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Ukraine's first lady says her relationship with Zelenskyy is 'on pause' as they can't see each other for long periods during the war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the first lady, Olena Zelenska.

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• Ukraine's first lady said she doesn't get to see her husband, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
  often.
• Olena Zelenska told CNN that their relationship was "on pause."
• She said her kids can only talk to Zelenskyy on the phone, and that they are "waiting to be reunited."

Ukraine's first lady told CNN her relationship with her husband, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was "on pause" as they're forbidden to see each other for long periods during the war.

In an interview aired Tuesday, Olena Zelenska told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that she is not allowed to see Zelenskyy very often and when she does, it's only for a short period of time.

"But at least I can physically feel him next to me," Zelenska told CNN.

"This isn't normal. It's not a normal relationship when children cannot see their father and have to talk to him on the phone. So our relationship is on pause just as it is for all Ukrainians," she said.

"We ... are waiting to be reunited, to be together again, to spend evenings together, to talk to the children about their things."

Both Zelenskyy and his wife have refused to leave Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24.

In the first two months of the war, the family was not able to see each other at all. Zelenskyy lived in his office with his staff while Zelenska and their two children, aged 17 and 9, were kept in a secret location.

In her CNN interview, Zelenska also said the ongoing war, which has moved away from Kyiv and intensified in the eastern Donbas region, had taken a large toll on the country and that she currently "cannot see the end of our suffering." 

"It's very difficult to hold on for five months," Zelenska said. "We need to accumulate our strength, we need to save our energy."

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Trump's Truth Social struggled to hire tech workers because it wanted right-wing staffers and nobody wanted to take the jobs, report says

Former US President Donald Trump.

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• Trump launched his own social media app Truth Social in February.
• The company that built the app struggled to hire tech workers, sources told Reuters.
• The hiring pool was narrowed by a reported company policy that favored right-wing candidates.

The company behind Donald Trump's social media app Truth Social struggled to hire enough tech workers, according to a Reuters report.

Truth Social launched on the App Store in February, and Trump has touted the app as his alternative to Big Tech which he claims censors right-wing views.

The app's launch was beset with technical difficulties and many users were shunted onto a long waiting list when they tried to sign up.

Three sources familiar with Trump Media and Technology Group's operations told Reuters the company avoided hiring left-wing employees — a requirement which significantly narrowed the choice of tech candidates.

One source told Reuters in at least one instance recruiters for the company scoured a potential candidate's social media to evaluate their politics.

Three people familiar with TMTG's recruitment efforts also told Reuters tech workers with moderate and left-wing political views were often unwilling to work for the company.

Three sources told Reuters the company also struggled to hire employees regardless of their politics.

One person who was approached by TMTG told Reuters not only did they object to Trump's politics, but they were also put off by his previous failed business ventures.

Digital World Acquisition Corp, a SPAC that is currently in the process of trying to acquire TMTG, listed Trump's previous failed businesses including the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump University, and Trump Vodka, as a risk factor for investors.  

Reuters reported even workers who did accept jobs at TMTG have taken steps to hide that fact. After Reuters reviewed the social media bios of workers at the company, it found some had omitted mentioning their jobs at TMTG.

One source told Reuters this was because some staffers fear being associated with the company could harm their future career prospects.

A regulatory filing by Digital World said TMTG had around 40 employees as of March 31, 2022.

Reuters contacted TMTG for comment on its report and received a statement Shannon Devine, managing partner at investor relations company MZ Group.

Devine said Reuters' report contained "false and defamatory statements" and said it "includes misleading assertions and omits material facts." 

Devine did not specify which parts of the reports were false and did not reply to a follow-up request for comment, Reuters said.

TMTG did not immediately respond when contacted by Insider for comment outside normal US working hours.

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Xi Jinping says China has consulted millions of citizens about its government as part of a 'whole-process democracy' that Beijing claims is better than the West's

Chinese President Xi Jinping appears set for a third term as China's president and preeminent leader.

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• Xi Jinping said China polled millions of people for opinions on its government and future leadership.
• He called it part of a "whole-process democracy" meant to consult often with its people.
• However, with no direct elections for the top posts, Xi is poised for a third term as China's leader.

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Sunday that China had conducted a nationwide campaign that gathered public opinion on what the country's senior leadership should look like in the next five years.

He called it an example of a "whole-process people's democracy," which Beijing has touted as being better than the West's model of democracy. This brand of democracy practiced in China appears to include holding local elections and frequent public consultation on issues.

State media outlet Xinhua said Chinese authorities gathered 8.54 million online opinions on China's upcoming National Congress, where changes to the country's top leadership positions are announced every five years.

While the Xinhua report was vague about what people said, it cited Xi saying that "a myriad of constructive ideas and suggestions" were submitted.

The Chinese leader said the poll should "offer a reference" to how the country's government will be structured.

However, the biggest decision appears to have already been made, with the consensus among experts being that Xi is practically guaranteed an unprecedented third term as China's president and preeminent leader.

What is "whole-process democracy?" 

Xi's own definition of "whole-process democracy" isn't completely clear. He has described it as a form of government in which "all major legislative decisions are made in accordance with procedures, through democratic deliberation, and through scientific and democratic decision-making."

