• Philanthropists MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates joined forces Thursday to give $40 million to four organizations that promote gender equality. The recipients were part of the Equality Can't Wait Challenge, which was announced last year by Scott and French Gates and also funded by billionaire Lynn Schusterman's family foundation. The projects winning $10 million each were selected from a pool of more than 500 applicants working in fields including technology, education, care-giving and indigenous communities. An additional $8 million was split between two finalists. "The awardees are strong teams working on the front lines and from within communities to help women build power in their lives and careers," Scott said in a statement. French Gates said she hoped the funding would help "break the patterns of history and advance gender equality." Scott is the world's third-richest woman, with a fortune of $64.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, while French Gates has a net worth of $3.2 billion. Both women have renewed control over the directions of their fortunes after separating from their husbands in recent months and years. They've also made supporting gender equality a centerpiece of their charitable efforts. The $10 million recipients announced Thursday are Building Women's Equality Through Strengthening the Care Infrastructure, Changing the Face of Tech, Girls Inc.'s Project Accelerate and The Future Is Indigenous Womxn. The $8 million recipients are FreeFrom, which fights intimate-partner violence, and Ignite, which trains women to enter political activism.
• A Spanish judge investigating alleged tax fraud by Colombian musician Shakira recommended on Thursday that the case go to trial after concluding there is evidence that the pop star could have avoided her fiscal obligations to the state. Judge Marco Juberias wrote that his three-year investigation found there existed "sufficient evidence of criminality" for the case to go to a trial judge. The decision can be appealed. Prosecutors charged the singer in December 2019 with not paying $16.4 million in taxes in Spain between 2012 and 2014, when she lived mostly in the country despite having an official residence in Panama. Shakira, 44, denied any wrongdoing when she testified in June 2019. Her public relations firm said that she had immediately paid what she owed once she was informed of the debt by the Tax Office. Shakira faces a possible fine and even possible jail time if found guilty of tax evasion. However, a judge can waive prison time for first-time offenders if they are sentenced to less than two years behind bars.