NAMA plans a sale of €1.8 billion's worth of property loans
Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency is preparing to sell Irish, German and U.K. real estate loans with a face value of 1.8 billion euros ($2.5 billion) as demand for property debt rises, two people with knowledge of the plan said.
The loans are linked to properties built by Irish developer Michael O’Flynn and his companies, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. UBS AG will act as broker, one of the people said. David Clerkin, a NAMA spokesman at public relations firm Gordon MRM, and UBS spokeswoman Stephanie Aneto declined to comment. O’Flynn wouldn’t comment when contacted by phone.
International investors have been buying property and loans backing European real estate as the region rebounds from its sovereign-debt crisis. Lenders in the European Union sold 29 billion euros of portfolio loans and assets such as bank branches and mortgage-servicing units and in the first half of 2013, according to Richard Thompson, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in London.
O’Flynn Group’s developments include student housing across Europe and The Elysian apartment tower in Cork that’s Ireland’s tallest building, according to building-data provider Emporis.
NAMA was set up in 2009 by the government to take over 74 billion euros of risky commercial real estate loans held by Ireland’s banks and sell them over as many as 10 years.
Over 500 Irish schools could close if Teachers dispute goes ahead
SUPERVISION AND SUBSTITUTION DUTIES TO BECOME UNPAID AND MANDATORY IN JANUARY
Over 500 second-level schools could close from mid-January if the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) rejects the Haddington Road agreement and a dispute commences over supervision and substitution duties, Government sources believe.
The cabinet decided last week that if the ASTI votes again to reject the Haddington Road deal in a ballot currently underway , supervision and substitution would become unpaid and mandatory for its members from January 17th.
It is understood that the Department of Education will formally set out this position in a circular to schools in the weeks ahead if the ASTI votes against the agreement.
Government sources believe that if the ASTI subsequently directed members not to carry out supervision and substitution duties, schools where it has a significant number of members could not stay open.
Government sources estimated that there are around 500 schools where the ASTI is either the dominant trade union or has a significant number of members.
Ultimately it would be a matter for individual boards of management in schools to determine whether they should stay open.
It is understood the Government made no provision for non-union members to accept the Haddington Road agreement if they wished on an individual basis.
Separately figures released by the Department of Education maintained that young teachers who are members of the ASTI will be more than €220 per month worse off than their counterparts in the Teachers Union of Ireland, if they vote to reject the Haddington Road agreement.
The Department of Education stated that for ASTI members who commenced their careers in 2012 they would be worse off by €734 per month by 2020 if the Haddington Road deal was rejected and the Government imposed the provision of financial emergency legislation and ended payments for supervision and substitution duties.
Members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland have accepted the Haddington Road agreement, however the ASTI is currently balloting again on the deal with a recommendation and members should vote against it.
The figures released by the Department of Education maintained that an ASTI member who started teaching in 2012 would be worse off by €222 per month in salary form next February if Haddington Road was rejected compared with a teacher in the Teachers’ Union of Ireland.
It said an ASTI member who started their teaching career in 2011 would be worse off by €164 per month or €660 per month by 2020.
The Department of Education maintained that an ASTI member with seven years experience would be worse off by €139 per month from next February or €339 per month in 2020 compared with a member of the Teacher’s Union of Ireland.
The Department of Education said that an assistant principal in a school on the top of their pay scale would be €2 per month worse off from February or €330 per month by 2020 compared with a member of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland.
Dunne's Stores Anti-apartheid strikers of 1984 to attend Mandela funeral
(right pic.) Mary Manning (right) kneels next to a plaque commemorating the strike
Irish supermarket workers who went on strike for almost three years over the import of goods from apartheid South Africa are set to attend Nelson Mandela’s funeral.
Trade unions are trying to organise transport for some of those who took part in the high-profile picket at Dunnes Stores in Dublin in the 1980s.
The action was triggered in 1984 when 21-year-old cashier Mary Manning was suspended for refusing to handle goods bought from South Africa.
The strike, involving 11 workers, was one of the longest in trade union history and only ended when the Irish Government agreed to ban the import of South African fruit and vegetables until the apartheid regime was over.
Mr Mandela met the strike workers during a visit to Dublin in the early 1990s.
M/s Manning has a street named after her in Johannesburg.
The workers were commemorated five years ago with an official plaque in central Dublin.
M/s Manning was presented with the plaque in a special ceremony by former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
Mandate trade union said it and other unions in Ireland were in the process of arranging the attendance of the Dunnes Stores anti-apartheid strikers at Mr Mandela’s funeral next Sunday.
Mandate general secretary John Douglas said: “The trade union movement believes it would be a fitting tribute from the Irish trade union movement to send the Dunnes Stores strikers, who took such a brave stance on the issue of apartheid, to the funeral of Mr Mandela in South Africa.”
Irish President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina will fly to South Africa tomorrow to attend a memorial service for Mr Mandela at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Almost 50% of people stressed over money worries during festive season
We’re not looking forward to Christmas. A shocking 75% of middle-aged people are the most stressed and money is the biggest cause.
The Alka-Seltzer study Seasonal Stress and Excess found that almost one in two adults – 49% are stressing out about Christmas, with shopping, cooking and cleaning adding to their woes.
Seasonal stress affects more women than men with 74% of females versus 68% of men feeling the strain.
