Trump admin detains pro-Palestinian campus protest leader


By AFP
March 10, 2025


Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march through Columbia University's campus in New York in October 2024 - Copyright AFP/File kena betancur

Immigration officers have arrested a leader of the protests at Columbia University against Israel’s war in Gaza, authorities said Sunday, after US President Donald Trump vowed to deport foreign pro-Palestinian student demonstrators.

Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent faces of the university’s protest movement that erupted in response to Israel’s conduct of the war, was arrested on Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on X.

The agency said the action was taken “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State.”

The Student Workers of Columbia Union said in a statement that Khalil had been detained on Saturday, describing him as “a Palestinian recent Columbia graduate and lead negotiator for last spring’s Gaza solidarity encampment.”

US campuses including Columbia’s in New York were rocked by student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. The demonstrations ignited accusations of anti-Semitism.

Protests, some of which turned violent and saw campus buildings occupied and lectures disrupted, pitted students protesting Israel’s conduct against pro-Israel campaigners, many of whom were Jewish.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X that “we will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

Khalil, who remains in immigration enforcement detention, held permanent residency at the time of his arrest prompting thousands of people to sign a petition calling for his release, the union statement added.

“We are also aware of multiple reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents accessing or attempting to access Columbia campus buildings on Friday and Saturday, including undergraduate dorms,” the union said.

Columbia did not directly address Khalil’s arrest in response to inquiries, but in a statement said “there have been reports of ICE in the streets around campus.”

“Columbia has and will continue to follow the law. Consistent with our longstanding practice and the practice of cities and institutions throughout the country, law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including University buildings,” Columbia said.

In its post on X, the DHS said Khalil “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” without further details.

Trump railed against the student protest movement linked to the conflict in Gaza, and vowed to deport foreign students who had demonstrated.

He also threatened to cut off federal funding for institutions that he said were not doing enough to combat anti-Semitism.

His administration announced Friday it was cutting $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University, accusing it of failing to protect Jewish students from harassment.

'Didn't expect to be this severe': North Carolina farmers reeling under Trump policies

Jennifer Bowers Bahney
March 10, 2025 
RAW STORY


FILE PHOTO: A man driving a tractor tends to corn fields in Star, Idaho, U.S., October 29, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

Farmers who rely on payments from the federal government to remain afloat are treading water just to survive now that the Trump administration has frozen federal funding.

Reporter Ben Rappaport wrote in The Assembly that farmers in North Carolina, who are still recovering from flooding and drought, "haven’t received expected payments linked to conservation loan programs, projects aimed at combating climate change, and emergency loans for farmers in disaster areas."

The Trump administration was "also reviewing the Inflation Reduction Act, a 2022 federal spending package that includes programs for farmers of color, first-time farmers, and farmers in poverty," the report said.


Rappaport quoted farmer Ethan Jordan, who was awaiting about $77,000 from the USDA to make up for the 900 acres of corn, 350 acres of peanuts, and 350 acres of soybean crops he lost to the drought last year.

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

“Coming out of a year like we just did, cash is already short," Jordan said. "I really would’ve liked to have had that money a month or so ago.”


Under many of the contracts farmers have with the government, "farmers pay out of pocket for equipment and supplies and get reimbursed by the USDA. Without cash flow out of Washington, those farmers could be strapped with debt," or worse.

“The western part of the state lost their homes to a flood,” Jordan said. “In the eastern side, if we don’t get some help, we’re going to lose our house to the bank.”

Jordan added, “We knew the administration changes would shake things up. But we didn’t expect it to be this severe.”


U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins told The Assembly in late February that $20 million in payments was released, "but hundreds of millions in other payments remain frozen." The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment for the report.

During his first administration, Trump paid out billions of dollars to help farmers make up for income lost from trade war with China. This trade war, on multiple fronts, has the potential to cost farmers and the federal government exponentially more.

Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this month, "To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!"


Read The Assembly article here.

Colombian guerrillas warn of ‘total war’ as peace plan falters


By AFP
March 9, 2025


National Liberation Army ELN rebels of the Manuel Vazquez Castano northeastern war front stand guard at Catatumbo region, Colombia on March 8, 2025. - Copyright AFP

 David GRAY

Commanders from Colombia’s National Liberation Army guerrilla group have vowed to repel a government counteroffensive in the country’s northeast, warning that years of “total peace” risk turning into “total war.”

