18 escaped rhesus macaques remain on the loose in South Carolina


A wild Rhesus macaque monkey carries her infant in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2021. 43 primates of this type escaped from an enclosure Wednesday at the Alpha Genesis research facility in Yemassee, S.C. 18 remained on the loose Sunday. Photo by Monirul Alam/EPA-EFE


Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Nearly half of the 43 monkeys that escaped from a research facility in Yemassee, S.C., have been recovered, local police said Sunday, but 18 remain on the loose.

Police said that the recovered macaques have undergone veterinary exams and are reported to be in good health, but a "sizable group remains active along the fence line and at this time have bedded down in the trees for the night," police said in a statement Sunday.

The rhesus macaque primates escaped from the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center on Wednesday. The company's Chief executive officer, Greg Westergaard, told police Saturday that recovery efforts will continue "for as long as it takes," according to a statement.

Among the largest in the nation, the facility specializes in nonhuman primate research for the biomedical research community. It is designed specifically for monkeys, and has more than 100 acres of land for research and breeding purposes, according to its website.

Alpha Genesis rescue team members are using specially designed traps that contain a trap door to try to recover the primates that are still outside the facility.
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Local residents have been asked to stay away from the monkeys and to keep their doors and windows closed as team members work to recover the macaques that have yet to be rescued.

"The primates continue to interact with their companions inside the facility, which is a positive sign," the YPD said of the monkeys that still have not been captured.

The macaques escaped Wednesday after a caretaker at the facility failed to properly secure a door on an enclosure containing 50 monkeys. Forty-three of them walked out, Westergaard told CBS News.

"It's really like follow-the-leader," he said. "You see one go and the others go."

Half of escaped research monkeys recovered in South Carolina

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- More than half of the 43 monkeys that escaped from a research facility in Yemassee, S.C., have been recovered, local police said Sunday.

Rescue workers from the Alpha Genesis research facility continued to try to recover the remaining 18.

"We are pleased to report that one of the escaped primates has been successfully recovered unharmed," the Yemassee Police Department posted on Facebook Saturday at noon EST.

"A significant number of the remaining primates are still located just a few yards from the property, jumping back and forth over the facility's fence," the YPD said.

The monkeys are among 43 rhesus macaque primates that left an enclosure at the Alpha Genesis research facility on Wednesday.

A caretaker did not secure a door properly on the enclosure containing 50 monkeys, and 43 of them left while seven others stayed in the enclosure, Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard told CBS News.

"It's really like follow-the-leader," Westergaard said. "You see one go and the others go."

He said the loose monkeys are staying close to the facility.

Baited traps and thermal imaging cameras were placed Thursday to capture the monkeys, and Alpha Genesis staff continue feeding and monitoring them while the recovery effort also is ongoing.

"The primates continue to interact with their companions inside the facility, which is a positive sign," the YPD said.

The effort to recover the escaped monkeys will continue for as long as it takes, Westergaard told the YPD.

Local residents are advised to keep their doors and windows shut and locked while the recovery effort continues.

"We strongly urge the public to refrain from entering the area surrounding the facility as these animals can be easily startled," the YPD said on Facebook.

Yemassee is about 60 miles west of Charleston.

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Nov 18, 2005 ... Beasts of Burden forces to rethink the whole "primitivist" debate. ... Gilles Dauvé- Letter on animal liberation.pdf (316.85 KB). primitivism ..

RIP
Firefighter dead, NYC faces wildfire threats caused by historic drought


A forest fire is pictured in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, in a photo shared online by the FDNY. Photo courtesy of FDNY/X

Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Dariel Vasquez, an 18-year-old volunteer firefighter from New Jersey, died Sunday in New York while helping battle a wildfire in Sterling Forest.

The Big Apple is cooking amid a historic drought and abnormally warm weather, raising the risk of wildfires in New York City's green spaces.

Vasquez was killed while battling a fire in a forest in Greenwood Lake, about 35 miles northwest of New York City, according to state police.

