Free Republic

Although Peng Shuai’s story has sex and sports, making it media fodder, a more significant person vanished from view in 2018—and no one seems to care. Much media coverage has been devoted to Peng Shuai, a Chinese women’s tennis player, whom her Communist Chinese government apparently “disappeared.” However, the head of Interpol disappeared too, and that deserves more attention. Because Peng was an international figure and used social media to claim a “high-ranking government official” in China sexually assaulted her, the media was eager to cover her disappearance—mostly because of the political popularity and sensitivity to the #MeToo movement. After...

Global parliamentarians called on governments to revoke extradition treaties with China for fear the communist regime will use the international law enforcement body to chase down dissidents across borders, as China’s nominee won a key Interpol seat.The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on Nov.25 elected Hu Binchen, an official at China’s Ministry of Public Security, as an Asia delegate in its 13-member Executive Committee during Interpol’s annual General Assembly meeting in Istanbul.Hu’s election gives the Chinese regime “a green light to continue using Interpol as a vehicle for its repressive policies globally and places thousands of Hong Kong, Uyghur, Tibetan,...

General Ahmed Naser al-Raisi....who has been part of the UAE's police force since 1980 and serves as inspector general at the country's ministry of interior, received 68.9% of the vote at Interpol's general assembly in Istanbul. The role is largely ceremonial -- he will chair the general assembly as well as three executive committee meetings for each of the four years of his tenure. The vote went through despite criminal cases made by ex-detainees. Matthew Hedges, who was detained in the UAE for seven months, filed a claim for damages at the High Court of London against Raisi and several...

The European Commission will on Thursday announce plans for a digital identity wallet to allow Europeans to access public and private services, prompted in part by the COVID-19 pandemic which has seen a massive surge in online services. The move also seeks to counter the growing popularity of digital wallets offered by Apple, Alphabet unit Google, Thales and financial institutions which critics say could pose privacy and data protection concerns. The digital identity wallet “can be used anywhere in the EU to identify and authenticate for access to services in the public and private sectors, allowing citizens to control what...

#Iran appears to have falsified the RED NOTICE profile of the person wanted by it as someone who sabotaged #Natanz uranium enrichment plant. There is no such profile in Interpol's search system.

An Italian mafia fugitive who has been evading police since 2014 was arrested last week after police recognized him on YouTube. Marc Feren Claude Biart, who is wanted by police for allegedly trafficking cocaine, had started a cooking show on YouTube with his wife, BBC News reports. 53-year-old Biart hid his face in the videos – but did not hide his tattoos. Italian police saw the videos and arrested Biart in the small town of Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, they said in a statement, according to BBC News. Biart has been wanted by police for nearly six years for allegedly...

Iran requested the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to issue a “red notice” for the arrest of President Trump and 47 other U.S. officials on Tuesday due to the killing of top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last year. Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili labeled Trump as “the main culprit” in Soleimani’s killing, which he called a “terrorist crime,” the semiofficial Mehr News Agency reported, according to NPR. Other U.S. officials included in the request are U.S. military commanders and officials in the region and at the Pentagon. The request represented the second time Iran has asked for assistance in arresting...

Iran, Turkey, and Venezuela's Super Facilitator: Who Is Slex Saab? On June 12, Alex Nain Saab Morán, a Colombian businessman of Lebanese  descent, was arrested at Amílcar Cabral International airport in Cape Verde. This was a huge blow to the Maduro regime’s illicit networks, as Saab is a key facilitator, involved in alleged corrupt dealings and money laundering in Venezuela since 2004.  His arrest was made after years of investigations on behalf of the U.S. and Colombia to uncover a myriad of shell companies that Saab; his business partner, Alvaro Pulido Vargas; and family members set up. Considered a fugitive in Colombia,...

Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said Trump and 35 others whom Iran accuses of involvement in the Jan. 3 strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad face “murder and terrorism charges,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Alqasimehr did not identify anyone else sought other than Trump, but stressed that Iran would continue to pursue his prosecution even after his presidency ends. Alqasimehr also was quoted as saying that Iran requested a “red notice” be put out for Trump and the others, which represents the highest-level arrest request issued by Interpol. Local authorities generally make the arrests on behalf of...

SINGAPORE – Hospitals and other institutions on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus facing unprecedented physical dangers are now also facing another threat from cybercriminals. ***** break ***** INTERPOL has issued a warning to organizations at the forefront of the global response to the COVID-19 outbreak that have also become targets of ransomware attacks, which are designed to lock them out of their critical systems in an attempt to extort payments.

