Bankrupt Banker

Banks roll out new fees to recoup revenue: Banks roll out new fees amid big settlements, lost revenue

If you thought customers triumphed last fall when the nation's big banks quickly retreated from monthly fees for debit-card use, think again: Like the mythical Hydra, banks have replaced that charge, severed by a grass-roots uprising, with various new fees designed to recoup lost income. Although some of these fees appeared before last year's debit-card revolt, many more are making their debuts this year. There are nearly 50 different fees consumers can wind up paying, depending on the services they use and how they use them, according to some consumer advocates' latest estimates. "Most of these fees are not the in-your-face charges, such as the debit-card fee that caused the big uproar," said Alex Matjanec, co-founder of MyBankTracker.com, a consumer-finance information website. "Many are flying under the radar. But they could have a big long-term effect on your money if you aren't paying attention." Some banks have started charging for wire transfers, paper statements, prepaid cards, debit-card replacement and other services. Some even charge you now for closing an account or for making deposits using an iPhone. Don't be surprised if some banks eventually charge people just to apply for a loan, consumer advocates say. Banks are combining the new fees with increases in existing fees in an effort to make up for billions of dollars in revenue whose loss they blame on the federal financial-services overhaul, spiraling regulatory costs and huge legal liabilities such as the recent $25 billion foreclosure-fraud lawsuit settlement. For example, there has been a resurgence in overdraft and credit-card fees, both of which had dipped across the industry as a result of changes that took effect in 2009 and 2010. "The banks have done a good job of convincing consumers that they just can't live without those [overdraft] services," said Gerri Detweiler, a Sarasota-based personal-finance expert for Credit.com, an independent consumer-finance research service. Banks say they still provide customers multiple ways to avoid the vast majority of service fees, including the new ones. More than half of all U.S. bank customers pay no fees at all by maintaining minimum account balances, setting up direct deposits or signing up for other services linked to their accounts, according to a 2011 study by the American Bankers Association. Still, the fee issue has reached a tipping point for some consumers. Chris Erwin of Orlando said he closed his bank account at Wells Fargo & Co. last fall during the uproar over monthly fees for debit-card use. He also cited the Occupy Wall Street protest movement, which focused much of its energy on big banks. "The Occupy movement kind of made me realize these big banks act more like investment banks, and you don't really know what they are using your money for," said Erwin, a 24-year-old home-security supervisor who has opened a member account at the Lake Mary-based CFE Federal Credit Union. "It just seemed a much fairer thing to do, to go to a not-for-profit-type bank." According to a recent survey by Javelin Strategy and Research, more than 5.6 million consumers switched banks during the fourth quarter of 2011, including many who moved to credit unions or smaller community banks, both of which typically charge lower fees. The survey by the California-based financial-consulting company estimated that 610,000, or 11 percent of the total, did so as part of the grass-roots protest against big banks' attempt to impose debit-card fees, while an additional 846,000, or 15 percent, changed because of objections to bank fees generally. A half-dozen large banks either imposed or announced plans last year to impose $5 monthly fees on customers who used their debit cards to buy goods and services; automated-teller use was exempt from the fee. The banks' actions stoked public anger still simmering from the federal government's 2008 bailout of major U.S. banks, and an anti-fee petition on change.org, a grass-roots-organizing site, drew more than 300,000 signatures. By early November, all of the banks had backed off their debit-card fees. Banks argue that surveys such as Javelin's don't tell the whole story. Such studies neglect to report, for example, how many new accounts were opened at major financial institutions during the same time period. Increases in the number and size of consumer fees, they say, are the inevitable result of what they describe as government overregulation of their industry: Caps on fees charged to merchants, additional disclosure mandates and other financial-service changes have limited their revenue and boosted their costs. They criticize federal changes such as the 2011 Durbin Amendment, which set a 21-cent cap on the debit-transaction fees that banks charge retailers and other businesses that accept such cards from their customers. That cap cut in half the average "swipe fee" banks had been charging for processing those transactions. Congress, in capping those fees, had sided with retailers who argued that the transaction charges were monopolistic and far out of line with banks' actual costs — an assertion banks dispute. "Congress has to understand that, whenever you pass legislation such as the Durbin Amendment, all of us as consumers are going to pay for it," said Alex Sanchez, chief executive officer of the Florida Bankers Association. "The more regulations you pass on the banks, the more those costs are passed on to the people on Main Street." In business terms, banks are now "repricing" their services based on the cost structure dictated by the new federal rules, said Stanley D. Smith, a finance professor at the University of Central Florida. In some cases, that will mean the end of no-fee checking accounts and other services for which banks have not charged in the past, he said. Consumers should keep track of such changes and make smart decisions about where they want to do their banking, Smith said — especially if they encounter something they consider especially offensive, such as an account-closing fee. "If you're already mad enough to come into the bank to close an account," he said, "Then they tell you, 'Oh, by the way, we're going to charge you for taking your money out.' Well, that pretty much blows any chance that you're going to want to come back there ever again."

Banks roll out new fees to recoup revenue: Banks roll out new fees amid big settlements, lost revenue

If you thought customers triumphed last fall when the nation's big banks quickly retreated from monthly fees for debit-card use, think a...

Bailed-out banks still aren't ready to sell, even after three years and £90bn

The clean-up bill for Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group has already topped £90bn, put nearly 80,000 jobs on the line, and left taxpayers nursing a £32bn loss on their stakes in the bailed-out banks. But when they report their results for 2011 this week, both are likely to concede that their salvage operations are not yet complete, despite three years of downsizing and reshaping. Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of RBS, admitted recently that when he took on the job he had expected 2012 to be the year that the government could herald a sell-off of the bank's shares. Yet, with the economy, the ongoing crisis in the eurozone and a series of regulatory changes – including the ring-fencing proposals from the Vickers commission on banking – all combining to weigh down on bank share prices, analysts reckon that the government will be stuck with an 82% stake in RBS and a 41% stake in Lloyds for some time yet. Robert Talbut, chief investment officer of Royal London Asset Management, says: "It is very clear to everyone that the government are going to hold these stakes for much longer than anybody anticipated. The prospect of the government being able to sell down their stakes in the next three years is extremely slim. That is due to regulatory change both in the UK and globally. It is also due to the interrelation between the growth rates in the UK economy and what that means for asset values on a lot of the assets that they have on their balance sheets."

