Free Republic

(Reuters) - Former top executives of a failed U.S. bank in Norfolk, Virginia, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on bank fraud and other charges for hiding loan losses in a scheme that allegedly led to the bank's demise, officials said Thursday.

A Bank of England manager stabbed himself to death due to the over-whelming pressure he was under at work, an inquest has heard.

"An American lawyer leading a class action suit in the United States has said that Barclays and other banks accused of rigging the Libor lending rate could be liable for hundreds of billions of dollars in damages." "‘There are thousands if not tens of thousands of entities that could possibly have a claim,’ said Michael Hausfeld...."

(Reuters) - China, the euro zone and Britain loosened monetary policy in the space of less than an hour on Thursday, signaling a growing level of alarm about the world economy, although suggestions of coordinated action were played down. Of the three, the surprise move was from Beijing which lowered its lending rate by 31 basis points to 6 percent following an interest rate cut just a month ago that also came out of the blue.

"This Libor-manipulation story grows crazier with each passing minute. We have officially disappeared now down the rabbit-hole of the international financial oligarchy. Former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond is testifying before parliament in London today...."

"Some of America's top banks are set to be dragged into a major criminal investigation of a global interest rate-fixing scandal about to engulf some of Wall Street's biggest institutions." "The worldwide probe centres on claims traders at Barclays colluded with rival banks to keep interest rates at levels to their benefit." "Barclays agreed to pay a whopping $453million in fines to the U.S. Justice Department and the UK's Financial Services Authority."

"Truly, the behaviour of some of Britain’s banks has been beyond contempt. Firstly, through greed and monumental misjudgment, they plunged Britain into a recession that could last a decade and which threatens our children’s futures."

LONDON – Deep-cover MI6 agents who have described the workings of the once-secret underground uranium enrichment plant near the Iranian city of Qom now have discovered a staggering five more similar operations, according to a report....

“Hubris-laden charlatans” was the way a recent e-mail from a reader characterized the Obama administration. That phrase seems especially appropriate for the charlatan in chief, Barack Obama, whose speech to a joint session of Congress was both a masterpiece of rhetoric and a shameless fraud. To tell us, with a straight face, that he can insure millions more people without adding to the already skyrocketing deficit is world-class chutzpa and an insult to anyone’s intelligence. To do so after an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office has already showed this to be impossible reveals the depths of moral bankruptcy behind...

While you may still have the delusion that Congress and Senators work for you because you elected them and pay their wages, and are there to serve you, Obama and his 44 (so far) UNELECTED, UNVETTED, AND responsible ONLY TO HIM and not even subject to Congressional oversight Czars are not your servants - they are your bosses, your rulers and there is nothing you can do about it. NOTHING, short of removing King Obama from office and thus his "princes" with him.

As an observer of the Oba-Hussein Administration strategy and tactics, which increasingly seems to misjudge the minds of the American people and bask in the narcissistic glow of accolades from their core admirers and bought supporters, it occurred to me that the choice of Tuesday September 8th to try to hog the national news scene has much to do with another MAJOR event taking place on that date...

JERUSALEM (AP) - U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton said Sunday that she supports the separation barrier Israel is building along the edges of the West Bank, and that the onus is on the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism. "This is not against the Palestinian people," Clinton, a New York Democrat, said during a tour of a section of the barrier being built around Jerusalem. "This is against the terrorists. The Palestinian people have to help to prevent terrorism. They have to change the attitudes about terrorism." Israel has built about three-fourths of the barrier, which is expected to stretch about 680...

American intelligence believe that Iran has advanced on its march toward development of nuclear weapons, a major US newspaper reported Sunday. The newspaper The New York Times said that the CIA passed intelligence to the International Atomic Energy Committee that had been recovered from a computer stolen from a top Iranian official. The documents contained descriptions of experiments and blueprints of Iranian nuclear facilities. The US intelligence agency claimed that this new information was the strongest evidence yet that Iran is trying to develop a compact nuclear warhead to fit atop its lauded Shahab missile, which can reach Israel. Speaking...

WASHINGTON -- A conspiracy theory is brewing in Congress, but it has nothing to do with the typical inside-the-Beltway preoccupations: Did the government take part in a conspiracy to kill rapper Tupac Shakur? While conspiracy theorists are still plumbing Shakur's unsolved Las Vegas murder, a member of Congress wants some answers. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., has introduced a bill aimed at uncovering documents in the death investigation of Shakur, who was shot in 1996 at Koval Lane and East Flamingo Road. But, adding to the mystery in this conspiracy, she won't say why. Approached outside her congressional office on Wednesday,...

A banner behind New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin during a town hall meeting at True Light Baptist Church offered soothing words from the Bible's book of Galatians: "Walk in the Spirit." Yet as Nagin faced hundreds of frustrated, displaced people from the most devastated parts of New Orleans on Monday night, the spirit he had to walk through was anger from people who blame him for their shattered lives. "Don't shoot the messenger," Nagin pleaded during the two-hour session. "I'm just telling you what the people in Washington are telling me." But Nagin, not politicians in Washington, is the messenger...

LOS ANGELES — Peter F. Drucker, revered as the father of modern management for his numerous books and articles stressing innovation, entrepreneurship and strategies for dealing with a changing world, died Friday. He was 95. Drucker died of natural causes at his home in Claremont, east of Los Angeles, said Bryan Schneider, a spokesman for Claremont Graduate University, where Drucker taught. "He is purely and simply the most important developer of effective management and of effective public policy in the 20th century," former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Friday. "In the more than 30 years that I've studied him,...

Democratic Party fat-cat-songbird Barbra Streisand is calling for President Bush to be impeached because he "deceived" the country about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In the latest Streisand "Truth Alert" posted to her web site, the Democrat diva declares: "If there was ever a time in history to impeach a President of the United States, it would be now. In my opinion, it is two years too late. "We were clearly deceived by this administration and now we find ourselves fighting a war under false pretenses . . .

Syndicated columnist and commentator Tony Snow "loves” the Samuel Alito pick as the next U.S. Supreme Court nominee. He loves it for several reasons, including judicial philosophy, but also because it lights a fire under many politicians. Snow said during his self-titled radio program Monday that he loves the Alito pick as much as he hated the Harriet Miers nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. "Bush screwed up with the Miers nomination,” Snow said. "A Supreme Court nomination is not for the faint of heart – it’s not an honor for nice people who bake a nice pie. By selecting...

LOS ANGELES -- Sylvester Stallone is reprising his role as gun-totin' John Rambo in the upcoming "Rambo IV." The 59-year-old actor is also coming back as Rocky. He will write and direct the film he's calling "Rocky Balboa," the sixth installment in the series. The new Rambo will start when the new Rocky wraps.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Stung by his recent indictment in Texas, Tom Delay is trying to turn his legal woes into a financial boon for his re-election. The former House majority leader is using his congressional campaign to distribute to voters derogatory information about the prosecutor who brought the charges against him and to solicit donations for his re-election. "Help Tom fight back," reads one of the solicitations on the Web site that voters are being directed to as part of an Internet-based campaign funded by DeLay's re-election committee.http://www.TomDelay.com Contributors, voters and others who sign up can get regular e-mails and...