Saturday, October 20, 2007

Dell Inc. announced on Tuesday that it will partner up with the Microsoft-Nortel Innovative communications alliance (ICA) team to sell Unified Communications and VoIP products.

The announcement on Tuesday the 16th of October 2007 includes Dell selling VoIP, data and wireless networking products from Nortel and the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and other unified communications products.

The partnership with both manufacturers should allow Dell to provide a pre-integrated solution.

In March 2007, competitors IBM and Cisco announced they would join in the competition for developing unified communications applications and the development of open technologies around the unified communications and collaboration (UC2) client platform an application programming interfaces (APIs) offered by IBM as a subset of Lotus Sametime.

“We want to make it simple for our customers to deploy unified communications so their end users can get access to all their messages in one place – whether its e-mail, phone or mobile device. This will pave the way for more business-ready productivity tools,” said vice president of solutions, Dell Product Group, Rick Becker.

• Customers have four options:
  • Core Office Communication Server 2007 – provides instant messaging and on-premise Microsoft Live Meeting.
  • Office Communication Server: Telephony – enables call routing tracking and management, VoIP gateway and public branch exchange (PBX) integration.
  • Audio and Video Conferencing – allows point-to-point conference, video conference and VoIP audio conference.
  • Exchange Unified Messaging – provides voicemail, e-mail and fax in Microsoft Outlook, and anywhere access of Microsoft Outlook Inbox and Calendar.

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

After this weekend, Texas can celebrate not only bringing home the Big 12 Conference trophy but also having the All-Big 12 Player of the Year, P.J. Tucker, and the first recipient of the Defensive Player of the Year award, LaMarcus Aldridge.

Rival Kansas, who tied with Texas for the No. 1 slot in the conference but was denied the trophy, had coach Bill Self named Coach of the Year and Brandon Rush named Freshman of the Year. Michael Neal of Oklahoma was named Newcomer of the Year.

The All-Big 12 awards are selected by the league’s head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players.

Tucker, a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team choice, is the first Longhorn to earn Big 12 Player of the Year recognition. He leads the team and ranks sixth overall in the conference in scoring (16.1), while leading the league in rebounding (9.0). He is also fourth in field goal percentage with a .531 mark. He has led UT in scoring seven times in league play and is second in the Big 12 overall with 10 double-doubles.

Aldridge wins the first defensive honor awarded by the Big 12. He is first in the Big 12 with 59 blocks overall, including 27 in conference games. He has 81 defensive rebounds in 2005-06, ranking third in the league. Aldridge can score as well, leading the Big 12 with 13 double-doubles.

Neal is the second-straight Sooner and fourth overall to win Newcomer of the Year. One of the top long-range threats in the Big 12, the junior college transfer ranks first in conference games in 3-point field goal percentage (.495) and 3-point field goals per game (3.86). He is also averaging a team-best 14.8 points in league action. He has shot 50.0 percent or better from beyond the arc 11 times this season.

Rush is the first freshman in conference history to be named to the All-Big 12 First Team. The top scoring freshman in the conference with 15.1 points per game, Rush also ranks seventh with a 6.6 rebounding average. He is the fourth KU player to surpass 400 points (408) in his freshman season. The native of Kansas City, Mo. is the second Jayhawk to win freshman accolades (Jeff Boschee, 1998-99).

Self wins his first Big 12 coaching honor and the third for a Jayhawk mentor. After returning just 21.2 percent of his scoring from a year ago, Self guided KU to a share of the Big 12 regular season championship, its sixth in league annals. Starting three freshmen and two sophomores, Kansas recorded its 18th straight season with at least 22 victories.

The All-Big 12 First, Second, Third and Honorable Mention teams were also announced, while conference coaches also selected All-Defensive and All-Rookie Teams for the first time.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Methane gas was blamed for the explosion deaths of 8 miners in southern Polish‘s Halemba coal mine Tuesday, November 21. Officials say at least 15 are missing.

Rescue efforts were halted because dangerously high levels of methane gas returned, according to Zbigniew Madej, spokesman for state-owned Coal Co., which operates the mine.

The missing miners’ locater devices were not emitting signals, increasing rescurers’ concerns for their well-being. Grzegorz Pawlaszek, head of Coal Co., said the 15 missing miners’ fate is “not known,” but added that “there is a chance to find someone still alive.”

“This is a tragedy. People have died here,” Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said when he came to Ruda Slaska to see the blast.

Earlier Wednesday, a reconnaissance rescue team descended 3000 feet toward the blast scene, only to retreat because of safety concerns related to high methane gas levels. Rescue digging efforts were also halted because of explosion concerns.

The missing men were aged 21-59. One of the miner’s family members, Andrzej Pytlik, 30, remained on scene with his sister, hoping and waiting for news of her husband, Krystian Gaszka.

Pytlik, also a miner, said through teary eyes that, “I work in the mines and I know that hope is scant because that’s the truth.”

The explosion occurred in a closed portion of the mine where the now-missing miners were working to retrieve abandoned equipment. According to Pawlaszek, the value of the equipment was $23 million, adding that “It was new equipment and that is why we decided to retrieve it.”

He indicated that the recovery work was performed under the supervision of gas detection specialists, and that the bodies of the recovered miners were difficult to identify because of the severity of burns and because their ID tags were blown away in the explosion.

