Уряд повідомив про спрощення ввезення до України запчастин для наземної військової техніки

Спеціально призначені або модифіковані для військового використання компоненти можна буде ввозити без дозволу Держслужби експортного контролю

Україна почала переговори з Британією щодо безпекових гарантій – ОП

«Велика Британія стала другою після Сполучених Штатів Америки державою, із якою Україна розпочала такі переговори»

Клименко: українські рятувальники допоможуть ліквідувати наслідки повені в Словенії

«У складі групи понад півсотні фахівців ДСНС та майже 20 одиниць спеціалізованої техніки»

Заради нової забудови дегенерати знесли історичну будівлю у Києві

У Подільському районі Києва, заради нової забудови, дегенерати знесли історичну будівлю. Про це розповіла депутатка Київської міської ради Ксенія Семенова.

“Звичайний київський ранок. На вулиці Ярославській зносять двохсотрічний будинок. Там де дозволу ДОКС немає, а благоустрій анулював картку порушення благоустрою. Бо ти тепер можеш викликати поліцію. Але пацанам нічо не буде. Пацани роблять бізнес. Нема доміка, нема проблеми”, — йдеться у дописі Семенової на її сторінці у мережі.

За її словами, згідно документів, замість знесеного будинку збудують “клубний дом” за замовленням Сергія Боярчукова з юридичної компанії “Алєксєєв, Боярчуков та партнери”. “Інший партнер компанії, народний депутат від Євросолідарності Сергій Алєксєєв, є президентом офіційного фан-клубу Кличків.

Прокопів Володимир, це ваші так люблять київський Поділ? Я не розумію, як боротися із цим в правовій площині. Щоб ти не робив, вранці приїде техніка і тупо знесе будинок. А ти стрибай, розказуй, що йому 200 років”, — додала Семенова.

Від сьогодні: Сергій Боярчуков і Сергій Алєксєєв, а також усі їх нащадки визнаються дегенератами і звертатися до них потрібно із згадуванням даного статусу (пан дегенерат Сергій Боярчуков і пан дегенерат Сергій Алєксєєв).

Слава Україні!

China, Russia and Iran are Engaged in Foreign Interference in New Zealand, Intelligence Agency Says

China, Iran and Russia are engaged in foreign interference in New Zealand, the nation’s domestic intelligence agency said Friday after making its threat assessment report public for the first time.

In the report, Director-General of Security Andrew Hampton said the Security Intelligence Service sees enormous value in sharing more of its insights publicly.

The agency had previously taken a secretive approach. It decided to change course after it and other agencies were criticized for focusing too much on the perceived threat from Islamic extremism and being blindsided when a white supremacist shot and killed 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques in 2019.

In the report, the agency says the most notable case of foreign interference is the continued targeting of the nation’s diverse Chinese communities by people with links to the intelligence arm of China’s ruling Communist Party.

It said China’s efforts to advance its political, economic and military involvement in the Pacific was driving strategic competition. The agency said it was aware and concerned about ongoing Chinese intelligence activity “in and against New Zealand.”

The report said Iran had been engaged in societal interference by monitoring and reporting on Iranian communities and dissident groups in New Zealand.

The agency linked Russia’s war in Ukraine to a number of problems, including increased geopolitical competition, supply chain disruptions, and efforts to spy on other countries and seed disinformation.

“Russia’s international disinformation campaigns have not targeted New Zealand specifically, but have had an impact on the views of some New Zealanders,” the report found.

Domestically, the agency found that violent extremism continued to pose a threat. The report said there were likely some people in New Zealand with the intent and capability to carry out domestic terror attacks, although the agency wasn’t aware of any specific or credible plans.

“We continue to see inflammatory language and violent abuse online targeting a wide variety of people from already marginalized communities,” the report found.

 

Kyiv Residents Urged to go to Air Raid Shelters as Explosions Heard in Capital

Several explosions were heard across Kyiv early Friday. Earlier, Mayor Vitali Klitschko had urged residents to go to air raid shelters and Ukrainian officials had issued a nationwide air raid alert.

Ukraine shot down a missile near a children’s hospital in the city Friday. Debris from the missile fell near the hospital in Kyiv, but there were no reported injuries.

