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Added on the 08/09/2021 07:50:22 - Copyright : AFP EN
In an unusually harsh punishment, China has condemned one of the country's top bankers to death over bribery and bigamy charges. Business Insider reports the condemned man is Lai Xiaomin, ex-chairman of the banking giant China Huarong Asset Management. He was found guilty of accepting $277 million in bribes between 2008 and 2018, and has been called China's most corrupt financial official. Execution by lethal injection is not a typical punishment for corruption, which usually results in a lifetime prison sentence. The death sentence comes as part of an anti-corruption crusade led by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Since its start, the commission has punished about 1.5 million officials.
As lame duck President Donald Trump purges his administration, the Pentagon's top intelligence official has resigned in protest. According to Business Insider, Joseph Kernan, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, walked off the job on Tuesday. The Pentagon says Kernan's departure had been planned for months, but it notably comes the same day two other Department of Defense officials resigned. Kernan's announcement came one day after Trump fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper by tweet, saying Esper had been 'terminated.' It also comes amid the resignation of the chief of staff to the Secretary of Defense Jen Stewart and acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy James Anderson. Writing in a statement that 'it appears that chaos has now reached the Pentagon,' Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was just one of many lawmakers sounding the alarm.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Chief Advisor to the Brazilian President, Celso Amorim, for a bilateral meeting at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia. IMAGES
French Prime Minister and former Education Minister Gabriel Attal congratulates his successor newly appointed Education Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera at handover ceremony. Attal vows to make school " the heart of the battles fought by my government". SOUNDBITE
France's new Prime Minister, former Education Minister Gabriel Attal pledges to "give schools all the resources they need to succeed". "It will be one of my absolute priorities as head of government" says Attal at the handover ceremony with his predecessor Elisabeth Borne. SOUNDBITE
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says "we do not believe that it makes sense for Israel, or is right for Israel, to occupy Gaza, reoccupy Gaza over the long term" during a press conference in Tel Aviv. SOUNDBITE