Friday, September 28, 2012

Owning a property abroad for your family holiday | Family Budgeting

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Source: http://family-budgeting.co.uk/2012/09/26/owning-a-property-abroad-for-your-family-holiday/

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Achieving work-life balance

You may have put years of sweat equity into your career, have a solid two decades of experience under your belt, and one day you end up answering to an inexperienced manager just a few years older than your first-born child. Without even thinking about it, you bring that frustration home in the evening, letting your feelings about your new boss ruin dinnertime.

It?s hard to be in the moment?? to enjoy time with your family ? when you bring the stressors of work home with you. Aside from what?s on your mind, many busy professionals have trouble ignoring their Blackberry and work-related tasks outside of office hours. For many people, the boundary between work and home isn?t as clear as their families might prefer.

The dissolving boundary between home and work

People who work ?normal business hours? and need to take care of a home or family issue during the day often must use work time to make a phone call or attend an appointment. That lost time must be made-up somehow, but often, people overcompensate and do more work at home than needed. Many social scientists point to cellphones as creating a constant tether to the workplace, resulting in an unhealthy compulsion to check work emails, voicemails or text messages at all hours of the day.

Creating balance

This difficulty in staying on top of personal business without creating conflicts at work has caught the attention of some businesses. Some utility companies, for example, have expanded their hours into the early evenings or even offer Saturday hours, to accommodate people with demanding schedules. Others have encouraged customers to use websites or?smartphone apps to obtain necessary information and keep up with account information.

Employers have demonstrated alternative strategies for helping employees reach a balance. On one side, some companies have begun to encourage employees to make their available hours public and to?turn off work cellphones and?avoid responding to email on personal time. But some technology can actually help busy professionals connect with family. Skype, for example, allows people traveling for business to communicate in real-time video with loved ones.

Everyone should develop their own methods of?depressurizing?from work and?creating a boundary between work and personal life. If necessary, use separate cellphones for business and personal life. Limit distractions at work to ensure maximum productivity, which means you?ll bring home less work. If you still have trouble finding balance, consider whether the demands of the job are unreasonable.

The take-home message

Technology has undoubtedly allowed a blurring of the distinction between home and work. Without a separation between the two, it?s impossible to be fully productive at work or fully enjoy time with family. Employers need to recognize and address these issues before problems arise, and employees need to develop a solution applicable to their position and needs. You, your family and your employer will be happier with the results of your reasonable time-management and creation of boundaries.

Source: http://carrieanddanielle.com/achieving-work-life-balance/

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Gilt's Susan Lyne on Social Media - Business Insider

While speaking at?Business Insider's?Social Media ROI Conference?Thursday, Gilt Groupe chairman Susan Lyne broke down what social media works for the flash sale site ... and what doesn't.

While?Gilt dabbled in Facebook commerce in 2011, the company ended up closing its stores.

"One of my friends said that it was like trying to sell something at a bar," Lyne said.

But the site, which is social in nature given that it was founded on the idea of friends inviting friends, has also found great social media successes.

"For every one of our businesses, there's a social media platform that's better for that business," Lyne said.

Jetsetter, Gilt's travel flash sale site, has a handle on Pinterest, Lyne's own admitted obsession.

"Jetsetter is huge on Pinterest," she said. "I think they might have more followers than any other brand."

The photo-sharing site is a natural fit for the travel platform. Jetsetter asked people to pin boards of their ideal vacations in various giveaways, and celebrity judges would pick winners and send them on incredible vacations. These initiatives inspired 700,000 pins and boosted Jetsetter's traffic by 150 percent.

On the other hand, Lyne said that "for Gilt City, we find Twitter is much more effective."

If a consumer Tweets #GoldenTweet after making a purchase, then he or she has a good shot of getting reimbursed for that service. Every 100 golden tweets gets its money back.

Gilt City has also found great use for Instagram (and Facebook) for its "Love Your City More" contest, asking people to post pictures that show what makes their city great.

These social campaigns are primarily created in-house as opposed to being created by agencies.

"Social is a small amount of our marketing budget," Lyne said, "But we're increasing all the time."

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/gilts-susan-lyne-on-social-media-2012-9

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Son's DNA found inside mother's brain

Mothers always have their children in the back of their minds ? now it seems that this is quite literally true. Fetal DNA can enter a mother's brain and remain there for decades, according to autopsies of female brains.

During a pregnancy, cells from mother and fetus can cross the placenta and survive for decades in the skin, liver and spleen ? a phenomenon called fetal microchimerism.

Fetal DNA can also cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain of pregnant mice (Stem Cells, doi.org/ctfj7v). But it's unclear whether the same happens in humans, says Lee Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

If it does, having foreign DNA in your brain may be one possible explanation for why certain neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, are more common in women who have had children(European Journal of Neurology, doi.org/dwwz99).

To investigate this, Nelson and her colleagues autopsied 59?brains of deceased women ? 33?of whom had Alzheimer's disease. They amplified the DNA that they found, creating many more copies, and looked for the presence of a male Y chromosome.

They found it in 63?per cent of the brains. This male DNA showed up in many different brain regions and some of it had been there for a very long time: one brain that contained the male DNA was from a 94-year-old woman.

Way in

Nelson says that pregnancy is the most likely explanation for the presence of male DNA, but having an organ transplant or an older brother, for example, could also explain it. Unfortunately, the pregnancy history was unknown for most of the people in the study.

