HSBC prides itself on being the "world's local bank". Yet it could have done without the kind of international exposure that upset United States senators this summer and the one that today resulted in it paying $1.9bn (£1.2bn) to settle a money-laundering probe. As the senators tell it, and as the prosecutors allege, HSBC was used by a diverse customer base including Mexican drug gangs looking to fun ...

Banks are being crippled by the highest ever bank overdraft rates. The Bank of England revealed yesterday that the average overdraft rate has reached a record of 19.65 per cent, which is nearly 40 times higher than the base rate, currently at an historic low of 0.5 per cent. If you had an overdraft of £1,000 for a year, this means it would cost £196 - and this is before you have paid off a single penny of t ...

The woman mayor who was kidnapped and murdered by a Mexican drug gang pleaded with her attackers for her young daughter’s life, it emerged today. Maria Santos Gorrostieta, who had already survived two assassination attempts, was driving the child to school at around 8.30am when she was ambushed by a car in the city of Morelia. The 36-year-old was hauled from her vehicle and physically assaulted as horrified ...

The powerful group of countries, Europe's largest, also welcomed plans to hold a special Brussels summit next year to "confirm our ambitions for security and defence policy" in a move that poses a major headache for the Prime Minister as the EU climbs the domestic political agenda. 
 Known as the "Weimar group", the five countries met in Paris on Thursday evening to launch a new offensive to create an EU mi ...

Israel’s assault on Gaza raises doubts that it has any interest in finding the lasting peace settlement it proclaims to want. Does the campaign have an alternative objective as part of a strategy to engineer a strike on Iran? It’s probably the world’s most tragic never-ending story.For almost 65 years now, Israel has been bombing, maiming and humiliating the Palestinians, bulldozing their homes and placing ...

It might seem like old news that Proposition 37, the ballot measure calling for the labeling of genetically engineered foods, was defeated Nov. 6, with nearly 53 percent of California voters rejecting it. But is it over? Some groups, including Sustainable Fairfax andGood Earth, say not so fast, posting on Facebook that the outcome of the race could change after all the ballots are counted. The proposition h ...

Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer said Saturday he has sources saying President Barack Obama was in the room at the White House watching the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya unfold. Two unarmed U.S. drones were dispatched to the consulate and recorded the final hours of the attack, which killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. 
 “This was in the middle ...

Exclusive Interview- You don't have to have missed a payment now for the banks to STEAL your property! They are doing it through "Appraisals"! I was contacted through my blog about this information.  I have various people contact me about things, some ring true some do not.  When I got this information it rang true immediately.  I wanted to know more about it.   After a few emails back and forth we set up a ...

The international bankster crowd attempts to impose austerity measures on the peoples of Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and now the United States.  In their never-ending quest to subjugate the planet, the bankers’ IMF enforcer – chronic harasser of Third World governments – has turned its sites on the developed world.  To further advance their dizzying concentration of economic power, the Illuminat ...

The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..." THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, h ...