Cincunri Sakia

Rabu, 02 September 2020

Suspected accomplices of Charlie Hebdo attackers go on trial - Al Jazeera English

Fourteen people have gone on trial in Paris on charges of assisting the gunmen who attacked the weekly Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket five years ago, leaving 17 people dead.

Only 11 of the suspected accomplices appeared in the packed courtroom on Wednesday to face charges of conspiracy in a terrorist act or association with a terror group - the other three fled to territory controlled by ISIL (ISIS) in Syria or Iraq before the January 2015 attacks on the publication's offices and the supermarket in the French capital.

The three attackers were shot dead by police in separate stand-offs.

Al Jazeera's Natasha Butler, reporting from Paris, said the trial will be "very closely watched" in France until it wraps up in November.

"The attacks shocked so many people, prompting an enormous outpouring of grief," she added.

FLY ON THE WALL: The Two Frances

Charlie Hebdo, a satirical publication infamous for its irreverence and accused by critics of racism, was targeted after publishing derogatory cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Twelve people, including some of France's most celebrated cartoonists, were shot dead when French brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed its offices in eastern Paris on January 7, 2015. The attackers also killed a police officer as they left the scene.

A day later, Amedy Coulibaly, who had become close to Cherif Kouachi while they were in prison, killed a 27-year-old police officer, Clarissa Jean-Philippe, during a traffic check in Montrouge, outside Paris.

Then on January 9, Coulibaly killed four men during a hostage-taking at the Hyper Cacher Jewish supermarket.

The perpetrators of the attacks had links with al-Qaeda and ISIL. Coulibaly was killed when police stormed the supermarket. The Kouachi brothers were killed when officers carried out a nearly simultaneous operation at a printing shop where they were holed up in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris.

Caricatures reprinted

Over the next two-and-a-half months, the court will hear from some 150 experts and witnesses.

The suspected accomplices face charges including financing terrorism, membership in a terrorist organisation and supplying weapons to the attackers.

The defendants tried in absentia include Hayat Boumedienne, Coulibaly's partner at the time of the attacks, and brothers Mohamed and Mehdi Belhoucine.

As the court proceedings got under way, Charlie Hebdo reprinted in its Wednesday issue the hugely controversial caricatures that stirred outrage in the Muslim world when they were first published nearly a decade before the attacks. Physical depictions of the prophet are forbidden in Islam and deeply offensive to Muslims.

"We will never lie down. We will never give up," director Laurent "Riss" Sourisseau, who was wounded in the attack, wrote in an editorial published on Wednesday.

The publication of the cartoons drew fresh condemnation from Pakistan's foreign ministry, which said the decision to print them again was "deeply offensive".

But French President Emmanuel Macron defended the "freedom to blaspheme" and paid tribute to the victims of the attack.

"A president of France should never judge the editorial choice of a journalist or editorial staff because there is freedom of the press which is rightly cherished," he said on a visit to Beirut, Lebanon.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex wrote in a Twitter post: "Always Charlie".

The 2015 attacks prompted a rally of solidarity in Paris at the time, drawing more than four million people, many holding signs with the slogan "I Am Charlie."

Dozens of world leaders and statespeople also linked arms in a march under high security to pay tributes to the victims of the attacks.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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2020-09-02 10:32:00Z
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Gaffe-prone Joe Biden struggles to describe the impact of COVID - Daily Mail

Gaffe-prone Joe Biden stumbles his words while describing the impact of COVID, saying it has 'uh, taken more lives than any year in the past 100 years'

Joe Biden gave speech bashing Trump from old Pennsylvania steel mill Monday
But he garbled his words when he spoke about the impact of coronavirus
'COVID has taken this year, just since the outbreak, has taken more than 100 years… Look. Here’s… The lives… It’s just… I mean, think about it,' he said
Gaffe was retweeted by Eric Trump, who added: 'This is why they don't want him him to leave his basement'

By Chris Pleasance for MailOnline

Published: 09:21 BST, 2 September 2020 | Updated: 09:46 BST, 2 September 2020

Coronavirus is key line of attack in Joe Biden's effort to topple the Trump presidency, so you would have thought he'd have his lines straight by now.

Despite mentioning Trump's response to the virus every chance he gets, Biden managed to fumble his words as he spoke from a Pennsylvania steel mill on Monday.

While seemingly trying to say that coronavirus is 'the worst pandemic for 100 years', the former Vice President actually told bemused viewers: 'COVID has taken this year, just since the outbreak, has taken more than 100 years… Look. Here’s… The lives… It’s just… I mean, think about it.

