Category: Corruption
Israeli pharma company Teva to pay $225M for cholesterol drug price-fixing; Glenmark to pay a $30 million criminal penalty
WASHINGTON (AP) — The generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed Monday to pay $225 million to settle price-fixing charges related to sales of a major cholesterol-lowering drug. The U.S. Department of Justice said the agreement also requires Teva to divest its business making and selling the drug, pravastatin, a generic version of the brand-name medicine Pravachol. Another generic drug maker,…
Google introduces its new global censorship tool
Google has partnered with the United Nations, World Health Organisation and others in a new global censorship tool that was introduced last Monday, according to LaToya Drake, head of Google News Lab. Below are the short descriptions from GNI’s ‘About’ page. The titles are misleading. For example, following the ‘Our partners’ hyperlink contained in the words “learn more” does not lead to…
CIA knew of Ukraine plan to blow up Nord Stream pipeline: Report
A European spy agency told the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) it knew of an Ukraine special operations team plan to blow up the Nord Stream gas pipeline three months before explosions damaged the undersea system last year, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper cited US intelligence allegedly leaked earlier this year by a low-level US Air National Guard computer technician who had access to large amounts of highly classified materials.
The leaked documents indicated that an unnamed European intelligence body told the US spy agency in June 2022, four months after Russia invaded Ukraine, that Ukraine military divers reporting directly to the country’s military commander-in-chief were planning the attack.
Biden asks Congress for $40 billion to support Ukraine, replenish US disaster aid and bolster border
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday asked Congress to provide more than $13 billion in emergency defense aid to Ukraine and an additional $8 billion for humanitarian support through the end of the year, another massive infusion of cash as the Russian invasion wears on and Ukraine pushes a counteroffensive against the Kremlin’s deeply entrenched forces. The package…
FCA request data from banks on account closures
This follows our announcement of a data exercise to investigate account closures. Firms have until 25 August 2023 to provide information on: the number of customers that have been terminated the number of customers suspended the number of customers denied services the reasons for all of the above the number of complaints banks have received on this issue This will…
The Wuhan Cover Up, by RFKJr.
The title of US Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new book, The Wuhan Cover Up, does not really represent the scope and nature of this seminal work. This book is the most comprehensive historic summary and indictment of the history of the United States’ biowarfare/biodefense program ever written. Summarizing an amazing sweep of untold censored history, it begins with…
UK, US officials pressured journalist to comply with the prosecution of Julian Assange of Wikileaks
The Justice Department and FBI have used “vague threats and pressure tactics” in an attempt to gain compliance with journalists, reporter James Ball said, citing his own experience being pressured by government officials. Ball briefly worked and lived with Assange, who is imprisoned in the UK and faces the possibility of extradition to the United States for allegedly violating the…
Sage Therapeutics stock plunges more than 50% after FDA denies wider use of postpartum depression drug
Shares of Sage Therapeutics fell more than 50% Monday after the Food and Drug Administration approved the biotech company’s oral drug zuranolone for postpartum depression, but not for major depressive disorder, a bigger potential market. Shares of Biogen, which jointly developed the treatment with Sage, were up modestly. Who is Sage Therapeutics? Biogen Inc owns more than 10% of Sage…
Shakespeare and penguin book get caught in Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ laws
ORLANDO, Fla. — Students in a Florida school district will be reading only excerpts from William Shakespeare’s plays for class rather than the full texts under redesigned curriculum guides developed, in part, to take into consideration the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” laws. The changes to the Hillsborough County Public Schools’ curriculum guides were made with Florida’s new laws prohibiting classroom…
US Supreme Court reinstates rule cracking down on firearms without serial numbers
The US Supreme Court has temporarily reinstated a rule cracking down on the proliferation of firearms without serial numbers, known as “ghost guns”, reversing a ruling by a lower court. In a narrow 5-4 decision on Tuesday, the nation’s highest judicial body ruled to keep in place regulations introduced by the administration of President Joe Biden to restrict “ghost guns”,…
Italy shocks banks with 40 percent tax on profits they reap from higher interest rates
Italy has dealt a surprise blow to its banks and sent shock waves across the sector in Europe by setting a one-off 40 percent tax on profits reaped from higher interest rates, after reprimanding lenders for failing to reward deposits. Sharply higher official interest rates have yielded record profits for banks, as the cost of loans has soared while lenders…
Canadian publishers want Meta investigated for blocking news, following the impending Canadian law that demands tech firms pay for news
Canadian news industry groups have asked the country’s antitrust regulator to investigate Meta Platforms’ decision to block news on its platforms in the country, accusing the Facebook parent of abusing its dominant position. Meta started blocking news on its Facebook and Instagram platforms for all users in Canada last week in response to a law requiring internet giants to pay…
Tennessee teen sues school for suspending him after he posted memes mocking principal
Students rights are limited on school grounds. But they don’t cease to exist. And what they do off-campus is subject to even fewer limitations. These are long-held facts backed by years of court precedent, the most famous of which is the Supreme Court’s 1969 Tinker decision. This is the baseline for school-student interactions when it comes to constitutional rights, as…
Sanctions, airspace closures hamper UN humanitarian efforts in Niger
United Nations agencies scramble to replace depleting aid stocks as regional sanctions start to kick in. Niger’s military coup is disrupting humanitarian efforts by the United Nations as border and airspace closures threaten to cut off supplies of medicine and food, says a UN official. UN aid agencies are scrambling to replenish depleting stocks just as regional sanctions potentially increase…
Alaska’s bursting ice dam highlights threat of glacial floods worldwide
The grey, two-storey home with white trim toppled and slid, crashing into the river below as rushing waters carried off a bobbing chunk of its roof. Next door, a condo building teetered on the edge of the bank, its foundation already having fallen away as erosion undercut it. The destruction came at the weekend as a glacial dam burst in…
Kadlec Throws Fauci Under the Bus
On July 28, 2023, Weekend Australian Magazine published a bombshell report based on an exclusive interview with Dr. Robert (Bob) Kadlec, the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) who served under Donald Trump. To many readers this may seem like just more Washington, DC Kabuki theater with a side order of limited hangout (much like the prior Vanity Fair…