All posts tagged: acted

How the Ivorian president’s niece acted as Epstein’s go-between

How the Ivorian president’s niece acted as Epstein’s go-between

Published by Sam Flores

Nina Keita, in New York, in 2016. NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES/AFP/LE MONDE The sprawling Epstein case also has a lesser-known African dimension. In Côte d’Ivoire, several high-profile public figures were named in the three million documents published on January 30 by the US Department of Justice. Chief among them is Nina Keita, niece of the country’s president, Alassane Ouattara. The 44-year-old former model and one-time adviser to the budget minister, Abdourahmane Cissé (2014-2016), is married to Employment Minister Adama Kamara. Since 2019, she has been serving as the second-in-command at Gestoci, the public company managing Côte d’Ivoire’s oil funds, and is a key figure within the ruling circle in Abidjan. The extensive correspondence – hundreds of messages between 2011 and 2018 – between Keita and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in New York in 2019, reveals a close friendship and a partnership that blurred boundaries, typical of the American financier. According to the documents, in 2011, Keita introduced her uncle, then newly elected president of Côte d’Ivoire, to Epstein in New …

House Democrat on Kennedy Center renovation: Trump ‘acted with a total disregard for Congress’

House Democrat on Kennedy Center renovation: Trump ‘acted with a total disregard for Congress’

Published by Sam Flores

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) on Sunday condemned the Trump administration’s decision to close the Kennedy Center for renovation this summer, citing concern for employees and contracted artists.  “Once again, Donald Trump has acted with total disregard for Congress. The Kennedy Center is congressionally funded, and Congress should have been consulted on any decision to shut… Source link

France’s Le Pen insists party acted in ‘good faith’ at EU embezzlement appeal

France’s Le Pen insists party acted in ‘good faith’ at EU embezzlement appeal

Published by Sam Flores

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen told an appeals trial on Wednesday that her party acted in “good faith”, denying an effort to embezzle European Parliament funds as she fights to keep her 2027 presidential bid alive. A French court last year barred Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate from the far-right National Rally (RN), from running for office for five years over a fake jobs scam at the European institution. It found her, along with 24 former European Parliament lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself, guilty of operating a “system” from 2004 to 2016 using European Parliament funds to employ party staff in France.  Le Pen and others ​were found guilty of misappropriating more than €4 million of EU funds.  Le Pen admits “negligence” in EU fund embezzlement appeal trial To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to …

Police say Bondi Beach mass shooting suspects ‘acted alone’

Police say Bondi Beach mass shooting suspects ‘acted alone’

Published by Sam Flores

Police believe the duo “meticulously planned” the attack for months, and have released pictures showing them training with shotguns in the Australian countryside. They also recorded a video in October railing against “Zionists” while sitting in front of a flag of the Islamic State militant group, police have said. Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998. GUN CRACKDOWN His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen, remains in custody charged with 15 murders and a litany of other serious offences. New Year’s Eve parties across Sydney will pause at 11pm on Wednesday for a minute of silence in memory of the victims. Crowds will be watched over by squads of police carrying high-powered firearms, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns said on Tuesday. “That is a clear and deliberate message from the police that safety is the number one priority,” he told reporters. Source link