Suitcases of cash, failing schools and corruption: Weekend Reads

[Balance of Power]( From [Bloomberg Politics]( [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  In this edition of Weekend Reads, you’ll find reports on the rampant violence and corruption turning Brazilians off voting, Nigeria’s failing education system, and the nearly $5 million smuggled across the Afghan-Iran border every day. For analysis of the plea deal that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort struck with prosecutors yesterday, and how it might help Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, click [here](. You can follow all the latest news on Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Mangkhut [here](. And do take our weekly political [news quiz](! - [Caroline Alexander]( A dawn sky in Colombia, where Matthew Bristow reports on the rearming of former FARC rebels. Click [here]( for that slideshow, and [here]( for Political Focus, our roundup of last seven days in photos. Photographer: Nicolas Bedoya Global Headlines [The Campaign Against Europe Just Got a Boost From Swedish Voters]( [Ian Wishart]( looks at the forces that threaten the fundamental achievements of the 61-year European experiment. The next upheaval is possibly coming in May, when the European Union holds elections to its parliament in all member states — and as [Zoltan Simon]( writes, the populist Godfather of Europe is preparing for a fight. [Chinese Money Is Driving One of Asia’s Fastest Property Booms]( Phnom Penh, once known for its French colonial villas and modernist “New Khmer Architecture,” is becoming unrecognizable. [Philip Heijmans]( explains why. [Rampant Corruption and Violence Turn Brazilians Off From Voting]( [Bruce Douglas](, [Samy Adghirni]( and [Simone Preissler Iglesias]( analyze the anger that’s hardened into political apathy and means more than 20 percent of Brazilians are likely to abstain from voting in next month’s elections – even though casting a ballot is compulsory. See [this profile]( of former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad, the Workers’ Party presidential candidate, who may not be the bogeyman investors fear. [No Books, No Desks, No Pay - Nigeria's Education Is Failing]( [Tope Alake]( visits schools in Africa’s most populous nation, where teachers are struggling to train the next generation in a ramshackle education system gutted by corruption, a lack of investment and the flight of qualified instructors abroad and to private sector jobs. But, she added, “we believe that in order to have long-term security and stability, we have to be fair to all sides.” Read more about Suu Kyi defending the rule of law in Myanmar to an audience at a World Economic Forum event in Vietnam on Thursday [here](. [Malta Courts Scandal in Making Itself Global Financial Player]( [Monte Reel]( explores how Malta managed to carve out a small but lucrative niche in the global economy, and the twist: allegations of money laundering, political skulduggery, smuggling, organized crime, and even a murder. [Brexit Opens Old Wounds Where Britain Foretold Lehman’s Collapse]( [Rodney Jefferson]( and [Jess Shankleman]( visit the hardy suburbs of Newcastle, home of the bank where Britain’s financial crisis began, where residents have become used to living on the brink. [Playing With Fire in Europe’s Powder Keg as Balkan Tensions Rise]( [Andrea Dudik]( and [Jasmina Kuzmanovic]( talk to residents of Sarajevo and find many fearing Europe is sleepwalking toward another rupture in the Balkans. [Trump’s Iran Sanctions Trigger a Booming Cash Smuggling Business]( For traders in Kabul’s main currency exchange, U.S. sanctions against Tehran have created the ultimate arbitrage play — one involving frequent trips to neighboring Iran with smuggled cash. [Eltaf Najafizada]( reports on the some $4 billion in annual illicit outflows deepening the strain on Afghanistan’s economy and undermining Iran’s attempts to halt the decline of its rial. Did you know...  Men get the first, last and every other word on earnings calls. That’s according to a study done at Bloomberg’s request by Prattle, a company that provides automated research by parsing central bank and corporate communications. Looking at more than 155,000 corporate conference calls over past 19 years, Prattle found that men spoke 92 percent of the time. [And finally …]( Herbie is going on hiatus. As [Gabrielle Coppola](, [Christoph Rauwald]( and [Keith Naughton]( write, Volkswagen is ending worldwide production of its iconic Beetle, the model once so popular in North America that it prompted the German automaker to build its first factory on the continent in the 1960s. The last one will roll off the line from the factory next July.   There’s a new way to get the latest business news and analysis from Bloomberg: We’re now on WhatsApp. [Sign up here]( to get on-the-ground updates from reporters, breaking markets news, and more.   You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Politics newsletter Balance of Power. You can tell your friends to [sign up here](.  [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022