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Massive blackouts hit Florida

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Massive blackouts occurred throughout the US state of Florida shortly after 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (18:00 UTC) on Tuesday afternoon. Out of the 4.4 million customers served by Florida Power & Light, Co. (FPL), about 680,000 residents were affected, with an additional two million-plus customers affected in other parts of the state. It is estimated that as many as four million customers throughout Florida were affected, with many different power companies losing control of their specific grids.

Power outages were reported as far south as the Florida Keys, on the original FPL grid, and as far north as Orlando and Daytona Beach, nearly 300 miles (483 km) away on the Progress Energy grid. Most of Miami-Dade and parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties suffered the worst outages.

FPL President Armando Olivera said that a disconnect switch failed at 1:08 p.m. at the automated substation west of Miami, and a piece of equipment that controls voltage caught fire about the same time. Neither failure by itself would have caused a widespread outage. The event at the utility’s Flagami substation consequently led to the rolling blackouts.

Originally the first failure was thought to have occurred at the utility’s nuclear plant at Turkey Point. It is still unclear how failure at this site spread, but with power turning off at the main Turkey Point location, which serves all of south Florida, FPL’s grid shut down as well. It contributed to a domino effect which ended up sapping energy from bordering grids all over Florida.

Police reported several people were stuck in the elevators of high-rise buildings in downtown Miami and several hospitals were running on backup power, although no injuries or fatalities have been reported. The blackouts caused major traffic jams and a few accidents, but the original outage was contained shortly after it occurred. All customers affected had power restored to them by 6:30 p.m. (23:30 UTC).

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Getting Home Loan In India

Getting Home Loan In India

by

pankaj1

A home loan in India is termed as the best of financial assistance for anyone who wishes to purchase a home property. This type of loan is also valuable for those who want to erect a home or renovate an existing home. In this sense, having a home finance or housing finance is the best way to minimize the financial burden regarding fulfillment of necessities related to housing needs. Getting a hand on such loan has become more comfortable experience with emergence of banks or lending institutes which have mushroomed across the country.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb0tFVLUnzk[/youtube]

People make a comprehensive quest to choose a good lender regarding acquisition of housing finance. This is very important thing to do before making any attempt to search a loan for new home. Although the housing finance serves your housing needs greatly, but some associated conditions such as documental procedures, processing fees and eligibility criteria make the entire loan sanctioning procedures a time consuming task. From a bank’s perspective, these are mandatory to eventually ensure credibility and creditworthiness of potential borrowers, but from a customer’s perspective, it is a never ending process. However, customers have to bite the bullet by abiding by such procedures before getting a hand on their proposed housing finance. Before choosing any home loan offer, it is quite prudential of you to search a home property first. Because, a bank will ask you secure collateral and home property on which you need finance. In addition, customers should ensure that they don’t incur outstanding balance from any previous or current bank. With incurred pending loan, you can’t qualify for a new home finance. It is hence requested to clear off pending loans before trying a new loan. Adding further, you are also advised to have your income capacity increased by clubbing income of your relative like spouse or children or parents. Remember, the higher your income, the better you have a chance to get your loan sanctioned. When it comes to choosing a housing loan, you should make the most use of online source. This will eventually benefit you get a best deal over your loan. There are numerous banks in India however you can go for some famous banks like hdfc, icici, Citibank, sbi or pnb housing finance to acquire your housing loan at attractive interest rate. The online search will also help you know home loan offers in terms of loan amount, repayment duration, prepayment charge, interest rate etc.Home loan EMI calculator

to calculate

punjab national bank home loan

EMI.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com

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US Boy Scouts and hikers airlifted from wildfire in Utah

Friday, July 20, 2007

On Friday, a group of hikers and 18 boy scouts were airlifted by helicopters away from a wildfire in Nephi Canyon, Utah. The hikers and scouts escaped into a rough rocky area to keep a safe distance from the dangerous wildfire after it advanced on their campground.

The wildfire started in a campground in Salt Creek Canyon, 85 miles from Salt Lake City, and has burned 13,000 acres across 20 square miles as of Friday. The fire has burned a campground and motel, and forced the evacuation of all campgrounds and cabins in its path.

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Category:April 29, 2010

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Category:April 29, 2010
Author: Admin Posted under: Uncategorized
? April 28, 2010
April 30, 2010 ?
April 29

Pages in category “April 29, 2010”

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Online retailer Zappos.com hit by hackers

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Online retailer Zappos.com hit by hackers
Author: Admin Posted under: Uncategorized

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Zappos.com, one of the largest online retailers of shoes and apparel, disclosed Sunday that it was hit by a cyber attack. The attack compromised as many as 24 million accounts. Personal data may have been taken, but credit card numbers are encrypted and thus cannot be stolen.

Information that may have been compromised includes customers shipping addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, account passwords and the last four digits of any credit card used. Though credit card numbers are encrypted by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, other personal information is often not. This is common practice among e-commerce websites.

… there’s no one fighting for the individual consumer whose e-mail address falls into the possession of hackers.

