Cancer drugs in India are getting new safety features to improve tracing and curb the spread of counterfeits. 

Manufacturers of all cancer drugs sold in India have until July 2027 to add a QR code or barcode to their packaging that shows the medicine’s path from factory to patient, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The new requirements apply not only to drugs manufactured in India but also to those imported into the country, such as Keytruda, a health official confirmed to The Indian Express this week.

As part of the Cancer Calculus investigation, The Indian Expressand the International Consortium of Investigative Journalistsexamined India’s counterfeit Keytruda market, where counterfeiters took advantage of cancer patients and sold them falsified versions of the medication. 

Reporting focused on a case in 2024 when police in New Delhi arrested 12 men for allegedly stealing empty Keytruda vials from hospitals and pharmacies and refilling them with antifungal medicine. The men then allegedly sold the spurious medicines at a fraction of the cost of authentic Keytruda. In India, the drug is unaffordable for most families; the market price for a 100-mg vial of Keytruda is 150,000 rupees, or more than $1,500. The case affected patients beyond India, too. At least one Nepalese woman purchased medicine from one of the accused defendants, ICIJ reported.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/cancer-drug-counterfeits-keytruda-immunotherapy/

COUNTERFEITS Counterfeiters cash in on the world’s bestselling cancer drug Apr 13, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/merck-keytruda-cancer-drug-price/

OVERVIEW How Merck turned its wonder drug into a blockbuster — and priced out cancer patients worldwide Apr 13, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/cancer-patients-legal-battle-keytruda-lifesaving-drug/

INSURERS ‘They deny the medication that is keeping you alive’: Patients wage grueling legal battles for lifesaving cancer drug Apr 13, 2026

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The United Nations paid roughly $10 million last year to companies formerly linked to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to an ICIJ analysis of recently released U.N. data. The payments came after Assad’s ouster from power in December 2024.

The procurement data, released by the U.N. in July, reveals at least 11 companies that reportedly had been closely linked to the Assad regime, and which continued to receive U.N. contracts after its fall.

One of those companies is Shorouk, a Syrian security firm that received at least $11 million in U.N. contracts during Assad’s rule. In December 2025, ICIJ revealed that Shorouk was secretly owned by a branch of Assad’s intelligence services. As a result, aid money flowed directly to a government agency sanctioned for the brutal torture and murder of Syrian civilians.

Shorouk won more than $1.6 million in U.N. contracts in 2025, only slightly less than the year prior.

Another security firm, ProGuard, received $2.2 million in U.N. contracts in 2025, making it the United Nations’ largest security contractor in Syria. Under Assad, ProGuard was reportedly owned by a businessman and former parliamentarian who was sanctioned by the European Union and United Kingdom for supporting the Syrian regime.

The Syrian government’s strategy of negotiating opaque deals with Assad-linked business elites likely explains the continued existence of many U.N. contractors with links to the former regime. Syrian officials have reached financial settlements with several of the country’s oligarchs and reportedly are negotiating with others. As part of these deals, the businessmen handed over a large percentage of their assets in return for being allowed to return to work in Syria.

This policy has been undertaken in a secretive and haphazard manner that risks undermining transitional justice efforts, experts told ICIJ.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/damascus-dossier/assad-intelligence-security-united-nations-aid/

UNITED NATIONS United Nations paid $11M to Syrian security firm owned by Assad intelligence services, documents show Dec 04, 2025

https://www.icij.org/investigations/damascus-dossier/syria-assad-regime-detained-dead-search-families/

Damascus Dossier After 13 years of searching, a Syrian man learns his brother’s fate Dec 04, 2025

https://www.icij.org/investigations/damascus-dossier/about-damascus-dossier-syria-investigation/

Damascus Dossier About the Damascus Dossier investigation Dec 04, 2025

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Recent moves by cryptocurrency exchange HTX could soften the blow of new sanctions on the firm, experts warn, including a European Union ban on transactions.

One of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, HTX is closely associated with the crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who was a primary booster of the Trump family’s digital currency business before the relationship recently soured. The European Union last week included the exchange in a roster of 18 firms allegedly involved in Russia’s vast crypto ecosystem, which the country has used to evade Western sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia to end its war in Ukraine.

HTX did not respond to repeated requests to comment on this story, but the exchange recently told Bloomberg News that regulatory compliance is “our absolute top priority.”

Reporting from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Coin Laundry investigation, which explored illicit uses of cryptocurrency, found accounts at HTX, previously called Huobi, tied to accused Russian money launderers and to an organization known for funding Russian military entities.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/coin-laundry/canadian-intelligence-flags-crypto-to-cash-services-as-knowingly-facilitating-money-laundering-document-shows/

CRYPTOCURRENCY Canadian intelligence flags crypto-to-cash services as ‘knowingly facilitating money laundering,’ document shows Jul 21, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/coin-laundry/crypto-giant-circle-rebuffed-efforts-to-help-scam-victims-police-say/

CRYPTOCURRENCY Crypto giant Circle rebuffed efforts to help scam victims, police say Jul 08, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/coin-laundry/as-crypto-industry-expands-u-s-slashes-office-examining-dirty-money-safeguards-of-cryptocurrency-exchanges/

IRS As crypto industry expands, US slashes office examining dirty money safeguards of cryptocurrency exchanges Feb 17, 2026

Recommended reading CRYPTOCURRENCY Canadian intelligence flags crypto-to-cash services as ‘knowingly facilitating money laundering,’ document shows Jul 21, 2026 CRYPTOCURRENCY Crypto giant Circle rebuffed efforts to help scam victims, police say Jul 08, 2026 IRS As crypto industry expands, US slashes office examining dirty money safeguards of cryptocurrency exchanges Feb 17, 2026