Malaysia
Home of former PM Najib raided by police
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian police raided the home of former Prime Minister Najib Razak late Wednesday, days after he was barred from leaving the country.
About 16 police vehicles and a truck were seen entering his residence in Kuala Lumpur, according to state-run news wire Bernama.
Najib, who unexpectedly lost last week’s election, has been accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars from the 1MDB state development fund. He denies the corruption allegations and was cleared in a government investigation.
But his successor and former mentor, 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, has instructed police to reinvestigate the case and put Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali on leave, over allegations he helped cover up the corruption scandal.
ETHIOPIA
Three countries agree
to study filling Nile dam
ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan announced Wednesday they have made progress in talks on what will be Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam.
The foreign ministers of Egypt and Ethiopia and Sudan’s water resources minister said they will set up a scientific study group to consult on the filling of Ethiopia’s $5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile River.
Egypt fears too much of the Nile’s waters could be retained each year, affecting its agriculture. Ethiopia maintains that the dam’s construction will not reduce Egypt’s share of the water and that it will help Ethiopia’s development, pointing out that 60 million of its citizens don’t have access to electricity.
The mega-dam is now more than 63 percent complete.
VENEZUELA
Utah man makes plea
for freedom in video
CARACAS — A Utah man imprisoned in Venezuela is pleading for Americans’ help getting out of a Caracas jail where he has been held for two years without trial.
In two short videos shot on a cellphone and posted Wednesday on his Facebook page, Joshua Holt said his life was threatened during a disturbance by inmates who include President Nicolas Maduro’s top opponents. Venezuela’s chief prosecutor sent a commission to the jail to discuss the prisoners’ demands.
Holt, 26, traveled to Venezuela in 2016 to marry a fellow Mormon he met on the internet. Shortly afterward, the couple was arrested at her family’s apartment after police alleged he was stockpiling weapons.
CANADA
Gov’t will cover losses to get pipeline done
TORONTO — Canada’s federal government will cover financial losses a pipeline builder might suffer if British Colombia’s provincial government continues to obstruct the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, the country’s finance minister said Wednesday.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau also said that other investors would step in if Houston-based Kinder Morgan backs out of the expansion, which would triple the capacity of a line carrying oil from Alberta to a Pacific port.
Kinder Morgan has halted essential spending on the project and says it will cancel it altogether if the national and provincial governments cannot guarantee it. British Colombia’s leftist premier has objected to the plan on environmental grounds. The company set a May 31 deadline.
The line would allow Canada increase exports to Asia, where it could command a higher price.
FRANCE
Brazilians stress plight of indigenous people
CANNES — Cast and crew members of the Brazilian film “The Dead and the Other” held up placards on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet Wednesday to protest what they called “the genocide” of indigenous people in Brazil.
The movie is based on the filmmakers’ experience living for nearly a year in a village of Kraho people in north Brazil. It is playing in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.
Co-directors Joao Salaviza and Renee Nader Messora joined actor Ihjac Kraho in displaying the signs calling for the protection of indigenous lands. They were attending the premiere of “Dogman.”
Brazilian politicians last year changed how land is to be demarcated for 900,000 aboriginal people. Activists maintain that without more protection, indigenous groups are being pushed off their land in violent disputes.
Wire reports
