Man (80s) dies after car enters water off Clare Island
The single-vehicle crash happened at Glen, Clare Island, at about 1pm on Tuesday afternoon.
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The driver, a man in his 80s, was pronounced dead at the scene.
His body has been removed to Mayo University Hospital for a postmortem.
The scene has been examined by a forensic collision investigator.
Gardaí are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward.
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Reuters
22 minutes ago
- Reuters
Focus: Deutsche Bank chief faces scrutiny about role in risky trades over a decade ago
FRANKFURT, Aug 20 (Reuters) - In 2013, Deutsche Bank ( opens new tab handed Christian Sewing, a rising star, the sensitive assignment of investigating derivatives trades under scrutiny in Italy. More than a decade later, Sewing, now CEO, faces criticism in a lawsuit by a former Deutsche employee over his handling of the task. The suit has prompted Deutsche to review how the bank and Sewing, chief auditor at the time, managed the situation, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Dario Schiraldi, a former banker at Deutsche who was involved in the trades, claims in a 152-million-euro ($178 million) lawsuit seeking damages from the bank that the lender's actions, including the audit overseen by Sewing more than a decade ago, harmed Schiraldi's reputation and earnings, according to court documents seen by Reuters. Deutsche Bank in its review in recent months of its investigation into the trades found no wrongdoing, the person familiar with the matter said. Nonetheless, the lawsuit - due to be heard in a Frankfurt court in December - puts Sewing, CEO since 2018 and credited with cleaning up Deutsche Bank's image, in the spotlight by publicly examining his role at the height of the global financial crisis. Schiraldi, five other former bankers of the German lender, and the bank were acquitted in 2022, after initially being convicted by an Italian court in 2019 for colluding with Italian bank Monte dei Paschi (MPS) to hide losses at MPS by using complex derivatives trades. In Germany, Deutsche's accounting of the transactions was also the focus of regulators. Schiraldi's lawsuit claims the bankers were made to take the blame for trades while Deutsche Bank management - including Sewing as chief auditor - sought to conceal their tacit approval for risky and lucrative deals. Deutsche Bank disclosed Schiraldi's lawsuit in its 2024 annual report released earlier this year, in a list of potentially significant civil litigation and regulatory matters. "The facts of this long-standing matter are well known and have been discussed in detail over the past decade. The Supervisory Board supports the Management Board in defending the bank against this litigation," Chairman Alexander Wynaendts said in a statement earlier this month. Sewing declined to comment for this story via a spokesperson. As CEO, he has slimmed down and returned Deutsche Bank to profit and restored its image after years of management churn, legal turmoil, losses and fines that threatened to topple the bank. He was reappointed in March for a third term as head of Deutsche, which is playing a key role in German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's "Made For Germany" initiative to pump the sagging economy. For this report, Reuters reviewed documents - including previously unreported details from the initial lawsuit, a March filing and email correspondence - and spoke to four people with direct knowledge of the matter on condition of anonymity. Reuters is reporting for the first time fresh details of the case, having reviewed Schiraldi's claim, and how Germany's largest bank is responding. Schiraldi, since leaving the bank, has held other jobs in finance, including leading a Swiss-family investment company, according to his LinkedIn profile. A central plank of Schiraldi's lawyers' argument is that Sewing and the bank scapegoated Schiraldi and a handful of colleagues and later failed to set the record straight. In 2014, Deutsche Bank took the findings of the bank's audit into the MPS trades to its local regulator, the Italian central bank, blaming the "Deal Team" - which included Schiraldi - for "insufficient and selective disclosure" on the trades. The information that was allegedly withheld – how the bank was fetching billions of dollars of bonds that underpinned the deals - allowed Deutsche to book the trades as loans rather than derivatives, the findings from the bank's audit showed. That helped reduce the amount of capital it had to hold to cover risks, making it more profitable. "An appropriate handling ... would have resulted in the transactions either being declined or escalated," Deutsche told the Bank of Italy in 2014, according to slides seen by Reuters. Schiraldi disputes that there was any such cover up of information and that the deals were widely understood. Reuters could not ascertain management's role in signing off on the deals. Deutsche Bank confirmed to Reuters that the "audit identified material failings" but declined to comment on communication with regulators. Schiraldi's lawyers claim Deutsche Bank's audit of the trades had a predetermined outcome and