Belize District under curfew. City relief efforts underway.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Amandala Newspaper

Photo: The Sister Cecilia Home for the Elderly

by Khaila Gentle

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Nov. 3, 2022

During a press conference late Thursday evening, Prime Minister John Briceño announced that a 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew would be imposed on the entirety of the Belize District, with the exception of Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, from Thursday, November 3, until Sunday, November 6. According to the Prime Minister, the curfew is being imposed in an effort to ensure the safety of life and property. The decision was made following an emergency Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

“The main reason why we want to institute a curfew at night is because certain areas of the city still do not have electricity. And so, to be able to keep things safe, we want to make sure that everyone stays in their home,” he said.

Security forces as well as NEMO personnel and other public officers working under NEMO, personnel from the Department of Immigration, utility company workers, emergency service personnel, employees of the Philip Goldson International Airport, and search and rescue personnel are allowed to move about during curfew hours.

The passage of Hurricane Lisa left much of the Belize District, as well as some other parts of the country, without power. Here in the city, both electricity and water services had been cut off by the time the center of the storm made landfall some ten miles south of the Old Capital, bringing with it winds of 85 miles per hour and winds gusts of up to 95 miles per hour. Those heavy winds left dozens of utility poles leaning, or on the ground; countless power lines sagging or disconnected, or entangled; and even more trees and fences toppled over.

Many homes and commercial buildings also suffered damage due to the harsh onslaught of Lisa’s winds. The Sister Cecilia Home for the Elderly was one of many establishments that lost their roofs during the storm. Their living quarters were left in shambles, but with the help of donations, the Rotary Club of Belize has already begun to assist in the repair of the building.

It is expected that electricity services will be fully restored across the country by Sunday, with at least 50% of Belize City expected to have electricity by the end of Thursday.

According to Prime Minister Briceño, no lives were lost during the storm. There was, however, severe damage to property, which has left some two hundred persons in shelters. Localized flooding was seen along the coast of Belize City as well as in Belama Phase 4, Belama Phase 5, Ladyville, Vista Del Mar, and surrounding neighborhoods, with some persons reporting water levels of about three feet inside their homes.

In response to the current situation, Hon. Briceño is asking for the cooperation of everyone, especially those in affected areas.

“Rest assured; Government is responding to recovery efforts. Already teams of workers are out in the affected areas assessing and addressing the urgent humanitarian assistance [needed], including getting food and water to those most in need,” he said.

The Belize City Council, along with the Belize Defense Force and numerous other social partners have already begun a massive cleanup campaign across the Belize City.

According to NEMO Coordinator, Colonel Shelton Defour, the vast majority of those who have been severely impacted by Hurricane Lisa can expect to have some degree of relief by the start of this weekend. Already, NEMO has begun issuing food packs, tarps, and mattresses, among other items.

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COP 27 looms large in wake of Hurricane Lisa

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Amandala Newspaper

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Nov. 3, 2022

From Sunday, November 6, to Friday, November 18, the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt — just days after Hurricane Lisa battered portions of Belize on November 2, which is seen as just one more indication that climate change is intensifying the threats faced, particularly by low-lying developing countries such as Belize, during the Atlantic Hurricane Season. This is exactly the point that countries in the region and other low-lying countries, many of which are the least equipped financially to recover from the economic blows caused by these storms, will be trying to make at the two-week conference, COP27, where they will discuss how to achieve the global climate goals as agreed upon under the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement. What countries such as Belize will once again be demanding, therefore is climate justice and adequate climate finance — especially since it’s been noted that the countries being most impacted by climate change (like Belize) are not the countries which contributed most to global warming through greenhouse gas emissions (wealthier, more industrialized nations such as the United States).

It is a point that is more poignant just days after the landfall of Hurricane Lisa along Belize’s coast. The country is now scrambling to regain economic footing after extensive damage of public infrastructure and private property. Today, Prime Minister John Briceno during a press conference on the impact of Hurricane Lisa, spoke on the importance of the provision of climate finance for vulnerable countries like Belize.

“Many of these developed countries don’t feel what we are going through,” Prime Minister Briceno said. He noted that in comparison to developed countries, when disasters hit developing states like Belize, the impact on the nation’s economic development is monumentally more severe.

