Police kill 9 militants in Dhaka raid
NEW DELHI — Police in Bangladesh’s capital raided a five-story building Tuesday and killed nine suspected Islamic militants, the country’s police chief said.
Inspector General of Police A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque said the raid took place in Dhaka’s Kalyanpur area and one suspect was arrested and was being treated for injuries in a hospital.
Mr. Hoque said officials were investigating to see which group the men belonged to, but their clothing and other evidence showed it was likely that they belonged to local banned group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB.
Mr. Hoque said the suspected militants were killed when police raided the building used as a den by the suspected Islamic militants. He said the suspects attempted to flee the building by shooting their way out, but were stopped by police who cordoned off the area.
African officials hid profits
WASHINGTON — Entrepreneurs and corrupt officials across Africa have used shell companies to hide profits from the sale of natural resources and the bribes paid to gain access to them, according to records leaked from a Panamanian law firm.
Owners of the hidden companies include, from Nigeria alone, three oil ministers, several senior employees of the national oil company and two former state governors who were convicted of laundering ill-gotten money from the oil industry, new reports about Africa based on the Panama Papers show. The owners of diamond mines in Sierra Leone and safari companies in Kenya and Zimbabwe also created shell companies.
Some of the assets cycled through the shell companies were used to buy yachts, private jets, Manhattan penthouses and luxury homes in Beverly Hills, Calif., the law firm documents show.
Articles posted on Monday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and reports being published this week by news media organizations in 17 African countries, underscore the critical role that secret shell companies can play in facilitating tax evasion, bribery and other crimes.
Vatican signs with bank
The Vatican and Italy’s central bank signed a cooperation agreement aimed at ending years of suspicions and mistrust in the financial accountability of the world’s smallest sovereign state.
The accord will “broaden the channels of information to monitor the relationship between Italian financial intermediaries and entities carrying out financial activities on a professional basis in the Vatican City State,” according to a Vatican statement on Tuesday. “Provisions on confidentiality and on the use of information are established.”
The deal is the latest step in a reform process started under Pope Benedict XVI and pursued by his successor Pope Francis to improve the Vatican’s position within the global financial system.
Navy: U.S. not at impasse
WASHINGTON — The Navy’s top admiral said Tuesday that the United States and China are not at an impasse despite ongoing tensions and a recent contentious ruling about the South China Sea, describing the military relationship between the two nations as complicated but growing.
The Chinese navy’s interaction with the U.S. fleet has generally been positive, Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, said, citing regular communication between ships and China’s participation at the multi-national Rim of the Pacific now underway.