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Friday, August 21, 2009

Stock indexes worldwide rose on Friday, after US bank chief Ben Bernanke said that the US economy was starting to recover from the recession.

Addressing a conference in Wyoming, the bank chief said that “the prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good.”

He added, however, that “the economic recovery is likely to be relatively slow at first, with unemployment declining only gradually from high levels.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 155.91 points, or 1.67%, to end the day at 9505.96. The Nasdaq reached 2020.90 points after gaining 1.59%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, meanwhile, struck a ten-month high, reaching a level of 1,026.13 at the closing bell, up 1.9%.

The British FTSE index rose about two percent, closing at 4,851. The French Cac index gained 3.1% and the German Dax 2.8%.

“Bernanke was a little bit more bullish than most people were expecting. He’s saying that the global economy is starting to emerge from the recession and that the fears of a financial collapse have receded substantially,” said Jacob Oubina, the currency strategist of Forex.com.

“I think the market is just taking those headlines as extreme positives for the outlook.”

Jean-Claude Trichet, the European Central Bank president, warned that talk of a complete recovery might be premature. “I am a little bit uneasy when I see that, because we have some green shoots here and there, we are already saying, ‘well, after all, we are close to back to normal,’ ” he said.

Friday, October 14, 2016

Yesterday, English capital football club Chelsea FC announced a long-term deal with US sports company Nike.

Currently, German company Adidas made the kits for The Blues, a deal worth £30 million annually. Chelsea’s contract with Adidas runs till 2023. Chelsea is obliged to pay about £40 million to the German firm. Chelsea’s termination of Adidas’s contract was announced in May.

Per the contract with the US company, Chelsea would receive a reported sum of £60 million each year. Announcing a long term contract, Nike Brand president Trevor Edwards said, “The partnership with Chelsea reinforces our leadership position in football. We are excited to help grow the club’s global reach, serving players and supporters with Nike innovation and design.”

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia, for the team’s part, said, “This is an incredibly exciting and important deal for the club.”

Chelsea won the Premier League in 2014–15 under Portuguese manager José Mourinho but they finished tenth last season.

Adidas and Spanish club Real Madrid signed a ten year contract earlier this year and the German sports brand sponsors other football giants like FC Bayern München, Juventus F.C., A.C. Milan, and Manchester United F.C.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Canberra, Australia —

An Australian Senate inquiry into new federal anti-terrorism laws is to take place in effectively one day, it was revealed in the Senate October 13.

Senator Robert Hill today moved that the laws, after introduction in the Australian House of Representatives, be referred to the Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee, with the report date set November 8 — the Senate resumes sitting on November 7, after Senate estimates have been taken place, leaving either next Friday or the weekend for the inquiry to take place.

Amendments to make the date for report later were proposed: the first date of sitting in 2006 was proposed by Senator Andrew Bartlett, and November 28 this year was proposed by Natasha Stott-Despoja. A division on those amendments was called for, but the vote must take place on the next day of sitting — November 7, due to an earlier order regarding divisions on Thursday at 4.30pm. The inquiry thus cannot commence until after this date.

Senators tempers were raised and vociferously decried the little time alloted for debate on the legislation. Senator John Faulkner called the situation “sheer bastardry of the government”, and said “It is one of the most contemptible and despicable things I have ever seen in the time that I have been a senator in this chamber. How low can you go?”. Senator Bob Brown has stated that in order to elucidate further Government actions, “between now and Christmas, when Senator Hill asks for leave, he will not get it. He will not get it.” and later called the government “a disgrace […] to Australia” and “a disgrace […] to this nation.”

Senator Julian McGauran said to Senator Stott-Despoja “you would be against [the laws] anyway.” Senator Stott-Despoja replied “Don’t bait me, Senator McGauran, today because I am not in the mood for it.” Senator McGauran earlier this week drew the anger of Senator Stott-Despoja, who lost a friend in the September 11 attacks, by asking her “Have you once in this chamber acknowledged the war on terror?”.

The Government has defended its decision, with Senator Hill stating “Unless it is agreed, it is not going to go through. We cannot have divisions, and at least we have tried. … Time is of the essence in this matter.” and later expressed “regret that this motion has been moved with very little consultation.” Senator Eric Abetz has remarked that “on 7 November the Senate would be voting on whether or not an inquiry would be held to report the very next day. Of course, that would make a mockery of the system,” and that the Opposition failing to drop the amendments “clearly indicates that the Labor Party … are going to try to play the technical game and say, ‘The government will only give us one day to deal with the issue.'”

Friday, January 20, 2017

Yesterday, the German Bundestag passed a law to legalise cannabis drug for medicinal purposes. The law is to come under effect in March.

“Seriously ill people must be treated in the best ways possible” ^{((de))German language: ?Schwerkranke Menschen müssen bestmöglich versorgt werden.}, German health minister Hermann Gröhe tweeted. Doctors can prescribe marijuana — cannabis — for patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, or loss of appetite or nausea from cancer’s chemotherapy treatment.

Christian Democrats (CDU) lawmaker Rainer Hayek said this law would still prevent recreational use of cannabis. The cost of cannabis is to be covered under health insurance. Patients can buy dried buds or cannabis extracts from pharmacies with a prescription or get synthetic derivatives from other countries, though possession of the drug in large quantities is not allowed.

Cannabis cultivation is to be monitored by the government. Germany has joined other European countries such as Austria, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Netherlands in legalising the drug to some extent.

In October, a 53-year-old multiple sclerosis patient showed cannabis was the only solution to reduce his pain, and the court granted him permission to grow as many as 130 plants in one year for personal use. Purchasing, rather than growing, medical cannabis at the time cost about €15 (US$16.85) per gram.

