CitiGroup Expand its Plans by 7 Billion$ in Settlements

Citigroup and the Justice Department have agreed to a $7 billion deal that will settle a federal investigation into the mortgage securities the bank sold in the run-up to the financial crisis, Michael Corkery writes in DealBook. The deal, announced on Monday morning, includes a $4 billion cash penalty to the Justice Department ‒ the largest payment of its kind ‒ as well as $2.5 billion in so-called soft dollars earmarked for aiding struggling consumers and $500 million to state attorneys general and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The bank, which is scheduled to announce second-quarter earnings at 8 a.m., said the settlement would result in a pretax charge of $3.8 billion before taxes in the period.
The deal caps months of contentious talks that began with a $363 million offer by Citigroup followed by a $12 billion demand from the Justice Department, a gap that stemmed from the radically divergent methods used to calculate the cost of the settlement, DealBook’s Ben Protess, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Michael Corkery write. Citigroup linked its initial offer to the bank’s relatively small share of the market for mortgage securities. But the Justice Department rejected that argument, emphasizing instead what it saw as Citigroup’s level of culpability based on incriminating emails and other evidence it had uncovered.
The Irish drug maker Shire said on Monday that its board was prepared to recommend an improved takeover bid of 53.20 pounds a share, the equivalent of about $53 billion, that it received over the weekend from AbbVie, Chad Bray writes in DealBook. The latest offer is the fifth revised bid by AbbVie, which is based in Chicago.

The deal, if completed, would allow AbbVie to reincorporate in Britain and save millions of dollars in taxes, a process known as an inversion. Shire has its headquarters in Ireland and is listed in London. AbbVie is hoping to reach a deal for Shire before July 18, when it will have to make a firm offer or walk away for up to six months under British takeover rules.

Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, testifies on economic and monetary development before the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs at 1:30 p.m. in Strasbourg, France. Happy Bastille Day.

The debt settlement industry, already accused of questionable tactics related to mortgages, has found a gold mine of new customers: those with student debt, Rachel Abrams and Jessica Silver-Greenberg write in DealBook. Federal and state regulators are now finding new instances of abuse as these debt settlement companies shift from mortgage and credit card debt to student loans.

On Monday, Illinois is expected to become the first state to bring legal action against debt settlement companies in connection with their student loan practices, contending in two separate lawsuits that Broadsword Student Advantage and First American Tax Defense duped vulnerable borrowers into paying for help that never arrived. The companies often misled customers about fees, according to the suits, and in some instances feigned affiliation with federal relief programs. In some cases, the Illinois attorney general contends, the companies charged customers for debt assistance that they could have received free from the Education Department.

Strong Earthquake hit Mexico

A shake of earthquake of intensity 7,4 of the staircase Richter has been warned in the Mexican state of Guerrero, to north of Acapulco. So has reported to the American (Usgs) geologic institute and that Mexican. The sisma has also been warned separately to City of Mexico. They don't result to the moment news of damages and victims. According to a bulletin of the Service Sismologico Nazionale, the earthquake with epicentro to around 40 south km of Tecpan, a place to north of Acapulco in the state of Guerrero (southwest of the country) is recorded to the 9.27, now local (her 16.27 in Italy). The daily paper El Universal, in his/her digital edition, it informs about some blacks electric out in some zones of City of Mexico and the mayor of the capital, Miguel Angel Mancera, has published a message on Twitter in which you/he/she has confirmed that till now victims or important damages are not recorded: "For the time being there have been only evacuations" preventive in some buildings. 

Gunmen assassinate election candidate in Pakistan,Terrorist Islamic suspected for the attack

A government official says gunmen have killed a politician running for a provincial assembly seat in southwestern Pakistan.

Saeed Ahmad says Abdul Fatah Magsi was gunned down on Tuesday in Jhal Magsi, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) southeast of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

Ahmad says the candidate's supporters fired back and killed two of the gunmen. He says the attack seemed to be the result of a political rivalry.

