Residents set up an imposing structure with 1,400 oil lamps for the 27th night of the fast. Part of the preparations for Eid al-Fitr, the initiative engages the community in a collective effort. Well known in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia, the tradition was revived more than ten years ago.

While the world’s attention is focused on the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, there is another vital “economic resource” that the war is seriously jeopardizing: the labor of nearly 40 million foreign workers, who make up the majority of the population in many local cities. A prolonged crisis, with a massive wave of returns, would also have serious consequences for the countries of origin in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and other Arab nations.

Following elections that saw a resounding defeat for traditional parties, Nepal is now reeling from the death of a 16-year-old girl who died as a result of rape. This horrific story brings women’s issues back into the spotlight in a country where women make up just 8% of the newly elected parliament and have little protection in the workplace.

Today’s headlines: Sri Lanka has also shortened the working week due to fuel shortages, whilst Tehran is asking Delhi to return several oil tankers; The United Nations has updated the list of Taliban members subject to sanctions as the conflict with Pakistan continues; Ten people have died in a hospital fire in Orissa; In South Korea, more and more people are taking slimming pills even though they are not obese.

Tajikistan, a country with close ties to Tehran due to shared ethnic origins, views the conflict in the Middle East with concern. Local experts believe it will not be resolved by bombs and missiles, but will drag on for a long time on the ground.

The Holy See has released the detailed schedule of the pope's visit to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea from 13 to 23 April. In Bab El Oued (Algiers), he will visit the community of the two Augustinian martyrs killed in 1994. In Cameroon, he will pray for peace in Bamenda, the epicentre of a forgotten war. In Bata, Equatorial Guinea, he will pray at the memorial for the  victims of the weapons depot blasts that killed more than a hundred people in 2021.