Samoa and neighbor Tokelau to jump forward in time

Apia, Samoa's capital

APIA, Samoa (AP) — The tiny South Pacific nation of Samoa and its neighbor Tokelau will jump forward in time on Thursday, crossing westward over the international date line to align themselves with their other 21st century trading partners throughout the region.

At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 29, time in Samoa and Tokelau will leap forward to Dec. 31 — New Year's Eve. For Samoa's 186,000 citizens, and the 1,500 in Tokelau, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, will simply cease to exist.

The time jump back to the future comes 119 years after some U.S. traders persuaded local Samoan authorities to align their islands' time with nearby U.S.-controlled American Samoa and the U.S. to assist their trading with California.

But the time zone has proved problematic in recent years, putting Samoa and Tokelau nearly a full day behind neighboring Australia and New Zealand, increasingly important trading partners.

In a bid to remedy that, the Samoan government passed a law in June that will move Samoa west of the international date line, which separates one calendar day from the next and runs roughly north-to-south through the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Under a government decree, all those scheduled to work on the nonexistent Friday will be given full pay for the missed day of labor.

The time shift will be marked by the ringing of church bells across Samoa's two main islands, and prayer services in all the main churches of the devoutly Christian nation.

Nearby Tokelau, a three-atoll United Nations dependency, said it will join its neighbor in the date line dance to maintain its alignment with Samoa, three sailing days away, where its administration is based.

Tokelau's parliament, the Tokelau General Fono, recently voted to go ahead with the change, although it still has to complete all formalities for the date line switch, a New Zealand foreign ministry official said in Wellington on Thursday.

Initially strongly opposed by Samoa's opposition Tautua Samoa Party, the law to make the date line switch won its support after leader A'eau Peniamina told the nation's Parliament, "It's a change that benefits the people."

Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sailele Malielegaoi earlier said it would strengthen trade and economic links with Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Being a day behind the region has meant that when it's dawn Sunday in Samoa, it's already dawn Monday in adjacent Tonga and nearly dawn Monday in nearby New Zealand, Australia and increasingly prominent east Asian trade partners such as China.

"In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we're losing out on two working days a week," Tuila'epa said in a statement. "While it's Friday here, it's Saturday in New Zealand, and when we're at church on Sunday, they're already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane."

Like many small Pacific island states, more of Samoa's people live permanently overseas than on its islands. Around 180,000 Samoans live in New Zealand, 15,000 in Australia and tens of thousands more in the U.S.

Other island groups with more of their citizens living offshore than on include Tuvalu, Niue, Tonga, Cook Islands and tiny Tokelau.

The Ulu, or chief, of Tokelau, Foua Toloa, said Thursday that the New Zealand government had given its blessing for Tokelau to make the change.

"The General Fono (parliament) decision has been endorsed, and we hope that the people will go to sleep on Thursday night and wake up the next day, Saturday, the 31st of December, without any huge changes," he told Radio New Zealand International.

For Samoa, it's the second big economic modernizing move by the governing Human Rights Protection Party in recent years, following its switch to driving on the left side of the country's roads in 2009, another move to align it with the two regional powers.

So far, only Samoa's small Seventh Day Adventist Church has indicated a major problem for its congregation, which traditionally begins celebrations for the Sabbath on Friday night and continues through Saturday.

The Seventh Day Adventist parish in Samoa's Samatau village has decided it will continue to observe the Sabbath day on Saturdays despite changes forced on the church by the westward switch of the date line.

The original shift to the east side of the line was made in 1892, when Samoa celebrated July 4 twice, giving a nod to Independence Day in the U.S.

The date line drawn by mapmakers is not mandated by any international body. By tradition, it runs roughly through the 180-degree line of longitude, but it zigzags to accommodate the choices of Pacific nations on how to align their calendars.

Palestinians light Christmas tree in Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Hundreds of Palestinians have gathered in Bethlehem to light a Christmas tree ahead of the holiday festivities in the town where Jesus was born.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pressed a button lighting up the decorations on the 50-foot (15-meter) tree Thursday, along with the lights illuminating the rest of the square outside the Church of the Nativity.
Christmas brings the world's attention every year briefly to this West Bank town south of Jerusalem.
Fayyad said Christmas was an opportunity to "celebrate the Palestinian identity of Jesus Christ."

Montreal's real-life Robin Hood

MONTREAL —At a Montreal bistro aptly named Robin des Bois, or Robin Hood, volunteers are drawing inspiration from their namesake and cooking up a storm to help those down-on-their luck by giving away the profits.

The restaurant is the brainchild of Judy Servay, a former advertising executive once known for throwing Christmas parties with a twist when clients and employees would gather to make meals for the homeless. 

These were a type of party in which "guests felt good the next day," she quipped.

This led to the realization that many people with busy lives were ready to get involved in humanitarian causes, as long as they didn't have to get too involved.

After selling her video production business and a trip to Africa, Servay started the restaurant with the help of a sponsor who donated $49,000 (Can$50,000) and loaned her another $49,000 for the non-profit venture.

The bistro opened its doors in 2006, and the concept appears to work brilliantly. Its strength is its flexibility: volunteers can work for one night or more, and no experience is needed.

"At the start, my mother washed dishes for a few weeks and then it took off," says Servay. Volunteers come from all walks of life, including an emergency room doctor and the head of a billboard advertising company — 4,500 people in all rotating through the restaurant each year.

Some cook meals, others wait on tables. Profits go to six local charities, $20,000 (Canadian dollars) was donated in 2010.

The food is good and prices are reasonable, and the restaurant will sometimes bring in local performers to serenade patrons for free.

Twentysomethings Eric Lucas and Tahina Andriamananjato volunteer at Robin des Bois several times per week.

"My family immigrated from Madagascar to France. Having witnessed the caring hands that helped them settle there, I feel it's my turn now to help others," Andriamananjato said.

"People have mistaken me for a pro," delights Lucas.

