The 20 Best Movies Worth Adding To Your Amazon Prime Watchlist Right Now [Streaming]

A Watchlist has finally been added to Amazon Instant Video, meaning it now has a basic feature it had been sorely lacking until now. It's basically Amazon's version of a Netflix queue, a simple way to keep track of the movies and TV shows you want to watch to watch. More »

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Stock Market Investing Fundamentals ? Study the Basics of the - BWIA

Do you wish to learn stock market investing fundamentals? Hold studying, on this article I am going to show the basics of the stock market.

Stock market investing fundamentals

Listed below are the basics of the stock market

? Investing = putting your money to work for you. There are numerous alternative ways of doing this such as, putting cash into stocks, bonds, mutual funds or actual estate. These are often known as investment vehicles.

? A long time perspective is necessary in relation to investing. The longer you?re willing to speculate your cash for the extra you will make. Investing your cash for long time intervals also increases the ability of compound interest.

? Stocks are shares in the ownership of a company. Proudly owning a stock is like proudly owning a piece of the company.

? Proudly owning stock does not mean that you?ve got a say in day after day running of the company. It does nonetheless entitle you to vote when the board of administrators is elected, it additionally entitles you to receive dividends (a share of the businesses income)

? Word that stocks have restricted liability, which means should the company be unable to pay its money owed you will not be held liable.

? There are fundamental kinds of stocks; they?re frequent and most popular stocks.

? Stocks are traded on exchanges, this is where patrons and sellers meet and resolve on a price. The most well-known exchanges are the New York Stock change (NYSE) and the Nasdaq.

? Stock costs transfer up and down due to supply and demand, costs also move up and down primarily based on what investors really feel the company is worth. On the end of the day the largest factor affecting stock value is the amount of profit that the corporate makes.

? To purchase stock you will want a stockbroker. That is somebody who has the mandatory qualifications and is legally entitled to purchase to purchase stock.

? A brokerage is a agency of stock brokers. There are varieties full service and discount. Full service charges extra and offers you expert recommendation in addition to personally managing your portfolio, low cost expenses much less however gives far much less individualized attention. With the rise of the internet you now even have on-line brokers (the most popular choice as we speak)

? Bull and bear are phrases used to denote where the market is going. A bull market = an ideal financial system, high levels of employment and rising stocks. A bear market = unhealthy financial system, excessive unemployment and falling stock prices.

These are all of the stock market investing fundamentals you have to to know, in case you found them laborious to know just persist and keep in mind ? the stock market is really not as onerous as it?s made out to be. Did you get pleasure from this text? For more stock market information just like it please go to my web site by following the links below.

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A Rose by Any Other Name: International Crimes or Crimes Against ...

No matter what anyone may say, the names we give to concepts matter a great deal. They have an impact on the way we think about them. For example, in domestic American politics there is an ongoing debate over the value of the recent medical insurance overhaul. Those in favor of the modifications call it the ?Affordable Care Act?, while those who are against the changes call it ?Obama-care?. Both names apply to the exact same identical thing, but one brings forth a personal platform while the other implies a certain usefulness or characteristic. The name international law likewise has traditionally affected the way scholars and judges thought about the discipline. The name itself, ?inter-national?, implies that its rules apply to and among nations, or in modern terms, States.[1]

A terminology that started as a description of this branch of law has become its definition. This contributed to the assertion that ?inter-national? law does not apply or recognize, inter alia, individuals as subjects of the law.[2] While the exclusion of the individual as a subject of international law is still asserted by some, it is now commonly accepted that the individual is a subject of international law as the beneficiary of rights and assignments of duties in human rights law and international criminal law.[3] This has lead some to suggest that international law has evolved into something more akin to a global law.[4] My scope is much more modest in that I will focus on only one branch of international law. I would like to suggest that the time has come to reevaluate the name given to what we currently call ?international criminal law?. The basis for this reevaluation is two fold: (1) the name no longer reflects (if it ever truly did) the nature of the subject matter and (2) many national legal orders do not identify internationals crimes as ?international?, but rather have more nuanced names for the discipline. I will conclude by suggesting more accurate names to describe this discipline.

The first reason to discard the moniker of international criminal law relates to what the term itself means. As mentioned, the word ?inter-national? implies that the behavior or relationships to be regulated by this body of law occur between States. Criminal law, of course, references a body of law creating and punishing crimes. It is axiomatic that State crimes do not currently exist in modern international law. The International Law Commission?s Articles on State Responsibility do not include such a category of international violations even though such terminology was used in earlier drafts.[5] At the same time, international criminal tribunals do not have jurisdiction over States for the crimes within their jurisdiction even when those acts are attributable to a State.[6] The crimes themselves also do not envisage a State as the victim, but rather individuals or collectives of individuals.[7] Nothing about the perpetrator or the victim then is directly ?inter-national?.

The origin of international crimes, however, helps explain the terminology currently used in diplomatic and academic discourse. The first modern international criminal prosecutions took place at the end of the Second World War and were based primarily on violations of treaties.[8] Treaties, by definition, are ?inter-national? agreements.[9] The crimes were therefore acts in violation of ?inter-national? law. Additionally, the crimes were perpetrated in the context of a conflict between States and by individuals associated with one of the parties to that conflict and in furtherance thereof.[10] Neither of these conditions still holds in regards to modern international criminal law.

