| INDIA

The Calcutta High Court ordered new appointments within 15 days, directing concerned school staff to return paid salaries with interest. The State administration led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appealed to the Supreme Court. Some state officials have been arrested on corruption charges, while assets worth millions of rupees have been confiscated.

by Sumon Corraya

Three cases are still pending in court following the tragedy in which over 1,000 textile workers died. At the beginning of the year, the Supreme Court intervened, ordering the judicial process to be closed by July. The victims say they were left to their own devices, while only Sohel Rana, the owner of the building, is in prison.

| 24/04/2024
| BANGLADESH
by Melani Manel Perera

A quick visit to the island for the Iranian leader on his return from Pakistan. The focus of the day was the signing of five memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and the inauguration of a hydroelectric power plant. Analysts underline the Islamic Republic's attempt to strengthen relations with South Asia at a time of tensions in the Middle East, with heavy repercussions on international trade. 

| 24/04/2024
| SRI LANKA - IRAN
by Vladimir Rozanskij

In Kaliningrad, the local governor talks about the necessary 'Russian interpretation of Kantianism', amidst gastromic festivals and bots answering questions from the audience by referring to the philosopher's writings. While Russia's leading neo-Kantian philosopher Viktor Vakštein is demoted to 'foreign agent' and forced to emigrate to Israel.

 

| 24/04/2024
| RUSSIA

According to a survey by Save the Children, 250,000 children are not in school. About 99 per cent of repatriated families face a food crisis, 40 per cent have had to borrow money, one in six lives in tents. Many were born across the border, and Afghanistan "is not the place they call home.”

| 23/04/2024
| AFGHANISTAN – PAKISTAN

Thai Prime Minister Sretta Thavisin, who cancelled a visit to the border town, announced the creation of an ad hoc committee to manage the situation. Over the weekend, more Myanmar refugees continue to pour in their thousands across the border as fighting raged in the area. To avoid another humiliating defeat, Myanmar’s military intensified aerial bombing.

| 23/04/2024
| THAILAND – MYANMAR
by Santosh Digal

The Botika sa Kapilya (Chapel Pharmacy) programme provides drugs and medical consultations to poor people in the region, thanks to the Jesuit missionary, with the help of Catholic health workers, who are also catechists. About 102 people have benefitted from the initiative that reaches out to people struggling with hunger and the effects of El Niño.

 

| 23/04/2024
| PHILIPPINES
Editor's choices
 
Not only Gaza and the war in Ukraine: the global arms race is also driven by Chinese pressure on Taiwan.. The 6.8% growth represents "the highest year-on-year growth since 2009". China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia among the world's top five with ...
| 22/04/2024
| ASIA - MIDDLE EAST
 
by Dario Salvi
Layan Nasir, a 23-year-old native of Birzeit, is the only Christian woman under "administrative detention". She was taken, blindfolded and handcuffed, overnight by a military patrol without an arrest warrant or charges against her. The Bethlehem ...
| 19/04/2024
| ISRAEL – PALESTINE
 
Chinese Human Rights Defenders released a report detailing the stories of children and young people victims of human rights violations, like He Fengmei's daughter, who was separated from her mother a month after her birth and kept in a psychiatric ...
| 16/04/2024
| CHINA
 
Currently in intensive care, the seven-year-old is the only person to be seriously wounded by Iran’s attack against Israel because her house and village were not covered by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system. Nothing is known of the fate of ...
| 15/04/2024
| ISRAEL – GAZA - IRAN
 
by Daniele Frison
The auxiliary bishop of Jerusalem and patriarchal vicar for Palestine looks at the protests in Amman. Diplomatic relations with Israel allow aid to be sent to Gaza. Some students from Gaza’s Holy Family Parish arrived in Amman thanks to the Patriarchate’s ...
| 12/04/2024
| JORDAN
 
The Holy See has officially announced the long journey to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore. Card Goh of Singapore hopes the pope will bring to his predominantly Chinese city, “renewed fervour to all Catholics [. . .], especially ...
| 12/04/2024
| VATICAN
 
by card. Anthony Poola *
The Archbishop of Hyderabad looks at the media reaction to the declaration released by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on human dignity. The media are “focused on gender theory, sex change, surrogacy etc., but” people who “struggle ...
| 11/04/2024
| INDIA
 
The Vatican Secretary for Relations with States presides over Mass in the cathedral, the focal point of this historic trip for the local Church since the breaking of diplomatic relations between Hanoi and the Vatican in 1975. In the meeting with ...
| 11/04/2024
| VIETNAM
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”