Category World News

In a street near Novosibirsk, Siberia, a group of uniformed men, at least one of whom is masked, approach two watermelon sellers. The men are dressed in black, wearing tactical vests with patches bearing the emblem of a bogatyr – a mythic warrior of Slavic folklore – riding on horseback.

They inform the traders, who they believe to be foreigners, that they are carrying out illegal trade, and the security forces load their goods into a van to be seize by the authorities.

These black men, however, are not authorized to work for law enforcement.

A video of this operation was uploaded online on Monday morning by the Russian Community, or Russkaya Obshchina (RO), who boasted of shutting down an “oriental bazaar”.

With 1.2 million subscribers to its official YouTube channel, over 660, 000 subscribers to its main Telegram channel, as well as its own app, and support from powerful allies within the clergy and security services, the RO has grown to be Russia’s largest and most powerful ultranationalist organization.

Alexander Verkhovsky, the director of the SOVA Centre, which tracks hate movements in Russia, calls this a classic movement of Russian ethnic nationalists.

“There used to be]the slogan] ‘ Russia for Russians’, but now that is considered too radical. But he claims that this is the main point.

RO also asserts that it upholds conservative moral and religious principles, and that it backs the Kremlin, even in the Ukraine invasion.

“These points define their entire ideology… There have always been nationalists, but the fact that the largest and most prominent Russian nationalist organisation is fully loyal to the government – this is an unusual situation”.

Folk music and a constant stream of anti-immigrant messages

RO was founded five years ago by Omsk politician Andrey Tkachuk, anti-abortion rights activist Yevgeny Chesnokov and Andrey Afanasyev, a host on the TV channel Spas, which is owned by the Russian Orthodox Church.

As other, tightly knit ethnic communities in Russia already look out for each other, like Chechens or Armenians, one member claimed last year to the BBC that the idea was to create solidarity among Russians themselves.

In order to facilitate community events like Maslenitsa (Butter Week), which feature folk singing and dancing performances in the lead up to Easter, many of the Community’s activities are benign.

But an examination of RO’s various Telegram groups reveals a narrow focus on ethnic Russian interests, to the exclusion of Russia’s other non-Slavic groups – although there are a handful of minority members – and a stream of anti-immigrant content.

A young female follower of the Community’s Saratov branch, who can’t be identified because of fear of repercussions, told Al Jazeera, “The blacks will devour everything in their path if the Slavs do not unite in some way defend their borders and values.”

According to observers, the group’s other activities include vigilantism, which is frequently done with the authorities’ clear or covert support.

According to Verkhovsky, there are a number of tactics to target immigrants and non-Russian minorities. One is making official complaints and denunciating what it deems to be immoral, such as homosexuality, abortion, or “Russophobic behavior.” Although neither of the former is technically prohibited in Russia, there are laws prohibiting “propaganda” related to LGBTQ and “childfree” themes.

Another tactic is raids, such as the one on watermelon sellers in Novosibirsk. These are places where migrants live or work, Verkhovsky asserts.

Members of the Russian Community or other vigilante organizations, like Northern Man, frequently appear where immigrants are employed and engage in “violation” – as in the case of the Novosibirsk watermelon stall, unlicensed trading. They then detain the alleged violators and hand them over to the police.

“Practically any citizen can complain to the Russian Community and claim that some “bad” people have offended him,” says Verkhovsky.

“Ideally, the complainant is Russian, and these “bad” people are not Russian,” the author says. And then the Russian Community will go to protect him”.

The group occasionally accompanies police as “volunteers” during joint operations, though this is uncommonr. Verkhovsky noted that different police departments have different opinions of RO, and while some may seem to welcome them, some officers have already filed charges against community members before having the case dropped by the prosecution.

Defying a “crime wave”

The vigilantes assert that there is a “wave of immigrant crime.”

There is crime among foreigners in Russia: For instance, Georgians make up more than half of the “thieves-in-law”, an elite fraternity in the criminal underworld. In addition to making headlines, gangs of young immigrant men frequently engage in vicious brawls and beatings.

