Britain set to review cigarette packaging: media - ( 1NT3RN4TNL )

Posted by admin at 1:21 AM


(Reuters) – The UK government is set to announce a review of cigarette packaging in an effort to deter youngsters from smoking, British media reports said on Wednesday citing sources.

The David Cameron government in July delayed plans to ban company branding on cigarette packets, a move that was strongly criticised by health campaigners.

The government distanced itself earlier, saying it wanted to first see the impact of a similar decision in Australia.

The Times on Wednesday reported that the British government will announce a review, the findings of which are expected to strongly back the case for plain packaging, and plain cigarette packets are expected to be on shop shelves before the 2015 election.

“We need immediate legislation for standard cigarette packaging, not another review. The Government needs to stand up to the tobacco industry’s vested interests,” Labour Party’s Shadow Public Health Minister Luciana Berger said on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in July that plain packaging would increase the impact of health warnings, stop consumers from thinking some products were less harmful, and make tobacco products less attractive for adults and children.

Six million people die every year from smoking and the toll is projected to rise to eight million by 2030, according to the WHO.

(Reporting by Aashika Jain in Bangalore. Editing by Andre Grenon)

//

 

Kim Kardashian lässt Kleidung auf eBay für Charity ve - ( 1NT3RN4TNL )

Posted by admin at 12:21 AM


von






Cinya Burton






| Übersetzt von Elke Bernd

23. November 2013 – 00:04

Victoria Beckham ist nicht die Einzige, die ausgemistete Kleidungsstücke (und Schuhe!) für einen guten Zweck spendet. Auch Kim Kardashian lässt auf eBay Kleider aus ihrer Garderobe versteigern, um Opfern des Taifuns in den Philippinen zu helfen.

Auf ihrer Webseite fordert sie:

„Hi Leute, diese Auktion liegt mir sehr am Herzen, da ein Teil des Erlöses dieser eBay-Versteigerung an das International Medical Corps geht, eine Wohltätigkeitsorganisation, die Familien, die auf entfernten Inseln leben, nicht nur medizinisch, sondern auch mit Grundlebensmitteln, sauberem Trinkwasser und wichtigen Medikamenten versorgen wird. Die Einnahmen kommen den Gemeinden, mit denen sie auf den Philippinen zusammenarbeiten, zugute und werden den Überlebenden des Taifuns Zugang zu medizinischer Versorgung bieten und somit Leben retten. Meine Gedanken und Gebete sind bei den Taifun-Opfern. Werft einen Blick auf meine eBay-Auktion und unterstützt diejenigen auf den Philippinen, die unsere Hilfe benötigen. Xo.”

Kim teilt neues Foto von Baby Norths „Mädeltag”

Was es zu ersteigern gibt? Alles was das Designerklamotten-Herz begehrt, angefangen von einem blaugrünen Bleistiftrock von L’Wren Scott, bis hin zu einer Spitzen-Bluse von Dolce & Gabbana. Und selbstverständlich gibt es auch eine Vielzahl weißer Outfits (ihre aktuelle Lieblingsfarbe!), inklusive einem Kleid aus der Kardashian Kollection.

Kim Kardashians Stil nach der Geburt

VIDEOS:

//

 

Scott Morrison in Nauru TV news report – video - ( 1NT3RN4TNL )

Posted by admin at 11:21 PM

A recording of a Nauruan TV news report shows the minister for immigration and border protection, Scott Morrison, addressing a group of asylum seekers who had been transferred to Nauru detention. Morrison informs them they will not be settled in Australia and should pass on the message to family and friends. The video was reportedly filmed from Nauruan television in October

  • Source: Bronwyn McNamee
  • Length: 3min 52sec
  • theguardian.com
  • Thursday 28 November 2013
//

 

U.S. judge dismisses Apple consumer lawsuit over data privacy - ( 1NT3RN4TNL )

Posted by admin at 10:21 PM

By Casey Sullivan | Reuters – 

By Casey Sullivan

(Reuters) – A California federal judge has dismissed a consumer lawsuit over data privacy against Apple Inc, saying the plaintiffs had failed to show they had relied on any alleged company misrepresentations and that they had suffered harm.

The four plaintiffs claimed in 2011 that Apple had violated its privacy policy, saying the iPhone maker had designed its iOS environment to easily transmit personal information to third parties that collect and analyze such data without user consent or detection.

They also claimed that they suffered damages by paying too much money for their iPhones and by losing storage space, among other things, according to court documents.

U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh in San Jose, California dismissed the case.

“Plaintiffs must be able to provide some evidence that they saw one or more of Apple’s alleged misrepresentations, that they actually relied on those misrepresentations, and that they were harmed thereby,” Koh said in the November 25 ruling.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs and Apple either did not respond to requests for comment or declined to comment.

The case is one part of nationwide litigation Koh is overseeing that consolidates 19 related lawsuits.

The case is In re Apple Inc. iPhone/iPad Application Consumer Privacy Litigation, 11-md-02250, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).

