A Croatian court sentenced on Friday the country’s former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader to eight years in prison for syphoning state-owned assets through a private marketing company, keeping some of it for himself and putting the rest into his party’s secret slush fund while he was in office.

The years-long rise in international gold prices has driven a new artisanal gold mining and refining rush in conflict-affected areas in East and Central Africa and has turned the United Arab Emirates into the foremost launderer of such gold, according to a new report from The Sentry.

Political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina have spent at least 5.9 million convertible mark (US$3.55 million) on campaigning ahead of local elections on Sunday, often misusing public resources, an international watchdog warned on Thursday.

The European Union is considering a proposal that calls for communication companies such as Signal and WhatsApp to grant law enforcement and judiciary access to encrypted messages, according to a leaked document from the Council of the European Union.  

An investigation by the European Commission, EC, has found that Amazon illegally used private data from sellers on its platform to determine which of its own rival products it should sell at prices that would weed out its competitors.

Ending a decade-long trial, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade confirmed on Monday the 15-year prison sentence for Serbian drug lord Darko Šarić who headed a gang that smuggled nearly six tonnes of cocaine from South America to Europe.

Law enforcement agencies across the world seized tonnes of protected wildlife and forestry specimens and products, such as ivory, red sandalwood, and turtles, during a month-long Interpol-coordinated operation which saw hundreds of arrests and prompted investigations worldwide.

Right-wing politicians and operatives with ties to Italy’s Lega Nord party said they will ask a commission regulating the work of public broadcaster RAI to ban it from collaborating with international colleagues whose data helped it expose the party for corrupt COVID-related procurement dealings.

One of Switzerland’s largest multinational banks said on Monday that it reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to settle an investigation into its role in the years-long world soccer federation FIFA corruption scandal. 

Pakistan welcomed on Monday the handover of 45 looted antiquities which U.S. authorities seized in 2015 from a New York art dealer and is arranging a special transfer to bring them home.