Jim Jordan subpoenas company led by daughter of NY v Trump judge
FIRST ON FOX: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is issuing a subpoena for information on the political work conducted by the daughter of New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan. Jordan sent a letter to Michael Nellis, the founder and CEO of Authentic Campaigns – a company that’s done political work for top Democratic clients like President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris – accusing him of failing to comply with House investigators’ demands for any and all documents related to the prosecution of former President Trump. The committee wrote to Loren Merchan, the company’s president and Judge Merchan’s daughter, earlier this month requesting documents in its probe into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump. Jordan pointed out in his Wednesday letter that Nellis himself rejected that request as well as a subsequent one later in the month. JORDAN INVESTIGATES DAUGHTER OF JUDGE IN NY V. TRUMP CASE OVER HER WORK FOR KAMALA HARRIS, DEMOCRATS “As such, the Committee is left with no choice but to resort to compulsory process,” Jordan wrote. “Popularly elected prosecutors, such as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, have engaged in an unprecedented abuse of authority by prosecuting a former President of the United States and current nominee for that office. Of relevance to the Committee’s oversight is the impartiality of Judge Juan Merchan, the presiding trial judge, due to his refusal to recuse himself from the case in light of his apparent conflicts of interest and biases.” “One such conflict is Ms. Merchan’s—daughter of Judge Merchan and President of Authentic Campaigns—work on behalf of President Trump’s political adversaries and the possible financial benefit that Ms. Merchan and Authentic Campaigns received from the prosecution and conviction of President Trump.” Jordan said public reports indicated to him that both Nellis and Loren Merchan were “closely involved in the presidential campaigns of both President Biden and Vice President Harris.” ‘ELECTION INTERFERENCE’: TRUMP LAWYERS CALL FOR DELAYED SENTENCING IN BRAGG CASE “During Ms. Merchan’s employment with the Harris campaign, Authentic Campaigns received over $7 million in compensation for its services. You also worked for then-presidential candidate Harris and it appears you continue to do so. Authentic Campaigns conducted work for the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign and, according to public records, was paid just over $2 million in a one-month period for its work,” he wrote. The subpoena is narrower in scope than Jordan’s previous request for information. His Aug. 1 letter demanded Loren Merchan hand over documents related to any work for Biden and Harris, in addition to any work that refers to Trump’s prosecution or indictment. Jordan is giving Nellis until Sept. 13 to comply, according to the subpoena viewed by Fox News Digital. BRAGG DOES ‘NOT OPPOSE’ TRUMP REQUEST TO DELAY SENTENCING; AWAITS JUDGE MERCHAN’S APPROVAL Republicans have accused Judge Merchan of political bias over his daughter’s political work. Trump’s legal team asked Merchan to recuse himself before the trial began, which he did not. A New York state ethics panel backed Merchan’s decision in a June 2023 decision. Jordan argued in his letter, however, “Judge Merchan’s conflicts of interest and biases in the case against President Trump, the Republican nominee in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, implicate serious federal interests.” “Congress has a specific and manifestly important interest in preventing politically motivated prosecutions of current and former presidents, especially in venues in which real or perceived biases exist. Among other things, if state or local prosecutors are able to engage in politically motivated prosecutions of Presidents of the United States (current or former) for personal acts, this could have a profound effect on how presidents choose to exercise their powers while in office,” the letter said. Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in relation to claims he paid an adult film actress to keep quiet about their affair – which the ex-president has denied. His lawyers are appealing that ruling in light of the Supreme Court’s July decision fleshing out presidential immunity. His sentencing hearing is currently scheduled for Sept. 18. Fox News Digital reached out to Authentic Campaigns for comment.
‘No power to…’: Days after UPSC cancels Puja Khedkar’s candidature, ex-trainee IAS officer now…
Ex-trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar has argued that once selected and appointed as a probationer, UPSC ceases power to disqualify her candidature.
