Can Sunil Kanugolu bring India’s Modi down, 10 years after helping him win?
A small crack in one of the pillars supporting the world’s largest lift-irrigation project was the opening that Sunil Kanugolu was looking for as he shepherded the election campaign of the opposition Congress party in the southern Indian state of Telangana late last year. Up against the regional Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party whose leader K Chandrashekhar Rao had ruled Telangana since the state’s birth a decade earlier, the Congress, riding on disenchantment over alleged corruption and nepotism, was polling well. But Kanugolu, the in-house election mastermind of the Indian National Congress or Congress party, wanted something more — something that would drive home his party’s advantage, based on a mantra that’s central to his approach. “No election is ever won by logic. Emotions win elections,” the 40-year-old says often, according to a close confidant who requested anonymity. In Telangana, a member of Kanugolu’s team found a photograph of the small crack in the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project that morphed into a poll strategy to topple the BRS from power. Mock ATM machines, branded as “Kaleshwaram ATM”, were set up in different parts of Telangana and photos of Congress workers inserting fake currency notes into the slot — which was the chief minister’s mouth — went viral. In the story that the Congress was telling, the project, constructed at a staggering cost of $9.8bn and being touted as a symbol of Telangana pride, was a crumbling testament to the BRS’ brazen corruption. The campaign was a classic example from Kanugolu’s election strategy playbook. “I’m not a believer in fighting elections with multiple, three-four-five items. There has to be one single narrative that you keep pushing and get the entire party, entire ecosystem, resources at your disposal to rally around. Other issues are sprinklings that you add to speeches and stuff like that,” Kanugolu’s confidant recalls him saying. In Telangana, that “sprinkling” included publicising welfare schemes the Congress would implement for women, farmers, youth, the elderly and poor families if voted to power. “Within about a week there was a three to nine percent swing in the vote share on the basis of the promises,” a researcher with Inclusive Minds, the Bengaluru-headquartered election consultancy firm that Kanugolu runs for the Congress, told Al Jazeera. The Congress won a clear majority and formed the government in Telangana. A decade ago, Kanugolu, a former consultant with McKinsey, was a member of the team that strategised, shaped and implemented Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial campaign. Now, a decade later, he is one of the top political consultants in the country and is working with the Congress to bring down PM Modi in the national elections that began on April 19 with the first phase of voting, and will be conducted in seven phases ending on June 1. But the challenge Kanugolu faces is not just from Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but his own Congress party as well. The Congress party has been out of power federally for 10 years, and has just 52 members of parliament (MPs) in the 543-member lower house of Indian parliament, the Lok Sabha. In May 2022, when Kanugolu officially joined the Congress, he was inducted into an eight-member “Task Force-2024”. The plan was to let him lead the Congress’s campaigns in nine states that went to polls for their regional governments in 2023 — and then tackle the 2024 general elections. But internal politics within the Congress derailed the state election plan and the task force failed to take off, forcing Kanugolu to narrow his focus and ambition. He is now working on a plan B, focussing on 100-120 constituencies where the Congress either has a winning chance or wants to put up a fight as a matter of prestige. The general hired to win India’s 2024 election war by launching a full-frontal attack on Modi’s BJP is now busy managing a hundred or so snipers and trying to make sure they don’t miss their targets. “Political consultants are not magicians. They play an important but limited role if a party is in good shape,” Sanjay Kumar, co-director of Lokniti, a New Delhi-based research organisation that studies public opinion during and between elections, told Al Jazeera. “Is there a magician who can make the Congress win the 2024 elections? Even 50 magicians can’t make the Congress win.” Narendra Modi, then chief minister of the state of Gujarat, addresses the public via a 3D projection as part of his campaign in the 2014 national election that made him prime minister, in Ahmadabad, India, Friday, April 11, 2014. Kanugolu was a part of the team that crafted Modi’s campaign [Ajit Solanki/AP Photo] Crack team Ahead of the 2014 national election, Modi, then the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, roped in public health specialist Prashant Kishor to create a tech-savvy, data-driven election consultancy, much like future US President Barack Obama’s in 2008, to catapult him on to the national stage. Kishor