Archive for 2018

Wednesday, December 7, 2005

The United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has begun to address concerns raised by the EU, the Council of Europe, and several member countries about the CIA’s detention practices upon her arrival in Germany for a European tour that began Tuesday.

“As a matter of US policy, the United States’ obligations under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which prohibits, of course, cruel and inhumane and degrading treatment, those obligations extend to US personnel wherever they are, whether they are in the United States or outside the United States,” said Rice, speaking from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on Wednesday.

Media reports and Human Rights groups have alleged that the CIA transported renditioned prisoners through European countries, which could violate European laws and the sovereignty of countries involved. Secretary Rice claimed that the United States has respected the sovereignty of other countries, and that it has not transported detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture, and has not transported anyone to a country when we believe he will be tortured.

“We consider the captured members of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates to be unlawful combatants who may be held, in accordance with the law of war, to keep them from killing innocents. We must treat them in accordance with our laws, which reflect the values of the American people. We must question them to gather potentially significant, life-saving, intelligence. We must bring terrorists to justice wherever possible,” Rice told reporters before she left from Andrews Air Force base on Monday.

Rice said that European nations should realize that interrogations of terrorist suspects have produced information that has saved European lives. However, Secretary Rice provided no specific cases.

“Secretary Rice made extra-legal rendition sound like just another form of extradition. In fact, it’s a form of kidnapping and ‘disappearing’ someone entirely outside the law,” said Tom Malinowski, a Human Rights Watch official in Washington.

The CIA practice known as “extraordinary rendition” is used to interrogate terrorist suspects outside the U.S., where they are not subject to American legal protection.

“Kidnapping a foreign national for the purpose of detaining and interrogating him outside the law is contrary to American values,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on the Khalid El-Masri case. “Our government has acted as if it is above the law. We go to court today to reaffirm that the rule of law is central to our identity as a nation.”

The ACLU feels the government has to be held to account over “extraordinary rendition”.

First penis transplant reversed after two weeks

Posted by: in Uncategorized
19
Apr

Friday, September 22, 2006

Two weeks after Chinese surgeons successfully transplanted a donated penis onto an unidentified 44-year-old man, they were requested to remove it. Despite functioning perfectly and having been physically accepted by the body, the patient and his wife asked for the penis to be amputated, due to the severe psychological trauma they had both suffered.

A team of surgeons led by Dr Hu Weilie took 15 hours to attach the penis, which was donated by the family of a 22-year-old brain-dead patient. Doctors have successfully re-attached patients’ own severed members in the past, but this was the first use of a second-party penis.

The psychological rejection of the penis is not unusual from a medical point of view; in 2001 surgeons removed the world’s first transplanted hand from donee Clint Hallam, who wanted the “hideous and withered” hand to be removed because he had become “mentally detached” from it. The team that led the transplant have since performed the world’s first double arm transplant.

Submitted by: Rajasri Systems

Nowadays designing attractive websites has become an indispensable part of every business venture. It provides the customers information on the services being offered and brings them closer to the business. Increasing popularity of the e-commerce stores where in the products and services offered are being showcased rapidly increased the demand for designing highly attractive web sites which in turn has resulted in a terrible competition in this sector.

The urge for quality Web Development Services has made the companies all over the world to make use of the outsourcing services being offered by the countries like India. In a recent survey it has been found that about eighty per cent of the European and US countries ranked India number one as their outsourcing destination.

India has been a pioneer in offering outsourcing solutions to various countries across the globe. Although there might be only a few reasons for which the organizations to opt for outsourcing, there are multiple reasons for these companies to outsource to India. India has become the most ideal place for them to outsource because of the reasons given below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A39gA4nbRA4[/youtube]

Cost effective services: This is the number one reason for which the organizations to choose India for outsourcing. India owns a large pool of technically skilled and trained manpower and this keeps on accumulating year by year. Having a huge resource of manpower, India is able to offer cost effective services without compromising on its quality. Outsourcing to India allows the organizations to operate at reduced costs and increased productivity and efficiency.

