Major Developments » 2006

Top Executives of Enron found Guilty

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:45:38 +0000

On 5^th May, 2006, Former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling and founder Kenneth Lay were both found blamed (guilty) for conspiracy and fraud of all corporate fraud cases. Skilling was found guilty on 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud, false statements, and insider trading. Lay was found guilty on all six counts of conspiracy and fraud. In a separate bench trial, Lay was guilty of four counts of fraud and false statements. Legal experts said that both Lay and Skilling could face 20 to 30 years in prison. Moreover, Lay would face an additional large term in prison for his conviction in the bank fraud case. Houston-based “Enron”, was once one of the hottest companies on Wall Street, collapsed in a matter of months after Skilling suddenly resigned as CEO in August 2001. Lay, who was Chairman at the time, postponed his retirement plans to return to the leadership. Enron’s collapse illustrated the first of the high-profile corporate scandals that rocked the nation, followed by WorldCom, Global Crossing, Adelphia, and Tyco. The wave of fraud led to legalization of the Sarbanes-Oxley law that tightened supervision of how American companies are audited. After a government investigation that took 4-1/2 years, prosecutors presented evidence that Lay and Skilling managed a conspiracy to artificially increase profits, hide millions in losses, and misrepresent the true nature of the company’s finances.

Nuclear Test Conducted by North Korea

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:44:56 +0000

October 9, 2006, North Korea conducted Nuclear Test. It is first nation to conduct Nuclear test after announcing its intention on October 3^rd (6 days before). The estimated discharge of the test was less than one kiloton. Since October 2002, there were conflicts between Unites States and North Korea. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly informed North Korean officials that the United States was aware that North Korea had a program underway to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons. Initially North Korea denied this, but later confirmed the veracity of the US claim. Kim Jong Il had created the excitement as best as he can for threatening missile launch when the country tested a nuclear weapon in 2006. After the test, negative economic effects were observed throughout the neighborhood of North Korea. North Korean officials claimed that it had recycled spent fuel rods and threatened to begin exporting nuclear materials unless the United States agreed one-on-one talks with North Korea. Another feature is that North Korea want to change the policy dealings between the US and China due to the fact that the US is unwilling to deal directly with North Korea and this in turn spoiled relations between China and North Korea. China and the United States showed disapproval around the world, after North Korea conducted its first nuclear test, criticizing the move as annoying and, in some capitals, there was a demand of a tough U.N. Response. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, called the move unpardonable.

Pope Benedict’s Historic visit to Turkey

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:42:57 +0000

Two months after aggravating Muslim public opinion around the world with comments representing Islam with violence, Pope Benedict XVI is in Ankara beginning his four-day visit to Turkey from 28^th November to 1^st December 2006. He was welcomed at the airport by the country’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In a powerful symbolic indication, Pope Benedict visited Istanbul’s magnificent Blue Mosque and became the second pope in history to enter a Muslim place of prayer. He addressed group about Christianity and Islam as two branches from the same family tree fundamentally, both believing in one God, originated from Abraham. He talked about existence of spiritual bond between both religions and need for humanity in life in an increasingly globalised world. Pope Benedict said assurance of religious freedom is essential for an equal society and requested all religious leaders to “utterly refuse” to support any form of violence in the name of faith (religion). The objectives of the Pope’s visit to Turkey are to eliminate clashes (differences) between Muslims and Christian, and to put to an end the 1,000-year isolation in Christianity between the Vatican and Orthodox churches. Police had taken full measures to guarantee that Pope is safe during his trip. Pope told Prime Minister of Turkey that he would like Turkey to join the European Union, which he opposed two years before due to Turkey’s improperness to join the club of Christian nations.

Water discovered on Saturn’s Moon

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:42:14 +0000

Saturn’s icy moon, Enceladus, raising the interesting possibility for existence of hidden supernatural living creatures. This discovery astonished scientists who are looking for signs of life in space. Enceladus is calculated to be 314 miles across and is considered as the shiniest object in the solar system. The Cassini spacecraft was launched in 1997 and went into orbit around Saturn in 2004, examining its spectacular rings and many moons. Liquid water and a heat source are two essential elements for life. Even though its distance from the Sun is very high, Enceladus clearly has an internal heat source probably caused by Saturn’s gravitational pull, which warms water adequately to produce the geysers. Any life on that moon would likely be in the form of extremophilic primitive organisms (organisms that live in extreme conditions). Previously wet Mars has long been the main focus of the search for life on other planets. But, Saturn’s moon Enceladus could be an even more promising place to start the search for extraterrestrials (space beings). Now Enceladus joins the list of those bodies, Mars and Europa, that have signs of liquid water on them and energy sources coming from radioactive heating and tidal heating that make the very interesting places to look for the origins of life.

