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Belgian police question two Israelis over war crimes accusations

Belgian police question two Israelis over war crimes accusations

The Guardian21-07-2025
Belgian authorities have said they briefly held and questioned two Israeli citizens who attended an electronic music festival last week, after pro-Palestinian groups accused them of war crimes.
Prosecutors said they received legal complaints alleging that two Israeli soldiers responsible for 'serious violations of international humanitarian law' in Gaza were spotted at the Tomorrowland festival near the northern city of Antwerp.
The federal prosecutor's office said it had asked the police to locate the two people named in the complaint and to interview them. 'Following these interviews, they were released,' it said in a statement.
The office said it took action after concluding that Belgian courts had extraterritorial jurisdiction over alleged war crimes. 'No further information will be given at this stage of the investigation,' the office said.
The pair have not been named.
Last week, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), a Belgian pro-Palestinian organisation, said it had identified two Israeli soldiers 'responsible for grave international crimes' in Gaza among the crowds at Tomorrowland.
It claimed that a group of young Israeli men were seen at the festival waving a flag of the Givati Brigade, an Israeli military unit involved in the fighting in the Palestinian territory.
HRF said it then filed a complaint with prosecutors in association with the Global Legal Action Network, a lawyers' group specialising in human rights violations.
One of the world's largest electronic music festivals, Tomorrowland draws music enthusiasts from all over the world. About 400,000 people are expected to attend the event this year over two weekends.
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Has Trump just become the very model of a modern liberal leader?
Has Trump just become the very model of a modern liberal leader?

The Independent

time4 hours ago

  • The Independent

Has Trump just become the very model of a modern liberal leader?

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I got spoofed and was forced to change my mobile number – it could happen to you too
I got spoofed and was forced to change my mobile number – it could happen to you too

The Sun

time4 hours ago

  • The Sun

I got spoofed and was forced to change my mobile number – it could happen to you too