A large brush fire in Prospect Park in Brooklyn reached two alarms on Friday, the FDNY said on social media, with dramatic photographs showing flames burning through the park's dense trees.

This is the latest in a recent series of wildfires in the area due to dry conditions prompted by an ongoing drought.

Meanwhile, another New Jersey man has been hit with arson and firearms charges after a wildfire in Jackson Township, located about 75 miles south of New York, the New Jersey Forest Service announced on Facebook.

That fire, which burned 350 acres behind a berm in the area of the Central Jersey Rifle Range, was ignited by magnesium shards of a Dragons Breath 12 gauge shotgun round fired by Richard Shashaty, 37, of Brick Township.

"The firing of this type of incendiary or tracer ammunition is prohibited in the State of New Jersey," the Forest Service said.

The entire region has been affected by the drought, with one wildfire along the New Jersey border with New York able to be seen from space.

"We are able to see a wildfire along the NJ/NY border from space courtesy of @NOAASatellites," the National Weather Service in New York said in a statement Saturday.

"Some of this smoke/haze may be visible further south into NYC. Smaller fires are also faintly visible, one in central Passaic County, one in SE Orange County, one in SW Putnam County."

Another fire has burned through at least 39 acres of wooded areas off the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Englewood Cliffs, just across the Hudson River from New York, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.

That fire has reached 75% containment.

But a wildfire off Cannonball Road in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, has burned through nearly 200 acres of land and threatened at least 55 structures.
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The NWS said New York faced "another dry day with an elevated risk of wildfire spread if ignition occurs" on Sunday. An air quality warning remains in effect for the city and the lower Hudson Valley region through midnight.

Back in New York, the FDNY said in a statement Saturday that it has since responded to "hundreds" of brush fires across the city's five boroughs.

"Some have been minor, and others have risen to multiple alarm fires that threaten life and property," the FDNY said.

"Brush fires can spread quickly, fueled by dry vegetation and windy conditions. October and November have been historically dry and warm."

New York Mayor Eric Adams banned grilling in city parks on Saturday. And the FDNY has encouraged New Yorkers to be mindful of smoking and where they dispose of their cigarette butts and urged people to remain on designated trails when visiting the city's parks.

"If you've been outside, you've likely smelled the smoke from wildfires in our region, including one that burned in Prospect Park," Adams said in a statement. "Stay indoors if you have respiratory issues and avoid burning outside while the risk of fires is high."

CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M

12 years in prison for man who operated bitcoin money laundering wallet



The man responsible for operating the longest-running bitcoin money laundering service on the darknet was handed a 150-month prison sentence this week by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The man responsible for operating the longest-running bitcoin money laundering service on the darknet was handed a 150-month prison sentence this week by a federal judge in Washington, D.C.

Roman Sterlingov was also ordered to surrender more than $395.5 million worth of assets, including cryptocurrency, according to the Justice Department.

Following a one-month trial in March, the dual Russian-Swedish citizen was convicted of money laundering conspiracy, money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and money transmission without a license in the District of Columbia.

The 36-year-old operated Bitcoin Fog between 2011 and 2021, allegedly laundering $400 million in illicit proceeds for all manner of international criminals, the Justice Department contended.

"Roman Sterlingov ran the longest-running bitcoin money laundering service on the darknet, and today he paid the price," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in the Justice Department's statement.

"In the deepest corners of the internet, he provided a home for criminals of all stripes, from drug traffickers to identity thieves, to store hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds."

"Through his illicit money laundering operation, Sterlingov helped criminals launder proceeds of drug trafficking, computer crime, identity theft, and the sexual exploitation of children. Today's sentencing underscores the Justice Department's commitment to holding those who facilitate criminal activity fully accountable for their crimes," said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

In addition to the prison sentence and financial penalty, US District Judge for Washington Randolph Moss also ordered Sterlingov to forfeit his entire interest in the Bitcoin Fog wallet, which currently holds 1,345 bitcoin valued at more than $103 million.

