STOP PRESS: Yemen: US embassy stormed in capital Sanaa
Angry protesters stormed the US embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday as regional discontent over an amateur US film mocking Islam spread throughout the region. Police used water cannons and fired warnings shots to drive the protesters out of the building, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene. There were unconfirmed reports of casualties on both sides. The protests in Sanaa come two days after a similar attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi resulted in the deaths of four US citizens, including the US ambassador in Libya, Christopher Stevens. There were also reports of fresh scuffles outside the US embassy in Cairo on Thursday, a day after protesters scaled the embassy walls, ripped down the US flag and replaced it with the black Islamic flag.
Pray: against further unrest in the region see above..
Bahrain: Catholic Church plans challenged by Muslim clerics
Plans in the kingdom of Bahrain to build the nation's largest Roman Catholic Church have been challenged by complaints from Sunni Muslim clerics who have signed a petition against any motions to build churches in the Arabian Peninsula, regarded as the birthplace of Islam. Bahrain, which is a constitutional monarchy ruled by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, is heavily Muslim, with 99 percent of Bahranian people identifying as either Shia or Sunni. Although the nation also has a significant Christian population, among which are Catholics and Protestants, no official figures exist on their precise count. Religious freedom, while protected by the government, has been the subject of much contention. Sunni and Shia communities are engaged in sectarian battles, The Associated Press reported, and more than 70 Sunni clerics have warned against plans to expand the Roman Catholic Church in the Asian nation.
Pray: that these plans to build would succeed and a Church will bring glory to God. (Ps.24:9-10)
Jordan: Missionary stabbed to death
A missionary living in Jordan was stabbed to death by a teenager on Tuesday after she caught him stealing in her apartment, police said. The 17-year-old confessed to killing Cheryll Harvey, 55, in her apartment in Barha, the police told the Associated Press. As a minor, the assailant can't be named until he's sent to trial. Police said the suspect was paid by Harvey for grocery runs and other chores, but when she found him going through her purse and began to shout, he grabbed a knife from the kitchen, stabbing Harvey 10 times. A native of Sudan, Texas, Harvey earned an undergraduate and two master's degrees in Education before leaving for Jordan where she taught English for 24 years under the auspices of the Jordan Baptist Society. At press time, it was not determined as to whether Harvey would be buried in Jordan, or if her remains would be returned home.
Pray: for those God calls to the mission field that He will protect them from assault. (Jn.17:15)
More: http://www.worthynews.com/11720-missionary-killed-in-jordan
Russia: Shock at Moscow church demolition
Human rights defenders and church members have expressed shock and outrage at the sudden destruction of a Pentecostal Church in Moscow's eastern suburbs. Unknown workers - backed by police and civil volunteers - began tearing down Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church on the eastern edge of Moscow soon after midnight on September 6, the church's Pastor, Vasili Romanyuk, told Forum 18 News Service from the Russian capital. ‘By morning almost the entire three-storey building had been destroyed,’ said Forum 18’s Felix Corley and Geraldine Fagan. ‘This is the Soviet approach - to come in the middle of the night with mechanical diggers,’ said Mikhail Odintsov, an aide to Russia's Ombudsperson for Human Rights, The church has struggled to legalise the building it put up with its own money in 1995-6. Andrei Ivanov, spokesperson for the prefect of Moscow's Eastern Administrative District, defended the destruction. ‘Everything was done at the decision of the court,’ he told Forum 18.
Pray: for the Church in Russia that God would protect it from persecution leading to this form of destruction. (Est.8:6)
More: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2012/s12090040.htm
