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Today’s Headlines:

BULGARIAN POLICE CLOSE AT LEAST 25 ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN RAIDS AUTHORITIES REFUSE REGISTRATION OF BAPTIST CAMP IN UZBEKISTAN INDIA MOVES TO RETRY SUSPECTS IN CASE OF ATTACK BY HINDU MOB FOOD FOR THE POOR ANNOUNCES MASSIVE JAMAICAN PROJECT NEW WEBSITE HIGHLIGHTS SRI LANKA’S PERSECUTED CHURCH FILMMAKER WORKS TO SAVE CROSS ON LOS ANGELES COUNTY SEAL

Today’s News Stories:

BULGARIAN POLICE CLOSE AT LEAST 25 ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN RAIDS Bulgarian police have evicted dissident Orthodox priests from dozens of churches nationwide which they have occupied in defiance of a 2001 law that handed their property to the traditional church. The priests broke from the mainstream church after the fall of communism, saying the patriarch had been too close to the former authoritarian regime. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights watchdog group, condemned the Bulgarian government after police conducted the largest crackdown on the clergy since the collapse of communism. “Some 25 churches have been closed,” said Interior Ministry spokesperson Sonya Momchilova in an interview with Reuters, adding

that more closures could follow. Rebel priests disputed the numbers, saying that up to 250 churches were shut down. The raids were carried out in Sofia, Plovdiv, Smoljan, Bansko, Chepelare and other cities with a prosecutor’s warrant. During the coordinated raids, which started in the early-morning hours of Wednesday, July 21, police stormed into the facilities, sealed the doors and drove out the clergy. In a BBC interview, Father Inokentii said the closures amounted to persecution “like in Roman times.” Buses full of clergy and parishioners were expected to arrive at the Bulgarian capital of Sofia Thursday, July 22, to protest the decision of the prosecutor’s office and the actions taken by police forces. (BosNewsLife/BBC)

AUTHORITIES REFUSE REGISTRATION OF BAPTIST CAMP IN UZBEKISTAN Local authorities in Uzbekistan have written to the Baptist Union protesting a holiday camp it owns near the capital of Tashkent, effectively closing it down. Rakhmatullo Ilyasov, first deputy head of Bostanlyk district administration, confirmed that the camp had been refused registration. It was reported that World War II veterans had objected that the camp, near the village of Kizil-Su, was partially located on the site of an old cemetery and therefore should be refused registration by the state land registry, but local veterans have denied this. Villagers in Kizil-Su said the authorities have encouraged protests against the Baptist camp. Not recognized as having the right to own the property, the Baptists could be ordered to leave the facility at any time. (Forum 18 News Service)

* HCJB World Radio airs weekly Uzbek programs to Uzbekistan via shortwave from the U.K. An estimated 15 million Uzbek-speaking people are within range of the broadcasts. Uzbek is also one of three languages that HCJB World Radio airs to Afghanistan from an AM station outside the country.

INDIA MOVES TO RETRY SUSPECTS IN CASE OF ATTACK BY HINDU MOB When a Hindu mob stormed a bakery and killed 14, including two Muslims burned alive in ovens, the gruesome crime became the symbol of religious violence that gripped India two years ago, leaving nearly 1,000 people dead. Now, in what appears to be a second chance for justice, the Best Bakery case moved one step toward retrial this week. The first trial, held in May 2003 in the state of Gujarat where the massacre took place, ended in the acquittal of all 21 of the accused rioters after the victims changed their testimony. Last April the Indian Supreme Court ordered a retrial in another state, calling state officials “modern-day Neros” for ignoring the complaints of witnesses that they had been politically harassed and pressured to change their testimony by police and state officials. The opportunity for another trial in this cornerstone case is seen as an important chance to resolve a major irritant in Hindu-Muslim relations and a chance to chip away at the pervasive problem of witness tampering in the Indian justice system. “This case has been a kind of systematic failure of the Indian legal system,” says Teesta Setalwad, a human rights activist who led the effort to get the case a second hearing. “This has been a symbol, hopefully, to revive the criminal justice system in India.” (WorldWide Religious News/Christian Science Monitor)

* “The Voice of the Great Southland,” the shortwave station operated by HCJB World Radio-Australia since January 2003, airs more than 59 hours of weekly Christian programming across South Asia. Programs go out in nine languages: English, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Nepali, Tamil, Chattisgarhi, Hmar and Meeitei. Most of the programming in the Indian languages is produced at HCJB World Radio’s studio in New Delhi. Additional releases from Australia, primarily in English, reach the South Pacific, Southeast Asia and East Asia.

FOOD FOR THE POOR ANNOUNCES MASSIVE JAMAICAN PROJECT In Jamaica, Food for the Poor has announced a key project that is expected to help revive the country’s agricultural sector. The Rural Economic Agricultural Program (REAP) is being conducted in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, says Food for the Poor spokesman Angel Aloma. By supplying food to poor farming families, the farmers will then be able to buy seed for their farms, he says. “We are trying to encourage agriculture once again as a main industry in the island to be able to be less dependent on imports. So it’ll help with the deficit of the government if they can import less, produce more and be more self-sufficient.” Aloma says the ultimate goal of the outreach is spiritual. “We are working through missionaries, pastors and churches. We believe very strongly in helping [these needy people] to be self-sufficient. We do believe that once the basic needs of the body are met, then the person is more open to receiving the Word of God.” (Mission Network News)

NEW WEBSITE HIGHLIGHTS SRI LANKA’S PERSECUTED CHURCH A group of concerned Christian citizens from Sri Lanka has launched a website dedicated to be a voice for those whose rights are being violated. SriLankanChristians.com covers a variety of ethnic traditions and diverse denominations in Sri Lanka for the common purpose of ensuring freedom of religion, worship and practice for Christians in Sri Lanka. (Voice of the Martyrs)

FILMMAKER WORKS TO SAVE CROSS ON LOS ANGELES COUNTY SEAL Actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson is reportedly planning to pour vast amounts of money into an effort to keep a small cross in place on Los Angeles County’s official seal. Gibson, the producer-director of the recent box-office hit, “The Passion of the Christ,” intends to provide funding for a campaign by a conservative religious group to protest the removal of the religious symbol. Legal threats from the American Civil Liberties Union prompted Los Angeles County officials to consider the proposed removal or replacement of the Christian emblem on the government seal, a proposal that outraged Gibson, a devout Catholic. Recently the head of the National Jewish Christian Alliance Toward Tradition said the filmmaker had been talking with the interfaith group and had voiced his deep concern about the possible disappearance of the cross. Herald Sun sources report that Gibson has already committed up to $140,000 to a campaign to keep the cross on the county seal. (Religion Today/Agape Press) * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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