University of Wales to close down after 120 years

Saturday, October 22, 2011

120 years after it was founded, the University of Wales (UoW) will shut down. Already comprised of several institutions, two will merge fully while two more will become independent universities.

With a charter from 1893 and the Prince of Wales as its chancellor, problems began at UoW last year after concerns the head of a Malaysian partner institution, a local pop artist, had non-legitimate qualifications. This was followed by Thailand’s authorities denouncing another UoW partner as illegal, then an investigation in the UK into all the UoW’s foreign ties.

The Quality Assurance Agency said UoW’s overseas checks on foreign institutions were inadequate. The UK Border Agency is investigating a possible visa scam whereby foreign students were sold exam answers for a qualification leading to UoW entry and British visas. Two colleges — Rayat London College and Lampton College — are suspended over the claims.

Trinity St David and Swansea Metropolitan universities are to merge, forming University of Wales: Trinity St David. It is to use the latter’s own royal charter, which is itself 190 years old. Newport and Glyndwr are set to become universities in their own right. The dissolution follows calls from the leaders of rival universities for the end of UoW.

“I warmly welcome the historic decision taken today by the University of Wales Council,” said UoW Vice-Chancellor Professor Medwin Hughes, who will fill the same role for the new University of Wales: Trinity St David. “The transformed University will serve and deliver for Wales.” His counterpart for Newport, Dr Peter Noyes, said “The inevitable end to the story of the University of Wales should not detract from a distinguished history lasting 12 decades. Wales should be sad that this day has come[.]” UoW chairmain Hugh Thomas has resigned.

The Prince of Wales is among past students, having spent a 1969 term there. The institution’s various member organisations at one point included the now-separate Cardiff University.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

An American inventor has patented a pair of new time formats with a footprint less than 50% of that of conventional four-digit time. The more unusual of the two new formats, called “TWELV”, dispenses with numerals altogether. In place of clock hands or digits, the new clock uses color to convey the hour and a moon image to convey the minute, which moon slowly grows throughout the course of an hour from a narrow crescent to a full-fledged circle.

The second and more approachable of the new formats retains numerical digits to indicate the minute but uses colors to convey the hour.

Early critics question whether the aesthetic benefits of the moon-clock will be sufficient to encourage users to learn the color-based time-telling system. However, the size advantages of the new system may make it particularly suitable for mobile applications, particularly cell phones, wearable computers, and head-mounted displays.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008File:Flag of Hezbollah.svg

On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told troops training in the Golan Heights that Hezbollah and Syria are strengthening and that the delicate balance that Israel has had with the Lebanese militant group since the end of the Second Lebanon War is threatened.

“The other side is getting stronger. It is not a coincidence that we are holding a large-scale intensive exercise here in the Golan,” said Barak. “We’re following closely the violations of the [regional] equilibrium by Hezbollah and Syria, and the strengthening beyond the fence.”

Later, Barak told Israeli television that the Second Lebanon War “turned out into a major launching pad to upgrade Hezbollah’s power.” Barak also criticized the former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and the Israeli government for not acting wisely “by not responding to Hezbollah’s growing capabilities/”

These statements follow a move by the Israeli Security Council, which last week decided to hold the Lebanese government responsible for any attacks that Hezbollah creates.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Ian Narev, the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, this morning “unreservedly” apologised to clients who lost money in a scandal involving the bank’s financial planning services arm.

Last week, a Senate enquiry found financial advisers from the Commonwealth Bank had made high-risk investments of clients’ money without the clients’ permission, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars lost. The Senate enquiry called for a Royal Commission into the bank, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Mr Narev stated the bank’s performance in providing financial advice was “unacceptable”, and the bank was launching a scheme to compensate clients who lost money due to the planners’ actions.

In a statement Mr Narev said, “Poor advice provided by some of our advisers between 2003 and 2012 caused financial loss and distress and I am truly sorry for that. […] There have been changes in management, structure and culture. We have also invested in new systems, implemented new processes, enhanced adviser supervision and improved training.”

An investigation by Fairfax Media instigated the Senate inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank’s financial planning division and ASIC.

Whistleblower Jeff Morris, who reported the misconduct of the bank to ASIC six years ago, said in an article for The Sydney Morning Herald that neither the bank nor ASIC should be in control of the compensation program.

Monday, June 23, 2008

2008 COMPUTEX Taipei, the largest trade fair since its inception in 1982, featured several seminars and forums, expansions on show spaces to TWTC Nangang, great transformations for theme pavilions, and WiMAX Taipei Expo, mainly promoted by Taipei Computer Association (TCA). Besides of ICT industry, “design” progressively became the critical factor for the future of the other industries. To promote innovative “Made In Taiwan” products, pavilions from “Best Choice of COMPUTEX”, “Taiwan Excellence Awards”, and newly-set “Design and Innovation (d & i) Award of COMPUTEX”, demonstrated the power of Taiwan’s designs in 2008 COMPUTEX Taipei.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Ian Narev, the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, this morning “unreservedly” apologised to clients who lost money in a scandal involving the bank’s financial planning services arm.