in turn brought in Kanugolu, among other bright, ambitious professionals, and together they set up Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG). They conducted extensive surveys to understand what motivated people’s voting decisions, studied past voting patterns, tested what resonated with people and created a campaign strategy for the BJP by putting Modi at its centre. “There are only two ways to win elections — either you make your line big, or you cut the other person’s line,” Abhimanyu Bharti, a former political consultant with CAG, who now runs the online School of Politics, told Al Jazeera. The CAG used both these strategies effectively. It pulled out all the stops to launch a powerful campaign to exploit the rising anger against the Congress’s inefficient and corrupt government at the centre. Millions of dollars were spent to create Brand Modi and to project him as an able administrator, a decisive leader who had brought development, foreign investment and prosperity to his home state of Gujarat. A blitzkrieg of 3D vans in almost every Lok Sabha constituency beamed Modi’s
US chef’s bid to own ‘chili crunch’ name raises ire in Indonesia, Malaysia
Medan, Indonesia – When Michelle Tew, the owner of Malaysia-based food company Homiah, received a cease and desist letter from American-Korean celebrity chef David Chang last month, she felt “sadness and betrayal”. The letter informed Tew that she had 90 days to stop using the term “chili crunch” on the labels of her sambal – a chilli-based condiment popular across Southeast Asia – as Chang had trademarked the phrase. “David Chang is such a large name in the Asian-American food community and it felt very personal, even though I don’t know him personally,” Tew told Al Jazeera. “The Asian food community is really like a family and, to go after a woman-owned business, to even think of that at all and not to have a friendly conversation first, I really wondered where his compassion was.” Chang, who owns the Momofuku restaurant chain in the US and has since abandoned his trademark claim, began selling jars of “Chili Crunch” in 2020, but he is far from the first person to put such a product on the market. David Chang has come under fire for attempting to enforce a trademark for the term ‘chili crunch’ [Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo] Chilli-based condiments have been used across Asia since time immemorial. In English, they have gone by various names, including chilli crunch, chilli crisp and chilli oil, depending on their consistency and the proportions of ingredients. Tew, who learned to cook from her Malaysian grandmother, chose to call her product “Sambal Chili Crunch”, as sambal, which typically includes ingredients such as chillies, shrimp paste, garlic and palm sugar, is not widely known outside of Southeast Asia and she needed to find a way to explain it to a foreign audience. The practice of trying to trademark generic food terms is not unique to Chang or the US food and beverage industry. Arie Parikesit, a culinary guide who runs the Kelana Rasa food and tour business, said that while Chang had been trying to “monopolise” the term “chili crunch”, there had been similar cases in his native Indonesia. “A similar thing happened in the Indonesian food and beverage world when the term ‘kopitiam’ [coffee shop] was accepted as a brand right submitted by a company that had recently been established and forced classic kopitiam entities that were decades old not to use this brand,” Parikesit told Al Jazeera. “Trade name monopolies like this are clearly unhealthy and, instead of promoting Asian cuisine more widely, as David Chang and Momofuku have done, it creates a bad atmosphere among Asian food and condiment players.” “Small heritage companies will also be affected. At a time where collaboration is key, this kind of old-style rivalry deserves to be left behind,” he added. The need for a collaborative approach is underscored by the difficulty Southeast Asian food and beverage players face trying to get a foot in the door outside of the region. Tew of Homiah said that Southeast Asian food is not widely known in many parts of the world, particularly compared with other cuisines. “If you go to a supermarket in the US, there will be two whole aisles dedicated to olive oil, which is just one product. Then you might find half an aisle or a stand which has food from ‘other’ places in it, like Southeast Asian cuisine mixed together with other cuisines like Mexican.” Jun Yi Loh, a Malaysian food writer and recipe developer, agreed that Malaysian food terms are not necessarily easy to grasp, which is why descriptors such as “chili crunch” need to be used. “I’ve long held the opinion that one of the key reasons Malaysian food hasn’t blown up in the way that Singaporean or Thai food has in recent years is that our food isn’t as easy to describe or package in a sort of elevator pitch way,” Loh told Al Jazeera. Michelle Tew, the owner of Malaysia-based food company Homiah, says she felt ‘betrayed’ after receiving a cease and desist letter [Courtesy of Michelle Tew] After weeks of outcry over Momofuku’s cease and