However, these highly publicized incidents and people only account for a small portion of Russia’s overall crime rate. According to Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, foreigners committed just 2 percent of all reported crime nationwide last year, while comprising roughly 4 percent of the population.

Additionally, Valentina Chupik, a lawyer who provides free legal services to immigrants, claimed that the majority of these crimes are related to the misuse of paperwork rather than the victimization of Russians.

“These crimes [missing paperwork] are the inevitable result of the organization of illegal migration, which are committed by homeowners who rent apartments to immigrants but do not comply with the law’s requirement to register them there,” she claims.

As well as immigrants, RO campaigns against alleged immorality and “fifth-columnists” in Russian society. Chupik is regarded as one of these fifth-columnists because he has grown used to getting threats and insults, even from RO supporters.

She claims that they regularly threaten me.

“My employees are also threatened, as well as volunteers. I occasionally appear in posts on their Telegram groups. They call me right away and then write to me.

Messages seen by Al Jazeera tell Chupik, “there’s a special spot for you in hell” and to “wait for the bottle”, alluding to sexual assault.

Al Jazeera contacted several RO representatives for comment, but they did not respond.

There has been an increase in xenophobia since ISIS-affiliated gunmen fatally attacked a Moscow music venue last year. The police have ramped up arrests and other restrictions on immigrants, especially those from Central Asia. Verkhovsky says it’s difficult to determine how much the general public views immigrants negatively, but polls show a sharp rise in immigration-related concerns.

To be accepted in the war, to support it

In the 2000s, Russia suffered a scourge of far-right-wing violence, peaking in 2008 when skinhead gangs carried out 110 racist murders nationwide. A Tajik and a Dagestani were shot dead and beheaded while filming a particularly obscene scene in a forest close to Moscow. After a third suspect, who was already imprisoned, incriminated the two men in his suicide note in 2022, two men were finally found guilty of the double homicide.

For a time, available outlets for xenophobic sentiment dried up somewhat.

Verkhovsky argued that the authorities significantly repressed this movement in the 2010s, and almost all of these organizations either stopped or were completely eradicated.

And those who wanted to participate in these ideas were either afraid or simply unable to go anywhere.

Some far-right activists moved to Ukraine, where they found common cause with like-minded locals.

RO is a relatively recent development. It forgoes the old-fashioned thuggery and prefers to work alongside the authorities. And its brand of nationalism aligns with the Kremlin, supporting the invasion of Ukraine and actively fundraising for soldiers and their families. Andrey Tkachuk, the founder, has even professed ignorance about the country’s national identity in interviews.

Verkhovsky notes that “the state’s tolerance for any groups that support the]war has increased significantly.” “In general, the authorities don’t like any grassroots initiatives, but here they’ve quite notably tolerated it. This is only possible during a conflict.

Verkhovsky points out that many of the activists are “inclined towards violence,” and the leadership can’t always hold them back, even though the Russian Community operates largely within the confines of the law and serves as more of an unofficial auxiliary to law enforcement than the skinheads of the past, who eagerly filmed their brutal assaults.

In May, for instance, activists armed with pepper spray and a Taser allegedly burst into an apartment near St Petersburg where two men and a woman were drinking and taking illicit drugs. One of the men, who was of Armenian descent, died in the fiery argument, and the woman suffered serious injuries after jumping from a seventh-storey window.

According to reports, the activists told witnesses, “Let him burn,” claiming that the man was a “pusher.”

And last week, a mass brawl erupted between dozens of RO members and Chechen and Ingush workers on a building site northeast of Moscow, after an Ingush security guard reportedly evicted a drunk man from the premises.

The organization made it known on Sunday that the Chelyabinsk region of west-central Russia’s local authorities had labeled it an “undesirable organization” on the grounds of “extremism.”

However, RO has friends who are well-known: According to reports in the Russian media, Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, has repeatedly intervened on behalf of its members, including filing charges against police officers who detained them on various charges. And, in June, sources within the security services told reporters from the independent Russian news site, Meduza, that they use RO as a tool for managing “interethnic conflicts”.

A vicar sacraments the savior.

