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Home of controversial book publisher set ablazeSunday, September 28, 2008
Four people have been arrested on terrorism charges in Islington, London, England, after a suspected petrol bombing on the house of Martin Rynja, owner of book publishing company Gibson Square.
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His company recently sparked controversy after buying the rights to publish The Jewel of Medina, a work of fiction by Sherry Jones depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad and his child bride, Aisha.
The bombing, which occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, led to the evacuation of the £2.5 million property in Lonsdale Square. Three men, aged 22, 30 and 40, were arrested at 2:25am BST by armed officers, two in Lonsdale Square, and one after being stopped near Angel tube station.
Police comments suggested that the trio had been under surveillance, and that they had advance knowledge of the plot and simply waited for the arsonists to strike, before arresting them.
On Saturday, a woman was arrested for obstructing police during their searches of four addresses – two in Walthamstow, and two in Ilford and Forest Gate.
Speaking earlier this month, Mr Rynja said that “The Jewel of Medina has become an important barometer of our time. As an independent publishing company, we feel strongly that we should not be afraid of the consequences of debate.” Ms Jones commented that she did not intend for her novel to be offensive to Islam. She noted that she “[has] deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Muhammad.” She “envisaged that [her] book would be a bridge builder” between Islam and the western world.
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Submitted by: John Bristen
Breifly imformation of Rossa
Rossa Roslaina Sri Handayani, known mononymously as Rossa, also known as Te’ OCHA aka Teteh Ocha by fans in Indonesia or Dato’ Rossa in Malaysia (born October 9, 1978 in Sumedang, West Java, Indonesia), is an Indonesian singer. She remains one of the most popular artists in Indonesia and Malay-speaking countries, and one of the best selling Indonesian artist based on album sales which has sold approximately 5 million copies in the region. Her second compilation album, The Best of Rossa, ranked 10th on the List of Indonesian all time best selling albums.
http://cdn1-a.production.liputan6.static6.com/medias/904886/big/023308300_1434671220-Rossa.jpg
Origginal successfully
Rossa started singing at ten years old when she released her first ever album .However, the album failed to gain attention.
Rossa’s fame began when she released her first adult album Nada Nada Cinta in 1996. Then, followed by Tegar in 2000 which made Rossa’s name more prominent in the Indonesian music scene. She won a MTV Indonesia Awards 2000 for “Most Favorite Female Artist”. Rossa also performed in Asian music festival, My Love in Hanoi, Vietnam on October 26, 2000.
In 2002,she released album Kini which dominated by ballad songs. She received “Best Female Solo Artist” at Indonesian Music Awards (AMI) 2002.
In 2003, Rossa released the repackage album of Kini with a new song, “Malam Pertama”, composed by Melly Goeslaw. This album got Double Platinum in 2004.
At the end of 2004, Rossa released album Kembali with nine progressive-pop songs. This album spawned hit singles “Aku Bukan Untukmu” and “Pudar”. This album was certified Platinum only for three months, and six months later this album got Double Platinum. Her single, “Pudar” also gained commercial success in Malaysia. Kembali was released in Malaysia on May 23, 2005 and Rossa held a show in Planet Hollywood, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to promote her album
http://klikkabar.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/rossa.jpeg
Showing reason why she is best singer in Indonesia and near couontries
In 2008, Rossa participated in a soundtrack-album for film, Ayat Ayat Cinta (English: “Verses of Love”), contributed the theme song “Ayat Ayat Cinta” and “Takdir Cinta”. These singles gave her an Indonesian Music Awards (AMI) 2008 for “Best Pop Female Solo Artist” and a SCTV Awards 2008 for “Famous Singer”. She also got an award from Anugerah Industri Muzik, Malaysia for “Best Malay Language Song Performed by Foreign Artist” for her song “Terlalu Cinta”. Rossa held her first concert titled “Persembahan Cinta” in Jakarta Convention Center on November 26, 2008. In this concert, Rossa was helped by Indonesian famous composer, Erwin Gutawa and Jay Subiakto.
On November 12, 2011, Rossa repeated her achievement in the 18th Anugerah Industri Muzik, Malaysia when her single “Ku Menunggu” has been awarded as the “Best Malay Language Song Performed by Foreign Artist”. Rossa, who could not be present during the awards ceremony has set a new record of her own – winning the categories for the third time, out of her four nominations received throughout four years.