The United Nations and Interpol, the global police organization, are poised to become partners in fighting crime by jointly creating an international police force. Interpol, which is financed by 187 member nations, says the "global police doctrine" would allow the deployment of peacekeepers among rogue nations plagued by war and organized crime. "We have a visionary model," said Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble, who described the joint partnership "an alliance of all nations." He suggested that by relying on Interpol's resources, the United Nations would be able to handle international conflicts and transnational crime far better.

French carmaker Renault will maintain its presence in Iran while taking measures to avoid the risk of penalties for breaching renewed US sanctions, CEO Carlos Ghosn said Friday. “We will not abandon it, even if we have to downsize very strongly,” he said at the annual shareholders’ meeting in Paris. “When the market reopens, the fact of having stayed will certainly give us an advantage,” he predicted. […] Renault’s rival PSA, which produces the Peugeot and Citroën brands, has also announced it will quit Iran to abide by the US sanctions. But Ghosn signaled that Renault, which counted 160,000 cars...

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/30/ousted-renault-nissan-boss-carlos-ghosn-violates-house-arrest-in-tokyo-lands-in-lebanon-reports-say.html Reuters Link only

The wife of Meng Hongwei, the Interpol president held in China since September, has sought asylum in France for herself and her twin children. Grace Meng and the seven-year-olds live in Lyon, the international police agency's headquarters. Meng Hongwei disappeared during a visit to China. In October the Chinese authorities said Mr Meng was being investigated over suspected bribe-taking. His wife and children are under police protection, having received threats. Quoted by France Inter radio on Friday, she said, "I fear they will kidnap me."

You Tube -- Resisting immigration? Maybe it's just in our natureImmigration officials last week arrested 105 people in New Jersey suspected of being in the country illegally, including four people with international criminal warrants. This came the same week that state officials announced new rules on how local police will handle immigration matters.ICE said the arrests had been planned before state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal released his directive, which the federal agency has criticized. The policy prevents police from inquiring about a person's immigration status unless it is relevant to an investigation. Jails also will not be allowed to detain...

"It's a mean nasty world out there" US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo On Close US-Saudi Relationship Continuing After Khashoggi Murder 11/20/2018 In an announcement clearly designed to happen during the Thanksgiving Week, President Trump has stressed the important economic relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia and Iran as a security threat in saying the US relationship with Saudis will continue in spite of the brutal murder of Saudi Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul October 2nd.... President Trump says he has submitted written answers to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's questions.... The "New York Times" reports that...

At the crest of his political career Meng Hongwei, the first-ever Chinese president of Interpol, was proudly hailed by state media as a testimony to the international community’s “full recognition” of China’s law enforcement capacity and status as a country based on the rule of law. Less than a year after he took the helm of the global policing body, Meng hosted its general assembly in Beijing – only the second time in the country’s history. At the opening ceremony, he was given the rare privilege of sitting next to the country’s most powerful man, President Xi Jinping, who –...

The international police agency Interpol announced Sunday that its missing president had resigned "with immediate effect" after China said the man was under investigation over unspecified legal violations and his wife told reporters that he had texted her an image of a knife, leading her to believe he was in danger. Grace Meng told reporters that she had not heard from her husband, Meng Hongwei, since Sept. 25. That day, he sent her the knife image from an Interpol phone four minutes after sending an initial message saying, "Wait for my call." She said the call never came and she...

The missing Interpol chief, Meng Hongwei, who it was revealed on Sunday has been detained in China for 12 days unknown to his family or employer, has resigned from the international police agency. Interpol said it had received his resignation “with immediate effect” late on Sunday. It was the latest twist in the mystery of Meng’s disappearance last month after he flew from France to China. In a terse statement on Sunday evening, the Chinese authorities had admitted they were holding Meng under investigation by a new government anti-corruption unit for suspected “violations of the law”.

Meng Hongwei was not on French soil when he was last seen, according a senior French law enforcement official, who declined to say whether he was in China. Meng's wife went to police in Lyon, where Interpol is based, Thursday night to report his disappearance, according to a statement released by the French Interior Ministry on Friday. The spouse told police that she had last heard from him 10 days ago and had recently received threats via social networks and by telephone, according to the statement. "France is looking into the situation of the President of Interpol and is concerned...