NEWS DECEMBER 2008
With economic turmoil continuing, major retailers began to collapse. On 18 December, Woolworths announced that its 807 UK stores would close by 5 January, with 27,000 jobs lost. The following day, furniture retailer MFI ceased trading, with 111 stores closed and 1,400 employees made redundant. Zavvi then, went into administration on 24 December.
On 11 December, former Nasdaq stock exchange chairman Bernie Madoff was arrested on a charge of securities fraud, relating to his asset management business. Madoff’s sons Mark and Andrew had revealed to authorities that the business was essentially a multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme – the largest in history. He pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies in March 2009 and was sentenced to 150 years in prison in June, serving 12 years before passing away in 2021.
During a joint press conference with Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad on 14 December, outgoing US president George W Bush ducked two shoes thrown by Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi. In March 2009, al-Zaidi was convicted of assaulting a foreign leader, but his three-year prison sentence was reduced to one year in April, and he was released after serving nine months.