Bizarre Bank

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Have you ever known a bank 

• whose Chairman and Executive Directors never attended any Board Meeting, yet signed its minutes?
• whose Chief Executive's authorisation of transactions was done from another country by someone else, using "pcAnywhere" software?
• whose Chairman apparently signed the Annual Report when he was in the ICU in a different continent?
• whose borrowers denied having ever applied for, or having been given, loans though the books showed loans made exceeding $2Bn?

If you haven't, this story in The Economist will describe one such bank which has just recently gone into administration. Bizarre is the only word to describe this fraud.

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How brave American women on the battlefront are treated

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I had blogged in October, 2009 that it was shocking that American women who allege rape or harassment while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan have been denied recourse to courts. Studies that I had not been aware of when I blogged in October show the extent of this offence.  For example, this story from May, 2009 shows another form of wink-wink-nod-nod behaviour of the Government when it comes to dealing with this issue. This story on BBC's website datelined 17 April, 2009  reviews a book on the subject. Importantly, it alleges that the US Department of Defense knew about this state of affairs and chose to do nothing.
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