LONDON: A woman accused of traveling across the U.S. claiming to be an Irish heiress and scamming several victims out of tens of thousands of dollars has been extradited to the United Kingdom, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
Marianne Smyth faces allegations that she stole more than $170,000 from the victims from 2008 to 2010 in Northern Ireland.
A U.S. magistrate judge in Maine ruled in May that there was sufficient evidence for extradition of the American, who accusers say has also fashioned herself as a witch, a psychic and a friend to Hollywood stars.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the extradition, and referred questions to law enforcement officials in Northern Ireland. An attorney for Smyth did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Authorities overseas have said Smyth stole money that she had promised to invest and also arranged to sell a victim a home but instead took the money. Smyth’s victims in the U.S. included Johnathan Walton, a podcaster who warned others about her grifts.
A court in Northern Ireland issued arrest warrants for her earlier this decade. She was arrested in Maine in February.
Smyth drew comparisons to Anna Sorokin, a scammer who impersonated a German heiress to pay for a glamorous lifestyle in New York City, and became subject of a Netflix series. Sorokin, whose real name is Anna Delvey, was convicted in 2019 of conning $275,000 from banks, hotels and swank New Yorkers to finance her deluxe lifestyle.
Accused scammer who claimed to be Irish heiress has been extradited to UK to face charges
https://arab.news/4yc9m
Accused scammer who claimed to be Irish heiress has been extradited to UK to face charges
- Marianne Smyth faces allegations that she stole more than $170,000 from the victims
- A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the extradition
Norway condemns Israeli decision to ‘legalize’ settlement outposts
- West Bank housing plans undermine efforts to establish peace in the region, says foreign minister
HELSINKI: Norway condemns Israel’s decision to “legalize” five settlement outposts in occupied Palestinian territory, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Thursday.
He added that Norway found it “totally unacceptable” that Israel had also decided to advance the approval of 6,016 housing units for settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Barth Eide added that Norway found it “totally unacceptable” that Israel had also decided to advance the approval of another 6,016 housing units for settlements in the West Bank.
He said the decisions undermined efforts to establish peace in the region and demanded Israel reverse them. War between Israel and Hamas has been raging in Gaza for
almost nine months.
“Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live their lives in peace and security, with freedom, dignity and equal rights. The two-state solution is the only viable solution,” Barth Eide said, referring to Norway’s earlier stance.
Most countries deem Jewish settlements built on land Israel occupied in a 1967 war to be illegal.
Norway, which recognized Palestine as a state in May, has been a vocal supporter of a two-state solution to end the generations-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Interim peace accords were brokered in Norway in the 1990s.
An Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group earlier said the government had approved plans to build nearly 5,300 new homes in settlements in the West Bank.
It is the latest move by Israel’s hard-line government to beef up the settlements.
Peace Now says the government’s Higher Planning Council approved or advanced plans for 5,295 homes in dozens of settlements.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is dominated by settlers and their supporters.
He has placed a former settler leader, Bezalel Smotrich, in charge of settlement policy.
COGAT — the Israeli defense body that oversees the planning council — referred questions to Netanyahu’s office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has turbocharged land seizure and settlement construction since being granted expanded powers over Israel’s administration of the occupied territory under the current governing coalition, the most religious and nationalist in Israel’s history.
Smotrich laid out his plans for the West Bank at a conference for his ultranationalist Religious Zionism Party last month, a recording of which was obtained by Peace Now.
He said he intended to appropriate at least 15 sq. km. of land in the West Bank this year.
He also promised to expand the establishment of farming outposts, which hard-line settlers have used to extend their control of rural areas and to crack down on Palestinian construction.
US citizen convicted of drug-related charges by Moscow court, sentenced to 12.5 years
- He was found guilty of attempted trafficking of large amounts of illegal drugs as part of an organized group
- Lawyer Stanislav Kshevitsky also said that Woodland has been suffering from unspecified mental health issues
MOSCOW: Robert Woodland, a Russia-born US citizen, was convicted of drug-related charges by a Moscow court and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison on Thursday, court officials and his lawyers said.
He was found guilty of attempted trafficking of large amounts of illegal drugs as part of an organized group, according to an online statement released by court officials, and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in a maxim security penal colony. His lawyers told reporters after the verdict was delivered Thursday that they will appeal the ruling because Woodland’s guilt hasn’t been proven.
Lawyer Stanislav Kshevitsky also said that Woodland has been suffering from unspecified mental health issues. He didn’t provide any details, but said that the court didn’t take those issues into account.
