The world faced a growing number of complex and interconnected challenges in 2018. From climate change and slowing global growth to economic inequality, we will struggle if we do not work together in the face of these simultaneous challenges. The Global Risks Report 2019 provides an opportunity to place the global risk landscape into context at the beginning of the new year and identify priority areas for action in 2019. WEF Global Risks Report 2019
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting/ Videos
World Economic Forum warns of impact of global tensions
Daphne Caruana Galizia and Ana Garrido Ramos winners of 2018 Anti-Corruption Award
Transparency International proudly announces that the late Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and Spanish whistleblower and campaigner Ana Garrido Ramos have been selected as winners of the 2018 Anti-Corruption Award. The awards were presented at a ceremony at the 18th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Copenhagen this evening.
Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew and husband Peter collected her award. Matthew Caruana Galizia said: “The bomb that took Daphne away from us extinguished the most powerful voice we ever had in our country’s fight for integrity. It also sought to rob us of the hope that her unwavering voice represented. Nothing will ever compensate for the journalist – let alone the person – we lost in her fight against corruption. But this award reminds us not only that hope remains ours to keep but that a large part of the world is hoping with us. It is an overwhelming and deeply emboldening thought for everyone fighting to win her justice and uphold her legacy. Thank you.”
Through her reporting, Daphne Caruana Galizia exposed corruption scandals involving influential politicians and others in Malta and abroad. Since her murder on October 16th, 2017, Maltese authorities have initiated criminal proceedings against her alleged killers, and an inquiry into whether anyone else should be charged.
Ms Caruana Galizia’s family have asked the government of Malta to establish a public inquiry to investigate whether the Maltese state bears any responsibility for her death, either through its failure to protect her or as a result of any state complicity…..Transparency
Daphne Caruana Galizia. Photo: Transparency International
Sunday 9 December is International Anti-Corruption Day. Together, we are #UnitedAgainstCorruption
Corruption impacts the poorest and most vulnerable in society the hardest.
It is ordinary citizens who suffer most when the corrupt steal funds intended for public services like infrastructure, healthcare and education, or take back-handers to award lucrative contracts to their cronies.
One in four people around the world say they have had to pay a bribe to access public services in the past twelve months.
But, when ordinary people fight back against corruption, they can make a real difference.
Leveraging people power
Across the world, Transparency International chapters work hard to help the public become involved and engaged in the fight against corruption…..Transparency
How Dirty Money Disappears Into the Black Hole of Cryptocurrency
Journal investigation documents suspicious trades through venture capital-backed ShapeShift..
After hackers believed to be from North Korea extorted millions of dollars in the so-called WannaCry ransomware attack on businesses and governments, the criminals used ShapeShift to convert bitcoin into an untraceable cryptocurrency called Monero, security researchers found. For the next year, ShapeShift made no changes to its policy of not identifying its customers, and continued to process millions of dollars in criminal proceeds, according to the Journal investigation.
Many cryptocurrency exchanges say they follow federal rules intended to combat money laundering, even though the question of whether they are subject to them hasn’t been tested. They keep records of their customers’ identity and monitor transactions to root out and report suspicious activity…The Black Hole Of Cryptocurrency
US House Passes Bill for Task Force to Combat Crypto Use by Terrorists/Cointelegraph.com
The threat of terrorism and extremism is increasingly complex.
Survey of Terrorist Groups and Their Means of Financing
Katherine Bauer reports: Over the last fifteen years, the U.S. and its allies have dramatically improved their capacity to detect and disrupt attacks through increased information sharingand to undermine such groups through the deployment of sophisticated diplomatic, military and financial initiatives. Nonetheless, years of conflict in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have provided fertile ground for terrorist groups and extremist ideologies. These conflicts have spurred humanitarian crises and stoked sectarianism…Washingtoninstitute.org
The Finance Sector provides a crucial backbone to the European Economy and -like many other sectors- its increasing dependency on ICT Infrastructures, Providers and their Supply Chain. The importance of ICT Security and Resilience supporting the Finance Sector grew considerably and the objective of protecting automated Inter-Banking transactions and more generally all types of Communications is altogether more critical and complex at the same time.
