Khabir Slusky blog

Allen Stanford headed to U.S. prison hospital

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Allen Stanford, accused of a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, is on the way to a prison hospital to receive treatment for addiction to anti-anxiety medication and for psychiatric evaluation.

Stanford, 60, is "in transit" from a Houston jail to another facility, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website's inmate locator.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner ruled last month that Stanford was not competent to stand trial and ordered him transferred to a medical facility within the federal prison system for treatment.

At a January 6 hearing to discuss the matter, the prison hospital in Butner, North Carolina was mentioned as a place where Stanford could find treatment.

Bernie Madoff, who confessed to leading the biggest financial fraud in history, is serving a 150-year prison sentence at Butner.

Stanford's lawyer, Ali Fazel, declined to comment, citing a gag order issued by Judge Hittner.

The former billionaire became addicted to a powerful anti-anxiety medicine in prison.

His lawyers also say he suffers from traumatic brain injury received after another prisoner slammed his face into a telephone, breaking a number of bones.

Stanford has pleaded not guilty to a 21-count criminal indictment that charges him with a certificates-of-deposit scam run out of his offshore bank in Antigua.

(Reporting by Anna Driver; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Snooki: George W. Bush hotter than Obama

She may haveon Monday andlast month, but “Jersey Shore” reality star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi hasn’t totally ruled out the discussion of politics.

During her Monday appearance at the Washington Auto Show, Snooki was asked to determine who was hotter: President Barack Obama or former President George W. Bush.

“I thought George Bush was pretty cute,” the Washington Post Snooki as saying. “For an old man.”

Snooki also mentioned her support for former Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

“I’ve really only talked to John McCain, and that’s because I mentioned him on my show..how, you know, he probably wouldn’t do tan taxing because he’s…pale,” Snooki said.

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

UK banks 'to pay out 6 bln in bonuses'

LONDON (AFP) – Britain?s biggest banks are poised to pay out a combined 6 billion in bonuses despite government demands for restraint on City pay, the Sunday Times reported, without identifying its sources.

The size of the payout will embarrass George Osborne, the chancellor, who is hoping to announce a peace deal with the City this week that will include targets for lending to small businesses and curbs on pay.

Those talks, codenamed Project Merlin, could still founder, the newspaper cited senior sources as saying. They will not be helped by the disclosure that Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered are lining up big paydays for their traders and investment bankers, the report said.

Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays, is likely to be one of the big winners in spite of flat profits at the bank, the Sunday Times said, adding that the bank?s board meets this week to sign off on a bonus worth up to 9.5m.

Diamond, who is worth an estimated 95 million and was once described by Lord Mandelson as the unacceptable face of banking, recently told a Treasury Select Committee of MPs: "There was a period of remorse and apology for banks and I think that period needs to be over."

Stuart Gulliver, chief executive of HSBC, is estimated to be in line for a payout of as much as 10m ? although a decision on the bonus is still three weeks away, according to the report..

Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, is expected to receive a bonus of about 2m, paid in shares, the newspaper added..

All the bank bosses are predicted to take their bonuses after two years in which they have waived the payments or given them to charity. Diamond in particular is said to see no point in making such gestures. His proposed bonus is believed to be about half of what he is entitled to receive under the terms of his contract,the Sunday Times said.

The Project Merlin talks are forecast to conclude this week. The banks are expected to pledge to lend between 160 billion and 190 billion this year. Price Waterhouse Coopers, the accountancy firm, is likely to be asked to make sure the banks stick to their promises, the report predicted.

HSBC said its remuneration committee has not met, so Gulliver's bonus has yet to be decided.

The bank said more than 90% of its profits are made outside the UK, it has paid out more than $24 bln (14.9 bln) in dividends since the financial crisis began and has paid over 5 bln in tax over the past five years.

Romney eyes ‘different dates’ to announce 2012 intentions

Mitt Romney says he still has made "no decision" about whether he'll run for president in 2012, but he's already sounding a lot like a candidate.

In an interview Wednesday, the former Massachusetts governor said he's still exploring his options when it comes to next year's presidential race.

"No decision at this point…No announcement to make," Romney said in his first TV interview in weeks. "We are doing all the things we need to do to keep the options open."

While Romney said he didn't have a "specific time frame" for his decision, the potential GOP contender admitted he's "looking at different dates" for announcing his intentions.

Still, the ex-governor,last weekend, took the opportunity to trash President Obama's State of the Union address and tout his own economic credentials in the process.

Obama, Romney said, "is trying awfully hard" to deal with the nation's struggling economy but is failing.

"The problem he just doesn't know what to do," Romney said. "He is misguided. Almost everything he has done has been the opposite of what he hoped to accomplish."

Romney said the president blew it by not offering more specifics in the speech about how he can create jobs and curb "extraordinary over-spending" and that the solutions Obama did offer weren't convincing.

"His words were all-over-the-place inspiring," Romney said. "But the reality of what he's done was so different than what he said."

Whoever runs in 2012, "it would be helpful" if they had "extensive experience in the private sector," Romney said, clearly alluding to his own resume.

You can watch Romney's comments on Obama , courtesy of Fox News.

On a side note,Romney might skip the Iowa caucuses if he runs--focusing instead on the pivotal New Hampshire primary, where he's likely to perform much better.

(Screenshot of Romney: )

U.N. finds many more Congolese New Year rape victims

GENEVA (Reuters) – U.N. investigators have found many more women than previously thought were raped by Congolese soldiers during a New Year's rampage, the United Nations said on Tuesday, and demanded harsh punishment for the perpetrators.

Congo Friday arrested a senior army commander accused of ordering the rapes in Fizi on New Year's Day. The arrest followed the detention of 10 other soldiers earlier in the week.

Human rights officers from the U.N. peacekeeping mission had originally said more than a dozen women were raped. But investigators have since documented at least 67 victims in South and North Kivu provinces, including a teen-ager and two pregnant women.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on Congolese authorities to investigate "these hideous crimes" and prosecute alleged perpetrators as soon as possible.

"The High Commissioner remains extremely concerned with the fact that the Congolese army remains responsible for a significant number of human rights violations, including sexual violence, against their own population," a U.N. statement said.

Rights groups and the U.N. peacekeeping force are putting pressure on the central African state to crack down on rogue elements in its military.

Pillay said that the soldiers arrested last week, including Lt. Colonel Kibibi Mutwara and three majors, were expected to go on trial "shortly." Kibibi has denied the charges.

Sexual violence is a regular occurrence in eastern Congo, which continues to suffer from conflict after a brutal civil war that ended in 2003 in which more than five million people died.

Last year hundreds of people were raped by members of the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu militia operating in eastern Congo, and the army has also regularly been accused of carrying out atrocities.

(Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Sonya Hepinstall)