Guatemala president won't resign after massive anti-corruption demonstration

After an estimated 15,000 protesters flooded the central plaza of Guatemala City on Saturday in a grassroots anti-corruption demonstration, President Otto Perez Molina promised justice but said he would not be stepping down as protesters demanded.The weekend protest was organized entirely on social media and seems to have caught top political leaders by surprise. Demonstrators also called for the resignation of Vice President Roxana Baldetti, after a United Nations anti-corruption body revealed a tax-fraud and customs scandal involving dozens of high-ranking officials. – Vice News

This is my jail

The New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobinhere explores a facility where gang members and their female guards set the rules. –  The New Yorker

Nepal earthquake deaths: blame weak, corrupt politicians

Nepal’s devastating earthquake, with over 4,000 dead, was a disaster waiting to happen, as was widely noted recently.

This small and impoverished country of 28-million people lies in a prime earthquake zone—international experts were in Kathmandu just over a week ago, predicting an imminent disaster. And it happened in a city with a population of over 1-million that is crammed with vulnerable old structures, many new buildings that have been inadequately designed and badly constructed, and masses of shantytown slums. – Newsweek

AAP Law Minister Tomar’s law degree fabricated, High Court told

In a major embarrassment to the Aam Aadmi Party-led government, Tilak Manjhi Bhagalpur University of Bihar on Monday told the Delhi High Court that Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar’s law degree was fabricated and did not exist on its records. Tomar had reportedly obtained enrolment as a lawyer on the basis of this certificate. – The Hindu

Kenya opposition calls for elections over corruption, insecurity

Kenya’s main opposition party called for elections scheduled for 2017 to be brought forward because of deteriorating security and the government’s failure to address corruption. – Bloomberg

Are authoritarian countries really better at fighting corruption?

Many of the eulogies to Lee Kuan Yew, the long-time prime minister of Singapore who died in March, singled out his successful battle against corruption. Often implicit in this analysis (when not made explicit) was the suggestion that Lee’s accomplishments were made possible by his authoritarian style of governing. – WEF Agenda

School principal suspended over $30,000 booze bill

Australia – The principal of the Chandler Park Primary School in Keysborough has been suspended after Victoria's anti-corruption commission revealed he authorised $30,000 worth of wine purchases from his wine merchant son on behalf of allegedly corrupt public servants. – theage.com.au

The dinner proposal that led United into corruption probe

United Airlines Inc. was seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in public investment for the airport in Newark when its chief executive dined with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s top Port Authority official in September 2011. – Bloomberg

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An exposé by The New Yorker reveals how a prison in the American city of Baltimore is plagued by gangs, drug and outright unruliness. Female guards are implicated in incidents of contraband smuggling and/or having sexual relationships with inmates.
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