ONE WORLD, DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVESExplore diversity in vision and figure out how the same topic may beviewed differently by different folks. This is a mirror to society and life

“Do not believe what your teacher tells youmerely out of respect for the teacher.”

Gautama Buddha02 i-OPENER

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Objectives ➨ The objectives of FATF are to setstandards and promote effective im-plementation of legal, regulatoryand operational measures for com-bating money laundering, terror-ist financing and other relatedthreats to the integrity of the in-ternational financial system. ➨ FATF has developed a series ofrecommendations that are recog-nised as the international standardfor combating money launderingand the financing of terrorism andproliferation of weapons of massdestruction. They form the basisfor a co-ordinated response to thesethreats to the integrity of the fi-nancial system and help ensure alevel playing field.

➨ FATF’s decision-making body,the FATF Plenary, meets threetimes a year.

Members According to its official website,there are 39 member of FATF, rep-resenting most financial centresaround the world. India is also oneof its members.

What is the Black Listand Grey List of FATF?Technically, FATF does not have a“blacklist”, which is a term for gen-eral usage. In FATF, the legal jar-gon for a blacklist is a “public state-ment”, while a grey list is called a“compliance” document.1. BLACK LIST: Only those countriesare included in this list that FATFconsiders as unco-operative taxhavens. These countries are knownas Non-Cooperative Countries orTerritories (NCCTs). In otherwords, countries which are sup-porting terror funding and moneylaundering activities are listed inthe Black List.2. GREY LIST: Countries which areconsidered as the safe heaven for sup-porting terror funding and moneylaundering are included in this list.The inclusion in this list is not as se-vere as being blacklisted.

Now Grey List is a warning giv-en to the country that it might comein the Black List (Just like a yellowcard in a football match). If a coun-try is unable to curb mushroomingof terror funding and money laun-dering, it is shifted from Grey Listto Black List by FATF.

When a country is inthe Grey List, it facesmany problems like,1. Economic sanctions from inter-national institutions (Internation-al Monetary Fund, World Bank,Asian Development Bank etc.) andcountries.2. Problem in getting loans from in-ternational institutions and coun-tries.3. Reduction in its internationaltrade and international boycott.

Pak – Blacklisted? Pakistan was included in the GreyList for the first time in 2012 and re-mained in it till 2015. In 2018, FATFGrey Listed Pakistan for the secondtime. Pakistan was recently placedin the “enhanced expedited follow-up list” by the Asia-Pacific Group(APG) for its failure to act crediblyagainst terror financing and moneylaundering. APG is a regional affili-ate of FATF. This is tantamount tobeing blacklisted, and the APG’s con-clusion will have an impact on Pak-istan’s prospects at FATF Plenary inOctober.

Donald Trump secondUS president, afterHarry Truman, to eyethe largest island

If any US president would beexpected to make a concert-ed effort to buy the world’slargest island — Greenland —it would surely be Donald

Trump. This mother of all real estatedeals is something that would be par-ticularly attractive to the currentincumbent of the White House, but heis by no means the first US presidentto eye that Danish outpost.

At least two of his predecessorshad actively considered it but theirefforts came to nought. Given hisinstinct to cut to the chase, an out-right buy would certainly seem moresensible, and cheaper, than angling

for sections on lease. He could wellreason that if Harry Truman wantedto strike a bargain with Denmark forGreenland at $100 million in bullionback in 1946, he, as a former realestate mogul, should be able to

swing it for a few billion dollars. Ofcourse, Greenlanders would beg todisagree even if more Danes mightget greedy as the territory nowcosts its former colonial ruler some$700 million in subsidies.

Besides, the US is quite usedto buying territories, includinghydrocarbon Alaska, for amere $7.2 million back in 1867and, even earlier, the Louisiana

Purchase (Louisiana) in 1803 fromFrance for $15 million. So rareearth-laden Greenland, so tempt-ingly close to the US, is a no-brain-er. When countries like China havealso been buying land on farawaycontinents, Trump may not even bethe only bidder for Greenland.

When the world’s lungs areburning, the only wayforward is together

Is it an overstatement to saythat the world’s lungs areburning? Not at all. Today this

largest tropical forest on the plan-et is a vital source of oxygen. Evenmore importantly, the CO2 that itis holding is the equivalent of 140years of human emissions. Thiscarbon sink is an invaluable

weapon in humanity’s struggleagainst climate change. Unfortu-nately Brazil’s president hasshown sympathy for the argumentthat global warming is nothingmore than “greenhouse fables.”

But it is specious to put Brazilalone in the dock. Around 42% ofEU’s beef imports were reported-ly from Brazil until as recently as2017. A majority of the nation’s soy-beans are consumed in China andthe US. It is a growing global de-mand that incentivises Braziliansto clear more and more land. Thebottomline is that 60% of the Ama-zon is in Brazil, and preserving itis key to stabilising the tempera-ture across the world. The only wayforward is to work together.

WHAT IS FINANCIALACTION TASK FORCE?

The Financial ActionTask Force (FATF) wasestablished in July1989 by a Group ofSeven (G-7) Summit inParis to examine anddevelop measures tocombat moneylaundering

What do money laundering and financ-ing of terrorism mean?Both are financial crimes. Insimple terms, money laun-dering pertains to disguis-ing money earned from acrime as money earnedthrough legitimate sources.The crime could be corrup-tion, drug trafficking, fraudor tax evasion.

