Right wing crowd freaks out about Black Juliet, X users point out character should be played in drag

HT News Desk
Apr 04, 2024 

In Elizabethan times, it was the norm for all characters to be played by men, including female ones.

In one SNL segment, Colin Jost – while taking a break from being pranked by Michael Che into doing a Scarlett Johansson joke – once pointed out that it must be very difficult for MAGA people to keep track of all the things who they need to hate.

Romeo and Juliet (West End)

While expounding upon the Super Bowl conspiracy theory that never was, Jost had pointed out that to be a true MAGA warrior, one had to hate: the National Football League, Taylor Swift, Bud Light, Disney, Kristen Stewart, electric stoves, windmills, the concept of rainbows, and green M&Ms.

That by the way is an ever-expanding list when conservatives on X found a new tragedy to weep over and this time the tragedy is Shakespearean or at least a casting in a Shakespearean play: the choice of Juliet.

Recently, the full cast of Romeo and Juliet was announced that will include Tom Holland as Romeo and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet. The others in the cast are: Agyeman, Michael Balogun , Tomiwa Edun, Mia Jerome, Daniel Quinn-Toye, Ray Sesay , Nima Taleghani and Joshua-Alexander Williams.

For conservatives of a certain vintage, particularly on X, this was proof that this was the thin end of the wedge and the end of civilisation as we knew it.

One user claimed: “They are rewriting history in front of our very eyes.”

Another wrote: “I’m guessing Tom plays a trans woman named Juliet.”

Of course, while this isn’t the first non-white pairing of Romeo and Juliet, the MAGA argument has a bigger snag than the character choice of Juliet. Historically, women were banned from particpating in plays in Elizabethan England which would meant that Juliet by a man.

As one user pointed: “Yes if you want to be true to Shakespeare both Romeo and Juliet should be played by men.”

Another wrote: “Wait till conservatives find out who used to play Juliet in the times of Shakespeare.” A third chimed in: “It should be done the way it was done in Shakespeare’s time, Juliet should be played by a drag queen.”

A fourth exhibited faux mockery sand said: “Outrageous. Juliet should only be played by an Elizabethan boy in drag.”

Lamborghini and Rolexes seized in massive EU police raid over €600M Covid fraud

Cops said the organized crime group used “advanced technologies” including AI to produce false documents for laundering cash.


Police also raided homes and businesses seizing and freezing assets including apartments and villas, cryptocurrency, Rolex watches, gold and jewelry, as well as a Lamborghini, a Porsche and an Audi Q8. | 

APRIL 4, 2024 
BY HANNAH ROBERTS AND ELISA BRAUN


ROME — Police on Thursday arrested more than 20 suspects in Italy, Austria, Romania and Slovakia as part of a major investigation into massive fraud linked to the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund.

At the request of EU prosecutors, 150 officers from fraud and financial police units detained eight people, while another 14 were placed under house arrest following a cross-border probe into an alleged criminal organization suspected of defrauding €600 million from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for Italy.

Police also raided homes and businesses seizing and freezing assets including apartments and villas, cryptocurrency, Rolex watches, gold and jewelry, as well as a Lamborghini, a Porsche and an Audi Q8.

Italy is the largest beneficiary of the EU’s post-Covid economic recovery fund, with €191.5 billion in grants and loans to manage and spend. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government is under pressure to meet the fund's spending and project completion deadlines.

Police said the alleged fraud was carried out by a criminal association including professionals with experience in applying for public funding, who helped secure cash for projects worth tens of millions of euros that were meant to improve competitiveness and digitalization in Italian companies.

Financial police reconstructed suspicious transactions and identified “the laundering of huge illicit profits carried out through a complex network of fictitious companies cleverly set up in Italy, Austria, Slovakia and Romania,” Italy's financial police said in a statement.

The group used a “refined money-laundering apparatus … using advanced technologies such as cloud servers located in uncooperative countries, cryptoassets, and artificial intelligence to produce false documents."

Over the past decade crime syndicates have become increasingly adept at siphoning off funds distributed by the EU for development and reconstruction. Criminal organizations have diversified from traditional income streams such as racketeering and robbery, in favor of pocketing EU subsidies that provide a more lucrative and reliable income stream.

Thursday's operations are taking place across Europe with the involvement of police forces in Slovakia, Romania and Austria, and the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).

The number of fraud investigations related to the EU’s recovery fund soared in 2023, wrote the EPPO — which is responsible for investigating and prosecuting crimes against the bloc’s financial interests — in its annual report.

More than 200 fraud investigations were opened last year related to the EU-wide RRF cash pot, which is worth more €800 billion. In 2022, when the disbursement of the cash was in its early phases, just 15 probes were started. Recovery fund-related probes now represent around 15 percent of all fraud investigations handled by the EPPO.

Italy is under particular surveillance by prosecutors for its management of the recovery fund, with 179 open investigations into its use of the cash.

Fraudsters from across the bloc are setting up fictitious companies or bribing public officials in almost a quarter of all cases on its radar, the bloc’s prosecutors said in the report.

 Online hate sows Muslim fears as India votes

Analysts show that the rise of modern technology has been fuelling clashes between India's Hindu majority and its biggest minority faith, Islam.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
04 April, 2024

Nearly 550 million more Indians have access to the internet than when Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power a decade ago [GETTY]


After his brother was murdered in anti-Muslim riots, Pervez Qureshi watched the videos he believes incited the killers, part of a wave of hatred being fomented on social media ahead of India's elections.

