DW honors Ukrainian journalists Maloletka and Chernov for Mariupol reporting

Risking their lives, Evgeniy Maloletka and Mstyslav Chernov documented Russia's siege of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. The journalists are the 2022 recipients of DW's Freedom of Speech Award.

DW's Freedom of Speech Award 2022 will be given to the freelance photojournalist Evgeniy Maloletka and to Associated Press videographer and photojournalist Mstyslav Chernov, who together documented the siege and destruction of the port city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, as well as the work of doctors and undertakers, and the suffering of countless victims.

Their images of a maternity hospital destroyed by Russian bombs were seen around the world.


Maloletka documented the March 9 attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol

When Russia recognized the independence of the so-called People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in February, Maloletka told DW, it became clear to the journalists that war was inevitable — the only question was when it would begin. "We were aware that they would try to establish a corridor to annexed Crimea via Mariupol," Maloletka said. When the invasion began on February 24, the journalists were in Mariupol, a port city on the Azov Sea.

Mariupol was one of the first cities in Russia's crosshairs. "We filmed missiles hitting apartment buildings," said Maloletka. Initially, the eastern part of Mariupol was affected by the shelling; apart from that, other parts of the city were relatively quiet — Maloletka said the journalists were more or less able to work normally and move freely there.


An improvised bomb shelter in Mariupol, as documented by Chernov

Defending Mariupol

During the following days, increasing numbers of Ukrainian soldiers arrived in Mariupol. "The entire military entered the city because it was no longer possible to hold positions out in the fields," said Maloletka. The shelling became more intense, including in the center of the city. There were airstrikes, and Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups were out and about in the city.

It became more difficult to move around freely. Fewer and fewer people and vehicles could be seen on the streets, and phone lines gradually collapsed until contact was severed by March 10. "People panicked and asked us what was going on," said Maloletka. "They tried to get any kind of information and inquired about humanitarian corridors."


Chernov reported the news from the region before the start of Russia's invasion, as documented by Maloletka

The journalists accompanied undertakers as they collected bodies from hospitals. As many cemeteries were not accessible, some of the dead were buried in backyards. When the number of casualties kept rising, mass graves were dug. "A trench, approximately 30 meters long and 3 meters deep, was excavated," Maloletka said, "and the bodies from the hospitals were buried there."

Chernov and Maloletka also watched girls and boys fall victim to Russia's invasion. "All the hospitalized children who were photographed by us died," said Maloletka. "Fifteen-year-olds, but also 3-month-old babies, died as a result of the shelling. It's very hard to get the deaths of children out of one's head."


An apartment block in Mariupol hit by Russian shelling

Mariupol in ruins

Gradually, almost all of Mariupol's infrastructure was destroyed, Maloletka said — from the hospitals to the fire station, with all of its firefighting units. "They destroyed the fire brigade, presumably to ensure that extinguishing fires in the city and recovering people from the ruins would be impossible," said Maloletka, "and to spread fear among the population."

Then, Russian troops entered the city. "They're advancing with tanks, razing everything in sight before they move on, from one neighborhood to the next," said Maloletka. "That's a medieval tactic: If you can't conquer and hold a city, raze it to the ground."


Maloletka and a paramedic helped this injured woman, in this image taken by Chernov

When a bomb hit a hospital with a maternity clinic on March 9, the journalists were close to the scene. "We heard aircraft noise, quickly followed by multiple explosions," said Maloletka. "There was a very strong blast, which shattered the windows of the neighboring houses. We saw that everything was smashed there. People in shock came running from the basement. We saw how pregnant women were carried downstairs. It was an overwhelming sight."

Maloletka does not believe that the building had housed military positions or military equipment, as claimed by Russia. Just one section of the hospital had served as a military clinic.


The bodies of people killed by shelling, as documented by Maloletka

The journalists had entered the heavily damaged hospital in order to talk to women in the maternity clinic when Russian tanks suddenly approached, Maloletka said. "We were hiding inside the hospital for almost a full day. We were wearing white scrubs, posing as doctors, and filmed Russian tanks driving around town," he said.

