Dutch lender Rabobank’s California unit agreed Wednesday to pay $369 million to settle allegations that it lied to regulators investigating allegations of laundering money from Mexican drug sales and organized crime through branches in small towns on the Mexico border.

The subsidiary, Rabobank National Association, said it doesn’t dispute that it accepted at least $369 million in illegal proceeds from drug trafficking and other activity from 2009 to 2012. It pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States for participating in a cover-up when regulators began asking questions in 2013.

The penalty is one of the largest U.S. settlements involving the laundering of Mexican drug money, though it’s still only a fraction of the $1.9 billion that Britain’s HSBC agreed to pay in 2012. It surpasses the $160 million that Wachovia Bank agreed to pay in 2010.

Three execs behind cover-up

Under the agreement, the company will cooperate with investigators. The federal government agreed not to seek additional criminal charges against the company or recommend special oversight.

The settlement describes how three unnamed executives ignored a whistleblower’s warnings and orchestrated the cover-up. Two of the executives were fired in 2015 and one retired that year.

“Settling these matters is important for the bank’s mission here in California,” said Mark Borrecco, the subsidiary’s chief executive.

In 2010, Mexico proposed new limits on cash deposits at the country’s banks, resulting in more tainted deposits at Rabobank branches in Calexico and Tecate, according to the plea agreement. Accounts in the two border towns soared more than 20 percent after Mexico’s crackdown, and bank officials knew the money was likely tied to drug trafficking and organized crime.

Risky customers escaped scrutiny, including one in Calexico who funneled more than $100 million in suspicious transactions. Customers in Tecate withdrew more than $1 million in cash a year from 2009 to 2012, often in amounts just under federal reporting requirements.

“The cartels probably thought these were sleepy towns, no one’s going to notice,” said Dave Shaw, head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego. “When you bring in $400 million, someone is going to notice. The bank should have known and they just chose not to report any suspicious activity.”

Punishment for cover-up, not crime

Heather Lowe, legal counsel and government affairs director at research and advocacy group Global Financial Integrity, said the illegal activity bore similarities to what happened with HSBC and Wachovia.

But those banks were charged with laundering Mexican drug proceeds, while Rabobank only acknowledged covering it up.

“It seems in this case we have the bank taking the hit for lying but not for the violations themselves,” said Lowe, who expects the three unnamed executives will be prosecuted.

A whistleblower alerted two of the three executives to suspicious activity in 2012 and shared her concerns with the bank’s “executive management group,” according to the plea agreement. She also spoke with regulators amid concerns in the company that the government scrutiny could endanger a pending merger. She was fired in July 2013.

The government has a cooperating witness in former compliance officer George M. Martin, who agreed in December to cooperate with authorities in a deal that delayed prosecution for two years.

Martin, a vice president and anti-money laundering investigations manager, acknowledged he oversaw policies and practices that blocked or stymied probes into suspicious transactions and said he acted at the direction of supervisors, or at least with their knowledge.

Martin told investigators that he and others allowed millions of dollars to pass through the bank.

Rabobank, based in Utrecht, Netherlands, said last month that it set aside about 310 million euros ($384 million) to settled allegations against its subsidiary. Sentencing is scheduled May 18.
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From: MeNeedIt

Since 1931, the Gerber baby food baby has been one of the world’s most familiar and ubiquitous trademarks.

This year’s Gerber spokesbaby is extra-special, he is 18-month-old Lucas Warren from Dalton, Georgia, and he has Down syndrome.

Lucas was chosen from 140,000 entries from across the country, all happy and beautiful and deserving, Gerber said.

But Gerber CEO Bill Partyka said Lucas’ “winning smile and joyful expression won our hearts this year.”

Along with a $50,000 prize, Lucas will appear on Gerber social media channels throughout 2018 and, as his mother Courtney says, “spread joy, not only to those he interacts with, but to people all over the country … individuals with special needs have the potential to change the world, just like our Lucas.”

The original Gerber baby, whose sketch has appeared on jars and boxes since 1931, is Ann Turner Cook, who recently turned 91.
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From: MeNeedIt

The private space company SpaceX has launched its largest rocket yet Tuesday, sending a cherry red Tesla Roadster into an elliptical Earth-Mars orbit.

The Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the same launch pad from which NASA’s Apollo 11 lifted off in 1969 on the first mission that landed astronauts on the moon.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told reporters before the launch Tuesday he “would consider it a win if it just clears the pad and doesn’t blow the pad to smithereens.”