Brains from people with Alzheimer's seemed slightly less likely to contain male DNA? ? the opposite of what the researchers expected. The authors say this might be due to the small number of brains analysed, or to unknown factors in the life history of the women.

The presence of fetal cells in a mother's body might allow her immune system to recognise her child's cells, to prevent them from seeming like foreign bodies that need to be attacked, says Edward Scott of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

That might one day make it possible for a mother and child to accept transplants from one another without the need for immunosuppressant drugs, although he believes that the number of foreign cells may need to be artificially boosted to make this happen.

The next step, Scott says, is to determine what the fetal cells do when they reach the mother's brain.

Journal reference: PLoS ONE, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045592

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Ahmadinejad pushes new world order

NEW YORK (AP) ? After an hour of fielding questions about Syria, sanctions and nuclear weapons, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had enough. Now, he said, it was his turn to choose the topic ? his "new order" which will inevitably replace the current era of what he called U.S. bullying.

Continuing his hectic pace of media appearances and diplomatic meetings, Ahmadinejad presented an air of boredom when it came to the hot topic on everyone's mind ? Iran's nuclear program and the possibility of impending war. Whether it was feigned or sincere, he said he would much rather be talking about his vision of what the next world order might be.

Conveniently, it would be an order in which the U.S. and the traditional powers play a smaller role and every country has equal standing (though the state of Israel, he often predicts, will soon become a historical footnote).

"God willing, a new order will come and will do away with ... everything that distances us," Ahmadinejad told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday, speaking through a translator. "All of the animosity, all of the lack of sincerity will come to an end. It will institute fairness and justice."

He said the world was losing patience with the current state of affairs.

"Now even elementary school kids throughout the world have understood that the United States government is following an international policy of bullying," he said. "I do believe the system of empires has reached the end of the road. The world can no longer see an emperor commanding it."

The interview was held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly ? Ahmadinejad's last as president of Iran. He was to address the assembly Wednesday morning.

He also discussed solutions for the Syrian civil war, dismissed the question of Iran's nuclear ambition and claimed that despite Western sanctions his country is better off than it was when he took office in 2005.

Earlier Tuesday, President Barack Obama warned Iran that time is running out to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program. In a speech to the General Assembly, Obama said the United States could not tolerate an Iran with atomic weapons.

Ahmadinejad would not respond directly to the president's remarks, saying he did not want to influence the U.S. presidential election in November.

But he argued that the international outcry over Iran's nuclear enrichment program was just an excuse by the West to dominate his country. He claimed that the United States has never accepted Iran's choice of government after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"Everyone is aware the nuclear issue is the imposition of the will of the United States," he said. "I see the nuclear issue as a non-issue. It has become a form of one-upmanship."

Ahmadinejad said he favored more dialogue, even though negotiations with world powers remain stalled after three rounds of high-level meetings since April.

He said some world leaders have suggested to him that Iran would be better off holding nuclear talks only with the United States.

"Of course I am not dismissing such talks," he said, asked if he were open to discussions with the winner of the American presidential election.

Israeli leaders, however, are still openly contemplating military action again Iranian nuclear facilities, dismissing diplomacy as a dead end. Israel and many in the West suspect that Iran is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, and cite its failure to cooperate fully with nuclear inspectors. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Ahmadinejad also proposed forming a new group of 10 or 11 countries to work to end the 18-month Syrian civil war. Representatives of nations in the Middle East and elsewhere would meet in New York "very soon," he said.

Critics have accused Tehran of giving support to Syrian President Bashar Assad in carrying out massacres and other human rights violations in an attempt to crush the uprising against his rule. Activists say nearly 30,000 people have died.

Ahmadinejad said the so-called contact group hopes to get the Syrian government and opposition to sit across from each other.

"I will do everything in my power to create stability, peace and understanding in Syria," Ahmadinejad said.

Earlier this month, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi announced the formation of a four-member contact group with Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. But Saudi Arabia so far has not participated.

Ahmadinejad denied Iranian involvement in plotting attacks on Israelis abroad, despite arrests and accusations by police in various countries. He also vehemently disputed the U.S. claim that Iranian agents played a role in a foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States last year.

Ahmadinejad will leave office next June after serving two four-year terms. He threw out numbers and statistics during the interview to show that Iran's economy and the lives of average Iranians have improved under his watch. Since his 2005 election, he claimed, Iran went from being the world's 22nd-largest economy to the 17th-largest; non-petroleum related exports increased sevenfold; and the basic production of goods has doubled. Median income increased by $4,000, he said.

It was not possible to immediately verify his figures.

"Today's conditions in Iran are completely different to where they were seven years ago in the economy, in technical achievement, in scientific know-how," Ahmadinejad said. "All of these achievements, though, have been reached under conditions in which we were brought under heavy sanctions."

Iran has called for the U.S. and its European allies to ease the sanctions that have hit its critical oil exports and left it blackballed from key international banking networks.

Ahmadinejad said he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of Robert Levinson, a private investigator and former FBI agent who vanished in Iran five years ago. He said he directed Iranian intelligence services two years ago to work with their counterparts in the U.S. to locate him.

"And if any help there is that I can bring to bear, I would be happy to do so," he said.

He also claimed never to have heard of Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who is imprisoned on espionage charges in Iran. Hekmati was arrested while visiting his grandmothers in Iran in August 2011, and his family has been using Ahmadinejad's visit to New York to plead for his release.

