Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, the Sudanese woman who fled to Italy after being spared a death sentence for renouncing Islam, has met Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag flew to Rome with her family after more than a month in the US embassy in Khartoum.
There was global condemnation when she was sentenced to hang for apostasy by a Sudanese court.
Meriam Ibrahim’s father is Muslim so according to Sudan’s version of Islamic law she is also Muslim and cannot convert.
She was raised by her Christian mother and says she has never been Muslim.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag has met Pope Francis at the Vatican
Welcoming her at the airport, Italy’s PM Matteo Renzi said: “Today is a day of celebration.”
Meriam Ibrahim met Pope Francis at his Santa Marta residence at the Vatican soon after her arrival.
“The Pope thanked her for her witness to faith,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi was quoted as saying.
The meeting, which lasted around half an hour, was intended to show “closeness and solidarity for all those who suffer for their faith,” he added.
There was no prior indication of Italy’s involvement in the case.
Lapo Pistelli, Italy’s vice-minister for foreign affairs, accompanied Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag on the flight from Khartoum.
He posted a photo of himself with Meriam Ibrahim and her children on his Facebook account as they were about to land in Rome.
A UN shelter in northern Gaza was shelled on July 24, causing “multiple deaths and injuries,” according to a spokesman for the UN refugee agency.
At least 15 people have been killed and more than 200 injured when a UN-run school used as a shelter in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, was shelled, the Gaza health ministry says.
Hundreds of Palestinians were in the school in Beit Hanoun, fleeing heavy fighting in the area.
It is the fourth time that a UN facility has been hit in Israel’s offensive against Hamas militants.
In the past 16 days of fighting, more than 750 Palestinians and 32 Israelis have been killed, officials say.
In the past 16 days of fighting, more than 750 Palestinians and 32 Israelis have been killed
Israel launched its military offensive on July 8 with the declared objective of stopping Hamas firing rockets from Gaza.
Earlier on Thursday, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said that it was “vital” to have a ceasefire.
“We have over 118,000 people now who are sheltering in UN schools… people are running out of food. Water is also a serious concern,” she said.
She said the conflict meant 44% of Gaza was a no-go area for Palestinians, and residents were running out of food.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he regretted each Palestinian civilian death, but said they were “the responsibility of Hamas”.
Correspondents say pools of blood lay on the ground in the courtyard of the school in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.
There was a large scorch mark where it appeared a shell had hit, the Associated Press news agency reports.
UN officials said that during the course of the day they had been trying to negotiate a window of time with the Israeli army for civilians to leave the area because of the heaving fighting.
Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), said it was never granted.
He said the Israeli army had been formally given the co-ordinates of the shelter in Beit Hanoun.
There has been no comment so far from the Israeli military.
Casualties from the attack have been taken to several local hospitals.
Kim Kardashian announced her and Kanye West’s daughter, North West, took her first steps.
Kim Kardashian announced her and Kanye West’s daughter, North West, took her first steps (photo Instagram)
The 33-year-old reality star shared a photo of herself with her 13-month-old daughter on Instagram, writing: “Our baby girl finished one week of swimming lessons today then took her 1st steps right when she got out of the pool!!!! Mommy & Daddy are so proud of you!!!! Photo cred: Daddy.”
Nori was wrapped in a yellow towel while Kim Kardashian planted a kiss on her daughter’s cheek.
Air Algerie flight AH 5017 crashed on July 24 en route from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to Algiers with 110 passengers on board, an Algerian aviation official said.
There were few clear indications of what might happened to the aircraft, or whether there were casualties, but Burkino Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedrago said it asked to change route at 01:38 GMT because of a storm in the area.
“I can confirm that it has crashed,” the Algerian official told Reuters, declining to be identified or give any details about what had happened to the aircraft on its way north.
Almost half of the passengers were French citizens, an airline official said.
“Currently we have no news of flight AH5017. Thank you”
Air Algerie flight AH 5017 crashed on July 24 en route from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to Algiers with 110 passengers on board
Two French fighter jets based in the region have been dispatched to try to locate the airliner along its probable route, a French army spokesman said. Niger security sources said planes were flying over the border region with Mali to search for the flight.
Algeria’s state news agency APS said authorities lost contact with flight AH 5017 an hour after it took off from Burkina Faso, but other officials gave differing accounts of the times of contact, adding to confusion about the plane’s fate.
Swiftair, the private Spanish company that owns the plane, confirmed it had lost contact with the MD-83 operated by Air Algerie, which it said was carrying 110 passengers and six crew.
A diplomat in the Malian capital Bamako said that the north of the country – which lies on the plane’s likely flight path – was struck by a powerful sandstorm overnight.
An Air Algerie representative in Burkina Faso, Kara Terki, told a news conference that all the passengers on the plane were in transit, either for Europe, the Middle East or Canada.
Kara Terki said the passenger list included: 50 French, 24 Burkinabe, eight Lebanese, four Algerians, two from Luxembourg, one Belgian, one Swiss, one Nigerian, one Cameroonian, one Ukrainian and one Romanian.
Lebanese officials said there were at least 10 Lebanese citizens on the flight.
A spokeswoman for SEPLA, Spain’s pilots union, said the six crew were from Spain. She could not give any further details.
Air Algerie has lost contact with one of its planes flying from Burkina Faso.
Contact was lost about 50 minutes after take-off from Ouagadougou, Algeria’s national airline is quoted by state news agency as saying.
The passenger airliner, last seen at 01:55 GMT, was bound for the Algerian capital Algiers, it added.
