Politics
UN rights office says Israeli settlement plan breaks international law
- Israeli minister vows project will “bury” idea of Palestinian state.
- UN warns plan will fragment West Bank into isolated enclaves.
- 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in area.
The UN human rights office said on Friday an Israeli plan to build to build thousands of new homes between an Israeli settlement in the West Bank and near East Jerusalem was illegal under international law, and would put nearby Palestinians at risk of forced eviction, which it described as a war crime.
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday vowed to press on a long-delayed settlement project, saying the move would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state.
The UN rights office spokesperson said the plan would break the West Bank into isolated enclaves and that it was “a war crime for an occupying power to transfer its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.
About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, a move not recognised by most countries, but it has not formally extended sovereignty over the West Bank.
Most world powers say settlement expansion erodes the viability of a two-state solution by breaking up territory the Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state.
The two-state plan envisages a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, existing side by side with Israel, which captured all three territories in the 1967 Middle East war.
Israel cites historical and biblical ties to the area and says the settlements provide strategic depth and security, and that the West Bank is “disputed,” not “occupied”.
- Laureate ended week-long hunger strike on Sunday protesting detention.
- She was arrested in Dec for decrying lawyer Khosrow Alikordi’s death.
- Her sentence includes prison time, internal exile, two-year travel ban.
Iranian activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who has been imprisoned repeatedly in her three-decade campaign for women’s rights, was sentenced to a new prison term of 7-1/2 years, a group supporting her said on Sunday.
Mohammadi, 53, was on a week-long hunger strike that ended on Sunday, the Narges Foundation said in a statement. It said Mohammadi told her lawyer, Mostafa Nili, in a phone call on Sunday from prison that she had received her sentence on Saturday.
The Iranian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tehran renewed a crackdown on dissent during nearly three weeks of anti-government protests that started in late December.
Mohammadi was arrested on December 12 after denouncing the suspicious death of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi. Prosecutor Hasan Hematifar told reporters that she made provocative remarks at Alikordi’s memorial ceremony in the northeastern city of Mashhad and encouraged those present “to chant norm‑breaking slogans” and “disturb the peace”.
Mohammadi is being held in a detention centre in Mashhad.
“After weeks of absolute isolation and a total cutoff of communication, she was finally able to describe her situation in a brief phone call with her lawyer,” the foundation said.
Her sentence includes six years imprisonment for assembly
and collusion against national security and 1-1/2 years for propaganda against the government. She was also punished with two years of internal exile in the city of Khusf and a two-year travel ban.
Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 while in prison for her campaign to advance women’s rights and abolish the death penalty in Iran.
- Mandelson damaged party and trust in politics: McSweeney.
- Says “decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong”.
- His resignation comes as ministry reviews Mandelson exit payment.
LONDON: Embattled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff resigned on Sunday over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington despite links to US convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“After careful reflection, I have decided to resign from the government. The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” Morgan McSweeney, Downing Street’s chief of staff, said in a statement.
“I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice,” he added.
The 48-year-old Irishman always maintained a low profile but was dubbed by some as the “most powerful man in politics” having played a key role in Starmer’s emphatic election victory in July 2024.
He is credited with helping to move the Labour Party towards a more centrist policy agenda following leftist ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn’s ill-fated tenure.
He was also said to have been close to Mandelson who previously helped ex-prime minister Tony Blair transform the party and its fortunes in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The resignation came as the foreign ministry said it was reviewing an exit payment to Mandelson, who was sacked by Starmer last September over his friendship with Epstein.
Mandelson, a pivotal figure in British politics and the Labour Party for decades, received an estimated pay-out of between $52,000 to $74,000 after only seven months in the job, according to a report in the Sunday Times.
Documents released on January 30 by the US Justice Department appear to show that Mandelson allegedly leaked confidential UK government information to financier Epstein when he was a British minister, including during the 2008 financial crisis.
The revelation has placed intense pressure on Starmer and triggered a police investigation into Mandelson, 72, for alleged misconduct in a public office.
The Foreign Office said in a statement it had launched a review into Mandelson’s severance payment “in light of further information that has now been revealed and the ongoing police investigation”.
Cabinet minister Pat McFadden earlier insisted Starmer should remain in office despite his “terrible mistake” in appointing Mandelson.
He said the real blame lay “squarely” with Mandelson for putting himself forward for the job despite knowing the extent of his relationship with Epstein.
