Friday, November 3, 2006
On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Don Valley West (Ward 25). Three candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include John Blair, Robertson Boyle, Tony Dickins, Cliff Jenkins (incumbent), and Peter Kapsalis.
For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.
Friday, April 8, 2005Professor Perry Bartlett of University of Queensland‘s Brain Institute recommends sex, cryptic crosswords and a good run to stave off dementia.
The researcher, interviewed on Australian ABC radio today [1], said that with 52,000 Australians expected to be diagnosed with dementia by the end of the year, people wishing to ward off the degenerative disorder may benefit from activities which stimulate growth of new cells in the brain, accompanied by mental exercise to select for survival of the resulting crop of new cells.
“Quite prolonged exercise is very good to make new neurones,” said the Professor. “These new nerve cells are really quite vital to our ability to function in the higher brain functions, such as memory and learning. Most of them die. We now know that we can preserve some of them by giving direct stimuli.”
Professor Bartlett explained recent research findings, including those from collaborator Jeffrey D. Macklis [2] at Harvard in the US.
“There are a lot of hormones and changes in blood that go up and down after exercise, and so that may be a lead to some of the chemicals that can drive the production of nerve cells.
“One of the chemicals that seems to promote neurogenesis is prolactin, and prolactin levels are very high in pregnant females. Prolactin levels, by the way, also go up during sex as well. So one could think of a number of more entertaining activities than running in order to regulate the production of nerve cells.
“Perhaps doing something a little more inquisitive or intellectual might be good at selecting their survival. So perhaps one should run a long distance and do the cryptic crossword or something like that,” he said.
Professor Bartlett gave the same suggestions as being potentially helpful in depression, last year in an interview on the ABC Science Show. [3]
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The United States Federal Communications Commission released a plan to provide broadband Internet access to at least 90% of the American population today, and sent a copy of the plan to Congress, which will consider whether to introduce legislation to enact portions of the proposal. Other parts will be decided on by various government agencies.
The plan is intended to spur adoption of broadband Internet in the US by extending broadband access to areas of the country, such as rural areas, that do not currently have such access, as well as substantially increasing the speed of existing broadband installations. Currently, only around 65% of American households have broadband connectivity; if approved, the new plan would increase that number to 90% by 2020. According to a statement from the FCC, the plan would provide a “foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life.”
Opposition to the plan is largely based on two points, which are cost, estimated be as much as $350 billion, and the effect on current users of airwaves, which new broadband access would use. According to the FCC, the plan would end up being revenue-neutral, thanks to income from the auctioning of airwaves, although in past such auctions revenue has gone to the US government. Separately, the proposal would include some changes to regulations over Internet lines, which are largely opposed by the industry, as well as plans to introduce a new fee for use of the airwaves, which are currently untaxed.
All About Catering
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Kevin SmithIn the midst of planning a big event such as a wedding or bridal shower, the question of food may have come up. Many people choose to go with a caterer for large events, however if you are like most people, you probably don’t have much experiences with caterers. Here is some information on what to expect from some of the nicer catering services in Atlanta. What Do Caterers Do?The first thing you may ask yourself is, what does a caterer do? This depends on the caterer, as there are many different kinds, such as mobile caterers, hotel or restaurant caterers, or private caterers. As you can guess, one big difference between the three is the location where they perform their job. Mobile caterers can often be found at places such as county fairs or street corners. Hotel and restaurant caterers often work with a specific hotel and are the go-between between the client and the kitchen staff at the hotel or restaurant. Private caterers, such as what you may be looking into for your big event, travel to various venues to provide food and drink. No matter what kind of catering you are going with, it is important that your catering services in Atlanta are able to fit your needs. There are many companies that can manipulate their usual menu in order to fit dietary or religious needs in your group. If you cannot find a service willing to bend to what you want or need at your event, it is probably best to consider looking elsewhere. Caterers are responsible for helping to not only prepare the food, but also set it up in a nice presentation once it is delivered to the venue. They help with the dinnerware rentals as well as provide wait staff for the event, and they are often in charge of cleaning up after the event has ended. Finding a CatererThere are many ways that you can go about finding a catering service for your next event, but you will want to make sure you leave plenty of time to go through the process of interviewing as well as taste testing before you have to make a decision. You can ask friends and family that have experience with using caterers, and you can also search for reviews and testimonials online. Once you have come up with a list of caterers you like, you can begin calling around and asking questions. Be sure to ask a lot of questions about the menu, the types of venues they are used to servicing and whether or not they can work around your plan or the dietary needs of your guests. Make sure that you can taste test the food before you make a decision. Food is often one of the most memorable parts of a large event, so you want to make sure that you are serving something that everyone will enjoy from a quality company with great food. The decision of between various catering services in Atlanta should not be taken lightly, as all services are not created equally. Make sure to do a lot of research and take your time choosing.