“That is why we have been calling out to the international community, that they need to do their part. We are doing our part to protect the planet, to protect the environment, to try to hold down the increase in temperature, but yet they are not doing their part; they have damaged their environment to be able to grow their economies. So now it’s their turn now to pay us for the work that we have been doing.” PM Briceno said.

The CEO of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Disaster Risk Management, Dr. Kenrick Williams, expressed similar sentiments during NEMO’s press conference yesterday morning:

“If you compare the economic implications of Hurricane Lisa on Belize compared to a storm on Miami, they’re significantly different, because the US can position monies, investments in responding to those storms. Countries like ours struggle and suffer. We were on very good economic trend over the last few months, and this is going to significantly impact our country. We’re going to have to spend resources to try to respond to this storm – not just the financial implications. There are social implications on our people. There’s a setback that this will cause our people. And again, this is the result of the changing climate that is not the culpability of our country, or one of two countries, but on the global economy. So countries like Belize have to go out there and defend and say, ‘listen, we are being impacted and the impact that we receive is not on scale to the other countries, so we have to ensure that in times like this we have the resources to be able to respond to support our people,” he said.

Dr. Williams also highlighted the fact that human-caused climate change is no longer a question of debate — but a reality that we are experiencing every day. He said that the delegation from Belize and representatives from across the Caribbean will lobby at COP27 to try to secure the climate financing needed for the region.

In September 2022, the global surface temperature was recorded at 0.88°C (1.58°F) above the 20th century average of 15.0°C (59.0°F), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers For Environmental Information. We have seen extreme and, in some instances, unprecedented weather events this year so far, most recently the formation of tropical cyclones that have become named storms at the tail end of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. One of those storms, Hurricane Lisa, made landfall in Belize this week.

Notably as well, the islands of the Caribbean and Africa recorded the 6th warmest September in history, according to NOAA records. In North America, the warmest September in history was recorded, while Europe had its coolest weather in the period immediately following a summer of extreme heat.

Caribbean leaders, are hoping that the upcoming conference will lead to the mobilization of billions of dollars needed to make economies across the world green while building resilience against the impacts of climate change.

The UNFCCC’s Standing Committee on Finance has published reports based on data which the committee says was derived from the “experience of countries, multilateral development banks, climate funds and the financial community at large.”

The two-week COP 27 will again provide an opportunity for world leaders, experts, and climate activists to come together and chart a part forward for our global future, given the realities of the changing climate.

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CitCo leads 3-day cleanup campaign in Belize City

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Amandala Newspaper

Photo: Mayor Wagner and BDF Personnel on the ground

BELIZE CITY, Fri. Nov. 4, 2022

The landfall of Hurricane Lisa in Belize on Wednesday, November 2, has left in its wake various forms of wreckage— including tons of debris strewn over streets and public areas — in various parts of the city. The storm’s impact includes scores of collapsed homes, broken power lines, zinc torn from rooftops, and thick mud. In a press conference hosted by the Government of Belize on Thursday, November 3, 2022, Mayor Bernard Wagner said that he has visited multiple areas in Belize City, including Port Loyola, Belama and Krooman Lagoon, which have been severely affected, and that the Cabinet has decided to support the council with additional resources to fast-track the cleaning of Belize City.

The Belize City Council and its City Emergency Management Organization (CEMO) Unit will be partnering with the Government of Belize, the National Emergency Management Organization, the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing, and other entities to launch a robust 3-day cleanup campaign within Belize City in order to speed up the recovery process and restore a sense of normalcy for residents. In addition to these entities, active partners in this large cleanup campaign will include the Belize Waste Control, the Department of the Environment, the Belize Defense Force, Belize Fire Department, Belize Coast Guard, CISCO Construction, RJB Construction, Imer Hernandez Construction, Teichroeb & Sons Ltd., GEL Quarry Co. Ltd., the Orange Walk Town Council and other supporting municipalities, A&N Construction, and Belize Roadway Construction Ltd. Each partner contributed manpower and equipment, and in total there will be a team of approximately 500 personnel, equipped with a host of trucks, backhoes and chainsaws, involved in the cleanup. The campaign is set to start on Friday, November 4, and continue until Sunday, November 6.

