The European Union’s environment agency on Wednesday urged member states to reduce pesticide use over concern that sales of harmful chemicals remain strong despite its effects on human health and biodiversity.

The warning comes amid findings that one or more pesticides were detected above thresholds of concern at 22% of all monitoring sites in rivers and lakes across Europe in 2020, the European Environment Agency said.

“From 2011 to 2020, pesticide sales in the EU-27 remained relatively stable at around 350,000 tonnes (tons) per year,” the EEA said in a new report, citing data from Eurostat.

Pesticides are widely used in the agriculture sector but also in forestry, along roads and railways, and in urban areas such as public parks, playgrounds or gardens.

The insecticide imidacloprid and the herbicide metolachlor showed the highest absolute number of above-threshold levels across Europe, primarily in northern Italy and northeastern Spain.

In groundwater, the herbicide atrazine caused the most above-threshold levels, even though it has been banned since 2007.

Dangers of pesticides

Human exposure to chemical pesticides, primarily through food but also through the air in agriculture-intense regions, is linked to the development of cardiac, respiratory and neurological disease, as well as cancer, the report said.

“Worryingly, all of the pesticides monitored … were detected in higher concentrations in children than in adults,” the EEA said.

In a study conducted in Spain, Latvia, Hungary, Czech Republic and the Netherlands between 2014 and 2021, at least two pesticides were detected in the bodies of 84% of survey participants.

Pesticide pollution is also driving biodiversity loss across the continent, causing significant declines in insect populations and threatening the critical role they play in food production.

A German study cited in the report found a 76% decline in flying insects in protected zones over a period of 27 years.

It identified pesticides as one of the reasons for the decline.

Sales drop in some countries

In 11 EU member states, pesticide sales decreased between 2011 and 2020, with the biggest drops in the Czech Republic, Portugal and Denmark.

Latvia and Austria saw the strongest rates of increase in terms of sales, while the sharpest rises in volumes were registered in Germany and France.

These two latter countries, along with Spain and Italy, the EU’s four biggest agricultural producers, account for the highest volumes sold for most groups of active substances.

Modern food production systems rely on high volumes of chemical pesticides to ensure crop yield stability and quantity, and to maintain food security.

According to the EEA, 83% of agricultural soils tested in a 2019 study contained pesticide residues.

“We could reduce our dependency on chemical pesticides to maintain crop yields and our overall pesticide use volumes by shifting to alternative models of agriculture, such as agroecology,” it said.

A separate report published Wednesday by the European Food Safety Authority showed that in 2021, 96% percent of food samples analyzed were within legal limits for pesticide residue.

Grapefruit imported from outside the EU had the highest level of pesticide residues in 2021 and new controls were therefore introduced, the EFSA said.
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Russia said on Wednesday that it had appointed one of its most senior army commanders to lead a peacekeeping force in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, as tensions rise again between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 

Russian peacekeepers were deployed in 2020 to end a war over Nagorno-Karabakh, the second that Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought since the 1991 Soviet collapse. The mountain enclave is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians. 

The Russian armed forces said the peacekeepers were now headed by Colonel-General Alexander Lentsov, deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian ground forces. He replaces Major-General Andrei Volkov, a more junior officer. 

No reason was given for the change, announced hours after a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. 

Armenia has voiced increasing frustration that the Russian force has failed to keep open the Lachin corridor, the only land route that links it to Karabakh across Azerbaijani territory. 

Russian media quoted an Armenian spokesperson on Tuesday as saying the country had appealed to the International Court of Justice over Azerbaijan’s installation of a checkpoint on the highway on Sunday, calling it a “flagrant violation” of Baku’s obligation to ensure free movement.  

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov said the checkpoint was set up in response to “safety concerns in light of Armenia’s continued misuse of the road for the transport of weapons and other illegal activities.” 

He added: “We continue to be in close contact with the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and the Russian peacekeeping contingent to best facilitate humanitarian access.” 

