Tag: Region Americas

The Biden administration has restricted sales of some US technology to 37 companies and organisations, saying that their activity threatened national security. Three-quarters of the companies included in the announcement, which was made on Thursday, are based in China. They include entities that the commerce department said had supported Beijing’s military modernisation or produced technology that risked being diverted for…

A news outlet reported that jewels worth more than $3m were discovered in the backpack of a former aide in October 2021.

State Secretary – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Ivanov said that these are countries such as Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Zambia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. Russia is preparing intergovernmental agreements on visa-free travel with 11 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, The Bahamas, Malaysia and Mexico, State Secretary – Russian Deputy…

Royal Park Investments (RPI), the so-called “bad bank” of the former Fortis, has filed a billion-dollar claim against rating agency S&P. De Tijd writes this and appears from media reports in the Cayman Islands, the place where the lawsuit was filed.

The application’s ban among officials in the EU and US sparks a debate about whether Facebook, which extracts more user data, should face the same restrictions This week, the European Commission banned officials from using TikTok on their work devices. “This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyber-attacks against the…

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Blinken revealed that he and Lavrov “spoke briefly” on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in India. Among other things, the American official said he had “raised the wrongful detention of Paul Whelan,” a former US Marine currently serving a 16-year prison term in Russia for espionage. “The United States has put forward a serious proposal. Moscow should accept it,” Blinken added. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied those claims on Friday, saying she had asked Lavrov about the exchange with Blinken. The top Russian diplomat told her that his American counterpart had not brought up Whelan’s case, with Zakharova describing Blinken’s statement as “lies” and an example of “astounding” behavior by the US government.

Australia has insisted it will keep US nuclear propulsion technology under tight lock and key after it gains access to sensitive information, with Canberra’s envoy to Washington pledging to safeguard America’s crown jewels.

The Justice Department, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), today announced the entry of stipulated orders for permanent injunction and civil penalty judgments against three distributors in relation to their allegedly deceptive COVID-19 claims made when marketing essential oils and nutritional supplements.

The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of North Carolina alleging that Billy Joe Goines, the owner and operator of Goines Towing & Recovery (Goines), auctioned off, sold or otherwise disposed of motor vehicles owned by servicemembers using court judgments obtained without filing proper military affidavits, in violation of federal law.

Lakeland Regional Medical Center (LRMC) in Lakeland, Florida, has agreed to pay the United States $4 million to resolve allegations that it made donations to a local unit of government to improperly fund the state’s share of Medicaid payments to LRMC. 

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New York City police detain a legal observer during a peaceful protest in Mott Haven on June 4, 2020.
© 2020 C.S. Muncy

In an agreement made public yesterday, New York City will pay up to $4-6 million to partially settle a legal case brought by hundreds of people trapped, beaten, and wrongfully arrested by the New York Police Department (NYPD) in the summer of 2020.

A Human Rights Watch report and video produced with Situ Research documents the incident that is the subject of the lawsuit, which took place on June 4, 2020 in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx. The report and video reveal how the NYPD – with no provocation or warning – surrounded, assaulted, and arrested hundreds of protesters in the majority Black and brown neighborhood that has long experienced police brutality and systemic racism.

This settlement, while important, is only partial, as many other related claims are ongoing. It is also no substitute for real accountability.

These are just some of the abuses that organizations like Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Communities United for Police Reform, the Legal Aid Society, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and others have documented for decades.

Just yesterday, the NYPD failed to show up for a city council hearing about the litany of substantiated complaints filed against the Strategic Response Group (SRG), an NYPD unit responsible for many of the abuses Human Rights Watch documented. The NYPD cited ongoing litigation, no excuse for not showing up at an oversight hearing.

The settlement is one of many that the city has made over the years for police abuses, costing taxpayers $121 million in the past five years alone. In 2014 the city paid $18 million to settle police misconduct cases connected to protests during the 2004 Republican National Convention; the actual price tag was even higher because the city spent roughly the same amount defending the cases.

The NYPD has also failed to adequately discipline or charge many of those responsible for this and other incidents connected to NYPD actions during the 2020 protests, according to a Civilian Complaint Review Board report, yet New York Mayor Eric Adams continues to want to boost the NYPD’s $5 billion budget.

Here’s the bottom line: Police misconduct during the Mott Haven protest reveals deep, systemic problems requiring comprehensive reforms. This includes re-imagining community safety, a vision that should include dramatically decreasing the NYPD’s size, the scope of issues police respond to – including peaceful protests – and its funding. Instead, historically underserved communities like Mott Haven need investments that will improve access to education, housing, and health care.

The United States has imposed a new round of Iran sanctions, targeting the country’s oil and petrochemical sales, as diplomacy between Washington and Tehran continues to stall. The measures announced on Thursday come weeks after US media reports said Washington and Tehran were working on a prisoner exchange deal. Meanwhile, Iran has accused the US of showing “bad faith” in the talks to negotiate a prisoner swap.

It’s less radical than it sounds. The DOJ isn’t looking to REQUIRE such punishment. It proposes giving “discounts on fines for companies that seek to claw back compensation from corporate wrongdoers.” The punishment is likely to hurt about as much as being hit in the head by a balloon.

WASHINGTON — European Union leaders are expected to debate proposals this month for the bloc to get involved in buying 155mm artillery shells, as member states seek to restock their depleted inventories and help Ukraine’s forces defend themselves.

The shortage is high on the political agenda, with defense ministers expected to tee up decisions at a March 7-8 meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, an EU spokesperson told Defense News.

Estonia has been pushing for the bloc to get involved in producing more ammunition faster, circulating a paper behind the scenes in Brussels last month that called for €4 billion (U.S. $4.3 billion) in extra funds to catch up.

“Ramping up the European defense industry’s output is one the most pressing issues right now,” according to the document, obtained by Defense News. “Russia fires Europe’s monthly artillery production rate in a single day in Ukraine. The urgent need for increasing our defense industrial capacity is clear.”

On March 2, 2023, the Department of Justice announced several new initiatives that prioritize the investigation and enforcement of economic sanctions evasion, export control violations, and similar economic crimes.  Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced a “surge of resources to address a troubling trend: the intersection of corporate crime and national security.” 

Western efforts to stoke the Ukraine conflict could lead to a direct military clash of nuclear powers, Moscow has warned.