Joe Biden fluffed his lines as he tried to speak about the impact of coronavirus on Monday, saying: 'COVID has taken this year, just since the outbreak, has taken more than 100 years'

The gaffe was picked up on by Eric Trump, who retweeted the video while making a jibe at Biden's mental state

'More lives this year than any year in the past 100 years,' he concluded.

The gaffe echoes dozens of times that Biden, 77, fumbled his words during the Democrat primaries, raising fears among voters that he is not fit to take on Trump.

Video of his latest error was picked up on by Eric Trump, who retweeted it along with the caption: 'This is why the Biden campaign doesn’t want him to leave his basement.

'This guy isn’t playing with a full deck and it is so irresponsible that the media covers this up.'

Biden had used the rest of his speech to attack Trump's record on 'law and order', which had become central to his fight to win four more years in the White House.

In the wake of sometimes violent protests that have rocked the US in the wake of George Floyd's killing, Biden denounced rioters, looters, and those causing violence - saying it is 'not protesting' and 'needs to stop'.

He also attacked Trump for 'stoking violence in our cities' and rubbished the Republican's attempts to link his party to the worst of the disorder.

'Ask yourself, do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really?' he said, before adding: 'I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same.'

The Trump camp retweeted the footage amid questions over the president's own mental state, after suggestions that he has suffered mini-strokes

Trump has angrily hit out at suggestions about his ailing health, instead suggesting that Biden is the one who is suffering

Eric Trump tweeted the video of Biden's gaffe at a time when questions were also being raised about Trump's health, amid claims he had a series of mini-strokes.

Donald Trump lashed out on Twitter, seeming to blame a book by New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt as the source of the story - though Schmidt said he never mentioned mini-strokes.

'It never ends! Now they are trying to say that your favorite President, me, went to Walter Reed Medical Center, having suffered a series of mini-strokes,' he tweeted.

'Never happened to THIS candidate - FAKE NEWS. Perhaps they are referring to another candidate from another Party!'

Trump then directed the White House physician to release a statement stating that he had never been treated for a 'cerebrovascular accident.'

Mike Pence also backed Trump up amid suggestions that he was told to be on standby to assume the presidency as Trump made a sudden visit to Walter Reed Medical Center last year.

'I don't recall being told to be on standby,' Pence told Fox News in an interview on Tuesday. 'I was informed that the president had a doctor's appointment.'

The vice president also insisted that the 'American people can be confident that this president is in remarkable good health, and every single day I see that energy.'

Biden used his time in Pennsylvania to visit local firefighters (pictured) while attacking Trump's record on 'law and order', which he has made a mainstay of his campaign

Trump also went on the attack against Matt Drudge after his news aggregation site, the Drudge Report, led with the mini-strokes story, including a video which purports to show Trump 'dragging his right leg' - a symptom of a stroke.

'Drudge didn't support me in 2016, and I hear he doesn't support me now. Maybe that's why he is doing poorly,' Trump tweeted Tuesday evening.

'His Fake News report on Mini-Strokes is incorrect. Possibly thinking about himself, of the other party's "candidate."'

Trump's campaign also demanded that CNN fire Democratic pundit Joe Lockhart, who served as White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton, for floating in a tweet that Trump was covering up a stroke.

'CNN should fire Joe Lockhart, a lifetime failure who thought it was a great idea for fellow loser Michael Dukakis to put on that stupid helmet, for knowingly pushing a conspiracy theory about President Trump's health,' a campaign statement read.

It went on to say Lockhart 'single-handedly sank the John Kerry campaign' and now he’s doing the same to Joe Biden from a distance.

'If another CNN employee said similar things about Barack Obama they’d be fired immediately, so the same standard should be applied here,' the campaign said.

'That is, of course, unless CNN is complicit in the smear campaign in order to level the playing field against Joe Biden, somebody who truly has lost a step.'

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2020-09-02 08:21:12Z
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Coronavirus: Tui temporarily bans flights to Zante resort after spike in cases - Sky News

Tui will stop holidays to a Zante resort after 16 coronavirus cases were linked to a flight returning to Cardiff from the Greek island last Tuesday.

The holiday firm said yesterday it would no longer be offering holidays to the resort of Laganas from Thursday.

It comes after more than 200 people have been asked to self-isolate after 16 COVID-19 cases were linked to passengers on TUI flight 6215.

