In News by Jaroslaw AdamowskiApril 15 Vivat Publishing CEO Julia Orlova talks of the evolution of the Ukrainian market in wartime Editor’s note: On March 1, 2022, shortly after the opening of the Russian assault on Ukraine, Publishing Perspectives ran its first interview with the CEO of Vivat, one of the most prominent Ukrainian publishers. We have today (April 15) this new interview with Julia Orlova following Moscow’s horrific Palm Sunday attack (April 13) on Sumy which has left at least 35 dead and 117 injured.–Porter Anderson By Jarosław Adamowksi | @JaroslawAdamows Orlova tells Publishing Perspectives that 2024 was a year marked by many difficulties requiring Ukrainian industry players to adapt to shifting realities. “Despite the war,” Orlova says, “Ukrainians continue to read, and publishers continue to publish books. Although the total number of new titles decreased by 18 percent, the total circulation increased by 6 percent and reached 26 million copies. This indicates that the market is changing: publishers are betting on mass genres and bestsellers.” Related article: Ukraine’s Julia Orlova: ‘A Reading Nation’ Under Attack. Image: Vivat Publishing Some of the Ukrainian authors who gained popularity last year, she says, include: Lyudmila Dolgonovska, author of The Iron General: Lessons of Humanity; historian and documentarist Oleksandr Zinchenko, who released How Ukrainians Destroyed the Evil Empire; and Maryna Starodubska, author of How to Understand Ukrainians: A Cross-Cultural View. At the same time, Orlova says, Ukrainian readers are reaching to their country’s classics as well as to popular foreign writers. “Series of alternative Ukrainian classics that introduce readers to lesser-known but important writers are in great demand,” Orlova says. “Among foreign authors, Colleen Hoover became the undisputed leader. Her novel Leave It If You Love Me became the absolute bestseller of 2024 in Ukraine with a circulation of almost 75,000 copies. “In general, large circulation figures between 20,000 and 30,000 copies are becoming the norm for popular books,” she says, “while previously this was an exceptional phenomenon in Ukraine.” An outdoor marketplace in Lviv on April 7 features used books for sale. Image – Getty: A Sphotowed In Julia Orlova’s view, Ukrainian readers follow global trends. Fantasy, romance, and psychological thrillers, she says, currently attract a large share of the readers’ attention. One of Vivat Publishing’s translations of a book by the American author Sarah J. Maas “At the same time,” she says, “Ukrainians are increasingly interested in books about themselves, their roots, and cultural characteristics. This applies to both historical literature and books about the Ukrainian mentality and classics, which are gaining a new sound. “Children’s literature is experiencing difficulties. Circulation levels have fallen, and the cost of printing has increased. If at the beginning of the war this segment occupied 50 percent of Vivat’s publishing portfolio, now it’s only 15 percent.” Asked about Vivat’s performance last year, Orlova says the company has strengthened its focus on bestsellers. “Our portfolio includes thrillers and detective stories, romance novels, and historical prose,’ she says, “as well as books about history and culture, fantasy and romance, and children’s books. “Despite the war and difficult economic conditions, we’ve continued to develop, open bookstores, support Ukrainian authors, and publish world bestsellers. Our books occupy the top places in sales rankings, and the demand for Ukrainian literature is growing.” Related article: Europe’s Publishers: Anger, Solidarity After Kharkiv Attack One of the most difficult moments came with the destruction of the Factor-Druk printing house in May 2024 as a result of a Russian missile strike That tragic event forced Vivat to look for alternative sources of book printing we strengthened our presence in the digital space,” Orlova says “We updated our online bookstore and expanded the range of popular genres Vivat will continue to scale successful projects “We believe that the Ukrainian book market will not only survive “A book today,” says Julia Orlova “is not only a tool for education and development but also an important cultural code that unites Ukrainians in times of great change.” More from Publishing Perspectives on the Ukrainian market and Russia’s war on Ukraine is here, more on the freedom to publish and the freedom of expression is here Jaroslaw Adamowski is a freelance writer based in Warsaw Period tracking app Flo Health has become Europe’s first femtech unicorn shares the challenges still facing women’s health when it comes to getting investors onside Femtech has faced an uphill battle ever since women began using diaphragms for contraception in the 1800s Age-old taboos around women’s health means the sector has suffered from years of under-investment and a lack of research from the science and medical community with the sector drawing more interest from investors Flo Health became Europe’s first femtech unicorn The period and pregnancy tracking app raised $200m from growth investor General Atlantic becoming one of the handful of femtech companies to be valued at more than $1bn Flo’s platform allows users to track their ovulation cycle and monitor symptoms Apps like Flo have changed how women engage with their health and have made life easier for them in many ways from family planning to detecting early signs of health problems The platform’s 70 million monthly user base speaks to the demand Tamara Orlova is Flo’s chief financial officer she’s focused on cutting losses and helping bring the company from a startup to a rapidly growing scaleup Flo’s revenue in 2023 was $112m (£86m) – up from $35m (£27m) in 2022 according to the latest annual accounts Flo has had to overcome “multiple obstacles” that make accessing capital that much harder There is growing demand for female health solutions The femtech market is currently valued at $28bn (£22.3bn) and estimated to reach $60bn by 2027 businesses in the market continue to come up against deep-rooted prejudice Although women make up more than half of the population products and services focused on their health have long been viewed by investors as a niche market is a male-dominated investment community that “often fails to grasp the value proposition” for women’s health products She recalls walking into pitch meetings and having to explain to a room full of men the intricacies of the female fertility experience Convincing them of the demand for a product like Flo took time: “Like most niche markets without a track record of investment investors struggle to validate the business model and scalability You really have to invest time in educating investors.” Start communicating with your investors as early as possible to map out and communicate a clear equity story that investors would buy into “It’s easier the more milestones you hit and the more funding rounds you go through,” she says. “it’s a long process and it can be hard to stay enthusiastic when you are repeating the same story,” the CFO admits “It’s important that you are passionate about the product I had gone through an IVF journey shortly before joining Flo so the company’s mission has always felt very personal to me Opening up further conversations between companies and investors is crucial to expanding a market that is vital for women’s health worldwide Despite recent recognition of this problem she says it’s still challenging and recommends any business in a similar position focuses on finding people and networks who want to support them and their work securing game-changing investment was about building and managing their relationships with investors And this began long before they went to market says Orlova: “A lot of it came down to research and preparation We identified investors that we knew could help with our specific challenge and made sure we knew exactly what their profile was Be aware that not every investor is going to have the same questions or way of thinking so come prepared – I’ve found that the more information you are able to give them up front the more comfortable they are to move faster.” She continues: “As well as having the right metrics in place we spent considerable time crafting the story of the company Be warned – this takes time so don’t wait until your runway is too low (that is how many months your business can keep operating before it’s out of money) because you’ll be in a harder position to get the best deal Start communicating with your investors as early as possible We were in discussions with General Atlantic for years prior to their investment.” investor expectations on CFOs have grown significantly A recent study by finance management platform OneStream found that investors would increase their funding by 2.6% in organisations where the CFO is seen to be the main strategic growth driver. “There is a growing recognition of the importance of the role,” Orlova observes “It is probably the one function in the company that is actively involved throughout the entire investment process And the fact that investors have become more data-driven means they are looking more closely at us to provide those crucial pieces of information.” women’s health is still a contentious topic in some parts of the world Orlova says there are additional complications that come from operating in the female fertility market that Flo has had to navigate as a result including reproductive laws and data privacy concerns. the US Supreme Court overturned women’s constitutional right to abortion triggering fears among users of menstrual tracking apps that their data could be used against them in states where abortion has become illegal Due to rising concerns over political policies more women have deleted their period tracker app according to app intelligence firm Sensor Tower Flo has established a free ‘anonymous mode’ that allows people to use the app without linking any personal data to their name It has since open-sourced the technology behind this anonymous feature with the rest of the femtech sector. Like most niche markets without a track record of investment Concerns about data privacy were not unfounded Flo’s average daily users had been on the decline for several months following its 2021 settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission over allegations it had shared data on users’ menstrual cycles and pregnancies with third-party companies A recent poll of women using fertility apps by the Information Commissioner’s Office found that transparency over how their data was used and how secure it was were bigger concerns than cost and ease of use when it came to choosing an app “Protecting our users’ data has become a huge focus for the business as a result,” says Orlova “It is really important that we have a very direct line of communication with our users and are continually striving to improve the experience we are offering.” It may come as a shock to discover that Flo’s founders are two male brothers The fact that a male-funded firm has become Europe’s first femtech to achieve unicorn status has not gone unnoticed It sparked online backlash earlier this year led by men and funded by men became the first women’s health app to achieve unicorn status If this doesn’t show you everything that’s wrong with the ecosystem I don’t know what will,” wrote Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen co-founder of investment learning app Female Invest “It doesn’t matter when this company was founded What matters is that no other company in the industry have been able to scale equivalently because they can’t raise money,” she added Another wrote in the comments: “As a female founder I am genuinely scared of fundraising because of this.“ It’s a well-known fact that women face a tougher time raising money than men Female-founded startups accounted for just 2% or less of VC investment in 2023 according to data by investment insights platform PitchBook That this funding gap can exist even in female-dominated sectors like femtech where 70% of companies have at least one female founder a female-led femtech startup raises $4.6m (£3.9m) whereas those with all-male teams raise $9.2m (£7.4m) according to data published in the European Femtech Report 2023-2024 Such findings have raised concerns that female founders may feel pressure to add a male to their executive team to improve their chances of funding. But she is of the opinion that a successful femtech business “It made me more curious than anything,“ she admits upon first learning that Flo’s founders were male who help shape the business and are the ones going out to ask for money.