WASHINGTON (BP) – The United States’ newly announced ban on Chinese goods produced by government-sponsored labor forced largely on an ethnic minority group gained the praise of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).

WASHINGTON (BP) -- The Chinese government’s repression of Uyghur Muslims is a foretaste of the world’s future if there is not a change, human rights advocates warned Aug. 21 in a Southern Baptist-sponsored panel discussion.

MIDDLE BELT, Nigeria (BP) -- Nearly 150 Christians have died in a campaign of violence by militant Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria's Middle Belt since April, including 33 Christians believed to have been killed Aug. 5-6 in Kaduna State.

GAZA CITY, Gaza (BP)--The wife of a Gaza Baptist minister who went to visit her family in Jordan eight months ago cannot return home because Israeli authorities will not issue a visa, according to a report from ASSIST News Service.

Missionary hostages Martin and Gracia Burnham, missionaries in the Philippines kidnapped by an Osama bin Laden-related terror group, as they appeared in footage aired in November on TV in the island nation.

      NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A year of captivity "has taken a toll" on the health of kidnapped missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, New Tribes Mission acknowledged in a May 14 statement issued in light of various news reports about the Burnhams' well-being.
      The New Tribes missionaries were kidnapped in the Philippines by an Osama bin Laden-related terrorist group on May 27, 2001.
      The Burnhams "have suffered from malnutrition sores on their feet and mouths, malaria and wounds," New Tribes Mission stated. "This ordeal has also taken an emotional toll on them and their families."

WASHINGTON (BP)--The considerable influence of American Christians can make a difference in the lives of persecuted believers in North Korea and Sudan, participants at a May 1 summit on the issue were told.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--New Tribes Mission, in an April 25 news release, acknowledged that the families of kidnapped missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham had reached a deal for their release.

WASHINGTON (BP)--Officials with the Cottonwood Christian Center in Los Alamitos, Calif. are promising a court battle after the city council in nearby Cypress decided not only to squash the center's plans for a religious campus, but took a major step to seize the center's 18-acre tract of land through eminent domain for the construction of a shopping center, according to CNSNews.com.

JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)--The Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer story is simply irresistible. Two young American women go to Afghanistan to meet human needs and share their Christian faith clandestinely. They are imprisoned by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime, which becomes our nation's number one enemy after Sept. 11. After a harrowing two months locked up in a war zone, they are suddenly rescued by U.S. Special Forces. Of such stories are blockbuster movies made.

PARIS (BP)--A controversial new law on religion in France may not be the threat to religious liberty some critics had feared, Baptist and evangelical church leaders here say.