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Today’s Headlines:

MAOIST INSURGENTS IN NEPAL RELEASE NATIVE MISSIONARY UNHARMED 12 ARRESTED AFTER MOB ATTACKS CATHOLIC CHURCH IN INDIA VIETNAMESE EVANGELICALS VOICE CONCERNS ABOUT RELIGION ORDINANCE ONLINE MAGAZINE LAUNCHED FOR CHRISTIAN WRITERS WORLDWIDE CHRISTIAN CHILDREN AMONG CASUALTIES IN RUSSIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS * HCJB WORLD RADIO MEDICAL CARAVAN TRUCK GETS NEW LIFE IN BOLIVIA

Today’s News Stories:

MAOIST INSURGENTS IN NEPAL RELEASE NATIVE MISSIONARY UNHARMED A native Gospel for Asia missionary only identified as Besh has been freed from the Maoist group that abducted him in Nepal in mid-August. “Another missionary had been sent to search for him, but in the meantime Besh was safely returned, physically unharmed,” said a website report. “This is nothing short of a miracle when we consider that Maoists in this district typically kill those they abduct. We appreciate your prayers for this brother in Christ throughout his ordeal. Give thanks to the Father for his protection and release. Pray for His comfort and healing as he recovers from the experience and continues evangelizing the unreached.” Insurgent Maoists are fighting to make Nepal a communist state. More than 9,000 lives have been lost since the conflict began in 1996. (Religion Today/Gospel for Asia)

12 ARRESTED AFTER MOB ATTACKS CATHOLIC CHURCH IN INDIA Twelve people have been arrested in Raikia, Orissa, after an attack on Our Lady of Charity Catholic Church. On Thursday, Aug. 26, militant Hindus attacked the church building as well as homes of some of the members. The door of the church was knocked down to allow the vandals to enter. They destroyed musical instruments, furniture, fixtures and literature. Windows were smashed on several homes. The incident began after church members protested the removal of a fence around the church property by local residents. News reports indicated that at least six people were injured in the attack. As many as 300 people were involved in the mob action. Several platoons of armed police were called in to protect the church property in an attempt to ease the tense situation. The Hindu News Service reported that those arrested included Christians as well as Hindus. (Voice of the Martyrs)

VIETNAMESE EVANGELICALS VOICE CONCERNS ABOUT RELIGION ORDINANCE The Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship (VEF) recently released a statement on Vietnam’s new Ordinance on Religion that is due to take effect on Nov. 15. The VEF is an organization of about 30 unregistered house church organizations representing hundreds of house churches. The Aug. 30 letter states, “This ordinance will create many problems and disadvantages for the church, especially for our gatherings for worship. At the same time, it is likely to permanently outlaw our house church organizations, none of which have been recognized since 1975. Many articles in this ordinance will also provide a legal basis for local authorities to hinder and persecute the church.” This new law purportedly guarantees religious freedom in one article but uses most of the remaining 40 articles for detailing a long series of complicated regulations to insure close state management of religious activity. The VEF urges the government of Vietnam to withdraw the ordinance, issued on June 18, and to stop all forms of persecution and hindrances to the church’s activities. (Religion Today/Compass)

ONLINE MAGAZINE LAUNCHED FOR CHRISTIAN WRITERS WORLDWIDE FaithWriters.com, a website for Christian writers, has launched an online Christian magazine. In July, FaithWriters.com instituted The FaithWriters 500 to provide ongoing support for members. Out of this outreach FaithWriters’ Magazine was born. Every article, story and poem in the magazine is written and edited by members of the group. FaithWriters.com was launched on Sept. 1, 2001, and has grown to become one of the largest online destinations for Christian writers with members living around the world. (Assist News Service)

CHRISTIAN CHILDREN AMONG CASUALTIES IN RUSSIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS Commandos stormed a middle school today in southern Russia and battled separatist rebels holding hundreds of hostages as crying children — some naked and covered in blood — fled through explosions and gunfire. Gennady Terkun, Russian Ministries’ regional director for the area, said the exact number of casualties is not known, but is estimated to be approximately 150.

More than 100 bodies were reportedly found in the gymnasium where the hostages had been held. The extent of the casualties was not immediately known. The militants, who were demanding independence for nearby Chechnya, had been holding up to 1,500 hostages — mostly women and children — in the sweltering gymnasium for more than two days. Dozens of hostages were killed or injured when the roof of the gym collapsed from an explosion. The school is in Beslan, a town of 30,000 in the Russian republic of North Ossetia.

Soldiers and civilians were seen carrying wounded children to a temporary hospital set up behind an armored personnel carrier. Many of the children were only partly clothed because of the stifling heat in the gym where they had been held since the militants took the building the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 1. The hostage-takers had refused to let food or water into the school throughout the standoff. The final stage of the crisis began after militants agreed to let authorities retrieve the bodies of people killed early in the raid. Explosions went off as the emergency personnel entered the building around 1 p.m., and the hostages took the noise as a signal to flee, officials said.

Sergey Rakhuba, executive director of Russian Ministries, said the hostages included the children of brothers Sergey and Taymuraz Totiev (both pastors) and about 50 children from a church with which the ministry partners. Terkun reported that two of the Totiev children — a daughter named Madena and a son named Azum — have been found in the local hospital. “Sergey Totiev’s 9-year old daughter, Anna, was killed, her body found in the morgue. Her parents have not seen her yet, and it is hoped that she was misidentified. The remaining five Totiev children (or six if Anna was misidentified) are still missing,” he wrote. Russian Ministries has established the Fear Not Fund to provide spiritual counseling and material assistance to children and families affected by this act of terrorism, and to provide help to local churches ministering in the aftermath of terrorist acts. (Associated Press/Assist News Service/Russian Ministries)

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