The Major Archbishop announces a “Year for strengthening the community” in a post-synodal circular. He invites the faithful to contribute financially to the future of the communities and public life by creating job opportunities. Fr Olikkarott: ‘The decline in families is alarming: we encourage young people to stay and have children’.
At least seven victims from the Armenian and Chaldean communities. In addition, three were injured and one imprisoned. Among the dead was the young Ejmin Masihi. In an open letter, Article 18 activists condemn the ‘brutal repression’ carried out by the ‘Tehran regime’.
The assault on the television centre in January 1991 definitively ruined the plans for perestroika, also giving Gorbachev the reputation of a dictator and persecutor of the freedom of peoples, destroying his image as a reformer. After Lithuania, it was the turn of Latvia and Estonia, with Yeltsin himself signing an appeal to the UN on the unacceptability of military interference. Today, this conquest of freedom and civilisation remains a faint memory.
Government plans to change the education system have sparked strong protests from teachers, parents, and academics. Criticism centres on flawed teaching materials and the additional costs to families, in a country still coping with the damage caused by recent extreme weather events and where many people still face great economic hardship
The 2026 World Watch List has been published. The number of countries suffering “extreme" level of oppression is up from 13 to 15 with nine in Asia and the Middle East. North Korea tops the list for 24 years. In Syria, the situation has worsened since Assad fled. State surveillance in China, anti-conversion laws in India, and violence in Myanmar are a source of great concern.
From Indonesia and Saudi Arabia to Sudan and Libya, Pakistan has expanded defence deals in recent months with JF-17 fighter sales, jointly produced with China that proved ITS versatility during the conflict with India last May. This affordable aircraft is increasingly central to Beijing and Islamabad's military and diplomatic strategy.
