Headlines
Americas
Brazilian prosecutors go after Glenn Greenwald, an American journalist
LAST JUNE the Intercept, a news site, published hacked messages that showed improper collaboration between Brazilian prosecutors and judges conducting the anti-corruption investigation known as Lava Jato (Car Wash). The leaks tarnished the image of Sergio Moro, the justice minister, who had been the judge in charge. They enraged Brazil’s nationalist...
Learning from Carlos Denegri, a crooked Mexican newsman
IN 1939 CARLOS DENEGRI, a young reporter, investigated a murder by gunmen working for Maximino Ávila Camacho, the governor of the state of Puebla and brother of the next president of Mexico. Denegri delivered a detailed account of Ávila’s crimes to the editor of Excélsior, the country’s most important newspaper. The editor did not publish it,...
The current calm in Bolivia is fragile
ON A RECENT afternoon, workmen were repairing the wall around the Senkata gas plant in El Alto, a working-class city in the mountains above La Paz, Bolivia’s administrative capital. Backers of Evo Morales, the left-wing president who quit on November 10th, had blocked lorries from leaving the plant and knocked down the wall. On November 19th...
Shrinking states offer perks for new residents
IT STARTED AS a joke. Beth Dow received an article from her husband about Vermont paying workers to move to the state. But the jest soon became reality. Within a few months, Mrs Dow and her husband had left their home in Denver for Bennington, a town of 15,000 in southern Vermont, and were paid $5,000 to cover their move. Vermont is one of many states...
Michigan plans to overhaul its jail system
WHEN CRIME rates were last as low as they are today in Michigan, the Beatles topped the charts with “Hey Jude”. Half a century on, Michigan’s police arrest fewer people with each passing year. In the decade to 2018 arrests fell by one-fifth. One might expect, in turn, the state’s jails to be eerily empty. Quite the opposite. A new study by Pew...
Asia Pacific
SANNE appoints new business development director in Tokyo
Makoto Nagao, has been appointed to the newly created role of Director, Business Development adding further strength to SANNE’s Asia-Pacific business. With more than 35 years of experience, Nagao-san brings a wealth of knowledge, following a lengthy career with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, SMFG. While he was at SMFG, Nagao-san was General Manager...
Crayfish.io launches UK’s first funded initiative to get businesses China-ready
A ground-breaking initiative with a £500k investment fund dedicated to helping UK businesses get ‘China-ready’ has been launched in Cambridge by global online platform, Crayfish.io. Starting in September, the Crayfish China Accelerator programme - which has secured UK-China Enterprise Ltd (UKCE), a Chinese-capital-backed VC fund, as its...
SANNE opens new office in Mumbai, India
SANNE, a leading global provider of alternative asset and corporate services has further extended its global reach with the opening of a new office in Mumbai, India. With existing offices in 18 leading international finance centres, SANNE now has a local presence in one of the world’s fastest growing alternative markets and is also pleased to announce...
SANNE secures new bookkeeping licence in China
SANNE, a leading global provider of alternative asset and corporate administration services obtains new bookkeeping licence in China boosting its already strong proposition. The new licence expands SANNE’s existing product offering in China, adding bookkeeping, accounting and tax preparation services for Chinese registered entities. Jing Jing...
SANNE appoints Country Head to lead its Singapore business
Adding further expertise and knowledge to its APAC business As a leading global provider of alternative asset and corporate business services, SANNE is pleased to announce the appointment of David Fowler to the role of Country Head − Singapore with immediate effect. Based in SANNE’s Singapore office, David will be taking over the role from Valérie...
Europe
Augusta raises additional $115m for litigation and dispute funding
Investment in response to growing demand from lawyers Augusta, the UK’s largest litigation and disputes funder by case volume announces it has raised a further US $115m from a multi-billion-dollar US-based investment manager. In 2018, Augusta secured £150m from a global investment fund, to finance business growth and investment in funding cases....
An affiliate of Sun European Partners announces that it has completed the sale of Famosa
Sun European Partners, LLP (“Sun European Partners” or “Sun”) today announces that one of its affiliates has completed the sale of Fábricas Agrupadas de Muñecas de Onil, S.A. (“Famosa” or “the Company”), a leading designer, developer, manufacturer and distributer of toys in Spain and throughout the world, to Giochi Preziosi S.p.A.. Famosa,...
