LITHUANIA, February 23 – On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has met with Manfred Weber, Chair of the European People’s Party (EPP) Group in the European Parliament, to discuss the security situation in Ukraine and a united response to Russia’s aggression.
‘Unlike during previous aggressions against neighbouring countries, now no one believes in Russia’s propaganda. Its attempts in the past to portray the reality different than it truly was may have been effective, notably with some Western politicians, but today no one has the slightest doubt as to who the aggressor is and who is the victim’, said the Prime Minister, adding that the support for Ukraine must continue, so should the efforts of the West to raise the price tag for further aggression through sanctions to Moscow.
‘Russia’s ruling elite is trying to undermine liberal Western democracies while taking advantage of their achievements and prosperity. They have in the West their assets and property that are safe thanks to the rule of law that is there, their children study at EU universities, their relatives are treated in EU hospitals, and their property is registered in EU cities and resorts on behalf of their spouses’, said the Prime Minister.
According to the Prime Minister, Russian leaders find inconvenient a European and democratic Ukraine whose success story may as well galvanize Russia itself. And this is one of the reasons why Ukraine must be given a clear prospect on its further path of European integration.
Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party Group of the European Parliament (EP), has arrived in Lithuania on a solidarity visit staying for a couple of days in Vilnius. This evening, the Prime Minister will attend a remote summit of the European People’s Party (EP).
Press Statement of President Charles Michel of the European Council and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission on Russia’s unprecedented and unprovoked military aggression of Ukraine
We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s unprecedented military aggression against Ukraine. By its unprovoked and unjustified military actions, Russia is grossly violating international law and undermining European and global security and stability. We deplore the loss of life and the human suffering.
We call on Russia to immediately cease the hostilities, withdraw its military from Ukraine and fully respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence. Such use of force and coercion has no place in the 21st century. The EU stands firmly by Ukraine and its people as they face this unparalleled crisis.
The EU leaders will meet later today. President Michel of the European Council has urgently convened an extraordinary meeting of the European Council to discuss the crisis and further restrictive measures. These will impose massive and severe consequences on Russia for its actions. President von der Leyen and High Representative Borrell will outline a further sanctions package being finalised by the European Commission and the EEAS in close coordination with partners. The Council will adopt them swiftly.
The EU will continue to provide strong political, financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and its people.
Scientists have created an antimicrobial pad that can eliminate sweat odor thanks to sweet-smelling chemicals in wine and chocolate. According to researchers from the University of Tokyo, the invention opens up opportunities for the production of clothes that do not need to be constantly washed in a washing machine.
The new coating is a “cocktail” of silver and plant compounds (polyphenols) called tannins. They are found in many foods and drinks such as tea, coffee, wine and chocolate.
“As is often the case with children, one day my son got chocolate on his shirt and I couldn’t get the stain off. I have been studying polyphenols with Professor Hirotaka Ejima for over a decade, but this incident with chocolate made me think about using tannic acid to bind silver to tissues,” said project leader Dr. Joseph Richardson.
The scientist said that they managed to find two methods for applying an antimicrobial silver coating to textiles.
“Silver is a safe antimicrobial agent. Consumers can wash items with this coating several times and it will not lose its ability to eliminate odors, ”added Richardson.
According to the researchers, the AgTA coating is economical and convenient. This means that people working from home can continue to wear the same shirt without suffering from bad breath.
“Spring will come in a few days, and summer will follow – with it trips to the beach, walks in the fresh air and, of course, sweat will return to our lives! We hope that commercial apparel or fabric manufacturers can simply bathe AgTA-coated textiles to create odor-fighting garments. In addition, people will be able to spray the coating on their clothes. The most interesting thing is not the ease of application, but the effectiveness of the coating. We want to study the effect of the antimicrobial coating not only on odor-causing bacteria, but also on fungi and viruses,” the scientist said.
Japanese scientists have conducted an X-ray scan of the dagger found in Tutankhamun’s tomb to determine how this object was made, whose metal – as confirmed in 2016 – was derived from a meteorite. According to the new study, the dagger was made by low-temperature forging, but it was not forged in Egypt. The scientists’ article was published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science. The 35-centimeter dagger was discovered by archaeologists in Tutankhamun’s burial chamber in the Valley of the Kings in the 1920s, among other treasures buried with the pharaoh. Its blade was made of metal, but scientists were puzzled by the fact that the Iron Age began a century after Tutankhamun’s death, and the blade was barely touched by rust.
