A 16-year-old Christian girl who was kidnapped, forced to marry her captor, raped and then sexually trafficked has been rescued and returned temporarily to her family.
State officials and local clerics closed a prayer house and halted Christian activities for the time being and also expelled an evangelist and his young son from the district.
One Baptist church in Russia has been prohibited from holding activities and at least three other churches are facing a similar situation, sources say.
In a rare decision, a Pakistani court ordered issuance of a new government identification card to a woman to acknowledge her conversion to Christianity.