The Infractions Committee of the NCAA has banned from postseason play the University of Central Florida. The ban is for one season in men’s basketball and football because of major violations that took place in both sports. In April, Central Florida appeared in front of the committee for infractions. It also received a fine of $50,000 and received five years of probation. The university was also cited for not having enough institutional control. The issue that brought about the ban had to do with... 

Shares of UBS plummeted on Tuesday after the giant Swiss bank posted earnings that were worst than expected. Profits for the second quarter fell by 58% because of the huge losses the bank suffered from the initial public offering of Facebook in May and an unexpected downturn of its investment banking sector. The Swiss bank reported profits had dropped to $434.1 million from $1.2 billion last year during the same quarter. Officials from the bank said the drop reflects the challenging conditions that... 

A 335-page Senate report  says that executives at HSBC and regulators at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ignored warning signs and failed to stop illegal behavior by Mexican drug cartels looking to get cash back into the United States, by Saudi Arabian banks that needed access to dollars despite their terrorist ties, and by Iranians who wanted to circumvent United States sanctions.  The report indicates that the problems at HSBC, Europe’s largest financial institution, are indicators... 

The European Commission announced a new set of antitrust proceedings against Microsoft.  The European Commission said that the company  failed to live up to a agreement made three years ago to give users of  Windows software better access to competitors’ Internet browser software.  Microsoft immediately apologized, saying in a statement, “We deeply regret that this error occurred and we apologize for it,” and calling it a technical problem that the company had recently learned of. Microsoft... 

On Monday, the northern India power grid could no longer take the heat and crashed. The crash halted hundreds of India’s trains, forced airports and hospitals to use their backup generators and left over 370 million people, more than Canada and the United States’ population combined, sweltering due to the summer heat. This is the worst blackout India has faced in over a decade. It highlighted the inability the nation has to feed the ever-growing hunger the country has for energy while it strives... 

A new court battle between Apple, Inc. and Samsung Electronics, two of the largest technology companies in the world begins on Monday. The latest of many court battles between the two will be one that is closely watched, as it might have huge ramifications over what company will control the tablet and smartphone industry in the United States. Apple sued Samsung alleging the South Korea based electronics giant infringed on Apple’s designs of its iPhones and iPads. Apple has asked the court for damages... 

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) may be sporting a gleaming  new headquarters building in lower Manhattan, but not everything there is quite perfect. While the building sports the usual amenities of any high end office  building in Manhattan, like a gym, an in-house physician  and workers offering shoe shines, there was a problem that has emerged as well  in its basic features – tap water. The building for much of July has had discolored tap water, something familiar to anyone that has lived in New... 

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is executing a  management shake up in follow-up to the London Whale trading debacle. Chief  Executive Officer Jamie Dimon reshuffled managers just below him, signaling that  the biggest U.S. bank is preparing for life after its famed boss. The moves come two weeks after JPMorgan said it had  lost nearly $6 billion from bad derivatives trades on corporate debt,  representing a huge black eye for a chief executive long praised for his  risk-management skills.... 

Deposit insurance has been a stabilizing force in the  US banking industry since the  formation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). During the  financial crisis of 2008, the increase in FDIC levels helped avert potential  runs, and aided in avoiding an even worse financial disaster. Some actions taken  though were temporary, and time has come to review and renew them or face  serious potential consequences. The expiration of special U.S. deposit  insurance at the end of the... 

Sandy Weill, the engineer of supermarket banking  through his creation of Citigroup (NYSE: C), has now spurned the notion of  massive banks and turning his back on what amounted to his career’s crowning  achievement. Weill displayed this notion last week on CNBC’s  Squawk Box, leaving market insiders  to wonder why he has changed his tone after championing the cause and fighting  for it for so long. Financial Times editor Gary Silverman conducted an interview  with Well ten years ago while... 

A fund managed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) agreed to buy a building near Berlin’s  Brandenburg Gate valued at about $184 million from Commerzbank AG (NYSE: CBK), two  people with knowledge of the matter said. While sovereign debt in Europe remains rocky, property in the region continues to be in demand. The  property, at the corner of Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse in  Berlin’s  Mitte district, was built in 1997 and has 47,270 square meters (508,810 square  feet) of space.... 

In the banking industry, the market potential for Asia remains as hot a topic as ever. While the major  US based banks have sought to expand and grow market share, hoping to gain a piece of IPO action and potentially  billions of depositors, most ventures have been met with limited success. Wells  Fargo (NYSE: WFC) hopes to be an exception to that. The economic contraction under way in the Pacific Rim has forced many companies to rethink their model, and change their deployment of resources.... 

The Charlotte based banking behemoth Bank of  America (NYSE: BAC) seems to be heeding the client demand for mobile banking  products. Today, the firm launched new mobile banking products and service  enhancements including Mobile Check Deposit, Person-to-Person Email and Mobile  Transfers and Mobile App Alerts. With these new offerings, Bank of America  customers now have the ability to completely manage their finances through their  mobile device – from depositing a check, to paying friends... 

