The Underestimated Role Of Rivers As A Source Of Greenhouse Gases

Farming along a river in Kenya. Higher nutrient input into rivers drives the accumulation of greenhouse gases worldwide. (Ricky Mwanake, KIT)

May 4, 2026 
By Eurasia Review


Rivers worldwide are under severe stress: They are warming, losing oxygen and as a result emitting increasing amounts of greenhouse gases. Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now quantified these global trends over a period of more than two decades. Their results show that rising temperatures and anthropogenic land use are fundamentally transforming river systems, with serious consequences for the climate. The findings have been published in Global Change Biology.

Rivers are habitats, sources of water, and shapers of entire cultural landscapes. Accordingly, the local impacts are severe when agriculture and industry place pressure on river systems. “Rivers also play a key role in the global climate system,” said Dr. Ralf Kiese of the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research – Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMKIFU) at KIT’s Campus Alpin in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. “We are increasingly observing that rivers are becoming a significant source of greenhouse gases.” This is mainly due to biogeochemical decomposition processes involving microorganisms: Organic carbon and nutrients entering rivers from farming or wastewater are converted into carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane – greenhouse gases with an adverse effect on the atmosphere.

Machine Learning Complements Missing Data

For a first-time global quantification of these trends, the researchers combined measurement data with satellite maps and machine learning. Their study is based on water parameter measurements from more than 1,000 river monitoring sites. They linked these measurements with globally available satellite information on vegetation, radiation, and topography. Based on this combined data, computations using machine learning models revealed how these environmental factors affect water temperatures, oxygen levels, and increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. The researchers then applied the resulting relationship data to more than 5,000 additional catchments worldwide to reconstruct, for the first time, consistent time series from 2002 to 2022, even for regions where no measurement data was available.

The evaluations revealed definite global trends: Rivers are warming, losing oxygen, and becoming increasingly saturated with greenhouse gases. “On average, the oxygen content is decreasing by 0.058 milligrams per liter and decade, much faster than in lakes and oceans. At the same time, the emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are rising,“ said Dr. Ricky Mwanake of IMKIFU, who was mainly responsible for the computations. “Overall, we estimate that the additional anthropogenic emissions from rivers during the study period from 2002 to 2022 amounted to approximately 1.5 billion metric tons of CO₂ equivalent. These additional emissions weren’t accounted for in the existing global greenhouse gas budgets.”

Climate Change and Land Use Are Emission Drivers

Rapid changes are particularly evident in regions with expanding agricultural land use and urbanization, where rising water temperatures coincide with increased inputs of nutrients and organic carbon. This accelerates microbial processes and creates hotspots in which the adverse factors reinforce each other, leading to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the water. As a result, rivers can become major emitters of greenhouse gases. “If we succeed in protecting rivers better by reducing inputs of harmful substances, this effect can be reversed,” said Mwanake. “This means that protecting rivers is nothing less than active climate protection.”

American Tungsten Mining Operation In Kazakhstan Looks To Get Started This Summer


Dominic Heaton (third, right), CEO of Cove Kaz Capital, discusses a $1.1 billion tungsten mine deal with Yersayin Nagaspayev (third, left), Kazakhstan’s Minister of Industry and Construction, and Nariman Absametov (second, right), Board Chairman of state-owned Tau-Ken Samruk, in March 2026. About a month later, Cove Kaz Capital and Tau-Ken Samruk inked the deal. (Photo: gov.kz)

May 4, 2026 
 Eurasianet
By Alexander Thompson

(Eurasianet) — A deal announced at the White House last year for an American company to mine tungsten in Kazakhstan is moving forward after the company closed the deal with the country’s state-owned mining company.

At almost the same time, Cove Kaz Capital, the American mining entity, and a shell company in which US President Donald Trump’s sons reportedly have a significant stake, announced an intention to merge, according to a report published by the Financial Times. The merged entity would seek to become a publicly traded company.

Cove Kaz Capital, a subsidiary of American mining company Cove Capital, indicated no major changes to the terms and scope of the $1.1 billion project that was first laid out last November at the C5+1 summit between Trump and the leaders of the five Central Asian states. The company confirmed that further exploration work will begin this summer.

“The financial closing of the share purchase agreement is a significant mile marker” for the project, Pini Althaus, the CEO of Cove Capital and executive chairman of the Kazakh operation, said in an April 29 statement.

Althaus thanked the Kazakh side for their “outstanding partnership” on regulatory approvals that will allow the company to start feasibility studies this summer, according to the statement. That process will take about 18 months to complete, the company said.

Cove Kaz Capital’s development of the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty deposits, estimated to hold 1.4 million tons of tungsten trioxide, represents a flagship initiative in the Trump administration’s efforts to widen US access to Central Asia’s abundance of critical minerals and rare earths. It is also one of the only significant American critical minerals mining projects in the region, other than an antimony mine in Tajikistan that has been operating for many years.

In the deal, Cove Kaz Capital purchased 70 percent of the project’s shares and Tau-Ken Samruk, the national mining company, received 30 percent. Cove Kaz Capital is leading the project’s development.

Just hours after the closing was announced, Cove Kaz Capital announced plans to merge with Skyline Builders Group Holding Ltd. The combined company intends to be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange as Kaz Resources Inc., according to a joint statement issued by the two entities.

The Financial Times reported April 30 that Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, invested in Skyline Builders Group in August of last year and expanded their investment in October.

Althaus told the Financial Times he has not spoken with the Trump brothers. The pair’s initial investment in Skyline Builders Group came before Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev informed the White House in September that Kazakhstan was leaning towards awarding the tungsten development contract to Cove Kaz. The deal was publicly announced last November.

Democrats and former American ethics officials have raised concerns about the Trump family’s expanding investments in countries and sectors connected to the president’s foreign policy initiatives.Alexander Thompson is a journalist based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, reporting on current events across Central Asia. He previously worked for American newspapers, including the Charleston, S.C., Post and Courier and The Boston Globe.

