Why Greece is clamping down on these refugee rights activists

NGO workers denounce Greek's 'criminalisation' of advocacy for refugees, warning it could lead to more deaths and deter others from carrying out humanitarian work

Ruhi Akhtar, founder of the Refugee Biriyani & Bananas aid group

 (MEE/Nick Paleologos)

By Patrick O. Strickland in Athens
Published date: 22 April 2023 

When refugee rights activist Panayote Dimitras learned that he was being charged in connection with his work, he knew the authorities “wanted to shut me down as quickly as possible”.

The director of Greek Helsinki Monitor, Dimitras had been advocating for refugees and migrants making the risky journey from Turkey. Part of that advocacy meant documenting arrivals on Greek islands and reporting their locations to police so that they couldn’t be pushed back, or illegally expelled from the country.

But in December, a prosecutor on Kos Island charged Dimitras and another advocate, the Norway-based Tommy Olsen of Aegean Boat Reports, with crimes related to alleged smuggling.

“We’ve been the pain in the ass of the Greek authorities because we have documented pushbacks and related violence,” Dimitras told Middle East Eye, describing the charges as a form of“revenge”.

Now waiting for the case to move forward, Dimitras has had to pay a 10,000-euro bail, has been banned from international travel, must check in twice a month at a police station and has been barred from conducting work related to the Helsinki Monitor.

Dimitras and Olsen weren’t the first humanitarians Greece targeted with similar accusations. Critics accuse the Greek government of creating an environment of fear to deter people from working with refugees and migrants.

The crackdown comes amid a broader effort by the Greek government to deter refugees and migrants from trying to enter the country.

In January, a court on Lesbos Island dropped misdemeanor charges against 24 aid workers. The aid workers, including Irish-German activist Sean Binder and Syrian refugee Sara Mardini, had stood accused of espionage, disclosure of state secrets, unlawful use of radio frequencies and forgery.

But the group still faces a handful of felony charges, including aiding smuggling networks, being members of a criminal organisation and money laundering.
Accusations of pushback

In 2015, the number of refugees and migrants reaching Europe, including Greece, spiked amid armed conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as economic and political instability elsewhere.

More than 900,000 people arrived in or passed through Greece in 2015, but that number has since slumped.

In 2021, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) documented some 9,157 arrivals to Greece by land and sea, while 2022 saw some 18,780 people reach the country.

'All of us have witnessed a systematic, organised effort to crack down on NGOs [and] criminalise migration and solidarity'

- Alexandros Georgoulis, lawyer

In the July 2019 elections, the right-wing New Democracy party came to power after campaigning on promises to ramp up deportations and further bulk up patrols on Greece’s land and sea borders.

Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, the Greek government has stood accused of carrying out widespread pushbacks.

Greek officials deny that authorities have used pushbacks. In December, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi appeared on the state broadcaster ERT and claimed pushback allegations were part of an “organised attack” on the country.

Dismissing allegations of pushbacks, Mitarachi argued that critics of the Greek government’s migration policies “want Europe to reopen its borders and let millions of people pass through”.

But in December, the Border Violence Monitoring Network, a coalition of aid groups and watchdogs, published the Black Book of Pushbacks. The Black Book includes more than 3,000 pages of testimonies on pushbacks and violence on European borders.

Commissioned by the Left political group, the dossier details instances of beatings, threats and intimidation against refugees and migrants on borders, including in Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary and Croatia.

Chilling effect

Ruhi Akhtar, founder of the Refugee Biriyani & Bananas aid group, said the Greek government’s clampdown is part of a campaign to create a chilling effect among humanitarians.

Akhtar, who has been targeted by a criminal investigation but not charged, said there is a concerted effort to intimidate humanitarians and rights groups, especially those who sound the alarm on pushbacks.

The “criminalisation” of refugee advocacy and aid, she added, could “lead to more deaths” and deter others from “doing humanitarian work”.

'This kind of criminalisation of those who are helping asylum seekers at the border is really, really dangerous'

- Yonous Muhammadi, Greek Forum of Refugees

“In recent months, it’s about [targeting people for] raising awareness and advocating for people at risk of pushbacks,” she told Middle East Eye.

In May 2021, police on the Greek island of Chios arrested Madi Williamson, a nurse who works with refugees and migrants, as she prepared to leave the island. She said police detained, questioned and strip-searched her, as well as confiscated her laptop and phones.

Nearly two years on, she has little clarity about what will happen in her case. Like Ruhi Akhtar, she hasn’t been charged with any offences.

Williamson had worked on and off in Greece for years, she said, but had never had any issues with the authorities.

“What we’ve been told up until this point is that information that they collected from me about me and the people I work with is being used in a criminal investigation,” she told Middle East Eye.

Williamson described Greece’s investigations into humanitarians as a “widespread intimidation tactic” that has “no validity in the eyes of the law”.

