1…………> Guatemalan Slave Drivers: WA
Antonio Francisco-Pablo, 60, residing in Forks, Washington, was sentenced to three years in prison for one count of forced labor. Antonia Marcos Diego, 42, also residing in Forks, Washington, was sentenced to one year of probation for one count of document servitude in furtherance of forced labor. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton described their crimes as a “despicable offense” and a “serious degree of exploitation.”
“The defendants forced their own family members to work for no pay after luring them to the United States on false promises of a better life,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore. “The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute labor traffickers, who exploit vulnerable individuals for their own greed and erode the American ideals of freedom, opportunity, and the rule of law.”
Both defendants will pay $18,950 in restitution to the victims. Francisco-Pablo was in the U.S. unlawfully, and it is virtually certain that he will be deported following his prison term. Antonia Marcos Diego will be on probation for one year.
2…………> Dirty Money: Scotland LLP’s
Following a review of Scottish limited partnerships (SLPs) by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the UK government unveiled plans to crack down on a business scheme which it says has been used to launder dirty foreign money, illegal activity that has been used to launder $80bn from Russia and into the EU markets.
“For some time we have called on the UK government to tighten the regulatory framework around Scottish Limited Partnerships. Therefore we welcome that new regulations are now being introduced on beneficial ownership. This is a complex landscape and we await with interest the detail of any additional new measures, following the wider review of limited partnership law. We remain fully committed to ensuring that SLPs engaged in criminal activity and those individuals and organizations who help facilitate that activity is held accountable for their actions,” A Scottish government spokesman declared.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-43935839
3…………> Neo-Nazis Raising: Reichburger
While The Islamic Merkeldom of Germany’s domestic intelligence service has looked the other way when the so-called “Middle Eastern migrants”, including military age Al Nusra Brigade and IS young punks are committing crimes, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has spent time and effort to estimate that there are about 18,000 people supporting the far-right Reichsbürger movement — about 80 percent more than in 2016, and about 950 of them were classified as far-right extremists.
The term Reichsbürger is used as a label for disorganized groups that reject the legitimacy of Germany’s government, rooted in the belief that the 1937 borders of the German Empire still exist and today’s government is an administrative construct in a country still occupied by foreign powers. Many subscribe to far-right or anti-Semitic ideologies.
4………….> A Middle Finger To US: Caravan
About 400 migrants from a Central American caravan are at the US-Mexico border, with some climbing the border wall ahead of making formal asylum claims that could land them in detention centers.
The month-long caravan that at one point gathered 1,500 immigrants from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador angered President Donald Trump who pressured Mexico to stop the migrants before they reached the border, linking Mexican efforts to stem the flow of Central Americans to the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which is currently being renegotiated in Washington.
“I feel a little cold. I feel anxious,” said Jaime Alexander from El Salvador in the morning, shaking slightly on his way to the Tijuana, Mexico side of the border fence on a Pacific Ocean beach.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-30/migrant-caravan-gathers-on-us-mexico-border/9709848
5…………> Austria-China Train: Silk Road
A “Silk Road” train, carrying 41 containers of goods valued at 1.5 million U.S. dollars, including LED displays, tires, and lamps, departed from Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province on the morning of April 12, and arrived in Vienna, Austria on Friday, April 29, an event which Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen described as a symbol of the cooperation between China and Austria.
It traveled over 6000 miles in 15 days through Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, and Slovakia, and slowly pulled into Vienna South Freight Center. From the station, the goods will be transported to the destination.
“This is really a symbol of the cooperation between China and Austria,” Van der Bellen told Xinhua. “We really hope this train is the first step of closer cooperation between China and Austria.”
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-04/28/c_137142311.htm
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