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☆ Swedish PM summons army, police chiefs as gang violence rocks nation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Johan Ahlander | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

View of the damage after an explosion occurred early Thursday morning in a housing area in Storvreta outside Uppsala, Sweden, September 28, 2023. His coalition won the election partly on a promise to stem growing gang violence, and it has launched a series of initiatives, such as greater powers to police and harsher punishment for gun crimes. Earlier on Thursday, the opposition Social Democrats, the biggest party in parliament, called on the government to change the law, allowing the military to help stop the gang violence. Kristersson said he had summoned the national police commissioner and the supreme commander of the armed forces to evaluate the options. The police estimate that about 30,000 people in Sweden are directly involved with or have ties to gang crime.

Persons: Anders Wiklund, Ulf Kristersson, Kristersson, Magdalena Andersson, Anders Thornberg, Johan Ahlander, Bill Berkrot, Leslie Adler Organizations: TT News Agency, REUTERS, Rights, Sweden Democrats, Social Democrat, Social Democrats, National Police, Thomson Locations: Storvreta, Uppsala, Sweden, Rights STOCKHOLM, Stockholm, Sandviken

Lawmakers have sent him bills aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, help schools adapt to the changing climate and ease the cost to taxpayers for the cleanup of orphan oil and gas wells. Newsom said he would sign a bill requiring companies making more than $1 billion in annual revenue to disclose a wide range of greenhouse gas emissions. BUILDING EMISSIONSLawmakers sent a bill to Newsom’s desk requiring state regulators to find an approach to reduce planet-warming emissions from buildings. The sector makes up about a quarter of California's greenhouse gas emissions, the state estimates. Another bill requiring the California Energy Commission to create a plan to help schools adapt to climate change effects reached Newsom's desk this year.

Persons: Gavin Newsom, Newsom, ”, Ann Alexander, Alexander, Sen, Lena A, Gonzalez, didn't, ___ Sophie Austin, @sophieadanna Organizations: —, Lawmakers, United, Natural Resources Defense Council, California Department of Conservation, Western States Petroleum Association, U.S . Energy Information Administration, California Energy Commission, Assembly, Associated Press, America Statehouse News Initiative, America Locations: SACRAMENTO, Calif, — California, United Nations, New York, In California, California, Los Angeles County

☆ The life of Rupert Murdoch's new girlfriend Elena Zhukova — a scientist who used to be mother-in-law to oligarch Roman Abramovich
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Tom Porter | Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

She is the mother of Dasha Zhukova, the ex-wife of the oligarch Roman Abramovich. The pair had a daughter, Dasha Zhukhova. Per the Financial Times, Zhukova left the Soviet Union in 1990, when she was in her thirties. Elena also has twins, a boy and a girl, from another relationship, according to a Guardian profile of Dasha Zhukhova. Murdoch has been married five times, divorcing Jerry Hall, ex wife of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, in 2022.

Persons: Rupert Murdoch, Elena Zhukova, Dasha Zhukova, Roman Abramovich, Ann Leslie Smith, Murdoch, Zhukova, Wendi Deng, Alexander Zhukhov, Dasha Zhukhova, Alexander, Elena, Abramovich, Dasha, Stavros Niarchos II, Stavros Niarchos, Deng, Jerry Hall, Mick Jagger Organizations: Daily Mail, Guardian, British, Yorker, Soviet, Financial Times, Baylor College of Medicine, University of California, Chelsea FC, The New Locations: Russian, Moscow, Soviet Union, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City

This is how Komsomolskaya School Number 1 is marking the opening of a new school desk, a so-called “hero desk” emblazoned with the face and biography of one of Russia’s war dead, once a pupil at this very school. The desks are part of a pan-Russian initiative called the “New School Project” and are funded by “United Russia,” a staunchly pro-Putin party. As of early May, United Russia said there were more than 14,000 desks in 9,000 schools across the country. Local news reports suggest some schools use the desks to reward good behavior or good grades. The desks across the country are standardized: green, with military photographs, a biography, medals awarded (often posthumously) and the soldier’s date of death.

