Former UK watchdog brands HSBC's tax evasion scheme 'serious criminal activity'

London, Feb 23 - A former Director of Public Prosecutions has accused banking giant HSBC of "grave" cross border crime and of engaging in "a systematic and profitable collusion in serious criminal activity" in the UK.

According to the Independent, in a damming intervention Lord Ken Macdonald, who led the Crown Prosecution Service until 2008, said there existed "credible evidence" of HSBC's involvement in "grave" cross border crimes that should have been the subject of urgent and "sustained criminal investigation".

He said that the decision by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to not launch a probe into allegations of tax evasion by HSBC was "seriously legally flawed".

Google wins lawsuit that claimed it coerced manufacturers to offer its apps

Wellington, Feb 23 - Google has reportedly won a lawsuit that claimed it abused its market power by forcing device makers that used its Android platform to provide the search engine company's applications.

Google was accused of forcing manufacturers to make its search engine the default option on devices powered by Android and coercing smartphone makers like, Samsung, to offer less popular Android applications in order to pre-load, for free, favourites such as YouTube, reported Stuff.co.nz.

U.S. District Judge Beth L Freeman in San Jose, California, said that the consumers failed to identify the damage that the antitrust laws they sued under were designed to address. The judge gave the consumers' lawyers three weeks to amend some of their claims and refile the case.

Passengers to be screened for swine flu at Mizoram's airport

Aizawl - Passengers at Mizoram's lone Lengpui Airport near here will be screened to ensure detection of people infected with swine flu.

The state Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme's Nodal Officer Pachuau Lalmalsawma said the screening was being conducted after obtaining permission from the Aviation department.

The lone case of swine flu infection was detected on February 13 in a woman arriving from Delhi but she is now completely cured, Lalmalsawma said, adding that samples of four people have been tested so far and only one person was found to be positive till date.

The IDSP officials would also undertake screening of people arriving from outside the state at the Mizoram-Assam border Vairengte town soon.

Disinvestment in LIC, Air India, BSNL will unlock lakhs of crores of rupees: Deepak Parekh

Mumbai - Pitching for disinvestment in public sector behemoths like LIC, Air India and BSNL, top industry leader Deepak Parekh has said it can unlock huge funds worth "lakhs of crores of rupees" and shares should be given to retail investors without depending on the overseas entities.

However, one of the major requirements for such large- scale disinvestments is a government thinking on those lines, as lack of political will and union pressure have been halting such proposals for a long time including during the tenure of the previous UPA government, he said.

Giving examples from during the UPA regime, Parekh said 'he has been part of many important government panels,' including those on BSNL and Indian Railways, but nothing moved on the suggestions made by those committees.

South Africa fined for slow over-rate against India

Melbourne - As if not enough with their embarrassing 130-run loss to India, South Africa were on Monday fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during their World Cup group match against Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men at the MCG here.

ICC Match referee Jeff Crowe found the South Africans fell one over short after time allowances were taken into consideration in the Group B clash yesterday and docked captain AB de Villiers 20 percent of his match fee and 10 percent for each of the remaining players of the team.

31-year-old de Villiers now runs the risk of being suspended from one match during the World Cup if South Africa are fined a second time before the final.

Kanye West developing video game dedicated to mother, daughter

Wellington, Feb 23 - Kanye West is all set to make a video game based on his latest single 'Only One' as a tribute to his mother Donda and daughter North West, it has been reported.

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