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Justice served: 3 French officers convicted in high-profile police brutality case
A French court convicted three police officers of “voluntary violence” towards a youth worker in a Paris suburb who suffered serious injuries to his rectum after being assaulted with a police baton during an identity check seven years ago.
All three officers received suspended prison sentences. The officer who used the baton to strike Théo Luhaka was given a suspended sentence of 12 months, while the other two present on the scene got three months each.
Luhaka, a youth worker of African descent who was 22 years old at the time, filed a lawsuit accusing the officers of assaulting him during an identity check in February 2017 in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a working-class suburb northeast of Paris with a large immigrant population.
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Rights defenders have long complained of French police abusing their powers during identity checks on people of color.
The court in the town of Bobigny, about 9 kilometers (5 miles) north-east of the French capital, dropped the charge of a “permanent infirmity” in its decision on Friday. A charge of rape was dropped earlier.
Despite the light sentences, the verdict brought a sense of closure for Luhaka, the French press reported his lawyers as saying.
“It’s a decision ... that we take as a victory,” said Antoine Vey, Luhaka’s lawyer, according to the daily Le Monde. Luhaka did not speak, but had said earlier that he would be relieved if the police were convicted.
The lawyer for Marc-Antoine Castelain, the officer who received the 12-month sentence, also welcomed the verdict.
“The first impression of our client is the immense relief that, for the first time, in the eyes of France, it has been established that ... he is not a criminal,” Le Monde quoted Thibault de Montbrial as saying, adding that the court had set the record straight about his actions at the time.
Widespread anger erupted after a video surfaced online apparently showing Luhaka’s arrest on Feb. 2, 2017. The incident was followed by a week of protests in suburbs around Paris, many degenerating into violence.
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Rioting has accompanied police ID checks gone awry in the past. Most recently, the shooting death of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old youth with Algerian roots, during a police ID check last June touched off days of rioting around France. The motorcycle police officer who fired into the stopped car driven by the young man has been charged with voluntary homicide but was released from detention during the investigation.
In the case of Théo Luhaka, Le Monde reported that Castelain, the officer who used the “telescopic baton,” was also banned from carrying a weapon or patrolling the streets for five years. The other two officers received similar bans for two years.
All three denied wrong-doing and said their reaction was justified because the young man was in “rebellion.”
World’s could see its first trillionaire in the next decade. Here are some of today’s richest 1%
The world might see its first trillionaire sooner than you think. And that puts a spotlight on today's richest 1%.
In an annual assessment of global inequalities published earlier this week, Oxfam International said the first trillionaire could emerge within the next decade — as the anti-poverty organization pointed to the growing wealth gap that skyrocketed globally during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the findings, Oxfam highlighted how the personal fortunes of the world's five richest people — Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault and his family of luxury company LVMH, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and investment guru Warren Buffett — have more than doubled since 2020.
To measure this jump, Oxfam pulled net worths from Forbes' real-time billionaires list as of March 2020 and the end of November 2023. Such lists fluctuate over time and even within hours — so while Buffett, for example, was the 5th richest person in November, he stood in 7th place per Forbes' Wednesday rankings.
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Oxfam timed its report to the gathering of political and business elites in Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum meets annually. Numerous billionaires and multimillionaires also penned a letter calling on global leaders to fairly tax the super rich like themselves. Musk, Arnault, Bezos, Ellison and Buffett were not among the signatories — although Buffett has famously criticized the wealthy's lower tax rates and previously advocated for policy change in the same vein.
Here's a look at the wealth of these five billionaires spotlighted this week, and where their fortunes stand today.
Elon Musk: $226.6 billion
Elon Musk is currently considered the world's richest person, with a net worth of $226.6 billion per Forbes' real-time rankings as of Wednesday. That's down from $245.5 billion as of November 2023.
In addition to being at the helm of Tesla, Musk is CEO of rocket ship company SpaceX. In 2022, he also purchased Twitter, which is now called X, for $44 billion. While he no longer serves as CEO of the social media platform, his still holds broad influence — and has faced ample pushback from issues ranging from content moderation and hate speech to alienating advertisers.
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Bernard Arnault and family: $175.1 billion
Bernard Arnault and his family currently hold a personal fortune of $175.1 billion per Forbes. That's down from about $191.3 in November 2023.
The French businessman has served as CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's largest luxury group, since becoming the majority shareholder in 1989. He is also president of the board for Groupe Arnault S.E., which is his family's holding company and primarily an investment firm.