Bailed-out banks still aren't ready to sell, even after three years and £90bn

The clean-up bill for Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group has already topped £90bn, put nearly 80,000 jobs on the line, and le...

As Old Francs Expire, France Makes a Small Mint

Greece may be scrambling for revenue, but the French treasury has just banked some 550 million euros for doing nothing — simply letting the French franc, created in 1360, finally perish. Enlarge This Image Thibault Camus/Associated Press People lined up at a bank in Paris on Friday to convert old French francs to euros, the common European currency, before the francs were rendered worthless. Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors Friday was the last day that French francs could be turned into the Bank of France, the central bank, in exchange for the common European currency, the euro, a little more than a decade after it was introduced as bills and coins. The approximately 550 million euros represents the francs still outstanding, somewhere, which are now worthless, and which will be registered as revenue for the French state. As the franc died, it is the future of the euro that seems at question now, an irony that hardly escaped some of those waiting in line at the bank to exchange the francs they had found stashed away in drawers, coat pockets and old purses. (Only bills were exchangeable; coins went out of circulation in 2005.) Emmanuelle Hamon, 47, said she was dubious about the fate of the euro. “I want to believe in it,” she said. “But I don’t know how, concretely, we’re going to make it.” A former advertising executive and journalist, she said she felt a bit betrayed, as if Europeans had been handed a bill of goods, now that floundering countries like Greece are causing troubles for the entire euro zone. “I was attracted to the notion of community,” she said. “We were all hoodwinked.” And like many, she believes that the euro brought with it higher prices. She had found 220 francs, or 33.54 euros at the fixed rate of 6.55957 francs to the euro. She is planning to give her bonus euros to a charity that fights hunger, she said. As for the franc itself, she said she had no special sentiments. “I thought they were pretty, that’s all I can say.” For some it was a sad day, to be sure. As Ms. Hamon noted, the franc notes and coins were varied and beautiful. The euro, on the other hand, seems like the product of an off-day at the design studio, made worse by the fact that the bills feature no recognizable buildings or portraits. The theory behind keeping some images off was that any European — even Beethoven, whose music was used for the European Union anthem — would be too national. Aurélien Duchene, an 18-year-old student, said that he liked the idea of the euro as a way to gather countries together, but that it meant prices went up. Pulling his earphones out to hear questions, he remembered that when he was 8 or 9 years old and the currency changed, he said, “For one franc you got a big bag of candy, and for one euro, one got less.” The current economic crisis had various causes, Mr. Duchene said. “But I think that changing from the franc to the euro is also a cause.” (Indeed, fixed rates and the common currency have meant countries cannot adjust the value of their currency in response to differing economic circumstances.) Shanel Maklouf, 17, said earnestly, while her friends giggled, that the euro had been “very bad for France,” and had helped cause its economic difficulties, “which grow day by day.” Going back to the franc is impossible, she said, “even if it would be a good thing,” especially for the poorer classes. “My mother waits for only one thing, that the franc returns.” The far-right National Front candidate in the coming presidential election, Marine Le Pen, is the only significant politician calling for France to pull out of the euro zone — and the European Union — and return to the franc. More mainstream politicians and economists regard the idea as folly, even as some Greeks begin to consider returning to the drachma. The Greeks, by the way, have until March 1 to switch their old drachmas into euros. Tania Capo-Chichi, 30, is a hairstylist, currently unemployed. She waited in line at the bank with her 5-month-old son in a stroller and a small windfall — 1,000 francs, worth 152.45 euros — she found digging through various bags, she said. She had no attachment to the old franc, but no idea how the current euro crisis, which she said no one was really explaining to people, would end. “It won’t come to a stop overnight,” she said. But she was sure the euro would endure, one way or another, as Europe evolves. “It’s ours,” she said, “even if we don’t necessarily like it.

As Old Francs Expire, France Makes a Small Mint

Greece may be scrambling for revenue, but the French treasury has just banked some 550 million euros for doing nothing — simply letting the ...

Queen strips disgraced Fred the Shred of his knighthood for biggest corporate disaster in British history

Disgraced former RBS boss Fred Goodwin was told this afternoon that his knighthood is being removed by order of the Queen. The unprecedented step was taken on the recommendation of a secretive Whitehall body which is responsible for ensuring the honours system does not fall into disrepute. The forfeiture committee, made up of senior civil servants and Government lawyers, met to consider the case after the Daily Mail highlighted growing cross-party pressure for Mr Goodwin’s knighthood to be rescinded. Mr Goodwin was telephoned by Sir Bob Kerslake, head of the home civil service, at 3pm to be given the shattering news. There is no right to appeal. It is a humiliation for the former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland, who has never spoken publicly about his role in the biggest corporate disaster in British history which cost the taxpayer £45bn, and whose lawyers succeeded in getting some direct criticism of him removed from an official report into the collapse of RBS. Honours are very rarely revoked, and it took years of campaigning for hated Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe to lose his knighthood. The most recent high profile case was that of Jean Else, a Manchester superhead who was made a Dame on the recommendation of Labour but was later accused of mismanagement and nepotism at her school. She was stripped of her damehood after a ruling by the forfeiture committee.

Queen strips disgraced Fred the Shred of his knighthood for biggest corporate disaster in British history

Disgraced former RBS boss Fred Goodwin was told this afternoon that his knighthood is being removed by order of the Queen. The unpreceden...

