Corruption Ledger

BRUSSELS – European governments are taking steps to break their dependence on critical scientific data the United States historically made freely available to the world, and are ramping up their own data collection systems to monitor climate change and weather extremes, according to Reuters interviews. The effort – which has not been previously reported – marks the most concrete response from the European Union and other European governments so far to the US government’s retreat from scientific research under President Donald…

Four flight attendants on the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 plane hit by a mid-air cabin panel blowout in January 2024 are suing Boeing for physical and psychological injuries, the Seattle Times said on July 31. In separate lawsuits seeking compensation for past and future economic damages, they cited physical and mental injuries, emotional distress and other financial costs related to the incident, the newspaper added. “Each of the four flight attendants acted courageously, following their training and putting their…

On July 26, Taiwanese citizens went to the polls and voted on whether to recall 24 of their 113 representatives—or 21 percent of the legislature. It was an unprecedented moment in the island’s democratic history. Citizens have recalled individual Taiwanese legislators in the past, but never before have they attempted to recall politicians en masse. The recalls were ultimately defeated. But their very occurrence, and the months of campaigning that preceded them, highlight a fundamental challenge in Taiwan’s politics: deep…

BRASILIA – Brazilian banks are scrambling to assess the domestic fallout from sweeping U.S. sanctions against a Supreme Court justice who oversees a criminal trial against an ally of President Donald Trump, as legal teams weigh how the move to isolate the judge financially could ripple through Brazil’s financial system. Justice Alexandre de Moraes is presiding over the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right leader who is accused of plotting a coup to overturn his 2022 electoral loss….

A new study from researchers at X-Lab shows that Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband service lacks the capacity to put a serious dent in U.S. broadband. Despite recent efforts by the Trump administration to rewrite a $42 billion subsidy program with an eye on giving Musk billions in taxpayer dollars. The researchers found that given the limited nature of satellite physics, the more people that use Starlink, the slower the network is going to get. That’s not a surprise to…

US President Donald Trump intensified his trade war with Canada a day ahead of his Aug 1 deadline for a tariff agreement, saying it would be “very hard” to make a deal with Canada after it gave its support to Palestinian statehood. Mr Trump is set to impose a 35 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods not covered by the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement if the two countries do not reach an agreement by the deadline. “Wow! Canada has just announced…

KYIV – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy restored the independence of Ukraine’s two main anti-corruption agencies on Thursday, moving to defuse a political crisis that has shaken faith in his wartime leadership and worried Western partners. Thousands of protesters rallied in Kyiv and other cities in recent days in a rare show of discontent after lawmakers led by Zelenskiy’s ruling party rushed through amendments last week defanging the respected agencies. Zelenskiy reversed course after the outcry, under pressure from top European officials,…

RHODE ISLAND – Brown University, besieged by the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against the country’s most elite schools, struck a deal with the government on July 30, becoming the third Ivy League university in a month to reach an agreement with the White House. The agreement, a copy of which Brown made public, calls for the university to make US$50 million (S$64 million) in payments to state workforce development programmes over a decade and requires Brown to comply with the…

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA – President Donald Trump ordered massive tariffs on Brazil July 30 and sanctions against the judge overseeing a trial of his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of attempting a coup in Latin America’s biggest economy. The announcement of 50 per cent tariffs saw Mr Trump make good on his threat to wield US economic might to punish Brazil – and its Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, in particular – for what he has termed a…

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Treasury Department announced fresh sanctions on Wednesday on over 115 Iran-linked individuals, entities and vessels, in a sign the Trump administration is doubling down on its “maximum pressure” campaign after bombing Tehran’s key nuclear sites in June. The sanctions broadly target the shipping interests of Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, who is himself an adviser to Supreme Leader Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The U.S. Treasury described the move as the most significant…

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced that the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students. The Civil Rights Division’s Notice of Violation finds that UCLA failed to adequately respond to complaints of severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment and abuse that Jewish and…

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s administration has initiated a probe into Duke University and the Duke Law Journal over allegations of race-related discrimination, making it the latest American university to face the threat of cuts to federal funding. The government said on July 28 that it will probe whether the Duke Law Journal’s selection of its editors gives preferences to candidates from minority communities. “This investigation is based on recent reporting alleging that Duke University discriminates on the bases…

There are typically not many winners in a trade war, but Boeing appears to be reaping some rewards from the one started by US President Donald Trump. The aerospace company has received a steady stream of new orders as part of trade deals between the United States and other countries. These sales could be a boon for Boeing as it emerges from years of bruising crises. They also allow Mr Trump to claim that his unconventional trade policies are helping…

BUCHAREST – Romanian deputy prime minister Dragos Anastasiu resigned on Sunday after an old corruption scandal in which he was involved as a witness resurfaced at a time when the one-month-old coalition government is trying to enforce cost-cutting reforms. Anastasiu had been tasked by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan with overseeing the reform of state-owned companies, part of broader efforts to reduce the largest budget deficit in the European Union and root out waste and inefficiency. Last week, an old corruption…

NEW YORK – US insurance giant Allianz Life said on July 26 that hackers stole the personal information of the majority of its customers, financial professionals and select Allianz Life employees. The insurance giant’s filing with Maine’s attorney-general did not immediately provide the number of customers affected. As per the filing, the data breach, which the company described as a hack, occurred on July 16 and was discovered on July 17. The data breach was first reported by TechCrunch. “On…

WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled on July 25 that a nationwide injunction he issued in February that blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship should remain in place. In a written ruling, US District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston said his earlier nationwide injunction was the only way to provide complete relief to a coalition of Democratic-led states that brought the lawsuit before him, rejecting the Trump administration’s argument that a narrower ruling was warranted because of…