This morning, at the launch of the cleanup campaign, Mayor Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City and chairman of the City Emergency Management Organization, told Amandala, “We will be spread all over the city to really ensure we see the results we’re looking for in service to our affected residents. Having this collaboration with all of these stakeholders means more muscle on the ground, and the residents have been enthusiastic about the launch of the campaign.” According to Mayor Wagner, the large team has been strategically split up into zones to ensure that every area of the city sees improvements. After discussions with the Department of the Environment, the council is also asking residents to separate solid waste from vegetation for the cleaning crews to collect. The cleaning crews will be working with consideration of the curfew hours of 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. for the duration of the campaign.

In addition to Mayor Bernard Wagner; Fort George area representative Hon. Henry Charles Usher; Mayor of Orange Walk Town, Ladrick Sheppard; and Belize City Councillors Kaya Cattouse, Deannie Requena and Edmund Kwan were present at the launch of the cleanup campaign.

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Lisa wrecks Belize City

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Amandala Newspaper

BELIZE CITY. Fri. Nov. 4, 2022

Hurricane Lisa was the storm that came out of nowhere. Many Belizeans, many of whom were very aware that hurricanes have not historically hit the country in November, the last month of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, were no longer monitoring activity in the Atlantic. And then word came that there was a disturbance that was heading in this direction. Not too long after, it became clear that almost all possible trajectories had the storm making landfall in some part of Belize.

According to projections, the most likely location of landfall would be somewhere near Dangriga. All meteorological updates were indicating that the storm was moving at about 14 or 15 miles per hour, and although it was a tropical storm it would likely become a hurricane just before hitting Belize. But there were some shifts that took place that caught some Belizeans off-guard. Gradually, it appeared, the path of the storm was inching upward — farther from Dangriga and closer to Belize City — the coast, specifically. Some observers on Tuesday were speculating that this movement was placing Belize City and its coast possibly in the right front quadrant of the storm, which would be subjected to the strongest winds and storm surge. It has been noted that the strongest side of a hurricane, depending on the direction in which the storm is moving, is typically the right side — known as the “dirty side”, where there is a higher likelihood of storm surge and even tornadoes, and where more intense wind gusts and heavier rain bands are likely to occur.

And Belizeans who were monitoring the upward tilt in the storm’s movement, particularly on Tuesday evening of this week, saw Belize City being an increasingly shorter distance away from the area of landfall and also possibly being on the “dirty side”. Many Belizeans, however, had not been anticipating the storm to hit so close to the city. Something else that caught Belizeans off guard was the time of the landfall. Most Belizeans had read or heard that the storm would be hitting the country on Wednesday night — possibly at 8:00. The Prime Minister had declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, and Belizeans were told that only essential services would be allowed to operate and that buses would stop running at 10:00 a.m.

Many Belizeans were shocked, however, when very strong winds started pummeling the city early on Wednesday afternoon. At around 3:20 p.m. on Wednesday, November 2, the storm made landfall about 10 miles from Belize City, according to the experts at the National Meteorological Services in Belize. Wind speeds of about 85 miles per hour began battering the country, with higher gusts of up to 95 miles per hour. Fortunately, so far it appears that no lives were lost as a result of this storm, but Belize City was severely impacted.

Residents in various parts of the city reported seeing lamp posts falling and water rising by several feet and entering a number of homes. Scores of roofs in various parts of the city were torn off, and by the end of the storm, there were downed trees, entangled electrical wires, and zinc roofs strewn over streets and in yards. It was also reported by some residents that a few houses in the city had collapsed, and some Belize City residents have remarked that the storm had seemed stronger than a Cat 1 hurricane.

Significant damage to the utility infrastructure was also recorded. Water services, which were interrupted on Wednesday afternoon, have reportedly been restored, but water pressure in certain parts of the country remains extremely low.

Notably, individual experiences during the storm varied. Andrew Bethran, whose mother’s home in the Port Loyola area, which was seen as a sort of historical landmark to the community before it collapsed during the storm, told AMANDALA, “This house from when I was a young boy, from when I was 3 years old to now, I am 48 years old and this house is here. So, God was holding it up. Nature came and nature took it down. It’s sad, because although it was an old house, people saw it as a home where they could come stay in and sleep and they won’t be getting wet and beat on, but now this is gone… It’s a loss, and I believe it’s not only me who went through this. You have a lot of people who went through this…. If the system could come and assist my old lady, it’ll be a privilege for me.. This was a landmark for the area. A lot of people know this house… This house was here since I was 3 years old — before the drain and sidewalk, all of those things got built, this house was here. This house is the second house to be on this boulevard.”