Each night, eight volunteers work alongside eight staffers in the kitchen and the dining room because even though its clientele tends to support Servay's cause, the restaurant still aims to serve meals good enough to make foodies want to come back again, and again.

"We didn't want people to say, 'Great, I gave, I did my part, but the food was so-so," Servay explains. "No. We actually have clientele that come back every week for the food."

After arriving in Quebec a year ago, Andriamananjato has just now secured a job at a bank. Prospective employers tend to view volunteering on a par with professional experience.

"It looks good on a CV," said Lucas. "Someone who volunteers, it's the same as if they were salaried workers."

And in keeping with their theme, the bistro uses organic produce which is sourced locally as much as possible.

The menu is devised by a trained chef and adapted to the seasons, and the restaurant provides aprons for the volunteers, but encourages them to wear their own comfortable clothes. — AFP

Here's some comments  from the online website Marketplace:

Scott Jagow: Life in Montreal is really about food. It's a city known for long lunches, late night dining and hip bistros. There's a new bistro that's getting a lot of attention right now. It's called Robin des Bois. That means Robin Hood. And yes, the restaurant feeds the rich and gives its profits to the poor. Here's Judith Ritter.

Writer Judith Ritter:  It's not easy to get a reservation at Montreal's hot new eatery Robin des Bois. Tonight this sleek bistro is packed. Even big name actors and directors are on a waiting list. Not just to dine but to work so money saved on wages can be donated to the poor.

Catherine Pilon, volunteer worker:  Tonight is my first night and it's very special but I'm a little nervous. (Catherine Pilon usually directs music videos for Quebec's version of MTV. Clearly she's more comfortable giving orders than taking them).

Below is a conversation between a customer and Pilon:

Customer:  I 'd like to know what you put in your boudin creole

PIlon: Good question, for me it's my first time, oh my God! I'll be right back.

She hasn't a clue. But the diners celebrating a birthday are unfazed. They know the servers are volunteers and the profits go to local charities. They've also heard that the server, the one who might be spilling a glass of water on them, might even be a local media heartthrob.

Phillipe Fermiaux: Patrice Crocaux was here, one of the most famous actors in Quebec and he was here serving on the tables and obviously people were just actually freaking out.
Phillipe Femiaux is a TV  personality and husband of Judy Servay, the mastermind behind the Robin Hood concept. The idea caught on with their glittery acquaintances and there's a waiting list of 1,400 ready to work for free. The chefs get paid but not what they're used to. But for chef Sebastien Courville, that's just fine.

Pilon, going back to the customer: Okay, one boudin creole . . . and something to drink?

Over at the birthday table the music video director turned server is getting a little smoothera.
Pilon: I'll be better by my third table.

Good Luck Catherine. Just don't quit your day job
In Montreal, Judith Ritter for Marketplace.

Below is a BBC video:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8644856.stm

Earth-like planet found in habitable zone

MOFFET FIELD, California (Reuters) - The most Earth-like planet ever discovered is circling a star 600 light years away, a key finding in an ongoing quest to learn if life exists beyond Earth, scientists said on Monday.
The planet, called Kepler-22b, joins a list of more than 500 planets found to orbit stars beyond our solar system. It is the smallest and the best positioned to have liquid water on its surface -- among the ingredients necessary for life on Earth.
"We are homing in on the true Earth-sized, habitable planets," said San Jose State University astronomer Natalie Batalha, deputy science team lead for NASA's Kepler Space Telescope that discovered the star.
The telescope, which was launched three years ago, is staring at about 150,000 stars in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra, looking for faint and periodic dimming as any circling planets pass by, relative to Kepler's line of sight.
Results will be extrapolated to determine the percentage of stars in the Milky Way galaxy that harbor potentially habitable, Earth-size planets.
This is the first detection of a potentially habitable world orbiting a Sun-like star, scientists reported in findings to be published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Kepler-22b is 600 light years away. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion km).

ce from their parent stars as Earth take roughly a year to complete an orbit. Scientists want to see at least three transits to be able to rule out other explanations for fluctuations in a star's light, such as small companion stars. Results also are verified by ground and other space telescopes.
Kepler-22b, which is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth, sits squarely in its star's so-called "habitable zone," the region where liquid water could exist on the surface. Follow-up studies are under way to determine if the planet is solid, like Earth, or more gaseous like Neptune.
"We don't know anything about the planets between Earth-size and Neptune-size because in our solar system we have no examples of such planets. We don't know what fraction are going to be rocky, what fraction are going to be water worlds, what fraction are ice worlds. We have no idea until we measure one and see," Batalha said at a news conference at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffet Field, California.
If Kepler-22b has a surface and a cushion of atmosphere similar to Earth's, it would be about 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 C), about the same as a spring day in Earth's temperate zone.
Among the 2,326 candidate planets found by the Kepler team, 10 are roughly Earth-size and reside in their host stars' habitable zones.
Another team of privately funded astronomers is scanning the target stars for non-naturally occurring radio signals, part of a project known as SETI, or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
"As soon as we find a different, a separate, an independent example of life somewhere else, we're going to know that it's ubiquitous throughout the universe," said astronomer Jill Tarter, director of the SETI Institute in Mountain View.
The Kepler team is meeting for its first science conference this week.

Top 5 anti-aging foods

Nov 30, 2011 at 19:53


By MensXP.com
We all dread the day when we would come across the first wrinkle on our face. Growing old is an inevitable fact that we'll have to accept one day or the other.

However, instead of simply sitting and waiting for the wrinkles to come, we can indulge ourselves in some fantastic foods that help slow down the aging process. Here are the top 5 anti-aging foods that you should start gorging on.

5. Avocado
Avocado contains a significant amount mono-saturated fat, which helps reduce bad cholestrol, and Vitamin E which aid in the prolonging of the aging of the skin. It is also a great source of potassium which is known to prevent high blood pressure and fluid retention.

