STOCKHOLM, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Swedish investment bank Carnegie was Friday fined 50 million kronor (7.7 million dollars, 5.4 million euros) and its chief executive and board sacked after a trading scandal, Sweden's Financial Supervisory Authority said.

The bank, which is listed on the Stockholm stock exchange and has operations in eight countries, had 'serious deficiencies in its governance and control of the firm's operations,' the authority said.

SEOUL, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - South Korean prosecutors on Sunday summoned President Roh Moo-Hyun's former top aide and a former university art professor for questioning over allegations of influence-peddling.

Byeon Yang-Kyoon, formerly Roh's chief national policy secretary, voluntarily appeared for the questioning, which was televised, but was tight-lipped over the scandal that has rocked the nation.

TOKYO, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's scandal-hit farm minister resigned Monday, dealing a fresh blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe just a week after he reshuffled his cabinet in the hope of cleaning up the government's image.

Ending the shortest tenure in memory for a Japanese minister, Takehiko Endo submitted his resignation amid threats by an emboldened opposition to raise his financial wrongdoing in parliament.

TOKYO, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's farm minister resigned Monday over a money scandal, in a fresh blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe just a week after he reshuffled his cabinet in an attempt to clean up the government's image.

'The minister has resigned,' said a farm ministry spokesman after outgoing Takehiko Endo met Abe.

Endo is to speak at a press conference to be held shortly.

TOKYO, Sept 2, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's farm minister decided Sunday to resign over a money scandal, less than a week after being appointed by embattled Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a bid to clean up his government's image, reports said.

The resignation would deliver a new blow to Abe's government, whose approval ratings had just started to rebound from a stinging election defeat in July that came in the wake of a slew of scandals involving his cabinet.

TOKYO, Sept 2, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's farm minister decided Sunday to resign over a money scandal, less than a week after being appointed by embattled Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a bid to clean up his government's image, a report said.

Takehiko Endo agreed to quit after the new opposition-controlled upper house of parliament threatened a censure motion, Kyodo News reported, quoting an unnamed source in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

TOKYO, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's new farm minister said he would not resign Saturday as yet another money scandal broke out just days after he took office in a shake-up aimed at restoring the trouble-hit government's image.

Opposition parties demanded Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Takehiko Endo quit after he was forced into a second consecutive day of public apologies for receiving money irregularly.

NEW YORK, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - A former National Basketball Association referee pleaded guilty on Wednesday to federal charges in a betting scandal in which he gambled on games that he officiated, prosecutors said.

Tim Donaghy earlier on Wednesday turned himself over to authorities and admitted his role in the match-fixing scheme that rocked the NBA and threatens the integrity of results from the past two years.

ROME, Aug 1, 2007 (AFP) - More than 100 Italian lawmakers lined up Wednesday to prove they do not do drugs as part of right-wing efforts to dispel an image of a political class prone to debauchery.

The senators and deputies, almost all from right-wing parties, took turns providing saliva samples to health officials outside parliament.

The centre-right Christian Democrats (UDC) staged the tests, dismissed as demogogic by the left, after the lower Chamber of Deputies rejected a draft bill last week that would have made drug testing mandatory for elected officials.