Czech shoe company Botas has been saved by Vasky, a 25-year-old shoe company founded by Vaclav Stanek after he raised "tens of millions" of koruna to buy the business. Botas, which has made trainers since the 1920s, is known for providing footwear to Soviet sports stars and legends like Olympic champions Emil Zatopek and Vera Caslavska. The company still operates a network of stores across the Czech Republic and produces shoes for Nordic walkers and hikers. Botas was seeing a fall in output of trainers to 10,000 pairs per year and ceased production altogether at the start of this year. Vasky has six standalone shops and two production sites, turning over €11.1m last year, and will move production of Botas's shoes 100 km from their factory base in Skutec to their main site in Zlin.
With Ukraine's economy and consumer spending slumping dramatically, many businesses are turning to new markets, particularly those in Poland and Eastern Europe. Almost 5 million Ukrainians have been registered as leaving to reside in Europe, including over 1.5 million in Poland. Some firms are also looking towards Latvia and the Czech Republic, whilst others have acquired foreign brands to help tap into existing markets as well as expand in new ones, and two businesses are investing in production expansion in Ukraine and Lithuania to back up a forecasted 60-70% increase in exports by 2028.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian democratic opposition leader, has been sentenced to 25 years in jail after surviving two poison attacks. Kara-Murza had campaigned against Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the country’s war in Ukraine. His sentencing is the harshest ever imposed on a political prisoner under Putin’s rule. He was formerly a spokesperson for Russian political prisoners until he became one himself. One of the main authors of Magnitsky laws, which regulate freezing assets and banning visas of human rights violators, Kara-Murza’s case has been supported by Canada, with Justin Trudeau announcing the implementation of targeted Magnitsky-style sanctions against those implicated in the case. Last weekend, the US followed Canada’s example and imposed its own sanctions against those who persecuted Kara-Murza. Canada has led calls for honorary citizenship to be granted to Kara-Murza in order to challenge Putin’s regime.
Hotel chains are competing to attract the business of American pet owners, with 23 million US households acquiring a new pet since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Mars Pet Nutrition. A report shows that over half of Americans expect to take their dogs on holiday with them. Hilton claimed that "pet-friendly" was the third most popular filter on its website in 2021. However, travelling with pets can be challenging. Dogs struggle with time differences and changes to routine, and eating and elimination can also be problematic. Hotels are offering pet-friendly facilities, including experiences like "bark-uterie boards". Virgin Hotels Chicago is ranked as one of the city's most pet-friendly hotels by pet-care website, rover.com. Guests are not required to cage dogs in the rooms, nor are they banned from leaving them unattended. The Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago has weight restrictions of 25lbs on dogs. Over two-thirds of US households own pets, according to the American Pet Products Association.
Far-right activists in Melbourne are turning to "breadcrumbing," a slow and steady process of introducing extreme ideas into a debate, in a bid to shape public discourse, according to Deakin University extremism expert Dr Josh Roose. The strategy involves gradually dropping chunks of information into online debates, in an attempt to increase the number of potential recruits to the far-right. The technique is used widely among members of anti-government group MyPlace, which has spawned more than 100 offshoots across Australia, despite not all members adhering to neo-Nazi or far-right beliefs. In a confidential briefing this week, Roose and other experts helped more than 100 Australian councillors deal with the far-right and hate speech.
U.S. blanks Denmark for 5th straight win at men's hockey worlds
CBC
23-05-20 14:31
The United States beat Denmark 3-0 in the men's ice hockey world championship, remaining unbeaten thanks to five wins from five games. Cutter Gauthier broke the goalless deadlock midway through the final period on a power play, before Alex Tuch and Rocco Grimaldi finished things off. The Americans lead Group A with 15 points and have now secured a spot in the quarterfinals of the competition.
Malaysia’s traditional seafaring industries are struggling as climate change and bureaucratic hurdles hit artisanal fishing communities, shipping and oil and gas sector workers. The country’s maritime sector has long been strong, but has suffered from job losses recently due to a lack of sea access and income, alongside bureaucratic barriers on where shipping crews can work and reduced exports. The pandemic has exacerbated the problems. Fishing communities have seen their way of life eroded while those seeking seafaring jobs are able to do far less of the work than previously. The country still has an estimated 35,000 seafarers, many of whom are out of work and paying agents to find positions. Malaysia's fishery industry is worth around RM15bn ($3.3bn). Seafarers are keen to resume work as one month at sea can be worth four times more than the median monthly land-based salary of MYR2,250.
Spain’s Maria Perez breaks women’s 35km race walk word record by an astonishing 29 seconds
CNN
23-05-21 12:46
Maria Perez, a Spanish race walker, has broken the women's 35km race walk world record by an astonishing 29 seconds at the European Race Walking Team Championships. Her time of two hours, 37 minutes and 15 seconds was more than eight minutes ahead of her nearest challenger. The previous record was set by Peru's Kimberly Garcia in March of this year.
Russia's seaborne crude oil exports to China and India continue to rise and show no sign of the output cuts promised by the country in March, in response to Western sanctions and limits on oil price exports. Four-week average seaborne shipments rose for a sixth straight week to 4 million barrels a day, and flows are now up 15% since the start of April. Last week, Putin reiterated Russia's commitment to the OPEC+ producer group and the output cuts agreement, saying that all actions, including voluntary production cuts, are connected to the need to support global market prices. However, analysts have suggested that Russia is using stockpiles to maintain its current level of exports.
It is feared that Russia’s reliance on a shadow fleet of ageing tankers to transport its oil to China and India may be becoming increasingly problematic, as a Chinese port increases checks on older vessels, causing some cargoes to get held up and creating concerns around this group of vessels. A Moscow-based thinktank, cited by the FT, claims that Russia’s long-haul destinations to Asia are more costly and time-consuming than its previous northern European short-haul routes, however. Russia’s exports to northern European countries fell to zero in the four weeks to 19 May.
The Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Japan on 28 and 29 May has triggered another round of confrontational statements with China. A G-7 communiqué said that Beijing must do more to stop Russia's invasion of Ukraine, condemned its so-called "malign" trade practices and vowed to "foster resilience to economic coercion" by shielding their economies from having too much exposure to China's thriving market and export industry. However, the communiqué also stated that the group's nations "stand prepared to build constructive and stable relations with China." China summoned the Japanese ambassador on 30 May for a dressing down over what a Chinese diplomat termed the G-7's "bloc confrontation and Cold War mentality". A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement lambasted the G-7's "bullying". It began: "The era when a few developed countries in the West willfully interfered in the internal affairs of other countries and manipulated global affairs is gone forever." The summit is seen as the latest proof of increasing Western concern over China's influence. Public opinion has been hardened by Beijing's continent-wide, ambitious infrastructure projects, its belligerence over self-ruled Taiwan and its alleged failure to condemn Russia's presence in Ukraine.
