Indicators are in the red, entrepreneurs are operating at a loss, and families are resorting to loans even to pay for weddings. High fuel costs are leading to illegal logging, and people are increasingly forced to forgo necessities. Despite warnings from the IMF, the banking lobby holds 90 per cent of account holders in a stranglehold.
Nasrin Sotoudeh is a lawyer who defended opposition activists. Sentenced to six years in prison, she is prevented from seeing her husband and her children. The other award is Jafar Panahi, director, known for his films about life in Iran. Since 2010 he has been under house arrest and he is forbidden to make films.
The cease-fire is in force October 26 to 29, in celebration of the Muslim Eid al-Adha. Yesterday, the rebels advanced in some central areas of Aleppo, a key city in the conflict. Ban Ki-moon calls for "political negotiations" for an end of hostilities. Red Cross ready to send aid to war zones.
For three million Muslims these are the days of the pilgrimage to Mecca. Today they will observe the "stoning of the devil". Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh underscores the importance of the application of Islamic law, in all areas of life, including politics, while "some slogans raised among Muslims these days call for setting up democratic states with no connection with the Islamic Shariah. "
It is not a question of inventing some kind of new strategies, as if the Gospel were a product to be placed on the market of religions. The new evangelization calls for the commitment of the entire People of God. Starting with the family. But it also affects young people, school, media, science and culture. Encouragement for the churches of Asia.
The truce, not yet official, was obtained with the mediation of Egypt. Netanyahu threatens new reprisals if missiles continued to be launched from Gaza. Hamas ask to all Arab leaders to visit Gaza, as did the Emir of Qatar.
In our time the mission to non-Christians is undermined by a relativism that erases the uniqueness of salvation in Jesus Christ, offering many "saviours", or reducing proclamation to being a mere proposal of Christian "values". Benedict XVI calls for to a "holy restlessness" that all may know Jesus Christ, presenting the "compass" of Vatican II. The testimony of a missionary and expert (final instalment Part VII ).
Located between Homs and Tartous in western Syria, the Monastery of Azeir continues to help Christians and Muslims, despite the fighting. What follows includes some excerpts from letters written by five Italian nuns living at the monastery posted online. Through simple actions like praying and gardening, the sisters have become a beacon of hope for Christians and Muslims devastated by the conflict.
Demonstrations to demand democratic reforms last two days and will continue throughout the week. The partial toll is 100 wounded and 15 policemen injured. The Interior Ministry accused of using foreign troops to stop the protesters. The revolt is the largest in the history of the country, the oldest parliamentary monarchy in the Persian Gulf.
We are presenting the address by the archbishop of Kirkuk to the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelisation. For him, it is important to develop a Christian theology and an Arab-Christian culture to proclaim God's word for non-Christians in the Middle East.
At the general audience, Benedict XVI announces a consistory. In his catechesis he questions "What is faith?" in the technological world, in a culture that believes only in what it can touch, but where "a spiritual desert is spreading". It is entrusting ourselves to God "with the attitude of a child, who knows that in all his difficulties, all his troubles he is safe in the "You" of the mother."
Twenty-two prelates and priests from various Catholic denominations signed the press release issued yesterday. They deny tendentious charges that the Vatican had agreed with Israel to the construction of a wall, illegal under international law, that would deprive the residents of Beit Jala village and two Salesian convents of some 300 hectares of land. Bethlehem too would be negatively affected. The wall would jeopardise the survival of residents because they would be denied access to water sources needed for irrigation.
The emir set to launch a reconstruction project. Since 2007, it is the first time that a head of state visits the Gaza Strip. Concern of the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Qatar has replaced Damascus as a sponsor of the Islamist movement Hamas. The plan is to increasingly isolate Iran and strengthen the Sunni fundamentalist Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood.
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