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2023-07-22 18:41:00

The United Nations (UN) said that the death of RIA Novosti military commander Rostislav Zhuravlev is regrettable. Stéphane Dujarric, representative of the Secretary General of the world organization, spoke regarding this.

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“We regret the death of another journalist in this war. We express our deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues,” Dujarric said, according to RIA Novosti.

On the eve of Dujarric said that the organization condemns the use of cluster munitions by Ukraine, writes channel 360. The decision of US President Joe Biden to supply cluster weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine also caused criticism and disputes at home and abroad.

On July 22, as a result of a strike by cluster munitions, RIA Novosti military commander Rostislav Zhuravlev was killed. Moscow promised punish the guilty in the murder of military commander Zhuravlev, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

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#Death #military #commander #Zhuravlev #statements

2023-07-22 18:59:33

PLAYA DEL REY: Tamara moved into a trailer because she mightn’t pay her rent anymore. Beau did it following losing everything. As for Steven, he was tired of suffering crime in the only neighborhoods where he might still afford to live.

In California, the “trailers”, once hippie symbols of a free life or today new digital nomads, also testify to a much less glamorous social phenomenon: a housing crisis.

One of the US states with the highest per capita income, California, is also the one with the most homeless people. A third of the country’s homeless live in this state, which has 11% of the American population.

And with the housing crisis, many now have caravans, motorhomes, vans, mobile homes as their only roof, installed in sometimes improvised campsites in Los Angeles, where the authorities count around 75,000 homeless people, and cities around.

Rent close to $3,000

“It’s the only thing I can afford,” says Beau Beard, pointing to his trailer parked in a narrow alley a stone’s throw from the hubbub of touristy Venice Beach.

For him, California was synonymous with a new beginning following a 42-month stay in prison. But he quickly became disillusioned.

“Here, it is the most expensive price per m2 on the real estate market” in the United States, laments this 57-year-old man. In June, the average rent reached 2,950 dollars (2,650 euros) per month in Los Angeles.

In 2021, seven million Americans spent more than half of their income on housing, up 25% from 2007, according to a study by the National Alliance on Homelessness, an NGO.

When his fiancée told him they were expecting a child in 2020, Beau bought a trailer to shelter his little family.

But child protection services didn’t like it. And withdrew custody of their daughter shortly following birth, believing that their accommodation was not suitable. She will be three years old on July 29.

“We’re stuck. We don’t know what to do,” he says, sitting on the porch of his blue trailer, which not only deprives him of his daughter, but also of any help finding subsidized housing.

We are “in a gray area (…) and that puts us at the bottom of the list for housing requests”, he complains.

“outcasts”

His caravan is not alone on Jefferson Boulevard, which runs along the Ballona Ecological Reserve.

Here and there artistic installations, small gardens, chairs, tables line the caravans, a sign that some inhabitants have settled down.

But life is complicated, says Tamara Hernández, a makeup artist who left her apartment in Venice when the rent skyrocketed. In ten years, the rent for his studio has gone from 450 to 3,000 dollars.

Now, “to wash myself, you have to wait an hour to heat the water (…) It’s really hard here”, she says. And to the difficulties of everyday life is added the feeling of being pariahs. “I don’t know why people hate us. We’re good people.”

«Impossible»

Steven, who prefers not to give his last name, is employed in a supermarket.

He has lived here with his wife for two years. With their two salaries, they mightn’t afford more than a van, which they bought used for $6,000.

With prices rising by 6.5% in 2022 in the United States, the number of homeless people has increased in Los Angeles and other cities in the United States.

But in Los Angeles, the contrast is striking between the palaces of Hollywood and the homeless who sleep on the famous “Walk of Fame”, a famous avenue where the stars leave their footprints.

Steven, he dreams of other horizons.

“I’m saving to buy land, in Arkansas, or Missouri (…) I want to build a pond for fish and have a vegetable garden. Do you understand? But in California, that’s not likely to happen, it’s impossible.”

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#G20 #Energy #ministers #reached #agreement #timetable #reduction #fossil #fuels

2023-07-22 12:00:00

For several days, the Brussels low emission zone (“Lez” in international jargon for “Low Emission Zone”) did not work. Questioned by the opposition deputy Christophe De Beukelaer (Les Engagés), the Brussels Minister for the Environment, Alain Maron (Ecolo), confirmed in plenary session on behalf of Rudi Vervoort (PS), absent that day: “data export problems arose, from July 1, with regard to the Lez and the limited access areas of Ixelles and the City of Brussels. Everything has been back to normal since July 13 at noon.”

