Today's headlines: WFP says floods in Afghanistan have exacerbated the country’s hunger crisis. Over 300 people are killed and 1,182 houses buried in a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea. Tens of thousands of people take to the streets in Taiwan against pro-Chinese reforms currently before parliament. Laos fails to stop human trafficking, especially of young people.
According to some local sources, over a hundred have died, but the authorities have not yet released any official figure. The incident took place in a remote area, which hinders rescue operations. The causes are unknown, but experts rule out heavy rain or earthquakes. Gold mining in the area is one possible factor
The French president landed today in the capital Nouméa and hinted that the state of emergency could be lifted after the deployment of 3,000 police. The tensions between loyalists and separatists are intertwined with the crisis of the nickel industry in which indigenous Kanaks are most of the workforce.
Three people have died and hundreds have been injured in recent clashes between police and pro-independence protesters in the French Overseas Territory. For the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), “It cannot be ignored that eruption of violence is the manifestation of the pain, trauma and frustration of a community who have consistently had their indigenous and political rights undermined.”
The symbolic images of the papal visit in September to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore were released today. The mottos call for fraternity, prayer, and outreach to local cultures, but also closeness to persecuted Christians in the region.
While the country is getting ready to welcome Pope Francis in September, amendments have been proposed to assert the country’s Christian identity. For the Catholic Bishops' Conference, this is a “dangerous” step that “obscures and even erases our unique Melanesian identity [. . .] rather than acknowledge, celebrate and perfect it through the Gospel”. The backers of the constitutional changes are the same groups that got the King James Bible inside parliament in 2015, promising “blessings and riches”.
