■ Israel
US evangelist gets award
Reflecting the bond between Israel and evangelical Christians in the US, Israeli Tourism Minister Benny Elon will give a special award to Pat Robertson to thank the TV minister and his followers for their support for the Jewish state. Elon said on Thursday that some 400,000 American and European evangelicals visited Israel last year, pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the Israel economy and fostering the view of Israel as a tourist destination. Elon said it was natural that Israelis and fundamentalist Christians should have a kinship because of their shared
faith in the Bible. Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said it was not surprising. "Birds of a feather flock together -- both are anti-Muslim extremists," he said.
■ United States
Two executed in Texas
Texas executed its second inmate in the past 24
hours on Thursday night, corrections officials said at
a prison in Huntsville. The execution of Bobby Ray Hopkins, 36, on Thursday night was carried out by lethal injection, as was the execution one night earlier of Edward LaGrone, 46. Hopkins was convicted in 1993 of the stabbing deaths of two young girls in the northern city of Grandview. He had maintained his innocence in the case and no motive was ever identified. LaGrone was convicted
of shooting to death three people in 1991, including
a 10-year-old girl he had impregnated. In both cases, Texas Governor Rich Perry and the courts had rejected last-minute pleas to halt the executions. There have been six executions so far this year in Texas. A further
nine are planned in coming months.
RSS