Regulators face Madoff grilling

The top US financial regulatory body has ordered an in-house investigation into why it did not detect the $50bn (£33bn) Madoff fraud case sooner.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) head, Christopher Cox, launched an inquiry into what he called a serious agency breakdown.



It has been revealed the SEC received specific warnings about Wall St figure Bernard Madoff almost ten years ago.

Mr Madoff has been charged with fraud in one of the biggest-ever such cases.

Investors, banks and charities across the world fear they may have lost billions of dollars since Mr Madoff's arrest.

It is thought that Bernard Madoff was running what was essentially the world's largest pyramid scheme, the BBC's Andy Gallacher reports.

Now serious questions are being asked about the SEC's role in not preventing it in the first place, our Washington correspondent says.

India 'entered Pakistan airspace'

Pakistan has said two Indian warplanes violated its airspace on Saturday, but that there was no cause for alarm as the incursions had been "inadvertent".

They flew up to 7.4km into the Lahore and Azad Kashmir sectors, it said.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman said Pakistan's air force remained "on alert and ready to face any eventuality, but we do not expect this to escalate".

The Times of India quoted "highly placed sources" in India's air force as denying any such incident had occurred.

Last week, India's foreign minister denied making a "threatening" phone call that prompted Pakistan to put its forces on alert following the co-ordinated attacks by militants in Mumbai which left more than 170 people dead.

Pranab Mukherjee said the call was a hoax which Pakistan was using to divert attention from the fact its nationals had been involved in the attacks.


The director of public relations for the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said the Indian aircraft had violated Pakistani airspace on two separate occasions on Saturday.

"Both the Indian aircraft entered into Pakistan's airspace between two to four nautical miles at two different sectors," Air Commodore Humyun Viqar told Associated Press of Pakistan news agency.

He said Pakistani jets had responded, forcing the Indian aircraft to turn back.

Pakistan's information minister confirmed the incursion and said officials had "spoken to the Indian air force and they have said it was inadvertent".

"Our air force is on alert and ready to face any eventuality, but we do not expect this to escalate," Ms Rehman said. "There is no need for alarm."