CINCINNATI (WKYC-TV) — A security camera video taken inside a Cincinnati elementary school reveals that a student assaulted an 8-year-old boy in a restroom and other children kicked and struck the boy for five minutes while he lay unconscious. Two days later, the boy died by suicide. In a report obtained by The Cincinnati Enquirer, […]
Jakarta (ANTARA News) — U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, Joseph Donovan, Jr., has stated that blasphemy laws are jeopardizing the freedom of religion, expression, assembly and press. He made the statement in Jakarta on Wednesday in response to the recent decision of the North Jakarta District Court, which found Jakarta Governor, Basuki Purnama, guilty of blasphemy against […]
JUBA, South Sudan (Morning Star News) – A pastor and another Christian serving a 12-year sentence in Sudan were freed today after they were granted a presidential pardon, sources said. Hassan Abdelrahim Tawor had been in prison since his arrest in December 2015, as was Abdulmonem Abdumawla of Darfur. They were convicted on baseless charges of […]
(Reuters) — Jakarta’s Christian governor has been sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy, a harsher-than-expected ruling critics fear will embolden hardline Islamist forces to challenge secularism in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation. Tuesday’s guilty verdict for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama comes amid concern about the growing influence of Islamist groups, who organized mass […]
HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – A pastor in eastern India’s Bihar state has lost his hearing after Hindu extremists assaulted him outside his home on church premises last month, sources said. Doctors at a Hajipur government hospital determined the loss of hearing and wounds on Sikandar Kumar’s body were a result of being beaten with […]
(Evangelical Focus) — Dozens of friends, neighbors and Christian leaders supported the relatives of an Afghan woman who was killed in front of her two children, last week in the region of Bayern (Germany). A 29-year asylum seeker (also from Afghanistan) has been accused of stabbing her with a kitchen knife outside of a supermarket, […]
(The Guardian) — Months of negotiations involving participants across two continents has resulted in a deal in which 82 Chibok schoolgirls—who were seized from their dormitories in April 2014 and held captive for more than three years by the Islamist group Boko Haram—have been released in exchange for five militant leaders. But joy at their […]
(Christian Institute) — An American couple who rejected pressure from medics to abort their conjoined twins have spoken of their delight in the decision they made. Doctors did not believe Callie and Carter Torres would survive past the eleventh week of pregnancy, but they were born by Caesarean section at 37 weeks. Mother Chelsea spoke […]
DONGGUAN, Guangdong (ChinaAid) — Police officers raided a house church meeting in China’s southern Guangdong province on Wednesday evening, detaining 30 of the members in attendance including the pastor and an American couple with two children. More than 20 officers broke into Zhongfu Wanmin Church approximately a half hour into their evening service on May […]
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (WKMG) — An arson investigation is underway after a fire caused $5,000 worth of damage at a Volusia County church, the Daytona Beach Fire Department said. Someone intentionally set a fire in Master’s Domain Church around midnight Thursday then put it out, according to a news release. The pastor called the fire […]