Rossa also won the Best Female Artiste (Artis Wanita Terbaik) at Anugerah Planet Muzik 2011 in Singapore. At her first sold-out solo concert at the Esplanade, she soft-launched her duet single with Singapore Idol, Taufik Batisah entitled “Aku Bersahaja”. The duet received good response from their fans in Singapore as well as in Malaysia. It topped radio charts in both countries for a couple of weeks.
About the Author: lagu
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Former Trump advisor, Paul Manafort, receives second sentence in U.S. Federal CourtFriday, March 15, 2019
A former advisor for U.S. President Donald Trump was sentenced in U.S. Federal Court on Wednesday. Paul Manafort was sentenced by Judge Amy Berman Jackson to 73 months in federal prison and to also pay financial restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of US$6.16 million.
Manafort’s charges involved unregistered foreign lobbying and witness tampering. Judge Jackson clarified in the proceedings that her sentencing decisions were not connected to or impacted by the sentence Manafort received in a separate case for which Manafort was sentenced last week. However, as part of her admonition, Judge Jackson stated, “Saying I’m sorry I got caught is not an inspiring plea for leniency.”
In last week’s action, another federal judge sentenced Manafort to a 47 month prison term. After his conviction in that case last summer, Manafort agreed to help with Robert Mueller’s investigation. However, some months later, the judge in that case determined Manafort had lied and violated that deal. That conviction was related to Manafort’s lobbying business.
In 2018, while preparing for his first trial, Manafort was kept in solitary confinement at least 23 hours per day. In that trial, he faced 18 counts of fraud pertaining to his financial reporting for his pay while working on a foreign campaign in Ukraine.
Changing position, President Trump says FBI Director Comey was fired over Russia investigation, showboatingSaturday, May 13, 2017
Despite the White House’s initial assertion that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey was dismissed Tuesday over mishandling the Hillary Clinton email case, United States President Donald Trump on Thursday told NBC that “this Russia thing” was among his reasons, mentioning Comey’s repeated claims that he, Trump, was not being investigated. He also accused Comey of “showboating” and said “the FBI has been in turmoil.”
James Comey was leading an investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia and possible Russian involvement in the 2016 US presidential election that placed Trump in power. The official reason given for his dismissal, overly harsh treatment of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, was met with skepticism from politicians and the press.
| [W]hen I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said: ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.’ | ||
President Trump also told NBC’s Lester Holt that, despite statements to the contrary by Vice President Pence and Sean Spicer, recommendations from deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein did not have anything to do with his decision, which he made before receiving Rosenstein’s memo. “Regardless of recommendation I was going to fire Comey. Knowing, there was no good time to do it[…] And, in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said: ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.'” He went on to express regret that firing Comey might prolong the investigation and said Comey had told him that he, Trump, was not under investigation when asked.
Trump told NBC that he had asked Comey if he, Trump, were under investigation, to which Comey had replied in the negative. While it is not illegal under U.S. law for President Trump to ask if he is under investigation, former U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson Matthew Miller described it as “completely inappropriate” and pointed out that Comey would not be allowed to answer under Department rules.
Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders disagreed with Miller’s assessment. “I don’t see it as a conflict of interest and neither do many of the legal scholars who’ve been commenting on it over the last hour.” She did not elaborate on the reference to legal scholars.
While some sources have said Comey requested more resources for the Russia investigation only days before being fired, one of his associates told news outlets this was not true and the investigation had no shortage of resources.
In his interview with Holt, President Trump affirmed that his campaign had no connections to Russia.
Four candidates for Comey’s position were scheduled to be interviewed today: a lawyer named Alice Fisher, an appeals court judge named Michael Garcia, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, and Andrew McCabe, who is currently serving as acting director of the FBI. McCabe has promised to “vigorously and completely” continue the Russia investigation and to tell Congress if any pressure is brought to bear to stop it.
People talk about running the numbers before buying an investment property, but what are the numbers and how do you get accurate numbers? Running the wrong numbers can make the difference of making $500 or losing $1000 per month. In this article we will go through the costs and factors to consider to make your investments successful.
Visit investment property advice sydney for more information specifically
RENTAL INCOME
Rental income is not as straight-forward as it seems. Sometimes properties are under-rented and sometimes properties are over-rented, so be sure to find out the market rents when you consider a property. When we bought our first fourplex, we looked at comparable leases and realized our rents were too high, so instead of assuming we would continue to receive $3600 of rental income, we had to be realistic and assume it was more like $3200.
