Asia/Pacific

By BosNewsLife Asia Service PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Minority Christians in Pakistan faced a bloody New Year as local tribesmen prepared for funerals Saturday, January 2, shortly after the deadliest suicide attack in Pakistan's history killed at least 95 people.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service DHAKA, BANGLADESH (BosNewsLife)-- Islamic militants have claimed responsibility for the murder of a Christian grocer who was hacked to death Sunday, June 5, after Sunday prayers near a church in northwest Bangladesh. The Islamic State (IS) group said the attack was "part of a series of operations" targeting Christians and other religious minorities in the impoverished Asian nation.

By BosNewsLife Asia News Service ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Pakistani police have detained two Muslim boys for allegedly raping a Christian girl and advocacy groups hope it will encourage security forces to also take action against others attacking minority Christians in this heavily Islamic nation.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Four Christians in India's eastern state of Jharkhand, who were in prison since May on charges of forced conversion, have been released, an advocacy group says.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Thousands of Muslims burned down a Lutheran church as well as its school and adjacent homes in Pakistan Friday, September 21, injuring several Christians in violent protests against an anti-Islam film that elsewhere killed dozens of Pakistanis, church sources and rights activists told BosNewsLife.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- A Chinese house church pastor who has been detained since December 9, 2015, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison by a court in China’s central Guizhou province on controversial charges of “divulging state secrets,”, trial observers said.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife with BosNewsLife Asia Service BEIJING/WASHINGTON (BosNewsLife)-- Sixteen members of the United States Congress have urged U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss human rights with her Chinese counterpart, amid fresh reports that Chinese house church Christians and pro-democracy activists were harassed during her recent visit to China.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife LAHORE, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Pakistani Christian boy who was set on fire by young Muslims after he professed his faith in Jesus Christ has died of his injuries, several sources told BosNewsLife Wednesday, April 15.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service reporting from Pakistan PESHAWAR/LAHORE (BosNewsLife)-- A Pakistani Christian family was hiding Sunday, October 13, after allegedly receiving death threats for protesting against twin suicide attacks at a historic church in the violence-plagued city of Peshawar, in which their friends were killed. As many as 171 people died and some 150 people were injured in the September blasts at Peshawar's All Saints Church, church officials said,

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with additional reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos SEOUL/PYONGYANG (BosNewsLife)-- The ex-girlfriend of North Korea's autocratic leader Kim Jong-un and nearly a dozen others have reportedly been executed after some of those detained were found to have Bibles in their possession.