Section:GDN 1N PaGe:28 Edition Date:190812 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 11/8/2019 20:47 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Monday 12 Aug ust 2019
(^28) World
Andrew Roth
Moscow
Russia has accused You Tube of spread-
ing information on unsanctioned
opposition protests, calling recent
push notifi cations from the US-based
company interference in Russia’s
sovereign aff airs.
Roskomnadzor, the Russian com-
munications watchdog, said on
Sunday that it had sent a letter to
Google, YouTube’s parent company,
complaining that users had received
push notifications “sharing infor-
mation about unsanctioned mass
events, including those aimed at dis-
rupting elections ”. Unsanctioned
eff ectively means illegal.
The statement came a day after
Russia’s opposition held its larg-
est demonstration in years, when
50,000 people rallied in Moscow to call
for fair elections to the city council.
Opposition candidates have been sys-
tematically disqualifi ed from the race.
The rally was sanctioned by the gov-
ernment, but more than 130 people
were later detained by riot police a s
they moved towards Russia’s presi-
dential administration.
It was the third successive dem-
onstration in Moscow to end in mass
arrests. More than 1,000 protesters
were detained following unsanctioned
rallies on 27 July and 3 August.
Russia also detained 13 people on
charges of fomenting mass disorder
at the 27 July protest, a charge that
The ministry said it viewed “the
publishing of the illegal event’s
scheme, which was prepared by the
organisers, as an invitation to join the
event and a call for action.”
A senior German diplomat was also
summoned because the Deutsche
Welle news agency had allegedly sup-
ported the rallies on social media. The
news agency has rejected the claim.
Mirroring US inquiries about
Moscow’s interference in the 2016
presidential election, Russia’s par-
liament is planning to hold hearings
this week about foreign interference
in Russian elections.
Roskomnadzor did not threaten
specifi c measures against Google,
but said Russia would have the right
to retaliate if the company did not
halt the push notifi cations and other
advertising.
It is the fi rst time that Russia has
rebuked Google over this issue.
Roskomnadzor has previously fi ned
it thousands of pounds for failing to
fi lter sites banned by the government
from its search results.
Salvini clashes with US actor
over visit to migrant vessel
Lorenzo Tondo
Palermo
Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister,
Matteo Salvini, has clashed with Rich-
ard Gere over the migrant crisis in
the Mediterranean, suggesting Gere
should himself house those stranded
on rescue ships after the US actor
urged the Italian government to “stop
demonising asylum seekers”.
Gere, who is currently on the island
of Lampedusa, Sicily, after a visit
onboard a Spanish NGO ship, Proac-
tiva Open Arms , where he met some
of the 160 migrants the vessel rescued
in the strait of Sicily. The ship has been
stuck for 10 days off Lampedusa due to
Italy’s ban on landing migrants.
The 69 -year-old actor appeared
in a video message urging people to
support the charity and the people
onboard. “All hands onboard would
have been lost,” Gere said in the video.
“So, the people you see here on this
boat, they’re only here because of the
donations to Open Arms .”
Last week, Gere, who was holiday-
ing in Tuscany, travelled to Sicily and
joined the charity to deliver food and
supplies to the migrants.
“I already came to Lampedusa two
or three years ago to visit the migrants
hotspot,” Gere said, “ so I knew the sit-
uation fi rst-hand: they are people who
have lived horrible stories, they have
suff ered a lot. They call them migrants
but they are refugees who need help.”
Gere also compared the crisis in the
Mediterranean and the prohibition
of landing migrants with the Trump
administration’s policies on the border
with Mexico.
“This has to stop everywhere on
this planet now. And it will stop if we
say so,” Gere said, adding that he d idn’t
want to get into a political fi ght.
On Saturday, Salvini, who last
year declared Italy’s ports closed to
migrant rescue ships, replied to the
actor: “Given this generous millionaire
is voicing concern for the fate of the
Open Arms migrants, we thank him.
“He can take all the people aboard
back to Hollywood, on his private
plane,’’ Salvini said, “and support
them in his villas. Thank you, Richard!”
The Italian government has intro-
duced a new security decree, drafted
by Salvini, who is also the interior
minister, that would mean NGO rescue
boats bringing migrants to Italy with-
out permission could face fi nes of up
to €50,000 (£47,000).