“ Orlova says she hopes Flo will “open the door” for new femtech business and drive further innovation in the space The startup already has plans to expand into new areas in women’s health Whether or not Flo’s own success is a reflection of things to come for the rest of the femtech sector remains to be seen The platform's 70 million monthly user base speaks to the demand Unofficially stripped of her citizenship and forcefully ostracised into international waters the Russian MV Lyubov Orlova was set adrift in 2013 The situation had become wrapped in an abundance of political and legal red tape MV Lyubov Orlova was starting to show her age Management knew that hefty sums would be required to maintain and upkeep her seaworthy condition That meant substantial effort and financial aptitude would be required So they simply chose not to.Following years of neglect the derelict ship was then impounded after Cruise North Expeditions were forced to abandon their venture all further trips aboard the Soviet-era vessel were ultimately postponed.Two years passed while legal mayhem raged behind the scenes but the ship’s fate was always destined for one thing; the scrapping process to counteract the rocketing financial burden Orlova was sold for recycling.Eventually towed away from the Canadian port and towards a selected scrapyard in the Dominican Republic the tow line between Orlova and her deathly chaperone (Hunt Marine’s tugboat - Charlene Hunt) snapped Although sceptics like to trumpet the ‘insurance scam’ theory where the ship was deliberately set free to meet her end far from prying eyes rescue efforts were attempted using an offshore supply vessel – Atlantic Hawk.Under contract by Husky Energy the Atlantic Hawk was tasked with regaining control of the Orlova which by now had been classified as a ‘risk to oil and gas operations in the region’.The operation was a success to tow the Orlova away from the oil rigs and shipping activity "The Lyubov Orlova no longer poses a threat to the safety of offshore oil installations The vessel has drifted into international waters and given current patterns and predominant winds it is very unlikely that the vessel will re-enter waters under Canadian jurisdiction," the department declared in a public statement Transport Canada then cited various safety concerns as their reasoning for abandoning the salvage operation and reiterated that the owner of the ship was responsible for her movements.Nobody wanted the responsibility The vessel had unofficially been stripped of her citizenship and was now cast out of society to endure the harsh Atlantic conditions measures were put in place to monitor the ship’s position nobody was likely to craft an action plan.Instead the sea would claim her once the ship’s condition permitted water to breach the hull According to the National Geospatital-Intelligence Agency the free-range Russian vessel was clocked roughly 1300 miles from the Irish coast on February 23 Once an alert had been given to smaller vessels in the vicinity and subject news reports broke across Ireland and Iceland the media had a field day.Lyubov Orlova’s name went viral overnight as the ship become the subject of ‘ghostship’ rumours and intrigue tabloids approached the subject with their usual finesse – ‘cannibal rats will kill us all’.Of course they’d have sadly perished when the ship sank potentially somewhere near the Labrador Sea And that’s exactly what experts believe happened as the vessel's emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) was sent from 700 nautical miles off the coast of Kerry.An EPIRB only starts transmitting once water has engulfed the device and as the ship’s delipidated condition had summoned the juddering movement of the Doomsday clock it was only a matter of time before those lonely cabins slowly descended beneath the Atlantic’s blackened surface.Although nothing official has ever been published regarding the MV Lyubov Orlova's fate one thing is sure; she's not on the surface anymore her eternal slumber will be spent in quiet solitude Get World of Cruising magazine delivered straight to your doorstep destinations guides and top travel tips for planning the perfect cruise holiday Subscribe today to discover the World of Cruising Soils are not just one of agricultural inputs the quality of products produced in the agricultural sector is suffering which results in damage to human health,” Lyudmila Orlova President of the National Movement for Conservation Agriculture non-profit partnership said in an exclusive interview for the website of the FAO Moscow Office If we eat foods obtained from healthy soil and there will be no need to invest so much in pharmacology,” Lyudmila Orlova highlighted (who received her first degree in medicine – ed - How relevant is the theme of conservation agriculture in comparison to other pressing issues of the agricultural sector 2 million hectares of agricultural lands worldwide lose their original productivity 30% of land is already subject to erosion and 60% is degraded The first anthropogenic desert has appeared in Kalmykia Monitoring has shown that desertification is happening in 35 regions of the Russian Federation - Are there no research institutions working on this problem but there is no state programme that would spell out strategic objectives and methods for achieving them Even the word “soil” itself has disappeared from official documents but in many government documents the concept of “soil” was replaced by “land” And this “disappearance” happened in the country where soil science was born from where the name of its founder Vasily Dokuchaev reverberated across the world - Is it possible to solve the problem of soil degradation at the microlevel On the modest scale of one individual farm - In every region of our country there is a farm that implements soil conservation methods - High-ranking officials at the Ministry of Agriculture claimed that a quarter or more of the nearly 40 million hectares of unused agricultural land could be converted back to farmlands there is a state programme for devoting 13.2 million hectares of unused land to agriculture and maintaining at least 3.6 million hectares of reclaimed soils in agriculture the goal is also to preserve what has already been introduced into agricultural use Our attitude to the existing industry capacities cannot be uncaring But this requires an agricultural technology policy - What technology should be talked about above all else - It is a zero tillage system known as No-Till (from “no tillage” in English) it destroys the soil structure and soil biota chemical additives have lost the effect of increasing yields One kilogram of NPK mineral fertilizers applied to soil used to produce a 28 kg increase in grain yield The organic residues left after harvesting are reduced to pieces and turned into mulch which is evenly distributed over the surface of the field after listening to our discussions and debates about the feasibility of this technology a scientist from Argentina was quite surprised and informed the audience that in his country the method had already been used for 30 years this technology has been introduced on 210 million hectares in different soil and climate zones worldwide - Are there any enthusiasts among our fellow citizens who use No-Till - There are farms introducing No-Till in every region we are talking about its use at agricultural enterprises with the areas from 1000 hectares to 200 thousand hectares Mindful farmers understand that in the end the introduction of this technology will mean that the number of ploughs will reduce and they will only be required for growing vegetables and the fleet of tractors and cultivators will also decrease the demand for seeders for direct seeding will increase since cultivated agricultural crops will need to be treated and the implementation of soil conservation technologies will require 330−340 billion roubles in investments in the creation of relevant agricultural machinery - Can you prove that these investments will pay off The profitability of any farm ultimately increases And we cannot forget about the environmental aspect Today agricultural products with a low carbon footprint are in demand we will be able to support the national strategy for increasing the export of agricultural raw materials and finished products we are conducting a climate project and are now verifying our prognostic analysis we can sell carbon units and earn 25−30 million roubles from every 1.5 thousand hectares the transition to conservation agriculture technologies makes sense in terms of both the economy and the environment - Is it possible to make this transition without trained personnel understanding we will inevitably switch to managing plant soil microbiology We have already created the first Russian agricultural carbon site based on soil conservation technologies in the Samara region Samara State University conducts interdisciplinary research and scientists who have been working in this area for many years are surprised to discover the biodiversity in soil The task of tomorrow is to balance the presence of aggressive pathogenic microbes and commensal human-friendly microbes in soil and to create its own microbiome for every farmland - We need to talk about the potential of soils and the benefits of innovative technologies across all levels We need to explain why it is important to switch to low-emission conservation methods Such a transformation of agrifood systems is provided for by 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were adopted by the UN General Assembly Russia adopted them and committed to promoting the achievement of the SDGs I think that today we need some kind of outreach aimed at politicians and the business Lyudmila Orlova is also the Chief Editor of the Conservation Agriculture journal corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences member of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Co-Chair of the Russian–German Agricultural Committee from the Russian side Chair of the General Meeting of Founders of the Agricultural Training Fund member of the Board of Directors of the Rosagromash Machinery Association participant of the Petersburg Dialogue Forum Coordinating Committee and Vice President of NUBE (National Union of Bioenergetics) The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Thanks for visiting The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here Sign In Register who holds the Woman Candidate Master title, is coming to Richmond this weekend to celebrate International Chess Day the national chess arbiter for the Chess Federation of Canada will give a presentation and play chess at the Brighouse library on July 21 won multiple provincial and national events during her competitive chess journey from ages nine to 18 She was ranked fourth among Canadian women chess players in 2013 and retired from competitive chess at 18 challenges and pivotal moments in her career "These early victories laid the foundation for my later achievements including representing the Canadian women’s team at the World Chess Olympics at ages 15 and 17," she told the Richmond News The intellectual stimulation offered by the game is one of the many reasons Orlova enjoys chess The game also provides "endless opportunities for excitement and creativity," she said adding that she was able to meet people from diverse backgrounds through chess "Chess is not just a game for me; it’s a global community that brings people together through a shared passion," said Orlova Orlova will play against six opponents in a simultaneous exhibition. Also known as "simuls," the exhibitions are often used for skill demonstrations adding she will be making one move at a time against each opponent while moving from board to board The most boards Orlova has played during a simul International Chess Day highlights the "cultural educational and intellectual significance" of the game "This day promotes the game's universal appeal encourages people of all ages to engage in chess and fosters international friendship and cooperation," she said. it helps to recognize the contributions of chess players and enthusiasts around the world while inspiring new generations to take up and enjoy the game." The library's International Chess Day celebration held in partnership with Richmond Chess for Fun on July 21 in Brighouse Library's second-floor programming room. Chess players and spectators of all skill levels are welcome and chess boards Registration for the event is required. 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To stay updated on Richmond news, sign up for our daily headline newsletter Will StewartEliana NunesPublished: Invalid Date RUSSIAN women are cashing in on Putin’s war by marrying his cannon fodder troops then pocketing the £73,000 compensation once they are killed Marina Orlova detailed the shocking scheme to target single Russian soldiers and wed them before they are sent to the front line The lawyer and estate agent said in a podcast that women are counting on their new husbands dying on the front lines of Ukraine so that they can cash in on £73,000 compensation Orlova said that the schemers are then using the money to buy flats and get on the property ladder “It's easy and simple,” she told influencer Darya Cherdantseva in the podcast episode that went viral She added: "You find a man now who is serving [for Russia in the war] “It's a working scheme. It's a business plan." Cherdantseva also suggested on the podcast that widows should seek a new war husband, thereby gaining a second payout from the high death toll of Russians in the war in Ukraine. Russia’s Investigative Committee and Prosecutor General's Office was quick to step in and criticise these comments. While the pair insisted that this was merely “black humour” Orlova could face up to seven years in jail under Putin's laws some Russians took to the social network VK to explain that they know women who have put this "business plan" into practice “We have a lot of those," said one user who explained that her brother had suddenly married -- suspiciously -- before going to the war "My brother also signed right before leaving and his supposedly fake wife was already running around the offices to arrange the money,” she said A widow asked on VK: “Will I be entitled to payments in the event of his death if I already received them for my first husband in 2022?” Anastasia Marinina commented: “What a nightmare “Didn't she get enough for the first one and she's probably sending the second one herself Independent journalist Andrey Kalitin said: “This is probably what absolute fall into the abyss looks like.” Putin’s prosecutors intervened after the pro-Putin cultural group The claims flouted “morality and humanity” “Her cynical and blasphemous statements about a ‘business plan’ based on the deaths of our servicemen are an insult to everyone who is risking their lives on the front lines today “This is an insult to the memory of fallen heroes and their families,” Zaitsev said saying: “I apologise for myself personally and I apologise even for Daria “In no way did I mean to offend anyone." This comes after recent news that pregnant Russian schoolgirls will be able to cash in almost £1,000 under a bizarre scheme to boost the country's birth rate The state money for underage pregnancies is being piloted in Oryol region which has seen a population slump of almost 8,000 people Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/ We are delighted to announce that Tatiana Orlova 1 Bloomberg ranking for her forecasting of Russia’s policy rate “Russian Key Rate to Hit Zenith With 100bp Hike” “Russia was at the ‘vanguard’ of tightening among emerging- market central banks “Investors will be watching to see if policy makers revise their 2021 CPI forecasts on Friday; Orlova said the estimate could be increased ‘quite significantly’ from Bank of Russia’s 4.7%-5.2% prediction in April” Orlova has maintained this ranking for the past 18 months To view this story in Bloomberg click here [email protected] © Oxford Economics 2025 all rights reserved There are no statistics available for this player Thanks for visiting ! The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. 