June 2012


ISLAMABAD: Chairman NAB Admiral (retd) Fasih Bukhari said on Saturday that joint investigating team, comprising of FIA and police, been formed to probe into Arsalan Iftikhar case, Geo News reported.
Talking to media, Chairman NAB said DG financial crimes will head the JIT formed in Arsalan Iftikhar case.
Fasih Bukhari said that corruption is the main issue prevalent in the country, adding that our society is as corrupt as the legal system. More than Rs. 6 to Rs. 8 billions corruption occurs in a day in the country, he regretted.
He said informed that NAB has recovered Rs. 235 billion till now.

Astronauts Liu Yang, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang landed the capsule
A Chinese space capsule carrying three crew members has returned to Earth following a 13-day mission.
Images of the capsule landing in Inner Mongolia at 10:05 local time (02:05 GMT) were shown live on television.
The astronauts, including China's first woman in space, carried out a successful manual docking with the Tiangong-1 laboratory module.
The mission is a key step towards China's goal of building a space station by 2020.
Premier Wen Jiabao hailed the mission as a "complete success".
The smiles said it all. Jing Haipeng, commander of the Shenzhou-9 crew, was the first to emerge from the return capsule, followed by his flight engineers Liu Wang and the country's first woman astronaut, Liu Yang.
The Shenzhou-9 mission posted a series of firsts: the first manned automatic and manual dockings; the first long-duration spaceflight; and the first crew to live aboard a permanently orbiting module, Tiangong-1.
Beijing has long talked about its three-step strategy.
The first step was the development of the Shenzhou capsule system itself, the second involved the technologies needed for spacewalking and docking, and the third is China's own space station.
But a word of caution. Spaceflight, to quote the old cliche, is hard, and at some point the Chinese programme will encounter problems.
The history of spaceflight tells us unfortunately that some adversity is inevitable. It will be interesting then to see how the Beijing authorities react.
 
 
"This is another outstanding contribution by the Chinese people to humanity's efforts to explore and use space," Mr Wen said in Beijing.
"It feels so good to stand on Earth, and it feels even better to be home," astronaut Liu Wang was quoted by national broadcaster CCTV as saying.
"Tiangong-1, our home in space, was comfortable and pleasant. We're very proud of our nation," female astronaut Liu Yang said.
Manual docking The crew of the Shenzhou-9 craft successfully carried out the country's manual docking manoeuvre earlier in the week.
The delicate procedure, which involved bringing together two orbiting vessels travelling at thousands of miles an hour, was mastered by the USSR and US space teams in the 1960s.
The crew also carried out automatic docking of the two crafts during their mission.
The three astronauts returned to the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft on Thursday and performed a manual separation from the space laboratory.
They touched down in Inner Mongolia's Siziwang county, with the capsule deploying a parachute to slow its approach.
China's manned space craft touches back down to Earth on 29 June 2012 A parachute slowed the capsule's descent to Earth
All the astronauts were in good health, state-run news agency Xinhua reported. They were shown on CCTV leaving the capsule carried on chairs, smiling as they waved to supporters.
The crew included Jing Haipeng, 45, the mission commander and a veteran astronaut, Liu Yang, 33, and Liu Wang, 43, who performed the manual docking.
Ms Liu, 33, is a major in China's air force from the central province of Henan. On China's Tencent QQ messaging service, she goes by the name "little Flying Knight".
She was recruited into China's space programme only two years ago, but she excelled, the official news agency Xinhua says.
The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft was launched on 16 June.

It will be Tom Cruise's third divorce
Hollywood A-listers Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are divorcing, bringing an end to a five-year marriage.
The office of celebrity divorce lawyer Jonathan Wolfe confirmed the divorce. "This is a personal and private matter," he said in a statement.
They have a six-year-old daughter, Suri, and Cruise, 49, has two children from his marriage to Nicole Kidman.
Cruise married Holmes, 33, his third wife, in an Italian castle in November 2006.
A spokesman for Cruise told the BBC: "Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children. Please allow them their privacy."
TMZ News has reported that Holmes filed divorce papers in New York on Thursday, citing irreconcilable differences, and that she is seeking sole custody of their daughter.
Scientology wedding
The divorce brings to an end a relationship that began with very public declarations of affection.

Analysis

In Hollywood, people's mouths are hanging open. Apparently even Cruise did not see this coming. We know that Holmes tried to file for divorce anonymously but somehow her name got out. Cruise and Holmes were a popular couple but tended to keep to themselves.
But they have talked a lot about each other - about how much they loved each other - and although we do not know details about pre-nuptial agreements, we can be sure that if there are any, they have as much to do with secrecy as with money.
What we can expect next is a lot of wild speculation, especially over Holmes' request for sole custody of their daughter - people may wonder if Cruise's belief in Scientology was a factor in her decision.
Holmes once admitted she had a childhood crush on the Hollywood celebrity, while Cruise famously jumped on a sofa on the Oprah Winfrey Show as he declared his love for Holmes.
"I can't be cool. I can't be laid-back. Something happened and I want to celebrate it," Cruise said in his appearance on the show.
Cruise proposed to Holmes at the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the couple were married by a Church of Scientology minister.
The couple, who have not been seen together since February, are estimated to be worth about $275m (£175m) combined.
Tom Cruise is among Hollywood's highest-paid actors and has starred in blockbusters such as Top Gun, Jerry Maguire and the Mission Impossible series.
Earlier this week he was reported to be in Iceland shooting an upcoming film called Oblivion. He also starred in the recently released Rock Of Ages.
Katie Holmes rose to fame as a leading actress on US television drama Dawson's Creek. She has also appeared in Batman Begins and Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark.