High Quality services: Indian Outsourcing Companies make use of latest technology in software and good communication infrastructure to offer high quality outsourcing solutions to their global clientele. India boasts a large manpower resource with good proficiency in English enables it to prove its technical superiority over other outsourcing countries.

Time Zone advantages: Since there is a 12 hour time gap between India and the USA Indian outsourcing companies are able to make use of this time zone differences to complete their assigned tasks earlier before the expected time with increased efficiency leading to increased productivity. Moreover, this time difference makes India an ideal option to offer round the clock service-related outsourcing such as customer support and help desk.

Stable Government in India supporting IT sector: India has one of the most stable Governments in the world. IT remains one of the top five priority sectors of the nation and the Government of India has been extending its continued support to the IT and ITES industry which enables the Indians to build high tech IT park owing best technology and infra-structure. By the enactment of Information Technology Act it recognizes electronic contracts and supports e-filing of documents and offers various tax related benefits to the IT outsourcing to India.

Flexibility in pricing: The wide difference between the personnel costs of India and other developed countries remains the significant factor for the companies to outsource to India. A good developer in U.S would cost around $ 50 to $80 per hour whereas a highly qualified Indian developer could be negotiated down to as low as $15 per hour. This flexibility in pricing allows the companies to operate at lower costs to reap high profits.

Choice of Global organizations: India has been the most preferred choice of global organizations in outsourcing. The number of organizations outsourcing to India are increasing considerably year after year. The U.S has recognized India as super power in outsourcing since about eighty percent of them have ranked India as their first choice in outsourcing.

A minimized operating cost with assured maximum benefits has made India to hold a top rank in outsourcing.

About the Author: Sumathi is the owner of the article, please e-visit

rajasri.com

to know more information about the service, Thanks.

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British box office record set for UK films

Posted by: in Uncategorized
18
Apr

Saturday, July 22, 2006

The UK Film Council has said British films claimed a record one-third share of UK cinema takings last year.

The council has also revealed that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was Britain’s top-grossing film in 2005 after taking £435m ($808m) at the Box Office worldwide. It was one of eight British films to be included in the top 20 list of the world’s biggest grossing movies. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Batman Begins, Kingdom of Heaven, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Nanny McPhee and Pride and Prejudice took £1.8bn ($3.3) in total globally and were seen by 600 million people.

John Woodward, the chief executive officer of the UK Film Council, said: “The figures show that the public love British films and 2005 was a great year for British films at the cinema with the largest slice of Box Office takings since records began.”

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell|, who has exposed tax incentives aimed at luring filmmakers to the UK, said: “Harry Potter, Nanny McPhee and Willy Wonka have all been hits at home and abroad – helping us achieve great success at the Box Office. I hope that next year, buoyed by the new tax incentive, the UK film industry will be in even better health.”

The amount of British people viewing foreign language films also increased. More than 200 foreign language films in 32 different languages were shown at cinemas across the UK. Downfall, a German-produced movie depicting the final days of Adolf Hitler, was the most popular, according to the council.

Movies are classed as being UK-made if they are filmed in the country, star UK personalities, and invest money in the UK or on British staff and services.

MMS comes to American iPhones

Posted by: in Uncategorized
18
Apr

Friday, September 25, 2009

Today, after two years of waiting, American iPhone users are finally able to send and receive MMS messages. This long awaited feature has caused Apple and AT&T a great deal of grief from its user base. Originally the grief was directed at Apple for the lack of inclusion on the device, but as time progressed AT&T was faulted for lack of support.

When the iPhone was released in June of 2007, it lacked one feature that was widely available on other devices: MMS or Multimedia Messaging Service. This standard, similar to the all text SMS standard, allows users to send and receive video, audio, and picture files on their mobile phones. MMS was launched in 2002 and by 2007 was a common feature on most new mobile phones. It was not until June 2009, with the release of iPhone OS 3.0, that the devices also had the capability to send and receive these multimedia messages. Unfortunately for American iPhone users, all of whom use AT&T because of an exclusive agreement between the phone company and Apple, AT&T did not allow iPhone users to use this feature; that changed today.

