By World Watch Monitor Hopes were dashed for the imminent release of an American pastor jailed in Turkey on terrorism charges as a Turkish court today ordered him to remain behind bars. The court scheduled Andrew Brunson’s next hearing for 12 October. Some observers had believed that Turkey ... Read More

By World Watch Monitor A mob attacked a church in Minya, Egypt, on 13 July protesting against its legalisation and received a police officer’s approval, World Watch Monitor has learnt from local sources. The only church in Ezbet Sultan Pasha village, where about 20 percent of the population ... Read More

By Aykan Erdemir and Merve Tahiroglu | World Magazine On Wednesday American pastor Andrew Brunson—unjustly detained in a Turkish prison for almost 20 months—will appear in court. Turkish judges refused to release him after his previous two hearings on April 16 and May 7. The 62-page ... Read More

By World Watch Monitor In Algeria, the relief of the Protestant minority at the recent re-opening of three churches a month ago has been cut short, after another church was closed last week. On Wednesday (11 July), the building used by a Protestant church in the small town of Riki (8km from ... Read More

By The Japan Times LINXIA CITY, CHINA – Green-domed mosques still dominate the skyline of China’s “Little Mecca,” but they have undergone a profound change — no longer do boys flit through their stone courtyards en route to classes and prayers. In what locals said they fear is a ... Read More

By Annie Gowen | The Washington Post MAHABAN, India — In the year since an extremist Hindu monk was tapped to lead one of India’s biggest states, the country’s Muslim cattle traders have seen their lives change in ways they could not have imagined. First, mobs of Hindu vigilantes ... Read More

By Andrew Higgins | The New York Times TURKU, Finland — Sergey Avilkin, one of the hundreds of Russians now sheltering in Finland to avoid arrest as “extremists” in their home country, has no interest in politics or politicians and says that he has always followed the biblical injunction ... Read More

By Sanjay Mathrani | Daily Times KARACHI: Community leaders, social and political activists from different constituencies of Karachi participated in a seminar on ‘Elections 2018 and rights of religious minorities’ organised by Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Peace and development ... Read More

By Evan Maguire | The American Spectator On Wednesday, July 11th, the United States Embassy in Vietnam issued a statement criticizing a decision by a Vietnamese appeals court to continue to detain three human rights activists for “propaganda against the State.” These activists were not part ... Read More

                Is there a right to abortion in Canada? There has been a lot of confusion and misinformation in the recent discussion on this issue. For those who are interested, my office has prepared a brief synopsis of the rulings and perspectives of ... Read More

Jose Torres Jr. | UCA News Freedom of religion will be enshrined in a proposed law that will allow the creation of a new autonomous Muslim region in the southern part of the Philippines. A congressional bicameral committee agreed this week to adopt a provision that will allow freedom of ... Read More

By World Watch Monitor An attack by a Muslim mob on Copts in a village in the Egyptian governorate of Minya on Monday (9 July) has left the Coptic community holed up in their houses, while security forces patrol the streets. A local source told World Watch Monitor the situation is still very ... Read More

By Fredrick Nzwili | Religion News Service NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — After closing more than 700 churches and some mosques in March, Rwandan government officials have moved to institute guidelines for how faith groups operate in the majority-Christian East African country. Rwanda’s minister in ... Read More

By Bradford Richardson | The Washington Times Watchdog groups say the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in China is at its most intense since the Cultural Revolution, as churches are shuttered, Bibles confiscated and believers arrested at rates not seen in decades. ... Read More

By Asif Aqeel | World Watch Monitor As Pakistan prepares for elections later this month, the country’s minorities – particularly its Christians – have expressed dismay at their lack of representation among the candidates. Among the thousands of candidates contesting hundreds of provincial ... Read More

By Christian Solidarity Worldwide Mr Qazi Muhammed Shoban, an Ahmadi Muslim man, was shot dead on 25 June. Mr Qazi Muhammed Shoban, an Ahmadi Muslim man, was shot dead in his home in the Nishtar Colony area of Lahore, Pakistan on 25 June. Two masked men entered his home and one led his wife ... Read More

OTTAWA, ON Dear Editor, Canadian workers have been facing a direct threat to their livelihood for months. And despite having over a year to prepare for this situation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government have made it clear that they don’t have a plan. Recently, the United ... Read More

By World Watch Monitor A church in Kyrgyzstan that is home to many former Muslims has been ordered to cease its Sunday worship. A local source told World Watch Monitor that services at the church, which is led by a convert from Islam, have been interrupted twice in the last few months by a ... Read More

By World Watch Monitor The American Charge d’Affaires in Ankara has said that Turkey’s continued detention of pastor Andrew Brunson on spying and terrorism-related charges is impeding US-Turkish relations. Philip Kosnett said there is a “strong sense of unity in Congress between ... Read More

By Mujib Mashal and Fatima Faizi | The New York Times KABUL, Afghanistan — In downtown Kabul, from a large mural painted on blast walls at the end of a busy shopping street, the piercing eyes of Komal Singh, now a fourth grader, peer out at the narrow junction. For the past couple of years, ... Read More