The National Guard of Ukraine has reported that it is already using modern field hospitals received from the Netherlands.
Source: European Pravda; Oleksandr Pivnenko, Commander of the National Guard, on Telegram
Details: The National Guard noted that they have already received and are using the medical and humanitarian assistance provided, in particular field hospitals, which were transferred by the Dutch government’s decision. There are already eight of them in total.
The National Guard points out that the mobile medical hospital, which is designed for 26-50 beds in various configurations and is equipped with an autonomous power supply, can operate without a power supply on a diesel generator and also has a water supply and sanitation system.
“This significantly improves the conditions for providing assistance and treatment to our servicemen and facilitates the work of doctors who save soldiers’ lives. It is provided with the necessary medicines and supplies,” the National Guard notes.
Background:
In December, it was reported that Ukrainian border guards received from the Netherlands three field hospitals and six medevacs.
In November, Ukraine received a military field hospital from Estonia and Iceland.
In the summer, Spain also donated a field hospital.
In Greece, Aigai, one of the most important ancient royal capitals and the place where Alexander the Great was crowned, will reopen to the public on Sunday after years of restoration.
The sprawling site situated near Vergina, in northern Greece, was the ancient first capital of the kingdom of Macedonia and home of the Temenid dynasty — which would rule Macedonia for over three centuries, spawning leaders such as Philip II and his son, Alexander the Great.
Aigai is a UNESCO World Heritage site and its grounds include a lavish palace — the biggest in classical Greece and three times the size of the Parthenon — a theater, banquet halls, ornate mosaics and a necropolis including more than 300 burial mounds, with the royal tomb of Alexander’s father, Philip II, thought to be among them.
“After many years of painstaking work, we can reveal the palace. … What we are doing today is an event of global importance,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at an inauguration event at the site Friday, the Associated Press reported.
How often do men think about ancient Rome? Quite frequently, it seems.
The palace, built more than 2,300 years ago, covers approximately 15,000 square meters.
The renovation has taken 16 years and cost more than 20 million euros, including financial support from the European Union, the Associated Press reported.
The capital was home to artists, painters and playwrights, highlighting the city’s prosperity at the time, according to the official archaeological website. Under Philip II, a building spree transformed the city, which hosted sacred ceremonies, grand processions and feasts.
It was at one such feast that Phillip was stabbed by an assassin, and his son Alexander became king. He would embark on a campaign to transform the Hellenistic world, and his empire stretched from northern Africa to Asia.
Siberia’s ice is melting, revealing its past and endangering its future
“Aigai provides important information about the culture, history and society of the ancient Macedonians, the Greek border tribe that preserved age-old traditions and carried Greek culture to the outer limits of the ancient world,” UNESCO said, calling it “among the most important archaeological sites in Europe.”
The city of Aigai was destroyed after a defeat by the Romans in 168 BC and fell into decline, until it was excavated in 1977 by Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos.
AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Asure Software, Inc.(Nasdaq: ASUR), an established provider of cloud-based Human Capital Management (“HCM”) software solutions, is scheduled to attend the 26th Annual Needham Growth Conference on January 18, 2024 in New York, NY.
Asure’s management team will be hosting one on one meetings with institutional investors throughout the day. Additionally, Asure’s CEO Pat Goepel will participate in a fireside chat with Needham analyst Josh Reilly at 10:15 AM ET. The fireside chat will be webcast on the Needham Conference website.
For additional information, please contact your Needham sales representative or Patrick McKillop – Vice President Investor Relations at Asure Software.
About Asure Software Asure Software (Nasdaq: ASUR) provides cloud-based Human Capital Management (HCM) software solutions that assist organizations of all sizes in streamlining their HCM processes. Asure’s suite of HCM solutions includes HR, payroll, time and attendance, benefits administration, and talent management. The company’s approach to HR compliance services incorporates AI technology to enhance scalability and efficiency while prioritizing client interactions. For more information, please visitwww.asuresoftware.com.
Asure Software Patrick McKillop Vice President, Investor Relations 617-335-5058 patrick.mckillop@asuresoftware.com
The content is by Globe Newswire. Headlines of Today Media is not responsible for the content provided or any links related to this content. Headlines of Today Media is not responsible for the correctness, topicality or the quality of the content.
Ukraine has condemned a decree signed by President Putin making it possible to confer Russian citizenship on Ukrainian children moved to Russia.
Last March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Putin over Russia’s policy of forced child deportations.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry called the decree illegal.
