Sunday, May 29, 2011

(BN) SAT Test Demanding Teen Information Prompts Regulator Query (2)

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SAT Test Demanding Teen Information Prompts Regulator Query

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Representatives Ed Markey and Joe Barton asked the College Board, owner of the SAT college entrance exam, to explain how it collects and stores data from students as the government seeks to bolster teen privacy laws.

Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Barton, a Republican from Texas, requested the same information from College Board competitor ACT Inc., including disclosure and privacy policies, in letters to the nonprofit organizations today. Copies of the letters were posted on Markey's website.

Both companies collect data from millions of teenagers annually as they register for SAT and ACT tests and then sell their names and personal information to colleges, which use them in direct marketing to potential applicants. While Markey and Barton introduced a bill this month to expand a children's online privacy law to teenagers, the proposal doesn't cover nonprofit companies, such as the College Board and ACT.

"There should be some kind of regulatory control over what even a nonprofit can be culling from students," said Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit public interest research group in Cardiff by the Sea, California.

Letter's Questions

The letters include 12 groups of questions and asked for a response by June 16. The College Board and ACT were asked whether they make students aware that the information collected doesn't affect the chances of getting into college and about how secure the data storage is. The congressmen also ask about the sale of the information and who is buying the data.

"ACT has the greatest respect for students and we follow industry standard security measures to protect their privacy," Scott Gomer, a company spokesman, said in an e-mail.

The company is reviewing the congressmen's letter and will respond in a timely manner, Gomer said. ACT's privacy policy is available on its website, he said.

"Protecting the privacy and security of the students who participate in College Board programs has always been a top priority for our organization," Kathleen Steinberg, a spokeswoman for the College Board, said yesterday. She declined to make further comment today.

'Less Than Voluntary'

The College Board's database of student names includes about 5.1 million with e-mail addresses. The New York-based company had $63 million in revenue from its business that includes name-selling in the year ended June 2010. Iowa City, Iowa-based ACT took in $7.5 million in revenue from its Educational Opportunity Service for the most recent year, which ended in August, the company said. It has a database of 2.4 million names of high school sophomores, juniors and seniors.

"Given the kids' ages and the setting in which the data is collected, there are elements that read as less than voluntary because these tests are usually required to get into college," said Dixon. In 2009, she testified before a joint congressional subcommittee about data collection.

Markey and Barton's proposed bill would establish new protections for 13- to 17-year-olds. Among the safeguards, the legislation would prohibit online commercial companies from using personal information of teens for targeted marketing purposes, as well as limit collection of their personal and geographic information.

'Golden Halo'

The Federal Trade Commission's 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act prohibits personal information of children 12 and under from being collected online without "verifiable parental consent." The proposed legislation ought to include new authority for the FTC to regulate data-collection practices of nonprofit groups that target teens for commercial- like purposes, such as selling names to colleges, said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a nonprofit consumer-protection advocacy group in Washington.

"The Markey-Barton bill is focused on commercial businesses, even though many of these same disturbing practices are being conducted in a widespread fashion by nonprofit organizations," Chester said. "Nonprofit organizations operate under a golden halo effect."

The Education Department is trying to change its own privacy regulations under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, known as FERPA, to expand sharing of educational records of kindergarten to 12th graders. The testing companies' data collection isn't covered under FERPA.

33 Cents a Name

More than 90 percent of students who take the SAT register online, said the College Board's Steinberg. The same percentage register online for ACT tests, said Ed Colby, a spokesman for that company. Students are asked to "opt in" to the search service to let schools and scholarship programs provide materials. They can also opt out. Students aren't told their names will be sold and their parents aren't asked for permission.

The College Board and ACT sell student names and information to colleges at 33 cents a name, according to the companies. About 1,100 colleges and universities use the College Board's Student Search Service, Jennifer Topiel, another College Board spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

Colleges perform searches based on bands of test scores to create lists of prospective applicants. They can search on criteria such as self-reported grades, ethnicity and religion, generated by the survey questions asked of the students.

'Deer in the Headlights'

Universities buy names from the College Board and ACT because they cannot obtain academic records directly from high schools without student and parental consent, said Joel Reidenberg, a law professor who directs the Center on Law and Information Policy at Fordham University in New York.

"The College Board and ACT exploit their role as gatekeepers to college access and use that role to obtain consent from minors to sell their information," Reidenberg said. "High schoolers are like deer in the headlights against a very sophisticated marketing industry. Parents have no idea and the law does not protect the students' privacy. It should."

While the College Board's 39-year-old Student Search Service has increased its volume by about 20 percent over the past decade, it doesn't release the total number of names sold annually, spokeswoman Topiel said. ACT didn't disclose how many names it sells annually from its service, which started in 1970.

Both companies have public charity status because they typically get more than a third of their support from membership fees, contributions and gross receipts from activities related to their exempt functions, according to tax filings.

Executive Pay

ACT had revenue of $238 million in its most recent tax filing for the year ended August 2009. Richard Ferguson, who retired as chief executive officer last year, had pay of about $735,000, including about $85,000 in additional compensation from ACT and related organizations, according to the filing.

Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, had earnings in the year ended June 2010 of $1.27 million, of which $509,000 was deferred compensation, according to a filing. He also got an estimated $45,500 from the company and related organizations. The College Board reported total revenue of $659.8 million in the period.

Parents should be asked for consent when their children are answering personal questions on the surveys, said Anthony Terrasse, whose son Weston received direct-marketing mail from about three dozen colleges.

"Would they answer more questions if their parents were supervising them and give out information that a lot of people still want to keep private?" said Terrasse, a plastic surgeon in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Happy Birthday

Weston Terrasse, who plans to enter the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, in August, began hearing from colleges in his sophomore year of high school after he scored in the 99th percentile on preliminary SAT and ACT tests. He got mail from schools such as Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire; Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; and Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. He applied to all and was rejected, he said in an interview.