Yonous Muhammadi (MEE/Nick Paleologos)

Yonous Muhammadi fled Afghanistan and came to Greece as a refugee more than two decades ago. For years, he has spoken out against vigilante violence targeting migrants as well as Greece’s increasingly strict border policies.

As president of the Greek Forum of Refugees, Muhammadi receives calls and messages from desperate people trying to reach the country nearly every day. “I’m afraid most of the time I end the conversation because I know my phone is [monitored] by the authorities,” he told Middle East Eye.

He added, “This kind of criminalisation of those who are helping asylum seekers at the border is really, really dangerous. At any minute, they can condemn you as a trafficker, so it’s very difficult.”

The way Muhammadi sees it, the clampdown also makes it more dangerous for refugees and migrants who depend on aid workers. “Many people are dying,” he explained. “It is really horrible what is going on at the borders.”

Alexandros Georgoulis, a lawyer based on Chios Island, has represented asylum seekers and humanitarians (MEE/Nick Paleologos)

Alexandros Georgoulis, a lawyer based on Chios Island, has represented both asylum seekers and humanitarians alike. The way he sees it, the ramped-up pressure on refugees and migrants is part of “a wider EU policy”.

“All of us have witnessed a systematic, organised effort to crack down on NGOs [and] criminalise migration and solidarity,” he told Middle East Eye.

Meanwhile, Greece’s alleged use of pushbacks has forced many refugees and migrants to take riskier and deadlier routes in hopes of reaching Europe. In some cases, boats leaving Turkey have tried to bypass Greece altogether, he explained.

“We’re talking about a distance that is a hundred times longer, and a result, a journey that is a hundred times more dangerous,” Geourgoulis added. “We’ve seen many shipwrecks.”

Last October, at least 22 refugees and migrants died in separate shipwrecks off Greek islands. One of the boats had crashed near Lesbos Island, while another had reportedly tried to bypass the country to reach Italy directly.

‘Breach of their own law’

According to the UNHCR, more than 2,000 people either died or went missing trying to reach Greek territory between 2015 and 2022.

During the first three months of 2023, more than 441 died while crossing the central Mediterranean Sea between northern Africa and Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration.

That death toll made it the deadliest three-month period in six years, although the true number of those who died is likely much higher.

The Swimmers: Lead actor hits out at 'orientalist cliches and mistreatment'

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Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, has criticised the Greek government over the pressure on humanitarians and aid workers.

Lawlor had visited Greece in June 2022 to research the situation for human rights defenders in the country, including those who work with refugees and migrants. In March, she presented her findings to the UN Human Rights Council.

In her report, Lawlor noted that “human rights lawyers, humanitarian workers, volunteers and journalists [covering migration] have been subjected to smear campaigns, a changing regulatory environment, threats and attacks, and the misuse of criminal law against them, to a shocking degree.”

In response to Lawlor’s report, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias insisted that the ongoing investigations and prosecutions of humanitarians were not baseless.

Dendias wrote in February that “criminal prosecution can be instigated in cases of suspicion of illegal collaboration between anyone, including any NGO members, and cross-border criminal networks engaged in illegal activities”.

For his part, Dimitras, from the Greek Helsinki Monitor, says “almost every step taken” by authorities is “a breach of their own law”.

He added, “It’s not the kind of climate you find in states that have supposedly properly functioning democracy.”

Robots with ultra-bright lights deployed in fight against deadly fungus

By Jacob Geanous
April 22, 2023 

The Xenex LightStrike Germ0Zapping UV robot is more than 99% effective at deactivating the Candida auris fungus, according to a study.

Xenex

At least half a dozen New York City area hospitals are using $100,000 robots that deploy high-intensity light to combat a deadly drug-resistant fungus spreading across the country and state.

Xenex UV LightingStrike Robots have a 99% success rate in stopping the spread of Candida auris, the potentially fatal drug-resistant fungi first identified in Japan in 2009, according to a study by Netcare Hospitals.

Last year, New York state saw record number of cases of Candida auris — a “diabolical” fungal infection that can cause sepsis if it enters the bloodstream.

Xenex Disinfection Services — which told The Post it has disinfecting robots in local hospitals and at least 130 veterans hospitals nationwide — applied for approval from the Federal Drug Administration earlier this year for the device that uses xenon light, which is commonly found in vehicle headlights.

The light is 4,300 times more intense than the standard bulb, and kills germs more quickly than mercury-based UV bulbs in other machines, according to the company.

“It’s the difference between a Porsche and a [Ford] Model A,” Morris Miller, the company’s CEO said.

The company said the robots are currently being put into use at local hospitals including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which has locations around the New York City area, North Shore University Hospital in Long Island, and Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow.

At least half a dozen New York City area hospitals are using $100,000 robots that deploy high-intensity light to combat a deadly drug-resistant fungus.

Xenex

Miller said the robots are being put to use in at least 130 Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country.

Xenex

Miller also said that the robots were designed by two epidemiologists.

Morris said that his company’s robot can be used to disinfect a hospital room in about 10 minutes.

