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The government of Pakistan's Sindh province issued a press release Friday, Jan. 16, stating that a terrorist attack outside of Holy Trinity Anglican Church and the nearby Bible Society in Karachi the previous day had not targeted the facilities. "The bombing was planned to kill police and rangers, and the church was not the main target," a Sindh government spokesman said. "A hand grenade thrown outside the Bible Society was designed to gather security personnel in the vicinity to be victims of a car bomb explosion only 15 minutes later." Two motorcyclists hurled a grenade at the church's reading room, injuring at least one employee. When police responded, a bomb fitted in a nearby car exploded, injuring 11 persons, including three officials. The blast also damaged one wall of the church. Earlier, Police Operations Chief Tariq Jameel said the attack occurred after police received an anonymous telephone call warning that the Pakistan Bible Society would be targeted. Alexander John Malik, who serves as bishop of Lahore, primate of the Church of Pakistan and president of the Pakistan Bible Society, condemned the attack and demanded the early arrest of the terrorists. The Sindh government has announced a reward for information leading to the arrests of those involved. (Pakistan Christian Post)

AUTHORITIES SEEK TO CLOSE BAPTIST CHURCH IN UZBEKISTAN

An Uzbek official who fined Baptist pastor Oleg Bader for running children's camps and a children's club attached to his church, has described the fine as "completely within the law." The church is being forced to change and re-register its statute by Tuesday, Jan. 27, even though children's work was included in the original statute. The pastor's lawyer has been denied access to the cases documents, and the justice department has refused to explain why this is so. It is feared that, like another church further north, re-registration will be denied and the church declared illegal. Sources have said that authorities want to close the church because they do not want Christianity to spread in the Khorezm region. (Religion Today/Voice of the Martyrs)

* HCJB World Radio airs weekly Uzbek broadcasts to Uzbekistan via shortwave. An estimated 15 million Uzbek-speaking people are within range of the broadcasts. Uzbek is also one of four languages that HCJB World Radio airs to Afghanistan from an AM station outside the country.

TEENAGE STUDENT SENTENCED TO 100 LASHES FOR ADULTERY IN SUDAN

Intisar Bakri Abdulgader, a teenage student from Yambio in non-Muslim southern Sudan, has been sentenced by a court in the Kalaka suburb of Khartoum to 100 lashes for adultery after she gave birth to a child out of wedlock. Abdulgader was originally sentenced in July 2003 while seven months' pregnant. She appealed the sentence, but the appeal court upheld it in August. Her baby was born in September, and her sentence would have been carried out in December, but it was postponed due to her deteriorating health. Abdulgader is said to be terrified and not eating, sleeping or going to school. The child's apparent father, a 23-year-old former policeman, reportedly promised to marry Abdulgader and take her to live abroad. In an interview with the news agency Agence France Presse, Abdulgader said her mother had tried in vain to persuade the man to marry the girl and to sign a statement admitting responsibility for her. Instead, he denied ever having met her. He was exonerated since Abdulgader was unable to produce four male witnesses to verify her version of events as required by Islamic law Sudan. She is scheduled to be flogged on Friday, Jan. 23. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

CHINA MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL FOUNDER DIES OF CANCER

Dr. Jonathan Chao, the founder of China Ministries International (CMI), a mission organization with branches in South Korea, Philippines, Australia, Canada, U.S. and U.K., died of cancer Monday, Jan. 12. He was 65. In 1978 Chao founded the Chinese Church Research Center (renamed CMI in 1987) in Hong Kong. He lectured in apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary (where he graduated from in 1966), focusing the ministry on theological and cultural research, training Chinese workers in Taiwan and the U.S., teaching house church leaders in China, and printing Christian literature through CMI Publishing Co. He also founded the China Graduate School of Theology in Hong Kong where he taught theology and Chinese church history. He developed the academic program for China Evangelical Seminary, founded the Chinese Mission Seminary in Hong Kong and served as president of Taosheng Theological Seminary in Peitou as well as Christ's College in Taipei. In addition to Westminster, he taught students at a number of other North American schools, including the Fuller School of World Missions, Regent College and Wheaton College. He is survived by his wife, Rebecca, a translator and his longtime partner in ministry training. (Assist News Service)

CHRISTIAN GROUPS IN MIDDLE EAST DECLARE 2004 'YEAR OF THE BIBLE'

Bible societies in Jordan, Lebanon and the Persian Gulf along with churches and other ministries in the Arab world are calling 2004 the "Year of the Bible." "We want to tell the people of the Middle East and North Africa that the Bible is our common heritage," said Rev. Lucian Accad of the Bible Society of Lebanon. "The Bible came from this part of the world -- not from New York. SAT-7 and other groups are coordinating their respective campaigns to help show the relevance of God's Word in our daily lives." Terry Ascott, chief executive officer of SAT-7, a Christian television outreach for the Middle East and North Africa, says he's excited about the project. "The main purpose of the campaign is to make it easier for people to obtain and read the Bible so that they will be strengthened in their Christian faith and witness for Christ." Among the many SAT-7 programs that will underline this message is a new series called, "Understanding God's Word." The ministry will also air a number of new programs, including longer Scripture readings and interviews with church leaders that tie into the campaign. (Mission Network News)

FORMER CALIFORNIA CASINO 'REBORN' AS ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH

A former California casino has reopened its doors to a different crowd -- worshipers. About 1,300 parishioners and guests were expected Sunday, Jan. 11, for the "grand opening rebirth" of the former Vineyard Casino to Vineyard Worship Centre Church, an Assemblies of God congregation. The denomination provided the $2 million to buy the property. Senior pastor Rod Haro doesn't see a stigma attached to the former 49,000-square-foot gambling center in Fowler (15 miles south of Fresno). He believed that God would someday use this site for the betterment of his church. "People are hungry," said Haro, 48, who started the church in the Sutter Middle School cafeteria with 30 people in April 2002. "They are not hungry for church; they are hungry for a movement of God," he said. He has seen its active membership grow to more than 700. The first service in the former casino was on Sunday, Nov. 23. "The casino closed its doors in January 1997, less than a year after it opened. Haro said that for years, as he passed by the vacant building, he thought, "That building would make a great church." Associate pastor Marty Lynch, who co-founded the church, credited God for orchestrating the purchase of the casino that initially had a $12-million asking price. (Charisma News Service/Selma Enterprise)

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