The News Matrix: Thursday 13 June 2013

Bermuda puts global agreement at risk

A global agreement to crack down on tax havens is in jeopardy after Bermuda refused to sign up to new transparency rules. David Cameron has called Britain’s 10 overseas territories and crown dependencies to talks in London before next week’s G8 conference. MORE

Landmark victory for tycoon’s ex-wife

Spouses who avoid divorce payouts by claiming their assets are tied up in companies may have to hand over the money anyway, following a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court yesterday re-ordering Nigerian oil tycoon Michael Prest, 51, to pay his ex-wife a £17.5m settlement. MORE

Young criminals face year of supervision

Offenders who turn 18 behind bars will face a year’s compulsory supervision after release. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling will announce today that the move is designed to help them break the “pernicious cycle” of reoffending. More than 75 per cent return to crime within a year of being released.

Party grandee runs high-cost loan firm

A top Conservative Party funder has been revealed as the man behind one of the UK’s biggest high-cost lenders. Financier Henry Angest lent the Conservatives £5m shortly before the last general election at an interest rate of just 3.5 per cent. By comparison, his company Everyday Loans charges members of the public interest an APR of 74.8 per cent. MORE

Whistleblower’s fate ‘up to Hong Kong’

US whistleblower Edward Snowden has given an interview to the South China Morning Post. Mr Snowden, who revealed himself as the source of media leaks about NSA initiatives, told the newspaper he intended to “ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate”. MORE

Drug shipment ends up in supermarket

Drug traffickers in Colombia must be going bananas over how their shipment ended up at Danish supermarkets. Employees at supermarket chain Coop got a surprise when they opened banana boxes and found about 100kg of what police believe is cocaine. The powder was discovered last week in Aarhus.

Athlete begins her Cuba-Florida swim

Australian endurance athlete Chloe McCardel is swimming the waters off Cuba in an attempt to become the first person to swim from Havana to Florida without a protective shark cage. McCardel says she expects to spend about 60 hours in the sea for the 100-mile trip, where she’ll brave sharks and stinging jellyfish.

Rare ‘Superman’ comic sold for 112K

A rare copy of the comic book featuring Superman’s first appearance that went undiscovered for over 70 years in the insulation of a house has been sold for $175,000 (£112,000). Stephen Fishler, CEO of ComicConnect.com, says the winning bidder was a “hard-core, golden-age comic book collector”.

Facebook to have ‘clickable’ hashtags

They may be one of Twitter’s only defining features, but the micro-blog’s rival Facebook has announced it is commandeering the “hashtag”. Mark Zuckerberg’s social network announced yesterday that hashtags would now “be clickable”, allowing users to indicate their posts were part of a “larger discussion”.

McGee will return to music industry

Alan McGee, one of the music industry’s most controversial figures, is to return to the business after a decade. Best known as the man who discovered Oasis, McGee, below right, has confirmed he has a 50 per cent stake in a new record label and a roster of 20 bands up his sleeve. MORE