India has a long and grim history of sectarian clashes between the Hindu majority and its biggest minority faith, but analysts warn increasingly available modern technology is being used to deliberately exploit divisions.

"Videos and messages were shared on Facebook and WhatsApp which contained inflammatory language and incitement to violence," Qureshi told AFP, recalling the attack on his brother Faheem in February in the northern city of Haldwani in Uttarakhand state.

"It poisoned the atmosphere."

According to figures from the Internet and Mobile Association of India, nearly 550 million more Indians have access to the internet than when Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power a decade ago.

Modi's Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is widely expected to win a third term in elections that begin on April 19.

Part of his popularity can be attributed to his party's masterful online campaign team, staffed by thousands of volunteers who champion his good deeds and achievements.

RELATED
Delhi's anti-Muslim riots: ‘We have no hope for justice’
Analysis
Aakash Hassan

Modi's use of social media "awakens nationalism and patriotism among the youth in every corner of the country", said Manish Saini, a youth leader of a BJP "IT Cell" in Uttarakhand state, who works online to reach voters.

'Atmosphere of hatred'

Critics, however, accuse the BJP's sophisticated social media apparatus of fanning the division's flames.

Haldwani community leader Islam Hussain said tensions were already high before February's violence, after months of incendiary social media posts calling Muslims "outsiders".

"It was said that due to the increasing population of Muslims, the social demography of Uttarakhand is changing", Hussein said.

"Right-wing social media cells have a big role in creating an atmosphere of hatred against Muslims."

Clashes erupted after the authorities said a mosque had been built illegally, and a Muslim group gathered to prevent its demolition.

Some hurled stones at police officers, who beat them back with batons and tear gas.

Hindu residents gathered to cheer on the police clampdown, chanting religious slogans and throwing rocks at the crowd.

Footage of the riots spread swiftly on social media.

Egged on by online calls to mobilise, Hindu mobs rampaged through the streets.

"It's time to teach them a lesson," read the caption to one of dozens of inflammatory posts, many of which remain online.

"The time has come to beat Muslims."

Qureshi said his brother Faheem, 32, was killed by Hindu neighbours after they first torched his car.

'Triggers an incident'

But Saini, coordinator for the BJP's youth wing, said the online team he leads does not encourage violence -- and is under strict instruction not to "write anything against anyone's religion".

He said his colleagues had mobilised quickly on the day riots broke out to provide information, not to stir up trouble.


"When we got the news, we immediately started preparing graphics, videos and text messages to reach people with the correct and accurate information related to the incident," he said.

He said the initial violence was clashes between police and a Muslim group -- and blamed Modi's opponents for instigating riots to tarnish the government's image.

Critics disagree.

Raqib Hameed Naik, from the research group Hindutva Watch, said that the BJP's IT Cell had generated anger towards minorities by promoting the government's Hindu-nationalist agenda.

Naik, who documents hate speech against religious minorities, said the social media messages spreading during the Haldwani violence followed a pattern seen in previous riots.

"First, hate speech against Muslims by a Hindu activist or politician creates an atmosphere... then the hate speech triggers an incident," Naik said.

Afterwards, online Hindu-nationalist campaigners "hold Muslims responsible" for the violence, he added.

Policy Brief
Queering Displacement
The State of the Ukrainian LGBTQ+ Community During the Russian Full-Scale Invasion

A scene from the Palanca-Maiaki-Udobnoe border crossing point, between the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, on March 1, 2022, as people fled Russia’s military offensive. 

(Source: UN Women/​Aurel Obreja/​Flickr. License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

By MARYNA SHEVTSOVA
04 Apr 2024

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has had a drastic impact on the lives of internally displaced people (IDPs). But one subgroup of these Ukrainians is particularly vulnerable: IDPs who identify as LGBTQ+.

Queer IDPs are exposed not only to the challenges that accompany displacement, like discrimination when looking for housing and work, but also to harms stemming from queerphobic violence and stigmatization. These intersectional problems persist despite societal acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals increasing in Ukraine over the last years.

While international actors already provide support to IDPs and partner with Ukrainian LGBTQ+ rights NGOs, they rarely address the specific needs of queer IDPs. These actors can change that – and make a significant difference for queer IDPs in Ukraine – by funding new and expanded LGTBQ+ shelters and community centers, as well as by increasing access to legal, social and psychological assistance.

The full brief is available for download (in English and soon in Ukrainian).

This is the first policy brief in our series​“Feminist Perspectives for Supporting Ukraine.” The corresponding project is supported by the Stabilisation Platform, which is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. It also builds on GPPi’s previous research on the conflict in Ukraine and feminist foreign policy.

About the author: Maryna Shevtsova is a Senior FWO Postdoctoral Fellow at KU Leuven, Belgium, where she researches LGBTQ+ rights and activism in Central and Eastern Europe, queer migration, and anti-gender movements. She is also the co-founder of Equal Opportunities Platform, a Ukrainian NGO promoting gender equality.

More aid workers killed in Gaza than in all wars over last 30 years combined

April 4, 2024 

Bodies of foreign employees of the US-based international volunteer aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK), who were killed after an Israeli attack on a vehicle belonging to WCK, are taken to En-Neccar Hospital in Rafah city, Gaza on April 03, 2024 [Yasser Qudaih/Anadolu Agency]


Israel has killed more aid workers in the Gaza Strip than have died in all of the countries in the rest of the world combined in any of the last 30 years, according to a report by the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD).

