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ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Shakeel Raphael projected an image of his brother Nadeem Samson on the screen, prison bars superimposed over the man's sorrowful face.

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican has proposed to the Chinese government that they extend an agreement signed in 2018 regarding the appointment of bishops, Vatican Media reported.

BRISBANE, Australia -- A new law requires priests in the state of Queensland to break the seal of confession to report child sex abuse to police or face three years in jail.

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Speakers at the second International Conference on Christian Persecution called upon governments to shed the "fear of working with the churches."

Christianity is disappearing from towns and cities in parts of the Middle East, warns a new report from the papal foundation Aid to the Church in Need.

UNITED NATIONS -- Christians are the most persecuted religious group worldwide, but hypocrisy, political correctness and ignorance prevent the international community from implementing a comprehensive response to pervasive violence against them, said speakers at a U.N. event Sept. 27.

WASHINGTON -- In a room full of religious leaders, politicians and other supporters of protecting Christians threatened in the Middle East, Sam Brownback, ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, urged more prayer and action to continue supporting persecuted Christians in the Middle East.

A Pakistani Christian refugee in Thailand, begging for help from Canada, has had his familyöÏÓãÊÓƵapp location revealed for the second time in a month.

WASHINGTON -- The world is "filled with people in need," including the unborn, trafficking victims, those "suffering the agonies of addiction and abuse, people with disabilities and still others facing famine and disease, said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey.

BEIRUT -- The first time a band of Islamic State militants "visited" the monks, they presented the monks with a kind of suggestion, in a nonthreatening manner: "Why don't you become a Muslim?"

MANCHESTER, England -- A top British official said the government would commit itself to a robust defense of persecuted Christians following a new report into their plight.