Asia
Syria: Assad welcomed by Arab League
President Bashar al-Assad joined the Arab League summit in Jeddah and was embraced by the Saudi crown prince. A decade ago, the Saudis funded anti-Assad militias; now they want to remake the Middle…
Myanmar: cyclones, camps, and conversions
Cyclone Mocha tore through Myanmar last week with 175 mph winds, making it the strongest cyclone on record in the North Indian Ocean. It ripped trees and crushed homes, killing dozens and doing…
Israel: threat to Al-Aqsa Mosque from Muslims?
Bassam Tawil, a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East writes, ‘If anyone has been desecrating al-Aqsa Mosque, it is Muslims who have been rioting and using rocks and fireworks to attack police…
Iranian couple released from prison
Praise God that Christian converts Homayoun and Sara have been acquitted and released from Evin Prison after being jailed in August 2022 for belonging to house churches, aka ‘crimes against national security’. Homayoun…
Liz Truss’s trip a ‘dangerous stunt’
London’s Chinese embassy called Liz Truss’s trip to Taiwan a ‘dangerous political stunt’ which will bring nothing but harm to the UK. In a pre-briefed extract of her speech to the Prospect Foundation,…
Japan: G7 peace message and WPC call to prayer
Japan’s Kishida Fumio will host the G7 summit between 19 and 21 May. He condemns Russian aggression and feels that what is happening in Europe could easily happen in the Indo-Pacific. G7 sees…
India: bandaging the broken body
There has been an epidemic of violence toward Christians in Uttar Pradesh. In one attack, radical Hindu nationalists destroyed the church, burned everything especially the Bibles and injured the congregation. They demanded the…
Israel: fighting continues
On 10 May militants fired 507 rockets and mortars at Israel, and Israel struck 158 Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) targets in Gaza. Twenty-five people have died and 76 injured in Gaza since 9…
India: churches burn in ethnic violence
Over a hundred churches have been burned down in Manipur. The number of dead and injured is difficult to verify. The BBC reported 60 dead, 200 injured, and tens of thousands displaced. 53%…
Iran: executions rise amid unrest
Iran recently hanged two men for blasphemy, saying they had insulted the prophet Muhammad and promoted atheism. They were arrested in 2021 and spent months in solitary confinement without family contact. Iran has…