World
Mexico Caribbean beaches may see worst sargassum since 2018
Mexican authorities say the problem of foul-smelling sargassum — a seaweed-like algae — on the country's Caribbean coast beaches is “alarming.”
The arrival of heaps of brown, foul-smelling sargassum on the coast's normally pristine white sand beaches comes just as tourism is recovering to pre-pandemic levels, though job recovery in the country's top tourist destination has been slower.
With more algae spotted floating out at sea, experts fear that 2022 could be as bad or worse than the catastrophic year of 2018, the biggest sargassum wave to date.
“We can say the current situation is alarming,” said Navy Secretary José Ojeda, who has been entrusted with the apparently hopeless task of trying to gather sargassum at sea, before it hits the beaches.
The Navy currently has 11 sargassum-collecting boats operating in the area. But the Navy's own figures show that the portion they have been able to collect before it hits the beach has been falling.
In 2020, the Navy collected 4% of sargassum at sea, while 96% was raked off beaches. But that figure fell to 3% in 2021, and about 1% so far in 2022.
Allowing the algae to reach the beaches creates not only a problem for tourists, but for the environment, said Rosa Rodríguez Martínez, a biologist in the beachside town of Puerto Morelos who studies reefs and coastal ecosystems for Mexico’s National Autonomous University.
READ: Tour boat in Mexico hits whale or whale shark, 6 injured
So much algae is reaching the beaches that hotels and local authorities are using bulldozers and backhoes, because the normal teams of rakes, shovels and wheelbarrows are no longer enough.
“The heavy machinery, when it picks it (sargassum) up, takes a large amount of sand with it,” contributing to beach erosion, Rodriguez Martinez said. “There is so much sargassum that you can't use small-scale equipment anymore, you have to use the heavy stuff, and when the excavators come in, they remove more sand.”
Rodríguez Martinez worries that 2022 could be worse than 2018, the previous peak year. “In the last few days there have been amounts washing up, and in places, that I didn't see even in 2018,” she said.
However, the University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab said in a report that “2022 is likely going to be another moderate or major sargassum year,” with observable amounts in all waters lower than in 2018 and 2021.
But given the vagaries of ocean currents, it may just be a very bad year for Mexico. Rodríguez Martinez is already suffering the effects herself, at her beachside offices.
“Where I am, I'm about 50 meters (yards) from the beach and the smell is very unpleasant,” she said. “Right now my head is hurting and another friend said her head hurts, and I said it must be the (hydrogen) sulfide gas from the sargassum, no?”
The problem comes just as resorts like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulm are recovering from the brutal two-year drop in tourism caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Not all beaches have been hit equally; many in Cancun and Isla Mujeres are often free of much sargassum, but much of the Riveria Maya has been hit hard.
Carlos Joaquin, governor of the coastal state of Quintana Roo, said the number of tourists arriving by air so far this year — some 3.54 million travelers — is 1.27% above 2019 levels, before the pandemic. But Joaquin said that only about 83% of the 98,000 jobs lost during the pandemic have returned.
Sergio León, the former head of the state's employers' federation, said the seaweed invasion “has definitely affected us, it has affected our image on the domestic and international level. Obviously, not just visually, but in term of environmental damage and pain.”
“The Navy is making an effort, but it needs more, it isn't enough,” said León. “The ideal thing would be to gather it before it gets to our beaches.”
Rodriguez Martinez said that, given the limited number of Navy boats and funds, the best solution might be to hang floating offshore barriers and collect the sargassum in waters closer to the shore.
But she notes another problem: what to do with the thousands of tons of stinking algae collected each year, mainly by private hotel owners. Some have simply been tossing the mounds collected from the beach into disused limestone quarries, where the salt and minerals collected in the ocean can leech into groundwater.
Other simply toss into woodlands or mangrove swamps, which is equally as bad.
“The algae has a lot of salt ... so that is not good, even for palm trees, which are pretty salt resistant,” she noted.
