Chinese "money brokers"&nbsp;are laundering Mexican drug money through&nbsp;burner phones and banking apps, as per US&nbsp;law enforcement officials.

Chinese criminals have upended the way narcotics cash is laundered and are displacing the Mexican and Colombian money men that have long dominated the trade.

Virtually unheard of a decade ago, these Chinese players are moving vast sums quickly and quietly, authorities said. Their expertise: routing cartel drug profits from the United States to China then on to&nbsp;Mexico&nbsp;with a few clicks of a burner phone and Chinese banking apps – and without the bulky cash ever crossing borders.

The launderers pay small Chinese-owned businesses in the United States and&nbsp;Mexico&nbsp;to help them move the funds. Most contact with the banking system happens in China, a veritable black hole for US&nbsp;and Mexican authorities.

Chinese money brokers based in&nbsp;Mexico&nbsp;"have come to dominate international money laundering markets," US&nbsp;prosecutors said in a September&nbsp;24.

Early next year, a Chinese businessman named Gan Xianbing will be sentenced in a Chicago courtroom for laundering just over $530,000 in Mexican cartel drug money.

Gan, 50, was convicted in February of money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transfer business that whisked cartel cash from US&nbsp;drug sales offshore.

Gan has maintained his innocence; his lawyers say he was entrapped by US&nbsp;authorities. The trial garnered few headlines and little of the public fascination reserved for kingpins of powerful narcotics syndicates that U.S. federal prosecutors said Gan served.

Chinese money brokers have become key cogs in the multi-billion-dollar drug empires run by Latin American cartels. The Chinese role presents a formidable challenge for US&nbsp;anti-narcotics efforts at a time of rising tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Gan, who US&nbsp;prosecutors said operated a tight ring with another Chinese money broker, was apprehended in November 2018 by Homeland Security Investigations agents at Los Angeles International Airport on his way to&nbsp;Mexico&nbsp;from Hong Kong. The US&nbsp;government said that Gan had moved anywhere from $25 million to $65 million in illicit drug proceeds from 2016 to the time of his arrest, according to a September court filing by Gan's attorneys.

Based in Guadalajara, the ring is believed to have worked with multiple syndicates, including the famed Sinaloa Cartel that was previously led by jailed Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, according to two U.S.-based sources familiar with the investigation.

The US&nbsp;Department of the Treasury and Europol, the European Union's law enforcement arm, have warned about the expanding web of Chinese crime groups laundering drug money. Europol in November 2019 said these groups present a "growing threat to Europe," while the US&nbsp;Treasury in February placed Chinese professional money laundering networks on its list of "key threats" and vulnerabilities within the US&nbsp;financial system.

US&nbsp;law enforcement has stepped up operations against these groups. In addition to the Gan case in Illinois, federal prosecutors have brought charges in Virginia and Oregon against alleged members of at least two other Chinese money laundering rings since October of last year. Those cases are pending.

Still, a senior US&nbsp;Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent said US&nbsp;efforts to nail Latin American drug capos by following the money have gotten much more difficult.

"I can't emphasize this enough, the involvement of the Chinese has really complicated all of these schemes," the DEA official said.

Gan, who declined to testify in court, pleaded not guilty to three counts of money laundering, one count of conspiracy to launder money and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. He was acquitted on the conspiracy charge. Reuters did not receive a reply to requests for comment from Gan sent to his legal team.

His lawyers, in a September sentencing plea document, said Gan was not the mastermind of the operation, rather a seafood exporter who was duped into letting his bank account in China be used to launder money by another&nbsp;Mexico-based Chinese national named Pan Haiping. Glenn Seiden, Gan's lawyer, declined to speak with Reuters or answer questions about Gan's case.

Attorney Aaron Schwartz, who was part of the defense team, said he wanted to make it clear that Gan did not cooperate with the US&nbsp;government because his client feared for the safety of his family in Guadalajara, where the powerful Jalisco New Generation cartel holds sway. Gan's lawyers also allege Gan was entrapped in a sting operation by Homeland Security Investigations agents working with an informant who helped arrange the transactions that resulted in their client's conviction. The agency said it does not comment on ongoing investigations.

Pan Haiping, Gan's alleged associate, was detained earlier this year in&nbsp;Mexico&nbsp;on accusations of money laundering and is awaiting extradition to the United States, according to the two U.S. sources familiar with the investigation and a senior Mexican federal police source. Pan Haiping could not be reached for comment. The Mexican prosecutor's office declined to comment on Pan Haiping's case or provide the name of his legal counsel in&nbsp;Mexico, saying it cannot comment on ongoing cases.

In a March 2019 U.S. indictment unsealed a few weeks ago, Pan Haiping was charged with laundering almost $500,000 for Mexican cartels; running an illegal money transmitting business in Illinois; and conspiring to launder money using bank accounts in China, including an account belonging to Gan.

Another alleged conspirator, Long Huanxin, was arrested in February at Vancouver International Airport by Canadian law enforcement acting on a warrant from US authorities, according to Canadian court transcripts from Long's detention hearing. Long was extradited to the United States, and last month he pleaded not guilty in Chicago to charges of money laundering for Mexican cartels, US&nbsp;court documents show. Long's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

US-China tensions

US&nbsp;officials informally sought assistance from China in the Gan case but received no support in their investigation, according to the two U.S. sources familiar with the probe.

China's Foreign Ministry disputed their account. The ministry said in late October that it did not receive a request from U.S. authorities for help on that case. China stands ready to cooperate with the United States to "destroy drug cartels and drug-related money-laundering networks," the ministry said in a statement. But it stressed the need for the two countries to work on the "principle of respecting each other's laws, equality, and mutual benefit," the statement said.

The ministry said most Chinese bank-account holders about whom Washington has inquired as part of its money laundering investigations in recent years were "legitimate enterprises and individuals" in China. "After we asked the U.S. side to provide drug-related clues or evidence of enterprises and individuals, the U.S. side has not responded," China's Foreign Ministry said in the statement.

Without help from Beijing to track money flows in China and to infiltrate the laundering networks, US&nbsp;agents say they face an uphill struggle to catch culprits.

"It's the most sophisticated form of money laundering that's ever existed," one of the US&nbsp;sources familiar with the investigation said.

Burner phones and dollar bills

Key to cracking the case was Lim Seok Pheng, a New York-based member of the ring who became a cooperating witness for the US&nbsp;government following her May 2018 arrest on suspicion of money laundering.

A Singapore national, Lim said at Gan's trial that she once peddled footwear and had first met Gan in China where he ran a shoe factory before he relocated to Guadalajara in 2011. Lim testified that Gan recruited her to join the illicit operation in 2016 and that she became lovers with the other alleged ringleader, Pan Haiping.

Following her arrest at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Lim agreed to wear a recording device to help authorities gather evidence against Gan and the other alleged conspirators. She also brought undercover Homeland Security Investigations agents into the operation as money couriers on three separate cash pick-ups in Chicago that led to Gan's conviction, according to the trial testimony of Lim and the agents.

Lim pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in November 2019 and is out on bail, awaiting sentencing.

She and her attorney declined to comment.

The only thing tougher than moving illegal drugs across borders is getting the profits back to&nbsp;Mexico's cartels, U.S. officials said. Cash is heavy, and transporting it exposes traffickers to lots of risk. Putting it into the banking system is perilous, too. The U.S. and Mexican financial systems have been geared to detect dirty money.

Prosecutors told the court that Gan and his accomplices sidestepped these obstacles by first moving the U.S. cash offshore to China, then on to&nbsp;Mexico. Lim was a linchpin connecting both sides of the Pacific. In her November 2019 plea agreement, Lim admitted to laundering, with Gan and Pan Haiping, about $48 million in drug cash between 2016 and September 2017. She took a 0.5% commission, the agreement said.

Lim testified at Gan's trial that she had two jobs. The first was collecting drug money in U.S. cities such as Chicago and New York from cartel contacts, typically anywhere from $150,000 to $1 million at a time. She would wait in a public place, armed with a burner phone, a code name and the serial number of an authentic $1 bill. Mexican cartels would pass on her details to their dealer contacts, who would call Lim's burner phone and use the code name to identify themselves. At the rendezvous point, Lim would give them the $1 bill with the corresponding serial number as a "receipt" to verify the handoff had taken place, Lim said at trial.

Lim's other job was recruiting businesses in the Chinese diaspora to help them make that cash disappear, Lim and prosecutors said.

Some US-based Chinese merchants have long engaged in off-the-books currency "swaps" to avoid hefty bank fees. Such transactions are illegal in the United States, American authorities said, if they are used by companies routinely to skirt the formal banking system or to operate an unauthorized money transfer business. In some cases these informal, hawala-style transactions are used to help wealthy Chinese move money clandestinely out of China, in violation of that nation's currency controls.

The operation run by Gan and Pan Haiping grew to include at least three Chinese merchants in New York, who were paid commissions to participate, Lim told the court. The names of the Chinese merchants were not revealed at Gan's trial, and it's unclear if they knew of Lim's links to drug trafficking.

Prosecutors at trial presented testimony, evidence and graphics showing how the transactions worked. At their simplest, authorities said, that process worked as follows: Lim would arrive at one of the merchants with, say, $150,000 in cartel cash. With the businessperson observing, she would open a currency converter app on her smartphone to obtain the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Chinese yuan. She would also hand over the details of a bank account in China given to her by Gan. In what's known as a "mirror transaction," the Chinese businessperson would take possession of the $150,000 in U.S. currency while simultaneously transferring the equivalent in Chinese yuan from their own account in China to the bank account number provided by Gan.

The result was that a foreign transfer of funds had been made without involving a US financial institution - or the accompanying digital fingerprints. The Chinese business had effectively used yuan from its China-based bank account to purchase cash dollars now on hand in the United States; it earned a commission for its trouble while avoiding bank fees and US&nbsp;government scrutiny.

Meanwhile, Gan had converted US&nbsp;drug dollars into Chinese currency now sitting in a Chinese bank. The only contact with the financial system – a domestic transfer between two accounts in China – would be unlikely to raise red flags with Chinese banking authorities unaware of the money's provenance.

The crime ring used various Chinese banks for the operations, including the Bank of China, according to WhatsApp messages exchanged between Gan and Pan Haiping. The messages were extracted from Gan's iPhone by Homeland Security Investigations agents after his arrest, and key excerpts were read out aloud by prosecutors at trial, according to court transcripts.

