Hello! It’s July 5, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: Russia returns 10 billion rubles seized from Wagner’s Prigozhin, U.S. sponsors shadow police units around the world, China imposes export restrictions on high-tech metals, cocaine discovered in White House, and much more…

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Featured Story

🎯 Russia Returns 10 Billion Rubles ($111M) Seized in Raids to Prigozhin: The seized funds from the Wagner leader's botched rebellion have been given back. Moscow Times

Top Stories

🌍 US Sponsors Shadow Police Units Globally: The US funds select law enforcement units in countries with untrustworthy police agencies. WSJ

🌍 China Imposes Export Restrictions on High-Tech Metals: China has enforced export curbs on two metals crucial to high-tech trade ahead of U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen's visit. AP

🌍 US Plans to Curb China's AI Chip Access: The US seeks to mandate approval for advanced AI chip use in cloud-computing services before granting access to Chinese users. Fox Business

🌍 U.S. Secret Service Investigates Cocaine in West Wing: Suspicious powder led to a brief evacuation of the White House while the president was at Camp David. AP

🌍 How the FBI Successfully Breached Hive: The agency is now more focused on the success of their operations, rather than arrests. Politico

🌍 UK to Violate Iran Nuclear Deal: The UK and other European countries plan to breach the agreement by refusing to lift sanctions on Tehran's missile program. Guardian

🌍 Oligarch Fridman's Life 'Destroyed' by EU Sanctions: The billionaire is among those seeking to escape EU sanctions via the EU's top courts. Bloomberg

🌍 White House Communications with Social Media Firms Limited by Judge: The US government is now prohibited from inducing content removal or suppression on social media. Guardian

🌍 Spain, France Apprehend 28 'Thieves in Law' Members: The crime group engaged in various illegal activities, primarily in Spain. OCCRP

🌍 Insurers Consider UN Climate Alliance Rule Changes: Over half of NZIA's members have left after threats of legal action from Republican-run US states. Reuters

🌍 CISA Warns of Cardiac Device System Vulnerability: Medtronic confirmed a vulnerability that allows hackers to manipulate data from a cardiac device. The Record

🌍 Regulatory Issues Lead Reserve to Suspend Key Services: The Sam Altman–backed stablecoin is aiming to build a more sustainable model in Latin America. Fortune

IN THE NEWS

Russia

🇷🇺 Why The EU Is Hesitant To Implement Its New Sanctions Framework Radio Free Europe

🇷🇺 Italy has frozen Russian oligarchs' assets worth $2.5 billion Reuters

🇷🇺 Russia Assembles Iranian Drones for Use Against Ukraine Moscow Times

🇷🇺 Russia’s Many Spies in Mexico WSJ

🇷🇺 Switzerland questions oil trader over sidestep of Russian sanctions FT

And more...

China

🇨🇳 Xi’s Metal Curbs Risk Backfiring as G-7 Seeks China Alternative Bloomberg

🇨🇳 China’s Chip Industry Braces for Further Sanctions With Concerns and Defiance WSJ

🇨🇳 Hong Kong police offer rewards for arrests of 8 pro-democracy activists who live abroad AP

🇨🇳 India Has Started Paying In Yuan For Some Russian Oil Imports Oil Price

🇨🇳 Chinese ‘GaN’ semiconductor technology pioneer Innoscience dragged into IP dispute in US SCMP

And more...

Cyber & Crypto

🔒 UK Lords Pass Bill to Help Seize and Freeze Crypto Used for Crime CoinDesk

🔒 A Crypto Micronation’s Future Hangs on a Border Dispute Wired

🔒 Who’s Behind the DomainNetworks Snail Mail Scam? Krebs on Security

🔒 DEA administrator says social media companies not complying to address fentanyl crisis The Hill

🔒 Your car is spying on you—and making personal info vulnerable to hackers NY Post

And more...

Corruption & Financial Crime

💰 California man convicted for smuggling Byzantine-era Hercules mosaic from Syria CNN

💰 US customs officers find nearly 900,000 fentanyl pills hidden in shipment of sinks CNN

💰 Dubai helps to intercept $310 million recreational drug shipment bound for Japan Khaleej Times

💰 French judiciary transfers central bank chief seized assets to Lebanon Reuters

💰 India’s human-hair trade at risk as ‘rampant smuggling’ to China via Bangladesh, Myanmar cuts into profits SCMP

And more...

"Nobody's a criminal to himself.  I never play a criminal like a bad person." --Michael Caine

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