Japan is looking to the region with projects worth billion over five years. The Land of the Rising Sun's soft power policy in the area is strengthening. For Central Asians, the Japanese are ‘very reliable partners focused on practical results’. Key elements include human capital development, training and administrative programmes, technological standards and high-quality projects.
Today's headlines: at least three Alawites killed in protests in Latakia, Syria; Nepalese rapper-turned-mayor Balen joins the Rastriya Swatantra Party ahead of March parliamentary elections; Thailand and Cambodia meet to “consolidate” the ceasefire on their borders; Over 4,000 schools have closed in South Korea in recent years due to a lack of students.
On the feast of the Holy Family, Leo XIV recited the Angelus from the Apostolic Palace. He invited everyone to pray “for families suffering because of war”. In his commentary on the Gospel, he said that the family of Nazareth was God's “nest and cradle” in a “despotic world”. On today's ‘Herods’: ‘Let us not allow them to suffocate the flame of love in Christian families.’
With a simple ceremony held in Seoul Cathedral, the itinerary that saw the symbols entrusted to young people by John Paul II travel through Bangladesh, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, East Timor, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia during 2025 came to an end. Sixty young people formed a living rosary, praying for those who suffer from poverty, war, the climate crisis and for their peers who have forgotten the love of Christ.
China has opened the 22-kilometre-long Tianshan Shengli Tunnel to traffic, completing a key piece of infrastructure on the motorway linking the city of Urumqi to Yuli. The project drastically reduces travel times between northern and southern Xinjiang and strengthens connections to Central Asia as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The project is part of the development strategy for border regions, but it crosses a territory marked by strong political tensions over human rights violations against the Uyghurs.
In the city of Bareilly, members of the Hindu nationalist groups Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested in front of a Catholic church on 24 December, accusing a school of offending Hinduism during Christmas celebrations. The diocese rejected the accusations and explained that this was a serious distortion of the content of the theatrical performances, which were dedicated to social issues and universal values. Bishop Ignatius D'Souza once again denounced the climate of growing religious intolerance.
