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Saturday, December 23, 2017

The Philippine police reported on Saturday the death toll from Tropical Storm Tembin, which began to strike the eastern part of the second largest Philippine island, Mindanao, on Thursday, had swiftly risen, exceeding 200 by Saturday evening. At least 166 people were reported missing. The provinces Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur and the Zamboanga Peninsula were especially severely hit.

In Lanao del Norte, several riverside houses and villagers were swept away by floodwater coming from a mountain. 136 fatalities were reported. According to Vice-Governor Maria Cristina Atay, the entire province of Lanao del Norte was put under a state of calamity by the local government, and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council will use a small amount of the region’s calamity fund (5%) to help eleven municipalities which have been severely flooded. On the impoverished Zamboanga Peninsula, 36 bodies were pulled from the swollen Sagol River by rescuers on Saturday. In Anungan, a fishing village in Zamboanga del Norte, over 30 people were swept away by the flood, Mayor Bong Edding of Sibuco said by phone. Only five bodies had been recovered so far. Edding blamed the logging operations that have been operating for years for the local tragedy. Already on Thursday, at least five people died when heavy wind and huge waves caused an inter-island ferry to sink.

In addition to the flash floods, Tembin has caused huge mudslides. More than 20 thousand people have been evacuated because the banks of the Cagayan de Oro River were overflowing due to the heavy rainfall. In Lanao del Sur, at least 39 people drowned or were killed by mudslides, according to Governor Imelda Quibranza-Dimaporo, who also said 64 people are missing in his province.

In total, more than 70,000 people in the Philippine area were affected by the storm. Traffic to and from the island has been paralysed. Flights have been cancelled and ferries have been prohibited to venture out by the coastguard, causing thousands of people to be stranded.

Tembin is expected to stay on the Philippines at least until Monday. According to predictions, it will turn back into the South China Sea.

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Sunday, April 8, 2012

According to press releases from the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), Unit 2 of the Penly Nuclear Power Plant in France shut down Thursday afternoon after operators were alerted to “small quantities of burning oil.” The plant is operated by Électricité de France (EDF). Emergency crews were dispatched to the 1,330-megawatt French reactor following an alarm triggered there at 11:20 UTC Thursday. According to EDF, there were “no consequences for the environment” and no one was injured.

The ASN said in a statement the anomaly had been provisionally placed at level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, which ranks occurrences at nuclear power plants on a scale ranging from 1 to 7, with 7 representing an event with lasting consequences for health and the environment such as the Fukushima Daiichi disaster following a Tsunami in Japan in March 2011.

The alarm was triggered after two fires broke out in the reactor building. The fires are reported to have been caused by leaks in one of the cooling pumps that are part of the reactor’s cooling system. The source of the fire was determined to be one or more pools of oil which had leaked from one of a pump’s joints, catching fire. They were quickly suppressed and the reactor remains shut down due to damage to the cooling pump.

After the fires were put out, radioactive water was then discovered to be leaking from the pump into the reactor’s drainage bin.The ASN released a statement at 05:00 UTC saying they had received “confirmation by EDF that the leak in the primary pump n°1 of the reactor n°2 at the Penly NPP had stopped.” ASN has undertaken an investigation into the causes of the incident which will later be published on their website. The reactor will remain shut down until the damage is repaired and the cause of the incident is known.

The Penly nuclear site, located on the coast to the northwest of Paris, is home to two Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) units and is cooled using water from the English Channel. PWRs are a common variety of nuclear reactors named for their use of highly pressurized water in their primary cooling systems. All of the 58 nuclear power plants which supply France with over 75% of its energy, are of this type.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

According to US health officials, New York state governor David Paterson has declared a state of emergency in the state as a result of the H1N1 swine flu outbreak.

The Associated Press news agency reports that the six-page declaration was issued because at least 75 people have died of H1N1 related illnesses in New York since April. Three have died from H1N1 related illnesses just this past week. The declaration also says that human cases of the virus are on the rise.

Paterson says he issued the declaration because “a disaster has occurred throughout New York State, for which the affected local governments are unable to respond adequately.”

The declaration will allow health officials more access to the H1N1 vaccine and the seasonal flu shot. It will also allow for an increase in the number of vaccine doses available in the state and will allow more health care facilities to administer the vaccine, including dentists and pharmacists. Schools with health centers will also be allowed to administer both vaccines.

Despite the declaration, officials stressed that there is no reason to worry. A spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Health, Claire Pospisil, said that “it [the declaration] helps us to be more prepared.”

The order came shortly after US president Barack Obama declared a national emergency last Saturday, a response to the spreading of the virus, which has now been circulated in 46 states.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

This Monday Hewlett-Packard is to announce that it is expanding its partnership with SAP. The partnership will be working with NetWeaver around several new services. The company is also expected to mention about its new enterprise solutions that are currently in development.

