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Muammar Gaddafi has reportedly been killed in his hometown of Sirte. (Photo by AFP)
UPDATE: The NTC have confirmed the death of Muammar Gaddafi
“He [Gaddafi] was also hit in his head,” National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters. “There was a lot of firing against his group and he died.”
Al Arabia reported 45min ago (via twitter) that the corpse of Muammar Gaddafi arrived in Misrata.
Libyan interim authorities fighters captured Muammar Gaddafi’s home city on Thursday, extinguishing the final substantial holdout of resistance by troops loyal towards the deposed leader and ending a two-month siege.
The seize of Sirte indicates Libya’s ruling Nationwide Transitional Council (NTC) ought to now start the job forging a brand new democratic program which it had stated it might begin following the town, constructed like a showpiece for Gaddafi’s rule, had fallen.
Information reviews had been conflicting on whether or not Gaddafi was arrested.
At first, Libyan Television channels circulated reviews the embattled leader himself was arrested.
Other reviews stated the corpse of Gaddafi had arrived in Misrata.
A senior NTC army official stated that Gaddafi died of wounds endured in his seize close to his hometown of Sirte.
NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta informed Reuters previously that Gaddafi was captured and wounded in each legs at dawn on Thursday as he attempted to flee inside a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked.
The Libyan authorities also stated that Gaddafi was hiding inside a hole in Sirte, shouting “don’t shoot, don’t shoot.”
There had been reviews also by Reuters that Gaddafi’s son, Mutassim, and his intelligence head, Abdullah al-Sinosi and had been arrested.
The U.S. State Division on Thursday stated it couldn’t verify that deposed Gaddafi was captured and wounded in each legs.
“We’ve seen the media reports but can’t confirm them,” State Division spokeswoman Beth Gosselin informed Reuters.
A pro-Gaddafi tv web site denied Thursday reviews the strongman had been killed or captured.
“The reports peddled by the lackeys of NATO about the capture or death of the brother leader, Muammar Gaddafi, is baseless,” stated Al-Libiya tv. Gaddafi “is in good health,” they added.
But Holland’s prime minister stated that Gaddafi was captured.
Meanwhile, Libyan NTC fighters stated that they had been arresting previous Libyan officials and medics stated that Gaddafi’s protection minister, Abu Bakr Yunis, was lifeless.
A Libyan transitional forces commander stated Moussa Ibrahim, previous spokesman for Gaddafi’s fallen authorities, was captured close to the town of Sirte.
A group of some forty automobiles carrying Gaddafi forces had damaged out with the metropolis and had headed west, NTC fighters stated.
“The Gaddafi people broke out west, but the revolutionaries have them surrounded and are dealing with them,” said one of the fighters, Abdul Salam Mohammad.
Reporters in the scene watched because the last assault started about eight a.m. and ended about ninety minutes later on. Just prior to the assault, about 5 carloads of loyalists attempted to flee the enclave down the coastal highway but had been satisfied by gunfire in the revolutionaries, who killed a minimum of twenty of them.
Meanwhile, the troops didn’t permit reporters to enter the positions previously held from the Gaddafi loyalists because they stated mopping up functions had been nonetheless underway.
“Our forces control the last neighborhood in Sirte,” Hassan Draoua, a member of Libya’s interim National Transitional Council, told The Associated Press in Tripoli after Sirte’s fall. “The city has been liberated.”
A minimum of sixteen pro-Gaddafi fighters had been captured, together with numerous instances of ammunition and trucks loaded with weapons. Reporters noticed the fighters beating captured Gaddafi males within the back again of trucks and officers intervening to quit them.
Muammar Gaddafi dead body picture published by Al Jazeera
Commanders for Libya’s transitional authorities say they have captured rebel leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
These news reports came right after the transitional forces regained control of the city Sirte, Col Gaddafi’s birthplace, after many weeks of ongoing battles.
The colonel was brought down in August after 42 years in commanding power. The International Criminal Court is waiting for his arrest.
“He’s captured. He’s wounded in both legs,” National Transitional Council (NTC) official Abdel Majid told Reuters news agency.
“He’s been taken away by ambulance.” AFP news agency quoted another NTC official, Mohamed Leith, as saying that Col Gaddafi had been captured in Sirte and was “seriously wounded” but still breathing.
Asda is selling beer at less than £0.5 a bottle as the supermarket price war blows retailer promises to tackle binge drinking out of the water.
Asda is selling 24 bottles of 0.33 l Budweiser pack for just £11 under Rollback price cutting scheme.
The supermarket reduced Budweiser price from the normal price of £15.98 as its battle with Tesco over which is the cheapest intensifies.
During the time, bargain drink deals from supermarkets have been criticized by doctors, police and the charity Alcohol Concern for fuelling binge drinking among young people, resulting in violence, disorder and ill-health.
Asda has reduced 24 bottles Budweiser pack price from £15.98 to £11 as its battle with Tesco over which is the cheapest intensifies
According to drink wholesalers, Asda is selling the Budweiser at a “dramatically cheaper” price than they have to pay the big brewers.
Martin Williams, Landmark Wholesale managing director said: “In this day and age of responsible consumption and retailing, offering a major brand for under 50p a bottle completely contradicts all the messages that retailers and wholesalers are giving out.”
Meanwhile, the British government attempts to crack down on supermarkets using alcohol as a loss leader in order to bring in shoppers.
In the past months, British PM David Cameron said: “There is a problem with very cheap alcohol, alcohol being bought at convenience stores and supermarkets that people are using to what’s called <<pre-load>> before they go out. And this is a problem you just can’t ignore.
“We’ve got a situation where in some supermarkets you can walk in and buy incredibly cheap drinks, a lot of which is high strength lager, which people are using to get off their heads before they even go out. That is what we’ve got to hit.”
At that moment, Asda announced it would not sell drink at less than the price of tax – duty plus VAT. But, this does not stop Asda from using it as a loss leader to attract customers from rivals.
Martin Williams from Landmark Wholesale said the Asda price is so low that corner shops and pubs will find it cheaper to buy stocks from the supermarket than from wholesalers.
“Twenty-four bottles is a full-blown wholesale case. At a time when prices are going up in the market and brewers are putting up prices, to retail at that sort of price is crazy.”
Defending the deal, Asda says: “We are as committed to our role as a responsible alcohol retailer as we are to providing affordable deals for our customers.”
Tesco pushed prices up on hundreds of products few weeks prior to £500 million price cutting campaign “Big Price Drop”, it was revealed today in British media.
Tesco raised prices for a few days and was able to say customers were making big savings.
According to The Times, there are many examples of raised prices and then cut by Tesco in the new Big Price Drop campaign:
Tesco 750g Fruit and Nut Museli went from £1.28 on August 16 to £1.89 on August 23 – before “dropping” to £1.75 on September 26;
Sliced Mushrooms – 250g – August 30: 85p; September 6: 97p; September 26: 87p;
Tesco Value Unsalted Butter – August 23: £1.10; August 30: £1.19; September 26: £1.10
Tesco Value Unsmoked Back Bacon – August 16: £1.44; August 23: £1.57; September 26: £1.44;
Oxo Beef Stock Cubes – 12 pack – August 16: 99p; August 27: £1.07; September 26: 99p;
Loose Carrots – August/September: 70p per kg; One week at 80p; September 26: 56p;
Surprisingly, after the “price cut”, the Tesco customers were even paying more than they had been six weeks before.
Tesco pushed prices up on hundreds of products few weeks prior to £500 million price cutting campaign “Big Price Drop”,
Hundreds of Tesco products that have been reduced are either selling for the same amount they were six weeks before the Big Price Drop campaign or have been cut only by a small amount.
Tesco said they had slashed prices on 3,000 items by up to 35%.
It was reported that in one four-page advert which featured 12 items which had their prices slashed, 4 of them had been on sale at the same lower price in the weeks beforehand.
A spokesman for Tesco admitted some products would have been on offer in the weeks before the campaign was launched.
“Given the current economic situation and inflation levels it is not surprising, and a factor for every supermarket that some prices on some products will have gone up in the weeks before Big Price Drop.
“In addition, with more than 3,000 products included, inevitably some will have been on promotion in the previous weeks.
‘With the Big Price Drop we are reducing prices on thousands of products our customers need to buy every week aiming to reduce the inflation that they have been experiencing on their weekly shop.
“It is real and sustained investment of £500 million.”
Tesco launched their Big Price Drop promotion campaign on September 27 just days before announcing their worst sales figures in 20 years.