Gradually, researchers came to the conclusion that the iron objects that preceded the widespread use of relevant knowledge of metallurgy were forged from meteorite iron – pieces of metal that fell from space and processed on Earth. Such items were highly valued both in Egypt and abroad. A study from 2016 confirmed the probable meteorite origin of the dagger metal, but questions remain about the technology of its manufacture. Researchers have now studied the structure of the blade at a microscopic level using X-ray fluorescence analysis and found iron, nickel, manganese and cobalt. Sulfur, chlorine, calcium and zinc were also found in the blackened spots on the blade. No less interesting than the presence of certain chemical elements was their distribution, which showed that the dagger was made of octahedrite, which belongs to the most common structural class of iron meteorites. Archaeologists have unearthed the ruins of China’s oldest academy, dating back to the 4th century BC. “We found small black spots on the surface of the dagger,” said Tomoko Arai of the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan, one of the study’s authors. “At first we thought it was rust.” But it turns out that these are iron sulfides, which are usually found as inclusions in octahedral iron meteorites. ” below 950 ° C.
Although chemical analysis did not elucidate the origin of the dagger, scientists succeeded with a series of 3,400-year-old tablets known as the Amarna Archives, documenting diplomatic activity in ancient Egypt in the mid-14th century BC. – to understand that a dagger in a golden scabbard – apparently a rare accessory at the time – was given to Amenhotep III, Tutankhamun’s grandfather, by the king of Mitani, when the pharaoh married his daughter. So it is possible that Tutankhamun’s space dagger was a family heirloom received as a gift from abroad. The detailed analysis also showed that the precious stones in the handle of the dagger were placed in a way that was widely used in Mitania, but was not used at that time in Egypt itself.
The dagger is not the only object in Tutankhamun’s tomb made of this metal. The pharaoh also had a necklace with scarabs of molten quartz – this material appeared due to the fall of another meteorite in the Libyan desert.
Photo: The dagger found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. T. Matsui et al. / Meteoritics & Planetary Science
In a new study, scientists have found that dogs do not need to smell, see and touch to recognize their owners.
A new study by scientists from the Faculty of Ethology at Eötvös Lorand University (ELTE) in Hungary has shown that dogs can only recognize their owners by their voice. The results of the work are published by the journal Animal Cognition.
Employees of the Hungarian Department of Ethology invited 28 dogs and their owners to play hide-and-seek in the laboratory. The animals had to find the owner behind one of two hiding places (a stranger hid behind the other). Both read recipes in a neutral tone. The task of the dogs was to understand from a distance where the owner is hiding. The experiment took place in several stages.
Dogs found their owner in 82% of cases. To make sure the animals weren’t helped by smells, for the last two rounds, the researchers played the owner’s voice from where the stranger was hiding. The dogs still went exactly to the voice (and, therefore, in this case, the scent did not help the animals, they used the familiar voice of the owner for guidance).
During the experiment, scientists also found that if the voice of the owner and the stranger differed in height and volume, then this helped the dogs. At the same time, the timbre and other sound markers had no effect on the choice of the animal.
Photo: Animals had to find the owner behind one of two shelters (a stranger hid behind the other). DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01601-z
AS THE Covid pandemic begins to wane, as restrictions ease, and people can gather for arts and cultural events once more, how appropriate it is that Cúirt 2022 should be themed around meetings and interactions.
The Cúirt International Festival of Literature returns from April 4 to 10, with close to 40 events – almost all of them in-person – with 17 hybrid events, and only two fully online. For festival director, Sasha de Buyl, this is exciting, not just professionally, but also personally.
“I’ve been in the job got just over two years now and I’ve yet to have an in-person festival,”Sasha tells me during our Monday afternoon interview, “so the idea that we get to do events with the people of Galway, and to see the joy and excitement it brings to people, is really exciting and I just can’t wait.”
Sasha de Buyl. Photo:- Boyd Challenger
That sensibility comes through in this year’s theme – ‘at the intersection’. “There are a couple of different levels to it,” says Sasha. “The first is the idea of coming back together, meeting at the crossroads. The second is that, as Irish society has changed so much in the past 20 years, a focus on shared experience and connection is important. Although we might have begun from vastly different starting points, there is often a crossover of experience where we can meet in the middle.
“That is also something books do. They are an empathy machine. They bring people together and that’s in the festival – bringing readers to a book they might not have expected before, or to a writer they may not know, but they will find great connection with.”
A highlight of the festival will be Irish author, Sara Baume, launching her new novel, Seven Steeples, and speaking with the artist Dorothy Cross. Another must see event will be with The New York Times best-selling writer, Rumaan Alam, whose dystopian novel, Leave The World Behind, was long listed for the Booker last year.
“When I read it I was completely taken aback,” says Sasha. “The crispness and precision of the writing was just amazing. It captures racial tension so well, it’s an exercise in building dread.
“It’s about a couple that goes away for a weekend to a fancy Airbnb with their kids. They come from Brooklyn, and they head out to Long Island, and then there is a blackout, then the internet goes, the phone goes, there is no signal. Then there is a knock at the door, and outside is an elderly black couple, who are like, ‘Hi, we own this house’. It does this amazing thing where you are in the heads of the characters, and they don’t know what’s going on, and occasionally the narrator will give you crumbs, hints of what is happening on the outside. It is so good!”
Rebecca Watson. Photo:- Sophie Davidson
The festival’s partnership with the Desmond Elliott Prize continues, with events with shortlisted authors Rebecca Watson (“She wrote a beautiful, experimental novel, Little Scratch, about the impact of one day in the working life of a woman,” says Sasha ); Ellie Williams, who wrote The Liar’s Dictionary, about the nature of language; and the winner, AK Blakemore, who wrote The Manningtree Witches, a historical novel about 18th century witch trials.”
There will also be a graphic novel event, with The New Yorker cartoonist, Will McPhail, who last year published his first full-length graphic nove, In. “It is laugh out loud hilarious and it will make you cry,” says Sasha. “He is also hilarious in person. I think that’s going to be a cracking event.”
Poets at the festival
Leading British poets Roger Robinson and Raymond Antrobus will both read at Cúirt 2022. Robinson was the first Black British poet to win the TS Eliot Prize, for A Portable Paradise, an exploration of grief, race, and the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Raymond Antrobus was the first poet to win the Rathbones Folio Prize for The Perseverance, praised by the judges as “an immensely moving book of poetry which uses his deaf experience, bereavement, and Jamaican-British heritage to consider the ways we all communicate with each other.”
Also reading at Cúirt is Irish poet Gail McConnell. Her acclaimed collection, The Sun Is Open, explores the murder of her father, William McConnell, the deputy governor of the Maze prison, by the IRA in 1984. “It will be a standard work of Irish poetry for decades to come,” reckons Sasha.
One of the purely online events for this year’s Cúirt will feature leading contemporary American poet, Claudia Rankine, best known for Citizen: An American Lyric and Just Us: An American Lyric. “They are experiential, multi-form, essay poems which draw in images, Tweets, non-academic referencing, and are a dissection of race in America,” says Sasha.
Panel events and discussions
Cúirt 2022 will also host a number of panel events with discussions on dismantling capitalism, r’n’b singer Solange, colonialism, the Irish language, and fatphobia. A highlight though, will be the appearance of Shon Faye [pictured above], author of the acclaimed The Transgender Issue.
“That book is a really thoughtful and precise insight into how capitalism and the patriarchy impacts on trans people, and also how it impacts on the rest of the world,” says Sasha, “and how a world that was better for trans people would be better for all of us.”
Attending the festival
Cúirt 2022 will be trialling a pilot pay what you can model for all in-person events, with prices tiered at €5, €10, €15, €20. “We still rely heavily on box office income, and we hope people will consider paying as high as they can,” said Sasha, “but we also urge people to pay at a level they can afford. We hope this new system will open up Cúirt to audiences who might not normally be able to afford it.”
The main festival venues will be the Town Hall Theatre, The Mick Lally Theatre, and An Taibhdhearc. All venues will be wheelchair accessible. The festival club will be in the outdoor space of Carroll’s, Dominick Street.
The Cúirt festival programme will be launched this evening, Thursday February 24, at 6pm in Carroll’s Bar Caravan Club, Dominick Street. For more information see www.cuirt.ie
Two global church groupings representing around a billion Christians, the World Council of Churches and the World Evangelical Alliance have both denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for Moscow to resolve any grievances it may have by peaceful means.
WEA said on Feb. 24 it is “condemning the violation of international law by Russia and calling for an immediate end to the attacks on Ukraine.”
Both the WEA and WCC urged people to pray for peace in Ukraine.
The BBC reported on Feb. 24 that Russian forces launched a military assault on neighboring Ukraine, crossing its borders and bombing targets near big cities.
In a pre-dawn TV statement Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia did not plan to occupy Ukraine and demanded that its military lay down their arms.
WEA, its European counterpart and the WCC called upon churches around the world to pray for restoration of peace.
The invasion of Ukraine is both unjustified and unprovoked said WEA.
“It has been claimed that the attack is necessary to protect ethnic Russians within Ukraine and to stop Ukraine from threatening Russia,” said the WEA in a statement.
“These claims are untrue. This disaster has been provoked into being by President (Vladimir) Putin for wider geopolitical purposes.”
The WEA noted that Russia and Ukraine are both sovereign nations that must be able to live in peace with each other, respecting each other’s borders and internal and geopolitical affairs.
“We are gravely concerned to yet again witness armed conflict that will inevitably lead to tragic loss of human lives, including innocent civilians who only desire to live in peace,” said WEA Secretary General Bishop Thomas Schirrmacher.
“We call for an end to the hostilities, an immediate ceasefire and respect for Ukrainian territorial integrity.”
The World Council of Churches called for an immediate end to the current armed hostilities around Ukraine.
“The World Council of Churches denounces any and every use of deadly armed force to resolve disputes that could be resolved by dialogue,” the council which includes the Russian Orthodox Church among its members.
“We firmly believe that dialogue – based on the principles of international law and respect for established national borders – was and is the proper path for the resolution of tensions surrounding Ukraine.”
The WCC called for an immediate end to the current armed hostilities, and for the protection of all human lives and communities threatened by this violence.
We urge all member churches and all people of good will around the world to join us in prayer for peace for the people of Ukraine and the region.
(PHOTO: REUTERS / Yves Herman)People gather outside an European Union emergency foreign ministers meeting to protest against Russian troops in Ukraine, in Brussels March 3, 2014.
Maputo (Mozambique), 23 February 2022 – Increasing activity by armed groups in Southern and Eastern Africa brings new and growing threats to the region of terrorism, terrorism financing and violent extremism. Some of the groups have pledged allegiance to Islamic State, which makes them particularly dangerous.
This growing transnational threat requires renewed commitment from Member States to cooperate across borders to detect terrorist activity and bring terrorists to justice.
In cooperation with its partners, UNODC has brought together 35 criminal justice practitioners from the regions to explore good practices promoted in other regions in Africa and identify ways to support stronger cooperation based on mutual trust.
During a two-part training course, participants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania, and South Africa discussed specific challenges they have faced working on judicial cooperation matters, including those based on differences in languages and legal systems.
They noted the importance of enhancing mechanisms of cooperation in order to share information, intelligence, and evidence between States and build strong cases for prosecution.
UNODC Director for the Division of Operations, Miwa Kato, highlighted the importance of assisting Eastern and Southern African Member States in countering terrorism, terrorism financing and violent extremism, while fostering security and stability in these regions.
Ms. Kato noted that “military intervention alone would not resolve the terrorism-related security challenges being faced by the regions.” She said it was essential “to strengthen governance and ensure those who have committed these grievous terrorism acts, and those who are supporting and funding them, are held accountable to ensure sustainable peace and security in the regions.”
Ms. Kato also highlighted UNODC’s Strategic Vision for Africa 2030 which was launched earlier this year, noting that “the moment to address and tackle these challenges facing the continent is now.”
“Mozambique was delighted to host this event” said Amabélia Chuquela, Deputy Attorney-General of Mozambique. She further stated that “the workshop helped reinforce formal and informal transboundary cooperation towards the detection, prevention, investigation and prosecution of terrorism offences in Eastern and Southern Africa.”
The training series was organized by UNODC in cooperation with the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), and the Office of the Attorney-General of Mozambique, with the generous support of Germany.
The training series built upon the terrorism prevention assistance that UNODC has been providing to Eastern and Southern Africa through its Terrorism Prevention Branch, Global Porgramme on Money Laundering, regional offices for Eastern and Southern Africa, and Programme Office for Mozambique.
This assistance, delivered in close partnership with SADC, EAPCCO, and the African Union, focuses on building the capacity of criminal justice officials to detect, investigate, and prosecute terrorism and terrorism financing-related offences, including through strengthened cross-border cooperation.
European Commission Press release Brussels, 23 Feb 2022 The report is prepared in the context of the enhanced surveillance framework which serves to ensure continued support for the delivery of Greece’s reform commitments following the successful completion of the financial assistance programme in 2018.