Even now that his college search is finished, he is still hearing from schools. On his 18th birthday earlier this month, Terrasse got an e-mail from the University of Arizona in Tucson wishing him well. The message said he was added to an e-mail list after contacting the school.

"It's a little concerning that they might know some information," said Terrasse, who said he never contacted the school nor applied there.

Opt In, Opt Out

The University of Arizona has been sending birthday e-mails for about two years, Kasey Urquidez, the dean of admissions, said in a telephone interview. "We don't feel it is anything out of line."

The university buys about 100,000 names from sources including the College Board and ACT, and spends at least $170,000 annually for paper brochures and booklets and buying the names, Urquidez said. Students receive e-mails after opting into College Board and ACT services, she said, even though the language in the e-mail Terrasse received made it appear he had requested it.

While prospective names are deleted each year, Urquidez didn't know of protocols required for deleting personal information such as birthdates.

"I know we have very tight security across the board and people are watching the information constantly to make sure it's not compromised," she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janet Lorin in New York jlorin@bloomberg.net .

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Kaufman at jkaufman17@bloomberg.net .

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(BN) Gaza Border With Egypt Opens After Four Years Amid Israel Security Concern

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Palestinians From Gaza Enter Egypt as Border Point Opens

May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip entered Egypt as the border crossing was opened permanently for the first time in four years amid Israeli concerns that the move strengthens Hamas's rule of the area.

About 300 Palestinians crossed into Egypt this morning, and "it was smooth and easy," said a Hamas police officer at the crossing who gave his name only as Abu Osama. "If the situation remains as smooth as it was today, I don't see any future problems."

Egypt's decision to scale back crossing restrictions for the Gaza Strip has been welcomed by the Hamas Islamic movement, which controls the Palestinian enclave, while raising concern in Israel that the wider border access poses a security threat.

"We will obviously be looking to preserve security arrangements at the border and hope nothing will be done to allow Hamas to empower itself and to reinforce its terrorist infrastructures," Yigal Palmor, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in a phone interview. "The Israeli position has been made known to all relevant authorities, including in Egypt."

In addition to reducing restrictions at the Rafah crossing, Egypt will waive visa requirements for most Palestinians entering from other departure points, except neighboring Libya, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported this week. Egypt's move was the "right decision" to help the Gazan population "ease its suffering," Hamas said on May 26.

Israeli Policy

Israel maintains an embargo on the Gaza coast in what it says is an effort to prevent weapons smuggling. The government has restricted the flow of goods and people in and out of Gaza through its own border crossings since Hamas, the Islamist political party that has governed Gaza Strip since winning elections in January 2006, gained full control of the area in 2007.

Egypt has also restricted the passage of Gazans through its own crossing since Hamas clashed with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, breaking apart their unity government.

The Egyptian border opening is part of the government's efforts to back the Palestinian groups' reconciliation, MENA said. The new Egyptian leadership, which has taken a more favorable approach to Hamas since President Hosni Mubarak was forced out in February following anti-government protests, brokered an agreement between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo this month that paves the way for a new unity government.

EU's Hamas View

Hamas is defined as a terrorist group by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union.

In easing the border restrictions, Egypt is restoring the rules that existed before the 2007 Gaza clashes, with only Palestinian men aged 18 to 40 requiring visas, MENA said. As a result of the turmoil in Libya, all Palestinians entering from there will also need visas, the agency said.

Abu Zeyad Yassin, a 56-year-old Palestinian from Gaza who holds Romanian citizenship, said he was returning to Romania today via Egypt after visiting his parents.

"My mother was sick and I came to see her, and after she recovered I decided to return back to Romania," Yassin said. "My flight from Cairo is scheduled tomorrow, and I'm so glad that the restrictions were eased and we can now easily enter and leave Gaza."

Tunnels dug underneath the Egypt-Gaza border have become a central means of smuggling goods and people back and forth to evade restrictions at the Rafah crossing. Israel says the tunnels are also used to bring in weapons and the rockets that are fired into the country's south.

Flotillas

Humanitarian and pro-Palestinian groups have repeatedly tried to break the sea blockade by sailing ships toward Gaza. Nine Turkish activists from one such flotilla were killed in a clash with the Israel navy a year ago. Another Gaza-bound aid flotilla is scheduled to leave Turkey next month.

Israel eased restrictions on essential goods and fuel brought into Gaza via its Kerem Shalom crossing over the past year, in part as a reaction to international pressure spurred by the flotilla clash.

To contact the reporter on this story: Saud Abu Ramadan in the Gaza Strip at sramadan@bloomberg.net Calev Ben-David in Jerusalem at cbendavid@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gwen Ackerman at gackerman@bloomberg.net

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(BN) NATO Topples Towers in Qaddafi Compound; Yemeni Forces, Tribes Cease Fire

Bloomberg News, sent from my iPhone.

NATO Planes Destroy Guard Towers at Qaddafi's Tripoli Compound

May 29 (Bloomberg) -- NATO planes leveled guard towers atop the walls of Muammar Qaddafi's compound in central Tripoli, the U.K. said, increasing pressure for the Libyan leader to quit a day after Russia offered to negotiate his exit.

NATO aircraft "used precision guided weapons to bring down guard towers along the walls" of the Bab Al Aziziyah complex, according to an e-mailed statement from Major General John Lorimer.

Russia said May 27 it's seeking to negotiate Qaddafi's departure, for the first time supporting the goals of the military campaign led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Qaddafi has forfeited his right to govern and Russia is using its contacts with the Libyan regime to persuade him to step down, President Dmitry Medvedev said in Deauville, France, after a Group of Eight summit.

In Benghazi, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of Libya's Interim Transitional National Council, welcomed the Russian offer. "Free Libya is looking forward to building and strengthening its relations with the Russian Federation," he said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Jalil's statement said Qaddafi's troops continue to attack cities with artillery, tanks and rocket launchers, and "impose arbitrary measures that include random arrests, torture and raids of homes." Qaddafi's troops fired at protesters in four areas of Tripoli, Al Jazeera reported yesterday.

