Today’s Headlines:

POLICE IN INDIA DETAIN 2 CHRISTIANS FOR WORSHIPING IN HOUSE CHURCH

CHRISTIAN ACCUSES EGYPTIAN POLICE OF OBSTRUCTING SEARCH FOR WOMAN

RUSSIA INCREASINGLY DENIES VISAS FOR FOREIGN RELIGIOUS WORKERS

BUSH DECLARES DAY OF PRAYER FOR HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS

Today’s Top Stories:

POLICE IN INDIA DETAIN 2 CHRISTIANS FOR WORSHIPING IN HOUSE CHURCH

Police picked up two Christians attending a worship service at the home of Jagdish and Grace Nayak in Indore in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state Sunday, Sept. 4, and detained them for four hours. A Hindu mob also threatened Atul David and Antar Singh with death if they worshiped with the Nayaks again. About 40 policemen were deployed near the Nayaks’ house after an attack on Sunday, Aug. 21, in which the Nayaks and their 2-year-old child were assaulted by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). At the same time, the state has repealed a 2002 ban on three-pronged trident spears which some Christians fear may incite further attacks against them. (Compass)

CHRISTIAN ACCUSES EGYPTIAN POLICE OF OBSTRUCTING SEARCH FOR WOMAN

Three months after his 20-year-old daughter disappeared while on an errand from work, Coptic Christian Rezk Shafik Attallah is convinced that she has been kidnapped by a former police constable. His daughter, Marianna Rezk Shafik Attallah, has not been seen since she left work May 30 in El-Fayoum, 60 miles south of Cairo. Police have obstructed efforts by her fianc © and father to find her. An Egyptian security official reported that former policeman Ali Mahmoud Abdel Rasoul had taken the young woman and moved 250 miles south to Sohag. But the official warned her fianc ©, Bishoy Hosni, and father to stop looking for her, saying she had left on her own freewill. “If she went of her own freewill,” Attallah said, “then why didn’t she come to say that [to us]?”

RUSSIA INCREASINGLY DENIES VISAS FOR FOREIGN RELIGIOUS WORKERS

Foreign religious workers are reportedly being denied entry into Russia even though they have been invited by registered local faith communities. Moscow-based religious rights lawyer Anatoli Pchelintsev told Forum 18 News Service that the number of foreign religious workers barred from Russia is rising, although this is difficult to confirm as many missionaries prefer not to report visa denials. Mark Elliott, editor of the Alabama-based East-West Church and Ministry Report, reported two years ago that he was aware of 53 cases of foreign religious workers who had been denied entry to Russia (in addition to 33 documented in November 2002). While this predated the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the trend in missionary expulsions has become more pronounced since he became president. One of the first documents Putin signed was a new national security policy that cited “cultural-religious expansion of neighboring states into Russian territory” among the threats to national interests and security. Protestant churches are automatically viewed as opponents by the state authorities in some Russian regions simply by advocating human rights and social justice. A spokeswoman for Arkhangelsk regional department of the FSB security police said, “Experience shows that this type of religious project is usually used as a cover for activity by the secret services of foreign states.” (Assist News Service)

BUSH DECLARES DAY OF PRAYER FOR HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS

President George W. Bush has declared Friday, Sept. 16, a national day of prayer and remembrance for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Flanked by his Cabinet at the White House, Bush said that in difficult times, Americans always “have come together in prayer to heal and ask for strength for the tasks ahead.” He urged Americans to call upon God, “with confidence in His purpose, with hope for a brighter future, and with the humility to ask God to keep us strong so that we can better serve our brothers and sisters in need.” (AgapePress/Associated Press)