By Santosh Digal, BosNewsLife Asia Correspondent reporting from India

BHUBANESWAR, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- A Hindu extremist attacked the home of a frail protestant pastor who survived previous attacks by Hindu militants in India's eastern Orissa state, where at least two church leaders were killed last year, his wife and missionaries told BosNewsLife Thursday, January 26.

 

By BosNewsLife Asia Service

BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)- China has unexpectedly released the deputy chairman of a major organization representing the country's growing number of house churches, after he served six months of a two-year "re-education through labor" sentence, rights activists told BosNewsLife Tuesday January 24.

 

By BosNewsLife Asia Service

NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- An Afghan Christian widow and three of her daughters faced possible deportation from India to their homeland Friday, January 20, despite concerns they may be killed or jailed for “apostasy”, after a UN agency reportedly refused to grant them refugee status.

 

By BosNewsLife Asia Service

NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Foreign and Indian Christians are fleeing India's troubled Kashmir Valley after an Islamic court ordered the expulsion of Christian leaders and directed the state government to monitor Christian missionary schools in the area, trial observers said Thursday, January 19.

 

By VOA Correspondent Ayaz Gul reporting from Islamabad, special to BosNewsLife

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibilty for the Tuesday killing of Pakistani reporter Mukarram Khan Aatif, who worked for the Voice of America (VOA). Aatif was assassinated in Shabqadar, a small town located in the violence-hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, not far from Peshawar.

By BosNewsLife News Center



VATICAN CITY/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)--  The Vatican's missionary news agency says more than two dozen priests, nuns and lay Catholics were killed worldwide in 2011, BosNewsLife monitored Monday, January 16.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos

VIENTIANE, LAOS (BosNewsLife)-- Seven Christian leaders who were detained and tortured for nearly a month in southern Laos have been released, but concerns remain about "the confiscation" of church buildings, an official assisting them told BosNewsLife Friday, January 13.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos

RANGOON, BURMA (BosNewsLife)-- Churches and Buddhist monasteries in a mining area of Burma's northern Kachin state have taken in nearly 1,000 refugees, many of them Christians, since New Year's Day, after the Burmese military reportedly attacked a church and killed several people, BosNewsLife established Tuesday, January 10.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service

NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Devoted Christians in India's southwestern state of Karnataka have begun the New Year amid uncertainty about the future of several churches after Hindu militants halted worship services, a Catholic watchdog said.

By BosNewsLife News Center with reports from Africa and Asia

JAKARTA/ABUJA/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- North Korea leads a list of nations where "Christians face the most severe persecution", but "Muslim-majority" countries represent nine of the top 10 amid spreading Islamic extremism around the world, a major Christian watchdog said in comments obtained by BosNewsLife Thursday, January 5.