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🎯 U.S. Senate leader Schumer to add China sanctions to defense bill over fentanyl. Many blame China for much of the fentanyl that U.S. authorities say is responsible for the overdose deaths of tens of thousands of Americans. Reuters
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🌎 Private Russian military companies are multiplying – and so are the Kremlin’s problems. The Kremlin might grant legal status to some of the more than two dozen private military companies active in Russia. AFP
🌎 Tax Adviser to Famous DJ Tiesto Charged With Hiding $100 Million From U.S. Prosecutors allege the adviser conspired to hide millions of dollars of income generated by his clients, including two internationally renowned DJs that used a series of offshore entities to conceal their earnings. Bloomberg
🌎 Welcome to the Dollar War: A Global Battle Over Cash Will Decide Who Rules the World Economy. Motivated by a mix of politics and economics, countries from Israel and France to Russia and China have signaled they're looking to do more business in non-USD currencies. Business Insider
🌎 Middle Eastern Wealth Flows to China Amid Anxiety About U.S. Ties. Seven months after President Xi Jinping participated in the first China-Gulf summit, economic exchanges between the world’s second largest economy and nations like Saudi Arabia are accelerating. Bloomberg
🌎 How a Saudi firm tapped a gusher of water in drought-stricken Arizona. Lax rules let the foreign-owned company pump water from state land to grow alfalfa for the kingdom’s cattle. Washington Post
🌎 Fani Willis: The No-Nonsense Georgia Prosecutor on a Collision Course With Donald Trump. For 2½ years, Willis has led an extensive probe, including questioning under oath of politicians and Trump supporters. WSJ
🌎 Chipmaker CEOs head to Washington to fight restrictions on selling to China. CEOs of Intel, Qualcomm, and Nvidia are planning to lobby against extending restrictions on the sale to China of certain chips and equipment. Fortune
🌎 U.S. Virgin Islands seeks $190 million from JPMorgan in Jeffrey Epstein suit. The territory sued the largest U.S. bank last year alleging it facilitated the disgraced financier’s sex trafficking enterprise and failed to flag suspicious financial activity. NBC News
🌎 George Santos Cashed In Big With Followers of Indicted Chinese Billionaire Miles Guo. In Santos’ campaign finance report, of about 50 total contributors, the document listed three dozen contributors who mostly have Chinese names and had each maxed out to Santos by donating $3,300. Mother Jones
🌎 Microsoft takes pains to obscure role in 0-days that caused email breach. Besides being opaque about the root cause of the breach and its own role in it, Microsoft is under fire for withholding details that some of the victims could have used to detect the intrusion, something critics have called “pay-to-play security.” Ars Technica
🌎 Credit Suisse inquiry will keep files secret for 50 years. The investigation is only the fifth of its kind in the country's modern history and the committee of lawmakers conducting it has sweeping powers to call on the Swiss cabinet, finance ministry and other state bodies. Reuters