Corruption Ledger

HONG KONG – UBS will impose strict restrictions on bankers from Credit Suisse, including a ban on new clients from high-risk countries, according to a Financial Times report, with the two banks moving to close the historic takeover as soon as Monday. A list consisting of almost two dozen “red lines” will prohibit Credit Suisse staff from a range of activities, a limitation meant to curb risk for UBS, the newspaper reported Sunday. Earlier, UBS chief executive officer (CEO) Sergio…

FRANKFURT – The European Central Bank (ECB) will almost certainly deliver another interest rate hike on Thursday as the eurozone slides into a recession. Analysts predict that ECB policymakers will copy May’s move and again raise borrowing costs by 25 basis points, taking the closely watched deposit rate to 3.5 per cent. It would be the Frankfurt institution’s eighth consecutive hike since July 2022, when it kicked off an unprecedented campaign of monetary tightening after Russia’s war in Ukraine sent food…

Struggling to overcome recruiting shortfalls, the Army and the Air Force have bolstered their marketing to entice legal residents to enlist, putting out pamphlets, working social media and broadening their outreach, particularly in inner cities. One key element is the use of recruiters with similar backgrounds to these potential recruits. Airman 1st Class Joshua Fancisco, from the Philippines, left, Airman 1st Class D’elbrah Assamoi, from Cote D’Ivoire, center, and Airman 1st Class Jordan Flash, from Jamaica, looks at their U.S….

Reality Winner, the first person to be prosecuted in violation of the Espionage Act under the Trump administration, said she was “blown away” by the voluminous detail found in the 49-page indictment against the former president in the sprawling Mar-a-Lago documents scandal. The former intelligence contractor and Air Force linguist made the comments in a new interview with NBC broadcast Friday. In 2018, under the Trump administration, Winner pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years and three months in prison after leaking a top-secret report on…

Western media is reporting that the CIA told its Belgian counterparts that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last September.“Shortly after the attack, our military intelligence agency ADIV received strictly confidential information that pointed to Ukraine’s likely role in sabotage,” a mainstream Belgian newspaper wrote Saturday. The publication said it “learned from well-informed sources that our military intelligence service then ‘got a visit’ from the American intelligence service CIA. ”The story “illustrates how…

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will give up his parliamentary seat amid a long-running ethics investigation that is expected to produce a report into his behavior as prime minister next week. In a blistering statement announcing his resignation from the legislature, Johnson described as a “kangaroo court” the parliamentary committee tasked with examining whether he lied to fellow lawmakers about social gatherings inside government buildings that had flouted his own COVID-19 social distancing regulations. The committee had provided him…

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Thursday it was suspending food aid to Ethiopia because its donations were being diverted from people in need. A spokesperson said USAID had determined, in coordination with the Ethiopian government, that a “widespread and coordinated campaign is diverting food assistance from the people of Ethiopia”. The statement did not say who was behind the campaign. The United States is by far the largest humanitarian donor to Ethiopia, where more than 20…

Ukrainian forces have been met with strong resistance from Russian soldiers after attempting to penetrate enemy lines in the east of the country in the past couple days. US officials have described the losses, which included US-supplied MRAP armored vehicles, as “significant,” per CNN. Though Ukraine was able to push through Russian forces around Bakhmut, they were met with anti-tank missiles, grenades, and mortars from the Russian side. The report noted that Russian forces have trenched themselves several layers deep,…

China completed a second phase of joint air patrols with Russia over the Western Pacific on Wednesday, following flights on the previous day over the Sea of Japan and East China Sea, prompting concerns in Japan over national security. Both South Korea and Japan scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday, when the Chinese and Russian joint patrols got underway as part of their militaries’ annual cooperation plan. The flights are a “serious concern” for Japan’s national security, and those concerns were…

The top US securities regulator sued cryptocurrency platform Coinbase on Tuesday, the second lawsuit in two days against a major crypto exchange, in a dramatic escalation of a crackdown on the industry and one that could dramatically transform a market that has largely operated outside regulation. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday took aim at Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The SEC accuses Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao of operating a “web of deception”. If…

Hundreds of uncontrolled forest fires blazed across Canada on Wednesday, threatening critical infrastructure, forcing evacuations and sending a blanket of smoky air wafting over U.S. cities. Wildfires are common in Canada’s western provinces, but this year flames have mushroomed rapidly in the country’s east, making it the worst-ever start to the season. About 3.8 million hectares have burned, 15 times the 10-year average, Federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair said. “Across the country as of today, there are 414…

Fox News on Wednesday notified Mr Tucker Carlson’s legal team that the former prime-time host violated his contract with the network when he launched his own Twitter show on Tuesday, Axios reported, citing a copy of a letter obtained by the news website. Mr Carlson released the first episode of his new show on Twitter on Tuesday, weeks after being taken off the air by Fox following a damaging defamation lawsuit over false claims of election fraud. Fox News general…

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had an “open, candid” conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the early hours of Wednesday about a wide range of bilateral issues, a US official said. The top US diplomat arrived in Saudi Arabia late on Tuesday for a much anticipated visit amid frayed ties due to deepening disagreements on everything from Iran policy to regional security issues, oil prices and human rights. Washington has struggled to…

ROME — Magistrates in Italy are probing former Leonardo and Fincantieri officials as part of an investigation into alleged corruption. Police removed computer files from the homes of ex-Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo and a former Italian Italian prime minister, Massimo D’Alema, and are probing former Fincantieri executive Giuseppe Giordo amid claims bribes were offered to Columbian officials to buy planes and ships. Gianluca Luongo, D’Alema’s lawyer told Defense News the men were accused of offering the bribes while seeking to…

The BRICS bloc’s push to create a new trade and reserve currency that can serve as an alternative to the dollar could start chipping away at the greenback’s hegemony in less than three months’ time, former CIA and Department of Defense advisor and investment banker James Rickards has predicted. “It involves the rollout of a major new currency that could weaken the role of the dollar in global payments and ultimately displace the US dollar as the leading payment currency…

Treasury officials have been accused of being asleep at the wheel on breaches of confidential government information. Officials were grilled on their knowledge of potential breaches of confidential Treasury data by former PwC partner Peter Collins, who has been referred to federal police to investigate the allegations. Greens senator Barbara Pocock hit out at Treasury’s decision to sign new confidentiality agreements with Mr Collins after they became aware of a possible breach. While Treasury officials told the committee they had…