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"Russia is competing with Western countries to supply weapons to Ukraine," joked Colonel Oleksandr Saruba, of the center within the Ukrainian armed forces that investigates the weapons captured during Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine since February 2022.
More specifically, Saruba is referring to Russian armaments and equipment seized by the Ukrainian military which are now being used by Kyiv in its counteroffensive against Moscow. Ukraine now has more than 800 former Russia-owned artillery systems, tanks, armored personnel carriers, along with a number of other vehicles, in its possession. The haul even includes a mobile sauna.
The captured weapons also consist of related equipment used in combat operations, for example, electronic warfare and air defense. "Small" weapons, such as machine guns and grenade launchers numbering in their thousands, have also been collected
In many cases, such weapons were seized during offensive operations launched by the Ukrainian armed forces. The faster Ukrainian troops advance, the more likely it is they will be able to find abandoned Russian equipment with minimal damage. Saruba explained that Kremlin-backed soldiers simply leave their equipment behind, often due to a minor defect. Everything depends on the condition of a particular weapon — if it's usable, it's registered with the military unit and permitted for use on the battlefield. Otherwise, it may be repaired first. If military personnel are not experienced in handling that particular weapon, they are trained accordingly
During the liberation of Izyum in the northeast Kharkiv region late last year, Ukraine's 95th Air Assault Brigade was able to capture multiple Grad rocket launcher systems, said a soldier using the call sign Pirate. However, the system needed to be repaired before it could be used in combat. Nearby, the assault brigade also managed to obtain a modernized Russian 2A65 Msta-B howitzer — first developed during the Soviet era — plus the ammunition needed to use it.
"When we crossed the Oskil River [near the border with Russia — Editor's note] we looked for possible [Russian] positions, then drove around and collected hundreds of pieces of ammunition," reported another soldier with the brigade
Saruba said Ukrainian forces have captured a large number of Russian tanks — currently around 300, enough to supply 10 tank battalions. Several Russian T-72 tanks were taken by the Ukrainian 92nd Mechanized Brigade during an offensive near the eastern city of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.
Among them were T-72 B3Ms which were modernized in 2014 and 2015, explained Chicago, a tank driver with the brigade. "Compared to our T-64s, which we still fight with, their [Russian] tanks are a lot more mobile and faster. The T-72 is much better in terms of features, it has greater maneuverability and better armor," he added.
In combat, he added, the Ukrainian military uses all the tanks at its disposal, both its own and those which have been seized. "The T-64 is so loud you can hear it at a distance of 3 or 4 kilometers [up to 2.4 miles — Editor's note], but the Russian T-72 is much quieter. You can get close to the enemy, and they won't notice the tank until the first shot has been fired."
These war trophies, however, aren't the only seized weapons which can be reused — destroyed military equipment, debris, missile remnants and combat drones, in addition to instruction manuals, are also extremely useful. In other words, everything which allows the Ukrainian forces to study the weapons used by Russia and develop their own tactics and countermeasures. This is one of the tasks of Saruba's center, in addition to looking at the latest technology Ukraine can use when it comes to weapons development.
The center has made some interesting discoveries, such as details about the Russian Strelez reconnaissance system. This computer system is worn by soldiers over a bulletproof vest and is connected to a range finder, a transmitter and a digital information transfer system. It can be used on the battlefield to target enemy forces and transmit data in real time to specialized weapons systems.
According to Saruba, Russian developers claim around 40% of front-line targets can be detected with the assistance of this technology. While he considers these figures to be exaggerated, he stressed that from a technological standpoint it is an "interesting finding."
Other interesting things have been found in Russian armored vehicles. Before 2014, Russia cooperated with a number of countries when it came to the technical modernization of its weapons, said Saruba. As a result, Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers now have the latest targeting sights and modern electronics manufactured in other countries
Russian missiles often also contain foreign components, namely microelectronics, optics and electric motors, said Saruba. "For example, the Ch-101 missile, which is commonly used against Ukraine, has around 53 components, such as microchips and other parts, which are manufactured abroad. This is true for the entire range of cruise and ballistic missiles. Foreign-made components can be found in the enemy's artillery systems, be it electronic warfare or air defense," he said
Analysts studying the captured weapons have found that Russia adapts its production of military components depending on what it currently has in stock, or what it expects to receive.