Bank of China did not respond to requests for comment.

To get the money from China to&nbsp;Mexico, Gan performed the same sort of mirror transactions, only this time with the help of Chinese businesses who had access to pesos in&nbsp;Mexico. This leg of the journey was described by the two US&nbsp;sources familiar with the investigation and is outlined in court documents, including the US&nbsp;government's September 2020 sentencing memorandum for Gan and the June 2019 superseding indictment detailing charges against him.

US&nbsp;prosecutors said the laundered money was delivered to Pan Haiping's Mexican drug cartel clients, according to the superseding indictment. No Mexican banks were named in any of the court documents reviewed by Reuters.

<img alt="F" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="253286ec-1fc5-4fbd-927c-5a8c1190aee1" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Untitled%20design%20%286%29_53.jpg" />

In picture:&nbsp;Pan Emi, the wife of&nbsp;Mexico-based Chinese businessman Gan Xianbing, who was convicted of money laundering for Mexican cartels in a US&nbsp;court, interacts with a client at her store in Guadalajara,&nbsp;Mexico/REUTERS

Opportunity in&nbsp;Mexico

Pan Emi,&nbsp;Gan's wife living in&nbsp;Guadalajara&nbsp;said her husband was innocent of wrongdoing and being unfairly portrayed by authorities as a criminal when he was nothing more than a plucky businessman. She said no Mexican or U.S. law enforcement agents had contacted her about the case.

She said Gan, fed up with high Chinese taxes, had left his shoe factory in the Chinese city of Wenzhou nearly a decade ago seeking a better life in&nbsp;Mexico. In Guadalajara, she said, Gan co-founded a business exporting jellyfish, which are considered a delicacy and an aphrodisiac in China. Pan Emi said her "super friendly" husband built a large network of friends and contacts in&nbsp;Mexico&nbsp;and was always on the phone.

Pan Emi confirmed some details of the case. She said her husband knew Pan Haiping and Lim and had participated in currency swaps with other Chinese merchants. But she denied Gan was involved with traffickers or knew anything about drug money.

She said currency swaps were common in the expatriate Chinese business community to avoid pricey fees and lousy exchange rates offered by banks.

"These swaps that we do with each other are easy. It's no big problem," Pan Emi said. "I don't think it's illegal."

Money brokers like Gan and Pan Haiping are growing in number among the large Chinese diasporas in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, according to three DEA officials.

Demand for their services is being driven by affluent Chinese looking to evade China's currency controls and move wealth abroad, the DEA officials told Reuters. Beijing limits the amount of money its citizens can transfer out of China to the equivalent of $50,000 US&nbsp;dollars annually.

Latin American cartels, flush with dollars and euros from drug sales, are uniquely placed to satisfy the Chinese appetite for hard currencies. Some Chinese expatriates located in drug-producing countries such as&nbsp;Mexico, Colombia, and Peru are the intermediaries bridging these disparate sets of people, said Donald Im, a senior DEA agent and anti-money laundering specialist.

"When there is need by the cartels for cash to be laundered, and there is the demand for cash from the Chinese, you have a perfect marriage made in heaven," Im said. "The Chinese brokers are very important to the Mexican and Colombian cartels."

In the case of Gan, it was a lucrative business, according to conversations between his alleged associates taped by Homeland Security Investigations agents. "He has made $1 million already because of us, for real," Pan Haiping told Lim in August 2017, according to transcripts of intercepted phone communications presented at Gan's trial.

Chinese money launderers are squeezing out Mexican and Colombian rivals by undercutting them on the price by as much as half, US&nbsp;officials said. The Chinese operators have been able to do that because they levy fees on both sides of each transaction. They impose fat commissions as high as 10 per cent&nbsp;on Chinese citizens eager to get money out of China. That allows the Chinese money brokers, in turn, to charge traffickers nominal fees of just a few percentage points. The money launderers still turn a handsome profit while locking in a steady supply of coveted dollars and euros from cartel customers.

DEA agent Im said the Chinese ex-pats had the "systems and the infrastructure" in place not only to launder the drug proceeds but to do it so cheaply that drug cartels receive back "almost 100%" of their dirty money.

Chinese money brokers have also managed to avoid choosing sides in&nbsp;Mexico's cartel wars, even coordinating money contracts with both the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels on the same day, according to a second senior DEA agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Traffickers use other so-called trade-based money laundering schemes to move drug money from China to&nbsp;Mexico, according to the DEA and Mexican government officials who spoke with Reuters. In July,&nbsp;Mexico's Financial Intelligence Unit, an investigative agency, said publicly that Chinese nationals laundering money for the Jalisco New Generation cartel were using drug proceeds to buy shoes in bulk from China, then reselling them in&nbsp;Mexico&nbsp;to get the gang their cash.

Chinese exports to&nbsp;Mexico, including electronics, clothing and other consumer goods, have nearly doubled over the past decade to $83 billion in 2019. The surge has allowed drug cartels and their money launderers to piggyback on this burgeoning trade relationship, authorities said.

In Guadalajara, Pan Emi said e-mail exchanges with her husband's US&nbsp;lawyers left her optimistic ahead of Gan's looming sentencing. Prosecutors have asked for a 20-year jail term; Gan's defense attorneys have argued for no more than two years.

Pan Emi said business was going well in&nbsp;Mexico&nbsp;and she had no desire to return to China. "I hope my husband comes back," she said.

(With input from Reuters)

Chinese "money brokers" are laundering Mexican drug money through burner phones and banking apps, as per US law enforcement officials. Chinese criminals have upended the way narcotics cash is laundered and are displacing the Mexican and Colombian money men that have long dominated the trade.

