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The core inflation rate hasn't accelerated since March, and U.S. Treasuries rose because the report suggested companies are having little success passing along higher fuel costs to consumers. (Bloomberg)

``There is no sign of an immediate pass through of energy to core prices, but consumers spent with abandon considering their lack of confidence in the continued health of the economy,'' said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York. (Bloomberg)..you say what?

October 11, 2005 -- The NASD said it fined eight brokerages, including U.S. units of Prudential PLC and Lord Abbett & Co., almost $7.8 million for taking kickbacks from mutual funds. Commonwealth Financial Network, Mutual Service Corp., Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp., Lord Abbett Distributor LLC and four Prudential units steered clients into preferred funds in return for payments, the NASD said today in a statement. In return, the fund firms sent their trading business to the brokerages, the regulator said. (NY POST)

WASHINGTON - Concern is mounting over improper financial dealings between the world's largest "wealth management" company, UBS, and Cuba, as American officials probing the transactions said yesterday that $3.9 billion in laundered American currency may have landed in personal accounts controlled by the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro. (NY SUN)

When, in April 2003, American troops liberating Iraq found $762 million in American cash in hideouts belonging to Saddam Hussein, the banknotes were traced to UBS and the ECI program. In the process of probing the origins of the Iraqi cash - which UBS has told congressional investigators was initially sent to the Central Bank of Iran - American investigators subsequently discovered that the Swiss bank had also provided $3.9 billion in American currency for Cuba, $1 billion for Iran, $30 million for Libya, and less than $1 million for Yugoslavia. Cuba, Iran, and Libya appear on the State Department's official list of state sponsors of terrorism. (NY SUN)

UNITED NATIONS - A former aide to Secretary-General Annan who previously served as France's ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Bernard Merimee, was captured yesterday in Paris as part of a French investigation into the oil-for-food program. (NY SUN)

WASHINGTON - The Islamic Republic of Iran has emerged as a central player in ongoing investigations into possible money laundering by the world's largest "wealth management" firm, UBS, as congressional staff disclosed yesterday that $762 million in American currency controlled by Saddam Hussein may have made its way from the Swiss bank to Iraq via the Central Bank of Iran. (NY SUN)

Oct. 11, 2005 — The original informant who prompted the terror alert on New York City's subways last week is sticking to his story, and there is no basis to conclude the threat was a hoax, sources involved in the investigation of the plot told ABC News.

(CNSNews.com) - A former president of the New Orleans City Council and member of the Orleans Levee Board blames corruption "down to the bone" and "unbelievable ineptness" for the loss of life and injuries during and after Hurricane Katrina.

Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Refco Inc., the broker reeling from a bad-debt scandal, filed for bankruptcy court protection and agreed to sell its futures-trading business to a group led by J.C. Flowers & Co. for $768 million.