The court ordered the release of Aneeqa. Abducted in late December and subjected to a fake conversion, she was recognised as a child based on official records. Her abductor’s arguments were rejected and he was ordered arrested. According to The Edge Foundation, “Such rulings restore faith in the justice system and give hope to countless families facing similar threats.”
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.
Today's headlines: Tehran reopens its airspace after closing it overnight due to fears of a US attack; The Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh warns its citizens of the risk of crime and fraud; Nepal is also on alert for cases of Nipah virus that have emerged in West Bengal, India; Turkish prisons are housing 130% more inmates than their actual capacity; Iran, Russia, Afghanistan and Thailand are among the 75 countries for which the Trump administration has suspended the issuance of visas.
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
