World

A volunteer organisation run by ex-soldiers, Mozart says it wants to save lives in Ukraine by offering aid and military training — choosing its name as a “tongue in cheek” nod to the notorious Russian paramilitary group Wagner.

The two might both be named for famous composers, but those offering their efforts in Mozart say that is where the similarities end.

The group is staffed by volunteer army veterans giving humanitarian aid, medical evacuation and training Ukrainians in combat.

“By no means do we conduct military operations like the Wagner group does,” says 52-year-old Steve, walkie-talkie in hand.

Steve — who served in the Marines for 23 years — is at the wheel of a Jeep filled with food supplies from the NGO World Central Kitchen.

The three vehicles in his convoy are all filled to the brim with food for a village in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region.

After arriving, 260 parcels are piled up on the stage of the theatre in the village centre, to be later handed out to residents. 

“It doesn’t seem like a lot. But we’re a small organisation” he says.

Mozart can reach places “where bigger organisations won’t go”, he says, because it is more agile.

– ‘Tongue in cheek’ –

“Humanitarian aid helps us a lot,” says Maksim, a man in his sixties holding a loaf of bread. 

“I’m living off my small pension, it’s hard to survive in these times (of war).” 

The emptied cars can now also offer to take civilians to safer areas away from the frontline. 

Steve and others in the group — which varies from 10-25 members — are able to “evacuate civilians, adults, children, their pets.” 

Their mission seems remote from the Russian Wagner group.

Little is known about the shadowy paramilitary group which is believed to be linked to Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is himself an associate of President Vladimir Putin.

The presence of Wagner paramilitaries has been documented in Libya, Mali and Syria, among many other countries, as well as in Ukraine.

Naming the group Mozart was “a tongue in cheek” retort to the group, according to Andy Bain, a former US marine reserve officer. 

Mozart — which was set up after the war started by an ex-US commander and is funded by donations — provides military training, but Bain says what they teach is really “a lot of common sense.”

“A lot of these soldiers have never fired a weapon before,” says group chief operations officer Martin Wetterauer.

“Weapons are obviously very dangerous in the hands of people who don’t know how to use them.” 

– It’s a gun, ‘not a guitar’ –

In a field in the Donetsk region, Mozart’s foreign instructors take a group of around twenty Ukrainian soldiers through their paces. 

“The enemy is there! Bang, bang, bang!” an instructor shouts from the other side of the field as the soldiers advance into the open.

The soldiers swiftly throw themselves on the ground and simulate firing back.

After the exercise, their performance is reviewed by instructors who try to correct mistakes.

“What’s so complicated? In essence, what you have to do is just fire at the enemy!” one of the coaches shouts in English.

“Don’t hold your weapon like this, it’s not a guitar!” his interpreter tells a soldier. 

Georgii, a 32-year-old soldier in training, says he feels that his skills have improved through the course.

“That kind of training is very useful because even with combat experience, we can always learn new stuff,” he says. 

But a lot of the soldiers are beginners. 

Former Marines officer Wetterauer explains that a lot of Mozart’s training revolves around “battlefield survival ability” and “basics training”.

This includes knowing how to wear a bulletproof vest correctly, protecting yourself from enemy artillery by digging shelters, or providing medical care.

“We have a very small impact strategically on the outcome of this war, we know that,” Wetterauer says.

“But for us, it’s about saving lives.”

A super typhoon barrelled towards the Philippines Sunday and was on track to slam into the heavily populated main island of Luzon, forcing the evacuations of coastal communities, authorities said.

Super Typhoon Noru was packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 195 kilometres (121 miles) an hour after an unprecedented “explosive intensification”, the state weather forecaster said. 

The storm, the strongest to hit the Philippines this year, is expected to continue strengthening as it makes landfall around 80 kilometres northeast of the sprawling capital Manila in the afternoon or evening local time.

“We ask residents living in danger zones to adhere to calls for evacuation whenever necessary,” Philippine National Police chief General Rodolfo Azurin said.

The Philippines is regularly ravaged by storms, with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.

Weather forecaster Robb Gile said Noru’s rapid intensification as it neared land was “unprecedented”. The meteorology agency said its wind speeds had increased by 90 kilometres per hour in 24 hours. 

“Typhoons are like engines — you need a fuel and an exhaust to function,” said Gile.

“In the case of Karding, it has a good fuel because it has plenty of warm waters along its track and then there is a good exhaust in the upper level of the atmosphere — so it’s a good recipe for explosive intensification,” he said, using the local name for the storm.

