Navy plane crashes in South Korea, media reports say
The plane belongs to the navy, the Newsis news agency said.
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Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Tulip Siddiq ‘used influence over her aunt to acquire land for family'
Tulip Siddiq used her 'special power' as an MP in Britain to exert influence over her aunt, the former prime minister of Bangladesh, to acquire state-owned land, an anti-corruption trial was told. Prosecutors in Bangladesh allege that Siddiq applied pressure on Sheikh Hasina, who was deposed as the country's leader last year, to secure plots of land for her mother, brother, and sister. Siddiq, 42, resigned as the anti-corruption minister in Sir Keir Starmer's government in January over 'reputational risks' from her family's links with the Hasina regime. The MP is not attending the trial at Dhaka Special Judge Court 4, which formally began on Wednesday, and has described the case against her as 'persecution and a farce'. • Joy and trepidation in Bangladesh a year since ousting of Sheikh Hasina She claims to have become 'collateral damage' in a power struggle between her aunt and Muhammad Yunus, Hasina's replacement as leader in the south Asian country. Officials from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) told the court that Siddiq played a central role in acquiring plots of land for relatives in the diplomatic zone of Dhaka in 2022. The court was told that Siddiq had learnt that her aunt had 'used her power' to acquire plots in the Purbachal New Town Project, a long-running land development programme operated by a government agency, Rajuk. Siddiq is then said to have 'simultaneously used her special power to exert pressure and influence on her aunt', according to Afnan Jannat Keya, an ACC assistant director. He said that this led to plots being allotted to her mother, Sheikh Rehana; her sister, Azmina Siddique; and her brother, Radwan Mujib Siddiq. • Tulip Siddiq's flyers found in palace of deposed Bangladesh leader Siddiq is also accused of seeking to influence the secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and other officials on the instructions of her aunt to acquire a plot for her sister. 'In view of this, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works issued a letter to the chairman of Rajuk to proceed with the allotment,' the court heard. Siddiq is alleged to own a flat in the upmarket Gulshan neighbourhood of the capital, Dhaka, which investigators say should have ruled her out from availing of the award of land under the scheme. The ACC is examining claims that Hasina and her family misappropriated billions of pounds of state money during her 15-year reign. Hasina, who is living in exile in India after fleeing during mass protests, faces trial in absentia for crimes against humanity during her time in power. Judge Muhammad Rabiul Alam heard the opening statements from three ACC officials relating to three cases on Wednesday. SM Rashidul Hasan, another ACC assistant director, named Tulip Siddiq among 16 people who are accused of offences, including her brother and aunt. The judge set aside August 28 for the next stage in the trial, when prosecution witnesses and evidence will be presented. In a statement published on Monday, Siddiq claimed that she had yet to receive a summons, adding: 'No fair legal process should begin with a media headline. Unfortunately that's what I have been handed out. No engagement. No evidence. Not even a response to legitimate inquiries from my lawyers.' In an interview in The Guardian, she said: 'I'm yet to see a summons … I'm supposedly days away from a showcase trial in a foreign country, and I still don't know what the charges are. 'I feel a bit like I'm trapped in this Kafkaesque nightmare where I've been put on trial and I genuinely haven't found out what the allegations are.' The ACC's prosecutor, Muhammad Tariqul Islam, said Bangladeshi authorities had served notices on each of the accused, instructing them to appear before the court as the trial began. 'If any of them want to contest the allegations, they must appear before the court,' he told reporters outside the courtroom. None of those accused has engaged counsel to represent them at the trial. Prosecutors have separately disputed Siddiq's claims not to have Bangladeshi citizenship, claiming they have unearthed her Bangladeshi passport and identity card. In 2017 she said: 'I am not Bangladeshi.' Asked about her nationality, Mohammad Sultan Mahmud, another ACC prosecutor, said all necessary documents relating to Siddiq and her family would be produced during the trial. Siddiq's lawyers, from Stephenson Harwood, denied that such documents existed and said that she has not had a Bangladeshi passport since she was a child. The MP for Hampstead & Highgate has always denied wrongdoing and accused the Bangladeshi authorities of a 'targeted and baseless' campaign against her. 'I'm collateral damage, because of this feud between Muhammad Yunus and my aunt,' she said. 'These are wider forces that I'm battling against.' She resigned from the Labour frontbench after referring herself to the ministerial standards adviser after reports that she had lived in London properties with links to Hasina. Siddiq had initially claimed that a £650,000 flat in King's Cross in London was given to her by her parents. It later transpired, however, that the flat had been paid for by a developer and associate of figures in the Awami League, Hasina's party.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Chinese fighter jet comes within 200ft of Philippine plane in mid-air standoff
This is the moment a Chinese fighter jet appears to intercept a Philippine Coast Guard aircraft carrying journalists during a patrol near Scarborough Shoal. Footage onboard the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) plane shows the jet flying within 200 feet, circling and matching the aircraft's course for 20 minutes. Chinese navy ships below can be heard demanding the aircraft 'leave immediately' on the cockpit radio. It happened around the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a disputed atoll 140 miles west of the Philippines. At least four Chinese coast guard vessels, suspected 'maritime militia' ships, and two U.S. warships were nearby. The incident comes after a Beijing warship accidentally crashed into a smaller PCG ship on Monday (11 August) in the same area. China claims almost the entire South China Sea despite a 2016 tribunal ruling rejecting its claims.
