France probes 2012 reporters’ deaths in Syria as crime against humanity

France probes 2012 reporters’ deaths in Syria as crime against humanity
Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik. (AFP/Reuters)
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Updated 18 February 2025
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France probes 2012 reporters’ deaths in Syria as crime against humanity

France probes 2012 reporters’ deaths in Syria as crime against humanity
  • US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed by an explosion in the east of the war-torn country
  • Edith Bouvier: ‘This wasn’t a case of us being in the wrong place at the wrong time — we were deliberately targeted’

PARIS: The French judiciary is investigating the 2012 deaths of reporters in Syria as a possible crime against humanity, anti-terror prosecutors told AFP on Tuesday.
Prominent US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed by an explosion in the east of the war-torn country in what a US court later ruled was an “unconscionable” attack that targeted journalists on the orders of the Syrian government.
The French judiciary had been treating the alleged attack as a potential war crime, but on December 17 widened the investigation to a possible crime against humanity, a charge for which French courts claim universal jurisdiction regardless of locations or nationalities involved.
The anti-terror prosecutors’ office told AFP that new evidence pointed to “the execution of a concerted plan against a group of civilians, including journalists, activists and defenders of human rights, as part of a wide-ranging or systematic attack.”
Colvin — a renowned war correspondent whose career was celebrated in a Golden Globe-nominated film “A Private War” — was killed in the Syrian army’s shelling of the Baba Amr Media Center in Homs on February 22, 2012.

The Washington federal court, which in 2019 ordered Syria to pay $302.5 million over her death, said in its verdict that Syrian military and intelligence had tracked the broadcasts of Colvin and other journalists covering the siege of Homs to the media center.
They then targeted it in an artillery barrage that killed Colvin and Ochlik.
French investigators also believe that both were “deliberately targeted.”
In addition, they told AFP, they extended the probe to cover suspected Syrian government “persecution” of civilians, including Colvin and Ochlik, as well as British photographer Paul Conroy and French reporter Edith Bouvier — who were wounded in the attack — and Syrian translator Wael Omar, as well as “other inhumane acts” committed against Bouvier.
One of Bouvier’s lawyers, Matthieu Bagard, said the new probe “opens the door to treat a certain number of procedures against journalists in armed conflict zones as crimes against humanity.”
His lawyer colleague, Marie Dose, called the shift in the investigation “a great step forward for war reporters.”
Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for Ochlik’s family, said she now expected judges to issue arrest warrants “for the high-ranking political and military officials whose involvement has been established.”
In March 2012, France opened a probe for murder into the death of Ochlik and for attempted murder over the injury of Bouvier, both French nationals.

The probe was widened into potential war crimes in October 2014, and in 2016, non-French plaintiffs joined the legal action.
“This wasn’t a case of us being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Bouvier in 2013. “We were deliberately targeted.”
In 2016, then-Syrian president Bashar Assad claimed that Colvin was “responsible” for her own death.
“It’s a war and she came illegally to Syria,” he said, accusing the reporter of working “with the terrorists.”
The battle of Homs, Syria’s third city, was part a civil war triggered by the repression of a 2011 revolt against Assad’s government.
Colvin, who was 56 and working for the Sunday Times when she died, was known for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch which she wore after losing sight in one eye in an explosion during Sri Lanka’s civil war.
Assad was ousted in December after rebels led by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) Islamist group seized control of Damascus, ending more than 50 years of his family’s iron-fisted rule.


Sudden US aid withdrawal risking millions of lives: UNAIDS chief

Sudden US aid withdrawal risking millions of lives: UNAIDS chief
Updated 28 min 34 sec ago
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Sudden US aid withdrawal risking millions of lives: UNAIDS chief

Sudden US aid withdrawal risking millions of lives: UNAIDS chief
  • She warned that without more funding there will be an additional 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths in the next four years

GENEVA: The sudden halt to US foreign aid funding has been “devastating,” the UNAIDS chief said Monday, warning that without more funding, millions more will die and the global AIDS pandemic will resurge.
The United States has historically been the world’s largest donor of humanitarian assistance, but President Donald Trump has slashed international aid since returning to the White House two months ago.
“It is reasonable for the United States to want to reduce its funding over time, but the sudden withdrawal of life-saving support is having a devastating impact,” UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima told reporters in Geneva.
“We urge for a reconsideration and an urgent restoration of services, life-saving services.”
She warned that without more funding, “there will be an additional... 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths” in the next four years.
At the last count, in 2023, some 600,000 AIDS-related deaths were registered globally, she pointed out.
“So you’re talking of a 10-fold increase.”
At the same time, Byanyima said her agency expected to see “an additional 8.7 million new infections.”
“You’re talking of losing the gains that we have made over the last 25 years. It is very serious.”
Looking further ahead than the next four years, if aid funding is not restored, “in the longer term, we see the AIDS pandemic resurging, and resurging globally,” Byanyima said.
“Not just in the countries where now it has become concentrated, in low-income countries of Africa, but also growing among what we call key populations in Eastern Europe, in Latin America,” she said.
“We will see a... real surge in this disease. We’ll see it come back, and we’ll see people die the way we saw them in the ‘90s and in the 2000s.”


Mob ransacks Indian comedy venue after parody of politician

Mob ransacks Indian comedy venue after parody of politician
Updated 24 March 2025
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Mob ransacks Indian comedy venue after parody of politician

Mob ransacks Indian comedy venue after parody of politician
  • Kunal Kamra, one of India’s leading comics, is known for his acerbic commentary on Indian politics.
  • Latest performance included parody song referring to Eknath Shinde in the state government as a “traitor.”

