Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Angry traders continued to protest against the Supreme Court’s order in favour of resuming the sealing drive in New Delhi. They damaged public property and blocked traffic during the protest.

Police halted over 1,500 traders from various part of the city who were vandalising public transport by blocking and pelting stones on the roads after the SC’s order to resume the drive.

According to CNN-IBN, the drive will affect about 5,40,000 shops and 27,00,000 traders across the city. Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), said that the resumption of the drive is a complete breakdown of the government and administration. So, they had to take extreme steps to oppose the drive.

The traders protested from all over the city including Kamla Nagar in North Delhi, Mayur Vihar, Vikas Marg, Seelampur in East Delhi, Green Park, South Extension, Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi, Rajouri Garden, Rohini in West Delhi and Karol Bagh in Central Delhi.

Most of the schools in New Delhi remained closed today, and the sealing drive was halted. The Group of Ministers, headed by Shivraj Patil are planning to meet with SC’s monitoring committee to work out the sealing schedule in the capital.

Friday, June 5, 2009

General Motors Corporation (GM), an American automaker which has filed for bankruptcy protection, announced on Friday that the Penske Automotive Group (PAG) was selected to purchase Saturn Corporation. The transaction should be completed in October.

The purchase includes rights to the Saturn brand, its five current models and its dealership network. Two models would be discontinued, the Sky and Astra. GM would continue building the Aura sedan, the SUV’s, Vue and Outlook for at least two more years.

Saturn has 350 dealers across the United States. The dealers employ more than 13,000 jobs and sell only the Saturn autos. Canadian Saturn dealers are not included in the deal.

According to Penske future Saturn vehicles will be fuel economy focused. An expert indicated that this would move Saturn back to its roots of a entry level car company. PAG is in talks with several international automakers to replace GM after 2011. Automotive News reports that Renault Samsung Motors of Korea is the most likely candidate.

Penske wants Jill Lajdziak, Saturn’s general manager, and Tom LaSorda, former Chrysler President to head up the company when it is independent of GM.

Serra Automotive in Grand Blanc Township, Genesee County, Michigan, is in talks to take a partial ownership in a new Saturn lead by Penske.

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.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Ogun state police said the proprietor, the principal, and a teacher at Meteorite Standard School in Ayetoro, Nigeria were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly tying two students — one male and one female — to crosses and lashing them with a horsewhip for being late to school. They are being charged with assault as well as intention to cause grievous bodily harm.

According to police officer Livinus, who witnessed the lashing, he told the proprietor of the private school, identified as Afolayan Joseph, to untie the students. The proprietors “refused, saying there was nothing anybody could tell him that would make him to release them,” Livinus told a local newspaper The Punch. Livinus added that he was beaten when the tried to untie the students. “Before I returned from picking handcuffs from my car, they had grabbed a friend who was with me […] and beaten him up with a horsewhip”, the police officer said.

Livinus said he entered the school property with the help of neighbours, but the principal denied to follow him. Linivous later called Itele police station’s divisional officer for additional police at the scene, who later handled the situation. Calling the act as “barbaric”, Ogun Police Public Relations Officer Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed the arrest of three. Oyeyemi said the investigation is to be conducted by State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department.

The public relations officer said, “I don’t see any offence that a secondary school pupil will commit that will make someone to tie him or her and be flogging them in public.” Oyeyemi later added saying, “The act is no longer a corrective measure; it is a barbaric act and it will not be allowed in this 21st century”. Nigeria is not one of the countries who have banned corporal punishment.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Two train derailments in two days have closed railway lines in Australia.

A Rio Tinto iron ore train derailled at Pilbara, on a spur of the Tom Price to Dampier line on Thursday 29. The following day, a freight train with 40 wagons derailed east of Kalgoorlie, injuring three people.

The second derailment has closed the line used by the long distance Sydney to Perth Indian Pacific passenger train. Operators Great Southern Railway expect to lose A$500,000 revenues as the line remains closed until at least Thursday. Police say heavy rain has affected the area, and the federal Australian Rail Track Corporation say that a new access road needs to be built in order to clear the wreckage and repair the track.

Rio Tinto have sufficient stocks of iron ore already in place to keep working. However, the freight train was carrying consumer products, which may run short in the south of Western Australia in the next few days. The Kalgoorie crash is to be investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, while maintenance company Transfield Services will also be examining the incident.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

In the biggest ever narcotics haul in India’s capital, the New Delhi police have seized over 4,400 kg of Mandrax and Rs. 20 crore from a dealer in the city. The consignment, meant for a customer in the U.S, was seized from a godown in Badarpur, near the Delhi-Haryana border. The alleged trafficker, identified as Vinod Sharma, claimed that the contraband was not his and that he had nothing to do with the matter. Sharma started his career as a scrap-dealer in Delhi, and police suspect that with the help of some contacts he used container depots for drug-trafficking, whilst successfully dodging both the police and the Customs Department.

On Sunday the Delhi Police arrested him at his Kalkaji residence. The Deputy Commissioner of Police for South District, Delhi Police, Anil Shukla said, “Sharma befriended container drivers and once they had driven past customs, he and his men would meet them at a distance and pilfer the containers.”