Venezuela seizes Stanford bank to stem massive withdrawals

By Calvin Palmer

Venezuela seized a local bank owned by R. Allen Stanford today to stem massive online deposit withdrawals as the impact of the $8 billion fraud case against the Texan billionaire spread through Latin America.

The Venezuelan government said it would quickly sell the bank — Stanford Bank Venezuela, one of the country’s smallest commercial banks — and that it had already been approached by potential buyers.

In recent days, depositors at the bank had worried over the fraud case targeting a sister company, Stanford International Bank, even though the companies’ assets are separate.

Depositors withdrew cash using Internet banking services. The bank takes deposits and makes loans only in Venezuelan currency.

“Most depositors of Stanford Bank Venezuela are from the highest income classes,” Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said. “They move their funds on the Internet, and this allowed for a massive withdrawal that pushed the bank into a precarious state.”

“The authorities were forced to take the decision to intervene and there will be an immediate sale,” he added.

Industry officials have said the fall of a bank, whose deposits represent only 0.2 percent of Venezuela’s banking system, is unlikely to cause much disturbance in the rest of the sector.

Two days after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Stanford, 58, of perpetrating “a fraud of shocking magnitude,” SEC officials were still in the dark about his whereabouts — as were close members of his family.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Stanford’s 81-year-old father James said he understood that authorities were searching for his son, but insisted he had no idea where his son could be.

“I’d spoken to him a week or so ago — he’d called — about problems with the business climate in general, but nothing of this magnitude,” he said. “I cannot imagine, I cannot believe, I will not believe what is being alleged actually happened.”

“I cannot believe that my son would run,” he added.

Reports also emerged yesterday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether Stanford was involved in laundering drug money for Mexico’s powerful Gulf cartel.

ABC News, citing unnamed federal officials, said Mexican police detained one of Stanford’s private planes and found checks inside believed to be linked to the ultra-violent cartel.

Stanford and his company Stanford Financial Group invested heavily in politics, spending about $2.4 million in campaign contributions to lawmakers and political committees since 1989, according the Washington-based watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics.

Stanford donated $4,600 to the Obama campaign. The value of Stanford’s campaign contribution has been donated to Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

The $28,150 that McCain collected since 2000 placed him third among recipients of donation from Stanford and his firm. Sen.McCain (R-Ariz.) also promised yesterday to return the funds or donate them to charity.

The other top recipients of donations include Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)($45,900) and Republican Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas ($41,375). Nelson received $45,900 and promised yesterday to give his donations to charity. Sessions received $41,375

The center also noted that Stanford Financial Group contributed the most during the 2002 election cycle, when federal lawmakers were debating a bill aimed at curbing financial fraud by better connecting information gathered by state and federal regulators. It passed the House but not the Senate.

[Based on reports by Reuters, AFP, Orlando Sentinel and Chicago Tribune.]

Chimpanzee attack woman makes small progress after seven hours of surgery

By Calvin Palmer

The victim of Monday’s attack by a chimpanzee showed small signs of progress yesterday after undergoing more than seven hours of surgery on her face and hands by four teams of surgeons at Stamford Hospital, Connecticut.

Paramedics say Charla Nash, 55, lost her nose, eyes and jaw in the savage attack by the 200-pound chimpanzee, Travis, owned by her friend Sandra Herold.

“While she remains in critical but stable condition, her vital signs are improving,” Dr Kevin Miller, an attending surgeon at Stamford Hospital, said at a news conference. “We are thankful that we are able to report that Charla Nash has made good but small progress.”

Scott Orstad, a spokesman for the hospital, said that Nash’s family was consulting with her doctors on what steps to take next. One option might be a face transplant, but he said that decision had not been made.

“I don’t know if they’ve gone to that level,” he said. “The doctors are still determining whether that may be necessary. That rumor is still kind of premature. The final decision has not been made yet.”

There were no announced plans to transfer Nash from Stamford Hospital.

Charla Nash’s injuries were so horrific — Sandra Herold told a 911 dispatcher that her pet was eating Charla — that the hospital was providing counseling to the staff members who treated her.

Orstad said some members of the team that initially treated Nash had already sought counseling.

“Members of the staff have said this is something they’ve never experienced in their career,” Orstad said.

Police are looking into the possibility of criminal charges against Herold because pet owners can be held criminally responsible if they know an animal poses a danger to others.

Connecticut law requires primates weighing more than 50 pounds to be registered with the state. But Dennis Schain, a spokesman for the State Department of Environmental Protection, said Herold’s chimp was exempted because he did not appear to present a public health risk and was owned before the registration requirement began.

