Month: June 2023

Pope Francis warned the Vatican’s missionary fundraisers Saturday not to allow financial corruption to creep into their work, insisting that spirituality and spreading the Gospel must drive their operations, not mere entrepreneurship.  Francis made the comments in a speech to the national directors of the Vatican’s Pontifical Mission Societies, which raise money for the Catholic Church’s missionary work in the developing world, building churches and funding training programs for priests and nuns. Deviating from his prepared remarks, Francis appeared to refer to a recent Associated Press investigation into financial transfers at the U.S. branch of the Pontifical Mission Societies: The …

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Latest developments: Britain’s Defense Ministry said Saturday in its daily intelligence update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Russia’s VDV or airborne forces have assumed “an increasingly important role” in Bakhmut. While the VDV’s pre-invasion elite status is now “much degraded,” the entire Russia force will likely be “less flexible” in reacting to operational challenges because of the VDV’s deployment to Bakhmut. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that joining NATO is the best security guarantee for Ukraine but acknowledged that “it would be impossible” for his country to join the alliance before the war ends. In a joint briefing …

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a populist with increasingly authoritarian tendencies, is scheduled to take the oath of office and start his third presidential term Saturday following his latest election win. Erdogan, who has led Turkey as prime minister or president for 20 years, prevailed in a runoff race last weekend despite the country’s ongoing economic crisis and his government’s criticized response to a February earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people. Known as “reis,” or “the chief,” among his fans, the 69-year-old Erdogan already is the longest-serving leader in the Turkish republic’s history. His reelection to a five-year term …

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The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said four people were killed Friday in two separate Ukrainian shelling attacks on towns near the border, while officials in nearby regions reported overnight drone attacks. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that shelling had struck the town of Maslova Pristan, some 15 kilometers from Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region, and that fragments had struck passing cars. “Two women were traveling in one of them. They died from their injuries on the spot,” he said. Gladkov later said two people had been killed and six injured when rockets hit the town of Sobolevka, 125 kilometers …

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A teenager reported to British anti-terror authorities by his mother was jailed for life Friday. Matthew King, 19, will serve a minimum term of six years for plotting a terror attack on police officers or soldiers. In what was the first terror sentencing in England and Wales to be televised, the judge praised King’s mother for taking her suspicions to the Prevent counterterrorism program. “She took the very bold step of alerting Prevent when she had concerns for her son,” Judge Mark Lucraft said during sentencing at the central criminal court in central London. “That cannot have been an easy …

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Elizabeth Abosch was in Moscow working on her dissertation when Russia invaded Ukraine last February. What struck the American doctoral candidate the most about the Moscow suburb where she lived at the time was how “everyone was going on as normal,” she told VOA. “For the most part, I really felt safe.” “It was like nothing had happened at all. And so that was eerie. Whereas I was constantly in this emotional fight-or-flight state,” she said. Working on a dissertation in the country that Abosch had devoted her career to was a long time coming. At first, leaving seemed out …

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Iran has released one Danish and two Austrian citizens, the European countries said Friday, thanking Oman and Belgium for their help in getting the trio freed. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said he was “very relieved” that Kamran Ghaderi and Massud Mossaheb were being brought home after “years of arduous imprisonment in Iran.” Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said that he was “happy and relieved that a Danish citizen is on his way home to his family in Denmark after imprisonment in Iran.” He didn’t name the person, saying their identity was “a personal matter” and he couldn’t go …

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Spain will be looking to leverage its 50-year-old relationship with China to bring a peaceful resolution to Russia’s war on Ukraine when it assumes the rotating presidency of the European Union next month.  The presidency will give Madrid a prominent role representing the West in efforts to put an end to the conflict on terms that do not reward Russia’s aggression. In the run-up to taking the baton to represent the EU, Spain is throwing its weight behind Kyiv’s appeal for admission to the NATO alliance.  Ukraine must be given a strong message of support regarding its NATO membership bid, …

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