Lawyers for a Palestinian village have begun a rare legal case against two Canadian construction companies working in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, accusing them of breaching war crimes laws and demanding an injunction to halt their work as well as damages worth around US$1.98 billion.
The case, brought to the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal, alleges that the two Canadian firms are breaching international law by building and selling homes in part of the settlement of Modi’in Illit on land originally belonging to the Palestinian village of Bil’in.
“In so doing, the defendants are aiding, abetting, assisting and conspiring with the State of Israel in carrying out an illegal purpose,” according to the writ of claim filed to the court.
It said their conduct amounted to a “fundamental violation of the human rights of the villagers” and “denies them freedom of movement.”
The village accuses the firms of breaching international law, including the Fourth Geneva convention, as well as Canada’s own crimes against humanity and war crimes act. All settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law, although Israel has for years defended its right to build there.
The writ names the two firms as Green Park International and Green Mount International, both registered in Montreal. The lawyers said the case did not involve the similar sounding firm Greenpark International, which is based in Vaughan, Ontario, and which advertises itself as “Canada’s largest homebuilder.”
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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