For decades, the Central Intelligence Agency has stated that it was unaware of Lee Harvey Oswald before his 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. But a bombshell list of records from the CIA, released this month among a tranche of documents from the House Oversight Committee, claims this was not the case. It's the first time the CIA has openly admitted it had prior knowledge of Oswald in the lead-up to Kennedy's death. And it could raise new questions about one of the longstanding conspiracy theories in American history. 

What did the files reveal?
The documents concern a CIA intelligence officer based in Miami, George Joannides. They show that in 1963 he was "helping finance and oversee a group of Cuban students opposed to the ascension of Fidel Castro" as part of a "covert assignment to manage anti-Castro propaganda and disrupt pro-Castro groups," said The Washington Post. The group Joannides led, known as DRE, was "aware of Oswald as he publicly promoted a pro-Castro policy for the U.S.," and the group reportedly clashed with Oswald just three months before Kennedy's assassination. 

And it may be that the CIA was tracking Oswald even before Joannides got involved. At least "35 CIA employees handled reports on Oswald between 1959 and 1963," said Jefferson Morley, a Kennedy researcher, to the Post. 

What does it mean?
The documents show that the CIA "lied for decades about Joannides' role in the Kennedy case," said The Daily Beast. The revelation that the CIA appeared to cover up its prior knowledge of Oswald "adds fuel to the long-simmering questions around what the agency knew about the plot to murder the president and what else it may be hiding," said the Post. 

The files were released as part of an effort to "comply with President Donald Trump's executive order to disclose all documents about the former president's death," said The Daily Beast. But the released documents "didn't include two-thirds of the promised files, any of the 500 IRS records or the recently discovered FBI files," said The Independent. 

This is a "breakthrough, and there's more to come," said Morley to the Post. The "burden of proof has shifted. There's a story here that has been hidden and avoided, and now it needs to be explored."

A scandal has hit Thailand's Buddhist clergy after a woman allegedly had sexual relationships with several monks and then blackmailed them to keep the liaisons quiet. The claim has "rocked" Thailand, said The Guardian, and "raised questions" about the money and power "enjoyed" by the country's "orange-robed clergy." 

Vows of chastity 
Most monks in Thailand belong to the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from touching women. Suspicion that all was not well began last month when an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood. Investigators subsequently found he had been blackmailed by a woman who told him she was pregnant by him and demanded 7.2 million baht ($224,000). 

The woman, Wilawan Emsawat, "allegedly enticed several Buddhist monks into sexual relationships and then blackmailed them with videos and photos of the acts," said Euronews. Thai police believe she had sex with at least nine monks, several of whom transferred significant sums of money after she initiated the romantic relationships, said police. 

The size of the payoffs highlights the large donations made to the temples that are "controlled by monks," which contrasts sharply with the "abstemious lives they are supposed to lead under Buddhist precepts." Emsawat was arrested on suspicion of extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods, and police investigators found that about 385 million baht ($12 million) had been deposited in her bank accounts in the past three years. 

Moral decay 
At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and thrown out of the monkhood, said the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau. The Sangha Supreme Council, the governing body for Thai Buddhism, will form a special committee to review monastic regulations. And Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai has ordered a review of existing laws related to monks and temples, including the transparency of temple finances. 

The scandal is just the latest to rock Thailand's much-revered Buddhist institution, after a raft of allegations of monks engaging in sex offenses and drug trafficking in recent years. Wirapol Sukphol, a "jet-setting" monk with a "lavish lifestyle," was charged with sex offenses, fraud and money laundering in 2017, said the BBC.