In The News

Project Syndicate: Ending the Business of Child Labor

Kailash Satyarthi November 16, 2017
Child labor is wrong, unnecessary and especially vile when wealthy consumers turn a blind eye to indulge in low-cost goods and services. In 1997, global leaders expressed a deep commitment to ending child labor, explains advocate and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, but since then “the world has not even halved the number of children in the workforce.” He estimates that more than 150 million...

Asia Sentinel: Indonesia for Sale

November 1, 2017
Palm oil is the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet, reports the World Wildlife Fund, and the agriculture product is in found in a variety of common packaged foods and household products. Wealthy investors have burned large swaths of rainforest in Indonesia to produce palm oil for export. The Asia Sentinel is running a six-part series investigating the politics, land rights,...

CNN: "Kill Them All" – Russian-Linked Facebook Accounts Called for Violence

Curt Devine October 31, 2017
Representatives of social media companies are testifying to US Congress about Russian meddling in the US election through fake accounts and provocative posts on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. Prior to the hearing, Facebook admitted that more than 100 million Americans may have viewed Russian-made posts. At least 25 messages from a small number of accounts called for violence against...

The Atlantic: Tax Havens and the Manafort Indictment

Krishnadevj Calamur October 30, 2017
Paul Manafort, the US president’s former campaign chairman, and a business partner have been indicted for laundering $75 million through shell companies and foreign bank accounts in Cyprus, Seychelles and elsewhere. “The indictment emerged from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” reports Krishnadev Calamur for the...

The New York Times: Fake Americans Used to Influence Election

Scott Shane September 12, 2017
Cybersecurity analysts suspect that Russian hackers created a large numbers of fictional social media accounts posing as US voters. This was followed by DCLeaks, a website designed to selectively target US candidate to channel outrage about candidates, particularly presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “The Russian information attack on the election did not stop with the hacking and leaking of...

The Economist: Unintended Effects of Rules Aimed at Stopping Financial Crimes

August 3, 2017
As the old saying goes, everyone pays the cost of crime. Costs include direct losses and indirect regulations. The Economist explains that banks are “lending less and shedding customers” due to “strict new rules on capital and liquidity” and avoiding high-risk customers and sectors. Poorest nations are most affected. “Banks in Africa, eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean have been...

Reuters: Security Firms Warn of New Cyber Threat to Electric Grid

Jim Finkle July 10, 2017
Cybersecurity experts have identified a new form of malicious software that could disrupt large power systems. The malware was used to cut power in Ukraine in December 2016. Dragos has sent an alert to governments and utilities with recommendations on avoiding the malware, reports Jim Finkle for Reuters, adding “Crash Override can be detected if a utility specifically monitors its network for...