SOUTH KOREA
Yoon’s office searched
Police yesterday searched the office of former president Yoon Suk-yeol and his security detail as part of a criminal probe into the impeached leader. Police said that they had “initiated the execution of a search-and-seizure warrant at the presidential office and the presidential residence complex.” Police seized encrypted phone servers and raided the office of Yoon’s presidential security detail, plus his chief of security’s house, in what they said was part of a probe into “alleged obstruction of an arrest warrant execution.” Yoon spent weeks in his compound in January, protected by members of the Presidential Security Service who had remained loyal to him. His guards had installed barbed wire and barricades at the residence, forcing hundreds of police officers and investigators to use ladders and scale perimeter walls to reach the main building.
Photo: AFP
PAKISTAN
Bomb attack claimed
The Islamic State group on Tuesday claimed a bomb explosion that killed three policemen and wounded more than a dozen. A bomb planted on a parked motorcycle targeted a passing bus carrying 40 policemen in Mastung city earlier in the day. The group’s regional branch, Islamic State Khorasan said that its “soldiers” targeted the “apostate” police.
SOUTH AFRICA
Abducted missionary freed
A US missionary abducted from his church last week has been rescued by police after a shoot-out in which three suspects were killed, police said yesterday. Josh Sullivan, 45, was taken at gunpoint on Thursday last week while he was delivering a sermon at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell outside the coastal city of Gqeberha. Police yesterday said in a statement that the previous day, officers acting on a tip-off had approached a house in the KwaMagxaki district of Gqeberha. The suspects tried to flee in a vehicle as they approached, opening fire on officers, the statement said. In the ensuing shoot-out, the three suspects were fatally wounded and Sullivan was rescued, “miraculously unharmed,” from the same vehicle, it said. Sullivan arrived in the nation with his family from Tennessee in November 2018, his personal Web site said.
PERU
Ex-president sentenced
A court on Tuesday sentenced former president Ollanta Humala and his wife to 15 years in prison for graft linked to a globe-spanning corruption scandal involving Brazilian construction group Odebrecht paying bribes to politicians. The court found the 62-year-old and his wife, Nadine Heredia, guilty of money laundering for receiving illegal contributions from Odebrecht and the Venezuelan government in two presidential campaigns. Humala was taken into custody in the courtroom right after the verdict was read out and later jailed at a police base. His lawyers said they would appeal his conviction. Judge Nayko Coronado also ordered the arrest of Heredia, who did not attend the sentencing hearing and sought asylum at the Brazilian embassy in Lima. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs later said that after talks with Brazil, she was granted safe passage to travel there with her son. Humala, who led the country from 2011 to 2016, in 2022 became the first ex-president from the nation to go on trial in the Odebrecht corruption scandal, which has also seen three other former presidents implicated. Alan Garcia committed suicide in 2019, Alejandro Toledo was sentenced last year to more than 20 years in prison and investigations continue into Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
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