For example, the use of widely available programmable logic integrated circuits means they can be programmed for any electronic device — be it a washing machine or a missile. Meanwhile, Orlan-10 reconnaissance drones incorporate ordinary video or photo cameras, which were actually developed for domestic video surveillance use.
"Since the world is globalized, elements are standardized and the manufacturers of these electronic components are interchangeable," said Saruba. His center is constantly discovering and documenting components of foreign origin in Russian weapons — evidence which could be used to focus the next round of international sanctions on Russia
With their large, padded feet, elephants can be remarkably quiet. It's our third evening of waiting to see these giants cross a dust road. Our guide, Mojita, assures us they're very close. "They're collecting just there, in the bush," he whispers.
We've been told: "It's elephant central up there, you'll see plenty of them." But so far there has been no sign of the actual animals, other than large piles of dung and prints in the sand.
"They're just there," Mojita whispers again.
I can hear and see nothing, other than trees and bushes.
We are at the top of the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana, standing in the middle of an "elephant corridor" - one of the regular routes taken by elephants in their daily commute between their feeding grounds on one side and water on the other.
"There!" Mojita points. And, yes, now I can hear the occasional low rumbling sounds - as I spot parts of a giant head peering at us through the bushes. "They can smell us," Mojita explains. "They're wary, they're going around [us]."
Then whoosh! About 100m away, dozens of elephants of all sizes burst from cover and dash across the road, into the bush on the other side. For the next few minutes, a whole herd crosses, some flapping their ears and trumpeting. They are warning each other and us to keep away, Mojita explains.
"You can tell with the speed that they move as they go to the river, that they [don't want] to be disturbed," says Mojita in hushed tones. "They're thirsty and just need to go and drink some water… It can be very dangerous. With the speed they're going, they don't even see what's going on, they just go straight."
Over the next quarter of an hour about 150 elephants cross the road. The last two are slower-moving, a mother with her one-week-old baby. It is exhilarating to see them in the wild like this and to experience them so close up. Thankfully, as Mojita explains, their keen sense of smell keeps them a safe distance from us
Every year at least one person is killed by elephants in this area. Warning signs by the roadside mark out the elephant corridors, so the locals know to keep clear of their usual paths. Part of a government initiative, the signs were put up with help from Mojita's employer, the Ecoexist Trust.
Ecoexist works in 14 villages along a 75 mile (120km) stretch of road, in the so-called Okavango Panhandle. This long, thin stretch of land and water opens into the world's largest inland delta, a green jewel in the Kalahari Desert. The trust's mission is to make elephants an asset, rather than a threat, for local people.
A hundred years ago, about 10 million elephants roamed the continent. Poaching, habitat loss and disease mean there are now fewer than half a million left in Africa - and roughly a third of them are in Botswana.
Experts say the elephant population in the country is increasing at a rate of 6% a year - about as fast as it can biologically grow.
As a result, the Botswanan government controversially lifted the ban on elephant hunting in 2019. It argues that it provides a good source of income for the local community - and says trophy hunting is licensed and strictly controlled.
In this area, near the village of Seronga, elephants outnumber people. But that can pose problems, especially for local subsistence farmers. A crop raid by elephants can destroy a family's annual food supply in just one night.
Farmers take simple measures to keep the elephants out, hanging strings of tin cans, plastic bottles, even plastic bags from wires around their fields. More recently, chilli "fences" (chilli-infused cloths hanging from a metal wire) and "beehive fences" have been introduced. Elephants really do not like buzzing bees.