The rocket is equipped with three boosters and 27 engines designed to provide more than 2 million kilograms of thrust. If successful, it will be the most powerful rocket in use today, and the most powerful used since NASA’s Saturn 5 rockets last carried astronauts to the moon 45 years ago.

The Falcon Heavy was first designed to send humans to the moon or Mars, but Musk said Monday it is now being considered as a carrier of equipment and supplies to deep space destinations.

​While such test rockets usually use items like steel or concrete slabs as payload, but the Tesla Roadster made by another company owned by Musk, carried a mannequin “Starman” sitting at the wheel and the radio set to play David Bowie’s classic hit Space Oddity on a loop.

In a tweet last month, Musk said he loves the thought of a car driving -apparently endlessly through space and, perhaps being discovered by an alien race millions of years in the future.
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From: MeNeedIt

Female musicians in Nashville have long complained about the lack of representation on country radio, but now a collective of female songwriters are singing “Time’s Up.”

The Song Suffragettes were formed in 2014 in response to a growing concern that women were being excluded by labels and radio and spurred by comments by a radio consultant that compared women to tomatoes in a salad. Only 18 out of the top 100 country singles of 2017 had a female artist featured, a percentage that has been stagnating in the genre for years. 

Kalie Shorr is one of the original members of the collective that plays in a writer’s round every Monday night at the Listening Room Cafe, just a couple of miles away from Music Row. 

“We had all individually gone into a stuffy Music Row office and had someone say, ‘No,’ followed by ‘because you’re a woman,”’ said Shorr. “I have even had label executives say, ‘I am just really burned out on women right now.”’

But Shorr and her fellow singers said the (hash)MeToo and Time’s Up movements that started in Hollywood and spread to other industries is a critical step forward in a conversation that has always been a secret in many industries. Shorr, along with another Suffragette singer Lacy Green, were inspired to write “Time’s Up” after watching the scores of actresses dressed in black at the Golden Globes. 

The music video for “Time’s Up” features the 23 singers dressed all in black, linked arm in arm, singing lyrics like “The scales are tipping, the veil is ripping and the clock is ticking `cause the time’s up.” Proceeds from the sale of the song will go to the Time’s Up organization, which has established a legal defense fund. 

It’s one of the few signs that more artists in country music are willing to address sexual harassment. Keith Urban played a song “Female” on the Country Music Association Awards last November that seemed to address the (hash)MeToo movement. The Country Radio Seminar, an annual gathering of the top country radio stations in the country held this week in Nashville, will have a panel on sexual harassment. 

But other signs suggest that the genre still has a long way to go. For example, a radio host who was fired after he lost a groping lawsuit to superstar Taylor Swift got a new gig at a Mississippi country station this year. And a country singer named Katie Armiger is in the midst of an ongoing lawsuit with her former label Cold River Records, in which she has alleged sexual harassment by unnamed radio personnel. Cold River Records has denied they were aware of the harassment.

The movement has affected some of the Song Suffragettes personally and directly. 

“It’s one thing to see artists come out about it, but actually a few weeks ago, one of my family members came out and said that she had been sexually assaulted,” said Tiera, who goes by her first name as an artist.

Shorr said that those women who have shared their stories about harassment or assault have helped to change the attitude about what was once a very secretive topic. 

“I 100 percent understand why no one would want to share their story, but now it’s like we’re creating this culture where it’s OK to speak about it,” Shorr said. “That’s why I really love this movement, because everybody is just sticking together.”

Candi Carpenter, a new artist on the Sony Music Nashville label, said that the national statistics for sexual assault are staggering, but support is available. 

“Letting victims of this kind of behavior know that when they come forward, they will be believed and they will be supported by a community,” Carpenter said. “That’s what our community does for each other and that’s what we need to do for each other as a country.”

They agreed that the recent Grammy Awards last month missed an opportunity to highlight the work of female musicians. The Recording Academy came under fire for comments made by President Neil Portnow that women needed to “step up” after only two women won awards during the telecast. 

Shorr said while she loved Kesha’s performance of “Praying,” she said the Recording Academy should have given Lorde, the only woman nominated for album of the year, a performance slot.