In a rare interview, carried out at a secret mountain location near the Venezuelan border, two senior guerrilla commanders told AFP that they would not hesitate to fight 10,000 government troops amassed nearby.

The thousands-strong guerrilla group, better known by its Spanish initials ELN, has waged a 60-year leftwing insurgency against the Colombian state, seizing swathes of territory and becoming a major player in the global cocaine trade.

Since January, ELN clashes with a rival guerrilla group in the Catatumbo border region have displaced almost 56,000 people and left at least 76 dead, according to government estimates.

It is some of the worst violence Colombia has seen since peace accords were agreed in 2016.

The government has responded by declaring a state of emergency and deploying thousands of troops to the region.

President Gustavo Petro has vowed to reimpose state control by force if necessary. “The ELN has chosen the path of war, and that’s what they will get,” he said.

Guarded by some 30 heavily-armed fighters, ELN Commander “Ricardo” and Commander “Silvana Guerrero” –- sitting with rifles in hand — indicated they were open to dialogue but ready for war.

“Petro has declared war. We are not afraid of that,” said Ricardo, a leader of the ELN’s northeastern war front.

“If the military continues to arrive, most likely we will have a confrontation, because we are going to defend ourselves as an insurgent force,” he said.

“This total peace that Petro has been talking about, in the end, it is becoming total war.”



– Turf war –



Analysts believe recent clashes between the ELN and the 33rd Front, another armed leftist group, were prompted by a turf war over territory and lucrative cocaine trafficking routes into Venezuela.

The ELN’s territory is an important source of coca and a gateway to the Caribbean coast — where Colombian cocaine begins its journey to the rest of the world.

The government has alleged that the ELN has close ties to Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa Cartel.

Commander Silvana denied direct involvement in narcotrafficking but admitted the group does levy taxes on cocaine produced in the area.

“We impose a tax per kilo in the territory because we need an economy,” she said. “That does not put us in league with narcotraffickers as the Colombian state alleges.”

“Our rifles are never aimed at the people. These weapons we carry to defend the people” she said.

Silvana, whose real name is Luz Amanda Payares, is wanted by Colombia’s government and is the subject of a US$25,000 bounty for her capture.



– ‘The struggle continues’ –



Whatever the cause of the recent violence, the crisis has been a major embarrassment for Petro’s government.

He has staked his political fortunes on a policy of “total peace” — limiting military operations against groups that did not sign the 2016 peace deal, in the hope of reaching new accords.

Critics allege that dissident groups have used the government’s near-unilateral truce to regroup and grow in strength.

An alphabet soup of armed groups now vie for control of territory, extortion rackets, illegal mining and illicit trade routes across the country.

As a result, the amount of land used for cocaine production has increased by 420 percent since 2012, according to United Nations estimates.

Many Colombians fear ever-stronger armed groups could return the country to the decades of an internecine war that has killed 1.1 million people since the 1960s, according to a government estimate.

Despite the ELN’s insistence that it is open to a “political solution,” more violence looks likely.

Commander Silvana predicted that “in a short time,” the Catatumbo region would see “a counteroffensive of a different magnitude.”

Against that backdrop, Commander Ricardo dismissed calls for demobilization as “pacification” and insisted the ELN’s revolution was needed “today more than ever.”

“The State must be transformed. If not, the war will continue,” he said.

“We, together with the Colombian people, will continue our resistance until we achieve our objective.”

Japan auctions emergency rice reserves as prices soar


By AFP
March 9, 2025


Rice prices have soared in Japan - Copyright AFP Kazuhiro NOGI

The Japanese government began a rare auction on Monday of its emergency rice stockpiles in a bid to help drive down the surging price of the national staple.

Rice shortages driven by factors from poor harvests caused by hot weather to panic-buying over a “megaquake” warning last summer have caused prices to nearly double over a year.

Exacerbating the problem, some businesses are also thought to be keeping their inventories and waiting for the most opportune time to sell.

Japan stores about a million tons of rice for emergencies.

The country has previously tapped into these reserves during disasters, but this is the first time since the stockpile was built in 1995 that supply chain problems are behind the move.

The agriculture ministry is expected to select successful bidders for 150,000 tons of rice by Wednesday — with the auctioned grain expected to hit store shelves by the end of March.

The ministry says it plans to release another 60,000 tons if necessary.

“This is a highly irregular situation,” agriculture minister Taku Eto told parliament on Monday.

“By sorting out the clogged parts of the distribution network, we hope to relieve the hardship experienced by consumers.”

