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Picture: Danielle Lloyd and her husband Jamie O’ Hara out and about in Mayfair London Replica Watches, England ….

By Lindsay Fortado Replica Watches

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — Margaret Cole, a managing director at the U.K.’s finance regulator who led its clampdown on market abuse, is leaving the agency after seven years.

Cole will continue working at the Financial Services Authority until the end of March and then will be on so-called gardening leave until September, the agency said today in a statement. Under Cole’s stewardship, the FSA fined banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., UBS AG and Barclays Plc for financial rule breaches and levied its largest individual penalty ever.

The FSA, which was set up in 1997, prosecuted its first criminal case of insider trading in 2008. The regulator introduced a “credible deterrence” strategy for stricter enforcement against financial crime after it was criticized for failing to prevent the U.K.’s worst financial crisis since the World War II.

The agency is to be abolished in 2013 and replaced by at least two new authorities as part of an overhaul of financial supervision. Cole, who was also a board member, was a candidate to lead the FSA’s successor, the Financial Conduct Authority. The U.K. Treasury instead chose Martin Wheatley, then chief executive of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission.

While director of enforcement at the FSA, Cole led a division of 450 people with oversight of intelligence gathering, forensic investigations, and civil and criminal cases over financial crime. Prior to joining the regulator in July 2005, Cole worked as a litigator at the law firms Stephenson Harwood and White & Case LLP.

“Prior to Margaret Cole joining the FSA, it was rare for criminal actions on insider dealing to be brought by the regulator,” Tim Dolan, a regulation lawyer at Pinsent Masons, said in an e-mail. She “has been instrumental in encouraging FSA Enforcement staff to take a tougher approach. In particular, she has encouraged, where at all possible, pursuing criminal actions against individuals.”

–Editors: Christopher Scinta, Peter Chapman

To contact the reporter on this story: Lindsay Fortado in London at lfortado@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Scinta at cscinta@bloomberg.net

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HOSPITAL admissions for infectious diseases in New Zealand have jumped "alarmingly" in the past two decades Replica Watches, surprising researchers who say urgent action is needed as the poor, Maori and Pacific Islanders are bearing the brunt of the rise.

According to groundbreaking Otago University research, published in The Lancet medical journal, infectious disease hospitalisations, such as lung and skin infections, increased 51 per cent between 1989 and 2008.

By contrast, hospitalisations from non-infectious diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, increased only 7 per cent.

Lead investigator Associate Professor Michael Baker says he was "taken aback" by the increase.

"What we expected to see was a steady decline in serious infectious diseases and a rise in admissions for chronic diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, which is the expected pattern for a developed country," Prof Baker said.

Maori and Pacific Islanders are more than twice as likely as Europeans to be hospitalised with a serious infectious disease.

Those living in the most deprived neighbourhoods have almost three times the risk of those living in the most affluent areas.

"Because Maori and Pacific populations tend to be over-represented in the poorest suburbs there is a multiplier effect regarding infectious disease risk," Prof Baker said.

He said an example was rheumatic fever, which has almost disappeared in Western Europe and North America, but is still a serious threat to Maori and Pacific Island children in New Zealand.

Co-author Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman said intervention was needed to address major causes of poor health, including additional strategies to reduce poverty, lower household crowding and improved access to immunisation and other health services.

"We know that it’s possible to reduce these distressing diseases – lowering household crowding is the first step. The government should be motivated to act, as prevention will save expensive hospital costs," said Prof Howden-Chapman.
 

By Mariam Fam

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) — Egyptians voted in the third round of parliamentary elections today as prosecutors began their case in the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak by describing him as a “tyrant” responsible for violence and oppression.

The final stage of the vote, the first since Mubarak was ousted in February, covers nine provinces including the North and South Sinai governorates. Islamist groups are expected to consolidate the gains they made in earlier rounds, in which the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party took the lead ahead of the more conservative Nour party, which represents Salafi Muslims.

“The third phase will not change much the nature of the upcoming parliament,” Nabil Abdel Fattah, director of the Al- Ahram Center for Social and Historic Studies in Cairo, said in a telephone interview. “It will likely underline the control of Islamists.”

The election and Mubarak’s trial, which resumed last week after a two-month hiatus, take place amid growing opposition to the ruling generals, who say they won’t cede power before presidential elections are held by the end of June. It’s unclear what powers the elected assembly, due to hold its first session on Jan. 23, will have and how a new government will be formed.

Clashes in Cairo last month between security forces and demonstrators calling for an earlier end to military rule left at least 17 people dead. Protesters are preparing to take to the streets on Jan. 25 to mark the anniversary of the mass rallies that drove Mubarak from power.

Slowing Growth

“The new parliament will witness political struggles between the military council, the Brotherhood and Salafis, and the revolutionary forces Replica Watches,” said Abdel Fattah.

Economic growth has slowed as the unrest deters tourists and investors. Foreign-currency reserves declined by 44 percent to $20.2 billion in the first 11 months of 2011. The benchmark EGX 30 stock index lost 49 percent last year, making it the third-worst performer among world markets tracked by Bloomberg.

