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Today’s News Headlines:

*FOOD IS SCARCE FOR LIBERIAN REFUGEES AS PEACEKEEPERS ARRIVE CAMBODIAN MP CHALLENGES BOUNTIES ON VIETNAMESE REFUGEES CATHOLIC WORKER IN INDIA THREATENED WITH CRUCIFIXION “VOICE OF PEACE” RADIO STATION RESURRECTED IN MIDDLE EAST PRO-FAMILY GROUPS PRAISE U.S. PRESIDENT’S STAND ON GAY MARRIAGE

Today’s News Stories:

*FOOD IS SCARCE FOR LIBERIAN REFUGEES AS PEACEKEEPERS ARRIVE West Africa’s first troops landed today on an international rescue mission for Liberia and were greeted by overjoyed civilians who spilled onto the airfield by the hundreds. Nigerian soldiers in green camouflage and flak vests leapt from white U.N. helicopters onto the tarmac at Liberia’s main airport, outside the country’s besieged capital of Monrovia. West African leaders promise an eventual 3,250-strong deployment charged with helping end 14 years of conflict in the war-ruined country and overseeing the departure of president Charles Taylor.

Taylor, a former warlord, pledged Saturday to cede power on Aug. 11, meeting one demand by fellow African leaders and the United States. However, his government has hedged on his promise to go into exile in Nigeria, saying he would leave the country only when enough peacekeepers are on the ground, and when a war-crimes indictment against him is dropped. Taylor is blamed for 14 years of conflict in Liberia that have killed more than 100,000 people, and he is accused of trafficking and arming insurgents across the region.

“People are cautiously optimistic about peacekeepers arriving in Liberia,” Rick Sacra, M.D., SIM Liberia Associate Director reported on Friday. “I spoke at noon today with our friends at Radio Station ELWA (in the Liberian capitol of Monrovia) and the Chairman of ECUL (the SIM related national church in Liberia). Food is still very scarce. Rice costs about 6000 Liberian dollars ($80 US) for a 50 kg. bag on the eastern side of the city, and many are going hungry.”

Sacra added, “Fighting is still going on but the situation at Radio Station ELWA has remained calm. The ELWA management is not accepting any more displaced people on the campus, since all the shelters and buildings are full.” There are now about 2,550 persons, roughly 2,150 of them displaced, on the ELWA campus. In addition, there are an estimated 1,000 displaced people on Carver Mission’s campus across the highway. A small food distribution (one day’s food supply) was carried out there, provided by the Great Commission Movement (Campus Crusade for Christ) in Monrovia.

ELWA continues broadcasting a Christian message of hope — music, Bible teaching and testimonial programs such as “Unshackled” — on a reduced schedule of about three hours each morning and evening. However, the future of the broadcasts hinges on the availability of diesel fuel for the generators. “The ELWA hospital also remains open and is treating many sick people, coming especially from the nearby soccer stadium where thousands of displaced people are taking shelter,” Sacra added.

HCJB World Radio works in partnership with ELWA 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. (HCJB World Radio/SIM/AP)

CAMBODIAN MP CHALLENGES BOUNTIES ON VIETNAMESE REFUGEES A member of the Cambodian parliament has challenged the practice of paying a bounty on fleeing Montagnards from Vietnam. On July 21 Member of Parliament Son Chhay called on the president of the National Assembly, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, to investigate and put an end to human rights violations against Montagnard refugees in Cambodia. Thousands of Vietnamese Montagnards, many of whom are Christians, have crossed the border into Cambodia to flee persecution. Yet during the last two years, thousands have been arrested by Cambodian authorities and returned to Vietnamese authorities who invariably imprison and torture them. Chhay demanded the Cambodian government “answer, clarify, and stop immediately the activities that violate human rights by the Cambodian authorities because it is inhumane and violates the 1951 International Refugee Treaty, of which Cambodia is a signatory.” Chhay confirmed that the Vietnamese authorities are offering Cambodian authorities bounties of 1 million dong (US$67) for turning in Montagnard refugees. In April, Human Rights Watch reported that many Montagnards face an “escalation of repression” and released secret Vietnamese government documents ordering this repression. Chhay also demanded that reports by Radio Free Asia about Montagnard corpses being found with their hands tied floating in the Se-San Rver in June be fully investigated. Many Montagnard refugees had been shot, and one was killed by having his skull crushed after being arrested by Vietnamese police. (Missions Insider)

