WASHINGTON — The White House gate-crashers plan to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights and refuse to testify if they are subpoenaed to appear on Capitol Hill about the security breach.
Reality TV hopefuls Michaele and Tareq Salahi said through their lawyer on Tuesday that the House Homeland Security Committee has drawn premature conclusions about the Nov. 24 incident, when they were able to get into a state dinner without being on an approved guest list.
The committee plans to vote Wednesday to subpoena the couple to testify.
In a letter Tuesday, the Salahis' lawyer, Stephen Best, gave examples of what he said were the committee's premature conclusions.
Best cited District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's characterization of the Salahis on Nov. 30 as "practiced con artists."
Best also said that Chairman Bennie Thompson's chief oversight counsel told the Salahis' lawyers that if the couple did not testify at the Dec. 3 hearing, they would be viewed as modern-day versions of "Bonnie and Clyde."
"It is circumstances such as these for which the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution was designed to provide safe harbor," Best wrote.
The Secret Service is currently conducting a criminal investigation into the security breach; charges have yet to be referred for prosecution.
In identical declarations dated Dec. 7, the Salahis said:
"I am aware of statements made by certain members on the Committee on Homeland Security in which premature conclusions concerning my criminal liability have been made. ... The current circumstances warrant invocation of my Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination."
The committee's top Republican, New York's Peter King, said he plans to ask Thompson to amend his subpoena to include White House social secretary Desiree Rogers. King had hoped Rogers would testify at the Dec. 3 hearing. She and the Salahis were no-shows.
The Secret Service and the White House social office together developed the security plan for the state dinner honoring the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Thompson, D-Miss., is reluctant to subpoena Rogers — an Obama political appointee — because he maintains the Secret Service is responsible for security.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs cited the separation of powers and a history of White House staff not testifying before Congress in explaining why Rogers, herself a guest at the dinner, wouldn't testify.
Three Secret Service officers have been put on administrative leave after the security breach. President Barack Obama acknowledged that the system did not work as it should have, but he said the episode hasn't shaken his confidence in his protectors.
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan has said the security breach is his agency's fault but that the president was never at risk.
News Source: The Associated Press.
One Solution for strategic plan marketing.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Fed Says Bank Of America Must Find Some Businesses To Sell
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Bank of America Corp. (BAC) got an assignment from the government--decide by summer which of its businesses it can live without.
Part of the deal that Bank of America struck with the Federal Reserve late Wednesday to pay back the $45 billion it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program was that the Charlotte bank must boost common equity by $4 billion through asset sales. (It also issued $19 billion in securities as part of the deal on Thursday).
Analysts' candidates for businesses that could be sold include its stakes in a Brazilian bank and in money manager BlackRock Inc. (BLK) and its U.S. Trust Corp. wealth-management unit.
Bank of America disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday it has to sell " identified businesses, acceptable to the Federal Reserve Board, for which we have contracted by June 30, 2010 and which are consummated by the end of 2010."
Significantly, Bank of America must sell businesses--rather than loans, or a chunk of the bank's portfolio of mortgage-backed securities, which in the third quarter were worth $180 billion at fair value. By insisting the securities not be sold, the Federal Reserve seems to be making sure that lending, directly and through the secondary market, wouldn't be hurt by loan sales. Also, the Fed appears to want Bank of America, like Citigroup Inc. (C), to slim down.
If BofA can't increase its common equity by $4 billion by selling businesses, it must raise common equity by selling shares. However, in light of all the dilution Bank of America shareholders have gone through this year, that option might be unattractive.
BofA has already found buyers for its First Republic Bank unit and for the long-term asset management business of Columbia Management. But when those deals close next year, the gains will be immaterial, said a person familiar with the matter.
Analysts said there is some low-hanging fruit in terms of businesses that could be easily sold: Bank of America's stake in Banco Itau, of Brazil, "is first on my list," said John McDonald of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. LLC. "That's not really strategic."
Others said the bank could sell its 48% stake in BlackRock, though McDonald said BlackRock "is a good asset to hold onto."
BofA could also consider selling U.S. Trust, the high-net-worth wealth- management businesses it bought in 2007 for $3.3 billion in cash from Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW).
Previously, the bank had been vocal about not selling either money manager. U.S. Trust positioned BofA "as one of the largest financial services companies managing private wealth in the U.S.," the bank stated. But, if forced to sell something, it could decide to use Merrill Lynch's brand to offer advice to wealthy customers.
