Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny on Friday took aim at Russia’s “corrupt” elite that placed President Vladimir Putin in power.

In what he called “My Fear and Loathing” – his first lengthy statement since he was convicted of extremism and sentenced to 19 years in prison by a court in Moscow last week – Navalny said he hated self-serving Russian officials, so-called “reformers” of the 1990s who are concerned only with “their own wealth.”

“That is why I can’t help it and I fiercely hate those who sold, drank, and wasted the historical chance that our country had in the early 1990s,” Navalny said.

“I hate Yeltsin, […] Chubais and the rest of the corrupt family who put Putin in power,” he said, referring to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and former high-level Russian official Anatoly Chubais.

“Is there any other country where so many ministers of (a) government of reforms became millionaires and billionaires? I hate the authors of the most stupid authoritarian constitution, which they sold to us idiots as democratic, even then giving the president the power of a full-fledged monarch,” he added.

Navalny blamed the Russian leadership in power after the collapse of the Soviet Union for “not even trying to make obvious democratic reforms.”

He called the election in Russia in 1996 “fraudulent” and “one of the most dramatic turning points in Russian modern history,” noting that back then “the general unfairness of the election” didn’t bother him.

But he said “Russia will still have a chance” to turn things around into the democratic direction.

“This is a historical process. We will again be at the crossroads,” he said.

However, he admitted there are times when he jumps up “in horror and cold sweat” at night in prison and feels that Russia “had a chance again, but it again went the same way as in the 90s.”

Navalny was last week sentenced to 19 years in jail on a raft of extremism charges in what was widely seen as a political move by Moscow to silence him.

He was already serving sentences totaling 11-and-a-half years in a maximum security facility on fraud and other charges that he says were trumped up.

Before his incarceration, he was taken from Russia to Germany in August 2020 for treatments after he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.

Moscow has denied involvement in the poisoning, with Putin himself saying in December 2020 that if Russian security services had wanted to kill Navalny, they “would have finished” the job.

A former International Criminal Court chief prosecutor has said there is “reasonable basis to believe that genocide is being committed against Armenians” in the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“There are no crematories and there are no machete attacks. Starvation is the invisible genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks,” said Luis Moreno Ocampo in an expert opinion letter on Monday.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked area between Eastern Europe and Western Asia that is home to a large Armenian population but is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been battling over the region for decades. Ocampo worked at the Netherlands-based ICC until 2012.

On Monday, UN experts urged Azerbaijan to lift a blockade on the Lachin corridor, the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The blockade has been in place for the past seven months.

In a press release, the UNHCR called on Azerbaijan to end “the dire humanitarian crisis” in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which it said had resulted in shortages of food, medication, and hygiene products.

“The blockade of the Lachin corridor is a humanitarian emergency that has created severe shortages of essential food staples including sunflower oil, fish, chicken, dairy products, cereal, sugar and baby formula,” it said.

Medical supplies were also “rapidly depleting,” it added.

The UNCHR urged the Azerbaijani government to “uphold its international obligations to respect and protect human rights,” and called on Russian peacekeeping forces in the region to protect the corridor.

Both requests are in accordance with the ceasefire agreement of November 2020.

“It is essential to ensure the safety, dignity, and well-being of all individuals during this critical time,” they added.

The issue was raised at a UN Security Council meeting on August 3, with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vahe Gevorgyan, warning that Azerbaijan’s blockade had affected 2,000 pregnant women, around 30,000 children, 20,000 older persons and 9,000 persons with disabilities.

In July, the European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the EU was “deeply concerned about the serious humanitarian situation” in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, arguing that it is “incumbent on the Azerbaijani authorities to guarantee safety and freedom of movement along the Lachin corridor imminently and not to permit the crisis to escalate further.

A spokesperson for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that Blinken had spoken to Azerbaijan’s president to “express deep concern for the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabak” and underscored the “urgent need for free transit of commercial, humanitarian, and private vehicles through the Lachin corridor.”

European officials took some small comfort when China attended a summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last weekend. The meeting aimed to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine.

While Beijing didn’t budge from its stated position of impartiality, China’s mere presence at a meeting to which Russia says it was not invited has, some sources claim, sent a message to the international community that it’s not willing openly to pick Russia’s side against the West.

