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Staving off default: How unsustainable debt is threatening human progress
UN assistant sec-gen on importance of addressing the growing debt crisis | GZERO Media

Staving off default: How unsustainable debt is threatening human progress

Three-fifths of the world's lowest income countries are debt distressed and in danger of default. Navid Hanif, assistant secretary-general for economic development at the United Nations, tells GZERO's Tony Maciulis that we need to make debt more sustainable by restructuring it. Hanif believes multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank, should offer affordable longer-term loans with lower interest rates to allow least developed countries better opportunities to deal with crises like climate change, poverty, and educating children.

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The world "is more coupled than we think"
The world "is more coupled than we think" | Global Stage | GZERO Media

The world "is more coupled than we think"

Rania Al-Mashat, the Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation, tells GZERO's Tony Maciulis that the pandemic taught us how interconnected we truly are; no one nation can solve a problem as big as climate change, food insecurity, or geopolitical strife on its own. Al-Mashat makes the case for looking beyond the short term problems of inflation and toward longer-term solutions for the most pressing issues of our time.

In a conversation at the World Bank/IMF spring meetings in Washington, DC, she explains the key outcomes of last year's UN Climate Conference COP27, held in her home country, and what the road ahead looks like for climate financing and confronting the looming sovereign debt crisis.

Al-Mashat also states that in the coming months we will learn the new framework and path forward for the World Bank and IMF, institutions whose models have been both challenged and criticized during this historic period of global crises.

Human rights activists demand the safe return of Ricardo Lagunes and Antonio Díaz, community defenders who disappeared on January 15. Mexico City, Mexico, January 22, 2023.

Photo by Luis Barron / Eyepix Group/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Hard Numbers: Environmentalists targeted, World Bank outlook improves, mass shooting in Louisville, fiery cocktails in Northern Ireland, Winnie-the-Pooh gets punched

24: This year alone, at least two dozen environmental activists have already been murdered or disappeared in Mexico and Central America, according to an investigation by The Guardian. Many are from indigenous communities protesting against mining activities on their traditional lands.

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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy awards a Ukrainian service member at a position near a frontline, in Donetsk region, Ukraine March 22, 2023.

Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

What We’re Watching: Zelensky’s Bakhmut message, Rishi’s post-Brexit win, Trudeau’s take on Haiti, Ethiopia’s peace progress

Russia and Ukraine score points where they can

Volodymyr Zelensky visited frontline troops in war-ravaged Bakhmut, located in Ukraine’s eastern province of Donetsk, on Wednesday as Russian drones struck across the country. While planning for the trip was surely well underway before Vladimir Putin’s surprise stop in Russian-occupied Mariupol last weekend, the contrast underlined Zelenksy’s signal of defiance.

By appearing in Bakhmut very near the fighting, Zelensky reminded the world that, six months after Putin mobilized 300,000 new Russian soldiers for a deeper advance into Ukraine, even the small city of Bakhmut remains beyond their grasp.

In other war news, Russia has warned it will respond harshly to shipments from the UK to Ukraine of anti-tank munitions made from depleted uranium. Moscow claims this step adds an escalatory nuclear element to the conflict. In response, the UK insists the Russian position is propaganda, that the use of depleted uranium is common in anti-tank weapons, and that it contains nothing that can be used to make nuclear or radiological weapons. Finally, Russia has announced a plan to raise an additional $8 billion in revenue by changing the way oil profits are taxed.

All these stories underscore the reality that, while little has changed on the battlefield, Russians and Ukrainians are still looking for every small advantage they can gain in what looks increasingly like a war of attrition.

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A servicewoman holds a rifle during the graduation ceremony of the officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine of the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Academy of Land Forces, in the Lviv Region of western Ukraine.

Reuters

Hard Numbers: Women warriors of Ukraine, baby drought in Japan, cash for Colombo (not Peter Falk), tragic ending in Mexico

50,000: Every day is women’s day in Ukraine’s defense against Russia. As many as 50,000 women are currently serving in the Ukrainian military, more than triple the number when Russia first invaded in 2014.

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US House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) attends a press conference in Washington, DC.

REUTERS/Mary F. Calvert

What We’re Watching: McCarthy in trouble, Lula 2.0, global recession fears

Dramatic US House speaker election

Who will replace Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as the next speaker of the US House of Representatives? Good question. As members of the 118th Congress are scheduled to be sworn in on Tuesday, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is still short of the votes necessary to lead the chamber. Even after making a major concession to his GOP critics by allowing them to fire him at any time, a handful of far-right Republicans remain publicly opposed to his speakership. If McCarthy doesn't get at least 218 votes on the first ballot, the lawmakers will continue voting until someone gets a majority. Keep in mind that the speaker sets the legislative agenda and decides which bills make it to the floor, so whoever gets the gig will hold a lot of sway at a time when Republicans aim to use their slim House majority to investigate the Biden administration and stymie the White House on anything from funding the government to continuing US aid for Ukraine.

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Gabriella Turrisi

Hard Numbers: China's fake fishing fleet, forever Obiang, Iran's deadly protests, IMF lending spree

280: China is paying commercial trawlers more than they can make by catching fish to stay anchored for at least 280 days a year in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. This is just one of the many ways China is using civilian ships to augment its naval power and help enforce its maritime claims in the region.

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An FBI photograph of documents and classified cover sheets recovered from former US Pesident Donald Trump's Florida estate.

Reuters

What We're Watching: Trump obstruction evidence, IAEA team in Zaporizhzhia, IMF-Sri Lanka bailout deal

Did Trump conceal top-secret documents?

Donald Trump repeatedly blocked US law enforcement from accessing highly-classified documents stored at his Mar-a-Lago residence (and lied about how many files remained there), according to a scathing new document released Tuesday by the Department of Justice. The filing came in response to a recent request by the former president that the documents — seized from his Florida estate by the FBI on Aug. 8 — be reviewed by a third-party arbiter to decide if any are covered by executive privilege. (The DOJ opposes this on the legal grounds that the records don’t belong to Trump.) It’s the most detailed account to date of the months-long attempt by the National Archives – an independent agency that stores and preserves government records – to obtain classified files Trump took from the White House after the 2020 election. The filing includes a photograph of documents labeled “Top Secret” and claims that some material was so sensitive that some FBI and DOJ personnel required additional security clearances to review them. Crucially, it also states that “efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation” after Trump’s legal team ignored in the spring a grand jury subpoena seeking all classified documents. A federal court decides Thursday whether the arbiter can be brought in.

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