Swiss probe into UBS takeover of Credit Suisse

 Swiss prosecutors have opened an investigation into the sudden takeover of the country's second-largest bank, Credit Suisse, by its rival, UBS.

The deal was rushed through last month, when fears rose about Credit Suisse's financial position.

Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor said on Sunday that it would investigate if any possible "criminal offences" had been committed.

Credit Suisse declined to comment. UBS has been approached for comment.

The deal for UBS to buy Credit Suisse was backed by the Swiss government, and was put together rapidly after a weekend of emergency talks between the two banks and the country's financial regulators.

At the time, the Swiss National Bank said the deal was the best way to restore the confidence of financial markets and to manage risks to the economy.

The takeover came as markets were being rattled by fears over the health of the global financial system following the failures of two smaller US banks.

The deal, when it was announced, valued Credit Suisse at $3.15bn (£2.6bn), whereas on the Friday before the settlement was reached it had been valued at about $8bn.

However, the deal has angered taxpayers and shareholders of both banks, who were deprived of a vote on the takeover. Some have also argued it has damaged Switzerland's global reputation as a financial centre.

In statement issued on Sunday, Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor said there were "numerous aspects of events around Credit Suisse" that need to be investigated to identify any possible "criminal offences".

"The Office of the Attorney General wants to proactively fulfil its mandate and responsibility to contribute to a clean Swiss financial centre and has set up a monitoring system so that it can take action immediately on any issues that fall within its area of responsibility," it added.

It added it had made contact with "national and cantonal authorities", and that "investigative orders were also issued".

Separately, Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported on Sunday that the newly combined UBS-Credit Suisse bank was set to cut its workforce by 20-30%.

The combined bank will have more than 120,000 staff worldwide. The report said about 11,000 jobs could be cut in Switzerland.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65155839

Fetterman Home After 6 Weeks In Hospital For Severe Depression

 After a six-week hospitalization for severe depression, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has been discharged. The recovering stroke victim has returned to his suburban Pittsburgh home for additional time off before a planned April 17 return to the Senate. 

While Fetterman's hospitalization began in mid-February, he says depression started setting in soon after he won one of the most hotly-contested races of the midterms, defeating the Trump-endorsed Dr. Oz and flipping the open seat to the Democrats. 

Fetterman suffered “severe symptoms of depression with low energy and motivation, minimal speech, poor sleep, slowed thinking, slowed movement, feelings of guilt and worthlessness," according to a discharge brief written by Dr. David Williamson, neuropsychiatry chief at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. He didn't have suicidal thoughts, according to the doctor. 

His treatment included medications, talk therapy and therapeutic walks at Walter Reed's rooftop healing garden. Over his six-week stay, “sleep was restored, he ate well and hydrated, and he evidenced better mood, brighter affect and improved motivation, self-attitude and engagement with others.”

Walter Reed's healing garden at its April 2019 opening (Walter Reed photo)

His return is good news for the Democrats, who have a thin 51-49 edge in the Senate. 

Fetterman was initially hospitalized over feelings of light-headedness. However, doctors found the cause was dehydration and malnourishment, springing from the deeply depressed Fetterman's failure to eat and drink. His symptoms had "progressively worsened over the preceding eight weeks and Fetterman had stopped eating and taking fluids, causing him to develop low blood pressure," said Williamson. 

The 53-year-old suffered a near-fatal stroke on May 13, 2022 -- four days before the Pennsylvania primary -- and was left with communications impairments that were painfully evident on those occasions where his campaign dared put him in front of cameras and microphones. 

His depression hospitalization came just days after a lengthy and jarring New York Times profile that obliterated previous campaign assurances of Fetterman's fitness for Senate duty following his stroke.

While the campaign was going, those assurances were eagerly echoed by leftist media -- who vilified those who questioned them -- but here's the Times after the seat was secured for the Democrats:

"His adjustment to serving in the Senate has been made vastly more difficult by the strains of his recovery, which left him with a physical impairment and serious mental health challenges that have rendered the transition extraordinarily challenging — even with the accommodations that have been made to help him adapt."       

If Fetterman were to step down, his successor through the next scheduled statewide election would be appointed by Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. 

