China Court Case Against Officials Banning Worship Services
December 31, 2008By BosNewsLife Asia Service
BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- In a unprecedented move, a Chinese court has agreed to hear a case filed by a pastor against government officials who prohibited worship services in his house church, observers familiar with the trial said Wednesday, December 31.
HANGGU, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Minority Christians and other non-Muslims faced potential persecution Tuesday, December 30, as militants linked to Taliban and Al-Qaeda groups imposed Shariah, or Islamic law, in the Orakzai Agency tribal region of the restive Pakistani North West Frontier Province (NWFP), officials told BosNewsLife.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (BosNewsLife)-- The World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned on Monday, December 29, ongoing Israeli airstrikes against the militant Islamist group Hamas and its infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, which reportedly killed over 300 Palestinians, injured up to 1,000, and put the territory's Christian minority in the crossfire.
BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Several Christian volunteers and survivors of China's worst earthquake in a generation remained missing Sunday, December 28, after Christmas Eve police raids on homes under construction in the devastated Sichuan province amid anger among authorities over the involvement of churches in relief efforts, an advocacy group said. 
BETHLEHEM/JERUSALEM (BosNewsLife)-- Minority Christians in Gaza and the West Bank faced a dark night Saturday, December 27, as Israeli air strikes against suspected Hamas militants killed hunderds of Palestinians, and Christmas lights were shut off around Bethlehem, which Christians consider Jesus' birthplace, to protest Israel's actions. 
HAVANA, CUBA (BosNewsLife)-- A prominent evangelical church leader in Cuba will be put on trial next week and is facing a one-year prison sentence as part of what his supporters call "a government campaign to silence and discredit him," because of his refusal to work with the state-backed church organization, a Christian advocacy group confirmed Saturday, December 27. 
LAHORE, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Christian government workers were among those recovering from injuries Friday, December 26, after a mini truck laden with explosives detonated near their homes in Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city, killing one Christian woman and injuring up to six people, officials and local residents said. 
BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Christians in several parts of China were behind bars on Christmas Day after a police crackdown on worship services and Bible study, a Christian advocacy group said Thursday, December 25.
SARGODHA, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Christians in Pakistan celebrated Christmas Eve amid tight security late Wednesday, December 24, amid fears Islamic militants may try to attack churches and other Christian institutions. 
DUSHANBE/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- A major Christian rights group warned Tuesday, December 23, that many churches in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan in 2009, if a new draft law requiring them to re-register under restrictive conditions is adopted by parliament.