The Orthodox Church’s influence is another distinguishing factor from the old, racist gangs. The group has campaigned against mosques, requires its members to profess Orthodoxy, and has been blessed by a vicar on behalf of Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, himself.

Verkhovsky claims that “the Russian Community and other organizations of the same type have a very positive relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church.”

A 52-year-old man in Kerala’s Palakkad district was the victim of a new deadly Nipah virus infection on July 12, making it the tenth case of the disease’s spillover (transmission from animals to people) in the southern Indian state since 2018.

This year alone, Kerala has reported four Nipah cases, including two deaths, all within a 50km (30-mile) radius, on the border of the Malappuram and Palakkad districts.

675 people are being watched in five districts across the state, keeping things high on the alert.

What are the symptoms of the Nipah virus, what are its symptoms, and how are authorities containing it?

What is the Nipah virus?

The highly pathogenic zoonotic virus Nipah (NiV) causes death in 40 to 75% of human infection cases due to its high rate of human transmission. One of the most well-known viruses in the paramyxovirus family, NiV, is one of the most well-known viruses from the henipavirus genus, which causes a variety of neurological – frequently respiratory – diseases in both people and animals, in addition to the Hendra virus, which can be found in Australia.

Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, ubiquitous across Oceania, South and Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, are natural reservoirs of the virus, meaning the virus naturally lives and reproduces in these mammals without causing them any harm.

The virus can either directly or indirectly spread to humans via intermediary hosts like pigs or horses that encounter them.

What signs indicate the Nipah virus?

The human NiV infections range from asymptomatic infections to severe seizures, brain inflammation, and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The clinical presentation of NiV infection is neurological, affecting the central nervous system and resulting in acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), characterised by seizures, confusion and loss of consciousness. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) can develop as a result of the disease’s progression and can harm the lungs.

The virus’s estimated incubation period ranges from four to fourteen days.

Where have there been Nipah virus outbreaks before?

In 1998, pig farmers and butchers from Malaysia and Singapore contracted the virus from infected pigs. More than 100 people died as a result of the outbreak, which affected more than 250 people.

There have been subsequent, almost annual outbreaks in Bangladesh since 2001, with human infection traced to the consumption of date palm sap contaminated with urine or saliva from infected fruit bats.

Equine slaughter and consumption of infected horse meat were associated with NiV infections in the Philippines in 2014, according to reports.

West Bengal was the site of two outbreaks in 2001 and 2007 according to India. In 2018, South India reported its first NiV outbreak in Kerala, when 19 confirmed cases led to 17 deaths. Since then, almost every year, NiV spillovers have been reported in Kerala.

What has happened in Kerala?

Only two of the 10 incidents involving NiV spillover in Kerala ended up being outbreaks with human-to-human spread, despite Kerala’s 10 since 2018.

Instead of a cluster or outbreak like in 2018, Thekkumkara Surendran Anish, nodal officer at the Kerala One Health Center for Nipah Research and Resilience, stated, “We are now reporting single cases of Nipah infections.”

The last six NiV infections in the state have been single-case spillovers with no human-to-human transmission. Anish believes that the state’s strengthened surveillance system is to blame for the recent rise in recorded cases.

We don’t know the cause, but thousands of people die annually in India as a result of AES or ARDS, respectively. NiV, in fact, is not a common cause for respiratory and encephalitis syndromes”, he said. However, in Kerala, more Nipah infections are being discovered because the entire health system places a premium on it.

It’s also concerning that all four NiV infections were identified in a limited number of days and in a limited area, Anish continued. “Four independent spillover events within a couple of months in a 50km radius suggest a very high presence of infected bats and the virus in the area.

What it says is that there are “high chances” of Nipah spillovers in some geospatial areas of Kerala, primarily because the bats there appear to be very contagious for a short while of the year.

What is causing Kerala to become a hub for the Nipah virus?

Unlike in Bangladesh, where there was a dedicated channel for the virus to spill over to humans (contaminated date palm sap), there is no obvious source in Kerala – or, at least, the” spillover mechanism “so far remains unclear.

