ON this Father’s Day, I would like to share the pain of a father who is going through difficult times because of the “wounds” inflicted by his daughter who had gone against the very principles in life he stood for and hoped his children would follow.
He is a very old friend known for his cheerfulness and a positive outlook in life. I was shocked to see him depressed and very different from the person I used to know.
He said everything was all right until a few years ago when his only daughter disobeyed him and married a man who already had a wife and grown-up children.
He loved the daughter so much and had great hopes for her. His life seems to have come to a standstill and depression has made him a withdrawn and reclusive person who avoids even his close friends and relatives.
This friend is not alone. I realise many fathers today are facing similar problems. Delinquency, drug addiction, immoral activities and crime are some of the problems which have turned their once obedient and caring children into nightmares.
Life is no longer as simple as it used to be when a father’s word was the absolute truth that could not be challenged by the children. This had its pros and cons but by and large, it contributed to peace and unity in the family, as most fathers had the welfare of the family at heart in whatever they did.
Society today is much more complex with tremendous advancements in technology. Today, the role of the elder is becoming irrelevant.
We may be highly developed in technology but we must not fail to realise that the value of experience can only be obtained after years of handling the challenges in life.
We must not forget that wisdom, forbearance and tact acquired through years of experience are equally important in managing the many pressing issues today.
Our fathers may not be technology savvy but their experiences in life were invaluable. We must not ignore them as that would only lead to our downfall.
We should explain our stand, especially when we think they are wrong. As children, obedience to our father should be out of respect for the sacrifices that he has made for our well being.
What we are today is very much due to his dedicated love that no amount of money, technology or education can buy.
He may be outdated in this world of technology but he is still relevant as we need his blessings. We can make him happy by consulting him on the major decisions in our lives. We can make him happy by trying not to do what he hates.
We can make him happy by correcting our wrongs in life. In short, we can make him happy by trying to be the children we were to our dads when we were young. We should not underestimate the value of his blessings in our lives.
On this Father’s Day, let us try to heal the wounds we have caused through disobedience by mending our wrongful ways. Obedience to our fathers should not be seen as a sign of weakness but as a sign of respect and faith in them.
Dr CHRIS ANTHONY, Butterworth
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
U.S. targets bank, shipping in new Iran sanctions
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David Lawder
WASHINGTON
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks in Dushanbe, June 9, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Nozim Kalandarov
Credit: Reuters/Nozim Kalandarov
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on Iran to curb its nuclear program, blacklisting another of its state-controlled banks, companies that are fronts for its state shipping line, and more of its Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The actions are the first set of U.S. measures to implement new United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran approved last week. They prohibit U.S. transactions with the blacklisted entities and seek to freeze any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.
The Treasury also took a separate step to squeeze Iran's energy sector by identifying some 20 petroleum and petrochemical companies as being under Iranian government control -- an action that puts them off limits to U.S. businesses under a general trade embargo.
A number of the firms are based outside of Iran and their ties to Tehran were far from obvious, Treasury officials said. They also identified two insurance companies that would fall under the trade embargo, including one based in Britain.
"Our actions today are designed to deter other governments and foreign financial institutions from dealing with these entities and thereby supporting Iran's illicit activities," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a news briefing.
He added that the United States planned more actions to boost financial pressure on Iran in the coming weeks.
"We will continue to target Iran's support for terrorist organizations. We will continue to focus on Iran's Revolutionary Guard," he said. "And we will continue to expose Iran's efforts to evade international sanctions."
The Treasury said it added Post Bank of Iran to its list of specially designated proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, marking the 16th bank in Iran that it has sought to cut off from the international financial system.
Since Bank Sepah was sanctioned in 2007, Post Bank has stepped in to handle and disguise international transactions on its behalf, said Stuart Levey, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Among these were a transfer worth millions of dollars to Hong Kong Electronics, a previously blacklisted firm involved in North Korea's weapons proliferation efforts, Levey said. Previously, Post Bank only operated domestically in Iran.
SHIPPING SHELL-GAME
The Treasury's action also aims to thwart Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) from skirting previous sanctions against it by renaming vessels and shifting them to new front companies. It blacklisted five such companies, identified 27 new vessels blocked under the sanctions, and updated entries for 71 others that were renamed, reregistered and flying new flags.
The new Treasury sanctions also take further aim at the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, blacklisting its air force and missile commands over their activities in the development of ballistic missiles. The United States had previously sanctioned Revolutionary Guard entities over their support for terrorist activities and Iran's nuclear and missile programs.
The Revolutionary Guard has taken over increasingly large parts of Iran's economy and "should not have any place in the world financial system," Levey said.
Iran denies Western allegations that it is seeking atomic weapons, insisting that it only wants peaceful nuclear energy.
The U.N. resolution called for measures against new Iranian banks abroad if a connection to the nuclear or missile programs is suspected, as well as vigilance over transactions with any Iranian bank, including its central bank. It also called on countries to blacklist entities linked to IRISL and the Revolutionary Guard, and urged a cargo inspection regime like the one in place for North Korea.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
The U.S. actions come as the European Union states this week are considering their own sanctions over and above the U.N. resolution, including actions against Iranian banks and insurance companies involved in trade finance. The EU package could be ready by mid-July.
The success of U.S. sanctions on Iranian entities will depend largely on whether foreign governments and businesses heed them. So far, many European banks have halted trade with firms on Treasury blacklists, and U.S. officials plan a major effort to persuade governments to support the U.S. sanctions and take similar steps.
U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman said he expects Congress to finish shortly legislation tightening U.S. sanctions on Iran that will include provisions affecting the supply of refined petroleum products to Tehran, and add to sanctions on its financial sector.
Lieberman, an independent, is a member of a House-Senate committee of negotiators working on final details of the bill and said it could pass by July 4.
"There definitely will be refined petroleum products provisions in there," he told reporters. "I think there also will be really powerful sanctions against the financial sector in Iran."
Give away riches urges Buffett
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffett are launching a campaign to get other American billionaires to give at least half their wealth to charity.
Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said in a letter introducing the concept that he couldn't be happier with his decision in 2006 to give 99 per cent of his roughly $US46 billion ($A53.3 billion) fortune to charity.
Patty Stonesifer, former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said on Wednesday that Gates and Buffett have been campaigning for the past year to get others to donate the bulk of their wealth.
The friends and philanthropic colleagues are asking people to pledge to donate either during their lifetime or at the time of their death. They estimate their efforts could generate $US600 billion ($A695.17 billion) dollars in charitable giving.
In 2009, American philanthropies received a total of about $US300 billion ($A347.58 billion) in donations, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
The handful of billionaires approached so far have embraced the campaign, said Stonesifer, a close friend of Gates who offered to speak about the effort.
Four wealthy couples have already announced their pledges, including Los Angeles philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest of Philadelphia, John and Ann Doerr of Menlo Park, California, and John and Tasha Mortgridge of San Jose, California.
In addition to making a donation commitment, Gates and Buffett are asking billionaires to pledge to give wisely and learn from their peers.
They said they were inspired by the philanthropic efforts of not just other billionaires but of the people of all financial means and backgrounds who have given generously to make the world a better place.
Their philosophical forebears are the Carnegie and Rockefeller families, who donated most of their wealth back to improve society and were the grandparents of modern philanthropy, said Stacy Palmer, editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Ted Turner's announcement 13 years ago of a $US1 billion ($A1.16 billion) gift to United Nations programs also was done in part to inspire other big givers, but did not have a noticeable result, Palmer said.
"It's a stretch to see how they're going to get to the $US600 billion ($A695.17 billion) figure," she said, noting that only 17 people on the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest people in America are also on the Chronicle's list of the most generous American donors.
Many of these people may be giving anonymously or plan to donate when they die, but the bulk of money raised by charities today comes from non-billionaires giving $US5, $US10 or $US50 at a time, Palmer said.
Buffett's plan will eventually split most of his shares of his Omaha, Nebraska, company between five charitable foundations, with the largest chunk going to the Gates Foundation.
He also plans to give Class B Berkshire shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which he and his late first wife started, and to the three foundations run by his three children.
Buffett said in 2006 that his other 73,332 Class A shares of Berkshire stock, worth about $US8 billion ($A9.27 billion), would also go to philanthropy, but he didn't specify how those shares would be distributed.
Bill and Melinda Gates have made a similar pledge through the establishment of their Seattle-based foundation.
Gates and Buffett are asking each individual or couple who make a pledge to do so publicly, with a letter explaining their decision.
"The pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. It does not involve pooling money or supporting a particular set of causes or organisations," they explain in a written statement about the project.
AP
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Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said in a letter introducing the concept that he couldn't be happier with his decision in 2006 to give 99 per cent of his roughly $US46 billion ($A53.3 billion) fortune to charity.
Patty Stonesifer, former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said on Wednesday that Gates and Buffett have been campaigning for the past year to get others to donate the bulk of their wealth.
The friends and philanthropic colleagues are asking people to pledge to donate either during their lifetime or at the time of their death. They estimate their efforts could generate $US600 billion ($A695.17 billion) dollars in charitable giving.
In 2009, American philanthropies received a total of about $US300 billion ($A347.58 billion) in donations, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
The handful of billionaires approached so far have embraced the campaign, said Stonesifer, a close friend of Gates who offered to speak about the effort.
Four wealthy couples have already announced their pledges, including Los Angeles philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest of Philadelphia, John and Ann Doerr of Menlo Park, California, and John and Tasha Mortgridge of San Jose, California.
In addition to making a donation commitment, Gates and Buffett are asking billionaires to pledge to give wisely and learn from their peers.
They said they were inspired by the philanthropic efforts of not just other billionaires but of the people of all financial means and backgrounds who have given generously to make the world a better place.
Their philosophical forebears are the Carnegie and Rockefeller families, who donated most of their wealth back to improve society and were the grandparents of modern philanthropy, said Stacy Palmer, editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Ted Turner's announcement 13 years ago of a $US1 billion ($A1.16 billion) gift to United Nations programs also was done in part to inspire other big givers, but did not have a noticeable result, Palmer said.
"It's a stretch to see how they're going to get to the $US600 billion ($A695.17 billion) figure," she said, noting that only 17 people on the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest people in America are also on the Chronicle's list of the most generous American donors.
Many of these people may be giving anonymously or plan to donate when they die, but the bulk of money raised by charities today comes from non-billionaires giving $US5, $US10 or $US50 at a time, Palmer said.
Buffett's plan will eventually split most of his shares of his Omaha, Nebraska, company between five charitable foundations, with the largest chunk going to the Gates Foundation.
He also plans to give Class B Berkshire shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which he and his late first wife started, and to the three foundations run by his three children.
Buffett said in 2006 that his other 73,332 Class A shares of Berkshire stock, worth about $US8 billion ($A9.27 billion), would also go to philanthropy, but he didn't specify how those shares would be distributed.
Bill and Melinda Gates have made a similar pledge through the establishment of their Seattle-based foundation.
Gates and Buffett are asking each individual or couple who make a pledge to do so publicly, with a letter explaining their decision.
"The pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. It does not involve pooling money or supporting a particular set of causes or organisations," they explain in a written statement about the project.
AP
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