Jeff Bezos: $173.6 billion
Jeff Bezos' net worth stood at $173.6 billion Wednesday per Forbes. That's up from $167.4 billion in November 2023.
Back in 1994, Bezos founded Amazon out of a Seattle garage — and his wealth skyrocketed as the company grew into the e-commerce giant it is today. He stepped down as CEO in early 2021, but still has broad influence over Amazon as executive chair and the company's biggest shareholder.
Larry Ellison: $134.9 billion
Larry Ellison currently has a personal fortune of $134.9 billion, according to Forbes, down from $145.5 in November 2023.
Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation, a software and database management giant, in 1977 and served as CEO until 2014. He is now chief technology officer and chairman of the board. Ellison, who also had a stint on Tesla's board of directors from 2018 to 2022, has ranked high in billionaire lists for several years now.
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Warren Buffett: $119.5 billion
At the time Oxfam pulled Forbes figures for its inequality report, Warren Buffett was the world's fifth richest person with a net worth of $119.2 billion. While his personal fortune has stayed relatively stable since ($119.5 billion as of Wednesday), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates have surpassed him in Forbes' rankings with current net worths of $129.5 billion and $120.1 billion, respectively.
Over the years, Buffett has gained a reputation for his investment success and aggressive business tactics. He runs Berkshire Hathaway, a holding conglomerate that owns dozens of companies across sectors like insurance, manufacturing, utilities, transportation and retail.
7 people dead as landslide buries house in southern Philippines
A landslide set off by days of heavy rain buried a house where people were holding Christian prayers in the southern Philippines, killing at least seven people, including children, and seriously injuring two others, a disaster-response official said.
Five to 10 people remained unaccounted following the landslide in a far-flung mountain village in the gold-mining town of Monkayo in Davao de Oro province, Ednar Dayanghirang, regional chief of the government’s Office of Civil Defense, said Thursday night.
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Rescuers stopped their search for more victims at mid-afternoon Thursday due to heavy rains that could cause more landslides, he said. The search and rescue work resumed on Friday.
“They were praying in the house when the landslide hit,” Dayanghirang told The Associated Press by telephone. “It’s sad but it’s the reality on the ground.”
Aside from the landslide, days of heavy rains also flooded low-lying villages and displaced more than 6,000 people in two other outlying provinces, he said.
The rains were sparked by what local forecasters call a shear line – the point where warm and cold air meet. At least 20 storms and typhoons lash the Philippine archipelago each year specially during the rainy season that starts in June.
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In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest to hit on record, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines.
Singapore minister is charged with corruption, accused of taking tickets to F1 races and musicals
Singaporean Transport Minister S. Iswaran was charged Thursday in the first ministerial corruption case ever seen in the Asian financial hub known for squeaky clean government.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said in a statement that Iswaran, 61, faces 27 charges: two for corruption, 24 for receiving gifts as a public servant, and one for obstructing the course of justice. Iswaran said after leaving court that he had resigned from his post on Tuesday, and denied the charges.
He was alleged to have received goods worth nearly SG$385,000 ($286,000) between 2015 and 2022 from Malaysian property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, some in return for helping the Singapore-based businessman advance his business interests.
The gifts included free tickets for Singapore's Formula 1 Grand Prix, as well as football matches and musicals in the U.K. Ong owns the right to the local F1 race, and Iswaran was chairman of and later advisor to the Grand Prix's steering committee.
"I reject the charges and the allegations against me. I am innocent and will now focus on clearing my name,” Iswaran said in a statement.
Iswaran, a senior politician in the long-ruling People’s Action Party, was first arrested last July with Ong, who has not been charged. Both were released on bail and details were not revealed at the time. Iswaran was put on leave with a reduced salary pending the probe.
The indictment is an embarrassment to the long-ruling People's Action Party, which prides itself on a clean image. Another cabinet minister was investigated for graft in 1986, but died before charges were filed.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Iswaran's case has been dealt with vigorously according to the law. He said he accepted Iswaran's resignation from the government and from the PAP, which has governed Singapore since it became independent following separation from Malaysia in 1965.
“I am determined to uphold the integrity of the party and the government, and our reputation for honesty and incorruptibility,” Lee said in a statement.
