The world’s leading industrialized nations threatened on Wednesday to impose harder-hitting sanctions on Russia if it does not help restore stability to eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian militias continue to operate at will.
Group of Seven leaders expressed their concern about tensions between China and a number of other Asian countries over resources in the East and South China Seas and warned against any use of force.
“Jerusalem is the heart of the nation. It will never be divided,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said. He spoke on Tuesday night, at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav Kook, to mark the anniversary of the capital’s reunification, 47-years ago. From 1948 and until the Six-Day War in 1967, the city was split between Israel and Jordan.
European elections reach their culmination on “Super Sunday” when the remaining 20 of the EU’s 28 countries go to the polls, with the vote expected to confirm the dominance of pro-European centrists despite a rise in support for the far-right and left.
A Christian father of three has been jailed in Kazakhstan for refusing to pay a fine for leading a worship service in his own home, according to Barnabas Aid.
An official report by the Directorate General of Antiquities has documented the destruction inflicted on Maaloula and its historical sites by Islamist rebel fighters after pro-Assad forces had regained the Syrian city, according to International Christian Concern.
Christian organizations in Russia that teach secular education may face harassment from government officials, according to Barnabas Aid.
Last week’s disappearance of an Italian Jesuit priest in Syria suggested foul play following the kidnappings of two other clergy in April, according to Morning Star News.
Iranian Pastor Behnam Irani, who may face the death penalty for “apostasy”, is facing serious health problems after two years imprisonment, a close friend has told Worthy News.
The Executive Council of Pakistan’s Christian Congress issued a press release Saturday condemning the upcoming national election because 51 percent of Pakistani women and 18 percent of Pakistan’s population will not be voting for any candidates.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is suing the U.S. Treasury Department to remove “In God We Trust” from all its currency.
Supporters of an American pastor imprisoned in Iran for his faith have appealed to the UN for help.
A Christian woman has won a court case concerning her right to visibly wear a cross in the workplace.
Belarus continues to keep its religious communities confined within an invisible ghetto of regulations, according to Forum 18.
Iran has launched the “systematic persecution and prosecution” of “Protestants and Christian converts” with a Muslim background, closing churches, detaining believers and threatening some with execution, a new report claims.
Beleaguered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was to deliver a speech on Sunday, January 6, a day after rights activists said a shell hit a Christian area of Damascus and a car bomb exploded elsewhere in the Syrian capital.
A Muslim cleric has issued a fatwa threatening Iraqi Christians unless they convert to Islam, but the country’s prime minister urged them to stay.
A Protestant pastor who faced deportation from Kazakhstan to his native Uzbekistan and up to 15 years imprisonment for leading an unregistered house church has been flown to safety, his supporters confirmed.
One of the largest evangelical congregations in Belarus confirmed that authorities at the last moment decided not to evict them from their building, following years of judicial wrangling.
An oppressive religious law adopted by Kazakhstan last year has reduced the number of officially recognized religions from 46 to 17, according to Eurasianet.