She said the academy “missed the mark a little bit” and urged members to “look at the bigger picture” and ask: How can we help? “Not to anticipate that kind of backlash is a little bit surprising to me.”
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From: MeNeedIt

Female circumcision is a common but brutal practice in some cultures, where it affects millions of women in 30 countries, mostly in Africa. That is why the U.N. has designated Feb. 6 as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. In Ethiopia alone, three quarters of women are living with the painful and sometimes life-threatening results of genital mutilation.  As we hear from VOA’s Deborah Block.
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From: MeNeedIt

The rollercoaster ride continued in financial markets Tuesday, with sharp swings rocking major indexes from Asia, Europe and North America. The volatility intensified just a day after the steepest drop on Wall Street on Monday, after the Dow Jones Industrial index plunged nearly 1,200 points. But if the sharp sell-off came as a shock to some, analysts who spoke with VOA say it’s a shock many had been anticipating for some time. Mil Arcega explains.
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From: MeNeedIt

Billionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn has resigned as head of Wynn Resorts, less than two weeks after the Wall Street Journal published a report about decades of allegations of sexual misconduct.

The Journal article detailed several incidents in which Wynn allegedly pressured staff to perform sex acts. The allegations include those from a manicurist who claims she was forced to have sex with Wynn in 2005, shortly after he opened his flagship Wynn Las Vegas. The paper said she was later paid a $7.5 million settlement.

Wynn has denied the accusations, including again in a statement issued Tuesday announcing he was stepping down.

“In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself the focus of an avalanche of negative publicity. As I have reflected upon the environment this has created — one in which a rush to judgment takes precedence over everything else, including the facts — I have reached the conclusion I cannot continue to be effective in my current roles,” he said.

Wynn is a towering figure in the gambling world who helped revitalize Las Vegas with resorts such as The Bellagio, The Mirage and Treasure Island.

In addition to being a business mogul, Wynn also served as the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee before resigning from that post last month, and has been a large contributor to the Republican Party.
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From: MeNeedIt

“Girls Trip” changed the game for Tiffany Haddish, and now she’s being honored as one of Essence magazine’s “game-changers” at its annual “Black Women in Hollywood” awards.

“Girls Trip” was one of last year’s big hits and made Haddish a breakout star. The comedian is one of four women being honored at the March 1 event in Beverly Hills, California.

“The Chi” creator and “Master of None” star Lena Waithe will also be celebrated; she became the first black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing last year.

Danai Gurira of “The Walking Dead” stars in the upcoming “Black Panther.” Gurira also created the Tony-nominated “Eclipsed,” among other works. Tessa Thompson broke new ground in her role in last fall’s superhero hit “Thor.”

Essence magazine editor Vanessa De Luca says the honorees are “raising their voices to benefit all women.”
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From: MeNeedIt

Tuesday is the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, a U.N.-sponsored annual event.

Female genital mutilation in Africa is an age-old tradition that involves the cutting of the clitoris of young girls and women.

The United Nations estimates at least 200 million girls and women have undergone some form of FGM, including 44 million aged 14 years and younger.

Fifty-year-old Rahma Wako is an activist working to eradicate FGM, 16 years after Kenya banned the practice.

Rhama says she was cut and sewn at the age of six and explains they used a hot iron rod to heat the place where they cut, and it took 40 days to heal. She says for those 40 days she could not go to the toilet properly, and if she lives to be 100 years old she will remember the ordeal.

Six years later, her parents married her to a 70-year-old man.

She says the experience was horrific. She delivered twins nine months later in a near death experience.

Rhama says the babies tore her like a piece of cloth because during the FGM they had sewn her up so tight. She says she required 28 stitches after the birth to heal the wound.

After six months, Rahma was pregnant again with twins. She says she decided to leave her home, Rhama filed for divorce, won the case and had custody of her four children. She swore never to become anyone’s wife again and to become an anti-GM campaigner.

Rhama says she was an outcast in her community, fighting against her own culture and that gave her energy to fight for girls. She says she has prevented many girls from undergoing the cut and suffering all she had experienced.

Rahma has rescued hundreds of girls from undergoing the cut. She travels to areas where the practice is most prevalent. She says more people are starting to slowly shun the practice.

The 2016 UNICEF report said girls and women in 30 countries have been subjected to FGM, more than half from Indonesia, Egypt and Ethiopia.

In Kenya three percent of girls under age 15 have been subjected to FGM. The practice was outlawed in the country in 2001. Those found to be performing FGM can be imprisoned for up to three years.