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Create Account We apologize, but this video has failed to load.Try refreshing your browser, ortap here to see other videos from our team.Play VideoArticle contentA glamorous Russian real estate agent has been caged after telling the nation’s women to marry soldiers so they can cash in on their $133,000 death benefit when the men are killed in Ukraine Marina Orlova’s gold digging outraged Russians even for an unpopular war and put her on the police map I ask you to forgive me,” she said in a video Orlova was sentenced to 80 hours of community service The high-flying realtor had been accused of inciting hatred Podcast host and “influencer” Darya Cherdantseva was also taken to the Tomsk branch of the Center for Combating Extremism many women have been cashing in on Vladimir Putin’s violent crusade Orlova gave details of the scheme that targets single Russian soldiers Then women do a quickie wedding before the men are dispatched to the Ukrainian meatgrinder Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc The next issue of Your Midday Sun will soon be in your inbox Interested in more newsletters? they use the money to buy apartments and get on the property ladder “It’s easy and simple,” she told Cherdantseva “You find a man now who is serving [for Russia in the war] A lot of women come to us with this $8 million Second banana Cherdantseva added that widows should then seek a new war husband thereby gaining a second payout if he too is killed in action the conversations didn’t sit well with Russia’s Investigative Committee and Prosecutor General’s Office But the pair insisted they were only having a laugh other Russians have commented that they know women who have put Orlova’s “business plan” into action who said her brother had suddenly married before going to the war “My brother also signed right before leaving and his supposedly fake wife was already running around the offices to arrange the money.” Another widow asked on VK: “Will I be entitled to payments in the event of his death The strongman’s prosecutors intervened after the pro-Putin cultural group “This is an insult to the memory of fallen heroes and their families,” conservative Sergei Zaitsev said Orlova quickly apologized for herself and the host: “I apologize for myself personally She added: “We were not talking for the public bhunter@postmedia.com transmission or republication strictly prohibited This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. 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By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy You can manage saved articles in your account Perhaps you don't immediately recognize the name but you might have heard about the allegedly rat-infested ghost ship that went missing -- twice -- in 2013 Following a long career of sailing Antarctica itineraries where its ice-strengthened hull came in handy It then spent two years tied up in Canada while its owners ran into financial difficulties the vessel was to be towed to the Dominican Republic to be sold for scrap it broke loose from its tow line and disappeared It was spotted and reined in a week later before the Canadian government gave the order to cut it loose and it disappeared again Although Canadian authorities announced in mid-2013 that the ship was presumed to have sunk a newspaper report claimed that it was still afloat in early 2014 and was probably headed toward the United Kingdom The report quoted a salvage expert who said the vessel was likely to be infested with rats which would have been forced to eat one another to survive Cue a storm of media reports about cannibal rats on the illusive "ghost ship." there has been a handful of reported sightings of what could have been the vessel near Ireland a sensationalized report from a British tabloid claimed the wreckage of a similarly sized ship had washed up in California -- nearly impossible given the ship's original location and assumed direction of travel InternationalPutin Has Options for Russian Gas After Ukraine Route ClosedBy Bloomberg NewsPublished: January 06, 2025 at 3:58AM EST (Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin might have lost a slice of revenue after Kyiv closed its gas pipeline to Russian supplies, but Moscow already has alternatives for shipping the fuel that stand to shield it from any serious economic hit. Russia plans to expand exports of liquefied natural gas while routing pipeline gas to other buyers like China. “We will continue to increase our share on world LNG markets” even as sanctions aim to halt this growth, Putin said during his annual press conference on Dec 19. He also expressed confidence that Russian gas-giant Gazprom PJSC would survive the end of pipeline transport through Ukraine. Despite calls to ban such supplies, Europe is buying a record amount of the super-chilled fuel from Russia, predominantly from the Novatek PJSC-led Yamal LNG plant. The volumes have surpassed what Russia was selling through Ukraine before Jan. 1, when Kyiv, refusing to allow any more transit that funds Moscow’s war machine, closed off the five-decade old route through its territory. The situation highlights how hard it is for Europe to cut ties with Russia, which over the last decade entrenched itself as a key commodities supplier to the continent. It also casts a spotlight on how the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has forced Russia to keep readjusting its trading network. Still, Moscow has shown that even when one avenue to markets closes, there are often others still open for Russia. Russia’s LNG exports overall reached a record last year, ship-tracking data show. Before the invasion, Russia used to sell about 155 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas to Europe per year. In 2024, the country exported roughly 30 billion cubic meters of gas to the region, with over a half of volumes going via Ukraine. Since most of Russia’s piped gas had already stopped flowing to Europe, the discontinuation of the Ukrainian line won’t affect the economy much, said Tatiana Orlova, an economist at Oxford Economics. “Europe will still need gas as all its efforts to wean itself from Russian gas have not been successful,” Orlova said. “It will probably end up buying more Russian LNG to make up for the drop in natural gas imports from Russia,” she said. Gazprom sold about $6 billion worth of gas through Ukraine in 2024, Bloomberg calculations show. Yet, most economists and researchers foresee a muted effect on the economy from being deprived of those sales. Russia will lose an equivalent of about 0.2% to 0.3% of gross domestic product, according to various analyst estimates. “The figures are too small to make a dent in Putin’s war machine,” David Oxley, an economist at Capital Economics said in a note last week. For comparison, Ukraine stands to lose roughly 0.5% of GDP, he said, stemming from an end to the fees it collected for transit of the gas. Slovakia, heavily reliant on Russian gas and also earning from transit fees, is set to lose 0.3% of GDP, according to his estimates. On top of LNG sales, Russia also has other pipeline options for shipping gas that will help make up for the loss of the route through Ukraine. Shipments to China, which is overtaking Europe as the largest market for Russia’s pipeline gas, were forecast to reach around a record 31 billion cubic meters in 2024. They are set to rise to 38 billion cubic meters this year as the Power of Siberia link has reached the full design capacity. That would compensate for half of the volumes lost when transit via Ukraine ended, according to estimates by Sergey Vakulenko, a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Gazprom may sell more through TurkStream, the direct gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey under the Black Sea that also helps supply some European clients. In 2025, Gazprom could sell 25 billion cubic meters to Turkey and 15 billion cubic meters to Europe through TurkStream, Vakulenko estimates. Russia plans to re-direct some fuel to countries in Central Asia and will work to increase the capacity of a Soviet-era pipeline from Russia to Uzbekistan through Kazakhstan. Politically, the gas issue gives the Kremlin an opportunity to demonstrate that Putin isn’t a pariah, said Sergei Markov, a political consultant close to the Kremlin. “For Moscow, it is extremely important that the diplomatic blockade is being broken for the second time,” Markov said, referring to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s surprise visit to Moscow on Dec. 23 to discuss gas among other things. He was the second European leader to visit Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s trip in July. Putin last month said that Russia is ready to ship gas to Europe, but he cautioned that any new deal would likely be complicated to reach, even given the rising prices from tighter supply now facing Europe. Still, the plans for both pipeline gas and LNG may face challenges of their own. While Russia aims to launch exports via a second link to China in two years, talks for a third pipeline have stalled over disagreements about the terms. Russia seeks to triple LNG exports to 100 million tons in 2035, from last year’s 33 million tons, but western sanctions on all key future projects and the LNG tanker fleet complicate that. “The natural gas and LNG landscape has changed dramatically for Russia in the last three years,” said Claudio Steuer, an energy consultant and faculty member of IHRDC, Boston. It requires “far greater investment and effort for a less profitable business” now that Russia needs to search for business further afield with buyers that are more price sensitive. Sanctions have already stifled Russia’s aims for growth in LNG. Novatek’s newest project, Arctic LNG 2, last year managed to start limited exports, but sanctions imposed by the US and its allies limited the plant’s access to ice-class tankers needed to navigate frigid northern waters and made foreign buyers reluctant to buy the shipments. In 2025, the focus will be on what Donald Trump decides to do about sanctions on Russia. Muddying the picture are the US’s own ambitions to supply more of its LNG to Europe. A ban on transshipping Yamal LNG cargoes in European ports could also complicate logistics for Russian supplies to Asia when the Northern Sea Route is closed, but sanctions may actually lead to more of that supply being sent to Europe instead. Twitter feed ©2025 BellMedia All Rights Reserved "Ukrainian Journalists’ Experience and Self-perception in Times of War" Ukraine has been a challenging place to work for journalists especially after the Euromaidan Revolution that started in late 2013 culminated in February 2014 with the regime change and was then followed by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and war in the east of Ukraine The Euromaidan and subsequent war in the East of Ukraine made many journalists face a dilemma between professionalism and activism between values of professional neutrality and shared solidarity with fellow citizens Russia’s full-scale aggression has reinforced this dilemma severely aggravated conditions for Ukrainian journalists and brought about a number of new challenges including exceptional risks to life and safety restrictions posed by martial law and enormous psychological pressure caused by the atrocities This presentation will focus on Ukrainian media and journalists’ wartime professional experience and dynamics of self-perception in the face of ongoing war Dariya Orlova is a media researcher and Senior Lecturer at the Mohyla School of Journalism National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy where she studies the transformation of Ukrainian media and journalism journalists’ professional identity in post-Euromaidan Ukraine and media use amongst Ukrainian border populations Orlova worked as a journalist for the English-language publication Kyiv Post and served as editor of the European Journalism Observatory in Ukraine she is a visiting scholar at the Center for Media at Risk at the Annenberg School for Communication Orlova’s work can be found in peer-reviewed journals Central European Journal of Communication and Journalism: Theory Disclaimer: This event may be photographed and/or video recorded for archival We also may share these video recordings through Annenberg's website or related platforms By attending or participating in this event you are giving your consent to be photographed and/or video recorded and you are waiving any and all claims regarding the use of your image by the Annenberg School for Communication may provide a copy of the photos/footage upon written request Contact Us In Feature Articles by Porter AndersonMarch 1 CEO of Vivat Publishing in hard-hit Kharkiv By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson Also today: Publishing Trade Shows on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Frankfurter Buchmesse, London Book Fair, Bologna Children’s Book Fair “I would like us to name everything as it is,” the CEO of Vivat Publishing Orlova says today (March 1) “Russia has announced this war to Ukraine The publishing house Vivat is based in Kharkiv Ukraine’s second-largest city some 25 miles from the Russian border Update, March 2: Early reports from NBC News indicate Kharkiv on Wednesday is under fresh attacks having suffered repeated assaults on Monday and Tuesday both to residential housing and to Svobody (Freedom) Square The Guardian’s Martin Farrer and Luke Harding report Russian paratroopers landing and “heavy fighting in Kharkiv … At least 21 people have been killed and 112 wounded in shelling in Ukraine’s second most populous city Julia Orlova talks about the hour-to-hour strain under which she and her associates are living and working “Our staff has been working remotely,” she says During the air alarms we try to go down to the shelters if possible this situation is not physically and mentally healthy at all One of my colleagues had a heart attack because of explosions and horrible volleys Another colleague said that missiles had fallen near the house smashing windows and burning four cars in the yard “It’s hard to accept that all these things are happening in the 21st century,” she says Vivat CEO Julia Orlova has provided Publishing Perspectives with this photo of herself three days after the shot you see at the top of this article Orlova calls attention to the International Publishers Association’s statement issued yesterday by IPA secretary-general José Borghino that the IPA statement is reaching the Geneva-based organization’s full 