In spite of Ahmadinejad's assertions on the importance of dialogue and respect for others, he has presented a hard line in many areas in this week's media appearances.

He refuses to speak of the state of Israel by name and instead refers only to the "Zionists." And when asked on Monday about author Salman Rushdie, he made no attempt to distance himself from recent renewed threats on the author's life emanating from an Iranian semi-official religious foundation.

"If he is in the U.S.," said the president of Iran, "you should not broadcast it for his own safety."

____

Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer and Wendy Benjaminson contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-interview-ahmadinejad-pushes-world-order-235145610.html

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Make The Right Decisions In Your Real Estate Transactions | Eric ...

Moving into the commercial property market can be a confusing experience. You no doubt have many questions about how to start, and this article can definitely help you. The tips below can help you begin your endeavor with commercial property.

You can save money on repair costs while cleaning up the property. First off, you may not be liable for cleanup expenses if you do not hold ownership interest, but if you do, you are on the hook. If you buy a Superfund site, you might be liable for millions of dollars in cleanup costs. To avoid this nightmare, have an environmental inspection done on the property prior to buying it. This costs a lot but it can end up saving you a lot.

Keep in mind when considering investing in apartment complexes that very small complexes can sometimes be more of a hassle than larger complexes. For that reason, some experts in the field recommend avoiding properties that have fewer than ten units. No situation is the same as another, and proper reseal should help you reach a knowledgeable decision regarding any purchase.

When you are comparing different properties, get tour site checklists. Don?t go any further than 1st round proposal responses, unless you let the owners of the property know. There is nothing wrong with hinting that you have other properties in mind. You may even get a more favorable deal!

If you?re a buyer or if you?re a seller, it?s important that you negotiate. Make it clear that you wish to be heard and refuse to accept an unfair price.

Just focus on one specific investment and narrow your time to that if you?re new to investing. Decide on one property type and educate yourself about the best way to handle it. It is far better to dominate one area of the commercial real estate market than to spread your investing order many different types of commercial buildings.

TIP! Locate a financing source prior to making any offers on pieces of commercial real estate. Talk to other people and get their help in drawing up a list of potential lenders.

When you?re writing letters of intent, try to keep it brief by agreeing with the bigger issues initially and let the lesser issues be resolved at a later time. This will make negotiations less tense and make gaining agreement on the smaller issues easier to complete.

Lease Forms

Standard lease forms should not be signed lightly. Large companies might insert extra requirements in the form, and they are often exceptionally lengthy. Avoid involuntarily signing away your rights by reading any such lease forms slowly and thoroughly.

TIP! Interest rates fluctuating is a major threat to commercial property investors. The current economy makes rates fall and rise with unpredictability, and can leave investors susceptible to majorly increased interest rates.

Ensure that the amount of money you want for your commercial property makes sense, given local market conditions. There are a lot of factors that determine the value of the lot.

Create an informative commercial real estate blog, or network with industry professionals on sites like Twitter or Facebook. After you have finished a deal, don?t vanish from sight online.

Record problems by taking digital pictures of them. Each photograph should clearly depict the point of contention, whether that happens to be a stain, hole or other problem.

TIP! Consider feng shui for your home office and your commercial real estate purchases. Two of the basic principles of feng shui, openness and a lack of clutter, are both features that are appealing to buyers, tenants, and customers.

Do a walk-through of each property on your short list. Consider going with a contractor when you are looking at places you want to buy. You can then make an initial offer and begin the bargaining phase. Before making any sort of decision after a counter offer, evaluate it once and then evaluate it again.

Your investment may require substantial amounts of your individual time and attention in the beginning. First, you will need to search for a golden opportunity. After you have purchased the property, you may have to spend some time and money making repairs or remodeling it. Don?t throw in the towel because the process is taking too long to complete. Your efforts will be rewarded.

Try to decrease potential events of defaults before negotiating a lease. If you are thorough, you are less likely to experience a tenant default. You don?t need this to happen.

TIP! It is critical when you are in the market for real estate that you know how to discern between a good deal and a not-so-good deal. When people are experienced in real estate, they can spot a good deal almost instantly.

An honest broker should be willing to answer questions about how they earn their money. Their answer should be discussed openly. Understand that there is still a profitable business to be ran behind the curtains, but a good firm will find an agreeable median between their financial needs and your real estate demands.

Dual Agency

Before paying any agent, check his or her disclosures; these can tell you a great deal about the agent?s character and ability. Watch for possible dual agency. What this means is that your chosen agency has an interest in buying and selling the property. In other words, the agency is working for both tenant and landlord simultaneously. Dual agency should be disclosed and both parties should agree to it.

TIP! Know how to get emergency maintenance performed on a property at a moment?s notice. Ask in advance who will be handling any emergencies that arise.

Don?t ignore the environment that a property you?re considering is in. You are required to clean up any environmental waste on your property. Are you considering a purchase of property in an area that is prone to flooding? You may want to reconsider your choice. It?s possible to get information specific to the locale you?re considering by contacting environmental assessment agencies in that area.

At any given time, you should place your focus on only one investment. For example, when starting out decide if you are going to invest in apartment complexes, office building, commercial land, or retail spaces. Learn more about all the different types of investment to make good decisions. Pouring all of your focus into a single niche of real estate allows you the opportunity to become a master of a single trade, rather than a ?jack of many?.

