BELGRADE/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Russia said Monday, February 25, that it will support Serbia in its campaign against Kosovo's independence. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev made the pledge after meeting Serbia's President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica in Belgrade.

PRAGUE/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Crowds gathered in a major cathedral of the Czech capital Prague to commemorate the victims of Communism, Radio Prague reported Sunday, February 24.

ASMARA, ERITREA (BosNewsLife)-- Dozens of evangelical Christians spend another day in freedom in Eritrea after they were unexpectedly released from prison by security authorities, Christians said.

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (BosNewsLife)-- Gunmen in Sri Lanka shot dead a young Protestant pastor in a contract killing ordered by a husband whose wife converted to Christianity, a major newspaper reported Sunday, February 24, citing a police investigation.

BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- As he started his six-day tour in China Sunday, February 24, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he does not support a boycott of the Beijing Olympics, after a major Christian rights group expressed "grave concerns" about "serious breaches of religious freedom in the run up" to the event.

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A devoted Pakistani Christian who was jailed but later acquitted on blasphemy charges, was in hiding Sunday, February 24, because of death threats from Muslim militants, who also forced his employer to fire him, a well-informed religious rights watchdog said.

MEXICO, CITY (BosNewsLife)-- Some 20 evangelical Christians, most of them children in a troubled town of Mexico’s Guerrero State, were homeless Saturday, February 23, after they were reportedly expelled by authorities for their refusal to participate in festivals honoring Catholic saints. Water supplies to eight other Protestant families in Chiapas State were apparently cut off at a time of growing persecution of evangelical Christians in several areas of the country, local believers said.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- The United States has tried to reassure Russia that a missile strike against a failed American spy satellite late Wednesday was not a test for the controversial missile defense system Washington wants to build in the Czech Republic and Poland. US Acting Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, John Rood, made the comments in Budapest after talks with Russian officials.

BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- The leader of China's House Church Alliance in the country's Inner Mongolia region has been detained along with dozens of co-workers, an organization representing the Christians said in remarks monitored by BosNewsLife Friday, February 22.

BELGRADE, SERBIA (BosNewsLife)-- One person was apparently killed, when a group of protesters in the Serbian capital attacked the United States embassy in Belgrade late Thursday, February 21, setting fire to part of the building. The incident took place after about 150,000 people rallied in the Serbian capital in a rally against Kosovo's independence, where minority Serbs, including Christians, fear persecution.