[FoxNews] Medicare scams allegedly included $10B catheter scheme with Russian connections and unnecessary procedures on the dying
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced sweeping charges Monday against more than 300 defendants, alleging they misled patients into paying for, and sometimes receiving, medical care that they did not need.
In turn, DOJ Criminal Division chief Matthew Galeotti said, the defendants also attempted to swindle Medicare and other taxpayer-funded and private health insurance programs out of about $14.6 billion.
The announcement marked the "largest coordinated healthcare fraud takedown in the history of the Department of Justice," Galeotti said during a press conference.
In a press release, the DOJ said 29 of the defendants were charged with alleged involvement with transnational criminal organizations and submitting over $12 billion in fraudulent claims to America’s health insurance programs.
Another 74 defendants, including 44 licensed medical professionals, were charged across 58 cases with allegedly illegally distributing 15 million prescription pill opioids and other controlled substances. For instance, five of the defendants at a Texas pharmacy are accused of unlawfully distributing over 3 million opioid pills, including oxycodone, hydrocodone and carisoprodol, which were later trafficked by drug dealers on the streets.
The DOJ said 49 defendants were charged with submitting over $1.17 billion in alleged fraudulent claims to Medicare, while an additional 170 defendants were charged with various other fraudulent schemes amounting to $1.84 billion in claims to Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies for diagnostic testing, medical visits and unnecessary treatments, sometimes for kickbacks and bribes.
"This record-setting Health Care Fraud Takedown delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. "Make no mistake – this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities."
One set of charges included, for example, an indictment against three defendants in Arizona who allegedly conspired to purchase and give elderly Medicare recipients skin grafts known as "amniotic wound allografts." The defendants allegedly reaped millions of dollars from the practice.
One of the defendants, a nurse practitioner, applied the grafts to patients even though they were "medically unreasonable and unnecessary," the indictment said. The nurse allegedly applied them to terminally ill patients in hospice, including some who were days away from dying.
While that specific medical practice is typically non-invasive, Galeotti noted it was part of a $1 billion healthcare fraud scheme that stripped patients of "dignity and peace" in their final days.
One DOJ official said in response to a question from Fox News Digital that skin grafts were an "emerging area" of healthcare fraud, "especially given the significant amount of money that they can bill for sometimes in excess of $1,000 a square centimeter."
The healthcare fraud cases, all of which were shared publicly online, spanned the country and globe. Defendants included medical supply company owners and medical professionals, including 25 doctors.
An FBI official announced at the press conference that one scheme, called "Operation Gold Rush," resulted in at least 20 members of a transnational criminal organization, including defendants based in Russia, being charged as part of a $10 billion Medicare and money laundering operation that centered on catheters.
The group behind the scheme, authorities said, used foreign straw owners to secretly buy dozens of medical supply companies before using stolen identities and confidential health data to create and file false $10.6 billion in claims with Medicare.
The DOJ said 19 defendants were arrested for their involvement in the scheme, 12 of whom have been arrested. Of the 12, four were apprehended in Estonia as a result of international cooperation with Estonian law enforcement. Seven of the defendants were arrested at U.S. airports and the U.S. border.
[NY Post] Now let the rest of the inmates have shivs for the shower Brian Kohberger has reportedly accepted a plea deal, agreeing to cop to the vicious murders of four University of Idaho undergrads in 2022.
The deal will make Kohberger safe from the death penalty, but he must plead guilty to four murders and waive his right to appeal, and he will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole, NewsNation reported.
The deal is a shocking twist in a hard-fought case in which prosecutors accused Kohberger of sneaking into a rental home in nearby Moscow, Idaho, and fatally stabbing Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Sabotage is being considered as one of the versions of the crash of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner of Air India in the Indian region of Gujarat. This possibility was not ruled out by the Air Accident Investigation Bureau of India (AAIB).
"Investigating agencies are now carefully studying the data from the black boxes of the crashed plane and are considering all versions of the causes of the disaster, including a possible act of sabotage," India's Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said in an interview with NDTV.
He added that investigators are also checking CCTV footage and that various agencies are involved.
According to Mohol, the sudden stop of both engines has never occurred in such an accident before.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on June 12, an Air India plane crashed near Ahmedabad airport almost immediately after taking off for London. There were 230 passengers, 10 flight attendants and two pilots on board. When it crashed, the plane crashed into a medical college dormitory.