It might be a very small victory, but in the diplomatic world of zero-sum games, Russian President Vladimir Putin not getting exactly what he wants is something to celebrate.

“From our point of view, China is visibly engaging with the West, talking to the Ukrainians, and pushing back on Russia. We really welcome that,” the official said. Multiple European sources have echoed this view.

However, while China’s engagement with the international community might be a blow for Russia, it’s still being viewed with suspicion by Western allies, not least because of the continued economic, diplomatic and security ties the countries share.

Despite the optics of its delegation’s attendance in Jeddah, Beijing has not appeared to scale back ties with Russia. Its top diplomat, Wang Yi, called his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov a day after the Jeddah talks concluded, reiterating Beijing’s “impartiality” in the conflict.

The two countries’ militaries have continued joint exercises throughout the war, including a naval patrol off the coast of Alaska last week. Putin is also expected to visit China in October, according to Russia media, after being invited by China’s Xi Jinping in March.

The same senior EU official acknowledged that there is little incentive in China for the war to stop outside of Beijing’s external relations with economic partners. “From their perspective, its biggest rival, the US, is distracted and Russia has become even more of a junior partner. The only downside is how it makes others think about China.”

It’s no secret that China’s relationship with Europe has become tetchy. That, officials say, is bad for Chinese leaders who see European nations as up for grabs in the battle for global dominance between Beijing and Washington.

It’s also no secret that China’s close ties with Russia – and failure to condemn Moscow’s full-scale invasion – have made a number of European countries, especially those geographically close to Russia, uncomfortable and led to a rethink in what Europe’s relationship with China should be.

Alicja Bachulska, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, agrees:

“China’s current activities are definitely about damage control in terms of PR. China is sitting on the fence and it will continue doing so until it can. Attending this kind of meeting, especially if Russia is not involved, fits very much into this strategy. It makes good headlines for all those who still believe, quite naively in my view, that China can make a difference.”

In short, China coming to the table hasn’t moved the dial in Brussels on what is arguably the EU’s most complicated but important international relationship.

Europe still imports vastly more from China than it exports, a reflection of the level of dependency it has on China. In 2022, the trade deficit was €396bn ($436 billion), more than double that of 2020.

However, this has happened against the backdrop of Europe cooling on signing official treaties and agreements. The Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, negotiated for nearly a decade before being agreed in principle, is on ice because China has sanctioned Members of the European Parliament for criticizing China’s human rights record.

Europe has also changed its official view of China, acknowledging in 2019 that Beijing is a “systemic rival.” Since 2019, Brussels has undertaken specific policy initiatives that deliberately aim to challenge China’s dominance in Eurasia.

The official explained that even positive steps like this are ultimately weighed against other behaviors, such as Beijing’s respect for human rights, its threatening stance toward Taiwan and alleged state-sponsored corporate espionage. In that respect, China’s action or inaction on Ukraine is just another lens through which Brussels can view its various gripes against Beijing.

This dual reality, Europe needing China for some things but deeming it a security risk and nefarious actor on the world stage, is what makes all this such a headache.

Indeed, even with relations as tricky as they are, China has welcomed the leaders of France, Germany, Spain and even the European Commission president herself, Ursula von der Leyen, in recent months.

Brussels has set itself ambitious objectives in areas like climate change, leading the way on new technologies and having an independent foreign policy. The EU didn’t want to pick between the two main powers of the East and West, so opted for a third way where the US remained its primary partner, but it would deepen economic ties to China.

In doing so, it hoped it could encourage China to fall in line with European thinking on climate change, the rules-based international order and human rights, among other things.

In 2023, European officials know that China represents a major security concern and that becoming overly dependent on China is a risk. But they also accept that if they’re to achieve their lofty aims, they might need China’s help.

“The big dependencies of the future will be things like cheap electric vehicles, solar panels, steel for wind farms. These are things that China can produce cheaply and already has a head-start in terms of becoming a major provider for the international market,” says Sam Goodman, from the China Strategic Risks Institute.

Goodman also notes that Europe’s current economic outlook could leave smaller states susceptible to the lure of Chinese money in terms of big infrastructure projects.

