Activists urge ad boycott if Musk turns Twitter toxic
2022/5/3
© Agence France-Presse

Twitter makes most of its money from ads, which could flee the platform if it allows vitriol and misinformation to flourish once in the hands of billionaire Elon Musk

San Francisco (AFP) - Activist groups called on Twitter advertisers Tuesday to boycott the service if it opens the gates to abusive and misinformative posts with billionaire Elon Musk as its owner.

The Tesla chief's $44-billion deal to buy the global messaging platform must still get the backing of shareholders and regulators, but he has voiced enthusiasm for dialing back content moderation to a legal minimum and no longer banning people for using the platform to instigate real-world harm.

Facebook accused of blocking Australian health sites

2022/5/6 
© Agence France-Presse

Facebook parent Meta says blocking Australian government websites was a glitch, not a negotiating tactic, when it was lobbying against a law there in 2021

San Francisco (AFP) - A whistleblower group is accusing Facebook of deliberately blocking websites for Australian hospitals and emergency services as part of a negotiating tactic last year.

The social network owned by Silicon Valley tech giant Meta was lobbying to weaken a proposed law requiring it to pay news providers in Australia when it blocked all such content from its platform in February 2021.

But the algorithm also blocked other websites in what the company maintained was an accident, telling AFP on Friday that "any suggestion to the contrary is categorically and obviously false."

"We intended to exempt Australian government pages from restrictions in an effort to minimize the impact of this misguided and harmful legislation," a Meta spokesperson said.

"When we were unable to do so as intended due to a technical error, we apologized and worked to correct it."

However, US-based organization Whistleblower Aid alleged it was actually a Meta ploy in filings with the US Department of Justice and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, first reported in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

The organization said in a statement that Facebook's five-day blackout of news content providers had deliberately "overblocked" local governments, health services and other sites that were providing support for vulnerable people.

The intention was to force the government to weaken the proposed law, the group said.

"This wasn't just an example of a corporate actor behaving recklessly," said Whistleblower Aid chief Libby Liu.

"Facebook intentionally put lives at risk to protect its bottom line."

Shortly after the blackout, Australia passed a law forcing Facebook to negotiate with news content providers, but politicians watered down some of the most onerous proposals.

Online content fuelling divisions and global tensions, media watchdog says

Unregulated online content has spread disinformation and propaganda that have amplified political divisions worldwide, fanned international tensions and even contributed to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a media watchdog warned Tuesday.

© Petras Malukas, AFP

Reporters Without Borders said democratic societies are increasingly fractured by social media spreading disinformation and more opinion media pursuing a so-called "Fox News model", referring to the controversial right-wing television network in the United States.

At the same time, despotic and autocratic regimes that tightly control information in their societies are using their "asymmetric" position to wage "propaganda wars" against democracies and fuel divisions within them, the watchdog said in the 2022 edition of its annual World Press Freedom Index.

"Polarisation on these two levels is fuelling increased tension," Reporters Without Borders, widely known by its French acronym RSF, said in a five-page summary.

It noted Russia, where state-run media overwhelmingly dominate and independent outlets are increasingly stifled, invaded Ukraine following a propaganda war.

"The creation of media weaponry in authoritarian countries eliminates their citizens' right to information but is also linked to the rise in international tension, which can lead to the worst kind of wars," RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said.

He added the "Fox News-isation" of Western media also poses a "fatal danger for democracies because it undermines the basis of civil harmony and tolerant public debate".

Deloire urged countries to adopt appropriate legal frameworks to protect democratic online information spaces.

 
Record 'very bad'

The situation is "very bad" in a record 28 countries, according to this year's ranking of 180 countries and regions based on the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists.

The lowest ranked were North Korea (180th), Eritrea (179th) and Iran (178th), with Myanmar (176th) and China (175th) close behind.

Russia (155th) and ally Belarus (153rd) were also on its red list of the most repressive.

Hong Kong's position plummeted dozens of places to 148th, reflecting Beijing's efforts to use "its legislative arsenal to confine its population and cut it off from the rest of the world", RSF said.

Nordic countries Norway, Denmark and Sweden again topped the index, serving as a democratic models "where freedom of expression flourishes".

The NGO commended Moldova (40th) and Bulgaria (91st) this year due to government changes and "the hope it has brought for improvement in the situation for journalists".

But it noted "oligarchs still own or control the media" in both.

