Hello!  It’s August 6, and we’re tracking today's top stories: Border agents seize $48M of meth hidden in lettuce shipment, how Islamic State makes money, scammers are taking to the skies - posing as airline customer service agents, freed Russian anti-war politicians trigger backlash in Ukraine, and much more...

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🎯 Border Agents Seize $48M Of Meth Hidden In Lettuce Shipment. This is the largest meth encounter in the history of the Hidalgo Port of Entry. Newsweek 

🚚 Jordan says it foiled drug smuggling attempt from Syria Reuters

Top Stories

🌎 How Islamic State makes money: What IS-K has going for it is the network of other Islamic State franchises that are set up around the world. Spectator

🌎 Scammers are taking to the skies, posing as airline customer service agents. Scammers are now lurking on social media, looking for posts from upset travelers. USAT

🌎 Freed Russian Anti-war Politicians Trigger Backlash In Ukraine. Ukraine has reacted angrily to suggestions by freed Russian political prisoners to ease sanctions on ordinary Russians. AFP

🌎 Chinese firms stockpile high-end Samsung chips as they await new U.S. curbs. China is gearing up to keep its technology ambitions on track amid rising trade tensions with the U.S. Reuters

🌎 Gas Carrier Faking Its Location Helps Russia Avoid Sanctions. An LNG tanker that’s docked at a sanctioned Russian gas facility has no known insurer, is managed by a little-known Indian company, and is pretending to be somewhere else. Bloomberg

🚢 Disguised ships and front companies: How North Korea has evaded sanctions to grow a global weapons industry. Conversation

🌎 Glencore ordered to pay $150M to resolve Swiss bribery probe. Glencore has been investigated in several countries and pleaded guilty of corruption in Africa and South America. AFP

🌎 Vietnamese billionaire tycoon found guilty of defrauding stockholders, sentenced to 21 years. He was chairman and founder of the FLC Group, which owns the discount Bamboo Airways and has broad real estate holdings. AP

🌎 Thomas Girardi’s Legal Drama Approaches Its Hollywood Ending. A conviction would cap off the swift unwinding of his half-century long legal career. Bloomberg

🌎 Narco folly: Inside the crumbling Honduran zoo built by a drug cartel. The Joya Grande zoo and its animals – many trafficked – was a status symbol and money-laundering scheme for the Cachiros syndicate. Guardian

🌎 UNRWA Spent Months Denying It Works With Hamas. Then It Fired Nine Staffers for Participating in the Oct. 7 Massacre. Free Beacon

IN THE NEWS

Russia

🇷🇺 Iranian president, in talks with Putin ally, calls for expanded ties with Russia Reuters

🇷🇺 Hugo Boss sells Russian business to wholesale partner Stockmann Reuters

🇷🇺 The head of Russia’s military park and a top Defense Ministry official are arrested for fraud AP

🇷🇺 Russia’s Digital Tech Isolationism DFRLab

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China

🇨🇳 Chinese-made humanoid robots raise alarms in Congress: ‘Stealth army on our land’ NYP

🇨🇳 European Commission forces TikTok rewards program to shut down on the continent Record

🇨🇳 How Russia, Iran and North Korea use Hong Kong to evade sanctions WaPo

🇨🇳 Swedish Foreign Minister opens the door to new sanctions against Chinese companies Euractiv

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Two more Wirecard executives charged over accounting scandal Reuters

💸 Singapore Passes Anti-Money Laundering Bill Bloomberg

💸 EU sanctions 28 accused of rights abuses and links to crackdown in Belarus AP

💸 UK Forfeits Luxury Properties Belonging to Wife of Ex Azerbaijani Banker OCCRP

💸 The One-Hour Nurse Visits That Let Insurers Collect $15B From Medicare WSJ

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Crypto & Cyber

🔐 CrowdStrike says it’s not to blame for Delta’s days-long outage Verge

🔐 ‘Pig butchering’ scammers target reporter BBC

🔐 ‘Dystopian surveillance, suspicion-less seizures' Politico

🔐 SEC Asks NY Court to Deny Coinbase’s ‘Breathtakingly Broad’ Subpoena Request CoinDesk

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Terror

💥 Notes from Underground: The life of Yahya Sinwar New Yorker

💥 Hamas deserves Argentina’s terrorism designation JNS

💥 Scathing report reveals Biden-Harris admin has released dozens of migrants on terror watchlist into U.S. Fox

💥 Countering the Islamic State's Gendered Violence and Minority Persecution Washington Institute

“He in his madness prays for storms, and dreams that storms will bring him peace.” --Tolstoy

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