Thousands of Ukrainian men are avoiding military service | How the female coffee farmers of Uganda are building their livelihoods | Dozens of prison officers freed after being taken hostage in Ecuador jails | CNN

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You Might Like � � � You Might Like � � � � � � � � � Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium Thousands of Ukrainian men are avoiding military service    IN THE MORNING gloom of the railway station at Chop, a border town in Ukraine, passengers queue for the train to Zahony, a 13-minute journey away in Hungary. From there one can travel to Budapest, and then the world. Outside the station a platoon of soldiers puff out their chests at a ceremony celebrating Ukraine’s Flag Day. But not all Ukrainian men are so eager to take up arms. Thousands have fled abroad, though no one knows quite how many. In the queue of about 130 people, only 20 are male. Men aged 18-60 are not allowed to leave Ukraine unless they qualify for an exemption. Four of those waiting are young lads who look close to turning 18. To avoid the risk of mobilisation, they must leave before then. Of course, some men find ways to get out anyway, legally or illegally. On August 11th President Volodymyr Zelensky announced he was sacking the heads of the country’s regional military recruitment centres, where officials were alleged to be selling travel permits for up to $10,000. “Bribery during war is treason,” Mr Zelensky railed. In Uzhhorod, a town on the nearby Slovakian border, Oleksiy, aged 25, rues the fact that he did not flee with his cousin the day the Russians invaded. War is “legalised murder”, he says, “and I don’t want to be part of it.” He dithered for a couple of days, and by then it was too late to leave legally. Because students are exempt from mobilisation, he has enrolled in a second degree programme. But he will have to pay for his studies: only a first university degree is free in Ukraine. Continued here How the female coffee farmers of Uganda are building their livelihoods    In east Uganda, Mary Butsina has been surrounded by coffee her whole life, and now she supports her family by producing it. In Bududa, a lush yet landslide-prone district of eastern Uganda, Mary Butsina and a growing number of other women farmers are building their livelihoods around coffee. “I’m supporting all of my 10 children with it,” says the 36-year-old, holding a red bucket, Mount Elgon looming behind her. From farming stock, Mary first went to work with her father at the age of 10. Profits from his coffee crop paid her school fees. She married into coffee, too, with her husband giving her 100 trees as a wedding present. But Mary’s since planted more than 300 herself and joined a women’s cooperative. “The aim was to reduce the dependence of women on men in coffee,” she says. She’s one of around 100 women members, although husbands have been allowed to join too — as they tend to own the coffee plantations and support their wives in the business — which has brought the total membership to 200. And the collective has inspired others, too. “More women have started to plant their own coffee,” Mary says. Continued here Dozens of prison officers freed after being taken hostage in Ecuador jails | CNN    Fifty prison guards and seven police officers have been freed after being taken hostage by inmates held in six prisons across Ecuador, authorities said, part of a coordinated protest against security operations being conducted inside the country's violence-plagued penitentiaries. The protests began on Thursday, according to Ecuador's penitentiary service, the SNAI, hours after the military carried out a major operation involving more than 2,200 security personnel at prison in Latacunga, a city south of the capital, Quito. The military said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it was attempting to "control weapons, ammunition, and explosives" at the facility. Continued here

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