‘Breaking Point’: Puerto Rico Files for Historic $70bn Bankruptcy

© Alvin Baez / Reuters

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is seeking the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in US history, after failed negotiations with creditors over its $70 billion debt crisis. That’s more than four times the debt Detroit collapsed under.

On Wednesday, the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico announced they had moved to place the US territory into federal bankruptcy court, making it the largest entity of the US government to seek refuge from creditors in the courts in history. 

Chairman of the Oversight Board José Carrión said the filing was made to “provide a method for the Commonwealth and its instrumentalities to achieve fiscal responsibility and access to the capital markets,” according to a press release.

US territories are barred from filing for a traditional bankruptcy like most US cities or states. Last year, Congress approved the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) to address the impending financial crisis Puerto Rico was already facing.

Under the PROMESA bill, the oversight board and the Title III process were created. Title III, which is similar to the Chapter 9 bankruptcy, allows Puerto Rico and other US territories to restructure their debt under the supervision of a federal judge.

The announcement came a day after major creditors sued Puerto Rico over defaults to its bonds. The Commonwealth held several meetings with creditor representatives to come to an agreement. However, on Monday at midnight, a temporary court stay that protected Puerto Rico from lawsuits expired and negotiations were ended.

“We have sustained our position to negotiate in good faith, but before the current scenario, we choose to protect our people,” Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said in a tweet Wednesday.

Rossello sent a letter to the Financial Oversight and Management Board on Tuesday, saying he hopes the Title III proceedings will “accelerate the negotiation process, leading to as much creditor consensus where possible and achieving where necessary a prompt and efficient judicial resolution of any issues or disputes.” 

Ted Hampton, an analyst at Moody’s Investor Service, says the bankruptcy process is a “positive step.”

"Although a court proceeding will take considerable time and likely involve losses for all Puerto Rico bondholders, it will be an orderly process," Hampton says. 

On Wednesday, the oversight board declared the Commonwealth was “unable to provide its citizens with effective services,” according to court filings obtained by The Deal. 

That document shows Puerto Rico’s 10-year recession has led them to declare a “fiscal and socioeconomic crisis without precedent” in its history. Since 2007, the Commonwealth said it has seen a 14 percent decline in gross national product, a 23 percent decrease in employed persons and a 10 percent drop in population.

According to the US Census Bureau, 46 percent of Puerto Rico’s residents live below federal poverty levels, compared to the national average of 14 percent and 36 percent in Detroit. 

Puerto Rico has approximately $74 billion of bond debt and $48 billion of unfunded pension liabilities. The previous largest public bankruptcy in the US was set by Detroit in 2013 when it declared a total of $18 billion of bond debt and retirement obligations.

“The result is that Puerto Rico can no longer fully pay its debt and pay for government services. Nor can Puerto Rico refinance its debt—it no longer has access to the capital markets,” the oversight board said in the court filing. “In short, Puerto Rico’s crisis has reached a breaking point.”

Puerto Rico’s current fiscal plan sets aside $800 million a year for debt payments, however, it is only a fraction of the $35 billion it owes in interest in payments over the next 10 years. The cost of fully paying off their debt would be around $3.5 billion a year.

Mexico Captures Sinaloa Cartel Leader 'El Licenciado'

Another significant arrest in Mexico's war on drug cartels

By Andrew V. Pestano 

Dámaso "El Licenciado" López Núñez, a leader of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán's Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested early Tuesday by Mexican security forces in Mexico City.

Photo courtesy Mexico Attorney General's Office

UPI -- Mexico's attorney general said security forces captured Dámaso "El Licenciado" López Núñez, a leader of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán's Sinaloa Cartel.

López Núñez, whom forces captured early Tuesday in Mexico City's Anzures neighborhood, is the presumed successor of Guzmán after the Sinaloa Cartel kingpin was arrested. The Attorney General's Office, or PGR, said no shots were fired.

López Núñez is wanted in the United States on drug trafficking charges. The PGR said he was arrested along with several others.

Radio Formula reported López Núñez's whereabouts were determined after he was seen dining in a Mexico City restaurant with a hacker.