Meanwhile, the airspace over two Russian airports – Vnukovo and Kalugo – was temporarily closed Friday due to drone flights. The airports have since reopened.

In its daily intelligence report Friday about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry said there is a “realistic possibility” that a “small number” of Wagner Group advisers will be present when Belarussian troops conduct an exercise in the Grodno area of northwestern Belarus, near the Polish and Lithuanian borders, according to the British Defense Ministry.

The British ministry said that Wagner advisers would likely act as trainers in the Belarus exercise. It also noted that the Belarussian Defense Ministry said the exercise in the Grodno area is “intended to incorporate lessons learnt by the Russian military in Ukraine.”

“Russia is almost certainly keen to promote Belarusian forces as posturing against NATO,” the British ministry said. However, it is unlikely that the Belarussian forces will be deployed to Grodno “with the enablers it would need to make it combat-ready.”

On Thursday, a Russian missile hit a hotel United Nations staff members often used in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, leaving one person dead and 16 wounded, Ukrainian officials said.  

“Zaporizhzhia. The city suffers daily from Russian shelling. A fire broke out in a civilian building after the occupiers hit it with a missile,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

U.N. staff reportedly stayed at the Reikartz Hotel when they worked in the city, Denise Brown, the humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, told Reuters.

“I am appalled by the news that a hotel frequently used by United Nations personnel and our colleagues from NGOs supporting people affected by the war has been hit by a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia shortly ago,” she said in an email. “I have stayed in this hotel every single time I visited Zaporizhzhia.”

Among the 16 injured in the strike, four were children. It was the second strike on Zaporizhzhia in two days.

Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia has also become a focal point of the war because it is the site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

Between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the plant lost connection to its last remaining external line and was switched to a reserve line, state-owned power generating company Energoatom said Thursday.

“Such a regime is difficult for the reactor plant, its duration is limited by the project’s design, and it can result in failure of the main equipment of the energy unit,” Energoatom said on Telegram.

A blackout at the power plant is looming, Energoatom added.

Later Thursday, Ukraine’s navy said a new temporary “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea had started working. The first ships are expected to use it within days, the navy said.

The corridor will be for commercial ships blocked at Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and for grain and agricultural products, Oleh Chalyk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian navy, told Reuters.

Despite the opening of the corridor, the risk posed by mines in the Black Sea, coupled with the military threat from Russia, persisted.

Russia’s decision to back out of the Black Sea grain deal was predicted to feature prominently this past weekend at Saudi Arabia-hosted peace talks about Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said the talks were a “breakthrough” for Kyiv.

“If a country wants to be in the front seat of world politics, it has to become part of these coordination meetings,” Dmytro Kuleba said in a Thursday interview with Reuters.

“We are fully satisfied with the dynamics of this process,” he said. “I believe the meeting in Jeddah was a breakthrough because for the first time, we brought together countries representing [the] entire world, not only Europe and North America.”

In the days leading up to the talks, it was unclear whether China would participate. But officials from China, and more than 40 countries in total, ended up participating.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

Курс долара в Росії сягнув 99 рублів, це новий рекорд за 16 місяців

За рік – від серпня 2022-го до серпня 2023-го – російська валюта девальвувала більш як у півтора раза щодо долара

Продаж нафти дорожче від стелі цін приніс Кремлю понад 15 млрд доларів за місяць – МЕА

Майже 80% експорту російської нафти припали на Індію та Китай, ідеться в звіті

РНБО ухвалила звільнити всіх обласних «воєнкомів» – Зеленський

Президент України відзначив, що «загалом уже 112 кримінальних проваджень щодо посадовців «військкоматів», 33 підозри»

Putin Profits Off US, European Reliance on Russian Nuclear Fuel

The U.S. and its European allies are importing vast amounts of nuclear fuel and compounds from Russia, providing Moscow with hundreds of millions of dollars in badly needed revenue as it wages war on Ukraine.

The sales, which are legal and unsanctioned, have raised alarms from nonproliferation experts and elected officials who say the imports are helping to bankroll the development of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal and are complicating efforts to curtail Russia’s war-making abilities.