Current iPhone users simply need to update (from iTunes) and reboot their device in order to enable MMS. AT&T was originally concerned about not having the network capacity to handle the data demand of all the MMS messages and in Wikinews’ own testing this seems to be a valid issue. The ability to send and receive MMS messages was functional, but by midday Friday (PST), AT&T’s network was extremely slow, with messages taking in excess of two minutes to send. Tests over AT&T’s 3G network showed upload and download speeds nearly halved what they were just a few days prior.

Albano Stock Transfer Services Hong Kong: How to Measure Your Investment Risk Tolerance

by

David D. ShadeYouth brings with it the adrenaline drive to risk life, limb and property; whereas age succumbs to the comfort and safety of less-challenging and more family-oriented diversions.Nevertheless, while majority of us improve our skills at evaluating risk as we mature, we somehow fail to assess financial risk as much as we should. In seems that in the stock market, we remain like tots unaware of the dangers that lurk in the forest.Until the winds blow high and hard upon us, we feel unconcerned about the risks even to the point that we totally give up on investing.Appreciating your risk tolerance is vital. Beginner investors often take so little risk and end up with un-invested and unproductive money lying around. Meaning to say, your money grows at a lower rate or is earning nothing whatsoever. The loss of time is a loss of opportunity which might never be recovered in the future.This is exactly what happens to those who try to recover lost time in their later years by saving and trying to make up for the lost time. This results in the investor tending to take more risk than necessary, endangering their investment and their personal future.Just like people who have beginner’s luck, an investor can be lulled into thinking that a few early successes prove one’s ability to make future consistent gains. Blind luck does not mean solid investment skills. You will realize this when your luck runs out. And then we put the blame on others except ourselves — the markets, the banks, the government and everyone else. How do you measure your risk tolerance? You may be surprised how easy it is. Ask yourself these four essential questions and see how financial experts do it:1. When will you need the money?If your time frame is, say 30 years in which you save and invest, you have high chances of weathering a few setbacks along the way. But if you are five years away from retiring, the assumption will drastically change.2. How many years will you spend in productive work? How many years in retirement?Many people reach retirement age unable to quit working because they have no savings. For those who plan to work during retirement, they make have higher risk levels compared to those who will not. Likewise, consider how long you might end up living in retirement. Oftentimes, running out of money in your later years is inevitable.3. How do you respond when markets rise?Do you celebrate and go on a shopping binge? People forget that they have not even made money on their investments, not until they sell those assets many years from now. Also, there are investors who see a rising market as a go-signal to invest more heavily, not realizing they are actually buying at much higher prices.4. How do you respond when markets fall?Do you feel depressed? Or fearful? In the same token, why should you feel down when you have not lost any money until you sell at a lower price than that at which you bought the stocks? Moreover, investors do not take the opportunity to buy as stock prices decrease, not the applying the vital rule to buy low and sell high.Properly assessing investment risk and determining your risk tolerance level is a crucial factor in any long-term retirement strategy. But if you learn the basic tricks, you can protect yourself from the common emotional trading pitfalls that retirement savers often experience.

The Vision of Albano Stock Transfer Services Hong Kong is to create model for record keeping that meets the needs of growing companies. Albano Stock Transfer Services Hong Kong provide flexible solutions tailored to meet customer needs.

Article Source:

eArticlesOnline.com

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5NfajPHypI[/youtube]

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English court jails policeman over insurance fraud

Posted by: in Uncategorized
18
Apr

Thursday, July 1, 2010

A court in England, UK has jailed a policeman for ten months after he was convicted of defrauding his car insurance company.

Police Constable Simon Hood, 43, arranged for a friend who dealt in scrap metal to dispose of his Audi TT, then claimed it had been stolen.

Hood had been disappointed with the car’s value when he tried to sell it two years after its purchase in 2008. He arranged for friend Peter Marsh, 41, to drive the vehicle to his scrapyard in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Marsh then dismantled the vehicle with the intent of disposing of it, but parts were later found wrapped in bubblewrap at Ace Tyre and Exhaust Centre.