Pest Control

TIP! Stay on the lookout for sellers who are enthusiastic about making a deal. You have to look for them, especially those who need to sell below the market value.

Pest control is something you should look into when renting or leasing a property. This is especially true when renting in an area that has a lot of bugs or rodents, so be sure to talk to the rental agent about some pest control policies.

Hopefully, now that you have read this article, you are ready to tackle the world of commercial real estate. If you felt prepared before, you surely must feel like a pro by now! With luck, the advice in this article will point you in some new directions that lead you to commercial real estate

Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/make-the-right-decisions-in-your-real-estate-transactions-2

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Obama urges UN to confront roots of Muslim rage

President Barack Obama steps off Air Force One upon his arrival, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, at JFK airport in New York. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama steps off Air Force One upon his arrival, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, at JFK airport in New York. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The Marine One helicopter, with President Barack Obama aboard, lands at the Wall Street heliport in New York, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama appear on the ABC Television show ?The View? in New York, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? President Barack Obama is challenging the international community to confront the root causes of turmoil in the Middle East, saying the world faces "a choice between the forces that would drive us apart and the hopes we hold in common."

Obama was speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, saying the United States will not shrink from its role with nations under transition despite the killing of four Americans in Libya, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, and more than 50 people in violence tied to an anti-Muslim film.

Obama says the video is an "insult not only to Muslims, but to America as well."

The president opened his address Tuesday with a tribute to Stevens, saying the diplomat "saw dignity in the people he met."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-09-25-Obama/id-c0ab295ad6004948b1d6bb20d1df483d

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Notre Dame exercises 3-year out in Michigan deal

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) ? Notre Dame is opting out of its series with Michigan, meaning the last scheduled game between college football's winningest programs will take place in 2014.

A letter from Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick to Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon cancelling games in 2015-2017 was obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Brandon told the AP he was handed the letter on the field in South Bend, Ind., about an hour before Saturday night's game.

"I put the letter in my pocket and didn't bother to read it right away because I was focused on the game we were about to play," Brandon said. "I read it on the way home Sunday morning."

The Fighting Irish recently decided to move to the Atlantic Coast Conference in every sport except football and hockey, though the football team will play five games a year against league opponents, starting no later than 2015.

"While this move is a necessary precaution as we begin the process of meeting our new scheduling commitment to the ACC," Swarbrick wrote in his letter to Brandon, "please know that Notre Dame very much values its relationship with Michigan and we look forward to working with you to ensure that our great football rivalry can continue."

Brandon said he hopes to work with Swarbrick on another contract to extend the series.

"The ball is in their court because they've triggered the three-game notice," he said. "We'll play them next year at Michigan Stadium for the last time in a while ? it appears ? and we'll make our last scheduled trip to South Bend in 2014. There will likely be nothing on the board for five years after that. Beyond that, I don't know what will happen."

The Irish beat the Wolverines 13-6 over the weekend in the latest game of a storied series that dates to 1887. They've played every year since 2002 and regularly since 1978 after not meeting from 1944-77 or 1910-41. Michigan and Notre Dame were scheduled to take a hiatus during the 2018-19 seasons.

Swarbrick's letter is dated a day before the schools met on the field and cites last year's contract.

"Because I am providing you with this notice prior to the commencement of this year's football game on September, 22, 2012," Swarbrick wrote, "there is no liability to Notre Dame for cancelling those games."

The contract has an automatic rollover provision with a year being added each time a game is played, according to Notre Dame senior associate athletics director John Heisler.

"We needed to avoid the automatic addition of additional games until we can get a better understanding of our available inventory in those years," Heisler said in a released statement, "an understanding that will develop as we implement our five-game scheduling commitment to the Atlantic Coast Conference."

By opting out of the contract now, the Irish will host two of the final three years of the deal and will avoid playing at the Big House twice during the final three years.

No. 10 Notre Dame (4-0) is in the top 10 for the first time since 2006. Michigan (2-2) started the season No. 8 and has dropped out of the poll after losses to No. 1 Alabama and then the Irish. Both teams have a bye this week.

The Wolverines have an NCAA-best .735 winning percentage in football and the Irish (.732) are second. Michigan leads all-time series 23-16-1.

"Michigan has always enjoyed and respected our national rivalry with Notre Dame," Brandon said. "We understand there have been periods of times that we've had a hiatus to take a couple years off to play other teams and that was something we expected along the way.

"It's unfortunate that it would appear we're going to go a substantial amount of time between games. But that is a decision Notre Dame has made. Our job is to find opponents that are exciting for our student-athletes as well as our fans to replace Notre Dame."

___

Follow Larry Lage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/larrylage

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/notre-dame-exercises-3-michigan-deal-155025044--spt.html

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Up to 2,000 workers brawl at iPhone firm's dorm

The company that makes Apple's iPhones suspended production at a factory in China on Monday after a brawl by as many as 2,000 employees at a dormitory injured 40 people.

The fight erupted Sunday night at a privately managed dormitory near a Foxconn Technology Group factory in the northern city of Taiyuan, the company and Chinese police said. A police statement reported by the official Xinhua News Agency said 5,000 officers were dispatched to the scene.

The Taiyuan plant, which employs about 79,000 workers, makes automobile electronic components, consumer electronic components and precision moldings. An employee told Reuters the plant also makes parts and assembles Apple's iPhone 5.

