KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court on Wednesday dismissed a bid by imprisoned former Prime Minister Najib Razak to serve his remaining corruption sentence under house arrest.
In an April application, Najib said he had clear information that then-King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah issued an addendum order allowing him to finish his sentence under house arrest. Najib claimed the addendum was issued during a Jan. 29 pardons board meeting chaired by Sultan Abdullah, which also cut his 12-year jail sentence by half and sharply reduced a fine.
Najib’s counsel, Mohamed Shafee Abdullah, said it was disappointing for the High Court to rule Wednesday that the government has “no legal duty” to verify if such an order existed. He said they would file an appeal.
“The court said there is no legal duty but in terms of ethics, the government should have answered,” Shafee told a news conference at the court building.
In his application, Najib has accused the pardons board, home minister, attorney-general and four others of concealing the sultan’s order “in bad faith.” Sultan Abdullah hails from Najib’s hometown in Pahang. He ended his five-year reign on Jan. 30 under Malaysia’s unique rotating monarchy system. A new king took office Jan. 31.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he had no knowledge of such an order as he wasn’t a member of the pardons board. The others named in Najib’s application have not made any public comments.
Shafee said Najib’s application was not based on hearsay but that there was “digital evidence” of the addendum as Trade Minister Zafrul Aziz had taken a snapshot of it on his mobile phone when told by Sultan Abdullah. He said the government’s silence also implied there is such an addendum order.
“One thing is clear, not one person or any government institutions have said that this addendum doesn’t exist. If it doesn’t exist, just say so. … If the government dare says clearly there is no addendum, we can all go home and sleep,” he said.
Najib, 70, served less than two years of his sentence before it was commuted by the pardons board. His sentence is now due to end Aug. 23, 2028. He was charged and found guilty in a corruption case linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
The pardons board didn’t give any reason for its decision and wasn’t required to explain. But the move has prompted a public outcry on why Najib appeared to be given special privileges compared to other prisoners.
The Malaysian Bar, which represents over 20,000 lawyers, filed an application to challenge the pardons board decision that it said was illegal, unconstitutional and invalid. It said the decision made a mockery of Najib’s other ongoing criminal cases. The hearing for the Bar’s challenge started this week.
Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after he took office in 2009. Investigators allege at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries, financed Hollywood films and extravagant purchases that included hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewelry. More than $700 million landed in Najib’s bank accounts.
Malaysian court tosses jailed ex-Prime Minister Najib’s bid to serve graft sentence in house arrest
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Malaysian court tosses jailed ex-Prime Minister Najib’s bid to serve graft sentence in house arrest
- Najib Razak was charged and found guilty in a corruption case linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad
Police investigate disappearance of Melania Trump’s statue in her native Slovenia
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia: Police in Slovenia are investigating the disappearance of a bronze statue of US first lady Melania Trump that was sawed off and carried away from her hometown.
The life-size sculpture was unveiled in 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term in office near Sevnica in central Slovenia, where Melanija Knavs was born in 1970. It replaced a wooden statue that had been set on fire earlier that year.
Police spokeswoman Alenka Drenik Rangus said Friday that the police were informed about the theft of the statue on Tuesday. She said police were working to track down those responsible.
According to Slovenian media reports, the bronze replica was sawed off at the ankles and removed.
Franja Kranjc, who works at a bakery in Sevnica that sells cakes with Melania Trump’s name in support of the first lady, said the stolen statue won’t be missed.
“I think no one was really proud at this statue, not even the first lady of the USA,” he said. “So I think its OK that it’s removed.”
The original wooden statue was torched in July 2020. The rustic figure was cut from the trunk of a linden tree, showing her in a pale blue dress like the one she wore at Trump’s presidential inauguration in 2017. The replica bronze statue has no obvious resemblance with the first lady.
They once lived the 'gangster life.' Now they tackle food insecurity in Kenya's slums
MATHARE: Joseph Kariaga and his friends once lived the “gangster life” in Nairobi’s Mathare slum, snatching phones, mugging people and battling police. But when Kariaga's brother was shot dead by police, the young men took stock.
“We said, 'We cannot live like this. We are going to lose our lives.’ Many of our friends had died,” said Kariaga, now 27. “I reflected on my life. I had to change.”
Now the men are farmers with a social mission. Nearly a dozen of them founded Vision Bearerz in 2017 to steer youth away from crime and address food insecurity in one of Kenya’s poorest communities.
Despite challenges, Vision Bearerz makes a modest but meaningful community impact, including feeding over 150 children at lunches each week. Some residents praise the group and call the men role models.
Amid cuts to foreign funding by the United States and others, experts say local organizations like this may be the future of aid.
Vision Bearerz works on an urban farm tucked away in the muddy streets and corrugated-metal homes that make up Mathare, one of Africa's most populous slums. Estimates say about a half-million people live in this neighborhood of less than two square kilometers.
