A former employee of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Sheron Spann, has pleaded guilty to one count of taking actions affecting a personal financial interest in Washington, D.C. federal court. She has been accused of steering over $10 million worth of OPM contracts to companies associated with her husband or herself over the
Politics
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is considering defying the Supreme Court if it rules in favor of a ban on the abortion pill, mifepristone. In an interview with MSNBC’s Katy Tur, Murphy stated that “everything is on the table” and that he would do whatever it takes to save lives. He referred to other abortion
Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to resolve a federal lawsuit accusing the bank of enabling and profiting from its customer Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of young women. Epstein, a sex predator, had been a customer of JPMorgan from 1998 through 2013, and after JPMorgan ended its banking relationship with him, he became
The relationship between the US and South Africa became strained last week after US Ambassador Reuben Brigety accused Pretoria of running guns for Russia through a mystery merchant ship. Brigety was summoned to a meeting with senior South African officials to answer for his comments, which related to the Lady R, a US-sanctioned Russian merchant
On Saturday, North Carolina’s Democratic governor vetoed a bill that sought to outlaw most abortions in his state after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The veto was announced before a crowd of about 1,000 abortion-rights activists and voters gathered at a plaza in Raleigh, the state capital. The Bill The bill, which was passed last week
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday to seek support for his peace plan from the pontiff. In the past, Francis has offered to try to help end the war launched by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago. During a private 40-minute meeting, the two men spoke about
Migrants rushed across the US border hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions were set to expire on Thursday. They feared that new policies would make it far more difficult to gain entry into the United States. Border Patrol agents were told to begin releasing some migrants with instructions to appear at an immigration office in the
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has reported that Russian military recruiters are targeting Central Asian migrant workers in Russia to fight in Ukraine. The Ministry has indicated that recruiters are visiting mosques and immigration offices to recruit migrants. Staff who speak Tajik and Uzbek are reportedly attempting to recruit migrants at immigration offices. Offering Attractive
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced its largest-ever award through its whistleblower program, giving $279m to an unnamed informant who provided information and assistance leading to a successful enforcement action. The agency did not provide details about the case involved. The payout is more than double the previous record of $114m, awarded
The Banking Committee of the Senate has announced that former executives of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank will testify on May 16. Greg Becker was the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, while Scott Shay and Eric Howell were the chairman and president, respectively, of Signature Bank. Both banks collapsed recently, and the executives will