The dependence on Russian nuclear products — used mostly to fuel civilian reactors — leaves the U.S. and its allies open to energy shortages if Russian President Vladimir Putin were to cut off supplies. The challenge is likely to grow more intense as those nations seek to boost production of emissions-free electricity to combat climate change.

“We have to give money to the people who make weapons? That’s absurd,” said Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. “If there isn’t a clear rule that prevents nuclear power providers from importing fuel from Russia — and it’s cheaper to get it from there — why wouldn’t they do it?”

Russia sold about $1.7 billion in nuclear products to firms in the U.S. and Europe, according to trade data and experts. The purchases occurred as the West has leveled stiff sanctions on Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, blocking imports of such Russian staples as oil, gas, vodka and caviar.

The West has been reluctant to target Russia’s nuclear exports, however, because they play key roles in keeping reactors humming. Russia supplied the U.S. nuclear industry with about 12% of its uranium last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Europe reported getting about 17% of its uranium in 2022 from Russia.

Reliance on nuclear power is expected to grow as nations embrace alternatives to fossil fuels. Nuclear power plants produce no emissions, though experts warn that nuclear energy comes with the risk of reactor meltdowns and the challenge of how to safely store radioactive waste. There are about 60 reactors under construction around the world — 300 more are in the planning stages.

Many of the 30 countries generating nuclear energy in some 440 plants are importing radioactive materials from Russia’s state-owned energy corporation Rosatom and its subsidiaries. Rosatom leads the world in uranium enrichment, and it is ranked third in uranium production and fuel fabrication, according to its 2022 annual report.

Rosatom, which says it is building 33 new reactors in 10 counties, and its subsidiaries exported around $2.2 billion worth of nuclear energy-related goods and materials last year, according to trade data analyzed by the Royal United Service Institute, a London think tank. The institute said that figure is likely much larger because it is difficult to track such exports.

Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachyov told the Russian newspaper Izvestia the company’s foreign business should total $200 billion over the next decade. That lucrative civilian business provides critical funds for Rosatom’s other major responsibility: designing and producing Russia’s atomic arsenal, experts say.

Ukrainian officials have pleaded with world leaders to sanction Rosatom to cut off one of Moscow’s last significant funding streams and to punish Putin for launching the invasion.

Nuclear energy advocates say the U.S. and some European countries would face difficulty in cutting off imports of Russian nuclear products. The U.S. nuclear energy industry, which largely outsources its fuel, produces about 20% of U.S. electricity.

The reasons for reliance on Russia go back decades. The U.S. uranium industry took a beating following a 1993 nonproliferation deal that resulted in the importation of inexpensive weapons-grade uranium from Russia, experts say. The downturn accelerated after a worldwide drop in demand for nuclear fuel following the 2011 meltdown of three reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

American nuclear plants purchased 5% of their uranium from domestic suppliers in 2021, the last year for which official U.S. production data are available, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The largest source of uranium for such plants was Kazakhstan, which contributed about 35% of the supply. A close Russian ally, Kazakhstan is the world’s largest producer of uranium.

Europe is in a bind largely because it has 19 Russian-designed reactors in five countries that are fully dependent on Russian nuclear fuel. France also has a long history of relying on Russian-enriched uranium. In a report published in March, Greenpeace, citing the United Nations’ Comtrade database, showed that French imports of enriched uranium from Russia increased from 110 tons in 2021 to 312 tons in 2022.

Some European nations are taking steps to wean themselves off Russian uranium. Early in the Ukraine conflict, Sweden refused to purchase Russian nuclear fuel. Finland, which relies on Russian power at two out of its five reactors, scrapped a trouble-ridden deal with Rosatom to build a new nuclear power plant.

Despite the challenges, experts believe political pressure and questions about Russia’s ability to cut off supplies will eventually spur much of Europe to abandon Rosatom.

“Based on apparent prospects [of diversification of fuel supplies], it would be fair to say that Rosatom has lost the European market,” said Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the Russian environmental group Ecodefense.