MORTGAGE INTEREST
A huge cost is mortgage interest. You should definitely sort out the details of your loan options and get an idea of current rates before running the numbers. It could make or break a deal. If you are getting a duplex or a house, the loans are generally similar to other home loan programs. Triplexes and fourplexes tend to have higher rates, and commercial is a whole other ballgame. One thing to consider is to put more down because the more you put down, the less your loan will be, which means less monthly interest to pay. Another consideration is the type of loan. We usually recommend for people to get a fixed rate mortgage these days because the current ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) rates are not all that much lower than fixed rates.
Basically, just get educated about the loan options and run the numbers with them. Oh, and also, do not just take advice from one mortgage person. The best way to get educated is to talk to a variety of mortgage brokers and banks to find your best solution; not all loan places have the same programs.
TAXES
People frequently use the taxes from the year when they purchased the property, assuming the taxes will stay the same. Taxes change every year. Taxes can go up drastically after a purchase. For example, an owner occupied property usually has tax breaks, so unless you intend to owner occupy too, your taxes will go up.
Also, the county appraisal that your taxes are based on could go up after your purchase. For example, if you buy a property for 100,000 but the tax appraisal last year was for 50,000, don’t count on it remaining at 50,000. In fact, I have seen cases where a year after a property was purchased the tax assessor increased the appraisal value to the purchase price. The safest approach is to look at the tax rate and the purchase price to determine your future taxes.
VACANCY COST
For some reason people tend to forget to take into account vacancy rate. Even when looking to invest in a desirable rental area, it’s best to always take into account at least an 8-10% vacancy rate. Do some investigation, look at your market and find statistics on the average vacancy rate.
TENANT TURNOVER COST
We have personally found the biggest surprise to be the expense of tenant turnover. This includes advertising for a new tenant, cleaning, repainting, replacing carpet, etc. If you expect to have high tenant turnover, like next to a college campus, anticipate this to be a significant cost.
INSURANCE COST
Insurance on investment properties are typically higher than owner occupied, single family properties. So get an insurance quote on the property instead of basing your expected insurance off of the insurance bill for your house. You also should purchase liability insurance which can be expensive.
MAINTENANCE COSTS
This is by far the most difficult number to estimate. It depends on the property, whether you fix some of the problems yourself or hire outside help, and random luck. So we can.t give you a hard and fast number but we can look into different factors to take into account.
Property Type – When you evaluate different properties remember to take into account the type of property. If it.s brick you won.t have to paint or worry about wood root. Decks need constant maintenance. A property with wood or concrete floors will be easier to clean and will not have to be replaced when a tenant moves out. Just think about the aspects of the property and their maintenance costs.
Property Size – A smaller property is easier to maintain than a larger property. For instance, say there are two properties for sale for 200,000 and each have a combined rent of 2000. A property with 2 units and a total of 1000 square feet will be cheaper to maintain than a property with 6 units and 3000 square feet. The larger property will be more expensive to maintain when you are replacing the larger roof, painting the interior walls, etc. Also, more units mean more money spent on advertising, make-readies, and more appliances to repair.
Property Location – Consider your proximity to the property. If you buy a property 30 miles away, over the course of a year you can spend a decent amount of gas money driving back and forth.
Your personal management style – How often will you do maintenance work yourself vs hiring help? For instance, when a unit needs painting will you paint the rooms or hire a painter? Hiring professionals is definitely more expensive, but you have to be realistic about how much you will personally do, especially if you are looking at a lot of units.
UTILITY COSTS
Be sure to check what the tenants pay for and what the owner pays for. This includes all the utilities and lawn maintenance. In addition, there may be owner expenses like parking lot lights and trash bin service.
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COSTS
If you are going to hire a property management company, definitely get their rates. We personally choose properties that we can manage ourselves.
SUMMING THE NUMBERS
We wrote a investment property calculator which is located here Real estate Calculator. Once you add all the numbers up, you often find the property has 0 cash flow or even negative cash flow. This doesn.t necessarily mean you should not purchase the property. There are positive tax benefits to rental properties and depending on your situation, a property with technically 0 cash flow could still put more money in your pocket due to tax benefits. Also, if you think the property is going to appreciate in the future, a zero or negative cash flow property could still be appealing.
The point here is that if you are buying a property with zero or negative cash flow, it’s best to know beforehand instead of after the property has been purchased.