While some have tried to use sargassum to create bricks or fertilizer, the lack of official policies and long term plans make it hard to obtain big investments for such plans.
Initial reports in the 2010s suggested the masses of seaweed came from an area of the Atlantic off the northern coast of Brazil, near the mouth of the Amazon River. Increased nutrient flows from deforestation or fertilizer runoff could be feeding the algae bloom.
But other causes may contribute, like nutrient flows from the Congo River, increased upwelling of nutrient-laden deeper ocean water in the tropical Atlantic and dust blowing in from Africa.
4 cadets at Canada's Royal Military College die in accident
Four cadets at Canada's Royal Military College died Friday in an accident involving a motor vehicle.
“Their families have now been notified,” Commodore Josee Kurtz told a news conference. “As you can appreciate the entire RMC community is devastated by this tragic loss.”
The officer cadets have been identified as Jack Hogarth, Andrei Honciu, Broden Murphy and Andrés Salek.
Kurtz released few details about the accident. A Department of National Defense release said the accident occurred around 2 a.m.
“An investigation into this incident by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service is ongoing,” Kurtz said.
The campus is located on the Point Frederick peninsula, where Lake Ontario meets the St. Lawrence River.
READ: 10 killed in India road accident
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau extended condolences to the families and friends of the four cadets.
“My heart breaks for the families and friends of the four cadet officers who lost their lives early this morning in Kingston,” Trudeau said in a statement on Twitter.
The four students were completing their Bachelor of Arts degrees. Hogarth and Salek were studying military and strategic studies and were going to become armored officers in the army.
Honciu was studying business administration and was set to become a logistics officer. Murphy was specializing in business administration with intentions on becoming an aerospace environment controller in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Biden, Mexican president confer on migration, diplomacy
President Joe Biden and Mexico's Andres Manuel López Obrador agreed in a phone call Friday to do more to promote “just, humane and effective efforts to reduce irregular migration" at the southern border, the White House reported after their nearly hourlong conversation.
López Obrador tweeted that the conversation was “cordial” and that they “spoke of issues of interest to the bilateral relationship.” The agenda also included the upcoming Summit of the Americas in June in Los Angeles, and the end of coronavirus restrictions on asylum seekers trying to come to the U.S.
The two leaders also talked about addressing the root causes of migration through development initiatives in Central America and Mexico, according to a statement from the Mexican president’s office. They discussed the need to guarantee safe and sustainable ways of life for their citizens and migrants, as well as expanding legal pathways for migrants and refugees.
“In view of the unprecedented flows of migrants from throughout the hemisphere to our two countries, the presidents reiterated the need to build stronger tools for managing regional migration surges,” the White House said in a statement.
López Obrador, for his part, called on the U.S. government to invite all nations of the Americas to the summit “without excluding anyone.” The Biden administration has suggested that Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua are unlikely to be invited.
READ: Biden wants $33B more to help Ukraine battle Russia
Both the U.S. and Mexico want to accelerate development and infrastructure projects along their shared border to continue strengthening North American supply chains and the cross-border agricultural and commercial activity, the statement said.
The meeting came at a moment of international and domestic tensions, as the war in Ukraine has contributed to inflation worldwide amid concerns about likely shortages of oil, natural gas and food.
Moreover, the expected end on May 23 of the public health ban on asylum seekers could trigger a rush of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border. That would exacerbate tensions over immigration ahead of U.S. midterm elections to decide if Democrats retain control of the House and Senate.
The Trump administration imposed the so-called Title 42 restrictions on asylum seekers in March 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic began to accelerate. Officials said at the time that the ban was to protect public health, but immigration control advocates also saw it as a way to seal the border to migrants, a longstanding priority of then-President Donald Trump. Mexico is viewed as a key partner in managing the increase in migrants once the ban is lifted.
López Obrador said in his tweet that Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard would visit Washington on Monday regarding "issues of cooperation for development and about the Summit of the Americas.”
