Today's news: three civilians killed in an Israeli raid in southern Lebanon, in Gaza the attack on the UN school exceeds 20 dead; Talks between Palestinian factions on 20 and 21 July in China; High North Korean official in Cuba defects and flees to South Korea; Bangkok court postpones extradition hearing in Vietnam for activist Montagnard Y Quynh Bdap.
Today's news: No chance of finding 55 passengers missing from the landslide that swept away their buses in Nepal; Alliance of minority groups agree four-day truce with the Burmese army in Shan State; Islamabad reaches agreement with the IMF on a seven billion dollar loan; Kuwait announces the discovery of a huge new oil field.
The Christian community celebrates the 'historic' appointment of the soldier as a division general. An occasion of celebration for a prestigious role also shared by ecclesiastical personalities and Muslim intellectuals. Vicar of Faisalabad: the State "has begun to reward the Christian community for its services to the progress of the country".
In Trieste for the Social Week of Italian Catholics, the brother of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s Minorities Minister killed in 2011, spoke about a recent trial that has reopened wounds for the country’s Christian community over its blasphemy rules. For Paul Bhatti, the government must ensure that “no one can teach a person to kill or die in the name of religion.”
A Punjab court issued a surreal verdict in connection with the brutal attack against a Christian neighbourhood in August 2023, handing down a death sentence against Ahsan Masih, a young man who, like thousands others, shared a post on a social media that was construed as “instigating” violence. By contrast, 135 people arrested for involvement in the incident have walked free. For Fr Khalid Rashid Asi, the sentence was issued under extremist pressure, but eventually “truth will win”.
In Asia, Vietnam and Bangladesh serious cases of abuse and persecution were reported in 2023. India is criticised even though New Delhi is an important US ally against Beijing. In Pakistan, Ahmadi Muslims suffer the worst discrimination.
