Google fined $5m over patent row

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Kobe Bryant fined over gay slur

14 April 2011 Last updated at 02:55 GMT Bryant is one of the highest paid US sportsmen US basketball player Kobe Bryant has been fined $100,000 (£61,000) for using a homophobic slur during an NBA game on Tuesday night.

The Los Angeles Lakers star's outburst was caught on camera as he reacted to being judged to have committed a foul.

Bryant is shown apparently mouthing the word "...faggot" after failing to get the referee's attention.

The player has apologised and said his action was out of "frustration in the heat of the game".

"What I said last night should not be taken literally," said Bryant, who also punched his chair and tossed a towel following referee Bennie Adams's call.

NBA commissioner David Stern said in a statement that Bryant's comment was "offensive and inexcusable".

"While I'm fully aware that basketball is an emotional game, such a distasteful term should never be tolerated. Accordingly, I have fined Kobe $100,000."

The Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights group, said Bryant's "horribly offensive and distasteful" language "perpetuates a culture of discrimination" and called for a fuller apology.

Bryant is one of the highest paid US sportsmen and one of US basketball's most celebrated stars.

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Deutsche Bank fined over lending

22 February 2011 Last updated at 13:10 GMT The bank would have been fined £1.2m if it had not co-operated with the FSA Deutsche Bank has become the first financial company in the UK to be fined for "irresponsible" mortgage lending.

It has been fined £840,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and will have to pay £1.5m in compensation to up to nearly 8,000 borrowers.

The FSA said the bank had been guilty of "irresponsible lending practices and unfair treatment of customers in arrears".

The bank said it would contact the borrowers and arrange payments.

The FSA said that the bank's staff:

failed to check if some customers would be able to afford their mortgage repayments if their loan lasted into retirementfailed to offer cheaper mortgages to some customers who asked for self-certified mortgagesfailed to check if some customers had considered where they would live if they planned to sell their homes to pay off their interest-only mortgages.Arrears

Deutsche bank's home loans had been sold exclusively through mortgage brokers to people with a poor credit history, in 2006 and 2007.

The FSA said 7,967 mortgages were arranged by the bank during this time, of which 4,211 are still on its books.

When some of the mortgage customers fell into arrears, Deutsche Bank repeatedly hit some of them with unfair charges which bore no relation to the actual cost of administering their account, the FSA said.

"This is the first time that we have taken enforcement action against a firm for irresponsible mortgage lending," said Margaret Cole of the FSA.

"Firms which fail in their obligations to customers should expect not only a substantial fine but also that they will have to pay back customers who have been disadvantaged by their failings," she added.

Deutsche Bank explained that it stopped lending mortgages in 2008.

"Following the identification of the issues raised by the FSA in an industry-wide review started in 2008, DB mortgages immediately commissioned a third-party review into its lending and arrears collection processes," said a bank spokesman.

"As a consequence, DB mortgages has improved its oversight of mortgage servicing activities."

The bank is the fourth lender since the autumn of 2009 to be fined by the FSA for mistreating mortgage customers in arrears.

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