Bird Flu Outbreak Nears Worst Ever in U.S. With 37 Million Animals Dead




Zijia Song, Elizabeth Elkin and Michael Hirtzer
Fri, May 6, 2022

(Bloomberg) -- A bird flu virus that’s sweeping across the U.S. is rapidly becoming the country’s worst outbreak, having already killed over 37 million chickens and turkeys, with more deaths expected through next month as farmers perform mass culls.

Under guidance of the federal government, farms must destroy entire commercial flocks if just one bird tests positive for the virus, to stop the spread. That’s leading to distressing scenes across rural America. In Iowa, millions of animals in vast barns are suffocated in high temperatures or with poisonous foam. In Wisconsin, lines of dump trucks have taken days to collect masses of bird carcasses and pile them in unused fields. Neighbors live with the stench of the decaying birds.

The crisis is hurting egg-laying hens and turkeys the most, with the disease largely being propagated by migrating wild birds that swarm above farms and leave droppings that get tracked into poultry houses. That’s probably how the virus contaminated egg operations in Iowa, which produce liquid and powdered eggs that go into restaurant omelets or boxed cake mixes. Further north under the same migration paths lie Minnesota’s turkey farms, which supply everything from deli meats for submarine sandwiches to whole birds for the holidays.

Prices for such products are soaring to records, adding to the fastest pace of U.S. inflation in four decades. The supply deficits triggered by the flu also come as world food prices reach new highs. From the war in Ukraine to adverse weather for crops, it’s all throwing supply chains into turmoil and compounding the crisis that’s pushed millions of people into hunger since the start of the pandemic.

“Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, here comes the bird flu,” said Karyn Rispoli, an egg market reporter at commodity researcher Urner Barry.

Ventilation Shutdown

Wholesale egg prices touched a record $2.90 a dozen in April in government data. Whole turkeys touched an all-time high $1.47 a pound according to Urner Barry.

The last time bird flu hit the U.S. in 2015, it took the lives of about 50 million animals by the end of the season and cost the federal government over $1 billion dollars, as it handles killing and burying of birds. At the time, the industry beefed up its biosecurity around poultry houses, installing sound canons to repel wild birds, or even carwashes so farm trucks wouldn’t bring contamination from one farm to another to avoid a repeat.

This time around, even with that better biosecurity, the industry has failed to prevent the transmission from wild birds, said Michelle Kromm, an executive consultant for the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. As a precaution, farmers are supposed to go through a laborious process of completely changing their clothing and shoes before entering barns, and making sure all supplies and tools are clean.

Yet weather and migration patterns are making it easier for the virus to win this year. Rare spring snowstorms are originating in the Midwest and travelling up the East Coast, and the cold, wet weather keeps the virus alive for longer, helping it spread. The flu this year is also more lethal than in the past. The deaths this season are already tracking above previous outbreaks at 37 million chickens and turkeys. The U.S.’s flock of egg-laying hens totals more than 300 million birds (chickens raised for meat, known as broilers, haven’t been as affected).

“We all need to maintain really high awareness that the environment is contaminated,” said Beth Thompson, a veterinarian at the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. The weather “needs to warm up and dry out to kill that virus that’s sitting out there.”

Iowa, the U.S.’s center of egg production, has been hit the worst. One farm, Rembrandt Enterprises, destroyed its giant flock of 5.3 million hens starting in late March using a government-approved yet controversial method called ventilation shutdown plus. The technique, which is being widely used to eliminate millions of chickens at a time during this outbreak, involves closing up barns so that temperatures rise and the animals suffocate over hours. Turkeys can be killed by spraying a firefighting foam that suffocates them.

Rembrandt didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Bird flu is also wreaking havoc in Canada, wiping out almost two million fowl. The virus has never been in multiple provinces at the same time.

“We’re worried. We’re worried for sure,” said Lisa Bishop-Spencer, spokeswoman for Chicken Farmers of Canada.

One person involved in culling infected birds in Colorado has contracted the avian flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The risk of the bird flu spreading to humans remains low, even with this case, the agency said. Flus that spread from animals to humans are a concern because in rare instances, the result can be a pandemic.

Longer Recovery

It won’t be easy to recover from the crisis. In 2015, it took the egg industry over a year to ramp back up, according to Maro Ibarburu-Blanc, a research scientist at Iowa State University’s Egg Industry Center. This time, supplies could be hit for longer because farmers whose operations were affected by the virus may make a transition to cage-free production, which is a long-term trend in the industry, said Mark Jordan, a poultry analyst with LEAP Market Analytics.

Massive outbreaks may continue to plague the U.S. poultry industry as long as bigger bird barns stay in vogue. And the trend is toward bigger.

“We continue to see consolidation of facilities, new facilities continue to be built that are for several million birds,” said John Brunnquell, chief executive officer of Egg Innovations

Any India Curbs on Wheat Exports Would Hurt Its Neighbors Most


Any India Curbs on Wheat Exports Would Hurt Its Neighbors Most

Pratik Parija

Thu, May 5, 2022

(Bloomberg) -- Any restrictions on wheat exports by India will likely hurt neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka most, while some Middle Eastern and Asian markets would also be affected.

The food ministry said India doesn’t see a case for controlling wheat exports, but cut the estimate for 2021-22 production. Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the country is considering export restrictions after severe heat damaged India’s wheat crop.

