Off the Wires

He is "the accused ringleader of one of the four largest criminal migrant trafficking organisations", the Sudanese interior ministry said in a joint statement with the country's British and Italian embassies.

Referred to in wiretapped conversations between his subordinate traffickers as "the general" for his control over a large area and number of "troops", Mered is accused of organising the smuggling of up to 8,000 people a year on migrant boats.

Investigators believe his organisation was responsible for packing migrants onto a boat that sank in 2013 off the Italian island of Lampedusa, claiming at least 360 lives in one of the worst disasters in the Mediterranean.

His arrest is "a key turning point in the fight against people trafficking," prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi told a press conference, while Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano dubbed it "an extraordinary result" in a bid to stop "merchants of death".

- 'Disregard for lives' -

It is the first time a suspected top smuggler has been arrested in Africa and brought to face justice in Italy, which has been overwhelmed by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of people since the migrant crisis began in 2008.

Mered allegedly directed operations in Africa but also kept fellow operators in Italy up to date on the arrival of boats, so migrants could be picked up and squeezed for more money to continue to their final destinations in Europe.

The U.S. agency charged with protecting consumers from financial abuse unveiled a proposal on Thursday that would limit short-term borrowings known as “payday” loans, which can carry interest rates as high as 390 percent.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposal includes having lenders determine if some borrowers can afford to take out debt. It also calls for restrictions on loan rollovers.

Payday lenders typically cater to low-income borrowers who need cash in a pinch but cannot access financing from mainstream banks. The name comes from the idea that a borrower would take out an emergency loan and repay it with the next paycheck. Since the loans often are not collateralized, lenders take the risk of not being repaid and charge higher rates.

"Too many borrowers seeking a short-term cash fix are saddled with loans they cannot afford and sink into long-term debt," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray in a statement, calling the proposal "mainstream" and "common-sense."

"It’s much like getting into a taxi just to ride across town and finding yourself stuck in a ruinously expensive cross-country journey."

The industry has braced for new regulation from the CFPB since the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law gave it authority over the payday loan market, and anticipation of new federal rules has already created political fractures on Capitol Hill.

Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service have cracked down on alleged fraud and racketeering in the industry. Payday lenders are one of the targets of "Operation Chokepoint," an FBI investigation into business relationships between banks and potential law-breaking companies.

The CFPB's proposal includes a "full-payment" test for people borrowing up to $500 over a short period. Lenders would have to determine whether a borrower could afford each loan payment and still meet basic living expenses, according to a summary.

It would bar lenders from taking auto titles as collateral and would make it difficult for them to "push distressed borrowers into reborrowing." It would also cap the number of short-term loans made in quick succession. At the same time, it would limit the number of times a lender could try to debit a borrower's bank account for an outstanding payment, with the CFPB saying failed withdrawal attempts rack up bank fees for borrowers.

The proposal presents two alternatives for longer-term loans. One caps interest rates at 28 percent and the application fee at $20. The other is an installment loan of equal payment amounts, with the loan's total cost capped at 36 percent.

The agency said current practices ensnare borrowers in "debt traps" with accumulating fees and interest, and that they encourage people to take out new loans to pay off old debts, all of which can leave them broke, without bank accounts, or carless.

Lenders say they fill a critical hole in the economy, allowing people living paycheck to paycheck to cover basic costs and those in need, who may have poor credit records, to quickly take out loans.

LONG FIGHT, POLITICAL FRACTURES

The fight over the proposal will span months. The agency will evaluate comments on the proposal, due Sept. 14, before issuing final regulations. It is also beginning a review of "other potentially high-risk loan products and practices" such as open-end credit.

Cordray was scheduled to discuss the proposal later on Thursday at a hearing in Kansas City, Missouri. A coalition of advocacy groups supporting reforms planned a rally in the city, while detractors have already begun voicing concerns.

On the political front, Republicans, who are widely critical of the bureau, say restricting small dollar, short-term loans will cut off struggling consumers' access to a legal financial lifeline during emergencies.

Democrats generally support reform, but are divided on how it should be carried out.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and other proponents for stronger financial regulation have lined up behind the CFPB.

Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, on the other hand, has promoted the approach used in her home state of Florida which is considered more permissive. She has sponsored a bill with other members of the House of Representatives from the state to delay the CFPB rules for two years and exempt states with laws similar to Florida's.

The latest hacking outbreak is yet another reminder that cybercrime is a global epidemic. 

Another day, another hacking incident in the headlines, with embarrassed corporate executives scrambling to figure out what happened (and to cover their posteriors).

Time (TIME) on Tuesday morning confirmed reports that Myspace, a Time Inc. social networking site, has been the victim of a major data breach. As many as 360 million Myspace user records were reportedly stolen.

Shortly before the Memorial Day weekend, Myspace's IT security personnel learned that stolen Myspace usernames, passwords and email addresses were being posted by an online hacker forum. The hacking incident is still under investigation and the full scope of the breach remains unclear.

If you're looking for profitable but relatively safe ways to put your hard-earned cash to work, you should pinpoint "mega-trends" with momentum. One such investment opportunity is cyber security, which is one of the surest growth opportunities you'll ever find.

The best play on cyber security is networking giant Cisco Systems(CSCO) . The stock has enjoyed a recent post-earnings rally, but it still has plenty of upside left. Cisco exemplifies the strong underlying fundamentals that you should look for in a stock. The company sits on a huge cash hoard and controls proprietary technology that's increasingly coveted by consumers and businesses around the world.

Cisco offers considerable capital appreciation potential, but it's also a defensive growth play for investors worried about the market's current volatility. Cisco holds cash and short-term investments (quarterly) of $63.51 billion, which provides the company with a cushion for any market downturn. This war chest also allows the company to make the consistently strong research and development spending that's necessary to maintain its edge in a fiercely competitive industry.

Meanwhile, corporate America has compiled a record amount of cash that it intends to tap for long-deferred IT investments, another multi-year boon for Cisco.

Companies are increasingly defined by the right combination of 1s and 0s, not by bricks and mortar. This digital transformation has given rise to the "extended enterprise," and with it a breeding ground for attacks on IT systems. As we've just witnessed with Time, hackers are relentless around the world.

Cisco is dominant in the technologies that make the extended enterprise possible; it's also a pioneer in creating computer defenses along the extended outreaches of these virtual empires.

Read more here: https://www.thestreet.com/story/13590071/1/time-s-myspace-data-breach-buy-this-leading-cybersecurity-stock.html

On one side, under the burning midday sun of Maracay in north-central Venezuela, hundreds of angry people have been waiting in line since 4am to buy food. On the other side, a group of military men guard the gate of a supermarket. The high-noon showdown is tense.

“There is nothing left to sell. If you really wanted to buy food, you should have started queueing at two in the morning,” yells one of the military men. “That is the people’s food,” an angry mother of four retorts. “People are losing patience . . . we are all tired.”

Snaking queues for scarce staples are a common sight across Venezuela and looting is becoming routine. This poses the biggest risk to Nicolás Maduro, the socialist president.

“The situation is very, very critical,” says Marianella Herrera, a professor of food and nutritional public policy at the Central University of Venezuela, who also runs Fundación Bengoa, a watchdog dealing with issues around nutrition. “The anguish when it comes to acquiring food is gigantic and generates violence.”

Only days before the supermarket showdown, hundreds of people had broken into the wholesale market next door, which had been guarded by paratroopers in red berets. Eyewitnesses say there was a “stampede”, with people rushing to get their hands on packs of rice, sugar and cornmeal flour.

“[It is] written in the Bible, people will kill each other for food,” the voice of a woman can be heard on an amateur video of the looting. To some, like Marcial Salazar, who sells vegetables at the market, the situation is understandable: “People are hungry for food, and hungry for having someone good in power.”

Mr Salazar opens the fridge at his household of six to the Financial Times. Its only contents are a handful of mangoes picked from a nearby tree and plastic bottles filled with tap water. Next to it, a bucket contains half a kilogramme of black beans, half a kilogramme of dried pasta and one kilogramme of maize flour: “That’s all for the week.”

Read on here; ($): http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0c2b0db8-21a4-11e6-9d4d-c11776a5124d.html#axzz49r6b3imH