USA / Italy: sixteen mafia leaders arrested
On 7 November, sixteen alleged leaders and associates of the Gambino crime family were arrested in the US and Italy. The charges against them include racketeering, extortion, witness retaliation, conspiracy and fraud. Another suspect is still at large. The US-based suspects were due to appear in court in New York on Wednesday. Prosecutors have outlined a pattern of intimidation and violent assaults intended to embezzle funds and defraud unions and employee benefit plans. The defendants were also charged with threatening witnesses, money laundering and firearms offences. The Gambino family is one of the five prominent New York-area mafia syndicates collectively known as La Cosa Nostra. The defendants face maximum sentences of between twenty and 180 years in prison.
Iran: tensions over jail sentence for French national
France said on 8 November that one of its citizens being held in Iran has been sentenced to five years in prison on a baseless conviction, and called for his immediate release and that of three other of its nationals held in the country. Ties between the two countries have been strained over the issue in what Paris has said are arbitrary arrests that are equivalent to state hostage taking. Louis Arnaud, who has been held since September 2022, is being detained at the Evin prison in Tehran. His mother said that the pretexts given for his sentencing were for propaganda and harming the security of the Iranian state: ‘These are completely baseless, a carbon copy of what they attribute to other Europeans held in Iran.’ In recent years, the elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security. Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests - a charge which the government denies.
Argentina: election outcome difficult to predict
Opinion polls are showing an increasingly tight race between Peronist economy minister Sergio Massa and radical libertarian Javier Milei ahead of a runoff ballot for president on 19 November. The two candidates offer polarised visions for the embattled Latin American country, the region's third largest economy, a major supplier of grains, beef and lithium, but also the largest debtor to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). One recent survey showed Massa ahead with 42.4% of the likely vote against Milei on 39.7%, his lead more than cut in half versus the previous poll in late October. He is still seen as the candidate to beat, but Milei has gained ground, winning the backing of conservative Patricia Bullrich, who finished third in the first-round vote, and her powerful ally, former President Mauricio Macri. Significantly, with some 18% of those polled remaining unsure, the outcome is hard to call.
US elections: Democrats do well in spite of Biden’s popularity ratings
The Democratic Party's strong showing in off-year elections has encouraged Joe Biden and his supporters, although his popularity is low (it is now 39%, the lowest since April). Some segments of the party have lost faith in Biden, frustrated by his Israel stance, the lack of movement on climate change, or high prices. However, encouraging signs included a victory by Democratic incumbent governor Andy Beshear in Kentucky over a well-regarded Republican opponent, the passage in Republican-voting Ohio of a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights, and Democratic wins in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. The Ohio result shows abortion rights remain a winning political issue for Democrats after the conservative majority on the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion, overriding public opinion. Whether victories for Democrats this week are a definitive sign of strength for Biden's re-election is unclear. Biden, who turns 81 this month, currently faces no serious primary challengers and has raised tens of millions of dollars for his re-election campaign. His fundraising has surpassed that of Donald Trump, 77, who backed the losing Kentucky governor candidate.
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