4. Salmon
For people who don't enjoy eating vegetables, salmon is the perfect choice owing to the great quality protein it contains. It is also rich in omega-3 fatty acids which make the skin healthy. For optimum results, it is advised to include salmon into your diet at least thrice a week.

3. Broccoli
Broccoli belongs to the family of cruciferous vegetables which are famous for assisting the body in fighting against toxins. Broccoli also contains quercetin and isothiocyanates which are known antioxidants. Reportedly, broccoli sprouts contain more isothiocyanates than the vegetable itself.

2. Berries
Berries, especially blue and black ones great sources of flavonoids which are known to be powerful antioxidants. These antioxidants protect the body against aging as well as free radicals. Berries also help prevent the toxin build up in the body, hence fighting the aging process.

1. Watermelon
Watermelon is known as one of the best anti-aging foods. Containing nutrients like selenium, Vitamins A, B, C and E, essential fats and zinc, it is the most effective food against radical damage and aging. Also both its flesh and seeds are equally nutritious.

Farmers release bag of snakes in Indian tax office

By BISWAJEET BANERJEE,LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Two farmers fed up with alleged bribery demands emptied three bags filled with slithering snakes in a busy tax office in northern India, an official said Wednesday.
The 40 or so snakes of different sizes and species — including at least four deadly cobras — sent clerks and villagers climbing atop tables and scurrying out the door to escape the office in Basti, about 186 miles (300 kilometers) southeast of Lucknow, said Uttar Pradesh state official Ramsukh Sharma.
"Snakes started climbing up the tables and chairs," he said. "There was total chaos. Hundreds of people gathered outside the room, some of them with sticks in their hands, shouting that the snakes should be killed."
No one was bitten or injured in the incident Tuesday afternoon, and police and forest officials captured the snakes.
The farmers had been asking for tax records for their land in nearby Narharpur village, but tax officials withheld the files for weeks while allegedly demanding bribes.
Sharma said their method of protest was unacceptable. Police are searching for the farmers, who were identified as Hukkul Khan and Ramkul Ram. Khan is known locally as a snake charmer.

Probe into Florida buttock-enlargement case

MIAMI - More alleged victims are coming forward in the case of a Florida resident accused of injecting "super glue" and flat-tire repair materials into the buttocks of a woman in a botched illegal cosmetic surgery procedure, the Florida Department of Health said on Tuesday.
Oneal Ron Morris, 30, was arrested by Miami Gardens police on Friday in Fort Lauderdale and charged with causing bodily injury and practicing healthcare without a license. Police referred to Morris as a man though he had the appearance of a woman in the arrest photo released by police.
According to the charge, Morris, acting without a required medical practitioner's license and starting in May 2010, injected substances into the buttocks of a woman client to improve their "shape and cosmetic appearance."
Morris was allegedly paid $700 for this.
"Initial laboratory analysis conducted by medical personnel determined the foreign substances injected into the victim consisted of a host of household and automotive products including superglue, mineral oil and "Fix-a-Flat" (a tire repair material)," Jennifer Hirst, deputy press secretary of Florida's Department of Health, said in an email.
This treatment resulted in "life-threatening injuries" for the victim, who was not named, according to the accusation.
"As a result of the national and international media attention that Morris' arrest has already received, several other possible victims have come forward alleging Morris performed similar procedures on them that also resulted in life-threatening injuries," the email said.
It gave no details of the additional victims.
"A joint investigation between DOH and law enforcement continues; additional arrests are possible," the Department of Health email said.
Excerpts from the report of Morris' Nov. 18 arrest cited by NBC Miami said that the woman who allegedly underwent the 2010 treatment by Morris began feeling sick within a few hours of the injections and became "very ill."
"The injection sites were bleeding and puss was excreting," said the report quoted by NBC.
"The victim sustained extensive disfigurement to her buttocks and scarring, had to undergo several blood transfusions and multiple surgeries ... followed with home nursing care for several weeks," it added.
In comments to NBC, Miami Gardens Police Captain Ralph Suarez said Morris had displayed "no regards for human life ... no regards for health."
"We would like to keep him inside," Suarez added. After the arrest last week, Morris was transported to the Miami-Dade County Jail subject to a $15,500 bond. - Reuters

Top five dinner meals that will get you good sleep

Nov 22, 2011

By MensXP.com

For remaining mentally sharp and productive throughout the day and for ensuring that you are emotionally balanced, having a sound night-time sleep is critical.

Rather than seeking help in the form of chemically-formulated sleep medications that are often addictive and are known to have serious side-effects, it is better to opt for natural aids.

The safest and probably the most undemanding solution to all your sleep problems is food. Following are Five Dinner Meals that will help to optimize your overall sleeping pattern and halt your progress towards serious complications due to sleep deprivation such as insomnia:

1. Whole-wheat rotis with potatoes

Most carbohydrate sources, particularly those rich in complex carbohydrates, like whole wheat are recommended for ensuring better sleep. This can be easily used for dinner by opting for whole-wheat flour.

Rotis made from such flour help to promote sleep by stimulating release of insulin. This hormone is a stimulant for ensuring that tryptophan is directed towards the brain. Here, tryptophan is metabolized into serotonin which in turn is the primary biochemical for establishing a general feeling of wellness.

It fights stress or anxiety-induced sleep disturbances. Ideally, these rotis should be combined with at least one potato-based dish. Potatoes are known to breakdown the acids that interfere with the metabolism of tryptophan.

2. Spinach combined with low-fat yogurt

Whether consumed with whole wheat chapattis or brown rice, spinach is a recommended dietary sleeping aid. Most leafy green vegetables like spinach are a rich source of iron that is vital to neutralize a common sleep deterrent referred to as Restless Legs Syndrome.

This condition is actually a form of subdued hyperactivity or an anxious reaction to any persistent thought that prevents onset of sleep. A recommended combination with spinach is having low-fat yogurt. This is a proven source of magnesium and calcium.

These two micronutrients are essentially sleep-supportive minerals that promote deeper, more relaxing sleep. Eating yogurt with spinach is also recommended to ensure that absorption of iron is comprehensive.

