>> today on "christian world news" communist north korea once again tops the list as the world's harshest persecutor of christians. >> plus the financial disaster in europe forced many families into hunger. find out what christians are doing to help put food on their table. >> and powerful flash floods, see how people are healing from cbn international. >> list is out, ministry to the persecuted church ranks the

world's worst persecutors of christians. hello everyone i am wendy griffith. >> and i am george thomas. north korea tops the charts as the no. 1 persecutors of christians, according to open doors u.s.a. this is the 10th year in a row communist north korea has topped the list. rest are taken up by muslim countries, saudi arabia are second and third by somalia and iran. in fact 38 of the top 50 persecuted countries are muslim countries. >> carl muller is president of open doors u.s.a. i talked with him of how the recent death of kim jong il could effect christians in that

country. >> dr. muller, is there any hope thing wills get better now we have a rep cent regime change there? >> yes. well, that is one of the big questions. continues to be evident to us at open doors, north korea is on the same trajectory it has been over the last 60 years. kim jong un who is the new dictator of north korea has followed not only in the footsteps of his father, but grandfather, kim sung. it may indeed get far worse. >> hard to imagine that. >> sudan and nigeria. even today a militant islamic group gave christians three days to get out of northern nigeria.

what are you seeing in these countries? why is this happening? >> what we are seeing is a remarkable thing taking place. it has been taking place the last several years, extremists islam of the northern africa countries pressing into the subsa harn african countries, sudan and nigeria, they moved up to the open doors u.s.a. watch list. in nigeria, boko haram, an extremist group has vowed to exterminate christians from the country. the north is extremely violent against the christian minority in that part of the country.

many of the northern states are governed by sharia law, islamic law. many people r were aware on christmas day, five churches in nigeria were bombed by elements of that radical group boko haram. >> i wish we had better news to report, facts are the facts, thanks for being with us. >> and this situation is getting worse in northern nigeria. a group called boko haram, a group of gunman attacked a church during a church service killing five people this week. this comes days after the muslim sect warned all christians to leave northern nigeria. the group attacked several churches on christmas. nigeria's president to put them

under attack. you can post your words of encouragement on our "christian world news" facebook page. canada establishing an office of religious freedom in foreign affairs department. the ruling conservative party is committed to making religious freedom a major goal of canada's foreign policy. it is due to the assassination of this man, shahbaz bhatti. he is the pakistani government murdered for speaking out against blasphemy laws. free speech and religious liberty are two of america's most cherished freedoms. it could change, pushing a u.n. resolution to criminalize all criticism of religions. john jessup reports, some fear

their laws will spread beyond the muslim world and into the west. >> in the united states, americans are free to worship as we choose, whether in a church, synagogue or mosque. secretary of state hilary clinton tried to convey at a religious conference at the state department. >> there is no contradiction between having strong religious beliefs and having the freedoms to exercise them and speak out about them and have good debates with others. >> the three-day conference was supposed to help, a group with vocal critics. >> i think of a multinational musl muslim mofia. 57 states and palestine that have come together to promote

what is fundamentally the agenda known as sharia. >> banning deaf nation of religions for more than a decade. it was designed to prevent criticism of islam. >> country is pushing this resolution. population is 90-99 percent. what is the problem with the 1 percent speaking out? >> a u ssi bibi has been sentenced to death for speaking out. they dropped the effort in rez lugsz of 1618. some believe it too could be used to introduce blasphemy laws in europe and u.s. nina shay is

the author of silence. >> they are asking the west to enforce criminal money punishments for blasphemy against islam. we are starting to see this actually be adopted in places like western europe, canada and australia. >> sekulow says his organization is fighting to keep it from being adopted. it could backfire and be misinterpreted. >> just the building of churches, having a cross outside your door can insight violence. if you let them define it when there is no problem, this is some how going to green-light their suppression. >> john jessup, cbn news, washington. coming up, franklin graham talks about south sudan and why it maybe on the verge of war and

what histry is doing to help.

>> government of south sudan declared a disaster as thousands flee sectarian attacks. violence broke out in the town of ke bore. 3,000 people died and 100,000 fled to the country side. red cross volunteers are trying to reconnect 150,000 children with their parents. franklin graham often travels to the south to bring aid and supplies from samaritans purse. i talked to him about the challenges of this recently formed nation. >> why have you called for a no-fly zone over the skies of south sudan? >> north is using its air power

to do ethnic cleansing. forcing the civilians to leave. >> do you fear a war could break out? >> yes. i believe it is going to break out. they don't want war. it is one of these situations, one guy throws a rock, other guy throws twa back. it i believe it can be resolved and worked out and see peace come to that area. you have to have somebody who is willing to take the leadership for peace. i think president obama has an excellent opportunity to bring all these sides together and hammer out a peace accord. i don't think any one of them wants war per se. >> is a no fly zone sufficient? do we need to put perhaps the u.n. in the south or commit u.s. troops? >> no, no. just take away their air assets and i think the fighting is

going to grind to a halt. the north doesn't have the ability to hang on to these areas without air power. i am not advocating -- i am saying for a no-fly zone for now and let's go to the peace table and work out a deal. they two can't survive without each other. oil is now in the south. >> you were there when south sudan became a new independent what is the significance to have a nation in this part of the african nation? >> it is not what we would call a christian nation. majority of the people would call themselves christian and many in the government would call themselves christian. for a nation to be born, that

