Russian Hotel Booking Site Oktogo.ru Raises $11 ... - The Next Web

Fast-growing Russian online hotel booking service provider and travel agency Oktogo.ru has raised a third round of financing to the tune of $11 million, bringing its total raised to over $26 million.

Furthermore, the plan is to add another $40 million to the company?s coffers by the end of 2013, The Next Web has learned.

Prior backers such as VTB Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners and Ventech participated in this round, as did Internet entrepreneur and online marketing expert Victor Sazhin, who also joined the company?s board.

Angel investors in, and advisors to the company, include folks like Javier Perez-Tenessa (founder and CEO of Odigeo and eDreams), OLX founder Fabrice Grinda and Jose Marin (founder of IG Expansion and chairman of ViajaNet).

The new funds will be use for general ?brand building? purposes and strengthening Oktogo.ru?s regional business. Oktogo.ru is after a big chunk of the Russian online travel market, which is expected to exceed $10 billion in 2013 and double that by 2016, according to PhoCusWright.

It?s hardly alone, of course: a team of entrepreneurs with experience working for companies like Google, Booking.com, Yandex, TokBox and YouNoodle have started a rival site called Ostrovok.ru. According to Crunchbase, the startup has raised $13.6 million so far.

As for the founders of Oktogo.ru: they were also founding team members of Russia?s leading online property, Mail.ru, and helped build DataArt, a major software developer for the travel sector in Europe and the US.

It will be interesting to see just how big Oktogo and Ostrovok can get.

Marina Kolesnik, founder and CEO of Oktogo.ru, is confident:

?For the past year, Oktogo.ru has grown into the Russian market leader in online hotel booking. Our growth comes from converting travelers from offline to online.

We strive to build Oktogo.ru into the leading Russian online travel brand by innovating and investing in human capital.?

Designed specifically for Russian-speaking travelers, Oktogo.ru currently offers over 5,000 hotels in Russia and over 250,000 hotels worldwide.

The St. Petersburg-based company, which employs 120 staff, claims its website attracts more than 1 million unique visitors each month.

Oktogo.ru made $30 million last year, up from $6 million in 2011.

Kolesnik tells me that their main online competitors are indeed sites like Ostrovok and major international ones such as Booking.com, but that they?re really trying to get customers to move away from offline channels such as physical travel agencies and the like, which she considers a far bigger challenge.

The company is now focused on growing its presence throughout Russia, both physically (by opening new offices but also attracting new local distribution partners), and Kolesnik plans to raise a bigger round of financing in the range of $40 million by the end of this year.

That money will serve to support growth, but I gather that Oktogo.ru is also going to add value-added product such as car rental and activity booking services to its offering in the future. For that, Kolesnik says the company will likely with partners rather than building their own products.

Worth noting: Oktogo.ru was recently awarded with the title of most innovative company in Russia by Fast Company, and was voted the ?Best Internet Service? in the 2012 National Geographic Traveler Awards.

Image credit: Thinkstock

Source: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/03/13/russian-hotel-and-travel-booking-site-oktogo-ru-bags-11-million-round/

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Germany: Fire at apartment building kills 8

BERLIN (AP) ? An early-morning fire Sunday at an apartment building in southwestern Germany left eight people dead, seven of them children, police said.

Police said the victims were a woman and seven children aged between 6 months and 16, all of Turkish origin and from the same family, news agency dpa reported. Three other people were injured in the fire in Backnang, a town near Stuttgart, and taken to hospitals

Authorities were alerted to the blaze at 4:30 a.m. (0330 GMT). Police said they believe the fire broke out in a second-floor apartment, and said in a statement that their investigation is focusing on a heater in the apartment.

The building is part of a former leather factory that was converted into a row of three-story apartment blocks. Police said 13 people are registered as living in the two apartments worst affected by the fire, though it wasn't clear how many were there when the fire broke out.

A German-Turkish cultural association has an office on the building's ground floor. Police said there was no indication that the fire might have been set deliberately or have been a racist attack.

Turkey's ambassador to Germany planned to travel to the scene.

