Asia

China: unlimited presidency and neighbours

09 Mar 2018
Oh Ei Sun, of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute, has said that scrapping the two-term limit on the Chinese presidency will have profound ramifications for the region. But it looks likely to…

Saudi Arabia: potential for religious freedom

09 Mar 2018
During a three-day visit to the UK Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, has vowed to promote religious freedom. He said this at an hour-long private meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury…

Malaysia: recognising conversion from Islam

02 Mar 2018
The federal court has recently decided to allow four Christians who converted from Islam to begin to take steps to have their conversions from Islam legally recognised and have the word Islam removed…

Iraq: corruption and elections

23 Feb 2018
Vice-president Nouri al-Maliki wants to regain the premiership he lost in 2014, and many believe he is leveraging his influence over the judicial process to marginalise political rivals ahead of the elections on…

North Korea: an unlikely evangelist

16 Feb 2018
As Kyung-ja drifted in and out of consciousness, her head bloodied by repeated blows from a club, she heard her North Korean guard shouting words she had never heard before - Bible, God,…

Syria: Israeli air strikes

16 Feb 2018
Israeli planes regularly strike Syrian facilities to disrupt and prevent Iranian missiles being delivered to Hezbollah in Lebanon. However the loss of an Israeli fighter jet marked a serious escalation in hostility as…

South Korea: Olympics opportunities

16 Feb 2018
Over five billion people across the world are not followers of Jesus, and two billion have never even heard the Gospel. Most will never hear unless somebody tells them. Pyeongchang has welcomed the…

Turkish offensive on Afrin

09 Feb 2018
On 20 January, Turkey launched an air and ground offensive against the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces in Afrin, on the Syrian/Turkish border. The action has revealed a well-defined split in the Syrian public…

Syria still using banned chemical weapons

09 Feb 2018
Amnesty International says that testimony gathered from the scene showed evidence that on 4 February the Syrian government used internationally-banned chemical weapons on the town of Saraqib. It accuses the Assad regime of…

North Korea: Olympic involvement, a trigger for prayer

09 Feb 2018
The North Korean missile crisis must be turned into a rallying cry for prayer for persecuted Christians in that country, says Release International, which supports Christians under pressure around the world. North Korea…