Since the start of the LEZ, diesel down, pollutants too

The exact circumstances are not yet known, but it would be a “temporary outage”, now resolved. “The system concerns several administrations and at least one private subcontractor. A technical report should be drawn up in collaboration with the institutions concerned.”

As a reminder, the Brussels Region, like other cities such as Ghent and Antwerp, has had a low-emissions zone since 2018. The most polluting vehicles are gradually banned. Diesel vehicles of Euro 4 and lower standards are currently prohibited, under penalty of a fine of €350. From 2025, Euro 5 Diesel cars will also be banned from the capital, as well as Euro 2 Petrol cars.

Lez Calendar. © Lez
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2023-07-22 14:36:30

In California, mobile homes, once the symbol of a free life by the beach, have become a postcard of a less glamorous facet: the housing crisis and the increase in the number of people left homeless in that western state.

A third of the homeless population in the United States -regarding 335 million inhabitants- lives in this state, which is home to around 40 million residents and paradoxically has a GDP equivalent to that of some of the world’s leading economies.

In Los Angeles County alone there are more than 75,000 homeless people, with a high percentage living in trailers, vans or semi-trucks that are concentrated in various makeshift encampments.

“This is what I can afford,” Beau Beard says, pointing to his trailer parked on Jefferson Boulevard, a narrow avenue near touristy Venice Beach.

Beard moved to California for a fresh start following a couple of years in jail, but the plan didn’t go as planned.

“This is the most expensive square foot in the real estate market,” said the 57-year-old, referring to Los Angeles, where a median rent in June was $2,950.

“By the way, there is no work,” he says.

When his girlfriend became pregnant in 2020, Beard bought an RV to house the family, but authorities deemed it inappropriate and took the baby into foster care at birth.

“We thought we were making progress, but what we didn’t know was that they would take our daughter away,” she recalled.

“We’re stuck, we don’t know what to do,” Beard lamented, sitting on the porch of his trailer.

Feeling challenged by the system, he says that the caravan that separates him from his daughter also disqualifies him from benefiting from housing programs.

For the authorities, he points out, they are “in a gray area.” “We are last on the list when it comes to accommodation,” she stresses.

“They take us apart”

Jefferson Boulevard surrounds the Ballona Ecological Reserve, a rich natural area run down following decades of industrial activity.

Some vehicles have been standing on the sidelines of this road riddled with “No Parking” plates for so long that they already have artistic installations, small gardens, tables, chairs and small stoves for cooking.

In this community, where Americans, Europeans and Latin Americans live, they all say they maintain rules of coexistence and look out for each other. Several of the neighbors have dogs.

However, life there is difficult.

“It takes you, like, 10 steps to do one thing,” says Tamara Hernandez, a makeup artist who saw the rent for her Venice studio skyrocket from $450 to more than $3,000 in a decade.

“If I want to take a bath, it takes me regarding an hour to heat the water (…) It’s really hard here,” he explains.

To the daily difficulties, add the emotional weight of feeling marginalized.

“I don’t know why they hate us, we are good people. When it comes to us, they just push us away,” says Hernández, with perfectly outlined eyes topped with small stars.

– “Impossible” –

Steven, who did not want to give his last name, parked on Jefferson Boulevard two years ago with his wife.

The couple bought the small van they live in for $6,000 because their two salaries weren’t enough for rent in a good neighborhood.

“I think it’s better than living in drug and gang-infested areas,” he says.

To live in a middle-class neighborhood and cover basic expenses, Steven, who works in a supermarket, calculates that he would need three simultaneous jobs.

“This is the only way I think we can survive following inflation skyrocketed, because wages didn’t increase,” he stresses.

The homeless population grows consecutively in Los Angeles, a trend visible in other large cities in the United States, where inflation reached 9.1% a year ago. In June 2023, the annualized indicator had dropped to 6.5%.

In 2021, more than 7 million Americans spent more than half their income on housing, an increase of 25% over 2007, according to the NGO National Alliance to End Homelessness.

In Los Angeles, capital of the film and entertainment industry, the contrast between the mansions on the Hollywood hills and the dozens of people sleeping on tourist streets like the Walk of Fame stands out.

Steven, who is enchanted by nature in the Ballona swamps, dreams of other places.

“I’m saving to buy a piece of land, maybe in Arkansas or Missouri. I’ve already done the numbers, I want to build a fish tank and grow vegetables,” he says.

“But in California that is not going to happen. It is impossible,” he says.

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#symbol #carefree #life #postcard #housing #crisis