A Bank of America spokesman said Friday, "We continue to be very committed to U.S. Trust" but would not give details about what the bank might sell.
Analysts said Bank of America could divest branches or the property and casualty businesses it got through the acquisition of Countrywide Financial. Insurance, both life and property and casualty, fell victim to the unraveling of the financial supermarket--Citi sold its insurance businesses long ago, and so did most other banks worldwide. In the third quarter, Bank of America generated $707 million in income from insurance overall.
New Source: money.cnn.com
Strategic Plan Marketing
Part of the deal that Bank of America struck with the Federal Reserve late Wednesday to pay back the $45 billion it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program was that the Charlotte bank must boost common equity by $4 billion through asset sales. (It also issued $19 billion in securities as part of the deal on Thursday).
Analysts' candidates for businesses that could be sold include its stakes in a Brazilian bank and in money manager BlackRock Inc. (BLK) and its U.S. Trust Corp. wealth-management unit.
Bank of America disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday it has to sell " identified businesses, acceptable to the Federal Reserve Board, for which we have contracted by June 30, 2010 and which are consummated by the end of 2010."
Significantly, Bank of America must sell businesses--rather than loans, or a chunk of the bank's portfolio of mortgage-backed securities, which in the third quarter were worth $180 billion at fair value. By insisting the securities not be sold, the Federal Reserve seems to be making sure that lending, directly and through the secondary market, wouldn't be hurt by loan sales. Also, the Fed appears to want Bank of America, like Citigroup Inc. (C), to slim down.
If BofA can't increase its common equity by $4 billion by selling businesses, it must raise common equity by selling shares. However, in light of all the dilution Bank of America shareholders have gone through this year, that option might be unattractive.
BofA has already found buyers for its First Republic Bank unit and for the long-term asset management business of Columbia Management. But when those deals close next year, the gains will be immaterial, said a person familiar with the matter.
Analysts said there is some low-hanging fruit in terms of businesses that could be easily sold: Bank of America's stake in Banco Itau, of Brazil, "is first on my list," said John McDonald of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. LLC. "That's not really strategic."
Others said the bank could sell its 48% stake in BlackRock, though McDonald said BlackRock "is a good asset to hold onto."
BofA could also consider selling U.S. Trust, the high-net-worth wealth- management businesses it bought in 2007 for $3.3 billion in cash from Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW).
Previously, the bank had been vocal about not selling either money manager. U.S. Trust positioned BofA "as one of the largest financial services companies managing private wealth in the U.S.," the bank stated. But, if forced to sell something, it could decide to use Merrill Lynch's brand to offer advice to wealthy customers.
A Bank of America spokesman said Friday, "We continue to be very committed to U.S. Trust" but would not give details about what the bank might sell.
Analysts said Bank of America could divest branches or the property and casualty businesses it got through the acquisition of Countrywide Financial. Insurance, both life and property and casualty, fell victim to the unraveling of the financial supermarket--Citi sold its insurance businesses long ago, and so did most other banks worldwide. In the third quarter, Bank of America generated $707 million in income from insurance overall.
New Source: money.cnn.com
Strategic Plan Marketing
Friday, December 4, 2009
Payrolls in U.S. Probably Decreased at Slower Pace in November
Employers in the U.S. probably cut fewer jobs in November as the emerging expansion began to stem the worst employment slump in the post-World War II era, economists said before a government report today.
Payrolls fell by 125,000 workers, the smallest drop since March 2008, according to the median estimate of 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The jobless rate may have held at a 26-year high of 10.2 percent, the survey also showed.
The Obama administration, under pressure after almost half of the 7.3 million jobs lost during the recession have occurred since the president’s inauguration, is weighing additional measures to boost employment. Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, has pledged to maintain record-low interest rates until joblessness subsides.
“We’re not yet at the point where firms will hire people, but we’ll get some positive numbers in the next few months,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York. “As long as unemployment is high, it’s going to be a while before policy makers and politicians feel comfortable about where the economy is going.”
The Labor Department’s report is due at 8:30 a.m. in Washington. Economists’ payroll forecasts ranged from declines of 30,000 to 185,000.
Companies such as Harley-Davidson Inc. are among those continuing to trim staff to wring out additional cost savings and stem losses.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg last month projected the jobless rate will exceed to 10 percent through the middle of next year before receding to an average of 9 percent in 2011.
