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Afghanistan's Taliban is back, vowing war against aid workers
The Taliban, the Muslim extremists who once controlled Afghanistan until ejected by U.S.-led military forces, is still killing people in the country.

Mullah Abdul Samad today said the Taliban was responsible for attacking a vehicle with aid workers from the Voluntary Association for Rehabilitation of Afghanistan. Aid worker Abdul Waheed and his driver, both Afghans, were killed in the attack. A third passenger was unhurt.

"We take responsibility for all the attacks on NGOs (non-governmental organizations) … who are spoiling the Islamic faith of the Afghan people. They are preaching Christianity and distributing books on Christianity among the people," Samad told Reuters. "All those working in Afghanistan for the interests of America and the Crusaders deserve to be killed."

Weblog doesn't know much about VARA, but it doesn't seem to be religious at all, and it proclaims itself "nonsectarian."

Last year, notes the Associated Press, " three of the agency's employees were abducted in Nimroz and have not been heard from since."

"We have temporarily stopped work on all our projects in the southern region and workers in the field have been asked to return to the offices," said VARA's Mohammed Ismail.

Amina Lawal, whose case rallied the world against Shari'ah law, is free
The Nigerian woman who was sentenced to death by stoning under Islamic law was acquitted by a Shari'ah Appeal Court yesterday, bringing cheers around the world.

"Amina Lawal's case should not have been brought to a court of law in the first instance," Amnesty International said in a press release. "Nobody should ever be made to go through a similar ordeal."

The case brought to the attention of the world the horror of Shari'ah law as human rights organizations and governments pleaded for her freedom. The court, faced with dueling political necessities of freeing her and supporting the Islamic law, found itself twisting in knots. By four-to-one, the court said that pregnancy was not enough evidence of adultery, though she has been separated from her husband for two years and admitted to sex outside of marriage.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom welcomed the verdict, but noted "the overturning of yesterday's decision for technical reasons does not address larger concerns about the criminal application of Islamic law in northern Nigeria and its interference with the religious freedom of Muslims and non-Muslims alike."

In fact, those cries of victory are a bit muted today: As Lawal's verdict was made public, so was news that three other Nigerians face execution under Shari'ah law: two for sodomy, and another for child molestation.

What do you call the leader of one of the world's largest Christian bodies?
Speaking of Nigeria, it's worth noting that Peter Akinola, head of the Church of Nigeria, the largest Anglican body in the world, is the new head of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa. There's much that can be said about Akinola, but some, such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, summarize him in this headline: "Africa's Anglican council elects anti-gay head."

Bono and Steve Taylor, together at last
There are many interesting stories on combating AIDS below, but Christian music fans shouldn't miss this story from The Tennessean, where U2's Bono, Sixpence None the Richer's Matt Slocum, and musician/producer Steve Taylor met up with Sen. Bill Frist on U.S. funding on anti-AIDS efforts.

More on AIDS:

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September (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47