Today's headlines: Senior doctors in South Korea join trainee doctors’ protest. India's foreign exchange reserves reach their highest level in two years. Iran is beset by a severe nursing shortage with more than 3,000 emigrating abroad a year. Thailand is considering legalising casinos. The Chinese are quietly occupying Siberia, raising concerns among local Russians.
On the ninth anniversary of his death, a Eucharistic celebration marked the end of the local investigation towards the beatification of the young man who died protecting others during a deadly Islamist attack in Youhanabad. “We pray for this grace for all parents to raise peaceful youth strong in their faith,” Archbishop Shaw said.
After the Supreme Court struck down last month the electoral bonds system, which allowed companies and individuals to make anonymous donations to political parties, the Election Commission was forced to publish information on bonds purchased over the past five years, showing that funding went disproportionately to Modi's party.
Pope Francis has authorised the promulgation of the heroic virtues of the prelate who died in 1953, considered "the Newman of the East” in his native India. ““Our Church has been praying fervently for many years” for this day, Card Baselios Cleemis told AsiaNews. Thus, “his unconditional commitment to Providence” has been recognised. The latest papal decrees also recognise the miracle that will lead to the beatification of Istifan al-Duwayhi, the great Maronite patriarch of the 17th century.
Human Rights Watch raises the alarm on the executive's regulations and bills that undermine political freedoms. The latest one concerns non-governmental organisations, whose application can lead to abuses and arbitrariness. The credibility and effectiveness of the International Monetary Fund programme is at risk.
More than 100 people in need have already been helped through an initiative in which Catholics work with many Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. For Caritas Bangladesh executive director Sebastian Rozario, this “is a somewhat unique project, precisely because it is supported entirely by local donors,” with a “hand outstretched not out of their abundance but out of their daily necessities”.