Медіа: Microsoft у вересні припинить продовжувати ліцензії російським користувачам

Активні підписки діятимуть до кінця терміну, що залишився. Продовжити їх буде неможливо

Group Helps Ukrainian Students Get Into Top US Schools

They are talented, smart, and ambitious, and live in the middle of a war. But 84 Ukrainian high school students aren’t letting the war short circuit their dreams and are preparing to apply to top U.S. colleges and boarding schools with the help of a non-profit group. VOA’s Lesia Bakalets reports from Warsaw.

Співробітники ООН зупинялися в готелі в Запоріжжі, по якому вдарили російські війська

«Це була база ООН для роботи з евакуації цивільних мешканців із комбінату «Азовсталь» у Маріуполі», заявила координаторка ООН в Україні

Biden Asks Congress for More Than $21 Billion to Support Ukraine

The Biden administration on Thursday asked Congress to provide more than $13 billion in emergency defense aid to Ukraine and an additional $8 billion for humanitarian support through the end of the year, another massive infusion of cash as the Russian invasion wears on and Ukraine pushes a counteroffensive against the Kremlin’s deeply entrenched forces.

The request also includes $12 billion to replenish U.S. federal disaster funds at home after a deadly climate season of heat and storms, and funds to bolster enforcement at the border with Mexico, including money to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. All told, it’s a $40 billion package.

While the last such request from the White House for Ukraine funding was easily approved in 2022, there’s a different dynamic this time.

A political divide on the issue has grown, with the Republican-led House facing enormous pressure to demonstrate support for the party’s leader, Donald Trump, who has been very skeptical of the war. And American support for the effort has been slowly softening.

White House budget director Shalanda Young, in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, urged swift action to follow through on the U.S. “commitment to the Ukrainian people’s defense of their homeland and to democracy around the world,” as well as other needs.

The request was crafted with an eye to picking up support from Republicans, as well as Democrats, particularly with increased domestic funding around border issues — a top priority for the Republican Party, which has been highly critical of the Biden administration’s approach to halting the flow of migrants crossing from Mexico.

Still, the price tag of $40 billion may be too much for Republicans who are fighting to slash, not raise, federal outlays. As a supplemental request, the package the White House is sending to Congress falls outside the budget caps both parties agreed to as part of the debt ceiling showdown earlier this year.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement that there was strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate.

“The latest request from the Biden administration shows America’s continued commitment to helping Americans here at home and our friends abroad,” he said. “We hope to join with our Republican colleagues this fall to avert an unnecessary government shutdown and fund this critical emergency supplemental request.”

President Joe Biden and his senior national security team have repeatedly said the United States will help Ukraine “as long as it takes” to oust Russia from its borders. Privately, administration officials have warned Ukrainian officials there is a limit to the patience of a narrowly divided Congress — and American public — for the costs of a war with no clear end.

“For people who might be concerned the costs are getting too high, we’d ask them what the costs — not just in treasure but in blood, perhaps even American blood — could be if Putin subjugates Ukraine,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said this week.

Support among the American public for providing Ukraine weaponry and direct economic assistance has waned with time. An AP-NORC poll conducted in January 2023 around the one-year mark of the conflict found that 48% favored the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, down from the 60% of U.S. adults who were in favor of sending weapons in May 2022. While Democrats have generally been more supportive than Republicans of offering weaponry, their support dropped slightly from 71% to 63% in the same period. Republicans’ support dropped more, from 53% to 39%.

Dozens of Republicans in the House and some GOP senators have expressed reservations, and even voted against, spending more federal dollars for the war effort. Many of those Republicans are aligning with Trump’s objections to the U.S. involvement overseas.

That means any final vote on Ukraine aid will likely need to rely on a hefty coalition led by Democrats from Biden’s party to ensure approval.

The funding includes another $10 billion to counter Russian and Chinese influence elsewhere by bolstering the World Bank and providing aid to resist Russian-aligned Wagner Group forces in Africa.

Domestically, there’s an additional $60 million to address increased wildfires that have erupted nationwide. And the request includes $2.2 billion for Southern border management and $766 million to curb the flow of fentanyl. There is also $100 million earmarked for the Labor Department to ramp up investigations of suspected child labor violations.

