A Palestinian Oscar winner has been detained in the occupied West Bank following an outbreak of violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinians, activists say.

Hamdan Ballal, who was one of four co-directors of No Other Land, had his house surrounded by settlers during an attack on Monday in the village of Susya, according to five Jewish American activists.

Co-director Yuval Abraham said Mr Ballal had been beaten and taken by soldiers while in an ambulance, although this has been disputed by Israel.

Without naming Mr Ballal, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said three Palestinians and an Israeli had been detained after being suspected of “rock hurling” at security forces.

The five Jewish American activists said that about a dozen masked settlers had mounted an attack in Susya at about 18:00 (16:00 GMT).

The activists said they had gone to the village to document the incident and had come under attack themselves, with settlers smashing their car windows, and punching and hitting them with sticks.

Mr Ballal’s house is reported to have been surrounded by the settlers.

Yuval Abraham, the Israeli director who won the Oscar this month alongside Mr Ballal, said people had been injured and properties destroyed in the attack.

One activist told the BBC they had complained to the Israeli soldiers that they were under attack. They said the army had intervened and the settlers had backed off.

Israel’s army confirmed that IDF soldiers and Israeli police had arrived to disperse the confrontation.

They said rocks had been “hurled” at security forces.

“In response, the forces apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at them, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation,” the IDF said.

“The detainees were taken for further questioning by the Israel Police. An Israeli citizen was injured in the incident and was evacuated to receive medical treatment.”

No Other Land – which picked up best documentary at the 97th Academy Awards – follows the fight over Masafer Yatta, a community of about 20 villages, and the friendship between Adra and Abraham.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Israeli settlements in the territory are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

They have expanded over the past 55 years, becoming a focal point for violence and conflicting claims over land.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank has surged.

(BBC News)

Disney’s live-action version of the classic fairy-tale Snow White has topped the North American box office chart despite a slew of underwhelming reviews.

The movie has taken an estimated $87.3m (£67.5m) globally during its opening weekend, according to Box Office Mojo. Almost half of that figure came from North America.

But that is below expectations for a film which reportedly cost more than $270m.

The reworking of the 1937 feature length animation had seemed like a surefire hit before running into a series of controversies ahead of its release.

The revamp of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became a flashpoint for social and political divisions, even before it reached cinemas around the world.

That included some criticism of the casting of Rachel Zegler, who is of Colombian descent, as the heroine.

There was also a backlash about Zegler’s pro-Palestinian comments and about pro-Israel comments by Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who plays Snow White’s stepmother, the Evil Queen.

And there is an ongoing debate about whether there should have been dwarfs in the film at all, live or CGI.

On the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Snow White has a critics’ score of just 44%, although the audience reaction ‘Popcornometer’ stands at 73%.

Chief film critic for The Times, Kevin Maher, said: “Believe the anti-hype, it’s that bad”, but the Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney called the film “mostly captivating”.

With its creepy CGI dwarfs and muddled tone, Disney’s latest live-action remake is “not calamitous” but is “a mind-boggling mash-up”, the BBC’s Nicholas Barber said.

(BBC News)

More than four years after the actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai under mysterious circumstances, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has closed the case ruling out any foul play in his death, as suspected by the family, people familiar with the development said on Saturday.
Actor Sushant Singh Rajput died in 2020.

The closure report effectively gives a clean chit to actress Rhea Chakraborty and her family members, who were accused by Rajput’s family of driving their son to suicide and embezzling his funds and confirms that the actor took his own life.

Rajput, 34, was found hanging from the ceiling of his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14, 2020. His death was shrouded in conspiracy theories including his being a victim of an alleged culture of nepotism in Bollywood which shuts out outsiders forcing them to take extreme steps.

“After an extensive investigation that involved gathering forensic evidence from various locations, technical evidence from the US, multiple medical opinions and questioning of all the persons connected, we haven’t found any foul play in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Hence, a closure report was filed in two related cases before a special court in Mumbai,” said a senior officer, who asked not to be named.

The federal agency was investigating two cases since 2020 – one filed by Rajput’s father K K Singh with the Bihar police the same month alleging that actress Rhea Chakraborty and her family drove his son to suicide and embezzled his funds worth ₹15 crore; and a second case filed by Chakraborty in September 2020 against the late actor’s sister Priyanka Singh and a doctor from Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi for allegedly getting Sushant psychiatric drugs without consultation and by using a forged prescription.

“There is no evidence of any conspiracy in either of the cases,” said the officer cited above.

The Mumbai police had previously investigated the death, but it didn’t find any foul play. However, after Rajput’s father’s case with the Bihar police, the Centre handed over the probe to the CBI, which re-registered the case and named the actress and her family members as accused persons.

After taking over the probe, CBI formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the death and subsequent allegations-counter allegations. It said at that time that it was looking into all aspects of the actor’s death. Among the angles it explored were abetment of suicide charges against his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty; and whether the actor took the step under any professional pressure.

The premier investigation agency had also appointed a medical board of top doctors from the AIIMS Delhi, which after studying the post-mortem examination and viscera reports of Rajput, had concluded in September 2020 that the actor’s death was a case of suicide. The board had said the cause of the actor’s death was asphyxia due to hanging. There were no injury or struggle marks on his body and his clothing was not disturbed.

It also sent a formal request in 2021 to California-headquartered Google and Facebook, asking them to share details of all deleted chats, emails or posts of the actor so that it could analyse the content and understand the background to the events of June 14, 2020, the day Rajput was found dead at his apartment in Mumbai. However, nothing suspicious was found in the replies received by it.

CBI had also examined dozens of people including the actor’s friends, staff, his doctors, actress Chakraborty and her family members, and several members of the film fraternity.

In a statement in December 2020, CBI said it was probing the case using the latest scientific techniques.

“During the investigation, advanced mobile forensic equipment including the latest software has been used for extraction and analysis of relevant data available in the digital devices and also for analysis of dump data of the relevant cell tower locations related to the case,” it said then.

The agency had also visited several cities including Aligarh, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Manesar and Patna to collect evidence and record statements.

Rajput’s family lawyer senior advocate Vikas Singh didn’t comment on the matter on Saturday.

(hindustantimes.com)