World in Brief

Four Christians from the same family are due to appear in court in November on charges of ‘inciting a Muslim to change religion’.

A 40-year-old Muslim woman whose husband had converted to Christianity filed a complaint against him and against a Christian family, accusing them of ‘pressuring her to become a Christian’. The Christian family had attempted to ease the conflict between the couple. Conversion from Islam is not a criminal offence in Algeria.

A transexual man entered history books as the first male to win a women’s world cycling title in early October.

The man, who has changed his name to Rachel McKinnon, brought home gold for Canada in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Masters Track Cycling World Championships. Bronze medallist of the race, Jennifer Wagner, argued that the race in Los Angeles was ‘definitely NOT fair’.

Funerals were held for seven Christians ambushed and killed on 2 November in Islamist attacks.

Hundreds of people attended the funeral service for the six family members killed when Islamist gunmen ambushed their microbus. A seventh Christian, Asaad Farouk Labib Ghaly, was also killed.

In October, the Cabinet passed legalisation which approved the status of 120 unlicensed churches and church-affiliated buildings on 10 October, taking the total of approved applications to 340 of the 3,730 submitted in 2017.

Over 3,000 are still awaiting confirmation of official registration nearly two years after the government passed a landmark law which abolished long-standing restrictions on Christian places of worship.

Flooding in France led to evacuations, but an opportunity for one church group to show practical love to the community.

Many from the church have been able to donate clothing and other items to those who have lost everything. Others have been helping badly-affected people to clean up. The church flat was offered to accommodate people. The catastrophe led to good conversations with a number of people and opportunities for the church to get to know some local neighbours.

Susan Mathew was inspired by her time studying for a PhD at Durham University to start a pioneering project for special-needs children where she lives in India, it was reported in October.

Her own son’s treatment in the UK for cerebral palsy led to a link between a UK school and the Deepti Special School and Rehab Centre giving free physical therapy and care for children with a range of needs. She also provides biblical counselling to the families, who suffer much stigma.

When Pastor Mathai Varghese was beaten and abducted by Hindu extremists in Rajasthan state in the Autumn, police gave chase and arrested the kidnappers and the pastor.

Varghese spent a night and the next day in jail with serious injuries unattended before being released on bail. He had been attacked by a large mob of around 100 Hindu extremists who beat him and accused him of converting people in their village.

Police officers rushed into a praise service on 6 October at a house in Tamil Nadu state and began hitting worshippers.

The pastor was held by the neck and struck in his stomach and back. When help arrived, one of the constables was manhandling the believers while another was abusing them using foul language. No action has been taken against the police despite a petition being submitted to the district’s superintendent of police.

Three Muslim men badly beat a Christian convert in the village of Tamchi in Issyk-Kul on 17 October, leaving him fighting for his life.

The attackers cornered Eldos, a 25-year-old convert from Islam, alone in a courtyard and attempted to force him to say the shahada (the Islamic creed). Recitation of the shahada is considered conversion to Islam. He was viciously beaten and left bleeding with severe concussion, a jaw fracture, missing teeth, a bleeding eye, and suspected brain haemor-

Matthew Grech, a member of River of Love Christian Fellowship, shared his story of moving away from a homosexual lifestyle and becoming a Christian during his X Factor Malta audition, it was reported in October.

‘I used to lead a homosexual lifestyle, and then I found God,’ he said. After online uproar, Facebook and YouTube pulled Matthew’s audition.

A policeman was reprimanded and punished for talking about his faith in Christ at a public, multi-faith religious gathering in October.

Dilip Bhadur Gurung was on three-month leave when he spoke. A local news reporter published an article saying he was trying to convert people, and informed Gurung’s superiors. His departmental promotion was withheld for five years as punishment. At the meeting said his faith in Jesus had blessed his family life.

Attackers ransacked, looted and burned a church in the Kossey district of Niger’s capital Niamey on 11 October, leaving the building a charred shell and its floor covered with debris.

Niger’s tiny Christian minority make up less than 1% of the population, but had traditionally lived peacefully and unthreat-ened alongside the large Muslim majority. The rise of jihadist groups in the Sahel region, including Boko Haram, Islamic State in West Africa and groups affiliated with Al Qaeda has led to an escalation in tension.

Muslims attacked a market in Kaduna state on 18 October, killing dozens of Christians and burning a church building.

‘A Muslim raised a false alarm about a thief in the market, which caused stampede, and then other Muslims started chanting “Allahu Akbar” [the jihadist slogan, God is Greater], attacking Christians, burning houses and shops belonging to Christians in the town,’ area resident Kefas Mallam said. 55 bodies were recovered.

Mentally-impaired Yaqoob Bashir Masih, who was only 20 years old when he was accused of committing blasphemy, has been given a life sentence by a court in October.

He allegedly burned a booklet that contained verses of the Qur’an. According to International Christian Concern, two appeals from the family to release him on bail were filed, but the trial court and later the Sindh High Court rejected them.

Nyankiir Kual Mayen, a Christian university student, filed a complaint with police after a Public Order Police officer held and groped her on 21 September.

After being followed by the officer in a vehicle, the officer grabbed her and groped her breast. He ordered her to come with him to the police station, but she insisted that it was illegal to arrest women on the street without a warrant. Annoyed, the officer said he would arrest her for indecent dress. Her body was fully covered.

The immediate release of American pastor Andrew Brunson was ordered in court in Izmir, Turkey on 12 October.

The court sentenced Mr Brunson to three years imprisonment, but freed him because of the time he had already spent in detention. He returned to the US the following day.

Radical Muslims left a 12-year-old Christian boy unconscious on 25 October after threatening to strangle him to death unless he converted to Islam.

Emmanuel Nyaiti was on his way to his grandmother’s house, 200 metres from his home, when four extremists ambushed him shortly after 9pm and took him to a cassava plantation less than a mile away, his father said. He and his neighbours had searched for the boy and found him ‘half dead and unconscious’.

Former US Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran won $1.2m in damages in early October after the city of Atlanta agreed to a settlement after he lost his job after publishing a book on sexual ethics.

Cochran had his employment terminated by Mayor Kasim after activists complained about his self-published book that briefly mentioned biblical sexual ethics. Despite an investigation that found he had not discriminated against anyone, the mayor still fired him.

Twitter backed down and unlocked LifeSiteNews’ Twitter account on 19 October, less than 24 hours after claiming a factual analysis of homosexual health data was ‘hateful conduct’.

Citing data from mainstream sources such as the Center for Disease Control, the report concluded the rise of STDs among homosexuals was primarily due to factors such as increased unprotected sex and 60% of homosexual men failing to disclose their symptoms or status to sex partners. The site received support from gay men who said facts need to be known.