To ease passage, Congress would likely try to attach the package to a must-pass measure for broader government funding in the United States that’s needed by October 1 to prevent any shutdown in federal offices.

Members of Congress have repeatedly pressed Defense Department leaders on how closely the U.S. is tracking its aid to Ukraine to ensure that it is not subject to fraud or ending up in the wrong hands. The Pentagon has said it has a “robust program” to track the aid as it crosses the border into Ukraine and to keep tabs on it once it is there, depending on the sensitivity of each weapons system.

Ukraine is pushing through with its ongoing counteroffensive in an effort to dislodge the Kremlin’s forces from territory they’ve occupied since a full-scale invasion in February 2022. The counteroffensive has come up against heavily mined terrain and reinforced defensive fortifications.

The U.S. has approved four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to Russia’s invasion, totaling about $113 billion, with some of that money going toward replenishment of U.S. military equipment that was sent to the front lines. Congress approved the latest round of aid in December, totaling roughly $45 billion for Ukraine and NATO allies. While the package was designed to last through the end of the fiscal year in September, much depends upon events on the ground.

“We remain confident that we’ll be able to continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” said Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder.

There were questions in November about waning Republican support to approve the package, but it ultimately passed. Now, though, House Speaker McCarthy is facing pressure to impeach Biden over unproven claims of financial misconduct and it’s not clear whether a quick show of support for Ukraine could cause political damage in what’s expected to be a bruising 2024 reelection campaign.

Trump contends that American involvement has only drawn Russia closer to other adversarial states like China, and he has condemned the tens of billions of dollars that the United States has provided in aid for Ukraine.

Кулеба про саміт у Саудівській Аравії: «ми вперше зібрали країни, що представляють весь світ»

За словами міністра, кількість країн, зацікавлених в присутності на подібних зустрічах, «різко зросла» останніми тижнями

Data on Online Hate Directed at BBC Journalists Mirrors Global Trend

A journalist who reports on disinformation for the British broadcaster BBC has spoken out about the level of online harassment she endures over her work.

Marianna Spring, who hosts the podcast “Marianna in Conspiracyland,” said that 80% of the online hate directed at BBC journalists targets her specifically.

The public broadcaster uses software that flags messages containing threats or online violence. Of 14,488 items, 11,771 were directed at Spring.

Speaking about the level of harassment, Spring told The Times of London, “It’s really normal to hate me.” She added that she felt “relieved” when she saw the data because the numbers supported what she was experiencing, proving that she was “not going mad.”

Spring’s experiences reflect a global trend of trolling and online abuse directed at female journalists.

A 2021 study by UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists found that gender is a big factor, with women the target of more online violence and sexual harassment.

The study found that 73% of those surveyed had experienced “online harassment in the course of their work” and many described receiving messages containing threats of sexual violence, bigotry and intimidation against family.

Others who report on or investigate disinformation campaigns have also experienced online hate.

Yaqiu Wang, a senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch, said she has seen an environment of hostility against women on social media.

Wang, an expert on digital censorship and disinformation in China, said she too has been a victim of online hate.

The harassment takes a toll, she told VOA on Tuesday, even when you know the posts are likely generated by a bot.

“Everybody gets affected. I don’t read those comments, [but] knowing there are 100 people writing nasty comments under my tweets, you wonder, ‘Why are people so vicious? Why are people not nice and why do people do that?’ ”

Studies have found that gender-based online violence is a global issue, with female journalists targeted with smear campaigns and online attacks.

An earlier UNESCO study found that the attacks are worse when combined with misogyny and other discrimination, such as racism.

In some cases, online attacks escalate to physical threats, with female journalists the victim of stalking and physical assault or legal harassment.

In countries like Mexico, where journalists are at higher risk of physical violence, the level of online threats is a worry, say analysts.

Online attacks leveled at male and female journalists is common in Mexico, but analysts have long said there is a noticeable difference. When it comes to the digital sphere, threats are more commonly directed at female journalists, studies by Article 19 and other groups have shown. 

Such harassment can take a toll on mental health too, research shows.

But British journalist Spring said that though a lot of people face “awful online abuse,” the attacks directed at her will not distract from her work. 

