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'Too fat to stay': Obese man may be kicked out of New Zealand


Russia Today
Sun, 28 Jul 2013 13:54 UTC
An obese South African chef weighing 130 kg (286 lbs) is being kicked out of New Zealand for being too fat - but he's not leaving without a fight.

Albert Buitenhuis was told his weight may put too much demand on the country's health service - despite his losing 30 kg (66 lbs) since arriving in New Zealand six years ago.

Buitenhaus, who stands at five feet ten inches, has a body mass index of 40 - making him clinically obese. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) said that an applicant's BMI must be under 35.

"INZ's medical assessors have said to consider to what extent there might be indications of future high-cost and high-need demand for health services," a spokesman said, as quoted by the Huffington Post.

Both Buitenhaus and his wife are now facing deportation, which they say is unfair.

Before arriving to New Zealand, the chef weighed 159 kg (350 lbs). Much of that weight was gained after Buitenhaus quit smoking. His wife Marthie told the media that their visas had been approved every year since they arrived in 2007.
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Bad Guys

FBI recovered 105 missing and sexually exploited children


Russia Today
Sun, 28 Jul 2013 18:04 UTC
The FBI says they've recovered 105 missing and exploited children over the weekend by orchestrating a massive crackdown on crime rings that trafficked minors for sex.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation made the announcement Monday morning, and reportedly has arrested 150 pimps involved in selling minors through an underground sex trade that exploited missing children ages 13 through 17 around the country.

According to a statement made early Monday by Ronald Hosko, the agency's assistant director of their criminal investigative division, the coordinated raids in more than 70 cities under the name "Operation Cross Country" marked the largest effort of its type ever undertaken by the FBI.
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Stock Down

The social media bubble is quietly deflating

Joshua Brustein
Business Week
Tue, 16 Jul 2013 12:51 UTC
social media
Social networking companies drew a meager 2 percent of Internet venture capital last quarter
Two years ago, when the craze for social media startups was in full swing, a former Facebook (FB) engineer summed up the situation with a memorable lament: "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads," the engineer, Jeff Hammerbacher, told Bloomberg Businessweek at the time. "That sucks," he added.

It might be over.

Social media companies drew only 2 percent of the venture capital headed to Internet-based enterprises last quarter, according to data published on Tuesday by CB Insights, a research firm that tracks venture-capital investment. In the two-year stretch that ended in the middle of 2012, social media companies took in at least 6 percent of overall venture capital invested in Internet companies each quarter. But for three of the last four quarters, those social startups have brought in 2 percent or less (with the outlier quarter largely the result of a huge investment in Pinterest earlier this year). The peak came in the third quarter of 2011, when social companies led by Twitter took in 21 percent of the total $3.8 billion in Internet deals by venture capital firms.
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Sherlock

Spain train crash driver freed on bail - Colleagues and workers' union describe Garzón as 'responsible and cautious'

John Hooper
The Guardian
Mon, 29 Jul 2013 07:23 UTC
Image
Questions should now be asked of the train company, RENFE
Francisco Garzón was freed on bail after a closed-door hearing at which his passport was taken away

The driver of the train involved in Spain's worst rail disaster in almost 70 years was freed on bail on Sunday night after reportedly admitting to a judge that he had behaved recklessly.

Police on Friday formally accused 52-year-old Francisco Garzón of manslaughter caused by recklessness.

During the closed-door hearing, Judge Luis Aláez took away Garzón's passport and ordered him to report weekly to the court, according to local media. The driver, accompanied by his lawyer, was questioned for around two hours.

The reports, citing police and judicial sources, said Garzón had admitted reckless behaviour. But it was not clear whether the judge had laid charges against the driver or, if so, whether they were the same as those levelled by police.

Garzón arrived at the court handcuffed and wearing dark glasses. He had a visible bruise on his forehead - the result of a gash that he sustained in the crash and which required nine stitches.

Comment: Indeed, it's starting to look like this was not the drivers' fault. In addition, we now have a possible motive for blaming driver - and as usual, it involves big money.

Why the two-hour delay before a state of emergency declared, leaving local residents to carry out rescue operations?

Why did the driver call the operator to tell them the train was going too fast and that it was about to derail moments before the crash?

Questions are starting to pile up for the Spanish authorities.

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Pirates

I'm lovin' it! Debauched British drink and drug-fueled 'youth culture' invades and occupies Crete

Adam Aspinall
The Mirror, UK
Mon, 29 Jul 2013 04:48 UTC
Image
© John Alevroyiannis /Trinity MirrorBritish Tourists 'partying' in Malia, Crete
UK women are spending their holidays worrying about sex attacks amid claims that three have been raped in the past seven days.

With its countless bars flogging cheap booze and all-night party ­lifestyle, it's easy to see why Malia is a magnet for young Brits wanting to have fun in the sun.

But the mix of free-flowing alcohol and girls in skimpy clothing is also attracting a more sinister sort to the crowded resort - rapists.

And UK women are now spending their holidays worrying about sex attacks amid claims that three have been raped in the past seven days.

The hedonistic party town on the Greek island of Crete is still reeling from the brutal knife murder of British ­holidaymaker Tyrell Matthews-Burton during a brawl.

But on a night out this weekend, the Mirror discovered the fear of violence was being outweighed by that of rape - as it is in other popular seaside resorts across the Mediterranean.

