| Disclosure in the Caymans: Global walls of financial secrecy are falling Posted: 03 May 2018 02:34 PM PDT ![Disclosure in the Caymans: Global walls of financial secrecy are falling]( "Disclosure in the Caymans: Global walls of financial secrecy are falling") In 1998, the Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete, awarded the concession to oil block OPL245 to Malabu Oil and Gas – for $2 million, five days after the company was set up. In late 2007 and early 2008, a company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) linked to Russian mobsters wired at least $900,000 to another BVI company owned by a Russian businessman who was later sanctioned by the United States for his ties to Syria's chemical weapons program. Using shell companies and banks that keep their identities hidden, corrupt politicians, drug kingpins, tax evaders, and money launderers secretly park their money in countries far away from the prying eyes of law enforcement and tax officials.
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| Young change-makers show the impact of soft diplomacy Posted: 03 May 2018 02:11 PM PDT ![Young change-makers show the impact of soft diplomacy]( "Young change-makers show the impact of soft diplomacy") If a single event from the State Department Wednesday makes it into the history books, it would probably be the ceremonial swearing in of Mike Pompeo as the 70th secretary of State. It was President Trump's first visit to a department that has flagged under his presidency. Vice President Mike Pence also attended the ceremony, held in the ornate Benjamin Franklin room.
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| In rural Jordan, pulling power from the wind to make change on the ground Posted: 03 May 2018 02:00 PM PDT ![In rural Jordan, pulling power from the wind to make change on the ground]( "In rural Jordan, pulling power from the wind to make change on the ground") Mohammed, 14, walks, as he does every day each spring, with his flock of 200 sheep along the still-green slopes of southern Jordan. "That is the future," he says, pointing his wooden staff toward the wind turbines. In a troubled tribal town in Jordan, residents are turning to wind energy to lift the region up from underdevelopment, unemployment, and unrest, and as a model for green energy.
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| Europe puts its money where its values are Posted: 03 May 2018 12:59 PM PDT ![Europe puts its money where its values are]( "Europe puts its money where its values are") One of the world's greatest acts of charity has been the aid given to the newer members and poorer nations of the European Union by wealthier states, especially since the admission of many former Soviet-bloc countries in 2004. On May 2, the European Commission, which is the bloc's bureaucratic body, proposed that the handouts be curtailed to any member state that has "deficiencies in the rule of law," as EC President Jean-Claude Juncker put it. The move, which does not require the unanimous approval of the EU, is aimed particularly at Poland and Hungary.
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