Iran says Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said early Wednesday, and Hamas blamed Israel for the attack.
Indonesia's former agriculture minister was arrested Thursday by the country's anti-graft commission on accusations of bribery, abuse of power and fraud involving contracts with private vendors.
Syahrul Yasin Limpo had resigned his position as agriculture minister last week to focus on the impending legal proceedings against him, and he was formally named as a suspect on Wednesday by the Corruption Eradication Commission, known as the KPK.
Footage late Thursday showed Limpo arriving at the commission's office in handcuffs and wearing a black leather jacket, black hat and a mask. He did not respond to journalists' questions.
Limpo's lawyer, Febri Diansyah, said it was unfortunate that the KPK forcefully arrested his client at his home at night after he had informed the commission that Limpo would come to the KPK on Friday for questioning.
Limpo had missed a scheduled appointment with the KPK on Wednesday for interrogation, saying he was away visiting his parents at his hometown in South Sulawesi province. He returned to the capital Jakarta late Wednesday.
Diansyah said that Limpo does not deny the allegations against him, that he will cooperate with the KPK investigation, and that he does not represent a flight risk.
"I guarantee that Syahrul Yasin Limpo will not run away, there is no indication that he would escape or destroy evidence," Diansyah said. "Let's see proportionally how this case is handled."
If Limpo is formally charged, it may further tarnish President Joko Widodo's credibility in fighting corruption. Four other members of Widodo's Cabinet have been sentenced to prison terms in corruption cases, and a fifth is on trial, casting a shadow over his efforts to clean up government while he looks for a successor when his term ends in 2024.
Widodo campaigned in part on a pledge to run a clean government in a country that ranked 110th out of 180 nations in the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International.
KPK's deputy chairman, Johanis Tanak, told a news conference late Wednesday that Limpo is suspected of receiving about 13.9 billion rupiah (US$885,000) in bribes through his subordinates, Kasdi Subagyono and Muhammad Hatta, who were also named as suspects.
The amount of state money that is alleged to have been stolen by the three men may increase as the KPK is still ramping up an investigation into alleged corruption at his ministry, Tanak said.
Tanak said Limpo allegedly instructed Subagyono and Hatta to force officials at his ministry to pay him between US$4,000 and US$10,000 in exchange for promotions or participation in procurement projects at the ministry. The money allegedly came from the ministry's budget.
He also said that Limpo received bribes from private vendors who were granted projects with the Ministry of Agriculture.
"The money was allegedly used to pay his credit card bills and to purchase an Alphard car," Tanak said, referring to a luxury type of van.
Earlier this month, KPK investigators searched Limpo's official residence while he was on an official trip to Italy and Spain. During the search, they discovered a dozen firearms and banknotes worth approximately 30 billion rupiah (US$1.9 million) in several currencies, according to Ali Fikri, the KPK spokesperson.
Limpo, a former South Sulawesi governor, is the second politician from the Nasdem Party to face recent prosecution. Johnny G. Plate, a former communication minister, is on trial over allegations of US$533 million in graft in the procurement of equipment for a 4G communications project.
The Nasdem Party is part of the ruling government coalition with seven other parties, but last November it endorsed a popular opposition politician, Anies Baswedan, as a presidential candidate in 2024. That prompted President Joko Widodo to refer to the party as an "outsider" in his coalition.
The cases against Plate and Limpo are likely to harm Nasdem's chances in elections scheduled for February 2024, including its nomination of Baswedan, a former Jakarta governor, for president.
Fikri, the KPK spokesman, denied that the case against Liampo has any political motives as they have arrested around 250 members of the local parliament, as many as 133 regents and mayors as well as 18 governors, 83 members of the national parliament and 12 ministers since the institution was founded in late 2003.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said early Wednesday, and Hamas blamed Israel for the attack.
Ontario Provincial Police say Martyn Rosko, the main suspect in four homicides in Kirkland Lake, is dead.
Far-right protesters fuelled by anger and false online rumours hurled bottles and stones at officers and set a police van ablaze Tuesday outside a northwest England mosque near where three girls were fatally stabbed a day earlier.
The RCMP says that a father and son have been arrested in connection with 'alleged terrorist activities' in the Greater Toronto Area.
Fewer people are going to Starbucks and buying drinks and food, as last quarter was Starbucks' second straight with a sales decline.
Six families whose loved ones died in Alabama prisons have filed lawsuits against the commissioner of the state's department of corrections, saying their family members' bodies were returned to them missing internal organs after undergoing state-ordered autopsies.
A sailboat captain was found alive but suffering from a severe case of hypothermia on Monday after spending up to five hours adrift in the ocean off British Columbia, according to the coast guard.
Erica Ash, an actor and comedian skilled in sketch comedy who starred in the parody series 'Mad TV' and 'Real Husbands of Hollywood,' has died. She was 46.
A Federal Court judge has thrown out a convicted killer's challenge of a British Columbia prison warden's decision not to allow the inmate to have an electric guitar in his cell.
A CFL fan has unofficially broken the world record for watching CFL home games at all nine of Canada’s stadiums in the shortest amount of time.
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The Anne Murray Centre in Springhill, N.S., marked its 35th anniversary over the weekend drawing dozens to the event from around the globe.
Imani Nadir says she looked high and low for a hairdresser when she moved to Montreal in 2022. Finally, after six months of making calls and sending emails, the 20-year-old came across Two Horses, a Montreal hair salon offering specialized services to women who wear face or head coverings.
As fire threatened people in Jasper National Park, Colleen Knull sprung into action.
Video posted to social media on Thursday morning appears to show the charred remains of a Jasper, Alta., neighbourhood.
A Saskatchewan-born veteran of the Second World War was recently presented with France's highest national order.
A local First Nations elder and veteran is helping to bring the Ojibwe language to a well-known film for the first time.
A cat who fled her Montreal home nearly a decade ago has been reunited with her family after being found in Ottawa.