Guzmán's Sinaloa Cartel is credited with dominating the illegal drug market in nearly the entire United States. "El Chapo" -- meaning "The Short One" or "shorty" -- so dubbed because of his 5-foot-6-inch frame, was detained in Guatemala in 1993 and then extradited to Mexico to face murder and drug trafficking charges.

He escaped from prison in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart after bribing prison guards, and was re-captured in February 2014. He was captured a second time in the city of Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa on Jan. 8, 2016, after escaping from Mexico's Altiplano Federal Prison on July 11, 2015.

López Núñez is accused of organizing Guzmán's 2001 escape. Guzmán, who is facing trial in the United States, pleaded not guilty to 17 criminal charges related to his drug empire -- including corruption, murder, conspiracy, drug importation and money laundering.

Contract Security Firm Sallyport - No Scruples, No Oversight

US firm at Iraqi base hushed up probe into human trafficking & alcohol smuggling – report

Joint Base Balad, Iraq. © Sgt. Quentin Johnson / Wikipedia

A US firm, paid $686 million to secure an Iraqi base for F-16 fighter jets, ignored security violations, human trafficking allegations and alcohol smuggling by its staff, according to an AP investigation. Those who uncovered the wrongdoing were fired.

The investigation centers on Sallyport Global, which was contracted by the US government to help secure Iraq's Balad Airbase by keeping F-16s and their Iraqi pilots safe.

The $686 million contract also required investigations into potential crimes and contract violations, and for any breaches to be reported to the US government.

However, Robert Cole and Kristie King, the investigators tasked with that job, would soon realize their findings were extremely unwelcome by Sallyport.

The news agency interviewed two former internal investigators who were fired by Sallyport, as well as a half-dozen former or current staff members. It also obtained documents as part of the probe.

Alcohol smuggling

Although alcohol was restricted at the base, Cole and King discovered that staff frequently flew in smuggled alcohol in such large volumes that a plane once “see-sawed” on the tarmac due to the weight.

According to documents and witnesses, alcohol was everywhere on the base. Empty suitcases were reportedly loaded on to Baghdad-bound round-trip flights, returning with booze-filled plastic water bottles which evaded security – a serious risk in a war zone.

Steve Anderson, who worked on flight logistics for Sallyport, said he was told by managers to sign off on manifests he knew had been falsified to hide alcohol and guns.

When he raised concerns, it was suggested that he find a new job. His position was soon eliminated.

In one allegation, informants told the investigators that “flight line” staff responsible for directing airplanes on the runways and handling cargo, were showing up to work drunk. At one point, they reportedly passed around a bowl of gummy bears soaked in vodka.

Prostitution

When Cole and King were aiming to get to the bottom of the alcohol smuggling, they came across a prostitution ring in Baghdad, the customers of which included Sallyport employees, according to informants.

They also learned that four Ethiopians who had previously worked as prostitutes at a hotel had moved to Balad and were plying the same trade while also working as housekeepers for Sallyport.

That investigation, along with the alcohol smuggling probe, was shut down by a Sallyport executive in Virginia before it could continue.

However, Sallyport Chief Operating Officer Matt Stuckart said the prostitution allegations were not substantiated.

“It is absurd to suggest that the company would shut down an inquiry into a matter of such gravity,” he said.

There were also allegations that Sallyport staff members were involved in human trafficking for prostitution.

Theft & security breaches

The AP investigation details an incident which occurred on July 13, 2015, in which a truck driver lost control of his vehicle, taking it onto the tarmac and stopping about 45 yards from a jet in the “no-go area."

Three months later, Cole reported the theft of an armored Toyota SUV assigned to VIPs. His chief suspect was a Sallyport bodyguard. However, the Toyota was recovered within days and Cole was called off the case.

A former senior manager for Sallyport defended taking Cole off the case, telling AP that negotiations with militias were sensitive and needed Iraqi cooperation. Although he said the chief suspect – the bodyguard – was ‘banned’ from the base, Cole later saw him walking around freely.

On November 15, 2016, rogue militia stole three enormous generators using flatbed trucks and a 60-foot (18-meter) crane, driving directly past Sallyport security guards unchallenged.

Despite requirements to report major security breaches, none of the incidents were reported to the US government until earlier this year, after an auditor began asking questions.

