Today’s Headlines:

MORE THAN 200 KOREAN STUDENTS MAKE COMMITMENT TO MISSIONS

PAKISTANI FEMALE STUDENT BEATEN FOR WEARING CROSS TO SCHOOL

‘CHRISTIANITY TODAY’ NAMES TOP 50 CHRISTIAN BOOKS OF ALL TIME

ERITREAN POLICE TORTURE 2 CHRISTIANS TO DEATH, IMPRISON SINGER

BRITISH AIRLINE WORKER SUSPENDED FOR WEARING CROSS TO WORK

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Today’s Top Stories:

MORE THAN 200 KOREAN STUDENTS MAKE COMMITMENT TO MISSIONS

During a student-led mission emphasis week at the Korea Baptist Theological Seminary in Taejon, South Korea, between 200 and 300 students made commitments to international missions. Even more acknowledged that, though they may not sense God’s specific call to missions, they are willing and available to go wherever He may lead. Faculty members prayed for the students, especially those making a commitment to international service. Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board, was the keynote speaker. He said, “I was personally touched by the numbers of students who were making commitments to mission service and by those who simply said, ‘I am willing to go.’ We look forward with great anticipation to the many ways God will use the willingness of these young people to accomplish His task around the world.” The Korean Foreign Mission Board has more than 500 missionaries serving in 44 countries. (Baptist Press)

PAKISTANI FEMALE STUDENT BEATEN FOR WEARING CROSS TO SCHOOL

A 15-year-old Christian female student faced the wrath of her Arabic teacher and school principal in Pakistan when she refused to take off a cross she was wearing on Friday, October 13. The girl, Kiran Shahzadi apparently told her Muslim teacher, “The cross is our Christian religious symbol so I cannot remove it.” The girl was taken before the school principal who pulled the cross from her neck and threw it in a trash can. Shahzadi was then forced to stand under a hot sun to the point of fainting. When she was taken to a hospital, the doctor there reported she had also been beaten. Police have refused to file a case against the two men despite the insistence of some Pakistani Christian leaders. (Assist News Service)

‘CHRISTIANITY TODAY’ NAMES TOP 50 CHRISTIAN BOOKS OF ALL TIME

In honor of the magazine’s 50th anniversary, Christianity Today have listed 50 landmark books that have changed the way American evangelical Christians think, talk, worship and live. Beyond Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life” and C.S. Lewis’s “Mere Christianity,” editors and writers helped choose works that have changed both faith and the American culture. “The list is admittedly a combination of intuition, guesswork, and collective wisdom,” said Mark Galli, managing editor of Christianity Today. “The point was not to publish an inerrant list and end all discussion, but actually to spark a vigorous discussion. This book list, we trust, will get people talking about what evangelicalism has been and will be at its core.” The list includes several surprises including the number one book, besting both Warren and Lewis, “Prayer: Conversing with God” by Rosalind Rinker. The full list can be accessed at http://ChristianityToday.com/ct/2006/october/23.51. html. (Christian Newswire)

ERITREAN POLICE TORTURE 2 CHRISTIANS TO DEATH, IMPRISON SINGER

In continued examples of extreme persecution, security police in the west African nation of Eritrea tortured two Christians to death yesterday. The two men, Immanuel Andegergesh, 23, and Kibrom Firemichel, 30, died from torture wounds and severe dehydration in a military camp outside the town of Adi-Quala, The two were arrested on Sunday, October 15, along with 10 other Christians who were attending a worship service in a home. The three women and seven men were kept in military confinement along with Andegergesh and Firemichel, and subjected to “furious mistreatment,” one source said. The fate of the 10 other Christians remains unknown. Earlier this month, Eritrean authorities returned popular Christian singer Helen Berhane to military detention after she spent three days in Asmara’s Halibet Hospital for medical treatment. Berhane’s leg was seriously damaged as a result of beatings she received while imprisoned in a metal shipping container since her arrest in May 2004. In addition, In an apparent campaign to bring all religious groups under its control, the government of Eritrea has recently focused its efforts on religious schools, shutting down schools of several faiths. (Worldwide Religious News/ Compass Direct)

BRITISH AIRLINE WORKER SUSPENDED FOR WEARING CROSS TO WORK

British Airways (BA) has banned a Christian woman from wearing a cross on a necklace to work. A British newspaper, The Daily Mail, reports that Heathrow airport check-in worker Nadia Eweida, was sent home after refusing to remove the crucifix that breached BA’s dress code. Eweida is a Coptic Christian whose father is Egyptian and mother, English. She has been suspended from work for two weeks without pay. Eweida, 55, is suing her employer for religious discrimination. “I will not hide my belief in the Lord Jesus,” Eweida says. “Only Christians are forbidden to express their faith. I am a loyal and conscientious employee of British Airways, but I stand up for the rights of all citizens.” Eweida sought permission from higher management to wear the chain after a duty manager initially ordered the cross removed last month. Her request was turned down. (Assist News Service)