Marsh picked up the TT from outside nearby Gorleston police station. Records show mobile phone conversations between the conspirators that day in March, both before and after the vehicle was reported stolen. The pair denied wrongdoing but were convicted of conspiring to commit insurance fraud after trial.

The fraud was uncovered after Hood told former girlfriend Suzanne Coates of the scheme. It was alleged before Norwich Crown Court that he had confessed to her in an effort to resume their relationship. Coates said that after the pseudotheft, Hood told her “he didn’t want to look for it. He said it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, which I thought was a bit strange.”

You knew throughout your career that policemen that get involved in serious dishonesty get sent to prison

Shortly afterwards Hood suggested they should become a couple once more, she said; she challenged his version of events regarding the car: “He said he did it but I couldn’t tell anyone. He said he did it with Peter. Peter had a key and took the car away and it was going to be taken to bits and got rid of so it was never found.”

Hood was defended by Michael Clare and Marsh by Richard Potts. Both lawyers told the court that their clients had already suffered as a result of the action in mitigation before sentencing. Clare said Hood had resigned from the police after fifteen years of otherwise good service and risked losing his pension. “It is not a case where his position as a police officer was used in order to facilitate the fraud,” he pointed out. “His career is in ruins.” Hood is now pursuing a career in plumbing.

Potts defended Marsh by saying that he, too, had already suffered from his actions. His own insurers are refusing to renew their contract with him when it expires and his bank withdrew its overdraft facility. His business employs 21 people and Potts cited Marsh’s sponsorship of Great Yarmouth In Bloom as amongst evidence he supported his local community.

Judge Alasdair Darroch told Marsh that he did accept the man was attempting to help his friend. He sentenced Marsh to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 250 hours of community service. He was more critical of Hood:

“As a police officer you know the highest possible standards are demanded by the public. You have let down the force. You knew throughout your career that policemen that get involved in serious dishonesty get sent to prison.”

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Journalist, counselor, painter, and US 2012 Presidential candidate Joe Schriner of Cleveland, Ohio took some time to discuss his campaign with Wikinews in an interview.

Schriner previously ran for president in 2000, 2004, and 2008, but failed to gain much traction in the races. He announced his candidacy for the 2012 race immediately following the 2008 election. Schriner refers to himself as the “Average Joe” candidate, and advocates a pro-life and pro-environmentalist platform. He has been the subject of numerous newspaper articles, and has published public policy papers exploring solutions to American issues.

Wikinews reporter William Saturn? talks with Schriner and discusses his campaign.

Submitted by: David Duford

Would you like to know what kind of final expense commission level you are entitled to as a new final expense agent?

The answer, of course, is, “It depends!” And this article will set out to define what to expect regarding commission levels and also to further investigate what details final expense agents need to be concerned with that factor into what they will ultimately NET (which is different from what they will GROSS).

For the most part, there is an inverse relationship between your gross commission level and the level of support you receive as an agent. However, many agents will attest that this is not always the case, as there are plenty of low-brow final expense agencies that con agents into low gross commission contracts yet do not provide a high level of support in return. Hopefully, with the knowledge gained from this article on final expense commissions, you will be able to determine which outfits will provide the best balance of value and gross commission levels.

Another reason I have written this article is that most agents get involved in the final expense business through the first person they meet; they have no benchmark to judge an offer against. Simply put, new final expense agents don’t know what they don’t know.

The Benchmark – Street Level Contracts

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WA3-KD4igc[/youtube]

Street level contracts are defined entry-level contracts any agent can get without requiring proof of production. These are the highest no-production proof contracts new agents can get. Normally, agents can anticipate gross commission levels in the 100 to 120 first year commission percentage rate ranges.

So why don’t all agents simply pick up street-level contracts? Because with the exchange in a higher gross, comes less involvement from the upline to train that agent. Additionally, there is rarely any support in the form of marketing for the street level agent, either. The agent is left up to his own abilities to find a marketing program, learn how to sell, and learn the nuances of the final expense business.

