Archive for May, 2010
Israel’s Gaza aid ships raid : UN Statement
The UN Security Council has agreed a press release following Israel’s raid on Monday on a convoy of assist ships bound for Gaza. Here is the total text:
The Safety Council deeply regrets the lack of life and injuries ensuing from the use of pressure during the Israeli army operation in worldwide waters against the convoy crusing to Gaza. The Council, in this context, condemns those acts which resulted within the lack of at the very least ten civilians and many wounded, and expresses its condolences to their families.
The Security Council requests the quick release of the ships in addition to the civilians held by Israel. The Council urges Israel to permit full consular access, to permit the countries concerned to retrieve their deceased and wounded instantly, and to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance from the convoy to its destination.
The Security Council takes observe of the statement of the UN Secretary-General on the need to have a full investigation into the matter and it calls for a immediate, neutral, credible and transparent investigation conforming to worldwide standards.
The Security Council stresses that the state of affairs in Gaza isn’t sustainable. The Council re-emphasizes the significance of the full implementation of Resolutions 1850 and 1860. In that context, it reiterates its grave concern at the humanitarian scenario in Gaza and stresses the need for sustained and regular stream of products and people to Gaza in addition to unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance all through Gaza.
The Security Council underscores that the only viable solution to Israeli-Palestinian battle is an settlement negotiated between the parties and re-emphasises that only a two-State resolution, with an independent and viable Palestinian State residing side by facet in peace and safety with Israel and its different neighbours, might deliver peace to the region.
The Security Council expresses assist for the proximity talks and voices concern that this incident occurred whereas the proximity talks are underway and urges the parties to act with restraint, avoiding any unilateral and provocative actions, and all international partners to advertise an atmosphere of cooperation between the parties and throughout the region.
Credit Traps Snag Consumers
Nearly 20 years ago I worked for a small consumer advocacy organization in Washington, DC. Each week we received sacks full of mail from consumers across the country requesting our list of credit cards with low interest rates and no annual fees. If you wanted a low interest rate on a credit card back then, you often had to apply to a bank in Arkansas where interest rates were capped by state law.
Those were the good old days.
Now, interest rates range from zero percent to a high 39 percent. It’s tougher to find (and keep) a good credit card than ever before. That’s because there are many new traps that can snag unsuspecting consumers.
At the top of the list is the “universal default clause” which allows issuers to monitor you credit report and raise your rate if you are late on any bill that appears on your credit report. One major issuer, for example, will hike a 0 percent rate to 24.99 percent if you slip up!
In fact, true “fixed rates” are rare. Many consumers don’t realize that a “fixed” credit card rate isn’t the same as, say, a fixed-rate mortgage. In most states, card issuers can raise the interest rate on a fixed-rate credit card with just fifteen days’ written notice. The new rate can typically apply to existing balances as well as new purchases.
Fees are also on the rise. Take late fees, for example, twenty years ago a late fee on a credit card was still fairly unusual, and typically wasn’t charged unless you were 15 days late with a payment. Now you often must get your payment to the issuer by a certain hour in the morning or you’ll be charged a late fee of as much as $39. Go over the limit and you’ll not only pay more interest, but a steep over limit fee as well.
Foreign travelers are often charged a “currency conversion charge” of 1 – 2 percent of the amount of their purchase. As the result of a class action lawsuit, Visa and MasterCard were ordered to provide refunds of those fees in certain circumstances. The problem wasn’t that the fees were illegal, but it was determined they weren’t properly disclosed. The case is being appealed.
Here are some findings from the nonprofit Consumer Action’s annual survey of credit cards (www.consumer-action.org):
– The vast majority of surveyed cards have significantly higher penalty rates that are triggered by one or two late payments in a period of six months to a year.
– One-fifth of surveyed issuers have shifted to tiered late payments, which Consumer Action interprets as a deceptive way of charging higher-than-average late fees.
– The number of cards with $35 late fees has more than doubled from last year.
– More than half the cards surveyed require cardholders to pay only 2 percent of the monthly balance each month – a disturbing trend that dramatically increases the overall interest paid by cardholders.
– More than one-third of surveyed institutions will not provide a firm annual percentage rate (APR) until they have screened the applicant’s credit history. Instead, they give only a meaningless range of rates before screening, which makes comparison shopping difficult if not impossible.
Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying that credit card companies should not make money. In fact, easy access to credit has helped fuel our economy, especially when the going gets rough. But many consumers now are literally trapped by high-cost debt with few options. I’ve spoken to consumers who feel they have no choice but to file for bankruptcy because their credit card companies all raised their interest rates to between twenty and thirty percent, and they simply cannot manage to pay the balances down. With all the landmines out there for credit card users today, the best strategy is still to pay down debt as quickly as possible and limit yourself to a couple of cards to avoid problems.
Sometimes, of course, that’s easier said than done!
For more information on ways to build great personal and business credit, visit www.BusinessCreditSuccess.com.
About The Author
Gerri Detweiler is considered one of the country’s top credit experts. She has been interviewed for thousands of radio, television and print newstories including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Dateline NBC and many others. She has testified before Congress several times and worked on reform of the national credit reporting laws.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery – Selecting A Business Continuity Strategy
The risk analysis and business impact analysis have identified risks to key business functions. Also, the potential impacts and probabilities of these risks as well as the costs to prevent or mitigate damages and the time to recover will have been established. Evaluating and selecting strategies is based on using this knowledge. Strategy selection involves focusing on key risk areas and selecting a strategy for each one. The primary goals are to maintain business continuity in the face of a disruption or disaster, to recover key business functions quickly and to mitigate damages.
Many companies associate disaster recovery and business continuity only with IT and communications functions and miss other critical areas that can seriously impact their business. Other common areas for strategy development and selection are employees, facilities, power, customer service, billing, and customer and public relations. All areas require a clear well thought out strategy based on recovery time objectives, cost and profitability impact.
Recovery related to employees is the most overlooked part of strategy selection. Simple steps like the ability to contact employees at home or on their personal cell phone and to ensure all are accounted for at each facility are often overlooked. Communications is critical to keep employees informed and engaged. The most powerful tools for continuity and recovery are the knowledge, capabilities and motivation of employees.
Developing strategies with implementation steps means no time is wasted in a recovery scenario. The focus is to implement the plan quickly and successfully. The right strategies implemented effectively minimize the disruption and mitigate damages.
In some cases, a strategy decision may be no strategy at all. In this scenario and others where there is significant risk to the financial viability of the organization, business interruption or business income insurance may be a viable strategy. Generally, this provides the company with the income it is losing due to damage to its property. It therefore increases the company’s chances of survival and the ability to keep its customers and recover.
About The Author
Robert Mahood has significant technology and management experience in data communications, internet, storage, disaster recovery and data recovery. He is currently the president of Midwest Data Recovery. www.midwestdatarecovery.com
bmahood@midwestdatarecovery.com, 866 786 2595, 312 907 2100
Quick Steps To Improve Your Mood
Looking to improve your mood?
Edward W. Smith, motivational speaker, author and TV show host, who specializes in quick tips on how to move your life ahead even faster, offers the following advice.
The best way to improve your mood and keep it higher on a consistent basis over time is to maintain a list of the things you are grateful for, and review it on a daily basis. Make a written list of all of the things and people in your life that you are grateful for. First, you will discover many things you were not aware of or things you had taken for granted. Secondly you will discover you have a lot more to be grateful for than you first thought.
Reducing the amount of negative news you take in will also improve your mood. Spend less time watching the news, and avoid being exposed to the news the first thing in the morning or just before you go to sleep. Replace the time spent taking in negative news with positive information taken from books, CDs, the web, etc, and be sure to expose yourself to this first thing in the morning and just before you go to sleep.
Contact Information
Edward W. Smith, 201-568-0019, edsmith@brightmoment.com, www.brightmoment.com, PO box 8106, Englewood NJ 07631-8106
Edward W. Smith is the author of Sixty Seconds To Success, he hosts and produces the Bright Moment TV show, is a motivational speaker, is president of the Bright Moment Seminars and publishes the free, daily email of the One Minute Motivator.
The Growing VoIP Trend
Have you considered VoIP as your service provider? VoIP seems to grow in this recent days as the alternative to traditional phone service. In this Voice Over Internet Telephony, your conversation will be routed over internet broadband lines. So that VoIP call can save you much money. Moreover VoIP has got more and more improvements now adays so more people have switched to this service. What VoIP has to offer?
In the early days, VoIP was assumed as unreliable fad technology especially for those who relied upon the costly telephone service. But now, there are many improvements have been applied to VoIP, making it a favorite service provider worldwide.
Previously voice quality on VoIP was suspect. It was accompanied by echo and crack sound. Now the improved voice quality is good while the price is still relatively low.
The pricing is big factor in VoIP fast growing. While other traditional phone service asks for $70 per month for long distance and unlimited local call, VoIP just asks for $25.
The usual features on VoIP service are:
- Free local as well as long distance calls
- Portable phone numbers, so you can take your phone number wherever you go; with certain restrictions.
