European and North American bishops call for 'authentic peace' in Holy Land

Today's news: Hanoi and Seoul ready to conclude 300 million arms deal; Saudi foreign minister in Damascus today to meet new leadership; Pakistani Human Rights Commission: progressive deterioration in the last two years of freedom of expression;China hands down death sentence to one of three attackers on foreigners last year.

HOLY LAND.

“We came to the Holy Land, in this Jubilee Year, as pilgrims of hope,” hoping that the ceasefire agreement ”would hold.” This is what the Coordination of Bishops' Conferences for the Support of the Church in the Holy Land [better known as the Holy Land Coordination, which brings together bishops' conferences from Europe and North America] says at the conclusion of its annual visit Jan. 18-23. The bishops hope that those in Israel and Palestine “who have suffered the atrocities of violence and war can rebuild their shattered lives.” In this jubilee year, they conclude, the hope is that the truce “will mark the beginning of an authentic and lasting peace.”

VIETNAM - SOUTH KOREA

Hanoi and Seoul are set to conclude an arms supply agreement , the first between the two countries, worth 0 million. This is reported by Yonhap, which relays industry sources in the sector that the shipment (also) of 20 K9 self-propelled howitzers is under consideration. In addition, a battalion of the Vietnam People's Army held a training course of South Korean experts in November. Hanoi wants to diversify supply to reduce dependence on Russia.

A. SAUDI - SYRIA

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud is in Damascus today to meet with senior officials of the new Syrian administration. Riyadh's diplomatic chief was last in the country in April 2023, received by then-President Bashar al-Assad in an effort to end the regional isolation of the former dictator, now in exile in Russia. The following month, Saudi Arabia had invited Assad to an Arab League summit in Riyadh.

CHINA

Beijing has sentenced to death the man responsible for the knife attack of a Japanese national mother and child, during which a Chinese woman who tried to protect them was killed. This was reported by the Tokyo government, which said that 52-year-old Zhou Jiasheng had acted in desperation after losing his job and being in debt. The attack had occurred outside a Japanese school in China's Suzhou province, one of three incidents of attacks on foreigners in China last year.

PAKISTAN

Progressive deterioration of freedom of expression since the no-confidence vote against former premier Imran Khan in April 2022. And tightening restrictions affecting some media in particular while others enjoy greater freedom. This is the finding in the biennial report, released yesterday, of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (Hrcp), which shows critical elements such as censorship and attacks on reporters. Digital media offer a glimmer of hope.

INDIA

A court in India has sentenced five men to death for gang rape and murder of a teenage girl, the murder of the girl's father and niece aged just a few years. The crime dates back to January 2021 when the men offered the family-members of a tribal community in Chhattisgarh-a ride on a motorcycle. They later clubbed to death the father who was trying to prevent the sexual assault and killed the granddaughter. The girl died days later.

RUSSIA

Rallies and meetings are held in Moscow to remember Fr. Aleksandr Men on the 90th anniversary of his birth. The “father of dissent” and Russia's spiritual revival was assassinated in 1990 while on his way to his church in Semkhoz, 30 km from the capital, where groups of Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and other followers gathered in search of a greater truth.

NORTH KOREA - TURKMENISTAN

Techinsider agency presented the list of countries with the highest level of censorship for journalists and almost impossible access to the Internet. In first place are North Korea and Eritrea, and in third place is Turkmenistan, which in the 20 years of Berdymukhamedov power sees “absolute control of all aspects of social life, and the press is only concerned with personality worship.”

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