TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania's left-wing Freedom Party said Monday its leader and former Albanian president Ilir Meta has been arrested on alleged corruption charges.
Meta, 55, was arrested in the capital, Tirana, by officers with the National Investigation Bureau, according to local media. Local television stations showed masked, plainclothes police officers taking Meta from his vehicle after he returned from neighboring Kosovo ahead of holding a news conference.
The party's secretary-general, Tedi Blushi, called it “a criminal kidnapping."
There was no immediate comment from the prosecutor's office.
After meeting Meta at the police department, his lawyer Genc Gjokutaj said the former president is being investigated for alleged corruption, money laundering and hiding personal income and property.
Meta was Albania's previous president, serving from 2017-2022. He was being investigated for alleged illegal lobbying in the United States years ago. He and his former wife also have been investigated on allegations of hiding their personal property and income.
Meta has been a vocal opponent of the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama, accusing it of running a “kleptocratic regime” and concentrating all legislative, administrative and judiciary powers in Rama's hands.
Corruption has been post-communist Albania’s Achilles’ heel, strongly affecting the country’s democratic, economic and social development.
Judicial institutions created with the support of the European Union and the United States have launched several investigations into former senior government officials allegedly involved in corruption. Albania seeks EU membership.
Former prime minister and president Sali Berisha, now a lawmaker and leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, is also accused of corruption and is under house arrest waiting for the trial.
Soon after Meta's arrest, Romana Vlahutin, EU ambassador to Tirana when the judicial reform was approved in 2016 and now a European Council official, said on social platform X, “Justice reform in full force! There are no untouchables.”
Llazar Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.
FILE - Albanian President Ilir Meta speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Tirana, Albania, on April 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting around their all-time highs Monday, as momentum for Wall Street’s record-breaking rally cools a bit.
The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower in early trading, coming off its sixth straight winning week, its longest such streak of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged back 47 points, or 0.1%, from its own record that was likewise set on Friday, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower, as of 9:40 a.m. Eastern time.
Trading was mixed in markets around the world. Crude oil prices rose to regain some of last week’s sharp losses, while U.S. Treasury yields ticked higher and stock indexes were mostly lower in Europe and Asia.
On Wall Street, stocks have rallied to records in large part on optimism that the U.S. economy can make a perfect escape from the worst inflation in generations, one that ends without a painful recession that many investors had worried was nearly inevitable. And with the Federal Reserve now cutting interest rates to keep the economy humming, the expectation among optimists is that stocks can rise even further.
But critics are warning that stock prices look too expensive given how much faster they’ve climbed than corporate profits.
That puts pressure on companies to deliver growth in profits to justify their stock prices, and more than 100 companies in the S&P 500 are on deck this week to give details about how their performance during the summer. That includes such heavyweights as AT&T, Coca-Cola, IBM, General Motors and Tesla.
Tesla’s drop of 2% was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. Its stock has been shaky recently, most recently sinking after an update on its much-anticipated robotaxi included fewer details than investors were hoping for.
Boeing is reporting its latest results on Wednesday. It rose 4.9% after it reached an agreement with the union representing its striking machinists on a contract proposal that would provide bigger pay raises and bonuses. The union’s members could vote Wednesday on the deal, which could end a costly walkout that has crippled production of airplanes for more than a month.
Spirit Airlines soared 35.4% after the carrier was able to extend the life of a contract with credit-card processors. Coming into the day, the airline’s stock had lost 91% in the year so far following the cancellation of its planned merger with JetBlue.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.13% from 4.08% late Friday.
This upcoming week doesn’t have many top-tier economic reports to move Treasury yields. A preliminary update will arrive on Thursday about U.S. business activity. The Bank of Canada will also announce its latest decision on interest rates Wednesday, where it could cut by half a percentage point.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in China after its central bank cut a couple lending rates. Lower rates can help reduce pressure on borrowers, particularly the property developers that have suffered following a crackdown on excessive borrowing several years ago. But any impact on market sentiment appeared to be short-lived.
Stocks rose 0.2% in Shanghai but fell 1.6% in Hong Kong. Chinese stocks have been zooming higher and lower in recent weeks. A slowdown for the world's second-largest economy has raised expectations for big stimulus from the Chinese government and central bank, though doubts are still prevalent about how much effect they will have.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
FILE - People pass the New York Stock Exchange, at rear, in New York's Financial District on Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
FILE - A man approaches an entrance to the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader reads documents near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