Hugo Barra, product management director of Android, holds up a Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Photo: 27 June 2012 Samsung's Galaxy Nexus launched in the US in April
A judge in California has blocked US sales of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphones while the court decides on the firm's patent dispute with Apple.
US District Judge Lucy Koh said Apple "has shown a likelihood of establishing both infringement and validity".
Earlier this week, she barred sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the US until the case was resolved.
However, she said that Apple would have to post bonds of nearly $100m (£64m) to enforce the rare pre-trial injunctions.
The bonds serve to secure payment of damages sustained by Samsung should it win the cases.
Samsung, the South Korean electronics giant, said it was "disappointed" by Friday's decision.
"We will take all available measures, including legal action, to ensure the Galaxy Nexus remains available to consumers," it said in a statement.
California-based Apple and Samsung are involved in a variety of legal cases in various countries across the globe amid claims and counter claims of patent infringement.
While Apple had accused Samsung of "blatant copying" of its design and look, the South Korean firm has alleged that Apple infringed its patents relating to the way phones and tablet PCs connect to the internet.
Apple and Samsung are two of the biggest manufacturers of tablet PCs and smartphones in the world.
Sales of the iPad more than doubled to 15.43m for the three months to 31 December 2011.
And in the first quarter of 2012 it sold 13.6m, giving it about 63% of the global tablet market, according to research firm Display Search.
Samsung sold 1.6m tablets over the same period, giving it a 7.5% share.
The success of Apple's iPhone and iPad has seen the firm recently become the world's most valuable company.
Meanwhile, Samsung has enjoyed considerable success in the sectors with its Galaxy range of products.
The demand for tablet PCs and smartphones is likely to grow even further in the near term.
Analysts said that given the growth potential, the two firms were using every possible tactic to ensure that they capture a bigger share of the market.
2011 2012 2013 2016
Source: Gartner
Apple
39,998,000
72,988,000
99,553,000
169,652,000
Android
17,292,000
37,878,000
61,684,000
137,657,000
Microsoft
0
4,873,000
14,547,000
43,648,000

Mohamed Mursi: ''You (the Egyptian people) are the supreme authority and source of legitimacy''
Egypt's first freely elected leader, Mohammed Mursi, is due to be sworn in, a week after his victory in a disputed poll was confirmed.
Mr Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, will read the oath before the Supreme Constitutional Court.
He will then speak at Cairo University, before going to an army base for the handover from military rule.
On Friday, he praised crowds in Tahrir Square, the focal point of protests that ousted Hosni Mubarak last year.

Mohammed Mursi

Mohammed Mursi
  • Aged 60, married with four children
  • Comes from a village in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya
  • US-educated engineering professor; teaches at Zagazig University
  • Rose through the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood
  • Has been praised for his oratory as an MP
  • After toppling of Hosni Mubarak, he became chairman of Brotherhood's FJP party
Mr Mursi swore a symbolic oath before thousands of people who had gathered to protest against decrees issued by the country's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf).
The military stripped the presidency of many of its powers in recent weeks.
However, Mr Mursi told supporters: "I promise you that I will not give up on any of the powers given to the president."
He promised to be a president for all Egyptians, saying: "The revolution must continue until all its objectives are met."
Mr Mursi said Egypt under him would be a civil nationalist state, without mentioning his party's goal of Islamic rule.
At every stage Mr Mursi has moved to reassure those nervous about the Muslim Brotherhood, both at home and abroad, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo.
It is a mixture of populism and pragmatism that he is going to need for the battles ahead, our correspondent adds.
'Fear nobody' Mr Mursi is due to be sworn in on Saturday at 11:00 local time (09:00 GMT)
Spokesmen for the Muslim Brotherhood had previously said Mr Mursi would take his oath before parliament, which was dissolved by the Scaf last week.

Interim constitutional declaration

  • Issued by ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf)
  • Amends Constitutional Declaration of March 2011
  • Grants Scaf powers to initiate legislation, control budget, appoint panel to draft new constitution
  • Postpones new parliamentary elections until new constitution is approved
The assembly, elected last November, was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and other Islamists.
On Friday, Mr Mursi also pledged to work for the release of civilians detained by the military, and to seek justice for those killed and injured in last year's uprising.
He also said he would work to free militant Islamist Omar Abdel-Rahman, imprisoned in the US over the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in 1993.
At one point Mr Mursi opened his jacket to show the crowd he was not wearing a bulletproof vest, saying: "I am reassured, thanks be to God and to you. I fear nobody but God."
Mr Mursi also promised to take steps to develop Egypt's struggling economy and to conduct foreign affairs with "dignity".
Handling relations with the Scaf is likely to be a key test for Mr Mursi as he begins his term of office.
The Scaf had previously said it would hand over power to Mr Mursi by the end of the month.
However, Scaf member Major-General Mohamed al-Assar told Egyptian media earlier this week that the head of Scaf, Field-Marshal Hussein Tantawi, would remain as defence minister under Mr Mursi.
Also on Friday, Mr Mursi performed prayers at Cairo's al-Azhar mosque, one of the most prominent seats of learning in Sunni Islam.
He has sought to allay fears among some secular and Coptic Christian Egyptians that he will use his presidency to impose Islamic law.
Mr Mursi's campaign has said he plans to appoint a woman and a Coptic Christian as his vice-presidents.

