The European Union’s long-planned alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative is about to move ahead (Politico, January 23, 2023). A planning document for the Global Gateway Project proposes 70 different international projects, some of which are set to begin in 2023. “The EU has several projects planned in China’s backyard, such as an energy transition partnership with Indonesia and a digital connectivity project in the Philippines.

The recent 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Syria and Turkey and subsequent aftershocks have claimed nearly 50,000 lives and wreaked vast devastation, including destroying over a quarter of a million apartments in Turkey (The Tribune, February 18, 2023). As time runs out for saving the lives of more people buried in the rubble, the death toll is expected to soar to even greater levels.

On January 2, a front-page article in the New York Times asked what it called an “eternal question”—when does life start? The caption below the main photo stated, “For generations, the mystery of human life has been wrestled by philosophers and scientists, felt by mothers and midwives.” The article went on to describe the complexities that theologians, philosophers, scientists, politicians, doctors, and others have debated for centuries.