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Dmitry Muratov, the co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize and the editor of one of Russia’s last major independent newspapers, auctioned off his Nobel medal on Monday for a record $103.5 million to aid children displaced by the war in Ukraine.

All proceeds from the auction, which coincided with World Refugee Day on Monday, will benefit UNICEF’s humanitarian response to Ukraine’s displaced children, Heritage Auctions, which conducted the sale in New York, said in a statement.

Muratov’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper, fiercely critical of President Vladimir Putin and his government, suspended operations in Russia in March after warnings from the state over its coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Pressure against liberal Russian media outlets has been continuous under Putin, Russia’s paramount leader since 1999, but it has mounted after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. Muratov was attacked with red paint in April.

Russia’s mainstream media and state-controlled organizations follow closely the language used by the Kremlin to describe the conflict with Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation” to ensure Russian security and denazify its neighbour. Kyiv and its Western allies say it is an unprovoked war of aggression.

According to U.S. media reports, the auction of Muratov’s prize shattered the record for any Nobel medal that has been auctioned off, with reports saying that the previous highest sale fetched just under $5 million.

Muratov, who co-founded Novaya Gazeta in 1991, won 2021 the Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Ressa of the Philippines for what the Nobel Prize committee said was “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”

Muratov, who pledged to donate about $500,000 of that prize money to charities, dedicated his Nobel to the six Novaya Gazeta journalists who have been murdered since 2000.

That list included the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of Russia’s war in Chechnya, who was killed in 2006 in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building.

Published : June 21, 2022

By : Reuters

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Republican Eric Greitens, who is seeking a U.S. Senate seat in Missouri, released a campaign ad on Monday depicting him and a group of armed men going hunting for “RINOS,” or “Republicans in name only” – prompting social media platforms to flag or take down the video.

“I’m Eric Greitens, Navy SEAL, and today, we’re going RINO hunting,” the 48-year-old former Missouri governor says at the start of the ad, racking a shotgun.

Greitens and a team dressed in military gear then break down the door of a house, throw what appears to be a stun grenade inside and storm into the building.

“Join the MAGA crew,” Greitens tells the camera, referring to Republican former President Donald Trump’s slogan, Make America Great Again. “Get a RINO hunting permit. There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit and it doesn’t expire until we save our country.”

The ad was released amid a national debate over gun violence following the May 24 Texas elementary school massacre that left 19 students and two teachers dead and the racially motivated killing of 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York, on May 14.

Twitter flagged the ad, saying it violated the social media platform’s rules about abusive behaviour. Facebook took it down, prompting Greitens to post a Facebook message criticizing the platform for removing it and vowing to take on “Big Tech” if elected.

Greitens’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Missouri’s primary election is scheduled for Aug. 2. Greitens is one of many Republicans seeking their party’s nomination, including U.S. Representative Vicky Hartzler and state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, for the seat held by retiring Republican Senator Roy Blunt.

The ad also drew immediate condemnation, including from some Republicans who said Greitens was encouraging political violence.

“Every R should denounce,” Republican former congresswoman Barbara Comstock of Virginia said on Twitter. “This is such a sick and dangerous ad.”

Greitens has previously come under pressure from some Republicans to drop out of the race after his former wife accused him of abusive behaviour. He has denied any wrongdoing.

He resigned as governor in 2018 after being accused of photographing a woman naked and threatening to release it if she went public about their relationship, though he denied the allegations.

Adam Kinzinger, a Republican congressman who on Sunday posted a letter addressed to his wife that threatened to kill their whole family, called Greitens a “very bad man” on Twitter.

Kinzinger, who has broken with his party over Trump, is a member of the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, invasion of the Capitol by a group of Trump supporters trying to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.

Published : June 21, 2022

By : Reuters

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Israelis voiced mixed feelings on Monday after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid agreed to dissolve parliament.

Bennett will step aside to be replaced by Lapid, his partner in the unlikely coalition of opposites that ended former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12-year rule 12 months ago.

Lapid, a former journalist who heads the largest party in the coalition, will serve as interim prime minister until new elections can be held.

“Well I am not happy, I think the country needs stability and having elections every several months or even every year is not good. I don’t think there is a big difference between Bennett and Netanyahu, as far as their attitude or their policies, but I think the country was right for a change. And I did want to see Bennett stay in power for longer and gain more experience unfortunately I think what it means is that Netanyahu now is going to come back to power,” said an investment manager Etian Etzioni.

