Bishops in Kerala state of southern India have alleged conspiracy against Church-run education institutes following violent protests in a prestigious diocesan college two days after a female student committed suicide.

A 20-year-old food technology student at Amal Jyothi College of Engineering in Kanjirappilly diocese killed herself by hanging last Friday. It came after she failed in several subjects in the annual exams. The two days of violent protests demanding action against the management and staff forced the college to shut down indefinitely.

A priest listens to students at the open house session in Amal Jyothi College in Kanjirappilly diocese in the southern Indian state of Kerala, in November 2022. (Photo: ajce.in)

The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council issued a statement on Tuesday and called the protest “a well-planned conspiracy to target Christian education institutions.” The college management has promised to cooperate with any fair investigation of the death. 

Meanwhile, in several states of India, police have raided Church-run schools and orphanages and detained staff alleging their involvement in religious conversions.

Police in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka charged some 2,500, mostly unidentified people, last Sunday, for street violence triggered by an alleged blasphemous post on Facebook.

A man named Mohammad Sohel was also charged under the country’s stringent Digital Security Act, for a post on social media that allegedly defamed Prophet Muhammad. Police rescued him from a Muslim mob lynching and hospitalized him for injuries.

A group of Muslims protesting against the blasphemous Facebook post in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka in this 2019 image. (Photo; AFP)

The accused told journalists that his Facebook profile was hacked, and he knew nothing about the post. Violence over alleged blasphemy in social media posts is common in Bangladesh. The attacks are often politically motivated to get opposition party leaders, activists, and religious minorities in trouble.

On May 23, a Hindu man was jailed for 10 years for insulting Islam on Facebook which led to a mob of about 20,000 Muslims to attack Hindu minorities. Similar attacks targeted Buddhist and Hindu temples in 2012 and 2016.

Catholics in Indonesia mourned the last European missionary theologian, Father Georg Ludwig Kirchberger, who died on Monday at the age of 76.

The German-born Divine Word Society priest taught theology at Ledalero Catholic Philosophy College, Indonesia’s largest seminary in Catholic-majority Flores Island, for nearly 50 years. The missionary passed away in a hospital in Flores where he received treatment for complications from hypertension and respiratory problems.

German theologian and Divine Word Missionary Father Georg Ludwig Kirchberger (Photo supplied)

Kirchberger arrived in Indonesia in 1975 and started teaching in the seminary a year after. He was an important figure in theological studies in Indonesia. He authored a popular 739-page theology book, "Allah Menggugat  or God Sues,” which became the handbook in seminaries and theological schools in Indonesia.

Born on May 27, 1947, in Bavaria, Germany, Kirchberger was ordained priest in 1975 after completing theology studies in Austria. 

The largest Filipino labor group, Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, has called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ensure job security for thousands of employees as the government plans to sell some 137 ‘idle’ state properties to private organizations.

In a statement on Monday, the group slammed Benjamin Diokno, the secretary of the country’s Department of Finance, who announced the plan of privatizing 137 properties in 2023. Diokno said the government will sell properties worth about 50 million US dollars this year.

A general view of a slum area along the river in Manila on March 18, 2020. The Emmanuel Community Hospital in Tondo of Manila which serves the poor is among 137 state properties listed for privatization in 2023. (Photo: AFP)

The labor group said the government did not consider the plight of the employees of the state institutions to be impacted by the change in ownerships. It claimed some 400 employees have expressed fear about a possible loss of jobs due to the decision.

Two former employees of state-run corporations that were privatized in the past claimed they were not properly compensated when they lost their jobs due to privatization.

Pope Francis has appointed three new members to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences including Chinese political philosopher Tongdong Bai, on Monday. 