Ahead of Friday's meeting, López Obrador had said of the planned conversation, “It’s important that there’s this communication, to listen to President Biden who has treated us with respect, as President Trump also treated us with respect, and we have to ensure a good relationship.”
López Obrador is also scheduled to visit four Central American countries and Cuba next week. In Central America, he plans to speak to his counterparts about economic development and social programs that could lessen the pressure for people in those countries to migrate. He has previously urged the U.S. government to support some of his initiatives in Central America.
On Ukraine, Mexico has condemned Russia’s invasion, but refused to follow the U.S. and other countries in implementing sanctions. The Biden administration has imposed sanctions and frozen central bank assets with the goal of eroding Russia's military capabilities.
On another subject, the U.S. government has voiced objections to controversial energy sector reforms pushed by López Obrador that would favor state-run electric power generators over private plants. A law along those lines passed, but a similar constitutional reform failed in Mexico’s Congress last week.
Palestinian assailants shoot dead Israeli guard in West Bank
Palestinian assailants shot and killed a security guard at the entrance of a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank late Friday, the Israeli military said, in a fresh attack that could further fuel Israeli-Palestinian tensions that have soared in the past two months.
The Israeli military said early Saturday that the attackers arrived at Ariel settlement entrance and shot the guard in his post before fleeing the scene. The military launched a pursuit of the suspects in the West Bank.
In a separate incident, Israeli troops shot and killed a 27-year-old Palestinian man during clashes at Azoun village near the town of Qalqilya early Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
A string of Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank over the past two months have left 14 Israelis dead.
Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, praised the attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility for it.
“The operation proves that revolution is raging all over the West Bank,” said spokesman Hazem Qassem. “This is a practical implementation of our people’s declaration that Jerusalem is a red line.”
Read:Israeli military says it bombed home of a top Hamas leader
Tensions increased this month at a major Jerusalem holy site, with Palestinian worshippers clashing daily with Israeli police. The site contains Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, and increasing numbers of Palestinians go there to pray during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Earlier Friday, Palestinians hurled stones and Israeli police fired rubber-coated bullets at the site, which has seen a wave of unrest in recent weeks.
The police say Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound began hurling stones and fireworks around dawn in the direction of a heavily guarded gate that leads to the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray. The police advanced into the compound, firing rubber-coated bullets.
The violence ended around an hour later after other Palestinians in the compound intervened, convincing the stone throwers and the police to pull back.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said more than 40 people were wounded, with 22 requiring treatment at local hospitals. It said Israeli forces prevented first responders from entering the compound during the clashes, and that one of its medics was beaten by police.
The police did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said in a statement they had arrested three people.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is built on a hilltop that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of the Jewish temples in antiquity. It has long been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In recent weeks, Israeli police and Palestinians have clashed there on a number of occasions. Israeli authorities accuse Hamas of inciting violence and say security forces were forced to intervene to halt stone-throwing.
The Palestinians say the presence of Israeli police at the site, and regular visits by increasing numbers of nationalist and religious Jews, are a violation of decades-old informal arrangements governing the site. The visits were halted last week for the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which concludes this weekend.
UN works to broker civilian evacuation from Mariupol
The United Nations doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol on Friday, while Ukraine accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organization by bombing Kyiv when the U.N. leader was visiting the capital.
The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant that has become the southern port city’s last stronghold is dire, and citizens are “begging to get saved.” Mayor Vadym Boichenko added: “There, it’s not a matter of days. It’s a matter of hours.”
Ukraine’s forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the country’s industrial Donbas region. Artillery fire, sirens and explosions could be heard in some cities. And a senior U.S. defense official said the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of Ukrainian resistance.
Also read: Allies must ‘double down’ and send Ukraine tanks, jets: UK
In other developments:
— A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, his family said in what would be the war’s first known death of an American in combat. The U.S. has not confirmed the report.
