At the Oceania Island Leaders' Forum meeting currently underway in Palau, agreement was reached on a text that, while not specifically naming Beijing, criticizes the test conducted in July. The meeting was also marked by Chinese attacks over the invitation to Taiwan's Foreign Minister.
A team of South Korean experts is set to inspect the power plant, scene of the 2011 accident, to check radioactive water. The mission was made possible by improved relations between Yoon and Kishida. Japan wants to release the water in the summer, raising concerns among South Korean fishermen.
The Chinese delegation had announced that it would not attend the three-day summit in Srinagar because it was 'disputed territory'. Pakistan and autonomist movements had also expressed their opposition to the event, the first in the region after the revocation of special status in 2019. India wants to promote natural and cultural heritage, but today the security agencies had to ask the delegates present to change route.
The meeting of the Central Asian countries with Xi Jinping should not only be read as a counterbalance to the G7. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan used to be Moscow's 'backyard'. Today, they not only de-Russify linguistically and socially, but welcome China's big brother with open arms.
Father Fabio Favata is a PIME missionary and trained psychologist, whose doctoral thesis focuses on how seminaries in mainland China train candidates to the priesthood. Despite declining vocations and major difficulties, building a future is still possible.
Today's news: Hong Kong police want to install surveillance cameras in schools and universities. India's defence production grew by 12 per cent. North Korea is set to launch a new spy satellite, a "step forward" in military science. Turkey is pressing to add "Islamophobia" in a UNESCO resolution on discrimination. Cambodian opposition leader slams upcoming elections as a "sham", calls on democratic countries not to recognise their legitimacy.
Thousands of nurses walk out to protest the president’s decision to veto a bill approved by South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly. Doctors are against the new legislation, claiming that it will cause chaos. For nurses, such concerns are unfounded, insisting that the country needs more care centres to cope with a rapidly aging population.
The World Health Organisation is set to hold its annual meeting on 21-30 May in Geneva. Several countries support Taiwan’s presence as an "observer", but mainland China is poised to reject it. Taiwan’s Health Minister Hsueh Jui-yuan stresses that exchanging information in a post-pandemic world is crucial and points to the island's health system as a “model".
Today's headlines: Tehran executes three more men linked to the pro-Mahsa Amini protests; Thai authorities released after 50 days a 15-year-old girl arrested for insulting the monarchy; The rise of the Afghan Taliban fuelled child labour; North Korean soldiers beat to death a young boy who had tried to steal petrol from a military truck; New tensions between Hanoi, Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea.
Taiwan, containing China, and the Ukraine War will top the agenda of this year’s summit of the most industrialised countries. In light of regional dynamics, they will be joined by India, South Korea, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Meanwhile, China is hosting a meeting with Central Asian countries in Xi'an. The World Food Programme makes an appeal for food security, while Oxfam reports that G7 countries owe US$ 13.3 trillion in unpaid aid and funding.
A joke about Xi Jinping's military motto has landed Li Haoshi in hot waters, possibly behind bars even though charges have not yet been laid. The production company he worked for has been fined almost two million dollars and has suspended its shows. China cracks the whip of censorship a bit harder around the anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution.
Today's headlines: Raisi and Putin oversee the signing of an agreement for a made-in-Tehran rail line; Record Nepalese climber reaches Everest summit for 27th time. April record number of tourists in Japan in post-Covid era. Cautious optimism of UN special envoy on Yemen peace talks. Azerbaijani environmentalist raises alarm over drying Caspian Sea.
At the general audience, the pontiff retraced "the restlessness to always go further" that marked the life of the Jesuit patron of the missions and great apostle of Asia. "Even today there are many courageous missionaries, I am thinking for example of those in Papua New Guinea". Francis Xavier's gaze on China and his death on Sancian Island, at the gates of this great country, "a symbol also for today's time".
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