Americas
Headlines
New York set to become leading hub for offshore wind amid continuing growth of US PPA market
A Word About Wind’s Q2 Finance Quarterly report examines the current state of US wind, identifies Q1 as the busiest for PPAs in the US since 2013 After years of false starts and delays, US offshore wind is finally gaining momentum, fuelled by innovation in turbine technologies, greater economies of scale and increased political support – at least...
Bitter attack on Trump by the FBI’s former director
THROUGH the first half of 2016, James Comey, then FBI director, wrestled with what he considered to be an awful problem. For almost a year his agents had been investigating Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information as secretary of state. Were this to result in a criminal charge, America would face a crisis, for Mrs Clinton was the...
Sean Hannity shares a lot with Donald Trump, including an attorney
You pretend to grill me and I’ll pretend to be angry WHEN Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was raided by the FBI last week, it was the biggest story in America. But the news moves fast in Trumpland. By April 16th it was only the third-biggest sensation in the Manhattan courtroom where Mr Cohen and his and the president’s lawyers had gathered...
America is on track to admit the fewest refugees in four decades
DURING the Iraq war, Suleiman’s family worked closely with the American army in Mosul, as interpreters. When Islamic State took the city over—and its fighters began driving around the city to search for them—they fled east to Erbil, before IS came there, too. Suleiman (not his real name) is now in Amman, Jordan, waiting to hear about his...
The racist origin of state laws on juries is encouraging change
TWO of the jurors who sat in judgment at Willie Dunn junior’s murder trial in 2011 thought he had a plausible claim to self-defence, and voted to acquit him. The other ten thought Mr Dunn was guilty not of murder but of the lesser crime of manslaughter, and in Louisiana that’s good enough. Mr Dunn is now about midway through a 20-year stretch...
Finance
Pendo Systems name Ruth Wandhöfer, a globally recognized banking expert, to their Board of Directors
Pendo Systems is proud to announce that Ruth Wandhöfer, Global Head of Regulatory and Market Strategy at Citi, has joined their board. Ms. Wandhöfer is a banking regulatory expert and one of the foremost authorities on transaction banking regulatory matters. Her reputation has been built around her ability to drive regulatory and industry dialogue...
Implications of the money laundering law reform
The amendment to the money laundering law approved in the first debate requires accountants, lawyers and real estate agents to report suspicious transactions made by their clients.Bill 19.951 reforming the Law on Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, Drugs of Unauthorized Use, Related Activities, Legalization of Capital and Financing of Terrorism...
Wall Street finishes flat ahead of earnings season, key US-China meeting
It was a fairly flat session on Wall Street overnight, as investors exercised caution ahead of the first-quarter earnings season and a meeting between the US and Chinese presidents later this week. Investors will be focussed on the potentially tense meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday, after Mr Trump held out the possibility...
GLC Advisors Strengthens Advisory and M&A Expertise with Addition of Senior Bankers
Addition of Several Industry Bankers Including Former St. Charles Capital Professionals Deepens Firm’s Expertise and Relationships Across Technology, FIG, Consumer, Retail and Energy IndustriesGLC Advisors & Co., LLC (“GLC Advisors”) is pleased to welcome nine seasoned M&A professionals, including former Partners and professionals of Denver based...
Columbia Threadneedle opens office in Chile
Columbia Threadneedle Investments has opened its first Latin American office in Santiago, Chile. As its first proprietary distribution hub for the Andes (Chile, Peru and Colombia), the new office will serve the asset manager’s institutional and wholesale clients in the region. Columbia Threadneedle has also appointed Santiago Zarauza Riestra...
Legal
Should Your Firm Create a Legal Tech Summer Associates Program?
BigLaw generally leads the way in adapting legal tech, but any law firm can teach aspiring lawyers a thing or two about it.Consider Reed Smith, a global law firm with more than 1,800 attorneys. The firm is offering summer programs for law students to create technology-driven solutions to legal problems.It's a boon to young workers who otherwise end...
The FCC UHF Rollback and the Sinclair Media Appeal
In one of the many rollbacks from federal agencies over the last year, the FCC has curiously reinstated the UHF rule. Despite the fact that the technological rationale behind the UHF rule no longer exists due to the transition in 2009 to digital broadcasting, the rule was reinstated this past year.Almost immediately after the rule was reinstated, Sinclair...
