East Asia

In his message for the 55th World Communications Day, Pope Francis suggests that communications should be based on direct encounter with reality, people, and experiences. He criticises “standard, often tendentious narrative” found in today’s communications. Pandemic reporting should also speak about the “long wait for treatment in the poverty-stricken villages of Asia, Latin America and Africa,” the unequal distribution of vaccines, and families sliding into destitution. Francis warns against the “empty rhetoric [that] abounds, even in our time, in all areas of public life, in business as well as politics.” The mission is also about “come and see”.

The bishops sign a statement after the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons enters into force. Pope Francis encourages “States and all people to work decisively toward promoting conditions necessary for a world without nuclear weapons, contributing to the advancement of peace and to multilateral cooperation”. The bishops of Hiroshima and Nagasaki issued a joint statement against deterrence theory.

Starting 6 January, food has been handed out to the poor three times a week, thanks to the Archdiocese of Seoul and a division of the SK Group, a large Korean company. Card Yeom hopes the soup kitchen will lead to a hostel and a job placement service helping people reintegrate society.

By midnight, all residents will be tested in 48 hours. Since the start of January, 160 cases of SARS-CoV2 have been reported in the area. Residents protest the sudden decision. Police confine journalists to a hotel. A year ago, China declared a health emergency in Wuhan.

The village chief is responsible for the order to tie to trees people who are reluctant to stay home. In Hebei the number of cases is down, but places of worship remain closed. Some people blame them for being the source of contagion.

Repression of the democratic movement in the former British colony condemned. Calls for targeted sanctions against the officials responsible for the crackdown. The Union had to use the negotiations to preserve the autonomy of the city state. Defending human rights also in Xinjiang and Tibet.

The founder of the "New Citizens" movement and the human rights lawyer face sentences of more than 11 years. They are currently held in a Shandong prison, kept isolated, unable to receive mail, nor mee their defence lawyers. For Xu, Xi Jinping, by suppressing freedom of expression, is the cause of the spread of the coronavirus and the proponent of a "new model of totalitarianism".

A new law against "reactionary thinking" has been in place for some time. Fines for parents who allow their children to have fun with music; 15 years in prison for those who watch southern television; life sentence for non-registered foreign cell phones; death penalty for products imported from the US and Japan.

China is nostalgic for Trump, the "gravedigger of US hegemony". Chinese experts: The US containment policy will continue, reinvigorated by the relaunch of relations with allies. The centrality of Taiwan. Seoul could break the anti-China front. The focus on East Asia pushes the new president to "neutralize" the Middle Eastern chessboard.

The wishes underline the desire to mend relations after the turbulent years of the Trump presidency. The Pope asks for "unfailing respect for the rights and dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable and those who have no voice ". Iranian Javad Zarif: The Trump presidency ended up "in the garbage of history". The enthusiasm of Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen. The hopes of China.

The measure includes travel restrictions and limitations on the ability to do business in China. Spokesman for Biden: A "cynical and unproductive" move. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is the most prominent sanctioned personality. The Chinese are responding to the restrictions imposed by the former president.

Others will follow in the coming days. Due to the epidemic, “this year it will not be possible to experience the Spiritual Exercises of the Roman Curia in community at the Casa Divin Maestro in Ariccia.”