Survey reveals expat banking fears

The Expat Banking Poll was sponsored by Lloyds TSB International and conducted by expat website Just Landed. Expats in Spain were found to have the most problems with banking abroad. Almost two-thirds of those polled – 64 per cent – said that they do not trust local banks at all. Some of the most common problems cited by those who distrust banks abroad include unfair charges, trouble with the language barrier and money that was deducted from their account without any explanation. Briton Graham Hunt, who runs a Spanish property website and has written some hard-hitting blogs on banking in Spain, said: "Two years ago, there was a lot more trust in Spanish banks. "But the past couple of years have seen new charges for cards, account maintenance, transfer fees... this put people into the red in unused accounts, and they were then given an additional overdrawn charge. As a result, trust disappeared." Spain is happiest expat destination 19 Jan 2012 He also claims bank charges have increased "dramatically" recently and that lack of clear communication is the major problem for expats not speaking Spanish, and banks not employing people with language skills. "However my experience is that if you have a good relationship with the bank manager then any charges on the account can usually be got back," Mr Hunt said. "You just threaten to take your business elsewhere." Ali Meehan, who runs the Costa Women community network, said however there were many reasons expats wanted to use Spanish banking services. ""Many expats bank with Spanish financial institutions because they have mortgage products or loans locally," she said. "Some banks also offer special deals if you have your UK pension paid direct to Spain." More than 11,800 expats in total were surveyed for the Lloyds TSB International report. More than half of those, 59 per cent, said that they do trust their banks abroad, while only 22 per cent of respondents said they did not trust their banks "at all". In the United Arab Emirates, 74 per cent polled said they completely trust local banks; in Kuwait, this number is even higher, at 83 per cent. In Europe, German banks receive a similar score, with 68 per cent of expats polled completely trusting their services. UK banks – though facing many problems – are completely trusted by 52 per cent of respondents. And despite uncertainties over the British pound, 36 per cent of expatriates surveyed claim they would invest in sterling over any other currency. "While the poll demonstrated a lot of positivity, there are also some issues to be addressed," said Daniel Tschentscher, managing partner at Just Landed. "In the current climate, one would expect the level of trust to be lower, but that really doesn't seem to be the case at all."

Survey reveals expat banking fears

The Expat Banking Poll was sponsored by Lloyds TSB International and conducted by expat website Just Landed. Expats in Spain were found to...

Two men sought over bank robbery in Thornliebank

Armed robbers have escaped with a four-figure sum of cash after holding up a bank in East Renfrewshire. Two men entered the Lloyds Bank in Main Street, Thornliebank, at about 10:35 on Thursday and threatened staff with what appeared to be a firearm. They later escaped on towards nearby Clova Street. No-one was injured. Both suspects are white males. One is about 5ft 6/7in-tall, while the other is over 6ft. They were wearing blue jeans and black jackets with hoods. Both men had their hoods up and tied tightly, covering most of their faces. Witness appeal Officers have been gathering CCTV images from the area and carrying out door-to-door enquiries. Det Con Gary Gallacher, of Strathclyde Police, said: "This is a busy area with lots of shops and flats around and at this time of the day there would have been lots of people milling around. "I would appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time to get in touch with us. "It may be that you saw the suspects run off or you may have noticed them prior to the robbery and thought they looked a little suspicious. "I would urge anyone with any information to please contact us as a matter of urgency."

Two men sought over bank robbery in Thornliebank

Armed robbers have escaped with a four-figure sum of cash after holding up a bank in East Renfrewshire. Two men entered the Lloyds Bank i...

Prominent Fla businessman guilty in $135M fraud; investors include Roman Catholic prep school

A prominent businessman pleaded guilty Wednesday to fraud in a $135 million real estate scheme that fleeced hundreds of investors, including the Roman Catholic prep school he once attended. Gaston Cantens, 73, faces up to five years behind bars after pleading guilty to a single count of wire and mail fraud conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams set sentencing for April 4. 0 Comments Weigh InCorrections? inShare Cantens also lured investors from Miami’s close-knit Cuban-American community, many of them elderly and some Roman Catholic priests. One victim, 80-year-old Eduardo Arango, said he lost about $800,000 investing with Cantens. He called the plea agreement “a sweet deal” because Cantens could have faced more charges and a longer prison sentence. “Most of the victims were people who are very aged. They lost whatever their resources were. They have suffered,” Arango said. Federal prosecutors said Cantens operated his company, Royal West Properties Inc., like a Ponzi scheme in which he paid older investors with money raised from newer ones. The company sold real estate investments in southwest Florida since 1993 but fell on hard times beginning in 2002 and was eventually forced into bankruptcy in 2009, according to court documents. Before it crashed, Royal West promised rates of return as high as 16 percent for investors who bought properties, which were marketed nationally on Spanish-language networks and through offices in Florida, New York, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. One investor was the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, which traces its roots to Cuba and from which Cantens graduated when it was still located in Havana. Fidel Castro also is an alumnus from those days. Eric Bustillo, chief of the SEC field office in Miami, called it a typical “affinity” scam in which the perpetrator uses a position of trust to prey on members of a specific group, in this case people connected to Belen and members of the larger Cuban-American community. “The Cantens used their prominent standing in a close-knit Cuban-American community to ruthlessly exploit vulnerable elderly investors who trusted them with their life savings,” Bustillo said. Cantens’ wife, 75-year-old Teresita Cantens, was named in a related U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission complaint but was not charged in the criminal case. Their son, former state Rep. Gaston I. Cantens, was also not implicated in the scheme, but he did co-sign documents allowing his father to remain free until sentencing on $100,000 bail. The younger Cantens is vice president at the Florida Crystals Corp. sugar company. In all, prosecutors said more than 150 investors lost about $47 million between 2003 and 2008. Of the total, investigators said Cantens and his wife skimmed about $20 million for other business ventures, to pay themselves more than $5 million in salaries and to pay children and grandchildren $1 million in “consulting fees” even though they did no work for Royal West. Cantens could be ordered to pay millions of dollars in restitution, but it’s doubtful that he has any means to do so. Royal West is being liquidated in the bankruptcy case and Cantens has been unable to pay a $5.3 million judgment in the SEC case. Arango said most investors have gotten only about 3 cents on the dollar from the bankruptcy proceeding. “The anguish, pain and suffering here has been immense,” he said.

Prominent Fla businessman guilty in $135M fraud; investors include Roman Catholic prep school

A prominent businessman pleaded guilty Wednesday to fraud in a $135 million real estate scheme that fleeced hundreds of investors, includi...