An Armenian spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. 
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French bulldogs fit their big personalities in small packages. Their unique blend of energy and cuteness has made them the most popular dog breed in the United States. For VOA News in Washington, Julia Riera has the story.
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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of a Russian government-backed paramilitary group, has offered weapons to one of the warring parties in Sudan, according to several media reports.

Since the fighting began in April, there have been unconfirmed reports and diplomatic sources who spoke to news outlets saying that Wagner fighters are supporting the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces and supplying them with weapons.

Cameron Hudson, a former U.S. State Department official and a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA that the Wagner Group is supplying portable air defense systems, shoulder-fired rockets, tank busters and heavy armor. 

The RSF denies receiving support from Russia.

As news emerges, however, that the Wagner Group could be taking sides, experts warn such external involvement can only worsen the conflict, citing the group’s negative track record and trail of atrocities in Africa.

In a rare admission to the group’s involvement in Sudan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that the decision to involve the Wagner Group is up to African leadership.  

“Central African Republic and Mali and Sudan, a number of other countries, whose governments, whose legitimate authorities turn for this kind of services [to Wagner Group], have the right to do so,” Lavrov told a news conference at the United Nations.

High-level U.S. officials continue to express concern over the involvement of the Wagner Group in Sudan, where it is involved in mineral extraction.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the group’s involvement has the potential to further ignite the conflict. 

“Obviously, we don’t want to see this conflict expand or broaden, and we certainly wouldn’t want to see additional firepower brought to bear; that will just continue the violence and continue to escalate the tensions,” he said.

The fight to grab power is between two generals, General Abdel Fattah Burhan, head of the armed forces, and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, or Hemedti, the leader of the RSF paramilitary group.

Hemedti traveled to Russia shortly after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and has sought to win support from the Wagner Group.

“Through this visit, we hope to advance relations between Sudan and Russia to broader horizons, and strengthen the existing cooperation between us in various fields,” Dagalo said in a Twitter post at the time of his Moscow visit.

Jacqueline Burns is a senior policy analyst with RAND Corporation, a global policy research group. She said by supporting Hemedti, Russia is seeking to protect its own interests.

“Russia and the Wagner Group, they benefit from gold concessions in Sudan and the illicit smuggling of gold out of the country,” she told VOA. “The Wagner Group is siding with the party they think is most likely to be able to continue to secure these interests, particularly in opposition to any civilian-led government.” 

The Wagner Group’s history in Sudan dates to the previous government of Omar al-Bashir. Prigozhin had a close relationship with the autocratic leader, who allowed Wagner-affiliated companies access to gold mining. 

After the army ousted al-Bashir in 2019 amid a popular uprising, Wagner continued to have a close relationship with the Sudanese military, particularly the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces headed by Hemedti. This replicates its model of engagement in other African countries.

“Wagner Group does seem to engage with African countries on a pretty predictable sort of pattern,” said Ben Dalton, a program manager at New America’s Future Frontlines, a Washington-based research group.

“Normally it starts with a cultivation of elites, or at least a subset of elites, and then that is followed up with a formal military technical agreement between the states. And this could be something like, you know, Russia will supply arms in exchange for concessions that allow them to do mining or other kinds of resource extraction.”

Russia views Sudan as a strategic location with vast mineral wealth and is eager to help install a friendly leader, say analysts. 

“We’ve seen a lot in recent months about Russia’s efforts to gain a port on the Red Sea in Sudan through an official military relationship and they’ve signed other official military relationships with other countries in the region,” said Hudson.

Wagner’s involvement in other parts of the continent, however, has only brought strife to the population, Dalton said.

“Engaging with this group tends to go pretty badly for the population that has to deal with them. They’ve been associated with widespread atrocities everywhere they go; you see civilian deaths and various atrocities,” Dalton said. 

“Russia’s interests are in extracting the continent’s resources so that it can strengthen its own position and build a web to resist … international sanctions. They don’t really have the interests of Africans at heart.”