Todd Feinman of Identity Finder told USA Today, “Visa and MasterCard fight to protect credit card numbers, but there’s no one fighting for the individual consumer whose e-mail address falls into the possession of hackers.”

Zappos.com required its users change their account passwords. It notified users of the required change and updated on the situation through an email. They also advised users to change their password on other websites if it is similar to the one used on Zappos.

In a blogpost, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh said “We’ve spent over 12 years building our reputation, brand, and trust with our customers. It’s painful to see us take so many steps back due to a single incident. I suppose the one saving grace is that the database that stores our customers’ critical credit card and other payment data was not affected or accessed.”

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Private Institutions Pioneering Modern Education In India

Author: Admin Posted under: School Academy

Private Institutions Pioneering Modern Education In India

by

Sanat Singha

India has no dearth of talent and avenues to prove that. Strongly built educational foundation and highly ambitious career planning- these two are the major driver of the growth over here. As experienced, Education and Career Industry are the most promising and profitable sectors in India and the credit goes much to the private educational institutions and training centres.

Private Institutions have led their ways

:

Well, the whole career building programs of every student is so synchronized and systematic here, that leaves no scope for poor complaints. Along with public organizations (Government sponsored), these professional education centres are also maximizing their value by delivering in-depth subject knowledge and conducting personal development orientation programs for their students.

Career options have flourished

:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxJgPHM5NYI[/youtube]

Starting from school and college level, to graduation, post-graduation (Any stream) and further studies- in every sphere of career development stages, they are providing wide-network of service. Professional and job oriented courses like Business Management programs (BBA, MBA),

Hospitality management career

course, overseas study program, technical courses; Vocational studies, competitive exam training etc. are also being conducted by these academic centres. Thus, a new horizon has come to light for the students to explore multiple career options and excel in their chosen career path.

What is so special about them

?

Here you get a competitive environment to grow among many successful students. Private universities, colleges and other study centres always maintain basic qualifying criteria for their students during admission. This filtration always enhances the quality of learning and in turn develops the student both academically and mentally. More often, the students need to pass through several stringent evaluation programs that seasons them for the competitive job market. When you get to learn from experienced professors, industry professionals, mentors, research scholars with different field of expertise, it is more than a mere classroom session. They will teach practical aspects of everything you learn from the book and help implementing those in your next job assignments.

Go global; it is affordable

:

Any educational stream you are into must conform to the Global standard. This is today s voice of job market. Just having a professional degree and a bunch of extra curricular certificates will not take you long in the near future. It all starts with perfect career counselling, then gaining domain expertise and finally executing it with great communication skill that matters the most. Your learning must be based on solid background and flourished through advanced training sessions.

If you are a serious student and have average financial support, there are plenty of private schools, colleges, and higher study centres to serve your purpose. You will not believe, with number of institutions growing up in our country, the whole system is getting budget friendly, flexible and easily accessible. Other than conventional programs, there are options like

tourism management courses

, art courses, language training, hotel management studies etc. to opt for.

So, what you are waiting for? Grab the best of the education service here in India.

This article is conceptualized and drafted by Sanat Singha, a professional writer in the field of management studies. He conducts training on

mba courses

and analyzes educational news in India. As per his suggestion, you can consult

dsmsindia.com/

for management training and other

postgraduate courses

.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com

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Anthrocon 2007 draws thousands to Pittsburgh for furry weekend

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Anthrocon 2007 draws thousands to Pittsburgh for furry weekend
Author: Admin Posted under: Uncategorized

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — Local caterers get ready for big business, as almost three thousand fans converge on the David L. Lawrence Convention Center over the Independence Day weekend for the world’s largest ever furry convention, Anthrocon 2007.

Many hope to renew acquaintances, or meet new friends. Others look to buy from dealers and artists, or show off new artwork or costumes. Some attend to make money, or even learn a thing or two. But one thing unites them: They’re all there to have fun.

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Wikinews interviews Rocky De La Fuente, U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate

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Wikinews interviews Rocky De La Fuente, U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate
Author: Admin Posted under: Uncategorized

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Businessman Rocky De La Fuente took some time to speak with Wikinews about his campaign for the U.S. Democratic Party’s 2016 presidential nomination.

The 61-year-old De La Fuente resides in San Diego, California, grew up in Tijuana, and owns multiple businesses and properties throughout the world. Since getting his start in the automobile industry, De La Fuente has branched out into the banking and real estate markets. Despite not having held or sought political office previously, he has been involved in politics, serving as the first-ever Hispanic superdelegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention.

De La Fuente entered the 2016 presidential race last October largely due to his dissatisfaction with Republican front-runner Donald Trump. He argues he is a more accomplished businessman than Trump, and attacks Trump as “a clown,” “a joke,” “dangerous,” and “in the same category as Hitler.” Nevertheless, De La Fuente’s business background begets comparisons with Trump. The Alaskan Midnight Sun blog described him as the Democrats’ “own Donald Trump.”

