North Korea: Mobile phones = treason
The new Supreme Leader has clamped down on mobile phone use, declaring any use of a mobile phone during the 100 days of mourning for his father an act of war leading to charges of treason and long prison terms or death. Only a small percentage of the population has mobile phones, those who do own handsets are limited in their calling scope to their economic class. Lowly workers can contact only other lowly workers. The elite are likewise sequestered to their own economic tier. The communications, from low to high, are monitored. One false step in phrasing could earn years of hard labour. The government monitors mobile calls and surfing the Internet so little ‘outside’ news passes through filters for the 400,000 internet users.
Pray: that God would enable western truths and technology to reach North Korea. (Ps.110:2)
More: http://www.mobilephones.org.uk/mobile-news/north-korean-mobile-phone-use-equates-to-treason/
Egypt: 3000 Muslims attack Christian homes and shops
A mob of over 3000 Muslims have attacked Copts in the village of Kobry-el-Sharbat (el-Ameriya), Alexandria, Egypt. Coptic homes and shops were looted before being set ablaze. Two Copts and a Muslim were injured. The violence started after a rumour was spread that a Coptic man had an allegedly intimate photo of a Muslim woman on his mobile phone. The Coptic man, Mourad Samy Guirgis, surrendered to the police for his protection. Father Boktor Nashed from St George's Church in el-Nahdah, said that a meeting between Muslim and Christian representatives was supposed to take place in the evening in Kobry-el-Sharbat. But, by 3 pm a Muslim mob looted and torched the home of Mourad Samy Guirgis, as well as the home of his extended family and three homes of Coptic neighbours. A number of Coptic-owned shops and businesses were also looted and torched.
Pray: for the believers as they go through transition within the nation and that they will find opportunities to live and work together without conflict. (Pro.10:12
Cameroon: Christian converts under threat from Islamists
The handwritten threat from a group identifying itself as Boko Haram was put under the door of a church leader’s house earlier this month. It called on all Christian converts to return to Islam or face the wrath of the god of Islam. A few days later, two turbaned men arrived by motorcycle at the church leader’s house one night while he was away. One entered the house and ordered the man’s wife and children to lie face down on the ground. He asked where the church leader was and then searched the house. The intruder told the wife to tell her husband that they would get him no matter where he was hiding. After this distressing incident, the family fled the village, and the other converts have gone into hiding. Another Christian leader, who has been trying to inform church leaders about the militants’ threat, also had his house searched at night.
Pray: that God will strengthen and extend His arms of protection over His people and confuse their enemies. (Ps.5:11)
India: Recent incidents of persecution
A Hindu extremist in Adigar, Phulbani, Kandhamal district on Jan 25 attacked a pastor’s hut and harassed his family, according to the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). Jaleshwar Pradhan threw stones at the home of Pastor Patiba Mohan Kota while he was away, verbally abused his wife and pushed his daughters, shouting, ‘You Christians must not live here it is not your land.The last time your houses were only damaged, this time all of you will be buried here.’ Though damage to the house was minimal, the pastor and his family were in fear as Hindu extremists have previously tortured him causing partial loss of eyesight and hearing. The pastor was among those whose houses were destroyed during anti-Christian violence in 2008. Pradhan was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Pray: against ethnic hostility in and around Orissa. (Ps.109:28)
More: http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/india/article_1377575.html
