Bernard Madoff could be sentenced to up to 150 years in prison
THE UK offices of disgraced US financier Bernard Madoff may have been significant in his fraud, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) believes.

Last year, more than £1bn is believed to have flowed between Madoff's main US investment fund and the London-based Madoff subsidiary.

The SFO is investigating whether criminal offences have been committed in the UK by people other than Madoff.
Madoff, who maintains he worked alone, faces up to 150 years in jail.

AUSTRALIA has rejected a Chinese state-run firm's $1.7bn (£1.2bn) takeover bid for Australia's Oz Minerals because of national security concerns.

Australia said one of Oz Minerals' key mines was located near a weapons-testing range in the outback.
It said the bid by China's Minmetals could only be approved if the deal excluded this copper and gold mine.
The surprise move jeopardises Oz's future and clouds other Sino-Australian deals still waiting for approval.
"Oz Minerals' Prominent Hill mining operations are situated in the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia," Treasurer Wayne Swan said in a statement.

BARCLAYS shares have rallied on reports saying that the UK bank would not need more money if it joined the Treasury's asset insurance scheme.

They rose 24.1% to 173.8 pence, and have surged more than 60% this week.
Barclays had been subjected to an "extreme stress test" by regulators, who do not think it will need fresh capital, the bank confirmed.

The Asset Protection Scheme uses government money to insure banks' riskiest assets against further losses.
"Barclays confirms, following [the stress test] and discussion with the FSA, that its capital position and resources, after exposure to the stress, are expected to continue to meet the capital requirements which the FSA published on 19 January 2009," a statement from Barclays said.

BRAZILIAN mining company Vale has launched a $1.3bn (£908.5m) coal mining project in Mozambique.
The new plant is expected to produce 11 million tonnes of coal a year, to be exported to Brazil, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

It is thought Mozambique will now become the continent's second-largest coal producer behind South Africa, which holds most of Africa's reserves.