“On an ultra-serious and scary pathogen your talking about 15 minutes [on the] left [side of the room], 15 minutes [on the] right [side of the room], you’re done,” Morris said.

The company said the robots are currently being put into use at local hospitals including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which has locations throughout New York State.

Christopher Sadowski

Dr. Donna Armellino, an infection prevention specialist at Northwell Health, said that she and her colleagues use UV devices, including Xenex robots and similar devices from Leviant Inc, on top of traditional cleaning methods.

Armellino said the robots are also used in the neonatal intensive care units.

What do you think? Post a comment.

Armellino added that the federal government has yet to set standards regarding UV devices and there is still more to learn about the devices, as well as the best ways to use them.

“There needs to be more literature and controlled studies,” she said.

ZOO'S ARE ANIMAL PRISONS

RIP
Ailing elephant which evoked a wave of public sympathy dies in Karachi zoo

The pachyderm had undergone surgery after videos of the sick and struggling Noor Jehan in her enclosure had gone viral on social media

.

Veterinarians examine Noor Jehan at the Karachi Zoo on April 18, 2023. Photo: AFP (AFP)

An ailing elephant at a Pakistan zoo died on Saturday, vets said, calling on the menagerie to evacuate her “mourning” partner to avert a second tragedy.

Named after Noor Jehan, the queen of the fourth 17th-century Mughal emperor Jehangir, the 17-year-old pachyderm was operated on by foreign veterinarians last week at Karachi Zoo but did not recover properly, with her condition worsening to an alarming extent, Kanwar Ayub, the director of Karachi Zoo, told Anadolu.

Noor Jehan, which was brought to Karachi Zoo along with three other elephants some 13 years ago, was mainly suffering from a huge hematoma, or a pool of clotted blood, inside her abdomen in addition to intestinal issues.

Earlier this week, she had fallen into a pond and could not pull herself out due to her weak hind legs, badly affected by the illnesses she had been suffering from for months, apparently because of inadequate care and treatment.

Later, on the recommendation by Four Paws, a global animal welfare organisation, the zoo staff used a crane, ropes and belts to pull her out.

She was one of the last four captive elephants in Pakistan, all in Karachi, including two at the zoo.

A video of Noor Jehan showing her limping and struggling to stand, apparently due to weakness, went viral on social and mainstream media last week, sparking a public outcry and calls for shutting down the zoo.

“It saddens us immensely that Noor Jehan’s story came to a heartbreaking ending. We would like to thank everyone who worked day and night during these challenging times to try and give Noor Jehan a chance at survival.

“We hope the authorities in Pakistan will take Noor Jehan’s sad fate as an example and do better for captive wild animals in the country in the future,” Four Paws said, welcoming the government’s decision to consider closing down Karachi Zoo permanently.

A team of Austrian and Egyptian vets was scheduled to arrive in Karachi next week to assess Noor Jehan’s condition.

(AFP)

Four Paws had also arranged the transfer of 36-year-old Kaavan, the country’s “loneliest” elephant, to a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia in November 2020 to spend its remaining years following a years-long campaign by animal lovers from across the globe.

Animal rights groups have long been blaming the zoo management, which is already understaffed and without trained vets, for neglect and maltreatment that has resulted in the deaths of several wild animals in recent years.

The veterinarians have already suggested shifting Madhubala, now the only elephant at Karachi Zoo, to “specific species housing,” fearing that she might suffer a similar fate due to “inappropriate” conditions at the facility.

Last year, an Austrian veterinarian team operated on Madhubala, an 18-year-old elephant named after a legendary Indian actress, to relieve her pain caused by a broken tusk infection.

Endorsing the suggestion, Ayub said that arrangements are being made to relocate Madhubala to the city’s only Safari Park, where another two elephants are living in an “adequate environment.”

In April 2020, a court ordered the only zoo in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad to shut down after poor facilities and mistreatment of the animals there were revealed.

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

Pakistan elephant dies, leaving ‘mourning’ partner in limbo

Zoo staff stand near the dead body of elephant Noor Jehan at an enclosure in Karachi Zoological Gardens in Karachi on April 22, 2023. (AFP)

AFP
Published: 22 April ,2023

An ailing elephant at a Pakistan zoo died on Saturday, vets said, calling on the ill-equipped menagerie to evacuate her “mourning” partner to avert a second tragedy.

Pakistan’s zoos are frequently accused of being blase about animal welfare, and the plight of Noor Jehan was cited by animal rights activists campaigning to shut the wildlife exhibition in southern Karachi city.

This month the 17-year-old African elephant underwent emergency treatment for a tumor which had crippled her back legs, but while in recovery she became trapped in her enclosure’s pool.

Zoo workers hauled out the 3.5-ton pachyderm but she was unable to stand and lay stricken for nine days, “a life-threatening situation for elephants,” said animal charity Four Paws International.

