Asia pacific

Christians and civil society groups got together for candlelight vigils in Pakistan's major cities Friday to mark the first anniversary of the assassination of the country's Christian federal minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, who bravely spoke against the repressive blasphemy laws.

At vigils in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, Christian leaders and social activists carried placards and shouted slogans condemning 42-year-old Bhatti's murder a year ago and religiously motivated violence that continues to plague the country, local media reported.

Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs and the only Christian in the country's cabinet, was shot to death by suspected Islamist terrorists on March 2 last year while he was on his way to a government meeting in Islamabad. The pamphlets found near the assassination scene bore the name of the terror outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Punjab and stated, "Anyone who criticizes the blasphemy law has no right to live." more >>

The battle to save New Zealand's 131-year-old Christchurch Cathedral seems to have been lost as officials have said earthquake damage has rendered what is left of the structure too unstable – but the city's councilor has threatened to chain himself to the building to prevent it from being demolished.

The historic Anglican church, which dominated the city's central square, was one of the many buildings that received extensive damage in the Feb. 2011 6.3-magnitude earthquake, which killed 185 people, badly damaged the city and leveled 6,000 homes. The total cost of repairing the city, New Zealand's second largest, also known as the Garden City for its colorful gardens and parks and English-style stone buildings, is estimated to be no less than $16.5 billion, Reuters reported.

Some, like Mayor Bob Parker, have described the decision to demolish the house of worship as "heartbreaking," even if there was no way around it. more >>

Two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan were killed Thursday amid days of violent protests sparked by a Quran burning incident at a joint military base. However, it was unclear if the new deaths were related to the protests. 

Two Afghan soldiers and a literary instructor gunned down the U.S. soldiers at a joint base in Afghanistan's tumultuous southeastern province of Kandahar. According to the Pentagon, a motive for the killings was not immediately clear.

The two Afghan soldiers were killed by the International Security Assistance Force, but it remains unclear whether the literary instructor managed to escape. more >>

Two copies of an English version of the Holy Bible were found in the building where Osama bin Laden spent his last days and was killed by U.S. forces, Pakistani officials revealed on Tuesday night.

The compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the al-Qaida leader was shot dead by U.S. Navy SEALs last May, is being demolished this week. A number of interesting discoveries have been made among the rubble, however.

Among them are cleverly hidden radios and two copies of the Bible, but different theories exist about why the extremist Islamic leader, who waged a holy war against the U.S., would have Bibles in his possession. Certain passages have apparently been highlighted in different colors, leading some Pakistani intelligence officials to believe that they might be coded messages referencing future terror attacks, The Times of India reported. Pakistan's ISI security service is conducting further investigations on the texts in question. more >>

In what is being described as a ground-breaking deal, North Korea has agreed to suspend its long-range missile and nuclear weapons tests at its nuclear sites in order to receive 264,000 tons of much-needed food aid from the U.S. 

The decision, reached in talks last week in Beijing between U.S. and North Korean negotiators, will also halt North Korea's uranium enrichment program, the BBC reported Wednesday. The deal would mark a major policy shift by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and possibly suggest that the country's new leader, Kim Jong-un, might be taking the country in a different direction than his father, dictator Kim Jong-il, who died in December 2011.

A great deal of speculation has surrounded Kim Jong-un's first decisions as leader of North Korea, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Senate committee that the move constitutes a "modest first step" in improving relations between North Korea and the rest of the world and in long-standing talks of eliminating its nuclear weapons program. more >>

Atheists attending future conferences and rallies geared toward their unbelief may be handed reading material aimed directly at changing their hearts, namely a 12-page tabloid produced by a semi-retired pastor from Melbourne, Australia.

Dennis Prince, co-founder of Kingston City Church in Clarinda, said he will be distributing his publication, The Regal Standard, at the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne planned for April, according to Australian news publication The Age.

The lead story in the Regal Standard's first issue is about "the world's most notorious atheist," philosopher Antony Flew, described in The Age article as "one of the 20th century's most influential atheists." The front-page headline, published in the typical tabloid style of large-letter font, is "I WAS WRONG," and the story refers to Flew changing his mind about the existence of God. more >>