Smoke rising over Homs (photo from opposition Shaam News Network - 29 June) Opposition groups said Syrian forces shelled the city of Homs on Friday
An international conference is set to open in Geneva to try and salvage a peace plan for Syria brokered by the UN-Arab League's envoy Kofi Annan.
Earlier, Russia said there was a "very good chance" of finding common ground.
But a US official said areas of "difficulty and difference" remained with Moscow, which sees Syria as its closest ally in the Middle East.
Some 15,800 people have died in the 16-month anti-government uprising in Syria, rights groups say.
Violence has continued, despite a nominal ceasefire brokered by Mr Annan.
More than 180 people were killed on Friday, rights groups said, after Syrian forces shelled a suburb of the capital Damascus and the restive central city of Homs.
One Syrian human rights group said about 4,700 of the 15,800 killed since the uprising began had died since mid-April, when the ceasefire was supposed to enter into force.
Assad's role

Analysis

The latest diplomatic efforts on Syria cannot succeed without Russia's backing. It's a sign of just how key Moscow is that ahead of the talks in Geneva, there were talks in St Petersburg - between the Russian Foreign Minister and the US Secretary of State.
Russia's role is vital because it has influence in Damascus which the other players don't - it supplies Syria with weapons, and political support - while Russia's veto at the UN Security Council has already been used as a counterweight to western pressure. Speaking afterwards, Sergei Lavrov said he believed there was a good chance that all sides round the table in Geneva would find common ground.
But recent rhetoric between Russia and America suggests that East and West still don't agree on the key question - the fate of President Assad. Moscow sounds unwilling to pressure him into leaving power. If that remains Russia's position, then reaching a consensus on a transitional government will be hard.
Arriving at the talks in Geneva, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said reaching agreement on Syria remained "very difficult".
"It's been always been our view, of course, that a stable future for Syria, a real political process, means [President Bashar al-] Assad leaving power."
Russia has been hostile to any solution that would see Mr Assad forced out.
Meanwhile, Mr Assad said he would not accept any solution to his country's crisis imposed from outside.
He told Iranian television that it was an "internal issue" which had "nothing to do with foreign countries", stressing that no amount of foreign pressure would make his government change its policy on internal security.
Western powers, Russia, Turkey and Arab countries including Qatar are taking part in the Geneva meeting.
Saturday's conference in Geneva was called by Mr Annan, as the violence intensified in Syria.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met in St Petersburg on Friday in an effort to agree a consensus formula to end the bloodshed.
After leaving the talks with Mrs Clinton, Mr Lavrov said: "We have a very good chance to find common ground at the conference in Geneva tomorrow [Saturday].
"I felt a change in Hillary Clinton's position. There were not ultimatums. Not a word was said that the document we will discuss in Geneva is untouchable."
But a US state department official later told reporters: "There are still areas of difficulty and difference."
Aftermath of bomb explosion outside the main court complex in Damascus (28 June 2012) Some 3,000 people were killed across Syria in the past month, reports say
Mr Annan wants support for an interim government that could include opposition members and officials serving under Mr Assad, but exclude those "whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation", his spokesman said.
Diplomats said this was an implicit reference to the Syrian president.

Mohamed Mursi: ''You (the Egyptian people) are the supreme authority and source of legitimacy''
 
 
Egyptian President-elect Mohamed Mursi has praised crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the focal point of protests that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak.
Thousands had gathered to protest against decrees issued by Egypt's military rulers.
Mr Mursi swore a symbolic oath before the crowd, telling them they were "the source of all authority".
Mr Mursi, Egypt's first freely-elected civilian president, will officially be sworn in on Saturday.
He promised to be a "president for all Egyptians", adding: "The revolution must continue until all its objectives are met."
He added: "I promise you that I will not give up on any of the powers given to the president" - a veiled reference to recent decrees by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf).
'Dignity' He also pledged to work for the release of civilians detained by the military, and to seek justice for those killed and injured in last year's uprising.
He also said he would work to free militant Islamist Omar Abdel-Rahman, imprisoned in the US over the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in 1993.
Egyptian President-elect Mohammed Mursi, centre, prays with Grand Sheik Ahmed el-Tayyib, centre left, and Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, third left, at Friday prayers at al-Azhar mosque Before going to Tahrir Square Mr Mursi performed Friday prayers at Cairo's al-Azhar mosque
At one point Mr Mursi opened his jacket to show the crowd he was not wearing a bulletproof vest, saying: "I am reassured, thanks be to God and to you. I fear nobody but God."
Mr Mursi also promised to take steps to develop Egypt's struggling economy and to conduct foreign affairs with "dignity".
Mr Mursi is due to be sworn in on Saturday at 11:00 local time (09:00 GMT) before the country's Supreme Constitutional Court.
Spokesmen for the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, to which Mr Mursi belongs, had previously said he would take his oath before parliament, which was dissolved by the Scaf last week.
The assembly, elected last November, was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and other Islamists.
The Scaf also issued a declaration giving itself sweeping legislative powers and control over defence policy, and announcing the appointment of a panel to write a new constitution.
Another controversial decision by the Scaf to give military police powers of arrest was suspended by a court earlier this week.
Strained relations Handling relations with the Scaf is likely to be a key test for Mr Mursi as he begins his term of office.

Interim constitutional declaration

  • Issued by ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf)
  • Amends Constitutional Declaration of March 2011
  • Grants Scaf powers to initiate legislation, control budget, appoint panel to draft new constitution
  • Postpones new parliamentary elections until new constitution is approved
Protesters gathered in Tahrir Square on Thursday chanted slogans against the military and in support of Mr Mursi.
"I'm here to tell the military council that we, the people, elected parliament so it is only us, the people, who can dissolve it," Intissar al-Sakka, a protestor from the FJP, told the Reuters news agency.
The Scaf had previously said it would hand over power to Mr Mursi by the end of the month.
However, Scaf member Major-General Mohamed al-Assar told Egyptian media earlier this week that the head of Scaf, Field-Marshal Hussein Tantawi, would remain as defence minister under Mr Mursi.
Earlier, Mr Mursi performed Friday prayers at Cairo's al-Azhar mosque, one of the most prominent seats of learning in Sunni Islam.
He has sought to allay fears among some secular and Coptic Christian Egyptians that he will use his presidency to impose Islamic law.
Mr Mursi's campaign has said he plans to appoint a woman and a Coptic Christian as his vice-presidents.