On the morning of March 12, Ukrainian special forces managed to take the journalists to a safe place. "Our vehicle was gone, and we could move freely in Mariupol only to a limited extent," said Maloletka. "Later, police officers assisted us in accessing the internet via satellite, which enabled us to transfer data."

Eventually, they were advised to save themselves. "We were told that if we were captured by the Russians, they would force us to say what they wanted us to say into the camera," said Maloletka — including that their reports had been lies. "I didn't want to experience firsthand how the Russian intelligence services deal with people who are detained."


Mariana Vishegirskaya, photographed by Chernov, gave birth in another hospital

Evacuation from Mariupol

On March 15, Maloletka and Chernov left the embattled city. "We drove very slowly," said Maloletka. "On the road between Mariupol and Orikhiv, just before Zaporizhzhia, there was at least one checkpoint per village. In total, we crossed some 15 or 16 Russian checkpoints. We feared that our phones would be confiscated, but this didn't happen. At night we finally crossed the border between Russian and Ukrainian troops."


Evgeniy Maloletka

According to the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office, 18 members of the press had been killed through the end of April, eight others were abducted, three journalists were reported missing and 13 others were injured. Those groups include Ukrainians, but also 19 members of the press from the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, the United States, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Ireland, Switzerland, France and Lithuania.

Since 2015, the DW Freedom of Speech Award has honored a person or initiative that has played an important role in the promotion of human rights or freedom of expression in the media.

This article was originally written in Ukrainian.

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DW Freedom of Speech Award for Ukrainian journalists

Israel blasts Lavrov's comments on Zelenskyy, Hitler

The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry on Monday summoned the Russian ambassador after Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that Adolf Hitler had Jewish roots.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Lavrov had made "an unforgivable, scandalous statement" and demanded an apology from Moscow.

On Sunday, Lavrov defended Russia's claim that it is seeking to "de-Nazify" Ukraine, saying it did not matter that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was Jewish, because "Adolf Hitler also had Jewish blood."*

"The wise Jewish people say that the most keen anti-Semites are usually Jews," Lavrov told Italian TV channel Rete4.

"Foreign Minister Lavrov's remarks are both an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error," Lapid said. "Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of anti-Semitism."

"Ukrainians are not Nazis, only the Nazis were Nazis, only they carried out the systematic extermination of Jews," Lapid said.

*HIS FATHERS NAME WAS SCHICKELGRUBER

WHICH IS THE ORIGIN OF THIS TROPE

 

Israel summon ambassador over Lavrov's Hitler comments


Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on April 26, 2022

 [MAXIM SHIPENKOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]

May 2, 2022 

Israel denounced on Monday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for suggesting that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had Jewish roots, and demanded an apology from Moscow, reports Reuters.

Israeli Foreign Ministry Yair Lapid said the Russian ambassador would be summoned for "a tough talk" over the comments, which Lavrov made on Sunday in an interview with Italian television.


Russian President Vladimir Putin's recognised two breakaway territories in Eastern Ukraine – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

"It is an unforgivable, scandalous statement, a terrible historical mistake, and we expect an apology," Lapid told the YNet news website.

There was no immediate comment from the Russian embassy.

During his interview with Italy's Rete 4 channel, Lavrov was asked how Russia could claim that it needed to "denazify" Ukraine when the country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was Jewish.

"When they say 'What sort of nazification is this if we are Jews', well I think that Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it means nothing," Lavrov said, speaking through an Italian interpreter.

"For a long time now we've been hearing the wise Jewish people say that the biggest anti-Semites are the Jews themselves," he added.

Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, called Lavrov's remarks "an insult and a severe blow to the victims of the real Nazism".

Speaking on Israel's Kan radio, Dayan said Lavrov was spreading "an antisemitic conspiracy theory with nobasis in fact".

Thousands rally in Armenia warning against Karabakh concessions

Al Jazeera


Thousands of opposition supporters have rallied in the Armenian capital Yerevan to warn the government against concessions to arch-foe Azerbaijan over the long-disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Opposition parties have accused Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of plans to give away all of Karabakh to Azerbaijan after he told lawmakers last month that the “international community calls on Armenia to scale down demands on Karabakh”.

