JERUSALEM: A confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to turn state’s witness in one of several corruption investigations posing a serious threat to the conservative leader’s political survival, local media said.
Shlomo Filber’s decision to testify for the state against his former boss is a dramatic turn for Netanyahu, whose inner circle had so far seemed watertight. Filber’s change of heart could leave the tough-talking Netanyahu at his most vulnerable yet, with one critic writing him off as a “political corpse.”
The development has also fueled speculation that Netanyahu, 68, will call a snap election to try to stall legal proceedings during the campaign and rally his right-wing power base behind him.
Israel’s dominant political figure for a generation — in power since 2009 and for 12 years total since 1996 — Netanyahu calls the allegations against him a “witch hunt” and has said he will seek a fifth term in a national ballot due in late 2019.
Filber, who was appointed by Netanyahu to head the Communications Ministry, was arrested this week along with top executives at Bezeq Telecom, Israel’s largest telecommunications company.
In unsourced reports, Israeli media said Filber has now agreed to testify for the state in the case, in which police allege that Bezeq’s owners offered favorable coverage on media they controlled in return for favors from regulators. Bezeq, its owners and executives deny wrongdoing.
A spokesman for the police fraud squad declined to comment. Filber’s lawyer was not immediately available to comment on whether a deal had been reached.
Police recommended last week that Netanyahu himself be indicted in two unrelated corruption investigations. The attorney-general must decide whether to accept the police recommendation to charge him.
In one, he is suspected of bribery over gifts, which police say were worth nearly $300,000, that he received from wealthy businessmen. The other involves an alleged plot to win positive coverage in Israel’s biggest newspaper by offering to take measures to curtail the circulation of a rival daily.
In another case revealed this week, one of Netanyahu’s former spokesmen is alleged to have tried to bribe a judge to block a case against Netanyahu’s wife for spending state money on personal catering. A spokesman for the Netanyahu family called the allegation “hallucinatory.”
So far, partners in his governing coalition have stood by Netanyahu, saying they were awaiting the attorney-general’s next moves.
Confidant of Israel PM Netanyahu turns state witness in corruption case
Confidant of Israel PM Netanyahu turns state witness in corruption case
Dozens arrested in southwest Pakistan as clashes between police, Imran Khan’s party injure 14
- PTI members tried to stage a rally near the Chief Minister House in Quetta, seeking Khan’s release
- Quetta’s deputy commission says two of the arrested people were carrying guns and hand grenades
QUETTA: Dozens of protesters were rounded up by police in southwestern Balochistan on Friday after clashes broke out between former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters and law enforcement personnel, leaving at least 14 people injured, including eight policemen.
The incident occurred in the provincial capital of Quetta after PTI protesters attempted to stage a rally near the Chief Minister House, demanding the release of the ex-premier from a high-security jail in Rawalpindi. Khan has faced prison trials on multiple charges since his arrest last year in August, which he claims are fabricated to keep him out of the country’s political landscape.
Police officials said the PTI organized the rally without securing official permission, violating Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure imposed in the city, which prohibits gatherings of four or more people to maintain order or address urgent threats to public safety.
“The protesters were carrying weapons that they used against the police,” said Station House Officer (SHO) of Civil Line Police Naseebullah Khan while speaking to Arab News. “They pelted stones and even hit our officials with their vehicles. Fifty-five protesters have been arrested and a first information report has been lodged against the PTI workers.”
The SHO informed a senior police officer was among the injured, adding that both of his legs were fractured after a protester tried to run him down with a car.
Quetta’s Deputy Commissioner Saad bin Asad said the PTI was protesting without official permission, which had been denied despite the party’s decision to appeal to the court.
He added that authorities informed the judge they would not permit the gathering and provided reasons for the decision.
“But they deliberately came out for a rally,” Asad said, adding that among the arrested individuals, “two were carrying guns and hand grenades while participating in the protest.”
He confirmed that at least 14 people, including eight policemen, were injured in the clashes.
Asad said PTI supporters began pelting police with stones, prompting law enforcement to use tear gas to disperse them.
Dawood Shah, PTI’s provincial president in Balochistan, told Arab News the party was holding a peaceful rally near Quetta Railway Station because the government had “refused its workers permission to hold the rally at the designated venue.”
“Unknown people disguised as protesters started pelting stones and instigated PTI workers,” he said, adding that 67 PTI supporters were arrested and nine were injured in the clashes.