Angela Merkel: "The details affecting liability... will have to be discussed... those negotiations are going to be anything but easy"
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel says she is satisfied with a deal to help finance debt-laden eurozone countries.
"I think we found a good compromise," she said after all-night talks which saw her come under heavy pressure from Italy and Spain.
A new supervisory body will enable the European Central Bank (ECB) to "keep a very close eye on the banks", she said.
Spain is awaiting a 100bn-euro (£80bn; $125bn) recapitalisation of its troubled banks by the eurozone.
Mrs Merkel said the deal on lending would provide sufficient safeguards for the taxpayers' money used by the EU bailout funds.

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The eurozone's bailout fund (backed by taxpayers' money) will be taking a stake in failed banks - risk has been increased”
End Quote
The EU's existing bailout fund - the European Financial Stability Facility - will provide aid under the current rules until the new permanent fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), is ready to take over. The ESM is due to be launched next month.
The funds will not only be able to lend directly to banks. They will also be used to buy bonds of countries like Italy and Spain whose borrowing costs have soared - with the intention that those countries will not have to apply for a formal Greek-style bailout.
Eurozone leaders agreed to begin implementing the decisions by 9 July. However, it could take until the end of the year before the new money becomes available.
Germany, the biggest economic power in the eurozone, is reluctant to continue bailing out debt-laden countries. Its position is supported by the Netherlands, Austria and Finland.
Breaking 'vicious circle' Announcing the deal, EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy said it would break the "vicious circle" between banks and national governments.
The euro surged against other currencies while European stock markets also rose sharply.
During Friday afternoon trading, the main German and French market were up 3.5%, while in London the FTSE 100 rose 1.8%.
US markets also rose significantly on opening. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.5% in early trading.
The BBC's Andrew Walker, in Brussels, says the new loans will not be given "seniority" over private sector loans.
This means that if Spain were to default, those official lenders would not get preferential treatment. The move should make Spanish government debt a little more attractive to private investors, our correspondent says.
Growth stimulus

Europe's press reacts

  • Le Monde (France): "At dawn, a compromise was ripped out with forceps"
  • Die Welt (Germany): "While the Italians were harrying Germany on the pitch, they were also pushing Merkel into a tight spot in Brussels. Together with the Spanish, they put the German chancellor under massive pressure"
  • Der Spiegel (Germany): "As in football, so at the euro summit: Italy has won out on key points in a long night of negotiations in Brussels, Chancellor Merkel gave way"
  • Il Sole 24 Ore (Italy): "Many details remain to be negotiated and could turn out to be difficult, but in substance the eurozone states yesterday put on the table the first piece of a banking union"
Late on Thursday, Spain and Italy withheld support for a growth package worth 120bn euros, demanding immediate EU measures to lower their borrowing costs.
The growth package, including a funding boost for the European Investment Bank, was later agreed.
The leaders also approved a roadmap for building a more integrated eurozone - what should eventually become a fiscal union. It includes controversial plans for "eurobonds" - mutualisation of eurozone debt.
Mrs Merkel has resisted the idea of pooling eurozone debt. On Friday she said "details about liability will have to be discussed by the finance ministers and those negotiations will be anything but easy".
The deal came about after new French President Francois Hollande appeared to throw his weight behind Italy and Spain.

Continue reading the main story

Barclays

Last Updated at 28 Jun 2012, 11:27 GMT *Chart shows local time Barclays intraday chart
price change %
176.15 p -
-19.90
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-10.15
Prime minister David Cameron has said that Barclays Bank management has "serious questions" to answer over how it manipulated banking lending rates.
Barclays was fined £290m ($450m) after an investigation into claims that several banks manipulated the Libor rate at which they lend to each other.
The comments came as former Barclays boss Martin Taylor said the bank has engaged in "systematic dishonesty".
Barclays has said its actions "fell well short of standards".
Other banks are still being investigated by UK and US regulators about their role in the affair.
Mr Cameron, speaking during a visit to Todmorden, West Yorkshire, said: "I think the whole management team have got some serious questions to answer. Let them answer those questions first.
"Who was responsible? Who was going to take responsibility? How are they being held accountable?"
Labour party leader, Ed Miliband, said: "This cannot be about a slap on the wrist."
"The people that have done the wrong thing in this case should face the full force of the law... including criminal prosecutions."
Regulators say that Barclays manipulated interest rates at which banks loan to each other to benefit their traders and financial status.
Mr Taylor said that Barclays' deception looks like a deliberate strategy as it had been going on for years.
Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement at the FSA, which imposed fines alongside the US financial regulator, told the BBC: "We have a number of investigations that are ongoing.
"Obviously we need to look at each case on its own particular facts but the initial indications are that Barclays was not the only firm that was involved in this."
The US Department of Justice also said criminal investigations into "other financial institutions and individuals" were ongoing.
Other big names believed to be under investigation include Citigroup, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Advertisement
Lord Myners: This is the most corrosive behaviour I have seen in a major UK financial institution in my career
The scandal is putting pressure on Mr Diamond.
Mr Taylor, who was chief executive of Barclays from 1994 to 1998, said: "It's hard to believe that a policy which seems to be so systematic was not known by people at or very near the top of the bank."
Former City minister Lord Myners told the BBC that the people at the top should take responsibility.
The Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Oakeshott, said that if Mr Diamond had any shame, he would resign.
Barclays has said its actions "fell well short of standards".
In response, chief executive Bob Diamond and three other top executives at the bank are to give up their bonuses this year.
Investigators say that Barclays' traders lied to make the bank look more secure during the financial crisis and, sometimes - working with traders at other banks - to make a profit.
Mortgage deals
Continue reading the main story Barclays has admitted that a group of traders lied about what it was costing the bank to borrow.
Now, why does this matter?
It matters because lots and lots of deals involving clients of Barclays used the interest rate into which Barclays was feeding this information, about its own borrowing costs, to determine the profit and loss on their own deals.
It's quite hard to think of behaviour by a bank as shocking as this: not telling the truth about what it is costing you to borrow, that then becomes a benchmark for pricing other deals.
The statement from the US regulator, which levied a big chunk of the fine, talks about how Barclays was working with other banks to try to fix this interest rate.
This of course implies that Barclays is simply the first bank to settle and we will see fines and punishments against some of the other big banks of the world.
Barclays' misconduct relates to the daily setting of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor).
These are two of the most important interest rates in the global financial markets and directly influence the value of trillions of dollars of financial deals between banks and other institutions.
They can also affect lending rates to the public, for instance with some mortgage deals.
It is not yet clear whether Barclays staff actually succeeded in manipulating the interest rates to the bank's advantage and therefore whether it had any impact on borrowers.
While the FSA said only that the Barclays employees had attempted to do so, the US Department of Justice said that on some occasions they did affect the Libor and Euribor rates.
Former City minister Lord Myners told the BBC that the people at the top should take responsibility for "a complete cultural failure".
He said the behaviour of Barclays staff was the worst he had seen.
"This is the most corrosive failure of moral behaviour I have seen in a major UK financial institution in my career," he said.
"I think fines and public criticism will not stop these behaviours. These behaviours will not stop until the people perpetrating it or responsible for overseeing them face the prospect of criminal charges and the prospect of going to jail."
Continue reading the main story