Shoppers bought less food, switched to rivals and turned away from luxury purchases because of the living standards squeeze as sales fell by 1%.
After the supermarket launched Big Price Drop campaign, it was revealed that a basket of 33 staple items from Tesco now costs £58.37, which is up by £1.34 since the promotion began.
The Texas Department of Public Safety issued a warning on Friday about drug cartels from Mexico seeking younger and younger recruits in Texas high school to “support their drug, human, currency and weapon smuggling operations on both sides of the Texas/Mexico border.”
A number of incidents in the past thirty day period caused DPS to issue the notice, however officials say the threat started in 2009.
“In ’09 we started seeing that happening with the bridge cases, when the cartels started getting our teenage students to move drugs across the bridge,” McCraw said. “Texas teenagers provide unique compatibility to the cartels. They’re U.S. citizens, they speak Spanish, they’re able to operate on both sides of the border and they’re expendable labor.”
Drug Cartel from Mexico
Because they’re juveniles, it’s not likely that they’ll be charged by the federal prosecutors, he said.
“Parents should talk to their children and explain how the cartels seek to exploit Texas teenagers and the risks in dealing with these ruthless organizations, especially those parents who live along the Texas/Mexico border,” the news release said.
Elisabeth Mandala left a Texas public high school for Mexico last May where she wound up beaten to death in a pick up truck along with two men carrying fake identification. It’s believed the violent drug cartels recruited Mandala to smuggle illegal immigrants across the border.
“Sometimes this may be delivering drugs. It may be crossing drugs over from Mexico or involvement in some of the other violent activities,” Steen said.
Just past week in a border county officers caught a 12-year-old boy driving a stolen pick up truck with more than 800 pounds of marijuana.
Last month a pair of Texas teenagers were lured to Mexico where they were kidnapped, beaten, redeemed and released in a distant region on the Rio Grande River.
“There’s some indication that they were subjected to the temptations to working with the gangs and cartels,” McCraw said.
The former gang task force director for the city of Houston, Kim Ogg, said:
“Recruiting is easy for such a vulnerable population”
He suspects the cartels are recruiting through gangs.
“Some see it (the gang) as their family. Some are attracted to the money, drugs, guns, women, and others are attracted because they have family members in gangs and it seems normal,” said Ogg.
McCraw explained:
“Teens are sometimes offered as little as $50 to act as drivers for the cartels or the local gangs who support them”
“We want to warn parents for the things to look out for so their child doesn’t get involved in this,” he said. “It’s subtle; it’s not always obvious. It’s not like a narco will show up at your doorstep with a wad of cash. It could be friends of friends at school influencing their child.”
The Texas border region represents 9.7% of the state’s population, yet has 19.2% of the state’s juvenile felony drug referrals and 21.8% of the state’s juvenile felony gang referrals, according to the release.
“We’re going to continue to warn parents. We have an obligation to be honest with the public, regardless of how it looks,” McCraw said.
“We’re not going to overinflate the threat, but we’re going to be honest. Al Qaeda has nothing on the savagery of these cartels,” he said.
“They don’t care what happens to the kids, we do. They’re our most precious asset in Texas.”
According to authorities more than 25 juveniles have been arrested for drug trafficking in one Texas border county alone within the past year.
Gap Incorporation has announced its plans to close more than 20% of all Gap stores in US.
The retailer, which runs the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic chains, plans to close 189 of its locations, which means 21% of Gap stores in the U.S., by the end of 2013.
The announcement comes as President Barack Obama’s push for the Made in America brand saw him visit a GM plant in Orion, Michigan, hailing a new trade agreement with South Korea that will see the manufacture of subcompact cars in the U.S.
However, while the Made in America stamp of approval is creating thousands of jobs in the motor industry, Gap‘s losing streak will see the loss of thousands more in the retail sector.
Gap plans to close 189 of its locations, which means 21 per cent of Gap stores in the US, by the end of 2013
Like many U.S. companies, Gap has been looking overseas for growth as Americans continue to cut back on spending during the down economy in the U.S.
Gap, which is the largest U.S. clothing chain, said it plans to triple the number of its stores in China from about 15 by the end of 2011 to roughly 45 by the end of 2012.
Gap sales in the U.S. have eroded considerably since it drove America’s love of khakis and all things business casual in the 1990s because of growing competition from specialty retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch and cheap chic merchants such as H&M.
In May 2011, Gap design director Patrick Robinson, was dramatically fired, with immediate effect, and the store was knocked from the top position as the world’s biggest fashion chain by Spanish behemoth Zara.
Gap’s overall revenue has fallen 3% over the last quarter, as has Banana Republic’s, while the revenue at Old Navy, which sells low-priced clothing, remained flat.
The changes are related to a Gap’s previously stated goal of reducing its overall square footage in the U.S. by 10% from 2007 to the end of 2013, while roughly doubling revenue from outside of the U.S. to 30% by the end of the same year.
Glenn Murphy, Gap’s CEO, said in a statement:
“The combination of our global strategy and formidable growth platform puts us in a strong position to expand our reach into the top 10 apparel markets worldwide.”
“In North America, we’re taking a number of steps to improve sales in the near-term, and I’m confident that with a strong management team in place, we’re well positioned for sustained growth across the business.”
In order to improve its profitability, Gap has closed or reduced the size of stores over the past few years. In 2008, the company announced plans to reduce overall square footage in the U.S by primarily focusing on cutting the number of stores. But Gap never gave details on how many stores that it planned to close.
On October 13, Gap officials offered more details to analysts gathered in New York for its annual meeting. It plans to have closed 34% of its namesake stores between 2007 and the end of 2013, not including Gap Outlet locations. After the reduction, Gap will have 700 stores left by the end of 2013, down from 1056 in 2007.
“Over the next 26 months, we’ll look store by store at our specialty fleet and determine which stores meet the standards we’ve set for our brand,” said Art Peck, president of Gap North America, who took over the helm of the brand in February.
Gap also said it plans to keep the same number of Old Navy stores in North America, but is cutting down the size of each store. Old Navy had decreased its square footage by 8% to 18.5 million since 2007. It plans to add 50 new Gap Outlet stores by the same period, which will leave 250 stores by the end of 2013.
The company said that it is testing new merchandising ideas and marketing to get shoppers excited. Gap Kids has collaborated with designer Diane von Furstenberg to design a children’s line to be shipped to stores next spring.
Meanwhile, the first Gap store in Hong Kong will be opening in a few weeks, as is the first Banana Republic store in Paris later this year. Gap also plans to expand Old Navy outside of North America to Japan within the next 18 months.
Gap’s shares rose 11 cents, to $17.96 per share after the information was released in New York.
A $45 million Atlanta mansion – Forsyth County estate Le Rêve – was foreclosed and then sold at a massive 75% drop at only $11.5 million.
Forsyth County estate Le Rêve (“The Dream” in French) was foreclosed at the end of 2010 after taking three years to build with no expense spared by Hubert and Norma Humphrey.
The impressive mansion, which has its own private 18-hole golf course, now has a new owner, who bought it for almost $34million less than the asking price.
WSBTV reported Le Rêve (The Dream) estate features seven bedrooms, nine full baths, 11 half baths, ten fireplaces and two elevators.
The $45 million Atlanta mansion - Forsyth County estate Le Rêve - was foreclosed and then sold at only $11.5 million
Besides the private 18-hole golf course, the expensive mansion features other sports courts, stables, a camping area, bowling alley, home theatre, fifties diner, an exercise facility, a massage room and a pool. Le Rêve property is gated and entirely monitored by security cameras.
Troy Stowe, a real estate agent described the property:
“One of the largest challenges of selling Le Rêve was it sat on 72 acres, it was 47,000 square feet and just trying to find someone (who) wants to take on (what) I kind of call the big dragon.
“If you’re not used to maintaining and caring for a property like that, it is a challenge.
“I was told that in that one room, there are 27 seats and there was over $1 million spent in the home theatre.”
Immediately after foreclosure, the mansion was originally listed for $45 million. Then the bank took possession of the property and its price was dropped to $28 million. The Forsyth County estate Le Rêve price was dropped down to $16 million before the $11.5 million offer was accepted.
Troy Stowe said: “Ultimately, if you get a $50 million house for $11.5 (million), at some point, when the money lined properly with what the property offers, (a buyer) just came onboard.”
According to Zillow, the online real estate database, Hubert Humphrey started life as a railroad brakeman and conductor who later enjoyed entrepreneurial success.
