Uzbekistan: 'New hope for religious communities to get state registration? As hundreds of religious communities are denied state registration by bureaucratic obstruction, there are hopes that a court ruling will help force officials to issue documents needed for registration.' (Forum 18)

China: 'Religious Freedom and the Legal System: Continuing Struggle. The Communist party-state remains determined to maintain control over society, using over the past 20 years an increasing number of laws and regulations as a means to this end.' (Forum 18)

Luvania: 'Britons welcome 'Luvania' to EU: Around one in 10 people in Britain are looking forward to Luvania joining the European Union this weekend. Telcoms provider One.Tel invited participants in an marketing survey to identify the 10 EU accession nations -- and cheekily added fictional Luvania to the list as a red herring.' (The Australian)

Morocco/Western Sahara: 'The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution urging Morocco and the Polisario Front rebels to accept a UN-backed peace plan for Western Sahara.' (BBC)

India/Pakistan: 'One of Pakistan's leading Islamic militants says "holy war" is the only way to end Indian rule in Kashmir. Hafiz Saeed accused President Pervez Musharraf of undermining the armed struggle in the region by holding peace talks with India.' (BBC)

World: 'International acts of terror in 2003 were the fewest in more than 30 years, according to the U.S. State Department's annual terrorism report released Thursday. The Patterns of Global Terrorism report said 190 acts of international terrorism occurred in 2003 -- a slight drop from 198 attacks the previous year and the lowest total since 1969. The figure marked a 45 percent decrease in attacks since 2001, but it did not include most of the attacks in Iraq, because attacks against combatants did not fit the U.S. definition of international terrorism.' (CNN)

Cyprus: 'After 30 years of economic isolation, Turkish-Cypriots came in from the cold yesterday when European Union diplomats forced the Greek-controlled south to allow their goods to be traded across the island's fortified Green Line.' (Independent)

Turkey: 'Police violence and local government restrictions are undermining freedom of assembly and the reform process in Turkey, Human Rights Watch said in an open letter today to the Turkish deputy prime minister Abdullah Gül.' (Human Rights Watch)

North Korea: 'Many North Koreans died a "heroic death" after last week's train explosion by running into burning buildings to rescue portraits of leader Kim Jong-il and his father, the North's official media reported on Wednesday.' (Reuters)

Uzbekistan: 'Amid a major crackdown, eleven Protestants in Nukus were questioned at the public prosecutor's office and pressured to convert to Islam. They were also threatened with being shot, though the city prosecutor, M. Arzymbetov, subsequently denied this to Forum 18 News Service. Pressure on Protestants elsewhere in Uzbekistan is also continuing. (Forum 18)

Sudan (text reproduced here; link to changing page): 'Sudan’s Islamic regime in Khartoum lashed and fined a young Christian Sudanese woman on April 14 for not wearing a headscarf in public in the capital city. Cecilia John Holland, 27, was traveling by minibus to her home in the Khartoum suburb of Haj Yousif on the night of April 13 when she was arrested by a group of 10 public-order policemen. The police told Holland that no one in Khartoum, “even a non-Muslim,” was exempt from Islamic bans against wearing improper dress. Earlier this month, the Khartoum government refused to compromise on its insistence that Islamic law govern all Sudanese citizens residing in Khartoum. More than two million non-Muslim southerners live in and around the capital, displaced by the last 20 years of civil war between the African Christian-animist south and the Arab Muslim north.' (Compass Direct)

Bhutan (text reproduced here; link to changing page): 'Three Protestant house churches in Sarpang district, southern Bhutan, were raided by police on April 11, following Easter Sunday services. No arrests were made, but church members were warned to stop meeting together, and three pastors and one elder were asked to report daily to the local police station. Police told the believers that their meetings were viewed as “terrorist activities” by the Bhutanese government. Catholic churches have also experienced increasing restrictions since the year 2000, when, according to Bishop Stephen Lepcha, the government outlawed “public non-Buddhist religious services, and imprisoned those who violate the law.” Bhutan is still recovering from a border conflict that broke out between the Royal Bhutan Army and the United Liberation Front of Assam in December 2003. Believers in Bhutan say persecution may increase as a result of the conflict. They have asked Christians around the world to remember them in prayer.' (Compass Direct)

Bangladesh: 'A general strike called by the main opposition Awami League in Bangladesh has closed schools and businesses and disrupted public transport.' (BBC)

Syria: 'Gunmen attacked a former United Nations office in a diplomatic quarter of Damascus late Tuesday, setting off a battle with police that pelted nearby buildings with bullets and grenades. The government said two attackers, a policeman and a civilian were killed. Syria has not seen such violence since the 1980s, when the government put down an insurgency by Islamic militants.' (Fox)

