News of the World

[kyonides]

MIDDLE EAST

Trump to hold first Board of Peace meeting this month as it seeks to rebuild decimated Gaza

President Trump’s Board of Peace organization plans to hold its first session in Washington this month as it prepares to ask the world for an influx of cash to help rebuild the war-torn Gaza Strip.

The much-hyped international organization, consisting of as many as 30-member countries, will have its first official working meeting on Feb. 19 as it begins fundraising for the reconstruction of the besieged Palestinian enclave, the Times of Israel reported.

The meeting will coincide with the start of the Muslim holiday Ramadan, which may complicate plans for Arab countries to attend, as possible donors may have to stay home.

Eight Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar accepted Trump’s invitation to serve on the board.

Some countries, such as France and Ukraine, declined to participate due to Russia’s inclusion on the board and concerns that the body could undermine the UN.

Hungary’s President Victor Orban, a longtime Trump ally, said he plans to attend the event, according to the outlet.

“I got an invitation: two weeks from now we will meet again (with the US president) in Washington, because the Board of Peace, the peace body, will have an inaugural meeting,” Orban reportedly said.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said his country would not join the organization because Italy’s constitution prohibits it from joining an international organization headed by a single foreign leader, according to ASNS.

The Board of Peace’s charter named Trump the chairman indefinitely.

The board was unveiled by the US president last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos — alongside representatives from 20 other countries — and envisioned to oversee post-war Gaza Strip as outlined in the US-brokered cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that the Board of Peace could be Trump’s next project after he completes his second term in January 2029.

Trump says US held ‘very good talks with Iran’ as Islamic Republic ratchets up rhetoric

The US and Iran will meet again “early next week” after President Trump said the two sides held “very good talks” in Oman, even though the risk of armed conflict remains high as both country’s continue to trade warnings.

“We likewise had very good talks on Iran, Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly … we’re going to meet again early next week,” Trump painted a rosy picture to reporters aboard Air Force One Friday.

The US has called on Iran to curb its ballistic missile stockpile and halt its support for terrorist proxies in the region.

But Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi slapped down talk of progress, telling state media Saturday that Tehran would not negotiate on any other issue aside from its nuclear program.

“Our talks are focused solely on the nuclear issue, and we are not engaging with the Americans on any other subject,” he said in an interview with Iran’s Press TV.

Araghchi also vowed to continue the country’s nuclear enrichment program, calling it an “inalieable right” in an interview with Al Jazeera.

The diplomatic talks were the first since the US struck Tehran’s nuclear facilities in June, during Iran’s 12-day war with Israel.

Trump later boasted Friday that the US has a “big Armada” heading towards Iran if a deal cannot be reached.

After engaging Araghchi in diplomacy, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited the USS Abraham Lincoln stationed in the Arabian Sea Saturday.

Trump dispatched the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, along with five squadrons of strike fighters, toward the Islamic Republic last month after the Islamic Republic brutally suppressed widespread protests — that spawned into nationwide calls for regime change — across the country.

Iran sentences locked-up Nobel Peace Prize winner to seven more years in prison during hunger strike

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran sentenced Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi to over seven more years in prison after she began a hunger strike, supporters said Sunday, as Tehran cracks down on all dissent following nationwide protests and the deaths of thousands at the hands of security forces.

The new convictions against Mohammadi come as Iran tries to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program to avert a threatened military strike by President Donald Trump. Iran’s top diplomat insisted Sunday that Tehran’s strength came from its ability to “say no to the great powers,” striking a maximalist position just after negotiations in Oman with the US.

Mohammadi’s supporters cited her lawyer, who spoke to Mohammadi. The lawyer, Mostafa Nili, confirmed the sentence on X, saying it had been handed down Saturday by a Revolutionary Court in the city of Mashhad.

“She has been sentenced to six years in prison for ‘gathering and collusion’ and one and a half years for propaganda and two-year travel ban,” he wrote. She received another two years of internal exile to the city of Khosf, some 460 miles southeast of Tehran, the capital, the lawyer added.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the sentence. Supporters say Mohammadi has been on a hunger strike since Feb. 2. She had been arrested in December at a ceremony honoring Khosrow Alikordi, a 46-year-old Iranian lawyer and human rights advocate who had been based in Mashhad. Footage from the demonstration showed her shouting, demanding justice for Alikordi and others.

Mohammadi a symbol for Iranian activists

Supporters had warned for months before her December arrest that Mohammadi, 53, was at risk of being put back into prison after she received a furlough in December 2024 over medical concerns.

While that was to be only three weeks, Mohammadi’s time out of prison lengthened, possibly as activists and Western powers pushed Iran to keep her free. She remained out even during the 12-day war in June between Iran and Israel.

UKRAINE WAR

Suspect who allegedly shot top Russian general Vladimir Alekseyev several times has been detained in Dubai, Russia says

Russia’s Federal Security Service said Sunday that the man suspected of shooting a deputy chief of Russia’s military intelligence agency in Moscow was detained in Dubai and handed over to Russia.

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was hospitalized after being shot several times Friday by an assailant at an apartment building in northwestern Moscow, Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said.

The attack followed a series of assassinations of senior military officers that Russia has blamed on Ukraine.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) said a Russian citizen, Lyubomir Korba, was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting. In a statement on its website, FSB said it had also identified two “accomplices,” one of whom was detained in Moscow and another who “left for Ukraine.”

Asked about the shooting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday it would be up to law enforcement agencies to pursue the investigation but described it as an apparent “terrorist act” by Ukraine intended to derail peace talks.

There was no immediate response from Kyiv to a request for comment on the Russian allegations.

