Investigation

The 31-year-old Durham bowler will not play against Pakistan in the upcoming second Test match.

England fast bowler ‌Brydon Carse has been dropped from the squad for the second ⁠Test against ⁠Pakistan amid an investigation into an incident at a club in Derby, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has said.

“Following a ⁠referral from the ECB, the Cricket Regulator has confirmed that they will investigate events on Saturday night in Derby,” the board said in a statement on Monday.

“Brydon ⁠Carse will no longer be available for selection for the second men’s test while this investigation is ongoing and the full facts are obtained.”

Carse, who did not play in the opening test victory at Headingley, will be replaced by Sonny ‌Baker.

Videos circulated on social media appearing to show the 31-year-old Durham bowler in handcuffs being spoken to by police officers outside a venue. According to reports, Carse was not arrested and no charges were brought.

It has been a busy summer for England’s Cricket Regulator, the body set up to investigate matters where there is an allegation of a breach of ⁠the ECB’s code of conduct.

In June, it concluded an ⁠investigation into former test captain Ben Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson after a nightclub incident following the first test against New Zealand.

Both were left out of the second test before ⁠the regulator ruled that there was insufficient evidence to establish that any regulatory breach occurred.

The latest investigation comes five ⁠days after England’s returning test captain Joe Root ⁠spoke of the players being “really good role models and human beings” following a series of incidents and accusations of a drinking culture.

Controversy has followed England recently, with off-field issues ‌during last winter’s tours – including Harry Brook being fined 30,000 pounds ($41,000) following an altercation in Wellington, New Zealand – as well as reports of drinking during a mid-Ashes series trip ‌to ‌Noosa.

Stokes retired from international cricket after returning for the third test against New Zealand and Brendon McCullum was sacked as test coach.

England bowler Brydon Carse is under investigation after he was reportedly involved in an incident at a nightclub in Derby on Saturday, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed.

Videos circulating on social media on Sunday appeared to show Carse in handcuffs, being led away from a club by four police officers.

The Durham bowler, who is England’s squad for the second Test against Pakistan this week, was seen with team-mate Matthew Potts.

“We are aware of an incident which is reported to have taken place in Derby last night, and are currently investigating,” an ECB statement read.

“We will provide a further update when possible.”

More to follow.

Dodgers president Stan Kasten wants to make it clear that majority owner Mark Walter will not sell the team.

Following Walter’s decision to sell his majority stake in the Lakers, questions about his majority ownership of the Dodgers were raised amid his company’s financial difficulties, which include a federal probe of his businesses. But Kasten said it will have no effect on Walter’s majority ownership of the Dodgers.

“The Dodgers are not being sold,” Kasten said. “They’re not going to be sold. They’re not for sale. There’s no process that has been started to sell [the franchise]. Period. … I just wanted this to be clear because this question keeps coming up. I understand the questions; I do. The Lakers thing was what we call sui generis, one of those one-of-a-kind things. Really has nothing to do with what’s happening with [the Dodgers] or the other teams.

“I wanted you to hear it definitively: We are not selling the Dodgers. We are continuing with our plans going forward, like we always have had them. This comes from Mark. He’s gung-ho about continuing to try to win, again, including next year, subject to whatever next year’s climate looks like.”

Kasten added that he doesn’t expect the Dodgers’ operations to be interrupted, describing the franchise as “very stable, well-managed, and [with] very solid ownership.”

“I know nothing involving the Dodgers is part of the investigation,” Kasten said. “I’m promising you, when it’s over, you’re going to realize [things] are being mischaracterized. You don’t have to trust me, but I’m telling you.”

When Kasten was asked about reports Walter is trying to sell his stake in English Premier League team Chelsea FC and tried to cash out of lucrative TV deals with Charter Communications, he said they were mischaracterized.

“Those things don’t go together for a bunch of reasons I’m not going to get into today,” Kasten said.

Kasten took a similar tone when asked about reports of Walter having to repay insurance companies.

“I’m not in that part of the investigation,” Kasten said. “Things are going on behind the scenes, obviously, in connection with that. I’m not privy to all of them, don’t need to know, don’t want to know. But one thing we are all certain about: the sports portfolio is going to remain intact.”

Walter has additional ownership stakes in the Sparks, the Cadillac Formula One team, the Professional Women’s Hockey League and the Billie Jean King Cup tennis event.

“I can tell you from the guy running the team, knowing how the business runs and what it can support in terms of revenues and expenses — the Dodgers aren’t going anywhere,” Kasten said. “I feel that very strongly, and Mark feels even stronger than I do. I’m 74. I don’t know how long I’m going to be running it, but Mark, I think, is going to be running it a lot longer.

“I think Mark has done an extraordinary job as an owner, and all he’s ever cared about is providing the best experience in order to make us more money, to make this project successful,” Kasten added. “I think so far it has been; I expect that to continue far into the future.”

Video obtained by The Times shows Royal High football coach Adam Brubaker kicking a football toward a student and hitting him in the groin area, which has resulted in the school beginning an investigation on the eve of the team opening its season on Friday.

Brubaker is no longer coaching the team, with the existing coaching staff taking over and the team still planning to play Monroe on Friday, according to a Simi Valley Unified School District official.

Brubaker, a former Panorama coach, took over as head coach at Royal in the middle of the 2025 season.

When the news broke last week that Mark Walter was selling the Lakers just one year after buying the storied basketball franchise, executives working for another crown jewel in his sports empire — the Dodgers — were quick to say the billionaire had no plans to sell the team.

The Dodgers have won three of the last six World Series and 12 division titles since an ownership group led by Walter bought the then-bankrupt team in 2012, and the Dodgers now are considered the most successful — and lucrative — franchise in Major League Baseball.

Yet, amid Walter’s financial difficulties, including a federal inquiry into his insurance empire regarding $16 billion to $21 billion in undisclosed loans to his own companies, questions remain over whether the blowback will hit the Dodgers.

Walter has denied wrongdoing, and sports business experts say it’s far too soon to know whether the Dodgers will be in play. No charges have been filed against Walter or anyone associated with his businesses.

“If you’re judging on that — winning and revenue created — he’s been at the helm of all of that. … He does truly look like a white knight as it relates to his ownership of the Dodgers,” said Patrick Rishe, executive director of the Sports Business Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Still, “we don’t know what the issues are, and we don’t know the severity and the magnitude.”

Aside from the Lakers, the Dodgers are, by far, the most valuable of Walter’s handful of sports franchises, and industry sources not authorized to speak publicly about any potential sale told The Times that the team could fetch $10 billion to $13 billion.

Walter’s sports portfolio includes the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Assn.; the Cadillac Formula 1 racing team; a premier women’s tennis competition, the Billie Jean King Cup; and the entire Professional Women’s Hockey League. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates Walter has a net worth of $18.3 billion.

There have been reports that he is putting his shares of his most valuable professional soccer franchise, the Chelsea Football Club of the English Premier League, on the market.

But the Dodgers are the greatest show in baseball, playing before stadiums packed with fans willing to shell out top dollar to see a roster that includes international superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Last week, Dodgers president and part-owner Stan Kasten said the Lakers sale “really has nothing to do with the Dodgers” and that “there are no changes here or contemplated here.” And Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said at a news conference that he was “shocked” by news of the Lakers sale and had not heard of any potential changes to Dodgers ownership.