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The banks may be open to litigation if they are sued by their customers for being ripped off”
End Quote Neil MacKinnon VTB Capital
The former Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, Lord Oakeshott said: "If Bob Diamond had a scintilla of shame he would resign."
"If Barclays' board had an inch of backbone between them they would sack him," he said.
Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Commons treasury committee, said it would summon Mr Diamond to account for what had happened.
"Banks were clearly acting in concert. I fear it's not going to be the end of the story, that we are going to find that other banks have been involved," he said.
'Accepted culture' The fine imposed on Barclays is part of an international investigation into the setting of interbank rates between 2005 and 2009.
Each day the British Bankers' Association (BBA) and the European Banking Association publish the the Libor and Euribor rates by taking an average of the estimated rates submitted to them by leading banks.
Tracey McDermott, of the FSA, says the misconduct is some of the most serious the regulator has ever seen
Between 2005 and 2008, the Barclays staff who submitted estimates of their own interbank lending rates were frequently lobbied by its derivatives traders to put in figures which would benefit their trading positions, in order to produce a profit for the bank.
And between 2007 and 2009, during the height of the banking crisis, the staff put in artificially low figures, to avoid the suspicion that Barclays was under financial stress and thus having to borrow at noticeably higher rates than its competitors.
The FSA pointed out that Barclays traders were quite open about their routine attempts to lobby their colleagues who submitted the bank's estimate of its borrowing costs to the BBA.
Continue reading the main story

Start Quote

I owe you big time... I'm opening a bottle of Bollinger”
End Quote Exchange involving Barclays staff
It was particularly concerned because it appeared to be "accepted culture" among some staff.
"Requests to Barclays' submitters were made verbally and a large amount of email and instant message evidence consisting of derivatives traders' requests also exists," the FSA said.
In one instance, a trader recounted a conversation in which he had "begged" the submitter to put in a lower Libor figure.
"I'm like, dude, you're killing us," he said. His manager replied, "just tell him to... put it low".
In turn, the staff submitting the data would respond to the traders' requests.
"For you…anything," said one. "Done… for you big boy," said another.
And: "I owe you big time... I'm opening a bottle of Bollinger."

Army personnel take part in the rescue operation after a landslide in Chittagong As flood waters recede, the emphasis now is on feeding and sheltering survivors
Continue reading the main story

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Rescuers in Bangladesh have called off efforts to find people still missing or trapped after floods and landslides swept parts of the south-east.
The number of people killed has risen to 110, with more bodies found overnight, but officials say there are no new reports of people missing.
Rain has stopped but many parts of Chittagong city remain deluged. Flights to and from the city have resumed.
Thousands of people remain displaced, with many marooned on higher ground.
Relief workers are distributing rice and water to them.
The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan says that with flood water receding in Chittagong and other parts of the south-east - including the Cox's Bazar and Bandarban areas - there have been renewed calls to stop indiscriminate logging in the hill areas to prevent future landslides.
Officials are keeping a watch on the Karnaphuli river in the city of Chittagong which is swollen with flood water.
On Wednesday officials said that Bangladesh had experienced its worst monsoon rainfall in years in the region around Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh.
The rain caused mud banks to collapse, burying tin-roofed houses and blocking roads.
Map
Those killed were drowned in flash floods, hit by landslides, struck by lightning or buried by wall collapses, reports say.
Many homeless people live at the foot of the hills or close to them despite warnings from the authorities about the danger of landslides.
Chittagong port received 40cm (15.75in) of rain in a single 12-hour period on Tuesday, one of heaviest days of rainfall over the last five years.
Volunteers using loudspeakers warned people about the danger of heavy rainfall and landslides in Cox's Bazar, officials say, but local people and rescuers were still left helpless when floodwater suddenly inundated dozens of villages and severely disrupted communications.
Security forces were deployed to help the search and rescue effort.
Chittagong has been hit repeatedly by monsoon rain and landslides in recent years. As a result, the government has tried to tighten rules on where development can take place, but with little success.

