Free Republic

SVB CEO and President Gregory Becker sold over 12,000 shares for $3,578,652.31 on February 26, while CFO Beck sold $575,180 in stocks in a separate transaction on the same day. Ahead of the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), many of the company’s top executives sold their shares worth $4.5 million in the company. The bank’s Chief Executive Officer Gregory Becker, Chief Financial Officer Daniel Beck, and Chief Marketing Officer Michelle Draper sold their shares of the bank’s parent company SVB Financial Group. While CEO and President Becker sold over 12,000 shares for $3,578,652.31 on February 26, CFO Beck...

Ethiopia facing new famine with 4.5 million children in danger of starvation By Caroline Gammell Last Updated: 1:33PM BST 06/06/2008 Ethiopia is facing a new famine as drought and rising food prices threaten starvation for 4.5 million children, aid agencies warned. Children under five are worst affected with more than 75,000 suffering from severe malnutrition and in need of urgent care, according to Unicef. An estimated 3.4 million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid over the next three months while nearly double that figure are at risk of malnutrition. The World Food Programme estimates that £75 million is needed to...

France, Germany and Italy paid about $45 million to obtain the release of hostages kidnapped in Iraq, despite denying it in public, a British newspaper reports. Britain has not handed out any money to kidnap gangs, the paper said on Monday, basing its report on "documents seen by The Times". The list of payments has also been seen by Western diplomats, who are angered at the behaviour of the three governments. France, Italy and Germany have all publicly denied paying any ransom money. "But according to the documents, held by security officials in Baghdad who have played a crucial role...