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Rafsanjani's Family Urges Iranian Authorities to Release his Daughter

Faezeh Rafsanjani, daughter of the former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (file photo: AFP)
Faezeh Rafsanjani, daughter of the former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (file photo: AFP)
    London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Rafsanjani's Family Urges Iranian Authorities to Release his Daughter

Faezeh Rafsanjani, daughter of the former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (file photo: AFP)
Faezeh Rafsanjani, daughter of the former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (file photo: AFP)

The family of the former Iranian president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, demanded the release of his daughter, Faezeh, who was arrested by the authorities last September on charges of incitement to protest.

The Jamaran website, affiliated with the office of the first Supreme Leader Khomeini, reported that the family said they were pressured by the "accusation" of being the sons of Rafsanjani, adding that it was possible to solve the situation by releasing women from political prisons, including their sister Faezeh.

Faezeh Hashemi was among 30 Iranian female prisoners who signed a memo last month calling on the Iranian authorities to stop the execution of demonstrators.

Iranian authorities released political activists after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei pardoned them earlier this month, including director Mohammed Rasoulof, French-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, and activist Farhad Meysami.

The reformist Etemad newspaper said that the pardon had included 50 detained activists.

The released detainees were asked to "express their remorse" in writing, but most released activists issued statements confirming they did not agree to these conditions.

Faezeh Hashemi sent a message addressing the Chief Justice of Iran, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, asserting she would continue her activities if released.

Her sister, Fatemeh, sparked controversy last month when she posted a video on the seventh anniversary of her father's death, implicitly repeating the suspicions about her father's death.

Rafsanjani died of a heart attack while swimming in a pool in northern Tehran.

In January, the Iranian authorities released Mehdi, Rafsanjani's son, after more than seven years in prison. He was convicted of fraud, embezzlement, and undermining national security in August 2015.

He considered at the time that the sentence was "politically motivated."

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World

Philippine President Marcos Hit with Impeachment Complaint

Lawmakers Sara Elago, Antonio Tinio and Louise Co show the impeachment complaint against Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos at the House of Representatives on Thursday. TED ALJIBE / AFP
Lawmakers Sara Elago, Antonio Tinio and Louise Co show the impeachment complaint against Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos at the House of Representatives on Thursday. TED ALJIBE / AFP
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Philippine President Marcos Hit with Impeachment Complaint

Lawmakers Sara Elago, Antonio Tinio and Louise Co show the impeachment complaint against Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos at the House of Representatives on Thursday. TED ALJIBE / AFP
Lawmakers Sara Elago, Antonio Tinio and Louise Co show the impeachment complaint against Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos at the House of Representatives on Thursday. TED ALJIBE / AFP

Members of Philippine civil society groups filed an impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Marcos on Thursday, accusing him of systematically bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars for bogus flood control projects.

Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns were buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in the past year.

Thursday's filing, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, a coalition of left-wing political parties, accuses Marcos of betraying the public trust by packing the national budget with projects aimed at redirecting funds to allies, AFP said.

A copy of the complaint was filed at the House of Representatives' Office of the Secretary General "in accordance with House rules", petitioners said Thursday, though the official was not present to receive it herself.

"The President institutionalized a mechanism to siphon over ₱545.6 billion ($9.2 billion) in flood control funds, directing them into the hands of favored cronies and contractors and converting public coffers into a private war chest for the 2025 (mid-term) elections," a summary of the filing seen by AFP says.

It also accuses the president of directly soliciting kickbacks, a charge that relies heavily on unproven allegations made by a former congressman who fled the country while under investigation.

"The President's involvement in the grand scheme of corruption makes impeachment necessary to hold him accountable. The people have been robbed repeatedly and systematically," the summary says.

Marcos has consistently noted that he was the one who put the issue of ghost projects center stage and taken credit for pushing investigations that have seen scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers implicated.

But complainant Liza Maza told reporters on Thursday she believed the moves were only intended to deflect blame.

"We think the investigation he initiated is just a cover-up," she said. "Because the truth is, he is the head of this corruption."

Thursday's complaint is the second filed against Marcos this week, after a local lawyer brought a case citing last year's arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court of former president Rodrigo Duterte, as well as unproven allegations of drug abuse.

Under the Philippine Constitution, any citizen can file an impeachment complaint provided it is endorsed by one of the more than 300 members of Congress.

Dennis Coronacion, chair of the political science department at Manila's University of Santo Tomas, told AFP on Thursday the new complaint was unlikely to go far in a Congress packed with Marcos allies.

"This ... has a very slim chance of getting the approval of the House Committee on Justice and (even less) so, in the plenary, because the president still enjoys the support of the members of the House of Representatives," Coronacion said.

In 2024, a trio of complaints was filed against Vice President Sara Duterte. The cases ultimately led to her impeachment early last year by the House of Representatives and an abortive Senate trial that saw the senior body send the case back.

The country's Supreme Court later tossed the case, ruling it violated a constitutional provision against multiple impeachment proceedings within a single year.

World

Multiple People Missing in New Zealand Landslips

Rescuers are searching for survivors from a landslide at a camping ground in New Zealand. DJ MILLS / AFP
Rescuers are searching for survivors from a landslide at a camping ground in New Zealand. DJ MILLS / AFP
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Multiple People Missing in New Zealand Landslips

Rescuers are searching for survivors from a landslide at a camping ground in New Zealand. DJ MILLS / AFP
Rescuers are searching for survivors from a landslide at a camping ground in New Zealand. DJ MILLS / AFP

A landslide smashed into a campsite in rain-swept northern New Zealand on Thursday, leaving multiple people missing under tons of mud.