In Turkey, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said it was "a very sad incident."

"We want the incident to be investigated thoroughly without leaving any room for doubt," he said. "We hope that the fire is not the result of an arson attack."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/germany-fire-apartment-building-kills-8-124759634.html

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Google shows off Glass apps: New York Times, Gmail, Path and more

Google just took some time at SXSW to show off Google Glass, and it's pulled back the curtains on some apps that are currently in the works. As it turns out, Page and Co. have been working with the New York Times to build an application. Just ask for some news and Glass will deliver a headline, a byline, an accompanying image and the number of hours since the article in question was posted. What's more is that users can tap and have the eyewear read the story's text aloud. The duo are also testing a breaking news feature where notifications regarding fresh stories will appear as they're published. Gmail also got some time in the limelight with its very own app. An email sender's image and subject line will appear on the device's screen, and users can reply by dictating their messages.

Evernote and Skitch received some love from the folks in Mountain View too, with the ability to send images to the services through Glass' share functionality. Social networking app Path has found its way onto the wearable computing bandwagon as well. Not only do Google's spectacles receive curated updates from the network -- to keep you from being bombarded, of course-- but they allow users to add emoticons to a friend's post and reply with comments. Not impressed? "This is just where we started with a few friends to test the API in its early stage," says Google Glass developer evangelist Timothy Jordan.

Gallery: Apps for Google Glass

Filed under: Google

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/11/google-glass-apps-gmail-new-york-times-path/

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'Like a bomb': Backdraft blast rips through N.J. building

A backdraft caused a surprise explosion during a six-alarm fire in Harrison, New Jersey that injured five firefighters, but all are expected to survive.

By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News

Five firefighters were hurt when the backdraft from a six-alarm blaze set off a massive explosion at a New Jersey building Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

The injuries were not considered life-threatening, but one firefighter was severely cut by flying shards of glass after the explosion shattered a window at the Harrison, N.J., building, fire officials said.

"It sounded like a bomb went off, to be completely honest," said Captain Robert Gillen of the Harrison Fire Department.

Dramatic video footage recorded by a witness shows a monster fireball ripping through the two-story structure, masking adjoining buildings in a thick cloud of smoke.

"There was heavy, black smoke. Debris was thrown from the building. A couple firefighters were literally thrown out of the building because the explosion was so powerful," Gillen said.

An unidentified man is heard in the video instructing people to turn away from the smoke spewing out of the building.

"Get down! Get down! Get down! Shield your eyes," the man can be heard shouting.

The original blaze broke out Sunday morning and raged for hours before firefighters stamped it out. Gillen said officials do not yet know what triggered the fire, but it reportedly began in the kitchen of a Mexican restaurant on the building's ground floor before spreading to an adjoining apartment complex.

Authorities said at least five families living in adjacent buildings were displaced by the blaze but suffered no injuries. Some of the private residences damaged by the fire will need to be razed, Gillen said.

A spokesperson for the New Jersey Red Cross told NBC New York that the organization was assisting 17 people forced to leave their homes.

All the injured firefighters were transported to a local medical center and released, according to Gillen.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/11/17268677-it-sounded-like-a-bomb-went-off-backdraft-explosion-rips-through-new-jersey-building?lite

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Justin Bieber Lashes Out At Paparazzi

I am starting to get worried about Justin Bieber. My lil’ cutie is all over the place these days! This week Justin first gave fans a scare when he ended up in the hospital after having difficulty breathing during his London concert. All seemed well cause Justin was released the following day. Now this incident also happened after Justin got a lot of heat for hitting the stage nearly two hours late and pissing off a ton of parents (I think his fans would have waited all night, need be). That is totally unlike Justin, who is always timely, respectful and appreciative of his fans.   Today he was seen exiting his London hotel where of course paparazzi were waiting to get anything they can from the superstar. Well, one of the paps gets shoved out of the way and starts yelling about being assaulted. Say what? how about back the F### up!?!? I feel like these paparazzi already make a pretty penny off of a pic, then they are so up his rear – seeming waiting for the slightest little scratch to claim assault. It’s disgusting. Give the kid some room.   Justin quickly took to his Twitter to [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/oVUA9F7PPCU/

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Greyhounds seen at risk as racing industry declines

HEBDEN BRIDGE, England (Reuters) - A bundle of skin and bones, Alice did not seem to be a lucky greyhound at first glance.