Russia: Anti-War Moscow Buddhist Leader Convicted Again In Re-Trial – Analysis

Judge Andrey Kuznetsov (left), Ilya Vasilyev (right in defendants' box), Preobrazhensky District Court, April 2026. Credit: Ilya Vasilyev Telegram Support Channel

May 4, 2026 
F18News
By Victoria Arnold


The re-trial of a Buddhist leader on charges of disseminating false information about the Russian Armed Forces ended on 28 April, with the Moscow court handing down another guilty verdict. Ilya Vasilyev’s initial conviction and 8-year prison term were overturned on a technicality in October 2025. This time, he received a sentence of 6 years’ imprisonment and a ban on “administering websites”. Vasilyev’s lawyer, Gevorg Aleksanyan, has already lodged an initial appeal.

lIt is unclear why the new judge decided to hand down a shorter sentence. Meanwhile, the 52-year-old Vasilyev remains in detention at Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina prison, where he has spent most of the 22 months since his June 2024 arrest (see below).

Vasilyev was on trial at Moscow’s Preobrazhensky District Court under Criminal Code Article 207.3 (“Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”), Part 2, Paragraph d (“for reasons of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or for reasons of hatred or enmity against any social group”) for an English-language Facebook post (made “solely out of religious conviction”, his lawyer told Forum 18) about a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Kherson in 2022 (see below).

“A prosecutor who doesn’t understand Zen has intervened in a conversation between Buddhists about religious topics and is dragging the court into it,” Vasilyev said in court on 23 April 2026. “Some people want to pressure Buddhists to fight on the side of one leader or another. But there are no soldiers’ belt buckles with the inscription ‘Buddha is with us’. Opening a ‘Russia against Buddhism’ front is not advantageous to Russia” (see below).

“When I took the Buddhist vow, I vowed to tell the truth. And when people here start saying in my name that what I say is a lie, it is, of course, a great challenge to me”, Vasilyev added in his final speech on 27 April. “These past six months have been difficult for me. But if the court insists that I committed a crime, of course, I will continue to tell the truth. We will continue to defend ourselves and seek my release” (see below).

“I was given six years for reposting a Christmas card on Facebook”, Vasilyev wrote in an open letter to supporters on 29 April. “This is significantly less than the eight they gave me a year ago. This is a great achievement for you, for not giving up and helping me. I am confident we are capable of more, of complete innocence proven in court, and I hope this stage will take less time. Upon release, I intend to continue my path to Zen monasticism .. I will be glad if some of you continue working to free other prisoners of conscience and restore freedom of speech in Russia.”

“Does the voice of compassion have the right to be heard in our society?” Vasilyev’s public defender Anna Tugolukova asked in her own final speech to the court. “Or will any call to stop violence be equated with the voice of an enemy?” (see below).

Moscow City Prosecutor’s Office press service did not respond to Forum 18’s questions as to why prosecutors had requested a custodial sentence and in what way Vasilyev could be considered dangerous (see below).

Preobrazhensky District Court did not respond to Forum 18’s questions as to why a custodial sentence had been deemed necessary and in what way Vasilyev could be considered dangerous, and also why the court had imposed a shorter sentence than in the first trial (see below).

Federal Penitentiary Service officials say that no possibility currently exists for a Buddhist representative to visit Vasilyev there. The Matrosskaya Tishina administration did not respond to Forum 18’s questions as to whether the prison service had yet concluded any agreement with a registered Buddhist organisation, and whether any other opportunity could exist for a detainee to see a Buddhist priest (see below).

On 24 March, the capital’s Gagarin District Court convicted Orthodox journalist Kseniya Luchenko on the same charge for a Telegram post in which she condemned a Russian missile strike on a Kyiv children’s hospital in July 2024, and contrasted this with the Russian state and Moscow Patriarchate’s promotion of so-called “traditional values”. The judge sentenced her in absentia to 8 years’ imprisonment. Before her criminal trial, officials had had her name added to the Interior Ministry’s Federal Wanted List, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) “List of Terrorists and Extremists”, and the Justice Ministry’s register of “foreign agents”.

Although Luchenko left Russia in 2022, these measures – and now her criminal conviction – could nevertheless carry consequences. These include the risk of extradition if she travels to any state with a bilateral extradition agreement with Russia, and possible problems with banking in Western countries as a result of being placed on the Rosfinmonitoring List.

On 27 March 2026, the Russian Justice Ministry added the Christians Against War project to its register of “foreign agents” for allegedly disseminating “false information about the decisions and policies of Russian government bodies, as well as about the Russian Orthodox Church”. Christians Against War was established shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 in order to document the persecution of religious believers who oppose the war in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russian-occupied Ukraine.

Criminal, administrative convictions for opposing war on religious grounds

Since February 2022, courts have sentenced five people to imprisonment (including, most recently, Kseniya Luchenko in absentia, and Ilya Vasilyev) and have fined three on criminal charges for opposing Russia’s war against Ukraine in religious terms or on religious grounds. Investigators have also opened three criminal cases against people who have left Russia and placed them on the Federal Wanted List.

Protestant pastor Nikolay Romanyuk was handed a 4-year prison term in September 2025 under Criminal Code Article 280.4 (“Public calls to implement activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation, or to obstruct the exercise by government bodies and their officials of their powers to ensure the security of the Russian Federation”). He is now serving his sentence in Vladimir Region, his daughter Svetlana Zhukova stated on her Telegram channelon 18 April.

Pastor Romanyuk’s prison address is: 601443, g. Vyazniki, ul. Zheleznodorozhnaya 37, FKU Ispravitelnaya koloniya – 4 UFSIN Rossii po Vladimirskoy oblasti

Individuals also continue to face prosecution under Administrative Code Article 20.3.3 (“Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”) for opposing the war in Ukraine from a religious perspective.

Most recently, Slavyansk City Court in Krasnodar Region fined independent Orthodox priest Fr Iona Sigida 40,000 Roubles under Administrative Code Article 20.3.3, Part 1 in December 2025. Police had based the case against Fr Iona on an article on his church’s website in which he wrote “Today, on the night of 23-24 February [2022], the newly revealed antichrist, the embodiment of the devil, V. Putin, sent his army to destroy the last unconquered holy Rus’ in the person of Ukraine”.