Heritage rips Harris’ ‘dangerously liberal’ policy record with new website, 6-figure outreach to independents
FIRST ON FOX – Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts on Wednesday unveiled a new website created by the conservative think tank that aims to inform Americans about Vice President Kamala Harris’ “dangerously liberal” policy record, as well as a six-figure text campaign targeting independent voters in key swing states. The website, dangerouslyliberal.com, summarizes the Biden-Harris administration’s history of what the organization calls “failed liberal policies” on the border, the economy and inflation, energy, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), education and parental rights, “government weaponization,” healthcare and crime. As Roberts explained to Fox News Digital, the website serves as a resource to fill the gap as the Harris-Walz campaign still has yet to roll out a policy website of their own. “It tells us everything we need to know about the policy record of the vice president, when her campaign is running away from posting any policy prescriptions on their campaign website,” Roberts told Fox News Digital. “And the reason that the vice president is running away from that policy record is because it’s awful. I thought that I would never live through another presidency as disastrous to Americans as Jimmy Carter’s. But the Biden-Harris administration has been even worse, particularly on the economy, on inflation, on energy, on the border, on foreign policy. Our website calls the balls and strikes. It gives Americans sort of the report card on the vice president’s policy record. And the reason she doesn’t want to talk about it is because that policy record is why Americans are suffering.” “The best description, just speaking philosophically, of Vice President Harris’s policy record is dangerously liberal. I actually can’t think of a better phrase to describe it,” he added. RFK JR. CANNOT REMOVE NAME FROM BALLOTS IN 2 KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES The Harris-Walz campaign, meanwhile, is reportedly planning to roll out an ad blitz Wednesday that will run until Election Day in an attempt to tie former President Donald Trump to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. The project has been billed by the conservative think tank as a blueprint for a future Republican administration to restructure many parts of the U.S. government. The Trump campaign has stressed that it is not affiliated with the project, and Trump himself has gone on record saying he does not agree with all of their positions. Roberts rejected “mischaracterizations” by the Harris-Walz campaign, which he says has been lacking “a real focus on policy, substance.” The Harris campaign website, which includes pages to buy merchandise, donate and get to know the candidate’s background, remains devoid of any policy plans more than a month after she became the Democratic presidential nominee. “Taking a step back from our own ideological perspective, we know that Americans on the political left want to have that conversation, too. And even though we might disagree, in fact we do disagree with many Americans on some of these issues, I think what the American republic needs right now is a real policy conversation,” Roberts told Fox News Digital. “So we were sitting back this summer thinking about all the mischaracterizations by the Harris campaign, by the radical left on our policy projects. And while we welcome an intellectually honest conversation, we also know that that hasn’t been happening.” “So we decided to launch this website, dangerouslyliberal.com, to focus on the vice president’s policy record. And I think that Americans will really welcome that conversation, because they trust the credibility of the Heritage Foundation and calling balls and strikes about what the vice president has done in her position the last few years, and also what people down ballot might do and for U.S. Senate and U.S. House races.” The website, which Fox News Digital accessed before its public roll-out, opens on a message, “The Biden-Harris Administration’s policies have resulted in a wide-open southern border, increased illegal immigration, skyrocketing inflation, higher taxes, lower wages, aggressively woke ‘DEI,’ and much more.” The Heritage Foundation said the million-dollar effort aims to provide “fact-based, concise, and informational content to educate millions of Americans to shape policy and share ideas.” It outlines the president and vice president’s “extreme policy positions related to the unsecured border, mass amnesty and sanctuary policies for illegals, the Green New Deal energy agenda, disastrous economic stances, Medicare For All, and the desire to advance the left’s DEI and CRT schemes,” the think tank said. The Heritage Foundation said it will also run two six-figure text message and advertising campaigns across multiple platforms to drive website engagement and “further educate the public on the impact of the Biden-Harris Administration’s radical policy and societal viewpoint for