Alice was bred to race but was not fast enough. She was used for hare coursing but failed at that too.

So Alice was discarded outside the English city of Doncaster, abandoned like many unsuccessful greyhounds in Britain's multi-million dollar industry that is in decline as the popularity of watching dogs race around a track wanes.

She would probably have died of starvation or been hit by a car had it not been for a volunteer who picked up the shivering dog from the streets and took her to a sanctuary in 2011.

"She weighed 14 kg (30 lb) - half (the usual) body weight, absolutely flea-ridden," said Debra Rothery, who runs the facility. "It's absolutely appalling."

The treatment of racing greyhounds in Britain, a country where many pets are pampered and are cared for like children, highlights a darker side of the highly competitive business that dates back about 90 years and is often accused of cruelty.

Dog racing was once highly popular with 80 licensed greyhound tracks in Britain governed by the self-regulating Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) but this has fallen to about 26 although there are some unregulated racetracks too.

Attendance has slumped. In 1947, 60,000 spectators were recorded at the Derby at White City, one of 21 tracks operating in London. In 2011 the Derby was held at Wimbledon Stadium ? now the only dog track left in London ? and attendance was 2,423.

Figures from the Gambling Commission show that off-course betting fell to 1.3 billion pounds in the year to March 2012, down 15 percent from 2008, while on-course betting dropped 21 percent to 29.8 million pounds.

Many blame the fall in attendance and betting on virtual greyhound racing, a computer-generated betting event offered by bookmakers, which is not helping the GBGB's bid to revive the industry with a new administrative body and welfare policy.

NO RECORDS

Rothery, who manages the Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue kennels, said more dogs than ever seem to be winding up on the streets despite efforts at reform in the industry.

"I started 15 years ago and it's worse (now). I have just short of 100 dogs here at the minute and if I re-homed all these dogs here today, I could fill again tomorrow," she said.

She blames a system of industry self-government and wants the GBGB to open its records so the whereabouts and ownership of dogs leaving the racing industry can be tracked.

The British government commissioned an inquiry into the industry in 2007 after revelations that greyhounds were being killed and dumped in a mass grave in Seaham, northern England.

The investigator, Bernard Donoughue, a Labour member of parliament's upper house, found that an estimated 35,000 dogs were bred annually for racing but only 8,000 a year made the grade and those who did only raced until about the age of four.

His report, and figures from the All Parliamentary Group on Animal Welfare (APGAW), found that up to half the dogs that retired after racing disappeared from records.

Clarissa Baldwin, chief executive of Dogs Trust, Britain's largest canine charity, said microchipping was vital for all dogs, to know where they were bred and how they were dispersed, and urged transparency with greyhound records.

"It would be possible to bring about prosecutions of owners who don't look after their dogs properly," she said.

The GBGB says it has its own system in place to track the animals and to report strays and maintains that greyhounds are not being abandoned in large numbers.

The industry-funded Retired Greyhound Trust says its 72 adoption branches find homes for roughly half the dogs that retire every year while many registered greyhounds are retained as pets by their trainers or re-homed by other organisations.

Greyhound welfare campaigners were not so sure.

"If you breed the numbers of dogs they do ... if you ask how many dogs are racing each year, you can't hope to find homes for those dogs every year," said actress Annette Crosbie, patron of the Wimbledon Greyhound Welfare, an independent retirement kennel.

Meanwhile Alice now seems to be one of the lucky ones, having found a home with Wendy and Gary Jones in the former mining town of Barnsley, south Yorkshire, where she enjoys daily walks on the rolling, green hills nearby.

"The dogs that actually race and get discarded or thrown out onto the streets are actually the lucky ones," says Tia rescue centre's Rothery. "They stand a better chance of actually getting into a place like this and getting re-homed."

