US offers $1m reward to locate journalist missing in Syria

In this file photo, Marc and Debra Tice, the parents of Austin Tice, who has been missing in Syria since August 2012, hold up photos of him during a new conference, at the Press Club, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP)
Updated 20 April 2018
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US offers $1m reward to locate journalist missing in Syria

  • The FBI announced the $1m reward this week.
  • Tice, 36, is believed to the only American journalist currently held in Syria, one of the most dangerous countries for the news media in recent years.

Washington: The United States is offering a reward of $1 million for information about Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria since 2012.
The FBI announced the reward this week, without any explanation on the timing.
“The timing of this reward is unrelated to any specific event,” an FBI spokeswoman said.
Tice, 36, is believed to the only American journalist currently held in Syria, one of the most dangerous countries for the news media in recent years.
A freelance journalist working for McClatchy News, the Washington Post, CBS, AFP and other news organizations, Tice was abducted in August 2012 near Damascus.
Tice’s family has launched several appeals for information about his whereabouts, saying they believe he is still alive.
In 2016, a #FreeAustinTice banner was attached to the facade of the Newseum, a museum focused on news media and located on the street linking the US Capitol and the White House.
An FBI statement on its website said it would offer the reward “for information leading directly to the safe location, recovery, and return” of Tice.
The agency created an email address [email protected] and said anyone with information could also use the website tips.fbi.gov or contact any US consulate.


French hard-left party says evacuates Paris HQ after ‘bomb threat’

Updated 2 sec ago
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French hard-left party says evacuates Paris HQ after ‘bomb threat’

  • The party’s coordinator Manuel Bompard said all employees and activists are safe
PARIS: France’s hard-left France Unbowed party said Wednesday it had to evacuate its Paris headquarters following a “bomb threat,” after it was accused of partial responsibility in the killing of a far-right activist.
“The national headquarters of LFI have just been evacuated following a bomb threat. Police services are on site. All employees and activists are safe,” the party’s coordinator Manuel Bompard said on X.