Ecuador is preparing for presidential and legislative elections on Sunday after a campaign marked by assassinations of candidates running for office in a country plagued by violence and powerful drug cartels.

The Swiss banking giant UBS reached a settlement with U.S. federal authorities Monday to pay just over US$1.4 billion in settlement fees, a penalty brought about by the bank’s misconduct over its residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in the build up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Colombian conglomerate Grupo Aval and its bank subsidiary have agreed to pay approximately US$80 million to settle corruption charges brought by U.S. authorities that have alleged the conglomerate, along with a joint venture partner, paid at least $28 million to Colombian government officials to secure an extension of a highway construction contract.

Spanish authorities announced that they successfully dismantled a criminal organization engaged in the illicit trafficking of anabolic substances and sexual enhancers through online platforms, as well as the gang's chain of sex shops in the northern Spanish cities of Tarragona, El Vendrell, and Reus.

The U.S. Treasury sanctioned on Friday four members of Russia's financial elite and a Russian business association, as part of its efforts to exert greater pressure in response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, over 100 officers conducted last week searches across 28 districts in Bulgaria, seeking evidence of embezzlement in two EU-financed projects aimed at modernizing the country's railway system.

U.S. authorities indicted Friday a Polish national on charges that he allegedly administered a “bulletproof” web-hosting service provider that helped facilitate ransomware and other cybercrimes for its clients.

Human Rights Watch has urged governments engaging with the Taliban regime to push for an urgent reversal of the intensified restrictions on women and media that have been in place for the past two years. The appeal aims to draw attention to the dire humanitarian and human rights crisis under the rule of the Islamic fundamentalist group.

To mark the third anniversary of Belarus’ 2020 presidential election, the Canadian government sanctioned an additional 16 Belarusian government and judicial individuals and entities in response to the country’s ongoing systematic human rights violations.

A comprehensive international operation led to the detention of 103 individuals and the seizure of over two million euros (US$2.19 million) from West African organized crime groups groups that have turned into a serious global security threat.