Ki Gray
Escapeso Austin Realtor
British white paper on public healthWednesday, November 17, 2004
ENGLAND — UK Health Secretary John Reid has proposed widespread legislative and health care changes in a new white paper on public health released Tuesday. Titled “Choosing Health”, the paper details government plans to restrict smoking in public places, limit ‘junk food‘ advertisements to children, make available “lifestyle trainers”, campaign against sexually transmitted diseases and tobacco, and improve food labelling.
The white paper comes after extensive public comment that involved 150,000 people.
Smoking would be restricted in enclosed public spaces, restaurants, workplaces, and some pubs. The ban would be enacted gradually, affecting government and NHS buildings in 2006, enclosed public places in 2007, and private property in 2008. Permanent exemption would be granted to pubs that do not serve prepared food — though not at the bar — as well as private clubs, a decision that has provoked some to call the measure incomplete. Up to 90% of pubs are expected to be affected. The Scottish executive proposed a complete ban on smoking in enclosed public places last week, and Ireland has already banned smoking in pubs and restaurants.
Food advertisements targeted to children would be banned until 9pm, under the White Paper’s proposals. The restriction is a measure to tackle rising rates of childhood obesity. The government also intends to develop voluntary standards on food and drink advertisements to children with industry, only threatening legislation if an acceptable standard is not reached by 2007. Additionally, low income families would receive vouchers for fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, and infant formula. School lunches would also be held to stricter nutritional standards. Reid has warned that unless childhood obesity is tackled, “we face the prospect of children having shorter life expectancy than their parents”.
Food labelling would also be improved, with a “traffic light” system implemented. Packaged food would be evaluated based on its fat, sugar, and salt content.
The paper is unusual for suggesting a more holistic approach to health care, offering for the first time “lifestyle trainers.” The National Health Service would be funding with an additional £1bn to make people’s overall lives healthier, which is expected to save £30bn in preventable illness.
The paper additionally makes mention of reducing accidents, which affected 2.7m people last year and is a leading cause of child death, curb binge drinking, and reduce substance abuse among youths.
The paper has been criticized by many parties. The Tory Shadow Health Secretary has criticized the Labour government’s comprehensiveness and creation of a “new nanny state approach”. He has additionally described it as “gimmicks”. The Liberal Democrats have accused the government of not being comprehensive enough. It has also been criticized by the British Medical Association as being implemented too slowly, saying “When lives need saving, doctors act immediately”.
Mr. Reid has argued against the nanny state label, saying “In a free society, men and women ultimately have the right within the law to choose their own lifestyle, even when it may damage their own health. But people do not have the right to damage the health of others, or to impose an intolerable degree of inconvenience or nuisance on others … This is a sensible solution which balances the protection of the majority with the personal freedom of the minority in England”.
The full white paper “Choosing Health” can be read here.
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Submitted by: Jason Hersh
Outdoor speakers can add a whole new level of enjoyment to your sound system. There s nothing quite like being able to listen to your favorite music when you are outside relaxing on the patio, in the pool, or working in the yard. Choosing the right outdoor speakers and positioning them in the best locations is key to creating an optimal listening experience outside your home.
Most likely your outdoor area is an open space, meaning there s background noise to overcome, and you have to consider the elements. These factors create a unique challenge, but fortunately these obstacles are all manageable with a little information.
First, you will want to assess the space you re working in to determine how many speakers you need. You don t want to have to blast the volume, potentially annoying guests in one area of your yard, just so those splashing in the pool can hear the music. You will be better off adding more speakers so you don t have to compensate for distance with volume.
When determining how many speakers you need, you will want to evaluate the placement of each speaker. Under an eave or close to the wall of your house or garage is ideal as it can help protect the speaker from the weather and also help push the sound outward. If you are working with a square space, you will probably want four speakers. If you are working with an oblong space, you may want four or more depending on how large the area is.
Aesthetics is also a factor as you determine placement. It may be that you just can t get around placing a speaker out in the open, in which case you may want to consider a model with a cabinet made to look like stone or a planter. Also, mounting speakers directly onto aluminum or cedar siding generally doesn t work well as these surfaces may not be strong enough. If you have either of these materials on the outside of your house and there are no eaves or a porch roof, you may need to consider using speakers that can sit on the ground.
In any case, you will want to choose speakers that are made to withstand the elements. How exposed your speakers are to the elements will inform how weather resistant they need to be. The level of exposure will also influence the way you mount or position the speaker; if it s highly exposed, you will want to be able to tilt the speaker down for drainage.
