Tag: Reuters

  • ‘Deliberate’ Israeli strike on journalists in Lebanon warrants ‘war crime’ investigation: watchdogs

    ‘Deliberate’ Israeli strike on journalists in Lebanon warrants ‘war crime’ investigation: watchdogs

    The Israeli strike that killed one journalist and wounded six others in Lebanon merits a “war crime” investigation, rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) told AFP on Thursday.

    Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah, 37, was killed instantly in the strike on October 13 in the south of the country near the Israeli border.

    The others present — two more Reuters journalists, two from Al Jazeera, and two from AFP — were all injured.

    AFP photographer Christina Assi, 28, was seriously wounded, later had a leg amputated and is still in hospital.

    Independent investigations by both rights groups concluded, like an AFP investigation published earlier on Thursday, that the first strike that killed Abdallah and severely wounded Assi was most likely a tank round fired from Israel.

    Amnesty said the strikes “were likely a direct attack on civilians that must be investigated as a war crime”.

    “Those responsible for Issam Abdallah’s unlawful killing and the injuring of six other journalists must be held accountable,” said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

    “No journalist should ever be targeted or killed simply for carrying out their work. Israel must not be allowed to kill and attack journalists with impunity.”

    HRW said the two Israeli strikes “were apparently deliberate attacks on civilians, which is a war crime”.

    Under international humanitarian law, “it is forbidden in any circumstances to carry out direct attacks against civilians”, it said.

    The group’s investigation indicated that the journalists were “well removed from ongoing hostilities, clearly identifiable as members of the media, and had been stationary for at least 75 minutes before they were hit”.

    Amnesty said images it verified showed “the seven journalists were wearing body armour labelled ‘press’, and that the blue Reuters crew car was marked ‘TV’ with yellow tape on its hood”.

    “The evidence strongly suggests that Israeli forces knew or should have known that the group that they were attacking were journalists,” HRW’s Lebanon researcher Ramzi Kaiss said.

    “This is an unlawful and apparently deliberate attack on a very visible group of journalists,” he said.

    ‘Justice and accountability’

    Speaking at a press conference in Beirut, Dylan Collins, the other AFP journalist wounded in the attack, said: “I know they (the investigations) won’t bring Issam back to life. I know they won’t help Christina walk again.

    “But what I do hope is that they at least will mark the start of some sort of process of justice and accountability,” he said.

    He shared a message from Assi that said: “We chose journalism with a mission to deliver the truth, and despite the inevitable costs, our commitment remains unwavering. Nothing can silence us.”

    Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement his government would “take all measures to include” the conclusions of the investigation “in the complaint filed before the UN Security Council”.

    Since Israel’s bombardment of Gaza started after Palestinian fighter group Hamas struck Israel in a surprise attack on October 7, 63 journalists and media workers have been killed — 56 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese, the Committee to Protect Journalists says.

    The New York-based rights group on Thursday called for “an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation that holds the perpetrators to account” for the strike on journalists in Lebanon.

  • Asia’s first monkeypox death reported in India

    Asia’s first monkeypox death reported in India

    India confirmed the death of a 22-year-old man from monkeypox in the southern state of Kerala. The death is India’s as well as Asia’s first death from the disease, reports Reuters. This is the world’s fourth known fatality from the disease.

    Kerala’s revenue minister K Rajan said that the government isolated 21 people who had come in contact with the young man. He further said that the deceased displayed fatigue and fever.

    According to the state’s Health Minister Veena George, the man’s family told the authorities that he had tested positive for monkeypox in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before returning to India.

    The Indian federal health ministry stated that they had formed a task force to monitor monkeypox cases across the country.

    Last month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak of monkeypox a global health emergency. No case of monkeypox has been reported in Pakistan. However, 78 countries had reported more than 18,000 cases of monkeypox.

  • Nepal missing plane found: Rescue recovers 14 bodies

    Nepal missing plane found: Rescue recovers 14 bodies

    Following the announcement by Nepal’s army that it had located the crash site of the missing plane, rescue workers have so far recovered 14 bodies from the crash site. There were 22 passengers on board.