Locals claim police are turning a blind eye to the attacks, leading to vigilante justice, and many victims do not even bother to report attacks or were too drunk to remember the details. Londoner Nikki Howarth, who manages Malia's Candy Club bar, is warning girls to stick together.
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X

At least 37 dead after coach plunges into ravine in Southern Italy

Lizzy Davies
The Guardian
Mon, 29 Jul 2013 02:39 UTC
Image
© Reuters
(Link to video: Dozens dead in Italian bus crash)

Coach carrying a group of tourists near town of Avellino careered off a viaduct and plunged down a steep slope.

At least 37 people died and many others were injured when a coach carrying a group of tourists through southern Italy crashed into several vehicles, careered off a viaduct and then plunged down a steep slope.

As emergency workers contended with the dark and highly precarious terrain to try to pull bodies from the wreckage, firefighters said most of the bodies had been found inside the coach and a few more beneath the vehicle.

Eleven people - including three children - were injured and taken to hospitals in the surrounding area, the Ansa news agency reported. Two were reported to be in critical condition. State radio quoted Avellino police as saying the bus driver was among the dead.
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Heart - Black

Disabled man Baraka Kanaan 'forced to crawl off Delta Airlines flight'


News.com.au
Sun, 28 Jul 2013 11:31 UTC
Baraka Kanaan was left without the use of his legs
© Facebook Baraka Kanaan was left without the use of his legs following a car accident in 2000.
DELTA Airlines is being sued after a disabled man claimed he was forced to crawl across the tarmac multiple times after the carrier refused to help him on and off the plane.

Baraka Kanaan, a former philosophy professor who now heads a not-for-profit, was scheduled to fly from his home in Hawaii to Nantucket Island in Massachusetts last July to attend a conference.

Mr Kanaan was left unable to walk after car crash in 2000 but claimed he contacted the airline weeks in advance to tell them of his disability.

According to the Huffington Post, Mr Kanaan said he was assured by Delta staff "that he would be received and given reasonable accommodation for his disability."

Yet when his flight touched down in Massachusetts there was no equipment to help him off the airplane and to his wheelchair. When he asked what could be done, a flight attendant allegedly told him, "I don't know, but we can't get you off the plane."

According to a law suit filed by Mr Kanaan this month, he said he was left with no option but to crawl in his best suit "hand over hand through the main cabin and down a narrow flight of stairs and across the tarmac to his wheelchair".
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Cow Skull

Living the American Dream: 4 in 5 in U.S. face near-poverty, no work

Hope Yen
The Big Story
Sun, 28 Jul 2013 16:48 UTC
US poverty chart
© Washington University in St. LouisChart shows cumulative economic insecurity by age

Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.

Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend.

The findings come as President Barack Obama tries to renew his administration's emphasis on the economy, saying in recent speeches that his highest priority is to "rebuild ladders of opportunity" and reverse income inequality.

Hardship is particularly on the rise among whites, based on several measures. Pessimism among that racial group about their families' economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987. In the most recent AP-GfK poll, 63 percent of whites called the economy "poor."
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Comet 2

Meteor-encrusted medals up for grabs at Sochi 2014


rbth.ru
Sat, 27 Jul 2013 07:10 UTC
Sochi Olympic champions that happen to win their medals on February 15, 2014 - one year after the meteor crashed in the Urals - will receive special medals inlaid with tiny pieces of the celestial object.

A select few athletes lucky enough to win gold medals on a specific date at the upcoming Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics will be awarded an extra set of medals with bits of the meteor embedded in them; this is being done for the first anniversary of the fall of the Chelyabinsk meteor, the Ministry of Culture of the Chelyabinsk Region reported.

Image
Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee President Dmitry Chernyshenko presented the medals of the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to the public. The Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee showed a video presenting the medals and telling about their main idea. "The medals embody the idea of the brand and the contrasting effects of our country, where Europe meets Asia, where pristine nature comes in touch with a metropolis, and where innovations neighbor the richest culture of Russia," the presentation video says.
The medals will be crafted at an arms factory in the Urals, the report indicated, citing the region's Minister of Culture Alexei Betekhtin. Apparently, the medals, which have yet to be designed, will be awarded to athletes on February 15, 2014, marking exactly one year since the meteor crash. "We will award our medals to all athletes who win gold medals on that day, because the meteor, just like the Olympic Games, is an event of global significance," Betekhtin said.

According to a spokesperson for the regional Ministry of Culture, the meteor-inlaid medals will be awarded in addition to the regular set of Olympic prizes. The medals will most likely be gold-plated.

The meteor, dubbed "Chelyabinsk," crashed in Chelyabinsk Region on February 15, 2013, causing a powerful shock wave that damaged buildings and smashed windows in Chelyabinsk, and injured over 1,600 people.

First published in Russian in RIA Novosti.
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Attention

Best of the Web: It's time to start taking this global food riot model seriously

Michael Byrne
Motherboard
Sat, 27 Jul 2013 17:44 UTC
Global Food Riot
© Motherboard
You should already know the name Yaneer Bar-Yam. He's the founding president of the New England Complex Systems Institute and made news for a 2011 paper tying global food prices to 2008 and 2011 riot outbreaks in Africa, and the general theory that above a certain benchmark food price, the conditions for rioting become prime.

It's not a strict cause and effect relationship - if value x, then riots - simply an observation that the probability of riots spikes at a certain point. Other things, like, say, Mohamed Bouazizi setting himself on fire, might be the actual trigger, but day-to-day survival as it pertains to food is what allows the gun to fire.

Bar-Yam's model has another "success," according to a paper posted on the arVix pre-print server last week. Rioting that occurred last year during a platinum miner's strike in South Africa - in which 34 strikers were killed by government forces - coincided neatly with a spike in the global price of maize. Stagnant wages matched with spiking food costs yields unrest. It matches well with a similar spike in 2008 that resulted in another series of riots in the country.
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