(Editing by Maria Golovnina and Belinda Goldsmith)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/greyhounds-seen-risk-racing-industry-declines-173347637--spt.html

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Apple scores another patent win against Samsung with UK court ruling: A court in London has invalidated Samsung's assertion that some Apple products infringe on its patents.

? Home | Apple Stock | Tracked Sites | TechNN | | E-Mail | Sherlock Plugin Close Left Panel | Login | Subscribe to MacSurfer's Headline News Poll | Most Popular | Talking Heads | A Year Ago Today | Thursday, March 7, 2013 Checked 4:20 PM; Last Updated 4:20 PM CST; 22:20 GMT
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Subscriptions Benefits Include: ? Custom Newspages ? Keyword-Built Page ? Timestamp Options ? Choice of RSS Feeds ? Headline Discussions ? MORE ...	MacUpdate March 2013 Bundle announces "10 Awesome Apps and 1 Great Price" that normally retails for over $618 and is yours for only $49.99. The lineup includes such programs as Parallels Desktop 8, MotionComposer 1.6, 1000 OpenTypeFonts Collection, DiskAid 6, and 6 months of MacUpdate Desktop, to name a few... Apple Gazette asks: "Is Apple taking too long to innovate?" What say you? Cast your vote in "Today's Poll..." in the left column below or go straight to the results here. Thursday Highlights: A victory for Apple in the United Kingdom as court invalidates three Samsung 3G standards-essential patents which the Korean company claimed Apple infringed upon; Jonny Evans is keeping score, this is the 24th Samsung loss to Apple; and in the US, Samsung v. Apple increased lobbying big-time; Apple Store presence at upscale retail section in Berkeley California has "dramatically" lifted shopping district, quadrupling sales tax revenues; Macworld on configuring parental controls on your Mac; if you're an Android user, AddictiveTips says you have ways to remotely control your Mac's brightness, volume, and media apps; Skype users, here's a tutorial on recording your calls; reports say Apple's suppliers are 99% compliant in work scheduling, employees no longer work over 60 hours/week; Apple continues in top spot among US smartphone manufacturers; Android malware accounts for 96% of all mobile malware, Phil Schiller tweets the news; Rovio, makers of super-popular iOS games, has made all Angry Birds games free; is Apple back in talks with Intel for production of iDevice chips? More in our Hardware/Software section, where the latest of Apple's patent applications include advanced facial recognition, digital content resale/loan system, among others; Macworld UK reviews a NAS drive from Iomega; and over at PC Magazine, John Dvorak found that Apple's Maps app actually bested Waze, and Google Maps, in a friendly competition with Leo LaPorte and others; Open The Window has praise for Mailbox; The Next Web says Incredimail may just be "the ultimate unified messaging app"; iMore reviews Good Habits; too many photos on your iPhone 5? PC Advisor shows how to clean 'em up; and Macworld explains iOS passcode security; is Apple innovating fast enough?; Andy Ihnatko's third installment of his switch to Android for his smartphone, explains in more detail, reasons, positives, negatives of the experience; Google Glass is coming, but will the hype translate into a big app market? THURSDAY BLOWOUT: Every NEW or RENEWING paid subscriber receives 2 YEARS FREE....
