Columbia University suspends 3 deans over ‘antisemitic’ text messages

The incident follows a series of scandals at Columbia University, including accusations of excessive police force in response to campus demonstrations by pro-Palestinian protesters earlier this year. (AFP/File)
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Updated 09 July 2024
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Columbia University suspends 3 deans over ‘antisemitic’ text messages

  • Messages ‘unacceptable and deeply upsetting,’ says Columbia president

LONDON: Columbia University in New York City has suspended three senior administrators following the discovery of private messages deemed antisemitic.

In a statement on Monday, Minouche Shafik , university president, said that the incident took place during a seminar on Jewish campus life in May.

The three deans, who were placed on indefinite leave, had exchanged messages apparently downplaying the concerns of Jewish students about discrimination.

“This incident revealed behavior and sentiments that were not only unprofessional, but also disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes,” said Shafik.

“Whether intended as such or not, these sentiments are unacceptable and deeply upsetting, conveying a lack of seriousness about the concerns and the experiences of members of our Jewish community that is antithetical to our university’s values and the standards we must uphold in our community.”

The suspended administrators are Susan Chang-Kim, vice dean and chief administrative officer of Columbia College; Cristen Kromm, dean of undergraduate student life; and Matthew Patashnick, associate dean for student and family support.

Josef Sorett, dean of Columbia College, was also implicated in the exchanges but was not placed on leave.

The incident follows a series of scandals at Columbia University, including accusations of excessive police force in response to campus demonstrations by pro-Palestinian protesters earlier this year.

In May, the university faced criticism for briefly cutting a microphone during a graduation speech as a speaker criticized the university’s stance on Gaza.


Belgian journalists injured in Beirut bombing

Updated 54 min 58 sec ago
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Belgian journalists injured in Beirut bombing

  • Israel has been carrying out a bombing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon and has also sent its troops across the border
  • The bombardments in Lebanon have cost more than 1,000 lives

Brussels: Two Belgian journalists were injured in Lebanon while reporting on overnight air raids in Beirut, their employer said Thursday, as fighting raged between Israel and Hezbollah.
VTM correspondent Robin Ramaekers suffered facial injuries and cameraman Stijn De Smet was being treated for a leg wound, said a statement by the broadcaster’s parent company, DPG Media.
“Last night there was a bombing in central Beirut. When Robin and Stijn wanted to run a report on that, they got injured,” the firm said, adding the pair were being treated in hospital.
“Both are now in safety and are being cared for.”
The circumstances of the incident were not yet clear, the company said. Belgium’s foreign ministry said it was closely monitoring the situation.
Israel has been carrying out a bombing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon and has also sent its troops across the border.
On Thursday, the Israeli military pounded Beirut with overnight air raids. A total of 17 strikes had hit the capital by dawn, Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
One of the strikes hit a Hezbollah rescue facility, a source close to the group told AFP, killing at least six people, according to a Lebanese health ministry toll.
Israel says it is trying to secure its border with Lebanon so tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by nearly a year of hostilities with Hezbollah can return home.
The bombardments in Lebanon have cost more than 1,000 lives and seen Hezbollah’s long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah killed.
Authorities in Lebanon say that around a million people have been displaced.
Last year, a journalist was killed and six other reporters, including two from AFP, wounded by Israeli shelling while covering the cross-border fighting in southern Lebanon.


Google Doodle celebrates Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup in the UAE

Updated 03 October 2024
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Google Doodle celebrates Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup in the UAE

DUBAI: The latest Google Doodle marks the ninth edition of the ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup, which is being hosted in the UAE.

Ten teams comprising the world’s top female cricketers are divided into two for the group stages, with the top two from each advancing to the knockout semifinals. The victors will battle it out for the title.

Reigning champions Australia are aiming to add a seventh trophy to their collection, while newcomers Scotland are hoping their first-ever appearance in the tournament will result in them taking home the trophy.

The competition was transferred to the UAE from Bangladesh after the South Asian country was hit by political turmoil and domestic instability just months before the tournament was due to open.

A total of 23 games will be played in Sharjah and Dubai, with the final scheduled for Oct. 20.

Bangladesh, who retain hosting rights, kick off the event on Thursday against Scotland in Sharjah. Pakistan will play Sri Lanka at the same venue in the evening.

Defending champions Australia are in Group A along with India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, while Group B features South Africa, England, the West Indies, Bangladesh and Scotland.

Australia, who have twice won three in a row, will be mindful of the threat posed by India

The 2023 semifinalists — they lost to Australia in Cape Town — have improved greatly, thanks in large part to the Indian Women’s Premier League. The league was formed to provide a platform for India’s female cricketers to express themselves and gain in stature.