It is generally accepted that the laws of armed conflict criminalizing, inter alia, the mistreatment of protected persons, apply equally during ?inter-national? armed conflicts, intra-national armed conflicts and conflicts between two non-State groups within and between several States.[11] Under the last scenario, a conflict between two or more non-State groups, the consent of treaty law of a particular State is less relevant. Neither group necessarily has agreed to be bound by the laws of war. Consent however is not required because customary law criminalizes the behavior anyway. What we have under these conditions is a body of law that directly governs the acts of individuals working on behalf of non-State entities regardless of the consent or any specific State.

Outside of the arena of war crimes, it is also generally accepted that there is no need for State involvement for the commission of ?crimes against humanity?, an autonomous branch of international criminal law.[12] Groups that are unaffiliated with a particular State can set the widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population in motion that is necessary for their commission. Private individuals without the involvement of a State, likewise, can commit genocide.[13] These crimes therefore do not carry any link with States, let alone a connection to acts between States, to require the moniker of ?inter-national?.

As this brief description shows, the term ?inter-national? does not reflect the nature of the crimes under consideration. They do not necessarily relate to actions between States, but rather to certain acts that for one reason or another have been criminalized by the international community at the supranational level.

The second reason that reevaluating the name of ?international criminal law? is that the crimes normally associated with this name are often referred to under different names in national legal systems. I will list just a few here for the purpose of illustration. Cape Verde criminalized ?inter-national? crimes in a section of its penal code called ?Crimes Against the International Community?; Estonia refers to these crimes as ?Offenses Against Humanity and International Security?; France refers to them as ?Crimes Against Humanity and Against Persons?; Georgia calls them ?Crimes Against Humanity?; Guatemala calls them ?Crimes of International Transcendence?; and some former Soviet States refer to the crimes as ?Crimes Against Peace and Safety of Mankind?. There is little if any continuity between these terms and even less with the idea of ?inter-national? crimes.

The lack of any meaningful connection to the term ?inter-national? and the diversified practice of naming the same discipline within national legal systems both suggest that the name ?international criminal law? is on its way to being an anachronism if it is not already. There still remains the question of what the discipline should be called. One option would be to use the classic Latin phrase crimes hostis humani generis. Another option would be to invent a new term such as ?crimes against global order? or ?crimes of universal concern?. The better choice would be to adapt the term ?Crimes Against Humanity? to describe the entire field of law instead of a single subset of crimes. This has already been done implicitly by some of the national systems listed above. The sub-branch of the field now referred to as crimes against humanity can be referred to as ?human rights crimes? thereby further casting light on its relationship both to human rights law and its separation from war crimes and humanitarian law.[14] This kind of renaming scheme would better reflect the content of the law and its modern context.

---

[1] The word ?international? is an adjective defined as meaning ?existing, occurring, or carried on between two or more nations.? Nation in turn is defined as ?a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.? However, this second word in this context is best understood as the State, the modern version of which (at least in the European sense) is the Nation-state. A classic definition of international law is offered in Nuovo Diritto Internazionale Pubblico by Pasquale Fiore in 1888, at p. 20 as that which ?regulates and directs the relations of and between nations?.

[2] L. Oppenheim, International Law (2nd Ed), p. 107 (1911).

[3] See, Malcolm Shaw, International Law (6th ed), p. 45 (2008).

[4] Giuliana Ziccardi Capaldo, Diritto Globale (2010).

[5] Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, with Commentaries (2001), A/56/10, pp. 81-83 (?From the first it was recognized that these developments had implications for the

[6] See, inter alia, Articles 1, 25, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

[7] See, Articles 6-8, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. There is the possible exception of the Crime of Aggression, however, no court currently can exercise jurisdiction over that crime.

[8] See, Article 6, IMT Charter; IMT Judgment (?To assert that it is unjust to punish those who in defiance of treaties [?] attacked neighbouring (sic) States [?] is obviously untrue [?]. Occupying the positions they did in the Government of Germany, the defendants, or at least some of them, must have known of the treaties signed by Germany, outlawing recourse to war for the settlement of international disputes; they must have known that they were acting in defiance of all International Law when in complete deliberation they carried out their designs of invasion and aggression.?)

[9] Article 2, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 115 U.N.T.S. 331.

[10] Article 6, IMT Charter.

[11] See, Report of the Secretary-General Pursuant to Paragraph 5 of Security Council Resolution 955 (1994), S/1995/134, ?? 11-12 (13 February 1995).

[12] Prosecutor v. Ruto, Kosgey & Sang, ICC-01/09-01/11, ? 184 (23 January 2012).

[13] Prosecutor v. Jelisi?, IT-95-10-T, ? 100 (14 December 1999).

[14] I have made this argument at greater length in an article in the New England Journal of International and Comparative Law, vol. 18.1 (2012).

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Outsourcing Marketing | Signs You Need to Outsource to a ...

AimFire Marketing is an Indianapolis marketing, public relations, website development, search engine optimization and social media marketing agency.

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Kids missing nearly 4 years found in Mexico

WINNIPEG, Manitoba ?? Two children who went missing during a court-ordered visit with their father have been reunited with their mother in Winnipeg, Manitoba, after a nearly four-year manhunt across North America.

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Winnipeg police said the two, 11-year-old Dominic Maryk and his sister Abby Maryk, 9, were rescued from a house in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Friday. Their father and another man were both arrested.

"I am the happiest mommy in the world right now," the children's mother, Emily Cablek, said in a statement read by Winnipeg police. "We have a long road ahead, and I want my children to feel completely safe through all of it."

The two children went missing on Aug. 30, 2008, while on a two-week visit with their father. Over the years, police tracked the group to at least five different locations, and recently focused their efforts on two areas of Mexico, Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta.

