Europe
Standard Chartered shares recover
Shares in British bank Standard Chartered have rebounded after their steepest one-day decline in decades. The crash came as New York’s State Department of Financial Services accused the bank of laundering up to $250bn (£161bn) of Iranian money yesterday and threatened to revoke its licence to trade in New York. The bank has denied the allegations, and shares opened 6.5% higher in London morning trade today. The allegations – not the first made by American authorities against a British bank – have angered some politicians in the UK. A view is developing that an “anti-British” bias exists in Washington, with a view to weakening London’s dominance as a financial centre. London Mayor Boris Johnson said regulation in New York should not become “a self-interested attack on London’s status as the pre-eminent financial centre”, while John Mann, of the British Parliament’s finance committee, said “it’s a concerted effort that’s been organised at the top of the US government. I think this is Washington trying to win a commercial battle to have trading from London shifted to New York.”
North America
Arizona congresswoman shooter pleads guilty
Jared Loughner, the man accused of shooting a US congresswoman in Arizona and killing six others in January 2011 has pleaded guilty after a judge found him mentally competent. The case was put on hold last year after experts said he had schizophrenia. The plea deal means Mr Loughner, 23, will not face the death penalty, and he is expected to be sentenced to life in jail. Former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords survived a close-range gunshot to the head in Mr Loughner’s attack after extensive emergency treatment, and has since left office.
Latin America
Hurricane Ernesto sweeps Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula
Hurricane Ernesto, a category one hurricane bringing heavy rain and sustained winds of 80mph (130kph), is sweeping across Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. It has already drenched Honduras and Belize and is forecast to reach the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where state oil company Pemex has several offshore oil platforms, by Thursday evening. Flooding has been reported in Chetumal and there were heavy downpours in Cancun. Residents in low-lying areas have taken refuge in shelters and tourists have moved to hotels further inland.
Middle East and Africa
Egypt launches Sinai air raids
Egyptian helicopter gunships have fired missiles on suspected Islamist militants in the northern Sinai peninsula, according to security officials. Twenty people were reported killed in Touma village, while the Sheikh Zuwaid area to the west was also hit. The strikes follow attacks on security checkpoints by gunmen in the town of al-Arish, in which a number of people were injured, and a much more serious attack on the Israeli-Egyptian border on Sunday in which militants killed 16 Egyptian guards. Islamic extremists are said to have gained a foothold in the Sinai region in the vacuum left by the Arab Spring revolutions that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Syrian forces claim advance in Aleppo
Syrian state media has claimed government forces have recaptured a strategic district in the country’s second city, Aleppo, after fierce fighting. Rebel commanders, however, have denied that they had retreated from the Salah al-Din district amid reports of an assault by army tanks. Activists claim in unconfirmed reports that shell bombardments have killed at least 12 people so far today, with the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying at least 225 people, including 129 civilians, were killed across Syria yesterday alone.
Asia and Russia
Heavy rain continues in Manila as flood death toll rises to 16
At least 16 people have died in severe floods in the Philippine capital, Manila, say officials. Nine deaths – all of a single family – came as landslides struck a shanty town. Others died from drowning and electrocution. More than 80,000 people are in emergency shelters as torrential rain left low-lying areas completely submerged. Soldiers and rescuers are still working to rescue survivors, with some using Twitter to notify authorities of their location. More than half the amount of rain normally seen in the whole of August has fallen in the capital in just 24 hours.
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