14/05/2025

WEDNESDAY | MAY 14, 2025

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French court convicts Depardieu of sexual assault

No truce in India-Pakistan disinformation war NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan have announced a ceasefire after coming close to all-out conflict, but on social media citizens on both sides are vying to control public perceptions by peddling disinformation. Platforms such as Facebook and X are still awash with misrepresented footage of the attacks. AFP fact-checkers have debunked many of the clips, which actually show the Israeli Palestinian conflict or the war in Ukraine. Indian and Pakistani media outlets have also amplified misinformation, including false or unverifiable claims of military victories that experts say have exacerbated tensions and contributed to a flood of hate speech. “It’s complicated to establish the military facts because, in addition to the reality of strikes that are difficult to ascertain, there’s a communication war going on,” said General Dominique Trinquand, an international relations analyst and former head of the French military mission to the United Nations. Disinformation peaked when India launched deadly air strikes on May 7 targeting “terrorist camps” in Pakistan, two weeks after a deadly attack in Kashmir. New Delhi blames Islamabad for backing the April 22 attack near the tourist town of Pahalgam, which killed 26 people – almost all of them Hindu men. Pakistan denies the claim. After the first round of Indian airstrikes, the Pakistani military shared footage that had previously circulated in reports about a 2023 Israeli airstrike in Gaza. The clip quickly appeared on television and social media but was later retracted by media outlets, including AFP. AI-generated imagery has also muddied the waters, including a video that purportedly shows a Pakistan Army general saying the country lost two of its aircraft. AFP fact-checkers found the clip was altered from a 2024 press conference. “We have seen a new wave of AI-based content in both video and still images due to increased access to deepfake tools,”said Joyojeet Pal, an associate professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. India and Pakistan have taken advantage of the information vacuum to raise alarm bells and promote their own claims and counter-claims. Pakistan appears to have lifted a more than one-year-old ban on X the same day of the Indian strikes, according to an AFP analysis of data from the nonprofit Open Observatory of Network Interference. “In a time of crisis, the government needed its people’s voice to be heard all around the world and not to be silenced like it was before for domestic political purposes,” said Usama Khilji, a digital rights expert and activist in Pakistan. The National Cyber Emergency Response Team on May 8 issued an alert about “increased cyberattacks and misinformation via emails, social media, QR codes and messaging apps”. Pakistan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Karachi Port Trust later said their X accounts had been hacked. A post from the latter account said the port, one of South Asia’s busiest, was attacked by the Indian military. The page was later restored and the port authority said no attack had taken place. India has executed a sweeping crackdown targeting the social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organisations. The government ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts and banned more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading “provocative” content. Press Information Bureau Fact Check, a government-run website, has also refuted more than 60 claims about the crisis, many having to do with supposed Pakistani military victories. The disinformation online has been accompanied by a spike in hate speech offline. A report from the US-based India Hate Lab documented 64 in-person hate speech events between April 22 and May 2. Most were filmed and later shared on social media. – AFP

o Actor to appeal conviction

Depardieu denied sexually

that they were working for the cause of “rabid feminism”. Claude Vincent, the assistant director’s lawyer, said: “What we witnessed was not a defence strategy” but “an apology for sexism”. In an open letter, nearly 200 French lawyers urged the judiciary to fight what they called courtroom sexism. Depardieu’s lawyer had “used sexism and misogyny to his heart’s delight” to discredit the plaintiffs and their legal team, they said.

assaulting the women.

“I’m vulgar, rude, foul mouthed, I’ll accept that,” he told the court, but he added: “I don’t touch.” “I adore women and femininity,” he also said, while describing the #MeToo movement as a “reign of terror”. Throughout the trial,

