German police arrest suspected leader of Syrian smuggling gang

LONDON: The global system of law and human rights is under threat from a “multiplicity of assaults” which have accelerated since US President Donald Trump’s return to power, Amnesty International said Tuesday in its annual report.
“Unprecedented forces are hunting down the ideals of human rights for all, seeking to destroy an international system forged in the blood and grief of World War Two and its Holocaust,” said the rights group’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard.
The lives of millions of people had been “devastated” in 2024 as a result of conflicts and abuses committed in the Middle East, Sudan, Ukraine and Afghanistan where women’s freedoms continue to be curtailed.
The report singled out some of the world’s biggest powers such as the US, Russia and China for “undermining” the achievements of international law, as well as the fight against poverty and discrimination.
While these “reckless and punishing offensives” had been underway for several years, according to Amnesty, Trump had served as a “super-accelerator” of those trends.
The new administration has frozen US international aid and reduced its funding to several UN organizations.
The start of Trump’s second term had been marked by a “multiplicity of assaults — against human rights accountability, against international law, and against the UN,” Callamard said, calling for “concerted resistance.”
“While international justice mechanisms have taken important steps toward accountability in some cases, powerful governments have repeatedly blocked attempts to take meaningful action to end atrocities,” Amnesty said.
In particular, it took aim at countries that had challenged decisions by the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Israel, following a complaint of “genocide” against the Palestinians in Gaza filed by South Africa.
Others, like Hungary, were criticized for refusing to enforce arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against several Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The year would be remembered for how “Israel’s military occupation grew ever more brazen and deadly” and how “the USA, Germany and a handful of other European states supported Israel,” the report added.
Amnesty accused Israel of committing a “live-streamed genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza by forcibly displacing most of the population and deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe.
It said Israel had acted with “specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, thus committing genocide.” Israel has repeatedly denied such charges.
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023 with an unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza resulting in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data.
Hamas also kidnapped 251 people, 58 of whom remain in the hands of the Islamist group, although the Israeli military says 34 are dead.
In response, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and is conducting a military offensive that has left more than 52,000 dead, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
In December, Amnesty condemned the ongoing “genocide” in Gaza, an accusation since echoed by other NGOs such as HRW and Doctors Without Borders, but strongly rejected by Israel.
Amnesty also highlighted the suffering in Sudan from famine and a conflict between the regular army and the RSF paramilitaries.
The conflict had led to the “largest forced displacement crisis in the world” today, uprooting some 12 million people but had been met with “near-complete global indifference,” Amnesty said.
On another front, the rights body said violence and discrimination against women had “soared” in 2024, both in conflicts, such as in Sudan, and in Afghanistan.
Women in the south Asian country are subject to draconian legislation restricting their freedoms under the Taliban.
Finally, the report highlighted an “urgent need” for governments to do more to regulate AI technologies to safeguard human rights.
It warned also that a growing number of governments were abusing spyware and other surveillance tools against opponents.

MANILA: The death of Pope Francis has stirred an outpouring of grief across the Philippines, as many remember his compassionate leadership during one of the nation’s darkest times.

The Argentine pontiff, leader of the Catholic Church since March 2013, died at his residence, Casa Santa Marta, in the Vatican on April 21. He was 88 years old.

In the Philippines, home to Asia’s largest Catholic population, the pope is adoringly referred to as “Lolo Kiko,” or Grandpa Kiko.

He left an indelible mark in the country after a historic four-day visit in January 2015, when he celebrated an open-air mass in Manila that drew more than 6 million devotees, making it the largest papal gathering in history.

But many among the Philippines’ 85 million Catholics were deeply moved by his visit to Tacloban City in central Philippines during the same trip, braving heavy rain to conduct a mass in memory of the more than 6,000 people who perished in Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

“When he visited Manila and Tacloban, especially after the devastation of (the) typhoon, it deeply touched the hearts of so many. He didn’t come as a distant leader, but as a father who wanted to personally console and strengthen us,” Alfredo Navarro III, a seminarian from the diocese of Balanga, told Arab News.

“Filipinos love Lolo Kiko so much because he has shown real concern for us. Not just in words, but in action. He has made it clear that he understands our struggles and is familiar with our culture.”

For Navarro, Pope Francis was a beacon of hope “in a world where it sometimes feels like God is absent because of wars, conflicts and so many struggles.”

“Watching Pope Francis live out the Gospel in such a simple yet powerful way made me realize even more deeply that God is truly present, even in the most broken parts of our world. Through him, I felt God’s love reaching out to me and to everyone,” he said.

“Because of Pope Francis, I feel a stronger calling to be a sign of that same love — to be more present to others, especially to those who are last, the least and the lost.”

World leaders and hundreds of thousands of people bade farewell to Pope Francis in a funeral at the Vatican on Saturday, where he was eulogized as a pope of the people.

Many young Filipinos took to social media to mourn his passing, honoring him as an inspiration and a figure who renewed their faith.

“I do not claim to be a model Catholic. I never was and I do not think I will ever be. But his words, his actions, the way he saw Christ in the last, the least and the lost was fuel to my faith. It was grace made real, alive and living,” Marion Bais Guerrero wrote on Facebook.

Filipino sociologist Athena Charanne Presto said on X that Pope Francis “made being Catholic less morally suffocating, less burdened by contradiction.”

“This is heartbreaking news for the faithful and for those like me who only slowly found their way to faith because someone at the helm reminded us that the Church could also be a place to breathe.”

In Pope Francis, Raymond Zabala saw a leader who touched the lives of many, even those who are not Catholics.

“He respects all people regardless of their religion or status and in the same manner people from other religions respect him as well. I know of some friends who are non-practicing Catholics who are deeply saddened by his passing,” he told Arab News.

“His passing reminded us of the values of kindness and compassion.”