Federal Independent Agencies
Here's a look at documents from federal independent agencies
Featured Stories
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom: Nicaragua Continues Its Unrelenting Campaign to Eliminate Religious Freedom
WASHINGTON, May 6 (TNSrpt) -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued the following news release:
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Nicaragua Continues its Unrelenting Campaign to Eliminate Religious Freedom
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released the following report:
Nicaragua Country Update - In 2026, the government of President Daniel Ortega and self-appointed Co-President Rosario Murillo weaponized laws on treason, sovereignty, and various crimes that restricted freedom of religion or belief (FoRB).
The government used arbitrary arrest and detention, closure
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 6 (TNSrpt) -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued the following news release:
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Nicaragua Continues its Unrelenting Campaign to Eliminate Religious Freedom
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released the following report:
Nicaragua Country Update - In 2026, the government of President Daniel Ortega and self-appointed Co-President Rosario Murillo weaponized laws on treason, sovereignty, and various crimes that restricted freedom of religion or belief (FoRB).
The government used arbitrary arrest and detention, closureof nongovernmental organizations, and transnational repression to harass, intimidate, and repress religious individuals. Catholic and Protestant churches continue to face severe restrictions on their FoRB. Ortega and Murillo increasingly target indigenous populations and Nicaraguans in exile--many of whom are expelled clergy or laypeople--as they seek to maintain power.
Nicaragua has resisted efforts by the international community, including the United States, to alter the regime's actions.
In its 2026 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended Nicaragua be designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
USCIRF has reported on the authoritarian repression of FoRB in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela, and held a hearing on Nicaragua's religious freedom violations.
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan legislative branch agency established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at media@uscirf.gov.
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REPORT: https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/USCIRF%202026%20Annual%20Report%20Nicaragua.pdf
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Original text here: https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/releases-statements/nicaragua-continues-its-unrelenting-campaign-eliminate-religious
National Gallery of Art Wins Seven Webby Awards Following Viral Success of "Museum Rizzler" Social Media Series
WASHINGTON, May 6 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release:
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National Gallery of Art Wins Seven Webby Awards Following Viral Success of "Museum Rizzler" Social Media Series
Videos featuring curator Alison Luchs describing works of art in Gen Z slang have resonated globally, with over 25M views to date
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The National Gallery of Art has been awarded seven 2026 Webby Awards in recognition of its innovative approach to engaging new audiences through compelling digital content across its social media and website. The National Gallery has won a total of 12 Webby Awards
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 6 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release:
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National Gallery of Art Wins Seven Webby Awards Following Viral Success of "Museum Rizzler" Social Media Series
Videos featuring curator Alison Luchs describing works of art in Gen Z slang have resonated globally, with over 25M views to date
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The National Gallery of Art has been awarded seven 2026 Webby Awards in recognition of its innovative approach to engaging new audiences through compelling digital content across its social media and website. The National Gallery has won a total of 12 Webby Awardssince 2022.
Nominated among a range of prominent creators and brands, the museum won awards across these categories:
"The Museum Rizzler" Series
Webby Award for Best Use of Vertical Video
Webby Award for Best Social Content Series, Arts, Culture, and Lifestyle
National Gallery of Art Instagram Account
Webby Award for Best Social Media Account, Arts and Culture
People's Voice Award for Best Social Media Account, Arts and Culture
National Gallery of Art Stories
Webby Award for Best Cultural Blog/Website
People's Voice Award for Best Cultural Blog/Website
National Gallery of Art Website
People's Voice Award for Best Website or Mobile Site, Cultural Institutions
The National Gallery's digital platforms reach tens of millions of people each year with original content that allows viewers to access the nation's art collection in dynamic ways from afar. A strategy informed by bringing educational content to all Americans led to the viral success of the "Museum Rizzler" social media series in recent months. It features Alison Luchs, a 77-year-old curator of early European sculpture and deputy head of sculpture and decorative arts, describing lesser-known works from the museum's collection in Gen Z internet slang. Audiences across the globe have watched the six videos over 25 million times. This effort complements the National Gallery's first "open call," part of the museum's commemoration of America's 250th anniversary. The initiative invites creators from around the country to reimagine works of art from the museum's collection in short-form social media videos. The 50 selected creator videos will be shared within the museum and on the National Gallery's social media platforms.