(Fr Iona remains under investigation for a possibly related offence of “overt disrespect for society about days of military glory” (Criminal Code Article 354.1, Part 4), apparently also for articles he posted on the website of the Holy Intercession Tikhonite Church in Slavyansk-na-Kubani. On 16 April, a judge released him from house arrest, but he is still barred from using the telephone and internet.)

Ever-increasing internet censorship has seen websites and materials blocked for: “extremist” content; opposition to Russia’s war against Ukraine from a religious perspective; material supporting LGBT+ people in religious communities; Ukraine-based religious websites; social media of prosecuted individuals; and news and NGO sites which include coverage of freedom of religion or belief violations.

The Justice Ministry has also added at least 14 religious leaders and activists to its register of “foreign agents”, largely for reasons related to their opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.

June 2024 arrest

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Moscow Buddhist leader and computer programmer Ilya Vladimirovich Vasilyev (born 9 December 1973) on 20 June 2024, partly on the basis of information from the Federal Security Service (FSB). It arrested him the same day after a search of his home.

Prosecutors charged Vasilyev under Criminal Code Article 207.3 (“Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”), Part 2, Paragraph d (“for reasons of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or for reasons of hatred or enmity against any social group”).

This was based on an English-language Facebook post of 25 December 2022, which said: “Putin rejected Christmas armistice. His rockets are right now shelling peaceful Ukrainian cities and towns. Only yesterday 16 people died in Kherson, where my father’s family lives. Or lived? Millions of Ukrainians are now without electricity and water supply. The picture is called ‘Christmas 2022’.”

Included in the post was a painting by Ukrainian-born artist Iriney Yurchuk, depicting a nativity scene in the ruins of a bombed-out block of flats.

According to the prosecution, with this post Vasilyev deliberately “misled an unlimited number of people” and “created the appearance of illegal activity that violated international law” by the Russian armed forces and government. The prosecution claimed he was acting out of “political hatred, expressed in a ‘disdainful, unfriendly, hostile, aggressive’ attitude towards the authorities”.

Vasilyev made the Facebook post, as well as others on the VKontakte social network which led to a May 2023 administrative prosecution, “solely out of religious conviction”, he told Forum 18 through his lawyer in November 2024. He added that he is “not a politician and is engaged only in religion”.

(Vasilyev deleted his Facebook page in May 2023 immediately after his administrative prosecution, as his lawyer noted in court on 23 April 2026, but FSB investigators had already made a record of the Kherson post.)

June 2025 conviction

Ilya Vasilyev’s case first reached Moscow’s Preobrazhensky District Court in October 2024. The trial ended in a guilty verdict in June 2025 after thirteen hearings before Judge Valentina Lebedeva.

Judge Lebedeva convicted Vasilyev of disseminating “knowingly false information” about the Armed Forces and sentenced him to 8 years’ imprisonment (followed by a 4-year ban on “administering websites”).

Had Vasilyev’s 8-year prison term entered legal force, it would have been the longest known custodial sentence imposed for opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine on religious grounds.


A panel of three judges at Moscow City Court overturned the verdict on 22 October 2025, and ordered that a different judge at Preobrazhensky District Court should re-examine Vasilyev’s case. They concluded that the court had unlawfully refused Vasilyev’s request, early in proceedings, to have an acquaintance act as his public defender [zashchitnik], alongside his lawyer.

2026 re-trial

The re-trial of Ilya Vasilyev, founder of the Moscow Zen Centre and the Civil School of Hackers, began on 19 January 2026, also at the city’s Preobrazhensky District Court, but this time before Judge Andrey Kuznetsov. Vasilyev made a total of nine appearances in court.

At the hearing on 12 March, defence witness Mariya Popova, a family friend of the Vasilyevs, told the court that “accusations of disseminating any kind of false information are completely inconsistent with Vasilyev’s Buddhist worldview”, the independent SOTAvision news channel reported on Telegram the same day.

“It’s hard to create a school—to have people sit and listen to you,” Popova said. “All his schools are about kindness, about love.”

On 14 April, Judge Kuznetsov denied lawyer Gevorg Aleksanyan’s request for another expert examination of Vasilyev’s Facebook post, independent of the FSB (whose expert carried out the original linguistic analysis). Aleksanyan argued that the FSB’s analysis “cannot be considered complete or reliable”, SOTAvision noted on 14 April.

The lawyer pointed to the FSB expert’s apparent lack of experience, the fact she did not cite the authors of the methods used, meaning that “The entire report is based on methods that cannot be verified”, and the use of two different Russian translations of Vasilyev’s English-language post – one a machine translation which investigators sent for expert analysis, the other a professional translation included in the indictment and submitted to the court.

“Key thesis of the prosecution – the motive of political hatred – is contrary to .. Zen Buddhism”

In court at his re-trial, Ilya Vasilyev “disagreed with attempts to attribute emotions and intentions to him that he did not experience”, independent Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta reported on 28 April. He said he had timed his post for 25 December (in 2022) – “a day significant for many religious traditions” – and did not address it to a Russian audience.

Vasilyev admitted only that he had indeed made the post, and denied the accusation of disseminating false information motivated by hatred, insisting that his intention was completely the opposite. He stated: “They’re trying to throw me behind bars here on a far-fetched pretext.”


Vasilyev’s public defender Anna Tugolukova also argued that “the key thesis of the prosecution – the motive of political hatred – is contrary to the very nature of Zen Buddhism”, at the core of which is “compassion, which does not divide people into ‘us’ and ‘them'”, Novaya Gazeta quoted her as saying.

“For a mind nurtured in the Zen tradition, there is no difference between the suffering of a soldier in one army and the suffering of a soldier in another,” Tugolukova said. “There is simply suffering”.

“Does the voice of compassion have the right to be heard in our society,” Tugolukova concluded. “Or will any call to stop violence be equated with the voice of an enemy?”
“When I took the Buddhist vow, I vowed to tell the truth”

“The history of Buddhism is the history of victory over ignorance. And Buddha wins not because you take the winning side. Buddha wins because you stop engaging in momentary nonsense and focus on what truly matters”, Ilya Vasilyev said in his final speech to the court on 27 April.