The shooting came a day after Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators wrapped up two days of talks in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old conflict in Ukraine.

The Russian delegation was led by Alekseyev’s boss, military intelligence chief Adm. Igor Kostyukov.

Alekseyev, 64, has served as the first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, since 2011.

He was decorated with the Hero of Russia medal for his role in Moscow’s military campaign in Syria. In June 2023, he was shown on state TV speaking to mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, when his Wagner Group seized the military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don during his short-lived mutiny.

EUROPE

UK PM Keir Starmer’s top aide Morgan McSweeney quits over Mandelson-Epstein scandal

LONDON – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, quit on Sunday, saying he took responsibility for advising the appointment of Peter Mandelson as U.S. ambassador despite Mandelson’s known links to Jeffrey Epstein.

Starmer is facing what is widely seen as the gravest crisis of his 18 months in power over his decision to send Mandelson to Washington in 2024, after files revealed the depth of the Labour veteran’s relationship with the late sex offender Epstein.

The departure of McSweeney, 48, a political strategist who was instrumental in Starmer’s rise to power, is yet another blow to the government, less than two years after the Labour Party won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history.

With polls showing Starmer is hugely unpopular with voters, some in his own party are openly questioning his judgment and his future, and it remains to be seen whether McSweeney’s exit will be enough to silence his critics.

New evidence about Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein came to light in the last 10 days, opening an old wound for Starmer and his Labour Party and sparking a police investigation into Mandelson. The files suggested the former ambassador had leaked government documents to Epstein in 2009 and 2010.

MANDELSON APPOINTMENT WAS ‘WRONG’

McSweeney said it was right for him to resign because Starmer had appointed Mandelson on his advice.

“The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” McSweeney said in a statement.

“When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.”

Suspected saboteurs hit Italian rail network as Winter Olympics kick off

ROME — Saboteurs damaged rail infrastructure near the northern Italian city of Bologna on Saturday morning, disrupting train journeys on the first full day of the Winter Olympic Games, the Transport Ministry said.

Police reported three separate incidents at different locations, which caused delays of up to 2-1/2 hours for high-speed, Intercity and regional services.

The ministry called it an act of “serious sabotage”, adding that it echoed the opening day of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, when saboteurs struck France’s high-speed TGV train network, causing travel chaos.

“These actions of unprecedented seriousness do not in any way tarnish Italy’s image in the world, an image that the Games will make even more compelling and positive,” said the ministry, which is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.

The state-owned railway Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) had to temporarily close its high-speed station in Bologna, but traffic was slowly returning to normal by Saturday afternoon, it said.

Police said a cabin housing a track switch was set on fire before dawn near the Adriatic city of Pesaro. Several hours later, electrical cables used to detect train speeds were found severed in Bologna, while a rudimentary explosive device was discovered by a track at a nearby location.

A spokeswoman said no one had claimed responsibility for the incidents, which appeared to have been coordinated.

Bologna is a major junction for Italy’s east-to-west rail lines, and is also the key hub linking the south to northern cities such as Milan and Venice.

Milan is a co-host of the Winter Games alongside Cortina, which is reachable via train from Venice.

AFRICA

US pilots jailed in Guinea during fuel stop now asking Trump to step in: ‘Very scary’

Two American pilots have been imprisoned in the Republic of Guinea for six weeks — after authorities said they violated the country’s airspace for a simple fuel stop, The Post has learned.

Fabio Nicolas Espinal Nunez, 33, of Ewing, New Jersey and Bradley Scott Schlenker, 63, of Chicago are now asking the Trump administration to step in to secure their release as they remain locked up since Dec. 29 in a prison in Conakry, Guinea’s capital city.

Their loved ones are hoping the US State Department is able to end their nightmare.

“It’s devastating. It’s very scary. Every day is a roller coaster,” Lauren Stevenson, Nunez’s fiancée, told The Post.

Stevenson has been in contact with Nunez and the US Embassy in Guinea, but she’s frustrated by the lack of progress.

The contract pilots were flying a Brazilian family of five — including two children — from Suriname to Dubai on a Gulfstream GIV when they landed at Ahmed Sékou Touré International Airport for refueling. The pair had been in communications with air traffic controllers the entire time, according to the pair and family.

But Guinean government and military officials who hold enormous sway in the country claimed Nunez and Scott did not have authorization to land at the airport in the west African country.

They were both charged with violating Guinean airspace, making an unauthorized landing and jeopardizing the African country’s national defense.

The pilots’ lawyers filed an emergency appeal and an appellate court ordered Nunez and Scott released from jail pending the resolution of the case. The court required them to stay in the country and report to a judicial office three days a week, according to court papers reviewed by The Post.

But the pair is still behind bars, Stevenson said.

“The prosecutor refused to sign off on their release because of pressure from the military,” she said.

The pilots’ appeal will now be taken up by Guinea’s Supreme Court.

“This seems so strange. The charges are bogus and three judges agreed the charges are bogus,” Stevenson said.

AUSTRALIA

One dead, six hospitalized after tragedy strikes Sydney music festival

A man has died and six others have been taken to hospital following a dance music festival at Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday.

The man, who was in his 40s, died after suffering a medical episode at the Dreamstate festival at about 11:30 p.m.

The man died at the scene and is yet to be formally identified.

Another six people were also hospitalized.

One remains in a critical condition.

Officers from the South West Metropolitan Region were patrolling the site of the festival on Saturday night when several festivalgoers became ill.

The incident is now under investigation and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

The festival, which describes itself online as the “Ultimate Trance & Techno Destination”, was held at Sydney on Saturday, with day two scheduled to be held in Melbourne on Sunday.