Last week, a Senate enquiry found financial advisers from the Commonwealth Bank had made high-risk investments of clients’ money without the clients’ permission, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars lost. The Senate enquiry called for a Royal Commission into the bank, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Mr Narev stated the bank’s performance in providing financial advice was “unacceptable”, and the bank was launching a scheme to compensate clients who lost money due to the planners’ actions.

In a statement Mr Narev said, “Poor advice provided by some of our advisers between 2003 and 2012 caused financial loss and distress and I am truly sorry for that. […] There have been changes in management, structure and culture. We have also invested in new systems, implemented new processes, enhanced adviser supervision and improved training.”

An investigation by Fairfax Media instigated the Senate inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank’s financial planning division and ASIC.

Whistleblower Jeff Morris, who reported the misconduct of the bank to ASIC six years ago, said in an article for The Sydney Morning Herald that neither the bank nor ASIC should be in control of the compensation program.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an outbreak of salmonella that has affected at least 399 people in 42 different U.S. states has been linked to King Nut, an American brand of peanut butter. In Minnesota, the state’s Health Department announced that bacteria tests for the disease on a tub of creamy King Nut peanut butter had tested positive for the disease, initiating a recall by its distributor in Solon, King Nut Companies.

Workers found evidence from these tests that the brand caused the outbreak. This has not been completely proven, however, as the Food and Drug Administration and King Nut itself are still conducting tests to discover if the case is isolated or related to the nationwide incident.

According to a statement made by the Health Department, the brand is used in many places including schools, hospitals, some restaurants and retirement homes, 20 alone being in Minnesota. A tub of peanut butter used inside of a retirement home where many of its citizens had become sick was tested positive by Minnesota’s health department.

Yesterday, King Nut Companies recalled all peanut butter distributed by their company. The president of King Nut Companies, Martin Kanan, said in a statement yesterday, “We are very sorry this happened. We are taking immediate and voluntary action because the health and safety of those who use our products is always our highest priority.”

In a web statement, King Nut told all of its customers to “put on hold all of their peanut butter in question. A recall of this product will be announced Monday morning. At this point it is unclear what Peanut Corporation of America will do with regard to this case or the national case of the salmonella outbreak.” The Peanut Corporation of America, located in Lynchburg but also operating in the states of Texas and Georgia, is the manufacturer for King Nut.

Salmonellosis is an infection of salmonella bacteria that usually results in diarrhea, fever, vomiting, and abdominal cramps. These symptoms are normally developed 12 to 72 hours after a person is infected, and can last anywhere from 3 to 7 days. Most of the time, the infected person will recover from the disease, but younger and older people have higher risks of it developing and becoming serious. Rarely, salmonella can cause hospitalization, and very rarely, it can lead to death.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

At least five to ten police officers in Afghanistan have been killed and at least 11 others were wounded after a suicide bombing in the southern part of the country in the town of Spin Boldak at a checkpoint.

Police officers were having lunch inside a room at the checkpoint when the bomber, who was also dressed in a police officer’s uniform, walked in and detonated his explosives. At least two rooms were destroyed, according to police.

“We were eating lunch around 1330, when a suicide attacker wearing police uniform entered the post and blew himself up,” said Bismillah Khan, commander of the local police in Spin Boldak who could only confirm that “five border police are killed and 11 are injured.”

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Belinda Stronach, Canadian MP for Newmarket-Aurora crossed the floor from the Conservatives to join the Liberals just days before a scheduled confidence vote in the Liberal government. She was immediately rewarded by being appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal.

“I’ve been uncomfortable for some time with the direction the Conservative party was taking,” Stronach said. “I regret to say that I do not believe the party leader is truly sensitive to the needs of each part of the country and just how big and complex Canada really is.”

She disagreed with the party on its stance on the federal budget, same-sex marriage, and Conservative leadership’s alliance with the separatist Bloc Québécois to bring down the government.

Two days after Stronach switched parties, the ruling Liberals won a crucial vote for their budget by a single vote. If Stronach had not joined the Liberals and voted for the budget, the government would have fallen, forcing a new federal election.

Monday, May 14, 2007

The Lübeck, a Bremen class frigate of the German navy, is undergoing repairs after accidentally firing upon itself during a training mission off the British coast.

According to Korvettenkapitän Jan Ströhmer, the accident happened near Plymouth, Devon on May 2nd, where the Lübeck was taking part in an Air Defence exercise; unmanned drones towing targets for ships in the Royal Navys South Coast Exercise Areas. During the practice, the ship’s 76mm artillery gun experienced problems, possibly due to jamming. When the crew turned the gun in order to investigate the trouble, the weapon discharged. No one was hurt and the ship was not critically damaged.

The Lübeck subsequently returned to Wilhelmshaven, her home port, for repairs.

With a length of 130 meters and 3800 tonne displacement the primary role of the Lübeck is anti-submarine warfare (ASW) however she retains capabilities in anti-surface (ASuW) and anti-aircraft warfare (AAW). Her ships company numbers roughly 203.