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Israeli Army Shoots Dead Three Palestinian Gunmen In West Bank

Published

3 years ago

March 12, 2023

Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinian gunmen after they fired at troops in the occupied northern West Bank, the army said on Sunday, as violence in the region continued.

The military said that “gunmen opened fire” at an army position near the Jit junction west of Nablus, with the soldiers responding with “live fire”.

“Three armed gunmen were neutralised during the exchange of fire and an additional armed gunman surrendered himself to the forces,” the army said in a statement, noting none of the Israeli forces was wounded in the clash.

The soldiers, members of the elite infantry Golani reconnaissance unit, grabbed three M-16 rifles and a pistol used by the Palestinians, the army said.

The Palestinian health ministry said it was informed about the deaths of three men killed by Israeli gunfire near Nablus, without providing further details.

The incident took place a short distance from an Israeli settlement, with the head of the regional Samaria settler council praising the army for “taking out the murderous terrorist squad operating in the area.”

“We will continue to live and build here in Samaria and the entire region, the murderous Palestinian Authority terror won’t deter us,” Yossi Dagan said in a statement, using the name Israel uses for the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.

Violence intensified last year but has worsened in the West Bank since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office in December in a governing coalition with ultra-Orthodox Jewish and extreme-right allies.

The government of Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption on charges he denies, has vowed to continue the expansion of West Bank settlements.

– Calls for revenge –

On Thursday, a member of the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas opened fire outside a Tel Aviv cafe, wounding three men in their 30s before being shot dead.

Hours before, three armed Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank.

Several Palestinian armed groups had called on Tuesday for revenge for the recent deaths of six Palestinians in an Israeli army raid in the northern West Bank.

The Tel Aviv attack came just hours after Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin had called for de-escalation ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan that starts in March and the Jewish holiday of Passover in April.

Austin, following talks with Netanyahu and his counterpart Yoav Gallant during a brief visit to Israel, also called on the “Palestinian leadership to combat terrorism and to resume security cooperation and to condemn incitement”.

In Beitar Illit, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank southwest of Jerusalem, the army said bomb disposal experts had detonated a suspicious package found on a bus Thursday evening.

A Palestinian from a nearby village was arrested on Saturday for having placed an explosive device on the bus, along with four others suspected of aiding him, the army said.

Since the start of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 81 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians.

Twelve Israeli civilians, including three children and one policeman, as well as one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

AFP

Headline

Morocco Jails French Rapper Maes For Kidnapping Bid

Published

5 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

A Moroccan court has sentenced French rapper Maes to seven years in prison on charges including the formation of a criminal gang and attempted kidnapping, local reports said Wednesday.

Maes, who has roots in Morocco and whose real name is Walid Georgey, was arrested upon landing in Morocco in January after fleeing the United Arab Emirates, where he feared he could be extradited to France, the reports said.

French authorities had issued an international arrest warrant for him over a separate criminal case.

He appeared in court late Tuesday and was found guilty of “forming a criminal organisation, attempted abduction and unlawful confinement” of a rival in Morocco, news website TelQuel reported.

The rapper with over a billion views on his YouTube channel was accused of tasking a gang and hitmen with killing the rival, but the plot was foiled, TelQuel added.

Maes has denied all charges, with his lawyers calling the case “empty” and “arguing that no evidence linked him to the other defendants”, TelQuel added.

Ten other people were sentenced as part of the case, with terms ranging from one to 10 years, according to news website Media24.

AFP was unable to independently verify the reports as prosecutors were not immediately reachable for comment.

In 2020, when Maes was one of France’s most-streamed rappers, he fell victim to extortion attempts in his native Sevran, a suburb north of Paris, according to reports.

He retaliated by opening fire with weapons he had at home, leading to a shootout. He then fled to Dubai with his family, according to an interview with French YouTube channel LEGEND.

Following the killing of his manager in 2022, he was suspected of ordering reprisals against those he believed were behind the murder, according to reports.