Lehman Collapse
Monthly payroll losses accelerated after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008 and peaked at 741,000 in January. The economy lost 190,000 jobs in October.
Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey, is among economists forecasting the jobs hemorrhage that followed Lehman’s collapse may help boost November’s payroll total.
Labor Department models give added weight to what happened in recent years when calculating employment, meaning the 610,000 plunge in unadjusted payrolls last November, the first decline for that month since 2001 and the biggest since records began in 1939, may influence government estimates. Crandall projects a 50,000 drop in payrolls.
President Barack Obama in February signed into law a $787 billion stimulus package aimed at reviving growth and stemming job losses.
Jobs Summit
Obama held a summit at the White House yesterday to get feedback from economists, unions and business leaders on ways to improve the labor market. He is scheduled to follow up with a talk about the economy in Allentown, Pennsylvania, today.
The U.S. economy grew last quarter for the first time in a year, expanding at a 2.8 percent pace, according to a Commerce Department report last month.
Some companies are trimming payrolls until they see sustained gains in sales. Harley-Davidson, the biggest U.S. motorcycle maker, yesterday approved a restructuring plan at its largest plant, in York, Pennsylvania, which will result in the loss of about 950 union jobs.
“A restructured York operation will enable the plant to be competitive and sustainable for the future, and the new labor agreement is critical,” Chief Executive Officer Keith Wandell said in a statement. The Milwaukee-based manufacturer is cutting costs after nine straight quarterly losses.
Factory Jobs
Economists surveyed anticipate factories cut 45,000 jobs last month, according to the median forecast.
Other companies are adding workers. Infosys Technologies Ltd., India’s second-largest software exporter by revenue, plans to add 1,000 employees in the U.S. in the next four to five quarters, Chief Financial Officer V. Balakrishnan said this week.
After reaching a 12-year low on March 9, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has gained 63 percent as the economy showed signs of recovering.
Another report today may show orders placed with factories were unchanged in October after increasing five of the previous six months, according to the survey median. The Commerce Department’s figures are due at 10 a.m.
News Source: Bloomberg
Strategic plan Marketing
Payrolls fell by 125,000 workers, the smallest drop since March 2008, according to the median estimate of 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The jobless rate may have held at a 26-year high of 10.2 percent, the survey also showed.
The Obama administration, under pressure after almost half of the 7.3 million jobs lost during the recession have occurred since the president’s inauguration, is weighing additional measures to boost employment. Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, has pledged to maintain record-low interest rates until joblessness subsides.
“We’re not yet at the point where firms will hire people, but we’ll get some positive numbers in the next few months,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York. “As long as unemployment is high, it’s going to be a while before policy makers and politicians feel comfortable about where the economy is going.”
The Labor Department’s report is due at 8:30 a.m. in Washington. Economists’ payroll forecasts ranged from declines of 30,000 to 185,000.
Companies such as Harley-Davidson Inc. are among those continuing to trim staff to wring out additional cost savings and stem losses.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg last month projected the jobless rate will exceed to 10 percent through the middle of next year before receding to an average of 9 percent in 2011.
Lehman Collapse
Monthly payroll losses accelerated after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008 and peaked at 741,000 in January. The economy lost 190,000 jobs in October.
Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey, is among economists forecasting the jobs hemorrhage that followed Lehman’s collapse may help boost November’s payroll total.
Labor Department models give added weight to what happened in recent years when calculating employment, meaning the 610,000 plunge in unadjusted payrolls last November, the first decline for that month since 2001 and the biggest since records began in 1939, may influence government estimates. Crandall projects a 50,000 drop in payrolls.
President Barack Obama in February signed into law a $787 billion stimulus package aimed at reviving growth and stemming job losses.
Jobs Summit
Obama held a summit at the White House yesterday to get feedback from economists, unions and business leaders on ways to improve the labor market. He is scheduled to follow up with a talk about the economy in Allentown, Pennsylvania, today.
The U.S. economy grew last quarter for the first time in a year, expanding at a 2.8 percent pace, according to a Commerce Department report last month.
Some companies are trimming payrolls until they see sustained gains in sales. Harley-Davidson, the biggest U.S. motorcycle maker, yesterday approved a restructuring plan at its largest plant, in York, Pennsylvania, which will result in the loss of about 950 union jobs.
“A restructured York operation will enable the plant to be competitive and sustainable for the future, and the new labor agreement is critical,” Chief Executive Officer Keith Wandell said in a statement. The Milwaukee-based manufacturer is cutting costs after nine straight quarterly losses.
