Kremlin forces appear to be badly losing their latest war, but it isn't in Syria or Ukraine. It's in cyberspace, where Russia's communications watchdog Roskomnadzor this week began trying to block the popular messaging app Telegram because its encoded services are allegedly “terrorist friendly.” Since the app has consistently refused to hand over its encryption keys to law enforcement, it has been a target of official ire for at least three years. Meanwhile millions of Russians – including Kremlin officials and State Duma deputies – continue to use the service despite the ban, according to business news agency RBK.

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:24:26 -0400

Just before its annual meeting this week, the World Bank announced that an African railroad company would be barred for two years from any new loans from the bank because of a corrupt act. This is the latest example of a legal trend in many countries, from Argentina to Singapore, as well as at the World Bank. Another assumption is that such a deal, called a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), will provide incentives for companies to self-report misconduct.

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:13:45 -0400

Gambia, voters will head to the polls this spring to elect local officials as expected, but it will be the last time they will vote using glass marbles. For the past 60 years, each Gambian has cast a vote by dropping a glass marble into a barrel painted in party colors. The system works well, discourages fraud, and allows illiterate voters to participate, Gambian officials have said in the past.

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 06:00:01 -0400

Videos of two black men leaving a Starbucks in handcuffs last week has confronted many Americans with one of the nation’s most troubling and divisive questions: How deep does racism still run? Half a century after lunch counter sit-ins that cemented the civil rights movement, the similarities between the images then and those from a downtown Philadelphia Starbucks were jarring: police officers escorting two stone-faced black individuals from a storefront after they had insisted on equal treatment. In this case, two black men were waiting for a friend, but not making a purchase, in one of the most overtly progressive corporations in the nation.

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 17:30:07 -0400