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Here’s what’s giving people hope for 2023 | CNN

Published

2 years ago

December 31, 2022

Here’s what’s giving people hope for 2023 | CNN

CNN
—

2022 hasn’t at all times been a straightforward yr. However, because it involves an finish, individuals from all over the world have been telling CNN what’s giving them hope for 2023 – from their very own thrilling plans, to potential scientific breakthroughs, and the promise of the subsequent era. Listed below are their tales.

I hope my mom recovers her well being. She suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage two weeks in the past. I’m near my mom, so I used to be very confused and unhappy. However now she’s in a more healthy situation, so I’m extra relaxed. Different individuals have mentioned it was a miracle. I simply want some cheer!

Yeon hee Jang, South Korea

I simply hope I get an opportunity for the primary time to journey to the USA in 2023 to be with my sister and household. We have now been aside for 30 years – they got here to the US because of the warfare within the northern a part of Uganda, and I grew up with my grandmother and uncle. Sadly, I’ve tried making use of for various visas however all in useless. Nevertheless, I stay hopeful and optimistic that issues will work out some day and I can make this journey a actuality.

Ben Katende, Uganda

As an individual with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – a progressive nervous system illness), who took care of a husband who died of ALS, I hope for a remedy. I used to be recognized in January 2022 and have just about misplaced the usage of my arms, and a few speech is slurred. My husband handed in 2011 from ALS, and I by no means thought it could be my destiny as properly since it’s so uncommon. I take three ALS medicines and am taking part in a trial to assist advance analysis in case considered one of us carries the gene, which might have an effect on my son. We’re profiting from life, residing every day and hoping for a remedy. ALS sufferers don’t have time to attend.

Colleen Van Natta, United States

Colleen Van Natta with her grandson, Beckham.

I’m taking a 200-hour yoga trainer coaching course within the first quarter of 2023, and I’m so enthusiastic about this journey. I by no means practiced yoga till the pandemic got here, and I wanted to maneuver my physique and calm down my thoughts within the uncertainty of these early days of lockdown. I couldn’t even contact my toes again then, however ever since working towards, my head is clearer, my physique is stronger, and I’ve develop into extra current within the second.

I hope to develop into a yoga trainer for my group — particularly for youngsters and youngsters, so the subsequent era of youth can have the instruments to deal with nerve-racking moments and concentrate on the current. The pandemic has executed a number of injury to youngsters’ total psychological well-being and I might love to assist them via the apply of yoga.

Nikki Natividad, United States

I’m extremely eager for my future! I’m going to Italy in early 2023 to be with this enormous love of my life, after reuniting in 2022 after 30 years. He was an trade scholar in 1992 the place I used to be going to highschool. We fell in love then, however in fact he needed to go away and go residence to Italy. I used to be imagined to go over after I graduated, however life, worry and immaturity received in my manner.

He got here to see me in 1996, after I had simply gotten married and had a one yr previous daughter. Through the years he contacted me just a few extra instances, till a few dozen years in the past, after I mentioned I couldn’t see him and he shouldn’t contact me anymore. He revered my needs, however on Dec 31 2021 he despatched me an e mail, and left me just a few voicemails within the spring. I lastly emailed him again, figuring out if I did it could fully complicate my life, and the remaining is historical past.

I separated from my husband this summer time, and spent a month in Italy within the fall. I’ll shuttle till I can get the suitable visa to remain longer – this time, and at this age, we refuse to overlook our alternative to lastly be collectively. Such a dream for us, and we’re so grateful to have discovered each other once more after a long time of being aside.

Louise Dressel, Canada

Louise and Elia China-Bino in 1992, 30 years before their eventual reunion.

My hope is that I can proceed giving my boys a very good life. Making recollections and hopefully purchase a home. I went again to school in October of 2022. I plan to finish my diploma and present my boys it’s by no means too late to do what you need to do. This final yr has been robust as a single father or mother however I’m not giving up.