A stable Financial System in Europe is however the underlying foundation for Economic stability; and the reliance on IT is now life critical for the entire Sector.
Technical Cooperation between the key actors of the Finance Sector at pan-European level becomes an urgent need as the sector faces stronger and larger scale challenges. The following effects of the current silo approach for the protection of the Banks and Finance Institutions presents many inconveniences, such as:
the Implementation of a multitude of security and technical standards, difficult to maintain;
the Loss of Interoperability;
Imposibility to implement Safe Harbouring, Mutual Aid Assistance;
Lax laws draw criminal gangs from around the world to Germany. Constrained by strict regulation and mind-boggling bureaucracy, police are struggling to fight crime.
Germany is one of the first choices for gangs worldwide when it comes to washing dirty money, as a Sicilian official recently confirmed. “I’d invest in Germany,” said Robert Scarpinato, Palermo’s public prosecutor…..Money Laundering
More women candidates than ever will contest US governorships and House seats in November’s mid-term elections.
The pink wave makes herstory: Women candidates in the 2018 midterm elections.…brookings.edu
After Tuesday’s primaries across four states, there are now 11 female nominees for governor and at least 182 for the House of Representatives.
The results were hailed as a continuing success story by activists for women in politics.
There was also a key election for a House seat in Ohio, in which President Donald Trump claimed victory.
But US media said the race was still too close to call, in a safe Republican seat held by them since 1983. The outcome could indicate whether Democrats have a chance to overturn the Republican majority in the House in November.
A breakthrough for women
After polling closed in the four states holding primaries on Tuesday – Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington – it became clear women had broken records for gubernatorial and House nominations.
Victories for Gretchen Whitmer (Michigan) and Laura Kelly (Kansas) in Democratic primaries mean 11 women will contest governorships in November – one more than the previous 1994 record.
At least 182 female major party nominees will run for the House, beating the record of 167 from 2016. Another three women are leading in close primary contests.
And one of the candidates for the House in the state is certain to become the first Muslim woman in Congress. Rashida Tlaib won a Democratic nomination and will not be opposed by the Republicans in November. She will also be the first Palestinian-American congresswoman.
The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering is an intergovernmental organisation, consisting of 41 member jurisdictions, focused on ensuring that its members effectively implement the international standards against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing related to weapons of mass destruction.
In addition to its enormous human cost, human trafficking is estimated to be one of the most profitable proceeds generating crime in the world, with the International Labour Organisation estimating that forced labour generates USD 150.2 billion per year. While in the past, many aspects of the crime went ‘unseen’, there is now an increased understanding of the breadth and gravity of human trafficking, particularly with respect to domestic human trafficking and human trafficking for labour exploitation. Human trafficking is also one of the fastest growing forms of international crime. The increased displacement and vulnerability of people in, and around, conflict zones increases instances of human trafficking, including potential involvement by opportunistic terrorist organisations…. Human-Trafficking-2018
Rodrigo de Matos www.w-t-w.org/en/rodrigo-de-matos/
The research traces macro-movements in the career trajectories of men and women in finance and accounting. This includes identifying the dimensions of work that either enable or impede the advancement of their respective careers – finding that men and women follow distinct patterns of ascension within the sector.
Overall, women did not reach executive level until seven years after men. The implication of this was the generation of a two-tournament gender system for reaching executive level. Men enter a fast-track route reaching upper middle management well in advance of women and men whose careers had plateaued. Despite this divergence, the careers of women accelerated at a faster rate once they had reached executive level.
When it comes to the experiences of men and women advancing in their careers overtime in the sector, women tended to blame themselves and others for external organisational impediments to their career progression. This raises pertinent questions regarding the individualising thrust of prevalent organisational logics, and the role of equality and corporate social responsibility within this….accaglobal
The world faced a growing number of complex and interconnected challenges in 2018. From climate change and slowing global growth to economic inequality, we will struggle if we do not work together in the face of these simultaneous challenges. The Global Risks Report 2019 provides an opportunity to place the global risk landscape into context at the beginning of the new year and identify priority areas for action in 2019.
