31 October 2014

Banks Behaving Badly

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This week saw all eyes on the banking sector with investigations galore. The tech industry also saw some action this week of a less dramatic kind.

Banks


The European Central Bank's health check was a success however the report did say "Banks face a significant challenge as the sector remains chronically unprofitable".

Things only got worse from there with Barclays Bank under investigation for bribing a member of the Saudi Royal Family in order to secure a rare banking license. Deutsche Bank braced itself for a $1bn fine from US and UK regulators for it's part in the Libor and Euribor scandal.

Further afield US prosecutors may reopen investigations into several big banks that were previously probed on suspicion they may have violated agreements under which the institutions settled prior cases against them. US and European banks are also stock piling billions for potential trans-Atlantic settlement of allegations they manipulated foreign-exchange rates.

Technology


The technology sector saw action with Twitter shares taking a tumble over concerns with user growth. Samsung was hammered with profits plummeting 60% due to increased pressure from smartphone competitors.

Facebook on the other hand saw it's earnings almost double on rising ad revenue. but it wasn't all good news with it's latest Acquisition $21.8bn WhatsApp making a loss of $138million. Microsoft ended up cutting 3,000 employees as part of it's larger plan to cut 18,000 staff.

Apple was in the news after one of it's suppliers, GT Advanced Technologies, says a deal with the tech giant went sour forcing it to file for bankruptcy. However it's wasn't all gloom for Apple with it's payment system showing 1 million activations within 72 hours.


24 October 2014

Who's in the news? Oscar Pistorius (Follow Up)

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After a seven month trial the verdict is in, Oscar Pistorius will do time for killing Reeva Steenkamp.

Trial


After killing Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day 2013 the Oscar trial began on 3 March 2014 with Reeva's and Oscar's family in attendance. The trial boiled down to Oscars team claiming he thought there was a intruder in the bathroom while the state prosecution claimed Oscar and Reeva had been fighting moments before and that Oscar had murdered Reeva.

There was a short break in the trial for Oscar to under go a psychiatric evaluation only to resume with the reports claiming he could be held criminally responsible. The trial ended on the 8 August 2014 with closing arguments.

Verdict


The verdict was read out on the 12 September 2014, more than 18 months after Oscar had shot and killed Reeva, with Judge Thokozile Masipa finding Oscar guilty of culpable homicide but not of murder. Oscar was also found guilty of reckless endangerment due to an incident with a firearm.

Sentence


On 21 October 2014 Oscar was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for the Valentines Day killing of Reeva. During sentencing Judge Masipa said "A non-custodial sentence would send the wrong message to the community, but a long sentence would also not be appropriate." A separate firearms charge received a 3 year sentence suspended for 5 years. The Pistorius family confirmed that Oscar would not appeal the judgement. While Oscar has been sentenced to 5 years he may be out in less than 1 year when he becomes eligible for a converted sentence after 10 months.

Along with his jail term the international paralympic committee have said the 5 year sentence would also mean a 5 year suspension.

17 October 2014

Big Brother or Big Bully?

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What happens when the people given power turn on you? The world has seen protests flaring up as police brutality and political interference impeded progress and grow ever more violent.

Hong Kong


The recent protests in Hong Kong (previously blogged about here) were reignited with outrage after video footage of demonstrators being assaulted by police was released resulting in 6 officers being suspended. It is also rumored that thugs were hired to break up protests.

The violence began when police started removing barriers trying to clear protest sites. Police continued clearing protest sites across Hong Kong over the week with violence often following. With the clean up operations under way and violence prevalent Hong Kong leaders have said they are willing to meet with students.


St. Louis and Ferguson


Protests erupted when another young black man was shot and killed by a white police officer in St. Louis resulting in police in riot gear and armed with pepper spray emulating the pattern seen in Ferguson (previously blogged about here) just a few short months earlier.

Police began blocking their radio communication ahead of "Ferguson October" after activists, protestors and media listened in on them via scanners. 50 protestors were arrested in Ferguson after descending on the police station where the original shooting took place.

Mexico


Thousands turned out to protest over the disappearance of students by gangs supposedly backed by police. The students that disappeared were believed to have been found when five mass graves were discovered, however, none of the bodies were of the 43 college students that went missing after clashes with police.


10 October 2014

From the Noblest of Minds to the Deadliest of Diseases

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The annual Nobel Prize awards were announced with breakthroughs in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine, however, the week was plagued with more bad news as Ebola stretched it's legs spreading beyond it's original confines.

Nobel Prizes


The awards in the technological fields spanned photography, GPS and LED's. Starting with Physic's the Nobel Prize went to scientist's Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and Shuji Nakamura from America for their invention of blue light emitting diodes used in everything from homes to billboards. In the field of Chemistry the Nobel Prize went to Eric Betzig and William Moerner of America and Stefan Hell of Germany for their work on capturing images on the nano scale helping to study individual molecules inside cells.

Lastly the Nobel Prize in Medicine went to British-American scientist John O'Keefe and Norwegian couple May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser who discovered the brains "inner GPS" which helps people orient themselves and navigate the world around them. With the prizes under their belts here's what they can expect in their future as Nobel Prize winners according to past winners.

Ebola


As Ebola rampages through Western Africa a small trickle of the disease made it's way to other parts of the world with the US confirming it's first case of Ebola. Since then President Obama has promised to revamp airport screening to tackle the issue at it's entry point. With Ebola on the world's door step a San Antonio based company has developed a "germ-zapping robot" which may be effective in combating the spread of Ebola.

And finally, outside of Western Africa and the US the husband of a Spanish Nurse has become the first person to contract the disease outside of West Africa and is currently in quarantine.

3 October 2014

Need to Know - Hong Kong Protests

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This week saw an escalation from protestors in Hong Kong as students, with the support of many in Hong Kong, took to government offices and business districts objecting to political interference.

Students Fight Back


Protests began when mainland China reneged on the political promise made in 1997 often called "one country, two systems" opting instead for a new process requiring a committee to pre-approve candidates for election.

Since then there has been a wave of students occupying areas around government offices and business districts with police responding with tear gas and batons. At one point even school children joined university students to protest with many university students being arrested for occupying government buildings.

Financial and Technological Impact


The protests have had a major impact on business in Hong Kong resulting in banks shutting down offices and with no end in sight many Hong Kong stocks tumbled as markets took a hammering. Retailers suffered when the protests spanned China's Golden week holiday which normally results in an influx of shoppers from mainland China with an estimated loss of $2billion Hong Kong dollars.

As protests grew ugly the authorities blocked Instagram along with censoring of other internet services. However protestors have found ways around the censorship using mesh networks for phone to phone communication bypassing restrictions. The Chinese government has apparently used "main-in-the-middle" attack's on Yahoo allowing officials to snoop on communications along with blocking links. There have also been reports of sophisticated malware spying on protestors using Android and iOS devices.

Responses Near and Far


As protests grow more volatile the world has taken notice with the British government deciding to review it's policy of selling tear gas to Hong Kong after it's use on protestors. The website Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) was created for the international community to send messages of support to students protesting.

With power slowly slipping away the Chinese-state newspaper threatened protestors calling for them to cease immediately warning the end result would be "disastrous" and accusing the protestors of "blaspheming" the rule of law.

As it stands the current Hong Kong leader Chief Executive Leung has refused to step down but has instead offered to talk to protestors.