KANO, Nigeria - Christian leaders said 500-600 people, mostly Christians, were killed in two days of rioting by Muslims in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, according to Reuters. Rev. Andrew Ubah, general secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kano, told reporters that he had records of almost 600 killed in the rioting by Muslims seeking to avenge the killing of hundreds of Muslims in central Nigeria in mid-May. “Almost 600 people have been killed and 12 churches burned” Ubah said, adding he was keeping a tally of the dead based on information from ministers across Nigeria’s second largest city. His estimate is far higher than the official death toll given by the police of 30 dead. David Emmanuel, a factory worker, said he saw two truckloads of bodies being driven along Kano streets and counted at least 30 bodies in the street. “Hundreds of people were killed” Mark Amani, a leader of minority Christians originally from nearby Kaduna state, told Reuters. “Some corpses were burned in wells. Even little children were killed. The bodies of pregnant women were ripped open and their bodies burned.”

IVORY COAST -  A Christian denomination in West Africa with nearly 1 million members has joined the United Methodist Church. The Protestant Methodist Church of Ivory Coast joined the U.S.-based denomination last week following a vote at the Methodists’ national policy meeting in Pittsburgh. The decision increases the American denomination’s worldwide membership to about 11 million, according to denomination officials. About 8.3 million Methodists live in the United States, making their church the third-largest church in the nation. The Ivory Coast church was formed in 1924, and left the British Methodist Church in 1985 to become autonomous. However, the West African denomination sought a new affiliation because it “wanted to be part of a more global environment, which is the United Methodist Church,” said the Rev. Benjamin Boni, head of the Ivory Coast denomination, according to AP.                                                                      

ZHEJIANG, China - A 100-year-old building that housed an unregistered Chinese house church was badly damaged on March 11, and completely destroyed March 31, according to Voice of the Martyrs (VOM).  The church was located in Dong Gang Xi village, Beilun District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. This congregation included about 300 members, and had existed for 20 years.  Liu Fuen, 50, pastored the church throughout its history. The pastor’s home, which is where church meetings were held, had already been declared the site of “illegal religious meetings” when members of the congregation met on March 8 to do some work on the building in order to make it better suited for church meetings. Three days later, 300 Public Security Bureau (PSB), paramilitary police and government workers converged on the building, badly damaging it during a half-hour rampage, VOM reported.  Christians at the church were able to repair some of the damage to the house, and continued meeting in the building until March 31.  On that day, Wang led a group that arrived at the church in 28 different vehicles. Four PSB officers entered the building and evicted 10 Christians who were praying inside.  Then, police and other officials completely destroyed the building, leaving only piles of rubble.  Officials hung posters on surrounding buildings announcing that this was the site of illegal religious activity and was being destroyed for that reason.  A loudspeaker also announced that message as the destruction went on. Pastor Liu Fuen went into hiding after his home was destroyed, but was arrested April 9 by six PSB officers at the home of his youngest son, Liu Yongsheng. 

JAKARTA, Indonesia -  Police have arrested the wife and daughter of Alex Manuputty, an exiled Christian leader, media reports and police said May 2, according to AP. Oly Manuputty and her daughter Christina were arrested May 1 at their home in Ambon, capital of Maluku province, the “Jakarta Post” newspaper reported. The arrest came as Pope John Paul II urged Indonesian authorities to restore order in Ambon after a week of Muslim-Christian clashes killed at least 37 people. Eighty percent of Indonesia’s 210 million people are Muslims, but South Maluku’s 2 million inhabitants are evenly divided between Islam and Christianity. Manuputty and an associate, Samuel Waileruni, were arrested in 2002 and sentenced to three years in jail for encouraging their followers to hoist banned separatist flags. Manuputty fled to the United States last year while waiting for his appeal to be heard by the Supreme Court.

— E.P. News