Andrew Granato, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in corporate finance and insurance, said that although it was not yet clear whether Walter would offload the Dodgers, it would not be impossible, given the speed and scale of the billionaire’s recent financial transactions and the mounting federal and public scrutiny.

“I imagine that no fan feels particularly comfortable if the owner of their favorite team is under … investigation. Certainly, it’s not an ideal situation,” he said.

Walter was riding high after the Dodgers’ success and his $10-billion purchase of the Lakers last year. But the last few months have been challenging.

The loans by two Delaware life insurers that Walter owns were made to companies tied to him or his TWG Global holding company but were not disclosed as “related party” transactions as required, the Wall Street Journal reported. Related-party transactions made by insurers are required to be reported to limit conflicts of interest and protect policyholders, who have an interest in the financial strength of their insurers.

Walter, the 66-year-old chief executive of Chicago investment firm Guggenheim Partners, led a group that included another Guggenheim executive and Magic Johnson in acquiring the Dodgers for $2.15 billion in 2012, then a record for an MLB team.

The Times has reported that he tapped the insurers he owned for financing, a deal that was later vetted by state insurance regulators.

However, the amount of related-party loans made by the two affiliated life insurers now under federal scrutiny is vastly more, amounting to 40% of the invested assets of Delaware Life as of Dec. 31, according to Fitch Ratings. The credit rating firm said that is the most of any North American life insurers it reviews.

It’s unclear where the money went, but the Wall Street Journal reported that billions were passed through a third party before being received by entities tied to Walter or his TWG Global holding company.

Last week, Walter stunned the sports world by selling a majority stake in the Lakers for $12.5 billion to former Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, who is the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Walter has declined to comment on whether the sale was tied to the federal investigation.

The framework for a deal was consummated in a matter of days, Iger told interviewers last week. It still must be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, which meets in September.

Projecting an exact value for the Dodgers is difficult because MLB and its players union are engaged in contentious collective bargaining negotiations that many experts believe could result in a lockout when the current agreement expires in December.

Should a salary cap be agreed upon for the first time in MLB history, the valuation could jump to the high end, the source said. And about $1 billion of any sale would be subtracted to cover the Dodgers’ future commitments on deferred contracts.

The Dodgers’ massive local television deal with SportsNet LA directly elevates the franchise’s overall valuation.

Listing potential buyers should the Dodgers be for sale is challenging because the estimated value of the franchise is so much greater than almost any other MLB team. The record price for a sports franchise was the $12.5 billion for the Lakers.

Besides Kushner and Iger, those who have bid for teams aren’t in the $10-billion-plus ballpark. The San Diego Padres were sold last week for $3.9 billion to José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.

Another question that has arisen as Walter’s financial troubles have garnered headlines is whether MLB would conduct its own investigation into Dodgers ownership or pressure the billionaire and his partners to sell the team.

“Any time there is any kind of public question about owners, they look into it,” former Dodgers president Bob Graziano told The Times. “I would guess, because there is a federal investigation going on, they’re not launching their own investigation, but they are going to wait to see what comes out of the federal investigation.”

No investigation of any kind into the matter has been announced by MLB.

MLB has never formally stripped an owner of a franchise or forced an outright sale through a vote of franchise owners. But the league forced Frank McCourt to sell the Dodgers in 2012 by exerting pressure and threatening a financial takeover or disciplinary action that would have stripped operational control.

When McCourt sold the team to Walter’s Guggenheim group, the franchise was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

When Guggenheim purchased the team in 2012, it outbid billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen, who now owns the New York Mets. A group headed by former Yankees and Dodgers manager Joe Torre and L.A. developer Rick Caruso dropped out of the bidding ahead of Cohen. Additional bidders included media executive Leo Hindery, billionaire Tom Barrack, then-St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke and Jared Kushner.

Times staff writer Laurence Darmiento contributed to this report.

HAYDEN Panettiere’s on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson has broken his silence on the actress’ sudden death from a suspected overdose.

The Nashville star died on Sunday afternoon at her South Carolina Airbnb, where she was staying with Brian and his brother Zach Hickerson.

An investigation is currently ongoing into what led to the 36-year-old’s death, and the Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the team.

Brian, 37, has spoken out for the first time since the incident through his attorney, Sloan Ellis, from the Ellis Hinton law firm.

“Hayden’s death remains under investigation, and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed,” Brian’s attorney told The U.S. Sun on Thursday.

“As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play.”

SECRET STRUGGLE

Hayden got ‘nitrous oxide & booze’ delivered to hotel 3 months before death

The statement concluded, “Out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.”

Brian was spotted on Wednesday in Greenville, South Carolina, close to where Hayden died, wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a hoodie.

He’d been keeping a low profile since his brother discovered Hayden unconscious in a chair in the living room, where she was later declared dead, per a police report obtained by The U.S. Sun.

Police said that while Zach was very emotional upon the discovery, Brian apparently didn’t shed a tear until Hayden was officially declared dead.

Brian also told cops that the Remember the Titans star regularly took a “bag of medication.”

All eyes have since been on Brian’s family, as more questions surface about Hayden’s unexpected passing.

Hayden’s estranged mother, Lesley Vogel, slammed Brian in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday, saying, “This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death, and that was Brian Hickerson.”

It wasn’t a secret that Hayden and Brian had a tumultuous, years-long relationship since meeting in 2018.

Brian was arrested for domestic violence and served 45 days in jail in 2021 for hitting Hayden with a closed fist.

He pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring the former child star.

However, they appeared to have reconciled as Brian has been staying with Hayden in her Los Angeles apartment for the last two years, The U.S. Sun exclusively reported.

The Heroes star’s neighbors have also raised alarm about the pair’s relationship and were even warned by the Homeowner’s Association to call the police if they saw Brian on the property last August.

Hayden’s neighbor, Mia Terrazzas, claimed to Inside Edition that notices were distributed on the property urging residents to be wary of Brian.

Mia also said she herself even called 911 numerous times over disturbances involving Brian inside Hayden’s unit.

Hayden’s history with addiction is also of great concern, as sources claimed she sought out whippets and booze just months earlier at a Nashville hotel, despite her efforts to get clean.

Authorities were warned about dangers of hitting Mohammad Ghamira, who suffered from the rare medical condition haemophilia.

A Syrian police officer has been arrested and may be criminally prosecuted after an investigation found that he hit a detainee with a medical condition who died shortly after being released from custody.

Syria’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday that Mohammad Ghamira, 29, died after being slapped by police investigator Ahmad Jawad, who has since been detained and referred to the public prosecutor.

Ghamira, who died on Sunday, suffered from haemophilia, a rare condition that prevents blood from clotting properly, making sufferers bleed more easily and for longer periods.

The father of two was a member of the White Helmets, the civil defence organisation made up of volunteers that operated in rebel-held areas in Syria. They went on search and rescue operations and provided medical care following government attacks.

The investigation found that Ghamira had told internal security personnel about his condition, while his wife twice informed authorities about the potential danger.

Ahmad Latouf, head of the investigation committee and assistant interior minister for police affairs, confirmed that Ghamira died after suffering a brain haemorrhage believed to have been caused by the slap.

Two other police officers are also being investigated but are not currently due to be prosecuted.

Ghamira’s death has provoked widespread anger among Syrians, reminding many of the gross human rights abuses that were systematic under former President Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown by rebels in December 2024.

New leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has promised to usher in a new era, prioritising human rights and overseeing an inclusive government. However, human rights organisations have documented widespread abuses by government forces, particularly against minority groups.

