Category: government corruption

U.S.: Migrants in handcuffs and chains boarding military aircraft

As reported by RAI News, Italy: About eighty people are seen lined up, handcuffs on their wrists, boarding military planes and being repatriated to Guatemala. “The expulsions have started,” says the White House spokesman. In El Paso, a city in Texas on the border with Mexico, Bishop Mark Joseph Seitz summons the press before the diocese to denounce the social repercussions of this crackdown: “When the government tramples on human dignity we must react.” In one RAI TG1 report, the…

Denmark, US and Greenland to discuss Arctic security

OSLO – Denmark agreed on Jan 24 to discuss the Arctic region with Washington, Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said, after his first phone call with the secretary of state from the administration of President Donald Trump, who wants control of Greenland. Mr Rasmussen and Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a 20-minute conversation in a “good and constructive tone”, discussing Ukraine, European security and the situation in the Middle East, the Danish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Mr…

US judge halts Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship regardless of the parents’ immigration status. US District Judge John C. Coughenour ruled in the case brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, which argue the 14th Amendment and Supreme Court case law have cemented birthright citizenship. The case is one of five lawsuits being brought by 22 states and a number of immigrants rights groups across the…

You’re now a threat to US National Security and Public Safety if:

You’re now a threat to US National Security and Public Safety if you fall into one of the categories below. President Trump’s executive order, titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” identifies several “threats,” including: Terrorist Attacks: Aliens who intend to commit terrorist acts within the country. Hateful Ideology: Individuals who promote ideologies that could incite violence or threaten societal harmony. Exploitation of Immigration Laws: Individuals manipulating U.S. immigration laws for…

Argentina files ICC complaint against Venezuela over officer’s arrest

BUENOS AIRES – Argentina’s government said on Thursday it had filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court against Venezuela for detaining a member of its gendarmerie, a branch of Argentina’s security forces, calling it a “forced disappearance.” Tensions between the two South American countries have risen since Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian, assumed Argentina’s presidency in late 2023. These worsened after Venezuela’s contested presidential election in July, in which incumbent socialist President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory. Last month, Argentina…

EU foreign policy chief Kallas: legitimate concerns about Syrian sectarian violence

There are legitimate concerns about the risks of sectarian violence in Syria and a resurgence of extremism in the country, the European Union’s new foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday, while pointing to positive early signals. Syria’s new interim leader announced on Tuesday he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister with the backing of the former rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad three days ago. Kallas also told a European Parliament committee session that…

Syrian rebels claim to enter Damascus after lightning offensive

Syrian rebels said they had entered Damascus on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad’s regime appeared to collapse in the face of the insurgents’ stunning offensive across the country. The rebels said in a statement that “the city of Damascus is free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad” and that “Assad has fled”. The whereabouts of Assad were unclear, with reports that he had fled, which would bring an ignominious end to a family dynasty that has ruled Syria for more than…

Deleted Haaretz Article: A Massive Database of Evidence, Compiled by a Historian, Documents Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza

Footnote No. 379 of the carefully researched, wide-ranging document that historian Lee Mordechai has drawn up contains a link to a video clip. The footage shows a large dog gnawing something amid bushes. “Wai, wai, he took the terrorist, the terrorist is gone – gone in both senses,” says the soldier who filmed the dog eating a corpse. After a few seconds the soldier raises the camera and adds, “But what a gorgeous view, a gorgeous sunset. A red sun…

UnitedHealth CEO Shooting: Media and police release manhunt pictures of different person

The video, seen below, shows a shooter assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, outside a Manhattan hotel. The manhunt for the shooter is still underway 3 days later. News outlets have been irresponsibly posting images of a suspect wearing similar clothing, but who can be seen to be wearing a different jacket and carrying a dark backpack. The shooter’s backpack is clearly light-colored, and his jacket has no pockets just below the shoulders, while the same is not true of the…

After Hunter Biden’s pardon, civil rights activists asking President to do the same for others

The White House is listening to demands for President Joe Biden to extend the same grace to thousands of people wronged by the U.S. judicial system as he did to his son Hunter, officials say. Since Biden’s pardon of Hunter on Sunday, a growing chorus of civil rights activists and lawmakers have called for broader clemency for other people they believe were unfairly convicted or sentenced. Defense attorneys and civil rights groups are ramping up efforts to highlight compelling cases,…

McKinsey & Company Africa to Pay Over $122M in Connection with Bribery of South African Government Officials

McKinsey and Company Africa (Pty) Ltd (McKinsey Africa), which operates in South Africa as a wholly owned and controlled subsidiary of international consulting firm McKinsey & Company Inc. (McKinsey), will pay over $122 million to resolve an investigation by the Justice Department into a scheme to pay bribes to government officials in South Africa between 2012 and 2016. The guilty plea of a former McKinsey senior partner who participated in the bribery scheme was also unsealed. The Justice Department’s resolution…

A secretive Silicon Valley tech giant set up shop in Canada. But what does it do? (CBC 2017)

This piece was first published by CBC in 2017. It’s one of the most valuable and secretive technology companies in Silicon Valley: Palantir Technologies, a developer of data mining software used by spies, banks and some of the biggest companies in the world. The company was co-founded in 2004 by billionaire Peter Thiel — previously the co-founder of PayPal — and now an adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump. Financial institutions are said to use Palantir’s software to detect fraud and cyberattacks, while pharmaceutical…

How A ‘Deviant’ Philosopher Built Palantir, A CIA-Funded Data-Mining Juggernaut (Forbes 2013)

Since rumors began to spread that a startup called Palantir helped to kill Osama bin Laden, Alex Karp hasn’t had much time to himself. On one sun-baked July morning in Silicon Valley Palantir’s lean 45-year-old chief executive, with a top-heavy mop of frazzled hair, hikes the grassy hills around Stanford University’s massive satellite antennae known as the Dish, a favorite meditative pastime. But his solitude is disturbed somewhat by “Mike,” an ex-Marine–silent, 6 foot 1, 270 pounds of mostly pectoral…

High-ranking military official in China suspended and placed under investigation

A member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission has been suspended and put under investigation, the country’s Defense Ministry said Thursday. Miao Hua was director of the political work department on the commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army, the world’s largest standing military. He was one of five members of the commission in addition to its leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping. Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said Miao is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline,” which usually alludes…

Mexican senate passes proposal to abolish autonomous regulatory bodies: Anti-corruption

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s Senate on Thursday passed a measure to abolish the autonomous bodies that regulate some economic sectors and ensure government transparency, a reform that has sparked outcry from the opposition and industry. Lawmakers in the upper chamber voted on the proposal’s general terms with 86 in favor and 42 against, with nearly the same tally coming in for the bill’s particular terms. It had passed in the lower house last week. The reform proposes scrapping autonomous agencies…

Jackson, Mississippi, Officials Aren’t the First to Stay in Office Amid Corruption Charges

Hinds County District Attorney Jody E. Owens II walked briskly toward a crowd of TV cameras and reporters on the steps of the federal courthouse in Jackson last week to denounce what he called a “horrible example of a flawed FBI investigation” and an “assassination attempt on my character.” Owens, the top elected law enforcement official for Mississippi’s largest county that encompasses its capital city, pleaded not guilty to multiple federal felony charges stemming from an alleged FBI bribery sting….