h/t Gates of Vienna
The encounter occurred at a rubbish dump in a village near Tomsk in western Siberia, where both man and bear were scavenging, the Moscow Times reports. The villager was searching for metals to sell, and was charged by the animal which was looking for food. Local ranger Sergei Yelnikov says the unnamed man threw the old computer, which was the first thing that came to hand, causing the bear to flee. "The villager hardly suffered at all; he injured his hand when throwing the device at the bear," Mr Yelnikov says. According to the RT television channel, a 24-hour search found no trace of the animal.
Freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo no longer has the Ebola virus in his bloodstream and will be allowed to leave Nebraska Medical Center, the hospital said Tuesday.
"Just got my results," Mukpo tweeted. "3 consecutive days negative. Ebola free and feeling so blessed. I fought and won, with lots of help. Amazing feeling."
The 33-year-old was working for NBC News when he tested positive for Ebola in Liberia. Mukpo was among a team working with Dr. Nancy Snyderman, the network's chief medical correspondent. Mukpo spent about two weeks at the hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. The hospital said he can head back home to Rhode Island on Wednesday.
"Recovering from Ebola is a truly humbling feeling," the hospital quoted Mukpo as saying. "Too many are not as fortunate and lucky as I've been. I'm very happy to be alive."
Two nurses undergoing treatment for the virus also got good news on Tuesday.
The National Institutes of Health said the condition of Nina Pham, a Texas nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for a patient, was upgraded from fair to good. Pham is at the NIH Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. She cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola in the United States, at a Texas hospital.
And in Spain, nurse's aide Teresa Romero Ramos, who contracted Ebola after treating virus-stricken patients in Madrid, is now free of the virus, her doctors announced.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/22/2014 00:00 ||
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Recovering from Ebola
I just can't help thinking this is a momentary viral retreat, not the recovery from effects of an ordinary virus...
An 11-year-old boy studying at a South Keraniganj madrasa had his throat slit with a kitchen cleaver early Monday after resisting a rape attempt by a school staff member, his killer admitted to police yesterday.
The self-confessed killer, Shah Alam, a 35-year-old cook at Tahfizul Quran Nurani Hafezi Madrasa, admitted to rape the same boy a month ago.
âI donât know what came over me. I killed the boy with a boti in the madrasa kitchen,â Shah Alam, whose wife is nine months pregnant, said yesterday at the media and community centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
Shah Alam said he had tried to get hold of Abu Rayhan around 1am when the child was on his way to the toilet. He attempted to rape Abu Rayhan, but the boy resisted and threatened to tell the authorities about what had happened.
Shah Alam then dragged Abu Rayhan into the kitchen and slit his throat with a razor-sharp cleaver.
Police recovered the body from the floor of the madrasa kitchen on Monday.
Dhaka Police Superintendent Habibur Rahman said at a press briefing at the media and community centre of DMP: âWe detained Shah Alam and 10 other madrasa staff members on Monday morning. After the primary investigation, we found evidence of Shah Alamâs involvement in the killing. After his admission of guilt, we recovered the murder weapon, a boti, and blood-stained clothes from the madrasa kitchen.â
Abu Rayhanâs brother is also a student at the madrasa. He could not be tracked down for a statement.
The victimâs father, Md Murad Hossain, filed a case against the madrasa administration, Officer-in-Charge (OC) Jamaluddin Mir of South Keraniganj police station said.
The victimâs body was handed over to his family after an autopsy was conducted at Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital, the OC said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2014 00:00 ||
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Is the guy going to be beheaded, acid washed, set fire upon or stoned? Or is he going to go back to teaching?
Rooters
(Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine failed to reach an accord on gas supplies for the coming winter in EU-brokered talks on Tuesday but agreed to meet again in Brussels in a week in the hope of ironing out problems over Kiev's ability to pay.
After a day of talks widely expected to be the final word, European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told a news conference the three parties agreed the price Ukraine would pay Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) - $385 per thousand cubic meters - as long as it paid in advance for the deliveries.
But Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow was still seeking assurances on how Kiev, which earlier in the day asked the EU for a further 2 billion euros ($2.55 billion) in credit, would find the money to pay Moscow for its energy.
Dependent on Western aid, Ukraine is in a weak position in relation to its former Soviet master in Moscow, though Russia's reasons were unclear for wanting further assurances on finances, beyond an agreement to supply gas only for cash up front.
