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CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Ukraine says it uncovers major drone procurement corruption scheme
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a news conference at the Ukraine peace summit in Buergenstock, Switzerland on June 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani) KYIV — Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies said on Saturday they had uncovered a major graft scheme that procured military drones and signal jamming systems at inflated prices, two days after the agencies' independence was restored following major protests. The independence of Ukraine's anti-graft investigators and prosecutors, NABU and SAPO, was reinstated by parliament on Thursday after a move to take it away resulted in the country's biggest demonstrations since Russia's invasion in 2022. In a statement published by both agencies on social media, NABU and SAPO said they had caught a sitting lawmaker, two local officials and an unspecified number of national guard personnel taking bribes. None of them were identified in the statement. 'The essence of the scheme was to conclude state contracts with supplier companies at deliberately inflated prices,' it said, adding that the offenders had received kickbacks of up to 30 per cent of a contract's cost. Four people had been arrested. 'There can only be zero tolerance for corruption, clear teamwork to expose corruption and, as a result, a just sentence,' President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Zelenskiy, who has far-reaching wartime presidential powers and still enjoys broad approval among Ukrainians, was forced into a rare political about-face when his attempt to bring NABU and SAPO under the control of his prosecutor-general sparked the first nationwide protests of the war. Zelenskiy subsequently said that he had heard the people's anger, and submitted a bill restoring the agencies' former independence, which was voted through by parliament on Thursday. Ukraine's European allies praised the move, having voiced concerns about the original stripping of the agencies' status. Top European officials had told Zelenskiy that Ukraine was jeopardizing its bid for European Union membership by curbing the powers of its anti-graft authorities. 'It is important that anti-corruption institutions operate independently, and the law adopted on Thursday guarantees them every opportunity for a real fight against corruption,' Zelenskiy wrote on Saturday after meeting the heads of the agencies, who briefed him on the latest investigation. By Max Hunder
National Post
3 hours ago
- National Post
Half-million young Catholics in Rome awaiting Pope Leo XIV at Holy Year youth festival
ROME — Hundreds of thousands of young Catholics poured into a vast field on Rome's outskirts Saturday for the weekend highlight of the Vatican's 2025 Holy Year: an evening vigil, outdoor slumber party and morning Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV that marks his first big encounter with the next generation of Catholics. Article content Leo will surely like what he sees. For the past week, young Catholics from around the world have invaded the area around St. Peter's Square for their special Jubilee celebration, in this Holy Year in which 32 million people are expected to descend on Rome to participate in a centuries-old pilgrimage to the seat of Catholicism. Article content The young people have been traipsing through cobblestoned streets in color-coordinated t-shirts, praying the Rosary and singing hymns with guitars, bongo drums and tambourines shimmying alongside. Using their flags as tarps to shield them from the sun, they have taken over entire piazzas for Christian rock concerts and inspirational talks, and stood for hours at the Circus Maximus to confess their sins to 1,000 priests offering the sacrament in a dozen different languages. Article content Article content On Saturday, they began arriving at the Tor Vergata field on the eastern flank of Rome for the culmination of their Jubilee celebration — the encounter with Leo. After walking five kilometers (three miles) from the nearest subway station, they passed through security checks, picked up their boxed meals and set up camp, backpacks and sleeping bags at the ready and umbrellas planted to give them shade. Article content Leo, who was elected in May as the first American pope, was flying in by helicopter Saturday evening to preside over the vigil and a question-and-answer session. He was then returning to the Vatican for the night and coming back for a popemobile romp and Mass on Sunday morning. Article content Article content A mini World Youth Day, 25 years later Article content Article content It all has the vibe of a World Youth Day, the Catholic Woodstock festival that St. John Paul II inaugurated and made famous in 2000 in Rome at the very same Tor Vergata field. Then, before an estimated 2 million people, John Paul told the young pilgrims they were the 'sentinels of the morning' at the dawn of the third millennium. Article content Officials had initially expected 500,000 youngsters this weekend, but Leo hinted the number might reach 1 million. Article content 'It's a bit messed up, but this is what is nice about the Jubilee,' said Chloe Jobbour, a 19-year-old Lebanese Catholic who was in Rome with a group of more than 200 young members of the Community of the Beatitudes, a France-based charismatic group. Article content She said, for example, it had taken two hours to get dinner Friday night, as the KFC was overwhelmed by orders. The Salesian school that offered her group housing is an hour away by bus. But Jobbour, like many here this week, didn't mind the discomfort. It's all part of the experience. Article content 'I don't expect it to be better than that. I expected it this way,' she said, as members of her group gathered on church steps near the Vatican to sing and pray before heading out to Tor Vergata. Article content There was already one tragedy before the vigil began. The Vatican confirmed that an Egyptian 18-year-old, identified as Pascale Rafic, died while on the pilgrimage. Leo met Saturday with the group she was traveling with and extended his condolences to her family. Article content The weather has largely cooperated. While Italian civil protection crews had prepared for temperatures that could have reached 34C (93F) or higher this week, the mercury hasn't surpassed 30C (85F) and isn't expected to. Article content Romans who didn't flee the onslaught have been inconvenienced by the additional hordes on the city's notoriously insufficient public transport system. Residents are sharing social media posts of outbursts by Romans angered by kids flooding subway platforms and crowding bus stops that have complicated their commutes to work. But other Romans have welcomed the enthusiasm the youngsters have brought. Premier Giorgia Meloni offered a video welcome, marveling at the 'extraordinary festival of faith, joy and hope' that the young people had brought to the Eternal City. Article content 'I think it's marvelous,' said Rome hairdresser Rina Verdone, who lives near the Tor Vergata field and woke up Saturday to find a gaggle of police congregating outside her home as part of the massive, 4,000-strong operation mounted to keep the peace. 'You think the faith, the religion is in difficulty, but this is proof that it's not so.' Article content Verdone had already made plans to take an alternate route home Saturday afternoon, that would require an extra kilometer (half-mile) walk, because she feared the 'invasion' of kids in her neighborhood would disrupt her usual bus route. But she said she was more than happy to make the sacrifice. Article content
National Post
5 hours ago
- National Post
France halts program relocating Gazans after admitting Palestinian who said, ‘kill all the Jews'
France suspended a program to relocate Gaza refugees on Friday pending an investigation into how the country admitted a Palestinian woman, who made social media posts about wanting to 'kill all the Jews.' Article content Jean-Noël Barrot, France's foreign minister, told Franceinfo radio in an interview on Friday that 'no evacuation of any kind will take place until we have drawn the consequences of this investigation.' Article content Article content Article content 'All those who entered France will be subject to a new check following the flaws in the security screening,' Barrot said, adding that the offender 'has no place in France' and would be deported. Article content Article content French officials have not identified the woman, but unconfirmed screenshots of a now-deleted social media account show the woman, 25, of Gaza, re-posting a video of Adolf Hitler with the caption 'kill the Jews everywhere. I don't want a Jewish lineage on this earth. You must kill them before they kill you.' Article content Atalla had reportedly been accepted to Sciences Po Lille university but has now been expelled. Article content France has accepted about 600 Gazans into the country since Oct. 7 in a program that focuses on taking in teachers and students from the coastal enclave. Article content France's interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, called Atalla's posts 'unacceptable and concerning.' Article content 'I immediately requested the closure of this hateful account and instructed the prefect to refer the matter to the judiciary,' Retailleau wrote. 'Hamas propagandists have no place in our country.' Article content
