Buddah Lineage

  In total, the retailer has asked for nearly £3m in compensation from police forces around the country, following the riots that tore through some high streets in August. It is likely that this is the biggest request from a single retailer. The company is claiming under the Riot Damages Act, a piece of Victorian legislation that allows businesses and individuals affected by riot damage to claim directly from the police, rather than their own insurer. In the immediate aftermath of the civil disturbances, the British Retail Consortium urged small retailers to put in their claims to make sure their businesses were not harmed. However, the Greater Manchester Police Authority, which has been hit with 280 claims totalling £4.4m, has criticised Tesco for using the Act, saying there was no guarantee the police force would be able to afford all of the compensation. The force faces £134m budget cuts in the next five years. It added that J Sainsbury was one of a number of l...

  Ministers fear the move could leave taxpayers handing out as much as £2.5  billion to EU nationals, including out-of-work “benefit tourists”, a new cost that could wreck Coalition plans for welfare reform. The commission’s threat, on the eve of the Conservative Party conference, has raised the political temperature on Europe still further. In an outspoken attack today, Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, says the commission’s move is part of a “wider movement” by the “unelected and unaccountable” European authorities to extend their power over the UK. “This kind of land grab from the EU has the potential to cause mayhem to nation states, and we will fight it,” he writes in The Daily Telegraph. The commission is objecting to Britain’s rules on welfare, claiming they discriminate unfairly against foreigners. To claim benefits in Britain, EU nationals must pass a “right to reside...

  The European Commission has threatened legal action against the UK, saying a test of eligibility for benefits discriminates against foreigners. It says it is easier for UK citizens to prove their "right to reside" - a test imposed by the UK for certain benefits - than EU nationals. The commission says it may refer the case to the European Court of Justice. Ministers say it is a "fundamental challenge" to the UK's right to decide its own social security arrangements. The Commission says it has been in talks with the UK for several years over the issue and is responding to a "huge number" of complaints from EU citizens living in the UK. Residence tests On Thursday it announced that it was giving the UK two months to explain how it was going to bring its legislation into line with EU law - prompting UK Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith to accuse it of a "land grab" and to pledge to fight it. A range of entitlements - includin...

  Anthony McErlean, 66, was jailed for six years for faking his own death in Honduras in 2009 to get a life insurance claim worth £520,000. He also admitted two counts of theft from a pension fund from the Port of London Authority of £27,000 pounds and £40,658 pounds from the Department of Work and Pensions. The pensioner had impersonated his wife to claim he himself had died after being hit by a truck as he was changing a tyre on a road in the Central American country. A fake witness statement was produced to back up story which said farm workers took his body away to the village of Santa Rosa De Aguan. Suspicious officials at the insurance company contacted the Insurance Fraud Bureau, who alerted the Police.

  The News of the World's former chief reporter has broken his silence over the phone-hacking scandal to insist he played "no part" in the matter that led to his sacking. Neville Thurlbeck, 49, was fired by News International earlier this month after being arrested in April on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voicemails while working at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid. He issued a strongly-worded statement in which he vowed to fight his unfair dismissal claim against his former employers "to the end". Mr Thurlbeck's alleged role in the scandal has been closely scrutinised since details emerged of a June 2005 email headed "for Neville" which contained transcripts of illegally intercepted voicemail messages. The email, which surfaced in April 2008, appeared to contradict News International's previous stance that phone hacking was confined to a single "rogue reporter". Speaking out for the first time since his name was linked to the s...

The England and  Manchester United  star will now be saddled with paying the estimated £500,000 legal bills incurred by the Sunday Mirror in defence of the lawsuit. Ferdinand sued the newspaper for misuse of private information after they published details of his 13-year relationship with interior designer Carly Storey, who accepted £16,000 for telling the tale of her liaisons with the defender. But Mr Justice Nicol dismissed the case at London's high court on Thursday, and refused Ferdinand's legal team permission to appeal. "Overall, in my judgment, the balancing exercise favours the defendant's right of freedom of expression over the claimant's right of privacy," he said. The judge was not swayed by Ferdinand's claims that he had not tried to meet Storey after being made England captain, despite claims in the newspaper that he had snuck Storey into the team hotel. "I did not find this answer persuasive. In his evidence the claimant said that (Fabio...