Israel's president and the OpenAI CEO will take part in Davos on Day 3 of the World Economic Forum
Israel's president and the head of ChatGPT company OpenAI will make appearances at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, the third day of the annual gathering of elites at the Swiss resort of Davos that discusses everything from conflict to computers and climate.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog could seek to return focus on the plight of Israeli hostages held by Hamas since its deadly Oct. 7 raid into Israel. Much of the world's attention has been on rising casualty counts in Gaza as Israeli forces lead a blistering military campaign aimed to quash the armed militants.
The four-day confab at Davos has taken up a vast array of topics, not least the concerns about climate change and artificial intelligence that offers economic promise to some, and peril for jobs to others.
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“Artificial intelligence is now undoubtedly the most important potential contribution for global development," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters in Davos on Wednesday, a day when leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and President Javier Milei of Argentina also showed up.
“This is something that cannot be dealt with business as usual,” he added, saying governments were "to a certain extent, ill-equipped, ill-prepared, to deal with this new reality.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who kept his job after a turbulent executive-suite reshuffle late last year, will take part in a panel that explores how technology could “amplify our humanity," right after another discussion on whether generative AI is a “boon or bane for creativity.”
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Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani will take part in a Q&A session Thursday. On Wednesday, Iran's foreign minister defended his country's strike on what he claimed was an Israeli intelligence operations site in the autonomous Kurdish region.
The husband of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff, was traveling to Davos on Thursday to talk about combating antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hate and to promote gender equity and women’s rights.
An explosion at a fireworks factory in rural Thailand kills about 20 people
An explosion at a fireworks factory in central Thailand killed about 20 people on Wednesday, according to provincial officials, though the devastation at the scene has made the death toll uncertain.
The information office of the Suphan Buri provincial government initially announced that 23 people had been killed in the mid-afternoon blast, but on Wednesday night revised its figure to 19 dead and three missing. The national Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation's earlier preliminary figure had been least 20 people killed.
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Suphan Buri is about 95 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Bangkok, in the heart of Thailand’s central rice-growing region.
Photos posted on social media showed a thick plume of black smoke over the scene. Photos posted online by local rescue workers showed the factory site virtually leveled.
The office of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who is in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, distributed a video showing him being told over the phone by the regional police commander that there were 20 to 30 workers at the factory at the time of the explosion and that none of them could be found.
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Rescue workers at the scene said there were no survivors. None were mentioned by provincial authorities, contradicting the disaster department’s statement that wounded people had been found.
Kritsada Manee-In, a rescue worker with the Samerkun Suphan Buri Rescue Foundation, who earlier estimated that around 15 to 17 people had been killed, said an exact count was difficult because the bodies were in pieces.
The Lunar New Year is celebrated in February, when demand for fireworks is strong in Thailand and other parts of Asia. The national disaster agency said the cause of the explosion is under investigation.
National police chief Torsak Sukvimol confirmed local news reports that there had been another explosion at the factory in November 2022 that killed one worker and seriously injured three others. He said police would pursue legal action for any wrongdoing involved in the new blast.
In July last year, a large explosion at a fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 100, according to officials.
That explosion in Narathiwat province was in a residential area and damaged about 100 houses within a 500-meter (1,640-foot) radius, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
The Narathiwat governor said that blast was likely ignited by construction work in the warehouse, with sparks from metal welding causing the fireworks stored inside to catch fire and explode.
A cholera outbreak in Zambia has caused more than 400 deaths and infected 10,000
Zambia is reeling from a major cholera outbreak that has killed more than 400 people and infected more than 10,000, leading authorities to order schools across the country to remain shut after the end-of-year holidays.
A large soccer stadium in the capital city has been converted into a treatment facility.
The Zambian government is embarking on a mass vaccination program and says it's providing clean water — 2.4 million liters a day — to communities that are affected across the southern African nation.
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The national disaster management agency has been mobilized.
Cholera is an acute diarrhea infection caused by a bacteria that is typically spread via contaminated food or water. The disease is strongly linked to poverty and inadequate access to clean water.
The outbreak in Zambia began in October and 412 people have died and 10,413 cases have been recorded, according to the latest count on Wednesday from the Zambia Public Health Institute, the government body that deals with health emergencies.
The Health Ministry says cholera has been detected in nearly half of the country's districts and nine out of 10 provinces, and the nation of about 20 million people has been recording more than 400 cases a day.
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“This outbreak continues to pose a threat to the health security of the nation,” Health Minister Sylvia Masebo said, outlining it was a nationwide problem.
The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, called the fatality rate of around 4% in the three-month outbreak “a devastatingly high number.” When treated, cholera typically has a death rate of less than 1%.
