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Today's headlines: Extreme heat in South Asia and Southeast Asia force the authorities to close schools. Indian Prime Minister Modi said that he has invited Pope Francis to India. South Korea's GDP is up. Turkmenistan restricts the public expression of religion. Russia's state-owned company Gazprom is set to sponsor a Hungarian football club.

Four people have been arrested recently in Germany, including a close aide to a leading member of the Alternative für Deutschland party who is running for re-election to the European Parliament. Joint research programmes between German universities and Chinese institutes connected to the country's military have come in for closer scrutiny. For a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, China is the victim of 'defamation'.

Various commentaries I have read so far about the latest declaration of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith have been marked by a kind of relief. Some feared that the dicastery would be forging ahead in controversy and were surprised by the orthodoxy (o tempora, o mores) of the summary of teachings it represents. I think that one aspect of the declaration has been ignored.

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Everyone has “windows of opportunity” in their life. For most men and women, they are about fairly similar things at fairly similar times: you start speaking between 1 and 2; at the crucible of middle school, social skills development; puberty occurring between 8 and 15; the golden window for marriage, perhaps 22-30, followed by the best years for pregnancies; a man’s earning peak between…

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The Calcutta High Court ordered new appointments within 15 days, directing concerned school staff to return paid salaries with interest. The State administration led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appealed to the Supreme Court. Some state officials have been arrested on corruption charges, while assets worth millions of rupees have been confiscated.

Lower consumer demand forces small restaurants as well as ambitious bakery brands to throw in the towel. Business closures jump 232 per cent over a year as post zero-COVID reopening saw rising prices and income crunch for many households.

While the country is getting ready to welcome Pope Francis in September, amendments have been proposed to assert the country's Christian identity. For the Catholic Bishops' Conference, this is a 'dangerous' step that 'obscures and even erases our unique Melanesian identity [. . .] rather than acknowledge, celebrate and perfect it through the Gospel'. ...

At his Wednesday audience, Francis repeated that "War is always a defeat." Through the intercession of John Paul II 10 years after his canonisation, the pontiff called for "the gift of peace" in Ukraine and Myanmar too. In the catechesis on the life of grace according to the Spirit, he stressed that the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity are an "antidote to self-sufficiency".

Three cases are still pending in court following the tragedy in which over 1,000 textile workers died. At the beginning of the year, the Supreme Court intervened, ordering the judicial process to be closed by July. The victims say they were left to their own devices, while only Sohel Rana, the owner of the building, is in prison.

A quickvisitto the island for the Iranian leader on his returnfrom Pakistan. The focus of the day was the signing of five memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and the inauguration of a hydroelectric power plant. Analysts underline the Islamic Republic's attempt to strengthen relations with South Asia at a time of tensions in the Middle East, with heavy repercussions on international trade.

The dropping of the atomic bomb was evil. For the average conservative commentator, this comment automatically causes a knee-jerk reaction with the same old platitudes. For decades, the American Right has been the defender of our usage of the atomic bomb, with either “it saved more American lives” or “it was the lesser of two evils” being some of the strongest candidates.

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Beneath the papal altar in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, among the grottos and tombs, is the chapel of the Madonna della Bocciata. Inspiring. Revered. But often overlooked. Few of the five million annual Vatican visitors venture down the steps to tour the grottos, and of those that do, many miss the fresco of the Madonna placed there in the 1600s. Painted by Pietro Cavallini (c. 1250-1330)…

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Today's news: Appeal hearing for Cardinal Zen and other pro-democracy activists in the appeal against convictions set for January;A North Korean delegation is in Iran; The Taliban's Afghanistan continues to export coal to Pakistan; In Russia, floods also devastated old uranium mines.

In Kaliningrad, the local governor talks about the necessary 'Russian interpretation of Kantianism', amidst gastromic festivals and bots answering questions from the audience by referring to the philosopher's writings. While Russia's leading neo-Kantian philosopher Viktor Vakštein is demoted to 'foreign agent' and forced to emigrate to Israel.

Catholics Answers just announced the release of the “Father Justin” interactive AI app, which will “provide users with faithful and educational answers to questions about Catholicism.” I have to admit, I have a lot of conflicting thoughts on this. As a former tech geek, I still get excited by advances in technology. On just that basis, it’s amazing what these apps can do. I took “Father…

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According to a survey by Save the Children, 250,000 children are not in school. About 99 per cent of repatriated families face a food crisis, 40 per cent have had to borrow money, one in six lives in tents. Many were born across the border, and Afghanistan "is not the place they call home.'