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What to expect from the summit - Reports from Steve Evans in Berlin, Christian Fraser in Paris and Alan Johnston in Rome
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Eurozone crisis

  • Keeping the euro together
  • Who's afraid of the euro crisis?
  • How eurozone crisis affects you
  • Q&A: Spain's woes
European Union leaders are preparing to meet for a closely-watched Brussels summit on the fate of the euro.
On the summit's eve, German Chancellor Angela Merkel held two hours of talks with the French President Francois Hollande in Paris.
The two remain at odds on how to move forward, with Germany opposed to pooling debt while France insists the eurozone needs further integration.
Mrs Merkel has warned there is no "magic formula" to solve the crisis.
"Because I know the expectations and hopes that are pinned on this summit, I will repeat right at the start what cannot be said often enough," Mrs Merkel said in Berlin before the Paris talks.
"There is no quick solution and no simple solution. There is no one magic formula... with which the government debt crisis can be overcome in one go."
Mrs Merkel left for Brussels without making further statements after her meeting with Mr Hollande but said that "progress" for a pact for growth had been made and she hoped European leaders would adopt a 130bn-euro ($162bn) stimulus package.
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Will this summit be a game changer? Even if no big decisions are taken, the direction of travel may be set and that is important”
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Mr Hollande, who became French president on a ticket of anti-austerity, has been a strong supporter of the growth package.
European authorities have unveiled proposals such as the creation of a European treasury, which would have powers over national budgets.
The 10-year plan is designed to strengthen the eurozone and prevent future crises, but critics say it will not address current debt problems.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Wednesday that his country could not afford to finance itself for long at current bond rates.
Spanish 10-year government bonds have been trading at yields above 6.8%, coming close to the 7% considered unaffordable.
'Vicious circle'
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European press views

