BAMUNIGAM/MANILA (BosNewsLife)-- Several people were injured when a Hindu mob attacked a Christmas worship service in India’s religiously volatile eastern state of Orissa Monday, December 24, destroying a crib as well as light and sound equipment, Christians told BosNewsLife.

TASHKENT/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has criticized Sunday's presidential election in Uzbekistan for failing to meet basic democratic standards. The criticism came as the Central Election Commission announced that Uzbekistan's autocratic President Islam Karimov won another seven-year term by a landslide, adding to fears among minorities, including Christians.

TASHKENT/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Voters in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan have finished voting in an election expected to extend the 18-year rule of autocratic President Islam Karimov under whose leadership thousands of political and religious prisoners, including Christians, have faced hardship including torture.

NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Suspected Hindu militants have kidnapped a devoted Indian Christian in a religiously volatile region of the Indian state of Karnataka, the latest incident in an ongoing crackdown on Christians in several parts of the country, a human rights official with close knowledge about the situation told BosNewsLife Saturday, December 22.

MANILA/KUALA LUMPUR (BosNewsLife)-- Authorities in Malaysia have threatened not to renew the publishing license of a Catholic weekly newspaper if it continues to use the word "Allah" in its Malay language section, Catholic and government officials said.

CSOP, UKRAINE BORDER (BosNewsLife)-- Celebrations began across Eastern Europe Friday, December 21, as the European Union formally lifted border checks with nine of its newest member states, most of them former Communist countries. However the festivities were overshadowed by concern that the opening of EU member borders could lead to a new Iron Curtain with non-EU neighboring states.

BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian human rights activist and US resident serving a life sentence on what advocacy groups describe as "trumped up charges" of terrorism, remained behind bars in China Thursday, December 20, despite mounting international concerns about his rapidly deteriorating health.

BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Chinese police detained and tortured a key official of an umbrella group representing the rapidly growing underground house churches in China, as part of a Christmas season crackdown on devoted Christians, an advocacy group with close knowledge about the situation said Wednesday, December 19.

SARGODHA, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Pakistani Christian couple said Tuesday, December 18, they have gone into hiding in Pakistan's northeastern city of Sargodha because Muslim relatives threaten to kill them and their children for embracing Christianity.

ANKARA, TURKEY (BosNewsLife)-- An Italian Roman Catholic priest in Turkey was recovering from injuries Monday, December 17, after being stabbed by an apparently disgruntled teenager, in the latest attack on a Christian in the predominantly Muslim country.