AFP

Headline

UK Court Clears Comedy Writer Of Harassing Transgender Woman

Published

5 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

A London court on Tuesday cleared Emmy award-winning comedy writer Graham Linehan of harassing a transgender activist online but found him guilty of criminal damage to their mobile phone.

Linehan, who co-created the popular 1990s sitcom “Father Ted” but has more recently become well-known for his gender critical views, had been accused of sending Sophia Brooks “abusive and vindictive” messages on social media.

He was also charged with criminal damage after deliberately knocking a phone out of Brooks’s hand as they filmed him on the sidelines of a London conference.

Ruling on the case, District Judge Briony Clarke said she was not convinced Linehan’s conduct “was oppressive and unacceptable beyond merely unattractive, annoying or irritating”.

Clarke also concluded Brooks was not “as alarmed and distressed as they portrayed themself to be”.

But convicting Linehan of criminal damage, the judge ruled he was “angry and fed up” and did not use “reasonable force” when the phone was taken from Brooks.

Clarke fined him £500 ($655) and ordered him to pay costs of £650 and a statutory surcharge of £200.

The Irish writer, who also co-created the popular sitcoms “Black Books” and “The IT Crowd”, became embroiled in a free speech row in Britain earlier this year over his anti-transgender stance.

It followed his arrest at London’s Heathrow Airport by armed police over accusations of inciting violence with his X posts insulting transgender people.

The arrest sparked a backlash and claims of state overreach, including from US tech billionaire Elon Musk. But in October, UK prosecutors said they would take “no further action” in that case.

AFP

Headline

Prosecutors Seek Jail For Italian Influencer Ferragni In Fraud Case

Published

5 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

Italian prosecutors asked a court on Tuesday to sentence fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni to one year and eight months in prison if found guilty of alleged fraud over charity endorsement deals.

The Instagram star and businesswoman has been on trial since September for aggravated fraud over promotions of a pandoro cake — a Christmas treat similar to a panettone — and Easter eggs, which purported to raise money for charity or social causes.

The 38-year-old, who is based in Milan, told the court during the closed-door hearing on Tuesday that she denied the charges and had always acted “in good faith”, her lawyer Giuseppe Iannaccone said.

Leaving the audience, Ferragni told a throng of journalists that she felt “confident… I can’t say anymore”.

A verdict is expected in January.

Aggravated fraud carries a jail term of between one and five years.

But Ferragni has chosen a fast-track trial, which gives defendants a sentence reduction — meaning she cannot receive more than a maximum penalty of two years and three months, according to a source close to her team.

In Italy, people sentenced to prison for less than two years rarely serve jail time.

Ferragni started out with a fashion blog, The Blonde Salad, in 2009, and in 2017, Forbes magazine named her its top fashion influencer.

Chronicling her glamorous lifestyle and being paid to promote high-end brands, she built the blog into a lucrative business, then used it as a springboard to launch her own eponymous label with stores around the world.

Her trailblazing story even became a Harvard Business School example of how social media fame can be monetised.

But the fraud accusations have hit her reputation and her endorsements.

Outside court for a hearing earlier this month, Ferragni acknowledged to journalists that it was a “difficult phase of my life”.

The allegations relate in part to Ferragni’s 2022 endorsement of a pandoro cake purportedly to raise funds for children undergoing treatment at a Turin hospital.

In December 2023, Italy’s communications watchdog (AGCOM) fined two of Ferragni’s companies one million euros ($1.2 million) for unfair commercial practices for the “Pandoro Pink Christmas” promotion — around the same sum they had made in the deal.

Shoppers were led to believe that buying the special edition cake made by Balocco would benefit the hospital, but it only received a single 50,000-euro donation from the company.

Balocco was fined 420,000 euros at the same time.

AGCOM also investigated Ferragni-branded Easter eggs from 2021 and 2022, linked to a social enterprise initiative.

Ferragni and her husband, rapper and music producer Fedez, who were one of Italy’s most famous celebrity couples, split in 2024.

AFP