Ahmad says the election in the constituency has been postponed, which is mandatory whenever a candidate is killed. National and provincial assembly elections are scheduled to take place across the country on May 11.

Baluchistan is home to both Islamic militants and separatists who have been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for decades.

Michael Jordan's Wedding Cost About $10 Million

Money was no object for Michael Jordan's second wedding. The NBA legend tied the knot with Yvette Prieto in a star-studded, extravagant ceremony in Palm Beach, Fla. on Saturday, Apr. 27.

Jordan, 50, and the Cuban-American model, 34, said "I do" at Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea and then headed to a lavish reception, coordinated by star wedding planner Sharon Sacks, in a large tent at Bear's Club in Jupiter, Fla. A source tells Us Weekly that the couple's wedding cost an estimated $10 million.

Over 300 people attended Jordan and Prieto's big day, including Tiger Woods, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing and Spike Lee. According to the insider, Woods' girlfriend Lindsey Vonn was invited to attend, but she was busy training in Colorado. Usher, Robin Thicke and K'Jon also were there to give special performances during the night.

An insider exclusively tells Us that newlyweds shared their first dance to K'Jon's "One the Ocean." The bride wore a stunning French silk J'Aton Couture gown with Swarovski crystals.

"They are so in love," the source tells Us of the couple of five years. "The warmth and the love was just overflowing. It was a wonderful day and will be a wonderful marriage!"

The reception space was decorated with crystal candelabras, candles and white roses, peonies and tulips with purple accents.

"The attention to detail was magnificent," the source says. "The tent even smelled beautiful. I looked like the most luscious garden you could imagine. You walked into the dining room and it looked like heaven. The room was filled with thousands of candles, thousands. It was heavenly."

Cody Simpson the Next Justin Bieber

"omg! Insider" correspondent Keltie Colleen caught up with 16-year-old Australian singing sensation, Cody Simpson whom many are referring to as the next Justin Bieber. Like the Biebs, Cody caught the attention of the music biz at a young age when he recorded himself singing and posted it to Youtube. That move scored the teen hunk a manager - Scooter Braun - the same manager that represents Justin! Cody even opened for the "Beauty and a Beat" singer on the European leg of his Believe tour. Check out the vid to hear what Cody has to say about his buddy Justin and for the latest entertainment news, check out “omg! Insider” tonight on TV!

Millions in CIA "ghost money" paid to Afghan president's office

Tens of millions of U.S. dollars in cash were delivered by the CIA in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags to the office of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai for more than a decade, according to the New York Times, citing current and former advisers to the Afghan leader.

The so-called "ghost money" was meant to buy influence for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) but instead fuelled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington's exit strategy from Afghanistan, the newspaper quoted U.S. officials as saying.

"The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan", one American official said, "was the United States."

The CIA declined to comment on the report and the U.S. State Department did not immediately comment. The New York Times did not publish any comment from Karzai or his office.

"We called it ‘ghost money'," Khalil Roman, who served as Karzai's chief of staff from 2002 until 2005, told the New York Times. "It came in secret and it left in secret."

For more than a decade the cash was dropped off every month or so at the Afghan president's office, the newspaper said.

Handing out cash has been standard procedure for the CIA in Afghanistan since the start of the war.

The cash payments to the president's office do not appear to be subject to oversight and restrictions placed on official American aid to the country or the CIA's formal assistance programs, like financing Afghan intelligence agencies, and do not appear to violate U.S. laws, said the New York Times.

There was no evidence that Karzai personally received any of the money, Afghan officials told the newspaper. The cash was handled by his National Security Council, it added.

U.S. and Afghan officials familiar with the payments were quoted as saying that the main goal in providing the cash was to maintain access to Karzai and his inner circle and to guarantee the CIA's influence at the presidential palace, which wields tremendous power in Afghanistan's highly centralized government.