Jeffrey Fowle, one of three Americans being held in North Korea, was abruptly allowed to leave today on a U.S. government jet.
Fowle, 56, of Miamisburg, Ohio, had been awaiting trial on charges of leaving a Bible at a nightclub in the northern port city of Chongjin last May. Proseletyzing [sic] is illegal in North Korea...
The site of a USAF plane with an American flag on its tail at Pyongyang's international airport was an unusual sight.
While in a North Korean jail he was fired from his job as an equipment operator for the city of Moraine, Ohio, a job he had for the last 26 years. The dismissal last month came with a $70,000 severance package.
At some point, you have to return to work,” Moraine City Manager David Hicks told ABC News.
Hicks noted that Fowle was a union employee. “Although he was terminated, he has the ability to apply at any point in the next year and he would be immediately reinstated into his position,” he said.
The city's termination letter to Fowle said that he was being dismissed "in light of your continued incarceration in North Korea resulting from (a) unilateral decision to travel to North Korea against the advice of your family and acquaintances; and (b) running afoul of North Korean restrictions on ‘anti-government’ activities."
Hicks said that the city kept his wife and children on Fowle’s health insurance after his termination. An utter maroon or really poor intel op gone bad. What other choices are there? At least his family and acquaintances seemed to have a lick of sense, unlike the "victim". After having a huge amount of US funds spent to return him home, he can most likely look forward to a nice city taxpayer-funded pension.
This morning the Dayton Daily News reported Fowle has arrived at Wright Patterson AFB and met with his wife and children. Fowle's wife Tatiana is a native of Russia.
[ARABNEWS] Soft drinks king Coca-Cola made headway in global volume sales in its third quarter but net earnings fell sharply, hit by slower economic growth and volatile currencies.
Coke reported a slight fall in total operating revenues around the world to $11.98 billion for the quarter to September 26. Net income however dropped 13.6 percent to $2.12 billion, and earnings per share dropped to 48 cents from 54 cents.
Excluding exceptional items, earnings per share were flat at 53 cents, matching the average forecast of analysts.
Coke said volatile foreign exchange markets and especially the strengthening of the US dollar against most other currencies took a toll on the company. If currency swings were factored out, the company said, earnings per share would be up six percent.
Still, the flat revenue showed the challenge the company faces in boosting sales and earnings in a tough global environment. It stressed the focus during the period on maintaining volume sales and market share with "a rational approach to pricing" and intensified marketing efforts.
Atlanta-based Coke has been challenged especially by Europe's economic slump, but also by slow growth in the US and the sharp economic slowdown in Latin America and elsewhere.
Sales volumes in Europe were down five percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, and off one percent in North America. Revenues gained 0.6 percent in Europe lost while falling 2.1 percent in North America.
But Coke's smallest region, Eurasia and Africa, showed firm growth, with volumes up 5 percent and sales up 6.0 percent
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2014 00:00 ||
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Flavored colored water. Your product is overpriced and has viable competition. Instead of adjusting accordingly, you look at the gnomes of Wall Street and their ratings, thus keeping the profit margin higher than is justified, particularly in a weak economy which teaches the mass consumers to find substitutes.
[ARABNEWS] McDonald's CEO Don Thompson said the company hasn't been keeping up with the times and that changes are in store for its US restaurants.
Starting in January, Thompson said McDonald's will "simplify" its menu to make room for restaurants to offer options that are best-suited for their regions. To offer greater customization, he also said the company planned to expand its "Create Your Taste" offering that lets people pick the buns and toppings they want on burgers by tapping a touchscreen. The program is currently being offered in Southern Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,.
"We haven't been changing at the same rate as our customers' eating-out expectations," Thompson conceded during a conference call outlining the changes.
The remarks came after McDonald's said its profit sank 30 percent in the third quarter, with sales at established locations down 3.3 percent globally and in its flagship US market. In the division encompassing Asia, where a major McDonald's supplier was shown on TV repackaging expired beef, the figure sank 9.9 percent.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2014 00:00 ||
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A wannabee boutique food provider in a mass food market. Wasn't the best strategy to pursue. Particularly when you exit the bottom tier of the market (fast, quick, cheap) to others to fill who can exploit local (fresh vs boxed and frozen) alternatives.
#6
how about letting me order via my smartphone or from the computer screen at the counter? this is will ensure the order is at least put in the system correctly and no need to pay 'living wage' to your counter help. should help the bottom line and increase customer satisfaction.