Beyond social media, the National Gallery's website provides additional opportunities to interact with the nation's art collection by way of games, informational stories, and educational resources. The "Stories" section, winner of two Webby Awards, follows artists, communities, and works of art via engaging written and video content. In honor of America's 250th anniversary, the museum has introduced West to East, a web series spanning all digital platforms that introduces compelling stories, photography, and short documentaries exploring how artists across America have been inspired by their communities and the places they call home.
"At the National Gallery, digital outreach is central to our mission to welcome all people to explore art, creativity, and our shared humanity," said Nick Sharp, the National Gallery's chief digital officer. "We are the nation's art museum, but we know many Americans may never visit Washington. Whether you're researching Mary Cassatt on our award-winning website or catching the latest drop from the Museum Rizzler on Instagram, we're bringing the world's greatest works of art directly to audiences across the country. These awards are a testament to our team's great work."
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About The Webby Awards
Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by The New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international awards organization honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites and Mobile Sites; Video; Advertising, Media & PR; Apps & Software; Social; Games; Podcasts; Creators and AI. Established in 1996, The Webby Awards received over 13,000 entries from all 50 states and over 70 countries worldwide this year.
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About the National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art welcomes all people to explore art, creativity, and our shared humanity. Millions of people come through its doors each year--with even more online--making it one of the most visited art museums in the world. The National Gallery's renowned collection includes over 160,000 works of art, from the ancient world to today. Admission to the West and East Buildings, Sculpture Garden, special exhibitions, and public programs is always free.
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Original text here: https://www.nga.gov/press/webby-award-wins
NASA's Next-Gen Near-Earth Asteroid Space Telescope Takes Shape
PASADENA, California, May 6 (TNSres) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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NASA's Next-Gen Near-Earth Asteroid Space Telescope Takes Shape
A team of engineers and scientists are building NEO Surveyor to seek out the hardest-to-find asteroids and comets that could impact Earth.
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The Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor -- NASA's first infrared space telescope purposely designed to discover potentially hazardous asteroids and comets -- is undergoing integration and testing. With launch set for no earlier than September 2027, teams across the United States are hard at
... Show Full Article
PASADENA, California, May 6 (TNSres) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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NASA's Next-Gen Near-Earth Asteroid Space Telescope Takes Shape
A team of engineers and scientists are building NEO Surveyor to seek out the hardest-to-find asteroids and comets that could impact Earth.
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The Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor -- NASA's first infrared space telescope purposely designed to discover potentially hazardous asteroids and comets -- is undergoing integration and testing. With launch set for no earlier than September 2027, teams across the United States are hard atwork building the spacecraft's components, planning the kind of survey and science it will do, and developing the software to process the huge quantity of data the mission will generate.
In 2005, Congress tasked NASA with discovering potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, or NEOs, but many of these objects are difficult to find with ground-based surveys. Some are as dark as charcoal, others are tiny, and many lurk in the glare of the Sun, where ground-based optical telescopes can't see. To mitigate this, NEO Surveyor is being custom-built to scan the solar system to detect objects that will glow in the infrared as they are heated by the Sun -- as opposed to the optical light they reflect, which is what ground-based surveys measure -- to provide enough advance warning for humanity to do something about them, if necessary.
Read more about the new mission and how it's progressing (https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/neo-surveyor/2026/05/05/nasas-next-gen-near-earth-asteroid-space-telescope-takes-shape/).