Chinese "money brokers" are laundering Mexican drug money through burner phones and banking apps, as per US law enforcement officials. Chinese criminals have upended the way narcotics cash is laundered and are displacing the Mexican and Colombian money men that have long dominated the trade. Virtually unheard of a decade ago, these Chinese players are moving vast sums quickly and quietly, authorities said. Their expertise: routing cartel drug profits from the United States to China then on to Mexico with a few clicks of a burner phone and Chinese banking apps – and without the bulky cash ever crossing borders. The launderers pay small Chinese-owned businesses in the United States and Mexico to help them move the funds. Most contact with the banking system happens in China, a veritable black hole for US and Mexican authorities. Chinese money brokers based in Mexico "have come to dominate international money laundering markets," US prosecutors said in a September 24. Early next year, a Chinese businessman named Gan Xianbing will be sentenced in a Chicago courtroom for laundering just over $530,000 in Mexican cartel drug money. Gan, 50, was convicted in February of money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transfer business that whisked cartel cash from US drug sales offshore. Gan has maintained his innocence; his lawyers say he was entrapped by US authorities. The trial garnered few headlines and little of the public fascination reserved for kingpins of powerful narcotics syndicates that U.S. federal prosecutors said Gan served. Chinese money brokers have become key cogs in the multi-billion-dollar drug empires run by Latin American cartels. The Chinese role presents a formidable challenge for US anti-narcotics efforts at a time of rising tensions between Beijing and Washington. Gan, who US prosecutors said operated a tight ring with another Chinese money broker, was apprehended in November 2018 by Homeland Security Investigations agents at Los Angeles International Airport on his way to Mexico from Hong Kong. The US government said that Gan had moved anywhere from $25 million to $65 million in illicit drug proceeds from 2016 to the time of his arrest, according to a September court filing by Gan's attorneys. Based in Guadalajara, the ring is believed to have worked with multiple syndicates, including the famed Sinaloa Cartel that was previously led by jailed Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, according to two U.S.-based sources familiar with the investigation. The US Department of the Treasury and Europol, the European Union's law enforcement arm, have warned about the expanding web of Chinese crime groups laundering drug money. Europol in November 2019 said these groups present a "growing threat to Europe," while the US Treasury in February placed Chinese professional money laundering networks on its list of "key threats" and vulnerabilities within the US financial system. US law enforcement has stepped up operations against these groups. In addition to the Gan case in Illinois, federal prosecutors have brought charges in Virginia and Oregon against alleged members of at least two other Chinese money laundering rings since October of last year. Those cases are pending. Still, a senior US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent said US efforts to nail Latin American drug capos by following the money have gotten much more difficult. "I can't emphasize this enough, the involvement of the Chinese has really complicated all of these schemes," the DEA official said. Gan, who declined to testify in court, pleaded not guilty to three counts of money laundering, one count of conspiracy to launder money and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. He was acquitted on the conspiracy charge. Reuters did not receive a reply to requests for comment from Gan sent to his legal team. His lawyers, in a September sentencing plea document, said Gan was not the mastermind of the operation, rather a seafood exporter who was duped into letting his bank account in China be used to launder money by another Mexico-based Chinese national named Pan Haiping. Glenn Seiden, Gan's lawyer, declined to speak with Reuters or answer questions about Gan's case. Attorney Aaron Schwartz, who was part of the defense team, said he wanted to make it clear that Gan did not cooperate with the US government because his client feared for the safety of his family in Guadalajara, where the powerful Jalisco New Generation cartel holds sway. Gan's lawyers also allege Gan was entrapped in a sting operation by Homeland Security Investigations agents working with an informant who helped arrange the transactions that resulted in their client's conviction. The agency said it does not comment on ongoing investigations. Pan Haiping, Gan's alleged associate, was detained earlier this year in Mexico on accusations of money laundering and is awaiting extradition to the United States, according to the two U.S. sources familiar with the investigation and a senior Mexican federal police source. Pan Haiping could not be reached for comment. The Mexican prosecutor's office declined to comment on Pan Haiping's case or provide the name of his legal counsel in Mexico, saying it cannot comment on ongoing cases. In a March 2019 U.S. indictment unsealed a few weeks ago, Pan Haiping was charged with laundering almost $500,000 for Mexican cartels; running an illegal money transmitting business in Illinois; and conspiring to launder money using bank accounts in China, including an account belonging to Gan. Another alleged conspirator, Long Huanxin, was arrested in February at Vancouver International Airport by Canadian law enforcement acting on a warrant from US authorities, according to Canadian court transcripts from Long's detention hearing. Long was extradited to the United States, and last month he pleaded not guilty in Chicago to charges of money laundering for Mexican cartels, US court documents show. Long's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. US-China tensions US officials informally sought assistance from China in the Gan case but received no support in their investigation, according to the two U.S. sources familiar with the probe. China's Foreign Ministry disputed their account. The ministry said in late October that it did not receive a request from U.S. authorities for help on that case. China stands ready to cooperate with the United States to "destroy drug cartels and drug-related money-laundering networks," the ministry said in a statement. But it stressed the need for the two countries to work on the "principle of respecting each other's laws, equality, and mutual benefit," the statement said. The ministry said most Chinese bank-account holders about whom Washington has inquired as part of its money laundering investigations in recent years were "legitimate enterprises and individuals" in China. "After we asked the U.S. side to provide drug-related clues or evidence of enterprises and individuals, the U.S. side has not responded," China's Foreign Ministry said in the statement. Without help from Beijing to track money flows in China and to infiltrate the laundering networks, US agents say they face an uphill struggle to catch culprits. "It's the most sophisticated form of money laundering that's ever existed," one of the US sources familiar with the investigation said. Burner phones and dollar bills Key to cracking the case was Lim Seok Pheng, a New York-based member of the ring who became a cooperating witness for the US government following her May 2018 arrest on suspicion of money laundering. A Singapore national, Lim said at Gan's trial that she once peddled footwear and had first met Gan in China where he ran a shoe factory before he relocated to Guadalajara in 2011. Lim testified that Gan recruited her to join the illicit operation in 2016 and that she became lovers with the other alleged ringleader, Pan Haiping. Following her arrest at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Lim agreed to wear a recording device to help authorities gather evidence against Gan and the other alleged conspirators. She also brought undercover Homeland Security Investigations agents into the operation as money couriers on three separate cash pick-ups in Chicago that led to Gan's conviction, according to the trial testimony of Lim and the agents. Lim pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in November 2019 and is out on bail, awaiting sentencing. She and her attorney declined to comment. The only thing tougher than moving illegal drugs across borders is getting the profits back to Mexico's cartels, U.S. officials said. Cash is heavy, and transporting it exposes traffickers to lots of risk. Putting it into the banking system is perilous, too. The U.S. and Mexican financial systems have been geared to detect dirty money. Prosecutors told the court that Gan and his accomplices sidestepped these obstacles by first moving the U.S. cash offshore to China, then on to Mexico. Lim was a linchpin connecting both sides of the Pacific. In her November 2019 plea agreement, Lim admitted to laundering, with Gan and Pan Haiping, about $48 million in drug cash between 2016 and September 2017. She took a 0.5% commission, the agreement said. Lim testified at Gan's trial that she had two jobs. The first was collecting drug money in U.S. cities such as Chicago and New York from cartel contacts, typically anywhere from $150,000 to $1 million at a time. She would wait in a public place, armed with a burner phone, a code name and the serial number of an authentic $1 bill. Mexican cartels would pass on her details to their dealer contacts, who would call Lim's burner phone and use the code name to identify themselves. At the rendezvous point, Lim would give them the $1 bill with the corresponding serial number as a "receipt" to verify the handoff had taken place, Lim said at trial. Lim's other job was recruiting businesses in the Chinese diaspora to help them make that cash disappear, Lim and prosecutors said. Some US-based Chinese merchants have long engaged in off-the-books currency "swaps" to avoid hefty bank fees. Such transactions are illegal in the United States, American authorities said, if they are used by companies routinely to skirt the formal banking system or to operate an unauthorized money transfer business. In some cases these informal, hawala-style transactions are used to help wealthy Chinese move money clandestinely out of China, in violation of that nation's currency controls. The operation run by Gan and Pan Haiping grew to include at least three Chinese merchants in New York, who were paid commissions to participate, Lim told the court. The names of the Chinese merchants were not revealed at Gan's trial, and it's unclear if they knew of Lim's links to drug trafficking. Prosecutors at trial presented testimony, evidence and graphics showing how the transactions worked. At their simplest, authorities said, that process worked as follows: Lim would arrive at one of the merchants with, say, $150,000 in cartel cash. With the businessperson observing, she would open a currency converter app on her smartphone to obtain the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Chinese yuan. She would also hand over the details of a bank account in China given to her by Gan. In what's known as a "mirror transaction," the Chinese businessperson would take possession of the $150,000 in U.S. currency while simultaneously transferring the equivalent in Chinese yuan from their own account in China to the bank account number provided by Gan. The result was that a foreign transfer of funds had been made without involving a US financial institution - or the accompanying digital fingerprints. The Chinese business had effectively used yuan from its China-based bank account to purchase cash dollars now on hand in the United States; it earned a commission for its trouble while avoiding bank fees and US government scrutiny. Meanwhile, Gan had converted US drug dollars into Chinese currency now sitting in a Chinese bank. The only contact with the financial system – a domestic transfer between two accounts in China – would be unlikely to raise red flags with Chinese banking authorities unaware of the money's provenance. The crime ring used various Chinese banks for the operations, including the Bank of China, according to WhatsApp messages exchanged between Gan and Pan Haiping. The messages were extracted from Gan's iPhone by Homeland Security Investigations agents after his arrest, and key excerpts were read out aloud by prosecutors at trial, according to court transcripts. Bank of China did not respond to requests for comment. To get the money from China to Mexico, Gan performed the same sort of mirror transactions, only this time with the help of Chinese businesses who had access to pesos in Mexico. This leg of the journey was described by the two US sources familiar with the investigation and is outlined in court documents, including the US government's September 2020 sentencing memorandum for Gan and the June 2019 superseding indictment detailing charges against him. US prosecutors said the laundered money was delivered to Pan Haiping's Mexican drug cartel clients, according to the superseding indictment. No Mexican banks were named in any of the court documents reviewed by Reuters. In picture: Pan Emi, the wife of Mexico-based Chinese businessman Gan Xianbing, who was convicted of money laundering for Mexican cartels in a US court, interacts with a client at her store in Guadalajara, Mexico/REUTERS Opportunity in Mexico Pan Emi, Gan's wife living in Guadalajara said her husband was innocent of wrongdoing and being unfairly portrayed by authorities as a criminal when he was nothing more than a plucky businessman. She said no Mexican or U.S. law enforcement agents had contacted her about the case. She said Gan, fed up with high Chinese taxes, had left his shoe factory in the Chinese city of Wenzhou nearly a decade ago seeking a better life in Mexico. In Guadalajara, she said, Gan co-founded a business exporting jellyfish, which are considered a delicacy and an aphrodisiac in China. Pan Emi said her "super friendly" husband built a large network of friends and contacts in Mexico and was always on the phone. Pan Emi confirmed some details of the case. She said her husband knew Pan Haiping and Lim and had participated in currency swaps with other Chinese merchants. But she denied Gan was involved with traffickers or knew anything about drug money. She said currency swaps were common in the expatriate Chinese business community to avoid pricey fees and lousy exchange rates offered by banks. "These swaps that we do with each other are easy. It's no big problem," Pan Emi said. "I don't think it's illegal." Money brokers like Gan and Pan Haiping are growing in number among the large Chinese diasporas in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, according to three DEA officials. Demand for their services is being driven by affluent Chinese looking to evade China's currency controls and move wealth abroad, the DEA officials told Reuters. Beijing limits the amount of money its citizens can transfer out of China to the equivalent of $50,000 US dollars annually. Latin American cartels, flush with dollars and euros from drug sales, are uniquely placed to satisfy the Chinese appetite for hard currencies. Some Chinese expatriates located in drug-producing countries such as Mexico, Colombia, and Peru are the intermediaries bridging these disparate sets of people, said Donald Im, a senior DEA agent and anti-money laundering specialist. "When there is need by the cartels for cash to be laundered, and there is the demand for cash from the Chinese, you have a perfect marriage made in heaven," Im said. "The Chinese brokers are very important to the Mexican and Colombian cartels." In the case of Gan, it was a lucrative business, according to conversations between his alleged associates taped by Homeland Security Investigations agents. "He has made $1 million already because of us, for real," Pan Haiping told Lim in August 2017, according to transcripts of intercepted phone communications presented at Gan's trial. Chinese money launderers are squeezing out Mexican and Colombian rivals by undercutting them on the price by as much as half, US officials said. The Chinese operators have been able to do that because they levy fees on both sides of each transaction. They impose fat commissions as high as 10 per cent on Chinese citizens eager to get money out of China. That allows the Chinese money brokers, in turn, to charge traffickers nominal fees of just a few percentage points. The money launderers still turn a handsome profit while locking in a steady supply of coveted dollars and euros from cartel customers. DEA agent Im said the Chinese ex-pats had the "systems and the infrastructure" in place not only to launder the drug proceeds but to do it so cheaply that drug cartels receive back "almost 100%" of their dirty money. Chinese money brokers have also managed to avoid choosing sides in Mexico's cartel wars, even coordinating money contracts with both the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels on the same day, according to a second senior DEA agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Traffickers use other so-called trade-based money laundering schemes to move drug money from China to Mexico, according to the DEA and Mexican government officials who spoke with Reuters. In July, Mexico's Financial Intelligence Unit, an investigative agency, said publicly that Chinese nationals laundering money for the Jalisco New Generation cartel were using drug proceeds to buy shoes in bulk from China, then reselling them in Mexico to get the gang their cash. Chinese exports to Mexico, including electronics, clothing and other consumer goods, have nearly doubled over the past decade to $83 billion in 2019. The surge has allowed drug cartels and their money launderers to piggyback on this burgeoning trade relationship, authorities said. In Guadalajara, Pan Emi said e-mail exchanges with her husband's US lawyers left her optimistic ahead of Gan's looming sentencing. Prosecutors have asked for a 20-year jail term; Gan's defense attorneys have argued for no more than two years. Pan Emi said business was going well in Mexico and she had no desire to return to China. "I hope my husband comes back," she said. (With input from Reuters)

Chinese 'money brokers' laundering Mexican drug money via burner phones and banking apps

Pakistan's Prime Minister&nbsp;Imran&nbsp;Khan on Thursday approved&nbsp;the Civil Servants (E&amp;D) Rules-2020 under the government's arrangement of institutional changes to improve the execution of organization and state foundations.&nbsp;

As indicated by a senior authority of the Prime Minister Office (PMO), the point of these guidelines is to guarantee straightforward and powerful inside responsibility of civil servants and get productivity and order their administration.&nbsp;

Under the new standards, request against government authorities should be chosen within 90 days.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/never-pressured-by-military-leadership-on-any-matter-imran-khan-346205" hreflang="en">Never pressured by military leadership on any matter: Imran Khan</a>