Amnesty Offered

Libya's rebels offered amnesty to soldiers willing to abandon Qaddafi, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Those who committed crimes before the start of the rebellion on Feb. 17 will be guaranteed "a fair trial," while people who committed crimes since then will be forgiven if they leave the regime now, the Journal reported, citing Jalil.

In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, leader of the Hashid confederation of tribes, agreed to end fighting that killed at least 124 people, the Washington Post reported, citing a mediator in the conflict.

The clashes began May 23 after Saleh refused to sign a Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered accord that provides for him to step down within 30 days of accepting the agreement.

Yemeni Opposition

Yemen's opposition yesterday called for Saleh to step down immediately, backing away from the Gulf agreement on a 30-day transitional period.

"The accord as it stands is no longer acceptable to us unless it provides for his immediate departure," Mohammed al- Mutawakkil, a member of the opposition Joint Meeting Parties' higher council, said in a telephone interview in the capital Sana'a.

Three French nationals have been reported missing in Yemen, Hasan Muksim, deputy security director of Seyoun city, in the southeastern province of Hadramaut, said yesterday.

The man and two women "have been missing since this afternoon," Muksim said in an e-mailed statement. "We have been searching the region."

In Syria, five soldiers were shot by army colleagues because they refused to follow orders to fire on civilians protesting the government of President Bashar Al-Assad, Al Jazeera television reported, citing Abdullah Abu Zaid, an activist who filmed the injured soldiers in Daraa.

Syrian Soldiers Shot

"We have provided them with first aid and saved their lives," Zaid said in a telephone interview with Al Jazeera. The network showed footage of the bleeding soldiers.

Syrian demonstrators called on the army to join the protests after Friday prayers May 27. Syria's crackdown has killed at least 1,100 people, according to Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, and Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria's National Organization for Human Rights.

The government has blamed the unrest on Islamic militants and "terrorist elements" seeking to destabilize the country. Assad initially promised reforms in response to the protests, which followed popular uprisings that ousted rulers in Tunisia and Egypt, though those pledges haven't been repeated in recent weeks as security forces stepped up their crackdown.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mike Harrison in London at mharrison5@bloomberg.net Eric Martin in Washington at emartin21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net

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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Political Islamic groups take another step forward towards political rights - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Political Islamic groups take another step forward towards political rights - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Egypt's ex-housing minister gets five year sentence - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Egypt's ex-housing minister gets five year sentence - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

A date to be set for Mubarak's trial this week - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

A date to be set for Mubarak's trial this week - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Three artists arrested for promoting May 27 protests - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Three artists arrested for promoting May 27 protests - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Mubarak, Al-Adly and Nazif fined for cutting communications during revolution - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Mubarak, Al-Adly and Nazif fined for cutting communications during revolution - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Three artists arrested for promoting May 27 protests - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Three artists arrested for promoting May 27 protests - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

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LexisNexis Legal News: Brazilian Court Rejects Main Class Action Filed Against Cigarette Manufacturers

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LexisNexis Legal News: Hard Rock Cafe Servers and Bartenders Sue for Tip Sharing Violations in Miami, Hollywood and Key West

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(BN) Gold Companies May Face $100 Billion Liability for Sick Miners

Bloomberg News, sent from my iPhone.

Gold Companies May Face $100 Billion Liability for Sick Miners

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Toto Willie has little to show for a decade's work in Anglo American Plc's gold mines: a store selling potato chips and kerosene, run from one of the three rooms in his tin shack, and a 1985 Toyota station wagon.

He also has a medical certificate showing he has silicosis, a scarring of the lungs caused by prolonged exposure to the dust found in South African mines now run by companies such as Anglo American-founded AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Gold Fields Ltd. and Harmony Gold Mining Co.

"It's hard to breathe," Willie, 50, said last month at his home in Happy Valley, a trash-strewn shantytown near Cape Town, as he pulled the certificate from a worn folder. "I can't manage to work again. I need help."

South Africa's highest court on March 3 ruled that ex- miners such as Willie can seek redress from companies that operated under an apartheid-era system to use cheap black labor in the world's deepest mines.

While the ultimate number of claims and their size is impossible to determine, mining companies may face a liability of as much as $100 billion, Leon Esterhuizen, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in London, said in a May 6 note to clients. A settlement at a significantly lower level is more likely, he said in a May 16 interview.

"The whole risk really depends on whether these people putting these claims up can prove negligence by the mining companies," he said.

Floodgates Open

The Constitutional Court said workers who qualified for state benefits for occupational disease could seek further compensation from their former employers. It ruled that Thembekile Mankayi, who contracted silicosis and tuberculosis after working at the Vaal Reefs mine, formerly owned by Anglo American, can sue for private compensation on top of his one- time 16,316 rand ($2,320) government payout.

"The judgment potentially opens the floodgates for claims," said Warren Beech, a lawyer at Webber Wentzel Attorneys in Johannesburg who is not involved in the litigation. "You could be looking at an average of 1 to 2 million rand a claim."

RBC's Esterhuizen based his May 6 estimate on the assumption that there are 300,000 potential claimants, each suing for at least 2 million rand.

"We're trying to get our arms around what the potential might be," Gold Fields Chief Executive Officer Nicholas Holland said on an investor call on May 19. "It's speculative at this stage to assume that there's going to be a huge number of suits or whether in fact those suits will even be successful."

Separate Case

While AngloGold has made no provision for damages, it has "fully complied with statutory and regulatory requirements," the Johannesburg-based company said in an e-mailed response to questions. Harmony said in an e-mail that it's too early to determine liability.

Anglo American is fighting a separate silicosis damages suit that was filed by 18 miners in 2004 and is due to come to trial next year. Four of those workers have died.

"Anglo American believes that the claims against it are ill-founded," John Parker, the company's chairman, said at its annual general meeting in London on April 21.

