Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only Japanese civilian to be officially recognized as having survived both the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States in August of 1945 at the conclusion of World War Two, has died this Monday at the age of ninety-three, due to stomach cancer—one of the numerous illnesses that he suffered throughout his lifetime as a direct result of his exposure to nuclear radiation.
Mr. Yamaguchi, although he was against his nation’s involvement in the War, worked as a engineer for Mitsubishi—a company that helped equip and supply the Japanese Imperial Army. He was on business in Hiroshima at the time of the first bombing on August sixth. His almost direct exposure to the atomic explosion temporarily blinded him, ruptured his ear drum (leaving him permanently deaf in his left ear), and severely burnt the top half of his body. Three days later, having gone back to work in Nagasaki, he was approximately three kilometers away from the site of the second bomb. Although he was exposed to significant radiation in this instance as well, Mr. Yamaguchi was left relatively unscathed.
Following Japan’s surrender and the end of the War days later, Mr. Yamaguchi worked as a translator for the occupying American forces and later as a local schoolmaster, before eventually returning to Mitsubishi—which had since then become an automobile manufacturer.
In his later years, Mr. Yamaguchi became a respected lecturer who gave talks about his experiences, and publicly spoke out against the stockpiling of nuclear weapons.
For instance, in 2006, he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. “Having been granted this miracle, it is my responsibility to pass on the truth to the people of the world,” Mr. Yamaguchi said to the Assembly. He went on to say, “My double radiation exposure is now an official government record. It can tell the younger generation the horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die.”
When asked by the British Broadcasting Corporation what his reaction was to Mr. Yamaguchi’s death, the mayor of Nagasaki said that “a precious storyteller has been lost.”
Among the family and friends Mr. Yamaguchi left behind were his three adult children—who have also had health issues in their lifetimes thus far that they think may have be related to their father’s initial exposure.
In today\’s competitive real estate market, managing your customer expectations and meeting them is a moving target in today s business.
Real estate software solutions
significantly enable property developers and builders to deliver instant, accurate, and consistent services to their buyers and agents. A good well rounded system can enhance your customers experience by keeping them up to date every step of the way with automated emails throughout the contract process and photo updates during the stages of construction. Software systems are designed to streamline and bring together all of the business critical elements so that developers and builders can efficiently manage the sales and contract processes. With this solution, developers and builders have a complete 360 degree view of all the information that is needed to make sure customer satisfaction is maximised.
Modern software solutions are intelligent enough to allow customers to interact with the business and at the same time enable property agents to instantly answer the queries. Whether you have talented staff of marketing experts or you need them, with this software solution your business will have consistent messages every time. It smartly, simply and intelligently handles marketing campaigns as well as tedious, time-sensitive, monotonous activities. It has a full suite of capabilities to automate the marketing and sales process, customer retention and lead nurturing. In fact, you can measure your ROI and improve your bottom line. With its superior built-in marketing,
event management
, reporting, analytics features managers can gain full insight into their business.
The software solution is intended to improve marketing ROI, effectiveness and efficiencies by delivering the accurate reports. It is specially designed to provide higher-quality results, leads to sales by dramatically gathering valuable information through progressive business handling techniques. It also increases lead volume and conversions with its much-wanted
lead nurturing
features. The software displays inclusive real estate information conveniently through its features. It flexibly automates a business and provides a complete view of the real estate customers, agents, business people, or property investors.
Unquestionably, the software solution increases sales productivity and sales conversions of any real estate business. It helps in business analysis, sales prediction, fore casting, management and effective communication with the existing and potential customers. It also delivers critical business information to business owners so that they are always making informed decisions. Its simplicity and flexibly automates the business and provides a complete view of all aspects of the real estate transaction.
The author is associated with inProperty.com. It is an IT solution provider, offering a complete real estate software &
construction management software
solutions that is ideal for property developers, builders & agents. Property management software helps grow sales distribution channels and helps managing contracts & sales process automatically.
A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopicgastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.
If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.
There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”
There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.
By causing the mutation of one specific gene, researchers have produced mice with two frequently encountered behavioral traits of persons diagnosed with autism. Autism commonly affects the ability to interact socially and is associated with repetitive behavior. The finding was reported in the March 20 online edition of Nature.
Using mice, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Duke University mutated one of the genes associated with autism, known as shank3, a gene that controls the production of the shank3 protein present in the brain. Mice that were given this mutation exhibited repetitive behavior and avoided social interactions with the mice around them.