Marie Lewis, however, a Justice of the Peace, who experienced Hurricane Hattie in 1961, said that she and her husband slept through Lisa’s wrath.

“In 1961, I was on the road with two babies, and I went through an experience on Faber’s Road with 7 feet of water in my house. I had two kids, my mother was pregnant, my sister was pregnant, and the entire Rhamdas family in my home [and] when we looked, 7 feet of water was in the house. We prayed and the water went down. When I heard about Lisa and that it was coming east, I said this would be a lot of water because easterly winds bring a lot of high tides; and when I heard it coming to this side, I said it’s going down the south side, and we won’t get any water. But with Lisa, it gave me a little shake, but it wasn’t that bad. We expected more than that, the way they were talking about the mileage it was going. We saw a lot of houses falling. We saw the house across the street, their [roof] came off and my son and daughter’s houses [roof] fell up, but praise God, me and my husband still alive… I wasn’t scared of it because I went through ’61 and it wasn’t [the same]. ’61 was worse than this. My daughter wanted to take me to their house, and I said I am not leaving out from my house. [I] and my husband slept in our bed and we slept until this morning,” she said.

At this time, 278 persons remain in shelters across the country. Those persons staying at school shelters are expected to be relocated as soon as possible, to allow for the reopening of schools on Monday. NEMO and GoB personnel are reportedly working on the execution of this transfer.

The Prime Minister, John Briceno, in his remarks during a press conference held yesterday evening, called for the collective teamwork of all Belizeans to aid in the recovery and rebuilding of the country. He said that at this time, getting food and water to those affected, and the most vulnerable in our communities, is the primary task. The clean-up across the country will continue, with the Belize City Council announcing that the Cabinet was providing additional resources so that it can launch a 3-day cleanup campaign (which started today) that will reportedly involve a number of agencies and a total of approximately 500 personnel. Active partners in this cleanup campaign will include the Belize Waste Control, the Department of the Environment, the Belize Defense Force, Belize Fire Department, Belize Coast Guard, CISCO Construction, RJB Construction, Imer Hernandez Construction, Teichroeb & Sons Ltd., GEL Quarry Co. Ltd.,, the Orange Walk Town Council and other supporting municipalities, A&N Construction and Belize Roadway Construction Ltd. According to Mayor Bernard Wagner, the team will be split into zones to ensure that recovery work is done in all portions of the city. Briceno also noted at the press conference that 6 private contractors have offered their equipment free of cost to aid in the efforts. Civil servants and members of the security forces will also be involved in the effort.

Various portions of Belize City remain without electricity and are experiencing very low water pressure. The electricity is expected to be fully restored by Sunday, according to the PM. Until then, a curfew between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. will be in place across the Belize District — excluding Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker.

As mentioned, schools are to be reopened on Monday, and all government offices are expected to be reopened by then as well. At this time, Belize City remains the area of the country that is in most need of recovery efforts, according to the PM.

Notably, it is being reported that comparatively mild effects of the storm were felt in Dangriga, where Hurricane Lisa had been projected to make landfall.

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Imbert slams UNC’s political hypocrisy on tax amnesty

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

News

Finance Minister Colm Imbert. –

FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert slammed the Opposition UNC for attempting to mislead the population about measures in the 2022/2023 budget which they claim to oppose now but wholeheartedly supported when they were in office between May 2010 and September 2015

He made these comments before the House of Representatives passed the Finance Bill 2022 on Friday. The bill will be debated in the Senate when it sits from 10 am on Tuesday.

Referring to Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar calls for tax amnesties to be approved by negative resolution by Parliament, Imbert said the facts showed that Persad-Bissessar and the UNC did not support this view in 2011 and 2014, when they were in government.

He reminded MPs that no such resolution was sought in May 2011, when then finance minister Winston Dookeran extended a tax amnesty that began in September 2010.

Imbert said in September 2014, then finance minister Larry Howai publicly said government implemented a tax amnesty because of “calls from the business community.”