Experts were considering euthanasia but before a decision was taken “she suc-cumbed to her critical condition,” said a statement from the charity, which organ-ised last-ditch medical efforts to save her.

Karachi Zoo director Kanwar Ayub confirmed Noor Jehans death on Saturday and an AFP reporter saw her caretaker openly weeping outside her enclosure.

“It’s very sad,” said Four Paws International’s Austria-based chief vet Amir Khalil. “Noor Jehan deserved a chance.”

But the deceased elephant's pen pal Madhubala “should not have the same fu-ture,” he told AFP, saying he plans to arrive in Pakistan on Sunday to assess her health and organize her evacuation.

“Karachi Zoo does not fulfil international standards and is not equipped to take appropriate care of elephants,” the Four Paws International statement said, ex-pressing support for a forced closure.

“It is now more urgent than ever that the remaining elephant, who is mourning her long-time companion, is transferred to a more species-appropriate location as soon as possible, to prevent another potential tragedy.”

In April 2020, a court ordered the only zoo in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad to shut after poor facilities and mistreatment of the animals there were revealed.

The facility had drawn international condemnation for its treatment of an Asian elephant named Kaavan, who was later airlifted to retirement in Cambodia in a project spearheaded by US popstar and actor Cher, and carried out by Four Paws.

Thomas Replaced Thurgood Marshall’s Vision With One More Amenable To The Powerful Than The Powerless

By Daniel Kiel
April 22, 2023 

This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.

As public attention focuses on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ close personal and financial relationship with a politically active conservative billionaire, the scrutiny is overlooking a key role Thomas has played for nearly three decades on the nation’s highest court.

Thomas’ predecessor on the court, Thurgood Marshall, was a civil rights lawyer before becoming a justice. In 1991, in his final opinion before retiring after a quarter century on the court, Marshall warned that his fellow justices’ growing appetite to revisit – and reverse – prior decisions would ultimately “squander the authority and legitimacy of this Court as a protector of the powerless.”

His prediction has been quoted by Supreme Court decisions since, including a three-justice dissent from the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that declared there was no constitutional right to reproductive choice and overturned Roe v. Wade.

In his concurrence with the majority decision in that case, Thomas declared his opposition to Marshall’s principle, lamenting that the court had not done more to pare back its prior work. “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” Thomas wrote – directly implicating Americans’ rights to sexual privacy and same-sex marriage.

Throughout Thomas’ tenure he has pushed the Supreme Court to revisit prior decisions that embraced robust rights for society’s most vulnerable, and to replace Marshall’s vision with one more amenable to the powerful than the powerless. And in writing my book tracing the lives and work of both justices, I have seen the fruits of this effort multiply over the past decade.

A shield for those in need

Few phrases could so aptly capture Thurgood Marshall’s vision of the court’s work as “protector of the powerless.” And few, if any, Americans have done as much to make that vision a reality.

Marshall’s work to advance Black citizenship is well known, but he also fought for expanded rights for women and the indigent, the accused and convicted, adherents to marginalized religions and those with unpopular viewpoints.

At the root of Marshall’s jurisprudence was a hope that while law could be a powerful tool of oppression, it might also be a shield.

As he wrote in that final dissent, in Payne v. Tennessee, enforcement of constitutional rights “frequently requires this Court to rein in the forces of democratic politics,” to protect the powerless from the tyranny of the majority.

While his Payne dissent criticized the court for reversing itself, Marshall was no stranger to calling for reconsideration of established law. Marshall’s signature accomplishment as a lawyer in Brown v. Board of Education was to convince the court to overturn the doctrine of separate but equal that had emerged after the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision.

The three attorneys who won Brown v. Board of Education stand outside the Supreme Court after their victory: from left, George E.C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall and James Nabrit Jr. Bettmann via Getty Images

As a justice, Marshall argued passionately and repeatedly that the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, leading to a brief period where it was considered unconstitutional.

The distinction between Marshall and Thomas is not really about whether the court should reverse past decisions but simply which ones.

While Marshall willed the court to become a “protector of the powerless,” Thomas has, I believe, argued not only to scale that vision back, but to advance the interests of the powerful.

Power as a key factor

While last summer’s abortion decision is an obvious example, Thomas has led the court’s assault on precedent in other areas as well.

For example, years before the court invalidated portions of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, Thomas had argued that the lack of modern voting discrimination made the act unnecessary.

Similarly, recent decisions have followed Thomas’ lead in weakening the vitality of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which fortifies the separation between church and state.

Thomas has even called for the court to reconsider its ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright, which established a constitutional right to a lawyer for indigent criminal defendants.

In each case, it is the powerless who stand to be most significantly affected.

Those in need of constitutional protection in Thomas’ view are more likely to be property owners, corporations making campaign contributions or gun owners.

On affirmative action

Perhaps no topic better captures the distinction between the two men’s views than affirmative action, which the court is considering in a pair of cases from Harvard and the University of North Carolina to be decided this term.