Hewlett-Packard will offer its clients services for upgrading servers, storage and NetWeaver – SAP’s application builder platform meant for integrating business processes throughout different systems. Among other services that the company is going to provide comprise assessment, governance and some architecture services for R3.

The manager of Worldwide Packaged Applications for Enterprise Applications Services at HP Services Consulting & Integration, Tim Treat, stated that the company first of all looks at servers, storage and management and only afterwards it makes a proposal regarding the things that are to be updated. He mentioned that when Hewlett-Packard will work on upgrading servers and management, it will turn its attention towards Intel.

After performing all the upgrades, the company is going to offer its clientele a variety of services package options that are related to NetWeaver. The services offered by Hewlett-Packard will include: enabling the service, design and implementation, application development and management.

Tim Treat said that adaptive infrastructure is one of the company’s new things that are to come. Recently the company’s clients have put in place enough hardware capacity and infrastructure with the goal of supporting peak or quarter-end processes. However, a big amount of that capacity is unused till peak times. This is why Hewlett-Packard looks forward to bring solutions that are to allow users pay for the things they really use.

Treat also outlined the fact that, besides its new services, the company is to announce business-process consulting together with IDS Scheer – software and consulting company, which is one of the leading providers of Business Process Management and IT solutions.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

German football club FC Bayern Munich yesterday announced Dutch winger Arjen Robben has signed a one contract extension until June 2018.

32-year-old Robben joined the German side in 2009 from Spanish capital club Real Madrid. Spending seven years with Munich, Robben has scored 82 goals in 152 Bundesliga appearances and netted 23 goals in 53 UEFA Champions League matches. Robben has won five Bundesliga titles, and four DFB-Pokal titles. In 2013, Robben scored the winning goal in the UEFA Champions League final at Wembley Stadium against Bayern’s arch rivals Borussia Dortmund.

After signing the contract, Robben said, “I’m very happy that I’ll be playing a further year for FC Bayern. The club is one of the best in the world and Munich has become a second home for me and my family. I want to continue playing at the highest level and win as many trophies as possible.” ^{((de)) German language: Ich bin glücklich, dass ich ein weiteres Jahr beim FC Bayern spielen werde. Der Verein gehört zu den besten der Welt und München ist für mich und meine Familie zu einer zweiten Heimat geworden. Ich möchte weiter auf Top-Niveau spielen und so viele Titel wie möglich gewinnen.}

On Sunday, Bayern announced signings of 21-year-old Niklas Süle and 26-year-old Sebastian Rudy from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim who are to join the Bayern squad in July. The German internationals have penned a five-year and a three-year contract respectively.

In the last two months, Bayern Munich has announced Polish striker Robert Lewandowski signed a contract extension until June 2021 and French winger Franck Ribéry signed a one-year contract extension with the club.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose back up to 10,018.28 Wednesday, rising 275 points after the United States Department of Labor said initial jobless claims were lower than expected.

The report, which showed a modest dip in initial jobless claims, was better than what a poll of economists had predicted. The economists, who were polled by Thompson Reuters, had predicted 465,000 initial jobless claims in the month ending July 3; the number the Labor Department released was 454,000.

The four-week average of initial claims also fell 1,250 to 466,000, the Labor Department said on its website.

Also, after the International Monetary Fund raised its 2010 world growth estimate to 4.6% from 4.2%, international markets rallied. The S&P 500 rallied along with the Dow, up 3.13% to 1,060.27. However, the Nasdaq stayed flat at 2,159.47.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

One thousand residents of the Defense Department-managed Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C. filed a class-action lawsuit on May 24, asserting that the cut-backs in medical and dental services imposed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are illegal. The operating budget for the home was reduced from $63 million in 2004 to $58 million for 2005. The residents cite cuts in on-site X-ray, electrocardiogram, physical and dental services, and the closing of the home’s main clinic and an on-site pharmacy.

Chief Financial Officer Steve McManus responded that the changes not only save money but also achieved improved efficiencies. “We’re really trying to improve the benefits to our residents,” he said.

Most of the home’s costs are paid for by a trust fund and monthly fees paid by residents. By law, the Armed Forces Retirement Homes are required to fund, “on-site primary care, medical care and a continuum of long-term care services.”

Friday, January 12, 2007

The iPhone only made its appearance as a prototype and there have been controversies aroused.

The dispute has come up between the manufacturer of the iPhone (which was resented on Wednesday for the first time) – Apple Inc. – and a leader in network and communication systems, based in San Jose – Cisco. The company claims to possess the trademark for iPhone, and moreover, that it sells devices under the same brand through one of its divisions.

This became the reason for Cisco to file a lawsuit against Apple Inc. so that the latter would stop selling the device.

Cisco states that it has received the trademark in 2000, when the company overtook Infogear Technology Corp., which took place in 1996.

The Vice President and general counsel of the company, Mark Chandler, explained that there was no doubt about the excitement of the new device from Apple, but they should not use a trademark, which belongs to Cisco.

The iPhone developed by Cisco is a device which allows users to make phone calls over the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).