Media polarisation was "feeding and reinforcing internal social divisions in democratic societies" such as the United States (42nd).

That trend was even starker in "illiberal democracies" such as Poland (66th), a European Union country where suppression of independent media was also noted by RSF.

The NGO, launched in 1985 and which has published the yearly index since 2002, has become a thorn in the side of autocratic and despotic regimes around the world.

This year's listing was developed with a new methodology redefining press freedom and using five new indicators -- political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context, and security -- to reflect its "complexity".

Older adults more likely than young to be fooled by 'fake news,' study says

By HealthDay News

Older people have a tougher time deciphering "fake news" from the real thing, according to researchers at the University of Florida. 

Photo by kaboompics/Pixabay


Older adults are no more likely to believe fake news than younger adults, with the exception of the very oldest, a new study finds.

Falling for fake news can have significant physical, emotional and financial consequences, especially for older adults who may have their life savings or serious medical issues at stake, the researchers said.

"We wanted to see if there was an age difference in determining whether news is true versus false," said lead author Didem Pehlivanoglu, a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at the University of Florida, in Gainesville.

"We specifically wanted to look at this because we know that with aging, most people show some decline in their cognitive abilities. But we also know some information-processing abilities are preserved or even improved," Pehlivanoglu said in a university news release.

The study, published this week in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, was conducted between May and October of 2020. It included a group of older adults, aged 61 to 87, and a group of college students.

Participants were asked to read and evaluate 12 full-length news articles about COVID-19 and non-COVID topics. Some of the articles were real and some were fake.

Older and young adults had similar levels of ability to detect fake news, according to the study. The results were published online May 2 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.

Both groups were less likely to identify fake news about COVID-19 than news not related to the pandemic. That may be due to low familiarity with COVID-related information in the early months of the pandemic, the researchers suggested.

"People have this perception that older adults are going to perform worse than young adults across the board but that is not the case," said study co-author Brian Cahill, a psychology professor at the University of Florida.

The study did find that adults older than 70 were less likely to ferret out fake news about COVID-19 or other topics. But that's likely because they didn't look as closely at information or pay attention to details, the study authors added.

It's only in very late old age -- when declines in thinking abilities can no longer be offset by life experience and world knowledge -- that people may become especially vulnerable to fake news and other misinformation, the investigators noted.

Study co-author Natalie Ebner, a psychology professor at the university, said, "It is a particularly high-risk population with high stakes for wrong decision making, not just for themselves but also for society at large."

Detained Griner to be honored at all venues: WNBA
2022/5/3 
© Agence France-Presse

US basketball star Brittney Griner will be honored at WNBA venues to mark her detention in Russia

New York (AFP) - Detained US women's basketball star Brittney Griner will be honored at all WNBA venues when the new season gets under way later this week, the league said Tuesday.

Griner has been in custody in Russia since being stopped at Moscow's airport on February 17 after vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage.

The United States government said Tuesday that Griner's detention was unwarranted, describing her as a "wrongfully detained US citizen". Washington had previously stopped short of commenting on the nature of her detention.

The WNBA said in a statement on Tuesday that all 12 venues across the league would feature Griner's initials and jersey number (42) emblazoned on the sidelines when the new season tips off on Friday.

"As we begin the 2022 season, we are keeping Brittney at the forefront of what we do through the game of basketball and in the community," WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.

"We continue to work on bringing Brittney home and are appreciative of the support the community has shown BG and her family during this extraordinarily challenging time."

US basketball officials had previously taken a discreet approach to Griner's detention, preferring to allow behind-the-scenes diplomacy to play out.

Griner's wife Cherelle Griner had also called for supporters to "honor our privacy as we continue to work on getting my wife home safely".

Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion, is regarded as one of the best women basketball players in the world.

She had been in Russia to play club basketball before the WNBA season resumed on May 6.

US says basketball star 'wrongfully detained' in Russia
2022/5/3 
© Agence France-Presse
Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury, who has since been detained in Russia, puts a shot over Azura Stevens of the Chicago Sky during the 2021 WNBA Finals in Phoenix in October 2021

Washington (AFP) - The United States said Tuesday that Russia has unjustly detained basketball star Brittney Griner, as her league announced plans to honor her at all venues for the start of the season.

More than two months after she was seized amid soaring tensions over Ukraine, the State Department said that her case was being turned over to Roger Carstens, the US special envoy in charge of hostages.