According to MIT Professor Guoping Feng: “Our study demonstrated that Shank3 mutation in mice lead to defects in neuron-neuron communications.”
3D rendering of the shank3 gene
Shank3 protein are found in synapses within the brain. Synapses allow brain cells (called neurons) to communicate with each other. The mutation in the mouse gene interfered with this communication, apparently producing the subsequent autism-like traits. Researchers believe their work demonstrates the important role of shank3 in the functioning of brain circuits that determine behavior.
While hundreds of genes have been linked to autism in human patients, only a small percentage have been linked to shank3. Professor Feng hypothesizes that disruptions of other genes that act on the production of brain proteins affecting synaptic communication may also be related to autistic behavior. If this disruption is real, Feng claims that treatments could be developed to correct synaptic function for any defective synaptic protein in an autistic patient.
Feng continued; “These findings and the mouse model now allow us to figure out the precise neural circuit defects responsible for these abnormal behaviours, which could lead to novel strategies and targets for developing treatment.”
About one in 110 children in the U.S., and at least one in 100 in UK, have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, for which there is currently no effective cure.
Looking for some good skin beauty tips? Here are a few of my favorites. I like them because they are safe, natural, good for your body and good for your skin s health. Making you look better is just a positive side effect.
My first tip is to eat more fruits and vegetables, drink some green tea, try some soy and take a good anti-aging fish oil supplement. Fruits, vegetables and green tea contain numerous antioxidants that fight damaging free radicals. They will help protect against sun damage, make you look younger and your skin s appearance will be more radiant.
Soy is a good protein source. Amino acids from protein are necessary for your body to build new elastic fibers and skin cells. Don t like soy? Look for a supplement that contains soy isoflavones. They are the primary antioxidants found in the plant food.
Fish oil has been shown to improve the skin s structure, firmness and moisture content. It contains omega-3 fatty acids, which has anti-inflammatory activity. Inflammation damages and degrades collagen fibers, causing skin s layers to sag. The best fish oil supplements contain anti-aging antioxidants like astaxanthin and lycopene.
I ll bet you haven t read those skin beauty tips before, but they are recommended by dermatologists. Who knew that what we eat could have such an effect on how we look?
My second tip is to use moisturizer, but not just any moisturizer. Practically all of the face creams and body lotions on the market are loaded with petroleum byproducts and all kinds of chemicals. Those things clog the pores and cause pimples. They feel greasy and could be bad for our long-term health.
You want to shop in the natural face cream section. Of course, not many department stores have an aisle like that. The internet makes it easier to find natural moisturizers that really work.
Using a moisturizer is one of the most important skin beauty tips for several reasons. First, we tend to wash our faces too often. Cleansers strip the skin s natural oils, so does plain tap water, according to researchers.
We all want to be clean and fresh. We have to wash off our makeup every night. The only solution is to use a good moisturizer. Every time that you wash your face, apply a little, before you put on your makeup. It s just one step, but it makes a big difference.
Another reason that using a moisturizer is one of the best skin beauty tips has to do with wrinkles. No one wants them. We ll do practically anything to get rid of them. The right moisturizer can prevent them and even help reverse them.
In order to find the right moisturizer, you just need to read the label of ingredients. Compounds to look for include grape seed oil and coenzyme Q10.
Studies concerning ways to reverse sun damage have proven that COQ10 is effective. We can only assume that it will help prevent the damage from ever occurring.
Check back frequently for more skin beauty tips. When the scientists come up with something new, I ll pass it along to you.
About the Author: Valerie Rosenbaum has spent years searching for the best
anti aging skin care products
available. The skin care product line she discovered uses a proprietary blend of all natural ingredients like Cynergy TK and
De La Fuente at the Lesser-Known Candidates Forum, January 2016. Image: Marc Nozell.
Businessman Rocky De La Fuente took some time to speak with Wikinews about his campaign for the U.S. Democratic Party’s 2016 presidential nomination.
The 61-year-old De La Fuente resides in San Diego, California, grew up in Tijuana, and owns multiple businesses and properties throughout the world. Since getting his start in the automobile industry, De La Fuente has branched out into the banking and real estate markets. Despite not having held or sought political office previously, he has been involved in politics, serving as the first-ever Hispanic superdelegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention.