Hubert Humphrey sold insurance for A.L. Williams, where he earned record sales, then launched his own company, Humphrey Worldwide Network, before selling it to Primerica, which is now part of CitiGroup.
The entrepreneur then formed World Marketing Alliance, followed by the World Leadership Group, a marketing, financial services and mortgage company based in Atlanta.
Hubert Humphrey started building Le Rêve mansion in 2005 on the 72-acre property.
Asked about the identity of the new Le Rêve owner, Troy Stowe said he cannot give anything away:
“Everybody wants to know who bought it. And I did sign a confidentiality agreement, but I just tell them it’s normal folks, husband and wife living at the property.”
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, was found guilty of abuse of authority by signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009.
Mrs Tymoshenko claimed the charges against her were politically motivated.
In April, the Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office opened a criminal case charging Yulia Tymoshenko with signing overpriced gas deals with Russian energy provider Gazprom that inflicted damages to the country of more than 1.5 billion hryvnas (almost $190 million at the current exchange rate) and which Yulia Tymoshenko had allegedly no right to sign.
Yulia Tymoshenko rejected multiple times all the charges against her, calling the trial a “farce” and naming the judge a “stooge of (President Viktor) Yanukovych’s administration” appointed to “fabricate” the case.
Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced to prison for seven years. Judge Rodion Kireyev said the former prime minister would also have to pay back the money lost by the state gas company as a result of the deal. In addition to that, she was banned from political office for three years.
As the verdict was read out, Mrs Tymoshenko spoke over the judge, saying she would fight to defend her honest name. She said she would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
“We will fight and defend my good name in the European court,” she said. “We have to be strong and defend Ukraine from this authoritarianism.”
When the judge finished the verdict, all supporters in the courtroom cried “Shame!”
“Dear friends, I just want to say that I disagree with this verdict and I am saying that the year 1937 is back again,”Yulia Tymoshenko said in the courtroom on Tuesday, making a reference to Josef Stalin’s rule when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.
The US and the EU have condemned the charges as selective prosecution of political opponents.
European officials suggested that jailing Mrs Tymoshenko would be a serious blow to the country’s hopes of integration with the European Union.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the nation’s 2009 natural gas agreements with Ukraine were legal.
“We follow the principle that (Yulia) Tymoshenko’s trial must be fair and unbiased and meet all of the requirements of Ukrainian legislation, with the possibility of defense and compliance with the fundamental humanitarian standards and rules,” according to a ministry statement.
Hoping for a soft sentence, Joe Gordon-a Thai-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty Monday to charges of defaming Thailand’s royal family, a grave crime in this Southeast Asian kingdom punishable by up to 15 years in jail.
Reports show that Joe Gordon lived in the U.S. for about 30 years before returning to Thailand last March for medical treatment. He has been detained since late May in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima.
Joe Gordon
His primary crime appears to have been that he translated excerpts from locally censored biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej – “The King Never Smiles”- into the Thai language and published them on a blog. He also provided links to the translation to other two web forums, prosecutors say.
The book is banned in Thailand. In it, author Paul M. Handley retraces the king’s life, alleging that Bhumibol has been a major stumbling block to the progress of democracy in Thailand as he consolidated royal power over his long reign.
Joe Gordon committed the alleged crimes years ago while living in the U.S. state of Colorado, where he worked as a car salesman. This case has raised concerns about the reach of Thai law and how it is applied to both Thai nationals and foreign visitors.
Lese majeste is the crime of insulting a ruler, and Thailand has the most severe lese majeste laws in the world. Critics state they have been increasingly abused by political rivals to agress opponents, especially since a 2006 military coup.
“I’m not fighting in the case. I’m pleading guilty, sirs,”Gordon told three judges at a Bangkok criminal court. The 55-year-old spoke while standing with handcuffs and ankle shackles.
Judges said that a verdict and sentence would be issued on Nov. 9.
Defense lawyer Arnon Nampa told The Associated Press earlier that Joe Gordon had decided last week to plead guilty after being denied bail eight times.
“The fact that his bail requests have been repeatedly denied, that disheartened him and made him want to plead guilty,” Arnon said before Monday’s hearing. “He said he wanted the penalty to be lessened and intended to ask for the royal pardon.”
On occasions like Thai king’s birthday or the anniversary of ascension to the throne, royal pardons are granted to prisoners by the Thai king.
At first Joe Gordon has denied the charges against him. While he was being escorted into the courtroom, Gordon told the reporters that pleading innocent was futile. “How can I fight?” he said, adding that the justice system in Thailand is “not fair.”
“I want the American government to help me because this is about freedom of expression,” Gordon said.
American diplomats have pressed Thai authorities unsuccessfully to drop the case, arguing in part that it could damage the country’s tourism image and deter some from visiting.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Walter M. Braunohler said at Monday’s hearing:
“We will also continue to raise his case with Thai authorities, stressing at every possible opportunity his rights as an American citizen. We urge Thai authorities to ensure freedom of expression is respected.”
Many had hoped that the nascent administration of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, some of whose top supporters have been accused of lese majeste, would re-examine such harsh sentences for cases involving the monarchy. The issue remains highly sensitive, however, and Yingluck’s government has been just as aggressive in pursing the cases as its predecessors.
Whether you’re dealing with a lot of debts or just trying to save money, there are multiple circumstances that can force someone to change his or her spending habits.
Frugal living is generally viewed in a negative light, when people need to make sacrifices.
CanDoFinance presented 10 frugal living tips to achieve happiness on a tight budget.
Keep track of your spending
If you’re planning to live on a tight budget, you need to start by keeping track of all your expenses. From car repairs to that cup of coffee you buy every morning, everything must be recorded. It’s easy to lose track of how much you spend in any given week. The next thing you know, you are looking at a credit card bill that is well outside your means. So, you pay the minimum payment, which is another no-no, and the cycle of perpetual debt begins. Keeping better track of your spending can help you avoid wasting money on unnecessary expenses.
Change your spending habits
Now that you’re keeping track of what you’re spending your money on, look through your monthly expenses and start trimming the fat. This is where people begin to think that frugal living is a complete downer compared to a lifestyle of superfluous spending. Don’t think about limiting yourself on the things you want, start thinking about cutting out the things you don’t need or waste money on. Avoiding name brand items, buying in bulk, and buying used or refurbished items are just a few examples to help you save and change your spending habits.
Monitor your money
Many people are guilty of not knowing how much money they are carrying in their pocket or purse on a daily basis. Even worse, many people are guilty of not knowing how much money they have in their bank account. How are you supposed to follow a budget if you don’t even know what you are working with? What if you dropped some cash without even knowing it? Finding random cash in your pocket is the best feeling in the world, but you should be taking better care of your money if you plan on living on a tight budget.
Carry a coin purse
Start carrying a coin purse, and stop treating loose change like it’s the plague. Most people become annoyed with fishing through their pockets for change, so they just pay with large bills and get more loose change that they don’t want. Keep those coins organized with a coin purse. If you still refuse to pay with exact change, just stuff the coins in the coin purse and empty it into a jar when you get home. When the jar is full, take it to a coin counter at your local grocery and exchange it for cash or a gift card.
For a frugal living, start carrying a coin purse and stop treating loose change like it’s the plague
Give yourself an allowance
Limit yourself to a set amount of spending cash per week, like $100, and only withdraw that amount from your bank account. Stretch that weekly allowance as far as you can, and if you spend it all, don’t withdraw more money until it’s time for your weekly withdrawal. Giving yourself an allowance will help you develop better spending habits to help you save money for when it counts.
Start living a healthier lifestyle
Your health can play a factor in how much money you’re spending. One of the best frugal living tips anyone can follow is to get in better shape. Those who smoke, consume too much alcohol, have poor eating habits, are out of shape or are overweight tend to spend more money than a person who is living a healthy lifestyle. If you are in shape, you will eat less. If you quit smoking and drinking, you aren’t wasting money on alcohol or cigarettes. If you jog, walk or run on a regular basis, you are giving yourself an activity that will make you healthier and hardly costs any money.
Look for ways to earn on the side
While you don’t necessarily have to take up a second job or even a part-time gig, finding ways to earn money on the side is a frugal living tip that will help you reach your retirement goals, or give you more spending money. Earning money on the side will also keep you preoccupied so that you feel less tempted to waste money, and what better way to live happily on a tight budget than to spend time earning money rather than spending it.
Stop impulse buying
Never walk into a store and purchase something without thinking about it first. Frugal living requires you to consider all purchases with at least a 24-hour timeframe. If you still feel compelled to have the item in question after 24-hours, then it might be worth buying.