Eating fried foods didn't hurt the hearts of Spaniards who follow a Mediterranean diet

<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Eating fried foods didn't hurt the hearts of Spaniards who follow a Mediterranean diet, but the findings are too good to be true for Canadians, experts say.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">A study in Wednesday's issue of the British Medical Journal suggests that frying foods in olive and sunflower oils is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease or premature death.<span class="photo right" style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 15px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 0.8em; text-align: left; line-height: 1.2em; color: #565656; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #c4c4c4; float: right; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; width: 222px;"><img alt="The Mediterranean diet favours fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains. " src="http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2012/01/25/si-fish-fry-220-cp-is.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; display: block; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px none initial;" /><em style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The Mediterranean diet favours fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains. <em class="credit" style="margin-top: 1px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">(iStock)<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Prof. Pilar Guallar-Castillón from Autonomous University of Madrid and her co-authors surveyed the cooking methods of 40,757 adults aged 29 to 69 over an 11-year period. None of the participants had heart disease when the study began.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The people were asked in a typical week whether they ate food that was fried, battered, crumbed or sautéed. Their answers were divided into categories based on how much fried food they consumed.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">During the follow-up period, there were 606 events linked to heart disease and 1,134 deaths.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">"In Spain, a Mediterranean country where olive or sunflower oil is used for frying, the consumption of fried foods was not associated with coronary heart disease," the study's authors concluded.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The results directly apply only to Mediterranean countries where foods are fried in a similar way to Spain, the researchers noted.<h3 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-size: 19px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; border: 0px initial initial;">Spanish participants more active</h3><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">"When I look at the group of patients evaluated in Spain 10 years ago, they were much more active and fit than we are as Canadians nowadays," said Dr. Beth Abramson, a cardiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and a spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">And overall, people in the study ate a diet that was heart healthier than a typical North American diet.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The Mediterranean regime favours fruits, vegetables, fresh fish and whole grains.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">"Occasionally having some fried food now and then isn't going to be harmful probably in the long run, but routinely frying food just adds to the chance that you're going to become overweight and out of shape," Abramson said.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The investigators only questioned participants about their diet at the start of the study, which isn't as reliable as checking in more often, Abramson said.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Floria Aghdamimehr, a wellness and life coach in Halifax who teaches people how to improve their diet, said the study confirms the value of using olive oil, though sparingly.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The nutritional content of foods changes when they are fried, Aghdamimehr said.<h3 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-size: 19px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; border: 0px initial initial;">Nutritional changes with frying</h3><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">"Most of the deep-fried foods people eat in North America … [uses] oil [that] is being recycled — reused several times,” Aghdamimehr said.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">In Spain, fried food doesn't equal fast food from restaurants the way it often does in North America, the researchers said.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">"Frying leads to an increase in trans fats and a decrease in unsaturated fats in foods," said Prof. Michael Leitzmann of the department of the epidemiology and preventive medicine at University of Regensburg in Germany in a journal editorial published with the Spanish study.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">"Frying also increases the energy density of food and makes food more palatable, which may lead to the consumption of larger amounts."<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The study was funded by the Fund for Health of Spain, five Spanish regional governments and the Catlan Institute of Oncology.

Eating fried foods didn't hurt the hearts of Spaniards who follow a Mediterranean diet

Eating fried foods didn't hurt the hearts of Spaniards who follow a Mediterranean diet, but the findings are too good to be true for Can...

Underworld bankers Daniel Keenan and Andrew Barnett who laundered £17m of drug money are jailed

Two underworld bankers who laundered more than £17million in drug money have been jailed for a total of 17 years. Daniel Keenan, 41, and Andrew Barnett, 45, used a stolen identity to clean up proceeds from a massive cocaine and heroin dealing operation by making currency exchanges They were caught out when police stopped Barnett with £500,000 in cash stuffed into a satchel. The pair were subsequently linked to Ian Kiernan, who was jailed for 20 years in 2001 for his key role in one of Britain's biggest-ever drug smuggling plots. Andrew Barnett (left) and Daniel Keenan (right) laundered the vast proceeds from a cocaine and heroin ring by making currency exchanges Barnett was stopped on 26 November 2009 near Marble Arch carrying a satchel found to contain 535,000 euros in 200 euro notes. He also had a receipt from a nearby money service bureau called Interchange. Convicted blackmailer Keenan contacted the police station a few days later, claiming he had asked Barnett to carry out the transaction, and was promptly arrested on suspicion of money laundering. Investigations revealed Keenan used a stolen identity to set up his Interchange account. Since opening the account in April 2008, Keenan and Barnett had made more than 300 transactions totaling more £17million. The money was generally brought in for exchange in £20 notes in large bags. The pair admitted money laundering but initially claimed the cash came from illicit gambling on horse racing. But after a two-day hearing at Southwark Crown Court they admitted knowing that that bundles of cash had come from drug deals. This is some of the money recovered by police from the pair, who were caught when officers stopped Barnett with £500,000 worth of currency stuffed into a satchel Jailing Keenan for 11 years and Barnett for six years, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said the offences were 'hugely successful' and committed while Keenan was on license from prison. He told Keenan: 'Interchange was visited more than 400 times as you or others delivered cash amounting to a total of £17.5million. 'I accept that initially you thought you were being used to launder the proceeds of illegal gambling. 'But eventually the amounts of money involved must have made it clear that they could only come from the most serious of crimes - sale of Class A drugs. 'You yourself signed for 58 deliveries amounting to £12million while your assistant Mr Barnett signed for about £5 million. 'When police detained Mr Barnett you came up with a number of explanations and produced quantities of false paperwork to try and justify your business which included the use of other people's identities.' Daniel Keenan is here seen on CCTV counting out huge piles of banknotes. Keenan and Barnett laundered more than £17million in organised crime profits Barnett had claimed he was simply acting on behalf of Keenan and was paid £200 each time he want to the Interchange. Drug baron Ian Kiernan had been jailed for 20 years and banned from racecourses for 10 years after a Jockey Club investigation found he was involved in corruption in horseracing. The head of the syndicate, Brian Wright - dubbed The Milkman because he always delivered - was jailed for 30 years in 2007. The link between Kiernan, described as the drug ring's storeman, and the launderers was only discovered in December when police investigated Keenan's mobile phone records. Prosecutor Mark Fenhalls said: 'When Mr Keenan's phone records were looked at they showed that that most of the calls were made to his partner, then his mum, and then Kiernan, in that order.' He was found to have been in contact with Kiernan - who was on temporary licence from HMP Latchmere - on all but one of the days on which transactions of more than £400,000 were processed. Keenan was serving a five-year sentence for blackmail and consiring to defraud the clothes shop Monsoon when he met Kiernan in jail. The court heard Barnett visited Kiernan in prison in 2003, Mr Fenhalls said it was 'inconceivable that Barnett... did not know that he was assisting Keenan to launder the proceeds of cocaine dealing on a vast scale. 'No other explanation or inference sensibly arises from the available evidence.' Barnett, of Twickenham, Middlesex and Keenan, of Egham, Surrey, admitted converting criminal property. Keenan also admitted fraud by false representation, having a fake passport and possession of articles used in fraud, a fake bank card.

