LONDON (Reuters) – A radical cleric once described as “Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe” was freed from a British prison to live under virtual house arrest on Monday after a court ruled that his detention without trial was unlawful.

The Jordanian preacher known as Abu Qatada must wear an electronic tag to allow the police to keep track of him, spend 22 hours a day at his family home and is banned from using the Internet and mobile phones.

Twice convicted in his absence in Jordan of involvement in terrorist plots, Britain says he is still a national security risk and should be deported before London hosts the Olympic Games in July and August.

Britain says videotapes of his sermons were found in a German apartment used by three of the people who carried out al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Qatada was released from the high-security Long Lartin prison in central England on Monday night, a source familiar with the case said. The government declined to comment.

Television pictures showed him being driven out of the prison in a van.

The 51-year-old, whose real name is Omar Othman, has been in and out of jail since he was first detained without charge under British anti-terrorism laws in 2002.

LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – British financier Nathaniel Rothschild lost a libel case on Friday against a newspaper that depicted him as a “puppet master” who used his friendship with a European trade chief to impress a Russian oligarch and help close a business deal.

Rothschild sued the Daily Mail in London over a story that gave a rare insight into the world of super-rich businessmen who cross continents in private jets, dine in top restaurants and relax together in saunas.

One of Britain’s richest men, Rothschild is co-chairman of the London-listed coal mining company Bumi Plc and was once a close friend of UK finance minister George Osborne.

The 40-year-old member of the European banking dynasty, who accused the newspaper of damaging his reputation, said he was disappointed by the ruling and would appeal.

The article said Rothschild flew the then European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson from the 2005 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to Moscow to meet the aluminium billionaire Oleg Deripaska, among the richest men in Russia.

They went on to visit an aluminium plant in Siberia and relaxed together in a group whose members played soccer and ice hockey and sat in steam rooms before plunging into icy water.

The article said Rothschild had sought to impress Deripaska by unexpectedly bringing Mandelson to a dinner the Russian held with bosses from the U.S. aluminium company Alcoa Inc.

LONDON (Reuters) – A breakdown of relations between the police and public, record youth unemployment and poverty were behind the violence in a deprived London district that led to Britain’s worst rioting in decades, a community-led inquiry found on Tuesday.

The report said those factors inflamed public anger sparked by the police shooting last August of a 29-year-old local man in Tottenham, northeast London six months ago.

Rioting began in Tottenham and spread to other parts of London and cities across England. Five people died and scores were injured during five nights of violence that only ended when police flooded the streets.

What triggered the violence has divided public opinion, with Prime Minister David Cameron blaming “criminality pure and simple.” Others put it down to greed and amorality, while some point to broader problems such as inequality and a weak economy.

The latest attempt to understand the riots came in a report from nine community leaders in Tottenham, including youth workers and clerics. They oversaw a six-week “Citizens’ Inquiry” that interviewed more than 700 local people.

It concluded that a long-term decline in relations with the police was one of the main triggers. The use of stop and search powers by officers was seen as “excessive and disrespectful.”

Many locals spoke of mutual mistrust and thought the police response to the disorder in Tottenham was too slow and would have been more robust if it had been a wealthier area.

LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Former UBS AG trader Kweku Adoboli, who is accused of unauthorised deals that cost the Swiss bank $2.3 billion, was refused bail by a London court on Friday less than an hour after regulators stepped up their probe into the scandal.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) said they were launching enforcement investigations, which depending on their findings can be a prelude to actions such as fines or court proceedings.

The Swiss bank is conducting its own probe and has blamed the losses on an unauthorised trading incident.

Adoboli, 31, the British-educated son of a retired United Nations official from Ghana, was arrested straight after the losses were unveiled last September. He pleaded not guilty earlier this week to charges related to the scandal.

He will remain in custody in Wandsworth prison in south London until his trial, which is set for Sept. 3.

It was the first time lawyers for Adoboli, a former director, had applied for his release from custody since he was detained last year.

“These are serious allegations backed up with cogent evidence,” said Judge Alistair McCreath at London’s Southwark Crown Court after refusing his application.

LONDON (Reuters) – A Libyan militia leader has begun legal action against a former senior British intelligence chief whom he accuses of playing a key role in illegally returning him to Libya to be jailed and tortured under Muammar Gaddafi, his London-based lawyers said.

Abdel Hakim Belhadj, who commands one of Libya’s most powerful militias, is seeking damages from Mark Allen, who was director of counter-terrorism at MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence agency.

Belhadj and a second Libyan dissident, Sami al-Saadi, accuse Allen of complicity in torture, negligence and misfeasance in public office — the wrongful exercise of his authority.

“We are taking this unusual step of preparing legal action against an individual as the documents we have in our possession suggest Sir Mark was directly involved in the unlawful rendition of our clients,” said lawyer Sapna Malik, from the London law firm Leigh & Day, which represents Belhadj and Saadi.

An Oxford-educated Middle East specialist, Allen retired from MI6 in 2004 and went on to work for oil major BP and The Monitor Group, a global investment and consultancy firm.

He is an honorary fellow of St Antony’s College at Oxford University and sits on the advisory board for the London School of Economics’ centre for diplomacy and international affairs.

Belhadj accuses Allen of helping to organize the operation to fly him from Bangkok to a prison in Libya in 2004.

