MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- A major mission organization in Russia expressed concerns Wednesday, October 31, about the safety of its students after an explosion rocked a bus carrying university students and local residents on their way to work in the central Russian city of Togliatti killing at least eight people.

THE HAGUE/TEHRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iran on Tuesday, October 30, denied reports that it sentenced prominent Dutch human rights activist Abdullah al–Mansouri to death on charges of terrorism, Dutch officials said.

AMSTERDAM/BUDAPEST/UZHHOROD (BosNewsLife)-- Aid goods of Dutch Christians intended for a hospital in Ukraine where babies suffer of starvation and disease rot in a local storage facility, according to a document released Tuesday, October 30.

WASHINGTON/HAVANA (BosNewsLife)--United States President George W. Bush on Monday, October 29 named one of Cuba's leading Christian dissidents, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, as among those receiving this year's Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian award.

AMSTERDAM/TEHRAN (BosNewsLife)-- The son of Dutch-Iranian human rights activist Abdullah al-Mansouri on Monday, October 29, urged the Netherlands to safe his father's life amid reports he may be executed in Iran within 48 hours.

(ADDS MORE DETAILS, AND CHRISTIANS)JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (BosNewsLife)-- Israel's embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Monday, October 28, he has been diagnosed with "a cancerous growth in his prostate gland" but added he would continue to stay in office.

MINSK/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Supporters of the opposition in Belarus held a rally Sunday, October 28, to commemorate the victims of Stalin-era repressions, shortly after Christian missionaries said Belarusian authorities "continue the relentless pressure and persecution of the evangelical church" here.

HANOI, VIETNAM (BosNewsLife)-- A well-known Catholic priest and editor serving eight years imprisonment in Vietnam for alleged anti-government activity, is not allowed to have a Bible and other items of his church, according to a transcript of a prison conversation obtained by BosNewsLife Saturday, October 27.

BRUSSELS/MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Saturday, October 27, condemned the closure by Russian fire authorities of the House of Journalists, a popular meeting place for reporters in central Moscow.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (BosNewsLife)-- Two missionaries working in South Africa for global Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio were recovering Friday, October 26, after they survived a kidnapping in South Africa "because of prayers", the network said.