Friday, December 30, 2005
The Australian Centre for Languages, a company which has a multi-million dollar contract with the Australian government to provide refugee services, has been accused of breaching its duty of care following the death of a chronically ill child and allegations of failing to provide three women in their care with food.
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.
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By Simon Volkov Online Marketing DNA
Online marketing in Bellingham Washington is a one of the most affordable, yet powerful strategies for reaching out to the community. Nestled in the Northwest section of the state, Bellingham is the perfect location for instituting innovative marketing methods that allow business owners to capture their niche market.
Integrating online marketing in Bellingham Washington with current marketing plans offers several advantages. The diverse mix of locals includes college students, outdoor adventurists, environmentalists, activists, families, and retirees.
Due to the high level of college students, many of the residents are techno-savvy and use computers and mobile devices for many of their daily life activities. Bellingham businesses can take advantage of countless opportunities by instituting a multitude of online marketing strategies focused on consumer needs.
Several Bellingham companies have received public recognition for their creative Internet marketing efforts. Tom Smith, a stylist at Mikols Salon on James Street instituted online strategies to spread the word about providing free haircuts to homeless residents.
Mary Jensen received recognition for instituting a program to keep reusable products from ending up in Whatcom County landfills. Jensen’s program encourages Bellingham business owners to donate office equipment and supplies to non-profits instead of throwing items away.
Moka Joe founder, Trudy Scherting, used online marketing to inform Bellingham residents about her philanthropic programs through the sale of fair trade organic coffee beans. Scherting donates a portion of her proceeds to Dorothy Place, a domestic violence shelter for women and children. She also roasts beans to raise awareness about Coffee for Clean Water; a program that raises money to acquire water purification systems for third world countries.
One of the more effective ways to integrate online marketing is to employ a marketing consultant to review current marketing plans and determine which strategies are best suited for the business. There are many elements involved to develop a solid online presence and the process can be overwhelming when trying to go it alone. Hiring professionals acquainted with the Bellingham market can help to maximize results and minimize risks.
The first phase of Internet marketing involves determining the best strategies and how to make use of them. Anyone conducting business online needs a website, so Bellingham companies will need to hire a web designer if they do not already have a website in place.
Websites are the showcase for any business, so it’s important to have a clean design that loads quickly and is easy to navigate. Websites are the foundation for highlighting information about the company, selling products or services, and building customer mailing lists.
A good approach for assessing the competition is to peruse the official city of Bellingham website and review the member directory. Bellingham has an abundance of outdoor adventure companies, breweries and wineries, health spas, art galleries, and lodging facilities. Several business owners in this area are using a mix of online techniques including podcasting, videos, and social media marketing.
Social media marketing is one of the more powerful strategies because it allows companies to easily connect with large groups of people. This platform allows companies to build customer relations through social interaction. Building relationships makes it easier to sell products and consumers prefer to buy from companies they can interact with.
There is certain approaches that need to be taken with social media marketing, so it is a good idea to talk with marketing experts that specialize in this field. With proper knowledge and effective social marketing campaigns, Bellingham business owners can become recognized as an industry expert within the community.
Another powerful marketing strategy is mobile marketing. Due to the fact that Bellingham has a large population of college students that rely on mobile devices for nearly everything, companies that embrace mobile marketing can capitalize on this niche. College students use cell phones to find weekend events, movie listings, restaurants, and local business using local listing directories.
Local listing directories can be a dominant marketing venue because it allows residents and tourists to easily find Bellingham businesses. These directories let local business owners publish company information, business hours, website address, and offer special promotions such as discount coupons.
Bellingham business owners should publish to each of the major local listing directories, such as Yahoo, Google, and Bing, along with niche directories like Bellingham.AreaConnect.com and BellinghamDirect.info. While publishing to multiple directories can be time-consuming, the advantages are worth the time spent.
A lot of business owners find implementing online marketing to be a monumental task. To fully capitalize on these strategies does require a solid marketing team that can create, implement, and track results of multiple strategies. Companies that don’t have the time or staff may find it helpful to turn over projects to an online marketing company.