Yesterday, a former Stamford resident, Leslie Mostel-Paul, 52, claimed that Travis bit her hand in November 1996 when she tried to pet him in the parking lot of a local doctor’s office.

Mostel-Paul says she contacted police, but her complaint was brushed aside.

“If the police had taken care of what they needed to, this woman wouldn’t be lying in intensive care right now,” Mostel-Paul said. “He shouldn’t have been in the house.”

Stamford Police Capt. Richard Conklin said he had no record of the incident and could not confirm or deny its validity.

[Based on reports by The New York Times and New York Daily News.]

Florida jury awards $8 million to smoker’s widow

By Calvin Palmer

A Florida jury awarded $8 million (£5.6 million) yesterday to the widow of a smoker whose death was caused by his addiction to cigarettes.

The decision of the jury in Fort Lauderdale could prove to be a major potential legal setback for tobacco company Philip Morris.

Their verdict was in favor of Elaine Hess, widow of longtime smoker Stuart Hess, who died of lung cancer in 1997 at age 55. He had smoked for 40 years.

Philip Morris USA, a unit of Altria Group Inc, said it would appeal.

The verdict is the first of potentially thousands of cases to go to trial in Florida.

Alex Alvarez, an attorney for Elaine Hess, said he and other lawyers who worked on the case felt vindicated after winning $5 million (£3.5 million) in punitive damages on Mrs. Hess’ behalf and $3 million (£2.1 million) in compensatory damages.

“She’s a 110-pound elementary school teacher, and she went up against Philip Morris, one of the most powerful companies in the world, and won,” Alvarez told Reuters.

“We have paved the road for these other litigants to come in and seek their day in court as well. We’re happy to be able to do that for them.”

Of course, he is happy.  What Alvarez failed to point out is that he and other plaintiffs’ lawyers stand to make millions out of these cases.  They could be on a nice little earner.

Alvarez was referring to about 8,000 cases filed after the Florida Supreme Court’s landmark decision in 2006 to throw out a $145 billion (£102 billion) jury award in a class-action lawsuit filed in the early 1990s by Miami Beach pediatrician Howard Engle on behalf of thousands of sick smokers.

In its 2006 ruling, the state Supreme Court left in place key findings that tobacco companies knowingly sold dangerous products and concealed the risks of smoking.

That promised to help the thousands of smokers who filed individual lawsuits against the tobacco companies because they would not have to prove those issues again.

In a statement saying it would seek appellate review of the case and of what it called the “constitutionally flawed” punitive damage verdict, Philip Morris vowed to fight on against all pending litigation in Florida.

“We will vigorously defend each of these cases, which will turn on the facts unique to each plaintiff. We do not believe today’s verdict is predictive of outcomes in future cases,” said Murray Garnick, an Altria senior vice president and associate general counsel, speaking on behalf of Philip Morris.

“This case was selected by plaintiffs’ lawyers from among thousands of others to be the first tried presumably because they believed it was their best case,” said Garnick.

Edward Sweda, a senior attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, agreed the Hess case was no guarantee of the result of future trials.

But he added that it also did not bode well for Philip Morris or its parent company.

It also doesn’t bode well for common sense or people taking responsibility for the outcomes of their own actions.  When Hess started smoking 40 years ago the risks of smoking were well-known, unless Hess was illiterate or he and his wife belonged to a strange sect that had absolutely no contact with the outside world.

It was a choice Hess  made of his own volition.  It turned out to be a bad choice and so there has to be someone to blame, such is the litigious, I would even go as far as to say childish, nature of American society, a trait that is also fast becoming ingrained in the  British way of life.

Strange how premature deaths from alcohol abuse do not seem to generate lawsuits against the beer and liquor companies.

This ruling and the cases being brought against the tobacco companies do not represent justice. They represent the agenda of the vociferous anti-tobacco lobby who will not rest until tobacco is removed from society.  There is no rhyme or reason to it, just plain hatred of tobacco and tobacco users.

It is the mentality of the Salem witch trials.

[Based on a report by Reuters.]

Sculpture tribute to Heath Ledger embodies his style and love of chess

By Calvin Palmer

Australian actor Heath Ledger has been commemorated with a three-piece sculpture at a park where he played as a child.

Ledger’s family picked a site Point Heathcote Reserve in the City of Melville, part of Perth’s southern suburbs, for the polished concrete and marble sculpture by artist Ron Gomboc.

Two of the pieces incorporate chessboards in tribute to the late actor’s love of the game. The third piece features a yin and yang design that embodies his spiritual beliefs.

Gomboc, a long-time family friend, said yesterday that the sculpture was a fitting tribute to Ledger, who used to relish playing chess at parks around the world when he had down-time from filming.

