By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co <WFC.N> admitted to deceiving the U.S. government into insuring thousands of risky mortgages, as it formally reached a record $1.2 billion settlement of a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit.

The settlement with Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. mortgage lender and third-largest U.S. bank by assets, was filed on Friday in Manhattan federal court. It also resolves claims against Kurt Lofrano, a former Wells Fargo vice president.

According to the settlement, Wells Fargo "admits, acknowledges, and accepts responsibility" for having from 2001 to 2008 falsely certified that many of its home loans qualified for Federal Housing Administration insurance.

The San Francisco-based lender also admitted to having from 2002 to 2010 failed to file timely reports on several thousand loans that had material defects or were badly underwritten, a process that Lofrano was responsible for supervising.

According to the Justice Department, the shortfalls led to substantial losses for taxpayers when the FHA was forced to pay insurance claims as defective loans soured.

Several lenders, including Bank of America Corp <BAC.N>, Citigroup Inc <C.N>, Deutsche Bank AG <DBKGn.DE> and JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N>, previously settled similar federal lawsuits.

But Wells Fargo held out, and its payment is the largest in FHA history over loan origination violations.

Friday's settlement is a reproach for "years of reckless underwriting" at Wells Fargo, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said in a statement.

"While Wells Fargo enjoyed huge profits from its FHA loan business, the government was left holding the bag when the bad loans went bust," Bharara added.

The accord also resolved a probe by federal prosecutors in California of alleged false loan certifications by American Mortgage Network LLC, which Wells Fargo bought in 2009.

No one has been criminally charged in the probes, and the Justice Department reserved the right to pursue criminal charges if it wishes, according to the settlement.

Franklin Codel, president of Wells Fargo Home Lending, in a statement said the settlement "allows us to put the legal process behind us, and to focus our resources and energy on what we do best -- serving the needs of the nation's homeowners."

Lewis Liman, a lawyer for Lofrano, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wells Fargo on Feb. 3 said the settlement would reduce its previously reported 2015 profit by $134 million, to account for extra legal expenses.

The case is U.S. v. Wells Fargo Bank NA, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-07527.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)

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Electric Vichicle With Automated Transport Environment

• Let The Electric Passenger Shuttles Currently In Use At Heathrow Airport.

It has yet to unveil the exact design but confirmed that the adapted vehicles will not run on dedicated tracks.
Greenwich is one of four places in the UK where driverless pods and public reaction to them are being tested.
Trials will also take place in Bristol, Coventry and Milton Keynes. The £8m project is jointly funded by government agency Innovate UK and industry.
The Greenwich Automated Transport Environment project - or Gateway - will see seven driverless pods tested on the pavements around the Greenwich Peninsula, where the O2 Arena is based, from July.
Routes are still being worked out but are likely to include residential areas, the North Greenwich underground station and businesses around the arena.
The so-called UltraPods currently in service at Heathrow carry passengers between the car park and Terminal 5. In the five years they have been in use, they have carried 1.5 million passengers and travelled 1.8 million miles (three million kilometres).Westfield Sportscars, a British car maker, will be responsible for manufacturing and testing of the pods. Heathrow Enterprise will design the software while a third British firm, Oxbotica, will provide mapping and other sensors to ensure the vehicles are safe.https://www.igilarity.blogsport.com
The pods will have three months of testing, first with invited users and then with the general public. Each pod can carry six passengers but will require a steward to be present at all times to press the emergency button in the case of a problem.
The trial of the pods will reveal a wealth of data, Prof Nick Reed, academy director at Transport Research Laboratory which is leading the project, told the BBC.
"It will tell us whether people trust and accept these vehicles and how they would work as part of the urban landscape," he said.
"This vehicle has millions of miles under its belt and now we have to take it outside of the track and modify it for use on pavements."

Keji Ishaq Lost But Foud

: How She Was Abducted
Kunle Falayi..
If going to a market has always been a simple and short trip that would not likely bring any eventuality, the family of Keji Ishaq, a final year student of the Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, now think otherwise.

For them, in the years to come, a simple trip to the market would likely send jitters down their spine when they remember what Keji went through between March 20 and March 22.

The young woman, who got married recently, had left home on Sunday, March 20 to cash money at the ATM to buy some foodstuffs in a market around Ota, Ogun State, only to disappear for the next three days.

The family had sent out alerts online, pleading for help in locating the young woman.

By Tuesday night, Keji was back home. But the report of what transpired that night has only reinforced the belief that safety in the society has become a mirage.

