Kandhamal district was
withdrawn on 1 June 2009, According to Kandhamal
district collector Krishan Kumar. The last batch of four
companies of CRPF (400 personnel) deployed in Raikia and
G. Udayagiri finally moved out of the district on
Wednesday.
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CHRISTIANS PROTEST AGAINST CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS IN
BHOPAL
Bhopal, 6 July 2009: Christians held a
symbolic protest prayer meeting, (Sad-Budhi Prarthana
Sabha), in front of St. Joseph Girls Senior Secondary
School at Idgah Hills, Bhopal. The School is being run
by the religious organization called "St. Joseph Sisters
of Chamery". The meeting was organized by Christian
Adhikar Manch, Bhopal. The school authorities were not
authorities available for comments. READ MORE |
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GUJARAT GOVERNMENT CONTINUES WITH COMMUNAL AGENDA
In a surreptitious and secret move, the Government of
Gujarat through its Legal Department has issued a
notification (No. GK/8/2009/COI/102009/33/A) appointing
a Commission of Inquiry to inquire and report into the
"polarization of population on the basis of religion
taking place in the State of Gujarat" and "the migration
of the people following different religions taking place
every 10 years after 15th August 1947".
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KANDHAMAL RIOT ACCUSED FREED, TO TAKE OATH AS MLA
July 05: BJP leader and a prime accused in
last year's communal riot in Kandhamal, Manoj Pradhan,
was released from jail here on Sunday, a day after being
granted interim bail to be able to take oath as an MLA.
Pradhan, who was lodged in jail since his arrest in
October 2008 on charge of murder, riot and arson, was
set free after furnishing required documents, a day
after a fast track court here granted him conditional
bail for 15 days in two cases. He had earlier got bail
in 12 other cases.
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SCHOOL PROTEST: CHRISTIAN ADHIKAR MANCH APOLOGIZES
Bhopal: The members of Christian Adikar
Manch, (CAM), expressed deep regret and apologized for
the symbolic protest prayer organized in front of the
catholic School and for highlighting the stray incidents
that took at times in Catholic Schools. The apology was
tendered on 11 July 2009 in a joint meeting of
Representatives of St. Joseph Senior Secondary School,
Idgah Hills, Bhopal, Members of Christian Adikar Manch
(Christian Right Protection Group), and Office bearers
of Archdiocese was held at Archbishop's House in Bhopal,
under Chairmanship of the Archbishop Dr. Leo Cornelio.
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RELIGIOUS ROW GOES TO THE PRESIDENT
KOLKATA: India's ruling party has
intervened in a bid to block a move by one of the
country's states to make it more difficult to change
religions. The Congress Party has advised the country's
president, Pratibha Patil, not to sign on Madhya
Pradesh's amendment to a freedom of religion act that
would make anyone in the state wanting to convert to
seek permission from the local administrative authority
and police.
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PETITION URGES COURT TO DISQUALIFY CANDIDATES
SUPPORTED BY RELIGIOUS GROUPS
The court should not permit the participation of
religious organisations during election campaigns and it
should disqualify those candidates being backed up by
such groups. This is exactly what a petition has
demanded in the southern state of Kerala. Last week,
July 7, the Kerala High Court received a petition urging
it to act on religious groups associating with political
parties and candidates standing for elections.
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AUSSIE, INDIAN CHRISTIAN LEADERS CONDEMN ATTACKS ON
INDIAN STUDENTS
Ahmedabad (Gujarat): Amid
 the recent spate
of racial attacks on Indian students in Australia, a
dominant Protestant denomination in India along with its
counterpart in Australia, joined hands to condemn and
initiate measures to address the growing outrage.
Australian department of education's group manager Colin
Walters, right, interacts with parents during a parent
student interaction organized by Australian High
Commission in Ahmadabad, India, Tuesday, July 7, 2009.
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KERALA CHURCH INITIATES MEDICAL SCHEMES TO RESTORE
THE FAITHFUL
In a bid to combat its diminishing number of faithful in
southern state of Kerala, the Catholic Church there has
initiated measures, including some medical schemes that
can restore its lost numbers - mainly among the youths.