The breakthrough came after Winnipeg police sent photos and a video of the children to Mexican media, resulting in someone recognizing them and tipping off Mexican police.

"This is an evil individual who did not want to be found," said Detective Sgt. Shaunna Neufeld of Winnipeg Police Service.

Kevin Douglas Maryk, and Robert Neil Groen now face extradition to Canada on charges of child abduction, while police are still looking for a third man.

Christy Dzikowicz, a director at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection said the children were "confined" to a house in Mexico, with no playmates, no schooling and no connection to the outside world.

Local media said the house was protected by security cameras, guard dogs and a wall topped with barbed wire, and police found drugs, weapons and child pornography inside. Police declined to comment on those details.

Dzikowicz said the children recognized their mother, and Dominic asked for a Slurpee drink.

"These are two quite resilient young children," she said.

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Click For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

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Looking for a Job? Take the Initiative! | The Art of Manliness

This month, nearly 2 million students left colleges and universities around the country with a bachelor?s degree in hand. Some will be headed to graduate school, while others will be entering the job market, many hoping to land their first ?real? job. At the same time, 3 million high school graduates have started looking for a summer gig?perhaps their first job ever. Joining them in the job hunt are the millions of Americans who have been laid off, are unemployed, and have been looking to get hired for weeks, months, even years.

What all these folks have in common is that they?re searching for a job in a tough economy. While experts debate whether things are looking up or whether we?re headed for even worse times, the reality for job seekers out there is that competition is tight. The plumb jobs will go to the bright, to those who are well-connected and know how to network, and, most of all?to those who know how to hustle.

Too many men see the job search as a passive process. They spend each day at home on the computer, trolling Monster.com and other job sites, submitting their resumes, and then waiting to get a call requesting an interview. And waiting. And waiting.

The job you want is very unlikely to land in your lap this way. Instead, the job will go to the man hitting the pavement?the man who takes the initiative. Here are some tips on how to grab the bull by the horns when you?re looking for a job.

Note: Obviously, one of the best ways to take the initiative in finding work is to start your own biz. But the focus of this article will be landing a job with someone else.

Hand in Your Resume in Person

The surest way to remain unemployed is to be like the guy mentioned above?submitting your resumes online and then sitting on your hands waiting for a call. HR departments are like employment Bermuda Triangles?your resume gets sent to who knows where to be read by who knows who, if at all. And even if your resume does get read, what will differentiate it from the hundreds of others in the stack?

Instead, if it?s possible, print out your resume/cover letter/application, and go in person to hand it to whomever is responsible for hiring (the hiring manager, your potential supervisor, the head of the department, etc.) for the job you want. Figuring out who is responsible for hiring can be difficult at large, faceless corporations, but often can be done by looking online and making some calls.

This is how I have gotten most of the jobs I?ve had in my life. In each instance, the person was pleased with my initiative, interviewed me right on the spot, and, in some cases, offered me the job right then and there.

Obviously, handing in your resume in person works better for lower-level jobs than more professional ones, but it can be effective in a variety of situations. Awhile back, AoM Community member Ben D. posted an awesome little article on the Community blog about how he landed a job as a respiratory therapist by using this method:

?When my wife and I moved to Chicago, we had no connections here. No jobs, no family, and minimal money. The assumption was that I would be able to find a job in short order. Before we moved, I updated my resume, applied online to many jobs, and then sat back and waited.

When the move was over and we had settled in, I still did not have a job. I had a couple of leads, but they were at companies that are considered resume stains in my profession. Still, a crappy job beats no job, so I bit the bullet, called the hiring manager, and got hired at the Resume Stain.

After one shift I had had enough. While the people were nice, the job and the company were crap. I began formulating plans for my escape. I applied to more jobs online and then waited. That is how one applies for a job, right?

Wrong. I was listening to public radio and a story came on about how people seeking work would fill out online applications, post their resume to Monster, and then just wait for a job to fall into their laps. Listening to this it struck me how absurd and un-manly that was. Unless you can poop golden eggs, you are just one faceless resume in a sea of thousands. I decided to get my job the manly way: with hard work, initiative, and elbow grease.

I printed my resume, wrote a custom cover letter for the company I was applying to, and signed it in pen. I folded these items up into an envelope and addressed it to the hiring manager, put on my good suit and tie, and drove down to the company.

It struck me that what I was about to do?to cold-call a hiring manager?was risky. He could be in a bad mood or out of the office. Any number of bad things could happen. But I wanted this job, and I had nothing to lose.

I choked down my nerves, straightened my tie, put on a big confident smile, and strode through the doors. A little sniffing around brought me to the manager?s office.?I knocked on the door, introduced myself with a big smile and a handshake, and before he knew it he had my resume and cover letter in his hands. I explained myself. ?Just didn?t want to be another face in the crowd, thought I?d take a little initiative and stop by in person.? He sat me down for an interview, and an hour later I left with a promise from him that he?d be in touch.

A few days later I got a phone call and a job offer. Soon, I will be employed at a company that I respect and that has a great reputation. I got the job I actually wanted, not just one I was randomly hired for from the internet. I got a good job at a good company, and I got to make that critical first impression a good one, all by eschewing the trappings of the internet job hunt for the old-fashioned manly way of getting a job. Another victory for manliness!?

Another victory for manliness, indeed, Ben. And to the victor go the spoils.

Follow Up!

Whether you submit your resume online or hand it over in person, your job is not yet done. Now you must follow up! Hiring managers have a lot on their plate, as do department heads and supervisors for whom hiring is just one small part of what they do. So show your sincere interest in the job by following up with an email or phone call.

