Fed’s Loans, EU Bank Penalties, Finra Fines, Austria Raids: Compliance

BEIJING, -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer exchanged messages of congratulations on Saturday to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties.

Hu said China and Austria formally set up diplomatic relations 40 years ago which opened a new chapter for bilateral ties.

The relationship between China and Austria has become increasingly mature and vigorous thanks to the joint efforts of both sides over the past 40 years, Hu said.

Exchanges of visits between leaders of the two countries have become frequent, and mutual understanding and trust have deepened, Hu said, adding that cooperation in economy and trade, culture, science and technology have continued to expand.

China and Austria have also maintained good communications and coordination on international affairs within the United Nations and other multilateral organizations.

Hu stressed that promoting a healthy and stable relationship between China and Austria on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit is a consistent policy of the Chinese government.

Wellink Calls Hoogduin Good Candidate for ECB Executive Board

European Central Bank Governing Council member Nout Wellink said Lex Hoogduin, who leaves the Dutch central bank in July, would be a “good candidate” for the ECB’s executive board.

Wellink, who also heads the Dutch central bank, made the remarks in an interview in Amsterdam today.

“It depends on what will happen with the post of Bini Smaghi, who will fill that, and that depends on what happens next year with the Spaniard in the ECB’s executive board,” Wellink said, referring to Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo, whose term ends in May 2012.

Hoogduin, who was seen as a possible successor to Wellink, last week announced his resignation after Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager picked top civil servant Klaas Knot to lead the bank in July. Hoogduin, 54, a former adviser to late ECB President Wim Duisenberg, joined the Dutch central bank’s governing board in 2009.

Austrian Alps:New Holiday Villages planned after Tui deal

First Choice is to open new Holiday Villages in Turkey after parent company Tui Travel purchased the Magic Life brand of resorts.

Magic Life has been bought by Tui Travel from its majority shareholder Tui AG. The brand currently operates 13 holiday club-style resorts in Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Greece and Spain which are aimed at the German and Austrian markets.

Tui Travel intends to turn two of Magic Life’s Turkish resorts into First Choice Holiday Villages following the deal. Tui Travel purchased Magic Life for €6 and will be taking on €10.5 of debt from the company.

“The proposed acquisition is consistent with Tui Travel's strategy of securing exclusive access for the group to an attractive, differentiated high-quality club product in good locations,” said Tui Travel in a statement.

The first on the list is the Jules Undersea Lodge off the coast of Key Largo Florida. This strange accommodation is located 21 feet below sea level at the bottom of the Emerald Lagoon in the Key Largo Undersea Park. Jules opened in 1986 and has hosted many guests since then. It was even highlighted in the television show “The Amazing Race.” The lodge can hold up to 6 people in two bedrooms and also offers a common room with a dining area, kitchen, and entertainment area. Each of the two bedrooms has a 42 inch window that offers fabulous views of the sea life. Don’t forget your wetsuit for this one!

Next up is Das Park Hotel in Linz, Austria. This hotel takes recycling to a whole new level. Here you will find renovated sewage pipes that are clean and functional. Located on the banks of the Danube, this inexpensive alternative to a hostel offers a double bed, light, power, and storage with shared bath facilities just a short stroll away. All this can be yours for about $100 per night.

The Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden is an experience to remember. Each year artists create the largest hotel in the world, made entirely of steel and ice. The first phase of the hotel begins around December 10th each year and is usually completed by December 30th. Ice blocks are taken from the Torne River and formed into guest rooms. Each room has a unique theme with creative carvings. If you are an artist, you too can help create this wonder. Just be sure your application is in by July 1st.

The acquisition of the Magic Life companies will also enable the group to grow the business by expanding the concept beyond its traditional source markets of Austria and Germany as well as expanding into new destinations.

Poised for IPO, Kayak Reports Sales Boost and Global Growth

Updated registration offering, Kayak reported that its first-quarter revenues totaled $53 million, growing 43 percent since the year-ago period.

In addition, it disclosed it acquired a travel metasearch company in Austria for $9.5 million. The company, which has a ridiculously long name, operates as JaBo Software for short and can be found at www.checkfelix.com. (If you don’t believe me, the full name is JaBo

Vertrieb-und Entwicklung GmbH.)

The Norwalk, Conn.-based company, which originally filed its IPO papers in November, is seeking to raise roughly $50 million.

Its first-quarter results also included a net loss of $4.5 million, which is mostly attributable to a non-cash expense of nearly $20 million. The expense was related to the discontinuation of the SideStep brand name and Web site. The migration from SideStep to Kayak.com occurred in January.