Prosecutors asked Moss for a 30-year prison sentence, while defense lawyers asked for no more than seven years of incarceration.

Sterlingov was facing a maximum of 50 years in prison following the conviction.

"Clearly, Sterlingov's attempt to shroud his illicit activities in a cloak of anonymity ultimately failed against the sophisticated collaborative work of our Criminal Investigation special agents and partners," IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Guy Ficco said in the Justice Department's statement.

"Today's significant prison term and hundreds of millions in financial sanctions against the defendant emphasizes the seriousness of this conviction and should serve as a stark notice that this type of criminal activity will not be tolerated."

2 dead, 12 missing after fishing boat sinks off South Korea's Jeju Island


A handout photo made available by the Korea Coast Guard shows the 129-ton Geumseong, which sank 15 miles off Jeju's Biyang Island, South Korea, on Friday. Of its 27 crew members, 15 were rescued, including two who were found unconscious and later pronounced dead, while 12 others remained missing. Photo by Korea Coast Guard/EPA-EFE


Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Two people died and rescuers were searching for 12 others who went missing in the waters of the East China Sea on Friday after a fishing boat sank off South Korea's Jeju Island, authorities said.

The fishing vessel Geumseong, a 129-ton craft, sent out a distress call early Friday morning when it began sinking about 15 miles off the small island of Biyangdo, located just northeast of Jeju, Korean Coast Guard officials told the Yonhap News Agency.

They said the ship had 27 crew members aboard when it began sinking, including 16 Koreans and 11 Indonesians. Of those, 15 were rescued by a nearby vessel but two of them, identified as Koreans, were later pronounced dead after being hospitalized.

The 12 who remain missing include 10 Koreans and two Indonesians, officials said.

Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Jong-wook activated the agency's Central Rescue Headquarters to launch a full-scale effort to find any survivors, deploying dozens of divers who searched through waters reaching depths of nearly 300 feet.

A spokesman for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol told Yonhap he has issued authorization to mobilize all available resources and personnel for the rescue mission.

Crew members said the boat capsized after unloading its catch onto a transport vessel and lifting the net, although questions remain about why the weight of an unloaded net would cause such a large boat to capsize.

One possibility is that heavy floating trash may have been caught up in the net, the Hankook Ilbo daily reported. Refuse floating the waters off Jeju Island has become an increasingly serious problem in recent years, it said.

Preterm babies may experience lifelong harms in education, employment

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay News

Nov. 8, 2024 / 

Babies born preterm may face a life of lowered prospects. Adults who were preemies are less likely to achieve higher education or snag a high-paying job, researchers reported. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

Babies born preterm face a life of lowered prospects, a new study warns.

Adults who were preemies are less likely to achieve higher education or snag a high-paying job, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.

What's more, the earlier preterm a baby is born, the worse his or her future prospects appear to be.

"Our findings suggest that the development of long-term supports [including psychological, education and vocational resources] that go beyond clinical care may help mitigate the longer-term effects of preterm birth," said researcher Petros Pechlivanoglou, with The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Preterm birth is known to increase a baby's risk of intellectual and developmental difficulties, according to the March of Dimes. About 10% of all babies worldwide are born preterm.

For the study, researchers analyzed health, education and employment data on all live births that occurred in Canada between 1990 and 1996, a pool of about 2.4 million people.

Results showed that babies born before 37 weeks of gestation are 17% less likely to go to college, 16% less likely to graduate with a college degree and 2% less likely to be employed.

The average income of adults who were born preterm is 6% lower than those born at term, researchers said.

For individuals born at the earliest gestation, 24 to 27 weeks, those associations were even stronger, with a 17% lower annual income and a 45% decrease in rates of university enrollment and graduation.

"Policymakers and society as a whole must recognize that the socioeconomic impact of preterm birth may extend into early adulthood and that considerations for ongoing support could be vital to ensuring this population has equal opportunity to thrive," Pechlivanoglou added in a journal news release.