Never buy anything at full price
If you find an item, make sure that the item you must have is at least on sale. If it’s not, then wait till it goes on sale before you buy it. Hopefully, by the time the item goes on sale, you’ll no longer feel compelled to buy it, thus saving even more money in the long run.
Another useful tip would be to only allow yourself to purchase something if you are able to find a coupon for it. Websites provide free coupons you can use for online purchases. This is another great way to help you curb your shopping impulses and practice frugal living habits.
You can even avoid paying full price for your water utilities with a flow meter. This device helps you to monitor and regulate your water consumption.
Change the way you eat out
Giving up on restaurant dining and eating out may be a good tip to save money, but it probably won’t make you very happy. Instead of giving up on it completely, try changing the way you eat out. Always keep an eye out for promotions or deals. Restaurants tend to offer discounted meal prices during off hours, so try eating earlier or later than usual to save. Scan the appetizer section and see if you can turn an item into an entrée. Many times, a restaurant will have an appetizer and an entrée that are virtually the same, only the appetizer is a bit smaller and comes at a cheaper price. Also make sure you take advantage of any coupons you receive in the mail, or print your own from online.
Italy and Spain debts have both been downgraded by the Fitch credit rating agency.
Italy’s rating was cut from AA- to A+ by Fitch, following agency Moody’s downgrade earlier this week.
Fitch cited the “intensification” of the eurozone debt crisis that “constitutes a significant financial and economic shock which has weakened Italy’s sovereign risk profile”.
Fitch also cut Spain’s rating from AA+ to AA-.
The credit rating agency raised concerns about the strength of Italian banks, particularly in light of the current debt crisis.
Fitch talked of the “small but no longer negligible risk that a further worsening of the eurozone debt crisis and volatility in the value of Italian government bonds will further erode confidence in the banking system”.
Fitch also said a “vicious cycle” could emerge where a growing lack of confidence in Italian banks could knock confidence in government debt, which could in turn undermine the banks further.
Regarding Spain, Fitch also cited the deepening debt crisis, and raised questions about the country’s ability to cut its debt levels quickly – and its growth prospects.
The Spain’s high underlying budget deficit and its fragile economic recovery made the country “especially vulnerable” to external shocks, Fitch said.
The rating agency added that it expected growth to remain subdued between now and 2015, and unemployment to remain high. Spain has the highest jobless rate in the eurozone, at more than 20%.
Fitch agency cuts Italy and Spain ratings
However, Fitch said the Spanish economy should grow faster than the eurozone average after this date.
Italy and Spain have introduced austerity measures designed to cut their levels of debt and restore confidence in their finances.
Italy has stated it wants to balance its budget by 2013.
However, despite Italian government reassurances and the European Central Bank intervening to buy up Italy’s debts, country’s borrowing costs have begun to creep up again in recent weeks.
Global policymakers are discussing ways in which to resolve the debt crisis once and for all.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is meeting the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, in Paris later on Saturday.
Tomorrow, Nicolas Sarkozy is due to hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
Plans to expand the eurozone’s bailout fund, and give it greater power, were agreed in July and have been ratified by most national parliaments.
However, these plans are now seen as inadequate. Further action is now being discussed and leaders have said they hope to announce new measures at a G20 meeting in Cannes at the beginning of November.
Reports from several suppliers in Asia said that Apple has reduced its orders by 25% in the last quarter for this year, according to JP Morgan Chase.
Apple has enjoyed global success and market domination with its pioneering tablet computer, iPad.
Shares in Apple Inc fells as much as 3% in early trading today after an analyst claimed Apple was cutting orders from suppliers of parts for its iPad tablet.
The development could indicate a potential slow-down in sales of the successful iPad.
Shares in Apple Inc fells as much as 3 per cent in early trading today after an analyst claimed Apple was cutting orders from suppliers of parts for iPad
“Our understanding is that this is not in preparation for a new model launch.”
Gokul Hariharan also said the move could result in slower sales for suppliers such as Hon Hai Precision Co.
Fear of a slowdown in iPad sales come as rival Amazon is expected to unveil its own tablet device on Wednesday, to rival Apple.
Amazon’s tablet, which is expected to go on sale on Wednesday, has already been described as a “game changer” by one analyst which could challenge the iPad.
Shares in Apple recovered slightly from earlier losses and were down by $4 (1%) at $400.28 in mid-morning trading on Nasdaq.
JP Morgan’s Asia Pacific electronic manufacturing services analyst also said that Mark Moskowitz – JP Morgan’s U.S.-based Apple analyst – does not expect the supply chain adjustments to result in a downside to his estimates for iPad shipments.
Other analysts also said they would not change their iPad shipment estimates and that it would be difficult to accurately estimate shipment orders.
Colin Gillis, analyst for BGC Partners, said:
“The iPhone 5 launch is much more important than the iPad right now.
“Could the tablet market slow down? Yes absolutely, but data from factories is notoriously unreliable especially since Apple started diversifying their supplier base.”
Walter Piecyk, an analyst from BTIG, said he would be maintaining his forecasts of Apple selling 13 million iPads in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t see any reason to change our estimates. We expect that iPad and iPhone production is shifting to Brazil and Apple remains the market leader that it created with the iPad.”
On Saturday morning a man fired three air gun shots in Erfurt, Germany, around one mile (1,6 kilometers) from the city’s main cathedral (Saint Mary), where Pope Benedict XVI was to celebrate Mass.
The shooting incident has occurred on the edge of the security zone about an hour before the Pope started his celebration of the Mass for around 30,000 people. The gun fires aimed at a security guard.
Eckhard Deutschmann, a local police spokesman told AFP that no one was injured in the incident and a suspect was arrested in his apartment, from where the shots were fired.
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates a Mass Saturday morning at Saint Mary's Cathedral in Erfurt, Germany, about an hour after the shooting incident.(AP)
When the man was arrested, the Pope was already at the airport on his way to the staunchly Catholic city of Freiburg, the final stop on this visit, where he holds a prayer vigil for young people later on Saturday.
“According to the German police, it seems to be the action of an unbalanced person,” said Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokeman. It was “an incident that had nothing to do with the Pope” and “the Pope has not been informed,” he said.
There was “no worry” in the papal entourage over the incident, and the pontiff was not informed about it before the Mass. “It didn’t seem particularly urgent,” he told reporters on the pope’s plane after the Mass.
There has been very tight security for the Pope’s first state visit to his native Germany. Large parts of Berlin, Erfurt and Freiburg have been locked down for the trip and large police forces were deployed.
On the Mass celebrated early Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to those Catholics who had kept the faith burning during Nazi and Communist regimes in Erfurt, former East Germany. The most resilient Catholic community under the Communist regime was in Erfurt.
Pope Benedict XVI prays during the Mass held in Erfurt after the shooting incident.(AP)
“You have had to endure first a brown and then a red dictatorship, which acted on the Christian faith like acid rain,” Pope Benedict XVI said. “Are not the deep roots of faith and Christian life to be sought in something very different from social freedom? It was actually amid the hardships of pressure from without that many committed Catholics remained faithful to Christ and to the church,” Pope said.
Germany’s Church has been losing thousands of followers because of revelations that hundreds of children and young people were abused by clergy and church employees, the scandal has cost them badly needed trust among the roughly 24 million German Catholics.
The victims groups and their lawyers has been accused Pope Benedict XVI of being part of a systematic cover-up by the church hierarchy for pedophile priests in his earlier roles as an archbishop in Germany and later at the pontiff.
On Friday night, Pope Benedict XVI met for half an hour with two women and three men from parishes across Germany who were among the abused. He expressed “deep compassion and regret” at the suffering of those who were abused and assured them the Church is seeking “effective measures to protect children,” Vatican said.
Survivors groups denounced the pope’s meeting with German victims as an empty gesture. They maintain the church has not done enough to prosecute offending priests and prevent future cases of abuse.
Catholic leaders had warned ahead of Pope Benedict XVI visit that there was no quick solution, but they hoped the pontiff could help heal wounds left by the scandal.
Germany’s Bishops Conference has set up a telephone hotline to counsel victims and help them to take legal steps against offending priests when possible.
About 9,000 people turned out in Berlin to denounce the Vatican views on homosexuality, contraception and other issues.
On the first two days of his visit, the Pope met members of Germany’s Jewish and Muslim communities and then held prayers with Protestant leaders in a show of greater Christian unity.
Kweku Adoboli, the suspected UBS rogue trader said today that he was “sorry beyond words” for the record $2.3 billion losses suffered by Swiss banking giant.