America.” The push to appeal to independent votes comes also as independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr, once a dynastic Democrat, announced Friday he was discontinuing his White House bid and endorsing Trump. Kennedy is unable to remove himself from the ballot, however, in the key swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin. PROJECT 2025 LEADER STEPS DOWN AMID CRITICISM FROM TRUMP “It’s fascinating to me that in the span of about 48 hours, the radical left went from trying to keep Mr. Kennedy off the ballot to now fighting to keep him on the ballot and act because of that, and because he does have a real draw, across the spectrum from the center left to the center right. We’ve seen that at Heritage,” Roberts told Fox News Digital. “Heritage really exists to plug that kind of gap, the gap that exists between what DC elites in power tell you that they’re going to do versus what the American people surmise they have done.” “And I think the credibility that we have just in terms of being the policy umpire, which we’re often called in DC and pairing that with this dissemination of this website in the swing states will have a real effect on the knowledge base that voters have to make their decision,” he added. “They will make their decision. Ultimately, they’re the ones. The American voters are the
Tim Walz attempts to court firefighters during speech at Boston convention: ‘We’ll have your back’
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke to union firefighters and emergency medical personnel on Wednesday in Boston, insisting that Vice President Kamala Harris – not former President Donald Trump – will fight for their rights to collectively bargain, while protecting their pensions and maintaining funding for federal fire fighting resources. The event at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center was hosted by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), one of the nation’s largest labor unions that represents roughly 350,000 firefighters and emergency medical workers. “I can promise you this,” Walz said as he began his address. “When Vice President Harris and I win this election, we’ll have your back just like you’ve had ours this entire time.” Walz went on to describe the current Harris-Biden administration as “the most pro-labor administration in history.” Walz insisted that a future President Harris would bolster unions by signing into law the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which he said would make it easier for workers to collectively bargain. The act also claims to maintain funding for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant program and protect any attacks on defined benefit pension plans. PRO ACT GAINS SOCIALIST SUPPORT: THE DEMOCRATIC BILL THAT WOULD CRUSH RIGHT-TO-WORK LAWS During the address, Walz slammed Trump over his “right to work stance,” insisting Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, together want to make it harder for workers to collectively bargain. “Everybody in this room knows ‘right to work’ means right to work for less, right to work more dangerously, right to work for no pensions,” Walz insisted. KAMALA HARRIS AND TIM WALZ, ENDORSED BY TEACHERS UNIONS, RECEIVE FAILING GRADE FROM SCHOOL CHOICE GROUP “The only thing [Trump and Vance] know about working people is how to take advantage of them, how to not pay them,” the Minnesota governor said. “Every single chance they’ve gotten, they’ve waged a war on workers and their ability to collectively bargain.” Walz blamed Trump for blocking overtime benefits for workers, opposing efforts to raise the minimum wage, and slashing funding for federal fire service programs. He also sought to link the former president to the conservative nonprofit Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which, according to Walz, aims to “screw the middle class.” “Donald Trump [is] trying to hide from that Project 2025 plan,” Walz insisted. “They’re going to use it.” DEM GOVERNOR TIES TRUMP TO PROJECT 2025 EVEN THOUGH HE DISAVOWED IT Walz concluded his address by imploring everyone to tune in to the upcoming debate between Harris and Trump on Sept. 10. He conceded that many people will probably be more interested in “Monday Night Football” but insisted what is said that night will impact people’s retirement, their kids’ educations and the future of the nation’s infrastructure. HARRIS PREPS FOR DEBATE WITH GOOGLE LAWYER, CREATING ‘CONFLICT OF INTEREST,’ TRUMP CAMPAIGN SAYS “When Republicans used to talk about freedom, they meant it. They meant it. Not anymore, these guys over there, they want government to have the freedom to invade every corner of your life, from our union halls, to our kids, schools, even our doctor’s office,” Walz insisted on Wednesday. “The vice president and I, we got a little bit different vision of this.” The Democratic vice presidential nominee’s Wednesday trip to the IAFF’s 57th annual convention marked the second time he has visited Beantown in as many weeks.
What is the deadly ‘Triple E’ mosquito virus spreading in northeastern US?