Since 7 October, 2023, at least 203 aid workers have been killed in Israeli attacks, the report said. With UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying the situation is “unconscionable.”

Last week, Guterres expressed concerns about UN aid workers being continually prevented from carrying out their duties in the besieged Gaza Strip, particularly in the northern part of the enclave.

On Tuesday, the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) confirmed that seven of its humanitarian aid workers were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip a day earlier.

The workers were nationals of Australia, Poland, the UK and Palestine as well as US-Canadian dual citizen.

READ: ‘Accountability is the bare minimum, but the Australian government still uses terms like human tragedy’

The UN said it was suspending nighttime movements for its personnel for at least 48 hours following the attack. WCK and Anera have both ceased their operations and vital food deliveries in Gaza as a result of the attacks.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said that Berlin “expects the Israeli government to adapt its operations so that civilians are better protected, and this of course applies in particular to female and male humanitarian aid workers.”

“The Israeli government must investigate this terrible incident quickly and thoroughly,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also wrote on X.

Canada condemned the attack on the WCK aid workers and demanded a full investigation.

“I am horrified to hear reports of the IDF strike taking the lives of 7 World Central Kitchen employees in Gaza yesterday, including a Canadian citizen,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly wrote on X.

Pressure grows on Israel after the death of aid workers

by FRANCIS MARTIN

CHURCH TIMES

04 APRIL 2024

A ship belonging to the Open Arms aid group loaded with canned food destined for Gaza, back in the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, on Wednesday, having returned with 240 tons of undelivered aid after the killing of the aid workers

DIPLOMATIC pressure on Israel has increased this week in response to the killing of seven aid workers. In the UK, the Government is facing calls to suspend the sale of armaments to the country.

On Monday, seven aid workers, including three British nationals, were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza which seemed to target a convoy of vehicles belonging to the aid organisation World Central Kitchen (WCK) (News, 5 April).

On Thursday evening, the Archbishop of Canterbury described the incident as “another appalling breach of international humanitarian law in this war”.

Writing on social media, Archbishop Welby said “aid workers can never be a target in war”, and that “far too many humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza”.

At least 196 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the Aid Worker Security Database.

Archbishop Welby reiterated his calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and the unimpeded provision of humanitarian aid, and said that he was praying for the “families and colleagues of those who were killed this week, and all those who have been killed in the last six months”.

Tributes have been paid by the families of the three British men killed in the attack. John Chapman, James Henderson, and James Kirby were former members of the British armed forces, and were working for WCK’s security team.

The others killed were a Palestinian, Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutahas; an Australian, Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom; Damian Soból, from Poland; and a dual US-Canadian citizen, Jacob Flickinger.

The governments of those killed have strongly condemned the attack. On Tuesday, Rishi Sunak told the Israeli President, Benjamin Netanyahu, that he was “appalled” by the killings.

In a government press release, issued after a phone call between the two leaders, Mr Sunak said that “far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza,” and that the situation was “increasingly intolerable”.

He demanded a “thorough and transparent independent investigation into what happened” to the WCK convoy.

The cars in which the aid workers were travelling were marked with the organisation’s logo, and it has been reported that they were not travelling in close proximity to each other when a series of strikes were made.

Mr Sunak, the statement said, “reiterated that Israel’s rightful aim of defeating Hamas would not be achieved by allowing a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.

The incident has led to further expressions of concern about Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. In the United States, President Biden said that he was “outraged”. The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, described the incident as an “inevitable result of the way the war was being conducted”.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Revd Professor Jerry Pillay, has condemned the killings. In a statement on Wednesday, he said: “It is tragic that people who give their time in serving others have to lose their own lives. Such attacks, which take the lives of innocent people, are absolutely unacceptable and cannot be justified at any level.”

The fall-out from the attack has led to renewed scrutiny of the UK Government’s approach to arms sales.

On Wednesday, three former Supreme Court justices joined a group of more than 600 legal experts calling for a suspension of arms deals between British firms and Israel, on the basis of “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, they say that “serious action” is needed in order to “avoid UK complicity in grave breaches of international law”. Lord Sumption and Lady Hale are among the retired senior judges to have signed the letter.

A YouGov poll commissioned before the attack on Monday suggests that a majority of voters in Britain want to see a ban on arms sales to Israel, by a margin of 56 per cent to 17 per cent, The Guardian reported.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday morning, Lord Sumption said: “It seems to me that if you have a duty — as we do — to prevent genocide, and there is a plausible case that is what is happening, you should do what you can to obstruct it.”

Last week, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, presented a report in which she wrote: “There are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide against Palestinians as a group in Gaza has been met.” Israeli officials dismissed the report (News, 27 March).

OTHER STORIES
Aid-worker victims in Gaza were targeted, says NGO

SEVEN aid workers have been killed in Gaza in an Israeli air strike, it was reported on Tuesday morning

The Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party have called on the Government to block arms exports, while the Labour Party has asked the Government to publish any legal advice it has received on the risk that UK-made equipment is being used in breaches of international law.

In late March, a group of 107 MPs, along with 27 members of the House of Lords, signed a letter calling for the suspension of arms exports (News, 27 March). On Wednesday, the Labour MP, Zarah Sultana, who coordinated the letter suggested that Parliament should be recalled from its Easter recess in order to discuss the issue.