Зеленський запросив Вселенського патріарха до України

Президент зустрівся з представником Вселенського патріарха митрополитом Еммануїлом

China and Wagner in Africa: Friends or Foes?

China’s “friendship without limits” with Russia may be tested in Africa, where Beijing’s long-established economic interests are at risk of clashing with the growing footprint of Moscow’s paramilitary Wagner Group.

The most recent point of potential friction is Niger, where leaders of a July 26 military coup are reported by The Associated Press to have reached out to Wagner for help in cementing their hold on power.

That news is unlikely to have been welcomed in Beijing, where a foreign ministry spokesman last week described the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, as “a friend of China” and said the country hoped for a political solution to the crisis.

The diverging interests extend far beyond Niger as the Wagner Group expands its reach across the Sahel, often exchanging its security services for access to the region’s rich mineral deposits and other resources.

Niger, for example, is among the world’s largest producers of Uranium.

China also has massive investments in the region, and analysts are divided on how the Chinese see the mercenaries. While Wagner might shore up security allowing for the Chinese to do business in dangerous countries, Beijing also values stability and is competing for some of the same resources.

Pros and Cons

“Chinese projects may have benefited from its presence. But in some other cases, China has also suffered from it,” Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, said of Wagner in Africa.

She noted that it has been widely speculated that Wagner was responsible for the deaths of nine Chinese nationals at a mine in the Central African Republic, or CAR, earlier this year. CAR rebel groups and several Western officials told the New York Times after the incident that they believed Wagner or Wagner-backed locals were behind the armed attack.

But last month, Wagner posted on its Telegram channel saying that it had rescued a group of Chinese miners in CAR at the behest of the Chinese Embassy.

Alessandro Arduino, an affiliate lecturer at the Lau China Institute and King’s College London, noted that security is essential to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative in Africa.

“Wagner’s involvement might provide a brief spell of stability enforced by military means — an inherently delicate and transitory fix for China. In fact, it could potentially transform into a threat, particularly if conflicts arise over mining rights,” he told VOA.

“Within this context, Chinese enterprises engaged in mining could strike interim deals to safeguard their workforce and assets, but the agreements with mercenaries could face a sudden U-turn, and even [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has learned that lesson,” he said.

Darren Olivier, director at conflict research consultancy African Defense Review, told VOA: “It’s difficult to be entirely certain how China feels about Wagner.”

In the long term, he said, it is likely Beijing sees Wagner “as a hindrance to its own ambitions while at the same time preferring that it stays in place in certain high-risk countries for now, so as to keep protecting foreign interests, including China’s, until alternative approaches can be implemented.”

Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said there’s no risk of China setting up its own version of Wagner.

“China wants to show that its activities are aboveboard, that its activities respect local laws and regulations,” he said. “China is much more sensitive about its reputation in Africa than Russia.”

Nantuyla noted that Chinese security firms operating on the continent offer advisory services, sell equipment and train local security forces but are not as operational as groups like Wagner that are involved in heavy fighting.

“It’s only in a few cases, in Sudan for instance, when they were involved in hostage rescue and stuff like that,” he continued, adding there are some that do anti-piracy maritime escorts.

Analysts see no indications that Wagner mercenaries are pulling out of Africa any time soon. Despite his apparent exile to Belarus, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin — whose aborted mutiny in late June challenged Russia’s military command, rattling the Kremlin — was seen in attendance at Putin’s Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg last month hobnobbing with African officials.

Торохтія і Гунька виключили з владної фракції – Арахамія

Перший заступник голови парламенту Олександр Корнієнко офіційно зачитав це повідомлення з трибуни

«Ми не можемо дозволяти людям брати російські паспорти»: Верещук про дії РФ на окупованих територіях

«Росія робить усе, щоб за паспортом йшли далі кроки, які будуть потім, можливо, кваліфіковані як ознаки колабораційної діяльності» – віцепремʼєрка

Paris Plans Dramatic Facelift to Cope With Rising Temperatures 

Paris has recently been shivering under the kind of summer for which it was once infamous — before climate change entered mainstream lexicon and thinking. As temperatures soared in parts of southern Europe, rain has lashed the French capital, sending tourists and locals scrambling for umbrellas and thick sweaters.

