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Author: AFP

  • Arab states tell UN court Israeli occupation is ‘affront to justice’

    Arab states tell UN court Israeli occupation is ‘affront to justice’

    The League of Arab States on Monday called Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories an “affront to international justice”, saying failure to end it amounted to “genocide”.

    The International Court of Justice entered its last day of week-long hearings after a request from the United Nations, with an unprecedented 52 countries giving their views on Israel’s occupation.

    “This prolonged occupation is an affront to international justice,” the 22 Arab-country bloc’s representative told judges in The Hague.

    “The failure to bring it to an end has led to the current horrors perpetrated against the Palestinian people, amounting to genocide,” Abdel Hakim El-Rifai said, reading a written statement.

    Most speakers during the hearings have demanded that Israel end its occupation, which came after a six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967.

    But last week the United States said Israel should not be legally obliged to withdraw without taking its “very real security needs” into account.

    Speakers on Monday warned a prolonged occupation posed an “extreme danger” to stability in the Middle East and beyond.

    “If left unchecked, it runs the risk of not only threatening regional, but also global peace and security,” Turkey’s representative Ahmet Yildiz said.

    Zambia’s representative however told judges that both sides had a duty to negotiate a peaceful settlement.

    “Both Israel and Palestine have a duty to respect international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” Marshal Mubambe Muchende said.

    He said any settlement of the conflict should not be “one that puts the blame squarely on one party, but rather one that advances a negotiated solution which culminates in a two-state solution”.

    ‘Prejudicial’

    The UN has asked the ICJ to hand down an “advisory opinion” on the “legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”.

    The court will probably deliver its opinion before the end of the year but it is not binding on anyone.

    Israel is not taking part in the oral hearings. It submitted a written contribution, in which it described the questions the court had been asked as “prejudicial” and “tendentious”.

    The hearings began a week ago with three hours of testimony from Palestinian officials, who accused the Israeli occupiers of running a system of “colonialism and apartheid”.

    The case before the court is separate from one brought by South Africa against Israel for alleged genocide during its current offensive in Gaza.

    In that case, the ICJ ruled that Israel should do everything in its power to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and allow in humanitarian aid.

    Israeli’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 29,782 people, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • Attack on mosque in Burkina Faso kills dozens during fajar

    Attack on mosque in Burkina Faso kills dozens during fajar

    An attack on a mosque in eastern Burkina Faso has killed dozens of Muslims on the same day as another deadly attack on Catholics attending mass, local and security sources told AFP on Monday.

    “Armed individuals attacked a mosque in Natiaboani on Sunday around 5:00 am, resulting in several dozen being killed,” a security source said.

    “The victims were all Muslims, most of them men” who had come for morning prayers, a local resident said by telephone.

    Another local source said “The terrorists entered the town early morning. They surrounded the mosque and shot at the faithful, who were gathered there for the first prayer of the day.”

    “Several of them were shot, including an important religious leader,” the source added.

    Soldiers and members of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP), a civilian force that supports the military, were also targeted “by these hordes who came in large numbers”, the same source said.

    The source described it as a “large-scale attack” in terms of the number of assailants, who also wreaked substantial damage.

    Natiaboani is a rural community about 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of Fada N’Gourma, the main town in Burkina’s eastern region, which has seen regular attacks by armed groups since 2018.

    On the same day as the attack on the mosque, at least 15 civilians were killed and two others injured during an attack on a Catholic church during Sunday mass in northern Burkina Faso, a senior church official said.

    Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, vicar of the Dori diocese, said in a statement that the “terrorist attack” occurred in the village of Essakane while people were gathered for Sunday prayer.

    Essakane village is in what is known as the “three borders” zone in the northeast of the country, near the common borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

  • West Bank government submits resignation to President Abbas

    West Bank government submits resignation to President Abbas

    The Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, says he has submitted his government’s resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas.

    Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Monday that he had handed his West Bank government’s resignation to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

    Shtayyeh added that he resigned last Tuesday but handed in the written resignation on Monday.

    What the Palestinian prime minister said

    “I submit the government’s resignation to Mr. President,” Shtayyeh said. He added that it came in the wake of the “developments related to the aggression against the Gaza Strip and the escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”

    Shtayyeh said he was resigning to allow Palestinians to form a broad consensus among Palestinians about political arrangements amid Israel’s war against Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, in Gaza.

    The US has been pressuring Abbas to shake up the Palestinian Authority, which rules parts of the occupied West Bank. This comes amid international efforts to stop the war and work toward a political structure to govern Gaza afterward.

    Abbas has yet to accept the resignation, and he may ask the Palestinian prime minister to stay in the role until a replacement is found.

    In a statement to the Cabinet, Shtayyeh said the next stage would “require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks, and the urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus.”

    He added that “the extension of the [Palestinian] Authority’s authority over the entire land, Palestine,” is another requirement.

    The Palestinian Authority lost control over the Gaza Strip following a struggle with Hamas in 2007. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States, and Israel.

  • Yemen Announces First Civilian Death In US-UK Strikes

    Yemen Announces First Civilian Death In US-UK Strikes

    Yemen’s Houthis have reported the first civilian death in US and British air strikes after the latest round of joint raids over the weekend.

    One person was killed and eight wounded, the Houthi’ official news agency said late on Sunday, a day after US and British forces said they fired on 18 targets across the country.

    The US-British strikes were in response to dozens of Houthi drone and missile attacks on Red Sea shipping since November, which the group says are in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war.

    “The American-British aggression on the district of Maqbana in the governorate of Taiz has left one civilian dead and eight wounded,” the Houthi’ Saba agency said, citing a statement from the health ministry.

    The Houthi have previously reported the death of 17 of their fighters in the Western strikes targeting military facilities.

    The Houthi attacks have had a significant effect on traffic through the busy Red Sea route, forcing some companies into a two-week detour around southern Africa. Last week, Egypt said Suez Canal revenues were down by up to 50 percent this year.

    Washington, Israel’s vital ally, gathered an international coalition in December to protect Red Sea traffic. It has launched several rounds of strikes as well as four joint raids with Britain, which began last month.

    The Houthi initially said they were targeting Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea and adjoining Gulf of Aden, but then declared that US and British interests were also “legitimate” targets.

    © Agence France-Presse

  • WTO launches $50m fund for female entrepreneurs in developing world

    WTO launches $50m fund for female entrepreneurs in developing world

    The director general of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Sunday launched a $50 million fund to help female entrepeneurs in developing countries to export more using the opportunities offered by the digital economy.

    The announcement came ahead of the 13th ministerial conference of the WTO which opens on February 29 in the United Arab Emirates.

    Okonjo-Iweala, speaking alongside the Emirati Minster of State for Foreign Trade Thani al-Zeyoudi, said the “ground-breaking initiative… embodies our collective commitment to empower women”.

    “We need catalytic solutions to solve the financing issue that women face,” she added.

    The fund will help businesses run by women in developing countries to adopt digital technologies and increase their online presence.

    Zeyoudi said his country would contribute $5 million to the fund, adding “this initiative allows us to celebrate the invaluable contribution of women entrepreneurs and women led businesses around the world and to recognise the critical role they play in driving economic growth”.

    “While women are one half the world’s population, they only contribute 37 percent to the global GDP,” he said.

    Also at the announcement was Saudi Arabian Minister of Commerce Majid al-Kasabi, who called it a “milestone” and said his country was “dedicated” to supporting female empowerment.

    Okonjo-Iweala said that in meeting female entrepeneurs, “a common refrain among them is the need for adequate financing to scale their businesses and to tap into the vast opportunities of global trade”.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • Israeli military proposes ‘plan for evacuating’ Gaza civilians

    Israeli military proposes ‘plan for evacuating’ Gaza civilians

    Palestinian Territories – Israel’s military proposed a plan for evacuating civilians from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Monday, after he said a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory’s southern city Rafah was necessary for “total victory”.

    Foreign governments and aid organisations have repeatedly expressed fears that such an operation will inflict mass civilian casualties.

    More than 1.4 million Palestinians – most of them displaced from elsewhere – have converged on the last Gazan city untouched by Israel’s ground troops.

    It is also the entry point for desperately needed aid, brought in via neighbouring Egypt.

    Israel’s military “presented the War Cabinet with a plan for evacuating the population from areas of fighting in the Gaza Strip, and with the upcoming operational plan”, a statement in Hebrew from Netayahu’s office said Monday.

    The statement did not give any details about how or where the civilians would be moved.

    The announcement comes after Egyptian, Qatari and US “experts” met in Doha for talks also attended by Israeli and Hamas representatives, state-linked Egyptian media reported, the latest effort to secure a truce before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

    Israel’s ally the United States said ongoing mediation efforts produced “an understanding” towards a ceasefire and hostage release, while a Hamas source said the group insisted on the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

    But Netanyahu – who has dismissed the withdrawal demand as “delusional” – said a ground invasion of Rafah would put Israel within weeks of “total victory” over Hamas.

    “If we have a (truce) deal, it will be delayed somewhat, but it will happen,” he said of the ground invasion in an interview with CBS Sunday.