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Original text here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-next-gen-near-earth-asteroid-space-telescope-takes-shape/
Inter-American Development Bank: Tax Reforms Boosted Revenues in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024
WASHINGTON, May 6 (TNSrep) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following news release:
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Tax Reforms Boosted Revenues in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024
Tax revenues rose in more than half of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2024, with the largest gains occurring in those that implemented major tax reforms, according to a new report.
Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean 2026, released today at the UN-ECLAC 38th Regional Fiscal Seminar in Santiago, Chile, shows that tax revenues rose as a share of GDP in 15 of the 28 countries
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 6 (TNSrep) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following news release:
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Tax Reforms Boosted Revenues in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024
Tax revenues rose in more than half of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2024, with the largest gains occurring in those that implemented major tax reforms, according to a new report.
Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean 2026, released today at the UN-ECLAC 38th Regional Fiscal Seminar in Santiago, Chile, shows that tax revenues rose as a share of GDP in 15 of the 28 countriesin the LAC region included in the report and declined in 13.
The largest increases were observed in Antigua and Barbuda (1.9 percentage points [p.p.]), Brazil (2.0 p.p.), Barbados (2.1 p.p.) and Cuba (5.0 p.p.). Each of these countries recently introduced major tax reforms, which increased revenues from taxes on goods and services (Brazil, Cuba, and Antigua and Barbuda) and from corporate income tax (Barbados and Brazil).
The two largest declines in the tax-to-GDP ratio were mainly due to economic factors. In Trinidad and Tobago, lower energy prices and declining natural gas production contributed to a fall of 3.0 p.p., while in Guyana strong economic growth outpaced increases in tax revenues, resulting in a fall of 2.4 p.p.
The report shows that tax-to-GDP ratios in the LAC region ranged from 9.2% in Guyana to 33.7% in Brazil in 2024 (Figure 1), with a regional average of 21.7%, an increase of 0.2 p.p. from the previous year. Excluding Cuba, the average was unchanged from the previous year as slow economic growth and volatile commodity prices weighed on revenues.
Taxes on goods and services continue to represent the largest part of the tax mix in many LAC countries, with a lower contribution from income taxes and social security contributions than in OECD countries. In 2024, taxes on goods and services accounted for 49.2% of total tax revenues on average across the LAC region, driven largely by value-added tax (VAT, 28.9% of revenues). Taxes on income and profits generated 29.1% of total revenues (17.4% from corporate income tax and 9.6% from personal income taxes) and social security contributions accounted for 15.9%.
Looking further back, the average tax-to-GDP ratio for the LAC region rose by 1.5 p.p. between 2014 and 2024, largely due to increases in revenues from VAT and from taxes on income and profits. Over this period, tax revenues rose as a share of GDP in 21 LAC countries and declined in 7. Tax revenues per capita increased in all countries, more than doubling in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Guyana in PPP terms.
The difference between the LAC average tax-to-GDP ratio and the average for OECD countries has narrowed only slightly over the past decade. The OECD average tax-to-GDP ratio rose by 1.2 p.p. between 2014 and 2024, reducing the gap with the LAC average to 12.3 p.p. in 2024.
The report shows how fiscal revenues in some of the largest economies in the LAC region are significantly affected by fluctuations in commodity prices. Amid strong volatility in oil and gas markets, average hydrocarbon revenues among major producers fell to 3.1% of GDP in 2024 from 4.1% of GDP in 2023. Decreases in Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago drove the overall decline, which was partly offset by higher oil revenues in Guyana. Meanwhile, revenues from mining fell from 0.55% of GDP in 2023 to 0.47% of GDP in 2024, largely due to a sharp drop in tax revenues in Colombia.
In 2025, oil and gas revenues are projected to have fallen to 3.0% of GDP due to a sharp decline in hydrocarbon prices, while mining revenues are estimated to have risen to 0.63% of GDP, supported by exceptional increases in the price of gold, silver and, to a lesser extent, copper.
Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean 2026 is a joint publication by the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-ECLAC), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Centre for Tax Policy and Administration and Development Centre.