The distrust of government that fuels many of Thomas’ perspectives is never more personal than in cases about the use of race in college admissions. He has railed against affirmative action, saying it brands Black people in prominent positions with a “stigma” about “whether their skin color played a part in their advancement.”

Indeed, Thomas claims his position requiring colorblindness is a better path toward full Black citizenship. He has made that claim even in situations where he knew it would result in more limited access to opportunities for Black students in the short term.

Marshall always looked at the issue from a different perspective, arguing that access to opportunities was essential not only for the Black students affected but for the nation at large.

“If we are ever to become a fully integrated society, one in which the color of a person’s skin will not determine the opportunities available to him or her,” Marshall wrote in 1977, “we must be willing to take steps to open those doors.”

It was access for the powerless that Marshall thought ought drive the thinking of the court.

But this summer, the court may finally embrace a different vision on affirmative action, coming again to a position Thomas has been advocating for decades.

That turn would be yet another reversal squandering Marshall’s vision of the court.

Daniel Kiel is a FedEx Professor of Law and the Author of The Transition: Interpreting Justice from Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas at University of Memphis

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

INTERNATIONAL REPORT

Rights groups accuse Erdogan of trying to silence independent media

Issued on: 22/04/2023 - 

With Turkey amid hotly contested elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing for the first time a powerful independent media. But international rights groups watchdogs accuse Erdogan of seeking to silence critical journalism as he faces his most formidable reelection bid.

Dokuz8 Haber broadcasts news programs and produces reports with its nationwide network of reporters. It is one of a growing number of independent media platforms using social media and the web to cover May's presidential elections.

Media control

In previous polls, one of President Erdogan's key advantages was his vice-like grip on media coverage but not anymore.

"It's a time of change in Turkey, and this is something that is reflected in the media," explains Gokhan Bicici, Dokuz8Haber editor-in-chief.

"There are new moves a powerful independent media is developing, such as the growth of news channels and the enlargement of their sphere of influence," continues Bicici.

"I can even say that in terms of the number of viewers on election day, the audience and the followers of independent organizations will be much more than mainstream media. Thus, the effort of the government to establish a monopoly failed; they lost," he concluded.

But the government-controlled media regulatory authority, RTUK, is stepping up its fines on independent media stations- prompting condemnation by twenty international media and freedom of expression watchdogs.

"if there is a duty of regulation, this should not be weaponized against a critical TV station before these crucial elections," said Erol Onderoglu, Turkey representative for Paris-based Reporters without Borders.

"One of the most important and concerning feet of this problem is the weaponization of high audiovisual border, which is supposed to be independent of any kind of political interference, but which is precisely one of the weapon or crackdown tools under the hand of this government," added Onderoglu.

As elections loom in Turkey, Erdogan pulls plug on opposition social media

Partisanship charges

The government denies the charge of partisanship. But for independent stations like Halk tv, it says fines are a part of doing business but warns the real threat is closure ahead of the May elections.

"In our broadcasts, they can always find a reason for a penalty, a sentence, an interview, or a statement. And that is why we are always on alert," explains Halk TV News Editor in Chief, Bengu Sap Babaeker.

"We are always in expectation. Managers and fellow journalists are responsible for keeping this channel open. We are responsible for preventing a penalty that will close this channel down," she added.

A month from Turkey's elections, soaring inflation shakes up political loyalties

Despite the risk of closure and fines, stations like Halk during February's deadly earthquake exposed government shortcomings, drawing large audiences. Analysts say such coverage has helped build independent media's reputation ahead of elections for fair but critical coverage.

"We're facing a renaissance of the Turkish media. It became evident in the earthquake period because we would not hear about the incapacity of the government had there not been the new voices of the media. They really did good reporting," observed Sezin Oney, a columnist at the Politikyol news portal.

"Good reporting is enough in itself," continued Oney. "It doesn't have to be just voicing the opposition's narrative or giving a voice to opposition politicians. But it's just reflecting what's happening on the ground, and that's really important for the election night as well."

New independent media tv channels have been launched in the run-up to the polls, with many reporters who've quit the industry returning to help cover an election that all sides claim is one of the most important in the Turkish republics' history.

By: Dorian Jones

Investors hope for answers in Credit Suisse, UBS results


By AFP
Published April 22, 2023

Credit Suisse had suffered a string of scandals over several years

 - Copyright AFP/File Fabrice COFFRINI

Nathalie OLOF-ORS

When Credit Suisse’s unveils what are likely its final quarterly results Monday, investors will be seeking clues to the magnitude of the challenges awaiting UBS, after it was strongarmed into taking over its stricken rival.

Credit Suisse pushed forward its result release to come out the day before those of UBS, as Switzerland’s largest bank prepares to swallow its long-time main domestic rival.

The results, which will be presented in a statement without the usual accompanying press conference and analyst discussion, will be closely studied for the mass withdrawals that took place as panic engulfed the bank last month, prior to the hastily arranged takeover.

