NEW REGULATIONS ON RELIGIOUS WORKERS VISA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - The final rule will ensure the integrity of the religious worker program by establishing a requirement that employers submit a formal petition for temporary religious workers, and by providing for increased inspections, evaluations, verifications, and compliance reviews of religious organizations. The rule also fulfills the recent Congressional mandate to issue final regulations to eliminate or reduce fraud in the religious worker program.
The final rule is designed to improve the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to detect and deter fraud and other abuses in the religious worker system. Previously, foreign religious workers were able to request an R-1 religious worker visa at a consular post without any prior, stateside review of the religious organization or job offer. The final rule will require individuals seeking to enter the United States through the nonimmigrant religious worker program to provide a consular officer an approved Form I-129, Petition for Alien Worker. Stateside review of the petition will allow USCIS to verify that the petitioner and the job offer are legitimate prior to the issuance of a visa and admission of the religious worker to the United States.
The rule also reduces the initial period of admission for a nonimmigrant from three years to a period of up to 30 months. This will allow USCIS an earlier opportunity to review whether or not the terms of the visa have been met before extending the nonimmigrant religious worker’s stay in the United States. Religious workers will be allowed one extension of up to an additional 30 months.
The final rule has been transmitted to the Federal Register and will become effective immediately after publication.
This entry was posted on Friday, November 28th, 2008

' UNDER GOD' PASTOR DEAD AT 97

ALEXANDRIA - The Rev. George M. Docherty, credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance, has died at 97.
Docherty died on Thanksgiving at his home in central Pennsylvania, according to his wife, Sue Docherty.She said her husband of 36 years had been in failing health for about three years."George said he was going to live to be a hundred and he was determined," she said in a telephone interview Saturday. "It's amazing that he was with us this long."
Docherty, then pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, just blocks from the White House, gave a sermon in 1952 saying the pledge should acknowledge God.He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and was unfamiliar with the pledge until he heard it recited by his 7-year-old son, Garth.
"I didn't know that the Pledge of Allegiance was, and he recited it, 'one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,'" he recalled in an interview with The Associated Press in 2004. "I came from Scotland, where we said 'God save our gracious queen,' 'God save our gracious king.' Here was the Pledge of Allegiance, and God wasn't in it at all."There was little effect from that initial sermon, but he delivered it again on Feb. 7, 1954, after learning that President Dwight Eisenhower would be at the church.The next day, Rep. Charles G. Oakman, R-Mich., introduced a bill to add the phrase "under God" to the pledge, and a companion bill was introduced in the Senate. Eisenhower signed the law on Flag Day that year.

JEWISH LEADERS WON'T ATTEND VATICAN INTERFAITH EVENT

ISRAEL - Italian Jewish leaders say they will not participate in an annual day of interfaith activities with Catholic leaders next January to protest a reinstated Catholic prayer that calls for Jewish conversion to Christianity.

During a recent interfaith gathering at the Italian Parliament in Rome, the president of the Italian Rabbinical Assembly, Rabbi Giuseppe Laras, announced that the rabbis have decided not to take part in the interfaith ceremonies with the Vatican, according to Religion News Service.
At the heart of the decision is the Old Latin Mass, which ceased to be used in the 1960s but was revived by Pope Benedict XVI last year.
In the old version of the prayer, Jews were described with the word “blindness” and Catholics prayed that God would “take the veil from their hearts.”
A new version published by the Vatican last February removed the word “blindness” and instead prayed for God to “enlighten (Jews’) hearts so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, the savior of all men” and voice the hope that “all Israel may be saved.”
Despite the change, the new and arguably less offensive version of the prayer drew complaints from Jewish leaders around the world, including the U.S.-based Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Rabbis.
On Nov. 18, Italian Jewish leader Laras explained that while dialogue over the Good Friday prayer is ongoing, the problem has not been resolved since last February so the leaders have decided not to participate in the interreligious event.
Catholic leaders, in response, have said they will continue to celebrate the “Day of Jewish-Christian Reflection” on Jan. 17 even without the Jewish leaders’ participation.
"The day is a bit wounded this year, but it's a wound that we hope will help to deepen the indispensable link and relationship between Christians and Jews," Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, head of the Italian bishops' ecumenical commission, told Vatican Radio on Nov. 20.
Currently, talks are underway for Pope Benedict XVI to make his first trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories next year, Vatican and Israeli officials confirmed this past Thursday.
Pope John Paul II was the first to make an official papal visit to Israel in 2000, during which he also visited Palestinian-controlled Bethlehem.

