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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke at a May Day rally of unions in Duesseldorf on Sunday (May 1), facing protesters holding signs reading ‘ Olaf Scholz, not my chancellor’ and calling him ‘warmonger’ as he defended German arms deliveries to Ukraine.

“Irespect any pacifism, I respect any attitude. But it must seem cynical to a citizen of Ukraine to be told to fight back against Putin’s aggression without weapons,” Scholz said, addressing those who say delivering heavy weapons to Ukraine risks provoking a Russian military response in a third country and sparking a broader conflict.

Scholz is under pressure at home and abroad to supply Ukraine with heavy arms such as tanks and howitzers and support an immediate EU embargo on Russian energy imports to strip President Vladimir Putin of hard currency that helps him finance the war.

In a U-turn, Germany approved on April 26 the delivery of “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine, a step backed by 55% of Germans who in an opinion poll said Europe’s biggest economy should supply Ukraine with such arms.

The decision did not help reverse the public perception of Scholz as being indecisive and lacking leadership. An opinion poll published in Bild am Sonntag showed that 54% were unsatisfied with Scholz’s handling of the crisis. His approval rating fell to 32%, the poll showed.

Fearing Russia could broaden the war to countries other than Ukraine, some of Germany’s partners in the NATO military alliance had expressed discontent with Scholz’s initial hesitancy on arming Ukraine.

Others like Poland are unhappy with Germany’s opposition to an EU embargo on Russian gas imports.

The Greens and Free Democrats, junior coalition partners to Scholz’s Social Democrats, are keener on providing more military assistance to Ukraine.

Scholz has had to balance their demands with those of left-leaning members of his party who are against delivering heavy weapons to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Berlin police detained eleven people during a “revolutionary May Day rally” on Sunday and said the German capital had seen “one of the most peaceful May Day demonstrations in recent years.”

Late-night scuffles broke out after the mostly peaceful march through the Neukoelln and Kreuzberg districts ended in Oranienplatz square where several people were seen being detained by officers as the sound of breaking glass and fireworks going off nearby was heard.

According to police, the eleven detentions were made during the day and late evening.

Earlier in the day, police put the number of participants in the march at 10,000 and said they had deployed 5,900 officers from across Germany.

In the past, left-wing militants pelted riot police with stones, bottles and firecrackers and Berlin regularly saw street battles evolve as night fell and the protesters’ alcohol consumption rose.

In the French capital Paris, Police fired tear gas to push back black-clad anarchists who ransacked business premises during May Day protests against the policies of newly re-elected President Emmanuel Macron.

Protesters hurled objects and threw tear gas at riot police, as shop windows were broken and walls vandalised. Thick plumes of smoke rose from the streets as tear gas canisters exploded.

Clashes with police broke out at the start of the march near La Republique Square and when it reached La Nation Square in eastern Paris.

About 250 rallies were organised in Paris and other cities including Lille, Nantes, Toulouse and Marseille. In the capital, trade unionists were joined by political figures – mostly from the left – and climate activists.

Published : May 02, 2022

By : Reuters

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With bulging bellies toward the sky, a group of spotted seals is sunbathing on the rocks in Liaodong Bay, northeast China’s Liaoning Province.

Under top-class national protection in China, the spotted seal is the only pinniped marine mammal to breed in Chinese waters.

The seals come to Liaodong Bay from cold waters at high latitudes every December, prey and rest in the area, and return northwards in May.
 

From every January to March, about 200 cubs are born in the 10,000-square-kilometer ice area in Liaodong Bay.

The seals have to overcome various challenges after birth. People occasionally find stranded ones drifting with the ice sheets on the shore, triggering the monitoring, rescue, and releasing work.

More than 100 spotted seals inhabit the Sandaogou area of Panjin City every year. Since 2012, Panjin has set up a protection station about one km away from the gathering place of spotted seals to avoid disturbance from fishing boats and tourists nearby.

The sea ice near Sandaogou melts early in March, and cubs lying on the ice sheets and unable to live in the water for a long time will be put on the beach by their parents.

As these cubs are at risk of injury, team members of the protection station would patrol the coastline every day, observe the growth of the seals, and persuade fishing boats and tourists to stay away.