  • Liberation, France: "The story runs as if some leaders - including in the front row Angela Merkel - were now counting on the break-up of the area and the establishment of a core group of countries sharing both their currency and sovereignty."
  • Spiegel, Germany: "It is already clear that the high expectations on the financial markets and in capitals outside the EU will not be met. Instead of a clear commitment to a robust monetary union, with all that entails, the European leaders will probably only agree on a vague roadmap - in other words, the usual muddling through."
  • El Pais, Spain: "The German chancellor has rejected any compromise to change the order of the factors in the salvatory equation: you must first create control and accountability systems and only then will debt be shared. Apparently she does not feel under pressure from fear of the euro dying."
Several EU leaders want individual countries' debts guaranteed by the whole eurozone, for instance in the form of centrally issued eurobonds.
But Mrs Merkel told parliament that eurobonds were "the wrong way" and "counter-productive", adding: "We are working to breach the vicious circle of piling up debt and breaking [EU] rules."
She said to loud applause: "It is imperative that we don't promise things that we cannot deliver. Joint liability can only happen when sufficient controls are in place."
Stronger competitiveness was the condition for sustained growth, the chancellor said.
Mr Hollande believes eurobonds should be a eurozone priority for helping countries like Italy and Spain bring their borrowing costs down.
But Mrs Merkel continues to insist that before anything is done to increase the burden on German taxpayers, building blocks towards greater fiscal, banking and, eventually, political union must be put in place.
The BBC's economic correspondent Andrew Walker, in London, says that there is certainly a chance that the summit will take a small step on a path that would partly deal with the fundamental weaknesses in the Eurozone.
But, in the absence of major short-term action, he explains, borrowing costs for countries such as Spain and Italy are likely to remain painfully high, making the eurozone's financial situation strained for a long time to come.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses lawmakers at parliament in Ankara on Tuesday.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses lawmakers at parliament in Ankara on Tuesday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Mustafa Akyol: Syria downing of Turkish plane has brought countries' tensions to new level
  • He says relations had evolved to friendly until Arab Spring; Syria aggression opened new divide
  • He says Turkey's Erdogan had tried to ease Syria to peace, but now it's in military posture
  • Akyol: Turkey used "soft power" to gain regional strength. Must it use "hard power' to keep it?
Editor's note: Mustafa Akyol is a Turkish journalist and the author of "Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty." (WW Norton, 2011)
Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) -- The downing of a Turkish jet over the Mediterranean last Friday by a Syrian missile took Turkish-Syrian tensions to a new level. Though the Turkish government did not declare war as some expected, and others feared, it did declare Syria a "clear and present danger" and raised its rules of engagement to an alert level.
How we came to this point is an interesting story. The 550-mile long border with Syria, Turkey's longest, has often been tense. During the Cold War, Syria was a Soviet ally, Turkey was a NATO member (as it still is) and the border was heavily mined. Moreover, Hafez Assad, the father and predecessor of Syria's current dictator, Bashar al-Assad, supported and hosted the PKK, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, which has led a guerrilla war against Turkey since the early '80s. (PKK is defined by Turkey and the United States as a terrorist group.) Turkey had come close to waging a war against Syria in 1999 because of this PKK connection.
Mustafa Akyol
Mustafa Akyol
However, the relations surprisingly changed for the better in the first decade of the new century. Bashar al-Assad, who replaced his father in 2000, seemed to promise a more open and friendly Syria. In Turkey, the Justice and Development Party of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which came to power in 2002, initiated a foreign policy of "zero problems with neighbors." This led to a fruitful Turkish-Syrian rapprochment: Erdogan and Assad became friends, trade between the two countries was boosted, and borders were opened for visa-free travel. Just two years ago, the two countries looked like the core states of a would-be Middle Eastern Union modeled after the EU.
But this honeymoon came to an abrupt end with the Arab Spring. The Erdogan government, whose claims include democratizing Turkey by saving it from the tutelage of the country's overbearing military, intuitively sympathized with and announced support for this democratic wave in the region. Yet while this proved to be a winning game in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, Syria turned out to be a tougher case.
NATO, Turkey slam Syria over downed jet
Tough talk from NATO, but no action
Unsettled neighbors
al-Assad: Syria 'in a state of real war'
Throughout the initial months of the demonstrations in Syria, which began in March 2011, the Turkish government hoped and tried to persuade al-Assad's regime to allow a peaceful transition to democracy. This hope was gradually replaced by frustration, however, and Erdogan soon began to condemn the "barbarism" and "savagery" of the Syrian regime. The trouble for him, as it usually is, was also personal: As he said in the Turkish Parliament on June 21, Assad had promised him change and reform but proved to be a liar instead.
Consequently, Turkey rapidly emerged as one of the boldest supporters of the Syrian opposition, and the Syrian National Council, formed as the dissidents' umbrella group, found a base in Turkey. Meanwhile, at least 15,000 refugees from Syria, both dissidents and their families, were given shelter on the Turkish side of the Syrian border.
Moreover, the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group formed by the Syrian soldiers who deserted to the opposition's side, not only operated from Turkey but, according to some reports, were helped with arms and other supplies as well. The Syrian response was to add Turkey to its own version of the axis of evil -- the United States, NATO, Saudi Arabia and in fact much of the rest of the world -- in its official propaganda.
Inside Turkey, this engagement in the Syrian crisis has supporters and critics. The supporters are mostly Sunni conservatives who strongly identify with the Syrian opposition, which include the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. (The massacre of thousands of Sunnis in Hama in 1982 by Hafez Assad had been a tragic memory in the minds of these conservative Turks, who now believe that the Syrian leopard has simply not changed its spots.)
Other voices in Turkey, ranging from hardcore secularists to pro-Iranian marginal Islamists, accuse the government for being naively involved in a conflict cooked up by "Western imperialists."
The plane incident came on top of all this. The downed jet was apparently an unarmed but military aircraft which, according to the Turkish government, was on a peaceful mission to test the NATO radar system based in eastern Turkey. Syrians said the plane violated Syrian airspace and was shot within it.
The Turkish government said the plane violated the Syrian airspace "mistakenly and very briefly" but was hit by a Syrian missile despite immediately having reverted to international airspace. The plane's two pilots, who apparently fell to the sea, are missing.
The Turkish reaction to the incident was outlined by Erdogan in an address in the parliament that came four days after the incident. In a very strident tone against the "bloody dictator of Syria," Erdogan announced that Turkey now sees its southern neighbor as a "clear and present danger" and will change its rules of engagement: "Any military element that approaches the Turkish border from Syria by posing a security risk will be regarded as a threat, and will be treated as a military target." The very same day, some Turkish tanks on the Syrian border were repositioned, implying that Ankara meant business.
Yet almost no one in Turkey seems enthusiastic for war. Many here point out that Turkey's ascendance in the past decade has been thanks to its "soft power." That mainly rested on the country's economic boom and democratic reforms, which seemed to present a synthesis of Islam, free-market capitalism and political liberalism.
But should Turkey now consider putting some "hard power" on the table, without which it might become ineffective in its region? This is a question that Turks are passionately discussing these days, and the answer seems to matter a lot for the Syrians as well.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi is Egypt's first democratically elected president.
The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi is Egypt's first democratically elected president.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Timothy Stanley: Many worry that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood leader will bring theocracy
  • But Stanley says historic and modern evidence shows Islamic societies can be democratic
  • He says Mali, Bangladesh and Morocco seek balance between Islam and openness
  • Stanley: Brotherhood (and military) in Egypt respecting democratic process so far
Editor's note: Timothy Stanley is a historian at Oxford University and blogs for Britain's The Daily Telegraph. He is the author of the new book "The Crusader: The Life and Times of Pat Buchanan."
(CNN) -- The West is understandably nervous about the election of Mohamed Morsi. The president-elect of Egypt is taking charge of a febrile situation. The economy is contracting and human rights abuses are rampant -- attacks on Coptic churches by Islamic groups have forced an estimated 100,000 Christians to flee the country.
Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood is philosophically committed to creating a state governed by Islamic law, and some say that his victory poses a threat to Israel. Now he wants to reach out to Iran.
But it would be wrong to conclude that Islamic democracy is a contradiction in terms. Whatever new state emerges in Egypt almost certainly won't be democratic in the liberal, European tradition, and there will be a constant fight to protect the rights of women and religious minorities.
But the presumption that Morsi's political Islam is the vanguard of theocratic dictatorship ignores historical and contemporary evidence to the contrary. Islam is simply too complex to be stereotyped as the faith of tyrants.
Timothy Stanley
Timothy Stanley
Early Muslim societies, romanticized by Islamists, were decentralized in nature and allowed for a large degree of self-government. The first caliphs were elected by tribal councils, and their powers were limited by legal scholars in a manner that approximates to constitutionalism. Rulers could, theoretically, be impeached; religious pluralism was tolerated.
When Umar Ibn al-Khattab conquered Jerusalem in 637, he permitted Christians and Jews to remain in the holy city and worship freely in their own temples. The Covenant of Umar is one of history's first examples of a state guaranteeing religious freedom.
CNN's Cairo bureau chief reflects
Egypt: History made, challenges ahead
The Muslim Brotherhood in brief
Alas, there are many more examples across the Muslim world of dictatorships and parties implacably committed to violent fundamentalism. Saudi Arabia, for example, hasn't stopped the bankrolling of terrorism, forces its subjects to live by a strict reading of Sharia law and even tolerates beheadings for witchcraft.
But while the Islamic emphasis upon submission to religious authority might have hardened resistance to Enlightenment values of pluralism and civil liberties, the legacy of Western imperialism shares responsibility, too. Central Asian countries such as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are former Soviet republics, Iran had its parliamentary democracy subverted by the West in the 1950s, and Saudi Arabian politics have been dominated by the international oil market.
In short, the spread of democracy in the Islamic world has either been retarded by autocratic practices imported from the West, or subverted by Cold War politics and economic globalization. Pitted against these savage forces, Islam has sometimes offered a rare vehicle for anti-authoritarian dissent -- from Algeria to China.
The fact that Islamic parties, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, have emerged from dictatorships bolstered by foreign arms has colored their politics -- to the degree that they regard Western "democracy" as a byword for imperialism. Nonetheless, there is some evidence that the Brotherhood is a diverse, pragmatic movement more concerned with reducing the influence of the secular state than erecting a theocracy in its place.
The Brotherhood has certainly moderated its views in recent years to accommodate shifting domestic attitudes toward the veil, the presence of Westerners or alcohol.
An example of a more temperate Islamism might be found in Morocco, where the appointment of an Islamist prime minister, Abdelilah Benkirane, has shown signs of opening the country up. He has promised transparency, a war on corruption and a fairer distribution of wealth. Crucially, anything more radical that the prime minister might try to do is tempered by Morocco's monarch and powerful army. This arrangement sees Islamism expanding popular representation while the political establishment safeguards secularism.
We see some of that careful balance in the new Egypt. The military still enjoys enormous power, and it will effectively control the writing of a constitution. The army might be motivated by venial desires to protect its power and patronage, but the fact that Morsi is ultimately answerable to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and defense minister, means his ability to construct any kind of theocracy is severely limited.
Although Western unease toward Morsi's Islamist politics is justified by recent experience, the existence of historical and political variation offers hope that Egypt won't become a new caliphate. On the contrary: In democracies, process is all -- and so far the process has been respected by everyone involved. The West's complaint that "the wrong man won" in Egypt mustn't detract from the fact that the country is still undergoing a remarkable, apparently progressive transition -- albeit at the cost of many lives.
The people overthrew a dictator and then elected a new leader in free and fair elections. The very fact that the "wrong man" was even allowed to assume the presidency suggests that Egypt is embracing a more humane politics. So far, political Islam has facilitated, not hindered, the building of a democratic country. So far.