"You need a whole range of techniques," Mojita explains. "An elephant can come and observe the tin-can fence and see if there is any movement or if it's harmful… It will learn and, at one point, it will end up breaking through and coming in."
That's what happened to Dimbo Kagidizoro. He greets us dressed in his best suit and shoes and shows us around his land. Ten people depend on the crops he grows. One night last month he was woken by the sound of elephants. "I banged my drum to scare them away," Dimbo says. "I banged and banged and banged. Then I heard a crash."
Once the elephants had gone, he went out and discovered the damage. They had pulled down and destroyed his prized and most expensive possession: a large, round, green plastic water tank.
About 2m (6.5ft) across, the tank held 5,000 litres of water, hoisted up on some stilts under a tree. Dimbo used it to irrigate his vegetable plot. Now it lies in pieces on the ground. He might get some minimal compensation from the government, but it won't pay for a new tank.
"You can shoot elephants if you catch them on your land," Dimbo says. He may have suffered recently, but he says he understands that elephants do bring benefits to the local area, because they attract tourists, which creates local jobs. In turn, that provides a market for any surplus vegetables he grows.
A few miles down the road, we meet Bycheni Kapande who lives in one of the villages where Ecoexist works. She sings and dances as part of a group called Living with Elephants, which performs traditional songs for tourists. The day after our visit, a group was to be flown in by helicopter to be entertained by Bycheni and other villagers. "My children can put on uniforms to go to school, and I have money to buy food, so elephants have brought good things," she says. "The community is improving."
But bringing up children around such large creatures can also be daunting. To allay the fears of parents, Ecoexist has found backing for a minibus service, the Elephant Express, which ferries children to school safely across those elephant corridors
The trust also pays local farmers a premium price for their millet if they promise to protect elephants.
The millet is used in a craft brewery set up in the town of Maun, making beer for thirsty tourists.
All this is part of what's known as the "elephant economy" - local people earning money from elephants and growing to appreciate these large, sometimes destructive, mammals
On the dust road, Mojita scans the trees and bushes with binoculars, looking out for more elephants. A couple of young women walk past. With population growth on both sides - human and elephant - keeping the peace could become increasingly difficult, he admits.
"If we don't mitigate the situation now, we may end up with a situation of elephants killing people and people killing elephants… because they'll be fighting for limited resources."
There are other potential dangers on the horizon.
Willemien le Roux has lived on the banks of a lagoon on the western shores of the delta for more than 30 years "The river has changed," Willemien says. "It used to be the most clear stream... you could see the hippo tracks on the bottom. These days the water remains murky… the fish numbers seem to decline, the floods come at a different time and it doesn't reach the peaks it used to."
Hydrologists worry that major dam and irrigation projects upriver in Angola could seriously impact the flow of water to the delta. That would damage this precious ecosystem, including the people and elephants that depend upon it.
For now, though, the immediate challenge is to keep the peace between people and elephants. So far, at least in the Seronga area, the signs are positive.
"Co-existence is something we want to see happening," says Mojita. "Because this place is for elephants and humans as well… We need to educate people because it's easier to live with [elephants] if you understand [them]. We need to start now and build for the future."
The world has overreached its sustainable biological limits for the year, according to the US-based environment NGO Global Footprint Network. Humanity now needs about 1.7 planets to maintain its consumption.
The ecological overshoot trend has "flattened" over the past five years, according to the NGO. But it's difficult to discern whether that is "driven by economic slowdown or deliberate decarbonization efforts."
Either way, curbing humanity's overuse of Earth's resources is happening much too slowly, the NGO added. According to its calculations, Earth Overshoot Day would have to occur 19 days earlier each year for the next seven years to reach global targets for cutting climate-wrecking greenhouse gas emissions.
Global Footprint Network CEO Steven Tebbe linked the depletion of Earth's resources, from cutting down forests to burning fossil fuels, to deadly extreme weather.
"Persistent overshoot leads to ever more prominent symptoms, including unusual heat waves, forest fires, droughts, and floods, with the risk of compromising food production," Tebbe said in a statement.