About 14 million voters are eligible to vote in this round, and 150 parliamentary seats are up for grabs. In Minya, one of the provinces where balloting is being held today, Mina Magdy, a Christian, said gains by Islamists in previous rounds encouraged him to vote for the secular Egyptian Bloc alliance.

“We’re trying to balance things out,” he said. “We want more liberals in parliament.”

The court trying Mubarak adjourned until tomorrow, state television reported. It showed Mubarak carried on a gurney to and from the makeshift courtroom in a police academy.

‘Oppression and Violence’

Prosecutor Moustafa Soliman told the court Mubarak was a “tyrant” who sought to install his son, Gamal, in his place, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. His trial is a reminder to future rulers that they will be held accountable for breaking the law, the prosecutor said.

Mubarak allowed former Interior Minister Habib el-Adli to “practice oppression and violence against Egyptians so he could remain in office,” Soliman said, according to MENA. Police seeking to block protesters from reaching Cairo’s Tahrir Square targeted their heads and chests, and some were run over by police vehicles, he said.

Prosecution arguments against the former president, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption and conspiring to kill protesters, will continue over the next two days, state television said. At least 846 people were killed during the revolt.

Gamal Mubarak and the former president’s other son, Alaa, are facing corruption charges, and el-Adli and six of his aides are also on trial.

–Editors: Digby Lidstone, Ben Holland, Karl Maier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mariam Fam in Cairo at mfam1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Louis Meixler at lmeixler@bloomberg.net.

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Picture: Parker Posey New York premiere of ‘We Bought a Zoo’ at the Ziegfeld Theater – Arrivals New York City, USA ….

By Paul Dobson

(GRAPHIC: COD_EUROPE_BONDS_STOCKS_010412. CHART OF THE DAY. Size: 3C X 4in. (146.0 mm X 101.6 mm) Available now.)

Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) — Euro-area government bonds had their best month on record in December as Spanish and Italian debt surged in response to unprecedented action from the European Central Bank and political leaders to stem the debt crisis.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows an index of euro-zone securities rebounded from an almost 2 1/2-year low on Nov. 25, climbing 3.9 percent last month, the most since the single currency began in 1999, according to indexes compiled by the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies and Bloomberg. Spanish bonds handed investors 6.9 percent in December, Belgian debt returned 6.4 percent and Italian securities added 5 percent. A European benchmark stock index closed at a five-month high Tuesday.

The European bond market turned around in November after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stepped down to make way for a technocrat government led by former European Union Competition Commissioner Mario Monti, and speculation grew that greater financial assistance would be available for indebted countries that sign up to tougher budget rules. Investors also bet the ECB would act to bring down record Italian and Spanish bond yields, reached earlier that month. The central bank agreed to lend banks 489 billion euros ($638 billion) of three-year money on Dec. 21 in an unprecedented move to ease the crisis.

“The good news in Europe was the ECB’s longer-term refinancing operation, which was very successful,” said Vincent Chaigneau Replica Watches, global head of interest-rate strategy at Societe Generale SA in Paris. “Certainly it contributed to the compression of euro-bond spreads and we saw a recovery of risk sentiment across the board.”

The average yield of euro-region government bonds fell to 3.21 percent on Dec. 30 from 4.28 percent on Nov. 25, according to indexes compiled by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The year- end yield was the lowest since Oct. 11 and compares with an average for the year of 3.45 percent, the data show. –Editors: Matthew Brown, Daniel Tilles

-0- Jan/04/2012 23:08 GMT

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Dobson in London at pdobson2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net

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By Suwaibou Touray

(Updates with comment from opposition party leader in fourth paragraph.)

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) — Gambia’s president, Yahya Jammeh pledged to boost growth and create jobs in the small West African nation as he was sworn into his fourth term in office.

“My government’s objective is to turn the Gambia into an economic super-power that would be independent,” he said in a speech in Banjul, the capital, today.

Jammeh, who came to power in a 1994 coup, won 71 percent of votes in an election in November. The vote was condemned by the Economic Community of West African States, which refused to send observers, citing a political environment not conducive to free and fair polls.

Halifa Sallah, leader of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism Replica Watches, refused to attend the ceremony today, saying in an interview that the election wasn’t free and fair.

Jammeh, who called his win decisive, pledged to reduce corruption in the civil service and create jobs through skilled- labor training.

Gambia, with a population of about 1.8 million people, is the smallest country on mainland Africa and is surrounded by Senegal on three sides. Led by visitors from the U.K. and the Netherlands, tourism accounts for 16 percent of gross domestic product, according to the country’s National Planning Commission. Economic growth will be unchanged in 2012 at 5.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Jammeh’s rule has been criticized by groups including Amnesty International for alleged human rights violations including unlawful arrests and unfair trials. In 2007, Jammeh’s claim that he could cure AIDS was rejected by groups including the World Health Organization.

–Editors: Emily Bowers, Dulue Mbachu

To contact the reporter on this story: Suwaibou Touray in Banjul via Accra at ebowers1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emily Bowers at ebowers1@bloomberg.net

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