“My [teaching] method is traditional. Students come to me for training, reach their hacker level, and return to defend their businesses, their families, and their countries. They don’t attack their neighbours or engage in criminal activity; they serve their nations with their acquired skills, being worthy citizens. The FSB, however, can turn law-abiding citizens into criminals, locking them up in pre-trial detention on trumped-up charges.”

“When I took the Buddhist vow, I vowed to tell the truth. And when people here start saying in my name that what I say is a lie, it is, of course, a great challenge to me. These past six months have been difficult for me. But if the court insists that I committed a crime, of course, I will continue to tell the truth. We will continue to defend ourselves and seek my release.”

“Reducing religion to some kind of puppet show backed by security forces means Buddhism becoming a department of the FSB. I’ve met practitioners who are afraid to adhere fully to Buddha’s teachings because they fear prison.”

“I wonder what we’re bringing to the new territories [i.e. Russian-occupied Ukraine], what kind of culture? True greatness is achieved not by force of arms, but by wisdom, the power of conviction, and personal example.”

Vasilyev expressed his belief that Russia would soon start respecting human rights and that convictions under Criminal Code Article 207.5 would be overturned. He stated that he would continue to practice Buddhism if sent to a penal colony.

“Ultimately, people will no longer be jailed for words in Russia, and Russia will protect the rights of Russian-speaking people not only in foreign territories, but also in its own territories and even in Moscow, my home city, which I love,” Vasilyev told the court.

Buddhist leader convicted again

On 28 April 2026, the re-trial of Ilya Vasilyev, at Preobrazhensky District Court, also ended in conviction. Judge Andrey Kuznetsov sentenced Vasilyev to 6 years’ imprisonment for disseminating “false information” about the Armed Forces, plus a ban on “administering websites” for 3 years and 6 months, the Moscow court system announced on its Telegram channel on the same day.

Vasilyev’s lawyer Gevorg Aleksanyan has already lodged an initial appeal, he told Forum 18 shortly after the final court hearing. In the meantime, Vasilyev remains at Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina prison, where he has been detained for almost all of the 22 months since Investigative Committee officers arrested him in June 2024 for the Facebook post about a Russian missile strike on Kherson in Ukraine.

Freedom of speech “is not a whim of human rights activists for the sake of grants. It’s essential for survival, for the preservation of territorial integrity”, Vasilyev told the court on 23 April. “My case has religious and political overtones. A guilty verdict complicates international relations, which Russia is currently trying to maintain.”

“The situation in Russia, Russian Orthodoxy, and Russia’s attitude toward religion will be judged by this verdict.”

“A prosecutor who doesn’t understand Zen has intervened in a conversation between Buddhists about religious topics and is dragging the court into it,” Vasilyev continued. “Some people want to pressure Buddhists to fight on the side of one leader or another. But there are no soldiers’ belt buckles with the inscription ‘Buddha is with us’. Opening a ‘Russia against Buddhism’ front is not advantageous to Russia.”

On 23 April, prosecutors requested a sentence of 8 years’ imprisonment for Vasilyev. “Of course, it is difficult to say anything” as to why the judge decided on a shorter term, Aleksanyan commented to Forum 18.

During the final exchange of arguments [preniya] on 23 April, Aleksanyan remarked that “had he been tasked with examining charges for words more than ten years ago, when he was graduating from university, he would have reconsidered his career choice”, the independent SOTAvision news outlet reported the same day. He noted that by requesting such a long prison sentence, the state was “equating murder cases with cases for words”.

“What should [Vasilyev] have learned in that time? Never to call for peace again? I’m sure this [Criminal Code] article will be repealed one day, as it is unconstitutional,” Aleksanyan stated to the court.

Forum 18 wrote to the Moscow City Prosecutor’s Office press service on 24 April to ask why prosecutors had requested a custodial sentence and in what way Vasilyev could be considered dangerous.

Forum 18 also wrote to Preobrazhensky District Court on 28 April to ask why a custodial sentence had been deemed necessary and in what way Vasilyev could be considered dangerous, and also why the court had imposed a shorter sentence than in the first trial.

Forum 18 had received no response from either institution by the end of the Moscow working day of 29 April.

Nearly two years in detention

On 20 February, the court extended Vasilyev’s detention period again – this time until 6 June 2026 – refusing Aleksanyan’s request to have him placed under house arrest instead. Vasilyev appealed unsuccessfully against this decision on 24 March.

According to the detention order appeal ruling, seen by Forum 18, Aleksanyan noted that Vasilyev has no previous criminal record and before his arrest had lived with and cared for his mother, who “suffers from chronic illnesses”. He argued that “the [district] court’s conclusion regarding the defendant’s potential to abscond or otherwise obstruct the proceedings is not supported by the case materials and was made by the court without regard to Vasilyev’s character [lichnost]”.

The Moscow City Court appeal judge nevertheless decided that “The circumstances that served as grounds for selecting detention as a preventive measure for Vasilyev have neither changed nor ceased to exist”, given that Vasilyev stands accused of “committing a serious crime”, which “provides grounds to believe that, if released, he might abscond from the court, continue his criminal activities, or otherwise obstruct the proceedings in the criminal case”.

In Matrosskaya Tishina Prison, Vasilyev appears to be free to meditate and read religious literature as he wishes. He also exchanges letters with acquaintances, discussing Buddhist thought and general topics (some of which are posted as open letters on his support channel on Telegram). He noted in one open letter, however, that he cannot write about either his case or “everyday life” in the detention centre.

The detention centre also continues to refuse Vasilyev access to a Buddhist priest, lawyer Gevorg Aleksanyan told Forum 18 on 13 April.

In July 2025, Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) officials told Aleksanyan that a detainee could only see a priest if a formal agreement existed between FSIN and a centralised religious organisation. Officials said that, because so few detainees were Buddhist, no such agreement was in place.

FSIN officials nevertheless added that “the matter remains under review”, and would be reconsidered if there were an increase in the number of Buddhists or more requests were received.

Forum 18 wrote to Matrosskaya Tishina Prison on 15 April 2026, asking whether the prison service had yet concluded any agreement with a registered Buddhist organisation, and whether any other opportunity could exist for a detainee to see a Buddhist priest. Forum 18 had received no reply by the end of the working day in Moscow of 29 April.

