South Korea’s parliament on Jnuary 10 passed a bill banning breeding, slaughtering and selling dogs for their meat, a traditional practice that activists have called an embarrassment for the country.
Dog meat has long been a part of South Korean cuisine, and at one point up to a million dogs were killed for the trade every year, according to activists. But consumption has sharply declined recently as Koreans embrace pet ownership in droves.
Eating dog meat is a taboo among younger, urban South Koreans, and pressure on the government to outlaw the practice from animal rights activists has been mounting.

Official support for a ban has grown under President Yoon Suk Yeol, a self-professed animal lover who has adopted several stray dogs and cats with First Lady Kim Keon-hee — who is herself a vocal critic of dog meat consumption.
The bill, which was proposed by both the ruling and main opposition parties, was passed unopposed by a 208-0 vote, with two abstentions.

Iraqi Christians “are fleeing” from their country and many of them belong to the “productive segment” or the “most educated” sectors of the population (also) due to the “divisions” between the Churches, so far unable to implement strong and unitary policies and initiatives to give them a future.
The j’accuse was launched by the Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans, Card. Louis Raphael Sako, in a long message to the faithful in Iraq and around the world published on the patriarchate website and sent to AsiaNews for information.
From the temporary seat of Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the cardinal has withdrawn until the controversy linked to the presidential decree which is a source of conflict and further division is resolved, he renews the appeal for a common commitment and evokes the creation of a “crisis unit”.
In Iraq, observes the Chaldean primate, “there is no strategy, security or economic stability”, there is a lack of “sovereignty” and there is a “double” application of the concepts of democracy, freedom, constitution, law and citizenship by those who should be at the service of the country and its inhabitants.
In this way the institutions have been “weakened” and there has been a “decline” in morals and values, services, healthcare and education have worsened, as well as “widespread corruption” and “growing unemployment” combined to a returning illiteracy.
In this context, the Christian component, already on the margins, has become even more fragile and has been the subject of kidnappings, killings that began in 2003 with the US invasion and culminated in the years of domination of the Islamic State (ISIS), with the great escape from Mosul and the Nineveh Plain.

Ethnic Tibetans have expressed alarm over door-to-door inspection by China’s communist authorities to ensure children are not taking private classes and participating in religious activities during their winter break.
The authorities are conducting random inspections in “residential areas and commercial establishments” in Tibet and other Tibetan-populated regions, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Jan. 9 citing unnamed sources.
“In addition to random door-to-door investigations, local authorities are also carrying out surveys of the Tibetan children,” a source in China’s south-western Qinghai province told RFA. The surveys were aimed “to find out what subjects are being taught to them in their out-of-school courses and where,” the source added.
In a notice issued on Nov. 30, 2023, the Lhasa city Education Department, while announcing the winter break from Dec. 30, 2023, until Feb. 27-29, 2024, had outlined the kind of education parents could give their children.
The notice also highlighted the work that teachers would need to do during the holiday period.
Parents were urged to not engage in the religious education of school children, and they were to “make sure the children are completely free from the influence of religion,” the notice said.
Tibetan children could participate in supplementary classes and workshops taught only by government-authorized individuals and organizations and on subjects approved by the authorities, the notice added.
The notice also emphasized the continued ban on Tibetan children’s participation in religious activities.
Earlier this month, the Chinese Education Department issued a notice reiterating a 2021 ban prohibiting Tibetan children from taking informal Tibetan language classes or workshops during their winter holidays.
The notice also ordered local authorities to intensify their supervision and investigation of supplementary lessons for Tibetan children and to carry out strict disciplinary action against those violating the rule, prompting inspections.

In Iran, Christmas for some Christians is a dark cell, in one of the country’s most notorious prisons, held without charges, aware that they were locked away only for their faith with no prospect for indictment that would enable them to defend themselves, deprived of rights even more than their liberty.
This is the case of an Armenian man, one of a hundred Christians arrested last summer and held in Evin prison, north of Tehran, who, after four months, is still unaware of his fate, with the only certainty of spending the holiday away from his family.
The story of 35-year-old Hakop Gochumyan is relayed by Article18, an advocacy group seeking to protect and promote religious freedom in Iran and on behalf of its persecuted Christians.
The Armenian national was visiting Iran with his wife Elissa, who has dual Armenian-Iranian citizenship, and their two children. On 15 August, the two adults were arrested in Pardis, on the outskirts of Tehran.
According to some witnesses, the couple, with their children aged seven and 10, were at a friend’s house for lunch when a dozen plainclothes agents from the Ministry of Intelligence burst in and took them away.

Christians in Nepal have been advised to be on high alert during the Christmas period following a number of incidents of anti-Christian violence that have occurred in the country in recent months at the hands of Hindu extremist groups.
“There is a sense of fear and insecurity rippling through the Christian community amid Christmas celebrations. We feel exposed to hostility for being Christian,” said Father Lalit Tudu, parish priest at Assumption Cathedral in the capital Kathmandu, the country’s largest church. “The right to practise our faith peacefully is threatened to some extent,” he lamented.
The 12 parishes that come under the Apostolic Vicariate of Nepal have been asked to take additional security measures over Christmas. “Local administrations and security agencies are supportive of providing extra security” for Christmas services, the clergyman explained.
According to the 2023 national census, Christians number 513,000 or less than 2 % of the country’s population.

