Asia
Iran: scores of Christians arrested
‘Please pray for our family in Iran amid a wave of arrests.’ The Iranian church is on high alert after 150+ Christians were detained in just a few weeks at the end of…
Turkey: Muslim refugees and Christian aid
A Muslim man recently told a Turkish ministry leader, ‘In a few weeks I’m going to go down to the refugee camps. I have a friend who bought a young Syrian girl to…
Remarkable answers to prayer
Recent weeks have seen answered prayer and God’s protection over His people. Pakistan’s police foiled an attack on Christmas worship in Karachi. A police officer tragically lost his life when the bomb he…
Jakarta: United Prayer Rising 23-26 January
‘Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in’ (Psalm 24:9). The Uprising is a global gathering of ordinary people daring to…
Iran: Nazanin to go on hunger strike
British charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, jailed in Iran since 2016, says that guards have cancelled her weekly phone calls with her husband and reduced her food rations just days after she announced she…
China: pray for jailed pastor
In December around a hundred Chinese Christians from a church in Chengdu, including the pastor and his wife, were imprisoned on allegations of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ (see). In a public letter,…
Three elections on 24 February 2019
On this day a national referendum to ratify Cuba's new constitution will take place; the government says that gay marriage protections will be removed from the draft, but this is still being argued…
Turkey: Erdogan and USA clash on Kurds
President Erdogan has snubbed US national security advisor John Bolton, who was visiting the region to discuss the withdrawal of US troops from Syria and future US involvement there. Bolton asked for assurances…
Israel: early elections could lead to violence
On 26 December the Knesset disbanded and called elections for 9 April. The same day, Mahmoud Abbas disbanded the Palestinian legislature, with a view to 2019 elections. Many say it is hard to…
Vietnam: laws against Christians
In Vietnam, Christian persecution comes from local and national governments plus tribal culture. Communist laws disadvantage the Christian minority and their implementation at the grassroots level leads to persecution from local officials. Roman…