Underworld bankers Daniel Keenan and Andrew Barnett who laundered £17m of drug money are jailed

Two underworld bankers who laundered more than £17million in drug money have been jailed for a total of 17 years. Daniel Keenan, 41, and ...

Drug smugglers and dealers to get law thaw in UK

Drug smugglers and street dealers could avoid prison in the UK even if caught with heroin, cocaine or thousands of pounds worth of cannabis, under new guidelines on drug offenses published by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales on Tuesday. The new guidelines, to come into force next month, on February 27, were put out following a three-month public consultation. They cover importation, supply, production, permitting premises to be used for drug-related activities, and possession offences. "Drug offending has to be taken seriously. Drug abuse underlies a huge volume of acquisitive and violent crime, and dealing can blight communities. Offending and offenders vary widely, so we have developed this guideline to ensure there is effective guidance for sentencers and clear information for victims, witnesses and the public on how drug offenders are sentenced,” said Lord Justice Hughes, deputy chairman of the Sentencing Council, as quoted by the British media. According to the official website of the Council, the guidelines intend to distinguish the leading players in drug smuggling from those in subordinate roles such as drug mules, who may be coerced or misled into carrying drugs. It will mean that sentences are based on a court’s assessment of the offender’s role, and on the quantity of drugs involved, or the scale of the operation. Reports suggest offenders who play a “limited” role in gangs, including low-level dealers and so-called drug mules, who bring narcotics into the country, could now face community orders rather than jail sentences. This particular draft received major support during the consultations. Drug barons playing a leading role in large-scale offences such as smuggling and supply will continue to face long prison sentences, as will those who sell directly to the public, especially to children. Police have suggested that gang leaders would be able to escape jail by claiming that they were lesser members. “How can a court be expected to differentiate between the person who says, I am very low in the chain, and those high up?” questioned Peter Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, as quoted by The Telegraph. “No matter how big a role I played, if I was in their shoes and arrested for drugs I would say I was a low-level player or forced into it. If they can see a loophole, then of course they will go through it.” Under the new guidelines, dealers caught with 6kg of cannabis, valued at thousands of US dollars, or 20 ecstasy tablets, could now avoid prison and receive a community sentence. Heroin and cocaine dealers deemed to have played only a “minimal” role and workers in small cannabis “farms” could also escape custody.

Drug smugglers and dealers to get law thaw in UK

Drug smugglers and street dealers could avoid prison in the UK even if caught with heroin, cocaine or thousands of pounds worth of cannabi...

London hospitals write off 'over 90%' owed by foreign patients

London hospitals have written off more than 90% of what they are owed by foreign patients not entitled to free NHS care, BBC London has learned. A Freedom of Information request showed Newham Hospital Trust wrote off 96% of what it had invoiced last year. Meanwhile, Basildon and Thurrock wrote off 97% of what it was owed, having previously recovered £68,061 out of £116,561 of its debt. In total, £7.6m was written off by 33 NHS trusts in the region, since 2009. Across the trusts, a total of £26m is owed by patients, of which £18.4m continues to be actively sought. However, hospital trusts said chasing the money was difficult if patients leave the UK. In a statement, Basildon and Thurrock said: "We scrupulously manage our finances and only write off debt after following the full debt collection process." Continue reading the main story Hospital variations in amount written off Newham Hospital wrote off £345,000 out of £358,000 Basildon and Thurrock wrote off £47,000 out of £48,500 Hillingdon hospital wrote off £335,000 out of £660,000 Luton and Dunstable wrote off 2,000 out of 85,000 South London wrote off £29,000 out of £481,000 All figures relate to 2010-11 All hospitals are required to recover money owed for treating these patients.

London hospitals write off 'over 90%' owed by foreign patients

London hospitals have written off more than 90% of what they are owed by foreign patients not entitled to free NHS care, BBC London has le...

Redknapp 'threatened journalist'

Football boss Harry Redknapp threatened to "sue the bollocks" off a journalist as he angrily denied taking bungs, a court has heard. The Tottenham Hotspur manager also said Milan Mandaric did not know what he was talking about in a 2009 telephone conversation with a News of the World reporter. In short extracts read out to a jury at Southwark Crown Court, Redknapp told Rob Beasley he had "the best accountants in England", claiming the Inland Revenue was fully aware of his dealings in Monaco. Mr Beasley spoke to Redknapp days after a telephone interview with Mandaric, the former Portsmouth FC chairman. When Mr Beasley described how Mandaric said the money sent to Redknapp's offshore accounts were investments outside football, the Spurs boss replied that Mandaric did not know what he was talking about, adding: "What is he talking about? It is a bonus." Explaining that the payments surrounded profit made on the sale of Peter Crouch from Portsmouth to Aston Villa, Redknapp added: "If it was something dodgy I would have gone over there and brought it back in a briefcase." When Beasley asked him whether he had paid any tax in the UK on it, Redknapp replied: "Haven't been asked to, Rob." Redknapp said "there ain't nothing crooked in it" as the telephone conversation went on, the court heard. "Don't say bung," Redknapp said. "It's nothing to do with a bung. It's paid by the chairman. How can it be a bung when the chairman of the football club paid me?" Redknapp and Mandaric deny two counts of cheating the public revenue when he was manager of Portsmouth Football Club.

Redknapp 'threatened journalist'

Football boss Harry Redknapp threatened to "sue the bollocks" off a journalist as he angrily denied taking bungs, a court has he...

Coryton refinery job fears after Petroplus go bankrupt

Hundreds of jobs at the Coryton oil refinery in Essex are under threat after Swiss owner Petroplus said it would file for bankruptcy. The government has said the refinery, which supplies 20% of fuel for south-east England, is still operating. Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers says the priority is for work at Coryton to continue without disruption. Other firms say they will still be able to supply fuel, but petrol retailers fear diesel prices will spike. Steven Pearson, on behalf of the administrator, said: "Our immediate priority is to continue to operate the Coryton refinery and the Teesside storage business without disruption while the financial position is clarified and restructuring options are explored." He said there were plans to have a number of discussions during the next few days over the future of the site in Coryton and the business in Teesside. Petroplus has said it will file for insolvency "as soon as possible" after failing to reach an agreement with creditors to extend deadlines for loan repayments.

