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The world's third-richest man has been accused of pulling of the 'largest con in corporate history' through the Indian-based Adani Group corporation. US investor Hindenburg Research, which has begun short selling the conglomerate through bonds, conducted a two-year probe into head Gautam Adani, who is worth $125billion. The firm alleges that Adani and his family controlled a web of offshore shell accounts that it used to carry out corruption, money laundering and taxpayer theft, all while siphoning money from the companies they owned. Adani has pulled off this gargantuan feat with the help of enablers in government and a cottage...

Have a few questions and my head is spinning.

The trader sold 19,000 put options on the S&P 500 Index obligating him or her to buy the market benchmark at 2,100 on Dec. 18, 2020, data from New York-based options analytics firm Trade Alert showed. As long as the index doesn't drop more than 22 percent from its current level of 2,582 by that date, the bet will earn the trader roughly $175 million in premiums. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway sold billions of dollars in stock index options between 2004 and 2008, betting that markets would rise over the next 15 to 20 years. Although the trades were made anonymously,...

A curious finding emerged in the latest 13F by Soros Fund Management, the family office investment vehicle managing the personal wealth of George Soros. Actually, two curious findings: the first was that the disclosed Assets Under Management as of December 31, 2013 rose to a record $11.8 billion (this excludes netting and margin, and whatever one-time positions Soros may have gotten an SEC exemption to not disclose: for a recent instance of this, see Greenlight Capital's Micron fiasco, and the subsequent lawsuit of Seeking Alpha which led to the breach of David Einhorn's holdings confidentiality). The second one is that...

Washington - Call it an appetizer, with the main course still to come. An independent conservative group says it's going up in some battleground states with a television commercial that's critical of President Barack Obama, one of the first of what could be many ads by similar groups on the right. Joe Wierzbecki, the executive director of the organization, tells CNN that the ad began running this weekend on television stations in Nevada, with ad time being purchased in Michigan and Wisconsin. Wierzbecki says his plan is to eventually also run the commercial in Colorado, Missouri and Ohio.The spot, titled

In today’s Jolt, there’s a roundup of Arizona immigration law and Kentucky Senate race news, but also an update on that huge story that I try to feature at least one item on in every edition . . . The Oil Spill Won’t Disappear, but Discussion of Obama’s Response Might You thought I was being silly with this one-item-on-oil-every-morning rule, huh? ‘Oh, Jim, the oil spill is one of the biggest news stories in years. There’s no way it will disappear from the front page.’ Well, there was nothing about the spill on the front page of the New York...

It is a remarkable fact that President Obama has nominated to the Supreme Court a woman who, as dean of Harvard Law School, discriminated against military recruiters in violation of federal law. Remarkable, but true. Yesterday, our friend Pete Hegseth testified in opposition to Kagan's confirmation at the invitation of Republican members of the Judiciary Committee. I find it interesting that his perspective--no doubt representative of most Americans--is one that the Democratic members did not think it necessary to consider as part of the confirmation hearing. Pete stated this part of the case against Elena Kagan eloquently:

Shocking pictures of an anti-Semitic mob in Venezuela putting Nazi swastikas on the house of an opposition governor whose family are Holocaust survivors. The mob was generated following remarks by a Chavista, the mayor of of Los Teques, Alirio Mendoza. Hugo Chavez, closely allied with Iran, is steadily leading Venezuela toward Jew-hatred. Mob violence is the logical outcome

Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade hit their highest levels since 1973 on strong technical buying and bullish long-term fundamentals, which included concern over securing enough U.S. soybean acres for next spring. U.S. soybean acreages have fallen sharply as farmers jumped to corn amid a rally in prices of the other crop last year. In Friday's trading, CBOT soybeans for January surged as much as 17.25 cents to $11.78 a bushel. They closed at $11.77-1/2, up 16.75 cents CBOT corn for March rose as much as 10.5 cents to a 11-year high of $4.48 a bushel on indications...

Syria threat over Golan puts Israel on war alert By Harry de Quetteville in Jerusalem (Filed: 30/09/2006) Israel has gone on heightened alert over a possible war with Syria amid reports that President Bashar Assad may be considering military strikes to regain the Golan Heights. A signpost points out that Damascus is a mere 60kms from the Golan Heights For years Israeli military intelligence has down-played Syria's capacity to launch a meaningful attack against Israel, and the threat level has been kept "low". But Israeli reports have revealed that the threat level had been raised after intelligence assessments that Damascus...

Spain puts migrants on flights to Africa By Fiona Govan in Madrid (Filed: 14/09/2006) Spain has begun to send home thousands of illegal immigrants who reached the Canary Islands. The repatriations are part of the government's attempt to stop Africans getting to its shores. The first in a series of flights was expected to leave the islands last night for Dakar, Senegal. The would-be immigrants will then be taken to a police station for processing before release. Illegal immigrants after arriving in Gran Canaria Senegalese form the majority of the 23,000 migrants who this year have made the journey in...