"The Department of State has determined that the Russian Federation has wrongfully detained US citizen Brittney Griner," a State Department spokesperson said.

Calling American citizens' safety "among the highest priorities of the US government," the spokesperson said the State Department would "provide appropriate support" to Griner.

Washington had earlier been granted consular access but had stopped short of commenting on the nature of her detention.

Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion, was detained at Moscow's airport on February 17 on charges of carrying in her luggage vape cartridges with cannabis oil, illegal in Russia.

The arrest came days before Russia defied US warnings and invaded Ukraine, prompting Western powers to impose sweeping sanctions and send military aid to Kyiv.

The WNBA, the Women's National Basketball Association, announced that all 12 venues would feature Griner's initials and jersey number 42 emblazoned on the sidelines when the new season tips off Friday.

"As we begin the 2022 season, we are keeping Brittney at the forefront of what we do through the game of basketball and in the community," WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.

"We continue to work on bringing Brittney home and are appreciative of the support the community has shown BG and her family during this extraordinarily challenging time," she said.

The State Department finding comes nearly a week after the United States and Russia exchanged prisoners, a scene reminiscent of the Cold War.

Russia in the last exchange freed Trevor Reed, a former US Marine accused of drunkenly fighting with police.

The United States also says Russia has unjustly detained Paul Whelan, a former security official at a vehicle parts company who was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges.

Griner, 31, is considered among the greatest female basketball players with her skill at "dunking" a ball.

She was playing club basketball in Russia before the resumption of the US season, a common practice for American stars seeking additional income.

Ukraine: How drones are changing the way of war

The war in Ukraine shows that unmanned aerial vehicles are part of modern warfare. Drones have various tasks from aerial surveillance to missile defense.


The Switchblade is known as a backpack drone because of its convenient travel-size when folded

Drones meet the requirements of modern warfare — that's the line from the US Department of Defense. And the Pentagon says it has just the drone to meet all of Ukraine's requirements. It's a new drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), called Phoenix Ghost.

"We believed this particular system would very nicely suit their needs, particularly in eastern Ukraine," Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said in a press briefing.

Kirby said the US had started developing the Phoenix Ghost before the outbreak of war and that work would now be accelerated to meet Ukraine's requirements even better.

The plan is to deliver more than 120 of the drones as part of a $800 million (ca. €750 million) military assistance package.

But what does Phoenix Ghost do? How does it differ from other weapon systems?

Well, not much is known. There are no pictures. What we do know is that Phoenix Ghost was developed by US defense contractor Aevex Aerospace with the US Air Force. And that according to Kirby, personnel won't need a lot of training to operate it.

Kirby said the new drone was like older, Switchblade drones, which were made by US company AeroVironment for use by US special forces in Afghanistan in 2012.

Switchblade kamikaze drone

The Switchblade backpack drone belongs to the category of "loitering munitions" or "loitering weapons."

"It's a mix between a missile and a drone," Arthur Holland Michel, author and senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in Barcelona, told DW.

Watch video 03:31 Drone warfare in Ukraine explained

Loitering munitions get their name from the way they work. They are launched without a specific target and circle over an area until a target is assigned by an operator on the ground, and that's when it strikes.

It has sensors that can detect emerging targets. Depending on the model's size and weight, it can stay in the air for between 15 and 40 minutes, with a range of 10 to 40 kilometers (6-25 miles).

"Unlike a large drone, it doesn't need an airfield or lots of infrastructure to launch," Michel said. "And unlike a missile, it gives you time to identify the target, get situational awareness, and then literally drive the missile drone into the target."

The Switchblade 300 weighs roughly 5.5 pounds and can stay in the air for 15 minutes

Switchblade drones are also known as kamikaze drones because they self-destruct on impact.

Optimized: Phoenix Ghost

Phoenix Ghost drones have similar capabilities but are not exactly the same as the Switchblade, Kirby said.

David Deptula, a retired lieutenant general who sits on the board of directors at Aevex Aerospace, was quoted by Politico as saying that Phoenix Ghost can fly for longer than Switchblade — up to six hours.

Deptula is reported to have said that Phoenix Ghost was a single-use drone that launches vertically and that it can operate at night with infrared sensors. The drone was effective against "medium armored ground targets," Politico quoted Deptula as saying.

