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The United Kingdom has fired Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States over his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has said.

Mandelson, a veteran Labour politician who was key to the party’s success under former leader Tony Blair, came under heavy scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein after a birthday book was released, including a letter purportedly from Mandelson describing Epstein as “my best pal”.

“In light of the additional information in emails written by Peter Mandelson, the prime minister has asked the foreign secretary to withdraw him as ambassador,” the FCDO said on Thursday.

“The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment.”

On Wednesday, The Sun newspaper published emails that it said showed Mandelson telling Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

“I think the world of you,” Mandelson told him before he began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.

The emails were published after the Democrats on the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a 50th birthday album compiled in 2003 for Epstein, who at the time was a wealthy and well-connected financier. In that album, Mandelson called Epstein “my best pal” in a handwritten note.

The FCDO said the revelation of Mandelson’s suggestion that Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged was “new information”.

A music festival in Belgium has cancelled a planned concert by a celebrated German orchestra over concerns about its Israeli conductor’s stance on the war in Gaza.

The Flanders Festival Ghent said on Wednesday that it had cancelled the Munich Philharmonic’s scheduled performance on September 18 due to a lack of “clarity” about the views of its incoming conductor Lahav Shani.

While Shani had spoken in favour of “peace and reconciliation” in the past, his attitude towards the “genocidal regime in Tel Aviv” was unclear given his role as the chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the festival organisers said.

“Given the inhumanity of the current situation, which is also leading to emotional reactions in our own society, we believe it is undesirable to allow this concert to go ahead,” the organisers said, adding that they had chosen not to collaborate with partners who had not “distanced themselves unequivocally from that regime.”

The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra said it was “appalled” at the decision.

“We, the Munich Philharmonic and I, are profoundly shocked that a festival in Belgium – in the heart of Europe and the country that hosts the headquarters of the European Union – would make such an inconceivable decision,” executive director Florian Wiegand said in a statement.

Shani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Belgian and German officials also condemned the cancellation.

In an interview with public broadcaster RTBF, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot warned against conflating Israeli and Jewish identity with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

“Remember about 10 years ago, we had the attacks that indeed hurt Belgium, causing injuries and deaths. They were Islamist-motivated, and we had a Muslim community that, rightly so, called for avoiding conflation, so that individuals of Muslim origin or faith would not immediately be equated with terrorists,” Prevot said.

“Let us not repeat the same kind of conflation by assuming that every Israeli or every Jewish person of faith automatically supports Mr Netanyahu’s policies. That is not the case.”

Germany’s Minister of State for Culture and the Media, Wolfram Weimer, blasted the cancellation as a “disgrace to Europe”.

“This is blatant antisemitism,” Weimer, a former newspaper editor, said on X.

The Philippines “strongly protests” a newly approved Chinese plan to create a nature preserve in Scarborough Shoal, a contested territory claimed by both countries in the South China Sea.

China’s State Council announced plans on Wednesday to build a nature preserve on the 3,500-hectare islet, calling it an “important guarantee for maintaining … diversity, stability and sustainability”.

The preserve will include “core” and “experimental” zones covering virtually the entire territory, Chinese state media added on Thursday.

The plans drew immediate ire in the Philippines, where the Department of Foreign Affairs promised on Thursday to lodge a “formal diplomatic protest against this illegitimate and unlawful action”.

“Bajo de Masinloc is a longstanding and integral part of the Philippines over which it has sovereignty and jurisdiction,” the department added, using the name given to the shoal by Spanish colonisers.

But China’s Foreign Ministry pushed back on Thursday, saying the area had never been part of Philippine territory and rejecting what it called “groundless accusations or so-called protests” from Manila.

“We urge the Philippines to immediately cease its infringements, provocations, and wanton hype, so as to avoid adding complicating factors to the maritime situation,” spokesman Lin Jian said at a daily press briefing.

Scarborough Shoal, a triangular islet located more than 200km (119 miles) from the Philippines’ Luzon, has been the site of frequent clashes since Beijing seized it from the Philippines in 2012.

In a recent August incident, Beijing expelled Philippine vessels from waters near the site, while Manila released video footage showing a Chinese navy vessel smashing into one of its own during a chase. And in late April, the Philippines said China was engaging in “dangerous manoeuvres and obstruction” in the area.

China claims Scarborough Shoal based on what it sees as historical sovereignty, traditional fishing use, and its inclusion within the “nine-dash line,” rejecting United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) rulings that favour the Philippines.

‘No legal basis’ for claims

Located more than 900km (560 miles) from China’s Hainan, Scarborough Shoal is one of many land masses in the South China Sea subject to overlapping claims from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

The rocky shoal is a traditional fishing ground for Luzon-based fishermen.

In 2016, an arbitration tribunal in The Hague ruled against China’s claims in the South China Sea, claiming there was “no legal basis” for China’s assertion of economic rights in the strategic waterway.

Nonetheless, China has continued to claim large swaths of territory.

Last month, the Philippines, Australia and Canada held joint drills east of Scarborough Shoal to simulate aerial threats.

China, for its part, has insisted it would defend the area and has performed its own aircraft carrier drills.