Business owners that are ready to take on online marketing in Bellingham Washington need to become informed about the different approaches and how to maximize results. Online marketing is a powerful force that can boost a business to the next level, as long as strategies are correctly implemented.
About the Author: Simon Volkov is the founder of Online Marketing DNA; a full service marketing agency. We understand the unique needs of this market and are dedicated to helping local businesses institute
online marketing in Bellingham Washington
. Discover how to dominate your niche at
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Wednesday, January 9, 2008
This year Israel turns sixty and it has embarked upon a campaign to celebrate its birthday. Along with technology writers for Slate, PC Magazine, USA Today, BusinessWeek, Aviation Weekly, Wikinews was invited by the America-Israel Friendship League and the Israeli Foreign Ministry to review Israel’s technology sector. It’s part of an effort to ‘re-brand the country’ to show America that there is more to Israel than the Palestinian conflict. On this trip we saw the people who gave us the Pentium processor and Instant Messaging. The schedule was hectic: 12-14 hours a day were spent doing everything from trips to the Weizmann Institute to dinner with Yossi Vardi.
On Thursday, the fifth day of the junket, David Saranga of the foreign ministry was able to arrange an exclusive interview for David Shankbone with the President of Israel, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shimon Peres. For over an hour they spoke about Iranian politics, whether Israel is in danger of being side-lined in Middle Eastern importance because of Arab oil wealth, and his thoughts against those who say Israeli culture is in a state of decay.
| “The only crime I committed was to be a little bit ahead of time. And if this is the reason for being controversial, maybe the reason is better than the result.“ | ||
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Shimon Peres spent his early days on kibbutz, a bygone socialist era of Israel. In 1953, at the age of 29, Peres became the youngest ever Director General of the Ministry of Defense. Forty years later it was Peres who secretly gave the green light for dialogue with Yassir Arafat, of the verboten Palestine Liberation Organization. It was still official Israeli policy to not speak with the PLO. Peres shares a Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzak Rabin and Arafat for orchestrating what eventually became the Oslo Accords. The “roadmap” that came out of Oslo remains the official Israeli (and American) policy for peace in the Palestinian conflict. Although the majority of Israeli people supported the plans, land for peace was met with a small but fiery resistance in Israel. For negotiating with Arafat, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shouted at Peres, “You are worse than Chamberlain!” a reference to Hitler’s British appeaser. It was during this time of heated exchanges in the 1990s that Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a Jew who thought it against Halakhic law to give up land given by God (Hashem).
Peres is the elder statesman of Israeli politics, but he remembers that he has not always been as popular as he is today. “Popularity is like perfume: nice to smell, dangerous to drink,” said Peres. “You don’t drink it.” The search for popularity, he goes on to say, will kill a person who has an idea against the status quo.
Below is David Shankbone’s interview with Shimon Peres, the President of Israel.
Friday, March 30, 2007
At Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, students are finding that popular MP3 players, such as Apple’s iPod, are very convenient devices for listening to music at the gym, while traveling on foot, and in the car.
In a recent ad-hoc survey conducted by Wikinews contributor Darren Mar, 150 students were randomly pulled aside in the hallways of the university, and asked if they own an MP3 player. 94 of the 150 students (62.66%) did in fact own MP3 devices, most of who were found to be carrying it on them when questioned. There was one simple follow up question for those who had a player: “If it were possible to have complete and safe control of the device on the steering wheel of a car, would you rather listen to your device, or the radio?” There were three answers possible, yes, no or both. Of the 94, 78 (82.98%) said yes, eleven (11.70%) said no, and five (5.32%) said both. The reporting took place primarily on March 16, 2007. The reasons for those who would listen to their device were commercial free music, personalized choice of music, and complete control of what you are listening to.
