The meeting between North Korea’s leader and Belarus’s Lukashenko marks a new course. The North Korean regime is managing its isolation as a strategic resource rather than simply enduring it. Pyongyang is choosing its interlocutors, building relationships, and using the diversification of its partners as a tool to maintain its autonomy from Beijing and Moscow with a growing focus on Southeast Asia at the expense of South Korea.
International pressure is mounting on Myanmar’s military junta to provide verifiable proof of the democratic leader’s health, who has been held in solitary confinement since 2021, through the “Proof of Life” campaign. There has been no reliable news about her for years. Her son Kim Aris told AsiaNews: “The Burmese people love my mother as much as I do”.
This year, the major pilgrimage to Makkah is set for 24-29 May. The desire to participate outweighs the fear of war, although concerns remain about rising prices, last-minute cancellations, and delayed return journeys. Saudi Arabia is using artificial intelligence to manage security and monitor pilgrims. Two million people are expected to participate.
Almost €1.4 million was stolen from the accounts of the faithful of the parish of St Francis of Assisi in Aek Nabara. For weeks, the nun fought for the return of the money stolen by a former bank employee, who subsequently fled to Australia and was arrested. The bank’s senior management offered “sincere apologies” to the country’s Catholics.
According to a study by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the region is rapidly aging. The declining workforce and the spread of the informal economy risk accentuating existing inequalities. But greater investment in care services could create millions of jobs and new opportunities for inclusive development.
According to the UNHCR, last year was the deadliest for Rohingya refugees, who continue to make the journey from Bangladesh and Myanmar to Malaysia and Indonesia due to fresh fighting in Myanmar's Rakhine State, and continued persecution, worsening conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