De La Fuente entered the 2016 presidential race last October largely due to his dissatisfaction with Republican front-runner Donald Trump. He argues he is a more accomplished businessman than Trump, and attacks Trump as “a clown,” “a joke,” “dangerous,” and “in the same category as Hitler.” Nevertheless, De La Fuente’s business background begets comparisons with Trump. The Alaskan Midnight Sun blog described him as the Democrats’ “own Donald Trump.”
While receiving only minimal media coverage, he has campaigned actively, and according to the latest Federal Election Commission filing, loaned almost US$ 4 million of his own money to the campaign. He has qualified for 48 primary and caucus ballots, but has not yet obtained any delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Thus far, according to the count at The Green Papers, De La Fuente has received 35,406 votes, or 0.23% of the total votes cast. He leads among the many lesser-known candidates but trails both Senator Bernie Sanders who has received nearly 6.5 million votes and front-runner Hillary Clinton who has just shy of 9 million votes.
With Wikinews reporter William S. Saturn?, De La Fuente discusses his personal background, his positions on political issues, his current campaign for president, and his political future.
Peter Costello’s budget announcement has led to rejoicing for small businesses, but the lack of joy for those pushing for radical corporate taxation reform has led to many businesses asking “what about us?”
Personal taxation and small business have been the big winners after this year’s federal budget. Although dampened by the twin economic threats of rising interest rates and petrol prices, there should be a reasonable amount of real income savings for both low and high income earners, with those receiving Medicare, or a superannuation benefit, privy to an even lower level of taxation (0% for those on super benefits).
Small business also has benefited from the Howard government’s 11th annual budget, with them receiving a higher level of reducing depreciation, leading to a higher level of deductions in the years following the uptake of new technology or other capital. They are also privy to a AU$435 million dollar tax cut to compensate for their changing accounting requirements under the government’s new AIFRS reporting standards, as well as increasing the uptake of both the small business tax relief scheme and CGT (Capital Gains tax) Concessions.
The budget was not a complete loss for big business however, as superannuation laws have been tweaked to streamline contribution and payment rules previously impeding those with multitudes of staff.
But this is not enough, says Big 4 accounting firm Ernst & Young. In their newly published paper “Taxation of Investment in Australia: the need for ongoing reform”. In it they lead the charge for a greater streamlining and organization of the corporate tax system in Australia, submitting that it will lead to reductions in “disincentives to work save and invest in Australia [as well as improving] the international competitiveness of Australian businesses.” This follows from a recent report brought out by Mr. Costello himself about the need for tax reform in Australia.
A budget night Mr. Costello was notably coy about any future reform of corporate tax in Australia. He alluded to the report by his ministers but kept from outlining the government’s plan precisely.
Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman of Satyam Computer Services, and his brother, B. Rama Raju, the company’s managing director, were arrested late Friday by Andhra Pradesh police. The brothers were placed under judicial custody in a Hyderabad, India jail and will remain there until January 23. Facing charges of criminal breach of trust (Section 406 of IPC), criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420), falsification of records and forgery (Section 468), and fraudulent cancellation of securities (Section 477-a), they face up to ten years imprisonment if convicted.
After 18 hours of interrogation by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) at the state police headquarters, the Raju brothers were sent to the Chanchalguda prison and slept Saturday night on the floor along with 26 other low-risk inmates.
S. Bharat Kumar, the Rajus’s lawyer, asked the magistrate to issue orders for health monitoring. “His blood pressure is fluctuating and he needs medical treatment,” said Bharat Kumar. Mr. Raju appeared before the court Saturday while a team of doctors visited him after he had complained of chest pain.
Raju has Hepatitis-C, and both brothers have high blood pressure, so health precautions are necessary while imprisoned. Prison rules mandate service of jail food thrice a day. The menu includes 650 gm of rice thrice a day with 250 gm of vegetable curry and 125 gm of ‘daal’ plus tea twice a day.
Satyam’s chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas, who was also arrested Saturday, had undergone preliminary investigation and appeared Sunday before a special court, according to A. Sivanarayana, Andhra Pradesh additional director general of police. Srinivas was remanded to judicial custody until January 23 by Mr. D. Ramakrishna, Sixth Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, and sent to the Chanchalguda jail with the Raju brothers after interrogation by CID’s Crime Branch (the CB-CID). During his Saturday night arrest and probe by CB-CID, Srinivas made revelations which are contained in his confession letter as submitted to Network 18. “According to me fixed deposits are unreal and fictitious which were managed and was an understanding between the audit section management,” Srinivas stated.