Much of the money went to warlords and politicians, many with ties to the drug trade and in some cases the Taliban, the New York Times said. U.S. and Afghan officials were quoted as saying the CIA supported the same patronage networks that U.S. diplomats and law enforcement agents struggled to dismantle, leaving the government in the grip of organized crime.

In 2010, Karzai said his office received cash in bags from Iran, but that it was a transparent form of aid that helped cover expenses at the presidential palace. He said at the time that the United States made similar payments.

The latest New York Times report said much of the Iranian cash, like the CIA money, went to pay warlords and politicians.

For most of Karzai's 11-year reign, there has been little interest in anti-corruption in the army or police. The country's two most powerful institutions receive billions of dollars from donors annually but struggle just to recruit and maintain a force bled by high rates of desertion.

Obamas pay $112,214 in federal taxes for 2012

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama paid $112,214 in federal income taxes on adjusted gross income of $608,611 in 2012—for an effective rate of 18.4 percent. They also contributed $150,034 to 33 charities, or 24.6 percent. And they paid $29,450 in Illinois income tax.

The White House released the first couple's tax returns Friday, before the April 15 deadline to file to the IRS.

What about the Bidens? One interesting nugget from their tax return is that Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, gave $2,000 in clothes, furniture and exercise equipment to charity. So someone out there could be walking in the vice president's shoes. Literally.

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The Obamas made less money than they did last year ($789,674) but also paid a lower effective federal income tax rate (it was 20.5 percent in 2011.)

Their largest charitable donation, $103,871, went to the Fisher House Foundation, which provides free or low-cost places to stay to veterans and military families getting care at military medical centers.

"The president believes we must reform our tax system which is why he has proposed policies like the Buffett Rule that would ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share while protecting families making under $250,000 from seeing their taxes go up," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a blog post. "Under the President’s own tax proposals, including limitations on the value of tax preferences for high-income households, he would pay more in taxes while ensuring we cut taxes for the middle class and those trying to get in it."

The Buffett Rule is named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who says that he pays a lower effective federal income tax rate than his secretary does.

So what happens if you plug the Obamas' income into the Buffett Rule calculator the president's re-election campaign used to pound Mitt Romney last year? (Yup, it's still live.) It's disappointing. Put in the income, the fact that the Obamas' are married with kids, hit "calculate," and you get: "Tax rates at the salary you entered vary significantly based on the level and nature of investment income, as well as other factors."

The Bidens reported adjusted gross income of $385,072 and paid $87,851 in federal income tax for an effective rate of 22.8 percent. They gave $7,190 to charity. And they paid $13,531 in Delaware income tax and $3,593 in Virginia income tax.

What about those "noncash charitable contributions"? Clothing, boots, kitchenware, glassware, furniture and exercise equipment, bicycles, toys, glasses and pottery. All worth about $2,000.

On Twitter, someone suggested that the Bidens could actually generate more income for their chosen charities:

For those of you who don't speak the language: What if the Bidens auctioned their goods online and gave the proceeds to charity?

Kerry to North Korea: Don't test missile or you will regret

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a stark warning to North Korea on Friday not to test-fire a mid-range missile, while tamping down anxiety caused by a new U.S. intelligence report suggesting significant progress in the communist regime's nuclear weapons program.

Kicking off four days of talks in an East Asia beset by increasing North Korean threats, Kerry told reporters in Seoul that Pyongyang and its enigmatic young leader would only increase their isolation if they launched the missile that American officials believe has a range of some 2,500 miles — or enough to reach the U.S. territory of Guam.

"If Kim Jong Un decides to launch a missile, whether it's across the Sea of Japan or some other direction, he will be choosing willfully to ignore the entire international community," Kerry told reporters. "And it will be a provocation and unwanted act that will raise people's temperatures."