According to a recording of a Conservative Party fund-raising event leaked to The Observer this week, the Conservative MP Alicia Kearns has said that the Foreign Office has “received official legal advice that Israel has broken international humanitarian law but the Government has not announced it”.

This week, the Corporation of The Church House has been asked to explain how hosting the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Land Warfare Conference coheres with its ethical lettings policy (News, 3 April).

Humanitarian organisations operating in Gaza are taking further measures to keep their workers safe, following the attack on the WCK convoy, and are reiterating calls for a ceasefire.

On Wednesday, the UN announced that its night-time operations in Gaza would be suspended for “at least 48 hours” in response to the killings.

A UN spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told journalists in New York that the attack on the WCK convoy has had a “psychological and chilling effect on humanitarian workers, both Palestinian and international, who continue to do their utmost to deliver aid to those who need it”.

Several NGOs, including WCK, American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera), and the health charity Project Hope, have paused their work in Gaza in response to the attack.

But on Wednesday, Christian Aid’s head of Middle East policy and advocacy, William Bell, said that the charity would “not be stopping or scaling down our life-saving humanitarian work in Gaza”.

Christian Aid operates through partners in the area to provide food and shelter and medical support. “Our partners have strict security measures in place, but, of course, they are not safe, and live in constant fear of being killed,” Mr Bell said.

“They are just trying to survive — as all civilians in Gaza are — what the ICJ believes might be genocide. The only way to stop the killing and ensure a safe and effective humanitarian response is with an immediate and permanent ceasefire.”

Pressure on Mr Netanyahu’s government is also mounting in Israel. On Wednesday, families of the 130 Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas stormed the Knesset, demanding a greater focus on extracting the hostages.

Netanyahu response to aid worker deaths ‘insufficient’, says Spain PM



Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani leave the podium after giving a joint press conference in Doha on April 3, 2024. — 

Thursday, 04 Apr 2024 


DOHA, April 4 — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said yesterday the response of his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to an air strike that killed seven aid workers was “insufficient” and “unacceptable”.

“We are waiting for a much more detailed clarification of what the causes have been, bearing in mind that the Israeli government knew about the actions and the itinerary of this NGO on the ground in Gaza,” Sanchez told a Doha news conference at the end of a three-nation tour of the Middle East.

“It seems to me absolutely unacceptable, insufficient,” he added when asked about Netanyahu’s statements about the tragedy.

US-based food aid organisation World Central Kitchen — founded by Spanish-American celebrity chef Jose Andres — said it was pausing its operations in Gaza after the “targeted Israeli strike” on Monday killed Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff.

Netanyahu later admitted Israel’s military had “unintentionally” killed them in an air strike.

He said it was a “tragic case” that would be investigated “right to the end” but stopped short of apologising for the deaths.

The Israeli army said Tuesday it would hold an investigation into the air strike and pledged to “share our findings transparently”.

Sanchez has been one of the most critical voices in Europe over the way Israel has conducted its military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

He has repeatedly said the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the recognition of two states, Israel and Palestine.

Sanchez said yesterday that Spain would recognise Palestinian statehood “as soon as possible, when the conditions are right and in such a way that this decision will have the most positive impact possible”.

While he did not give a timeline, Spanish media reported Tuesday that he told journalists accompanying him on his Middle East trip that he wants to take this step during the first half of this year.

At the same time, Sanchez called for “the recognition of Israel by its Arab neighbours”, saying “mutual recognition is the key to achieving a lasting solution to this conflict”.

Sanchez began his Middle East tour in Jordan on Monday, before travelling to Saudi Arabia then Qatar.

Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar do not have official ties with Israel. — 

AFP

 

Israel fires two officers after finding grave errors in strike on aid workers

The convoy carrying the bodies of staff members of the US-based aid group World Central Kitchen, arrives at the Rafah crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on April 3, 2024, two days after a convoy of the NGO was hit in an Israeli strike as battles continue between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. The bodies of six foreign aid workers killed in a Gaza strike were expected to be transported out of the war-torn Palestinian territory on April 3, as Israel faced a chorus of outrage over their deaths. — AFP pic

Friday, 05 Apr 2024 

JERUSALEM, April 5 — The Israeli military dismissed two officers and formally reprimanded senior commanders after an inquiry into the killing of seven aid workers in an air strike in Gaza this week found serious errors and breaches of procedure, the military said.

The inquiry found Israeli forces mistakenly believed they were attacking Hamas gunmen when drone strikes hit the three vehicles of the World Central Kitchen aid group late on Monday night, and that standard procedures had not been followed.

“The strike on the aid vehicles is a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures,” the military said in a statement issued today.

The killing of the seven aid workers, who included citizens of Britain, Australia and Poland, a dual US Canadian national and a Palestinian colleague, triggered global outrage this week.

In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, US President Joe Biden threatened a shift in US policy towards Israel unless it reduced harm to civilians in Gaza, which already depended on aid before the war and has seen hunger spread since fighting began six months ago.

Following the publication of the findings, World Central Kitchen demanded an independent commission to investigate the incident. “Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families,” according to a statement published by WCK.

The army had already acknowledged that the seven WCK employees had been killed in an airstrike but the unusually swift investigation underlined the impact the incident has had on world public opinion.

Jose Andres, the chef who founded World Central Kitchen, said this week the seven workers had been targeted “systematically, car by car” as they moved to seek shelter when their vehicles were hit in succession.