Ledger’s mother Sally Bell said the family had chosen the site, which overlooks the Swan River, because because her son had cared about the environment and spent much of his youth in the Applecross area, walking with friends.

“He truly loved it there,” she said.

“As for the chess theme, not many people know that Heath was passionate about chess and was close to becoming a Grand Master.”

Father, Kim Ledger, said the sculpture was in keeping with Heath’s subtle and laidback style, and his friends and family now had a place to visit that was imbued with his presence.

“People who visit the site can remember him by using and enjoying the tables, as he would want them to,” he said.

Ledger’s family flew from Perth bound for Los Angeles yesterday to attend the Oscar ceremony and spend time with his daughter Matilda.

The Perth-born actor is widely tipped to take out the best supporting actor award for his portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight, the last film he completed before his death.

Ledger was working on The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus when he died, aged 28, on January 22 last year in his rented Manhattan loft apartment after consuming a deadly cocktail of prescription painkillers and sleeping pills. His death was declared an accidental overdose.

[Based on reports by The West Australian and Melbourne Herald Sun.]

Unrest on Guadeloupe claims its first victim

By Calvin Palmer

A union official was shot dead overnight in Guadeloupe when he drove up to  a roadblock in the island’s main city Pointe-a-Pitre.

Jacques Bino’s death is the first in a month-long strike and growing unrest over the rising cost of living in the Caribbean island.

After holding an emergency meeting on the deteriorating situation on the island, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie announced that four squadrons of police reinforcements, 280 men, would fly to the island immediately.

“Acts of pillaging, atrocities and violence against other people … will not be tolerated,” she said.

A few days ago, 150 riot police were sent to the island.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to meet with elected officials from Guadeloupe tomorrow to “address the anxiety, worries and also a certain form of despair from our compatriots.”

Bino’s car was hit three times by 12-gauge shotgun rounds. Two rounds hit the rear of the vehicle and the third was fired through a side passenger window and fatally wounded the activist in the chest.

“These were not stray rounds,” prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre said, adding that he was looking into the possibility that, given their age, Bino and a passenger had been mistaken for plain-clothes police officers. Bino was in his 50s.

Rioters fired at police and emergency workers, preventing them from reaching the wounded Bino for several hours.  By the time they reached him he was dead.

Six members of the security forces were slightly injured during clashes with armed youths, police said.

The protests in Guadeloupe and neighboring Martinique are hurting scores of businesses, including restaurants, hotels and car rental agencies during the islands’ peak winter tourist season, Martinique Tourism Authority chairwoman Madeleine de Grandmaison said today.

“Tourism is fragile,” she said. “People are not only canceling this week, but also for all the months of February, March and April. We have a huge deficit of tourists ahead of us.”

At least 10,000 tourists have canceled vacations in Martinique and Guadeloupe, according to the National Travel Agencies organization.
Guadeloupe’s strike has persisted for almost a month. Martinique’s is in its third week.

A Paris-based association of tour operators that works with France’s government tourism department has designated Guadeloupe a “red zone,” meaning it is not endorsing it as a destination. The association began redirecting tourists to Martinique — until the strike arrived there.

Guadeloupe’s Tourism Committee said today the main airport reopened after closing briefly because of a lack of workers. But American Airlines canceled a night flight. Much of the violence on the island has occurred after dark.

[Based on results by the AFP news agency and the Associated Press.]

Intruders break in and ransack Kercher murder house

By Calvin Palmer

Intruders have broken into the house in Perugia, central Italy, where British exchange student Meredith Kercher was murdered.

Prosecutors say the break-in was discovered early today during an official inspection of the murder site, which has been sealed since the crime.

The intruders broke a window, ransacked the house and left four kitchen knives and some candles behind in various rooms but not in the bedroom where Kercher’s body was found in November 2007.

Kercher’s roommate, American student Amanda Knox, and Knox’s former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are on trial for the murder and sexual assault. They deny the charges.

The trial resumes a week on Friday.

Ivory Coast immigrant, Rudy Guede, was sentenced to 30 years in prison last October in a fast-track trial.

The prosecution alleges that all three were involved in the murder, which was the result of a “sex game” that ended in assault and death.

Police said they were investigating whether the break-in was the result of a “Satanic ritual” or a “message in code” relating to the killing.

Kercher’s throat was allegedly slit by a kitchen knife found at Sollecito’s flat, and Knox and Sollecito are accused of smashing a window to make it look as if Kercher was attacked by a burglar.
 
Francesco Maresca, the Italian lawyer for the Kercher family, said he was “astonished and appalled”.

“I hope the matter will be cleared up as soon as possible,” he said.

