Alessandra De Poli

Violence has intensified in the Southeast Asian country. Permanently displaced people have lost everything – jobs, material goods, friends – but it is amid the ruins and the despair that small Christian groups have been reborn.

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, a missionary congregation that originated in the United States working on the ground in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya. In the West Khasi Hills district, part of the Nongstoin diocese, there are only three priests, forced to hold "itinerant" celebrations from village to village.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida will be in New Delhi next Sunday following a path laid down by his predecessor Shinzo Abe. Yet the two Asian giants have cultures that are in some respects almost antithetical. The PIME missionary, originally from Andhra Pradesh but in Japan since 2015, explains how he had to adapt to people who are strongly community-oriented, yet flexible in religious matters.

Unlike the West, India cannot afford to see Russia crumble because it would mean giving China carte blanche, this according to Rahul Roy-Chaudhury of the International Institute for Strategic Studies speaking to AsiaNews. If there is little talk about India's role in this war, it is because this is what it wants. Prime Minister Modi wants to bring the world's most important leaders at the same table.

Some 539 people are currently on death row, but only eight were executed since 2004. Last year, India's Supreme Court empowered a constitutional bench to draw up guidelines for trial courts. The last executions were carried out in 2020.

The north-western Indian state reported more than 48,000 cases from prolonged inhalation of silica dust in the past few years. Although the state government has created compensation programmes for affected families, many obstacles remain, above all the many illegal mines.

India's population may have already surpassed China's; however, there are profound differences between city and country, north and south. The greatest concerns are stress on metropolitan infrastructures and job creation for young people.

Yesterday, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India announced new standards for the most sought-after grain since Mughal times. Pakistan has been opposed to India’s application for Protected Geographical Indication, fearing a negative impact on its exports. As India lifts protectionist measures, Indian exports are expected to jump in the coming months.

On the 75th anniversary of Myanmar's independence, Prof David Moe of Yale University speaks to AsiaNews how the 2021 coup d'état is changing the country. Buddhist extremism risks imploding, while the younger generation rejects religion as an element of identity, even though they continue to be inspired by religious ideals.

A member of the Servants of the Holy Eucharist, she has dedicated more than 20 years of her life to prisoners. Speaking to AsiaNews, she says that something is changing since Marcos Jr became president, but it is still too early for any definitive opinion. The country’s ratio of incarceration is 200 people per 100,000 inhabitants.

The Indian film industry, which churns out up to 1,600 films a year, has not yet recovered from the pandemic. Regional, non-Hindi productions, on the other hand, are increasingly popular. Films are also dragging with them the popularity of music: new genres and artists are emerging thanks to social media.

Week after week, refuse and refugees pile up in a landfill in Insein, on the outskirts of Yangon. They include the kids attending the school in Nghet Aw San centre who have a chance to leave behind a life in the streets thanks to an NGO, New Humanity. Over the past two years marked by COVID-19 and civil war, the latter has multiplied its initiatives.