Right now it has to be the safest school in America' Parents and students of Sandy Hook Elementary get private tour of new building a day before classes begin

Follow @khalid45kk

MONROE, Conn. -- The children who escaped last month's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., have been welcomed with their parents at a school in a neighboring town that was overhauled specially for them.
And their new school is being renamed for their old one.
Newtown Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson said Wednesday the change is appropriate because "they are the Sandy Hook family." She spoke after a private open house for the families at the former Chalk Hill School in Monroe.
It was the students' first time in a classroom since Dec. 14, when a gunman killed 20 students and six educators. Classes resume Thursday.
Numerous police officers were at their new school Wednesday. Monroe Police Lt. Keith White said, "I think right now it has to be the safest school in America."

The road leading to the school in a rural, largely residential neighborhood was lined with signs greeting the students, saying "Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary School" and "Welcome. You are in our prayers." Several police cars were parked outside the school.
Teams of workers, many of them volunteers, prepared the former Chalk Hill middle school with fresh paint and new furniture and even raised bathroom floors so the smaller elementary school students can reach the toilets. The students' desks, backpacks and other belongings that were left behind following the shooting were taken to the new school to make them feel at home.
Counselors say it's important for children to get back to a normal routine and for teachers and parents to offer sensitive reassurances.

One parent, Robert Bazuro, said he is pleased his second- and fourth-graders are going back to school on Thursday.
"We're very happy the kids are going back and we're very thankful for Monroe for everything they've done for us," said Bazuro, who was with his children at a Newtown barbershop.
 When classes start, schools Superintendent Janet Robinson said teachers will try to make it as normal a school day as possible for the children.

"We want to get back to teaching and learning," she said. "We will obviously take time out from the academics for any conversations that need to take place, and there will be a lot of support there. All in all, we want the kids to reconnect with their friends and classroom teachers, and I think that's going to be the healthiest thing."

Jet Airways finally confirms stake sale talks with Etihad Airways

Follow @khalid45kk

MUMBAI: After intense speculation for several months, India's largest airline by way of market capitalisation - Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet AirwaysBSE 0.80 % - on Thursday confirmed that it is in talks for a stake dilution with Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways.

In a communique to stock exchanges, the airline said: "Jet and Etihad are in a discussion regarding a potential investment by the latter in the former, these discussions have commenced recently pursuant to the liberalised FDI policy which permitted foreign investment in the shares of an Indian airline. The discussions are in progress but no terms have been firmed up at present."

Jet has been consistent in the past not to ascribe any credence to reports stating that those media reports are 'speculative'.

The proposed deal, sources told ET, is in the works and is likely to be announced by the end of this month. The Jet-Etihad deal was first reported by ET in its September 19 edition. The proposed deal will need several regulatory hurdles to be sorted out from both sides.

The investment from Etihad, if it happens with Jet Airways will be first such investment made by a foreign carrier after the government last year allowed international carriers to invest in Indian aviation companies.

According to a source, the Mumbai-office of law firm Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co (AMSS) is advising Abu Dhabi-based-Etihad Airways for the proposed deal and Clasis Law is representing Jet. "AMSS has got the mandate and the law firm is going through the due-diligence of over 150 documents," said a person privy to the deal.

The source said that Jet is likely to get a huge premium for the strategic deal as the airline is being valued at Rs 7,875 crore. Its current market capitalisation is about Rs 5,239 crore.

"The talks are for the minority stake of around 24% for close to $350 million, which will value the company over $1.5 billion," the same person said.

This valuation essentially means that Jet will get a deal that will be about 53 times of its current EBITDA levels of Rs 148 crore for March 2012. Jet's projected EBITDA for financial year 2014 is about Rs 1,874 crore. Jet's shares are trading at Rs 606.85 a share, gaining 4.70%, or Rs 27.25 a share on Thursday. If the deal fructifies with Etihad, the UAE airline will have to cough up a 50% premium to that price.

"It is essentially a strategic alliance so whatever Etihad ends up paying will be based on an assumption of a significant improvement in the EBITDA levels over two to three years' time," explained an investment banker.

