Thursday, July 3, 2014 Ian Narev, the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, this morning “unreservedly” apologised to clients who lost money in a scandal involving the bank’s financial planning services arm. Last week, a Senate enquiry found financial advisers from the Commonwealth Bank had made high-risk investments of clients’ money without the clients’ permission, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars lost. The Senate enquiry called for a Royal Commission into the bank, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Mr Narev stated the bank’s performance in providing financial advice was “unacceptable”, and the bank was launching a scheme to compensate clients who lost money due to…

Thursday, April 17, 2008 2008 Computex Taipei (a.k.a Taipei International Information Technology Show), the second largest IT show in the world, will start on June 3 to 7 at the TWTC Hall 1 & 3, Taipei International Convention Center (TICC), and TWTC Nangang, in conjunction with 2008 WiMAX Expo Taipei, which will start earlier at the Taipei Show Hall 2. With two IT-related industry shows will be concurrently showcased in different venues, it will bring on many convergences and opportunities for networking and mobile-related industries worldwide including Taiwan. Since the Taipei Computer Association, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), and Industrial Technology Research Institute preliminary imported the “WiMAX Forum Showcase &…

Friday, January 11, 2008 One of the leaders of the Islamist Hamas movement on Friday said President Bush’s visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories would only end up hurting Palestinians. Hamas militants and their supporters in the Gaza Strip staged noisy demonstrations over the past few days as President Bush held talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials, trying to “nudge” them forward towards a peace deal by the end of his presidency. Hamas rejects any such peace deal and refuses to recognize Israel. The group is considered a terrorist organization by the international community. Speaking after Friday prayers in Gaza City, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said President Bush’s visit…

Monday, November 28, 2005 SpaceX called off the much-delayed inaugural launch of their new Falcon 1 rocket on Saturday from Kwajalein’s Omelek Island launch site. The intent was to launch the U.S. Air Force Academy’s FalconSat 2 satellite, which will monitor plasma interactions with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetosphere. The launch was delayed, then finally cancelled after an oxygen boil-off vent had accidentally been left open. The oxygen was unable to cool the helium pressurant, which then proceeded to evaporate faster than it could be replenished. A main computer issue, probably serious enough to cause a scrub on its own, was also discovered. This long-anticipated flight was originally expected…

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 Data from recent detailed analyses of samples collected on NASA Apollo moon missions, released Sunday, show that Lunar water may originate from comets that collided with the moon early in its geologic history. A team of astrophysicists led by James Greenwood of Wesleyan University in Connecticut analyzed samples collected on the Apollo 11, 12, 14, and 17 missions and found that the chemical properties of traces of lunar water in these samples differ from water typical of Earth. “The values of deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) that we measure in apatite in the Apollo rock samples”, Greenwood told Space.com, “is clearly distinguishable from water from the Earth, mitigating against…

Thursday, January 7, 2010 With this year’s November midterm elections fast approaching, three prominent United States Democrats announced their plans for retirement from public service on Wednesday. Powerful and influential—yet controversial for his alleged close ties to the financial sector and his handling of last year’s bailout—Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut announced that he would not be seeking a sixth term this year. In a speech to his supporters in East Haddam, Connecticut, the sixty-five-year-old senior senator—with his family at his side—said, “I have been a Connecticut senator for thirty years. I’m very proud of the job I’ve done and the results delivered. But none of us is irreplaceable. None…

Thursday, December 18, 2008 A team of eight transplant surgeons in Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA, led by reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow, age 58, have successfully performed the first almost total face transplant in the US, and the fourth globally, on a woman so horribly disfigured due to trauma, that cost her an eye. Two weeks ago Dr. Siemionow, in a 23-hour marathon surgery, replaced 80 percent of her face, by transplanting or grafting bone, nerve, blood vessels, muscles and skin harvested from a female donor’s cadaver. The Clinic surgeons, in Wednesday’s news conference, described the details of the transplant but upon request, the team did not publish her…

Friday, April 3, 2009 The G20 Summit held in London, England concluded Thursday with an injection into the economy of US$5 trillion by the end of 2010. Global trade would be supported by $250 billion (169.5 billion pounds). “We are going to act decisively to kickstart international trade. We will ensure availability of at least $250 billion over the next two years,” said Gordon Brown Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The International Monetary Fund IMF will have access to $750bn in resources of which $250bn will support special drawing rights. Developing countries received $100bn which will be dispensed via Multilateral development banks. Towards this end, the IMF will sell…

Sunday, October 9, 2005 Canada’s federal government has announced a new program that plans to share unexpected budget surpluses with ordinary citizens. It should be introduced in Ottawa as early as Friday. The Surplus Allocation Act would share any surplus equally between tax cuts, new spending and debt relief. It would not replace Canada’s $3 billion emergency fund. Under existing law any surplus is funneled completely into debt relief. The benefit would come as an amount added on to the income tax returns of that year. It would then be added on to the amount a person can earn tax-free for each subsequent year. Along with the new home heating…

Thursday, December 18, 2008 A team of eight transplant surgeons in Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA, led by reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow, age 58, have successfully performed the first almost total face transplant in the US, and the fourth globally, on a woman so horribly disfigured due to trauma, that cost her an eye. Two weeks ago Dr. Siemionow, in a 23-hour marathon surgery, replaced 80 percent of her face, by transplanting or grafting bone, nerve, blood vessels, muscles and skin harvested from a female donor’s cadaver. The Clinic surgeons, in Wednesday’s news conference, described the details of the transplant but upon request, the team did not publish her…