Category: Western Media

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday in favour of a group of elderly Swiss women who had argued that their government’s inadequate efforts to combat climate change put them at risk of dying during heatwaves. The European court’s decision on the case, brought by more than 2,000 women, could have a ripple effect across Europe and…

  The trial of 27 people opened Monday in Panama from charges stemming from the Panama Papers, a cache of millions of financial documents that exposed money laundering and worldwide tax evasion networks. Among those on trial are the owners of the Mossack-Fonseca law firm, the company that was central to the 2016 massive document leak, which detailed how the…

Israeli strikes on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo early on Friday killed 38 people, including five members of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, two security sources said, the deadliest attacks so far in an intensified Israeli campaign against Iran’s allies in Syria. Israel has ramped up its airstrikes on both Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria since…

Leo Varadkar is to step down as Ireland’s prime minister in a shock decision, saying he was no longer the right person to lead his party into a general election due within a year. Varadkar, who has been Taoiseach since December 2022 and served previously in the role between 2017 and 2020, cited personal and political decisions but gave no…

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has announced that a “cyber incident” forced it to take its corporate systems offline as a precaution. FINTRAC is a government agency in Canada that operates as the country’s financial intelligence unit. It is engaged in money laundering investigations, tracking millions of suspicious transactions annually and making thousands of disclosures…

Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, February 29, 2024  United States Also Reaches Settlement with Endo International in Bankruptcy Case Endo Health Solutions Inc. (EHSI), which is in bankruptcy, has agreed to resolve criminal and civil investigations related to the company’s sales and marketing of the opioid drug Opana ER with INTAC…

washington —  Civil liberties declined globally for the 18th consecutive year in 2023, with conflict and flawed elections the biggest factors, a new report has found. Political rights and civil liberties deteriorated for more than one-fifth of the population, the non-profit group Freedom House found. And only one-fifth of the 210 countries and territories the research group analyzed was found…

Barclays (BARC.L), opens new tab has agreed to sell about $1.1 billion of credit card debt in the United States to Blackstone. Banks globally have been making greater use of credit risk transfers to shed risk from loan portfolios, Reuters has reported, with investors sharing the risk of losses. (See Corporate home buyouts: homelessness, mortgage & rent crisis rising) Barclays’ investment…

The Pentagon’s inspector general said its criminal investigators have opened more than 50 cases related to aid provided to Ukraine, including some involving contractors, but have yet to firm up any allegations. The investigations, which are at different stages, are looking at issues including “procurement fraud, product substitution, theft, fraud or corruption, and diversion,” the inspector general, Robert Storch, said…

ROME — Italy’s parliament has approved the planned acquisition of two new FREMM frigates with updated electronics and 132 combat-version Leopard tanks as well as 140 other tank versions. The new buys, approved Feb. 21 by the parliament’s defense commission, are part of a uptick in Italian military spending partly spurred by the Ukraine conflict. Italy has previously ordered 10…

Madrid — There was a time when activists and journalists who wanted to evade the ever-listening ear of the Cuban government spoke in code or had to meet in European embassies. The arrival of internet and encrypted messaging services offered some respite. But as quickly as technological advances made communicating and reporting on Cuba’s government easier, Havana found ways to…

ROME — Italy’s Fincantieri and UAE group EDGE have agreed to create a Abu Dhabi-based joint venture to build and sell naval vessels to non-NATO countries, the firms said Tuesday. The JV, which will be 51% owned by EDGE but run by Fincantieri managers, will aim to take advantage of the UAE’s relations with other states and the export credit…

A former CIA software engineer was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Thursday after his convictions for what the government described as the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history and for possession of child sexual abuse images and videos. The bulk of the sentence imposed on Joshua Schulte, 35, in Manhattan federal court came for an embarrassing…

Blackbaud has settled with the Federal Trade Commission after being charged with poor security and reckless data retention practices, leading to a May 2020 ransomware attack and a data breach affecting millions of people. Blackbaud is a U.S.-based company listed on NASDAQ with operations in multiple countries and a provider of cloud-based donor data management software catering to nonprofit organizations,…

WASHINGTON: Senior US lawmakers said they wanted Hungary to immediately approve Sweden’s accession to Nato, suggesting on Thursday, a week after Turkey’s approval, that Budapest risks permanent damage to its relationship with Washington if it does not act. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ben Cardin said he had “deep concerns” over the direction of Hungary’s current government. The Democratic lawmaker noted…

  The U.S. is reviewing its sanctions policy against Venezuela after a court in that country upheld a ban preventing presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado from holding office, the U.S. State Department said Saturday. The ruling by Venezuela’s Supreme Justice Tribunal on Friday means Machado, a 56-year-old industrial engineer, cannot register her candidacy for presidential elections scheduled for the second…