The investment by Etihad, according to a person privy to the deal, would be made through a dilution of Naresh Goyal's stake (who holds 80%) in Tail Winds, the holding company for Jet Airways which is registered in Isle of Mann. But that mode of transaction could not be exactly ascertained as sources said that there is a possibility of a deal which will have some form of equity in the form of compulsorily convertible debentures, a deal structure that was done at the time of an investment made by US billionaire investor Wilbur Ross in budget airline SpiceJetBSE -1.69 %.

$500 million in checks found at Jerusalem’s Western Wall

Follow @khalid45kk

Holy Powerball.
For centuries, worshippers have been tucking slips containing written prayers into the cracks of Jerusalem’s Western Wall. On Wednesday, one man found an answer he wasn’t expecting.
The man came to the wall to pray for financial security, according to the Jerusalem Post. He found an envelope at the site stuffed with checks that added up to $500 million dollars.
There were 507 checks total, signed and written for about $1 million each. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who oversees the Wall, said most of them were Nigerian, but some came from the United States, Europe, and Asia.
The checks weren’t addressed to anyone and they probably can’t be cashed in
The man, working through a lawyer, took the envelope to the police. A spokesperson said the police were investigating whether the checks were forged.
This isn’t the first time such holy checks have surfaced. Rabinovitch said he has found checks in the Wall’s charity boxes before, mostly written by worshippers from Africa. All of those checks bounced.
Rabinovitch said he believes the check writers had good intentions. He thinks they “wanted to give all they had to the Creator of the Universe.”

Yada Yada, he robbed a bank

Follow @khalid45kk

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
A witness to a bank robbery last December testified Tuesday he couldn’t forget the crook because he looked exactly like ne’er-do-well George Costanza on the legendary comedy, “Seinfeld.”
“Little to no hair, stocky, wearing glasses,” the witness, Ricky Chou, said on the stand, describing Gary Fama, who is charged with robbing the Capital One bank in Bensonhurst. “He reminded me of ... George Costanza,” Chou added. John Marzulli
Fama and accomplice Jack Mannino were spotted by the witness as they bailed out of a getaway Lexus after the heist, cops said.
Fama had robbed the same branch 12 years earlier, cops said.
Mannino, a reputed Gambino gangster once known the "Seven Second Bandit" for his own past bank robbery exploits, is now a government witness and expected to testify that they knew each other from serving time in prison together and when they got out they agreed to rob a bank together.
"Mannino picked Fama up from his mother's house and the two men drove around the neighborhood looking for a bank to rob," court papers state. "During the drive Fama suggested they rob the Capital One Bank because he had robbed it before and had 'gotten away with it.'"

Europe's biggest bank HSBC fined up to $ 1.92 now

Follow @khalid45kk

ایک یہودی کا بیٹا روزانہ سو ڈالر کا چینج لینے نکلتا اور جب شام کو واپس آتا تو اس کے پاس ایک سو بیس ڈالر ہوتے۔ جب بنک بن گئے تو یہی کام انہوں نے بنکوں سے لیا اور دنیا بھر میں بنکاری کے اعلی ترین قوانین ہوتے ہوئے بھی جس بنک کا جہاں داﺅ لگتا ہے وہ لگا جاتا ہے۔ زیادہ کا تعلق برطانیہ سے ہے۔ 9\11 سے پہلے بنکوں کی مانیٹرنگ اتنی سخت نہیں تھی لیکن بعدازاں امریکہ نے عالمی اداروں کے تعاون سے بہت سخت قوانین کا اجرا کرنے کے ساتھ ساتھ مانیٹرنگ سسٹم میں بھی وسعت پیدا کی جس کا نتیجہ یہ ہوا ہے کہ دو روز پہلے یورپ کے سب سے بڑے بنک HSBC کو ریکارڈ 1.92 ارب ڈالر کا جرمانہ کیا گیا ہے۔ امریکہ کے محکمہ انصاف نے فرد جرم عائد کرنے کے ساتھ تمام دستاویزی ثبوت بھی پیش کئے کہ کس طرح بنک نے نہ صرف کولمبیا اور میکسیکو میں ڈرگ اور منی لانڈرنگ کے دو کارٹل کی 881 ڈالر کی رقم کا لین دین کیا بلکہ امریکی محکمہ انصاف نے یہ بھی ثابت کیا کہ امریکہ نے ایران، لیبیا، سوڈان، برما اور کیوبا پر جو معاشی پابندیاں عائد کی ہوتی ہیں۔ اس بنک نے چند دوسرے بنکوں کی طرح (انہیں مجموعی طور پر چار ارب ڈالر کا جرمانہ ہو چکا ہے) ان معاشی پابندیوں کی دھجیاں اڑاتے ہوئے ان ممالک کی صنعت و تجارت کی شخصیات کے ساتھ نہ صرف بنک کاری کی ہے بلکہ کاروباری تعلقات بالکل اسی طرح قائم رکھے جیسے ان ممالک کی بزنس کمیونٹیز کے ساتھ رکھے ہوئے ہیں جن پر امریکہ نے معاشی پابندیوں کا اطلاق نہیں کیا ہے۔ HSBC کے چیف ایگزیکٹو نے بروکلین کی وفاقی عدالت میں موجود دستاویزات اور الزامات کو نہ صرف تسلیم کیا ہے بلکہ تحریری طور پر طے پایا ہے کہ بے شک جرمانے کے طور پر سوا ارب ڈالر ادا کرے گا۔ 
پاکستان کی خوش قسمتی ہے کہ پاکستانی بنک قانون کے دائرے میں رہ کر اپنے معاملات چلا رہے ہیں اب یہ الگ بات ہے کہ حکومت کو بے تحاشا قرض دینے کی وجہ سے ان کے پاس پرائیویٹ سیکٹر کو قرضہ فراہم کرنے کے لئے رقم کم بچی ہے۔ یہاں بات آگے بڑھانے سے پہلے کچھ تذکرہ پورے پاکستان خصوصاً لاہور میں پھیلے ہوئے ایک مسئلہ کا ہے جس کی وجہ سے پانچ روپے کا نوٹ سٹیٹ بنک کے اعلان کے مطابق تو 31 دسمبر 2012ءکو غیر قانونی ہو کر کاغذ کا ایک ٹکرا رہ جائے گا لیکن ابھی سے دکانداروں اور لین دین کے دوسرے اداروں (مالیاتی ادارے نہیں) نے اس کا لین دین بالکل بند کر دیا ہے۔ سٹیٹ بنک انتظامیہ نے صورتحال کا علم ہونے پر صرف اتنا کہا ہے کہ شیڈولڈ بنک اشتہارات کے ذریعہ سے واضح کریں کہ پانچ روپے کے نوٹ کی قانونی اہمیت اور حیثیت 31 دسمبر 2012ءتک ہے۔ اس لئے اگر کسی کو نوٹوں کے لین دین میں کوئی پرابلم ہے تو وہ بنک سے رجوع کر سکتا ہے۔ 
ایسا نہ ہو کہ سپریم کورٹ کے چیف جسٹس ازخود نوٹس لے کر سب پوچھ لیں۔ دوسری طرف ماضی کی شاندار اور عالیشان کرنسی ختم کرکے افغانستان جیسی کرنسی پاکستان کی بھی بنا دی گئی ہے۔ کاغذ معیاری استعمال نہیں کیا جا رہا۔ اگر کسی نے فرق دیکھنا ہو تو پاکستانی کرنسی کا جاپان تو دور کی بات ہے انڈیا کے سو روپے کے کاغذ سے موازنہ کرکے دیکھ لے۔ 
اسی وجہ سے ہزار روپے کے ہو بہو اصلی جیسے نوٹ مارکیٹ میں آ گئے ہیں جن کی پرنٹنگ اور کاغذ تو ایک جیسا ہے صرف واٹر مارک (سفید دائرے والے حصے کو اگر روشنی میں کرکے دیکھا جائے تو قائداعظم محمد علی جناح کی واضح تصویر واٹر مارک میں پرنٹ ہے، جعلی نوٹ میں یہ تصویر مدھم ہے۔