‘We knew too much’ 

After uncovering the information, Cole and King reported it to the correct channels. However, those channels never reported it to the US government and the two investigators were abruptly fired on March 12 and immediately flown out of Iraq.

At the time of their sacking, King and Cole had been looking into allegations that Sallyport manager were falsifying timesheets and people were getting paid without working. They were set to interview those whom they considered to be suspects.

The investigators said company lawyers had ordered them to keep two sets of books at the time, which they believed to be an attempt to deceive auditors.

“One for the government to see and one for the government not to see,” King told AP.

“I feel like they got us out so quickly because they feel like we knew too much,” he said.

King said he and Cole eventually realized that Sallyport was hiding all of the information from the US government, calling the revelation “mind-blowing.”

Meanwhile, Sallyport's COO Stuckart says the company stands by its security procedures and received “high marks” from the US Air Force.

He said the company has a “strong record of providing security and life support services in challenging war zones like Iraq and plays a major but unheralded role in the war against ISIS [Islamic State/IS].”

“The company takes any suggestion of wrongdoing at Balad very seriously,” he added.

Balad Airbase is controlled by the Iraqi government, and has hosted US forces off and on since 2003. The base was evacuated in June 2014, when IS began overrunning Iraqi territory. Sallyport was tasked with keeping the base safe after the Americans returned.

More Arabs View Israel Positively than Jews, Poll Reveals

Remarkable how Arabs within Israel are so much happier and more positive than their counterparts in Gaza and the West Bank. Perhaps the Jews are not the problem; perhaps Arab governments are the problem.

© Ammar Awad / Reuters

Arab citizens have a more positive outlook on Israel than its Jewish citizens do, according to a recent poll released as Israel celebrates its 69th Independence Day.

The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan think tank Israel Democracy Institute, in conjunction with Tel Aviv University, asked 600 Israelis over the telephone how they felt about life in their homeland. Perhaps surprisingly, in some ways Israeli Arab citizens were more optimistic about the state of the country than the majority Jewish population.

Sixty-six percent of Arabs rated the situation in Israel as “good” or “very good,” with only 12 percent giving it a “bad” or “very bad” score. This was higher than the Jewish respondents, only 43.9 percent of whom said it was either good or very good. And among Jews, the impression that Israeli leaders were doing a “good” or “very good” job of paying attention to what they want was a mere 2 percent, compared to 19 percent of Arabs. Arabs were also more confident about the economy, with 75 percent seeing it as good or very good compared to 62 percent of Jews.

But in other ways, Jews were still on firmer ground than Arabs. Eighty percent of respondents were proud to be Israeli overall, a figure that was 86 percent among Jews. Over half (51 percent) of Arabs also said they were proud to be Israeli, compared to only 40 percent who said they are not. A mere 13 percent of Jews were not proud of being Israelis.

Seventy-one percent described their personal situation as good or very good overall, and only 3 percent said it was “bad” or “very bad”. Here Jews again fared better than Arabs, with 75 percent rating their situation as good compared to 57 percent of Arabs.

One of the sharpest divides in the survey came in the question over whether US President Donald Trump was right to launch missile strikes on Syria. The overwhelming majority of Jewish respondents (79 percent) agreed with Trump’s decision, but 61 percent of Arabs felt this action was wrong. It should be noted that Israel has itself been conducting limited operations in Syria, with several airstrikes aimed at arms convoys belonging to its Lebanese foe Hezbollah, which supports President Bashar Assad in the ongoing civil war.

Israel’s population is around 75 percent Jewish, with the remaining 25 percent mainly consisting of Arabs. The majority of Arabs are Muslim, along with a number of Christians and Druze.

6 Blacklisted Hate Preachers ‘Not Welcome’ in Denmark

& Study by Statistics Denmark reveals the 20% of Danes will be foreign-born or descendants of immigrants by 2060 

© nyidanmark.dk

Denmark has banned the entry of six foreign preachers for at least two years, following the publication of a blacklist of those it says have spread hate speech.

The blacklist, consisting of just six people, is dominated by controversial Muslim preachers and also features the Evangelical Florida pastor Terry Jones, who gained notoriety for burning copies of the Koran.