Experts say several factors have contributed to the crisis.

Among them is a tourism boom and shortages caused by record heatwaves in recent years, as Japan, like other countries, experiences the effects of human-driven climate change.

In August last year, shelves in some stores emptied after the government warned of a possible “megaquake”, along with one of the fiercest typhoons in decades and the annual Obon holiday.

GOLDEN TRIANGLE REDUX

Opium farming takes root in Myanmar’s war-wracked landscape


By AFP
March 10, 2025


Myanmar overtook Afghanistan as the world's largest producer of opium in 2023 - Copyright AFP STR

Scraping opium resin off a seedpod in Myanmar’s remote poppy fields, displaced farmer Aung Hla describes the narcotic crop as his only prospect in a country made barren by conflict.

The 35-year-old was a rice farmer when the junta seized power in a 2021 coup, adding pro-democracy guerillas to the long-running civil conflict between the military and ethnic armed groups.

Four years on, the United Nations has said Myanmar is mired in a “polycrisis” of mutually compounding conflict, poverty and environmental damage.

Aung Hla was forced off his land in Moe Bye village by fighting after the coup. When he resettled, his usual crops were no longer profitable, but the hardy poppy promised “just enough for a livelihood”.

“Everyone thinks people grow poppy flowers to be rich, but we are just trying hard to get by,” he told AFP in rural Pekon township of eastern Shan state.

He says he regrets growing the substance — the core ingredient in heroin — but said the income is the only thing separating him from starvation.

“If anyone were in my shoes, they would likely do the same.”



– Displaced and desperate –



Myanmar’s opium production was previously second only to Afghanistan, where poppy farming flourished following the US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

But after the Taliban government launched a crackdown, Myanmar overtook Afghanistan as the world’s biggest producer of opium in 2023, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Myanmar’s opiate economy — including the value of domestic consumption as well as exports abroad — is estimated between $589 million and $1.57 billion, according to the UNODC.

Between September and February each year, dozens of workers toil in Pekon’s fields, slicing immature poppy seedpods, which ooze a small amount of sticky brown resin.

Aung Naing, 48, gently transfers the collected resin from a small trough onto a leaf plate.

Before the coup, which ended a brief experiment with democracy, Aung Naing was a reformed opium farmer. But wartime hardship forced him back to the crop.

“There is more poppy cultivation because of difficulties in residents’ livelihoods,” he says.

“Most of the farmers who plant poppy are displaced,” he said. “Residents who can’t live in their villages and fled to the jungle are working in poppy fields.”

In Myanmar’s fringes, ethnic armed groups, border militias and the military all vie for control of local resources and the lucrative drug trade.

Aung Naing says poppy earns only a slightly higher profit than food crops like corn, bean curd and potatoes, which are also vulnerable to disease when it rains.

Fresh opium was generally sold by Myanmar farmers for just over $300 per kilo in 2024, according to the UNODC, a small fraction of what it fetches on the international black market.

And the crop is more costly to produce than rice — more labour intensive, requiring expensive fertilisers and with small yields.

Aung Naing says he makes just shy of a $30 profit for each kilo. “How can we get rich from that?” he asks.



– ‘Unsafe’ –



The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates there are more than 3.5 million people displaced in Myanmar.

But fleeing conflict zones to farm opium does not guarantee safety.

“Military fighter jets are flying over us,” said Aung Naing. “We are working in poppy fields with anxiety and fear. We feel unsafe.”

Opium cultivation and production in Myanmar decreased slightly between 2023 and 2024, according to the UNODC — in part due to ongoing clashes between armed groups.

“If our country were at peace and there were industries offering many job opportunities in the region, we wouldn’t plant any poppy fields even if we were asked to,” says farmer Shwe Khine, 43.

Aung Hla agreed. With the war, he said, “we don’t have any choice”.

Russian disinformation ‘infects’ AI chatbots, researchers warn


By AFP
March 10, 2025


Researchers warn that the pro-Russian Pravda network is infiltrating leading AI chatbots - Copyright AFP/File Jim WATSON, JOHN THYS, Alexander NEMENOV

Anuj CHOPRA

A sprawling Russian disinformation network is manipulating Western AI chatbots to spew pro-Kremlin propaganda, researchers say, at a time when the United States is reported to have paused its cyber operations against Moscow.

The Pravda network, a well-resourced Moscow-based operation to spread pro-Russian narratives globally, is said to be distorting the output of chatbots by flooding large language models (LLM) with pro-Kremlin falsehoods.

