Alessandra De Poli

They did not live through the founding events of the Islamic Republic: for this reason, the theocratic regime is trying to adapt its messaging and means of communication to attract and involve the new generations. The mural on Valiasr Street is a perfect example, as emerges from a study recently published by Olmo Gölz and Kevin Schwartz.

The story of a Hazara exile who created a foundation in Daykundi in honor of his fiancée who was killed in an attack. "We wanted to fight against the oblivion of memory, but the Taliban destroyed everything". Now in Italy, he is looking for a means to help his sister study.

In the 1980s Jesuit Fr Henri de Laulanié studied a method for increasing rice production in Madagascar. His system of rice intensification is now being applied in some districts of the country on the slopes of the Himalayas thanks to the World Neighbours organisation.

The guests of Anna's House, the homeless center run by the missionary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, are not always in debt like the protagonists of the Netflix series. They are young people and adults with mental problems and disabilities, former prisoners, poor elderly and homeless: the outcasts, the abandoned by the system, the last ones. Thanks to Fr. Bordo they are given the chance to rebuild their lives.

For expert Muhammad Amir Rana, Pakistan's primary goals are “protection from potential attacks by Delhi” and encouraging Chinese “infrastructure projects”. To this end, the government of Imran Khan is seeking a deal with the TTP, but recent negotiations will lead nowhere. From July to mid-September, 55 attacks against Pakistani security forces were recorded with at least 149 deaths.

Today almost 400 delegates aged 15 to 29 will deliver the final document with their climate proposals to the ministers who will participate in COP26. Asian delegates shared their concerns and hopes with AsiaNews. Yesterday the Pope said: "I wish to thank you for your dreams and good projects and for the fact that you are concerned both with human relations and with care for the environment.”

Fabrizio Cesaretti, local deputy director of FAO, speaks from the Afghan capital. "Agriculture was already on its knees because of the second consecutive year of drought, one person out of three is at serious risk of hunger. October and November planting will be decisive. With the end of the war we are reaching areas that were previously inaccessible, but all projects for adaptation to climate change, which is already showing its effects heavily here, have stopped."

The Iranian regime is Shia, while the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is Sunni. In Afghanistan’s new cabinet, all Taliban leaders have a post, but a dichotomy still divides urban and rural Pashtuns, especially those in the provinces near the borders, this according to Riccardo Redaelli, professor of geopolitics at the Catholic University of Milan.

Researcher Tasnim Butt of the Université Libre de Bruxelles speaks to AsiaNews about the gradual radicalisation of the religious community in Deoband. The Taliban's rigorous vision is intertwined with Pashtun culture and tribalism, while the strategic competition between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam.

The young MEP missionary edits Khmer-language Wikipedia. Speaking to AsiaNews, he talked about the challenges and joys of evangelisation via culture. The online encyclopaedia "is not a tool for proselytising,” but a public agora to seek the truth.

School closures due to the pandemic are causing problems, says Venkataswamy Rajarapu, director general of the Street2School programme. Economic and cultural factors explain rising child abuse. The worst of the pandemic might be over, but a third wave is feared this fall.

Focused on preparing the Olympics, the Japanese government came to realise the gravity of the situation too late. The pandemic has exacerbated existing problems and brought new ones to the fore. According to Fr Andrea Lembo, the Japanese have also learnt that “alone humans die, while solidarity gives life.”