desist letters, which were sent to dozens of small businesses in the US, Chang last week backed down, saying on The Dave Chang Show podcast: “I understand why people are upset, and I’m truly sorry.” In a statement sent to Al Jazeera, Momofuku said: “When we created Chili Crunch, we wanted a name to differentiate our product from the broader chilli crisp category. We believed the name ‘Chili Crunch’ reflected the uniqueness of our product, which blends flavours from multiple culinary traditions, and bought a pre-existing trademark for the name.” Momofuku said it had taken feedback from the community on board and now understood that the term “chili crunch” carried a broader meaning. “We have no interest in ‘owning’ a culture’s terminology and we will not be enforcing the trademark going forward,” the company said. While Chang may have done a u-turn, the episode has nonetheless left a nasty taste in the mouths of some of those promoting Southeast Asian cuisine abroad. Loh said the debacle had brought to light the legal tribulations that can come with running a business in a foreign market. “It will factor into the minds of small business owners for sure,” he told Al Jazeera. “I believe this event will be remembered as a frivolous case, initiated by Momofuku and David Chang with tonnes of hubris and very little thought,” Auria Abraham, the owner of Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen, a food company selling sambal, spice blends and kaya, told Al Jazeera. Abraham, who moved to the US in the 1990s before launching her first product, Hot Chilli Sambal in 2013, said that the Momofuku furore has sparked a wider debate around who “owns” food. “We have to accept and understand that no single country, entity or person can lay claim to things like condiments, ingredients or recipes,” she said. Abraham said that Malaysian food has been shaped for centuries by immigrants who brought recipes that were shared, adopted and then modified to reflect the ingredients available in different regions. “With
Google fires 28 staff after protests against cloud contract with Israel
Tech giant says employees engaged in ‘completely unacceptable behaviour’ during sit-in at company offices. Google has fired 28 employees following a sit-down protest over the tech giant’s contract to provide cloud computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli government The terminations come after the group No Tech for Apartheid on Tuesday occupied Google offices in California and New York to protest the $1.2bn contract known as Project Nimbus. Video of the demonstrations shared on social media showed police arresting employees in the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. In a statement on Thursday, Google said that physically impeding employees and preventing them from accessing company facilities was a “clear violation of our policies and completely unacceptable behaviour”. “After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety,” a spokesperson said. “We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed.” Google also denied that the contract was related to weapons or intelligence services. In a blog post, Google CEO Sundar Pichai issued a veiled warning to protesting employees. “We have a culture of vibrant, open discussion that enables us to create amazing products and turn great ideas into action. That’s important to preserve. But ultimately we are a workplace and our policies and expectations are clear: This is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform, or to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics,” Pichai said. “This is too important a moment as a company for us to be distracted.” No Tech for Apartheid accused Google of retaliation and said those fired included staff who had not directly participated in the protests. “This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers. In the three years that we have been organising against Project Nimbus, we have yet to hear from a single executive about our concerns,” it said in a statement posted on Medium. No Tech For Apartheid also described claims that protesters had defaced property and physically impeded other employees’ work as a “lie”. “Even the workers who were participating in a peaceful sit-in and refusing to leave did not damage property or threaten other workers. Instead, they received an overwhelmingly positive response and shows of support,” the group said. Adblock test (Why?)
US imposes new sanctions on Iran after attack on Israel
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Sanctions on Iran’s missile and drone programmes come as fears mount over possibility of greater regional escalation.
Photos: The destruction of the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza
[unable to retrieve full-text content] The Israeli army left a trail of destruction when it withdrew from the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Students rename Canadian university buildings after Palestinian places
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Student activists at a university in Canada have ‘renamed’ dozens of campus buildings to places in Palestine.
