Washington  - Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in court Thursday to a 50-billion-dollar fraud that entwined hundreds of investors around the world and has made him the poster- child of Wall Street greed in the current financial crisis.

Madoff pleaded guilty to all 11 counts of fraud in a lower Manhattan federal court, according to broadcaster CNBC. The judge is expected to accept the plea before deciding whether Madoff can post bail or be remanded into custody while he awaits sentencing.

Geneva  - A Swiss private bank said Thursday that it would buy back from eligible clients their exposure to the fraudulent scheme run in the United States by Bernard Madoff at 50 per cent of the original cost.

Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) said the "goodwill gesture" towards it clients would see the bank pay for the purchase of the investments over the course of five years.

UBP also announced moves within the bank to improve risk management and research.

Washington  - Disgraced financier Bernhard Madoff pleaded guilty in court Thursday to a 50-billion-dollar fraud that entwined hundreds of investors around the world, US media reported.

Madoff pleaded guilty to all 11 counts of fraud in a lower Manhattan federal court, according to broadcaster CNBC. The investor faced criminal counts including securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering and filing false statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Brussels - The European Investment Bank (EIB) on Thursday formally approved soft loans totalling 3 billion euros (3.84 billion dollars) to Europe's troubled car making industry.

This is the second instalment in a series of loans that are expected to total more than 7 billion euros by June, EIB officials said in a statement.

The money approved on Thursday will benefit a number of carmakers, including BMW, Daimler, Fiat, PSA Peugeot-Citroen, Renault, Volvo Cars, Scania and Volvo Trucks.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has declared that it will be conducting a special repo auction for Rs 598.30 billion on Thursday, March 12.

In a statement, the apex bank said that the reversal of the auction will be on March 26.

The liquidity from a special fixed rate term repo auction at 5% per annum (p.a.) against eligible securities will be provided to mutual funds (MF), non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and housing finance companies (HFC) either on incremental or on rollover basis.