India

Since June 25 there have been 72 deaths from exposure to the cold, heart attacks and accidents. In less than a month, over 4 million faithful visit natural cave of Amarnath situated in the Himalayas. The place is famous throughout India for ice formations sacred to the god Shiva.

Agni-I has a range of 700 kilometers, sufficient (in theory) to reach Pakistan. In April, India tested a missile of the same family, the Agni-V, able to reach China with a radius of 5 thousand kilometers.

In a case related to interreligious riots of 2002, the Mumbai High Court has acquitted five defendants for "lack of evidence", but four others are sentenced to life imprisonment. In late July, the Supreme Court will decide whether to confirm a judgment of the High Court of Gujarat, which obliges the State Government to rebuild more than 500 places of worship destroyed in the massacre.

Interview with Fr. Joseph Caraci, Comboni missionary who has followed the Enrica Lexie case from the beginning, in which two marines of the San Marco Battalion are accused of killing two Indian fishermen. Tolerance, religiosity, and the pain of the Catholic community in India, to be able to "look beyond" and seek truth and justice.

"The Holy Father has never interfered in the internal affairs of the [Chinese] government," said the secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences. The latter "should refrain from interfering in the pastoral and spiritual fields with its unlawful appointments of bishops. It should allow the Church to function independently and freely." Freedom of religion is "important in the whole world. It is fundamental for the full development of a country and its population."

Fr. Stephen Kulakkayathil, from the diocese of the two Indian fishermen killed in the incident with Enrica Lexie, had lunch with Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone. Postponed to July 17 next, the first trial hearing. The marines are accused of murder.

Bishop Joseph Aind SDB, Bishop of the Diocese of Dibrugarh, explains: "People need to rebuild their dignity." Half a million people live in refugee camps, in shelters or other ecclesiastical structures. The floods have washed away homes, plantations, trees and animals. Local diocesan Church and NGOs distribute mosquito nets, dried food, tents and medicine.

For US magazine Time, the Indian prime minister is an underachiever. His disastrous economic management and failure to implement reforms make Singh a "man in shadow," no longer apt to lead Asia's third largest economy and the world's biggest democracy.

The state's chief minister plans to limit minority rights to schools where at least 75 per cent of students belong to minorities. Most minority schools would be excluded. For the archbishop of Bangalore, the government is twisting the law to "harass minorities" and "turn Karnataka into a Hindu state."

The government has announced a 5.4 billion dollar project. The plan covers only generic drugs. The doctors who will prescribe brand-name medications are likely to incur fines. Big pharmaceutical companies critical: they will sink the market.

It was Satyendra Nath Bose, Calcutta physicist, who in the '20s theorized the existence of indistinguishable elementary particles, called "bosons" in his honor. Yesterday, CERN in Geneva confirmed the observation of the Higgs boson, which gives particles mass. Over 100 Indian scientists have participated in the experiment.

The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) denounces anti-Christian attacks in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, perpetrated by the Hindu ultra-nationalists. In both cases, the common element is the complicity of police and authorities with the aggressors.