Author: Philibert Dupont

As the war in Israel rages, an ongoing struggle to control the narrative of the conflict is unfolding between Hamas and the Jewish state. This propaganda battle is not novel, as it has long been observed to coexist with the kinetic action between Israel and the Palestinian armed groups, dating back to at least 2014. Drawing from its prior clashes with Israel, Hamas has gained vital insights on how to effectively counter Israel. Despite being at a military disadvantage in nearly every area, Hamas has developed unconventional methods to attack Israel, including a powerful propaganda system to garner global backing…

The counterterrorism expert and author of “Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Massacre: Lessons for the International Community” explains how religious extremism manifested in Sri Lanka’s deadliest terror attack. On April 21, 2019 – Easter Sunday – a coordinated series of bombings ripped through Sri Lanka, targeting churches and luxury hotels. Over 260 people were killed, making it the deadliest terrorist attack ever suffered by Sri Lanka. The attack has continued to resonate in Sri Lankan society and politics, as the public demands to untangle questions of responsibility: Why was the attack not prevented, and what can be done to stop the…

Dublin, London (9/10 – 25) The pool stage of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France reached its final day on Sunday. The eight quarter-final contenders who will compete on 14 and 15 October are now confirmed. Host France are the Pool A winner, followed by three-time champion New Zealand. Italy finished third in Pool A, neatly qualifying them for the 2027 Rugby World Cup. From Pool B, current World Number One Ireland are flexing their muscles with a perfect record: four wins out of four matches makes them Group Winner. Defending champion South Africa finished second, with Scotland managing…

A holiday home in north-eastern France where 11 people died in a fire did not meet safety standards, an official has said. The blaze broke out early on Wednesday at a house in La Forge, where people with learning disabilities were hosted. Prosecutor Nathalie Kielwasser said the building was not properly inspected and had the wrong type of smoke alarm. The owner of the property, who lives opposite the holiday home, is in shock and has not been detained, she added. The lodging had not undergone the “obligatory” safety inspection and “did not have the characteristics needed to host the…

A French policeman suspected of shooting a 22-year-old man in the head with a rubber bullet in riots in Marseille a month ago has been told he must stay in pre-trial detention. The decision to detain the officer has prompted an outcry from colleagues across France. Hedi, an assistant restaurant manager, was badly wounded and his skull disfigured by the “flash ball”. The officer admitted to the court that he had fired his riot gun once. However, the 35-year-old policeman, identified as Christophe, said he did not see anyone lying on the ground wounded and his lawyer told the court…

French animals rescue centres say they have reached “saturation” with abandoned pets this summer. More than 100,000 pets are abandoned to fend for themselves in France every year, more than half of them dumped just before or during long summer holidays when they are often found next to routes heading for the coast or countryside. Last summer, 60,000 pets were dumped, and animal rescuers say the figure is expected to be higher this year. The Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) raised the alarm last week, appealing for funds to help “saturated” refuges after it had accepted 12,000 animals since the beginning of…

Warsaw (21/08 – 60) The amount of Russian oil to be piped through Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan in 2023 has been reduced to 180,000 tons, reported by the Head of the Transportation Department of Kazakhstan’s Kaztransoil pipeline monopoly. In July, the company had announced an agreement to pump 300,000 tons of oil from Russia to Uzbekistan through Kazakhstan this year. Department Director, Abay Beisembaev commented that Kazakhstan had transported 48,500 tons of Russian oil to Uzbekistan in the first half of 2023 and a further 131,500 tons were planned in the second half of the year. No reason was given for…

Paris, Auckland, Sydney (9/9 – 10) Disclaimer. This article may offend you. Well, tough luck, go and read the science section or volunteer for the Girl Scouts. This is men’s rugby. Redneck, muscles and unabashed violence. Not suitable for the “Woke Generation”. Swearing, alcohol consumption and “guy talk” included. Political correctness? Dumped in the Men’s Room with the rest of the waste. There was once a myth going that claimed that “All Blacks are unbeatable”. Like, “the Russians are invincible and can’t be beaten”, “Americans are the Gods of basketball” (but beaten by the darn Krauts, whoever would have imagined…),…

A Swiss weather balloon had to climb to an unprecedented 5,300 metres (17,400ft) before the temperature fell to 0C (32F), meteorologists have said, as a late summer heatwave and wildfires continue to pummel swaths of continental Europe. A man was found dead in a blaze raging north of Athens on Monday as the Greek government warned of an extreme risk of fire across the country, while more than half of mainland France was placed under an amber extreme heat alert and local records tumbled in the south-east. MétéoSuisse said the zero-degree line – the altitude at which the temperature falls below freezing, considered…

Are you a dissident?”, a journalist asked Milan Kundera, when he had became exiled in France from his native Czechoslovakia in the mid-1970s. “No, I am a writer,” replied the author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Not that he was indifferent to the plight of those who were opposing the Czech regime from inside, but he was wary of a political label being attached to a novel, and more generally to literature with a message, to art in the service of a political idea. Yet Kundera, who died last month, was a man of ideas, which he explored particularly in his essays,…