Back in 1970, the Earth's biocapacity — defined as "ecosystems' capacity to produce biological materials used by people and to absorb waste material generated by humans" — was more than enough to meet annual human demand for resources. But, in the half century since, we have steadily outgrown our single planet.
Inequality around globe
The NGO also estimates individual countries' overshoot days. Germany's came on May 4, meaning that, if the whole world lived like the country, humanity would need three planets to sustain itself in a year. The United States and the United Arab Emirates, which will hosting this year's UN Climate Conference, reached theirs on March 13.
The Global South will bear much of the cost of the environmental destruction wrought by resource overuse — as will future generations, suffering through a climate crisis now being fueled by overconsumption.
Countries such as Indonesia and Ecuador do not overshoot until December and are close to living within their means. But they are the target of resource exploitation by richer nations like Germany.
"Germany is the fifth-biggest consumer of raw materials in the world, and is importing up to 99% of minerals and metals from countries in the Global South," said Lara Louisa Siever, senior policy advisor for resource justice at the German development network, INKOTA, in 2022.
In 2023, Qatar was the worst overshoot culprit, using up its renewable resources by February 10.
Germany must shift from logic of endless growth
But Germany, like most developed nations, is still high on the list — France, Greece, the UK and Japan all also reached their Overshoot Days in May.
"The big problem we have in Germany, that we have in general in the Global North, is that we have not yet understood that resources are finite," said Viola Wohlgemuth, circular economy and toxics campaigner at Greenpeace Germany.
She refers to World Resources Institute data showing that 90% of biodiversity loss is due to "resource exploitation and conversion to products," and that this production also accounts for 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite this "enormous resource crisis," nations like Germany "have not learned," Wohlgemuth said.
In the past, Germany has been held up "as a paragon of climate virtue," noted Berlin-based climate activist, Tadzio Müller.
"The reason for this myth of Germany as eco champion ironically has nothing to do with Germany's industrial policy or its political strategies at a governmental level, but has everything to do with powerful social movements," Müller said.
He refers to the anti-nuclear movement that rose up in the 1970s and '80s and long pushed for a nuclear energy phase out; the rise of German renewable energy ingenuity in small and medium-sized companies; and more recent successful demands for a fossil fuel exit by young climate protesters.
But the driving principle of endless growth that underpins German economic policy must fundamentally shift if climate change and the "extremely grave problem of biodiversity loss " linked to overconsumption is to be addressed, Müller said.
This extends to the idea of "green growth," or what he calls "electric car capitalism," which is also based on the massive expansion of resource consumption — especially for minerals and rare earths.
Circular economy vital to #MoveTheDate
Germany's federal government is currently debating a new national circular economy strategy in an effort to reduce resource use — even if the same growth model is to remain, notes Müller.
For Viola Wohlgemuth, a holistic circular economy is vital to move back the Earth Overshoot date.
"We must change our business models so that products are truly recyclable," she said, referring also to the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle at the heart of the European Green Deal's Circular Economy Action Plan
. Wohlgemuth also calls for an absolute limit on resource use in Germany.
Such limits need to encompass energy use. Only one quarter of German gas supplies are used for heating or cooking, according to the Greenpeace campaigner, with much of high-carbon fossil fuel powering unsustainable production.
Germany must rapidly accelerate emission cuts
Greenhouse gas emissions are a direct consequence of over-production and -consumption, and need to be rapidly cut if Germany is to reduce its overshoot, according to Christoph Bals, political director of the non-profit environment organization, Germanwatch.
"CO2 emissions in Germany would have to fall three times as fast as they do now," he said.
Improved access to high-speed, low-emission rail transport and curtailment of air travel are among Germanwatch's suggested means to reduce these emissions.
But without first dealing with overconsumption, Germany will fail to live within its means.
"We look at all the problems in separate ways — climate change or biodiversity loss or food shortage — as if they were occurring independently," noted Global Footprint Network founder and president, Mathis Wackernagel.