Persons: It’s, ”, Gennady Alexandrovich Pavlov, Chuvashia, Gennady Pavlov, Russia’s, Daniil Ken, ” Ken, Sergei Shoigu, Ken, Alena Arshinova, Olga, Sergey Kravtsov, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, there’s, “, ‘, Tatyana Chervenko, Chervenko, Mikhail Stepanov, ’, Stepanov, Wagner, “ Artyomovsk Organizations: CNN, New, “ United, Putin, Teachers ’ Alliance, Russian Ministry of Defense, State Duma, United, Kyiv, Russian, Russia’s Security, Novosti, Ministry Locations: Russian, Chuvashia, Russia, “ United Russia, United Russia, Ukraine, Hostomel, Kyiv, United States, State, St . Petersburg, Simferopol, Crimea, “, Leningrad, ”, Moscow, Virginia, Khabarovsk, Russia’s, Ukrainian, Bakhmut

A tributary of the mighty Ganges River, the Yamuna River breached the “high flood level” mark on Wednesday for the first time in 45 years, according to the Central Water Commission. Adnan Abidi/ReutersThe river overflowing has also led to school and office closures, along with likely water shortages, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said. Members of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) evacuate stranded residents from a flooded locality, after a rise in the water level of the Yamuna River, in New Delhi on July 13, 2023. People rescue cows from a flooded locality after a rise in the water level of the Yamuna River due to heavy monsoon rains, in New Delhi on July 13, 2023. Trucks are seen partially submerged in a flooded street after the Yamuna River overflowed due to monsoon rains, in New Delhi on July 13, 2023.

Persons: Atishi Marlena, ”, Marlena, Adnan Abidi, Arvind Kejriwal, Kejriwal, Money Sharma Organizations: New, New Delhi CNN, Central Water Commission, Public Works Department, Force, CNN, Response Force, Reuters Transport, state’s, Getty Locations: New Delhi, India’s, Haryana, Delhi, India, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Khoh, Pauri, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh

☆ An Art-Filled Swiss Idyll in Lausanne and the Joux Valley
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Christopher Solomon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Many are by Swiss artists, including the Giacomettis, father and son. When I visited, one floor featured a large, temporary exhibition of more than 100 paintings by the Swiss painter Gustav Buchet, an important figure in the avant-garde movements in early-20th-century Switzerland. The building was designed by the Portuguese architects Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus and opened in June 2022, along with the plaza. Many photos reminded how trains can represent escape and adventure, but also a Hail Mary for the desperate. Black-and-white shots of war refugees piling onto trains, taken 70 years ago, felt like they could have been taken last month.

Persons: Gustav Buchet, François Bocion, Bocion, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Rodin, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Francisco, Manuel Aires Mateus, Henri Cartier, Nan Goldin, Mary Organizations: Bresson Locations: Swiss, Switzerland, Lake Geneva, Portuguese

☆ Containerships diverted from Vancouver amid port strikes, headed for Seattle
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Two containerships originally bound for the Port of Vancouver are changing course and have been diverted to the Port of Seattle, according to VesselsValue tracking data, as labor strikes at West Coast ports in Canada stretch into their sixth day. The distance between the Port of Vancouver and the Port of Seattle is a little over a half-day's trip traveling at typical speeds. New data from MarineTraffic shows 15 containerships bound for Vancouver and 9 containerships bound for Prince Rupert. They were scheduled to arrive at the Port of Vancouver on July 3 and were then destined by rail for Memphis. The ocean carriers are the final arbiter in any container destination change.

Persons: Sara Elena, It's, Prince Rupert, Port of Prince Rupert, Paul Brashier, Brashier Organizations: Port, CNBC, Tacoma . ITS Logistics, ITS Logistics, American Apparel and Footwear Association, National Retail Federation, British Columbia Maritime Employers Association, Warehouse Union Locations: Vancouver, Port of Seattle, West Coast, Canada, San Francisco, Port of Vancouver, Seattle, Port, Port of, Asia, Tacoma, Memphis, United States, British

CNN —Elena Milashina, a prominent Russian journalist who uncovered the horrific crackdown on gay men in Chechnya, was severely beaten alongside a lawyer in an attack in the southern Russian republic, according to her employer Novaya Gazeta. Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, “agreed to intervene in the situation on the request of the editorial office,” Novaya Gazeta said. Moskalkova also said she asked the Commissioner for Human Rights in Chechnya to ensure the safety of the journalist. Following her reporting on a crackdown on gay men in Chechnya in 2017, Muslim clerics in Chechnya called for “retribution” against her and other journalists. The country has a checkered record on gay rights, breaking up gay pride marches and passing anti-gay propaganda laws.