86 member-associations in 71 nations Orlova is among those in Ukraine who want to see the international community isolate Russian cultural players in parallel to the political and legal isolation being orchestrated by member-states of the NATO alliance “We insist,” she says, “on a cultural ban of Russia. Just as so many countries are now isolating the aggressor financially, we are asking everyone to help us make a cultural break.” (See today’s article on statements issued by Frankfurter Buchmesse “The Russian Federation has launched a shameful military attack on our country,” she says “We can no longer go to international exhibitions So we believe that it would be fair to ban the participation of the aggressor country and even the participation of individual Russian publishers It’s unfair that Ukrainian publishers are now forced to give up their professional activities and defend their homeland with weapons in their hands or to sit in shelters while Russian publishers will be able to attend exhibitions and international forums “Because the Russian Federation is violating international treaties and social norms,” she says “it would be dishonest not to react to such actions.” As do most Ukrainian publishing players with whom we’re in touch Orlova reiterates a common concern in-country that international colleagues and friends may not understand the stark reality that Moscow is perpetrating acts of war on a democratic sovereign nation that has not provoked the violence “We support the main message of the ministry of culture of Ukraine,” Orlova stresses “The Russian Federation is the aggressor Its activities in the field of culture are toxic From the Vivat Publishing home page In terms of Ukraine’s self-defensive efforts “There has been announced a general mobilization in Ukraine yes,” but the citizenry doesn’t need to be ordered to take up arms “I would like to emphasize that people voluntarily go to the Territorial Defense Forces,” Ukraine’s military reserve wing of the armed forces “standing in long queues to be able to defend their country on the ground Those who cannot take a direct part in active actions because of their health,” she says “or those who are women or adolescents people have organized to protect themselves from looting by enemy Russian soldiers “Almost all of us are in public chats,” she says “which are aimed at helping the army and the population during the war I’m currently a mentor to the All-Ukrainian Business Community Board There are representatives of various spheres of business and each of us is now trying to help the common cause someone establishes the logistics of food supplies “And what we’re doing as much as possible,” she says “is informing the world community about the war in Ukraine.” One reason that Orlova and many in Ukraine are concerned that the truth of Putin’s stark aggression may not be clear is that Russian disinformation is moving on social media. This is why, for example, Facebook and TikTok have banned Russian state media in Europe, as reported by Elizabeth Dwoskin and Cat Zakrzewski at the Washington Post “We’ve received certain messages,” Orlova says Putin will soon free you from Nazi troops.’ “It’s just some kind of insanity This absurdity must be refuted by all means the Ukrainians have united in a single powerful force that is thwarting Russia’s occupation plans.” steely and determined: “There’s not a person who hasn’t helped the army and civilians today It is simply impossible to stay away.” Curated reading offers on the Vivat Publishing site has been in operation in the Ukrainian market for eight years it averages 400 to 450 new titles annually and has a total circulation of 1.5 to 2.5 million copies,” she says the company had published more than 17 million units “Every second inhabitant of Ukraine has a book published by Vivat.” She also says she’s confident of Ukraine’s book market “Our financial results show steady growth,” she says “We are constantly improving our publishing portfolio We not only seek out and buy the rights to world bestsellers but we also publish books by Ukrainian authors and many children’s books with illustrations by Ukrainian artists.” Her publishing house’s key mission is to promote reading and “That’s the reason why we use hardcover “The problem in Ukraine is the large number of unauthorized Web sites,” she says “That’s why the protection of electronic content is very important We publish our ebooks only on protected platforms we aim to publish each book in three formats.” One of Vivat’s curated selections of books costing 1,000 hryvnia–this one ‘for the whole family.’ Image: Vivat Publishing “the total value of the book industry’s business in Ukraine was 1 billion hryvnia (US$33.3 million).” Although the Russian invasion has shaken the nation and its book market “The love of books has been rejuvenated against competition from the importation of Russian books into Ukraine Most Ukrainians are bilingual and for years “We worked in the shadow of the Russian content.” Russian translations of popular international bestsellers would out-sell Ukrainian editions because the potential readership for a Ukrainian-language edition is smaller than for a Russian-language translation But since the “Revolution of Dignity” in 2014 “Ukrainian book publishing began to experience a kind of renaissance,” Orlova says “People switched to Ukrainian and this contributed to the flourishing of our book industry.” the retail prospect for books is badly disrupted Kyiv has had curfews imposed for as long as 48 hours at a time book publishers are working to leverage their digital capacity as part of their contribution to the war effort “We provide electronic versions of books for children who are now staying with their parents in shelters,” she says “And some of our staff continue to edit manuscripts whenever possible We try our best not to stop the process of creating books “After all,” Julia Orlova says Ukrainians will need a lot of new Ukrainian books Ukrainian book publishing will experience its second renaissance.” a view in Kharkiv’s Svobody (Freedom) Square of the Karazin Kharkiv National University campus was targeted by Vladimir Putin’s Russian army on March 1 Publishing Perspectives is the world media partner of the International Publishers Association More from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here Porter Anderson has been named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year in London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives He formerly was Associate Editor for The FutureBook at London's The Bookseller Anderson was for more than a decade a senior producer and anchor with CNN.com which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman a cruise ship named for a Soviet movie star met its end as a ‘cannibal rat-infested ghost ship’ in the Atlantic Glenn Mackey boarded the MV Lyubov Orlova in St expecting to conduct a routine ship inspection His notes from that day describe the crew's emergency drills as a "fiasco." the ship's backup compass was inoperable and its compass deviation log was "suspiciously accurate." beads of sweat appeared on the radio officer's head as he explained that the compass was wandering "just a little bit "He closed the door behind him and immediately presented me with a pen and what looked like a piece of cardboard and asked me to write down how much money I wanted." Mackey's visit proved to be the beginning of the end for the Lyubov Orlova a 4,251-tonne Arctic and Antarctic expedition cruise ship with a capacity of 110 passengers and 70 crew The 2010 Arctic summer cruise season would be its last The Lyubov Orlova's journey from cruise ship to ghost ship left financial hardships a humanitarian emergency and a political controversy in its wake In an odd twist, the debacle also inspired a song by Canadian rockers Billy Talent part of a fleet of eight sister ships commissioned by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev as a make-work project for a Yugoslavian port the Sea Adventurer [nee Alla Tarasova] and Klavdiya Yelanskaya The rest have either sunk or been broken up for scrap The Lyubov Orlova was originally owned by the Far East Shipping Company which used it to ferry passengers along the eastern coastline of the Soviet Union "She was bringing quite a lot of money for the company "And surprised with what happened to her later." A company called Cruise North Expeditions was chartering the Lyubov Orlova in the summer of 2010 for trips up the coast of Labrador and Baffin Island, and in the High Arctic to destinations such as Resolute and Beechey Island, where three members of the Franklin Expedition are buried The company's contract to charter the ship was wrapping up its fifth and final year Wells knew if the Lyubov Orlova sailed out of St John's Harbour into international waters that fall the ship was "wrongfully arrested," resulting in damages to the shipping company pointing to the fact it had to cancel a cruise earlier that summer due to the ship's deficiencies "The boat and its [sister ships] do NOT have a good history," said an email between Transport Canada directors at the time "I can hardly wait to see how this one turns out." Cruise North's lawsuit precipitated an avalanche of other claims against the MV Lyubov Orlova seeking a combined total exceeding $2 million US in damages said in a statement of defence that berthage charges for the ship were for the benefit of Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. A customs brokerage firm also came forward looking for about $35,000 US partly to recoup security costs it paid to Immigration Canada for a Russian crew member who walked off the ship claiming refugee status maintained the Russian crew was the responsibility of Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. as they were entirely under that company's "control and supervision." These lawsuits were all either eventually discontinued on behalf of the plaintiffs CBC News was unable to discern whether any settlements were paid out "I try to keep control but in any case please arrange urgently to remove all alcohol store from the ship ASAP." While the crew was free to come and go from the Lyubov Orlova they had no place to live outside the ship and little to no money Their visa to work in Canada was only valid for employment on board the ship an inspector with the International Transport Workers' Federation acted as an advocate for the crew and filed a claim against the ship's owner on their behalf In a 2015 blog post on the federation's website in which he looked back on the experience he described the atmosphere on the ship as "hell." "There was an officer with a heart condition," he wrote "That was a bit of a panic … we also had to line up medical visits to the ship figure out what we had to do for immediate needs says she never received any of the $3,844 she was owed for her work in the Lyubov Orlova's dining room that season like cinema," she said in an interview over Facebook Messenger It concluded the cost of repairs would limit any potential as a "cruise ship or a floating casino," leaving it with a "negative value on an as-is/where-is basis." spurring the port authority to launch a second lawsuit and started its tow south toward the Dominican Republic so it could be broken up and sold for scrap "[One owner] said it was going to scrap and [the other] said they were taking it to 'humanitarian' purposes as a hotel in Haiti." Southeast International Maritime LLC had issued Neptune a certificate of insurance on the tow worth $850,000 US against a total loss of the ship "They wouldn’t answer questions about the ship and the next thing I knew the ship was on the news." Shoeybi insisted to the media and federal government that he was working to get the situation under control Things became more urgent as ocean currents carried the Lyubov Orlova closer and closer to the Hibernia oil platform located 315 kilometres east-southeast off the coast of St "Transport Canada is really falling down on its job," she said "It's important they make sure that these tugboats that are tugging these cruise ships … really have the capacity to do so." the Lyubov Orlova had been outfitted with a number of devices called emergency position-indicating radio beacons They were stored in the ship's lifeboats and programmed to send a GPS signal once submerged an email was sent to dozens of Transport Canada staff with a photo that may depict the very last vestige anybody will ever see of the vessel The email notes similarities to the Lyubov Orlova's lifeboats although it concludes there is "no conclusive data they are one and the same." Considering the massive liabilities resulting from the Orlova's demise there were surprisingly few consequences back in 2010 for abandoning a vessel in Canadian waters The story of the Lyubov Orlova revolves around two men named Oleg In a quarterly financial report filed by AvtoVAZ in 2008 the company said it had taken civil action against the two Olegs in 2002 claiming 159 million rubles ($5.1 million US calculated according to the 2002 exchange rate) in damages for the stolen cars The documents state the company didn't expect to recoup that money because Abramov and Uliyanchenko had by then fled Russia Uliyanchenko and Abramov originally used the Lyubov Orlova as a ferry service across the Black Sea the Lyubov Orlova made international headlines for the first time after one of Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co.'s owners allegedly held a group of cruise passengers hostage en route from Dartmouth He said Marine Expeditions was in default of its contract with the Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. and Abramov did take the ship off course "or so we were informed we [the investors and management team] were not on board of course." majority owner of the Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co is essentially a financial instrument that Panamanian foundations are designed to be clandestine The country makes its money from fees associated with the accounts which are typically much cheaper than the taxes corporations and individuals would pay on their fortunes in their home countries While Melinda Foundation was primary shareholder of Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. Oleg Uliyanchenko seemed to play a central role in running the company His is the only name associated with the Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co His signature appears most commonly as director of Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. It’s difficult to find much in the way of verifiable information about Uliyanchenko 'How did he make his money?' And he commented to me Uliyanchenko's name is associated with several financial endeavours around the world the amount of money the business took in remained very low until 2010 right after Uliyanchenko secured the 470,000-euro mortgage on the Lyubov Orlova It took in 200 per cent more money than it did the year prior — 582,573 euros Uliyanchenko was last known to be living in the south of France when the Lyubov Orlova was painted bright white and still considered a modern vessel Soviet poet James Patterson stepped aboard гипнотизируетЭто кажущееся спокойствие.