drew on only a fraction of the available documents. In the course of their dispute with the bank, they have successfully obtained the release of several million emails and documents, which they say, in a March 2025 court document seen by Reuters, show flaws in the way the bank handled the case. Reuters could only review a small fraction of the documents. As the bank seeks to quash Schiraldi's claims, one of its management board members has reviewed the case, sifting through emails and documents from the time, according to the person with direct knowledge of the review. Deutsche Bank, in a lengthy response to questions from Reuters, said the allegations were "false", that the audit had been thorough and independent, and that executives involved "discharged their responsibilities appropriately". Sewing had been a credit officer before the audit and approved parts of some other similar deals. "We stand by the audit's core findings," a Deutsche Bank spokesperson said. While the case is due to come before a German court later this year, such disputes may also be settled out of court. In its statement to Reuters, the bank said the claims made in the lawsuit are "based on incorrect allegations", and "an attempt to generate publicity by seeking to cause serious harm to the good reputation of executives.' ($1 = 0.8529 euros)
BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
Use organised crime cash to fight crime, watchdog says
Money raised from seized criminal assets should be directly reinvested in efforts to fight organised crime, a police watchdog has said. HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS), Craig Naylor, called for the change following a wave of gangland disorder. He praised Police Scotland's response, and said the centralisation of the force had helped to tackle organised crime. However, Mr Naylor said further action was needed at a time of "increasing demand" on officers. In an annual report, HMICS said the Scottish government should consider an "asset recovery incentivisation scheme" that would allow Police Scotland – and other agencies – to use money raised from criminals' assets to combat crime.A similar scheme is already in operation across the rest of the UK. Mr Naylor's report found that more than £10m was recovered in Scotland using Proceeds of Crime legislation in 2023-24. While this money is not directly funnelled back to the police, it can be used for the government's CashBack for Communities programme, which provides free activities and programmes for young people – including those at risk of offending or reoffending. Mr Naylor said: "In England, Northern Ireland and Wales, Proceeds of Crime Act reporting agencies can and do receive money from the proceeds recovered from crime under the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (Aris)."The Home Office encourages agencies to invest Aris funds into areas that will increase asset recovery or, where appropriate, to fund local crime fighting priorities."This process is not applicable in Scotland."At a time of increasing demand, I would be encouraged to see conversations to consider if some funding could be released from seized assets to bolster the fight against organised crime – and maintain Scotland's position as a top performer in this area." In other parts of the UK, criminal assets worth £243.3m were seized in 2023-24. Of that total, £98.1m was distributed to agencies, including police forces, to fund crime to tackle organised crime in Scotland have been ramped up in recent months following an outbreak of gangland activity. Assaults, shootings and fire bombings across the central belt have so far led to more than 50 arrests. The Scottish Prison Service said it was having to play "a daily game of chess" in its jails to keep violent rivals apart. Organised crime threat The HMICS report found that the merging of Scotland's eight police forces into one centralised agency - a process that took place in 2013 - had "undoubtedly strengthened its ability to effectively tackle the threat from organised crime groups".Mr Naylor also said a new policing act passed by the Scottish Parliament in March addressed concerns raised by HMICS about vetting officers, granting the chief constable the power to dismiss any officer who cannot meet maintain standards. However, he warned "too little consideration" had been given to the effects of the legislation", including the financial impact. Police Scotland said it was open to discussion on changes to how proceeds of crime can be used.A spokesperson said: "The process in place in other parts of the United Kingdom and further afield where seized assets and money is reinvested can be seen to have significant impact on the efforts to tackle serious and organised crime."Justice Secretary Angela Constance welcomed the report's praise for Police Scotland, and the conclusion that the centralisation of the force had strengthened efforts to tackle organised said money recovered through proceeds of crime legislation was primarily used to fund community projects "aimed at diverting young people away from crime".Constance added that since 2008 more than £156m of "ill-gotten gains" had been distributed through the CashBack for Communities scheme, supporting 1.4m young people.