He added this proved that UNC claims of tax amnesties under the PNM were aimed at “giving someone a bligh” were false.

“Political hypocrisy.”

Imbert was amused by Oropouche West MP Davendranath Tancoo’s comment that the UNC did not like his body language.

He wondered if the UNC would be happy if he were to dance or jump up and down.

After briefly raising his hands in the air and swaying from side to side at the podium, Imbert told opposition MPs he would not oblige them.

“I’m a serious minister. I do not engage in antics. If you don’t like my sombre, professional approach, too bad!”

Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George overruled Barataria/ San Juan MP Saddam Hosein’s complaint that Imbert was disturbing UNC MPs by speaking too loudly.

Imbert said UNC MPs knew he had “no control over the volume in this microphone (in front of him.”

He also told them to be quiet, listen and learn something.

Shortly after Imbert made that comment, Annisette-George instructed St Augustine MP Khadijah Ameen to leave the Parliament Chamber, after she made an inaudible remark.

Earlier in his contribution Imbert told Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar she was misled by her members into believing there were grounds for legal action to be taken against the Government over the implementation of property tax.

In her contribution, Persad-Bissessar claimed the implementation of property tax could be unlawful and said the UNC was ready to go to court on this matter. She thanked osein for helping her research information for her contributions.

Imbert said, “I’m a little embarrassed to tell a senior counsel to update her records.”

Government MPs thumped their desks when he said, “Whoever the honourable member relied upon for research, misled the honourable member. I would advise you to be careful who you seek advice from.”

Imbert said Persad-Bissessar, and whoever her researcher was, seemed oblivious to the existence of a legal notice dated August 20, 2021.

In that notice, he said, then acting President Christine Kangaloo said the Data Protection Act will come into effect on such a date “as fixed by the President.”

Imbert said in the notice, Kangaloo indicated certain sections of the act which allowed the sharing of information between the ministry’s valuations division and other entities (such as the Board of Inland Revenue) regarding property tax were proclaimed into law on August 23, 2021.

“Therefore the relevant sections of the Data Protection Act were proclaimed over one year ago.”

Persad-Bissessar earlier claimed that property tax could not be implemented because the act was not proclaimed and people’s privacy could be infringed.She threatened the UNC could go to court on this matter.

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Sabakoe met Kerst/Owru Yari Tour naar Suriname

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: De Ware Tijd Online

‘We moeten door’ door Steven Seedo PARAMARIBO — Nu al is bekend dat de populaire kasekoband Sabakoe dit jaar met kerst, oud

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Une journée à moitié disputée

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Martinique FranceAntilles

FOOTBALL. Régional 1 – Groupe B – 6e journée

Le Club Franciscain recolle provisoirement au Club Colonial, qui compte un match de moins. • MZ.

Les conditions météorologiques n’ont pas permis de disputer les rencontres Samaritaine – Club Colonial et US Robert – Assaut. Ce dernier a été reporté à demain, mardi. Les promus vert-préens et petit-bourgeois se sont neutralisés (1-1) et le Club Franciscain s’est joué du RC Saint-Joseph.

Sur leur terrain, les Franciscains ouvrent très
tôt le score. Servi par Jougon en profondeur, Abaul, dans la
surface, depuis la gauche, sert Domergé. L’attaquant réalise un
crochet sur son vis-à-vis avant de marquer du gauche
(10e, 1-0).

En deuxième période, le Club Franciscain fait le
break grâce à un but contre son camp de Civault suite à un centre
fort à ras de terre d’Abaul dans la surface (2-0,
66e).

Gervinet écope d’un deuxième carton jaune et les
Franciscains se retrouvent à 10 (68e).

Le RC Saint-Joseph réduit le score sur un penalty
de Lamorandière (73e

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Leon Bailey scores as Emery’s Aston Villa reign starts with 3-1 win Loop Jamaica

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The content originally appeared on: Jamaica News Loop News

..defeating Manchester United at Villa Park

Loop Sports

1 hrs ago

Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey (right) scores the opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, Sunday, Nov 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

NEWYou can now listen to Loop News articles!

Unai Emery made the perfect start as Aston Villa manager with a 3-1 win against Manchester United in the English Premier League on Sunday.