Vector: German technology for Ukraine

The Ukrainian armed forces also use a surveillance drone from the German company Quantum Systems.

"Our drones are already in Ukraine," Florian Seibel, CEO of the Bavaria-based company, told the German news network RND.

The German "Vector" drone is not a weapon as such — it cannot drop bombs but it can form part of a weapons system. It is said to be best used for its flight and video capabilities. Ukraine might use it to optimize the aim of its artillery, for example.

Vector delivers high-resolution real-time video over 15 kilometers and can remain airborne for up to two hours.

Japan has also supplied drones to Ukraine. But Ukraine uses local drones as well.

The most common Ukrainian drone is the Leleka-100, which weighs about five kilograms and is produced by Deviro, a company in Dnipro in central Ukraine.

The Vector drone is intended for surveillance and reconnaissance missions

Fewer Russian drones

The Russian military seems to rely less on drones, but does use them. Its main drone is the Orlan-10, a small reconnaissance and surveillance UAV made at the Center for Special Technology in St. Petersburg.

With a wingspan of 3.1 meters (10 ft), Orlan-10 can fly up to 100 kilometers. The reconnaissance system is simple in design: It uses commercial Canon EOS-D series cameras for aerial photography, as well as thermal imaging and video cameras.

But with all these developments in automated warfare, drone expert Michel says we should be aware there are risks and concerns with drones.

For example: Do users have sufficient situational awareness to make decisions about whether to use force? Are the weapons vulnerable to hacking? If a drone causes unintended damage, how can people be held accountable for that damage? How can civilians be protected?

"With each additional autonomous feature that gets added to such weapons, these concerns multiply," Michel wrote on Twitter.

UKRAINE'S CIVILIANS PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR THE WAR EFFORT
Anti-tank obstacles instead of sculptures
In peacetime, artist Volodymyr Kolesnykov creates metal sculptures in his workshop in Uzhhorod, near the Hungarian border. These days, his time is spent welding anti-tank obstacles, or "Czech hedgehogs," along with other artists and metalworkers.
123456

This article was originally written in German.

Mysterious series of deaths among Russian oligarchs

Seven Russian oligarchs, many involved with oil and gas, have recently died under mysterious circumstances. Though suicide is officially suspected, speculation about the Kremlin's involvement abounds.

Gazprombank executive and oligarch Vladislav Avayev was found dead in his home

April 19, Lloret de Mar, Catalunya: The Spanish police received a telephone call from Fedor Protosenya, the son of a Russian oligarch, whose family owns a villa in the area. He reported that he had been trying for hours to call his mother from France but that no one was picking up the phone. When the police arrived at the family property, they were met with the bodies of Protosenya's parents and sister. The police initially assumed that his father, the millionaire Sergei Protosenya, had stabbed the women and then hung himself in the garden of the villa — but it didn't take long for doubts to surface about that course of events. 

Russian oligarch Sergei Protosenya was found dead with his family their house in Spain

One day earlier, police in Moscow, about 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles) away from the coastal city in Spain, also made a gruesome discovery: Vladislav Avayev, another millionaire, and his wife and 13-year-old daughter were found dead in their luxury apartment. The Russian state news agency Tass reported that Avayev had a pistol in his hand. He is suspected by authorities of shooting his wife and his daughter before taking his own life. 

The incidents took place within 24 hours of each other, and the presumed courses of events are strikingly similar. Moreover, Protosenya and Avayev were both multimillionaire oligarchs from the highest ranks of the Russian oil and gas industries. Protosenya was at one point the deputy chairman of the natural gas company Novatek, while Avayev served as vice president of Gazprombank. 

Their deaths were the latest in a series of mysterious deaths of Russian oligarchs — primarily from the energy sector — that have taken place in 2022. 

In late January, a month before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Leonid Schulman, a 60-year-old high-level manager at Gazprom, reportedly committed suicide. Then, on February 25, Alexander Tyulyakov, another former manager at the energy giant, was found hanging dead in his house in St. Petersburg. Three days later, the Ukraine-born gas and oil magnate Mikhail Watford was also found hanging dead in the garage of his country estate in Surrey, southern England. 

On March 24, the billionaire Vasily Melnikov, head of the giant medical supply company MedStom, was found dead alongside hie wife, Galina, and their two young sons in their multimillion-dollar apartment in the Russian city of Ninzhni Novgorod. The details of their deaths also parallel those of Protosenya and Avayev.