3. Beans with flax seed rotis

Beans in form of kidney beans are a rich source of B vitamins including Folic Acid, B6 and B12. These are vital, sleep vitamins, i.e. they help in regulating the sleep cycles and assist metabolic process related to serotonin. This is why vitamin B supplements are commonly recommended to people diagnosed with insomnia.

Flax seed or Alsi is commonly used as a fiber and nutrition resource in the form of flax seed oil or as a flour ingredient. A bit of grounded flax seed should be added to the whole wheat flour. Flax seeds are enriched with Omega 3 Fatty Acids that help to fight-off sleep disturbances like stress by aiding the complete absorption of serotonin.

4. Cauliflower/Kale (Javi) with whole wheat rotis

Many green vegetables are a natural source of Tryptophan. Among these, Kale or Javi is recommended for dinner. Javi also contains biochemicals that fight-off anxiety. When combined with tryptophan-boosters like whole wheat bread or rotis, it acts like the perfect sleep-promoting meal. If you cannot find Javi in your area, you can use cauliflower or cabbage.

5. Cooked lentils with brown rice

Carbohydrate foods that are high in fiber tend to aid the gradual release of Tryptophan, ensuring that the stress-fighting capabilities of Tryptophan are sustained over a longer period. Among these high-glycemic foods like Brown Rice are recommended which can be combined with cooked dals. Lentils are another high-tryptophan food item. These are easy-to-digest and also provide the body with essential proteins. (Health, MensXP.com)

Like this article? Follow MensXP.com on Facebook & Twitter

Door-to-door travel

By Yahoo!

Planes that fly without pilots, at five times the speed of sound and drop you off at your door could be a reality as soon as 2075, an engineering study claims.

The UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers has released a report titled Aero 2075: Flying into a Bright Future?

Rather than showcasing some far-fetched ideas about playing golf in commercial passenger jets, the report claims to focus on a selection of developments that already have the "initial research impetus" to turn them into realities for the travel industry.

Expect to see aircraft cruising in a V-shaped formation similar to a flock of geese, where automated docking would allow planes to join the flock in a position determined by a computer.

It could even be possible to "deliver the individual passenger at or near the front door".

"This might be achieved by means of a large aircraft carrying individual units that can be released over the destination and float down to the designated area where the passenger needs to go – a sort of Ark Royal for the skies," the report reads.

Pilots wouldn't be needed. Instead, the aeroplanes would be guided by computer programmes using light detection and ranging equipment and infra-red cameras.

The report also looks into three concepts of flight: subsonic (slower than the speed of sound), supersonic (faster than the speed of sound) and hypersonic (more than five times the speed of sound).

And how do you feel about re-fuelling in the air?

There is talk of a "docking station" where planes could fill up in the sky and therefore allow them to fly carrying less fuel.

It would be economically advantageous on routes longer than 8334kilometres, it says.

But there would have to be a lot of groundwork done before passengers are convinced it's safe to refuel mid-flight, the report acknowledges.

Now that, at least, could take a lot longer than 65 years.

Seeking for a special someone in Shanghai

SHANGHAI - The odds favored the men as thousands gathered to look for love in Shanghai at the eastern Chinese city's largest-ever matchmaking party, paying for the privilege of searching for their other half.

Census data shows a rise in the percentage of older single women over the last decade, while the percentage of older single men has fallen, according to the China Daily — which experts said might be due to increasingly choosy women unwilling to settle for men with inferior education and living standards.

Organizers said there were three women for every two men, with 6,000 tickets sold to single women and 4,000 to men.

"These days, girls are much more self-sufficient and independent," said Zhou Juemin, president of the Shanghai Matchmaking Association, which organized the two-day event at the weekend.

"Also, there's a lot of work pressure in society nowadays, so many girls are busy with their jobs and perhaps tend to consider career advancement above marriage — so some of them are no longer young."

Long queues of singles waited for their turn for five-minute chats with the opposite sex in the ultimate blind-date event.

"If your standard of living is lower than mine in every aspect, but if we can relate well to each other, I wouldn't mind — because if we relate well, there would be good chemistry," said 27-year-old Zue Tianwei.

"Then the issues of social order would no longer be a problem. I guess it depends on how strong my feelings are."

Many men, for their part, said they were willing to shrug off traditional thinking that once made marrying a woman of higher educational and living standards unacceptable.

"Regarding girls who have a higher education level or standard of living, I wouldn't mind pursuing them because this is a two-way thing," said Li Jianxun, a 27-year-old native of central China who has lived in Shanghai for two years.

"As long as the feelings are mutual, it is still possible to interact and get to know each other."

Hopefuls from nearby provinces travelled to Shanghai to take part, among them some who had already married and divorced.

A few, bolder than others, held up signs to distinguish themselves from the crowd. One said, "I wanted to fall in love early, but it's already late."

Around 3,000 parents also tagged along, with organizers allocating a special corner for them to advertise information on their unmarried children. Some kept an eye out for suitable future in-laws.

Qi Xiong, who helped his son by taking pictures to keep track of potential matches, said he still felt that men should not look for wives with higher social status than themselves.

"Generally speaking, if you are a girl and your education level or income is too high, we're more likely to oppose it," he said, noting that a simple university degree was sufficient.

"A huge difference in education levels would make it difficult to communicate. If both parties begin at the same starting line, and want to achieve success in the future, they can work at it together." — Reuters

Unlimited Movies
Click Here!

Belgian chocolate and Croatian love meet in sweets shop

Rakovica, Croatia, Nov 17, 2011 (AFP) -Christine Scholtes Covic went to Croatia's Lika region drawn by its stunning scenery and ended up with a husband and a new career combining Belgian chocolate with nature's bounty.

"Chocolate is the food of gods, something really noble," said the Belgian native at her tiny production facility in a village nestled among the green hills and valleys of central Croatia.