A study published in 1998 in the Stockholm-based Journal of Mineral Policy, Business and the Environment estimated that 196,560 former miners from South Africa and 84,240 from neighboring states, working in South Africa under a system of migrant labor, had occupational lung disease and had not been compensated.

Fewer Miners

Surveys of miners who worked in South Africa put the prevalence of the disease at between 17 percent and 32 percent among older miners with longer service.

The number of gold miners in South Africa peaked at 489,000 in 1983, according to the Department of Mineral Resources. The mines today employ about 160,000 people, according to the Chamber of Mines, which represents mining companies.

"There is nothing you can do to treat silicosis," Rodney Ehrlich, a professor at the University of Cape Town's School of Public Health and Family Medicine, said in an interview. "You can't reverse the scar tissue."

Silicosis increases vulnerability to tuberculosis, which mainly attacks the lungs and kills more than half its victims if the latent infection isn't properly treated.

Mankayi, who died a week before the ruling, had sought 2.7 million rand from AngloGold, created by Anglo American in 1998. His lawyers have not yet decided how to proceed with the case.

'Potentially Huge'

"Usually these things take a very long time to sort themselves out," said Patrice Rassou, who helps manage about 330 billion rand, including AngloGold and Anglo American shares, at Cape Town's Sanlam Investment Management, in a May 16 interview. "If the companies need to make good and there are potentially huge damages, that's where it has an impact in terms of the investment case."

The miners' medical difficulties stem from a system dating from the early 1900s, after the discovery of the Witwatersrand, the world's biggest gold field, led to the creation of Anglo American in 1917. The company led the development of an industry that dominated world gold supply for decades.

Under the institutionalized racial discrimination of apartheid and the whites-only-vote era that preceded it, mining companies employed workers from the poorest communities of South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland. The gold miners often lived in crowded, single-sex hostels and worked in unsafe conditions. About 1,000 were killed by accidents in 1909, compared with 63 last year.

Deep Seams

Even now, workers hack gold-bearing ore out of seams as deep as 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers). Rock temperatures rise to as high as 55 degrees Celsius (131 degrees Fahrenheit) and humidity is close to 100 percent. The mines account for about 30 percent of all gold ever mined in the world, according to Rand Refinery, the country's main gold processing plant.

"Mineworkers, and black mineworkers in particular, were really treated like a commodity," Richard Spoor, Mankayi's lawyer, said in an April 11 interview from White River, South Africa. "A steady supply of healthy young men came to our mines to be used, consumed, and, once they were broken, literally to be discarded."

In 2003 Spoor reached a 490 million-rand settlement with Gencor Ltd. after it was sued by South African workers from asbestos mines it controlled. He plans to file a series of court cases on behalf of miners ill with silicosis to pressure gold- mining companies into paying compensation.

No Mask

Willie says his employer never issued him with a mask and paid him two weeks' wages when he was told his job had been terminated in 1995. His efforts to secure compensation from the state have yielded nothing. Willie's wife, Nowest, looks after a neighbor's two babies to supplement the few hundred rand the family earns monthly from their store.

The government is planning talks with mining companies about securing improved compensation for workers without them having to resort to litigation, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said about the silicosis cases.

"Compensation is not adequate," she said in an April 18 interview in Pretoria. "In fact, it's a real joke."

The Chamber of Mines said its members are improving working conditions and new silicosis cases should be eradicated by 2014. Mining companies have worked to pump more compressed air from the surface into mining shafts to improve ventilation and have installed better systems to monitor dust levels.

Mining companies have known for decades that silicosis is preventable, yet were reluctant to incur the expenses of providing adequate underground ventilation, Spoor said, which makes them liable for damages.

"The million-dollar question is how big that settlement will be," Esterhuizen said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net . Carli Lourens in Johannesburg at clourens@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Barden at barden@bloomberg.net . Amanda Jordan at ajordan11@bloomberg.net

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(BN) Drug-Price Decision Threatens U.K. Investment, Industry Says

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Drug-Price Decision Threatens U.K. Investment, Industry Says

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- Pharmaceutical companies are protesting a U.K. government decision on drug pricing that their lobbying group says may prompt more of them to scale back operations in Britain.

The Department of Health told drugmakers May 19 it was ending a deal that allowed some of them to increase prices to make up for money they lost when a previous agreement was suspended in 2007. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry objected to both the decision on the accord, known as the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, and the refusal to share information showing how it was reached.

Switzerland's Novartis AG and New York-based Pfizer Inc., two of the world's biggest drugmakers, said this year they plan to scale back U.K. operations. Prime Minister David Cameron said in January he personally called the heads of pharmaceutical companies to urge them to continue investing, pointing to tax breaks he was offering. The ABPI said the Department of Health's move undermined that effort at a time when the government aims to replace the 54-year-old drug-pricing system.

"It's critical that any future schemes uphold the principles of trust and fairness in order to achieve the partnership that will benefit patients," the London-based group said in an e-mailed statement. "Instabilities caused by disruption to the PPRS do not reflect well on the financial stability and predictability of the U.K. environment, factors which historically have been a positive contribution to global decisions to invest in the U.K. pharmaceutical industry."

$15 Billion

The state-run National Health Service spends about 9 billion pounds ($15 billion) a year on brand-name drugs, and since 1957 has used its buying power to negotiate a series of agreements with the industry under the PPRS. This stipulated that, over the period of each deal, each manufacturer would aim to meet a certain overall discount target by modulating their prices. If the companies failed to meet it, they had to pay the difference.

The Department of Health suspended a deal that took effect in 2005 two years later, leaving some companies ahead of their discount target -- 7 percent in that period -- and some behind. After negotiations with the ABPI, the government reached an accord in 2009 allowing those companies who were out of pocket from the 2007 suspension to recoup their losses, so long as the companies that hadn't discounted enough repaid at least 75 percent of their excess profits.

