Category: Corruption

Israel launch a new spy satellite on Wednesday, the first the country has sent to space in nearly three years as it seeks to enhance its defense capabilities and prepare for a possible escalation with Iran.

An Israeli Shavit rocket delivered the Ofek-13 satellite to space, blasting off from the Palmachim Airbase on the Mediterranean coast at 7:10 p.m. ET, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The ministry confirmed that the satellite entered its designated orbit and began transmitting data after completing an initial series of inspections. Ofek-13 still has to undergo a few more inspections before beginning its full operations “in the near future,” the defense ministry wrote.

Israel’s Ofek-13 satellite is the latest to join a series of reconnaissance satellites, the first of which launched in 1988. Its latest predecessor was the Ofek-16, which launched in July 2020. Israel’s defense ministry is claiming that Ofek-13 has the most advanced capabilities of the entire series with “unique radar observation capabilities, and will enable intelligence collection in any weather and conditions of visibility thus enhancing strategic intelligence,” Boaz Levy, CEO of state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, said in the ministry statement.

Epstein, who died in a prison cell in 2021 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, had been a client at JPMorgan for 15 years, from 1998 to 2013. The last five years of those were after he’d pleaded guilty in Florida of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute. The lawsuits against JPMorgan claim that Dimon as CEO had knowingly allowed continued cooperation with Epstein, ignoring internal warnings about his illegal behavior. According to a report by the Financial Times, during the pretrial process investigators found communications between JPMorgan employees that mentioned a “Dimon review” of the bank’s relationship with Epstein. The bank, however, denied that Dimon had any knowledge of such a review. A source within JPMorgan with knowledge of the bank’s internal probe into the matter, told the news outlet there was no record of the CEO being in direct communication with Epstein.

According to the reports, Dimon agreed to be interviewed under oath about the lawsuits. His sworn deposition, will reportedly take place in May, behind closed doors.

In a series of tweets shared on Tuesday night, Netanyahu noted that he has known his US counterpart for “over 40 years” and commended Biden for his “longstanding commitment to Israel.” However, he urged Washington not to meddle in his country’s internal affairs, after Biden said he was “very concerned” about the upcoming legal changes.

“My administration is committed to strengthening democracy by restoring the proper balance between the three branches of government, which we are striving to achieve via a broad consensus,” Netanyahu said, adding “Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends.”

Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends.

After a relatively calm week in banking, Deutsche Bank is now making headlines for a falling share price and rising CDS spreads.

In an apparent attempt to show strength, the company announced that it would redeem a bond issue early, but the market had other ideas.

Shares of major U.S. banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo and Bank of America dropped between 1% and 2% in early trade.

Shares of regional lenders First Republic Bank, PacWest Bancorp, Western Alliance Bancorp and Truist Financial Corp fell between 1% to 5%.

The S&P 500 banking index and the KBW regional banking index, hit their lowest since late 2020 in the previous session, fell 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively.

European banks also came under pressure after a report on a U.S. probe into Credit Suisse and UBS further soured the mood. Their U.S.-listed shares were down about 5.4% and 4.1%, respectively.

U.S. shares of Deutsche Bank fell nearly 10% after the bank’s credit default swaps rose to a four-year high.

U.S. two-year Treasury yields fell sharply to their lowest levels since September on Friday.

Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS Group AG are among the banks under scrutiny in a US Justice Department probe into whether financial professionals helped Russian oligarchs evade sanctions, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Swiss banks were included in a recent wave of subpoenas sent out by the US government, the people said. The information requests were sent before the crisis that engulfed Credit Suisse and resulted in UBS’s proposed takeover of its rival.

Subpoenas also went to employees of some major US banks, two people with knowledge of the inquiries, said.

The Justice Department inquiries are focused on identifying which bank employees dealt with sanctioned clients and how those clients were vetted over the past several years.

The crisis at Credit Suisse has traders wondering who’s next. Japanese lenders, with their staid depositor bases, look like unlikely targets for bank runs. Yet their collective overseas bond portfolio is in focus. 

For years the country’s ultra-low interest rates encouraged deposit-taking institutions, lenders and other investors to borrow yen and buy higher-yielding but relatively safe assets. This helped Japan overtake China as the top foreign owner of U.S. Treasuries in 2019; they owned an estimated $2 trillion of foreign bonds as of last year. On paper the sequence of rate hikes in Western economies make such positions even more profitable.

Yet the rising cost of short-term dollar and euro credit, combined with extreme yen volatility, have made hedging much more expensive. The inversion of the American yield curve makes it unprofitable to borrow short-term dollars and buy long-term Treasuries. Japan Inc was reducing positions well before Silicon Valley Bank imploded.

Frankfurt (dpa) – A US court has ordered German stock operator Deutsche Börse’s Clearstream subsidiary to turn over about $1.7 billion in assets held by Iran’s central bank, Bank Markazi.

The court decision comes as part of a long-running US legal case in which victims of a terrorist attack 40 years ago have sought compensation from Iran. Clearstream said it is considering an appeal of the decision.

The assets are held in a customer account in Luxembourg by Clearstream, a wholly owned subsidiary of the German stock exchange operator. The company announced on Wednesday evening in Frankfurt that those suing Iran were granted a right to the assets attributed to the Iranian central bank held in a customer account at Clearstream.

Iranian-held assets at Clearstream, which manages securities on behalf of customers and handles purchases and sales, have been frozen on suspicion of terrorist financing and locked in several legal disputes for a number of years.

According to Deutsche Börse, that case remains pending but Clearstream maintains it is without merit.