Absorbing Credit Suisse will be a complex task, and “we won’t have all the answers we need,” Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told AFP, pointing out that “the merger is fresh and (even) UBS didn’t have enough time to dive in Credit Suisse’s business”.

The answers to the many remaining questions around the depth of crises dogging Credit Suisse will arrive “gradually”, the analyst said, adding that she expected UBS over time “to take control of the situation and structure the bank in a healthy way.”

– ‘Very weak’ –

Credit Suisse had suffered a string of scandals over several years, and after three US regional banks collapsed in March unleashing market panic, it was left looking like the weakest link in the chain.

Over the course of a nerve-wracking weekend, Swiss authorities organised an emergency rescue, pressuring UBS to agree to a $3.25-billion mega merger on the evening of March 19.

Justifying the move to parliament earlier this month, Swiss President Alain Berset said that “without intervention, Credit Suisse would have found itself, in all likelihood, in default on March 20 or 21”.

Monday’s quarterly report will likely be Credit Suisse’s last one, depending on how quickly the UBS deal closes, Vontobel analyst Andreas Venditti said in a research note.

He predicted that once released, “the market will focus on the magnitude of outflows across businesses”.

Some numbers are already circulating.

According to data compiled by US financial services firm Morningstar, the bank saw around 4.6 billion euros ($5.1 billion) withdrawn from funds during the month of March alone, marking the biggest monthly outflow on record.

Venditti said he expected Credit Suisse’s first quarter report to “reveal very weak underlying results”.

He estimated that the bank would post a net loss of around 700 million Swiss francs ($784 million), with an 800-million-franc gain from the sale of its Securitised Products Group helping it avoid falling far deeper in the red.

– UBS results ‘a sideshow’ –

In 2022, the bank suffered a 7.3-billion-franc loss, with 110.5 billion francs in outflows in the final quarter alone.

That stood in stark contrast to the $7.6 billion profit raked in by UBS last year.

Venditti said he expected UBS on Tuesday to post a first quarter profit of nearly $1.7 billion, below the $2.1 billion it made during the same quarter a year ago.

He said he expected a poorer performance primarily due to “lower recurring fee income”, but said that would be “partially offset by higher net interest income” amid higher rates.

But investors will be most “interested in receiving additional details of the CS deal,” Venditti said, adding though that “we do not expect much additional information, given that the transaction has not closed yet.”

Analysts with the Zurich Cantonal Bank (ZKB) also acknowledged that UBS’s results would be “a sideshow”, with all eyes on “the uncertainties surrounding the planned merger with Credit Suisse”.

Expo recounts rebirth of soul-searching Matisse in 1930s Paris

Issued on: 22/04/2023 

02:36“ Matisse. Cahiers d’art, the Pivotal 1930s” at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris is on until the 29 May 2023. © RFI

Text by:Ollia Horton with RFI

The "Matisse: Cahiers d’Art, the Pivotal 1930s" exhibition revisits a decisive decade for the French painter Henri Matisse. Although extremely successful, he had begun to call into question his place on the avant-garde scene. The exhibition traces this soul-searching period that ultimately took him in a new and bold direction.

Although many exhibitions have been dedicated to Matisse (1869 – 1954), very few have focused on the 1930s, a long period of soul searching, in which Matisse trying his hand at experimental drawings, paintings and sculpture.

At the end of the 1920s, “Matisse was going through a creative breakdown, despite being at the height of his career,” curator Cécile Debray told RFI.

What’s interesting is to see a side to an artist we don’t often see,” Debray explains.

“We’re more often likely to see the smooth, polished side of an artist’s work, rather than the turmoil,” she says, adding that Matisse was fond of expressing his artistic process, and didn’t seek to hide the difficulties he had.

The 1930s also holds interesting parallels with the present day, she says. “It’s was period of great complexity, violence and uncertainty,” all themes explored in Matisse’s works.
Behind the scenes

His artistic rebirth was documented in detail by the Cahiers d’Art, a magazine created by Christian Zervos in 1926.

“Cahiers d’art played a role in Matisse’s artistic comeback,” Debray says because they showed the “behind the scenes” reportages of the painter’s work in progress.

The original editions of the magazine punctuate the exhibition, providing a guide for the visitor, marking the ebb and flow of Matisse’s career.

“Matisse. Cahiers d’art, the Pivotal 1930s” at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris is on until the 29 May 2023. © RFI

Tahiti retreat

He was featured regularly in the publication alongside artists of his time such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Miro, Fernand Léger, Wassily Kandinsky, Mondrian, Le Corbusier and Marcel Duchamp.

Part of getting “back in the avant-garde game” involved a long trip to Tahiti, where he spent time immersing himself in the local culture and admiring the landscape.

Debray points out that he didn’t produce much more than a few sketches and photographs during this time, which turned out to be more like a spiritual retreat.Two Basquiat exhibitions in Paris shine light on art superstar

However, he gathered inspiration for his later works, among them “The Dance”, a giant fresco displayed for an art collector at the Barnes Foundation in the United States from 1933.