Commenting on Ghamira’s death on Thursday, the Interior Ministry accused Jawad of violating ministerial instructions and the code of conduct, which strictly prohibit any form of humiliating or abusive treatment of detainees.

Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab said in a statement that the investigation results showed the ministry’s “commitment to reaching the truth and holding accountable those proven to have overstepped”.

“We rose up against the former tyrant’s regime in rejection of injustice and impunity, and therefore, building a state of law begins with our ability to hold the wrongdoer accountable, to give restitution to the victim, and not to do injustice to anyone who has not been proven responsible” for wrongdoing, he said.

Reporting from Syria’s northwestern port city of Latakia, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett said the Syrian government has vowed to take further action.

“There will be surveillance put into police stations and better training provided to officers but they say all of this will take time,” Pett said.

“Part of the reason it has resonated so widely is because of who Mohammad was. He was a young man, 29 years old, and he had two children and was a volunteer with the White Helmets. They were basically seen as heroes. His father joined the revolution and so he’s a figure who many people here in his community and nationally respected,” she added.

“That’s part of why there’s been so much sadness and anger and it’s also [because of] the fact that Mohammad is not the first to be mistreated in detention by the new authorities. Syrian rights organisations have documented other cases of deaths in detention.”

Ghamira was arrested last week accused of theft. He was later released and died at a hospital in Latakia on Sunday.

During a forensic examination, medical experts found no visible signs of violence or severe force, as well as no skull fractures or traumatic wounds.

Recently revealed evidence from government investigators and court filings renewed questions about Southern California Edison’s claim that it operated its electrical grid safely before last year’s deadly Eaton fire.

Most records surrounding the fire’s cause have been sealed at the request of Edison and plaintiff attorneys. Yet new details revealed in court show that critical fire prevention equipment needed repair before the blaze and that vegetation under the tower where it ignited hadn’t been trimmed for years.

Los Angeles County and state fire investigators cited eight violations, including three of California’s criminal code, in their report released on Aug. 4. The details were blacked out as the district attorney continues an investigation into the devastating fire.

“We don’t believe there is a basis for criminal liability and we will cooperate with any review,” said Kathleen Dunleavy, an Edison spokeswoman.

The investigators said in the report that the Jan. 7, 2025 inferno, which killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 homes and other structures, was caused by electrical arcing on an out-of-service transmission line in Eaton Canyon, which caused hot metal fragments to fall into the dried vegetation below.

Here are key takeaways from the investigative report and recent court filings by lawyers representing fire victims:

Edison didn’t turn off power on its Eaton Canyon transmission lines, despite emergency conditions.

Before the fire, the National Weather Service predicted a “life-threatening” windstorm, investigators wrote in their report released Aug. 4. Santa Ana wind gusts were forecast to reach speeds of 60 to 80 miles per hour, with peak gusts of 90 miles per hour in the mountains.

Earlier that day, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency because of an out-of-control fire that was burning homes in Pacific Palisades.

Despite those conditions, Edison kept power flowing through its high-voltage transmission lines built in the mountains above Altadena. Investigators noted that wind gusts at a weather station about a half-mile from the Edison tower where the fire started recorded gusts up to 68 miles per hour just before the first flames at 6:11 p.m. By 7, gusts were up to 85 miles per hour.

Dunleavy said the conditions did not meet the company’s internal standards for shutting off the lines.

“SCE was actively monitoring the transmission lines in Eaton Canyon on Jan. 7 and none of these lines met our de-energization criteria,” Dunleavy said.

Safety equipment on the out-of-service line was damaged before the fire but not fixed.

Edison had installed safety equipment at both ends of the out-of-service, unconnected transmission line in Eaton Canyon, including at the pylon known as Tower 208 where the fire ignited. But on the night of the fire, the equipment was broken, according to a June court filing.

The equipment was designed to send any unexpected power on the out-of-service line safely into the earth. The grounding equipment was necessary because the idle Mesa-Sylmar line ran parallel to 12 energized high-voltage lines, creating the danger of induction.

Induction happens when electromagnetic fields cause power on energized lines to jump to nearby idle equipment.

At Tower 208, a component known as a compression paddle was not securely bonded to the pylon, allowing debris to form and creating a dangerous air pocket, the filing said. The paddle was meant to be secured with four bolts, but only one bolt was used.

Government fire investigators also found broken equipment at one of the Mesa-Sylmar towers during a tour of the site with Edison after the fire. According to their report, investigators observed “the center conductor dangling free from the bridge section of the tower; it appeared that the remaining two conductors were not bored down to the tower bridge.”

The investigators said they discussed the equipment “abnormalities” with an Edison lineman and lawyer on the tour. “The Lineman said that they were not new and were like this last year; he was also unsure why they were not corrected when it was inspected,” the investigators wrote.

Asked why the equipment was not fixed, Dunleavy said, “We’re looking into that.”

She said the company strives to have a strong maintenance and inspection program and still was performing post-fire examinations and testing.

Edison kept the century-old, out-of-service Mesa-Sylmar line in place for decades, despite knowing idle lines could reenergize and spark fires.

Utilities have known for decades that unused lines can become energized from nearby electrified equipment through the induction process.

To teach employees about the danger, Edison created a training video featuring a 2007 incident in which a line known as the Kramer-Coolwater circuit was de-energized to allow work by a crew. The line became reenergerized while laying on the ground and started several fires, according to a retelling of the video in a July court filing by lawyers representing victims. Later that day, the crew’s foreman was injured when he touched the line.

Eleven years later, the Kramer-Coolwater circuit was unconnected from the grid, similar to the line in Eaton Canyon. Yet the line was electrified by induction from adjacent lines again in 2018, electrocuting a lineman who touched the conductor, the court filing said.

The company has said it kept the line in place even though it hadn’t carried power since 1971 because executives believed it could be used in the future.

Dunleavy said the induction event in the training video was different from what appears to have happened on Jan. 7 with the Eaton Canyon transmission lines.

“We had never seen an idle, de-energized transmission line cause an ignition,” she said.

Edison failed to clear vegetation below the tower where the fire ignited.

The investigators’ report said the fire ignited when electrical arcing on the idle line caused hot metal particles to fall into “the receptive fuel beds consisting of dry vegetation” below the tower.

The June court filing includes details from Google Earth images showing that the vegetation under Tower 208 had not been trimmed since at least 2021. Leaving the brush to grow violated Edison’s safety standard for “structure brushing,” the filing said.

Edison explained structure brushing in an article last year, describing how it cleared all vegetation around certain equipment, creating a 10-foot barrier to reduce the fire risk.

Asked why Edison let brush grow below the idle line, Dunleavy said, “We inspect and maintain all our equipment according to existing regulations and laws.”

Edison has sued L.A. County and other public entities, saying that their failures, including not clearing brush and delayed evacuation warnings, increased the fire’s destruction.

A fight over accountability

The first jury trial looking at whether Edison acted negligently in igniting the fire is scheduled to begin Jan. 25.

Later, state regulators will evaluate whether the company acted “prudently” in its actions related to the fire’s start.

Under a 2019 law brought by Newsom to protect utilities from bankruptcy, the companies automatically are deemed to have acted prudently if regulators sign off on their wildfire prevention plan.

Newsom’s safety regulators approved Edison’s plan just before the Eaton fire. That means Edison will be fully reimbursed for the billions of dollars in Eaton fire damages by a state fund that Newsom’s legislation created unless outside parties can prove Edison acted imprudently, negligently or worse.

