According to Jakarta News, on July 11th, former Indonesian Minister of Agriculture Charul was sentenced to 10 years in prison for embezzlement of public funds. According to official reports, 69 year old Sharur coerced two officials from the Ministry of Agriculture to transfer a total of 44 billion Indonesian rupiah to him. He used the money to purchase jewelry and beauty treatments for his wife, participate in religious activities, travel abroad on private planes, pilgrimage, and donate to political parties. Two former high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Agriculture involved in the case were sentenced to four years in prison and fined 200 million Indonesian rupiah. It is reported that Shahrul is the sixth corrupt minister during the tenure of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

In recent years, Indonesia has arrested dozens of public officials suspected of corruption. last yearIn November, the former Minister of Communications was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his corruption case, which resulted in national losses exceeding $500 million. In 2021, a former Minister of Social Affairs was sentenced to 12 years in prison for accepting a bribe of $1.2 million. This bribe is related to providing food aid to impoverished families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

02North Korean military officials flee after removing $30 million

According to South Korean media reports, on July 10th, sources reported that a senior official belonging to the North Korean Army Defense Bureau fled after embezzling $30 million in secret funds. It is reported that in order to accelerate the modernization of North Korea's weapons, North Korea has appointed this cadre to be responsible for introducing computer digital control machine tools from China. According to reports, this cadre is a core cadre of the Kim Jong un regime, mainly responsible for managing secret funds. The embezzled funds account for 30% of the $100 million secret funds raised by Kim Jong un for weapon modernization. It is currently uncertain whether this cadre fled with cash or through a transfer.

Nam Sung wook, the director of the Institute of Unification and Integration at Korea University, believes that the cadre may have been involved in the transfer of secret funds and decided to defect after receiving a recall order from Pyongyang. If carrying huge amounts of funds to South Korea, there will be a threat of murder from Pyongyang. In order to ensure personal safety, it cannot be ruled out that he has fled to another country. There are also reports suggesting that countries such as the United States and Europe do not recognize illegal funds from hostile countries, so this cadre may have fled to the United States and Europe.

military

01The United States will begin deploying long-range weapons in Germany in 2026

According to Reuters, on July 10th, the United States and Germany issued a joint statement at the NATO summit, stating that the United States will begin deploying long-range weapons in Germany from 2026 to demonstrate its commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European defense. The "phased deployment" of the United States is to prepare for the long-term deployment of such weapons, which will include Standard Missile Type 6, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and hypersonic weapons with longer ranges than those currently available in Europe.

It is understood that according to former Soviet leader Mikhail·Gorbachev and former US President Ronald Reagan signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987, which banned land-based missiles with a range exceeding 500 kilometers. This was the first time that the two world superpowers agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals and eliminate an entire class of weapons. Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic followed in the footsteps of the signatory countries and destroyed their missiles in the 1990s. The United States withdrew from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, claiming that Moscow violated the treaty on the grounds that Russia had developed the 9M729 land launched cruise missile, which NATO called SSC-8, but Moscow has repeatedly denied this accusation.

01Apple agrees to open up mobile payment technology to competitors

Bloomberg reported that on July 11th, Apple reached a settlement with the European Union, allowing third-party developers to use Apple's payment technology to help them develop alternative mobile wallets. This agreement is binding for 10 years, and if Apple violates the agreement, it will face a fine of up to 10% of its global annual revenue.

For a long time, Apple and the European Union have been in dispute over how Apple complies with EU regulatory requirements. The EU had previously warned that restricting the use of this technology is equivalent to abusing market power. EU Competition Commissioner Vestager said that Apple has promised to allow competitors to useThe "one click payment" technology of iPhone will provide consumers with more secure and innovative mobile wallets to choose from, and the market will become more free and open.

02Cambodia's fresh longan exports increase by 120%

According to the Cambodia China Times, data recently released by the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture shows that in the first half of this year, Cambodia's agricultural product exports reached 6.135 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 57.2%. The main agricultural products exported include rice, rice, cassava chips, fresh cassava, cassava flour, cashews, bananas, mangoes, longans, etc. Among them, Cambodia exported 14817 tons of fresh longan, a year-on-year increase of 120%.

It is reported that fresh longan from CambodiaAt the end of October 2022, it was approved to be exported to China, and in December of the same year, Cambodian Longyan was officially launched on Chinese e-commerce platforms. After knocking on the door to the Chinese market, the export volume of longan has been increasing year by year. According to statistics from the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, the export volume of longan reached 17400 tons last year, of which 17300 tons were sold to China. In addition, the report also pointed out that in the first half of this year, Cambodia's fresh mango exports reached 190000 tons, a surge of 107.7% from 91000 tons in the same period last year; The export volume of fresh bananas reached 128000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 22.6%; The export volume of fresh cassava reached 1.67 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 385.4%; The export volume of cashew nuts reached 545000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 50.4%; The export volume of processed cashew nuts reached 87 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 87%.