Syria

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos DAMASCUS, SYRIA (BosNewsLife)-- Syrian Christians fear that a prominent priest has become the latest victim of ongoing kidnappings by Islamic militants, though dozens of believers were reportedly released by the Islamic State group on Christmas Day.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service DAMASCUS, SYRIA (BosNewsLife)— Fighters of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group have released another 37 Assyrian Christians who had been kidnapped nine months ago, but hundreds of other Christian hostages remain detained, Christians confirmed Friday, November 20.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewslife reporting from Dobova, Slovenia DOBOVA, SLOVENIA (BosNewsLife)-- Christians are among record numbers of refugees rushing to Europe despite questions whether the European Union’s pledged assistance can come quickly enough to make a difference as winter sets in. Slovenia’s Prime Minister Miro Cerar has even warned that if some immediate and concrete actions on the ground is not delivered within the next few days and weeks the European Union and Europe as a whole will start falling apart.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Budapest and border areas BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Pope Francis call for solidarity with migrants fleeing war and poverty amid Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War Two comes while Hungary's government says it has completed a razor-wire barrier near the border with Serbia. It is among several measures Hungary is taking to halt back refugees after some 150,000 migrants reportedly entered the country illegally this year alone. In Budapest refugees have demanded safe passage to the West during spontaneous demonstrations over the weekend.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Budapest and border areas BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Four people remain detained after the decomposing bodies of 71 migrants fleeing war and poverty, including eight women and four children, were found in a truck on Austria's main highway after apparently arriving from neighboring Hungary. Hungarian police said they detained the suspects as part of a wider investigation into human smuggling.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Hungarian-Serbian border area ÁSOTTHALOM, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Macedonia has seen fighting among migrants at a train station as they rush to reach Serbia and from there Hungary, a European Union member state. Refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other nations are racing to reach Hungary before it finishes building a fence to keep them out.

By Martin Roth, BosNewsLife Senior Columnist MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (BosNewsLife Columns)-- I found myself in a mild Twitterstorm the other day, if Christians politely disagreeing with one another can be called a Twitterstorm on social networking service Twitter...

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (BosNewsLife)— One of Syria’s most respected church leaders has condemned the destruction of an ancient Catholic monastery by the Islamic State (IS) group and expressed concern that hundreds of kidnapped people, many of them Christians, may have been killed and Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo Antoine Audo spoke hours after news emerged that IS had destroyed the monastery in the Syrian town of Qaryatain dating back to the 5th century after Christ, and is located in central Homs province.

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (BosNewsLife)—Dozens of Christian families remained missing Saturday, August 8, after Islamic State militants seized their town in central Syria this week, the Syrian Orthodox Church and activists said.

By Martin Roth, BosNewsLife Senior Columnist DAMASCUS, SYRIA (BosNewsLife Columns)-- An article in The Times newspaper alleging atrocities by Christian militia in Syria has sparked some “I told you so” posts on social media, from people claiming that Christianity is inherently just as violent as Islam.