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Ukraine restricts Russian books and music in latest step of ‘derussification’

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Ukraine’s parliament has voted through two laws that will place severe restrictions on Russian books and music as Kyiv seeks to break many remaining cultural ties between the two countries following Moscow’s invasion.

One law will forbid the printing of books by Russian citizens, unless they renounce their Russian passport and take Ukrainian citizenship. The ban will only apply to those who held Russian citizenship after the 1991 collapse of Soviet rule.

It will also ban the commercial import of books printed in Russia, Belarus and occupied Ukrainian territory, while also requiring special permission for the import of books in Russian from any other country.

Another law will prohibit the playing of music by post-1991 Russian citizens on media and on public transport, while also increasing quotas on Ukrainian-language speech and music content in TV and radio broadcasts.

The laws need to be signed by president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to take effect, and there is no indication that he opposes either. Both received broad support from across the chamber on Sunday, including from lawmakers who had traditionally been viewed as pro-Kremlin by most of Ukraine’s media and civil society.

Ukraine’s culture minister, Oleksandr Tkachenko, said he was “glad to welcome” the new restrictions.

“The laws are designed to help Ukrainian authors share quality content with the widest possible audience, which after the Russian invasion do not accept any Russian creative product on a physical level,” the Ukrainian cabinet’s website quoted him as saying.

The new rules are the latest chapter in Ukraine’s long path to shedding the legacy of hundreds of years of rule by Moscow.

Ukraine says this process, previously referred to as “decommunisation” but now more often called “derussification”, is necessary to undo centuries of policies aimed at crushing Ukrainian identity.

Moscow disagrees, saying Kyiv’s policies to entrench the Ukrainian language in day-to-day life oppress Ukraine’s large number of Russian speakers, whose rights it claims to be upholding in what it calls its “special military operation”.

This process gained momentum after Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and support for separatist proxies in Ukraine’s Donbas, but took on new dimensions after the start of the full-scale invasion on 24 February.

Hundreds of locations in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have already been earmarked for renaming to shed their associations with Russia, and a Soviet-era monument celebrating the friendship of the Ukrainian and Russian people was torn down in April, eliciting cheers from the assembled crowd.

 

Foreign News

Teen Girl, Parents Found Dead Inside $5M Mansion In Possible Murder Suicide

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A teenage girl and her parents were found dead in a $5 million Massachusetts, USA mansion overnight in an apparent domestic violence incident, police authorities said Friday, December 29.

The bodies of Rakesh Kamal, 57, his wife, Teena, 54, and their 18-year-old daughter, Ariana, were found in their home estimated to be worth $5.45 million — at about 7:30 p.m on Thursday, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said.

The district attorney who described the “terrible tragedy” as a “domestic violence situation” said a gun was found near the husband’s body.

He refused to say whether all three family members were shot dead — and by whom.

Morrissey said he was waiting for the medical examiner’s ruling, which was expected later Friday, before deciding whether to refer to the incident as a murder-suicide.

“Although the investigation is at a very preliminary stage, the evidence available at this time does not indicate the involvement of any outside party, but suggests that this is a deadly incident of domestic violence,” his office said in a statement.

“It is not believed that there is any ongoing danger to the Dover community related to this incident.”

The family’s mansion went into foreclosure a year ago and was sold to the Massachusetts-based Wilsondale Associates LLC for $3 million, property records obtained by The Post show.

The Kamals had purchased the 19,000-square-foot estate – which boasts 11 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms – for $4 million in 2019, according to the records.

The slain family members were the only ones living in the mansion at the time, the DA said, adding that the area was “a nice neighborhood, a safe community.”

The daughter was a student at Middlebury College, a $64,800-a-year private liberal arts school in Vermont, Morrissey confirmed.

The grim discovery of their bodies was made after a relative had stopped by to check on the family members after not hearing from them in one or two days, the district attorney said.

Morrissey added that there had been no prior police reports or domestic incidents tied to the home.

“I hate to see it at any time,” Morrissey said of domestic violence incidents. “I think some of the tensions that people feel in relationships often come out around the holidays.”

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Enough Is Enough: Pope Francis Calls For Ceasefire In Israel-Hamas War

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Pope Francis, has waded into the ongoing attacks and violence in Israel and Gaza, saying the killings that had claimed children and women among others.

The leader of the Roman Catholic church, called for humanitarian corridors to allow the delivery of food, water and fuel to the Gaza Strip, which is under heavy Israeli bombardment following a bloody attack by Hamas last weekend

In the eight days since Hamas gunmen killed more than 1,300 Israelis in their attack, Israel has responded with a devastating bombing campaign that had claimed over 2,300 lives in Gaza.

According to reports, conditions in Gaza hospitals were so critical that health workers had begun to store bodies in ice cream freezer trucks because moving them to hospitals has become too risky plus cemeteries have become full.

Pope, speaking after his traditional Angelus prayer in Rome’s Saint Peter’s Square, on Sunday, October 15, said;

“Humanitarian law must be respected, especially in Gaza, where it is urgent and necessary to guarantee humanitarian corridors and help the population.

“I strongly urge that children, the sick, the elderly, women and all civilians should not fall victim to the conflict.

“There have already been so many deaths, please let’s not shed any more innocent blood, not in the Holy Land, not in Ukraine, not anywhere else. Enough is enough. War is always a defeat,” he said, castigating “the diabolical force of hatred, terrorism and war.”

Pope Francis also renewed his call “for the release of the hostages” kidnapped by Hamas fighters in southern Israel and invited “all believers to unite in prayer with the Church in the Holy Land”

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday, vowed to “demolish Hamas” as his military prepared to move into the Gaza Strip in search of Islamist militants, whose deadly rampage through Israeli border towns shocked the world.

Israel has told Gazans to evacuate toward the South, which hundreds of thousands had already done in the enclave that was home to more than two million people, about half in Gaza City.

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Israel Pounding Hamas, Will Obliterate hem – Prime Minister Netanyahu Vows

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The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed to obliterate Hamas and emerge triumphant in the ongoing war.

Netanyahu said Israeli forces are pounding Hamas with brute force, adding that they just started paying the price.

The Prime Minister disclosed this in a statement following a security assessment at Kirya in Tel Aviv.

According to him, “Citizens of Israel, Shabbat Shalom. Shabbat shalom to our forces deployed across the country, who are celebrating the Sabbath in the field, far from home.

“And we are fighting tooth and nail: soldiers, police officers, citizens, security forces, health personnel and rescue teams — and Israel’s citizens, with your extraordinary volunteering spirit that has touched the world.

“We are all mobilized, we are all united. We will never forget the horrific acts perpetrated against us by our enemies.

“We will never forget the horrific acts perpetrated by our enemies and we will never forgive. We will not allow the world, or anyone, to forget these horrors, the likes of which the Jewish people have not endured in decades.

“We are pounding our enemies with unprecedented force, and I stress, this is only the beginning. Our enemies have only just begun to pay the price. I will not detail our plans, but I tell you, this is only the beginning.

“We will obliterate Hamas, we will triumph. It might take time, but we will end this war stronger than ever. “May the Almighty cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them.”

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