While India hasn’t been a large shipper of wheat on the global market, the war in Ukraine and drought in some major growing nations have elevated its importance as one of the few remaining places with ample stockpiles. Major buyers including Egypt have recently approved access for Indian wheat.

Traders have already contracted to export 4 million tons in 2022-23, the food ministry said, adding that Turkey has also given approval to import wheat from India. The South Asian nation in April targeted record shipments of up to 15 million tons this fiscal year, from more than 7 million a year earlier.

‘It’s an almost grotesque situation.’ Nearly 25 million tons of grain are stuck in Ukraine, and the UN says it doesn’t know when it can be accessed


John Moore—Getty Images

Tristan Bove
Fri, May 6, 2022

Ukraine was oe of the world’s largest exporters of grain before the Russian army invaded and halted grain exports, harvesting 11% of the world’s wheat and 17% of its corn. For decades, it’s been referred to as the breadbasket of Europe.

In spite of Russian troops blockading Ukraine’s ports, the country’s harvest has continued, but most crops have been unable to leave Ukraine. Now, millions of tons of grain are sitting idle, and the country’s storage capacity is reaching its limits while the world gets hungrier, according to the UN’s top food agency.

Nearly 25 million tons of grain are currently stuck in Ukraine and unable to leave the country due to obstructed seaports and infrastructural issues, said Josef Schmidhuber, an economist with the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, he warned of an “almost grotesque situation” in Ukraine, in which grain is being harvested according to regular schedules, but cannot be taken out of the country.

"[There are] nearly 25 million tonnes of grain that could be exported but that cannot leave the country simply because of lack of infrastructure, the blockade of the ports,” Schmidhuber said.

He clarified that the war has so far not had a significant impact on harvests, but it is becoming harder and harder for global markets to access Ukraine’s food commodities.

Schmidhuber explained that most of Ukraine’s winter crops were planted and harvested in the west of the country, far away from the brunt of the fighting and the war did not impact the recent harvest. He added that around half of the planned summer crops are already in the ground, although it is uncertain how much of it will be reaped.

“A considerable crop could be coming in going forward,” Schmidhuber said, but added that the outlook for grains leaving Ukraine remained uncertain, especially if Black Sea ports remained blocked by Russian forces.

Ukrainian ships have been blocked from leaving Black Sea ports for months, and the director of the UN World Food Programme in Germany announced earlier this week that almost 4.5 million tons of grain are currently sitting in containers in Ukrainian ports, unable to leave because of unsafe or occupied sea routes.

Grain shipments from Ukraine are usually done by sea, according to Schmidhuber, but are now being taken out of the country by rail more and more frequently, something he said can be exceedingly more complicated. Grains leaving Ukraine by train can sometimes need to be unloaded and placed on new carriages due to different railway specifications, such as different widths between rails on a single track.

Ukraine and Russia combined are some of the world’s largest suppliers of key agricultural commodities, including wheat, rapeseed, maize, and sunflower oil, according to the FAO. The disruption of these crucial global supply chains has raised food prices and exacerbated hunger issues in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions.

There are also some reports that Russian troops have been looting Ukrainian grain storages, according to the FAO.

“There is anecdotal evidence that Russian troops have destroyed storage capacity and are looting storage grain that is available,” Schmidhuber said, adding that there are also signs Russian troops have been stealing farm equipment as well, potentially putting the productivity of future harvests at risk.

“Grain is being stolen by Russia and transported by trucks into Russia,” he said.

The uncertainty about what direction the war will take, Ukraine’s limited storage capacity for grain, and evidence that Russian troops have been stealing and damaging harvests and farming equipment, means that global food prices—especially those for cereals and meats, according to the FAO’s latest monthly food price index—are still highly volatile.

In its latest food price index, released on Friday, the FAO announced that global food prices decreased in April after a huge jump last month, but Schmidhuber stressed that it was only a small decline.

The UN said in April that 45 million people worldwide suffer from malnourishment, with up to 20 million more at risk of famine because of the war. Highly vulnerable regions of the world where the war is expected to amplify hunger include countries in the Sahel and West Africa, according to the World Bank.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Belgian brewer starts global roll-out of Ukraine beer for relief effort


Launch of the production of Ukrainian beer in Belgium

Fri, May 6, 2022, 
By Clement Rossignol and Christian Levaux

LEUVEN, Belgium (Reuters) - The world's largest brewer launched production of a popular Ukrainian beer in Belgium on Friday and said all profits made from its global sales would go to humanitarian relief in Ukraine following Russia's invasion.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) has halted production of the Chernigivske lager and other beers at its three breweries in Ukraine because of the war, which began after Russia invaded on Feb. 24.

Ukraine's ambassador to Belgium, Oleg Shamshur, attended the roll-out of the first cans at AB InBev's large brewery in Leuven on Friday and welcomed the launch as a way of showcasing Ukrainian products to the world.

"Maybe even more importantly it would have a symbolic meaning in the sense that people who are drinking Chernigivske will think of Chernihiv, the city which was attacked by the Russians and which resisted the Russian invasion," he told Reuters TV.

The beer originates in Chernihiv, a city in the north of Ukraine that suffered heavy shelling and missile strikes earlier in the war before Russian forces shifted their focus towards eastern and southern Ukraine.

'GOING GLOBAL'

The idea for the relief initiative came from Ukraine's marketing director. The beer is already on sale in Britain.

