| RED LANTERNS

Data from provincial statistical yearbooks reveal a crisis in the Chinese capital that is not just demographic. While the percentage of residents aged 20 to 29 was higher than the national average in the past, it now lags behind other metropolises like Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Chengdu. Only 42 per cent of Peking University graduates remain in a city where small and medium-sized businesses are declining and housing prices are sky-high.

by Steve Suwannarat

The language was ‘sanctioned’ during the Vedic ceremony marking the election of 36-year-old Balendra Shah as prime minister. Enrolment at Nepal Sanskrit University is rising significantly. A process underway across South Asia, driven by economic necessity, spiritual aspirations and political change. Free education, meals and accommodation for students from low-income backgrounds.

| 07/05/2026
| NEPAL
by Vladimir Rozanskij

In a country where 25% of the population is between the ages of 14 and 30, President Mirziyoyev has launched a package of measures aimed at this demographic for the first time. Among the planned initiatives are employment support, low-interest home loans, promotion of foreign language learning, and a national award for youth creativity.

| 07/05/2026
| UZBEKISTAN

The portal promoted by the IRFA provides scholars with materials and inventories of documents held in Paris on the presence of French missionaries in various Chinese provinces from 1684 to 1955. It is a valuable source for understanding the religious, social, and political history of modern China.

| 06/05/2026
| CHINA - FRANCE
by Arundathie Abeysinghe

The island is becoming a new hotspot for foreign-operated online scam operations. Local authorities are concerned over their negative impact on the country’s image and economy, especially tourism. Police have arrested people from Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as seized laptops and mobile phones.

 

| 06/05/2026
| SRI LANKA

A study by a research centre linked to Thailand’s central bank highlights a spiralling debt crisis in the agricultural sector, exacerbated by ineffective payment practices and short-term government policies, to the point that in recent years farmers have been able only to pay the interest.

| 06/05/2026
| THAILAND
by Fady Noun

Lebanon’s south is now a battlefield where a regular army equipped with tanks and planes and guerrillas armed with rockets and drones hunt each other with no regard for the suffering of the local population. Beirut's Sports City is now a vast dormitory for refugees. President Aoun is gambling his political fate on talks, while Hezbollah attacks him with a smear campaign.

 

| 06/05/2026
| LEBANON - ISRAEL - UNITED STATES
Editor's choices
 
A new report by Human Rights Watch denounces the systems used by the People's Republic to promote Han Chinese identity starting in kindergarten. Tibetan is no longer used in teaching, while parents are forced to send videos to schools to prove Chinese ...
| 05/05/2026
| TIBET - CHINA
 
The pro-democracy leader has no direct access to her family or lawyers, even after she was moved to a specially built residence. Myanmar’s opposition and human rights groups are calling it yet another sham operation by General Min Aung Hlaing to ...
| 05/05/2026
| MYANMAR
 
by Giorgio Bernardelli
The Latin patriarch released a long pastoral letter on how to live as Christians in light of the "paradigm shift" that followed 7 October 2023, and the war in Gaza. Like the "New Jerusalem" in Revelation, the city could offer a way of being together ...
| 27/04/2026
| HOLY LAND
 
The initiative was launched in Washington with the support of UNCTAD, whilst the global problem continues to grow, with as many as 54 countries spending more on debt interest payments than on healthcare and education for their citizens. Caritas Internationalis: ...
| 17/04/2026
| ASIA - WORLD
 
In light of the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, Singapore has drawn attention to ‘chokepoints’, starting with the Strait of Malacca, through which nearly a third of the world’s oil and the majority of global trade passes. The “Malacca ...
| 16/04/2026
| SINGAPORE
 
by Dario Salvi
From Beirut, Oumayma Farah describes a country at risk of being overwhelmed by the conflict. The displacement crisis is a priority, with only a small fraction of people being accommodated in shelters. Schools are being used as makeshift shelters, putting ...
| 14/04/2026
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST
 
The President of the National Assembly in Hanoi presented the Pope with a letter from the President, who is now firmly at the helm of power in Vietnam. It was precisely internal disagreements over the local political balance of power that had slowed ...
| 13/04/2026
| VIETNAM - VATICAN
 
by Gregory
A military-dominated government was approved today following elections deemed a sham by the international community. But while General Min Aung Hlaing consolidates his power by merely changing his clothing, the exiled opposition and the ethnic groups ...
| 09/04/2026
| MYANMAR
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”