*Tato a další zprávy jsou (pouze v aktuální den) v originální anglické verzi zde.

Twelve members of an unregistered Baptist church in the western Turkmenistan town of Balkanabad were handed fines equivalent to $75 each (about a month's wages) last week for holding a worship service. This is believed to be the first time that authorities have enforced the country's harsh new law on religion that came into force in early November. The fines followed a police raid on the church during a worship service on Sunday, Nov. 30, when they took all those present, including children, to the police station. Authorities also warned church members that if they continued to meet without state registration, future fines would be "much higher." Officials also threatened to take away some of the children and put them in a children's home. The raid was led by Maj. Aman Annayev, head of the town's sixth police department which is responsible for combating organized crime and terrorism. (Forum 18 News Service)

* HCJB World Radio works in partnership with Back to the Bible to air Christian Turkmen programs. Twice-weekly broadcasts began airing from an undisclosed site outside of Turkmenistan in 2001 and moved to daily programming in 2003.

MEXICO ORDERS JUDICIAL REVIEW OF ARRESTS IN 'ACTEAL MASSACRE' CASE

Christians worldwide are applauding the decision of Mexican authorities to conduct a judicial review of the conviction and sentencing of 76 Tzotzil-speaking peasant farmers imprisoned for the past six years in Chiapas for the infamous "Acteal Massacre." Among the prisoners are 34 evangelical Christians, some of them pastors and lay leaders in local congregations affiliated with Presbyterian, Assemblies of God and Pentecostal churches. On Dec. 23 -- one day after the sixth anniversary of the tragic 1997 shootout between rival political factions in Acteal in which 45 persons died -- the office of the Ministry of the Interior announced the formation of an inter-institutional task force that will review the legality of the arrest and imprisonment of each of the men accused of the crime. The defendants are accused of participating in a paramilitary attack on Dec. 22, 1997, against a community group gathered at the Catholic hermitage in the village of Acteal for a prayer vigil. Gunmen allegedly surrounded the building and opened fire through the chapel windows, killing six men, 21 women and 18 children. However, police investigators produced no reliable proof to support this version of events. Despite the lack of evidence, police arrested 90 people in the next three months, many of them evangelical Christians. Some observers believe the authorities singled out evangelicals because they knew them to be peaceable citizens who would offer little resistance to arrest. In early December more than 100 pastors and church leaders met with government officials at Gante Street Methodist Church in Mexico City to press for a review of the Acteal case. (Open Doors)

ASIAN WOMEN CARRY GOSPEL TO ILLEGAL CHINESE IMMIGRANTS IN U.S.

A team of Asian women is taking God's love to illegal Chinese immigrants in one of the toughest areas of the U.S. They evangelize day and night in the streets and back alleys of New York City, bringing hope to workers who put in up to 75 hours a week for meager wages. Vicky Liew, 37, who serves with evangelist Bill Wilson's Metro Ministries in Brooklyn, encounters spiritual darkness daily in this underground community. When she first arrived in New York City from Malaysia in 1999, she cried when she saw the needs of Chinese immigrants. "I felt like it's so hopeless because they don't know God," Liew said. Thousands of illegal immigrants from China toil long hours in sweatshops and restaurants. Many are virtual captives, working off impossible debts of $50,000 to $60,000 to a loose band of smugglers known as the Snake Heads. New York City's Chinatown has an estimated population of more than 100,000, excluding undocumented illegal aliens. Counting illegals, that number would double. Sunday schools operated by Metro Ministries in Chinatown attract 900 to 1,000 children weekly and result in more than 2,000 conversions to Christ annually. Ministry workers follow up new converts and help them become part of local churches. The young women visit homes to share the gospel, pray with them and distribute food boxes. (Charisma News Service)

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES SHOW CORRELATION BETWEEN FAITH, HEALTH

People who pray regularly live longer, are healthier and more satisfied than those who don't. More than 1,200 studies worldwide have shown a correlation between faith and health, says Michael Utsch, psychologist and officer of the Protestant Center for the Observation of Cults and Ideologies in Berlin. One American study showed that a 20-year-old regular worshiper can expect to live more than six years longer than someone who never attends church. Those who worship only occasionally still live four years longer on average. A study in Hamburg debunked the theory that religious people are more neurotic than the non-religious. Researchers found that people with a living faith are less prone to loneliness and feel more content with life. Utsch added that some doctors considered prescribing prayer as a therapy. But the idea was abandoned because true religion should not be misused for medicinal purposes. Good health was only a "side effect" of a living faith. (IDEA)

OPPORTUNITIES EXPAND TO AID NEEDY PEOPLE IN FORMER SOVIET UNION

Short-term workers are needed to take advantage of open doors for ministry in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, says Duane Zook of Campus Crusade for Christ in Canada. He is involved in a project called Operation Care Lift, bringing God's love to a region that has less churches per capita than in China. "We're going to take a group of people there to minister in orphanages, hospitals, prisons and poor homes," Zook says. "We need people to come with us, not only to help deliver the much-needed physical aid, but also to help meet the spiritual needs of the children and the families." One of the tools which volunteers are trained to share the plan of salvation is called the "Gospel Bead Bracelet." Zook adds that containers of aid supplies and are already on their way to the region. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio reaches across Russia with a variety of radio ministries. The mission has been sending gospel broadcasts across the country via shortwave since 1941, first from Quito, Ecuador, and now from the U.K. In the early 1990s the ministry began "planting" local radio ministries in Russia and now works with partners in more than a dozen cities. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch the first Christian Russian radio satellite network (operated by Christian Radio for Russia), reaching across Euro-Asia. Downlinks have been installed with more than 26 partners in Russia alone.

CLAIRVOYANTS AGAIN FAIL MISERABLY IN MAKING PREDICTIONS FOR 2003

Clairvoyants have produced a poor record in their forecasts last year. The German Society for the Scientific Study of Para-Sciences in Rossdorf near Darmstadt compared 100 predictions with reality. Almost all of them were false. For example, astrologer Kurt Allgeier predicted that Michael Jackson would celebrate a magnificent comeback as a pop singer. In fact, he was accused of child abuse. Other clairvoyants saw actor Arnold Schwarzenegger fail in his political ambitions. In reality he was elected governor of California. Other clairvoyants kept their predictions general. Astrologer Norbert Giesow foresaw a clear danger of war in Iraq. "At the time of his forecast (December 2002) this was probably as difficult to predict as the next sunrise!" commented mathematician Michael Kunkel. (IDEA)

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