To access the report, data, overview, country notes and infographics go to http://oe.cd/revstatslac2026-en.
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About the IDB
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a member of the IDB Group, is devoted to improving lives across Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in 1959, the Bank works with the region's public sector to design and enable impactful, innovative solutions for sustainable and inclusive development. Leveraging financing, technical expertise, and knowledge, it promotes growth and well-being in 26 countries.
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Original text here: https://www.iadb.org/en/news/tax-reforms-boosted-revenues-latin-america-and-caribbean-2024
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Too Fast to Adjust: Adoption Speed and the Permanent Cost of AI Transitions'
WASHINGTON, May 6 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in April 2026 entitled "Too Fast to Adjust: Adoption Speed and the Permanent Cost of AI Transitions."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
For most of the past decade, AI adoption has been organizationally incremental: tools layered onto existing firms, accelerating tasks without restructuring the production processes around which those tasks are organized. Recent developments suggest this is changing.
In early 2026, Project Prometheus--a start-up led by Jeff Bezos and former Google executive
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 6 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in April 2026 entitled "Too Fast to Adjust: Adoption Speed and the Permanent Cost of AI Transitions."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
For most of the past decade, AI adoption has been organizationally incremental: tools layered onto existing firms, accelerating tasks without restructuring the production processes around which those tasks are organized. Recent developments suggest this is changing.
In early 2026, Project Prometheus--a start-up led by Jeff Bezos and former Google executiveVikram Bajaj, valued at $30bn after a $6.2bn raise--announced plans to raise tens of billions more through a holding company targeting industrial firms disrupted by AI.1 Prometheus is not selling AI tools to manufacturers. It is building AI systems capable of mapping physical processes, understanding engineering design, and modeling the manufacturing of complex objects--jet engines, semiconductors--with the explicit aim of reorganizing those industries around what it builds. The capital scale and the sovereign wealth fund backing illustrate what a fast-adoption episode looks like: organizational restructuring at scale, rather than incremental augmentation of existing workflows.
The historical parallel is precise. The steam engine did not transform manufacturing when it was invented; it did so when firms restructured their factory layouts around it. In 1913-14, Henry Ford reorganized Highland Park around the moving assembly line. Within eighteen months, output per worker tripled and annual worker turnover reached 370 percent. The technology was unambiguously productivity-enhancing; the transition was not. Ford's response--the $5 day, more than doubling wages overnight--was not philanthropy. It was the market's belated correction for absorbing displacement faster than the Detroit labor market could reallocate workers on its own.
Automation episodes like these may follow the same sequence as 1913: incremental adoption gives way to structural reorganization, and the labor market cost depends not on how much gets automated--the long-run endpoint--but on how fast. This paper formalizes that argument. Holding fixed the long-run automation envelope, transition welfare depends on adoption speed.
We build a dynamic model of labor market transition in which the long-run share of tasks eventually automated--the long-run automation envelope--is taken as given from the task-based framework of Acemoglu and Restrepo [2018, 2022].
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View full text here: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Too-Fast-to-Adjust-Adoption-Speed-and-the-Permanent-Cost-of-AI-Transitions.pdf
[Category: IADB]
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Sharp Declines, Slow Recovery: Disability Onset and Labor Market Trajectories in Chile'
WASHINGTON, May 6 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in April 2026 entitled "Sharp Declines, Slow Recovery: Disability Onset and Labor Market Trajectories in Chile."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
Disability is a major shock to individuals' economic trajectories. Its labor market consequences are large: Across OECD countries, employment gaps between people with disabilities (PwD) and people without disabilities (PwoD) range from 10 to 40 percentage points (Garcia-Mandico et al., 2022). Existing studies typically find that disability onset
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 6 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in April 2026 entitled "Sharp Declines, Slow Recovery: Disability Onset and Labor Market Trajectories in Chile."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
Disability is a major shock to individuals' economic trajectories. Its labor market consequences are large: Across OECD countries, employment gaps between people with disabilities (PwD) and people without disabilities (PwoD) range from 10 to 40 percentage points (Garcia-Mandico et al., 2022). Existing studies typically find that disability onsetreduces employment by 9 to 11 percentage points one year after onset and by more than 20 percentage points in the medium term ((Charles, 2003, for the USA), Polidano and Vu (2015, Australia), Collischon et al. (2023, Germany), Jones and McVicar (2020, Britain), and Mani et al. (2018, Indonesia)). Most of this evidence, however, comes from high-income economies with predominantly formal labor markets.