Apparently worried by its dwindling population, the
Catholic Church proposed some medical schemes, one being
the reversal of tubectomy among women in church-run
hospitals. Additionally, it will also provide remedial
support for infertile couples and educational incentives
for fourth child in the family.
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MAHATMA'S GRANDDAUGHTER BLAMES GOVT FOR HOOCH TRAGEDY
SURAT: That one of the biggest hooch
tragedies has taken place in the land of Gandhi has
greatly distressed his great-granddaughter Nilam Parikh.
According to her, the state government has made no
sincere effort to implement the liquor ban.
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MIZO CHURCH DEFIES GAY RULING, WANTS 1909 ORDER TO
REMAIN
The Christian-dominated state of Mizoram might disregard
the Delhi High Court's gay ruling and rather stick with
an 100-year-old British law that rigidly criminalises
homosexuality. The British law formulated in 1909 by
superintendent of then Lushai Hills HWG Cole strictly
opposes homosexuality and also punishes chiefs who fail
to "report all cases of unnatural offences".
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ARCHBISHOP CAUTIONS MINORITIES CHAIRMAN: JUSTICE
DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED
"Justice delayed is justice denied," said Archbishop of
Bangalore Bernard Moras, at a meeting with the Karnataka
State Minorities Commission Chairman Khusro Quraishi.
Expressing disappointment over the investigation into
the church attacks in Karnataka, Archbishop Moras at a
private meeting with Quraishi said the response of the
Somshekhara Commission was slow and out of Church's
expectations.
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PASTOR, WIFE ASSAULTED IN KARNATAKA
A pastor and his wife were attacked by Hindu radicals on
Friday at one of the villages in Chitradurga district
within South Indian state of Karnataka, Global Council
of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported. On 10 July 2009 at
9:30 a.m. a group lead by H R Kallesh assaulted Sharada,
a pastor’s wife, in Srirampura village, Hosadurga Taluk,
Chitradurga district.
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CHRISTIANS SEEK URGENT PROTECTION OF WITNESSES OF
ORISSA VIOLENCE, REHABILITATION OF VICTIMS OF ORISSA
VIOLENCE, SC RIGHTS FOR DALIT CHRISTIANS
NEW DELHI -- 29 June 2009: The Christian
community today asked the Union government to intervene
decisively in Orissa and ensure the protection of
witnesses whose lives are being threatened by criminals,
including politicians and legislators of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) charged with multiple murders in the
anti-Christian violence of August-October 2008.
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ANDHRA CM WANTS CENTRE TO ADDRESS DALIT ISSUES
Hyderabad: As promised, Chief Minister of
Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhara Reddy has demanded that
the Centre provide SC status to Dalit Christians who
have been deprived of their rights. Earlier this month,
the CM had assured a Christian delegation that he would
take up the issue of Dalit quota with the Central
Government and the Union Ministers for Law and Justice.
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WORLD |
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ARAB VISION TO LAUNCH WEBSITE THIS YEAR
A broadcast charter agreement last year involving
countries of the Arab League is viewed by a Christian
ministry as a possible significant step toward
tightening controls on satellite television in the
region. In response, Arab Vision sees the Internet as
holding great potential with exponential growth in the
numbers of people in the Arab world who have access to
the Internet. The Gulf region leads in this, but poorer
countries such as Egypt have also made good progress.
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ABORTION FOR POPULATION CONTROL? ‘DEMOGRAPHIC BOMB'
PRODUCER APPALLED
July 14 - Barry McLerran, producer of the just-released
documentary "Demographic Bomb: Demography is Destiny" --
sequel to "Demographic Winter" -- said he was appalled
by recent comments of Supreme Court Associate Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg that she viewed abortion as a form
of population control.
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SONS BORN TO COPTIC CHRISTIAN MOTHER IN EGYPT STILL
CONSIDERED MUSLIMS
A Christian mother in Egypt has won custody of her twin
sons from her estranged husband who had converted to
Islam and claimed them according to Islamic legal
precepts. The boys, however, will still be considered
Muslims despite their desire to remain Christian.