This study was motivated by the new design of 2006+ model cars. Many are being built with auxiliary jacks for the stock radio, allowing the driver to easily connect any audio playing device to the car’s sound system with a simple 3.5mm plug. What’s more, cars in the upper price echelon are being built with (1) a custom made area in the dash for MP3 players (iPod’s being the most popular), and (2) implementing audio device control right onto the steering wheel. A good example of this is the Ford Fusion or the 2007 Lexus IS250: “The centre console input port allows an iPod, MP3 or Windows Media Audio player to be plugged into the IS audio system.”
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
An 11-year-old boy has died after being shot in the car park of the Fir Tree pub in the Croxteth area of Liverpool, shortly after 1930 BST. An eyewitness, who had been drinking outside the pub at the time, said the boy was one of three playing football in the car park when a teenager, believed to be male, on a BMX bicycle fired three shots at the group from approximately 30 metres away, one hitting the victim in the neck. The other shots missed the boys, one hitting a car. The boy’s mother was called to the scene as people came out of the pub to help him. Other witnesses have suggested the incident may be gang-related.
A spokesman for North West Ambulance Service said: “We treated an 11-year-old with serious gunshot wounds.” He added the boy was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, but police later confirmed he had died. Officers have sealed off the scene, including a neighbouring street of shops. There have currently been no arrests in connection with the shooting.
In an appeal to the local community to help catch the killer, Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Simon Byrne said: “Someone out there knows who put the gun in his hand and I want your help to get the community to turn that gunman in tonight. This is quite an awful crime, quite senseless, and the community holds the clue to solving this crime quickly. You can only imagine the heartache of the family that’s been ripped apart.”
Local councillor Rose Bailey, who lives nearby, also appealed for people with information to come forward, saying: “It sends shockwaves through the community of Croxteth and really it must be devastating. To think your young son is out playing football and then to get a call to say he’s been shot, I really don’t know as a parent how you would handle that.”
The area around the pub was made a “designated area” by police last year, meaning officers could disperse groups and move people away from the area.
The incident is another in a growing list of shootings of minors, many gang-related, in the UK’s major cities in 2007.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Over 1,600 volunteers registered to help build approximately 65,000 of the 500,000 sandbags to create dikes 20.5 feet (6.2 meters) high to protect the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba in the war against the Red River of the North flood.
700 volunteers answered at the rural municipality of St. Andrews alone. Once sandbags are filled for West St. Paul, St. Andrews, and Selkirk, then frozen culverts must be cleared.
The height of the river is expected to be Thursday, and predictions are that it will be less than Flood of the Century of 1997. There is no precipitation in the forecast, and snow in the province should be melted by the end of the week.
“The fear right now is we have to get that ice out of the river. The Amphibex [Excavators] are still working and breaking the ice apart, and everyday we buy with the warm weather and the current, it is thinning the ice down a bit, so when it does start to move, the better chance it’ll move right out into the lake,” said Paul Guyder, the emergency coordinator for the RMs of St. Andrews and St. Clements.
“I feel that we’ve done everything humanly possible to get ready,” said Gary Doer, Premier of Manitoba, “But … there are fallibilities with human behaviour. We can take every preventative measure as human beings possible and we can still get Mother Nature proving again she is superior.”
Communities with ring diking will partially or fully close their dikes at the beginning of the week. Provincial officials are considering opening the Red River Floodway gates around mid-week before ice is fully melted.
Ice jams could cause flooding within the city, however opening the gates could spare neighbourhood flooding when the river rises to the estimated 6.3 meters (20.7 feet) height. The province does have back up plans for dealing with ice jams within the city if they do occur. The unpredictability of ice jams and the ensuing water level rise may cause neighbourhood flooding. The city is raising dikes where the river has jammed with ice in the past such as on tight curves and past bridges. Likewise there are excavators and backhoes positioned at these points.
Vulnerable neighbourhoods on the river banks have been reinforced with sandbag dikes at vulnerable areas from the massive volunteer effort over the weekend. Guyader feels no more extra volunteers are needed, however volunteers are still being asked to leave their names and number in case of unpredicted need. Existing personnel will assess roads, and help with clean up.