Что нас ждет стара?На рассвете в подводный космосНам уже погрузиться пора A characteristic peculiar to itThis apparent calm seems to mesmerizeWhat awaits us A stellar expanse of ocean that is as old as all this world?At dawn in underwater spaceIt is time for us to dive CBC Radio-Canada After months of drifting across the North Atlantic abandoned cruise ship spotted drifting off the coast of Ireland may have finally sunk beneath the waves a 328-foot-long (100 meters) vessel named after a Russian screen siren from the 1930s was built in 1976 and chartered for expeditions to polar waters While the ship was being towed to its Caribbean destination in January 2013 the towline snapped in rough seas and the crew was unable to reconnect the line leaving the ship to drift eastward across the Atlantic Ocean ordered the Atlantic Hawk to release the vessel since it was by then in international waters and no longer under Canadian jurisdiction Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox and some speculate it may have finally sunk The star-crossed ship hasn't had an easy life: In 2006 it ran aground off Antarctica and had to be towed to safety by a Spanish icebreaker in 2010 because of a financial dispute between the ship's Russian owners and a charter company were forced to rely on food donations from Canadians for several months before returning to Russia labeled the Lyubov Orlova an imminent threat to health and safety "In case of a collision or sinking or any accident the Lyubov Orlova will immediately release fuel … other toxic liquids mercury and other non-degradable floating waste," the group declared in a statement La Niña is dead — what that means for this year's hurricanes and weather El Cono: The mysterious sacred 'pyramid' hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest May's full 'Flower Moon' will be a micromoon Orlova was on the faculty at Geisinger Medical Center where she worked on a wide variety of cases from venous disease to complex aortic reconstruction She has extensive experience with Aortic Aneurysms or Dissections Carotid Artery Disease and Carotid Endarterectomy She is experienced in the minimally invasive Orlova attended the University of Pennsylvania where she received her medical degree as well as a PhD in neuroscience; she completed her residency at the University of Pennsylvania Health System “Vascular Care Connecticut will allow me to bring my vascular surgical experience to an outpatient setting and utilize minimally invasive techniques to improve patient outcomes,” said Dr I look forward to bringing my expertise to the Fairfield County area and work with the growing Russian-speaking community I believe outpatient care will allow me to provide improved care – my patients will be able to be diagnosed treated and sent home from the same office with familiar staff at their side.” Orlova is an acclaimed surgeon in a primarily male-dominated field and has mentored many residents and fellows over the years and hopes to continue to encourage women to join the field of vascular surgery Vascular Care Connecticut brings together decades of experience to offer unparalleled care in Connecticut and is dedicated to being on the cutting edge of innovation and new technologies for vascular disease and providing patients the care they need in a convenient and uncomplicated environment The practice is committed to the prevention Their Board-certified vascular specialists and expert clinical team are dedicated to techniques and training in the latest methods for maximizing safety and effectiveness To learn more, please visit vascularct.com © Copyright 2012 - 2023 | citybiz | All Rights Reserved we will assess the implications of the Russian invasion including via our revised model-based forecast We will explore the potential impact of higher European gas as well as more financial market disruption and greater global sanctions on Russia the biggest loser (other than Ukraine) looks set to be Russia Submit your questions to our economists via the chat panel during an extended Q&A at the end of the session Note: Can’t make it to any of the sessions Feel free to register for any session and we will automatically share the recording with you 2 hours after the webinar has finished Tatiana recently joined Oxford Economics as a Lead Economist for Emerging Markets she was working at Emerginomics which she founded and was also the Chief Economist From November 2012 until April 2016 Tatiana worked for The Royal Bank of Scotland Innes McFee | Head of Global Strategy Services and EM Macro Research Innes McFee is Managing Director of Macro and Investor Services Innes oversees the activities of the Macro & Investor Services teams globally including the Global Macro Forecast and Global Macro Service Innes joined Oxford Economics in 2017 after 6 years at Lloyds Banking Group as a Senior Economist You can see the ship is listing to starboard You’d have to be hiding under a rock to miss the recent reports that a Russian ghost ship infested with cannibal rats is heading straight for the U.K The story, which went viral this week, has now been sent to us about 25 times and counting. Having covered it in the past we were hesitant to jump on it ourselves given current information but after hearing about it this morning from my wife and after a phone call from a concerned journalist in Norway I feel like we should finally address the story So here are some answers to some of your Frequently Asked Questions about the cannibal rat ghost ship you keep hearing about: Is there really a rat infested ghost ship plying the North Atlantic Yes But the particular ship in this case is the M/V Lyubov Orlova a former expedition cruise ship that carried high-paying passengers to remote polar regions After the owners failed to repay some debts the ship was arrested in 2010 and spent about two years tied up in Newfoundland before being sold for demolition In January 2013, the derelict cruise ship escaped death by shipbreakers in the Dominican Republic after her towing cable parted shortly after leaving St. John’s, Newfoundland, setting the ship adrift Fearing a collision with offshore oil installations off eastern Canada the Lyubov Orlova was secured by the Atlantic Hawk anchor handler but later ordered let loose by Transport Canada after drifting into international waters Citing safety concerns as their reason to not pursue a salvage operation Transport Canada said that “the Lyubov Orlova no longer poses a threat to the safety of offshore oil installations it is very unlikely that the vessel will re-enter waters under Canadian jurisdiction.” So what happened after the ship was cut loose the ship was reported to be located approximately 250 nautical miles east of St NL (approximately 50 nautical miles outside Canada’s territorial waters) and drifting northeasterly she could end up almost anywhere from the Norwegian arctic or stuck in the middle of the North Atlantic gyre One of the main concerns with setting the ship adrift in the first place was that it could pose a threat to trans-Atlantic shipping so Transport Canada promised to monitor her location and warn any ships transiting nearby A few weeks after being cut loose, she was spotted roughly 1,300 nautical miles off the coast of Ireland Of course there are conflicting reports in the media about when and where exactly the ship was spotted last but as far as we can tell the last contact was made in March or April 2013 when a signal from the vessel’s emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) was received from 700 nautical miles off the Kerry coast In June 2013, it was reported that Transport Canada had lost contact with the ship completely Right now we have no reason to believe that if there are rats onboard these rats have mutated beyond just normal rats We also need to consider that before the vessel left Newfoundland There’s a good chance some rats may have found their way onto the floating rust bucket Is the ship heading for Britain’s coast Chances are the ship sank somewhere in the North Atlantic but if it is still afloat and headed for Britain’s coast it’s likely we’ll hear about it well ahead of time Of course it’s also possible that the prevailing currents may have pulled the vessel south into the North Atlantic gyre and could one day wash up on the shores of Barbados Simple. The U.K. tabloid The Sun ran an “exclusive” story January 23 claiming that a “ship of ghouls” was heading straight for the British coast with 100’s of cannibal rats the story was a fabrication embellishment of what was really making news 9 months ago It was then picked up by some other publications right now we actually can’t confirm or refute that somewhere in the Atlantic there may be abandoned ship The Irish Coast Guard has told us that there is no new news about the Lyubov Orlova Maritime & Coastguard Agency also released a statement claiming no new news about the ship: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has received no sightings of the former Soviet cruise ship ‘Lyubov Orlova’ since April last year and there is no evidence to suggest it is still afloat Any ‘ghost’ ship entering European waters is highly likely to be reported due to the large number of vessels passing through the area If we get any official news about the Lyubov Orlova ghost ship Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update and updates delivered daily straight to your inbox Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran on Wednesday that it will face consequences for supporting the Houthis even as the United States has relaunched talks with Iran over its nuclear program The US economy contracted at the start of the year for the first time since 2022 on a monumental pre-tariffs import surge and more moderate consumer spending a first snapshot of the ripple effects from President Donald Trump’s trade policy President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught has roiled Washington and Wall Street for nearly a month the next upheaval will hit much closer to home Subscribe to gCaptain Daily and stay informed with the latest global maritime and offshore news Stay informed with the latest maritime and offshore news For general inquiries and to contact us,please email: [email protected] To submit a story idea or contact our editors, please email: [email protected] For advertising opportunities contactEmail: [email protected]Phone: +1.805.704.2536 Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe @champagneyaniii Zodiac sign illustrations by Bodil Jane, The Grande Dame and Yoko Furusho The striking Yelibe at The Wall Models stars in the latest DSCENE STYLE STORIES exclusive session titled Nebula lensed by fashion photographer Veronika Orlova Styling is work of Medina Gadzhi-Ismaylova In charge of video direction was film maker Ira Rekels DSCENE EXCLUSIVES For the story Medina selected pieces from brands such as John Richmond DSCENE is curated as a daily art, design, fashion & lifestyle destination. DSCENE is non-for-profit fashion and culture basis organization which aims at further development of research on DSCENE values, as well as on providing educational services. Home of magazine editions DSCENE and MMSCENE – Click for more about DSCENE and for our Terms of Service Please enter your username or email address to reset your password Annenberg’s Center for Media at Risk is hosting three Ukrainian scholars and mediamakers hosting several public events to share their insights and knowledge Dariya Orlova (left) and Olena Lysenko (Photo Credit: Eric Sucar a visiting scholar at the Center for Media at Risk at the Annenberg School for Communication sitting with her students around a large table She taught her other course at Annenberg too — from her office The students are more than 4,000 miles away in Kyiv learning about journalism while monitoring for the air raid sirens that send them scrambling “It’s not easy these days because of electricity disruptions,” Orlova says but in recent weeks I’ve only had six or seven because the others can’t connect.” Orlova is one of three Ukrainian visiting scholars this academic year at the Annenberg School for Communication’s Center for Media at Risk is legally unable to leave Ukraine full-time but he has visited Penn and is engaged in the fellowship from afar The Center for Media at Risk’s mission is to free it hosts several visiting scholars or practicing journalists each semester It intentionally keeps programming and priorities fluid so that it is able to respond to global events “When Russia began its full-scale assault on Ukraine it was very clear that if there's one group of media practitioners and media scholars who need a public light to be shown on them to make clear the risks that they're facing: it was those in Ukraine,” says Director Barbie Zelizer the Raymond Williams Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School it would be easy to see the invitation as a way for the scholars to escape to safety she was reluctant to leave Ukraine in its hour of need I was really determined to stay in Ukraine as long as I could understanding that things might become so complicated that it would make sense to leave the country,” says Orlova In the month following the Russian invasion she was contacted by colleagues from around the world who offered academic opportunities She wanted to be with her fellow Ukrainians during this very difficult time “I was extremely surprised to get an email from Professor Zelizer asking if I might be interested in this opportunity,” says Orlova Although I had been determined to stay in Ukraine coming to America offered a chance to catch her breath and see her work from a new angle Since the Euromaidan Revolution and Russian aggression in the region starting in 2014 Lysenko had worked nonstop to share Ukrainian