Coryton refinery job fears after Petroplus go bankrupt

Hundreds of jobs at the Coryton oil refinery in Essex are under threat after Swiss owner Petroplus said it would file for bankruptcy. The...

Government debt passes £1 trillion

The Government's debt has smashed through the £1 trillion barrier for the first time despite a bigger-than-expected fall in borrowing in December, figures have revealed. Public-sector borrowing, excluding financial interventions such as bank bailouts, fell £2.2 billion to £13.7 billion in the month. The City had expected it to fall to £14.9 billion. However, this was still enough to drive net debt to £1,003.9 billion, or 64.2% of GDP, up from £883 billion a year ago and its highest since records began in 1993. The bigger-than-expected fall in Government borrowing in the month was partly offset by a £1.3 billion increase in estimates for borrowing between April and November after local Government spending was revised upwards. Chancellor George Osborne is still on track to hit a target set by the Office for Budget Responsibility to reduce borrowing to £127 billion in the financial year despite fears that the UK is on the brink of recession. Central Government spending fell 0.9% as the Chancellor's austerity measures increasingly kick in while the tax haul rose with the help of last year's rise in VAT to 20% and the levy on banks' balance sheets. It is the fourth month in a row that borrowing has fallen on the previous year. There are fears, however, that the deficit reduction plans may be derailed, with many economists expecting another recession, which would hit tax revenues and increase spending on benefit payments. The Government borrowed a total of £103.3 billion between April and December, which is £11.3 billion lower than the previous year. A Treasury spokesman said on Tuesday: "That our national debt has reached more than £1 trillion simply shows the unsustainable level of spending this country built up over the past few years and shows why it is critical for our nation's future that we deal decisively with the deficit. "The figures show that we are making good progress, with borrowing over £11 billion lower than in the same period last year."

Government debt passes £1 trillion

The Government's debt has smashed through the £1 trillion barrier for the first time despite a bigger-than-expected fall in borrowing ...

the government was deeply concerned about "money laundering, tax evasion, drug trafficking and crime" associated with Gibraltar

<span class="storyTop " style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff;">The British Government came within a day of doing a controversial deal to share the sovereignty of Gibraltar with Spain and end 300 years of conflict over "The Rock".<div class="body " style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; line-height: 1.4; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff;">Tony Blair and the then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw were both keen to do a deal over Gibraltar to "help our strategic relationship" with Spain, according to a new book.But the then Europe minister Peter Hain reveals in his memoirs that secret talks with the Spanish government broke down at the last minute when the Spanish got "cold feet" over the agreement.The book, Outside In, also reveals that the government was deeply concerned about "money laundering, tax evasion, drug trafficking and crime" associated with Gibraltar and had little sympathy for local politicians who insisted that the constitutional arrangements should not be altered."Jack's desire to do something about Gibraltar coincided with my gut instinct that it was ridiculous in the modern age for Britain to have a colony on the tip of Spain nearly 2,000 miles away," he writes.He adds that Mr Blair told him: "It is really important to secure a better relationship with Spain and to remove it [Gibraltar] as an obstruction to our relations within Europe." He writes that Mr Blair was contemptuous of Gibraltarian attitudes and insistent upon making a deal that could move the whole situation forward.Mr Hain says that despite the vehement opposition from Peter Caruana, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, he went ahead with negotiations in Madrid. "To our astonishment, as the evening arrived, we realised we had a full agreement... and accepted co-sovereignty could not open the door to full Spanish sovereignty."But talks then foundered and no further progress on the issue has been made subsequently.</div>

the government was deeply concerned about "money laundering, tax evasion, drug trafficking and crime" associated with Gibraltar

The British Government came within a day of doing a controversial deal to share the sovereignty of Gibraltar with Spain and end 300 years of...

How Tony Blair tried to give Gibraltar to Spain to curry favour with the European Union

Peter Hain says the then-Prime Minister was “contemptuous” toward the desire of Gibraltar residents to remain under the British flag and told how close Britain came to losing the rocky territory to the Spanish in 2002. Mr Hain tells in his memoirs, published on Monday, how he wanted to work to “do something about Gibraltar”, which has been a British overseas territory since 1713, as soon as he became Europe minister in June 2001. This was based on a “gut instinct that it as ridiculous in the modern age for Britain to have a colony on the tip of Spain nearly 2,000 miles away”. His “African roots” made it easy for him to understand the strong feelings aroused by “a little bit of England trying eccentrically to cling on to Spain”. Mr Hain developed a plan that would see Britain and Spain share the island’s sovereignty, along with “maximum self-government for Gibraltarians”, with economic assistance from the European Union. The plan was “enthusiastically” backed by the then-Labour Prime Minister during a flight back from a meeting with Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi in February 2002. Mr Blair told him on the flight: “It is really important to get a better future for Gibraltar, to secure a better relationship with Spain and to remove it as an obstacle to our relations within Europe.” Mr Hain continues that Mr Blair “was contemptuous of Gibraltarian attitudes and insistent upon making a deal which could move the whole situation forward.” In the book, “Outside In”, Mr Hain admits that he became a “hate figure on the Rock, the target of angry posters and speeches, taking me back over 30 years to the time when I was stopping apartheid rugby and cricket tours”. He accuses residents of Gibraltar of having a “schizophrenic” attitude to their status, wanting a better relationship and new opportunities with Spain but fiercely opposing co-sovereignty. He says: “They remained rigidly wedded to their idea of Britishness in a totally artificial sense.” Mr Hain says that a deal was done with the Spanish Government on 18 April 2002 to allow the British to keep control of a naval base on the island, while the people of Gibraltar could hold a binding referendum. He says: “We shook hands not quiet believing our governments had managed to come together on Gibraltar for the first time in 300 years.” However the deal was short-lived and hours after agreeing it, the Madrid government had vetoed it. A week later Mr Hain was called into Downing Street to see the Prime Minister, who had just had a visit from angry pro-Gibraltar Labour MPs and who was, Mr Hain said, now “relieved” to have been “let off the hook” by the Spanish. Mr Blair told him: “We are not going to be able to strike a deal at this moment because the Spanish aren’t ready for it. Trying to reopen their historic claim is not on. “We should just park the agreement, allow things to settle down, allow opinion in Gibraltar to realise that co-sovereignty is the way we are going, and allow Spain to realise that this deal remains on the table.” Mr Hain says that he and Jack Straw, the-then foreign secretary, “tried to argue with him but to no avail”. Mr Straw went back to Gibraltar a few weeks later where “he was almost violently attacked by a baying mob”. This reinforced Mr Straw's view that Gibraltar should be run by Britain and Spain, and he made a Commons statement setting out that view as British policy in July 2002. A month after Mr Hain stood down as Europe minister in October 2002, a referendum was carried out, in which 98 per cent of Gibraltarians voted to remain under British rule. Mr Hain adds: “I don’t regret what we did or the personal flak that I took in ensuring that, at the very least, co-sovereignty will always remain part of the political architecture for Gibraltar. In time, I believe, serious thinking on the Rock will come to see it not as a threat but as a liberating opportunity.” Since 2006, Gibraltar has governed its own affairs, although defence and foreign relations matters, are Britain's responsibility. Last night a spokesman for Mr Blair said: "Tony Blair has never said or thought Gibraltar should be 'run by Spain'. Nor was he 'contemptuous' of it. It is correct he thought the issue should be carefully handled because of relations with Spain - an important ally - but that is all."

