Europol and local police throughout Europe arrested 103 people Tuesday who were suspected of being part of a people-smuggling network. 10 European countries and EULEX (European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo) were involved in the common action supported and coordinated by Europol.
(Europol)
An investigator with the National Accountability Bureau of Pakistan (NAB) was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his government hostel on January 18th, according to the BBC.
Zambia’s Information Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) announced a plan Monday to ban the use of counterfeit mobile phones.
The plan will require cell phone users to register their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) and SIM card details with their service provider. Failure to register will result in “SIM deactivation” and lockout from the national telecommunications networks, according to the news alert on ZICTA’s website. The registration drive is to begin immediately, with a cutoff date to be “announced in due course.”
An IMEI is a unique international coding system given to each cell phone. IMEI’s, in conjunction with SIM card details, facilitate the identification of counterfeit handsets -- if the proper registry is in place.
Zambia’s move to disconnect counterfeit mobile phones using a registration program follows similar moves by other African nations, including Uganda and Kenya.
A program run by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) saw service providers disconnect on January 8 more than 2.4 million phones belonging to owners who failed to heed a December 31 government deadline for registration of SIM card data. Subscribers who have had their phones suspended have 90 days to register their SIM details with service providers, or risk the reallocation of their number to a new subscriber. All new subscribers will register details upon purchase of a line.
Uganda has given users until January 31 to register their devices or face a denial of service. The plan, spearheaded by the Uganda Communications Commission, gives mobile phone users in Uganda a six-month grace period -- until the end of July -- to register before losing their numbers completely.
OCCRP investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova was detained today while protesting in Azerbaijan's capital of Baku. Among hundreds of protesters, Ismayilova was one of some 40 arrested, who also included bloggers Emin Milli and Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, as well as human rights defender Malahat Nasibova.
Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Janša faces heavy pressure to resign after the country’s Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) accused him of failing to declare over US$ 266,000 in private assets.
The Stockholm District Court decided Tuesday to freeze an additional $277 million in assets belonging to Uzbek associates of the embattled Swedish telecom TeliaSonera, which is fighting bribery charges in Sweden and a money laundering investigation in Switzerland.
Chinese organized crime is booming in Europe, due to a growing ability to meld with existing criminal groups.
Frightened by the government’s focus on rooting out corruption within the party, officials have been rushing to sell homes linked to crooked dealings, the Telegraph reported.
In a sharp reversal of an established trend, undocumented immigrants in the United Kingdom are now paying human trafficking gangs to smuggle them out of their adopted countries, the BBC’s Panorama reported in a new investigative documentary, “Immigration Undercover.”
For the first time ever, the company accounts and hedge funds based in the Cayman Islands will have to make public their financial records, according to reforms proposed by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA).