War breaking news. Lagarde: ‘Energy shock huge, but ECB needs more information to act’

Lebanon: Israeli drone raid in the south, 3 injured

A raid attributed to an Israeli drone struck the Qaaqiyet el-Jisr area in south Lebanon. This was reported by the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient Le Jour, which spoke of three wounded, people who were “near a car” at the time of the reported operation.

Card. Pizzaballa: indignation at desecration of Jesus statue

No tolerance for the heinous act of a soldier of the IDF, the Israeli Defence Forces, filmed and gone viral on social media as he repeatedly hit the head of a crucified Jesus statue with a club. The desecration that took place in the Christian village of Debl, in southern Lebanon, aroused the reprobation and outrage of the international community. Deep indignation and condemnation was also expressed by the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land (AOCTS) in a communiqué signed by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and president of the same body of bishops, eparchs, exarchs and religious leaders of Latin, Melkite, Maronite, Armenian, Syro-Catholic and Chaldean rite and coordinates pastoral activity in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus, promoting dialogue and addressing issues related to the common good and the protection of minorities.

“This act,” the text reads, “constitutes a grave affront to the Christian faith and is in addition to other reported episodes of desecration of Christian symbols by IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon”. Not only that, “it also reveals a worrying gap in moral and human formation, in which even the most basic reverence for the sacred and for the dignity of others has been seriously compromised”. The Assembly therefore calls for “immediate and decisive disciplinary action, a credible process of accountability and clear guarantees that such conduct will neither be tolerated nor repeated”.

In the face of this umpteenth act of violence and offence, Cardinal Pizzaballa, on behalf of all the members of the Assembly, however, reiterates the “unassailable” significance of the cross, yesterday, today, tomorrow and always, and the warning that comes from that symbol in the midst of bombs and rubble. “As St Paul the Apostle declares: ‘Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Gal 6:14). For believers, the Cross remains a source of dignity, hope and redemption, and an invitation to overcome violence through sacrificial love. It is precisely in this light that the Church continues to proclaim that true peace cannot be born of violence, but must remain, in the words of Pope Leo XIV, unarmed. A peace that invites us to put the sword back in its scabbard’.

Hence also a new call for a cessation of hostilities and war in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East, a region now plagued and destroyed by an inhuman conflict, ‘and to embark on a path where peace is manifested through moderation, dialogue, responsibility and respect for the sacred and for every human life’.

Moscow: ‘With peace we will resume construction of the nuclear power plant in Iran’

Rosatom plans to resume construction of new units at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran as soon as peace returns to the Middle East. This was stated by the CEO of the Russian state nuclear company, Aleksej Likhachev. “Our most important task, as soon as peace returns to the region, is to restart construction as quickly as possible and proceed with the construction of the plant,” Likhachev said, quoted by the Ria Novosti news agency. Rosatom completed the relocation of more than 600 people, including employees of the nuclear power plant and their families, to a safe place, while 20 volunteers remained on site.

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