stories with the world she guided foreign reporters from NPR across the country setting up interviews and translating for them She has also worked as a fixer for Vox and The Wall Street Journal I was really overwhelmed from working during a full-scale invasion,” she says it can be hard to understand what is actually important so this is an opportunity for me to understand All three of the visiting scholars are practicing journalism in different ways while Orlova and Fedchenko also teach at the Mohyla School of Journalism at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy she found that she enjoyed researching journalism more than practicing it Her current research focuses on Ukrainian journalists’ professional identity after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea — as well as media consumption among Ukrainians I became interested in exploring how Ukrainian journalists see their own professional and social identities because at that time many journalists became activists About a dozen became members of parliament,” she says “There must be forces in the community that made them leave journalism or somehow combine journalism with other things.” On February 8, she will give a colloquium at Annenberg about Ukrainian journalists’ experience with the war and how they perceive themselves and their role Olena Lysenko comes to Annenberg after years of working as a documentary filmmaker and producer in Ukraine but turned her focus to filmmaking as she watched the annexation of Crimea unfold in 2014 “I was trying to make sense of what was happening to find a way to document such important events in Ukrainian history,” she says and we started to document basically everything that was happening during the Euromaidan Revolution up to the current Russian aggression.” Their documentary, “I Never Had Dreams of My Son,” tells the story of a father looking for his lost son a Ukrainian soldier who left home to fight Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine The film recently won the Special Jury Recognition award at the New Orleans Film Festival One of the first things Lysenko did when she arrived in the U.S “It was a huge honor to be selected and to receive a Special Recognition there,” Lysenko says “The festival is extremely welcoming and community-minded I learned a lot about the history and culture of the South The majestic oak trees covered in moss were my favorite sight.” Life in America has felt a bit like a movie strangers seemed like characters in Hollywood blockbusters Currently, Lysenko is working on a documentary about Ukraine’s Film Archive. On February 22, she will hold a workshop at Annenberg on ethical approaches to documentary filmmaking Yevhen Fedchenko isn’t living in Philadelphia during his time as a visiting scholar Fedchenko cannot leave the country full-time but he is participating in research from afar the space for truth in Russian media is getting smaller and smaller compressed by the proliferation of propaganda “When the war against Ukraine started in 2014 and I got together at our school of journalism and started to think about what we could do as journalists to respond to this war rather than just going to fight in the trenches which a lot of my colleagues did and many of them died,” he told attendees at December’s symposium "We decided that we would be fighting disinformation — because from our point of view this war was completely constructed through disinformation.” During his visits to Penn, Fedchenko works with different groups on campus interested in tackling Russian disinformation. He is part of the Ukraine Working Group organized by The Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law and the Annenberg Public Policy Center that develops recommendations on responding to nuclear blackmail the Center for Media at Risk is partnering with the Fulbright Program in Ukraine to host an exhibit of photographs taken by American and Ukrainian photographers depicting war and its aftermath in Ukraine The exhibition will be open to the public to view at the Annenberg School for Communication’s first-floor forum beginning in April with an opening reception and curator discussion planned for April 13 Lysenko and Orlova are actively monitoring the situation in Ukraine my thoughts are constantly about the war and uncertainty of the future and at times it can be challenging to stay creative,” Lysenko says “Some of my friends joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces and are now fighting on the front lines “In Ukraine you see and you feel and you witness real deaths broken lives,” Orlova told attendees at December’s symposium Zelizer and everyone at the Center for Media at Risk plan to sustain relationships with Orlova and Fedchenko long after the semester is over Ahead of releasing third album The Joy Of Sects, Chemtrails’ Mia Lust and Laura Orlova tell Alex Dewing about their unique blend of nasty-pop and using music as a potent response to societal challenges The story of Chemtrails latest record begins with the sea Wrapped in a dressing gown against the cold Mia Lust sits alongside her musical and romantic partner as she recounts the unlikely tale of the Manchester-based psychedelic garage-punk outfit’s collaboration with producer Margo Broom “It was just a totally serendipitous meeting in the Italian sea that led to this being produced not by us,” Lust shares with a smile While away for the wedding of Chemtrails’ previous bassist the group’s eccentric founders were introduced to a fellow guest out in the ocean – namely Margo Broom (Fat White Family “I told her I was producing the new album and then she asked What are you using?’ And I said ‘Touch The Leather’ by Fat White Family It’s a story that seems too good to be true and yet is altogether fitting for the psychedelia-infused post-punk outfit who have navigated playful and portentous explorations of the modern world and have always found the joy in the absurdity of it all It seems to the pair that a chance encounter like this was inevitable particularly considering the timing of it all “We were going to self-produce it like we always do,” begins Lust “but we got into a bit of a crazy kind of…” We just couldn’t get the perspective of it all and then Chemtrails have defied easy categorisation danceable rhythms that cavort throughout The Joy Of Sects it’s easy to draw comparisons to the likes of Pixies “I’ll tell you that that’s something which I’ve found just happens naturally “I think our music is just everything we like sucked in and then spat out the other side Sometimes it ends up sounding a bit like the things we listen to “There’s this endless kind of tension between trying to make music interesting and surprising This sense of catharsis pervades every element of this eclectic outfit – from their lyricism to their instrumentation which boasts fuzzy basslines and ominous choirs Their frenetic live performances feed on their nasty-pop songs too earning recognition from established acts like Dream Wife and Big Joanie In short,The Joy Of Sects makes you want to dance There’s something infectious and purgative about it even when there’s a sinister undertone lurking within From lead single “Detritus Andronicus,” which struts and stomps in the same tread given their list of influences are equally experimental with genres “I really love Warmduscher right now,” admits Orlova “there’s something [about them] that makes you want to get up and dance we just can't help but make pop music in some sense We never set out to make pop songs; it just comes out.” While Chemtrails embrace their natural pull towards music to dance to fans can still expect the familiar themes of dystopia and disillusionment that the band have built a reputation on Musing on the ways her personal approach to the state of the world has bled into her writing Lust laughs that her style of lyricism can be recognised by her friends and family as just her way of always being with some “stupid theory about society or anthropology on the go…” “That's the natural sort of human response to dark things or combine the dark and the light elements together.” The Joy Of Sects weaves references to recognisable figures of power and corruption – Shakespeare’s symbol of transitory crisis Titus Andronicus; Russian signifier of ruling corruption Rasputin; and the more contemporary figure of the cocksure crypto-bro the references simultaneously playing with language and reflecting the reality of the world Lust connects these to the album’s overarching end-of-world themes a topic that she’s always been fascinated by: “in the beginning it felt like a fantasy thing it felt like it started to actually happen It’s gone from being post-apocalyptic fantasies to Chemtrails’ work is fuelled by the turbulent issues of today and the looming uncertainties of tomorrow twisting shared struggles especially within the queer community you have to crack a joke here and there to not push it over the edge Nothing too ‘pulling on the heartstrings,’” Orlova says with a chuckle There’s a sense of calculation in Chemtrails’ creative process Each song is a balance of tones and melodies and Lust’s lyrics too become a sort of exercise in puzzle solving She proudly notes the band’s “slightly” scientific background in describing the ways their songs often seem to write themselves which I thought was a funny line or clever phrasing ‘well what rhymes with that but also fits in terms of syllables and also in the same theme?’ You can imagine the joy to be had in yelling these lyrics back at the band at one of their visceral live shows – songs like “Business Class War Paint” a glam-rock single featuring an extended game of wordplay Having relocated from London to Manchester’s motley music scene you’re bound to encounter them at one of the city’s hidden venues complete with Ian Kane on bass and Liam Steers on drums and the band admittedly welcome the community they’ve found here “People are a bit more standoffish in London,” Lust notes “We play to a lot of crowds who don’t really know us… our dream is to play to a crowd where everyone knows what bits coming up and get the crowd pumped up.” As long as Chemtrails continue to navigate the lines between pop and grot When asked what The Joy Of Sects really is Orlova laughs answering: “We do feel quite powerless a lot of the time but you get this one life and you still want to enjoy it Sometimes it's like escapism from horrible things but you can't always go on worrying about them or you're just completely doomed.” Inviting listeners to dance through dystopian landscapes that are becoming closer and closer to our realities the band’s irreverent sounds and irrepressible energy make for a compelling journey it’s nice to be reminded that even in the face of doom and gloom the antidote can come from the most unexpected places Get the Best Fit take on the week in music direct to your inbox every Friday The Lyubov Orlova was built in 1976 as an arctic cruise ship for elite Russian travelers the abandoned ship was accidentally lost at sea and believed to be infested with cannibal rats media publications have warned that the ship might actually strike the coast of Ireland or the UK International arrivals to the Middle East have surpassed pre-pandemic levels except for the S&P 500 which is refreshed every two minutes Chicago Mercantile: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco Standard & Poor’s and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC All content of the Dow Jones branded indices Copyright S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and/or its affiliates Market holidays and trading hours provided by Copp Clark Limited '+n.escapeExpression("function"==typeof(o=null!=(o=r(e,"eyebrowText")||(null!=l?r(l,"eyebrowText"):l))?o:n.hooks.helperMissing)?o.call(null!=l?l:n.nullContext||{},{name:"eyebrowText",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:28,column:63},end:{line:28,column:78}}}):o)+" \n '+(null!=(o=c(e,"if").call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2PreText"):l,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:n.program(32,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:63,column:20},end:{line:63,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(c(e,"ifAll")||l&&c(l,"ifAll")||n.hooks.helperMissing).call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Text"):l,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Link"):l,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:n.program(34,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:64,column:20},end:{line:70,column:30}}}))?o:"")+" (Note: Click HERE to visit our forum for the full discussion of this article) UPDATE Jan. 24, 2013: Cannibal Rat-Infested Ghost Ship Story Hijacks the Internet -FAQ Fearing a possible collision with oil and gas installations off eastern Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard acted quickly and managed to secure her to the anchor handling ship Atlantic Hawk on the 31st of January, however after deeming the vessel posed no further threat to these assets, Transport Canada eventually cut her loose Citing safety concerns in their reason to not pursue a salvage operation to retrieve the ship “The Lyubov Orlova no longer poses a threat to the safety of offshore oil installations it is very unlikely that the vessel will re-enter waters under Canadian jurisdiction,” Canada did not wash their hands of the vessel entirely however. In a statement, the department acknowledged the risk that an abandoned vessel such as the Lyubov Orlova posed to trans-Atlantic shipping, and promised to monitor the Lyubov Orlova’s location and warn any ships transiting nearby This week CBC Canada followed up on the story and learned that Transport Canada lost contact with the ship and has not received any reported sightings of the MV Lyubov Orlova since early March Is she still a floating hazard to navigation or is she now resting at the bottom of the ocean On February 14th, a signal from the Russian’ vessel’s emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) confirmed that it was 700 nautical miles off the Kerry coast and, according to a report in the Irish Examiner Irish Coastguard officials moved to investigate “The EPIRB only signals when it hits the water It normally acts as a distress signal (so) a satellite was sent over the location of the last signal from the Lyubov Orlova’s EPIRB but there was no sign of the ship.” said a spokeswoman for the Irish Coastguard The Irish air corp is will continue to monitor the