After years of persuasion, local fishermen gave up part of their working areas for spotted seals to rest, and they would contact the station if they spotted any seals that had been injured or stranded for a long time.

Workers prepare to release a spotted seal into the sea in Dalian, northeast China

“Unless there are special circumstances, such as the spotted seal being injured or its parents being invisible within visual reach, the rescue team will bring the cubs back for rescue. Human assistance is not an end. We will eventually let them return to nature,” said Wang Xiaobo, an official with the agriculture and rural affairs department of Panjin City.

“We rescued seven spotted seals in 2021. Three of them survived by themselves, so they were released into the sea directly. The other four were born prematurely and couldn’t feed themselves,” he said, adding that the population of the spotted seals monitored in the Sandaogou area has exceeded 250 this year.

The seals needing rescue are sent to the Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Science Research Institute or an aquatic wildlife rescue center in Dalian City. There they receive treatment and rewilding training, including avoiding fishing nets and fishing boats, catching fish, and recognizing foreign objects.

The seals would be released into the wild once they meet the criteria. On May 10, 2021, 37 cubs were released into the sea in Dalian after they were assessed to meet the releasing conditions.

“We did routine blood examinations and biochemical tests for the seals and then checked the viruses that this kind of animal might contract. The 37 seals all met the standards in the assessment, so we released them all together this time,” said Lu Zhichuang, a researcher with the research institute.

Panjin City has initiated a coastal wetland restoration project to gradually restore the 5,300-hectare mariculture pond to its original ecology, thus providing habitats for spotted seals and other marine life.

The population of spotted seals in the Liaodong Bay remains at around 2,000 while seeing an increasing trend. 

Published : May 02, 2022

By : Xinhua

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40015116

A Ukrainian fighter holed up in Mariupol’s steelworks said 20 women and children had been evacuated on Saturday (April 30), adding he hoped they would be transferred to the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia to the northwest.

Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, a deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, said in a video address that both sides were respecting a local ceasefire.

“A special rescue operation is being carried out by the Azov Regiment. We are getting civilians out of the rubble with ropes – it’s the elderly, women and children,” he said, urging that all civilians, as well as an unspecified number of wounded soldiers, be allowed to leave.

The Azov Regiment began as a battalion of mostly far-right volunteers after Russian-backed separatists seized parts of the eastern Donbas region in 2014. Kyiv later made it a unit of the National Guard and said it was reformed. Russia says destroying the group is a key war aim.

Palamar said he is hopeful they will evacuate all of the civilians and also called for the safe passage for wounded soldiers.

Earlier on Saturday, Russia’s TASS news agency, said 25 civilians including six children, had left the territory of the Azovstal steel plant.

Published : May 01, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40015115

UNHCR special envoy Jolie was in the country on a humanitarian mission, having surprised Ukrainians in Lviv near the Polish border.

UNHSCR special envoy and U.S. actor Angelina Jolie visited a railway station in the Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday (April 30, 2022).

Jolie met with and spoke to volunteers about the trauma of war, and the support they had been given, especially to children.

“I know just having somebody show how much they matter, how much their voices matter, I know how healing that is for them,” Jolie said.

One volunteer had described how in 24 hours, there could be “fifteen people that needed help”.

The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) is expecting some 8.3 million people to flee Ukraine this year, revising up its previous projection.

More than 12.7 million people have fled their homes in the past two months, including 7.7 million people displaced internally and more than 5 million who have fled over borders, UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told a U.N. news briefing.

Jolie was also seen in a bakery on Saturday (April 30), in the Ukrainian city of Lviv near the Polish border.

The Hollywood actress posed for photographs with locals during her unexpected visit to Ukraine.

The 46-year old actress’s visit comes as Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine displaced millions of people.

Also Press service of Lviv Regional State Administration released footage showing Hollywood’s Angelina Jolie tickling a little girl in red, as she visited volunteers in Lviv in western Ukraine.

The video shows the moment the award-winning actor and humanitarian, 46, delighted the young child sat on a man’s shoulders by tickling her behind her shoulders and causing her to yelp and laugh.

The little girl then offers a smiling Jolie her packaged food and the star pretends to take a bite.

Published : May 01, 2022

By : Reuters

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Rescuers are racing against time in search of people trapped in the debris of an eight-story building that collapsed in Changsha City of central China’s Hunan Province, said Zheng Jianxin, mayor of Changsha, at a press conference on Saturday.