It was the failure of pharmaceutical companies to meet that 75 percent goal that led the government to make its May 19 decision, the Department of Health said in an e-mailed statement.

'No Adjustments'

"After a detailed process of calculation for resolving over-deliveries and under-deliveries of price cuts for medicines from the previous PPRS in 2005, there will be no compensating adjustments for companies in the 2009 PPRS," the department said. "This is because we did not receive the 75 percent of repayments for under-deliveries."

While the ABPI negotiates the PPRS agreement on behalf of its members, each company must reach its own accord with the government over prices of individual products and in some cases submit annual reports on sales. Because those agreements are confidential and vary by company, the amounts of the overpayments and underpayments aren't publicly available.

Pfizer, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the U.K.'s biggest drugmaker, are among the more than 150 participants in the 2009 pricing agreement, according to the Department of Health's website.

New Pricing System

"We are committed to ensuring the U.K.'s position as a global leader in pharmaceutical research and development, and to providing stability for companies to invest here," the department said in an e-mailed statement today. "That is why the government is committed to honoring the terms of the 2009 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme."

The industry is in the midst of negotiations on a new pricing system set to take effect in 2014, part of an effort to limit overall government spending. Weeks after Cameron's coalition government took power last year, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley told industry representatives that the prices of new medicines would be lower than companies wanted, according to the minutes of a June 7, 2010, meeting with the ABPI.

The Department of Health published its proposal in December, saying that it would set a basic price for new drugs that reflected how well they prevented hospitalizations and other costs in the NHS. The ABPI submitted comments on the proposal in March, saying that "an integrated and consistent negotiation process between government and industry is central" to integrating the old and new payment systems.

To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net Kristen Hallam in London at khallam@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net

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(BN) Brazil Senate May Not Vote on TV Until September, Oliveira Says

Bloomberg News, sent from my iPhone.

Brazil Senate May Not Vote on TV Until September, Oliveira Says

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's Senate may not vote on a law which would permit telephone operators such as Telefonica SA, Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA and GVT Holding SA to enter the subscription television market until September, according to Senator Eunicio Oliveira.

The measure, which would also end the restriction of control of television operators to national companies, may not be under discussion until the second half of the year due to other priorities, Oliveira said today by telephone from Fortaleza.

To contact the reporters on this story: Carla Simoes in Brasilia at csimoes1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net

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(BN) Barai Capital's Founder Admits Fraud as Part of Insider-Trading Crackdown

Bloomberg News, sent from my iPhone.

Barai Capital Founder Admits Fraud in Insider-Trading Crackdown

May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Barai Capital Management LP founder Samir Barai pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges as part of the U.S. government's largest crackdown on insider trading at hedge funds.

Barai, 39, of New York, also pleaded yesterday in Manhattan federal court to conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, wire fraud and obstruction for impeding a federal grand jury probe by destroying evidence. Magistrate Nathaniel Fox said Barai could face as long as 65 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 29.

The plea came just hours after Sonny Nguyen, 39, of San Jose, California, and a former senior financial analyst for Nvidia Corp., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff to conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in a related case.

"I deeply regret all of my actions in this case," Barai said.

Barai and Nguyen are among 13 people charged in a federal investigation of insider trading brought by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan. The probe is part of a larger investigation by Bharara's office of insider trading by hedge funds including Galleon Group LLC.

Barai spoke into a microphone to describe his crimes, saying he conspired with two SAC Capital Advisors LP fund managers, Noah Freeman and Donald Longueuil, to violate federal securities laws. Freeman and Longueuil have pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in the case. Freeman is cooperating with prosecutors.

'Numerous Occasions'

Barai said on "numerous occasions" from early 2006 to late 2010, "I paid for and utilized the services of an expert networking firm who employed persons working at technology companies."

He said that Freeman and Longueuil listened in on calls with expert networking sources who provided "material, nonpublic information including revenues, gross margins and earnings."

"I used this information in making trades," he said. "I also shared this information with Mr. Freeman and Mr. Longueuil so they could make trades at their hedge funds."

Both Barai and Nguyen implicated Winifred Jiau, then a consultant at expert networking firm Primary Global Research LLC in their schemes.

Barai said in May 2008 he participated in calls with Jiau, who provided tips about Marvell Technology Group Ltd., a Santa Clara, California-based maker of chips for personal computers and mobile phones. Jiau is charged with insider trading and is scheduled to go on trial before Rakoff on June 1.

'Conduct Was Wrong'

"I understood that Ms. Jiau had gotten the information from a Marvell employee who was not authorized to discuss it," Barai said. "I understood at the time my conduct was wrong and unlawful."

Daniel Yoo, a spokesman for Marvell, didn't immediately return an e-mail message seeking comment about Barai's statement that inside information came from a Marvell employee.

Barai said that on Nov. 19, 2010, he saw an article in the Wall Street Journal that described a federal grand jury probe in New York investigating hedge fund managers who used expert networking consultants to get inside information.

"I contacted my research analyst and directed him to destroy certain electronic and hard copies related to trading activities," he said.

Barai and his lawyer, Evan Barr, declined to comment after court.

Substantial Assistance

Barai will provide "substantial assistance," prosecutors said in court papers. The U.S. agreed to submit a letter asking U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts to impose a reduced sentence, citing his cooperation.

At a May 12 hearing in federal court in New York, Jason Pflaum, a former analyst at Barai Capital, testified he listened in on phone calls when his boss got nonpublic information on companies from Jiau.

Pflaum said he listened in on calls with expert networkers, recorded them, wrote contemporaneous electronic instant messages and kept notes for Barai, who is hearing impaired. Rakoff ruled the government could use these notes and recordings as evidence against Jiau. Pflaum has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors.

Nguyen said in court yesterday that he passed tips about Nvidia's quarterly earnings before they were publicly announced to Jiau. Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, California, is a maker of graphics chips.

