Children increasingly used as weapons of war: UNICEF
United Nations: Children caught in war zones are increasingly being used as weapons of war -- recruited to fight, forced to act as suicide bombers, and used as human shields, Unicef has warned.
In a statement late Wedensday summarising 2017 as a brutal year for children caught in conflict, Unicef said parties to conflicts were blatantly disregarding international humanitarian law and children were routinely coming under attack, reports the Guardian.
Rape, forced marriage, abduction and enslavement had become standard tactics in conflicts across Iraq, Syria and Yemen, as well as in Nigeria, South Sudan and Myanmar.
Some children, abducted by extremist groups, are abused again by security forces when they are released. Others are indirectly harmed by fighting, through malnutrition and disease, as access to food, water and sanitation are denied or restricted.
Some 27 million children in conflict zones have been forced out of school.
"Children are being targeted and exposed to attacks and brutal violence in their homes, schools and playgrounds," said Manuel Fontaine, Unicef's director of emergency programmes.
"As these attacks continue year after year, we cannot become numb. Such brutality cannot be the new normal."
In Iraq and Syria children have reportedly been used as human shields, trapped under siege and targeted by snipers, while in Afghanistan nearly 700 children were killed in fighting in the first nine months of the year, the Guardian quoted the Unicef statement as saying.
Rohingya children in Myanmar were subject to systematic violence and driven from their homes. More than half of the 650,000 Rohingya forced over the border into Bangladesh are under 18.
The Unicef statement has called on all parties in conflicts to respect international humanitarian law and immediately end violations against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals. The agency also called on states with influence over non-state parties to conflict to use their influence to protect children.
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Epstein files allege email claims about Bill Gates seeking antibiotics; foundation denies charges
Washington DC: fresh set of documents released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files has triggered renewed attention after screenshots of alleged self-emails attributed to Epstein made claims involving Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
The screenshots, circulating online and reported by several outlets, purport to show Epstein writing to himself in July 2013, alleging that Gates had contracted a sexually transmitted disease during encounters with women described as “Russian girls” and had asked Epstein to arrange antibiotics to be given discreetly to his then wife, Melinda Gates. The documents also contain claims of personal disputes and alleged requests that Epstein delete certain emails.
The authenticity of the screenshots has not been independently verified. The allegations contained in them remain unsubstantiated and are disputed by context and prior public statements from Gates. There is no confirmation from official records that the claims are factual.
According to reports, the screenshots are part of a larger tranche of documents released by the United States Department of Justice, comprising hundreds of thousands of pages related to Epstein. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
The alleged email text includes Epstein expressing anger over Gates distancing himself from their relationship and claiming involvement in matters he described as morally or ethically inappropriate. The documents also reference marital tensions between Bill and Melinda Gates, though no independent evidence is provided to support the claims.
Bill Gates has previously acknowledged meeting Epstein and has said he regretted the association, while repeatedly denying any involvement in illegal or unethical activities. His philanthropic foundation has issued a strong denial in response to the latest claims, calling the allegations absurd and completely false.
Bill and Melinda Gates were married from 1994 until their divorce in 2021. Melinda Gates has publicly stated that Gates’s extramarital relationships and his association with Epstein were among the factors that led to the end of their marriage, without detailing specific allegations.
As with earlier Epstein-related disclosures, legal experts and media analysts have urged caution, noting that the presence of a name in released documents does not establish wrongdoing and that many claims in the material remain unproven.