The building collapse took place at around 12:24 on Friday in the Wangcheng District of Changsha.

“Preliminary investigations show that there are 23 people trapped in the building, and five have been rescued. What’s more, another 39 ones went missing near the building and their conditions are being investigated,” said Zheng, also the general director of the rescue operation.

The five injured people have been sent to the hospital for treatment and are in stable condition.

“We will spare no efforts to search for the trapped people under the principle of ‘life first, people first’. We will take hold of the golden 72 hours for rescue and try our best to search for the trapped people. We have dispatched over 700 firefighters, armed police officers and social emergency rescuers. We have dispatched over 120 units of firefighting vehicles, large excavators, power generation vehicles and life detectors, in cooperation with rescue dogs, to carry out a rescue operation on the spot,” said Zheng.

As the collapsed building has affected other buildings surrounding it, rescuers are reinforcing nearby buildings and evacuating people, Zheng said.

The investigation into the cause of the building collapse also started, said the authorities.

Published : May 01, 2022

By : Reuters

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Florida legislators passed a bill on Thursday (April 21) that would revoke Walt Disney Co’s special tax status in a move widely seen as tit-for-tat for the company’s opposition to a new state law limiting discussion of LGBTQ issues in schools.

The bill now heads to the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis, who is all but guaranteed to sign it.

Several Republican-controlled states have made moves to restrict rights, often focused on transgender people, in battles that have pitted them against Democrats, ahead of midterm and other elections later this year.

The Republican-led state House in Florida voted 70-38 to do away with a special tax district created by a 1967 law that allows Disney to self-govern the roughly 25,000-acre Orlando area where its Walt Disney World theme park complex is located. The state Senate passed the measure on Wednesday (April 20).

DeSantis, in a surprise move, had asked lawmakers to consider the legislation during a special session he called this week. He did not immediately comment on the bill’s passage on Thursday.

The law would eliminate a handful of special tax districts including the Reedy Creek Improvement District which covers about 25,000 acres in Orange and Osceola counties.

That structure makes Disney, which is one of the state’s largest private employers, and other landowners responsible for providing services such as fire-fighting, power, water and roads. They in turn get relief from taxes and fees.

Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is the company’s largest theme park. Its sprawling businesses also include movie studios, broadcast and cable television networks, streaming services, cruise lines and retail products.

The change would go into effect in June 2023.

Published : May 01, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40015106

Hong Kong’s sole candidate to become its next leader attended a televised forum on Saturday (April 30), taking prerecorded questions from members of the community and responding to questions from journalists.

John Lee, 64, a former deputy head of police, is expected to be appointed Hong Kong’s chief executive in a selection process on May 8, with the backing of Beijing.

Lee emphasised the importance of the city’s core values including the rule of law and said that all citizens must obey all local laws.

“Hong Kong cares about democracy, freedom and justice. We are a rule-of-law society”, Lee said. “So I emphasise that all people have to obey the law. This is a very fundamental idea behind the rule of law.”

Lee also commented on the large numbers of people who are emigrating from the city and reiterated that the Asian financial capital held many opportunities.

Lee is due to take over as the former British colony’s chief executive on July 1, replacing Carrie Lam who is stepping down at the end of her first term. Critics have blamed Lam for mishandling crises including anti-government protests in 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lee will take over the Chinese-ruled city amid growing concern in the financial community that its role as an international hub of commerce could be at risk.

These questions have been raised partly because of extended COVID-19 lockdowns but also because of a 2020 national security law that critics, including Western governments, say authorities have used to clamp down on opposition democrats, the media and free speech.

Hong Kong and Chinese officials have argued that the law has restored stability to Hong Kong and will safeguard its economic success.

Published : May 01, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40015070

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said after talks in Kyiv on Thursday (April 28) that his organisation was doing all it could to enable the evacuation of a steel plant where fighters and civilians are holed up in the city of Mariupol.

“At the present moment I can only tell you we are doing everything we can to make it happen. I’m not going to enter into any comment that could undermine that possibility,” he said after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The meeting with Zelenskiy followed talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday (April 26) where the latter agreed “in principle” to U.N. and International Committee for the Red Cross involvement in evacuating the Azovstal plan.

