Villagers from Chagugang rioted over the weekend, destroying a SARS quarantine centre, government offices and cars, in China’s first reported instance of social unrest related to SARS.

The plan was to transform the high school into an isolation centre,” a Chagugang government official, who did not want to be named, said.

“When nearby villagers heard this they feared they would be caught by the disease.

The head of the villages explained to the people but they wouldn’t listen.”

He said about 2000 angry residents marched to the school and ransacked it, smashing windows before setting it alight.

“They went to the school and burned the school. It can’t be used any longer,” he said.

The region about 150 kilometers south-east of Bejiing has reported 43 SARS cases, including two deaths. It has also acknowledged 67 suspected cases.

The British Medical Journal, The Lancet has published a preliminary report from China that indicates SARS symptoms may be less serious in children.

Vietnam has been removed from the WHO list, Canada is lobbying the agency to be removed today. New Zealand, South Korea and Mongolia have been added to the list. 5050 cases have been reported world-wide.
Update: The WHO is lifting the travel advisory to Toronto tomorrow.

Algeria
Tourists that went missing earlier this year while trekking in the Sahara region are now believed to be in the hands of an Islamic terrorist group in Algeria.
31 tourists from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Sweden, and Norway had disappeared this past month. European intelligence agencies believe they are being held by the Salafist Group for Combat and Prayer.

Media Mistrust
A survey of 37 thousand Americans who call themselves evangelicals shows that 93% do not trust the media. The poll was conducted by Coral Ridge Ministries.

Blogging from Mount Everest
This is pretty interesting, a climber is audio blogging his trip up the mountain.

Daypop is experiencing technical difficulties this morning.

The Mindset List
Five years ago a college in Wisconsin started this list as an indicator of the ways college entry level students saw the world differently from their teachers.

The list is a reminder that the world view of today’s new college students is significantly different from the intellectual framework of those students who entered only a few years earlier. Beloit College Prof. Tom McBride, one of the list’s creators, says “It is an alert for those of us who may be suffering from hardening of the references.”

This year’s entering students have grown up in a country where the Presidents have all been Southerners, and in a world with AIDS and without apartheid. Saturns have always been on the street, the Fox Network has always been on television, and prom dresses have always come in basic black. The evil empire is not earth-bound, the drug “ecstacy” has always been available, and with the breakup of AT & T, nobody has been able to comprehend a phone bill.

Martin Roth asks the question why the church focuses so heavily on youth ministries. It is a given that western culture focus on youth is obsessional. The list above is used by marketers to separate younger people from their cash.

Reading Christian newspapers, I am continually confronted by churches seeking youth pastors. As far as I recall, I have not read one which focused upon the needs of the elderly in the congregation.

People over the age of 50 often comprise the greater part of the congregation. They have their special needs. Many are facing the closing years of life – and with it the prospect of sickness and death. To their needs many churches seem deaf.

Subjects that come within the category of ageing and death would be regarded as morbid and consequently avoided. The elderly are left to work things out for themselves without hearing what the word of God has to say about these matters.

Why must the emphasis be so frequently on the needs of youth?