Journalists were further plunged into mourning Wednesday amid confirmation that a veteran cameraman and a 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist working for Fox News were killed while reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has spoken with the Vatican on ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vatican and Russian sources say.
A Baptist Church in Chelm, Poland has removed its pews and pulpit and set up beds for hundreds of Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of their country next door, CBN News reports.
Non-white Christians trying to escape war-torn Ukraine are among refugees facing abuse by Ukrainian security forces, aid workers told Worthy News.
Two leaders of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) in Sudan’s Al Jazirah state were arrested and detained last month after Muslim extremists complained that the church was disrespectful to their religion, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
As battles rage in Ukraine, Christians and Jews are praying the Bible’s Psalm 31, including in bomb shelters and other locations, Worthy News learned.
Ukraine says Russian forces have seized Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, and there is concern about the use of cluster bombs in the ongoing Russian invasion. With the offensive escalating, many people flee the war-torn nation, including to the Hungarian- Ukrainian border.
The Jewish Agency for Israel has asked the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) for assistance in the urgent evacuation of Ukrainian Jews to Israel as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. Based in Jerusalem, the ICEJ has been helping to facilitate Jewish “Aliyah” (immigration to Israel) from Ukraine for almost 40 years.
A Christian woman in China has published a letter asking believers to pray for her husband, who has been imprisoned for leading the Panshi house church in China’s Shizuishan, and for the church itself, China Aid reports. China ranks 17 on the US Open Doors Watch List of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
As Christians in Ukraine look to Jesus amid the Russian invasion launched on Thursday, the Kyiv Theological Seminary has called on believers around the world to pray for the country and for the Ukrainian church, Christian Headlines (CH) reports.
International Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio (TWR) said late Friday that its affiliate in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was “cut off from its office and studio” while battles raged between government forces and Russian troops attacking the city. In a statement to Worthy News, TWR confirmed that the local “director and staff” of its broadcasting partner initially thought they gathered safely outside Kyiv “to set up makeshift broadcast facilities in a house basement.” However, “before a day had passed, our colleagues heard small-arms fire nearby. They were considering whether to relocate farther from the battlefront,” TWR added.
This month marks the fourth anniversary of the abduction of Nigerian Christian schoolgirl Leah Sharibu, who was kidnapped together with 109 other girls by the Boko Haram terror group in northeastern Nigeria on February 19, 2018, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Leah is the last remaining captive of the 110 girls abducted from Nigeria’s Government Girls’ Science and Technical College in 2018.
A young man who had just come to faith in Christ in Kadama, Uganda was violently assaulted and severely injured by Muslim relatives enraged that he has left Islam, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Assaults by Muslim family members against Christian converts have become an increasing concern in Uganda.
Hindu extremists on February 5 destroyed two church buildings in separate states in India, Voice of the Martyrs Canada (VOM) reports. Persecution against Christians in India has intensified greatly since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.
The United States says Russia has likely amassed as many as 190,000 troops near and in Ukraine, suggesting a full-scale invasion remains possible.
A prosecutor in China’s Inner Mongolia has suggested a 15-year prison sentence be given to the first of four Christian defendants arrested for selling Bibles last year, International Christian Concern (ICC). China banned the online sale of Bibles in 2018, and many Bible sellers have been arrested.
Around 12,000 farmers and agribusiness stewards are expected to gather in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday for an event known as Global Agricultural Day of Prayer, CBN reports. Organized by the Praying Farmers group, the event is expected to be followed online by as many as one million people around the globe.
Nigeria ranked number one in the world last year for the number of Christians murdered by Islamic jihadists: 3,462 Nigerian Christians were slaughtered in what rights groups have described as a “killing field” for Christians. In its 2021 annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) warned of a “Christian genocide” if the Nigerian government does not protect its Christian communities.
US missionaries in Ukraine have issued urgent calls for prayer for protection and for wisdom on whether to stay or leave as the current, dangerous Russia-Ukraine standoff continues, Christianity Today (CT) reports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, “we don’t want war in Europe,” but doubts remained despite Moscow announcing a partial pullback of forces near Ukraine.