Argentine court issues warrants for Myanmar officials accused of Rohingya ‘genocide’
Argentine court issues warrants for Myanmar officials accused of Rohingya ‘genocide’/node/2590277/world
Argentine court issues warrants for Myanmar officials accused of Rohingya ‘genocide’
This photo taken on December 16, 2021, shows Maung Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, outside the federal court in Buenos Aires. (AFP)
Argentine court issues warrants for Myanmar officials accused of Rohingya ‘genocide’
The court ruling was in response to a complaint filed by a Rohingya advocacy group under the principle of “universal jurisdiction”
Myanmar’s military junta leader is also under investigation by the ICC, while the ICJ is examining a complaint of “genocide” against Myanmar
Updated 15 February 2025
AFP
BUENOS AIRES: An Argentine court has issued arrest warrants for the head of Myanmar’s military junta and former officials including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi over alleged “genocide and crimes against humanity” targeting the Rohingya minority group.
The court ruling, seen by AFP on Friday, was issued in response to a complaint filed in Argentina by a Rohingya advocacy group.
It was filed under the principle of “universal jurisdiction” by which countries can prosecute crimes regardless of where they occurred if, like genocide or war crimes, they are considered sufficiently serious.
Warrants were issued for military and civilian officials including current junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, ex-president Htin Kyaw, and former elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in her capacity as “state counselor” from 2016 to 2021, when she was ousted in a coup.
In that time, she has been accused by detractors of doing little to stop the abuse of Rohingya.
Hlaing is also under investigation by the International Criminal Court, while the International Court of Justice — the UN’s highest tribunal — is examining a complaint of “genocide” against Myanmar.
The Rohingyas, mainly Muslims, are originally from Buddhist-majority Myanmar where, according to Amnesty International, they have been subjected to a regime akin to apartheid.
Beginning in 2017, many have been forced to flee persecution and violence to richer and predominantly Muslim Malaysia, or to refugee camps in Bangladesh, where about a million of them live.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup that sparked renewed clashes with ethnic rebels and saw the formation of dozens of “People’s Defense Forces” now battling the junta.
In her ruling issued Thursday, Judge Maria Servini said the allegations listed in the complaint “constitute crimes that violate human rights recognized in various international criminal law instruments, subscribed to by most countries in the world.”
They included “internationally known crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity, committed by the political and military authorities in power in that country,” she added.
Universal jurisdiction
Argentine courts have in the past opened investigations into crimes in other countries under the principle of “universal jurisdiction,” including for acts committed by the Francisco Franco regime in Spain.
And last December, a judge ordered the arrest of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega for “systematic violation of human rights.”
None of the cases have yet resulted in action against a foreign national.
Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, nevertheless welcomed the latest ruling as a “historic step toward justice for Rohingya and everyone in Burma suffering under the Burmese military.”
It was “also a victory for international justice at a time of growing violations of international law worldwide,” he said in a statement.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the Rohingya’ plaintiffs’ lawyer in Argentina, told AFP the next step will be for the ruling to be forwarded to prosecutors, who will take the steps necessary for the notification of Interpol, which issues international warrants.
India and Pakistan ceasefire shaken by overnight border fighting in disputed Kashmir region
Updated 9 sec ago
AP
ISLAMABAD: A ceasefire to end the conflict between India and Pakistan was shaken by overnight border fighting in the disputed Kashmir region.
People on both sides of the Line of Control, which divides the territory, reported heavy exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops. The fighting subsided by Sunday morning.
The two countries agreed to a truce a day earlier after talks to defuse the most serious military confrontation between them in decades following a gun massacre of tourists that India blames on Pakistan, which denies the charge.
As part of the ceasefire, the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed to immediately stop all firing and military action on land, in the air and at sea. They accused each other of repeatedly violating the deal just hours later.
Drones were spotted Saturday night over Indian-controlled Kashmir and the western state of Gujarat according to Indian officials.
