FBI arrest of Paraguayan TV queen and politician exposed extent of Unification Church’s role in drug trafficking, money laundering
Last November, Alvarenga, Tarrago’s accomplice, was sentenced to two years of US probation for running an unlicensed money transmitting business. Months later, on March 29, he was arrested in Asunción, accused by Brazilian law enforcement of leading an outfit that shipped at least 17 tonnes of cocaine to Europe over two years. He is in jail awaiting extradition to Brazil.
How Korean Moon’s Unification Church became largest landowner in Paraguay and established world’s largest narcotics empire
The South Korean religious organisation founded by self-proclaimed messiah Sun Myung Moon bought a remote piece of land in Paraguay about a quarter century ago, hoping to create an oasis for followers. Now the area is a hub for global drug trafficking.
Filthy wages: Why crypto’s promise as a means of dancing around banking system crashed
Without a banking partner, crypto firms cannot accept dollar deposits in return for services, or manage the conversion of crypto to dollars for clients, or pay their employees and vendors – they cannot function. The viability of the plan to develop a parallel financial system free of intermediaries is dependent, therefore, on a rapidly disintegrating truce with those same intermediaries: the banks and payments firms.
Blacklisted by banks and payment apps, adult industry gets door slammed on it by cryptocurrency
In the US, full-service sex work (also known as prostitution) is illegal in every state but Nevada, but pornography and online sex work are legal under the First Amendment. Irrespective of this distinction, banking access has been a problem for the entire sex work community since at least the 1960s, says Mike Stabile, director of public affairs at the FSC, and has only become more acute.
Vandana Shiva: Bill Gates and Silicon Valley behind push for ‘farming without farmers, food without farms’
On the latest episode of Russell Brand’s “Stay Free,” scholar, environmental activist and food sovereignty advocate Vandana Shiva, discussed food fascism, the power of “philanthropy,” digital enslavement and how people can free themselves from this system.
It’s chaos in US education as Black teachers quit citing burnout, low pay and politics
Nationally, about 80 per cent of American public school teachers are white, even though white students no longer represent a majority in public schools. Having teachers who reflect the race of their students is important, researchers say, to provide students with role models who have insight into their culture and life experience.
Insight: World battles to loosen China’s grip on vital rare earths for clean energy transition
The West’s push to develop independent supplies of critical minerals took on greater urgency after Beijing imposed export controls last month on the strategic metals gallium and germanium, raising global fears that China could block exports of rare earths or processing technology next.
Drums of another war as buildup of American forces in Persian Gulf point to imminent US-Iran conflict
or the US, keeping the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping remains a priority to ensure global energy prices don’t spike, particularly as Russia’s war on Ukraine pressures markets. Gulf Arab nations need the waterway to get their oil to market and worry about Iran’s intentions in the wider region.
Russia-linked Wagner mercenaries worked with Mali’s longtime US-backed military to kill and loot
Malian soldiers and foreign fighters, identified as members of the Russia-linked Wagner Group, have committed extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances of dozens of civilians in central Mali since December 2022, according to a new Human Rights Watch report shared with The Intercept. Researchers found that the longtime US-backed Malian military...
Conflict of interest pays: New revelations show US health officials conspired with Chinese army to cover up origins of Covid
Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s latest book, The Wuhan Cover-up: How US Health Officials Conspired with the Chinese Military to Hide the Origins of Covid-19,” is due out in September. The book is available now for preorder. Kennedy is the founder and chairman on leave from Children’s Health Defence.
