Tag: Region Europe

Thomas Flohr, owner of luxury airline VistaJet, must fight a claim that he defrauded a Guernsey investment partnership two decades ago after London’s High Court refused to dismiss the case.  Flohr, who denies the allegations, had tried to have the case thrown out on technical grounds related to the circumstances of the case, in which a previously dissolved partnership was resurrected in 2021 in order to file the suit.  Frontiers Capital initially sued for breach of contract in 2021 but…

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin pledged Monday in his first message to the force to forge ahead with plans to redefine the service as it faces a faster-paced, less-predictable era of war. Allvin’s letter — an initial blueprint for the newly installed leader as he begins a four-year term — indicates the chief will continue a multibillion-dollar technology modernization push and deployment reforms designed to best China and move on from two decades at war in the…

Airbnb is facing the prospect of a tax bill worth hundreds of millions of euros following an Italian court ruling in an evasion case. Prosecutors in Milan say a judge authorised the seizure of €779.5m (£677m) from the short-term property rental platform. They said it related to an alleged failure by the company to comply with laws that require Airbnb to pay Italian tax authorities 21% of landlords’ rental income in the country. The requirement dates back to an EU…

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Russian national Ekaterina Zhdanova for laundering millions in cryptocurrency for various individuals, including ransomware actors. Zhdanova used her expertise in cryptocurrency and blockchain networks to move money through various platforms such as Garantex (sanctioned in April 2022 for aiding the Hydra Market) to evade “Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism” (AML/CFT) controls. A report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalisys provided additional information about Zhdanova’s public businesses, which may or may not be part of her…

Telecom Italia SpA has agreed to sell its land-line network to KKR & Co. in a government-backed deal valued at around €22 billion ($23.6 billion), according to people familiar with the matter. The phone carrier’s board of directors, after a marathon meeting that started on Friday, approved the grid sale to the US private equity giant on Sunday without making it conditional on a vote by shareholders, the people said, asking not to be identified as the decision isn’t yet public. The approval…

Hackers have accessed approximately 632,000 emails from the Department of Defense and other federal agencies this year, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) confirmed. The report detailed a large-scale cyberattack in May 2023 in which emails from US government offices, private sectors, airlines, and academic entities were accessed by a suspected Russian group called “CL0P.” Alongside electronic personal data, the actors breached internal tracking codes and government employee survey links issued by agencies. Through File Transfer Software The cybercriminals…

[…] ‘The Daily Telegraph’ and ‘Mail Online,’ disclosed that following the Hamas attack on Israel, the United States urged Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to blacklist the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). On October 21, 2023, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported, quoting Matthew Miller, the official spokesperson of the US State Department: “We absolutely think that other countries should designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. It’s a position that we’ve made clear a number of times….

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department on Friday announced the government is moving forward with developing a new version of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb. The bomb, designated B61-13, would have a yield similar to the B61-7 and replace some of those older gravity bombs, the Pentagon said in its announcement. The B61-7′s yield is higher than the B61-12, the most recent bomb being added to the military’s arsenal. The Pentagon said the decision to build this weapon was made…

The US Air Force (USAF) has launched two new detachments at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia to bolster the force’s electronic warfare capability. Detachments from the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing (SWW) and the 87th Electronic Warfare Squadron (EWS) will be tasked with responding to electronic threats by developing new countermeasures. The launch is part of the standup process for the future 950th Spectrum Warfare Group, which will further assess the USAF’s combat readiness and effectiveness in electronic warfare. Two…

Ukrainian military pilots have begun learning to fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon jet in Arizona, the U.S. Air Force confirmed Wednesday. A “small number” of Ukrainians started training at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson this week, Air Force spokesperson Rose Riley said in an emailed statement. Morris is home to the 162nd Wing of the Arizona National Guard, an F-16 pilot training hub that hosts international students. “The training curriculum will align with the foundational knowledge and skills…

The chief executive of Tesco UK is to step down after six years leading Britain’s biggest supermarket chain. Jason Tarry said he felt it was the “right time for me to move on” and revealed he would leave his post in March 2024. He will be replaced by former Aldi UK and Ireland chief executive Matthew Barnes. Mr Tarry has worked for Tesco for 33 years. He joined the firm on a graduate recruitment scheme in 1990 and worked his…

BEIJING: China’s special Mideast envoy pinned the cause of the Israel-Gaza crisis on the lack of guarantees for Palestinian rights and urged greater coordination with Moscow in a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Qatar, a key go-between in the conflict. In the first leg of his tour in the region, China’s envoy for Middle East issues Zhai Jun landed in Qatar on Thursday where he reaffirmed with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Bogdanov Beijing’s alignment with Moscow in their efforts…

U.S. President Joe Biden declared it is “vital for America’s national security” for Israel and Ukraine to succeed in their wars, making the case Thursday night for deepening U.S. involvement in two unpredictable foreign conflicts as he prepared to ask for billions of dollars in military assistance for both countries. If international aggression is allowed to continue, Biden said in a rare Oval Office address, “conflict and chaos could spread in other parts of the world.” “Hamas and Putin represent…

Amir Weitmann of Israel’s ruling Likud Party threatened Russia that Israel will come after them once their war with Gaza is over for supporting Hamas “Nazis” who “beheaded babies” and “raped” women. Weitmann claimed everyone has seen such atrocities with their own eyes. Amir Weitmann, of Israel’s ruling Likud Party, promises revenge on Russia for insufficient support of Israel: “Russia is supporting Nazis who want to commit genocide against us. Russia will pay the price!” pic.twitter.com/L3XqsVe0SM — Shadow of Ezra…

Russia has detained an editor at U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) for failing to register as a foreign agent while visiting for a family emergency, the broadcaster said. Russia has tightened its control over information and the media since the start of the nearly 20-month-long Ukraine war, forcing the closure of the last significant independent news outlets and designating many journalists and activists as “foreign agents.” Since the arrest of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich in March on spying…

Jewish communities in North America are ramping up security in the face of rising emotions over the massacre of Jews in Israel and the imminent invasion of Gaza, with pro- and anti-Israel rallies being held daily in cities across the United States. Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, told VOA that the communities are prepared and have built “comprehensive security programs.” But, he said, last Saturday’s Hamas attack against Israel and its aftermath has brought the…