    “It has to be done because total victory is our goal and total victory is within reach — not months away, weeks away, once we begin the operation.”

    Amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis, the main UN aid agency for Palestinians urged political action to avert famine in Gaza.

    Dire food shortages in northern Gaza are “a man-made disaster” that can be mitigated, said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

    “Famine can still be avoided through genuine political will to grant access and protection to meaningful assistance.”

    The UN has said it faces restrictions, particularly on aid deliveries to northern Gaza.

    ‘No aid’

    Nearly five months into the war, desperate families in Gaza’s north have been forced to scavenge for something to eat.

    “We have no food or drink for ourselves or our children,” Omar al-Kahlout told AFP, as he waited near Gaza City for aid trucks to arrive.

    “We are trapped in the north and there is no aid reaching us — the situation is extremely difficult.”

    Hundreds of Palestinians headed south whichever way they could, walking down garbage-strewn roads between the blackened shells of bombed-out buildings, said an AFP correspondent.

    Israeli forces continued striking targets across the Palestinian territory and battling militants in heavy urban combat centred on the southern city of Khan Yunis, near Rafah.

    The Israeli military campaign has killed at least 29,692 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

    The war broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented attack, which killed about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

    ‘Expanding the conflict’

    Mediators have voiced hope that a temporary truce and a hostage-prisoner exchange can be secured before the start of Ramadan on March 10 or 11, depending on the lunar calendar.

    Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned fighting during the holy month “will increase the threat of expanding the conflict”, according to a royal statement.

    Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, whose country hosts Hamas leaders and had helped broker a one-week truce in November, is due in Paris this week, the French presidency said.

    Media reports suggest the warring parties are weighing a six-week halt to fighting and the initial exchange of dozens of female, underage and ill hostages for several hundred Palestinian detainees held by Israel.

    Hezbollah threat

    Across from overcrowded Rafah, neighbouring Egypt has kept its border closed, saying it will not help facilitate any operation to push Palestinians out of Gaza.

    But satellite images show it has built a walled enclosure next to Gaza, in an apparent effort to brace for the possible arrival of large numbers of refugees.

    Inside Israel, pressure has grown on Netanyahu from families of hostages demanding swifter action, and resurgent anti-government protests.

    Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said there would be no let-up in action against Hamas’s powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah, whose militants have traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces since early October.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • Israel to discuss ‘next steps’ in Gaza truce talks

    Israel to discuss ‘next steps’ in Gaza truce talks

    Palestinian Territories – Israel sounded a positive note Saturday on efforts to broker a new hostage release and ceasefire deal in its war on Gaza, as concern deepened over the growing humanitarian crisis in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

    As aid agencies warned of unprecedented levels of desperation and looming famine, dozens more Gazans were killed in Israeli strikes, the health ministry said.

    An Israeli delegation led by Mossad intelligence agency chief David Barnea travelled to Paris for a fresh push towards a deal over a ceasefire.

    National security advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel’s war cabinet would meet later Saturday to hear an update after the delegation returned from the talks with mediators.

    “There is probably room to move towards an agreement,” Hanegbi told N12 News television in an interview, without elaborating.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Saturday’s meeting would discuss the “next steps in the negotiations”.

    As with a previous week-long truce in November that saw more than 100 hostages freed, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been spearheading efforts to secure a deal.

    White House envoy Brett McGurk held talks this week with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, after speaking to other mediators in Cairo who had met Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.

    As civilians in the besieged territory struggled to get food and supplies, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees warned Gazans were “in extreme peril while the world watches”.

    In northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, bedraggled children held plastic containers and battered cooking pots for what little food was available.

    – ‘Unprecedented desperation’ –

    Food is running out, with aid agencies unable to get into the area because of the bombing, while the trucks that do try to get through face frenzied looting.

    Residents have taken to eating scavenged scraps of rotten corn, animal fodder unfit for human consumption and even leaves.

    The World Food Programme said this week its teams reported “unprecedented levels of desperation” while the United Nations warned that 2.2 million people were on the brink of famine.

    The health ministry said on Saturday that a two-month-old baby identified as Mahmud Fatuh had died of “malnutrition” in Gaza City.

    Save the Children said the risk of famine would continue to “increase as long as the government of Israel continues to impede the entry of aid into Gaza”.

    Israel has defended its track record on allowing aid into Gaza, saying that 13,000 trucks carrying relief supplies had entered the territory since the start of the war.

    With tempers rising dozens of people in the Jabalia camp on Friday held an impromptu protest.

    “We didn’t die from air strikes but we are dying from hunger,” read a sign held by one child.