Kweku Adoboli sat in the dock at City of London magistrates’ court as his barrister Patrick Gibbs QC told the court:
“He is sorry beyond words for what has happened here.
“He went to UBS and told them what he had done and he stands now appalled at the scale of the consequences of his disastrous miscalculations.”
Kweku Adoboli will face a second count of fraud in addition to two charges of false accounting over three years at UBS
Kweku Adoboli, 31, will face a second count of fraud in addition to two charges of false accounting over three years at UBS.
Magistrates remanded Kweku Adoboli in custody until October 20 at the first of two committal hearings.
Prosecutors allege Adoboli lost the cash while working at UBS’s global synthetic equities division, buying and selling exchange traded funds, which track different types of stocks, bonds or commodities such as metals.
Kweku Adoboli’s lawyer, Louise Hodges, of solicitors Kingsley Napley, has made no application so far for bail for her client.
The alleged fraud offence took place between January 1 and September 14 this year.
Kweku Adoboli, son of a former Ghanaian official to the United Nations, joined the Swiss firm in a junior capacity in 2002.
The fraud charge against the rogue trader reads:
“While occupying a position, namely being a senior trader with Global Synthetic Equities, in which you were expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of UBS Bank, you dishonestly abused that position intending thereby to make a gain for yourself, causing losses to UBS or to expose UBS to risk of loss.”
The two accusations of false accounting claim that Kweku Adoboli “falsified a record, namely an exchange traded fund transaction”
The two accusations of false accounting – which date back to 2008 – claim that Kweku Adoboli “falsified a record, namely an exchange traded fund transaction”.
After Kweku Adoboli’s first appearance in court, UBS revised upwards the cost of the rogue trading to 2.3 billion US dollars (£1.5 billion) after previously saying the incident had cost it in the range of two billion US dollars (£1.3 billion).
British Financial Services Authority and its Swiss counterpart have launched an investigation into why UBS failed to spot allegedly fraudulent trading.
Full Tilt Poker and its operators built a global Ponzi scheme that bilked online players out of at least $390 million, said federal prosecutors who filed a civil lawsuit against the internet gambling site.
According to U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, besides defrauding the U.S. banking system, as alleged in a civil lawsuit last spring, Full Tilt Poker was “not a legitimate poker company.”
Instead, Full Tilt Poker “cheated and abused its own players”, as insiders “lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike about the safety and security of the money deposited with the company.”
Full Tilt Poker built a global Ponzi scheme that bilked online players out of at least $390 million, said federal prosecutors
The lawsuit said that Full Tilt Poker owed its U.S. customers a total of $150 million as of the end of March.
Poker players around US said they were stunned by the latest accusations.
“If true, these allegations detail a massive betrayal of player trust, which will cause financial hardship for thousands, if not millions, of individual poker players, none of whom are accused of doing anything wrong,” John Pappas, executive director of advocacy group Poker Players Alliance, said in a statement.
Until now, defense lawyers declined to comment.
Since April 2007, Full Tilt Poker distributed nearly $444 million to owners and directors, with much of it going into overseas accounts, according to the new claims in the civil suit that accuses it of money laundering.
The amended civil suit is part of a filing that seeks to recover $3 billion from Full Tilt Poker; two other sites, PokerStars and Absolute Poker; 21 related firms and four individuals: Full Tilt Poker Chief Executive Raymond Bitar and board members and poker stars Howard Lederer, Christopher “Jesus” Ferguson and Rafael Furst.
The sites were shut down April 15, a day many players now refer to as Black Friday, in an FBI raid. Also, a grand jury indicted Bitar and 10 other executives and third-party payment processors for the three sites on charges of bank fraud, money laundering and gambling law violations.
The crackdown sent shudders through the poker community and sent online players scrambling for solace in bricks-and-mortar casinos. Some U.S. high rollers who made a living playing on the Internet packed up and moved abroad.
PokerStars returned money to U.S. players in the wake of the federal actions last spring. Absolute Poker agreed to refund what it owed. But Full Tilt Poker, with only $60 million in its coffers, didn’t have enough funds to pay back players, prosecutors said.
Full Tilt Poker also was plagued by a U.S. payment processing network that was disrupted last year, preventing the company from pulling money from customers’ bank accounts to fund online gambling credits.
Instead of disclosing the problem, prosecutors said, Full Tilt Poker maintained a false image of financial stability by crediting players’ accounts with $130 million in “phantom funds.” When players gambled with these funds and lost to other players, a “massive shortfall” developed, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors are seeking refunds of $42 million from Lederer, $41 million from Bitar, $25 million from Ferguson and $12 million from Furst and said they also may seek additional money laundering penalties.
A federal court has allowed prosecutors to seize five accounts associated with the men, but three of the accounts are based abroad.
The fraud was made possible, prosecutors said, because Full Tilt was based overseas.
In July, regulators on the British Channel island of Alderney, where Full Tilt was licensed, suspended Full Tilt’s international operations.
Debi O’Neill, 53, from Georgia, an administrator for online poker forum CardsChat, recouped all of the $7,500 she had kept at PokerStars. But she still has $2,000 trapped in Full Tilt.
“I don’t really expect to ever see any of it again,” she said.
“I feel like they stole it from me. I trusted them, deposited money there in good faith.”
Without the Full Tilt Poker funds to reinvest in other poker sites, Debi O’Neill said, she has lost a part-time livelihood. She now relies on gambling trips to Las Vegas and her husband’s salary from a poultry company.
“I can’t play the kind of volume I used to,” she said. “It’s life-changing for me.”
Kweku Adoboli, the suspected rogue trader accused of a staggering $2 billion fraud told friends he needed “a miracle” days before he was arrested.
Kweku Adoboli, 31, posted a strange message on his Facebook account as he tried to recover enormous losses he had made through illegal trading.
London Police detained the suspected rogue trader, who works for Swiss banking group UBS in raid at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday at his luxury London flat.
Kweku Adoboli is Ghanaian origin, but he was privately educated in UK and is the son of a retired UN worker. He is accused of being responsible for the biggest loss ever accrued by a single trader based in London.
The $2 billion fraud figure easily dwarfs the $1.3 billion lost by rogue trader Nick Leeson, the man behind the collapse of Barings bank in 1995.
Kweku Adoboli enjoyed parties and the company of attractive women
The same amount was intended by UBS to save by cutting 3,500 jobs worldwide.
Speculation was mounting that he may have been caught out after the Swiss Central Bank unexpectedly devalued the franc last week, producing mammoth losses on one of his currency trades.
On Tuesday, September 6, a Kweku Adoboli’s final Facebook message read: “Need a miracle.”
Kweku Adoboli’s boss John Hughes is reported to have quit his job in the aftermath of the scandal. Sources said Hughes would have faced serious questions about supervision of staff. The former boss could not be reached for comment last night.
It is understood that UBS have discovered the $2 billion loss late on Wednesday afternoon.
City of London Police commander Ian Dyson said the force was tipped off by UBS at 1:00 a.m. on Thursday.
Within three hours, police had entered UBS headquarter and had also arrested Kweku Adoboli, who according to sources was a “work-hard, play-hard” trader who enjoyed the company of a series of attractive women at his flat in Whitechapel, East London.
According to some sources, Adoboli earned around $300,000 a year, plus up to $600,000 more in bonuses.
Kweku Adoboli was formally arrested on suspicion of fraud by abuse of position, and was still in custody last night. Police are liaising closely with the Crown Prosecution Service and a decision on charges could be made over the weekend.
Kweku Adoboli was detained on the anniversary day of the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers three years ago.
Rogue traders act independently of colleagues (often recklessly), harming both clients and the firm they work for. In most cases this type of trading is high risk and can create enormous losses.
Police questioned Kweku Adoboli about the fraud, but it was unclear how he was allegedly able to lose such eye-watering sums without being detected by UBS’s risk management team.
The type of trade Kweku Adoboli used is the same as the one used by Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue trader who amassed losses of 4.9billion euros at Société Générale in 2008.
Kweku Adoboli joined UBS in 2006 as a trainee investment adviser. He took on a more senior role as a trade support analyst in 2007 before assuming his present role in one of the banking world’s most important trading areas.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Kweku Adoboli worked as director of Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) and Delta-1 Trading at UBS Investment Bank.
ETFs are an investment fund traded on stock exchanges, much like stocks, which holds assets such as stocks, commodities, or bonds.