If a job posting gave a deadline for the application window, then follow up a couple of days after the deadline passes?following up before then will make you seem impatient. When you follow up, say something like, ?Because the deadline for x job closed on June 11, I assume that applications have begun to be reviewed. I just wanted to express my sincere interest in the position. My [couple of key qualities] would make me a great fit for the job.? If you can find out something about the company?s culture or the kind of people the hiring manager likes to hire, then mention your connection to those things.

If the job posting didn?t have a deadline, then wait a week to ten days after you submit your application to follow up. Then give the hiring manager a call, and say something like, ?My name is Bob Smith and I submitted my resume on June 11 for X job, and I was wondering if the position had been filled yet. No? Well, [express interest in job + a couple of things that make you well qualified for it].

If you?ve done an interview with the company, but haven?t heard back from them within the time frame they gave you (and make sure to ask for a timeline at the end of the interview if they don?t tell you), then the day after the original time frame expires, follow up with a phone call or email reaffirming your interest in the job, saying politely that you realize the hiring process can take awhile, and inquiring if they could give you an updated timeline on when they will be making a decision.

If the company didn?t give you a timeline to begin with, then wait a week and a half after your interview before following up.

Whether you?re following up on a submitted application or on an interview, keep it to two attempts. If you don?t get an answer on the first follow-up, send an email a week later. Still no answer? Move on.

?Apply? for Unadvertised Jobs and Jobs That Don?t Yet Exist

Many of the very best jobs out there will never show up in the classifieds. The company doesn?t advertise the positions publicly and instead hires friends, internal employees, or folks they have worked with or heard about in other capacities. So you?ll never get these gigs by waiting around for a job posting to show up. Instead, you have to take the initiative!

If there?s some place you want to work, and some position you?re hoping to get, send an email with your resume to the person you think would be in charge of hiring for that position. Tell them that if the job opens up, you?d love to be considered and why you?re qualified for the position.

You should put yourself out there even if a position or job you want doesn?t yet exist, or if you?re a freelancer hoping to pick up a new client who doesn?t even know he needs your services yet. Get a feel for what the company does currently, and where they could use help or could potentially expand, and then contact them and offer your services, giving them a specific idea of something you could do for them. Tell them you?re a big fan of what they do (hopefully this is actually true) and that you would be willing to do a project for them free of charge or at a discount to give back; doing something new is a risky proposition for the potential client, so they?ll be much more willing to give you a go if it won?t cost them much. Now they might not be able to use you at that moment, but down the road a need for your services may arise, and when it does, they?ll think of you first.

Let me give you some examples from running the Art of Manliness. Back in 2009, Ted Slampyak contacted me saying how much he liked AoM, and volunteering to take part in our SWYMJ series. Three years passed (three years!), but this year, the site was finally generating enough revenue to do something I had wanted to do since starting AoM: hire an illustrator to do illustrations for some of our posts. When we were thinking about how to find someone who could do illustrations with an AoM feel, Kate said, ?Hey, how about that guy who did the SYWMJ interview? He does really cool stuff.? And so now Ted is our go-to guy for all our illustration needs.

Second case in point:

When I originally started AoM in January 2008, I did all the design work myself. For a law student with no web or graphic design experience, I did okay, but I knew the site could look a whole lot better if a professional applied their talents to it. Enter Eric Granata. Eric has been reading AoM since the beginning and was an active participant in our first version of the AoM forums. In early 2008, Eric reached out in an email introducing himself as a fellow Okie, AoM fan, and web designer. He volunteered his services for any graphic and web design needs that we might have. I had a small project that I needed done, and Eric did it completely gratis as a way to say thanks for the content on AoM.

We were so impressed with Eric?s work, we kept going back to him for other projects, but this time as a paying customer. In 2009, we hired Eric to do a complete redesign of AoM. The site you?re looking at today is Eric?s handiwork. We?ve become a regular paying client of Eric?s, and it all started with him taking the?initiative and volunteering his services.

I could go on with more examples, but I think you get the idea. Start offering your services to people, and planting as many seeds as you can. They may not sprout immediately, but could very well bear fruit down the road.

And, it should go without saying, but even if you do that first thing for a potential client for free or at a discount, knock it out of the park! It?s basically your interview for a job. Wow the client with what you can do, and he?ll wonder what he ever did without you and eagerly start throwing more fully paid work your way. Half-ass it and your window of opportunity will close.

Take the Initiative!

So why do these initiative-taking methods work so well? Well, believe or not, companies have just as hard a time finding good people, as good people do finding good jobs. Put yourself in the shoes of the person doing the hiring?they?ve got stacks of applications to look through and it?s hard to distinguish on paper who might be worth calling in for an interview. It takes a lot of work to make that decision. By showing some initiative, you help do some of the work for them, as it shows you have moxie and ambition and that you really want this job: qualities that represent a big percentage of what they?re looking for in an employee.

Now taking the initiative in your job search doesn?t mean you?ll land your dream job tomorrow. But it is guaranteed to get you hired faster than waiting around for your next job to land in your lap.

What?s been your experience in taking the initiative when looking for a job? Share your advice with us in the comments!

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A guide to debt management in the uk

Do you want to repay your unsecured debts but pay less each month? A debt management plan may be the appropriate solution.

It reduces monthly payments for unsecured debts so living expenses become more manageable.

This allows you to regain control over your debts, making repayment more affordable so life can get back on track.

Rather than dreaming about becoming debt-free, use a debt management plan to make this reality.