The filing also reflected the Norwalk, Conn.-based company’s stronger focus on the international market. Kayak reported spending $9.5 million on its April 1 acquisition of JaBo Software, described in the filing as a “leading travel metasearch website in Austria.” It looks like the JaBo buy was just one part of a larger global growth strategy: International operations accounted for 14 percent of Kayak’s revenue in the first quarter of 2011, up from eight percent in the first quarter of 2010, the company reported. Kayak, which opened its European headquarters in Zurich last month, now expects its international revenues to increase at a faster rate than its sales in the U.S., according to the filing.

Kayak’s report of impressive growth comes at a good time for the IPO-bound company, as the Internet industry is on a roll with solid stock market debuts. Last week, professional social networking site LinkedIn listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange to impressive demand, more than doubling its share price on the first day of trading from $45 to a close of $94.25. And Russian search engine Yandex raised $1.3 billion in an IPO on the Nasdaq exchange earlier this week, representing the biggest public offering for a dotcom since Google’s listing in 2004. While Memorial Day usually represents the start of a pretty sleepy time for the stock market, the summer of 2011 could shape up to be a busy one.

It also reported that its mobile applications have been contributing to more of its business. In all, the apps have been downloaded about seven million times since their introduction. In the first quarter alone, the apps were downloaded one million times and accounted for 12 percent of the company’s total queries.

Austrian memorial for Nazi victims unveiled

VIENNA — Austria’s president unveiled a newly revamped memorial Thursday commemorating victims of the Nazis, including those who lost their lives because they stood up to the brutal regime.

The remembrance site is situated in the heart of Vienna, the Austrian capital, where a luxury hotel once stood that served as a coordination center for the Gestapo, Adolf Hitler’s secret police.

The remembrance site is situated in the heart of Vienna, the Austrian capital, where a luxury hotel once stood that served as a coordination center for the Gestapo, Adolf Hitler's secret police.

Dedicated.

Austrian Press Agency (APA), in a report broadcast on Friday, quoted Fischer as assailing such right-wing groups for using the question of immigrants as an issue for political power struggles and petty goals.

Man's dignity, human rights and cooperation among human beings are general and basic humanitarian values that must not be neglected by any state, religious authority or political party, he stressed, criticizing those who trigger racial conflict with people of different languages or religions.

He however praised the Austrian Government new policies for the immigrants, such as granting them special cards, the white and red cards, to facilitate their residency and work in the European nation.

The president also expressed hope that the issuance of these cards, similar to the green cards given to the non-natives in the United States of America, would settle the expatriates' legal and psychological problems and hardships.

One of those portrayed is Jacob Kastelic, a resistance fighter who was executed on Aug. 2, 1944.

His son, 71-year-old Gerhard who was not even 4 years old when his father was killed, said he hoped the memorial would help today’s youth realize that, during a dark time in Austria’s history, there were individuals who had the courage to stand up for their convictions.

“It’s a way to show young people that while many Austrians at the time were, unquestionably, perpetrators ... there was also resistance,” he told The Associated Press.

Also Thursday, the mayor of the southern city of Klagenfurt, Christian Scheider, issued an emergency decree that immediately nullified the granting of honorary citizenship to Hitler although officials said they had no proof and referred to the move as a “preventive measure.” On Tuesday, the city of Amstetten struck Hitler’s name from its list of honorary citizens, sparking a countrywide discussion.

Austria officially became part of a Greater Germany on March 12, 1938, when Wehrmacht troops crossed into the country. Just days after the “Anschluss,” Hitler basked in the adoration of nearly 200,000 in a downtown Vienna square known as the Heldenplatz.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

We hand billionaire £372,000 for 6 days jail

Mensdorff-Pouilly complained that he had not been given a comb or “decent” underwear while in custody.

The Austrian multi-millionaire had been questioned by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office over allegations of bribery and corruption at aerospace company BAE.

But he was awarded the payout from the Government’s Central Funds after the SFO discontinued its inquiries.

On hearing about his compensation the count, whose homes include a London mansion and a Scottish castle, joked to an Austrian magazine: “I would have stayed four weeks had I known that.”

His payout dwarfs those handed out to British war heroes. Charlotte Linacre, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said last night: “The detention was found to be wrong but the payout is utterly extortionate.

“It beggars belief that a millionaire can, without a pang of guilt, take so much taxpayers’ hard-earned cash for a relatively minor mistake.

“Of course a cell will not meet a rich man’s standards but the taxpayer should not be rinsed for so much money. The law doesn’t always get it right but it’s appalling that this foreign millionaire has forced the UK taxpayer to pay out a gigantic sum.”

The 57-year-old count’s windfall was revealed yesterday by his Vienna-based lawyer, Harald Schuster, who admitted his client was “surprised” by the high amount.

He said: “In Austria you would only get about 30 to 50 euros a day in compensation for false imprisonment, which is scandalously low in comparison to what you get in the UK.” Count Mensdorff-Pouilly – a lobbyist married to a former Austrian health minister, Maria Rauch-Kallat – was arrested in March last year.

