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Yes, ten. So many interesting stories that we can't stop at five.

1. Australia lifts ban on human cloning
Both the Prime Minister and the new Opposition Leader had wanted to keep the ban on so-called therapeutic cloning, but the House of Representatives still voted 82-62 for the bill. It had earlier passed the Senate by a two-vote margin. The U.S. also allows such cloning, as do Britain, Singapore, and a few other countries.

2. Bible attack case shocks Australia
Young teens from East Preston Islamic College were reportedly feuding with workers at a school camp when three of the boys, ages 13 to 15, got a Bible, threw it on the ground, urinated on it, tore pages out, and then set them on fire. An Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman called it a "prank" and explained, "They've probably seen things on TV where soldiers in Iraq and in Guantanamo Bay have reportedly done things to the Koran, and they've seen other things that have influenced their way of thinking." The school principal says the students didn't know it was a Bible, but has expelled two of the students and suspended another.

3. Christian Peacemaker Teams hostages call for "all possible leniency" for kidnappers
"Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency," said a joint statement from Norman Kember, James Loney, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, who were held hostage for four months. A fourth member of their team was killed by their captors, but the survivors claimed to speak for him. "I know that he would have stood with us today (to ask for) clemency for our captors," Loney said. Kember said he won't testify against his captors, and would only testify to plead for clemency. "In our view, the catastrophic levels of violence and the lack of effective protection of human rights in Iraq is inextricably linked to the U.S.-led invasion and occupation," the joint statement says in part. "As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers were part of a cycle of violence they themselves experienced. While this is no way justifies what the men charged with our kidnapping are alleged to have done, we feel this must be considered in any potential judgment."

4. Malaysia's Muslims drop claim to body
Apparently, the general rule of thumb in Malaysia is that the only people who can leave Islam are the dead.

5. Congress session ends
The fetal pain bill didn't pass, but tithing protection for the bankrupt did.

6. Weinstein Company launches Christian label
The company has already announced plans to adapt Joyce Meyer's The Penny and Max Lucado's The Christmas Candle. "[The] goal is eventually to release six theatrical titles per year," Variety reports. The Weinstein Company will chiefly be working with Impact Entertainment, which made One Night with the King and other Christian films.

7. Pastor shot to death in Prince George's County, Md.
Police are now following leads that the shooting of "well-known" pastor of Warriors for Christ Ministries may have been premeditated. But the police "have not ruled out the possibility of random street crime," The Washington Post reported.

8. Ohio megachurch pastor again faces DUI charge
Michael Pitts, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Maumee, Ohio, pleaded no contest to driving under the influence in 2000. In the late '90s he faced more serious accusations , but most charges were dropped after witness testimony problems. Pitts pled guilty to criminal trespassing and served 14 days of house arrest. Cornerstone has 3,000 members and runs two local Christian radio stations. Pitts "serves as overseer, or bishop, of the Cornerstone Network of Harvester Churches, an organization with 12 other churches across the United States and 13 in Mexico," The Toledo Bladereported last year.

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December (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50