Monday, 06 September 2010 06:28 'The earthquake that devastated a city in New Zealand tore open a new 11ft faultine in the Earth’s surface.The 7.1-magnitude quake which hit Christchurch, the country’s second-largest city, destroyed about 500 buildings and caused an estimated £930million of damage. But hundreds of lives were saved by tough building rules, it was claimed. Only two injuries were reported.' Monday, 06 September 2010 05:58 'The European Jewish Congress has demanded an apology and full retraction from Karel De Gucht following his comments. Mr De Gucht, a former Belgian foreign minister, made the remarks in an interview in which he was asked about the resumption of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. He said: "You cannot underestimate the weight of the Jewish lobby on Capitol Hill, the US Congress. It is the most well-organised pressure group over there".' Read more: EU Trade Chief Accused of Anti-Semitism over 'Jewish Lobby' Comments Monday, 06 September 2010 05:20 'Do Canadians know the dark underbelly of what a trade agreement is? Have they been given their right of informed consent to agreements which alter the fabric of their nation, not to mention their democratic rights? Successive Canadian governments have gutted our democracy and turned Canadians into the pawns of international agreements that affect their livelihoods, their quality of life, their health freedom, their Charter rights, and their right to democratic representation. According to Stephen Harper, the new "facts of life" mean that Canadians must go along to get along.' Monday, 06 September 2010 04:49 'Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is the subject of a California lawsuit alleging that the "family company" colluded with pharmaceutical consultant Omnicare to push its drugs on nursing home residents. Among the charges are allegations that J&J violated federal Medicaid laws with its schemes to maximize profits. According to the suit, J&J was paying kickbacks to Omnicare to promote its drugs above those of other manufacturers, and convincing doctors that switching to J&J drugs was in their patients' best interests. The arrangement also included whitewashing these kickbacks as "performance rebates" that would be issued as "year-end bonuses".' Monday, 06 September 2010 04:44 'A letter explained. As his beneficiary, she was entitled to $400,000 in death benefits along with something looking like a checkbook. The funds "would be placed in a convenient interest-bearing account, allowing her time to decide how to use" them, the letter saying: "You can hold the money in the account for safekeeping for as long as you like," plus a disclaimer in easily overlooked fine print, explaining "what it called its Alliance Account," a non-FDIC insured scheme, a ripoff to defraud beneficiaries like Lohman. After leaving the funds untouched for months, she tried unsuccessfully using one of the "checks," then failed a second time. She was "shocked," saying she thought the money was FDIC insured, in a bank, to be used freely. Not so. The "checks" were drafts or IOUs. "That money - like $28 billion in 1 million death-benefit accounts managed by (130 insurers like Prudential) wasn't actually sitting in a bank." It was in Prudential's general corporate account earning income - around 4.8% for insurers, 1% or less for survivors. This summer it was 0.5%, less than half what some banks pay on jumbo CDs, and way less than insurers yield on their investments.'
Monday, 6 September 2010
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