Persons: CNN — Elena Milashina, Alexander Nemov, Elena, Alexander, ” “ Elena Milashina, “, Nemov, Milashina, Musaeva, Ramzan Kadyrov, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin, Tatyana Moskalkova, Moskalkova, ‘, Sergey Babinets, ”, Marie Struthers, Kadyrov Organizations: CNN, Novaya Gazeta, Milashina, Human, Novosti, Human Rights, Amnesty Locations: Russian, Chechnya, Grozny, Novaya, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Russia

Up the wooden gangplank in a single-file line, nearly an entire Indigenous village squeezed onto the Aquidaban’s front deck. The Tomárahos had taken the boat downriver to vote in Paraguay’s national elections, and then had slept outside for four days, waiting for the Aquidaban to take them home. Now, more than 200 of them squatted on overturned buckets, crowded on hammocks and sprawled on the floor. No one was quite sure how many life jackets were aboard, but just about everyone was sure the Tomárahos outnumbered them. “Ever since I was a kid, there was always the Aquidaban,” said Griselda Vera Velazquez, 33, a craftswoman in the Tomáraho village, where there is no road.

Persons: “, ”, Griselda Vera Velazquez Locations: Tomáraho

☆ A Boy’s Life on the Front Lines
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Lynsey Addario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

A Boy’s Life on theFront Lines In a Ukrainian town, an 11-year-old navigates a childhood transformed by war. He lived with his mother, Lena, and his 23-year-old half sister, Angelina, in a borrowed one-story home about four miles from Russian positions to the east. “I remember how I used to have fun here with my friends,” Yegor said. Now only his father, Sasha, remained there, trapped behind Russian lines caring for the home and animals on the road out of Mariupol. But the war had forced Yegor into a sedentary life, almost always behind closed doors.

Persons: Lena, Angelina, Lena didn’t, Yegor, ” Yegor, ”, “, ’, ‘, ‘ Sonny, Sasha, squander, they’ll Organizations: Yegor Locations: Ukrainian, Donbas, Ukraine, stretchers, Kramatorsk, Chernivtsi

☆ US received intel from European ally that Ukrainian military was planning attack on Nord Stream pipelines, officials say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Natasha Bertrand Alex Marquardt Haley Britzky | Natasha Bertrand | Alex Marquardt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The US received intelligence from a European ally last year that the Ukrainian military was planning an attack on the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines three months before they were hit, three US officials told CNN. The attack on the pipelines last September has been condemned by US officials and Western allies alike as a sabotage on critical infrastructure. CNN has not seen the document but the three officials confirmed the US was told about the Ukrainian plans. But, the intelligence also said that Ukraine’s military operation was “put on hold.”CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian government for comment. “I think you know there are three countries conducting an investigation of the Nord Stream sabotage — and we called it sabotage at the moment — Germany, Sweden, and Denmark.

Persons: Jack Teixeira, “, Valerii, Volodymyr Zelensky, ”, John Kirby, ” Kirby, Magdalena Andersson, ’ ” Mykhailo Podolyak, CIA “ Organizations: CNN, The Washington Post, Air National, Washington Post, ” CNN, White, National Security, European Union, Twitter, Russia, Post, CIA Locations: Western, Ukraine, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Nord, Russia, Baltic, Europe, Swedish, Danish, Ukrainian

☆ Pedro Sanchez: Spanish PM calls snap elections after setbacks in local polls
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Al Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Madrid CNN —Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced snap parliamentary elections in July, hours after his ruling Socialists suffered major setbacks in regional and local elections. Sanchez, 51, became prime minister in 2018 after winning a vote of no confidence in parliament against then-conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. He formed a coalition government with the leftist Podemos party, which also suffered setbacks in Sunday’s local elections. The prime minister is making “a complex chess move,” Andres Villena, a professor at Madrid’s Complutense University, told CNN. “Sanchez’s decision to move up the elections could neutralize the honeymoon for the incoming conservative leaders” in the local elections, Villena said.