Georgia advances ‘foreign agents’ bill as 20,000 rally against it
The ruling party suddenly reintroduced the bill earlier this month, after mass protests forced its withdrawal last year. The Georgian parliament has advanced a controversial “foreign influence” bill through its first reading, as thousands joined a third day of anti-government protests. The bill, first presented early in 2023 and withdrawn amid fierce public opposition, requires media and civil society groups to register as being under “foreign influence” if they get more than 20 percent of their funding from overseas. Critics say the bill mirrors a repressive Russian law on “foreign agents” that has been used against independent news media and groups seen as being at odds with the Kremlin and will undermine Tbilisi’s aspirations for closer European Union ties and, ultimately, membership. In a vote boycotted by the opposition in the 150-seat parliament, 83 politicians from the ruling Georgian Dream party backed the bill. Some 20,000 people blocked traffic in front of the parliament building in the capital, Tbilisi, to show their opposition to the measure. “No to the Russian law!” they shouted after listening to the Georgian national anthem and European Union’s Ode to Joy. Speaking at the rally, opposition member of parliament Aleksandre Ellisashvili condemned politicians who voted for the bill as “traitors” and said the rest of Georgia would show them that “people are power, and not the traitor government”. The Black Sea nation was once part of the Soviet Union but secured its independence in 1991 as the USSR collapsed. Once seen as a democratic reformer, the current ruling party led by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has been accused of trying to steer Georgia towards closer ties with Russia. “Today is a sad day for Georgia because our government has taken another step towards Russia and away from Europe,” protester Makvala Naskidashvili told the AFP news agency. “But I am also happy because I see such unity among the youth,” the 88-year-old added. “They are proud Europeans and will not let anyone spoil their European dream.” Protest rallies were also held in several other cities across Georgia, including the second largest city of Batumi, Interpress news agency reported. Derailing Georgia Thousands have been taking to the streets of Tbilisi since Monday to show their opposition to the draft law with riot police chasing demonstrators through the labyrinth of narrow streets near parliament, beating them and making arrests. Kobakhidze, known for anti-Western rhetoric while insisting that he is committed to Georgia’s European aspirations, said the law would boost the financial transparency of NGOs funded by Western institutions. The only change in wording from the previous draft says organisations that receive 20 percent or more of their funding from overseas would have to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” rather than as “agents of foreign influence”. In an online statement on Wednesday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the bill’s passage through parliament as “a very concerning development” and warned that “the final adoption of this legislation would negatively impact Georgia’s progress on its EU path”. “This law is not in line with EU core norms and values,” Borrell said, stressing that the country’s “vibrant civil society” was a key part of its bid for EU membership. Washington has also voiced concerns that the law would “derail Georgia from its European path”. Amnesty International urged Georgia’s authorities to “immediately stop their incessant efforts to impose repressive legislation on the country’s vibrant civil society.” The ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced the bill to parliament earlier this month, in a surprise announcement ahead of parliamentary elections in October. To become law, the bill has to pass second and third readings in parliament and secure presidential backing. But Georgian Dream’s commanding majority in the legislature means it would be able to pass those further stages and vote down a presidential veto. Adblock test (Why?)
India election 2024 phase 1: Who votes and what’s at stake?
