rome — Pope Francis has defended his controversial decision to let priests bless same-sex couples but admitted that “solitude is a price you have to pay” when you make difficult decisions.

Francis doubled down and insisted that the “Lord blesses everyone,” during a Sunday interview with an Italian talk show. But he acknowledged the remarkable opposition his decision has sparked — Africa’s bishops have united in a continent-wide refusal to implement the Vatican declaration and individual bishops in Eastern Europe, Latin America and elsewhere have also voiced opposition.

The Vatican’s December 18 declaration restated traditional church teaching that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and woman. But it allowed priests to offer spontaneous, non-liturgical blessings to same-sex couples seeking God’s grace in their lives, provided such blessings aren’t confused with the rites and rituals of a wedding.

During an appearance on “Che Tempo Che Fa,” Frances acknowledged, in his first comments since the uproar, the “resistance” the decision has generated. He blamed it on bishops not really understanding the issue and refusing to open a dialogue about it.

Asked if he felt alone, Francis replied: “You take a decision and solitude is a price you have to pay.”

“Sometimes decisions are not accepted,” he said. “But in most cases, when you don’t accept a decision, it’s because you don’t understand.”

The danger, he said, is that when people who don’t understand refuse to enter into a “brotherly discussion” and instead harden their hearts, resist and “make ugly conclusions.”

“This has happened with these last decisions about blessing everyone,” Francis said. “The Lord blesses everyone.”
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BAKU — Azerbaijani police arrested one journalist Monday and ordered pre-trial detention for another, the latest reporters to face legal trouble since a crackdown on the country’s independent media that began in November. 

The organization Reporters without Borders (RSF) ranks Azerbaijan 151st of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index. 

Shahin Rzayev, a political observer with JAM News, an outlet that covers Azerbaijan and its neighbors Georgia and Armenia, was arrested and ordered to be held for 15 days on charges of “petty hooliganism,” Azerbaijan’s interior ministry said. 

Separately, a Baku court ordered Elnara Gasimova, a reporter with the Abzas Media investigative news site, to be held in pre-trial detention until April 3 on charges of smuggling. 

She is the sixth Abzas Media reporter to be charged under anti-smuggling laws since November. At the time, police said they had found 40,000 euros ($44,000) in cash in the outlet’s Baku offices. 

Also in November, Azerbaijani police arrested Aziz Orujev, head of the Kanal 13 online video channel, and later charged him with smuggling. 

International press freedom groups have demanded the release of the Abzas Media staff, describing the arrests as an attempt to silence their anti-corruption reporting. 

Azerbaijan is holding early presidential elections next month, with incumbent Ilham Aliyev widely expected to win. 
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Davos, Switzerland — The world’s wealthiest five men have more than doubled their fortune since 2020, the charity Oxfam said on Monday, calling on nations to resist the ultra-rich’s influence over tax policy.

A report from the charity, published as the global elite hobnob at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, said their wealth rose from $405 billion in 2020 to $869 billion last year.

Yet since 2020, nearly five billion people worldwide have grown poorer, Oxfam said.

Billionaires are today $3.3 trillion richer than they were in 2020, despite many crises devastating the world’s economy since this decade began, including the COVID pandemic.

“We cannot continue with these levels of obscene inequality,” Amitabh Behar, the interim director of Oxfam International, told AFP.

He said it showed that “capitalism is at the service of the super-rich.” 

With riches among the world’s wealthiest increasing the way they are, he predicted that within a decade the world will see its first “trillionaire.”  

Oxfam’s yearly report on inequality worldwide is traditionally released just before the Davos forum opens on Monday in the Swiss Alpine resort of the same name.

The charity raised concerns over increasing global inequality, with the richest individuals and companies amassing not only greater wealth thanks to surging stock prices, but also significantly more power.

Corporate power ‘driving inequality’

“Corporate power is used to drive inequality — by squeezing workers and enriching wealthy shareholders, dodging taxes and privatizing the state,” Oxfam said.

It accused corporations of driving “inequality by undertaking a sustained and highly effective war on taxation,” with far-reaching consequences.

Oxfam said states handed power over to monopolies, allowing corporations to influence the wages people are paid, the price of food and which medicines individuals can access.

