* JUST A THOUGHT - The crude fact that when you go to bed with someone you are effectively going to bed with everyone they have gone to bed with before should leave all of us, young and old, with one option only - Abstinence outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage.
(By Fano Sibisi, 25 February 2010, www.cft.org.za) (to index)

* ANTI-TRAFFICKING HOTLINE LAUNCHED - Fears of increased human trafficking during the Fifa World Cup have prompted the Salvation Army to launch a toll-free hotline aimed at helping people trafficked into the country.
"We don't want to create a hype around 2010 but we fear it [human trafficking] will increase for purposes of commercial sex work," said Major Marike Venter, national co-ordinator of the Salvation Army anti-trafficking task team.
She was addressing media at the launch of the toll-free number in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The number - 0800-RESCUE or 0800-737283 - is expected to operate 24 hours a day.

Callers could be addressed in eight South African languages but there was no capacity to introduce languages like Portuguese, French and Swahili - languages mainly spoken in other African countries, said Brian Adams of Herd, the organisation running the toll-free line for the Salvation Army.
"At the moment we don't have capacity but as we get more funding, we'll be able to expand," Adams said.
The toll-free number was for victims of human trafficking to report their cases and for those wishing to report incidents of human trafficking.
Venter urged the government to pass legislation on human trafficking to make it easier for police to deal with traffickers.
"We know that the draft bill is being discussed in Parliament so we are adding our voice in support of what other organisations have said," she said.
She said the Salvation Army had consulted with government and the SA Police Service in setting up the line.
(IOL, 27 Jan 2010) (to index)

* ‘ANCESTORS TOLD ME TO EAT FLESH’- A cooked human head, a liver and a basket full of entrails were what police officers found when they searched the North West home of a man who claimed to have eaten his relative.
The remains belonged to 57-year-old Gopolang Elias Serache, and he was killed and partially eaten because his alleged murderer said he had been told by his ancestors to consume human flesh.
Serache went missing in Khunwana Village, near Delareyville, on Friday, according to police. His family reported him missing yesterday, and it was after investigators questioned the man with whom he was last seen that they learnt of his fate.

The 30-year-old relative had confessed to the killing, police said.
"He killed him with a knife on Friday at the old man's home and then, using a wheelbarrow, carried the body to his residence. There, he cut him into pieces like he was slaughtering an animal," said police spokesman Superintendent Lesego Metsi.
"The man said his ancestors had instructed him to kill Serache, then cook and eat him," Metsi said.
The suspect is expected to appear in the Atamelang Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

This latest case of suspected cannibalism comes as the Traditional Healers Organisation reported yesterday that about 1 000 families nationwide had claimed that corpses of their dead relatives had been harvested for muti before burial last year.
"About 900 bodies had some parts missing, especially the breasts and genitals," said Phephisile Maseko, national co-ordinator of the healers' organisation.
He expressed concern that in most cases, police were involved in protecting those people - often wealthy businessmen - who bought human body parts in the belief that it would boost their businesses.
(IOL, 9 Feb 2010) (to index)

* UGANDA REJECTS OBAMA'S PRO-HOMOSEXUAL "CHANGE" - Ugandan Christian minister Martin Ssempa has issued a strong rebuttal to President Obama’s criticism of his country for considering passage of a law to discourage and punish certain homosexual practices. "Sodomy is neither the change we want nor can believe in," says Ssempa, who runs the Family Policy and Human Rights Center in Uganda.

Ssempa, a major player in the country’s successful anti-AIDS program, says that Obama has an "obsession with the spread of sodomy in Africa," in contrast to the efforts of the George W. Bush Administration to help Uganda resist the dangerous sexual practices which facilitate the spread of the deadly disease. The Ugandan anti-AIDS program has emphasized abstinence and monogamy.

Ssempa’s website declares, "HIV/AIDS is not an allergy. It is not a gay disease. It is not a badge of honor. It is a cold-blooded, indiscriminating killer that can only be stopped by a proven solution—abstinence until marriage and faithfulness within marriage."

Partly because of the continuing need to avoid AIDS—and the practices which can spread it—Ssempa and many other Ugandan pastors have united to form a task force against homosexuality and support new legislation to curtail the negative health impact of the so-called "lifestyle." The task force states that "Practices like homosexuality and bisexuality are associated with serious, yet preventable public-health risks. The risk of HIV transmission in male homosexuality is, for example, about 10 times that of heterosexual sex, simply due to use of parts of the body for inappropriate functions. Other diseases and medical complications are also associated with these practices. Secondly, by its nature, behavior spreads in the population through experimentation, modeling and social affirmation. Increase in homosexual and bisexual practice could thus rapidly reverse Uganda’s success against HIV/AIDS."