On Sunday, several thousand opposition supporters gathered in the capital’s central Square of France, blocking traffic throughout central Yerevan.

Protesters shouted demands for Pashinyan to resign, with many holding placards that read “Karabakh”.

Opposition leader and National Assembly Vice Speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan said: “Any political status of Karabakh within Azerbaijan is unacceptable to us”.

“Pashinyan had betrayed people’s trust and must go,” he told journalists at the rally, adding that the protest movement “will lead to the overthrow of the government in the nearest future”.

Addressing the crowd, the opposition leader announced that a “large-scale campaign of civil disobedience” will begin this coming week.

“I call on everyone to begin strikes. I call on students not to attend classes. Traffic will be fully blocked in central Yerevan,” he said.
‘Threat of unrest’

On Saturday, Armenia’s National Security Service warned of “a real threat of mass unrest in the country”.

Yerevan and Baku have been locked in a territorial dispute since the 1990s over Karabakh, the mountainous region of Azerbaijan predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians. Karabakh was at the centre of a six-week war in 2020 that claimed more than 6,500 lives before it ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Under the deal, Armenia ceded swathes of territories it had controlled for decades and Russia deployed some 2,000 peacekeepers to oversee the truce.

In April, Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met for rare European Union-mediated talks in Brussels, after which they tasked their foreign ministers to “begin preparatory work for peace talks”.

The meeting came after a flare-up in Karabakh on March 25 that saw Azerbaijan capture a strategic village in the area under the Russian peacekeepers’ responsibility, killing three separatist troops.

Baku tabled in mid-March a set of framework proposals for the peace agreement that includes both sides’ mutual recognition of territorial integrity, meaning Yerevan should agree on Karabakh being part of Azerbaijan.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan sparked controversy at home when he said – commenting on the Azerbaijani proposal – that for Yerevan “the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a territorial issue, but a matter of rights” of the local ethnic-Armenian population.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The ensuing conflicts since have claimed around 30,000 lives.

UNRWA

Palestinians warn against plans to weaken their UN agency




The UNRWA for Palestinian refugees is the only major UN body dedicated exclusively to one conflict and one people

 (AFP/MOHAMMED ABED)


Gareth Browne
Sun, May 1, 2022, 7:57 PM·3 min read

A proposal by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to delegate some services to other United Nations agencies has sparked outrage among Palestinians, who have warned of a plot to "dismantle" the body.

Established in 1949, a year after Israel was created, UNRWA is the only major UN body dedicated exclusively to one conflict and one people, and holds a symbolic role that experts say matches its importance as provider for Palestinian refugees.

The agency has long been a target of Israeli criticism, with accusations it has fuelled the conflict in part by teaching anti-Zionist messages at its schools.

UNRWA is "not just about the delivery of services", said Muhammed Shehada from the Swiss-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

"As long as UNRWA is there, it's a reminder that the international community has a responsibility to solve the issue of Palestinian refugees," he told AFP.

The agency tasked with assisting Palestinians who were forced from their homes during the war surrounding Israel's creation -- and their descendants -- has faced a funding crunch for years, regularly falling tens of millions of dollars short of its stated needs.

At first glance, the announcement last month by agency chief Philippe Lazzarini that UNRWA could ask other UN bodies to help with service delivery may have looked like a bland, bureaucratic cost-sharing plan.

Counting primarily "on voluntary funding from donors would not be reasonable" going forward, he said in a statement.

"One option that is currently being explored is to maximise partnerships within the broader UN system."

Palestinians saw those remarks as a potentially devastating blow to UNRWA's long-term mission.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the plan would "violate" the UN resolutions that set up UNRWA, while the Palestine Liberation Organization said refugees would be outraged.

Mohammad al-Madhoun, a senior official with the Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, described the proposal as "an attempt to dismantle UNRWA as a prelude to ending its work".