Hundreds were killed when the plane plummeted from the sky, including 242 on board and dozens more on the ground, many of whom were inside a building housing medical students. A single passenger survived the crash and his escape was caught on camera as he walked away from the burning wreckage.
Investigators have been combing through the wreckage, and analyzing the plane's "black box" flight recorders, as they try to establish what brought down Flight AI171.
Besides the possibility of sabotage, aviation experts say other theories will also be explored, such as an aircraft malfunction, a bird strike, or pilot error.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Residents of Europe are suffering from abnormal heat. In a number of countries, the daytime air temperature on June 30 exceeded 40 degrees, local media reported.
According to BFM TV, due to record heat in 16 departments of France, a red (highest) alert level will be introduced from July 1, and in 68 departments, an orange alert level. In the country, if the heat reaches 40 degrees, classes in schools may be suspended or work schedules may be changed.
The highest level of danger is also in effect in seven districts of Portugal.
The Guardian newspaper wrote that in the coming days the air temperature in Spain will rise above 40 degrees.
The UK is also set to see abnormal temperatures, with readings forecast to exceed 30 degrees.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, according to preliminary estimates by experts, 2025 may be among the five or three hottest years on Earth. At the same time, the scientific director of the Hydrometeorological Center, Roman Vilfand, noted that the forecasts may be adjusted. Among the anthropogenic factors influencing climate change, the forecaster named greenhouse gases.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] An explosion occurred on board the Vilamoura tanker off the coast of Libya, the American news agency Bloomberg reports, citing the management company TMS Tankers.
The incident occurred on June 27, the ship under the flag of the Marshall Islands left a port in Libya and was heading to Gibraltar. The explosion flooded the engine room, but there was no oil leak, the crew was not injured. In total, the tanker was carrying 1 million barrels of oil. The reasons for the incident are unknown. The ship is being towed to a Greek port, where they will assess the extent of the damage.
The agency specified that in recent months the tanker has twice called at Russian ports to transport oil from Kazakhstan to Ust-Luga and the CPC terminal near Novorossiysk.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, three vessels caught fire on June 17 off the coast of Iran in the area of the Strait of Hormuz. According to media and the monitoring service, they were oil tankers. The incident occurred against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the Middle East and discussions of Iran possibly blocking the Strait of Hormuz.
[RedState] The hammer has dropped on a British punk/rap duo called Bob Vylan, who led chants at the Glastonbury Music Festival over the weekend, calling for the death of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers.
In a statement on Monday on X, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said, "The @StateDept has revoked the US visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants."
"Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country," the statement added.
It came after a clip posted on X from SkyNews where the anchor announced that the British rappers had been dropped by their talent agency, United Talent Agency after the duo were seen on a BBC live stream leading thousands at the festival in chants calling for "Free, free Palestine" and "Death, death to the IDF," as RedState reported.
Shortly after the news, information surfaced that the rap duo's entire US tour, which included 26 concerts, was canceled.
[ZERO] It would seem that Disney still hasn't learned its lesson when it comes to DEI in entertainment. The company which just initiated a series of layoffs of hundreds of employees at the beginning in June is now getting rid of at least 2% of staffers in its product and technology division.
The staff cuts are only part of an ongoing trend over the past few years as Disney's profits at the box office tumble into the abyss. Only ten years ago the company dominated theaters and television, but it is now reeling from an endless string of embarrassing failures.
The company's latest entertainment bungles include the Pixar film Elio, about a Mexican-Domincan boy obsessed with space travel who is accidentally taken by aliens to the "Communiverse", an intergalactic socialist Utopia where all the species of the universe get together and work out their problems.
Continuing with their messaging that minority characters are infallible no matter what they do, Pixar writes Elio as a spoiled thief who seems to get whatever he wants. His background as an orphan living with his aunt is meant to invoke sympathy from the audience, but the effort falls flat.
#2
...Oh, it gets better: Elio was originally written and cast with the title character being a gay 11-year old boy.
Not only did test audiences overwhelmingly hate it, actress America Ferarra - who is far from a MAGA coservative - quit the movie and her voice role. A good chunk of the movie was rewritten....but it doesn't seem to have helped.
That whirring noise you hear is Walt rotating in his grave fast enough to enrich uranium.
#4
per box office mojo, Elio, which is an animated film, had a $20M domestic opening weekend and a second weekend of about $10M
It had a production cost of at least $150M, probably will cost $300M or more after adding marketing, distribution, etc. So it may well be a net loss for Disney.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
07/01/2025 7:22 Comments ||
Top||
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Walmart employees are saying they're losing coworkers overnight.