With wife Gisele at his side, Fetterman takes the oath of office (The Hill)

Appearing on CBS Sunday Morning, Fetterman told Jane Pauley that, even though the was coming off a huge victory, "depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost," and that he began a "downward spiral...I had stopped leaving my bed. I'd stopped eating."

While not yet exemplary, Fetterman's speech appears to have improved significantly, at least in this clip:

Six weeks after entering Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for inpatient treatment for depression, Sen. @JohnFetterman shares his struggle with depression, his health, and more in an intimate interview with Jane Pauley this "Sunday Morning." pic.twitter.com/3o2926I48B

— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) March 31, 2023

Roughly one in three stroke survivors experience symptoms of depression, though few require hospitalization. Trying to overcome serious physical and mental challenges to a degree that he can function as a United States senator can't be helpful.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fetterman-home-after-6-weeks-hospital-severe-depression

Fentanyl-Dealing California Police Union Official Charged

 by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A California police union official has been accused of importing fentanyl from India, China, and other countries and then shipping it around the United States from her home in San Jose.

Joanne Marian Segovia, 64, the executive director of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, was charged on March 27 for importing synthetic opioids into the country.

Officials have said Segovia used her personal and work computers to order thousands of pills to her house, which she then sent out all over the United States.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California’s office said in a statement that Segovia was caught as part of an ongoing Homeland Security investigation into a network that was shipping drugs into the San Francisco Bay Area from overseas.

Officials allege that Segovia had at least 61 shipments sent to her home between October 2015 and January 2023 from countries like China, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Canada, and Singapore. The shipments were labeled as things like “Wedding Party Favors,” “Gift Makeup,” or “Chocolate and Sweets.”

“In my training and experience, such a large number of parcels, from such a diverse array of foreign countries, and with labels like these, are often indicative of illicit drug shipments,” an unidentified Special Agent wrote in an affidavit about Segovia.

Alleged Shipments

According to the affidavit filed by federal prosecutors, Homeland Security agents were investigating a drug smuggling ring from late 2022 involved in shipping opioids from India to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Agents found hundreds of parcels intended to be sent to 48 states from this network. Segovia’s name and address were found on the phone of an operative from the network with a message to send “180 pills SOMA 500mg” to the union official’s address.

Authorities intercepted and opened five shipments between July 2019 and January 2023 and found they contained thousands of pills of controlled substances, like the synthetic opioids Tramadol and Tapentadol.

Segovia allegedly used encrypted WhatsApp messages to plan the logistics for receiving and sending the pill shipments, according to a complaint. It also accused her of messaging someone in India hundreds of times between January 2020 and March 2023.

Officials have said Segovia distributed the drugs from her office at the police union.

She allegedly sent a package to a woman in North Carolina at the request of a supplier. Then she sent a picture of the shipment to the supplier using the UPS account of the police union.

A federal agent wrote in an affidavit that Segovia used her official office to ship drugs, based on a San Jose Police Officers’ Association shipping label being used on a package.

In one instance in June 2021, an image was sent from Segovia’s Whatsapp showing a PayPal payment confirmation on a computer screen. A letter opener and business card with the police union’s name rest in front of the computer.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fentanyl-dealing-california-police-union-official-charged

COVID led to sharp rise in vaccine compensation schemes, but gaps remain -Oxford

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a nearly six-fold increase in the number of non-fault compensation schemes for vaccine injuries globally, said Oxford University researchers who on Friday made public an online database tracking the schemes.

Regulators globally have shown that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and adverse events are extremely rare. But in those rare cases, the pandemic exposed problems in some countries -- such as in the United States -- with vaccine compensation schemes when large proportions of populations are inoculated.

The Oxford project's website could help people who want to make a claim as well as governments, policymakers and academics to see what schemes are available in their country and compare them to elsewhere, the university said in a statement.

The first phase of the three-year research project, funded by drug industry lobby IFPMA (International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations), found that at least 146 countries operated a scheme related to COVID-19 vaccines. In January 2020, when the pandemic began, only 26 vaccine compensation schemes existed.

"We know there are clear gaps where there is no coverage at all, and others where there isn't a lot of information," said Sonia Macleod, lead researcher on the project and a scholar at Oxford's Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. She named Brazil as a country that has no compensation scheme, for example.

There are three multinational compensation schemes operated by the programmes known as COVAX and AVAT (African Vaccine Acquisition Trust), which distributed COVID vaccines in low- and middle-income countries, and by the U.N. agency UNICEF.

