Tuesday Papers: Barclays fined over sanctions breach - other news

Financial Times

* Barclays has agreed to pay $298m to US authorities to settle investigations relating to payments that the UK bank facilitated to countries facing government sanctions.

* The Treasury has required Iain Duncan Smith, work and pensions secretary, to find about £5
of savings for every £1 he spends to simplify the benefits system, setting tight financial
conditions on the dramatic reforms he sees as his main mission in government.

* A federal judge on Monday refused to approve Citigroup’s $75m deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges related to subprime mortgages.

* US banks eased lending standards to consumers and businesses in the second quarter even as demand for credit remained flat, the Federal Reserve said on Monday.

* The ECB said on Monday it had bought just €10m in bonds last week, scarcely higher than the €9m purchased the previous week.

* The Japanese economy grew at an annualised, seasonally adjusted pace of 0.4% in the three months to the end of June – much lower than the revised 4.4% growth rate for the first quarter and well below the 2.3% expected by economists.

* The Obama administration is to severely restrict the use of environmental waivers for oil and gas companies seeking deepwater drilling permits.

* The US Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute and the American Farm Bureau Federation yesterday raised the pressure on the Obama administration to consider extending controversial tax cuts for wealthy Americans, calling it a “fool’s error” not to do so in a weak economy.

* Angela Merkel, German chancellor, is sticking with plans to cut public spending and hold off tax cuts even as the country’s recent growth spurt suggests that the economy this year could expand at twice the rate last forecast by Berlin.

* Strikes at airports
 averted as BAA union agrees deal.

* US watchdog hits former ConAgra unit with $12m penalty.