“China has historically been keen to buy up or heavily invest in European infrastructure projects, be they nuclear power stations, roads or water companies,” he said. “European nations have cooled on this lately, but it might be tempting for countries struggling economically to take some money as a quick-fix.”

Others say that Europe doesn’t want to end up in the same position it did with Russia in terms of relying on one provider so heavily for energy or other resources, especially in the event China becomes even more forceful in its own backyard and goes from systemic rival to full-blown international pariah, as seen with Putin’s Moscow.

Between these fears over security, Europe’s international ambitions and China’s global ambitions, it might seem hard to pin down exactly what either side want from their future relationship.

“I don’t think that China yet sees Europe as a lost cause. It hopes it can still turn the heads of enough European countries that it can stop America running away in the battle over new technology,” says Charles Parton, former first counsellor to the EU delegation in Beijing.

“They have lost on things like Huawei recently and will be desperate to remain competitive on semiconductors, AI, all the things that will matter a lot in the coming years,” he adds.

For Europe, it’s more complicated. Officials say Brussels is committed to walking the narrow path of the US remaining its closest ally while resisting Washington’s calls to completely disengage with China. It will achieve its global aims without becoming overly dependent on China, they say, while simultaneously working with China on some of the most important issues facing the world today.

It’s an ambitious approach, but one leaves much of its own future in the hands of fate. Or at the very least, in the hands of a country that has been downgraded as a partner to Europe so significantly in the past decade.

The Premier League kicks off this weekend and one of the most highly anticipated games of the opening weekend sees Chelsea host Liverpool – but not necessarily because of on-field matters.

The build-up to this game has been focused less on the teams’ first match of the new campaign and how they will do this season and more about which club might sign Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Moisés Caicedo.

In one of the most topsy-turvy transfer sagas of recent history, Caicedo is being pursued by Liverpool and reportedly by Chelsea with nobody seemingly knowing which the 21-year-old will play for.

Liverpool has made a £111 million ($141 million) bid for the midfielder, but whether the Ecuadorian international signs for the 2019 Premier League champion remains to be seen.

Liverpool head coach Jürgen Klopp confirmed in a press conference on Friday that the club had agreed a transfer fee with Brighton for Caicedo.

The BBC reported the fee for the Brighton star is $141 million, which would break the British and Premier League transfer record. The record is currently held by Chelsea after the London club paid Benfica £107m ($135 million) for Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernandez earlier this year.

Speaking earlier on Friday, Klopp said: “I got told I can confirm a deal with [Brighton] is agreed.

“What did change is that we are a club with not endless resources, so things we didn’t expect, a couple of things happening in the summer [Jordan Henderson and Fabinho leaving], stuff like this,” added Klopp, referring to the two former Liverpool midfielders, who have recently joined clubs in Saudi Arabia.

“We didn’t think about that before the summer, to be honest and when it happened, we gave it a go and obviously, the club was really stretched there, to be honest.”

However, in an extraordinary turn of events, Liverpool’s hopes of signing the 21-year-old midfielder appear premature with Caicedo reportedly, according to Sky Sports, favoring a move to Chelsea.

After arriving at Brighton from Independiente del Valle for £4.5 million ($5.7 million), Ecuadorian midfielder Caicedo has impressed during his time in the Premier League.

Following his performances, Caicedo has been highly sought after by some of England’s biggest clubs.

Arsenal reportedly bid for the 21-year-old midfielder in this year’s January transfer window, and Chelsea have long been linked with the Brighton star.

During the January transfer window Caicedo took to Instagram to plead for a move away. Caicedo was also reportedly told to steer clear of the Brighton training ground until the window closed, though he then signed a new-long term contract with the south coast club in March.

“I have already forgotten about Moises,” Brighton manager De Zerbi told a media conference on Friday. “I’m really proud of the players we have in the squad.

“We want to keep improving. The credit goes to the club. Bigger clubs can buy our players but they can’t buy our soul or spirit.

“We are Brighton, we achieved a big target last year – the same as Liverpool, better than Chelsea. I would like players who are proud to play in Brighton.”