“Peaceful protest is our democratic right,” Shah continued. “We scheduled a peaceful rally at the Hockey Ground for the release of Imran Khan, but the administration did not give us permission.”
He accused the authorities of “attempting to repeat the 9th May episode,” referencing last year’s riots where people carrying PTI flags targeted government buildings and military installations after Khan’s brief arrest on corruption charges.
The incident triggered a crackdown on the party, whose leaders distanced themselves from the protests, alleging that they were intended to discredit the PTI.
Saudi foreign minister, Blinken discuss regional crises
- Two discussed ongoing efforts to address the issues in Gaza and Lebanon
RIYADH: Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan spoke on the phone on Friday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Saudi Press Agency reported.
During the call, they reviewed regional issues, with a particular focus on Gaza and Lebanon and ongoing efforts to address the issues there, SPA added.
In a separate call on Friday with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Blinken stressed the need to stop the fighting in Sudan and the need to support efforts to form a civilian government, the State Department said.
Blinken also discussed the need to expand humanitarian access to Sudan and thanked the UAE for its provision of aid for Gaza and Lebanon, according to a State Department statement.
Pakistan’s Punjab bans entry to parks, zoos and playgrounds amid pollution
- The province has set up a ‘smog war room,’ using satellite, drones and AI to monitor and address pollution
- Environmentalists want government to address fuel quality, renewable electricity and industrial emissions
LAHORE: Pakistan's eastern Punjab province banned entry to parks, zoos, playgrounds and other public spaces on Friday to protect the public from polluted air, and is considering closing down universities after shutting schools earlier this week.
The air quality in Lahore has deteriorated drastically, earning Punjab's regional capital the rank of world's most polluted city from Swiss air purification equipment maker IQAir.
"We are closely monitoring the situation. There's a possibility of closing universities and colleges on Monday to reduce vehicle emissions," said Jahangir Anwar, Secretary of the Environment Protection Department Punjab.
Friday's order from the regional government placed a "complete ban on public entry in all parks ... zoos, playgrounds, historical places, monuments, museums and joy/play lands" until Nov. 17 in areas including Lahore.
In addition to shutting schools, the province has already taken other steps such as suggesting half of employees work from home and banning rickshaws in certain areas.
South Asia annually faces severe pollution due to trapped dust, emissions and stubble burning - the practice of setting fire to fields after the harvest of grain.
Punjab has attributed this year's particularly high pollution levels to toxic air from neighbouring India, where air quality has also reached hazardous levels.
Punjab has set up a "smog war room," using satellite, drone technology and AI to monitor and address pollution. Nevertheless, Anwar says there is not enough equipment to effectively monitor the province, with only four air quality monitoring machines for the entire city of Lahore, "whereas we should have 50.”
Anwar said the department had imported and deployed five mobile monitoring units and plans to deploy eight more by year-end.
Ahmad Rafay Alam, an environment lawyer and member of the Pakistan Climate Change Council, stressed the need for robust data and policy changes.
"Right now, we just simply don't have those monitors, we simply don’t have as robust data as we should have to make decisions," Alam said.
He warned that without addressing fuel quality, renewable electricity and industrial emissions, the problem will continue to worsen.
‘Strong likelihood’ famine imminent in north Gaza, say food security experts
- The warning comes just days ahead of a US deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza
LONDON: There is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas” of the northern Gaza Strip, a committee of global food security experts warned on Friday, as Israel pursues a military offensive against Palestinian militants Hamas in the area.
“Immediate action, within days not weeks, is required from all actors who are directly taking part in the conflict, or have influence on its conduct, to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation,” the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) said in a rare alert.
The warning comes just days ahead of a US deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.
US charges Iranian man in plot to kill Donald Trump
- Shakeri told the FBI he didn’t plan to propose a plan to murder Trump
- The plot reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target US government officials
WASHINGTON: The Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump, charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week’s election with assassinating the Republican president-elect.
Investigators learned of the plot to kill Trump while interviewing Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan national identified by officials as an Iranian government asset who was deported from the US after being imprisoned on robbery charges.
He told investigators that a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him this past September to put together a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.
Two other men who the authorities say were recruited to participate in other assassinations, including a prominent Iranian American journalist, were also arrested Friday. Shakeri remains in Iran.
“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.
The plot, with the charges unsealed just days after Trump’s defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris, reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target US government officials, including Trump, on US soil. Last summer, the Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot.
