Wife of S.Korea's ex-president Yoon appears for questioning over corruption allegations
The conservative's abrupt and poorly planned power grab on Dec 3 came during a seemingly routine standoff with the liberals, whom he described as "anti-state' forces abusing their legislative majority to obstruct his agenda. Some political opponents have questioned whether Yoon's actions were at least partly motivated by growing allegations against his wife, which hurt his approval ratings and gave political ammunition to his rivals.
"I apologize for causing concern to the people, even though I am someone insignificant,' Kim told reporters as she arrived for questioning. She added that she would sincerely cooperate with the investigation, before walking away without responding to specific questions about the allegations. Through a heavy police presence, dozens of Yoon's supporters gathered outside the special prosecutor's office in downtown Seoul, waving South Korean and US flags and banners in light rain.
Yoon, who was sent back to prison last month and faces a high-stakes trial on rebellion and other charges, resisted an attempt by investigators last week to compel him for questioning over his wife. Investigators said he took off his prison uniform and laid down on the floor of his cell in his underwear before they gave up executing the warrant to detain him.
They plan to negotiate with Yoon's lawyers to arrange a possible questioning. Yoon and Kim have faced suspicions of exerting undue influence over the conservative People Power Party to nominate a specific candidate for a 2022 parliamentary by-election, allegedly at the request of Myung Tae-kyun, an election broker and founder of a polling agency who conducted free opinion surveys for Yoon before he became president.
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Arab Times
21 hours ago
- Arab Times
CDC shooter believed COVID vaccine made him suicidal
ATLANTA, Aug 10, (AP): A Georgia man who opened fire on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters, shooting dozens of rounds into the sprawling complex and killing a police officer, had blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Saturday. The 30-year-old shooter also tried to get into the CDC's headquarters in Atlanta but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire late Friday afternoon, the official said. He was armed with five guns, including at least one long gun, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation. DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was mortally wounded while responding. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., whose skepticism of vaccines has been a cornerstone of his career, voiced support for CDC employees Saturday. But some laid-off CDC employees said Kennedy shares responsibility for the violence and should resign. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation named Patrick Joseph White as the shooter, but authorities haven't said whether he was killed by police or killed himself. The suspect's father contacted police and identified his son as the possible shooter, the law enforcement official told AP. The father said his son had been upset over the death of the son's dog, and he had also become fixated on the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the official. The family lives in Kennesaw, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of CDC headquarters. A voicemail left at a phone number listed publicly for White's family wasn't returned Saturday. The shooting left gaping bullet holes in windows across the CDC campus, where thousands work on critical disease research. Employees huddled under lockdown for hours while investigators gathered evidence. Staff was encouraged to work from home Monday or take leave. At least four CDC buildings were hit, Director Susan Monarez said on X. Sam Atkins, who lives in Stone Mountain, said outside the CVS pharmacy on Saturday that gun violence feels like "a fact of life' now. "This is an everyday thing that happens here in Georgia.' "We are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting at CDC's Atlanta campus that took the life of officer David Rose,' Kennedy said Saturday. "We know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others.' Some rejected the expressions of solidarity Kennedy made in a "Dear colleagues' email, and called for his resignation. "Kennedy is directly responsible for the villainization of CDC's workforce through