BBC Caribbean News in Brief

EU takes aim at US ban

The European Union said Thursday that US laws restricting online gambling contravene World Trade Organisation rules.
It said however that Brussels would seek a negotiated solution to the dispute.
Antigua and Barbuda where many online betting operations are located, has already successfully lodged legal challenges against controversial US laws restricting Internet gambling. EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton said in a statement on the US ban that it was for the United States to decide how best to regulate Internet gambling in its markets, but that “this must be done in a way that fully respects WTO obligations”.

Stanford official
promises to cooperate

The chief financial officer of the troubled companies owned by Texas billionaire Sir Allen Stanford has promised full cooperation with federal investigators looking into an alleged $8 billion investment fraud.
Attorney David Finn said finance chief James Davis will work with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused him and Sir Allen of running a “massive Ponzi scheme.”
The commission claims that the fraud centered on certificates of deposits sold at Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.