Michael Graczyk
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/ 22 February 2006

‘He was using Enron like a damn ATM’

As a vice-president of investor relations and corporate secretary for Enron’s board, Paula Rieker viewed the energy trading giant’s inner workings as it rose to be a Wall Street darling and then imploded in scandal. Rieker on Tuesday testified how former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling ordered abrupt last-minute changes to two quarterly earnings reports in 2000 to please analysts and investors.

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/ 1 October 2004

‘Will you take my dog?’

Fifteen cats, 11 dogs, a pony and a llama live here, but this is no shelter, kennel or hobby farm. The 770-square-metre ranch on the sprawling campus of Texas A&M University is an orphanage of sorts, a place for pets whose owners have died. Its caretaker, one of the country’s top veterinary medicine schools, runs the place like a home, just what the pets’ owners wanted.

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/ 23 September 2004

Hurricane Ivan makes a rare comeback

Hurricane Ivan is making an encore appearance in the Gulf of Mexico, this time as a tropical storm that could come ashore along the coasts of Texas or Louisiana. After hitting Florida on September 16 as a hurricane, Ivan weakened and broke apart. Its remnants then swung southward, growing as they travelled over warmer waters.