- Special services for free like: caller ID, call forwarding, 3-way calling, call return, call transfer, voicemail, and more.
- Low and fixed monthly rates.
Finding Cheap Web Hosting Package
This question is always tough by every web master: how I can find a cheap web hosting package?
We know there are so many web hosting services out there, ranging from the big companies with hundreds or thousands clients until the small resellers. Finding the ideal decision may look a bit confusing to web master. So what you need to consider?
There will be some similarities among web hosting services, although most of them will focus on bandwith and cost. Most of us will like to find the cheap web hosting package with cool extras…
But be careful, you can read this opinion..
Take for instance: there are 2 web hosting packages. First is a cheap package 50GB bandwidth for $10 per month and second is 500GB a month for $5 per month. Which one you will pick? Many people may choose the second option, but actually this is not a right choice. As this too cheap price may lead you to a disaster..
Yes, it is a good idea to save your money. But is there any web hosting service can give you great support and service when you pay too less or almost nothing? A popular slogan may be suitable “You get what you pay for”. As we know that this old slogan is actually the true. In the most case you will get far from ideal service when there is too cheap price they ask.
Yes, it is true that each web hosting service will offer different quality of service in same price level. So it is a good idea to do some researches before making decision. Place such as Web Hosting Talk maybe a cool place you can find the other consumer’s review about the available web hosting services out there. You also can do some researches thru forums and search engine about this.
There isn’t a perfect web hosting company that liked by almost everybody, but at least you will know that some web hosting companies receives more complaints than others, so you can make your decision. Some web hosting companies may receive many bad reviews and some other web hosting companies may get many good reviews. So the conclusion is: you can find the cheap offers but dont forget to do some researches before making purchase.
Dennis Hopper Dies
Hollywood has lost one of his best actor again. The legendary actor Dennis Hopper died at the age of 74.
As quoted by Showbiz Spy on Sunday (05/30/2010), star of ‘Easy Rider’ was having chronic complications after a long struggle with prostate cancer. Hopper exhale her last breath on Saturday (05/29/2010) morning at his home in Venice, California, United States.
Hopper condition began to deteriorate in late 2009. However, with that kind of pain conditions, Hopper could successfully complete a photography book and the last episode of the series ‘Crash’.
In fact, in March 2010 and then, still appearing in public to receive an award Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. At that time, Hopper looks very weak and thin.
Dennis Lee Hopper was born on May 17, 1936 in Kansas, United States. Hopper began his career as an actor in 1955 through ‘Rebel Without a Cause’.
Until recently, Hopper has starred in more than a hundred movie titles. Animated movie ‘Alpha and Omega’ will be the last film Hopper. In the film, he contributed his voice to the character of Tony.
Joanna Garcia Engaged
Nick Swisher — you keep in mind his year here, don’t you, White Sox followers — is engaged to tv actress Joanna Garcia, according to a report from People.
The New York Yankees outfielder’s engagement continues an extended workforce custom of canoodling with celebrities (see: Jeter, Derek and Rodriguez, Alex).
Garcia will star in the brand-new ABC comedy “Higher Collectively’ this fall. You may additionally vaguely acknowledge her from her work on “Privileged” and “Reba.” Like Swisher, she popped up on an episode of “How I Met Your Mom” this season.
Swisher confirmed the couple’s relationship to Sports Illustrated in September, calling her “his lady.”
The 29-year-old athlete’s dwelling staff has had its share of Hollywood hook-ups, and that is solely factoring in Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Jeter’s been with Friday Evening Lights star Minka Kelly for a while now, and Alex Rodriguez has been linked to Kate Hudson and, extra lately, Cameron Diaz.
That is the second engagement for the 30-year-old Privileged star, who was beforehand linked to Trace Ayala, Justin Timberlake’s William Rast partner.
Gary Coleman Died
Gary Coleman dies. Petite actor who died at the age of 42.
As quoted by Showbiz Spy, Saturday (05/29/2010), Gary died of serious bleeding in the brain. Earlier, on May 26, Gary fell and banged his head at his residence.
After receiving treatment at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, Provo, United States, Gary had realized, but the condition was deteriorating. Gary can only survive with the support tool.
Until the end, Shannon, Gary’s wife, decided to withdraw all support tools for Gary. He also memhembuskan his last breath at 12:05 pm local time.
Gary Wayne Coleman was born on February 8, 1968 in Zion, Illinois, United States. Gary won fame through his role as Arnold Jackson in the series sitcom ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ on 80s.