Passed Tips

Nguyen told Rakoff that he conspired with Jiau and another man he identified as Stanley Ng to pass and receive tips. "Between 2007 and 2008 I agreed with others to engage in an insider trading scheme," Nguyen said. "I provided material nonpublic information to my co-conspirators."

Rakoff interrupted him to ask, "Who was that?"

"That was Winnie Jiau and Stanley Ng, about Nvidia Corp.'s quarterly financial results before such information was public," Nguyen replied. "In exchange I received stock tips."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Avi Weitzman told Rakoff that Nguyen, who is cooperating with the government, is scheduled to be a witness against Jiau. He also said that Nguyen's co- conspirator "executed securities transactions" in Nvidia and Marvell.

Nguyen faces as long as five years in prison when he is sentenced by Rakoff on Nov. 29, Weitzman said.

Free on Bail

Nguyen, who said he was born in Vietnam and is a U.S. citizen, was permitted to remain free on $100,000 personal recognizance bond and allowed to travel between his home in California and New York.

His lawyer, Douglas Schneider, and Weitzman declined to comment after court. Rakoff told Nguyen to give his passport to court authorities.

Bob Sherbin, a spokesman for Nvidia, said in a telephone interview that Nguyen, who was employed at the company since October 2006, went on administrative leave on May 26 and has now resigned.

Sherbin said Nvidia is cooperating with the New York U.S. attorney's office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He also said Jiau worked for a brief period of time at Nvidia as an outside contractor.

The cases are U.S. v. Barai 11-cr-00116, and U.S. v. Nguyen, 11-CR-161, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in New York at pathurtado@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

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Egypt eases travel restrictions for Gaza travellers

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Serb court says Mladic fit for genocide trial

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Oman sets protesters' trial for June 1

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Friday, May 27, 2011

France 24 : G8 pledge $20 billion in aid to support new democracies

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- G8 pledge $20 billion in aid to support new democracies
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France 24 : PayPal, eBay file lawsuit over Google Wallet application

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France 24 : Strauss-Kahn lawyers accuse NYPD of media leaks

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France 24 : Mladic health concerns delay war crimes questioning

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- Mladic health concerns delay war crimes questioning
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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: IMF threat to withhold Greek aid spooks markets

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Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Lawsuit may be U.S. revenge for BP spill - ship mo...

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Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Lawsuit may be U.S. revenge for BP spill - ship mo...

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Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Lawsuit may be U.S. revenge for BP spill - ship mo...

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Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Top war crimes suspect Mladic arrested in Serbia

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Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Fwd: Democracy, default or "Inspocracy" my own rea...

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Fwd: Democracy, default or "Inspocracy" my own rea...: "Begin forwarded message: From: hassan abdallah < hassana20032003@yahoo.com > Date: 26 May 2011 19:37:51 EEST To: mshaheen2000@gmail.com Subj..."

LexisNexis Legal News: Here Are The Countries That Love To Soak The Rich

Here's an item from the LexisNexis Legal News mobile app that you might be interested in:

"Here Are The Countries That Love To Soak The Rich"

Tax attacks on the rich may seem extreme in the U.S., but around the world rates are far more aggr...

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Bin Hammam wants investigation into Blatter

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Fwd: Democracy, default or "Inspocracy" my own reasoning?



Begin forwarded message:

From: hassan abdallah <hassana20032003@yahoo.com>
Date: 26 May 2011 19:37:51 EEST
Subject: Democracy, default or "Inspocracy" my own reasoning?

Democracy, default or "Inspocracy" my own reasoning?

 

We all know that the power is to the people how can we make this dream becoming true?

 

The answer is so simple, all we have to do is adjust the constitution, the question is what to adjust & how?

 

The answer is, adding to the constitution few things:

 

1) - 51% of members of the parliament are liberal, not members of any of the political parties & are elected directly through the population.

 

2) - If one of the political parties refuses voting for new governmental elections (meaning breaking the nation in half or canceling it) the power goes immediately to the people that will dictate & order 51% of the liberal members of the parliaments that was elected from the majority of the population, then start new governmental elections that overrules the other political party (reaction equilibrium) & so on.

 

3) - Is it possible of making a true uncorrupted election & out of fraud through syndicates how that might be?

 

A) - in case of emergencies, voices are needed (petitions, elections, etc) each individual of the population goes immediately to the nearest A.T.M. 24/7 (Ex: all Belgium credit cards and debit cards or I.D. Cards are produced from the bank S.I.S & shares the same shape, size & chip).

That means all we have to add to the A.T.M. is a simple software to make the change happen in less than 25 hours.

 

B) - Role of syndicates is to supervise & follow-up the procedure, how?

A1) – After the voting through the A.T.Ms, Syndicates representatives 7 from each is at any time welcome to enter the National Bank and have the results.

B1) – Less than 7 days later each one of the voted participants receives an official letter from his Syndicates with mentioning what he has elected or voted for.

C1) – If any of the participants did not receive his official letter from his Syndicate, that means he has to present himself immediately to the syndicate to check about his vote (Corruption & fraud prevention).

 

That way the power will return to the people & overrule political parties through supporting 51% of liberal members of the Parliaments.

 

So help me GOD,


HK feng shui master charged with forging tycoon's will

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Armstrong adds two prominent defence attorneys to team

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Lindsay Lohan starts house arrest for jewellery theft

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G8 highlights euro debt risk to world economy

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Top war crimes suspect Mladic arrested in Serbia

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Lawsuit may be U.S. revenge for BP spill - ship mogul

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Witness - Shattered humanity inside Syria's security apparatus

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IMF threat to withhold Greek aid spooks markets

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Legal challenge delays FSA's probe into Keydata

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Mexican airline Interjet files to go public

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GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks inch up; euro drops vs Swiss franc

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Doing Business Laws in the Middle East

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Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Kercher killer Amanda Knox tried for slandering po...

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Kercher killer Amanda Knox tried for slandering po...: "Amanda Knox said her remarks about Italian police had been made solely in self-defence Continue reading the main story Rel..."