[Based on reports by The Times and Associated Press.]

Antarctic cruise passengers transfer to sister ship

By Calvin Palmer

All the passengers aboard the cruise ship that ran aground yesterday close to the Argentine research base at San Martin, Antarctica, have been safely transferred to another vessel.

The 65 passengers, including 21 Americans and 17 Britons, are safely aboard the Ocean Nova’s sister ship, Clipper Adventurer.

The Argentine navy said the operation was carried out using semi-rigid boats.

Tour company Quark Expeditions, of Norwalk, Connecticut, said the Ocean Nova was still aground and awaiting this evening’s high tide in an attempt to refloat the ship.

Continuing high winds thwarted last night’s attempt to refloat the 240-foot Danish-built vessel, was on the eighth day of a two-week expedition that embarked from from Ushuaia, Argentina’s southernmost city.

A preliminary inspection by divers from the Spanish naval vessel Hespérides has found no visible damage or leaks.

Quark Expeditions anticipates there will be no negative impact on the environment due to this incident, the company said.

Another inspection by divers will be conducted once Ocean Nova is afloat. After that inspection, the vessel will return to Ushuaia.

[Based on a report by the Brisbane Times.]

Crew and passengers rescued after helicopter ditches in North Sea

By Calvin Palmer

All 18 people aboard a helicopter that ditched into the North Sea this evening have been resuced from two life rafts, according to coastguards.

The Super Puma helicopter came down near an oil platform in the ETAP field, 125 miles east of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Three of the people aboard were rescued by a Bond company helicopter, the other 15 by a platform lifeboat.

Coast guard spokesman Fred Caygill said the passengers and crew managed to make it out of the helicopter on to two inflatable life rafts.

“We’re very pleased that all 18 have been rescued,” Caygill said, adding that there were no serious injuries.

A Sea King helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth and a Nimrod jet from RAF Kinloss were scrambled.

James Lyne of RAF Kinloss said all those on board would have been wearing immersion suits that would have protected them from the cold of the sea for some time.

NHS Grampian said A&E staff at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary were now on full alert and they were expecting 18 patients.

[Based on reports by BBC News and newsday.com.]

Man shoots himself in front of cross at Crystal Cathedral

By Calvin Palmer

A man shot and killed himself today in front a cross inside inside televangelist Robert H. Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral, in Southern California, as a nearby volunteer nearby told a group of visitors about the church’s suicide-prevention program.

Senior Pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz says a long-haired walked into the sanctuary of the building in Garden Grove at about 9:45 this morning, handed a note and his driver’s license to two ushers, walked to the cross and then shot himself in the head as he appeared to be praying.

The Orange County coroner’s office identified the man as Steve Smick, 48. Church spokesman Mike Nason said there was no record of Smick at the cathedral.

Betty Spicer, a volunteer usher at the famous sanctuary, said she greeted Smick when he entered. She said he handed her a folded note with two cards inside as the man told her: “You may want this.”

Spicer said he then walked to the foot of the cross. She and Yvette Manson, another volunteer, said they thought Smick was praying when they heard a pop.

A tourist, one in a group of several visitors from Canada, told Manson the man had shot himself.

“I didn’t realize it. I thought he was praying,” Spicer said.

Manson said she “had just finished telling them about our intervention hotline that we have — suicide prevention on the fifth floor — and all of a sudden I heard this pop, a loud pop, it almost sounded like a firecracker,” she said.

The man used a semiautomatic handgun, said police Lt. Dennis Ellsworth.

Spicer said one of Smick’s cards was a driver’s license, and that the note mentioned a pickup truck in the parking lot.

Cathedral spokesman John Charles said none of the Canadian tourists was injured.

[Based on reports by newsday.com, The Mercury News, and Associated Press.]

Chimpanzee’s owner denies she gave the animal Xanax

By Calvin Palmer

The owner of Travis, the 200-pound chimpanzee that mauled a Connecticut woman, disputes police reports that she gave the animal a drug to calm him down.

Sandra Herold said today the she “never, ever” gave the drug Xanax to her 14-year-old pet chimpanzee.

Travis, a former star of TV ads for Old Navy and Coca-Cola, attacked Herold’s friend, 55-year-old Charla Nash, when she came to visit on Monday.

The chimp badly mauled Nash and left her severely injured.

Stamford Police said Herold told them that earlier on Monday she gave Travis Xanax  in some tea to calm him down because he seemed agitated.

Dr. Emil Coccaro, chief of psychiatry at the University of Chicago Medical Center says the anti-anxiety drug can lead to aggression in people who are unstable to begin with.

“Xanax could have made him worse,” if human studies are any indication, Coccaro said.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]