Happy Newyear 2017...

Feb 5, 2016:     Computer hackers try to steal 1 billion from Federal Reserve Bank of New York using Bangladesh banking codes.

Jun 5.2016:    115th Men's French Open: Novak Djokovik beats Andy Murray (3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4) to win his first French title.

Aug 5-21, 2016:   The 2016 Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Dec 5,2016:   Tamilnadu Chief Minister, Ms.J. Jayalalitha passes away

Bangladesh Bank heist:
In February 2016, instructions to steal US$951 million from Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh, were issued via the SWIFT network. Five transactions issued by hackers, worth $101 million and withdrawn from a Bangladesh Bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, succeeded, with $20 million traced to Sri Lanka (since recovered) and $81 million to the Philippines (about $18 million recovered). The Federal Reserve Bank of NY blocked the remaining thirty transactions, amounting to $850 million, at the request of Bangladesh Bank.
The hackers breached Bangladesh Bank's systems and stole its credentials for payment transfers, two senior officials at the bank said. They then bombarded the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with nearly three dozen requests to move money from the Bangladesh Bank's account there to entities in the Philippines and Sri Lanka, the officials said. Four requests to transfer a total of about $81 million to the Philippines went through, but a fifth, for $20 million, to a Sri Lankan non-profit organization was held up because the hackers misspelled the name of the NGO, Shalika Foundation.
A spelling mistake in an online bank transfer instruction helped prevent a nearly $1 billion heist last month involving the Bangladesh central bank and the New York Federal Reserve, banking officials said. Unknown hackers still managed to get away with about $80 million, one of the largest known bank thefts in history.
Hackers misspelled "foundation" in the NGO's name as "fandation", prompting a routing bank, Deutsche Bank, to seek clarification from the Bangladesh central bank, which stopped the transaction, one of the officials said. There is no NGO under the name of Shalika Foundation in the list of registered Sri Lankan non-profits. Initially, the Sri Lankan transaction reached Pan Asia Banking Corp PABC.CM, which went back to Deutsche Bank for more verification because of the unusually large size of the payment, a Pan Asia official said. "The transaction was too large for a country like us," the official said. "Then (Deutsche) came back and said it was a suspect transaction." A Pan Asia spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.Reuters could not immediately find contact information for the organization. Deutsche Bank declined to comment.
The hacking of Bangladesh Bank happened some time between Feb. 4-5, over the Bangladeshi weekend, which falls on a Friday, the officials said. The bank's offices were shut. At the same time, the unusually large number of payment instructions and the transfer requests to private entities - as opposed to other banks - raised suspicions at the Fed, which also alerted the Bangladeshis, the officials said. The details of how the hacking came to light and was stopped before it did more damage have not been previously reported. Bangladesh Bank has billions of dollars in a current account with the Fed, which it uses for international settlements. The transactions that were stopped totaled $850-$870 million, one of the officials said.

The 2016 cyber-attack on the Bangladesh Central bank was not the first attack of its kind. In this cyber heist, thieves tried to illegally transfer US$951 million to several fictitious bank accounts around the world. In 2013, the Sonali Bank of Bangladesh was also successfully targeted by hackers who were able to cart away US$250,000. In 2015, two other hacking attempts were recorded, a $12 million theft from Banco del Austro in Ecuador in January and an attack on Vietnam's Tien Phong Bank in December that was not successful. In all these cases, the perpetrators are suspected to have been aided by insiders within the targeted banks, who assisted in taking advantage of weaknesses within the SWIFT global payment network.
Last year, Russian computer security company Kaspersky Lab said a multinational gang of cyber criminals had stolen as much as $1 billion from as many as 100 financial institutions around the world in about two years. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's son Qusay took $1 billion from Iraq's central bank on the orders of his father on the day before coalition forces began bombing the country in 2003, American and Iraqi officials have said. In 2007, guards at the Dar Es Salaam bank in Baghdad made off with $282 million.

Jun 5.2016:    115th Men's French Open: Novak Djokovik beats Andy Murray (3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4) to win his first French title.

The 2016 French Open was the 115th edition and the second Grand Slam event of the year 2016. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 22 May to 5 June and consisted of events for professional players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles play.
Novak Djokovic's victory at this tournament in his 20th Grand Slam final completed his career Grand Slam (all four major tournaments), the eighth man to do so in singles and only the fifth career Grand Slam since the start of the Open Era (after Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal). Djokovic also achieved a non-calendar year Grand Slam, where he is the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles at once. The victory by Muguruza was her first Grand Slam win in her second Grand Slam final..
Djokovic v Murray 2016 Roland-Garros Men's Final /Highlight

Novak Djokovic won the men's singles in the 2016 edition. Stan Wawrinka was the defending champion in men's singles, but he lost to Andy Murray in the semifinals. Serena Williams was the defending champion in the women's singles, but she lost to Garbifie Muguruza in the final. Roger Federer withdrew before the tournament due to a knee injury, making this tournament the first Grand Slam he missed since the 2000 Australian Open. Furthermore, nine-time champion Rafael Nadal withdrew during the tournament due to injury, for the first time in his French Open career.

Aug 5-21, 2016:   The 2016 Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Dec 5,2016:   Tamilnadu Chief Minister, Ms.J. Jayalalitha passes away