his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust,' said Fired But Fighting, a group of laid-off employees opposing changes to the CDC by President Donald Trump's administration. Under Kennedy, CDC has laid off nearly 2,000 employees. Trump proposes cutting the agency's budget in half next year, moving some CDC functions into a new Administration for a Healthy America. Kennedy has a history as a leader in the anti-vaccine movement, but he reached new prominence by spreading distrust of COVID-19 vaccines. For example, he called it "criminal medical malpractice' to give COVID-19 vaccines to children. Kennedy parlayed that attention into a presidential bid and endorsement of Trump, leading to Trump naming him secretary. Kennedy continues to undercut the scientific consensus for vaccines, ordering $500 million cut from vaccine development funding on Tuesday. Fired But Fighting also called for the resignation of Russell Vought, noting a video recorded before Trump appointed him Office of Management and Budget director with orders to dismantle much of the federal government. "We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,' Vought said in the video, obtained by ProPublica and the research group Documented. "When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.' A request for comment from Vought's agency wasn't returned. This shooting was the "physical embodiment of the narrative that has taken over, attacking science, and attacking our federal workers,' said Sarah Boim, a former CDC communications staffer who was fired this year during a wave of terminations. A neighbor of White told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that White spoke with her multiple times about his distrust of COVID-19 vaccines. Nancy Hoalst, who lives on the same street as White's family, said he seemed like a "good guy' while doing yard work and walking dogs for neighbors, but he would bring up vaccines even in unrelated conversations. "He was very unsettled, and he very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people,' Hoalst told the Atlanta newspaper. "He emphatically believed that.' But Hoalst said she never believed White would be violent: "I had no idea he thought he would take it out on the CDC.' Rose, 33, was a former Marine who served in Afghanistan, graduated from the police academy in March, and "quickly earned the respect of his colleagues for his dedication, courage and professionalism,' DeKalb County said. "This evening, there is a wife without a husband. There are three children, one unborn, without a father,' DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said. Senior CDC leadership told some staff Saturday that they would do a full security assessment following the shooting, according to a conference call recording obtained by the AP. One staffer said people felt like "sitting ducks' Friday. Another asked whether administrators had spoken with Kennedy and if they could speak to "the misinformation, the disinformation' that "caused this issue.' It is clear CDC leaders fear employees could continue to be targeted. In a Saturday email obtained by the AP, the CDC's security office asked employees to scrape old CDC parking decals off their vehicles. The office said decals haven't been required for some time.
Arab Times
21 hours ago
- Arab Times
$7K worth of Labubu dolls stolen from Los Angeles store
LOS ANGELES, Aug 10, (AP): A group of masked thieves stole about $7,000 worth of Labubu dolls from a Los Angeles-area store this week, authorities said. The incident took place early Wednesday morning at a store in La Puente, a city about 18 miles (29 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, the LA County Sheriff's Department said. The department said the suspects used a stolen Toyota Tacoma in the incident, which was recovered shortly afterward. The agency said it was investigating the case and did not have additional information. Labubu dolls, created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, have become a popular collectible item a decade after the toothy monsters were first introduced. Toy vendor One Stop Sales said in an Instagram post that the thieves took all of the store's inventory and trashed the establishment. The store posted surveillance footage showing a group of people wearing hoodies and face coverings breaking in. The suspects are seen shuffling through items and carrying boxes out of the shop. "We are still in shock,' the store said in its post, urging people to help find the thieves.