Factory Jobs
Economists surveyed anticipate factories cut 45,000 jobs last month, according to the median forecast.
Other companies are adding workers. Infosys Technologies Ltd., India’s second-largest software exporter by revenue, plans to add 1,000 employees in the U.S. in the next four to five quarters, Chief Financial Officer V. Balakrishnan said this week.
After reaching a 12-year low on March 9, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has gained 63 percent as the economy showed signs of recovering.
Another report today may show orders placed with factories were unchanged in October after increasing five of the previous six months, according to the survey median. The Commerce Department’s figures are due at 10 a.m.
News Source: Bloomberg
Strategic plan Marketing
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Obama Confronts Job-Creation Limits as Employment Summit Opens
President Barack Obama will show the limits of his ability to attack unemployment as he hosts a job- creation summit at the White House today.
The forum will assemble economists, union heads and business leaders such as Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Mountain View, California-based Google Inc., and Fred Smith of Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx Corp. With the nation’s unemployment rate at a 23-year high of 10.2 percent, Obama will solicit feedback on job-creation proposals such as incentives to make homes more energy efficient, increased access to financing for small business and tax credits for companies.
None of those measures will be a substitute for economic growth, said Rose Wang, a forum participant who is chief executive officer of Binary Group Inc., an Arlington, Virginia- based technology consulting company.
“We’re not hiring until we see some new contracts coming in,” Wang said. “I’m a believer in revenue growth and until I see a real trend picking up, I will be very concerned in terms of spending money.”
The companies that will be represented at the White House, including Dallas-based AT&T Inc., Chicago-based Boeing Co. and New York-based Pfizer Inc., provide a snapshot of the nation’s employment woes, having cut more than 36,000 jobs this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
‘Sense of Urgency’
Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House adviser, said the president “feels a sense of urgency” about unemployment and the summit is part of an “ongoing effort to jumpstart the economy and create jobs.” She said other forums would be organized around the country.
At the same time, Jarrett said the administration is constrained by a budget deficit that reached a record $1.4 trillion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 and is projected to be $1.4 trillion again this year.
“There are definite limitations to what the federal government can do,” she said in an interview.
The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual pace in the third quarter; the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 10.2 percent for November and may continue to rise in 2010, according to a Bloomberg survey.
“I think the unemployment rate will peak sometime next summer, on a monthly basis around 11 percent,” Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Economy.com, said in an interview.
Stimulus
Obama earlier this year pushed through Congress a $787 billion economic stimulus package that his administration said would hold unemployment below 8 percent.
An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the stimulus generated between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs and lowered the nation’s unemployment rate by between 0.3 and 0.9 percentage points, even as that rate rose into double digits.
“You’re in a position of a doctor that prescribed aspirin and says ‘this will bring down your fever’ and instead of 105 you have 101, but you still have a fever,” said Alan Blinder, a Princeton University economist and former Federal Reserve vice chairman who will be among the 130 participants in today’s forum.
Jarrett said the topics of the six breakout sessions “telegraph” the policy areas the administration is exploring to promote job growth, including encouraging investment in energy efficiency, infrastructure, and job retraining.
Export Growth
David Ickert, vice president of finance for Air Tractor Inc., will be attending the session on export growth. He said his Olney, Texas-based company makes airplanes for agriculture and fire-fighting and would be helped by simplified trade rules and access to financing for exports.
Wang of Binary Group said she would also press for better financing access, including through the Small Business Administration, a strategy Obama endorsed Oct. 21.
Administration officials have also suggested that tax credits to offset some of the costs of hiring are under consideration, as well as direct aid to state or local governments.
“Providing more help to state and local governments would make sense,” Zandi said. “If they don’t get it they will be cutting jobs, a lot of jobs. I think that would be an easy very effective step.”
No Timetable
Jarrett said there is no timetable for determining which of the options will be submitted to Congress as policy proposals. Summit attendee Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, said he expects Obama to make recommendations before his State of the Union Address early next year.
Republicans said any proposals would meet resistance in Congress, where concerns have grown about the deficit after Obama announced this week that he will seek $30 billion in new spending in Afghanistan and is pushing health-care legislation that is projected to cost almost $900 billion over 10 years.
Republican lawmakers criticized the first economic stimulus measure as ineffective and said the administration inflated the program’s success after an investigation by a Congressional watchdog found “significant reporting and quality errors” in a tally of jobs created or saved.
