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U.S. NEWS Friday 1 February 2019

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Judge awards $300M to family

of journalist killed in Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — A War" was based on her life. journalists were using as a
Washington judge has hit Lawyers for Colvin's fam- home base.
the Syrian government with ily argued that her death "This wasn't a stray shell,"
a $302 million judgment was no accident. They Gilmore said. "The over-
over the 2012 death of jour- hope to recover the $302 whelming weight of the
nalist Marie Colvin, a long- million verdict by targeting evidence concluded that
time foreign correspondent frozen Syrian government this was essentially an as-
for The Sunday Times. assets overseas. The Syrian sassination."
In a verdict unsealed late government has never re- Technically foreign govern-
Wednesday night, U.S. Dis- sponded to the suit. ments are immune from In this May 13, 2013, file photo, the photo of Journalist Marie Col-
trict Court Judge Amy Ber- "The challenge now is going jurisdiction in U.S. courts vin who was killed in Syria while she was reporting from there, is
seen on the wall of the Newseum during the Journalist Memorial
man Jackson concluded to be enforcing the judg- through the Foreign Sover- Re-dedication ceremony of the journalists who died reporting
the Syrian military had ment," said Scott Gilmore, eign Immunities Act. How- the news in 2012 in Washington.
deliberately targeted the lead counsel for the Col- ever, that immunity is lifted Associated Press
makeshift media center vin family. "The precedents for alleged crimes against
in the city of Homs where show that it is possible to re- American citizens by gov- lawsuit after speaking with oritized taking out the jour-
Colvin and other journalists cover assets." ernments classified as a Paul Conroy, a photogra- nalists."
were working. Sustained ar- Gilmore said one of the "state sponsor of terrorism." pher who was working with Colvin said she doesn't
tillery barrages against the main challenges of the Washington Post reporter Marie Colvin and was in- know if the suit will ever
apartment building hous- lawsuit was to prove that Jason Rezaian is using a jured in the same shelling. succeed in retrieving any
ing the media center killed Colvin's death wasn't similar approach to sue the Conroy, a veteran of the of that $302 million. But she
Colvin and French photog- caused by standard "fog of Iranian government, which British Army's Royal Artillery, hopes it will at least be a
rapher Remi Ochlik on Feb. war" battlefield confusion. jailed him for more than 500 told her the media center long-term inconvenience
22, 2012. The suit used a mixture of days on espionage charg- wasn't hit by haphazard and embarrassment to
Colvin, who had covered eyewitness accounts, tes- es. shelling but by "bracket- President Bashar Assad's
conflicts around the world timony from defectors and Colvin's sister, Cathleen, ing," a recognized artillery government.
for the British newspaper, recovered internal Syrian said she had initially as- technique used to home in "I don't have any illusions
wore a signature black government documents sumed Marie's death was on a specific target. that this will have any ef-
patch over her left eye af- to prove the Syrian military a tragic accident, the kind "It was part of the govern- fect on Assad's life," she
ter being blinded by a gre- had spent days trying to lo- that could happen to any ment's strategy in putting said. "Hopefully, this will be
nade in Sri Lanka in 2001. cate the apartment build- journalist in a war zone. down the uprising," Cath- some sort of thorn in his side
The 2018 film "A Private ing that Colvin and several She decided to pursue a leen Colvin said. "They pri- for decades."q

Silicon Valley eatery bans 'Make America Great Again' hats

SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) — the San Francisco Chroni- ence." He declined further
Patrons won't be served at cle reported Thursday. comment to the newspa-
a Silicon Valley restaurant if The tweet was no longer per, saying that his restau-
they wear a "Make Ameri- available Thursday. But the rant has received threat-
ca Great Again" baseball newspaper reported it had ening emails following the
cap. more than 2,100 likes and tweet. San Mateo resident
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, a chef- more than 200 retweets as Jamie Hwang, 42, told the
partner of the Wursthall res- of Wednesday afternoon. newspaper she has mixed
taurant in San Mateo, Cali- The red hats, which are feelings about the ban,
fornia, said in a tweet last sold on President Donald saying that San Mateo is di-
weekend that he views the Trump's campaign web- verse and members of her
hats as symbols of intoler- site, have become polariz- family support Trump.
ance and hate. ing. The hats were worn by "I see where he's coming
"It hasn't happened yet, but some Kentucky high school from, but I don't think you
if you come to my restau- students involved in a Jan. should just keep people out
rant wearing a MAGA cap, 18 confrontation with a Na- because of a hat," Hwang
you aren't getting served, tive American elder near said. Her dining companion
same as if you come in the Lincoln Memorial. Esther Shek, 39, said she be-
wearing a swastika, white Lopez-Alt wrote the 2015 lieved the hats had "come
hood, or any other symbol book "The Food Lab: Better to represent racism, intoler-
of intolerance and hate," Home Cooking Through Sci- ance, exclusivity." q