HSBC ‘to pay $1.9bn’ in US deal

10 December 2012 Last updated at 19:30 ET

HSBC is to pay US authorities $ 1.9bn (£1.2bn) in a settlement over money-laundering, say reports, the largest ever in such a case.

The UK-based bank was alleged to have helped launder money belonging to drug cartels and states under US sanctions.

Earlier this year HSBC admitted having poor money laundering controls following a US Senate investigation.

Last month announced it had set aside $ 1.5bn to cover the costs of any settlement or fines.

The deal could be announced as early as Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reports.

It follows the announcement of a similar but much smaller settlement with UK-based Standard Chartered bank, which will pay $ 300m in fines for violating US sanction rules.

The cases are seen as part of a crackdown on money laundering and sanctions violations being led by federal government agencies and New York state authorities.

The $ 1.9bn sum in the HSBC settlement is expected to include around $ 1.25bn forfeited by HSBC – the largest amount ever paid out in such a case – and a $ 650m civil fine.

The bank will also admit charges of violating bank secrecy laws and the Trading With the Enemy Act, reports suggest.

Senate criticism

The settlement had been widely expected following a report by the US Senate, published earlier this year, that was heavily critical of HSBC’s money laundering controls.

The report suggested HSBC accounts in Mexico and the US were being used by drug barons to launder money.

It cited examples including the transfer of $ 7bn between HSBC’s Mexican and US subsidiaries between 2007 and 2008, made despite Mexico’s reputation as a centre of drug smuggling.

It also said HSBC regularly circumvented restrictions on dealings with Iran, North Korea, and other states under US sanctions.

HSBC admitted its money laundering controls were not strong enough following the Senate report.

On Tuesday the London-based multinational announced it had appointed a former US official to work as its head of financial crime compliance – a new position.

Bob Werner was previously the head of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) – the agency responsible for enforcing the US sanctions on countries including Iran.

He will be responsible for beefing up HSBC’s anti money laundering and sanctions compliance systems.

It is unclear what impact the case will have on HSBC’s business. The bank is the biggest in Europe by market capitalisation, and made pre-tax profits of $ 12.7bn for the first six months of 2012.

BBC News – Business

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Massive HP conference draws 10,000 attendees to ogle products, speakers, presentations

By Suzy Hansen

More than 10,000 customers, partners and attendees flocked to the Hewlett-Packard Discover conference in Frankfurt, Germany, this week to learn about HP’s latest products, exchange ideas, swap business cards and basically examine whether HP can improve the way their companies are run. The event was held at Messe Frankfurt, one of the world’s largest trade exhibition sites.

CEO Meg Whitman acknowledged in her speech on Tuesday that HP has gone through some rough times this past year. HP’s stock price has been nearly halved during her tenure. Whitman, however, pointed out that HP has $ 120 billion in revenue and is the 10th-largest company in the United States. In Q4, HP has generated $ 4.1 billion in cash flow.

“We are the No. 1 or No. 2 provider in almost every market,” Whitman told the crowd in Frankfurt.

Whitman emphasized  executives’ increasing concerns about security and said that it will be addressed by “a new approach”: HP’s security portfolio, with Autonomy and Vertica, which helps “analyze and understand the context of these events.” Executive Vice President of Enterprise Dave Donatelli spoke about converged infrastructure, or bringing together server, network and storage; their software-defined data centers; and their new servers, which “change the way servers have been defined.” George Kadifa, executive vice president of software, said 94 of the top 100 companies use HP software. HP is the sixth-largest software company in the world, with 16,000 employees in 70 countries, Kadifa added.

Also at the conference was Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks and an old friend of Whitman’s from their Disney days, who roused the crowd with a fun speech about his long relationship with HP. Katzenberg showed an old video of himself onstage with a lion, which nearly mauled him. This time, he appeared onstage with a guy in a lion suit. The lesson was to learn from past mistakes and move on.

“If I am smart enough to say ‘scalable multicorps processing,’ I am smart enough to not put myself onstage with a real lion again,” he joked.