The military said it had dismissed a brigade chief of staff with the rank of colonel and a brigade fire support officer with the rank of major, and formally reprimanded senior officers including the general at the head of the Southern Command.

The case was also handed over to the military advocate general to consider a possible criminal investigation, the military said.

One of the ambulances carrying the bodies of staff members of the US-based aid group World Central Kitchen, arrive at the Rafah crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on April 3, 2024, two days after a convoy of the NGO was hit in an Israeli strike as battles continue between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. — AFP pic

Bag mistaken for a rifle

The convoy hit was the second of four planned missions to deliver some 200 tons of food brought to Gaza by sea last month under the management of WCK as part of efforts to increase the amount of aid getting into the enclave.

The military said that as the aid convoy the light vehicles were accompanying was travelling down the coastal road in Gaza towards a logistics point late on Monday, armed suspects had climbed on to at least one of the trucks.

The army showed reporters drone footage of a man on top of a lorry firing a rifle, which a spokesperson said had prompted the military to try, unsuccessfully, to contact WCK coordinators.

After the convoy reached a hangar and the trucks were unloaded, the three WCK vehicles had left the location and turned south down the coast road shortly after 11pm (2100 GMT). However, commanders could not see their identifying logos in the dark and did not identify them as belonging to WCK.

Yoav Har-Even, the former major general who led the inquiry, said forces had acted on the mistaken belief that the vehicles had been seized by Hamas fighters.

As the cars left the hangar, one of the men getting into the vehicles had been carrying a bag which the operators watching drone footage took to be a rifle.

“The state of mind at that time was that the humanitarian mission had ended and that they were tracking Hamas vehicles with one suspected gunman, at least one suspected gunman, that they misidentified to be inside one of the three cars,” he told reporters in a briefing.

“They struck that car and then they identified people running out of the car and entering a second car, which is when they decided to strike the second car. Then two people left the second car and entered the third car, which is when they struck the third car.”

Those strikes were in breach of IDF standard operating procedures, he said.

The army pledged to address the fact that it had been unable to see the rooftop logos in the dark as part of a wider package of lessons to draw from the disaster. — Reuters

Air Canada makes Singapore comeback after 33 years with direct flights to and from Vancouver

Air Canada’s non-stop flight from Vancouver arrived at Changi Airport on April 4 at 7.36am. 

PHOTO: CHANGI AIRPORT GROUP

Samuel Devaraj
APR 05, 2024,

SINGAPORE - For the first time since 1991, Air Canada has returned to Singapore, with flights to and from Vancouver in western Canada starting on April 4.

The Canadian national carrier’s launch of the non-stop service comes six months after Singapore Airlines (SIA) stopped services between Singapore and Vancouver.

Air Canada’s non-stop flight from Vancouver arrived at Changi Airport on April 4 at 7.36am, and the flight in the opposite direction left at 9.50am.


The route, operated with Boeing 787-9 aircraft, spans nearly 13,000km and is Air Canada’s longest flight by distance. The flight from Singapore to Vancouver takes 14 hours and 40 minutes.

At a press conference on the launch of the non-stop service on April 4, Mr David Rheault, vice-president of government and community relations at Air Canada, said both flights were at full capacity.

The addition of the new route is in response to growing market demand, he added.



“It represents the deepening bonds and mutual opportunities for enhanced collaboration for tourism, trade, businesses, partnership, cultural and institutional exchange between Canada and Singapore,” he said at the JW Marriott Singapore South Beach hotel.

Mr Rheault added: “We are definitely confident that there is demand to sustain the flight.”

Air Canada will fly non-stop between Singapore and Vancouver four times a week, and a fifth weekly flight will be added in December.

In February 2023, SIA announced that its last non-stop flight between Singapore and Vancouver would be on Sept 30, 2023.

A spokesman for the airline said then that it decided to stop the service as it regularly reviews its network operations to “adjust capacity to match demand for services” in its various markets.

SIA had returned to the Canadian market in December 2021 and added the non-stop service to Vancouver in June 2022.

Speaking to The Straits Times, Mr Rheault said: “We have analysed the market; we think there is good potential. It’s a growing market, too, because of all the growing relationships between the region and Canada.”

He added that bookings are “looking very good” but declined to provide figures.

He also cited Air Canada’s partnership with SIA as a key one, adding that a code-share agreement between the airlines allows ease of connectivity and access to both carriers’ networks.

When asked if Air Canada will look to increase the number of flights in the future, he said: “We always look at how the market performs, and if the market performs, we are always prepared to add frequencies.”

Ms Kiyo Weiss, senior director of sales for the Asia-Pacific at Air Canada, said the Singapore flight is the only year-round route the carrier has in South-east Asia, noting that its flights to Bangkok in Thailand are seasonal.

Some 153,000 Canadians visited Singapore in 2023, and they were a good mix of travellers on “business, leisure, visiting friends and families, and students”, she added.

There were about 13,300 international visitor arrivals from Canada in February 2024, compared with about 9,900 in August 2023, according to statistics from the Singapore Tourism Board.

Canada’s High Commissioner to Singapore Jean-Dominique Ieraci, who was at the press conference, said the new flight will increase people-to-people, tourism, business and academic links.

Ms Bridget Anderson, president and chief executive of business association Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, said there is tremendous potential in the connections the new air route will facilitate.

She added: “Already, our two regions are deeply intertwined, with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods being traded each year... Ensuring that business can be done with more ease and less stress will help both of our regions prosper and become even better partners.”

