The US-led military mission comes to an end tomorrow. The crux of the matter lies in arms supplies to the militias and state control. Today, Iraq is the point where various fault lines converge: Iran and the United States, the Arab world and regional powers, the central government and the militias, national sovereignty and external influence.
The forum held in Seoul offered the five countries in the region not only access to high-tech products, but also opportunities to overcome the limitations of their economies. For its part, South Korea is looking not only at reserves of critical minerals but also at the Trans-Caspian corridor. The volume of investment has already risen to 20 billion dollars.
Today’s headlines: US exemption from flight ban allows flights for Shia pilgrims from Iran to Najaf; Myanmar: 21 people arrested for sending funds to a platform linked to the government-in-exile; Indian Supreme Court takes action against police over the wave of rapes; Tokyo wants a ‘Japanese CIA’.
Pope Leo XIV travelled to northeastern France in the final legal of his apostolic visit. Here he took part in an interfaith meeting with representatives of various religions sharing an appeal to act together in the “service of peace” echoing the spirit of Assisi 1986. In his address, he said that invoking God to legitimise violence is a form of profanation. Instead, “Religions are guardians of life,” he said. Yesterday in Lourdes, he met with seven people abused by members of the clergy.
Grappling with collapsing real estate revenues, local governments are delaying payments to businesses, which is reverberating along the supply chain to small suppliers. Beijing is trying to contain the problem but, without new resources, there is a risk of simply shifting losses from one entity to another.
Khieo Lapchanh, 26, was due to meet with the UN refugee agency the day after he disappeared. He had received threats after posting videos critical of the Laotian government. The case once again draws attention to the plight of Laotian dissidents abroad and the protection provided by Thailand.
Today’s headlines: Floods paralyse Bangkok and claim 56 lives in India, 14 people die in Nepal avalanche; Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu makes whirlwind visit to the UAE; Seoul and the UN investigate explosion in the demilitarised zone that injured three officers; The wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir dies aged 100.
The row between South Korea and Ukraine over the transfer of two North Korean soldiers captured in January 2025 is intensifying. For Seoul confidentiality was breached, which Kyiv strongly denies. In the background, Seoul is trying to resume dialogue with Pyongyang.
During a parliamentary debate in Damascus, criticism was levelled at the “excessive number of female teachers” and calls were made for corporal punishment (which the Minister of Education has, however, ruled out). Meanwhile, an estimated two million children have dropped out of school due to poverty. And the issue of safeguarding the identity of minorities remains unresolved.
Following the controversy in Britain that led the Archbishop of Canterbury to withdraw a peace award given to the president of the Pakistan Ulema Council, the Church of Pakistan has awarded him its own prize, defending his commitment to minorities. But alongside his comments on Bin Laden and 9/11, new allegations have also emerged
The Kremlin has lowered its oil production forecasts to their lowest level in over a decade, whilst it has already drawn 15,000 billion roubles from the reserve fund since 2019. Meanwhile, companies are calling for the costs of private defence systems purchased to protect themselves from Ukrainian drones to be written off.
Pope Leo XIV’s visit in France continues. Yesterday, he prayed at the Grotto of Massabielle, and today he celebrated Mass before 150,000 faithful, urging them to “leave as missionaries of hope.” At the Marian shrine, “no one is turned away due to their frailty.” During the Angelus, he issued an appeal, to pray the Rosary "with the particular intention that wars may cease”.
For this year's World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Pope Leo XIV focused on the situation of migrant children. A South Korean Catholic weekly heeded the call, focusing on the issue of children unregistered at birth because they are foreign, consequently deprived of essential rights like healthcare and education.
At the Institut Catholique de Paris, the pope spoke of the wonder of faith in adulthood in a “secularized” French society. Meeting migrants at the Maison Bakhita, he bemoaned “a culture that tears communities apart and leaves cities sick with loneliness.” In the afternoon, he led Mass at the Place de la Concorde.
Each summer the French Dominican friar and official at the Dicastery for Christian Unity completes a new stage of an uninterrupted pilgrimage on foot that has now taken him from Rome all the way to Antioch. He reflects on the pilgrimage as a synthesis of life, the hospitality received in monasteries and mosques, and the encounters along the way. “Patriarch Bartholomew told me: ‘Go all the way to Jerusalem’.”
Education Minister Ja Htoi Pan spoke to AsiaNews. Five years after the 2021 coup, 6.3 million young people lack access to a basic education. There is an urgent need for safety. “We provide schools with safety drills and air-raid shelters." Aung San Suu Kyi remains a beacon of “hope for the people”.
With the Bothekoshi Valley impassable, the only open trade route with China now runs through the Korala Pass at an altitude of 4,650 metres. Beijing is pushing for major infrastructure projects there as well. Until now, Kathmandu has preserved the environment and identity of the plateau, a region some identify with the mythical Shangri-La.
In a new book, Swiss aid worker Kathi Zellweger recounts her unique experience of 25 years of travelling to and staying in Pyongyang, which began in 1995 when she delivered humanitarian aid with Caritas Hong Kong during the famine. ‘The resilience I have seen amongst the most vulnerable gives me hope even in the face of today’s new restrictions’.
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