Led by the heads of various Churches, pilgrims have returned to the 5th-century monastery built around the column on which Saint Simeon lived for 40 years. One of the most important monuments of early Christianity, it still bears the scars of bombing and looting. Yet it bears witness to a faith stronger than any adversity.
Amid an unparalleled economic crisis that began in 2019, Lebanon’s top banker leaves under a cloud with charges ranging from lying for years about the country’s accounts to shifting embezzled money abroad. Meanwhile, political and sectarian divisions prevent the appointment of his successor, which requires the approval of Lebanon’s president. According to the International Monetary Fund, the Lebanese currency has lost 98 per cent of its value. Current metrics are in chaotic state.
Today's news: Japan restarts a nuclear power plant built 48 years ago. Putin forgives African debt and promises more grain to African countries. Syrian child worker dies at 13 in Ankara. Indian nuns are hard-pressed to provide care to elderly and sick sisters. In Vietnam archaeologists discover the oldest traces of curry outside India.
A group of Yazidi groups issued a harshly worded statement on the eve of the ninth anniversary of the start of the pogroms carried out by the Islamic State group, deemed genocide by the United Nations. More than 200,000 Yazidis continue to languish in camps for displaced people.
Help is both material and moral to heal the wounds of the soul, already scarred by Syria’s civil war. The Franciscan friars are trying to help young people build ties with their hometowns to stop them from leaving amid painful memories and a persistent economic depression. In its latest issue, “Terrasanta” magazine spoke to several people who still want to fight for a future.
Card Raphael Louis Sako, Patrairch of the Chaldean Church, issued his first statements from Erbil after he was compelled to leave Baghdad. In it he describes a situation in which too many political divisions are driving the country apart and undermining the Iraqi state. Experts note that ethnic militias are the result of repeated exclusions of various ethnic and religious groups by those in power over the years.
Ignoring 29 weeks of street protests, the Israeli right passed the "law on reasonableness" to limit the High Court's room for manoeuvre. Now, however, he will discuss the appeals presented precisely against this provision, in all likelihood formally opening the clash of powers in a country that does not have a constitution. Israeli newspapers publish black front pages.
A summit between the Cooperation Council of the Gulf States and Central Asian countries was held in Jeddah. The aim: to broaden economic cooperation starting from religious commonality. Every year about 50,000 Saudi tourists visit the historical cities of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
Today's headlines: Protests in Stepanakert over the situation in Nagorno Karabakh; A ferry sinks in Indonesia; Thailand's government wants to attract foreign directors and producers; School roof collapses in China; Floods in Afghanistan and the rest of the region claim dozens of victims; More details of sexual violence emerge from Manipur; Amman and Damascus meet to curb drug trafficking.
Today's headlines: in Siberia, permafrost melts causing the methane-releasing Batagaika depression to sink further; Israeli army kills two teenagers in the West Bank; U.S. semiconductors in Russia despite sanctions through Maldives; Chinese youth stop at Propaganda Fide in Rome on their way to WYD.
After four years of construction, the monumental Hindu temple will be inaugurated in Abu Dhabi, joining the Abrahamic Family House, the complex symbolising interfaith dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews, fruit of Pope Francis’s visit to the country. Like ancient Hindu shrines, it was made without using steel, iron, or reinforced concrete. It will be the first of its kind in a country home to more than three million Indians.
An official asked Fr Nikodemus Schnabel, a Benedictine monk from the nearby Dormition Monastery, to remove his pectoral cross during a visit with Germany’s Education minister. Solidarity with the abbot was expressed by the Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See. The incident follows an escalation of hate and contempt by ultra-Orthodox denounced by the city’s Christian communities. Meanwhile, an Israeli journalist from Channel 13, dressed like a friar, documents insults and spitting from soldiers and children.
Today's news: One Palestinian dead and four injured in an Israeli raid on Nablus; A shooting rocks New Zealand just hours before the start of the women's soccer world cup; UN warns of increasingly harsh winters in Mongolia, nomadic shepherds risk socio-economic collapse; Card. Zuppi's mission to Washington for peace in Ukraine.
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