Some 2 million people, or 60% of Nairobi’s population, live in informal settlements, according to CFK Africa, a non-governmental organization that runs health and poverty reduction programs in such neighborhoods and is familiar with Vision Bearerz' work.
Lack of infrastructure is a key challenge in these communities, which are growing amid sub-Saharan Africa’s rapid urbanization and booming youth population, said Jeffrey Okoro, the group’s executive director.
Poverty pushes youth into crime, Okoro added.
“Most folks in slums such as Mathare are not able to earn enough to buy a decent meal, and kids who are under 5 are twice as likely to be malnourished,” he said. “One of the other major challenges affecting young people is gangs, and the promise of making a quick buck.”
The farmers of Vision Bearerz know this well.
“When you are born from this land, there is not much you have inherited, so you have to make it yourself,” said Ben Njoki, 28, whose face tattoos are reminders of a gang-affiliated past. “You have to use violence.”
In 2017, not long after Kariaga’s brother was killed, Njoki and other young men made a plan to change. More than a dozen people they grew up with had been killed, and they realized they would follow if they did not find an alternative to crime, said Moses Nyoike, 32, the chair of Vision Bearerz.
To keep busy, the group began collecting garbage and would split profits from trading vegetables, buying produce in another county and reselling it locally. They noticed a gap in the supply of vegetables to Mathare, and with permission from authorities they cleaned up a garbage dump and began planting.
Polluted soil, and water rationing, made it a tough start. Then, inspired by a TikTok account that showcased farming in a Colombian slum, Vision Bearerz tried their hand at hydroponics. With the help of an NGO that supports community enterprises, Growth4Change, they were able to get materials and training in urban farming methods.
Today, Vision Bearerz grows vegetables, raises pigs and farms tilapia in a small pond. They sell a portion of what they produce, with revenue also coming from running a car wash and public toilet.
With the earnings, the group buys maize flour to make ugali, a dough-like staple food, and beans, which supplement produce from their farm in weekly lunches for children.
Vision Bearerz also runs outreach programs to warn against drug use and crime, and has sessions where women teach girls about feminine health.
“The life I was living was a lie. It didn’t add up to anything. We just lost people. Now, we are winning people in the community,” Njoki said.
Davis Gichere, 28, another founding member, called the work therapeutic.
Challenges remain. Joining Vision Bearerz requires a pledge to leave crime behind, and there have been instances of recidivism, with at least one member arrested. Lingering criminal reputations have led to police harassment in the past, and finding money to buy food for Saturday feedings is a weekly struggle.
Funding cuts across the development space, including the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, make the prospect of new financing dim.
At least one other group in Nairobi’s Kibera slum, Human Needs Project, does similar work of urging youth away from crime and addressing food insecurity through urban farming.
It's a model that can be scaled up or copied elsewhere, said Okoro of CFK Africa.
“The future of development is locally led organizations," he said, noting they are best suited to understanding the needs of their communities.
Kariaga still feels the pain of his brother’s death, but is proud of his new job.
“Farming can change the world,” he said, a silver-capped tooth glinting in the sun.
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In Spain, a homelessness crisis unfolds in Madrid's airport
MADRID: Every morning at 6 a.m., Teresa sets out in search of work, a shower and a bit of exercise before she returns home. For around six months, that has been Terminal 4 of Madrid’s international airport.
Teresa, 54, who didn’t want her full name to be used because of safety concerns, is one of the estimated hundreds of homeless people sleeping in the Spanish capital’s airport amid a growing housing crisis in Spain, where rental costs have risen especially fast in cities like Madrid, the country's capital, and Barcelona.
She and others sleeping at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport — the third-busiest airport in Europe in 2023, according to Eurostat — described a situation where for months, authorities have neither helped them find other living arrangements nor have they kicked them out from the corners of the airport that they have occupied with sleeping bags unfurled on the floor as well as blankets, shopping carts and bags.
Soon, things could change.
Limits on entry
Spain’s airport operator AENA this week said that it would start limiting who can enter Madrid’s airport during low-travel hours by asking visitors to show their boarding passes. AENA said that the policy would take effect in the next few days, but didn't specify exactly when. It said that exceptions would be made for airport workers and anyone accompanying a traveler.
Teresa, a Spanish-Ecuadorian who said she has lived in Spain for a quarter-century, told The Associated Press on Thursday that she hadn't heard of the new policy. She and her husband would be forced to sleep outside on park benches and other public spaces if they aren’t allowed back in.
“We can’t make demands. We’re squatters,” Teresa said, using a controversial term common in Spain. “Squatters in what is private property. We are aware of that. We want help from authorities, but not a single one has come here.”
