East Asia

The young girls come from various countries of South-East Asia, including Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos. Attracted by the promise of a job by criminal groups, they are sold into prostitution or as wives. The phenomenon is the result of one-child policy imposed by Beijing, which has caused enormous gender disproportion.

It is the twelfth case. The incident happened in Kham, near the monastery of Karma. It 'the first episode of its kind in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The man was admitted to hospital. He self-immolated after shouting slogans in favour of the freedom of Tibet and distributing leaflets.

Signed today, the agreement provides for mutual recognition of qualifications between ecclesiastical universities around the world, linked to the Holy See, and universities recognized by the Taiwan Ministry of Education. For Card. Grocholewski this is a contribution to the internationalization of culture, which also benefits Taiwan. For President Ma Ying-jeou the agreement helps make Taiwan "a centre of higher education for East Asia". Even the Catholic teaching will be part of the curricula in Catholic institutions.

More than a thousand workers go out on strike for two days to protest layoffs and police violence. They demand respect for workers’ rights and oppose the shift of production to another plant.

The ceremony was attended by Cardinals Paul Shan and Joseph Zen, as well as bishops and political figures in Taiwan. The doctoral dissertation of Mgr. Hon was the figure of Card. Celso Costantini, the first apostolic delegate to the Republic of China, a passionate defender of the Chinese people against Western powers, an advocate of an indigenous hierarchy, patron of an integration between Chinese culture and the Gospel. Current challenges of secularism in Taiwan and the political control of the faith in China.

The Hong Kong prelate voices his bitterness at the excommunicated bishop who took part in an ordination in Yibin. He also expresses his disappointment at the behaviour of newly ordained bishop, who went through with the ceremony out of either fear or confusion. Police deployment shows the government’s fears but also its power over the Church. Taipei bishop laments the fact for mainland China, the Church is worth less than a business.

Guangdong’s draft law on NGOs rekindles debate on the disabled and Chinese society’s treatment of them. A source that has worked for years in social work tells AsiaNews: "We witness small steps forward, the situation seems to improve for a category that has always been marginalised."

These remarks are not from a dissident or a foreign analyst but from Larry Lang, professor of finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a well-known public figure on mainland television. In a lecture he delivered behind closed doors, he said, “we are not allowed to speak the truth” and “Every [Chinese] province is a Greece.” In an audio file, he explains in five points why China will collapse.

North Korea dismisses US demand to put its nuclear programme on hold, says it is “ready to resume the six-party talks” on nuclear disarmament.

Mgr Chen Shizhong presided over the ceremony. Lei Shiyin, the excommunicated bishop of a neighbouring diocese, was present. Police closely monitored the ceremony, using a security scan and banning pictures and video. Diocesan websites were blocked.

Statement of the Director of the Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, who notes that the excommunicated bishop has aggravated his canonical position. As for the other bishops who attended, decisions will be made after further information.

The prefecture of Fukushima yesterday banned the marketing of rice from 2381 farms, in addition to those already affected. The director of power plant is hospitalized, and will be replaced.