"This initiative is now going global," AB InBev's European chief Jason Warner "You'll be able to enjoy a Chernigivske in Canada, a Chernigivske in the United States, also in Colombia, Brazil and through Latin America as well as across Europe."

He added that the cans, which bear the blue and yellow colours of the national flag, should be in shops within two to three weeks.

Despite suspending production in Ukraine, AB InBev has said it will continue to pay its 1,812 staff there this year, as well as helping their families with food and accommodation.

The Belgium-based brewer operates in Ukraine in a joint venture with Turkish brewer Anadolu Efes, which has a large presence in Russia.

AB InBev has said it will exit Russia by selling its non-controlling interest in the venture, most likely to partner Efes. It is not clear whether it plans to maintain a presence in Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million and flattened towns and villages.

Russia calls its actions a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Kyiv and its Western backers say this is a false pretext to wage an unprovoked war of aggression against a sovereign democratic state.

(Writing by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Gareth Jones)

How millions of Russians are tearing holes in the Digital Iron Curtain



Anthony Faiola
Fri, May 6, 2022

RIGA, Latvia - When Russian authorities blocked hundreds of Internet sites in March, Konstantin decided to act. The 52-year-old company manager in Moscow tore a hole in the Digital Iron Curtain, which had been erected to control the narrative of the Ukraine war, with a tool that lets him surf blocked sites and eyeball taboo news.

Konstantin turned to a virtual private network, an encrypted digital tunnel more commonly known as a VPN. Since the war began in February, VPNs have been downloaded in Russia by the hundreds of thousands a day - a massive surge in demand that represents a direct challenge to President Vladimir Putin's attempt to seal Russians off from the wider world. By protecting the locations and identities of users, VPNs are now granting millions of Russians access to blocked material.

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Downloading one in his Moscow apartment, Konstantin said, brought back memories of the 1980s in the Soviet Union - when he used a shortwave radio to hear forbidden news of dissident arrests on U.S.-funded Radio Liberty.



"We didn't know what was going on around us, and that's true again now," said Konstantin, who, like other Russian VPN users, spoke on the condition that his last name be withheld for fear of government retribution. "Many people in Russia simply watch TV and eat whatever the government is feeding them. I wanted to find out what was really happening."

Daily downloads in Russia of the 10 most popular VPNs jumped from below 15,000 just before the war to as many as 475,000 in March. As of this week, downloads were continuing at a rate of nearly 300,000 a day, according to data compiled for the Washington Post by the analytics firm Apptopia, which relies on information from apps, publicly available data and an algorithm to come up with estimates.

Russian clients typically download multiple VPNs, but the data suggests millions of new users per month. In early April, Russian telecom operator Yota reported that the number of VPN users was 53.5 times as high as in January, according to the Tass state news service.

The Internet Protection Society, a digital rights group associated with jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, launched its own VPN service on March 20 - and reached its limit of 300,000 users within 10 days, according to executive director Mikhail Klimarev. Based on internal surveys, Klimarev estimates that the number of VPN users in Russia has risen to roughly 30% of the country's 100 million Internet users.

To combat Putin, "Ukraine needs Javelin [missiles] and Russians need Internet," Klimarev said.

By accessing banned Ukrainian and Western news sites, Konstantin said, he has come to deeply sympathize with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian the Russian press has sought to falsely portray as a "drug addict." He was recently compared to Adolf Hitler by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"I loved him as an actor, but now I know Zelensky is also brave because I've seen him talk on Ukrainian news sites with my VPN," Konstantin said.

Not only does widespread VPN use help millions reach material laying out the true extent of Russian military losses and countering the official portrayal of the war as a fight against fascists, say Russian Internet experts, but it also limits government surveillance of activists.

Russian officials have sought to curtail VPN use. An anti-VPN law in 2017 resulted in the banning of more than a dozen providers for refusing to comply with Russian censorship rules.

In the days before the war, and in the weeks since then, Russian authorities have also ratcheted up pressure on Google, asking the search engine to remove thousands of URLs associated with VPNs, according to the Lumen database, an archive of legal complaints related to Internet content. Google, which did not respond to a request for comment, still includes banned sites in search results.

The Russian government is reluctant to ban VPNs completely. Policing such a ban would pose a technological challenge. In addition, many Russians use VPNs to access nonpolitical entertainment and communication tools - popular distractions from daily hardships.

Last month, when asked by Belarusian TV if he had downloaded a VPN, even Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov conceded: "Yes, I have. Why not?"

Since the war began on Feb. 24, more than 1,000 Internet sites have been restricted by Russian authorities, including Facebook, Instagram, BBC News, Voice of America and Radio Liberty, according to a survey by the technology site Top10VPN. The last independent Russian media outlets were forced to shut down, and those in exile that are offering critical content - like the popular Meduza - have also been banned.

Today, even calling Putin's "special operation" - as he has forcibly dubbed the invasion - a "war" risks a sentence of up to 15 years in jail. Free speech has effectively disappeared; even teachers who question the invasion are being reported to the authorities by their students.

"People want to see banned content, but I think they're also genuinely scared," said Tonia Samsonova, a London-based Russian media entrepreneur. "No matter your attitude toward the government or the war, every Russian knows that if the government knows too much about you, it's potentially dangerous. So a VPN is so useful even if they aren't critical of Putin."