Political blame game
For months, a political blame game between officials at different levels of government has meant that the homeless encampments in the airport have largely gone unaddressed. In recent weeks, videos on social media and news reports of the airport's homeless population put a spotlight on the issue.
Madrid’s city council on Thursday said that it had asked Spain’s national government to take charge and come up with a plan to rehabilitate every homeless individual sleeping in the airport. Spanish airports are overseen by AENA, a state-owned publicly listed company. A city council spokesperson said that Madrid's city government had recently called for a meeting with officials from AENA, the regional government of Madrid and several national ministries that declined.
“Without them, there is no possible solution,” said Lucía Martín, a spokesperson for Madrid’s city council division of social policies, family and equality. She said that the national ministries of transport, interior, inclusion, social rights and health declined to participate in a working group.
A day earlier, AENA accused Madrid’s city authorities of providing inadequate help and said that the city government's statements about the unfolding situation confirmed its “dereliction of duty” and abandonment of the airport’s homeless individuals.
“It's like a dog chasing its tail,” said Marta Cecilia Cárdenas of the long list of authorities she was told could help her. Cárdenas, a 58-year-old homeless woman originally from Colombia, said that she had spent several months sleeping in Madrid's airport.
Exact numbers are unknown
It’s not known how many people are sleeping in Madrid’s airport, through which 66 million travelers transited last year. Spain’s El País newspaper reported that a recent count taken by a charity group identified roughly 400 homeless people in the airport, many of whom, like Teresa, had previously lived in Madrid and were employed in some capacity.
AP wasn't able to confirm that number. Madrid city council officials, meanwhile, said that the Spanish capital's social service teams had helped 94 individuals in April with ties to the city, 12 of whom were rehabilitated into municipal shelters, addiction treatment centers or independent living.
Word of mouth
Teresa said she had heard about sleeping in the airport by word of mouth. Before she lost her job, she said she lived in an apartment in Madrid’s Leganés neighborhood, earning a living taking care of older people.
She currently earns 400 euros ($450) per month, working under the table caring for an older woman. With the earnings, Teresa said she maintains a storage unit in the neighborhood that she used to live in. Though the work is sporadic, she said it was still enough to also cover fees for the gym in which she showers daily, pay for transportation, and purchase food.
Over the last decade, the average rent in Spain has almost doubled, according to real estate website Idealista, with steeper increases in Madrid and Barcelona. Spain also has a smaller public housing stock than many other European Union countries.
Hope for the future
Teresa said that she hopes to find a job soon and leave the airport, whatever authorities may force her to do in the coming days and weeks. She and her husband keep to themselves, avoiding others sleeping in the brightly-lit hallway dotted with sleeping bags who were battling mental health problems, addiction and other issues, she said.
“You end up adjusting to it a bit, accepting it even, but never getting used to it,” Teresa said over the constant din of airline announcements. “I hope to God that it gets better, because this is not life.”
Russian attack on civilian bus in Ukraine kills 8
DUBAI: A Russian attack hit a bus with civilians in Ukraine's Sumy region, killing at least eight people and injuring five, the head of the military administration of the region in Ukraine's northeast said on Saturday.
"Passengers have been injured," Ihor Tkachenko, head of Sumy's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app. "Medics and rescuers have been urgently sent to the scene'"
The attack came hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years.
Vietnam steps up talks with US to reduce hefty tariff
- The US has postponed the implementation of the 46 percent tariff on Vietnam until July.
- Vietnam has the fourth-largest trade surplus among all US trading partners
HANOI: Vietnam and the United States held their first direct ministerial-level negotiations on Friday against the backdrop of an impending US tariff of 46 percent on imports from the Southeast Asian nation, which could significantly impact its growth.
The Vietnamese trade ministry said in a statement released on Saturday that the meeting, which occurred in Jeju, South Korea, following the 31st APEC Ministerial Meeting on Trade, symbolized both nations’ commitment to fostering a stable economic, trade, and investment relationship.
The talks follow a phone call last month between Vietnamese trade minister Nguyen Hong Dien and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that officially started negotiations.
“USTR Greer agreed with Vietnam’s current approach and proposal,” the trade ministry’s statement said. “The United States hopes that with the mutual efforts, the technical-level negotiations in the coming days will yield positive results.”
The US has postponed the implementation of the 46 percent tariff on Vietnam until July. If enforced, the levy could disrupt growth in Vietnam, which is heavily dependent on sales to the United States, its largest export market, and substantial foreign investments in manufacturing goods for export.
Vietnam has the fourth-largest trade surplus among all US trading partners, worth $123.5 billion last year.
In an attempt to diminish that trade surplus, Hanoi has recently implemented several measures, including reducing tariffs on a multitude of goods destined for the US and intensifying its efforts to curb the shipment of Chinese goods to the US via its territory.
