Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

An official report indicates that the now-defunct US financial services firm Lehman Brothers used misleading accounting ploys to eliminate $50 billion of troubled assets.

The 2,200-page report by a court-appointed examiner explains how executives of the company manipulated their balance sheet to make their finances appear more robust.

An American prosecutor has filed a civil lawsuit against the world's biggest auto maker Toyota, claiming the company committed fraud by hiding the defects in its cars.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas says Toyota has known about the defects in its products but intentionally did not disclose them to Californian purchasers.

Russia plans to build 16 nuclear reactors in India as part of a bid to increase bilateral trade up to three-folds.

Russia and India hope to generate a 20-billion-dollar trade turnover over the next five years. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who arrived in New Delhi along with a high-ranking delegation on March 12, is to sign more than a dozen multi-billion-dollar arms and energy deals.

Three months after announcing a major data theft from its Swiss branch, the UK-based HSBC Bank has acknowledged that as many as 24,000 customers' information had been stolen.

The chief executive of the Swiss subsidiary offered an apology to clients on Thursday, with an initial statement putting the figure of exposed client data at 15,000, excluding 9,000 people who no longer hold accounts with the bank.

China's National Bureau of Statistics says consumer prices in China have increased in February for the fourth straight month.

The consumer price index rose 2.7 percent last month, compared with the same period last year.

This time Max Keiser and co-host Stacy Herbert look at the scandals behind psychic scams, money heaven and credit default swap bans. Keiser talks to Business Insider's Joe Wiesenthal about derivatives, hedge funds, the economy and day trading politicians.

Mexico's Carlos Slim has topped Forbes magazine's billionaire list, becoming the first person from outside the US to lead the rankings since 1994.

According to Forbes' estimates, the net fortune of Slim, 70, who built a telecommunications empire after buying Mexico's state-run phone monopoly two decades ago, rose by $18.5 billion last year to more than $53 billion.

A strike by British Airways' cabin crew looks inevitable as talks between a labor union and Europe's third-largest airline over pay cuts ended without agreement.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) which is a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions, said on Wednesday that the airline rejected peace proposals aimed at averting a strike.

There are more billionaires in Russia than anywhere else in Europe, according to Forbes. The business magazine has just published its annual list of the world's billionnaires. The list has almost a thousand names, sixty-two of which are Russians. The top man here is Vladimir Lisin - the steel producer is worth almost 16 billion dollars. He leapfrogged last year's winner - businessman Mikhail Prokhorov and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich. Outside Russia it's Mexican telecom giant Carlos Slim who comes top in the world with a 53 point 5 billion dollar fortune.

This time Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, report on the fake shop fronts making a "revived" economy in Northern England; the Chile quake causing Goldman Sachs's high frequency trading to lose 2.1 trades per day; and the mobs in Indonesia, a "revolution" in Ireland and online media preventing an orderly transfer of wealth. Keiser also speaks to investigative journalist, Greg Palast, about the RICO case against US bankers and politicians and about vulture funds preying on the Third and First world economies.