The isolated communist nation of North Korea remains atop the Open Doors “World Watch List” of countries where Christians are persecuted. The annual list ranks countries according to the intensity of persecution Christians face for actively pursuing their faith.
Indian Christian, Prabhu Isaac, is due to be deported from Jiddah tonight after spending more than six months in Saudi prisons in connection with his Christian faith.
Jerusalem, Israel (Worthy News) — Just before 9 A.M. this morning at least 10 people were killed and 50 wounded when a bomb was detonated in a bus traveling down Gaza Road in Jerusalem, Israel. The explosion occurred near the home of Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, who was not home at the time, and also near the Moment Café, where 11 people were killed in a previous attack in March of 2002.
In Orissa, India, where missionary Staines and his two sons were martyred, Gospel workers continue to face persecution.
In a country where Christians are roundly despised and persecuted, Lao officials recently awarded certificates of recognition to two church groups for competing in local athletic events.
A Philippine missionary working among minority groups on Mindanao Island was shot and murdered on January 17.
The Voice of the Martyrs has learned that Vietnamese police, anxious to stop the spread of Christianity in their nation, have resorted to spraying worshippers with an unidentified chemical agent. Underground church services were raided and believers sprayed in two separate attacks last month. Victims of the attacks report that the chemical gas causes seizures and uncontrollable shaking.
Several Christians and Westerners have been killed in violent attacks as anti-Christian violence spreads throughout the mainly Islamic, impoverished African nation, Barnabas Fund said Friday Dec. 19.
ISTANBUL, January 18 (Compass) — Less than 24 hours after armed gunmen kidnapped the Syrian Catholic archbishop of Mosul, the 66-year-old cleric was set free today unharmed.
Reverend Damanik, a key Christian leader working for an end to the violence in Indonesia, has been poisoned while being detained for the last four months.
An inflammatory pamphlet being distributed in Pakistan by Islamic fundamentalists calls on Muslims to kill Westerners and Christians wherever and whenever they may be found.
Indonesia watchers are saying that the recent violence by Islamic radicals in the 13,000-island nation may actually be driving people from Islam.
t the beginning of the 20th century (1900), Buddhism claimed a following of around 20 percent of the world’s population. By the end of the 20th century it was down to 5 percent. This is largely because Buddhists have historically been found primarily in East and South East Asia, a region that has suffered severely from atheist-fundamentalist (Communist) persecution of all religion. Buddhism has not survived and revived as Christianity has.
Hindu radicals attacked missionaries working among the Dhakti Bhils in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan Christmas week.
Hwang Jang-yop was once a spokesman for late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung and his son and successor, Kim Jong Il. He has lived under the protection of South Korean intelligence since becoming the most senior defector from the North in 1997. AFP quotes Hwang as saying, “The suffering and pain of the North Korean people under the current dictatorial regime are much more severe and tragic than what we experienced during the 36 year colonial rule by the Japanese or what we went through during the Korean War.”
While the Kurds of Northern Iraq are well known, for some reason almost completely ignored in the current discussion are 1.2 million Assyrian Christians living, many in their historic lands in Iraq.
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was getting battered at home, British Prime Minister Tony Blair was hosting Sharon’s chief opponent in the upcoming Israeli elections, Labor Party chairman Amram Mitzna. Blair said on Thursday that he would work toward reversing England’s restrictions on exporting security-related equipment to Israel.
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — Israeli politics reached a crescendo of scandal and media hype on Thursday night as embattled Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, walloped in the past week by accusations of wrongdoing, was cut off mid-sentence during a speech to answer charges of improper campaign financing in the 1999 elections.
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — Two Syrian soldiers crossed into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Wednesday, the first reported infiltration since September 2001.
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — The web sites of the cult-UFO group, Rael, which claimed last week to have cloned a woman, are rife with potent anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli propaganda tucked among movement’s doctrines and cloning stories.