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Soil samples collected during cleanup efforts in the resort town of Anapa contained benzopyrene levels 22.5 times above the legal limit, environmental scientist Viktor Danilov-Danilyan told the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid Sunday.

Benzopyrene, a toxic compound also found in coal tar and tobacco smoke, poses serious health risks. Andrei Peshkov, an environmental scientist with Russian state honors, likened its effects to Agent Orange, the herbicide used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.

The owner of a company that was until recently Russia's largest grain trader has given up his foreign citizenship, a source close to his company told Reuters, in an apparent attempt to remain in control of his business.

A U.S. military plane gathered intelligence on Russian positions from within contested Black Sea airspace in the first such mission since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began nearly three years ago, flight records suggest.

Journey time between Ploče and Sarajevo is around four hours. Passenger services are scheduled to start up again from Monday, February 10, ten days after the successful testing of freight trains along the same route. For tickets and schedules, see Bosnian rail.

Stoyanov remarked that despite the political tension, Bulgaria and North Macedonia will continue to be neighbors. He noted that historically, even during the totalitarian years when border celebrations were enforced, Macedonians and Bulgarians came together to mark significant events. Today, however, efforts for joint celebrations are intentionally hindered, which he sees as a deliberate act of separation by Skopje's authorities.

The chairman emphasized that there is no harm in holding joint commemorations. He pointed out that such events have occurred in the past, and while each side is free to honor Gotse Delchev in their own way, it would be meaningful for both nations to commemorate him at his burial site. Stoyanov highlighted the importance of allowing Delchev’s relatives and heirs to pay tribute with a Bulgarian flag, as Delchev himself fought to defend that flag.

While hopeful for a display of “democracy and humanity” from the Macedonian authorities on the commemorative date, Stoyanov lamented the current state of relations, suggesting that Delchev would not be pleased with the ongoing division between people of shared heritage.

Support from syndicates and professional organisations indicates Vucic loosing grip.

Elsewhere, this gentle-seeming New Age mystic has praised Ion Antonescu, the Romanian wartime dictator who conspired with Hitler and was sentenced to death for war crimes, including his role in the Romanian Holocaust. He has called both Antonescu and the prewar leader of the Iron Guard, a violent anti-Semitic movement, national heroes. He twice met with Alexander Dugin, the Russian fascist ideologue, who posted on X a (subsequently deleted) statement that “Romania will be part of Russia.” And at the same time, Georgescu praises the spiritual qualities of water. “We don’t know what water is,” he has said; “H₂O means nothing.” Also, “Water has a memory, and we destroy its soul through pollution,” and “Water is alive and sends us messages, but we don’t know how to listen to them.” He believes that carbonated drinks contain nanochips that “enter into you like a laptop.” His wife, Cristela, produces YouTube videos on healing, using terms such as lymphatic acidosis and calcium metabolism to make her points.

When conspiracy theories and nonsense cures are widely accepted, the evidence-based concepts of guilt and criminality vanish quickly too.

When I first wrote about the need for new political terminology, in 2017, I struggled to come up with better terms. But now the outlines of a popular political movement are becoming clearer, and this movement has no relation at all to the right or the left as we know them. The philosophers of the Enlightenment, whose belief in the possibility of law-based democratic states gave us both the American and French Revolutions, railed against what they called obscurantism: darkness, obfuscation, irrationality. But the prophets of what we might now call the New Obscurantism offer exactly those things: magical solutions, an aura of spirituality, superstition, and the cultivation of fear. Among their number are health quacks and influencers who have developed political ambitions; fans of the quasi-religious QAnon movement and its Pizzagate-esque spin-offs; and members of various political parties, all over Europe, that are pro-Russia and anti-vaccine and, in some cases, promoters of mystical nationalism as well. Strange overlaps are everywhere. Both the left-wing German politician Sahra Wagenknecht and the right-wing Alternative for Germany party promote vaccine and climate-change skepticism, blood-and-soil nationalism, and withdrawal of German support for Ukraine. All across Central Europe, a fascination with runes and folk magic aligns with both right-wing xenophobia and left-wing paganism. Spiritual leaders are becoming political, and political actors have veered into the occult. Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who has become an apologist for Russian aggression, has claimed that he was attacked by a demon that left “claw marks” on his body.

Cross posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24964539

The NGO will also have to pay the court fees of 450 000 lei (€90 000).

Bulgaria, meanwhile, has made it clear that its priority is securing water resources for its own needs before considering supply agreements with neighboring countries. The Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture has emphasized that domestic demand must be met first, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the future of water exports to Greece.

For local farmers, the situation is dire. They say water from the Arda River is their only source of irrigation, as the region’s infrastructure has seen little investment or maintenance over the past 60 years. Many farmers have reported declining yields, with some experiencing a 30-40% drop in production last year due to drought.

During his address, Dodik spoke about the Serbian identity in Republika Srpska, emphasizing their desire to live in their own country without intending to harm others. He controversially stated that a war had been fought based on false claims that the Bosnian Serbs had killed 300,000 people, "a narrative perpetuated by U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration". Dodik further compared the war in Bosnia to the current situation in Ukraine, asserting that Russia, under Vladimir Putin, was justified in protecting the Russian minority in Ukraine to prevent NATO's encroachment near Moscow.

The controversy has drawn reactions from various groups. The Bosnian Democratic Alliance criticized Stoilkovic for meeting Dodik in his official capacity, while the Albanian party DUI labeled Dodik as an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of working to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina. DUI also condemned the government's actions, calling it a blow to North Macedonia's international reputation and its commitment to European values. Former Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani expressed his disappointment, accusing the government of undermining the Ohrid Framework Agreement and questioning the message being sent to Albanian citizens and victims of genocide.