Highlights of a debt management plan and our role:

• We negotiate lower repayments with unsecured creditors
• We remove hassles of creditor negotiation from you
• We request that creditors stop interest and other charges
• Unsecured debt repayment becomes more affordable for you
• We provide personalized and dedicated assistance throughout the process

Debt Management Plan Basics

When financial difficulties prevent you from maintaining contractual payments to creditors of unsecured debt, a debt management plan makes this easier to do. Though you can arrange a debt management plan on your own, having a third party like us do it saves time and frustration. We assume the role of provider, negotiating lower monthly repayments with each of your unsecured creditors. We also use our expertise and established relationships with those creditors to encourage them to suspend interest and other charges.

The process begins with one of our representative reviewing your financial situation. By creating a budget and determining how much income remains each month, we help you determine whether a debt management plan is the best solution to your financial issues. This also makes it easier for you to control your spending. Our advice is impartial and there is never any obligation to take it. We simply provide recommendations?whether you use them is up to you.

Why Choose A Debt Management Plan?

If it has become difficult for you to manage your debts, avoid the urge to do nothing. Ignoring the situation will not make the problem go away. It will actually make it worse, especially if you begin to miss payments. Rather than allowing creditors to pressure you into paying more than you can afford, explore a debt management plan. Reducing payments to a feasible level helps rectify the financial situation rather than worsening it.

A debt management plan makes debt repayment affordable. With a third party arranging the reduced payment, you are spared the trouble. All debts will be combined into one monthly payment, making financial management easier. Taking the appropriate action to repay debts reduces the risk of becoming subject to legal action from creditors. This avoids additional damage to the credit rating, not to mention the stigma associated with these processes.

Establishing A Debt Management Plan

If you owe between ?3,000 and ?12,000 in unsecured debts like credit cards, personal loans, store cards, and bank overdrafts, you may qualify for a debt management plan. This plan is an agreement between a debtor and creditors for a revised monthly payment. This payment is based on how much you can afford to pay after accounting for essential living expenses like food and shelter. When you establish a debt management plan, you make a new commitment to repay unsecured debts in full. We ask creditors to freeze interest and other charges during the setup process and many creditors agree to this, making debt repayment more affordable.

When we help arrange debt management plans for our customers, we serve as an intermediary, handling negotiations and payments directly with creditors. This plan is voluntary and can only be used to repay debts that are not secured against property or other assets. Once a creditor agrees to the plan, it may not contact you, request payment, or take you to court as long as you adhere to the established terms and conditions.

How A Debt Management Plan Works

If your unsecured creditors agree to participate in a debt management plan, you will know your revised monthly payment for each debt. You submit to us one monthly payment that equals the monthly installment due to each creditor. We then allocate the appropriate amount to each creditor. You have only one payment to submit each month, making debt repayment more convenient for you.

As monthly payments continue, debt balances begin falling. Though you have committed to repay debts in full, you are doing it over a longer period of time, making the process more affordable. When the plan concludes, each covered debt will have been repaid in full, leaving you debt-free. By adhering to the budget established at the beginning of the process, many people are able to remain debt-free forever and even begin saving for the future.

Positives And Negatives Of A Debt Management Plan

This plan offers several advantages:

• reduced monthly payments
• a single monthly payment makes it easier to stay on track with debt repayment
• creditors may freeze interest and other charges
• creditors may not take additional collection or legal action to recoup money owed
• flexible enough to change based on your financial status
• covered unsecured debts are cleared once the plan concludes

However, it also features several drawbacks:

• not everyone qualifies
• debts may not be written off, they must be repaid in full
• creditors are not obligated to participate or freeze interest or other charges
• secured debts including the mortgage are not covered
• credit rating is affected because reduced monthly payments are recorded on credit history

Features Of A Good Debt Management Company

Put some thought into selecting a company to administer a debt management plan. Using an inexperienced organization can create more financial headaches. When selecting a provider or operator for a debt management plan look for a company that:

• is licensed through the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)
• discusses all available debt management options
• provides objective advice and does not pressure you to choose a solution
• clearly details any costs before the plan is finalized
• explains ramifications of late or missed payments
• explains plan terms and conditions before the plan begins, including amount of monthly payment and length of repayment term
• details reasons that it could stop administering the plan

Each of the factors above describes our approach to doing business. In addition to telling you when a debt management plan might be the best solution, we will tell you when it is not. This plan is not recommended if the following statements apply:

• all debts are secured by the home or another asset
• the existing repayment amounts for unsecured debts are affordable
• amount of available income is too small to establish a reasonable repayment time or permit regular repayments

If we determine that a debt management plan is not the best solution, we will provide alternatives. You can also refer to the guides on our website to explore these offerings. Rest assured that the answer to your debt issues is within reach. After learning more about your financial situation, one of our debt management experts will quickly make recommendations.

The Debt Management Plan In A Nutshell:

• A debt management plan is designed for UK resident who are unable to afford the established monthly payments for unsecured debts.
• The plan does not reduce or write off debts but enables making reduced payments each month until covered debts are repaid in full.
• This plan is an informal solution so it is not legally binding. Creditors are not obligated to agree to it and you may cancel it at any time.
• You make a single monthly payment to us and we allocate the appropriate amount to each creditor included in the plan.
• Covered creditors should cease contact and further collection actions.
• It takes longer to pay off debts because monthly payments are reduced. If the debt management company takes a portion of payments for its services, the repayment period is further extended.

