Latest news with #criminality
New York Times
29-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump's Flurry of Pardons Signals a Wholesale Effort to Redefine Crime
President Trump is employing the vast power of his office to redefine criminality — using pardons to inoculate criminals he happens to like, downplaying corruption and fraud as crimes and seeking to stigmatize political opponents by labeling them criminals. In the past few days, Mr. Trump has offered pardons or clemency to more than two dozen people embraced by his obstreperous right-wing base, or favored by people in his orbit. Most are political allies, some are former officeholders accused of abusing power for personal gain, and almost all were convicted of white-collar crimes like fraud, tax evasion and campaign finance violations — not far removed from accusations Mr. Trump himself has faced. 'No MAGA left behind,' crowed Ed Martin, the pardon attorney at the Justice Department who suggested that the department should investigate Mr. Trump's adversaries to shame them if there was insufficient evidence to charge them. Mr. Trump has said the current wave of pardons is justified by President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s last-minute reprieves for inmates on federal death row, and pardons he issued to his family — which Mr. Trump called 'disgraceful.' The new pardons are necessary to right the wrongs of a politicized Biden Justice Department that twice indicted him, he has claimed. Yet, critics say, Mr. Trump has used the pardon powers of the presidency to not only settle accounts, as Mr. Biden did, but to burn the ledger. 'Granting pardons or commuting sentences of public officials or other white-collar criminals convicted of fraud, tax evasion and other breaches of trust is likely to have the effect of normalizing nonviolent crimes,' said Barbara L. McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor who served as a U.S. attorney in the state during the Obama administration. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Irish Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
New social media ‘early warning' system will alert gardaí to potential crimes
An Garda Síochána will soon be able to employ an 'early warning' system driven by artificial intelligence (AI) to alert them of potential future criminality such as the targeting of asylum seeker centres. The Irish-led, EU-funded initiative, known as the Vigilant Project, will be able to scan social media for disinformation that may lead to criminality, such as riots or terrorism. The project is funded with a €4 million grant from the EU's Horizon Europe scheme and is led by researchers from Trinity College Dublin and UCD . It comprises academics and figures from industry and government research centres across Europe. 'It's a platform of tools which is designed for European police authorities to detect, analyse and investigate disinformation that links to criminal activities,' said Dr Brendan Spillane, the project's principal investigator and an assistant professor at UCD. READ MORE The tool will help police forces monitor social media for warning signs of potential criminal activity. 'The type of thing that we're talking about is people who are promoting violent attacks on individuals or marginalised groups in society, most recently promoting attacks on migrant centres or on IPAS [International Protection Accommodation Services] centres in Ireland or migrant camps across Europe,' said Dr Spillane. It could also be used to monitor for the promotion or sale of false medical cures, fundraising for terrorist organisations and the spreading of extremist doctrines, he said. The tools will be able to analyse text and images as well as the online networks of those sharing disinformation. Currently police forces are dealing with disinformation in a 'reactive' manner, said Eva Power, Vigilant's project manager and a Trinity College Dublin academic. Vigilant will 'help police become more proactive', she said. She cites the Dublin riots of November 2023 when millions of euro of damage was caused to the city centre following a knife attack on a group of schoolchildren. The rioters were motivated in part by large amounts of false information that appeared on social media in the aftermath of the attack. '[Police forces] are completely on the back foot. A lot of that is down to their lack of access to tools. This is throughout Europe,' she said. The Vigilant toolkit will only monitor information publicly available on social media. However, it will automate the process, making it much faster and less resource-intensive. Dr Spillane said the technology did not monitor the entire internet. 'Not only do we not do it, but the police don't want or need us to do it,' he said. Instead it monitors areas for limited periods to establish if there is cause for further action. He compared it to police forces temporarily assigning additional patrols to a trouble spot. The platform is at a 'fairly advanced' stage but there is still technical work to do, Dr Spillane said. They hope to deploy the initial version within 10 months. The developers are working with four police forces in the EU who will be the first to receive a live version of the software when it launches. The Garda are not part of this group but are part of a 'wider community of early adopters', said Ms Power. 'They've been great. They've been into us here. Effectively, we want to build it to suit their needs.' Asked about the potential for the technology to be used inappropriately or for anti-democratic ends, the developers said Vigiliant is built from the ground up with ethical considerations in mind. For example, it will not employ facial recognition technology , Ms Power said. 'We think we're the right type of organisation to be developing something like this. A lot of us are coming from universities which are typically socially liberal, very conscientious, ethically-minded organisations,' Dr Spillane said. He said the project has so far only been engaging with agencies or countries that have 'a large amount of respect for human rights. 'We don't speak to the ones that might be sliding a little bit farther away. They haven't made contact and we won't be talking to them.'