The 37-year-old had found a new home in the Lika region, famous for its well-preserved forests, mountains and crystal clear rivers and lakes, and there turned her passions for nature and chocolate into a business making truffles and bonbons.

"I always loved to cook but pastries were my speciality. As a six-year-old I was making my own birthday cakes.

"My grandmother had a restaurant so I'm like an Obelix who fell into the magic potion," she said with a grin, referring to the character from the French comic book series Asterix as she explained her "chocolate addiction".

Years later she obtained a diploma in France in bakery and pastry from the Institut National de la Boulangerie et Patisserie, and opened a small pastry shop back in Belgium.


But after discovering the beauty of Lika and its Plitvice Lake national park with 16
rcascading lakes and spectacular waterfalls, she fell in love with the place and


This photo of Lika-Senj is
 courtesy of TripAdvisor

a local man and moved to Croatia in 2009.


"I was looking for a house and got a husband with it," said the short-hair brunette, smiling warmly.

When the chocolate "addict" first spoke of setting up a luxury chocolate shop in the Lika area, picturesque but hard-hit by Croatia's 1990s independence war and with over 20 percent unemployment, the locals were surprised, even sceptical.

But she eventually won over the people in the town of Rakovica.

"It was a great idea but it was something completely new for me," said Ankica Baric, a local woman who helps out in the shop.

"When Christine asked me what I know about chocolate I replied that I only knew how to eat it," she added, bursting into laughter.


Looking for a job in oil industry, click work offshore below.

Work Offshore

Click Here!



Click Here!

Paris store drops carols for rock n' roll

This photo of Galeries Lafayette is courtesy of TripAdvisor


PARIS - Live rock and roll is replacing recorded Christmas carols in the windows of Galeries Lafayette as the Parisian department store seeks to drum up curiosity, and client numbers, for this year's gift-buying season.

True to tradition, the shop is putting on a dazzling show for shoppers and tourists alike in the countdown to Christmas, but this year it is seeking to strike a chord with music-mad teenagers as much as fairytale fans young and old.

With a debt crisis forcing much of Europe into austerity, consumption has dropped in recent weeks, making crowd-pullers all the more important, even for upmarket stores that can count on a large tourist contingent in the heart of the French capital.

Rock legend Iggy Pop, bare-chested as always, has helped Galeries Lafayette get the show on the road, posing for photo fliers in red Santa hat and matching shoes in addition to his signature electric guitar.

The goal of reaching out to teenagers rather than toddlers is clear.

The opening weeks include nightly live shows in the window by a variety of major-label rock and folk bands, one from Mali, another from Australia and most of the others from France itself.

And apart from the live shows, furry creatures and fairytale puppets will give way this year to life-size mannequins in black leather to rag dolls draped in glamour garb -- all hand-made, hand-painted and more hard-edged than the customary annual display of smurfs, snowmen and abundant lovable puppets.

Galeries Lafayette, which first started doing its Christmas window shows after World War Two, says that this year's show was inspired by the increasingly close relationship between rock and fashion.

There are other good reasons.

French household spending dropped 1.3 percent in September versus the same month a year earlier and spending on clothing fell 7.3 percent, according to France's statistics office.

"Shoppers are so stretched at the moment that actually getting them into the stores is the first challenge," said Bryan Roberts, an analyst at Kantar Retail, an industry consultancy.

"Converting that shopper into a purchase is the next challenge." - Reuters



Part motorcycle, part toilet

TOKYO - Enter the Neo. Part motorcycle and part toilet, it runs on eco-friendly biogas produced from sewage -- and recently completed a journey of more than 1,000 km (600 miles) across Japan.

The three-wheeled vehicle, developed by Japanese toilet maker Toto, features a toilet for a seat and has a giant roll of toilet paper mounted on the back that flutters in the breeze as the bike cruises along.

But there are no plans to put the bike on sale. Toto intends to put it on display.

The biogas used as fuel for the Neo is produced from a combination of household sewage and livestock waste, broken down and fermented, company spokesman Kenji Fujita said.

"Although the seat of the bike is indeed a toilet, it is not for actual use. The fuel is eco-friendly biogas, stored in the tanks on the back," he said.

"It's a surprisingly nice way to travel."

The 380 kg (837 lb) motorcycle can run for a total of 300 km and reach speeds of up to 70 km an hour (45 mph).

Ichie Tanaka, one of six people who rode the Neo across Japan during the three-week, 1,400 km (870 miles) tour to promote biofuels, said she was relieved the journey was over.

"At first when I saw the bike, I was taken aback. But after riding it, I found it quite interesting," the 28-year-old said.

"It doesn't hurt at all and is actually quite comfortable to sit on." - Reuters










21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States


 

German woman gets cold cash instead of cold cuts

BERLIN - A butcher shop employee in the German town of Braunschweig inadvertently handed a customer a bag containing more than 2,000 euros ($2,835) in cold cash rather than the cold cuts she usually gets.


The 79-year-old pensioner paid five euros for her package of cold cuts and veal steaks. She said she was surprised to find more than she bargained for when she opened the package at home.


"I was completely flabbergasted," the pensioner told Bild newspaper. She called the butcher shop but it had already closed. So she called the police, who later returned it.


The owner of the butcher shop had packed the day's take in a paper bag and placed it, as he usually does, next to the cash register. The employee mistook it for the customer's cold cuts and unwittingly handed her the package.


The honest pensioner got a 100 euro reward from the butcher -- and a free basket of sausages. - Reuters








Stolen wedding album returned 17 years later




LONDON - A wedding album which went missing when a caravan was stolen in Northern Ireland 17 years ago has mysteriously reappeared at the home of its owners.


Nigel and Gillian Stewart had long given up hope of seeing their wedding photographs, which were inside the caravan when it was stolen. But on Tuesday, the album was left at the gate to their home in a plastic bag, the BBC reported.


"I thought I was seeing things," the BBC quoted Gillian as saying this week. "I was absolutely stunned. Speechless."