Libya: 'Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi began his first official visit to Europe in 15 years when he arrived in Brussels on Tuesday for a two-day trip.' (BBC)

India: 'Exit polls from the second round of India's staggered parliamentary elections show opposition congress party gains over the ruling coalition.' (CNN)

Afghanistan: 'Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, extended an olive branch to members of the ousted Taliban yesterday during his first visit to their former stronghold of Kandahar since an attempt on his life there 18 months ago.' (Financial Times)

Morocco: 'Spain's new prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, on his first trip abroad, has held talks with officials in Morocco, Spain's neighbor and trading partner but also a country to which Madrid is now bound by a common need to fight Islamic terrorism.' (International Herald Tribune)

Nepal: 'Crisis in Nepal Deepens, Protests Mount.' (Guardian)

North Korea: 'Children are silent victims of railway blast: The first foreign aid workers allowed to meet survivors of last week's North Korean rail disaster in hospital yesterday found wards full of children, their bodies blackened and twisted by the explosion.' (Daily Telegraph)

China: 'Chinese health officials are keeping at least 470 people under observation, as they try to contain a small cluster of confirmed and suspected SARS cases in Beijing and the eastern province of Anhui.' (CNN)

India: 'BBC correspondents from around India bring you the atmosphere and mood among voters on a key day of polling in the country's general elections.' (BBC)

Cyprus: 'Europe's imminent enlargement hit its first major crisis yesterday as the EU prepared to admit the Greek half of Cyprus as a fully fledged member state, despite its rejection of a unification plan for the island. On Saturday, 65 per cent of Turkish Cypriots backed a UN reunification plan in a referendum, but the Greek south rejected it with 76 per cent against. They knew that, without agreement in both parts of Cyprus, the Greek Cypriots alone would enter the EU on Saturday.' (Independent)

Sudan: 'Government and Militias Conspire in Darfur Killings; Major Massacre Shows State Complicity.' (Human Rights Watch)

Africa: 'The trafficking of human beings is a problem in every African country, says the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). The report, which covers 53 African nations, says children are the biggest victims in what is a very complex phenomenon.' (BBC)

North Korea: 'About 100 bodies have been pulled so far from the massive wreckage left by a blast that was apparently ignited by a spark, caused when a rail car carrying explosives touched a live power cable, Sweden's ambassador to North Korea said Friday after a briefing with North Korean officials.' (CNN)

Cyprus: 'The Greek Cypriot government faced diplomatic isolation within the European Union last night, after being accused of trying to sabotage a United Nations plan to re-unite the divided Mediterranean island. A bitter international dispute was brewing as the Greek and Turkish communities prepared to cast their votes in referendums tomorrow on whether to end the 30-year-old division of Cyprus.' (Independent)

China: 'China 'fake milk' scandal deepens: A baby milk scandal which has killed dozens of infants in China appears to be widening.' (BBC)

Saudi Arabia: 'At least four people were killed and 148 injured yesterday when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-packed car into a barrier outside the national police headquarters in Riyadh, bearing out US fears of a new terrorist offensive aimed at toppling the Saudi monarchy.' (Independent)

China: 'Chinese Pastor Gong Shengliang of the South China Church has begged to be transferred from his current prison, telling his sisters "If you are able in any way, please transfer me to another prison - otherwise just come and pick up my corpse." He made this plea during his sisters' ten minute visit to Hongshan Prison, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, where he is currently being held, according to a report from the U.K-based Christian human rights organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).' (Assist News Service)

Uzbekistan: 'After March and April's terrorist bombings that left nearly 50 people dead – blamed by the government on Islamic extremists and linked by some without evidence to Al-Qa'ida - a crackdown on religious believers of all faiths is taking place, Forum 18 News Service has observed.' (Forum 18)

Turkmenistan: 'In its survey analysis of the religious freedom situation in Turkmenistan, Forum 18 News Service reports on the almost complete lack of freedom to practice any faith, apart from very limited freedom for Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodox Christianity with a small number of registered places of worship and constant interference and control by the state.' (Forum 18)

Pakistan and Afghanistan: 'National polio immunization campaigns are underway in Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of the effort to rid the world of the virus by 2005.' (BBC)

Libya: 'Libya looks to capitalist future.' (BBC)

Jordan: 'The Jordanian government imprisons women threatened with "honor" crimes rather than the male relatives who threaten them, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. In cases where women are killed, the perpetrators receive minimal punishment.' (Human Rights Watch)

