Olympus sues executives for damages in cover-up

FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2011 file photo, Olympus President Shuichi Takayama contemplates before he answers reporters' questions during a press conference in Tokyo. On Tuesday Jan. 10, 2011, Olympus Corp. said it has sued 19 former and current executives for damages the Japanese camera and medical equipment maker says it has suffered over a massive cover-up of investment losses. The lawsuit, filed Sunday in Tokyo District Court, targets former CEO Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, current President Shuichi Takayama and 17 other executives that the company says participated in or knew about the fraudulent activity. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2011 file photo, Olympus President Shuichi Takayama contemplates before he answers reporters' questions during a press conference in Tokyo. On Tuesday Jan. 10, 2011, Olympus Corp. said it has sued 19 former and current executives for damages the Japanese camera and medical equipment maker says it has suffered over a massive cover-up of investment losses. The lawsuit, filed Sunday in Tokyo District Court, targets former CEO Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, current President Shuichi Takayama and 17 other executives that the company says participated in or knew about the fraudulent activity. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2011 photo, then Olympus Corp. Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa speaks at a press conference in Tokyo to announce the Japanese camera and precision instruments maker dismissed Michael Woodford as president over management discord and appointed himself to double as president effective on the day. On Tuesday Jan. 10, 2011, Olympus Corp. said it has sued 19 former and current executives for damages the Japanese camera and medical equipment maker says it has suffered over a massive cover-up of investment losses. The lawsuit, filed Sunday in Tokyo District Court, targets former CEO Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, current President Shuichi Takayama and 17 other executives that the company says participated in or knew about the fraudulent activity. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

TOKYO (AP) ? Financially battered Olympus Corp. is suing 19 former and current executives for damages that the Japanese camera and medical equipment maker says it has suffered over a massive cover-up of investment losses.

The lawsuit, filed Sunday by auditors on behalf of the company in Tokyo District Court, targets former CEO Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, current President Shuichi Takayama and 17 other executives that the company says participated in or knew about the fraudulent activity.

The scheme ? which first came to light after former President Michael Woodford blew the whistle ? has raised serious questions about corporate governance in Japan, and whether major companies are complying adequately with global standards.

Olympus said Tuesday the lawsuit follows a report from an investigation by an independent panel that the Tokyo-based company had set up. Then-President Masatoshi Kishimoto, as well as subsequent executives ? including Kikukawa ? knew about the scheme, it said. A small circle of employees was also involved.

Six board members implicated in the report, including Takayama, will resign at the next shareholder meeting, scheduled for March or April, Olympus said.

Kikukawa is being sued for 3.6 billion yen ($47 million). The company is seeking smaller amounts from other defendants, including 1 billion yen ($13 million) from Kishimoto.

Olympus said losses related to the cover-up scandal totaled 85.9 billion yen ($1.1 billion), according to its latest investigation.

But it will demand no more than 3.6 billion yen ($47 million) in damages, which will likely be spread among the plaintiffs because of their inability to pay such exorbitant amounts, according to the company.

The scheme came to light late last year after Woodford raised questions about huge payments for financial advice and expensive acquisitions of companies unrelated to its mainstay businesses. The transactions, Olympus later acknowledged, were used to hide 117.7 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in investment losses stemming from the 1990s.

Tuesday's report also identified 25 executives who were not responsible, including Woodford.

Woodford was fired in October after raising his concerns. Last week, he said he gave up his fight for a comeback to the top after failing to win backing from major investors and megabanks.

Woodford, a British national, had demanded the resignation of the entire board, including Takayama, who had replaced him and initially denied any wrongdoing in the spending.

Under Japanese law, auditors represent the company when executives on the board are targeted in damage lawsuits. In the Olympus lawsuit, three auditors, two of them outsiders, are representing the company. None of them were implicated in the scandal.

