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For Immediate Release
June, 30 2016, 02:00pm EDT
Contact:
Margaux Ewen
Advocacy and Communications Officer
(202) 879-9295
mewen@rsf.org
RSF Deplores Jail Terms for LuxLeaks Whistleblower
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) regrets that a Luxembourg court took the disturbing decision to impose suspended jail sentences on Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet, the two French whistleblowers who exposed Luxembourg's gigantic system of tax avoidance for multinationals.
WASHINGTON
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) regrets that a Luxembourg court took the disturbing decision to impose suspended jail sentences on Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet, the two French whistleblowers who exposed Luxembourg's gigantic system of tax avoidance for multinationals.
Even if the length of the jail terms passed yesterday on Deltour and Halet, former employees of the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, were slightly less than those requested by the prosecutors, whistleblowers will see the sentences as an intimidatory signal.
Deltour was given a suspended sentence of 12 months in prison, while Halet got a suspended sentence of nine months. The court acquitted Edouard Perrin, the French journalist with the France Televisions programme Cash Investigation who was the first to report what they had leaked.
"The information revealed by the LuxLeaks case was of vital importance and was clearly in the public interest," said Pauline Ades-Mevel, the head of RSF's Europe desk. "This decision is disturbing because it penalizes those who wanted to serve this interest".
"The trade secrets directive adopted by the European Parliament on April 14 refers to article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which upholds the 'freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority.' The directive also guarantees protection for whistleblowers who reveal 'misconduct, wrongdoing or illegal activity.' RSF regrets that the Luxembourg court did not follow its lead."
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Advocates Demand 'Immediate Ceasefire' in War-Torn Sudan as Famine Spreads to 2 More Regions
About 375,000 people have been pushed into famine after 30 months of civil war, said the world's top hunger monitor.
Nov 03, 2025
The world's top authority on hunger said Monday that a ceasefire in Sudan is needed to "contain the extreme levels of acute food insecurity and acute malnutrition" that have taken hold in the war-ravaged African country as it declared famine has spread to two regions there.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a United Nations-backed partnership, said it has detected famine in el-Fasher, the city in North Darfur State that the government's former allied militia, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), seized last week, and Kadugli town in South Kordofan.
The IPC said at least 20 other areas in Darfur and Kordofan are at risk of famine, but fighting between the RSF and Sudanese government forces has impeded the group's assessments in places like the besieged town of Dilling, where the situation is likely "similar" to that of Kadugli.
"Urgent steps should be taken to allow full humanitarian access and assessment in this area," said the IPC.
In the towns where experts have been able to take stock of the humanitarian disaster—now one of the worst in the world, according to the United Nations—hundreds of thousands of people are facing “a total collapse of livelihoods, starvation, extremely high levels of malnutrition, and death.”
The IPC, which rates hunger on a scale of 1-5, determines that famine has taken hold in places where malnutrition has caused at least two deaths per 10,000 people, or four deaths per 10,000 children under the age of 5; at least 1 in 5 households severely lack food; and at least 30% of children have been found to suffer from acute malnutrition.
In the two regions included in the IPC report Monday, about 375,000 people have been pushed into famine (IPC Phase 5), and another 6.3 million people across the country face are in IPC Phase 4, classified as an "emergency" hunger crisis.
More than 21 million people face acute levels of food insecurity.
Towns near el-Fasher are also at risk of famine, including Tawila, Melit, and Tawisha.
Food supplies have been largely cut off in el-Fasher over the last 18 months as it has been under siege by the RSF, which killed more than 1,500 people in massacres last week as it took over the city.
Nearly 10 million people have been internally displaced by the civil war—the world's largest displacement crisis—with many sheltering in overcrowded public buildings with inadequate access to food as well as sanitation.
More than 19 million people in Sudan are expected to experience acute food insecurity by January 2026 as humanitarian aid groups continue to be blocked from getting supplies to starving households and harvests in Darfur and Kordofan are expected to be "well below average due to insecurity, despite favorable agroclimatic conditions."
Food prices are also expected to remain high and ultimately rise in the first half of next year as stocks decline.
"An immediate ceasefire and humanitarian access are a must to prevent further deterioration and save lives!" said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization.
The IPC said only 21% of people in need currently have access to humanitarian aid, and in Kadugli, the aid group Save the Children said that its food supplies ran out in September as fighting there escalated.
Tens of thousands of people in the town are trapped there as the RSF—which is backed by the United Arab Emirates, whose government has received military support from the US—tries to seize more territory.
The IPC previously declared famine in three refugee camps near el-Fasher and in part of South and West Kordofan provinces, since fighting began in April 2023.
The UN has estimated more than 40,000 people have been killed, but aid groups warn the true death toll is likely much higher.
The International Court of Justice said Monday that it is "taking immediate steps regarding the alleged crimes in el-Fasher to preserve and collect relevant evidence for its use in future prosecutions."
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Mamdani Taunts Cuomo For Getting Last-Minute Trump Endorsement as NYC Early Voting Breaks Record
The final days of early voting saw a surge in youth turnout, according to numbers released by the NYC Board of Elections.
Nov 03, 2025
Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Monday taunted top rival Andrew Cuomo for receiving a decidedly backhanded endorsement from President Donald Trump.
During an interview on CBS News' "60 Minutes" that aired on Sunday, Trump criticized both Cuomo and Mamdani, but said that he would pick the former New York governor to be New York City's next mayor if forced to choose.
“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other," the president said. "But if it's gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you."
