Today’s Headlines:

RADICAL MUSLIMS HALT CONSTRUCTION OF CHURCH IN INDONESIA

CHRISTIANS IN INDIA FACE RENEWED ATTACKS FROM HINDU EXTREMISTS

NTM HOPES TO STAY IN VENEZUELA DESPITE PRESIDENT’S ANNOUNCEMENT

NUMEROUS NATURAL DISASTERS STRETCH RELIEF AGENCIES TO THE LIMIT

Today’s Top Stories:

RADICAL MUSLIMS HALT CONSTRUCTION OF CHURCH IN INDONESIA

Nine hard-line Islamic organizations have persuaded local officials in the Bekasi district of West Java, Indonesia, to halt the construction of a local church. Church officials had previously secured all government and business permits. Islamic displays of displeasure with the prospective church began on Monday, Sept. 19, when 500 people from the Islamic organizations shouted in unison and raised banners against construction of the church building. About 200 of them came back and demonstrated against the project 10 days later. On Monday, Oct. 3, they again returned and demanded that the project be sealed off from further development, shouting, “There should not be a single church built in the Cikarang area.” (Compass)

CHRISTIANS IN INDIA FACE RENEWED ATTACKS FROM HINDU EXTREMISTS

Christians in India continue to come under attack from Hindu extremists. On Sunday, Oct. 23, out 30 Hindu radicals attacked a pastor, his wife and their driver in western India’s Gujarat state. All three sustained internal injuries.

Rev. Arthur Jebaraj, his wife, Nyana Sundari, and their driver, Dattu Daulat, who belong to the Friends Missionary Prayer Band, an indigenous Christian organization, were assaulted at about 11 p.m. as they returned to their home in Chempa after conducting a thanksgiving prayer meeting. The attackers also damaged their vehicle.

In a separate incident, attacks from Hindu extremists in the Banswara district of northwestern India’s Rajasthan state resulted in the cancellation of the last day of a revival festival. The violence accelerated on Tuesday, Oct. 25, when the Tribal Christian Welfare Society’s revival meetings began in Sagwa. At least 50 incidences of beatings have occurred since then.

The next day government officials ordered the society to cancel the remainder of its three-day festival due to escalating violence. Normally about 15,000 people attend the festival, but only 5,000 made it past marauding extremist gangs before the event was cancelled following a prayer for victims of the attacks. (Compass)

NTM HOPES TO STAY IN VENEZUELA DESPITE PRESIDENT’S ANNOUNCEMENT

Staff members with New Tribes Missions (NTM) are praying that their ministry will continue among Venezuela’s indigenous tribes even though President Hugo Ch ¡vez announced two weeks ago that he is booting the Florida-based Christian mission out of Venezuela. NTM spokeswoman Nita Zelenak said there is still no official expulsion order, and the missionaries don’t plan to leave on the basis of media reports alone. NTM missionaries have been on Venezuelan radio and television, explaining their ministry and denying Ch ¡vez’s charge that they’re linked to the Central Intelligence Agency. Since evangelist Pat Robertson called for Ch ¡vez’s assassination in August — a remark for which he later apologized — Venezuela has stopped granting visas for foreign missionaries. That also has prompted the Mormon church to remove all of its American missionaries from Venezuela. (AgapePress/Associated Press)

NUMEROUS NATURAL DISASTERS STRETCH RELIEF AGENCIES TO THE LIMIT

International Aid’s Dean Agee says it has been an extraordinarily difficult year for those who respond to natural disasters around the world. Tsunami response topped by earthquake, famine and hurricane emergencies have stretched their resources to the limit. Yet, he says, it has been equally extraordinary for ministry opportunity. Florida is now reeling from Hurricane Wilma’s rampage. While not as damaging as it could have been, Wilma was the eighth hurricane to hit the state in 15 months. It has been an unusually busy storm year resulting in 22 tropical storms or hurricanes, besting the 1933 storm season. More than 3 million people were left without power and searching for temporary shelter and food. Agee says the organization will be partnering with the Florida Baptist Convention to provide aid. “They’ve got four assessment teams in the field, and then we’ll work with our resources to meet those needs.. We just greatly appreciate the support that folks have given us. We couldn’t do it without their prayers and their financial contributions.” (Mission Network News)