Guterres called the situation in Mariupol “a crisis within a crisis”, adding that civilians “need an escape route out of the apocalypse.”

Referring to the possibility of a United Nations and ICRC-coordinated humanitarian corridor for the hundreds of civilians believed to still be in Azovstal, Guterres said: “As we speak, there are intense discussions to move forward on this proposal to make it a reality.”

On April 21, nearly two months into the siege of the strategic port city, Russia declared victory in Mariupol although remaining Ukrainian forces were holding out in a vast underground complex below Azovstal, where civilians were also sheltering.

Published : April 29, 2022

By : Reuters

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A former senior executive at Russian lender Gazprombank said on Thursday (April 28) that he fled Russia for Ukraine hoping to take up arms against Moscow’s invasion and that he believed President Vladimir Putin was leading Russia to catastrophe.

Igor Volobuev, 50, who holds a Russian passport and was until recently a vice president at Gazprombank, told Reuters in an interview in the capital Kyiv that he had been moved to act because of his Ukrainian roots and family.

The public defection is extraordinary because of his senior role in a company that is at the heart of the Russian establishment and is chaired by Alexei Miller, the CEO of the gas giant Gazprom, who is a close Putin ally.

It also illustrates the close mesh of family links between the two countries.

Volobuev was born in Okhtyrka in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy where Russian forces poured into it in late February.

“I came here to defend my motherland because the war started (in places) like my hometown Okhtyrka – it was one of the first cities to be hit by bombing,” he said.

He arrived in Ukraine on March 2 and declared at the border that he wanted to join Ukraine’s territorial defence force, he said.

“They said we have enough of our own (people) with military experience,” he said, adding he hopes to find a way to fight for Ukraine.

He declined to elaborate on how he left Russia and managed to get to Kyiv. Checkpoints have been set up across Ukraine during the war and it is difficult, if not almost impossible, to move around easily with Russian documents.

Volobuev gave his interview on Independence Square, the spiritual home of the Euromaidan protest movement that toppled a Moscow-backed president in 2014. Russia annexed Crimea after that and backed separatists in the east.

There were tank traps and sandbags on the side of the road and armed soldiers milled around. An air raid siren sounded overhead as Volobuev arrived. Few people took notice; couples posed for photographs.

Volobuev described the war as a sin and was categorical in his criticism of Putin.

“Russia has no future… I think this country (Russia) will break up. Putin has already brought Russia to a catastrophe,” he said.

“I’m not afraid,” he added.

“If I was looking for safety, I wouldn’t have come here, I’d have continued to live a well-fed life of plenty and everything would have been well. I understood I was going to war.”

Russia describes its actions in Ukraine as a “special operation” aimed at degrading Kyiv’s military power and protecting Russian speakers living in the east of the country.

Volobuev said he had opposed the annexation of Crimea, but that he had decided for the last eight years to choose the welfare of his family over that of Ukraine.

February’s invasion had made him choose Ukraine over his loved ones, he said, and he feared they could now be in danger. He declined to elaborate more about their situation or whereabouts.

“About Putin I think – he needs to be judged, judged and hung,” he said.

Published : April 29, 2022

By : Reuters

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40015064

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly backed legislation on Thursday (April 28) that will make it easier to export military equipment to Ukraine, reviving the “Lend-Lease Act” that helped defeat Hitler during World War Two.

The House passed the “Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022” by 417 to 10, three weeks after it sailed through the Senate with unanimous support. It next goes to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law.

The measure revives a World War Two-era program that allowed Washington to lend or lease military equipment to U.S. allies. In this case, it will help those affected by Russia’s invasion, such as Poland and other eastern European countries as well as Ukraine.

Two months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, members of Congress hoped the act would work as it did eight decades ago by allowing U.S. companies to quickly resupply partner nations without having to clear bureaucratic hurdles.

“As war rages in Ukraine, every minute matters. It’s about time. This strong action can mean the difference between lives saved and lives lost,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, ahead of the vote.

Among other provisions, the bill would allow the United States to provide equipment to Ukraine now, with just a technical requirement to pay at some later date, essentially giving it to the Kyiv government.

Published : April 29, 2022

By : Reuters