Think about your financial situation and decide whether a debt management plan is the best solution. If you are unsure, contact us for guidance. If this plan is the best solution, we take the lead in negotiating with creditors and setting up the framework. You deal directly with us, letting us interact with your creditors. If your financial situation improves or worsens, we will help adjust the debt management plan accordingly.

Our experts make debt management as painless as possible. They make no judgments, only offer advice and solutions. While the plan is in effect, they stay in contact to provide updates and answer questions that may arise. At all times, you will know exactly where you stand financially with each covered creditor, providing peace of mind until debts are repaid.

The best time to take control of debt is before it becomes unmanageable. A debt management plan is one way to handle debts that have become unaffordable, before things reach crisis stage. Taking action today can prevent many headaches in the future. Creditors will stop their relentless efforts to obtain payment and you will be on the road to becoming debt-free.

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Romney tells vets dangerous world demands powerful military (reuters)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Long-awaited car museum opens in Wash. - KHQ Right Now - News ...

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - 1 of the largest car museums in the country has opened in Tacoma, Wash., after much anticipation and years of fundraising.

The $60 million LeMay-America's Car Museum opened Saturday, featuring about 150 vehicles. Some of the vehicles are rare, and many are on loan from collectors and museums across the country.

Others came from the private collection of Harold LeMay, the late Pierce County millionaire who had the idea for the museum. The News-Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/KAdJWb ) that Le-May at one time owned about 3,000 cars, trucks and motorcycles - recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's largest private automotive collection.

The four-story, 165,000-square foot museum is located on a nine-acre campus in downtown Tacoma, Wash. Officials expect about 500,000 visitors a year.

Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Technology to keep you fit

(ARA) ? As Americans? appetites for new gadgets grow, so do our waste lines. But what if your iPad or smartphone or even your gaming system could help you get in shape and stay there? While your smartphone can?t double as a dumbbell, all that technology you?re lugging around actually can help get and keep you fit.

If you?re always on the go, start measuring just how far you are going with a pedometer application for your smartphone. And kick it up a notch with one that will post your results to your Facebook page. ?Not only does it track you, but it let?s all your friends know if you?re slacking,? says Shannan Wheaton, academic director for Graphic Design and Web Design & Interactive Media at The Art Institute of Ohio ? Cincinnati. You can take your workout to the next level with race training apps that will help to pace you, maximize your potential and get you ready for your first 5K or fifth marathon.

If you?re always eating out or want to know just how much of a caloric punch that a gallon of ice cream really packs, there are plenty of apps that will help you count your calories. You can choose from thousands of restaurant menus stored on the app or choose your favorite supermarket foods. The apps will even help you calculate how many calories per day you should consume based on your current height, weight and goals. Those apps also allow you to track the calories you burn during exercise and take that into account when giving you a daily calorie allotment.

And if you can?t be bothered to type in your food selection, Ted Long, academic director of Web Design & Interactive Media, Digital Filmmaking & Video Production and Visual Effects & Motion Graphics at The Illinois Institute of Art ? Schaumburg has a solution. ?Mealsnap lets you take a picture of the food you?re about to consume and gives you the calorie count by comparing your image to the images it has stored in its database,? he says.

Once you get home and start charging your phone, you may want to unwind with your Xbox, Wii or Playstation. Good thing all three systems have interactive workouts that could have you doing crunches, boxing against a virtual opponent or dancing the pounds off. ?Any activity you can do outside, like cross country skiing or baseball, you can do with these gaming systems,? says Li Harmon academic director of Game Art & Design, Media Arts & Animation and Visual Effects & Motion Graphics at The Art Institute of Las Vegas. Harmon adds that some of these games even make you feel guilty if you haven?t done your virtual workout in a while.

If you?re always heading out of town on business and don?t want to sweat it out at the hotel gym, take your virtual yoga instructor with you. Long says there?s a yoga app that comes with HD video so you can see each of your instructor?s positions more clearly.

Wheaton says there?s more of that kind of workout coming in the future. ?We?re heading toward a video world and we?re going to see more virtual personal trainers in the future.?

Just how effective will all these technologies be in the long run? Wheaton, Long and Harmon all agree, that just like a gym membership, you have to use it to get results.

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Real Salt Lake still rolling

Associated Press Sports

updated 11:45 p.m. ET May 26, 2012

SANDY, Utah (AP) - Nat Borchers doesn't score many goals. When the veteran defender does come up with one, however, they usually are clutch.

That was certainly the case Saturday night when Borchers scored in stoppage time to give Real Salt Lake a 3-2 victory over FC Dallas.

Alvaro Saborio had two second-half goals to help Salt Lake (9-3-2) extend its unbeaten streak to six games. Dallas (3-8-4) is winless in nine games, despite getting second-half goals from Matt Hedges and Blas Perez, and hasn't won in Utah since 2007.

Borchers scored in the 93rd minute. A loose ball fell to his feet deep in the center of the box after being knocked around a bit. Borchers had a clear lane for a shot and the veteran defender hooked the ball inside the right post.

"We were pushing for that goal," Borchers said. "All the guys were fighting and were getting chances. It's going to happen when you put pressure on a team like that."

Injuries and absences for other reasons left both teams short-handed. A total of seven midfielders and defenders were scrubbed because of injuries for FC Dallas. An eighth player, Brek Shea, wasn't available because of a suspension. RSL didn't have goalkeeper Nick Rimando or team captain Kyle Beckerman because both were playing with the U.S. national team Saturday.

Even while suffering a loss, Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman felt encouraged by the effort he saw for 90 minutes. Hyndman was convinced his team did enough to nearly steal a point on the road.

