British ExxonMobil executive shot dead

A British oil executive has been shot dead in front of his wife in Belgium.

Nicholas Mockford, 60, an executive for ExxonMobil, was shot three times as he left an Italian restaurant in a suburb of Brussels. His wife, Mary, was left beaten and covered in blood, cradling her husband and shouting for help.

Witnesses said they saw the couple walk across the street to their Lexus car before shots were fired. Reports suggest two men were spotted running away from the scene, one holding a motorcycle helmet.

The shooting is understood to have happened on 14 October, but the news has only now emerged after Belgian police imposed a reporting blackout.

The Daily Telegraph said police in Belgium were considering all possible motives for the shooting, including an attempted carjacking, although Mockford's car was not stolen.

The Belgian prosecutor's office said a "judicial instruction" from the investigating judge, Martine Quintin, meant they could give no detail about the killing. A spokesman said this was "usual in such a serious murder investigation", the Telegraph reported. Read more >>

Spain braces for 3rd austerity round amid hemorrhaging tax receipts

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy may unveil a third austerity round within days as his six-month- old government tries to avoid a second bailout amid hemorrhaging tax receipts. Rajoy said on July 2 the time has come to “press the accelerator pedal” as he tries to tame bond yields. Government officials have said they are considering raising taxes on gas and products that have a reduced rate, such as food, hotels and restaurants.

Rajoy plans to announce an overhaul of public administration this week, Maria Dolores de Cospedal, his deputy in the ruling People’s Party, said today. Spain’s return to recession is undermining efforts to cut the euro area’s third-largest budget deficit as tax receipts shrivel. Ten-year bond yields climbed back above 7 percent today as European finance ministers meet to discuss the worsening debt crisis. Spain became the fourth euro-region country to seek a bailout in June to shore up banks burdened with bad loans.

“The commission will make its proposal for a new path of fiscal adjustment” for Spain at a meeting of euro-area finance ministers tonight, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told reporters in Brussels. “We will analyze its implications and explain the measures we are taking and that we will take.” Read more >>