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The back-up disk image '/Volumes//.sparsebundle' could not be accessed (error -1). It might be that the sparcebundle has become corrupted, or is on a disk sector that's going bad, or has had permissions screwed up in some way. I'd first check the Time Machine drive with DiskWarrior (Turn Time Machine off in System Preferences first). Another good tool is Smart Utility, which will show a failing drive with too many bad or reallocated sectors. The number you'd like to see is 0. Drives used for Time Machine will fail just like any other drive. If the drive looks good, I'd first save the old sparcebundle somewhere, then delete it from Time Machine and start over. ... I had same problem; the fix for me was to allow 'guest' access to my Time Capsule volume using the Airport Utility. I think the issue has something to do with the latest firmware update, but I have not had time to check this out. Anyway, Time Machine is now working fine for me again. 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The hype around Google's new wearable computers might not translate into a big market for apps for a while."?Technology Review?8:03 AM "Can Samsung innovate? The Korean giant now dominates the smartphone and tablet era, but it is built for steady progress rather than big breakthroughs"?IDG News Service?7:27 AM "Incipio offers 3.4-Amp Lightning Dual Auto Charger"?iLounge?4:18 PM "This Little iPhone 5 Tether Could Rescue You From A Disastrous Fall"?Cult of Mac?4:00 PM "Marvel's New Subscription Service Opens Up More Than 70 Years Of Comic Books"?App Advice?3:36 PM "Enhance Your iPhone5 WiFi Signal With Linkase"?GadgeTell?3:17 PM "Trakdot Reports Your Luggage's Location in Real Time"?The Mac Observer?2:45 PM "Google takes a Field Trip to visit iOS"?BetaNews?3:36 PM "Google releases 'Field Trip,' a new location discovery app for iOS"?iDownload Blog?1:10 PM "BIM Camp travels to Chicago"?Architosh?11:50 AM "Siri-Controlling Star Trek-Style Button Is The Ultimate In Dorkwear"?Cult of Mac?11:37 AM "Marvel Unlimited Is A Severely LImited Subscription Comics Service For iOS"?TechCrunch?11:06 AM "'Bumpy Road' Gets Better with New Widescreen Support"?Touch Arcade?10:41 AM "Incredimail's New iPad Version Turns Email Into A Flipboard-Style Interface, Easy For The Average Person"?TechCrunch?9:39 AM "Here are 600 million reasons to replace the Photos app on your iPad with Cooliris"?The Next Web?8:48 AM "First Look: Esoterism Embrace 5 aluminum iPhone 5 band case"?Insanely Great Mac?8:46 AM "Video chat app Tango reaches 100M users ? adds iPad support, photo editing, and more"?VentureBeat?8:26 AM "iPad, meet Android: RemotePlay makes sharing media between mobile devices easy"?GigaOM?8:23 AM "Tango video chat goes native on iPad, makes better use of everyone's screens"?Engadget?8:23 AM "Journey To Hell And Destroy An Army Of Demons In This Action-Packed Shoot-'Em-Up"?App Advice?8:19 AM "Tango, The Video-Calling App Turned Social Network, Hits 100M Users And Finally Arrives On iPad"?TechCrunch?8:17 AM "Haiku Deck 2.0 Brings Charts, Graphs And Lists To Its Super Simple iPad Presentation Tool"?TechCrunch?8:17 AM "New iPhone apps worth downloading: Handybook, Eye Capture update, Infect Them All 2: Zombies"?Appolicious?8:13 AM "BFOM Releases Ask Something? for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch"?prMac?8:07 AM "AP Algebra Helper App To Learn, Solve, and Visualize Algebraic Equations"?prMac?8:07 AM "AeroPress Timer 1.0 is in the App Store now"?prMac?8:07 AM "New i Learn With app to teach children about emotions and feelings"?prMac?8:07 AM "It's time to Tease UR Brain and get tangled"?prMac?8:07 AM "Your Ultimate Free Guide To The Cayman Islands Is SpotCayman"?prMac?8:07 AM "Water Habit Helps Easily Increase Daily Water Intake and Boost Health"?prMac?8:07 AM "Funbridge Adds Facebook Integration to Globally Popular Bridge Card App"?prMac?8:07 AM "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp - Interactive Book for iPad"?prMac?8:07 AM "Fantastical for iOS gets support for time zones, multiple alerts, state restoration and more"?The Next Web?8:18 AM "Fantastical for iPhone updated with event invites, time zones, and a glanceable date badge"?The Verge?8:05 AM "Meet Thermodo: A Tiny External Thermometer That Lives In Your iPhone's Headphone Jack"?TechCrunch?8:16 AM "Thermodo, A Clever Thermometer That Integrates With Your iPhone [Kickstarter]?Cult of Mac?7:50 AM "Epson Helps Preserve Rare Birds in Croatia"?eXtensions?7:27 AM "Google tipped off EU authorities over Microsoft's $732M browser boo-boo, Report claims"?GigaOM?8:08 AM "Microsoft's EU 'Browser Ballot' Troubles: 10 Issues Behind the Fine"?eWeek?8:08 AM "Microsoft Fined by EU for Not Offering Browser Alternatives: Microsoft says it was an oversight that resulted in a deleted browser choice screen for more than a year."