Paris: France’s market regulator slapped a record 14 million euro ($19 million) fine on a Lebanese trader Thursday for insider trading surrounding the 2008 buyout of logistics company Geodis by France’s national rail firm, SNCF. The previous record of eight million euros was imposed on luxury group LVMH earlier this year for activity related to its investment in rival Hermes. In a statement, the AMF financial market authority said it was imposing the fine on trader Joseph Raad for using “inside information on the launch of a takeover of Geodis by the SNCF, from which he profited.” It said he earned more than six million euros from the information. His cousin, Charles Rosier, then a managing director at Swiss bank UBS...
October 25, 2013 at 1:01 am | News Desk
Dublin: Irish authorities said Wednesday they had removed two children from Roma families due to concerns about their identity, sparking warnings about racial profiling following the Greek ‘mystery girl’ inquiry. A boy aged two was taken from a family in central Ireland on Tuesday but returned a few hours later, while officials were awaiting the results of DNA tests on a seven-year-old girl who was removed from another family on Monday. Roma communities around the world are in the spotlight after the discovery of the girl in Greece, known as Maria and dubbed the “blonde angel” by local media. Ireland’s Immigrant Council warned the authorities against unfairly targeting the community. “Any targeting of mem...
October 24, 2013 at 1:58 am | News Desk
Moscow: Russia said Wednesday it had reduced piracy charges against 30 Greenpeace activists detained at sea while protesting against Arctic drilling, to the lesser count of “hooliganism”. The Investigative Committee, the Russian agency in charge of probing serious crimes, said it had “taken the decision to reclassify the crime as hooliganism”. The crew of Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise ship, who come from 18 countries including Britain, Australia, Spain and Russia, had been facing up to 15 years in a penal colony if found guilty of piracy. The new charge carries a maximum sentence of seven years in a penal colony. Greenpeace on Wednesday said the hooliganism charge was still “wildly disproportionate” a...
October 24, 2013 at 1:27 am | News Desk
BOMBAY: Significant development has been made in famous Bollywood actress’ Jiah Khan (late) suicide case when her mother Rabbiya Amin filed a petition with new forensic report indicating homicidal death instead of suicide. Bombay High court ordered fresh investigation into Jiah Khan’s suicide case on Wednesday considering the latest forensic report submitted by the deceased’s mother on October 1. Jiah Khan’s mother Rabbiya Khan, in her petition, alleged that her daughter was murdered and demanded a CBI probe into the death, Indian media reported. The petition alleges that Jiah may have been hanged after being killed as a person who commits suicide would have his or her eyes popping, tongue protruding out as well as...
October 24, 2013 at 1:06 am | News Desk
Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Dutch striker Robin van Persie was unexpectedly omitted from the Manchester United squad for their Champions League Group A game at home to Real Sociedad on Wednesday. He completed the full 90 minutes in United’s 1-1 draw at home to Southampton in the Premier League last Saturday, but was not even named in the squad for the visit of the Basque side. United manager David Moyes explained that Van Persie had been complaining of niggling injuries and was being rested with a view to this Saturday’s home game with Stoke City. “He has two bad toes and has been complaining about his groin, so we took the chance to rest him and get him ready for the weekend,” Moyes told Sky Sports. &l...
October 24, 2013 at 1:06 am | News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Election Tribunal rejects Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s Khwaja Saad Rafiq petition against the incident of rigging in NA- 125. Election Tribunal has ordered Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) leader Hamid Khan to be present who contested from NA 125. Election Tribunal also rejected claims of rigging in PP 114 Gujrat and PP 115. PTI’s Hamid Khan is asked to be present on 7th November as witness. According to sources, PTI challenged NA 241 Karachi and PS 117 Karachi results from which MQM representatives won. On the other hand, Election Commission rejected cancelation requests of NA 71 Mianwali. Also Election Tribunal charged 50,000 as a penalty to Jamiat Ulmae Islam- Fazal (JUI-F) candidate Muhammad Ashraf on the basis o...
October 24, 2013 at 1:06 am | News Desk
London: Western and Arab powers agreed with Syrian opposition leaders Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad should play no future role in government, but they struggled to convince the rebels to attend key peace talks in Geneva next month. The rebels, who met with the so-called Friends of Syria group of 11 countries in London, said they would not take part in the Geneva conference in late November if any regime members were there, and insisted that Assad’s departure was essential. But a defiant Assad still showed no sign of backing down after a two-and-a-half-year civil war that has left more than 115,000 people dead, saying that he was ready to run for re-election as president in 2014. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said th...
October 23, 2013 at 1:58 am | News Desk
Tokyo: Robot researchers in Japan have proved what entertainers from Elvis Presley to Miley Cyrus knew all along: the secret is in the hips. But where Elvis “The Pelvis” gyrated his way to 1950s fame and one-time child star Cyrus attained instant Internet notoriety with her recent awards show “twerking”, the engineers just wanted to make their robots walk more naturally. A team of researchers at Waseda University’s Humanoid Robotics Institute, near Tokyo, spent hours analysing how the waist was used to give humans their easy gait. They then tried to mimic this in their creations. “Most humanoid robots don’t have waist motions…so must bend their knees,” giving them an awkward and stilted...
October 23, 2013 at 1:03 am | News Desk
Washington: US businesses hired at a tepid pace in September as the Washington battle over the budget and debt ceiling headed toward a government shutdown, Labor Department data showed Tuesday. The economy generated a less-than-expected 148,000 jobs during the last month, just barely above the average for the third quarter, and well below the 195,000 a month gain in the first half of the year. Of that only 126,000 jobs came from the private sector, expected to drive the recovery, while the expansion in hiring of teachers and other school officials at the state level — where layoffs were intense during and after the recession — made up much of the balance. Analysts said the data — released more than two weeks late due...
October 23, 2013 at 1:03 am | News Desk
COPENHAGEN: Spending on measures to limit global warming declined last year, and was deeply inadequate to avoid its worst effects, said a climate finance analysis released in Copenhagen Tuesday. Governments and the private sector spent about $359 billion (263 billion euros) in 2012 — down from $364 billion the year before, said a report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), an independent team of climate finance analysts and advisors. The analysis was unveiled at a meeting of the Global Green Growth Forum which includes representatives of governments, the business sector, investors and international organisations working for cleaner, safer energy. The International Energy Agency said last year an investment of $5 trillion was needed...
October 23, 2013 at 1:03 am | News Desk
Pakistan Rupee Exchange Rate