The list comprises Saudis Salman al-Ouda and Muhammad Al-Arifi, Americans Kamal El-Mekki and Jones, Syrian Mohammed Rateb al-Nabulsi and Canadian Bilal Philips.

The Danish Immigration and Integration Ministry believes that the blacklist "sends a clear signal that travelling fanatical religious preachers who try to undermine our democracy and fundamental values of freedom and human rights are not welcome in Denmark."

Immigration and Integration Minister Inger Støjberg echoed these sentiments.

“The government won’t accept hate preachers coming to Denmark to preach hate against Danish society and indoctrinate listeners to commit violence against women and children, spread ideas of a caliphate and undermine our founding values,” the Copenhagen Post cites her as saying.

“So I am naturally very pleased that it’s now clear to everyone that these people are not welcome in Denmark,” she added.

“There’s a matter of principle in saying that there are people we don’t want on Danish soil, coming here and preaching hate. We do not want people here if they are coming to incite terror or to incite assault or violence against Jews and homosexuals,” Støjberg told broadcaster DR.

The center-right government announced plans last May to create the list, following the airing of a hidden-camera documentary ‘Moskeerne bag sløret’ (The mosques behind the veil) which exposed radical preachers in Danish mosques.

The immigration authority will continuously assess which preachers should be placed on the blacklist.

1 in 5 Danes to be immigrants or immigrant descendants by 2060, statistics show

© Nils Meilvang / Scanpix / Reuters

One-fifth of the Danish population will be either foreign-born or of foreign descent by 2060, according to the latest statistics presented to the Danish parliament.

The figures, compiled by Statistics Denmark (DST) for the Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs, show that around every eighth person will be from a non-Western country. Currently, immigrants form around 13 percent of the Danish population, with non-Western immigrants forming 8 percent.

One would expect the vast majority of 'non-Western' immigrants are Muslim and the percentage of Muslims in Denmark are certain to increase more rapidly than any other religion or non-religion. Consequently, I expect the percentage of Muslims in Denmark to exceed 15% by 2060.

Is that a bad thing? According to Dr Peter Hammond what often happens in countries where Islam is rising, looks like this:

At this point (5-10%), they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves (within their ghettos) under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islamists is to establish Sharia law over the entire world.

When Muslims approach 10% of the population, they tend to increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions. In Paris , we are already seeing car-burnings. Any non-Muslim action offends Islam, and results in uprisings and threats, such as in Amsterdam , with opposition to Mohammed cartoons and films about Islam. Such tensions are seen daily, particularly in Muslim sections in France and Sweden.


After reaching 20%, nations can expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings, and the burnings of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues.

The statistics prompted a variety of reactions from local politicians.

“These are quite dramatic figures that I think should be an eye-opener for everyone,” Dan Jorgensen of the Social Democrats told the newspaper Berlingske. “If we do not bring the numbers down, it will be a completely different Denmark we will be faced with in a very short time.”

“Many of these people have difficulty being integrated into the labor market and live in parallel societies.”

Martin Henriksen of the right-wing Danish People's Party, known for its anti-immigration standpoint, condemned the figures.

"It's appalling. It’s not surprising, but it is appalling that it goes so strongly with population trends in Denmark,” he said.

Some, however, were more positive.

“If the Danes do not start to have more children, they must come from somewhere else,” said Sofie Carsten Nielsen of the center-left Danish Social Liberal Party.

“Now there is potential in the form of the many immigrant children and descendants, who in 2060 will have a great work potential.”

This was a view echoed by Steen Nielsen, the deputy director of the Confederation of Danish Industry, who agreed that immigrants will be needed to make up for the gradually shrinking labor pool.

“As I look ahead, we will increasingly need foreign employees, because it does not look like Danish labor will increase,” Nielsen told Berlingske.

While the DST noted that population projections are not an exact science and make many assumptions about future birth and death rates, experts warned Berlingske that changing demographics could cause social, cultural and economic tensions in Denmark. For example, immigrants who fail to find a job have to be supported by benefits, while culture clashes over issues like segregated swimming lessons will rise. Currently, the Ministry of Finance estimates non-Western immigration costs the Danish treasury 33 billion kroner (around US$4.8 billion) a year, while Western immigration generates a profit.

