Sydney (ENI). A coalition of Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders has claimed that some asylum-seekers rejected by Australia were killed on their arrival home. They also assert that some of those rejected by Australia as not being true refugees have been accepted in other countries, and that inhumane practices, including the use of sedatives and force, are being employed to deport asylum-seekers. [573 words, ENI-02-0436]

Human rights activist urges churches to confront Mugabe's government

Harare (ENI). Zimbabwean human rights activist, Lovemore Madhuku, has urged churches to "preach the gospel of confrontation" and to help bring an end to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front party's "oppressive and dictatorial style of leadership". "People, including the church community which has been quiet and passive for a long time, must unite and confront the regime which does not respect the rights of the people they are accountable to," Madhuku, the chair of the National Constitutional Assembly, said in the country's second largest city, Bulawayo. [383 words, ENI-02-0437]

29 November 2002

Sydney (ENI). A coalition of Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders has claimed that some asylum-seekers rejected by Australia were killed on their arrival home. They also assert that some of those rejected by Australia as not being true refugees have been accepted in other countries, and that inhumane practices, including the use of sedatives and force, are being employed to deport asylum-seekers. [573 words, ENI-02-0436]

28 November 2002

Geneva (ENI). Churches could do much more than they have done in the fight against the scourge of AIDS, a United Nations AIDS official charges. Church-run hospitals, clinics and homes have been at the forefront of caring for people with HIV/AIDS and the orphans left behind by the disease - in some countries providing 50 per cent of all health care, says Calle Almedal, the UNAIDS official in charge of liaison with international organisation in Geneva. But he believes many churches and their leaders have neglected - or even hindered - the fight against the epidemic. [670 words, ENI-02-0433]

Advent is a reminder of hope for AIDS, says church activist

Geneva (ENI). World AIDS Day this year falls on the first Sunday of Advent, 1 December, a helpful co-incidence, says a Geneva-based church AIDS activist. "It's becoming increasingly difficult for people who feel the epidemic is hopeless - that there is little they can do to change behaviour and no cure or preventive vaccine," says Linda Hartke, co-ordinator of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, a coalition of 51 churches and church organisations working to promote AIDS awareness. [149 words, ENI-02-0434]

Typical rural Anglican church service is an 'ecumenical affair'

London (ENI). Village churches in England remain at the heart of their communities, with some attracting as much as 40 per cent of the population on special occasions, a survey has found. In some villages, the Anglican parish church is a magnet at Christmas and Harvest Festival (in the latter part of the year, when the community traditionally gives thanks for the fruits of the land) even for those who do not belong to the dominant Church of England. [415 words, ENI-02-0435]

28 November 2002

Manila (ENI). The end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan coincides in the Philippines this year with a Week of Peace on the island of Mindanao, home of most of the country's followers of Islam. The week runs from 28 November to 4 December and has been organised by a Christian-Muslim group working for harmony in an area that has been hit by a series of bombings attributed to Islamic extremists. [334 words, ENI-02-0431]

FBI says anti-Muslim hate crimes up in US

New York (ENI). Despite ongoing calls for tolerance from church leaders, hate crimes against Muslims or those thought to be of Middle Eastern descent rose dramatically in the United States in 2001, the year of the 11 September terrorist attacks, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. In a report, the FBI said the number of such cases rose from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001 - a substantial increase since Muslims, people from the Middle East or those who appeared to be from the Middle East had never before been so noticeably the targets of hate crimes, acts committed because of specific prejudice. [463 words, ENI-02-0432]

Canadian church activists cautious as oil company withdraws from Sudan

Vancouver (ENI). Canadian church and other human rights groups are claiming partial credit for the decision of a leading energy company to pull out of Sudan where, they say, the investment helped fuel a 19-year civil war that has resulted in the deaths of about 2 million people and left millions homeless. Talisman Energy of Canada announced in late October that it was selling its oil interests in Sudan for US$750 million to ONGC Videsh, a subsidiary of India's national oil company. [543 words, ENI-02-0430]

26 November 2002

Harare (ENI). The Zimbabwean government has announced, in an apparent change of heart, that it will spare church farms that had been listed for compulsory acquisition under its controversial land reform programme launched two years ago. A government minister told church leaders that the church properties had been listed by mistake, said the Rev. Trevor Manhanga, president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe. [290 words, ENI-02-0428]