Sudan (text reproduced here; link to changing page): 'Seventy percent of Southern Sudanese are Christian. They have endured years of oppression by the Arab Muslim Government of Sudan (GoS), as well as savage jihad because they refuse to be Islamised. A deadlock in current peace talks threatens future peace, as GoS and Southern peace negotiators have hit issues they are finding hard to resolve. The other stalling point is violence in the western province of Darfur and in the Upper Nile province of Southern Sudan, despite a ceasefire. This strife (ethnic cleansing) is undermining peace efforts. We must pray for God to intervene and guide the process, for justice and for HIS glory. Pray for peace to rule, not just on the ground, but in people's hearts. Please pray that God in his mercy will bring the suffering and evil to an end.' (WEA Religious Liberty Commission)

Iraq: 'Open Doors with Brother Andrew – a worldwide ministry to the Persecuted Church – has received information from several sources that Iraqi Christians and churches are seriously affected by the internal turmoil in Iraq. Not only are foreigners being kidnapped in increasing numbers, but indigenous Iraqi Christians are disappearing. According to a bishop of an Assyrian-speaking church, four members were kidnapped last week. The Iraqi believers stress that in most cases where Iraqi Christians are the victims, the violence is not being caused by radical Islamists, but more often by young people trying to make some easy money.' (Assist News Service)

Jordan: 'King Abdullah of Jordan has postponed talks with US President George W Bush on Wednesday amid concern over America's support for Israeli policy.' (BBC)

Cyprus: 'Barely a week before Greek and Turkish Cypriots vote for or against reunification of this divided island, a leading Orthodox bishop has threatened Greek voters with damnation if they support the United Nations plan.' (Independent)

India: 'India's marathon general election is under way, with as many as 650 million people set to cast their votes over the next three weeks.' (CNN)

Egypt: 'Four Christian university students arrested in the Sinai dessert in January for the possession of Christian materials have been released, a leading human rights organization said Monday, April 19. Barnabas Fund, which investigates the plight of persecuted Christians reported that the four young men, identified as Peter Kamel, Ishak Yessa, John Fokha, and Andrew Saeed, were freed on April 3.' (Assist News Service)

China: 'Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble: Beijing must take some air out of China's super-buoyant economy before it wreaks global havoc.' (Time)

Cyprus: 'You Say Yes, We Say No: Greek and Turkish Cypriots are bitterly divided in the run-up to a vote that could be their last chance to unite the island.' (Time)

India: 'India's Gandhi clan believes it is duty bound to lead the country. But voters in the current election may disagree.' (Time)

Turkey (text reproduced here; link to changing page): 'The producer and host of a Turkish TV news show was sentenced to nearly two years in jail last week for airing false provocations against Turkish Protestants. On April 5, a panel of judges ruled that Kerim Akbas’ programs on Baskent TV had incited violent attacks last year against local Christian citizens and their places of worship in Ankara. In video clips from Akbas’ “Haber Dosyasi” (News File) shows, he accuses local Protestant groups of creating “ethnic, radical division to disturb the peace,” claiming that Protestants were maintaining secret links with foreign intelligence organizations, and paying Muslim young people to become Christians. Ten days after Akbas’ first “expose,” a local church was attacked. Another local church received bomb threats. “This may be the first such legal ruling here in favor of non-Muslims,” the plaintiffs’ attorney said. Despite Turkey’s secular identity, Muslims who convert to Christianity have been repeatedly slandered with impunity by the Turkish media.' (Compass Direct)

Nepal: 'Nepalese riot police used tear gas and batons against students on the streets of Kathmandu as protests against King Gyanendra entered their 18th day.' (BBC)

Pakistan: 'Pakistan has slammed the United States for its protest of an opposition leader's trial and 23-year prison sentence for sedition. Islamabad on Friday retorted by needling the Americans over their own proceedings in cases of national security.' (CNN)

China: 'The pastor of a rapidly growing Chinese house church has been arrested, just weeks after hundreds of security forces raided and damaged a century-old building where his congregation gathered, the human rights group The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) said Friday, April 16.' (Assist News Service)

World: 'A panel of four experts appealed to the UN Commission on Human Rights for more visible action to support Muslims who convert to another faith (apostates) who face serious persecution in many countries around the world, in a meeting held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on 7 April.' (Barnabas Fund)

Saudi Arabia: 'The US government has issued a travel warning advising US citizens to leave Saudi Arabia. The warning said US officials had received recent and credible information that terrorist attacks were being planned in the country. All non-essential US diplomats and all diplomats' family members have been ordered to leave, and private citizens are strongly urged to depart. This is the third such evacuation in the country since last November.' (BBC)