Warren Buffet Donated 85% of His Berkshire Holdings to Different Foundations

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:41:43 +0000

Warren Buffett, the world’s second-richest man, is making an extraordinary donation to the foundation run by the world’s richest man, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. In June 2006, Buffett announced that he constantly would give away 85% of his Berkshire holdings to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, beginning in July 2006. The largest contribution would go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The rest of the money will go to four other foundations headed by Buffett’s three children, and to the foundation in his late wife’s name. The Gates Foundation focuses on global health issues, such as the GAVI Alliance to distribute vaccines to children in poor countries for diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, and, tuberculosis, to provide education, such as the United Negro College Fund Gates Millennium Scholars Program and developing libraries. Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates have been the only administrators of their foundation. But, later Buffet also joined them when the plan was started. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett planned to allocate more than $30 billion of his stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2008, Buffett became the richest man in the world dethroning Bill Gates, worth $62 billion according to Forbes. Bill Gates had been number one on the Forbes list for 13 consecutive years. In 2009, Bill Gates regained number one on the list according to Forbes magazine, with Buffett getting on second.

Pluto is No More a Planet

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:40:23 +0000

August 24, 2006, was an important day in the history of planetary science. It was absolutely the first day when official scientific definition of the word “planet” is explained. It was also the famous day as Pluto was propelled out of the planetary family. Pluto is a tiny, solid, icy world in a more lengthened orbit unlike other planets, which move closely in circular paths. Another abnormality about Pluto is the inclination of its orbit. All the other planets follow paths in a confined band within the limits of the constellations, we call the zodiac, but Pluto’s orbit deviates from this and takes the path above and below that band. Another deviation is Pluto does not dominate its neighborhood i.e., Charon, its large “moon,” is only about half the size of Pluto, while all the true planets are far bigger than their moons. So officially, Pluto is not a planet and considered as dwarf planet. Pluto is the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System (after Eris) and the tenth-largest body noticed, directly revolving around the Sun. Before 2006, there were nine planets, they Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Now, there are only eight planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Tsunami in Indonesia Left Many People Deserted

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:38:23 +0000

On 17^th July, 2006, an earthquake of 7.7 magnitude was experienced for more than a minute in the vicinity of Christmas Island, Tasikmalaya, Bandung, and Jakarta. The powerful earthquake generated tsunami and sent huge waves shattering into a 175-kilometer stretch of Java’s southern coast, destroying houses, restaurants, hotels, cars, motorbikes, and boats were left ruined with fishing nets, furniture and other debris. The toll reached to 659 dead with more than 280 missing and more than 74,000 people displaced, either because of their homes were destroyed or out of fear of living next to the sea. Nearly three foreigners from Japan, Belgium and Sweden were killed and five Saudi Arabians were severely injured. At first glance, rescuers met with the sight of bodies in the branches of trees, and in the remains of destroyed hotels and houses. Body bags and other important items arrived, and relief aid such as tents and food were sent for the thousands of people who had got deserted and escaped from their homes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred due to fault in the thrust on the boundary between the Australia plate and the Sunda Plate. Many people have been living in the hills since the disaster.

Google Acquisition of YouTube to Increase its Power in Online Advertising

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:37:02 +0000

On Monday, October 9, 2006, Google Inc. the Internet’s leading search engine declared its decision to purchase YouTube, the popular video-sharing site, for $1.65 billion in stock (assets). YouTube, which was started in February 2005, has quickly become the most famous of several online video sites. According to Internet research firm Hitwise, YouTube has approximately a 46 percent share of the online video market. 100 million videos are watched on the YouTube’s flash based site every day, including movie, TV clips and music videos, as well as amateur content. While Google has been riding away huge profits from the prospering search market, it could not become a major player in online video. The combination of Google and YouTube could increase Google’s power in online advertising, giving it an advantage over rivals such as Yahoo! (Charts), Microsoft’s (Charts) MSN and News Corp (Charts)., which owns the social networking site MySpace. Google had taken this decision speculating that the popular video-sharing site will favor it an increasingly advantageous marketing hub as more viewers and advertisers are migrating from television to the Internet. Google announced that two companies would be operated independently. As the Youtube’s agreement with Google appeared to be success, it announced new partnerships with Universal Music Group, CBS Corp. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