You can create the best sound by mounting your speakers about 8-10 feet off the ground, about 12 feet from your listening area, and 8-10 feet apart from one another. Alternating right and left channels will help create the best stereo imaging, If possible, find a way to temporarily mount your speakers in their positions and test the sound with a variety of music while moving around the different areas of your outdoor space before permanently installing your outdoor speakers. You may find that moving a speaker six inches up or down can make a big difference.
A common complaint about outdoor sound systems is that the music sounds flat or diluted. To combat this effect, which is caused by the open-nature of outdoor spaces, look for outdoor speakers that have a good low-frequency response of about 60Hz or below. You may also want to consider adding a subwoofer to warm up and round out the sound.
Once you ve determined the placement of your speakers and subwoofer, you will need to decide how to run your speaker wire. There are two simple rules to follow here: 1) the less speaker wire outside your house, the better; and 2) don t run your wire through door or window jambs. Both of these rules work to ensure a long life for your outdoor speakers and minimal maintenance, as exposed speaker wire and the potential kinking and crimping that can happen will damage your wire and impact the sound quality as a result.
If you are using rock or planter-style outdoor speakers, you may want to consider coiling a few feet of extra wire in a protected location inside or under the unit in case you need to move it in the future.
What type of wire you use will depend on where you are mounting your outdoor speakers. There are specific types of wire for burial and for in-wall installation, so be sure to identify how much of each type you may need, and then add 10-15% or so to allow for any unforeseen complications.
You will also want to take note of what type of speaker cable connectors your outdoor speakers use, such as binding posts that accept spade connectors, pins or banana plugs. These are generally recommended over bare wire connections for outdoor speaker installation.
Finally, you may want to consider adding separate volume controls for your various pairs of outdoor speakers. This allows you to control the volume in a specific area without having to adjust the volume for your entire outdoor space, and without having to run inside each time you need to turn the volume up or down. Be sure to use volume controls made specifically for outdoor use in order to preserve the life and quality of the device.
About the Author: I am a hands-on business owner, professional systems integrator, and long-time technology buff. I have received certifications from CEDIA, SpeakerCraft, Control4, and other organizations related to audio/video, low-voltage, and automation.
surroundsolutions.com/Outdoor-Speakers
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US unemployment rate reaches 9.4 percentFriday, June 5, 2009
Data from the United States Labor Department says that the unemployment rate in the U.S. has reached its highest level in over 25 years, namely 9.4%.
The job loss rate, however, was only 345,000, which is the lowest monthly job loss rate since September of last year. Analysts had predicted that the loss could be as high as 525,000.
The news suggests that the US economy may be improving, as the job loss rate, which peaked at 741,000 jobs this January, has started to ease.
“Even as we see things start to stabilize and hopefully grow again, we do know that unemployment tends to lag, and so that the unemployment rate is going to be high and probably stay high for a while, precisely because that is sort of the normal pattern as we come out of recession,” said an economic adviser for the White House, Christina Romer.
Since the recession officially started in December 2007, the economy has shed over six million jobs, with 14.5 million residents now unemployed.
U.S. Senators call for Idaho Senator Larry Craig to resignWednesday, August 29, 2007
Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, Republican Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, and Republican Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan are all calling for the resignation of Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho.
Senator McCain said, “My opinion is that when you plead guilty to a crime, you shouldn’t serve. That’s not a moral stand. That’s not a holier-than-thou. It’s just a factual situation.” And Senator Coleman said, “Senator Craig pled guilty to a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator. He should resign.”
Craig has agreed to a temporary leadership reassignment according to a statement from the Senate’s Republican Leadership saying, “Senator Larry Craig has agreed to comply with Leadership’s request that he temporarily step down as the top Republican on the Veteran Affairs Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, and Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. This is not a decision we take lightly but we believe this is in the best interest of the Senate until this situation is resolved by the Ethics Committee.”
Craig plead guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct after allegedly trying to initiate in a sexual experience with a male undercover law enforcement officer in a Minneapolis airport.
Meanwhile, Craig said, “I did nothing wrong.” Craig also said he plead guilty to a lesser charge in an effort to keep his arrest as quiet as possible. Craig said, “While I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct at the Minneapolis airport or anywhere else, I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in hopes of making it go away…It’s clear, though, that through my actions I have brought a cloud over Idaho. For that, I ask the people of Idaho for their forgiveness… I am not gay. I never have been gay”
Craig, 62, is in the middle of his third term and is seeking re-election next year.
| Further developments to this story are available. See: |
| Republican leaders accused of double standard after Larry Craig’s resignation |