German bishops suggest Protestants form global alliance

Bielefeld, Germany (ENI). Two leading German Protestant bishops have proposed the creation of a global alliance which they believe would strengthen the voice of world-wide Protestantism. Bishop Margot Kaessmann from Hanover and Bishop Wolfgang Huber from Berlin made the call at a meeting of the synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany earlier this month. [484 words, ENI-02-0429]

25 November 2002

Kaduna, Nigeria (ENI). Early pleas for restraint from Christian and Muslim leaders following riots triggered by a newspaper article saying the founding prophet of Islam would have chosen a Miss World contestant for a wife fell on deaf ears as hundreds were killed last week. Emmanuel Ijewere, president of the Nigerian Red Cross, said that the number of people killed stood at 215 following the rioting that broke out 20 November. By Monday calm had returned to Kaduna. President Olusegun Obasanjo led a special prayer for the nation, asking God to ensure peace and tranquillity in Nigeria. [466 words, ENI-02-0425]

Swiss churches hail defeat of proposal to tighten asylum laws

Geneva (ENI). Switzerland's churches have expressed relief after Swiss voters rejected by a tiny margin a proposal that would have made the country's asylum laws the "most restrictive" in Europe. The proposal, which would have meant automatically turning back asylum-seekers passing into Switzerland from another country deemed safe, was defeated in a referendum by just over 3000 votes from a total of about 2.24 million. [413 words, ENI-02-0426]

Canadian authorities to review refugee cases after family shelters in church

Montreal (ENI). The Canadian government has said it will review the files of about a thousand refugees after one Algerian family, threatened with expulsion, found sanctuary in a church in Montreal. The Bourouisa-Seddikis, a couple and their Canadian-born two-year-old son, spent 10 days in a United Church of Canada in Montreal to avoid being sent back to Algeria. [293 words, ENI-02-0427]

22 November 2002

New Delhi (ENI). Church health activists in India have called on their government to deal with HIV/AIDS rather than allow itself to get mired in a controversy over how widespread the disease is in their country. The row was triggered earlier in November by a US$100 million pledge to combat HIV/AIDS in India made by the chairman of the Microsoft corporation, Bill Gates, on a four-day visit to the country. [505 words, ENI-02-0422]

Canada and its Anglicans reach agreement on liability in abuse cases

Vancouver (ENI). The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) has reached an agreement with the Canadian government for sharing the multimillion dollar cost of settling abuse claims filed by 5 000 former students of now-defunct residential schools for indigenous children. Lawsuits have been filed against the government and four church denominations by 12 000 people claiming they were sexually, emotionally, physically and culturally abused at about 80 church-run federal schools for Native Canadian children operating from 1820 until 1969. [463 words, ENI-02-0421]

What would Jesus drive? environmentalists ask gas-guzzling Christians

New York (ENI). What would Jesus drive: a mini-bus or a Mini, a Mazda or a Mercury, a Chrysler or a Cadillac? However hard it might be to imagine a poor, 1st-century, Aramaic-speaking religious leader at the wheel of a sports car, some US Christians are posing the question with vigour. "We're asking the question because transportation choices are moral choices," said the Rev. Jim Ball, executive director of the Evangelical Environmental Network. [400 words, ENI-02-0423]

WCC cutting staff positions by 15 per cent before end of 2003 Geneva (ENI). Faced with a predicted financial shortfall of more than six million Swiss francs in 2003, the World Council of Churches - the world's biggest church grouping - has said it will reduce its total staff complement by 15 per cent to a total of 141 posts by the end of next year. "The reorganisation reflects the WCC's need to reduce planned expenses for 2003, and new thinking on how to fulfil the Council's mandate of seeking unity and co-operation among its 342 member churches world-wide," the WCC said. The WCC told ENI it currently has the equivalent of just over 165 full-time posts. [568 words, ENI-02-0424]

21 November 2002

Basra (ENI). Iraqi Christians fear that a war against Iraq will trigger religious tensions that they say presently don't exist between them and their Muslim compatriots. "We have had it good in Iraq," says one Christian describing the peaceful coexistence of the religious communities to an ENI correspondent visiting Iraq's second biggest city, Basra in the south of the country. He expresses concern that a war could be deliberately turned into a religious conflict. [480 words, ENI-02-0419]