Terrorist financinginvolves collection of fundsto support acts of terror orterrorist organisations. Akey difference between thetwo is that, in money laun-dering, the source of fundshas to be a crime. In thefinancing of terrorism, fundsmay come from perfectlylegitimate sources, such asdonations from ordinary citi-zens, but the purpose has tobe a crime.

Greenland is an autonomousregion that effectively runsitself while Denmark, its sovereign owner, takes care ofdefence and foreign policy.

After Moon, plantingUS flag on Greenland?

The Amazon crisis

My role modelis StephenHawking. He

was very down toearth, and despite hisdisability he made oneof the most importantdiscoveries in the fieldof space which was

possible only because of his positiveattitude. He devoted his life to science.He may be no longer with us but willalways inspires me.AYUSH ARORA, class VIII, CMS Aliganj I, Lucknow

Social mediaprofiles of usersneed to be linked

with Aadhaar to checkthe circulation of fake,defamatory and suspi-cious content as wellas anti-national mate-rial. Some believe that sharing theAadhaar number will violate the priva-cy policy of users, but if Aadhaar islinked to Facebook and Whatsapp theoriginator of the messages can betraced and punished rightaway. ABUBAKAR IMTHIYAZ, class XI, BethelMatric Hr Sec School, Chennai

It’s ban AADHAAR IN SOCIAL MEDIA

HAWKING, MY ROLE MODEL

B ritish actressLashana Lynchis set to make

a name for herself in anew role. But thesecould be just rumours;after all, while thefilm is still under pro-duction, no one hasseen any clips, apart from the cast andcrew. The next Bond film is sure tograb eyeballs.POORVI SANU, class IX, New HorizonPublic School, Navi Mumbai

SPEAKOUT

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Q Actress LashanaLynch is all set to

play the next Bond. Yourviews?

ARE THEY RUMOURS?

The fact thatLashana Lynch istaking over such

a sought-after role iscause for celebrationboth for women andpeople of colour. It is abig pedestal to climb,and I am confident

that the British actress, with her ver-satility, will pull off the role of 007effortlessly. She is a talented actresswho has done well for herself both ontelevision and films. The role of thelegendary agent should be a cakewalkfor her. UDITA G, class X, Kennedy High The GlobalSchool, Hyderabad

THIS BOND IS A WOMAN

Failure is thefirst steptowards success

as said by actorSidharth Malhotra. Weshould face failurepositively. Problemscould demotivate us,but we should not for-

get that there is a solution for eachand every problem. We must face allour problems and learn from failures.That’s the biggest lesson from life.DEEPIKA KUMARI, class XI, PanchsheelPublic School, New Delhi

ALEARN FROM FAILURE

Economic datafrom theworld's biggest

economies hasn’t beenencouraging and glob-al economy is facing arecession. That's badfor global markets.

But what's worse is that the world'stop economies may also be headed fortroubling downturns. It’s good we areaware of this economic slowdown sothat we are not taken unawares.V SAHANA, class XII, Brindavan PublicSchool, Athur, Tamil Nadu

The fears of aneconomic slow-down are justified

as growth projectionsfor the future arebeing cut and invest-ment, both domesticand international, havesignificantly decreased. Consumption,especially of automobiles, has signifi-cantly decreased due to the state ofthe economy. This will create furtherproblems as employees will be laid offto make up for losses. AYUSH BASU SENGUPTA, class XI, DPSRuby Park, Kolkata

The Trump admin-istration’s willing-ness to use trade

barriers as geopoliticalweapons remains a highrisk to the global econ-omy. However, JPMorgan head of eco-nomic research, Bruce

Kasman has suggested that the businesssector's response, rather than the directimpact of tariffs, poses the greatestdanger to the global economy.DISHA PRASAD, class VIII, St Helen’sSchool, Howrah, West Bengal

ADANGER IN RESPONSE

While consider-ing the overallaspect of the

game of cricket, teamselection and progressrequires a clear under-standing between cap-tain and the coach. Forthis, the captainshould have a say in the selection of head coach.GOURI AJAYAKUMAR, class X, SomervilleSchool, Greater Noida

ACAPT SHOULD HAVE SAY

It’s ban FEARS ARE JUSTIFIED

Fear of an econo-mic slowdown iscompletely jus-

tified as the scenariois very unpredictable.Sudden inflation hasled to an unstablemarket. Some planningbeforehand is neces-sary. We cannot depend on the naturalmarket forces of supply and demand asthe risk is too high.MANRAJ NIJHER class XII, St John’s HighSchool, Chandigarh

Q Is the fear of aneconomic

slowdown exaggerated?Your views?

ECONOMY UNPREDICTABLE

AWARENESS IS KEY

Obviously it is! Itis a ploy bycertain sec-

tions in industry andcommerce to get moreconcessions andexemptions from thegovernment. It alsoenables them to hand

pink slips to employees or reducesalaries. India is not just an economy.It is an economic system in itself. Ithas survived many odds. There is aneed to dispel the fear among people.Let’s bring in new ideas, institutionsand practices into the economy.ASHWIN S, class XII, Sobha Icon,Moolamcode, Palakkad

PLOY FOR CONCESSIONS

Photo: AFP

Photo: AFP

Photo: Getty Images