CIS (ex-USSR)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Budapest BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has called on America's European allies to step-up their defense efforts, saying they the face growing security threats from outside Europe. Biden made the comments in Bucharest, Romania Thursday, October 22, before ending his Central and Eastern European tour in the Czech Republic.

BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest BUDAPEST/MINSK (BosNewsLife)-- Two Danish men are being deported from Belarus on charges of expressing "ideas of a religious nature", after dozens of foreign Christians were already expelled from the former Soviet republic.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest BUDAPEST/ASHGABAT (BosNewsLife)-- A Protestant pastor in Turkmenistan was sentenced to a four-year prison term Thursday, October 21, on what church members said were "fake charges" of swindling to "punish" him for his religious activities.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Initial election results of Sunday's blood-stained referendum in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region claim nearly nine out of 10 voters want to breakaway from the country.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest with BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos ASHGABAT/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- A Pentecostal pastor remained in police custody Tuesday, August 31, in Turkmenistan where he faces five years imprisonment and confiscation of properties for "large-scale swindling", charges his wife and church members strongly deny, rights activists said.

By BosNewsLife News Center BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Thursday, July 16, "strongly condemned" the murder of Natalya Estemirova, a prominent journalist and human rights activist who was found dead in Ingushetia, following her kidnapping the previous day at her home in Grozny, the Chechen capital.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KIEV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Russia has denied it is waging a trade war with Ukraine to keep its former Soviet neighbour from establishing closer political and economic ties with the European Union.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Budapest BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Hungary is commemorating its crushed 1956 Revolution against Soviet domination and the 20th anniversary of its declaration as an independent republic, marking the end of communism.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Devoted Christians in Hungary and the Middle East stood up against Nazism or Islamic extremism this week, while others worshiped Christ behind bars, between bomb explosions and in bitter cold conditions.

By Eric Leijenaar, BosNewsLife Senior Special Correspondent reporting from the Netherlands and BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos at BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest TASHKENT/BUDAPEST/AMSTERDAM (BosNewsLife)-- An international protest was underway Tuesday, May 12, to obtain the release of a detained, frail, evangelical pastor in Uzbekistan, who came to symbolize what rights investigators described as widespread persecution of Christians and other minorities in Central Asia.