(Reporting by Casey Sullivan; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

//

 

U.S. judge dismisses Apple consumer lawsuit over data privacy - ( 1NT3RN4TNL )

Posted by admin at 10:21 PM

By Casey Sullivan | Reuters – 

By Casey Sullivan

(Reuters) – A California federal judge has dismissed a consumer lawsuit over data privacy against Apple Inc, saying the plaintiffs had failed to show they had relied on any alleged company misrepresentations and that they had suffered harm.

The four plaintiffs claimed in 2011 that Apple had violated its privacy policy, saying the iPhone maker had designed its iOS environment to easily transmit personal information to third parties that collect and analyze such data without user consent or detection.

They also claimed that they suffered damages by paying too much money for their iPhones and by losing storage space, among other things, according to court documents.

U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh in San Jose, California dismissed the case.

“Plaintiffs must be able to provide some evidence that they saw one or more of Apple’s alleged misrepresentations, that they actually relied on those misrepresentations, and that they were harmed thereby,” Koh said in the November 25 ruling.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs and Apple either did not respond to requests for comment or declined to comment.

The case is one part of nationwide litigation Koh is overseeing that consolidates 19 related lawsuits.

The case is In re Apple Inc. iPhone/iPad Application Consumer Privacy Litigation, 11-md-02250, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).

(Reporting by Casey Sullivan; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

//

 

Troubled HealthCare.gov to switch website hosting to HP - ( 1NT3RN4TNL )

Posted by admin at 9:21 PM


By Margaret Chadbourn and Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The agency in charge of the troubled HealthCare.gov website said on Wednesday is it switching providers of Web hosting services, the latest change for the website at the heart of President Barack Obama’s health care reforms.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it is replacing data center services from Verizon Communications Inc’s Terremark subsidiary, with services from Hewlett-Packard Co.

Terremark’s data center experienced issues in late October that caused outages across the system, prompting embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to phone Verizon’s chief executive to discuss the problems.

Obama and Sebelius had promised the website would make it easy to shop for health insurance required under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

Instead, slow response times, error messages and outages like the ones seen at Terremark’s data center meant few Americans have been able to enroll so far.

The disaster has fueled Republican criticism of the law, and alarmed Democrats who supported it. The administration has had to scramble to make fixes in the hopes enough Americans sign up by deadlines in December and March.

Both Verizon and HP declined comment on the contract change, as did the White House, which referred questions about the contract to CMS.

CMS said its contract with Terremark had been set to end in March 2014. Last summer, several months before the botched October 1 launch of HealthCare.gov, the agency issued a “task order” asking for bids. HP was awarded that contract, a CMS spokesman said in a statement.

The contract change was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Now, CMS needs to transition its data center to HP at a time when it is just beginning to dig out from a mountain of problems with the website, which is designed to let consumers shop for health insurance required under Obama’s signature health care law.

The complexity of the switch between data center providers could be an additional challenge for the project. A CMS spokesman did not respond to questions about whether the transition would affect the website.

The Obama administration has said it plans to have the website working smoothly for most users by this weekend.

Part of that upgrade involves doubling capacity so the website can handle 50,000 users at once.

A source close to the project, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there are some concerns about the website’s ability to handle so many users because of problems with switches and servers maintained by Terremark.

“CMS has begun the necessary activities to transition the data center over to HP. We are working to ensure a smooth transition between the two contractors,” the CMS spokesman said in a statement.

Verizon has received $ 55.4 million for its work on the healthcare marketplaces since its contract started in 2011, according to federal contracting records.

(Additional reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Christopher Wilson and Lisa Shumaker)

//

 

Typhoon aid appeal response hailed - ( 1NT3RN4TNL )

Posted by admin at 6:07 PM

Press Association – 

Tech-savvy Britons have donated a record £6 million to Philippines typhoon victims via tablets and smartphones.

The new method of donating has helped pushed the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) overall donation total to £65 million.

The DEC said when its appeal was launched over two weeks ago, more than £750,000 was raised via text messages alone in the first hour. In comparison, roughly £100,000 was raised during the same period for the East Africa crisis.

Further text donation surges followed, including during an England football fixture on November 15 and an appeal on X Factor.

The charity said the push towards mobile donations represents an overall trend towards electronic donations.

The DEC said £3.5 million donations have been through tablets, £1.3 million via texts and £5.7 million through PayPal, which included £1.75 from tablets and smart phones.

“It is now even easier to make a donation to DEC appeals wherever and whenever you want,” DEC Head of Fundraising Adil Husseini said.

“We have made sure there are a number of different ways to quickly and efficiently give money so that it can be raised as fast as possible and ensure that aid reaches people in desperate need right now.

“We have seen that sending text donations is increasingly popular, and offering people the choice to give via PayPal accounts has also made the process of donating via mobiles, tablets and computers much faster and hassle free for many.

“More than one million people have given money since the appeal began, and the public’s generous donations have helped enabled our member aid agencies to reach hundreds of thousands of people in the Philippines who have had their lives torn apart by this disaster.”

The DEC said a £25 donation would buy water purification tablets for 10 families for a month, £50 would feed a family for two weeks, while £100 would buy emergency shelter and bedding for one family.

//

 

;;
Subscribe to: (Atom)