However, Russia insists it is moving the children out of harm’s way.
On 4 January Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a citizenship decree expediting Russian citizenship to foreigners and stateless people.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry singled out the passage saying that orphaned Ukrainian children or those deprived of parental guardianship can be fast-tracked to Russian citizenship by way of a presidential decision, or after a request by the institution holding them.
The decree states that a citizenship application for such a child can be submitted by their legal guardian or the head of a Russian organisation responsible for the child.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry sees this as Russia’s attempt to solve its own demographic crisis, describing it as a violation of Ukrainian and international laws and children’s rights.
The decree is yet more evidence of Russia’s policy of forced assimilation of Ukrainian children, and crimes against Ukraine in general, the ministry added.
Ukraine’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, says Moscow is granting citizenship to the children so that they are not regarded as Ukrainians who have been transferred to Russia.
The Ukrainian authorities have identified over 19,000 Ukrainian children who have been deported to Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Only 387 children have been brought back so far, according to the Ukrainian national database Children of war.
In November 2023, the BBC’s Panorama TV programme revealed that a political ally of Mr Putin adopted a child seized from a Ukrainian children’s home.
Sergey Mironov, the 70-year-old leader of a Russian political party, is named on the adoption record of a two-year-old girl who was taken in 2022 by a woman he is now married to, according to documents seen by Panorama.
In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. The ICC said he was responsible for for unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, was hit with the same charges. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said children could not be “treated as spoils of war” and that it was possible Putin could stand trial.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin‘s decree giving Russian citizenship to abducted Ukrainian children violates international law, Ukrainian legislation, and the rights of these children, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Jan. 6.
According to the Ministry, this decree is part of Russia’s broader demographic strategy to weaponize war refugees and legitimize their occupation, and the Kremlin is introducing new legislation aimed at preventing abducted Ukrainian children from returning to their homeland.
Read also: Ukraine successfully returns nearly 400 children kidnapped by Russia
However, these children remain citizens of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian authorities will continue to take all possible measures to protect their rights and freedoms, the Ministry emphasized.
“The real value of this decree is that it will serve as further evidence of Russia’s crimes against Ukraine, the forced assimilation of Ukrainian children, and the attempts to deprive them of their own homeland,” the statement reads.
The Foreign Ministry called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider the actions of the Russian leadership and urging the international community to implement the ICC arrest warrant for Putin as soon as possible.
Earlier, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announced that Putin had signed Decree No. 11 on granting Russian citizenship to foreigners, including children from Ukraine.
Read also: First Lady Zelenska highlights plights of Ukraine’s children, confirms 504 dead, almost 20,000 kidnapped
The decree refers to orphans and children who lack guardians and possess Ukrainian citizenship. It allows them to be given Russian citizenship via dictatorial fiat, without taking into account “certain requirements of federal legislation.”
On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on charges of committing war crimes in connection with the abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution recognizing the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia as genocide on April 27.
According to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, the Russians have stolen almost 20,000 children from occupied Ukrainian territories, and approximately 6,000 are being held in re-education camps.
The number of Ukrainian children illegally deported to Russia may have reached as many as 300,000, according to figures quoted by the European Parliament. MEPs believe that Russia began abducting Ukrainian children in 2014, ever since the occupation of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
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Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, arrived in Turkey on Friday for his fourth visit to the region since Hamas launched its attacks on Israel last year.
This flurry of visits reflects the growing international concern that the war in Gaza risks escalating into a wider regional conflict.
The US vetoed the most recent UN Security Council resolutions to bring the conflict to an end to provide time for Israel to achieve its political objectives.
The international community overwhelmingly believes that a two-state solution is the only way to bring peace to the region, but it has become increasingly apparent that such an end-state is not supported by Israel.
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Israel outlines Gaza post-war plan
Although Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant has started to elaborate on what the “day after” the war ends might look like, it is very vague, lacks detail, and appears to be an Israeli solution rather than an international, including Palestinian, collaboration.
And, although the US had hoped that the conflict might be drawing to an end by Christmas last year, Israel has reiterated the war will only end once Hamas has been destroyed.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) believes it has killed or captured 9,000 Hamas fighters out of a pre-war total thought to be around 30,000.
This leaves well over two-thirds of Hamas fighters still at large, which probably explains why Israel believes the conflict could go on for at least another year.
Israel says there are still around 130 Israeli hostages being held captive in Gaza, who were seized in the 7 October raids by Hamas, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage.
