Reported

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross was accused of having stolen $120 million through a complex scheme at his previous investment company, which led to lawsuits, a fine by the Securities and Exchange Commission and some paybacks, according to a Forbes report published Tuesday. The firm, WL Ross and Co., would allegedly charge investors extra management fees even if the value of their investment had fallen, and would also neglect to pay the required minimum percentage of fees attained on other deals, the report said, citing five former employees of the company. Instead, the company would give investors a smaller amount of the required percentage and keep the rest, according to the SEC. Ross sold WL Ross and Co. to Invesco in 2006. "The SEC has never initiated any enforcement action against me," Ross told Forbes in a statement. "No regulatory agency has ever asserted such charges or any other charges against me, and there is no basis for any such allegations." But the report …

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Forty-three percent of Central Americans said they wanted to migrate permanently to another country when questioned for a 2021 survey. When that question was asked in 2019 before the pandemic, just eight percent expressed the same desire. This 35 percent uptick, released in a joint report by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and the Civic Data Design Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), sheds light on the challenges Central America faces as it attempts to recover from the devastation brought forth by COVID-19. Though migration isn't driven by one factor, economic stagnation worsened by COVID-19 plays a major factor in the recent phenomenon, according to the report. As job opportunities have become more scarce, a rising number of young people are entering the workforce. Many of those who cannot find jobs elect to migrate instead, the report states. Those without jobs reported being unable to afford food and …

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Russian government spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday rejected the findings of two reports commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee that detailed the extent of Russia's influence operations on social media, including efforts to discourage African-American voters from showing up at the polls. Two independent studies, which were released on Monday, demonstrated how Russian operatives—linked to the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based troll farm—had used a wide range of social media tools, including Instagram and Pinterest, to promote President Donald Trump's candidacy for president and sow discord among his opponents. The reports provided granular detail about the influence operations, but Peskov expressed confusion. "What I read about this report in public access can arouse nothing but misunderstanding… It voices some general claims and accusations, and some of them are absolutely unclear for us. They reproach us that someone criticizes the situation in the …

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Payout promises and a punchy profit prediction sent Crest Nicholson ’s shares soaring yesterday. The housebuilder jumped 36p to 253.6p after it said full-year adjusted profit would be “significantly ahead” of expectations, landing at the top of its guidance. The FTSE 250 company said its trading had been “robust” over recent months, and slightly ahead of pre-lockdown levels. It anticipates adjusted profit before tax to come in “at the upper end of the previously guided range of £35m-£45m”. As of the end of October, its forward sales stood at 2,289 units and £480.5m in gross development value, versus 2,013 units and £378m in GDV for the same period last year. The company’s board said it planned to reinstate a dividend at its interim 2021 results. Peter Truscott, the chief executive, said Covid-19 “could not have come at a worse time” for the group, which is undergoing a strategic overhaul. Jefferies’ Glynis Johnson said the update was reassuring, but added the risk …

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The suspect who carried out a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, on an early August morning in 2019 had an "enduring fascination with mass violence," the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit concluded in a report released Monday. Just after 1 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2019, Connor Betts killed nine people and wounded 27 when he opened fire in downtown Dayton. MORE: America has a gun violence problem. What do we do about it? It was the second mass shooting that weekend, after 23 people were killed at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, the day before. After a mass shooting or incident , it is typical for the FBI to use its Behavioral Analysis Unit to try and determine a motive or find other factors at play when an attacker carries out an incident. The FBI concluded in its report that Betts "likely violated federal law" by lying to federal investigators about his drug use when he purchased the gun used in the attack. MORE: Alleged Dayton gunman Connor Betts showed …

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While some social media companies have come under scrutiny for the proliferation of misinformation on their platforms, the spread of Spanish-language misinformation may be disproportionately unchecked. A report detailed how Facebook in particular failed to flag 70 percent of COVID-19 misinformation written in Spanish, further highlighting recent revelations from the company's leaked documents on the outsized effort directed at English-language misinformation, the Associated Press reported. The report, compiled by Avaaz, an advocacy group that monitors misinformation online, showed that just 29 percent of the same type of misinformation in English was not flagged, AP reported. The findings were underscored by Facebook documents leaked by former employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen, who said that the company allocates 87 percent of its misinformation budget to U.S. content. Meta spokesperson Kevin McAllister said that the number was "out of context" and that the company does …

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The Public Health Authority (ÚVZ) calls on all those who have come to Slovakia from countries where the new Omicron variant has been confirmed to report it to a special e-mail address. Our paywall policy: The Slovak Spectator has decided to make all the articles on the special measures, statistics and basic information about the coronavirus available to everyone. If you appreciate our work and would like to support good journalism, please buy our subscription . We believe this is an issue where accurate and fact-based information is important for people to cope. The call is directed to people who in the last 14 days have visited South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Israel, Hong Kong or Seychelles, the ÚVZ spokesperson announced on November 27. By Sunday evening, about 70 such people contacted the hygienists. Travellers are requested to contact the authority at [email protected], and state their name, surname, phone number and the …

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola appeared to snap at the reporter in his post-match interview after being asked about his need for a striker. City appeared desperate to sign a forward during the summer transfer window but Guardiola's team seem to be doing just fine without one. Having chased the likes of Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo following the departure of Sergio Aguero, City were left empty-handed. Though it doesn't seem to have impacted them all that much, scoring 20 goals in nine games and sitting second in the Premier League table. Having bagged five against Club Brugge in the Champions League , City followed it up with a 4-1 thrashing at Brighton. It led to Sky questioning whether Guardiola actually needs a striker, though the Spaniard was in a mischievous mood. “Sky, I'm going to tell you something," Guardiola replied. "One day we are going to lose and you are going to ask me if I miss a striker. "I bet you whatever you want. I …

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Royal Mail shot to its highest price since February 2019 on Monday, on hopes it could win a £550m government contract against Amazon to deliver 215,000 Covid home-testing kits a day as part of the NHS Test and Trace. Britain’s postal service company rose 8.5p to 261.7p. Adding to optimism is an expected increase in online retail sales in the coming years, which will help to swell the UK addressable parcel market, according to a note by Citi. Total ecommerce penetration in the UK will reach about 47pc by 2030, the analysts predict, and the UK parcel market will triple in size. In a more bullish stance, they now expect Royal Mail to take about 30pc of the UK parcel market by 2024, with a new target price of £4 compared to the previous £2.10. Food delivery company Ocado slumped 197p to £22.83, on the back of fears that a return to normality with a potential vaccine could hurt one of lockdown’s biggest winners. Adding to worries, Norwegian warehouse automation company …

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Published 1 hour ago Share close Share page Copy link About sharing A third of employees in Australia's federal parliament have been sexually harassed, a landmark report has found. The report was commissioned after a former staffer, Brittany Higgins, said she had been raped by a colleague in a minister's office. Her story earlier this year triggered a wave of wide-ranging allegations of misconduct in Canberra. The victims were disproportionately women, said Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins. The report, titled Set the Standard , found 51% of staffers had experienced some form of bullying, sexual harassment or actual or attempted sexual assault. "Such experiences leave a trail of devastation for individuals and their teams and undermine the performance of our parliament to the nation's detriments," said Ms Jenkins, the report's author. Prime Minister Scott Morrison …

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