India

by Nirmala Carvalho | INDIA

For the first time an Indian premier was the guest speaker at an event at the CBCI headquarters in Delhi. He praised Bishop Thazhath's commitment to the country's unity, but also voiced the concerns of Christians who are victims of violence by extremist fringes. Modi expressed sorrow for those who ‘cause unrest in society’ and recalled his invitation to Pope Francis to visit India. Best wishes to Card. Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai, who turns 80 today.

by Nirmala Carvalho

Msgr. Linus Neli's Christmas message to the faithful in the Indian state rocked by violence. Let us bring flashes of God's peace to the world around us. Yesterday, meanwhile, interreligious prayers were held in Imphal and many other cities in India for the suffrage of the dead and for reconciliation

| 15/12/2024
| ECCLESIA IN ASIA
by Nirmala Carvalho

The comment was made at an event organised by the ultranationalist Hindu far right. Judge Shekhar Kumar Yadav made similar anti-Muslim comments in the past and recently reiterated his support for a uniform civil code. Opposition parties filed a complaint with the Supreme Court.

| 12/12/2024
| INDIA

The National Inclusive Children's Parliament writes to India’s Chief Justice. Interruptions not only lead to learning problems, but deprive many pupils of a regular meal. For NICP president, “Schools are not just classrooms – they are spaces where we grow, thrive, and feel safe”.

| 09/12/2024
| INDIA

The Indian government has adopted infrastructure development policies for the country’s north-eastern state to increase connections with Bangladesh, but political and religious tensions now risk complicating the situation. Despite calls for diplomacy in New Delhi and Dhaka, Tripura hotels and hospitals say they do not want Bangladeshis.

| 06/12/2024
| INDIAN MANDALA

The head of the transitional government met 32 representatives of religious communities, declaring that everyone in Bangladesh is part of the same family and pointing the finger at the ‘disinformation’ of some Indian media. The pastor of the Dhaka cathedral told AsiaNews, ‘We recognised that although some incidents have occurred, exaggerated or false news is also being spread. We want to live in harmony’.

| 06/12/2024
| BANGLADESH
by Sumon Corraya

Hundreds of students have taken to the streets in recent hours to demonstrate against the attack on the diplomatic representation, with serious damage to the building. Earlier there had been demonstrations in India against the arrest of Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in the neighbouring country. The two governments tighten control and security measures.

| 04/12/2024
| BANGLADESH - INDIA
Editor's choices
 
by Gianni Criveller
Editor-in-chief Fr Gianni Criveller's wish to AsiaNews readers on the feast that opens this year's Jubilee. "We are close to the Christian communities of Asia who live this time as an occasion for evangelisation. Even in a world marked ...
| 24/12/2024
| ASIANEWS
 
by Dario Salvi
The provincial of the Franciscans custodians of the Holy Sites speaks with AsiaNews about the festivities once again without pilgrims, whose return is ‘linked to the end of the conflict’. The focus is on events in neighbouring ...
| 24/12/2024
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST
 
by Joseph Masilamany
As Christmas approaches, the community in the multicultural coastal city is dusting off its traditions, starting with its endangered creole language. Catholicism began to spread in Malaysia from Malacca City. For Sabine Ferrao, the play’s producer, ...
| 23/12/2024
| MALAYSIA
 
The Chinese president is on a three-day visit to the former Portuguese colony 25 years after its return to Chinese sovereignty, providing him with an opportunity to send messages to Hong Kong as well, and stress the potential of the Greater Bay Area. ...
| 20/12/2024
| CHINA – MACAU
 
by Shafique Khokhar
In Kahna Nau, a suburb of Lahore, the joint intervention of the Franciscans, the imam and the police prevented the act of a deranged man who burned pages of the Koran and the Bible from causing new riots. Meanwhile, in Faisalabad, a Sufi group organised ...
| 16/12/2024
| PAKISTAN
 
by Dario Salvi
From Istanbul, the director of the Dominican Study Institute spoke to AsiaNews with a mixture of "exaltation" and "surprise” at the fall of the Assad regime. Turkey has denied rumours that it was directly involved in the regime’s overthrow, ...
| 11/12/2024
| TURKEY – SYRIA
 
In his address at the ceremony in Oslo, 92-year-old Terumi Tanaka warned: “[T]here are 4,000 nuclear warheads, ready to be launched immediately.” This means that, “Any one of you could become either a victim or a perpetrator, at any ...
| 10/12/2024
| JAPAN
 
After six months, the township of Maungdaw has fallen to the AA, while fighting continues in the south of the state. The ethnic Buddhist militia seems set to establish its own state and many fear that it might take revenge against Rohingya after some ...
| 10/12/2024
| MYANMAR
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”