Christian farm labourer and mother of five children, Asia Bibi, from Ittanwali in Punjab province, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy - the first woman ever to receive this sentence for blasphemy in Pakistan.

Asia received the death sentence last Monday (8 November) at the end of a trial lasting more than 16 months, during which time she was held in isolation in prison. Asia was also fined the equivalent of two-and-a-half years' salary for the average worker.

In northwest Pakistan, Islamic extremists shot dead an entire Christian family earlier this week. The victims were Christian lawyer and evangelist Edwin Paul, his wife Ruby Paul and their five children aged from six to 17. The lawyer had mounted a legal challenge against a Muslim who was charging a Christian exorbitant interest.

On 23 September 2010, a mob of 40 Muslim extremists shot at and beat dozens of Christians in Punjab Province's Gujrat district. They were armed with Kalashnikovs, pistols, axes and clubs, and beat some of their victims so badly that they were left for dead.

It was the latest of more than ten assaults on the Christian colony of Mohalla Kalupura in Gujrat city since 8 September.

A new report by the Evangelical Fellowship of India shows that the church in India continues to face serious persecution. The "Half Yearly Report of Major Incidents of Anti-Christian Violence in India, 2010" lists 106 incidents of attacks on Christians, by state, for the months January to August 2010.

Baby Barnabas was born to Hina Gill who was rescued from a remote, flooded Punjab village when she was heavily pregnant. Church in Chains partner organisation, Barnabas Fund, took Hina to hospital and paid for her care, and in gratitude she and her husband, Aftab Masih, named their baby Barnabas.

Manoj Pradhan, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Orissa, has been released on bail, less than a month after being sentenced to seven years in prison for his part in anti-Christian riots in 2008.

Local Christians were initially relieved that a sentence had been handed down (albeit, in their eyes, far too short) but they are dismayed that bail has been granted.

Twelve masked men shot five Christians dead as they came out of their church building in Sukkur in southwest Pakistan on 15 July, two months after a banned Islamic extremist group sent church leaders a threatening letter. An independent government source confirmed the shootings, adding that local Islamist pressure had prevented media from reporting on it.

Two Christian pastors, Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and his 30-year-old brother Sajid Emmanuel were shot dead ouside a court in Faisalabad yesterday. Their brutal murder has led to violent clashes between Muslims and Christians in Faisalabad.

Most of those charged with murder and arson following the anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal district in autumn 2008 have gone free, partly due to threats which have kept witnesses from testifying.

In that wave of violence, Hindu extremists targeted Christians following the death of a local Hindu leader - despite the fact that Maoists claimed responsibility – killing more than 100 people and burning 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions.

A Christian couple and another Christian man have been sentenced to 25 years in prison for allegedly violating Pakistan's ‘blasphemy' laws.