Christian women in Iraq are frequently threatened for not obeying strict Islamic dress ordinances. Some have had acid thrown in their faces; others have been killed for wearing Western clothing or for refusing to wear a veil. In 1987 the Iraqi census listed 1.4 million Iraqi Christian citizens. Today only 600,000 remain. Many Christian Iraqis still speak Aramaic—a language Jesus and the apostles spoke. Christians have become regular victims of harassment, severe persecution, intimidation, and murder.

—Israel My Glory, January/February, 2007

Five hundred years after the Catholic kings ousted the Moors, Spain’s resurgent Muslim population is clamoring for places to pray. A campaign for land on which to build new mosques has sparked debate about the rights of religious minorities and underlined the challenges of absorbing a growing immigrant population.

—Financial Times, 2/9/2007

Just when the Catholic Church in the U.S. was beginning to recover from the sordid sexual-abuse scandal of 2002, it may be staring at a new crisis. In a recent study 85% of the 78 U.S. Catholic dioceses responding to [a] survey (out of a total of 174 queried) reported embezzlement cases—and 11% had scandals of $500,000 or more. Some pastors still carry “an Old World attitude that what’s in the collection basket is theirs personally to do with as they wish” [said Floridian diocesan accountant Denis Hamel].

—TIME, 2/26/2007

A clutch of modern pagans honored Zeus at a 1,800-year-old temple in the heart of Athens—the first known ceremony of its kind held there since the ancient Greek religion was outlawed by the Roman empire in the late 4th century. The celebration was organized by Ellinais, a year-old Athens-based group that is campaigning to revive old religious practices from the era when Greece was a fount of education and philosophy.

—Associated Press, 1/22/2007

Social

Scientists studying stroke patients are reporting today that an injury to a specific part of the brain, near the ear, can instantly and permanently break a smoking habit. People with the injury who stopped smoking found that their bodies, as one man put it, “forgot the urge to smoke.” The finding, which appears in the journal Science, is based on a small study. But experts say it is likely to alter the course of addiction research, pointing researchers toward new ideas for treatment.

—New York Times, 1/26/2007

According to a 2004 survey by the China national Institute for Educational Research, about 30% of the children of migrants—22 million—are left with grandparents or with other relatives with little or no supervision while their parents migrate to cities to find work. As China’s economy booms, some 200 million farmers are moving to cities to pursue opportunities. China’ laws make it almost impossible for migrants to school and care for their children where they find work. With little money, many simply leave them behind and hope for the best.

—Wall Street Journal, 1/24/2007

Eighty percent of Nicaragua’s 5.2 million population survives on less than $2 per day.

—Financial Times, 1/17/2007

Simply by switching on a gene present in everyone, scientists might be able to turn average people into super athletes, says Nature magazine. Harvard scientists found that by switching on a single gene in mouse muscles, they were able to convert regular muscles into super muscles made up entirely of fibers that have both the explosive power of fast-twitch muscles and the endurance of slow twitch muscles.

—The Week, 1/19/2007

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of its famous “Doomsday Clock” to 11:55 p.m. with midnight being the figurative end of civilization. For the first time since the clock’s creation in 1947, the organization’s board of directors added the threat of climate change to unresolved nuclear dangers in the decision to advance the clock.

—Los Angeles Times, 1/18/2007

More biotech crops were planted worldwide in 2006 than ever, a biotech advocacy group said. The amount of biotech crops increased 13% to 252 million acres, with the U.S., Argentina and Brazil planting the most. Most of the crops that were planted were engineered to resist bacteria that can devastate yields, the research found.

—Investor’s Business Daily, 1/23/2007

According to an analysis of national surveys prepared by White House drug czar John Walters, 2.1 million teenagers abused prescription drugs in 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available. While their use of marijuana declined from 30.1 percent to 25.8 percent, the use of [painkillers] increased. Teens are also abusing stimulants and anti-anxiety drugs because they are readily available and perceived as safe.

—Associated Press, 2/15/2007

Bomb attacks outside a Baghdad university killed at least 70 students and staff on the day the United Nations produced a report saying that more than 34,000 civilians had died violently in Iraq in 2006.

—Financial Times, 1/17/2007

Forty-five travel agents nationwide recently completed the first-ever domestic travel agent certification process for Virgin Galactic, one of a handful of companies working feverishly to start a space tourism program. Inaugural commercial flights could take place by summer 2009. Virgin Galactic is one outgrowth of the team that in 2004 won the $10 million Ansari X prize for shooting a person into suborbital space twice within a two-week period. A trip on SpaceShipTwo will go for $200,000 a seat, initially. That includes all the training and preparation.

—Bucks County Courier Times, 2/15/2007\

Political

The [U.S.] Justice Dept plans a vast expansion of DNA gathering that will include hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. Officials say the goal is to make the practice of DNA sampling as routine as fingerprinting for anyone detained by federal agents. New forensic DNA sampling was authorized by Congress in an amendment to the January 2006 renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. The amendment permits DNA collecting from anyone under criminal arrest by federal authorities, and also from illegal immigrants detained by federal agents.