The former Arsenal boss took charge of his first game which will give Villa fans hope he can turn the season around.

But it was another setback for United manager Erik ten Hag, who watched his team lose away in the league for the third time this season.

Emery could not have hoped for a better start, with Villa taking an early two-goal lead.

Jamaican Leon Bailey opened the scoring after seven minutes after racing past Lisandro Martinez and driving a low shot beyond David de Gea.

Villa doubled the lead just four minutes later, with Lucas Digne curling a 22-yard free kick past United’s goalkeeper.

Ten Hag might have feared the worst in a season when his team has twice gone in at halftime 4-0 down. But hope of a comeback came just before the break when Luke Shaw’s strike deflected off Jacob Ramsey and into his own net.

The Villa player made amends four minutes into the second half when restoring his team’s two-goal advantage. United left him completely unmarked in the box to fire into the top corner after being picked out by Ollie Watkins.

If Emery expected a fightback, it never materialised, with Villa comfortably seeing out the win.

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Kyiv prepares for a winter with no heat, water or power Loop Jamaica

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The content originally appeared on: Jamaica News Loop News

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, is warning residents that they must prepare for the worst this winter if Russia keeps striking the country’s energy infrastructure — and that means having no electricity, water or heat in the freezing cold cannot be ruled out.

“We are doing everything to avoid this. But let’s be frank, our enemies are doing everything for the city to be without heat, without electricity, without water supply, in general, so we all die. And the future of the country and the future of each of us depends on how prepared we are for different situations,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko told state media.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation Sunday that about 4.5 million people were without electricity. He called on Ukrainians to endure the hardships and “we must get through this winter and be even stronger in the spring than now.”

Russia has focused on striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the last month, causing power shortages and rolling outages across the country. Kyiv was having hourly rotating blackouts Sunday in parts of the city and the surrounding region.

Rolling blackouts also were planned in the Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava regions, Ukraine’s state-owned energy operator, Ukrenergo, said.

Kyiv plans to deploy about 1,000 heating points, but it’s unclear if that would be enough for a city of 3 million people.

As Russia intensifies its attacks on the capital, Ukrainian forces are pushing forward in the south. Residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied city of Kherson received warning messages on their phones urging them to evacuate as soon as possible, Ukraine’s military said Sunday. Russian soldiers warned civilians that Ukraine’s army was preparing for a massive attack and told people to leave for the city’s right bank immediately.

Russian forces are preparing for a Ukrainian counteroffensive to seize back the southern city of Kherson, which was captured during the early days of the invasion. In September, Russia illegally annexed Kherson as well as three other regions and subsequently declared martial law in the four provinces.

The Kremlin-installed administration in Kherson already has moved tens of thousands of civilians out of the city.

Russia has been “occupying and evacuating” Kherson simultaneously, trying to convince Ukrainians that they’re leaving when in fact they’re digging in, Nataliya Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Southern Forces, told state television.

“There are defense units that have dug in there quite powerfully, a certain amount of equipment has been left, firing positions have been set up,” she said.

Russian forces are also digging in in a fiercely contested region in the east, worsening the already tough conditions for residents and the defending Ukrainian army following Moscow’s illegal annexation and declaration of martial law in Donetsk province.

The attacks have almost completely destroyed the power plants that serve the city of Bakhmut and the nearby town of Soledar, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the region’s Ukrainian governor, said. Shelling killed one civilian and wounded three, he reported late Saturday.

“The destruction is daily, if not hourly,” Kyrylenko told state television.

Moscow-backed separatists have controlled part of Donetsk for nearly eight years before Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Protecting the separatists’ self-proclaimed republic there was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justifications for the invasion, and his troops have spent months trying to capture the entire province.

Between Saturday and Sunday, Russia’s launched four missiles and 19 airstrikes hitting more than 35 villages in nine regions, from Chernihiv and Kharkiv in the northeast to Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south, according to Zelenskyy’s office. The strikes killed two people and wounded six.

In the Donetsk city of Bakhmut, 15,000 remaining residents were living under daily shelling and without water or power, according to local media. The city has been under attack for months, but the bombardment picked up after Russian forces experienced setbacks during Ukrainian counteroffensives in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions.

