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Asia's top terror suspect, Riduan Isamuddin (also known as Hambali), and eight other alleged Muslim militants have been charged with attempted murder in an unspecified terrorist plot to bomb targets in Cambodia. A Cambodian court leveled the charges against Hambali and three others in absentia midway through the trial of five men who were arrested last year for allegedly training terrorists and planning attacks in the country. Hambali was the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaeda that hopes to create an Islamic super state across Southeast Asia. JI has murdered an estimated 10,000 Christians across Indonesia in the last five years. Hambali is in U.S. custody and is said to be cooperating with interrogation efforts. His revelations already have prevented some terrorist attacks. (Religion Today/Voice of the Martyrs)

* HCJB World Radio, in cooperation with Campus Crusade for Christ, worked with a local partner to plant Cambodia's first Christian radio station in 1998. New Life Radio in the capital city of Phnom Penh broadcasts the gospel in Cambodian and English.

3 MORE CHURCHES ATTACKED AS VIOLENCE ESCALATES IN SRI LANKA

On the night of Sunday, Feb. 15, the pastor of the Apostolic Church in Boraluwewa, Sri Lanka, was warned that his church would be attacked. He notified police, but no one came to provide protection or investigate the threats. That night a crowd of about 100 demolished the church and set fire to the staff living quarters and all their personal belongings. Five people were later arrested. On the same day, the mob also attacked Gethsemane Church, demolishing the worship center. A third incident took place in Kurundugaha Hathapma Anuruddhagama. A gang of 10 people, armed with five swords and a gun, attacked the home where members of Calvary Church meet for worship. The homeowner was attacked with a sword but escaped with minor injuries. His wife was trapped in the house where the intruders threatened to kill her if the worship services continued. Christians in Sri Lanka are facing mounting pressure with an escalation of violent attacks and an increase in demands for anti-conversion legislation. Last year a total of 91 attacks on Christians and churches were recorded, and already this year 41 incidents have been documented. "The persecution of Christians in Sri Lanka through both violent and legislative means causes us deep concern," said Stuart Windsor, national director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide-UK. "The rise of militant, violent Buddhism and the disregard for human rights must be stopped before it spreads further." (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

PRO-ARISTIDE THUGS TERRORIZE BOYS' HOME IN HAITI

"Pro-Aristide" thugs invaded a Christian boys' home in Carfu (a suburb of Port-au-Prince) last week, says Joanne Derstine. She is the daughter of Dr. Gerald Derstine of Gospel Crusade who founded the home. "Thirty boys were ordered at gunpoint to lie on the floor," she says. "Their lives were threatened while gunmen ransacked their living quarters, looking for weapons. Thankfully, the boys were unharmed, though terrified. We sent them to neighbors' homes where they remain at this time." Derstine says the mission's headquarters compound in Lamentin was also overrun, and gunmen continue to occupy the property. "But so far our girls' home located there is secure, fortified by at least 12 of our men on the roof," Derstine says. "The 50 girls are locked inside." The Lamentin property also includes a partially completed pediatric hospital. Derstine says that while some of the supplies have been looted, so far the facility seems to be intact. "Gospel Crusade has 260 churches and 80 schools (7,000 children) scattered throughout Haiti," she adds. "The schools have all been shut down which means these children are not receiving the one nutritious meal a day they usually count on to survive. Electricity has been out for more than a week throughout the nation. Food and water are becoming very scarce." Gospel Crusade plans to send a container of food from Miami as soon as the opportunity becomes available.

Meanwhile, a ministry called Food for the Hungry continues to reach out physically and spiritually to Haiti's imperiled residents. Mission President Ben Homan says the situation is stabilizing. However, the political situation isn't the most important issue right now. "The critical situation is the state of the people of Haiti -- food supplies, transportation, things that will allow people to gain their livelihood and survive through this transition," he says. "The poverty in Haiti has been endemic, and it is desperate for many families. Many of them live in squalor and poverty." Homan says the systems that have brought such poverty upon Haiti are complex. He points to government corruption, destructive belief systems and unsafe behavior that has led to disease. "HIV/AIDS is rampant," he adds. "The answers are also complex. We believe the ultimate answer is going to be in people discovering who they are in Christ." (Assist News Service/Mission Network News)

* Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., are working with OMS International to establish a satellite radio network based at 4VEH outside of Cap-Haitien that will deliver programs to FM stations nationwide. Downlinks have been installed in Turtle Island and Pignon, and at least three more are planned when the situation stabilizes. Meanwhile, 4VEH continues to broadcast a message of hope from an AM station and two FM stations. HCJB World Radio also helped partner World Gospel Mission with a small station in Port-au-Prince.

7-MONTH 'GOSPEL EXPEDITION' ASSISTS CHURCH PLANTERS IN RUSSIA

A massive effort is under way to support and encourage church planters and pastors in Russia. Teams of pastors, evangelists, church workers and various support staff set out in December for a seven-month initiative aimed at assisting church planters and pastors in Russia. The effort, called Gospel Expedition 2004, is spearheaded by the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA). Mission spokesman Tom McAdam says response to the project and the volunteers involved has been overwhelming. "Reports have gotten back that they are being very favorably received," he says. Gospel Expedition 2004 includes rotating teams of volunteer church planters who visit and offer support to Russian church leaders. McAdam says this is the first time many evangelical pastors in Russia have had fellow Christians visit to help them expand their ministry efforts. Even after more than a decade of freedom, there is still a shortage of Russian-language Bibles, Christian literature and other training materials. Expedition volunteers are helping to distribute the Christian resources while praying and encouraging Russian believers. Gospel Expedition 2004 is the largest outreach to Russian pastors and church planters in the history of the ministry. (Religion Today/Agape Press)

CHRISTIANS FROM ACROSS U.K. TO HOLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR MYANMAR

Christians from across the U.K. will gather at St. Paul's Church in London Saturday, March 13, to pray for democracy, freedom, peace and justice in Myanmar (Burma). The Global Day of Prayer for Burma is an annual event started in 1997 by Christians Concerned for Burma, a group founded as the result of a request from Burma's democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. International organizations such as Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Amnesty International and the U.S. State Department report that Burma's human rights situation has deteriorated in the past year. The persecution of ethnic minorities has continued with widespread evidence of systematic rape, forced labor, forced relocation, use of human minesweepers, child soldiers, destruction of villages and crops, religious persecution, torture and extra-judicial killings. There are estimated 1 million refugees trapped in the jungles of Burma without adequate shelter, food or medicine. Another 150,000 Burmese refugees live in Thailand with thousands more in India and Bangladesh. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

HIV/AIDS CRISIS IN AFRICA CONTINUES TO OPEN DOORS FOR MINISTRY

Thousands of people in Africa are dying every day due to HIV/AIDS, opening doors for the creation of Christian work in areas where it typically wouldn't be allowed. Compassion Ministries, an outreach of the Evangelical Free Church of America, is helping in Tanzania. Compassion spokesman Jim Snyder says the ministry's Africa director has been invited to teach "True Love Waits" in a Muslim school there. "It's one that very definitely touches on issues of not just morality, but scriptural principles on why one would wait for marriage in order to have any relationship with the opposite sex. We anticipate that a number of schools will be calling, asking us to participate in this." The program is expected to grow quickly. "It offers opportunities to be able to minister through the local church to school leaders and students," Snyder adds. (Mission Network News)

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