The new Premier League season gets underway Friday with reigning champion Manchester City heading to newly promoted Burnley.

Golf’s debate around pace of play is showing no signs of slowing.

Two weeks after being disqualified from the Evian Championship for refusing to add a slow play penalty to her scorecard, Carlota Ciganda has upped the tempo at the Women’s Open – but is not conceding defeat in the defense of her game speed.

The Spanish golf star slammed the “very poor” performance of LPGA Tour rules officials after her early exit from the French major, claiming they did not “understand what professional golf is about” in an Instagram story.

Speaking to reporters after her opening round at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England, on Thursday, Ciganda admitted she had upped her pace around the greens but questioned the “subjective” nature of slow play penalties.

“You have to understand that it’s professional golf and we are playing for a living and sometimes majors, if you hit it in the rough or a bad situation, it’s going to take longer,” said Ciganda, who opened with a two-under 70, two shots short of the round-best score.

“If you make a bogey, it’s just a couple more minutes, so I think they should understand that a bit more.

“They always say the time starts when it’s your turn to play, but when is that? It’s just so subjective. I think in the end, if they put a referee in every group, a lot of girls, they will be penalized and I think sometimes it’s not fair.”

While Ciganda – who was also hit with a slow play penalty at a 2021 match play event – admitted she could play faster, the 33-year-old argued that other slower players on tour were not being penalized to the same extent.

“At the end of the day, I’m here to play golf and I’m trying to do my best. I think I am a nice person and I respect everyone when I play, so I just hope they can do the same with me,” Ciganda said.

“I know I’m not quick, I know that there are a lot of quicker players out there, but I think there are a lot of slow players and they don’t get penalized and they don’t get timed as much as I do, so I don’t think that’s fair.”

Korda defends rules

On the eve of the tournament, world No. 1 Nelly Korda offered a defense of slow play penalties being imposed.

The American, regarded as one of the LPGA Tour’s faster players, said the R&A and USGA’s Rules of Golf guidelines – which maintain golfers should aim to play a shot within 40 seconds – were necessary.

“I really like Carlota. She’s a great person. I enjoy playing with her,” Korda told reporters.

“I am a fast player, but I would say at the end of the day, The Rules of Golf are The Rules of Golf, and it’s good that it’s being enforced.

“If I’m being honest, if I was a spectator and I was out here for five-and-a-half hours to six hours, it’s tough to watch. You want to watch a sport that’s continuously moving and not continuously stalling. I would say I think it’s really important for the rules officials to enforce The Rules of Golf.

“I would say that, sometimes, it does throw off your rhythm as a golfer to play with someone that’s a little slower. But you just kind of have to adapt and play your best with the situation at hand.”

Chasing a second major title, Korda opened with a frustrating one-over 73 that left her five shots adrift of compatriot and first round leader Ally Ewing.

Ewing surges clear

World no. 39 Ewing accelerated with a stunning Friday showing, a run of four consecutive birdies firing her towards a six-under 66 second round and lifting her to 10-under overall.

The 30-year-old has recorded top-20 finishes at all five majors but has never finished inside the top-five at any of the flagship events.

Yet Ewing is battling more than just a star-studded field in Surrey. The Mississippi-born golfer was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes shortly after gaining her LPGA Tour card in 2016 and carries a device with her on the course to monitor her blood sugar.

“It’s tough. Some days are tougher than others, but it’s manageable,” Ewing told reporters Friday.

“It’s something that I have to be aware of on a golf course, not just my golf, which can sometimes be a little distracting … I don’t feel spikes as much. The lows, I can feel pretty loopy. I can feel shaky. It honestly changes every time. Like I might not always feel like that. Sometimes, I just feel very fatigued all of a sudden.

“I keep Gatorade in my golf bag, take six ounces or so to get it to come back up and stay on top of my snacks and stuff.”

Eight additional criminal complaints were filed Thursday in connection with an investigation into alleged student-athlete gambling at Iowa State University and the University of Iowa, court records show.

Four more football players with Iowa State are facing aggravated misdemeanor charges of tampering with records for allegedly falsifying “personal electronic sports wagering records by concealing [their] personal identity,” according to the criminal complaints filed Thursday.

Four criminal complaints also were filed in connection with the University of Iowa’s football program, where a current player, two former players and a graduate assistant all now face aggravated misdemeanor charges of tampering with records.

None of the individuals named in the criminal complaints filed in Story and Johnson counties have attorneys listed at this time.

Authorities revealed last week that Hunter Dekkers, the starting quarterback for all 12 Iowa State football games last season, is among several athletes charged in Iowa district court in Story County in connection with an investigation into alleged student-athlete gambling at Iowa State University and the University of Iowa.

Dekkers faces a charge of tampering with records, with the state alleging Dekkers attempted to disguise his identity while betting on sports events. The criminal complaint alleges bets were made from Dekkers’ phone using a DraftKings account set up under the name of a family member. He has denied the accusations.

A former Iowa State football player who was recently suspended by the NFL, a current Iowa State player and a wrestler also were charged.

A record-breaking Norwegian climber has hit out at what she calls “misinformation and hatred” surrounding claims she and her team climbed over a dying porter on K2 to summit the deadly peak.

Last month, Kristin Harila and Nepalese Tenjin Sherpa – known as Lama – smashed the record for the fastest summit of all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter (26,000-feet) mountains. They completed the feat in three months and one day after climbing Pakistan’s K2, the last peak on their quest and considered to be more technically challenging than Mount Everest.

But their achievement has now been overshadowed by shocking claims that dozens of climbers walked past a Pakistani porter who fell off a sheer edge, was hanging upside down in ropes and later died.

Austrian climber Wilhelm Steindl was on the mountain that day, according to an interview he did with the Austrian newspaper The Standard on Tuesday. But he decided to turn back when conditions became too dangerous, he said.

Steindl and Flämig said they later spoke with witnesses to confirm what had happened and ascertain the victim’s identity.

“Through the accounts of three different eyewitnesses, I can report that this man was still alive while about 50 people were walking past him,” Flämig told The Standard. “This is also visible in the drone footage. He is being treated by one person while everyone else is striving towards the summit.

“The fact is that there was no organized rescue operation, although there were Sherpas, but also mountain guides on site who could have taken action. No one can claim that they could have made the diagnosis there that the person can no longer be helped.”

Though the men did not identify those who passed Hassan, Flämig told The Standard that in addition to Harila, two other climbers were aiming for a record.

Steindl added: “What happened there is a disgrace. A living human being is left lying there so that records can be achieved.”

The Standard also cited a quote Harila gave to Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung in which she said a Pakistani porter had fallen “in front of” her group, and “after our descent, we learned that he had died.”

“We tried to save him for many hours,” she said, adding that it was a “very narrow” trail and the conditions this year were exceptionally bad. The incident had happened many hours before the video was filmed and in the middle of the night, she also said.

According to Harila, she and Lama were eventually forced to leave the scene to check on the rest of her team amid reports of an avalanche.

However, her cameraman Gabriel stayed behind and continued to provide the mountain porter with oxygen and warm water – trying to warm him up enough so that he could walk. Gabriel was eventually forced to leave the scene when his oxygen supplies started running low, Harila said.

Harila has also responded to the allegations at length on her website.

‘[We] did everything we could’

Reacting angrily to what she called the “insensitive” sharing of videos and photographs of the tragedy without consent, she relayed her account of what happened in the early hours of that day.

She gave a detailed account on Thursday of how she and her team spent 90 minutes trying to help Hassan, along with one of his friends, on the route.

“This was no one’s fault, you cannot comment when you do not understand the situation, and sending death threats is never okay,” she wrote, without elaborating on who sent death threats. “Lama, myself and especially Gabriel [her cameraman on the mountain], did everything we could for him at the time.”

Harila goes into lengthy detail about the efforts she said she and her team made to pull Hassan up after he fell about 5 meters (16.4 feet).

She said that when they came across Hassan, “he was not wearing a down suit, and his stomach was exposed to snow, wind and low temperature, making it extremely dangerous.”

They attempted to move him closer to the path, she said. However, “an avalanche went off around the corner” and some of the team had to split off to help other climbers.