Germany's Jewish community to have equal status to the churches

Bielefeld (ENI). Jewish leaders have welcomed as a milestone the German government's plan to give the country's Jewish community an equal legal status to the main Protestant and Roman Catholic churches. "This is a historic event," said Paul Spiegel, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said at a news conference attended by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. "That Jews live here once again in considerable numbers is a fact that those who returned after 1945 can hardly imagine." [297 words, ENI-02-0420]

20 November 2002

New York (ENI). The kidnapping and subsequent rescue of a prominent Colombian bishop is refocusing international attention on Colombia's social crisis. "All sides are preparing for all-out war," said Bill Fairbairn, a researcher at the Toronto-based KAIROS, an ecumenical social justice coalition. Bishop Jorge Enrique Jimenez Carvajal of the Colombian city of Zipaquira and the Rev. Desiderio Orjuela were kidnapped on 11 November by armed men posing as civilians in a rural area not far from the capital, Bogota. The clerics were rescued on 15 November by the Colombian military. [378 words, ENI-02-0418]

19 November 2002

Harare (ENI). Archbishop Pius Ncube, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Zimbabwe's Matabeleland, has called on churches in neighbouring South Africa to pray for change in Zimbabwe and to put pressure on its president, Robert Mugabe, to end his onslaught against his opponents. "We appeal to you for prayers to change the situation. We ask you to lobby wherever possible, to apply pressure on Mugabe and his followers to change," said Archbishop Ncube in a lecture on 7 November at the Durban Catholic Centre in South Africa. [301 words, ENI-02-0415]

Kenyan churches call for fair constitution at launch of prayer campaign

Nairobi (ENI). Christian churches which have campaigned hard for fair elections in Kenya on 27 December and for a constitution representative of all the country's 30 million people are planning nation-wide meetings to pray for a peaceful poll. The climax of the prayers will be an inter-denominational rally on 15 December at Uhuru Park in Nairobi. At a press conference in Nairobi, 22 clergymen called for violence-free national elections and reiterated a plea for equal representation of all religions in a proposed new constitution, arguing that a draft favours Muslims by establishing a special law for them. [372 words, ENI-02-0417]

Indian churches campaign against child labour

New Delhi (ENI). Protestant and Orthodox leaders in India are campaigning with non-governmental organisations to raise awareness of problems associated with child labour - a subject too many churches have neglected, they charge. "So far, the churches have not paid much attention to this [child labour] problem," said Rajesh Jadhav, a co-ordinator of the Urban Rural Mission unit of the National Council of Churches in India, a grouping of 29 Orthodox and Protestant churches. [339 words, ENI-02-0416]

18 November 2002

New Delhi (ENI). Three major Christian organisations in India came together for a celebration of Christian unity in Delhi at the weekend, while 3000 kilometres away, Christians celebrated the anniversary of the arrival, almost two millennia ago, of Christianity in India. "Christianity has been here from the 1st century, when most parts of Europe were pagan," said Geevarghese mar Coorilos, president of the National Council of Churches in India, one of the sponsors of the Delhi festival. "We are part and parcel of this nation." [282 words-02-0413]

Catholic Church appeals to Australian government on East Timorese

Sydney (ENI). The Roman Catholic Church in Australia has appealed for an exception to Australia's tough policy on asylum on behalf of 1800 East Timorese who have lived on temporary visas since the worst days of Indonesian occupation of their home country. Prime Minister John Howard's government, which was re-elected last year partly due to a tough line on boat people and refugees, has rejected claims for refugee status from 168 of the East Timorese, some of whom fled to Australia more than a decade ago. Some of the families involved include children born in Australia. Last week, 84 of the Timorese were notified that they had 28 days to leave Australia, or else be deported. [369 words, ENI-02-0414]

15 November 2002

Baghdad (ENI). Iraqi Bishop Shlemon Warduni has one response to all those who ask how they can support the people in Iraq: "Pray for us." Faced with the possibility of military action against Iraq, the country's Christians are being called to prayers for peace on 22 November. Bishop Warduni of the Chaldean Patriarchate hopes that all churches and congregations will join in the day of prayer called by his church, which follows the ancient Chaldean rite but is in union with Rome. [603 words, ENI-02-0412]