"It's encouraging to score two goals," Hyndman said. "It's more encouraging to come back twice and not give up with the adversity that was out there."

Effects from the talent drain were felt in the first half. Dallas and Salt Lake combined for just seven shots and neither team could do much to gain advantage. Windy conditions also made balls hang in the air longer than normal and caused problems for each offense.

RSL coach Jason Kreis counted on things changing once the conditions grew more manageable in the second half.

"I wasn't anticipating the gates to open against us, but I was anticipating for us to score some goals - which we did," Kreis said.

Salt Lake finally found some life on offense in the 59th minute. Terakazu Tanaka sent a cross to Saborio at the right post. Saborio leapt up and sent a header through the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.

Dallas tied it at 1 in the 75th minute when Hedges launched a right footer from a difficult angle and snapped a 325 minute shutout streak by RSL. Goalkeeper Kyle Reynish actually parried away the initial shot from Hedges, but he did so from behind the goal line and the goal counted.

Saborio came through right away to extinguish any momentum Dallas gained from the equalizer. He latched onto a pass from Ned Grabavoy and then drilled a right footer from the right side of the box to make it 2-1 for Salt Lake.

Dallas tied it at 2 in the 85th minute when Perez fired a shot from the center of the box and the ball slipped off Reynish's glove.

Borchers erased those rallies in the end, but losing the lead twice did not sit well with several players in the RSL locker room.

"When you're out there and you give up leads like that, it's just absolutely deflating - especially when you work that long in the game to not really give them anything," Grabavoy said.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Donovan delivers

Landon Donovan returned to the U.S. national team following an eight-month absence and scored his first international hat trick in five years, leading the Americans over Scotland 5-1 in a friendly Saturday night.

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Hurricane Bud Intensifies Off Coast of Mexico

18.3N 106.7W

May 25th, 2012 Category: Tropical Cyclones

Enhanced image

Track of TS 02E

After intensifying into?Tropical Storm Bud (02E)?on May 22, with 40 mph sustained winds, the area of low pressure off the coast of Mexico remained at this intensity for one day before strengthening again. Starting early on May 23, the system reached winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) during the afternoon. By the next morning (May 24), Bud continued its rapid intensification, reaching sustained winds of 85 mph, and then 110 mph by the afternoon, as the system turned northward. Later on the same day, Bud turned to the northeast, and began to approach the coast of Western Mexico.

As of 2 p.m. PDT (2100 UTC) May 25, Hurricane Bud is located within 10 nautical miles of 19.2?N 105.5?W, about 80 mi (130 km) west of Manzanillo, Mexico and about 85 mi (135 km) south of Cabo Corrientes, Mexico. Maximum sustained winds are 65 knots (75 mph, 120 km/h), with stronger gusts. Minimum central pressure is 995 mbar (hPa; 29.38 InHg), and the system is moving north at 6 kt (7 mph, 11 km/h). Hurricane force winds extend up to 12 miles (19 km) from the center of Bud, and tropical storm force winds up to 105 miles (19 km) from the center.

Tags: 02E Bud Hurricane Mexico | | You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed

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Kansas governor signs bill banning Islamic law

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) - Republican Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill aimed at keeping state courts and agencies from using Islamic or other non-U.S. laws when making decisions, his office said on Friday, drawing criticism from a national Muslim group.

The law has been dubbed the "sharia bill" because critics say it targets the Islamic legal code. Sharia, or Islamic law, covers all aspects of Muslim life, including religious obligations and financial dealings. Opponents of state bans say they could nullify wills or legal contracts between Muslims.

Supporters said the law will reassure foreigners in Kansas that state laws and the U.S. Constitution would protect them. Opponents said it singled out Muslims for ridicule and was unnecessary because American laws prevail on U.S. soil.

Sherriene Jones-Sontag, a spokeswoman for the governor, said in an e-mail that the bill "makes it clear that Kansas courts will rely exclusively on the laws of our state and our nation when deciding cases and will not consider the laws of foreign jurisdictions."

Legislators supporting the bill said there were many cases around the country where judges or state agencies cited sharia law in deciding cases, especially involving divorce-related custody and property matters where Islamic code differs from U.S. law.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington denounced the Kansas law and said it is considering legal action.

About 20 states have considered similar legislation but the Kansas law is the only one signed in recent weeks, council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said.

"It's unfortunate the governor chose to pander to the growing Islam-phobia in our society that has led to introduction of similar unconstitutional and un-American legislation in dozens of state legislatures," Hooper said.

Hooper said legislators have often referred to sharia law in supporting such legislation, but he said they take the word out of the bill to stave off legal challenges. The Kansas bill does not mention sharia.

Federal courts struck down an Oklahoma law voters approved in 2010 that barred state judges from considering sharia law in making decisions. The court called the law discriminatory.

(Editing by Greg McCune and Stacey Joyce)

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Analysts play down higher-grade uranium find in Iran

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Cannes 2012: Critics Scorecard

50%

Easily one of the more buzzed-about titles in contention this year, David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis has pundits excited for both the Canadian auteur's apparent return to his old style and the fact that it stars Twilight pin-up Robert Pattinson in the role to really break him out of that franchise. And the early word is extremely divided -- which, given how much some people loathed, say, Videodrome at the time, can only be a good thing. Pattinson gets praised for his performance, but responses to the movie are running from Hitfix's rave of "defiantly unlovable" (great) to The Guardian's "agonizingly self-conscious and meagre" (hmmm). A Palme d'Or for Cronemberg is unlikely -- but stranger things have happened.