Most new final expense agents shack up with an agency on lower-than-street level contracts in exchange with the expectation of training, support, and access to a proven lead-generation system. Many of these organizations will require the new final expense agent to purchase his own leads, while others do all the lead management for the agent.

Agents that are responsible for purchasing leads usually have a better gross commission contract than those who have the agency manage the lead program to reflect the added investment on behalf of the agent purchasing the leads.

A good rule of thumb for new final expense agents is to work with a final expense agency that will provide training, support, and a lead program (optimally using your own money) and in return, you should have a gross first year commission level between 80 and 100 percent.

Smart final expense agents understand that there is a lot of training he’ll have to undertake, from product selection, lead selection, underwriting, to salesmanship. all of this factors into where your commission rate should be. Finding a final expense agency that will provide all of this to you, along with you getting a feel that you get along with the manager responsible for you, is a great way to get started in this business.

Blue Sky and Unfair Contracts

Beware! Always be suspicious of the agencies that sell you on “blue sky” – IE, they show you money, cars, material possessions, et cetera. Many times these agencies gloss over the extreme level of hard work and emotional discipline that it takes to succeed, and excite you with the possibilities of being rich and famous.

Also, beware of agencies with super-low first-year commission levels in the 50 percent to 70 percent range that actually require you to buy leads at full pricing.

These agencies are committing highway robbery; the truth of this business is not everything you sell will actually stick, and you are at some financial risk from business that falls off the books and any advanced commissions you receive have to be repaid out of new business placed. Couple that with a full price lead bill, mostly likely in the several thousands, you have a recipe for financial disaster.

Ultimately, if you value support and training, and understand that you don’t know what you don’t know, you want to find a final expense agency that will provide you the tools to succeed in exchange for a short-term commission level reduction to reflect the value the agency is giving you. Yes, you do want to be at a street-level contract down the line, and if the agency is intelligent, they will show you to plan on how to earn you way to a top commission contract. Because, as first mentioned, your success is determined not just by what you make (your gross first year commission), but what you keep, which can be dramatically altered in a positive way by controlling lead costs, and optimizing your skill level to see more people and sell more insurance.

About the Author: David Duford is the owner of Final Expense Agent Mentor, specializing in helping agents new to the final expense life insurance business master the business through intense mentorship and guidance. Visit

feagentmentor.com

for more information.

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Ahmadinejad sends letter to George W. Bush

Posted by: in Uncategorized
17
Apr

Tuesday, May 9, 2006For the first time in three decades, direct and at least partially public diplomatic communication will commence between the United States (US) and Iran. Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sent a letter to the U.S. president George W. Bush proposing “new solutions for getting out of international problems and the current fragile situation of the world”.

Mr Gholam-Hossein Elham did not say whether the letter mentioned the nuclear dispute, one of the diplomatic problems currently straining relations between Iran and the USA. This information arrived one day after the Iranian parliament announced that it might retract from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if Western pressure over its programme was to increase.

Differing reports have been made as to whether or not the letter will be made public, and if so, when. In its online report of 8 May 2006, 09:25 GMT, the BBC quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying that the contents of the letter would be made public once Bush had received it. The updated version of the report of 8 May 2006, 14:52 GMT, quotes Asefi as saying that the contents would be made public “at the right time”. An ABC report quoted Gholam-Hossein Elham as saying “it is not an open letter.”

Iran’s foreign affairs minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, delivered the letter to the United States’ interests section in the Swiss embassy in Tehran on Monday. The United States has not held diplomatic relations with Iran since the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said “this letter isn’t it. This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort.”

“It isn’t addressing the issues that we’re dealing with in a concrete way,” she added.

John R. Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, also read the letter, saying, “I think it is typical of Iran that when major decisions are about to be taken … that they have tried to throw sand in the eyes of the proponents of the action. That’s what this may be.”

The letter has since been put on an official Iranian website, and on Tuesday, Ahmadinejad said “the letter to US President George Bush carries the Iranian nation’s views and comments on international issues as well as suggestions for resolving the many problems facing humanity.”