Come Christmas a tiny settlement on the Malacca coast turns into a wonderland. Thousands of visitors arrive in the evenings to look at the brightly lit streets and decorated homes in a Portuguese settlement, a 15-minute drive from the capital city of the coastal state in south-western Malaysia.
Curtains of colourful, fairy lights flow along the rooftops and the walls of houses and stream down to driveways and lawns. The trees are decked with baubles, candy canes, and other ornaments.
Almost every house has a large nativity set adorned with glittering lights placed on the front porch for all to see, appreciate, and reflect.
Children in Santa suits run around happily and old folks sit and chat, while the womenfolk get busy in the kitchen making jam tarts, sugee cake, cookies, and other festive delicacies. The carollers go from house to house in the seven narrow streets of the settlement.

Last week the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) captured Namhsan, a city in the northern Shan State.
The TNLA is one of three ethnic militias that form the Three Brotherhood Alliance that launched an offensive against Myanmar’s military junta at the end of October.
According to the militias, at least 650 regular soldiers surrendered, potentially changing the direction of Myanmar’s civil war, which began with the military coup of 1 February 2021.
TNLA fighters are “walking the revolutionary path,” said the group’s spokesman, Tar Aik Kyaw. “The main objective is to take down the military dictatorship, which is what Myanmar people [have] always want[ed],” he added.
The offensive, called Operation 1027 from the date of its start, October 27, is still ongoing despite strikes by the junta’s air force.
Sources told AsiaNews that the fighting has now reached all segments of the population, affecting places of worship as well, Christian and non-Christian alike.
At least 660,000 people have been displaced since the operation began, this according to United Nations data.

Only 4 months ago in Jaranwala in Pakistan more than 900 Christian families were forced to flee and hide in the fields with women, elderly people and children to save their lives from the fury and burning of Islamic fundamentalists.
The toll was hundreds of Christian homes burned and 21 churches attacked, of which 3 belonging to the Catholic community. The rebirth of this wounded Christian community comes from Advent: it is in this period that the Cecil&Iris Chaudhry Foundation (CICF) organized a Christmas Fair to restore dignity, hope and trust to the Christians of Jaranwala, victims of the events that occurred on 16 August. This is also why the event kicked off on December 16th. The Christian community has rallied around this ordeal and has risen with the aim of celebrating the birth of Jesus together.
The inauguration of the fair was attended by several representatives of the local administration, social and religious leaders, including Father Khalid Mukhtar, Catholic priest of the diocese of Faisalabad in Punjab, the Rev. Aleem Anwer bishop of the Anglican Church of the Diocese of Faisalabad, Major Arshad Nizam, division commander of the Salvation Army Church and Mrs. Michelle Chaudhry, president of the CICF.

Christmas vigil prohibited for children. Traffic blocks and shop closures. Ban on display of objects that recall Christmas in university dormitories. These are some of the measures deployed by the local authorities of Baoding, a northern city in the Chinese province of Hebei not far from the capital Beijing.
As a diocese with a long history, a large number of Catholics live in the Baoding area. For this reason, on Christmas Eve this year the police adopted exceptional security measures in the city centre. The authorities announced traffic control in the historic centre of Yuhua Road, where the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, seat of the diocese of Baoding, is located.
No vehicles were allowed to enter the historic centre after 4 pm and buses passing through this area were ordered to reroute. Furthermore, all shops in the area around the church were ordered to close and Christmas sales and promotions were not permitted.
A source living in Baoding confirmed the information and told AsiaNews that police officers were everywhere around the church. Police vehicles were parked near the church and there were also officers in riot gear. All the shops around the church were closed.
The source said that the police prevented parents with children from entering the church. Police told parents to leave the church because it was “unsafe for children as there were too many people inside.” The police were everywhere inside the church, with a heavy atmosphere, in open contrast to the spirit of the celebration.
The atmosphere was also tense in Donglü, whose church is a pilgrimage destination. According to our source, the police have been stationed in the village for a week before Christmas. Donglü is 20 kilometres from Baoding, and is famous for its Madonna of China.
In 1900, Catholics sought refuge in this village during the Boxer Rebellion, the wave of violence against foreigners and Christianity supported by the Qing dynasty. But in Donglü the Boxer group that tried to attack the church was defeated.

The number of newlywed couples in South Korea has fallen by more than 6%, to just over one million in 2022.
The proportion for couples with no children has reached an all-time high, this according to Statistics Korea.
A declining birth rate also touches North Korea, so much so that its leader, Kim Jong-un, in a speech, urged his countrywomen to be “more communist” and have more babies.
In South Korea, the number of newlywed couples came to 1.03 million last year, down from the previous year’s 1.1 million, according to Statistics Korea.
The newlyweds here refer to couples who tied the knot for the first time in the five years up to November 2022.
The figure has shown a drop from 1.47 million in 2015 to 1.32 million in 2018 and 1.18 million in 2020.
Of the couples, 46.4% did not have children, a record high proportion since 2015, when Statistics Korea began compiling the related data.
The number of babies born to the newly-weds came to 0.65 in 2022, also an all-time low. The comparable figure for 2021 was 0.66.
As many young people choose to postpone or give up on the idea of getting married or having children, South Korea must face a low birth rate and an aging population.
Such a trend appears to be in line with changing social norms and lifestyles, as well as rising housing prices, a tough job market, and an economic slowdown.
The country’s total fertility rate – the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime – came to just 0.79 in the third quarter of 2023, much lower than the replacement level of 2.1 needed to keep South Korea’s population at 52 million.