"But they're all symptoms of the same underlying theme: that our collective metabolism, the amount of things that humanity uses, has become very big compared to what Earth can renew."
July 28 (Reuters) - In early May, a loud explosion rocked Shambat, a neighborhood to the north of Sudan's capital of Khartoum. Locals rushed to douse the flames devouring a makeshift dwelling that they say was ignited in an air strike.
They were too late. Amid the smoldering debris, according to five witnesses, were the charred bodies of a pregnant woman, a man and five children. Following the May 7 attack, the woman and children were buried at the site and the man at a nearby cemetery, two of the witnesses said.
The seven victims of the Shambat strike share something in common with many of the fatalities in the war that has ravaged Sudan since mid-April: They are not included in the official death count in Khartoum State, which has seen most of the fighting between the Sudanese army and the country’s main paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). With the conflict having shattered local health and government services, the entities that would usually register fatalities are largely disabled.
A Reuters tally of death figures recorded by local activists and volunteer groups indicates that the civilian death toll for the wider capital may be more than double the official count, underscoring the devastating impact of the more than 100-day long war on the Sudanese people.
The wreckage of an ancient Roman ship from more than 2,000 years ago has been found off the coast of Italy.
The cargo ship was found off the port of Civitavecchia, about 50 miles (80km) north-west of Rome.
It dates from about the 1st or 2nd Century BC and was found laden with hundreds of amphorae - a type of Roman terracotta jar.
The pottery was found mostly intact, the Carabinieri police's art squad said in a statement.
The ship, estimated to be more than 20m long, was discovered on a sandy seabed 160m (525ft) below sea level.
"The exceptional discovery is an important example of the shipwreck of a Roman ship facing the perils of the sea in an attempt to reach the coast, and bears witness to old maritime trading routes," the Carabinieri said.
The police art squad - which is in charge of protecting Italy's priceless cultural heritage - said the relic was found and filmed using a remotely operated robot.
They did not say whether experts will now try and recover it, or its precious cargo, from the sea floor.
It is not known what the Roman jars on board would have been used for, although typically amphorae were used to transport goods, such as oil, wine or fish sauce. Such artefacts are widely found throughout the ancient eastern Mediterranean world.
The discovery of wrecked ships is not unusual - there are said to be thousands dotted around the Mediterranean.
In 2018, a Greek merchant ship dating back more than 2,400 years was found lying on its side off the Bulgarian coast - and was hailed as officially the world's oldest known intact shipwreck.
Also in 2018, dozens of shipwrecks were found in the Aegean sea dating back to the Greek, Roman and Byzantine eras.
Nayib Bukele’s government has already locked up 2% of El Salvador’s adult population and built the largest prison in the Americas to house the 70,000 alleged gang members he has imprisoned.
Now the populist leader has cleared the way for mass trials of hundreds of people at a time as he steps up his year-long crackdown on the country’s gangs which critics say is eroding the rule of law and leading to many innocent people being wrongly jailed.
El Salvador’s congress passed a bill on Wednesday that could allow up to 900 people to be tried simultaneously if they come from the same region or are accused of belonging to the same criminal group.
The legislation also increases prison time for those found to be gang leaders from 45 years to 60.
A state of emergency declared in March 2022 means the right to trial is increasingly disregarded in the Central American country and the list of people held for months awaiting trial is growing quickly.
The latest blow could leave El Salvador’s justice system as little more than a facade, human rights groups said.
“All human beings deserve the opportunity to defend themselves in court. How can they do this effectively in group trials? How can lawyers and public defenders do their work this way?” said Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, president of the Washington Office on Latin America (Wola).
Bukele’s New Ideas party said the measure would help bring more order to the country as it seeks to stamp out its violent armed gangs. Congress approved the bill with 67 votes in favour and six against.
Bukele’s harsh approach to criminality has won the millennial leader the strongest approval ratings in Latin America and a cult following with politicians across the region who emulate his casual looks and hardline security policies to win over voters.
