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Today’s News Headlines:

DEATH TOLL SOARS IN LIBERIA AS FIGHTING RAGES RELIEF EFFORT LAUNCHED IN SOUTHERN SUDAN AS FAMINE SPREADS BULGARIAN RELIGION LAW SURVIVES CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE RELIGION COULD BE KEY ISSUE IN CAMBODIAN ELECTIONS STRAINED RELATIONS BETWEEN U.S., NORTH KOREA COMPLICATE OUTREACH VATICAN PLANNING JORDANIAN CHURCH TO BE LARGEST IN MIDDLE EAST

Today’s News Stories:

DEATH TOLL SOARS IN LIBERIA AS FIGHTING RAGES More than 600 civilians have been killed in a rebel onslaught on the outskirts of the Liberian capital city of Monrovia as fighting raged for a fifth day. The blast of mortar bombs rang out across the city today where the U.N. refugee agency described the situation as “horrific” and aid workers appealed for foreign troops to end the violence. West African ministers and security officials met in Senegal to discuss sending peacekeepers to the embattled country, and pressure mounted on the U.S. to intervene. Liberian Defense Minister Daniel Chea said the soaring death toll in Monrovia has thrown into doubt pledges by President Charles Taylor to resign once peacekeeping troops arrived. Aid workers calculated that about 100 civilians have been killed by mortar bombs in the past few days, but Chea says overall civilian casualties are six times that figure. Angry Monrovians have cursed the U.S. for failing to send soldiers to help end the bloodshed. Today’s heaviest gunfire rang out from areas near bridges that lead to the city center — where the battle has seesawed since Friday — and on a road encircling the city. U.S. President George W. Bush said he would only consider sending troops to help if Taylor, wanted by a U.N.-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone, left the country. (Reuters)

* About 500 refugees have sought shelter at Radio Station ELWA in Monrovia as the political situation in the country continues to deteriorate. Despite the unrest, the radio station and hospital continue to operate as long as diesel fuel is available to run the generators. HCJB World Radio works in partnership with ELWA, a ministry founded by SIM in Monrovia in 1954, to air the gospel across the country and West Africa. The radio station was destroyed twice by civil war, first in 1990 and again in 1996. ELWA went back on the air in 1997 with a small FM transmitter. Then in 2000 HCJB World Radio provided a low-power shortwave transmitter, again enabling the station to cover the region. ELWA broadcasts the gospel in 10 languages and plans to add more as resources become available.

RELIEF EFFORT LAUNCHED IN SOUTHERN SUDAN AS FAMINE SPREADS While U.N. relief efforts in Sudan are suspended during negotiations for a settlement to the longstanding civil war, Christian relief agencies are working to fill the gap in a worsening human tragedy induced by drought conditions and a failed harvest. “The village of Tonj in southern Sudan, for example, is being ravaged by famine,” said pastor Gary Kusonoki, founder of Safe Harbor International Relief. “Our African staff has reported that seven to 10 people a week are losing their lives to starvation.” Kusonoki and a team of 10 plan to arrive in Tonj with 50 tons of relief supplies to aid the deteriorating situation. “Thousands of people are on the verge of starvation. Many are to the point where their bodies can no longer take in solid food,” he said. Sudan is the largest country in Africa, but it has been enmeshed in civil war for most of the years since it gained independence from Britain in 1956. An estimated 2 million people have died of famine and fighting in Sudan during the last 18 years. (Assist News Service)

BULGARIAN RELIGION LAW SURVIVES CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE An effort to have parts of Bulgaria’s controversial religion law overturned as unconstitutional has failed. The lawyer who represented 50 parliamentary deputies of the Union Democratic Forces (UDF) in their case at the Constitutional Court described the July 15 ruling as “amazing.” “It is the first time in history that six judges have been against the law and only five in favor, but the law went through anyway,” said Lachezar Popov, chair of the Sofia-based Rule of Law Institute. Members of religious minorities now fear the authorities will step up action against them. The religion law, which was adopted last December and came into force Jan. 1, was criticized in a June 2003 Council of Europe report that expressed concern about privileges granted to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The Sofia-based Tolerance Foundation, headed by Emil Cohen, complained about the rights given to the courts under Article 9 to punish religious organizations for a variety of alleged offences. Popov reports that in recent months, churches and monasteries have been attacked and occupied by police — at times in the face of legal orders. Both religious minorities and UDF deputies say the campaign against the law will continue. (Forum 18 News Service)

RELIGION COULD BE KEY ISSUE IN CAMBODIAN ELECTIONS Christians in Cambodia are concerned that religion may be a key factor in national elections set for Sunday, July 27. Ken Huff from the evangelistic Book of Hope project says the major opposition group, the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), was trying to win votes earlier this year by speaking out against Christianity. Bruce Hutchinson of Call to Prayer Ministries says the SRP used a cult group’s claim that the ancient temples of Angkor Wat were built by Jehovah to stir opposition to Christians and gain political leverage. “In a country that reacts extremely to rumors, and is developing a strong culture of nationalism based on their cultural and Buddhist roots, this is something of a concern,” said Hutchinson. The majority of Cambodia’s 12.4 million people are Buddhists who mix beliefs from ancient Khmer, Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Religious freedom is protected in the Cambodian constitution, but Christians often face persecution and opposition, especially in rural areas. (Compass Direct)

STRAINED RELATIONS BETWEEN U.S., NORTH KOREA COMPLICATE OUTREACH North Korea has warned that it may pull out of a 1953 armistice accord. The threat of war looms over the Korean peninsula as the U.S. tries to negotiate. Trans World Radio’s Scott Hollinger says the atmosphere complicates outreach plans, but won’t stop the ministry. “This is difficult. It’s taking time for us to find the right people that we can utilize to send the radios into North Korea. There are more guards stationed at the border now, the infrastructure of transportation is not good, so it takes more time.” Hollinger says that strained relations between the U.S. and North Korean governments serve to sharpen their evangelistic mission. “We produce 11 programs that are being aired to the Korean peninsula. Although the focus of those programs really is North Korea. It just means that we are more focused on making sure that ministry gets out.” (Mission Network News)

VATICAN PLANNING JORDANIAN CHURCH TO BE LARGEST IN MIDDLE EAST The Vatican plans to build the biggest church of the Middle East in Jordan near the site where scholars believe Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Last week the first group of Vatican engineers arrived to inspect the location of the 5,000 square meters complex, which is to be erected in a pyramid shape on the east bank of the Jordan River, said Baptism Site Commission Director Dia Al-Madani. The church, which will include a monastery and an indoor lake for baptism services, is to be constructed from old stones used in biblical times and will be large enough to “accommodate 30,000 pilgrims,” explained Al-Madani. Although the Vatican will fund the multi-million dollar building and an unknown number of priests and monks are expected to live there permanently, “believers from all denominations will be welcomed and can be baptized in the church,” said Al-Madani. “Construction of the church will begin this autumn and could be finished within three years.” (Assist News Service)

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* * * * * * * * * * * * * James A. Ferrier HCJB World Radio U.S. Ministries Communications Director E-mail: Phone: 1-719-590-9800 Fax: 1-719-590-9801 Web: http://www.hcjb.org http://www.beyondthecall.org * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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