Art of Food is a well-known catering company that provides quality
catering services in Atlanta
and nearby regions. Our catering solutions also cover corporate lunch catering and holiday party catering.
Article Source:
eArticlesOnline.com}
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 the planners’ actions.
In a statement Mr Narev said, “Poor advice provided by some of our advisers between 2003 and 2012 caused financial loss and distress and I am truly sorry for that. […] There have been changes in management, structure and culture. We have also invested in new systems, implemented new processes, enhanced adviser supervision and improved training.”
An investigation by Fairfax Media instigated the Senate inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank’s financial planning division and ASIC.
Whistleblower Jeff Morris, who reported the misconduct of the bank to ASIC six years ago, said in an article for The Sydney Morning Herald that neither the bank nor ASIC should be in control of the compensation program.
Monday, June 1, 2009
United States automobile manufacturing firm General Motors filed for bankruptcy and Chapter 11 protection from its creditors at 12:00 UTC Monday, in a Manhattan, New York federal bankruptcy court. This was the largest bankruptcy filing for a U.S. manufacturing company, and with declared assets of $82.29 billion and a debt of $172.81 billion, and the fourth largest bankruptcy filing in recent U.S. history — after the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers ($691.06 billion), Washington Mutual ($327.91 billion), and WorldCom ($103.91 billion).
The filing, expected to be the first of many, was for a New York GM affiliate, Chevrolet-Saturn of Harlem Incorporated. Numbered 09-50026, it named GM as a debtor in possession, and was filed before judge Robert Gerber.
GM is to be represented throughout the filing process by Weil Gotshal & Manges, a New York law firm specializing in bankruptcy.
The chief restructuring officer, named in the filing, is to be Al Koch, a managing director at AlixPartners LLP in New York, who will report directly to Fritz Henderson, the Chief Executive Officer of General Motors.
In its bankruptcy petition, GM listed its primary creditors as:
| Name | Amount owed (USD millions) |
|---|---|
| Wilmington Trust | 22,000 |
| United Auto Workers union (UAW) | 20,560 |
| Deutsche Bank | 4,440 |
The amount owed to UAW excludes “approximately $9.4 billion corresponding to the GM Internal VEBA“. USD22,760 millions are owed to bondholders.
Analysts have observed that the effect of the bankruptcy filing on the U.S. economy is not expected to be as major as it once would have been. One such voice, Mark Zandy, an economist at Moody’s Economy.com, commented that “Bankruptcy now is irrelevant in terms of the economic consequence of what’s happening to GM.” Such analysts believe that the economic impact of GM’s problems has already been felt, with its effects on parts suppliers and employment. They also believe that GM’s programme of accelerated payments, and its participation in a U.S. Treasury program to ensure prompt payments to parts manufacturers, will have cushioned the effect of the bankruptcy itself.
Speaking on Bloomberg Radio, David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, stated that the fragility of the parts suppliers, the loss of whom would threaten the entire automobile manufacturing industry, was of more immediate concern than the GM bankruptcy.
Also filing for chapter 11 protection today were Saturn LLC and Saturn Distribution Corporation, subsidiary companies of General Motors.
As a consequence of the bankruptcy, General Motors Corporation (GM.N) was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and was replaced by Cisco Systems (CSCO.O), these changes scheduled by Dow Jones & Company to take effect from the opening of trading on June 8.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The 2008 Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, 47, is projected to win at least 349 electoral votes, more than enough to clinch the Presidency of the United States. Obama is the first African American to be elected President in U.S. history. His Republican opponent, Arizona senator John McCain is projected to win at least 173 electoral votes. McCain has phoned Obama to concede the election. Obama officially became the President-elect when John McCain issued his concession speech shortly after 9:00PM Mountain Time.
The Electoral College will officially elect Obama on December 15 and he will be inaugurated as the 44th President on January 20, 2009 at noon.
“We have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken and spoken clearly. This is an historic election and I realize the significance this has for African-Americans […] Let there be no reason now, for any American should fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth,” said McCain at a final event in Arizona.
Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. from Kenya and Ann Dunham from Wichita, Kansas. He grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia. He graduated from high school in 1979 and attended Occidental College and Columbia University, receiving his B.A. in political science in 1983. Afterwards he moved to Chicago and worked as a community organizer.
He enrolled in Harvard Law School in 1988, became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, and graduated magna cum laude in 1991. He returned to Chicago, lecturing at the University of Chicago and practicing as a civil rights attorney.