place was packed, jammed, it was a sea of people. every they have fought for so long to be free. now they were free. and to experience that day with them and to be with the president and all of these men, i knew many when they were gorilla fighters, fighting the north for their freedom. for them to actually be free and they gave god the glory. >> you have been there many, many times. you have a heart for sue lowden -- south sudan. they need the infrastructure, they need roads, hospitals, schools and so forth. is the united states, is the world community committed to seeing a south sudan rise with all the resources it needs to sustain itself 20-50 years down

the road? >> that is a good question, i can't answer because right now, we are talking about this has only been six months since they have had their independence. >> do you see from a financial standpoint to bring stability? >> you can't have financial stability when the north is threatening to attack. the north is creating instability by sending tens of thousands of refugees to the south. these are muslims and christians who don't want to live under islamic or sharia law. they are wanting to be free. it is muslims rebelled in the north. the world community is going to have to stand, i think with those wanting to be free.

up next, the financial crisis in europe, pow it has forced many to be hungry and what christians are doing to help h. . .

>> welcome back, europe's economic crisis is forcing some families to go hungry. christians are working together to provide support to those facing disaster. >> uk correspondent peter wooding. >> reporter: like many families in the uk, mr. and mrs. clarke were feeling the bite of the recession sweeping across the country. sean was a long-distance truck driver and rarely home. he took a major pay cut to work for the council. they faced bankruptcy. >> we couldn't afford to pay the bills. they accumulated like credit

cards. we took quite the dip in the money. we got ourselves into quite an amount of debt. >> sean's wife mandi suffers from me. they were forced to down size their home and sell many of their possessions to survive and feed their young children. >> that was difficult. we sold the kids toys, anything that could make us money, we sold it so we could eat. >> their youngest child started being bullied. mandi started home schooling and became too ill. >> now they are back at school. i could do the school with my husband's help. >> current euro crisis means these challenges are effecting challenges right to cross

europe. the european christian political movement along with christian concern recently hosted a conference in london to mobilize christians to work together to engage in positive solutions to this crisis. these delegates said the greatest problems effected their countries increasing secularism, materialism, lack of ethics and family break down. >> biggest threat is secularism. >> people have fought and why they are there and what they should do in order to help their neighbors, the poorest. >> marriage rates are actually plum etting. while the divorce rates are a right thing. we see co-habitation is getting more usual.

>> alan craig said this conference was a major step forward in dealing with these problems. >> whole idea of having faith, looking out, taking risks of compassion, caring for your neighbor, all those values are being lost in our materialistic and selfish society. those values put back in will put a new vitality back into our society. >> and the clarke family are a as a result of christians working together. after they received help from the food bank ministry. >> we look on our front doorstep. to be honest, we cried. we can sit and eat as a family. to get a path like that, i can't thank the food bank enough. it was amazing. >> sean says the support they

received was the burden of knowing they would feed their kids this christmas had been lifted. >> a great relief to put food on the table. not only for my children by my wife and myself. >> mandi says they have received practical help that have made supportive friends for their local church. >> being a christian and going to our local church it did -- practical support, people phoning and saying how are you? we are tray praying for you. it built my faith up a lot stronger: the clarke family didn't go hungry. the challenge remains for christians to work together with the compassion of christ, this season and beyond. peter wooding for cbn news,

>> finally on the broadcast, survivors of the deadly flash floods in the philippines are trying to put their lives back together. death toll in thousands. >> more bodies recoveried, the survivors are finding help and healing from cbn international. charlene israel has the story. >> reporter: schothis schooltea is grieving for the many student that is died in mindanao. she turned to cbn disaster relief teams to help the traumatized students who escaped the tragedy. [ foreign speaking ]>> i was able to respond immediately. that is why i ask some program

to give my students a hug. >> 15-year-old jessa may can hear her father shouting instructions as the flood waters swept them away. >> he said child, hold on to the piece of wood and don't let go. my father was trying to help a paralyzed man. the water was high and current strong. now he is still missing. i want to see my father again. >> jessa may barely made it. she was floating in the open sea when a boat rescued her the next morning. 17-year-old hurllan complains of pain in her stomach. rescuers had to pump a lot of water. she claims she was found dead and rescuers brought her back to

life. >> i woke up and found myself lying in the street. i wanted to go back and look for my family. they are all safe. thank god we are all alive. >> cbn served lunch to the students from erwin's school. cbn's staff and volunteers listened to their stories and followed up with prayers, counseling and much needed hugs. >> thank you very, very much. it is only once in a while we can eat this food today we were able to eat delicious food. >> thank you to all of you. my brother and i are so full. we are happy to be able to eat even if we don't have money. >> the survivors were given mats, fresh slippers and clothing. they were also given hope to overcome the difficulties in the

days ahead. medical missions are being conducted in evacuation centers and to address the severe shortage, cbn has set up water purifiers in the area. cbn will be there to provide for their physical, emotional and spiritual rehabilitation. charlene israel, cbn news. >> we just love the philippines. our hearts and prayers go out to everyone suffering and those still looking for loves ones, our prayers are with you. in new thanks for joining us. >> until next week, good-bye and