The exact spillover mechanism is unknown, but Kerala’s “high sporadic” phenomenon strikes us as highly sporadic. You might come into contact with an infected bat or its droppings without knowing, for instance, Anish said.

The commonly accepted cause is spillover from the human consumption of fruits contaminated by bat saliva or urine. However, so far, virological analysis of bat-baked fruits has turned inconvenient.

The Indian Council of Medical Research’s most recent study suggests that the virus may be spread by air.

” Disease-causing microbes have different routes of transmission to reach and infect human hosts, “Thekkekara Jacob John, one of the authors of the paper, and an emeritus professor at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, said”. One of them is “airborne transmission,” similar to how it is with tuberculosis, where microbes stay a long distance in the air and are inhaled far away from the source.

The authors of the paper support their hypothesis, which allows for the rare but frequent spillovers of NiV in Kerala, where mechanical vectors like those found in Malaysia and Bangladesh are lacking.

What steps are Kerala’s authorities taking to control the Nipah virus?

Kerala has been successful in using trace-and-test techniques to stop the virus from spreading. Across 10″ spillover events”, the case count stands at just 37 infected individuals.

An effective surveillance system is essential, according to Anish. All primary contacts of a patient who has a Nipah case are immediately tracked and monitored through house quarantine. If they test positive for the virus, we immediately start antiviral treatment, “he said.

The use of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs as a preventative measure of “primary contacts” has reduced mortality. According to our knowledge, if we can treat Nipah early, it will undoubtedly be treated, “Anish said.

” Syndromic surveillance is another crucial aspect, whereby, in hospitals across the state, any patient presenting with AES or ARDS is tested for Nipah, “Anish said.

Kerala’s health system has been steadily improving. Four laboratories in the state now have the ability to perform reverse transcriptional polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for the identification of active NiV infections.

” It all comes down to political commitment, “Anish said”. The state makes sure that all efforts to combat Nipah outbreaks are kept under control by the entire healthcare system.

How is the Nipah virus treated? Is there a vaccine in development?

For its Research and Development Blueprint, a global strategy and preparedness plan for epidemics, the WHO has named Nipah as a priority disease.

The University of Oxford’s NiV vaccine, which started in-human trials in January, received funding from the European Medicines Agency (EMA)’s Priority Medicines (PRIME) program in June.

However, there are no drugs yet available that specifically target NiV infection.

Doctors have used broad-spectrum antivirals because there are no approved treatment protocols for NiV and because of the high mortality risk. The antiviral of choice is ribavirin, which has been proven to work well in several cases against NiV infections in people.

During a 2023 outbreak in Kerala, early application of the antiviral Remdesivir resulted in an improved case fatality rate. In addition, monoclonal antibodies (copying of antibodies created in a laboratory) have been used to stop severe illness from manifesting in high-risk people.

How can zoonotic viruses like the Nipah virus be avoided?

According to Anish, NiV is a model case study for a” one health “approach to combating high-threat pathogens. The one health approach acknowledges the link between the health of people, animals, and the environment.

Anish said that “one health” is a combination of three things: human health, animal health, and environment health. You have to tackle all these things to reduce the chances of zoonotic spillovers such as Nipah. “

Zoonoses, which are transmitted from animals to people, account for approximately 60% of new human pathogens. These zoonotic viruses primarily developed as a result of ecological disruption and the spread of human populations into wildlife habitats.

A fire broke out in the Rault Center in downtown New Orleans on November 29, 1972. Five women trapped in a beauty salon on the 15th floor had to choose between staying in the burning building and leaping as firefighters battled to contain the blaze and television cameras rolled.

They jumped, one by one, and attempted to climb onto a six-story building next door. Five of the women passed away.

A 46-year-old engineer and a fellow New Orleanian had been experimenting with a potential solution at the time. John T. Scurlock took action as a result of the tragedy.

He wanted to create an inflatable cushion that would allow skeptarians to land safely while they were plunging great heights. However, he needed his sons’ assistance in order to accomplish it.

