Last week, Prime Minister Hassan Diab of Lebanon strongly criticised Riad Salameh, the Governor of Lebanon's Central Bank. On Wednesday, Mr Salameh hit back and highlighted the sustained campaign against him. Is this dispute simply as the Financial Times described, a "feud" and a "public fight"? Or is it that the campaign against Mr Salameh runs much deeper? There are growing concerns that behind the attacks on Mr Salameh lie an attempt by Iran-backed Shi'ite group Hezbollah to oust the bank's governor, using their ally Prime Minister Hassan Diab as their voice, and with the backing of Gebran Bassil, the former Foreign Minister and President of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM). With Lebanon in an excruciating economic and financial crisis, this is not the time to allow Hezbollah their usual influence.
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The Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) in Romania is investigating 403 cryptocurrency transactions. These transactions, valued in total at 14 million US Dollars, were made over a period of three years, writes James Wilson.
The funds entered Romania in order to fund #resist groups and other NGOs who support the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), Klaus Iohannis, Dacian Ciolos and the Save Romania Union (USR) political party.Evidence leads to a virtual wallet on the BLOCKCHAIN online platform, funded by the Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland, which itself is funded directly by billionaire George Soros.
The European Commission has been urged to do more to tackle "very serious" judicial irregularities in Romania, writes Martin Banks.
A hearing in Brussels on Wednesday heard that these include "mass surveillance" of the Romanian population, collusion between the secret services and the judiciary and blackmailing of judges.
The demand comes just ahead of the Commission's latest Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) on Romania.
An interview with Jennifer Hamerman, Director of the European Campaign for Animal Rights
We met with Jennifer Hamerman in Brussels to learn more about the European Campaign for Animals and their 2016 campaign to ban fur farms in Europe.
Speaking today at a meeting of the European Parliament's inter-group for the welfare and conservation of animals, Mark Glover of "Respect for Animals" presented a new report on "The case against fur factory farming", which shows why fur farming should be banned.
It is time for us to end fur farming in Europe. There are 7200 fur farms in Europe and the EU accounts for 66 percent of global mink production and 70 percent of fox production. Animals on fur farms live in cramped and dirty wire cages. They are killed using the cheapest and most cruel methods, including suffocation, electrocution, gas, and poison. This practice is inhumane and has no place anywhere. Let us end it in our own backyard and send a signal to the rest of the world that fur farming is cruel.