Approximately 400 of the 800 people who evacuated the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation have returned to their homes.
Former Premier, Dufferin Roblin, brought forward the floodway as a protection for Winnipeg residents and economy following the 1950 Red River Flood. The Red River floodway, “Duff’s Ditch” was finally finished in 1968, and its floodway gates have been opened 20 times saving Winnipeg from an estimated CA$10 billion in damages. The floodway expansion began in 2005 at a price of $665 million.
Polish and Chinese experts have come to survey the Red River Floodway, and Dennis Walaker, mayor of Fargo, North Dakota recognises the need for Red River flood defences down river. “Every town that you drive by from the Canadian line up to Winnipeg is either elevated or ring-diked,” said Walaker.
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byAlma Abell
When you start getting older, you might want to start considering Retirement Communities. Of course, you would want to find one that has more of a resort-style feel to it. You will want one that is set up to handle your changing abilities and needs. You will want to find a place to live that has some amenities like great decor. You will want to have your independence and privacy so that you can relax in your own home while having people around you who you like as well as a staff who can give you any help you might need.
When you take a tour, you will look for a place that you think will invite you to be part of the family. You will want to see only the finest places, so you can have an active senior lifestyle. If you are a veteran or the surviving spouse of a veteran, you will want to look into the Aid and Attendance Pension, which is set up to give financial help to veterans of war-times or their spouse who doesn’t have the money needed to pay for the help they might need with their daily living activities.
The Fountain Views Senior Living Communities provide an assisted living community with both a social and active lifestyle place to live that lets you live out your golden years on your own terms. You will find nicely square feet. They come with plenty of storage space, kitchenettes, private bathrooms and all of the comforts of home. They provide any assistance you may need from housekeeping services to help with grooming issues and reminders of your medication schedules.
Fountain View knows that no two residents will have the exact same needs, so they offer options that can be tailored to your specific comfort level. Whether you are an independent and active senior or someone who needs much more help, Fountain View can provide the level of help you need and will welcome you as a part of their extended family. Their Retirement Communities are designed to make the transition to living there easy. You will not feel like you are living at a facility. You will feel like you are living in a close knit community.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Nine firefighters were killed on Monday while battling a massive fire at a furniture warehouse in Charleston, South Carolina.
Firefighters were called to the scene of a massive blaze at the Sofa Super Store in Charleston, S.C. at around 6:30 p.m. EST. At around 7 p.m., nine firefighters were sent inside the inferno to rescue people who were trapped inside the building. They rescued two before the ceiling collapsed on top of them. All nine firefighters who were inside the warehouse died. They are:
The disaster recalls Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire that killed six firefighters on Dec. 3, 1999, in Worcester, Massachusetts. The chief of the Worcester Fire Department flew down to South Carolina for the memorial service.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
This morning, United States-based toy retail giant Toys “R” Us filed for liquidation with United States bankruptcy court. The company had about 735 stores in the country which may be closed as a result of the liquidation.
The motion came after the US holidays, after which the company said its revenue fell short of expectations. Toys “R” Us was seeking cooperation with its Canadian business to leave 200 stores open, the court papers said. The company said it would be unable to realize an earlier goal to leave as many as 400 stores open.
The papers filed in the court indicated that the United States holiday sales produced revenue US$250 million short of the expectations. In the report to the court, Toys “R” Us blamed in part its weakened e-commerce business. It wrote, “The stark reality is that the debtors are projected to run out of cash in the U.S. in May 2018.”
Toys “R” Us chief executive officer Dave Brandon said, “This is a profoundly sad day for us as well as the millions of kids and families who we have served for the past 70 years.”
Toys “R” Us said it was preparing to sell its businesses in Asia and Central Europe, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
In September 2017, Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy in the US and Canada, and a judge allowed a US$2 billion loan.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital Partners, and Vornado Realty Trust purchased Toys “R” Us for US$6.6 billion in 2005. According to CNBC, the company had US$4.9 billion in debt at that time, which made it difficult for the company to adapt to the changing market.