Belarusian gov’t tightens its control over Internet.

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Eastern Orthodox 80%, Catholic 14%

Under rules introduced by president Lukashenko in 2010, Internet users going online in an Internet cafe or using a shared connection have to identify themselves and a record is to be kept of each user’s surfing history.

Authorities also have drawn up a list of Web sites that employees of state-run companies and organizations, as well as cultural and educational institutions, are forbidden to visit. The list includes Web sites belonging to leading opposition groups.

Continue reading …

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FYI – The United Nations, The International Baccalaureate, and Pantheism.

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One would suppose the UN would be committed to cultural and religious diversity, eschewing the establishment of a global religion, given the fact it has representatives from countries around the world. But as it turns out, the UN has long had an interest in a global government and universal religion.
Story here . . . . .

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Kingdom Hall Complete

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Bulgaria: Religious Freedom.

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U.S Department of State

International Religious Freedom Report 2010

The constitution ( Bulgarian ) provides for freedom of religion, and other laws and policies contributed to the generally free practice of religion. However, the constitution designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the “traditional” religion, exempting it from having to register in court as required for all other religious groups.

The government generally respected the religious freedom of registered religious groups. There were some concerns

FYI – USGS Release: 3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation—25 Times More Than 1995 Estimate— (4/10/2008 2:25:36 PM)

USGS Release: 3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation—25 Times More Than 1995 Estimate— (4/10/2008 2:25:36 PM).

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At special ceremony, UN pays tribute to victims of Holocaust.

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10 February 2011 – The United Nations held a special ceremony today to pay homage to the six million Jews and countless others slaughtered in the Nazi death camps of the Second World War, stressing that the drive to prevent a repetition of such horror was one of the reasons the Organization was founded.
Story here. . . . .

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RUSSIA: banned publications, 17 hearings already, more to come.

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“We only found out about this when it was announced on the Ministry’s website,” Jehovah’s Witnesses said.

Martynov said that the total number of items published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses on the Federal List is now 52.

Jehovah’s Witness meetings are frequently raided by the Police and Federal Security Service (FSB).

The criminalisation of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ publications in Russia also increased in 2011

Story here. . . . .

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What makes up the price of U.S. gasoline?

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But just how much does the price of crude impact U.S. gasoline prices? In November 2010, when the average retail gasoline price was $2.86 a gallon, crude oil accounted for 71 percent of that price.
Story here. . . . .

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2,000 year-old intact carving of Cupid found in Jerusalem.

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Archeological excavation yields intact onyx carving; announcement made ahead of annual City of David Archeology Conference.
Story here. . . . .

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Corte se pronuncia sobre caso de testigos de Jehová en P.Rico

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SAN JUAN — Una corte federal de apelaciones ordenó que las urbanizaciones cerradas en Puerto Rico permitan la entrada de los testigos de Jehová para difundir su mensaje y ejercer su libertad de expresión.
América Latina. .

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FYI – Wheat Hoarding Likely to Be `Widespread,’ Prompting Price Gains, UN Says.

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Global wheat harvests may trail demand for a second year, spurring hoarding and further price gains, said the United Nations.
Story here. . . . .

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FYI – UZBEKISTAN: “It’s our secret”.

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Area: 447,400 sq. km., Religions: Muslim, Orthodox

Uzbekistan continues to punish religious activity without state permission, as well as restrict the freedom of religion or belief of those in permitted registered organisations, Forum 18 News Service notes.
Story here. . . . .
Witnesses in Ubek

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Prague : Malach, le messager de tous les génocides.

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Smok travaille avec la Fondation de la Shoah à l’Université de Californie, qui a enregistré 52 000 interviews de survivants des camps de concentration, en particuliers des témoignages juifs, roumains, d’homosexuels allemands, de Témoins de Jehova et d’autres, depuis les années 1990.
Story ici. . . . .

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Christian group wins constitutional challenge in Puerto Rico.

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A federal appeals court in Boston ruled Monday that a Puerto Rican law intended to keep neighborhoods safe from crime has been used to interfere in the rights of free speech of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Story here. . . . .

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FYI – New test predicts heart bypass death risk.

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About 40,000 coronary bypass surgeries are performed each year in Canada to prevent lethal heart attacks and strokes.
Ironically, for many patients, the operation can hasten them.
Story here. . . . .

