In Vietnam, hundreds of drivers are getting ready for a two-day boycott against the platform's deductions, which drivers claim amount to as much as 40–45 per cent of the fare. Since 2024, Grab has implemented a flexible pricing system based on various factors. With an estimated 70 per cent market share, finding alternatives is no easy task.
Today's headlines: Japanese expatriates in Taiwan are studying escape routes in the event of a Beijing attack on the island; Omicron alert, Riyadh reimposes social distancing measures at Mecca and Medina; on Christmas Eve, Vietnamese authorities attacked dozens of Montagnard Christians; the Russian Duma introduces a committee for the defence of Christian values.
Singer Toon Bodyslam’s plan to run 109 kilometres to raise funds for 109 students faces criticism. Detractors urge him to ask the government to provide free education. In the first half of the 2021, the number of poor students rose by 30 per cent.
Yahya Cholis Staquf was elected during the 34th national conference in Lampung, Sumatra. He is 55 years old and the son of a religious leader who was a former member of the NU and the elder brother of the Minister for Religious Affairs. Msgr Agus, a friend of Staquf who accompanied him on a visit to the Vatican, expresses his happiness. Staquf was attacked over a trip to Israel and meeting with Netanyahu.
Francis centred his Urbi et orbi message on the lack of dialogue, not only between States, but also between people, as evinced by violence against women and the tendency “to look the other way” at the sufferings of those forced to leave their homeland. Choosing the Word and the “grace of littleness” means “to believe that God desires to come into the little things of our life; he wants to inhabit our daily lives, the things we do each day at home, in our families, at school and in the workplace.”
Archbishop Marco Tin Win tells AsiaNews about the drama of the country that has not known peace since the February 1 coup: "Last year there was Covid-19, now we are suffering from a man-made disaster. The military is looking everywhere for those who fight against them, even priests and nuns forced to flee. To the Burmese who are far from home, like Mary and Joseph, I want to say: God is with you".
In Hong Kong, two more universities remove statues in memory of Tiananmen; Hun Sen prepares ground for his son's succession to power in Cambodia; Moon Jae-in grants a pardon to former president Park Geun-hye; at least 30 dead and 100 injured in Bangladesh after a fire on board a ferry.
CBCP president Bishop David urges the faithful to give up “lavish Christmas parties” and help instead the communities Visayas and northern Mindanao affected by Typhoon Rai. The death toll has reached 375, including a priest. In Cebu, Verbite missionaries opened their doors to 44 poor families. Rescue teams reached the city of Malabuyoc after only a week.
“Participation, mission and communion are the characteristics of a humble Church, one attentive to the voice of the Spirit and not self-centred,” said the Pope. “This is the lesson of Christmas: humility is the great condition for faith, for the spiritual life and for holiness.”
The Christmas letter from a PIME missionary, pastor to St. Mark's Church, in the slums on the extreme outskirts of the metropolis: "During Covid-19 many young people understood that our charity does not come from us, but from an Other greater than ourselves."
Today's headlines: China has been blocking visits to Tibetan political prisoners for a year under the pretext of the pandemic; A Yangon court has sentenced more than 90 people to death since the military coup in February; Colombo wants to trade tea for its oil debts with Iran; radical Indian leaders close to Modi are calling for ethnic cleansing of minorities, especially Muslims.
A parish in the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City has lost as many as 70 members to COVID-19. After pastoral activities resumed on 2 December, the parish build a Bethlehem cave in the church square. The pandemic has sparked communal self-help, including “many non-Christians” who received help “at a time when they had no food or medicine”.
Today's headlines:High school students in India refuse canteen food cooked by a dalit; in Fukushima an underwater tunnel is being studied to pour radioactive water into the sea; one person is dead and dozens are missing in a jade mine accident in Myanmar; in China a 66 million years old dinosaur embryo has been discovered.
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