In Manila, emergency personnel braced for the possibility of strong winds and heavy rain battering the city of more than 13 million people. 

Forced evacuations have started in some “high risk” areas of the capital, officials said.

“NCR is prepared. We are just waiting and hoping it will not hit us,” said Romulo Cabantac, regional director for the civil defense office, referring to the National Capital Region. 

– Calm before the storm –

Noru comes nine months after another super typhoon devastated swathes of the country, killing more than 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Residents in several municipalities in Quezon province, where this latest storm could make a direct hit, were being evacuated from their homes, said Mel Avenilla from the provincial disaster office.

In the neighbouring province of Aurora, residents of Dingalan municipality were being forced to seek shelter. 

“People living near the coast have been told to evacuate. We live away from the coast so we’re staying put so far. We’re more worried about the water from the mountains,” said Rhea Tan, 54, a restaurant manager in Dingalan.

Tan said residents were securing the roofs of their houses and boats were being taken to higher ground while the weather was still calm.

“We’re even more anxious if the weather is very calm, because that’s the usual indicator of a strong typhoon before it hits land,” Tan added.

Noru could have wind speeds of up to 205 kilometres per hour when it makes landfall, the weather bureau said. 

It is expected to weaken to a typhoon as it sweeps across central Luzon, before entering the South China Sea on Monday and heading towards Vietnam.

The weather bureau has warned of dangerous storm surges, widespread flooding and landslides as the storm dumps heavy rain.

It could topple coconut and mango trees, and cause “severe losses” to rice and corn crops in the heavily agricultural region, as well as inundate villages.

The coast guard reported more than 2,000 people had been left stranded by ferry cancellations as vessels took shelter ahead of the storm.

Classes have been cancelled and non-essential government services suspended for Monday. 

The Philippines — ranked among the most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change — is hit by an average of 20 storms every year.

Switzerland votes Sunday on a slew of issues, including a proposed ban on factory farming and divisive pension reform that would raise the retirement age for women.

After aborted attempts in 2004 and 2017, Bern is hoping to garner enough votes to “stabilise” Switzerland’s old-age security system, under pressure as life expectancy rises and the giant baby-boomer generation reaches retirement age.

The most controversial part of the reform would require women to work until the age of 65, the same age as the current retirement age for men, before receiving a full pension. They currently bow out a year earlier at 64.

Parliament approved the key measures, which include a sales tax hike, last year, but left-leaning parties and unions decry the reform “on the backs of women” and pushed the issue to a referendum under Switzerland’s direct democratic system.

– Gender pension gap –

While backers of the reform argue that men and women retiring at the same age is not unreasonable, the move has sparked significant pushback, especially from women.

Opponents argue that women face significant discrimination and a broad gender pay-gap in Switzerland, meaning they receive far smaller pensions than men.

They argue it is unfair to increase their retirement age without first addressing those issues.

In 2020, women in Switzerland on average received pensions nearly 35 percent smaller than men, according to the Swiss economy ministry.

Surveys indicate, however, that Swiss voters, who have twice rejected government pension reform plans, have warmed to the idea, even if a war of the sexes is bubbling.

In a recent Tamedia poll, 55 percent of those questioned supported it. But while 70 percent of men backed the reform, 58 percent of women opposed it, the findings said.

– Ban factory farms? –

Another hotly debated topic on the ballot is a popular proposal to ban intensive livestock farming, essentially eradicating factory farms in largely rural Switzerland.

The animal rights and welfare organisations behind the initiative want to make protecting the dignity of animals like cattle, chickens or pigs a constitutional requirement.

“We believe animal agriculture is one of the defining problems of our time,” animal welfare group Sentience, which presented the initiative, says on its website.

If accepted, the initiative — backed by left-leaning parties, Greenpeace and other environmental organisations — would impose stricter minimum requirements for animal-friendly housing and care, access to outdoors and slaughtering practices.

The new requirements would also extend to imports of animals and animal products.

The government and parliament oppose the initiative, insisting that Switzerland already has among the world’s strictest animal welfare laws.

Under current legislation, farms cannot keep more than 1,500 fattening pigs, 27,000 broiler chickens or 300 calves, basically ruling out the kinds of massive factory farms seen in other countries.

– Farmers opposed –

Bern has cautioned that tightening these rules further would significantly hike prices, while the import clause could impact relations with trading partners.

Such arguments appear to have convinced a growing number of Swiss and the most recent polls put the “no” camp in the lead. Farmers are sceptical and opposition is higher in rural areas then in cities.

The Swiss will also vote on a number of regional issues, including a vote in Bern canton that could lower the legal voting age from 18 to 16.