Kweku Adoboli is the suspected rogue trader who was arrested in London at early hours today on suspicion of losing $2 billion of UBS, the major investment Swiss bank group.
Ghanaian Kweku Adoboli, 31, was detained on suspicion of committing fraud while working at Swiss bank UBS, after police raided his home at 3.30am.
After the raid UBS shares fell by 8%, as the bank warned that the unauthorized trading could tip the firm into a third-quarter loss.
Kweku Adoboli, the rogue trader arrested in London for $2 bn UBS losses (Facebook image)
UBS CEO, Oswald Gruebel sent a memo to UBS staff yesterday that the rogue deals had been discovered within the past 24 hours.
Gruebel told staff:
“We regret to inform you that yesterday we uncovered a case of unauthorised trading by a trader in the Investment Bank. We have reported it to the markets in line with regulatory disclosure obligations.
“The matter is still being investigated, but we currently estimate the loss on the trades to be around 2 billion US dollars.”
Oswald Gruebel vowed to “establish exactly what has happened” and underscored that “no client positions were affected”.
The UBS CEO urged staff to remain focused on their clients as the investigation continues.
“We want to reassure you that we, together with the rest of the management, are working closely with the Investment Bank’s management and risk and controlling to get to the bottom of the matter as quickly as possible, and will spare no effort to establish exactly what has happened. We will keep you updated on the progress of our investigation.”
Trader Kweku Adoboli worked at the UBS’ headquarters in the very heart of London’s finance district.
UBS has around 65,000 employees worldwide, but it said the bank has recently reduced its staff by 3,500 as part of a bid to save $2.3 billion by the end of 2013.
The cuts came as it said pre-tax profits dropped 23% on the previous quarter to $2 billion at the end of June.
As well as the economic downturn, UBS said regulatory changes such as the Basel rules, which require the bank to hold more capital, were behind the need for the cost reductions.
Despite being one of the biggest wealth managers in the world, UBS has a chequered recent history.
In 2008, UBS was rescued by the Swiss state following huge losses on toxic assets held by its investment bank.
The bank then became embroiled in a serious tax evasion dispute with US authorities and was forced to hand over 300 client names and pay a $780 million fine. There was then a second case in which bank agreed to hand over data on 4,450 American clients.
A restructuring then saw UBS launch a multi-million dollars advertising campaign which used the slogan ‘we will not rest’.
UBS Investment Bank’s offices in Stamford, Connecticut boasts the largest trading floor in the world – it is the size of two American football pitches, and sees more than $1 trillion in assets traded every day.
London police have arrested a man in connection with allegations of unauthorized trading which has cost Swiss banking group UBS an estimated $2 billion.
The 31 year-old man was detained in the early hours of Thursday and remains in London Police custody.
UBS shares fell today 8% after it announced it was investigating rogue trades which would mean the bank making a loss for the third quarter of 2011.
UBS, the Swiss bank said no customer accounts were affected.
London police have arrested a man in connection with allegations of unauthorized trading which has cost Swiss banking group UBS an estimated $2 billion
City of London Police said:
“We can confirm we arrested a 31-year-old man at 3:30am on suspicion of fraud by abuse of position.”
In a letter to its 65,000 staff, UBS said:
“The matter is still being investigated, but UBS’s current estimate of the loss on the trades is in the range of $2bn.
“It is possible that this could lead UBS to report a loss for the third quarter of 2011. No client positions were affected.
“While the news is distressing, it will not change the fundamental strength of our firm.
“We urge you to stay focused on your clients, who are counting on you to guide them through these uncertain times,” the bank said.
“All the clever systems that the banks now have still cannot stop a determined individual .”
In 2008, UBS was rescued by the Swiss state following huge losses on toxic assets held by its investment bank.
The bank then became embroiled in a serious tax evasion dispute with US authorities and was forced to hand over 300 client names and pay a $780 million fine. There was then a second case in which bank agreed to hand over data on 4,450 American clients.
UBS declined to say in which department, or country, the rogue trader operated. However, there is already speculation that the losses may have occurred in foreign exchange trades.
At the beginning of September, the Swiss Central Bank shocked the markets by capping the franc against the euro at 1.20 francs. The move sent the franc-euro pairing up 10%, and it is rumored that some traders lost money.
William H. Millard , former ComputerLand CEO was one of the world’s most-wanted tax exiles and allegedly totalled astonishing unpaid tax bills of more than $100 million for over 20 years.
William H. Millard, the 79 year-old founder of retail chain ComputerLand, was last seen by tax authorities on the remote Pacific island of Saipan in 1990.
Despite vanishing soon after selling his company, Millard has now been tracked down to the Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean, court papers said.
William H. Millard was one of the world’s most-wanted tax exiles and totalled unpaid tax bills of more than $100 million for over 20 years
The astonishing news about the man once listed as one of the US richest men was revealed by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday.
The U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which includes Saipan, is now using a law firm and investigators’ help to get the money.
William H. Millard is linked to a vast network of more than 50 shell companies, trusts and bank accounts, according to Wall Street Journal.
“This is one of the most sophisticated and complicated cases of offshore asset structuring that we have ever seen,” Michael Kim, prosecuting, said.
“Last Christmas an investigator spotted their target at dinner with one of his daughters in Florida,” Mariana government officials said.
William H. Millard has not yet commented, but his former attorney Terry Giles said it was “ludicrous and insulting” to suggest he was hiding.
College dropout William H. Millard was a 1970s technology pioneer in California and he turned ComputerLand into a huge PC retail chain.
The retail chain had around 800 stores and his stake in the company was valued at $1 billion at one point, reported the Wall Street Journal.
William H. Millard was known for his lavish spending, private jets and working 18-hour days whilst eating peanut-butter sandwiches.
William H. Millard left ComputerLand, having a fallout with franchisees and management, and soon moved with his family to Saipan.
Former ComputerLand CEO sold his remaining shares in 1987 and the family left Saipan, where William H. Millard had half-built a turreted castle on the coastline, in 1990.
The commonwealth got a tax judgment against William H. Millard and his wife for $36 million in court in 1994, according to Wall Street Journal.
Commonwealth authorities then picked up traces of his movements in Singapore, Ireland, Brussels, Hong Kong and the Caymans.
Then the commonwealth hired New York law firm Kobre & Kim and a private investigator tracked William F. Millard’s daughter’s home to Orlando, Florida, in December.
The private investigator soon spotted William H. Millard talking a walk outside and they tracked him to the Grand Cayman Island, lawyers said.
“I hope he will do the right thing and pay his debts,” Michael Kim told the Wall Street Journal. “But most people do not let go of $100 million easily.”
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has been fired from her position after the ailing internet company lost further ground to main rival Google.
Carol Bartz, 63, who was fired over the phone, has had a rocky tenure lasting nearly three years punctuated by stagnating growth and a bitter row with one of the Yahoo‘s Chinese partners.
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz posted her first official blog post today.
Carol Bartz, who was hired despite a lack of internet or advertising experience, told her former employees that she was fired by Yahoo’s chairman of the board, Roy Bostock.
Recently, Yahoo has settled a payment dispute with China’s Alibaba Group, in which the internet company holds a 40% stake.
Carol Bartz, the fired CEO, has also had to watch as Yahoo loses further ground as an internet domain to all-conquering Google, while also facing strong competition from other social networks like Facebook.
Yahoo ex-CEO announced her departure to employees via a two-sentence email from her iPad which read:
“I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board.
“It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.”
Yahoo has appointed chief financial officer Timothy Morse as CEO on an interim basis, but plans to search for a permanent replacement for Carol Bartz.
In 2000, Yahoo shares achieved its peak , being traded for $125, but on Tuesday they closed at $12.91.
Yahoo lost further ground in the race against Google during Carol Bartz’s tenure, despite actually making more money through layoffs, service closures and other cost-cutting moves.
In 2010, Yahoo’s revenue edged up by just 2% in the first nine months of the year, while Google’s climbed by 23% in the same period.
In April 2010, Carol Bartz candidly admitted that she “could have done better” in her job, by which time speculation around her position was already growing.
Facebook has also become another serious competitor for Yahoo by attracting the major marketing partners which once went to Yahoo during its boom in 2000.
Yahoo was forced to fire more than 600 staff – around 5% of its workforce – in 2010 due to lacklustre growth.
Yahoo shares jumped 74 cents (5.7%) to $13.65 in after-hours trading, around 12% higher than they were when Carol Bartz was named chief executive.
Roy Bostock has decided to let Carol Bartz go after Yahoo posted more disappointing financial results
In the last months speculation has mounted over various companies wanting to either take over Yahoo or invest and split into parts.