The retailer, America's largest private employer, is complying with a sweeping Supreme Court decision that allowed the Trump administration to revoke work protections for half a million migrant employees.
Walmart staffers are saying the company is responding with quick staffing cuts in stores. They're worried there aren't enough workers.
'Anyone else just lose a bunch of employees to Trump policy?' a Redditor asked in a thread dedicated to Walmart. '[My store] just lost 10 employees who were here on work visa.'
Another claimed their store lost 40 staffers at a 400-worker store, representing 10 percent of the workforce. They said remaining employees are now scrambling to keep stores running.
Some said their store is turning to elderly employees to fill the gap.
'Most of our older floor associates are constantly asking for help,' another added. 'It's not really ideal.'
Retail experts told DailyMail.com that the impact on consumers at affected stores is likely temporary and regional.
'This disruption is real, but it's more of a speed bump than a roadblock for a company that's weathered much worse,' Carol Spieckerman, a global retail expert, said.
'This is just the latest curveball for Walmart — after navigating inflation, potential tariffs, and economic uncertainty, they've become experts at adaptation.
'The impact won't be uniform. States closer to the border will feel this more acutely than stores in the heartland.'
Walmart's reported job cuts come after President Donald Trump abruptly ended a Biden-era parole program.
Biden created the program, called CHNV, in January 2023 that temporarily shielded over 534,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants from deportation until the end of 2025.
In other words, the program ended six months earlier than expected, but provident management would have been forming contingency plans at least a year ago for this and other scenarios. If management really is scrambling badly now, they did a poor job of their primary responsibility.
The program granted work permits. Recipients were legally allowed to take US jobs, and officials notified their employers that the visas needed to renew at the end of this year.
But in late May this year, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's emergency request to quickly remove the Biden-era program, creating widespread uncertainty for employees and their employers.
For employees, the fallout is already visible inside Walmart stores. The company did not respond to multiple comment requests from DailyMail.com.
Bloomberg previously reported that the company has instructed store managers — particularly in Florida and Texas — to begin identifying employees whose work authorizations may have been rapidly revoked.
Internal documents reviewed by the outlet indicate that affected staff must reverify their work eligibility immediately.
The legal situation is complex and extremely high-risk for large employers, according to Loren Locke, an immigration attorney in Georgia.
'Employers like Walmart have no choice but to stop employing workers who lack US work authorization,' she told DailyMail.com.
'But it is tricky to comply when they have a large number of current employees whose work permits are getting cancelled prematurely.'
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not directly notified employers about which workers are losing their status.
Instead, a March federal filing by Trump officials said employers carried 'constructive knowledge' if they continued to employ the migrants using the Biden-era program.
According to Locke, that shifted legal responsibility on employers like Walmart. The companies can be held legally accountable for keeping workers on staff that relied on the visa program.
But corporate I-9 management systems are often not designed to flag sudden early terminations. The Trump administration's decision to cancel the program doesn't allow companies to easily search which CHNV visas are now cancelled.
Complicating matters further, the Biden-era permit falls under the same immigration employment category as other immigration work programs.
These problems make it nearly impossible for most employers to separate CHNV applicants from staffers on still-in-place visa programs.
For many retailers, the paperwork issue has created a thorny situation that could put them in trouble with the Trump administration if they keep employees.
But if they do comply with the Trump administration's orders, asking employees about their visa status could also leave companies susceptible to discrimination lawsuits.
Locke called the sudden shift an 'immediate compliance crisis for retailers.'
Walmart is not the only company that appears to be taking the proactive step of reviewing work authorization ahead of schedule, based on the government's broader warning.
Disney also reportedly started laying off staff at its Florida parks that relied on the visa program.
But according to Jamie E. Wright, a trial attorney in Los Angeles, the issue exposes how companies need to update their employee tracking systems.
The outdated tech, in her estimation, has left visa-holding employees as collateral damage in the rapidly-shifting visa landscape.
'We're not talking about people trying to bend the rules. These are employees who’ve done everything right,' she said.
'What Walmart and other employers really need is not a blanket policy, but a smarter system — one that helps track renewals, supports workers through the process, and leads with respect. That’s not only the decent thing to do. It’s also better business.'
