Flagship

Pope: End laws against gay sex

Pope Francis said laws criminalizing homosexuality are “unjust,” and called on Catholic bishops to welcome LGBTQ people into the church. It marked the first such comments from a pontiff — around 67 countries worldwide criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity — while consistent with Francis’ overall approach to LGBTQ inclusion. Speaking to the Associated Press, he said that “being homosexual isn’t a crime,” in a move hailed as a milestone by gay rights advocates. The Catholic Church still views homosexual sex as a sin — as it does all sex outside traditional marriage — but there is a difference “between a sin and a crime,” Francis said: “It’s also a sin to lack charity.”

US boosts artillery production

The United States will ramp up production of artillery shells by 500% to keep pace with the war in Ukraine. The U.S. produced 14,400 shells a month before the war: Its forces mainly use precision-guided weapons rather than unguided shells, so that was enough. But Ukraine relies on howitzers firing thousands of unguided shells a day. The Pentagon has set a target of 90,000 a month by 2025. Analysts have warned that the West must be prepared for a long war: This is “the clearest sign yet,” according to The New York Times, that the U.S. is doing exactly that.

Behind the tank fears

Ukraine thanked the U.S. and Germany for the promise of tanks, a decision made despite the two countries’ reluctance to increase their involvement in the war. The BBC’s Katya Adler said Germany’s leaders are aware of its history, while U.S. President Joe Biden feared escalation, according to The New York Times. But nuclear fears have receded, and Germany is more willing to take a defense leadership role. Berlin’s decision is a “green light” for other countries to re-export German-built tanks. U.S. Republicans are divided: “We look weaker if burned-out shells of these iconic American tanks begin to litter Ukrainian fields,” one tweeted.

No more rate hikes in Canada

The Bank of Canada became the first major central bank to signal it would stop increasing interest rates. It raised rates to 4.5%, its highest level in 15 years, but said it expected to stop there. So far its strategy to fight inflation has matched that of the U.S. Federal Reserve, but while the Fed is expected to slow its rate hikes, it is unlikely to end them soon. Canada still faces a rocky economic period — the bank thinks it could face recession in the first half of this year — but it is betting that the era of rapid inflation is coming to a close.

Jail for China spy in US

A Chinese engineer was jailed for eight years in the United States for spying. Ji Chaoqun, 31, worked in aerospace, and had tried to recruit scientists and engineers. He also enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve, lying on his application about his contact with foreign governments. He told an undercover U.S. agent that his military ID allowed him to photograph aircraft carriers, and that once naturalized he would seek work in the CIA, FBI or NASA. Another Chinese spy was also sentenced this month, while Ji’s alleged handler was extradited from Belgium to the U.S. and sentenced to 20 years for stealing trade secrets last year.

US asylum rule cuts migration

The number of migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba crossing the U.S.-Mexico border fell by 97% in the week to Jan. 24, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Under Title 42 restrictions — which the U.S. government extended to those countries on Jan. 5 — asylum applicants are deported to Mexico, where they can begin their process. The Biden administration credits the controversial policy for the decline. There were a record 2.2 million migrant detentions at the U.S.-Mexico border last year, with nearly 30% coming from those four countries.

Rwanda shoots at DRC jet

The Democratic Republic of Congo called Rwanda’s attempt to shoot down one of its fighter jets an “act of war,” further raising tensions in the region. Rwanda’s government claimed it was taking “defensive measures” after the plane violated its airspace, Africanews reports. The conflict in DR Congo — in which Rwanda is accused of meddling by backing armed rebels — has forced 400,000 people from their homes. United Nations experts said last month that there is “substantial evidence” of Rwandan armed forces crossing into DR Congo to conduct operations: Rwanda claims some of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide fled there.

Opium growth soars in Myanmar

Opium cultivation is booming in junta-ruled Myanmar, reversing a downward trend. The Southeast Asian nation recorded a 33% increase in opium poppy cultivation and an 88% rise in potential opium yield since the military seized power from an elected government in February 2021, according to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report, which said a significant expansion of Myanmar’s opium economy was underway. “The growth we are witnessing in the drug business is directly connected to the crisis the country is facing,” said the UNODC Regional Representative Jeremy Douglas.

Update breaks Microsoft tools

Microsoft platforms including Outlook and Teams went down for more than four hours in a widespread outage. Tens of thousands of users reported that their video-conferencing, email, and file-sharing services went down on Wednesday. The company’s cloud computing service Azure and Xbox Live gaming service were also disrupted. Microsoft blamed the outage on a network update, saying the problem has now been resolved. Hundreds of millions of people use the services, including businesses increasingly reliant on a handful of online platforms. A single bug, even one that is patched relatively quickly, can cause millions of dollars’ worth of economic damage.

Prepping for Mars

Starship, the super-heavy rocket SpaceX hopes will reach Mars, is a step closer to launch. It was loaded with fuel — 5,000 tons of liquid oxygen and methane — for the first time on Monday, and countdown procedures were checked. The rocket still faces other trials, notably of its 33 engines, but Elon Musk’s SpaceX hopes it will fly this year. If all goes as planned, Starship would become the largest rocket ever to reach orbit, and will take crew and equipment to the moon for NASA’s planned return there this decade. Its long-term aim, though, is a mission to Mars.

• Public and private sector workers stage a nationwide strike in Cyprus, demanding inflation-linked salary increases.
• Israeli President Isaac Herzog will address the European Parliament to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, held annually on Jan. 27.
• The four-day Angouleme International Comics Festival begins in France.

South Korea is importing more kimchi – the fermented spicy cabbage that is a staple part of its diet — from China. Last year its imports of China-made kimchi products recorded an all-time high of $169 million, up by 20% year-on-year. South Korea has long imported the food from Chinese producers to meet high demand at home. But the rising cost of local ingredients is driving more Koreans towards lower-priced Chinese kimchi, reported The Korea Times.

Kimchi can be a sore point between the two nations: Social media users from both have feuded over its origin, and last year Seoul requested that China call its variant of kimchi by a new name. For now consumers are following the prices: “Before, I would buy kimchi products made in Korea only,” one housewife told the paper. “But because their prices went up too high, I have been getting Chinese products these days.”

AI reveals likely Raphael masterpiece

Researchers used facial recognition technology to identify a mystery portrait, saying it was highly likely to be a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. They found a 97% similarity between the face of the Madonna in the previously unattributed painting, known as the de Brecy Tondo, and that in Raphael’s Sistine Madonna altarpiece. “Looking at the faces with the human eye shows an obvious similarity,” said Hassan Ugail, a professor of visual computing who developed the artificial intelligence recognition system. “But the computer can see far more deeply than we can, in thousands of dimensions, to pixel-level.”

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