More information

The March of Dimes has more on the long-term health effects of preterm birth.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

DOJ accuses Mississippi Senate of pay discrimination against Black staff attorney


A Black staff attorney working for the Mississippi State Senate was paid only half of what her White colleagues were making despite having similar job duties, the Department of Justice alleged Friday. Photo courtesy Mississippi State Legislature

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A Black attorney who formerly worked on the staff of the Republican-controlled Mississippi State Senate was the target of illegal racial discrimination, the Department o Justice alleged Friday.

In a complaint filed Friday in the Southern District of Mississippi, federal prosecutors alleged that Kristie Metcalfe was paid "significantly less" than every other staff attorney in the Senate's Legislative Services Office -- all of whom are White -- despite having essentially the same responsibilities.

Metcalfe was the first non-White attorney hired by the LSO in 34 years, the DOJ said. Staffers' duties include legal services such as drafting bills for use by all members of the Senate.

"Discriminatory employment practices, like paying a Black employee less than their White colleagues for the same work, are not only unfair, they are unlawful," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

"The Black employee at issue in this lawsuit was paid about half the salary of her White colleagues in violation of federal law. This lawsuit makes clear that race-based pay discrimination will not be tolerated in our economy," she added.
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The suit claims Metcalfe resigned following eight years on the job after her requests for a pay increase were denied then-Senate Rules Committee Chairman Terry Burton and other committee members.

Federal officials say they are seeking back pay and compensatory damages for Metcalfe as well as an injunction barring the Mississippi Senate from further alleged pay discrimination.

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann's and Gov. Tate Reeves' offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment sought by The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion Ledger.

Philadelphia SEPTA transit strike averted as union continues bargaining

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority workers decided to continue negotiations on a new labor contract Friday afternoon, averting a strike that had been set for midnight Thursday.

"We made significant progress today and there was enough progress made where we decided to not go on strike and continue talking," Transport Workers Union Local 234 President Brian Pollitt said in a Thursday statement, "...I'm going to do whatever I can and all the power that I have to try to avoid a strike. I'm going to sit down, roll my sleeves up, get with SEPTA and try to make a deal."

The union workers want raises along with safety and security improvements.

"SEPTA is committed to engaging in good-faith negotiations at the bargaining table, with the goal of reaching an agreement that is fair to our hard-working employees and to the customers and taxpayers who fund SEPTA," SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said.

SEPTA transit will operate normally Friday. The union represents 5,000 transit workers.

Pollitt argued that SEPTA has a $600 million rainy day fund and some of that can be used to give workers raises. He said the union isn't going after the entire $600 million, but said SEPTA can afford to make improvements for transit workers.

SEPTA disputes that and said the fund is a "service stabilization fund" and estimated it is $300 million but SEPTA is facing a financial crisis that could drain the fund.

TWU Local 234 workers authorized a strike in a vote last week if no agreement can be reached at the bargaining table.

"The International Transport Workers Union is throwing its full weight behind Local 234 in its fight against SEPTA.The urgent safety and economic concerns of our transit workers in Philadelphia can't be ignored any longer. We will provide whatever resources are needed to achieve victory," TWU International union President John Samuelson said in a statement.

"If SEPTA forces a strike, transport workers from across the country will enthusiastically join Local 234 on the picket lines: airline mechanics, flight attendants, track workers, subway conductors, train operators, and more. Local 234's fight is our fight too."

Portraits of pain: smuggled Palestinian art shows trauma of Gaza

 
By AFP
November 10, 2024


Mohammad Shaqdih of the Darat al-Funun gallery: the paintings "depict the daily realities of war" - Copyright AFP Khalil MAZRAAWI

Kamal Taha

When war erupted in Gaza, Palestinian artists had only one way to share their work expressing the harrowing reality of the conflict: having it smuggled out of the besieged territory.

