Life's Great Expectations!

BT: Security breaches higher during holiday By Zafar Anjum 04 Dec 2008 SINGAPORE, 4 DECEMBER 2008 - Businesses could be at risk of both physical and logical security breaches over the festive season and must take preventative action, warned Richard Moss, general manager, business continuity, security and governance practice, Asia Pacific, BT. BT is a communications solutions provider. “Christmas is a time to relax and enjoy, but criminals do not take holidays,” said Moss. “Often over this period, there is a lower level of vigilance on many corporate networks,” he added. “Businesses that let their guard down and leave networks unattended afford potential hackers longer periods of time to gain unauthorised access to IT systems without being detected,” he said. Security not just IT department’s responsibility According to Moss, security is not only the responsibility of the IT department. Many staff work from home over the long holiday, taking laptops and IT equipment...

James Crichton , Hays - 28 Oct 2008 This article argues that taking a proactive approach to career development is vital. Where do you start and how can you ensure you keep moving forward? The volatile marketplace is putting increased pressure on treasurers and their teams. Never has the role of the corporate treasurer held such an important profile at both the operational and strategic levels. The good news is that there is scope for ambitious and talented individuals to shine and get involved in a variety of projects. Whether you're a graduate taking that first tentative career step or a director with many years' sector experience, actively managing your career is the trick if you want to maximise the opportunities that come your way as a treasury professional. All too often we can let the daily pressures of our jobs consume us and forget to take stock of our current predicament and where we see ourselves further down the track. Career development is a continuous process a...

Friday September 12, 11:11 pm ET By Joe Bel Bruno, AP Business Writer Investor confidence dwindling, Lehman Brothers may need a miracle to survive NEW YORK (AP) -- The Wall Street firm that started the U.S. cotton trade before the Civil War and financed the railroads that built a nation might soon fade into history. Just days after Lehman Brothers Chief Executive Richard S. Fuld tried to pitch Wall Street on a plan to save the firm by shrinking it, he's in complicated negotiations with potential buyers that may see the company sold piecemeal as soon as Sunday night, analysts said. "Nothing short of a miracle can save Lehman as is," said Anthony Sabino, professor of law and business at St. John's University. "It is highly unlikely Lehman will be in existence on Monday morning." Late Friday, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York held an emergency meeting with top Washington policymakers and major financial institutions to discuss Lehman's future. Attend...

Friday September 12, 11:09 pm ET By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer Federal officials meet with financial institutions to discuss Lehman Brothers WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York held an emergency meeting Friday night with top Washington policymakers and major financial institutions to discuss the future of Lehman Brothers. The meeting, which was attended by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, was held at the offices of New York Federal Reserve Bank president Timothy Geithner. The meeting was confirmed by Fed spokeswoman Michelle Smith. Smith refused to disclose what financial institutions participated in the meeting or whether the group had reached any conclusion over how to resolve the crisis facing Lehman Brothers. She said that in addition to Paulson and Geithner, Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, was in attendance for the discussions. The private sector participants were described by Smith only as "senior...

Reuters NEW YORK - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the world's most powerful woman for the third straight year, topping Forbe's magazines 2008 list of the top 100 women based on their career, economic impact and media coverage. Ho Ching, the chief executive of Singapore investment agency, Temasek Holdings, was ranked No 8, down from the third place in last year's list. Forbes credited her for converting Temasek from a Singapore-focused firm to a leading investor in Asia. She earned accolades by making investments in Indian and Chinese telecoms and banks, and as a result, increased the portfolio to about US$100 billion. The World's 10 Most Powerful Women 1. Angela Merkel, Chancellor Germany 2. Sheila C. Bair, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp USA 3. Indra K. Nooyi, Chairman, chief executive, PepsiCo USA 4. Angela Braly, Chief executive, president, WellPoint USA 5. Cynthia Carroll, Chief executive, Anglo American USA 6. Irene B. Rosenf...

EFFECTIVE AUGUST 1, 2008 With the economy going south and at the rate we are cutting cost…it won’t be long till you see this in your office.... NEW OFFICE POLICY Dress Code: 1) You are advised to come to work dressed according to your salary. 2) If we see you wearing Prada shoes and carrying a Gucci bag, we will assume you are doing well financially and therefore do not need a raise. 3) If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes, and therefore you do not need a raise. 4) If you dress just right, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a raise. Sick Days: We will no longer accept a doctor's statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work. Personal Days: Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturdays & Sundays. Bereavement Leave: This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relat...

