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London Police Arrest Former Ambassador Peter Mandelson in Epstein Case

Former UK ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, is pictured as he leaves his residence in central London on February 21, 2026. (AFP)
Former UK ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, is pictured as he leaves his residence in central London on February 21, 2026. (AFP)
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London Police Arrest Former Ambassador Peter Mandelson in Epstein Case

Former UK ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, is pictured as he leaves his residence in central London on February 21, 2026. (AFP)
Former UK ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, is pictured as he leaves his residence in central London on February 21, 2026. (AFP)

London police on Monday arrested former ambassador Peter Mandelson over claims he committed misconduct in public office during his friendship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

“He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, February 23, and has been taken to a London police station for interview,” the Met added.

The man was not named, in keeping with British police practice.

BBC News and Sky News broadcasted footage of Mandelson leaving his central London home accompanied by plainclothes officers wearing body cameras, before being driven away in a car.

The arrest of Mandelson, a former Labour peer, came only four days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, King Charles III's younger brother, was detained and released under investigation in a separate misconduct in public office probe also related to the latest Epstein documents.

Mountbatten-Windsor - formerly Prince Andrew, Duke of York - has been investigated for allegedly sharing confidential documents while serving as the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment between 2001 and 2011.

Emails between Mandelson and Epstein, released by the US Department of Justice in late January, showed the two men had a closer relationship than had been publicly known, and Mandelson had shared information with the financier when he was a minister in former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government in 2009.

Mandelson, who this month resigned from Starmer's Labour Party and quit his position in parliament's upper chamber, has previously said he “very deeply” regretted his association with Epstein. But he has not commented publicly or responded to messages seeking comment on the latest revelations.

Mandelson's homes in London and west England were searched by police earlier this month.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has faced calls to step down over Mandelson's appointment, faces further scrutiny after parliament ordered the release of documents relating to his vetting. A minister said on Monday that the first documents should be published in early March.

The prime minister has apologized to Epstein’s victims for choosing Mandelson. Starmer's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, quit earlier this month, saying he took responsibility for advising Starmer to name Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US despite his known links to Epstein.

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World

Norway Aid Group: Sudan, DR Congo Top World's Most Neglected Crises

Sudanese refugees from Al-Fashir, displaced by ongoing conflict in Sudan, gather at sunset at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Sudanese refugees from Al-Fashir, displaced by ongoing conflict in Sudan, gather at sunset at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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Norway Aid Group: Sudan, DR Congo Top World's Most Neglected Crises

Sudanese refugees from Al-Fashir, displaced by ongoing conflict in Sudan, gather at sunset at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Sudanese refugees from Al-Fashir, displaced by ongoing conflict in Sudan, gather at sunset at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia top the list of the world's most neglected displacement crises, the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group said on Thursday.

Sudan, which since 2023 has been ravaged by a bloody conflict between two rival generals competing for power, has more than nine million internally displaced people, the prominent aid organization said in a statement.

A further four million Sudanese have fled to neighboring countries and nearly 19.5 million people there are also suffering from hunger, the NRC said.

"It is incomprehensible that a displacement crisis of similar proportions to the crises in Syria and Ukraine at their peak can continue to worsen almost unnoticed," NRC chief Jan Egeland said.

"Countries have become much more inward-looking, more nationalist.

Rearmament is now an absolute priority because we have to ensure our own security in Europe. There is Putin threatening us, and so on," Egeland said in comments to the NRK broadcaster.

"But people then forget that there will be pandemics, migratory movements, and enormous loss of human life if we don't invest in hope on other continents."

"Africa is just across the Mediterranean, where we go on holiday. And if the continent collapses, we will also suffer the consequences."

Relatives mourn during the funeral of a person who died of Ebola in Bunia, Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 03 June 2026. EPA/DIEUDONNE DIROLE

The Democratic Republic of Congo, where an Ebola epidemic has added turmoil to the east of the country ravaged by decades of conflict, appears on NRC's list for the 10th year in a row.

In 2025, only 27.4 percent of the funding needed for DR Congo has been secured, leaving more than 21 million people in need, according to the NRC.

"This is a testament to the world's failure to respond to crises that are not regarded as strategically important for rich countries," Egeland said in the NRC statement.

"Millions of people are being abandoned because we have chosen not to act, not because we cannot."

The NGO's list is based on three criteria: lack of humanitarian funding, lack of media coverage, and lack of political will within the international community.

Several African countries -- Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Mali and Nigeria -- have featured on NRC's list six or more times, pointing to "a systemic pattern of deliberate neglect", NRC said.

The 10 most neglected crises for 2025 are Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Honduras, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria and Mozambique, spanning three continents and tens of millions of people.

World

Gunmen Kidnap 7 Students from School in Northwestern Nigeria

Nigerian police personnel restrict protesters from convening for the sixth day of anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 6, 2024. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko/File Photo
Nigerian police personnel restrict protesters from convening for the sixth day of anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 6, 2024. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko/File Photo
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Gunmen Kidnap 7 Students from School in Northwestern Nigeria

Nigerian police personnel restrict protesters from convening for the sixth day of anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 6, 2024. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko/File Photo
Nigerian police personnel restrict protesters from convening for the sixth day of anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 6, 2024. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko/File Photo

Gunmen raided an off-campus residence in northwest Nigeria and kidnapped seven students, police said.

The attack occurred early Wednesday in the Kaura Namoda area of conflict-battered Zamfara state, police spokesman Yazid Abubakar said in a statement. One of the students escaped and was in custody, The Associated Press said.

The police spokesman said it wasn't clear where the students were taken but efforts were underway to rescue the remaining six.

Zamfara has been a hotspot for armed gangs that carry out kidnappings for ransom, with abductions of students increasing in recent years across the country.

A tally by local news outlet Premium Times found that at least 1,900 students have been kidnapped from 20 schools since the 2014 mass abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state.

World

Iran's Khamenei Says US, Israel Aim to Sow 'Division' after War Defeat

An Iranian man walks past a billboard carrying a picture of Iran' supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei erected along a street in Tehran on May 28, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
An Iranian man walks past a billboard carrying a picture of Iran' supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei erected along a street in Tehran on May 28, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
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Iran's Khamenei Says US, Israel Aim to Sow 'Division' after War Defeat

An Iranian man walks past a billboard carrying a picture of Iran' supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei erected along a street in Tehran on May 28, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
An Iranian man walks past a billboard carrying a picture of Iran' supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei erected along a street in Tehran on May 28, 2026. (Photo by AFP)

Iran's supreme leader on Thursday accused the US and Israel of trying to sow "division" among Iranians after suffering a "decisive blow" during the Middle East war.

In a written message, Mojtaba Khamenei said "the malicious enemy" was seeking to "plant the seeds of doubt, despair, fear, mistrust and division" among the public, reported AFP.

"In confronting these ill intentions, everyone must, through steadfastness, insight, preserving unity and cohesion... neutralize their sinister plot," his message said.