Katerina Abramova, spokeswoman for Meduza, said online traffic at the site declined only briefly after it was banned by Russian authorities in March. That's because, suddenly, traffic began surging from unlikely countries like the Netherlands - suggesting that Russians were utilizing VPNs that made them appear to be abroad.

"VPNs won't start a broad revolution in Russia," Abramova said. "But it's a way people who are against this war can stay connected to the world."

Natalia, an 83-year-old Muscovite and former computer operator, asked her adult daughter to help her download a VPN on her laptop shortly after the war started. She feared that the government would ban YouTube, preventing her from seeing her favorite program - an online talk show on technology news. The Kremlin has yet to block YouTube, though Russian Internet experts say the probability remains high.

As the war progressed, however, Natalia found herself also looking at banned news sites, including Radio Free Europe, to stay informed, even as friends around her bought "totally" into the government line that Ukrainians were Nazis and Russia was facing an existential threat from the West.

"People now just believe lie after lie. I feel so isolated," she said.

She said, for example, that she's been able to read foreign news stories suggesting there were significant Russian casualties in the sinking last month of the Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. But the Russian press has reported only one official death, with 27 soldiers declared "missing."

"Parents are just getting one answer from the Ministry of Defense - that your son is 'missing,' " she said. "Missing? Don't you really mean dead? But they're not saying that. They're not telling the truth."

Although downloading a VPN is technically easy, usually requiring only a few clicks, purchasing a paid VPN has become complicated in Russia, as Western sanctions have rendered Russian credit and debit cards nearly useless outside the country. That has forced many to resort to free VPNs, which can have spotty service and can sell information about users.

Vytautas Kaziukonis, chief executive of Surfshark - a Lithuania-based VPN that saw a 20-fold increase in Russian users in March - said some of those customers are now paying in cryptocurrencies or through people they know in third countries.

In a country used to hardships, Russians are good at creative workarounds. Elena, a 50-year-old Moscow tour operator, said she has managed to tap into her old Facebook account by repeatedly signing up for free trials with a series of different VPN providers to avoid payment.

"We do what we have to do," Elena said.

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‘Putin’s Superyacht’ Grabbed by Italian Authorities Before It Could Sail Away

Daniel Kreps

ROLLING STONE 
Fri, May 6, 2022,

Superyacht "The Scheherazade" Moored In Italian Marina - Credit: Getty Images

A superyacht believed to be owned by Russian president Vladimir Putin was “frozen” by Italian authorities Friday before the ship could set sail from port.

The $700 million, 459-foot Scheherazade, worth approximately $700 million, had been under investigation since March, when Italian authorities boarded the ship as part of the European Union’s sanctions against Russian oligarchs in response to the invasion of Ukraine.


While Scheherazade’s ownership was under question, anti-corruption journalists working with jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny long claimed that the ship belonged to Putin; U.S. officials also linked the Scheherazade to Putin, the New York Times reported.

A subsequent report by Italian newspaper La Stampa connected the Scheherazade through shell companies to Russian oligarch Eduard Yurievich Khudainatov, former president of Russian oil company Rosneft, though his “ownership” is believed to obfuscate the real owner of the ship.

(Forbes notes that Khudainatov — who does not face EU sanctions — is also accused of being a “proxy” owner of the Amadea, a superyacht owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.)

The investigation into the Scheherazade — dry-docked at the Marina di Carrara since September for maintenance — hastened in recent days as it appeared the ship was preparing to imminently set sail, which would have removed it from the jurisdiction of EU sanctions. Before that could happen, however, the Italian Minister of Economy and Finance announced a “freezing decree” of the Scheherazade before it could leave the dock.

In announcing the freeze, the Minister of Economy and Finance Daniele Franco said their investigation found “the presence of significant economic and business links of the beneficial owner of the boat Scheherazade with prominent elements of the Russian government.”

If Putin did in fact own the Scheherazade, he didn’t have much time to enjoy it: Forbes reports that the ship was built in 2020, and that some of its perks included an on-ship movie theater, beauty salon, spa and helicopter pad.

The Scheherazade is the latest superyacht targeted in the ongoing sanctions against Russian oligarchs, following the seizure of Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s custom-built 512-foot yacht Dilbar as well as the Amore Vero, a superyacht belonging to Igor Sechin, the Russian oil oligarch dubbed “Darth Vader.”

More from Rolling Stone

Russian Oligarch's Superyacht Reportedly Seized in Germany

French Authorities Seize Superyacht Belonging to Russia's 'Darth Vader' Oligarch

Documents found by Fiji on superyacht implicate its Russian owner - FBI

Thu, May 5, 2022
By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Fiji authorities searching a yacht they seized on behalf of the United States as it presses Russia over the invasion of Ukraine have found documents implicating its suspected owner, Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, in breaking U.S. law, the FBI said.

The Amadea arrived in Fiji on April 13, after an 18-day voyage from Mexico, and has since been the focus of a U.S. bid to seize it as part of U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Fiji police and FBI agents seized the Amadea at a wharf on Thursday, two days after a Fiji court granted a U.S. warrant that linked it to money laundering.

Fiji's High Court on Friday refused a stay application by the vessel's registered owner, Millemarin Investments, to stop U.S. authorities removing it from Fiji, Fiji's public prosecutor said in a statement.

The $300 million superyacht had been handed over to U.S. authorities, it said.

