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Global News
ANGOLA: Some families are accusing their children of being witches, then torturing, abandoning or killing them for being cursed. Human rights workers say the accusations have unleashed a wave of domestic violence affecting thousands of children and forcing many to live hand-to-mouth on the streets. Some have been burned alive, including one boy under the body of a man he was accused of hexing. A 13-year-old girl who found shelter in a church said her mother and sisters burned one of her hands on a stove, burned her possessions, choked her and beat her in front of a crowd, then told her if she tried to return home, they would kill her. The child's relatives accused her of making her nieces sick with evil spells. Two children of a couple who died, possibly of AIDS, moved in with their grandmother, who accused them of casting spells on their parents. Police found the children beaten, tied and held outside in a pen. Experts believe the phenomenon stems from the 27-year-long civil war that ended two years ago, leaving the country with a massive case of post-traumatic stress disorder. Although the war is over, the plight of most has remained unchanged.CHINA: Cell phones and the Internet are major instruments of change in this country increasingly embracing market reforms. But the nation's youth are challenging the limits of what the Communist Party permits of its citizens. China has 80 million Internet users, second only to the United States. Its 290 million citizens with cell phones are almost twice the number in the US. Ten years ago, the Party controlled news via its official newspaper and evening news broadcasts. But now, a third of China's college students rely on the Internet for news. The government still blocks some websites and even some searches on engines such as google.com
Luis Palau, tennis star Michael Chang, musicians Steven Curtis Chapman and Geoff Moore and others did a 10-day Holy Week tour in Beijing on an official invitation to help promote the adoption of Chinese children. Chapman and Moore each have two adopted Chinese daughters. The China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC) hosted Palau to discuss enhancing overseas cultural exchanges. Shen Weiping, vice president of CAIFC, and Palau discussed Chairman Mao Zedong's writings, Christianity's growth in China, the Bible and Christ's resurrection. Shen jokingly told Palau, "Maybe it's very possible that the next time you come to China I'll have become a Christian." Palau met with house church pastors and spoke at a registered Beijing church. Palau later learned his public call for a show of hands by those who had received Christ was the first time for such in a Beijing church.
HONG KONG: DVD black market copies of the movie The Passion of the Christ are big sellers. Sources report that the movie has enjoyed widespread viewership across China. The film is posted for public download on some Chinese Christian websites.
HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS: The Vatican and the Organization of the Islamic Conference succeeded in pressuring Brazil to withdraw its proposal before the U.N. Human Rights Commission that would protect "civil rights" of people "regardless of their sexual orientation." Leading the move were Pakistan and Egypt. The director of homosexual, bisexual and transgender issues for the New York-based Human Rights Watch said Egypt has entrapped and tortured suspected homosexuals and has imprisoned hundreds. About one-third of the world's countries outlaw homosexual activity. Ecuador was the first nation to constitutionally guarantee human rights protections to homosexuals. At least 12 nations offer recognition of same-sex partnerships, ranging from civil unions to "marriage." Secretary-General Kofi Annan authorized family benefits to U.N. employees whose governments recognize their same-sex unions.
INDIA: Christian leaders are responding in unison to weekly newspaper Tehelka's charges that Christians are carrying out "the conversion agenda of US President George Bush," and using the HIV/AIDS problem as "an opportunity for evangelism," Compass Direct reports. The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) joined the National Council of Churches in India and the Catholic Bishops Conference to issue a joint statement urging citizens to vote for candidates who support communal harmony and religious freedom. "The representatives we elect must be able to redirect the path of our nation to strengthen democracy," the document states. "The [newspaper] report seeks to divide the unity of the church in India," said Rev. Richard Howell, general secretary of the EFI. "But they cannot divide the church, as all major Christian denominations in India stand united against the Tehelka reports." After the Tehelka articles appeared, the Union Home and Law Ministries of India began pushing Parliament to grant state administrators more power to restrict foreign aid coming into the country for Christian ministries.
LAOS: Christians from Attapeu, a southern province, have faced increasing persecution in recent weeks. International humanitarian group pressure has shifted persecution from the provincial to the village level, Compass Direct reports. Christians are pleading for help. One village's officials told Christians February 19 they must abandon their faith, leave or face death. Christians, mostly poor people who support their families by growing crops, face fines of about $14 from village officials.
RWANDA: Ten years ago, a day after the plane of the ethnic Hutu president was shot down, Hutus began mass-slaughtering more than 800,000 minority Tutsis in a massacre that lasted more than three months. On the anniversary of these atrocities, one murderer told Time magazine that he realized in prison that his actions were wrong. After he was freed, he sought forgiveness from victims' families whom he visited. He helped a widow build a kitchen. He told the magazine: "I believe that all Rwandans will live together one day without fear, without hatred. It is a process that will take time and we should allow as much time as needed. Time is something I have plenty of. It is just impossible to find a job. My future focuses on my eight children. I need money to get them a good education. Their life has not been easy. They were beaten up by survivors for what I did."
