Child labor in palm oil industry tied to Girl Scout cookies

AP NEWS

Olivia, who earned a badge for selling more than 600 boxes of cookies, had spotted palm oil as an ingredient on the back of one of her packages but was relieved to see a green tree logo next to the words “certified sustainable.” She assumed that meant her Thin Mints and Tagalongs weren’t harming rainforests, orangutans or those harvesting the orange-red palm fruit.

But later, the whip-smart 11-year-old saw the word “mixed” in all caps on the label and turned to the internet, quickly learning that it meant exactly what she feared: Sustainable palm oil had been blended with oil from unsustainable sources. To her, that meant the cookies she was peddling were tainted. read more »
 

NY health care provider may have fraudulently obtained Covid-19 vaccines, state says

CNN

A New York-based health care provider may have fraudulently obtained Covid-19 vaccines and transferred and administered the vaccine to members of the public contrary to state guidelines, according to a statement released by New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. According to the statement, ParCare Community Health Network -- identified by Zucker as an Orange County provider -- may have transferred the Covid-19 vaccine to facilities in other parts of the state in violation of state guidelines and administered it to members of the public "contrary to the state's plan to administer it first to frontline healthcare workers, as well as nursing home residents and staffers." read more »

Swiss hand over remaining $150 million to U.S. from massive Ponzi scheme

REUTERS

Switzerland will return $150 million from blocked Swiss bank accounts by the end of the year to the United States to be given to victims of convicted Ponzi scheme con artist Robert Allen Stanford, the Federal Ministry of Justice said on Monday. Stanford, a former Texas financier known primarily by his middle name, was convicted of fraud by a Houston jury in 2012 in what prosecutors called a $7.2 billion fraud that lasted two decades and which was eclipsed in size only by the Ponzi scheme run by Bernie Madoff. read more »