#1
In other words, the program ended six months earlier than expected, but provident management would have been forming contingency plans at least a year ago for this and other scenarios. If management really is scrambling badly now, they did a poor job of their primary responsibility.
TW,
From what I've seen up close of individual store management at Walmart, they're barely able to keep things moving on a daily basis, much less six months into the future. Not to mention that staffing issues come almost entirely straight from corporate - I don't know anyone who doesn't have a story about only one or two or NO cash registers open during the busiest times of the day, and good luck trying to find anyone who knows what they're doing the rest of the time.
#2
At the 8 stores here in the GA/SC Central Savannah River Area (CSRA).
Wally World has gotten so understaffed they can't open all Self Checkout registers, and usually only 2 or 3 out of the 14+ available cashier run lanes are open.
Even now, general grocery prices are being beat by many competitors.
The WW Private label food items are seeing YouTube videos and Blog reviews pointing out Post-Covid 1/4 to 1/3 reduced sizes, 25% to 50+% price increases and ingredient content changes.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Oleg Khavich
[REGNUM] Protests against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic have reached a fundamentally new level, paralyzing the country.
Last Saturday, June 28, Serbia celebrated Vidovdan, the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, which is considered the beginning of the Turkish yoke. Serbian Tsar Lazar died in the battle, but Serbian knight Milos Obilic managed to kill Turkish Sultan Murad after the battle. It was Obilic's example that inspired Gavrilo Princip, who killed Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, which became the reason for the outbreak of World War I.
As a result of two world wars, it seemed that the Serbs had received their own small empire – Yugoslavia, but in fact, in this state they found themselves in the role of Russians in the USSR. It was at the expense of Serbia that the rest of Yugoslavia was developed, and only in Serbia – the only one of all the Yugoslav republics – were autonomies created. At the same time, Kosovo, the core of the national myth of the Serbs, actually became Albanian.
The leader of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic, tried to change the situation by proclaiming the need for national emancipation of Serbs on all historical lands, including outside the artificial borders of the Federal Republic of Serbia, on the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo. In response, the elites of the other republics, with the support of the West, first destroyed Yugoslavia and then Serbia (Kosovo has been occupied by NATO troops since June 1999), and Milosevic himself was overthrown and extradited to The Hague on June 28, 2001, as a result of the first “color revolution.”
Given the importance of Vidovdan for the Serbs, this year both the opposition, which has been holding mass protests against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic since November of last year, and Vucic himself, have been carefully preparing for June 28.
Let us recall: On November 1, 2024, in the city of Novi Sad, the recently renovated canopy of the railway station, one of the key objects on the high-speed railway Belgrade-Budapest, collapsed. The opposition blamed Vučić personally, as well as China, whose companies are reconstructing this section of the Serbian railways.
Since then, protests have been ongoing in the country and education has been completely blocked in all public and most private higher education institutions – it is the “protesting students” who are the main proxy force of the opposition, which relies on the support of Brussels.
On the other hand, for several months now, in front of the building of the Serbian Assembly (parliament), there has been a tent city of “students who want to study”, openly supported by the authorities and personally by Vucic.
It is clear that in the ranks of both there are not only students.
At the same time, the Serbian "guardians" are habitually passive, while the "overthrowers of power" actively incite hatred towards their opponents, calling them "chatsi". This is a corrupted Serbian word "Gatsi" ("students") - approximately how to write "uchinEki" in Russian - which is supposed to emphasize the ignorance and backwardness of Vucic's supporters.
On June 28, the opposition announced another “mass protest” in Belgrade, which was supposed to be “the last warning for Vucic.”
True, the president did not sit idly by either: a few days before Vidovdan, all pro-government TV channels aired a “journalistic investigation” – recordings of discussions of the opposition’s real plans to block highways, bridges, and physically destroy the facilities of the EXPO-2027 World Exhibition, which are being built near Belgrade International Airport.
The cynicism of the speakers was astounding: they directly calculated the possible losses to the Serbian budget from the blockade of transport routes and stated that Vucic would not last “more than two weeks” in such a regime.
Some organizers directly said that "Murad must be killed," meaning the Serbian president, the authorities must be seized, and if that succeeds, mass civil disobedience must be carried out. Six conspirators were detained, and one of them was found to have a pistol with the serial number filed off.
On the eve of Vidovdan, the “protesting students” announced their ultimatum to the president: to dissolve parliament by 21:00 on June 28 and call early parliamentary elections, as well as to remove the tent camp in front of the Assembly.