“When we got in contact with the fixing team we realised they were okay. Lama continued to the front and I stayed behind and asked the Sherpas if they were turning around. They said yes, and as we understood it that meant there was more help going to Hassan. We decided to continue forward as too many people in the bottleneck would make it more dangerous for a rescue. Considering the amount of people that stayed behind and that had turned around, I believed Hassan would be getting all the help he could, and that he would be able to get down. We did not fully understand the gravity of everything that happened until later,” Harila added.

She said: “Back in Base Camp, we heard that people thought no one had helped him but we had. We had done our best, especially Gabriel. It is truly tragic what happened, and I feel very strongly for the family. If anything, I hope we can learn something from this tragedy. Everyone that goes up a summit needs proper training, proper equipment and proper guidance.”

Following the accident, Steindl set up an online fundraising page for the victim’s family, including his three young sons. It has since raised more than 100,000 euros ($110,000).

Ukraine has removed Soviet-era signage from a hilltop monument in Kyiv, amid a conflict that has seen the country fight to reassert its cultural identity in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Kyiv last week replaced the Soviet hammer and sickle symbol with a trident – the Ukrainian coat of arms – on the shield of the Motherland Monument, which dominates the capital’s skyline.

“We believe that this change will be the beginning of a new stage in the revival of our culture and identity, the final rejection of Soviet and Russian symbols and narratives,” the Ukrainian culture ministry said. The week-long operation to dismantle the Russian insignia was completed on August 6, according to the ministry.

The monument, a 102 meter-tall statue that towers over the surrounding area, is made of steel. Its construction began in 1979, and it depicted a woman holding a sword and a shield emblazoned with the Soviet hammer and sickle symbol.

The Russian Foreign Ministry insisted on Sunday that “mother cannot be renamed.”

“In Kiev, a trident was installed on the monument ‘Motherland,’” the ministry’s spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said on Telegram, using the Russian spelling of Kyiv. The Ukrainian government’s campaign to switch the international name from the Russian Kiev to Ukrainian Kyiv was part of pre-war efforts by the Ukrainian government to get rid of old Soviet names and establish a stronger sense of national identity.

“This is the whole essence of the Kiev regime and the cyborgs led by it. Mother cannot be renamed. She is one. And the only thing you can do with it is to love. And they don’t know how.”

Putin’s desire to undermine Ukrainian national identity and autonomy has remained a key motivation for the conflict.

When the Kremlin launched its invasion in February 2022 Putin suggested Ukraine had no right to exist as an independent state, identifying the eastern part of the country “ancient Russian lands.”

Shelling from Moscow has wiped out significant architectural landmarks in Ukraine over the past year, including most recently in the historic city center of Odesa, which UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site amid the threat of Russia’s invasion.

Asserting national identity

Kyiv has seen much change in recent years. The Moscow Bridge, a 816 meter-long structure over the Dnieper river, was renamed in 2018 as the Northern Bridge.

The quad that once celebrated Soviet statesmen Andrei Ivanov has been the Latvian Square since 2018. The triangular plaza is sandwiched between the Butyshiv Lane and Omelyanovich-Pavlenko Street, previously known as Andriy Ivanov Street and Susorov Suvorov Street.

Ukrainian flags feature prominently across the city, with a red star on top of the famous Hotel Ukraine being repainted blue and yellow.

A mile-long street stretching across one of Kyiv’s residential neighborhoods was once known as the Ivan Kudrya Street. In 2019, it was renamed John McCain Street, in honor of the former US presidential candidate.

“It’s a good thing. Kudryn was exploding our churches and historical objects, whereas McCain actually helped Ukraine,” he added.

McCain won the hearts of Ukrainians when he traveled to Kyiv in late 2013, meeting opposition leaders and even visiting the Maidan Square, the site of anti-government protests.

Kudrya, meanwhile, was a Soviet spy and a leader of a sabotage group in Kyiv during World War II. When the Kyiv city council announced the renaming of the street, it said his main task was “to fight Ukrainian nationalists.”

“McCain was the one who spoke to US senators and the US government so that sent help to Ukraine … meanwhile, Russia, our brother country, is now the aggressor towards us. So I think it’s the right thing,” Pobigay added.