Patsy Widakuswara and Cindy Saine contributed to this report.
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British antitrust regulators on Wednesday blocked Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of video game maker Activision Blizzard, thwarting the biggest tech deal in history over worries that it would stifle competition for popular titles like Call of Duty in the fast-growing cloud gaming market.

The Competition and Markets Authority said in its final report that “the only effective remedy” to the substantial loss of competition “is to prohibit the Merger.” The companies have vowed to appeal.

The all-cash deal faced stiff opposition from rival Sony, which makes the PlayStation gaming system, and also was being scrutinized by regulators in the U.S. and Europe over fears that it would give Microsoft and its Xbox console control of hit franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.

The U.K. watchdog’s concerns centered on how the deal would affect cloud gaming, which streams to tablets, phones and other devices and frees players from buying expensive consoles and gaming computers. Gamers can keep playing major Activision titles, including mobile games like Candy Crush, on the platforms they typically use.

Cloud gaming has the potential to change the industry by giving people more choice over how and where they play, said Martin Colman, chair of the Competition and Markets Authority’s independent expert panel investigating the deal.

“This means that it is vital that we protect competition in this emerging and exciting market,” he said.

The decision underscores Europe’s reputation as the global leader in efforts to rein in the power of Big Tech companies. A day earlier, the U.K. government unveiled draft legislation that would give regulators more power to protect consumers from online scams and fake reviews and boost digital competition.

The U.K. decision further dashes Microsoft’s hopes that a favorable outcome could help it resolve a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. A trial before FTC’s in-house judge is set to begin Aug. 2. The European Union’s decision, meanwhile, is due May 22.

Activision lashed out, portraying the watchdog’s decision as a bad signal to international investors in the United Kingdom at a time when the British economy faces severe challenges.

The game maker said it would “work aggressively” with Microsoft to appeal, asserting that the move “contradicts the ambitions of the U.K.” to be an attractive place for tech companies.

“We will reassess our growth plans for the U.K. Global innovators large and small will take note that — despite all its rhetoric — the U.K. is clearly closed for business,” Activision said.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft also signaled it wasn’t ready to give up.

“We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal,” President Brad Smith said in a statement. The decision “rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns” and discourages tech innovation and investment in Britain, he said.

“We’re especially disappointed that after lengthy deliberations, this decision appears to reflect a flawed understanding of this market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works,” Smith said.

It’s not the first time British regulators have flexed their antitrust muscles on a Big Tech deal. They previously blocked Facebook parent Meta’s purchase of Giphy over fears it would limit innovation and competition. The social media giant appealed the decision to a tribunal but lost and was forced to sell off the GIF sharing platform.

When it comes to gaming, Microsoft already has a strong position in the cloud computing market, and regulators concluded that if the deal went through, it would reinforce the company’s advantage by giving it control of key game titles.

In an attempt to ease concerns, Microsoft struck deals with Nintendo and some cloud gaming providers to license Activision titles like Call of Duty for 10 years — offering the same to Sony.

The watchdog said it reviewed Microsoft’s remedies “in considerable depth” but found they would require its oversight, whereas preventing the merger would allow cloud gaming to develop without intervention.
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In return for a greater decision-making role in U.S. contingency planning in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack, South Korea has agreed not to pursue its own nuclear weapons program.

The United States and South Korea are set to announce the agreement Wednesday, as President Joe Biden hosts his South Korean counterpart President Yoon Suk Yeol at the White House for a state visit to celebrate the two countries’ 70th year of bilateral relations and discuss the two allies’ future relationship.

The “Washington Declaration,” is the result of a series of steps negotiated over many months and designed to reaffirm U.S. deterrence commitments to the Republic of Korea, a senior administration official said in a Tuesday briefing to reporters.

Under the deal, the official said Seoul will “maintain its non-nuclear status and continue to abide by all the conditions of its signatory status to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.” The NPT, which South Korea ratified in 1975, prohibits states-parties from developing nuclear weapons.

