Americas
Headlines
[CORRECTED] Polio returns to Venezuela, and threatens the region
Editor’s note: This story, published on June 14th, stated that Venezuela’s health department reported to the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) the first case of polio in South America since 1991. The suspected case was found in a child who had symptoms of paralysis consistent with polio. On June 15th PAHO issued a statement saying that...
Why STDs are soaring in America
NEARLY 20 years ago, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an ambitious proposal to “eliminate syphilis from the United States”. The plan seems to have worked rather poorly. Soon after the proposal’s issue, infection rates began to head in the wrong direction and then worsened. From 2000 until 2016, the most recent...
A divided Supreme Court strikes a blow for lower election turnouts
Postcard from DC THE Supreme Court is not comprised of “nine junior varsity politicians”, Justice Stephen Breyer insists. For Chief Justice John Roberts, America’s top jurists are umpires with no skin in the game. With a 5-4 ruling on June 11th in Husted v Philip Randolph Institute, a significant voting-rights case, these paeans to dispassionate...
In praise of ranked-choice voting
“A LIBERAL,” said Robert Frost, an American poet, “is a man too broad-minded to take his own side in a quarrel.” An ad released less than a week before election day by Mark Eves and Betsy Sweet (pictured above), opponents in Maine’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, seemed a paragon of Frostian liberalism. Ms Sweet, who resembles a slightly...
Whaling in Alaska
A whale of a time IT IS whaling season in Utqiagvik, the newly official—as well as ancient indigenous—name for Barrow, Alaska’s, and therefore America’s, most northerly settlement. This village of about 4,500 residents, the majority of whom are Inupiaq, sits at the edge of the Arctic Ocean. Whaling season is a time of year when the community...
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
Are Law Firms Liable for Serving Booze to Intoxicated Employees?
Where does a law firm cross the line when it provides alcohol to its employees? In a case against the Gladstone Law Group, it wasn't when the firm escorted a paralegal out of the building for being drunk. And according to a Florida appeals court, it wasn't when she stepped in front of a train on her way home. It's...
Appeals on Wheels -- Not Just a Hoosier Thing
A program for the state appellate court in Indiana, called Appeals on Wheels, might not be the courthouse inside a food-truck that your modern mind envisions, but it's still awesome! The focus of the program is to help educate the public about how the justice system works by holding real oral arguments, in real...
Racist Defense Lawyer Not Enough for Habeas Relief
Appeals are often able to correct miscarriages of justice. Sadly, sometimes the appellate court is bound by precedent, and is powerless to do so. Recently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dealt with one such injustice in the Ellis v. Harrison matter. The defendant in the case, Ezzard Ellis, was represented...
Court Upholds Utah's Signature-Gathering Law
Utah politics have always been a little different. From its theocratic beginnings, Utah has long been a bastion of conservatives. If you are a Democrat in Utah, you may have a hard time winning an election. So it is not too surprising that Utah's most recent political battle is between Republicans and Republicans....
Paul Manafort Jailed for Alleged Witness Tampering
Paul Manafort should have packed his toothbrush before going to court. That's because he wasn't going home after Judge Amy Berman Jackson sent him to jail for allegedly tampering with witnesses while he was out on bail. Jackson said she had no choice. "I cannot turn a blind eye to this," she said in the Washington...
Deals
Ironwood Capital funds CSI
Ironwood Capital has made an investment in Tallahassee, Florida-based Consulting Solutions International, a provider of contract consultants for IT and staff augmentation. No financial terms were disclosed.Read More
Social Capital’s Arjun Sethi set to leave firm
Social Capital Partner Arjun Sethi is set to leave the firm in a year, according to a news report.Read More
Impact America Fund to raise $50 mln venture-capital fund
Impact America Fund has set out to raise a $50 million venture-capital fund, according to a filing with the SEC. Read More
SurveyMonkey confidentially files for IPO: Reuters
U.S. online survey company SurveyMonkey on Monday said it had confidentially registered for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission, through its parent SVMK Inc.Read More
PE-backed American Vision Partners buys Miles Eye Center
American Vision Partners, which is backed by H.I.G. Capital, has acquired Miles Eye Center, an Arizona-based eye care provider. No financial terms were disclosed. Miles Eye Center will operate under the name of Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center. 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...