The admission was the third time in the last two months that Microsoft has had to re-issue a security-related update. By Gregg Keizer 25 Aug 2008 FRAMINGHAM, 22 AUGUST 2008 - Microsoft Corp. re-released one of its Aug. 11 security updates yesterday, explaining that it had posted an incomplete version to its own download center last week. The admission was the third time in the last two months that Microsoft has had to re-issue a security-related update. Users who manually downloaded MS08-051 since Aug. 12 to patch Office 2003 should obtain the second version as soon as possible, Microsoft said. People who obtained the update via Windows Update or through their company's Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server, or who updated other versions of Office, do not need to reinstall MS08-051. That update patched three vulnerabilities in PowerPoint, the presentation maker included with Microsoft Office, including one that Microsoft labeled "critical," its highes...

Straits Times on 30 July 2008 by Lee Wei Ling "I was born and bred in Singapore. This is my home, to which I am tied by family and friends. Yet many Singaporeans find me eccentric, though most are too polite to verbalise it. I only realised how eccentric I am when one friend pointed out to me why I could not use my own yardstick to judge others. I dislike intensely the elitist attitude of some in our upper socio-economic class. I have been accused of reverse snobbery because I tend to avoid the wealthy who flaunt their wealth ostentatiously or do not help the less fortunate members of our society. I treat all people I meet as equals, be it a truck driver friend or a patient and friend who belongs to the richest family in Singapore. I appraise people not by their usefulness to me but by their character. I favour those with integrity, compassion and courage. I feel too many among us place inordinate emphasis on academic performance, job status, appearance and presentation. I am a do...

Written by nicknowsky22 Friday, 09 May 2008 Only AMD systems affected, says former Microsoft security manager Installing Windows XP Service Pack 3 sends some PCs into an endless series of reboots, according to posts to a Microsoft support forum. Jesper Johansson, a former program manager for security policy at Microsoft Corp. and a prominent Windows blogger, has worked with users to tentatively identify the problem as involving only machines using processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Messages from frustrated users began accumulating on the XP SP3 support newsgroup Wednesday, just a day after Microsoft released the update to the general public. "I just installed Windows XP SP3 and after completing the processes and when the system reboots, the system cannot proceed to load the Windows," said a user identified as "Olin" in a message that kicked off a long thread . "It just displays the flash screen of Windows then af...

the mrbrown show: operation jamban investigation Podcast: the mrbrown show 3 Mar 2008: operation jamban investigation Download MP3 (MP3, file size: 2.2mb, Time: 00:04:34)

It helps get food to the table fast, but there are some essential things you need to know before pressing that 'start' button Behold the West's favourite appliance: the microwave, an effective, no-fuss way to get dinner on the table - fast. Microwave ovens emit radio waves that cause water molecules to quickly flip back and forth. 'That flipping causes friction which generates a lot of heat,' says Dr Catherine Donnelly, professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Vermont. 'The food cooks based on how the water molecules move around in the product.' So, foods with higher water content like soups, sauces and coffee or tea heat up more quickly. But with the co...

Countless immune boosters fly off the shelves year-round, particularly in the cold and flu season. But even some of the most popular immune supplements haven't been tested against cold and flu in well-designed clinical trials. No clinical trials, for example, have been conducted on goldenseal, a purported immune-booster sometimes used to fend off the common cold - and there's evidence the herb may interfere with blood pressure drugs, decrease the activity of anticoagulants and hamper absorption of vitamin B. Goji, sometimes known as lycium, is a popular immune booster based on evidence from the laboratory and animal studies, and some human research in China - but no clinical trials have examined its ability to keep flu or colds at bay. The same is true for supplements derived from tropical fruits noni and mangosteen. A few herbs popular for other indicat...