For six months, they handed over paintings and other artworks to people leaving Gaza through its Rafah border crossing with Egypt until Israeli ground forces closed it in May when they took control of the frontier.

“The paintings document the brutality of war and massacres… carrying pain and sorrow, but also embodying an unwavering resolve,” said Mohammad Shaqdih.

He is deputy director of Darat al-Funun, an art gallery in the Jordanian capital Amman exhibiting pieces that were smuggled out in a show entitled “Under Fire”.

While the works themselves managed to escape the war-torn territory, the four artists who created them — Basel al-Maqousi, Raed Issa, Majed Shala and Suhail Salem — were not so lucky.

They remain trapped within the narrow coastal strip where Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 43,500 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, and created a humanitarian disaster.

The artworks “depict the daily realities of war and the hardship these artists endure, who have been displaced and lost their homes”, said Shaqdih.

He said the gallery was already familiar with the artists on display before the war broke out on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel.



– ‘Nightmares’ –



That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

“The language of art is universal. Through these paintings, we are trying to convey our voices, our cries, our tears and the nightmares we witness daily to the outside world,” said Maqousi, 53, speaking to AFP by phone from Gaza.

The exhibition features 79 artworks crafted from improvised materials including medicine wrappers, and using natural pigments made from hibiscus, pomegranate and tea.

The drawings show people under bombardment, displaced families on donkey-drawn carts, makeshift tents, weary and frightened faces, emaciated children clinging to their mothers and blindfolded men surrounded by military vehicles.

“I can’t paint with colours and expensive pigments because there are more pressing priorities here in Gaza, like food, drink and finding safety for myself and my family” reads a text by Suhail Salem next to his sketches drawn in school notebooks with ballpoint pens.

In a letter displayed alongside his work, Majed Shala describes how he was displaced to the southern city of Deir al-Balah. His house, studio and 30 years of artworks were completely destroyed.

“When the war first started, I felt completely paralysed, unable to create or even think about making art,” he wrote.

– ‘Far more devastating’ –

As time passed, “I started to document the real-life scenes of displacement and exile that have affected every part of our daily lives,” he added.

His words are displayed next to a painting of a man embracing his wife amid a scene of destruction.

“These scenes remind me of the stories our elders told us about the 1948 Nakba,” or “catastrophe”, he wrote, referring to the exodus of around 760,000 Palestinians during the war that led to the creation of Israel.

“But what we’re living through now feels far more devastating, far worse than what people endured back then.”

Exhibition visitor Victoria Dabdoub, a 37-year-old engineer, said she was moved by the artwork.

“It is important that works like these are shared worldwide so that people can feel the pain, sorrow, and suffering of the people of Gaza,” she told AFP.

On the wall nearby is posted a message from artist Raed Issa: “We assure you: if you’re asking how we are, we are far from all right! Constant bombing and terror, day and night! Gaza is in mourning, waiting for relief from God!

How doodles got a Russian art teacher locked up for 20 years


By AFP
November 10, 2024


Art teacher Danill Klyuka, who has been jailed in Russia for 20 years - Copyright AFP Wojtek RADWANSKI
Romain COLAS

Art teacher Daniil Klyuka believes the headmistress of the provincial Russian school where he worked reported him for doodling horns on pictures of officials in a newspaper.

The 28-year-old was later sentenced to 20 years in jail.

His case illustrates the severity of the crackdown on dissent — both real and imagined — in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.

And how ordinary Russians are again living under the shadow of denunciation, the old Soviet practice of informing on colleagues, neighbours, friends and even family.

Until last winter, Klyuka lived a quiet life in Dankov, a town 300 kilometres (190 miles) south of Moscow, whose chief claim to fame is that the renowned novelist Leo Tolstoy died at a railway station nearby.

On the website of the state school where he worked, there are still photos of the classroom where he taught, decorated with posters of famous paintings, including a self-portrait by Van Gogh.

But Klyuka’s life took a nightmarish turn one day in February 2023 when he was arrested by masked members of Russia’s feared FSB security service.

