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Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine more than half a million people have left Russia. President Vladimir Putin has now issued a new law to reduce the once high immigration hurdles. The aim is to make Russia attractive to citizens from states where "traditional values" are being repressed. The press ridicules the idea.

In diesem Sommer wurden bereits drei fette Transfers für die übernächste Saison abgewickelt. Alle mit episch langen Verträgen. Ein neuer Trend mischt die Liga auf.

Das Zürich Openair steht wieder vor der Tür und verspricht vier Tage voller Musik und unvergesslicher Momente. Doch wie gut kennst du das beliebte Festival? Teste dein Wissen und finde heraus, ob du ein wahrer ZOA-Profi bist!

575146 Communication and Media Relations Section

From 19 to 23 August, the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department held a training-of-trainers course for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) in Warsaw, Poland. The training focused on identifying forged documents and impostors at border crossing points.

The hands-on training was delivered by two experts from the Main Forensic Centre of the SBGS to eight border guards, including five women and three men. With the knowledge acquired, participants will return to Ukraine’s border control points and train their fellow border guards on these key skills.

“The use of forged documents at checkpoints across the state border is constantly increasing, the priority task is awareness of the latest methods of forgery. As trainers, it was important to provide each inspector with the opportunity to practically work with a variety of forged documents, in order to deepen their understanding of the process of production, use and detection of forged documents,” noted Major Myroslava Andrushchyshyna, forensic expert at the SBGS Main Forensic Center.

According to Major Oleksii Markovskyi, forensic expert, “In these trainings, it is important not just to memorize, but to understand the cause-and-effect relationship of certain elements of document protection and their signs of forgery. Participants were taught to understand the logic of a forger who imitated security features in documents and, as a result, to produce tools for their prompt detection.”

At the start of the course, participants refreshed their knowledge of different types of documents, personalization and security techniques, and international standards involved in developing travel documents. Representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw and the United Kingdom’s Home Office also presented on security features contained in U.S. and U.K. passports, as well as common forgery techniques and trends observed in their own investigations.

Participants discussed innovative methods to train fellow border guards to detect fake documents, developing a training programme based on the needs they identified. Each participant then presented to the group on a topic included in the basic course curriculum.

While the SBGS continues to confront the challenges caused by Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, participants noted the importance of these training opportunities to continue enhancing their skills as document inspectors.

This training marked the third step in the training cycle, in which every participant had previously completed the basic and advanced courses. The next and final step will be a study visit to Madrid, Spain in November 2024 to disseminate good practices and enhance knowledge of new technologies in detecting forged documents and impostors at border crossing points.

This project supports OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation in their efforts to reduce the number of people that manage to illegally cross borders using a fake or stolen identity or by posing as an impostor. The project is made possible through the generous financial support of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE.

TASR: A szlovák nemzeti felkelés (SNP) évfordulójára Trencsénben (Trenčín/megyeszékhely) mindig azon a helyen emlékeznek, ahol a fasizmus 69 áldozata van eltemetve. 1944 októbere és 1945 áprilisa között végezték ki őket. Az emlékhely, amelyet ma Mementónak hívnak, a Brezina erdőparkban található, nem messze a Cseresznyéskerttől – közölte a TASR-rel Erika Ságová, a város szóvivője.

Renault erweitert seine SUV-Palette mit dem Symbioz, einem Hybrid-SUV. Der Wagen bietet viel Platz, moderne Features und einen sparsamen Verbrauch. Blick durfte mit dem Franzosen bereits eine erste Runde drehen.

Ein junger Kosovare wird nach mehreren Gewaltdelikten für fünf Jahre aus der Schweiz ausgewiesen. Im Bundesgerichtsurteil werden die Schwere der Taten und das öffentliche Interesse an einer Landesverweisung hervorgehoben.

Jennifer Lopez und Ben Affleck lassen sich nach nur zwei Jahren Ehe und dem zweiten Beziehungsversuch scheiden. Die Ehe soll schon seit Monaten kaputt sein. Eine Schlammschlacht dürfte ausbleiben, denn JLo will auch auf Rechtsbeistand verzichten.

A 2,492-carat stone has been unearthed, in the biggest find since the Cullinan diamond in 1905.

Die Juso-Initiative zur Erbschaftssteuer sorgt für Aufregung unter den Superreichen. Der Bundesrat lehnt jedoch eine Wegzugssteuer ab, die verhindern soll, dass Wohlhabende ins Ausland ziehen, um Steuern zu vermeiden.

Ein Swiss-Flieger musste auf dem Weg von Tokio nach Zürich wegen eines Notfalls am Samstag in Kasachstan zwischenlanden. Der Pilot machte auf der Piste ein Wendemanöver und blieb in einer Wiese stecken. Eine Analyse zeigt: Der Pilot hatte keine Chance.

William Smith, hailed for being a maths and science education innovator, has died aged 85.

120 euróval emelnék a temetési hozzájárulást, így az elhunyt hozzátartozói 200 eurót kapnának. Ez derül ki az SNS képviselőinek erre vonatkozó javaslatából, amelyet a kormány szerdán hagyott jóvá azzal a megjegyzéssel, hogy ennek pénzügyi fedezetével a következő jogalkotási folyamatban foglalkoznak majd.