  Alberto Alvarez was in charge of back stage during Jackson's final rehearsal on June 24, 2009. He described Jackson as "happy and in good spirits" during the performance. "He was doing very well for the most part," he told the Los Angeles court. He explained that he later drove Jackson back to his rented Holmby Hills home and saw Dr Murray's car parked there. He said the last time he saw Jackson alive was when he said "good night" to the singer. Mr Alvarez was the first person who went into Jackson's bedroom after Dr Murray telephoned for help as he was trying to resuscitate the singer. He said Jackson was lying on his back, with his hands extended out to his side, and his eyes and mouth open. "When I came into the room, Dr Murray said 'Alberto, hurry, we have to get to hospital, we have to get an ambulance'." Jackson's logistics director Alberto Alvarez He then described how Jackson's children Paris and Prince ent...

  Dutch authorities say raids have been conducted in seven countries in connection with an alleged $200 million investment fraud scheme, and four men have been arrested. The country's financial crime prosecutors say they suspect hundreds of investors were conned into fraudulent investments in U.S. life insurance policies by a firm called Quality Investments BV. Prosecutors said Wednesday four Dutch men have been arrested, two in the Netherlands and one each in Switzerland and Turkey. Raids were also conducted in Spain, Dubai, England and the United States, in which millions of euros in assets were seized in hopes of recovering some money for duped investors.

  Police and customs officers from 81 countries have seized 2.4 million doses of counterfeit medicine sold over the Internet during a one-week operation, international police body Interpol said Thursday. Fifty-five people were arrested during the September 20-27 operation, codenamed Pangea 4, and more than 13,000 websites closed down, Interpol said. More than 100,000 illegal doses were seized in France, over half of which were for supposed to be for treating male erection problems, France's medical security agency that took part in the operation, AFSSAPS, said. The operation was carried out for the fourth successive year in an effort to inform the public about the risks of buying medicines online. "Interpol's member countries and partners have shown through the success of Operation Pangea IV the Internet is not an anonymous safe haven for criminals trafficking illicit medicines," said Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble. The agency said it had targeted Internet se...

  The speed limit on Britain’s motorways is set to rise to 80mph but with a big expansion in the number 20mph zones in cities and towns, The Independent has learnt. As part of a deal negotiated with the Liberal Democrats the Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond is expected to announce the Government’s intention to bring in the new speed limit at the Conservative conference. Ministers will then consult on the proposal later in the year along with plans to significantly expand the number of areas in Britain covered by 20mph zones.

  THE following is the summary of a speech delivered on September 15, 2011, by Britain’s Immigration Minister Damian Green at the Centre for Policy Studies [see full speech]. The speech is an indicator of the possible policy changes that will come out of the consultation currently underway into the reform of family migration. The consultation opened on July 13, 2011, and will close on October 6, 2011. It is important that as migrants to this country, we take time out to respond to this consultation as judging from Green’s speech it will have far reaching consequences for immigrants . Some of the proposals on the table include the following: # Whilst recognising that marriage is a personal decision, it is argued that it has implications on the wider society and therefore the spouse seeking settlement will be expected to demonstrate that they have integrated into British society. It is proposed to increase the probationary period for a non-EEA spouse or partner to app...

