COLORADO
Boulder, Colo., police halt fire ritual
Scripps Howard News Service
"BOULDER -- The leader of an American Indian religious group says police violated his constitutional religious rights when they forced the group to extinguish a fire pit in a back yard, which has been home to an underground "sweat lodge" for more than three years."

FLORIDA
Fight looms over Bible plan
The Miami Herald
"A Christian teachers group's proposal to offer a secular course on the Bible in Miami-Dade middle and high schools may reignite a national debate on the propriety -- and legality -- of studying the religious text in public schools."

PENNSYLVANIA
Pa. Accident Kills 2 Amish Children
The Associated Press
"LEACOCK -- Two Amish children were killed after the horse-drawn buggy in which they were riding was struck by a sport utility vehicle, police said."

TEXAS
Ex-prison worker awarded $300,000 in retaliation case
The Houston Chronicle
"A jury awarded $300,000 to a former Texas Department of Criminal Justice employee for the retaliation the Jehovah's Witness suffered for complaining about a warden's insistence upon opening and closing meetings with prayers."

UTAH
Plea bargain may be reached in Green rape case
Deseret News
"A plea bargain may be in the works in the child rape case involving polygamist Tom Green. Just three days before Green is to stand trial for child rape, defense attorney John Bucher told the Deseret News Thursday that he is in negotiations with the prosecution to strike a deal. Typically, such deals reduce the charge in exchange for a guilty plea."

Utah Polygamist to Waive Jury Right
The Associated Press
"NEPHI -- Polygamist Tom Green will waive his right to a jury trial and allow the judge to determine the verdict in his child-rape trial, Green's defense attorney said."

Ruben Ecleo -- Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association PHILIPPINES Cult leader a shabu user The Philippine Star "Ruben Ecleo Jr., the leader of the cultist group Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) who is accused of murdering his wife, tested positive for shabu at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory at Camp Crame yesterday." Ecleo faces more charges The Philippine Star "Detained Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. faces even more charges." Cult leader tests positive for drug use Inquirer News Service "DIVINE master" Ruben Ecleo Jr. was high on drugs during Wednesday's bloody encounter on Dinagat Island, police officials said Thursday. Ecleo tested positive for use of shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride. Bacolods want Ecleo mother charged, too Inquirer News Service "CEBU CITY -- The Bacolod family wants Surigao del Norte Rep. Glenda Ecleo charged in court along with her son for the massacre of four of their family members in Mandaue City, Cebu, on Tuesday." Ecleo ‘took shabu’ on night of attack Sun Star Cebu "Detained ex-mayor and parricide suspect Ruben Ecleo Jr. was dealt a double blow: he tested positive for illegal drugs and was ordered transferred to Cebu today." Slain Bacolod neighbor a simple man: pa Sun Star Cebu "Paterno 'Yoyo' Lactawan, 35, was the last one among their neighbors to gather water from the Bacolods last Tuesday evening. Had he decided to gather water earlier, he would have been spared from the violent death he and four Bacolod family members suffered." Gunman’s brod surfaces Sun Star Cebu "The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 picked up for questioning a brother of slain gunman Rico Gumolon and four members of the Ecleo-led cult, when the four tried to claim Gumolon’s body yesterday." 3 witnesses v. Ruben missing Sun Star Cebu "Three of the prosecution’s seven witnesses against Ruben Ecleo Jr. are feared missing. “They have left their jobs and their homes. They can no longer be found,” Cebu City Prosecutor Jose Pedrosa reported to Regional Trial Court (RTC) Executive Judge Galicano Arriesgado yesterday." Cebu: Bacolod wife disputes tv news on beheadings Sun Star "The reported beheading of four more members of the Bacolod family in Surigao del Norte provoked further outrage yesterday, only two days since a gunman shot to death four Bacolods in Mandaue City." Cebu: BBRC cell awaits Ecleo Sun Star "From his comfortable airconditioned hilltop mansion in San Jose, Dinagat Island to a dank, cramped cell at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC)."

CANADA
'Sadistic' 1980s cult leader Roch Theriault brought to film
Canadian Press
"Canada came close to having its very own Jonestown or Manson family murders, says a Quebec woman who managed to flee 1980s cult leader Roch Theriault after he cut off her right arm with a chainsaw."

ENGLAND
Brethren sect wants its tax on paper
The Herald
"Members of parliament are being lobbied in a bid to exempt the Brethren from having to file tax returns by e-mail because the Christian group believes using computers is against the teachings of the Bible."

INDIA
2 donkeys are married off to appease Hindu rain god
The Associated Press
"NEW DELHI, India - The drought-plagued residents of a small village in southern India organized a ceremonial wedding for two donkeys to appease the Hindu god of rain, a news report said Thursday."

SOUTH AFRICA
Court told of muti plot
News24.com
"Pretoria - A mother locked her 10-year-old daughter in a room while the two men whom she had hired for R78 000 to murder her husband, committed the crime, the Pretoria High Court was told on Wednesday."

UGANDA
Western Youth MP Survives Witchdoctors
New Vision
"The Police in Kampala have arrested three men who allegedly tried to use 'witchcraft to cleanse' the Western Youth Member of Parliament Juliet Sekitoleko. Kampala's CID Chief Moses Sakira yesterday identified the suspects as Rashid Kalyesubula, Abdu Juuko and Kulaish Bukenya. The Police confiscated some items normally used in witchcraft."

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