The lawyer said his client was "surprised" by the large sum and Count Mensdorff-Pouilly reportedly told an Austrian magazine: “I would have stayed four weeks had I known that."

Count Mensdorff-Pouilly, whose wife is a former health minister in Austria, was being investigated over allegations that he was the agent for illegal payments made in return for contracts to deliver fighter jets produced by BAE Systems to central and eastern European countries. He denies any wrongdoing.

The company agreed to pay a total of £287million to authorities in Britain and the United States after admitting criminal charges.

Mr Schuster said: "My client has been awarded the compensation from City of Westminster Magistrates Court - The money comes from 'Central Funds' - I presume that is from the taxpayers’ money.

"In Austria you would only get about 30 to 50 Euros a day maximum in compensation for false imprisonment, which is scandalously low in comparison to what you get in the UK."

The Austrian, who is married to former People’s Party (OVP) Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat, reportedly told Austrian magazine Format: "I would have stayed four weeks had I known that.

The count, who had denied all charges, was cleared after the SFO decided it was “no longer in the public interest to continue the investigation into the conduct of individuals”. Shortly after his release, he told the Austrian magazine News: “Human rights are not respected in custody in England, in contrast to Austria where things happen in a correct way in this regard.”

He also said at the time: “I wasn’t given decent underwear, despite having asked for it several times. And they didn’t give me a comb.”

Count Mensdorff-Pouilly was successful in asking for a vaccination against hepatitis B “after I discovered stubble in the used disposable razor I was given”.

Yesterday Mr Schuster claimed his team had secured the compensation by pursuing legal action at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

“It was then verified by the court and we were notified of how much compensation my client would receive,” he added.

Mr Schuster said he would continue fighting to prove attempts by Austrian prosecutors to keep examining the case against his client was a breach of European Union law.

The count lives in a spacious hunting lodge in the remote Austrian town of Luising and also has a home in Vienna. His Scottish residence, Dalnaglar Castle in Glenshee, Perthshire, was commissioned by Lord Clyde, Queen Victoria’s banker, from what was a 16th century hunting lodge.

Jessica Ennis makes impressive return to heptathlon in Austria

World and European champion led overnight with a score of 4,097 points – a commanding 300 points ahead of her nearest rival, Canada’s Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jessica Zelinka, with Ukrainian Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska a further 72 points adrift down in eighth place.

Significantly, Ennis also ended the day 17 points ahead of her opening-day score at last summer’s European Championships in Barcelona, where she finished just eight points short of Lewis’s 11-year-old mark of 6,831 points.

“I’m really happy but I just want to get some rest and get a good day in tomorrow,” she said. “I’m not getting carried away. I wasn’t sure where I was at and what kind of score I was after and to have done a personal best in the 200, I’m really, really happy.”

Ennis’s form is all the more remarkable given the ankle injury she suffered in March which prevented her from running and jumping properly for eight weeks. She only returned to full training six weeks ago and had been unsure whether she would be ready to compete in Gotzis.

In second place, Jessica Zelinka, the Canadian who took silver at the Commonwealth Games last year, looked a long way off the Briton, while the defending Olympic champion, Nataliya Dobrynska, struggled all day long, finishing in seventh place.

If it was a gamble for Ennis to compete and risk her unbeaten run, and world No1 status, it certainly looks to be paying off. While this heptathlon came sooner in the year than she and her coach would have liked following her injury, it is testimony to the talent of this extraordinary athlete that her first comeback in the discipline was so impressive.

Not that every event has gone perfectly for Ennis: an average win of 13.03 in the 100m hurdles – one of her favoured events – and a disappointing performance in the shot put, in which she threw 13.94m, were less than she would have hoped for. But a strong comeback in the high jump was a boost.

"I was worrying I would go out at 1.85m so it was a big jump to do 1.91m," Ennis said. "I was really annoyed with myself in the hurdles. It was perfect conditions and everything was in my favour but I had a shocking start and was hitting hurdles. It was messy and didn't really come together.

Far be it for Ennis or Minichiello to be thinking negatively. Realism and hard work are what have got the former King Ecgbert and Sheffield University student to the pinnacle of her sport.

And those principles aren’t about to be forgotten now.

Taking part in individual events, as she did on the streets of Manchester or the Loughborough track, recently are all well and good. But the heptathlon is when she’s officially ‘at work’.

“I still get nervous before every event,” she said. “It does feel different doing heptathlons though, because that is what I do.

“Before hand I’m not really looking forward to it, but once I get the first event out of the way I enjoy it.”

Ennis enjoys winning as much as she hates the 800 metres, which is the seventh and final discipline of a heptathlon.

Whether she finishes the two-lap slog with that famous smile on her face tomorrow is open to debate.

Just know that there is a bigger picture to her career that we’ll all be witness to in 434 days. Only then will she accept that she’s truly our golden girl.