The ILO reports a 10 per cent drop in informal work in Vietnam, but many complain that workers in large, export-oriented companies still suffer from job insecurity and lower wages. Manufacturing employs some 17 million people. Set to come into force on 1 July 2025, Vietnam’s new trade union law remains controversial.
The first cardinal from the bustling Southeast Asian city-state, he leads a lively and missionary Church with humility, clarity and a heart open to dialogue in an increasingly secularised world. At the synod, he highlighted the spiritual weariness that often afflicts societies that are only apparently successful.
Highly appreciated by Benedict XVI, the archbishop of Sri Lanka’s capital has held several posts in the Vatican, including that of secretary of the Dicastery for the liturgy. In recent years, he has accompanied the travails of his country, tirelessly asking for justice for the victims of the Easter 2019 massacres.
It was supposed to be a land of promises for those who had always lived from subsistence farming. Thanks to the employment brought by the mine, they had access to modern education and healthcare. But the end of the licence and a vicious cycle of tribal struggles have sown death and desolation. The government of Papua New Guinea has recently negotiated the mine’s reopening. But with many unknowns about the future.
On the day of the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in Saigon and the reunification of the country, the experience of the Scalabrinian missionaries who stand by the families arriving in the big city from the countryside.
Government-owned housing in the Sri Lankan capital, including those of former presidents, is in a state of neglect and have been invaded by pests. The decision by the National People's Power government to have its members stay in their own homes has had an impact. A committee has been set up to find ways of dealing with the situation, while neighbours complain of serious health risks and lack of maintenance.
