Asia/Pacific

(UPDATE, CHANGING LEAD, ADDING EVANGELISM DETAILS) By BosNewsLife Asia Service NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Minority Christians in India have expressed concern about an ongoing crackdown on evangelism after several believers, including children, were detained for "forcing" conversions.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service HANOI, VIETNAM (BosNewsLife)-- Two Mennonite church leaders have survived an attack by five men in Vietnam but are still recovering of their injuries, Christians told BosNewsLife. Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and his associate pastor were reportedly assaulted with bricks and rocks and, after collapsing to the ground, kicked relentlessly near their Bible college north of Ho Chi Minh City.

By Martin Roth, BosNewsLife Senior Columnist PORTO-NOVO, BENIN (BosNewsLife Columns)-- Events in the Middle East during 2014, and now in Paris at the start of 2015,suggest that militant Islamism is on the move. At the same time it often seems that the persecution of Christians is intensifying throughout the Muslim world

By BosNewsLife News Center with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A devoted Baptist church member in Kazakhstan can't leave the country and may lose his garage because he refuses to pay fines for attending a worship meeting without state permission, BosNewsLife learned Friday, January 12.

By Martin Roth, BosNewsLife Senior Columnist SEOUL/PYONGYANG (BosNewsLife Columns)-- For the 12th straight year the Open Doors organization has ranked North Korea as the country in which the persecution of Christians is most severe. Its annual World Watch List, released in December, notes that an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 North Korean Christians are imprisoned in labor camps.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD (BosNewsLife)-- Christians were among those grieving as officials confirmed that Taliban militants stormed an army-run school in the northwestern city of Peshawar killing at least 145 people, most of them children.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Persecution of minority Christians in India is escalating ahead of Christmas with attacks reported in several areas including in southern regions and the capital New Delhi. In one of the latest known incidents Saturday, December 13, evangelical Christians were attacked and beaten by Hindu militants for singing Christmas carols in India's southern city of Hyderabad, seriously injuring a pastor and four others, rights activists told BosNewsLife.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife ISLAMABAD/STRASBOURG (BosNewsLife)-- The European Parliament (EP) on Thursday, November 26, urged Pakistan to withdraw blasphemy laws after a Christian mother of five lost her appeal against the death penalty

By BosNewsLife Asia Service NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Christians in southern India were recovering from injuries after a church was attacked by dozens of Hindu fighters, church members said Wednesday, November 26. Some 25 Hindu fighters broke into the Calvary Apostolic Church congregation in the town of Bangarapet in Karnataka during a church service Sunday, November 23, according to witnesses.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service KATHMANDU, NEPAL (BosNewsLife)-- An advocacy group has urged Nepal's assembly meant to write a new constitution and serve as Parliament to guarantee religious freedom of Christians and other minorities, amid calls for a constitutional ban on all conversions to Christianity or other religions.