Today's headlines: Qatar and Bangladesh sign a memorandum on migrant workers. Myanmar’s military retakes a village on the Mon-Karen border. Taiwan denounces Chinese military activities after Blinken's departure. Syrian woman gets seven life sentences over the Istanbul attack of November 2022. Russia has lost its dominant position as India’s main arms supplier.
The hostages in the hands of Hamas, but also the starving civilians in the Strip and the victims of settler violence, in the prayer published in Israel by Rabbi Arik Ascherman - of the 'Torah of Justice' movement - on the evening when Jews celebrate through the rite of the seder the liberation from Egypt. "It is all too easy to become oppressed and oppressor at the same time. Stay with us, so that our fears do not become our masters".
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 Lutheran leader: Israel enjoys "impunity" and “feels entitled to destroy the lives of millions of people.”
In 2022, the Supreme Court had intervened by "freezing" the expropriations in the neighbourhood long at the centre of high tensions in East Jerusalem. A judge ordered the eviction of three families by July. Behind the decision is said to be pressure from Nahalat Shimon, a pro-settlement group. The army ordered the seizure of land north of Hebron, a UN note against settler violence.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim chaired a two-day meeting of the National Security Council. In a statement, he backs Iran’s “legitimate act” against Israel’s “barbaric” raid on its embassy. The Philippines express "great concern" over rising tensions, which have impacted air travel in the region.
Chaldean Patriarch calls for joint efforts to "ease" an escalation with "devastating" consequences. The Iraqi premier in Washington for a strenuous search for stability. The cardinal's satisfaction at returning to the capital after months of voluntary exile in protest against the withdrawal of the presidential decree. The promise of an inter-religious prayer for peace.
