Midday Roundup: Data leak shows where Putin's cash is stashed

Shady finances. A trove of leaked data from a secretive law firm in Panama has revealed the financial secrets of some of the world’s most powerful people, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and King Salman of Saudi Arabia. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists spent a year going through 2.6 terabytes of data from Mossack Fonseca, a firm that specializes in helping people hide their cash in offshore accounts. The practice isn’t necessarily illegal, but it often is used to cover up illegal, immoral, or unethical activity.

Off the rails. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are looking into an Amtrak train derailment outside Philadelphia that killed two people and injured 35 Sunday. The two victims were not passengers but track workers operating a backhoe that apparently caused the train’s front engine to derail. Amtrak Executive Vice President Stephen Gardner would not speculate on why construction crews were in the path of a moving train, which was traveling from New York to Savannah, Ga.

Exodus. As many as a dozen more Guantanamo Bay detainees presumably made their way to freedom over the weekend, bound for African countries. The Obama administration maintains the military detention facility in Cuba serves as a terrorist recruiting tool. But Former Army Maj. Montgomery Granger, who was a ranking medical officer at the prison, said at least some of the prisoners scheduled for release were still dangerous. Tariq Abdullah, a trained al Qaeda artillery expert, had to be kept in isolation for much of the last 15 years for attacking guards. Granger cited the estimate that 30 percent of released Gitmo detainees return to the battlefield, but he said he was just as worried about the other 70 percent whose actions and whereabouts may be unknown.

Well done, y’all. The Academy of Country Music lauded top performers last night, with stars Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, and Chris Stapleton winning big. Stapleton, a longtime Nashville songwriter whose performing career took off last year, took home four awards, the most of the night. Miranda Lambert won female vocalist of the year for the sixth year in a row, and Jason Aldean won entertainer of the year.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry contributed to this report.