| CityPac trade halt as shares halved
ONE of the country's biggest non-bank loan providers, City Pacific, has been placed in a trading halt after its shares lost half their value yesterday on fears that it will not be able to repay the bulk of a $240 million loan facility due next month. There are also concerns that its directors might face margin calls on their shares. City Pacific yesterday revealed it had to repay an instalment of $90 million to the Commonwealth Bank by the end of March, and another $149.9 million by the end of April. The remaining $100,000 is due by the end of May. City Pacific also has to stump up $49 million by April 4 for Mariners Cove, located in Southport, Queensland, which it agreed to buy from property group Ariadne last August. The deal was meant to be finalised in February but City Pacific announced it would be delayed until April, without explaining why.
Week in review: Snuffing out OS bugs
Larry Ellison, Oracle's chief executive, said the initial $6.7 billion, or $17 a share, offer for BEA seems overpriced these days. "If we made another offer, the price would be lower," Ellison said during a Webcast of the analyst meeting. "They have done enough things now--and we'll have to see all the data--that clearly, the $17 price seems too high now." The comments came during Oracle's OpenWorld conference in San Francisco. Ellison kicked off the conference with a little trip down company memory lane by revealing some little-known tidbits about Oracle's history. For instance, what was Oracle's original name, and who was the company's first official bean counter? Oracle President Charles Phillips played tour guide, pointing out that virtualization and the company's application integration architecture will be two key areas to watch as the software giant moves forward in building its application "stack." The company, for example, unveiled its Oracle VM, which is open-source server virtualization software designed to support Oracle and third-party applications.
Border security tightens
Those quick trips across the border to Mexico and Canada will soon come with new requirements for travelers. As of Thursday, all travelers 19 and older crossing U.S. borders by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean must show a government-issued I.D. card, such as a driver’s license, and proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate. U.S. citizens 18 and under must prove citizenship. This new initiative will strengthen the security at U.S. land and sea borders, according to the U.S. Department of State Web site. Starting Friday, U.S. residents can apply for a cheaper, wallet-sized alternative to a traditional passport, which already is required for all air travel outside the USA. The new passport card, to be issued sometime this spring, will be valid for 10 years for adults and five years for children 15 and younger.
Replica guns seized from collector
Armed police swooped on the flat of a 54-year-old replica pistol collector in Battersea. They seized 17 replica guns but police admit the man posed no threat to the community. Wandsworth crime squad Inspector Matt Phelps said police had raided the flat about 10.20am on October 10 after a tip-off from the public. "This action was taken to pro-actively reduce the threat of firearm incidents in the borough and to prevent any possible tragic consequences should they have made their way into the wrong hands," Insp Phelps said after the weapons had been handed over. "Most imitation weapons are exact copies of the real thing and this places armed officers in the almost impossible position of having to make an instant judgment on whether a gun is real or not.
ABC: Thompson's Debate 'Tantrum' -- There's Fair and Balanced ...
Does ABC want real debate or do they want dumbed down, name calling or simple minded sound byte replies? I think you can easily decide which! If you didn't see the debate and missed what it is that Thompson did, there is a video available that I'll post at the end of this piece so you can see for yourself. But, in essence, Thompson refused to do a "show of hands" answer to the question of whether or not the candidates agree with the theory of man-made global warming. He felt that this important issue needed an actual reply. The gall of him, eh? .
Patchwork E-Filing Frustrates Lawyers
When Chicago litigator Victor Henderson sends an assistant to the Cook County Courthouse in Chicago to retrieve a filing, he hopes for a bit of luck. "We send them over and cross our fingers and hope it will come back," said Henderson, an attorney in Holland & Knight's Chicago office. "The confidence level is only 80 or 90 percent that, if you ask for something, it's going to be there. With a lawsuit, it has to be 100 percent." That's one reason why Henderson is leading the Chicago Bar Association in an effort to have Cook County Circuit Court -- the second busiest in the country -- make case files accessible on the Internet, pushing the county to follow in the footsteps of some state courts in adopting a more fully electronic docket system. They're not alone.
Yobs arson attacks leave Surbiton pensioners living in fear
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web. Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you. More on Digg More on del.icio.us More on Furl More on reddit More on NowPublic/ More on Yahoo! .
Hometown CEO likes what he sees in Lennar
Which Tampa CEO sees potential gold in them thar shares of struggling homebuilder Lennar Corp.? It's fellow Miami hometowner Sherrill Hudson, the CEO of Tampa's TECO Energy but who can be found on Friday p.m. flights to Miami, where he still resides. Lennar appointed Hudson to its board last month. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show Hudson recently bought 10,000 shares of Lennar for $18.59 to $18.61 apiece. The TECO chief spent 19 years as managing partner of accounting firm Deloitte & Touche in Miami and has crossed paths with Lennar. OSI servers, your tips are all yours Tampa-based OSI Restaurant Partners is abandoning a plan to deduct credit-card processing fees from its servers' tips. Under the plan, an Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill or Bonefish Grill server who received a tip via customer credit card would have had to forego a small percentage of it - usually 1.5 percent to 3 percent - for processing fees.
A scene from Ramin Bahrani's "Chop Shop." Image courtesy of Koch ...
Chop Shop" earned $8,475 from its exclusive engagement at New York's Film Forum, $11,730 since its Wednesday opening. While "Chop Shop's" New York setting made an impact on local audiences, Koch Lorber Films President Richard Lorber credited the acclaim surrounding Bahrani as the film's greatest draw. "The buzz about the talented Ramin Bahrani has made cinephiles flock to the theater to witness the birthing, as it were, the rare emergence of a true auteur," Lorber said. "The terrific word of mouth has also been advanced by the words out of Ramin's mouth. He's been extremely generous with his time, doing interviews and question and answer sessions at the theater. The night I was there with him, as we left, the ticket taker jokingly asked if he was coming back the next night and without missing a beat he asked what was the best screening to show up for, 'I'll be there,' he told the ticket taker." Koch Lorber plans to gradually expand "Chop Shop" through the next few months.
Wild Card -- Weekend
They were following the stringent new fire code enacted after a deadly 2003 nightclub blaze. Question: I know of a local box store that sold trees this year that lost many of there needles after a week. For those of you with real trees, how are they doing? Are they going to make it until Monday? .
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