Month: January 2023

The 2023 World Economic Situation and Prospects report has just been issued, and U.N. economists present a gloomy and uncertain outlook for the coming year, with the global economy projected to grow at a particularly sluggish rate. Multiple crises have converged to batter the world economy. The U.N. report cites a series of multiple and severe shocks for unleashing one of the lowest global economic outputs in recent decades. It says the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, surging inflation and the climate emergency, among other crises, are setting back short-term growth prospects and threatening to undermine longer-term sustainable development …

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The European Court of Human Rights said cases brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia over human rights violations in the two breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine, and the shooting down of Flight MH-17, were admissible.  The decision is procedural and does not rule on the merits of the cases, but it does show the Strasbourg-based court considers Russia can be held liable for alleged human rights violations in the separatist regions.  “Among other things, the Court found that areas in eastern Ukraine in separatist hands were, from 11 May 2014 and up to at least …

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Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church. “Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis said during an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against the LGBTQ community, and he himself referred to the issue in terms of “sin.” But he attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds, and said bishops in particular need to undergo a …

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Pleas by Ukrainian officials for more tanks, and more advanced tanks, to use in their fight against Russia have begun to resonate in Washington with the United States now preparing to send Kyiv dozens of its top-of-the-line battle tank. A U.S. official familiar with the deliberations told VOA on Tuesday that the White House is working to finalize a plan to get Ukraine the coveted M1 Abrams tanks, though it could be some time before Ukraine would be able to take delivery and insert them onto the battlefield. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive …

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Hundreds of people attended a memorial service in Lusaka on Tuesday for a Zambian student who died fighting for Russia in Ukraine as Tanzania confirmed the death of another student who was also recruited in a Russian jail. Family members broke down as they filed past the coffin of Lemekani Nyirenda at Lusaka Baptist Church, where the 23-year-old was a regular worshipper before moving to Russia to study nuclear engineering. Nyirenda was recruited by Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group last year while serving a nine-and-a-half year jail term for a drug offense and sent to fight in Ukraine. His death in …

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Several key U.S. lawmakers endorsed the next major step in American assistance to Ukraine on Tuesday, encouraging the White House to move forward with a plan to send M1 Abrams tanks to combat Russian aggression.  “Seldom in the history of modern warfare has so much depended on so few tanks,” Republican Lindsey Graham told reporters Tuesday after returning from a congressional trip to Ukraine. “Three hundred tanks given to the Ukrainians who have an ability to take any weapon system and maximize its benefit.” Despite the difficulties of running M1 Abrams tanks on jet fuel, the Biden administration is reportedly …

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