World News

Hurricanes. Poverty. Voodoo. Extinct animals. Disease. Illiteracy. Deforestation. Struggle for survival. These haunting words describe the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere: Haiti.

“The world of imagination and fantasy can help pass on to the child cultural and social messages [and] function as a way to experience vicariously things an individual could not do first-hand.”
Aminadav, C. “Fantasies and imagination in mildly and moderately retarded young people.” International Journal of Adolescent Medicine & Health. 1995 Apr-Jun. 8: p.103-106
Wand making, broom decorating, tattoos, owls and pajama parties…. These book store gimmicks are just a few of the anticipated feasts and marketing tactics scheduled for July 8 in anticipation of the mysterious Book 4. Though its title, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was a close-guarded secret until June 28, a spellbound world had already sent book sales soaring into the heights like a magical broomstick.

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND (ANS) — Marriage is now no longer a union between one man and one woman – at least in the Netherlands. Two do not necessarily become one in a country where marriage is a man-made civil right for some people instead of a God -ordained sacrament. Other countries look set to follow suit, although they don’t currently recognize the gay marriages.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (ANS) — A leader of Hungary’s Jewish community has warned of renewed anti Semitism in this former Communist nation, as Jewish organizations took legal action against an ultra right wing party. “There is a revival of anti Semitism in Hungary, ahead of the upcoming elections,” said Erno Lazarovits, Director Foreign Relations of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary.

(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.)-Responding to urgent pleas for help, Christian Aid has joined a campaign to raise $1.2 million to rescue Christians feared targeted for conversion or extermination by Muslim jihad warriors in Indonesia.

In a new twist to the violence against Christians in eastern Indonesia’s Maluku Islands, Muslim Jihad fighters dressed like Japanese “ninjas” have begun targeting individuals under cover of darkness.

MANADO, Indonesia (Compass) — “There are no Christians left in Ternate,” said George Saselah, who had left his farm there to join his wife and newborn daughter in a refugee camp in Manado, on Indonesia’s North Sulawesi island.

LONDON (Compass) — Maluku’s head of police admitted that authorities cannot dislodge the hundreds of Muslim jihad fighters scattered throughout eastern Indonesia’s Maluku province and who have escalated the inter-religious conflict as Christmas approaches. More than 100 Christians were reported killed in November fighting.

AMBON CITY, Indonesia (BP)–The mournful horn echoes in the still air at 4 a.m. The call to prayer resounds off bullet-pocked walls and empty buildings. The Christian remnant in this Indonesian village awakens to cry out to God for peace.

SPICE ISLANDS, INDONESIA (March 21, 2000) — An urgent plea for prayer for the Christians of Indonesia has come out of that nation from a recent visitor who has just returned from the Spice Islands.

INDONESIA – (Open Doors, July 9, 2001) – Christian leaders in Tentena, in Indonesia’s central Sulawesi province, pleaded with Open Doors to “be our voice” in the face of increased atrocities being perpetrated against them in Poso district, known as a “second Ambon.”

AMBON, Indonesia (Compass) — “It is disappointing that the suffering of the Christians due to the conflict in the Malukus has been insufficiently exposed in various reports on a national and international level,” stated the U.S. Consul General Robert Pollard.

Friends and even foes of former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu are smoothing the way for him to timely mount a challenge against current premier Ehud Barak in a special election in early February. The remaining quandry, however, is whether the Knesset also will dissolve itself and allow voters to truly reflect the huge rightward shift in Israeli public opinion caused by Camp David and the Palestinian uprising.

Leading Israeli archaeologists are charging Prime Minister Ehud Barak with continuing to turn a blind eye to extensive construction activity on the Temple Mount by the Moslem Waqf, which is destroying valuable antiquites buried there and violating Israeli law.

Its another long, testy day in the Knesset, which is scheduled to decide late Monday evening between two bills that will determine whether Israelis will vote just for prime minister in a few months, or also for a new parliament.

Although depicted as a holy month of fasting by devout Muslims, Ramadan also marks a time for increased holy war against infidels.

After the Knesset voted early Tuesday morning not to dissolve, the special Israeli election for prime minister only appeared to come down to a race between incumbent Ehud Barak and Likud chairman Ariel Sharon. But prominent dove Shimon Peres looked at his numbers in the polls and announced on Wednesday he plans to run as well, adding more pressure on Barak to seal a quick peace deal in renewed talks with the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has reacted sharply to a private opinion letter from Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein leaked to the press in which the government’s chief lawyer makes an impassioned case that Barak has no moral authority to pursue a hasty, election-eve peace deal with the Palestinians.

The Israeli government reversed its stand at the last minute and decided on Sunday night to sign a charter establishing the International Criminal Court to try individuals for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.

Adopting unusual language, Iran has issued a warning that if Israel were to attack Syria or Lebanon in reaction to Hizb’Allah cross-border actions, Tehran would retaliate in an “astounding and unexpected” way.