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Tulip Siddiq brands corruption trial in Bangladesh a ‘farce' as case opens
A former Government minister has labelled a trial into her alleged corruption a 'farce' as it got under way in Bangladesh. Tulip Siddiq, who resigned in January as Treasury minister, said the case being heard in Dhaka was 'built on fabricated accusations and driven by a clear political vendetta'. Ms Siddiq is the niece of the former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheika Hasina, who fled the country in August last year after ruling for 15 years. Ms Hasina had previously held the post for five years and she is the daughter of Bangladesh's founding president. She was ousted amid student-led protests that were met with violence by government forces, which saw nearly 300 people killed. She is now exiled in India. In April, it was reported that Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission had sought an arrest warrant for Ms Siddiq over allegations the MP for Hampstead and Highgate illegally received a 7,200sq ft plot of land in the country's capital. Bangladeshi anti-corruption officials gave evidence in court on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. Ms Siddiq has claimed she has not had any official communication about the trial. In a post on X on Wednesday as the case got under way, Ms Siddiq said: 'The so-called trial now under way in Dhaka is nothing more than a farce – built on fabricated accusations and driven by a clear political vendetta. 'Over the past year, the allegations against me have repeatedly shifted, yet I have never been contacted by the Bangladeshi authorities once. 'I have never received a court summons, no official communication, and no evidence. 'If this were a genuine legal process, the authorities would have engaged with me or my legal team, responded to our formal correspondence, and presented the evidence they claim to hold. 'Instead, they have peddled false and vexatious allegations that have been briefed to the media but never formally put to me by investigators. 'Even my offer to meet Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus during his recent visit to London was refused. Such conduct is wholly incompatible with the principles of a fair trial that we uphold in the UK. 'I have been clear from the outset that I have done nothing wrong and will respond to any credible evidence that is presented to me. Continuing to smear my name to score political points is both baseless and damaging.' The MP had resigned in January after six months in Government after an investigation by the Prime Minister's ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus into her links to Ms Hasina's regime. She came under scrutiny over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt's allies. She stepped down and said she had become 'a distraction' from Labour's agenda. Campaigners from her aunt's party, the Awami League, had campaigned and canvassed for her during previous general elections. In an interview with the Guardian before the trial began, Ms Siddiq said she had been 'collateral damage' in the long-standing feud between Mr Yunus and Ms Hasina. She said: 'These are wider forces that I'm battling against… There's no doubt people have done wrong things in Bangladesh, and they should be punished for it. It's just I'm not one of them.' After an outcry over the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people demonstrating against what they said was an increasingly autocratic and cruel administration, Ms Hasina and Siddiq's mother, Sheikh Rehana, who was in the country at the time, fled the Bangladeshi capital in a military helicopter to India. It was, Ms Siddiq admits, a scary time. Ms Hasina's entire family, apart from her husband, children and sister, were murdered during the August 15 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'etat in which Ms Siddiq's grandfather, the first president of Bangladesh, was assassinated.