Vucic immediately responded that Serbia does not accept ultimatums (referring to the ultimatum of Austria-Hungary in 1914), and the police will protect citizens and the constitutional order in the country from any encroachment.
It is worth noting that on June 27, all passenger train traffic in Serbia was suspended for several hours due to reports of explosive devices being installed on all trains and tracks.
The protest itself in Belgrade on the evening of June 28 was quite calm, there were no attempts to break through to the parliament building, key transport interchanges or EXPO-2027 sites. The police estimated the number of protesters at 36 thousand people, the organizers - at 140 thousand. The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.
The most interesting thing began after the end of the action, when its organizers announced that they were no longer responsible for the behavior of people on the streets - they say that now there are not students there, but ordinary citizens who will remain there until victory.
True, citizens began to act as a well-oiled machine: some tried to seize traffic interchanges and bridges, and a larger group moved towards the Skupština building. Stones, flares and firecrackers were thrown at the police and gendarmes, who by that time had taken control of the center of Belgrade, and the first overturned garbage cans appeared on the streets. Several dozen hooligans were arrested, 48 police officers were injured.
Protesters in Belgrade have called for the destruction of Serbia in a civil war, the speaker of the National Assembly and former Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabic said on Sunday night.
In turn, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that during the riots in Belgrade on Sunday night, “only by a miracle” there were no casualties.
And although the situation in the Serbian capital had returned to normal by the morning of June 29, by mid-Sunday garbage bins and elements of street fences had already appeared on the streets of several dozen cities. Moreover, sometimes the footage from them was painfully reminiscent of Kyiv-2013: the participation of actors and famous people, jumping to the chant "Who does not jump, that chatsi" and so on.
For now, the situation in Serbia resembles a game of cat and mouse.
By the morning of Monday, June 30, police had unblocked traffic in all cities in Serbia, but attempts to block streets continued, both with the help of garbage bins and mass walking on pedestrian crossings - in more than 100 places across the country. Organizers of the protests mockingly called for not interfering with the security forces dismantling the barricades and to resume their installation later.
It is worth noting that during the protests, Russia has been a kind of “silent figure.”
The organizers of the protests say nothing about Serbian-Russian relations, but for many years these people have been demanding to join Western sanctions, stop (or at least reduce) Belgrade's cooperation with Moscow and Beijing, and focus exclusively on European integration. By the way, these people are also for the recognition of Kosovo's independence and the recognition of the events in Srebrenica as "genocide" for which the Serbs are to blame.
Since only about 40% of Serbian citizens currently support its accession to the European Union, the opposition has to focus on the “fight against corruption,” but the openly anti-Russian positions of Aleksandar Vucic’s opponents have not gone away.
It is clear that Moscow is closely monitoring events in Serbia, where more than 80% of the population supports the priority of cooperation with Russia.
" We are monitoring this situation. We are interested in these unrests being, in general, calmed down, as Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said, on the basis of the constitution and laws of this friendly state," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on June 30.
“ We have no doubt that the current Serbian leadership will be able to restore law and order in the republic in the very near future,” the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, expressed hope on the same day.
"There is no great philosophy here, so we will maintain order in the country. Thank you to our Russian friends for your good understanding and wise assessment of what is happening in Serbia," Vucic responded.
He noted that huge amounts of money had been invested in the attempt at a “color revolution” in Serbia, and those who invested it could not simply say: it failed and it’s all over.
"There will still be some torment, but overall it's all behind us. I want to tell them that Serbia has won, and I look forward to continuing cooperation with the Russian Federation," the Serbian president said.
However, both victory and normal cooperation between Serbia and Russia are still quite far away.
[Breitbart] “Alligator Alcatraz” will have up to 5,000 beds, and will house, process, and deport criminal illegal aliens, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday, previewing President Donald Trump’s visit to the facility on Tuesday.
The area, otherwise known as the Miami-Dade Collier Training Facility, is in the Florida Everglades and has been approved by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for use in housing, processing, and deporting illegal immigrants. President Trump is expected to visit on Tuesday — alongside other officials including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — upon its opening.
“On a scheduling note, tomorrow, President Trump will travel to the great state of Florida to attend the opening of a new illegal alien detention center located at Dade Collier training and transition airport, alongside Secretary Kristi Noem, Governor Ron DeSantis, Congressman Byron Donalds and other state and local leaders,” Leavitt said during a press conference Monday.
