A top Ukrainian official is making a plea for more help as Russian forces regroup for more possible attacks in the country.
Celebration in the Senate as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed as the first black woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court.
Governors from several states are working on a solution to get those sky high gas prices to come down.
Currents News Staff
The United Nations General Assembly has voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights council as its invasion of Ukraine appears to be shiftingamid more evidence of atrocities.
NATO leaders hold a critical meeting to decide how to move forward.
“The sickening images and accounts coming out of Bucha and other parts of Ukraine have only strengthened our collective resolve unit,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Meanwhile, in the warzone, Ukranians are burying their dead, bracing for attack and digging through the rubble. It’s all part of daily life in Ukraine’s eastern region while the Russian military continues its offensive against Ukraine and forces push east.
On Thursday in Brussels, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba issued a plea for help following a meeting of NATO foreign affairs ministers.
“Either you help us now and I’m speaking about days, not weeks,” said Dmytro, “or your help will come too late.”
Ukranian officials say more fighting is underway in the east, while western nations debate any additional sanctions and pledge more aid to Ukraine.The attacks appear to have no end in sight.
This war may last for weeks, but also months and possibly also for years and therefore we need to prepare for the long haul,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Currents News Staff
If there’s anyone who could play both a rough-and-tumble boxer and a clean-cut priest in the same movie, it’s surely Mark Wahlberg. In his upcoming film, that’s exactly what Wahlberg does.
Coming to theaters next week, “Father Stu” is based on the true story of Father Stuart Long who is a former boxer with a promising career that was cut short due to health issues.
John Lavenburg, National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, sat down with Wahlberg to learn more about his thoughts on being Father Stu.
You can watch “Father Stu” in theaters starting next week on Wednesday, April 13. After that, it’ll become available for purchase on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, YouTube and Vudu.
Currents News Staff
In Colorado, the right to an abortion is now guaranteed under state law. The state’s Democratic governor signed the “Reproductive Health Equity Act” into law on Monday.
Colorado joins a handful of other states which are racing to enact laws like this as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case that could overturn Roe V. Wade.
In response, Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver decried Colorado’s new law, writing in a tweet:
“Jesus forgive us! Tragic day for Colorado with the signing of hb22-1279, which allows for unrestricted abortion up to birth with zero rights for the unborn. A triumph for the culture of death & further erosion of the dignity of human life. We will continue to pray for the conversion of hearts.”
Saint John Baptist de la Salle
Feast Day April 7th
“May God continue what he has begun in you.”
Currents News Staff
A senior from Nazareth Regional High School in Flatbush, Brooklyn is feeling the love after learning he got a full ride scholarship to St. Francis College!
The scholarship is in honor of former police commissioner Robert J. McGuire. While it fully covers the tuition at the Catholic college, it also provides $1,000 dollars for textbooks, a free summer course and a personal advisor.
The U.S. is rolling out new sanctions against Russia and even members of President Vladimir Putin’s family to stop the war in Ukraine.
Pope Francis is critical of the United Nations as he unveils a tattered flag from a besieged Ukrainian city.
We speak with Mark Wahlberg about what it was like to play “Father Stu” in his new movie.
Currents News Staff
Looking back at the good old days is something special for Marie Goff.
“It makes me feel young again to see all those pictures,” Marie said.
She’s a 99-year-old World War II veteran who served in a very unique role as a SPAR.
“I liked the SPARS very much and I always would be in the company of the best of the SPARS,” Marie said.
She enlisted after her brother died overseas serving his country, she felt it was her duty to serve.
“After that, my mother did not want me to join anything with the service but after my brother was killed, I joined the service,” Marie said.
Marie was stationed in Palm Beach, Florida and served at one of the stores in the Assembly Hotel. These memories she’s flipping through are some of her most fond ones, including the day the U.S. declared victory.
“Oh, it was the most fun,” Marie said, “we declared victory and it was the end of our SPARS.”
By her side is her granddaughter Kaitlin Dunckel, an Air Force veteran herself. She says her grandma was the reason she joined.
“She was always so proud of it,” Kaitlin said. “My grandpa was always so proud of it. They have always been so proud of their service I just wanted that pride that i was just like, I want part of that. I wanted to be as amazing as she is.”
A woman reflecting back on life looking at the role her service played soaking in the joy and pride it brings her.
Currents News Staff
Gloria wanted to go to Poland to help Ukrainian refugees escape to Spain to live with host families in different cities in the country. But she needed a van. So she posted an ad on Instagram.
“Out of nowhere, a woman I didn’t know in Valladolid had a van, and I said, ‘well, great.’ I called her and said ‘thank you very much.’ I was a bit uneasy thinking about how a random person was going to let me use her van and put 6000 kilometers on it,” said Gloria. “But she wanted to help and she wasn’t able to go, so she let me use the van.”
She posted another ad on social media to see if others wanted to use their vans to help. In the end, nine more vans signed up. Three from Barcelona, three from Madrid, and three from Asturias.
Through Facebook, she contacted a volunteer in Poland who was able to help her with the logistics of the trip.
“So I was in contact with him and he kept telling me, for example, that we needed people in Barcelona to stay at the border,” Gloria said. “Now that the border is flooded, some should stay and help in Krakow. I kept in contact with all these people and we helped each other.”
Each van would go to the border that needed them most and pick up refugees. On their way back to Spain, they would stop in hotels to sleep and eat – and nobody charged them to pay for anything.
Gloria says this trip left a deep impression on her. She says there was a mix of funny and shocking moments. Like when a Ukrainian girl wouldn’t get out of the car to go to her new home in Spain.
“When we told her that this was her home and that the house was super cool, she suddenly told us that she didn’t want to stay,” Gloria said. “She didn’t want to get out of the car because she had not faced the reality that she had to go to move into another house. The entire trip – the train and car rides – she didn’t seem to be in shock.
“But then all of a sudden, when we got to the house, she didn’t want to stay; she didn’t want to get out of the car. We all got really sad because you realize how difficult it must be for these people to have to leave everything with just the clothes on their backs.”
Gloria and her nine vans were able to bring 65 Ukrainians out of the country to safety, showcasing the beauty of solidarity in action.
Currents News Staff
It’s game time for this special group of students at Stough Elementary in Raleigh, North Carolina. They came to learn the game of chess.
Elshan Moridiabadi is a chess grandmaster – now living in Durham. He introduced the students to kings – queens – bishops – and noble knights.
The students and their families are refugees from their homeland of Afghanistan where chess, some say, was born.
“Both Persia and India claims chess as its own,” said Carol Meyer.
Before long, the students set up their own armies for battle. Meyer, Executive Director of U.S. Chess, says the game itself has been attacked in Afghanistan.
“There was a time back in the early 2000’s when the Taliban government was first installed where chess was actually banned,” Carol said.
With the Taliban back in control, chess may once again become a crime. Principal Chris Cox says here, the game has helped to break down barriers.
“Obviously – in a new place, at a new time – and feeling very foreign to them, this is something that really gives them a little familiarity with something that they love – as simple as the game of chess,” Chris said.
“And again, that’s why we do what we do right? Just to have our kids and see that twinkle in their eyes when they’re learning. And all of these students are still trying to master the English language, so one connection for them with the game of chess has been really, really great.”
In the end, each student took their own new chess set home.
“We see chess as a universal game – and it’s a universal language,” Carol said. “Today these kids were able to move the pieces even though they haven’t yet mastered the language that we were speaking in the room.”