Tropic Lightning Puts on the ‘Groove’ Concert gives soldiers a break from the war. By Spc. Mike Alberts 3rd Brigade Public Affairs CAMP BEUHRING, Kuwait, Aug. 29, 2006 — For a moment, soldiers were anywhere but in the desert. There was no wind, sand, heat or war. In their minds, soldiers were transported by the power of music to more familiar places. For a moment, soldiers got their “groove” on. “V.C. Groove,” a 76th Army Band ensemble, performed live for Tropic Lightning soldiers and others at the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation stage here at Camp Beuhring, Kuwait, Aug. 3....

Comet break-up puts on sky show The comet is breaking into fragments. (Image: European Southern Observatory) A comet is delighting astronomers with a marvellous night-time display as it makes a near pass of the Earth. The ball of ice, rock and dust has broken up into more than 60 pieces; two of the larger fragments are visible through binoculars or small telescopes. At its closest approach this weekend, the comet will be some 10 million km (six million miles) from the Earth. Continued disintegration means this may be the last swing around the Sun for Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. Good chance...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2006 – The detention of hundreds of terrorist suspects at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is helping to keep Americans and other peace-loving peoples safe, a senior Defense Department official said here today. "If released, many of them would return to the battlefield," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. The detainees held at Guantanamo, he said, have sworn to kill Americans and other perceived enemies of al Qaeda and radical Islam. "They should not be back out on the street," Whitman said. Nine detainees among Guantanamo's 500-prisoner population are charged with war crimes, he noted. Defense attorneys'...

Iran puts radicals in charge of nuclear programme By Philip Sherwell in Washington (Filed: 09/10/2005) Iran's new hardline president has placed his country's nuclear programme under the control of militant commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, the military's most committed wing. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has launched a purge of moderates in national and provincial government since his election two months ago, has drafted in fellow radical revolutionaries to top administrative posts - a move that will heighten Western fears over Iran's nuclear ambitions.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Many of the new power-brokers are veterans of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds (Jerusalem) Force, in which Mr...

Opec President Shaikh Ahmad Al Fahd Al Sabah said yesterday he will propose the cartel raise its output by 500,000 barrels per day when the group meets in September in an attempt to help cool oil prices at record highs. Shaikh Ahmad, also Kuwaiti oil minister, said he will also propose a 500,000 bpd increase in the group's official output ceiling at the September 19th meeting. "We hope that the resolution to the board to increase production and the ceiling, 500,000 (bpd) and 500,000 (bpd), and to refresh the dialogue with all the main consumers, I hope this will...

Extremist cleric puts terror laws to the test By Philip Johnston, George Jones and John Steele (Filed: 19/07/2005) A planned visit to Britain next month by a Muslim cleric who has praised suicide bombings against Israel will become the first test of the Government's promised clampdown on extremist preachers after the London terrorist attacks. Qaradawi's visit to London last year at the invitation of Ken Livingstone outraged gay and Jewish groups Yusuf al-Qaradawi, 79, who is due to speak at a conference in Manchester, is banned from visiting America because of his links with the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. But although...

SAN FRANCISCO - Among the many land mines that dot the California political terrain, few are as treacherous or unpredictable as the matter of illegal immigration. The subject blew up in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's face last week, at a speech before the Newspaper Association of America. Responding to a question, the Republican governor suggested officials should ''close the border in California, all across Mexico and the United States'' to stem the flow of undocumented migrants. Critics pounced, and Schwarzenegger apologized the next day. He blamed faulty English for the gaffe, and said he was for ''securing the borders'' instead. ''We...

Bush puts compensation lawyers in the dock (Filed: 28/03/2005) In a nation so litigious that one attorney found he was suing himself, the White House's attack on frivolous lawsuits is proving popular, reports Alec Russell Michael Cogan paces his office with the predatory panache that has won over many a jury in his brilliant career. From his ninth-floor window he has a premier view of Chicago's skyscraper skyline, a testament to his success as one of America's top medical malpractice lawyers. Michael Cogan is now defending himself against President Bush's anti-litigation policy But now his oratory and flair are facing...

SACRAMENTO — Californians can expect to see a massive campaign for their signatures as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attempts to meet a narrow timetable for putting his government-overhaul initiatives on the ballot. The Republican governor has given the Democrat-led Legislature until next Tuesday to put his package of proposed constitutional amendments onto the ballot, or he plans to bypass lawmakers. Schwarzenegger's commitment to put his reforms before voters means he'll have just seven weeks to collect the 1.2 million signatures he needs — per initiative — to qualify for the ballot for a November election. If Schwarzenegger wants to call a...