Former US president Donald Trump publicly sided with Israel in criticizing UNRWA, and also cut off its funding

 (AFP/Mohammed ABED)

- Budget gaps -

With more than 30,000 employees and a budget of some $1.6 billion this year, UNRWA is a frontline provider of healthcare, education and other services to some 5.7 million Palestinian refugees spread across the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank as well as in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Former US president Donald Trump publicly sided with Israel in blasting UNRWA and cut off its funding.

The agency has firmly defended its school curriculum against pro-Israel critics, though Lazzarini told European Union lawmakers last year that problematic issues were being "addressed".

President Joe Biden's administration has since restored funding, but Lazzarini warned in November that UNRWA was facing an "existential threat" over budget gaps.

Agency spokeswoman Tamara Alrifai told AFP that this year would see another $100 million shortfall that could worsen given "the increased cost of commodities and food that the ongoing Ukraine crisis has provoked".

- 'Green light' -

For Samer Sinijlawi, head of the Jerusalem Development Fund, which specialises in Palestinian humanitarian affairs, Lazzarini's proposal was in part an attempt to test "the Palestinian pulse" ahead of a 2023 UN General Assembly vote on renewing UNRWA's mandate.

But it also gave "a green light" to countries that have been trying "to manipulate this mandate and gradually end the work of UNRWA", Sinijlawi told AFP.

He accused Lazzarini of overstepping his authority, arguing the Swiss national's job was not to consider scaling back UNRWA's work but rather to implement UN resolutions on Palestinian refugees, especially on the right of return.

Former agency spokesman Chris Gunness said that "even if UNRWA is dismantled or its services farmed out, Palestine refugees remain human beings with inalienable rights."

He stressed that while any blow to UNRWA's future could be perceived as a win for Israel, it would not mean that "Palestinian refugees and their right of return will magically evaporate".

But Shehada from Euro-Med Monitor argued that any "de-prioritisation" of the agency would be seen as diminishing "the Palestinian cause in general".

gb/bs/lg/aha/cwl

YOU CAN DONATE TO UNRWA THROUGH THE RED CROSS

WHITE RAGE
In US, death threats for those removing Confederate statues

"It goes back to 1890, when a Black man said that it was Black people that put up the monuments, and when it would be time to come down, it would be

Black man who does that." 

A statue of Robert E. Lee, leader of the armed forces of the slave-holding Confederacy, being removed from its pedestal in September 2021 in Richmond, Virginia

 (AFP/Ryan M. Kelly)

Daxia ROJAS
Sun, May 1, 2022

Since his contracting company began removing Confederate statues from Richmond, Virginia -- controversial symbols of the South's slave-holding past -- Devon Henry has got himself a gun that never leaves his side.

"Based on all the comments and the vitriol that folks spew over these two years, I just refuse to let my guard down," the African-American business owner told AFP.

"On one of the removals, we were driving down the road with the Confederate statue on the trailer and someone tried to run us off the road," said Henry, who is 45.

Death threats, racist insults and intimidation have rained down on him since July 1, 2020, when the contractor and his team unbolted their first statue, a monument to General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

Jackson was a leading figure of the pro-slavery Confederate forces during the Civil War of 1861-1865.

On that day in 2020 in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, Henry wore a bulletproof vest and felt himself oscillating between pride and anxiety.

"You're trying to figure out how to take this thing down and you're also looking over your back and making sure that no one's trying to come and bring harm to you and your crew," he said.

When the 17-foot tall (five-meter) statue was finally dislodged from its pedestal in the pouring rain, "to see thousands of people still around laughing, smiling and in some cases crying, you feel like you did something pretty special."

"To me, the removal was akin to the falling of the Berlin Wall," said Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney.

- Hate and bigotry -

The African-American mayor, a Democrat, used his emergency powers in the summer of 2020 to push for the dismantling of the controversial sculptures at a time when the country was undergoing an unprecedented outcry against racism following the death of George Floyd, a Black man asphyxiated by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"Those monuments represented division, hate, bigotry," he said. "They were erected to intimidate and to put Black people who lived in Richmond in their place."

"This is not the Richmond of 2022," the mayor said.

