Today’s Headlines:

MUSLIM RIOTERS KILL 10 CHRISTIANS, TORCH 9 CHURCHES IN NIGERIA

MISSING EGYPTIAN CHRISTIAN KIDNAPPED, PRESSURED TO CONVERT

RUSSIA CONTINUES TO TIGHTEN ITS GRIP ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

RWANDAN CHILDREN TO RECEIVE 70,000 EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Today’s Top Stories:

MUSLIM RIOTERS KILL 10 CHRISTIANS, TORCH 9 CHURCHES IN NIGERIA

Muslim rioters killed 10 Christians and set ablaze nine churches in Kontagora in central Nigeria’s Niger state the night of Thursday, Feb. 23. Militants in Kontagora joined their counterparts in northern Nigeria to protest what Muslims see as the “blasphemous” cartoons published by a Danish newspaper depicting the Islamic prophet Mohammed. “The Muslim fanatics attacked Christians and burned churches throughout the night,” said Joseph Bawa, a Christian resident of Kontagora. The militants clubbed Bawa and his family. “I was beaten up by these Muslims,” he said. “It is only God who saved me. I would have been killed.” (Compass)

MISSING EGYPTIAN CHRISTIAN KIDNAPPED, PRESSURED TO CONVERT

Missing for more than a month, a young Christian woman has telephoned her relatives and reported being imprisoned in a Cairo apartment while facing pressure to convert to Islam. Last seen in the village of El-Saff, 30 miles south of Cairo on Tuesday, Jan. 3, Theresa Ghattass Kamal briefly contacted her aunt on Jan. 24. She told her aunt that she had not yet succumbed to her unknown captors’ demands that she become a Muslim. Her phone call contradicted earlier police statements that she had converted to Islam voluntarily and did not want to see her family again. The Kamal family traced the origination point of the 19-year-old woman’s call to an apartment in Cairo’s Shubra district owned by a Muslim named Mostafa Mahmood Ali. A local priest characterized Ali’s house as a “dangerous place, full of fundamentalists.” (Compass)

RUSSIA CONTINUES TO TIGHTEN ITS GRIP ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

A new law that limits outside non-governmental organizations may now reach all religious groups in Russia. Russia’s Kommersant news service repots that draft amendments to the Act on Freedom of Worship and Religious Associations will allow the Federal Registration Service to inspect religious organizations, which has many evangelical Christian organizations concerned. Vice President of Russian Ministries, Sergey Rakhuba says, “It’s quite disturbing news, and not just to Russian Ministries, but to many different denominations and churches in Russia, because the Russian parliament and President Putin they are trying to pass an amendment to control all religious organizations.” Rakhuba says this is reminiscent of the days of the Soviet Union. “The media (is) already controlled by the state. Non-government organizations are already controlled by the state, the Russian parliament is controlled by the Presidential power, and now with this they try to control other religious groups in Russia.” Russian Ministries provides pastoral and leadership training in ministry centers in many of the former Soviet block nations. (Mission Network News)

RWANDAN CHILDREN TO RECEIVE 70,000 EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Samaritan’s Purse is partnering with Hope Rwanda: 100 Days of Hope, to send 70,000 Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes to Rwandan children this year. A news release explains that these gifts will be early Christmas presents for the thousands of children who have been affected by the genocide that killed almost 1 million Rwandans in 1994. Between April and July, gospel singer and songwriter Darlene Zschech and her husband, Mark, are coordinating “Hope Rwanda: 100 Days of Hope,” a project to encourage the church worldwide and bring the hope of Jesus Christ to the people of Rwanda. The project is supported by various Christian humanitarian organizations, worship bands, churches and Christian leaders. “We knew about the genocide, but it wasn’t until 10 years on, while we were there that we understood the depth of what took place and its ongoing impact. We were challenged to the core by the plight of the Rwandan people,” said Zschech. (Assist News Service)