Kercher killer Amanda Knox tried for slandering police


Amanda Knox in court, March 12 2011 Amanda Knox said her remarks about Italian police had been made solely in self-defence

Related Stories

Amanda Knox, the US student convicted of murdering her British housemate in Italy, faces a fresh trial, charged with slandering police officers.
The claims stem from the inquiries into the death of Meredith Kercher in 2007.
At her murder trial, Knox, 23, claimed police hit her on the head during her interrogation. The police denied this.
Knox, who is currently appealing against her murder conviction, told an earlier hearing she never intended slander and was just defending herself.
If the American - who was due to appear in court on Tuesday - is found guilty, any additional jail term would be added to her existing 26-year sentence.
Parents on trial Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's former boyfriend, is also appealing against his conviction for Miss Kercher's murder.
Both Sollecito and Knox are awaiting the outcome of an independent examination of the forensic evidence in the case, which they say will prove their innocence.
Knox's parents are also due to stand trial separately in July for claiming their daughter was abused by police during the murder investigation.
Curt Knox and Edda Mellas made their claims in an interview with the British newspaper, the Sunday Times.
Meredith Kercher, who was 21 and came from London, died in November 2007 in the house she shared with Knox in the Umbrian town of Perugia.
Prosecutors said Miss Kercher died during a sex game which went wrong. Her semi-naked body was found partially covered by a duvet in her bedroom.


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Heikal speaks to Al-Ahram on a plan of action for Egypt - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

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Heikal speaks to Al-Ahram on Mubarak, Obama and Bin Laden - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

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Sunday, May 15, 2011

CNN - Egypt's former first lady set for heart surgery, hospital says

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CNN - IMF head to plead not guilty in alleged attempted rape

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Monday, May 9, 2011

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Mubarak’s assets frozen in Switzerland

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Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Egypt to uphold verdict that Palm Hills illegal

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Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Egyptian Resorts says a land sale deal cancelled

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Egyptian Resorts says a land sale deal cancelled

Egyptian Resorts says a land sale deal cancelled Send us your feedback about Arab Finance

Egyptian for Tourism Resorts (EGTS)



14 Apr 2011 01:01 PM
CAIRO- Real estate firm Egyptian Resorts (EGTS) said the tourism development authority had retracted its approval for selling a land plot allocated for the firm's Sahl Hasheesh resort on the Red Sea.
Egyptian Resorts said it would send a complaint to the authority. It said it had legal rights on the plot for which it paid $7.6 million, or 27 percent of the land's contract value and paid a further $5.3 million in rent and other costs.
"The General Authority for Tourism Development advises of the cancellation of initial approval issued to the company to allocate land ... in Sahl Hasheesh touristic project," the company said a statement.
It said the plot in question in the development covered 20 million square metres.
"The decision came without prior notice or legal justifications or giving the company a chance to correct any errors the authority deems," the statement said.
The firm's main 41 million square metre plot Sahl Hasheesh resort is also facing a legal challenge after a lawsuit was filed saying the government broke the law in selling the land to the firm. Shares in Egyptian Resorts tumbled 9 percent by 0902 GMT, while Egypt's benchmark .EGX30 was up 0.4 percent.
The developer reported a consolidated net loss of 9.4 million Egyptian pounds ($1.58 million) for the full year of 2010. The firm, which makes most of its money selling land to developers, has not sold any since the third quarter of 2008, when the global financial crisis dampened appetite for big real estate purchases in Egypt.
Source: Reuters

EGYPT: Court Overrules Mubarak-Era Sale Of Department Store Chain

EGYPT: Court Overrules Mubarak-Era Sale Of Department Store Chain

Egypt to uphold verdict that Palm Hills illegal

Egypt to uphold verdict that Palm Hills illegal

(BN) Egyptian Stocks: Amer Group


Amer Group Holding (AMER EY) advanced 1.7 percent to 1.21 Egyptian pounds, the highest level in almost a week. The Egyptian resorts developer said it's canceling the third phase of its Golf Porto Marina project on the Mediterranean Sea coast because of the country's economic downturn. The Cairo-based company will ask the Matrouh Governorate to take the land back and reimburse it.


To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net

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Egypt sectarian deaths slammed amid civil war fear

Egypt sectarian deaths slammed amid civil war fear

Mubarak’s assets frozen in Switzerland

Mubarak’s assets frozen in Switzerland

Switzerland adopted the ‘ Return of Illegal Assets Act’  a couple of years ago, allegedly in an attempt to shake off it somewhat shady image as financial safe haven for dictators. Mubarak is the next batter up. Yesterday his 30 year reign ended. That same day, his funds in Switzerland were frozen based on the RIAA.
“The [government] intends in doing so to avoid any risk of embezzlement of Egyptian state property,” a Swiss government statement read. “At the same time, the cabinet calls on responsible authorities in Egypt to comply with the justified demands of the Egyptian people in a quick, credible, participatory and transparent manner.”
Swiss banks have not provided all balance data to the government  so the exact amount that Mubarak holds is yet unknown. Speculations about his wealth vary from $ 3 to 70 billion. Apparently, the Mubarak family accumulated the funds of military contracts during the time that Mubarak was an air force officer.
The RIAA envisages that the Swiss government would only have to show that the funds held in Switzerland by an alleged corrupt official are significantly larger than what someone could have credibly earned in office, and that the country from which the funds originate was known to be corrupt. Then the burden of proving that the money came from legal sources would lie with the allegedly corrupt official, rather than the Swiss state. If the official could not prove a legitimate origin of his or her Swiss assets, they would be confiscated by the Swiss state; ultimately the funds would return to Egypt.
According to the World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery initiative estimates, the cross-border flow of proceeds from criminal activities, corruption and tax evasion between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion per year, about half of which come from the developing and transitional economies.
Since 1997, Swiss banks have been publicly accused of accepting money from dictators like Sani Abacha (Nigerian dictator), Mobutu (President of Congo), Lansana Conte (President of Guinea), Gnassingbe Eyadema (President of Togo), Arap Moi (President of Kenya), Omar Bongo (President of Gabon), Obiang Nguema (President of Equitorial Guinea), Blaise Compaore (President of Burkina Faso), Denis Sassou Nguesso (President of Congo-Brazzaville), Eduardo dos Santos (sitting President of Angola), Sadam Hussein (hanged Iraqi President), Jerry Rawling (Ghana’s dictator), Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines), Baby Doc Duvalier (dictator of Haiti), Raul Salinas (Mexico), Hosni Mubarak (Egypt), Yoweri Museveni (President of Uganda), Augusto Pinochet (late Chilean dictator), Muammar Gaddafi (Libya) and Ibrahim Babangida (Nigerian military ruler) without due diligence and without questioning the source of their wealth.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/11/news/international/swiss_banks_mubarak/index.htm
http://www.businessinsider.com/mubarak-swiss-bank-2011-2
http://www.thestatesmen.net/news/swiss-return-of-illicit-assets-act-pakistan-can-get-billions-back/