CATHOLIC WORKER IN INDIA THREATENED WITH CRUCIFIXION A group of thugs attacked a brother of the Capuchin Fathers and threatened to crucify him, the All India Christian Council (AICC) revealed. The group says that it is all part of anti-Christian violence that is taking place in India by Hindu fanatics. A spokesman for AICC said the attack on Brother Prashant of the Capuchin Fathers took place on March 9th when he had gone to Kengeria, a substation of the Devegere Parish, Bangalore district, to conduct a prayer service and teach catechism in the church there. About 20 youngsters in saffron clothing and wearing kumkum (a dot on the forehead), came on motorbikes. They told him that they were from Bajrang Dal. The armed fundamentalists accused him of converting people to Christianity and started beating him. Some of the hoodlums entered the church, vandalized it, and then told him if he came back to Devegere, they would crucify him in the same manner as Jesus was. As a consequence of these incidents and others, the AICC held a public hearing on June 12 at Bangalore during which 49 victims of anti-Christian violence in the state this year were deposed. After receiving the testimony, leaders of AICC decided to start intervening in an effort to resolve the problems in the state. Subsequently, local government officials and police determined that the Christians did indeed have the right to worship freely in their church building without disturbance. On two separate occasions in the weeks that followed, the police cleared the church building of all idols. (Assist News Service)

‘VOICE OF PEACE’ RADIO STATION RESURRECTED IN MIDDLE EAST After a decade of silence, the Voice of Peace radio station is about to make itself heard again in a joint Israeli-Palestinian venture to put it back on Middle Eastern airwaves, according to an article on http://indymedia.org.il by Lydia Aisenberg. For 20 years peace-orientated programs were beamed throughout the region from a pirate ship anchored in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to veteran Israeli peace activist, Abie Nathan. Broadcasts began in l973 and ceased when Nathan, broke and bitterly disappointed, scuttled the Peace Ship somewhere in the Mediterranean. The ship’s crew, broadcasting technicians and DJ’s were a multi-ethnic mix who volunteered to keep Peace afloat for nothing more than a narrow bunk, food and the opportunity to calm the stormy waters of conflict in the region. Although the new Voice of Peace will be beaming the same message, it will be manned by landlubbers and the studios operated by both Israelis and Palestinians, said Aisenberg. “The main station will be physically situated in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. Relay stations in Israel, West Bank and Gaza will carry the beat of peace to a very wide and diverse audience. Unlike the Peace Ship’s English only broadcasts, the new Voice of Peace will be broadcasting in Hebrew, Arabic and English, Aisenberg said. (Assist News Service)

PRO-FAMILY GROUPS PRAISE U.S. PRESIDENT’S STAND ON GAY MARRIAGE Christian pro-family groups are praising President Bush for saying he believes marriage “is between a man and a woman.” “There is a real movement for same-sex marriage, and if the president doesn’t intervene, and if he doesn’t take leadership in this area, we could lose marriage in this country the way we know it,” said Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the Associated Press reported. Even as Bush made it clear that he did not support the idea of gay marriage, he appeared to issue a call for tolerance. “I think it’s very important for our society to respect each individual,” the president told reporters at a White House news conference when asked for his views on homosexuality. “On the other hand, that does not mean that somebody like me needs to compromise on an issue such as marriage. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman, and I think we ought to codify that one way or another,” Bush said. (Charisma 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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