House of Represenatives approves Democratic plan to set up independent ethics office

Democrats in the House of Representatives, trying to restore integrity to the chamber's tarnished image, pushed through a measure Tuesday to create an outside panel to review possible ethical lapses by its members.

The new Office of Congressional Ethics would bring fundamental changes to how the House investigates itself. It would be charged with reviewing cases and referring them to the House ethics committee, which has drawn wide criticism in recent years for its partisanship and ineffectiveness.

The vote was 229-182, with much of the opposition coming from Republicans who argued that lawmakers should be able to police themselves.

The new …

Pact ends lawsuit tied to scam at First Chicago

A former high-ranking First Chicago executive accused of takingkickbacks from bank contractors has settled a civil lawsuit filed bythe bank seeking damages.

The suit against Jeffrey Tassani, a former First Chicago seniorvice president and head of the bank's administration department, wasdismissed two weeks ago after he and the bank agreed on a financialsettlement, records show.

Terms of the agreement are confidential, a bank spokeswomansaid. Tassani's attorney declined to comment on the settlementagreement.

Tassani is cooperating in a federal criminal investigation ofnumerous kickback schemes at the city's largest bank over the last 10years, sources …

SOCAR EXPORTED 159,513 TONS OF CRUDE VIA NOVOROSSIYSK.

Baku, April 06, 2010 (AzerTAc) -- The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) exported more than 159,513 tons of crude oil from the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in March 2010, SOCAR Marketing and Financial Operations Department said. For the period of …

Brazil, India offer trade deal to G-7.(Main)

Byline: GRAHAM BOWLEY New York Times

LONDON - The Group of 7 of the world's leading industrial nations threw their weight behind further trade liberalization on Saturday and called for "renewed momentum" in negotiations to prevent a breakdown in global trade talks at a meeting set to begin Dec. 13 in Hong Kong.

At a meeting here, Brazil and India issued an unexpected offer of fresh concessions to the leading industrialized countries, offering to open their markets further to industrial goods and services. But this offer, they said, was conditional on the United States and European Union further dismantling protection of their own agricultural markets. …

Nielsen Bainbridge acquired by Kohlberg & Company.(news)

PARAMUS, NJ -- Kohlberg & Company, L.L.C., a private equity firm based in Mt. Kisco, NY, recently acquired Nielsen Bainbridge, a leading producer of picture-framing products.

The company operates four manufacturing facilities in North America and one in Europe. With 10 distribution centers in North America and marketing subsidiaries in seven countries, Nielsen Bainbridge …

Nepal's former rebels agree to rejoin government, ending political crisis

Nepal's former communist rebels agreed Sunday to rejoin the government, officials said, signaling an end to a political crisis that led to the indefinite postponement of elections. The pact will also abolish Nepal's monarchy.

No date has been set for the ex-rebels, usually referred to as Maoists, to rejoin the government they left in September, demanding the immediate abolition of the monarchy and changes to the election system.

An agreement for them to rejoin has been signed, however, by leaders of the seven main political parties _ including the Maoists _ said Arjun Narsingh of Nepali Congress, the Himalayan country's largest party.

The …

Multi-Channel Delivery: CIBC Reuses As It Renews.

Banks realize customers are still streaming into the branch-in spite of the Internet and other electronic channels-so some are forking over a lot of cash to implement multi-channel architectures as part of their branch renewal projects. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) is in the midst of a major branch renewal project using Eontec's Enterprise JavaBeans-based multi-channel banking architecture as its retail platform, one of the first significant investments the $1.6 billion-asset financial institution has made in its branch network in a long time.

Financial institutions are hoping to leverage technology investments between channels to avoid reengineering every application produced within the enterprise. …