Since then, more than 22,400 people have been killed by the Israeli response, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
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Doctor: ‘5%’ of Gaza people casualties
Risks of escalation in Lebanon, Yemen and the Red Sea
Hamas is no match for the IDF militarily, but if the conflict did escalate into a regional war, pressure would increase on the US to bring their influence to bear to bring the war to an end.
Iran funds Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and it is this influence that is being exploited to ratchet up pressure on the US.
The Israeli border with Lebanon has seen regular exchanges of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah.
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Hezbollah leader warns Israel
However, following the claimed assassination of Hamas deputy military leader Saleh al Arouri on 2 January in southern Beirut, the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to avenge the attack.
Earlier on Saturday, Hezbollah fired 62 rockets at an Israeli observation point, prompting an Israeli fighter jet to respond with an attack on what the IDF claims was a Hezbollah command post.
In the Red Sea, Iranian-backed Houthis have been disrupting global shipping.
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2:42
Red Sea crisis hits high street brands
On Friday, huge crowds gathered in the Yemen capital Sana’a to mark the deaths of 10 Houthi fighters who were attacking a Maersk merchant ship when a US military helicopter intervened.
US forces stationed in the Middle East to prevent the resurgence of Islamic State have also come under more frequent attack – the US has 900 based in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq.
The conflict in Gaza has also distracted world attention, and support, for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
All this increases pressure on the US to find a way to bring the Israel-Hamas war to an end to stop the steady escalation in the region.
Blinken faces struggle to find a solution for all sides
The longer the war in Gaza continues, the greater the risk of a wider conflict.
But, it is not clear what the desired end-state is for Israel.
Rumours abound that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet cannot agree on a future governance model for the region, and if not a two-state solution, then what is the solution?
Read more: How tentacles of war could entangle Middle East in more conflict Israel on high alert for attacks from Lebanon Hamas blames Israel for ‘cowardly assassination’
Image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with some members of his cabinet. Pic: AP
An Israeli-imposed model would be unlikely to secure international support, and thus lack credibility.
Nobody expects negotiations to be simple, but any agreement has to be mindful of Palestinian concerns, involve the international community, enable peaceful co-existence (eventually) for both Israelis and Palestinians, and create prosperity for Palestinians to replace decades of despair with hope.
This will not be simple to resolve, but failure means perpetuating the endless cycle of violence and devastation that has defined the region over the past eight decades.
A huge weight of responsibility lies on the shoulders of US Secretary of State Blinken.
Media reports about an alleged data leak related to the military-industrial sector are manipulative, untrue, and cause reputational damage, the State Audit Service of Ukraine said in a statement on Jan. 5.
In a recent article, “Target # 1,” Censor.Net journalist Tetyana Nikolayenko explained how easy it is to find data on important Ukrainian military enterprises, claiming that the State Audit Service has demanded from some military-industrial manufacturers documents on the actual location of warehouses, production facilities, and contractual co-executors.
Read also: Luch Design Bureau appeals to government over audit results
The Service has denied this, insisting that military-industrial enterprises are not obliged to disclose the actual location of warehouses and production facilities, secret drawings, or technical documentation. The Service only checks financial documents, the agency explained. The addresses of the enterprises undergoing inspections and audits have not been revealed since the Russian full-scale invasion.