A dangerous activity, involving trying to choke oneself to cause a brief high, is spreading among young boys in the United States At least 82 children have died in the United States in recent years as a result of playing the 'choking' game, a bizarre but increasingly common practice, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The game, which involves intentionally trying to choke oneself to create a brief high, has been around for years, but it appears to be spreading. One theory is that the Internet has made it easier for children to learn about the game. A search of YouTube turns up several videos warning about the practice, but also several troubling demonstrations by giggling adolescents showing how to play. The deaths identified by the CDC are based on media reports of the game ...

guardian.co.uk , Tuesday 15 January 2008 16.18 GMT A Greenpeace photo of the Japanese whaling vessel, Nisshin Maru, similar to the one on which activists are reportedly being held captive. Photograph: Jiri Rezac/EPA Two members of the radical anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd are reportedly being held against their will on a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters. In a vessel called Steve Irwin, members of the group had been pursuing Japan's annual whaling hunt in the Antarctic for almost a month. After locating five Japanese whaling boats this morning, two of its activists – Australian Benjamin Potts and British man Giles Lane – boarded the Yushin Maru No 2 vessel. They handed the crew a letter advising them they were "illegally killing whales" and were then detained. "They were successful in delivering the message, but then they were not allowed to leave and return to our vessel," said Sea Shepherd s...

Something worth pondering.... " The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect." * A group of graduates, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. * Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. * Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee. * When all the students had a cup of coffee, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the simple and cheap ones. * While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. * Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. *...

LONDON (AFP) - - A European consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland on Wednesday declared victory in the takeover battle for Dutch group ABN Amro, sealing the biggest takeover in banking history and prompting the resignation of ABN's chairman. Rijkman Groenink stepped down after opposing the consortium's mostly cash bid worth 100 billion dollars (71 billion euros), which prevailed over an offer from British bank Barclays. The consortium, also comprising Belgian-Dutch group Fortis and Spain's Banco Santander, will now break up ABN Amro -- a move criticised by Groenink. The takeover is also expected to involve the loss of up to 19,000 jobs at ABN Amro . RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin rejoiced in the victory but acknowledged that much work lay ahead. "It is good to get to the end of what has been a very long road," Goodwin told reporters on a conference call. "There is still a huge amount of work out there to do," he added. Axel Pierron, an analyst at fi...

August 11, 2007 Financial markets were roiled again yesterday, with the Federal Reserve and other central banks stepping in to bolster liquidity in the wake of the subprime credit seizure. Serving as lender of last resort in these conditions is the proper function of central banks. But going further -- with an emergency rate cut, as some in the market seem to be anticipating or hoping for -- carries the risk of introducing even greater moral hazard into the financial system. It's worth recalling in this connection that the root cause of this credit correction was the Federal Reserve's willingness to keep money too easy for too long. The federal funds rate was probably negative in real terms for close to two years between 2003 and 2005. This led to a misallocation of capital into real estate and certain mortgage instruments that is currently being worked off. For the Fed to take its eye off the price-stability ball now in response to short-term market gyrations would only compou...

Greenspan sees dramatic drop in Chinese stocks ... Worried Shanghai Will Burst ...China Syndrome? U.S. stocks sold off Wednesday afternoon after former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he was concerned Chinese stocks may undergo a " dramatic contraction " but said the global economy may be able to shrug off a drop in asset prices. Addressing a meeting in Madrid via teleconference, Greenspan said the recent boom in Chinese stocks could not last . " It is clearly unsustainable ," he said " There's going to be a dramatic contraction at some point ." The main Shanghai index has nearly tripled in past year and is up 56 percent so far in 2007. Greenspan also said a correction could cause problems for Chinese personal wealth. Some analysts have speculated that the Chinese government could be tempted to dip into its reserves to bail out any stung investors and avoid social unrest. Greenspan, who stood down as Fed governor last year, said cheap...

SINGAPORE: A water spout has been spotted from the eastern parts of Singapore. Water spout sighted off Singapore's east coast By Gamar Abdul Aziz, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 25 May 2007 1646 hrs Most callers to the MediaCorp News Hotline reported seeing what looked like a tornado or a twister over the sea. Most said they saw the phenomenon at about 2.30pm and that the phenomenon lasted about 15 minutes. Witnesses said it was moving in a circular motion. The water spout could be seen in several areas including Chai Chee, East Coast Park, Suntec City and Potong Pasir. Last August, a water-spout was also spotted off the coast of Sentosa Island. The National Environment Agency (NEA) said intense thunderstorms were the cause of the phenomenon. The water spout is a narrow column of water that is sucked to the base of a cloud, making it look like a funnel. An average diameter of a waterspout is 50 metres and it has average wind speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour. The NEA added tha...