‘Regrets’
Starmer’s deputy, David Lammy, became the first cabinet minister to appear to distance himself from the premier, according to a report in the Sunday Telegraph.
The deputy prime minister had not been in favour of appointing Mandelson due to his known links to Epstein, the report quoted friends of Lammy as saying.
Starmer’s Labour Party took power just over 18 months ago in a landslide election victory.
But it has been trailing Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant Reform UK as the government has come under fire over immigration, economic growth and the cost of living crisis.
Reform UK has led by double-digit figures in the polls for the past year.
Mandelson, also a former European Union trade commissioner, stood down from parliament’s unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, earlier this week.
The ex-envoy was one of numerous prominent figures further embarrassed by last week’s latest revelations of ties to financier Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while facing charges of alleged sex trafficking.
US officials ruled Epstein’s death a suicide.
A spokesperson for law firm Mishcon de Reya, representing Mandelson, said he “regrets, and will regret until to his dying day, that he believed Epstein’s lies about his criminality”.
“Lord Mandelson did not discover the truth about Epstein until after his death in 2019. He is profoundly sorry that powerless and vulnerable women and girls were not given the protection they deserved,” the law firm said.
Starmer paid tribute to McSweeney in a statement. It was “largely thanks to his dedication, loyalty and leadership that we won a landslide majority”, he said.
“Our party and I owe him a debt of gratitude,” he added.
French authorities have arrested six suspects, including a minor, after a magistrate and her mother were held captive last week for around 30 hours in a cryptocurrency ransom plot, prosecutors said on Sunday.
Four men and one woman were detained, three overnight and two on Sunday morning, Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran told AFP. He later confirmed a minor had been arrested on Sunday afternoon.
The individuals were taken into custody following the discovery of the 35-year-old magistrate and her 67-year-old mother on Friday morning, found injured in a garage in the southeastern Drome region.
Two of those arrested overnight were detained as they attempted to take a bus to Spain, according to a source close to the case speaking on condition of anonymity.
Authorities continue to actively search for further suspects, a second source close to the case said, adding that the woman in custody is the partner of one of the four male suspects.
During a press conference on Friday after the pair’s escape, prosecutor Dran said the magistrate’s partner — who was not home when the two victims were abducted overnight Wednesday to Thursday — has a leading position in a cryptocurrency start-up.
A massive police search involving 160 officers was launched after the magistrate’s partner had received a message and a photo of her from the kidnappers demanding a ransom to be paid in cryptocurrency.
The captors threatened to mutilate the victims if the transfer was not made quickly, Dran told reporters, declining to specify the amount demanded.
But the two women managed to free themselves and call for help without any ransom being paid, by banging on the garage door in Bourg-les-Valence.
“Alerted by the noise, a neighbour intervened. He was able to open the door and allow our two victims to escape,” Dran said.
Crypto-linked kidnappings
French authorities have been dealing with a string of kidnappings and extortion attempts targeting the families of wealthy individuals dealing in cryptocurrencies.
In January 2025, kidnappers seized French crypto boss David Balland and his partner. Balland co-founded a crypto firm called Ledger, valued at the time at more than $1 billion.
Balland’s kidnappers cut off his finger and demanded a hefty ransom. He was freed the next day, and his girlfriend was found tied up in the boot of a car outside Paris.
In May, the father of a man who ran a Malta-based cryptocurrency company was kidnapped by four hooded men in Paris.
The victim, whose finger was also severed by the kidnappers and for whom a ransom of several million euros was demanded, was released 58 hours later in a raid by the security forces.
Energy boss says China’s tech marks ‘golden opportunity’ for UK
Man City’s comeback thriller vs. Liverpool keeps Premier League title race alive
Who’s performing at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2026? Here’s a full list of performers.
-
Tech7 days agoHow to Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics
-
Business7 days agoPost-Budget Session: Bulls Push Sensex Up By Over 900 Points, Nifty Reclaims 25,000
-
Fashion7 days agoCanada could lift GDP 7% by easing internal trade barriers
-
Tech1 week agoI Tested 10 Popular Date-Night Boxes With My Hinge Dates
-
Entertainment7 days agoThe Traitors’ winner Rachel Duffy breaks heart with touching tribute to mum Anne
-
Entertainment2 days agoHow a factory error in China created a viral “crying horse” Lunar New Year trend
-
Sports7 days agoPakistan Shaheens announce squad for T20’s, ODI’s – SUCH TV
-
Business7 days agoInvestors suffer a big blow, Bitcoin price suddenly drops – SUCH TV