Vasilyev is likely to remain in the same prison until his appeal is heard. His address:

107076 g. Moskva
ul. Matrosskaya Tishina 18
FKU Sledstvenniy izolyator No. 1 UFSIN Rossii po g. Moskve

States Rush To Figure Out How To Enforce Trump’s Medicaid Work Requirements – Analysis

May 4, 2026 
KFF Health News
By Rachel Spears


State officials remain uncertain on how to enforce a requirement that many adult Medicaid enrollees show they’re working — even as one state launches its program this week — and they’re taking a variety of approaches to the job, including, in a handful of states, using artificial intelligence.

A KFF survey of Medicaid officials from 42 states and the District of Columbia offers insights into key policy decisions state officials face as the Jan. 1, 2027, deadline for implementing the work requirement nears. Lingering questions include which diseases and illnesses will qualify Medicaid beneficiaries for exemptions and how to automate compliance verification.

Federal guidance is not expected to be released until June. But some states are moving forward with their own definitions of “medical frailty,” which under congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act will allow Medicaid enrollees to escape the requirement.

The law, President Donald Trump’s signature domestic achievement, revamps Medicaid in more than 40 states that, along with Washington, D.C., fully or partially expanded the program for low-income people to cover adults without children who don’t get insurance through a job. While most adult Medicaid beneficiaries already work or are disabled, caregivers for other people, or in school, many Republicans contend that people enrolled in the program who don’t work sap resources that ought to support low-income children, pregnant women, and disabled people.


About 20 million people gained Medicaid coverage from the expansion, created by the Affordable Care Act — a law that most Republicans still oppose.

The new work rules require that a person be a student at least part-time or work or participate in other qualifying activities, such as community service, for at least 80 hours each month. The requirement could potentially reshape who is eligible for Medicaid and applies to people who are already enrolled.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that work requirements will reduce federal Medicaid spending by about $326 billion over 10 years. The agency also estimates that 4.8 million more people will be uninsured in 2034 because of the work requirement.

 “A lot of states are working on a super-condensed timeline,” said Amaya Diana, a policy analyst at KFF who worked on the survey. They are “still making these big decisions with less than a year before implementation.”

KFF is a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

The law permits short exemptions from work requirements for enrollees experiencing certain hardships — natural disasters, residing in a county with a high unemployment rate, admission to a hospital or nursing home, or having to travel for an extended period to obtain medical care.

While 28 states and Washington, D.C., will offer hardship exemptions, three of those states won’t adopt all four exemptions allowed by the law and two — Iowa and Indiana — don’t plan to adopt any.

People can also be exempted from the work requirements if they are “medically frail.” But the federal government has not told states how to define that term or how to determine whether an enrollee falls into the category.

The survey showed that 21 states, as of March, had not defined medical frailty. Nebraska, which is implementing its work requirement May 1, recently issued a list of thousands of health conditions that could qualify enrollees as “frail” and exempt them from working.

Some states plan to allow patients to self-attest to medical frailty, while others will require confirmation by a medical professional. The most common way of verifying medical frailty, which will be used in just over 30 states, is by examining Medicaid claims data.

Mehmet Oz, administrator for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, told KFF Health News in an interview this week that “we don’t like self-attesting” and that “documentation is critical.”

Many beneficiaries and their advocates have expressed concerns about losing coverage for administrative reasons. When Arkansas briefly implemented Medicaid work rules, for instance, most lost coverage not because they did not meet the requirements but for failing to correctly submit paperwork in time.

Six states plan to use AI to assist with the work requirement implementation in some way, such as for document processing or comparing beneficiary data from different sources, KFF found. Two states, Maryland and New Mexico, plan to use AI to analyze claims data.

Three states — Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma — plan to use AI to interact directly with people on Medicaid and assist them with identifying and uploading verification documents and data.

Adults on Medicaid will have to reverify that they’re working, or that they’re exempt from the requirement, at least every six months. Some states plan to check quarterly.

When possible, states must use available data sources to verify exemptions or compliance with work requirements.

For example, data from the National Student Clearinghouse will be used by about 10 states to verify school attendance. Some states also plan to tap sources including the Department of Veterans Affairs, AmeriCorps, and service commissions.

But more than half of states told KFF’s researchers that they have insufficient time to add new data sources and cited ongoing costs as a challenge.

This article was published by KFF Health News

Europe’s Far-Right Find Happy Hunting Grounds In Social Media – Analysis

White nationalists (political activists) protesting in Warsaw, Poland in February 2024. Photo: Callum Darragh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

May 4, 2026
360info
By Alessandra Pugnana


In the digital age, social media has become a powerful tool for connection, expression and community-building, helping reduce isolation and giving voice to marginalised groups. Yet the same platforms that foster inclusion can also be weaponised by extremist movements. The online world has become fertile ground for radicalisation and recruitment, particularly among violent far-right groups.

Algorithms designed to maximise engagement often trap users in echo chambers, reinforcing beliefs and creating ideal conditions for spreading extremist content and targeting vulnerable individuals.

Open-source research on far-right arrests shows a recurring pattern: social media platforms are used to infiltrate online spaces and recruit new members.
Case studies in France and Germany

In the last few years, analysis of arrest reports in France and Germany revealed that suspects had used social media to coordinate planned attacks and procure the necessary materials.


In July 2024, in France, for example, the authorities arrested a suspected neo-Nazi who had threatened to attack the Olympic torch relay in Paris, finding that his recruitment and incitement activities were conducted through apps and digital platforms.

Similarly, in recent years, in Germany, Bavarian police arrested members of the “Reichsbürger” movement who, according to investigations, communicated online to organise subversive initiatives and acquire resources for their activities.

To understand the phenomenon, it is necessary to identify which social media platforms play a crucial role in spreading extremist ideas, because radicalisation can lead to hate crimes, violence, and social division.
Italy’s far-right arrests and online presence

Based on these events, a study was launched by the Italian Team for Security, Terroristic Issues & Managing Emergencies (ITSTIME) to look into arrests in Italy in order to understand whether social networks had been used and which of them were most commonly used.