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Was this the Threat that Forced Mubarak to Quit?

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Was this the Threat that Forced Mubarak to Quit?: "Mubarak Toppled by CIA Because He Opposed US Plans for War with Iran; US Eyes Seizure of Suez Canal; Was this the Threat that Forced Mub..."

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Egypt Laws

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Egypt Laws: "Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Egypt Laws : 'Introduction to Egyptian Law Constitution Civil Law Doing Business Laws in Egypt , the Middle ..."

The Egyptian Xperience: Our real enemies!!

The Egyptian Xperience: Our real enemies!!: "It’s all a boiling pot that just burst, getting good and bad out. Once again we’re facing and fighting all sorts of demons and it’s our un..."

To visit the author's original Art. and blog please click on the link below:

http://fromparistocairo.blogspot.com/2011/05/real-enemy.html?showComment=1304946019846#c4833899231984416026

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Financial Times: Unilever fined for China price rise talk

May 06 2011 8:59 PM GMT
Unilever fined for China price rise talk
--
By Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai
--
Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group has been penalised Rmb2m by Beijing for talking about possible price rises – even though the increases were never implemented

Read the full article at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f5d62146-77e5-11e0-ab46-00144feabdc0.html



Mohamed E. Shaheen from iphone

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Egypt Laws

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: Egypt Laws: "Introduction to Egyptian Law Constitution Civil Law Doing Business Laws in Egypt , the Middle East and Gulf Tax Laws , Sales Tax & Ta..."

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: May 15, 2011 Auction off shares

Egyptian Corporate Lawyer: May 15, 2011 Auction off shares: "May 15, 2011 Auction off shares Auctioning off 933 thousand shares of shareholders who have not paid the remaining par value of t..."

May 15, 2011 Auction off shares

May 15, 2011
Auction off shares
Auctioning off 933 thousand shares of shareholders who have not paid the remaining par value of their equities on Sunday, May 15th, at 10:00 a.m.
 
May 17, 2011: Is The date of spin off of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding. (ORTE)





Standard Chartered Bank launches regional custody services in the Middle East - Mubasher

Standard Chartered Bank launches regional custody services in the Middle East - Mubasher

Standard Chartered Bank launches regional custody services in the Middle East - Mubasher

Standard Chartered Bank launches regional custody services in the Middle East - Mubasher

Shuaa raises Dubai's DSI on Saudi firm acquisition - Mubasher

Shuaa raises Dubai's DSI on Saudi firm acquisition - Mubasher

Friday, May 6, 2011

I just saw this on FOREX.com

I think you might enjoy this article: DJ Euro Drops On Report Greece Is Considering Leaving Euro Zone.

By Stephen L. Bernard
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--After a report that Greece was considering leaving the 17-nation currency bloc Friday, the euro unraveled against other major currencies.
The euro quickly hit session lows against the dollar, yen and Swiss franc.
Greece has raised the possibility of leaving the currency zone in recent talks with member states and the European Commission, according to a report posted on the web site of the German magazine Spiegel, which did not say where it obtained the information.
A senior Greek official and a German official have denied the report.
"Suggestions that Greece is threatening to leave the euro zone ... nothing more than a bargaining tactic," said Douglas Borthwick of Faros Trading.
The Spiegel report provided a third straight blow to the euro, which was battered Thursday after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet disappointed investors by not hinting at an interest-rate hike next month. The common currency also was hit hard in the sharp selloff of risk-related assets Thursday, which saw commodity prices tumble and the dollar rally.
Greece was the first country to seek a bailout from other euro-zone members last year amid ballooning deficits. Ireland and Portugal have since followed Greece in asking for financial assistance from the euro zone and International Monetary Fund.
There had been speculation in recent weeks that Greece would need to restructure its bailout to continue making payments.
The euro fell as low as $1.4373 after the report was initially released, before recovering modestly to $1.4412, according to EBS via CQG. It was the lowest the euro has traded against the dollar since April 20.
The euro dropped to a low of CHF1.2586, its lowest level against the Swiss franc since March 18.
It also fell to Y115.43 against Japan's yen, its lowest level against that currency since March 29.
The euro had received a slight boost earlier in New York trading as risk sentiment returned to the market following a better-than-expected report on U.S. employment. The government said employers added 244,000 jobs last month, much stronger than the 185,000 economists had forecast. Private employers, which account for about 70% of the work force, added 268,000 jobs in April, the biggest climb since February 2006.
The upbeat jobs data helped relieve some concerns about a slowdown in global economic growth.
-By Stephen L. Bernard, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-4528; stephen.bernard@dowjones.com
--Andrew J. Johnson contributed to this report.
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=QzlEWvLLzYVGkcPJ9pPx%2Fw%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 06, 2011 13:03 ET (17:03 GMT)2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.


Mohamed E. Shaheen from iphone