Companies House to strike off Zedxion Exchange after an OCCRP investigation found the firm used a stock-photo model to hide its links to sanctioned Iranian tycoon Babak Zanjani.
— Read on www.occrp.org/en/news/uk-to-dissolve-crypto-exchange-accused-of-funding-irans-revolutionary-guard
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Ever since it was pumped by commercial rigs from beneath the shores of Lake Maracaibo over a century ago, oil has been both a blessing and a curse for Venezuela. It has fueled boom times and bust times. It gave rise to an urban middle class — and then an echelon of elites who plundered the nation’s oil wealth, amassing billions as the rest of the country collapsed into poverty. In recent weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump has made no secret of the fact that a thirst for oil drove his administration’s controversial capture of former president Nicolás Maduro. With Maduro out and Trump calling the shots, the rules of Venezuelan oil are being rewritten once again, and the question, as always, is who is set to benefit. As the world waits to see what designs Trump and Venezuela’s new regime have on the country’s vast reserves of ‘black gold,’ OCCRP presents a deep-dive into the corruption that has warped the oil sector’s recent past with a new podcast, White Collars, Dirty Hands. From OCCRP and the Colombian production company La No Ficción, this investigative series follows exiled Venezuelan journalist Laura Weffer as she tracks down Carmelo Urdaneta, a former high-level official in Venezuela’s oil ministry who sits at the heart of a billion-dollar money laundering conspiracy.Over five episodes, the podcast unspools how millions of dollars were embezzled from the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), between 2014 and 2018 by a circle of insiders who spent the cash on real estate, yachts, and other luxury assets. As part of the investigation, reporters obtained a secret recording in which the mechanics of money laundering are revealed in extraordinary detail: Unaware that they were being taped, a coterie of financiers can be heard discussing precisely how they plan to move dirty money without drawing attention from banks and other financial institutions. Behind these financial tricks lies immense personal suffering; The series also traces the human cost of this corruption, including Laura’s own journey into exile and the voices of other Venezuelans who were battling a severe economic crisis at the same time that their stolen oil money was being “cleaned” by professionals abroad.
— Read on www.occrp.org/en/project/white-collars-dirty-hands -
Zelenskyy: EU demand to restore Druzhba for Hungary equals lifting Russia sanctions. Trump eases them anyway—and blames Ukraine.
— Read on euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/16/zelenskyy-druzhba-sanctions-blackmail/ -
On March 7, 2026, a crowd of Georgian citizens gathered outside Iran’s embassy in Tbilisi. They held aloft portraits of recently killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and chanted a pledge of obedience to the supreme leader of a foreign theocracy.
A few blocks away, thousands of other Georgians continued the pro-European protests that have filled Rustaveli Avenue since the disputed November 2024 elections, demanding a new vote and a return to the Western path we fought for — and nearly died building.
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— Read on kyivindependent.com/iran-is-building-shadow-state-inside-georgia-i-was-interrogated-for-saying-so/ -
apple.news/Aqh9h68QVTyqQUEz5HmjxOg
“Diop, who says he ended up in uniform after being lured by the promise of a civilian job, is one of the lucky ones. A Russian list of 316 deceased African recruits shows that, on average, they died less than six months after being deployed to Ukraine, according to Inpact, a Switzerland-based nonprofit that obtained the records. More than 50 African recruits were killed within a month of arriving at the front, Inpact found.
The Kremlin expected a quick win when it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but it has found itself mired in a war that has left 325,000 of its troops dead and 900,000 wounded or missing, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. Russia has suffered 242 dead and wounded for each square mile of Ukrainian territory it has gained, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a nonpartisan Washington think tank that studies military operations worldwide.
Talks to end the fighting are moving slowly, if at all.
Earlier in the war, the Russian military boosted its ranks with poor recruits from distant reaches of the country, Wagner Group mercenaries and convicts promised freedom”
Excerpt From
“Russia lures recruits from Africa to feed its Ukraine war machine”
Benoit Faucon, Milàn Czerny
The Wall Street Journal
https://apple.news/Aqh9h68QVTyqQUEz5HmjxOg
This material may be protected by copyright.
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apple.news/AERFEcFu-RSK_dPMi730HOQ
“A prolonged focus on Iran and the Middle East could leave Washington with less bandwidth for Ukraine and ramp up pressure on European allies to fill the gap.
Weapons systems, particularly air defenses, could be rerouted to the Middle East and away from Kyiv, which Russia pummels almost nightly.
Perhaps most welcome is that the attacks on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes, including attacks on oil refineries in Persian Gulf nations, have sent oil prices surging at a time when Russia’s wartime budget is under severe strain.
Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin’s special economic envoy, predicted prices would spike beyond $100 per barrel. In a sign Putin was already seeking to leverage climbing energy prices, the Russian president threatened on Wednesday to reroute Russian gas supplies away from Europe.”
Excerpt From
“Russia sees chance it may benefit from Middle East war”
Mary Ilyushina, Catherine Belton
The Washington Post
https://apple.news/AERFEcFu-RSK_dPMi730HOQ
This material may be protected by copyright.
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