supraoutletshop.com

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Canadian TD Financial Group has come to a deal with the regional U.S. bank, Hudson United Bancorp, to buy Hudson for US$1.9 billion. The new addition will be folding into itsMaine-based TD Banknorth, which is 51% owned by TD Financial. The acquisition will bring in 204 new branches and increase TD’s footprint to New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. In total this will give TD 590 branches, 751 banking machines and more than US$26-billion in deposits across eight northeastern states.

Hudson specialises in commercial real estate, consumer and credit card loans to individuals and businesses. The bank also had $8.85 billion US in assets at the end of it’s first quarter, on March 31. The company’s shares had been dropping in the course of the past year because of allegations of money-laundering violations and after an earnings warning, making it a good steal for TD. The acquisition will greatly increased TD’s influence in America.

This continues the recent trend for Canadian banks expanding into the U.S. where regulation on bank mergers is less strict than in their home country.

“This transaction delivers on our shared vision for growth and marks a significant milestone in TD Banknorth’s expansion strategy,” TD Bank CEO and president Ed Clark said in a statement.

Friday, March 30, 2007

Dell Inc., a global leader in computer hardware manufacturing and sales, announced yesterday that it will delay filing of its annual performance report, the Form 10-K, required for compliance with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Nasdaq listing rules.

In a press release, Dell explained that an audit committee of the company’s board of directors is carrying out an investigation into accounting and financial reporting issues. The company stated that it would delay filing of the 10-K since the investigation had not been completed.

The internal investigation has found evidence of accounting errors, misconduct, and deficiencies in areas of financial control.

The chairman of Dell’s audit committee, Thomas Luce III, indicated that the delay in filing would extend past the April 3, 2007 deadline as well as an April 18, 2007 extension date. “As we move toward the conclusion of our investigation, we are committing the time and resources required to ensure a thorough and comprehensive review and resolution of all identified issues and the implementation of appropriate remedial measures,” said Luce.

The investigation is to determine whether the restatement of any financial disclosures are warranted, based on the accounting errors identified. The probe will also assess whether there are deficiencies in Dell’s internal control over financial reporting.

Wednesday, July 6, 2005

Joshua J. Goyette allegedly confessed to breaking into a Saxonburg, Pennsylvania retirement home and beating 86-year-old Gertrude “Trudy” Johanson in the early morning of June 25, 2005. The crime, which shocked the small community north of Pittsburgh, was not the only one which occurred recently at area retirement homes. Goyette is also suspected in a May incident where another apartment at the Commons of Saxonburg was broken into through a first floor window and the 90-year-old woman inside was groped while she slept.

Goyette, 25, has addresses listed in court documents in New Bedford, Massachusetts; and in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, his mother’s home.

The alleged confession was given last Thursday, June 30, 2005, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to Pennsylvania state police investigators. Goyette is currently being held in the Butler County prison in lieu of $300,000 cash bond. He faces charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, burglary and criminal mischief.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A report from the new US and NATO commander in Afghanistan says there is an urgent need for more foreign troops and civilians, more Afghan forces and a new strategic approach to reverse Taliban gains.

File:General Stanley A McChrystal 01.jpg

The assessment by US Army General Stanley McChrystal is still officially secret, but the Washington Post published an unclassified version on Monday, which it says has only a few deletions requested by the government.

In the document, the general, who arrived in Afghanistan in June, says “success is not ensured by additional forces alone, but continued under-resourcing will likely cause failure.”

He writes that the US and NATO effort has long been “under-resourced,” and that must change within 12 months or the coalition “risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.” He says a lack of even the “minimum” resources is “a recipe for failure” in a counterinsurgency,” and the Taliban and related groups have made significant gains in recent years as a result.

The report says that “failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term [next year] — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.”

General McChrystal says while the Afghan government and military “must ultimately defeat the insurgency,” the coalition can not wait for the Afghans to be capable enough to do the job alone.

Although the Washington Post published most of the document on its website, Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to discuss its details, calling it “pre-decisional” and “classified.”

“The national security team, to include the commander-in-chief, have it. They are reviewing it. They will use it to help them make decisions about the future. The secretary [of Defense] is absorbing the assessment along with the president. If there are decisions that flow from that, they will make them at the appropriate time,” the spokesman said.

Whitman would not say when McChrystal will make his expected detailed request for more troops, or when a decision might be made.

On the president’s aircraft Monday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that while the general may want more troops, he does not expect a formal request for a little while. “We are going to conduct that strategic assessment and do that in a way that lays out the best path forward before we make resource decisions, rather than having this go the other way around where one makes resources decisions and then finds a strategy,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs said any decision on troop levels will wait until the conclusion of a broader assessment of the way forward in Afghanistan, of which he indicated McChrystal’s document is only one part.

Last week, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates appealed for patience, saying these are extremely important decisions, and the president should be given the time to get them right. The secretary indicated he, the president and other senior officials have sent questions to McChrystal about his assessment, and are awaiting his answers.

