Aussie banks face misconduct inquiry

SYDNEY • Australia announced a limited inquiry into bank misconduct yesterday, although a motion for a more sweeping investigation into the scandal-ridden financial system was narrowly defeated by the government in Parliament.

The latest inquiry targeting mistreatment of small business customers is the government's fourth measure this year to alleviate public concerns about the power of the big banks following a series of revelations about misconduct.

The conservative Liberal-led coalition used its one-seat majority in Parliament to defeat an opposition motion for a more powerful Royal Commission, which could have forced bank executives to testify.

REUTERS

French 'flower power' photographer dies

PARIS • One of France's most famous photojournalists, Mr Marc Riboud, whose 1967 snap of a protester confronting US soldiers with a flower captured the movement against the Vietnam War, has died at age 93.

Mr Riboud, equally famed for a 1953 picture of a workman painting the Eiffel Tower high above the Paris skyline, passed away on Tuesday after a long illness, a family member said.

Mr Riboud was one of the few photographers who managed to enter North Vietnam in the 1960s. In 1957, he was among the first Europeans to travel in China.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE