Wall Street financial icon Bernard Madoff is behind what is said to be one of the biggest financial scams in history - a multi-billion-dollar investment fraud that robbed thousands of people all over the world of their hard-earned money.

Included in Madoff’s victims are international celebrities, banks and Jewish charities, some of which had to close business after the fraud was exposed. According to prosecutors, about 13 billion dollars passed through Madoff’s hands, in the guise of an “investment.” In truth, however, the money only went either to Madoff himself, or to dividends for his primary investors in what is known as a “Ponzi scheme.” Madoff admitted to the court that he never invested a single cent of the money given to him. He instead kept the money in a Chase Manhattan bank account.

Madoff made a courtroom apology to his victims, though, and I think this part was admirable. He at least had the courage to admit his mistake and tell the people he’s swindled that he’s sorry for it. In his statement, he said, “I’m sorry. I don’t ask for forgiveness. I leave a legacy of shame to my family. I am responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain. I live in a tormented state. I cannot offer an excuse for my behavior. How do you excuse deceiving investors… and 200 employees? How do you excuse lying to my sons and two brothers? How do you excuse lying to a wife who stood by you for 50 years and still stands by me? There is no excuse for that.”

After he made this statement, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Robert Gibbs, spokesman for the White House, said that this sentence should be a clear reminder to other financial investors of the enormous responsibility they hold in investing the money that other people had entrusted to them.

An autopsy by Los Angeles County medical examiners suggested that Michael Jackson had taken unspecified prescription medications. Were these given by his doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray? According to the doctor’s lawyer, Edward Chernoff, no, they were not. Chernoff said that whatever medications the doctor had given to Jackson were prescribed to address specific symptoms that the King of Pop complained of. Furthermore, the doctor never prescribed Demerol or Oxycontin to the singer.

On the other hand, Jackson’s longtime friend and Deepak Chopra revealed that he had been worried about Jackson’s possible overmedication since four years ago. Chopra, a licensed physician and a best-selling author, said that Jackson came to him after his trial on alleged sexual harrassment in 2005, and asked him for a prescription for some pain killers. Chopra saw that the star already had in his possession a bottle of Oxycontin, and was alarmed. He did not give Jackson the prescription, but grilled him about the Oxycontin and found out that the singer was gettign it “from a bunch of doctors.”

Did his painkiller medications have anything to do with his death? Did his personal cardiologist, Dr. Conrad Murray, overprescribe these potent medications?

Let’s see how the story unravels.

Best known for her role in 70’s TV hit, Charlie’s Angels, which in recent years has been adapted more than once to the big screen, former actress Farrah Fawcett recently succumbed to anal cancer.

The 62-year-old beauty icon was diagnosed with anal cancer three years ago. Though at first she fought for her privacy, she eventually made her disease public, so that many others might gain awareness and inspiration. In a documentary about her battle with cancer, entitled “Farrah’s Story,” she let people take a peek into the life of someone suffering from the dreaded condition. She shaved her beautiful blonde hair before it fell on its own with the effects of chemotherapy. She also underwent experimental treatments in Germany, in the hopes of getting a cure. She bravely fought her cancer to the end.

On Thursday morning, Farrah Fawcett died at the St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. O’Neal, her son Raymond’s father, whom she got engaged to just this month but never had the chance to wed, said, “After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away. Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world.”

A couple of months back, there were reports that R&B singer Chris Brown choked, beat and bit then-girlfriend pop star Rihanna after leaving a pre-Grammys party. A photo of a bruised and swollen Rihanna was leaked on the internet, causing a whole lot of buzz all over the world. Rihanna filed a case against Brown after a while.

On Monday, a preliminary hearing was scheduled to take place when Brown pleaded guilty to felony. This plea will put him on probation for five years and require him to do community service for six months. What kind of community service? Cleaning up graffiti or roadside trash. Can you imagine a former Billboard top artist scrubbing walls on the street? Though the crime he did was abominable, I still feel bad for him because that will really take some top humility to do, especially for someone of his stature.

The judge also ordered both Brown and Rihanna to “stay away from each other” - specifically, at least 50 yards apart, or 10 if they’re attending an industry event. Brown made the plea before the scheduled preliminary hearing began. When he had left, Rihanna entered and was informed of the judge’s orders.

The formal sentence against Brown will be made in August, and Rihanna said that she might ask for the terms to be loosened after Brown has been formally sentenced.

The road en route to the sacred Buddhist pagoda of Alaungdaw Kathapha in Myanmar needs some fixing, and by the faith of Buddhist followers it shall be fixed - using their hair.

Thousands of Buddhists are donating their precious locks, which has been touted as “black gold,” to aid in gathering funds for the road repairs. Some bridges will need to be built, and some portions of the road which have been diminished will have to be fixed. Proceeds from the hair donation drive will help supply the money to have these works done. Already, “about 30,000 women and more than 100 long-haired men from the central city of Mandalay and nearby towns have donated the hair.” This will be used to prettify many a little girl’s doll, and also cover up many an ill person’s head. Hair which is not to be put on dolls or wigs, meanwhile, can be sold to Chinese traders instead.

In commemoration of the touching willingness of their faithful to donate their hair for the improvement of their sacred pagoda, a bridge will be built that is to be called “Shwe Hsan Nwe bridge,” or “Bridge of Golden Tresses.”

Source: Yahoo News http://ph.news.yahoo.com/ap/20090621/tap-as-odd-myanmar-pounds-of-hair-d3b07b8.html

If you happen to visit Paris and see people sitting on folding chairs being massaged on the streets, don’t be surprised. Instead, look for the sign that’s bound to be displayed there, which says, “The Free French Massage.”

The scheme was conceptualized by 60-something Frenchman Andre Chouckroun, whom everyone calls simply “Tchouk.” He thought of it as a means to contribute to humanity, make friends, and at the same time earn some extra cash, for though the massage is offered free, there are boxes provided for tips or donations.

Tchouk and his trained “Anti-Stress Agents” set up their stall in Paris’ Latin Quarter. They have an association called “MoufftardusContrescarpus,” the aim of which is to provide “French-style relaxation” to common people. They do a little kneading and stroking, and talk to the people they massage and make friends with them.

Tchouk explains that the goal is not to make money, but to serve humanity.

Source: Yahoo News http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090620/tls-lifestyle-health-massage-france-aeafa1b.html

Apple has been riding a wave of success like nothing they have seen before, ever since they brought iPods to consumers. The computer company had reportedly made more than $3.1 billion over the last four years and stocks have been incredibly high because of it.

Now in what could be the next Enron, Apple has admitted that their is evidence to prove that their stocks were grossly mishandled and that’s it financial accuracy dating back to 2002 might well be false.

Apple shares fell $3.26, or 4.7 percent, to $66.33 and might continue to fall as Apple looks into their own finances to get a hold of things.

Ben S. Bernanke says he’s worried about inflation, and the stock market dropped nearly 200 points in response. Speaking at the International Monetary Conference in Washington on Monday, Bernanke said there are many signs that the economy is in transition, including:

• slowing consumer spending
• a cooling real estate market
• increased energy costs
• a slight rise in unemployment numbers

At the same time, there are positives, such as:

• increased worker productivity
• more investment in business
• a more robust economy worldwide, which should bolster the American economy

Still, Bernanke said inflation is a major problem, mostly because of high energy costs. The speech is pretty dry, but here’s one part most readers can understand:

With the economy now evidently in a period of transition, monetary policy must be conducted with great care and with close attention to the evolution of the economic outlook as implied by incoming information. Given recent developments, the medium-term outlook for inflation will receive particular scrutiny.

Many investors and analysts take that to mean interest rates will be going up again, which explains the market correction that took place after the speech.

Source: Speech transcript

Ford Motor Co. reported that for the first quarter they have posted a $1.2 billion dollar loss. This is the mostly costly loss in four years and happens at a time when Ford is frantically trying to bring about major changes.

Ford’s North American automotive unit, which has been struggling with declining sales and high fixed costs, reported a pretax loss of $2.9 billion in the first quarter, including one-time items. Ford said that was primarily due to lower sales, increased incentives, acceleration of charges related to plant closings and losses at former Visteon Corp. plants now under the control of a Ford-managed entity.

Worldwide, Ford’s automotive operations lost $2.7 billion before taxes, compared with a profit of $473 million a year ago. That included $2.5 billion in one-time special items such as restructuring charges. Ford sold 1.7 million vehicles worldwide, up 3 percent from a year ago.

“While we are not satisfied with our performance, particularly a loss in North America automotive, we are encouraged by the success in our global operations and at the Ford Motor Credit Company,” Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford said in a statement. “We have said we intend to restore automotive profitability in North America by no later than 2008 and we remain committed to deliver on our promise.”

Source: Yahoo! News

According to Yahoo News, “Nordic telecommunication giants Nokia and Ericsson will need to grow by acquisition to counter the long-term impact of a planned merger of Alcatel and Lucent on their business.”

French company Alcatel and US company Lucent are merging to become a giant company worth about $25 billion, which will make them the 2nd biggest telecom in the world (behind US-based Cisco).

Some analysts are suggesting that Nokia should now think about merging with German company Siemens. Similarly, Ericsson should consider increasing its fixed-line business so that it can stay competitive.

For now, according to Optically Networked, Alcatel and Lucent are focusing on “the massive job of synchronizing operations on both sides of the Atlantic” and deciding which side will “bear the brunt of the layoffs, which are expected to be about 10 percent of the combined workforce of about 88,000.”