PANAMA PAPERS: MASSIVE TAX HAVEN DOCUMENT LEAK EXPOSES CORRUPTION AND CRIME ON GLOBAL SCALE

A massive leak of millions of documents has revealed that heads of state, criminals and celebrities conduct and sometimes conceal their business activities in tax havens. The leak exposes holdings in shadowy companies that are owned by 11 past and present heads of state, and reveals how partners of Russian President Vladimir Putin clandestinely transferred no less than $2 billion through banks and companies registered in tax shelters.

The source of the leaked documents is a very powerful yet not very well-known law firm called Mossack Fonseca. This firm has branches in Hong Kong, Miami, Zurich and more than 35 other locations around the world, among them Israel. The documents reveal many Israeli connections and disclose that businesspeople with Israeli citizenship as well as Israeli banks and companies have used the law firm to register companies in tax havens around the world.

The documents expose, among other things, firms controlled by the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the king of Saudi Arabia and the children of the president of Azerbaijan registered in tax havens. They refer to at least 33 companies and individuals that have been on a United States government blacklist for having connections with Mexican drug lords, terror organizations like Hezbollah and rogue states like North Korea and Iran. One of the companies exposed in the leaked documents provided fuel for the aircraft used by the Syrian government to bomb and kill thousands of its citizens.

http://www.infowars.com/panama-papers-massive-tax-haven-document-leak-exposes-corruption-and-crime-on-global-scale/

The U.N. special envoy for Syria has announced the official start of peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition leaders

Syrian peace talks gained a small measure of momentum Monday with the U.N. special envoy formally declaring the start of indirect negotiations, even as the opposition spokesman accused Russia of producing a “new Hitler” in Moscow and supporting another Hitler in Damascus.

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy, is now working to keep a wobbly process alive and compel world powers who helped set the stage for the talks to do more to bring about a cease-fire in a five-year Syrian civil war.

De Mistura said the mere arrival of a delegation from the main Syrian opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee, at the U.N. offices in Geneva was enough to allow him to declare the talks formally open. He previously met with a government delegation on Friday.

“We are actually listening with attention to the concerns of the HNC, and we are going to tomorrow discuss and listen to the concerns of the government,” de Mistura told reporters after Monday’s meeting.

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2016-02-01/syrian-opposition-to-meet-un-envoy-over-humanitarian-demands