Each year, money launders funnel $2 trillion in ill-gotten gains into the financial system. And a lot of that money travels by air, in cash, often in people’s suitcases, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Sunday (April 21). The report cited figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) showing that international...
MEPs in the European Parliament have drafted a motion for a resolution rejecting the European Commission’s proposal to remove the United Arab Emirates, Gibraltar and Panama from the list of high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes. As previously reported, the European Commission published a proposed...
Scientists Urge Action Over Life-Threatening Pollution From Solar Power Waste In Africa. Researchers from The University of Manchester investigating waste management practices for off-grid solar technologies in Malawi have discovered life-threatening quantities of lead pollution from improperly managed battery waste. Common informal recycling activities for lead-acid batteries used in solar energy systems were recorded to...
Cockroach infestations are up by a third in Spain: Is climate change to blame? Rising temperatures across Spain are thought to be responsible for growing numbers of insecticide-resistant Germanic cockroaches. Climate change could be causing a concerning uptick in the number of cockroach infestations in Spain – as well as alterations to their genetic makeup....
Southern Africa is on the brink of a hunger crisis after an historic drought decimated crops during the peak October to March farming season – one year after the region was pummelled by tropical storms. Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe declared national disasters within weeks of each other after insufficient rains wiped out crops including the...
The United States restricted trade with five companies on Wednesday that it said help produce and procure drones for use by Russia in Ukraine and by Iran-backed Houthis in Red Sea shipping attacks. The companies from Russia and China were among 11 additions to the Commerce Department’s Entity List, which means suppliers need licenses before...
Eswatini’s king professed to have a bold plan for a thriving economic zone. ICIJ uncovered two phantom gold refineries channeling millions of dollars to Dubai through it. Against a backdrop of rolling hills and sugar cane fields, a generous stretch of cleared land borders the small industrial town of Matsapha in central Eswatini, a tiny...
Climate change forces world’s coral reefs to undergo fourth global mass bleaching event. This is the second global coral bleaching event in 10 years due to warming oceans. Coral reefs around the world are experiencing global bleaching for the fourth time, top reef scientists declared on Monday, a result of warming ocean waters amid human-caused...
Dubai unveils the world’s biggest infinity pool between two skyscrapers, but it will cost up to £10k to swim in it. Dubai has now become home to the world’s longest infinity pool, floating hundreds of metres up in the sky between two skyscrapers. Measuring an astonishing 120 metres (393 feet) in length, a quick splash...
Since the start of this year, Africa’s most populous nation Nigeria has faced prolonged stretches of severe heat. A recent quick-fire analysis found that the conditions in February, when temperatures exceeded 40C, were made 10 times more likely by human-caused climate change. But the heat is still ongoing, with temperatures reaching a record 44.8C in Sokoto, a city in north-western Nigeria,...