From January 2024 to July 2025, 21 arrests were made in Italy against members of the national and international far-right ecosystem. Those arrested ranged in age from 18 to over 30 (with the exception of one 70-year-old individual), with a prevalence of those over 31. The data analysed was obtained through open-source information released by local authorities.

For this reason, the data considered refers to arrests in which the authorities explicitly stated the social media (messaging platforms or social networks) on which the defendants operated. The data collected showed that 86 percent of those arrested had an active online presence.

Telegram as the main hub

In particular, recruitment, radicalisation, and proselytising activities took place through social media. The platforms most commonly used for these activities in the 21 Italian cases studied were Telegram (89.5 percent), TikTok (5.3 percent) and Discord (5.2 percent), often used in combination, especially by younger people. Specifically, the most frequent combinations were Telegram and TikTok and Telegram and Discord.

Based on open-source research, it can be said that Telegram is the social media platform most used by far-right militants in Italy, followed by TikTok and Discord. The results obtained can be attributed to the fact that far-right users have long considered Telegram to be secure, useful and effective for sharing propaganda, recruiting members and organising themselves into smaller operational cells.
TikTok and Discord among the young

Currently, propaganda and recruitment have begun to be more systematically present on other platforms, such as TikTok and Discord, especially among 18–30-year-olds, but always with the aim of directing new members to Telegram, using other social networks as entry points to the online far-right ecosystem.


Based on the materials collected, it can be said that, despite the arrest of Pavel Durov, which happened in France in August 2024 and Telegram’s subsequent increased cooperation with the authorities, far-right militants in Europe still consider this platform to be the best alternative for their radicalisation activities.

The potential of other social networks, on the other hand, is exploited to spread propaganda to a wider audience with the aim of attracting new members to Telegram for more private and organised communication, within which radicalisation continues and deepens.

The strategic and combined use of different social media, especially those that allow their content to go viral, such as TikTok, enables the creation of an interconnected network of pages and groups that support each other and fuel a digital ecosystem in which extremist content spreads quickly and effectively.

From gaming to private chats

From the analyses presented and based on the data collected, it emerged that in Italy, as in France and Germany, Telegram is the most widely used social network in the contexts analysed. However, in Italy, there is a peculiar trend among younger people, who use platforms such as TikTok and Discord alongside Telegram.

These latter platforms deserve increasing attention: TikTok, due to its widespread use among very young people, and Discord, due to its more private nature and links to the world of gaming. Both of these social media are becoming increasingly attractive spaces for propaganda and possible recruitment by violent far-right groups.

In particular, the gaming environment on Discord could represent the next frontier of online radicalism, where group dynamics, anonymity and shared languages offer fertile ground for ideological grooming.

Moreover, the analysis highlighted a potential risk stemming from the simultaneous use of different social networks. Extremist groups’ use of multiple platforms makes the threat harder to detect and counter. Each social media site has its own way of conveying content and serves a specific purpose – from viral sharing on TikTok to organised communication on Telegram – creating a fragmented yet coordinated ecosystem.

Users within extremist circles also develop tailored communication strategies for each platform. For instance, group dynamics can thrive on Telegram and Discord due to chat functions, while this is harder on TikTok because of its format. This fragmentation complicates monitoring by authorities and allows extremists to evade platform restrictions, making the threat more agile, adaptable and resistant to moderation.
Limiting online radicalisation

Combating online radicalisation remains a major challenge. It requires regulation, platform accountability and community action, while safeguarding fundamental rights such as free speech.

In recent years, the European Union has introduced legal measures mandating the swift removal of terrorist content and launched initiatives such as the Radicalisation Awareness Network to strengthen cooperation against extremism.

Other measures could include stricter oversight of encrypted channels such as Telegram to reduce their appeal to extremist groups, and greater transparency over algorithms to curb the echo chambers fuelling polarisation. Education and digital literacy campaigns are also crucial to reduce vulnerability among younger users, particularly on fast-growing platforms like TikTok and Discord.

While these efforts have achieved some progress, the evolving nature of online platforms and the adaptability of extremist groups demand constant coordination among institutions, governments, social media firms and civil society. Without sustained international cooperation, the same tools that connect communities risk remaining powerful weapons in the hands of violent far-right movements.

About the author and editors:

Alessandra Pugnana is a research analyst at the Italian Team for Security, Terroristic Issues & Managing Emergencies (ITSTIME), Department of Sociology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan. She specialised in OSINT, SOCMINT, and Digital HUMINT. Her research activities are focused on monitoring terroristic networks, with particular attention to nihilistic violence, right-wing extremism and its new communication strategist.

Giuseppe Francaviglia, Commissioning Editor, 360info

Samrat Choudhury, Commissioning Editor, 360info

Trial to open in Germany over far-right threats against politicians

04.05.2026, DPA

Photo: Marius Becker/dpa

A man with far-right links is set to go on trial in western Germany on Monday over calls for attacks on well-known politicians. 

The 50-year-old, believed to be part of the extremist Reich Citizens scene and known to police over his attendance at far-right demonstrations, is facing charges by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office of terrorist financing, incitement to commit terrorist attacks and other criminal offences.

He was detained in Dortmund in November. 

According to the indictment, the suspect made anonymous calls on the so-called dark web for attacks on named politicians, public officials and public figures in Germany. 

To this end, he is alleged to have operated a dedicated platform on the dark web which reportedly contained sensitive personal data of potential victims.

The trial is being held at the high-security wing of the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court.

(c) 2026 dpa Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH

French senators clear path for return of Kali'na remains to French Guiana

French senators are preparing to debate a law that will allow the remains of six Kali'na indigenous people brought to Paris to feature in a human zoo to be sent back to French Guiana, after more than 130 years in the vaults of a museum in Paris.


Issued on: 04/05/2026 

RFI

The remains of the Kali'na people have been kept in individual, named boxes in the Museum of Mankind archives for 132 years. © Aram Mbengue

Pékapé, Counai, Emo-Marita, Mibipi, Makéré and Miacopo have been lying in individual grey cardboard boxes bearing their names at the Museum of Mankind in Paris since 1892.

