Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has finally agreed to pay $5.1 billion on Wednesday to resolve a seven years’ pending dispute over faulty mortgage securities. The penalty amount remains lower compared to those counted by other Wall Street competitors. Fourth quarter profit of the firm may be hit by the penalty counting. But investors welcome the settlement and its share price rises by 1.5% on Thursday.
Legal & Regulatory
Greece Bailout: Central Bank Shows Support to Implement Pension System Reform
The government of Greece has been faced with a controversy whether to approve bailout reforms required by international creditors. Bank of Greece have shown support that encourages the government to conform with the required reforms, including the tough pension system reform.
Haier Deals With GE On Purchasing Electrical Appliance Business To Find Momentum In The US Market
General Electric Co. has been intending to sell its electrical appliance chapter prior to initiation of global economic debacle. The Federal Justice Department has foiled its earlier bid to sell its century old electrical appliance portfolio. Finally, it has reached a consensus to sale the business unit to Chinese electrical equipments maker Haier for more than $4 billion.
Casualties In French Regulator Approved Drug Trial: 1 Brain Dead, 5 Others Hospitalized
Biotrial Private Facility has been conducting trial of a pain killer over 90 volunteers. Six of them have fall sick and one of them has got severe brain injury. Volunteers rarely fall sick while undergoing through such trials, since the drug must go through several tests over animals with wide range of dosage. Paris prosecutors have initiated investigations to unearth the cause behind the regulator approved trial.
Economic Emergency In Venezuela Aims To Keep Maduro’s Anti Poverty Programs Alive
Just Prior to the State of Address to the Congress, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has imposed economic emergency for 60 days. The concerned decree is aimed to allocate funds to keep alive the socialist government’s signature anti poverty programs. If opposition led Congress denies the imposed decree, Maduro will have to appeal to the Supreme Court of justice for its continued effectiveness.
Latest News
Uber has changed its driver recruitment policy and advised the previously rejected applicant seeking for drivers’ job to take the benefit of proposition 47. This law allows nonviolent criminal offenders to downgrade their offence level to misdemeanor through submitting applications. Uber’s effort is believed to benefit the released inmates who aim to rebuild their lives.
Former Facebook exec Sean Parker gave $500,000 to a newly formed group that aims to legalize recreational marijuana use in California.
IRS has fined some 8 million people and 1.4 million households are forecast to fall prey of fines due to ignorance on new healthcare law. Commonly criticized as the Obama Care Law, the new law instructs all Americans to go through insurance net. But mainly due to ignorance about mandatory submission of tax returns and moreover legally remain exempted from tax net, have fall victim to count fine for $210 each.
The United Airlines was fined $2.75 million by the U.S. Transportation Department for violating the tarmac-delay rule and mistreating passengers with disability.
TransCanada Corp sues US government to reverse President Barack Obama’s decision to reject its Keystone XL pipeline. Canadian firm also seeks $15 billion in damages from the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Lumos Labs has been charged a fine of $2 million by the FTC for their misleading claims on the benefits of using their app, Lumosity. The company claimed that the app could decrease or slow down serious mental conditions by frequently using the app.
FDA has been reported to seize 90,000 bottles of RelaKzpro branded diet supplement on Wednesday. The seizure has been conducted under Federal Food, Drink & Beverage Act following a suit filed by the US Department of Justice on behalf of FDA in the District Court. The suit accuses kratom containing diet supplements as adulterated due to unreasonable health hazards.
The majority of states in the United States including major cities will implement new minimum wage rate starting this year as workers continue to strike and demanding a better payment. Workers have been under pressure lately as the cost of living continues to increase yet their minimum wage remains the same.
Credit Suisse has received regulatory approval for opening its new branch in Ireland. The Swiss bank is setting up a new branch in Dublin as part of its cost reduction exercise. Credit Suisse is restructuring its securities trading and prime brokerage operations. Credit Suisse is in the process of meeting capital requirements and improving shareholder returns.
