Thanks to Dearbail Jordan and Leanna Byrne and BBC Online News for the Headline
The Chief Executive of the Company Mondelez who now own the Cadbury’s brand and have factories in Russia has defended their decision to stay in Russia despite the Ukraine invasion by the Russian’s in 2022.
His reasoning is that although they pay taxes to Russia which could be being used to fund the Ukranian War, the reality is that they have also kept employing a lot of Russians , who let’s face it need jobs and careers and also that if they had left their factories and all the equipment, it would have been taken over by the Russian’s at great cost to Mondelez and it is estimated that the Russian’s would have made more money from their own production of chocolate then even Mondelez.
So it has been a compromise, unlike Mc Donalds who exited straight away, the makers of the Cadbury Brand has continued in the hope that the conflict will be resolved and that the Eastern European sweet tooth can continue to be satisfied.
The targeting of Russian Oil Refineries has had the knock on effect of causing fuel shortages in Russia and in President Putin announcing that Russia’s air defence systems were not robust enough.
The truth is becoming to come out, perhaps the Russian’s never saw air defence as a priority, it is such a big Country. There is also a problem with repairing and replacing spare parts should a key are of the refinery be damaged by a Ukranian Drone.
Sad to say , it all comes down to oil supplies again, with Russia now saying it will stop exporting oil and aviation fuel. So all of it’s output will be for the domestic market. Perhaps prices are coming down again since the Strait of Hormuz looks as if it will be open for traffic again.
Thanks to Dominic Waghorn and Sky News Online for the Headline.
Perhaps this is yesterday’s news or perhaps it isn’t. It’s really hard to tell. The one thing I know is we must have “Peace”.
What happened in the Middle East apparently is one of the greatest strategic blunders in US History.
I beg to differ, the whole thing was a crime against Humanity and perhaps we are fortunate today that we see these people for who they are and that their motives were despicable and so many innocent people have been harmed by their actions.
How culturally different the approach to being in the News is in Egypt. The citizen who spotted and successfully rescued six endangered loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the local Obour Market in Cairo Governate remains nameless.
However he bought all six turtles from the market stall holder and contacted the Ministry of the Environment and they intervened to ensure their safe rescue.
The Ministry’s Sea Turtle Rescue Center praised the citizen for his actions, I in turn praise the citizen for his modesty and initiative. The sea turtles play a vital role in maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems.
Thanks to Anastasia Stognei and Max Seddon and the Irish Times for the Headline
Before we all rush to the idea that the Russian secret service the FSB (which replaced the Soviet era KGB) is deliberately blocking the Russian Citizens freedom of expression out of choice. Not caring that it is returning the Russian economy to the late 1970’s where mobile payments were a thing of fantasy and it was faster using a geriatric pigeon then the Russian Postal Service and the connectiviy of e.mail and attachments was a distant dream.
Think the recent Israeli attacks on Tehran which wiped out most of the Senior Government figures. These targeted and effective attacks were facilitated by mobile phone towers and software embedded in Tehran’s video surveillance systems. No wonder the Russian Secret Service are worried.
Up until now the Russian Government has tried to create an appearance of normality in Moscow, as if the population could continue about their normal very Westernised activities with plenty of social interaction, communication and even a cashless society without the worry of terrorism or indeed invasion.
No longer, the threat from external forces led to the FSB requesting and receiving powers to block internet access. Unfortunately now “ordinary citizens” can no longer rely on what used to be a reliable service and connection. It has even hit Telegram which was used by over 90million Russians and now is being hit by “outages ” and lack of connectivity. I suspect a few Apple I-phones have been thrown out of high rise suburban flat windows in pure frustration.
Apparently it has been a major pet project of the Russian Government to offer alternatives to the Global Media Services which up until recently had flooded the market in Russia. There are government controlled applications which try and do what the more established Western applications do , and without all the “outages” .The uptake of these alternatives has increased. Their effectiveness, however, is patchy and one particular service is linked to a subscription to a news channel run by Vladamir Solovyov, one of Russia’s leading propagandists. Not something you wish to have if you just wanted to order some groceries online.
The FSB sounds a rather inefficient Big Brother, nevertheless there is an element of fear all around , not just from suppression of original thought but from how the freedom that technology allows has the potential to be manipulated by dangerous forces. Russia needs clever technologically savvy people to ensure their safety , they cannot afford a brain drain of those skills. Is the FSB fit for purpose?
Ten fire engines and an aerial ladder were sent to a fire on the Watermill Industrial Estate, the building housed a soft play area and a mini zoo.