“Around the world, members of the private sector have relentlessly pushed for lower rates, more loopholes, less transparency and other measures aimed at enabling companies to contribute as little as possible to public coffers,” Oxfam added.

The charity said thanks to intensive lobbying over tax policymaking, corporations have been able to pay lower corporate taxes, thereby depriving governments of money that could be used to financially support the poorest in society.

Corporate taxes have significantly dropped in OECD countries from 48 percent in 1980 to 23.1 percent in 2022, Oxfam noted.

To address the imbalance, Oxfam called for a wealth tax on the world’s millionaires and billionaires that it says could bring in $1.8 trillion dollars each year.

The non-governmental organization also called for a cap on CEO pay and the break-up of private monopolies. 
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Sydney — Campaigners will gather Sunday at Sydney Town Hall for a rally to urge Australia to send unwanted helicopters to Ukraine. The Australian Defence Force plans to decommission 45 Taipan helicopters later this year and replace them with U.S.-made Blackhawks. 

Australia’s entire fleet of MRH-90 Taipan helicopters was grounded after a crash during a multinational military exercise off the coast of Queensland state in July.

Officials have said that the aircraft will not return to “flying operations” before they are due to be withdrawn from active service in December of this year. The Taipans will be replaced by U.S.-made Blackhawk helicopters. Starting next year, the new Apache helicopters will also be introduced into service for the Australian army.

Ukraine has asked Australia about using the European-designed Taipan helicopters for its war against Russia. However, Australian officials have said the aircraft will be dismantled as planned and buried at an Australian defense site because of concerns over the safety and reliability of the aging Taipan fleet.

Campaigners Sunday will gather in Sydney to change the government’s mind.

Stefan Romaniw, the co-chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations told VOA that the aircraft would help Ukraine repel the Russian invasion.

“The way to support Ukraine now would be to give those Taipan helicopters,” he said. “They need to fight the war in the air. The air is very, very important to Ukraine’s winning of this war. Therefore, the callout is, support Ukraine now, send the Taipan helicopters ASAP [as soon as possible].”

Australia has promised to provide military support to Ukraine for “2024 and beyond.”

Acting Defense Minister Matt Thistlethwaite told local media that “Australia is one of the strongest supporters of the people of Ukraine and their military and their effort to resist the illegal and unprovoked aggression and invasion by Russia.”

Australia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to Ukraine’s war effort.

Canberra has also imposed sweeping sanctions on Russian politicians, military commanders and businesspeople.

 
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COPENHAGEN — Denmark’s King Frederik X ascended the throne on Sunday, succeeding his mother, Queen Margrethe II, who formally abdicated after 52 years as monarch, with big crowds gathered in the capital to witness history.

Margrethe, 83, stunned the nation on New Year’s Eve when she announced she planned to become the first Danish monarch in nearly 900 years to voluntarily relinquish the throne.

The succession was formalized the moment Margrethe signed the declaration of her abdication during a meeting of the Council of State at parliament, the royal palace said. Denmark, one of the oldest monarchies in the world, does not have a coronation.

The meeting was attended by government representatives, Margrethe, Frederik, 55, his Australian-born wife Mary, 51, who is now queen, and their oldest son Christian, 18, who is the new heir to the throne.

About an hour after the signing, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was due to proclaim the new king on the balcony of the parliament and Frederik will give a short speech.

In close to freezing temperatures, tens of thousands of people from all over Denmark converged on the capital to witness events, in a sign of the huge popularity the monarchy is enjoying in the nation of nearly six million.

“We have come here today because this is history being made in front of our eyes. We just had to be here,” said Soren Kristian Bisgaard, 30, a pilot.

He was drinking champagne with three friends, sitting in camping chairs in front of parliament.

“I’m very fond of the royal family. I have been in the Royal Life Guards myself, standing guard at the royal palace. I’m very proud to have done that and also to be here today,” he said.

Later in the afternoon, the new king and queen were due to ride by horse carriage back to their residence, Amalienborg, a royal complex built in the 1750s and located in central Copenhagen.

The couple will continue to reside with Margrethe, who will retain her title as queen, in Amalienborg albeit in their respective palaces in the octagonal complex. 