EXPLAINER A total of 102 constituencies in 21 states will vote on April 19 for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The first of seven phases of the Indian national election is set to kick off on April 19. These elections are for the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of parliament. The party or coalition that secures a majority of the seats in the Lok Sabha will form the next government. It is the world’s – and history’s – largest ever democratic exercise, with 969 million registered voters eligible to cast their vote using 5.5 million electronic voting machines over 44 days. The votes will be counted and results will be announced on June 4. As a multiparty democracy, India’s elections will see a range of national and regional parties competing for votes. But two principal coalitions are directly facing off as contenders to lead the nation: the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and a coalition of 28 parties, called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), led by the main opposition, the Indian National Congress. Who votes in phase 1? In the first phase, 102 constituencies within 21 states and union territories are voting, including: Tamil Nadu: All 39 of the state’s seats Rajasthan: Twelve out of the state’s 25 seats Uttar Pradesh: Eight out of the state’s 80 seats Madhya Pradesh: Six out of the state’s 29 seats Maharashtra: Five out of the state’s 48 seats Uttarakhand: All five of the state’s seats Assam: Five out of the state’s 14 seats Bihar: Four out of the state’s 40 seats West Bengal: Three out of the state’s 42 seats Arunachal Pradesh: Both of the state’s two seats Manipur: Both of the state’s two seats Meghalaya: Both of the state’s two seats Chhattisgarh: One out of the state’s 11 seats Mizoram: The state’s sole seat Nagaland: The state’s sole seat Sikkim: The state’s sole seat Tripura: One out of the state’s two seats Jammu and Kashmir: One out of five seats Andaman and Nicobar Islands: The union territory’s sole seat Lakshadweep: The union territory’s sole seat Puducherry: The union territory’s sole seat (Al Jazeera) Which are some of the key constituencies voting on April 19? Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu: Prime Minister Modi’s BJP has traditionally struggled to break through the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where it won zero out of the 39 seats in 2019. This time, the party is betting on a rising star, the party’s state leader K Annamalai, to deliver an unlikely win from Coimbatore. Nagpur, Maharashtra: Federal transport minister Nitin Gadkari – a senior BJP leader who some political analysts view as a potential challenger to Modi – is contesting from Nagpur, a city famous for its oranges. Nagpur is also the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu majoritarian umbrella group that is the ideological mentor of the BJP. Manipur: Both of the state’s two seats will vote in part in the first phase on April 19, and in part in the second phase, on April 26. The elections are being held in the backdrop of ethnic strife that has effectively fractured Manipur between its plains – where the majority Meitei community predominantly lives – and the hills – where the Kuki community lives. More than 200 people have been killed in clashes since last May between the two communities, with many blaming the state’s BJP government for a biased role and for its failure to stop the violence. Will it pay a political price? Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh: The epicentre of anti-Muslim riots in 2013 that some observers believe helped the BJP win big in India’s most populous state in 2014 (72 out of 80 seats), Muzaffarnagar votes on April 19. The constituency, and its neighbouring seats, have a significant Muslim population, but the BJP’s ability to consolidate Hindu votes helped it win in 2014 and 2019. When does voting start and end? Voting will start at 7am local time (01:30 GMT) and end at 6pm local time (12:30 GMT). Voters in the queue by closing time get to vote even if that means keeping polling booths open longer. Who rules states that vote in the first phase? Tamil Nadu is governed by an alliance led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, comprising parties from INDIA. The BJP rules in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. The BJP is also in power through alliances in Maharashtra, Bihar, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Puducherry. Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep are federally governed with no democratically elected government. Jammu and Kashmir is also ruled from New Delhi, with no state elections since the Modi government scrapped its special status in 2019. West Bengal is governed by the All India Trinamool Congress Party, a part of the INDIA alliance. A coalition of six regional parties, the Zoram People’s Movement, governs Mizoram. Who won these Lok Sabha seats in 2019? In the last Lok Sabha election, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) – many of whose members are now part of the INDIA grouping – won 45 of the 102 seats that will vote on April 19. The BJP-led NDA won 42 of these seats. In Tamil Nadu, the biggest prize in the first phase, the NDA alliance won one seat: This went to the regional All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The BJP itself did not win any seats. The other 38 seats in Tamil Nadu went to the UPA, with the Congress winning eight, the DMK winning 23, and other allies winning the rest. In Assam, a delimitation exercise last year changed the organisation of constituencies. This year, Kaziranga has replaced what was Kaliabor in 2019, with some changes. The Congress won this seat in 2019. Sonitpur has replaced Tezpur, which the BJP won in 2019. The second phase of voting will be on April 26. Adblock test (Why?)