Unexpectedly, request deals and intentional returns have been remembered for the meaning of offense and the government employees associated with them will currently be continued against.&nbsp;

One of the fundamental highlights of the standards is that if there should be an occurrence of request, the case will be heard by the 'authority', 'request official' or a 'panel' rather than any 'approved official' who was relegated to choose the issue.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pakistan-pm-imran-khans-kashmir-campaign-bombs-at-islamic-meet-346206" hreflang="en">Pakistan PM Imran Khan's Kashmir campaign bombs at Islamic meet</a>

In these terms the position signifies "the official who is approved to select an individual against whom the request is being started", the PMO official said.&nbsp;

Imran&nbsp;Khan said before it had been seen that at whatever point an official (yet not the power) was allocated to hold request, he generally discarded the issue either by granting minor discipline or under some impact or weight. He could likewise choose the case in whatever time he considered proper.&nbsp;

Nonetheless, the power will presently need to choose the case in 30 days.&nbsp;

As indicated by the new principles, if there should be an occurrence of Pakistan Administration Service and Police Service of Pakistan officials posted in territories, a two-month timetable has been given to the main secretary to submit truth discovering report, bombing which the Establishment Division can continue all alone.&nbsp;

To facilitate the request cycle, the level of approved official has been disposed of, leaving just two levels — the position and request official/advisory group.&nbsp;

Timetables have been presented at each progression of the procedures.&nbsp;

Around 10 to 14 days will be given to the denounced official to react to the charges while the panel or a request official to be appointed by the position should finish examinations in 60 days though the power should choose the case in 30 days.&nbsp;

Prior, no time span was fixed to finish up the procedures because of which cases waited on for quite a long time. Chance of individual hearing would likewise be given by the power/hearing official.&nbsp;

The procedural issues identifying with the arrangement of record, slackness on a piece of departmental delegates, suspension, and procedures against officials on nomination/leave/grant have been obviously given in the new guidelines.&nbsp;

The standards further express that the Establishment Division has been approved to give auxiliary guidelines to evade any postponement in settling the requests.&nbsp;

If there should arise an occurrence of numerous presumed officials in a solitary case, the limitation of selecting a solitary request official has been forced to guarantee straightforwardness and maintain a strategic distance from various choices in a solitary case.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday approved the Civil Servants (E&D) Rules-2020 under the government's arrangement of institutional changes to improve the execution of organization and state foundations.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday approved the Civil Servants (E&D) Rules-2020 under the government's arrangement of institutional changes to improve the execution of organization and state foundations. As indicated by a senior authority of the Prime Minister Office (PMO), the point of these guidelines is to guarantee straightforward and powerful inside responsibility of civil servants and get productivity and order their administration. Under the new standards, request against government authorities should be chosen within 90 days. Also read: Never pressured by military leadership on any matter: Imran Khan Unexpectedly, request deals and intentional returns have been remembered for the meaning of offense and the government employees associated with them will currently be continued against. One of the fundamental highlights of the standards is that if there should be an occurrence of request, the case will be heard by the 'authority', 'request official' or a 'panel' rather than any 'approved official' who was relegated to choose the issue. Also read: Pakistan PM Imran Khan's Kashmir campaign bombs at Islamic meet In these terms the position signifies "the official who is approved to select an individual against whom the request is being started", the PMO official said. Imran Khan said before it had been seen that at whatever point an official (yet not the power) was allocated to hold request, he generally discarded the issue either by granting minor discipline or under some impact or weight. He could likewise choose the case in whatever time he considered proper. Nonetheless, the power will presently need to choose the case in 30 days. As indicated by the new principles, if there should be an occurrence of Pakistan Administration Service and Police Service of Pakistan officials posted in territories, a two-month timetable has been given to the main secretary to submit truth discovering report, bombing which the Establishment Division can continue all alone. To facilitate the request cycle, the level of approved official has been disposed of, leaving just two levels — the position and request official/advisory group. Timetables have been presented at each progression of the procedures. Around 10 to 14 days will be given to the denounced official to react to the charges while the panel or a request official to be appointed by the position should finish examinations in 60 days though the power should choose the case in 30 days. Prior, no time span was fixed to finish up the procedures because of which cases waited on for quite a long time. Chance of individual hearing would likewise be given by the power/hearing official. The procedural issues identifying with the arrangement of record, slackness on a piece of departmental delegates, suspension, and procedures against officials on nomination/leave/grant have been obviously given in the new guidelines. The standards further express that the Establishment Division has been approved to give auxiliary guidelines to evade any postponement in settling the requests. If there should arise an occurrence of numerous presumed officials in a solitary case, the limitation of selecting a solitary request official has been forced to guarantee straightforwardness and maintain a strategic distance from various choices in a solitary case.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan approves rules to improve bureaucracy performance

Hungarian politician Jozsef Szajer, who was conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban's strongest voice in the European Parliament, resigned from his ruling party as more details emerged of how he fled a gay sex party in Brussels by clambering down a gutter.

Hungary's Fidesz party is widely seen as a nationalist ultra-conservative right-wing party, which touts support for traditional family values, and openly opposes the rights of LGBT+ people.

The affair is an embarrassment to Orban, a right-wing nationalist who told the Magyar Nemzet newspaper that Szajer's actions were "indefensible".

"He took the only appropriate decision when he apologised and resigned from his position as a member of the European Parliament and left Fidesz," Orban said.

Police in Belgium, where gay sex and marriage, as well as sex parties between consenting adults, are legal, broke up the party last Friday because it was breaking coronavirus lockdown rules.

Szajer was a founding member of Fidesz and an ally of Orban for more than 30 years. In Brussels as a European deputy, he was the party's leading force in the European Parliament and he had an instrumental role in rewriting Hungary's constitution after Orban won elections in 2010.

He resigned as European deputy on Sunday, citing unspecified moral reasons. He said he regretted having broken Belgian lockdown rules.

Belgian police detained about 20 people at the house party. Belgian prosecutors did not name anyone, including the 59-year-old Szajer, but said police had detained a man with initials S. J. and born in 1961 who had tried to flee the venue along the gutter and was found with narcotics in his backpack.

Szajer denied taking drugs and said he had offered to take a drugs test at the scene but police did not carry one out.

"The police said they had found ecstasy pills. They were not mine, I know nothing of who put them there and how. I told that to police," he said in a statement.

Scandal at sensitive time

Party organizer Manzheley said that 30 people came to the event on Friday evening, many fewer than the regular 100 or so. He did not know everyone there but recognised Szajer subsequently, he said.

Guests at his parties would undress on arrival, some of them donning fetish gear, he said, showing a Reuters correspondent the flashing lights he puts up for his gatherings.

"We have Christmas coming. People are thirsty for meetings... It is absolutely normal that guys in the gay community are going to be searching for solutions to meet.

"Yes, he (Szajer) was present, like many other politicians from different countries," he said.

Manzheley said he had not been charged and complained of rough treatment by the police.

The incident has caused a scandal in Hungary and political analysts said it could have implications for Orban.

It comes at a sensitive time. Hungary, along with Poland, is in dispute with the European Union over linking funds from its budget and recovery fund to the rule of law. The EU is currently investigating both governments for undermining the independence of their judiciaries and media.

The two countries are blocking about 1.8 trillion euros worth of EU funds, including hundreds of billions due to be disbursed soon to help pull the bloc out of a double-dip recession caused by a second wave of COVID-19.

Orban has also clashed with the EU over policy on migrants and asylum-seekers.

"The actions of our fellow deputy, Jozsef Szajer, are incompatible with the values of our political family," the Magyar Nemzet quoted Orban as saying.

&nbsp;

Hungarian politician Jozsef Szajer, who was conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban's strongest voice in the European Parliament, resigned from his ruling party as more details emerged of how he fled a gay sex party in Brussels by clambering down a gutter.

Hungarian politician Jozsef Szajer, who was conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban's strongest voice in the European Parliament, resigned from his ruling party as more details emerged of how he fled a gay sex party in Brussels by clambering down a gutter. Hungary's Fidesz party is widely seen as a nationalist ultra-conservative right-wing party, which touts support for traditional family values, and openly opposes the rights of LGBT+ people. The affair is an embarrassment to Orban, a right-wing nationalist who told the Magyar Nemzet newspaper that Szajer's actions were "indefensible". "He took the only appropriate decision when he apologised and resigned from his position as a member of the European Parliament and left Fidesz," Orban said. Police in Belgium, where gay sex and marriage, as well as sex parties between consenting adults, are legal, broke up the party last Friday because it was breaking coronavirus lockdown rules. Szajer was a founding member of Fidesz and an ally of Orban for more than 30 years. In Brussels as a European deputy, he was the party's leading force in the European Parliament and he had an instrumental role in rewriting Hungary's constitution after Orban won elections in 2010. He resigned as European deputy on Sunday, citing unspecified moral reasons. He said he regretted having broken Belgian lockdown rules. Belgian police detained about 20 people at the house party. Belgian prosecutors did not name anyone, including the 59-year-old Szajer, but said police had detained a man with initials S. J. and born in 1961 who had tried to flee the venue along the gutter and was found with narcotics in his backpack. Szajer denied taking drugs and said he had offered to take a drugs test at the scene but police did not carry one out. "The police said they had found ecstasy pills. They were not mine, I know nothing of who put them there and how. I told that to police," he said in a statement. Scandal at sensitive time Party organizer Manzheley said that 30 people came to the event on Friday evening, many fewer than the regular 100 or so. He did not know everyone there but recognised Szajer subsequently, he said. Guests at his parties would undress on arrival, some of them donning fetish gear, he said, showing a Reuters correspondent the flashing lights he puts up for his gatherings. "We have Christmas coming. People are thirsty for meetings... It is absolutely normal that guys in the gay community are going to be searching for solutions to meet. "Yes, he (Szajer) was present, like many other politicians from different countries," he said. Manzheley said he had not been charged and complained of rough treatment by the police. The incident has caused a scandal in Hungary and political analysts said it could have implications for Orban. It comes at a sensitive time. Hungary, along with Poland, is in dispute with the European Union over linking funds from its budget and recovery fund to the rule of law. The EU is currently investigating both governments for undermining the independence of their judiciaries and media. The two countries are blocking about 1.8 trillion euros worth of EU funds, including hundreds of billions due to be disbursed soon to help pull the bloc out of a double-dip recession caused by a second wave of COVID-19. Orban has also clashed with the EU over policy on migrants and asylum-seekers. "The actions of our fellow deputy, Jozsef Szajer, are incompatible with the values of our political family," the Magyar Nemzet quoted Orban as saying.