  UBS chief executive Oswald Gruebel has resigned over a $2.3 billion loss caused by rogue trading at its investment division, which is to be restructured now to prevent similar incidents in future, the Swiss bank said Saturday. Gruebel, who had come under heavy pressure from shareholders over the scandal, said he hoped his resignation would allow the bank to restore its reputation in the eyes of clients and investors. Article Controls EMAIL REPRINT NEWSLETTER SHARE "As CEO, I bear full responsibility for what occurs at UBS ( UBS - news - people )," he said in a memo to staff. "From my first day on the job I placed the reputation of the bank above all else. That is why I want to and must act according to my convictions." UBS Europe chief Sergio P. Ermotti will take over immediately as interim chief executive until Gruebel's replacement is appointed. Gruebel's departure caps 10 days of speculation over his future following the bank's announcement th...

Former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis leaving Hammersmith police station in July. Photograph: Murray Sanders/Mail On Sunday The relationship between the police and the News of the World has come under fire again amid revelations that Neil Wallis, the former deputy editor of the News of the World, was paid by the paper's publisher for "crime exclusives" while working for the Metropolitan police. Wallis was secretly paid more than £25,000 by News International after he left the paper and got a contract to work two days a month as a PR consultant with the Met. One story earned him a single payment of £10,000. The Daily Telegraph claims that internal records obtained by Scotland Yard show that he was paid for providing News International with details of a suspected assassination attempt on the Pope during his visit to the UK last year. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said the contract it had with Wallis's PR firm, Chamy Media, "had a confidentiality claus...

  New allegations about the phone-hacking scandal have hit News International, with claims of more victims and fresh legal rows. It was revealed tonight that former News of the World editor Andy Coulson is suing News Group Newspapers, the publishing arm of the media giant. Papers were served at the High Court on Thursday "regarding the termination of the payment for his legal action". A spokesman for law firm DLA Piper, which represents Mr Coulson, said: "We can confirm that proceedings have been issued." News International declined to comment. It had been reported earlier this month that News International was paying DLA Piper for their legal advice to Mr Coulson following his arrest. Mr Coulson resigned from his position as Prime Minister David Cameron's spin chief in January and was later arrested on suspicion of corruption and phone hacking. He is on police bail. It has also emerged that the family of Jade Goody fear the late celebrity could have had her pho...

  Shares in some of Europe's largest banks fell by 10pc as the cost of insuring European lenders' senior bonds rose to record levels, according to credit default swap prices. The Markit iTraxx Financial Index of contracts on the senior debt of 25 banks and insurers climbed to an all-time high 315.5 basis points. The last banking crisis was regarded by most eurozone members as an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon caused by lax lending controls that resulted in major UK and US institutions either collapsing or having to take costly state-funded bail-outs. To offset the threat of another crisis spreading across the eurozone, European regulators ordered their banks to increase their liquidity buffers. Government bonds were generally viewed as the most liquid and least risky assets to hold. However, this policy has come back to haunt them, leaving many lenders across the region seriously exposed to the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. French banking giants BNP Paribas and Société G...

  Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, urged Europe's leaders to bail out their fragile banks, as the boss of the eurozone's biggest bank, BNP Paribas, rejected fears that the financial sector was "in peril". Addressing journalists in Washington at the opening of the IMF's annual meeting, Lagarde said that Europe must tackle "this twin problem of sovereign debt and the need to strengthen capital buffers". She said: "It is critical that to fuel growth, banks be in a position to finance the economy, to finance enterprises, to finance households, to finance local governments. To do that they need to have the balance sheet that will actually support credit to the economy." Despite the recent stress tests carried out by the European Banking Authority, which suggested that most of the banks were well-placed to cope with the sovereign debt crisis, the IMF estimates that banks have taken a €300bn (£260bn) hit ...

  Plans to hike business rates for major retailers of alcohol and tobacco in Scotland could see supermarkets pay around £110 million in tax over the next three years.   Finance Secretary John Swinney announced the new levy yesterday, as part of the Scottish government’s Spending Review.   Swinney said the review contained “tough choices, because of the cuts from Westminster that go too far, too fast”.   “We have had to restrict pay costs, reluctantly implement pensions increases on public sector staff, and maximise the income gained from asset sales,” he said.   He outlined that part of the extra revenue brought in would come from a tax on major retailers who sell alcohol and tobacco.   The measure was a surprise announcement, as during the last parliament a proposal to introduce a “Tesco tax” was voted down and it was not included the SNP’s manifesto.   Scottish Retail Consortium director Ian Shear...