Churches seek a European policy after French asylum crisis

Paris (ENI). French church leaders are questioning European immigration policies after police moved in on a church in the northern port city of Calais before dawn on 14 November and evacuated 99 illegal migrants who had occupied the building for four days. The migrants, mostly Afghans and Iraqi Kurds trying to reach Great Britain, had taken refuge in the church after the closing of the nearby Red Cross-administered Sangatte centre, located near the English Channel tunnel. "The majority of [the migrants] already have family in Great Britain ready to welcome them," said Jean-Marc Dupeux, general secretary of Cimade, an ecumenical aid service. [534 words, ENI-02-0411]

14 November 2002

London (ENI). Sagging global stock markets have caught churches and church organisations in a double bind, forcing investment income down and making donors reluctant to give because of financial problems, and leading to cuts in social programmes. In London, the stock market peaked in 1999 and has since lost 40 per cent of its value. Other markets around the world have faced similar losses. A microcosm of the problem is Hope UK - the former Band of Hope - which has launched an appeal for 50 000 pounds sterling (US $79 500) to save its drug and other addiction programmes threatened by the stock market slump. [863 words, ENI-02-0410]

13 November 2002

Vancouver, Canada (ENI). A Canadian priest who is opposed to his bishop's approval of blessing same-sex marriages has resigned from his British Columbia parish. Dr Timothy Cooke of St Martin's Anglican Church in North Vancouver has resigned effective January 2003 due to the impasse with diocesan Bishop Michael Ingham. Cooke's parish has voted at three successive meetings to reject the diocese's decision in June this year to "celebrate permanent, intimate, loving relationships between persons of the same sex". [418 words, ENI-02-0408]

Nigerian leader praises efforts towards reconciliation by victims

Gboko, Nigeria (ENI). Church and political leaders at a memorial service to mark the anniversary of the massacre of hundreds of Tiv civilians by soldiers in the central state of Benue have praised efforts towards reconciliation and called for an end to ethnic conflicts in Nigeria. Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria's vice president, told the thousands of mourners at the service in Gboko: "I believe what we are beginning to do today is a process that will serve as an example to all Nigerians on the need to live with each other in peace and in harmony and to grant equal right to all irrespective of their religious and ethnic groups." [445 words, ENI-02-0409]

12 November 2002

Geneva (ENI). Religious leaders from across Europe at an inaugural meeting of an inter-faith organisation in Oslo have urged Baghdad to comply with United Nations arms inspections and applauded the international body for reaching last week's unanimous agreement on disarming Iraq. The meeting of the religious leaders came the same day that Iraq's parliament spurned the UN demand by voting unanimously against co-operating with the Security Council resolution on disarming Baghdad. [397 words, ENI-02-0406]

Churches call for mediator to deal with inter-denominational disputes

Warsaw (ENI). The Conference of European Churches, which groups most non-Roman Catholic churches in Europe, is being urged to act as a mediator in conflicts between Christian denominations. "The key question is what ecumenical organisations can usefully do when there's a conflict within their own family," explained Rudiger Noll, director of CEC's Church and Society Commission. In recent years, particularly since the collapse of Communism, a series of disputes has arisen between churches. [382 words, ENI-02-0407]

11 November 2002

Warsaw (ENI). Poland's minority churches are to set up joint unemployment centres with the Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference in a bid to aid the country's growing number of jobless. "Unemployment is a major problem here, and we can't remain inactive," said Orthodox Archbishop Jeremiasz Anchimiuk, president of the Polish Ecumenical Council, which groups seven minority denominations. [351 words, ENI-02-0404]

Italian Web site launches search to find 'Saint Internet'

Rome (ENI). A 7th-century saint widely seen as the Vatican's front runner in the search to find a patron saint for the Internet has been rejected by cybernauts, according to a survey of Internet users launched on an Italian Web site. St Isidore, a Spanish bishop and a leading intellectual of the church who died in 636, had been suggested to the Vatican in 1999 as a possible patron saint for the Internet. He had compiled a form of encyclopaedia, Etymologies, with a structure similar to what is now known as a database. [585 words, ENI-02-0405]

8 November 2002

Johannesburg , 8 November (ENI) - The living conditions of the poor cannot be solved through charity alone, said participants at a Lutheran World Federation conference in South Africa this week. The social service of the church, or "diakonia", is about more than the strong serving the weak, which could become paternalistic. "Those who benefit at the expense and exploitation of the poor must be named, confronted and brought to justice," delegates said in a closing statement before the conference ended. [304 words, ENI-02-0403]