“We continue to believe we will make a good faith showing of prudency,” Dunleavy said.

Newsom is working behind closed doors on legislation to further protect Edison and the state’s two other big for-profit electric utilities from the cost of wildfires caused by their equipment, the Times reported this year.

The three companies’ equipment ignited at least seven of the state’s 20 most destructive wildfires, according to CalFire. The Eaton fire was the state’s second-most destructive fire after the 2018 Camp fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed most of the town of Paradise. That fire, according to investigators, was ignited by an old transmission line owned by Pacific Gas & Electric.

The survivors of Eaton and other fires are fighting Newsom’s plan, saying it would leave California more vulnerable to utility-sparked fires.

“The real danger is what will happen to Californians if we further strip away these corporations’ financial incentives to prevent catastrophic fires,” Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivor’s Network, wrote in an analysis sent to state lawmakers this week.

“These are not innocent companies overtaken by climate change, nor is this an abstract problem of ‘wildfire liability,’” she wrote. “It is a continuing pattern of catastrophic corporate failure.”

Since Myanmar’s civil war escalated following a coup in 2021 more than 150,000 Rohingya have been purged from their homes and forced to seek asylum across Asia.

Most flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, where a million other members of this persecuted minority barely survive in some of the largest resettlement camps on Earth, following a brutal military crackdown in 2017.

Caught in the crossfire between the ruling military government and rebel fighters in Myanmar, some Rohingya refugees claim members of their families have been forcibly conscripted, subjected to targeted attacks and even massacred.

These atrocities are occurring in their homeland, Rakhine State, a secretive, inaccessible corner of the country largely controlled by a local armed group called the Arakan Army.

Rohingya witnesses allege that the violence and oppression they face now from the Arakan Army, Myanmar’s most powerful rebel group, is just as brutal as ethnic cleansing by the military in 2017 that first drew global attention to their plight.

Both the military and Arakan Army deny the allegations and blame each other

Working with human rights investigators from Myanmar Witness and Rohingya citizen journalists, Al Jazeera examines what has happened to this Muslim minority during the Arakan Army’s takeover of Rakhine.

This documentary also exposes how the rebel group is connected to the human trafficking of Rohingya refugees out of Myanmar, including young children and women who are subjected to sexual violence and brutality.

The Arakan Army declined to address the allegations raised in this film.  However, its leaders have previously denied accusations of targeted attacks on civilians, including two mass killings of Rohingya villagers in Rakhine. In a written statement to Al Jazeera, Myanmar’s military alleges that the Arakan Army is inciting hatred against Rohingya Muslims and has “reportedly committed acts of genocide” against them since taking control of much of the state.

With growing violence and a transnational crisis on their doorstep, Bangladesh wants to send all the refugees back to the war-torn country through a repatriation scheme.

But increased activity by Rohingya armed groups aligned with the military government is making that harder. Rohingya rebels active in the conflict reject those allegations.  When questioned about their conduct by Al Jazeera, one armed group called Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) denied burning civilian homes, participating in activities that cause harm to Rohingya villagers and encouraging refugees to fight against the Arakan Army.

Using leaked documents, covertly filmed footage and exclusive interviews, Al Jazeera investigates the driving forces behind this largely forgotten humanitarian emergency.

This story is part of Myanmar Exposed, a series of reports by Al Jazeera Investigates which uncover the hidden truths of an ongoing crisis caused by the 2021 coup and civil conflict.

Police added that officers have trawled hours of public and private CCTV footage as part of the investigation, while door-to-door enquiries are also continuing.

The last sighting of either man had been on Friday morning.

Police also said the Chancellor Street property where the bodies were found was the home of one of the victims, and that the two men knew each other.

Det Supt Kelly said: “I am appealing directly to anyone with any information, no matter how small or insignificant they feel it may be, to come forward and speak to us.

“Please do not assume that the police already know the information you have.

“We are keen to hear from anyone who knew Paul and Gary or who was in the Partick area near to Chancellor Street from Friday morning from 09:00, who saw Paul or Gary, or saw or heard anything suspicious.”

Supt Craig Brady said: “I would like to extend my sympathies to the family and friends of Paul and Gary as they try to come to terms with their loss.

“We understand the significant impact this will have on the local community and I would like to thank everyone for their help so far.”

Post-mortem examinations took place on Monday and Tuesday and confirmed the causes of death as being murder.

A major incident public portal has been launched, external as part of the investigation.

The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it is investigating Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez of Los Angeles for alleged sexual misconduct.

The committee said it is investigating allegations that Gomez, 51, engaged in “inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer,” according to a statement released by the committee’s chair, Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), and ranking member Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord).

The New York Post reported in April that Gomez, a married five-term congressman, was spotted in 2023 kissing a much younger staffer from another office. CNN reported that the House Ethics Committee later discovered other allegations of sexual misconduct by Gomez.

Gomez acknowledged in a statement Monday that he made “personal mistakes outside my marriage,” but said that his “actions were consensual in nature and haven’t violated the law or House Ethics rules.”

Guest and DeSaulnier said in their statement that the panel’s public acknowledgment of the investigation “does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred.”

Gomez said he is “confident that a full and impartial review of the facts will bear that out” and that he is “ready to cooperate with the Ethics Committee inquiry and provide it with whatever information it might need.”

The committee can take a wide range of actions if it substantiates the allegations in an investigation, including recommending that a member be reprimanded, censured or removed, or referring the conduct to the U.S. Department of Justice for criminal investigation.

Gomez represents California’s 34th Congressional District, stretching from Koreatown to Eagle Rock. He faces an election challenge in November from Democrat Angela Gonzales-Torres, who has the backing of the progressive Justice Democrats.

Gomez received 46% of the vote in the June primary, while Gonzales-Torres got 30%.

Gonzales-Torres has been particularly critical of Gomez because of his past support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

Gonzales-Torres blasted Gomez in a statement to The Times after news of the investigation.

“At a time when working families are struggling the most, we need to get creeps out of office,” she said. “We need representatives who will actually focus on fighting for policies like Medicare for All — not people like Rep. Jimmy Gomez and Donald Trump, who are mired in scandal and investigation.”

Gomez was friends with former California Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin), who resigned from Congress earlier this year and suspended his campaign for California gubernatorial campaign after being accused of sexual assault by multiple women. Gomez had been a co-chair of Swalwell’s campaign.

The 2023 incident reportedly occurred at a party hosted by Swalwell.

Gomez is married to Mary Hodge, a onetime top aide to former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. The couple have a son whom Gomez wore in a baby carrier during the lengthy House speaker election in 2023. That same year, Gomez founded the Congressional Dads Caucus, which has advocated for expanded child tax credits and other parent-friendly legislation.

Gomez apologized to Hodge in his statement.

“I am deeply sorry to my wife for the pain and embarrassment that I have brought into our lives,” he said. “Her sacrifices and support are central to my ability to serve, and I can only feel gratitude for her grace and strength.”

When Mark Walter, the Lakers controlling owner, flipped the storied team last week for $12.5 billion amid a federal probe of his businesses, it stunned the sports world but seemed to make financial and legal sense.

The Dodgers majority owner, who had bought his stake in the basketball team last year at a $10-billion valuation, likely netted a big payday from the sale to former Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner.

And that’s money the billionaire can apply to pay down the debts of two troubled Delaware life insurers he owns that are under federal scrutiny.

