SYDNEY — Australia’s government approved a U.S. request to extradite a former American pilot allegedly involved in training Chinese military pilots on how to land on aircraft carriers. The department of Australia’s attorney-general said Wednesday that Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus agreed to formally receive Washington’s request to extradite Daniel Edmund Duggan. The department said Duggan is…
A federal judge in the United States has rejected a plea for diplomatic immunity from businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of Venezuela’s left-wing President Nicolas Maduro. Lawyers for the Colombian-born Saab, 51, have argued that the charges against him should be dismissed, as he was acting as a diplomat for the Venezuelan government. Judge…
A nationwide shoplifting epidemic is crippling the finances of brick-and-mortar retailers, which warn that they may be forced to raise prices or even shutter stores in order to offset tens of billions of dollars in lost inventory. The National Retail Foundation is estimating that it lost $94.5 billion last year due to “shrink” — an…
Two Queens men have been arrested and are facing up to 10 years in prison on charges that they conspired with Russian hackers to tamper with JFK airport’s taxi queuing software, allegedly allowing drivers to cut the line for a fee. According to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday, Daniel Abayev and Peter Leyman, both 48,…
WASHINGTON – The new federal omnibus bill includes $305 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, a significant increase from the current year’s $250 million. The NSGP has been a major agenda item for many Jewish organizations. Since the terrorist attack on Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, Jewish organizations have urged Congress to double…
The FBI reimbursed Twitter to the tune of more than $3 million as it pushed the social media company to ban accounts and target so-called “foreign influence” operations, the latest installment of the “Twitter Files” revealed on Monday. In an email dated Feb. 10, 2021, an unidentified Twitter employee told then-deputy general counsel Jim Baker…
Members of the Secret Service have been found to be part of the far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers, according to documents reviewed by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). A leaked membership list reportedly shows that seven Oath Keepers said they worked or previously worked…
The Biden administration took a public stand last year against the abuse of spyware and blacklisted the Israeli firm NSO Group, but it didn’t prevent the U.S. from using other Israeli offensive spyware to hack into mobile phones, The New York Times reported on Thursday. According to the report, the Biden administration allowed the Drug…
A string of attacks on power facilities in Oregon and Washington has caused alarm and highlighted the vulnerabilities of the US electric grid. The attacks in the Pacific north-west come just days after a similar assault on North Carolina power stations that cut electricity to 40,000 people. As first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting and…
Former US Marine Paul Whelan said Thursday that “I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here” in a Russian prison, adding he was “disappointed” that the Biden administration has not done more to get him out after WNBA star Brittney Griner was sprung. “I am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure…