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Last week a World Bank report that compares something called purchasing power parity claimed that, based on the purchasing power statistics, the Chinese economy has reached a point of rough equality with the United States, or, could actually have moved slightly ahead of the USA, based on the incomplete figures of economic growth over the last three years. This announcement, which confirms the fact of China’s explosive economic development, and the anemic American recovery after the Great Recession of 2008-2010, has caused quite a stir in a number of quarters. The Chinese, usually quick to tout great achievements, have been...

Lloyds Bank has been accused of religious discrimination after offering free overdraft accounts to Muslims. The bank sent customers a booklet this month explaining new charges. While many will have to pay up to £80 a month if they go into the red, Muslims were told they would escape the charges. The document said: “We are removing the monthly overdraft management fee of £6 from our Islamic Account, Islamic Student Account and Islamic Graduate Account. So, if you use an unplanned overdraft on these accounts, there won’t be any charges.” One customer, Anita Milton, a nurse of New Eltham, south...

HAYWARD— Authorities in the San Francisco Bay Area are looking for a man who robbed a bank wearing a t-shirt that read "I Have Issues."

Over the weekend the world was gripped by the drama surrounding the mysterious murder-homicide of the former CEO of Dutch bank ABN Amro and members of his family, and whether there is more foul play than meets the eye. However, that is nothing compared to what just happened in the tiny, and all too quiet Principality of Lichtenstein, where moments ago the CEO of local financial institution Bank Frick & Co. AG, Juergen Frick, was shot dead in the underground garage of the bank located in the city of Balzers.

Troubled Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection, an ancillary form of bankruptcy that will complement its primary Tokyo District Court claim issued on 28th February. US Chapter 15 bankruptcy provides specific protections in cases of cross-border insolvency, and is based on UN model law. Both Japan and the US have adopted Chapter 15 bankruptcy in an effort to better protect the interests of shareholders and maximize the value of debtor assets in cross-border bankruptcies.

Snippet: "Iran and its terrorist proxy groups’ influence in Latin America remains a troubling security threat to the region and world, experts said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday."

The operators of two exchanges for the virtual currency Bitcoin have been arrested in the US. The Department of Justice said Robert Faiella, known as BTCKing, and Charlie Shrem from BitInstant.com have both been charged with money laundering. The authorities said the pair were engaged in a scheme to sell more than $1m (£603,000) in bitcoins to users of online drug marketplace the Silk Road. The site was shut down last year and its alleged owner was arrested. Mr Shrem was arrested on Sunday at New York's JFK airport. He was expected to appear in court on Monday, prosecutors said....

St. Louis police are searching for a man who robbed a Bank of America branch from the drive-through lane about noon Saturday. Police said the man drove up to the bank in the 6600 block of South Kingshighway in a white Impala and announced a robbery while at the drive-through window. The teller gave him an undisclosed amount of cash and the man drove off.

When Dmitry Argarkov was sent a letter offering him a credit card, he found the rates not to his liking. But he didn't throw the contract away or shred it. Instead, the 42-year-old from Voronezh, Russia, scanned it into his computer, altered the terms and sent it back to Tinkoff Credit Systems.

The banks would hold a buffer of liquid assets - such as government bonds - to draw on to ensure they can meet withdrawals by depositors, to post collateral due to credit rating downgrades and to meet other needs. U.S. government debt and excess reserves held at the Fed are deemed the most liquid under the Fed's proposal, while claims on government-sponsored enterprises, such as mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are less liquid and may make up only 40 percent of the buffer.

Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse has launched what it says is the first market index and portfolio based on gay-friendly policies. The LGBT Equality Index ranks companies by how well they respect the rights of employees and other members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It currently covers 201 US-based firms, but Credit Suisse said it hoped to expand the index and associated investment portfolio, unveiled Monday in New York, to other countries. The portfolio is currently only available to US-based private banking clients able to spend a minimum of $250,000 but could be open to smaller...

MOUNT CLEMENS, Michigan - A 53-year-old woman has pleaded guilty after she allegedly used cans of spaghetti sauce to simulate a bomb and then proceeded to rob a bank. Police say Ophelia A. Neal, a parole absconder, robbed a Fifth Third Bank branch in Macomb County's Clinton Township on April 6. According to police, Neal told bank employees she had a bomb in a cloth bag, demanded money and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash into a getaway car driven by a man. Neal pleaded guilty Monday in Oakland County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens to bank robbery and...