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Video: Man held in connection with Etan Patz case

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Free Legal Question: Criminal Law | Texas | Assault FM - anyway to ...

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Inquiry hears of wider Secret Service misbehavior

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, left, and Department of Homeland Security's acting Inspector General Charles K. Edwards, testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan,left, and Department of Homeland Security's acting Inspector General Charles K. Edwards, prepare to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, accompanied by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., left, and the committee's ranking Republican Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, to testify before the committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The lawmaker leading an inquiry into the Secret Service prostitution scandal reported dozens of "troubling" episodes of past misbehavior Wednesday and appealed to insiders to come forward with what they know as investigators try to determine whether a culture of misconduct took root in the storied agency.

"We can only know what the records of the Secret Service reveal," Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman said in opening the first Senate hearing into the matter. And those records, however incomplete, show 64 instances of allegations or complaints of sexual misconduct made against Secret Service employees in the last five years, he said.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, speaking to the inquiry, apologized for the behavior of the employees in Colombia. But his assertion that the agency has a "zero tolerance" policy on such conduct did not convince the lawmakers, who brought more allegations to light.

Lieberman cited three complaints of inappropriate relationships with a foreign national and one of "non-consensual intercourse," which he did not elaborate on. Sullivan said that complaint was investigated by outside law enforcement officers who decided not to prosecute.

Sullivan also told the committee an agent was fired in a 2008 Washington prostitution episode, after trying to hire an uncover police officer.

Many of the other complaints cited by Lieberman involved agency employees sending sexually suggestive emails.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told the hearing several small groups of Secret Service employees separately visited clubs, bars and brothels in Colombia prior to a visit by President Barack Obama last month and engaged in reckless, "morally repugnant" behavior.

Collins said the employees' actions could have provided a foreign intelligence service, drug cartels or other criminals with opportunities for blackmail or coercion threatening the president's safety.

And she challenged early assurances that the scandal in Colombia appeared to be an isolated incident. She noted that two participants were Secret Service supervisors ? one with 21 years of service and the other with 22 years ? and both were married. Their involvement "surely sends a message to the rank and file that this kind of activity is tolerated on the road," Collins said.

"This was not a one-time event," said Collins, the senior Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "The circumstances unfortunately suggest an issue of culture."

Lieberman didn't go that far, saying a historical pattern cannot be established from what is known so far.

But he said: "It is hard for many people, including me, to believe that on one night in April 2012 in Cartagena, Colombia, 11 secret service agents ? there to protect the president ? suddenly and spontaneously did something they or other agents had never done before; that is to say, gone in groups of two, three or four to four different night clubs or strip joints and drank to excess and bring foreign national women back to their hotel rooms."

The misbehavior became public after a dispute over payment between a Secret Service agent and a prostitute at a Cartagena hotel on April 12. The Secret Service was in the coastal resort for a Latin American summit before Obama's arrival.

Collins said several small groups of agency employees from two hotels went out separately to clubs, bars and brothels and they "all ended up in similar circumstances."

"Contrary to the conventional story line, this was not simply a single, organized group that went out for a night on the town together," Collins said.

Senators focused on whether the Secret Service permitted a culture in which such behavior was tolerated. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has testified previously that she would be surprised if there were other examples, but senators have been skeptical.

Sullivan told senators the behavior in Colombia wasn't representative of the agency's nearly 7,000 employees. "I can understand how the question could be asked," Sullivan said, calling his employees "among the most dedicated, hardest working, self-sacrificing employees within the federal government."

He also told senators that Obama's security was never at risk. The officers implicated in the prostitution scandal could not have inadvertently disclosed sensitive security details because their confidential briefing about Obama's trip had not taken place.

"At the time the misconduct occurred, none of the individuals involved in the misconduct had received any specific protective information, sensitive security documents, firearms, radios or other security-related equipment in their hotel rooms," Sullivan said.

Sullivan has survived professionally so far based on his openness about what happened. Senators were not expected to ask for his resignation, and the acting inspector general for the Homeland Security Department, Charles K. Edwards, gave Sullivan high marks for integrity.

Edwards, who estimated that the early stages of his own investigation would be finished before July 2, said the Secret Service "has been completely transparent and cooperative."

"The Secret Service's efforts to date in investigating its own employees should not be discounted," Edwards told senators. "It has done credible job of uncovering the facts and, where appropriate, it has taken swift and decisive action."

The White House on Tuesday reasserted its confidence in Sullivan. Obama "has great faith in the Secret Service, believes the director has done an excellent job," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "The director moved very quickly to have this matter investigated and took action very quickly as a result of that investigation."

A dozen Secret Service officers and supervisors and 12 other U.S. military personnel were implicated. Eight Secret Service employees, including the two supervisors, have lost their jobs. The Secret Service is moving to permanently revoke the security clearance for one other employee, and three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing. Sullivan told the lawmakers that two employees who originally resigned now are fighting to get their jobs back.

Prostitution is legal in Colombia, but Sullivan quickly issued new guidelines that made it clear that agents on assignment overseas are subject to U.S. laws.

Sullivan said he directed Secret Service inspectors to investigate reports of similar misconduct in San Salvador. After 28 interviews with hotel employees and managers, State Department officials and others, "no evidence was found to substantiate the allegations," Sullivan said.

This week the Drug Enforcement Administration said the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General was investigating possible misconduct by two or more agents in Colombia. Collins revealed that the case involved at least two DEA employees who entertained female masseuses in the Cartagena apartment of one of the DEA agents. The investigation is unrelated to the Secret Service scandal but is based on information provided to the DEA by the Secret Service.

Associated Press

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