Category: government corruption
Boeing CEO to step down as plane maker faces pressure over safety issues
NEW YORK – Boeing announced on March 25 that CEO Dave Calhoun will leave his post as the aviation giant faces increased scrutiny after a series of safety incidents and manufacturing issues. The company has been hit by problems including a near-catastrophic incident in January when a fuselage panel on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 Alaska Airlines jet blew off…
US House panel holds Biden impeachment hearing
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives seeking to chart a part forward in their impeachment probe of President Joe Biden will on Wednesday question two former associates of his son Hunter. House Republicans say the president and members of his family improperly profited from policy decisions in which Biden, a Democrat, participated while vice president from 2009-17. The White House…
Netanyahu’s rule ‘in jeopardy’, says US intelligence report
Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition is “in jeopardy”, according to a US intelligence assessment that highlighted mass protests against Israel’s prime minister and the prospect of looming elections. The conclusions over Netanyahu’s precarious political position were part of the US intelligence community’s “annual threat assessment” report on Monday, which reflects the “collective insights” of Washington’s intelligence agencies. “Netanyahu’s viability as leader…
Boeing faces criminal investigation by DOJ for Alaska Airlines plane blowout
As you read through the details of the DOJ investigation, ask yourself why Boeing was permitted to regulte itself. Deregulation is a choice made by government. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has initiated a criminal investigation into the Boeing jetliner incident that occurred on an Alaska Airlines plane earlier this year, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. According to…
Freedom House: Civil Liberties Decline Globally for 18th Year
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 sells credit card debt to Blackstone: Profiting from Poverty
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…
Pentagon Has Opened Over 50 Criminal Probes on US Aid to Ukraine
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…
Cuba Cuts Internet, Surveils Calls of Journalists, Report Finds
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…
With over half the seats counted, Imran Khan’s supporters lead in Pakistan polls
ISLAMABAD: Independents backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan won the most seats in Pakistan’s election on Friday after results from over half the constituencies were announced, leaving political parties trailing. Almost 24 hours have passed since the close of polls and the results have been unusually delayed, which the government ascribed to the suspension of mobile phone services…
Former CIA engineer who sent ‘Vault 7’ CIA spying secrets to Wikileaks sentenced to 40 years
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…
Army officials retaliated against whistleblowing staff: report
Two Army Cyber Command officials worked to get an employee fired following his reporting of misconduct and subsequent participation in investigations, the Pentagon’s inspector general found in a report published Wednesday. The IG recommends that the employee be reinstated to his job with backpay, while the Defense Department officials involved “receive appropriate action.” For one of them, that means just…
China Evergrande liquidation ordered by court
A Hong Kong court has ordered the liquidation of China Evergrande, the real estate firm with more than $300bn (£236.1bn) of debts, amid deepening fears for the territory’s wider corporate health. Justice Linda Chan ruled Evergrande had been unable to offer a concrete restructuring plan to creditors – more than two years after defaulting on a bond repayment and after…
$40m for arms stolen by corrupt officials: Ukraine
KYIV: Employees from a Ukrainian arms firm conspired with defence ministry officials to embezzle almost $40 million earmarked to buy 100,000 mortar shells for the war with Russia, Ukraine’s security service reported. The Ukraine’s SBU said Saturday that five people have been charged, with one person detained while trying to cross the Ukrainian border.If found guilty, they face up to…
Morgan Stanley and exec Pawan Passi avoid criminal misconduct prosecution for the price of $249 million
Morgan Stanley will pay $249 million to settle a criminal investigation, as well as a related Securities and Exchange Commission probe. The SEC said the bank generated more than $100 million in illicit profits as a result of misconduct by Pawan Passi, the bank’s former head of its US equity syndicate desk, and another employee. Morgan Stanley has been under…
American journalist Gonzalo Lira dies from neglect in Ukrainian prison
Gonzalo Lira, a prominent commentator on the Russia-Ukraine war imprisoned in Ukraine for speech critical of the country’s government, has died after weeks of medical neglect by Ukrainian authorities. Chilean-American war commentator Gonzalo Lira died shortly before noon on January, 11, 2024 at a hospital in Kharkiv, where he had been imprisoned for eight months since he was accused of…
Earth shattered global heat record in 2023 and it’s flirting with warming limit, European agency says
Earth last year shattered global annual heat records, flirted with the world’s agreed-upon warming threshold and showed more signs of a feverish planet, the European climate agency said Tuesday. In one of the first of several teams of science agencies to calculate how off-the-charts warm 2023 was, the European climate agency Copernicus said the year was 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66…