The practice is usually performed by people who are not trained medical professionals, posing risk of death from excessive bleeding or infection. Later, FGM can cause intense pain during sexual intercourse and complications during deliveries.
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From: MeNeedIt

The private space company SpaceX is scheduled to test launch its largest rocket yet Tuesday, and, if all goes well, it will also send a sports car into orbit around the sun.

​WATCH: Falcon Heavy Test Flight LIVE

The Falcon Heavy rocket is poised to blast off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the same launch pad from which NASA’s Apollo 11 lifted off in 1969 on the first mission that flew astronauts to the moon.

SpaceX CEO Musk told reporters before the launch Tuesday he estimated the success rate at 50 percent.

“I would consider it a win if it just clears the pad and doesn’t blow the pad to smithereens,” he said.

The rocket is equipped with three boosters and 27 engines designed to provide more than 2 million kilograms of thrust. If successful, it will be the most powerful rocket in use today, and the most powerful used since NASA’s Saturn 5 rockets last carried astronauts to the moon 45 years ago.

The Falcon Heavy was first designed to send humans to the moon or Mars, but Musk said Monday it is now being considered as a carrier of equipment and supplies to deep space destinations.

While such test rockets usually use items like steel or concrete slabs as payload, a cherry red Tesla roadster electric sports car has been placed on top of the rocket.

With a mannequin “Starman” sitting at the wheel, the plan is for the car to be set in an orbit around the sun.

In a tweet last month, Musk said he loves the thought of a car driving — apparently endlessly through space and, perhaps being discovered by an alien race millions of years in the future.
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From: MeNeedIt

On this International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, the United Nations is calling for the eradication of the traditional practice, which causes extreme physical and psychological harm to millions of women and girls worldwide.

The United Nations says more than 200 million girls and women in 30 countries are currently living with the harmful and dangerous consequences of female genital mutilation. Young girls between infancy and 15 years of age are subjected to the practice, which mainly occurs in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

The World Health Organization reports FGM confers no benefits, only serious problems, including severe bleeding, infections, complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.

Irrefutable evidence exists regarding the many serious life-long health consequences that arise from the procedure. Nevertheless, the WHO reports the practice persists because of myths and misconceptions.

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said one dangerous myth is that only girls who undergo the procedure can enter womanhood and be considered respectable.

She said people often believe there is little risk of harm for girls and women if female genital mutilation is performed by a doctor or other health care professional.

“This is not the truth.WHO is completely against any health worker helping to do this practice. FGM is a harmful practice and may lead to physical, mental and sexual health complications regardless of who performs it,” said Chaib.

FGM is far from being eradicated. But, Chaib told VOA slow progress is being made in communities around the world. She cites the case of Sudan, a country that has a high level of FGM.

With the help of several U.N. agencies and financing from Britain and Ireland, she said, the practice is becoming more rare in communities across the country.
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From: MeNeedIt

U.S. stock prices fluctuated wildly Tuesday after regaining ground following a sharply lower open on the heels of selloffs earlier in the day in Asia and Europe.

The volatility continued unabated one day after The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed the most points in one day in its more than 120-year history.

The Dow fell 530 points at the market open and the more broad-based Standard & Poors 500 Index (S&P 500) tumbled 1.3 percent. The technology heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.1 percent.

Earlier Tuesday, Asia’s benchmark stock indexes collapsed, as Monday’s massive selloffs on Wall Street rolled across the globe.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost as much seven percent of its value at one point during the trading session, before closing at 21,610 points, a loss of nearly five percent.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index followed suit, dropping just over five percent in its worst trading day since August 2015.

The benchmark indexes Australia and South Korea also suffered serious losses.

In early Europe trading London’s FTSE 100 was down 3.5 percent at 7,081 points.

Asian markets were caught in the ripple effect of Monday’s 1,175-point loss on the Dow, marking the biggest point decline in history.  The S&P 500 also had a bad day, losing just over four percent to finish at 2,648 points.  

The stock market has now lost about a trillion dollars in value since Friday, when the Dow lost 666 points.  That drop followed a solid jobs report that showed the U.S. economy adding 200 thousand jobs and wages rising at the fastest pace in a decade. The tighter labor market and rising wages prompted investor fears of higher inflation and the possibility that the U.S. Federal Reserve would raise interest rates faster and higher than they have in recent years.

Analysts who spoke with VOA had been expecting a stock market “correction,” a decline of at least 10-percent from the most recent record highs, as a result of the record run-up in stock prices this year.  

 
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From: MeNeedIt