Olympus claims in the lawsuit that it suffered direct losses to its finances, in terms of fees and interest paid to run the scheme ? as well as losses stemming from the improper handling of the scandal after it surfaced, including how Woodford was dealt with.

"The credibility of Olympus' corporate governance and the public's trust of Olympus were seriously damaged," it said.

Japanese prosecutors have begun a separate investigation and raided company headquarters and Kikukawa's home last month.

Olympus barely met its mid-December deadline to avoid being removed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange by filing corrected earnings for the April-September first half and for the past five fiscal years.

Olympus' stock has plunged amid the scandal. It surged nearly 20 percent Tuesday, following a report Monday in The Nikkei financial daily that Olympus was likely to avoid delisting, but it is still trading at about half its value prior to the scandal. Tokyo markets were closed Monday for a national holiday.

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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-10-AS-Japan-Olympus/id-323db3f765a648b983df1e0bf80394a6

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Ultra-orthodox, secular Jews battle over Israel's future

By Martin Fletcher, NBC News correspondent

Israel has historically faced hostility from it's Arab neighbors.? Now, it is facing hostility within it's own borders as the battle between ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews threatens to divide the country. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports.? ?

TEL AVIV ? Israel?s orthodox and secular Jews are in the midst of a pitched battle over the role of women in society.

It's a question as old as the state: how Jewish will the country be? In recent weeks radical ultraorthodox Jews have hit the headlines after one told a woman to go to the back of a public bus. Others smashed the windows of shops with content they considered provocative, defaced posters of women and even threatened children.

It's all about so-called modesty. Radical ultraorthodox want women out of sight, so that they won't be tempted ? even by children.

It's a decades old fight that sometimes hits the headlines. But under Israel's right-wing religious coalition government, the tension is growing.

NBC News? Martin Fletcher reports from Tel Aviv on the ongoing battle. Watch the video above.

Source: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/09/10074892-ultra-orthodox-and-secular-jews-battle-over-israels-future

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Dazzling NASA Hubble Image Of Galaxy Centaurus A

NASA's recent image of the day is a doozy. The stunning image of Galaxy Centaurus A was taken in July 2010 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.

Centaurus A contains the closest active galactic nucleus to Earth at a tad over 11 million light-years away. The image description says that Centaurus A's center is "home for a supermassive black hole that ejects jets of high-speed gas into space, but neither the supermassive black hole or the jets are visible in this image."

Black holes themselves are not visible as they emit no light. "Seeing" a black hole means detecting the lack of light and the forces and effects the black hole causes on surrounding space.

Don't fell cheated by Centaurus A's crafty black hole, there are plenty of visible wonders to stare at.

More Centaurus A images can be found at Hubblesite.org. For more stunning Hubble images, visit the Hubble Heritage Project.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/galaxy-centaurus-a-hubble-image_n_1183580.html

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Chinese HSBC Services PMI (DEC) remained unchanged?

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Source: http://www.ecpulse.com/en/marketnews/2012/01/05/chinese-pmi-services-hsbc

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Thousands of US Troops To Be Deployed in Israel?

How did this one slip in under the media radar (pun intended)?

From the Jerusalem Post 12/20:

Israel is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile defense exercise in its history this spring amid Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.

Last week, Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US?s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.

This is not the first example of US military presence on Israeli soil. Back in 2008, it was reported that 120 US military technicians and advisers were permanently in Israel to help operate a new early-warning radar system that was designed to ward of a potential Iranian missile attack.

But the deployment of ?several thousand American soldiers? in Israel is something else entirely. Could there be any more ominous sign of the ?special relationship? between these two military-industrial juggernauts?

BTW, shortly after this report was issued, the chief of the Mossad publicly stated a nuclear Iran would not pose an existential threat to Israel. And still the drumbeats grow ever louder.

This one hasn?t trickled down to the mainstream media yet and clearly needs more independent confirmation. But for those hoping against hope that 2012 would be a more peaceful year, I?d say things are off to a pretty dismal start?

