FILE - In this April 24, 2012 file photo, a herd of bison roam on the Fort Peck Reservation near Poplar, Mont. Native tribes from the U.S. and Canada signed a treaty Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014, establishing an inter-tribal alliance to restore bison to areas of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains where millions of the animals once roamed. Leaders of 11 tribes from Montana and Alberta signed the pact during a daylong ceremony on Montana's Blackfeet Reservation, organizers said. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)
FILE - In this April 24, 2012 file photo, a herd of bison roam on the Fort Peck Reservation near Poplar, Mont. Native tribes from the U.S. and Canada signed a treaty Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014, establishing an inter-tribal alliance to restore bison to areas of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains where millions of the animals once roamed. Leaders of 11 tribes from Montana and Alberta signed the pact during a daylong ceremony on Montana's Blackfeet Reservation, organizers said. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File) Credit: ap

Panama Papers Database Of Offshore Companies Goes Live

Frankfurt, Germany — A group of investigative journalists on Monday published the names of thousands of offshore companies at the heart of a massive trove of data on the finances of the rich and powerful that has become known as the Panama Papers.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists made data on 200,000 entities available on its website at 2 p.m. on Monday.

They contain basic corporate information about companies, trusts and foundations set up in 21 jurisdictions including Hong Kong and the U.S. state of Nevada. The data was obtained from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which said it was hacked.

Users can search the data and see the networks involving the offshore companies, including, where available, Mossack Fonseca’s internal records of the true owners.

Information and documents on bank accounts, phone numbers and emails have been removed from the database.

Mossack Fonseca said last week it had sent a cease and desist letter to the ICIJ urging the organization not to publish the database, “taking into consideration that it is based on the theft of confidential information.”

The ICIJ said it was putting the information online “in the public interest” as “a careful release of basic corporate information,” not a “data dump,” as it builds on an earlier database of offshore entities.

Mexico Judge Says ‘El Chapo’ Extradition May Proceed

Mexico City — A federal judge has ruled that the extradition of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to the U.S. can move ahead, Mexico’s Judicial Council said Monday, but the Foreign Relations Department must still approve it and the defense can appeal.

The council, which oversees Mexico’s federal judges and tribunals, said the judge, who was not identified, had agreed that the legal requirements laid out in the extradition treaty between the two countries had been met.

The Foreign Relations Department has 20 days to decide whether to approve Guzman’s extradition.

Any extradition attempt can be delayed or stopped by a request to the court by attorneys for Guzman, the convicted leader of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at an unrelated news conference that she was looking forward to an “imminent” resolution, but did not have a specific timeline.

Guzman was moved Saturday from a prison outside Mexico City to one in Ciudad Juarez near the U.S. border. Questions have arisen on both sides of the border about the decision to relocate the drug lord to a region that is one of his cartel’s strongholds.

It’s Official: America’s First National Mammal Is the Bison

Washington — North America used to be teeming with bison. But in one century, their numbers plummeted from tens of millions to just a few dozen in the wild after hunters nearly wiped out the continent’s largest mammals.

Now the bison has become the first national mammal of the United States. On Monday, President Obama signed into law the National Bison Legacy Act, which designates the bison as the official mammal of the United States. The legislation passed the House and Senate last month.

At a time of political gridlock and partisan bickering, lawmakers agree on an official national mammal.

The bison, which joins the bald eagle as a national symbol, represents the country’s first successful foray into wildlife conservation. Before the mid-1800s, bison (also called buffalo) lived mostly in the Great Plains, but were also found throughout the continent.

Treasury Secretary Hopes To Jump-Start Help for Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico — Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew got a first-hand look at the humanitarian impact of Puerto Rico’s $70 billion debt crisis Monday, touring an elementary school struggling with limited electricity and a hospital unable to provide some basic services to infants.

“It can only get worse,” Lew told reporters as he toured Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School in San Juan with Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla.

The Obama administration hopes to jump-start congressional efforts to aid the U.S. territory, and Lew’s one-day trip focused attention on how the 3.5 million U.S. citizens living on the island are struggling with the worsening financial situation.

At a brief news conference after a private tour of San Juan’s Centro Medico hospital, Lew said Puerto Rico’s problems were a human crisis as well as financial. He said infants who needed dialysis were unable to get it while children could only get cancer medicine if it were paid for in advance with cash.

Lew said he didn’t think there was a member of Congress who would find those conditions acceptable.

— Wire reports