In India's current local election round, votes are also being cast in the state of which Ranchi is the capital. Prime Minister Modi's Hindu nationalists aim to win back the government by promising ‘equal rights’. But local ethnic groups fear that their identity and traditions will be erased.

Istanbul presses for the strengthening of the ‘Turkic world’, rejecting ‘Eurocentric’ descriptions of the region. But Tajik historian Kamoluddin Abdulloev objects: ‘Iran would have just as many arguments to assert its historical influence. In a land where the phases of Mongol domination and the spread of Islam have led to divisions and recompositions between Shiites and Sunnis.

Xi’s tour of the region began yesterday. One stop included the virtual inauguration of Chancay Port, a key trade hub between China and the region. His aim is to boost cooperation and multilateralism. Donald Trump's return to the White House is a challenge for the future.

The 27 years the Spanish religious spent on the  mission between Tokyo and Hiroshima were remembered during the closing ceremony of the diocesan phase of his beatification process. Head of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983, he loved the Japanese people and culture and provided heroic service among the thousands of injured in the atomic bomb blast of 6 August 1945.

Last week, the new Bishop's House was inaugurated and blessed in the presence of Card Joseph Coutts and Archbishop Germano Penemote, apostolic nuncio to Pakistan, as well as other bishops of Pakistan. The venue will serve as a point of reference for the Church’s pastoral and social activities led by Archbishop Arshad.

Indonesia's president, who took office last month, signed a series of agreements with China. Despite advocating a policy of non-alignment between rival big powers, his signature appears to have implicitly acknowledged Beijing's claims. Prabowo discussed the issue with Joe Biden. For, analysts, this is a serious mistake by an inexperienced administration.