State TV protester tells Russians: open your eyes to Ukraine war propaganda

Marina Ovsyannikova said the harrowing images from Ukraine had jolted her own childhood memories of growing up in Chechnya. (Twitter)
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Updated 17 March 2022
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State TV protester tells Russians: open your eyes to Ukraine war propaganda

  • Russian woman who denounced war she was worried for her safety and hoped her protest would open Russians’ eyes to propaganda.

LONDON, March 16 : A Russian woman who burst into a state TV studio to denounce the Ukraine war during a live news bulletin told Reuters on Wednesday she was worried for her safety and hoped her protest would open Russians’ eyes to propaganda.
In her first television interview since her on-air protest on Monday, Marina Ovsyannikova said the harrowing images from Ukraine had jolted her own childhood memories of growing up in Chechnya, the southern region torn apart by war after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
“I absolutely do not feel like a hero...You know, I really want to feel like this sacrifice was not in vain, and that people will open their eyes,” the editor at Channel One told Reuters from Russia.
“I believe in what I did but I now understand the scale of the problems that I’ll have to deal with, and, of course, I’m extremely concerned for my safety,” Ovsyannikova said.
Thousands of Russians have been detained for taking to the streets to protest the war but Ovsyannikova went further, holding up an anti-propaganda sign behind a studio presenter reading the news at prime time and shouting anti-war slogans.
State TV is a vital platform for the Kremlin, which portrays the invasion as a “special military operation” essential to prevent what it says is genocide against Russian-speakers.
Ukraine and the West dismiss that justification as a false pretext for an invasion of a sovereign country.
“The worst thing is when Ukrainians ring Russians and Russians ring Ukrainians, there’s always a conflict because the media and propaganda have divided us and put us on opposing sides of the barricades,” Ovsyannikova said.
The 43-year-old, whose father was Ukrainian, said she had no plans to leave Russia.
She told Reuters she was held in a police station and questioned overnight and had no access to a lawyer until the following afternoon when she was taken to court and fined 30,000 roubles ($280).
The Kremlin denounced her act of protest as “hooliganism” and commended Channel One for its news coverage.
Reuters submitted a written request on Wednesday to ask the interior ministry for further comment on her case and whether legal proceedings had been closed.
Her case stirred fears among her sympathizers that she could be prosecuted under new legislation criminalizing actions that discredit the Russian army with a jail term of up to 15 years.
Ovsyannikova, mother to children aged 11 and 17, said she hoped she would not face criminal charges.
“If I end up having to serve time in jail for what I believe in then I hope it’s a minimal sentence,” she said.

MEMORIES OF CHECHNYA
Ovsyannikova said she had initially supported President Vladimir Putin, but had grown disillusioned with politics and that the war in Ukraine had first reduced her to a state of shock and then tipped her over the edge.
“The war in Ukraine was like a trigger for me. Very vivid images from my childhood (in Chechnya) came flooding back. I understood… I could feel what those unfortunate people (in Ukraine) are going through. It’s really beyond the pale,” she said.
As a child, she lived in Chechnya’s Grozny and remembers gathering up her things and having to leave suddenly in 1991 as the southern Russian region where the Russian army later fought two wars to put down a separatist and Islamist movement.
“There was shelling, I was 12 years old, we gathered up our things and left,” she said.
She first considered taking to a square near the Kremlin to protest, but concluded that would have little actual effect.
She said she wanted not only to protest against the war but also to sent a message to Russians directly:
“Don’t be such zombies; don’t listen to this propaganda; learn how to analyze information; learn how to find other sources of information — not just Russian state television.”


UAE launches global media initiative, Bridge Summit

Updated 11 March 2025
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UAE launches global media initiative, Bridge Summit

  • 2-day forum to be held in Abu Dhabi ‘will lead transformation in the sector,’ says UAE’s National Media Office
  • UAE also announces launch of Bridge Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at supporting, elevating media sector

DUBAI: The UAE’s National Media Office has announced the launch of the Bridge Summit to “explore the future of media.”

Set to take place from Dec. 8-10 in Abu Dhabi, the summit also seeks to “lead transformation in the sector, and enhance its contribution to the global economy,” according to a press statement.

The forum will feature a media production exhibition and aims to attract CEOs, state leaders, and media professionals and experts from around the world.

The announcement was made by Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Butti Al-Hamed, chairman of UAE’s National Media Office and chairman of the board of directors of the UAE Media Council, during an event in Washington.

He said: “We launched the Bridge Summit to foster meaningful dialogue, develop solutions to current and future media challenges, and support the sustainable growth of this vital sector.”

Al-Hamed also announced the launch of the Bridge Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at empowering media professionals and elevating the media sector through training programs and research grants.

It will also support media startups through opportunities for funding and international partnerships.

The launch of the foundation is in line with the country’s “vision to position media as a powerful driver of development” contributing to “a more impactful media ecosystem that upholds societal values and advances sustainable development,” Al-Hamed said.