Most people vote in advance in Switzerland’s popular polls and referendums held every few months. On Sunday, ballot boxes will open for just a few hours before closing at noon (1000 GMT).

Initial results are expected by the early afternoon.

Italians began voting Sunday in an election expected to usher in the country’s first government led by the far-right since World War II, bringing eurosceptic populists to the heart of Europe.

The Brothers of Italy party, led by one-time Mussolini supporter Giorgia Meloni, is leading opinion polls and looks set to take office in a coalition with the far-right League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia parties.

Meloni, 45, who has campaigned on a motto of “God, country and family”, is hoping to become Italy’s first female prime minister.

Voting began at 0500 GMT and will close at 2100 GMT. AFP correspondents saw electors queueing in the morning at polling centres even before they opened.

Many voters are expected to pick Meloni, “the novelty, the only leader the Italians have not yet tried”, Wolfango Piccoli of the Teneo consultancy told AFP.

Brussels and the markets are watching closely, amid concern that Italy — a founding member of the European Union — may be the latest member to veer hard right less than two weeks after the far-right outperformed in elections in Sweden.

If she wins, Meloni will face challenges from rampant inflation to an energy crisis as winter approaches, linked to the conflict in Ukraine.

The Italian economy, the third largest in the eurozone, rebounded after the pandemic but is saddled with a whopping debt worth 150 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

– ‘Limited room for manoeuvre’ –

Meloni has dedicated her campaign to trying to prove she is ready despite her party never before being in power.

Brothers of Italy, which has roots in the post-fascist movement founded by supporters of dictator Benito Mussolini, pocketed just four percent of the vote during the last elections in 2018.

Meloni has moderated her views over the years, notably abandoning her calls for Italy to leave the EU’s single currency.

However, she insists her country must stand up for its national interests, backing Hungary in its rule of law battles with Brussels.

Her coalition wants to renegotiate the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund, arguing that the almost 200 billion euros Italy is set to receive should take into account the energy crisis aggravated by the Ukraine war.

But “Italy cannot afford to be deprived of these sums”, political sociologist Marc Lazar told AFP, which means Meloni actually has “very limited room for manoeuvre”.

The funds are tied to a series of reforms only just begun by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who called snap elections in July after his national unity coalition collapsed.

Despite her euroscepticism, Meloni strongly supports the EU’s sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, although her allies are another matter.

Berlusconi, the billionaire former premier who has long been friends with Vladimir Putin, faced an outcry this week after suggesting the Russian president was “pushed” into war by his entourage.

– ‘Woke ideologies’ –

A straight-speaking Roman raised by a single mum in a working-class neighbourhood, Meloni rails against what she calls “LGBT lobbies”, “woke ideology” and “the violence of Islam”.

She has vowed to stop the tens of thousands of migrants who arrive on Italy’s shores each year, a position she shares with Salvini, who is currently on trial for blocking charity rescue ships when he was interior minister in 2019.

The centre-left Democratic Party, led by former prime minister Enrico Letta, says Meloni is a danger to democracy. 

It also claims her government would pose a serious risk to hard-won rights such as abortion and will ignore global warming, despite Italy being on the front line of the climate emergency.

On the economy, Meloni’s coalition pledges to cut taxes while increasing social spending, regardless of the cost. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, they want the EU’s rules on public spending amended.

The last opinion polls two weeks before election day suggested one in four voters were backing Meloni.

However, around 20 percent of voters remain undecided, and there are signs she may end up with a smaller majority in parliament than expected.

In particular, support appears to be growing for the populist Five Star Movement in the poor south. 

The next government is unlikely to take office before the second half of October, and despite pledges from Meloni and Salvini to serve five years, history suggests they may struggle.

Italian politics are notoriously unstable. The country has had 67 governments since 1946.

Metallica and Mariah Carey on Saturday led an A-list of musicians, and President Joe Biden made a surprise video appearance, as the Global Citizen Festival sought to mobilize action against poverty and climate change.

Marking its 10th year, the six-hour festival brought thousands to New York’s Central Park and featured a sister show in Ghana’s capital Accra, where performers included American R&B great Usher and British grime icon Stormzy.

Global Citizen awards tickets to fans in exchange for their commitment to take action to eradicate extreme poverty — such as contacting elected representatives to encourage foreign aid — and coincides with the annual UN General Assembly in hopes of raising pressure on world leaders.

“We’re inspired and grateful for all the work you’ve done and want you to know — your fight is our fight,” First Lady Jill Biden said in a video appearance next to her husband.