    According to a spokesman for the Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, the search for others is continuing.

    A small passenger plane, operated by private airline Tara Air went missing in Nepal on Sunday during cloudy weather.

    The airline said the plane was carrying four Indians, two Germans and 16 Nepalis, including three crew.

    The government officials said that the plane took off in the morning for a 20-minute flight but lost contact with the control tower five minutes before landing.

    The state-owned Nepal Television said villagers had seen an aircraft on fire at the foot of the Himalayan mountain Manapathi.

    Referring to the fire site, Tara Air spokesperson told Reuters, “Ground search teams are proceeding towards that direction but it could be a fire by villagers or by cowherds. It could be anything.” The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) also said a team was headed to that area.

    Nepal has a record of air accidents because of the huge mountains that country has. Its weather can change suddenly and airstrips typically located in mountainous areas are hard to reach.

  • Missing infant during United States evacuation from Kabul reunites with family

    Missing infant during United States evacuation from Kabul reunites with family

    A two-month-old baby boy, Sohail Ahmadi who separated from his family during the United States (US) evacuation from Kabul, Afghanistan in August last year has been reunited with his parental grandfather, Mohammad Qasem Razawi.

    The video of the boy went viral when the two-month infant was handed to the US soldier over the fence on August 19, 2021. Due to chaos, the infant was separated from them. However, his father, Mirza Ali Ahmadi desperately searched for his baby boy everywhere in the airport.

    Due to the uproar situation, officials told him that his son might be taken out separately from the country and could be reunited later in the US.

    Other family members including his wife and four other children went inside the plane and successfully landed at the military base in the US state of Texas but they were not able to find their son, Ahmadi for several months.

    When the international media outlet, Reuters covered the story of the missing infant of Ahmadi in November, the 29-years-old taxi driver, Hamid Safi was traced through online posts where his whereabouts got confirmed.

    The grandfather of the baby boy who resides in the north-eastern province of Badakhshan, made a long journey to Kabul to reunite with his grandson.

    The taxi driver, Safi said that the infant baby was found crying on the ground of the airport by him when he dropped off his brother’s family for evacuation to the airport.

    Safi took the baby boy to his home and decided to raise him alone along with three daughters. His mother’s greatest wish was to have a grandson before she died.

    His family also named the baby boy, Mohammad Abed.

    While giving an interview to Reuters in late November, ” I am keeping this baby. If his family is found, I will give him to them. If not, I will raise him myself.”

    Initially, Safi refused to hand over the baby and demanded to evacuate him and his family to the US as well.

    The baby boy was returned to his grandfather after long negotiations. The Taliban police also briefly detained Safi and arranged settlements between the families by the Taliban police to compensate around 100,000 Afghani ($950) to the taxi driver for raising their infant for about five months.

    His parents expressed their happiness while witnessing the reunion of their son through online video chat.

    “There are celebrations, dance, singing,” Mr Razawi said. “It is just like a wedding indeed.”

    His family hoped that the arrangements would soon be made to bring their baby to the US state of Michigan, where they have now settled.

  • Govt to free more than 2,000 jailed TLP activists after agreement

    Govt to free more than 2,000 jailed TLP activists after agreement

    Pakistan is to free more than 2,000 jailed activists of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP)  and the government has allowed the proscribed organsiation to contest elections, under a deal with the government struck to end weeks of violent clashes, reports Reuters.

    TLP has agreed to avoid violence and withdraw its longstanding demand to have France’s ambassador expelled over the publication of blasphemous caricatures by a French satirical magazine, negotiators from both sides told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government banned the TLP after its protests turned violent earlier this year, designated it a terrorist group, and arrested its chief Saad Hussain Rizvi.

    In addition, the government has agreed not to contest the release of the group’s jailed leader as well as nearly 2,300 activists and to remove their names from a terrorist watch list, the three negotiators told Reuters.

    Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat said nearly 1,000 of the activists had already been released.

