Tag: All Regions

The latest disintegration of a SpaceX test flight was a spectacular sight, as broken-up rocket parts streaked like jellyfish tendrils across the Caribbean sky Thursday evening. But some experts say focusing on that dazzling light show, as many people and media outlets did, highlights a lack of understanding of the environmental aftermath of these spacecraft failures. Moriba Jah, professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas Austin, compares it to marvelling at the beauty of a nuclear bomb’s mushroom cloud. “Being mesmerized by…

A grand jury in Seattle returned an indictment today charging a Washington man and his company with conspiracy and for violating the Lacey Act by transporting birds that had been hunted in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The indictment alleges that, from August 2022 to January 2023, Branden Trager, 46, of Brush Prairie, Washington, and his guiding company, Mayhem Services LLC, guided three hunting parties in Canada to hunt waterfowl when Trager was not permitted under Canadian…

LONDON – The multilateral Climate Investment Funds (CIF) has issued a $500 million debut bond as part of a plan to diversify its funding sources and attract private sector investors to finance low carbon technologies in emerging markets, its CEO said on Tuesday. The success of the bond, six times oversubscribed, underscores the growing importance of market-friendly issuances as nations and international agencies look to meet a $1.3 trillion climate finance goal at a time when development funds are becoming…

UBS is reportedly preparing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve allegations that Credit Suisse violated a prior agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding U.S.-based customers who evaded taxes, according to the Wall Street Journal. In 2023, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee found that Credit Suisse, now owned by UBS, breached its 2014 plea agreement with U.S. authorities by continuing to assist ultra-wealthy Americans in tax evasion and concealment of more than $700 million from the…

A Virginia man and former business owner pleaded guilty yesterday to not accounting for and paying employment taxes to the IRS. According to court documents and statements made in court, Richard E. Moore, of Augusta County, was the executive vice president and part owner of Nexus Services Inc., a Verona-based company that offered bond securitization and other services to immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Moore, who exercised control over Nexus’s business and financial affairs, was responsible for…

Nikolay Goltsev, a Canadian national, was sentenced to 40 months in prison for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar export scheme that provided advanced U.S. electronic components to sanctioned Russian military companies. Goltsev used two Brooklyn-based companies to source and ship dual-use technology through intermediary front companies in countries like Turkey, Hong Kong, and the UAE, ultimately rerouting the products to Russia. The electronics, including components for precision-guided weapons, were found in Russian weapons systems used in Ukraine. Goltsev demonstrated awareness of U.S….

Johnny Buscema Jr. of New Port Richey, Florida, and his companies, S.A.F.E. Structure Designs, based in Las Vegas, and U.S.A. Manufacturing, based in New Port Richey, have agreed to pay $1,000,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by causing a prime vendor for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to submit fraudulent contract bids to DLA that resulted in Department of Defense (DoD) customers being overcharged for goods and related services purchased under those contracts. The settlement…

BUENOS AIRES – Argentina’s government said on Thursday it had filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court against Venezuela for detaining a member of its gendarmerie, a branch of Argentina’s security forces, calling it a “forced disappearance.” Tensions between the two South American countries have risen since Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian, assumed Argentina’s presidency in late 2023. These worsened after Venezuela’s contested presidential election in July, in which incumbent socialist President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory. Last month, Argentina…

ATLANTA – Severe weather disrupted holiday travel on Dec 28 across the US with deadly tornadoes in the south-east and heavy snow and wind on the west coast, delaying or cancelling thousands of flights across the country. More than 7,000 flights in the US were delayed, according to the tracking site FlightAware, and more than 200 were cancelled. About a third of the flights were delayed at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, according to FlightAware, and nearly half of the…

At least 28 dead, two rescued in fiery aircraft crash in South Korea, Yonhap reports Audio By Carbonatix SEOUL (Reuters) – At least 28 people were killed when an airliner went off the runway and slammed into a wall at South Korea’s Muan International Airport on Sunday, Yonhap news agency reported. The accident occurred as Jeju Air flight 7C2216, carrying 175 passengers and six crew on a flight from the Thai capital Bangkok, was landing at the airport in the…

The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday he was not sure he was going to survive an air strike carried out by Israel a day earlier during a series of attacks on the Iran-aligned Houthi movement. Speaking after his ordeal at the Sanaa International Airport on Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the explosions that rocked the building were so deafening that his ears were still ringing more than a day later. Tedros said it quickly…

NEW YORK – Law enforcement in the US state of New York on Dec 27 released “devastating” footage of prison guards beating a Black inmate shortly before he died. The body-worn camera footage, recorded the night of Dec 9, shows Robert Brooks, 43, brutalised by multiple prison guards, with his face bloodied and neck held. Brooks, an inmate at a northern New York prison serving a 12-year sentence for assault, was pronounced dead later that night. Ms Letitia James, the…

Vanguard reaches deal with US bank regulator over control of bank stakes (Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said on Friday it has struck a passivity agreement with Vanguard, to help the regulator better monitor the money manager’s interests in large banks. According to the deal, Vanguard is strictly prohibited from engaging in activities that influence the management or policies of institutions regulated by the FDIC, or their subsidiaries. Through “passivity agreements,” investors commit to regulators that they…

As Israel marks Hanukkah, ceasefire talks with militants in Gaza remain stalled as Israel continues to pound targets in the territory. Among the latest reported victims of the war, a displaced child who froze to death overnight while sheltering in a tent.

NATO calls for full investigation of Azerbaijan Airlines crash BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO on Thursday called for a full investigation into the cause of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and victims of Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243,” NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said in a post on the platform X. “We wish those injured in the crash a speedy recovery and call for a full investigation.” Kazakhstan’s senate chairman said…

HARTFORD, Conn. — Former top Coast Guard officials hid a yearslong investigation into sexual assault and harassment at the service’s academy from both Congress and the public after leaders debated the fallout from a potential disclosure, according to a U.S. Senate committee report released Friday. Coast Guard officials also took steps to remove references to the investigation, named Operation Fouled Anchor, from records submitted to Congress, according to the report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The report followed…