ASHEVILLE, N.C. — An American pastor who was imprisoned in Iran for over three years and was among four U.S. citizens released on Saturday in a prisoner swap has now landed on American soil. Saeed Abedini flew into North Carolina on Thursday afternoon, where he met his parents at the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville. […]
(KSDK-TV) — An American missionary was among at least 28 people killed in an attack Friday night in West Africa that has been claimed by al Qaeda. The family of Mike Riddering told NBC news that his wife Amy identified his body at the morgue in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The St. Louis-based […]
KARAJ, Iran — An American pastor who has been imprisoned in Iran for over three years as part of an eight-year prison sentence has been set free in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Iran. “It is confirmed: Saeed is released!” Saeed Abedini’s wife Naghmeh posted on social media this morning. As previously reported, […]
LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – Muslims in a town in Pakistan’s Punjab Province who seized a church property have disrupted a prayer meeting at a private residence, sources said. After police arranged a reconciliation meeting between the Muslims and members of the congregation in Sialkot District on Jan. 4, the Muslims instead armed themselves with […]
PYONGYANG — An American being held in North Korea on espionage charges is a Christian missionary who was working in the nation to help the poor, reports state. The man, who served as a pastor in Fairfax, Virginia before moving to Yanji, China, was identified as Kim Dong-chul, 60. “He told the churches that he was […]
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A watchdog organization that releases a report each year on the global persecution of Christians states that 2015 marked “unprecedented” levels of persecution on every continent, fulfilling its prediction from it previous report that matters would get worse. “The levels of exclusion, discrimination and violence against Christians is unprecedented, spreading and intensifying,” David Curry, […]
TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (Morning Star News) – Unknown “thugs” who wrote a jihadist slogan on a church building in the center of this city on the Algerian coast on Thursday night (Jan. 7) looted and damaged the property, sources said. The assailants vandalized or stole furniture, worship items and money worth about US$8,000 from the Light (Tafat) […]
JHENAIDAH, Bangladesh — The barbaric Islamic group ISIS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has claimed responsibility for the murder of a Bangledishi man who reportedly converted to Christianity from Islam. “Soldiers of the caliphate were able to eliminate the apostate, named ‘Samir al-Din’, by stabbing him with a knife,” the SITE Intelligence […]
CHIAPAS, Mexico (Christian Today) — Armed villagers raided and destroyed the homes of Protestants in Leyva Velazques village, Chiapas, Mexico on Jan. 4 in the latest example of religious persecution in the country, according to a human rights organization. Entrances into the village were blocked by locals forcing the Protestants to flee to the nearby […]
NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – An attack on a bus and a truck in Kenya by Islamic extremists from Somalia’s Al Shabaab insurgency took two Christian lives in December. In the attack on a bus with more than 100 passengers in Kenya’s northeast on Dec. 21, the Al Shabaab rebels tried to separate Christians from […]