But critics say that the 42-year-old is sweeping aside democratic checks and balances.
More than 70,000 alleged gang members have been put behind bars in the last 16 months and the crackdown is increasingly indiscriminate.
A growing number of innocent foreign visitors are finding themselves in overcrowded Salvadorian jails after being rounded up by troops for having tattoos and being in poor neighbourhoods.
“These reports are becoming more common by the day from human rights organisations, people who have managed to leave jail and families denouncing arbitrary arrests,” said Ruth Elonaro López, a lawyer at Cristosal, a Salvadorian human rights group. “The problem is the state of emergency means there no longer needs to be evidence to detain or jail someone for long periods of time. People are being rounded up because they seem nervous, they have forgotten their documents or they are simply young.”
There appears to be no long-term plan for the one in 50 adults now imprisoned in dangerously overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.
The most notorious of El Salvador’s criminal organisations, the MS-13, grew inside Salvadorian prisons in the 1990s and 2000s after its founding members were deported there from the US.
More than 6,400 documented human rights abuses have been committed during Bukele’s state of emergency and 174 people have died in state custody, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said earlier this month.
The plan for mass trials will only make prison conditions worse and add to the list of innocent people held behind bars, Jiménez Sandoval said.
“It seems El Salvador has turned the presumption of innocence principle upside down. With this arbitrary policy everybody is a suspect and a potential criminal.”
As musicians, politicians and fans remember Sinead O’Connor, some Muslims are disappointed that the Irish singer and lifelong activist’s religious identity is not being highlighted in tributes.
UK police on Wednesday said the 56-year-old was found unresponsive in her London residence on Wednesday and that there her death was not being treated as suspicious.
Since the news of her death, Muslim fans of the 90s superstar have said her conversion to Islam, a cornerstone of her identity, was inspiring, but that some media reports have failed to note her religious beliefs in obituaries.
O’Connor, whose chart-topping hit “Nothing Compares 2 U” helped her reach global stardom, converted to Islam in 2018.
“This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim. This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian‘s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant,” the songstress tweeted on October 19, 2018.
At that time, O’Connor tweeted selfies donning the Muslim headscarf, the hijab, and uploaded a video of her reciting the Islamic call to prayer, the azan.
She took on the Muslim name Shuhada’ Davitt – later changing it to Shuhada Sadaqat – but continued to use the name Sinead O’Connor professionally.
One social media user said imagery of the singer without the hijab points to the glaring lack of Muslim reporters in newsrooms.
Meanwhile, some said that O’Connor was an inspiration for queer Muslims globally.
In 2000, she came out as a lesbian during an interview. But the singer, who was married to multiple men throughout her life, later said that her sexuality was fluid and that she did not believe in labels.
Some found joy in O’Connor’s conversion growing up, seeing themselves represented, while others, just learning about her Muslim identity at the news of her death, also took inspiration.
O’Connor was no stranger to controversy.
A lifelong nonconformist, she was outspoken about religion, feminism, and war, as well as her own addiction and mental health issues.
In 2014, she refused to play in Israel.
“Let’s just say that, on a human level, nobody with any sanity, including myself, would have anything but sympathy for the Palestinian plight. There’s not a sane person on earth who in any way sanctions what the f*** the Israeli authorities are doing,” she told Hot Press, an Irish music magazine.
Her iconic shaved head and shapeless wardrobe defied early 90s popular culture’s notions of femininity and sexuality.
In 1992, she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II during a television appearance on Saturday Night Live, vocal against the Catholic Church’s history of child abuse.
The late former star was also a firm supporter of a united Ireland, under which the United Kingdom would relinquish control of Northern Ireland.
Street musicians singing Russian songs in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv could soon face problems. Likewise, bars and restaurants playing Russian background music may end up getting in trouble.