There have been recent cholera outbreaks in other southern African nations including Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. More than 200,000 cases and over 3,000 deaths have been reported in southern Africa since the start of 2023, UNICEF said.
Malawi had its worst cholera outbreak in decades in 2023. Last year, the World Health Organization reported that about 30 countries globally, also including Nigeria and Uganda in Africa, suffered serious outbreaks in the last few years.
Cholera barely affects countries in the developed world and can be easily treated but can be quickly fatal if not treated.
More than half — 229 — of the victims in the Zambian outbreak died before being admitted to a health facility, the public health institute said.
Zambia has had several major cholera outbreaks since the 1970s but this one is the worst for 20 years in terms of the caseload, according to Dr. Mazyanga Mazaba, the director of public health policy and communication at the public health institute.
The cholera bacteria can also survive longer in warmer weather and unusually heavy rains and storms in southern Africa have contributed to recent outbreaks, experts say.
WHO said last year that while poverty and conflict remain the main drivers for cholera, climate change has contributed to the disease's upsurge in many places across the globe since 2021 by making storms wetter and more frequent. A cyclone sparked a spiraling cholera outbreak in Mozambique last year.
Heavy rains and flash flooding in Zambia have converted some neighborhoods into soggy or waterlogged areas.
The Zambian government announced in early January that schools — which were meant to open for the year on Jan. 8 — will only open on Jan. 29. Parents and children were urged to make use of education programs on public TV and radio, a situation that had echoes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The education minister ordered schools to be cleaned and inspected.
Zambia's Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit was mobilized and it was delivering large water tanks and trucking in clean water to some neighborhoods daily. Granulated chlorine to treat water was also being provided, it said.
The majority of cases are in the capital, Lusaka, where a 60,000-seat national soccer stadium has been converted into a treatment center and is dealing with around 500 patients at any one time, the health minister said.
She said Zambia had received around 1.4 million doses of the oral cholera vaccine from the WHO and expected more than 200,000 more to arrive soon. Zambian government officials, including Masebo, took a vaccine publicly to encourage others to also do so.
Health experts have previously warned that the numerous cholera outbreaks globally have strained the supply of vaccines, which are mostly distributed to poor countries through an international body run by the U.N. and partners. Vaccines alliance Gavi predicted that the vaccine shortage could last until 2025.
Israeli hostages to get medicine delivery, and US bombs Yemen again
Qatar and France said Tuesday they have mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas to allow the delivery of medications to around 45 of the more than 100 Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza. This marks the first agreement between the warring sides since a weeklong cease-fire collapsed in late November.
In Yemen, the U.S. launched the third strike in recent days against the Houthi rebel group, according to a U.S. official. The Houthis have attacked shipping in the crucial Red Sea corridor, saying they seek to halt Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas.
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In northern Gaza, Palestinian militants battled Israeli forces and launched a barrage of rockets from farther south. In the past 24 hours, the bodies of 158 people killed in Israeli strikes have been brought to hospitals, bringing the Palestinian death toll to 24,285 people, Gaza's Health Ministry said Tuesday.
Over one hundred days into the war, Israel destroying Gaza’s food system, weaponizing food: UN human rights experts
In Israel, around 1,200 people were killed during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war and saw some 250 people taken hostage by the militants.
Over one hundred days into the war, Israel destroying Gaza’s food system, weaponizing food: UN human rights experts
Gazans now make up 80 per cent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide, marking an unparalleled humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s continued bombardment and siege, according to UN human rights experts.
“Currently every single person in Gaza is hungry, a quarter of the population are starving and struggling to find food and drinkable water, and famine is imminent. Pregnant women are not receiving adequate nutrition and healthcare, putting their lives at risk. In addition all children under five – 335,000 – are at high risk of severe malnutrition as the risk of famine conditions continues to increase, a whole generation is now in danger of suffering from stunting,” said the experts on Tuesday.
Stunting occurs when young children’s growth is hampered due to lack of adequate nourishment and causes irreparable physical and cognitive impairments. This will undermine the learning capacity of an entire generation, according to a statement issued from Geneva on Tuesday.
Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Since 9 October, Israel declared and imposed a “total siege” on Gaza, depriving 2.3 million Palestinians of water, food, fuel, medicine, and medical supplies, this against the backdrop of a 17-year Israeli blockade, which before this war made approximately half of the people in Gaza food insecure and more than 80 percent reliant on humanitarian aid.