Italy Won FIFA World Cup for Fourth Time

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:35:01 +0000

The 18^th FIFA world cup 2006 was held from 09^th June 2006 to 09^th July 2006 in Germany. Sixty Four matches were conducted between 32 teams of different nations. The month of football in Germany attracted not only 3,359,439 spectators attending matches in the 12 wonderful stadiums (and Fan Fest millions) but also worldwide audience of more than 30 billion people. The World Cup was won by Italy by defeating France and clinched their fourth World Cup title. The winner of Adidas Golden Ball was Zinedine Zidane (France). Playing his last game before retiring, Zinedine Zidane’s career ended with bad reputation, as he was sent off for crazily colliding his head with Marco Materazzi (Italy) chest. He was expelled many times from matches for his violent conduct. He is one among the four persons who made three goals in World cup final matches. The winner of Adidas Golden Shoe is Miroslav Klose (Germany) as he had done five goals. Portugal’s flying winner Cristiano Ronaldo was another individual to flash as his team entered the last four for the first time since 1966.

Iraq War had Severe Impact on Environment

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:33:51 +0000

Even though there was serious opposition from millions of people around the world, and without the support of the United Nations, American and British troops invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003. The reasons for the preemptive attack by allied forces were Iraq’s failure to participate in UN-administered disarmament (reduction of weapons) agreement and the possible threat it posed to international security. However, the WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) report stated that the two credible reasons for invading Iraq are to take control over oil and to protect the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. This situation worsened in 2006. In 2006, there were many roadside bombings, military funerals, shattered mosques, wounded children, and prevailing violence, which feared people of Iraq. Many people of America are against to the war. Never in U.S. history there was such a huge military struggle, it spent $150 million a day, more than 2,300 American soldiers died and more than 17,000 U.S. soldiers were wounded. Many people in Iraq were dead and many were injured badly. The war in Iraq treated as War on Terrorism caused poverty and developed many environmental problems. There are both long term and short-term problems on many categories. Military movements and weapon application result in land degradation. The demolition of military and industrial machinery released heavy metals and other harmful substances and created air pollution. The radioactive substance Uranium was dumped in River Tigris and created water pollution.

Steve Irwin “The Crocodile Hunter” Dead

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:31:53 +0000

On 4 September 2006, Irwin was unfortunately punctured in the chest by a stingray spine (backbone) while he was diving in deep sea at Batt Reef, which is located beside the coast of Port Douglas in north Queensland, Australia. He has a nickname “The Crocodile Hunter“. He was a famous Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist or environmental activist. He became worldwide famous with the television program The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series co-hosted with his wife Terri Irwin. Both of them co-owned and served Australia Zoo in Queensland. He was a dedicated conservationist, running a wildlife park for crocodiles and other Australian fauna; including kangaroos, koalas, and possums. He used some part of his wealth received from his Television programs to buy regions of land to use it as natural habitat for animals. In high-potential programs from Africa, America and Asia, especially his respected Australia, Irwin was always dressed in khaki shorts, shirt and heavy boots and crawled up on lions, chased and got chased by komodo dragons, and went eye-to-eye with poisonous snakes. Conservationists said that the entire world would experience the loss of Irwin, who turned a childhood love of snakes and lizards and knowledge into an idea of wildlife preservation that gained him more than 200 million television audiences. The 44-year-old Irwin was filming his own documentary, ‘Ocean’s Deadliest’ at Batt Reef, but weather had interrupted filming causing his death. Hundreds of people visited Australia Zoo to pay tribute to the expired entertainer and conservationist.

Saddam Hussein Executed

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:25:35 +0000

On November 5, 2006, Saddam Hussein, the dismissed President of Iraq was sentenced to death by hanging by the Iraqi Interim Government. He was captured by U.S. forces on December 13, 2003. He was sentenced to death by court for crimes against humanity and for the merciless killings in a Shiite town in the 1980’s. He killed 148 people in the Shia town of Dujail as the people attempted to assassinate him in 1982 during Iran–Iraq War. The former leader was upset and furious as the sentence was being passed, and continued to shout, criticizing the court, the judge, and the US-led foreign force in Iraq. Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging until death on December 30, 2006. His half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and Iraq’s former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar who were associated with the incident were also sentenced to death. After Saddam Hussein’s execution, Kurds beat giant drums rhythmically in traditional celebration, Shiite boys and men threw sweet and opened fire into the air in happiness. Bitter-faced Sunni men tightly holded Hussein’s portrait in one hand and a weapon in the other in sorrow. The United States largely supported and financed Hussein’s trial. US President George W Bush greeted the judgment as a “milestone” in the achievement of the Iraqi people “to replace the rule of a dictator with the rule of law”.