Malawi churches, human rights groups win right to protest

Harare (ENI). A joint effort by human rights groups and churches has succeeded in winning a court appeal against a presidential ban on demonstrations over a bill to extend President Bakili Muluzi's presidential term. Malawi High Court Justice Edward Twea said in a ruling handed down on 22 October that the citizens of Malawi had a right to demonstrate peacefully and that the police were obliged by law to provide protection for them. The effort to reverse the presidential decree was led by the Malawi Council of Churches and the Episcopal Conference of Malawi. [386 words, ENI-02-0402]

7 November 2002

New Delhi (ENI). A controversy raging over the veracity of a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa stems from the Marxist environment of her adopted Indian state, West Bengal, church leaders say. "Being a state under communist rule for many years, there is a strong lobby of rationalists who question anything that is supernatural or unscientific," said Roman Catholic Bishop Salvadore Lobo, of the Baruipur diocese in West Bengal. "We are not worried about it." [551 words, ENI-02-0401]

Nigerian Christian leaders call for return of late dictator's millions

Akure, Nigeria (ENI). Christian leaders in Nigeria are demanding the immediate repatriation of millions of dollars sent abroad by the late military dictator General Sani Abacha. The money, which church leaders say was "looted" from the Nigerian people, should have been returned to Nigeria under an agreement reached earlier this year between the government and General Abacha's family. But the church leaders claim the general's son, Mohammed, has reneged on the deal, said to have been linked to the son's release in September from prison, where he had been held on charges of embezzlement. [365 words, ENI-02-0400]

6 November 2002

Lagos (ENI). Christians and Muslims in Nigeria should learn to live in peace together, said a Catholic archbishop in a goodwill message to Muslims to mark the start of Ramadan, the Muslim 30-day period of fasting. "Since all true religions preach love, Christians and Muslims should be able to live together without stress if they truly believe in God," said Archbishop Anthony Olubunmi Okogie of Lagos, in south-western Nigeria. [302 words, ENI-02-0398]

Belarus minority churches determine to carry on despite new restrictions

Warsaw (ENI). Protestants in Belarus have vowed not to be deterred by a new law restricting religious freedoms signed by President Aleksandr Lukashenko in spite of protests by human rights groups and foreign governments. "We think this is a repressive law, since it outlaws unregistered religious activity," said Oksana Rachkovskaya, a spokeswoman for Belarus's Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists. "We also know there's a higher law we must obey - God's Word in the Bible. However difficult our conditions, we'll remain faithful to this." [389 words, ENI-02-0399]

5 November 2002

Kabul (ENI). While lauding social and political progress made in Afghanistan during the past year, Afghan human rights activists say much vigilance - and international support - is needed to protect human rights in what remains a very insecure, and in some cases hostile, environment. Even so, in recent interviews after the one-year anniversary of the US-led military campaign which resulted in the fall of the Taliban regime - which wanted to create the world's purest Islamic state - several activists said changes in Afghanistan should not be minimised. [647 words, ENI-02-0396]

Christians 'living in terror' in India's desert state, say rights' groups

New Delhi (ENI). Leading human rights groups have urged the Indian National Human Rights Commission to take urgent steps to safeguard the rights of Christians in the western state of Rajasthan. "The rights of the [Christian] community have been violated. They have been forced to live in terror," said Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of the Rajasthan unit of People's Union for Civil Liberties, which has petitioned India's human rights commission on behalf of the Christian community. [405 words, ENI-02-0397]

Churches fear Indonesian fight against terror will make life difficult

Bielefeld, Germany (ENI). Some Christians in Indonesia fear the Indonesian government will use the security clampdowns in effect since the 12 October bombing in Bali as an excuse to curtail the human rights of minority groups in the country, including those of churches. Problems facing Christians in Indonesia, who make up less than 10 per cent of the 210 million population in the country, were highlighted in Stuttgart recently at a gathering of Asian churches and the Evangelical Mission of Southwest Germany members. [392 words, ENI-02-0395]