Russian media reported that his name matches a US citizen interviewed in 2020 who said he was born in the Perm region in 1991 and adopted by an American couple at age 2. He was arrested in January.
He said he traveled to Russia to find his mother and eventually met her on a TV show before deciding to move to Russia. Russian news agency Interfax has cited court officials as saying that Woodland also holds Russian citizenship.
Arrests of Americans in Russia have become increasingly common as relations between Moscow and Washington sink to Cold War lows. Washington accuses Moscow of targeting its citizens and using them as political bargaining chips, but Russian officials insist they all broke the law.
Some have been exchanged for Russians held in the US, while for others, the prospects of being released in a swap are less clear.
The US State Department said Thursday it was aware that a US citizen was sentenced by a Russian court and that the embassy in Moscow was closely monitoring the case. The department, citing privacy issues, said it would have no further comment.
Gaza war a priority issue for 1 in 5 UK Asian voters
- Study reveals loss of trust in Labour Party as Britain heads to polls
- Many Muslims ‘pained by what is happening in Gaza’: Muslim Council of Britain chief
LONDON: The Gaza war is a top issue for one in five Asian voters in the UK, The Independent reported on Thursday.
As the British public heads to the polls for the July 4 general election, a new study conducted by the newspaper revealed that some Muslim voters have “lost their trust” in Labour over the party’s stance on the war.
But Labour still “looks set to match their strong national performance” with a high vote share among ethnic minorities in Britain, said Ed Hodgson, research manager at More in Common.
Asian voters are six times more likely to view the war as a “major issue” compared to white voters (20 percent versus 3 percent), it found.
Though Labour may have harmed its reputation with Muslim voters, the issue may only become relevant after the election, Hodgson said.
Party leader Keir Starmer has faced criticism over his decision to avoid calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in favor of “humanitarian pauses.”
The poll “highlights significant concerns across Muslim communities and wider British society,” said Zara Mohammed, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain.
“Many are pained by what is happening in Gaza and are dissatisfied with the political response from the major parties and the current leadership,” she added.
“There is also a strong desire to ensure that Britain is not complicit in the ongoing genocide case against Israel.
“For the upcoming election, it will be crucial for the next prime minister and government to effectively achieve a long-term peaceful solution in the Middle East.”
According to the poll, 19 percent of Asian voters say a Labour victory would make their life worse.
Labour is hopeful and Conservatives morose as voters deliver their verdict on UK’s election day
- Election takes place in backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust of government institutions
- Center-left Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, has enjoyed a significant lead in opinion polls for months
LONDON: British voters are picking a new government on Thursday after polls opened at 7 a.m. for a parliamentary election that is widely expected to bring the opposition Labour Party to power.
Against a backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust of government institutions and a fraying social fabric, a fractious electorate is delivering its verdict on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010.
The center-left Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, has had a steady and significant lead in opinion polls for months, but Labour leaders have warned against taking the election result for granted, worried their supporters will stay home.
Sunak, for his part, has tried to rally his supporters, saying on Sunday that he still thought the Conservatives could win and defending his record on the economy.
A jaded electorate is delivering its verdict on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010.
The center-left Labour Party led by Keir Starmer has had a steady and significant lead in opinion polls for months, but its leaders have warned against taking the election result for granted, worried their supporters will stay home.
“We cannot afford five more years under the Conservatives. But change will only happen if you vote Labour,” Starmer said on Wednesday night.
The Conservatives have conceded that Labour appears headed for victory and urged voters not to hand the party a “supermajority.”
In the final days of campaigning Sunak insisted “the outcome of this election is not a foregone conclusion.”
But in a message to voters on Wednesday, Sunak said that “if the polls are to be believed, the country could wake up tomorrow to a Labour supermajority ready to wield their unchecked power.” He urged voters to back the Conservatives to limit Labour’s power.
Labour has not set pulses racing with its pledges to get the sluggish economy growing, invest in infrastructure and make Britain a “clean energy superpower.”
But nothing has really gone wrong in its campaign, either. The party has won the support of large chunks of the business community and endorsements from traditionally conservative newspapers, including the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun tabloid.
The Sun said in an editorial that “by dragging his party back to the center ground of British politics for the first time since Tony Blair was in No. 10 (Downing St.), Sir Keir has won the right to take charge,” using the formal title for Starmer, who was knighted.
Former Labour candidate Douglas Beattie, author of the book “How Labour Wins (and Why it Loses),” said Starmer’s “quiet stability probably chimes with the mood of the country right now.”
