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Regulators order lenders to bolster their finances and prevent crisis repeat
LONDON – British regulators are ordering some of the country’s biggest banks to bolster their balance sheets by 27. 1 billion pounds ($42.1 billion) to prevent a repeat of the 2008 banking crisis. The Prudential Regulation Authority said Thursday that Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland account for much of the shortfall.
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Tropical Storm Barry forms off Mexico’s coast, bringing heavy rain as it heads toward Veracruz
VERACRUZ, Mexico – The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Barry is bearing down on Mexico’s Gulf Coast, poised to make landfall within hours. The Miami-based centre said the storm was about 30 miles (45 kilometres) north of the port city of Veracruz early Thursday and heading west at 5 mph (7 kph). Barry,
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Jodi Arias case heads back to court as attorneys meet to discuss future plans after hung jury
PHOENIX – Jodi Arias returns to court Thursday for the first time since the penalty phase of her case ended in mistrial last month as lawyers discuss plans for a new trial to decide the punishment for the convicted murderer. Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder on May 8 in the June 2008 stabbing
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Blaze at Dutch factory making firelighting blocks proves difficult to extinguish
AMSTERDAM – Authorities in the Dutch city of Oisterwijk say a fire has broken out at a factory that makes firelighting blocks for barbecues and campfires. The city of Oisterwijk, in the southeast of the Netherlands, said on its website that the fire is proving difficult to extinguish. In an update mid-morning Thursday, the city
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Italy film fest where Gandolfini was to have been hailed now planning homage after death
ROME – Organizers of the Taormina, Sicily, Film Festival are scrambling to put together a tribute to U.S. actor James Gandolfini, who had been expected to attend the festival’s closing ceremony this weekend. Organizers Mario Sesti and Tiziana Rocca said that instead of receiving an award from the resort city of Taormina on Saturday, Gandolfini
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France threatens Google with privacy fines, says other European countries to follow
PARIS – France is giving Google three months to abide by the country’s data privacy laws or be fined. The chief of the French agency that regulates information technology says that five other European countries are taking similar steps in a staggered offensive against Google’s privacy policy between now and the end of July. The
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AP EXCLUSIVE: Taliban offer to free US soldier in exchange for Afghans held at Guantanamo
ISLAMABAD – The Afghan Taliban say they are ready to hand over a U.S. soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. A Taliban spokesman, Shaheen Suhail, says U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl “is as far as I know in good condition.” Suhail
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The hit man next door: Bulger cohort’s testimony shocks neighbours in Mass.
MILFORD, Mass. – He parks his silver Mercedes-Benz sedan behind his condo, below a deck decorated with white and pink flowers, where a couple of small dogs bark at the few passers-by. It’s inside this wooded golf course community where neighbours of John Martorano learned this week that the 72-year-old they know only as a
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Man faces sentencing in OH murder case that hinged on paralyzed victim blinking to ID shooter
CINCINNATI – An Ohio man found guilty in a murder trial that hinged on a paralyzed victim blinking his eyes to identify his shooter is scheduled to be sentenced. A jury last month convicted Ricardo Woods, 35, of murder and felonious assault in the death of David Chandler who was shot Oct. 28, 2010, as
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NYC philanthropist Astor’s son, 89, to hear Thursday whether he must start prison term
NEW YORK, N.Y. – An 89-year-old heir could end up in prison after a court date on his 11th-hour bid for a new trial in a case that shook New York society. Anthony Marshall is due in a Manhattan court Thursday. He was convicted in 2009 of plundering his mother’s fortune by exploiting her mental