The bill has been described by aid
groups as a “declaration of war against
the NGOs who are saving lives at sea ”.
Russian watchdog accuses YouTube
of interfering in sovereign aff airs
can carry a prison sentence of up to
15 years.
A suspect in the case, Dmitry Vas-
ilyev, who is diabetic, was reported
to be in intensive care after being
deprived of his insulin during an all-
night interrogation. His lawyer told
the Russian-language outlet MBKh
media that a medic had said Vasilyev
had such low blood sugar levels that
he may have suff ered brain damage,.
As protests have mushroomed in
the last month, Russian offi cials have
accused foreign agents of foment-
ing the discord. The foreign ministry
summoned the deputy head of the US
embassy last week because its web-
site had shared a map of the 3 August
protest, calling on US citizens to avoid
the area.
Sailing refl ects
Fastnet disaster
of 1979 to be
remembered
Rory Carroll
Ireland correspondent
I
t was the summer storm that
roared without warning into
the Celtic Sea, unleashing
monster waves that
ambushed a fl eet of 303 boats
competing in the Fastnet race.
Instead of skimming along the south
coast of the UK to the Fastnet Rock
off south-west Ireland, sailors found
themselves battling for life against
howling winds and walls of water.
Dozens of yachts capsized, trapping
crews in their cabins and tossing
others into the foam.
British, Irish and Dutch naval
vessels responded along with jets,
helicopters, tugs, trawlers, and
tankers – one of the UK’s largest
peace time rescue operations. By
the time it was over 15 sailors were
dead and hundreds more battered
and shaken. The 1979 Fastnet race ,
which started in balmy conditions
on 11 August and ended three
tumultuous days later, was one of
sailing ’s greatest disasters.
This week, 40 years later, a series
of commemorations will reunite
rescuers and rescued.
“Engaging with a painful and
horrifi c event of this kind is rarely
easy, but nonetheless requires
refl ection as well as remembrance,”
Ireland’s president, Michael D
Higgins, wrote in the foreword to
Fastnet: A Portrait, a booklet to
be distributed at a ceremony on
18 August in Cape Clear in County
Cork. It features portraits by Dan
Llywelyn Hall, a Welsh artist known
for painting the Queen , of Gerald
Butler, who operated the lighthouse
on Fastnet Rock and helped save
countless lives.
“What drew me was the acts of
human endurance and how all these
people all came together from all
these fractious organisations,” said
Llywelyn Hall, whose work will be
exhibited at the Royal Ocean Racing
Club in London next month.
A ceremony was held last week at
Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, where
the 600-mile biennial contest starts
and ends. The US crew of the VO70
Wizard last week won the overall
prize for the 2019 Rolex Fastnet
Race. It enjoyed benign conditions- plus a panoply of safety rules and
technology ushered in after 1979.
Man killed while
riding e-scooter on
French motorway
Kim Willsher
ParisA 30-year-old man has been killed after
being hit by a motorbike while riding
his e-scooter on a French motorway.
It is the third death linked to the
popular mode of transport in the Paris
region in four months, and has sparked
further safety concerns and renewed
calls for their regulation.
The accident happened at about
midnight on Friday on the A86 to the
south-west of central Paris.
The scooter rider was not wearing a
helmet and was reported ly travelling
in the fast lane when the motorbike hit
him from behind. Initial police reports
said it was not clear if the scooter had
lights. The motorcyclist suffered
multiple injuries and is in a serious
condition in hospital. Using e-scoot-
ers on motorways is banned in France.
The day before the accident, a
27-year-old woman suff ered serious
head injuries after falling from an
e-scooter she was using in a cycle lane
in Lyon. A few days earlier a 41-year-
old man had been seriously injured
after falling from his e-scooter in Lille.▲ The Fastnet Rock lighthouse, off
the County Cork coast of IrelandPart of the pack Vladimir Putin poses with members of the Night Wolves
motorcycle club before the Babylon’s Shadow motorbike show in Sevastopol,
Crimea. The Russian president has attended previous events put on by the
motorcycle gang, which has gained notoriety for its support of the Kremlin.PHOTOGRAPH: ALEXEI
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