Evangelical leader expresses condolences to the family of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the nation of Pakistan

The leader of one of the world's largest evangelical Christian organizations has spoken out from Finland on behalf of evangelical believers against the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Still Fighting for Freedom in Burma (Myanmar) & Thailand

“While international attention has focused on the protests for democracy in Myanmar's cities, a hidden war has decimated generations of the country's powerless ethnic minorities, who have faced brutality for decades

Nine Church Leaders sent secretly to Labour Camps in Hubei Province

After nine House Church leaders were missing for almost two months, only recently have their relatives been officially informed by authorities that the nine pastors have been sentenced to re-education through labor from 12 months to 18 months.

Korean leaders issue peace call, seek formal end to Korean War

Foreign policy analysts are now taking a good look at the fine print after leaders of the two Koreas agreed on Thursday to try to bring peace to the Cold War's last frontier, just a day after the North signed up to an international deal to disable its nuclear facilities.

Welcome support from Petraeus, Crocker for the Assyrian Christians of Iraq

In between grueling testimony before the House of Representatives and Senate that ran nearly 20 hours, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker both publicly and privately expressed their support for the Assyrian Christians of Iraq and confirmed their reputations as friends of the Assyrian Christians.

The Assyrian Christians, the original people of Iraq and the people of Biblical Nineveh the setting of Jonah and the whale, became the first Christian Nation following the death of Christ.

Korean Hostages recall their ordeal

The 21 surviving South Korean Christian volunteers who were held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan for nearly six weeks have recalled how they suffered at the hands of their captors, according to a story carried on http://english.aljazeera.net.

Speaking at a press conference in Anyang after leaving hospital, Yu Jung-hwa said how she and her fellow hostages felt terrified when her captors lined them up and threatened to kill them if they did not convert to Islam.

China Surveillance Increasing As 2008 Games Approach

The following report gives some of the latest information that has been gathered in the last few of weeks from Open Doors' field staff in China. The bottom line - all is not well as the Olympic Games draw nearer. The Beijing Olympics will be held August 2008.

We may not have heard many similar reports in the international news because the Chinese authorities are pursuing a "softer approach" in order to present an "all is well" façade to the global community.

Apocalypse in Sepia-tone

As we drove along the Syrian-Turkish border, to the South (out of southern Iraq) a strange thick brown cloud was rising below the overcast and began to spread like a coffee stain across the sky. Dust storm, I thought to myself; and perhaps it was, but it was the singular most bizarre phenomenon I have ever encountered here.

Chinese Government launches nationwide campaign against uncontrolled religious activities

China Aid Association (CAA) www.chinaaid.org says reports indicate massive arrests have occurred in at least 8 provinces including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and Anhui. Some are still being detained for receiving bibles while some were persecuted by having their water and electricity cut off by the government because of hosting Sunday schools at home

British PM makes Historic Statement on Burma

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on the UN Security Council to consider "the grave situation" in Burma "at the earliest opportunity" and promised to personally raise the situation with other world leaders.

Germany:Anti-Abortionist Jailed

A German theologian has been sentenced to one year in jail for drawing a comparison between abortion and the Holocaust.

A court in Erlangen near Nuremberg found Johannes Lerle, 55, guilty of "incitement of the people" by denying the Holocaust. Lerle has launched an appeal against the verdict.

Iraqi Christians Cry Out!

There are still hundreds of Christians sleeping in the Churches because they have been made to leave their homes.

Twenty-seven of our people remain kidnapped; we have no money to get them back, so they will be killed. I have paid all my own money we have no more left, we just hope and trust that God will provide and He does. So things remain awful but our people continue to praise God.

Cosmetic Abortion

In England, it now seems, a baby can be aborted for not being pretty enough. Maybe this was inevitable as genetic screening and techniques such as ultrasound advanced. The London Daily Telegraph Web site reports that the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has licensed a fertility clinic to screen embryos for a genetic defect that causes a severe squint. A squint?

Saudis Might take Bibles from Christian Tourists

A number of items are not allowed to be brought into the kingdom due to religious reasons and local regulations," states the Web site of Saudi Arabian Airlines, the country's national airline.

After informing would-be visitors that items such as narcotics, firearms and pornography may not be transported into the country, the Web site adds: "Items and articles belonging to religions other than Islam are also prohibited. These may include Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols such as the Star of David, and others."

Evangelicals & Feminists worry about Muslim Influence

A recent family court decision in Frankfurt has caused a storm of protests right across the political, cultural and religious landscape. A German Muslim woman had requested a speedy divorce, because her Moroccan husband frequently beat and threatened to kill her.

The judge, Christa Datz-Winter, turned the request down on the grounds that the couple came from a cultural environment, in which it is common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she argued, sanctions such physical abuse. Therefore the couple would have to endure the year of separation before the divorce.

Persecution Growing Fastest in Islamic World

As many as 250 million Christians worldwide will face persecution and repression in 2007, just for following Jesus Christ, according to the latest roundup of the world's persecution hot spots by Release International.... Inspire Magazine reported that Release, a voice for the persecuted church, has found that most persecution takes place in four distinct "zones;" those of Islam, Communism, Hinduism and Buddhism. But persecution is growing fastest of all in the Islamic world.

'Chen Guangcheng: Exposing China's Brutal Population Control Tactics'

For more then 27 years, China has brutally enforced its compulsory "one child policy." This vicious means of population control is also a perpetual source of contention between China and its Western allies. During diplomatic meetings and trade talks, China minimizes or denies forced sterilizations and forced abortions.

In 2005 a young blind activist highlighted the gravity of the situation to the world, refusing to let China deny it any longer. Chen Guangcheng, affectionately called the blind "barefoot lawyer" by local villagers, is one of the great human rights activists in China.