But at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Obama, capitulating to pressure from the "gay rights" lobby which helped elect him, condemned the prospect of "odious laws in Uganda," after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had made similar comments. The proposed legislation has drawn international condemnation from the Obama Administration, the global gay rights lobby, homosexual activists in the media, and dozens of "progressive" members of the U.S. Congress.

Clinton said that she had called President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda to express "our strongest concerns about a law being considered in the Parliament of Uganda." But Clinton failed to disclose that he had told her that he had received reports that foreign homosexuals have been targeting Ugandan children for sexual abuse. Museveni has expressed puzzlement that Clinton and other representatives of Western nations have seemed so preoccupied with the subject of "gays."

But because of the power of the well-funded homosexual lobby, the campaign has taken the form of a global effort to isolate Uganda and even cut off aid to the poor country because of its stand against homosexuality. Under this pressure, American pastors such as Rick Warren have denounced the anti-homosexual legislation. Ssempa and other Ugandan pastors, in turn, have accused Warren of succumbing to "hysteria" generated by the homosexual lobby.

In his statement, Ssempa expressed concern that Obama failed to understand the nature of the legislation. "President Barack Obama makes two mistakes," Ssempa said in his statement. "First, Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law only prescribes the capital punishment in cases where the victims are children or the handicapped. This is consistent with the existing laws for similar crimes by heterosexuals. We wonder if President Obama thinks that the heterosexual rape of a girl is a lesser crime than the homosexual rape of a handicapped boy."

"Secondly," Ssempa goes on, "homosexuals and lesbians are never targeted for who they are, rather what they do. It is the repugnant sexual acts which they do which constitutes a crime, a

sin and a rebellion against the order of nature. Here in Africa, we believe homosexuals can CHANGE. It is very disappointing for Africans to hear Obama, who ran on the ticket of ‘change we can believe in,’ losing courage when we postulate in faith that homosexuals can truly change. We wish to tell him that sodomy is neither the change we want nor can believe in."

Ssempa went on in his statement to bring up the matter of Obama’s support for abortion: "Thirdly, we wish to remind Obama that the unborn babies killed under his extremely odious laws of abortion, are the ones who are killed not for what they have done, but just because they are. Shame on his administration for agitating to protect abnormal and deviant sexual acts, when innocent babies are butchered daily in the abortion industry, which is funded by his administration."

Like "gay rights," Obama has made support for abortion, even in health care legislation, a priority for his administration.

The Ugandan pro-family activist said that Obama’s comments "will not stop the passage of the anti-homosexuality bill, but rather it has shown us that of all the problems that Africa has, the priority is not HIV/AIDS or trade but sodomy."

Ssempa drew a contrast with the administration of George W. Bush, which he said had helped Uganda resist the spread of AIDS. "African history will remember President George W. Bush for helping to stop the spread of the deadly HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis with his presidential emergency fund (PEPFAR)," he said. "On the other hand we are writing Obama’s history as one whose single focus is a divisive obsession with the spread of sodomy in Africa. We are sad that the presidential emergency response of Barack Obama is the use of the White House as a bully pulpit to spread sodomy, while enabling the murder of millions of unborn babies in his unconscionable and extremely odious abortion laws."
(NewsWithViews.com, 8 Feb 2010) (to index)

* PRO-LIFE VICTORY IN KENYA - The threat by influential Christian leaders to mobilise a vote against Kenya's draft constitution if it does not explicitly prevent any expansion of abortion rights appears to have succeeded.

The draft assembled by a Committee of Experts for consideration by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) contained no specific reference to abortion, but the National Council of Churches (NCCK) and the Catholic Church were up in arms about a phrase stating that "everyone has a right to life" while failing to define where life begins and ends.

Canon Peter Karanja of the NCCK told IPS, "Life is sacrosanct. The definition of life must be stipulated in the supreme law of the land, the Constitution. Life must be defined as starting at conception and ending at natural death."

The parliamentary committee has completed deliberations on the draft, and decided to define life as beginning at conception.

Phrases guaranteeing everyone the right to health care (including reproductive health care) and stating that no-one may be refused emergency medical treatment have been deleted; added is a phrase ruling out abortion "unless in the opinion of a registered medical practitioner the life of the mother is in danger".

The changes have raised an uproar, with professional associations of medical practitioners saying it will have negative effects on Kenya's attempt to reduce maternal deaths.

On its part, the Church is happy with the prohibition of abortion and definition of life as beginning at conception, and has again warned it will reject anything less.