—New York Times, 2/5/2007

The world that was born with the end of the cold war is dead and buried. Some of the world’s most seasoned officials and international affairs experts believe an uncertain era is about to begin. The age they describe is one dominated neither by matchless military strength nor the old international institutions. Madeline Albright, former US secretary of state, said in an interview, “The world is going to be multipolar,” referring to the growing influence of countries such as China and India and the likelihood that they will have greater roles in deciding the world’s affairs.

—Financial Times, 2/13/2007

Thanks to new E.U. members Romania and Bulgaria, extreme-right parties now have enough seats in the European parliament to form their own bloc. The group—which calls itself Identity, Tradition, and Sovereignty—has 20 members from six countries and includes the granddaughter of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Bruno Gollnisch of France’s National Front, who is currently awaiting trial for Holocaust denial, is the bloc’s leader.

—The WEEK, 1/26/2007

Russia has announced deliveries of anti-aircraft systems to Iran. The Russian defense ministry said Moscow has exported the TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile system to Iran. The ministry said Iran was considering another order of the mobile, short-range anti-aircraft system. The TOR-M1, developed by Russia’s Almaz-Antei, was said to be capable of destroying manned and unmanned aircraft as well as cruise missiles. The system, introduced in 2005, could destroy two targets simultaneously at an altitude of 6 kilometers. Almaz said the TOR-M1 could identify up to 48 targets simultaneously.

—Middle East Newsline, 1/17/2007

Egypt is expected to launch its first spy satellite into outer space. The satellite, which weighs [220 pounds], will be launched from Kazakhstan by a Russian launcher. The satellite was designed and constructed by the Ukrainian company Yuzhnoe Design. The satellite has been equipped with a camera and will orbit the earth at an altitude of about 410 miles. Officials in Cairo said recently that Egypt “will develop space abilities that will match Israel’s Ofek satellites.”

—Ynetnews.com, 1/15/2007

Beginning with Argentina’s $100 billion debt default on Dec. 26, 2001, political and economic instability have rattled Latin America’s democracies, leading to the rise of leftist populism. The result: Venezuela’s National Assembly handed Hugo Chavez the power to rule by decree for 18 months. In Ecuador, leftist president Rafael Correa sent thousands of mobs of loyalists to storm the legislature and literally threw them into the street. In Bolivia, dictator Evo Morales did something similar. And in Nicaragua, opposition lawmakers are asking President Daniel Ortega about the deals he signed with Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.

—Investor’s Business Daily editorial, 2/1/2007

Financial

Three nights of freezing temperatures have destroyed up to 75% of California’s $1 billion citrus crop, agricultural officials said. Other crops, including avocados and strawberries, were damaged as well. The latest freeze will likely surpass the damage done by a 3-day cold snap in Dec. 98 that destroyed 85% of the state’s citrus crop.

—Investor’s Business Daily, 1/17/2007

Ten companies, including industrial giants that make everything from bulldozers to chemicals to electricity, joined environmental groups in calling for a federal law to “slow, stop and reverse the growth” of global-warming emissions “over the shortest period of time reasonably achievable.” Among scientists, a broadening consensus has developed that fossil-fuel emissions are contributing to global warming; the debate has been over whether they’re the main cause. Fossil fuels provided 80% of global energy in 2004, and they’re on track to provide 81% in 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. The biggest question going forward is who will foot the bill for the cleanup.

—Wall Street Journal, 1/23/2007

Americans spent an estimated $11 billion last year drinking 8.3 billion gallons of bottled water—almost 28 gallons per person. Americans now drink more bottled water than any other commercial beverage except carbonated soft drinks. “There’s almost nowhere in America where the drinking water isn’t adequate,” said Richard Wilk, professor of anthropology at Indiana University who has studied the bottled-water business. “Municipalities spend billions of dollars bringing clean, cheap water to people’s homes. But many of us would still rather buy it at a store.”

—San Francisco Chronicle, 1/17/2007

A new refrain is emerging in Davos (Switzerland) this year at the World Economic Forum: Globalization isn’t working for everyone. Stagnating wages and rising job insecurity in developed countries are creating popular disenchantment with the free movement of goods, capital and people across borders. If unchecked, popular fears could turn into a political backlash that could lead to protectionism.

—Wall Street Journal, 1/25/2007

Cell phone subscribers for one Chinese wireless network surpassed all U.S. companies combined in 2006. China Mobile ended the year with 301.2 million users, just ahead of the 300.9 million in the U.S. China and India are adding 5 million to 6 million users per month on average.

—Investor’s Business Daily, 1/23/2007

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned the US Congress that current entitlement programs could one day cause a “fiscal crisis” in the US. He urged action to head off the looming Medicare and Social Security funding gap, saying the right time to start was “ten years ago.”