The couple recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and the album's reappearance at their home in Gilford, County Down, has been a revelation for their children.


"It's lovely for the children — they only know their dad with grey hair," Gillian joked.


She said she was extremely grateful to whomever gave the photographs back and wonders all over again who it was that stole the caravan, but added that she bore no grudges.


"You needn't be a bit afraid to come forward to me, because I bear no grudges. The past is the past, the future's the future," she said.


"I would just love whoever it was to come forward, so I could thank them in person." — Reuters
















21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States


 

Boy declared dead wakes up in mortuary

Nov 07, 2011
By Indo Asian News Service, IANS


Lucknow (IANS) -  The Uttar Pradesh government Monday suspended a doctor in a case of medical negligence in which a teenager declared dead by him regained consciousness in a mortuary in Muzaffarnagar district. 


Radhey, 17, woke up in the mortuary at the Muzaffarnagar district hospital Sunday, nearly 10 hours after the doctor, Pradeep Mittal, declared him dead, an official said. 


The victim was brought to hospital from a forested area where he was found in an unconscious state Saturday, police said. 


Mittal declared Radhey dead Sunday morning and directed the ward boys to shift 'the body' to the mortuary. 


'When police officials along with the hospital staff were about to begin the formalities of the post-mortem, the youth regained consciousness,' Chief Medical Officer Anand Swaroop told reporters in Muzaffarnagar, some 300 km from Lucknow. 


'When the state health authorities came to know about the incident, an inquiry was ordered. On the recommendations of a panel constituted to probe the incident, Pradeep Mittal was Monday placed under suspension,' he added. 


Radhey, who hails from Agra, worked as a labourer in a village in Muzaffarnagar, police said. 


'We have been told that the youth has been suffering from seizures,' police inspector Pawan Chaudhary told reporters.










21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Message body 

Seaweed skirts, salmon tops in Berlin fashion food show

 BERLIN - Move over Lady Gaga and your meat dress. A Berlin museum is coupling haute couture with haute cuisine, spotlighting models draped in octopus tunics, seaweed miniskirts and chocolate dresses.

One work entitled "Russian Lardo" features a trouser suit sewn from lean bacon, a delicate black scarf made of squid ink pasta and a resplendent headdress woven from frisee lettuce, red chillies and Daikon cress. Another shows a male model in a salmon tank top and lettuce-leaf trousers.

"Most of the food was not simply thrown away," Kugler said of the photo shoots.
"The octopus is cooked three to four hours until it's tender and the pasta can be boiled. Then everyone sits down and has a feast."

Trettl and Kirchberger have pursued an on-again, off-again collaboration for about four years but the exhibition marks the first major presentation of their work to a broader audience.

They have published a book featuring many of the photographs in the show, complete with recipes and a foreword by the original high-fashion rebel, Vivienne Westwood.

"I would love to try them, but I hope someone else will prepare them," the British designer said of the cooking tips using ingredients from the clothing.

She compared the portraits to those of 16th century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo who incorporated images of fruits and vegetables in his works.

In other head-turners, Trettl turned a mass of "calf net" -- fatty membrane from a calf's stomach -- into an elegant headscarf, paired with a prominent necklace made of quail eggs, and fashioned a sexy body suit from liquid dark chocolate, set against jewellery made of silver sugar pearls.

"Of course the chocolate had to simply be washed off when they were done, there was no salvaging it," Kugler said.

"You only have about two minutes to photograph it, with a crew of 20 people. After that, it starts drying up and flaking off. It is a unique work of art comprised of the food and the model, the material and the form."

21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Message body 

Hospital pays up after 12 years for baby mix-up

MOSCOW - A Russian court ordered a maternity hospital to pay two families about $100,000 apiece on Mondayfor mixing up their newly born daughters 12 years ago.


The twist of fate was uncovered by a genetic test for alimony proceedings that showed the astounded parents of one of the children that the girl they had brought up since birth was not in fact their biological daughter.


"You cannot imagine our feelings," the parents of the two girls were quoted as saying by Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper. "The lawyers for the defendant insisted right to the end that there had been no loss for us."


The mix-up is thought to have occurred partly because the girls' mothers had similar surnames beginning with four identical letters and gave birth at the same ward just 15 minutes apart.


Local media said the two daughters will stay with their current families but that their parents are trying to find a way to move closer so that the girls can visit their biological parents.


As the local maternity hospital does not have the funds to pay the parents, the local authority will have to foot the bill, local media said. - Reuters


Elite Polish cops sacked for protecting Paris Hilton


WARSAW - Protecting Paris Hilton on the side could put you in danger of losing your real job.


Three Polish police commandos will lose their posts in an elite anti-terrorist unit for serving as bodyguards for the controversial celebrity during a recent visit to Poland.


"If the policemen who protected Hilton do not leave on their own by the end of the week, they will be disciplinary fired," Dariusz Biel, the head of the regional police where the three serve, was quoted as saying this week.


Members of the anti-terrorist unit usually conceal their faces and must seek permission for any outside work.


The three commandos, who appeared in various photos on gossip sites with the blond hotel heiress, were also said to have carried their police weapons when they served as Hilton's bodyguards during her appearance at an opening of a shopping mall in Katowice, in southern Poland. - Reuters




Swedish rally driver not fast enough for son's birth


STOCKHOLM - Swedish rally driver Per-Gunner Andersson is known for his speed behind the wheel, but he wasn't fast enough this weekend when his wife had to give birth in their car on the way to hospital.


"It was a little strange," Andersson, 31, told the online edition of tabloid Expressen on Monday.


His wife went into labor in the middle of the night on Friday and the couple rushed to the hospital in their BMW. But after half-an-hour they realized they would not make it in time and called an ambulance to meet them on the shoulder of the highway.


"I was pretty calm but when the baby comes out you do want a little assistance," Andersson said.


The ambulance arrived just in time and their son Alvin was born a minute later without any complications.


"He was healthy and fine," he said.