The next phase of research will assess whether people are using the schemes, but it was clear from the project's initial phase how difficult it can be to find information about some of them, the team said.

The draft pandemic treaty which is being negotiated by World Health Organization member states calls for a global compensation scheme for vaccine injuries.

https://news.yahoo.com/covid-led-sharp-rise-vaccine-230421592.html

'US says far-right activist convicted over 2016 voter suppression scheme'

 A social media influencer who once had 58,000 Twitter followers was convicted by a federal jury of election interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race over a voter suppression scheme, the Justice Department said late on Friday.

Douglass Mackey, also known as “Ricky Vaughn,” was convicted of the charge of conspiracy against rights stemming from his scheme to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote, the Justice Department said in a statement. Mackey faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

In 2016, Mackey, 33, established an audience on Twitter with 58,000 followers. A February 2016 analysis by the MIT Media Lab ranked Mackey as the 107th most important influencer of the then-upcoming presidential election in which Republican former President Donald Trump defeated Democrat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Mackey, a Trump supporter, had been charged in 2021 by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, who said he conspired with others to disseminate disinformation on social media and urged people to cast their ballots through invalid means such as text messages.

In one tweet for example, he had featured a picture of an African American woman standing in front of a sign for an unnamed candidate. Next to the image, it said: "Avoid the line. Vote from home."

"Today's verdict proves that the defendant's fraudulent actions crossed a line into criminality and flatly rejects his cynical attempt to use the constitutional right of free speech as a shield for his scheme to subvert the ballot box and suppress the vote," United States Attorney Breon Peace said.

Mackey's lawyer, Andrew Frisch, suggested his client would appeal.

"This case presents an unusual array of appellate issues that are exceptionally strong," Frisch was quoted as saying by the New York Times, adding: "I'm confident about the way forward."

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization, Vaughn has in the past openly supported hate groups.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/us-says-far-activist-convicted-202833848.html

Saudi Arabia, OPEC+ producers announce voluntary oil output cuts

 Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ oil producers on Sunday announced voluntary cuts to their production, with Riyadh saying it would cut output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from May until the end of 2023, state media reported.

Russia's deputy prime minister also said Moscow would extend a voluntary cut of 500,000 bpd until the end of 2023. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman and Algeria said they would voluntarily cut output over the same time period.

The UAE said it would cut production by 144,000 bpd, Kuwait announced a cut of 128,000 bpd while Iraq said it would cut output by 211,000 bpd and Oman announced a cut of 40,000 bpd. Algeria said it would cut its output by 48,000 bpd.

The Saudi energy ministry said in a statement that the kingdom's voluntary cut was a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-opec-producers-announce-144052221.html

Saudi Arabia to invite Syria's Assad to Arab leaders summit

 Saudi Arabia is planning to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to an Arab League summit that Riyadh is hosting in May, three sources familiar with the plans said, a move that would formally end Syria's regional isolation.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will travel to Damascus in coming weeks to hand Assad a formal invitation to attend the summit scheduled for May 19, two of the sources said.

The Saudi government's communication office and the foreign ministries of both countries did not respond to requests for comments.

Gamal Roshdy, spokesperson for the Arab League secretary general, said the organisation is not privy to every move on the bilateral level between Arab countries.

"We are not supposed to be informed in advance about the assumed visit," he added.

Assad's attendance at an Arab League summit would mark the most significant development in his rehabilitation within the Arab world since 2011, when Syria was suspended from the organisation. Assad had been boycotted by many Western and Arab states over his brutal crackdown on protests - violence that led to a protracted civil war.

Syria's return to the 22-member body would be mostly symbolic but it reflects a change in the regional approach towards the Syrian conflict. Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the war, which drew in numerous foreign powers, and splintered the country.

Last month sources told Reuters Riyadh and Damascus had reached an agreement to reopen their embassies after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Saudi foreign ministry did not confirm an agreement was reached but said it was in talks with the Syrian foreign ministry to resume consular services.

One of the three sources said discussions have been ongoing for more than a year over a list of demands from Saudi Arabia for the Syrian government to meet as a condition to mend ties, including close cooperation on border security and drug trafficking.

https://news.yahoo.com/saudi-arabia-invite-syrias-assad-120332090.html