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IRAN SCRAPS MANDATORY DEATH PENALTY FOR ‘APOSTATES’
A member of Iran’s parliament reportedly revealed that
the country’s Parliamentary Committee has stricken the
mandatory death penalty for those who leave Islam from
proposals for an amended penal code. Citing a BBC
report, U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)
announced that a member of Iran’s Legal and Judicial
Committee of Parliament, Ali Shahrokhi, had told the
Iranian state news agency of the decision to eliminate
the mandatory death penalty amendment which had drawn
international protests.
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NINE CHRISTIANS ARRESTED IN MALAYSIA
Police in Malaysia have said they will release nine
Christians mistakenly accused of trying to convert
Muslim university students to Christianity. A university
security guard wrongly thought they were handing
Christian pamphlets to Muslims, police said.
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RELIGIOUS DISHARMONY INVESTIGATION
The arrests followed a controversy last week centring on
two journalists who wrote about hiding their Muslim
identity in order to receive Communion at a Roman
Catholic church. One of the journalists said they were
investigating reports that Muslims had committed
apostasy by attending prayers or Communion at the
church, but that they found no evidence of this.
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WORLD BAPTIST HEAD CALLS FOR GREATER UNITY AMONG
EVANGELICALS
The President of the Baptist World Alliance has urged
evangelicals in the UK to make more of an effort to be
united and warned that the present disunity was
weakening the potential for “thoughtful and effective”
evangelism in the country. The Rev David Coffey argues
in his new book, 'All one in Christ Jesus,' that
evangelicals are losing the ground gained in the 1970s
and 1980s “when we honoured and accepted one another
with greater grace across the denominational and
organisational divisions.”
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SEVEN BELIEVERS BEHEADED IN SOMALIA
Al-Shabaab, Somalia's hard-line insurgents, reportedly
beheaded seven Somalis for being "Christians" and
"spies." This news was announced by Reuters News Agency
on Friday. The report stated that the incident took
place in the south-central town of Baidoa. In Iraq, the
Associated Press reported a car bomb exploded near a
church in Baghdad, killing three Christians and a
Muslim. Another Christian was killed in the northern
city of Kirkuk. Several more churches were also bombed
in Baghdad over the weekend.
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EVANGELICAL FRANCIS COLLINS NAMED TO HEAD NIH
WASHINGTON (RNS) -- Francis Collins, the
researcher who mapped the human genome and navigated
clashes between his Christian faith and science, has
been chosen to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Calling Collins "one of the top scientists in the
world," President Obama announced his nomination on
Wednesday (July 8), one day after the NIH released new
stem cell research guidelines that angered many
conservative Christians.
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NEW SWINE FLU VACCINE PRODUCED IN MORAL CELL CULTURE
MURFREESBORO, Tenn., June 16: Children of
God for Life announced today that a new swine flu
vaccine produced by Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant,
Novartis, is made using ethical cell lines. The vaccine,
which was hailed last week by the Associated Press as
the first to be produced in cell culture rather than the
traditional chick embryo method, uses MDCK (Madin-Darby
Canine Kidney) cells.
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2009 CHRISTY AWARDS FOR BEST CHRISTIAN FICTION
ANNOUNCED
The winners of the tenth annual Christy Awards were
announced Saturday ahead of this week’s International
Christian Retail Show. From each of the nine Christian
fiction categories, a winner was selected by a panel of
seven judges and recognized with the top honor,
continuing a tradition that has been running since 1999.
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OBAMA AND POPE DISCUSS ABORTION, STEM CELLS
In their first meeting Friday, President Barack Obama
and Pope Benedict XVI touched on the ethics of abortion
and stem cells. The two leaders met at the Vatican's
apostolic palace where the pontiff offered Obama a copy
of a document titled "An Instruction on Certain
Bioethical Questions." While Obama supports abortion
rights and funding embryonic stem cell research, the
Vatican is staunchly opposed to both. In a paper that
was released in December, the Vatican hardened its
opposition to using embryos for stem cell research and
affirmed the dignity of every human life beginning at
conception.
