News

‘I identify with Chibok parents, I too am a victim, I lost my son’ – UN award winner Rebecca Dali

  August 21, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, EYN, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Rebecca Dali

Rebecca Dali’s son Timothy, 18, left the house one evening, telling her he was going to visit his friend. “Are you sure?” she asked. It was immediately after the 2011 Nigerian elections, when inter-religious tensions were high. His friend lived across town, in an area where Timothy might be at . . . Read More

‘Pakistan’s Mother Theresa’ honoured with state funeral

  August 18, 2017 Pakistan Catholics, Karachi, Pakistan, Sindh

For the first time in the recent history of Pakistan, a Christian, who is actually a German but adopted Pakistan has her homeland, is being honoured with a state funeral. Dr Ruth Pfau, who was 87, died on 10 August. Pakistan’s new Prime Minister, Shahid Abbasi, announced the state funeral . . . Read More

Modi accused of hypocrisy after BJP bulldozes through India’s latest ‘anti-conversion law’

  August 17, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Dalits, Gujarat, Hindu nationalism, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Rajasthan

Church leaders in India have joined the chorus of protest against the BJP-led government, known for espousing a Hindu nationalist agenda, hurrying through an “anti-conversion law” in the eastern state of Jharkhand. The Freedom of Religion Bill, which was introduced and passed on the same day (12 August) in the . . . Read More

North Korea: freed pastor Hyeon Soo Lim welcomed home with ‘joyful crying’

  August 16, 2017 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea

The large congregation of Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, Canada was ecstatic on Sunday (13 August) in welcoming home their Senior Pastor, Hyeon Soo Lim, held for more than two years of a life sentence in a North Korean labour camp. The church was also crowded with media personnel . . . Read More

Sweden to Iranian convert it plans to deport: ‘It’s not our problem you chose to become a Christian’

  August 16, 2017 Aideen Strandsson, Amin Afshar Naderi, Apostasy, Asylum seekers, Converts, Europe, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Migrants, Netherlands, Refugees, Sharia, Sweden, UK

An Iranian convert to Christianity has been refused asylum in Sweden, placing her at risk of deportation and “torture and rape” in jail in her home country. Aideen Strandsson, 37, who was baptised in Sweden in 2014, said officials at the country’s Migration Board did not believe her life would . . . Read More

70 years after Pakistan’s founding, what PM’s recent ousting means for minorities

  August 14, 2017 Pakistan Blasphemy, Divorce, Imran Khan, India, Islamic extremism, Jamaat-e-Islami, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Mumtaz Qadri, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan Peoples Party, PTI, Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, Sindh, Taliban

Pakistan celebrates its 70th birthday today (14 August). And there’s a new Prime Minister after Nawaz Sharif, founder of the largest political party, was disqualified by the apex court on 29 July on charges of not being “righteous” and “ameen”*. This Supreme Court decision about Sharif “will throw the governing . . . Read More

Ethiopia: church attacked, then told to close and member arrested for ‘inciting religious clashes’

  August 11, 2017 Ethiopia Amhara, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Mahibere Kidusan, Pentecostals, Tigray

A Pentecostal church in Ethiopia has been ordered to stop meeting in a residential area, in the wake of a mob attack on the church, after which a church member was arrested for “illegal activities” that “incited religious clashes”. The Full Gospel Church in Tikil Dingaye, 20km from the historic . . . Read More

Egypt: second Copt in two years dies mysteriously in same Army unit – this time on his first day

  August 11, 2017 Egypt Beni Suef, Conscripts, Copts, Egypt

The family of a Coptic Christian soldier who died last month on his first day at work – in the same regiment where another Copt died in mysterious circumstances in November 2015 – say he was murdered because of his Christian faith. Having just completed his army training, 22-year-old Joseph . . . Read More

International Youth Day: Young Christians want to build peace

  August 11, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Aleppo, Arauca, Asia-Pacific, Bangui, Blasphemy, Central African Republic, Colombia, Damascus, ELN, FARC, Indonesia, Iran, Jakarta, Java, Syria, UN, Venezuela, Yogyakarta, Youth

Ahead of the UN’s International Youth Day on 12 August, which this year has “Youth Building Peace” as its theme, World Watch Monitor takes a look at some of the challenges facing young Christians around the world and how they try to contribute to building peaceful societies. Many of the world’s . . . Read More

North Korea frees Canadian church leader ‘on sick bail’

  August 9, 2017 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, Kenneth Bae, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, Kim Jong Wook, Kim Seung-mo, North Korea, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Tony Kim

Hyeun-soo Lim, the Korean Canadian church leader sentenced to life in prison with hard labour, has been freed today (9 August) “on sick bail”, says a North Korean state news agency. Convicted in December 2015 by the country’s Supreme Court of numerous charges, including an attempt to overthrow the government, he had been detained . . . Read More