Asia

• 23 July 2015
  ASIA/MYANMAR – Blasphemy laws undermine the rule of law ASIA/MYANMAR – Blasphemy laws undermine the rule of law Yangon (Agenzia Fides) – Anti blasphemy laws and legal actions are undermining the rule of law in Myanmar. The laws, stated in the country’s Criminal Code, ...
• 22 July 2015
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Asia Bibi's case before the Supreme Court: sentence suspended and review of the case Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - Sentence suspended and review of the case: these are the provisions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan after the first judgment of the appeal process, in the third and final level of jurisdiction r ...
• 22 July 2015
  ASIA/THAILAND - Trafficking of women and child prostitution continue Bangkok (Agenzia Fides) - Trafficking of women, the majority from neighboring Countries such as Burma, Cambodia or Laos, continue to crowd the Thai brothels where these poor victims, often minors, are kept as slaves. In ...
• 22 July 2015
  ASIA/IRAQ - The government orders the transfer of the military of the Nineveh Plain to Baghdad; Christian politicians protest Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - The Iraqi central government has ordered to transfer to Baghdad 4 thousand soldiers and police who previously worked in the north provinces of Iraq - including the province of Nineveh – and th ...
• 22 July 2015
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - The Dominican Channan: "Dialogue with Islam to change the blasphemy law" Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - "Christians in Pakistan are suffering because of the abuse of the blasphemy law. Also, when a Christian is accused, the entire community suffers serious consequences": says to Fides Dominican Fat ...
• 21 July 2015
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Two Christian brothers arrested on charges of blasphemy Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - Two Christian brothers were arrested on charges of blasphemy after one of them was accused of having published offensive material on his website. As Fides learns, already in 2012 an official comp ...
• 21 July 2015
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Bishops' Message: "Climate change, a matter of social justice" Manila (Agenzia Fides) - The Philippine bishops' conference called climate change a “matter of social justice” and cited "Laudato Sì", Pope Francis' recent encyclical on the climate change, as a call for Catholics a ...
• 21 July 2015
  ASIA/SYRIA - Archbishop Hindo becomes "almost-mayor" of Hassaké Hassaké (Agenzia Fides) - In the Syrian city of Hassake, where the counter-offensive of the Kurdish forces and the Syrian army has put the outlying suburbs under siege still occupied by jihadi militias of the Islamic St ...
• 20 July 2015
  ASIA/MYANMAR - Cardinal Bo to the leaders of the nation: "Be good parents" Yangon (Agenzia Fides) - "We expect our rulers to be good parents. In our culture, parents are revered as gods. According to our traditions, our leaders have the right and the duty to promote the welfare of all": is the ...
• 20 July 2015
  ASIA/INDIA - The Franciscans: no to violence against women New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) - The Association of the Franciscan Family in India (AFFI), which brings together religious, sisters and lay people of different orders, followers of Francis of Assisi, is committed to raising a ...
• 20 July 2015
  ASIA/SYRIA - Armenians and Kurds fight together against the jihadists in Hassaké Hassaké (Agenzia Fides) - There are at least 70 volunteer Armenian soldiers in the predominantly Kurdish ranks of the Popular Protection Unit (YPG), which in parallel with the Syrian army units are fighting to liberate ...
• 17 July 2015
  ASIA/SYRIA - Archbishop Antiba confirms the kidnapping of Father Antoine Boutros and his collaborator Khabab (Agenzia Fides) - "I can confirm that Father Antoine Boutros and his collaborator Said Al-Abdun, who have been missing since last Sunday, were actually stopped and seized by one of the several armed rebel groups t ...
• 16 July 2015
  ASIA/SYRIA - A Melkite priest in the Syrian province of al-Suwayda missing. A kidnapping is feared Shahba (Agenzia Fides) - Since last Sunday no one is able to get in contact with Greek-Melkite priest Antoine Boutros and with Al-Said Abdun, who was driving him from the city of Shahba to Sama Hinadat, where father Anto ...
• 15 July 2015
  ASIA/IRAN - National Director of PMS: "We give thanks to Christ for the nuclear deal" Tehran (Agenzia Fides) - "This agreement is certainly a positive step for our Country, as well as for the rest of the world. I think many of us, these days, were waiting for this result with trepidation". This is what Ch ...
• 14 July 2015
  ASIA/IRAQ - The Chaldean Church of St. Joseph in Mosul transformed into a mosque Mosul (Agenzia Fides) - After the one dedicated to St. Ephrem, also the Chaldean Church of Mosul dedicated to St. Joseph has been transformed into a mosque wanted by the leader of the Islamic State (Daesh), the jihadi en ...