The Hyderabad court on Monday postponed the bail hearings of the Raju brothers and Srinivas to January 16. To be defended by a battalion of 25 lawyers, the three accused will remain in Chanchalguda Central Jail until further court order. The Raju brothers were shifted Sunday to a mid-size Old Hospital Barrack cell shared with a bootlegger.
Contents
1 The offences
2 About Satyam Computer Services
3 Impact on Satyam Computer Services finances and reactions
In 2008, the company struggled to purchase two infrastructure companies founded by family members of company founder and CEO Dr. Raju – Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas Properties – for $1.6 billion, despite concerns raised by independent board directors. Dr. Raju tendered his resignation on January 7 after due notice of falsified accounts to board members and the SEBI.
Since January 7 when two lawsuits were commenced, dozens of other class action law suits were filed against Satyam for hundreds of millions of dollars damages based on fraud in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, among others. The securities fraud class-action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of investors who bought Satyam American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) since 2004.
On Wednesday Dr. Raju admitted to falsifying and overstating Satyam’s cash reserves by $1B US dollars (£661m) or 94% of its cash and bank balances on books at the end of September.
The fraud was perpetrated several years ago to bridge “a marginal gap” between actual and accounting books operating profits, and continued for several years. “It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten,” B. Raju said.
In a letter to the board, Dr. Raju said that neither he nor the managing director had benefited financially from the inflated revenues. Further claiming that none of the board members had any knowledge of the dire company situation, he noted that Satyam’s balance sheet as of the September 30, 2008, carried inflated figures for cash and bank balances of INR 5,040 crore (as against INR 5,361 crore reflected in the books). He alleged it also carried an accrued interest of INR 376 crore which was non-existent. He confessed that he himself prepared an understated liability of INR 1,230 crore on account of funds amid an overstated debtors’ position of INR 490 crore (as against INR 2,651 crore in the books).
Satyam Technology Center at Bahadurpally,Hyderabad
Indian analysts have compared the Satyam-Raju scandal to the infamous American Enron scandal. Immediately following the media expose, PricewaterhouseCoopers, auditor of Satyam’s accounts, was set to be probed for complicity in the controversy. Times Now has reported that the Andhra Pradesh CID arrested PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) representative Gopal Krishnan for investigation on Saturday night.
New York-listed Satyam Computer Services Ltd., India’s fourth-biggest software firm, is a consulting and information technology services company based in Hyderabad, India. Founded in 1987 by Dr. Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, Satyam’s network spans 67 countries on six continents. It employs 53,000 professionals in India, the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Hungary, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, Egypt and Australia. Its monthly salary outflow is estimated at six billion rupees ($125 million). Deriving more than half of its revenues from the United States, it serves 700 global companies, 185 of which are Fortune 500 corporations.
Satyam’s clients include Nestle, Ford, General Electric Co., General Motors Corp., Nissan Motor Co., Applied Materials Inc., Caterpillar Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Sony Corp., and brought in about $40bn last year.
In December 2008, a failed acquisition attempt involving the company Maytas led to a plunge in Satyam’s share price. After Wednesday’s confession, Satyam stocks fell further by more than 70%, while the BSE SENSEX dropped to 7.3% Wednesday, causing the removal of Satyam Computer Services from its indices on Thursday. The shares free fell to 11.50 rupees on Friday, their lowest level since March 1998, compared with around last year’s high of 544 rupees.
India’s biggest-ever corporate fraud has seriously tainted India Inc.‘s strong corporate governance image. “The admission of fraud in financial affairs has created an adverse impression in the minds of trade, business and industry across the world,” the Indian government admitted. The government intervened on Friday night, dismissing Satyam’s board of directors, announcing it will appoint representatives to manage the affairs of the insolvent outsourcing giant. The board would meet within seven days. Dr Yeduguri Samuel Rajasekhara Reddy, chief Minister of State of Andhra Pradesh, India, on Sunday said that the main agenda is to protect the jobs of the software professionals. “We are taking all needful steps in coordination with the government of India to ensure that the jobs of 53,000 engineers are protected and the shareholders’ money is salvaged,” Reddy said.
“We are working on the names. The Satyam case is an aberration. The credibility of the Indian corporate sector in general, and IT sector in particular, should not be allowed to suffer because of this.” Prem Chand Gupta, the Corporate Affairs Minister said. The Federal Government of India appointed a three-member independent board with full authority for Satyam on Sunday and was set to convene within 24 hours. “We have appointed Deepak Parekh, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation, Kiran Karnik, former president of IT industry body NASSCOM and C. Achutan, former member of Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) of India,” Mr. Gupta said.
