International
Tobacco companies fighting anti-smoking laws with trade agreements, legal challenges
Fair Warning reports that as governments around the world adopt stringent rules to fight the public health burdens of smoking, tobacco companies are fighting back, trumping those laws by invoking long-standing trade agreements. Anti-smoking advocates told Fair Warning those efforts, and the cost and liability governments face in fighting them, will intimidate “all but the…
Read MoreThe shadowy side of offshore industry
“A worldwide investigation aimed at stripping away the anonymity that binds together one of the most shadowy aspects of Britain’s financial industry.” “In a unique collaboration, the Guardian and BBC Panorama have sifted through many gigabytes of data, obtained by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, to find information that helped identify more than…
Read MoreHonduran murderer equipped and vetted by US
“The Associated Press uncovered this week that a Honduran military unit charged with murdering a 15 year old boy had been trained, equipped and vetted by the United States.” “The first story told the painful narrative of the victim’s father tracking the killers. The second story dug into the U.S. response to this and other…
Read MoreAzerbaijan’s elites illegally purchase property in Czech Republic
“Officials of oil-rich Azerbaijan, including members of the Aliyev ruling family, have established companies in Prague, bought land, and built hotels and luxury villas most of them focused around in the famous spa city of Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad). The problem is that some of these investments are illegal. The full extent of their investment became…
Read MoreOne photo highlighted international web of child pornography network
In a report filed The Boston Globe, it has been revealed that “federal agents working out of Boston, are heading an investigation into child pornography that so far has resulted in at least 40 arrests around the world and the discovery of 140 children who were sexually exploited. And it all began with a single…
Read MoreWal-Mart de Mexico bribery case silenced by top executives
A New York Times investigation into Wal-Mart has revealed that top Wal-Mart executives may be focusing more on damage control when they should be rooting out wrongdoing. “In 2005, after a senior Wal-Mart lawyer learned that the company’s largest foreign subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico, had orchestrated a campaign of bribery to win market dominance, Wal-Mart…
Read MoreCitizenship for a price
In a special report from Reuters it has been found that at least two countries offer what is known as citizenship by investment, burgeoning programs that bestow on foreigners the benefits of being a citizen – namely, a passport – for a price. The main appeal for the wealthy, escaping taxes.
Read MoreWorldwide freedom of information laws widely ignored
“A flurry of freedom of information laws adopted over the past decade has given more than 5.3 billion people worldwide the right, on paper, to know what their governments are doing behind closed doors. However, The Associated Press found in the first worldwide test of this promised freedom of information, that more than half the…
Read MoreFormer student leader linked to murder/corruption in Mexico
The Gazette reports that “a former University of Iowa student leader believed to have fled the country after criminal charges in the early 1990s has been linked to murder and corruption in Mexico. Juan Jose Rojas-Cardona — known as Pepe in West Liberty, where he spent his youth — is accused in a U.S. Consulate…
Read MorePost-9/11 laws blurring the line of terrorism
“The Sept. 11 attacks prompted almost every nation to adopt or toughen anti-terror laws. Until now, no one followed up to see who was impacted. In an unprecedented 9-month investigation, journalists in more than 100 countries found that at least 35,000 people have been convicted on terror charges since 2001, from bombers to bloggers.AP National…
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