The FBI said in an affidavit attached to the U.S. seizure warrant that Fiji authorities had found documents on the Amadea showing breaches of U.S. law because Kerimov was sanctioned by the United States in 2018.

"There is probable cause to believe that Kerimov and those acting on his behalf and for his benefit caused U.S. dollar transactions for the operation and maintenance of the Amadea to be sent through U.S. financial institutions, after a time which Kerimov was designated by the Treasury Department," the FBI said.

The vessel had running costs of $25 million to $30 million, it said.

Lawyers for its registered owner, Cayman Islands company Millemarin Investments, have denied it is owned by Kerimov. The vessel's lawyer, Feizal Haniff, declined to comment to Reuters on Friday.

The U.S. alleges Kerimov has beneficially owned the Amadea since August 2021 but evidence for this claim was redacted in the warrant.

The FBI said the Amadea had tried to avoid being seized "almost immediately" after Russian troops entered Ukraine.

"Amadea turned off its automated information systems (AIS) on February 24, 2022, almost immediately after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine," the FBI said.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say the fascist allegation is baseless and that the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.

The vessel's paperwork showed the next destination would be the Philippines but the FBI believed it was headed to the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok.

Many Russian oligarchs have attempted to move their yachts to Russia to escape U.S. sanctions since March, the FBI said.

The U.S. Justice Department's Taskforce KleptoCapture has focused on seizing yachts and other luxury assets to put the finances of Russian oligarchs under strain in a bid to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, commenting on the seizure of the Amadea in Fiji, said in a statement: "The FBI, along with our international partners, will continue to seek out those individuals who contribute to the advancement of Russia's malign activities and ensure they are brought to justice, regardless of where, or how, they attempt to hide."

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham;Editing by Robert Birsel)

Russian soldiers accused of raping women, men and children in Ukraine

Garin Flowers

·National Reporter and Producer

Fri, May 6, 2022, 

Amid the devastation wrought by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, accusations are emerging that Russian soldiers are raping and sexually assaulting women and girls, according to multiple authorities.

This week Ukraine and United Nations officials addressed new information that men and boys are also reporting rape by Russian soldiers.

“I have received reports, not yet verified ... about sexual violence cases [involving] men and boys in Ukraine,” said Pramila Patten, United Nations special representative on sexual violence in conflict, at a press conference Tuesday in Kyiv.

She continued: “It’s hard for women and girls to report [rape] because of stigma amongst other reasons, but it’s often even harder for men and boys to report ... we have to create that safe space for all victims to report cases of sexual violence.”

Pramila Patten, U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, and Olha Stefanishyna, deputy Ukrainian prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, at a joint briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday. (Ukrinform/Shutterstock)

In some grim testimonies, victims have reported being assaulted at gunpoint, gang-raped or forced to be watched by their loved ones as the assault occurred.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Kyiv-based human rights lawyer and head of the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, spoke to Yahoo News about the allegations of rampant sexual violence, including rape, inflicted upon Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces. She said she’s heard stories of rape from Ukrainian officials and from her own sources with the Euromaidan SOS civic initiative, which was created following the 2013 peaceful demonstrations and violent crackdown that eventually led to the ouster of former Russian-backed Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych.

“Three days ago, one of our lawyers contacted me and [asked me] whether we have some special instruction for how to take testimonies from a man who was raped because he faced with this in his practice, and he wants to be prepared how to speak with people who suffered from sexual violence, and I provide these guidelines,” she told Yahoo News in a Zoom interview on Thursday.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Kyiv-based human rights lawyer and head of the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties. (Yahoo News)

Mounting evidence is supporting reports of horrible crimes allegedly being committed by Russian soldiers.

Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine’s ombudsman for human rights, said she has documented around two dozen cases of women and teens raped in Bucha, a Kyiv suburb that Russian troops withdrew from.

“About 25 girls and women aged 14 to 24 were systematically raped during the occupation in the basement of one house in Bucha. Nine of them are pregnant,” she said, according to a BBC report.

Noting that they receive reports on support help lines and on the Telegram app, she added: “A 25-year-old woman called to tell us her 16-year-old sister was raped in the street in front of her. She said they were screaming ‘This will happen to every Nazi prostitute’ as they raped her sister.”

Pro-Russian troops drive tanks near the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 17. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Denisova told another terrifying story out of Bucha on her Facebook page. On April 8 she posted, “A boy, 11, raped in front of his mom’s eyes - she was tied to a chair to watch.” This is one of many updates she gives daily about children raped, stripped from their parents or killed.

Russia has denied the allegations of rape by its soldiers. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “it’s a lie” when asked about sexual crimes in Bucha.

Matviichuk described the difficulty of investigating this “very specific crime” of rape due to the ongoing conflict, lack of proper infrastructure, victims being stuck in occupied territories, and a reluctance on the part of victims to share their stories. She said they work with and refer sexual violence victims to the right organizations and try to supply them with the best information possible.

“Sexual violence is the most hidden crime ... and survivors from sexual violence very often [don’t] report to police, even after liberation of territory, and don’t want to speak with human rights defenders about this horrible experience,” she said.

“In this memo, we put the contact of medical and psychological assist initiatives who can provide assistance in [a] confidential way,” without having to report to the authorities, Matviichuk said, “which is extremely important and has to be a priority first to provide assistance.” She added that if victims do want to provide testimony, it’s best for them to have all of this information.

