Corruption Ledger

JERUSALEM: A top Iranian military adviser on Sunday warned Israel that none of its embassies were safe following last week’s strike in Damascus blamed on Israel that killed two elite Iranian generals. Regional tensions threaten to draw West Asia into a wider conflict as Israel’s war against Hamas marks six months. The remarks by General Rahim Safavi, a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, signalled that the attack on a diplomatic mission could be met with a…

Israeli MK Nissim Vaturi, a representative in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, issued a not-so-veiled threat on Saturday suggesting that if America doesn’t supply Israel with weapons aid then Israel will use nuclear weapons. “In the event of a conflict with Iran, if we do not receive American ammunition – we will have to use everything we have…” Vaturi ominously said. Israel assassinated a high-ranking Iranian Brigadier General and 15 others in an airstrike on an Iranian embassy…

The US is warning allies that China has stepped up its support for Russia, including by providing geospatial intelligence, to help Moscow in its war against Ukraine. Amid signs of continued military integration between the two nations, China has provided Russia with satellite imagery for military purposes, as well as microelectronics and machine tools for tanks, according to people familiar with the matter. China’s support also includes optics, propellants to be used in missiles and increased space cooperation, one of…

CAIRO (AP) — Two basic mistakes, according to the Israeli military. First, an officer overlooked a message detailing the vehicles in the convoy. Second, a spotter saw something in one car – possibly a bag – that he thought was a weapon. Officials say the result was the series of Israeli drone strikes that killed seven aid workers on a dark Gaza road. The Israeli military has described the deadly strike on the World Central Kitchen convoy as a tragic…

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi issued an apology early Wednesday for a devastating Israeli strike on an aid convoy in Gaza that resulted in the deaths of seven humanitarian workers, labeling the event as a consequence of “misidentification.” According to Halevi, the IDF has already conducted a preliminary examination of the strike. “I want to be very clear—the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers,” he said. “It was a mistake that followed…

Chemical manufacturer 3M will begin payments starting in the third quarter to many U.S. public drinking water systems as part of a multi-billion-dollar settlement over contamination with potentially harmful compounds used in firefighting foam and several consumer products, the company said. St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M announced Monday that last year’s lawsuit settlement received final approval from the U.S. District Court in Charleston, South Carolina. The agreement called for payouts through 2036. Depending on what additional contamination is found, the amount…

LONDON: British PM Rishi Sunak faces a potential revolt from within his party ranks over new legislation that is set to criminalise homelessness. According to a ‘Times’ report on Monday, several Conservative Party MPs have warned that they will vote against the measures in the ‘Criminal Justice Bill’ in House of Commons. The proposals, which had been unveiled by former Indian-origin home secretary Suella Braverman, would mean rough sleepers in England and Wales could be fined as much as 2,500…

Israeli air strikes destroyed a building belonging to the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing a senior commander in the Quds Force, the external military and intelligence service of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Iranian state media reported on Monday. General Mohamad Reza Zahedi, 65, oversaw Iran’s covert military operations in Syria and Lebanon, Iranian officials said.He is among the senior most Iranian commanders believed to have been killed by Israel in a yearslong shadow war that has included assassinations of…

The Israeli parliament on Monday approved a bill granting top ministers the power to prohibit the broadcasting of Al Jazeera news channel in Israel—a move Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to pursue. The law, passed by a vote of 70 to 10, enables the ban of foreign channel broadcasts and permits the closure of their offices within Israel. The law empowers the prime minister and the minister of communications to declare international networks functioning in Israel to be in…

KAZAN: A Russian court on Monday extended until June 5 the pre-trial detention of US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who faces 15 years in prison on charges of spreading “false information,” according to her employer. In court in the central city of Kazan on Monday, Kurmasheva smiled but complained about the poor conditions in which she was being held. “This cell is five square metres for two people. There is no hot water. Instead of a toilet there is a hole…

Israeli strikes on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo early on Friday killed 38 people, including five members of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, two security sources said, the deadliest attacks so far in an intensified Israeli campaign against Iran’s allies in Syria. Israel has ramped up its airstrikes on both Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria since the Oct. 7 incursion into Israel led by Iran-backed Palestinian faction Hamas. Tehran and its proxies have entrenched themselves across…

Attorneys for Hunter Biden are expected in court Wednesday in Los Angeles, where he is accused in what prosecutors call a four-year scheme to avoid paying $1.4 million in taxes while living an extravagant lifestyle. President Joe Biden’s son has pleaded not guilty to the nine felony and misdemeanor tax offenses. He’s asking the judge to toss out the case, arguing that the prosecution was politically motivated, was tainted by leaks from IRS agents who claimed publicly the case was…

Leo Varadkar is to step down as Ireland’s prime minister in a shock decision, saying he was no longer the right person to lead his party into a general election due within a year. Varadkar, who has been Taoiseach since December 2022 and served previously in the role between 2017 and 2020, cited personal and political decisions but gave no details in a brief, at times emotional, announcement on Wednesday. “One part of leadership is knowing when to pass on…

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — In a decision hailed by an environmental group as a historic victory, an Amsterdam court ruled Wednesday that Dutch national airline KLM misled consumers in statements about sustainable aviation in a case that accused the carrier of “greenwashing.” Amsterdam District Court said in a statement that in some advertisements, that are no longer in use, KLM “makes environmental claims based on vague and general statements about environmental benefits, thereby misleading consumers.” The court said that…

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 has said the investigation is baseless and politically motivated. “It is obviously time to move on, Mr. Speaker. This impeachment…

JPMorgan is facing nearly $350 million in fines from bank regulators due to issues with its trade surveillance program. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Thursday that it was assessing a $250 million civil penalty against JPMorgan Chase Bank because it found that the company “operated with gaps in trading venue coverage and without adequate data controls required to maintain an effective trade surveillance program.” The OCC said it found that JPMorgan failed to monitor billions of…