“The toughest set of Wall Street regulations and consumer protections against greedy financial practices since the Great Depression” has been signed into law by President Obama, writes Kenneth Bazinet for the New York Daily News.
The new rules will “ensure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system,” says President Obama.
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(0)Micronesian master navigator Mau Piailug has died on the western Pacific island of Satawal at the age of 78.
In 1976, without a compass, and using only stars, sun and wind, he navigated a traditional sailing canoe more than 3,000 miles across the Pacific from Hawaii to Tahiti.
This month-long voyage proved that indigenous people had been capable of exploring and colonising the Pacific islands.
The vessel named Hukule’a used in the voyage is currently being restored as part of a five year project that includes training young navigators and visiting ports while circumnavigating the earth.
(0)Dislikes(0)An Environmental Protection Unit has been established by the Sri Lankan police to assist in the country’s current dengue eradication campaign which is being conducted by the army and police.
Traders have been warned not to dump their garbage in front of their premises, says the Inspector General of Police Mahinda Balasuriya, and the police have already arrested over 300 persons who have flouted this order and taken them before courts.
Police have been deployed to provide security for public health inspectors to carry out house-to-house searches for mosquito breeding areas and take action against persons who contribute to the spread of dengue carrying mosquitoes.
Sri Lanka has officially reported around 25,000 dengue fever victims and over 150 dengue related deaths so far this year.
(0)Dislikes(0)One of largest banks in the US, Wachovia Corporation, “admitted it didn’t do enough to spot illicit funds in handling $378.4 billion for Mexican-currency-exchange houses from 2004 to 2007,” reports Bloomberg writer Michael Smith.
USA and Europe’s biggest banks and financial institutions are handling money from the Mexican drug cartels which export hundreds of tons of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines into the US, in a business generating US$39 billion a year.
Banks and institutions involved in handling the money include Bank of America, Wachovia Corporation (now owned by Wells Fargo & Co.), American Express Bank, Western Union, London-based HSBC Holdings Plc, and Mexican units of Banco Santander SA, Citigroup Inc. and HSBC.
“Since 2006, more than 22,000 people have been killed in drug-related battles that have raged mostly along the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border that Mexico shares with the U.S.,” writes Smith. “In the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, 700 people had been murdered this year as of mid-June.”
(0)Dislikes(0)Former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Robert Blake, now the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, arrives in the Maldives on Thursday to mediate talks between political parties.
Current US Ambassador Patricia Butenis has already hosted talks between the deadlocked executive and leaders of the opposition-majority parliament.
While in the Maldives, Blake will meet government officials, opposition parties, civil society representatives, anti-trafficking activists, and religious leaders.
(0)Dislikes(0)“Many believe that those who hide their faces are rejecting Western values along with integration and participation in the society in which they live. And, worst of all, those who hide their faces reject Europe’s most precious birthright: Respect for the individual,” write Juliane von Mittelstaedt and Stefan Simons in German news website Speigel Online.
A clear majority of Germans, French, Spanish and British all support a ban on face covering burquas. However, most Americans however would reject such a ban, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, based in Washington.
(0)Dislikes(0)Researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra have found a key to the mutation of the flu virus that may lead to a life-long vaccine, reports ABC News.
(0)Dislikes(0)Tiny Hearts of Maldives, a local NGO, has raised Rf265,000 to help 26 children with Congenital Heart Disease.
Over 100 celebrities, including male and female presenters, actors, and vocalists participated in the “Save a Tiny Heart” campaign, reports Haveeru.
“The surgery costs US$3500-7000, some parents are unable to do the surgery for their kids even when they reach four years of age, despite hard work. Our objective was to encourage them by giving some support,” said Tiny Hearts member Fiunaz Waheed during a ceremony at the Holiday Inn Male.
Maldives needs foetal echo scanning equipment to identify this disease, said paediatrician Dr Fathimath Niyasha at the ceremony.
(0)Dislikes(0)A US$90 million (Rf1.2 billion) project agreement to provide solar powered electricity to the Upper South Province of Maldives (Thaa and Laamu atolls) has been signed by Upper South Utilities Limited with BBM Infra Limited of India.
The 24 mega watt solar power facility will be built by BBM in association with two Chinese companies to provide electricity to all islands of Upper South Province .
The project should commence within 2-3 months, says the managing director of Upper South Utilities Limited Ahmed Saeed Mohamed, and would reduce the cost of electricity by 20 percent.
BBM Infra Ltd is part of the BBM Bommidala Group, based on the tobacco trade. BBM Infra, the newest company in this group, is expanding into solar power, construction machinery, and highway projects.
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