Hungarian deputy Jozsef Szajer quits Fidesz party after getting caught attending party during lockdown

British astrologists have made another guide of the Milky Way comprised of almost two billion stars utilizing information assembled by the European Space Agency (ESA) Gaia space observatory.&nbsp;

College of Cambridge specialists drove the production of the infinite chartbook of two billion stars, that they accept could reveal insight into how our system appeared and what may befall it in the inaccessible future.&nbsp;

The detailed map of the Milky Way galaxy is based on the most recent data released by the ESA Gaia mission - which has two satellites 930,000 miles from Earth measuring the distance to and between stellar objects throughout the galaxy

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The guide and going with information will permit stargazers to increase a more profound comprehension of our own cosmic system, how stars are spread out, and even distinguish stars that are like our own Sun for additional, more detailed study.

The most recent delivery from the Gaia observatory is the most point by point actually inventory of the stars in the Milky Way - the last arrangement of distributed information remembered subtleties for 1.6 billion stars, this brings that up to two billion and in more detail.&nbsp;

It additionally remembers data for our satellite cosmic systems - the Large and Small Magellanic mists and the extension of stars that interface the two assortments of heavenly bodies.&nbsp;

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In picture:&nbsp;Artist's impression of Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way

Floor van Leeuwen, who drove the 3D guide venture at Cambridge, said this device will get one of the significant spines of current astronomy, furnishing researchers with better approaches to consider our system in detail.&nbsp;

This was one of various papers distributed utilising an early arrival of the new information, made accessible to a determination of specialists before the more extensive public delivery on December 3.&nbsp;

These specialists utilized the Gaia information to give a colossal expansion to the statistics of close by stars, infer the state of the Solar System's circle around the focal point of the world, and test structures in two close-by universes.&nbsp;

Dispatched in 2013, the Gaia satellite works at the purported Lagrange 2 (L2) point - a gravitationally steady spot in the Sun-Earth framework and measures the position and brilliance of stars, alongside their sizes and shading.&nbsp;

The essential goal of Gaia is to gauge heavenly distances utilizing the parallax strategy. For this situation cosmologists utilize the observatory to persistently filter the sky, estimating the obvious change in the places of stars over the long run, coming about because of the Earth's development around the Sun.&nbsp;

The Gaia information will likewise permit stargazers to quantify the mass of the Milky Way by examining the 'delicate' speeding up of the close planetary system as it circles around the universe, as per the European Space Agency.&nbsp;

Two past deliveries incorporated the places of 1.6 billion stars. This delivery carries the complete to just shy of 2 billion stars, whose positions are altogether more exact than in the previous information.&nbsp;

Gaia additionally tracks the changing brilliance and places of the stars after some time over the view (their alleged legitimate movement), and by parting their light into spectra, quantifies how quickly they are moving towards or away from the Sun and surveys their synthetic organization.&nbsp;

It is believed that, longer than a year, the Sun quickens towards the focal point of the cosmic system by 7mm every second, while circling at a speed of around 124 miles (200 km) a second.&nbsp;

One investigation utilizing the information watched out, away from the focal point of the Milky Way to follow the different populaces of more established and more youthful stars towards the very edge of our universe - the anticentre.&nbsp;

PC models anticipated that the plate of the Milky Way will become bigger with time as new stars are conceived.&nbsp;

'The new information permits us to see the relics of the 10 billion-year-old plate thus decide its more modest degree contrasted with the Milky Way's present circle size,' ESA composed.&nbsp;

Stargazers will likewise have the option to deconstruct the two biggest partner worlds to the Milky Way - the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds - utilizing the information from Gaia.&nbsp;

The two systems are associated with a scaffold of stars thought to be 75,000 light-years long, as indicated by analysts inspecting the new information.&nbsp;

Having estimated the development of the Large Magellanic Cloud's stars to more noteworthy exactness than previously, Gaia's most recent information plainly shows that the world has a twisting structure - simply like the Milky Way.&nbsp;

The information likewise uncovered a weak stream of stars that is being pulled out of the Small Magellanic Cloud and indicates already concealed structures in the edges of the two systems.&nbsp;

Caroline Harper, head of room science at the UK Space Agency, which gave the financing to the exploration, said Gaia has taken into account the making of the most itemized billion-star 3D map book ever amassed.&nbsp;

'For a great many years, we have been engrossed with noticing and enumerating the stars and their exact areas as they extended humankind's comprehension of our universe,' Harper said.&nbsp;

'Gaia has been gazing at the sky for as long as seven years, planning the positions and speeds of stars.'&nbsp;

The information will likewise incorporate 'outstandingly precise' estimations of the 300,000 stars that are generally near the Sun, inside a distance of 326 light years.&nbsp;

The scientists plan to utilize the data to get familiar with the destiny of the Milky Way by anticipating how the world will change in the following 1.6 million years.&nbsp;

British astrologists have made another guide of the Milky Way comprised of almost two billion stars utilizing information assembled by the European Space Agency (ESA) Gaia space observatory.

British astrologists have made another guide of the Milky Way comprised of almost two billion stars utilizing information assembled by the European Space Agency (ESA) Gaia space observatory. College of Cambridge specialists drove the production of the infinite chartbook of two billion stars, that they accept could reveal insight into how our system appeared and what may befall it in the inaccessible future. The detailed map of the Milky Way galaxy is based on the most recent data released by the ESA Gaia mission - which has two satellites 930,000 miles from Earth measuring the distance to and between stellar objects throughout the galaxy The guide and going with information will permit stargazers to increase a more profound comprehension of our own cosmic system, how stars are spread out, and even distinguish stars that are like our own Sun for additional, more detailed study. The most recent delivery from the Gaia observatory is the most point by point actually inventory of the stars in the Milky Way - the last arrangement of distributed information remembered subtleties for 1.6 billion stars, this brings that up to two billion and in more detail. It additionally remembers data for our satellite cosmic systems - the Large and Small Magellanic mists and the extension of stars that interface the two assortments of heavenly bodies. In picture: Artist's impression of Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way Floor van Leeuwen, who drove the 3D guide venture at Cambridge, said this device will get one of the significant spines of current astronomy, furnishing researchers with better approaches to consider our system in detail. This was one of various papers distributed utilising an early arrival of the new information, made accessible to a determination of specialists before the more extensive public delivery on December 3. These specialists utilized the Gaia information to give a colossal expansion to the statistics of close by stars, infer the state of the Solar System's circle around the focal point of the world, and test structures in two close-by universes. Dispatched in 2013, the Gaia satellite works at the purported Lagrange 2 (L2) point - a gravitationally steady spot in the Sun-Earth framework and measures the position and brilliance of stars, alongside their sizes and shading. The essential goal of Gaia is to gauge heavenly distances utilizing the parallax strategy. For this situation cosmologists utilize the observatory to persistently filter the sky, estimating the obvious change in the places of stars over the long run, coming about because of the Earth's development around the Sun. The Gaia information will likewise permit stargazers to quantify the mass of the Milky Way by examining the 'delicate' speeding up of the close planetary system as it circles around the universe, as per the European Space Agency. Two past deliveries incorporated the places of 1.6 billion stars. This delivery carries the complete to just shy of 2 billion stars, whose positions are altogether more exact than in the previous information. Gaia additionally tracks the changing brilliance and places of the stars after some time over the view (their alleged legitimate movement), and by parting their light into spectra, quantifies how quickly they are moving towards or away from the Sun and surveys their synthetic organization. It is believed that, longer than a year, the Sun quickens towards the focal point of the cosmic system by 7mm every second, while circling at a speed of around 124 miles (200 km) a second. One investigation utilizing the information watched out, away from the focal point of the Milky Way to follow the different populaces of more established and more youthful stars towards the very edge of our universe - the anticentre. PC models anticipated that the plate of the Milky Way will become bigger with time as new stars are conceived. 'The new information permits us to see the relics of the 10 billion-year-old plate thus decide its more modest degree contrasted with the Milky Way's present circle size,' ESA composed. Stargazers will likewise have the option to deconstruct the two biggest partner worlds to the Milky Way - the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds - utilizing the information from Gaia. The two systems are associated with a scaffold of stars thought to be 75,000 light-years long, as indicated by analysts inspecting the new information. Having estimated the development of the Large Magellanic Cloud's stars to more noteworthy exactness than previously, Gaia's most recent information plainly shows that the world has a twisting structure - simply like the Milky Way. The information likewise uncovered a weak stream of stars that is being pulled out of the Small Magellanic Cloud and indicates already concealed structures in the edges of the two systems. Caroline Harper, head of room science at the UK Space Agency, which gave the financing to the exploration, said Gaia has taken into account the making of the most itemized billion-star 3D map book ever amassed. 'For a great many years, we have been engrossed with noticing and enumerating the stars and their exact areas as they extended humankind's comprehension of our universe,' Harper said. 'Gaia has been gazing at the sky for as long as seven years, planning the positions and speeds of stars.' The information will likewise incorporate 'outstandingly precise' estimations of the 300,000 stars that are generally near the Sun, inside a distance of 326 light years. The scientists plan to utilize the data to get familiar with the destiny of the Milky Way by anticipating how the world will change in the following 1.6 million years.

British astronomers unveil the most detailed map of Milky Way galaxy

Namibia&nbsp;has put 170 "high value" wild elephants up for sale due to drought and an increase in elephant numbers, the southern African country's environmental ministry said on Wednesday.

An advertisement carried by state-owned daily New Era said an increase in incidents of human-elephant conflict motivated the sale of the large mammal that is at risk of extinction due to poaching and ecological factors.

The Ministry of Environment Forestry and Tourism said it would auction the animals to anyone in&nbsp;Namibia&nbsp;or abroad who could meet the strict criteria, which include quarantine facilities and a game-proof fence certificate for the property where the elephants will be kept.

Foreign buyers must also provide proof that conservation authorities in their countries will permit them to export elephants to their countries.

Like several other African nations,&nbsp;Namibia&nbsp;is trying to strike a balance between protecting high-value species like elephants and rhinos, while managing the danger they pose when they encroach on areas of human habitation.

Namibia's conservation drive, which has seen its elephant population jump from around 7,500 in 1995 to 24,000 in 2019 according to government figures, has enjoyed international support.

