South West Asia

| ASIA TODAY

Today's headlines: Qatar and Bangladesh sign a memorandum on migrant workers. Myanmar’s military retakes a village on the Mon-Karen border. Taiwan denounces Chinese military activities after Blinken's departure. Syrian woman gets seven life sentences over the Istanbul attack of November 2022. Russia has lost its dominant position as India’s main arms supplier.


Reconstruction work lasted over a year. The entire Christian community, from Greek Melkites to the Evangelicals, gathered for a day of celebration. The service was led by Primate Youssef Absi. Caught between warrying Armenians and Azerbaijanis, the historic church of St John the Baptist in Shushi has been destroyed.

| 27/04/2024
| SYRIA – AZERBAJIAN

Today's news: At least 15 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on Nuseirat refugee camP; In India, water reservoirs are at their lowest levels in five years; Pyongyang launches "super-large" rockets capable of hitting Seoul; Villagers in Laos accuse Chinese company of polluting the Mekong.

| 20/03/2024
| ASIA TODAY

Today's news: only 51.7% of South Koreans want to get married, 28.3% intend to have children 'with certainty'; Hanoi reports annual crop losses of three billion dollars, Mekong Delta in crisis;  Elections in India scheduled between 19 April and early June; The Israeli government instituted the annual national day of remembrance of the 'catastrophe' on 7 October; Russian President Putin re-elected with 87.17% of the vote. 

| 18/03/2024
| ASIA TODAY

Today's news: Tokyo sends mini-drones and robot-snakes to one of the Fukushima reactors to prepare for the removal of highly radioactive waste; Israel aims to build new settlements in the West Bank, nearly 15 thousand housing units; Burmese junta hits a market in Rakhine State, at least 12 dead; In Russia, controls on mobile phones and apps increase.

| 01/03/2024
| ASIA TODAY
by Vladimir Rozanskij

A few days after Aliev's plebiscite re-election, Azerbaijani soldiers have opened fire accusing the Armenians of "provocation". Pašinyan responded to the ultimatums, while the prospects for a peace agreement receded. Baku's new claims on the Nakhičevan enclave.

| 19/02/2024
| ARMENIA-AZERBAIGIAN

Today's news: In Russia more than 400 protesters arrested for taking to the streets in the wake of Naval'nyj's death; A survey reveals that nearly 70 per cent of Japan's 108 tsunami-prone coastal municipalities would be unprepared for the disaster; The police forcibly keep protesting farmers out of New Delhi; Thaksin Shinawatra returned to freedom; After Cop28 the United Arab Emirates set a record for non-oil exports.

| 19/02/2024
| ASIA TODAY
Editor's choices
 
While the country is getting ready to welcome Pope Francis in September, amendments have been proposed to assert the country’s Christian identity. For the Catholic Bishops' Conference, this is a “dangerous” step that “obscures ...
| 24/04/2024
| PAPUA NEW GUINEA
 
Not only Gaza and the war in Ukraine: the global arms race is also driven by Chinese pressure on Taiwan.. The 6.8% growth represents "the highest year-on-year growth since 2009". China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia among the world's top five with ...
| 22/04/2024
| ASIA - MIDDLE EAST
 
by Dario Salvi
Layan Nasir, a 23-year-old native of Birzeit, is the only Christian woman under "administrative detention". She was taken, blindfolded and handcuffed, overnight by a military patrol without an arrest warrant or charges against her. The Bethlehem ...
| 19/04/2024
| ISRAEL – PALESTINE
 
Chinese Human Rights Defenders released a report detailing the stories of children and young people victims of human rights violations, like He Fengmei's daughter, who was separated from her mother a month after her birth and kept in a psychiatric ...
| 16/04/2024
| CHINA
 
Currently in intensive care, the seven-year-old is the only person to be seriously wounded by Iran’s attack against Israel because her house and village were not covered by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system. Nothing is known of the fate of ...
| 15/04/2024
| ISRAEL – GAZA - IRAN
 
by Daniele Frison
The auxiliary bishop of Jerusalem and patriarchal vicar for Palestine looks at the protests in Amman. Diplomatic relations with Israel allow aid to be sent to Gaza. Some students from Gaza’s Holy Family Parish arrived in Amman thanks to the Patriarchate’s ...
| 12/04/2024
| JORDAN
 
The Holy See has officially announced the long journey to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore. Card Goh of Singapore hopes the pope will bring to his predominantly Chinese city, “renewed fervour to all Catholics [. . .], especially ...
| 12/04/2024
| VATICAN
 
by card. Anthony Poola *
The Archbishop of Hyderabad looks at the media reaction to the declaration released by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on human dignity. The media are “focused on gender theory, sex change, surrogacy etc., but” people who “struggle ...
| 11/04/2024
| INDIA
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”