In a statement, Foxconn cited police as saying about 40 people were taken to hospital for medical attention and a number were arrested.

Report: Riots break out at Foxconn factory in China

The company said the incident escalated from what it called a personal dispute between several employees at around 11 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET) on Sunday. It was brought under control by local police at around 3 a.m.

"The cause of this dispute is under investigation by local authorities and we are working closely with them in this process, but it appears not to have been work-related," Foxconn said.

Burned vehicle
The fight drew "a large crowd of spectators ... triggering chaos," a police spokesman was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

Photos posted on microblog service Sina Weibo showed broken windows, a burned vehicle and police with riot helmets, shields and clubs.

Worker suicide at plant of Apple supplier, Foxconn

"The plant is closed today for investigation," Foxconn spokesman Louis Woo said.

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Foxconn, the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co and the world's largest contract maker of electronic goods, has seen a few violent disputes at its sprawling plants in China, where it employs a total of about 1 million workers.

Video: iProblem? (on this page)

Foxconn also assembles products for Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. It is one of China's biggest employers.

The company has faced scrutiny over complaints in the past about wages and working hours. It raised minimum pay and promised in March to limit hours after an auditor hired by Apple found Foxconn employees regularly were required to work more than 60 hours a week.

Worker at iPad firm in China: 'We're not machines'

But in June, about 100 workers went on a rampage at a Chengdu plant in southwestern China.

A staff member at the Taiyuan plant said he was told the plant could be closed up to two to three days as police investigated.

More China coverage from our Behind the Wall blog

"There are a lot of police at the site now," the staff member, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to media, told Reuters by telephone.

Calls to the Taiyuan police were not immediately answered, while an official at the plant declined to comment when reached by telephone.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49145374/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

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Thanks, Obama! Health Insurance Premiums Are Up $3,000! | The ...

Hey, does anyone remember how many times President Obama promised that under his plan health insurance premiums would go down by about $2500 per family? It didn?t quite work out that way. Gee, who could have predicted this?

During his first run for president, Barack Obama made one very specific promise to voters: He would cut health insurance premiums for families by $2,500, and do so in his first term.

But it turns out that family premiums have increased by more than $3,000 since Obama?s vow, according to the latest annual Kaiser Family Foundation employee health benefits survey.

Premiums for employer-provided family coverage?rose $3,065 ? 24% ? from 2008 to 2012, the Kaiser survey found. Even if you start counting in 2009, premiums have climbed $2,370.

What?s more, premiums climbed faster in Obama?s four years than they did in the previous four under President Bush, the survey data show.

Read the whole thing.

Tags: health, obama, premiums, promised

Source: http://lonelyconservative.com/2012/09/thanks-obama-health-insurance-premiums-are-up-3000/

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Monday, September 24, 2012

Reporter avoids Gatorade bath after Washington Nationals game

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Source: http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/22/14037304-reporter-avoids-gatorade-bath-after-washington-nationals-game

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Giant panda cub dies at U.S. National Zoo

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Helicopters search for 6 missing on Nepal mountain

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) ? Helicopters flew over the high slopes of a northern Nepal peak on Monday to search for six climbers believed lost in an avalanche that killed at least nine others. Many of the climbers were French, German and Italian.

The avalanche hit at about 4 a.m. Sunday while more than two dozen climbers were sleeping in their tents at a camp high on the world's eighth-tallest peak, Mount Manaslu, said Dolraj Dhakal, government administrator in the area. He said no one saw it coming and they were unable describe its size.

Rescuers brought down eight bodies by midday Monday and were trying to retrieve the ninth from the 7,000-meter (22,960-foot) area where the avalanche struck, police Chief Basanta Bahadur Kuwar said. Four helicopters were searching by air and climbers and guides were searching the slopes on foot.

Ten climbers survived, but many of them were injured and were flown to hospitals by rescue helicopters. Three French climbers and two Germans were transported to hospitals in Katmandu on Sunday, and two Italians were flown there Monday.

Veteran Italian mountaineer Silvio Mondinelli, who has climbed the world's 14 highest mountains, said he and fellow climber Christian Gobbi were sleeping in a tent when they heard a violent sound and felt their tent start to slide.

"It was only a few seconds and we did not know what happened but we had slid more than 200 meters (650 feet)," Mondinelli told The Associated Press in Katmandu.

He said another Italian climber and their Sherpa guide were sleeping in another tent and were buried by the avalanche and died.

Gobbi said they were unable to see at first because it was so dark and they had no light.

"We found someone's boots and put them on," he said.

When the sun rose an hour later, they saw parts of tents scattered across the snow, along with people who had been killed or injured.

They said they were able to assist the injured with the help of Sherpa guides who came from lower camps. Those who could walk made their way down to the base camp while those who were injured were picked up by helicopters.

The French Foreign Ministry said four French climbers were among the dead and two others were missing.

"The situation continues to evolve, due to the atmospheric conditions," it said in a statement Monday.

Spain's Foreign Ministry said one Spanish climber was killed.

Italian, German and French teams were on the mountain, with a total of 231 climbers and guides, but not all were at the higher camps hit by the avalanche.

Sunday's avalanche came at the start of Nepal's autumn climbing season, when the end of the monsoon rains makes weather in the high Himalayas unpredictable. Spring is a more popular mountaineering season, when hundreds of climbers crowd the high Himalayan peaks.