?Visual Studio Magazine?8:40 AM "Microsoft won't wait for 'Blue' to update Windows 8 core apps: Microsoft may have refreshes for its Mail, Calendar, Music and Games apps for Windows 8 and Windows RT in its app store as soon as this month."?CNET News?8:27 AM "All Told, Nokia Owes $650M More To Microsoft In Their Long-Term Platform Deal, Says Nokia, But 2013 Will See A Net Gain For Finland"?TechCrunch?10:09 AM "Dell Battles to Protect Deal: Founder Defends $24.4 Billion Buyout as Large Investor Balks and Rival Circles"?WSJ.com [Paid Membership Required]?8:19 AM "Dell shareholder Icahn opposes go-private deal, seeks payout"?Reuters?8:21 AM "Icahn proposes alternative to Dell buyout"?RTE News?8:34 AM "Dell responds to Icahn's criticism of Going Private Transaction: The company says that it's still considering all options and will continue to do so through March 22."?CNET News?8:27 AM "Icahn Joins Resistance To Dell Buyout, Pushes For $9 Special DiVidend"?Forbes?8:35 AM "Dell buyout challenged by another major investor and potential bids from Lenovo and HP"?The Verge?8:18 AM "Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE:HPQ) is Interested in Dell Inc (NASDAQ:DELL)"?The Point Daily?8:36 AM "Cisco to set up training centres in Myanmar after delegation with Google, HP, Intel, Microsoft"?Associated Press?8:37 AM "Hewlett-Packard launches business tablet HP ElitePad 900 in India"?Indian express?8:36 AM "Rumor: Intel in Discussions to Produce Apple Chips"?Gizmodo?8:10 AM "Not all rosy with AMD Never Settle Reloaded"?Fudzilla?8:38 AM "Whatever happened to Oracle's server business?"?GigaOM?8:25 AM Finances (Click heading for current Apple Stock price.) Apple News "The Psychology of the Stock Market ... and Apple"?Barron's [Paid Membership Required]?3:58 PM "Google passes Apple as largest holding in U.S. mutual funds"?Bloomberg?2:05 PM "Industry Watchers Panic Yet Again Over Looming Apple Margin Crunch"?BGR?1:06 PM "Let's revisit Ed Zabitsky's $270 per share Apple price target: Was CNBC's favorite Apple bear prescient when he told clients to sell Apple in Jan. 2012?"?Fortune?8:13 AM "Why analysts should not be investors, Andy Zaky edition"?Reuters?8:47 AM "Can the Apple Bear Be Killed?"?TheStreet?7:27 AM "Apple: Sell Targets Of Big Money Fund Managers As Seen By Market Making Trade Facilitators"?Seeking Alpha?8:03 AM "Will Apple's Nemesis Hit the Mythical $1,000 Mark?"?The Motley Fool?11:59 AM Industry News "Financials Lead Stocks Higher"?WSJ.com [Paid Membership Required]?12:37 PM "Dow continues record run"?CNNMoney?9:46 AM "Futures Tick Higher; ECB, Data in Focus"?FOXBusiness?12:37 PM "Tech Stocks: Tech stocks: Dell challenge, Facebook event"?USA Today?8:35 AM "This Morning: Dell Tells Icahn Hold a Minute, CIEN Soars, MU, VMW Defended"?Barron's?8:34 AM "Stocks to Watch: Dell, Time Warner, PetSmart"?WSJ Blogs?8:34 AM "German Factory Orders Unexpectedly Fall on Euro-Area Weak"?Bloomberg?8:03 AM "GLOBAL MARKETS-Euro, pound firmer after rate decisions, Draghi eyed"?Reuters?8:03 AM "Asia Markets: Japan stocks sparkle while most of Asia drops/ Japanese stocks on Thursday ended at their best level in more than four years, standing out in Asia as other major markets suffered losses amid caution ahead of key central-bank decisions and economic data."?MarketWatch?8:05 AM "Europe Markets: Europe stocks pare gains as ECB holds rates/ European stock markets pared gains on Thursday after the European Central Bank kept rates on hold as expected, while Spanish stocks rose after a successful debt sale."?MarketWatch?8:04 AM "Most active Nasdaq-traded stocks: Nasdaq's 10 most active stocks at 1 p.m."?Associated Press?12:36 PM "Midday Glance: Computer companies/Computer companies shares mixed at 1 p.m."?Associated Press?12:36 PM
?		?

