Asia

Couple to jump-start Jewish learning in Mumbai community.

Jewish ritual bath called a “miracle” at dedication ceremony.

Five days after disappearing beneath the waves off the coast of western Indonesia, a fisherman found the body of missing American surfer Daniel Bobis.

Two days after American surfer Daniel Bobis vanished beneath the waves off western Indonesia, his family is urging people to pray for the 32-year-old’s safe return.

Three deadly explosions rocked different locations in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai Wednesday evening, and although they were apparently linked to the 2008 attacks against tourist targets and the city’s Chabad-Lubavitch center, staff at the Chabad House indicated they were okay.

Nestled in the mountains at the foot of the Himalayas, the small city of Manali is a crucial waypoint for those traveling through India’s northern region.

Heavy downpours and flooding has once again plagued the tropical resort of Koh Samui, Thailand, forcing the cancellation of all flights at the island’s international airport.

Dinner used to mean hotel rooms and canned meals for Benjamin Fishoff.

Days before the second anniversary of the Mumbai, India, terror attacks, the financial capital’s local Jewish community is placing the final touches on a restored ritual bath built by the murdered directors of the city’s Chabad House, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg.

A week after torrential rains flooded much of the tropical paradise in Koh Samui, Thailand, claiming dozens of lives in the countryside and causing extensive damage to the local Chabad House and attached kosher restaurant, preliminary assessments indicate that travelling Jewish backpackers have safely left the area.

Ongoing interethnic violence in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan hit the nation’s small Jewish community over the New Year’s holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

Residents and leaders expressed amazement that a Saturday morning temblor that toppled historic buildings and destroyed some 20 percent of homes hadn’t resulted in loss of life.

Rabbi Chanoch and Leiky Gechtman, an Israeli couple with connections to the Jewish community of Mumbai, India, will soon be heading to the South Asian business capital as its first permanent Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries since the terrorist attacks of November 2008.

Unlike many other neighborhoods near the central business district – where military and police forces used live rounds to respond to wholesale arson and rioting – “there was nothing at all in the immediate areas of the three Bangkok synagogues.”

Popular unrest in two Asian nations put a damper on Jewish holiday celebrations Saturday night and Sunday, forcing the near-cancellation of children’s parade in Kathmandu, Nepal, and leaving synagogues eerily quiet of tourists in Bangkok, Thailand.

Last-minute World Expo preparations across Shanghai have taken on a feverous pace, including for its 1,500-strong Jewish community, which expects tens of thousands of people to need its services over the coming months.

With violent anti-government protests flaring just two blocks away from the most active Jewish community center in Thailand, officials Saturday night were advising locals, visiting professionals and tourists to stay away from the government compound in Bangkok.

Prince Michael of Kent, a cousin of British monarch Queen Elizabeth II, toured the heavily damaged site of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai, India, in a gesture of solidarity and in support of the rebuilding effort following the Nov. 26, 2008 terrorist attacks.