BEIJING, CHINA (Worthy News)– A church in Zou Gang, Feixi county, was illegally demolished last month by government-backed real estate developers, according to ChinaAid. The congregation called for prayer following the sudden destruction of their 800 square-meter building. As a result of economic expansion, the Zou Gang church site had been marked for demolition, so the church's board of deacons decided to cooperate with the Communist Party committee and the Xingang Industrial Park concerning their resettlement. However, last August, the church's electricity was unexpectedly cut and days later the developers began digging trenches around the church, isolating it from the surrounding traffic.

TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News)– Prominent Iranian house church pastor Behnam Irani is still beaten in his prison but less frequently, an official assisting him with advocacy said Monday, just weeks after his family expressed concerns he may die. "We have learned that the beatings are still happening, however they no longer happen on a daily basis, but periodically," Jason DeMars, director of the Present Truth Ministries rights group told Worthy News. He said however that Behnam has had intestinal bleeding, or bloody stool, for roughly six months among other ailments. "He has requested to visit the hospital or a doctor and they have denied his requests," DeMars said, adding that his group has urged supporters to "Please pray for his healing and deliverance from the bleeding." Yet, "Despite his difficult circumstances, his faith remains strong and he is joyful," added DeMars. Irani, who is in his 40s and married with two children, has been behind bars in a prison of Karaj city where he led a congregation of the Church of Iran house church movement.

VIENTIANE, LAOS (Worthy News)– A government crackdown on churches in southern Laos is spreading to a new district with the brief detention of two "prominent pastors" for alleged unauthorized worship and their involvement in evangelism and an order take down crosses, representatives told Worthy News. Authorities summoned Pastors Bounlerd and Adang to the police headquarters in Phin District of Savannakhet province on Friday, May 11, said the Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF), which has close contacts with local Christians. Christians in the area often use one name. During the meeting at police headquarters, district authorities interrogated Pastor Bounlerd of Alowmai Church and Pastor Adang of Kengsainoi Church on several issues, including their involvement in house churches, HRWLRF explained.

HANOI, VIETNAM (Worthy News)– A mob of men attacked leaders of a Baptist house church near Hanoi Sunday, seriously injuring a pastor and several others, including women and teenage children. The injured include nine pastors as well as other church leaders and several of their teenage children. Pastor Nguyen Danh Chau suffered severe chest, stomach and head pain; others were punched in the mouth, face, chest and back from being savagely kicked after they were beaten to the floor. The leaders of the Agape Baptist Church were taking part in a spiritual renewal meeting at Chau's home in Lai Tao village, My Duc district, when the mob began beating them; the mob then overturned a pulpit and ripped a cross from the wall that was later thrown into a nearby pond. Before leaving, the mob destroyed the Chau's family garden and fruit trees.

A team from The Voice of the Martyrs traveled to Washington, D.C., in November to make the first delivery of Call For Mercy petitions to the Pakistani Embassy. The team received a courteous response from Pakistani Embassy personnel, who accepted the more than 400,000 signatures that had been collected at that time, including the initial 150,000 from Christians inside Pakistan. “It’s hard to know what to expect when you call an embassy and tell them you have petitions like that to deliver,” said Todd Nettleton, VOM’s Director of Media Development and a part of the delivery team. “I wasn’t sure if we’d end up with a warm welcome or a message not to come. Thankfully, the Lord blessed us with favor and they welcomed us.” Helping out in VOM’s delivery efforts were the winners of VOM’s first-ever film contest, David and Christina, who are brother and sister and are also both students at Asbury University. Their winning contest entry was a 97-second call to action that has now encouraged more than 30,000 YouTube viewers to sign the Call For Mercy petition.

NEW DELHI, INDIA (Worthy News)– The leader of a hardline Hindu group wants India's constitution to legalize the killing of Christian evangelists and, for instance, promoters of other non-Hindu religions. Praveen Togadia, the general secretary of the influential Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), or 'World Hindu Council', told supporters in the western Indian state of Gujarat this week that the constitution should be changed and "allow anyone who converts Hindus to be beheaded”. His remarks, obtained by Worthy News Friday, November 11, came as American evangelist Franklin Graham began a series of massive evangelistic rallies in the south Indian city of Hyderabad. On the second night of Graham's 'Hyderabad Festival' on Friday, November 11, some 50,000 people poured into Lal Bahadur Stadium in the capital city of Andhra Pradesh state, witnesses said, despite protests from VHP supporters.

TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News)– Iranian officials are trying to convince an imprisoned pastor to return to Islam while he awaits word from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on whether he should be executed for converting to Christianity. Recently these officials presented a book of Islamic literature to Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani at his cell in Rasht, informing him that they will return to discuss it. The book, titled "Message of the Two Eras," refers to both the New and Old Testaments; it claims Christianity is a fabrication, thus Islam is superior to it. Attorney Tiffany Barrans, international legal director for the American Center for Law and Justice, questioned whether this latest move showed the ayatollah's willingness to give Nadarkhani another chance, or was merely another way for Khamenei to convict Nadarkhani for leaving Islam, a crime pusinable by death.

NAIROBI, KENYA (Worthy News)– Two people were killed when suspected Islamic militants attacked a church in eastern Kenya, adding to concerns about increased violence against devoted Christians in the African nation, police and church members said Sunday, November 6. Kenyan police chief Leo Nyongesa told reporters that a woman and her two grandchildren were also injured when attackers hurled a grenade at the East African Pentecostal Church compound in the predominantly Muslim town of Garissa, some 330 kilometers (205 miles) northeast of the capital Nairobi. Christian witnesses said that after the explosion late Saturday, November 5, they heard attackers say “It is just the beginning,” in Swahili. Ibrahim Makunyi, the head pastor at the church, told media that the house near the entrance of the church that belonged to a church elder had been bombed. “One of the dead is a member of the choir, and the other is the son of the church elder,” he said.

ABUJA, NIGERIA (Worthy News)– Islamic militants shouting "Allahu Akbar", or 'Allah is great', carried out coordinated gun and bomb attacks on churches and police stations in northern Nigeria, killing at least 150 people and injuring some 100 others, aid workers and witnesses confirmed Saturday, November 5. Militant group Boko Haram, or 'Western education is a sin', claimed responsibility for what Nigeria's President leader Goodluck Jonathan described as a "heinous" violence in mainly Damaturu, capital of Yobe state. Confirmation of the attacks Saturday, November 5, came as frightened mourners tried to leave their homes to begin burying their dead. Boko Haram, which seeks strict implementation of Shariah, or Islamic law, across the nation of more than 160 million people, pledged more attacks. The Red Cross aid group and witnesses said fighting began Friday, November 4, around Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, when a car bomb exploded outside a three-story building used as a military office and barracks, with many uniformed security agents dying in the blasts.

RANGOON, BURMA (Worthy News)– A government military unit assigned to clear a road assaulted and then arrested five men including a pastor of the Catholic Association. Pastor Jan Ma Aung Li and the others were from Nam San Yang village in the Bhamo District of Kachin State, located about 15 miles from Laiza, the home of the Kachin Independence Organization headquarters. Because Li's village was close to enemy headquarters, the government soldiers accused them of being militiamen and KIO staff; when Li and the others couldn't answer questions about hidden militia weapons cashes, the soldiers beat them with their rifle butts. After the improptu interogation, the soldiers tied the hands of the men with wire and took them with them along the route, but after several hours, the soldiers decided to untie them so that they could carry their rucksacks.