But last year&nbsp;Namibia&nbsp;said it was considering withdrawing from the rules that govern the global trade in endangered species. This was after countries voted during a CITES meeting to reject proposals to relax restrictions on hunting and exporting its white rhinos.

The country wants to allow more trophy hunting and the export of live animals, arguing that the funds it would raise would help it to protect the species.

In October it put 70 female and 30 male buffalos from Waterberg Plateau Park in central&nbsp;Namibia&nbsp;up for sale in a bid to ease pressure on grazing land.

The arid southern African nation also auctioned 1,000 animals from national parks, including 500 buffalos in 2019 as it faced the worst drought in a century.

Namibia has put 170 "high value" wild elephants up for sale due to drought and an increase in elephant numbers, the southern African country's environmental ministry said on Wednesday.

Namibia has put 170 "high value" wild elephants up for sale due to drought and an increase in elephant numbers, the southern African country's environmental ministry said on Wednesday. An advertisement carried by state-owned daily New Era said an increase in incidents of human-elephant conflict motivated the sale of the large mammal that is at risk of extinction due to poaching and ecological factors. The Ministry of Environment Forestry and Tourism said it would auction the animals to anyone in Namibia or abroad who could meet the strict criteria, which include quarantine facilities and a game-proof fence certificate for the property where the elephants will be kept. Foreign buyers must also provide proof that conservation authorities in their countries will permit them to export elephants to their countries. Like several other African nations, Namibia is trying to strike a balance between protecting high-value species like elephants and rhinos, while managing the danger they pose when they encroach on areas of human habitation. Namibia's conservation drive, which has seen its elephant population jump from around 7,500 in 1995 to 24,000 in 2019 according to government figures, has enjoyed international support. But last year Namibia said it was considering withdrawing from the rules that govern the global trade in endangered species. This was after countries voted during a CITES meeting to reject proposals to relax restrictions on hunting and exporting its white rhinos. The country wants to allow more trophy hunting and the export of live animals, arguing that the funds it would raise would help it to protect the species. In October it put 70 female and 30 male buffalos from Waterberg Plateau Park in central Namibia up for sale in a bid to ease pressure on grazing land. The arid southern African nation also auctioned 1,000 animals from national parks, including 500 buffalos in 2019 as it faced the worst drought in a century.

Namibia to auction 'high value' 170 elephants over drought, increased population

The French government will launch a "massive and unprecedented" wave of measures to combat religious extremism, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Wednesday, adding that one step would be to inspect 76 mosques.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
76 mosquées sont aujourd’hui soupçonnées de séparatisme. 
Dans les prochains jours, des contrôles vont être menés sur ces lieux de culte. 
Si jamais ces doutes sont confirmés, je demanderai leur fermeture. <a href="https://t.co/Mq8DGnB2Pr">pic.twitter.com/Mq8DGnB2Pr</a>
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) <a href="https://twitter.com/GDarmanin/status/1334395726906929158?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Darmanin said in a statement on Twitter&nbsp;that if any prayer hall was found to promote extremism it would be closed down.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Sur les 231 étrangers en situation irrégulière fichés pour radicalisation : 
- 66 ont été expulsés 
- 46 sont en centre de rétention administrative 
- 30 sont assignés à résidence 
- 5 sont incarcérés <a href="https://t.co/AMTwEgm8RU">pic.twitter.com/AMTwEgm8RU</a>
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) <a href="https://twitter.com/GDarmanin/status/1334401405839413251?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The inspections to be carried out on Thursday afternoon are part of a response to two gruesome attacks that particularly shocked France,&nbsp;the beheading of a teacher who showed his pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and the stabbing to death of three people in a church in Nice.

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Darmanin said the fact that only a fraction of the around 2,600 Muslim places of worship in France were suspected of peddling radical theories showed "we are far from a situation of widespread radicalisation".

"Nearly all Muslims in France respect the laws of the Republic and are hurt by that (radicalisation)," he said.

President Emmanuel Macron's government has responded to several deadly Islamist attacks in recent weeks with a promise to crack down on what some public officials have called "the enemy within."

The killing of teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown his pupils cartoons of Mohammed in a class on free speech, sent shockwaves through France, where it was seen as an attack on the republic itself.

In the aftermath of his murder, the authorities raided dozens of Islamic sports groups, charities, and associations suspected of promoting extremism.

They also ordered the temporary closure of a mosque near Paris that shared a vitriolic video inciting hatred of Paty.

The latest inspections come as Darmanin attempts to fend off fierce criticism over cases of police brutality caught on camera that have forced the ruling party to revise a controversial bill restricting filming of the police.

The French government will launch a "massive and unprecedented" wave of measures to combat religious extremism, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Wednesday, adding that one step would be to inspect 76 mosques.

The French government will launch a "massive and unprecedented" wave of measures to combat religious extremism, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Wednesday, adding that one step would be to inspect 76 mosques. 76 mosquées sont aujourd’hui soupçonnées de séparatisme. Dans les prochains jours, des contrôles vont être menés sur ces lieux de culte. Si jamais ces doutes sont confirmés, je demanderai leur fermeture. pic.twitter.com/Mq8DGnB2Pr — Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) December 3, 2020 × Darmanin said in a statement on Twitter that if any prayer hall was found to promote extremism it would be closed down. Sur les 231 étrangers en situation irrégulière fichés pour radicalisation : - 66 ont été expulsés - 46 sont en centre de rétention administrative - 30 sont assignés à résidence - 5 sont incarcérés pic.twitter.com/AMTwEgm8RU — Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) December 3, 2020 × The inspections to be carried out on Thursday afternoon are part of a response to two gruesome attacks that particularly shocked France, the beheading of a teacher who showed his pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and the stabbing to death of three people in a church in Nice. Darmanin said the fact that only a fraction of the around 2,600 Muslim places of worship in France were suspected of peddling radical theories showed "we are far from a situation of widespread radicalisation". "Nearly all Muslims in France respect the laws of the Republic and are hurt by that (radicalisation)," he said. President Emmanuel Macron's government has responded to several deadly Islamist attacks in recent weeks with a promise to crack down on what some public officials have called "the enemy within." The killing of teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown his pupils cartoons of Mohammed in a class on free speech, sent shockwaves through France, where it was seen as an attack on the republic itself. In the aftermath of his murder, the authorities raided dozens of Islamic sports groups, charities, and associations suspected of promoting extremism. They also ordered the temporary closure of a mosque near Paris that shared a vitriolic video inciting hatred of Paty. The latest inspections come as Darmanin attempts to fend off fierce criticism over cases of police brutality caught on camera that have forced the ruling party to revise a controversial bill restricting filming of the police.

France to inspect nearly 80 mosques accused of radicalisation

China unveiled draft guidelines on Thursday seeking to limit the scope of mobile apps' collection of personal data in the latest attempt to curb the sprawling technology sector.

The set of draft rules published by the Cyberspace Administration of China covers 38 types of apps from online shopping and instant messaging to ride-hailing and bike-sharing.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/chinas-ink-activist-who-defaced-xi-jinpings-poster-reappears-347074/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

China has increased scrutiny of its technology sector in recent weeks, last month drafting anti-monopoly rules for tech firms.

It has also expressed concerns about data protection and consumer rights, while authorities have on a number of occasions ordered apps to be suspended for mishandling user information.

"In recent years, mobile internet applications have been widely used and have played an important role in promoting economic and social development and serving people's livelihoods," the cyber administration said in a statement.

"At the same time, it is common for apps to collect ... personal information beyond their scope, and users cannot install and use them if they refuse to agree."

For ride-hailing apps, the draft rules regard a user's phone number, or other personal identity information, as well as their location and destination, as falling within the scope of the required information.

Online payment apps, meanwhile, need the registered user's phone number or other ID information, as well as the bank card numbers of both payer and payee, according to the draft rules, which are open to public feedback until December&nbsp;16.

China unveiled draft guidelines on Thursday seeking to limit the scope of mobile apps' collection of personal data in the latest attempt to curb the sprawling technology sector.

China unveiled draft guidelines on Thursday seeking to limit the scope of mobile apps' collection of personal data in the latest attempt to curb the sprawling technology sector. The set of draft rules published by the Cyberspace Administration of China covers 38 types of apps from online shopping and instant messaging to ride-hailing and bike-sharing. China has increased scrutiny of its technology sector in recent weeks, last month drafting anti-monopoly rules for tech firms. It has also expressed concerns about data protection and consumer rights, while authorities have on a number of occasions ordered apps to be suspended for mishandling user information. "In recent years, mobile internet applications have been widely used and have played an important role in promoting economic and social development and serving people's livelihoods," the cyber administration said in a statement. "At the same time, it is common for apps to collect ... personal information beyond their scope, and users cannot install and use them if they refuse to agree." For ride-hailing apps, the draft rules regard a user's phone number, or other personal identity information, as well as their location and destination, as falling within the scope of the required information. Online payment apps, meanwhile, need the registered user's phone number or other ID information, as well as the bank card numbers of both payer and payee, according to the draft rules, which are open to public feedback until December 16.

China unveils guidelines on mobile apps' collection of personal data

Best apps and games on the Play Store in India for 2020

The World Health Organization does not believe there will be enough quantities of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus-vaccine">coronavirus vaccines</a> in the next three to six months to prevent a surge of infections, its top emergency expert said on Wednesday.

"We are not going to have sufficient vaccinations in place to prevent a surge in cases for three to six months," Mike Ryan told a social media event, calling on people to maintain social distancing and respect other measures to restrict the spread of COVID-19.

The&nbsp;World&nbsp;Health&nbsp;Organization&nbsp;(WHO) has identified 49 "candidate vaccines" at the stage of clinical trials in humans by mid-November, up from 11 in mid-June.

WHO had received data from Pfizer and BioNTech on the COVID-19 vaccine and was reviewing it for "possible listing for emergency use", a benchmark for countries to authorise national use.

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Referring to Britain's regulator, the Medicines and&nbsp;Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said in a statement: "WHO is also in discussions with MHRA on the possibility of accessing some of the information from their assessment, which could expedite WHO’s emergency listing".

Britain approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the United States and Europe to become the West's first country to formally endorse a shot it said should reach the most vulnerable people early next week.

Mike Ryan, WHO's top emergency expert, welcomed the news, adding: "We shouldn't stop, we need more than 3-4 vaccines.''

"We need to increase production, we need to pull the price down," he told a social media event. "We need a one-dose vaccine."