And, finally, there is the case of Andrei Krukovsky. The 37-year-old was the director of the ski resort Krasnaya Polyana, located near Sochi. Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to have repeatedly invited his guests to ski there. According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Krukovsky was out hiking on May 2 when he fell from a cliff to his death. 

RUSSIA'S OLIGARCHS AND THEIR SPORTS INVESTMENTS
Roman Abramovich (Chelsea)
56-year-old Roman Abramovich was the first Russian billionaire to make a foray into the sports world. His 2003 purchase of Chelsea transformed the Premier League side and created the blueprint for the acquisition of sporting assets by wealthy individuals. Chelsea have since won five league titles and two Champions Leagues, but Abramovich's UK assets have now been frozen by the government.
12345

'Senior Kremlin-linked people'?

The mysterious deaths of seven superrich Russians in just three months under such gruesome circumstances have opened the door to all kinds of speculation. Numerous media outlets have surmised that the suicides could have been faked. Some of them have even gone so far as to suggest that the Kremlin, or even Putin himself, may have been involved in some way. 

Alexei Navalny, an outspoken Putin critic, was poisoned with a nerve agent in 2020

There have been multiple dramatic assassination attempts on Kremlin critics in recent years. In August 2020, opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent while at the Tomsk airport. Two years earlier, Sergei Skripal, the former head of the Russia's GRU intelligence agency, had been similarly poisoned. Both Navalny and Skripal survived. In 2006, Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian security officer who had defected to the UK, was fatally poisoned with radioactive polonium in London. 

In 2017, the US newspaper USA Today published the results of an investigation stating that at least 38 oligarchs had died or gone missing over the course of three years. 

Former spy Alexander Litvinenko wrote books exposing the mechanisms inside Russia

What is striking about the 2022 incidents is that none of the deceased oligarchs was known to have made critical public remarks about the invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, none of them was on the international sanctions lists that were drawn up in the aftermath of the invasion.

A recently published post from the Warsaw Institute, a Polish think thank focused on Russia and security policy, stated that both the Russian police and Gazprom's security services quickly launched investigations into the deaths that occurred within Russia. "Possibly some senior Kremlin-linked people are now covering up the traces of fraud in state-run companies," a post on the institute's Russia Monitor site read.

There is no evidence to back this theory or speculation about violent involvement by a third party. And so, in the case of Sergei Protosenya, the Spanish police continue to presume that the deaths were murder-suicide. However, Fedor Protosenya doesn't believe that this was the case. "My father is not a killer," he told various British media. 

This article was originally written in German.

If you are suffering from serious emotional strain or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to seek professional help. You can find information on where to find such help, no matter where you live in the world, at this website: https://www.befrienders.org/

Putin blasts 'Nazi filth' in Ukraine in Victory Day remarks

THE BIGGEST SOURCE OF NAZI FILTH WAS EAST GERMANY COMRADE

STILL IS

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a concert marking the anniversary of Crimea's annexation by Russia at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow in March. Putin on Sunday blasted “Nazi filth” in Ukraine in remarks he made to commemorate Victory Day, the 77th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. File Photo by Sergei Guneyev/EPA-EFE


May 8 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted "Nazi filth" in Ukraine in remarks he made to commemorate Victory Day, the 77th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Putin's remarks also noted that he sent congratulatory messages to the Russian appointed heads of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine, which together make up the Donbas region, for "fighting shoulder to shoulder for the liberation of their native land."

In the last month, Russia has refocused its fighting in the Donbas region, which has largely been held by Russian-backed separatists since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Putin had recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics in the days before the invasion.

"Today, the common duty is to prevent the revival of Nazism, which brought so much suffering to people from different countries," Putin said in the messages, according to a press release from the Kremlin.

"It is necessary to preserve and pass on to posterity the truth about the events of the war years, common spiritual values and traditions of fraternal friendship."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday met with Bärbel Blas, the president of Germany's parliament, in Kyiv as the countries commemorated the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945.

The visit by Blas was the first by a German official since the countries mended a diplomatic disagreement over a decision by Ukrainian officials last month to uninvite federal president Frank-Walter Steinmeier over his past Russian ties.

During the meeting, Zelensky thanked Germany for supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, according to a press release.

Zelensky and Blas also discussed further assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of sanctions against Russia as the war continues, as well as the movement toward membership in the European Union.

