Tag: All Regions

Russia says it confirmed Wagner leader Prigozhin died in a plane crash

MOSCOW — Russian authorities on Sunday confirmed the death of Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, putting to rest any doubts about whether the wily mercenary leader turned mutineer was on a plane that crashed Wednesday, killing everyone on board. Genetic testing on the 10 bodies recovered at the crash site “conform to the manifest ” for the flight, Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said…

Putin Signs Decree Forcing Paramilitary Fighters to Swear Oath

Russian paramilitary fighters will have to swear an oath to the Russian flag, a presidential decree signed Friday stipulates, two days after the presumed death of mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. The measure is aimed at “forming the spiritual and moral foundations for the defence of the Russian Federation” and… applies to members of volunteer formations — a term usually describing…

US intel believes ‘intentional’ blast downed Wagner chief’s plane

  Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:30 p.m. EST with additional information. A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment has concluded that the plane crash presumed to have killed Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was intentionally caused by an explosion, U.S. and Western officials said Thursday as Russian President Vladimir Putin eulogized the man who staged the biggest challenge to his…

Russian court extends US reporter Evan Gershkovich’s detention

Russia on Thursday, August 24, extended the detention of US reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March on spying charges that he denies and held in a Moscow prison since, by three months. Gershkovich, a Moscow correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, had continued to report from Russia during Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. “The time of detention has been extended by…

China’s Xi vows to support Cuba in defending its national sovereignty

China’s President Xi Jinping has pledged to support Cuba’s defence of its national sovereignty, opposing foreign interference and a U.S. economic blockade, and will expand strategic coordination with Havana. Xi made the remarks in a meeting with Cuba President Miguel Diaz-Canel on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign…

Putin foes who have suffered mysterious fates

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was believed dead after a private jet on which he was listed as a passenger crashed north of Moscow with no survivors. Prigozhin, 62, spearheaded a mutiny against Russia’s top army brass on June 23-24, which President Vladimir Putin said could have tipped Russia into civil war. Others who have opposed Putin or his interests…

Two founders behind Russian crypto mixer Tornado Cash charged by U.S. federal courts

The two founders behind Tornado Cash, a Russian cryptocurrency mixing service, have been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, according to a statement on Wednesday. Roman Storm and Roman Semenov were officially charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business,…

Former NY mayor Rudy Giuliani finds lawyer in Georgia, surrenders to jail

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani found himself a local lawyer in time to turn himself in to Georgia authorities on Wednesday, two days before the deadline imposed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The once-respected federal prosecutor-turned-Trump lackey arrived at the Fulton County Jail to be photographed, fingerprinted, and booked on a raft of felony charges over…

Russian officials say Wagner boss Prigozhin was on passenger list of jet that crashed

(AP) — A private jet crashed in Russia on Wednesday, killing all 10 people aboard, emergency officials said. Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he was on board. Prigozhin’s fate has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in late June….

Reports: Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin dies in ‘plane crash’ in Russia

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was widely reported to have led a “coup” attempt in Russia two months ago, was killed on Wednesday after his plane “crashed” in Russia’s Tver region, according to RT. A private jet traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed on Wednesday in Russia’s Tver Region. The Russian Emergencies Ministry said all 10 people on board…

BAE to Develop Secure Battlefield Communication Network for UK

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded BAE Systems an 89-million pound ($113 million) five-year contract to design and manufacture a secure battlefield communication network for the British armed forces. The tactical Wide Area Network, known as Trinity, will provide secure connectivity to front-line soldiers in contested environments, sustaining battlefield awareness and intelligence sharing. Trinity will replace the existing…

Justin Trudeau’s online news act followed by news blackout as wildfires rage

In an age where digital platforms are primary sources of real-time information, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s clash with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, formerly Facebook, has become more poignant than ever. With wildfires raging across the country, the stakes are high. Earlier this summer, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, made a controversial move. In response to the Online…

Scraped data of 2.6 million Duolingo users released on hacking forum

The scraped data of 2.6 million DuoLingo users was leaked on a hacking forum, allowing threat actors to conduct targeted phishing attacks using the exposed information. Duolingo is one of the largest language learning sites in the world, with over 74 million monthly users worldwide. In January 2023, someone was selling the scraped data of 2.6 million DuoLingo users on…

Canadian Media Orgs Said That Meta Linking To News Was Anticompetitive; Now They Say NOT Linking To News Is Anticompetitive

from the pick-a-lane,-guys dept This is just so painfully obnoxious. The legacy news media, spurred on by a welfare system that pretend free market supporter Rupert Murdoch dreamed up and convinced governments to implement, whereby the government would force internet companies, which had innovated and created new business models that worked, to suddenly be required to pay for sending traffic…

Israeli pharma company Teva to pay $225M for cholesterol drug price-fixing; Glenmark to pay a $30 million criminal penalty

WASHINGTON (AP) — The generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed Monday to pay $225 million to settle price-fixing charges related to sales of a major cholesterol-lowering drug. The U.S. Department of Justice said the agreement also requires Teva to divest its business making and selling the drug, pravastatin, a generic version of the brand-name medicine Pravachol. Another generic drug maker,…

Google introduces its new global censorship tool

Google has partnered with the United Nations, World Health Organisation and others in a new global censorship tool that was introduced last Monday, according to LaToya Drake, head of Google News Lab. Below are the short descriptions from GNI’s ‘About’ page.  The titles are misleading.  For example, following the ‘Our partners’ hyperlink contained in the words “learn more” does not lead to…