MUMBAI, INDIA: A mob ransacked a club in India’s financial capital after a stand-up comedian ridiculed one of the city’s leading politicians from the stage, prompting a police investigation into the performer.
Kunal Kamra, one of India’s leading comics, is known for his acerbic commentary on Indian politics.
His Sunday performance in Mumbai included a parody song referring to Eknath Shinde, the number two figure in the state government, as a “traitor.”
Soon after the show finished, supporters from Shinde’s Shiv Sena party stormed The Habitat comedy venue and began wreaking havoc.
Footage widely shared on social media showed dozens of men throwing chairs, smashing light fittings and breaking apart paintings mounted on the wall.
At least 20 people were being sought in relation to the vandalism at the club, local media reported.
The Habitat said in a Monday social media post that it was shutting its doors until it determined the “best way to provide a platform for free expression” without putting the venue “in jeopardy.”
Police were attempting to locate Kamra after an official complaint was registered against him for making defamatory remarks.
Maharashtra state chief minister — and Shinde’s boss — Devendra Fadnavis said the comedian “should apologize” and that “insult of leaders cannot be tolerated.”
“Everyone has a right to perform stand-up comedy. But freedom should not be unrestrained behavior... Action will be taken against him as per the law,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying.
The “traitor” remark was a reference to Shinde’s decision to switch his political allegiance in 2022, precipitating a weeklong political crisis in the state that forced the resignation of the then-chief minister.
Kamra has yet to publicly comment on the incident, but the backlash against him is not the first time that an Indian comic has come under fire from supporters of politicians.
In 2021, Muslim comedian Munawar Faruqui was held in prison for more than a month after being accused of insulting Hindu gods and goddesses.
He later canceled three shows in Mumbai after a Hindu activist group threatened to set the venue on fire.
 


US trade officials to visit India for trade talks from Tuesday

US trade officials to visit India for trade talks from Tuesday
Updated 24 March 2025
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US trade officials to visit India for trade talks from Tuesday

US trade officials to visit India for trade talks from Tuesday
  • Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch will lead the group
  • President Trump’s plans to impose reciprocal tariffs from April 2 are causing alarm among Indian exporters

NEW DELHI: A delegation of officials from the United States will visit India from March 25 to 29 for trade talks with Indian officials, a US embassy spokesperson said on Monday.

Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch will lead the group. “This visit reflects the United States’ continued commitment to advancing a productive and balanced trade relationship with India,” the spokesperson said.

Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal spent nearly a week in the United States earlier this month where he held trade discussions, and as US President Donald Trump’s plans to impose reciprocal tariffs from April 2 causing alarm among Indian exporters. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US last month, both nations agreed to work on the first phase of a trade deal by autumn 2025, with a target of reaching $500 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. India and the US are engaged in discussions to resolve tariff-related issues, and finalize a framework for a bilateral trade pact, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman for India’s external affairs ministry, said last week.

“We value our ongoing engagement with the Government of India on trade and investment matters and look forward to continuing these discussions in a constructive, equitable, and forward-looking manner,” the US embassy spokesperson said.


UN seeks nearly $1 billion in aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

UN seeks nearly $1 billion in aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
Updated 24 March 2025
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UN seeks nearly $1 billion in aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

UN seeks nearly $1 billion in aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
  • UN and its more than 100 partners launching a 2025-26 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya crisis
  • Around a million members of the persecuted and mostly Muslim minority live in squalid relief camps in Bangladesh

GENEVA: The UN said Monday it and partners were seeking nearly $1 billion to provide life-saving aid this year for some 1.5 million Rohingya refugees and their hosts in Bangladesh.
The United Nations said that it and more than 100 partners were launching a 2025-26 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya crisis, amid “dwindling financial resources and competing global crises.”
The appeal, it said in a statement, “seeks $934.5 million in its first year to reach some 1.48 million people including Rohingya refugees and host communities.”
Around a million members of the persecuted and mostly Muslim minority live in squalid relief camps in Bangladesh, most of whom arrived after fleeing the 2017 military crackdown in neighboring Myanmar.
“In its eighth year, the Rohingya humanitarian crisis remains largely out of the international spotlight, but needs remain urgent,” Monday’s statement said.
It stressed that “any funding shortfalls in critical areas, including reductions to food assistance, cooking fuel or basic shelter, will have dire consequences for this highly vulnerable population.”
It could, it added, “force many to resort to desperate measures, such as embarking on dangerous boat journeys to seek safety.”
The UN said that more than half of the refugee population in the camps are women and girls, “who face a higher risk of gender-based violence and exploitation.”
And it highlighted that a third of the refugees are aged between 10 and 24, warning that “without access to formal education, adequate skills building and self- reliance opportunities, their futures remain on hold.”
“Until the situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State is peaceful and conducive to returning safely and voluntarily, the international community must continue to fund life-saving assistance to refugees in the camps.”


China says it has not received any asylum application from Philippines’ Duterte

China says it has not received any asylum application from Philippines’ Duterte
Updated 24 March 2025
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China says it has not received any asylum application from Philippines’ Duterte

China says it has not received any asylum application from Philippines’ Duterte
  • Philippines’ former President Rodrigo Duterte’s trip to Hong Kong was for his personal holidays

BEIJING: China has not received any application for asylum from Philippines’ former President Rodrigo Duterte and his family, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.
Duterte’s trip to Hong Kong was for his personal holidays, ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular press conference.
The former president was arrested on March 11 at Manila’s main airport on his arrival from Hong Kong at the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as part of its probe into a “war on drugs” that defined his presidency.