– with AP


X agrees to pay Brazil fines, court orders finances unblocked

Updated 02 October 2024
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X agrees to pay Brazil fines, court orders finances unblocked

  • High-profile judge Moraes has been engaged in a long feud with Tesla and SpaceX owner Musk as part of his drive to crack down on disinformation in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO: A Brazilian judge on Tuesday ordered the unblocking of the bank accounts of Elon Musk’s X in the country after the social media platform agreed to pay more than $5 million in fines.
The ruling by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes paves the way for the suspension of X to be lifted in Brazil, where it has been off-limits to users since August 31 in a standoff over disinformation between the judge and Musk.
Moraes ordered X shut down in Latin America’s biggest country after Musk refused to remove dozens of right-wing accounts and then failed to name a new legal representative in the country as ordered.
In his latest decision, the judge ordered Brazil’s central bank to unblock X’s bank accounts so it can receive transfers and “immediately make payment of the fines indicated.”
X had informed the court it would pay fines to the tune of some $5.2 million, according to the ruling.
High-profile judge Moraes has been engaged in a long feud with Tesla and SpaceX owner Musk as part of his drive to crack down on disinformation in Brazil.
The clash between the Brazilian court and the billionaire has morphed into a high-stakes tussle testing the limits of both freedom of expression and corporate responsibility in South America’s largest country.
X had more than 22 million users in Brazil before the ban, which was put into place on August 31.
The company has in the last week started complying with the Brazilian court’s conditions to get reactivated.
Musk has repeatedly hit out at Moraes in social media posts, calling him an “evil dictator” and dubbing him “Voldemort” after the villain from the “Harry Potter” series.


Renowned Syrian journalist Safaa Ahmad killed in Israeli airstrike on Damascus

Updated 01 October 2024
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Renowned Syrian journalist Safaa Ahmad killed in Israeli airstrike on Damascus

  • The Israeli airstrike on Mezzeh, western Damascus, on Tuesday morning killed three civilians and wounded nine others, state news agency says

LONDON: Syria TV anchor Safaa Ahmad was killed on Tuesday morning in an Israeli airstrike on the Mezzeh district in Syria’s capital, Damascus.

State agency SANA said the strike killed three civilians, including Ahmad, and wounded nine others.

The Mezzeh district in western Damascus is home to many residential blocks, local businesses and diplomatic premises, including the Iranian Embassy.

Syria’s state television said in a statement it “mourns anchor Safaa Ahmad, who was martyred in the Israeli aggression on the capital Damascus.”

The Syrian military told SANA that Israel carried out “an air aggression with military aircraft and drones on Tuesday at dawn from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan,” targeting several points in Damascus and its outskirts.

Syria’s air defense said they intercepted and shot down most of the Israeli missiles targeting the capital and its suburbs on Tuesday morning.

Journalist Ahmad, who hails from Homs, joined the state broadcaster Syria TV in 2002 and hosted several cultural talk shows and programs, including the flagship breakfast show “Sabah Al-Kheir.”

Reports of Israel’s strikes on the Syrian capital came as its military launched ground raids in neighboring Lebanon, marking a major escalation of its onslaught, which it claims is targeting the armed group Hezbollah.


‘I pleaded guilty to journalism,’ Wikileaks’ Assange

Updated 01 October 2024
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‘I pleaded guilty to journalism,’ Wikileaks’ Assange

  • The Council of Europe brings together the 46 signatory states of the European Convention on Human Rights, with little say over Assange’s legal fate

STRASBOURG: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday said he was released after years of incarceration only because he had pleaded guilty to doing “journalism,” which he described as a pillar of a free society.
Assange spent most of the last 14 years either holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London to avoid arrest, or locked up at Belmarsh Prison in the British capital.
He was released from jail in June, after serving a sentence for publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential US government documents.
“I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pleaded guilty to journalism,” Assange told the Council of Europe rights body at its Strasbourg headquarters in his first public comments since his release.
“I eventually chose freedom over unrealisable justice... justice for me is now precluded,” Assange said, noting he had been facing a 175-year jail sentence.
Speaking calmly and flanked by his wife Stella who fought for his release, he added: “Journalism is not a crime, it is a pillar of a free and informed society.”
“The fundamental issue is simple. Journalists should not be prosecuted for doing their jobs,” said Assange.
The trove of confidential documents released by Wikileaks included searingly frank US State Department descriptions of foreign leaders, accounts of extrajudicial killings and intelligence gathering against allies.
Assange argued his case provided an insight into “how powerful intelligence organizations engage in transnational repression” against their foes, adding that this “cannot become the norm here.”

He said that during his incarceration “ground has been lost,” regretting that he now sees “more impunity, more secrecy and more retaliation for telling the truth.”
“Freedom of expression and all that flows from it is at a dark crossroads,” he told the hearing of the legal committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
“Let us all commit to doing our part to ensure the light of freedom never dims and the pursuit of truth will live on and the voices of many are not silenced by the interests of the few,” he said.
Assange’s case remains deeply contentious.
Supporters hail him as a champion of free speech and say he was persecuted by authorities and unfairly imprisoned. Detractors see him as a reckless blogger whose uncensored publication of ultra-sensitive documents put lives at risk and jeopardized US security.
US President Joe Biden, who is likely to issue some pardons before leaving office next January, has previously described Assange as a “terrorist.”
Assange’s timing and his choice of venue have puzzled some observers.
The Council of Europe brings together the 46 signatory states of the European Convention on Human Rights, with little say over Assange’s legal fate.
Assange is still campaigning for a US presidential pardon for his conviction under the Espionage Act.