☆ One Secret to a Latin American Party’s Dominance: Buying Votes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Jack Nicas | María Magdalena Arréllaga | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Espinillo Indigenous community is 13 miles from the nearest polling station — and no one in the village has a car. “We want to look after them,” he said, standing watch with six young men he called colleagues. Then, after dark, The Times found a distinctive type of vote-buying, developed over decades, on blatant display. Mr. Paredes, 65, and his colleagues gathered some of the Indigenous people and took down their identification numbers. The young men then walked the Indigenous people through a simulation of Paraguay’s voting machines on a phone, guiding them to vote for Colorado candidates.

☆ If You Don’t Use Your Land, These Marxists May Take It
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Jack Nicas | Maria Magdalena Arréllaga | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

They arrived just before midnight, carrying machetes and hoes, hammers and sickles, with plans to seize the land. When the 200 activists and farm workers got there, the ranch was vacant, overgrown with weeds, and the farm headquarters empty, except for a stray cow. On a recent Sunday, children rode bicycles on new dirt paths, women tilled soil for gardens and men pulled tarps onto shelters. The siblings who inherited the 370-acre ranch want the squatters gone. The new tenants say they aren’t going anywhere.

“It was just so original,” she told Reuters, and her co-lead, “Umbrella Academy” actor Ritu Arya, could not agree more. When Lena drops out of art school and quickly gets engaged, Ria and her friends plan a bride-heist of epic proportions. Director Nida Manzoor's first feature film scored a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Critics have praised the quirky martial arts film for its inspiring and unconventional representation of compelling women and girls. “Strong women come from strong women,” Kansara said.

☆ Ecuador's Lasso authorizes civilian use of guns, citing insecurity
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 2 (Reuters) - Ecuador has authorized the carrying and use of guns by civilians, President Guillermo Lasso said in a televised broadcast, citing rising crime and insecurity in the Andean country. "We have a common enemy: petty crime, drug trafficking, and organized crime," Lasso said late on Saturday in a message also posted on Twitter. To fight rising insecurity, the government will allow civilians to carry and use guns, he added. "We've modified the decree that allows the possession and carrying of guns. Lasso did not say how long the state of emergency would last.

☆ To stay or go? The dilemma Ukrainians near front face every day
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Mike Collett-White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

KALYNIVKA, Ukraine, March 21 (Reuters) - It was finally time for Vasyl Kurlyshchuk to leave. She was going to stay in the settlement and wanted to know if Kurlyshchuk was taking his solar powered battery with him. What is now ordinary for the hundreds who remain in Chasiv Yar out of a pre-war population of some 13,000 would be extraordinary elsewhere. "Vera was evacuated to Poltava but a lot of people have stayed," said the 67-year-old, pointing to pictures on her smartphone of her friend, who had left Chasiv Yar for a safer place. That meant three fewer familiar faces for Olena and her friends as they carried on in Chasiv Yar.

☆ US sanctions three people for abuse of Russian opposition politician
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Katharine Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on three Russians it accused of serious human rights abuses against Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was arrested last year after speaking out against the war in Ukraine. The U.S. Treasury Department said the sanctions target Elena Anatolievna Lenskaya, Andrei Andreevich Zadachin and Danila Yurievich Mikheev for abuses under the Global Magnitsky Act. Kara-Murza, who holds both British and Russian citizenship and was a pallbearer at the 2018 funeral of U.S. Senator John McCain, was a close aide to opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in central Moscow in 2015. Kara-Murza has pushed for the U.S., Canada, European Union and Britain to use Magnitsky-style sanctions to target human rights abusers and corrupt actors in Russia, the Treasury Department said.

☆ Colombia court moves to metaverse to host hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Isabel Woodford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] A magistrate speaks during a Colombian court hearing held in the Metaverse, February 15, 2023, in this still image taken from a social media video. Bogota?s Municipal Criminal Court 69/via REUTERSFeb 24 (Reuters) - A Colombian court this month hosted its first legal trial in the metaverse, and now hopes to experiment again with virtual reality, authorities told Reuters. At the two-hour hearing held by Colombia's Magdalena Administrative court, participants in a traffic dispute appeared as avatars in a virtual courtroom. "It felt more real than a video call," Quiones told Reuters on Friday, describing the metaverse experience as "amazing." Nonetheless, Colombia's court proceedings on Feb 15 - streamed to Youtube - went off without too much of a glitch, bar some dizzying camera movement and some distorted movements.