Ukraine Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova at a news briefing in Irpin, Ukraine, on Tuesday. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

In Ukraine, some authorities and experts allege Russian soldiers are using rape in a number of ways — as a scare tactic, as a way to occupy an area and as an act of genocide. As much as rape is an atrocity at the hands of an individual, it could have a different impact in times of war.

Ukraine Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said authorities are collecting information on war crimes, including rape and torture, by Russian forces. According to Reuters, when asked about rape as a Russian strategy in the war, she said, “I am sure actually that it was a strategy.

“This is, of course, to scare civil society ... to do everything to capitulate.”

Matviichuk added: “My estimation, as a human rights lawyer, sexual violence is used by Russian soldiers as a part of terror in order to quickly obtain and save the control over their occupied area.”

 AFRICA NOT UKRAINE

Putin’s Private Army Accused of Raping New Moms on Maternity Ward

Philip Obaji Jr.

DAILY BEAST
Fri, May 6, 2022

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/Security Service of Ukraine

ABUJA, Nigeria—Russian mercenaries from the notoriously brutal Wagner Group, which some have called Vladimir Putin’s “private army,” allegedly raped women admitted to a maternity ward in a hospital in the Central African Republic (CAR), according to military officials who spoke to The Daily Beast.

On the night of April 10, three Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, which is also active in Ukraine right now, allegedly staged the attacks at a hospital in the Henri Izamo military camp in the capital Bangui.

Officials stationed in CAR’s military headquarters, but who keep an eye on the activities of so-called Russian “military instructors,” told The Daily Beast that the men forced themselves on women—a couple of whom had just given birth—who were receiving treatment in the infirmary's maternity ward.


“[The military headquarters] received a report last month from the [hospital] center detailing how three Russian instructors stormed the maternity ward and began to sexually assault women on admission,” one of the officials told The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity, as he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press.

Many of the mercenaries operating in Africa under Wagner—a private military company run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, one of President Putin’s closest associates—were withdrawn to help fight the war in Ukraine—as first reported by The Daily Beast—but there are still plenty in operation on the continent.

Notorious Russian Mercenaries Pulled Out of Africa Ready for Ukraine

“Among the victims, the military was informed, are two mothers who had just given birth to babies and health workers on duty,” said the official, who added that the military “is convinced that the report is genuine.”

Another official in CAR’s military headquarters with knowledge of the operations of Wagner mercenaries in the restive African nation told The Daily Beast that it was the third time the military had received a report about Russian mercenaries invading the maternity ward of the infirmary and sexually assaulting women.

On all three occasions, according to the official, investigators found the allegations to be “genuine,” but taking action against the mercenaries was almost impossible as officers are “scared of angering the Russians.”

A human rights campaigner who has spoken to a victim of a previous rape at the Henri Izamo military camp informed The Daily Beast that the Russian mercenaries who assaulted her when she was receiving treatment at the infirmary sometime last year arrived late at night, dragged her out of her bed, and began to rape her on the floor.

“She was so sick and was sleeping when the Russians arrived,” said Cédric Niamathé, a Bangui-based human rights activist who helps connect victims of various abuses to human rights lawyers. “All she could remember was opening her eyes and seeing a naked white soldier, who had covered her mouth with his hand, on top of her, raping her.”

A couple of regional publications—quoting eyewitnesses—have given accounts of how the most recent incident occurred.

HumAngle, a West and Central Africa-focused news site headquartered in Nigeria, quoted a gendarme who was on duty on that day as saying that the Russians arrived at the infirmary's maternity ward “with pistols and whisky in their hands” and met the two women who had just given birth, as well as some other female health workers, in the room.

“They started indecently touching the women and signaling for sex from the two women who had just put to bed,” said the gendarme. He also alleged that the Russians tried to rape the nurse on duty who had confronted them saying the women had just given birth and still had blood on them. “She struggled to free herself [and] ran to the labour room,” he reportedly said.

“As this was going on,” said the gendarme, a “nurse aide who happened to be an adjutant-chef (Chief Warrant Officer) and who was still in the maternity tried to beg the Russians to be human but they turned on her and sexually abused her one after the other.”

Corbeau News Centrafrique, one of CAR’s best-known independent news outlets, which spoke to an eyewitness, reported that the sexual assault on the nurse aide lasted for hours, with each mercenary allegedly taking turns to abuse her. The news outlet also reported that one of the women who had just given birth said her ordeal was painful and humiliating.

Victims of rape hardly ever get justice in CAR. Over four years ago, Human Rights Watch documented 305 cases of rape and sexual slavery carried out against women and girls by members of armed groups between early 2013 and mid-2017. Of the 296 victims interviewed, only 11 of the 296 women interviewed said they made an attempt to file a criminal complaint. No members of armed groups was ever arrested or tried for committing sexual violence, according to the organization. Instead, the number of victims continued to grow.

In 2020, the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System—a monitoring system maintained by humanitarian partners including UNFPA—recorded 2,281 cases of sexual violence. More than a third of those brutalities were committed by members of armed groups.

As for those women reported to have been raped at the Henri Izamo military camp by Wagner mercenaries, there would be no surprise if justice isn’t served. Even those with the power to either take action or recommend that action be taken are unconvinced that anyone will be punished.

“Disciplining a Russian instructor who has committed a crime is not what the military can confidently act on,” a senior CAR military official told The Daily Beast privately. “Only the president can decide on how to deal with the Russians.”