The United States has recorded this year’s first death from a rare mosquito-borne virus. Officials in New Hampshire announced the patient’s death on Tuesday, marking the state’s first human case in a decade and the fifth US case of the virus this year. Mosquitoes in several areas within the state are believed to be infected with the virus while surrounding areas are on high alert, particularly in the neighbouring state of Massachusetts. What is the mosquito-borne virus, and how far could it spread? What is the virus? The virus is officially called eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV), also known as “Triple E”. Rare but severe, it was first identified in horses in Massachusetts in 1938. Since then, there have been 118 human cases and 64 deaths from the virus in the state, based on data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In humans, the virus attacks the central nervous system and can cause inflammation or swelling of the brain. Where is the virus found? The virus is found in North America and the Caribbean while human cases primarily occur in eastern and Gulf Coast states of the US. This can be attributed to a “complex ecology of several different bird species and mosquitoes which are reliant on arboreal swamps for breeding”, said Verity Hill, associate research scientist at Yale University’s School of Public Health. Moreover, the black-tailed mosquito – the main carrier of the virus – is found primarily in the eastern US, Mexico and the Caribbean. How does the virus spread? The virus typically circulates in birds located in hardwood swamps. Mosquito species that feed on both humans and mammals spread the virus when they bite an infected bird and then a mammal and inject the virus into its bloodstream. Unlike birds, infected humans and horses are “dead-end hosts”, meaning they do not have enough virus in their blood to transmit EEEV to a mosquito that may bite them, Hill told Al Jazeera. This means they cannot pass on the virus to other animals or humans. Infections tend to be asymptomatic in birds but deadly in horses. The most common carrier of EEE is the black-tailed mosquito (Culiseta melanura) while others include Aedes, which transmits the dengue virus, and Coquillettidia. Summer to autumn is mosquito season in the US, making it a particularly risky time for such viruses. What are the symptoms? Symptoms in humans typically appear four to 10 days after infection. These include: Sudden onset of fever and chills Headache Vomiting and diarrhoea Seizures and behavioural changes Drowsiness and disorientation In severe cases, brain swelling (encephalitis) EEE is diagnosed by observing symptoms and testing spinal fluid or blood, which can show if the virus or viral antibodies are present. How many cases are there of the encephalitis virus this year? There have been five confirmed human cases of EEEV in the United States in 2024 – one each in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, Wisconsin and New Hampshire. In Oxford, Massachusetts, an 80-year-old man was infected in mid-August, becoming the first human case in the state since 2020. The only death reported so far has been the one in New Hampshire. How common and dangerous is the virus? EEE is rare in humans. From 2003 to 2023, there have been 196 cases across the US, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The country reports an average of 11 cases annually. The largest outbreak occurred in 2019 with 38 cases and 12 deaths nationwide. Public health authorities consider it a serious disease because of its impact on the brain and 30 percent mortality rate. Even in the event of survival, many of those who have been infected go on to experience long-term neurological problems. How can the virus be controlled or treated? Public health authorities have said prevention is crucial because there is no specific treatment or vaccine for humans. Control measures include: Applying government-approved insect repellents Carrying out mosquito control programmes, including aerial and truck-mounted spraying of pesticides Wearing long sleeves and pants during peak mosquito hours (dusk to dawn) Installing anti-mosquito screens on windows and doors Draining standing water around homes Avoiding outdoor activities during peak mosquito times Treatment focuses on managing symptoms and providing supportive care, such as prescribing painkillers. Mosquito and tick bites can cause serious illnesses like EEE and Lyme disease. When outdoors, use EPA-approved repellent, applied slowly and evenly to the face, neck, arms & legs. When possible, wear full-length protective clothing. More info: https://t.co/DD6BYzyvj2. pic.twitter.com/84eMaxr1Kg — Mass. Public Health (@MassDPH) August 25, 2024 What action are authorities taking? States are taking several measures to curb the spread of the virus, which includes varying levels of lockdowns. The town of Plymouth in Massachusetts is closing public outdoor facilities from dusk to dawn. The northeastern state has also urged residents to avoid outdoor activities during those peak mosquito hours. Aerial and truck-mounted spraying of insecticides is also being conducted in several areas. What other viruses or diseases are spread by mosquitoes in North America? The mosquito-borne but less deadly West Nile virus has infected 289 people in the US this year. The country has also recorded 3,861 dengue fever cases this year, already exceeding the 3,352 cases reported across all of 2023. Dengue fever causes high fevers and muscle and joint pain and has been reaching record levels across the world, according to the CDC. Mortality rates can be up to 13 percent in untreated patients. Is climate change causing the spread of this virus? Experts have been warning that climate change is lengthening the duration of mosquito season, which is characterised by a certain level of humidity and hot temperatures. The prevalence of the virus within mosquitoes may also be an indicator of risk to humans. “Years with large populations of infected mosquitoes tended to have more human/horse cases,” Hill said, adding that climate change may foster larger populations of mosquitoes that can carry EEEV but would not introduce more of the virus. This
Hasina, floods, visas: What’s troubling India-Bangladesh relations?
