Business

In what regulators have described as the second-largest bank failure in the history of the United States, IndyMac Bank has been closed by the Office of Thrift Supervision and placed under the conservatorship of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) due to plummeting shares and the start of a run on the bank. This is the fifth FDIC-insured failure of the year. The FDIC has said that it will transfer all insured deposits and substantial assets, to the new IndyMac Federal Bank which, as the name implies, is controlled by an agency of t

__NOTOC__ Ever since the Taste of Taiwan Cuisine, a complex to promote the MICE (meeting, incentive travel, conference, and exhibition) and cultural industries in Taiwan exclusively in June, made its initiation at 2006, the tourism ratio from foreigners were progressively increased in this complex event. To bring up the MICE industry, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the event organizer, arranged several key events including Taipei Trade Shows, travel packages, views, and conferences for international businesspeople. This e

Chemicals in the Thompson River were said to be found after four Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) cars containing chemicals derailed near Lytton, British Columbia, Canada on Tuesday night. The derailment occurred just northeast of Lytton when a landslide hit in the middle of a freight train with about 100 cars at around 7:00 pm PDT (02:00 UTC) Tuesday evening. One car remained on the tracks, another was on a river bank, and two were submerged in the Thompson, one of them fully submerged and the other partially submerged. CP states that the c

Former United States senator from North Carolina Jesse Helms has died today at the age of 86 after a long battle with vascular dementia. "Jesse Helms was one of the most consequential figures of the 20th century. Along with Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, he helped establish the conservative movement and became a powerful voice for free markets and free people," said Ed Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation. Helms was born Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. on October 18, 1921 in Monroe, North Carolina. He was a five term senator for N.C.

According to Polish radio station, RMF FM, almost half a million Polish złoty (almost US$ 235,000) vanished from the bank account of Lech Wałęsa, a former President of Poland and the original leader of Solidarność (Solidarity). The case is already under investigation by the public prosecutor in Gdańsk. The radio station identified the suspect as a former employee of Millennium Bank and the son of a former co-worker of Wałęsa. The Prokuratura alleges that Michał L. stole about 870,000 złoty (about US$408,000) from two bank accounts, one of whi

Newspaper The Guardian reports today that the sale of the BBC subsidiary BBC Resources Ltd., has cost £3.4m in consultancy fees — over £1m more than the £2.3m trading profit the commercial division is estimated to have made for the last financial year. Details of the failed privatisation were released by the BBC following a freedom of information request, and prior to publication of its annual report on July 8. Fourteen months after advisers were appointed to try to sell BBC Resources Ltd., only one of the three main business units has been s

To showcase achievements of Taiwan's Internet industry, the Institute of Information Industry of Taiwan (III) held the 2008 IDEAS Show this Wednesday June 25. The IDEAS Show is similar from the DEMO, an Internet investment trade show in United States since 2006. Chris Shipley, Producer of DEMO Conference, was invited to make a speech in the opening keynote. She mentioned about evolutions and transformations of the Internet, especially on business models and change of leaders. Her words mostly echoed some theories proposed during the 2008 Googl

South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela will turn 90 on July 18, but despite his retirement from the public eye five years ago, his age has never prevented him from being pushed back into the limelight. Political, business and showbiz elite from around the world arrived in London to greet South Africa's long-imprisoned champion of anti-apartheid with a fund-raising concert on Friday, June 27. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former United States President Bill Clinton, talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, Academy Award winning actor Robe

Gunmen today opened fire in a Mexico City restaurant, killing a top police official in charge of monitoring the country's illegal drug trade, as well as one of his bodyguards, Mexican officials said. The attack is the latest waged against authorities attempting to fight Mexico's powerful drug cartels. Security officials in Mexico City say the attack occurred as Igor Labastida Calderón, commander of the federal police's Traffic and Contraband division, was eating lunch with one of his bodyguards, Jose Maria Ochoa. According to Minerva Amado, sp

__NOTOC__ 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 Inno

At the 2008 edition of the NHL entry draft in Ottawa, Steven Stamkos' long-anticipated selection first overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning may have been overshadowed by numerous trades and signings made on the draft floor. Before even the first pick was made, the Calgary Flames had acquired Mike Cammalleri in a three-way trade. Calgary's pick, 17th overall was traded with the Los Angeles Kings' pick, 28th overall, to the Anaheim Ducks. The Kings received the Ducks' pick, 12th overall. Later, the Flames shipped forward Alex Tanguay and fifth-rou

United States glam metal band Poison is suing Capitol Records and EMI Music Marketing over an alleged breach of contract. Poison claim the two companies have underpaid them royalties for years. The band claims Capitol miscategorized various record sales and miscalculated every possible expense since the 1980s. They say when attempting to check company records they received no co-operation and are now asking a judge to order the firms to reveal their records so the band can determine how much they are owed. Capitol and EMI have refused to comm