| Valimo Touts Digital Signatures
Consumers use mobile signatures for digitally signing loan applications, online bank authentication, transaction confirmation, mBanking and cardless ATM usage. In addition to banks, 2 brokerages are using mobile signatures for confirming trades: Ak Yatirim, Finans Invest; 2 municipalities (Fatih, Sisli) and 3 e-government services (Customs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice) use mobile signatures for user authentication and digital form signing. According to Dr. Deniz Tuncalp, Mobile Signature Unit Manager at Turkcell, the 'Mobilimza' mobile signature service has now clocked over 500.000 signature requests from Turkcell's subscriber base. Nationwide marketing campaigns feature full-page ads in magazines; and financial instutions advertise their mobile signature service in daily newspapers.
Bowdoin to replace all loans with grants
College graduation is often associated with freedom. But with tuition costs at an all-time high, Bowdoin graduates often find themselves shackled by student loan debt years after receiving their degrees. No more. The College announced last week that it will replace all its loans with permanent grants beginning in the fall in an attempt to ease the amount of money students owe when they graduate. "The student loan burden that we have imposed on studentsthat has grown over the last 10 yearsis at a level that makes it very difficult for students at the College while they're here," said President Barry Mills in an online video released with the announcement. "It makes it very difficult for them as they think about their career options for the future." Tuition and fees totaled $46,260 this yearalmost $20,000 more than they did a decade ago.
Both sides of a rat’s tale
I sold up a large family home in London to live more simply and go back to studying here, when my family had all grown up and gone. "I've had rats in my house for nine months now and I'm fighting the city council over their failure to stop my neighbourhood turning into a pest-infested and unhygienic nightmare. "It all started last autumn, when the council announcing it was rolling out a fortnightly household waste collection system in my area. I called the council to say that it wasn't possible for my kind of house to have a wheelie bin, because we all have to take the bags through our living rooms. I was told we could go on having bags instead. "I was glad the council was being flexible. But when the day came, all the streets were just blocked with bins on the pavements, left out all the time, and soon overflowing with stinking supermarket bags, half torn apart and spilling.
Don’t wait ’til the midnight hour
The clock is ticking for the estimated two million taxpayers who have yet to meet the January 31 deadline for handing in their self-assessment forms for the year 2006-07. There are only five days left until the cut-off point at midnight on Thursday, by which time tax returns must have reached the Revenue, along with any money due. The customary last-minute scramble could be made even more chaotic this year by the possibility of a strike by civil servants on January 31, which may result in the closure of some tax offices. In addition, some taxpayers whose homes have been blighted by last year’s floods may have lost their financial records. The Revenue has promised to do everything possible to keep offices open before and on deadline day and to assist those who have lost vital records.
MOHELA Forgives $1.5 Million in Student Loan Balances for First-Year ...
ST. LOUIS, MO--(Marketwire - January 24, 2008) - The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) has announced loan forgiveness awards of up to $3,200 for 510 public school teachers in Missouri. Designed to encourage the retention of quality educators, the awards went to all certified first-year teachers with Stafford student loans owned and serviced by MOHELA, as well as provisionally certified math, science and special education teachers. This award brings the total higher education loan balance and fee reduction granted by MOHELA to more than $42 million since 2000. In addition, MOHELA has pledged $335 million to help universities across Missouri improve facilities and provided $15 million to encourage research, development and commercialization of new technologies through the Missouri Technology Corporation.
Gates pushes ‘creative capitalism’
Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman, issued a call on Thursday night for a new form of “creative capitalism" that works both to generate profits and solve the world's inequities. Reflecting on his Microsoft career as he prepares to leave the company this summer to focus on his foundation, he noted how his ideals had changed over the years. “Ten, 20, 30 years ago, my focus was totally on how the magic of software could change the world," he said. “But breakthroughs change lives only where people can afford to buy them." He called on companies to “find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well". He hoped the power of recognition for a good deed would do the trick as a “market-based reward for good behaviour".
Helping to build an inclusive society
Some departments don't do as we say, but most have improved . . . they can't all be the same," she adds. The department of housing has performed well and awarded tenders to women, but the committee noted that the youth and people with disabilities were often overlooked. Senokoanyane makes it clear she is not out to win a popularity contest. "Our role is not to fight with departments but help them improve. Some departments are often unhappy with us but we have a job to do," she says. The committee also drops in at department offices and construction sites to "ensure what's on paper is indeed a reality". And visiting other provinces helps forestall problems . "It helps a great deal engaging with committees in other provinces because in that way we learn of ways to avert problems like that of unqualified (traditional) surgeons at initiation schools and other issues that affect the youth," she says.
Getting patients to the front of the line
Many people find the prepaid fees too expensive, doctors say. Some of the most costly aspects of health care aren't covered. So while there's been a lot of talk about the concept, it has remained a niche. Yet the allure is so strong that doctors aren't giving up on it. .
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