Category: z-Exclude

Turkey’s stubborn membership conditions are showing signs of wearing down Finland’s “jump together” philosophy with neighbor and co-applicant Sweden.

Washington says ‘reckless’ Russian manoeuvers forced US to bring down MQ-9 drone, but Moscow denies collision occurred.

The UAV was flying towards the Russian border without a transponder active, in clear violation of the restricted area established for the conduct of the special military operation, the ministry said. Two interceptors were dispatched to investigate.  “As a result of sharp maneuvers around 9:30am Moscow time, the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle went into uncontrolled flight, lost altitude, and collided…

Florida governor and other leading conservative US presidential hopefuls express scepticism of Washington’s aid to Kyiv.

“In order to bring peace and stability closer, we, of course, need to show the consolidation of our society, composure. When the enemy sees that our society is strong, internally sound, consolidated, then, without any doubt, what we are striving for will happen: both success and victory,” Putin declared. Protecting Russians living in Ukraine from persecution by the Kiev regime remains among the top goals of Moscow, Putin reiterated, adding that he has repeatedly met people from Donbass who “are exactly the same as us.” Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow tried to build up solid and mutually beneficial ties with Kiev, but the efforts ultimately flopped, the president admitted. “Russia has been patiently trying for decades to mend relations with the modern Ukrainian state, but the situation changed in 2014, when a Western-prompted coup d’etat took place,” he said. Even after that, Moscow spent years trying to peacefully resolve the civil conflict in then-Ukrainian Donbass, he concluded.

The Russian president has rubbished Western media reports that a “pro-Ukrainian group” was behind the attacks </p><div><p>Russian president Vladimir Putin has dismissed as<em> “nonsense”</em> recent claims that the attack on the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines might have been carried by <em>“Ukrainian activists.”</em> The president made the remarks on Tuesday during his visit to an aircraft plant in the capital city…

A US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone was brought down on Tuesday morning over the Black Sea, after what the European Command claimed as “an unsafe and unprofessional intercept” by two Russian jets. The “Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance” platform was “operating within international airspace” when the airplanes approached, EUCOM said in a statement. One of the Su-27s “struck the…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles prosecutors told a judge Tuesday that they will not retry Harvey Weinstein on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson announced the decision to Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench at a hearing in downtown Los Angeles. The judge dismissed the charges that a jury failed to reach…

Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, visited an aircraft factory in Ulan-Ude and once again told the workers that the West had deceived him, which led to the start of the war against Ukraine. Source: Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti Quote: “[After 2017, – ed.] the problem of Crimea arose and we could not help but support the…

For President Xi Jinping, the Iran-Saudi deal is part of a grander political vision, and a nuts-and-bolts example of how he hopes to achieve it.

The vision is that China will ultimately displace the United States as the world’s leading power. The means to achieve it? Leveraging China’s economic clout to expand its financial, diplomatic, and military footprints worldwide.

The Mideast deal also underscores a key pillar of that approach. In explicit contrast to the United States, China is assuring its partners that “internal” issues – such as human rights – are irrelevant to its outreach and alliances.

Russia has its own financial messaging system, SPFS, which can act as a substitute for SWIFT in the domestic market. While its coverage is still much smaller than that of SWIFT – which boasts 11,000 financial organizations globally – the spread of SPFS has been gaining speed in recent months.

When asked about a spillover effect from the collapse of US lenders, which has led to a global stock rout, Peskov said problems in the American banking system cannot affect Russia in any way. “Our banking system, of course, has, let’s say, certain connections with some segments of the international financial system, but for the most part it is under illegal restrictions,” he said.

However, Peskov added that sanctions have been “a blessing in disguise” because Russia is “to a certain extent immune to the negative impact of the crisis that is now unfolding across the ocean.” 

The Federal Trade Commission has finalized an order requiring Epic Games, the maker of the Fortnite video game, to pay $245 million to consumers to settle charges that the company used dark patterns to trick players into making unwanted purchases and let children rack up unauthorized charges without any parental involvement.

In a complaint announced in December as part of a settlement package with Epic, the FTC said that Epic deployed a variety of design tricks known as dark patterns aimed at getting consumers of all ages to make unintended in-game purchases. Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button. The company also made it easy for children to make purchases while playing Fortnite without requiring any parental consent. According to the FTC’s complaint, Epic also locked the accounts of customers who disputed unauthorized charges with their credit card companies.

Refusing to let Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky address the Academy Awards ceremony while handing an Oscar to a documentary about Russian activist Alexey Navalny means politics and movies do mix after all, adviser Mikhail Podoliak tweeted on Monday. “If Oscar is outside of politics how should we understand the documentary manifesto Navalny where internal Russian politics is overflowing?”

On Friday, March 3, 2023, the DOJ released its updated Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs, which included new guidance on ephemeral messaging platforms and other issues. This new guidance was released contemporaneously with Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr.’s (‘Polite”) speech at the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) 38th Annual National Institute on White Collar…… Continue Reading
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U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, at the direction of its founder and CEO Laura Perryman, Stimwave created a dummy medical device component — made entirely of plastic — designed to be implanted in patients for the sole purpose of causing doctors to unwittingly bill Medicare and private insurance companies more than $16,000 for each implantation of the piece of plastic.  The defendant and Stimwave did this so that they could charge medical providers many thousands of dollars for purchasing their medical device.  Our Office will continue to do everything in its power to bring to justice anyone responsible for perpetuating health care fraud, which in this case led to patients being used as nothing more than tools for financial enrichment.”

At last week’s American Bar Association’s 38th Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime, both Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. provided additional insight into the DOJ’s continued focus on corporate criminal enforcement. Our previous blog post details the expansion of DOJ’s National Security Division and the…… Continue Reading
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