THIRD DAY SNAGS FIRST AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS

UNITED STATES - Christian rock band Third Day celebrated their first American Music Awards win this past week after receiving their third AMA nomination.
"What an unbelieveable honor to win an award in a category with such great friends,” commented lead singer Mac Powell in an announcement following a sold-out show in Clinton, Miss. “This is our first AMA win and it means so much to us because it's voted on by fans and we're certain we have the best fans anyone could ever ask for.”
The Atlanta-based band won last Sunday in the "Favorite Artist in the Contemporary Inspirational" category but was unable to attend the awards show at the NOKIA Theater in Los Angeles. The four-member group was scheduled to conclude their monthlong Fall Live Tour with Christian rock bands Needtobreathe and Revive that night.
Over the past decade, Third Day has garnered 23 career Dove Awards, three GRAMMY Awards (with eight career nominations), three American Music Awards nominations and multiple ASCAP honors.
To win the AMA award last week, Third Day had to beat out fellow Christian groups MercyMe and Casting Crowns, who received the award last year.
While AMA nominations are based on sales data compiled by music-industry trade magazine Radio & Records and Nielsen SoundScan, winners were determined through an online vote open to the general public for the second consecutive year. In previous years, winners were selected via a national sampling of about 20,000 people.
In addition to Third Day, other artists with ties to Christian music who took home awards last week include former American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, who won in the Adult Contemporary category, and the clean-cut trio Jonas Brothers, who were named the T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist
Votes for the American Music Awards were collected through Nov. 7.

" GLORIA DEO " INTERNATIONAL CHRISTMAS MUSICAL CONCERT IN DELHI: PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS CONCERT

NEW DELHI - " GLORIA DEO " The biggest international christmas music concert is going to be held on december 7th,5 pm, in New Delhi at pragadi maidan. India's most famous seven christian singers are going to be a part of this programme.

All are invited to attend this concert in which bollywood's guest and some sport's personalities are also going to attend. Entries are restricted through passes only . for passess please do contact : 09873566019, 09818279836, 09810016903

just a short glimpse of the singers:

BENNY PRASAD: " Born on 6th August 1975, in Bangalore, India, Benny was the first of his generation in the family. His birth was celebrated with the highest of hopes for his future. But his was not a promising start - HE SUFFERED FROM SEVERE ASTHMA which required him to take cortisone steroids from which he DEVELOPED RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS, 60 % LUNG DAMAGE AND AN IMMUNE SYSTEM REGULARLY FAILING HIM, which threatens his life even to this day.

But from that moment to the present, he has performed before PRESIDENTS AND PARLIAMENTS, BEFORE THE CROWDS OF 2007 MILITARY WORLD GAMES, 2006 FIFA WORLD CUP AND THE 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES. He has TRAVELLED TO MORE THAN 158 COUNTRIES (MARCH 2008) performing music, earning him the honor of being THE MOST TRAVELED INDIAN MUSICIAN (LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS). Where he had once been a destroyer of creativity, he has won renown by designing two guitars (THE WORLD'S FIRST BONGO GUITAR AND A 54 STRING GUITAR, THE BENTAR). Today, through his music, Benny brings the Hope in God to thousands of people, traveling to 40 - 50 countries every year. Benny says, "If I could be made useful, any one in this world can. If my dreams can come true, yours can too. My sin and shame has been exchanged for righteousness and new life by the ALMIGHTY GOD WHO DIED TO SET ME FREE. For those with no hope, there is more to life than what today holds. I thank God that I did not end my life but rather chose to live through shame and failure so that today I'm able to be a blessing to the World. Remember, you are never too bad or sinful for God to redeem and transform

ANIL KANT & TEAM: ANIL Kant has achieved International acclaim as a singer, song writer, and worship leader in recent years having led worship in many countries all over the world, and recorded 7 albums in the last 5years of ministry. He is also the Executive Director of Trinity Sounds Pvt. Ltd having produced and directed many projects for his Recording Company. Anil Kant comes from a Hindu-Punjabi family. His parents, being very devout and religious, taught Anil Hindu scriptures from a young age. Music was an integral part of Anil's life. In spite of the regular spiritual guidance from his parents; Anil still knew that something was amiss and from a young age had a quest for a close relationship with God.