“The White House claimed that if we passed the trillion- dollar stimulus, unemployment would stay below 8 percent and jobs would be created immediately,” said Republican House Leader John Boehner of Ohio, who is holding a competing jobs forum today with lawmakers and economists.
News Source: bloomberg.com
Strategic Plan Marketing
The forum will assemble economists, union heads and business leaders such as Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Mountain View, California-based Google Inc., and Fred Smith of Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx Corp. With the nation’s unemployment rate at a 23-year high of 10.2 percent, Obama will solicit feedback on job-creation proposals such as incentives to make homes more energy efficient, increased access to financing for small business and tax credits for companies.
None of those measures will be a substitute for economic growth, said Rose Wang, a forum participant who is chief executive officer of Binary Group Inc., an Arlington, Virginia- based technology consulting company.
“We’re not hiring until we see some new contracts coming in,” Wang said. “I’m a believer in revenue growth and until I see a real trend picking up, I will be very concerned in terms of spending money.”
The companies that will be represented at the White House, including Dallas-based AT&T Inc., Chicago-based Boeing Co. and New York-based Pfizer Inc., provide a snapshot of the nation’s employment woes, having cut more than 36,000 jobs this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
‘Sense of Urgency’
Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House adviser, said the president “feels a sense of urgency” about unemployment and the summit is part of an “ongoing effort to jumpstart the economy and create jobs.” She said other forums would be organized around the country.
At the same time, Jarrett said the administration is constrained by a budget deficit that reached a record $1.4 trillion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 and is projected to be $1.4 trillion again this year.
“There are definite limitations to what the federal government can do,” she said in an interview.
The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual pace in the third quarter; the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 10.2 percent for November and may continue to rise in 2010, according to a Bloomberg survey.
“I think the unemployment rate will peak sometime next summer, on a monthly basis around 11 percent,” Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Economy.com, said in an interview.
Stimulus
Obama earlier this year pushed through Congress a $787 billion economic stimulus package that his administration said would hold unemployment below 8 percent.
An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the stimulus generated between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs and lowered the nation’s unemployment rate by between 0.3 and 0.9 percentage points, even as that rate rose into double digits.
“You’re in a position of a doctor that prescribed aspirin and says ‘this will bring down your fever’ and instead of 105 you have 101, but you still have a fever,” said Alan Blinder, a Princeton University economist and former Federal Reserve vice chairman who will be among the 130 participants in today’s forum.
Jarrett said the topics of the six breakout sessions “telegraph” the policy areas the administration is exploring to promote job growth, including encouraging investment in energy efficiency, infrastructure, and job retraining.
Export Growth
David Ickert, vice president of finance for Air Tractor Inc., will be attending the session on export growth. He said his Olney, Texas-based company makes airplanes for agriculture and fire-fighting and would be helped by simplified trade rules and access to financing for exports.
Wang of Binary Group said she would also press for better financing access, including through the Small Business Administration, a strategy Obama endorsed Oct. 21.
Administration officials have also suggested that tax credits to offset some of the costs of hiring are under consideration, as well as direct aid to state or local governments.
“Providing more help to state and local governments would make sense,” Zandi said. “If they don’t get it they will be cutting jobs, a lot of jobs. I think that would be an easy very effective step.”
No Timetable
Jarrett said there is no timetable for determining which of the options will be submitted to Congress as policy proposals. Summit attendee Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, said he expects Obama to make recommendations before his State of the Union Address early next year.
Republicans said any proposals would meet resistance in Congress, where concerns have grown about the deficit after Obama announced this week that he will seek $30 billion in new spending in Afghanistan and is pushing health-care legislation that is projected to cost almost $900 billion over 10 years.
Republican lawmakers criticized the first economic stimulus measure as ineffective and said the administration inflated the program’s success after an investigation by a Congressional watchdog found “significant reporting and quality errors” in a tally of jobs created or saved.
“The White House claimed that if we passed the trillion- dollar stimulus, unemployment would stay below 8 percent and jobs would be created immediately,” said Republican House Leader John Boehner of Ohio, who is holding a competing jobs forum today with lawmakers and economists.
News Source: bloomberg.com
Strategic Plan Marketing
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
British yachtsmen 'freed by Iran'
The Foreign Office says it is "actively investigating" reports that five UK yachtsmen held by the Iranian navy for a week have been freed.