In the Poonch area of Indian-controlled Kashmir, people said the intense shelling from the past few days had traumatized them.
“Most people ran as shells were being fired,” said college student Sosan Zehra who returned home Sunday. “It was completely chaotic.”
In Pakistan-controlled Kashmir’s Neelum Valley, which is three kilometers from the Line of Control, people said there were exchanges of fire and heavy shelling after the ceasefire began.
Resident Mohammad Zahid said: “We were happy about the announcement but, once again, the situation feels uncertain.”
US President Donald Trump was the first to post about the deal, announcing it on his Truth Social platform. Indian and Pakistani officials confirmed the news shortly after.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Sunday with top government and military officials.
India, unlike Pakistan, has not said anything about Trump or the US since the deal was announced. Nor has India acknowledged anyone beyond its military contact with the Pakistanis.
Both armies have engaged in daily fighting since Wednesday along the rugged and mountainous Line of Control, which is marked by razor wire coils, watchtowers and bunkers that snake across foothills populated by villages, tangled bushes and forests.
They have routinely blamed the other for starting the skirmishes while insisting they were only retaliating.
India and Pakistan’s two top military officials are due to speak again on Monday.
PRZEMYSL: President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, after Kyiv and its European allies called for a 30-day ceasefire, is “not enough,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.
“An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition,” Macron told reporters as he stepped off a train in the Polish city of Przemysl on his return from a trip to Ukraine, adding that Putin was “looking for a way out, but he still wants to buy time.”
Western allies have repeatedly accused Putin of delaying tactics with regards to any potential bid to end the conflict in Ukraine, which has dragged on since February 2022.
Asked if this was another such example, Macron replied: “Yes, it is.”
Macron visited Kyiv on Saturday with the leaders of Germany, Britain and Poland, with the four of them and President Volodymyr Zelensky calling for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire starting on Monday.
Macron warned that Russia would face “massive sanctions” if it did not comply.
The United States and other countries back the proposal, the leaders said.
Speaking at the Kremlin in the early hours of Sunday, Putin proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul in the coming days but did not address the 30-day ceasefire proposal.
“It’s a way of not answering... of showing that he is committed while also trying to maintain ambiguity in the eyes of the Americans,” Macron said.
“We need to stand firm with the Americans and say that the ceasefire is unconditional and then we can discuss the rest,” he added.
Macron also said that Putin’s proposal was “unacceptable for the Ukrainians because they cannot accept parallel discussions while they continue to be bombed.”
He also cast doubt on whether Zelensky would agree to talks in Istanbul given the “complicated” Russian-Ukrainian negotiations held there shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Trump says will increase trade 'substantially' with India, Pakistan
Updated 11 May 2025
AFP
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said late Saturday he would increase trade "substantially" with India and Pakistan.
"I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great Nations," he posted on TruthSocial after the arch-rivals agreed to a ceasefire after days of deadly fighting.
However, since the ceasefire was announced, both sides have traded accusations of truce violations.
Under Trump pressure, Columbia University ends semester in turmoil
Biliana said she made sure to stay far away from these kinds of demonstrations, fearful she might show up in a photo and be falsely linked to the group
Updated 11 May 2025
AFP
NEW YORK: Biliana, an international student at New York’s Columbia University, is studying for exams but fears being arrested by immigration police.
Columbia professors meanwhile are scrambling to save research funding in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s administration.
An atmosphere of crisis hovers over campus as the semester winds down, as the White House accuses the prestigious university and other Ivy League schools of anti-Semitism and “woke” liberal ideology.
Several hundred foreign students nationwide have been threatened with the cancelation of their visas, while others have been targeted — and a few arrested, including at Columbia — over everything from participation in pro-Palestinian protests to traffic violations.
“The situation is just terrifying,” said Biliana, a 29-year-old law student, who feels such dread that she asked not to be identified by her real name or even the Latin American country she comes from.
