Election 2022: Operation PHOBETOR - War Crimes: A Primer

How young man lost $19,000, was hounded by debt collectors and accused of stealing a dozen cars after his identity was stolen - and what you can do to avoid the same nightmare

Strike Force Mactier

Three men have been charged after police raids in which $4.7 million cash, five kilos of drugs and cryptocurrency teller machines were allegedly seized in NSW.

Two men - aged 34 and 39 - were arrested near a unit block in Mascot on Friday as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering. 

A third man, aged 45, was arrested later on Friday as police raided two units in Mascot and a storage unit in Kingsgrove.

Police say their raids uncovered $4.7 million in cash, money counters, mobile phones, laptops, USB storage devices and three cryptocurrency automatic teller machines.  Operation PHOBETOR 

US Authorities lead Sydney police to $4.7m money launderers Sydney cops have made a huge bust inside a warehouse after help from the US Department of Homeland Security led them to members of a money laundering ring

“HUGE TRAGEDY”: Kremlin spokesman admits to ‘significant losses’ of Russian troops in bungled invasion of Ukraine, as army hit by mutiny.

Take the mutiny claims with a grain of salt. “Advance and maybe get shot by the enemy or don’t advance and for certain get shot by me” is a longstanding Russian command attitude.

ATO finalises tax control governance on 3rd-party data

Investment entities will need to self-assess third-party data and implement new tax control measures.

The Dirty Election: how the cards are stacked in favour of Scott Morrison

Michael West | April 11, 2022

Labor may be streets ahead in the polls but Scott Morrison is now in his element. His government is a shambles but, with the three major media houses backing him, and the ABC and others truckling to their daily news agendas, Anthony Albanese will have to win this thing, not wait for Scott Morrison to lose it.  

US, UK, Australia to cooperate on hypersonic weapons under pact Al Jazeera  India was deeply offended by the AUKUS deal.

CRS Legal Sidebar – War Crimes: A Primer, March 15, 2022: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has given rise to numerous accusations of war crimes. This Legal Sidebar addresses the sources and content of the law of war, also known as the law of armed conflict or international humanitarian law (IHL) as it pertains to war crimes that occur in an international armed conflict. IHL applies to the conduct of war; it does not address the legality of the war itself. For information about potential accountability for war crimes in international tribunals, see CRS Legal Sidebar LSB10704, The Role of International Tribunals in the Response to the Invasion of Ukraine, by Nina M. Hart and Stephen P. Mulligan…”

See also CRS – The Role of International Tribunals in the Response to the Invasion of Ukraine Updated March 18, 2022

Tree Curtain

The Russian invasion shows how digital technologies have become involved in all aspects of war – Since Russia invaded Ukraine, we keep hearing that this war is like no other; because Ukrainians have cellphones and access to social media platforms, the traditional control of information and propaganda cannot work and people are able to see through the fog of war. 

For these communications scholars and historians, Professors Katharina Niemeyer, Dominique Trudel, Heidi J. S. Tworek, Maria Silina and Svitlana Matviyenko, it is important to add nuance to such claims. The question is not so much what is “new” in this war, but rather to understand its specific media dynamics. One important facet of this war is the interplay between old and new media — the many loops that go from Twitter to television to TikTok, and back and forth.

Without confirming or denying whether X was an MI5 agent - a covert human intelligence source, in other words - she said the story would place X at risk of harm or death and that it would also damage national security by making people less likely to work as agents now and in future.

BBC cannot name alleged abusive MI5 agent - court

The government can create all the money that we need to prevent poverty, misery, despair and recession in this country, but is choosing not to do so. Why?

I wrote this on Twitter last night: It would cost around £50 billion to save people from the hunger, the cold, the poverty and the
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Why is it that those who live off financial speculation are taxed so much less in the UK than those who work for a living?

My old friend and long term colleague in tax justice and accounting reform campaigning, Prem Sikka, who now sits in the House of Lords, said
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How Long Do Boosters Last? Here’s The Deal On Whether You Need Another One.

BuzzFeedNews: “…While there’s much we don’t know, it’s clear that vaccine protection wanes over time, and that a booster — as the name implies — can help. However, booster protection doesn’t last forever, dwindling a bit each month. 

“We need to think of these as vaccines offering shorter-term protection than what a measles vaccine would do, for example, especially with more variants around,” Landon told BuzzFeed News. The dominant version of the coronavirus in the US is a subvariant of Omicron called Omicron BA.2, which appears to be more contagious but not more severe, than other types of the virus. It was responsible for about 55% of all infections as of March 26. Meanwhile, infections in some regions, including parts of the Northeast, are rising as mask mandates and indoor vaccine requirements come to an end in many cities and states. “All of us are probably going to need to update our protection at some point,” Landon said. “If protection is wearing off in older people, it’s going to wear off in younger people eventually.”…

Systematic, meticulous, deliberate: Melissa Caddick, Bernie Madoff and the art of the Ponzi scheme

• By Kate McClymont