— Ukrainian forces are cracking down on people accused of helping Russian troops. In the Kharkiv region alone, nearly 400 have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted after Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion.
— The international sanctions imposed on the Kremlin over the war are squeezing the country. The Russian Central Bank said Russia’s economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year, and the outlook is “extremely uncertain.”
On Thursday, Moscow’s forces launched a missile attack on a residential high-rise and another building in Kyiv, shattering weeks of relative calm in the capital following Russia’s retreat from the region early this month.
U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, was killed in the bombardment. Ten people were wounded, one of them losing a leg, authorities said.
The missile strike came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
“This says a lot about Russia’s true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the U.N. and everything the organization represents,” Zelenskyy said.
Also read: A chilling Russian cyber aim in Ukraine: Digital dossiers
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s way of giving “his middle finger” to Guterres.
In an apparent reference to the Kyiv bombing, Russia’s military said it had destroyed “production buildings” at the Artem defense factory.
The missile strike came just as life in Kyiv seemed to be getting back a little closer to normal, with cafes and other businesses starting to reopen and growing numbers of people going out to enjoy the arrival of spring.
Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst and head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said the attack carried a message: “Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure.”
Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.
But so far, Russia’s troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains.
The U.S. believes the Russians are “at least several days behind where they wanted to be” as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east, said the senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the American military’s assessment.
As Russian troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been “slow and uneven and certainly not decisive,” the official said.
In the bombed-out city of Mariupol, around 100,000 people were believed trapped with little food, water or medicine. An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders and 1,000 civilians were holed up at the Azovstal steel plant.
The Soviet-era steel plant has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more dire after the Russians dropped “bunker busters” and other bombs.
“Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse,” said Boichenko, the mayor.
U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said the organization was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv to create safe passage.
This time, “we hope there’s a slight touch of humanity in the enemy,” the mayor said. Ukraine has blamed the failure of numerous previous evacuation attempts on continued Russian shelling.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that the real problem is that “humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals.” Moscow has repeatedly claimed right-wing Ukrainians are thwarting evacuation efforts and using civilians as human shields.
Also Friday, two towns in central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region were hit by Russian rockets, the regional governor said. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.
Fighting could be heard from Kramatorsk to Sloviansk, two cities about 18 kilometers (11 miles) apart in the Donbas. Columns of smoke rose from the Sloviansk area and neighboring cities. At least one person was reported wounded in the shelling.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.
The constant attacks “show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people,” he said.
“If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones, as they did with Mariupol.”
The governor of Russia’s Kursk region said that a border post came under mortar attack from Ukraine and that Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.
In the village of Ruska Lozava, near Kharkiv, hundreds of people were evacuated after Ukrainian forces retook the city from Russian occupiers, according to the regional governor. Those who fled to Kharkiv spoke of dire conditions under the Russians, with little water or food and no electricity.
“We were hiding in the basement. It was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions. We were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to God,” said Ludmila Bocharnikova.
A video posted by Ukraine’s Azov battalion showed troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village, though fighting continued on the outskirts.
Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.
“He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for,” she said, “and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn’t come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn’t have to be involved in it.”
The Marine Corps said Cancel served four years but was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentenced to five months’ confinement for violating orders. No details on the offense were given.
At least two other foreigners fighting on the Ukrainian side, one from Britain and the other from Denmark, have also been killed.
Ukraine cracks down on ‘traitors’ helping Russian troops
Viktor appeared nervous as masked Ukrainian security officers in full riot gear, camouflage and weapons pushed into his cluttered apartment in the northern city of Kharkiv. His hands trembled and he tried to cover his face.
The middle-aged man came to the attention of Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, after what authorities said were his social media posts praising Russian President Vladimir Putin for “fighting with the Nazis,” calling for regions to secede and labeling the national flag “a symbol of death.”
“Yes, I supported (the Russian invasion of Ukraine) a lot. I’m sorry. … I have already changed my mind,” said Viktor, his trembling voice showing clear signs of duress in the presence of the Ukrainian security officers.
“Get your things and get dressed,” an officer said before escorting him out of the apartment. The SBU did not reveal Viktor’s last name, citing their investigation.
Viktor was one of nearly 400 people in the Kharkiv region alone who have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted quickly by Ukraine’s parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.
Also read: Explosions rock Kyiv again as Russians rain fire on Ukraine
Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for collaborating with Russian forces, making public denials about Russian aggression or supporting Moscow. Anyone whose actions result in deaths could face life in prison.
“Accountability for collaboration is inevitable, and whether it will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow is another question,” Zelenskyy said. “The most important thing is that justice will be served inevitably.”
Although the Zelenskyy government has broad support, even among many Russian speakers, not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion. Support for Moscow is more common among some Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east. An eight-year conflict there between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces had killed over 14,000 people even before this year’s invasion.
Also read: Allies must ‘double down’ and send Ukraine tanks, jets: UK
Some businessmen, civic and state officials and members of the military are among those who have gone over to the Russian side, and Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigations said more than 200 criminal cases on collaboration have been opened. Zelenskyy has even stripped two SBU generals of their rank, accusing them of treason.
A “registry of collaborators” is being compiled and will be released to the public, said Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s Security Council. He refused to say how many people were targeted nationwide.
Under martial law, authorities have banned 11 pro-Russian political parties, including the largest one that had 25 seats in the 450-member parliament – the Opposition Platform For Life, which was founded by Viktor Medvedchuk, a jailed oligarch with close ties to Putin.
Authorities say pro-Russian activists in southeastern Ukraine, the scene of active fighting, are acting as spotters to direct shelling.
“One of our key goals is to have no one stab our armed forces in the back,” said Roman Dudin, head of the Kharkiv branch of the SBU, in an interview with The Associated Press. He spoke in a dark basement where the SBU moved its operations after its building in central Kharkiv was shelled.
The Kharkiv branch has been detaining people who support the invasion, call for secession and claim that Ukrainian forces are shelling their own cities.
Allegations of collaborating with the enemy carry strong historic resonance in Ukraine. During World War II, some in the region welcomed and even cooperated with invading forces from Nazi Germany after years of Stalinist repression that included the “Holodomor” – a man-made famine believed to have killed more than 3 million Ukrainians. For years afterward, Soviet authorities cited the cooperation of some Ukrainian nationalists with the Nazis as a reason to demonize today’s democratically elected leaders of Ukraine.
Human rights advocates know of “dozens” of detentions of pro-Russian activists in Kyiv alone since the new laws were passed, but how many have been targeted nationwide is unclear, said Volodymyr Yavorskyy, coordinator at the Center for Civil Liberties, one of Ukraine’s largest human rights groups.
“There is no complete data on the (entire) country, since it is all classified by the SBU,” Yavorskyy told AP.
“Ukrainian authorities are actively using the practice of Western countries, in particular the U.K., which imposed harsh restrictions on civic liberties in warring Northern Ireland. Some of those restrictions were deemed unjustified by human rights advocates, but others were justified, when people’s lives were in danger,” he said.
A person in Ukraine can be detained for up to 30 days without a court order, he said, and antiterrorism legislation under martial law allows authorities not to tell defense attorneys about their clients being remanded.
“In effect, these people disappear, and for 30 days there’s no access to them,” Yavorskyy said. “In reality, (law enforcement) has powers to take anyone.”
The government knows the implications of detaining people over their opinions, including that it risks playing into Moscow’s line that Kyiv is repressing Russian speakers. But in wartime, officials say, freedom of speech is only part of the equation.
“The debate about the balance of national security and ensuring freedom of speech is endless,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told AP.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office, said her agency has documented “cases of arrests and detention allegedly made by Ukrainian law enforcement authorities, which may involve elements of human rights violations” and is following up with the Ukrainian government.