The crew were said to have mistakenly strayed into Iran waters as they sailed from Bahrain to Dubai for a race.
Iranian radio said they had been freed at 0730 local time (0400 GMT). It is thought they were held on Siri island.
The news comes hours after UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband spoke by phone to his Iranian counterpart.
Luke Porter, 21, from Weston-super-Mare; Oliver Smith, 31, from Southampton; Oliver Young, 21, from Cornwall; Sam Usher, 26, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and Bahrain-based David Bloomer were held on 25 November.
'Actively investigating'
Iran's official IRNA news agency said the five had been freed after an interrogation by authorities established that their yacht had entered Iranian waters "by mistake".
BBC correspondent Christian Fraser in Bahrain said he had spoken to Vanessa Bloomer, Mr Bloomer's wife, who said she had received no independent verification of the
David Bloomer's wife said she had received no verification of his release
Our correspondent added there was still a lot of uncertainty about what was going on.
The family of Mr Young also told the BBC that they had not heard anything officially.
The five were detained after the Iranian navy stopped their Volvo 60 yacht, called The Kingdom of Bahrain, in the Gulf on 25 November.
Families of the five men had been due to meet with Foreign Office officials later.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran said the investigation had been "lightning-fast" by Iranian standards.
The Team Pindar-backed yacht was sailing from Bahrain to Dubai to take part in the Dubai-Muscat Offshore Race.
The 360-nautical mile Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race began on 26 November and ended two days later in the Omani capital's Bandar Al-Rawdah marina.
Race organisers said the five may have been "drifting" as a result of propeller problems.
The Kingdom of Bahrain yacht is owned by the Sail Bahrain project, which aims to promote the island as a yachting destination and was recently launched by Team Pindar.
Team Pindar is owned by G A Pindar & Son Ltd, a family owned print and publishing business based in Scarborough.
It is not the first time British sailors have been detained after being accused of straying into Iranian waters.
In March 2007 there was a prolonged stand-off between the UK and Iran after a 15-strong Royal Navy crew was detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
And in 2004, eight British servicemen were held in Iran after being seized in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where they were training the Iraqi river patrol service.
News Source: news.bbc.co.uk
Strategic Plan Marketing
The crew were said to have mistakenly strayed into Iran waters as they sailed from Bahrain to Dubai for a race.
Iranian radio said they had been freed at 0730 local time (0400 GMT). It is thought they were held on Siri island.
The news comes hours after UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband spoke by phone to his Iranian counterpart.
Luke Porter, 21, from Weston-super-Mare; Oliver Smith, 31, from Southampton; Oliver Young, 21, from Cornwall; Sam Usher, 26, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and Bahrain-based David Bloomer were held on 25 November.
'Actively investigating'
Iran's official IRNA news agency said the five had been freed after an interrogation by authorities established that their yacht had entered Iranian waters "by mistake".
BBC correspondent Christian Fraser in Bahrain said he had spoken to Vanessa Bloomer, Mr Bloomer's wife, who said she had received no independent verification of the
David Bloomer's wife said she had received no verification of his release
Our correspondent added there was still a lot of uncertainty about what was going on.
The family of Mr Young also told the BBC that they had not heard anything officially.
The five were detained after the Iranian navy stopped their Volvo 60 yacht, called The Kingdom of Bahrain, in the Gulf on 25 November.
Families of the five men had been due to meet with Foreign Office officials later.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran said the investigation had been "lightning-fast" by Iranian standards.
The Team Pindar-backed yacht was sailing from Bahrain to Dubai to take part in the Dubai-Muscat Offshore Race.
The 360-nautical mile Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race began on 26 November and ended two days later in the Omani capital's Bandar Al-Rawdah marina.
Race organisers said the five may have been "drifting" as a result of propeller problems.
The Kingdom of Bahrain yacht is owned by the Sail Bahrain project, which aims to promote the island as a yachting destination and was recently launched by Team Pindar.
Team Pindar is owned by G A Pindar & Son Ltd, a family owned print and publishing business based in Scarborough.
It is not the first time British sailors have been detained after being accused of straying into Iranian waters.
In March 2007 there was a prolonged stand-off between the UK and Iran after a 15-strong Royal Navy crew was detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
And in 2004, eight British servicemen were held in Iran after being seized in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where they were training the Iraqi river patrol service.
News Source: news.bbc.co.uk
Strategic Plan Marketing
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)