Lawyers for alleged Bondi beach gunman Naveed Akram have argued the names of his family members should be suppressed due to fears “one or more of them may be killed” after they received death threats. But legal counsel for media organisations, who are challenging the suppression order request, argued there was no evidence before the court of an imminent risk. A Downing Centre local court magistrat...
Lawyers for alleged Bondi beach gunman Naveed Akram have argued the names of his family members should be suppressed due to fears “one or more of them may be killed” after they received death threats. But legal counsel for media organisations, who are challenging the suppression order request, argued there was no evidence before the court of an imminent risk. A Downing Centre local court magistrate last week granted Akram’s mother, brother and sister an interim suppression banning the publication of their names and addresses to protect their mental and physical safety. The public defender Richard Wilson SC told the court on Tuesday that a narrowed version of the order should be made permanent to mitigate risks of harm to the family. Wilson said they couldn’t afford to move and the “police are saying the family had nothing to do with it [the mass shooting]”. Akram, 24, appeared in court via video link from Goulburn supermax, where he has been remanded in custody. He and his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, allegedly killed 15 people after opening fire at a Hanukah festival at Bondi beach on 14 December. Naveed Akram, who survived a shootout with police, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act that investigators allege may have been “inspired by Isis”. Sajid Akram was shot and killed by police at the scene. Wilson told the magistrate Hugh Donnelly the family was seeking media organisations edit any existing stories to remove names and addresses. “The defendant, who is the applicant, is charged with the most serious and the most notorious terrorist attack this country has ever seen,” the barrister said. “The outpouring of public grief, public outrage, and public anger at what he and his father allegedly did are unprecedented, extraordinary and absolutely understandable. “However, there is no suggestion that the defendant’s mother, brother or sister had anything to do with it. There is no suggestion of...
Longtime Oil Exec Worked For CIA, Helped Oust Maduro: Report Authored by Ken Silva via HeadlineUSA , The Wall Street Journal published a story Sunday about a longtime Chevron executive secretly working for the CIA —including by providing intel in the leadup to the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. According to the Journal , the former Chevron executive, Ali Moshiri, worked for the CIA...
Longtime Oil Exec Worked For CIA, Helped Oust Maduro: Report Authored by Ken Silva via HeadlineUSA , The Wall Street Journal published a story Sunday about a longtime Chevron executive secretly working for the CIA —including by providing intel in the leadup to the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. According to the Journal , the former Chevron executive, Ali Moshiri, worked for the CIA as an informant since Hugo Chávez was in charge of the Venezuelan government . Moshiri stepped down from executive leadership at Chevron in 2017, but remained a consultant until 2024. He’s now a consultant for Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PdVSA. The Journal reported that Mosrhi’s input with the CIA helped shape the decision to replace Maduro with his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, rather than ousting the entire government. Moshri reportedly advised that the opposition in Venezuela, led by María Corina Machado, did not have the popular support required to run the country. WSJ published a crazy story on a longtime Chevron exec being a CIA informant who provided intel leading up to Maduro's capture. Chevron made an oddly specific comment in response to the report. The CIA asset, who left Chevron in 2024, is now working for Venezuela's state oil co. pic.twitter.com/uIM2iU3pc3 — Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) March 16, 2026 “Moshiri told the agency that if the U.S. government tried to oust the entire Maduro regime and install the democratic opposition led by María Corina Machado it would have another quagmire like Iraq on its hands,” the Journal said, citing anonymous sources. Moshri reportedly has had a deep relationship with President Rodriguez since Chavez died in 2013. The two brokered a deal at the time in which Chevron signed a $2 billion loan deal with PdVSA. Trump initially canceled Chevron’s license in Venezuela when he took office last year, but the company is now back in business. “Chevron is poised to take a key role in developing Venezuela’s oil reserves, which a...
Global defense spending is on the rise. The United States alone has a military budget of $838.5 billion for 2026 and President Trump has proposed a $1.5 trillion budget for 2027, almost double 2026's number. But the United States is not alone. Germany has been increasing its military budget dramatically over the past couple of years, which has made it into the fourth-largest military spender in th...
