China has carried out a test of a long range missile that is capable of delivering multiple independent nuclear warheads.
The test of the DF-41 missile marks the longest range intercontinental ballistic missile in China’s arsenal. It’s also the first missile in China’s fleet that is capable of delivering multiple warheads.
The development means that China will likely have a rapid, significant increase in the total number of large warheads available for missile launch. The defense department estimates that China currently has around 240 very large warheads.
China had announced the likely power of the DF-41 in a report earlier this month.
“The DF-41, which could be deployed as early as 2015, may carry up to 10 MIRVs, and have a maximum range as far as 7,456 miles, allowing it to target the entire continental United States,” the report said. “In addition, some sources claim China has modified the DF–5 and the DF–31A to be able to carry MIRVs.”
Defense department officials say that China’s new missile would require the United States to upgrade its current ballistic missile defense systems.
A Christian man who was working to help other Christians open a bookstore in Shanxi Province, China is being released from a Chinese prison.
Wenxi Li, a native of Beijing, has been working with Chrisitans in Shanxi when he was asked to come to a police station on December 19, 2012 to pick up books that had been seized by authorities. When he arrived, he was immediately arrested and thrown in jail.
They denied him bail and he was sentenced to two years in prison on June 17, 2013.
Family members say that they are optimistic the Chinese government will follow through on their word to release Wenxi. He has been transferred to a prison where he’s receiving better medical treatment and food and has been able to make short phone calls to his family.
His wife, Cal Hong Li, told Voice of the Martyrs that her husband has been able to share Christ with many of his fellow prisoners during his time behind bars. She said that she is thankful God found him worthy to suffer for His sake.
Cal Hong said she hopes her husband will take some time to rest and spend time with her before going back into the field to serve Christ.
For the first time since Ulysses S. Grant was president, the United States is no longer the largest economy in the world.
The United States slipped to number 2 in the latest numbers released by the International Monetary Fund on the world economic situation. The U.S. fell to $17.4 trillion in “real economic output” while China climbed to $17.6 trillion.
The report says that China accounts for 16.5% of the world economy while the U.S. now accounts for 16.3%.
The report is causing massive geopolitical ripples. The decline of a country in terms of economic dominance is usually closely followed by a decline of power and importance on the world stage.
The decline of U.S. economic power could mean the days of the U.S. being a superpower are ending.
A boarding school in Beijing that had been taking care of Christians orphans and providing them with an education has been shut down by the Chinese government.
A teacher at the Angel Orphanage told the China Aid Association that the school was forced to move from their home in the Fangshan District of Beijing to Guangling, Shanxi. The school has been in Beijing for nine years but the government suddenly denied the school’s permit.
“Before the Oct. 1 holiday, our leaders suddenly said that the children must leave, and they brought some students to Guangling, Shanxi,” Yu, said. “Then they went to the education committee to process paperwork for the students’ transfer. When some children arrived in Shanxi, the school still hadn’t found a proper place to stay.”
A teacher who was identified only as Yu told China Aid that the local officials were angered because Christians from America came to teach the children in the summer.
China Aid reported that the government has shut down at least four Christian schools in the four months.
The Chinese religious freedom group China Aid has released documents showing the Chinese government is increasing their crackdown on churches and Christians.
The government destroyed churches in Wenzhou and Hangzhou on Friday. Christians in the area reported to China Aid that only one cross remains standing in the Wenzhou area where most of the government persecution has taken place.
“On [Friday], the cross of [Kaiyang Church] of Wuniu pastoral region in Yongjia County, Wenzhou was taken down,” a worshipper from Pingyang County, Wenzhou said. “[The cross on] a church in Ouhai District, Wenzhou was also taken down. Now, in Pingyang County, only the cross of Zengzhan Church has not been taken down.”
Security agents reportedly descended in the middle of the night to remove the crosses and witnesses say that at 3:30 a.m. local time the security agents left after destroying the cross.
“The authorities in Zhejiang have never stopped taking down the crosses,” Pastor Zhang Mingxuan, also known as Pastor “Bike,” said. “They have been obstructing the entry of Christian culture into China. This is religious persecution. In taking down these crosses, they resort to violence.”
