MOSCOW — The head of Russia’s delegation in talks with Ukraine this week says that Kyiv’s readiness to consider a neutral status would meet a key Russian demand.
Vladimir Medinsky said that, during Tuesday’s talks in Istanbul, Ukraine submitted a set of proposals including its readiness to adopt a non-bloc, nuclear-free status and drop its bid to join NATO.
He said Ukraine also signaled its readiness not to host foreign military bases and to hold joint drills with foreign militaries only in consultation with countries serving as guarantors of a peace deal, which would include Russia.
Medinsky said in televised comments that the proposals signaled Ukraine’s readiness to reach agreement “for the first time in years,” adding that “if it fulfills the obligations, the threat of creating a NATO bridgehead on the Ukrainian territory will be removed.”
GRAND PORTAGE, Minn. (AP) — To administer this COVID test, Todd Kautz had to lay on his belly in the snow and worm his upper body into the narrow den of a hibernating black bear. Training a light on its snout, Kautz carefully slipped a long cotton swab into the bear’s nostrils five times.
For postdoctoral researcher Kautz and a team of other wildlife experts, tracking the coronavirus means freezing temperatures, icy roads, trudging through deep snow and getting uncomfortably close to potentially dangerous wildlife.
They’re testing bears, moose, deer and wolves on a Native American reservation in the remote north woods about 5 miles from Canada. Like researchers around the world, they are trying to figure out how, how much and where wildlife is spreading the virus.
Scientists are concerned that the virus could evolve within animal populations – potentially spawning dangerous viral mutants that could jump back to people, spread among us and reignite what for now seems to some people like a waning crisis.
The coronavirus pandemic has served as a stark and tragic example of how closely animal health and human health are linked. While the origins of the virus have not been proven, many scientists say it likely jumped from bats to humans, either directly or through another species that was being sold live in Wuhan, China.
And now the virus has been confirmed in wildlife in at least 24 U.S. states, including Minnesota. Recently, an early Canadian study showed someone in nearby Ontario likely contracted a highly mutated strain from a deer.
Minneapolis public school teachers and students returned to the classroom Tuesday after members of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers reached a tentative agreement with the Minneapolis School District, ending a nearly three-week strike.
The strike affected around 28,500 students and 4,500 teachers and educational support professionals. The MFT’s demands included higher wages, limits on class sizes and retention of educators of color.
“The conditions across this country and education for many years, especially in low income neighborhoods and neighborhoods of majority students of color, are not okay,” Sonia Núñez-Gibbs, a Roosevelt High School educational support professional, said. “The people that are keeping it humane are the staff, education support professionals, cafeteria workers and teachers… and if you don’t prioritize our mental health or our physical needs, there’s only so long that we can do that.”
Outside of Roosevelt High School, educators eagerly welcomed students back. Principal Christian Alberto Ledesma expressed gratitude that the new contract had strong developments in protecting educators of color.
“It provides a level of care for workers that they deserve and we all know when people are taken care of, they’re even more inclined to do great things,” Ledesma said.
While Roosevelt High School students were out of school during the strike, some staff in the district called students’ families to check in on what they needed. Ledesma emphasized that school is a place beyond academics, it is a place that gives students access to counselors, mental health professionals and food.
“I’m feeling a mix of emotions and I’m expecting the same for students,” health careers coordinator and teacher Kari Anderson Slade said. “I have to have my own kids at home that go to Minneapolis Public Schools, so I have been feeling it at home, too.”