Thursday, October 5, 2006

The Independent Monitoring Commission has reported that the Provisional Irish Republican Army has undergone major changes within their military structure and shows that the IRA Army Council wants to put its military campaign behind it. The Commission consists of John Alderdice, a former Alliance Party leader; Joe Brosnan, former Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Republic of Ireland; John Grieve, former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and former head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terror Branch; and Dick Kerr, former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence Agency.

The report states the IRA no longer has the capacity to mount a military campaign anymore or return to one. The units that have been shut down were responsible for weapons-making, arms smuggling and training. The IRA decommissioned their arms last year.

The report also mentions that the IRA has also put its criminality beyond use and is “clamping down” on criminals within the organization, said Lord Alderdice, as he presented the report. He also added, “That doesn’t mean that criminal activity by all members has stopped but the leadership has made public statements and internal directions, investigated incidents of breach of the policy, even expelled some members and has emphasised the importance of ensuring that business affairs are conducted in a legitimate way.”

Finally, the report added that there is not enough evidence or intelligence to identify who killed Denis Donaldson, a British spy who infiltrated the IRA and Sinn Fein, before revealing his status as a spy.

However, the report added that splinter groups like the Real IRA (RIRA) and Continuity IRA (CIRA) are still threats and are still continuing their activity. The Real IRA was the group behind the deadly 1998 Omagh bombing. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) “was not capable of undertaking a sustained campaign [against the British State], nor does it aspire to” according to the report.

It is also noted the creation of two new organizations, Oglaigh na hEireann (Irish Gaelic for “Volunteers of Ireland” and is used by the Irish Defence Forces and the various IRAs.) and the Republican Defence Army. However, the groups are small dissident factions according to the report.

The report also added that the two loyalist paramilitaries, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) are also beginning to move from violence but at slower pace and not at a grassroots level like the IRA. Another loyalist paramilitary, the Loyalist Volunteer Force

The report was received warmly by Irish Toaiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Ahern, said “These positive and clear-cut findings are of the utmost importance and significance. It is time to make decisions and for Northern Ireland to look to the future.”

“The IRA has done what we asked it to do, and while issues like policing remain to be solved, the door is now open to a final settlement, which is why the talks next week in Scotland are going to be so important.” said Tony Blair in a live statement.

In a surprising reaction, the notoriously hardline leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley, also welcomed the report. He believes that his party’s pressure is working and if Sinn Fein signs up to policing there could be a deal. Paisley said, “If the police question is settled absolutely on a democratic basis and principle we would have come a long way along the road.”

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said “The DUP don’t have anything other than very limited options. They will or will not participate in power-sharing arrangements. If they don’t participate they are condemning people here, but particularly their own constituents, to second class public services, run by second class fly-in, fly-out British ministers. All the DUP can do is to delay, is to attempt to slow down, but they can’t stop the process of changing.”

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

“Localization of ‘SEMI Safety Guideline'”, executed by Safety and Health Technology Center of Taiwan (SAHTECH) and supervised by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), was announced today in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

This localization included several fields on health and safety of semiconductor manufacturing, certification testing on electrical devices, evaluations on fire or natural diseases, and environmental issues on semiconductor manufacturing devices, etc.. Companies and manufacturers from the semiconductor industry also paid more attentions on this guideline because issues on carbon-savings, earthquakes, fire diseases, and environment-efficiencies were included into this guideline.

On the other side of the incoming trade show of 2008 SecuTech Expo, scheduled after 2 weeks at Taipei World Trade Center, not only main fields on security devices, information security, and fire & disease preventions, the digital monitoring will be a hot topic in security industry. For applications on fire & disease preventions, because its issues contained industrial applications and ESH (Environmental, Safety & Health) managements, if a company want to decrease the ratio of fire disease or earthquake, companies from safety and related industries should pay more attentions on disease preventions.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Younger Americans may be more receptive to traditionally liberal social policy than their parents, according to a recent poll conducted by the New York Times, CBS News, and MTV. The survey found those ages 17 to 29 to be substantially more interested in Presidential politics, with nearly 60 percent expressing interest in the 2008 race, compared to 35 percent at approximately the same point in the 2004 campaign.

Government-sponsored health care received strong support among the younger voters polled, at 62 percent, compared with just 47 percent support across voters of all ages. Younger voters appear more supportive of same-sex marriage, legalization of marijuana, and liberalized immigration policy as well.

Optimism about the outcome of the war in Iraq was higher among the young, with 51 percent of those surveyed predicting a successful outcome, although 87 percent opposed the institution of a draft. Among all adults, 45 percent envision a successful outcome of the war.

In stark contrast, younger Americans expressed a generally pessimistic attitude about their future personally and the direction of the country in general. Nearly half predict that they will not enjoy the same success as their parents, and 70 percent felt that the country was on the wrong track.

Despite differences on social policy, some similarities emerged in the poll. Survey data indicated that just 28 percent of those polled approved of the Bush administration’s performance, which is fairly consistent with other polls of the President’s performance, hovering around 30 percent. Support for abortion was also similar between youth and voters in general.

A majority of younger voters indicated that they would vote for a Democrat for President in 2008, reflecting previous trends. Voter turnout among the young has historically lagged turnout rates for all adults, although 2004 saw sharp increases in young voter participation. That year, 47 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds voted, compared with 36 percent in the 2000 election. A majority of the young have cast votes for the Democratic nominee in every Presidential race since 1992.

The poll surveyed 659 participants via telephone in mid-June, and has a margin of error of four percent.