Although JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) has been able to navigate the turbulent times since the 2008 financial crisis generally looking good, the London Whale debacle and recent financial results seem to be weighing on the firm. Today, the stock endured a tumultuous session following an early morning downgrade from Deutsche Bank analyst Matt O’Connor. O’Connor noted that analysts appear to be overestimating the bank’s earnings power in the near term, so downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy. O’Connor... 

Chicken salads under the name Huxtable’s Kitchen salads include contaminated red onions. The onions are contaminated with listeria, which could cause a disease that has a mortality rate of 20%. Over two tons of chicken salad that was sold through Trader Joe’s was recalled due to the possibility it could contain contaminated red onions that have the deadly bacteria. The salads in question included Gills Onions diced red onions. Gills is a farm in California who had its products recalled because... 

A man taken into custody last week, who has been accused of threatening a former co-worker, might be held an entire week in a hospital. Police also found a cache of arms in his home. He might remain under custody in the hospital until authorities make a decision on whether or not to charge him. Neil Edwin Prescott who is 28 is being held at Anne Arundel Hospital involuntarily for evaluation. Police took him into custody last Friday and are able to keep him an entire week before charging or releasing... 

Yahoo’s quarterly financial report shows that revenue and net income have stalled at last year’s levels.  Yahoo’s revenue from online display ads rose just 2% in the second quarter compared with a year ago, and it continues to lose market share. With 700 million users, Yahoo draws one of the largest audiences on the Web, but some advertisers have been looking elsewhere.  Advertisers have come under financial pressures, prompting many to buy ads cheaply and quickly through auction-based sales... 

Apple’s slow pace of expansion in China has been causing major headaches for the company.  Apple’s stores in China are usually very crowded and customers often have to wait in long lines for repairs for their iPhones. Apple has recently agreed to settle a lawsuit over the iPad trademark by paying Proview Technology $60 million, freeing it to sell its latest tablet computer throughout mainland China.  Apple earns a nearly 20% of its revenue in China. With six stores in China, Apple has more... 

In this day and age for your marketing campaign to work you need to have a slightly different approach that people haven’t seen before. People are very skeptical these days and it can be easy to dismiss something that we see being advertised as unimportant. Even TV ads are about a third as effective as they were a decade ago due to these same reasons. At the same time, some newer techniques are working better than ever. A good example of this would be with experiential marketing because of the... 

The Milwaukee Brewers have sent their pitching ace, Zack Greinke to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for Jean Segura, a shortstop and two minor league prospects. Greinke was considered the best pitcher available prior to Tuesday’s trade deadline. The pickup by the Angels followed an offseason that was highlighted by the signing of two start free agents C.J. Wilson and the perennial all star Albert Pujols. Greinke said he was looking forward to playing in Los Angeles saying the team was a great... 

The largest economy in the world, cooled off during the second quarter due to very little growth in jobs that in turn prompted Americans to cut back spending. Local and state governments also made cutbacks adding to the problem. The gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1.5% for the latest quarter. The GNP is the value of goods and services that are produced in the country. The U.S. Department of Commerce showed on Friday that household purchases grew at their slowest rate in over... 

The first vaccine in the world against dengue virus has shown it protects against three of four strains of the virus. Those results were from a trial that took place in Thailand, said the maker of the vaccine this week. The vaccine was able to generate antibody responses against the four strains, but for an unknown reason, one of the strains succeeded in infecting children who had been given the vaccine. Scientists currently are trying to determine why that happened. In the mean time, a trial of... 

The economy in the U.S. grew by just a tepid 1.5% rate during the second quarter of 2012. It lost the momentum that had appeared during the early part of the year. Holding back the growth of the economy was the lack of purchasing by consumers as well as less business investment due to the slowdown globally and much stronger dollar. Analyst had estimated that the rate of growth would be even less, at 1.4%. The recovery has remained sluggish and makes the U.S. more vulnerable to the troubles in Europe.... 

In the United States, banks are starting to separate their commercial and investment banking operations. According to banking analyst Meredith Whitney, there’s no need for any radical breakup as suggested by former Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill. Whitney is the founder of the Meredith Whitney Advisory Group. She said that any draconian moves to split up banks are unnecessary. Weill earlier told CNBC that he thinks it’s the right time to break up big banks to prevent a repeat of the large taxpayer... 

A recent study has said there is link between Ecstasy use and memory loss. The research was done by German scientists who said over 100 users of Ecstasy were tracked over a one year period. The research found that the users did not perform as well on tests when the study concluded. The researchers said the most obvious damage was in associative memory. An example of that is a user of Ecstasy might have a hard time remembering where they left their keys. The researchers also said they were quite surprised...