Corruption Ledger

The U.S. is sending additional troops to the Middle East in response to a sharp spike in violence between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon that has raised the risk of a greater regional war, the Pentagon said Monday. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder would provide no details on how many additional forces or what they would be tasked to do. The U.S. currently has about 40,000 troops in the region. On Monday, the aircraft carrier Truman, two…

On Friday, December 15, Al Jazeera journalists Samer Abudaqa and Wael Dahdouh were reporting at the Farhana school in Khan Younis when Israel struck from the air. Dahdouh took shrapnel to his upper arm but was able to apply pressure to the wound and escape to a nearby hospital for help. But Abudaqa was unable to move. Rescue teams tried to reach him, but couldn’t due to Israeli bombardment. For more than five agonising hours, as he lay bleeding, campaigns were…

In August 2024, a former employee who left the FCA some years ago made an allegation publicly that, in the course of whistleblowing, their identity was not kept confidential by the chair of the FCA, Ashley Alder. Following the first public allegation, a second former employee of the FCA, who also left some years ago, came forward with a similar allegation as to the handling of their whistleblowing communication to the chair. In line with the corporate governance of the…

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian police said Monday they have rescued 187 more children and raided locations nationwide linked to an Islamic business group that is being investigated for alleged sexual assault of children. National police chief Razarudin Husain said the children and young people, including 59 under age 5, were rescued from welfare homes linked to Global Ikhwan Services and Business, or GISB Holdings. They included a boy who was seen being caned and another child who was…

MANSFIELD — The full state Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments in November on whether to dismiss two of the three charges against Karen Read, including second-degree murder, for the January 2022 death of her police officer boyfriend. Lawyers for Read, 44, of Mansfield, filed a petition to the state’s highest court on Sept. 11 asking it to overturn a superior court ruling denying their motion to dismiss the murder charge and one of leaving the scene of an accident…

Israeli soldiers have raided the Al Jazeera office in the occupied West Bank and ordered the bureau to shut down amid a widening campaign targeting the Doha-based broadcaster. Al Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops storming its bureau in Ramallah on Sunday and ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. This follows an order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera’s premises in occupied East Jerusalem, seizing equipment, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking…

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia and China started naval exercises in the Sea of Japan on Saturday, Russian news agencies cited Russia’s Pacific Fleet as saying. “A joint detachment of warships of the Pacific Fleet and Chinese Navy set out from Vladivostok to conduct the joint Russian-Chinese “Beibu/Interaction – 2024″ naval exercise,” the RIA news agency quoted the Pacific Fleet as saying. The exercises will include anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons, RIA reported. Russia and China practised missile and artillery firing this…

Dozens of people were killed and thousands more injured after two consecutive days of explosions across Lebanon this week that the Shia militant group Hezbollah has blamed on Israel. Pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously on Tuesday afternoon, leaving at least 12 people dead, including two children. On Wednesday, another wave of coordinated explosions affecting handheld radios killed at least 25 people. Almost 3,000 people were wounded in the attacks, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Israel has not commented on…

US settles with billionaire Carl Icahn for using company to secure personal loans worth billions Billionaire Carl Icahn and his company were charged by U.S. regulators with failing to disclose personal loans worth billions of dollars that were secured using securities of Icahn Enterprises as collateral. Icahn Enterprises and Icahn have agreed to pay $1.5 million and $500,000 in civil penalties, respectively, to settle the charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday. The agency said that from at least…

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts district attorney on Wednesday appointed a special prosecutor, who has represented James “Whitey” Bulger and other prominent clients in the past, to take on the Karen Read murder case. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in a statement that Hank Brennan will lead the state’s retrial in January. A former prosecutor and defense attorney, Morrissey said Brennan has worked for 25 years in state and federal courts and and has experience “with complex law enforcement…

Eric Adams, New York City’s mayor, has never shied away from his ties to people with checkered pasts. He has defended mentoring a Rolls-Royce-driving bishop with a rap sheet, appointing a friend implicated in a past corruption probe as a top aide in his administration, and dining and partying with felons. […] Now, America’s biggest metropolis faces a political meltdown. Questions about the company Adams keeps have […] engulfed his administration. Homes of several high-ranking city officials were raided this…

NEW YORK (AP) — The top legal adviser to New York City Mayor Eric Adams resigned abruptly over the weekend, the latest sign of instability in the Democrat’s administration as it deals with multiple federal investigations. City Hall announced Lisa Zornberg’s departure late Saturday night. She had advised Adams and other city officials on legal strategy for over a year and often parried legal questions from the press on his behalf. She was not his personal lawyer. “It has been…

It’s 6 a.m. on a summer day in June, and Mohamed Saad, 20, is jolted awake by  soldiers from the Israel Defence Forces. They help him put on clothes: IDF military fatigues. He’s reluctant to accept the help but has little choice in the matter — he’s in Israeli custody at a temporary detention facility in Rafah, and the uniform is the least of his concerns. Saad is put in a tank with IDF troops and taken to an apartment…

The Dutch data protection watchdog on Tuesday issued facial recognition startup Clearview AI with a fine of 30.5 million euros ($45.6 million Cdn) over its creation of what the agency called an “illegal database” of billions of photos of faces. The Netherlands’ Data Protection Agency, or DPA, also warned Dutch companies that using Clearview’s services is also banned. The data agency said that New York-based Clearview “has not objected to this decision and is therefore unable to appeal against the…

The Justice Department today announced the seizure of a Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft owned and operated for the benefit of Nicolás Maduro Moros and persons affiliated with him in Venezuela. The aircraft was seized in the Dominican Republic and transferred to the Southern District of Florida at the request of the United States based on violations of U.S. export control and sanctions laws. “This morning, the Justice Department seized an aircraft we allege was illegally purchased for $13 million through a…

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s social media giant X in Brazil after the tech billionaire refused to name a legal representative in the country, according to a copy of the decision seen by The Associated Press. The move further escalates the monthslong feud between the two men over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Justice Alexandre de Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if…