First, he persuaded them to lift 45 kg (100 kg) of rolled vinyl from the top of his office building onto the cushion he had created below. John was able to calculate the weight the cushion could withstand at various speeds thanks to the accelerometer.

After he was certain that the area was safe, he proceeded to having his sons jump off the roof.

We were launching into a large airbag when we were 10, 12, and 14 years old. It was a lot of fun, 66-year-old Jeff Scurlock recalls.

“Space pillow”

The safety air cushion, a huge, inflatable pad still used by fire brigades from New York to Tokyo to save people from&nbsp, fires, and deaths by suicide, was patented the following year.

Not his first invention, though. In fact, his life-saving inflatable was inspired by his predecessor, the omnipresent fair game known by numerous names, including the bouncy castle, moon bounce, bounce house, or space walk, depending on the location.

It was known as the “space pillow” in the Scurlock residence.

John began working at a NASA facility in New Orleans a year after filing a patent for the components that would make up the space pillow. The Soviets had won the space race with the launch of the world’s first satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1961, and NASA had opened its doors three years prior.

By 1960, the US space agency had developed an interest in creating a crewed, inflatable space station, which was widely accepted as the required first step toward the moon.

Large, rigid space stations would require frequent rocket launches to transport the components, but plastic inflatables were deemed lightweight, strong, and portable. A single booster could launch an inflatable space station into space once it is in orbit. (In 2016 a meteorite-resistant inflatable space module was sent to the International Space Station, and NASA engineers are attempting to construct a semi-permanent moon habitat out of inflatables.)

When John would sketch designs for and sew his proto-space pillow using a commercial sewing machine he had set up in a pit in his garage to help him carry the heavy vinyl material as he worked, this innovation persisted even in his free time.

Soon after he made a homemade space pillow for his young sons to play in the backyard, it quickly received a lot of positive feedback from the neighborhood kids.

Because we had one in our backyard for a long time, Jeff says, “we were very popular kids then.” “The entire neighborhood would jump on it,” he said.

Jeff claims his mother, Francis, came up with the idea to market the inflatable after realizing how popular the kids were with it. John eventually quit his job to concentrate on the “space pillow” full-time.

inflatable solutions

The invention was first introduced at trade shows around the nation in 1968. However, there were significant safety risks. Safety-wise, John’s grandson, Mials, 35, describes it as a “horrible nightmare.” There was no “no support, no netting, or way to keep you on it,” the statement read.

The carnival was “sued out of existence,” according to Mials, when a carnival worker died and broke his neck.

The design needed protection from the elements because it was no longer just a small backyard project.

The space pillow expanded columns, cushioning the walls, netting around the sides, and a roof, which made it much safer. The family founded a new business called Space Walk Inflatables in Kenner, Louisiana, in 1972, the year the last person to walk on the moon.

Due to the popularity of rentals, the global bounce house market is currently worth $4 billion.

However, John turned his attention to resolving issues with heavy-duty inflatables as his invention gained popularity.

According to Dr. Benjamin Gorissen, a professor of inflatable mechanics at KE Leuven in Belgium, inflatable engineering is surprisingly complex and necessitates answering mathematical questions to convert a 2D fabric to a 3D shape.

John was a “man who could do the math,” according to Mials, and he loved numbers. He filed patents for various structures, including one that looks like an inside human heart and is welds underwater for offshore oil platforms.

He’d be sketching out a solution in his office, according to Mials, “whatever news article would happen.”

Jeff recalls his father working on an invention that might help bring sunken submarines back to life after reading about them in a newspaper.

He “never really stopped working,” according to Jeff up until John’s passing in 2008, according to Jeff. His most recent creation in his 80s was an air sculpture that covered a 2. 8 square meter (30 square feet) area.

According to Jeff and Mials, who currently run the company, John did not intend to establish a business empire. The Scurlocks continue to manufacture safety air cushions, which have a more complex structure, despite keeping their main line of business in bouncy castles. The product’s certification for 20 storeys, or 200 feet and bsp, extends to (60 meters).

The safety air cushion has saved thousands of lives all over the world since its creation, but it all started with a dedicated early pioneer urging his children to jump off the roof.