Sources spoke to AsiaNews confirming the growing crisis following Houthi advance on the country's western coast. Electricity and basic necessities are being rationed amid a security emergency. The Missionaries of Charity continue their work in the north. Riyadh has shut down the East-West pipeline after it was attacked.
Shaykh Mohammed Nokkari, who first launched the idea of a joint celebration in the name of Mary, gets in a verbal tiff with Lebanon’s Grand Mufti who is against the project. Despite his resignation he wants to continue working for inter-faith dialogue.
Asghar Ali Engineer condemns the attacks in Baghdad against Christian churches. He emphasizes that violence "has nothing to do with the precepts of Islam" and is the work of "fundamentalists." The scholar prays for the victims and families and hopes to promote a "peaceful and lasting co-existence."
The implementation of the 3300 kilometers of pipeline that will carry energy from West Central Asia, particularly Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, should then move to the operational level. Focus turns to Iraq and Azerbaijan, and Russia, while Moscow continues its South Stream.
In northern Iraq Our Lady of Fatima Church is hit; nearby Shia mosque is also damaged. Local sources warn of new attacks “against churches and monasteries”. A new Christian exodus is feared. For auxiliary bishop of Baghdad attacks were “organised”; he appeals for peace.
The Iranian crisis sees Syria increasingly the focus of international countries that have an interest in "detaching" it from Tehran. Assad has invited the U.S. President, while there is talk of reopening the Saudi embassy and a visit by the Lebanese premier.
Benedict XVI returns to the principal themes of his social encyclical reaffirming the need for a global commitment to development, to eliminate "social inequality and structural injustices that are no longer tolerable." The social question has become an "anthropological” issue which implies a way of conceiving man in truth, body and soul. Prayers for Honduras and a farewell ahead of holidays in Les Combes (Aosta Valley).
The dead and most of the wounded from attack on St. Mary, the church where Mgr. Sleimon Wardouni, Chaldean Patriarchal Vicar, officiates. Other churches suffered minor damage. The hand of Al Qaeda to avenge the "martyr of the veil"
The Turkish premier wants to push the UN Security Council to address the crisis in Xinjiang. But Beijing could block it. The Turkish foreign minister calls for a boycott of Chinese goods. Demonstrations of Uyghurs in Istanbul, Canberra, Holland, Germany. Nothing new from the Organisation of Islamic Conferences or Iran.
The British organization has published the report "Five years of illegality" recalling the statements of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in 2004 established the illegal construction of the wall and urged the authorities in Tel Aviv to dismantle it.
In an hour of private talks, topics such as dialogue between cultures and religions, the economic-financial crises at the global level and its ethical implications, food security and development aid are touched on. Benedict XVI gifts the U.S. President Caritas in Veritate and also 'Dignitas Personae', the document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which addresses bioethical issues.
Defendants carried out a series of attacks across the kingdom between 2003 and 2006. One extremist is sentenced to death; others, to jail terms or house arrests. It is the first terrorism trial in Saudi Arabia.
The situation is improving but ethnic and confessional divisions remain; they are an obstacle on the path of peace. Three attacks hit northern Iraq and the capital, killing 40 and wounding another 80. Tomorrow a group of 19 children will celebrate their first communion. The archbishop of Kirkuk calls on political leaders to show “political maturity” ahead of provincial elections.
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