Day: May 12, 2023

US President Joe Biden announces Friday nominees to the US Federal Reserve's Board of Governors.

Dr. Philip Jefferson was nominated for the vice chair position, who was confirmed by the US Senate last year in a 91-7 vote as a member of the board of governors.

Biden nominated Dr. Adriana Kugler to serve as a member on the board, who was also confirmed to serve as the US' executive director to the World Bank.

The president said he will again nominate Dr. Lisa Cook for an additional full term as a member of the board.

"Dr. Jefferson and Dr. Cook will continue to bring valuable insight, expertise, and continuity to the Fed at a critical time for our economy and families across the country," Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

"Dr. Kugler is a highly qualified and respected economist with deep expertise in labor markets, worker mobility, and youth employment," it added.

The Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate a total of 500 basis points in the last 14 months in order to fight inflation.

"Annual inflation has come down 45 percent since last summer, and is down 10 months in a row while our job market remains strong," said Biden. "The unemployment rate is 3.4%, the lowest in 50 years. Jobs are up, wages are up, and inflation is coming down."

Source: Anadolu Agency

French border police at an airport dismantled an irregular migration network, local media reported Friday.

The network was helping sub-Saharan African irregular migrants enter France with authentic French passports, according to daily Ouest-France.

An investigation was launched in November 2022, and the border police at the Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris arrested seven Malian suspects, the daily added.

Border guards also arrested a Malian passenger carrying a French passport belonging to a French citizen in late 2022, Ouest-France said.

The passenger paid pound 7,000 ($7,730) for his air trip from Bamako to France with an authentic passport.

The discovery of such a case incited the border police to investigate and unveil the network.

The network was renting for a few euros the passports of migrant French citizens. Those documents were sent to their Malian, Ivorian, or Cameroonian clients contacted via social media.

Over 250 people illegally came to France with the help of this network, according to police sources quoted by Ouest-France.

Police will also identify the citizens who rent their passports and pursue them, the daily added.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The death toll in Kenya from a suspected starvation cult rose to 150 Thursday as more bodies were exhumed, police said.

Five additional bodies were unearthed in Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County, intensifying an ongoing investigation into the starvation cult led by preacher Paul Mackenzie.

Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha released a report Thursday to the media revealing the somber findings.

Onyancha said that 594 individuals who are suspected cult members have been reported missing by their families while 25 arrests have been made.

DNA samples have been collected from 93 families as the search and exhumations continue in Shakahola Forest.

Efforts to uncover the truth behind the cult's activities and the circumstances surrounding the deaths remain ongoing.

The exhumations had been halted due to bad weather but resumed after several days.

A police investigation that started in mid-April has so far revealed that some of the victims had their organs missing, which has led to suspicions of trafficking in human organs.

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki described the Shakahola cult deaths as a highly organized crime, saying the mass graves were too many.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Cyprus had the most overcrowded prisons in EU in 2021, with almost 50% more prisoners than what the prison was designed to hold, according to data published by Eurostat on Friday. With prison occupancy rate 100 being the official capacity of prisons, Cyprus has an overcrowding rate of 146, the highest in EU. Overall, 8 EU countries are overcrowded, while 17 countries had extra capacity. Following Cyprus, Romania has an overcrowding rate of 116, France 114, Greece and Italy 108, Sweden 102, Croatia and Denmark 101. The lowest prison occupancy rates were recorded in Malta with 65 and Estonia and Latvia with 66. In 14 out of the 25 EU countries that provided data in 2021, the prison occupancy rate increased compared with 2020, when the decrease was likely due to COVID-19-related measures. In 2021, there were 475,038 prisoners in the EU, equivalent to 106 prisoners per 100.000 people. The prisoner rate increased after a decline in 2020, when it was 104 prisoners per 100,000 people, but remained the second-lowest figure since the turn of the century. The highest prisoner rates per 100,000 people in 2021 were in Hungary and Poland with 191, followed by Slovakia with 185. The lowest rates were in Finland with 51 prisoners per 100,000, Slovenia with 54, and the Netherlands with 65. Cyprus had 89 prisoners per 100,000 people in 2021.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides, has said that British and Americans will pay visits to Cyprus during the next days to convey more information as regards the issue of sanctions imposed by them on individuals and legal entities in Cyprus for enabling Russian oligarchs. Asked about the issue that has come up as regards the payment of the salaries of the employees at the companies that have been sanctioned, Christodoulides said that they received new information on Friday by the US regarding the sanctions and that during the next days British and Americans will pay visits to Cyprus to convey further information. He added that two issues have come up, noting that one of them is the issue of the payments and the other the issue related to the Registrar of Companies. He explained that some Cypriots businessmen want to make some changes as regards their companies. "We have discussed both with the Law Office of the Republic and we have a legal opinion, and I have also discussed them with the Central Bank Governor and at the beginning of next week we will have developments on them", he noted, adding that priority will be given to the issue related to all those who are working at these businesses, so that they will not be affected as regards their salaries.

Source: Cyprus News Agency