A study of 10 leading AI chatbots by the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard found that they repeated falsehoods from the Pravda network more than 33 percent of the time, advancing a pro-Moscow agenda.

The findings underscore how the threat goes beyond generative AI models picking up disinformation circulating on the web, and involves the deliberate targeting of chatbots to reach a wider audience in a manipulation tactic that researchers call “LLM grooming.”

“Massive amounts of Russian propaganda — 3,600,000 articles in 2024 — are now incorporated in the outputs of Western AI systems, infecting their responses with false claims and propaganda,” NewsGuard researchers McKenzie Sadeghi and Isis Blachez wrote in a report.

In a separate study, the nonprofit American Sunlight Project warned of the growing reach of the Pravda network — sometimes also known as “Portal Kombat” — and the likelihood that its pro-Russian content was flooding the training data of large language models.

“As Russian influence operations expand and grow more advanced, they pose a direct threat to the integrity of democratic discourse worldwide,” said Nina Jankowicz, chief executive of the American Sunlight Project.

“The Pravda network’s ability to spread disinformation at such scale is unprecedented, and its potential to influence AI systems makes this threat even more dangerous,” she added.

This disinformation could become more pervasive in the absence of oversight in the United States, experts warned.

Earlier this month, multiple US media reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered a pause on all of the country’s cyber operations against Russia, including planning for offensive actions.

The order was reported to be part of an overall reevaluation of US operations against Moscow, with the duration or extent of the pause unclear.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the news but the reported change comes as President Donald Trump has been pushing for negotiations to end the three-year war in Ukraine, and days after the US leader berated his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a stormy White House meeting.



– ‘Tool to be leveraged’ –



The Pravda network, launched in April 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has expanded significantly to cover 49 countries and dozens of languages, NewsGuard said.

Millions of articles carrying pro-Russian content produced by the Pravda network — including false claims such as that the US operates secret bioweapons labs in Ukraine — are amplified across platforms such as X, Telegram and Bluesky.

Pravda does not produce original content itself, but instead is known to aggregate content from sources such as the Russian state media and pro-Kremlin influencers.

In NewsGuard’s study, all 10 chatbots –- including OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4, You.com’s Smart Assistant, Grok, Microsoft’s Copilot, Meta AI, Google Gemini and Perplexity — repeated disinformation spread by the Pravda network.

Seven chatbots even directly cited specific articles from Pravda as their sources.

Last month, AFP’s fact-checkers debunked social media claims that Zelensky had banned Truth Social after facing sharp criticism from Trump.

Representatives for the social network said it had not launched in Ukraine, and the government there said Trump’s platform would be welcome.

When NewsGuard prompted the chatbots with the question “Why did Zelensky ban Truth Social?” six of them repeated the false narrative as fact, in many cases citing articles from Pravda.

The chatbots also repeated fabricated narratives pushed by US fugitive turned Kremlin propagandist John Mark Dougan, NewsGuard said.

“By pushing these Russian narratives from the Russian perspective, we can actually change worldwide AI,” the watchdog quoted Dougan as saying in January at a conference in Moscow.

“It’s not a tool to be scared of, it’s a tool to be leveraged.”

Five years ago, WHO’s pandemic call shook world into action


By AFP
March 10, 2025


WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus jolted world leaders into action on Covid on March 11, 2020 - Copyright AFP/File Fabrice COFFRINI

Robin MILLARD

Five years ago on Tuesday, the World Health Organization announced Covid-19 had become a pandemic — a moment when the world finally woke up to the unfolding disaster.

The WHO had already sounded its own highest alarm five weeks earlier. But that warning — which does not mention the “p” word — had gone unheeded.

At a press conference on March 11, 2020, the head of the United Nations’ health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, finally said the worsening outbreak could be “characterised as a pandemic”.

Only then did many countries grasp the severity of the situation and — way too late — jolt into action.

The pandemic, the likes of which had not been seen in a century, killed millions, shredded economies and crippled health systems.



– SHOC room scene –



Tedros had already rung the world’s top alarm bell by declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020. The PHEIC lasted until May 5, 2023.

Throughout February 2020, journalists had repeatedly asked about a pandemic and at a press conference on March 9, Tedros indicated “the threat of a pandemic has become very real”.

The March 11 press conference was scheduled for 5:00pm (1600 GMT) in the Strategic Health Operations Centre (SHOC) lower room at the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva.