However, many of these immigrants are currently children who cannot contribute to the economy until they grow up, so better integration of immigrants and their descendants in the future may avoid the worst of these consequences.

“Statements testify that there is a huge integration task ahead of us, if not we will have a society with greater inequality and more segregation,” said Rose Skaksen, research director at the Rockwool Foundation think tank.

Even in spite of these possible changes, however, Denmark’s foreign-born population will still be lower than in some other Western countries such as Switzerland and Australia, in both of which foreigners already form around a quarter of the population. The United Arab Emirates has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world, with almost 90 percent of its residents hailing from another country.

Norway Migrant Integration Goes into Reverse after 5- to 10-year Stay

Although refugees who come to Norway rapidly integrate into the labor market, the gap between their and locals’ employment will increase again after just five to 10 years, a study says. 

The study was carried out in February by researchers from Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research amid Europe's growing refugee crisis. It showed that refugees and immigrants from “low income source countries” are seeing their integration reversed with ”widening immigrant-native employment differentials” and concluded that immigrants are going to become more and more dependent on social insurance.

Frisch senior researcher and co-author of the study Knut Røed told RT that they were looking into immigrants’ performance, including refugees, humanitarian and family immigrants, in the labor market for more than 20 years to get their results.

“They relatively rapidly integrate into the Norwegian labor market, but then after some years – five to 10 years – there is a sense of immigration in reverse. So the difference in employment rates of natives and immigrants start to increase again and a lot of immigrants fall out of the labor market,” the researcher told RT.

He added that refugees and migrants can have “a huge potential,” and the situation can be changed with more investment in education and human capital.

“Those who received education in Norway and therefore also learned the Norwegian language probably better than the others, they have much stronger attachments to the labor market, and they remain in the labor market for a much longer period of time.”

As the refugee crisis has been building up momentum, the ability to integrate into society has been at the core of the debate on immigration policy in Europe. As Europe was struggling with the influx of asylum-seekers, some hoped that the situation could be beneficial for European economies, while others constantly warned about the threat that refugees pose to European countries.

Hansjoerg Mueller from the Alternative for Germany right-wing party praised the results of the study during a fierce debate on RT, saying that “that study has proved that it is not right to blame us, the immigrants have to be blamed for their not enough willingness to integrate into the host countries.”

His opponent, social commentator Mo Ansar, blamed the politician for not accepting any model of integration and advocated coexistence in a plural society, where people are free to live following their own religion, culture and sexual identity. This model was slammed by Mueller, who said it could lead to “a civil war and bloodshed.”

10 years from now there will be many more migrants in Norway than there are now and fewer ethnic Norwegians in the marketplace to support those migrants on social assistance. It will not be a comfortable situation and there are no obvious ways to improve it.

I would suspect, however, that it is somewhat temporary as second generation migrants will be better educated and able to join the workforce like other Norwegians. It's the next 20 years or so that will be especially problematic.

London Police Arrest Three More in Foiling Active Terror Plot

By Ed Adamczyk  

London police arrested three women on Monday, charging them with terrorism-related offenses.

Their arrests are part of a roundup in what the Metropolitan Police said was the foiling of a terrorist

plot, in which a man was arrested Thursday and a woman was shot. File Photo by Will Oliver/EPA

UPI -- London police announced the arrest Monday of three women in connection with an anti-terrorist operation in which one person was shot last week.

The three unidentified women, two aged 18 and one 19, were detained after a raid on a home by the London Police Counter-Terrorism Command, and questioned on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of terrorist acts.

The arrests in east London are connected to a counter-terrorism raid on a home on Thursday in which a woman was shot and a man was taken into custody. The woman, 21, was discharged Sunday from a hospital, and immediately arrested on terrorism charges.

A man, Mohamed Amoudi, 21, was arrested, and police later said he was questioned about his plans to travel to Syria and join the Islamic State.

Police also detained a man on Thursday near the Parliament building in London in what it called a "targeted and intelligence-led arrest." A bag of knives was found near him.

Six others were arrested in connection to Thursday's actions, bringing the total to 10, in what Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu confirmed was the blocking of an active terror plot.