Month: January 2023

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

For the past few months, human rights activists have been sounding alarms about the Russian private military company Wagner Group using convicts to fight Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Now, the White House says casualties are “extraordinarily high” among the estimated 40,000 convicts fighting for the mercenary group on front lines in Ukraine. Igor Tsikhanenka has …

Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership is in doubt with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan voicing opposition after demonstrators burned a Quran in Stockholm. Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told a news conference Tuesday that he did not expect any progress on Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership bid until after the Turkish elections later this year. …

Poland said Monday it would send its German-made tanks to Ukraine, regardless of any objections from Berlin. As Henry Ridgwell reports, Germany is under intense pressure from allies to send its Leopard 2 tanks to aid Kyiv’s forces — but is refusing to make a quick decision. …

Turkey’s president cast serious doubt on NATO’s expansion Monday after warning Sweden not to expect support for its bid for membership into the military alliance following weekend protests in Stockholm by an anti-Islam activist and pro-Kurdish groups.  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed Rasmus Paludan’s Quran-burning protest on Saturday, saying it was an insult to everyone, …