United States of America

By BosNewsLife Americas Service SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, USA (BosNewsLife)-- Surviving members of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in Texas held their first Sunday service since a gunman killed 25 of their fellow parishioners' and an unborn child last week in what was the U.S. state's worst shooting on record.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with additional reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- An Iranian-American pastor faces a possible death sentence Monday, January 21, before a judge who is notorious for hanging defendants, his family and other Christian said. Saeed Abedini, 32, has been held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since late September, after being detained while visiting family.

By BosNewsLife News Center TRIPOLI/ROME/WASHINGTON (BosNewsLife)-- Italian police say they have detained 15 Muslims who allegedly threw 12 Christians from an overcrowded migrant boat after they expressed faith in Jesus Christ. Vatican Radio, citing survivors, reported that the Christians had been praying for their lives during during a recent crossing from Libya.

By BosNewsLife Americas Service HAVANA/WASHINGTON (BosNewsLife)-- A pastor who was jailed for leading independent churches in Cuba has arrived with his wife and children in the United States "as refugees", the church leader and activists said Friday, February 1.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife TEHRAN/BERLIN (BosNewsLife)-- Iranian-born American Pastor Saeed Abedini was expected to receive medical attention in Germany on Sunday, January 17, after he was released by Iran following more than three years of imprisonment in what his wife said were harsh circumstances. Naghmeh Abedini told reporters that after she learned Saeed Abedini was released early Saturday, January 16, she woke their two children saying: "Daddy is coming home."

By BosNewsLife News Center WASHINGTON D.C., USA (BosNewsLife)-- The leader of one of the United States' most influential Christian family groups has resigned.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife NEW YORK, USA (BosNewsLife)-- Donna Summer has arrived where she wanted to be most: at home with the Lord. At least that's what later songs reveal of the American superstar and married mother of three children who passed away at age 63 after losing her battle with cancer.

By BosNewsLife News Center CHARLOTTE, USA (BosNewsLife)-- Cliff Barrows, the longtime music and program director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) who accompanied the famed evangelists for decades, has died after a brief illness. He was 93. Barrows died Tuesday, November 15, at Carolinas Medical Center-Pineville, the BGEA said.

By BosNewsLife News Center with reporting from the United States and Israel NEWTOWN/JERUSALEM (BosNewsLife)-- Christian mourners in Newtown, Connecticut, saw their prayers interrupted when they were evacuated at a Roman Catholic church as a bomb threat was reported by officials during services at the church, about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the site of Friday's school shooting where 20 children were killed.

By Martin Roth, BosNewsLife Senior Special Correspondent WASHINGTON, USA (BosNewsLife)-- Christians will find little comfort in the U.S. State Department’s recently released International Religious Freedom Report. It confirms what many Christians already knew: The new phenomenon of non-state terrorism has supplanted oppression by government to become the main threat to religious freedom.