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Het aantal bonnen voor snelheidsovertredingen is in 2007 met 10 procent gestegen naar ruim 9,7 miljoen. Met een totaal aantal van 12.640.881 boetes, goed voor 550 miljoen euro, werd een record gevestigd.
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Vanaf morgen worden boetes 20 procent hoger.
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Two widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, Vytorin and Zetia, may not work and should be used only as a last resort, The New England Journal of Medicine said in an editorial published on Sunday.
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Merck and Schering-Plough, the companies that make Vytorin and Zetia, said on Sunday that despite the results of the trial, they would continue to promote their medicines as first-line treatments for high cholesterol.
The medicines are among the top-selling drugs in the world, with total sales of about $5 billion last year. About four million Americans take them.
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The controversial chief executive who led Northern Rock to the brink of collapse has received a £760,000 payoff.
Adam Applegarth’s bonanza, which will be revealed when the bank publishes its annual accounts tomorrow, comes despite the fact the newly-nationalised bank still owes taxpayers £25billion.
Applegarth, 46, is also entitled to draw on a £2.5million pension pot once he reaches the age of 55 – which could give him retirement benefits of up to £200,000 a year.
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A newly surfaced memo from banking giant JPMorgan Chase provides a rare glimpse into the mentality that fueled the mortgage crisis.
The memo’s title says it all: “Zippy Cheats & Tricks.”
It is a primer on how to get risky mortgage loans approved by Zippy, Chase’s in-house automated loan underwriting system. The secret to approval? Inflate the borrowers’ income or otherwise falsify their loan application.
The document, a copy of which was obtained by The Oregonian, bears a Chase corporate logo. But it’s unclear how widely it was circulated or used within Chase.
Bank spokesman Tom Kelly confirmed that the “Cheats & Tricks” memo was e-mailed from Chase but added that it does not reflect Chase corporate policy.
“This is not how we do things,” he said. “We continue to investigate” the memo, Kelly said. “That kind of document would neither be condoned or tolerated.”
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A top investment bank said yesterday that some of its traders had tried to protect their massive bonuses with a £1.4billion scam.
Credit Suisse was forced to admit it will pay the price for the traders’ ruthless scheming by sinking into the red.
All the traders involved - some of them based in London - have been fired or suspended.
Shares in the bank, which is based in Zurich, tumbled 7.5 per cent yesterday.
I guess I’m going to have to create a full “Robber Barons” category on this weblog now…