STEPHEN DEVASAYA: He started a band when he was 19. Franco Simon [singer] and Sangeeth [not our Sangeeth] was a part of it. They called it ‘SEVEN’. They music directed and sang in lot of albums and devotional albums. They released an album – ‘YEH ZINDAGI’, since it was a Hindi pop band. He is the keyboardist of a gospel band called ‘REX BAND’. Through this band he played in front of the late Pope John Paul II in Toronto on World Youth Day. Music director and SS music trainer Alphonse Joseph is also a part of this band. His first solo album was released by this band. He music directed and played the piano in the album – ‘DIFFERENT VIBES’ released by this band. He plays the following types [models] of keyboard:• KORG TRITON• KURZWEIL K 2600• And a modulatorNow, he’s one of the highest paid keyboardists in India. He is now settled in Chennai.

TARA MATHEW: Tara Mathew has always been a gifted singer and during her teenage years won a number of respected music awards including 'Most Outstanding Jazz Soloist' as well as performing nationally on radio and TV on many occasions. She also represented the government as Canada’s Musical Ambassador, which led to her singing at many official government functions including performing in Mexico at a major trade mission. The highlight of her early career was being chosen to sing the opening song to the ‘97 Canada Games and she also joined many leading artists when she sang at the Pan-Am Games, which was opened by Celine Dion.
She graduated with a Bmus in Applied Voice from Brandon, one of Canada's premier universities of music, with one of the highest marks awarded for voice in over 30 years and was offered a place at the Salzburg Mozarteum in Austria, for which only 20 vocalists are selected worldwide each year. Tara had a glittering career ahead, but in 2001 she felt called to help others and traded it all in for missionary service. And for the next 5 years she was to live in India working with homeless and victims of AIDS & Leprosy.
Music was never far away and Tara soon made use of her vocal talent as part of her mission work. Then in 2006 she was seen singing at an outreach event in Bangalore and was asked to perform at Gloria Deo. Gloria Deo is India's (and Asia’s!) biggest televised live Christmas concert that is broadcast virtually worldwide and that Christmas, she shared the stage with a line-up of international performers and Bollywood stars.
Following this, in 2007 she returned to Canada with her husband Jim, who she had met in India and their young daughter, Natasha, but to her surprise it wasn't long before she would return to perform in India again.
UK songwriter/producer, Kevin Wilson had been booked to perform at the 2007 Gloria Deo shows in Bangalore, Trivandum & Sri-Lanka, but unexpectedly his lead singer had to pull out just before the dates. Following an amazing and complex string of events, Tara was introduced to him and became his new lead singer. Following the success of the shows, they formed a musical partnership and Tara signed to Kevin's Devon based production company and record label, Media Ministries.
Work on an album had begun, but they were again booked for the 2008 Gloria Deo shows (this time taking place in Germany, India and Nepal) with a specific request for one of the songs that they had performed the previous year. The song was called Christmas Present and it had special memories as over 5,000 people had joined in on the choruses at itsor Christmas

BONNY MATHEWS: The person behind the live jam project. A renowned christian singer thought the globe. through his music many have been healed and came to christ. A youth icon the best word to describe him.

YESHUA BAND: Christian rock band from Mumbai, India. We play hard gospel rock & sing jazzy numbers.All the members of our band, all guys, are very young, from the ages of 19-25.We have been inspired by various international artists & bands.
We have an album called 'Yeshua'. an album which created a afever among the youths which contains the famous song " yeshu tera naam ".

1 MINUTE PRAYER MOVEMENT

Dear Friends

We are planning to start a movement called " ONE MINUTE PRAYER MOVEMENT " OR 1PM .

Do you know In World War II an advisor to Prime Minister Churchill organized a group of people who stopped what they were doing each night at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace. This had an amazing effect as the bombing raids over England stopped.