In the document, the general was critical of NATO forces, saying that they are “poorly configured” to fight an insurgency. He says if NATO countries continue to be “pre-occupied” with protecting their forces rather than protecting the people and accomplishing the mission, they “run the risk of strategic defeat.” He said the coalition must operate “dramatically differently — even uncomfortably differently.”

He also repeated some of his earlier calls for more civilian help and a new approach by his troops that makes the security of the Afghan people their top priority. He said the coalition is in a “war of ideas,” in which he says it must demonstrate its commitment and its ability to deliver security without causing undue civilian casualties.

In an interview with Voice of America, Afghanistan Ambassador to the United Nations Zahir Tanin endorsed General McChrystal’s sense of urgency, and his view that while a comprehensive approach is needed, security comes first. “From a military point of view, I think without enough resources, without the ability to stop the Taliban’s advances, it would be very difficult to make any progress in other areas, including political progress in Afghanistan,” Tanin said.

Ambassador Tanin said McChrystal is in the best position to assess the security needs and if there is a need for more forces, the Afghan government must support such a request.

He also rejected concerns expressed by some, including Secretary Gates, that sending more foreign troops could alienate the Afghan people. The ambassador says the key for Afghans is not how many foreign troops there are or what strategy they implement, but whether they deliver security and defeat the insurgents.

In the report, McChrystal concluded that “while the situation is serious, success is still achievable.” But he said the effort needs “a fundamentally new approach” that is “properly resourced and supported” throughout the coalition and across military and civilian agencies.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

A professional football player from Brazil and a former police investigator are among seven people arrested in connection with a murder police called “barbaric”. Flamengo goalkeeper, and captain, Bruno Fernandes is accused of hiring former policeman Marcos Aparecido dos Santos to kill his mistress.

Police say Fernandes met Eliza Samudio, 25, at a party organised by another Flamengo player last year, and spent the night with the former model and pornstar, impregnating her. Her refusal to abort the pregnancy is cited as the motive behind the killing. Samudio has been missing since June 4^th. Police state she contacted them earlier to complain of violence and threats from Fernandes. He is alleged to have attacked her and tried to force her to swallow an abortion pill in a complaint filed in October. He supposedly told her, “[y]ou don’t know me and you don’t know what I am capable of – I’m from the favela.”

Police allege that Samudio was abducted from a hotel in Rio de Janerio and driven for six hours to reach a house belonging to Santos near Belo Horizonte. There, according to newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo, one of Fernandes’s cousins, allegedly involved, said loud music was played to cover up the screams as “barbaric tortures” were inflicted upon her by Santos.

It is alleged when she exclaimed she could no longer bear being beaten the ex-policeman responded “[y]ou are not going to bear it any more. You are going to die.” Souza is said to have been present and witnessed both her torture and her strangulation. Although she remains missing, police state that they are confident she is dead and claim her remains were disposed of by being fed to at least one rottweiler. Remaining parts are said to be encased in concrete.

The child, a boy, had already been born and is now four months old. Police say his mother was killed when she began attempts to prove the footballer, who was rumoured to have received an offer worth millions of dollars from AC Milan, was his father. Homicide investigator Edson Moreira is running the probe and was in no doubt of the footballing “idol”‘s guilt: “[he is] a monster for what he did to this young lady.”

The investigation has been a major focus for Brazilian media. The nation has an upcoming presidential election and candidates were quick to express their views. Dilma Rousseff, who present president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wishes to succeed him, said “[t]his is a barbaric crime. The whole of Brazil is disgusted by such a barbaric and perverse crime.” Rainforest campaigner Marina Silva, another candidate, expressed concern that “[w]e have repeatedly seen this kind of episode against the lives of women.”

Fernandes denied any involvement, claiming a “clear conscience”. He has commented that he is concerned the investigation may hamper his prospects of representing Brazil at the 2014 World Cup. Currently in a jail cell, he was requested to provide DNA samples but exercised his constitutional right to refuse. His wife is also alleged to have been involved and is jailed as well. Santos has said, via his lawyer, that he too is uninvolved in any crimes.

Monday, January 31, 2005

Metlife announced on 01/31/05 that they were going to acquire Travelers Life and Annuity from Citigroup. Travelers Life and Annuity is an insurance underwriter. MetLife is a large life insurance and annuities underwriter. MetLife will have to borrow a lot of money to pay for the company, so rating agencies like S&P warn that the AA credit rating of MetLife might be lowered. This would cause the interest rates at which all of MetLife’s debt must be repaid to increase.

Citigroup committed to continue distributing Travelers life insurance and annuities through its Smith Barney stock brokers, Primerica agents, and Citibank branches.

Citigroup was previously known as Travelers Insurance before it bought Citicorp. First the Property and Casualty business of Travelers was spun off, and now the life insurance division has been sold off. This is primarily because insurance underwriters get a lower price to earnings multiple from the stock market because of the cycles and uncertainty associated with the insurance business. Also, having an insurance underwriter and a bank together does not usually create “cross-sell” opportunities, because consumers and businesses almost always buy life insurance and annuities through brokers who have a duty to give them other options. Citigroup will continue to sell insurance through its brokers as before.