Andersson, a junior world rally champion in 2004 and 2007, placed seventh in the 2011 Rally of Sweden.


Given his son's start in life, Andersson joked that he may also be a future rally driver.


"He seems to have it in his genes." - AFP

21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Message body 

Croatian doctors remove healthy kidney in hospital

By Agence France-Presse
October 26, 2011


ZAGREB — Doctors in a Croatian hospital removed a perfectly healthy kidney from a 56-year-old woman scheduled to have spinal surgery after a mix-up in the hospital, local dailies reported Wednesday.

"Unfortunately it is true. The hospital is talking to the patient and (her) family about compensation," Health Minister Darko Milinovic was quoted by the Jutarnji List daily as saying.

The mistake occurred when two women patients with the same family name and almost identical first names were admitted to a hospital in the southern Adriatic town of Dubrovnik, the paper said.

A probe to establish the cause of the mistake, that occured last month, is underway.



NYC performance artist gives birth in art gallery

By the Associated Press

NEW YORK — A performance artist who said giving birth is the "highest form of art" has delivered a baby boy — inside a New York City art gallery

The Microscope Gallery in Brooklyn said Marni Kotak gave birth to a healthy infant, weighing 9 pounds, 2 ounces, and 21 inches long.

The 36-year-old artist had set up a home-birth center at the gallery, turning the space into a brightly decorated bedroom with ocean blue walls and photo-imprinted pillows.

The gallery said in a statement that "Baby X" was born at 10:17 a.m. Tuesday. It didn't say how many people witnessed the birth or give any other detail.

The gallery said a video of the birth will be added to its upcoming exhibition.


 It's not a UFO, it's the moon

By Gaby Leslie, Yahoo!

A man made an emergency 999 call to the police to report a UFO flying near his house, only to realise it was – in fact – the moon.

The anonymous man from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, described a brightly-lit UFO with a hole hovering over his house and coming towards him.

The caller, who was recorded by Hertfordshire Police, appears to be confused about it on the phone.

However, the operator treats his account seriously and assures him that she has logged it and will get it checked out.

After realising his error, the local man called back two minutes later to apologize to an exasperated operator.

In nervous laughter, he says: “I made a mistake. I thought I saw something really strange, but I didn't. You won't believe this, you won't believe it. It's the moon.”

Hertfordshire Police posted the audio footage online yesterday of some of the calls that were made earlier this month.

Jason Baxter, assistant manager at the force communications room, said: “While the caller here may not have been phoning out of malice, his call still tied up valuable police resources and time for something which was not an emergency.

“It also illustrates the kind of bogus call we might receive to 999, whether as a hoax or an inappropriate call.”

Police made the calls public as a reminder before Halloween that making a bogus call can stop important 999 calls from getting through.

The maximum penalty for hoax call offences is up to six months imprisonment and a £5,000 ($8,003) fine.

21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States Message body

A mother's ultimate sacrifice

This is a true story of Mother’s Sacrifice during the Japan Earthquake.

After the Earthquake had subsided, when the rescuers reached the ruins of a young woman’s house, they saw her dead body through the cracks. But her pose was somehow strange that she knelt on her knees like a person was worshiping; her body was leaning forward, and her two hands were supporting by an object. The collapsed house had crashed her back and her head.

With so many difficulties, the leader of the rescuer team put his hand through a narrow gap on the wall to reach the woman’s body. He was hoping that this woman could be still alive. However, the cold and stiff body told him that she had passed away for sure.

He and the rest of the team left this house and were going to search the next collapsed building. For some reasons, the team leader was driven by a compelling force to go back to the ruin house of the dead woman. Again, he knelt down and worked his hand through the narrow cracks to search the little space under the dead body. Suddenly, he screamed with excitement, "A child! There is a child!"

The whole team worked together; carefully they removed the piles of ruined objects around the dead woman. There was a 3 months old little boy wrapped in a flowery blanket under his mother’s dead body. Obviously, the woman had made an ultimate sacrifice for saving her son. When her house was falling, she used her body to make a cover to protect her son. The little boy was still sleeping peacefully when the team leader picked him up.

The medical doctor came quickly to examine the little boy. After he opened the blanket, he saw a cell phone inside the blanket. There was a text message on the screen. It said, "If you can survive, you must remember that I love you." This cell phone was passing around from one hand to another. Every body that read the message wept.






21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Message body

Fiance's love saves woman buried by quake

By Umit Bektas, Reuters

ERCIS, Turkey (Reuters) - A fiance's love saved 25-year-old teacher Gul Karacoban from being left to die under the rubble of a restaurant she was eating at when a deadly earthquake struck eastern Turkey.

Brought out alive on Monday along with two colleagues, after 18 hours pinned under a mound of concrete and masonry, she was stretchered into an ambulance while paramedics assured her desperate fiance she would be alright.

"All I want is for her to live, I don't care if she injured or not. It doesn't matter, I just want her alive," air force Lieutenant Onur Eryasar told a Reuters photographer before climbing into the ambulance.

When the quake struck, Eryasar rushed from his base in Van to the town of Ercis some 100 km (60 miles) away to find Karacoban, and by talking with her friends and colleagues he learnt where she had gone to lunch.

Finding the restaurant in the dark, he shouted out her name. Hearing the voices of other people trapped in the collapsed building he persuaded one of the rescue teams to begin digging.

By late Monday morning his perseverance was rewarded as the young woman was carried out, alive and conscious.

At least 239 people died in Sunday's 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck the cities of Van and Ercis, but hundreds more were feared dead and trapped beneath collapsed buildings.

Elsewhere in Ercis, a town of 100,000, a rescue worker stepped carefully down the heap of dust and rubble that had once been an internet cafe, cradling a tiny boy of maybe three years old.

His neck protected by a brace, the boy was crying as he was carried in his rescuer's arms to a waiting ambulance.

Another man emerged stunned, looking round in disbelief as he sat on the debris that he'd been buried under overnight in the bitter cold. Assisted down to the road, he stumbled away into the crowd.