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WHO recommended wearing facemasks when indoors with other people, if the ventilation has been deemed inadequate, in an update to its Covid-19 guidance on masks.

The new recommendations apply in areas of known or suspected cluster or community transmission of the new coronavirus.

In June, the WHO urged governments to ask everyone to wear fabric masks in indoor and outdoor public areas where there was a risk of transmission of the virus.

Since then, a second global wave of the epidemic has gathered pace. In all, more than 63 million people globally have caught COVID-19 and 1.475 million died of it.

Dozens of companies, from biotech start-ups to Big Pharma, are in the race to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine, both to meet urgent medical need and for the potential payday.

The World Health Organization does not believe there will be enough quantities of coronavirus vaccines in the next three to six months to prevent a surge of infections, its top emergency expert said on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization does not believe there will be enough quantities of coronavirus vaccines in the next three to six months to prevent a surge of infections, its top emergency expert said on Wednesday. "We are not going to have sufficient vaccinations in place to prevent a surge in cases for three to six months," Mike Ryan told a social media event, calling on people to maintain social distancing and respect other measures to restrict the spread of COVID-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified 49 "candidate vaccines" at the stage of clinical trials in humans by mid-November, up from 11 in mid-June. WHO had received data from Pfizer and BioNTech on the COVID-19 vaccine and was reviewing it for "possible listing for emergency use", a benchmark for countries to authorise national use. Referring to Britain's regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said in a statement: "WHO is also in discussions with MHRA on the possibility of accessing some of the information from their assessment, which could expedite WHO’s emergency listing". Britain approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the United States and Europe to become the West's first country to formally endorse a shot it said should reach the most vulnerable people early next week. Mike Ryan, WHO's top emergency expert, welcomed the news, adding: "We shouldn't stop, we need more than 3-4 vaccines.'' "We need to increase production, we need to pull the price down," he told a social media event. "We need a one-dose vaccine." WHO recommended wearing facemasks when indoors with other people, if the ventilation has been deemed inadequate, in an update to its Covid-19 guidance on masks. The new recommendations apply in areas of known or suspected cluster or community transmission of the new coronavirus. In June, the WHO urged governments to ask everyone to wear fabric masks in indoor and outdoor public areas where there was a risk of transmission of the virus. Since then, a second global wave of the epidemic has gathered pace. In all, more than 63 million people globally have caught COVID-19 and 1.475 million died of it. Dozens of companies, from biotech start-ups to Big Pharma, are in the race to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine, both to meet urgent medical need and for the potential payday.

Vaccines insufficient to prevent surge in coronavirus for next six months: WHO

World leaders on Wednesday criticised the sentencing of&nbsp;Hong Kong activists&nbsp;Agnes Chow, Ivan Lam and Joshua Wong.

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Germany's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Adebahr said the sentences,&nbsp;imposed on Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam,&nbsp;were a "building block in a series of worrisome developments".

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/joshua-wong-two-fellow-hong-kong-dissidents-jailed-for-protests-346862" hreflang="en">Joshua Wong, two fellow Hong Kong dissidents jailed for protests</a>

The activists were jailed for a protest outside police headquarters in Hong Kong as authorities stepped up a crackdown on opposition to tighten control by Beijing over the territory.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's President Tsai ing-Wen took to Twitter and said ''she hopes her friends in Hong Kong will not give up''.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I'm saddened by the news that <a href="https://twitter.com/joshuawongcf?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@joshuawongcf</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/chowtingagnes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@chowtingagnes</a> &amp; Ivan Lam have been jailed for their activism. These brave young people are symbols of freedom &amp; democracy in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HongKong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HongKong</a>, values that we will never stop fighting for. <a href="https://t.co/DLFf024cJU">pic.twitter.com/DLFf024cJU</a>
— 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen (@iingwen) <a href="https://twitter.com/iingwen/status/1334091915822698502?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) expressed grave concerns over the sentencing.

"The DPP emphasises that what the Chinese Communists and the Hong Kong government have done today is equivalent of declaring that Hong Kong’s freedom is dead," it said in a statement.

<img alt="F" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="7eb292ad-d5fc-4929-8fdd-612c1c56964c" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/thumbnail_image.png" />

In picture: The taming of Hong Kong/AFP graphic

Britain urged the Hong Kong and Beijing authorities to stop their campaigns to stifle opposition, issuing a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secretary-statement-following-the-sentencing-of-three-hong-kong-activists">statement</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday as three Hong Kong activists including Joshua Wong began their prison sentences.

"Prosecution decisions must be fair and impartial, and the rights and freedoms of people in Hong Kong must be upheld," said Britain's foreign minister Dominic Raab.

China has moved to crush Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement after huge and violent protests rocked the finance hub last year, hammering the flickering freedoms and autonomy it promised the finance hub could keep after British colonial rule ended in 1997.

Earlier this summer, Beijing imposed a broad security law that ramps up its direct control over the city and outlaws certain political views.

More than 10,000 people have been arrested over the last 18 months and most of Hong Kong's leading activists and opposition figures face prosecution.

In recent months, the Hong Kong government has expelled opposition lawmakers from the legislature, disqualified pro-democracy candidates from running in a now-postponed election and arrested more than 30 people under the security legislation.

The expulsion of opposition lawmakers prompted democrats to resign en masse, leaving the legislature devoid of any opposition democrats for the first time since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule.

Hundreds of Hong Kong activists have fled through legal or illegal channels to the democratic island of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province that should be brought back under its sovereignty, by force if necessary.

World leaders on Wednesday criticised the sentencing of Hong Kong activists Agnes Chow, Ivan Lam and Joshua Wong. Germany's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Adebahr said the sentences, imposed on Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam, were a "building block in a series of worrisome developments".

World leaders on Wednesday criticised the sentencing of Hong Kong activists Agnes Chow, Ivan Lam and Joshua Wong. Germany's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Adebahr said the sentences, imposed on Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam, were a "building block in a series of worrisome developments". Also read: Joshua Wong, two fellow Hong Kong dissidents jailed for protests The activists were jailed for a protest outside police headquarters in Hong Kong as authorities stepped up a crackdown on opposition to tighten control by Beijing over the territory. Meanwhile, Taiwan's President Tsai ing-Wen took to Twitter and said ''she hopes her friends in Hong Kong will not give up''. I'm saddened by the news that @joshuawongcf, @chowtingagnes & Ivan Lam have been jailed for their activism. These brave young people are symbols of freedom & democracy in #HongKong, values that we will never stop fighting for. pic.twitter.com/DLFf024cJU — 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen (@iingwen) December 2, 2020 × Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) expressed grave concerns over the sentencing. "The DPP emphasises that what the Chinese Communists and the Hong Kong government have done today is equivalent of declaring that Hong Kong’s freedom is dead," it said in a statement. In picture: The taming of Hong Kong/AFP graphic Britain urged the Hong Kong and Beijing authorities to stop their campaigns to stifle opposition, issuing a statement on Wednesday as three Hong Kong activists including Joshua Wong began their prison sentences. "Prosecution decisions must be fair and impartial, and the rights and freedoms of people in Hong Kong must be upheld," said Britain's foreign minister Dominic Raab. China has moved to crush Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement after huge and violent protests rocked the finance hub last year, hammering the flickering freedoms and autonomy it promised the finance hub could keep after British colonial rule ended in 1997. Earlier this summer, Beijing imposed a broad security law that ramps up its direct control over the city and outlaws certain political views. More than 10,000 people have been arrested over the last 18 months and most of Hong Kong's leading activists and opposition figures face prosecution. In recent months, the Hong Kong government has expelled opposition lawmakers from the legislature, disqualified pro-democracy candidates from running in a now-postponed election and arrested more than 30 people under the security legislation. The expulsion of opposition lawmakers prompted democrats to resign en masse, leaving the legislature devoid of any opposition democrats for the first time since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule. Hundreds of Hong Kong activists have fled through legal or illegal channels to the democratic island of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province that should be brought back under its sovereignty, by force if necessary.

World leaders condemn sentencing of Hong Kong activists

A bombshell&nbsp;report by NATO has blamed Russia for compromising Western interests from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic, as General Jens Stoltenberg, the bloc's secretary-general calls for individuals to heighten their essence on the nation's fringes.&nbsp;

The examination, distributed on Wednesday, contended that Moscow takes part in "self-assured strategies and forceful activity," which has "adversely affected the security of the Euro-Atlantic territory." "In the long haul until 2030, Russia is probably going to remain the primary military danger toward the North Atlantic Alliance," the creators of the report said.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russia-defies-west-sanctions-after-natos-emergency-meeting-over-navalny-325249">Russia defies West sanctions after NATO's emergency meeting over Navalny</a>

It added that Moscow regularly arranges "intimidatory military tasks in the prompt region of NATO." The remarks come only two days after the top of the association, Jens Stoltenberg, told a public interview that individuals need to additionally reinforce their quality on Russia's outskirts on the Crimean promontory and the Black Sea, and discussed a need to expand their maritime presence in the district.&nbsp;

As a component of rising strains, a week ago the US-led a progression of rocket-dispatch tests during NATO practices in Romania, firing long-range missiles with the capability to hit Russian territory into the Black Sea. Reacting to the drill, the appointee top of the Public Chamber of Crimea, Alexander Formanchuk, told correspondents that Russian military had conveyed progressed equipment on the promontory, which would kill any "shock rocket assault."&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russia-backed-hackers-running-anti-nato-fake-news-campaign-report-317281">Russia-backed hackers running anti-NATO fake news campaign: Report</a>

The lawmaker contended that the activities fit inside a more extensive example of heightening, saying that "incitements against Crimea have gotten more incessant. Tragically, we are seeing a further compounding of global relations and the worldwide circumstance. What's more, the subject of Crimea is an advantageous explanation behind raising such incitements."&nbsp;

Recently, the Russian Navy took steps to smash an American warship, the USS 'John S. McCain', which it says was captured two kilometers inside Russian waters in the Sea of Japan, off the shore of the Far East capital of Vladivostock.&nbsp;

In his location to pioneers on Tuesday, Stoltenberg added that "we see Russia disregarding and subverting arrangements." Moscow has, notwithstanding, communicated comparable worries after the US singularly rejected various peaceful accords, including the Cold War-time Open Skies agreement that took into consideration straightforwardness over the developments of troops and military equipment on the landmass.&nbsp;

A year ago, President Donald Trump's White House additionally destroyed the Reagan-time Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that had restricted various exceptionally dangerous weapons with scopes of somewhere in the range of 500km and 5,500km. At that point, Washington likewise blamed Russia for breaking the states of the agreement, while Moscow unequivocally denied the claims.