Last September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina as a special guest on the margins of the G20 Summit in New Delhi. It was a gesture of warmth towards a neighbour that India viewed as an especially close partner. Now, a year later, that proximity to Hasina has turned into a headache for India. Earlier this month, student protests forced Hasina out of power after 15 years. Hasina fled to India. And weeks after Hasina’s overthrow, anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh remains high — visible in everything from growing calls for New Delhi to extradite Hasina to accusations that India is using visas and water alike to target its neighbour. Here’s a breakdown of all that is ailing relations between the two countries: Opposition demands for Hasina’s extradition Hasina fled Bangladesh on August 5 by military helicopter and landed at a military base close to New Delhi, where she was greeted by India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. She is since believed to have been living in and around the Indian capital. But calls for Hasina’s extradition back to Bangladesh are growing. On Monday, the general secretary of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, told Indian media that Hasina must be extradited and tried in Bangladesh. Muhammed Quader, the chairman of the Jatiya Party, echoed this demand on the same day. Quader was the opposition leader of the Bangladesh parliament dissolved on August 6. “India should help Bangladesh seek accountability from her as she has evidently done great deal of harm to Bangladesh,” Alamgir was quoted as saying by Indian media. A slew of legal cases, including murder probes, face Hasina. Last week, Bangladesh’s interim government under Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus cancelled Hasina’s diplomatic visa. Without that, it is unclear how long Hasina can legally stay in India. The Indian government has not commented on the issue. Ali Riaz, professor and political scientist at Illinois State University, said that people in Bangladesh were seeking Hasina’s extradition to hold her accountable for alleged enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings that took place in Bangladesh during her 15 years of rule. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) paramilitary force was sanctioned by the United Nations for its involvement in the killings and disappearances. Since Hasina rose to the top job in 2009, “over 600 disappearances” were committed by security forces, according to Human Rights Watch last year. Is India responsible for the floods in Bangladesh? Bangladesh, alongside parts of northeast India including Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya experienced a downpour of heavy rainfall during the month of August. Bangladesh’s Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief said on August 23 that approximately 190,000 people were taken to emergency relief shelters. Of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, 11 were hit by the flooding, the ministry said. More than one million people have been cut off from the rest of the country by the flooding. On Bangladeshi cyberspace, however, rumours started circulating that the floods were caused by India’s deliberate opening of the Dumbur Dam, which is upstream of the Gumti River in India’s Tripura State. The Gumti River flows from India to Bangladesh. There is no evidence so far to back this assertion. India’s Ministry of External Affairs released a statement on August 22, saying that the flooding was from excessive rain and water from large catchments downstream of the dam. “We remain committed to resolving issues and mutual concerns in water resources and river water management through bilateral consultations and technical discussions,” said the statement. There are 54 transboundary rivers between India and Bangladesh. Earlier this week, Pranay Verma, India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh, told Yunus that the water from the dam was “released automatically” due to elevated levels. Officials at Bangladesh’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre in Bangladesh have, however, told Al Jazeera that unlike in the past, India did not issue a warning to its neighbour on the release of water. That warning, he added, could have helped prevent deaths and destruction. Regardless of what what caused the flooding, many Bangladeshis have been quick to blame India because of past experiences with water sharing, said Riaz. Bangladesh has long sought access to more water from their shared rivers — a pact for one such agreement has been in limbo for more than a decade, a sore point for Dhaka. “Previously during monsoon, we have seen that Bangladesh is inundated with water whereas during the dry season, Bangladesh never got what they wanted,” said Riaz. What is happening in Indian visa centres in Bangladesh? Indian visa application centres (IVACS) remained closed in Dhaka and Sathkira in southwestern Bangladesh on Tuesday. This was a day after hundreds of people protested against delays in the processing of their visas. India has scaled back its diplomatic presence in Dhaka amid security concerns following Hasina’s overthrow. At the protests, people demanded that their their passports be returned. About 1.6 million Bangladeshis visited India in 2023 — the top destination for the country’s citizens. Tourism and medical treatment rank as the biggest reasons that draw Bangladeshis to India. 