The Independent
12-05-2025
- The Independent
Russian honeytrap spy ‘controlled and coerced by fellow agent boyfriend'
A Russian honeytrap spy became 'besotted' with a fellow agent and would never have been involved in the plot were it not for him, a court has heard. Bulgarian beautician Vanya Gaberova, 30, was part of a spy ring which targeted people and places of interest to the Russian state over three years. Giving her mitigation before she is sentenced alongside five other Bulgarians, her barrister said she 'slipped into criminality' under the influence of her spy lover Biser Dzhambazov, 43. The court previously heard how she swapped her relationship with painter and decorator Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, for a life of luxury with 'ugly' but 'charming' Dzhambazov. The couple stayed in a five-star hotel in Valencia, Spain, dined at a Michelin-starred restaurant, and went clubbing during surveillance operations. When police burst into her home to arrest Dzhambazov for spying he lay naked in her bed. Gaberova smiled and waved at family members in the public gallery after taking her seat beside Dzhambazov in the dock at the Old Bailey. Defence barrister Anthony Metzer KC said: 'Were it not for her connection with Mr Dzhambazov, not only she but at least one other would not be here.' 'She played no management or operational role,' he continued, 'she was brought in by Mr Dzhambazov. 'She became besotted with Mr Dzhambazov… she was losing her sense of perspective. 'She slipped into criminality. (The relationship) clouded and distorted her judgment.' Her barrister said there was no evidence she had direct contact with alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek or any Russian operatives. Mr Metzer continued: 'We say she was controlled, coerced into this conspiracy by Mr Dzhambazov. 'She fell in love with him and continued on her evidence to have feelings for him, not only on the date of her arrest but continued to have feelings for him even as she gave evidence, even though she was shocked, appalled and manipulated by him.' He told the court that beautician Gaberova was naive and under the control of her lover who had duped her with false claims he had cancer and worked for Interpol. Mr Metzer said Gaberova had been 'bullied' and 'assaulted' while in prison. 'She's been called all sorts of names,' he told the court. 'She has been subjected to assaults of various descriptions, once an incident on the way to court. She had assaults perpetrated on her that have added to her stress and anxiety.' The court heard she had been diagnosed with depression, panic disorder, claustrophobia and anxiety. Appealing for leniency for Gaberova, Mr Metzer suggested an appropriate sentence for her role would be five years in jail. He concluded: 'Overall this has been a tragic case as far as Ms Gaberova was concerned. She came to this country, she had performed admirably and well. 'She will no doubt be deported and return to her country a hugely diminished person with an otherwise bright future completely lost.' Gaberova was jailed for six years, eight months and three weeks. Sentencing her, Mr Justice Hilliard told her she knew what she was doing was for Russia and had found it 'exciting and glamorous'.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Stop and search order imposed on town by police
Disorder on a town's streets led a police force to impose additional stop and search restrictions over an evening. Hertfordshire Police introduced a Section 60 order in parts of Watford on Wednesday at 19:00 BST and it was withdrawn just before midnight following a review. The order gave officers enhanced powers to stop and search individuals to minimise criminality and violence in the area. The force added that officers on patrol across the town have reverted back to using standard stop and search powers. Insp Neil Canning said: "This Section 60 order [allowed] officers to stop and search people who are suspected of carrying weapons or planning any criminality." The force said the action was "not meant to disrupt or inconvenience people going about their daily lives, but instead sends a clear message that we will not tolerate this behaviour in the town". Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More local stories Related internet links