He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1997, and became the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Illinois in March 2004. The following July, he delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, catapulting him into the national spotlight.
He won election to the U.S. Senate with 70% of the vote. On February 20, 2007 he announced his candidacy for President and clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3, 2008, after a tense primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Obama is married to Michelle née Robinson, with whom he has two daughters.
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In this day and age, financial stability is of the utmost importance. As you think about how you’ll allocate the money you’re making now, it’s vital that you do so with a keen eye toward the future. One of the best ways that you can do this is to create a retirement plan that includes investing in an IRA (individual retirement account). For those who haven’t yet begun saving for retirement or have not considered a Roth IRA, here’s how speaking with your financial advisor about setting up this type of account can help you prepare for what’s ahead:
1. Managing your money so that you aren’t spending more than necessary is especially important in retirement. If you’ve invested in a Roth
2. IRA in Colusa
3. , you’ll be happy to know that the money you withdraw will be tax-free. This is because the contributions you made will have been from your after-tax income, which means you won’t be taxed twice.
4. Although a Roth IRA is used primarily as a savings tool, it can give you peace of mind to know that you can make a withdrawal from your pool of contributions if you need money for an emergency. This can be a great incentive to remain consistent with your contributions since you know that you’ll have money there if a catastrophe occurs.
5. With a Roth IRA, you don’t have any limitations on when you can stop contributing. While a traditional IRA in Colusa requires you to stop contributing and start taking your distributions once you’ve reached the age of 70 and 1/2, there’s no time limit on contributing to your Roth IRA. This means that you can feel free to work and continue to build your retirement account for as long as you want or are able to.
Don’t take chances with your financial future. Instead, give yourself the assurance that you’ll be able to maintain your lifestyle by investing in a Roth IRA today. Whether you’re starting from scratch or would like to roll your income over from a 401(k) or traditional IRA, make it a point to speak to a financial planning professional about your needs. They’ll be able to explain the tax implications of a Roth IRA and assist you in setting up a solutions that will give you a solid reason to look forward to the future.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Treasury Department secretary Timothy Geithner and the Obama administration are pressuring Congress to allow the government to seize troubled financial institutions such as insurance companies and investment firms. Currently, banks are the only such entities that the government has authority to take over.
Speaking before the House Financial Services Committee, Geithner said “The United States government does not have the legal means today to manage the orderly restructuring of a large, complex non-bank financial institution that poses a threat to the stability of our financial system.”
Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) agreed, saying, “When non-bank major financial institutions need to be put out of their misery, we need to give somebody the authority to do what the FDIC can do with banks.”
Geithner would work with the White House and Federal Reserve to execute any such takeovers.
The expanded powers would have allowed the seizure of companies such as pariah AIG, which has already received US$180 billion in government aid. The recent controversy over the payment of bonuses has bumped up the plan to high priority. It was initially to have been part of a more comprehensive overhaul by the government of the financial regulatory system.
Not all are happy with the proposal. Republican House minority leader John Boehner derided the plan, saying it would be “an unprecedented grab of power.”
Maxine Waters (D-CA) criticised the government for its lack of transparency in dealing with the current crisis, and questioned Geithner on whether firms such as Goldman Sachs had received preferential treatment by the government. Such probing may indicate reluctance on the part of Congress to grant the expanded powers.
Other than simply taking over a firm, the government would also be able to purchase its assets, guarantee losses, and take out a partial ownership interest.
“It is a terrible, tragic thing that this country came into this crisis with such limited tools for trying to protect the economy itself from the kind of distress that would come as the system came back down to Earth,” Geithner summarized.
Sunday, July 2, 2006
A suicide bomber exploded a truck bomb in the crowded Al-Ula market in Sadr City in Baghdad on Saturday, killing 66 people and injuring over a 100.
‘At the beginning of this market, the criminal blew up his dynamite-packed truck after trying to go over the pavement,’ said Iraq’s Deputy Health Minister Sabah al-Hussein.
The explosion happened when a police patrol was passing by and caused heavy casualties in the morning market rush. Some shoppers were sent flying on top of nearby two-storey buildings.
The force of the blast left a large crater and wreckage of blown-out cars and windowless buildings. Rescuers were left to pick through a sickening scene of human remains mixed in with exploded vegetable matter and dead animals.
Sadr City, a Shiite city of two million in which religious leader Moqtada Sadr has found popular support, had many times before been targeted by Sunni terrorists who were blamed by some residents for this attack.
It was the deadliest bombing of civilians since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki‘s government assumed responsibility for domestic security in May 2006.
Experts said the truck bomb was a lethal concoction of explosives, shells and shrapnel hidden under a consignment of fruit. The driver of the truck blew himself up in the explosion.