World News

A funeral service was underway Wednesday, March 10, for a former Hungarian chief rabbi who was persecuted under Communism because of his involvement in spreading the Jewish faith,the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (MAZSIHISZ) confirmed.

A small Christian party which made world headlines with protests against local government support for a Hindu religious festival has been re-elected in the municipal council of Amstelveen, a strategic town near the Dutch capital Amsterdam, local election results showed Wednesday, March 3.

The Dutch coalition government has collapsed amid a political row over whether to extend the country’s military mission in Afghanistan. Christian Democratic Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende was due to submit his government’s resignation to Queen Beatrix later Saturday, leaving the future of its 1,600 soldiers stationed there uncertain.

Ukrainian election officials say they will not consider Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s complaints of presidential election fraud. Results show opposition leader Victor Yanukovich defeated Tymoshenko by 3.5 percentage points in the February 7 runoff election.

About 1,000 people, many of them elderly Holocaust survivors, braved winter temperatures Saturday, February 13, to express concern about the rising far right groups in Hungary.

Twin bombings apparently targeting Shiite Muslims in Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi also killed at least five members of a Christian family, including a pregnant woman, Worthy News established Wednesday, February 10.

Amid international pressure, North Korea released an American missionary Saturday, February 6, and sent him to China after holding him for more than a month, officials confirmed.

A Chinese Christian human rights lawyer was missing for 363 days Tuesday, February 2, but an advocacy group said it now believes he is still alive.

Glenn Penner, who became a key voice for persecuted Christians as leader of advocacy group The Voice of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC) has died after losing his battle with cancer, officials said. He was 48.

Influential Catholic bishops have urged Filipinos to vote in upcoming May elections with their conscience and not be “swayed” by opinion polls, after the worst act of political violence in the Asian nation’s history killed dozens of people.

Amid destroyed churches and the stench of human death, native Christians prayed for Haiti Sunday, January 24, and one believer said it was a miracle he had been found alive a full 11 days after the magnitude 7.0 earth quake shook his nation.

A major Christian mission organization stepped up efforts Tuesday, January 19, to coordinate relief efforts in Haiti as the death toll of last week’s earth quake was expected to be at least 200,000, officials said.

Churches and missionary workers were trying to respond to Haiti’s worst earth quake in centuries that officials said may have killed up to half a million people, including the the Roman Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince, other Christians and United Nations personnel.

Rights investigators said Wednesday, January 13, there has been “a surge ofattacks” against Christians since December, with deaths, detentions and destruction reported in the Arab world, Africa and Asia.

A Somali man with alleged links to terrorist groups al-Shabab and al-Qaida has been charged with an attempt to kill a Danish cartoonist whose depiction of the Prophet Muhammed sparked outrage in the Muslim world.

Minority Christians in Pakistan faced a bloody New Year as local tribesmen prepared for funerals Saturday, January 2, shortly after the deadliest suicide attack in Pakistan’s history killed at least 95 people.

Thanking listeners for their “prayers and good thoughts,” America’s controversial conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was released from a Hawaii hospital, after experiencing severe chest pain and what he thought was a heart attack.

Supporters of American Christian missionary Robert Park, who is believed to have been detained in North Korea, launched hundreds of balloons on New Year’s day with texts calling for freedom in the isolated nation.

Lithuania has closed down its Soviet-built nuclear power plant as part of an agreement with the European Union, ushering in a new era of energy uncertainty for the country.

Rush Limbaugh, America’s most listened to conservative radio talk show host, was “resting comfortably” Thursday, December 31, after being rushed to a Honolulu hospital with chest pains, his Web site said.