Chinese Pastor's Detention Extended

Li Dexian, the 45-year-old Chinese house church pastor arrested near Huadu, Guangdong province on November 9, just received another 15 days of detention and fears are mounting he may be tried and sentenced to a three-year jail term. Li has been kept in isolation since his arrest to prevent him from evangelizing other inmates.

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Six Laotians were arrested for their Christian activities on November 8 and 13, according to a document from Thailand that reports an increase in religious persecution by Lao Communist authorities. According to The South China Morning Post of Hong Kong, Thai-based monitors of the church in Laos say the government is determined to shut down churches because they view them as a threat to security.

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As historic churches in Israel closed their doors to pilgrims Monday to protest the building of a Muslim mosque in Nazareth, both the Israeli government and the Nazareth Islamic movement told the Palestinian Authority to keep out of the dispute.

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A draft law on religion presented by the Romanian government to parliament in mid-September appears to render illegal and subject to heavy penalty organised religious activity by groups that have not acquired state registration.

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Ukrainian victims of Nazi-era war crimes are filing a class-action lawsuit against the Vatican and a monastic Catholic order, whom they accuse of hoarding gold stolen by wartime fascists in the Balkans.

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