Royal power couple

Margrethe, who in the past had said she would remain on the throne for life, did not give an exact reason for her decision to step down but said that a major back surgery she underwent in February last year had made her consider her future.

“It could be that she thinks Prince Frederik is prepared to take over now,” said Lars Hovbakke Sorensen, a historian and associate professor at University College Absalon in Denmark.

“He’s 55, and maybe the queen wanted to avoid a situation where you would have a very, very old king, as you saw with Prince Charles.” The British king was 73 when he ascended the throne after his mother Queen Elizabeth died in September 2022 aged 96.

The new king and queen take the throne at a time of huge public support and enthusiasm for the monarchy. The most recent survey done after Margrethe announced she would abdicate indicated that 82% of Danes expect Frederik to do well or very well in his new role, while 86% said the same about Mary.
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washington — China’s car industry groups have said the country is set to surpass Japan to become the world’s top car exporter for 2023, driven by the Russian market and a growing global appetite for electric vehicles (EVs).   

The official China Daily newspaper reported the Association of Automobile Manufacturers on Thursday said China’s vehicle production for the first time reached 30 million units last year, 4.91 million of them exported. The exports are a 58% increase from 2022’s 3.11 million vehicles exported, appearing to overtake Japan as the world’s top car exporter.   

Japan’s NHK news agency reported Thursday that the country exported 3.99 million vehicles through November 2023 and was unlikely to catch up with China’s exports when it releases its December export figures.  

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported the China Passenger Car Association’s Secretary-General Cui Dongshu citing a jump in demand in the Russian market as a key factor for taking the lead, accounting for about 800,000 of the additional vehicles China exported.   

Chinese carmakers were quick to jump on the Russian market after Western auto companies pulled out of the country over Moscow’s 2022 invasion and war on Ukraine.  

Chinese customs data shows during the first 11 months of 2023, China’s vehicle shipments to Russia soared 545% from a year ago, to 840,000 units, making it China’s fastest-growing market.   

New energy vehicles (NEVs), such as hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs), were also fueling the record production and exports.   

The China car manufacturer’s association said Thursday that production of NEVs reached a high of 9.59 million units in 2023, a 36% increase from 2022, accounting for nearly a third of the country’s vehicle production and a quarter of exports. The association said NEV exports reached 1.2 million units, a 77% increase from 2022.   

China’s leading EV carmaker, BYD, which is backed by American billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, sold 526,400 of the vehicles in the fourth quarter of last year, for the first time surpassing market leader Tesla’s sales of 484,500 cars in the same period.   

Tesla still sold more EVs in all of 2023 than BYD, 1.8 million compared with 1.6 million, but the gap between the Chinese and American EV makers is quickly closing. Tesla has the world’s largest EV car factory in Shanghai, which accounts for more than half its global production.   

Analysts credit China’s robust subsidies of NEV makers and buyers for growing the EV industry so quickly and boosting exports.   

Paul Triolo, associate partner for China and Technology Policy Lead at the Washington-based Dentons Global Advisors, told VOA the subsidies allowed Chinese firms to focus on design, manufacturing and dominating critical supply chains. “Both the U.S. and EU governments were … late to subsidize and encourage the development of EV battery supply chains, in particular, after some failed efforts a decade ago.”   

China began implementing incentive and subsidy policies in 2009 to encourage domestic car companies to focus more on manufacturing EVs, expand charging infrastructure and provide tax exemptions to EV consumers.   

Consulting firm AlixPartners estimates that China’s state subsidies for electric and hybrid vehicles will total $57 billion from 2016 to 2022. Beijing in June unveiled tax breaks for new energy vehicles that are expected to amount to more than $72 billion from 2024 to 2027.   

Triolo said European and U.S. EV makers are far behind Chinese ones in developing markets. 

“Chinese firms will almost certainly dominate markets in the Global South and places like Southeast Asia, and it will be hard for Western automakers to compete in these markets,” he said. 

But Chinese EVs are still struggling for market share in Europe and the United States, where domestic EVs dominate. And as China’s EV exports have grown, now accounting for 8% of the European market, Europe and the U.S. have started to respond.  

The EU imposes a 10% tariff on imported EVs from China, which can cost 20% less than European brands.  

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in September noted that global markets were flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars.