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KENYA ETHNIC HEALING FAR FROM COMPLETE
Kenyans are still struggling to recover from the ethnic
violence that erupted a year and a half ago in the wake
of a disputed presidential election. "The big problem is
10 million people are facing food shortages," says
Assemblies of God missionary Bryan Burr, who represents
Convoy of Hope in Kenya. "Farmers haven't been growing
food because they've been preoccupied with shelter and
safety."
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 CELEBRATING CALVIN, 500 YEARS LATER
What made John Calvin great? The answer his brilliance
as a thinker and writer and, above all, his ability to
interpret the Bible, according to Bruce Gordon,
professor of Reformation history at Yale Divinity
School. As Christians across the globe celebrate the
500th anniversary of the birth of Calvin on Friday,
believers are paying tribute to the 16th century
reformer whose life was not without controversy, but one
to commemorate.
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TEEN COMPLETES 500-MILE WALK FOR SPEED THE
LIGHT
Greeted by cheers, banners and a small choir of kazoos,
15-year-old Mike Durbin took the final steps of his
500-mile walk from Whitehouse, Texas, to the Assemblies
of God headquarters in Spring-field, Missouri, on
Wednesday, July 1, 2009. His incredible I Will Walk
journey was a God-inspired endeavour to raise funds and
awareness for Speed the Light, the AG student-initiated
program that provides missionaries with vehicles and
other much-needed equipment.
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25 LAKH DISPLACED PAKISTANIS FEAR RETURNING BACK TO
THEIR HOMES
Islamabad: Over 25 lakh internally
displaced people continue to “suffer from shock,” they
are “afraid of returning home” because they feel that
some Taliban presence still exists in those areas,
Church-based relief group said. Two and a half months
into the offensive against Taliban, Pakistan said on 8
June that the military operation against the militants
in northwestern Pakistan's Swat and Buner districts
completed, clearing out militants and making the area
safe for return of the displaced local population,
Xinhua news reported.
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IRAN INTERRUPTS CHRISTIAN SATELLITE CHANNEL
Teheran: As the Iranian government cracks
down on communication modes following its disputed
presidential election, Christian satellite channels have
been among its victims. Terry Ascott, CEO of SAT-7
International, said many satellite channels, including
the Christian channel, have been affected by the
government crackdown. What is “strange,” he noted, is
that the government has found a way to block channels
beaming into Iran without jamming satellites that would
affect the entire Middle East.
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CHURCH, BIBLE STUDENTS FIGHT DISCRIMINATION IN
INDONESIA
Members of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP)
in Cinere village, Depok, West Java appeared in court on
June 29, 2009 to contest the mayor's revocation of their
building permit in March, while students of the
shuttered Arastamar School of Theology (SETIA)
demonstrated in Jakarta on June 15, asking officials to
honor promises to provide them with a new campus.
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IRAN: BELIEVERS VULNERABLE TO PROTEST CRACKDOWN
Iranian Christian Joseph Hovsepian says Christians
protesting the June re-election of Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could face even more intense
persecution than believers already endure. Hovsepian,
whose father, Bishop Haik Hovsepian, was martyred in
Iran in 1994, said his friends and relatives in Iran
claim that few Christians are in the streets protesting,
although they share the protesters’ demands for a full
recount of the bitterly disputed election and more
freedom.
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SUDANESE CHRISTIAN GIRLS FLOGGED FOR WEARING PANTS
Officials in Sudan have flogged several women including
Christian women for wearing trousers. They were arrested
by police last week in the capital on charges that they
violated the public dress code. According to BBC news,
Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, a well-known reporter who writes
a weekly column called Men Talk for Sudanese papers, who
also works for the United Nations Mission in Sudan says
she is facing 40 lashes, said she and 12 other women
wearing trousers were arrested in a restaurant in the
capital, Khartoum.
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LOTTERY SALES UP, DESPERATE PEOPLE ARE LOSING
If there is a silver lining to the economic recession,
it could be that some forms of gambling are in decline.
Many casinos and racetracks have reported decreased
revenue as Americans scale back on travel. But in some
states, lottery sales have increased as
down-on-their-luck consumers purchase tickets in hopes
of scoring a windfall.
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