Russian troops killing civilians in Central African Republic, rights group says

Issued on: 03/05/2022

01:34   Russian and Central African Republic flags are waved by demonstrators gathered in Bangui on March 5, 2022 during a rally in support of Russia. 

Text by: NEWS WIRES|
Video by: Vedika BAHL  

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday said there was "compelling evidence" that Russian paramilitary troops were committing serious rights abuses and killing civilians in the Central African Republic.

A civil war in the CAR that began in 2013, pitting numerous militias against a state on the verge of collapse, had eased considerably in recent years.

But about a year ago, fighting resumed abruptly when rebels launched an offensive to overthrow President Faustin Archange Touadera.

After the president called on Moscow for help, hundreds of Russian paramilitary forces helped push back the rebels, who still hold sway over swathes of the country.

The private military contractors are often described as belonging to the "Wagner group" - a Russian entity with no known legal status.

"Forces in the Central African Republic, whom witnesses identified as Russian, appear to have summarily executed, tortured, and beaten civilians since 2019," Human Rights Watch said.

"Several Western governments, and United Nations experts and special rapporteurs have found evidence that the forces linked to Russia operating in the Central African Republic include a significant number of members of the Wagner Group, a Russian private military security contractor with apparent links to the Russian government," it added.

The UN, NGOs and CAR's former colonial ruler France accuse both the army and rebels of committing crimes against civilians.

"The Central African government has every right to request international security assistance, but it can't allow foreign forces to kill and otherwise abuse civilians with impunity," HRW's Ida Sawyer said.

"To demonstrate its respect for the rule of law, and to put an end to these abuses, the government should immediately investigate and prosecute all forces, including Russia-linked forces, responsible for murder, unlawful detention, and torture," Sawyer said.

HRW said Russian-speaking men shot dead 12 unarmed men arrested at a checkpoint near Bossangoa, northwest of the capital Bangui, on July 21 last year.

The New York-based group also spoke of arbitrary detentions, tortures and summary killings of men randomly arrested in the street in the central town of Alindao in June last year.

HRW said it also "documented cases of detention and torture by Russia-linked forces in Bambari in 2019".

It said it had written to the CAR and Russian governments but received no reply.

Last month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, denounced "serious human rights violations" in the Central African Republic, including killings and sexual violence against civilians, committed by rebel groups but also by the military and their Russian allies.

(AFP)

Ethiopia war: Evidence of mass killing being burned - witness

Many Tigrayans fled the region when the civil war broke out in November 2020


Lucy Kassa - Journalist

Fri, May 6, 2022

The remains of hundreds of people are being deliberately destroyed in an organised campaign to dispose of evidence of ethnic cleansing in the west of Ethiopia's Tigray region, according to interviews with 15 eyewitnesses.

The allegations follow multiple reports of the targeting of the Tigrayan population during the civil war. They also come in advance of the possible deployment of a UN independent investigation team which will be led by former International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

People belonging to security forces from the neighbouring Amhara region, which are occupying western Tigray, have been identified as digging up fresh mass graves, exhuming hundreds of bodies, burning them and then transporting what remains out of the region, the eyewitnesses said in telephone interviews.


The authorities have acknowledged that graves have been dug up but say that they show evidence that Tigrayan forces had been carrying out its own campaign of ethnically motivated killing in recent decades. Researchers from Gondar University have also been uncovering mass grave sites that they have linked to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

All sides in the on-going civil war have been accused of carrying out mass killings.

But in a recent report, rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accused Amhara officials and security forces of being behind a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Tigrayans in the area.

The fighting, which began in November 2020, followed a dispute between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's federal government and the TPLF, Tigray's dominant political party.

Remnants from the civil war can be seen across northern Ethiopia

Last December, the UN human rights council passed a resolution to establish an independent investigation into atrocities committed by all warring parties in the conflict.

The Ethiopian government objected to the resolution and vowed not to co-operate, saying the resolution was an "instrument of political pressure".

In a vote in March, Ethiopia's bid to block funding for the investigative panel failed. Russia and China had backed the Ethiopian government's attempt to block funding.
Remains burned

Eyewitnesses have said that three days after the funding was approved, the campaign to destroy evidence of atrocities was launched in western Tigray.

"In the plot of land behind Hamele Hamushte school in Humera town, 200 bodies of ethnic Tigrayan civilians were buried in two mass graves. These were civilians massacred in the early months of the war," said an eyewitness from the Welkyat ethinc group who lives in Humera.

Whereas Tigrayans either fled the area during the fighting or are in detention, members of the Welkyat ethnic group remained and have provided the eyewitness reports.

"On 4 April, the Amhara militias and the Fano [militia] youth group exhumed the remains. They gathered wood, sprayed something we never saw before and burned the remains they collected. The remains crumbled and turned into ash."

This testimony was consistent with what other eyewitnesses said about the same incident .

Amhara militia and Fano youth destroyed the remains of bodies buried in another part of Humera, witnesses have said.

"The bodies belonged to civilians who were paraded from detention camps. There were around 100 bodies buried en masse behind the land of the public office of the Humera Agricultural Institute," said another witness.

"They took the remains to the compound of the institute and turned them into ash using wood, fire, and chemicals that we don't know. As they were doing that their faces were covered by masks and they wore gloves."