The erasure of Confederate symbols has, however, proven a rocky road for Stoney.

Before Henry agreed to take on the risky job, several other businesses refused to do so. Some were simply opposed to the removal of the monuments, others feared for their safety, and still others even said they feared family members might drop them from their wills if they took on the work.

Henry himself hesitated to say yes, fearful for his family's safety after several violent events in recent years. In January 2016, a contractor hired to remove four Confederate statues in New Orleans pulled out of the project after his car was set afire.

"It was really difficult to find others who were interested in taking the work" after that attack, said Flozell Daniels Jr., president of the Foundation for Louisiana, which worked with New Orleans officials to remove the statues.

"Contractors were being told that if it was found out that they were working with the city on this, they would not get other contracts in the region. It's an important financial threat," he said.

The monuments were ultimately removed in the spring of 2017, under police protection and at night, by masked workers equipped with bulletproof vests and wearing no visible logos that might have identified them, said Daniels, whose association also received death threats.

A few months later, in August 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, hundreds of ultra-right protesters marched against the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. At the end of the rally, a neo-Nazi sympathizer drove his car into a crowd of anti-racist activists, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.



- Living out a prophecy -

Four years later, Devon Henry proudly removed that same statue, along with three others, in Charlottesville.

His company has removed a total of 23 Confederate monuments in the southeastern US, including 15 in Richmond, and is set to dismantle several others in different cities. Hundreds remain across the American South.

Despite the repercussions for Henry's business, his life and his family, he says he has never regretted his choice.

"It goes back to 1890, when a Black man said that it was Black people that put up the monuments, and when it would be time to come down, it would be a Black man who does that.

"So being able to live out that prophecy is pretty rewarding," Henry said, referring to the words of civil rights activist John Mitchell Jr., a Richmond native who was born a slave.

dax/seb/jh/bbk

POPULAR FRONT

French Greens, far-left leader Mélenchon form an alliance ahead of parliamentary elections

LFI, the movement of far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, struck a deal with France's green EELV party, politicians from both sides said on Monday, as the left seeks to form a joint front against President Emmanuel Macron in upcoming parliamentary elections.© Christophe Archambault, AFP

"Historic moment. The deal between LFI and EELV is done," said lawmaker Adrien Quatennens, one of LFI's campaign coordinators.

Manon Aubry, an LFI member of the EU parliament, also told France Info radio: "This is a popular union around a joint programme ... to govern together, because this is the aim."

Opposition parties on the left and right of France's political spectrum are trying to form alliances to beat Macron's La Republique en March party in the June parliamentary vote.

French media on Monday reported that EELV had approved a text detailing the deal with LFI on Sunday, calling it the "new popular ecology and social union".

The move comes after Melenchon, who came in third in April's presidential elections and barely missed the runoff behind far-right populist Marine Le Pen, called on all left-leaning parties to join forces with his movement to "elect (him) prime minister".

The LFI-EELV deal includes aims of lowering the retirement age to 60, raising the minimum wage and capping prices on essential products, said Manon Aubry, adding that agreements with other parties of the left would follow.

Manuel Bompard, a spokesman for Melenchon's campaign, told France Inter radio on Monday that talk with other parties would continue "in the next hours."

During May Day protests on Sunday, Melenchon was also spotted hugging Olivier Faure, the head of France's Socialist Party, a sign of potential unity after talks between LFI and the Socialists stalled last week.

Melenchon, himself once a member of the Socialists before leaving the party in a spat over its stance on the European Union, has caused a long-lasting feud inside the left. The Socialists are more pro-EU than he is.

LFI and EELV said in a joint statement that both wanted to put an end to the "neoliberal" course of the EU and would instead aim "for a new project serving ecological and social construction."

According to first opinion polls ahead of the parliamentary elections in June, a left-wing alliance would not reach a majority against the bloc that supports Macron.

(REUTERS)

Hopes dim for finding China building collapse survivors


The building collapse in Changsha city, central China, sparked a massive search and rescue effort \

AFP

Mon, May 2, 2022

Hopes of finding more survivors from the rubble of a collapsed commercial building in central China faded Monday, at the end of a 72-hour "golden" rescue period identified by authorities.