News Corp, AT&T and Verizon had all been linked with a move to buy the company out, with Yahoo’s cooperation.
Carol Bartz had joined Yahoo as the firm’s Chief Executive Officer after 17 years at design software company Autodesk.
Roy Bostock, chairman of the Yahoo board, had publicly backed Carol Bartz earlier this year, but has since decided to let her go after the company posted more disappointing financial results.
Roy Bostock said:
“The board sees enormous growth opportunities on which Yahoo! can capitalize, and our primary objective is to leverage the Company’s leadership and current business assets and platforms to execute against these opportunities.
“We have talented teams and tremendous resources behind them and intend to return the Company to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation.”
Roy Bostock also thanked Carol Bartz for her service to Yahoo during “a critical time of transition in the company’s history, and against a very challenging macro-economic backdrop”.
Timothy Morse, the newly appointed interim CEO said:
“It is an honor to be selected for this role and lead the Company with this world-class team of executives.
“I look forward to working with the Executive Leadership Council and the talented employees of Yahoo!, and to partnering with the Board to invest in the organization and continue to drive its ongoing growth plans.”
[googlead tip=”patrat_mediu” aliniat=”stanga”]The West Memphis Three case, that has turn out to be a wide known cause for a number of celebrities (American actors along with music artists), went to an intense and surprising final result.
On Friday the three men found guilty of murdering three eight-year-old boys in 1993 were freed from jail. Their release comes after “Alford plea” that permit them to assert innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them.
West Memphis Three: Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin in 1993.
Damien Echols was sentenced to death while Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. were serving life sentences.
Interest in the initial trial focused on Damien Echols, back then 18, who had dressed in black garments, had colored his hair black, had read books on vampires, and listened to heavy-metal music. He was frequently inquired by law enforcement regarding satanism.
[googlead tip=”patrat_mic” aliniat=”dreapta”]
The horrible homicides, that were described as satanic by the law forces, stunned West Memphis, Arkansas. However residual uncertainty whether the West Memphis Three had been responsible led to campaigns feed by stars to have the men liberated.
Those uncertainties has increased last month, when a report on new DNA data was submitted in Craighead County Circuit Court. It could not link the crimes to the West Memphis Three charged in the murders.[googlead tip=”lista_medie” aliniat=”stanga”]
Two HBO documentaries shot within the the nineteen nineties ( “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills” won an award), have increased consciousness concerning the case. Metallica has permitted their songs to be utilized in the film. Another documentary will be launched this fall.
Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam and Johnny Depp have grown to be highly effective supporters for Echols, specifically.
Previous year, Eddie Vedder, together with “Arkansas Take Action”, organized “Voices for Justice” live concert in Little Rock to raise understanding about the West Memphis Three. Depp made an appearance together with Patti Smith and Natalie Maines.
“Three innocent people are losing years of their life on a wrongful conviction on a crime they didn’t commit. It makes me scared. It could happen to any of us” said Natalie.
Through the years, Depp and Vedder have donated for Echols legal fees. Eddie has composed songs in relation to Damien and visited him. Other celebrities have given souvenirs for auctions to assist the cause.
Internet sites were meeting places for allies and additional followers. They written to the West Memphis Three and also to political figures.
“From beginning to end, this is probably the first national case to play out on the Internet. The Internet was the way to mobilize the troops all over the world. I don’t see how we would be where we are right now without the Internet,” said Lisa Fancher, an activist for the West Memphis Three Fund, on Friday prior to the hearing.
Medical scientists have found a new form of mechanism leading to hereditary cancer susceptibility, demonstrating that minor changes in certain anti-cancer genes might work as magnets to draw altering “biochemical tags”.
The tags successfully switch these genes off as well as predispose families to a higher risk associated with the condition. The researchers, from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), consider that a minor spelling error affecting just one letter in the DNA sequence close to the beginning of the gene is actually what draws in the biochemical marking, named methylation. This methylation switches genes off, thus has specific influences on the DNA.
“Methylation sits on top of our DNA, and provides the instructions to turn the gene off,” pointed out Dr Megan Hitchins.
In one well studied cause of hereditary cancer, alterations in the cancer-prevention gene MLH1 are transferred from mother or father to children. This situation generates up to 80 percent risk of developing bowel cancer, uterine cancer and other malignancies.
On the other hand, a number of family members with hereditary cancer do not have spelling mistakes in MLH1, but alternatively possess methylation placed on the gene.
“When the methylation attaches to the MLH1 gene in these families, it causes it to be completely switched off and as a consequence cancer develops,” affirmed head of the adult cancer program at the Lowy Cancer Research Centre, Professor Robyn Ward. “But until now, we did not understand how these methylation tags were being passed from parent to child.”
Hereditary cancer study: certain anti-cancer genes act like a magnet for methylation that disappears in semen or ova and reappears in child
In the study the researchers investigated three generations of a large family, who had experienced cancer at young age, but in whom no spelling mistakes characteristic for this kind of inherited cancer syndrome had been identified. Noticeably a number of family members from all generations had methylation tags on their gene.
“In this family, biochemical tags attached to the MLH1 gene were present in all three generations. This was intriguing since these markers are usually removed during the production of eggs and sperm. What we found was that a subtle change near the gene was acting like a magnet to attract methylation. So it was not the methylation itself that was being passed from parent to child, but rather the DNA change, and this acted as a methyl magnet,” Dr Megan Hitchins said.
The methylation had disappeared in the semen and ova and after that regenerated in every brand-new generation, the researchers explained.
Professor Robyn Ward said the study had specified the trigger of cancer in this family and it had provided new options for genetic diagnosis, counselling as well as early treatment in other families vulnerable to hereditary cancer.
The group is additionally studying the utilization of specific medications (Epigenetic Reversal Drugs) to remove the methylation in cancer, thus to switch the anti-cancer genes back on again. Later on these medicines might be administered in order to create a more specific method of cancer therapy and perhaps prevention.
Additional scientists linked to this research have been the Genetic Services of Western Australia and School of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Western Australia.
The study on hereditary cancer was published in the primary international journal “Cancer Cell”.
[googlead tip=”vertical_mic”]Asian financial markets continued their decline on Tuesday, after a Monday black day performed by American and European stock markets.
Asian financial markets continued their decline on Tuesday, after a Monday black day performed by American and European stock markets, despite the mobilization of leaders and governors of central banks were trying to calm the markets concerns regarding the specter of a new crisis, according to AFP.
Hong Kong SE fell by 7.24%
Tokyo Stock Exchange registered a fall of over 4% in mid-session, the stock exchange in Hong Kong fell by 7.24% after session opening, the Sydney Stock Exchange registered a 5% lost and Seoul a 4.2% lost.
Hong Kong SE fell by 7.24% shortly after session opening
[googlead tip=”vertical_mediu” aliniat=”dreapta”] “Asians are acting emotionally instead of looking rationally at the situation. It is a general panic, ” said Chris Weston from IG Markets, based in Melbourne.
Oil quotations continued to drop.
Oil quotations continued to drop during electronic trades conducted on Asian markets, a barrel of oil “light sweet crude” with delivery in September fell below $80 while Brent crude oil barrel tested the threshold of 100 dollars.
Gold price reached a new high record in Hong Kong.
Gold continues to enjoy its status of value of refuge. Tuesday, an ounce of gold reached a new high record on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, 1,726.30-1,727.30 dollars after Monday 1720 dollars threshold.
Financial markets still suffer from the shockwaves of the last Friday historic decision when Standard and Poor’s has downgraded the U.S. “AAA” rating to “AA+”.
The S & P’s decision came along with a huge list of disappointing U.S. economic indicators and the fears about sovereign debt crisis evolution in Europe.
[googlead tip=”lista_mare” aliniat=”stanga”]Yesterday, the New York Stock Exchange recorded the worst session since December 2008. The Dow Jones fell 5.55% to end below 11,000 for the first time in the last 10 months. Panic has spread to the other side of the Atlantic. Frankfurt Stock Exchange fell by 5.02%, Paris dropped by 4.68% and London ended down 3.39%.
Pressed to come up with a concerted response to the euro area crisis and to the signs of slowing U.S. economy, the world’s richest countries leaders were not spared. Monday morning, shortly before the opening of European markets sessions, the G20 said they were ready to act in a coordinated manner to stabilize financial markets and protect economic growth. A little later, leaders and central bank governors from G7 said they would cooperate to counter excessive exchange rate movements. In its turn, the European Central Bank announced Sunday that it will purchase public bonds from secondary market.