LONDON (Reuters) – Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli will stand trial in September after pleading not guilty on Monday to charges related to the loss of more than $2 billion on trades the Swiss bank says were unauthorized.

The trial, which is likely to shine a searching light on the adequacy of the bank’s management and risk controls, could land Adoboli with a maximum 10-year jail sentence if convicted of the two counts of fraud and two of false accounting.

His lawyer Paul Garlick said Adoboli, who worked for the bank as a director of exchange traded funds in London, where the trial is being held, would try to win bail before it starts on September 3, nearly a year after his arrest.

The losses led to the resignation of UBS’s former chief executive Oswald Gruebel and a shake-up of its investment arm to cut its exposure to risk.

Judge Alistair McCreath said the case was “of such magnitude” that there would have to be a long gap between the plea hearing and the start of the trial.

“An earlier trial would simply not be possible,” he said.

Dressed in a grey suit and blue tie, Adoboli sat in the glass and wood-paneled dock at Southwark Crown Court, taking notes on a piece of paper. He thanked the judge before being led from the dock and back into custody at the end of the hearing.

LONDON (Reuters) – Receiving an honor from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth marks the pinnacle of many careers. But for more than 250 people named in a once-secret official document, the idea was so unappealing that they turned down the monarch’s offer.

Artist Lucian Freud, sculptor Henry Moore and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” author Roald Dahl all rejected honors, according to papers released by the British government on Thursday.

“Psycho” film director Alfred Hitchcock also refused an award in 1962, only to accept a knighthood shortly before his death in 1980.

Other public figures named on the official list include painters Francis Bacon and L.S. Lowry and the “Brave New World” novelist Aldous Huxley.

The British government was forced to publish the document after repeated requests under freedom of information laws.

Previously, rejected honors only came to light through unofficial leaks or if the person involved chose to spoke about their decision to snub the twice-yearly “gongs.”

Several well-known writers appeared on the list, which only includes people who are no longer alive.

LONDON (Reuters) – Bank of England proposals to overhaul its governing body as it prepares to receive broad new powers are inadequate and would hide officials from proper public scrutiny, an influential parliamentary panel said on Monday.

The central bank is poised to become the most powerful financial regulator under new laws drawn up by the coalition government to help avoid a repeat of the credit crisis of 2007-08.

Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee, a cross-party group of lawmakers which monitors the Bank and finance ministry, wants the central bank to reform its “antiquated” governing board, the Court of the Bank of England.

The bank’s existing proposals to tighten its internal governance and improve accountability don’t go far enough, the lawmakers said in a report.

The Bank’s proposed new Oversight Committee would be held back by a narrow remit and “could not be relied upon to provide adequate scrutiny,” they said.

“The bank’s proposed remedy … falls well short of what is required,” said Andrew Tyrie, the lawmaker who chairs the Treasury committee. “The bank needs a proper board — fit for the 21st century.

“It is understandable that people don’t rush to embrace more meaningful and intrusive supervision of their activities. But in a public body with these powers, it is essential.”

LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Bank of England proposals to overhaul its governing body as it prepares to receive broad new powers are inadequate and would hide officials from proper public scrutiny, an influential parliamentary panel said on Monday.

The central bank is poised to become the most powerful financial regulator under new laws drawn up by the Conservative-led coalition government to help avoid a repeat of the credit crisis of 2007-08.

Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee, a cross-party group of lawmakers which monitors the BoE and finance ministry, wants the central bank to reform its “antiquated” governing board, the Court of the Bank of England.

The bank’s existing proposals to tighten its internal governance and improve accountability don’t go far enough, the lawmakers said in a report.

The BoE’s proposed new Oversight Committee would be held back by a narrow remit and “could not be relied upon to provide adequate scrutiny”, they said.

“The bank’s proposed remedy … falls well short of what is required,” said Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative lawmaker who chairs the Treasury committee. “The bank needs a proper board – fit for the 21st century.

“It is understandable that people don’t rush to embrace more meaningful and intrusive supervision of their activities. But in a public body with these powers, it is essential.”

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will set out plans next week to crack down on executive pay to try to address public outrage over huge wages for “fat cats” at a time of deep public spending cuts and fears of a looming recession.

Prime Minister David Cameron said a market failure during years of uncontrolled “turbo capitalism” had broken the link between risk and reward, giving some executives generous pay deals despite lacklustre performance.

Politicians from all parties have fought to take the lead in the pay reforms as Britons feel the pain from a government austerity drive, unemployment at a 17-year high and below-inflation wage rises for most workers.

Top UK directors’ total pay soared by almost 50 percent last year, despite an economic slowdown and only moderate growth at leading companies, according to research by Incomes Data Services, part of Thomson Reuters.

“There should be a proper, functioning market for talent at the top of business,” said Cameron, who leads the centre-right Conservatives, the dominant partner in Britain’s coalition government. “We need to make the market work and we will do that by empowering shareholders and using the power of transparency.”

Anger over pay, especially in the financial sector, grew during the 2007-08 credit crisis when Britain nationalised Northern Rock bank and pumped 66 billion pounds into Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Protesters inspired by the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York are still camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London financial district, more than three months after they first pitched their tents. They are campaigning against social inequality and corporate greed.