Asia/Pacific

By Santosh Digal, BosNewsLife Asia Correspondent reporting from India NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Church leaders in India on Wednesday, June 30, welcomed a seven year jail sentence for a leader of an influential Hindu party who was seen as the mastermind behind anti-Christian violence in India's eastern state of Orissa that killed scores of people in 2008.

By Mark H.J. Fino, BosNewsLife Special Asia Correspondent KATHMANDU, NEPAL (BosNewsLife)-- Seven evangelical lay Christians Christians and a pastor who were detained and allegedly mistreated in Nepal after being caught handing out Bibles to children have been released but could face a trial for "proselytizing", church sources told BosNewsLife.

By Jawad Mazhar, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent reporting from Pakistan LAHORE, PAKISTAN-- A court has released a Christian man and his teenage daughter who were imprisoned in Pakistan's Punjab province for over a year on what they described as “trumped up” charges of blasphemy.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service reporting from Pakistan LAHORE, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Police in Pakistan's province of Punjab have launched an investigation into reports that Muslim extremists killed a Christian for refusing to convert to Christianity. It comes at a time when Christians in the region are also prosecuted for alleged blasphemy against Islam.

By Martin Roth, BosNewsLife Senior Columnist SEOUL, KOREA (BosNewsLife Columns)-- It's easy nowadays to overlook North Korea. Many Christians who are burdened by the plight of the persecuted church now direct much of their prayer to the Middle East, where the flood of horrific news seems ceaseless. By contrast, so encompassing is the veil of secrecy over North Korea that we hear little about the suffering of Christians there.

By Martin Roth, BosNewsLife Senior Columnist SEOUL/PYONGYANG (BosNewsLife Columns)-- Koreans think big. Many churches in South Korea are, from this year, putting aside one per cent of their annual income for a special fund to help advance unification with North Korea and build up the church there.

By Martin Roth, BosNewsLife Senior Columnist BANGKOK, THAILAND (BosNewsLife Columns)-- The impact of the massive wave of Christian refugees from the Middle East has been so overwhelming that, sadly, we too often forget that Christian refugee groups are suffering in other parts of the world.

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 KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (BosNewsLife)-- Worshipers of a Pentecostal church that was burned by suspected Islamic arsonists in a suburb of the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur have forgiven those who destroyed their building, a senior pastor said Sunday, January 10.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- China's government has issued a secret directive to dismantle at least six major house churches in and outside the capital Beijing ahead of the upcoming 60th anniversary of Communist rule in the country, according to Christian right investigators.