1 Kilometres Long Line Outside Indian Visa Center At Asias Largest Mall Jamuna. The Line Started Inside, Involved Many Corridores, Then Came Out side, Went To Main Road, It Kept Going, Going And Going 🤣 Who Will Process Ur Visa Bro? Majority Of Staff Went Back To India, The… pic.twitter.com/PkXAcbCoOC — বাংলার ছেলে 🇧🇩 (@iSoumikSaheb) August 26, 2024 Why is the relationship between Bangladesh and India troubled? New Delhi and Dhaka have long shared strong diplomatic and trade relations. The Indian army played a critical role in helping Bangladesh gain independence from Pakistan in 1971. However, in recent decades, it has increasingly viewed Hasina and her secular Awami League party as better aligned with India’s interests. Many of Hasina’s critics have accused India of trying to prop up her regime, despite mounting evidence of undemocratic acts, including the crushing of dissent, arrests of critics and alleged attempts to manipulate elections. Riaz said that anger
Swiss court convicts two executives of embezzling $1.8bn from 1MDB
Court sentences PetroSaudi executives to six and seven years in Malaysia investment fund fraud case. The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has convicted two executives from an oil exploration company for embezzling more than $1.8bn from Malaysia’s state investment fund 1MDB. The verdict on Wednesday was the latest episode in the 1MDB scandal, a complex tale of international corruption that has buffeted a slew of financial institutions and individuals across the globe since allegations of wrongdoing first surfaced in 2015. Prosecutors alleged that Swiss-British national Patrick Mahony and Swiss-Saudi Tarek Obaid had helped set up a joint venture with 1MDB by creating the impression that their company, PetroSaudi, was backed by Saudi Arabia’s government. This was not the case, but the accused managed to persuade 1MDB’s board into signing up to the scheme in 2009 before going on to defraud the fund, prosecutors said. According to the indictment, the two executives defrauded the wealth fund of $1.8bn to enrich themselves with Obaid getting at least $805m and Mahony at least $37m. Obaid was sentenced to seven years in prison while Mahony received a sentence of six years. Lawyers for the two men, who had denied wrongdoing, could not immediately be reached for comment by the Reuters news agency. Prosecutors said the two men created the fraudulent scheme with fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low, an adviser to former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is in prison over his role in the multibillion-dollar scandal. Initially extracting $1bn from 1MDB so it could buy a stake in their venture, the accused took a further $830m from the fund from 2010 to 2011 as part of an Islamic loan that followed on from their tie-up, prosecutors said. From September 2009 to at least July 2015, the accused arranged for bank accounts to be opened in Switzerland to help launder the money, prosecutors said. They used it to buy real estate in Switzerland and London, jewellery and private equity as well as to develop the PetroSaudi business, from which they received a sizeable income, and to maintain “a lavish lifestyle”, prosecutors said. This year, 1MDB filed a lawsuit against Mahony seeking the return of the $1.83bn. The 1MDB board lauded the convictions. “We welcome today’s verdict in Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court, which means that Patrick Mahony and Tarek Obaid will face justice for their role in embezzling and defrauding the people of Malaysia,” a 1MDB spokesperson said on Wednesday. Malaysian and US investigators estimated a total of $4.5bn was syphoned away from 1MDB after its inception in 2009, implicating figures ranging from Razak, Goldman Sachs staff and high-level officials elsewhere. Last year, a US court sentenced Ng Chong Hwa – known as “Roger Ng” – a Malaysian citizen and former manager at Goldman Sachs to 10 years in jail “for conspiring to launder billions of dollars embezzled” from 1MDB. In June, the US Department of Justice said it helped recover an additional $156m in 1MDB funds for Malaysia, bringing the total money returned to Kuala Lumpur to about $1.4bn. US prosecutors say 1MDB officials and their associates embezzled the money and spent it on a “variety of extravagant items, including luxury homes” and fine art. Adblock test (Why?)