Israelis’ nomination of extremist settler leader for Nobel Peace Prize sparks online furor

Updated 11 March 2025
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Israelis’ nomination of extremist settler leader for Nobel Peace Prize sparks online furor

  • 2 Israeli professors nominated Daniella Weiss for the prize

DUBAI: Daniella Weiss, a radical settler leader, has been nominated by Israelis for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Professors Amos Azaria and Shalom Sadik of Ariel University and Ben-Gurion University submitted nominations for Weiss, according to reports.

In a letter to the Nobel Prize Committee, they reportedly claimed that “the establishment of Jewish communities has prevented violence and enhanced security” and that despite both Jewish and Palestinian deaths in Gaza, casualties were “significantly lower” in the West Bank due to Weiss’ work.

Weiss, director of the Nachala Settlement Movement, is a prominent supporter of Israeli annexation and illegal settlements in Palestinian territories.

Israel’s West Bank settlements have been deemed illegal by the UN and several countries.

In June 2024, Canada imposed sanctions against Weiss and six others “in response to the grave breach of international peace and security posed by their violent and destabilizing actions against Palestinian civilians and their property in the West Bank.”

The nomination has left online users baffled and outraged. One said: “For a moment, I thought this was a joke, but no, it’s not.”

Another said, “No one will want to be honoured with a Noble prize if this ever happens.”

The Nobel Peace Prize winners will be announced on Oct. 10 with the award ceremony scheduled for Dec. 10.


Social media platform X outage appears to ease, Downdetector shows

Updated 10 March 2025
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Social media platform X outage appears to ease, Downdetector shows

Social media platform X is down for thousands of users in the US and the UK, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.
There were more than 16,000 incidents of people reporting issues with the platform as of 6:02 a.m. ET, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources.

X did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Downdetector's numbers are based on user-submitted reports. The actual number of affected users may vary.


Journalist quits broadcaster after comparing French actions in Algeria to Nazi massacre

Updated 10 March 2025
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Journalist quits broadcaster after comparing French actions in Algeria to Nazi massacre

  • Historians from both sides have over the last years documented numerous violations including arbitrary killings and detention carried out by French forces and the history still burdens French-Algerian relations to this day

PARIS: A prominent French journalist on Sunday announced he was stepping down from his role as an expert analyst for broadcaster RTL after provoking an uproar by comparing French actions during colonial rule in Algeria to a World War II massacre committed by Nazi forces in France.
Jean-Michel Aphatie, a veteran reporter and broadcaster, insisted that while he would not be returning to RTL he wholly stood by his comments made on the radio station in late February equating atrocities committed by France in Algeria with those of Nazi Germany in occupied France.
“I will not return to RTL. It is my decision,” the journalist wrote on the X, after he was suspended from air for a week by the radio station.
On February 25 he said on air: “Every year in France, we commemorate what happened in Oradour-sur-Glane — the massacre of an entire village. But we have committed hundreds of these, in Algeria. Are we aware of this?“
He was referring to the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, where an SS unit returning to the front in Normandy massacred 642 residents on June 10, 1944. Leaving a chilling memorial for future generations, the village was never rebuilt.
Challenged by the anchor over whether “we (the French) behaved like the Nazis,” Aphatie replied: “The Nazis behaved like us.”
On X, he acknowledged his comments had created a “debate” but said it was of great importance to understand the full story over France’s 1830-1962 presence in Algeria, saying he was “horrified” by what he had read in history books.
After being suspended for a week by the channel it means that “if I come back to RTL I validate this and admit to making a mistake. This is a line that cannot be crossed.”
His comments had prompted a flurry of complaints to audio-visual regulator Arcom which has opened an investigation.
France’s conduct in Algeria during the 1954-1962 war that led to independence and previous decades remain the subject of often painful debate in both countries.
Historians from both sides have over the last years documented numerous violations including arbitrary killings and detention carried out by French forces and the history still burdens French-Algerian relations to this day.
The far-right in France has long defended French policies in those years with Algeria War veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen, who co-founded the National Front (FN) party and died earlier this year, drawing much support from French settlers who had to return after independence.

 


Apple adds new Syrian flag emoji

Updated 08 March 2025
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Apple adds new Syrian flag emoji

  • New flag is part of latest iOS, macOS updates

DUBAI: Apple has added the new flag of the Syrian Arab Republic to its emoji keyboard in the latest beta update to its operating system, replacing the one used by former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.

The new flag emoji is part of Apple’s iOS and macOS 18.4 beta 2 update and is therefore unavailable to those who have not signed up for beta updates.

Apple will roll out the new updates to users in April, according to a company statement.

The old flag featured three stripes: red at the top, black at the bottom and white in the middle with two green stars.

The new flag features green at the top, black at the bottom and white in the middle with three red stars.

For many Syrians the new flag represents freedom and independence from Assad’s dictatorial regime.

The country has a long history with the current flag, which was first adopted when Syria gained independence from France in 1946.

It was replaced in 1958 by the flag of the United Arab Republic to represent the political union between Egypt and Syria.

It was adopted again for a short time when Syria left the United Arab Republic in 1961, only to be replaced in 1963 when the Baath Party took control of the country.