His method of painting pieces of paper and adding them progressively to the fresco opened new doors to his technique.

Some works have rarely been exhibited in France, including “Large Reclining Nude” from Baltimore, “The Song from Houston” and the 1938 “Romanian Blouses” series, all held in various American museums.

Matisse. Cahiers d’Art, the Pivotal 1930s” at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris until 29 May 2023.

Canadian politicians wear pink high heels in support of ending gender-based violence

BySanskriti Falor

Apr 22, 2023 

Viral videos and photos on the internet showed male lawmakers walking

 around the Canadian parliament wearing pink-coloured high heels.

Canadian male politicians wore pink high heels inside Canada's parliament to raise awareness about violence against women. The event was hosted by Halton Women's Place and was a part of their ‘Hope in High Heels’ campaign.

The event aims to sensitise men about gender-based violence and the need to end it. It is about starting a systematic conversation regarding violence against women in society. (Twitter/@endvawnetwork)

Viral videos and photos on the internet showed male lawmakers walking around the parliament wearing pink-coloured high heels.

Canada's Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra took to twitter to appreciate the event. He said, “Violence against women is still prevalent in our society. Hope in Heels is an event that spreads awareness on violence against women while encouraging men and boys to be part of the solution. We wore their signature pink heels in support to this important cause.”

Alghabra added, “Now that I have your attention, violence against women comes in all forms, not just physical. Men, starting with me, need to be aware of the consequences of our actions and words and do better to create space for women around us.”

Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould brought the event back to the parliament for the fourth consecutive year.

The event aims to sensitize men and boys about gender-based violence and the need to end it. It is about starting a systematic conversation regarding violence against women in the society.

Gould said on Twitter, “We welcomed @HaltonWomensPl to the Hill for the 4th annual Hope in High Heels on the Hill, to continue the conversation on systemic violence against women. Educating men and boys is part of the solution, and it is all of our responsibilities to end gender based violence.”

Halton Women's Place said they were thrilled to see people across political parties participate and wear high heels in support of ending gender-based violence in the society.

Canadian officials walk in pink heels. Netizens call it ‘ridiculous’

ByPaurush Omar

Apr 22, 2023

Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra and a group of officials recently made headlines for an unusual display of support for a women

In a move to raise awareness about violence against women, officials in Canada have donned pink heels as part of the "Hope in Heels" event in collaboration with Halton Women's Place, women's shelter to help women who have faced abuse in Halton. The event, which encourages men and boys to join the fight against violence, has seen officials from all walks of life walking around in the distinctive pink heels.

Omar Alghabra, the Minister of Transport and MP for Mississauga Centre, posted a video of the officials strutting their stuff around the conference room, in support of the cause.

Alghabra noted in his tweet, violence against women is still prevalent in our society, despite progress made in recent years. Hope in Heels aims to raise awareness of this issue, and to encourage men and boys to join the fight for change. By wearing the signature pink heels, officials are showing their support for this vital cause.

The video posted by Alghabra shows the officials walking in high heels.

He further tweeted in the thread, “Now that I have your attention, violence against women comes in all forms, not just physical. Men, starting with me, need to be aware of the consequences of our actions and words and do better to create space for women around us.”

Although what might appear as an act of solidarity did not go well with the netizens as a lot of twitter users dubbed the act as offensive and ridiculous.

The Hope in Heels event is just one example of the many initiatives taking place around the world to raise awareness of the issue of violence against women. By coming together and taking action, we can create a safer and more equal world for all.

Canada’s Trudeau considers next steps as citizen convicted for Paris synagogue blast

Canadian PM says will stand up for rights of nationals; Hassan Diab faces life in prison for 1980 bombing that killed 4, hurt 46; he wants Ottawa to reject any extradition request

By AFP

22 April 2023, 

In this file photo taken on October 3, 1980, an inspector walks amid car wreckage after a bomb exploded at the synagogue rue Copernic in Paris. (Georges Gobet/AFP)

OTTAWA, Canada — Canada is considering its next steps after a Paris court on Friday convicted a Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor in absentia for the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in the French capital, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

Hassan Diab, now 69 and a resident of Canada, faces life in prison in France. But he and his supporters want Ottawa to reject any new requests for his extradition.

“We will look carefully at next steps, at what the French government chooses to do, at what French tribunals choose to do,” Trudeau told a news conference.

But, he added, “we will always be there to stand up for Canadians and their rights.”

Diab, speaking to reporters in Ottawa, reacted to the verdict by calling it “Kafkaesque” and “not fair.” “We’d hoped reason would prevail,” he added.

Diab also urged Trudeau to honor his past statement about the case, which appeared to pour cold water on ever sending Diab back to France, after the first extradition took six years.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks as he meets with US President Joe Biden at the InterContinental Presidente Mexico City hotel in Mexico City, January 10, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

“The evidence shows he’s innocent and yet they’ve convicted him,” Diab’s Canadian lawyer Donald Bayne said. “It’s a political result. It’s a wrongful conviction.”