The building in Changsha city, Hunan province -- which housed apartments, a hotel and a cinema -- caved in on Friday, sparking a massive rescue effort with hundreds of emergency responders.

There has been no official confirmation of any rescues since a seventh survivor was pulled from the rubble on Sunday afternoon, leaving at least 16 people authorities have identified as trapped. No contact has been established with 39 others.

Changsha mayor Zheng Jianxin had said the government would "seize the golden 72 hours for rescue", a window that closed Monday afternoon.

The seventh person was rescued more than 50 hours into the search effort, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

A one-metre-thick wall had separated the survivor from rescuers, who located her after detecting signs of life at the spot on Sunday.

Changsha police said nine people -- including the building's owner and a team of safety inspectors -- were detained Sunday in connection with the accident.

Authorities alleged that surveyors had falsified a safety audit of the building.

More than 700 first responders were dispatched to the scene of the disaster, which left a gaping hole in a dense streetscape.

State media on Sunday showed firefighters -- backed by a digger -- cutting through a morass of metal and sheets of concrete, while rescuers shouted into the tower of debris to communicate with any survivors.

President Xi Jinping had on Saturday called for a search "at all cost" and ordered a thorough investigation into the cause of the collapse, state media reported.

Building collapses are not uncommon in China due to weak safety and construction standards, as well as corruption among officials tasked with enforcement.

In January, an explosion triggered by a suspected gas leak brought down a building in the city of Chongqing, killing at least 16 people.

bur-qan/cwl

Can pee help feed the world?




One study found that global wastewater has the theoretical potential to offset 13 percent of the world's demand for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in agriculture (AFP/JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK)


Laure FILLON
Mon, May 2, 2022


"Go pee on the rhubarb!"

Engineer Fabien Esculier has never forgotten his grandmother's unconventional approach to gardening -- in fact, it has inspired his career.

Human urine may seem like a crude way of fertilising plants in the era of industrial agriculture, but as researchers look for ways to reduce reliance on chemicals and cut environmental pollution, some are growing increasingly interested in the potential of pee.

Plants need nutrients -- nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium -- and we ingest these through food, before "excreting them, mostly through urine", said Esculier, who runs the OCAPI research programme in France looking at food systems and human waste management.

This presents an opportunity, scientists think.

Fertilisers using synthetic nitrogen, in use for around a century, have helped drive up yields and boost agricultural production to feed a growing human population.

But when they are used in large quantities, they make their way into river systems and other waterways, causing choking blooms of algae that can kill fish and other aquatic life.

Meanwhile, emissions from this agricultural ammonia can combine with vehicle fumes to create dangerous air pollution, according to the United Nations.

Chemical fertilisers also create emissions of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, contributing to climate change.

But the pollution does not just come directly from the fields.

"Modern-day sanitation practices represent one of the primary sources of nutrient pollution," said Julia Cavicchi, of the United States Rich Earth Institute, adding that urine is responsible for around 80 percent of the nitrogen found in wastewater and more than half of the phosphorus.

To replace chemical fertilisers, you would need many times the weight in treated urine, she said.

But she added: "Since the production of synthetic nitrogen is a significant source of greenhouse gases, and phosphorus is a limited and non-renewable resource, urine diverting systems offer a long-term resilient model for human waste management and agricultural production."

One 2020 study by UN researchers found that global wastewater has the theoretical potential to offset 13 percent of the world's demand for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in agriculture.

But pee diversion is easier said than done.

- 'Very radical' -

In the past, urban excrement was transported to agricultural fields to be used as fertiliser along with animal manure, before chemical alternatives began to displace them.

But now if you want to collect urine at source, you need to rethink toilets and the sewage system itself.

A pilot project to do just that began in Sweden in the early 1990s in a selection of eco-villages.

Now there are projects in Switzerland, Germany, the US, South Africa, Ethiopia, India, Mexico and France.

"It takes a long time to introduce ecological innovations and especially an innovation such as urine separation which is very radical," said Tove Larsen, a researcher at Switzerland's Eawag aquatic research institute.