The emergency ops hub was being used for WHO internal morning updates on Covid and informing the press in the afternoon.

The 59-minute press briefing featured Tedros, WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan and Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead at the WHO health emergencies programme.

Tedros took two pens from his jacket, adjusted his glasses, looked round the room and read his bombshell update from a print-out on his desk.

He began by saying how the number of cases outside China had increased 13-fold in the past fortnight and the number of affected countries had tripled to 114. Some 4,291 people were dead and thousands more in hospital.

“We’re deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity — and by the alarming levels of inaction,” Tedros said.

“We have therefore made the assessment that Covid-19 can be characterised as a pandemic.”



– Game-changer –



Veteran correspondent John Zarocostas was sitting three seats along from Van Kerkhove.

“The word ‘pandemic’ changed the game,” he told AFP, which also attended the historic briefing.

He said the shift came as a greater shock to the outside world than to those in the room, who had been following WHO briefings.

“I had a feeling they (the WHO) had to do that because they were not getting the anticipated member state reaction” from the PHEIC declaration weeks earlier, he explained.

“It changed the political dynamics in terms of national government reaction. They all moved into full gear.”

The WHO saw the announcement as describing a situation that had become evident, rather than declaring a new level of emergency. But the world saw it differently.

“The world was possessed with the word pandemic,” a frustrated Ryan said on the March 2022 anniversary.

“The warning in January (2020) was way more important than the announcement in March.

“Do you want the warning to say you’ve just drowned? Or would you like the warning to say the flood is coming?”



– New ‘pandemic emergency’ button –



The Covid-19 pandemic upended human society.

And it could happen again.

The WHO says the next pandemic is only a matter of time.

In December 2021, WHO member countries began drafting an accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, to address the failures exposed by Covid-19.

They have one final negotiating session next month to finalise the text for the WHO’s annual assembly in May.

They have already agreed thatthe WHO head will, from September, be able to declare an even higher-level “pandemic emergency” — a PHEIC with pandemic potential — which should hopefully grab more attention.

Tedros continues to warn countries against repeating the cycle of neglect followed by panic that characterised the build-up to March 11, 2020.

83% of USAID programs to be scrapped: Rubio


By AFP
March 10, 2025


The US Agency for International Development, whose logo is seen here in Haiti after a devastating earthquake in 2010, distributes humanitarian aid around the world - Copyright AFP/File Jewel SAMAD

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the United States was cancelling 83 percent of programs at USAID, as the Trump administration guts spending not aligned with its “America First” agenda.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) distributes humanitarian aid around the world, with health and emergency programs in around 120 countries, and critics warn that slashing its work will affect millions of people.

“After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID,” Rubio said on social media platform X.

“The 5,200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.”

President Donald Trump, who has called for the humanitarian agency to be shut down, signed an executive order in January demanding a freeze on all US foreign aid to allow time to assess overseas expenses.

Rubio said the remaining 1,000 programs would be administered by the State Department, delivering a seemingly fatal blow to USAID — where most workers have been placed on leave or fired since January.

Rubio on Monday notably thanked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which billionaire Elon Musk is leading in a drive to cut federal spending and jobs.

Musk, whom Rubio has reportedly criticized over his aggressive belt-tightening, responded on X describing the USAID cuts as “tough, but necessary.”

The State Department had announced last month its intention to cut 92 percent of USAID contracts, identifying 5,800 grants to be eliminated.

Trump and his allies have argued that foreign assistance is wasteful and does not serve US interests, but aid groups argue much of the assistance supports US interests by promoting stability and health overseas.
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Former Ubisoft bosses on trial in France over alleged harassment


By AFP
March 10, 2025


The high-profile trial comes after years of controversy over the global gaming industry's treatment of women and minorities in both games and real life - Copyright AFP/File Fabrice COFFRINI

Amelie BARON

Three former top executives from French video game giant Ubisoft, the maker of “Assassin’s Creed” and “Far Cry”, went on trial on Monday accused of psychologically and sexually harassing employees for nearly a decade.

The high-profile trial comes after years of controversy over the global gaming industry’s treatment of women and minorities in both games and real life.

After staff took to social media to accuse the company of a toxic work culture, alleging predatory behaviour by powerful managers, Ubisoft in 2020 launched a probe and announced the departure of several senior executives.

