Italian authorities announced on Wednesday the seizure of over 80 million euros (US$95.8 million) in assets and restriction orders against 23 people allegedly linked to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra for involvement in illegal gambling, aggravated fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.

The District Attorney in Georgia’s largest county will reportedly meet with a grand jury this week to request subpoenas for documents and witnesses related to an ongoing criminal investigation of former President Donald Trump for suspected election fraud, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Despite the decrease in trade and travel brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic, 2020 saw a distinct rise in maritime piracy at some of the usual hotspots around the world but with a concerning trend emerging in the Gulf of Mexico which could become a new hunting ground for modern pirates, maritime security experts said.

Organized criminals have recovered from disruptions to their operations caused by COVID-19 and resumed flooding the United States with narcotics, including synthetic opioids that have driven the number of overdose deaths to record levels.

A U.S.-based research institute has accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of using a loan from a state-owned bank to gain control over one of the country’s major telecommunications operators, thus further consolidating his personal power.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed by Islamist insurgents, government security forces and a pro-government mercenary company in a poverty-driven conflict in the north of Mozambique, a key pillar in southern Africa’s various illicit economies, states a report published on Tuesday.

Less than a week after the EU sanctioned a number of Russian officials allegedly responsible for the persecutions of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the U.S. followed suit and sanctioned seven Russian officials and 14 companies for their role in the the Kremlin critic’s poisoning.

Hundreds attended on Wednesday the funeral of three young women who have worked for a TV and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad and who were gunned down a day earlier in two separate terrorist attacks the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.

Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras announced on Tuesday that it has so far recovered more than 5.3 billion reals (US$920 million) as part of a series of reimbursements related to the so-called Lava Jato Operation - the largest anti-corruption probe in Brazil’s history.

A U.K. court said Indian billionaire and diamond magnate Nirav Modi can be extradited to his native country which accused him three years ago of bank fraud worth US$1.8 billion, money laundering and interfering with an investigation.