The Discover conference is a key vehicle for HP to show off products it’s offering in the coming year. Among them were the latest ProLiant and Integrity servers, the 3PAR StoreServ 7000 and the StoreAll and StoreOnce storage systems. At the HP Labs section of the conference, attendees could learn about the cloud infrastructure or test HP’s new ElitePad 900.

Throughout the three-day event, which saw attendance grow by 30 percent this year, attendees wandered the enormous halls, milling around displays, watching videos, listening to speeches and participating in workshops. People gathered on clustered couches and chatted with new acquaintances, frequently stopping to plug in their various devices and recharge themselves with coffee. With people coming from all over the world, you could hear many languages spoken, from Arabic to French to the most bewildering of them all: the language of technology. Despite the large crowds, it was hard not to notice there were very few women among the thousands in attendance. In fact, when asked about this phenomenon, one female HP employee said, “Trust me, you aren’t the first person who has come up to me asking about this.”

Indeed, the Discover conference was like a forest of men in suits. The few women stood out like rays of sunlight. 

Regardless of their presence at this conference, women are making big strides in information technology. Among the leaders are HP CEO Whitman, who also led eBay; Carly Fiorina, who ran HP before Whitman; Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer; and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Were the women at the Discover conference surprised by the low female turnout?

“No, for IT this is standard,” said Stefanie, a 30-year-old product manager from Germany. “Many are afraid of all the technical stuff, and you have to prove that you are capable of it. You get more women in retail and distribution but not in high-tech areas, at least not in Europe. In America there are more women in management positions and in general.”

Americans might assume that Europe, with its generous social programs that include free daycare, enables more women to ascend the corporate ladder. But that still doesn’t mean that a woman trying to balance a high-tech career and a family is always accepted in European society.

“There is still a lot of emphasis on the family,” Stefanie said. “It’s easier to move up in the U.S., where there is a culture of ‘having it all.’ It’s quite a fight to get there here.”

Still, the IT industry might seem inhospitable to women. Could this male-dominated profession be male-dominant because women have a hard time breaking in?

Stefanie disagreed. “No, they actually like working with women,” she said. “They want to.”

One male conference attendee, who asked not to be named, was less certain.

“There’s a lot of ego and testosterone,” he said. “It can’t be easy” for women.

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Massive HP conference draws 10,000 attendees to ogle products, speakers, presentations

By Suzy Hansen

More than 10,000 customers, partners and attendees flocked to the Hewlett-Packard Discover conference in Frankfurt, Germany, this week to learn about HP’s latest products, exchange ideas, swap business cards and basically examine whether HP can improve the way their companies are run. The event was held at Messe Frankfurt, one of the world’s largest trade exhibition sites.

CEO Meg Whitman acknowledged in her speech on Tuesday that HP has gone through some rough times this past year. HP’s stock price has been nearly halved during her tenure. Whitman, however, pointed out that HP has $ 120 billion in revenue and is the 10th-largest company in the United States. In Q4, HP has generated $ 4.1 billion in cash flow.

“We are the No. 1 or No. 2 provider in almost every market,” Whitman told the crowd in Frankfurt.

Whitman emphasized  executives’ increasing concerns about security and said that it will be addressed by “a new approach”: HP’s security portfolio, with Autonomy and Vertica, which helps “analyze and understand the context of these events.” Executive Vice President of Enterprise Dave Donatelli spoke about converged infrastructure, or bringing together server, network and storage; their software-defined data centers; and their new servers, which “change the way servers have been defined.” George Kadifa, executive vice president of software, said 94 of the top 100 companies use HP software. HP is the sixth-largest software company in the world, with 16,000 employees in 70 countries, Kadifa added.

Also at the conference was Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks and an old friend of Whitman’s from their Disney days, who roused the crowd with a fun speech about his long relationship with HP. Katzenberg showed an old video of himself onstage with a lion, which nearly mauled him. This time, he appeared onstage with a guy in a lion suit. The lesson was to learn from past mistakes and move on.

“If I am smart enough to say ‘scalable multicorps processing,’ I am smart enough to not put myself onstage with a real lion again,” he joked.

