According to the UN health agency, about 3,500 people die of viral hepatitis every day. The highest number is in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Despite improvements in diagnostic testing, huge disparities still exist in access to drugs.

Bishop Indrias Rehmat chose Fr Abid Tanvir, former diocese vicar general, as parish priest. Two catechists were also appointed to work with him. Admired and visited by Muslims, the church named after Saint Anthony was inaugurated last year. The bishop urged the faithful “to make this beautiful church stronger in spirituality.”

At least 12 people are under investigation, six of whom are currently in jail. At the centre of the investigation is a cell based in Başakşehir and responsible for the attack on the Franciscan parish at the end of January. Other operations targeting the parliament, military barracks and police stations are under investigation. 

For the thirteenth year in a row, Japan has experienced a population decline. The childcare subsidies launched by the government almost a year ago do not seem to be enough. Demographer Minagawa: 'Conflict in work and family management and the pressure on motherhood in society also weigh heavily. Secularisation is also a factor: according to research by the Pew Research Center, Japanese people who pray are more likely to have children.

Today's news: Qatar threatens a step back in its role as mediator with Hamas as Gaza talks stall; Biden wants to triple tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from China; A popular anti-war fairy tale called 'terrorism' by a Russian court. Armenia establishes a day to remember the Yazidi genocide.

At an international forum held in Novgorod, Prof. Fen Yu Shun of Shanghai's Fudan University openly stated that in his opinion the invasion of Ukraine is bound to end in a fiasco for Russia. 'Moscow wants to destabilise the world order by forceful actions, Beijing wants to recompose it'.