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Source: http://rabbibrant.com/2012/01/03/thousands-of-us-troops-to-be-deployed-in-israel/

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Delay in Irish pardon for 5,000 WWII troops branded deserters

It could be months before the Irish government decides whether to pardon 5,000 soldiers branded deserters and blacklisted for fighting for Britain against Nazi Germany, it has emerged.

The troops, regarded as idealists by Justice and Defence Minister Alan Shatter, were dismissed en masse under special powers introduced during the Second World War.

But officials are concerned a blanket pardon for desertion between 1939-45 would cause major issues for other soldiers court-martialled for going absent without leave.

Mr Shatter, who has been pressed on the issue in the Dail, is awaiting the advice of the Republic's Attorney General, Maire Whelan.

"This is a very complicated issue and covers a wider range of individuals than those who deserted to join the British Army during World War Two," the Department of Defence said.

The 4,983 deserters were dismissed under the Emergency Powers (No 362) Order 194, as wartime was known as the Emergency in neutral Ireland.

Sinn Fein is expected to support calls for the pardons.

The IRA in the 1940s publicly declared they would welcome a Nazi invasion as liberation.

Deserters were blacklisted and barred from State jobs, refused military pensions and faced widespread discrimination.

Source: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/delay-in-irish-pardon-for-5000-wwii-troops-branded-deserters-16099387.html?r=RSS

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Park staff, community mourn ranger killed on New Year's Day

by KING 5 News

KREM.com

Posted on January 2, 2012 at 1:08 PM

Ranger Margaret Anderson worked at Mt. Rainier National Park for four years before her tragic death Sunday, and in that time she made herself a beloved member of the tight-knit community.

Married to a fellow park ranger and mother to two young children ages 3 and 1, the 34-year-old Anderson lived in Eatonville with her family.

Anderson was shot on New Year's Day inside the park as she and a colleague tried to stop a car that had run through a safety check roadblock. The alleged shooter, 24-year-old Benjamin Colton Barnes, fled into the park. A law enforcement officer said Barnes was found dead in the park on Monday morning.

Anderson was the youngest of three children, her father, Pastor Paul Kritsch said.

He said his daughter always had an interest in wildlife and the outdoors and wanted to help people and that's what finally led her to being a federal park ranger.

Wait staff at Cruiser?s Caf? in Eatonville said Anderson was a regular, often bringing in her two girls for some to-go food.

?Everyone is talking about her,? said Patty Wrzesien, waitress at the caf?. ?She was such a sweet sweet lady. We?re all angry at the guy [alleged shooter Benjamin Colton Barnes]. People are worried he?s going to come down off the mountain.?

An Eatonville Police officer was standing guard at the family?s home on Monday. The local fire chief said the family wants their privacy.

Park Ranger Kevin Bacher said park officials have designated personnel to assist Anderson's family, many of whom are traveling to the area from the East Coast. As of Monday morning, Bacher said he did not know what the family's plans for a memorial will be.

On Sunday night, Anderson's body was moved from the park to the Piece County Medical Examiner's Office.

Hundreds of condolences and tributes have been posted online on the Officer Down Memorial Page created in Anderson's memory.

The outgoing chair of a national organization of Park Service retirees on Monday said Congress should be regretting its decision to allow loaded weapons in national parks.

Bill Wade called Sunday's fatal shooting of a Park Service ranger at Mount Rainier National Park a tragedy that could have been prevented.

He said he hopes Congress will reconsider the law that took effect in early 2010, but doubts that will happen in today's political climate.

His organization, the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, advocated against the gun law, calling it a sad chapter in the history of the park system.

Wade is the former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, just outside Washington, D.C., and started his career as a professional ranger at Mount Rainier.

Reporting by the Associated Press and KING 5's Jake Whittenberg.

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Source: http://www.krem.com/home/136540608.html

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