Bharatiya Samman to be held on October 2, 2024
This prestigious event will felicitate 53 exceptional individuals from various walks of life, recognising their meaningful contributions to India’s progress and well-being.
Ex-Jharkhand CM Champai Soren resigns from JMM, to join BJP on…
Soren, who is scheduled to join the BJP on August 30, also resigned as an MLA of the state assembly and a minister in the Jharkhand Cabinet.
Biden admin looks to revive asylum program despite findings of ‘mass fraud’: report
The Biden administration may restart an asylum program that fell victim to “mass fraud,” even as thousands of potentially fraudulent uses of the program are still under review. A program that allows migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to apply for entry and temporary work authorization could be revived by the Biden administration as early as this week, despite the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) finding that thousands of applications filed under the program have been fraudulent, according to a report from NBC News. The program, which was launched last year, was “temporarily paused” last month to allow DHS to conduct “a review of supporter applications” of sponsors who legally reside in the U.S. and pledge their financial support to migrants to come live in the United States. But an internal DHS report that was reviewed by NBC News found that of the roughly 101,000 sponsor applications filed under the program, 3,218 were filed by “serial sponsors,” or individuals who were using the same street address, IP addresses or phone numbers on the applications. BIDEN ADMIN REFUSES TO REVEAL TERROR WATCHLIST NATIONALITIES AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION EXPLODES ON HIS WATCH In one example in the review, which was produced by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a division of DHS, almost 600 applications were flagged because they appeared to use the address of a commercial warehouse in Orlando, Florida. The review also found examples of repeated uses of the same Social Security numbers, including some that belonged to dead people. While the report does not say how many of the applicants that were sponsored were able to enter the U.S., the report notes that having a small number of sponsors for large groups of people has in the past raised concerns of human trafficking. Nevertheless, the administration is hoping to get the program running again as quickly as possible because officials believe its availability helps deter migrants from the four countries from attempting to cross the U.S. border illegally, the report said, citing an official familiar with the decision. But the decision also comes as about 30,000 applications that were filed before the program pause are still in need of review, a number of reviews that is unlikely to be completed before the program is revived. FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN MOVE TO GIVE LEGAL STATUS TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SPOUSES OF US CITIZENS USCIS triggered the review in April after an internal fraud detection unit conducted a “filing trend analysis” that turned up red flags in thousands of applications, spurring fears that many were potentially fraudulent. However, it is unclear how many of those potentially fraudulent applications were ultimately approved. In another example, the review found a “concerning trend” from nine IP addresses that were sponsoring many more women than men, including one IP address that was linked to applications to sponsor 18 females, 14 of whom were under the age of 18. According to the report, a U.S. government official told NBC News that the revived program will see sponsors vetted in small batches under an enhanced procedure, with any sponsor believed to be involved in fraud being turned over for investigation. Neither the White House nor DHS immediately responded to Fox News Digital requests for comment.