A Reuters photographer saw a woman and her daughter being freed from beneath a concrete slab in the wreckage of a building that had once been six stories tall.

"I'm here, I'm here," the woman, named Fidan, called out in a hoarse voice. Talking to her regularly while working for more than two hours to find a way through, the rescuers cut through the slab, first sighting the daughter's foot, before finally freeing them.

They were alive, but their bodies were badly swollen. Four dead bodies were pulled from the same building.

Distraught relatives continued their vigil in quake-stricken towns and villages.

"SHE WAS ALIVE... SHE'S WEARING RED PAJAMAS"

In Van, the provincial capital of 1 million people on the shores of Turkey's largest lake, fewer buildings collapsed.

But the quake destroyed a seven-story apartment block, home to around 40 families.

"Our grief is huge. My uncle's wife and her children are under the rubble," said one woman watching heavy lifting machinery trying to remove the slabs of fallen concrete.

"All our houses are damaged. We are staying in the youth sports center," she said, before breaking down in tears.

Another woman told Reuters her aunt and little cousin were buried somewhere in a concertina of concrete slabs. At another site a mother said her 24-year-old son, a veterinarian student, was also missing under the rubble.

Emergency workers from half a dozen rescue teams worked frantically to clear debris from a collapsed four-storey building that had housed eight apartments, fearful rising smoke meant there was a fire burning somewhere down below.

Nobody, either dead or alive, had been brought out of the wrecked building so far, though one woman told a rescue worker she had spoken to a friend, Hatice Hasimoglu, on her mobile phone six hours after the quake and she was trapped inside.

The 24-year-old pre-school teacher had been living on the first floor of the building.

"She called me to say that she's alive and she's stuck in the rubble near the stairs of the building," said her friend, a fellow teacher. "She told me she was wearing red pajamas," she said, standing with relatives begging the rescue workers to hurry.






21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Message body

NY artist can paint nude models only after dark

10/15/2011 | 01:38 PM

NEW YORK - An artist arrested for applying body paint to a nude model in New York's Times Square will have charges against him dropped if his models strip naked only after dark, according to a court agreement reached on Thursday.

Police arrested Andy Golub, 45, in July and charged him with violating public exposure and lewdness laws. He has been painting nude models for about three years.

Golub's lawyer, Ronald Kuby, argued that New York laws do not prohibit public nudity in the name of art, and a compromise was reached that was the basis of the court ruling.

Under the agreement, "he is permitted to paint bare breasts any time, anywhere, but the G-strings have to stay on until daylight goes out," Kuby said after a hearing in Manhattan criminal court.

State laws against public exposure exempt "any person entertaining or performing in a play, exhibition, show or entertainment," Kuby said. Municipalities are allowed to devise their own restrictions, but New York City generally does not do so, Kuby said.

Golub, of Nyack, New York, said he likes to paint nude models because their bodies have energy and dynamism that he finds lacking in canvas.

"I feel that when I do live body painting it's a good thing, a positive thing," he said.

Charges against Golub will be dropped in six months if he abides by the terms of the agreement and is not arrested again. Charges against Karla Storie, a model from Texas arrested with him, will be dismissed if she too is not arrested again in the next six months.

Golub said he was planning to return to criminal court on Friday and paint a nude model in a park near the courthouse. - Reuters

You may subscribe to this blog by registering your email address at Follow By Email on right upper top side. It's free.





21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Message body

Silver-screen strategy nets New York robbers $217,000

New York thieves have been using a Hollywood-born strategy to rob dozens of small stores, telling police they were inspired by the 2010 movie "The Town" to splash bleach on the crime scenes, according to the police.

In what were dubbed the "splash-and-dash" robberies, the suspects would throw bleach over cash machines and cash drawers in a bid to erase their DNA evidence, the New York Police Department said.

They targeted dozens of corner stores, discount stores and pizzerias, netting $217,000 in the past year, police said.

"(The suspects) told detectives that they were inspired by the Ben Affleck movie 'The Town' in which the protagonists used bleach to cover their tracks," police said in a statement.

These suspects also would cut electrical power to the robbery locations and use miners' headlamps to work in the dark, the police said.

Four men have been charged in connection to 62 robberies, and two were scheduled to appear in Brooklyn criminal court. -- Reuters


NY may close bus service that makes women sit in back

NEW YORK - New York City authorities said they will shut down a city bus service run by Orthodox Jews if the group doesn't stop making women sit at the back of the bus.

The Private Transportation Corp, which operates the city's public B110 bus under a franchise arrangement, has come under criticism following publicity about its practice of making women give up their seats in the front to promote Hasidic customs of gender separation.

New York City's Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Gastel said the agency's executive director Anne Koenig has asked the company to respond to the allegations and was waiting to hear back.

"Please be advised that a practice of requiring women to ride in the back ... would constitute a direct violation of your franchise agreement and may lead to termination of that agreement," Koenig wrote.

If such a violation is found, the franchise could be revoked, the DOT said in a statement.

The Private Transportation Corp declined comment.

The B110 bus runs through the sections of the borough of Brooklyn that are heavily populated by Orthodox Jews.

A student reporter at Columbia University in New York published a story about a woman told by other riders to give up her seat in the front. Other news organizations then sent reporters who encountered similar situations.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference on Wednesday that gender separation is "obviously not permitted" on public buses.

The DOT said the public bus has been franchised to Private Transportation Corp since 1973 and is not subsidized by city money. No exemptions have been granted to the company to comply with the city's anti-discrimination standards, it said.

Deborah Lauter, director of Civil Rights for the Anti-Defamation League, said in an e-mail to Reuters: "We oppose the practice of gender-segregation on public buses as discriminatory and unlawful. If a community feels it needs gender-segregated buses, then they should not involve the city." -- Reuter


You may subscribe to this blog by registering your email address at Follow By Email on right upper top side. It's free.





21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Message body