The Discover conference is a key vehicle for HP to show off products it’s offering in the coming year. Among them were the latest ProLiant and Integrity servers, the 3PAR StoreServ 7000 and the StoreAll and StoreOnce storage systems. At the HP Labs section of the conference, attendees could learn about the cloud infrastructure or test HP’s new ElitePad 900.

Throughout the three-day event, which saw attendance grow by 30 percent this year, attendees wandered the enormous halls, milling around displays, watching videos, listening to speeches and participating in workshops. People gathered on clustered couches and chatted with new acquaintances, frequently stopping to plug in their various devices and recharge themselves with coffee. With people coming from all over the world, you could hear many languages spoken, from Arabic to French to the most bewildering of them all: the language of technology. Despite the large crowds, it was hard not to notice there were very few women among the thousands in attendance. In fact, when asked about this phenomenon, one female HP employee said, “Trust me, you aren’t the first person who has come up to me asking about this.”

Indeed, the Discover conference was like a forest of men in suits. The few women stood out like rays of sunlight. 

Regardless of their presence at this conference, women are making big strides in information technology. Among the leaders are HP CEO Whitman, who also led eBay; Carly Fiorina, who ran HP before Whitman; Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer; and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Were the women at the Discover conference surprised by the low female turnout?

“No, for IT this is standard,” said Stefanie, a 30-year-old product manager from Germany. “Many are afraid of all the technical stuff, and you have to prove that you are capable of it. You get more women in retail and distribution but not in high-tech areas, at least not in Europe. In America there are more women in management positions and in general.”

Americans might assume that Europe, with its generous social programs that include free daycare, enables more women to ascend the corporate ladder. But that still doesn’t mean that a woman trying to balance a high-tech career and a family is always accepted in European society.

“There is still a lot of emphasis on the family,” Stefanie said. “It’s easier to move up in the U.S., where there is a culture of ‘having it all.’ It’s quite a fight to get there here.”

Still, the IT industry might seem inhospitable to women. Could this male-dominated profession be male-dominant because women have a hard time breaking in?

Stefanie disagreed. “No, they actually like working with women,” she said. “They want to.”

One male conference attendee, who asked not to be named, was less certain.

“There’s a lot of ego and testosterone,” he said. “It can’t be easy” for women.

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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“X Factor” castoff Cheryl Cole files $2.3 million lawsuit against producers

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Cheryl Cole, who was originally hired as a judge for the American version of “The X Factor” but was replaced by Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger before the show premiered, is now suing the producers of the show for $ 2.3 million dollars, according to court papers obtained by TheWrap.

In the complaint against Blue Orbit Productions, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Girls Aloud singer Cole claims that she entered a pay-or-play agreement with Blue Orbit Productions in April 22, 2011, that guaranteed her $ 1.8 million for the first season of the show, and $ 2 million for the second.

The suit also says that Cole was also due to receive other expenses for housing, wardrobe, styling and general living expenses.

Cole claims that she received the $ 1.8 million for the first season, but the producers didn’t pony up for the wardrobe/styling allowance, housing allowance (which, according to the suit, was $ 15,000 per month) or living allowance.

She also didn’t receive her guaranteed $ 2 million for the second season, the suit claims.

Now Cole wants damages “in excess of $ 2.3 million,” plus interest at the legal rate, and court costs.

TheWrap was unable to reach Blue Orbit Productions for comment.

(Pamela Chelin contributed to this report)

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Freezing Breast Cancer Tumors Is Better Than Surgery

FIRST PERSON | Surgery for small breast cancer tumors may soon be a thing of the past. A new procedure called cryoablation turns a tumor into a ball of ice. Instead of undergoing surgery to remove the tumor, a doctor can now freeze it. I like that idea.

Freezing tumors

The Telegraph reported on Dec. 10 that doctors are looking into cyroablation as a viable alternative to breast cancer surgery. Cryoablation is available in the United States, but it’s not usually performed on breast cancer tumors. The procedure is simple: A needle is inserted into the tumor and causes it to freeze. There is no need to remove the tumor, as it dies and the body absorbs it.

The needle is hooked up to specialized equipment, which is cooled to a chilly -274 degrees Fahrenheit. A network of tiny tubes deliver liquid nitrogen to the needle, and the physician controls the size of the “ice ball” delivered to the tumor. This allows the doctor to freeze breast cancer tumors as large as a golf ball.