—Financial Times, 1/19/2007

Despite the US current account deficit (imports exceed exports), the foreign appetite for US securities remains strong. Foreign investors increased their US debt holdings by $190 billion and US equity holdings by $116 billion in the third (calendar) quarter of 2006. The US Treasury data show that China has been buying US securities every month without fail. San Francisco Federal Reserve president Janet Yellen said that many Asian countries and OPEC have a savings glut and are holding dollars to protect their economies from volatile capital flows such as occurred in the Asian currency crisis of 1997.

—Global Finance, January 2007

Israel

Turkey and Israel have agreed in principle to build a water and gas pipeline system connecting the Black Sea to the port of Eilat on the Red Sea. The ambitious project involves the building of oil, gas, and water pipelines, as well as electricity and fiber optic cables, as part of a seabed pipeline system in the Eastern Mediterranean. Passing through Turkey and bypassing Syria and Lebanon—countries which are hostile to Israel—the pipeline will reach the port of Ashdod, where an existing pipeline terminates at the port of Eilat at the Red Sea. The Turkish–Israeli pipeline could convey crude oil to East Asian markets. The system could also be used to bring Turkish water to parched Israel.

—IsraelNationalNews.com, 1/10/2007

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, on a state visit to China, announced the establishment of the China–Israel Binational Fund for Investment in High-Tech R&D. Olmert predicted that bilateral trade would triple by 2010 to US$10 billion a year. Israel-China trade totaled US$3.8 billion in 2006, 27% more than in 2005. “China is crying out for Israeli know-how and technology, for example in water. For China, water is as important as oil, and Israel is the leader in water desalination and recycling technologies,” he said.

—Arutz Sheva, 1/13/2007

A new study conducted by the Hebrew University revealed that in the past six years, the poverty levels in Jerusalem have increased by 4%. The study further showed that amongst the ultra-Orthodox and Arab populations, the poverty rate has reached 70%. In 1999, the rate of poor families in Jerusalem came to 26%, whereas about two years ago the rate had risen to 33%. Only 44% of Jerusalem’s residents who are capable of joining the workforce are employed, as opposed to 54% in the rest of Israel.

—Ynetnews.com, 1/11/2007

An Israeli company has patented a way to turn oil shale rock into high quality oil and natural gas–a project that may bring jobs to the Negev and low-cost energy to the Jewish state. The “Hom Tov” process, the brainchild of A.F.S.K.–Hom Tov CEO Yisrael Feldman, involves mixing the bitumen residue left over after refineries produce crude oil together with oil shale rock. The method also results in a dry fuel byproduct that can be used to power the “Hom Tov” production plant, as well as provide additional electricity for the national grid. If approved, the plant is expected to begin full production by 2011.

—Arutz Sheva, 1/15/2007

Daystar Television Network, which owns and operates 50 television stations across the United States, will be the first Christian network to broadcast into every home in Israel with 100% Christian content. “This is a first. Never before has the nation of Israel granted a license for a 100% Christian channel to broadcast into all of Israel. Up until now, it has either been illegal, impossible, or impractical.” said a spokesman for Daystar.

—Daystar Television Network, 1/5/2007

 

Book Review

 

God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible, Adam Nicolson. Harper Collins, New York, 2003. 271 pages.

The politics, jealousies and intrigue behind the King James Version of the Bible may come as a surprise to those who have grown up with this venerable English translation. However, that it was the product of an interdenominational cooperation of dozens of godly men is regrettably an illusion.

This book begins its story with King James I (born 1566, reigned 1603-1625), son of Mary Stuart, “Queen of Scots” (pro-Catholic), and great grandson of Henry VIII’s sister Margaret. But James had been raised Presbyterian. At the beginning of his reign a new English translation of the Bible was envisioned, intended to unify the country without detracting from the power of the king.

Richard Bancroft, Bishop of London, and soon to be Archbishop of Canterbury wrote: “Almost certainly the king was not prepared to give any ground in the language of the translation to the Presbyterians (who denied any scriptural authority to bishops) or Separatists (who would in time call themselves Independents and then Congregationalists).”

In 1604 King James commissioned a revised translation of the English Bible, and in 1611 it was finished. Translation occurred in six committees, two each from Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford Universities. Concerns about Protestant activity at the universities dictated that a Westminster representative dominate. Nicolson provides sketches of fifty committee members throughout this book.

Some four hundred changes were made in 1614, and Thomas Paris prepared the “standard” edition in 1762 by updating the spelling and punctuation.

This book may be recommended to people who have plenty of time to read, and also to those who talk with “King James only” people. It gives insight available nowhere else; the chapter titles are not helpful, but the book is well indexed. One caution: Nicolson manifests little respect for the Bible as the word of God.

—J. Parkinson

Note: The KJV is the most elegant version in any language, perhaps much too often exceeding that of the original Greek and Hebrew. Its title page has caused some to refer to the translation as the “Big JAMES and little GOD” Bible. Although it is doubtful any of the translators had been baptized as an adult, for some of them it would not have implied much anyway. Nevertheless, others seem to have manifested a good Christian character.