Then, as apprehension and frustration enveloped their home on Monday evening, the family got a call.

Even though the family partly expected it to be from kidnappers asking for ransom for her release, the caller, who hid his number simply told them to come to Ilorin, Kwara State the following day to pick up the young woman.

Keji’s brother, Mayowa, told our correspondent that early the following morning, they headed for Ilorin.

He said, “When we got to Ibadan, the caller contacted us again, he asked where we were and we told him we were at Ibadan. He said we should divert to Ijebu Ode instead.

“Truly, when we got to the motor park at Ijebu Ode, Keji was there. She recognised us immediately we got there. She burst out sobbing. We then learnt that even her phone was still with her. She was unharmed. Only the money she withdrew from the bank was gone.

“Someone probably touched her with a fetish object and made her enter a vehicle. The last memory she had was that after she withdrew the cash, she went straight into a vehicle parked nearby.”
When our correspondent spoke with Keji on Wednesday, it was obvious she couldn’t recollect the details of what actually happened to her.

She promptly requested that her husband, Damilola, would be in the best position to tell the story of her disappearance.

Damilola said, “About midday on Sunday, she left home to go and get some foodstuffs that she would take to school the following day. She decided to go to the ATM at a Guarantee Trust Bank branch in Sango Ota.

After receiving the cash, all she remembered was cashing N4,000,” he said.
But Damilola said the person, who made the call that she was in Ijebu Ode was a Good Samaritan who recognised her.

He said, “The man had spotted her walking along the road as if in a trance. The person took her phone and checked it to find someone that could be contacted. But when he realised that her battery was dead, the person changed the battery. That was how he was able to contact Keji’s brother.

“Since they brought her back from Ijebu Ode yesterday, she has not been able to remember anything. She has no memory of where she was sleeping, what she ate or who took her.

“I am so thankful to God. I cannot really express how happy I am. We are talking about the love of my life here. We got married in January.”

Sudent Union President Suspended

The President of the Students' Union Fedral University of Agriculture (funnab) Dennis Olusegun 'Denco' was yesterday suspended at the sitting of the Students Representative Assembly held at the Students' Union Congress Hall.

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The Students Union President was suspended after Hon. Y Kay later raised a motion to suspend on the following allegations:
1. The Refusal to defend the Union at all times.
2. Inappropriate management of fund.
3. Failure to bring documented state of the union after several appeals..

A vote was conducted, out of the 49 Honourables present at the sitting, 38 voted to support the motion raised, while no Honourable voted against the motion raised. At exactly 3:58pm, the speaker of the house Rt. Hon Afolabi Luqman approved the motion to suspend the Student's union president Com. Denco.

After the Sitting we had a seperate interview with the Deputy Speaker of the house Hon. Phylipeens and Hon. Heptha who explained in full the reason he was suspended:
The Student Union President Com. Nwenonye Dennis Oluwasegun has been suspended till further notice for the following reasons:
i. Absence from the sitting without prior notice to the house.
ii. Failure to defend the interest of FUNAABITES in accordance to Article two, Section 16 ii, which states ‘SHALL DEFEND THE UNION AT ALL TIMES’. Referring to his statement on the 30th of March after ABG 301 class saying FUNAABITES are the ones robbing Co-FUNAABITES. And also not responding to the FPY students when they called for his assistance which was brought to the notice of the house.
iii. Refusal to submit documented and detailed State of the Union including the financial state of the Union, he hasn't been able to provide the house with details of how much the Union have in the account, how much they've spent so far and the money the revenue they may have made.
Iv. Refusal to submit the detailed report of the Fresher’s night which should have included the total income and expenses, since the Social Director said The President was in charge of the sales of the tickets.

They further stated that an Ethics and Disciplinary committee had been setup to investigate and look on the issues stated and they were given a timeline of two weeks to submit their report to the Students Representative Assembly. They added that the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee would now send in their recommendations as to whether the suspension be lifted or in the worse case scenario impeached, in which the House would deliberate and vote on.

Denco was asked to release all the student union properties ( Student union ID Card, Key to his office, Key of the student union bus) with him on or before 12:00pm March 8th 2016.

As at the time of filling this report, all efforts to reach Denco on phone has been futile as he has refused to pick his call.

The Vice President Com. Balogun Olamide " Lammy" was made the Acting President of the union..

Hon. Heptha raised the motion that the Acting president should write to all security bodies, the PPRO , the Ogun state governor about the insecurity state in the school......

#FunaabJuice