In middle-income countries with sizable informal sectors, adjustment to disability can operate along additional margins, including not only exits from work but also transitions between formal and informal employment. Further, studies that jointly observe the onset of disabilities and their subsequent institutional recognition remain scarce.
This paper combines longitudinal survey and administrative data on Chile, a middle-income country where informal employment accounts for nearly 30% of total employment, to quantify the short-, medium-, and long-run effects of disability on employment and earnings and to examine whether inclusion policies have altered these trajectories. We study two related moments. The first is disability onset, defined as the first year in which individuals report functional limitations that constrain their daily or work activities. Using the year of onset as the reference point allows us to localize the initial shock and characterize subsequent labor market adjustments across both the formal and informal sectors.
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View full text here: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Sharp-Declines-Slow-Recovery-Disability-Onset-and-Labor-Market-Trajectories-in-Chile.pdf
[Category: IADB]
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Do Warnings Change Behavior? Money-laundering, Grey-listing by the FATF, and Cross-border Financial Flows'
WASHINGTON, May 6 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in April 2026 entitled "Do Warnings Change Behavior? Money-laundering, Grey-listing by the FATF, and Cross-border Financial Flows."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
In the current global context, cross-border trade, investment, and migration are increasingly mediated by international payment systems and correspondent banking networks. Because much of this infrastructure is governed by risk management and compliance protocols at global intermediaries, regulatory actions and public designations
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 6 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in April 2026 entitled "Do Warnings Change Behavior? Money-laundering, Grey-listing by the FATF, and Cross-border Financial Flows."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
In the current global context, cross-border trade, investment, and migration are increasingly mediated by international payment systems and correspondent banking networks. Because much of this infrastructure is governed by risk management and compliance protocols at global intermediaries, regulatory actions and public designationscan generate externalities that alter the effective cost of moving capital across borders. This paper studies one such designation: FATF grey-listing, a prominent tool of international AML/CFT enforcement, and asks whether the formal designation itself activates discrete compliance responses that measurably disrupt cross-border financial flows.
To safeguard the integrity of the international financial system, G7 countries created the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as a global standard-setting body.1 FATF's mandate is to promote the adoption and effective implementation of minimum anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) standards worldwide. To incentivize compliance, FATF relies on a system of evaluations and public listings that identify jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT frameworks.2
FATF maintains two public lists. Jurisdictions under increased monitoring, commonly referred to as the grey list, are those that have committed to working with FATF to address identified deficiencies. High-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action, often referred to as the black list, are those that have failed to take sufficient remedial steps and are not cooperating with FATF. These listings represent FATF's most prominent enforcement mechanism. While FATF continuously updates its standards to address emerging risks, many policymakers and observers question whether listings, particularly grey-listing, continue to exert meaningful influence on countries' economic and financial outcomes.
Despite the central role of FATF listings in the global AML/CFT architecture, a fundamental empirical question remains unresolved: does grey-listing disrupt countries' access to cross-border finance in an economically meaningful way? While grey-listing does not itself impose formal restrictions on financial transactions, the public designation can prompt risk-based adjustments by foreign intermediaries--including changes in access to payment services, correspondent banking lines, and trade-finance relationships--that raise the effective cost of moving capital across borders.
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View full text here: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Do-Warnings-Change-Behavior-Money-laundering-Grey-listing-by-the-FATF-and-Cross-border-Financial-Flows.pdf
[Category: IADB]
