In a decision with far-reaching implications, a Swedish court has approved an application for asylum made by an Iraqi Christian family, despite an agreement signed by Sweden and Iraq designed to obviate such applications.
In early 2008, Sweden and Iraq signed an agreement under which the Iraqi government pledged to protect religious minorities and returning refugees [...]

In a rare legal victory, a Pakistani court has ordered police to rescue a Christian teenage girl held against her will by a Muslim woman.  Police even carried out the order.
Police carried the order out on December 13th, successfully returning Nousheen Bibi to her parents after three months as a hostage to her former employer, [...]

An unnamed Anglican priest in the Solomon Islands was reportedly attacked and injured by a local Muslim on 16 December.  The suspect is still at large. Police say the attack was motivated by “religious differences”.
Solomon Star reports that Malaita’s Provincial Police Commander David Diosi confirms police is searching for the suspect Jack Rade - leader [...]

The Maldives’ Islamic Affairs Ministry gets results. Check out these two items:

Islamic Affairs Ministry asks police to ban discos for New Year’s Eve — 31 December
Low turnout at New Year Discos — 1 January

The Islamic Affairs Ministry wishes all Maldivians a joy-free New Year.
h/t: Dhimmi Watch

Assyrian International News Agency reports on female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kurdistan.
Sheelan Anwar Omer, a shy 7-year-old Kurdish girl, bounded into her neighbor’s house with an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised.
There was no celebration. Instead, a local woman quickly locked a rusty red door behind Sheelan, who looked bewildered when [...]

One of Tajikistan’s leading Islamic politicians has publicly criticised the Ministry of Education for authorising  schoolbooks that, in his view, misinterpret and misrepresent the history of Islam and the prophet Muhammed.
Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda calls the textbook writers’ attitude to Islam “unprofessional, irrational, and sometimes insulting and offensive”.  He accuses education officials of deliberately using misleading [...]

Western media are silent as Christians in Gaza and, to a lesser extent, the West Bank are targets of systematic persecution by Islamist groups. Christians are being forced to leave the Palestinian territories; only 2000-3000 yet remain in Gaza.
Since the Hamas coup of July 2007, this position has become increasingly untenable. Islamist organizations, empowered [...]

Sabatina James (at right), a 26-year-old Pakistani-born Austrian, has been living in fear for her life since converting from Islam to Christianity a few years ago. Her father stabbed her when she formed a relationship with a Christian and vowed to kill her for apostasy.
Austrian authorities initially encouraged her to revert to Islam to [...]

Rumours lead to Muslim attacks against Christians. That happens in so many places around the world that it’s hard to keep up. So, where is it this time?
Indonesia.
An angry mob burned a church and more than 40 houses in Indonesia’s Moluccas islands, injuring five people, after allegations that a local Christian teacher offended [...]

Father Zakaria Botros (at right), an elderly priest in the Egyptian Coptic Church, has a very fruitful ministry as an evangelist to Muslims across North Africa, the Middle East and beyond. His weekly television show has an audience numbering in the tens of millions.
An Arabic newspaper has named him Islam’s Public Enemy #1 and [...]

Thirty million children in northern Nigeria are to be immunised against polio and measles, even though “radical Muslim clerics and some medical doctors” claim the vaccines are part of an American plot to sterilise girls and depopulate the world.
For five days 200,000 health workers will be stationed at 33,000 schools throughout northern Nigeria to administer [...]

Christians in Jos state, Nigeria, are upset by “biased and inaccurate” media reports of last weekend’s rioting and destruction.  Most media reports stated that Muslim-Christian violence broke out after election tallies were announced but, in fact, organised and armed mobs of Muslims launched co-ordinated attacks on Christian homes, churches, and businesses even before results were [...]

It’s not easy being an all-girl rock band in Saudi Arabia. Not only are women oppressed but rock music is also forbidden.
They cannot perform in public. They cannot pose for album cover photographs. Even their jam sessions are secret, for fear of offending the religious authorities in this ultraconservative kingdom. But the members of [...]

A judge in Trinidad and Tobago has to decide whether a person wearing a burqa should be accepted as a juror.  According to a report in Caribbean Net News, Justice Joan Charles heard submissions from lawyers who argued that nothing in the Jury Act disqualifies potential jurors who wear such garb.
The issue became a burning [...]

Christian aid agencies are reporting that Hindu extremist organsations have offered rewards to kill Christians and destroy their homes in Orissa, India. The reporting agencies include Release International, All India Christian Council, and Good News India.
“The going price to kill a pastor is $250 (£170),” Faiz Rahman, the chairman of Good News India, said.
A [...]