Author: admin@primenews

Swiss bank UBS has agreed to pay $1.4bn (£1.1bn) to resolve fraud claims in the US stemming from the 2008 financial crisis. It brings to a close the last case brought by US prosecutors investigating banks’ conduct in the run-up to the crash, which sparked a global downturn. Prosecutors said the bank had lied about the quality of mortgages that were packaged and sold to investors in a series of deals in 2006-2007. UBS did not admit or deny the claims. In a statement, it said it had already set aside money for the “legacy” matter and the deal would…

Russia has hiked interest rates to 12% after the rouble fell to its lowest value in 16 months. The currency fell past 100 per dollar on Monday, prompting Russia’s central bank to hold an emergency meeting. The Bank of Russia said it decided to raise interest rates from 8.5% to curb inflation, which hit 4.4% in August. Pressure has been mounting on the Russian economy due to imports rising faster than exports and military spending growing for the Ukraine war. “Steady growth in domestic demand surpassing the capacity to expand output amplifies the underlying inflationary pressure and has impact on…

An elderly couple have said they were “horrified” after being charged £110 by Ryanair to print their tickets at the airport. Ruth and Peter Jaffe told the BBC they had to pay airport check-in fees after mistakenly downloading their return tickets instead of their outgoing ones. It sparked a flurry of social media complaints about the airline’s fees. Ryanair said the fees were in line with its policy, as the couple had failed to check-in online for the correct flight. But consumer rights expert Martyn James said the couple’s experience had “touched a nerve” as many other people have also…

Wages grew at a record annual pace in the April to June period, according to new official figures. Regular pay rose by 7.8%, the highest annual growth rate since comparable records began in 2001. The stronger-than-expected increase has fuelled forecasts the Bank of England will be forced to raise interest rates again to calm inflation. Inflation – which measure the rate at which prices rise – has eased but remains high at 7.9%. Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the Office for National Statistics, which released the wage and employment data, said the latest figures suggested real pay growth,…

A firm which was contracted to moderate Facebook posts in East Africa has said with hindsight it should not have taken on the job. Former Kenya-based employees of Sama – an outsourcing company – have said they were traumatised by exposure to graphic posts. Some are now taking legal cases against the firm through the Kenyan courts. Chief executive Wendy Gonzalez said Sama would no longer take work involving moderating harmful content. Some former employees have described being traumatised after viewing videos of beheadings, suicide and other graphic material at the moderation hub, which the firm ran from 2019. Former…

Fans of DJ Khaled recently stopped traffic on the streets of Miami. The crowd weren’t there for a new album drop. They had come to check out the recording artist’s new concept store, a massive space full of “athleisure wear” and sneakers that is the result of his work with the German streetwear company Snipes. “Today was so special FANLUV THANK YOU !” the artist later wrote in a series of Instagram posts featuring videos of him chatting to shoppers and promoting the anthem Let’s Go Shopping. The Grammy award-winning music mogul isn’t just the brand’s hype man. Shortly after he began…

Two American tourists in Paris have been found sleeping inside the Eiffel Tower after getting stuck while drunk, according to prosecutors. The two men were found by security guards in the early hours of Monday. They paid to visit the landmark at around 22:40 (20:40 GMT) on Sunday and hopped security barriers while coming down the stairs, police said. They were found in an area normally closed to the public between the tower’s second and third levels. The men “appear to have got stuck because of how drunk they were”, Paris prosecutors told the AFP news agency. A specialist firefighter…

A Texas jury has awarded a woman $1.2bn (£944m) after ruling that she was the victim of revenge porn. The woman, who was named only by the initials DL in court documents, filed a harassment lawsuit against her former boyfriend in 2022. The suit alleged that he posted intimate pictures of her online to “publicly shame” her after a break-up. Her lawyers in the case said the settlement is a win for victims of “image-based sexual abuse”. “While a judgment in this case is unlikely to be recovered, the compensatory verdict gives DL back her good name,” said Bradford Gilde,…

Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) maker VinFast’s stock market valuation has soared above Ford and General Motors (GM) on its first day of trading. Shares in the firm, which has yet to make a profit, closed above $37 each in their debut on New York’s Nasdaq. That gave VinFast a stock market valuation of $85bn (£67bn), much higher than Ford’s $48bn and GM’s $46bn. It comes as motor industry giants and newer manufacturers fight for a slice of the booming EV market. The listing added around $39bn to the wealth of VinFast’s chairman and founder Pham Nhat Vuong, who was already…

Lizzie Wilson was never a sports fan. A month ago, the 24-year-old hadn’t ever sat through a match – of any kind – or even heard of the Matildas. Now, she lives and breathes football. “I’m one of the Matildas many new followers on Instagram, I’ve been deep diving on YouTube, I made myself learn the offside rule… I’ve [even] been dreaming about their penalty shots.” “I’m like: ‘What is wrong with me’… that’s the kind of level of obsession.” It’s a familiar story unfolding across the country. From rural pubs to city stadiums, Matildas fever has well and truly…