Bangladesh: 'Relief operations are under way in northern Bangladesh after tornadoes left at least 66 people dead and about 1,000 injured.' (BBC)

China: 'UK university set to open a 4,000-student campus in China: Nottingham University yesterday became the first British institution to announce the establishment of a campus on the Chinese mainland, taking advantage of legislation passed by the Chinese government that allows foreign education enterprises to be set up in the country.' (Independent)

Turkey: 'At least seven people are reported to have been killed and eight others injured after a train hit a minibus carrying students near the Turkish capital Ankara.' (CNN)

Afghanistan: 'Seven people, including government employees, have been shot dead in south-eastern Afghanistan by suspected Taleban militants.' (BBC)

China: 'Pastor Gong Shengliang (53) is the founder and leader of the South China Church, an evangelical house-church fellowship with some 50,000 members across several provinces. In December 2001 he was sentenced to death under China's anti-cult laws. Intense international pressure led to that charge and sentence being overturned. In early 2002 Pastor Gong was re-tried, convicted of crimes he did not commit and given a life sentence. He survived the torture of his interrogation as well as a beating in June 2003 that nearly cost him his life. The China Aid Association (CAA) reports that on 12 April 2004, Gong's three sisters were permitted to have a 10-minute visit with him. He had to be carried to the visiting hall as he could not walk. The CAA believes Pastor Gong may not survive much longer under these conditions. Please pray for strength and for justice.' (WEA Religious Liberty Commission)

Turkey: (text reproduced here; link to changing page) 'A criminal court in southeast Turkey has for the second time pressed charges against Pastor Ahmet Guvener of the Diyarbakir Evangelical Church, this time accusing him of “opening an illegal church.” Guvener will stand trial for alleged violation of Turkish penal code 261/1. State prosecutor Mehmet Isbitiren charged Guvener in February with “using a building registered as a home to open a Protestant church and conducting religious worship together with music for the people attending.” The pastor could be jailed for up to two years if convicted. The Diyarbakir Evangelical Church has functioned openly in the city’s traditionally Christian neighborhood of Lalebey since April 6 of last year, gathering from 50 to 60 worshippers each Sunday. “Of course, the real purpose of this court case is to shut down our church,” Guvener told Compass, stating that the case will set a precedent for all other “existing and newly opened” Protestant churches in Turkey. His first hearing before the Diyarbakir Criminal Court is set for May 12.' (Compass Direct)

India: 'For 22 years, he lived with the stigma of being a murderer. Each day, his village made him walk three miles for water, denied him entry to the barber’s and grocer’s shops. Moinuddin Ahmed even spent two years in jail — till the court released him due to lack of evidence. And now, the man he ‘‘murdered’’ has returned.' (Indian Express)

Pakistan: 'Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has said he has still not decided whether to step down as chief of the army by the end of the year.' (BBC)

Turkmenistan: 'He's banned beards, honoured melons and offers dental advice. Is this the world's craziest dictator? ... Behind the craziness, say human rights groups, lurks a deeply disturbing state.' (Independent)

Uzbekistan: 'In the wake of recent violence in Uzbekistan, Uzbek authorities have arbitrarily detained and harassed dozens of independent Muslim women, Human Rights Watch said today. Many are being held incommunicado, which puts them at serious risk of torture. The arrests indicate a broadening of the government’s crackdown on nonviolent independent Muslims, who practice their faith outside state religious institutions.' (Human Rights Watch)

India: 'Uncommon Brilliance: How did India come to dominate the vastly lucrative global market for cutting and polishing diamonds?' (Time)

India: 'Thousands of people crowding into a small park for a politician’s birthday celebration and to receive free saris stampeded yesterday, killing over 20 women and children, officials said. The disaster came two weeks ahead of parliamentary elections in Lucknow, the capital of India’s politically crucial Uttar Pradesh state and the constituency of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the country’s prime minister, who rushed to the city after the tragedy.' (Scotsman)

Pakistan: 'A Pakistani judge sentenced the leader of the country's main opposition political alliance to prison today on charges of treason and inciting mutiny in the armed forces, state-run news organizations reported.' (New York Times)

Jordan: 'Jordanian authorities said on Saturday they had found cars carrying explosives that an underground group had planned to use to attack American interests.' (Reuters)

Afghanistan: 'As U.S. forces beef up patrols in Afghanistan, about 60 members of an elite Army unit were ambushed twice in less than 24 hours last week.' (CNN)

Algeria: 'Algeria's president, an ally in the U.S. war on terror, overwhelmingly won re-election in a vote his defeated rival said Friday was a "sham". President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected to a second term in a landslide - winning 83 percent of Thursday's vote, the Interior Ministry said in announcing the results.' (Guardian)