  Relatives of one of the Bloody Sunday victims have firmly rejected any offer of Government compensation. Sisters Linda and Kate Nash, whose teenage brother William was among 14 men who died after paratroopers opened fire on civil rights protesters in Londonderry in January 1972, said: "I find it repulsive." The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that moves are under way to compensate the families following representation from solicitors acting on behalf of some of the relatives. The Nash sisters said they would not take money for personal financial gain: "Not under any circumstances will I ever accept money for the loss of my brother. "I find it repulsive, taking anything from the MoD. If the MoD wants to set up bursaries they can, but not in my brother's name," Ms Nash said. Prime Minister David Cameron has already apologised to victims and said the shootings were wrong. An MOD spokesman said: "We acknowledge the pain felt by these families for nearl...

  Billionaire Ted Turner said News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch will probably have to leave the helm of his media company after a phone-hacking scandal that began at one of its newspapers. "I think he's going to have to step down," Turner, 72, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. "He hadn't survived anything like this. This is serious." News Corp., based in New York, has come under fire this year over allegations its News of the World tabloid hacked into the voice mails of murder victims and paid police for stories. The public outcry forced the company to close the 168-year-old London newspaper and drop its 7.8 billion-pound ($12.2 billion) bid for full control of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc. Murdoch and his son James, deputy chief operating officer at News Corp., were called before U.K. parliament in July to answer questions about the scandal. The elder Murdoch's statements that he didn't know about ph...

  Italy criticised Standard & Poor's for downgrading its credit rating, saying the decision seemed politically motivated and out of touch with reality at a time when the government was working to boost growth and reduce its debts. The Business Secretary Vince Cable admitted the gloomiest scenario is that Britain could plunge into a new financial crisis prompted by the collapse of the Greek and other eurozone economies at The Independent fringe meeting. Late Monday, S&P cut Italy's credit rating by one notch to A from A+ in light of what it sees as the country's weakening economic growth prospects and higher-than-expected levels of government debt.

  No amount of money can absolve News International from hacking in to the phone of Surrey murder victim Milly Dowler, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said , following the disclosure that the company was about to settle its case with the teenager's family. Rupert Murdoch is set to donate £1 million to charity from his own pocket, while the Dowlers themselves will receive in the region of £2 million in a separate payout from News International, the publishers of the now-closed News of the World. The company has confirmed it is in "advanced negotiations" with relatives of the 13-year-old, who was abducted and killed by Levi Bellfield in 2002. On Tuesday Mr Clegg said no amount of money could absolve the company for what happened. He said: "It is not for me to decide what money News International offer the Dowlers. I think it is very, very important we now give the Dowler family the time and space they need to rebuild their lives and move on. "I think the re...

Phone hacking: Milly Dowler's family are understood to have been offered a seven-figure settlement. Photograph: Surrey Police/PA Milly Dowler 's family have been offered a multimillion-pound settlement offer by  Rupert Murdoch 's  News International , in an attempt to settle the phone-hacking case that led to closure of the  News of the World  and the resignation of the company's chief executive, Rebekah Brooks. It is understood that News International has made a settlement offer estimated by sources at close to £3m, a figure that include a £1m donation to charity. But the publisher has not yet reached agreement with the Dowler family, whose lawyers were thought to be seeking a settlement figure of closer to £3.5m. The seven-figure sums under negotiation are far larger than other phone-hacking settlements reached, reflecting the fact that the phone-hacking case affected a family who were victims of crime. Thirteen-year-old Dowler went missing in Mar...