“You feel like you cannot say anything, you cannot share anything.”
She went on: “Me and my friends, we have not been posting anything on Twitter,” and many are deleting old posts for fear of crossing an invisible red line.
“Basically, what we’re trying to do is just to go to normal classes,” she said.
Last week, with final exams looming, 80 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after attempting to overtake the main library.
The university’s interim president quickly condemned the protest action.
Biliana said she made sure to stay far away from these kinds of demonstrations, fearful she might show up in a photo and be falsely linked to the group.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said officials were reviewing the visa status of the “vandals” involved, adding: “Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation.”
For newly elected student body president Oscar Wolfe, “There is definitely a heightened level of anxiety among international students, regardless of their involvement in the protests.”
Wolfe arrived on campus in September 2023, just before Hamas militants launched their October 7 attack on Israel, sparking the Gaza war and giving rise to protests that continue. He said he has known little more than a month of “normal” campus life.
Reflecting the turmoil, Columbia — which normally draws thousands of tourists to its Manhattan campus featuring colonnaded buildings, sweeping lawns and famous Alma Mater statue — has largely cut off public access to its grounds.
The Trump administration has accused the university of allowing anti-Semitism to flourish on campus — something the school strongly denies — and has slashed some $400 million of Columbia’s federal funding.
Harvard, another Ivy League college, has defiantly pushed back — suing the administration to halt a federal freeze of $2 billion in grants.
Columbia, for its part, is negotiating with the government. But on Wednesday, interim President Claire Shipman announced that “nearly 180 of our colleagues who have been working, in whole or in part, on impacted federal grants” were going to lose their jobs.
Rebecca Muhle, a professor of psychiatry, said her grant for a research project on autism was “not canceled, but it’s not funded — it’s in limbo.”
“I cannot hire anyone or make large purchases,” she said.
“There are many, many grants in this situation,” Muhle added. “It’s chaos, and you can’t conduct good science in chaos.”
History professor Matthew Connelly, who specializes in state secrets and their declassification, said he had been notified that the National Endowment for the Humanities had canceled two grants, with “no real reason given.”
The grants, he said, were intended to train scholars and archivists in analyzing and preserving historical records, particularly those in digital form — “one of the great challenges facing researchers.”
But Connelly said he was not about to throw in the towel.
“Universities are a target, because everything we do is completely contrary to what the Trump administration is trying to achieve,” he said.
“If we stopped teaching... if we stopped doing our research, we would be handing them a victory.”
Student leader Wolfe also views this as part of a broader battle.
“This is not just an attack on Columbia,” he said, “it is the opening act of an attack against civil society.”
Trump touts ‘great progress made’ on first day of US-China tariff talks
"A total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform
US delegation led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is meeting in Geneva with the China team led by Vice Premier He Lifeng
Updated 11 May 2025
AP
GENEVA: The first day of sensitive talks between US and Chinese delegations over tariffs that threaten to upend the global economy ended without major breakthroughs being announced, but President Donald Trump nonetheless touted “GREAT PROGRESS.”
The meeting lasted over 10 hours in Switzerland and featured Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and a delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
Hours after talks had concluded, Trump took to social media to suggest that a full reset of trade between the US and China could be on the table.
“A very good meeting today with China, in Switzerland. Many things discussed, much agreed to. A total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “We want to see, for the good of both China and the US, an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!”
But he gave no further details, and officials at the White House also offered little information during and after the opening day of discussions.
Trump’s post followed an official telling The Associated Press that talks had wrapped up for the day and would continue Sunday. The official requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, which could help stabilize world markets roiled by the US-China standoff. The talks have been shrouded in secrecy, and neither side made comments to reporters on the way out.
Several convoys of black vehicles left the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the UN in Geneva, which hosted the talks aimed at de-escalating trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks took place.
The opening day of negotiations were held in the sumptuous 18th-century “Villa Saladin” overlooking Lake Geneva. The former estate was bequeathed to the Swiss state in 1973, according to the Geneva government.