Putin's comments on Victory Day came as Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, released a video message in which she said that "the Russian invasion of Ukraine reminds us why we are celebrating Europe Day tomorrow."

"My fellow Europeans, today our continent encounters shadows of a past we thought we had long left behind -- an atrocious war, senseless aggression and destroyed cities," von der Leyen said.

"Europe stands at the side of Ukraine. At the same time the Kremlins invasion reminds us why we're celebrating Europe Day -- the day when our peaceful, prosperous and united Europe was born."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also released a video message for Victory Day in which he remembered the Ukrainians who have died during Russia's invasion.

"As we remember those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom and our futures, we also think of those who've died and suffered in Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine," Johnson said.

"Our respect and gratitude to those who have fought in previous conflicts strengthens our determination to support the people of Ukraine in their struggle. We won't forget the sacrifices that have been made over the generations to ensure peace and freedom in Europe."

Trudeau visits Irpin as diplomats, politicians return to Ukraine


1/6

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Irpin, Ukraine, on Sunday as a slew of diplomats and politicians traveled to the country ahead of Victory in Europe Day. 

Photo courtesy Oleksandr Markushyn/Facebook

May 8 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Ukraine on Sunday as a slew of diplomats and politicians traveled to the country ahead of Victory in Europe Day.

Trudeau announced his visit in a message on Twitter and said that he had traveled with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.

"We're here to show our support for Ukraine and its people," Trudeau said. "Our message to President [Volodymyr Zelensky] and Ukrainians is this: Canada will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine."

His visit was confirmed by Oleksandr Markushyn, the mayor of the Kyiv suburb of Irpin. The town suffered destruction as Russian forces attempted to assault the capital before refocusing the war to eastern Ukraine.

"He came to Irpin to see with his own eyes all the horror that the Russian occupiers had done to our city," Markushyn said.

"And, of course, he was shocked. After all, he saw burned and completely destroyed not military facilities, but the homes of Irpin residents, who until recently enjoyed life and had their own plans for the future."


Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Irpin, Ukraine, on Sunday.

 Photo courtesy Oleksandr Markushyn/Facebook

Markushyn thanked Trudeau for Canada's support for the country and said he believed the country's would continue to cooperate as Ukrainians work to rebuild their cities.

Trudeau's visit came as first lady Jill Biden on Sunday also made an unannounced trip to Ukraine where she met with first lady Olena Zelenska, the wife of President Volodymyr Zelensky, at a school near the border with Slovakia.

Kristina Kvien, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, returned to Kyiv on Sunday with a group of diplomats for the first time since before Russia invaded on Feb. 24.

Zelensky on Sunday met with Bärbel Blas, the president of Germany's parliament, in Kyiv as the countries commemorated the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945.

The visit by Blas was the first by a German official since the countries mended a diplomatic disagreement over a decision by Ukrainian officials last month to uninvite federal president Frank-Walter Steinmeier over his past Russian ties.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković also visited Ukraine on Sunday and met with Zelensky, who thanked him for his support of Ukraine.

"Croatia is a principled member of our anti-war coalition," Zelensky said. "Together we defend the right not only of our citizens, not only of the citizens of Ukraine, but also of every European nation to an independent and democratic life."

Zelensky said he discussed with Plenković a sixth sanctions package from the European Union and membership in the international organization.

Masud Gharahkhani, the president of Norway's unicameral legislature, also met with Zelensky on Sunday and said he was "deeply shocked" by the Russian occupation in Irpin and Bucha in the Kyiv region.

Jill Biden makes unannounced visit to Ukraine


First lady Jill Biden on Sunday made an unannounced trip to Ukraine where she met with first lady Olena Zelenska, the wife of President Volodymyr Zelensky, at a school near the border with Slovakia. Photo courtesy Jill Biden/Twitter

May 8 (UPI) -- First lady Jill Biden on Sunday made an unannounced trip to Ukraine where she met with first lady Olena Zelenska, the wife of President Volodymyr Zelensky, at a school near the border with Slovakia.

"On this Mother's Day, my heart is with you, First Lady Olena Zelenska, and all of the brave and resilient mothers of Ukraine," Biden said on Twitter after the visit.

In a photo shared by Biden, she can be seen carrying flowers for her Ukrainian counterpart as the women embrace in a hug.