  A senior executive with the Libyan Investment Authority, the $70 billion fund used to invest the country's oil money abroad, said Mr Blair was one of three prominent western businessmen who regularly dealt with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the former leader. Saif al-Islam and his close aides oversaw the activities of the fund, and often directed its officials on where they should make its investments, he said. The executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials were told the "ideas" they were ordered to pursue came from Mr Blair as well as one other British businessman and a former American diplomat. "Tony Blair's visits were purely lobby visits for banking deals with JP Morgan," he said. He said that unlike some other deals - notably some investments run by the US bank Goldman Sachs - JP Morgan's had never turned "bad".

  31-year-old man was arrested in London today in connection with allegations of £1.3 billion of rogue trading at Swiss banking giant UBS. The man, named in reports as Kweku Adoboli, was arrested at 3.30am on suspicion of fraud by abuse of position and remains in police custody, sources said. Related articles Notoriety awaits UBS rogue trader French banks scramble to prove they're strong enough for debt crisis Search the news archive for more stories The bank, which has 6,000 staff in the UK, revealed earlier that a trader had lost two billion US dollars (£1.3 billion) on unauthorised trades and warned that the activity could have tipped the bank to a third-quarter loss. Oswald Gruebel, UBS chief executive, called the loss "distressing" and said he "will spare no effort to establish how it happened". According to his LinkedIn profile, Adoboli works as a director in European equity trading and was previously a trade support analyst at UBS. He was a student a...

  Matthew Czepliewicz, an analyst at Collins Stewart, said the unauthorised loss cuts his 2011 earnings-per-share estimate for UBS by about 30pc - "a huge hit". He continued: "A loss of this magnitude will very likely have occurred in the FICC (Fixed Incomes, Currencies and Commodities) division, the very division UBS has been systematically rebuilding after shrinking it by 40pc during the credit crisis. That an unauthorised position of this size could have escaped oversight will renew pressure on management to radically scale back the FICC business, a volatile and capital-intensive business overall." He said that his upgrade of UBS to "buy" from "hold" on September 6 "now looks memorable, to say the least", but added: "As large and embarrassing as the loss is, it may in fact drive a positive strategic overhaul of the company. In the meantime, we await further detail on what went wrong and how management will respond." Andrew ...

  Spain's struggling Caja Mediterraneo (CAM), under state control since in July, Monday posted first-half losses of 1.136 billion euros ($1.602 billion). It also reported a non-performing loan ratio of 19 percent, far above the average of 6.416 percent for the sector in June. The Bank of Spain announced on July 22 that it would take control of the CAM through an injection of 2.8 billion euros and the opening of a 3.0 billion euro line of credit. It now plans to sell-off the ailing savings bank. On Friday, the business daily Cinco Dias said the CAM may need about 1.0 billion euros in additional public funds. The CAM was one of five Spanish banks that failed new European stress tests on July 15 to see if they can survive a major crisis. Spain's lenders, especially its regional savings banks which account for about half of all lending in the country, have been heavily exposed to bad debt since the collapse of the property sector at the end of 2008. The government and Bank of Spain...

  The bosses of Britain’s bailed-out banks are paid more than they were before the credit crunch struck, a damning report reveals today. The chief executives of the country’s basket-case lenders earned an average basic salary of more than £1.1million last year before bonuses or other benefits. Shockingly, this figure is an increase on the £1million average from 2007 – the year that the financial crisis struck, crippling Britain and plunging the country into recession. Despite the fact that they have the job of salvaging the banks propped up with more than £65billion of taxpayers’ money, they are among the best-paid executives in this country. Their average wage is almost more than 40 times that of the country’s average of £26,000 and it dwarfs the £142,500-a-year salary earned by our Prime Minister. When bonuses and other perks are included bank chiefs enjoyed average total earnings of £3.7million last year ...