Northeast Ohio multiple fatal shootings Aug 7 2011
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A Gunman shot seven persons, including his girlfriend and a 11-year-old, in Copley, northeast Ohio late Sunday.
Late Sunday, a gunman from northeast Ohio ran through Copley, a small town of about 14,000 west of Akron, after a family argument. The gunman shot seven persons, including his girlfriend, her brother and a 11-year-old before he was shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. Two more people were wounded.
Police Chief, Michael Mier, said:
“One person shot five people to death in one location, then two more were killed nearby before police killed the gunman.”
Eyewitnesses told reporters at least one of the victims was a child.
Police didn’t release yet the names or ages of the victims or armed man, but provided a chronology of the shootings that began around 11 a.m. in a middle-class neighborhood of Copley.
“A person running through the neighborhood and firing a gun” prompted calls to police.
Late Sunday, Copley Police Department said in a press release:
“At a home, the gunman shot his girlfriend, ran to a home next door and shot her brother and four others, then chased two people through some yards and shot one of them,”.
Sgt. Eric Goodwin, from Copley Police said:
“The names and ages of the victims and the gunman weren’t being released until police could tell family members, some of whom are out of state.”
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Local newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal, reported:
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“Copley School Superintendent, Brian Poe said a township trustee told him two Copley High School students were killed during the shootings and a third youth, an 11-year-old, was also killed. Poe said the trustee told him the 11-year-old was not a Copley student.”
“A neighbor, Gilbert Elie, said he was getting ready for church when he heard gunshots and cries for help in the wooded neighborhood. He went to a house across the street and said he found a shocking scene: the woman who lived there lying in the driveway, her husband shot near the garage, and their young granddaughter and another woman shot in the front seat of a vehicle, the windows apparently blown out by gunfire.”
“Elie said his neighbors Russ and Gerdie Johnson live at the home.”
“A third woman came out of the house next door and tried to talk to Elie, he said, but their brief exchange ended abruptly when a man followed her out of the house and shot her, sending the 75-year-old Elie running for safety behind a truck.”
“He hid until he could see the gunman was gone, then returned home. Police arrived, and Elie said he heard a second round of shots coming from behind the houses and assumed officers had killed the gunman.”
“Elie described the gunman as unfriendly, a rarity on a street where most neighbors offer a wave in passing. He oftenworked on his car outside his house but never waved at anyone, Elie said.”
A 53 year-old, Jeff Kirby of nearby Norton said he was visiting his mother’s home, a block from the shootings around 10:30 a.m. when he heard gunfire. There were about 15 shots with several pauses between them.
Jeff Kirby, said the last gunfire he heard occurred about the same time he heard sirens in the neighborhood.
The neighborhood was blocked off by police. More than 200 people assembled at a park around sunset for an impromptu candlelight vigil for the shooting victims in their town and crime victims elsewhere.
The Reverent Jeff Bogue of the Grace Church of Greater Akron prayed with them, saying it’s troubling that “such evil would come to our little township.” Few residents said they set up a memorial fund.
Mr. Bean survives McLaren F1 crash – lucky to be alive.
Rowan Atkinson, famed for his Mr. Bean television shows and films, is recovering in hospital after crashing his McLaren F1 supercar near the Cambridgeshire village of Haddon, according to the British media. Police and firefighters both said that a vehicle crashed late Thursday close to Haddon, a village about 135 kilometres north of London.
Rowan Atkinson, 56 comedian, also known for the Blackadder historical comedy shows, was expected to be discharged on Friday after treatment for a shoulder injury, the Daily Mirror reported.
Mr. Bean - Rowan Atkinson
Mr. Bean – Rowan Atkinson is in a stable condition in hospital and was expected to be discharged on Friday afternoon.
Cambridgeshire Ambulance Service confirmed the actor had suffered a “minor shoulder injury” as a result of the accident.
According to reports, Rowan Atkinson was driving a McLaren F1 supercar when it spun around several times, ran into a tree and a lamppost and caught fire.
Rowan Atkinson McLaren F1 supercar crashed
Firefighters said the driver was not trapped and he was taken to hospital. Rowan Atkinson walked away from the wreckage and was with a passing motorist until emergency services arrived.
“We were called to the scene of a single vehicle collision on the A605 near Haddon at about 7.30pm yesterday,”
a Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said on Friday.
“The driver of the vehicle, a man, was taken to Peterborough City Hospital.”
East of England ambulance service said :
“We were called to a single vehicle road traffic collision at 7.30 tonight on the A605 at Haddon.”
“A man was taken to hospital in Peterborough with “a minor shoulder injury”, a spokesman added.
A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire police said:
“We can confirm that there was a single vehicle road traffic collision at around 7.30pm on the A605.”
Firefighters arrived on the scene to put out the blaze.
Police inspected the crashed car
The actor Rowan Atkinson was taken to hospital after his car crashed, reports said.
Atkinson’s spokesman could not immediately be reached.
Rowan Atkinson was driving his McLaren F1 supercar – one of the world’s fastest road cars. The McLaren F1 car he was driving is one of the fastest road cars ever made, with a top speed of 230mph. Only 106 were ever made.
Atkinson, known to be a car enthusiast, recently topped the leader’s board on Top Gear’s star in a reasonably priced car segment. The star’s love of fast cars is well documented.
Rowan Atkinson car before accident
He told presenter Jeremy Clarkson he was keen on racing and was currently driving a 1964 Ford Falcon.
Rowan Atkinson had only just finished filming the latest edition of the spy spoof movies Johnny English and was due to attend the last day of editing in preparation for the film’s release in September.
[googlead tip=”patrat_mare”] Virginia Tech, the place of the worst campus shooting in U.S. history, is on lockdown today with reports of an armed man on the campus. Latest on today lock down at Virginia Tech.
“This campus experienced something terrible 4 years ago,”
Campus spokesman, Larry Hincker said at a press conference.
“Strictly as an abundance of caution we are going to keep the campus under alert status and ask people to stay indoors.”
9:09 a.m – Three students attending the “Higher Achievement” camp at the Blacksburg, VA, campus reported seeing a man holding what seems to be a handgun, according to Virgnia Tech Police Chief ,Wendell Flinchum.
Virginia Tech is on lockdown today with reports of an armed man on the campus
“The juveniles were interviewed…officers confirming that there information is credible and at that point we decided to issue the alert,” Flinchum said.
“We have not had any further reported sightings. We have not had any reports of anyone suspicious or anyone that fits this description.”
The man was described by police as 6” tall, light brown hair and was wearing a blue and white striped shirt, gray shorts and brown sandals. He did not have facial hair or glasses. In addition, police said that the campers told them the man was shielding the gun with a cloth. Flinchum also said that the man was not pointing or shooting the weapon.
Students received text messages and emails that an armed man is on the campus:
[googlead tip=”vertical_mare” aliniat=”dreapta”]”Person with a gun reported near Dietrick. Stay inside. Secure doors. Emergency personnel responding. Call 911 for help.”.
9:37 a.m.: A message was posted on the university’s web site alerting students that there was a gunman near Dietrick Hall. Dietrick Hall is a three floors building, more than 92,000 square foot dining facility on the campus. Students have been adviced to stay indoors.
“Even the construction zone has come to a halt. The whole construction crew is gone. There is no traffic, no movement, no anything,”Virginia Tech communications officer Lynn Davis told CNN soon after the alert was issued.
Some of the professors who were conducting classes at the time of alert have kept their students in their classrooms.
Virginia Tech police are working with several surrounding police units including the Virginia State Police, the Blacksburg Police Department and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office for campus surveillance.
Summer classes are in session at the campus during this period. Campus spokesman Hincker estimated that a few thousand students are currently on the site. Students begin fall semester check-in on August 17 with fall classes starting August 22.
[googlead tip=”lista_mica” aliniat=”stanga”] April 2007: student Seung-Hui Cho, 23 year-old, shot and killed 32 students.
He wounded 25 others in the shooting rampage and that was the worst school shooting in U.S. history.
Cho had alarmed professors with his writings and was ordered to see a university psychologist.
Prior to the rampage, Cho had sent a multimedia letters, pictures and video to NBC News detailing his violent intention and delusional thinking.
His rampage spanned hours and involved two separate attacks. The shooting sparked a debate about the university’s system to alert students. At the beginning of this year, Virginia Tech was fined $55,000 for violating a federal law by waiting too long to notify students that an armed man was on the campus during the 2007 shooting.
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