Map

Adebay is another town in western Tigray where eyewitnesses have described the disposal of evidence by moving human remains.

"On the morning of 10 April, the Amhara militias dug up the four mass graves in the St Abune Argawi church," a resident of Adebay said.

"There were 150 bodies of civilians killed in the August wave of ethnic cleansing. They loaded the bodies into a lorry. We don't know where they took the remains."

Eyewitnesses said that on the same day another mass grave located behind the local government administrative office of Adebay was dug up. Thirty-nine civilians had allegedly been buried there in October 2021 after being rounded up in the town of Adi Goshu and then caught trying to flee.

According to the testimonies the remains were loaded onto a lorry and moved to an unknown place.

In another town, Beaker, which is located between Tirkan and Rawyan, other eyewitnesses described similar activity.

"The bodies belonged to 70 civilians who had been arrested in Beaker. They were massacred nine months ago," a resident said.

"On 11 April the Amhara militia exhumed them and took them to Sanja, a town in the Amhara region."

Witnesses said the campaign of the disposal of evidence started on 4 April and was supervised by experts from Gondar University, which is in Amhara region.

"It all started following the visit of experts from Gondar University. When they came, they came with trucks that were loaded with chemicals in white jerry cans. The experts were in the town for a few days giving training to the Amhara militia on how to dispose of the remains and then they returned," an eyewitness said.

Three residents said that militia members had been publicly talking about the involvement of Gondar University and showing off about how the evidence of the killings would not be discovered.

The university has not responded to a request for comment on the allegations.

But last month, the state broadcaster reported that researchers from Gondar University had been working on 12 mass grave sites in the area and had found evidence that the TPLF had been involved in acts of genocide.

Experts have confirmed that it is possible to dispose of human remains using certain chemicals.

Andrea Sella, professor of inorganic chemistry at University College London, said cremation was possible as long as a high enough temperature was reached.

Gebrekidan Gebresilassie, a doctor in chemical engineering at the RWTH Aachen University in Germany, also said it was possible to destroy forensic evidence with the help of chemicals that are readily available.

"These chemicals destroy the forensic evidence... But from a chemical point of view even the ashes can show some evidence. It is difficult to destroy it all," he said.

The prime minister's office has not responded to a request for comment, however a senior Amhara official and the speaker of the federal parliament, Agegnehu Teshager, denied the accusations that evidence was being systematically destroyed.

He did say that exhumations were going on but that the bodies that were being removed were those of ethnic Amharas who had been killed over the past 40 years.

"It was not possible to exhume the mass graves and show it to the world until these days because the TPLF was ruling the country," he said. The TPLF had been the dominant party in the coalition that governed Ethiopia from the 1990s until 2018, when Mr Abiy came to power.

Mr Agegnehu also rejected the reports of ethnic cleansing in western Tigray including those from Amnesty and Human Rights Watch. He described them as a lie.

"They are sensational reports which do not take into account the reality on the ground," he said.

More on Ethiopia's civil war:

How a massacre in Ethiopia’s sacred city unfolded


Ethiopia using rape as strategy of war - Amnesty


Why the Ethiopia conflict matters to the world


Watch: The hidden side of Ethiopia's civil war

This NASA image of solar flares on the Sun looks like a crazy sci-fi movie

Joshua Hawkins
Fri, May 6, 2022,


A massive solar flare erupted from the surface of the Sun earlier this week. The X-class flare is just the latest eruption from the Sun that has captured NASA’s attention. This time, though, NASA managed to capture an image of the solar flare as it happened. It’s a stunning image, and one that looks like it was ripped right out of a science fiction movie.

Check out this image of a solar flare as it happens



The solar flare peaked around 9:25 a.m. EDT on May 3, 2022, NASA says. The space agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the image of the solar flare. The observatory constantly watches the Sun for events like this.

It’s all part of the space agency’s attempts to learn more about our Sun, and to prepare should any of these solar flares erupt towards Earth.

This flare follows a few others which have happened this week. In fact, at the end of April, the Sun blasted out the most powerful solar flare in the last five years. Where the last X-class flare was classified as an X2.2, this new flare was only an X1.1.

X-class solar flares are the most intense flares that the Sun creates. As such, it is always worth keeping an eye on them when they happen. At the time that NASA captured the image of this solar flare, the Space Weather Prediction Center noted a possible strong radio blackout.

What happens when a solar flare hits Earth?

Earth magnetic field with solar flare could cause electron rain

This image of a solar flare might be breathtaking, but solar flares can be scary events. While the energy from these events can’t penetrate Earth’s atmosphere, they can create some unwanted side effects. Chief among these side effects is the radio blackouts that I mentioned previously.

When a solar flare hits the Earth, the energy from the flare can cause issues with satellites, GPS systems, and even high-altitude communication systems. Ultimately, though, we have a long time before we should have to worry about the Sun erupting with enough power to destroy the Earth.

The image of this solar flare is just another reminder that the Sun’s current solar cycle is picking up. NASA and other space agencies expect the solar cycle to peak sometime in the mid-2020s. When that happens, we’ll probably see more X-class solar flares hitting.

It’s hard to say whether any of those eruptions of plasma energy will be pointed toward the Earth.

Previously, we’ve seen massive bursts of plasma energy erupt from the Sun millions of miles into space. With so much power stored in our star, it’s only a matter of time until these solar flares become more frequent.