Cairo (CNN) -- Amid the celebrations that greeted the declaration of a winner in Egypt's first freely elected presidential vote, a British student journalist was sexually assaulted by a mob in Tahrir Square.
Natasha Smith recounted the experience on her blog and in an interview with CNN. Smith, who has since left Egypt, wrote that the moving demonstrations of freedom turned to horror "in a split second" when dozens of frenzied men dragged her away from two male companions and began to grope her "with increasing force and aggression."
"Men started ripping off all my clothes," she told CNN. "First of all, it was my skirt, and that just went straight away, and I didn't even feel my underwear being removed. Then my shoes went and clothes on my upper half were just being ripped off me, and that was quite painful."
During the assault, "I was just in this weird, detached state of mind, and I just kept saying, 'Please God, please make it stop. Please, God, make it stop.' "
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Her experience echoes the assaults faced by two prominent female reporters, CBS News correspondent Lara Logan and Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy, who has said her attackers were officers at a police station. One of Smith's friends, Callum Paton, told CNN the mob dragged Smith naked across the ground before another group of men stepped in to protect her.
Read Natasha Smith's account.
"There were several moments at which I thought she was going to die," Paton said. "And I think that really the fact that we are still alive, and especially Natasha's still alive, was because there were so many people who were willing to help us and were willing to risk their own lives and put them in direct danger to get her out of that situation."
Smith was on her first international assignment, shooting a documentary on women's rights in Egypt as her final college project. A doctor who treated Smith and a British Embassy official who met her at the hospital corroborrated her account for CNN.
"If there hadn't been a small group of men around me, I would have been raped and killed," she said. "That's just without question, because that's what the men were trying to do. It was very clear what they were trying to do to me. They weren't just trying to play around with me, they were gunning for me for whatever reason."
On her blog, she wrote that an ambulance pulled up at one point, but it was forced to leave when it "was invaded by tens of men." Even after being escorted to a medical tent by volunteers who formed a cordon around her, her attackers surrounded the tent. Women who assisted her told her the attack "was motivated by rumors spread by troublemaking thugs that I was a foreign spy, following a national advertising campaign warning of the dangers of foreigners."
"Arab women, Muslim women were all around me, just crying, saying 'This is not Egypt! This is not Egypt! This is not Islam! These are thugs!' " she told CNN. She said she responded, "I know, I love Egypt, I know this is not Islam, it's OK.
"And they were stunned, 'cause they thought I was going to be so full of hate and so full of fear. But from the very beginning, I don't blame Egypt for this. This is not the workings of the Egyptian people. This is not representative."
To escape, she said, "I was told I had to put my trust in this Egyptian man. I was disguised in a burqa and let out of this tent with this man, barefoot and I had to pretend to be his wife and walk through the streets and he kept just saying to me, 'Don't cry. Do not cry. If you cry, people will know.' "
On her blog, she complained about her treatment at the hospital, noting that the doctor's first question was whether she was married, "which is of course the most important question to be asking a victim of mass sexual abuse."
"He and a female nurse (who only reluctantly kept me covered up) looked briefly at the damage and just wandered off, saying that because I didn't have internal bleeding, they couldn't do anything," she wrote. "A useful trip, that was."
But the doctor, Mohammed Meligi, said Smith's account may be "a misunderstanding, because she was here first time to enter the Egyptian hospital."
Smith said her case will get attention "because I'm British and I'm young and I'm a girl," but she said other Egyptian women "will often suffer these attacks and worse attacks and there'll be no justice done."
"There's been an outpouring of support, and I'm so grateful for that," she said. But she said she wished that support could be shared with "all women, of all nationalities, wherever they are."
"I'll be so happy if this could make any difference to other women who are in this situation, not just in Egypt, not just in the Middle East, but everywhere," she said.

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