Nepal: 'Recent demonstrations have drawn tens of thousands of protesters
The Nepalese government has introduced new measures to ban rallies in the capital, Kathmandu, and make arrests easier, the home ministry says. The government says it needs new powers because big protests against the king, which have now been going on for a week, have been infiltrated by Maoists.' (BBC)

Algeria: 'Algerians are voting in the country's presidential election, choosing from six candidates including the incumbent, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.' (BBC)

India: 'Suspected communist guerrillas triggered a land mine that killed at least 26 policemen in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, police said today.' (Independent)

Sudan: 'President Bush demanded Wednesday that the Sudanese government end mass fighting with rebels, calling the African nation's civil war "one of the worst humanitarian tragedies of our time."' (CNN)

Uzbekistan: 'The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has correctly decided to limit its investment in Uzbekistan over the lack of progress in human rights, Human Rights Watch said today.' (Human Rights Watch)

Turkmenistan: 'Turkmenistan's president has told his people to shun traditional false gold teeth in favor of white ones, the latest eccentric command after moves to ban beards, ballet and circuses.' (Reuters)

Pakistan: 'Pakistani police have arrested nine suspected Islamic militants in connection with a suicide bombing at a U.S. mission in 2002 and a separate attack on a hotel that killed 11 French nationals, police said on Tuesday.' (Reuters Alertnet)

Jordan: 'A military court in Jordan on Tuesday sentenced to death eight Islamic militants linked to Al Qaeda — six of them in absentia — for the assassination of an American diplomat in the front yard of his Amman home in October 2002.' (New York Times)

Nepal: 'Maoist-led strike hits Nepal: A general strike has paralysed normal life across Nepal for the second day on Wednesday.' (BBC)

China: 'China formally closed the door on Hong Kong self-governance yesterday when it issued an interpretation of the territory's constitution that dashed hopes the Communist Party might tolerate political reform.' (Independent)

Uzbekistan: 'Lawyer disbarred for defending believers?' (Forum 18)

China: 'For religious freedom, patience may be the virtue.' (Forum 18)

Turkmenistan: '"Shall we trust the president?" religious groups ask.' (Forum 18)

Nepal: 'Hundreds of Maoist rebels attacked a police station in southern Nepal, killing at least nine police, government officials said yesterday.' (Independent)

UK: 'Spain, France and Britain have all scored successes in their hunt for Islamic terrorists. But the real battle for Europe’s governments will be to win the hearts and minds of the wider Muslim community.' (Economist)

Bangladesh: 'State Of Disgrace: Bangladesh is reeling from violence, corruption and political turmoil. Inside Asia's most dysfunctional country.' (Time)

China: 'Who's in Charge Of Hong Kong? To the dismay of democracy advocates, China is tightening its control over the territory.' (Time)

Nepal: There were pro-democracy demonstrations in Kathmandu on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. (BBC)

Pakistan: 'Suspected Islamic extremists stormed a police station in the capital of Pakistan yesterday, forced five officers to recite verses from the Koran then shot them dead, witnesses said.' (Independent)

Cyprus: 'Politicians have failed to reach agreement in internationally backed talks to reunite the island of Cyprus. The United Nations will now put its peace plan directly to the people.' (Economist)

South Asia: The current issue of the British Medical Journal has a special focus on health in South Asia.

India: 'Suicide rates among young people in southern India are the highest in the world, researchers say. A study published in the British medical journal The Lancet says family conflicts, domestic violence and mental illness are the most common triggers. The report, due to be published on Friday, was written by researchers at the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, in southern India.' (BBC)

Afghanistan: 'Donors at an international conference pledged $8.2 billion over the next three years to help rebuild Afghanistan and smooth its transition to post-Taliban democracy, the Afghan finance minister said Wednesday.' (CNN)

China: 'China is demolishing ancient walled cities in a building frenzy to attract tourists. Jasper Becker reports on a national scandal that has brought the country into conflict with conservationists.' (Independent)

Nepal: 'The Nepalese government's public pledge to uphold human rights and the laws of war in its fight against the Maoist insurgency is a welcome step, but implementing this commitment requires a strong plan of action, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the Maoist guerrillas to make an equivalent public pledge and implement it.' (Human Rights Watch)

Uzbekistan: 'After a series of terrorist attacks in Uzbekistan, the security forces have stormed the hideout of a group of Islamist militants in the capital, Tashkent. The Central Asian country’s dictatorial president, Islam Karimov, is likely to respond to the bombings with a harsh crackdown.' (Economist)