Heather Getz, United States

My hopes are in my seven-year-old grandson. He’s deaf and sadly additionally misplaced his mom when he was 18 months previous. Regardless of this, nonetheless, he’s a really sunny youngster, blissful to reside, stuffed with pals. He’s a baby who provides me hope as a result of he appears to be like to the long run with hope. He provides me hope as a result of if the brand new era of youngsters shall be like him, resilient and optimistic, than the world shall be a greater place.

Ilaria Pandolfi, Italy

My hope for 2023 is that we lastly begin to respect different human beings with out basing it on their faith, gender, or sexual id.

I’ve seen my era and actually even my mother’s era (1978-1995 and past) are positively extra vocal about standing up for what’s proper and fallacious. When somebody is bullied primarily based on sexuality or faith, you see an enormous inflow of celebrities and even common individuals inside that age group talking in opposition to it. There’s positively hope for the long run!

Alija Bulbul, United States

I hope to check for a grasp’s program at Chester College (in England) on my dream course, digital and electrical engineering, and I’ve already secured a spot for fall 2023. I hope to develop my electrical engineering agency, Phrank Options, to be aggressive in my nation Nigeria and internationally, and I aspire to be an employer.

Echezona Chukwuma Ifeonu, Nigeria

Echezona at work, installing electrical connections for a telecommunications company's floodlights in Anambra State, Nigeria.

I reside in Ukraine, and the boys from my household are on the frontline defending our land, lives and democracy for the entire world. My greatest hope is that we keep alive and defend our individuals and nation. And I hope Ukraine shall be secure for us once more someday and my husband returns, in order that we will collect our households for a marriage ceremony and began fulfilling our plans that received delayed by warfare. I hope we lastly purchase an residence or a home of our personal and begin attempting for a kid.

However for now, all of us must concentrate on working and preventing for our freedom. Although we’re all in peril, most individuals round me are retaining a constructive perspective to life and attempting to do our greatest. Sharing this hope with my household and feeling their assist helps me transfer ahead and imagine in the absolute best consequence for us.

Olha Korniienko, Ukraine

The management of younger individuals of numerous races, cultures, backgrounds, religions, sexualities and financial statuses brings me nice hope. Pete Buttigieg, Olivia Julianna, Greta Thunberg are just a few of them, however the listing is lengthy. We want forward-looking, forward-thinking individuals who be taught from the knowledge of the previous however plan for the long run. I imagine that many younger individuals are centered on discovering options to the issues of at present. They’re tireless and clever. They know how one can talk. They’re our solely hope.

Marie Bourque-Namer, United States

I hope that every one international locations will suppose selflessly and concentrate on sustainability, international warming and sources safety. Excessive climate is impacting all international locations, and plastic waste is a giant concern. I feel increasingly more individuals and corporations will know they’ve to begin someplace in 2023. And 2023 is the United Nations Worldwide 12 months of Millets, so extra individuals will develop into conscious of the necessity to have fiber-rich meals and the significance of plant protein.

S. Murugan Narayanaswamy, India

It has at all times been my dream to check overseas, particularly within the US. I need to develop into a surgeon sooner or later, so I’m planning on doing pre-medicine throughout my undergraduate research, then proceed to medical college, then after that I’ll specialise. With a purpose to obtain all this I’ve to get admission and full monetary assist at a school or college within the US, which I’m hoping will come to go in 2023. I’m hopeful as a result of I imagine in myself, my mom believes in me and my members of the family are always praying for me. There isn’t a stronger drive than that of household assist that may make you imagine.

Tatenda Kasitomo, Zimbabwe

Tatenda in the biology lab, working hard to achieve his medical dreams.

I’ve hope for the rise of regenerative agriculture and examples of holistically managed land. I imagine that regenerative agriculture would be the “it” factor subsequent yr due to local weather change, the vitality disaster and inflation. We have to produce meals domestically, shorten the distribution chain and never be so depending on oil, and we’d like many extra individuals to develop into farmers. The holistic administration motion is rising quickly within the US, Australia, components of Africa and now additionally in Europe. The affect it has made each socially and ecologically is simply wild and so spectacular.