Officer Can't Arrest Student for 'Abysmal' Truancy, Court Rules
What do you do when your kids won't get out of bed and go to school?Send them to their room. No wait, that won't work. Take away their cell phone? Pull out your hair? When all else fails, call the cops. You think that's a joke? So did a California appeals court in People v. R.M."Mouthy 17-Year-Old"The state First District Court of Appeal could have...
Look to the future: a tip for analyzing corporate culture in an era of evolving shareholder activism
2018 promises to be a year in which corporate culture will likely become an even more important focal point for investors and activists. There’s no denying that social media has drastically altered the dynamic for public companies. Today, shareholders are increasingly calling upon corporations to take public stances on various social (and sometimes...
Police Fail to Unlock Phone With Dead Man's Finger
Florida police may have watched one too many sci-fi films when they tried to use a dead man's fingerprint to unlock his cell phone.The deceased, Linus Phillips, was already at the morgue when investigators showed up with his cell phone. They suspected him in police-involved shooting, which obviously didn't end well for Phillips.The fingerprint scan...
Deals
Savari raises $12 mln from Aviva Ventures, SAIC Capital, Flex, other
Savari said it raised $12 million of Series B funding in a round led by Aviva Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of insurer Aviva. Existing investors SAIC Capital and Flex participated in the financing, along with an unnamed strategic investor.Read More
Improvado.io raises $3 mln seed round
Improvado.io said it raised a $3 million seed round from 15 individual investors, including Jeff Epstein of Bessemer Venture Partners, Ethan Beard of Greylock Partners and Charlie Songhurst of Katana Capital.Read More
Rally Ventures to raise $150 mln third venture fund
Rally Ventures has set out to raise a $150 million third venture capital fund, according to a filing with the SEC.Read More
HaystackID acquires Inspired Review and Envision Discovery
HaystackID acquired Inspired Review, a managed review services company and Envision Discovery, an eDiscovery and managed services company. Additionally, with investments from management, Knox Capital, ORIX Mezzanine & Private Equity and Maranon Capital, the company created Haystack Holdings. Terms of the acquisition and investment transactions...
Third Rock invests $56.2 mln in Series A funding for Cedilla Therapeutics
Third Rock Ventures raised $56.2 million in Series A funding for Cedilla Therapeutics, a biotechnology company concerned with protein stability. Cedilla Therapeutics was able to launch with its new funding.Read More
Acq Lite
Statoil using mega-rig to tap frontier North Sea area
March 12 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Statoil will move a deepwater drilling rig to the North Sea to tap a prospect awarded more than 30 years ago, a regulator said Monday.The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate gave Statoil consent to move the Deepsea Atlantic drilling rig to a section of the North Sea to tap into a prospect awarded to the company...
Eni deal a testament to Abu Dhabi's attraction
March 12 (UPI) -- In what's nearly a $1 billion commitment, Italian energy company Eni said it made its Emirati debut in an agreement with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.Eni signed agreements to acquire minority shares in the Lower Zakum, Umm Shaif and Nasr offshore fields from state-run ADNOC for a total fee of $875 million."The stakes in the two...
German green energy segment Innogy divvied up
March 12 (UPI) -- German utility company E.ON is now in control of the renewable energy segment created by its rival, RWE, in a landmark, multi-billion dollar deal, they said.In a joint statement, E.ON said it reached an agreement in principle with RWE to acquire more than three quarters of the stakes in renewable energy entity Innogy, an offshoot from...
Russia test-fires Kinzhal hypersonic missile
March 11 (UPI) -- A Russian jet successfully test-lauched a hypersonic missile Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.The Kinzhal hypersonic missile was launched from an MiG-31 interceptor jet, which departed from an airfield in the Southern Military District, Russia's TASS News Agency reported."A MiG-31 fighter crew of the Russian Aerospace Forces...
Huntington Ingalls contracted for further repairs on USS Fitzgerald
March 9 (UPI) -- Huntington Ingalls was awarded a contract from the U.S. Navy to continue repairs on the USS Fitzgerald.The deal, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, is valued at more than $77.5 million under the terms of a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, which is a modification to a previous award.The modified contract between the U.S. Navy...