The reason is that Kyiv city council has issued a temporary ban on performing or showcasing Russian-language art and culture — such as books, music, plays and concerts — in public. This ban also encompasses cultural and educational programs. The restriction not only applies to works by Russian authors and creators, but to all cultural products publicly presented in or translated into Russian.
Ukrainian MPs said the move was designed to protect Ukraine from Russian influence. "Russia is the language of the aggressor and it has no place in the heart of our capital," said Vadym Vasylchuk, the deputy chairman of the Standing Committee on Education and Science, Youth and Sports. Mere symbolism?
The move is backed by Ukraine's Vidsich (Defense) movement, which began calling for a ban on the Russian language and Russian goods, films and music in 2014, following the annexation of Crimea. "A ban on Russian-language cultural products is necessary," Vidsich activist Kateryna Chepura told DW. "This is an additional lever for activists working to boycott everything Russian, so we can say: shut it down, remove Russian from public life."
The Kyiv city council ban, however, is temporary, lending it a symbolic quality only. A permanent, legally binding ban would require support from Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.
As a result, Chepura calls Kyiv's temporary ban "an ineffective instrument, because you cannot be held accountable for disregarding it." She regards it as a "moral factor encouraging people who do not want to continue tolerating Russian music on the streets or in theater."
In fact, certain Russian-language cultural products are already prohibited in Ukraine. The bans date back to September 2019, when the first restrictions were imposed in the region of Lviv. Subsequently, other cities like Ternopil and Zhytomyr in the Volhynia region, followed suit. Cause for controversy
Human rights activist Volodymyr Yavorskyy of the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, however, said such bans are discriminatory and unconstitutional. "These are illegal decisions, because local authorities have no right to regulate such issues and impose such bans," Yavorskyy told DW. "That is why they have no legal consequences." The judiciary, he added, had already deemed such local bans illegal.
A person violating the Kyiv city council moratorium on Russian cultural products cannot be held accountable, Yaworskyy said. "These bans issued by local authorities are nothing but political gestures — only the Ukrainian parliament can turn such bans into law." Only then, he said, would they become legally binding and enforceable.
In June 2022, the Ukrainian parliament already banned publicly playing songs by Russian artists. The restriction does not, however, apply to Russian singers who condemn Russia's war against Ukraine. Recently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also signed a law banning the import and distribution of Russian books. It was passed by parliament last year.
Regardless of whether or not local bans are in place, playing Russian music in public is bound to cause controversy. Take, for instance, a recent disagreement between a 17-year-old busker and Ukrainian MP Natalya Pipa. She complained when the teenager performed songs by Russian rock legend Viktor Tsoi on the street in Lviv, who in return insulted the woman, saying he was allowed to play whatever music he liked. Later, however, the busker published a video in which he apologized to the lawmaker.
Another altercation occurred in the village of Pohreby, in the Kyiv region. There, a young woman was thrown out of a cafe for complaining that the establishment was playing a song by Russian pop singer Grigory Leps supporting Russia's war against Ukraine. Do not copy Russian aggression
Yevgenia Belorusets, a Ukrainian artist, translator and author who works in Ukrainian Russian and German, says the Russian-language ban is discriminatory. "These bans perpetuate the myth that Ukrainian culture is always being discriminated against," she told DW. "This then supposedly gives it the right to discriminate against other forms of cultural expression." Yevgenia Belorusets is seen looking into the camera
"Ukrainian-language culture knows too well how discrimination feels," she added. "It should not try to overcome this trauma by inflicting similar pain on others." The creator said Ukraine should not mirror Russian aggressors and refrain from "projecting Russia's aggressive intentions onto Ukraine's complex cultural situation."
Belorusets said language bans could divide Ukrainian society, warning that "it's getting harder and harder to talk about this in Ukraine, because doing so is immediately labeled as a hostile act." Ukraine's future as a democratic state, she said, depends on granting everyone their rights and accepting their own complicated past. "The challenge consists in accepting competing views within society."