PARIS: A court here yesterday handed French cinema icon Gerard Depardieu (pic) an 18 month suspended sentence after convicting him of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021. The court also ordered that Depardieu, 76, who was not present in court for the verdict, be inscribed on the sex offenders’ register. Depardieu, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, is the highest profile figure caught up in France’s response to the #MeToo movement. By coincidence, the verdict was delivered on the first day of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, France’s most prestigious cinema showcase where Depardieu won best actor in 1990 and was for years the subject of adulation. The whereabouts of Depardieu were not immediately clear. He had in April been working in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores on a new film directed by his friend, actor Fanny Ardant, who has been outspoken in supporting him. His lawyer, who represented Depardieu in court, said he would appeal the conviction. Around 20 women have accused Depardieu of assault or inappropriate behaviour but this was the first case to come to court. The trial related to charges of sexual assault during the filming in 2021 of Les Volets Verts ( The Green Shutters ) by director Jean Becker. The plaintiffs were a set dresser, 54, identified only as Amelie, and a 34-year-old assistant director, who accused the actor of sexual assault. In March, lead prosecutor Laurent Guy recommended an 18-month suspended jail term for Depardieu, arguing that the sentence “takes into account the total lack of remorse” shown by the defendant. Amelie testified that Depardieu pinned her down in 2021 on set, saying, “he was very strong” and “groped” her. She also said Depardieu made “obscene remarks” and suggestions, boasting he could “give women an orgasm without touching them”. The 34-year-old plaintiff said Depardieu initially assaulted her when she accompanied him from his dressing room to the set. “It was nighttime ... he put his hand on my buttocks,” she said, adding that the actor assaulted her on two other occasions.

Depardieu was supported by his daughter Roxane, his ex-partner Karine Silla and actor Vincent Perez. And on Monday, he won public backing from French film star Brigitte Bardot. “Those who have talent and put their hands on a girl’s bottom are thrown in the gutter,” Bardot said. “We could at least let them get on with their lives. They can’t live anymore.” Lawyers for the two plaintiffs denounced the approach of Depardieu’s defence team. The actor’s lawyer, Jeremie Assous, called the two women “liars” and “hysterical”, arguing

Depardieu has also been indicted in another case following a rape complaint filed by actor Charlotte Arnould, 29. Prosecutors have requested a trial. In April, French MPs criticised “endemic” abuse in the entertainment industry after a six month inquiry. Depardieu became a star in France from the 1980s, winning the Best Actor award at the Cannes film festival in 1990 for his performance in Cyrano de Bergerac . – AFP

Amelie arriving at the courthouse yesterday. – AFPPIC

Xi slams ‘bullying’ as Beijing hosts LatAm leaders BEIJING: President Xi Jinping vowed yesterday to deepen ties with Latin America and condemned “bullying” in a thinly veiled swipe at the United States, as he addressed regional leaders in Beijing. exchanges,” Xi said at the opening ceremony, likening the summit to a “great, sturdy tree”. “Only through unity and cooperation can countries safeguard global peace and stability and promote worldwide development and prosperity,” Xi said. He also warned of “bloc confrontation”. winners in tariff wars or trade wars.” “Bullying and hegemony will only lead to self-isolation,” the Chinese leader said. “The world is undergoing accelerated transformations unseen in a century, with risks intertwined and overlapping,” Xi said.

Leaders and officials from Latin America and the Caribbean have descended on the Chinese capital for the China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum. Beijing has stepped up economic and political cooperation with Latin American nations in recent years and has urged a united front against US President Donald Trump’s recent maelstrom of tariffs. Xi hailed China’s burgeoning ties with the region. “Although China lies far from the Latin American and Caribbean region, the two sides have a time-honoured history of friendly

Among notable attendees at the forum is Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who arrived in Beijing on Saturday for a five-day state visit. Also present is Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who last week said he intends to sign an accord to join Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative during his visit. Two-thirds of Latin American countries have joined Beijing’s trillion-dollar BRI infrastructure programme, and China has surpassed the US as the biggest trading partner of Brazil, Peru and Chile, among others. – AFP

Xi’s remarks come a day after the United States and China announced a deal to drastically reduce tit-for-tat tariffs for 90 days, an outcome Trump dubbed a “total reset”. Under that agreement, the United States agreed to lower its tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% while China will reduce its own to 10%. The deal marked a major de-escalation of a gruelling trade war between the world’s two largest economies which threw global markets into turmoil. Xi told delegates yesterday: “There are no