Asian

Vicar of Anatolia warns that the Christian community is at ‘great risk’ after the earthquake

The Christian community “is at great risk” and still reeling from the quake of 6 February. Amid “great desperation”, only a handful of Christians are left in places like Antakya (Antioch), the core of the devastation, this according to Bishop Paolo Bizzeti, vicar of Anatolia. In Turkey’s quake-ravaged regions, everything has to be rebuilt from […]

Report accuses former President Rajapaksa of obstructing mass grave investigations

Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is accused of tampering with police records to obstruct investigations into mass graves discovered in an area where he served as a military officer during a Marxist rebellion in 1989. The charges are contained in a report entitled ‘Mass Graves and Failed Exhumations’ publish-ed by a number of activist […]

Philippines against US request to let 50,000 Afghan refugees in the country

Some Philippine government officials and politicians are opposed to a US request to temporarily host about 50,000 Afghan refugees before they are moved to the United States. “While the proposed arrangement is humanitarian in nature, it will not involve the admission or hosting of Afghan refugees,” said the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs in a […]

Japanese Protestant daughter introduces mother to Catholic Church

Kazuko Nabeshima was born 70 years ago in Nomozaki at the southern tip of the Nagasaki Peninsula, a town now part of Nagasaki City. But was “never religious” despite her peninsula housing many churches. She left Nagasaki after graduating from school to take up a job and lived for more than 30 years without any […]

Bible students study China’s Communist Party Congress

Students at a Bible school in China attended a study session on last year’s 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and were urged to pay respect to three Christian figures who became associates of the party, says a report. The Shaanxi Bible School in north-western Shaanxi province, managed by the state-sanctioned Protestant […]

Poverty, hunger drive suicides in North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered local authorities to take suicide prevention measures after various media re-ports revealed families committed suicide due to hunger and poverty. Kim officially defined suicide as an “act of treason against socialism” and issued a confidential suicide prevention order during emergency meetings of the party leaders all over […]

Indonesia to relax building rules for worship Places

The Indonesian government has decided to ease rules for building houses of worship, including churches, by initiating changes to a 17-year-old decree, considered a major barrier to such plans. Religion Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas told law-makers on June 5 that the Joint Ministerial Decree of 2006 will be revised, doing away with the need […]

Chinese Christians jailed for printing religious materials

A court in China’s Shandong province handed down jail terms to a pastor and a co-worker of an independent house church for alleged “illegal business operations.” Pastor Qin Sifeng and co-worker Su Minjun of Beijing Lampstand Church were sentenced to five and a half years, and three and half years respectively, ChinaAid reported on June […]

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Pope: Red Cross’ humanitarian work shows that fraternity is possible

New Vatican document lists ‘grave violations’ of human dignity