She said her office is looking into eight cases that “appear to be disappearances of people considered as ‘pro-Russian,’ and we have documented two cases of unlawful killings of ‘pro-Russians,’” along with cases of vigilantism, in which law enforcement and others punish those suspected of being pro-Russian,
In the town of Bucha, now a symbol of horrific violence in the war, Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said collaborators gave invading troops the names and addresses of pro-Ukrainian activists and officials in the city outside Kyiv, with hundreds of civilians shot to death with their hands tied behind their backs or their bodies burned by Russian forces.
“I saw these execution lists, dictated by the traitors -– the Russians knew in advance who they’re going to, at what address, and who lives there,” said Fedoruk, who saw his own name on one list. “Of course, Ukrainian authorities will search for and punish these people.”
In the besieged port city of Mariupol, officials accused collaborators of helping the Russians cut off electricity, running water, gas and communications in much of the city.
“Now I understand perfectly why the Russians were carrying out such precise, coordinated strikes on objects of critical infrastructure, knew about all locations and even times when Ukrainian buses evacuating refugees were supposed to depart,” said Mayor Vadym Boychenko.
Political analysts say the invasion and the brutality by Russian troops against civilians have turned off many Moscow sympathizers. Still, many such supporters remain.
“Russian propaganda took deep roots and many residents of the east who watch Russian TV channels believe absurd claims that it’s Ukrainians who are shelling them and other myths,” Volodymyr Fesenko of the Penta Center think tank told AP. “Naturally, Ukrainian authorities in the southeast are afraid of getting stabbed in the back and are forced to tighten security measures.”
Unlike Viktor, whose Kharkiv apartment was raided, 86-year-old Volodymir Radnenko didn’t seem surprised when Ukrainian security arrived to search his flat Saturday after detaining his son, Ihor. The military said the son was suspected of helping the Russians in shelling of the city — some of which occurred in Radnenko’s neighborhood about 15 minutes before the officers showed up, with the smell of smoke lingering. At least two people were killed and 19 others wounded in the region.
“He is used to thinking that Russia is all there is,” Radnenko told AP after the officers left. “I ask him: ’So who is shelling us? It’s not our (people), it’s your fascists.’ And he only gets angry at that.”
Small solutions, big impacts: How five community-based projects tackling climate
There are many small-scale, community-driven initiatives making a huge difference in people's lives and contributing to efforts to curb global warming.
In early April, 29 countries pledged more than $5 billion to the UN-backed Global Environment Facility (GEF).
The Fund said this was "record support, providing a major boost to international efforts to protect biodiversity and curb threats to climate change, plastics and toxic chemicals."
The GEF is a multilateral fund that serves as a financial mechanism for several environmental conventions – including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
It has its Small Grants Program (SGP) which grants up to $50,000 directly to local communities, including indigenous peoples, community-based organisations and other non-governmental groups investing in projects related to healing the planet.
The initiative is implemented in 127 countries by the UN Development Program (UNDP) which provides technical support to selected local projects that conserve and restore the environment while enhancing people's wellbeing and livelihoods.
Indigenous women solar engineers bringing light to rural Belize
Baby formula industry must end 'misleading' online marketing: WHO
The $55 billion baby formula industry must end exploitative online marketing targeting parents, particularly mothers, the UN health agency said in a new report published Friday.
The study found companies are paying social media platforms and influencers to gain direct access to pregnant women and mothers at some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives, through personalised content that is often not recognisable as advertising.
Methods used include apps, virtual support groups or "baby clubs," promotions and competitions, as well as advice forums or services.
This pervasive marketing is increasing purchases of breast-milk substitutes, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, dissuading mothers from breastfeeding exclusively, as recommended by the agency.
The promotion of commercial milk formulas should have been terminated decades ago, said Dr Francesco Branca, director of the WHO's nutrition and food safety department.
Read: WHO recommends Pfizer's Covid pill Paxlovid
"The fact that formula milk companies are now employing even more powerful and insidious marketing techniques to drive up their sales is inexcusable and must be stopped," he added.