President Biden — along with top Senate and House Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, who both appeared in person — highlighted a new climate package that is the most far-reaching legislation ever in the United States to spur clean energy.

But Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados warned that action against climate change cannot come quickly enough for islands such as hers.

“Yes, my friends, our time is running out,” she said.

Thrash metal legends Metallica got the crowd headbanging with eight songs including a version of “Nothing Else Matters” featuring vocalist Mickey Guyton, who has been outspoken about her experiences as one of the most prominent Black women in country music.

Guests sought to raise awareness on an array of issues including women’s rights, especially in light of major protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was allegedly beaten to death after her arrest by morality police who enforce clerical rulers’ dress codes on women.

“I have seen my sisters forced to flee abuse, oppression and femicide globally, women like Mahsa Jina Amini,” said Anuscheh Amir-Khalili, a refugee advocate in Berlin of Iranian descent.

“We must speak up for oppressed women. I stand here for them,” she told the crowd.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen, appearing on stage, said, “We have to take care of our girls and our women. They deserve it.”

She highlighted recent pledges by Europe including 600 million euros for food security in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific amid rising hunger in much of the world worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mariah Carey was introduced by leading ballerina Misty Copeland, who called the singer with her famed vocal range an inspiration, and was accompanied by a choreographed dance for her classic song “Hero.”

Other performers included Maneskin, the new-generation Italian glam rockers who put on an energetic set, Spanish pop star Rosalia, and the Jonas Brothers, with Nick Jonas’ wife, Indian screen star Priyanka Chopra, serving as master of ceremonies.

Faced with exploding energy and ingredient costs, German baker Tobias Exner has installed new energy-efficient ovens, shortened his opening hours and even considered baking at lower temperatures.

But “it just doesn’t taste the same without a good crust”, he said, adding that in any case such efforts could do little to counter the existential crisis he and other bakers are facing.

“If the conditions don’t change, then sooner or later a large share of bakeries in Germany will simply no longer exist,” Exner told AFP.

Bakeries in Germany have been among the businesses hardest hit by the economic fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The war has sent energy prices spiralling across Europe, but especially in Germany, which was previously heavily dependent on Russian gas.

“Bakeries all have ovens. Seventy percent of artisanal bakeries have gas ovens and gas prices are going through the roof,” said Friedemann Berg, managing director of the German Bakers’ Federation.

And two of the main ingredients used by bakers — flour and oil — are among those that have been affected by blockades at Ukrainian ports. 

Exner’s business is relatively large with 220 staff and 36 branches in Berlin and the surrounding area, leaving it better placed than many to survive the crisis — but even he is struggling.

Wheat is now 2.5 times more expensive than before the crisis, he said, while the cost of a litre of oil has risen from around 82 cents to more than three euros ($2.91).

– Dough in the dark –

Energy bills for the business, meanwhile, have almost quadrupled compared with 2020. 

“You can see that the calculations no longer work,” Exner said to the hum of machines at the company’s main production site in the town of Beelitz.

But Exner is reluctant to pass the cost increases on to his customers, who he simply believes “would not pay those kinds of prices”.

In central Berlin, the mood on the ground appears to confirm his fears.

“Even more? No way. It’s getting extortionate,” said unemployed Gloria Thomas, 56, when asked whether she would be prepared to pay more for her favourite loaf.

Many bakeries in Germany have already gone under as a result of recent cost increases, with others staging protests to demand urgent help from the government.

And there is more at stake than just bread rolls, according to Exner.

“These businesses are often the most important institution in the village — they are at once grocery store, social centre, post office, etc.”

In early September, around 800 German bakeries served customers in the dark for a day to draw attention to their plight.

– Insolvency blunder –

Germany’s centre-left government has announced relief measures worth almost 100 billion euros to tackle inflation, but small businesses have so far been largely excluded from the help.

Worse still, they were left feeling insulted by controversial comments by Economy Minister Robert Habeck earlier this month.

Asked on a TV panel show whether he thought Germany was heading for a wave of insolvencies, Habeck replied: “I can imagine that certain industries will simply stop producing for a while.”

The comments provoked anger from bakers in particular, who accused Habeck of having no understanding of their industry.

“Habeck is probably not a stupid person, but the question is, is he qualified for the job he has right now? And I would say no,” said Exner.

The Bakers’ Confederation is calling for “quick and unbureaucratic” financial aid.

Bakeries can shave off costs here and there but they “can only do so much”, according to Berg.

If government help does not arrive soon “the future looks bleak,” he said.

“It could be that many businesses have to give up their operations or simply file for bankruptcy.”