4 November 2002

New Delhi (ENI). Ignoring widespread protests, India's southern state of Tamil Nadu has enacted emergency legislation curbing religious conversions. The Tamil Nadu government, led by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, used its clear majority in the state legislature to pass the Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion bill in the state assembly. "This is a part of a well-planned design to bring about religious polarisation in the state, putting the Hindu majority against the religious minorities," said V. Devasahayam, Church of South India bishop of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu. [276 words, ENI-02-0392]

Despite loss of faith, Dutch pastors' children lament passing of rituals

Amsterdam (ENI). Dutch Protestant "pastors' kids" are more likely than others to drop out of church, but many maintain strong ethical beliefs into adulthood and are troubled by the country's increasingly secularised culture. A survey of 2000 pastors' children [or PKs as they are often known] commissioned by the Dutch daily newspaper Trouw, also found that the PKs typically opted for careers in social sectors, such as teaching or nursing, but that only three per cent of those surveyed had chosen to seek ordination. [531 words, ENI-02-0393]

Zimbabwe archbishop accuses government of letting people starve

Harare (ENI). Pius Ncube, the outspoken Roman Catholic archbishop of Bulawayo, has lambasted the Zimbabwean government for barring a British-based Catholic charity from importing food into the drought-ravaged country. "The government is using food as a weapon," Ncube told ENI. "They want people to be hungry so that they conform, like they did in [the district of] Insiza," where the bishop said the ruling party of President Robert Mugabe bullied starving people into voting for it, using food to gain their support. [477 words, ENI-02-0394]

1 November 2002

Moscow (ENI). During the Moscow theatre crisis in which Chechen separatists terrorised about 800 hostages last week, Christians and Muslims all prayed for their release. But the siege that resulted in the death of 119 hostages has left Christianity and Islam in Russia deeply divided and Orthodox church leaders angry. [751 words, ENI-02-0389]

Carey warns of 'internal quarrels' as he retires as Canterbury archbishop

London (ENI). The Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has stepped into retirement October after using his final days in office to warn against the dangers of war with Iraq and of "internal quarrels" within the Anglican Communion. His successor, Archbishop Rowan Williams, is seen as having a liberal stance on homosexuality, the most contentious issue facing the church, but Carey reiterated his traditionalist view. [367 words, ENI-02-0390]

Poland's Lutherans call for equal status with Roman Catholic Church

Warsaw (ENI). Poland's Lutheran minority is demanding a special agreement with the government to give the Lutheran church equal status with the country's predominant Roman Catholic Church. "We are worried about our church's future if no agreement is signed," said Jan Gross, chair of the synod of the (Lutheran) Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland. Gross said his church counted on a full-scale agreement with the government, comparable to the Concordat signed between Poland and the Vatican in July 1993. [313 words, ENI-02-0388]

Nigerian churches call contest 'indecent', beauty queens threaten boycott

Jos, Nigeria (ENI). Various religious leaders in Nigeria have condemned the embattled Miss World beauty pageant, this year scheduled for December in Abuja, Nigeria, as being degrading to women and promoting morally questionable behaviour. "We can't sanction the exploitation of women because of the search for money, said the Reverend Josiah Idowu Fearon, Anglican bishop of Kaduna in northern Nigeria. The clergy disapproval comes as contestants from about a dozen countries are threatening to boycott this year's competition unless the sentencing of a Nigerian woman, Amina Lawal, to stoning for adultery under the Sharia Islamic legal system practised in 10 Nigerian states, is overturned. [537 words, ENI-02-0391]

1 November 2002

Paris (ENI). The French Protestant Federation has strongly criticised a proposed law on internal security for how it might affect the nation's Gypsies. The legislation includes a provision for a fine or even imprisonment for parking caravans on property without authorisation. France's Senate is expected to review the bill next week. [459 words, ENI-02-0386]

Religious leaders say South African bombers subverting democracy

Johannesburg (ENI). Extreme right-wingers opposed to black rule have been cited as likely suspects behind a series of explosions that rocked a mosque, a Buddhist temple and several other targets, located mainly in Soweto, South Africa's largest black city. Nine bombs detonated at a mosque and on railway lines in Soweto, near Johannesburg, disrupting commuter traffic, and a tenth explosion went off mid-morning in a Buddhist temple at Bronkhorstspruit, near Pretoria. One person was killed in Soweto, and several more were injured at the various other sites. Church leaders said they are appalled at the assault on democracy. [437 words, ENI-02-0387]

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