UK authorities have arrested 746 suspects in the largest ever enforcement action in the country’s history, following the takedown of an encrypted communication service used “exclusively” by organised criminal groups.

Anthropologists and heritage experts who have called for more due diligence on the part of the legitimate antiquities market welcomed Facebook’s new community standards that have put historical artifacts on the list of items forbidden to post for sale on the platform.

After an increase in the exchange of banking information throughout 2019, nearly 100 cooperating countries have found US$11.3 trillion kept by their residents in 84 million offshore accounts, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Tuesday.

A large Chinese gold processor based in Wuhan was found to have secured US$2.8 billion in loans by using fake gold as collateral, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

A militant extremist previously convicted for the murder of an American journalist may soon walk free after Pakistan’s highest court rejected a government request to suspend the decision of a lower court that cleared him of the crime while he is still in detention.

Ikea’s iconic Terje and Ingolf chairs are made of wood that has been illegally logged in one of the last large forests in Europe, a report released by UK non-profit Earthsight claims.

Authorities in Italy have seized the largest-ever shipment of amphetamines on record, believed to have been manufactured by one of the world’s most feared international terrorist groups, the Islamic State.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter of support on Monday for the ILLICIT Cash Act– a key piece of legislation that experts and lawmakers say would help reform the country’s opaque financial system that remains vulnerable to illicit activity such as money laundering, tax evasion, and fraud. 

US cyber security experts say that Evil Corp, a Russian group of cybercriminals, has been targeting America’s most successful companies, known as Fortune 500, in an effort to force them to pay millions in ransom.

A Paris court found on Monday former French Prime Minister François Fillon guilty of misappropriation of public funds, complicity and concealment and sentenced him to five years in prison and a 375,000 euro (US$423,000) fine.