She said the early urine-diverting toilets were considered unsightly and impractical, or raised concerns about unpleasant odours.

But she hopes a new model -- developed by the Swiss company Laufen and Eawag -- should solve these difficulties, with a design that funnels urine into a separate container.

Once the pee is collected it needs to be processed.

Urine is not normally a major carrier of disease, so the World Health Organization recommends leaving it for a period of time, although it is also possible to pasteurise it.

Then there are various techniques for concentrating or even dehydrating the liquid, reducing its volume and the cost of transporting it to the fields.

- 'Surprise' -

Another challenge is overcoming public squeamishness.

"This subject touches on the intimate," said Ghislain Mercier, of the publicly-owned planning authority Paris et Metropole Amenagement.

It is developing an eco-district in the French capital with shops and 600 housing units, which will use urine collection to fertilise green spaces in the city.

He sees significant potential in large buildings like offices, as well as houses not connected to mains drainage.

Even restaurants. Also in Paris is the 211 restaurant, equipped with waterless toilets that collect urine.

"We have had quite positive feedback," said owner Fabien Gandossi.

"People are a little surprised, but they see little difference compared to a traditional system."

But are people ready to go to the next level and eat urine-fertilised foods?

One study on the subject highlighted found differences from country to country. The acceptance rate is very high in China, France and Uganda for example, but low in Portugal and Jordan.

- Water works -

Prices of synthetic fertilisers are currently soaring because of shortages caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has also spurred countries to consider shoring up their food security.

That could be an opportunity help "make the subject more visible", said Mercier.

Marine Legrand, an anthropologist working with Esculier at the OCAPI network, said that there are still "obstacles to overcome".

But she believes that water shortages and increased awareness of the toll of pollution will help change minds.

"We are beginning to understand how precious water is," she told AFP.

"So it becomes unacceptable to defecate in it."

laf/klm/mh/har/jv

'Operating normally': Russia shows seized Ukraine nuclear plant

Author: AFP|

Update: 02.05.2022 1

Russian forces seized control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station nearly two months ago / © AFP

Nearly two months after it was seized by Russian forces, there are few signs of the fighting for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine that sparked global fears of a potential atomic disaster.

Other than a scorched administrative building, the vast complex in southern Ukraine -- Europe's largest nuclear power plant -- appeared largely untouched by the clashes during a visit by AFP this weekend, part of a press tour organised by the Russian military.

There has been deep international concern over the situation at the plant, which has six of Ukraine's 15 reactors and can create enough energy for four million homes.


Russian forces seized the site amid fighting in early March that caused a large fire at a training facility at the plant, which sits along the Dnipro river south of the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia.

There was no spike in radiation, but the clashes nonetheless caused deep worries, especially in the country that was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said last week that it was "extremely important" for IAEA monitors to be able to access the site, which was built in the early 1980s but modernised in recent years.

Russia insists it is taking all necessary precautions at the plant, where its troops now patrol in the shadows of its enormous and heavily reinforced red-domed reactors.

- 'Everything is good!' -

"The Zaporizhzhia NPP is operating normally, in compliance with all nuclear, radiation and environmental safety standards," Valery Vasilyev, a major general with Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, told journalists at the site.

The facade of the training centre that caught fire remains blackened and its windows were blown out, but no other signs of damage at the plant were visible.

Soldiers on patrol or positioned behind sandbags showed no sign of concern and wore no protective equipment against radiation.

"Everything here is good!" Andrey Shevchik, the new pro-Russian mayor of Energodar, the city of around 50,000 people built in the 1970s to serve local power plants, told journalists at the site.

Russia says the nuclear plant is operating safely, after clashes raised fears of a potential atomic disaster / © AFP

"Residents and workers of the nuclear power plant are completely safe," he said.

"All comfortable conditions are being created for them to work, to generate energy, and to keep the nuclear power plant safe."

Shevchik said the plant was "ready to sell electricity to Europe", before driving off in a gleaming SUV painted with Russian flags.