region for signs of the ghost ship and they ask they ask mariners to notify the Coast Guard if she is spotted Note: Click HERE to visit our forum for updates on the status of the M/V Lyubov Orlova A Swedish probe found no conclusive evidence to suggest that a Chinese ship had deliberately dragged its anchor to damage two Baltic Sea cables Sweden's Accident Investigation Authority said on Tuesday though a separate investigation remains under way The Estonian navy detained and boarded a Russia-bound oil tanker on an EU sanctions list on Friday accusing it of sailing illegally without a valid country flag has sunk off the Egyptian resort town of Hurghada with 45 people on board The incident occurred around 1,000 meters offshore during an hour-long.. For general inquiries and to contact us,please email: [email protected] To submit a story idea or contact our editors, please email: [email protected] For advertising opportunities contactEmail: [email protected]Phone: +1.805.704.2536 The abandoned ship — now overrun with rats — was last located about 1,300 nautical miles off the Irish coast The ship's co-owner, Reza Shoeybi, of Toronto, has been frantically trying to track down the vessel,(potentially worth up to $800,000 in scrap metal) The Orlova hasn't always been a rat-infested ghost ship remember the orphaned vessel when it still worked as a polar expedition cruise ship The California couple took a trip to the Arctic in August 2007 At that time the ship was chartered by Cruise North Rick described his experience to Business Insider and was kind enough to share some photos with us. We also recommend checking out his full Arctic album on Flickr Brought to you by 10 Barrel Brewing Any day on snow is better than not; ask professional snowboarder Anna Orlova Anna’s a World Tour champ who has seen podiums known pain and lives the equation of inspiration-plus-endurance equaling success Rarely found far from snow and widely traveled as an ambassador for Roxy Anna was a No.2 seed among the female snowboard athletes of FWT 2019/’20 at the onset of a season that’s already being called ‘our darkest winter,’ Anna is prepped to focus completely on lighting her own trail I would take off from school to hike my local hill I still use that first board to shred the indoor parks) A: When I started focusing on the Freeride World Tour I’d placed well on the qualifier circuit for three-straight years when I took 2nd in my first tour event and placed 3rd overall that season A: I took deep breaths and visualized the runs so that I felt I was already riding them The compromise came in choosing lines that I knew would be a challenge and straight away was fighting for the overall title But it’s not about ‘pushing’; it’s about inner nature willing us to progress recognizing the new opportunities the mountains offer and exploring them line-by-line I would fly to Japan for the first FWT event when I cut my ACL and meniscuses about finishing my snowboard carrier–not only as a professional athlete but mostly as someone who loves to ride wherever they want without having to worry about safe runs or how the leg feels A: Support of those around me and trust in myself the pandemic began—so no more going to the gym 5 days a week I was alone with my injury and had to motivate myself to train That was a hard time when every day was a challenge to focus But I listened to myself and the doctors and worked very hard “Stay strong and don’t give up; training is a path back A: It was surprising: the cold-blooded day-to-day week-by-week of staying at home just doing the same exercises without any opportunities to go to the mountains—not even to see them All that remained was the dream of the day when everything would be normal again it helped me appreciate every single moment in the mountains more and to be very thankful and proud of myself that I didn’t give up in a bad time but I’m coming back in competition shape no matter what A: (Maybe finding soft snow this season means walking far away.) Actually I’m not seeing a lot of change… ski resorts are opening as usual But I know splitboarding has become super popular Almost all the boards in the shops are already sold That is probably because people expect some resorts won’t open or because closed borders mean more people on slopes But rules don’t prohibit us from enjoying life and being happy and it’s good thoughts that help us to be healthy A: Snowboarding helps me to discover the world–new mountains And I discover myself every day in freeride adventures but my desire to create a better future is stronger A: All the ladies progressing in freeride or other extreme sports, they inspire me hugely. They motivate me to pursue my future goal of becoming a freeride world champ. And together, we can take women’s sports to the next level. A: Yes, I hold a freeride school in Priiskovoy–it’s a popular spot for cat skiing–and I find it is perfect for sharing my mountain experience with others, educating on avalanche rescue and security in the mountains, plus instructing how to pick a line from the top and how to ride deep pow. The school is only in its fourth year, but I hope to see it grow. A: It’s a strange and difficult time for all freedom lovers. It’s hard not having opportunities to travel wherever you want, and it isn’t easy to plan anything. But still, no matter what, “all hard work and training will be rewarded.” An avid husband, father, skier, and friend, Paulie writes by the light of a vagabond moon. He appreciates fresh perspective, fine literature, and strong drink. Taking care of a sick pet can be a scary experience and that’s what’s happening to Washington Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov with their family cat Joy We were first aware of the sick cat by reader Kristy Moore made posts on their Instagram of their sick cat asking for help you probably saw posts this past week about their cat needing help Their first message on July 29 read the following: Dear friends translated in English: “Blood is urgently needed posted this on her Instagram story: “Dear friends https://twitter.com/Stars_AndSticks/status/1425001107370172420 Last night Orlov posted this on his Instagram story translated from Russian to English: “Thanks to all those who care for the responses Dmitry can start focusing on building off the strong 2021 season that he had You can check out his wife’s Instagram story for more cat content © 2025 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Minute Media or its affiliates and related brands All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit If you or someone you know has a gambling problem crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER We were first aware of the sick cat by reader Kristy Moore. Dmitry and his wife, Varvara Orlova, made posts on their Instagram of their sick cat asking for help. If you were on Instagram and follow Orlov, his wife, or both, you probably saw posts this past week about their cat needing help. The cat was in need of a blood donor. We aren’t certain what their cat has. Their first message on July 29 read the following: Dear friends! A donor is required! The cat is joy. The hostess is Varvara Orlava…”. Then on August 4, Orlov made another post, translated in English: “Blood is urgently needed! The breed does not matter. A cat or cats at least 5kg (11 pounds). Hostess: Varvara Orlova. Cat: Joy.” Dmitry’s wife, Varvara, posted this on her Instagram story: “Dear friends! A donor is required! The cat is Joy. The hostess is Varvara Orlova. Last night Orlov posted this on his Instagram story, translated from Russian to English: “Thanks to all those who care for the responses, Joy is home, and we start rehabilitation.” light. More. Washington Capitals: Ilya Samsonov Signs One-Year Bridge Contract Now that Orlov’s cat is back home, likely from getting blood donated, Dmitry can start focusing on building off the strong 2021 season that he had. You can check out his wife’s Instagram story for more cat content. Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. may have succumbed to stormy weather conditions I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A ghost ship carrying a cargo of disease-ridden rats believed to be heading towards British shores may have sunk The Lyubov Orlova cruise liner has been drifting across the north Atlantic for the better part of a year and salvage hunters hoping to trace the 4,250-ton vessel said they believed there was a strong chance it is heading this way the unlucky vessel was abandoned in a Canadian harbour in 2010 after its owners were embroiled in a debt scandal and did not pay the crew Newfoundland authorities attempted to sell the hull for scrap to the Dominican Republic but cut their losses when it came loose in a storm on the way and experts say it was likely to still contain hundreds of carnivorous rats that have been eating each other to survive the Irish Coast Guard said authorities now believe the ship may have submerged somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean following bouts of stormy weather Salvage hunters had been hoping to trace and sell the vessel "We spent two or three months last year searching for it, using satellites and the Air Corps assisted us. It was predicted to be coming up roughly along the west coast towards Achill Island," Mr Reynolds said. "Our professional belief is that it has sunk. We've discussed it with the UK and Norway and Iceland and we're all pretty happy that it has probably sunk." "It's worth €1million so if it did show up, we'd arrange for it to be salvaged." Two signals were picked up on the 12 and 23 March last year, presumably from lifeboats which fell away and hit the water, showing the vessel had made it two-thirds of the way across the Atlantic and was heading east. A week later, an unidentified object of about the right size was spotted on radar just off the coast of Scotland – but search planes never verified the find. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies via Lilpop,Rau & Loewenstein in the Antarctic UPDATE Jan. 24, 2013: Cannibal Rat-Infested Ghost Ship Story Hijacks the Internet -FAQ Update: According to data from the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency obtained by AFP the derelict Lyubov Orlova has been spotted roughly 1,300 nautical miles off the coast of Ireland at coordinates 49-22.70N and 044-51.34W 3): The deck of the M/V Lyubov Orlova could be the loneliest place on earth right now The derelict cruise ship escaped death by the shipbreakers in the Dominican Republic after her towing cable parted shortly after leaving St Newfoundland last week only to face an uncertain fate while drifting alone on the cold Fearing a possible collision with oil and gas installations off eastern Canada, the Lyubov Orlova was secured by the Atlantic Hawk anchor handler on the 31st of January however after the ship drifted into international waters yesterday Transport Canada has decided to cut her loose “The Lyubov Orlova no longer poses a threat to the safety of offshore oil installations it is very unlikely that the vessel will re-enter waters under Canadian jurisdiction,” the department said in a statement Safety concerns were cited by Transport Canada in their reason to not pursue a salvage operation to retrieve the ship The ship is is located at approximately 250 nautical miles east of St NL (approximately 50 nautical miles outside Canada’s territorial waters) and drifting northeasterly If left alone she could end up almost anywhere from the Norwegian arctic Transport Canada reiterates that the owner of the vessel remains responsible for its movements and they note that measures have been taken to monitor the position of the drifting ship Apple AAPL.O plans to shift the assembly of all iPhones sold in the U.S pivoting away from China to avoid steep tariffs Denmark will spend about 4 billion crowns ($614 million) on building and procuring 26 navy vessels for patrolling oil spill response and surveillance of undersea cables Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said on Tuesday strikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa fuel terminal on the Red Sea coast have killed at least 74 people in the deadliest attack since the U.S For general inquiries and to contact us,please email: [email protected] To submit a story idea or contact our editors, please email: [email protected] For advertising opportunities contactEmail: [email protected]Phone: +1.805.704.2536 the mystery of the Lyubov Orlova cruise liner has become a news story that has been circulating online and splashed in newspapers Just imagine it: a shadowy vessel silently docking in the dark of night while cat-sized killer pirate rodents descend and scurry around our cities brandishing their fangs ready to gnaw at your bones – yes it's the stuff of nightmares And with each new headline the rats have become bigger and bigger We relish the opportunity to tell a good ghost story Chris Reynolds, director of the Irish Coast Guard "The problem you have now is that you can't prove something you don't know." It all began when the Yugoslavian-built ship – named in 1976 after a Russian actor – was abandoned for two years in a Newfoundland port after its owners were embroiled in a debt dispute But its tow-line broke loose on what was to be its final journey and it has been drifting in the Atlantic ever since The reason why there's such a fuss is that an abandoned 4,000 tonne ship can be hazardous for other cruise liners and tankers in the sea Reynolds explains that the Irish Coast Guard was alerted about the possibility of an abandoned ship heading its way and that in March 2013 the emergency beacons were alerted "We had a three-month drift prediction project using satellites and radar images trying to locate the ship and did some modelling which showed that it could be heading to Norway or the south of England But the ship had its transmitting monitors turned off We couldn't find it and there was no value to keep on searching this seems to be the only bit of evidence that the ship is on its way Reynolds now explains that he expects and hopes that the ship has sunk or has been pushed back on to rocks a spokesperson for the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: "We have received no reported sightings of the vessel since April last year What about the cannibal rats on this ship though? It's reminiscent of the scene in Skyfall when ultimate villain Raoul Silva – his blond hair slicked back – toys with Bond, and recounts his childhood