Hearing on 1st-in-nation tobacco ban ends early
WESTMINSTER, Mass. — A public meeting on a central Massachusetts town’s proposed first-in-the-nation ban on tobacco and nicotine sales has ended early because officials said the crowd was getting too unruly to continue.
The three-member Westminster Board of Health, which proposed the ban, was escorted out by police Wednesday night. The board had asked the crowd to calm down to hear dozens signed up to speak.
Hundreds of people, many opposed to the ban, packed a school auditorium for the hearing. Some, carrying flags and protest signs, had taken part in a rally earlier.
The board said the ban would make it easier to keep tobacco and related products away from young people.
Many businesses oppose it, saying it won’t stop tobacco use, but only drive away customers.
Regulators fine 5 banks $3.4 billion for attempted foreign exchange manipulation
LONDON — Traders with nicknames like the “Three Musketeers” and the “A-Team” plotted over Internet chat rooms to manipulate currency markets for years, profiting at the expense of clients — and then congratulating themselves for their brilliance — regulators said Wednesday, as they fined five banks $3.4 billion.
Using profanity-laced banter, the traders coordinated their financial positions in the multi-trillion dollar currency market, securing profits for those inside their circles. “YESsssssssssss,” one of them wrote in a chat message. “Yeah baby” and “nice work gents. … I don my hat,” wrote others, according to documents of their exchanges.
Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC Bank and UBS agreed to settlements totaling almost $3.4 billion with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, U.K. Financial Conduct Authority and Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. The British regulator said Barclays remains under investigation.
Meanwhile, a U.S. Treasury Department agency announced it was fining three of the biggest U.S. banks — JPMorgan Chase &Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. — a total $950 million for failing to prevent misconduct in their foreign-exchange trading operations.
Israel gives preliminary OK to build 200 homes in east Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities gave preliminary approval Wednesday to build 200 homes in a Jewish area of east Jerusalem, a move that threatened to push Israelis and Palestinians deeper into conflict after weeks of unrest over the city’s holiest sites.
The announcement came hours before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was scheduled to arrive in neighboring Jordan on a mission aimed in part at restoring calm. A State Department spokeswoman said Washington was “deeply concerned” by the decision.
Much of the recent violence has stemmed from tensions surrounding Jerusalem’s hilltop complex that is revered by Muslims and Jews. The collapse of U.S.-brokered peace talks, Israel’s war last summer in the Gaza Strip against the Islamic militant group Hamas, and continued Israeli settlement construction in east Jerusalem have added to the distrust.
Brachie Sprung, a spokeswoman in the mayor’s office, said city officials approved 200 homes in the Ramot area. Sprung said it was just a preliminary stage of the planning process — meaning construction would be years away.
She also said city officials approved an additional 174 homes for construction in an Arab neighborhood.
By wire sources