☆ Earthquake death toll tops 35,000 as few survivors pierce misery in Turkey and Syria
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Kelly Cobiella | Mithil Aggarwal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Hulya Bayrak is rescued from rubble of collapsed building 116 hours after earthquakes, on February 10, 2023 in Turkey's Hatay. The death toll from earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria passed 35,000 on Monday as a handful of survivors were pulled from the rubble more than a week after the disasters devastated swaths of both countries. Emergency workers rescued 11-year-old Lena Maradini on Sunday, who had been trapped for over 160 hours close to the epicenter in Hatay, a European Pressphoto Agency picture showed. Another woman, Naide Umay, was rescued from the rubble nearby after almost 175 hours, according to a video by Reuters. The death toll was expected to climb further.

☆ Salary Transparency Is Coming — so I Decided to Tell Everyone What I Make
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +37 min

But there's a glaring catch to my support for pay transparency: I haven't actually practiced it in my own life. To find out why, I decided to commemorate the dawning age of salary transparency by telling pretty much everyone in my life what I earn. Norway responded to pay transparency with yet another level of transparency, and that brought down the level of snooping.. Thanks to its nationwide experiment, Norway has been fertile ground for scholars trying to measure the consequences of extreme pay transparency. But I do believe that as more states implement pay-disclosure laws — and as Gen Z increasingly comes to dominate the workforce — salary transparency is going to become the new norm.

☆ These twins started companies together and other cofounders can learn a lot from them about rivalries, comparisons and being close to your business partner
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Having a business partner you are personally close to can be a huge benefit, they said. Torsten Pieper, an academic at UNC Charlotte, told Insider that twins having distinct roles in a business can be beneficial. Research from the Institute for Family Business showed companies that promote themselves as family-run can gain greater trust and are better placed to attract talent. Phan said family businesses inherently care about their communities, because their identity is often attached to the community where they work. As long as we're together, that's greatAll the twins said their businesses have changed the nature of their relationships.

Under the three-day amnesty which began on Saturday, Ukrainians living in villages across the river can traverse the Dnipro during daylight hours and to a designated point. Anastasiia, who also only gave her first name, said she was at the port because she hoped to cross the river the other way, into Russian-held territory where her relatives are. Russian forces have intensified artillery attacks on the Kherson region since withdrawing from the western bank of the Dnipro. Dozens have died in attacks in the region, Ukrainian officials say. Mykola, 73, said his daughter happened to be on the east bank of the river when Kherson was liberated and got stuck alone in Russian-held territory.

☆ Sweden shuns formal joint investigation of Nord Stream leak, citing national security
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Mats Ljungqvist, the prosecutor involved in Sweden's criminal investigation into the Nord Stream leaks in the Swedish economic zone, said Sweden was already co-operating with Denmark and Germany on the matter. He said Sweden had rejected the proposal for a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) from judicial co-operation agency Eurojust because a such a joint investigation would include legal agreements under which Sweden would have to share information from its own investigation that it deemed confidential. He made his comment after a report in German weekly Der Spiegel on Friday that Sweden had rejected plans for a joint investigation with Denmark and Germany, citing German security sources. A Swedish Security Services spokesperson said the security police were co-operating closely with other authorities, also internationally, as part of the Swedish criminal investigation. German TV programme Tagesschau on German public broadcaster ARD said that Denmark, too, had turned down setting up a joint investigation team.

☆ Sweden won't share Nord Stream investigation findings with Russia - PM
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

STOCKHOLM, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Sweden won't share findings of the investigation into the explosions of the Nord Stream gas pipelines with Russian authorities or Gazprom (GAZP.MM), Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday. A Swedish crime scene investigation of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines from Russia to Europe has found evidence of detonations and prosecutors suspect sabotage. Last week Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin sent a letter to the Swedish government demanding that Russian authorities and Gazprom would be allowed to be involved in the investigation, which Sweden denied. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterOn Monday Andersson said Sweden won't even share the findings of the explosions that took place in the Swedish economic zone, with Russian authorities. However, Andersson said Sweden had no power to stop Russian vessels from visiting the sites of the explosions now that the crime scene investigation was concluded.

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