"We should not victimise the innocent unborn children, who do not have a say in this matter. Even in the case of rape and incest, the life in the womb of the woman is innocent," says Father Paulino Wondo of the Holy Trinity Catholic Mission in the Nairobi slum of Kariobangi.
(AllAfrica.com, 2 Feb 2010) (to index)

* GADDAFI URGES ‘HOLY WAR’ ON SWISS - Libya's Muammar Gaddafi has called for a jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland, as an ongoing diplomatic row between the two nations heats up.
He criticised a recent Swiss vote against the building of minarets and said Muslims must boycott the country.
There have been tensions between the nations since 2008, when one of Mr Gaddafi's sons was arrested in Geneva, accused of assaulting two servants.

A Swiss foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment on the jihad call.
The Libyan leader made his comments while speaking at a meeting to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
"Let us wage jihad against Switzerland, Zionism and foreign aggression," he said.
"Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against Muhammad, God and the Koran."
In a referendum last November, 57.5% of Swiss voters approved a constitutional ban on the building of minarets. An appeal against the ban has been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights.

Earlier this month, Libya stopped issuing visas to citizens from many European nations, prompting condemnation from the European Commission.
Libya's move came after Switzerland allegedly blacklisted 188 high-ranking Libyans, denying them entry permits. The Swiss ban is said to include Mr Gaddafi and his family.
The row began after the arrest of Mr Gaddafi's son Hannibal and his wife, Aline Skaf, in Geneva in July 2008.
They were accused of assaulting two servants while staying at a luxury hotel in the Swiss city, though the charges were later dropped.
Libya retaliated by cancelling oil supplies, withdrawing billions of dollars from Swiss banks, refusing visas to Swiss citizens and recalling some of its diplomats.
In the same month that the Gaddafis were arrested, Libyan authorities detained two Swiss businessmen, in what analysts believe was a retaliatory move.
One was finally allowed to leave the country earlier this week but the second was transferred to jail, where he faces a four-month term on immigration offences.
(BBC News / Africa, 26 Feb 2010) (to index)

* MUSLIMS FURIOUS OVER ISRAELI DECISION TO HIGHLIGHT ANCIENT LINK - A decision by the Israeli government to include a location with an almost 4,000 year-old link to the origins of Judaism in a list of 150 national heritage sites has sparked an uproar among Muslims – and drawn the disapproval of the Obama administration.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted Thursday that the decision to include the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on the list would not in any way change the status quo at the site, which has long been shared by Jews and Muslims.

He called accusations being made by Palestinians and others "an artificial attempt to distort reality and sow discord."

Two days after Palestinian Authority (P.A.) chairman Mahmoud Abbas warned during a visit to Brussels that it could ignite a "religious war," Palestinians clashed Thursday with Israeli soldiers in Hebron. The radical Palestinian group Islamic Jihad has called for a "day of anger" on Friday.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the administration regarded the move as "provocative," and that U.S. diplomats had conveyed that message to Israeli officials.

On Thursday the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) weighed in, demanding that the United Nations act against "this Israeli unilateral aggression."

Earlier, a spokesman for U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said he raised with visiting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak his concerns about "the inclusion of holy sites in the occupied West Bank on an Israeli heritage list."

In announcing the expansion of an existing list of sites with religious and national significance to ancient and modern Israel, Netanyahu on Sunday mentioned that they would include the Cave of the Patriarchs and another site in territory claimed by the Palestinians – Rachel’s Tomb between Jerusalem and nearby Bethlehem, the traditional burial site of Rachel, the wife of the biblical patriarch, Jacob.

It is the site in Hebron, about 20 miles south of Jerusalem, that is causing the most unhappiness.

Although a predominantly Arab city today, Hebron’s importance to Jews goes back to the foundation of their faith. According to the Old Testament (Genesis 49), Abraham bought a cave known as Machpela at the site to bury his wife, Sarah and was himself also buried there, along with Isaac and Jacob, as well as Isaac’s wife Rebecca, and Jacob’s first wife, Leah.

The Old Testament also records that Hebron was the capital of the kingdom of Israel for seven years before King David moved to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5). Rabbis consider the Cave of the Patriarchs the second holiest site in Judaism, after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Hebron as a city is also one of Judaism’s four holy cities, the others being Jerusalem, Tiberias and Tzfat.

Historians say Hebron had a small, almost continuous Jewish presence for thousands of years until 1929, when it ended abruptly after 67 members of the then 800-strong Jewish community were killed during three days of Arab riots.

Shortly after Israel captured the West Bank during the 1967 Six Day War Jews began to return to Hebron in small numbers and today some 500 are reported to live in the historic Jewish Quarter, amid tight security.

In 1994 a deranged Israeli opened fire on Muslims in a mosque at the site, killing at least 29 people before he was overpowered and killed.