If the trajectory of the test missile suggests that it could be a threat to either the U.S. or allies, the military would move to shoot it down from one of nine warships armed with sophisticated ballistic missile defense systems in the Pacific, including two that were moved closer to the Korean peninsula, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss military plans.

Kerry said the test would be a "huge mistake" for Kim.

"It will further isolate his country and further isolate his people who are desperate for food and not missile launches," he warned. "They are desperate for opportunity and not for a leader to flex his muscles."

Kerry's diplomatic tour, while planned long in advance, is unusual in that it brings him directly to a region of escalated tensions and precisely at a time when North Korea is threatening action. The North often times its military and nuclear tests to generate maximum attention, and Kerry's presence on the peninsula alone risked spurring Pyongyang into another provocation. Another key date is the 101st birthday of the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung, on April 15.

After meeting South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Kerry also weighed in on an intelligence report that rocked Washington on Thursday, suggesting that North Korea now had the knowhow to arm a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead — even if the weapons would lack reliability. Kerry, repeating assertions by other administration officials, noted that Pyongyang still hadn't developed or fully tested the nuclear capacities needed for such a step.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., surprised a hearing on the defense budget Thursday when he read aloud one paragraph of an otherwise classified Defense Intelligence Agency report. The assessment said the Pentagon's intelligence wing has "moderate confidence" that North Korea has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles but that the weapon was unreliable.

The disclosure took even Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, by surprise and he refused to discuss it at the budget hearing. While analysts have made similar statements over the last two years, the reading of it at the same time Kim was renewing threats against the U.S. and its allies gave the notion new urgency.

Kerry offered strong words of solidarity for South Korea, praising Park's "bright vision" of a prosperous and reunified Korean Peninsula without nuclear weapons. By contrast, he said North Korea's Kim, by estimates only 29 or 30 years old, has a choice to make between provocation and returning to talks to de-escalate tension and lead to the end of its nuclear program.

"It's up to Kim Jong Un what he decides to do," Kerry said.

A missile launch, he said, "is not going to change our current position which is very clear: We will defend our allies. We will stand with South Korea and Japan against these threats. And we will defend ourselves."

Speaking beside Kerry, South Korea's Yun called for more United Nations action against Pyongyang if it commits another provocation.

He refused to comment specifically on the U.S. intelligence report, saying only that the North has "high nuclear and missile capabilities" but that it is still some time away from a nuclear bomb that is "small, light and diversified."

Both Yun and Kerry kept the door open for future negotiations with Pyongyang.

But both seemed to suggest that such talks were unlikely in light of the North's increasingly bombastic threats, including nuclear strikes on the United States. Most experts say those are unfeasible based on the North's current capacity and would never be explored seriously because the U.S. response would be overwhelming against a regime focused primarily on survival.

Kerry said any talks with North Korea have to lead toward denuclearization.

They have to be really serious," Kerry said. "No one is going to talk for the sake of talking and no one is going to play this round-robin game that gets repeated every few years, which is both unnecessary and dangerous."

Kerry to meet China's top leaders to discuss North Korea

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meetsChina's top leaders on Saturday in an effort to persuade them to exert pressure on North Korea to scale back its belligerent rhetoric and, eventually, return to nuclear talks.

Travelling to Beijing for the first time as secretary of state, Kerry made no secret of his desire to see China take a more activist stance toward North Korea, which in recent weeks has threatened nuclear war against the United States.

As the North's main trading partner, financial backer and the closest thing it has to a diplomatic ally, China has a unique ability to use its leverage against the impoverished, isolated state, Kerry said in the South Korean capital Seoul late on Friday.

"There is no group of leaders on the face of the planet who have more capacity to make a difference in this than the Chinese, and everybody knows it, including, I believe, them," Kerry told U.S. executives.

"They want to see us try to reach an amicable resolution to this," he said. "But you have to begin with a reality, and the reality is that if your policy is denuclearization - and it is theirs as it is ours as it is everybody's except the North's at this moment - if that's your policy, you've got to put some teeth into it," he said.

