When Kyrgyz police stormed the office of investigative journalism outlet Temirov LIVE on January 22 and arrested chief editor Bolot Temirov on drug charges, it sounded the alarm about press freedom in Kyrgyzstan.

The former head of a Honduran institution that was tasked with emergency procurement related to the COVID-19 pandemic was convicted last week for purchasing useless mobile hospitals at a highly inflated price.

Strapped for funds under the weight of U.S. sanctions, lawmakers in Iran are pondering a new bill which proposed treating the country’s rich material heritage as a potential cash cow, but experts warned this would make Iran a hub for the illegal antiquities trade across the Middle East and Central Asia.

Dutch police, with support from Europol and German authorities, reported Thursday the arrest of three alleged members of a criminal gang responsible for a bombing spree of multiple ATMs and the theft of almost one million euros.

The Italian branch of the German transport and logistics company DB Schenker and Italian firm Aldieri S.P. were put under the special administration of the Italian state due to alleged infiltration by ‘Ndrangheta, Italian state media reported.

Mining magnate Beny Steinmetz has lost a major case against the West African nation of Guinea, after an arbitration court ruled his company bribed a former dictator’s wife with tens of millions of dollars to obtain valuable mining rights and then engaged in a cover-up. 

More than half of energy professionals believe cyberattacks on the industry in the near future will result in a loss of life and many companies are not doing enough to protect themselves, according to a recent report.

Honduran police arrested a woman believed to be the head of one the country’s largest drug cartels that used planes, trucks and boats to move tonnes of cocaine to the United States.

Liberia stopped issuing diplomatic passports after one was found in the home of a prominent businessman who was arrested in the United States for wire fraud and money laundering.

Although he was supposed to be released soon after having served 16 month for illegal firearm possession, the putative leader of a criminal clan known as Group America will remain in a New York jail now for misusing the country’s COVID-19 bailout funds.