Transparency International warned on Tuesday that the lack of transparency in COVID-19 vaccine trials and the secrecy over deals between governments and drug companies jeopardize the success of the global pandemic response.

After a five year moratorium on logging in Guinea-Bissau, officials are now considering reopening the country’s timber markets, however, according to a recent report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), that may only reward the very same bad actors who prompted the ban in the first place. 

Brazil’s Federal Police arrested on Monday one of Italy’s most-wanted mobsters, putting an end to a years-long international chase after Rocco Morabito, a prominent member of one of the world’s most powerful crime syndicates, the ‘Ndrangheta.

Lawyers from the Turkish city of Izmir requested on Monday authorities to investigate claims made by a mob boss that ministers from the ruling party were involved in various crimes, including drug trafficking and the murder of a journalist.  

A member of the U.K. Parliament accused Home Secretary Priti Patel of trying to block the publication of an independent report into the 1987 killing of private detective Daniel Morgan as part of a “cover-up” aimed to protect corrupt police officials.

Armed men killed a conservationist and community leader in the Mexican state of Guerrero after locals repeatedly complained about illegal logging and urged authorities to tackle the issue and stop the nationwide wave of violence targeting environmental activists.

Sanctions can help deter corruption, recover misappropriated funds and assist “the seizure, forfeiture and recovery processes” of ill-gotten assets, experts say.

The military junta that seized control of Myanmar earlier this year is seeking to "line its pockets" by selling off thousands of tons of illegal timber to international markets, the Environmental Investigation Agency reported on Friday in its latest update on the country’s “tainted timber” trade.

At least US$150 billion has been stolen and smuggled out of Iraq since 2003, the country’s President Barham Salih said on Sunday, declaring that corruption “must stop” and the stolen money must be recovered.

An Albanian court sentenced the country’s former general prosecutor to two years in prison for illegally purchasing property and later hiding financial information about his assets.