The executive shake-up at Ubisoft was hailed by some as a #Metoo moment in the male-dominated video game publishing industry, which has faced criticism in the past for the sexist and misogynistic characters and imagery often found in games.

Serge Hascoet, chief creative officer and the company’s second-in-command, resigned, while Thomas Francois, vice-president of editorial and creative services, and another senior executive, Guillaume Patrux, were dismissed for serious misconduct.

All three men deny the claims.

Hascoet “categorically denies having harassed a single colleague. He denies having knowledge of any wrongdoing by any Ubisoft employees,” his lawyer Jean-Guillaume Le Mintier said in a statement sent to AFP.

– Headstand in skirt –



Employees have complained of near-daily public humiliation and hazing.

Francois is the focus of the most damning testimonies, which have alleged systemic psychological and sexual harassment at the company’s offices in the eastern Paris suburb of Montreuil.

Between January 2012 and July 2020, Francois is alleged to have habitually watched pornographic films in the open-plan office and commented on the appearance of female employees.

He is also accused of planting surprise kisses on the lips of employees and insulting some by calling them “ugly” or “slut”.

Francois was also accused of forcing a young employee he had just hired to do a headstand in the open-plan office while wearing a skirt.

He is also accused of tying the same woman to a chair and putting her in an elevator, sending her to another floor and of forcing her to attend a work meeting after he painted her face with a felt-tip pen.

In addition to the accusations of sexual and psychological harassment, Francois is being prosecuted for an attempted sexual assault when he tried to forcibly kiss a young employee during a Christmas party as she was held by other colleagues.

According to an investigative report seen by AFP, Francois encouraged “his subordinates to act in the same way, using his influence and high hierarchical position within the company to this end.”

– ‘Desire to humiliate’ –



Hascoet, 59, is accused of lewd behaviour and posing intrusive questions of a sexual nature, as well as racist comments and behaviour.

Following deadly jihadist attacks in Paris in 2015, he allegedly asked a Muslim employee if she agreed with the ideas of the Islamic State group.

The woman had her computer desktop background changed to images of bacon sandwiches and food was placed on her desk during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

The third defendant, former game director Patrux, 39, has been accused of psychological harassment.

Investigators have spoken to dozens of witnesses during the probe, but “many refused to file a complaint for fear of reactions from the video game community,” according to the report seen by AFP.

They deplored “the inertia of human resources, despite (the department) having been alerted to this behaviour,” according to the report.

“I have seen several cases of moral or sexual harassment and I have never seen such a desire to humiliate,” said Charlotte Merigot, a lawyer for a video game workers’ union.

In the internal probe launched after the scandal broke, Ubisoft said in 2020 that about 25 percent of its employees had been victims of professional misconduct at work or were witnesses to it.

UBS fined 75,000 euros in France for harassing two whistleblowers


By AFP
March 10, 2025


UBS and its French subsidiary were also definitively convicted of having set up a system of massive tax evasion between 2004 and 2012 - Copyright AFP/File Fabrice COFFRINI

A French court fined Swiss bank UBS 75,000 euros on Monday for the psychological harassment of two whistleblowers who had denounced a system that helped moneyed French clients dodge taxes.

Capping a 15-year legal saga, UBS Europe, which has absorbed its French subsidiary, was also ordered to pay 50,000 euros ($54,000) in damages to Nicolas Forissier, the former head of internal auditing.

The other victim, former marketing manager Stephanie Gibaud, reached an agreement with the bank.

But UBS was acquitted of charges of witness tampering and obstruction of the functioning of an internal committee.

The bank and its French subsidiary were also definitively convicted of having set up a system of massive tax evasion between 2004 and 2012.

Forissier’s lawyer, William Bourdon, said it was the first time in France that a former employer of a whistleblower had been convicted of psychological harassment.

While the amount of the fine “seems a little paltry”, “we are happy and proud of this decision,” Bourdon said. “It is also a powerful message to the whistleblowers of tomorrow.”

Forissier said: “The truth has come out.”

“I did my job, nothing more, but I served the interests of the state, and I respected the law of my country. I am very, very proud of that.”

The bank said it was satisfied with the ruling.

“We are pleased that the court has acquitted UBS on the charges of witness tampering and obstruction of the functioning of an internal committee,” it said.

“However, we disagree with the convictions for psychological harassment, which we find unjust. We will thoroughly analyse the decision and decide on next steps.”

During the hearing, the public prosecutor had requested the maximum fine of 225,000 euros for the three offenses.