Gabriel Liljenström, Sweden

The Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine warfare have proven that the complete world, not simply creating international locations, are susceptible to financial meltdown, vitality disaster, and local weather change. I hope the world will in 2023 come collectively beneath the UN to drastically, actually and apolitically resolve all ongoing and pending international challenges.

Matawalli Ajagana Geidam, Nigeria

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News

‘Mission South Africa’: How Trump Is Offering White Afrikaners Refugee Status

Published

4 hours ago

March 30, 2025

Press Room

‘Mission South Africa’: How Trump Is Offering White Afrikaners Refugee Status

Almost immediately after taking office, President Trump began shutting down refugee resettlement programs, slashing billions of dollars in funding and making it all but impossible for people from scores of countries to seek haven in the United States.

With one exception.

The Trump administration has thrown open the doors to white Afrikaners from South Africa, establishing a program called “Mission South Africa” to help them come to the United States as refugees, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.

Under Phase One of the program, the United States has deployed multiple teams to convert commercial office space in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, into ad hoc refugee centers, according to the documents. The teams are studying more than 8,200 requests expressing interest in resettling to the United States and have already identified 100 Afrikaners who could be approved for refugee status. The government officials have been directed to focus particularly on screening white Afrikaner farmers.

The administration has also provided security escorts to officials conducting the interviews of potential refugees.

By mid-April, U.S. officials on the ground in South Africa will “propose long-term solutions, to ensure the successful implementation of the president’s vision for the dignified resettlement of eligible Afrikaner applicants,” according to one memo sent from the embassy in Pretoria to the State Department in Washington this month.

The administration’s focus on white Afrikaners comes as it effectively bans the entry of other refugees — including about 20,000 people from countries like Afghanistan, Congo and Syria who were ready to travel to the United States before Mr. Trump took office. In court filings about those other refugees, the administration has argued that core functions of the refugee program had been “terminated” after the president’s ban, so it did not have the resources to take in any more people.

“There’s no subtext and nothing subtle about the way this administration’s immigration and refugee policy has obvious racial and racist overtones,” said Vanessa Cárdenas, the executive director of America’s Voice. “While they seek to single out Afrikaners for special treatment, they simultaneously want us to think mostly Black and brown vetted newcomers are dangerous despite their background checks and all evidence to the contrary.”

The program also inserts the United States into a charged debate inside South Africa, where some members of the white Afrikaner minority have begun a campaign to suggest that they are the true victims in post-apartheid South Africa. Under apartheid, a white minority government discriminated against South Africans of color, and brutality and violence flourished, leading to torture, disappearances and murder.

There have been murders of white farmers, the focus of the Afrikaner grievances, but police statistics show they are not any more vulnerable to violent crime than others in the country. In South Africa, more than 90 percent of the population comes from racial groups persecuted by the racist, apartheid regime.

In a statement, the State Department said it was focused on resettling Afrikaners who have been “victims of unjust racial discrimination.” The agency confirmed that it had begun interviewing applicants and said they would need to pass “stringent background and security checks.”

The decision to unleash resources for Afrikaners just starting the refugee process, while stonewalling court demands to process those fleeing other countries who have already been cleared for travel, risks upending an American refugee program that has been the foundation of the United States’ role for the vulnerable, according to resettlement officials.

“The government clearly has the ability to process applications when it wants to,” said Melissa Keaney, a senior supervising attorney for the International Refugee Assistance Project, the group representing plaintiffs trying to restart refugee processing.

Mr. Trump signed an executive order suspending refugee admissions on his first day in office, arguing that welcoming refugees could compromise resources for Americans. He added that future versions of the program should prioritize “only those refugees who can fully and appropriately assimilate into the United States.”

A federal judge in Seattle later temporarily blocked that executive order and instructed the administration to restore the refugee program. But the Trump administration still cut contracts with organizations that assist those applying for refugee status overseas, reducing the infrastructure needed to support people seeking refuge in the United States.