India And Pakistan Tried To Interfere In Canadian Elections, It's Top Spy Agency Claims


Date4/5/2024 

(MENAFN- Live Mint) "India and Pakistan attempted to interfere and conduct clandestine activities in Canadian elections that took place in 2019 and 2021, the country's spy agency revealed on Thursday night.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service on April 4 released the documents stating that the Government of India had tried to use its proxy agency in Canada in 2021, according to an unclassified summary written by the CSIS.

Similarly, the Government of Pakistan had also attempted to“clandestinely influence” the Canadian politics in 2019, Canada's foreign intelligence agency wrote as quoted by ca documents submitted as part of the federal commission inquiry into foreign influence contain stark assessments - potential interference in Canada's elections by India, China, Russia, and other countries. Currently, the matter is under public investigation.

David Vigneault clarified that intelligence is not necessarily fact, hence, it may require further investigation while all documents caution about the summaries being possibly uncorroborated, single-sourced or incomplete, the report added.

The CSIS document alleged that the Indian government targeted those ridings because there was a perception by India that“a portion of Indo-Canadian voters were sympathetic to the Khalistani movement or pro-Pakistan political stances”.

'Baseless allegations'Responding to Canadian reports, India rejected its interference in Canadian elections and called it“baseless allegation”. It asserted that the core issue has been Ottawa's meddling in New Delhi's internal affairs, PTI reported.

In February, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said,“We have seen media reports about the Canadian commission enquiring into ...We strongly reject all such baseless allegations of Indian interference in Canadian elections.”

"It is not the government of India's policy to interfere in the democratic processes of other countries. In fact, quite on the reverse, it is Canada which has been interfering in our internal affairs," Jaiswal added.

The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations last year of a“potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023.

Canadian Politicians Were Targeted by China in 2021, Report Says

Lawmakers testified at a public hearing on foreign interference that they had been caught in China’s cross hairs after criticizing it over human rights.

Since President Xi Jinping’s rise to power, China has stepped up efforts to sway elections in Canada and other countries, according to intelligence officials, academics and members of the diaspora.

Credit...Tingshu Wang/Reuters


By Norimitsu Onishi
Reporting from Montreal
April 3, 2024

A top-secret intelligence report drafted a week before Canada’s 2021 general election warned about ongoing attempts by the Chinese government to meddle in specific races, saying that Beijing had “identified Canadian politicians considered” to be opponents of China.

Those politicians had become the targets of a shadowy media campaign, with suspected links to the Chinese government, that spread “false narratives” about them and encouraged Canadians to vote against them.

The intelligence about possible interference in Canada’s last general election was included in documents released on Wednesday at a public hearing before a commission investigating foreign interference. Their release followed Canadian news reports over the past year outlining the Chinese government’s actions and raised concerns about the vulnerability of Canada’s democratic institutions.

Canadian politicians believed to have been targeted by Beijing also testified at the hearing on Wednesday, saying that they had drawn the ire of the Chinese government by criticizing its record on human rights, among other issues.

Kenny Chiu, a former member of Parliament from the Vancouver area whose 2021 loss has been at the heart of investigations into Chinese election interference, said he was dismayed to learn Wednesday that intelligence officials had been aware of China’s actions at the time of the election but had not told him.

“It’s almost like I was drowning and they were watching,” said Mr. Chiu, a Conservative Party member who was a fierce critic of Beijing’s security crackdown in Hong Kong. He was also the chief proponent of a bill to create a registry of foreign agents in Canada to try to curb foreign interference.

 

Kenny Chiu, a former member of Parliament, appears to have been targeted by supporters of China.

Credit...Alana Paterson for The New York Times


The public hearings in Ottawa are part of a federal inquiry into interference in Canada’s political system by China and other nations, especially the past two general elections. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to call the inquiry in September after facing increasing criticism in the news media and by opposition politicians.

The Chinese Embassy in Canada has denied interfering in the elections of Canada or any other country.

The Chinese government is believed to have backed candidates considered friendly to Beijing, most of whom belonged to Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party, according to the Canadian news media.

By contrast, the Chinese government is believed to have opposed candidates of the Conservative Party, which took a harder line on human rights and a host of other issues related to China. The intelligence report drafted a week before the 2021 election said that the media campaign aimed “to discourage voters from voting for the Conservative Party.”

Since President Xi Jinping’s rise to power, China has stepped up efforts to sway elections in Canada and other countries, according to intelligence officials, academics and members of the diaspora.

The Chinese government has typically expanded its influence through diaspora community organizations, Chinese-language news media and social media worldwide. Community organizations have become increasingly fearful of offending the Chinese government, according to Chinese-Canadian activists in Vancouver and Toronto.

Jenny Kwan — a veteran member of Parliament from Vancouver who was told by Canadian intelligence that she has been a target of Chinese interference — testified Wednesday that once-friendly Chinese-Canadian community organizations in Vancouver had distanced themselves from her since 2019.

“In the beginning, it was a little more subtle, and then it became more and more obvious,” said Ms. Kwan, a member of the New Democratic Party who has been a vocal critic of China’s human rights record.

An intelligence report released on Wednesday said that in Vancouver, in the 2019 election, proxy agents for the Chinese government “coordinated the exclusion of particular political candidates, perceived as ‘anti-China,’ from attending local community events related to the election.”