While receiving only minimal media coverage, he has campaigned actively, and according to the latest Federal Election Commission filing, loaned almost US$ 4 million of his own money to the campaign. He has qualified for 48 primary and caucus ballots, but has not yet obtained any delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Thus far, according to the count at The Green Papers, De La Fuente has received 35,406 votes, or 0.23% of the total votes cast. He leads among the many lesser-known candidates but trails both Senator Bernie Sanders who has received nearly 6.5 million votes and front-runner Hillary Clinton who has just shy of 9 million votes.

With Wikinews reporter William S. Saturn?, De La Fuente discusses his personal background, his positions on political issues, his current campaign for president, and his political future.

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VI Congress of Mayors and Councilors of the O’Higgins Region takes place in Pichilemu, Chile

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VI Congress of Mayors and Councilors of the O’Higgins Region takes place in Pichilemu, Chile
Author: Admin Posted under: Uncategorized

Saturday, May 15, 2010

The VI Congress of Mayors and Councilors of the O’Higgins Region, as part of the program of annual activities of the Chilean Association of Municipalities, is taking place in Pichilemu, Chile. It began last Thursday and will end today.

The congress is discussing the main topic, regional reconstruction, as well as how to manage setbacks in education, homes and health for each municipality.

The event was attended by almost 300 regional authorities and a Brazilian delegation that viewed the work of the mayors in the region, in addition to the Regional Counselors, Senators and Deputies. Chilean Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter was also invited to become acquainted with the needs of the region.

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Is Your Tax Status Self Employed Or Employed ?}

Author: Admin Posted under: International Tax Specialists

Is Your Tax Status Self Employed or Employed ?

by

Peter JonesHow can one establish if you are Self employed or an employee for UK tax purposes.

There is no actual or legal definition of what employment or self-employment is and it is based on previous judgments which are commonly referred to as ‘case law’.

There are some key points to take into account in deciding the status of an individual for Income Tax purposes in the UK.

Self employed business traders have various key distinguishing pointers and that self employed persons are able to :-

Manage and operate their own business taking all the required key decisions.

Take full responsibility for the success or failure of their business.

Decide how, where and when they carry out their work.

Hire other persons to do the work that is required the cost of which is borne by them.

Provide the plant, equipment and motor vehicles that is used to carry out the work

They are free to take holidays and time off when they want to.

Usually have more than one client or customer at the same time. This is not always the case as some trades such as motor cycle courier are treated as self employed but may only be providng services for one courier service on a subcontract basis. I will explain this in more detail later in this article

People who are employees will usually:-

Work for one employer at a time and they (the employer) are in charge of the work that is done by the employee. They could how ever have two employments perhaps a day job and a week end job.

Are directed by their employer as to how to carry out their duties and as to when and where they perform your work.

Will be required to work a pre set amount of hours each and every week.

Will qualify for paid holidays but can only take these holidays in line with their terms of employment as regards their length and timing.

Will benefit from being remunerated at the same fixed amount depending on the hours that are actually worked, and get paid for working overtime.

Casual work or work of a part-time nature can still be classed as either employed or self-employed depending on the facts. The fact that a position may be either casual or part time has nothing to do with their employment status.

Self employed motor cycle courriers despite possiby only provding services for one courier company they are generaly treated as self employed because of how they work. They have no guarantee of work and are dependent on work being allocated to them. So if there is no work they do not get paid and then they must be classed as self employed. They supply their own Motor Cycles and pay for their own fuel and running costs.

It is,of course, possible to be both self-employed and in self employment simultaneously in that one could be working for an employer during the day and involved in running your own self employed business at the week ends or in the evenings.

Each contract either of service or of employment must be considered independently on its merits.

As mentioned it is possible that one could be both self-employed under a contract of service and be an employee under a contract or employment.

If you are not sure you should take professional independent advice from an Accountant or somebody who specialises in this. My experience is that if you go to the tax office they do not have much real knowledge and always tend to suggest that one is an amployee. That way they keep their jobs and collect more tax for the Govenrment.

Whether one is an employee or self-employed depends simply on the facts of the actual working arrangements and the terms and conditions contained in the contract as these factors all need to be considered at the same time.

If you are self employed then,of course,you will be responsible for your own tax and National Insurance contributions.

You will need to advise HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) by registering with them within 3 months of commencing employment. It is possible to download a registration form from the HMRC web site or you can can register by making a call to the Newly Self-employed Helpline on 0845 915 4515 which is open 8.00 am to 8.00 pm Monday to Friday and 8.00 am to 5.00 pm Saturday and Sunday.

You will also need to file a Self Assessment tax return with in the required time limits and make payments as required for both National Insurance and Income Tax

If you are employed then the burden for actually deducting and paying your tax and National Insurance contributions will fall on your employer. This will be dealt with by under the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) system. With this tax system you need to ensure that you have been given the correct code number and are not on an emergency or week 1 basis.

If you are,then quite oftenly, you are taxed either on a week 1 code or on emergency tax which means that you will often be over taxed and usually will be due a tax refund at the end of the the tax year.

The Author writes many articles on Income Tax and for more information please go to

Paye Reclaims

Article Source:

eArticlesOnline.com}

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