An appeals court ruled last week that the administration must admit those thousands of people who were granted refugee status before Mr. Trump entered office, but also declined to stop him from halting the admission of new refugees.

The Justice Department has for weeks deflected demands from refugee advocates accusing the administration of sidestepping the court order and delaying the process of almost every refugee previously granted a ticket to come to the United States. The Trump administration has said it has allowed a limited number of refugees who were vetted to enter the country, although the State Department declined to provide a number.

Lawyers for the Justice Department have argued both that the administration now lacks resources to help thousands of refugees and that in restarting the program the government reserves the right to “do so in a manner that reflects administration priorities.”

Mr. Trump has made clear what those priorities were when he created a refugee carve-out for white Afrikaners. Mr. Trump at the time accused the South African government of confiscating the land of white Afrikaners, backing a long-held conspiracy theory about the mistreatment of white South Africans in the post-apartheid era.

Mr. Trump was referring to a recent policy signed into law by the South African government, known as the Expropriation Act. It repeals an apartheid-era law and allows the government in certain instances to acquire privately held land in the public interest, without paying compensation, only after a justification process subject to judicial review.

Mr. Trump and his allies have for years echoed the grievances of Afrikaners. During his first term, Mr. Trump directed the State Department to investigate land seizures and “the large-scale killing of farmers.” Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa but is not of Afrikaner descent, has also falsely claimed that white farmers in South Africa were being killed every day.

Despite the claims, white people own half of South Africa’s land while making up just 7 percent of the country’s population. Police statistics do not show that they are any more vulnerable to violent crime than other people in the nation.

Ernst Roets, the former executive director of the Afrikaner Foundation, which lobbies for international support of the interests of Afrikaners, said many of his peers felt seen by Mr. Trump.

But he said the creation of the new refugee program had elicited debate among Afrikaners. Many do not want to leave their home, Mr. Roets said, but want the United States to back their efforts to claim “self-governance” in South Africa.

“I don’t know anyone — no one I’m aware of — that plans to move to America,” Mr. Roets said. “People who want to come to America, we would support that. If people want to relocate to America, the farmers or Afrikaners, we think they would make good Americans.”

“There’s a good fit,” he added.

Zumbe Baruti, a Congolese refugee living in South Carolina, said he spent decades in a refugee camp in Africa waiting for his turn to be accepted.

“Those white Africans are allowed to enter the United States, but Black Africans are denied entry to the United States,” Mr. Baruti, 29, said in Swahili. He said the pivot away from refugees who have waited in camps for years and to Afrikaners was a form of “discrimination.”

Mr. Baruti, a member of the Bembe people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, fled ethnic violence in the nation when he was a child. He was granted refugee status in 2023, but his wife and three children — the oldest 6 years old and the youngest just 2 — had yet to clear security vetting. He entered the United States two years ago, focused on getting a job, saving money and immediately applying for his family to join him.

When he entered, he said he was told by advisers helping him with his application that his family would most likely join him in two years.

He said that seemed unlikely as Mr. Trump turned his focus elsewhere.

“Regarding my family,” Mr. Baruti said, “hope has diminished.”

News

Trump threatens secondary tariffs on Russian oil if no deal on Ukraine

Published

6 hours ago

March 30, 2025

Press Room

Trump threatens secondary tariffs on Russian oil if no deal on Ukraine

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Donald Trump said he was “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin for foot-dragging in talks over a ceasefire with Ukraine, as the US president threatened secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil if no deal is done.

Trump’s comments on Sunday revealed the frustration at the White House with the Russian president as negotiations over a settlement of the war in Ukraine continue on without a clear breakthrough.

The new threat to hit imports from countries that purchase Russian oil come as Trump prepares to impose tariffs on goods from many of America’s largest trading partners on Wednesday. The president has proclaimed the moment “liberation day”, but the plan has caused turmoil in markets and anxiety among businesses and governments worldwide.

Trump’s outburst at Moscow is a shift in tone for the US president, who for weeks blamed Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, for being reluctant to strike a deal.