    ‘Bring them back’

    Following October 7 attack, Hamas took hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 30 presumed dead, according to Israel.

    Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 29,606 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest tally from Gaza’s health ministry.

    Pressure has mounted on Netanyahu’s government to negotiate a ceasefire and secure the release of the hostages.

    A group representing their families held a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening to demand swifter action.

    “We keep telling you: bring them back to us! And no matter how,” said Avivit Yablonka, 45, whose sister Hanan was captured on October 7.

    Hamas said Saturday that Israeli forces launched more than 70 strikes on civilian homes in Gazan cities including Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis and Rafah over the previous 24 hours.

    The health ministry said at least 92 people were killed.

    More Rafah strikes

    An AFP reporter in Rafah said there had been at least six air strikes on the city on Saturday evening.

    At Najjar hospital in the city, AFP saw bodies carried from ambulances and placed in the courtyard of the hospital in body bags, while relatives grieved nearby.

    Inside the hospital, medics treated several wounded men who were laid out on the floor, one with his head wrapped in bandages.

    In Khan Yunis, which has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks, Israel’s military said it was “intensifying the operations” using tanks, close-range fire and aircraft.

    “The soldiers raided the residence of a senior military intelligence operative” in the area, a military statement said.

    With war still raging after more than four months, Netanyahu unveiled a plan for post-war Gaza this week which envisages civil affairs being run by Palestinian officials without links to Hamas.

    It also says Israel will continue with the establishment of a security buffer zone inside Gaza along the territory’s border.

    The plan has been rejected by both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

    Israel’s key ally the United States said it did not support a “reoccupation” or a “reduction of the size of Gaza”, and said “Palestinian people should have a voice and a vote… through a revitalised Palestinian Authority”.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • Canadian sentenced to life in prison for ‘terrorist’ murders of Muslim family

    Canadian sentenced to life in prison for ‘terrorist’ murders of Muslim family

    A white supremacist committed terrorism when he ran down a Muslim family out for an evening stroll, a Canadian judge said Thursday as she sentenced him to life in prison for the murders.

    The ruling is the first in Canada to make a link between white supremacy and terrorism in a murder case.

    Nathaniel Veltman, 23, was convicted in November of four counts of first degree or premeditated murder, and one count of attempted murder in the killing of three generations of the Afzaal family that also left a young boy orphaned.

    He acknowledged striking the family with his pickup truck in June 2021 in London, Ontario.

    The prosecution argued at trial that he sought to intimidate and terrorize Muslims, while the defense said he’d suffered a mental decline — which did not, however, meet the requirements for an insanity plea.

    His lawyers also said he was in “a state of extreme confusion” after consuming hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms that weekend.

    Judge Renee Pomerance of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice at his sentencing said Veltman “had planned a murderous rampage for months and took steps to ensure that he would kill as many Muslims in this brutal manner as he could.”

    Recalling Veltman’s statements to police, she said: “He wanted to intimidate the Muslim community. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of other mass killers, and he wanted to inspire others to commit murderous acts.”

    “I find that the offender’s actions constitute terrorist activity,” she concluded.

    The jury in the almost 10-week trial heard Veltman had penned a “terrorist manifesto,” found on his computer, in which he espoused white nationalism and described his hate for Muslims.

    The judge noted that he wore “combat gear” including a helmet and bulletproof vest during the attack.

    Veltman passed the Afzaal family on a London street on that warm Sunday evening, turned his newly purchased truck with a heavy grill guard around, jumped the curb and slammed into them.

    Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, their 15-year-old daughter Yumnah and her grandmother Talat Afzaal, 74, were killed. A nine-year-old boy orphaned in the ramming suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

    The slaying was the deadliest anti-Muslim attack in Canada since a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City in 2017 that left six dead. The perpetrator of that shooting was not accused of terrorism.

  • Islamophobia Soared In UK With Israeli Genocide in Gaza

    Islamophobia Soared In UK With Israeli Genocide in Gaza

    Anti-Muslim hate incidents in the UK more than tripled following the Israeli genocide in Gaza, a monitoring group said Thursday.

    Tell MAMA recorded 2,010 such cases in the four months since Hamas’s attack against Israel on October 7 which resulted in intensified Israel bombarding Gaza.

    That was the largest recorded number of cases in a four-month period, said a statement from the organisation, which was set up to monitor and report such incidents.

    The latest figures were up from 600 incidents over the same period in 2022-2023, a rise of 335 percent.

    “We are deeply concerned about the impacts that the Israel and Gaza war are having on hate crimes and on social cohesion in the UK,” said Tell MAMA director Iman Atta.

