Lithuania has granted refugee status to one of the fugitive brothers-in-law of Kazakh billionaire Mukhtar Ablyazov, reported Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

The European Commission (EC) has come up with a plan for European Union (EU) institutions to curb a "dramatic surge" in global wildlife trafficking over the past few years, including increased punishments for traffickers.

The Appeals Committee of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has upheld a decision banning Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini from all football-related activities, but reduced the length of that ban from eight to six years, according to a news release from FIFA. 

Opposition lawmakers in Albania tried to stop a Parliamentary session Thursday by throwing eggs at Prime Minister Edi Rama, angered by the return of a lawmaker who had been involved in an armed conflict  in his hometown, Lac, in early September 2015.

Nikola Kazakov was fired as Head of the State Agency for Refugees (SAR) on Monday, the cabinet’s press office announced.

The agency’s chief secretary, Zlatko Alexandrov, was sacked on the same day, followed by Kazakov’s deputy Alexander Dimitrov, on Wednesday.

The man charged with investigating as much as US$ 1 billion allegedly stolen from aid to Palestine said that over the past five years, he has recovered only US$ 70 million, according to Reuters. 

The wife of the Chief of Armenia’s Compulsory Enforcement Service (CES) allegedly bought a US$ 70,000 Range Rover in 2015 despite the fact she has claimed zero income and the car’s price is nearly three times her husband’s annual salary, reported OCCRP partner center Hetq.

Eleven members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) were charged with conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to an indictment from the US District Court for the District of Utah, Central Division. 

A former European Parliament lawmaker has been sentenced to prison for bribery by the Romanian High Court of Cassation and Justice,  reported Romanian Insider.

Brazilian authorities issued an arrest warrant for campaign strategist Joao Cerqueira de Santana Filho and his wife, Monica Regina Cunha Moura, on allegations of corruption, according to the Financial Times.