While Clotlda Cohen felt a relief hoping that Israel’s opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu will return to power.

“I think this is bad for Israel, for all the people, because Bibi (Netanyahu) was the only one and the best. I think for the older people we wait for this, wait for a long time,” she said.

A vote will be held in parliament next week, after which Lapid will take over the premiership, according to Bennett’s spokesperson.

The move comes just weeks ahead of a planned visit by U.S. President Joe Biden which the government had been counting on to help boost regional security ties against Israel’s longtime enemy Iran.

However, the eight-party coalition, including hard-right, liberal and Arab parties with deep differences on questions from religion to the Palestinian issue, had faced growing strains as its slight majority was cut by defections.

Lapid said he would not wait until the new elections to address the problems facing Israel.

Bennett, a former commando and tech millionaire who entered national politics in 2013 defended his government’s record, saying it had boosted economic growth, cut unemployment and eliminated the deficit for the first time in 14 years.

But as pressure on the government increased in recent days, he was unable to hold the coalition together and decided to step aside before Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party could table a motion of its own to dissolve parliament.

Netanyahu, who has vowed a comeback despite facing trial for corruption, said Likud would lead the next government and he poured scorn on Bennett, a right-wing politician who was once one of his closest aides.

In Gaza, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, said it would not alter its course with any new government.

“We must resist to regain the full rights of our people,” said spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum.

Published : June 21, 2022

By : Reuters

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Kaliningrad region Residents sandwiched between EU and NATO members Poland and Lithuania, expressed fear and regret over Lithuania’s transit ban on Monday. 

“Construction works will stop. Development of roads. It’s all only going to get worse. I think many people will lose their jobs because there is no other option,” said one Kaliningrad resident, who refuse to give his name to Reuters, but said that he already has plans to leave the region because of strengthening European sanctions. 

Urging citizens not to resort to panic buying, representative of the Kaliningrad region Government Dmitry Lyskov said to Reuters that two vessels were already ferrying goods between Kaliningrad and Saint Petersburg, and seven more would be in service by the end of the year.

“We can reroute the resources released on logistics of sanctioned goods, to transportation of the unsanctioned goods, ” Lyskov said. 

Lithuanian authorities said a ban on the transit through their territory to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad of goods that are subject to EU sanctions was to take effect from Saturday.

News of the ban came on Friday, through a video posted by the region’s governor, Anton Alikhanov. 

The EU sanctions list notably includes coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology, and Alikhanov said the ban would cover around 50 per cent of the items that Kaliningrad imports.

Its immediate start was confirmed by the cargo arm of Lithuania’s state railways service in a letter to clients following “clarification” from the European Commission on the mechanism for applying the sanctions.

A spokesman for Lithuania’s rail service confirmed the contents of the letter but declined to comment further. The foreign ministry did not reply to a request from Reuters for comment.

Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Mantas Adomenas told the public broadcaster his institution was waiting for “clarification from the European Commission on applying European sanctions to Kaliningrad cargo transit”.

Russia warned NATO member Lithuania on Monday that unless the transit of goods to Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea was swiftly restored then Moscow would take undisclosed measures to defend its national interests.

With east-west relations at a half-century low over Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Vilnius banned the transit of goods sanctioned by the European Union through Lithuanian territory to and from the exclave, citing EU sanction rules.

Kaliningrad is home to the headquarters of Russia’s Baltic sea fleet. The enclave was captured from Nazi Germany by the Red Army in April 1945 and ceded to the Soviet Union after World War Two.

Published : June 21, 2022

By : Reuters

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Hong Kong’s famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant capsized on Sunday after encountering “adverse conditions” in the South China Sea.

No crew members were injured, said the Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises in a statement posted on Twitter.

“When passing Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, the vessel encountered adverse conditions which water soon entered before it began to tip.”

“Despite the efforts of the towing company responsible for the trip to rescue the vessel, unfortunately, it capsized on Sunday.” The company added it was “very saddened” by this incident.

The vessel, which resembled a Chinese imperial palace, has welcomed celebrities such as Queen Elizabeth II and Tom Cruise with Cantonese cuisine since 1976.

Residents had said their goodbyes to the iconic Jumbo Seafood Restaurant on Tuesday (June 14) as it was towed away by tugboats from its home of 46 years.

In 2020, Jumbo ceased operations due to the coronavirus outbreak. After months of COVID-19 restrictions, its parent company was unable to find a new owner and lacked the funds to maintain it.

Published : June 21, 2022

By : Reuters