Today’s news: in Sumatra a comedian gets seven months in prison for a joke about Muhammad. Manizha Talash, a 21-year-old Afghan who fled the Taliban, is on the refugee team for the Olympic Games. Hong Kong outlaws and withdraws the passports of six activists who fled to the United Kingdom. Two Indians recruited by the Russian army killed in the Ukrainian war. New attack in Yerevan against a synagogue.
IRAQ
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Saudani gave back “full powers” and “control” over Christian property and assets (targeted by Chaldean Rayan and Shiite militias) to Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, ending a bitter dispute. A confrontation that had its origin in President Abdul Latif Rashid’s decision to annul the recognition of the patriarchal decree. In response, the cardinal had left the patriarchal see last July. His return to Baghdad is imminent, which will end the crisis between State and Church.
INDONESIA
A court condemns the comedian Aulia Rakhman to seven months in prison for a “joke” about the name “Muhammad.” A ruling that worries activists and human rights groups over the use of blasphemy laws in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. The performance took place last December in the city of Lampung, Sumatra, and the video soon went viral.
AFGHANISTAN
Three years after fleeing Afghanistan to dedicate his life to breaking (the Olympic sport of break dancing), Manizha Talash, 21, is preparing to compete in the Paris Games on the refugee team. Sixteen “B-Girls” and 16 “B-Boys” will compete in this discipline that has its roots in the Bronx of the seventies. “I would love to go compete with the Afghan team together with other girls, but we all know that it is impossible,” said the athlete.
HONG KONG
The Hong Kong government today canceled the passports of six pro-democracy activists who fled to the United Kingdom, calling them “wanted criminals without law”. In 2023, Hong Kong offered a reward of $173,000 to 13 activists living abroad guilty of violating the controversial national security rule. They are: Nathan Law, Mung Siu-tat, Simon Cheng, Finn Lau, Fok Ka-chi and Choi Ming-da.
INDIA – UKRAINE – RUSSIA
Two Indian citizens recruited by the Russian army died recently in the war in Ukraine. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Indian embassy in Moscow put pressure on the Moscow authorities, including the Ministry of Defense, for the rapid repatriation of the bodies. Delhi has also called for the release and return of all Indian citizens still in the Russian army.
ARMENIA
The Jewish community of Yerevan reports that, on June 10, the only synagogue in the Armenian capital suffered an attack during the night, the fourth since last October (since the beginning of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza). Unknown persons threw stones and rocks against the windows of the building. The Armenian authorities have opened an investigation, but so far it is unknown who the perpetrators were.
Türkiye – RUSSIA
Parishioners from Turkey’s Russian Orthodox churches participated in a pilgrimage to the tomb of Blessed Ioann Russkij (John the Russian) in the Cappadocia city of Ürgüp. He was a Cossack of Peter the Great’s troops captured by the Tatars in the Battle of Azov, a slave to a Turkish Ağa who earned the respect of his Muslim master for his humility, faith and benevolence.
TURKMENISTAN
A new virus appears to be spreading in Turkmenistan, where patients suffering from flu-like symptoms lose their sense of taste and smell. However, due to expensive and poor medical services for the masses, experts are unable to identify the type of this rare form of lung disease, and whether it is in any way related to the coronavirus.
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