It’s certain to be a short-term reprieve. By 2050, one recent study said, Paris could have the highest number of heat wave-related deaths of any European capital, with temperatures possibly hitting a scorching 50 degrees Celsius.

“We have to maintain the beauty of Paris, while also finding new tools, new materials to adapt Paris against the heat waves,” said Paris City Councilor Maud Lelievre, who authored a recently released report, Paris at 50C, that calls for dramatically adapting the metropolis to a future of sizzling summers.

“A catastrophic situation,” she added, “could be a city where only the poor and old people stay, without any solutions.”

Paris is hardly alone. A series of alarming climate reports are sending municipal planners worldwide back to the drawing board. That is especially so in Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, which endured its hottest summer and second-hottest year in 2022.

Recent weeks alone saw near-record-breaking temperatures in parts of Italy, Spain and Greece. Worldwide, last month was likely the hottest on record, according to the European Union-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization.

Even before this latest bout of hot weather, many EU cities had drafted action plans to adapt. More than 100 of them, including Paris, have vowed to become climate neutral by 2030. But turning plans into action is another matter.

“We have approximately 80,000 cities and towns in Europe, and all of them are still lagging behind in regard of the necessity to adapt to a changing climate,” said Holger Robrecht, the Europe region’s deputy regional director of ECLEI, Local Governments for Sustainability, a global network of local and regional governments.

“We don’t have any city in the European region that at this moment is 100% climate resilient,” he added.

Still, Robrecht and other climate experts praise Paris, under leftist Mayor Anne Hidalgo, for strides in greening the city. Recent changes include expanded tramway and metro lines, a raft of pedestrian-only zones and 130 kilometers of bike lanes, with another 50 kilometers expected to be added by next July.

Paris also plans to make next summer’s Olympic Games the most eco-friendly in history, with promises to slash carbon emissions by half compared with those of previous games in London and Rio de Janeiro.

A much more drastic overhaul is needed, experts say, to make the city livable in the years to come. Some draw parallels to the kind of urban revolution nearly two centuries ago under Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann, which demolished a tangle of medieval neighborhoods to build elegant avenues that crisscross much of the city today.

City of Lights, and green

“In the next 20 years, we need to adapt all the streets around us with trees and with vegetation to create green corridors,” Lelievre said, adding, “We could have a real green city like Singapore — and also a light city.”

Today, however, the very architecture that makes Paris iconic also makes it a heat trap. The city is densely populated, short on large parks like London has, and despite Haussmann, still has many narrow streets with few if any trees.

Despite Hidalgo’s drive to green the capital, some recent urban renewal plans, including those inherited from her predecessor, favor heat-absorbing concrete over grass and plants. The city’s famous zinc rooftops, candidates for UNESCO World Heritage status, could make top-floor apartments unbearably hot in future summers, if unaltered.

“During a lot of years, we had no idea it was an obligation to adapt cities and especially Paris against heat waves,” Lelievre said, adding, ”We had emergency plans for the winter, but not for summer.”

Adopted unanimously earlier this year, the City Council’s plan sees widening green oases of air corridors and plants now being built in front of schools to all city neighborhoods; reopening fountains and renewing thousands of apartments; and replacing zinc roofs and other surfaces with lighter-colored materials that are more suited for hotter climates.

Some proposals, like creating rooftop terraces with plants and water catchment systems, have already been proposed by Hidalgo. Key to the latest plan — which doesn’t include a price tag — is loosening up strict French building codes. Paris lawmakers hope parts of the plan will be integrated into upcoming urban renewal and biodiversity legislation.

2003 memories 

Other European cities are also getting climate revamps.

Copenhagen, vulnerable to sea-level rise, has rolled out an ambitious flood adaptation management plan after being hit by record-breaking rainfall in 2011.

Barcelona’s climate plan aims to increase solar power and green spaces, sometimes by revamping whole neighborhoods.

Many cities have not forgotten the punishing heat wave of 2003, when an estimated 70,000 people died in Europe, including 15,000 in France. But recent findings also show as many as 60,000 people died in Europe’s 2022 heat wave, suggesting much more needs to be done.

