Asia/Pacific

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan UPPER DIR, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A man selling compact discs in Pakistan's war-torn North West Frontier Province remained in critical condition Monday, November 23, after suspected Islamic militants blew up his CD shop because its collection included a film about Jesus and other Christian movies.

By BosNewsLife Asia and Middle East Services with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A growing number of Afghans, including politicians, are embracing Christianity and meet in "house churches" despite death treats and attacks by Islamic militants, according to Christians rights activists and news reports monitored by BosNewsLife Friday, May 4.

By George Whitten, BosNewsLife Senior International Correspondent SEOUL/JERUSALEM (BosNewsLife)-- North Korea has reportedly executed three Christians who were meeting in an underground church, BosNewsLife monitored Monday, August 16. Twenty others attending the same worship service were sent to notorious labor camps, said well-informed Catholic news service AsiaNews.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- The health of the jailed founder of one of China's largest evangelical house-church denominations is "rapidly deteriorating" and he may die due to a lack of medical care, his daughter and other Christians confirmed Thursday, July 3.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Seven members of a house church in China's Henan province spent Sunday, June 2, behind bars after they were sentenced to long prison terms on charges of "cult activity", a leading rights activist told BosNewsLife.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife with BosNewsLife Asia Service ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari will not immediately pardon a Christian who has been sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam, an official reportedly said Thursday, November 25.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Chinese police detained "over 100 members" of one of China's largest unregistered Protestant churches Sunday, April 10, after its members tried to hold an open-air prayer meeting in the capital Beijing, a Christian rights group said.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service reporting from Pakistan RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Arshed Masih, a Pakistani Christian who was burned by Muslim hardliners for refusing to convert to Islam, died early Tuesday, March 23, at the age of 38, his family told BosNewsLife. He had become a symbol of Christians facing persecution in Pakistan, suggested Life for All, a Pakistani advocacy group closely following the case.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with BosNewsLife Asia Correspondent Santosh Digal reporting from Manila HANOI, VIETNAM (BosNewsLife)-- Amid protests against reported church destructions, the city of Hanoi has ordered one of its districts to stop construction work on land claimed by the Catholic church, BosNewsLife monitored Thursday, May 7.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos RANGOON, BURMA (BosNewsLife)-- Burma's military ransacked a Baptist church and broke up a Christian conference of the predominantly Christian Chin community in the latest confrontation between government forces and ethnic minorities, Christian investigators told BosNewsLife Monday, March 26.