World News

A major Christian mission organization stepped up efforts Tuesday, January 19, to coordinate relief efforts in Haiti as the death toll of last week’s earth quake was expected to be at least 200,000, officials said.

Churches and missionary workers were trying to respond to Haiti’s worst earth quake in centuries that officials said may have killed up to half a million people, including the the Roman Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince, other Christians and United Nations personnel.

Rights investigators said Wednesday, January 13, there has been “a surge ofattacks” against Christians since December, with deaths, detentions and destruction reported in the Arab world, Africa and Asia.

A Somali man with alleged links to terrorist groups al-Shabab and al-Qaida has been charged with an attempt to kill a Danish cartoonist whose depiction of the Prophet Muhammed sparked outrage in the Muslim world.

Minority Christians in Pakistan faced a bloody New Year as local tribesmen prepared for funerals Saturday, January 2, shortly after the deadliest suicide attack in Pakistan’s history killed at least 95 people.

Thanking listeners for their “prayers and good thoughts,” America’s controversial conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was released from a Hawaii hospital, after experiencing severe chest pain and what he thought was a heart attack.

Supporters of American Christian missionary Robert Park, who is believed to have been detained in North Korea, launched hundreds of balloons on New Year’s day with texts calling for freedom in the isolated nation.

Lithuania has closed down its Soviet-built nuclear power plant as part of an agreement with the European Union, ushering in a new era of energy uncertainty for the country.

Rush Limbaugh, America’s most listened to conservative radio talk show host, was “resting comfortably” Thursday, December 31, after being rushed to a Honolulu hospital with chest pains, his Web site said.

Official results show Social Democrat Ivo Josipovic has won the most votes in the first round of Croatia’s presidential election, but not enough for a first round victory. Josipovic will face the controversial mayor of the capital Zagreb in a run-off election next month.

The second murder of a Russian priest in as many months has prompted a call by the Orthodox Church for Russians to think about their country’s spiritual and moral condition.

The White House said Saturday, December 26, that a small explosion aboard an international flight bound for the U.S. city of Detroit was “an attempted act of terrorism.”

U.S. Evangelist Andrew Palau and his family were among 148 passengers on board American Airlines Flight 331 that skidded off the runway and crashed in Kingston, Jamaica, but they miraculously survived with light injuries, his world famous father said late Wednesday, December 24.

Nobel Peace Prize winner, author and activist Elie Wiesel has urged Hungary to consider banning Holocaust denials to improve its image abroad and has expressed concern about growing extremist parties in the country and Europe.

The Catholic Church of the United States wants to sell the largest church of the ethnic Hungarian community in America as part of an apparent effort to raise money for victims of child abuse by priests, Worthy News monitored Tuesday, December 8.

Hungary’s government has admitted it has a serious corruption problem following the sudden closure of radio stations by Hungarian authorities. Ambassadors of nine wealthy nations, including Germany, have warned Hungary that foreign investors could be scared off.

Christians in North Korea said Wednesday, November 25, a massive famine has broken in their autocratic-ruled nation with many children “dying” while security forces send malnourished people to prison camps for not joining “100 days of battle.”

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A man selling compact discs in Pakistan’s war-torn North West Frontier Province remained in critical condition Monday, November 23, after suspected Islamic militants blew up his CD shop because its collection included a film about Jesus and other Christian movies.

Israel has charged a Jewish-American extremist with shooting to death two Palestinians and trying to kill others, including a Messianic Jewish family, who he received a booby-trapped package in March 2008 that left their son critically injured.

A gathering of Christian leaders from across the Middle East that was to be held in Egypt next month has been postponed due to “security concerns,” organizers confirmed Saturday, November 14.