Monsoon flooding in northeast India and neighboring Bangladesh left six people dead and millions affected. Experts blamed climate change impacts for the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events like flooding.
Four people were killed in India’s northeastern state of Assam and two people died in landslides in Bangladesh. One Rohingya refugee died in an overcrowded camp in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh where the authorities relocated some inhabitants to safety.
At least 1.3 million people in Bangladesh’s Sylhet division have been stranded by flooding for weeks. India's weather department has issued alerts for Assam and neighboring states warning of the risk of more flash floods.
In war-torn Myanmar, thousands of people including those displaced by the conflict, have been affected by flooding in northern Kachin state. No deaths have been reported yet, but thousands have fled after heavy rain caused bursting of several rivers in the region.
Residents have complained of not receiving any support from the embattled military junta. Last week, flooding and landslides left at least 14 dead in Nepal.
A family carries their belongings on a banana raft at the flood-affected Mayong village in Morigaon district in India's northeastern Assam state on July 2. (Photo: AFP)
India’s Eastern-rite Syro-Malabar Church avoided a schism after rebelling priests accepted a deal to end a prolonged liturgy dispute.
The priests belonging to Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese of the Church based in southern Kerala state have agreed to celebrate the Mass approved by the church’s synod from July 3 onward. The synod-approved Mass wanted celebrants to face the altar during the Eucharistic prayer.
Syro Malabar Church head Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil (center) with priests from Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese (Photo: ernakulamarchdiocese.org)
The rebelling Catholics refused and continued with their traditional Mass, in which the celebrant faces the congregation throughout the Mass. From now on, every parish will celebrate a Synod-approved Mass on Sundays and other days of obligation. The priests are allowed to continue traditional Mass as usual on all other days.
The settlement follows a series of discussions after Pope Francis told the bishops to find "an amicable solution" and refused to offer any solution. The dispute began about five decades ago and intensified three years ago when the synod attempted to enforce uniform Mass across the Church.
Christian leaders have condemned a verdict from Pakistan’s anti-terror court that sentenced a 22-year-old Christian to death accused of committing blasphemy for postings on social media. The Anti-Terrorism Court in Punjab province's Sahiwal city sentenced Ahsan Raja Masih to death last Saturday.
Masih was convicted for offending Muslims' religious sentiment that allegedly resulted in last year's anti-Christian riot in Jaranwala city of Punjab. The death sentence for the poor brick kiln worker sparked anger among Christians in the Muslim-majority nation.
Christians stand at the door of their newly reconstructed houses in Jaranwala on Oct. 12, 2023. More than 80 Christian homes and 26 churches were vandalized in a riot in Jaranwala in Punjab province on Aug. 16, 2023. (Photo: AFP)
Bishop Joseph Arshad, chairperson of the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops' Conference condemned the sentence and said it was an “abuse of law, a travesty of justice.” Many Christians took to social media to protest.
Masih’s lawyer, Khurram Shahzad, said the forensic agency found no blasphemous content in Masih’s mobile phone and said this was another case of persecution of a poor family from the minority community.
Human rights groups have slammed Cambodian authorities for inflicting “cruel and unusual punishment” on 10 environmental activists who were jailed for up to eight years.
The groups alleged the convicts were separated after the verdict on Tuesday and dispatched to five remote prisons across the country, hundreds of kilometers from their residences and families.
Activist Long Kunthea is arrested outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on July 2. (Photo: AFP)
The court sentenced the 10 activists from environmental group Mother Nature to six years imprisonment for plotting to oust the government after the release of an environmental study.
Three of those activists must serve an additional two years for insulting the monarch. Rights groups said the activists were victims of the authoritarian government’s crackdown on civil society, political opposition, and freedom of the press. Currently, at least 60 political prisoners are serving lengthy jail terms in Cambodia.
Filipino civil society groups have called on the government to release some 90 elderly prisoners who have been languishing in jails after being convicted of alleged political charges.
The groups made the call after the nation’s eldest political prisoner, 85 year old Gerardo dela Peña walked out of the New Bilibid Prisons in the capital Manila last Sunday thanks to executive clemency.
Filipino Gerardo dela Peña, 85, the nation's oldest prisoner walked out of the New Bilibid Prisons in the capital Manila on June 30 after spending 11 years in jail. (Photo courtesy: KAPATID)
Activists alleged dela Peña had been behind bars for more than 11 years for a trumped-up murder charge. Rights groups say more than 800 political prisoners are detained across the country and most of them are either rights activists or ordinary citizens.
The Bureau of Corrections said in 2023 that 124 persons are serving sentences as “political prisoners” in the country.
