• Mon-01-2025
When Deities Promise Answers to Dating and Money Woes (November 11, 2024, Christianity Today)

“Through interviews with 25 people in the streets and temples of Taipei on their thoughts on religiosity, I began to see two key questions that Christianity needed to answer for Taiwanese people enmeshed in the world of folk religion, whether they believe it deeply or not. How does Christianity engage with the spiritual realm? And how does it help the everyday life of the Taiwanese?”

  • Mon-01-2025
‘Failure motivated me to keep going’, says only Christian girl to pass Pakistan special federal exam (December 23, 2024, Christian Daily International)

For the first time in Pakistan’s history, the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) held a special CSS examination for members of minority communities and women candidates to fill the seats reserved for them that had remained vacant for years.

  • Mon-01-2025
Zahra has witnessed God move amidst persecution – and it’s made her bolder (December 27, 2024, Open Doors UK)

For Zahra, threats were nothing new, and that’s why she brushed off the messages. Yemen is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a Christian. Despite this, she bravely discipled other believers, even when extremists took over their town and the threats began.

  • Mon-01-2025
Israel-Hamas ceasefire: Why Qatar is such a good negotiator (January 16, 2025, Deutsche Welle)

US, Egyptian and Qatari negotiators have brokered the latest ceasefire and hostage deal between Hamas and Israel in Doha. What makes this small, resource-rich Gulf state so effective in diplomatic negotiations?

  • Mon-01-2025
The countries of Southeast Asia work together to quash dissent (January 3, 2025, The Washington Post) (Subscription required)

The 10 countries of Southeast Asia hold fast to a few principles — noninterference in one another’s internal affairs key among them. But certain cases showcase a new kind of cooperation in the region, where governments are helping one another intimidate, arrest and extradite government critics in support of their allies’ domestic agendas.

  • Mon-01-2025
Pakistan’s bet on Taliban backfires as violence surges (January 17, 2025, Financial Times)

Islamabad had hoped that supporting the Afghan Taliban through its two-decade insurgency would buy it leverage and security along their shared 2,600km border after Nato-led forces departed. But with violence surging to a nine-year high, Islamabad’s hope that the new regime would prove a more co-operative ally than their US-backed predecessor has been replaced by concern about security.

  • Mon-01-2025
Starlink in Yemen: Security Threat or an opportunity? (January 16, 2025, Carnegie Endowment)

The unexpected announcement that Starlink will launch its first satellite connectivity services in Yemen has sparked divisions over the perceived threat to Yemeni sovereignty, and potential to deepen ongoing political and economic crises.

  • Sun-01-2025
Afghanistan shows what investing in women’s education – or divesting – can do to an economy (January 3, 2025, The Conversation)

Twenty years after the first ban on women’s education ended, the Taliban resumed power in 2021 and has once again banned girls and women from attending school after the sixth grade. The economic cost could potentially reach over a billion dollars – and this doesn’t include the wider social costs associated with lower levels of education for women.

  • Sun-01-2025
Singapore passes Bill to control bank accounts of scam victims; law will also cover cheating cases (January 7, 2025, The Straits Times)

Some stubborn scam victims lost so much money to scams – despite advice from banks, police, friends and family members – that they asked the Government for financial assistance. But with the passing of the Protection from Scams Bill, the police will be able to control the bank accounts of such victims to prevent them from transferring money to scammers.

  • Sun-01-2025
Iran population aging fast, bucking government efforts (January 11, 2025, Daily Tribune)

Iran’s once-youthful population is aging fast, fueling economic fears as cash-strapped couples resist a government push for more children. Country’s 86-million-strong population is aging five times faster than it is growing.