In early Monday trading (0535 GMT) after the creation of the three-member board, Satyam shares rocketed upwards 60% to 38.15 rupees, even though the main Mumbai market was down more than 2%. BBC reported that Satyam shares have jumped 51% to 36.05 rupees on Monday after the stock lost 87% last week. “The constitution of the new board is seen as a positive step by the market. It’s a confidence boosting measure,” K.K. Mital, Globe Capital, New Delhi head of portfolio management services said. “But the rally will depend largely on the financial situation at the company and the kind of measures that are taken to improve liquidity,” he added.
The Company Law Board, however, has requested Satyam’s interim board not to implement its decisions. “We are asked by the Company Law Board not to implement the decisions of the board. But we are allowed to continue our activity. The team which was constituted recently is continuing its work,” Satyam head global marketing and communications, Mr. Hari Thalapalli, said.
Lazard Ltd., who has a 7.4% stake in Satyam, sought representation on the new board and wrote as much to The Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs. “As the largest shareholder in the company, we want to be consulted in whatever decisions are being taken by the Indian government. We have written to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and are awaiting a reply from them,” Hitesh Jain, a partner at ALMT Legal, who claimed to represent Lazard, said. “It is a fair proposal and we will take a decision as and when we clear other issues. No decision on this has been taken yet,” P.C. Gupta replied.
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also announced it will try to control the damage and take steps to boost investor confidence. “This exercise will be undertaken after the third quarter results and is expected to be completed by end of February this year,” a SEBI official statement said. A SEBI team is also investigating acting-CEO Ram Mynampati whose salary was greater than that of founder Dr. Raju and all the directors combined. Dr. Raju had just one fifth of Mynampati’s total package of over Rs 3.5 crore as of March 2008. All the directors comparably received only a total of Rs 2.6 crore as salary, commissions, sitting fees, professional fees and other receivables.
Further, the Andhra Pradesh Police CID and teams assigned by the Economic Offences Wing of the CB-CID conducted searches Sunday of homes of the accused including the ex-CFO’s office to gather documentary evidence about the financial fraud.
In the United Kingdom, PRS for Music has announced that the total royalties that artists in the music industry receive has decreased by 1%. This is the first time that such a decline has ever occurred.
The company has reported that the total was £611.2 million (US$977.8 million, €693.9 million) in 2010, a decrease of overall annual revenue of 1%, or £7 million (US$11.2 million, €7.9 million), from 2009. PRS for Music has claimed that this fall was due to lower sales of Compact Discs and DVDs, as well as digital copyright infringement.
The collection society, which is a representation of seventy-five thousand writers, composers and publishers of music, gathers royalties from music being used in excess of twenty-five billion times annually by various means, including television / radio, commercial businesses, musical venues, Compact Discs and DVDs.
Robert Ashcroft is the Chief Executive Officer of PRS for Music and is responsible for being the representative of such British music artists as Adele, Jessie J and Florence Welch. Speaking about this news, Ashcroft said: “The loss of high street outlets, the slowdown in physical music sales as well as the challenges capturing the full value of music usage online has meant that for the first time we have seen royalties collected dip. Previously, any reduction from falling physical sales had been offset by our strong performance in music licensing both in the UK and internationally. In 2010 slower growth at home and abroad failed to fully mitigate the decline.”
In 2010, the sales of music physically and digitally grew by 7% to achieve 120 million units. Meanwhile, sales of compact discs fell by 12.4% to a total of 98.5 million. British global entertainment retail chain HMV has attempted to save money by closing down sixty of its shops in the UK. In 2010, royalties’ growth reduced in speed to 4.3%.
Simon Neil, of Scottish rock group Biffy Clyro, explained that “[t]he thing about PRS is for a lot of bands it’s the only way you make money. In our first six years of being in a band that was the only kind of income we had. It’s the bread and butter for bands. It’s almost your only guaranteed source of income.”
PRS for Music has stated that its payout to its members was decreased by £800,000 (US$1,3 million, €900,000), due to improved society efficiency and a reduction in costs related to administration. According to Newsbeat, the small royalty drop may trigger a larger decline, causing new musical composers and writers to avoid joining the music industry. The company believes that further action needs to be taken to prevent the lack of CD sales and compete with illegal downloads, including the development of legal download services.