The two countries will also establish the U.S. – ROK Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), a “regular bilateral consultation mechanism that will focus on nuclear and strategic planning issues and will give our ROK allies additional insight in how we think about planning for major contingencies,” the official added. Beyond greater information sharing, Seoul will have a greater voice in the deliberations of U.S. weapons deployment, he said.

The NCG mechanism is similar to how the U.S. coordinated its nuclear deterrence decisions with some NATO allies during the Cold War.

Growing doubt

The U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty, signed in 1953 at the end of the Korean War, commits Washington to help South Korea defend itself, particularly from North Korea. But as Pyongyang moves rapidly with its nuclear weapons program, including developing missiles that can target American cities, there has been growing doubt among South Koreans on whether Washington would risk its own safety to protect Seoul and whether Seoul should continue to rely on U.S. “extended deterrence,” a term also known as the American nuclear umbrella.

Giving South Korea a greater say in U.S. strategic deliberations is a necessary step to address the country’s increasing sense of vulnerability in the face of a nuclear threat from Pyongyang, said Scott Snyder, director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Through the Washington Declaration, the Biden administration is trying to demonstrate that its pledge to defend South Korea is “credible and rock-solid,” Snyder told VOA.

In January, Yoon told his defense and foreign ministry officials that if the threat posed by North Korea “gets worse,” his country may “introduce tactical nuclear weapons or build them on our own.”

Seoul walked back Yoon’s comments following an international backlash. However, the narrative of South Korea having its own nuclear deterrence capability has become more mainstream in the country’s national security discourse.

A 2022 poll by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations showed that 71% of South Koreans say their country should build its own nuclear weapons.

More muscular deterrence

The U.S. official said the deal would mean enhanced integration of South Korean conventional weapons into U.S. strategic planning, and a more muscular approach to deterrence through increased war games and deployments of military assets including a U.S. nuclear ballistic submarine visit to South Korea, which has not happened since the early 1980s.

Go Myong-hyun, a research fellow at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a prominent conservative think tank in Seoul, told VOA that the creation of the NCG mechanism and additional deployment of assets will be considered a win for the Yoon government.

While the White House is currently opposed to positioning nuclear assets, including tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea, regular visits by a U.S. nuclear submarine amount to “hinting at a dedicated nuclear submarine option, which could be fully fleshed out in the next round of discussions between the two allies,” Go added.

The creation of the NCG does not mean the group will be deciding when Washington will launch nuclear strikes, another senior administration official said. She emphasized that the decision for nuclear use is “the sole authority” of the U.S. president.

China reaction

China, which has long seen North Korea as a buffer against U.S. influence in the region, is expected to react strongly to additional deployment of U.S. assets, particularly in light of simmering tensions between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan and various other thorny issues.

“We are briefing the Chinese in advance and laying out very clearly our rationale for why we are taking these steps,” the U.S. official said, adding that Washington has been “disappointed” Beijing has not been able to influence its ally Pyongyang to halt its “many provocations.”

The official said the administration has urged Kim Jong Un’s government to return to dialogue. “They have chosen not to and instead have taken a series of increasingly provocative and destabilizing steps,” he said.

North Korea has conducted at least 13 missile launches this year alone, including three intercontinental ballistic missile launches. Pyongyang insists they are a response to expanded U.S.-South Korea military drills that it sees as rehearsals for an invasion.
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Showing up at the wrong front door, driving into the wrong driveway, retrieving a basketball from an angry neighbor’s yard … these are some of the scenarios that led to people being shot this month in the United States. Gun control activists say the shootings show the US needs stricter laws on who can buy a firearm. VOA’s Laurel Bowman has more.
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South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa backtracked on remarks he made Tuesday that the country would withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

The president’s office late Tuesday walked back comments Ramaphosa made earlier that day at a briefing, saying he misspoke when he said the governing African National Congress (ANC) party would “pull out” of the International Criminal Court.  