tale of how his grandmother taught him how to turn rats that had arrived on the island in fishing boats into killer rodents In response to the story, Dr Penny Hawkins, RSPCA senior scientific officer explains that: "Rats have a really bad press and this doesn't help These are animals that actually respond to one another in social distress." Hawkins adds that if this did happen on the ship with no food "then it was in response to a highly stressful situation They are no more inclined to eat one another than humans." We use our own and third-party cookies to deliver content to you throughout your experience online. It is possible that some cookies may continue to collect information after you've left our site. By using our site, you consent to cookies. Learn more here we give you Maria Orlova our latest Swingin' Siren you just lounge around while we do all the work.. Miss Universe is a golfer... Metrics details which is well known to compromise both the statistical validity and the computational performance of clustering methods that operate on multiple dimensions at once Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout Computational flow cytometry: helping to make sense of high-dimensional immunology data The Elements of Statistical Learning (Springer-Verlag Cytofkit: a bioconductor package for an integrated mass cytometry data analysis pipeline Automated mapping of phenotype space with single-cell data in Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 17 (NIPS 2004) (eds Saul AutoGate: automating analysis of flow cytometry data Earth Mover's Distance (EMD): a true metric for comparing biomarker expression levels in cell populations Download references Herzenberg are at the Department of Genetics Guenther Walther is at the Department of Statistics Download citation Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science Two women in Khabarovsk have been handed prison sentences after being found guilty of torturing animals and offending religious believers, the Interfax news agency reported Friday The case against Alina Orlova and Alena Savchenko was filed in the fall of 2016 after photographs of the women torturing animals surfaced on the Dvach web forum A screenshot of the women planning on social media to “shoot and slice!” their next animal victim appeared alongside the photographs An incident involving an attack on a Khabarovsk woman with a bat and a pneumatic gun was also included in the case According to the Interfax news agency the women were both 17 at the time of their arrest in November though some Russian media reported they are in their early 20s who was also charged with insulting religious believers and inciting hatred was sentenced to four years and three months in prison on Friday The Industrial District Court of Khabarovsk judge handed Orlova a sentence of three years and ten days in prison The prosecution initially fought for a six-year sentence but both Orlova and Savchenko pleaded guilty to the crimes Video footage of Savchenko bullying homeless people and offensive social media posts served as evidence for her extended sentence Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent." These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help. Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact. By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us. A ghost ship carrying nothing but disease-ridden rats could be about to make land on Britain’s shore and salvage hunters say there is a strong chance it is heading this way the unlucky vessel was abandoned in a Canadian harbour after its owners were embroiled in a debt scandal and failed to pay the crew The authorities in Newfoundland tried to sell the hull for scrap – valued at £600,000 – to the Dominican Republic 7 things you need to know about Lyubov Orlova Sending the ship off into international waters, Transport Canada said it was satisfied the Lyubov Orlova “no longer poses a threat to the safety of [Canadian] offshore oil installations, their personnel or the marine environment”. Experts say the ship, which is likely to still contain hundreds of rats that have been eating each other to survive, must still be out there somewhere because not all of its lifeboat emergency beacons have been set off. Pim de Rhoodes, a Belgian salvage hunter who is among a number looking for the Lyubov Orlova off the UK coastline, told The Sun: “She is floating around out there somewhere. “There will be a lot of rats and they eat each other. If I get aboard I'll have to lace everywhere with poison.” The head of the Irish coastguard, Chris Reynolds, said the ship was more likely than not to still pose a threat. “There have been huge storms in recent months but it takes a lot to sink a vessel as big as that,” he said. “We must stay vigilant.” MV Lyubov Orlova pictured in January 2013 It’s been more than a year now since a failed tow off Canada set a dilapidated Russian expedition ship adrift in the North Atlantic, sparking fears in the media that a derelict ghost ship possibly infested with cannibal rats was heading straight for the European coast Fortunately for northern Europeans however the stories as reported in the media have not yet materialized and in all likelihood the vessel is sunk the general public can rest even more assured that the chances of this type of incident repeating itself have been slightly diminished because the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has just released its investigation findings into the loss-of-tow U.S.-flagged tug Charlene Hunt departed St John’s harbour bound for a Dominican Republic scrapyard with the decommissioned passenger vessel Lyubov Orlova in tow Newfoundland when the towing arrangement failed in heavy weather After several failed attempts to reconnect the Lyubov Orlova was eventually left derelict when it drifted into international waters TSB Canada has not surprisingly identified a number of contributing factors to the incident bad weather and a mechanical breakdown” as three important factors The TSB investigation revealed a number of inadequacies Chief among them was that the relief master did not adequately prepare to compensate for the environmental conditions that were encountered during the tow The report observed that available guidelines respecting the design and construction of towing arrangements were not followed and that the towing arrangement was inadequate for the intended voyage The TSB investigation also made findings as to risk Transport Canada (TC) inspected the Charlene Hunt and found deficiencies Repairs were made and the tug proceeded to St Before the vessel’s departure for the Dominican Republic TC had requested that the master contact their office in St The master did not report his arrival and the Charlene Hunt departed with the tow Following the eventual loss of the tow and the vessel’s return to St a TC inspection again revealed several deficiencies with the tug The TSB investigation concluded that had an inspection been undertaken prior to departure some of these deficiencies would have been identified If Port State Control is not exercised and vessels that are unseaworthy are permitted to continue operating there is a risk that the safety of the crew and the environment may be compromised officials with the Halifax Rescue Coordination Centre heard from the MV Lyubov Orlova on two later occasions; once on February 23 when an emergency beacon registered to the Lyubov Orlova started transmitting approximately 700 nm east of St John’s and a second time on March 8 when another beacon from the vessel was set off the TSB notes that the MV Lyubov Orlova is presumed sunk You can find the full report HERE President Donald Trump's administration is considering softening its proposed fee on China-linked ships visiting U.S ports after a flood of negative feedback from industries that said the idea could be economically devastating Violette Dorange became the youngest sailor to finish the after completing the gruelling solo round-the-world yacht race on Sunday Dorange completed the race in 25th place.. By Dimitri Rhodes Nov 7 (Reuters) – Belgian oil tanker company CMB Tech says it will focus on the fast growing market in India as it reported third quarter results.. For general inquiries and to contact us,please email: [email protected] To submit a story idea or contact our editors, please email: [email protected] For advertising opportunities contactEmail: [email protected]Phone: +1.805.704.2536 But the empty vessel may now be making its way back to land, thanks to heavy winter winds that are pushing it toward the British coast, according to a report from The Sun Landlubbers don't have much to look forward to if the ghost ship does reach the shores of Ireland The Sun reports that the Lyubov Orlova's only occupants are hundreds of diseased Despite warning alarms, coastguards in Ireland and the United Kingdom say they have received no reported sightings of the ship since last April, according to the BBC. "Any 'ghost' ship entering European waters is highly likely to be reported due to the large number of vessels passing through the area," the U.K's Maritime and Coastguard Agency said in a statement reported by the Plymouth Herald adding, "We would then act accordingly." As recently as 2007, the Orlova operated as an expedition ship that took tourists to the Arctic. The ship was seized from its Russian owner in 2010 over unpaid fees. It remained tied up in Canadian waters for more than two years before being sold for scrap metal. The vessel was on its way from Canada to a scrapyard in the Dominican Republic when its towing cable snapped and the ship escaped. Join the conversation You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account the internet exploded with speculation that the M/V Lyubov Orlova a derelict Soviet-made cruise ship cut loose from Newfoundland last winter was on the verge of smashing into Ireland or the British Isles and unleashing a terrifying cargo of cannibalistic rats very hungry for something besides the raw flesh of their comrades at sea,” read a Thursday post by Gawker.com that soon spawned similar speculation around the English-speaking world But while Canada did indeed send a derelict Soviet cruise ship on a course for the Emerald Isle — and while it is indeed populated by a colony of Newfoundland rats — the M/V Lyubov Orlova has almost certainly been consigned to a watery grave: Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format The next issue of NP Posted will soon be in your inbox The last human eyes laid on the Lyubov Orlova belonged to the crew of the Maersk Challenger a Transport Canada-contracted supply vessel that was in the process of towing the cruise ship away from offshore oil platforms when the towline broke The ship had originally found itself adrift in the North Atlantic when it broke free of an underpowered tugboat attempting to haul it St Newfoundland to a scrapyard in the Caribbean even as she bobbed around one of the world’s busiest ocean trade routes nobody has been able to get a visual on the 90 meter long former cruise ship And it’s not for lack of trying: Reports of a rat-infested ghost ship have a way of narrowing the eyes of North Atlantic mariners particularly when they’ve had to worry about getting their freighters to Halifax or New York without hitting the damn thing Ireland is only 3,000 kilometers from Newfoundland the Lyubov Orlova would only need to have drifted eight kilometers a day in order to now be entering Irish territorial waters 12 months is all it took for a small fishing vessel cut loose by the 2011 Japanese tsunami to travel 8,000 kilometers and appear off the coast of British Columbia authorities have been able to receive scattered positioning signals from the vessel’s emergency equipment was less than 700 nautical miles from the Irish Coast This indicates that the ship was already well past the halfway mark she should have been appearing off Galway harbour by June one of the chief responsibilities of the Irish Coast Guard is to prevent rat-infested hulks from hitting Ireland from the moment Canadian officials sheepishly told the Irish to keep watch for a rusty ship heading in their direction Irish Department of Transport spokeswoman Caroline Ryan said they were poring over satellite imagery drawing up ocean drift models and readying aircraft patrols to make sure they could intercept the wayward ship before it could emerge out of the fog and take out an Irish ferry or two Ireland is pretty confident the Lyubov Orlova is gone “Our belief is that it has more than likely sunk given the storms that have gone through the region,” Chris Reynolds from the Irish Coast Guard told the Irish Independent on Friday The East Coast of Canada was subject to three-meter waves when the Lyubov Orlova broke its final tow line the ship has spun aimlessly through iceberg-infested waters and been pounded by all manner of swells And it’s not like the Lyubov Orlova was in tip-top condition to begin with the ship had spent three years deteriorating in St the only buyer she could fetch was a scrap dealer In the October words of Irish Coast Director Chris Reynolds she was less a cruise ship than “4,000 tonnes of metal,” he told the BBC The Lyubov Orlova’s immense size certainly makes it a bit heartier a Greek-owned cruise ship that was 60 meters longer than the Lyubov Orlova the vessel was on a routine cruise off the coast of South Africa when this happened: but the Oceanos’ sinking was believed to have been kicked off by a rupture as small as a faulty sewage pipe it would have only taken a few loose rivets to do the same The Lyubov Orlova’s “we are sinking” transponders were activated months ago That’s right; the ship itself has told us she’s sunk the Lyubov Orlova carried EPIRBs (Emergency Position Indicating Rescue Beacon) safety devices that are strapped to the ship’s lifeboats and activated automatically when they come into contact with salt water Transport Canada confirmed that an EPIRB from the vessel had been activated prompting Canada to send an aircraft over its reported position What the patrol was a single lifeboat drifting alone in the North Atlantic it’s possible that the signals simply came from lifeboats that fell away and hit the water—and that the Lyubov Orlova itself is still proudly coursing towards Ireland with its complement of Canadian rodents “You can’t prove a negative,” he said this week This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. 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