GENEVA (AP) -- New banking rules are being proposed by an influential global regulatory panel that would give investors a better idea of when CEOs and other high-paid executives get bonuses even when their companies are lagging.



The panel affiliated with the Bank for International Settlements in Basel said its proposal Monday would require banks to reveal whether a bonus is linked to a firm's performance and to provide other details aimed at preventing lenders from hiding irresponsible risks. The new international rules "will allow market participants to assess the quality of a bank's compensation practices and the incentives towards risk-taking they support," said Fernando Vargas, chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's task force on remuneration and an associate director-general at the Bank of Spain. Vargas said his panel's proposal also would promote "greater convergence and consistency of disclosure on remuneration" by requiring lenders to publicly provide details of their risks and capitalization. In a statement on its Web site, the committee said it is seeking public comment until Feb. 25 on its plan to boost the transparency of lenders' pay policies -- part of an overall push to "support effective market discipline." The committee includes regulators from the U.S., China and 25 other countries. source - Google/AP

In case you're wondering exactly what you're reading, it's the coming One World Government that will operate under a global structure administered by the UN.

American sovereignty? Lol. Not any more.

The United Nations is considering whether to set up an inter-governmental working group to harmonise global efforts by policy makers to regulate the internet. Establishment of such a group has the backing of several countries, spearheaded by Brazil.



At a meeting in New York on Wednesday, representatives from Brazil called for an international body made up of Government representatives that would attempt to create global standards for policing the internet - specifically in reaction to challenges such as WikiLeaks. The Brazilian delegate stressed, however, that this should not be seen as a call for an "takeover" of the internet. India, South Africa, China and Saudi Arabia appeared to favour a new possible over-arching inter-government body. However, Australia, US, UK, Belgium and Canada and attending business and community representatives argued there were risks in forming yet another working group that might isolate itself from the industry, community users and the general public. source - IT News

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Britain and France will launch a broad defense partnership on Tuesday that includes setting up a joint force and sharing equipment and nuclear missile research centers, a French government source said. Their new partnership is driven by the desire to maintain cutting-edge military capabilities while at the same time reducing defense spending to rein in big budget deficits. France and Britain will agree to set up a joint brigade-sized army contingent with air and sea support, which could assemble as needed to take part in NATO, European Union, United Nations or bilateral operations, the French source said. British Defense Secretary Liam Fox confirmed the outlines of the agreement. "We're talking about joint expeditionary forces with our forces in all three services working together to develop common practices, better inter-operability, and to look to see where we get better common equipment," Fox told BBC television. "That makes perfect sense in a world where resources are tight, but our interests are increasingly common, but not always the same." source - Yahoo News

It shot up from third the previous year, overtaking Jack, which had topped the list for the past 14 years but was relegated to third spot. Olivia topped the list for little girls for the second year in a row, behind Ruby and Chloe. A total of 7,549 newborns were given 12 variations of the Islamic prophet Mohammed's name last year, such as Muhammad and Mohammad.



The official list, which covers all births in 2009 in England and Wales, has -Mohammed at number 16 but this does not include the many different spellings, which are all ranked separately. When they are added in, Mohammed zooms all the way up to top spot for the first time. In order of popularity, the variant -spellings used during the year were: Muhammad, Mohammad, Muhammed, Mohamed, Mohamad, Muhamed, Mohammod, Mahamed, Muhamad, Mahammed and Mohmmed." source - Daily Mail

Click here to see what other changes that Muslims are doing in the UK....

President Nicolas Sarkozy could face the greatest challenge of his presidency in the next few days as a month-old protest against pension reform swells towards outright confrontation. More than 3 million demonstrators - one in 20 of all French people - marched yesterday against the President's plans to raise the standard retirement age from 60 to 62.




Tens of thousands of students joined the marches for the first time, threatening to radicalise the protests and broaden them into a rebellion against a deeply unpopular presidency. Militant union branches in the railway and oil-refining industries were pushing last night for a showdown with Mr Sarkozy, who has made reform of the loss-making state pension system the make-or-break issue of his final 20 months in office. Rail and air services were severely disrupted yesterday. Many schools and government offices, and even the Eiffel Tower, closed. Eleven out of the nation's 12 oil refineries were wholly or partially closed in what local union branches threaten could become an indefinite stoppage "to topple the pension reform". The state railway company, the SNCF, warned last night that it expected widespread cancellations today. Workers in the Paris Metro voted to prolong their strike into a second day but relatively few had stopped work yesterday. The city's bus and underground train services were close to normal. " source - The Independent