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry did not respond to Reuters‘ request for comment.

  • ‘Taliban has huge presence on Twitter, yet I am silenced’: Trump launching social media platform TRUTH

    ‘Taliban has huge presence on Twitter, yet I am silenced’: Trump launching social media platform TRUTH

    Former United States (US) President Donald Trump announced he would launch his own social media platform, TRUTH Social, saying, “We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American president has been silenced. This is unacceptable,” reports Reuters.

    According to the press release distributed by the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) and a special acquisition company (SPAC), which form a new company for TRUTH social, Trump’s own social media app, TRUTH Social would “stand up to Big Tech” companies such as Twitter and Facebook that have barred him from their platforms.

    “I am excited to send out my first TRUTH on TRUTH Social very soon. TMTG was founded with a mission to give a voice to all. I’m excited to soon begin sharing my thoughts on TRUTH Social and to fight back against Big Tech,” he said.

    Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms banned Trump from their platforms after hundreds of his supporters rioted at the US Capitol on January 6.

  • ‘Ongoing negotiations between US and Pak for airspace’: US General

    ‘Ongoing negotiations between US and Pak for airspace’: US General

    The United States Central Command (Centcom) Chief, General Frank McKenzie said that the United States (US) and Pakistan were involved in ongoing negotiations over the use of a vital air corridor to access Afghanistan, reports Dawn.

    “Over the last 20 years we’ve been able to use what we call the air boulevard to go in over western Pakistan and that’s become something that’s vital to us, as well as certain landlines of communication,” he said.

    “And we’ll be working with the Pakistanis in the days and weeks ahead to look at what that relationship is going to look like in the future.”

    “We estimated an accelerated withdrawal would increase risks of regional instability, the security of Pakistan, and its nuclear arsenals,” Chairman of the Joint Chief General Mark Milley told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

    “We need to fully examine the role of Pakistan sanctuary,” the general said.

    “I believe Pakistan’s relationship with the Taliban is going to become significantly more complicated as a result of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan,” said General McKenzie.

    However, in June, Prime Minister Imran Khan said, Pakistan will “absolutely not” allow the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to use bases on its soil for cross-border counter-terrorism missions after American forces withdraw from Afghanistan.

  • Teen on space flight tells Bezos he has never used Amazon

    Teen on space flight tells Bezos he has never used Amazon

    A Dutch teenager who became the world’s youngest space traveller told billionaire Jeff Bezos on the space flight that he had never ordered anything from Amazon.com.

    An 18-year-old physics student, Oliver Daemen, accompanied Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and 82-year-old female aviator Wally Funk – the oldest person to go to space on a 10-minute space trip.

    Bezos funded exploration company Blue Origin by selling billions of dollars worth of stock in his online delivery business Amazon.

    “I told Jeff, like, I’ve actually never bought something from Amazon,” Daemen told Reuters in an interview on Friday at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. “And he was like, ‘Oh, wow, it’s a long time ago I heard someone say that’.”

    Daemen, who was picked after another candidate bidding $28 million for the ride cancelled at the last minute, found out he would be joining the flight while on a family holiday in Italy.

    “They called and said: ‘Are you still interested?’ and we were like ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’”

    Daemen had dreamt of space travel since he was a kid.

    “We didn’t pay even close to $28 million, but they chose me because I was the youngest and I was also a pilot and I also knew quite a lot about it already.”

    “I don’t think I realised it until I was in the rocket: ‘Wow, it’s really happening’,” he said. “It was my ultimate, ultimate goal … but I never thought it was going to be this soon.”

    The crew was given safety training before the training, but nothing very hard, said Daemen.

    “That was super cool. It’s so weird to be weightless. It was easier than I had expected. It was kind of like being in the water.”

    Daemen, who is set to start at Utrecht University in September, said he was not sure what he wanted to do later in life, but would seriously consider a career in space travel.

    Asked what it was like travelling in a rocket ship with a billionaire, he answered with a wide smile: “They were super fun and all down to earth, as funny as that may sound.”