Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. AIHot
  3. US mid-termsHeating up
NewsbriefSouth Africa, briefly.
JoburgJHB29°80%CTCT19°100%PretoriaPTA31°100%DurbanDBN26°90%

Indonesian police name fourth suspect in Prabowo wiretapping case

Published

Police said the suspect, identified by the initials SU, approved the alleged wiretapping of President Prabowo Subianto. He has not been detained because of a health condition, police said at a press conference late on Thursday.

Cybercrime unit director Suhermanto said SU approved the wiretapping and asked for approval before interception records were deleted. He said the other two suspects got approval from SU when they were about to wiretap. SU was a monitoring chief at the Criminal Investigation Agency from 2010 to 2019. He then headed its information and technology unit from 2021 to 2026.

Local media identified SU as Slamet Uliandi. Police arrested three senior officers on Tuesday. They include Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the former national police chief and Prabowo's chief of staff.

Police have questioned 13 police officers and five criminal and IT experts so far. Reports said lawmakers are considering a probe into the eligibility of Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka. They said public discontent is growing over Prabowo's costly populist policies and that investor confidence is weakening.

Key facts

Who
Prabowo Subianto (President of Indonesia); Joko Widodo (Predecessor of Prabowo Subianto); Listyo Sigit Prabowo (Former national police chief and Prabowo's chief of staff, arrested on Tuesday); Slamet Uliandi (Suspect, identified by local media as SU)
What
Police said at a late Thursday press conference that SU, a monitoring chief at the Criminal Investigation Agency between 2010 and 2019 and head of its information and technology unit from 2021 to 2026, approved the wiretapping, according to cybercrime unit director Suhermanto. Local media identified him as Slamet Uliandi. SU has not been detained due to a health condition. Three senior officers…
When
5 November 2026
Where
Indonesia, Jakarta
Status
Reported

Related stories

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Counting in the 2026 local government elections continues, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa will declare final results on Sunday. With 56% of voting districts counted, the ANC leads nationally with 31%, the DA has 25% and the MK Party is third.

The DA appears to have won majority control in Cape Town, and leader Geordin Hill-Lewis plans a significant announcement in Midrand on Friday. Early results point to a more fragmented vote, and ActionSA, the DA, the ANC and the EFF said they are open to coalition talks.

Earlier, police said they recorded 85 incidents and registered 57 case dockets on voting day, and the Independent Electoral Commission said a party tore up at least 100 ballots in the Northern Cape.

  1. IFP says it made gains despite lower national vote share
  2. SACP and Al Jama-ah state priorities as vote counting continues
  3. Former EFF MP Ndlozi says he did not vote

See every update

AI Hot

What you need to know

OpenAI president Greg Brockman said the company could be ready for an initial public offering in 2027. Earlier, reports based on unnamed sources said OpenAI had lowered the target for its latest funding round, and OpenAI has not been quoted on that claim.

Anthropic published its S-1 filing for a Nasdaq listing under the symbol ANT, showing revenue of $4.6bn in 2025 and a net loss of $80.7bn in the first half of 2026. Anthropic also said it is committing close to $900bn to AI infrastructure, with spending on computing power rising faster than revenues.

Elsewhere, an AI chip investment scheme that recruited South Africans on social media went offline on 30 October, leaving members unable to withdraw money.

  1. Parents sue Google over Gemini chatbot and daughter's suicide plan
  2. OpenAI could be ready for a share listing in 2027
  3. Only 4 people booked Uber rides through an AI agent

See every update

US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the US midterm elections on 3 November, with at least a 54-44 Senate majority and at least 30 House seats gained. Exit polls showed voters angry about high prices and the direction of the country, and the result was a rebuke of President Donald Trump.

Trump said the Iran war was needed to stop Tehran getting a nuclear weapon, but admitted it contributed to Republican losses, while Vice-President JD Vance said the war was the reason. Markets reacted, with the JSE All Share Index rising almost 5% on 5 November and Brent crude falling below $100 a barrel as investors hoped for an end to the war.

Earlier, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the result would introduce a new era in world relations, while some leaders warned of political gridlock in Washington.

  1. US planning commission approves Trump's 76m triumphal arch
  2. Asian stocks plunge as US election results shake AI trade
  3. Trump blames Democrats' election win for US stock market fall

See every update