One passenger told Sky News there was "not much social distancing" on the flight and "people didn't seem to be very well educated in the use of wearing masks".

A spokeswoman for the airline said it is "concerned to hear of Mrs Whitfield's claims" and a full investigation would be taking place as the concerns "weren't reported during the flight".

The airline has previously stopped flights to Spain in July and cancelled all holidays until mid-June after virus fears.

It later began operating flights again after Madrid lifted its quarantine ban.

Greece has been added to Scotland's quarantine list, meaning people who are returning from any of its islands or the mainland after 4am tomorrow (Thursday) will have to isolate for 14 days.

England's health authority is now facing pressure from Welsh politicians to also enforce a quarantine for passengers returning to England after the spike in cases.

Wales' health minister Vaughan Gething said he would be pressing the UK government for an urgent meeting to consider the potential risk in Greece.

Restrictions for Greece were lifted in England in July when international exemptions were first permitted.

There were 14.0 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in Greece in the seven days to 31 August, down from 14.9 a week earlier.

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A seven-day rate of 20 is the threshold above which the UK government considers triggering quarantine conditions.

Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf, announcing the restriction, said the "importations of new cases from Greece is a significant risk to public health".

He said "regular discussions continue" with the other three UK governments over restrictions.

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2020-09-02 06:48:44Z
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Coronavirus: Tui halts trips to Zante resort of Laganas after virus clusters - BBC News

Travel company Tui has cancelled all holidays to a party resort on a Greek island because of customers failing to follow coronavirus safety measures.

Tui said it would no longer be offering trips to the resort of Laganas, on Zante, from Thursday.

It comes after six clusters of cases were linked to flights from the island.

The UK government is under pressure to reconsider England's quarantine rules for Greece, after both Scotland and Wales introduced their own measures.

The Scottish government announced all travellers arriving from Greece would be asked to self-isolate for 14 days after 04:00 BST on Thursday, while Wales' health minister has asked those arriving from Zante to quarantine.

Andrew Flintham, managing director of Tui UK and Ireland, said anyone who had booked to go Laganas after 3 September would be refunded for the cancellation, but that trips to all other resorts on Zante would continue as normal.

"Laganas is a popular resort with young people who traditionally holiday in large groups of friends," he said.

"The health and safety of our colleagues and customers is our primary concern and recent cases shows that some customers are not following social distancing and Covid safety measures.

"It is therefore the right thing to do to protect and reduce a now identified potential risk to others by no longer offering holidays to this specific resort."

Nearly 200 people faced self-isolation after at least 16 passengers on a Tui flight from Zante to Cardiff Airport tested positive for the virus. Some people claimed passengers were not following Covid-19 rules.

Wales' Health Minister Vaughan Gething said there were six clusters of cases, amounting to more than 30 infections, linked to flights from the Greek island in the past week - including two flights which landed in England.

Mr Gething called on the UK government to agree to meeting the devolved nations on Wednesday to urgently discuss removing Greece from the nations' quarantine exemptions lists. The meeting usually goes ahead on Thursdays.

His comments came shortly after the Scottish government announced its own decision.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: "With Scotland's relatively low infection rate, importation of new cases from Greece is a significant risk to public health."

Haris Theoharis, Greece's tourism minister, said the country in general had a lower infection rate than the UK and it was taking targeted measures which have previously been successful in dealing with virus hotspots, such as reducing numbers in bars and restaurants.

"We're doing everything in our power to ensure that every person that comes from the UK is kept safe in Greece," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

But he said it was also important for visitors to "have some restraint" and understand that tourism was different during the pandemic, with a need to follow social distancing rules and wear masks when required.

When a country surpasses 20 cases per 100,000 people in the past week, the UK government normally imposes 14 days of self-isolation on returning travellers.

There were 14.0 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in Greece in the seven days to 31 August, down from 14.9 a week earlier. But several cases of the virus in Scotland have been traced back to Greece, including a passenger on a Tui flight from Zante to Glasgow on 23 August.

Tui said customers due to travel to Greece from Scotland would be able to amend or cancel their holiday in light of the quarantine announcement.

Meanwhile, ministers are considering reimposing quarantine measures for those arriving in the UK from Portugal as coronavirus cases rise, sources have told the BBC.

It has been less than two weeks since a travel corridor was established between Portugal and the UK, following a sustained period of falling cases in the country that put it below 20 cases per 100,000 people.