A picture taken on May 10, 2025, shows the entrance of the residency of the permanent Swiss ambassador to the UN offices in Geneva, that is hosting the talks between senior US and Chinese officials on tariffs. (AFP)
Trump’s assessment aside, prospects for a major breakthrough appeared dim when the talks opened. Still, there is hope that the two countries will scale back the massive taxes — tariffs — they have slapped on each other’s goods, a move that would relieve world financial markets and companies on both sides of the Pacific Ocean that depend on US-China trade.
Trump last month raised US tariffs on China to a combined 145 percent, and China retaliated by hitting American imports with a 125 percent levy. Tariffs that high essentially amount to the countries’ boycotting each other’s products, disrupting trade that last year topped $660 billion.
And even before talks got underway, Trump suggested Friday that the US could lower its tariffs on China, saying in a Truth Social post that ” 80 percent Tariff seems right! Up to Scott.″
Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, noted it will be the first time He and Bessent have talked. She doubts the Geneva meeting will produce any substantive results.
“The best scenario is for the two sides to agree to de-escalate on the ... tariffs at the same time,” she said, adding even a small reduction would send a positive signal. “It cannot just be words.”
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has aggressively used tariffs as his favorite economic weapon. He has, for example, imposed a 10 percent tax on imports from almost every country in the world.
In this photo taken on April 2, 2025, President Donald Trump is shown announcing new tariffs at the White House in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/File)
But the fight with China has been the most intense. His tariffs on China include a 20 percent charge meant to pressure Beijing into doing more to stop the flow of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States.
The remaining 125 percent involve a dispute that dates back to Trump’s first term and comes atop tariffs he levied on China back then, which means the total tariffs on some Chinese goods can exceed 145 percent.
During Trump’s first term, the US alleged that China uses unfair tactics to give itself an edge in advanced technologies such as quantum computing and driverless cars. These include forcing US and other foreign companies to hand over trade secrets in exchange for access to the Chinese market; using government money to subsidize domestic tech firms; and outright theft of sensitive technologies.
Those issues were never fully resolved. After nearly two years of negotiation, the United States and China reached a so-called Phase One agreement in January 2020. The US agreed then not to go ahead with even higher tariffs on China, and Beijing agreed to buy more American products. The tough issues — such as China’s subsidies — were left for future negotiations.
But China didn’t come through with the promised purchases, partly because COVID-19 disrupted global commerce just after the Phase One truce was announced.
The fight over China’s tech policy now resumes.
Trump is also agitated by America’s massive trade deficit with China, which came to $263 billion last year.
Trump slaps hefty tariffs on Switzerland
In Switzerland Friday, Bessent and Greer also met with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter.
Trump last month suspended plans to slap hefty 31 percent tariffs on Swiss goods — more than the 20 percent levies he plastered on exports from European Union. For now, he has reduced those taxes to 10 percent but could raise them again.
The government in Bern is taking a cautious approach. But it has warned of the impact on crucial Swiss industries like watches, coffee capsules, cheese and chocolate.
“An increase in trade tensions is not in Switzerland’s interests. Countermeasures against US tariff increases would entail costs for the Swiss economy, in particular by making imports from the USA more expensive,” the government said last week, adding that the executive branch “is therefore not planning to impose any countermeasures at the present time.”
The government said Swiss exports to the United States on Saturday were subject to an additional 10 percent tariff, and another 21 percent beginning Wednesday.
The United States is Switzerland’s second-biggest trading partner after the EU – the 27-member-country bloc that nearly surrounds the wealthy Alpine country of more than 9 million. US-Swiss trade in goods and services has quadrupled over the last two decades, the government said.
The Swiss government said Switzerland abolished all industrial tariffs on Jan. 1 last year, meaning that 99 percent of all goods from the United States can be imported into Switzerland duty-free.