Read also: Ukrainian MPs may be denied foreign travel without government-approved ‘talking points’
False information is being spread as part of a “discrediting campaign” by “dishonest manufacturers,” according to the Service.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel on Saturday, warning that the barrage was its initial response to the targeted killing, presumably by Israel, of a top leader from the allied Hamas group in Lebanon‘s capital earlier this week. The rocket attack came a day after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that his group must retaliate for the killing of Saleh Arouri, the deputy political leader of Hamas, in a Hezbollah stronghold south of Beirut. Nasrallah said that if Hezbollah did not strike back, all of Lebanon would be vulnerable to Israeli attack. He appeared to be making his case for a response to the Lebanese public, even at the risk of escalating the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on. Hezbollah said it launched 62 rockets toward an Israeli air surveillance base on Mount Meron and that it scored direct hits. The group said rockets also struck two army posts near the border. The Israeli military said about 40 rockets were fired toward Meron and that a base was targeted, but made no mention of the base being hit. It said it struck the Hezbollah cell that fired the rockets. Separately, the armed wing of the Islamic Group in Lebanon said it fired two volleys of rockets toward the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday night. Two of the group’s members were killed in the strike that killed Arouri. The cross-border escalation came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was kicking off an urgent Middle East diplomatic tour, his fourth to the region since the Israel-Hamas war erupted three months ago. The war was triggered by a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 hostages. In recent weeks, Israel has been scaling back its military assault in the north of the territory and pressing its heavy offensive in the south, vowing to crush Hamas. In the south, most of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians are being squeezed into smaller areas in a humanitarian disaster, while still being pounded by Israeli airstrikes. On Saturday, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 122 Palestinians were killed over the past 24 hours, bringing the total since the start of the war to 22,722. The count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians. The ministry has said two-thirds of those killed have been women and children. The overall number of wounded rose to 58,166, the ministry said. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah received at least 46 bodies overnight, according to hospital records seen by The Associated Press. Many were men who were apparently shot. Fighting has raged between Israeli forces and militants in the area. The dead also included five members of a family killed in an airstrike, the records showed. The latest Israeli-dropped leaflets urged Palestinians in some areas near the hospital to evacuate, citing “dangerous fighting.” In the southern city of Khan Younis, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive, the local European Hospital received the bodies of 18 people killed in an overnight airstrike on a house in the city’s Maan neighborhood, said Saleh al-Hamms, head of the nursing department at the hospital. Citing witnesses, he said more than three dozen people had been sheltering in the house, including those displaced. Israel has held Hamas responsible for civilian casualties, saying the group has embedded within in Gaza’s civilian infrastructure. Still, international criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war has grown more persistent because of the rising civilian death toll. The United States has urged Israel to do more to prevent harm to civilians, even as it keeps sending weapons and munitions while shielding its close ally against international censure. Blinken began his latest Mideast trip in Turkey on Saturday. The Biden administration believes that Turkey and others can exert influence, particularly on Iran and its proxies, to tamp down fears of a regional conflagration. Those fears have spiked in recent days with incidents in the Red Sea, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran. In talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Blinken sought Turkish support for still nascent plans for post-war Gaza that could include monetary or in-kind contributions to reconstruction efforts and some form of participation in a proposed multinational force that could operate in or adjacent to the territory. From Turkey, Blinken was traveling to Turkish rival and fellow Nato ally Greece to meet Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at his residence on the Mediterranean island of Crete. Mitsotakis and his government have been supportive of US efforts to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spreading and have signaled their willingness to assist should the situation deteriorate. Other stops on the trip include Jordan, followed by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Sunday and Monday. Blinken will visit Israel and the West Bank next week before wrapping up the trip in Egypt. The European Union’s foreign policy chief said during a visit to Beirut he aims to jump-start a European-Arab initiative to revive a peace process that would result in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Josep Borrell said he will visit Saudi Arabia on Sunday. “The only way is the creation of a Palestinian state offering a horizon of hope for the Palestinians,” he said.
A TRAVELLING circus performer who went missing has been found in Brazil after she was strangled to death.
Julieta Hernandez, 38, worked as a clown dubbed “Miss Bubblegum”, and a nearby couple have been arrested following the shocking discovery.
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Julieta Hernandez, 38, was discovered dead on Friday evening in BrazilCredit: Instagram
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Julieta worked as a performing clown under the name ‘Miss Bubblegum’Credit: Instagram
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Julieta’s body was recovered near her bicycle and belongings which were buried in a caveCredit: Facebook/portaldourubuioficial
Hernandez had been travelling through the area by bicycle so she could bring her show to locals and had reportedly lodged with the couple for a night.
She was on a long journey heading home to Venezuela ahead of an emotional reunion with her mum but was reported missing two weeks ago when her friends lost contact with her.
The frame of Julieta’s bicycle and her belongings were found buried near her body in an empty cave.
And a couple who put her up for the night have since been arrested on suspicion of her murder.
Local TV footage showed a man being brought out of the back of a police van in handcuffs and taken into a police station following his arrest.
The artist was last seen in Presidente Figueiredo, a town eighty miles north of the city of Manaus in north west Brazil.
The region, with over 100 waterfalls, is popular with adventure tourists.
Circo di SoLadies, a São Paulo-based circus group, had been publishing regular social media appeals following her disappearance.
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Julieta worked as a doll-maker as well as a performing clown.
The alarm was raised when she failed to reach a support point north of the town she vanished in weeks ago.
Julieta had arrived in Brazil by bike in 2016 and was planning to return home the same way.