"Gunman who took hostages at Louisiana bank posted chilling Facebook messages" SNIPPET: "The gunman who took three hostages at a Louisiana bank Tuesday -- killing one of them before being shot and killed by police -- recently posted chilling messages on Facebook, including a cartoon strip about hostages.   In a post on Sunday, 20-year-old Fuaed Abdo Ahmed displays a cartoon strip that focuses on an apparent hostage situation." SNIPPET: "Ahmed's final post, made Tuesday just hours before the hostage standoff began, is of a photo of a man with a sword attacking a tank.Under the photo is a quote...

Burka bandit tries to hold up National City bank, CBS8 San Diego, August 2, 2013 A woman tried to rob a bank in National City, and officials sought the public's help locating her. The attempted robbery occurred at around 6 p.m. Thursday at a Wells Fargo Bank branch at 1199 Highland Ave., according to FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth. "At the time of the robbery, the woman entered the bank and stood in the teller line until summoned by a teller," Foxworth said. "Upon arriving at the teller counter, the woman presented a demand note." The teller read some of...

In a sign he possibly needs to get out more, President Obama asserted in an interview broadcast Sunday that bank tellers had vanished from the face of the earth, saying their absence is an example of how the new economy has eliminated low-end jobs and heightened inequality. Obama made the odd remark during an interview with ABC This Week host George Stephanopoulos. “If you look at the data, a couple of things are creating these trends,” Obama said of the growing gap between the rich and the poor. ”Technology: if you go to a lot of companies now, they’ve eliminated...

COLUMBUS, Texas -- Two bank robbery suspects were shot in Colorado County Thursday night by a man who said they kidnapped him and his wife, a bank employee. According to the Colorado County Sheriff’s Office, the couple had been held at gunpoint by the suspects inside their home just north of Columbus. They were then forced to drive to the First National Bank of Eagle Lake in Columbus. The suspects then forced the woman to take out an undisclosed amount of funds, investigators said. “We believe they had knowledge that she was an employee of the bank for them to...

Glenn promised that TheBlaze would continue to cover this story until the bank rectifies the situation. “First National Bank in Wellston, Ohio, I would recommend that you do the right thing. And it’s really shameful that you have to be shamed into it, and I would recommend that all those who have accounts with the First National Bank in Wellston call the bank and say, “What are you doing?” I mean, I’m doing business with you because you’re a local bank. Stop being a dirtbag. Do the right thing. Settle with these people. And if you haven’t, on Monday we’re...

An influential Vatican journalist has explicitly charged that the newly installed prelate of the Vatican bank has engaged in homosexual misconduct, and has been protected by other officials at the Vatican. Sandro Magister of L’Espresso reports that Msgr. Battista Ricca provided room and a job for a male companion while he was assigned as a Vatican diplomat in Uruguay between 1999 and 2001. The Italian cleric also frequented gay bars, and was once beaten in an altercation at a bar. Magister goes on to charge that although these incidents were well known, there were not noted on Msgr. Ricca’s personnel...

Raynard Versatile Crowe, 31, formerly of Hazel Park, was sentenced yesterday to 535 months in federal prison, following his conviction on March 21, 2013, by a jury in Detroit on charges of bank robbery, pharmacy robbery, using a firearm during a crime of violence, felon in possession of a firearm, and conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley, III of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The sentence was handed down by United States District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow. The evidence presented at trial established that...

"Lebanese Canadian Bank to Pay $102 Million in Hizballah Laundering Case" SNIPPET: "The Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank ("LCB") will pay $102 million as part of a settlement reached this week with federal prosecutors. The LCB was accused in a December 2011 complaint of funneling money to the Lebanese terrorist group Hizballah as part of a global money-laundering scheme. The "settlement shows that banks laundering money for terrorists and narco-traffickers will face consequences for their actions, wherever they may be located. This type of money laundering network fuels the operations of both terrorists and drug traffickers, and will continue to use...