Kerry is scheduled to see the top echelon of China's leadership on Saturday, including President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat who outranks Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

In remarks before reporters at the first meeting, neither Kerry nor Wang directly referred to North Korea, though the trip had "come at a critical moment", Wang said.

"Obviously there are enormously challenging issues in front of us and I look forward to having that conversation with you today to do exactly what you said - lift this conversation up, broaden it, set a roadmap, define for both of us what the model relationship (would) be and how two great powers, China and the United States, can work effectively to solve problems," Kerry told Wang.

Kerry's visit to Asia, which will include a stop in Tokyo on Sunday, takes place after weeks of shrill North Korean threats of war since the imposition of new U.N. sanctions in response to its third nuclear test in February.

North Korea has repeatedly said it will not abandon nuclear weapons which it said on Friday were its "treasured" guarantor of security.

"HUGE MISTAKE"

Beijing has been reluctant to apply pressure on Pyongyang, fearing the instability that could result if the North were to implode and send floods of refugees into China.

However, U.S. officials believe China's rhetoric on North Korea has begun to shift, pointing to a recent speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping in which - without referring explicitly to Pyongyang - he said no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain."

Kerry, who arrived in  early on Saturday, told reporters in Seoul that if North Korea's 30-year-old leader went ahead with the launch of a medium-range missile, he would be making "a huge mistake."

Kerry's visit coincided with preparations for Monday's anniversary of North Korean state founder Kim Il-Sung's birth, a possible pretext for a show of strength, with speculation focusing on a possible new intermediate missile test launch.

At a news conference in Seoul on Friday and in a U.S.-South Korean joint statement issued on Saturday, Kerry signaled the U.S. preference for diplomacy to end the tensions, but stressed North Korea must take "meaningful" steps on denuclearization.

"We will continue to encourage North Korea to make the right choice. If North Korea does so, we are prepared to implement the commitments under the 2005 Six-Party Joint Statement," it added, referring to the aid-for-denuclearization agreement.

The United States and its allies believe the North violated the 2005 deal by conducting a nuclear test in 2006 and pursuing a uranium enrichment program that would give it a second path to a nuclear weapon in addition to its plutonium-based program.

Obama administration to list 18 alleged human rights abusers

The Obama administration soon will send Congress a list of 18 alleged abusers of human rights in Russia, a congressional source said, in a move that could cause more friction in the U.S. relationship with Moscow.

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The list includes 16 people directly related to the case of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in his jail cell in 2009, as well as two others, said the source said, who asked not to be named. The people named on the list will be subject to visa bans and asset freezes in the United States under a law passed by Congress last year.

Kidnapped 89-Year-Old to Captors

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An 89-year-old woman who spent two days locked in her car trunk thinking she'd never be found has a message for her teen captors.

"You got to be kind to other people if you want somebody to be kind to you," Margaret Smith said.

The 4-foot-11 octangenerian's story began with an act of kindness on March 18.

Smith had stopped at the Chicken Man Convenience Store in Milford, Del., for a Butter Pecan ice cream cone when two teenage girls approached her and asked for a ride across town.

"I decided not to, then I said, 'Well, a good deed,'" Smith said.

After driving around for a while, Smith said the girls snatched her car keys and stuffed her in the trunk of her Buick.

"The way they drove off flying, I didn't think nobody would ever find me," she said. "I just had to pray about and hope that I'd be found."

Smith spent the next two days crammed in the trunk, without food, water and her blood pressure medication. She said the only time the girls opened the trunk was to rob her of the cash she was carrying.

"I was very tired, cold, hungry, scared," Smith said. "I didn't know what to expect."

After spending 48 hours locked in her trunk, Smith's kidnappers inexplicably decided to dump her in a remote cemetery.