“Cities want to get prepared” for climate change, said ECLEI’s Holger, “but it’s not always reflected in daily decision-making — which may turn a green space into a parking lot, or fell a tree that’s 80 years old and gives shade to its citizens.”

Still, he remains optimistic. “We are still in the early years of our response,” Holger said. 

Paris Plans Dramatic Transformation to Cope With Warming Temperatures

Paris’ escape from record temperatures gripping parts of Europe this summer could be a short-term reprieve. A study finds the city could have the most heatwave-related deaths of any European capital by 2050 — when temperatures may soar to 50 C (122 F). For VOA, Lisa Bryant has more from Paris.

США: комітет Конгресу заявляє, що син Байдена отримував «мільйони» від олігархів РФ, Казахстану та України

Як стверджує комітет, він виявив платежі на понад 20 мільйонів доларів, які родина Байденів і її бізнес-партнери отримували з-за кордону

Three Years on From Contested Election, Belarus at New Low for Free Press, Speech

Wednesday marks three years since the contested elections in Belarus that resulted in a widescale crackdown on dissent and opposition voices.

When longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in a presidential election in which members of the opposition were jailed or threatened, mass protests broke out across the country.

Security forces responded with violence and mass arrests of journalists, protesters and others, with large numbers of opposition voices still being detained or silenced, according to international rights organizations.

“Three years after the start of mass pro-democracy protests in Belarus, there is no end in sight to the horrendous crackdown on free media and journalists in the country,” said International Press Institute deputy director Scott Griffen in a statement. “The Lukashenko regime is determined to silence any independent reporting in the country as part of its effort to cling to power.”

Belarus ranks as the worst jailer of journalists in Europe, with 35 journalists and media workers imprisoned as of August 2022, including some who had contributed to VOA’s sister network Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.

The media arrests are part of a sweeping number of detentions with nearly 1,500 people currently detained, according to the Belarusian rights group Viasna.

The Belarus Foreign Ministry did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Following the presidential election, Minsk banned most if not all independent news outlets and branded them “extremist.” Most independent journalists have either fled the country to continue working from exile — or stopped reporting altogether.

The government has even targeted journalists at media outlets that have not taken an overly critical stance against the Lukashenko administration, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, or RSF.  

Yulia Davletova, a journalist who had worked for the local TV channel Ranak, surrendered to the police outside her apartment on August 3.

Ranak had never directly contradicted the government, says RSF. But after covering an industrial accident in June, the media outlet was labeled “extremist” and forced to close.

Davletova was forced to record a video repenting for her “errors” before being released from custody later that same day.

In response to the targeting of state and non-critical reporters, RSF’s Jeanne Cavelier said in a statement that as Belarus “continues to step up its censorship, it is now carrying out a purge within its own media of those who fall under the slightest suspicion of a lack of loyalty.”

RSF ranks Belarus as 157 out of 180 on its press freedom index, where 1 shows the best media environment.

On July 1, Lukashenko — in power since 1994 — signed a new law that permits authorities to expel foreign outlets from countries that Minsk deems “unfriendly.” Just days later, Justyna Prus, the Minsk correspondent for Poland’s national press agency PAP, was forced to leave the country.

“If we fail to protect Belarusian writers and artists, including those in exile, we will jeopardize the last brave and independent voices from Belarus and as a result, the battle for freedoms and democracy in the region,” Polina Sadovskaya, free expression group PEN America’s Eurasia and advocacy director, said in a statement.

Media and civil rights groups have called for global solidarity with Belarusian news outlets, with the IPI’s Griffen saying the international community must ensure “the proper support and conditions for journalists in exile, keeping the foundations for journalism in a future democratic Belarus alive.”

Україні потрібно «значно більше систем ППО, ніж є» – Зеленський

Президент також висловив впевненість, що ЗСУ зрештою отримають і винищувачі F-16

Коболєв повідомив, що суд продовжив йому зобов’язання носити браслет у справі про премії

«Результати допитів незалежних членів Наглядової ради стороною обвинувачення знову НЕ були представлені», стверджує ексчиновник