Arab Times
2 days ago
- Arab Times
Death of NYPD officer spotlights rise of Bangladeshi immigrants within ranks
NEW YORK, Aug 9, (AP): Outside the Bronx mosque where a New York City police officer was eulogized last week, a group of officers in their formal navy blue uniforms solemnly hung a banner bearing the young officer's photograph and the name of his fraternity, the Bangladeshi American Police Association. Didarul Islam - one of four people killed in the July 28 shooting at the Manhattan office tower housing the NFL's headquarters - was the NYPD's first Bangladeshi American officer killed in the line of duty. His funeral underscored the fertile recruiting ground the department has found in the city's thriving Bangladeshi community. More than 1,000 of the NYPD's roughly 33,000 uniformed members are Bangladeshi Americans, according to the association. Another 1,500 people of Bangladeshi heritage are among the department's 19,000 civilian employees. Those numbers are up from just a handful of officers a few decades ago, a phenomenon some Bangladeshi officers attribute partly to their own patriotic response to anti-Muslim sentiment after the 9/11 attacks, as well as active recruitment and word-of-mouth in the community. Among the sea of NYPD officers who lined the street to honor Islam, 36, were some who opted for traditional South Asian attire, their police badges worn around their necks. Many joined the throngs of mourners who knelt in the street in prayer. "He actually uplifted our community in a way that was not imaginable before,' said Shamsul Haque, one of the co-founders of the NYPD's Bangladeshi officers' group. "His legacy will endure not only as a hero who gave his life protecting others, but also as a symbol of hope, integrity, and the American dream.' When Haque joined the NYPD in 2004, he was one of just a few Bangladeshi immigrants. Many of those who joined around then wanted to dispel the notion that all Muslims were terrorist sympathizers, he said. Haque, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1991, had recently graduated college with a business administration degree when the twin towers fell. But rather than follow his peers into a financial field, he enrolled in the police academy, a decision he acknowledged was initially met with skepticism from his parents. In the aftermath of 9/11, the NYPD built up a domestic surveillance program that for years systematically spied on Muslim communities and monitored local businesses, mosques, and student groups in a hunt for terror cells. Haque, 52, who retired earlier this year after becoming the first South Asian and first Muslim to attain the rank of lieutenant commander in the NYPD, said the perception of Muslims among rank-and-file members has improved. Early in his career, he recalled feeling singled out when a counterterrorism expert warned officers during a training session about the possibility of al-Qaida operatives infiltrating the force. "Over the years, people started to realize that we work hard, we are ethical,' Haque said. "Although we are immigrants, we are patriotic.' To grow their numbers, Haque and others went out into the community proselytizing a sensible path for recently arrived immigrants. Aspiring Bangladeshi officers were encouraged to take civilian jobs in the department, such as traffic enforcement officers and school safety agents, that don't require U.S. citizenship. After gaining citizenship, usually in about five years, they could then apply for the police academy to become a uniformed officer. Some 60% of all officers of Bangladeshi heritage in the NYPD followed this pipeline, Haque estimated. Islam, the officer killed last week, began his career as a school safety officer after immigrating to the U.S. about 16 years ago. The visible growth of Bangladeshis in the NYPD has helped many aspire to leadership roles in the department, just as generations of Irish, Italian, and Latino immigrants did before them. Among the uniformed officers with Bangladeshi roots are 10 detectives, 82 sergeants, 20 lieutenants, and four inspectors, said Sgt. Ershadur Siddique, current president of the Bangladeshi American Police Association. The department's uniformed ranks are roughly 38% white, 33% Hispanic, 17% Black, and nearly 12% Asian, according to NYPD data. "I never dreamt that I would go this far, but I always had an ambition to go somewhere where I can be challenged,' said Siddique, now a member of Mayor Eric Adams' security detail. "I always say, 'Listen, give me a chance, see if I can do better than anybody else,' you know? Give me a chance.' Ishmam Chowdhury, a 26-year-old officer who graduated from the academy in May, said Islam's death just a few months into his own career has left a lasting impression. Like Islam's wife, who is expecting their third child, Chowdhury's wife is due to give birth to their first soon. "It just hit us a little different because, like that, made us think, what if it happens to me today? It can,' he said. "So yeah, I guess that's a wake-up call for us that even though this is a noble job, we are definitely at grave risk,' Chowdhury said he dreamed of joining law enforcement even before he immigrated to the U.S. in 2019. As a teenager in Bangladesh, he and other family members were robbed multiple times. The feeling of helplessness and humiliation stuck with him, he said. Chowdhury started as an unarmed volunteer member of the NYPD auxiliary before joining the civilian ranks as a 911 operator in 2021. He also served about a year in the police force in Washington, D.C., after it opened applications to green card holders in 2023, but he and his wife felt isolated from friends and family. So after receiving his citizenship last year, the couple moved back to Queens, and he enrolled in the police academy. "That's what makes this city, this country, great. It doesn't matter where somebody comes from,' Chowdhury said. "If somebody really works hard and truly wants to do something, they can do it.'
