Asia/Pacific

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife with reporting from Burma RANGOON, BURMA (BosNewsLife)-- Burmese troops kill or torture civilians and destroy church buildings and even entire villages of the predominantly Christian Kachin minority despite pledges from Burma's nominally civilian government that it seeks ceasefire agreements with ethnic groups, investigators said Sunday, February 12.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Chinese authorities have stepped up their "longstanding opposition to Christianity" in China last year, an influential human rights said in comments monitored by BosNewsLife Thursday, February 2.

By Santosh Digal, BosNewsLife Asia Correspondent reporting from India BHUBANESWAR, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- A Hindu extremist attacked the home of a frail protestant pastor who survived previous attacks by Hindu militants in India's eastern Orissa state, where at least two church leaders were killed last year, his wife and missionaries told BosNewsLife Thursday, January 26.  

By BosNewsLife Asia Service BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)- China has unexpectedly released the deputy chairman of a major organization representing the country's growing number of house churches, after he served six months of a two-year "re-education through labor" sentence, rights activists told BosNewsLife Tuesday January 24.  

By BosNewsLife Asia Service NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- An Afghan Christian widow and three of her daughters faced possible deportation from India to their homeland Friday, January 20, despite concerns they may be killed or jailed for “apostasy”, after a UN agency reportedly refused to grant them refugee status.  

By BosNewsLife Asia Service NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Foreign and Indian Christians are fleeing India's troubled Kashmir Valley after an Islamic court ordered the expulsion of Christian leaders and directed the state government to monitor Christian missionary schools in the area, trial observers said Thursday, January 19.  

By VOA Correspondent Ayaz Gul reporting from Islamabad, special to BosNewsLife ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibilty for the Tuesday killing of Pakistani reporter Mukarram Khan Aatif, who worked for the Voice of America (VOA). Aatif was assassinated in Shabqadar, a small town located in the violence-hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, not far from Peshawar.

By BosNewsLife News Center VATICAN CITY/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)--  The Vatican's missionary news agency says more than two dozen priests, nuns and lay Catholics were killed worldwide in 2011, BosNewsLife monitored Monday, January 16.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos VIENTIANE, LAOS (BosNewsLife)-- Seven Christian leaders who were detained and tortured for nearly a month in southern Laos have been released, but concerns remain about "the confiscation" of church buildings, an official assisting them told BosNewsLife Friday, January 13.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos RANGOON, BURMA (BosNewsLife)-- Churches and Buddhist monasteries in a mining area of Burma's northern Kachin state have taken in nearly 1,000 refugees, many of them Christians, since New Year's Day, after the Burmese military reportedly attacked a church and killed several people, BosNewsLife established Tuesday, January 10.