The report "Scope and impact of digital marketing strategies for promoting breast-milk substitutes," is the second in a series and follows an initial study, published in February, on how the marketing of formula milk influences people's decisions on infant feeding.
It summarises findings of new research that sampled and analysed four million social media posts about infant feeding published between January and June 2021 using a commercial social listening platform.
The posts reached nearly 2.5 billion people and generated more than 12 million likes, shares, or comments.
Formula milk companies post content on their social media accounts around 90 times per day, reaching 229 million users – three times the number of people reached by informational posts about breastfeeding from non-commercial accounts – according to the study.
The authors compiled evidence from social listening research on public online communications and individual country reports of research that monitors breast-milk substitute promotions.
They drew on a recent international study of mothers' and health professionals' experiences with formula milk marketing.
Read: WHO says global COVID cases, deaths declined again last week
Studies revealed how misleading marketing reinforces myths about breastfeeding and breast milk and undermines women's confidence in their ability to breastfeed successfully.
The proliferation of global digital marketing of formula milk blatantly breaches a landmark international code on the marketing of breast-milk substitutes, adopted 40 years ago, the WHO said.
The agreement is designed to protect the general public and mothers from aggressive marketing practices by the baby food industry that negatively impact breastfeeding practices.
The WHO said the fact that these forms of digital marketing can evade the scrutiny of national monitoring and health authorities, shows new approaches to code-implementing regulation and enforcement are required.
Despite clear evidence that exclusive and continued breastfeeding are key determinants of improved lifelong health for children, women, and communities, far too few children are breastfed as recommended.
The proportion could fall further if current formula milk marketing strategies continue, the WHO said.
Dane, 25, killed while fighting in Ukraine
A 25-year-old Dane was allegedly killed in Mykolajiv on April 26 while fighting with the International Legion Ukraine, a unit for foreigners who want to join the fight against Russia, according to Danish broadcaster TV2. The man's name was not given.
In a statement to Danish media, the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen said it could not confirm the report and was in contact with Ukrainian authorities.
“It may therefore take time before the details are clarified” because the war creates “extremely difficult conditions,” the statement read.
Also read: UN head condemns attacks on civilians during Ukraine visit
The Jyllands-Posten daily, one of Denmark’s largest newspapers, said up to 100 Danes have traveled to Ukraine to fight Russia, citing Ukraine’s Embassy in Denmark.
Also read: Explosions rock Kyiv again as Russians rain fire on Ukraine
Landslide kills 12 women at illegal gold mine in Indonesia
Rescuers retrieved a dozen bodies of women buried under tons of mud from a landslide that crashed onto an unauthorized gold mining operation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, police said Friday.
About 14 women were looking for gold grains Thursday in a pit roughly 2 meters (6.5 feet) deep at a small and unauthorized traditional gold mine in a remote village of North Sumatra’s Mandailing Natal district when a landslide plunged down surrounding hills and buried them, said local police chief Marlon Rajagukguk.
A two-hour search and rescue operation managed to rescue two injured women and pulled the bodies of 12 other women from the rubble, Rajagukguk said.
Also read: 2 workers killed in Rangamati landslide
He said authorities have closed illegal gold pits in the area, which was a main source of gold to be panned traditionally by villagers before Thursday’s landslide happened.
Informal mining operations are commonplace in Indonesia, providing a tenuous livelihood to thousands who labor in conditions with a high risk of serious injury or death.
Landslides, flooding and collapses of tunnels are just some of the hazards facing miners. Much of gold ore processing involves highly toxic mercury and cyanide and workers frequently use little or no protection.
Also read: Jade mine landslide kills 12 in Myanmar's northernmost state
The country’s last major mining-related accident occurred in February 2019 when a makeshift wooden structure in an illegal gold mine in North Sulawesi province collapsed due to shifting soil and the large number of mining holes. More than 40 people died, buried in the mine pit.