Tesla asks shareholders to restore Elon Musk’s $56bn pay deal
Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm says company believes in ‘big risks for the chance of big rewards’. Tesla has asked shareholders to reapprove a record-breaking $56bn pay package for CEO Elon Musk after a US judge rejected the deal. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm said the board of directors supported the original pay deal and believed in “big risks for the chance of big rewards”. “Elon has not been paid for any of his work for Tesla for the past six years that has helped to generate significant growth and stockholder value,” Denholm wrote. “That strikes us – and the many stockholders from whom we already have heard – as fundamentally unfair, and inconsistent with the will of the stockholders who voted for it.” Shareholders, who will gather for their annual meeting on June 13, will also be asked to approve a proposal to move the company’s corporate home to Texas. The proposals come on the heels of a difficult period for the electric carmaker. Tesla’s vehicle deliveries fell by 8.5 percent in the first quarter, and the company’s shares have fallen 37 percent so far this year even as the S&P 500 has risen about 6 percent. Musk earlier this week told staff in a memo that the company would lay off more than 10 percent of its global workforce to be “lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle”. Judge Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s Court of Chancery rejected Musk’s compensation package in January, finding that the South Africa-born entrepreneur had heavily influenced the deal and granting him such “an unfathomable sum” would be unfair to shareholders. Shares of Tesla fell about 1 percent on Wednesday following the news of the proposed pay package. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 784
As the war enters its 784th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Fighting At least 17 people were killed in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv after it was struck by three Russian missiles. Emergency services said 60 people, including three children, were injured. About 250,000 people live in Chernihiv, which is about 150km (90 miles) north of the capital, Kyiv. One woman was injured by falling debris after Russian forces brought down a done over the Voronezh region. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said air defence also destroyed 14 airborne targets over the southern Belgorod region. No injuries were reported. The BBC reported the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine had topped 50,000. The data was compiled by BBC Russian, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers. Colonel Serhii Pakhomov, acting head of the Ukrainian military’s atomic, biological and chemical defence forces, told the Reuters news agency that Kyiv had recorded about 900 uses of riot control agents on the front line by Russia in the past six months. The gases, banned for use on the battlefield by the international Chemical Weapons Convention, are being used to try and clear trenches, Pakhomov said. Some 500 troops had required medical help after exposure to toxic substances on the battlefield and at least one soldier died after suffocating on tear gas, he added. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian military attacked a large Russian airfield at Dzhankoi in the north of occupied Crimea. A series of explosions were reported at the base. There were no reports of damage. Politics and diplomacy US House Speaker Mike Johnson said the House would hold a long-delayed vote on a $60bn aid package for Ukraine on Saturday. The bill, passed by the Senate in February, has been held up amid objections from far-right members of Johnson’s Republican party. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, US President Joe Biden urged Congress to approve the package saying the conflict was at a “pivotal moment”. China said that “a lot of work” would need to be done before a planned peace conference on the Ukraine war could take place in Switzerland. It did not say whether it would attend the meeting, which is expected to take place in June. Russia’s FSB security service arrested four people, accusing them of sending money to Ukrainian armed forces and planning to join the country’s military. France appointed investigating magistrates to run a war crimes investigation into the death of Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, a dual French-Irish national, who was killed covering the war in Ukraine in March 2022. Producer Oleksandra Kuvshynova was also killed when the news team’s vehicle came under fire in Horenka near Kyiv. Correspondent Benjamin Hall was badly injured. Cybersecurity firm Mandiant warned a cyber group known as Sandworm, with links to Russian military intelligence, is emerging as a significant global threat after playing an increasingly critical role in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Sandworm “is actively engaged in the full spectrum of espionage, attack, and influence operations”, Mandiant said. Weapons President Zelenskyy, addressing the European Council by videolink hours after the Chernihiv attack, pleaded for more defence systems. Zelenskyy said Ukraine should enjoy the same cover from aerial attacks as Israel, which was able to intercept a barrage of drones and missiles fired by Iran last weekend. “Our Ukrainian sky, the sky of our neighbours deserves the same level of defence,” he said. “All lives are equally valuable.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other senior German officials pressed fellow European Union members to take action as soon as possible to boost Ukraine’s air defences. On Saturday, Germany announced it was sending an additional Patriot air defence system to Ukraine. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the NATO-Ukraine Council will meet on Friday to discuss ways on how to provide more air defence systems for Kyiv. A crowdfunding initiative launched by a Slovak group on Monday has so far raised 750,000 euros ($798,000) from members of the public. The group, Peace for Ukraine, hopes to raise one million euros ($1.07 million) for the Czech Republic’s initiative to buy ammunition for Ukraine. Slovakia’s government has refused to send military aid to Kyiv. Adblock test (Why?)