“The facility is in the heart of the Everglades and will be informally known as Alligator Alcatraz. There is only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight. It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain,” she continued, noting that the facility will have “up to 5,000 beds to house, process, and deport criminal illegal aliens.”
“This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass-deportation campaign in American history,” she added.
On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) defended Alligator Alcatraz, which some activists have protested.
“And so, when the president comes tomorrow, he’s going to be able to see … what will happen is you bring people in there. They ain’t going anywhere … unless you want them to go somewhere, because good luck in the civilization,” DeSantis said, as the facility is surrounded by pythons and alligators.
“So, the security is amazing … natural and otherwise,” the governor said, explaining that unless the country works to deport these illegal aliens, the issue will persist.
“If you don’t do that, you know you’re going to continue to have this problem of illegal immigration. So, you’ll be able to bring people in. They’ll get processed. They have an order of removal, and they can be queued,” he continued, explaining that the federal government can fly detainees out of the country right there, using the existing runway.
“You literally drive them 2,000 feet, put them on a plane, and then they’re gone. It’s very logistically simple,” he added.
Schadenfreude is not an admirable sentiment, but oh! it does feel gooood. Anyway, it’s probably Russia — Israel has better things to do.
[IsraelTimes] The court, which does not specify a suspected motive, has several high-profile cases on the docket, including issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and ex-defense minister Gallant
The International Criminal Court is undertaking damage control after it was hit by a "new, sophisticated, and targeted" cyberattack, the global tribunal announced Monday.
The ICC said the latest incident, which took place last week, was contained, but did not elaborate further on the impact or possible motive.
"A Court-wide impact analysis is being carried out, and steps are already being taken to mitigate any effects of the incident," the court said in a statement.
"All necessary measures have been taken to ensure the business continuity," court front man Fadi El Abdallah told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
The ICC has a number of high-profile investigations and preliminary inquiries underway in nations around the world, and issued arrest warrants in November for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , including "starvation as a method of war."
Israel rejects the jurisdiction of the court, which is based in the Hague. It also insists that its fighting in Gaza has accorded with international law, citing measures it has taken to avoid civilian casualties and to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid.
US President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... slapped sanctions on the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, in February and earlier this month also sanctioned four judges at the court over the warrants and proceedings against the US. In May, Israel asked the ICC to withdraw the warrants as it reviews challenges to its jurisdiction.
The cyberattack happened in the same week that The Hague hosted a summit of 32 NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... leaders at a conference center near the court, with tight security, including measures to guard against such attacks.
The court declined to say whether any confidential information had been compromised.
The ICC is also investigating allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine and has issued a war crimes arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... , accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
In addition, former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is in ICC detention awaiting possible trial for alleged murders carried out during his so-called "war on drugs."
The court has in the past been the target of espionage. In 2022, a Dutch intelligence agency said it had foiled a plot by a Russian spy using a false Brazilian identity to work as an intern at the court.
The court was also hit by a cyberattack in 2023. The court is still feeling the effects of that attack, with WiFi still not completely restored to its purpose-built headquarters.
[CatholicNews] In a disturbing and increasingly frequent pattern, the Palestinian town of Taybeh, located east of Ramallah and known as the last remaining town in the West Bank inhabited entirely by Christians, faces ongoing attacks by Israeli settlers targeting residents, their property, and farmlands.
According to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, in recent weeks settlers have established a new outpost on the eastern edge of Taybeh atop the ruins of a farmhouse whose owners were displaced roughly a year ago.
The outpost was erected in a vital agricultural zone, spanning around 17,000 dunums (roughly 4,200 acres), which serves as a key economic lifeline for the town. The area hosts thousands of olive trees, poultry and sheep farms, and wide fields used for seasonal crops. It forms the bulk of Taybeh’s total land area of about 24,000 dunums (about 5,900 acres).
Attacks and infringements are not new. In 2019 and 2020, settlers set up similar illegal outposts around the town, often accompanied by arson attacks on crops, theft of equipment, and deliberately releasing cattle into the fields to destroy harvests.
During the latest olive harvest season, for the second year in a row, farmers were barred from accessing their land near the Rimmonim settlement — which was built on confiscated Taybeh land — resulting in either theft or complete spoilage of the olive crop. Approximately 20 families were physically assaulted while trying to reach their land.
Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of the Church of Christ the Redeemer in Taybeh, told ACI MENA: "The town, which the Gospel of John (11:54) refers to as ’Ephraim’ — the place Jesus withdrew to before his passion — is no longer safe for its people today... We do not live in peace but in daily fear and siege."
He added: "Since last October, more than 10 families have left Taybeh due to fear from ongoing violence and harassment."
Fawadleh also described further Israeli-imposed restrictions: "Alongside these attacks, Israeli authorities have installed iron gates at the town’s entrances, severely disrupting residents’ access to work and essential services. These limitations, combined with mounting agricultural restrictions, have worsened unemployment and deepened the economic crisis, leading many to consider emigration."
He added: "These days, settlers are grazing their cows on a hill planted with olive and barley fields right next to people’s homes. Locals see this as part of a systematic effort to strangle them economically and push them out."
[IsraelTimes] 3 suspects in Har Hatzor outpost settler violence incident released by court; settler leaders, politicians condemn latest violence; IDF chief warns: ‘Disaster is at our doorstep’
Security services evacuated and demolished five illegal settlement outposts on Monday, including the Har Hatzor outpost which was the scene of severe settler violence against IDF personnel on Friday night, settler activists reported.
The enforcement activity comes against the background of the Har Hatzor incident, as well as a violent mostly peaceful protest by radical settler activists at the Binyamin Regional Brigade military base in the West Bank, and an arson attack at an IDF security installation in the territory.
Settler leaders condemned the latest settler violence, with the head of the Yesha Council umbrella group calling on the police to find and charge those responsible for the arson attack as quickly as possible.
And in a visit to the IDF’s West Bank division on Monday, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir called the violence "unacceptable," after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior politicians also condemned the attacks.
"The mission is clear — to maintain security, protect civilians, and strengthen settlement defense, while not accepting the unacceptable behavior of holy warrior and violent mostly peaceful groups," Zamir was quoted as saying regarding the growing phenomenon of settler violence.
"We must not allow the development of phenomena that could spiral into anarchy and the breakdown of governance," Zamir said. "Disaster is at our doorstep — and alongside the security agencies, a swift, systemic response is urgently needed."
Also on Monday, three people detained in the Har Hatzor incident were released from detention, after the Lod-Central District Court rejected an appeal by the police against a lower court decision to release the suspects.
According to settler activists, five illegal outposts, unauthorized settlements which the government has not approved, were demolished during the course of Monday.
The illegal farming outpost of Mikne Avraham in the Gush Etzion region of the southern West Bank was evacuated by police and Civil Administration personnel, and homes, as well as a goat pen, were demolished, while building materials were confiscated.
Buildings at another outpost in the Gush Etzion region close to the Metzad settlement were also demolished, and equipment was seized by the security services.
Another outpost close to the Bat Ayin settlement, also in Gush Etzion, was evacuated as well.
In the Binyamin region in the central West Bank, several buildings at Har Hatzor that had not been demolished on Friday night were knocked down by IDF and police forces.
And another outpost close to the Shiloh settlement was also demolished by security services.
The IDF and Civil Administration did not immediately confirm the demolitions.
Following the arson attack on the security installation and the riot at the IDF base, Israel Ganz, head of the Yesha Council which represents settlement municipal authorities in the West Bank, spoke with the head of the regional police commander and "demanded" that the police act swiftly to catch and charge anyone who did damage to IDF property.
"They need to sit in prison. I expect that all the resources at the police’s disposal will be dedicated to this," said Ganz.
The Yesha Council itself put out a statement saying the organization "fiercely condemns all aggressive actions against IDF soldiers," adding that "any attack or harm [to them] does severe harm to the values of Judaism and the settlements."
The council added that "a small group of criminals must not stain the entire settlement project, the settlers, and the wonderful youth who work for the settlements all around the country."
Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also condemned the attacks, and Defense Minister Israel Katz said he would hold an "urgent meeting" about the attacks, which followed a settler rampage in a Paleostinian village last week.
"No civilized country can tolerate violent mostly peaceful and anarchic acts such as the burning of a military installation, damage to IDF property, and assaults on security personnel by citizens of the state," Netanyahu wrote in a statement, calling on law enforcement to investigate the incident and prosecute the "rioters."
Netanyahu defended the wider settler population, depicting those who partook in the attacks as a fringe minority.
"The settler community is a model and an example of developing the land, meaningful service in the IDF, and contributing to the cultivation of Torah scholars. We will not allow a violent mostly peaceful and fanatic few to tarnish an entire community," he wrote.
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