Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

BBC Russian Service and Mediazona uncover the names of more than 5,700 Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine — Meduza

Source: BBC Russian Service and Mediazona uncover the names of more than 5,700 Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine — Meduza

‘The commanders don’t give a shit about us’ In one Russian brigade, around 700 soldiers have refused to fight. But their superiors won’t let them leave. — Meduza

Military servicemen from Russia’s 64th Motor Rifle Brigade told the investigative outlet iStories that around 700 contract soldiers have tried to resign from the service — but their command hasn’t let them.

The soldiers reached out to journalists after iStories published an article that described how Russian soldiers stole from and murdered civilians in Andriivka, a village in Ukraine’s Kyiv region. After the outlet learned the soldiers’ names and contacted them, one of them — 21-year-old Daniil Frolkin — confessed to journalists that he killed a civilian on orders from his commander.

Other soldiers from the brigade who spoke to iStories after the investigation was published confirmed Frolkin’s account. The outlet didn’t reveal their names for safety reasons.

One of the soldiers, who claimed to be in Ukraine, said that he was recently transferred in the direction of Kherson as part of the 64th Brigade. According to him, 80 percent of the brigade, including himself, want to resign from the army, but their commanders won’t let them. “I’ve written multiple refusals [to fight]. Each time, they tell me to go fuck myself,” he said.

Source: ‘The commanders don’t give a shit about us’ In one Russian brigade, around 700 soldiers have refused to fight. But their superiors won’t let them leave. — Meduza

Leading grain traders ‘sourcing soy beans from Brazilian farm linked to abuse’ | Brazil | The Guardian

Earthsight named the companies as Bunge and Cargill and said they sourced soy produced on a farm located on ancestral land of the Kaiowá indigenous group.

The Kaiowá were forcibly evicted by landowners more than half a century ago but the group have continued to stake their claim to land they know as Takuara.

The land was subsequently deforested to make way for cattle and soy plantations. A member of the Kaiowá, Marcos Verón, a septuagenarian chief, was beaten to death in violent clashes there in 2003 when he led a group of people seeking to take back their territory.

Source: Leading grain traders ‘sourcing soy beans from Brazilian farm linked to abuse’ | Brazil | The Guardian

Commodity kings Cargill, Bunge buying soy from stolen Indigenous land, report says

  • Commodity-trading giants Cargill and Bunge source some of the soy used in products like chicken feed and pet food to land where Indigenous communities have suffered violence and displacement, according to a new report from Earthsight, an organization investigating environmental and social injustices.
  • The companies have ties to a 9,700-hectare (24,000-acre) soy farm in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul that operates on the ancestral land of the Guarani Kaiowá, an Indigenous group that has spent the last several decades fighting forced eviction.
  • Earthsight has documented supply chain links between soy from the Brasília do Sul farm and chicken retailers like KFC, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi and Iceland, as well as German supermarket chains like Rewe Markt, Netto Marken-Discount, Lidl, Aldi and Edeka.
  • Earthsight said Cargill and Bunge need to take a firmer stance on Indigenous rights rather than passing off responsibility to intermediaries or deferring to legal loopholes. 

Source: Commodity kings Cargill, Bunge buying soy from stolen Indigenous land, report says

Florida Power Company Sentenced in Worker Death Case | OPA | Department of Justice

Judge Charlene Honeywell sentenced TECO to a $500,000 fine and three years of probation, along with the requirement that TECO comply with a safety compliance plan. Federal law makes it a class B misdemeanor to willfully fail to follow an OSHA safety standard, where the failure causes the death of at least one employee. The class B misdemeanor is the only federal criminal charge covering such workplace safety violations. The maximum punishment for a corporation such as TECO that violates this provision is a $500,000 fine.

“TECO’s willful violation had catastrophic consequences, including five workers dead and several more injured, underlining the importance of workplace safety standards,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The department takes this conduct very seriously, and accordingly pursued the maximum remedy available under the law.”

“Tragically, five individuals lost their lives on June 29, 2017, following the explosion at the TECO facility. Our hearts go out to the victims’ families as well as other TECO employees and contractors impacted by this catastrophic event,” said U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “Our office is proud to have partnered with DOJ’s Environmental Crimes Section, the FBI, and the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General to shine a light on this willful violation of OSHA safety standards in order to deter such conduct and ensure that workers are protected in the future.”

In a plea agreement with the government, TECO admitted to willfully failing to hold a pre-job briefing with the workers performing the work. Such briefing should have included information about the hazards associated with the job, the work procedures involved, any special precautions, energy source controls, and personal protective equipment requirements. Instead, the work proceeded without such a briefing and in contravention of the procedures governing the work to be performed, which could not be located. As a result, certain critical safety-related steps were not taken, and five individuals lost their lives when an explosion caused a violent release of molten slag throughout the work area.

Source: Florida Power Company Sentenced in Worker Death Case | OPA | Department of Justice