How Tony Blair tried to give Gibraltar to Spain to curry favour with the European Union

Peter Hain says the then-Prime Minister was “contemptuous” toward the desire of Gibraltar residents to remain under the British flag and t...

Bailout chiefs order banks to slash 2,500 workers

THOUSANDS of jobs in the banks must be cut urgently, the country’s bailout team has warned the Government. State-owned banks are paying salaries to huge numbers of unnecessary workers, according to the officials keeping our finances in check. They told the Government that a massive clear-out of bank staff was needed sooner rather than later, to smooth the way for massive restructuring. Workers at bailed-out banks have been bracing themselves for close to 2,500 job cuts for almost a year. But progress has largely been frozen as the Government and trade unions battle to agree redundancy terms. Now, the Irish Independent has learned, the bailout team have told Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his Government that it is unhappy with the slow pace of progress. They have made it clear in no uncertain terms that they want progress before the next financial check-up in April. The team also warned that the failure to begin layoffs was delaying progress in the banks’ internal restructuring. Bailout officials left Ireland at the end of last week broadly satisfied with progress under the €70bn rescue package – but there are underlying concerns over the pace of banking reform. The European Central Bank’s mission head Klaus Masuch has also publicly alluded to their frustrations, stressing that the process of restructuring the banks was about more than simply selling assets. Sources close to the bailout team said they could “understand” the difficulties that had arisen, but insisted that it was “important to make progress”. British-owned Ulster Bank kicked off a year of expected job losses in the banking sector at the beginning of the month. It announced plans to cut 950 jobs from its Irish operations, with 600 to go in the Republic. But plans to cut jobs in bailed-out banks -- including 2,000 at AIB and 350 at Bank of Ireland -- have not progressed in recent months. Even the unions are resigned to the fact that job losses must happen soon -- but they want the best terms for their members. The Government is stalling as it is unwilling to offer outgoing bank staff terms that would be seen as too generous. It is keen to secure a "system wide" package that would work across the banking sector, including any job losses that might be triggered by merging Permanent TSB, which employs more than 1,000, with another institution. While the unions have been pushing for the banks to pay the "industry norm" of six weeks' salary plus two weeks' statutory, the Government has been pushing for a less generous package -- close to the three weeks' pay plus two weeks' statutory that was used for recent HSE cuts. "The Government has always stressed that any redundancy packages in the covered banks must be fair to the employees and also the taxpayer," the Department of Finance said. But bank workers' trade union, the IBOA, said that the Department of Finance was now holding up the inevitable job losses. "We share the troika's frustration at the total procrastination in terms of finalising this thing," IBOA chief Larry Broderick said. "We said to the troika, through (trade union umbrella group) ICTU, that this was something that had to be prioritised." Meanwhile, AIB has also told the union it cannot negotiate on its 2,000 job cuts because it has "no mandate" from the Department of Finance. A spokesman for the department declined to comment on the progress of the redundancy negotiations, pointing to the "sensitivities" of the situation. Sources insisted the issue was a "high priority item" and that negotiations were at an "advanced" stage. AIB announced its job cuts last April and had hoped to begin laying off workers in October. Instead, staff have spent almost a year in limbo and have still not even been told what areas the job cuts will come from. Bank of Ireland is planning to cut 350 jobs on top of the 400 it has already culled. The merger of the former Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide will also prompt job cuts. Anglo is close to cutting 120 jobs in Ireland and the bank's remaining staff will go over the course of its 10-year wind-down.

Bailout chiefs order banks to slash 2,500 workers

THOUSANDS of jobs in the banks must be cut urgently, the country’s bailout team has warned the Government. State-owned banks are paying s...

Costa tragedy: 'Get back on board, damn it!' T-shirts a hit

A coast guard officer's "Get back on board damn it!" order to the fleeing captain of the capsized Costa Concordia liner is being printed on T-shirts by a company hoping to inspire Italians to rescue their country from economic crisis. Italians have made a hero of coast guard officer Gregorio De Falco for his angry exchange with skipper Francesco Schettino - who has been blamed for the accident and is now under house arrest accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. Stefano Ramponi, owner of the Lipsiasoft web agency that is producing the T-shirts and selling them on the Internet for 12.9 euros ($16.63), said they had become an instant hit both in Italy and abroad. "We have had a lot of requests from all over the world, from Brazil, Hong Kong, also from Germany and France, the UK. Everyone is asking us for it," he said. He said he had been criticised by some people for making money out of the January 13 disaster, in which 11 people died and 21 are still missing. But he hoped the slogan will become a rallying cry for all Italians to shoulder their responsibilities and work together to navigate through recession and get the euro zone's third largest economy back on course. "We liked this phrase a lot because it was said by Captain De Falco in an extremely difficult situation, it really impressed us," Ramponi said. "We wanted to... distribute it en-masse...particularly to all the people in Italy who don't concentrate on their jobs, who don't give their all and do harm to Italy in this time of crisis."

Costa tragedy: 'Get back on board, damn it!' T-shirts a hit

A coast guard officer's "Get back on board damn it!" order to the fleeing captain of the capsized Costa Concordia liner is b...

