Chinese church leader arrested in cross crackdown

A PROMINENT church leader in China, Pastor Gu Yuese, has been arrested and detained at an undisclosed location, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Release International report. Mr Gu, who leads the Chongyi Church in the city of Hangzhou, has been an outspoken critic of the forced removal of crosses from churches in his region. The charities say that Mr Gu, who was involved in the Chinese state-sanctioned Christian movement, is the highest-profile Christian to be arrested in China since the Cultural Revolution ended in the 1970s. Chinese authorities have been taking down crosses from churches for years, and recently imprisoned a lawyer who had defended churches from such actions (News, 20 October).

Men and women to pray side by side at Wailing Wall

MIXED groups of men and women will soon be able to pray at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, considered the holiest site in Judaism. On Sunday, after a long debate in Israel, the Israeli government decided to set aside a section of the wall, formerly part of Solomon’s temple, for prayers in mixed-sex groups. Previously, only single-sex groups could pray at the wall.

Anglican bishops speak out as South Sudan conflict worsens

BISHOPS in South Sudan have spoken of harrowing conditions in the midst of the country’s seemingly intractable civil war. Speaking to the Anglican Alliance, the Bishop of Lui, the Rt Revd Stephen Dokolo, said that many civilians in his diocese had no water, food, or medical supplies. Some had fled the violence for the forests and were relying on foraging for wild plants to avoid starvation. The Bishop of Olo, the Rt Revd Tandema Andrew, said that people in the bush were dying almost every day. “Children are dying of malaria; women are dying in childbirth: it is very difficult.” The conflict has internally displaced 1.7 million people, and left 6.4 million in need of humanitarian aid.

SAT-7 television equipment returned by police after raid

A CHRISTIAN television network in Egypt has had equipment, including cameras, computers, and hard drives, returned after it was confiscated during a police raid in October. SAT-7, which broadcasts across the Middle East (News, 29 January), said that the equipment was in good condition, and un-edited programmes on the hard drives had been left untouched. The network has been unable to broadcast any new or live shows since the raid, which took place under the instruction of the country’s censorship department.

Coptic teenagers to stand trial in Egypt for ‘insulting Islam’

THREE Coptic Christian schoolchildren are to be put on trial in Egypt, accused of insulting Islam, after they appeared in a video that mocked Islamic prayers, the news agency AP has reported. The three teenagers were filmed by their schoolteacher last year pretending to pray, reciting Qur’anic verses, and imitating beheading. The teacher has already been convicted on the same charges in a separate trial and sentenced to three years in prison.