Asia

Sawan Masih's conviction came at the end of a trial held in prison because of a high risk of Islamist attacks. The Christian man's lawyers announce that they will appeal the verdict. Religious leaders and civil society groups express their anger and outrage over the court decision....

Pope Francis on Sunday appealed for an end to violence in South Sudan, to ensure access to humanitarian aid and for the promotion of peace. In a letter addressed to Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro of Juba, read at Mass on Sunday morning by ...

Some 400,000 children work on cotton farms across India. Rada estimates she is 11 years old, but she can’t be certain. She says she has been working in the Indian cotton fields for three years. “My parents stopped me going to school because...

Teenagers are being encouraged to stay mindful when expressing their "love" for each other on Valentine’s Day. The advice was offered yesterday by Phra Wichit Thammaphon, assistant to the abbot of Wat Saket, as his temple and the National Office of ...

Every year, tribal Newaris celebrate a unique a fertility rite as a step towards the real "marriage". Critics view the practice as "superstition" and consider it a shortcut to child marriage.

A major religious landmark was badly damaged in central Thailand on Thursday when an oil tanker slammed into a river bank, toppling a statue of St Anna. Statue of St. Anna considered a beacon to fishermen...

MALAYSIA - "The situation is quite serious. There is great concern in the Catholic Church , because the story has taken a turn for the worse", explains to Fides Agency Friar Augustine Julian, a missionary of the Brothers of Christian Schools in Kuala Lumpur, former secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia.

India's rivers, which number more than 400, are the main source of its water, supplying 90 percent of the country. Yet the Central Pollution Control Board has warned that the water in half the nation's rivers is unsafe to drink and at least a quarter of the rivers can not be used for bathing....

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the inaugural Religious Harmony Day at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta on Sunday amid a number of cases of religious intolerance that marred 2013

It is time to remove one’s religious belief from identity cards: is the proposal made by Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian politician who has the important role of leutenant governor of the district in the capital Jakarta. As reported to Fides, the proposal has sparked much debate in...

In March 2014, the Thai capital will host a conference that will bring together the leaders in the world of business and finance. Not only business but also the ethical and social issues in focus. Also under discussion the new evangelization and pastoral challenges of the future “that affect every sector of human life"

The 'silent killer' disease now has 98 million sufferers in China alone. In human and financial terms, the burden is huge and it is hitting the poor especially hard. Often thought of as a disease of the rich, experts say the unabating rise may be fuelled as much by food scarcity and ...

Jewish community was once several thousand, now only one man remains

For the mayor of Tacloban looting is not criminal, but dictated by the need to survive. The airport of the capital of Leyte too small to handle the planes carrying aid and leave carrying the displaced. Arrival of aircraft carrier George Washington. Manpower and donations from Japan, Indonesia and China.

Fr. Giovanni Re says authorities have reopened some airports and some main roads: "Now they will try to move aid by land". Minor damage in Cebu, where the archdiocese has initiated a program of mutual assistance between the parishes still intact and those affected. A sign of hope: ...

President Hassan Rohani relaunches dialogue between the Islamic and the Christian world, and hopes for an alliance between Iran and the Holy See regarding the major issues that shake humanity such as the fight against radicalism, injustice and poverty. As Fides learns,..

The president of the Bishops' Conference of India expressed "admiration for the courage of Msgr. Zenari" nuncio in Syria. According to the Indian cardinal "peace talks are the only option" to solve the crisis in the Middle Eastern country.

11th World Public forum dialogue of civilizations, Rhodes, October 2013. Roundtable on "The Traditions and Future of Asian Civilizations - Politics, Economics, and Religion"

A Malaysian court has ruled that non-Muslims cannot use the word Allah to refer to God, even in their own faiths, overturning a 2009 lower court ruling. The appeals court said the term Allah must be exclusive to Islam or it could cause public disorder. People of all faiths use...

Flooding in eastern India worsened on Wednesday as more than one million people were displaced when overflowing rivers submerged homes, days after Cyclone Phailin brought torrential rains. Some 2,600 villages in Orissa state were submerged. At least...

This is what an interfaith conference on peace held in Yangon said in its final statement. Leaders from five major religions call for better education to strengthen "national identity" in a multi-religious setting, and the recognition of the "need for frequent discussion [. . .] among the leaders of different faiths...

The experts have nine months to verify and destroy Assad's chemical weapons programme. The UN, the Arab League, Washington and Moscow are preparing a Peace conference. Secret meeting between the Free Syrian Army and the Assad government.

The president and secretary general plan on giving more freedom to Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism to restore morality to the tired Chinese society. But Prof. Liu Peng believes it beneficial to launch a real law for the freedom of all religions, including Christianity and Islam.

The World Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat and Fifth Khalifa, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, arrived safely in Singapore on the afternoon of 22 September 2013.

An earthquake in Pakistan, powerful enough to prompt the appearance of a small island off the coast, has killed more than 200 people, Pakistani officials said. The 7.7-magnitude quake struck in a remote area of southwestern Pakistan on...

Mgr Thomas Dabre has decided that all the parishes in his diocese will devote next Sunday Mass to the victims of the attack in Pakistan. "The integrity and moral authority of a nation," he said, "depend on its firm commitment to ensuring the rule of law and ...

Half of the two million people, so far, forced to flee Syria are children. A fact that, more than any other, captures the extent of the humanitarian tragedy that is ensuing in the Middle Eastern country. “There is the risk that an entire generation of children...

Two senior Chinese government officials speak to AsiaNews about the figure of the new pope: "He appears to be a great pastor, just like a ‘good father’ . And we hope that soon we can see some progress in relations between Beijing and the Vatican”. China "needs the Catholic Church...

Her husband, a Muslim, has always fought for religious freedom and said: "My wife and my children should feel free to profess their faith." After his death, the relatives put pressure on the woman and her daughters, married with young Christians. Pro human rights groups rush to defense of the family.

A Catholic weekly newspaper in Malaysia this week lost its latest legal battle over the right to use the word 'Allah' for God in its local language edition. In a case that has sparked nationwide debate over which religion has exclusive rights to the word Allah...