He was accused of sending 135,000 rubles (around $1,380) in cryptocurrency to Ukraine’s ultranationalist Azov brigade, classified as “terrorist” in Russia — a charge he denies.

Klyuka believes all this happened because he idly scribbled moustaches, horns and beards onto photos of officials in a pro-Kremlin newspaper that staff at his school were expected to read.

AFP has been able to piece together his descent into the depths of the Russian penal system, where prisoners can sometimes disappear without a trace, through letters he has exchanged with a Russian anti-war activist exiled in Italy.



– Hunt for ‘traitors’ –



Antonina Polishchuk, 43, gradually learned what had happened to him after responding last year to an appeal to write to Russian political prisoners, some of whom have the right to receive letters.

She decided to write to Klyuka because of a shared love of architecture and anime.

“I’m interested in architecture and my daughter is interested in anime, so I thought we could write to him together,” she told AFP.

Through the letters they exchanged on an official government platform, she found out Klyuka was being prosecuted for “treason” and “financing a terrorist organisation” — charges often used by Russia to crush opposition to the war in Ukraine.

Klyuka believes his headteacher secretly informed on him.

Contacted on social media, Irina Kuzicheva did not reply to AFP’s requests for comment.

A wave of denunciations has swept the country since March 2022 when President Vladimir Putin called for “traitors” to be hunted and for “society to purge itself”, after the invasion of Ukraine.

Groups such as “Veterans of Russia”, led by Ildar Rezyapov, have denounced hundreds of people to prosecutors, including actors and artists.

Civil servants as well as ordinary Russians have also taken it upon themselves to report neighbours and colleagues — some driven by greed, ambition or envy, others by the desire to remove an adversary.



– ‘Tortured by FSB’ –



Klyuka’s mistake was to leave the newspaper he had doodled on behind at work.

“I would sometimes write ‘demon’ on the foreheads of some of the government representatives” in the photos, he wrote in one letter.

Klyuka said FSB agents searched his home, confiscated his phone and then tortured him “in a cellar”.

The agents said they found suspicious money transfers on the phone.

The teacher said he was tortured into confessing that he had donated to the Ukrainian military, before insisting he had sent money to a Ukrainian cousin whose family had fled the invasion.

The cousin, Mykyta Laptiev, confirmed to AFP that he received the money and had used it to take care of his sick father, Klyuka’s uncle.

It was impossible to verify the prisoner’s other claims since the case was classified as secret by the FSB and lawyers can be jailed for discussing it.



– Secret trial –



After corresponding for six months, Polishchuk realised that Klyuka had no real legal representative — only a state-appointed lawyer who “de facto worked for the government”.

His family could have hired a lawyer themselves, she said, but “they were really intimidated. The FSB scares everybody.”

Finally the banned Memorial rights organisation, which is active in exile, paid for a new lawyer.

Polishchuk also created a Telegram group to support him.

She struggled to find a picture of Klyuka, finally finding a photo taken during an art lesson.

Slim with thick black hair, he is smiling and holding a wooden mannequin used to teach pupils how to draw.

Sergei Davidis, head of the political prisoners’ support programme at Memorial, said it was typical for trials like Klyuka’s to be held in secret to silence the defendant and hide the scale of repressions.

He said “schools are a conservative sphere where particular attention is paid to ideological loyalty,” and that Klyuka would have stood out with his anti-war views.

“Denunciation was the trigger for this prosecution. But such people are also being prosecuted without any denunciations in all of Russia’s regions,” he added.



– Thousands held –



Without access to Klyuka’s case file, Memorial — a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 — is unable to add him to its official list of 778 political prisoners, which it says is the tip of the iceberg.

Memorial estimates at least 10,000 people are being held for some “political” motive in Russia.

Around 7,000 are Ukrainian civilians, according to Kyiv’s Center for Civil Liberties.

One such prisoner, Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, died behind bars in September.