Mount Manaslu is 8,156 meters (26,760 feet) high and has attracted more climbers recently because it is considered one of the easier peaks to climb among the world's tallest mountains.

Nepal has eight of the 14 highest peaks in the world. Climbers have complained in recent years that conditions on the mountains have deteriorated and risks of accidents have increased.

Veteran guide Apa, who has climbed Mount Everest a record 21 times, traveled across Nepal earlier this year campaigning about the effects of global warming on the mountains.

He told The Associated Press the mountains now have considerably less ice and snow, making it harder for climbers to use ice axes and crampons on their boots to get a grip on the slopes.

Loose snow also increases the risk of avalanches. The cause of Sunday's avalanche was not immediately determined.

Avalanches are not very frequent on Mount Manaslu, but in 1972 one struck a team of climbers and killed six Koreans and 10 Nepalese guides.

Ang Tshering of the Asian Trekking agency in Katmandu, who has equipped hundreds of expeditions, said the low level of snow and increased number of climbers on Manaslu has made climbing conditions difficult.

"It used to be a low-risk mountain in the past but now that has all changed," Tshering said, adding that conditions have become more unpredictable.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/helicopters-search-6-missing-nepal-mountain-140050571.html

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Sunday, September 23, 2012

Iran detains centrist ex-president's daughter

(AP) ? Iran's official news agency says authorities have detained the daughter of influential ex-president and political centrist Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

The Sunday report by IRNA says Tehran's judiciary department took Faezeh Hashemi into custody late Saturday to serve a six-month sentence on charges of making propaganda against the ruling system.

Earlier this year a court convicted her and banned her from political activity for five years. Her lawyer said the accusations were related to interviews she gave to news websites.

Since the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, in which Rafsanjani supported Ahmadinejad's reformist challenger, his family has come under pressure from hardliners.

In recent months, there are indications that the 78-year-old former president, who favors a more moderated approach to the West, may be making a political comeback.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-23-Iran/id-7d4fe479e3e64c61a7d72ce98506d4da

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Romney focuses on California fundraising (cbsnews)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/250348974?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Strategies to Procure Low Cost Car Insurance Online in Chicago ...

Within our modern day speedy paced era, car insurance is a required safeguard to ensure a difficulty cost-free partnership along with your car, so you have to do your best to acquire a fantastic auto insurance quotation. It?s incredibly critical you grasp exactly what is being insured and what exactly are the circumstances if any which exist from the auto insurance estimate. Having said that, you have to be careful to not confuse an car prolonged guarantee with automobile insurance, due to the fact the latter is basically nothing at all but an automobile service contract.

Obtain the Greatest from an Automobile insurance Quotation

Should you be to get the total value from an automobile insurance estimate, you?ll need to recognize the conditions which have been being made available, or else submitting a state when needed will become that a lot much more complicated. You?ll find an incredible variety of insurance policy dealers who give you automobile insurance estimate together with other similar concerns in a very extremely confusing manner. The prices and characteristics which have been provided from a broad amount of insurance policy providers can be cross checked and also a suitable cost determined on when finalizing your auto insurance quotation.

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Time is of your essence and after the acquisition of a new or 2nd hand automobile you do not want to delay obtaining an car insurance quote. You happen to be at liberty to visit insurance businesses that may practically straight away set up a few car insurance quote either by phone or e mail ? from the nationwide network of professionals dealing specifically with auto insurance quotes. Additionally, that you are also at liberty to visit proven web pages like http://www.autoinsurancequoteranger.com for getting a comprehensive range of auto insurance quotations. You then possess the liberty to check automobile insurance quotes from around 110 organizations and thus help you save as much as 70% of the expenses online.

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To date as vehicle insurance estimates are involved, you will also really need to remain very alert about the bargains provided or promotional presents of booklets and gifts. These are generally all gimmicks to conquer competitiveness of vehicle insurance quotes from other businesses. For the very good vehicle insurance quote solution an organization that could not merely recognize your preferences, but also deliver you with providers which can be quickly and simple. Right after you have accepted their auto insurance quotation, the registration techniques plus the terms and conditions ought to get pretty uncomplicated ? to ensure that your time and effort is just not thrown away.

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Source: http://lmaureen.com/strategies-to-procure-low-cost-car-insurance-online-in-chicago/

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Central Pennsylvania Real Estate: Green Urban Initiative; Urban ...

Click here for previous posts on urban farming?and here for a past story on urban farming on multiple lots in Harrisburg City.?

From Fox43 comes the story of?Green Urban Initiative, an urban farming organization that leases and operates multiple lots in Harrisburg.? On Wednesday, the City demolished one of?GUI's lots at 6th and Curtin streets due to allegations that the property had fallen into disrepair and was being used to hide contraband, an allegation that?GUI disputes.?

Additional details have been reported on Pennlive.? GUI's website can be found here.

What is most significant about this story goes beyond the demolition of this one garden.? We are not talking about your average backyard vegetable garden with only a handful of various plants. Gardens of this type often encompass entire vacant lots - or even multiple contiguous lots.

GUI operates "multiple gardens throughout the City," according to the Fox-43 story.? GUI apparently leases vacant lots from the City for this purpose.? This practice provides further indication that gardening provides a more profitable use of certain vacant urban lots than traditional residential or commercial uses. That gardening is more profitable reflects not only increased prices in food and farm products, but also many obstacles to land development and investment, such as increased lending restrictions, real estate taxes, municipal regulations and fees, title defects due to prior tax sales and urban crime.? The demolished lot in this case was located in a high crime area. All of those obstacles, while preventing building, repair or other development, would not interfere?with gardening on land leased from the City.