Biden met with Zelenska at a school in Uzhhorod, a town just a few miles from the border with Slovakia which is being used as a shelter for refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

"We understand what it takes for the U.S. first lady to come here during a war, where the military actions are taking place every day, where the air sirens are happening every day, even today," Zelenska told reporters after the hour-long visit.

Biden is the latest high-profile official to visit Ukraine after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of lawmakers to the country last Sunday. Before Pelosi, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited with officials in Kyiv.


Jill Biden (2-R), accompanied by the wife of the President of Romania, Carmen Iohannis (L), meets with Ukrainian refugee children in their classroom in Bucharest, Romania, on Saturday. Her visit to Romania is part of a four-day trip to Romania and Slovakia to highlight the United States' commitment to Ukrainian refugees. Photo by Cristian Nistor/EPA-EFE
President Joe Biden, who has not visited Ukraine, made a trip to Warsaw, Poland, in March during which he said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power."

Jill Biden's trip to Ukraine came amid a trip to Europe that included visiting with Ukrainian refugees in a school in Romania.

On Saturday, she visited Scoala Gimnaziala Uruguay, a Romanian school in Bucharest that had opened its classrooms to Ukrainian refugee students, alongside Romania's first lady Carmen lohannis.

Before crossing the border into Ukraine on Sunday, Biden -- a professor at Northern Virginia Community College -- had visited the Tomasikova Street School in Slovakia on Sunday to meet with students and teachers.

Jill Biden, right, has met with teachers and students in Slovakia and Romania during a trip to express the United States' support for refugees. Photo courtesy Jill Biden/Twitter

Dozens killed in raid on DR Congo gold mine: local sources

Sun, May 8, 2022

Local official Jean-Pierre Bikilisende of the rural Mungwalu settlement in Djugu, Ituri, a strife-torn northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo region pictured in January 2022, said the CODECO militia had carried out an attack on a mine

 (AFP/ALEXIS HUGUET)

Raiders killed at least 35 people including a baby in an attack on a gold mine in Ituri, in the strife-torn northeast of Democratic Republic of Congo, local sources said Sunday.

One local official, Jean-Pierre Bikilisende, of the rural Mungwalu settlement in Djugu, Ituri, said the CODECO militia had carried out the attack on the artisanal mine.

Bikilisende said the militia had attacked the Camp Blanquette gold mine and that 29 bodies had been retrieved, while another six burnt bodies had been found buried at the site.

Among the dead was a four-month-old baby, he added.

"This is a provisional toll," he said, as there had been other people killed whose bodies had been thrown down the mine shafts.

Several other civilians had been reported missing, he said. "The search continues."

Camp Blanquette was set up in a forest, far from the nearest military outpost, so help came too late, said Bikilisende.

Cherubin Kukundila, a civil leader in Mungwalu, said that at least 50 people had been killed in the raid.

Several people had been wounded, nine of them seriously. They were being treated at Mungwalu hospital, he told AFP.

During their attack, the raiders had ransacked shops, carried off what the miners had dug out of the mine and burned down houses, he added.

The Camp Blanquette mine lies seven kilometres (four miles) from Mungwalu.

- Years of violence -

CODECO -- the name for the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo -- is a political-religious sect that claims to represent the interests of the Lendu ethnic group.

The Lendu and Hema communities have a long-standing feud that led to thousands of deaths between 1999 and 2003 before intervention by a European peacekeeping force.

Violence then resumed in 2017, blamed on the emergence of CODECO.

CODECO is considered one of the deadliest of the militias operating in the east of the country, blamed for a number of ethnic massacres in the province of Ituri.

It has been held responsible for attacks on soldiers and civilians, including those fleeing the conflict and aid workers.

Its attacks have caused hundreds of deaths and prompted more than 1.5 million people to flee their homes.

Ituri and neighbouring North Kivu province have been under a "state of siege" since May last year. The army and police have replaced senior administrators in a bid to stem attacks by armed groups.

Despite this, the authorities have been unable to stop the massacres regularly carried out on civilians.

Under pressure from local leaders in both Ituri and neighbouring North Kivu, who are boycotting parliament, DR Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi has decided to review the efficacy of the state of siege.

In April, 16 people, including nine soldiers, went on trial in DR Congo accused of selling weapons to CODECO. The trial is taking place at a military court in Ituri.

jpp-bmb/jj/imm