In the 2021 election, Mr. Chiu had been leading in polls, but he lost his race after facing what he called a “tsunami” of untraceable attacks on the Chinese-owned networking app, WeChat. The attacks portrayed Mr. Chiu, who is Chinese Canadian, as a traitor to his community and his foreign registry bill as a racist assault on all people of Chinese descent.

The attacks, coming toward the end of the campaign in 2021, had an immediate impact, Mr. Chiu testified. When he went knocking on doors, he found that onetime supporters had turned on him. He said he remembered the face of one woman who, on seeing him, showed “a deep sense of hurt.”

“She says she’s not going to vote for us because we hate China, because we hate them,” Mr. Chiu said.

Testifying on Wednesday, Erin O’Toole, the leader of the Conservatives in 2021, said he believed that the Conservatives had lost five to nine districts because of foreign interference, including Mr. Chiu’s.

“Certainly nowhere enough to change the results of the election,” Mr. O’Toole said, referring to the overall outcome. “But for people in those seats, if they were undergoing intimidation or suppression measures, their democratic rights were being trampled upon by foreign actors.”

In the 2021 election, the Conservatives won the popular vote, but Mr. Trudeau’s party won the most seats and stayed in office as a minority government.


Norimitsu Onishi is a foreign correspondent on the International desk, covering Canada from Montreal. He previously served as a correspondent in the Paris bureau, and as bureau chief for The Times in Johannesburg, Jakarta, Tokyo and Abidjan, Ivory Coast. 

On the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, We Are Still Discovering New Areas Contaminated With Landmines in Syria, With More Deaths and Injuries Recorded Across the Country

04-Apr-2024

A total of 3,471 civilians, including 919 children, have been documented as killed by anti-personnel landmines in Syria since 2011



Press release: (Download the full statement below)

The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) noted in a statement released today, entitled, ‘On the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, We Are Still Discovering New Areas Contaminated With Landmines in Syria, With More Deaths and Injuries Recorded Across the Country’, that it has documented 3,471 civilian deaths, including 919 children, as a result of landmine explosions in Syria since 2011.

The statement stresses that, for the past 13 years, SNHR has been documenting the use of APLs, including the explosions of cluster munition remnants, and the resulting casualties. While the Syrian regime had used landmines before 2011, the statement explains, the use of landmines increased exponentially and massively after the start of the popular uprising in March 2011, which subsequently turned into an internal armed conflict. Since the end of 2011, the Syrian regime has planted landmines along the borders with Lebanon and Türkiye, without placing adequate warnings. According to our monitoring, while many of the parties to the conflict and controlling forces have used APLs, only two parties have used cluster munitions whose remnants remain, namely the Syrian regime and Russian forces.

The statement includes maps showing areas contaminated with anti-personnel landmines (APLs) in Syria due to operations by parties to the conflict since March 2011. Through these maps, SNHR aims to provide a form of assistance to local teams working to remove landmines, as well as raising awareness of the dangers they continue to pose.

With large swathes of Syrian territory having been mined, we have utilized SNHR’s databases, including the one concerning the victims of landmines and cluster munitions, to create a number of maps showing the approximate locations of areas which we believe have been contaminated with APLs in many Syrian governorates. The mines and unexploded munitions in these areas will continue to pose a threat to the lives and movement of Syrian citizens, especially children, for decades to come. We designed those maps in an attempt to assist the work of local unexploded ordnance teams working to defuse the mines, and to raise awareness among local residents and authorities of the need to take the necessary precautions to avoid new incidents.

The statement documents the deaths of at least 3,471 civilians; including 919 children, 356 women, seven civil defense personnel, eight medical personnel, and nine media workers in hundreds of anti-personnel landmine explosions in Syria since March 2011 up until April 4, 2024, or International Day for Mine Awareness 2024. These are divided into 3,086 civilians; including 794 children, 325 women, seven civil defense personnel, eight medical personnel, and nine media workers; who were killed by landmine explosions, and 385 civilians, including 125 children and 31 women, who were killed by cluster munitions remnants explosions since the first documented use of these weapons in July 2012.

The statement further adds that landmines have inflicted dreadful disfigurement and serious injuries on civilians. In any landmine explosion, it’s usual for hundreds of fragments to penetrate the victim’s body, possibly resulting in amputation and the rupturing of cells, arteries and blood vessels, not to mention eye and ear injuries. Even though it is difficult to accurately determine the number of victims injured as a result of landmine explosions in Syria, we estimate that at least 10,400 civilians have been injured, with many having to undergo amputation of limbs as a result, and now being in need of artificial limbs and rehabilitation and support programs. Therefore, the continuing presence of landmines continues to pose a major obstacle to the work and return of internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as the work of relief workers, Civil Defense personnel, and to their equipment, not to mention to the process of reconstruction and development.

The statement also stresses that the continuing deaths and injuries resulting from landmine explosions show the rampant use of this indiscriminate weapon by the various parties to the conflict in Syria. This also shows that there are still many areas which are contaminated with landmines that are yet to be discovered. Furthermore, all the parties involved in the conflict have failed to provide maps disclosing the locations of landmines, and to seriously work on removing them. Landmines are indiscriminate weapons prohibited by international law, with their sole aim being to create fear and mass terror. Landmines clearly violate the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets, as well as the principles of precautions and proportionality in attacks. The disregard for those rules constitutes a war crime according to international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The statement holds the UN Security Council primarily responsible for the state of chronic insecurity that Syria has reached due to its utter and abject failure to protect civilians in the country for the past 13 years and to bring about a political transition process until now. As long as the conflict continues, the statement notes, chaos, violations, and prohibited acts will continue to run rampant. Syria will not see stability and security without a political transition to rule by democracy, human rights and the rule of law, which in turn cannot be achieved without a strict timetable and serious and effective efforts and pressures.