In some cities outside of Pennsylvania, the possibility of increased urban farming has played a key factor in municipal plans for urban?consolidation and population relocation.?

Source: http://centralpennsylvaniarealestate.blogspot.com/2012/09/green-urban-initiative-urban-garden.html

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Saturday, September 22, 2012

Relation of poor sleep quality to resistant hypertension | Human ...

Relation of poor sleep quality to resistant hypertension | Human Health and Science September 22, 2012 5:32 pm You are here:Home News Relation of poor sleep quality to resistant hypertension Posted by on September 22, 2012 in News | Tags:?Blood, blood-pressure, Research, Science, sleep-quality, Social, social-bookmarking, Source, story-source, three-or-more, University

Source: http://www.humanhealthandscience.com/relation-of-poor-sleep-quality-to-resistant-hypertension/news

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Syria: Rebel leadership has entered the country

The headquarters of the Free Syrian Army had previously been in Turkey, and its move into Syria signifies just how far rebels have come.

By Bassem Mroue,?The Associated Press / September 22, 2012

Soldiers from the rebel Free Syrian Army stand guard near the Turkish-Syrian border crossing of Tal Abad on Saturday. Rebel forces captured the crossing last week.

Hussein Malla/AP

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The leaders of the rebel Free Syrian Army said Saturday they moved their command center from Turkey to?Syria?with the aim of uniting rebels and speeding up the fall of President Bashar Assad's regime.

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Brig. Gen. Mustafa al-Sheikh, who heads the FSA's Military Council, told The Associated Press that the group made the move last week. He would not say where the new headquarters is located or give other details.

The FSA is the most prominent of the rebel groups trying to topple Assad, though its authority over networks of fighters in?Syria?is limited. Its commanders have been criticized for being based in Turkey while thousands are killed inside?Syria.

RELATED -?Why no safe zone in Syria, yet? 5 complications

Despite the announcement of the command move, rebels still have to rely on Turkey as a rear base for supplies and reinforcements. In the past few months, rebels have captured wide swaths of Syrian territory bordering Turkey, along with three border crossings, allowing them to ferry supplies and people into?Syria.

FSA commander Col. Riad al-Asaad announced the move of the command center in a video with the title "Free Syrian Army Communique Number 1 from Inside." Wearing a military uniform and surrounded by a dozen gunmen, the commander said the aim is to "start the plan to liberate Damascus soon, God willing."

Al-Sheikh, the other top FSA commander, said moving the command "will speed up the fall of the regime because it will give a big boost to the morale of rebels and there will be a command to follow-up on operations."

"There are liberated areas now and it's better for the command to be with the rebels instead of being abroad," al-Sheikh said in a phone interview from Turkey. The general said he has been going back and forth to?Syria.

In recent months, rebels have succeeded in taking the fight to Damascus, but the regime has reasserted control in many areas. In the summer, rebels also launched an offensive on?Syria's?largest city, Aleppo, and are holding several neighborhoods there, despite daily battles with regime forces.

Activists say nearly 30,000 people have been killed since?Syria's?crisis began in March 2011. The uprising began with largely peaceful protests against Assad's regime, but has since morphed into a civil war in the face of a brutal government crackdown.

The Syrian conflict has increasingly spilled into neighboring Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, with several hundred thousand Syrians seeking refuge there and battles occasionally being fought along?Syria's?borders.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/5nVBzuMjOI4/Syria-Rebel-leadership-has-entered-the-country

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Unity Music Media Keys Controls All Your Web Based Music Players in Chrome [Chrome Extensions]

Unity Music Media Keys Controls All Your Web Based Music Players in ChromeChrome: If you bounce between a lot of different music services then chances are you've got a tab open in Chrome to one of them all day long. Unity Music Media Keys is a Chrome extension that makes that experience better by offering quick push button controls, and support for Apple's keyboard media keys.

What's especially nice about Unity Music Media Keys is that it works on a bunch of different music webapps, including Pandora, Google Music, Grooveshark, Bandcamp, Rdio, and more. You can either pull up the controls directly in Chrome, or simply use the media keys. If you bounce around between a lot of different music services for your music, Unity Music Media Keys is handy to have around.

Unity Music Media Keys | Chrome Web Store via CyberNet News

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/jktWUCQ6Wnw/unity-music-media-keys-controls-all-your-web-based-music-players-in-chrome

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The Newcomers Information to the Paleo Diet | ArticlePDQ.com