His remarks sparked controversy as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who is wanted by the ICC for war crimes in Ukraine, is invited to an August summit in South Africa. 

As a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, Pretoria is required to arrest Putin if he sets foot in the country.  

But just hours after Ramaphosa said the ANC party would quit the court in The Hague, his spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, said the remarks were an error.

“South Africa remains a signatory to the ICC in line with a resolution of the 55th national conference of the ANC – held in December 2022 – to rescind an earlier decision to withdraw from the ICC,” he said.

Magwenya said the correction followed an error made at a media briefing by the ANC on South Africa and the ICC, which he said the president had “regrettably” and “erroneously” affirmed.  

Ramaphosa had said there had long been a feeling in the governing party that the court treats some countries unfairly. 

The ANC wanted to pull out of the ICC some years ago but was prevented from doing so by a South African court ruling that found it unconstitutional.  

It is not yet clear if Putin will attend a summit of the BRICS group of emerging nations– Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. 

Even if he does, it is far from guaranteed that South Africa would arrest the Russian president.  

Pretoria refused to act on an ICC arrest warrant in 2015, when former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited.

The African National Congress party is staunch friends with Moscow, which as leader of the Soviet Union supported its fight against Apartheid’s white minority rule.   

Kyiv also supported the ANC’s struggle for democracy, but Pretoria has so far refused to condemn the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Latest Developments  

Three Russian aircraft intercepted over Baltic Sea by Germany and Britain 
British Defense Ministry says heavy short-range combat continues in western districts of Bakhmut  
Russian opposition former mayor on trial over Ukraine criticism 

Three Russian military reconnaissance aircraft were intercepted in international airspace over the Baltic Sea, the German air force reported Wednesday. 

German officials said the aircraft, flying without their transponders on, were intercepted by German and British planes. 

Tuesday Norway said its air force had identified a group of Russian military planes flying over the Barents Sea. The Norwegian air force identified the aircraft as two bombers, two refueling tankers and three fighter jets. 

In Wednesday’s update on the situation in Ukraine, the British defense ministry said heavy, short-range combat continues in the western districts of Bakhmut. 

In the post on Twitter the ministry said during the past week Ukraine is seeking to maintain control of an important supply route, since other resupply options into Bakhmut are likely complicated by mud. 

The former mayor of Yekaterinburg, Yevgeny Roizman, has gone on trial on charges of discrediting the Russian military over its offensive in Ukraine.  

Roizman is a popular opposition figure. He is the last prominent Kremlin critic who is still in Russia and not in prison. 

Russian targets 

Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile struck a museum in the city of Kupiasnk on Tuesday, killing at least two people and injuring 10 others. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is doing all it can to destroy Ukraine’s history, culture and its people. 

“Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods,” Zelenskyy said after the Kupiansk attack. “We have no right to forget about it for a single second. We must and will respond!” 

Zelenskyy said those responsible for committing war crimes “will definitely be brought to justice and it will be merciless.” 

Russian forces seized Kupiansk, an important rail hub in northeastern Ukraine, during the early part of the invasion it launched in Ukraine last year. Ukrainian forces took it back in September. 

Grain deal

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed a “way forward” of the Black Sea Grain Deal to Russian President Vladimir Putin.   

Guterres outlined his proposal in a letter to the Russian president on “the improvement, extension and expansion” of a grain deal that would allow the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain, a U.N. spokesperson said on Monday after Guterres and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in New York.  

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Monday an agreement between Moscow and the United Nations on Russia’s grain and fertilizer exports is not being fulfilled and there are “lots of details” to be discussed by Lavrov and Guterres.   

The Kremlin has indicated it will not allow the deal — brokered by the U.N. and Turkey last year — to continue beyond May 18 unless Russia’s terms on its own grain and fertilizer exports are met.    

Some material in this report came from Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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