PM Anwar says the loan option allows quick financing without members dipping into their pensions but analysts say loan applicants already face high default risk
Anwar has been under pressure for a fresh round of withdrawals from the pension fund, after his predecessors allowed four rounds of withdrawals in 2020-2022

Malaysia’s government needs to carefully weigh the risks of allowing members of a national private pension fund to use their savings as “support” to secure personal loans, experts have said, as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim pushes ahead with the plan to help households in financial distress from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Anwar this week defended the move, saying that it was one of several measures that the government is considering to help households get back on their feet without allowing further withdrawals from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), as had been done during the pandemic years.

As the Federal Reserve raises interest rates again, credit card debt is already at a record high, and more people are carrying debt month to month.

The Fed’s interest rate increases are meant to fight inflation, but they’ve also led to higher annual percentage rates (APRs) for people with credit card debt, which means they pay more in interest. The Fed announced Wednesday that it would increase rates another quarter of a point.

With inflation still high, people are leaning on their credit cards more for everyday purchases.

“It’s the economy, inflation, gas prices, and food costs,” said Lance DeJesus, 46, kitchen manager at the Golden Corral in York, Pennsylvania. “A year ago, you could go to the grocery store with a hundred bucks and come out with a bunch of bags. Now, I come out with just one bag.”

In a letter Wednesday, GOP House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio raised concerns that the Global Alliance for Responsible Media — created by trade association World Federation of Advertisers and backed by the World Economic Forum — was violating US antitrust laws. The group’s more than 100 members include advertisers such as Procter & Gamble Co. and Unilever Plc, alongside tech companies such as Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok.

Last week, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen announced that his government could corroborate a report by the Russian gas giant Gazprom, the operator of the undersea pipeline, about a strange object found near Nord Stream 2. The company sent pictures of the item to Danish authorities, while the Russian government made a formal inquiry through its embassy, the minister said. Copenhagen treats the discovery seriously and will investigate further, Rasmussen pledged at the time.

The object was mentioned last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a TV interview. He said it was found during a Gazprom survey about 30 kilometers away from where the pipeline was breached. The device may be an antenna used in remotely detonating a charge, the president suggested, citing experts.

Moscow asked for permission to explore further, Putin added, necessary because the object is located in Denmark’s exclusive zone. Russia could organize a mission “on its own, jointly with [the Danes], or, better yet, with an international group of experts in explosives who are trained to work at such depth.” Rasmussen said such permission would not be granted, triggering a rebuke from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The cost-of-living squeeze has shown signs of easing for the first time in the past financial year – this as the start of the new school year sparked a spending boom. This was according to Bankwest’s Spend Trends report for February, which tracked WA customer credit and debit activity. Bankwest’s monthly Spend Trends analysis showed a 3% rise in the…

The railroad at the heart of the hazardous train crash near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border offered vague answers Monday about who agreed to burn the derailed cars carrying vinyl chloride.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw told the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee that a unified command team – led by a local fire chief in East Palestine, Ohio and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine – OK’d the “controlled release” plan on Feb. 6 to prevent a dangerous explosion that would have spread contaminants and deadly shrapnel across the region.

Majority Chairman Doug Mastriano, R-Chambersburg, questioned the use of “controlled” to describe the railroad’s decision to set the train cars on fire and watch plumes of smoke drift for miles over homes and farmland.

“You’re blaming it on a chief in East Palestine, correct?” he said. “So your cars are on fire, it’s your rail, it’s your incident and you’re going to leave it to a local fire chief who’s likley never had to deal with this before?”

Following the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio (United States), on February 3, officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as local and state agencies, have been monitoring water and air quality in the town. East Palestine residents continue to complain of symptoms such as headaches and shortness of breath and question official reports that chemical levels are low and safe.

“Residents have a disconnect between experiencing some symptoms and being told that everything was fine,” said Ivan Rusyn, director of the Superfund Research Center at Texas A&M University in College Station, who has led research with other scientists to measure air quality in the town. For the researchers there is a lack of clear communication between the government and the residents of East Palestine

Three days after the accident, a 5km square area was evacuated and the chemicals the train was carrying, including vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate, were drained into pits. The materials were then burned in a controlled burn to prevent an explosion, creating a black cloud that likely created acrolein and other byproducts.

In fact, weeks after the derailment, the EPA reported that slightly elevated levels of acrolein were detected in East Palestine, concentrations that have “returned to levels below the national average,” according to the same entity. (You may be interested in: Here we explain why some beaches are disappearing in Colombia).

According to the group of researchers from the University of Texas, it is necessary to analyze a broader set of chemicals, extending those that spilled during the derailment or those that were formed with the controlled burning. The group of researchers found that, in addition to acrolein, there would be higher concentrations of four other similar compounds in surrounding areas.

Rusyn insists that more sampling is needed, as the cleanup work will continue to excavate the contaminated soil, as well as aerate the stream water to extract the chemicals, something that could release more compounds into the air.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau bowed to pressure from the opposition and agreed to allow his top aide to testify before a parliamentary committee probing alleged Chinese election interference, his office said on Tuesday.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has repeatedly called for Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, to speak in a parliamentary committee looking into the foreign election tampering.

The government had refused until the leader of the New Democrat Party, which supports Trudeau in key parliamentary votes, on Tuesday backed the Conservative call.

Demands for Telford’s testimony stem from allegations in unconfirmed media reports that Trudeau’s aides were made aware of specific Chinese interference attempts.

Trudeau says that China attempted to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 votes, but did not change the outcome. He has pointed to closed-door, bipartisan investigations that found attempted foreign interference was unsuccessful.