As of 1 September, the UK recorded 25.0 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over the past fortnight while Portugal recorded 36.7, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Every year, more than two million Britons visit Portugal, making up the largest number of overseas tourists to the country.

Over May and June, the Portuguese government reopened its restaurants, coffee shops, museums and beaches. Hotels have mainly reopened, but nightclubs remain closed.

The government has not commented on whether requirements for arrivals from Portugal will change again.

Last week, Switzerland, Jamaica and the Czech Republic joined France, Spain and other destinations on the UK's quarantine list.

WILL COVID-19 CHANGE THE WORLD OF WORK FOR GOOD?: Is working from home a long-term solution?
"WE'RE ALL STRONGER THAN WE THINK": What are the positives of 2020?

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2020-09-02 06:44:32Z
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Cambodia genocide: Khmer Rouge prison chief Comrade Duch dies - BBC News

Comrade Duch, a former senior figure of the Khmer Rouge convicted of crimes against humanity in Cambodia, has died.

He was serving a life sentence after being sentenced by a UN-backed court.

Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, ran the notorious Tuol Sleng prison where thousands of people were tortured and murdered in the late 1970s.

As many as two million people are believed to have died under the Khmer Rouge, a Maoist regime that controlled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

In 2010, Duch became the first senior Khmer Rouge leader to be convicted by a UN-backed tribunal set up in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. He was sentenced in 2012.

He died on Wednesday, aged 77, a spokesperson for the tribunal said, without giving details of the cause. He had been ill for many years.

"Duch died this morning at 00:52am, on 2 September at Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital. Details of what he died of, I can't tell," Khmer Rouge tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said.

What happened at Tuol Sleng prison?

Comrade Duch ran Phnom Penh's S-21 prison, also known as Tuol Sleng, the most notorious torture site during the Khmer Rouge regime.

It is thought that at least 15,000 men, women and children deemed enemies of the regime passed through the gates of the former school-turned-prison.

Most of them were tortured, forced to confess to fictitious crimes against the Khmer Rouge and then put to death at the so-called "killing fields" just outside the capital.

Prisoners were initially officials from the old government, people accused of being middle class and later mainly Khmer Rouge members suspected of disloyalty.

The guards, who were often teenagers, forced the prisoners to write detailed confessions to whatever they were accused of and implicate friends and family who where then imprisoned in turn.

Those who survived the tortures where eventually taken to the "killing fields" at Choeung Ek where they were killed, sometimes after digging their own mass graves.

Fewer than a dozen prisoners survived Tuol Sleng.

During his trial, Duch admitted he had been in charge of S-21 and apologised for his part in the horrors committed there.

He later claimed he had only been following orders, but his appeal on those grounds was rejected by the tribunal.

Who were the Khmer Rouge?

The brutal Khmer Rouge, in power from 1975-1979, claimed the lives of around two million people.

The regime led by Pol Pot tried to take Cambodia back to the Middle Ages, forcing millions of people from the cities to work on communal farms in the countryside.

They targeted "intellectuals" identified as people wearing glasses.

The regime was ousted in 1979 by Vietnamese troops, but the Khmer Rouge leaders escaped and continued to resist the regime from areas along the Thai-Cambodia border.

When the UN ran a country

The UN helped establish a tribunal to try the surviving leaders, which began work in 2009.

Only three former Khmer Rouge have ever been sentenced - Comrade Duch, the regime's head of state Khieu Samphan and Pol Pot's second-in-command, Nuon Chea. Pol Pot himself died in 1998.

Who was Comrade Duch?

Duch was born in the early 1940s. He was a teacher but joined the communist party and his leftist activism led to brushes with the authorities.

When the Vietnam war threatened to spill into neighbouring Cambodia, Duch joined the Khmer Rouge communist rebels under leader Pol Pot.

After the rebels took control in 1975, he became the director of Tuol Sleng.

When a Vietnamese invasion forced the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979, he fled along with the other ousted leaders into countryside near the Thai border.

Living under a false name, he was identified by a journalist in 1999. In subsequent interviews, he admitted to the atrocities at Tuol Sleng but said the orders came from the Khmer Rouge's central committee.

"Whoever was arrested must die. It was the rule of our party," he said. "We had the responsibility to interrogate and give the confession to the central committee of the party."

Ten years later, facing the UN-backed tribunal, he described himself as "deeply remorseful" and apologised to relatives of his victims.

In the closing days of his trial, he asked to be freed, saying he had not been a senior member of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy.

Relatives of his victims said this made a mockery of his claims of remorse.