World oil prices are continuing a downhill slide amid fears the world economy is slowing and could go back into recession.
Brent crude oil fell to near four-year lows and the US standard, West Texas Intermediate, lost more than a dollar. Brent has lost almost 28 percent of its value since June.
The slide comes as economic news makes it appear the world is facing another slowdown or possible recession. China’s consumer inflation fell to a five-year low this week and prices for U.S. producers fell for the first time in a year.
Also, US crude oil inventories rose at a level almost four times higher than previously estimated by analysts.
The news led to downward rallies on Wall Street with the Dow losing hundreds.
World leaders from oil producing countries are calling for emergency meetings to try and stop the slide in oil prices. The International Energy Agency is cutting predictions for oil growth in 2015 as a result of the recent conditions.
A Chinese pastor who was arrested during the recent government crackdown on Christians is thanking God for the “opportunity of going to jail.”
Huang Yizi, 40, is facing up to seven years in prison for his speaking out against the government’s destruction of Christian churches. He was arrested in August when police dragged him from his home in front of his wife and two children.
The official charge is “gathering crowds to disturb social order.”
Beijing rights lawyer Zhang Kai says Yizi is doing well and that from what he can see there is no basis to charge him.
“As a defense lawyer and judging from the evidence so far I don’t think Huang’s actions constituted any crime. Personally, I believe Huang’s arrest is directly related to the general crackdown on churches in Zhejiang.”
Chen Guangcheng, a human rights activist in China, said that the communist government is actually more dangerous than terrorist group ISIS.
“I believe that we have underestimated the threat from the Communist regime like China. They are many, many times more dangerous than the terrorist groups out there. I believe the people will realize later this is true,” Chen said.
World groups are using the 34th anniversary of China’s “One Child” policy to condemn the country for the millions of forced abortions carried out since the policy’s introduction.
The group Women’s Rights Without Frontiers sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping condemning the ongoing forced abortions in the country and the fact the government celebrates the killing of babies.
“Your government has boasted that it has ‘prevented’ more than 400 million births through this policy. These births have been prevented through forced abortions, involuntary sterilizations, confiscatory ‘terror fines,’ gendercide and infanticide — all in violation of international human rights law,” the group wrote.
The group condemned the new “two-child” policy adopted by the government for any parent who is an only child. They said the forced abortions will continue under the new policy.
“Allowing a relatively small number of families to have a second child will not end gendercide or sexual slavery in China,” the group wrote.
“The selective abortion and abandonment of baby girls is most prevalent in the countryside, where couples already can have a second child if the first child is a girl. Even if the most recent modification were to improve gender ratios at birth, the impact on sexual slavery would not be felt for decades to come.”
Chinese officials raided house churches on Sunday and arrested more than 100 Christians for worshiping in a manner the state considered illegal.
Children were among the arrested, being taken from their parents.
The raid in the Guangdong province included over 200 police officers who stormed into the home during the service. The move is believed to be part of a government crackdown on Christianity within the country.
“We don’t know exactly why they raided our church,” a local believer told watchdog group International Christian Concern. “The government does not want us to get together and worship as a church.”
Multiple surveys show that Christianity is growing fastest in the world within China.
An ICC spokesman says most of the people have been released but the incident has been traumatic, especially on the children.
“What the government here is doing is so barbaric,” local church leader Chen Zhi’ai told CNN.
The crackdown on churches in China is ramping up again.
Chinese police in Wenzhou forcibly removed the cross from the top of a local church building. The members of the church gathered around the fallen cross, weeping and praying for the men who conducted the removal.
The congregants had tried to protect the cross atop Longgang Huai En Church but hundreds of police descended on the building and overwhelmed the church members. The government said the cross on top violated the city’s ordinance on the height of buildings within the city.
The government workers did make an unusual step in allowing the church members to keep the cross inside their building.
The Chinese government is cracking down on churches in Wenzhou, called the “Jerusalem of China” by local Christians because of the revival of faith in the city. The International Chrsitian Concern says that the government has not only encouraged local officials to remove crosses from buildings but are offering political promotions to those who succeed in shutting down churches.