South Korea

In his message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations on "Proposing Vocations in the Local Church," Benedict XVI stresses the responsibility of the entire ecclesial community, starting with bishops to promote and support the "workers of the harvest"

A new study published by "GeoScience" refutes statements made by a UN commission, that claims by 2035 at the latest, the Himalayan glaciers will have disappeared. The report was criticized by India’s top expert in the field, Vijay Raina.

At least 80 000 people - divided between North and South - have no contact or news of one another. The last meeting between families occurred in 2009. Military talks continue this morning. The Red Cross will also oversee the resumption of tourism and industrial projects.

Fady Noun and Georges Corm analyse the wave of popular unrest in Tunisia, Egypt and the Middle East. The possibility that Muslim radicals could highjack the movement exists but is weak. For the Lebanese economist, the answer lies in the social doctrine of the Church. Still, the fire could spread eastward and reach even the Philippines.

Colonels from the two sides meet today in the demilitarised zone to prepare a ministerial level meeting. A source tells AsiaNews, “Pyongyang is on the brink of collapse. We are afraid the ‘Third Kim’ will impose himself with violence.”

The real protagonists of change are young Christians and Muslims. Muslim Brotherhood trying to highjack transition. Fear and silence of Church authorities. Accounts of real "national unity". The analysis of a noted political analyst and director of the Jesuit Cultural Centre of Alexandria.

The Bishops of Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Western Sahara appreciate demonstrations by young people. They are an opportunity for dialogue between Christians and Muslims. So far the demonstrations in Egypt and Tunisia have not taken on Islamist connotations.

According to astrologers it will be a year of prosperity and success, a good year to get married and start new relationships. At least 700 million people in China have travelled home; 31 million in South Korea. In Pyongyang, Kim Jong-il has taken part in a patriotic concert. Taiwan celebrates the beginning of the second centenary of the Republic of China.

Pyongyang accepts Seoul proposal, seeking to advance the date to February 8th. Meanwhile, a UN report denounces the unofficial presence of yet another secret nuclear facility in North Korean territory.

Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, excluded from the succession, speaks from his exile in Japan: "My father does not trust his heir apparent, Kim Jong-un. He did not want him as his successor. "

Muslim intellectuals and theologians draw the prospects for a change even in Islam: the value of women and fraternisation of sexes; rejection of fundamentalist Salafism, seeking a religion of the heart and freedom, against the formalism of the veil, the beard and abstruse ritual practices. And above all, they welcome secularism, the separation of Islam from politics.

Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe have seen huge increases in food and fuel prices. The cost of wheat and other agricultural products has risen not because of shortages, but because of inflation generated by the Federal Reserve. The gap between economic elites and the population is widening.