Saturday, May 9, 2009

The five largest United States banks need a total of US$74.6 billion in extra funds to increase their cash reserves, according to so-called “stress tests” conducted by regulators to determine whether the banks have enough capital to survive the ongoing recession.

“Our hope with today’s actions is that banks are going to be able to get back to the business of banking,” said Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary.

The results of the stress-test determined that Bank of America was the bank most at risk, needing $33.9 billion. Wells Fargo will require an additional $13.7 billion, while GMAC needs $11.5 billion.

Seven other banks failed the “stress test”, including: Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Regions Financial, SunTrust Banks, KeyCorp, Fifth Third Bancorp, and PNC Financial Services.

Nine other banks that underwent stress tests, such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon, MetLife, American Express, State Street, BB&T, US Bancorp and Capital One Financial, were found to have enough capital in case the recession deepens.

Those banks that need extra money will be set a June 8 deadline to draw up their plans to raise the additional capital and have regulators approve them.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

In order to put the cannabis drug (marijuana) out of reach of minors, the Canadian federal government announced a bill to legalise cannabis for the age group of eighteen and above, on Thursday. The bill would allow adults to possess cannabis publicly, previously a criminal offence.

Canada’s health minister Jane Philpott tweeted, “Today we tabled new legislation to legalise, strictly regulate, and restrict access to cannabis. Our goal: keep it out of the hands of youth, and profits out of the hands of criminals.” ^{((fr))French language: ?Ajd nous avons déposé un nouveau projet de loi pour légaliser le cannabis, le réglementer de manière stricte et en restreindre l’accès. Notre objectif: garder le cannabis hors de la portée des jeunes, & les profits hors des mains des criminels.} The Canadian government, via their official website, explained cannabis is available illegally, and their measures to stop it did not work. Criminal organisations are making money selling cannabis. Under-aged people can obtain the drug easily; they said, “it is easier for our kids to buy cannabis than cigarettes.”

The bill allows provinces and territories to set the age limit above eighteen. In order to prevent criminal gangs from making a profit, selling the drug needs a license permitting its sale. Adults can purchase the drug online from a licensed producer if a retail shop is not available in the province.

Adults can carry up to 30 g (slightly over an ounce) of cannabis and grow at most four cannabis plants at home, for personal use. The plants should be no taller than a metre, the bill proposed. Selling cannabis to minors would be a specific criminal offence.

The legislation requires parliamentary approval and royal assent. If passed, the bill would be under effect by July 2018, the government said. Health and safety experts and law enforcement were consulted before proposing the legislation. Except for medical purposes, possession of the drug remains illegal until the bill is passed. Regardless of the status of the bill, import and export of the drug would be illegal.

Previously when the government increased the taxes on cigarettes to discourage citizens from smoking, a black market for cigarettes developed.

Along with legalising cannabis, the bill would also permit the police officials to use tools like oral fluid drug screeners to detect if drivers are under the influence of the drug. Zero tolerance against drivers under influence of drugs is proposed. The government would also implement a public awareness campaign on the perils of driving under the influence of drugs.

The government still working on the restrictions. Lawmaker and former police chief Bill Blair said, “We do accept that more important work remains to be done.” If the bill is passed, Canada would be the second country to legalise cannabis completely. Uruguay is the first. Some countries, such as Germany, allow medical use of cannabis, but recreational use is prohibited.

Friday, October 5, 2007

You may not know Joseph Merlino, but he knows about you and what makes you function. He knows what turns you on and he knows whether it is a problem for you. Merlino, who is the psychiatry adviser to the New York Daily News, is one of the more accomplished psychiatrists in his field and he is the Senior Editor of the forthcoming book, Freud at 150: 21st Century Essays on a Man of Genius. The battle over interpreting Freud’s legacy still rages, a testament to the father of psychoanalysis and his continuing impact today.

On the eve of the book’s publication, Wikinews reporter David Shankbone went to the Upper East Side of Manhattan to discuss the past and future of Freud and psychoanalysis with Dr. Merlino, one of the preeminent modern psychoanalysts. Shankbone took the opportunity to ask about what insanity is, discuss aberrant urges, reflect upon sadomasochism (“I’m not considered an expert in that field,” laughed Dr. Merlino), and the hegemony of heterosexuality.

Dr. Merlino posits that absent structural, biochemical or physiological defects, insanity and pathology are relative and in flux with the changing culture of which you are a part. So it is possible to be sane and insane all in one day if, for instance, you are gay and fly from the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Pakistani Taliban militants attacked a Pakistani prison Sunday morning wounding four prison officials and allowing 384 prisoners to escape the facility.

The terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan took responsibility for the attack and claimed success for achieving their objective without losing any fighters.

The raid happened around 1 a.m. in Bannu, a stronghold for militants in northwest Pakistan, and continued for two hours with militants shooting and throwing grenades to enter the facility. Reports on the number of attackers were scattered and ranged from 150 to between 400 and 500 militants. Officials said the facility housed 944 prisoners at the time of the attack.

Twenty-one of the escapees were prominent militants, according to Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North-West Frontier) Province. Two of the twenty-one escapees were anticipating execution. Officials say one was Adnan Rashid, who was found guilty of the 2003 attempted murder of former President Pervez Musharraf, and Safi Ullah, who was sentenced for multiple bombings in northern Pakistan. Hussain also claims that the attackers’ motives were to liberate a senior Taliban commander.

“This is beyond terrorism. Such an attack challenges the writ of the state,” he said.

Prison raids have been a tactic used by the Afghanistan Taliban, but it has not been a common target in Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban pledged in a statement to continue raiding prisons to release confined militants. “We will go where we need to go,” said Pakistani Taliban representative Ehsanullah Ehsan.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The United States government officially charged 11 individuals today for the theft and sale of over 40 million credit and debit card numbers. The card numbers were stolen from nine US retailers including Barnes & Noble.

The indictment includes computer intrusion, conspiracy, identity theft and fraud. This case is suspected to be the largest computer hacking and identity theft case ever to be prosecuted by the US Justice Department.

The 11 people charged include three from the US, three from the Ukraine, two from China, and one each from Estonia and Belarus. The remaining person is only known by an alias, and his/her place of origin is not known.

The reported “ringleader” of the group was Albert “Segvec” Gonzalez, of Miami, Florida. If Gonzales, who is in custody in New York because of another computer hacking charge, is convicted of the numerous indictments, he could face life in prison.

According to the Justice Department, after hacking into wireless computer networks of the victim companies, the group would install a sniffer program to identify card numbers and steal information required for use of the numbers. The compiled information was then stored in computer servers owned by the group.

The credit card numbers were then sold online to the customers who would “cash out” the numbers by scanning them on to the magnetic strips of blank cards.

The funds earned by the group from the sale of the numbers were either transferred to internet currencies where the money was laundered, or transferred directly to eastern European banks.

The nine companies that were stolen from are T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, Barnes & Noble, J’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Sports Authority, DSW and Forever 21. Several of these retailers belong to TJX Companies.

“They used sophisticated computer hacking techniques, that would allow them to breach security systems and install programs that gathered enormous quantities of personal financial data, which they then allegedly either sold to others or used themselves,” said US Attorney General Michael Mukasey.