It’s not at all clear whether the sale of the Lakers will have any effect on the ongoing investigations. Neither Walter nor his companies have been charged with any crimes.

TWG Global, Walter’s holding company, did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but a spokesperson for the company has previously stated that they are cooperating with authorities and expect the matter to be resolved “favorably.”

“Mark Walter and TWG have always acted in good faith, and those who have done business with Mark know him as honest and straightforward,” the statement said.

After receiving federal grand jury subpoenas in February, Delaware Life and Clear Spring Life and Annuity conducted internal investigations. They found that $21 billion in loans they made should have been recorded as extended to “related parties.”

Related parties have business or personal ties and transactions between them can have legitimate reasons, but they also pose potential conflicts of interest and require disclosure and typically extra regulatory scrutiny.

In the case of insurers, which hold premium dollars from policyholders for future claims payouts, regulators want to ensure the money is there when it’s needed. Related-party transactions can threaten that.

Walter, 66, chief executive of Chicago investment firm Guggenheim Partners, led a group that included another Guggenheim executive and Magic Johnson in acquiring the Dodgers for $2.15 billion in 2012. The Times has reported he tapped the insurers he owned for financing, a deal that was later vetted by state insurance regulators.

However, the amount of related-party loans made by the two affiliated life insurers now under federal scrutiny is vastly more, amounting to 40% of the invested assets of Delaware Life as of Dec. 31, according to Fitch Ratings. The credit rating outfit said that is the most of any North American life insurers it reviews.

It’s unclear exactly where all the money went, but the Wall Street Journal reported billions were passed through a third party before being received by entities tied to Walter or his TWG Global holding company.

Company executives also told Fitch that they were unaware they were making related-party loans. Bloomberg reported that investigators are looking at some loans made to multiple companies affiliated with one Chicago firm to see if they were passed along to Walter’s ventures.

In June regulatory filings that disclosed the $21 billion in restatements, each insurer labeled them as “corrections of errors,” which would imply that they were inadvertent.

Jacob Frenkel, a former U.S. attorney, said it appears clear a focus of the investigation into Walter’s businesses is to determine whether the restatements were just errors.

“If there is intentional concealment of related-party transactions or the creation of intermediaries to help with that concealment, that certainly [could] invite criminal and civil enforcement scrutiny,” said Frenkel, who prosecuted financial crimes and also worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Authorities have seized Walter’s cellphone and laptop, according to Bloomberg. Still, investigations by prosecutors and securities regulators can result in no action.

Frenkel said that if criminality is found in complex investigations such as this one, federal prosecutors will typically file mail or wire fraud charges that carry up to 20 years in prison.

It would not matter whether a company that was the victim of fraudulent conduct closed or is able to continue conducting business after being rescued financially.

“The entity’s failure is not a prerequisite for there to be a crime in intentionally misleading conduct,” he said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting a parallel investigation into both companies, according to their regulatory filings.

Frenkel said its interest could revolve around how Guggenheim Investments, Walter’s asset management firm, booked revenue from its dealings with the insurers and the disclosures of the transactions.

The SEC can seek civil monetary penalties and the return of illegal profits, and bar or suspend an individual from serving as a corporate officer or director, among other remedies.

Delaware Life and Clear Spring are part of TWG’s Group 1001 Life & Annuity.

Delaware Life has started a remediation plan to restructure some of the loans, review others and address its “control deficiencies,” including through TWG purchasing some of the loans, according to ratings outfit S&P Global. It hopes to complete the plan by the end of the year.

However, Fitch in its downgrade of Delaware Life said the plan may prove “insufficient to fully address governance, reporting, and investment oversight issues.”

The Delaware Department of Insurance did not respond to emails for comment.

Rex Frazier, a former deputy commissioner at the California Department of Insurance, said that in the situation that the insurers find themselves, the state regulator will be looking at a company’s capital sufficiency.

“The change from unaffiliated to affiliated transactions can affect the regulator’s view of whether the insurers have adequate capital and, if the regulator thinks not, then the regulator can impose additional capital requirements,” said Frazier, now president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, a property and casualty industry trade group.

“If the regulator determines that there is inadequate capital to pay for their obligations … there are many serious remedies they can take to protect vulnerable people depending on those income streams,” he said, including seizing a company or forcing its sale.

There is no indication that either insurer is in such dire straits. Since the disclosures, rating agencies Fitch, AM Best and S&P Global have downgraded the companies’ outlook to negative, but they also have said the insurers maintain a high level of financial strength.

Walter is not the only owner of a life insurer to rely on related-party loans to fund its business dealings.

AM Best, in a December report, said affiliated investments among life insurers and annuity companies grew more than 17% annually in 2024 to more than $373 billion, driven by those owned by private equity and asset managers.

It said the growth of such investments — a type of related-party transactions — presents “regulatory risks” that may suggest “a company’s operations are more intertwined with its parent and affiliated investment management with possible negative consequences.”

“Should the parent/affiliate company experience financial stress, negative impacts to the insurer are heightened due to the higher exposure,” it said.

Frenkel said it’s good to keep in mind that at the end of their investigations, neither the Justice Department nor the SEC may take any action.

However, due to the complexity of the case, it may be a while before that point is even reached.

“This is clearly the type of investigation that the ‘where is this going?’ conversation could easily still be continuing in January of 2028,” he said.

Aug. 11 (UPI) — Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., launched an investigation Tuesday into the Trump administration’s prosecution of a former Olympian for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro brought the felony charges against David Hearn, who was accused of vandalizing the reflecting pool by “forcefully and violently” ripping up part of the pool floor, earlier this summer.

However, on Aug. 1, she requested the charges be dismissed, saying that new documents from the Department of the Interior showed the damage was instead caused by “hasty and botched work” by the contractor and that she was misled. On Thursday, a federal judge granted a dismissal.

Pirro initially said there was “tremendous evidence” that Hearn had caused more than $1,000 in damages to the pool. President Donald Trump has publicly criticized her for the decision to dismiss the charges, saying she “choked” and that she should “revisit her hastily made decision.” He maintains that vandals caused the damage.

Raskin sent letters to Pirro and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum requesting all communications between their offices and the White House, as well as all documents related to the case — including all evidence presented to the grand jury that indicted Hearn in early July.

In a statement, Raskin noted that court filings show that, despite Pirro’s blame of the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice also had its own evidence of the botched installation before indicting Hearn.

“How did this debacle happen?” Raskin wrote in the letters to Pirro and Burgum. “… Did the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. in fact maliciously prosecute an American citizen it knew to be innocent with a felony charge carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison? Did the U.S. Department of the Interior deliberately mislead prosecutors to cover up a ‘botched’ renovation by a company awarded a dubious $15 million insider no-bid contract?

“The conclusion seems inescapable that at least one, if not both, of you have misled the American public about the evidence and used it to corrupt and weaponize our justice system against an innocent 67-year-old American citizen.”

Raskin also noted that, in what he called a “jaw-dropping admission,” Interior Department officials wrote to the contractor as early as June 11, more than a week before Hearn was arrested, saying that the reflecting pool liner was already peeling.

WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general in a vote early Saturday, cementing the command of President Trump’s former personal lawyer at a Department of Justice that Trump has sought to bend to his will.