Source: http://www.macsurfer.com/redirr.php?u=767531

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91% No

All Critics (67) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (61) | Rotten (6)

"No" stands proudly in a select sub-category of historical fiction films that work, completely and satisfyingly, as their own movies.

Garc?a Bernal quietly carries this film as a soft-spoken kid in blue jeans and untucked shirt.

"No" isn't nearly as definitive or declarative as its title: It leaves viewers wondering whether they should cheer, shrug or shake their heads.

There will have to be a hell of a lot of good movies released in 2013 for No not to make my list of the year's 10 best.

It always retains a level of interest, especially for those of us who don't remember - or aren't old enough to remember - which side won.

Nominated by the Academy as the year's best foreign-language film, No grabs you hard, no mercy, and keeps you riveted.

It's a fascinating and surprisingly fun look behind the scenes of politics and media.

An Oscar-nominated win for more than just political junkies.

A worthy and a quite interesting slice of modern international history ...

Paranoia mixes neatly with optimism in this dramedy about the ad campaign that made Chile democratic.

It hangs on three ideas...While each...is intriguing, the execution of all is less than satisfying.

Larra?n's script is punctuated by dark bursts of humour, and the filmmaker knowingly navigates his audience to a nail-biting - though never cloying, and fully warranted - climax.

It makes the superficial Mad Men seem like, well, a commercial. Buy, buy, buy.

A fascinating period re-creation if not an especially compelling drama.

Evocative and suspenseful, the film is a fascinating glimpse into recent history and the democratic process.

The film highlights the sad fact that logical arguments don't win political debates or elections. Sloganeering and advertising do.

Using a technique borrowed from cinema verit? documentaries, the director succeeds in making us feel as if we're living each moment right alongside his politically-charged characters.

No quotes approved yet for No. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_2012/

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Ex-con accused of sneaking back into NYC jails

This undated photo made available by the New York State Criminal Justice Services sex offender registry website shows Matthew Matagrano. Matagrano was arrested on Saturday, March 2, 2013 on charges that he impersonated a Department of Correction investigator. Officials say that for at least a week, he used phony credentials to get into multiple city lockups, including Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center, where he mingled with inmates for hours. (AP Photo/New York State Criminal Justice Services)

This undated photo made available by the New York State Criminal Justice Services sex offender registry website shows Matthew Matagrano. Matagrano was arrested on Saturday, March 2, 2013 on charges that he impersonated a Department of Correction investigator. Officials say that for at least a week, he used phony credentials to get into multiple city lockups, including Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center, where he mingled with inmates for hours. (AP Photo/New York State Criminal Justice Services)

FILE - This March 16, 2011 file photo shows a barbed wire fence outside inmate housing on New York's Rikers Island correctional facility in New York. Officials say that for at least a week, former inmate Matthew Matagrano used phony credentials to get into multiple city lockups, including Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center, where he mingled with inmates for hours. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Most people who've done time in jail can't wait to get away. But this week, New York City authorities accused one former inmate of sneaking back in.

Yonkers resident Matthew Matagrano, 36, was arraigned in Manhattan on Saturday on charges that he impersonated a Department of Correction investigator.

Officials say that for at least a week, Matagrano used phony credentials to get into multiple city lockups, including Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center, where he mingled with inmates for hours.