    “This rise in anti-Muslim hate is unacceptable and we hope that political leaders speak out to send a clear message that anti-Muslim hate, like anti-Semitism, is unacceptable in our country.”

    Tell MAMA said that 901 cases occurred offline while 1,109 were online. Most of the offline incidents took place in the British capital London, it added.

    They included abusive behaviour, threats, assaults, vandalism, discrimination, hate speech and anti-Muslim literature.

    Women were the target in 65 percent of cases, the group said.

    Earlier this month, a Jewish charity reported that anti-Semitic incidents in Britain hit record levels last year, with a surge after Hamas’s attack.

    The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors anti-Semitism in Britain, recorded 4,103 “anti-Jewish hate incidents” in 2023, its highest annual tally since it began counting them in 1984.

    That represented a 147-percent increase on the 1,662 incidents recorded in 2022.

    Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza and sustained military campaign has killed at least 29,410 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest health ministry figures.

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    The Barron’s news department was not involved in the creation of the content above. This article was produced by AFP. For more information go to AFP.com.
    © Agence France-Presse

  • ‘Oppenheimer’ dominates BAFTAs in major Oscars boost

    ‘Oppenheimer’ dominates BAFTAs in major Oscars boost

    “Oppenheimer”, Christopher Nolan’s epic movie about the creation of the atomic bomb, swept the board at Sunday’s BAFTA film awards in London, delivering a serious statement ahead of next month’s Oscars.

    The movie earned seven awards in total, including best film, best director for Nolan, best actor for Cillian Murphy and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr.

    In the film, Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the US theoretical physicist often called the “father of the atomic bomb” who was haunted by the consequences of his creation.

    The film has grossed more than $1 billion, already won big at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards and is now the clear frontrunner for Oscars glory.

    It was Murphy’s first BAFTA, and he thanked Nolan for “seeing something in me I probably didn’t see myself” when collecting the award at the ceremony in London’s Royal Festival Hall.

    He later told reporters the success was “mind-blowing”, adding he was “thrilled and a little shocked”.

    Despite boasting numerous commercial successes such as “Inception” and “The Dark Knight”, Nolan had never won the best director BAFTA before.

    It was Downey Jr’s second BAFTA, having won the best actor gong 31 years ago for playing Charlie Chaplin.

    On accepting the award, the US star joked that Nolan advised he attempt an understated approach to the role of Lewis Strauss, a member of the US Atomic Energy Commission, in order to restore “my dwindling credibility”.

    ‘Poor things’ wins five

    It was also a good night for surreal dark comedy “Poor Things”, which won five awards including best actress for Emma Stone, who also won the gong in 2017 for “La La Land”.

    In the film, Stone plays a Victorian reanimated corpse brought back to life with the spirit of a child by a mad scientist in a female “Frankenstein” story.

    The US actress has already scooped Golden Globe and Critics Choice best actress awards for her no-holds-barred performance.

    She beat off competition from “Barbie” star Margot Robbie, with both earlier hitting the red carpet along with fellow Hollywood heavyweights Carey Mulligan and Bradley Cooper.

    Britain’s royal family was represented at the ceremony, hosted by Scottish actor David Tennant, by Prince William in his capacity as BAFTA president.

    It was his most important engagement since returning to duties following his wife Catherine’s abdominal operation, and news of his father King Charles III’s cancer diagnosis.

    William saw US actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph pick up the best supporting actress award for her role in 1970s-set prep school comedy “The Holdovers”.

    Randolph raised a laugh when she turned to UK actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who gave her the award, and told him: “You are so handsome. I was hoping you were going to be here and woah. Worth it.”

    ‘Barbenheimer’

    In the best film category, “Oppenheimer” won out ahead of French courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall”, “The Holdovers” and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”.

    Both Scorsese and his historical epic’s leading man Leonardo DiCaprio missed out on individual BAFTA nods but the movie amassed nine nominations in total, including for best film.

    Cooper’s biopic about US conductor Leonard Bernstein was also nominated for original screenplay (shared with screenwriter Josh Singer) and best actor. However, “The Hangover” star left the ceremony empty-handed.

    The BAFTA shortlist was another disappointment for “Barbie” — the other half of last summer’s “Barbenheimer” box office phenomenon — which only managed five nominations.

    Greta Gerwig’s film, which turned nostalgia for the beloved doll into a sharp satire about misogyny and female empowerment, has so far failed to capture the number of top prizes expected of it this awards season.

    Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing “The Zone of Interest”, about a Nazi concentration camp commander and his family living next to Auschwitz, took home three awards including best British film, best film not in the English language and best sound.

    “The Boy and the Heron” by celebrated Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki won best animated film.