All the animals died inside the building, including meercats, owls , giant tortoises , iguanas, genets and a 16 foot snake.
I wonder how long it will take them to replace their display animals or if they will be so upset that they don’t want to feature animals anymore. Time will tell.
Thanks to Greta Simpson and the Manchester Evening News for the Headline.
The wife of the teacher who saved two 14 year olds from being stabbed within a school in Blackley , in the City of Manchester,modestly agreed to provide a photo of her husband who could have been so easily killed in the frenzied attack by another child on the two 14 year olds.
It’s a beautiful photograph, he is in traditional dress of some kind, maybe at his wedding or perhaps a family wedding.
Thankfully, although he was stabbed in the neck, and the wound required hospital treatment, he was able to return home. The two children who were attacked also required hospital treatment but were able to return home. The child responsible for the attack was assessed by Mental Health Experts and is now in Police Custody.
The man’s wife explained that it was a phone call that she never wanted to recieve ” that her husband had been stabbed and was in hospital”. Thankfully he was OK. As well as the photo that she gave to the press, she asked that her best wishes be passed onto the two children who her husband had saved from more serious injury and perhaps death.
There is a lot of tragedy in this story, and there will be a moratorium as to the why and wherefore of what happened , what caused it and how are knives so easily accessed by children who think they are a solution to whatever they feel they have to face.
However, the photo of the teacher sticks in my mind, he did what all of us hope we would do in a similar situation. He acted heroically , his name is Maysum Aabdullah and he is 27.
Thanks to Fredrico Pita and Aljazeera Online for the Headline.
I’ve got to admit that reading this headline really was very scary for me. I’m aware that South America was the chosen destination for many high profile and probably not so high profile Nazi war criminals at the end of World War Two. Along with the activities and history of the conquistadors in the then Americas in the 16th century where slavery and land acquisition was taken as a right by adventurers and explorers.
And here we are in Modern Day Argentina with a Country whose political structure is now geared to promoting itself as a “white European Country”.
Apparently in 1853, with the formation of the Argentinian State Juan Bautista Alberdi, who was the main architect of the Constitution incorporated into article 25 with his proviso “that to govern is to populate” and to encourage the State to promote European Immigration.
So no wonder the Argentinian Government aligned itself with the United States, Israel and voted against a United Nations General Assembly resolution recognizing the transatlantic slave trade and chattel slavery as the gravest crime against humanity and calling for reparations. Argentina certainly aligned itself with some strange bedfellows.
The implications now are that various Institutions within Argentina which were promoting indigenous people’s rights have been eroded and no longer exist having lost Government funding. The new President Javier Milei is promoting the libetarian defence of historical hierarchies and is determined to encourage the “Whiteness and Westness” of Argentinia.
It’s a lesson to me that if you don’t pay attention to what is happening, that the rug can so easily be taken out from under your feet.
I think Argentina needs to review it’s constitution urgently.
I don’t think it’s been renamed “Kushner Island” yet , it’s actually Sazan Island and the Albanians who care about the environment of the Mediterranean’s most important and remote biodiverse hotspots are not happy with their Government selling it to the Retail Development Group headed by Jared Kushner the husband of Ivanka Trump.
Apparently , while cruising the Med, while they had nothing better to do as President Trump had not started his second term. Jared and Ivanka stopped off on Sazan Island and “fell in love with it”. Falling in love in Trumpish terms means turning the Island into a “resort” with ten thousand hotel rooms and the opportunities to scuba dive and traipse through the undergrowth safely and return to air conditioned rooms and a acreage of swimming pools with bars beside them. Stuff the wildlife, oh yes , why not have a ” shooting itinerary” with taxidermy thrown in.
The investment amounts to $1.4 billion dollars and the Albanian Government sees it as a development worth pursuing that will bring valuable revenue to Albania. I would agree with the protesters, the plan is not suitable for the Island and with all that is going on could easily be a project that is started and not finished. Leaving the Island in a hell of a state.
Thanks to Olamilekan Okebiorun and Business Insider Africa for the Headline.
Seems Tanzania, the second biggest economy in East Africa has fallen out with the EU and the United States over the results of a disputed election.
They have turned to Russia for investment having attended for the first time the St Petersburg International Economic Forum where the discussions started. Tanzanian officials insist they do not want to break ties with the West, however in the real World why should they not talk to the Russians, isn’t there money as good as anyone else’s?
Namaste and Thank You for Reading. 🙏
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