The statement calls on the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), the UN Security Council, and the international community to greatly increase their logistical assistance to the local organizations and police working to detect and disarm landmines, to train Syrian organizations on removing landmines and unexploding cluster munitions, to raise local awareness on these types of danger, and to work on pinpointing the most prominent locations where landmines were planted, in addition to making other recommendations.


Download the full statement

 

British expert: Landmines in Azerbaijan's liberated territories impact S. Caucasus

4 April 2024 

Qabil Ashirov

Read more

Even though April 4 is marked as the International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance for Mine Action in the world, as a result of Armenia's insidious policy, Azerbaijan still remains globally among the most polluted countries with mines and unexploded ordnance. Thus, following Armenia's aggressive policy against Azerbaijan in the 1980s and 1990s, more than 1.5 million landmines have been buried in Azerbaijan's formerly occupied territories, according to preliminary estimates.

It is worth noting that, unfortunately, Armenia's use of mine terrorism against Azerbaijan was not limited to the 1990s. It continued to use this heinous policy even after the Second Garabagh War. Since the end of the Second Garabagh War, 350 Azerbaijani citizens have been victims of landmines; 65 of them died and 285 were seriously injured.

In general, since the beginning of the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, about 3429 Azerbaijani citizens have been injured by landmines; 595 of them have lost their lives; and according to the report, 357 of the victims were children, and 38 were women.

The founding of thousands of Armenian-made anti-personnel mines in Garabagh and border areas in fabricated 2021 proves that even after the end of the Garabagh conflict, Armenia planted land mines in Azerbaijani territories using the Lachin-Khankendi road.

In a comment to Azernews on the issue, Neil Watson, the British journalist and expert on energy issues, said that there is no doubt that landmines left over from the first and second Garabagh wars and then planted after the ceasefire in 2020 are the most major issue impacting construction and reconstruction of the liberated territories. He noted that landmines are completely indiscriminate and kill men, women, children, and elderly people.

"They remain in the ground for decades after the conflict finishes and become more unstable over time. There are an estimated 1.5 million landmines in the liberated territories, all of Soviet or Russian design but of Armenian manufacture. Recently, there was an event in the British Parliament hosted by one of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Explosive Devices.

An ANAMA spokesman explained the various types of mines, the problems that they represent, and that Armenia has released very few mine maps, which have questionable accuracy. There were then presentations from British partners involved in mine identification and clearance, including those using African pouched brown rats and dogs to find landmines. We also heard how women are being trained in Azerbaijan to find and defuse mines. I have been to Aghdam and Shusha, where no clearance or reconstruction can take place until mines are cleared, and it’s important for Armenia to help Azerbaijan locate the mines and the international community to assist," he noted.

The Biritish expert mentioned that over 90 percent of demining activities are carried out at the expense of Azerbaijan's internal resources. Although there is cooperation with some foreign partners, overall external support is limited. Watson also emphasised that the issue is delaying the return of the IDPs, which impacts the economy of the region.

"The landmine issue is delaying the return of the IDPs. No reconstruction can take place until the land is cleared and made safe. It is impossible to reconstruct and shape new cities until all landmines have been removed from the liberated territories. Given the scale of the problem, this could take two decades and it impacts the development of the economy of the region," the expert concluded.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

First batch of Indian construction workers leave for Israel

The first batch of 64 Indian construction workers were flagged off by Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon and government officials on Tuesday.

Vivek Mishra
04 April, 2024

Israeli construction industry is looking at recruiting 100,000 Indian workers to replace the 90,000 Palestinians. 

(Photo credit: X/@NaorGilon)By: Vivek Mishra

The first batch of 64 construction workers from Indian states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were flagged off by Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon and government officials on Tuesday.

The Israeli ambassador hoped that the workers would become ‘ambassadors’ of the great people-to-people relations between the two countries. He said the workers are going to Israel under the framework of a government-to-government agreement and complimented India’s National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) for the initiative.

“Today we had a farewell event from the first batch of 60+ Indian construction workers going to Israel under the G2G agreement. This is an outcome of hard work of many, including @NSDCINDIA,” Gilon said.

“I’m sure that the workers become ‘ambassadors’ of the great P2P relations between India and Israel,” he said.

Following the Israel-Hamas conflict, there were media reports that said the Israeli construction industry is looking at recruiting 100,000 Indian workers to replace the 90,000 Palestinians, reported PTI.

The decision to send the workers comes a month after India said it is focusing on ensuring the safety and security of all its citizens in Israel. An Indian had died in the country in a missile attack.

“We have over 18,000 caregivers and other professionals in Israel. Their safety and security is of prime concern for us,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said on March 8, reported <em>The Hindu.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had issued an advisory regarding the safety of Indians in Israel. “In view of the prevailing security situation”, it advised all Indian nationals in Israel, especially those working in the border areas in the north and south, to relocate to safer areas in the country,” the statement read.

With Israel’s latest conflict with Hamas, and a ban on the entry of Palestinian workers, the Israeli construction industry has been facing a deep crisis and several ongoing projects are getting either stalled or delayed.