Alternatives to surgery are needed

If cryoablation could be used as an alternative to breast cancer surgery, it would be wonderful. I had two surgeries for breast cancer. The first was a wire-guided surgical biopsy to determine if the tumor was actually cancerous, and then I had a mastectomy of my left breast several months later.

It would have been great to have the choice to opt out of surgery and instead have the tumor frozen. I would still have my left breast, and breast reconstruction would not have been an issue. Instead of undergoing a surgery that took more than 12 hours, I would have had a 15-minute procedure in a doctor’s office. Recovery time from surgery was more than a month. Cryoablation has little to no recovery time.

Hopefully, cryoablation will become a reality for breast cancer patients. Not all women will fall into the guidelines for this procedure, but many will. The medical community should look for any means possible to prevent the disfiguring surgeries current breast cancer treatment requires.

Lynda Altman was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2011. She writes a series for Yahoo! Shine called “My Battle With Breast Cancer.”

Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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India’s Strange Obsession With Hitler

All that remains of the sign above the Hitler clothing store in Ahmedabad, India, is the swastika that used to dot its “i.” Citing cultural insensitivity, the municipality tore it down on Oct. 30 after the store’s owners refused to change it. Rajesh Shah, a co-owner of the shop, which opened in August, is flummoxed. “We are popular because of the name,” he says. “Our customers were not upset about the name. They said, ‘Don’t change it.’ Ahmedabadis like the name because they know Hitler [has not done] anything harmful to India.”

Lacking the sting of anti-Semitism but troubling nonetheless, the Hitler brand is gaining strength in India. Mein Kampf is a bestseller, and bossy people are often nicknamed Hitler on television and in movies.

In 2006 a cafe called Hitler’s Cross opened in Mumbai; in 2011 a pool hall named Hitler’s Den opened nearby in Nagpur. Owners of both say Hitler was a draw; the names were changed in the face of criticism from Jewish groups. (In Ahmedabad, store owner Shah says that only foreigners complained.)

Hero Hitler in Love, a Punjabi comedy about a man with an explosive temper, and the Hindi film Gandhi to Hitler, a sympathetic portrait of the dictator’s last days (Gandhi once wrote to the Führer), came out last year. A soap opera, Hitler Didi—or “big sister Hitler”—is a hit. Bal Thackeray, the leader of a far-right Hindu party who recently died, professed admiration for Hitler.

Unlike in some parts of Europe such as Russia and Austria, where Mein Kampf has been embraced by the extreme right, Hitler’s popularity in India is not the result of anti-Semitism, says Navras Jaat Aafreedi, a professor of social sciences at Gautam Buddha University in New Delhi. He says it stems from a dearth of European history classes in schools. To the extent that German history is taught, he says, it’s in the context of “the view that had Hitler not weakened the British Empire by the Second World War, the British would have never voluntarily left India.” The country’s Jewish community—some 5,300 people—is one of a few in the world to have never been persecuted by their countrymen, he says.

Solomon Sopher, president of the Baghdadi Jewish community in Mumbai, agrees: “We have never been persecuted by any caste or creed. Not even by the Muslims.” He adds that Indians are prone to “hero worship” of strong military leaders. “Lack of examples of strong leadership in India leads the Indian youth to admire Hitler,” explains Aafreedi.

That may explain why Mein Kampf, the dictator’s memoir, sells briskly in Mumbai and is printed by at least 13 publishers in India, according to Economic & Political Weekly. Mein Kampf is also becoming a must-read for some business schools applicants. “Each year, when I sit for admission interviews, there [are] books that are mentioned as favorite reads” by applicants, says Uma Narain, a professor at S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research. “This year, many referred to Mein Kampf.” While Narain says she wouldn’t dream of teaching Mein Kampf, she can understand the lure of “the autobiographical account and political ideology of a charismatic man who supposedly got things done.”

Although Shah says the Hitler clothing store’s name was apolitical, he says the controversy has been good for business. He is petitioning the courts to reverse the decision to take the name down. “We’re going to fight for the name ‘Hitler,’ ” he says.

