Europe

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iran has sentenced Saeed Abedini, an Iranian-American pastor, to eight years imprisonment for evangelism and there are fears he may die behind bars, a friend told BosNewsLife Sunday, January 27.

Listen to a BosNewsLife shorter version via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BUDAPEST/PRAGUE (BosNewsLife)-- Left-leaning former Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman has won his country's first direct presidential elections with about 55 percent of the vote. The international community was closely watching the voting as it will impact the Czech Republic's future relations with the European Union.

Listen to the BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:  By BosNewsLife News Center with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos WARSAW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Poland's Catholic Church is mourning Cardinal Jozef Glemp who has died at the age of 83 after an often turbulent life in which he supported the country's peaceful struggle against communism.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BELGRADE/PRISTINA/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Serbian Orthodox Christians in Kosovo struggle with a "sharp rise" in threats and vandalism against their churches and other religious sites, human rights investigators told BosNewsLife Tuesday, January 22.

By BosNewsLife Europe Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos STRASBOURG,FRANCE (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian Europarliamentarian has urged Ireland to use its European Union presidency to tackle the world's "growing persecution of Christians."

By BosNewsLife News Center STRASBOURG/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian employee of British Airways (BA) has won a landmark legal battle over her right to wear a cross at work.

(WARNING:The report contains a short described explicit scene. Reader discretion advised) By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife EDMONTON, CANADA (BosNewsLife)-- A prominent Anglican priest says he will lose his house after being fired by bishops and other authorities for revealing sexual abuse within Canada's Anglican Church and the prison system.

Listen to BosNewsLife News via the Voice of America BosNewsLife2ndUpdate  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (BosNewsLife)-- Official results show former leftist prime minister Milos Zeman has won the first round of the Czech Republic's first direct presidential vote since the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993.  Zeman, however, faces tough competition in a second round to replace the euro-skeptic Vaclav Klaus.

Listen to BosNewsLife's News via Voice of America BosNewsLifeCzechUpdate By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (BosNewsLife)-- Polling stations have reopened in the Czech Republic for the country's first direct presidential elections since the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993, with a fully tattooed artist and two former prime ministers among the hopefuls.

Listen to BosNewsLife News via the Voice of America BosNewsLifeElection By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (BosNewsLife)-- Citizens in the Czech Republic are voting in the first direct presidential elections in their nation's 20-year history. Among the three favorite candidates is the man who wants to become Europe's first popularly elected Jewish head of state and one unusually colorful candidate