Trump again says that he prefers that Cuomo wins the NYC mayoral race.
“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you.”pic.twitter.com/pGpdMSvotf
— bryan metzger (@metzgov) November 3, 2025
Mamdani, a Democratic state Assembly member who has represented District 36 since 2021, immediately pounced on Trump's remarks and sarcastically congratulated his rival for winning the endorsement of a president who is deeply unpopular in New York City.
"Congratulations, Andrew Cuomo!" he wrote in a social media post. "I know how hard you worked for this."
A leaked audio recording from a Cuomo fundraiser in the Hamptons in August included comments from the former governor about help he expected to receive from Trump as he ran as an independent in the mayoral race, following his loss to Mamdani in the Democratic primary. Cuomo and Trump have reportedly spoken about the race.
The former governor has also suggested that protests against Trump's deployment of federal immigration agents are an "overreaction," and has declined to forcefully condemn the president's weaponization of the justice system against his political opponents.
The New York City mayoral election will conclude on Tuesday night, and polls currently show Mamdani with a commanding lead over Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that New Yorkers cast 735,000 early ballots this year, which the paper notes is "the highest early in-person turnout ever for a non-presidential election in New York."
The Times also noted that more than 150,000 early ballots were cast on the final day of early voting, driven by a surge in young voters flocking to the polls.
"Turnout among younger age groups lagged early in the week, with about 80,000 people under 35 voting from Sunday to Thursday," the Times explained. "That number jumped from Friday to Sunday, with over 100,000 voters under the age of 35 casting ballots, including more than 45,000 on Sunday."
Laura Tamman, a political scientist at Pace University, told Gothamist on Monday that the surge in youth turnout in the last days of early voting was a "meaningful shift," and likely good news for Mamdani's chances on Tuesday.
In the closing days of the campaign, Cuomo has been accused of employing racist tactics as he has tried portraying Mamdani as an outsider who does not share New York's cultural values, and he pointed to the fact that Mamdani has dual citizenship with the US and Uganda as evidence.
“His parents own a mansion in Uganda, he spent a lot of time there,” Cuomo said during an interview on Fox Business. “He just doesn’t understand the New York culture, the New York values, what 9/11 meant, what entrepreneurial growth means, what opportunity means, why people came here.”
Cuomo also appeared to agree with a recent comment from radio host Sid Rosenberg, who said Mamdani would "be cheering" if "another 9/11" took place.
“This is Andrew Cuomo’a final moments in public life," said Mamdani in response to the remark, "and he’s choosing to spend them making racist attacks.”
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10 Richest Americans Have Gained $700 Billion in Wealth Since Trump Reelection
"The new American oligarchy is here," said the CEO of Oxfam America. "Billionaires and mega-corporations are booming while working families struggle to afford housing, healthcare, and groceries."
Nov 03, 2025
New research published Monday shows that the 10 richest people in the United States have seen their collective fortune grow by nearly $700 billion since President Donald Trump secured a second term in the White House and rushed to deliver more wealth to the top in the form of tax cuts.
The billionaire wealth surge that has accompanied Trump's return to power is part of a decades-long, policy-driven trend of upward redistribution that has enriched the very few and devastated the working class, Oxfam America details in Unequal: The Rise of a New American Oligarchy and the Agenda We Need.
Between 1989 and 2022, the report shows, the least rich US household in the top 1% gained 987 times more wealth than the richest household in the bottom 20%.
As of last year, more than 40% of the US population was considered poor or low-income, Oxfam observed. In 2025, the share of total US assets owned by the wealthiest 0.1% reached its highest level on record: 12.6%.
The Trump administration—in partnership with Republicans in Congress—has added rocket fuel to the nation's out-of-control inequality, moving "with staggering speed and scale to carry out a relentless attack on working-class families" while using "the power of the office to enrich the wealthy and well-connected," Oxfam's new report states.
"The data confirms what people across our nation already know instinctively: The new American oligarchy is here," said Abby Maxman, president and CEO of Oxfam America. "Billionaires and mega-corporations are booming while working families struggle to afford housing, healthcare, and groceries."
"Now, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress risk turbocharging that inequality as they wage a relentless attack on working people and bargain with livelihoods during the government shutdown," Maxman added. "But what they're doing isn't new. It's doubling down on decades of regressive policy choices. What's different is how much undemocratic power they've now amassed."
"Today, we are seeing the dark extremes of choosing inequality for 50 years."
Oxfam released its report as the Trump administration continued to illegally withhold federal nutrition assistance from tens of millions of low-income US households just months after enacting a budget law that's expected to deliver hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to ultra-rich Americans and large corporations.
Given the severity of US inequality and ongoing Trump-GOP efforts to make it worse, Oxfam stressed that a bold agenda "that focuses on rebalancing power" will be necessary to reverse course.
Such an agenda would include—but not be limited to—a wealth tax on multimillionaires and billionaires, a higher corporate tax rate, a permanently expanded child tax credit, strong antitrust policy that breaks up corporate monopolies, a federal job guarantee, universal childcare, and a substantially higher minimum wage.
"Today, we are seeing the dark extremes of choosing inequality for 50 years," Elizabeth Wilkins, president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, wrote in her foreword to the report. "The policy priorities in this report—rebalancing power, unrigging the tax code, reimagining the social safety net, and supporting workers' rights—are all essential to creating that more inclusive and cohesive society. Together, they speak to our deepest needs as human beings: to live with security and agency, to live free from exploitation."
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