"I was crawling through the cemetery on hands and knees," Smith said. "Nothing but a pair of stockings on, no jacket...Finally somebody found me. I don't know who."

Smith was taken to a local hospital, where her family, who had reported her missing, received a call that she was safe.

Delaware State Police found Smith's car days later and arrested and charged five teenagers inside. All are believed to have some involvement in the kidnapping, robbery and theft, ABC News' Philadelphia affiliate WPVI reported.

Four of the teens, ranging in age from 14 to 17, are being charged as adults, while a fifth faces receiving stolen property and conspiracy charges as a minor.

U.S. Diplomat Killed in Afghanistan

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The friends and family of Anne Smedinghoff are mourning the 25-year-old Foreign Service Officer killed in a car bomb blast in southern Afghanistan whom they describe as vivacious and loving.

Smedinghoff was one of five Americans killed in a suicide bomb attack in Qalat, Zabul.

Working as a press officer for the U.S. embassy in Kabul, she was helping Afghan journalists cover an event at a boys school where the local U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team was to donate math and science books

The other Americans killed in the attack were three military service members and a civilian working for the Defense Department. Four State Department officials, including one described as critically injured, were among the 10 injured in the attack.

"The world lost a truly beautiful soul," Tom and Mary Beth Smedinghoff said in a statement. "Anne absolutely loved the work she was doing" as a press officer at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, they said.

Having served in the Foreign Service for only three years, Smedinghoff volunteered to serve inAfghanistan and arrived last July.

"We are consoled knowing that she was doing what she loved, and that she was serving her country by helping to make a positive difference in the world," her parents said. "She was such a wonderful woman -- strong, intelligent, independent, and loving. Annie, you left us too soon; we love you and we're going to miss you so much."

A senior State Department official who also knew Smedinghoff described her as being "really special," "sweet," and "very bright."

Traveling in Istanbul, Secretary of State John Kerry described Smedinghoff's death as the "stealing of a young life."

"There are no words for anybody to describe the extraordinary harsh contradiction of a young 25-year-old woman with all of the future ahead of her, believing in the possibilities of diplomacy, of changing people's lives, of making a difference, having an impact, who was taking knowledge in books to deliver them to a school. And someone somehow persuaded that taking her -- his life was a wiser course and somehow constructive, drives into their vehicle and we lose five lives," Kerry said.

Kerry had met Smedinghoff two weeks ago during his recent trip to Afghanistan, where she had been assigned to coordinate his trip.

"I remember her as vivacious, smart, capable, often chosen by the ambassador for her capabilities," Kerry said. He said of his call to Smedinghoff's parents on Saturday that "there is no harder conversation to have in the world."

Afghan security officials told ABC News that the State Department convoy had just left its headquarters in Qalat and joined the convoy of the local provincial governor who was also headed to the school book giveaway.

That's when two suicide attackers attacked the convoy. The security officials said there was an initial car bomb detonated by a remote device. Then a suicide bomber wearing a suicide vest appeared and caused more casualties.

Afghan sources say the school event had been announced a day in advance, which possibly allowed attackers enough time to plan the attack.

Another American civilian was killed Saturday in what was described to ABC News as a "massive firefight" in eastern Afghanistan that led U.S. forces to call in an airstrike that Afghan officials say killed 11 Afghan civilians, 10 of them children.

In a statement, ISAF said they were aware of several civilian injuries resulting from "fire support" provided in the incident but no civilian deaths. They said they were assessing the incident.

On Saturday, Afghan and American forces had launched a joint operation in three villages located in Kunar Province to root out Taliban fighters.

The American civilian, who had been advising Afghan forces, was killed as the U.S. and Afghan forces took heavy fire from multiple homes.

Afghan officials told ABC News that the unit called in an airstrike and that some of the weapons they dropped went errant. Ten children were killed when the roof of their home collapsed as a result, the officials.

An Afghan police official said eight Taliban fighters were also killed during the operation.