Thu, 04/11/2010 - 07:49 by harsheeb
Washington -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano discussed security issues with U.S. shipping firms Wednesday, the department said.
Speaking Wednesday with executives from UPS, DHL, FedEx and TNT, Napolitano reaffirmed her commitment to working with the companies in the wake of a foiled plot to ship bombs from Yemen to Chicago. the department said in a release.
The discussions centered on package and personnel screening and anti-terrorist training that could include more than 1 million employees of U.S. shipping firms around the globe.
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Wed, 03/11/2010 - 11:01 by harsheeb
New York -- J.P. Ricciardi has been hired as a special assistant to New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson, the team said Tuesday.
Ricciardi was senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays from 2001 until the end of the 2009 season.
"I worked with him for over a decade in Oakland and I know that he's a superb talent evaluator," Alderson said. "He'll be a tremendous resource in a variety of areas."
Ricciardi, 51, assisted Alderson when the latter was Oakland's general manager in the 1990s, spending a total of 16 years with the A's organization.
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Wed, 03/11/2010 - 07:57 by harsheeb
Oregon -- An Oregon man who claimed harassment on the part of sheriff's deputies after showing them his middle finger settled his lawsuit for $4,000.
Robert J. Ekas, who said he was stopped twice by Clackamas County deputies after flipping them the bird in 2007, said he agreed to settle the lawsuit because the sheriff's office expressed intent "to implement a civil rights training program" for employees, The (Portland) Oregonian reported Tuesday.
Ekas received citations when stopped for an illegal lane change and improper display of license plates. Both citations were later dropped.
Assistant County Counsel Edward McGlone III said the county decided to settle the suit as "a business decision."
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Wed, 03/11/2010 - 07:31 by harsheeb
New York -- New York City Hall said officials are aiming to save money on paper costs by eliminating holiday cards and making double-sided copies.
A memo authored by Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith was distributed to city agency heads last week outlining a plan to save $1 million per year by making double-sided copies and $50,000 a year by eliminating paper holiday greetings, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.
"If agencies wish to send holiday or other types of greetings, they must utilize electronic greeting cards," Goldsmith said. "The savings will add up, and they will help us cultivate the culture of frugality necessary to weather tough times."
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Sun, 31/10/2010 - 22:24 by harsheeb
Amsterdam-- Dutch writer Harry Mulisch, who often drew on his experiences in the Netherlands during World War II, died Sunday at the age of 83, his publisher announced.
Mulisch was the author of "The Assault," the story of the aftermath of an attack by Dutch resistance fighters that went on to become a play and a movie that won an Oscar for best non-English film.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte called Mulisch's death from cancer "a loss for Dutch literature and the Netherlands."
Radio Netherlands said Culture Minister Halbe Zijlstra called Mulisch the last of the "Big Three" Dutch writers, including the Willem Frederik Hermans and Gerard Reve.
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Sun, 31/10/2010 - 22:23 by harsheeb
New York -- A 60-year-old Manhattan violinist has sued Young Concert Artists Inc., alleging it discriminated against him because of his age.
Martin Stoner, who lost his 25-year job with the New York City Ballet, filed age-discrimination complaints with the National Endowment for the Arts and the state Office of Civil Rights and filed a lawsuit against the organization in federal court in Manhattan, the New York Post reported.
Stoner, married and the father of two, said he has been unable to find work since losing his job in 2009.
"Unfortunately, in the classical music world, if you begin at a late age, it works against you," Stoner said.
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Fri, 29/10/2010 - 08:05 by harsheeb
Three Forks -- Authorities in Montana said at least two horse owners have called police to report the theft of hair from their animals.
The Gallatin County Sheriff's Office said Sandy O'Rourke of Three Forks called Oct. 17 and reported someone had taken the tails off two of her horses and cut part of the mane from a third, The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported Thursday.
The theft came a month after Bob and Connie Riley of Dillon reported the theft of the hair from their horse's tail, investigators said.
The horse owners said their animals were not injured, but they are inconvenienced as they rely on their tails to swat at flies.
"It takes about four to five years for the tail to grow back," Bob Riley said.
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Fri, 29/10/2010 - 07:57 by harsheeb
London-- Pay among Britain's top executives is set to rise sharply this year, opening executives up to a new wave of criticism, the editor of an income report said.
"It seems the days of earnings restraint by FTSE directors were short-lived," said Steve Tatton, editor of the IDS Directors' Pay Report, referring to companies listed on London's FTSE 100 stock index.
"It stands in contrast to the Coalition Government's concern about new fairness and calls for senior executives in the public sector to accept pay cuts," he said.
The IDS Directors' Pay Report says executive compensation among Britain's 100 largest firms would rise 55 percent in 2010, The Daily Mail reported Thursday.
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Wed, 20/10/2010 - 06:37 by harsheeb
Washington -- White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed Tuesday that federal fraud authorities were investigating U.S. lenders rushing foreclosure processes.
The Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force is looking into the foreclosure debacle in which major lenders, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., GMAC Mortgage, Bank of American and others suspended foreclosure processing on growing concern that law firms handling the cases cut corners, including electronically signing documents.
Bank of America said Monday it would resubmit affidavits connected to 102,000 foreclosure cases in states where a judge's signature is required to complete a foreclosure. BofA said it had reviewed those cases and would resubmit them to courts starting Oct. 25.
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Tue, 19/10/2010 - 04:21 by harsheeb
Shefield -- A British man who suffered headaches and partial deafness for 30 years said doctors eventually found a tooth lodged in his ear canal.
Stephen Hirst, 47, of Sheffield, England, said he began suffering frequent earaches and infections when he was 14 and doctors were baffled as to the cause of the discomfort for 30 years, The Mirror reported Monday.
"I decided to have one last try to sort it out. The nurse used a microscope then tweezers and pulled out the tooth. She stood there stunned. I don't know why they didn't find it before," Hirst said.
He said full hearing has not returned to his right ear, but the headaches have disappeared and he now sleeps with greater ease.
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Wed, 06/10/2010 - 08:51 by harsheeb
London-- Police in London said a man grabbed author Jonathan Franzen's glasses during a London book signing and demanded $158,808 for their return.
Officers said they chased the 27-year-old suspect and he was caught after jumping into London's Serpentine lake, the BBC reported Tuesday.
The glasses were recovered and the suspect was released without charges.
The incident took place shortly after thousands of copies of Franzen's novel, "Freedom," were recalled to correct printing errors.
Copyright 2010 United Press International
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Mon, 04/10/2010 - 21:38 by harsheeb
New York -- Oxygen Media says it has ordered a new docu-series starring U.S. soParis Hilton and featuring actor Charlie Sheen's wifecialite , Brooke Mueller.
The as-yet-untitled project is being produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions, which has worked on "Hell's Kitchen," "Kitchen Nightmares" and "Paradise Hotel."
Hilton is a model, singer, actress and entrepreneur.
Mueller, her close friend, made headlines last year when she accused Sheen of assaulting her. She and Sheen have since both gone to rehab and are trying to work on their marriage and raise their twin sons.
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