04/15/06 Egypt (Telegraph) Coptic Christians Attacked in Churches- Egypt's Coptic Christians came under attack again yesterday as one was stabbed to death and at least 12 wounded in four of their churches. Within the space of an hour, three places of worship were targeted in the centre of Alexandria and a fourth in Abu Qir, 15 miles east of the city. Noshi Atta Girgis, one of at least three people attacked at the al-Quidissin church, died of his wounds in hospital.

04/16/06 India (ICC) Two Christian Women Arrested for Promoting Christianity- Two women in the Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh in India were arrested for attempting to convert people. The arrested are Mariamma Mathew, 36, and B. Godwil, 65. They were arrested Friday after police were informed that they were distributing pamphlets promoting Christianity.

04/17/06 Iraq (Houston Chronicle) Christian Revival in Iraq Coincides With Violence- Attendance is booming at the Rev. Andrew White's church as more Iraqi Christians seek solace in religion to cope with a life of car bombings, kidnappings and deprivation. Every month, ''Canon White,'' as he is known here, travels to Baghdad to minister to the faithful, including Western Protestants and Iraqi Assyrian Christians - who must be bused into the U.S.-protected Green Zone to hear him preach after al-Qaida put a price on his head. Over the past three years, the number of Iraqis attending his services has grown to about 900, said the 41-year-old British Anglican priest.

04/17/06 Egypt (Voice of America) More Suspicious Details Emerge Re: Coptic Attacks in Egypt- Police in Alexandria fired tear gas into crowds of rioting Muslims and Christians as a third day of sectarian violence rocked the ancient Mediterranean city. Friday's knife attacks in several Coptic Christian churches set off a cascade of violence on Saturday, after the funeral of an elderly man who was stabbed to death in church. The clashes continued on Sunday, when Orthodox Copts were marking the Palm Sunday holy day. Police have arrested a man they say carried out all of Friday's knife attacks by himself, moving from church to church. They describe him as mentally ill.

04/17/06 Turkey (Compass Direct) German Christians Barred- Denied a work permit for being a “threat for the national security,” a German Christian believes that his family’s openly Christian activities prompted Turkey to label them missionaries and deny them entrance in February. Alex Eisele, his wife, Jutta, and their two children, Sarah and Joshua, were refused entry into Turkey on February 4 after making a routine trip to northern Cyprus to renew their three-month tourist visas.

04/17/06 India (Compass Direct) Christians Attacked, Charged With Illegal Conversion- Extremists attacked two Christian schools and a private Christian gathering last week in Madhya Pradesh state and accused several Christians of carrying out “illegal conversions.” Christians responded with a protest march in Jabalpur city on Monday (April 10), demanding justice.

04/18/06 India (Compass Direct) Violence Scars Easter Week in Three States- As Christians around the globe intoned, “Christ is risen” with hallelujahs yesterday, Easter in India was marred by violence. In the southern state of Karnataka, 15 Hindu extremists said to be from the Bajrang Dal (youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council) attacked a Sunday morning church service, assaulting Pastor V.P. Paulouse. Christians also believe that 25 to 30 people who stormed a prayer hall in Mangalore district’s Balmatta town on Easter Sunday belonged to the Bajrang Dal. The Hindu extremists vandalized furniture and equipment worth more than 150,000 rupees (US$3,327) at the hall belonging to the Living Faith Ministry. And in Madhya Pradesh state, on Good Friday (April 14) two Christian women in Jabalpur district were arrested for “promoting conversion.”

04/18/06 Indonesia (AsiaNews) Second Chance to Appeal Death Sentence- Indonesia’s Supreme Court, the Mahkamah Agung (MA), has given the green light to a second appeal for three death row Catholics. The court has called on the Attorney General not to carry out the execution while the review is under way.

04/18/06 India (BosNewsLife) India Court "Voids" Arrest Warrant For Bishop Thomas- India’s Supreme Court confirmed Monday, April 17, it granted the founder of a major evangelical mission organization "relief from an outstanding arrest warrant" for alleged anti-Hindu activities and ordered a hearing before a court in the tense state of Rajasthan Friday, April 21. 72-year old Bishop M.A. Thomas, the founder of Hopegivers International (HI) and its affiliate Emmanuel Mission International (EMI) said he had been forced into hiding for over two months because of death threats from radicals, including Hindu militants, and persecution by anti-Christian local authorities.

04/19/06 Laos (BosNewsLife) Laos Jails Mission Leader, Expels Christian Families- A local Christian leader in rural Laos who refuses to abandon his faith in Christ has been detained and shackled in hand and foot stocks as part of a fresh crackdown by Communist authorities on Christian villagers, missionaries said Thursday, April 13.

04/20/06 China (AsiaNews) Abuse of Chinese Christians Persists as Hu Jintao Visits Washington- On the day of the visit to the White House of China’s President, Hu Jintao, the China Aid Association [CAA - an American NGO lobbying for religious freedom in China] denounced new and ever more violent persecution against Chinese Protestant Christians. CAA investigators on the ground in China said police raided a meeting of Protestant pastors in Yunnan on 23 March.

04/21/06 Turkey (Compass Direct) Turkish Christians Being Beaten for Witnessing- Fanned by local media and a Muslim mufti, an anti-missionary witch-hunt targeting Christians in Turkey’s eastern city of Bingol left a Muslim woman beaten in her tailor shop last month while police allowed her attacker to walk free. Guler Morsumbul has not yet found a lawyer willing to represent her in court next Monday (April 24) against the man who attacked her six weeks ago, accusing her of “Christianizing” his daughter.