Corinne Toka Devilliers, whose great-grandmother Moliko also appeared at a human zoo in Paris but survived the experience, told RFI she wants the remains to go home.

“Our ancestors – 33 of them – were brought to France more than 130 years ago on behalf of the Jardin d’Acclimatation [amusement park in Paris] for the colonial exhibitions," she said.

"Unfortunately, eight lost their lives in France. We have therefore asked for the six [remaining] to be returned home."

Of those eight, one is believed to have been buried in a cemetery north of the French capital, while another’s body was dissected in the name of scientific research.

Six were buried in Paris and their remains later joined the archives of the Museum of Mankind.

The other 25 returned to French Guiana.

Legal precisions

French law has made it difficult to repatriate the remains to French Guiana. French museums have had strict regulations on the objects in their collections since the rule of Napoleon between 1804 and 1815.

All pieces that enter a museum's inventory are regarded as classified, important cultural heritage and need exemptions if they are to leave public collections.

Human remains originating from other countries and dating from after the year 1500 have been returned, under a law that came into force on 26 December, 2023.

However, specific wording was required to return the Kali'na remains because that law was designed for requests made by foreign states – not by a French territory, such as French Guiana.

After two years of campaigning, politicians are now backing Devilliers' fight for their restitution.

On 13 April, Culture Minister Catherine Pégard announced that the government would support a bill in the senate – the upper house of France's parliament – to facilitate the journey back to French Guiana for the six sets of remains.

Two days later, the government announced Senator Catherine Morin-Desaillyand's bill would be fast-tracked, allowing it to be debated in a public session of the senate on 18 May.

The text of the bill, which is being co-sponsored by Senators Max Brisson and Pierre Ouzoulias, stipulates that the remains “shall cease to form part” of the museum’s collections and must be returned to French Guiana within one year for funeral purposes.

“After 133 years of waiting, this is a signal we welcome,” said Guyana MP Jean-Victor Castor. "These Kali’na women, men and children were torn from their land, taken to France and exhibited in human zoos.”

Once in French Guiana, the remains will be laid to rest at a memorial unveiled in August 2024 in Iracoubo.

Cécile Kouyouri, traditional chief of the village of Bellevue-Yanu in Iracoubo, told French news agency AFP: “This repatriation is very important because our history must not remain hidden. Our ancestors suffered just as much as the slaves, and it took a great deal of effort to ensure that this traumatic history was recognised.”

'Anthropo-zoological exhibitions'

In 1882 and again in 1892, Kali’na and Arawak people from French Guiana were exhibited in Paris as part of ethnographic displays now recognised as part of the history of “human zoos”.

Between 1877 and 1931, some 30 "anthropo-zoological exhibitions", as they were known at the time, took place at the Jardin d’Acclimatation park in western Paris.

“The Jardin d’Acclimatation was one of the major venues where a major exhibition took place almost every year, bringing in a great deal of money,” wrote historian Pascal Blanchard, on the website of France's National Audiovisual Institute.

"Between 30,000 and 40,000 people, mostly from colonised populations, were exhibited in Europe, but also in America and Japan."

Cities including Hamburg, London, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Barcelona and Osaka staged shows in which men, women and children from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean were presented as exotic beings, in environments constructed to resemble their homelands.

Blanchard wrote that these human zoos served three essential functions.

"The first was entertainment. It’s a spectacle. People are shown things they wouldn’t otherwise be able to see. The second is to legitimise race... to make racism popular. You see the difference. You come to see the difference. Once you believe that the other is not like you, you believe there are different races and therefore a racial hierarchy, since if there is a visitor and a visited, the visitor feels superior."

He continued: "And then the third dimension: you legitimise colonial empires. Firstly, because these exhibits were often present at major world and colonial exhibitions. Also you demonstrate that there is a civilising mission at work.”

In October 2024, Devilliers was part of a 15-member delegation that performed a shamanic ceremony over the remains in the Museum of Mankind, a stone's throw from where the Kali'na and thousands of others were put on display.

“We couldn’t mourn without this crucial step with our shaman,” she told RFI. “We had to soothe their souls, to be able to tell them 'we’ve come to find you, but first we wanted to talk to you, to comfort you so that you can return calm and content'."

This story was adapted from the original version in French, with additional reporting by Arame Mbengue.

Veteran leftist Mélenchon to stand in 2027 French presidential election


Jean-Luc Mélenchon announced on Sunday on TF1 that he would be running in the 2027 French presidential election, marking the fourth bid for the leader of the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI).


Issued on: 04/05/2026 - 
By: FRANCE 24

Jean-Luc Mélenchon speaks during a meeting to support Sébastien Delogu, LFI's candidate for Marseille's mayoral election on March 7, 2026. © Philippe Magoni, AP
01:48




⁠Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leading figure in the left-wing ​La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, LFI) political party, will stand in next year's presidential election, he said on Sunday.

"Yes, I am a candidate," ​Mélenchon told French television network ‌TF1.

Mélenchon, 74, has been a ⁠fixture of the French left for decades, holding ministerial posts in past governments ‌when he was a Socialist Party member. He ran ⁠for president in 2012, 2017 and 2022, coming third that year behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen ​and French President Emmanuel ⁠Macron.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the veteran leftist standing in the way of a Macron-Le Pen rematch

"We have less than ‌a year to go until the second round of the election. With us, it is all sorted out – there is ‌a team, a manifesto, and a single candidate," added Mélenchon.

Under the French constitution, ​Macron cannot seek a third mandate as president. Edouard Philippe, Macron’s first prime minister in 2017, is also set to stand ​in 2027, representing a centre-right camp.

The far-right National Rally (RN) ​party, led by Le Pen and her ​protégé Jordan Bardella, is polling strongly at present although the RN failed to ​win control of any major city during French municipal elections in March.

'A big confusion': All sides claim victory after French municipal elections

PRESS REVIEW © FRANCE 24
05:41

Le Pen, who ran in the last three elections, is barred from standing because of a conviction for misuse ⁠of EU funds, which she is trying to overturn on appeal; should ⁠she fail, ​Bardella is widely expected to stand in her stead.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)

Nuba Mountains Emerge As New Front In Sudan’s Civil War

May 4, 2026
By Africa Defense Forum


The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said a Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) airstrike that killed at least seven people and injured dozens more during a funeral on March 27 in the Nuba Mountains.


