A major newspaper in Solomon Islands received nearly US$140,000 in funding from the Chinese government in return for pledges to “promote the truth about China’s generosity and its true intentions to help develop” the Pacific Islands country, according to a leaked document and interviews.

The European Union Prosecutor’s Office in Berlin said on Thursday that it has filed an indictment against eight suspects in connection with an 80 million euro (US$88.1 million) VAT fraud scheme involving the trading of luxury automobiles and medical face masks.

Police across 54 countries have arrested more than 1,000 suspects in a joint operation that tackled organized human trafficking and migrant smuggling and revealed an increase in online recruitment through e-commerce platforms, Interpol said.

The United States administration sanctioned three Malian government and military officials for aiding the deployment and expansion of the notorious Russian mercenary Wagner Group's operations in Mali.

The U.K. Government is going to strengthen rules on illegal ads and influencer scams to protect child safety online, requiring social media platforms, websites, and advertising display networks to take tougher action against age-restricted ads for products like alcohol and gambling.

As embattled gambling tycoon She Zhijiang fights extradition from Thailand to China, partners in one of his companies have denied doing business with him –– despite appearing onstage together at a launch for a massive commercial zone in Cambodia, which is now embroiled in human trafficking and cybercrime allegations.

Police across five countries dismantled an international crime ring implicated in the smuggling of over 5,000 migrants, arresting 62 suspects, including 25 Cuban nationals, Europol reported Monday.

Russian authorities sentenced Vadim Ostanin, an activist and close associate of incarcerated Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, to nine years in prison for being a member of an "extremist organization," the Navalny Team announced on Monday.

Human Rights Watch urged Zambia to clean up the former lead and zinc mine in Kabwe, in the Central Province of Zambia, where people are facing severe health issues because of the high contamination from the waste left there after the mine closed in 1994.

Azerbaijani authorities placed an opposition leader into pre-trial detention on Monday for counterfeiting and for being allied with the exiled Turkish cleric Fetullah Gullen, whom Ankara has blamed for plotting the 2016 coup.