The bottom line: The popularity of Hitler is rising in India, reflecting the national attraction to strong leaders.

Shaftel is a Bloomberg Businessweek contributor.

Businessweek.com — Top News

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Ghana’s Mahama wins election – electoral body’s Facebook page

ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana incumbent President John Dramani Mahama was elected to a new term with 50.7 percent of votes cast, according to results posted on the Electoral Commission‘s Facebook page on Sunday.

It was not immediately possible to verify the results with an Electoral Commission official.

Mahama, who became president in July after the death of ex-leader John Atta Mills, was facing top rival Nana Akufo-Addo – who took 47.4 percent of the vote, according to the Electoral Commission’s Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/ECGOVGH

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Ghana’s Mahama wins election – electoral body’s Facebook page

ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana incumbent President John Dramani Mahama was elected to a new term with 50.7 percent of votes cast, according to results posted on the Electoral Commission‘s Facebook page on Sunday.

It was not immediately possible to verify the results with an Electoral Commission official.

Mahama, who became president in July after the death of ex-leader John Atta Mills, was facing top rival Nana Akufo-Addo – who took 47.4 percent of the vote, according to the Electoral Commission’s Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/ECGOVGH

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Alejandro González Iñárritu to direct “Birdman”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Alejandro González Iñárritu is set to direct “Birdman” from a script he co-wrote with Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, a person familiar with the project told TheWrap.

Known for more dramatic pieces like “Amores Perros,” “Babel” and “Biutiful,” Iñárritu will be tacking a comedic film for the first time.

“Birdman” tells the story of an actor who once played an iconic superhero but is now facing a crisis as he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family and career in the days leading up to the opening of a Broadway play.

Production is slated to begin in March 2013. The film will be produced by Iñárritu, Robert Graf and John Lesher. Iñárritu and the film are represented by CAA.

Iñárritu is also moving forward on another film, “The Revenant,” which was announced in 2011, a person with knowledge of that project told TheWrap.

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Britain launches genome database for patients’ DNA

LONDON (Reuters) – Up to 100,000 Britons suffering from cancer and rare diseases are to have their genetic codes fully sequenced and mapped as part of government plans to build a DNA database to boost drug discovery and development.

Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday he wanted Britain to “push the boundaries” of scientific research by being the first country to introduce genetic sequencing into a mainstream health service.

His government has set aside 100 million pounds for the project in the taxpayer-funded National Health Service (NHS) over the next three to five years.

“Britain has often led the world in scientific breakthroughs and medical innovations, from the first CT scan and test-tube baby through to decoding DNA,” he said in a statement.

“It is crucial that we continue to push the boundaries and this new plan will mean we are the first country in the world to use DNA codes in the mainstream of the health service.”

The government said building a database of DNA profiles will give doctors more advanced understanding of a patient’s genetic make-up, their illness and their treatment needs. This should help those who are sick get access to the right drugs and more personalised care more quickly.

The database should also help scientists develop new drugs and other treatments which experts predict “could significantly reduce the number of premature deaths from cancer within a generation”, Cameron’s office said in a statement,

“By unlocking the power of DNA data, the NHS will lead the global race for better tests, better drugs and above all better care,” Cameron said.

“If we get this right, we could transform how we diagnose and treat our most complex diseases not only here but across the world, while enabling our best scientists to discover the next wonder drug or breakthrough technology.”

Some critics of the project, known as the “UK genome plan”, have voiced concerns about how the data will be used and shared with third parties, including with commercial organisations such as drug companies.

Genewatch, a campaign group fighting for genetic science and technologies to be used in the public interest, has said anyone with access to the database could use the genetic codes to identify and track every individual on it and their relatives.

Cameron’s office stressed, however, that the genome sequencing would be entirely voluntary and patients will be able to opt out without affecting their NHS care. It added the data would be “completely anonymised before it is stored”.

The government’s chief medical officer Sally Davies said the new project and the 100 million pounds of funding for it “opens up the possibility of being able to look at the three billion DNA pieces in each of us so we can get a greater understanding of the complex relationship between our genes and lifestyle.”

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Medications/Drugs News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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