Telegraph
22 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Yes, Amanda Knox was maligned and mistreated – but you still won't like her
'It is difficult to understand how this serves any purpose,' said Meredith Kercher's sister, Stephanie, when The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox (Disney+) was announced last year. It is a fair summary of this wayward drama, a luridly stylised, queasily whimsical and aggressively didactic recounting of the events that began in November 2007 with Kercher's murder. Save for a superb central performance from Grace Van Patten, the series offers little but a litany of reasons to feel sorry for Knox, who was wrongly found guilty of the crime. At times, it has the feel of a bad TV movie. KJ Steinberg's eight-parter is based so closely on Knox's memoir, Waiting to Be Heard, that it's a surprise that Knox is credited only as executive producer. This is, soup to nuts, the Amanda Knox show. It begins in 2022, with Knox huddled in the back of a car, secretly revisiting Perugia with her mother, husband and baby daughter, to confront Giuliano Mignini, the public prosecutor who put her behind bars. The scene, which bookends the series, shows us Knox's ability to forgive those who have wronged her, as well as providing the sort of narratively neat moment of closure that Kercher's family will never be able to have. On Nov 2, 2007, Kercher's body was found at her flat in Perugia. The 21-year-old British exchange student had been raped before having her throat cut. Suspicion instantly fell on Kercher's American housemate, Knox, a 20-year-old student from Seattle, and Raffaele Sollecito, her Italian 'boyfriend' (the pair had met only eight days previously). During questioning, Knox, whose Italian was relatively poor, implicated herself and her employer, a local bar owner named Patrick Lumumba, while Sollecito removed his initial alibi for Knox. On Nov 6, all three were arrested on suspicion of murder, though Lumumba was released following a strong alibi. Instead, the bloodstained fingerprints of another man, Rudy Guede, were found on Kercher's bed and he was charged with murder alongside Knox and Sollecito. The prosecution alleged that the killing happened during a violent sex game instigated by Knox. Despite fleeing the country, Guede was arrested and, in 2009, found guilty. In 2021, Guede was released from prison, having served 13 years of his 16-year sentence. In 2009, Knox and Sollecito went on trial, with a second (bizarrely concurrent) trial taking place regarding Knox's false accusation against Lumumba. By this point, the public idea of 'Foxy Knoxy' had taken hold, with the American publicly painted as a sex-crazed sociopath. Knox and Sollecito were found guilty of faking a break-in, defamation, sexual violence and murder, with sentences of 26 and 25 years respectively. In 2011, after having spent four years in prison, an appeal court found them not guilty of murder, with serious doubt having been cast on the DNA evidence that tied them to the scene and to the whole police investigation. The false accusation against Lumumba was upheld, but as Knox had already served adequate time in prison, she was free to return home to America. Knox did not only have to endure frenzied media and public interest, but, in 2013, another trial. Italy's Supreme Court set aside the acquittal and ordered a retrial, for which Knox did not have to return to Italy. In 2014, a verdict of not guilty was returned, although the case was not definitively finished until March 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled that Knox and Sollecito were innocent. A more recent appeal to overturn the defamation of Lumumba was dismissed. The Disney+ drama shows its hand from the start, with Knox telling her fretting mother (Sharon Horgan, struggling with the accent in a leaden role) that 'there's no way we're going back'. Only she isn't looking at her mother, she is looking straight down the camera, with a smirk on her face, at us. 'Well,' announces Van Patten's bouncy voiceover, 'maybe we'll go back a little', before the show treats us to a misguided David Copperfield-esque montage involving a crow hitting Magnini's office window in 1986 and Meredith Kercher's first steps. Knox's initial weeks in Perugia are marionetted in front of us as a mix of Emily in Paris and Amélie. To add to that unpleasant taste at the back of your throat – the night Kercher was violently raped and murdered, Knox and Sollecito were watching Amélie. The best work is done early on, with the horribly throat-tightening scene in which Knox and Sollecito slowly begin to realise something is wrong, as Kercher does not answer her phone or open her locked bedroom door. This is compounded in the hellish first few hours in the police station, with Knox pressed and cajoled by detectives who she barely half understands. The show makes a good fist of portraying the Kafkaesque nightmare that Knox lived through and Van Patten is truly believable, capturing Knox's oddball goofiness and brittle ego. Yet the thing that holds it back is Knox herself, as the show borrows the memoir's propensity for vaguely philosophical mulch, allowing the voice-over to indulge in gnomic blabber such as 'does truth exist if no one believes it?' or 'in the haze of tragedy, I was a deer in the headlights'. Everything is shown through Knox's filter – the police are cruel dunderheads, the media are braying hyenas, Kercher's British friends are pearl-clutching prudes. Worst of all is how those who cared for Kercher are portrayed. Sollecito is a lovelorn artist, unable to live if he does not have her devotion. The prison chaplain is a saintly grandfather figure who adores her and, at one stage, implores her to sing. (Yes, in the Amanda Knox Story, Amanda Knox gets a song.) It's an oppressively solipsistic work, with various characters speaking Knox's truth for her. The chaplain tells her that people don't see her, rather they see 'something they fear in her'. Knox's sister Deanna (Anna Van Patten), chastises their parents for making Amanda see the world the way they do. Steinberg has failed to translate the earnestness of a memoir on to the screen, and moments that should be powerful come across as plain cheesy. When Knox is freed from prison, everyone, from inmates to guards, all but bear her aloft on their shoulders, cheering and crying. At one point we get a literal trapped bird metaphor. It's just bad art. It's all rather astonishing. To take a story in which an innocent 20-year-old is not only found guilty of a murder she did not commit but is also portrayed globally as a conniving slut, and somehow make her slightly unsympathetic is some achievement. So much of what the drama tells us is true – Knox was maligned and mistreated, she was wronged and slandered, she had her life ripped away from her and transformed into something beyond her control and was courageous throughout it all. And yet by shoving these ideas down our throats, by turning her accusers into pantomime villains or bungling idiots, the drama does Knox a disservice. It would be wrong to say that the series forgets about Kercher. But The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox makes her a sideshow to Knox's act of redemption and forgiveness. 'Telling your own story is a sticky, tricky thing,' says Knox. You can add icky to that, on this evidence. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is available on Disney+ now