Yes dear friends , one minute can make a lot of difference to a situation. we started this movement specially focussing the students and the office proffessionals. many students as well as office proffesionals doesn't have much time to spent in prayer, but i surely believe they can spare a minute for prayer. A minute of prayer can make a difference to a situation wherever you are. Yes prayer has power and prayer can do wonders.

II Chronicles 7:14 (KJV) - "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have, and someone once said that if we really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless.
Please encourage everyone you know to join this new Prayer Movement along and let's believe that God will turn His face toward us and will pour out a blessing that we could not contain!

THIS IS HOW IT WORKS

24 HOUR'S = 1440 MINUTES

You can take a minute out of this 1440 minutes and pray at that time. So this will continue like a prayer chain and in these 1440 minutes that is 24 hour's the prayer will continue. so take a minute for yourself and start your prayer revolution.

It will be very nice that if you could contact me on 09810243273 and please confirm about the time slot that you are taking so that we can say to others too. or else you can mail me at titto.nidhi@gmail.com .

you are most welocome to say your prayer needs to us . May god bless you all

ATLEAST 200 KILLED IN MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN CLASHES IN NIGERIA

JOS, Nigeria - Clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs triggered by a disputed election have killed more than 200 people in central Nigeria, the Red Cross said on Saturday, in the worst unrest in the country for years.
The army sent reinforcements to police a 24-hour curfew on the city of Jos, which lies at the crossroads of Nigeria's Muslim north and Christian south, after rival groups of youths burned homes, shops, mosques and churches.
Hundreds of bodies were brought to the town's main mosque in preparation for a mass burial.
"I counted 218 dead bodies at Masalaci Jummaa. There are many other bodies in the streets," said a Red Cross official who asked not to be named.
That death toll did not include hospital figures, victims already buried, or those taken to other places of worship, meaning the final count could be much higher, officials said.
Muslims and Christians generally live peacefully side by side in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation.
But ethnic and religious tensions in the country's "middle belt" have simmered for years, rooted in resentment by indigenous minority groups, mostly Christian or animist, toward migrants and settlers from the Hausa-speaking Muslim north.
The governor of Plateau state, of which Jos is the capital, said in a statement that troops had orders to shoot on sight to enforce the curfew in neighborhoods hit by the violence.
About 7,000 people fled their homes and were sheltering in government buildings and religious centers, the Red Cross said.

CHURCH TAKES PARABLE TO HEART, GIVING MULTIPLIES

BLOOMINGTON, - A church in Central Illinois has found an innovative way to raise money for the poor. It's the power of multiplication. The Rev. Ric Schneider of St. Mary's Church in Bloomington passed out $100 bills during a Sunday service in August. The 180 parishioners who accepted the cash promised to multiply it and return with more. They used the seed money to put on fund-raisers, including a euchre tournament, a motorcycle run, a bake sale and a car wash. So far, more than $60,000 has been raised. The money will be given early next month to an Appalachian mission.
To encourage the effort, Schneider preached about the Parable of the Talents, a Bible story that directs people to multiply what they are given.

MR.RAJ THACKERAY AND THE SO CALLED MARATHI MANOOS: JUST LISTEN, IT'S THE UNITY THAT BROUGHT THE VICTORY FOR US OVER THE EVIL ( TERRORIST )

MUMBAI - The one SMS that stood out from the rest. it read: ' Where is RAJ THACKERAY and his BRAVE SENA ? Tell him that 200 NSG commandos from delhi ( no marathi manoos, all south indians and north indians) have been sent to Mumbai to fight out the terrorists so that he can sleep peacefully tonight shivaji park . please forward it so that it reach that coward bully.

Maj Unnikrishnan was a tamil speaking bangalorean , who belonge to the bihar regiment. this should be a lesson for the MNS and SENA paaper tigers who went to hiding when the first terrorist bullet was fired. without the Armed forces as a secular, inclusive institution, the country would not have lasted for soo far.

Hello Mr Raj Thakeray and the so called Marathi manoos,where are you all? just want to say to you " IT'S THE UNITY THAT BROUGHT THE VICTORY FOR US OVER THE EVIL ( TERRORISTS )". Please do not divide our country with any language or with any religious matters. If we stand together only we can win. So stand together and win together. May God bless you all.....................