In an era when heart disease is the number 1 killer, many individuals are frantically looking for a magic-bullet remedy or a preventive measure to protect them.One chance for generally better health and heart disease prevention may be identified by following a Paleo Diet. ?? How does the Paleo Diet work?Contrary to some contemporary printed information on how to eat for your greatest heart health, the Paleo Diet is low in carbohydrates and grains and considerably higher in non-saturated fats. The caveat is that the fats are carefully selected because of their advantage to the human body. Your health can be improved by this diet significantly at the essential bio-chemical level. The diet is named for the Paleolithic period about two thousand years back when man subsisted largely on grass fed animals. Farming hadn?t begun yet, and as revealed in ancient cave paintings, animals were the key way to obtain food. ?? Eliminating Carbs could be the key.It has been found that lowering the carbohydrate intake can have powerful results on your own health. Grains currently are genetically altered so that they develop faster. As an example today?s rice is just much more than 20? tall. It could be prepared faster, but the effects on the blood are somewhat unique of the original wheat, still found in Italy, and the Middle East. That ancient wheat Einkorn wheat now known does not have exactly the same blood sugar increasing qualities as modern wheat which considerably increases blood sugar and could be at the main of diabetes and both heart disease. In some instances Einkorn wheat can be tolerated even by those who find themselves on a gluten free diet. The genetic makeup of the present day wheat is very different today. ?? What research helps Paleo Diets?Much research on diet is published annually, however not as many studies compare Paleo Diets to the more typical high fiber and wheat diets. A few of this is due to lack of support for these reports by corporations that produce the extremely profitable grain crops and many sugar based ingredients. Dialogue and studies however can be found on the net site Proteinpower.com where Dr. Michael Eades presents considerable data and analysis supporting the Paleo Diet theory. ?? Just how to I start the Paleo Diet?Simple measures to start out on a Paleo Diet include cutting back on carbs and cereals, and including beef, bass, eggs, hen, nuts, oil and a small quantity of honey in the diet. No dairy, beans, cereal or other grains including dinner are allowed. Also eliminate high carbohydrate foods like carrots. Choose the best grass fed foods and if possible domestically increased eggs and poultry. ?? Advantages of the Paleo DietThose that follow this kind diet have lowered their cholesterol as much as 30 to 40 points without medications. Lower blood pressure and better overall health are typical. ?? SummaryA Paleo Diet may have many wonderful balanced advantages for the heart and body. But don?t forget the necessity for some exercise everyday in your heart health program.

See our site for more information about Paleo Diet food list

Source: http://articlepdq.com/health-fitness/the-newcomers-information-to-the-paleo-diet/

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Researchers create working quantum bit in silicon, pave way for PCs of the future

Researchers create working quantum bit in silicon, pave way for PCs of the future

If you've been paying attention, you know the quantum computing revolution is coming -- and so far the world has a mini quantum network, not to mention the $10,000 D-Wave One, to show for it. Researchers from the University of Melbourne and University College, London, have now developed the "first working quantum bit based on a single atom of silicon." By measuring and manipulating the magnetic orientation, or spin, of an electron bound to a phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon chip, the scientists were able to both read and write information, forming a qubit, the basic unit of data for quantum computing.

The team used a silicon transistor, which detects the electron's spin and captures its energy when the spin's direction is "up." Once the electron is in the transistor, scientists can change its spin state any way they choose, effectively "writing" information and giving them control of the quantum bit. The next step will be combing two quibits into a logic step, with the ultimate goal being a full-fledged quantum computer capable of crunching numbers, cracking encryption codes and modeling molecules that would put even supercomputers to shame. But, you know, baby steps.

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Researchers create working quantum bit in silicon, pave way for PCs of the future originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/y0XK1jpA5Tw/

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Queen's Hospital no dummy on fire drill training - Burton Mail

08:00 Friday 21 September 2012? Written by ALEX WAINWRIGHT

AN emergency fire drill involving new hi-tech mannequins that can mimic life-threatening conditions is to be held at Burton?s Queen?s Hospital.

Queen's hospital

Queen's hospital

The training day will see vacant wards at the hospital transformed into a 22-bed community health unit, three-bed and 13-seated mental health unit, a four-bed critical care unit and a six-bed emergency admissions unit.

The live multi-agency exercise is to be held on October 7, between 9.30am and noon.

More than 70 staff and volunteers from Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust, Combined Healthcare NHS Trust and Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are to take part in the exercise to test the response to fire evacuation.

The SimMan mannequins will occupy the critical care beds for evacuation by the fire service and a West Midlands Ambulance Service team.

Hospital staff will be playing the parts of patients or be responsible for evacuating the smoke-logged wards as if on a real shift.

Harmless smoke will also be created by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue to give the scenario a sense of realism, and firefighters will use the relevant breathing apparatus.

Staffordshire Police and the hazardous area response team from West Midlands Ambulance Service will also provide support during the exercise.

The NHS in Staffordshire will be the first in the UK to run an emergency drill involving mannequins which can ?talk?, blink and breathe, exhibit vital signs such as breathing, blood pressure and pulse, and mimic a range of health problems.

Geraint Griffiths, deputy chief executive of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent NHS Partnership Trust, said: ?The NHS continuously tests how it would respond to a major incident, which could be anything from a road accident involving multiple casualties to a large fire.

?The exercise offers us the unique opportunity to help us to evaluate the effectiveness of our response to an incident and to develop emergency plans.? The hospital will remain open as usual and patients should experience little or no disruption during the exercise.

The police and fire services will be in attendance, and those living close to the Belvedere Road site have been advised that it is an exercise.

Jackie Jones, Burton Hospitals? director with responsibilities for civil contingencies, said: ?The exercise will be as realistic as we can make it, without causing unnecessary disruption.

?Working on cross-agency initiatives like this allows us to test, learn and plan in a collaborative way so we can act in a more effective and cohesive way in the event of a real-life situation.?

Source: http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/News/Queens-Hospital-no-dummy-on-fire-drill-training-21092012.htm

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