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BOLIVIA: An angry Quechua Indian mob destroyed the only evangelical church in the remote Andes village of Chucarasi Feb. 28, blaming the believers for a hailstorm that damaged local crops. Trouble began during the annual festival marking the start of Lent. Chucarasi observes the holiday with the veneration of Christian and pagan icons, ritual dances and excessive alcohol, believing such activities appease local deities and avoid natural disaster. Since converting to evangelical Christianity several years ago, the 30 families belonging to the Church of God in Chucarasi have declined to participate in the celebrations. Two days after the festival, a hailstorm damaged potato and grain crops, fueling fears that evil spirits were punishing the community for the evangelicals’ refusal to take part. Evangelicals were summoned to a village meeting. A mob beat unconscious the only one who came, then with picks, axes and wrecking bars, trashed the church building and destroyed Bibles and hymnals. Church leaders filed a complaint, demanding damage reparations, but the province’s sub-prefect sided with the animists and refused to arrest the attackers. He set the building’s value at a fraction of the replacement cost. Community leaders insist that the evangelicals renounce their faith or leave the village.

BRAZIL:

AIDS is spreading six times faster among teen girls than boys. Even so, women comprise only 35 percent of the 138,000 people now receiving anti-retroviral drug treatment, and only 28 percent of Brazil’s known 280,000 cases since 1983. Boys become sexually active on average around age 14; girls, closer to age 16. Brazil’s health ministry started a controversial condom distribution program in schools last year. That program will expand in 2004 to pass out 2.2 million condoms in schools attended by more than a half-million students. The health department aims to start teaching sex education in the earliest grades of primary school. Of 10- to 14-year-old girls surveyed in a poor, northwestern provincial capital, one-third said they had been pregnant.

CANADA:

The Iqaluit Christian Fellowship in the eastern Arctic will be the latest Pentecostal church in the far northern reaches of Canada. All of Nunavut Territory’s 27 communities have a Pentecostal church. Religion News Service reports that some communities claim as many as half their residents are born again.

CHILE:

In defiance of the Roman Catholic Church, which staunchly opposes moves to legally end a marriage, the lower house of Congress has approved a bill legalizing divorce. Chileans must wait six more months for the law to take effect before they can cut the knot.

CHINA:

Although the government views social workers and “do-gooders” with suspicion, more of them are uniting to confront social problems in society. They’re forming independent social services and advocacy agencies. In 2002 the nation had more than 200,000 officially registered autonomous organizations. Many, however, are government-affiliated in manner similar to government for-profit enterprises. In 1999 mainland China passed a law that makes charitable donations tax deductible, though the vague law is hard to implement. Most groups rely on foreign government or international foundation funding.

COLOMBIA:

Child victims of armed conflict are difficult to re-integrate into productive life, according to research on war’s economic impact on children. War-damaged children largely don’t recover—neither physically nor psychologically because of their heavy emotional burdens, recurring nightmares, and pain their loved ones have endured. Restoring a child landmine victim is three times as difficult as restoring an adult and much more expensive.

FRANCE:

Legislation banning Muslim headscarves in schools passed on February 10. In March a letter sent to two leading French newspapers by a group called Servants of Allah, the Powerful and Wise One, declared the veil ban a “declaration of war to the Muslim world” and threatened “to plunge France into terror and remorse.” Muslims account for 10 percent of France’s population.

MEXICO:

The first Friday in March marks what shamans claim is the year’s most potent day for performing magic, both black and white. The day launches the traditional witching season. Thanks to cyber-marketing and shamans who use the media to best advantage, the town of Catemaco, 275 miles southeast of Mexico City, is home to a thriving brujería (witchcraft) industry with more than 100 practicing witches. One professional witch doctor had a line of clients that overflowed from his office to the sidewalk. Clients came seeking help for controlling a wayward husband, freedom from evil that one man blamed for a business failure, and relief from aches, pains and impotence. For centuries Catemaco has been a center of pagan beliefs that mix indigenous customs and Spanish medieval practices, both of which were influenced by African slaves who worked sugar cane crops. One witch said he’s good at psychological manipulation: “You have to give people what they want, and what they want is to find evil behind things.”

PRESS:

Corruption undermines economies and hurts investor confidence. A free press can help control it. World Bank and International Monetary Fund studies reveal that corruption can take a percentage point off annual economic growth, costing a family of four up to $1,600 a year. But some governments don’t tolerate dissident opinion. In Colombia, armed rebel groups have been mainly responsible for killing more than 70 journalists in the past 10 years. More have been threatened or kidnapped.

WOMEN:

If proposed US Department of Homeland Security changes are approved, for the first time the government would recognize some severe cases of domestic violence on a similar par with asylum cases involving political and religious persecution. The move would permit asylum to women fleeing countries that condone severe domestic abuse, genital mutilation and other forms of acute violence against women. The final decision rests with Attorney General John Ashcroft. Immigration courts have faced a rising tide of such cases since the 1990s. Concerned Women for America and World Relief have urged government officials to rule in favor of the changes. Great Britain and Australia have granted asylum to abused women for several years.