Asylum-seekers have been removed from a controversial barge in southern England after Legionella bacteria was discovered in the water – days after experts warned of the risk of infection.

Thirty-nine asylum-seekers disembarked the Bibby Stockholm barge, a UK Home Office spokesperson said in a statement Friday – just days after they were first housed in it.

Legionella bacteria, which is commonly found in water, and can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a serious lung infection. The spokesperson said that no individuals on board the barge showed symptoms of Legionnaires’ and that the asylum-seekers were being provided with appropriate advice and support.

“The samples taken relate only to the water system on the vessel itself and therefore carry no direct risk indication for the wider community of Portland nor do they relate to fresh water entering the vessel,” the statement said adding that Legionnaires’ does not spread from person to person.

The discovery of the bacteria comes at the end of what the UK government had billed as “Small Boats Week” – a campaign hoping to demonstrate the action it had taken to limit the number of asylum-seekers arriving in the country via small vessels across the English Channel.

The government announced in April its plans to house around 500 single adult men on the Bibby Stockholm, which was meant to serve as a deterrent to those hoping to seek asylum in the UK. The barge was originally designed to house 222 people, but was retrofitted to increase its capacity.

On Tuesday, the first asylum seekers boarded the barge in Portland, on the Dorset coast, despite public health experts warning of the possible risk of infection in living conditions that campaigners branded as inhumane.

The UK’s Fire Brigades Union has also described the barge as a “death trap” and an “accident waiting to happen.”

Human rights campaign groups quickly responded to the discovery of Legionella in the barge’s water.

The UK government has made stemming the flow of asylum-seekers to Britain a priority, as the number of migrants arriving on small boats across the English Channel last year reached around 46,000 – a record level.

On Thursday, the number of Channel crossings hit a record daily high, with 755 people making the dangerous journey.

Collin Morikawa will donate $1,000 for every birdie he makes on the PGA Tour this month to support those affected by the devastating wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, the American golfer announced Thursday.

The two-time major champion will set aside the sum for each birdie holed across three FedEx Cup Playoff events, starting with the FedEx St. Jude Championship, which teed off in Memphis, Tennessee, on Thursday.

On course to be the “largest natural disaster in Hawaii’s state history,” according to Hawaii Governor Josh Green, catastrophic wildfires have decimated the island of Maui.

At least 55 people have died and thousands have been displaced amid widespread destruction, with the historic whaling village of Lahaina “burnt to the ground,” Mayor Richard Bissen said Thursday.

Though Morikawa was born and raised in California, his family emigrated to Maui from Japan, with his grandparents owning a restaurant in Lahaina. The restaurant was burnt down in the fires, according to the PGA Tour.

Announcing his plans to donate via a post on Instagram, the 26-year-old posted a picture of a newspaper clipping that advertised the Morikawa Restaurant, adding that Maui has “always held a special place in my heart.”

“Homes have been destroyed, families displaced and it’s far from over,” he wrote. “The people of Hawaii are going to need all the support that we can give them.”

Morikawa said in the post that he had not yet determined the best place to send the funds raised, but told the PGA Tour later on Thursday that donations would be directed to Maui United Way and World Central Kitchen.

“I know I’m going to ask my sponsors, I’m going to ask people that I know just to help out,” Morikawa added. “Anything helps. Really anything. Per birdie I make, whatever you can afford, whatever you want to put in.

“I want to make a lot of birdies for them. One of our friends texted me, and they’re like, ‘Okay, $100,000.’ I’m like, ‘Shoot, 100 birdies in three tournaments?’ I don’t know if that’s ever been done. But it would be a great feat to say the least.

“It’s hard not to think about it, but at the end of the day, I’m here to win. It’s in the back of my mind for sure. It’s extra motivation and just perspective I think while we’re out there.”

The world No. 22 has already added $6,000 to the pot, having holed six birdies during an impressive opening round at the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Thursday.

Only compatriot Jordan Spieth and South Korea’s Tom Kim started better in the 70-player field at TPC Southwind. Ahead of the start of Friday’s round, Morikawa is two shots behind Spieth at five-under.

The 50 best performing players will progress to the BMW Championship, the second playoff event in Illinois, Chicago, which will determine the top-30 players to compete at the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.

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