LONDON (AP) — British politicians are seeking an investigation into allegations that the Bank of England was also involved in manipulating a key market interest rate during the financial crisis. The BBC says it has a recording from 2008 between officials at Barclays bank that indicates the Bank of England was trying to influence the interest rate, called Libor. Several banks have been fined billions for tampering with the interest rate, which is used to price services like loans globally. Labour party lawmaker John McDonnell says “this is an extremely serious revelation that contradicts past assurances about the role of the Bank of England in the Libor scandal.” The central bank told the BBC that Libor was not regulated at the time and that it has been helping in past investigations.
Author: Breitbart London
Alleged Russian Hacker Arrested in Spain At Request of United States
MADRID (AP) — An alleged Russian hacker has been detained in Spain at the request of American authorities, an arrest that set cybersecurity circles abuzz after a Russian broadcaster raised the possibility it was linked to the U.S. presidential election. Pyotr Levashov was arrested Friday in Barcelona on a U.S. computer crimes warrant, according to a spokeswoman for Spain’s National Court, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with court rules. Such arrests aren’t unusual — American authorities typically try to nab Russian cybercrime suspects abroad because of the difficulty involved in extraditing them from Russia — but Levashov’s arrest drew immediate attention after his wife told a Russia’s RT broadcaster he was linked to America’s 2016 election hacking. RT quoted Maria Levashova as saying that armed police stormed into their apartment in Barcelona overnight, keeping her and her friend locked in a room for two hours while they quizzed Levashov. She said that when she spoke to her husband on the phone from the police station, he told her he was told that he had created a computer virus that was “linked to Trump’s election win.” Levashova didn’t elaborate, and the exact nature of the allegations weren’t immediately
Outrage After Eurozone Top Official Accuses Southern Europe Nations of Wasting Money on ‘Liquor and Women’
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The eurozone’s top official said “fatigue may have played a role” for comments he made last month that unleashed a storm of criticism across southern Europe. In an interview with Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, published Monday, Jeroen Dijsselbloem said the scale of the backlash made it look like “I committed a war crime.” Dijsselbloem, who chairs meetings of the eurozone’s 19 finance ministers, has been under fire from countries in southern Europe over an interview last month with German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in which he said: “I cannot spend all my money on liquor and women and then ask for your support.” The comment stoked widespread criticism across southern Europe as it was seen as a direct reference to them requiring state bailouts from primarily richer countries in northern Europe. Many politicians, including Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, called for Dijsselbloem’s resignation. Dijsselbloem said tiredness may have played a part in his comments, which came three days after Dutch national elections in which his Labor Party slumped to a large loss of seats in Parliament’s lower house. Dijsselbloem added that his comment “was my way of expressing that solidarity is not charity,” but denied
Swedish Prime Minister ‘Frustrated’ Terrorist Was Failed Asylum Seeker
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedes questioned their country’s welcoming immigration policies with pride and pain on Sunday after learning that an asylum-seeker from Uzbekistan was allegedly behind the truck rampage that killed four people, Stockholm’s deadliest…
PICS: Anti-Orban Protestors Rally For Soros Funded University in Hungary
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Some 70,000 people rallied in Budapest Sunday in support of a local university founded by American billionaire George Soros that is seen as a target for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s illiberal policies.
Moscow Slams London After Johnson Cancels Visit
MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia slammed London on Sunday after British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson cancelled a scheduled visit to Moscow over its support for the Syrian regime, claiming Britain has “no real influence” internationally. The cancellation “once again confirms doubts about the added value of dialogue with the British, who don’t have their own position on the majority of current issues,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. The British have “no real influence on the course of international affairs, remaining ‘in the shadow’ of their strategic partners,” it added. “We don’t believe we need dialogue with London more than (London) needs it (with us),” it said. The statement added there was a “fundamental misunderstanding or ignorance of what is happening in Syria and Russia’s efforts to resolve the crisis.” Johnson announced Saturday he would not travel to Moscow next week, saying that “developments in Syria have changed the situation fundamentally”. “My priority is now to continue contact with the US and others in the run up to the G7 meeting on 10-11 April,” he said. “We deplore Russia’s continued defence of the Assad regime even after the chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians.” Johnson then called on Russia to do “everything
Norwegian Police Destroy ‘Bomb-Like’ Device in Controlled Explosion
OSLO (AFP) – Norwegian police said Sunday they had destroyed a suspect “bomb-like” device in the capital Oslo and made one arrest, on the heels of a deadly truck attack in neighbouring Sweden killed four people. “Bomb disposal officers carried out a controlled explosion overnight Saturday,” a Norwegian police statement said. Police cordoned off part of the busy Gronland district and evacuated local bars and restaurants after the crude device — described as having the capacity to cause only limited damage — was discovered Saturday evening. Norway’s PST police security agency is investigating. There were no immediate further details. The device was discovered a day after four people were killed and 15 injured after a truck rammed into shoppers in Stockholm. Swedish police have detained a 39-year-old Uzbek man in connection with that incident.
‘Far-Left Militia’ Attacks Le Pen Rally in Corsica
Skirmishes broke out on Saturday ahead of a campaign rally by French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, prompting the removal of more than a dozen protesters and the evacuation of the hall in Ajaccio, Corsica. Latest polls ahead of the April-May French presidential election show the race tightening, with Le Pen — leader of the anti-immigrant National Front — neck-and-neck with centrist Emmanuel Macron, who is expected to beat her in the runoff. Around 50 people demonstrated in front of the venue in Ajaccio, chanting “We do not want the National Front”, according to local newspaper Corse Matin. Some of them managed to enter the hall where Le Pen was expected to speak. They clashed with Le Pen’s security team and fired teargas, prompting the evacuation of the hall, the newspaper said. The event was moved to another venue, French television BFM TV said. Le Pen’s campaign manager David Rachline said on Twitter that local authorities had not done enough to secure the venue and had allowed far-left “militia” to come too close. Rachline said a National Front activist was seriously injured during the clashes.
After Two Decades of Efforts, EU Fines, Greece Fails To Get Citizens to Recycle Rubbish
ATHENS (AFP) – A steady stream of EU fines and two decades of trying have failed to get recycling off the ground in Greece, where eco-awareness is only half-heartedly promoted by authorities. According the European environment agency, only 16 percent of household waste is recycled across the country, compared to a 50-percent target by 2020 under EU directives. In contrast, the European recycling average is 28 percent, with Slovenia leading at 49 percent and Latvia bringing up the rear at 3 percent. In Athens, with nearly four million inhabitants out of the country’s 11 million, only 13 percent of eligible waste is recycled, town hall figures show. “We don’t have a clear strategy and then we don’t have a political will to materialise this strategy,” notes Dimitris Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Greek branch of Greenpeace. Around many parts of the country, and especially in the countryside, garbage is still scattered piecemeal in makeshift dumps — one of them on a hillside on Andros island actually collapsed under the strain in 2011, burying a beach below in the process. In 2014, Greece still had some 70 dumps, most of them tolerated if not actively run by municipal authorities. In June 2014, nearly
Berlin to See First ‘Jewish Campus’ Since Holocaust
Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal doesn’t get much sleep these days, but says it’s well worth it. The community rabbi and head of the Jewish outreach group Chabad in Berlin has been campaigning relentlessly to turn his dream of creating a Jewish campus in Germany…