A bombshell report by NATO has blamed Russia for compromising Western interests from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic, as General Jens Stoltenberg, the bloc's secretary-general calls for individuals to heighten their essence on the nation's fringes.

A bombshell report by NATO has blamed Russia for compromising Western interests from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic, as General Jens Stoltenberg, the bloc's secretary-general calls for individuals to heighten their essence on the nation's fringes. The examination, distributed on Wednesday, contended that Moscow takes part in "self-assured strategies and forceful activity," which has "adversely affected the security of the Euro-Atlantic territory." "In the long haul until 2030, Russia is probably going to remain the primary military danger toward the North Atlantic Alliance," the creators of the report said. Also read: Russia defies West sanctions after NATO's emergency meeting over Navalny It added that Moscow regularly arranges "intimidatory military tasks in the prompt region of NATO." The remarks come only two days after the top of the association, Jens Stoltenberg, told a public interview that individuals need to additionally reinforce their quality on Russia's outskirts on the Crimean promontory and the Black Sea, and discussed a need to expand their maritime presence in the district. As a component of rising strains, a week ago the US-led a progression of rocket-dispatch tests during NATO practices in Romania, firing long-range missiles with the capability to hit Russian territory into the Black Sea. Reacting to the drill, the appointee top of the Public Chamber of Crimea, Alexander Formanchuk, told correspondents that Russian military had conveyed progressed equipment on the promontory, which would kill any "shock rocket assault." Also read: Russia-backed hackers running anti-NATO fake news campaign: Report The lawmaker contended that the activities fit inside a more extensive example of heightening, saying that "incitements against Crimea have gotten more incessant. Tragically, we are seeing a further compounding of global relations and the worldwide circumstance. What's more, the subject of Crimea is an advantageous explanation behind raising such incitements." Recently, the Russian Navy took steps to smash an American warship, the USS 'John S. McCain', which it says was captured two kilometers inside Russian waters in the Sea of Japan, off the shore of the Far East capital of Vladivostock. In his location to pioneers on Tuesday, Stoltenberg added that "we see Russia disregarding and subverting arrangements." Moscow has, notwithstanding, communicated comparable worries after the US singularly rejected various peaceful accords, including the Cold War-time Open Skies agreement that took into consideration straightforwardness over the developments of troops and military equipment on the landmass. A year ago, President Donald Trump's White House additionally destroyed the Reagan-time Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that had restricted various exceptionally dangerous weapons with scopes of somewhere in the range of 500km and 5,500km. At that point, Washington likewise blamed Russia for breaking the states of the agreement, while Moscow unequivocally denied the claims.

NATO calls 'intimidating' Russia 'biggest threat' to bloc; plans to send warships to Black Sea

The Supreme Court directed the Centre on Wednesday to install CCTV cameras and recording equipment at the offices of investigating agencies, including the CBI, the ED and National Investigation Agency (NIA), which conduct interrogations and have the power of arrest.

A bench headed by Justice R F Nariman said that states and Union Territories (UTs) should ensure that CCTV cameras are installed at each and every police station, at all entry and exit points, main gate, lock-ups, corridors, lobby and reception as also areas outside the lock-up rooms so that no part is left uncovered.

The apex court had in 2018 ordered the installation of CCTV cameras in police stations to check human rights abuses.

It said further that the CCTV systems must be equipped with night vision and have audio as well as video footage and it shall be mandatory for the Centre, states and UTs to purchase such systems which allow storage of data for the maximum period possible, at least one year.

''In addition, the Union of India is also directed to install CCTV cameras and recording equipment in the offices of: Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Enforcement Directorate, Narcotics Control Bureau, Department of Revenue Intelligence, Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), any other agency which carries out interrogations and has the power of arrest,''&nbsp;said the bench, also comprising Justices K M Joseph and Aniruddha Bose.

''As most of these agencies carry out interrogation in their office(s), CCTVs shall be compulsorily installed in all offices where such interrogation and holding of accused takes place in the same manner as it would in a police station,''&nbsp;the bench said in its order.

The top court said that in September this year, it had impleaded all the states and UTs in the matter to find out the exact position of CCTV cameras in each police station as well as the constitution of Oversight Committees in accordance with the April 3, 2018 order.

The apex court, while dealing with a matter related to custodial torture, had in July this year taken note of a 2017 case in which it had ordered the installation of CCTV cameras in all the police stations to check human rights abuses, videography of crime scene and setting up of a Central Oversight Committee and such a panel in every state and Union Territory.

In its 12-page order, the bench noted that till November 24, compliance affidavits and action is taken reports were filed by 14 states and the majority of them have failed to disclose the exact position of CCTV cameras in each police station and other details.

It said that state-level oversight committee (SLOC) must consist of secretary or additional secretary of the home department, secretary or additional secretary of the finance department; director-general or inspector general of police and chairperson or member of the state women's commission.

It said district level oversight committee (DLOC) should comprise of -- divisional commissioner or regional commissioner or revenue commissioner division of district, district magistrate and superintendent of police and mayor of a municipality within the district or head of 'zilla panchayat' in rural areas. It also specified the duties of SLOC which included purchase, distribution and installation of CCTVs and equipment, obtain budgetary allocation for the same.

It said DLOC shall have the obligations including interact with station house officer (SHO) about its functioning and to review footage stored from CCTVs in various police stations to ''check for any human rights violation that may have occurred but are not reported''. 
It said adequate funds be allocated for this by the states and UTs at the earliest.

It said duty and responsibility for working, maintenance and recording of CCTVs shall be of the SHO of police station concerned.

It said in areas where there is either no electricity or internet, it shall be the duty of states and UTs to provide the same expeditiously using any mode of providing power, including solar or wind.

''Whenever there is information of force being used at police stations resulting in serious injury and/or custodial deaths, it is necessary that persons be free to complain for a redressal of the same,''&nbsp;it said.

It said SLOC and central oversight body shall give directions to all police stations and agencies to prominently display at the entrance and inside police stations, offices of investigative agencies about the coverage of concerned premises by CCTV and this shall be done by large posters in English, Hindi and vernacular language.

''It shall further mention that CCTV footage is preserved for a certain minimum time period, which shall not be less than six months, and the victim has a right to have the same secured in the event of violation of his human rights,''&nbsp;it said.

It said authorities would implement its order ''both in letter and in spirit as soon as possible.''

The Supreme Court directed the Centre on Wednesday to install CCTV cameras and recording equipment at the offices of investigating agencies, including the CBI, the ED and National Investigation Agency (NIA), which conduct interrogations and have the power of arrest.

The Supreme Court directed the Centre on Wednesday to install CCTV cameras and recording equipment at the offices of investigating agencies, including the CBI, the ED and National Investigation Agency (NIA), which conduct interrogations and have the power of arrest. A bench headed by Justice R F Nariman said that states and Union Territories (UTs) should ensure that CCTV cameras are installed at each and every police station, at all entry and exit points, main gate, lock-ups, corridors, lobby and reception as also areas outside the lock-up rooms so that no part is left uncovered. The apex court had in 2018 ordered the installation of CCTV cameras in police stations to check human rights abuses. It said further that the CCTV systems must be equipped with night vision and have audio as well as video footage and it shall be mandatory for the Centre, states and UTs to purchase such systems which allow storage of data for the maximum period possible, at least one year. ''In addition, the Union of India is also directed to install CCTV cameras and recording equipment in the offices of: Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Enforcement Directorate, Narcotics Control Bureau, Department of Revenue Intelligence, Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), any other agency which carries out interrogations and has the power of arrest,'' said the bench, also comprising Justices K M Joseph and Aniruddha Bose. ''As most of these agencies carry out interrogation in their office(s), CCTVs shall be compulsorily installed in all offices where such interrogation and holding of accused takes place in the same manner as it would in a police station,'' the bench said in its order. The top court said that in September this year, it had impleaded all the states and UTs in the matter to find out the exact position of CCTV cameras in each police station as well as the constitution of Oversight Committees in accordance with the April 3, 2018 order. The apex court, while dealing with a matter related to custodial torture, had in July this year taken note of a 2017 case in which it had ordered the installation of CCTV cameras in all the police stations to check human rights abuses, videography of crime scene and setting up of a Central Oversight Committee and such a panel in every state and Union Territory. In its 12-page order, the bench noted that till November 24, compliance affidavits and action is taken reports were filed by 14 states and the majority of them have failed to disclose the exact position of CCTV cameras in each police station and other details. It said that state-level oversight committee (SLOC) must consist of secretary or additional secretary of the home department, secretary or additional secretary of the finance department; director-general or inspector general of police and chairperson or member of the state women's commission. It said district level oversight committee (DLOC) should comprise of -- divisional commissioner or regional commissioner or revenue commissioner division of district, district magistrate and superintendent of police and mayor of a municipality within the district or head of 'zilla panchayat' in rural areas. It also specified the duties of SLOC which included purchase, distribution and installation of CCTVs and equipment, obtain budgetary allocation for the same. It said DLOC shall have the obligations including interact with station house officer (SHO) about its functioning and to review footage stored from CCTVs in various police stations to ''check for any human rights violation that may have occurred but are not reported''. It said adequate funds be allocated for this by the states and UTs at the earliest. It said duty and responsibility for working, maintenance and recording of CCTVs shall be of the SHO of police station concerned. It said in areas where there is either no electricity or internet, it shall be the duty of states and UTs to provide the same expeditiously using any mode of providing power, including solar or wind. ''Whenever there is information of force being used at police stations resulting in serious injury and/or custodial deaths, it is necessary that persons be free to complain for a redressal of the same,'' it said. It said SLOC and central oversight body shall give directions to all police stations and agencies to prominently display at the entrance and inside police stations, offices of investigative agencies about the coverage of concerned premises by CCTV and this shall be done by large posters in English, Hindi and vernacular language. ''It shall further mention that CCTV footage is preserved for a certain minimum time period, which shall not be less than six months, and the victim has a right to have the same secured in the event of violation of his human rights,'' it said. It said authorities would implement its order ''both in letter and in spirit as soon as possible.''

SC directs Centre to install CCTV cameras in all interrogation offices, lock-ups

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