Two other new members are Tracey Rowland, an Australian theologian, and Justin Farrell, a U.S. sociologist. Tongdong Bai, 53, is a professor of philosophy at Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

Tongdong Bai, 53, is a professor of philosophy at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. (Photo: Asia Society/YouTube)

He is the first Chinese academic to be appointed to the Vatican body, media reports say. He is expected to play a key role as the academy is scheduled to hold a workshop titled “Dialogue between Civilizations on Global Commons” in Rome on June 27-28.

One of the workshop’s key issues for discussion is China and its role in global affairs today. Tongdong Bai specializes in Chinese philosophy and political philosophy, especially traditional Chinese political philosophy. He also authored many books on Chinese philosophy.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered local authorities to take prevention measures after various media reports revealed families committed suicide due to hunger and poverty.

Kim officially defined suicide as an “act of treason against socialism” and issued a confidential suicide prevention order during emergency meetings of the party leaders all over the country. An unnamed official from North Hamgyong said the details of suicide cases shared during the meeting shocked the gathered officials.

More than 40 percent of North Korea’s 25 million people are considered food insecure, according to UN estimates. (AFP file photo)

According to a report from the South Korean National Intelligence Service, North Korea saw a 40 percent increase in suicide rates compared to last year. North Korea is facing a widespread food shortage as reports of reduced food production emerged.

The country reportedly would fall short of around 800,000 tons of rice this year — a situation that has been triggered by droughts. The United Nations said about 42 percent of the country’s population is malnourished due to food shortages.

A music teacher in Vietnam who highlighted corruption and rights violations through patriotic songs and social media posts has been jailed for an anti-state campaign, on Tuesday.

A court in Dak Lak Province in Vietnam's Central Highlands handed down eight years in prison to Dang Dang Phuoc for making, storing, and spreading documents opposing the ruling communist government. 

Dang Dang Phuoc with a banner asking Vietnam to sue China for marine invasion before his arrest in September 2022. (Photo: Facebook)

The 60-year-old man was also given another four years of probation following his sentence as he “did not accept the verdict and claimed he was innocent.” His wife said her husband will lodge an appeal against the conviction. In the communist state, Phuoc is the fourth activist jailed for spreading "anti-state propaganda" in the past two months.

Activists decried the harsh sentence and said Phuoc committed no offense by commenting on social and political problems and environmental pollution and by supporting the poor victims of land eviction. 

The authorities in Malaysia’s Christian-majority state Sarawak are making efforts to cope with a gradual rise in the elderly population as it is expected to become an officially aging state in the next five years.

Since 2020, the elderly population in Sarawak has been increasing by 0.55 percent per year, and the elderly account for 12.6 percent of the state’s estimated total population of 2.5 million, according to the Department of Statistics. About 42 percent of Sarawak’s population is Christians.

Fatimah Abdullah (right), the Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development in Sarawak state of Malaysia speaks during a discussion on the elderly population in the state on Sept. 5, 2022. (Photo: The Borneo Post)

As of November 2022, the state’s elderly population was 311,600. At the current pace, Sarawak will be officially an aging state by 2028 when it will have 15 percent elderly people.

Last November, the Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development in Sarawak, Fatimah Abdullah, stated the government is taking measures to support the rising elderly population and will be carrying out research on aging.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned all non-governmental organizations to submit to financial audits or risk closure, adding a review of funding sources would ensure money was not being used “to carry out terrorism.”

Cambodia’s 6,109 NGOs and associations would face legal action if they failed to submit their annual reports. Hun Sen also warned NGOs not to take money from foreigners or use that money to attack Cambodia saying Cambodian leaders of NGOs must “not bow their head” to foreign money and “kill their own people” or “badmouth the kingdom.”

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to submit to financial audits or risk closure. (Photo: AFP/ UCAN files)

Critics say the government seeks to bolster state coffers with funds from various sources to rebuild the national economy after the Covid-19 pandemic. They also alleged threats of excessive financial demands been used to silence critics ahead of the July 23 general election.

The long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party is expected to win the election by a landslide after the National Election Commission disqualified the main opposition Candlelight Party.