While the majority of aid distribution is concentrated in the southern governorates, since 1 January, only 21 per cent (5 out of 24) of planned deliveries of aid containing food and other lifesaving supplies reached their destination north of Wadi Gaza.
The experts are particularly alarmed about conditions in northern Gaza, where the population faces prolonged food shortages and extremely restricted access to essential resources. In southern Gaza, a large concentration of individuals resides in inadequate shelters or areas devoid of basic amenities, escalating the brutal situation.
“It is unprecedented to make an entire civilian population go hungry this completely and quickly. Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and using food as a weapon against the Palestinian people.”
Israel is destroying and blocking access to farmland and the sea. Recent reports allege that since Israeli military's ground offensive started on 27 October, approximately 22% of agricultural land, including orchards, greenhouses, and farmland in northern Gaza, has been razed by Israeli forces. Israel has reportedly destroyed approximately 70% of Gaza’s fishing fleet.
Even with little humanitarian aid that has been allowed to enter, people still lack food and fuel to cook. Most bakeries are not operational, due to the lack of fuel, water, and wheat flour along with structural damage. Livestock are starving and unable to provide food or be a source of food.
Meanwhile, access to safe water continues to diminish while the healthcare system has collapsed due to the wide-spread destruction of hospitals, significantly heightening the spread of communicable diseases.
Israel has also destroyed more than 60% of Palestinian homes in Gaza, directly affecting the ability to cook any food, and causing domicide through the mass destruction of dwellings, making the territory uninhabitable.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has estimated that nearly 85% of Gaza's population — representing 1.9 million people — is internally displaced, including many who have been displaced multiple times, as families are forced to move repeatedly in search of safety.
“We have raised the alarm of the risk of genocide several times reminding all governments they have a duty to prevent genocide. Not only is Israel killing and causing irreparable harm against Palestinian civilians with its indiscriminate bombardments, it is also knowingly and intentionally imposing a high rate of disease, prolonged malnutrition, dehydration, and starvation by destroying civilian infrastructure,” said the experts. “Aid needs to be delivered to Gazans immediately and without any hindrance to prevent starvation.”
“Our alarm for the unfolding genocide does not only refer to the ongoing bombardment of Gaza but also concerns the slow suffering and death caused by Israel’s long-standing occupation, blockade and current civic destruction, since genocide advances through an ongoing process and is not a singular event.”
"The clear path to achieving peace, safety, and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians lies in the realization of Palestinian self-determination. This can only be achieved through an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of the Israeli occupation”.
The experts are Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food; Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education; Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons; Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967; Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences; Pedro Arrojo Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation.
UN sets December deadline for its peacekeepers in Congo to completely withdraw
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, which helped in the fight against rebels for more than two decades before being asked by the Congolese government to leave, will complete its withdrawal from the Central African nation by the end of 2024, the mission said Saturday.
A three-phased withdrawal of the 15,000-force will begin in the South Kivu province where at least 2,000 security personnel will leave by the end of April in the first phase, according to Bintou Keita, head of the mission known as MONUSCO, after which forces in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces will also leave.
"After 25 years of presence, MONUSCO will definitively leave the DRC no later than the end of 2024,” Keita said at a media briefing in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa. The end of the mission will not be “the end of the United Nations” in the country, she added.
The U.N. and Congolese officials worked together to produce a disengagement plan for “a progressive, responsible, honorable and exemplary withdrawal of MONUSCO,” Congolese Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula said. Modalities have also been set for “the gradual transfer of tasks from MONUSCO to Congolese government,” Lutundula added.
The MONUSCO force arrived in Congo in 2010 after taking over from an earlier U.N. peacekeeping mission to protect civilians and humanitarian personnel and to support the Congolese government in its stabilization and peace consolidation efforts.
However, frustrated Congolese say that no one is protecting them from rebel attacks, leading to protests against the U.N. mission and others that have at times turned deadly.
Over the years of its existence, eastern Congo continues to be ravaged by more than 120 armed groups seeking a share of the region’s resources such as gold and trying to protect their communities, some of them quietly backed by Congo’s neighbors. The violence is occasioned by rampant mass killings and has displaced nearly 7 million people.
The Congolese government — which has just been reelected in a disputed vote — requested the U.N. mission to leave the country after claiming the security collaboration “has proved its limits in a context of permanent war, without the longed-for peace being restored to eastern Congo.” The government has also directed an East African regional force, deployed last year to help end the fighting, to leave the country for similar reasons.