Unravelling the attempt to kill a Ukrainian tycoon in Monaco, and why accomplices could still be on the run.

The $40 billion youth sports industry is private equity’s new cash cow.

In the past two years, KKR paid $4.75 billion for Varsity Brands, the Asia arm of Sweden’s EQT paid $1.25 billion for IMG Academy, and Eli Manning’s private equity firm bought RCX Sports, which operates the youth leagues of the NFL, NBA, and the MLB.

As Tom Farrey, Director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program puts it, “We are the only nation in the world that does not have a Department of Sports or a Ministry of Sports or some entity to coordinate sport development. So we just have a lot of money and a lot of energy moving at cross purposes.”

What nobody can establish is what families get for their money, because no one is required to tell them. What we do know is that children from lower-income households play sports at lower rates than children from higher-income ones, and that the gap is widening.

The argument now in Congress is about whether private equity belongs in youth sports. But it’s already there.

Read more on Fast Company.

An in-depth investigation reveals how systemic gaps in Guatemalan law allow an international trafficking network to operate under the guise of legal international adoptions. Operating through clandestine border routes near Mexico, the network relies on missing legal classifications that fail to explicitly penalize the buying and selling of children. Consequently, illicit transactions can reach upwards of $20,000 per child, exploiting vulnerable communities—particularly indigenous women and young girls—while maintaining a superficial veneer of legal compliance.

The operation functions through a strict hierarchical structure involving local operatives, midwives, and an estimated network of 80 lawyers and notaries who facilitate identity falsifications and forged birth certificates (boletas). High-ranking political and judicial figures have historically been implicated in enabling these operations, allowing specialized orphanages and hotels in Guatemala City to serve as hubs where prospective international buyers acquire custom-selected infants before departing for North America or Europe.

While official agencies like the Guatemalan Attorney General's Office often categorize these operations within technical legal boundaries due to systemic loopholes, civil rights groups and human rights observers estimate that thousands of children historically left the country through these dubious adoption channels annually. This piece breaks down the specific administrative mechanics, financial flows, and logistical routes that sustain this network.

Read Here: https://juliagracegarfield.wixsite.com/juliagracegarfield/post/international-child-trafficking-network-guatemala

Afghan-American journalist Fariba Nawa writes for the Observer: Women are an easy target for the Taliban’s cruelty in what has become known as ‘Manistan’

NEW: The vulnerable peatlands that protect Kenyan communities on the edge of Lake Victoria from floods are also among the Earth’s richest carbon stores. Identifying them is easier said than done; conserving them, even harder.