08/01/2014PALESTINE - ISRAEL Palestinian leader says Gaza war will end only when peace talks start by Bernardo Cervellera For Prof Bernard Sabella, this war that has lasted for 25 days is bound to continue indefinitely if leaders do not agree to open talks on "two peoples-two states." Gaza's youth (75 per cent of the population) has no economic and social prospects. Fundamentalism is growing even among Israelis. A ruthless war, in which both Hamas and Israel use civilians as a shield. Jerusalem (AsiaNews)
- The announcement of a 72-hour truce - already
violated with Israel
and Hamas blaming each - appears to confirm Prof Bernard Sabella's (quite
realistic) scepticism. Prof Sabella, a Catholic and Fatah representative for...
08/01/2014LIBYA - PHILIPPINES Evacuation of 13,000 Filipinos from Libya almost ready The Philippines' Foreign Secretary flew to Tunisia to oversee rescue operations and convince Filipinos who want to stay fearing unemployment at home that they should leave. The beheading of a Filipino worker and the gang rape of a nurse triggered the emergency. China too is sending a ship to repatriate its citizens.
08/01/2014VIETNAM - JAPAN - CHINA Tokyo gives Hanoi six naval ships to counter China Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida announces the gift during a visit to Vietnam, adding that both nations agree on "maintaining peace and stability" in the region. For a Chinese scholar, the action will be "perceived as hostility by China".
08/01/2014CHINA Xi Jinping wants to be Mao but will not learn from the latter's mistakes by Willy Lam Concentrating power in top leader of party, state and army has unleashed a flood of flattery and brought back the cult of personality that had been "abolished" after the death of the Great Helmsman. However, the new leader's style and way of exercising power fails to heed the fact that when one rises above all others, one feels free to make blunders. Here is an analysis by an expert on China, courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.
08/01/2014THAILAND Bangkok: junta appoints new legislature, half from the military Many fear the Armed Forces are tightening their grip on power. A new 200-member legislative body will include 100 military and almost a dozen police officers. The new interim constitution gives too much power to the generals, and democratic elections have been set for the end of 2015.
08/01/2014PHILIPPINES Fr Willmann, the "gentle warrior", moving towards beatification A National Executive Committee has been created in the Asian country to show that the American Jesuit, who was naturalised Filipino in 1975, led a life of sanctity. From 1936 until his death, the clergyman dedicated his life to Filipinos, breathing new life into the country's Order of the Knights of Columbus and the Daughters of Mary Immaculate.
08/01/2014BANGLADESH Tensions high in Boldipukur: Mission threatened by Nozrul Islam Unknown assailants warn the parish to withdraw the complaint filed after the attack on the church and the convent. The violence was not over money or an attack "in hatred of the faith." "It is likely - say local sources - that it was an attempt to intimidate nuns and priests and convince them to close a legal dispute over land ownership"
08/01/2014INDONESIA Indonesian Muslims slate the "Caliphate" and ISIS: We need peace and coexistence by Mathias Hariyadi A video posted on YouTube by an unknown Indonesian Islamic guerrilla calls the "brothers and sisters" of Southeast Asia to join the Islamic State in Iraq and fight for the creation of a Muslim caliphate. In recent days, hundreds of people gathered to invoke “holy war." Moderate Islamic leader: "Only a fool would make such a choice, we strongly condemn these senseless actions."
08/01/2014NORTH KOREA - CHINA Pyongyang excommunicates China: a decadent and unprincipled country An editorial in the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper is the latest step in the cooling of bilateral relations. The Kim regime displeased at Xi Jinping’s decision to visit South Korea first. A source on the border: "If things go wrong, so much the better for us. Government will stop trade with China and the plunder of our natural resources .Ordinary people have never benefited from these relations".
08/01/2014TAIWAN Gas explosion in Kaohsiung: 24 dead by Xin Yage There are also 270 wounded. Streets ripped apart, with huge craters, cars and people thrown into the air by the explosion. The dead include four firefighters. An eyewitness account.
07/31/2014TIBET - CHINA - NEPAL Thousands of people attend 14th Shamar Rinpoche's cremation in Nepal Despite pressure from Beijing, the Nepali government allows the funeral to take place, granting the deceased his last wishes. Kathmandu's initial refusal was due to fear of possible anti-China protests from the Tibetan community in exile, which however did not occur.
07/31/2014RUSSIA - UNITED STATES For Orthodox Church, Moscow can do what it wants in state-religion relations Speaking about the US State Department report on international religious freedom, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations, said "We have the right to create our model."
07/31/2014ISRAEL - PALESTINE With nearly 1,400 dead in Gaza, Netanyahu pledges to destroy every tunnel As more rockets land in Israel today, operations continue in Gaza. Talks in Egypt about a possible truce produce little results. Re-opening the Eretz crossing to connect Gaza to the West Bank is one of the goals. The Pentagon releases new ammunitions to Israel, which has called up 86,000 reservists.
07/31/2014INDIA Andhra Pradesh: a new church in memory of Sister Ida, the "golden mother" of Vegavaram by Benigna Menezes* The diocese of Vijayawada inaugurated the place of worship, which is dedicated to Saint Anne and Saint Joachim, in the village of Chainatalanarva. Fr Raju, Sister Ida's "adoptive son", is the local parish priest. The nun spent 63 years in the service of children and lepers in India where she was among the first missionaries of the Immaculate to arrive.
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