The Republican-led Senate voted 50 to 49 to make Blanche the second confirmed attorney general since Trump returned to the White House last year with a stated desire to use the law enforcement agency to investigate his political enemies. While Blanche has already been leading the department in an acting capacity, his confirmation could free him to pursue the administration’s agenda even more aggressively.

Blanche said on social media that he was “deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me,” adding that he was “grateful” to senators for working late to confirm him.

The vote followed a tumultuous confirmation fight that exposed deep concerns — from some Republicans as well as Democrats — about installing Trump’s close ally atop a Justice Department that historically prided itself on its independence from the White House.

In the end, Blanche was confirmed by the narrowest of margins, opposed by two Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — and by every Democrat.

The path to confirmation for Blanche was unusually rocky, due in large part to Republican concerns about a controversial settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS.

Under pressure, Blanche publicly promised in writing that the department would abandon Trump’s proposed $1.8-billion compensation fund for the president’s allies, including those who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and rein in another piece of the settlement designed to shield Trump and his family from IRS tax audits.

His appeals were enough to win over Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, the decisive vote who threw his support behind Blanche on Friday morning. Cassidy said no other nominee may be able to run the department better under Trump and suggested Blanche’s role as Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer can make him more effective at resisting the Republican president’s demands.

“This is not a referendum on President Trump. It is a decision regarding Mr. Blanche in very specific circumstances,” said Cassidy, who lost his primary this year to a Trump-backed challenger.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said confirming Blanche would be a “serious mistake.” He begged his colleagues not to be on the “wrong side” of history.

“If there is ever a moment in history when we need an attorney general above reproach, who is clearly dedicated to ending corruption, even at the highest level of our government, it’s right now,” Durbin said.

Loyalty to Trump

The vote capped off a bruising confirmation fight, with Blanche’s loyalty to Trump at the center of the stalemate.

Blanche was elevated to the top Justice Department post in an acting capacity after Trump fired Pam Bondi in April. Blanche moved swiftly to advance the president’s interests, accelerating investigations into Trump’s perceived foes and announcing the settlement that created the $1.8-billion “anti-weaponization fund” to compensate Trump allies who feel mistreated by the criminal justice system and provided the president and his family members with immunity from tax audits.

The controversial settlement threatened to torpedo Blanche’s nomination until he formally rescinded the fund in writing under pressure from Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. The deal reached between the senators and the department unlocked a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which advanced Blanche’s nomination earlier this week.

Even after the deal, Blanche faced opposition from some Republican senators concerned with the settlement fund and the tax audit immunity.

Murkowski announced early Friday that she would join Collins in opposing Blanche’s nomination, saying the country needs an attorney general “who will check the worst impulses of this administration.”

Former prosecutor rises as Trump’s defender

A former federal prosecutor in New York, Blanche rose to public prominence as a lead attorney on Trump’s defense team, including during Trump’s hush money trial in New York in which he was found guilty of felony fraud.

He also defended Trump against criminal charges in the two federal cases brought by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice, related to Trump’s attempts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election and his hoarding of classified documents at his home in Florida. Both cases were dropped after Trump won reelection in 2024, and despite the seriousness of the charges, Blanche said that experience provided him a firsthand look at what he claims was the weaponization of the criminal justice system against Trump.

Blanche entered the Justice Department last year as deputy attorney general under Bondi, overseeing the agency’s day-to-day operations and serving as the public face for high-profile and controversial matters, like the release of millions of investigative files related to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Democrats have accused Blanche of prioritizing his loyalty to Trump above all else through investigations against perceived Trump foes such as former FBI Director James Comey and a radical reshaping of the department. Under Bondi and Blanche’s leadership, the department has lost thousands of employees through firings, resignations or voluntary departures.

Blanche’s supporters say his experience as a federal prosecutor and the trust he earned from Trump in the courtroom make him better equipped than Bondi to explain to the White House the legal constraints of its demands. Republicans have also touted his efforts to bring down violent crime, tackle illegal immigration and combat violent cartels and drug trafficking.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Judiciary Committee chairman, gave a full-throated endorsement of Blanche ahead of voting, saying he’s led the Justice Department with distinction. “Mr. Blanche is the right choice,” said Grassley (R-Iowa).

It is unclear whether Blanche will fare any better in delivering on Trump’s desire for retribution than Bondi, whom Trump fired amid resistance from judges, grand jurors and the department’s own workforce as prosecutors sought to establish criminal conduct by one Trump foe after another.

Shortly after Blanche took the top post, the Justice Department moved to indict Comey on charges of threatening the 47th president by posting a social media photograph of seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47.” Comey’s lawyers are pressing to have the case dismissed, accusing the department of misleading judges, submitting documents containing false statements and withholding key facts.

Blanche has also appointed Joseph DiGenova, a former Justice Department prosecutor from the Reagan administration, to oversee a Florida-based investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired over the last decade to undermine Trump. But it remains uncertain whether that inquiry will result in any criminal charges.

Durkin Richer and Mascaro write for the Associated Press. AP writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Kevin Freking and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.

Clippers star Kawhi Leonard had a second lucrative undisclosed sponsorship agreement with a company doing business with the team, Pablo Torre reported Thursday night on his podcast.

Scoreboard manufacturer Daktronics, which built the $100 million video board at the Clippers’ Intuit Dome, hired Leonard to a multi-million dollar endorsement deal, according to Torre. The podcast host found no evidence that the All-NBA forward did any work for the company.

The details are similar to the $28 million endorsement deal Leonard had with Aspiration, a now-defunct environmental banking company that had a 23-year, $300 million sponsorship deal with Clippers. Steve Ballmer, the team’s owner, invested $60 million into Aspiration, triggering allegations that the payment to Leonard circumvented the NBA salary cap.

That deal is at the center off an ongoing, almost year-long NBA investigation. Requests on Friday for comment from Leonard’s agent and the Clippers were not immediately answered.

The salary cap limits what teams can spend on player payroll to ensure parity and prevent the wealthiest teams from outspending smaller-market teams to acquire the best players. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has called attempts to circumvent it a “cardinal sin.”

The topic was raised on Torre’s podcast by a person identified as an “anonymous high-level source under contract for Intuit Dome.” The person alleged in an interview that the sponsorship deal was “1,000% a way to circumvent the salary cap. It was funneling money from the Clippers through Daktronics back to Kawhi.”

The investigation into the Aspiration allegations has grown in scope, the Athletic reported three weeks ago. In addition to attempting to determine whether Aspiration’s payment to Leonard violated NBA salary-cap rules, the probe conducted by high-powered New York law firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz is examining Leonard’s deal with Daktronics.

If the NBA determines that a salary-cap violation occurred, the Clippers could be fined and stripped of first-round picks. Ballmer also could be penalized and Leonard’s contract could be voided. He has one year and $50.3 million left on a three-year, $149.5 million deal he signed before the 2024-25 season.

The endorsement deal with Daktronics raised suspicion because the company doesn’t do business with the general public and doesn’t need prominent athletes or celebrities to pitch its products.

“Daktronics was conservative to a fault for the 20+ years I was there,” a former employee told Torre. “I remember asking early on why we didn’t do more traditional advertising and promotion to increase brand recognition. I was told that since it’s B2B and not a consumer product, it didn’t make sense to advertise that way.”

Asked whether Leonard had an endorsement deal, Daktronics pointed Torre to a crisis management firm whose spokesman said, “My understanding is Daktronics doesn’t have a deal with Kawhi right now.” Asked for clarification, the spokesman said, “I don’t know what the company wants to say, or can say, given the Wachtell investigation and all that.”