July 18 (Reuters) - The European Union (EU) said on Tuesday that Europe's slave-trading past inflicted "untold suffering" on millions of people and hinted at the need for reparations for what it described as a "crime against humanity".
From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported by mostly European ships and sold into slavery. Almost half were taken by Portugal to Brazil.
The idea of paying reparations or making other amends for slavery has a long history but the movement is gaining momentum worldwide.
Leaders of EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) met in Brussels this week for a two-day summit.
As the event started on Monday, Ralph Gonsalves, premier of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the current holder of CELAC's presidency, said he wanted the summit's final statement to include language on the "historical legacies of native genocide and enslavement of African bodies" and "reparatory justice",
But some European governments were wary of proposed language on reparations, diplomats said.
EU and CELAC agreed on one paragraph that acknowledged and "profoundly" regretted the "untold suffering inflicted on millions of men, women and children as a result of the transatlantic slave trade".
It said slavery and the transatlantic slave trade were "appalling tragedies ... not only because of their abhorrent barbarism but also in terms of their magnitude". Slavery was a "crime against humanity", it said.
In the statement, adopted by leaders of both sides, the CELAC referred to a 10-point reparation plan by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which, among other measures, urges European countries to formally apologise for slavery.
The plan demands a repatriation programme that would allow people to relocate to African nations if they want to and support from European nations to tackle public health and economic crises. It also calls for debt cancellation.
The CARICOM reparations commission "sees the persistent racial victimisation of the descendants of slavery and genocide as the root cause of their suffering today", the plan said.
Earlier this month, Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologised for the Netherlands' historic involvement in slavery and in April King Charles gave his support to research that would examine the British monarchy's links to slavery.
In Portugal, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said his country should apologise for its role in the transatlantic slave trade but critics said apologies were not enough and practical measures were essential to address the past.
Published On 18 Jul 202318 Jul 2023
Wetlands just outside India’s Kolkata city have for generations provided tonnes of food daily and thousands of jobs as they filter sewage through fish ponds.
But rapid urbanisation is threatening the ecosystem.
Conservationists warn that pollution and strong-arm land grabs are putting a lifeline for the megacity’s 14 million residents at risk.
“We are destroying the environment,” said Tapan Kumar Mondal, who has spent his life farming fish in the ingenious system of canals and ponds stretching across about 125 square kilometres (48 square miles).
“The population … has increased, there is a pressure on nature, they are ruining it,” the 71-year-old added.
Listed as a wetland of global importance under the United Nations Ramsar Convention, the waters offer natural climate control by cooling sweltering temperatures – and act as valuable flood defences for low-lying Kolkata.
But Dhruba Das Gupta, from the environmental group SCOPE, said short-sighted building development was encroaching on the wetlands.
“The wetlands are shrinking,” said the researcher, who is trying to finance a study of what is left of the waters.
Every day, 910 million litres of nutrient-rich sewage flow into the wetland, feeding a network of about 250 hyacinth-covered ponds.
“Sunlight and the sewage create a massive plankton boom,” said K Balamurugan, chief environment officer for West Bengal state, explaining that the microorganisms in the shallow fish ponds feed rapidly growing carp and tilapia.
Once the fish have had their fill, the water run-off irrigates surrounding rice paddies and the remaining organic waste fertilises vegetable fields.
“The sewage of the city is being naturally treated by the wetlands,” Balamurugan said, giving them the nickname the “kidneys of Kolkata”.
The community-developed system was created by “the world’s foremost connoisseurs of wastewater wise use and conservation,” according to its UN Ramsar listing, which also warns it is under “intense encroachment stress of urban expansion”.
The wetlands system processes about 60 percent of Kolkata’s sewage free of charge, saving the city more than $64m a year, according to a 2017 University of Calcutta study.
With its general election just a week away, fears are mounting that the hard-right Vox party could form part of the national government. The win would embolden far-right parties that have been thriving across Europe. The UK cannot afford to be complacent about the rise of the protectionist far-right that's taking shape all around us.
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