内容摘要：His house had lost its roof and suffered cracked walls. Nevertheless, “living in the rubble is better than living in the camps” near the Turkish border, where he had resided since fleeing the conflict in 2011, Shamtan explained.

His house had lost its roof and suffered cracked walls. Nevertheless, “living in the rubble is better than living in the camps” near the Turkish border, where he had resided since fleeing the conflict in 2011, Shamtan explained.

The serial code on the watch that was delivered to her home confirmed that it was manufactured by Apple in 2022 and intended for sale in the United States.“In the store, they explained to me that these are genuine Apple products entering Russia through parallel imports,” Zoya, who asked to be only referred to by her first name, told Al Jazeera.

“I thought it was much easier to buy online than searching for a store in an unfamiliar country.”Nearly 1,400 companies, including many of the most internationally recognisable brands, have since February 2022 announced that they would cease or dial back their operations in Russia in protest of Moscow’s military aggression against Ukraine.But two years after the invasion, many of these companies’ products are still widely sold in Russia, in many cases in violation of Western-led sanctions, a months-long investigation by Al Jazeera has found.

Aided by the Russian government’s legalisation of parallel imports, Russian businesses have established a network of alternative supply chains to import restricted goods through third countries.The companies that make the products have been either unwilling or unable to clamp down on these unofficial distribution networks.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted an international backlash that, by some estimates, resulted in the country becoming the most sanctioned in the world.

Russia also experienced a huge voluntary exodus of brands, comparable in scale only to the boycott of South Africa that was credited with hastening the fall of apartheid.Meteorologists warn that more rain is expected in the coming days, raising fears of further flooding across the region.

Flooding is a regular threat during Nigeria’s six-month rainy season, but experts say the frequency and severity of these disasters are increasing due to, unregulated construction, and poor drainage infrastructure.

“Flooding has become an annual event, between the months of April and October,” Ugonna Nkwunonwo, a flood risk analyst at the University of Nigeria, told Al Jazeera.He warned that while flood risks have long been identified, “there has not been much political power to implement this change”.