Asia/Pacific

--Late Author Accused Of Stealing Identity By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Budapest BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- A Hungarian-born Jewish survivor of Nazi death camps isn't surprised that only a few people attended the funeral for self-proclaimed Holocaust witness and famed author Elie Wiesel. "They buried Wiesel quickly after his death so journalists could not see that he didn't have a tattoo of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp," said Nikolaus (Miklós) Grüner.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- European legislators have visited Pakistan amid concerns that Christian Asia Bibi, a married mother of five, may become the first woman to be executed by the State on controversial charges of 'blasphemy against Islam.'

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos BEIJING/SEOUL (BosNewsLife)-- Christian rights activists have urged China not to forcibly repatriate ten North Korean defectors, including a four-year-old child, who were detained by police in Shenyang city.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A 70-year old Christian man who was detained in Pakistan on controversial charges of "blasphemy" against Islam has died, a friend and rights lawyer told BosNewsLife. "Mukhtar Masih, who was released on bail in May this year, died Tuesday, November 2," confirmed Sardar Mushtaq Gill who leads the Pakistan-based Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD) group.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service DHAKA, BANGLADESH (BosNewsLife)-- A British Christian aid organization wants to build homes for the first group of thousands of homeless Christian Santal people in northern Bangladesh, a year after security forces destroyed their houses killing several villagers. "Next Monday will be the first anniversary of a night of terrible violence against Christians in Bangladesh when over 5,500 lost their homes and three were killed," Barnabas Fund told BosNewsLife.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service YANGON, BURMA (BosNewsLife)-- A Burmese court has sentenced two ethnic Kachin Baptist pastors to prison terms for "supporting rebels and defaming the military" after they guided journalists around a church which was bombed by the Burmese military, trial observers told BosNewsLife.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Prominent Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who was jailed after defending prosecuted Christians and other minorities, says China now faces its “harshest and most brutal political oppression since the end of Mao Zedong’s rule.”

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Budapest, Hungary BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Hungary's anti-migration government says it wants to shelter a limited number of Christians facing persecution after mounting criticism that this heavily Catholic and Protestant nation is closing its borders to most refugees.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service KATHMANDU, NEPAL (BosNewsLife)-- Four Nepali Christians who were sentenced in December 2016 to five years imprisonment for "violence and witchcraft" after praying for a mentally ill woman have been released, rights activists confirmed Friday, October 6.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Chinese Christians say authorities in China have shut down a church-run academy in the central Henan province as the ruling Communist Party has intensified government control over religious activities ahead of an important political meeting next month.