It also revealed that the “sandwich generation” of 32 to 50-year-old women carry the biggest stress burden.
Alka-Seltzer brand manager Jennifer Walsh said the frantic nature of Christmas – coupled with an already strained economy – causes serious tension headaches, the most common type of primary headaches.
MINIMISE: Some people feel them in the eyes, others in the neck and some in the back – and they account for 90pc of headaches.
But there are things you can do to minimise the stress and maximise Christmas. Cut down on your gift list as well as creating a budget for the ones you’ve decided to buy and focus on the free stuff.
Get prepared in advance and share the workload with family and friends.
PRUNE: Don’t create unnecessary work for yourself either, “prune your action list” recommends Alka-Seltzer.
Indigestion is another common symptom around Christmas with people over-indulging on the turkey.
Keep meals to a manageable size and bear in mind that excessive eating doesn’t make anyone happy. Finally make Christmas fun – not perfect.
The use of Statin increases amputation-free survival in patients with critical limb ischemia
In patients with critical limb ischemia, statin use was associated with lower mortality and fewer major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, as well as increased amputation-free survival, according to recent study results published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Researchers reviewed 380 patients with critical limb ischemia who underwent diagnostic angiography or therapeutic endovascular intervention from 2006-2012. Overall, 246 patients were prescribed statins. Patients prescribed statins had lower mean serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels and more baseline comorbidities, including extensive lower extremity disease, diabetes, coronary artery disease and hypertension, according to study results.
Researchers found an association between statin therapy and lower 1-year rates of major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, including stroke and myocardial infarction, and major amputation or death. Patients with LDL levels above 130mg/dL were at greater risk of major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events and mortality compared with patients with LDL levels lower than 130mg/dL.
“The improved rates of 1-year MACCE [major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events] with stain use strengthens the evidence supporting the guideline recommendations of statin therapy for all PAD patients, including those with even the most advanced stages of disease. Our finding of superior outcomes for patients with lower LDL levels also provides support for the use of LDL as a treatment target in patients with PAD.
Future studies should determine the optimal statin type and dose, further explore potential treatment targets including low-density lipoprotein for statins in peripheral arterial disease, and investigate barriers to more widespread use of statins among patients with critical limb ischemia,” the researchers wrote.
Human evolution comparison of various humans existing prior to modern Man
DENISOVANS, NEANDERTHALS, AND HOMO FLORESIENSIS ARE COUSINS
Human evolution, ever changing and full of mystery, is beautiful. The Denisovans, Neanderthals, and Homo floresiensis were ancient populations whose DNA remnants can be traced to today’s modern humans. They were around during the early times of human progress. Each type branched off from the original early humans over time, according to Matthias Meyer of the Max Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology.
For years, it has been a conversation involving only the Neanderthal when looking into how humans evolved. The discovery in 1974 of Lucy, 3.2 million years old with features of human and ape alike, fit into the known Neanderthal context. Lucy, who walked upright, was found in Ethiopia by Donald Johnson, a paleontologist. She was the oldest human ancestor discovered at the time.
In 2004, the human evolution chain was adjusted once more. Homo floresiensis fossils were discovered in the Liang Bua Cave, on an Indonesian island called Flores. Research found the specimens of these ancient humans to be small in stature. Their features attracted the term “Hobbit” as their distinction.
Homo floresiensis fossils are still being investigated to see where they fit in the tree of human evolution. For one, it is not clear whether their size is natural or from adaptation to being on an island with limited food availability. Another oddity is the lack of clarification of how these fossils appear to somehow possibly fit in the old world and the new world. It is expected more findings will be uncovered providing clarification of who Homo floresiensiswas in the future.
In 2008, a chip of a Denisovan’s fingertip was discovered in a small chamber in the Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. After it was scientifically analyzed by Johannes Krause (part of evolutionary geneticist Svante Pääblo’s team of the Max Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology) it was clear, without a doubt, that the fingertip did not come from a modern human or a Neanderthal; it was a completely different species.
To paint a picture, two teeth were discovered that fit into the Denisovan family. The teeth are larger than the teeth of modern humans and Neanderthal. One tooth was at first thought to belong to a cave bear. A magical note to the location of this discovery is that Densinova is (so far) the only place on the planet where modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans all lived at some point, according to Pääblo.
Early modern human evolution was around 500,00 years ago. The Denisovans, Neanderthals, and Homo floresiensis derived from that group, becoming their own separate hominin group. This interesting information designates that humans are not descendants of any of the aforementioned, but rather they broke off the same group. Until research provides different conclusions, every group originated out of Africa, with modern humans being of the Homo sapiens group, Neanderthals of the Homo neanderthalensis group and Homo floresiensis being its own group.
Dr. Meyers theorized that the Neanderthals (who went to Europe and Central Asia) and Denisovans (to East Asia) left Africa approximately half a million years ago. Homo floresiensiswas uncovered on the Indonesian Island of Flores, according to Dr. Meyer. The discovery is still being assessed. Homo sapiens left about fifty to one hundred thousand years ago. These are said to be the early beginnings of modern humans.
While the Denisovans, Neanderthals, and Homo floresiensis are the only types of hominins known at this time, in the future there may be more as scientists continue to uncover new information. The full details of the study were published this month in the journal Nature.
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