“And their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies,” she said. “This is distorting our market.” 

Reuters news agency reported Friday that European Commission investigators will in the coming weeks begin inspecting Chinese EV makers as part of a probe into China’s subsidies that could see the EU impose additional tariffs.   

Beijing has denounced the move as “naked protectionism.”   

The U.S. has a 27.5% tariff on Chinese EVs, but last month the Biden administration indicated it could be raised this year.  

And the U.S. announced in December that starting this year, EVs produced in the U.S. with battery components manufactured or assembled in China would no longer qualify for tax credits of up to $7,500. 

Analyst Triolo told VOA that imposing tariffs might not prevent Chinese companies from building factories in Mexico — or even the U.S. — to supply the U.S. market.  

Triolo also warned that if BYD dominated the Western market, it could pose national security risks similar to those of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.  

“At one level, a smart EV is just a smartphone on wheels, and [EVs] generate similar levels of concern about data [collection] and sharing, given their sensor suites and onboard computing power.” 

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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LONDON — Children joined thousands of other demonstrators making their way through central London for a pro-Palestinian march Saturday, part of a global day of action against the longest and deadliest war between Israel and Palestinians in 75 years.

The plight of children in the Gaza Strip after nearly 100 days of the Israel-Hamas war was the focus of the latest London march, symbolized by the appearance of Little Amal, a 3.5-meter (11.5-foot) puppet originally meant to highlight the suffering of Syrian refugees.

The puppet had become a human rights emblem during an 8,000-kilometer (4,970-mile) journey from the Turkish-Syrian border to Manchester in July 2001.

Nearly two-thirds of the 23,843 people killed during Israel’s campaign in Gaza have been women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Israel declared war in response to Hamas’ unprecedented cross-border attack on Oct. 7 in which the Islamic militant group killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage. It was the deadliest attack in Israel’s history and the deadliest for Jews since the Holocaust.

March organizers said the Palestinian children will accompany Little Amal through the streets of central London.

“On Saturday Amal walks for those most vulnerable and for their bravery and resilience,” said Amir Nizar Zuabi, artistic director of The Walk Productions. “Amal is a child and a refugee, and today in Gaza childhood is under attack, with an unfathomable number of children killed. Childhood itself is being targeted. That’s why we walk.”

London’s Metropolitan Police force said some 1,700 officers will be on duty for the march, including many from outside the capital.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said he had been briefed by police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley on plans to “ensure order and safety” during the protest.

“I back them to use their powers to manage the protest and crack down on any criminality,” Cleverly said.

A number of conditions were placed on the march, including a directive that no participant in the protest shall venture near the Israeli Embassy.

A pro-Israel rally is set to take place in London on Sunday.

The London march was one of several others being held in European cities, including Paris, Rome, Milan and Dublin, where thousands also marched along the Irish capital’s main thoroughfare.

Protesters waved Palestinian flags, held placards critical of the Irish, U.S. and Israeli governments and chanted, “Free, free Palestine.”
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london — An unlikely refugee from the war in Ukraine — a rare Asiatic black bear — arrived at his new home in Scotland on Friday and quickly took to a meal of cucumbers and watermelon. 

The 12-year-old Yampil was named for a village in the Donetsk region where he was one of the few survivors found by Ukrainian troops in the remains of a bombed-out private zoo. 

Yampil, who had previously been called Borya, was discovered by soldiers who recaptured the devastated city of Lyman during the Kharkiv counteroffensive in the fall of 2022, said Yegor Yakovlev of Save Wild, who was among the first of many people who led the bear to a new life. 

The bear was found in a menagerie that had long been abandoned by its owners. Almost all the other animals had died of hunger, thirst or were struck by bullets or shrapnel and some were eaten by Russian troops. Yampil narrowly missed the same fate, suffering a concussion from a projectile that landed nearby. 

“The bear miraculously survived,” said Yakovlev, also director of the White Rock Bear Shelter, where the bear recovered. “Our fighters did not know what … to do with him, so they started looking for rescue.” 

Vet care, then rehabilitation

What followed was an odyssey that your average bear rarely makes, as he was moved to Kyiv for veterinary care and rehabilitation, then shipped to a zoo in Poland, then to an animal rescue in Belgium, where he spent the past seven months, before landing in the United Kingdom. 

