Fines, fines and more fines..
We are getting used to these punitive business stories these days.
And it's big banks again in the doghouse with the EU's top anti-trust regulator in Brussels today handing whopping fines to HSBC (LON:HSBA), JP Morgan and Credit Agricole for rigging what's called Euribor interest rate benchmark used to set many financial instruments.
These are the three banks, which did not agree to an earlier settlement (like for example Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc).
It involved a seven-bank cartel over the setting of the interest rate known as Euribor.
JP Morgan was fined €337mln, HSBC €33mln and Crédit Agricole €114mln for an eye-watering total of €485mln.
Fine of €485 million to 3 banks - Credit Agricole, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase - for participating in cartel of euro interest rate derivatives.
— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) December 7, 2016
Also in fine news, New York listed drugs titan Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) was handed the biggest ever by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for overcharging the NHS for an anti-epilepsy drug.
Pfizer has been ordered to pay £84.2mln while its distributor Flynn has been fined £5.2mln.
In a statement, the CMA said Pfizer ramped up the price of phenytoin sodium capsules by 2,600%, a move that cost the NHS and the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds.
Shares in Pfizer fell a tad - 0.09% to stand at 31.56p in New York, while it was a mixed response from other big players. Shire (LON:SHP) was down 1.28% to 4,502p, while GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK) added 0.14% to stand at 1,462p.
It's been a while since we've heard the term "bird flu" muttered but it's back...and just in time for Christmas.
There have been multiple reports of the disease causing wild bird deaths in mainland Europe and now there are big warning winging across the UK.
Bird keepers, including those with just a few chickens - are legally obliged to take all practicable steps to ensure poultry and other captive birds are kept separate from wild birds.
The Scottish government has ordered that birds must be kept indoors for 30 days.
Avian flu, also known as bird flu is a virus can affect humans - causing symptoms ranging from mild conjunctivitis to severe pneumonia and even death.
Scotland orders poultry indoors under emergency bird flu measures https://t.co/Atr5sg7rPp
— Airsteril (@Airsteril) December 7, 2016
As the Brexit related appeal continues in the Supreme Court, it emerged a man has been arrested suspected of making racially-aggravated threats towards Gina Miller, the businesswoman behind the legal challenge.
A 55-year-old Swindon man has been arrested over racially-aggravated malicious communications online.
The 11 justices' decision on whether Parliament should trigger Article 50 to begin the EU exit or just gov't ministers, is expected in January, 2017.