Investigators said the case was still unfolding, but some of the allegations were detailed in a criminal complaint describing Matagrano's entry into the Manhattan jail on Thursday.

It said that when questioned, Matagrano had admitted to arriving at the jail at around 3:30 p.m. and gaining entry by showing a gold shield and saying he was an investigator from the department's intelligence unit.

According to the complaint, he stayed until 11 p.m., giving cigarettes to inmates and smoking with them in a common area. He is also charged with stealing a radio from an office while inside.

Surveillance cameras recorded video of Matagrano during the visit, the complaint said.

It wasn't clear if or when Matagrano would face similar charges for entry into other city jails. A spokesman for the Bronx district attorney, which often handles cases related to crimes committed on Rikers Island, said Saturday that he had no information on the case.

Matagrano has a rap sheet that includes a conviction for sodomy and sexual abuse. He's on the state's sex offender registry.

It's not clear why he wanted to get into jails, but he had previously been caught posing as a Board of Education worker to enter two schools and rifle through student files. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to attempted burglary in connection with that case.

His court-appointed lawyer, Andrej Bajuk, couldn't immediately be reached by phone for comment. No one responded to a message left at the public defender's office that handled his arraignment.

Department of Correction spokespeople did not immediately return phone messages Saturday.

A judge set bail at $50,000 for Matagrano. He also faces charges of burglary, possession of forged instruments, larceny and promoting prison contraband. He is due back in court Wednesday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-03-02-US-Rikers-Impersonator/id-f32dd564ab5043bdbfb05c4bb06d23d5

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Wills and Trusts: What are your plans? | Offbeat Home

To my husband, I leave my My Little Pony, oh and don't forget to water my plants. My Little Pony ? by kaktuslampan, used under Creative Commons license.

Call me morbid, but since age six, I've had a living will or last will and testament of sorts. I've changed it over the years (pretty sure Husband wouldn't want my Moondancer My Little Pony and would instead want to know what to do with my 401k). But I now know to make it a legally binding document. I just don't want to ever leave my family with (what I would assume would be) not only the grief over losing me, but also what to do with all my crap. Or whether or not I would "want" them to keep me alive. Or how to close out my email accounts. Or how long they should leave my Facebook page up. Or who to absolutely (or absolutely not) contact about the funeral.

If this is something that weights on your mind, I would recommend meeting with a lawyer or researching which documents would work best for you in your situation, as well as under your local or federal laws. This page on Legal Zoom, has information and comparisons regarding wills, living wills, and trusts to get you started.

I am by no means a legal expert, but here are points I've deemed as important to include in my will:

1. If I want life support treatment or not (often called a DNR) if I should suffer brain or head trauma, am in a coma, am in an "end-stage condition" (such as with cancer) or can otherwise be declared "brain dead." (I also have been advised that this needs to be specific, as in do I consider breathing machines, medications, tube feeding, etc. to be life support.)
2. Who is to be determined my "health care proxy" should I become incapacitated but still technically more "alive" than what would necessitate life support.
3. What is to be done with my remains (full medical donation/organ donation/burial/cremation, etc).
4. Who is to be named legal caretaker of my pets.
5. Who to contact as friends and family and their emails, addresses, and/or phone numbers for funeral or memorial services.
6. Any wishes I may have for the type of service I would prefer (I want a rowdy wake, not a somber Funeral Home affair)
7. Where all my financial assets are and who has power of attorney over my "estate."
8. A letter to my partner, along with last parting words to loved ones and a general reading at my services.

Lastly, I've made sure my family knows this information exists and where to find it should anything happen to me.

What about you? What are your feelings, experiences regarding final wishes, wills, or trusts?

Beretta Fleur is a writer and graphic designer living in Los Angeles. She cooks, models, paints, and shoots sporting clays. Her book, Hosting With Style: Beretta Fleur's Guide to Parties and Homemaking, will be available Fall 2012.

http://berettafleur.wordpress.com/

Source: http://offbeathome.com/2013/03/wills-trusts-what-are-your-plans

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