Sarah Al-Hassan lost her baby due to the lack of care in the camps. Credit: Sonia Al Ali/IPS

By Sonia Al Ali
IDLIB, Syria, Aug 22 2024 (IPS)

Pregnant women in northern Syria’s camps for internally displaced people fear about their health and the health of their unborn children because of a lack of basic medical care and a healthy diet. These conditions exacerbate the illnesses and challenges faced by women, particularly amid the region’s widespread poverty, food insecurity, and the remoteness of hospitals and health centers from the camps.

Pregnant women in the camps are susceptible to anemia, malnutrition, and giving birth to stunted children if they survive. The delay in obtaining care poses a significant health risk to both pregnant women and their infants.

Fatima Al-Aboud, a 26-year-old displaced woman living in the Ma’arat Misrin camp north of Idlib, is six months pregnant and suffering from severe anemia, which threatens both her health and that of her fetus.

“The doctor told me that I need to eat a balanced diet in sufficient quantities throughout my pregnancy to maintain my health and that of my fetus, but poverty and high prices have made me unable to buy fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins and proteins. I am also unable to afford the necessary medications for pregnant women.”

Al-Aboud does not hide her fear of giving birth to a child in poor health due to malnutrition or of her labor starting without a car available to transport her to the hospital, especially since the road between the camp and health centers is poor and rugged and it is more than five kilometers away.

Pregnant women face health risks in the camps. Credit: Sonia Al Ali/IPS

“I have many fears, as there are no comfortable places to sit or sleep inside the tent, and I cannot get physical rest during pregnancy. As a pregnant woman, I do not have a private space or clean toilets,” Al-Aboud told IPS.

The health risks faced by pregnant women increase due to the distance of health centers and hospitals from the camps, exposing them to the risk of miscarriage and even death during childbirth, along with the possibility of premature births.

The Syria Response Coordinators team, which specializes in gathering information and statistics in the areas of northwestern Syria, reports that more than 87 percent of the camps suffer from a lack of medical points and mobile clinics, and there are difficulties in transporting patients to nearby hospitals, knowing that the financial condition of most of the displaced is very poor and they are unable to secure the necessary treatment for any medical condition without exception.

Sara Al-Hassan, a 31-year-old displaced woman in a makeshift camp north of Syria near the Turkish border and a mother of three, lost her baby during childbirth.

“I started labor after midnight, and due to the distance of the hospitals from the camp and the lack of transportation, I relied on a nurse who lived nearby.”

She says that her delivery was difficult, and her baby was in critical condition and urgently needed an incubator. While being transported to a hospital, the baby passed away.

Al-Hassan confirms that she no longer wants to have children and relies on contraception to avoid repeating the experience of pregnancy and childbirth within the camps. She added that her life in the tent is harsh, as she lacks clean drinking water, bathing water, and food. She wouldn’t be able to provide for the needs of newborn babies as there is a significant shortage of personal hygiene items.

“Stress, anxiety, and overthinking dominate my life, and I feel helpless towards my three children who are living in difficult conditions, but despite that, I try my best to take care of their cleanliness and provide for their needs,” Al-Hassan says.

Dr. Ola Al-Qudour, a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology from Idlib city in northwestern Syria, talks about the suffering of pregnant women in northern Syria’s camps.

“Thousands of Syrian pregnant women live in camps in harsh conditions, as most of them cannot provide the necessities of food and medicine. Malnutrition leads to health problems that affect both the pregnant woman and the fetus and exposes the mother to a decrease in milk after childbirth, making her unable to breastfeed her child.”

Al-Qudour points out that the lack of hospitals within the camps increases the suffering of pregnant women, forcing most cases to move outside, confirming that displaced women live in tents made of cloth, and those who give birth in the hospital often return to the tent after only a few hours due to hospital congestion, knowing that the first 24 hours after childbirth are the most critical in terms of complications, so it is important to keep the mother in the hospital for as long as possible.

She confirms that low levels of hygiene make pregnant women more susceptible to influenza due to a decrease in their immunity, and that pregnant women who don’t get enough sleep can also expose them to early labor as well as affect the growth of the child after birth. She also indicates that non-sterile home births increase the risk of infection in newborns and mothers.

The doctor emphasizes the need to provide healthcare services for pregnant women and newborns in the camps, including regular medical check-ups and early diagnosis of any health problems, and providing the necessary care and nutrition for mothers during pregnancy, childbirth, and afterwards.

With the continuation of the war and displacement, more than two million people still reside in camps in northwestern Syria, including 604,000 women.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says as many as “660 camps (44 percent of over 1,500 camps) across Idleb and northern Aleppo do not have water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) support, affecting over 907,000 people. Half of them are children.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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IPS UN Bureau, IPS UN Bureau Report, Syria

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Alain Sutter gibt sein Comeback als TV-Experte. Der Berner steht ab sofort für Pay-TV-Sender Blue im Einsatz.