Daktronics is a leader in designing, engineering and manufacturing digital LED display technology and audio systems. Nearly 600 clients are listed on the company website, including numerous NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL teams. Other clients include several airports, and Daktronics built the LAX Time Tower, a 72-foot, four-sided interactive digital media structure located in the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

The Clippers traded Leonard to the Toronto Raptors on June 30 for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and a slew of draft picks, but the teams put deal was put on hold pending the outcome of the investigation.

Leonard would not talk about the allegations during the 2025-26 NBA season because the investigation was ongoing. He brushed it off during media day in September.

“None of us did … wrongdoing and, yeah, that’s it,” he said. “We invite the investigation.”

Almost a year later, the investigation continues. Silver has expressed a desire for a resolution, saying in June that it “needs to be wrapped up before next season.” The NBA regular season will begin in October.

Salary-cap circumvention first surfaced with Leonard during his free agency in 2019 after he led the Raptors to the NBA championship. Negotiations with the Lakers ceased when Leonard’s uncle, Dennis Robertson, requested a house, the use of private aircraft, guaranteed off-court earnings and an ownership stake in the team, according to Dan Woike of the Athletic. The Lakers informed Leonard’s representatives that those requests violated the NBA collective bargaining agreement and Leonard eventually signed with the Clippers, where he played the last seven seasons.

At least eight people, including students and teachers, were killed and 15 others injured after a student opened fire inside a school in Thailand. Police said the gunman later died by suicide.

The federal law enforcement probe into the financial affairs of the Dodgers’ controlling owner, Mark Walter, seems to focus on what looks like an obscure financial maneuver: related-party transactions.

They are deals between entities with business or personal ties, including loans, sales and other transactions, that can have legitimate reasons but pose potential conflicts of interest and typically require extra scrutiny.

Walter tapped insurers he controlled to provide most of the financing for the $2.15-billion acquisition of the Dodgers in 2012, The Times has reported — a deal later vetted by state insurance regulators.

Now, regulators reportedly are investigating whether billions of dollars’ worth of similar loans made by Walter’s companies were properly disclosed.

There are examples in which related-party transactions led to trouble, including the 2001 bankruptcy of Enron Corp., the largest at the time in Wall Street history. Bernie Madoff profited from his Ponzi scheme through related-party loans.

At issue with Walter is $21 billion in loans not disclosed to state insurance regulators that were made by two Delaware insurers he owns, according to ratings agency Fitch. The loans reportedly were made to companies with ties to Walter or his TWG Global holdings company.

The seriousness of the investigation has been highlighted by subpoenas served on the insurers and the reported seizure of Walter’s cellphone and laptop by federal authorities. Still, investigations by prosecutors and securities regulators can result in no action.

Here are more details on the risk presented by related-party transactions and why they require disclosure and extra regulatory scrutiny.

What do the investigations mean for his ownership of his sport teams?

The 66-year-old billionaire also took a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers last year and owns the Chelsea soccer team in the English Premier League. There is no indication yet that any of this has affected his ownership stakes, but the probe has yet to be completed.

What is the problem with related-party transactions?

Bruce Dubinsky, a forensic accountant who worked on the Enron and Madoff cases, says the issue comes down to the motivation of the parties and can be explained through an analogy.

Sell a car to a stranger and you both research its worth and come to an agreed “fair market value,” he said. Sell it to your brother, you might cut the price to “give him a deal,” and later even forgive the payments.

“That’s why, from an audit standpoint, there should be more scrutiny if you’re doing business with the left hand and the right hand, because it’s easier to manipulate things,” Dubinsky said. “Repayments can be delayed indefinitely. They are always more suspect to fraud.”

How does that play out in the insurance industry?

Insurance is one of the most regulated industries, since the companies hold premium dollars from policyholders for future claims payouts — and regulators want to ensure the money is there when it’s needed. Related-party transactions can threaten that.

“There is a conflict of interest between the policyholders’ interest in the company being profitable and the owner’s interest in getting the least expensive financing that is available,” said Jim Donelon, who served as Louisiana insurance commissioner for 18 years before stepping down in 2024.

“It potentially threatens the solvency of the company, which then threatens the welfare of the policyholders,” Donelon said.

The National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners, for whom Donelon served as president, provides guidance to regulators on how to review related-party transactions.

What are some of the most notable examples of related-party transactions turning into financial disasters?

The failure of Enron was a prime lesson in how related-party transactions can lead to a company’s downfall.

As the Houston energy trader struggled and racked up $30 billion in debt, chief financial officer Andrew Fastow thought he found a way to keep it off Enron’s books. He created off-balance sheet entities to unload the debt and took personal stakes in them, allowing him to sit on both sides of the negotiation and pocket millions.

They were “transactions with related parties that were not at arm’s length,” Dubinsky said.

The debacle was a driving force in the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which tightened regulations over governance, accounting and related-party transactions.

What about the Madoff fraud?

The Madoff scandal, in which investors lost $17.5 billion in invested principal, operated like a typical Ponzi scheme with returns to older investors paid by money from new investors.

However, related-party transactions were key too, and some literally involved family members. Madoff’s brother, Peter, pleaded guilty to receiving $15.7 million in sham loans and giving $9.9 million in sham loans to family members. What’s more, the auditor was a related party.

“In Madoff, what were called ‘related‑party loans’ were just sham transactions — there was no real economic substance. It was simply Madoff taking money out of his own firm,” said Dubinsky, an expert witness for the government.

Is there anything comparable with the Walter probe?

The three situations appear entirely different, but the investigation into the related-party loans made by Walter’s Delaware Life and its affiliate, Clear Spring Life and Annuity, involves vast sums of money.

After receiving the subpoenas, the firms conducted internal investigations. They had reported having $1 billion in related-party loans but, after the review, they reclassified $21 billion worth of loans as related, including $4.6 billion held by Clear Spring, said Fitch analyst Jamie Tucker, senior director of North American insurance ratings.

Executives said they were unaware the loans were going to an affiliated company.

Is there any indication what the money was used for?

“Unclear at this stage,” Tucker said. “This a developing situation with ongoing investigations.”

One clue may be a report that Walter tapped insurers to fund more deals than the Dodgers acquisition. The Wall Street Journal said five insurers had provided more than $10 billion in deal funding since Walter’s financial services company, Guggenheim Partners, got into the insurance business after the 2008 financial crisis.

What have been the implications for the insurers owned by Walters?

Fitch said the financial restatement increased the two insurers’ related-party loans from 2% to 40% of their portfolios, the highest exposure among life insurers it rates in North America.

Fitch, A.M. Best and S&P Global also downgraded Delaware Life’s outlook to negative, though they said the insurer maintain a high level of financial strength.

“Our capital position and liquidity remain strong, and our financial strength ratings are unchanged,” said Group 1001, the insurers’ parent company, in a statement.

What has Walter had to say about all this?

He has not publicly commented, but a TWG spokesperson stated that, “Mark Walter and TWG have always acted in good faith, and those who have done business with Mark know him as honest and straightforward. Nothing about these transactions was any different.”

Suspects recruited via encrypted app and offered money for violent acts, Toronto police reveal after arrests.

Toronto police have announced two arrests in connection with the shooting at the US Consulate last month, calling the suspects “criminals for hire.”

Authorities on Thursday said they arrested a 19-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy in the second shooting at the United States Consulate in five months.