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Local Jehovah’s Witnesses engage in worldwide volunteer work.

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According to the “2011 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” in 2010, 7.5 million Witnesses worldwide voluntarily spent 1.6 billion hours preaching and conducting 8 million Bible studies throughout 236 lands.
Story here. . . . .

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Now in Russia.

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Early on the morning of February 8, 2011, in the city of Chita, groups of officers from the Center for Counteracting Extremism accompanied by investigators searched several homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Story here. . . . .

A real “Quickbuild” in 3:11 minutes.

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Brave New World – France sees first ‘saviour sibling.

Posted at Stuff of Interest to JWs

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Doctors in France on Monday announced the country’s first birth of a “saviour sibling,” selected at the embryonic stage to be a close genetic match to save a brother or sister suffering from a fatal inherited disorder.
Story here. . . . .

Rockville’s Jehovah’s Witness church looking to expand. (Chinese)

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Church leaders have submitted a preliminary application to demolish two of its buildings and construct a 4,500-square-foot church, or kingdom hall, with a 20-space parking lot. The building would stand next to the current kingdom hall, at 624 Maryland Ave.
Story here. . . . .

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Armenia

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Religion: Armenian Apostolic Church (90% nominally affiliated).

The 2008 presidential election, while originally deemed by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to be “mostly in line” with OSCE standards, was later seen to be marred by credible claims of ballot stuffing, intimidation (including beatings) of poll workers and proxies, vote buying, and other irregularities. Recounts were requested, but ODIHR observers noted “shortcomings in the recount process, including discrepancies and mistakes, some of which raise questions over the impartiality of the [electoral commissions] concerned.”
Story here. . .

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Conscientious Objectors – Republic of Armenia.

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Currently, there are 72 Jehovah’s Witnesses who have been charged under the Criminal Code for their conscientious refusal of military service.
Story here. . . . .

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Bizarre in the ‘Boro.

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He allegedly wrote two letters to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society that said he was very upset with the teachings of the church and wanted $1 million in compensation.
Story here. . . . .

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FYI – Jehovah’s Witnesses meet in Ukraine, Orthodox church slams “criminal sect”.

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The movement’s chief representative in Ukraine, Roman Yurkevich, described the event as “one of the largest gatherings ever organised in a former Soviet country.”
On Wednesday Ukraine’s Orthodox Church

Are there reports of Jehovah’s Witnesses being mistreated in the Ukraine, in particular Ternopil in recent years?

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Is there a pattern ?
In April 2009, an Orthodox priest reportedly beat two Jehovah’s Witnesses in Chernigiv Region after seeing them walking in the street.
In June 2008, a Russian Orthodox priest in Odessa Region “punched” two Jehovah’s Witnesses, breaking the jaw of one.
In 2005 a priest from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church allegedly beat six Jehovah’s Witnesses in Cherkassy Oblast after they came onto his property.
Story here. . . . .

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Witnesses give blood machine. (archive)

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JEHOVAH’S Witnesses, who believe it is wrong to have blood transfusions, have donated a machine to their local hospital which allows blood to be recycled.

Yesterday, a Cell Saver 5 machine, worth more than £11,000, was handed to medical staff at Darlington Memorial Hospital.
Story here. . . . .

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FYI – Evolution Denial by Christians is a New Modification.

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Even the Christian Bible, the basic text of Christianity, has evolved. Bart Ehrman’s 2005 book “Misquoting Jesus” masterfully documents modifications made over the millennia. In the Bible’s first 1300 years changes were made as it was copied by hand.
Story here. . . . .

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FYI – Religion and Science on Evolution Weekend ?

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The weekend of Feb. 11-13 is the sixth annual Evolution Weekend, an event sponsored by The Clergy Letter Project, an organization of more than 14,000 clergy members and scientists.
Story here. . . . .

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FYI – TURKEY: The fundamental problem and how it might be solved.

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Some communities have registered associations, for example the Association for the Support of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are also 22 Protestant churches who have organised themselves as associations – but this has not stopped the difficulties of many kinds that they face.
Story here. . . . .

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FYI – Bad blood business swells.

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“The refrigerated saline water is mixed carefully in the blood bag where the blood is stored after collecting it from a donor. About 75cc saline water is mixed to about 250cc blood to make one unit.”
Story here. . . . .

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