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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 30 november 2022
NATO renews membership vow to Ukraine, pledges arms and aid

By STEPHEN McGRATH, must solely be on defeat-
LORNE COOK and ELLEN ing Russia, and Stoltenberg
KNICKMEYER stressed that any attempt
Associated Press to move ahead on mem-
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) bership could divide them.
— NATO doubled down “We are in the midst of
Tuesday on its commit- a war and therefore we
ment to one day include should do nothing that can
Ukraine, a pledge that undermine the unity of al-
some officials and analysts lies to provide military, hu-
believe helped prompt manitarian, financial sup-
Russia’s invasion this year. port to Ukraine, because
The world’s largest security we must prevent President
alliance also pledged to Putin from winning,” he
send more aid to Ukrainian said.
forces locked in battle with Beyond Ukraine’s immedi-
Russian troops. ate needs, NATO wants
U.S. Secretary of State Ant- to see how it can help
ony Blinken met with NATO the country longer-term,
foreign ministers in Roma- by upgrading its Soviet-
nia to drum up support era equipment to the alli-
for Ukraine as Russia bom- ance’s modern standards
bards energy infrastructure and providing more military
ahead to the frigid winter. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, meets Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis during his training.
Russia cannot stop the al- visit at the photo exhibit at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Nov. 29, Slovak Foreign Minister Ras-
liance’s expansion, NATO 2022. tislav Kacer said the allies
leaders said. Associated Press must help Ukraine so that
“NATO’s door is open,” applied for membership in sible for the war that Rus- racy and freedom, and “the transition to full mem-
NATO Secretary-General April, concerned that Rus- sia launched on Ukraine in that’s the main challenge bership will be very smooth
Jens Stoltenberg said be- sia might target them next. February. Stoltenberg said for him.”Even so, Ukraine and easy” once both NATO
fore chairing the meeting “Russia does not have a NATO expansion would not will not join NATO anytime and Kyiv are ready for ac-
in the capital, Bucharest. veto” on countries joining, be hindered. soon. With the Crimean cession talks.
He highlighted that North Stoltenberg said. “We stand “President Putin cannot Peninsula annexed, and In a statement, the ministers
Macedonia and Monte- by that, too, on member- deny sovereign nations Russian troops and pro- vowed to help Ukraine re-
negro had recently joined ship for Ukraine.” to make their own sov- Moscow separatists holding build once the war is over,
NATO, and said that Rus- Some officials and analysts ereign decisions that are parts of the south and east, saying: “we will continue to
sian President Vladimir Putin believe that move pressed not a threat to Russia,” the it’s not clear what Ukraine’s strengthen our partnership
“will get Finland and Swe- on the NATO allies by for- former Norwegian prime borders would even look with Ukraine as it advanc-
den as NATO members” mer U.S. President George minister said. “I think what like. Many of NATO’s 30 al- es its Euro-Atlantic aspira-
soon. The Nordic neighbors W. Bush was partly respon- he’s afraid of is democ- lies believe the focus now tions.” q

Census: Christians a minority in England; non-religious grow

By JILL LAWLESS fied as Hindu, up from 1.5%. tries on Earth.” dom and a set of values to Some 9% said they were
Associated Press More than 1 in 3 people “One of the most striking live by,” he said. Asian, 4% Black and 3%

LONDON (AP) — Fewer 37% said they had no reli- things about these results Almost 82% of people in from “mixed or multiple”
than half the people in gion, up from 25% in 2011. is how at odds the popula- England and Wales identi- ethnic backgrounds, while
England and Wales con- The other parts of the U.K., tion is from the state itself,” fied as white in the census, 2% identified with another
sider themselves Christian, Scotland and Northern Ire- he said. “No state in Europe down from 86% in 2011. ethnic group.q
according to the most re- land, report their census re- has such a religious set-up
cent census the first time a sults separately. as we do in terms of law
minority of the population Secularism campaigners and public policy, while at
has followed the country’s said the shift should trigger the same time having such
official religion. a rethink of the way reli- a non-religious popula-
Britain has become less reli- gion is entrenched in British tion.”
gious and less white in the society. The U.K. has state- Archbishop of York Stephen
decade since the last cen- funded Church of England Cottrell, one of the most se-
sus, figures from the 2021 schools, Anglican bishops nior clerics in the Church of
census released Tuesday sit in Parliament’s upper England, said the data was
by the Office for National chamber, and the mon- “not a great surprise,” but
Statistics revealed. arch is “defender of the was a challenge to Chris-
Some 46.2% of the popula- faith” and supreme gover- tians to work harder to pro-
tion of England and Wales nor of the church. mote their faith.
described themselves as Andrew Copson, chief ex- “We have left behind the
Christian on the day of ecutive of the charity Hu- era when many people al-
the 2021 census, down manists U.K., said “the dra- most automatically identi-
from 59.3% a decade ear- matic growth of the non- fied as Christian, but other
lier. The Muslim population religious” had made the surveys consistently show The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby listens to debate at
grew from 4.9% to 6.5% of U.K. “almost certainly one how the same people still the General Synod in London, on Feb. 13, 2017.
the total, while 1.7% identi- of the least religious coun- seek spiritual truth and wis- Associated Press