The Halemba mine, located in Ruda Slaska, has produced coal for nearly 50 years, has been fraught with safety concerns and has a track record of serious accidents. One of the oldest mines in Poland, it is centrally located in the industrial Silesia region.

Earlier this year, a miner was trapped underground in the Halemba mine five days after a cave-in. In 1990, 19 miners were killed and 20 hurt in a gas explosion, and five were killed in collapse in 1991.

Inside, priests and mining officials were comforting and counseling with distraught relatives. Outside, eight white candles flickered on a main gate wall.

Friday, March 3, 2006

A sticker for the Pensacola, Florida folk-punk band This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb was found on a bike near the Ohio University‘s Oasis restaurant by a university police officer.

The university police, who were unaware of the band’s existence, summoned the Columbus police bomb squad, who destroyed the bike to ensure that there was no bomb inside. The university later discovered their error.

The bike’s owner, a graduate student, has been charged with “inducing panic,” a misdemeanor. He has been released and is due to appear in court March 13 on the charge.

The band’s label, Plan-It-X Records, has not yet commented on the incident. The font and style of the sticker are common among such humorous stickers.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

In a continuing crackdown on tax evasion, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has alleged that brokers with a branch of RBC Dominion Securities, Canada’s largest brokerage company, helped clients set up accounts in the small European principality of Liechtenstein in order to avoid taxation on their wealth.

In affadavits submitted by the CRA, brokers with an RBC Dominion Securities office in Victoria, British Columbia, allegedly helped clients set up 16 offshore entities with a division of the LGT Group in Liechtenstein. While that is not a crime under Canadian law, auditors allege that the entities were used to help Canadians hide worldwide income. Thirteen individuals are either being audited or have made voluntary disclosures, admitting to tax evasion. The agency is presently investigating to see if there are any other individuals participating in this scheme. Regarding the inquiry, dubbed “Project Jade”, the CRA will only say that it was launched on information from a “confidential informant”.

RBC issued a written statement, saying “As a firm, we have never encouraged Canadians — not 25 years ago and not today — to set up entities in Liechtenstein, and we have never instructed our investment advisers to recommend that practice,” and “we comply with all CRA requirements. This means that we provide all our clients with the forms they need to meet their personal tax obligations, and also file reports with CRA that form the basis for reviews such as this.”

Three RBC employees are presently being investigated, with one remaining unidentified.

[edit]

Friday, July 1, 2011

Hundreds of thousands of British public sector workers went on strike across the country yesterday to protest planned changes to pensions. As industrial action swept the country, half of all schools were hit when teachers walked out, thousands of emergency service responders did not arrive at work, and there were warnings of immigration delays at Heathrow airport.

Police arrested 26 people as protesters picketed on a march in London, and riot police kettled demonstrators as clashes broke out. Reports vary, but it is thought that up to half of British state schools have been affected as employees did not turn up to work.

Mark Serwotka, the leader of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), said the strikes would serve as a “wake-up call” to the coalition government. “It’s a very, very clear signal to the government that they have been rumbled,” Serwotka said. “This is not about pensions, this is about making public sector workers pay for the economic problems, and we are determined to keep going until they change direction.”

Government officials condemned the strike and said the planned changes to pensions, which would see teachers work until age 68 and get less from their pensions, were “fair to taxpayers” as Britain attempts to deal with a large budget deficit. A spokesperson for Downing Street insisted the strike was having a “minimal” impact and said the turnout suggested many public sector workers supported the pension changes.

Christine Blower, the general secretary of one of the striking unions, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said the strike demonstrated “the anger and distress that this government is causing teachers.” She said the “unjustified attacks” on the pensions of teachers “are nothing short of disgraceful.” Speaking on BBC television programme Question Time, she added: “Much of this has already been imposed on teachers without negotiation, and when we say there are talks going on it’s perfectly true that the government is talking but it isn’t actually listening.”

But despite government claims that the strike was having little impact, 5,679 schools were closed and another 4,999 were affected as teachers did not turn up for work. Michael Gove, the education secretary attacked the walkouts as “disappointing and unnecessary”. Thousands of staff handling emergency 999 calls also striked and pickets were held outside courts as members of the PCS walked out in protest.

Francis Maude, the cabinet office minister, also maintained that the strikes were wrong and said the low number of people walking out showed many supported the government’s plans. “What today has shown is that the vast majority of hard-working public sector employees do not support today’s premature strike and have come into work today,” he said.

Senior Labour party figures including Ed Miliband, Tessa Jowell and John Denham said the strikes were unjustified until negotiations with the government had concluded. Mary Bousted of the NUT criticised Labour’s lack of support for the striking workers: “The response of Ed Miliband has been a disgrace – he should be ashamed of himself. If our strike is a mistake, what has he done to oppose this devastating attack on our pensions? If the opposition will not defend our pensions, we will.”

A largely peaceful march by 30,000 protesters took place through London, and the atmosphere was reported to be largely peaceful, but Metropolitan Police officials said 26 people had been arrested. At a meeting in Westminister, many left wing figures attacked the government plans. Ken Livingstone, a former mayor of London who is running for the job again next year, said the coalition government had “mishandled” the issue of pensions. “The government must end its attacks and negotiate on the core issues under contention,” he added.