Brian Curran, owner of Five Sisters Zoo in West Calder, Scotland, said his heart broke when he learned of the plight of the threatened Asiatic black bear. 

“He was in terrible condition; five more days and they wouldn’t have been able to save him,” Curran said. “We were just so amazed he was still alive and well.” 

The bear was skinny but not malnourished when he was found, said Frederik Thoelen, a biologist at the Nature Help Center in Belgium. He now is estimated to weigh a healthy 440 pounds (200 kilograms), Thoelen said. 

The nature center in Belgium, which usually treats injured wildlife and returns them to their natural settings, has taken several animals rescued from the war in Ukraine, including a wolf, a caracal cat and four lions, though those animals had not experienced the ordeal Yampil endured. 

It was remarkable how calm Yampil was when he arrived in Belgium, Thoelen said. 

The bear was trained in the past two weeks to move from his enclosure to the crate that would transport him across Belgium to Calais, France, then across the English Channel on a ferry to Scotland. Pastries from a local bakery were used for good measure to lure him Thursday into the cage, where he was sedated for the journey. 

“We want to use the food that he likes most, and for most bears — and for people also — it’s sweet, unhealthy foods,” Thoelen said. 

Thoelen had a sense of the bear’s weight as he drove the crate to the port. 

“Every time when we had a red light or a traffic jam, when the bear moved a little bit, you could feel the van moving also,” he said. “You could feel it was a heavy animal in the back of the car.” 

Yampil arrived at the zoo about 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Edinburgh and immediately made himself at home. He feasted on cukes — said to be his favorite food — and melon, said Adam Welsh, who works at Five Sisters. 

Vulnerable to extinction

The Asiatic black bear is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species as vulnerable to extinction in the wild, where it can be found in central and southern Asia, Russia and Japan. It’s known for the distinctive white crescent patch on its chest that gives it the nickname moon bear. It can live for up to 30 years in zoos. 

It’s not clear if the bear will go into hibernation. The winter has been warmer than usual but colder days are on the horizon. 

The zoo has other bears, but Yampil is the only Asian bear and unique in other ways. 

“We’ve had circus bears, for example, that have been rescued,” Welsh said. “We’ve had bears rescued from places like roadside restaurants where they’ve been used as kind of roadside attractions and been kept in subpar conditions. But this is the first time that we’ve worked with an animal that’s been rescued from a war zone.” 
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TALLINN, Estonia — A Belarusian journalist went on trial Friday on charges linked to his professional work covering protests, the latest move in a government crackdown on dissent. 

Photojournalist Alyaksandr Zyankou faces up to six years in prison if convicted on charges of “participation in an extremist group” at Minsk City Court. Such accusations have been widely used by authorities to target opposition members, civil society activists and independent journalists. 

Zyankou has been in custody since his arrest in June, and his health has deteriorated behind bars, according to the independent Belarusian Association of Journalists. 

“Zyankou was just taking pictures to chronicle brutal repressions in Belarus, but the authorities hate anyone speaking about or taking images of political terror in the country,” said the association’s head, Andrei Bastunets. “Belarus is the most repressive country in Europe, where an attempt at free speech is punished by prison.” 

A total of 33 Belarusian journalists are currently in prison, either awaiting trial or serving sentences. 

Belarusian authorities have cracked down on opponents of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko after huge protests triggered by the August 2020 election that gave him a sixth term in office. The balloting was viewed by the opposition and the West as fraudulent. 

Protests swept the country for months, bringing hundreds of thousands into the streets. More than 35,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten in police custody, and hundreds of independent media outlets and nongovernmental organizations were shut down and outlawed. 

More than 1,400 political prisoners remain behind bars, including leaders of opposition parties, and renowned human rights advocate — and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner — Ales Bialiatski. 

Human Rights Watch strongly condemned the crackdown on dissent and free speech. 

“Over the past year, Belarusian authorities doubled down to create an information vacuum around raging repressions by cutting political prisoners off from the outside world and bullying their lawyers and families into silence,” Anastasiia Kruope, assistant Europe and Central Asia researcher at the group, said in a statement Thursday. “Widespread repression continues in an expanding information void.” 
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