The region near the South Sudan border was far from the front lines when Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023, but that has gradually changed since 2025, after the SPLM-N elected to join forces with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the SAF. The SPLM-N controls most of South Kordofan State, which encompasses the mountains.

Led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, the RSF uses the mountains as a strategic base from which it launches attacks. The RSF holds much of Sudan’s west, and the SAF occupies the capital city of Khartoum and the nation’s east. Although the SAF still controls some towns in the mountains, access to the rugged hills gives the RSF a staging ground for its push to reclaim Khartoum. Analysts say the RSF’s presence around Nuba-area hospitals and markets has turned these bustling areas into potential war targets.

However, Jalale Getachew Birru, a senior analyst at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project, is among the observers who are skeptical of how long the RSF and SPLM-N can remain allied. When the RSF and SPLM-N lost control of Kadugli, near the mountains’ northern edge, to the SAF in February, the groups blamed each other for the loss.

“There was a clash where we were keeping an eye to see whether it was a sign for this alliance to finally break, and for them to go separate ways,” Birru said in an April report by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.


Many Nuba region locals recall brutal attacks by the RSF against displacement camps. They are fearful about the new alliance.

Ethnic tensions among urban Arabs and the Nuba people, and distrust of Khartoum’s government, have fueled longstanding conflict in the mountains, with major escalations in 2011 and after the civil war began in 2023. Renewed regional conflict has taken a severe toll on civilians.

Afra Al Neil Hamed was four months pregnant and had gone to fetch water when a drone struck her home in the South Kordofan town of Ed Dubeibat in November 2025. She heard the explosion and hurried back home but found her husband and teenage son dead. Hamed and her five other children spent a week hiding in the woods before fleeing the town with hundreds of others.

“I started bleeding on the road and walked for seven days,” Hamed, who suffered a miscarriage, told the United Kingdom’s Prospect magazine. “Many women were bleeding on the journey.”


The RSF and SAF each have been accused of committing atrocities against civilians. The war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced about 11 million, creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises, according to the United Nations.

Fighting in the Nuba Mountains also threatens to further destabilize South Sudan, where intensified fighting between opposition groups and government forces in areas bordering the mountains threatens the country’s fragile 2018 ceasefire. Heightened tensions in porous, conflict border areas in Upper Nile and Unity states, and the contested Abyei Administrative Area, drove an influx of Sudanese refugees into South Sudan, fueling an already-dire humanitarian crisis.

In February, the U.N.’s World Food Programme suspended aid delivery to Upper Nile State after repeated attacks on a convoy carrying humanitarian assistance. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement that he was “deeply concerned regarding the impact of the escalating violence” in South Sudan, adding that it “will further harm civilian populations who are already in a vulnerable situation.”

Russia and Iran are fueling the Sudanese conflict with shipments of arms and other goods. They supply the SAF with guns, drones, fuel and parts for fighter jets. Saudi Arabia and Türkiye have supplied drones and other weapons to the SAF, as they seek easy access to the Red Sea.

Eager to project their influence across East Africa and the Red Sea region, the United Arab Emirates has been accused of supplying RSF with weapons and has recruited Colombian mercenaries to fight alongside the paramilitary group. The UAE denies these charges.

The involvement of foreign actors “doesn’t just prolong the violence, but it also makes it very complicated for a political settlement to come in,” 

Emadeddin Badi, a senior fellow at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, told Prospect.

Sudan's medicine crisis worsens

Issued on: 02/05/2026 - 


The latest war in the Middle East is having wide-ranging consequences that extend well beyond the region, including in countries already devastated by their own conflicts. Sudan has been among the hardest hit. Aid organisations report that the Iran conflict has disrupted key shipping routes, severely affecting their ability to deliver food and medicine to millions of people in need around the world. Emily Boyle reports.

Video by: Emily BOYLE

Mali probes soldiers working with rebels

Issued on: 02/05/2026 - 

Malian authorities say some military officers collaborated with jihadist and separatist fighters who carried out coordinated attacks across the country earlier in the week. A statement from the prosecutor’s office confirmed that the first arrests have been made and that efforts are continuing to track down other suspects involved. Meanwhile, separatist fighters from the Azawad Liberation Front claim they have captured a strategic military camp in the town of Tessalit after the Malian army and its Russian allies withdrew. Consulting fellow of the Africa Programma at Chatham House, Paul Melly, shares further insights.

Video by: FRANCE 24

Mali in crisis: Jihadist fighters and Tuareg separatists threaten Bamako


Issued on: 02/05/2026 - FRANCE24
12:01 min From the show


As Mali’s military struggles to maintain control amid a growing jihadist insurgency, a number of its own soldiers have been arrested, accused of collaborating with Al-Qaeda-linked militants in coordinating widespread attacks. Islamist group JNIM, alongside separatist rebels, has reportedly seized two northern cities, killed the defence minister, and is now attempting to impose a blockade on the capital, Bamako. We take a closer look at what’s happening on the ground, the escalating security crisis, and the role of Russian mercenaries in supporting the government. France 24’s Gavin Lee is joined by Beverley Ochieng, a specialist in West Africa and political risk analyst at Control Risks, to discuss.

Produced by Gavin Lee, Andrew Hilliar, Maya Yataghene and Guillaume Gougeon

OUR GUEST

Beverly Ochieng

Senior analyst for Francophone Africa at Control Risks

BY:

Gavin LEE

Maya YATAGHENE

Andrew HILLIAR

Guillaume GOUGEON

VIDEO BY:

Andrew HILLIAR

Gavin LEE

Guillaume GOUGEON

Cuba's economy collapses, prices soar

Issued on: 03/05/2026 - FRANCE24

Many Cubans who lived through the Special Period of the 1990s, when Soviet support collapsed, say the current crisis is even worse. Cuba is facing a deep economic and energy emergency, with daily life becoming increasingly difficult across the island. Because Cuba imports up to 80% of the food it consumes, essential goods are becoming harder and harder to find. Gabrielle Nadler reports.

Video by: Gabrielle Nadler