Huge Tax Changes for Self-Employed Following Publication of New Legislation
On 11 July 2019, the Government published draft legislation outlining the IR35 changes coming to the private sector, which are expected to affect 250,000 businesses. The reform will impact users and suppliers of personal service company contractors in the private sector. Companies have only nine months to plan for the new off-payroll changes, as they...
Young people pick their banking partners for the future
Battle of the brands Generation Z calls the brands it will bank on in 2030 Britain Banks most trusted for handling payments and safe storage of dataTech brands first choice for creating smart, real-time servicesAs a sector, financial services scores poorly for ethics and positive social impact More than two in five young people (43%) believe that...
Alcentra Closes Significant Capital Raise for its European Direct Lending Strategy
Record €5.5 billion raise reflects strong investor demand, Alcentra’s track record of deployment and returns Alcentra, one of Europe’s largest and longest tenured managers of private debt and part of BNY Mellon Investment Management, has announced the close of its latest European direct lending capital raise. The firm has raised €5.5...
Mena
Kenya’s New Digital IDs May Exclude Millions of Minorities
NAIROBI, Kenya — For all his 73 years, Ahmed Khalil Kafe lived as a citizen of Kenya.Born in the capital, Nairobi, Mr. Kafe worked as a police officer and even served with the presidential guard, court documents show. But last April, when he tried to register for a national ID in the giant biometric database that President Uhuru Kenyatta has said...
A Battle to Protect Forests Unfolds in Central Africa
MOLOUKOU, Central African Republic — Beneath the forest canopy, Lucien Maka steps out of a clearing and into his element.He darts over the shaded undergrowth and finds a cluster of mushrooms, deftly wrapping them in a bundle of leaves. His friend hacks apart a thick branch and gulps down the clean water stored within. They pocket several caterpillars...
Russia Exerts Growing Influence in Africa, Worrying Many in the West
WASHINGTON — Nearly 200 Russian mercenaries have deployed in recent months to Mozambique to combat a growing Islamic State offshoot there, even as Moscow is taking initial steps toward building a military port in the Horn of Africa that could become Russia’s first permanent base on the continent.Russia is steadily expanding its military influence...
Asylum Seekers Find a New Route to Europe, Flowing Into a Divided Cyprus
KOFINOU, Cyprus — Clasping his student visa, Clinton Yebga boarded a Turkish Airlines flight in his native Cameroon, switched planes in Istanbul and landed without trouble in northern Cyprus.But instead of heading to his university in the Turkish-controlled north, he made his way to the so-called green line — a nominal barrier that divides the island...
They’re Stealthy at Sea, but They Can’t Hide From the Albatross
There’s a lot of ocean out there, and boats engaging in illegal fishing or human trafficking have good reason to hide.But even the stealthiest vessels — the ones that turn off their transponders — aren’t completely invisible: Albatrosses, outfitted with radar detectors, can spot them, new research has shown. And a lot of ships may be trying...
International
America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign
EVER SINCE the dollar cemented its role as the world’s dominant currency in the 1950s, it has been clear that America’s position as the sole financial superpower gives it extraordinary influence over other countries’ economic destinies. But it is only under President Donald Trump that America has used its powers routinely and to their full extent,...
What is the future of the rich world’s housing markets?
MOORE’S LAW states, roughly, that computing power doubles every two years. Time and again experts predicted its demise—surely, they reasoned, computers cannot continue getting exponentially more powerful. Yet it held for at least half a century. More people are starting to wonder whether housing may have its own version of Moore’s law. Over the...
Home ownership is in decline
MORE THAN nine in ten Singaporeans are homeowners, a higher rate than in any other rich country. And what a nice place it is to live. The city-state is rich, stable and has virtually no crime. The streets are clean. Singapore seems to confirm what conservatives have long believed: that home ownership makes for richer, happier folk. Lee Kuan Yew, its...
Politicians are finally doing something about housing shortages
TO GET A sense of why London has such expensive housing, visit Tottenham Hale. You might expect that, next to an Underground station where central London is accessible within 15 minutes, there would be plenty of houses. In fact, there is a car wash. The land on which the car wash sits is officially classified as “green belt” land, which means that...
A decade on from the housing crash, new risks are emerging
DURING THE broadcast of the 39th Super Bowl in 2005, there was an advert for mortgages from a firm called Ameriquest. “Don’t judge too quickly,” ran the slogan. “We won’t.” Ameriquest also sponsored the half-time show, where Paul McCartney opened with “Drive My Car”. Two years later and the firm was no more, part of the wider crisis...