In an emotional post after her body was found Circo di SoLadies said: “Our great Julieta, our Clown Jujuba carried her dreams on the bike and created smiles all over Brazil.
“She’s gone. She’s been taken away from us. Her vivacity was a victim of femicide and her bike destroyed, as well as our hearts.
“Jujuba, unfortunately we did not find you in time. All this shows us how small we are in the face of such brutality.
“But you, with your giant greatness contained in your nose, taught us that we need to have the courage to keep pedalling.
“All we have is the memory of your smile and your will to live.
“Today, all the clowns in this country dream of you. We dream of a world where women can walk without fear, where children are free to play, where clowns only leave when their noses rest.
“In this world, Jujuba would have crossed through Brazil and managed to find her mum in her homeland.”
Authorities in Amazonas, the north western region of Brazil where she was travelling when she died, released a statement after she was found.
“The Technical-Scientific Police Department (DPTC) is working on confirming the body found is that of Venezuelan Julieta Ines Hernandez Martínez, who had been missing since December 23rd.
“During the searches in the region, the police initially located parts of the bicycle that Julieta Hernández was using, the equipment was nearby where the body was located.
“The location is close to a refuge where the woman was staying.”
It went on to confirm a couple had been arrested and inquiries are continuing.
Police chief Valdinei Silva told local media it was Julieta who had been found dead and she appeared to have been strangled.
It is not known what could have motivated the savage killing.
Julieta is understood to have been part of a group of artists performing under the umbrella of an organisation called Pe Vermei who travelled by bicycle.
She has been reported as performing under Miss Jujuba and Miss Bubblegum.
Friend Ana Melo told local media before she was found dead: “Before she ran out of mobile phone signal, we already knew it would be a challenging journey.
“Julieta is very experienced, she has been cycling around Brazil for years and is now returning to Venezuela.
“What we found strange was the fact that she didn’t warn us that there would be no signal.
“The messages simply stopped arriving and we could no longer locate her.”
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She had cycled to Brazil from Venezuela in 2016Credit: Instagram
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She was part of a travelling circus group called Pe VermeiCredit: Instagram
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Julieta was reported missing two weeks before she was foundCredit: Instagram
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Julieta was slowly making her way back to Venezuela by bike to reunite with her mumCredit: Instagram
Copenhagen, Denmark: The Danish Ministry of Defense has announced a delay in its planned delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. This postponement, now confirmed to be up to six months, marks a notable shift from Denmark’s initial timeline, which had targeted the delivery of the first batch of six aircraft by the new year.
Central to the challenges leading to this delay is the extensive and multifaceted training program for Ukrainian pilots. This program is crucial for ensuring that the Ukrainian Air Force can effectively operate and maintain these advanced aircraft. The training covers a wide range of skills essential for modern aerial combat and operations, including advanced aerial tactics, air-to-air and air-to-ground combat techniques, and comprehensive mission planning education. This preparation is vital for the pilots to perform complex maneuvers and respond effectively to dynamic combat situations.
Moreover, the training emphasizes the importance of understanding NATO standards and interoperability, as these jets will be integrated into a broader coalition framework. This includes familiarization with NATO communication protocols, joint operation tactics, and international rules of engagement.
Another critical factor contributing to the delay is the establishment of necessary logistics and support systems. Transferring military aircraft is a complex process that requires careful coordination and planning. It involves not just the physical movement of the jets but also the transfer of spare parts, maintenance equipment, and other support materials. Ensuring the continued supply of these materials is essential for maintaining the operational readiness of the aircraft once they are in Ukraine.
The F-16 fighter jets, known for their agility, versatility, and advanced technology, are expected to significantly enhance Ukraine’s air defense capabilities. These aircraft are battle-tested and have been used by various air forces around the world, making them a valuable addition to Ukraine’s military arsenal.
Denmark’s decision to donate these jets, according to Bloomberg, is part of a broader international effort to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian special military operation. This support has taken various forms, including the provision of military equipment, training, and financial aid. The international community, particularly European nations and NATO members, has been actively involved in providing assistance to Ukraine, recognizing the importance of supporting a sovereign nation in defending its territory and democratic values.
As the situation continues to evolve, further updates from the Danish Ministry of Defense and Ukrainian officials are anticipated. The delay in the delivery of the F-16s, while a setback, does not diminish the overall commitment of Denmark and its allies to support Ukraine. The eventual arrival of these fighter jets is expected to be a significant boost to Ukraine’s defense capabilities, potentially altering the dynamics of the conflict.