#9
@ 6 & 7
I remember a deal where upon walking into, say, dentist office the local wifi would send a request to your smart phone etc. asking if you would like to download a virtual magazine.
And IIRC it was an olde rag trying to gain revenue via virtual sales (and brand quality, as the last time I browsed a pile I found magazines months and years old.)
I'd think the tech is there to enter your order beforehand, and when you go through the door or around the drive through, your order is confirmed and entered.
I can see nearly the entire process being automated.
#11
They used to be a cheap alternative. They aren't any more.
Worked late the other night and stopped to get a couple of burgers there. The burgers were a little bigger than a Kennedy half dollar.
So there's a couple of problems right there.
[Iran Press TV] Ukraine has requested an additional 2.55 billion dollar loan from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... in order to pay off its gas debt to Russia.
European Commission front man Simon O'Connor said on Tuesday that Ukrainian authorities made the request as they met with Russian and EU officials to resolve a gas price dispute.
O'Connor went on to say the EU's executive body will consider the request along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"The commission remains very committed to supporting Ukraine in line with earlier commitments," he added.
Ukraine's Energy Minister Yuri Prodan was in Brussels on Tuesday for talks with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak and the European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger in an attempt to resolve the dispute over Kiev's unpaid gas debts to Russia.
Russia cut off gas deliveries to Ukraine after Kiev failed to make a 1.95-billion dollar payment of its 5.2-billion dollar debt before the June 16 deadline.
During a visit to Serbia on Thursday, Russia's President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... warned of "major transit risks" to Europe's gas supplies from his country this winter unless Ukraine settles the gas dispute with Moscow.
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[Iran Press TV] The Ukrainian government has vowed to carry out a full investigation in connection to allegations that banned cluster bombs were used in its offence against pro-Russian.
The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, Valeriy Chaly, said on Tuesday that if cluster bombs were used, it was without the authorization of politicians in Kiev.
"I am not ready to answer this question because we still have to conduct our own internal investigation," Chaly told news hounds after being asked about the allegations.
On Monday, Human Rights Watch ... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge.... published a detailed investigation that points out 12 incidents where cluster bombs killed six people, including a Swiss aid worker, in and around Donetsk earlier this month.
"While it was not possible to conclusively determine responsibility for many of the attacks, the evidence points to Ukrainian government forces' responsibility for several cluster munition attacks on Donetsk," the rights group said.
"We have taken note of the report," Chaly added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the space pirate fleet to attack Zemblonia... Ukrainian Defense Ministry front man Bogdan Senyk also said that the "charges are groundless."
Cluster munitions are banned in most countries due to their indiscriminate nature of killing of people. The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which came into force in 2010, has 114 member states. Ukraine has not joined the treaty.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Ghulam Rasool Ayubi was not the kind of man you would peg as a master criminal. An unassuming small-time trader from the Badami Bagh area of Lahore, Ayubi would sell vegetables on a handcart to make enough money to feed his family.
For nearly half-a-decade, he earned money the hard way, eking out a living buying produce at local vegetable markets and selling it door-to-door in some of the city's more upscale neighbourhoods.
Convinced by a friend that there was more money to be made buying and reselling clothes in Azad Kashmire, Ayubi headed to Muzaffarabad. On his way there, the cash-strapped man spent a night at Rawalpindi's Zikria Mosque, where he met some people who would change his life forever.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2014 00:00 ||
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one pakistan rupee is worth about $0.01
or
100,000 RS is worth about $1,000
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/22/2014 11:13 Comments ||
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The head of Iran's top clerical institution has died, leaving a gap in the only body that has the authority to elect and dismiss the country's supreme leader.
The death of 83-year-old Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, reported by Iranian media, is unlikely to spark any direct policy change or jockeying for power, officials and analysts said. But with the health of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also under scrutiny, any changes in the body that will choose his successor are sensitive and closely watched.
Under Iran's constitution, in case of the death, resignation, or dismissal of the leader, the Assembly of Experts has to take steps "within the shortest possible time for the appointment of the new leader".
Created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the assembly has never exercised its right to dismiss a leader, but it has turned into a potential arena for competition between rival factions in Iran's complex power structure.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Iran Press TV] Ukraine has requested an additional 2.55 billion dollar loan from the 
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
would peg as a master criminal. An unassuming small-time trader from the Badami Bagh area of Lahore, Ayubi would sell vegetables on a handcart to make enough money to feed his family.