The description implies that the Chinese government actively allows citizens to influence policies and major decisions after the local elections conclude. China's Foreign Ministry has said that this system represents a "true and high-quality democracy that works."

"If the people are awakened only to cast a vote but become dormant afterward, that is no true democracy," China's Chargé d'affaires in Australia wrote in December, taking a jab at Western democracy. "If the people are offered great hopes during electoral campaigning but have no say afterward, that is no true democracy."

In reality, there are no direct or competitive elections for China's executive leaders, according to the non-profit organization Freedom House, which researches and advocates for democracy and political freedom.

In 2018, Xi was appointed for a second term as China's leader in a unanimous decision from all 2,970 votes in the National Congress. In 2013, Xi was first elected with 2,952 votes in support of him, one against, and three abstentions.

According to CGTN, the Chinese government's decision-making system allows people to submit suggestions to the government.

It's also unclear if the 8.54 million online opinions collected accurately represent "the people's voices." Freedom House rated China's internet freedom 10/100, citing obstacles to accessing information, heavy censorship, and severe violations of users' rights.

China is also known to have one of the world's most restrictive media environments.

The exact date of China's National Congress has yet to be announced, although state media says it is set to take place in the second half of 2022.

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2.2 million people in America live without access to running water and basic plumbing: report

Darlene Arviso fills a 1,200-gallon water tank that we just installed outside a home in gets water in Mariano Lake, New Mexico, on November 25, 2019. Nonprofit DigDeep is providing water to families without drinking water. About a third of households in Navajo Nation are without plumbing and running water.

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• Obtaining running water at home is a struggle for many people in the United States.
• Those who lack clean water overwhelmingly come from communities of color, according to nonprofit DigDeep.
• People are often unaware that people in their community — even neighbors — lack modern water resources.

Brenda and hundreds of other Navajo families live in an area too remote to be reached by traditional water lines. 

So when Brenda's husband injured his foot at work, the lack of running water at home to clean it caused gangrene to develop. He received successful treatment at a hospital 50 miles away. 

But Brenda's lack of water meant that she couldn't make and sell tamales to fill the financial void left by her husband, the primary breadwinner, being out of work. She had no money to bring him home immediately to their home in Smith Lake, New Mexico. So he slept on the street.

Brenda's situation isn't unique. 

More than 2.2 million people in America still live without running water and basic plumbing in their homes, and tens of millions more without adequate sanitation, according to a new report released today by Los Angeles-based nonprofit DigDeep, which works to provide clean water to all parts of the United States.

The millions of people who are adversely affected by the water access gap are overwhelmingly from communities of color, with indigenous households 19 times more likely than white households to live without running water and Black and Latino households twice as likely, DigDeep's founder and chief executive officer George McGraw told Insider. 

"There's a reason why every Girl Scout troop or soccer team or church group have been raising money for wells in Malawi, but they don't know that there are people in their own state, in their own county, in their own town who don't have running water at home," McGraw said. 

The report comes at a time when the Biden administration has focused on closing another kind of gap — one in the nation's broadband network. In a White House statement released in June, the administration announced new investments from the American Rescue Plan to help provide "every American with access to affordable, high-speed internet." The American Rescue Plan funding is in addition to the $65 billion investment in high-speed Internet access in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, according to the statement. 

While the law also makes historic investment in water and sanitation, ensuring clean water for all people in the United States will take a much more targeted investment, McGraw said.

"These people spend a significant amount of their monthly income just getting the water to survive," McGraw said. "The lack of access to water leads to health issues like diabetes, cases of mental health and a pileup of bills for buying bottled water." 

George McGraw is founder of DigDeep, a nonprofit organization that helps bring clean, running water to US communities without it.

Mike Windle/Getty Images for WE Day

The water access gap impacts communities in all 50 states, urban and rural. But the largest impacts, McGraw said, are felt at the rural level in communities that are generally isolated, not treated by the news and not seen. 

"The problem first started because of a legacy of disinvestment mostly for our communities of color, and that problem continues today not only because of that legacy, but because of sources like climate change and economic inequality," he said. 

Families who live in the water access gap have no choice but flush sewage into nearby streams and then bathe in or collect their drinking water from those same sources, effectively exposing themselves to waterborne illnesses and racking up expensive medical bills. Many are also forced to spend a big chunk of their household income on bottled water. Some die prematurely each year. All these scenarios, the report states, cost real money.  

Among other estimates in the report, the lack of access to clean water in the United States annually results in:

• $846 million in time lost collecting water 
• $762 million in physical health compromised 
• $291 million in water purchase costs 
• $218 million in mental health conditions 
• $924 million in GDP impacts from lost productivity

The economic benefits of providing clean, running water outweigh the costs, McGraw said. 

Brenda, whose last name is being withheld because of privacy concerns, now has access to water thanks to the off-grid water system installed by DigDeep's Navajo Water Project, but the work is far from complete. 

"Brenda's story is illustrative of the lesson that access to clean water is your ability to go to school, your ability to keep a job and an income, your ability to play with your kids and maintain some sanity in this crazy world," McGraw said. "And so many of us take it for granted. But for millions of our neighbors, this is a daily reality that they simply can't afford to take for granted."  

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