The front line is now on Bakhmut’s outskirts, where mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a shadowy Russian military company, are reported to be leading the charge.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the group who has typically remained under the radar, is taking a more visible role in the war. In a statement Sunday he announced the funding and creation of “militia training centers” in Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions in the southwest, saying that locals were best placed to “fight against sabotage” on Russian soil. The training centers are in addition to a military technology center the group said it was opening in St. Petersburg.

In Kharkiv, officials were working to identify bodies found in mass graves after the Russians withdrew, Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesperson for the regional prosecutor’s office, told local media.

DNA samples have been collected from 450 bodies discovered in a mass grave in the city of Izium, but the samples need to be matched with relatives and so far only 80 people have participated, he said.

In one sliver of good news, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was reconnected to Ukraine’s power grid, local media reported Sunday. Europe’s largest nuclear plant needs electricity to maintain vital cooling systems, but it had been running on emergency diesel generators since Russian shelling severed its outside connections.

By SAM MEDNICK, Associated Press

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Amnesty: Egypt has days to save jailed activist’s life Loop Jamaica

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CAIRO (AP) — Amnesty International’s head on Sunday warned that the proceedings of COP27 in Egypt could be stained by the death of the country’s leading rights activist from a hunger and water strike in prison if Egyptian authorities do not release him within days.

Secretary General of Amnesty International Agnes Callamard said Egypt had no more than 72 hours to save the life of jailed dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah, who is also a U.K. citizen.

Egypt’s hosting of the climate summit, known as COP27, has trained a spotlight on its human rights record as a wide-reaching crackdown continues under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. The conference is being held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

“If they do not want to end up with a death they should have and could have prevented, they must act now,” Callamard said in a press briefing in the capital of Cairo.

Callamard said she will be attending COP27 to push for action on human rights issues related to climate change, including loss and damage or reparations from richer countries to vulnerable nations suffering from climate change. Egypt is a proponent of the issue.

But she will also be there to push for immediate action on the case of prominent Egyptian activist and UK citizen Alaa Abdel Fattah and that of the tens of thousands of political prisoners estimated to be inside the country’s jails, she said.

Opposition figure Abdel-Fattah escalated his hunger strike this week, refusing also water, to coincide with the first day of the COP27, according to his family. His aunt, the writer Ahdaf Soueif, said he stopped drinking water at 10 a.m. local time on Sunday.

Alaa Abdel-Fattah hails from a family of well-known Egyptian activists and rose to prominence with the 2011 pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East and in Egypt toppled long-time President Hosni Mubarak. The 40-year old activist spent most of the past decade behind bars and his detention has become a symbol of Egypt’s return to autocratic rule. For more than six months, he has been on a partial hunger strike, consuming only 100 calories a day.

In April, Abdel Fattah’s family announced he had obtained British citizenship through his mother, Laila Soueif, a math professor at Cairo University who was born in London. The family has criticized U.K. leaders for failing to push harder for a consular visit to him in the detention facility.

On Sunday, his family released a letter they had received from the U.K.’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who will be attending COP27. The letter said the global summit is an opportunity to raise Abdel Fattah’s case “with the Egyptian leadership”. Sunak will “continue to stress to President (el-Sissi) the importance that we attach to the swift resolution of Alaa’s case and an end to his unacceptable treatment,” it added.

The prime minister’s office confirmed the contents of the letter.

Since 2013, el-Sissi, a U.S. ally with deep economic ties to European countries, has overseen a massive crackdown, jailing thousands of Islamists, but also secular activists involved in the country’s 2011 uprising. Many other activists, journalists and academics have fled the country.

Amnesty also said Sunday it had documented a new wave in the government’s crackdown. There have been 766 Egyptian political prisoners released in the run-up to the conference, Callamard said, according to the group’s figures. She added that more than 1500 people have been arrested since April and more than 150 in just the past two weeks related to calls for nationwide protests on Nov. 11.

Other rights groups also criticized Egypt on Sunday for restricting protests and stepping up surveillance during the summit.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had had joined about 1,400 groups from around the world urging Egypt to lift the restrictions on civil society groups, and also expressed concern about the new rounds of arrest.

“It is becoming clear that Egypt’s government has no intention of easing its abusive security measures and allowing for free speech and assembly,” Adam Coogle, the group’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.

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