The US president chided Putin for attacking Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as Kyiv’s leader.

“If we’re in the midst of a negotiation, you could say that I was very angry, pissed off . . . when Putin started getting into Zelenskyy’s credibility,” Trump told NBC News. “That’s not going in the right location, you understand?”

While Ukraine has agreed to American demands for a full 30-day ceasefire, Russia has rebuffed the plan and conceded only to a truce regarding energy infrastructure targets and maritime operations in the Black Sea — and only if the west first lifts sanctions on some agricultural goods.

Zelenskyy has accused Russia of breaking the energy ceasefire at least twice since it was agreed. “Russia must be forced into peace — only pressure will work,” he said this weekend.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb, right. with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday © Finnish Presidential Office/Instagram/Reuters

Finland’s president Alexander Stubb, who spent seven hours with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday including a round of golf, told the Financial Times the US president was “running out of patience” with Putin over the ceasefire.

“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” said Stubb on a visit to London where he will on Monday debrief British prime minister Keir Starmer on his discussions with Trump.

Stubb said he had proposed setting a deadline of April 20 — which marks three months since Trump returned to the White House — to accept a 30-day unconditional truce on land, sea and in the air. Both western and eastern Christian churches will celebrate Easter on April 20 this year, a rare calendar alignment.

“The Russians are stalling, they’re coming up with new conditions,” Stubb said. “Let’s call Putin’s bluff for what it is. Russia at this stage does not want peace. So we need to force peace on Russia.”

Trump had previously threatened Russia with new tariffs and sanctions if it resisted an agreement, but expanding the trade bluster to buyers of Russian oil in other countries will add more pressure on Putin.

“If a deal isn’t made, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, I’m going to put secondary sanctions on Russia,” Trump told NBC.

Trump did not offer a clear explanation of what the plan would involve. He said “anybody buying oil from Russia will not be able to sell their product, any product, not just oil, into the United States”, but also said there would be a “25 to 50-point tariff on all oil”.

The US president added that he would slap “secondary tariffs” on Iran if they failed to make a deal on its nuclear programme, as he renewed his threat of “bombing” Tehran if they did not strike an agreement.

News

Iran rejects direct nuke talks as Trump threatens 'bombing' – DW – 03/30/2025

Published

7 hours ago

March 30, 2025

Press Room

Iran rejects direct nuke talks as Trump threatens 'bombing' – DW – 03/30/2025

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday rebuked the idea of direct negotiations with US President Donald Trump’s administration over its nuclear program.

Pezeshkian: US must ‘build trust’ after earlier breached promises

“We responded to the US president’s letter via Oman and rejected the option of direct talks, but we are open to indirect negotiations,” Pezeshkian said during a sitdown with his cabinet broadcast on Iranian TV.

“We don’t avoid talks; it’s the breach of promises that has caused issues for us so far,” Pezeshkian said. “They must prove that they can build trust.”

During Trump’s first term in 2018, he pulled the US out of a nuclear agreement with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and Russia look to forge stronger ties against West

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That deal provided sanctions relief for Iran, with the Iranian government in exchange curbing its nuclear program and allowing inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to periodically view its enrichment sites. France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the EU are some of the other parties signed onto the JCPOA.

Trump vows ‘bombing’ if no new Iran nuclear deal

Trump sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei earlier this month, urging Iran to reach a new nuclear deal with the US in his second term in the White House.

In an interview with US broadcaster NBC News, Trump made new threats towards Iran if there is no new nuclear agreement with the US.

“If they don’t make a deal,” Trump told the outlet on Saturday evening, referring to Iran. “There will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”

Trump claimed that representatives from the US and Iran are “talking” on the matter.

Trump orders strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen

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The Trump administration has a “maximum pressure” approach towards Iran, which aims to both economically and politically isolate Tehran.

The Trump administration has also vowed to crack down on so-called Iranian proxies in the Middle East region, with the US currently attacking the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Edited by: Roshni Majumdar