Category: Spotlight
Portugal central bank chief Mário Centeno ethics review after being proposed as PM
Portugal’s central bank governor Mário Centeno is facing an ethics review by an independent watchdog after he was proposed as the next prime minister by Socialist premier António Costa, who quit last week over a corruption scandal. Costa’s proposal has triggered a public spat between Centeno and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the president who has the power to appoint prime…
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to face jail trial in Cipher case
Backgrounder. Imran Khan is a former Pakistani cricket player, politician, philanthropist, and prime minister of Pakistan (2018–22). He became a national hero by leading Pakistan’s national team to a Cricket World Cup victory in 1992 and later entered politics as a critic of government corruption in Pakistan. Khan’s calls for investigations into government corruption, along with supporting evidence released in…
LockBit ransomware leaks gigabytes of Boeing data
The LockBit ransomware gang published data stolen from Boeing, one of the largest aerospace companies that services commercial airplanes and defense systems. Before the leak, LockBit hackers said that Boeing ignored warnings that data would become publicly available and threatened to publish a sample of about 4GB of the most recent files. Backup data published LockBit ransomware has leaked more than…
LockBit ransomware leaks gigabytes of Boeing data
The LockBit ransomware gang published data stolen from Boeing, one of the largest aerospace companies that services commercial airplanes and defense systems. Before the leak, LockBit hackers said that Boeing ignored warnings that data would become publicly available and threatened to publish a sample of about 4GB of the most recent files. Backup data published LockBit ransomware has leaked more…
WaPo Drops Bombshell On The Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage Narrative: A Ukrainian Colonel, Covert Ops, & The CIA’s Shadow
Consider the source (and the timing)… No lesser deep-state mouthpiece than The Washington Post just dropped a bombshell with the revelation that Ukrainian Colonel Roman Chervinsky “was integral to the brazen sabotage operation” on the Nord Stream pipeline, “according to officials in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, as well as other people knowledgeable about the details of the covert operation.” The bombing, dubbed…
YouTube Censors Reporting On Leaked Trans Shooter Manifesto
YouTube has removed reporting by Steven Crowder on the pages of the withheld manifesto of the Nashville mass shooter that he managed to obtain, claiming that they “think it violates” their policy on “violent criminal organizations”. Whatever that means is anyone’s guess. Crowder shared the development with a screenshot from his YouTube account, commenting “Investigative journalism is now considered a…
Watch: Mexico Journalists Warn Violence Can ‘Curtail Freedom of Expression’
With data showing Mexico as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists outside a war zone, and with the country’s long record of impunity for perpetrators, the country’s media look to one another for safety. VOA’s Jessica Jerreat has the story. VOA footage by Vicente Calderon, Nelson Vignolles. Cristina Caicedo Smit contributed.
Dangerous encounter between a Chinese jet fighter and a Canadian helicopter over the South China Sea
Halifax, Canada — A dangerous encounter between a Chinese jet fighter and a Canadian helicopter over the South China Sea has called attention to Canada’s heightened interest in the Western Pacific, including participation in patrols through the disputed Taiwan Strait. In the October 29 incident, first reported by CNN, a helicopter was flying off the deck of the frigate HMCS Ottawa…
US Nuclear Submarine in Middle East for ‘Deterrence’: Pentagon
A US nuclear-powered Ohio-class submarine is in the Middle East to help prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spiraling into a broader conflict, the Pentagon said Monday. The US Central Command posted a picture of the submarine the day before on social media platform X that appeared to show it transiting Egypt’s Suez Canal. It is “now in the…
Judge orders seizure of £677m from Airbnb in tax evasion probe
Airbnb is facing the prospect of a tax bill worth hundreds of millions of euros following an Italian court ruling in an evasion case. Prosecutors in Milan say a judge authorised the seizure of €779.5m (£677m) from the short-term property rental platform. They said it related to an alleged failure by the company to comply with laws that require Airbnb…
US sanctions Russian Ekaterina Zhdanova, who they say laundered money for Ryuk ransomware affiliate
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Russian national Ekaterina Zhdanova for laundering millions in cryptocurrency for various individuals, including ransomware actors. Zhdanova used her expertise in cryptocurrency and blockchain networks to move money through various platforms such as Garantex (sanctioned in April 2022 for aiding the Hydra Market) to evade “Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism” (AML/CFT) controls. A report…
Telecom Italia is selling its landline network to American Private Equity Giant KKR
Telecom Italia SpA has agreed to sell its land-line network to KKR & Co. in a government-backed deal valued at around €22 billion ($23.6 billion), according to people familiar with the matter. The phone carrier’s board of directors, after a marathon meeting that started on Friday, approved the grid sale to the US private equity giant on Sunday without making it conditional on…
FTX’s Bankman-Fried convicted on all counts: conspiracy to commit securities fraud and money laundering
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud and money laundering by a New York jury in a landmark criminal verdict that is likely to condemn the former crypto tycoon to decades in prison […] The decision […] was delivered just after 7.40pm on Thursday, following less than five hours of deliberation by the jury’s nine women and three men…
Israel bombs entrance of Gaza’s biggest hospital, ‘Slaying Men, Women, Children’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s thinly veiled call to “go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” is being taken literally. ]Netanyahu declaring invasion: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible” 1…
MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin bag is up $900M amid BTC price surge
Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy has notched a paper gain of $900 million on its stack of 158,400 Bitcoin, spurred by optimism over the potential approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
The Michael Saylor-founded firm added 6,067 Bitcoin (BTC) since the third quarter, including another 155 in October, according to MicroStrategy’s Nov. 1 results filing.
PayPal Granted Green Light For Crypto Services In The UK
In a recent development, PayPal has been registered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to offer crypto asset activities in Britain. This move comes as PayPal establishes a post-Brexit base in the UK, reflecting its commitment to serving the British market. According to a Reuters report, the crypto market in the UK awaits its first set of regulations; companies seeking…