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Governments are rapidly digitalising public services to increase cost-effectiveness of the public sector. This study examines older migrants' use of digital public health and social welfare services from the perspective of social exclusion. The study uses a mixed methods approach, drawing on representative survey data of Russian-speaking migrants in Finland and qualitative interviews with third-sector representatives who assist Russian-speaking migrants with digital service use. Our quantitative results show that a sizeable proportion of Russian-speaking older adults are excluded from digital services. In particular, those with lower socio-economic status, poor local language skills and without Finnish education are at higher risk of exclusion. Our qualitative results describe the multiple ways the exclusion from digital services intersects with other disadvantages in the everyday lives of Russian-speaking older adults. We argue that digitalisation of these services may foster social exclusion and endanger the realisation of these people's social rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the association between digital information technology (DIT) use and the utilization of transnational healthcare (THC) in older migrants, and investigates how this relationship depends on social integration or perceived discrimination in health services in the destination country. The data from a population-based study conducted in Finland in 2019, which targeted Russian-speaking residents aged 50 and above (n = 1082) nationwide, are analyzed. The analysis demonstrates that those who had a high level of DIT use were significantly more likely to use THC than those who had a low level of use. However, the findings do not show that the relationship depends on social integration or perceived discrimination. Older migrants can actively use transnational networks to address their health and well-being issues by using DIT and seeking healthcare abroad. Their health service use can be illustrated as an active process involving various geographical domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the killing and murder of journalists in Russia and the role of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to control them. It discusses the murder of Russian journalist and activist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow, Russia, who wrote about the Chechen civilians, Russian soldiers and the corrupt political and business elite against the will of the regime of President Vladimer Putin. It further discusses the murder of another Russian journalist Natalya Estemirova in Grozny, Russia by assassins. It discusses the domestic and international investigations related to the murders of these journalists and also the role of ECHR regarding these cases.

Lake Baikal is known for its high percentage of endemic fauna and flora. The most abundant sessile animal taxa in the littoral zone of Baikal are the photosymbiotic sponges. These endemic sponges are grouped to the family Lubomirskiidae and are separated, based on molecular data, from the cosmopolitan family Spongillidae Gray 1867. In the present review, recent data on the potential driving forces of the rapid speciation in Lake Baikal have been unified. Current data suggest that the genetic repertoire of the sponges was sufficiently large to cope with the major cold events, occurring 2.8–2.5 and 1.8–1.5 Ma. It is proposed that during those periods of climatic incisions founder populations were separated from the parental cosmopolitan sponge population and developed subsequently to the array of endemic species. To clarify whether the endemic sponge fauna is indeed restricted to Lake Baikal only or whether there exist related taxa in other lakes, a collection of sponges in the 750 km distant Lake Chagytai was performed. This lake harbours unexpectedly large populations of the endemic species Baikalospongia dzhegatajensis. As the habitat of the Lake Chagytai (algal habitat) differs strongly from that of Lake Baikal (rocky habitat), it is proposed that after the formation of the initial founder population in response to the climatic shift, subsequent speciation was driven by habitat differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]