Russia’s OVD-Info organisation, which monitors detentions and courts, said there are around 1,300 people behind bars on political charges, but hundreds or even thousands of other cases involve treason, sabotage and refusing to fight in Ukraine.

Rights groups often only learn of them from chance encounters between prisoners who then pass on information.



– Ukrainian prisoners –



Klyuka, for example, wrote to Polishchuk that he met Alexei Sivokhin, a Russian-Ukrainian dual national who fought in Ukraine and was detained in 2022 while visiting Russia, during a prison transfer.

“He had been in prison for two years, alone in a cell without any other contact. If it wasn’t for Daniil, he would have remained unknown,” said Polishchuk.

Polishchuk is also keen to identify the informers behind these cases, so they can be brought to justice “when this regime falls”.

She blamed the lack of punishment for those who informed on others during Soviet times for the revival in denunciations.

Polishchuk included questions from AFP in a letter sent to Klyuka.

A week later she received a reply from the Matrosskaya Tishina prison in Moscow.

Polishchuk has recently received several letters from Klyuka where his entire message was scrawled out by the censor, but this one was legible.



– Don’t ‘close your eyes’ –



In spidery handwriting, Klyuka said: “The person who denounced me has two brothers directly taking part in combat (in Ukraine). You can see what was going on in their head.”

Russia now is like “a snowball rolling down a mountain”, he wrote, or “a car whose brakes have failed”.

He talked of his love of drawing, which he said allowed him to “see things that have never existed”.

The day after his letter arrived, Klyuka lost his appeal and was finally sentenced to 20 years in a “strict regime” penal colony, able to receive just one visit and one parcel per year.

He will now be taken to the colony. Such transfers are carried out in secret, often taking many weeks, and lawyers and relatives only find out where they are after the prisoner’s arrival.

At the end of his letter, Klyuka wrote that Russians like him who speak out are “persecuted and hated” while “most people closed their eyes and have never opened them again.”

“If the world hears this message, I ask you to not close your eyes,” he added.

He finished on a more upbeat and chatty note, asking Polishchuk about her work and sending her a kiss.

CLIMATE CRISIS

Fourth typhoon in a month hits Philippines


By AFP
November 10, 2024


A roof of corrugated sheet litters a highway in Cagayan province after Typhoon Yinxing struck on November 7 - Copyright AFP/File John DIMAIN

Thousands of villages were ordered to evacuate and ports shut down, officials said Monday, as the disaster-weary Philippines was struck by another typhoon — the fourth in less than a month.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage as Typhoon Toraji hit the nation’s northeast coast near Dilasag town, about 220 kilometres (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Manila, the national weather agency said.

The government ordered 2,500 villages to be evacuated on Sunday, but the national disaster office could not say how many people have taken shelter so far.

Toraji, packing maximum winds of 130 kilometres (80 miles) an hour, came on the heels of three cyclones in less than a month that killed 159 people.

Schools and government offices were shut in areas expected to be hit hardest by the latest typhoon.

The national weather agency warned of severe winds and heavy rainfall across the north of the country, along with a “moderate to high risk of a storm surge” — giant waves threatening the coasts of the main island of Luzon.

Nearly 700 passengers were stranded at ports, according to a coast guard tally on Monday, with the weather service warning that “sea travel is risky for all types or tonnage of vessels”.

“All mariners must remain in port or, if underway, seek shelter or safe harbour as soon as possible until winds and waves subside,” it added.

Toraji was forecast to slice across northern Luzon later Monday, with a tropical depression also potentially striking the region as early as Thursday night, weather forecaster Veronica Torres told AFP.

Tropical Storm Man-yi, currently east of Guam, may also threaten the Philippines next week, she added.

On Thursday, Typhoon Yinxing slammed into the country’s north coast, damaging houses and buildings.

A 12-year-old girl was crushed to death in one incident.

Before that, Severe Tropical Storm Trami and Super Typhoon Kong-rey together left 158 people dead, the national disaster agency said, with most of that tally attributed to Trami.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year.

A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.