Tag: All Regions

PARIS – The Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a United Nations-backed initiative seeking carbon neutral investments by banks, announced on Oct 3 its immediate shutdown – at a time of faltering climate commitments in the United States and Europe. Launched in 2021 under the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative, the NZBA aimed to get banks to slash the carbon footprint of their loans and investments, and help drive the transition to a net-zero economy by 2050. At its peak, the group counted…

WASHINGTON – Apple said on Oct 2 that it removed Iceblock, the most popular Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tracking app, and other similar apps from its App Store after it was contacted by the Trump administration. The app alerts users to ICE agents in their area. ICE has been a central part of US President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration agenda, and its agents have regularly raided and arrested migrants. The Justice Department says the app could increase the risk…

SAN FRANCISCO – Elon Musk has urged his 227 million social media followers to cancel their Netflix subscriptions, accusing the streaming platform of promoting what he describes as transgender propaganda. In his latest culture war campaign, the Tesla tycoon joined a trend launched by conservative social media account Libs of TikTok that cited the animated series Dead End: Paranormal Park and Netflix’s corporate diversity efforts as a cause for dropping the streaming service. The show’s creator, Mr Hamish Steele, is…

Last week, the Canadian government issued its 2025 report assessing money laundering and terrorist financing risks in Canada. The report noted that Hezbollah was using both illicit and otherwise legal channels in the country to fund its activities in Lebanon—including exploiting the charitable and non-profit sectors and trade-based money laundering techniques. One noted example was Hezbollah’s continued utilization of the used car trade to raise revenue. The report stated that the Port of Montreal in Quebec Province is a “known…

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US President Donald Trump berated NBC and ABC as “two of the worst and most biased networks in history”, adding he would support the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in revoking licences to their television stations. The FCC issues licences to owners of television stations, which must be periodically renewed. The networks “give me 97 per cent bad stories”, Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post on Aug 24, “despite a very high popularity and, according to many, among the…

HELSINKI – The captain and two officers of an oil tanker accused of severing five undersea power and telecoms cables when their vessel left Russia and sailed through the Gulf of Finland pleaded not guilty as their trial began in Helsinki on Monday. NATO allies with forces stationed around the Baltic Sea went on high alert after the December 25 incident, one of a string of suspicious cable and gas pipeline outages in the region since Russia invaded Ukraine in…

LONDON – Britain imposed sanctions on one individual and four entities on Thursday under its Iran sanctions regime, saying they are part of a network that supports Tehran’s overseas activities, including “destabilisation” in Ukraine and Israel. The sanctions include an asset freeze on Iranian oil magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, and on four companies operating in the shipping, petrochemical and financial sectors, the foreign office said in a statement. Britain said Tehran relies on revenues from such trading networks to fund…

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two judges and two prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, as Washington kept up its pressure on the war tribunal over its targeting of Israeli leaders. Washington designated Nicolas Yann Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal, and Kimberly Prost of Canada, according to the U.S. Treasury and State Department. ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli…

from the retaliatory-animus dept A federal judge has delivered an extraordinary rebuke to the FTC’s Andrew Ferguson, finding that his investigation into Media Matters was motivated by “retaliatory animus” rather than legitimate antitrust concerns. In a scathing ruling, Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan granted Media Matters’ motion for a preliminary injunction, calling out not just the investigation’s pretextual nature, but the systematic pattern of harassment the organization has faced for accurate reporting. Courts almost never find that federal agencies act with…

from the seems-bad dept Here we go again. Whenever policy makers insist that there’s some “nerd harder” solution to tricky societal problems, actual experts have to spend a ridiculous amount of time explaining basic realities to them. Sometimes those are realities about the technology. And sometimes it’s realities about the technology. This time it’s age verification’s turn. Steve Bellovin—one of the most respected security researchers out there, and instrumental in showing why “safe” crypto backdoors can’t exist—just published a short…

WASHINGTON – American President Donald Trump revoked the security clearance of 37 current and former national security officials, many of whom worked on Russia analysis or foreign threats to US elections, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Mr Trump has stripped security clearances throughout his administration, including from his best-known rivals like former president Joe Biden. But the actions announced on Aug 19 were a deeper cut, pushing far into the national security establishment. At least…

Toronto – Air Canada’s flight attendants went on strike on Aug 16, as the airline announced a complete shutdown of operations, creating summer travel chaos for its 130,000 daily passengers. “We are now officially on strike,” the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents Air Canada’s 10,000 flight attendants, said in a statement. Air Canada, which flies directly to 180 cities worldwide, said it had “suspended all operations” in response to the work stoppage. “Air Canada is strongly advising…

ATLANTA – An active shooter incident at the Fort Stewart US Army base in Georgia has resulted in casualties, authorities said, and the base has been put on lockdown. “The installation was locked down at 11.04am and law enforcement is on the scene,” Fort Stewart said in a Facebook post, adding the incident happened in the 2nd Armoured Brigade Combat Team area and that casualties had been reported. No further information was immediately available, including the number of casualties and…

CAIRO – The United Arab Emirates has banned Sudanese planes from landing at its airports, Sudan’s state news agency quoted its Civil Aviation Authority as saying on Wednesday, in the latest sign of tension between the two countries. The UAE also barred a Sudanese airliner from taking off from Abu Dhabi airport, the Sudanese authority said. Sudan’s authority voiced surprise at the reported decision and said it was following up with airlines to reprogramme reservations for passengers arriving in and…

NEW YORK, August 6 – A U.S. jury deadlocked on Wednesday on money laundering and sanctions evasion charges against the founder of Tornado Cash, a firm that makes cryptocurrency transactions harder to track. The jury in Manhattan federal court could not reach a verdict on charges Roman Storm conspired to launder the proceeds of hacks, including by a sanctioned North Korean government-backed group. But the jury found him guilty of the less serious charge of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money…