IF you've ever been targeted by a scammer, you'll know it can be a scary and worrying experience. But has a fraudster ever pretended to be YOU, in order to trick people out of their hard-earned cash? 1 That's exactly what happened to me, when I discovered that my phone number had been "spoofed" and crooks were using it to try and scam people. It's a horrible form of identity fraud and a cunning way for fraudsters to attempt to steal cash or money from unsuspecting victims, as the number appears to be from a trusted source. It all started six months ago, when I started getting mysterious phone calls from strangers claiming that they'd has missed calls from me. But when I checked my call log each time, I could see that I never made the call to that number. I would tell the caller that they made a mistake, and hang up the phone. I was suspicious that these were scammers trying to lure me into handing over money in some way, so I made sure to block the numbers after I put the phone down. But the calls kept coming and each time I kept blocking the number. That was until last week, when I received a WhatsApp out of the blue from a lady I didn't know. "Hello, did you call me?" the text read. I usually don't message back when I get these sorts of WhatsApp messages, as I'm wary of scammers. But I was confused when the lady sent a screenshot of her call log - and surprisingly, my phone number was at the top of the list. I decided to message back, explaining that I didn't call her. I thanked her for flagging the missed call, and said I would look into what happened. After contacting my phone company, ID Mobile, I was told that the most likely explanation for what had happened was that my phone number had been spoofed. They said there wasn't much the company could do about my spoofed number, although I had the option to change my phone number, which would cost £25. I was also told to report the issue to Action Fraud. The thought of a scammer using my number and pretending to be me to con money out of innocent people made me sick to my stomach. So I decided to bite the bullet, swallow the £25 charge, and put the experience behind me. Even better, I've not had a single scam call or text since I switched my number - before, I used to get at least one a week. However, there's nothing to stop my new number from being spoofed too. It's also been a massive inconvenience contacting all my friends, family, and organisations to let them know about my change of number. iD Mobile said: "We understand how frustrating it is for customers to receive calls from people claiming they've been contacted by them. "In this instance, it appears the number was spoofed — a common industry issue where fraudsters fake caller IDs without needing access to the number itself." I've been told that if I report it to Action Fraud, the £25 fee will be waived - which I'm planning on doing soon. Spoofing on the rise The main reason why scammers will spoof numbers is in order to target more victims without being caught up in something called the Do Not Originate (DNO) list. Ofcom and UK Finance launched the DNO list in 2019. Companies and organisations add to the list when a rogue number is reported, and this list is shared with telecoms providers to help them identify and block calls from these numbers. It's an effective tool in filtering through scam callers - but tech and cyber security expert David McClelland said scammers are exploiting a loophole. "Perhaps because of this DNO list - although it's difficult to say for sure - scammers are now also making calls that spoof individuals' mobile numbers," he said. Spoofing is becoming a big problem. The telcoms regulator, Ofcom, is so concerned about the growing threat of spoofing that it launched a consultation in July last year on how to address the issue. It said it was "concerned" that scam calls are coming from scammers who are spoofing UK mobile numbers. It said a call from a spoofed number could appear more trustworthy, and "victims are more likely to share personal information or to make a payment, which can lead to significant financial and emotional harm". It can therefore make it much easier for fraudsters to hunt down victims and steal their money. Some 5.7million Brits have been targeted by a mobile phone scammer more than 10 times, according to research from comparison site Uswitch. And an eye-watering £1.17billion was swiped by scammers in 2024 - roughly level to what was stolen in 2023. What can you do about spoofing? Worryingly, phone companies can't do a lot about spoofing, says Jake Moore from the cybersecurity firm ESET. "There's no solid bulletproof way to stop this sort of spoofing," he says. "However, it's a good idea to report it to Action Fraud and at extreme lengths, you can change your number. 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If someone says they are from your bank, then hang up and call the number on the back of your card, or through the mobile bank app. If someone says they are from an official organisation, like HMRC, hang up and look up the number to call back on the website. Being spoofed has made me realise the lengths that scammers will go to in order to trick you into handing over money. From now on, I'll be keeping a close eye on where I'm sharing my phone number. How to stop nuisance calls and texts FED up with scam texts and calls clogging up your phone? Take these steps to fight back. On iPhone, you can enable Silence Unknown Callers by going to Settings > Phone, scrolling down to Silence Unknown Callers, tapping the option, and turning on the feature. This will block phone numbers that are not in your contacts or that you have not contacted previously. On Android, open the Phone app, tap the three dots for more options, tap Settings then turn on Caller ID and spam protection. This uses a database of phone numbers to determine a caller's ID and filter out spam calls. Contact the Telephone Preference Service to add your landline or mobile number to the UK's official Do Not Call register and opt out of unsolicited communications. You can register your phone number on the TPS website or by phoning 0345 070 0707. Certain phone providers offer their own blocking services, some free and some paid for. Contact your provider to find out more.

Russian bombs in Ukraine kill 20 including 16 in strike on a prison
Russian bombs in Ukraine kill 20 including 16 in strike on a prison

Daily Mail​

time4 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

Russian bombs in Ukraine kill 20 including 16 in strike on a prison

At least 20 people were killed and more than 40 others wounded in a series of overnight Russian missile strikes across Ukraine, officials said on Tuesday. It comes just hours after Donald Trump warned Vladimir Putin to end the war within ten days or face crippling new sanctions. Missiles also rained down on the Dnipropetrovsk region, where several more people were killed and injured in multiple attacks, officials said. A strike on the city of Kamyanske killed two people, wounded five others and damaged a hospital, according to regional governor Sergiy Lysak. Another attack on the region's Synelnykivsky district left one person dead and several more wounded, he said. In a separate incident in Velykomykhaylivska on Monday night, 'a 75-year-old woman was killed. A 68-year-old man was wounded. A private house was damaged,' Lysak added in another Telegram post. In southern Russia, a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person, according to local authorities. 'A car was damaged on Ostrovsky Street. Unfortunately, the driver who was in it died,' said Yuri Slyusar, acting governor of the Rostov region. The attacks came as Ukrainian forces continue efforts to repel Russia's summer offensive, which has pushed into areas that have been largely spared since the early stages of the full-scale invasion in 2022 . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, blasted the strikes, saying it was 'another war crime' committed by Russia. Writing on X, he said: '(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's regime, which also issues threats against the United States through some of its mouthpieces, must face economic and military blows that strip it of the capacity to wage war.' Over the weekend, the Russian army announced it had 'liberated the settlement of Maliyevka' in the Dnipropetrovsk region, just weeks after it seized the first village in the area.

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