Global defense spending is on the rise. The United States alone has a military budget of $838.5 billion for 2026 and President Trump has proposed a $1.5 trillion budget for 2027, almost double 2026's number. But the United States is not alone. Germany has been increasing its military budget dramatically over the past couple of years, which has made it into the fourth-largest military spender in the world behind only the U.S., China, and Russia. And over the next five years, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz plans to double the country's already enlarged military budget to hit NATO's spending target of 3.5% of GDP. With new conflicts breaking out around the world and brewing conflicts continuing to simmer, defense contractors are looking like a good investment over the next several years. The two in this article are some of the best to add to your portfolio right now. The German giant Based in Dusseldorf, Rheinmetall (RNMBY +2.77%) has come a long way from the artillery manufacturer it was founded as. Today the company produces everything from trucks and tanks to naval vessels and satellites. The company produces military equipment for dozens of armies in Europe, including Italy, Ukraine, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Germany's own, along with the Lynx IFV, which is being adopted by the United States military along with several European militaries, Indonesia, and Brazil. On top of that, Rheinmetall sells cutting-edge air defense systems which have become vital in the age of drone warfare. It's even incorporating some of those lessons it learned from the deployment of the Leopard 2 in Ukraine into its next-gen tank, the Panther Kf51. The Panther comes equipped with an autonomous machine gun mounted to the back of its turret as an anti-drone countermeasure and it can carry up to four HERO 120 loitering munitions to provide some drone support of its own. And as you might imagine, Germany's surge in defense spending coupled with Europe more broadly shoring up it...
(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open higher on Tuesday after a rise in global markets led by a rebound in technology shares and easing oil prices. The upside, however, may remain capped after several U.S. allies, including Germany, Spain, and Italy, have declined President Trump's request to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for a fifth of global energy shipments. Meanwhile, Iran s...
(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open higher on Tuesday after a rise in global markets led by a rebound in technology shares and easing oil prices. The upside, however, may remain capped after several U.S. allies, including Germany, Spain, and Italy, have declined President Trump's request to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for a fifth of global energy shipments. Meanwhile, Iran said it was ready to take the Middle East war "as far as necessary". Brent crude prices jumped nearly 3 percent this morning, climbing back towards the $105-a-barrel mark, while WTI crude futures were up 2.7 percent. The Bank for International Settlements on Monday urged central banks not to rush reactions to the Iran crisis-driven spike in global energy prices, calling it a textbook case of when to "look through" a supply shock. Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty jumped by 1.3 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively on Monday after a late-session rally following reports that two Indian-flagged oil tankers have safely crossed the Strait of Hormuz. The rupee closed slightly higher at 92.3700 per dollar. Foreign investors net sold shares worth Rs 9,366 crore on Monday, marking the highest sell-off since October 28, 2025, while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the extent of Rs 12,593 crore, according to provisional exchange data. Asian markets were broadly higher this morning despite U.S. President Donald Trump requesting a delay to his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for about a month. Gold was modestly higher at $5,027 an ounce ahead of major central bank decisions. The dollar edged up against a basket of currencies, with the Japanese yen weakening despite verbal warnings from authorities. Just days before the policy decision, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said today that underlying inflation was gradually accelerating toward the central bank's 2 percent target because of rising oil prices. U.S. stocks rebounded overnight while the dollar and Trea...
BEIJING, March 17 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group on Tuesday launched an AI platform for enterprises targeting automation, intensifying competition in China's rapidly evolving AI agent market following the OpenClaw craze that has gripped the country's tech sector. The platform, called Wukong, can coordinate multiple AI agents to handle complex business tasks including document editing, spreads...
BEIJING, March 17 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group on Tuesday launched an AI platform for enterprises targeting automation, intensifying competition in China's rapidly evolving AI agent market following the OpenClaw craze that has gripped the country's tech sector. The platform, called Wukong, can coordinate multiple AI agents to handle complex business tasks including document editing, spreadsheet updates, meeting transcription and research within a single interface. It is currently available for invitation-only beta testing. (Reporting by Liam Mo and Miyoung Kim; Editing by Christopher Cushing)