The Conservatives, meanwhile, have been plagued by gaffes. The campaign got off to an inauspicious start when rain drenched Sunak as he made the announcement outside 10 Downing St. Then, Sunak went home early from commemorations in France marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
Several Conservatives close to Sunak are being investigated over suspicions they used inside information to place bets on the date of the election before it was announced.
It has all made it harder for Sunak to shake off the taint of political chaos and mismanagement that’s gathered around the Conservatives since then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff held lockdown-breaching parties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johnson’s successor, Liz Truss, rocked the economy with a package of drastic tax cuts and lasted just 49 days in office. There is widespread dissatisfaction over a host of issues, from a creaking public health care system to crumbling infrastructure.
But for many voters, the lack of trust applies not just to Conservatives, but to politicians in general. Veteran rouser of the right, Nigel Farage, has leaped into that breach and grabbed attention with his anti-immigration rhetoric.
The centrist Liberal Democrats and environmentalist Green Party also want to sweep up disaffected voters.
“I don’t know who’s for me as a working person,” said Michelle Bird, a port worker in Southampton on England’s south coast who was undecided about whether to vote Labour or Conservative. “I don’t know whether it’s the devil you know or the devil you don’t.”
French far right says power within grasp as Mbappe warns of disaster
- A poll projected Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) would fall short of an overall majority despite dominating the June 30 first round vote
- France’s iconic football captain, striker Kylian Mbappe, warned: “We can’t leave our country in the hands of those people there”
PARIS: French far-right leader Marine le Pen insisted Thursday her party can still win control of parliament despite the center and left scrambling to block her way and football hero Kilian Mbappe urging fans to outvote “those people.”
Three days before Sunday’s run-off in France’s most critical legislative elections in recent history, a poll projected Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) would fall short of an overall majority despite dominating the June 30 first round vote.
Tensions are growing as the clock ticks down to Sunday, with assaults reported on candidates and the outcome will determine if postwar France elects its first far-right government since World War II, or embarks on an era of potentially paralysing coalition politics.
France’s iconic football captain, striker Kylian Mbappe, addressed the race at a news conference in Hamburg ahead of the team’s Euro 2024 quarter-final against Portugal, warning: “We can’t leave our country in the hands of those people there.
“I think we all saw the results, it’s catastrophic,” he said of the RN’s first round victory. “We hope that that will change and that everyone will mobilize to vote, and to vote for the right side.”
Mbappe’s intervention will encourage both the centrist camp, led by President Emmanuel Macron, and the broad-left wing coalition who have between them withdrawn more than 200 candidates from the runoff on Sunday in a joint effort to ensure the far right is defeated.
“I think there is still the capacity to have an absolute majority, with the electorate turning out in a final effort to get what they want,” the RN’s three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen told BFM television.
“I say turn out to vote as it’s a really important moment to get a change in politics in all the areas that are making you suffer right now,” she said.
If the RN wins an absolute majority of 289 seats in the 577-member National Assembly, it would be able to form a government with Le Pen’s 28-year-old protege Jordan Bardella as prime minister.
But she acknowledged that Macron’s centrists and the New Popular Front (NFP) coalition had made her party’s task tougher with their “operation” to withdraw candidates to unite the anti-RN vote.
The move has sparked speculation that a right-center-left coalition could emerge after the election to prevent the RN from taking power.
Le Pen alleges that the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) could figure in such a coalition, an idea dismissed by Macron.
Le Pen, who is expected to make a fourth attempt to win the Elysee Palace in 2027, acknowledged that there had been problems with a handful of RN candidates, one of whom had to withdraw after a picture of her emerged wearing a Nazi-era Luftwaffe cap.
“There are statements that have been inadmissible and will involve sanctions and there are also statements that are just clumsy,” Le Pen said.
Four people, including three minors, were detained after government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot and her team were attacked while they were sticking up campaign posters in Meudon outside Paris, prosecutors said.
Thevenot, who is of Mauritian origin, was not harmed but a colleague and a supporter were wounded and taken to hospital after the attack by around 20 people.
“Violence and intimidation have no place in our society,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal wrote on X.
Of the 30,000 police to be deployed nationwide Sunday, 5,000 would be on duty in Paris so that the “far left and far right do not create disorder,” Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said.
Macron’s decision to call snap elections three years ahead of schedule after his party’s drubbing in EU Parliament elections is seen as a huge gamble that could plunge France into chaos weeks before it hosts the Olympics and at a time when Paris is playing a key role in backing Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
A poll by Harris Interactive projected that the RN and its allies would win 190 to 220 seats in the National Assembly, the NFP 159 to 183 seats and Macron’s Ensemble (Together) alliance 110 to 135.
