Europe

By BosNewsLife News Center WASHINGTON/TOKYO/BUDAPEST-- Officials on Monday, March 23, began investigating plane crashes in three countries which killed 16 people, most of them in United States, where aviation experts wanted to know why a single-engine plane plunged into a cemetery in the northwestern state of Montana.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BISHKEK/BUDAPEST-- The organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, said Friday, July 25, that Kyrgyzstan's presidential wass overshadowed by widespread irregularities to ensure victory of the incumbent leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Budapest BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Hungarian Catholic Priest Imre Kozma seems a humble man. Yet the priest made world news when his Budapest church and the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service he founded accommodated tens of thousands of East German refugees in 1989, when Germany was still a divided nation.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Budapest, Hungary BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Hungary's elected official for defending fundamental civil rights has asked the country's top court to overturn controversial church legislation, amid concerns the law violates religious freedom and the constitutional separation of church and state.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BUDAPEST/BELGRADE (BosNewsLife)-- The United Nations International Court of Justice has ruled that Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 does not violate international law.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest ASTANA/BAKU/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Kazakhstan's Supreme Court has acquitted an evangelical pastor on charges of "severe damage to health due to negligence” after praying for an ill man, but devoted Christians in another former Soviet republic, Azerbaijan, were awaiting whether a high court would ban their church, BosNewsLife learned Saturday, June 30

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent, BosNewsLife MINSK/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Belarus has denied allegations of large-scale torture in a secret service jail for political prisoners. The statement comes after a just-released former presidential candidate and a leading activist spoke to reporters about the alleged mistreatment of inmates.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Johan Th. Bos in the Netherlands and Stefan J. Bos at BosNewsLife News Center AMSTERDAM/JAKARTA (BosNewsLife)-- The Dutch far right Party for Freedom (PVV) says the Netherlands should demand that Indonesia improves protection of Christians amid reports that hard-line Muslims prepare for a religious war with that country's Christian minority.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent, BosNewsLife SOFIA/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Bulgaria's parliament on Thursday, February 21, accepted the resignation of the government following violent protests fueled by outrage over rising energy prices blamed on foreign-controlled companies.  The Cabinet in the European Union's poorest country quit amid a wider debate in Europe about EU-demanded privatization of public utilities in member states.

By BosNewsLife News Center MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- There were fears Sunday, November 29, of more tensions between Christians and Muslims in Russia after suspected Islamist rebels bombed a train that killed 25 people and a gunmen murdered a missionary priest.