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Independence hero assassin’s calligraphy breaking auction records in Seoul

Calligraphy by a South Korean independence hero, created while awaiting execution for assassinating a Japanese statesman, is breaking new auction records in Seoul, as the country’s ultra-rich seek to bring historic artwork home.Revered in the South for his efforts to defend the country against Japanese encroachment, Ahn Jung-geun is best known for his dramatic, high-stakes …

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‘I thought she’d survive’: Story of slain Gaza photojournalist touches Cannes

A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival Thursday.As the cinema lights came back on, film maker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute.”To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said.”There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added.With Israel banning foreign media from entering the besieged Palestinian territory, Farsi last year reached out to Hassouna through video call, and turned more than 200 days of conversations into the documentary “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk”.In often disjointed discussions due to bad internet connection, Hassouna smiles widely and bravely says she is ok.She recounts how she dreams of eating chicken amid dire food shortages, how she lost 14 relatives including a one-year-old in Israeli bombardment, and what she photographed that day.In one of her many pictures edited into the film, a little girl laughs on her father’s lap in front of a tower block reduced to rubble.But in another, a boy aims a water hose at the bloodied pavement, trying to clean away the remains of his own family.- ‘Normal people’ -A day after Hassouna was told the documentary had been selected for a sidebar section at the world’s most prestigious film festival, an Israeli missile pummelled her home in northern Gaza, killing her and 10 relatives.Israel has claimed it was targeting Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas.”Why would you kill someone and decimate an entire family just because she was taking photos?” Farsi told AFP. “They were normal people. Her father was a taxi driver, she was a photographer, her sister was a painter and her little brother was 10 years old”, said Farsi.”My heart goes out to her mother, who lost six of her children, her husband and her home.”On Thursday, British filmmaker Ken Loach — a double Palme d’Or winner — on X called on people to honour Hassouna and fellow Palestinian journalists “who gave their lives to bear witness to mass murder”.Tens of thousands have been killed in Gaza and an aid blockade threatens famine, while Israeli leaders continue to express a desire to empty the territory of Palestinians as part of the war sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack.Reporters Without Borders estimates around 200 journalists have been killed in 18 months of Israeli strikes on Gaza.- ‘Reality caught up with us’ -As the Gaza death toll mounts, with rescuers saying 120 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Thursday alone, the conflict has cast a shadow over Cannes.Several actors have walked its red carpet wearing Palestinian flags pinned to their jackets, while others have sported a yellow ribbon for Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.Exiled Gazan film makers Arab and Tarzan Nasser will on Monday screen “Once Upon a Time in Gaza”, a portrait of two friends set in 2007, the year Hamas started tightening its grip on the territory.On the eve of the festival, “Schindler’s List” actor Ralph Fiennes and Hollywood star Richard Gere were among more than 380 figures to slam what they see as silence over “genocide” in Gaza.”The English Patient” actor Juliette Binoche, who heads the main competition jury, paid homage to Hassouna on opening night.Sepideh said she had believed until the very end that Hassouna “would survive, that she would come (to Cannes), that the war would stop.”But reality caught up with us,” she said.

Rubio says US ‘troubled’ on Gaza, open to alternatives on aid

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced openness Thursday to any new ideas to bring aid into Gaza after a US- and Israeli-backed plan was sharply criticised, expressing concern over the humanitarian situation in the territory.A new US-backed foundation on Wednesday announced a plan to begin distributing aid later this month in Gaza, where Israel has cut off food and other humanitarian supplies for more than two months.”We’re troubled by the humanitarian situation there,” Rubio told reporters after warnings of famine in war-ravaged Gaza.”I hear criticisms of that plan. We’re open to an alternative if someone has a better one,” Rubio said on a visit to Turkey.”We are for all the aid we can get without Hamas being able to steal it from people.”Rubio also said he spoke about the situation in Gaza in a telephone call on Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as President Donald Trump tours Arab monarchies in the Gulf region.Netanyahu has vowed a new offensive to wipe out Hamas, which sparked the war in Gaza with the deadliest attack against Israel in its history on October 7, 2023.Rubio said the United States shared Netanyahu’s desire to eliminate the Palestinian militant group.”I think all of us would love to see an enduring end to this conflict, which, by the way, would end immediately if Hamas were to surrender,” Rubio said.”As long as they exist and they’re around, you’re not going to have peace.”Israel has imposed a blockade for over two months on Gaza, leading UN agencies and other humanitarian groups to warn of shrinking fuel and medicine supplies to the territory of 2.4 million Palestinians.The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), said Wednesday it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territory by the end of the month, with plans to provide nearly 300 million meals over an initial period of 90 days.However little is known about the foundation, which has been headquartered in Geneva since February.Asked Thursday whether the United States was providing funding to the organisation, State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott referred reporters to the foundation for further detail.Calling the initiative an “independent plan”, Pigott said the United States would “endorse this plan in the sense that we want to see creative solutions”.- UN says no -The United Nations meanwhile ruled out involvement in the project.”I made it clear that we participate in aid operations if they are in accordance with our basic principles,” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.”As we’ve stated repeatedly, this particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence, and we will not be participating in this.”The initiative would effectively sideline the UN, which has trucks loaded with 171,000 tonnes of food waiting to enter the territory.”The UN have a plan, an excellent plan, that is ready to be implemented as soon as we’re allowed to do our work,” he said.But Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, reiterated that his country would not allow a return to the previous aid system, which he believes had ties to Hamas.He meanwhile called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “recalculate” the body’s approach to what would be a “major” operation.He added that Israel would not fund the US-backed GHF efforts but would facilitate them.