In the early evening of October 3, 1980, explosives placed on a motorcycle detonated close to a synagogue on the Rue Copernic in Paris’s chic 16th district, killing a student passing by on a motorbike, a driver, an Israeli journalist and a caretaker.

Forty-six others were injured in the blast.

In 2014, Canada extradited Diab at the request of the French authorities on the basis of new evidence.

However, investigating judges were unable to prove him guilty conclusively and Diab was released, leaving France for Canada as a free man in 2018.

Trudeau at the time welcomed France’s release of Diab, telling reporters in June of that year: “I think for Hassan Diab we have to recognize first of all that what happened to him never should have happened.”

He also ordered a review of Canada’s extradition law to “make sure that it never happens again.”

Three years later, a French court overturned the earlier decision and ordered that Diab should stand trial on charges of murder, attempted murder and destruction of property in connection with a terrorist enterprise.

Diab has denied any involvement in the attack, claiming he was taking exams in Lebanon at the time.

Lebanese-Canadian receives life in prison in absentia for 1980 Paris synagogue bombing

Sociology professor Hassan Diab faces possible second extradition following the French court ruling, while Canada's Trudeau vows to 'stand up for Canadians and their rights'

Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor Hassan Diab, seen here holding a press conference in 2018 following his return to Canada, has received a life sentenced in the trial of the bombing of the Rue Copernic synagogue (Lars Hagberg / AFP)

By MEE staff
Published date: 22 April 2023 

A Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor has been convicted by a Paris court in absentia for the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in the French capital, and could be extradited for the second time in less than 10 years.

Hassan Diab, now 69 and a resident of Canada, faces life in prison in France following Friday's court ruling. But he and his supporters want Ottawa to reject any new requests for his extradition.

'We will always be there to stand up for Canadians and their rights'

- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

"We will look carefully at next steps, at what the French government chooses to do, at what French tribunals choose to do," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference following the court ruling.

But, he added, "we will always be there to stand up for Canadians and their rights".

A Paris court on Friday followed the prosecutors' request for the maximum possible punishment against the Lebanese-Canadian, after the prosecutors said in their closing arguments that there was "no possible doubt" that Diab, the only suspect, was behind the attack.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Diab called the verdict "Kafkaesque" and "not fair".

"We'd hoped reason would prevail," he said, adding that he expects Canada not to send him back to France to serve the sentence.

Attack on French soil

In the early evening of 3 October 1980, explosives placed on a motorcycle detonated close to a synagogue on the Rue Copernic in Paris's chic 16th district, killing a student passing by on a motorbike, a driver, an Israeli journalist and a caretaker.

Forty-six others were injured in the blast.

Supporters urge Canada to bring jailed academic Hassan Diab home

Read More »

The bombing was the first deadly attack against a Jewish target on French soil since World War II.

No organisation claimed responsibility, but police suspected a splinter group of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

French intelligence agents in 1999 accused Diab of having made the 10kg bomb.

They pointed to Diab's likeness with police sketches drawn at the time and handwriting analyses that they said confirmed him as the person who bought the motorbike used in the attack.

They also produced a key item of evidence against him - a passport in his name, seized in Rome in 1981, with entry and exit stamps from Spain, where the attack plan was believed to have originated.

Possible second extradition

In 2014, Canada extradited Diab at the request of the French authorities.

However, investigating judges were unable to prove his guilt conclusively during the investigation and Diab was released, leaving France for Canada as a free man in 2018.

Three years later, a French court overturned the decision and ordered that Diab should stand trial on charges of murder, attempted murder and destruction of property in connection with a terrorist enterprise.

French authorities stopped short of issuing a new international arrest warrant for Diab, effectively leaving it up to him to attend his trial or not.

'Justice very much needed for this bombing... not by scapegoating an innocent man'

- Alex Neve, former head of Amnesty International Canada

Diab has claimed he was sitting exams in Lebanon at the time of the attack, backed up by statements from his ex-partner and former students.

His conviction means he will now again become the subject of an arrest warrant, which risks stoking diplomatic tensions between France and Canada after his first extradition took six years.

Diab has won some backing from NGOs, including Amnesty International, who said his assertion that he was in Lebanon at the time of the attack was credible.

The former head of Amnesty International Canada, Alex Neve, called the court's ruling "disgraceful".

"15 yrs of surreal injustice for Hassan Diab culminate in disgraceful in absentia verdict. Justice very much needed for this bombing 42 yrs ago; not by scapegoating an innocent man," Neve tweeted, calling on Canada to refuse if France seeks extradition for the second time.

Meanwhile David Pere, a lawyer for some of the people present in the synagogue at the time of the bombing, said his clients were "not motivated by vengeance nor looking for a guilty person's head to stick on a pike... they want justice to be done".