The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s, bringing renewed focus to the inaccurate ratings of subprime mortgage securities that helped trigger the financial crisis. A spokeswoman for Justice confirmed that the suit was filed in federal court late Monday in Los Angeles. Attorney General Eric Holder […]
Bank of America has long rued its decision in 2008 to acquire Countrywide Financial, the subprime mortgage giant. To date, the bank has set aside some $40 billion to settle claims of mortgage misconduct that occurred before it acquired the freewheeling lender. It has been a regular refrain at Bank […]
LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron promised Britons a decisive referendum within five years on membership in the European Union — provided he wins the next election — in a long-awaited speech on Wednesday whose implications have alarmed the Obama administration and are likely to set the markers for an […]
RT: “It is time our leaders reformed the system so that it works in the interests of the whole of humanity rather than a global elite,” the report said. The world’s 100 richest people earned a stunning total of $240 billion in 2012 – enough money to end extreme poverty worldwide […]
by Clare O’Dea, swissinfo.ch Jan 15, 2013 – 18:29 The rainforest advocacy group Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) has filed a complaint to the Swiss attorney general’s office against four banks […]
The location, in an industrial subdivision overlooking the Geneva-Lausanne highway, may not be the most promising for a school appealing to the international set. But investors from Emirates are counting […]
(Reuters) – The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday, but details of the report suggested the jobs market continued to grow at a moderate pace. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 371,000, […]
NEIGHBOURS are divided over a proposed “halal housing” development in Sydney’s west. While some feared it would lead to friction with Muslims, others welcomed the plan. Qartaba Homes is promoting its 145-lot subdivision at Riverstone, near Rouse Hill, as Australia’s “very first project of its kind for the Muslim community”, […]
RICHMOND, Va. — Jeffrey M. Lacker, the Federal Reserve’s most persistent internal critic, does not much resemble a firebrand. He is personally cheerful, professionally inclined to see both sides of an issue and quick to acknowledge he may not be right. He says he would rather be wrong. But for the […]
Bank of America has reached a $10.3 billion settlement with Fannie Mae to deal with questionable home loans it sold to the government-backed mortgage financer during the housing bubble. BofA (BAC, Fortune 500) will pay $3.55 billion in cash to Fannie as part of the deal. It will also repurchase 30,000 questionable mortgages […]
by Taylor Luck, Jordan Times AMMAN — Jordan’s Egyptian gas supplies have returned to “normal levels”, according to energy officials, after nearly two years of reduced supply due to political […]
Pan-Arab news giant finalizes acquisition that will give it access to more than 60 million homes across America. Current TV, the progressive media company co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, has being acquired by international satellite cable network Al Jazeera. According to the NY Times, which broke the news […]
WASHINGTON — Ending a climactic fiscal showdown in the final hours of the 112th Congress, the House late Tuesday passed and sent to President Obama legislation to avert big income tax increases on most Americans and prevent large cuts in spending for the Pentagon and other government programs. The measure, […]
JEDDAH: KHALIL HANWARE & P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR ARABNEWS Sunday 30 December 2012 Saudi Arabia yesterday announced a record surplus budget SR 9 billion for 2013, projecting expenditure at SR 820 billion and revenues at SR 829. It has allocated SR 285 billion for new projects, SR 204 billion for education, […]
The future is largely Indian and to have a connection to this most culturally rich of civilisations is an awesome privilege BY AMOL RAJAN SOURCE: THE INDEPENDENT Friday 28 December 2012 By the time you read this, I shall most likely be in Pune, the sprawling metropolis that is India’s […]
MADRID — Despite the economic gloom that has enshrouded it since the onset of the global financial crisis, Spain has at least one industrial bright spot: The country and its skilled, if underemployed, work force have once again become a beacon for European carmakers. Four years of economic turmoil and […]
Consumer confidence took a dive in December, dragged down by fears that the country will indeed fall over the fiscal cliff. The closely watched Consumer Confidence Index, which measures the American public’s sentiments every month, sank six points to 65.1. That signals a major turnaround since October, when the index […]
(Reuters) – Single-family home prices rose in October, reinforcing the view the domestic real estate market is improving and should bolster the economyin 2013, a closely watched survey showed on Wednesday. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.7 percent in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, […]
WASHINGTON — Maya MacGuineas has been ringing alarms about the nation’s growing debt for 15 years, imagining a day when a president and a Congress might finally work together to curb deficit spending. After watching President Obama and Speaker John A. Boehner once again come close to agreeing on a […]
ARAB NEWS Monday 24 December 2012 JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has ordered the construction of two medical cities in Riyadh and Jeddah under the Ministry […]