Mounds of earth buried a shower block at the site, which lies at the foot of extinct volcano Mount Maunganui.

Voices were briefly heard calling for help from beneath the rubble, witnesses and emergency officials said.

"Whilst the land's still moving there, they're in a rescue mission," Assistant Police Commissioner Tim Anderson told reporters at the scene.

"I can't be drawn on numbers. What I can say is that it is single figures."

Rescuers used heavy machinery to search for survivors after the disaster, which struck after overnight rain lashed the area on New Zealand's North Island.

A separate landslip ploughed into a home in nearby Tauranga, Anderson said. Two people escaped but two others were still unaccounted for.

At the campsite, the chunk of mountainside hit several camper vans and a pool complex.

Rescuers could be heard cutting into the wrecked shower block.

Visiting Canadian tourist Dion Siluch, 34, said he was relaxing at the now-evacuated Mount Hot Pools complex when it hit.

"I was in a massage at (the) mount pools and the whole room started shaking," he told AFP.

"When I walked out, there was a caravan in the pool, and there's a mudslide that missed me by about 30 feet," Siluch said.

"It was all very confusing. I wasn't sure if someone had driven off the road and into the pool. It took me a while to realize that the mountain had collapsed and had pushed everything into the pool."

'People screaming'

The tourist said he had seen another landslip about an hour earlier but took little notice.

Police later arrived by helicopter and told people to evacuate, Siluch said.

People at the campsite had instantly tried to dig into the rubble and heard voices, Fire and Emergency commander William Pike told reporters.

"Our initial fire crew arrived and were able to hear the same," he said.

But rescuers soon withdrew everyone from the site because of the risk of dangerous earth movements, the fire commander said.

Asked if voices had been heard since then, he said: "Not that I know of, no."

Hiker Mark Tangney saw people fleeing the camp and ran to help, the New Zealand Herald reported.

"I could just hear people screaming, so I just parked up and ran to help," he told the paper.

"I was one of the first there. There were six or eight other guys there on the roof of the toilet block with tools just trying to take the roof off because we could hear people screaming: 'Help us, help us, get us out of here'," Tangney said.

Later, the voices stopped, he said.

World

Trump to Unveil 'Board of Peace' at Davos after Greenland Backtrack

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump is interviewed by Reuters White House correspondent Steve Holland (not pictured) during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington, D.C., US, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump is interviewed by Reuters White House correspondent Steve Holland (not pictured) during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington, D.C., US, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
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Trump to Unveil 'Board of Peace' at Davos after Greenland Backtrack

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump is interviewed by Reuters White House correspondent Steve Holland (not pictured) during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington, D.C., US, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump is interviewed by Reuters White House correspondent Steve Holland (not pictured) during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington, D.C., US, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

US President Donald Trump will show off his new "Board of Peace" and meet Ukraine's leader at Davos on Thursday -- burnishing his claim to be a peacemaker a day after backing off his own threats against Greenland.

Trump abruptly announced on Wednesday that he was scrapping tariffs against Europe and ruling out military action to take Greenland from Denmark, partially defusing a crisis which has shaken the meeting of global elites, said AFP.

On his second day at the Swiss ski resort, Trump will seek to promote the "Board of Peace", his controversial body for resolving international conflicts, with a signing ceremony for the organization's charter.

The fledgling board boasts a $1 billion price tag for permanent membership and Trump has invited leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Hungary's Viktor Orban to join.

"I think it's the greatest board ever formed," Trump said Wednesday as he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, another of the leaders who have agreed to join.

The launch of the board comes against the backdrop of Trump's frustration at having failed to win the Nobel Peace Prize, despite his disputed claim to have ended eight conflicts.

Originally meant to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza after the war between Hamas and Israel, the board's charter does not limit its role to the Strip and has sparked concerns that Trump wants it to rival the United Nations.

Key US allies including France and Britain have expressed skepticism but others have signed up.

About 35 world leaders have committed so far out of the 50 or so invitations that went out, a senior Trump administration official told reporters on Wednesday.

Trump also said on Wednesday that Putin had agreed to join -- despite the Kremlin so far saying it was still studying the invite.

'Framework of a future deal'

The inclusion of Russian president Putin has caused particular concern among US allies, but especially in Ukraine as it seeks an end to Moscow's nearly four-year-old invasion.

Trump said he was due to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after the "Board of Peace" meeting as difficult negotiations for a ceasefire in the Ukraine war continue.

At Davos on Wednesday, Trump said Russia and Ukraine would be "stupid" not to reach a peace deal in the conflict that he said he could solve within a day of taking office a year ago.

Trump repeated his oft-stated belief that Putin and Zelensky were close to a deal, although he has veered between blaming one or the other for the lack of a ceasefire so far.

"I believe they're at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they don't, they're stupid -- that goes for both of them," said the US president.

Trump has long been a skeptic of US support for Ukraine and says that it is now up to NATO and Europe to back Kyiv. But his belief that he has a personal connection with Putin has not brought an end to the war so far.

The US leader's roving special envoy, businessman Steve Witkoff, is set to travel to Moscow from Davos with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and hold talks with Putin on Thursday.

Zelensky has meanwhile voiced fears that Trump's push to seize Greenland could divert focus away from Russia's invasion of his country.

Trump however said late Wednesday he had reached a "framework of a future deal" after meeting NATO chief Mark Rutte, and that he would therefore waive tariffs scheduled to hit European allies on February 1.

Rutte told AFP in Davos that the meeting had been "very good" but that there was "still a lot of work to be done" on Greenland.

Trump insists the mineral-rich Arctic island is vital for US and NATO security against Russia and China.