New Zealand police broke through electronic locks and cut their way into a mansion safe room to arrest the alleged kingpin of an international Internet copyright theft case

New Zealand police broke through electronic locks and cut their way into a mansion safe room to arrest the alleged kingpin of an international Internet copyright theft case and seize millions of dollars worth of luxury cars, artwork and other goods. German national Kim Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, was one of four men arrested on Friday, a day before his 38th birthday, in an investigation of the Megaupload.com website led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The group was accused of engaging in a scheme that took more than $500 million away from copyright holders and generated over $175 million in proceeds from subscriptions and advertising. A police official said on Saturday that dozens of officers, backed by helicopters, forced their way into the mansion, nestled in lush, rolling farmland, after Dotcom refused them entry, a scene more reminiscent of a James Bond movie than the usual policeman's lot in rural New Zealand. "Despite our staff clearly identifying themselves, Mr Dotcom retreated into the house and activated a number of electronic-locking mechanisms," said Detective Inspector Grant Wormald from the Organised & Financial Crime Agency New Zealand. Officers broke the locks and Dotcom barricaded himself into a safe room which officers had to cut their way through to gain access. "Once they gained entry into this room, they found Mr Dotcom near a firearm which had the appearance of a shortened shotgun," he said. "It was definitely not as simple as knocking at the front door." PINK CADILLAC Two firearms were seized and a 55-year-old New Zealand man has since been charged with illegal possession of a pistol. Computers and documents were also retrieved and more than NZ$10 million ($8 million) was seized from financial institutions. Television footage showed vehicles, including a pink Cadillac and a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, being removed from the property. The house where Dotcom was arrested was one of the largest and most expensive in the country, worth around NZ$30 million. Located in hills northwest of New Zealand's largest city, the mansion is surrounded -- at suitably discreet distances -- by other substantial country homes and luxury lifestyle blocks complete with stables, swimming pools and tennis courts. Dotcom leased the property after being blocked from buying it last year by the government after failing to meet a "good character" test for migrants, although he was granted residency in 2010. Dotcom has previous convictions for hacking, insider trading and embezzlement from his time in Germany and Thailand, according immigration authorities, leading some opposition politicians to question why he was allowed to settle in the first place. Standing some 6'7" (2 metres) tall and reportedly weighing around 300 pounds (136 kg), Dotcom appeared to revel in his outlaw reputation. Personilized number plates on vehicles removed from the site read KIMCOM, HACKER, STONED, GUILTY, MAFIA, GOD and POLICE, according to the indictment. One video on YouTube shows him racing a Mercedes in the Gumball 3000 road rally and talking about bribing a Moroccan official. Another clip shows a 2011 New Year's Eve fireworks display over Auckland organized and paid for by Dotcom to celebrate his family being granted residency. The display was reported to have cost $500,000. PIRACY DEBATE The arrests were made as the debate over online piracy reaches fever pitch in Washington where Congress is trying to craft tougher legislation. Lawmakers stopped anti-piracy legislation on Friday, postponing a critical vote in a victory for Internet companies that staged a mass online protest against the fast-moving bills. The movie and music industries want Congress to crack down on Internet piracy and content theft, but major Internet companies like Google and Facebook have complained that current drafts of the legislation would lead to censorship. Kimand the other men made a brief court appearance on Friday will appear again on Monday. They face extradition and a trial in the United States. On Friday, in a show of support, hackers attacked and temporarily disabled a number of government and entertainment company websites, including the U.S. Justice Department's website. U.S. Justice Department officials have said that the estimate of $500 million in economic harm to copyright holders cited in a U.S. indictment was at the low end. The allegations included copyright infringement as well as conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. Two of the offences carry a maximum penalty of 20 years. The companies charged, Megaupload Ltd and Vestor Ltd, were both registered in Hong Kong and owned either in large part or solely by Dotcom. Some 100 officers raided four premises in Hong Kong on Friday including luxury hotel rooms, seizing computer equipment and freezing HK$330 million ($42.5 million) in financial assets, according to Hong Kong Customs. Megaupload has boasted of having more than 150 million registered users and 50 million daily visitors, according to the indictment. At one point, it was estimated to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Users could upload material to the company's sites which then would create a link that could be distributed. The sites, which included video, music and pornography, did not provide search capabilities but rather relied on others to publish the links, the U.S. indictment said

New Zealand police broke through electronic locks and cut their way into a mansion safe room to arrest the alleged kingpin of an international Internet copyright theft case

New Zealand police broke through electronic locks and cut their way into a mansion safe room to arrest the alleged kingpin of an internation...

Spanish Bad Loans Reach 7.51% In Nov; Deposits Drop

The bad debt ratio of Spain's banking sector rose for the eight consecutive month in November to a new 17-year high, while deposits and loans shrunk further as the country edged towards a double-dip recession, data released Wednesday by the Bank of Spain showed. According to the data, 7.51% of loans held by banks were more than three months overdue for repayment in November, up from 7.42% in October. It is the highest percentage recorded since November 1994, and contrasts with bad debt levels below 1% of all loans in the years prior to the country's 2008 property bust. High unemployment, falling house prices and the sluggish economy likely will cause bad loans to continue to rise throughout this year and into 2013, said Goncalo Guarda Garcia, an analyst at Portuguese brokerage BPI. Lenders have been struggling to cope with steep losses on loans extended to the real-estate and construction sector, as the country tackles the deepest economic downturn in decades and an escalating debt crisis in the euro zone that has sharply reduced their access to financial markets. Guarda Garcia also said he expects loans to shrink at a faster pace this year as lenders reduce risk on their balance sheets. The November data showed banks had cut lending by 2.54% on the year, while the pool of deposits shrunk at an annual rate of 2.14%. The new Spanish government said earlier this month that after stalling in the third quarter, the economy had contracted in the fourth quarter of 2011 and is set to shrink further this quarter. Overall, EUR134.1 billion in loans were non-performing in November, up from EUR131.9 billion in October and EUR104.7 billion a year earlier. Banks had set aside a total of EUR73.82 billion to cover these soured loans at the end of November, up from EUR62.2 billion a year earlier. The amount of provisioning will likely rise sharply next month, as many of the country's lenders are expected to set aside a large chunk of their earnings to cover loan losses. As of November, Spain's banks had total of EUR1.79 trillion in loans outstanding, down from EUR1.84 trillion a year earlier.

Spanish Bad Loans Reach 7.51% In Nov; Deposits Drop

The bad debt ratio of Spain's banking sector rose for the eight consecutive month in November to a new 17-year high, while deposits an...

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