  Stocks in Europe and Italian fixed-income securities were pummelled on concern about the euro zone's debt crisis. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index ended the day with a 4.1 per cent drop. US and Canadian financial markets were closed for the Labor Day holiday. Financial stocks led the decline in Europe as Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann said profit in the banking sector would be curtailed for years because of the sovereign debt crisis and some banks would likely fail. "Prospects for the financial sector overall ... are rather limited," the CEO of Germany's top bank said on Monday. "The outlook for the future growth of revenues is limited by both the current situation and structurally." Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse Group, Barclays, Societe Generale and Royal Bank of Scotland all shed more than 6.5 per cent, according to Bloomberg News. "Not a great start to the week. There is a lot going on for banks, especially in the light of a low-grow...

  Swiss bankers have rejected another UBS-style tax evasion deal following an ultimatum from the United States last week to turn over the names of more tax cheats. The US has turned up the heat on Switzerland after finding evidence that Credit Suisse and other banks allegedly helped its citizens to break the law by hiding their wealth from the tax authorities. The successful prosecution of UBS two years ago led to a Swiss-US treaty that severely dented Swiss banking secrecy laws by providing the names of nearly 5,000 bank clients.   But rather than burying the problem, the success of the deal has encouraged the US to pursue yet more banks – some of whom are rumoured to have illegally given UBS clients safe haven after Switzerland’s largest bank was caught out.   The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) is desperate to avoid other banks facing a UBS situation and called on negotiators to find a solution this time that keeps secrecy intact. Law abiding SBA chairman...

  Britain's banks bore the brunt of a global stock market rout amid escalating concerns over the eurozone debt crisis and further signs of strain in wholesale money markets. More than £10bn was wiped off the value of Britain’s five biggest lenders as key inter-bank borrowing costs climbed to levels not seen since the height of the 2008 crash. Royal Bank of Scotland lost an eighth of its value, tumbling 3.06p to 21.78p, amid fears that it could be facing a bill of as much as £3.7bn from US sub-prime mortgage lawsuits. Plunge: More than £10bn was wiped off the value of Britain’s five big banks Lloyds slumped 2.47p or 7.5pc to 30.65p while Barclays tumbled 11.05p to 154.15p. Following yesterday’s bloodbath, taxpayers are now sitting on a £37.6bn paper loss from their 83pc and 40pc stakes in RBS and Lloyds. Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, warned that the current turmoil was reminiscent of the panic triggered by th...

  Europe is engaged in a high-stakes game of brinkmanship that poses grave risks to the global economy. At last weekend's Villa d'Este Forum in Italy, European policy makers didn't hide their fury at Greece's back-sliding over promised structural reforms and spending cuts. At the same time, Italian ministers undermined the remaining credibility of Silvio Berlusconi's government with a series of complacent speeches. Given such a dangerous breakdown in trust within Europe, investors are right to fear the worst. Germany and its Northern European allies believe only intense market pressure can force weak economies to cut spending and improve competitiveness. But Greece has learned that whenever the crisis in Europe's periphery threatens to overwhelm the core, Europe will ignore previous broken promises and step up with a fresh bailout. Italy now appears to be making the same calculation. The government insists it will fulfill its commitment to balance the budget b...

  World stock markets took a beating Monday over fears that the U.S. economy was heading back into a recession just as the European debt crisis was heating up and the eurozone's economic indicators were slumping. A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, Sept. 2, 2011 in New York. The jobs report was the weakest in almost a year. It renewed fears that the U.S. might slip back into recession. (AP Photo/Jin Lee) A man looks at an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 5, 2011. Asia-Pacific stocks took a beating early Monday after jobs data out of the U.S. last week revived fears of a recession in the world's largest economy. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) More business news In tough economy, multi-job holders grateful for balancing act Delta at center of FAA debate Turkish hackers hit UPS Recession over, jobs still elusive New owner for Atlanta Dream Delta Air Lines news, links Coca-Cola Co. news Health Care Reform coverage R...