The latest shooting in July followed a March 10 attack on the diplomatic mission that also occurred before dawn. Police arrested two people in that case in June.

No one was injured in either event, but police described both as “national security” incidents, and the initial shooting on March 10 prompted beefed-up protection for US and Israeli diplomatic buildings in multiple Canadian cities, as war gripped the Middle East.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also opened a parallel investigation, treating the shooting as a national security incident.

Police on Thursday said they believe the suspects were recruited through an encrypted messaging app and were offered money to open fire on the consulate.

“There has been significant public interest and speculation about who is behind these crimes,” Police Chief Myron Demkiw said. “That remains a key focus of our investigation.”

Police identified the adult suspect as 19-year-old Xen-Ul-Abdeen Syed, who faces multiple firearm, arson and stolen-property charges, as well as a charge of attacking the premises of an internationally protected person. A 15-year-old was also charged but cannot be identified under Canadian law.

Since the first shooting, police have maintained a visible presence outside the consulate. The July 27 shooting occurred despite a marked police cruiser stationed nearby.

Police said a white Honda Accord pulled alongside the consulate at about 4:46am (08:46 GMT) and a single shot was fired, striking the front of the building. A brief police chase followed, but the chase was called off when the driver was travelling at excessive speed.

Toronto Police Chief Superintendent Joe Matthews of Detective Operations said investigators believe shootings, homicides and arsons are increasingly being commissioned through online apps, with suspects offered varying amounts of money depending on the crime.

Individuals are hired to shoot at various targets and record the shootings for payment. The targets the police have mentioned included synagogues, Jewish schools, a waste management company, and the US Consulate.

“In many circumstances we know they are not getting paid,” Matthews said.

Police also allege the two suspects were involved in setting fire to a vehicle in a community outside Toronto three days before the latest consulate shooting.

Two men, aged 18 and 19, were arrested in June as part of the investigation into the March shooting. Police said the men were recruited to carry out violent acts, but did not provide further details.

The announcement comes as Lula warns of foreign interference and polls show a tightening presidential race.

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has named conservative Congressman Alfredo Gaspar as his running mate, ending weeks of speculation over who would join his presidential ticket in October’s election against incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The announcement on Wednesday also highlighted the challenges facing Bolsonaro’s campaign, which has struggled to build alliances beyond his own Liberal Party and failed in an effort to recruit a woman to the ticket in hopes of broadening its appeal.

Gaspar, 55, has represented the northeastern state of Alagoas in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies since 2023 and served as its public security secretary.

Accepting the nomination, he described himself as “a simple person from the northeast” whose life had been defined by “hard work and honour”, saying he would work alongside Bolsonaro “to transform Brazil into a fair and decent place”.

Gaspar led a congressional investigation into Brazil’s National Social Security Institute (INSS), the agency that oversees the country’s public pension and social security system. Fabio Luis Lula da Silva, the president’s son, is under investigation over allegations that he received improper payments linked to an alleged pension fraud scheme involving that agency.

Political analyst Lucas de Aragao, a partner at consultancy Arko Advice, said the choice was surprising but gave Bolsonaro someone well-placed to attack Lula on an issue that has become politically sensitive.

“He has the authority to deal with an issue that is uncomfortable for Lula. He also speaks extensively about public security,” Aragao said.

Gaspar emerged as the Liberal Party’s preferred choice after several higher-profile figures courted by Bolsonaro, including Senator Tereza Cristina of the Progressive Party and former Caixa Economica Federal chief Daniella Marques of the Republicanos, failed to get their own parties to support them in joining the ticket.

Bolsonaro, the son of former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, has struggled to expand his coalition, with several centre-right parties choosing to either back Lula’s broader coalition or remain neutral in the election in hopes of maximising their representation in Congress and appealing to anti-Bolsonaro voters in the country’s northeast.

A Quaest survey published on Wednesday found Lula leading Bolsonaro 44 percent to 39 percent in a simulated run-off, down from an eight-point lead in mid-July. In a first-round scenario, Lula was on 39 percent support to Bolsonaro’s 30 percent. If no candidate wins more than half the valid votes in the first round, the top two candidates advance to a run-off.

Launching his re-election campaign on Sunday, Lula cast the October vote as a battle to defend Brazil’s sovereignty amid growing concerns over foreign influence.

“Too many people are poking their fingers into our business. Too many people are interfering in our land. And that is going to stop,” he told supporters.

In July, Brazil denied visas to two US State Department officials who Lula said were being sent to “meddle” in the elections.

The diplomatic rift deepened on Tuesday, when the Trump administration said it was temporarily revoking the visa of Brazil’s ambassador to Washington in response to Brasilia withholding approval for Trump’s ambassadorial nominee.

Lula has pointed to those tensions, along with Trump’s public support for Flavio Bolsonaro and US tariffs imposed on Brazilian goods, as evidence that Brazil’s sovereignty is under pressure.

“As long as I’m president, no one from outside will interfere in Brazilian elections,” Lula said on Wednesday.

An airport employee spotted the drone carrying what authorities described as ‘an unknown explosive device’.

German authorities have launched an investigation after police removed the detonator from an explosive device attached to a drone found at Leipzig/Halle airport.

The airport’s north runway reopened on Wednesday after being closed for about two hours, while the south runway remained out of use due to scheduled maintenance.

Several flights, including a passenger aircraft, were diverted to other airports after a flying object was reported near the airport shortly before midnight. Police deployed an explosives-disposal robot to examine the object.

Authorities later said an airport employee discovered the drone near the runway carrying what they described as “an unknown explosive device”. Police examined it and removed its detonator, but did not provide further details about the nature of the device.

The probe is being led by prosecutors in the eastern state of Saxony who are responsible for politically motivated and “extremist” crimes, although authorities have not identified any suspects or attributed responsibility.

Meanwhile, an apparent second flying object collided with a freight aircraft after it aborted its landing because the runway was closed.

The aircraft diverted to Hannover airport, where officials found slight damage during an inspection. Authorities have not said whether the second object was connected to the drone found near the runway.

Authorities said there was no danger to travellers or airport employees, and flights were operating normally on Wednesday.

Photos from the scene showed police technicians working with an explosives-disposal robot near a Ukrainian Antonov cargo aircraft parked at the airport, although authorities have not indicated the aircraft was the intended target.

In 2011, the Philippines’ government promised to deliver one of the world’s most ambitious regreening projects.

The idea was simple: pay locals to restore forests and cultivate barren land by planting and tending millions of trees.

But 15 years on, a joint investigation by 101 East and Lighthouse Reports reveals how the National Greening Program has failed to meet most of its targets.

Satellite imagery shows that instead of being protected, some forests are being destroyed, while some Indigenous communities fear losing the land their livelihoods depend on.

101 East investigates how the Philippines is failing its forests.

CREDITS

For Al Jazeera

Natashya Gutierrez, reporter

Lee Ali, cinematographer

Badrul Hisham, picture editor

Susan Kim, digital producer

Nicole Revita, local producer

David Boyle, graphics

Liz Gooch, senior producer

Nick Olle, supervising producer

Sharon Roobol, executive producer

For Davao Today

Lucelle Bonzo, reporter/local producer

For Lighthouse Reports

Min Lawi Lun, lead data investigator

Eva Constantaras, data editor

Margot Gibbs, lead supply chain investigator

Viktoriia Maksymova, data fellow

Paul Nicholas Soriano, project manager