He also said residents who had fled were returning to the city, though there was no way to verify the claim.

It is unclear how exactly the plant is now operating, though Ukrainian workers continue to work on site under Russian supervision.

AFP was unable to meet any of the Ukrainian staff at the plant or to speak to residents in Energodar.

DEEP STATE; I SPY WITH MY...
FBI made millions of queries for Americans' data in 2021, report says

The agency made around 3.4 million searches for data such as names, social security numbers, passport numbers, phone numbers and email addresses between December 2020 and November 2021 File Photo courtesy U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation

April 29 (UPI) -- The FBI made as many as 3.4 million queries for data relating to U.S. citizens in 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in its annual report Friday.

The agency made around 3,394,053 searches for data such as names, social security numbers, passport numbers, phone numbers and email addresses between December 2020 and November 2021, according to the ODNI report.


Most of the searches, approximately 1.9 million of them, were made for terms related to an investigation into "attempts to compromise U.S. critical infrastructure by foreign cyberactors" last year.

A senior official told reporters when announcing the report that authorities had "identified a pool of potential victims" including U.S. citizens.

"We ran that against our 702 collection in order to identify who, in particular, Russia was actually targeting," the senior official said.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows the FBI to access data previously collected by the National Security Agency.

It was not immediately clear if the threat came from criminal groups or the Russian government. Last year, a ransomware gang with ties to Russia known as REvil made a large cyberattack on food processing company JBS and software provider Kasaya. Those attacks came after DarkSide, another hacking group tied to Russia, was linked to the Colonial Pipeline attack.

Section 702, which was added under the FISA Amendments Act in 2008, is required to be renewed by the U.S. Congress every few years and was last renewed in 2018. It is set to expire in 2023. However, the ODNI report could be a cause of concern for lawmakers.

The number of FBI searches of the data, which is also used by agencies such as the NSA and CIA, was revealed for the first time as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance expanded reporting requirements to include such data in November 2020.

ODNI noted in the report that the FBI's use of Section 702 data is being reported separately from the other agencies because its standards for access to the data are "fundamentally different from that of the other agencies."

The FBI has a "broader query authority" that allows it to conduct searches of the Section 702 data that are both "reasonably likely to return foreign intelligence information" and are "reasonably likely to return evidence of a crime" because of its "dual law enforcement and intelligence mission."

Federal officials acknowledged during the press conference that the number searches from the FBI is "certainly a large number" but said that there were explanations for why it seems high.

"The frequency with which FBI uses U.S. person query terms is greater than other agencies. The difference in frequency is largely attributable to FBI's domestic-focused mission versus the other agencies' foreign-focused missions," the report reads.

"FBI queries are often initiated through tips and leads relating to domestic matters, provided by the public and domestic partners, meaning they are more likely to involve U.S. persons."

The report also noted that the FBI only has the capability to count the total number of queries, which may include duplicate searches. Additionally, the report noted that the searches do not reflect the number of citizens whose data was searched.

"For example, a single U.S. person might be associated with 10 unique query terms including name, social security number, passport number, phone number, multiple email addresses," the report reads. "These 10 identifiers could be run 10 different times throughout the reporting period, resulting in 100 queries associated with a single individual."

Query terms may also be associated with a U.S. company rather than a specific U.S. person. And, if just one search term among hundreds applies to a U.S. citizen, then all of them are counted even if some of the search terms are not associated with an American citizen.

"This system design ensures that all potential U.S. person query terms are captured, but results in an over counting of the number of U.S. person queries actually conducted by the FBI," the report reads.

"For this reason, the total number of FBI U.S. person queries is referred to as 'fewer than' the total number of queries labeled as U.S. person queries."

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on the FBI to explain the data and "to stop providing essentially meaningless statistics to the American people" in a statement.

"For anyone outside the U.S. government, the astronomical number of FBI searches of Americans' communications is either highly alarming or entirely meaningless," Wyden said.

"Somewhere in all that over-counting are real numbers of FBI searches, for content and for non-content -- numbers that Congress and the American people need before Section 702 is reauthorized."