The contact with Air Algerie AH 5017 was lost about 50 minutes after take-off from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Flight AH 5017 had 110 passengers and six crew on board, officials said.
“In keeping with procedures, Air Algerie has launched its emergency plan,” Air Algerie officials, quoted by APS news agency, said.
The plane is chartered from Spanish airline Swiftair.
Swiftair said in a statement that the aircraft was an MD83 and that they were unable to establish contact with the plane. The plane was originally scheduled to land at 05:10 local time, it said.
Flight AH 5017 flies the Ouagadougou-Algiers route four times a week, AFP news agency reported.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, the Sudanese woman who was spared a death sentence for renouncing Islam, has flown to Italy after more than a month in the US embassy in Khartoum.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag and her family flew on an Italian government plane, accompanied by Italian minister Lapo Pistelli.
Her father is Muslim so according to Sudan’s version of Islamic law she is also Muslim and cannot convert.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag was raised by her Christian mother and says she has never been Muslim.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag and her family flew on an Italian government plane, accompanied by Italian minister Lapo Pistelli
Lapo Pistelli, Italy’s vice-minister for foreign affairs, posted a photo of himself with Meriam Ibrahim and her children on his Facebook account as they were about to land in Rome.
“Mission accomplished,” he wrote.
Meriam Ibrahim’s husband, Daniel Wani, also a Christian, is from South Sudan and has US nationality.
Their daughter Maya was born in prison in May, shortly after Meriam Ibrahim was sentenced to hang for apostasy – renouncing one’s faith – sparking global outrage.
Under intense international pressure, her conviction was quashed and she was freed in June.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag was given South Sudanese travel documents but was arrested at Khartoum airport, with Sudanese officials saying the travel documents were fake.
These new charges meant she was not allowed to leave the country but she was released into the custody of the US embassy in Khartoum.
Last week, her father’s family filed a lawsuit trying to have her marriage annulled, on the basis that a Muslim woman is not allowed to marry a non-Muslim.
Death row inmate Joseph Wood has died after an execution in Arizona took nearly two hours to kill him.
Joseph Wood, a double murderer, was executed by lethal injection.
His lawyers filed an appeal for an emergency stay of execution, after he had been “gasping and snorting for more than an hour” in the death chamber.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer says she has ordered a full review of the execution, although she said that Joseph Wood “died in a lawful manner”.
Joseph Wood’s lawyers argued the extended execution process violated his right to be executed in the absence of cruel and unusual punishment.
Jan Brewer said: “By eyewitness and medical accounts he did not suffer. This is in stark comparison to the gruesome, vicious suffering that he inflicted on his two victims, and the lifetime of suffering he has caused their family.”
The execution should have taken 10 minutes, his lawyers said, but Joseph Wood, 55, gasped more than 600 times before he died.
Joseph Wood was convicted of the 1989 murders of his estranged girlfriend Debra Dietz and her father Eugene Dietz
It began at 13:52, and Joseph Wood was pronounced dead at 15:49, one hour and 57 minutes later, according to the Arizona attorney-general’s office.
He was convicted of the 1989 murders of his estranged girlfriend Debra Dietz and her father Eugene Dietz.
Family members of the victims were unconcerned by the way the execution was carried out.
“This man conducted a horrific murder and you guys are going, let’s worry about the drugs,’’ said Richard Brown.
“Why didn’t they give him a bullet?”
Joseph Wood’s lawyers had sought to force Arizona to name the manufacturers of the drugs used in the execution, but a last-ditch ruling by the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution to go ahead.
In communications with Joseph Wood’s lawyers this year, Arizona officials said they would use a two-drug combination of midazolam and hydromorphone to put him to death.
However, they declined to provide further identifying information, including the name of the drug’s manufacturer, citing a state confidentiality law aimed at protecting the drug makers from reprisal.
In 2010, the sole US manufacturer of sodium thiopental, a sedative used in lethal injections, stopped producing it. States switched to pentobarbital, also a sedative, but its Danish manufacturer Lundbeck began tightly restricting its distribution to prevent it being used in executions.
And in 2011, the UK imposed export bans on three common lethal injection drugs, pentobarbital, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. In the same year, the EU restricted the distribution of sodium thiopental to nations that practice capital punishment.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Poland broke the European human rights convention in helping the CIA to render two terror suspects.
The judges said Poland had co-operated with the illegal transfers in 2002-2003, allowing two suspects to be interrogated on its territory.
It is the first such case concerning a CIA “black site” prison in Poland.
Abu Zubaydah, a Palestinian, was arrested in Pakistan and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi, in Dubai.
Poland broke the European human rights convention in helping the CIA to render two terror suspects
The court held that “the treatment to which the applicants had been subjected by the CIA during their detention in Poland had amounted to torture”.
The two men are currently held at the US Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
They complained to the court that they had been tortured at a US-run facility in Poland called Stare Kiejkuty, where Nashiri was held for six months and Abu Zubaydah for nine.
The ECHR, in its press release on the case, said that “the Polish state, on account of its acquiescence and connivance in the HVD [extraordinary rendition] Program, had to be regarded as responsible for the violation of the applicants’ rights committed on its territory”.
It added that Poland had been aware that the men’s transfer to and from its territory had been carried out by the process of “extraordinary rendition”.
“Consequently, by enabling the CIA to transfer the applicants to its other secret detention facilities, the Polish authorities exposed them to a foreseeable serious risk of further ill-treatment and conditions of detention in breach of Article Three [prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment],” it said.
The court ordered the Polish government to pay each of the men 100,000 euros ($135,000) in damages. It also awarded Abu Zubaydah 30,000 euros to cover his costs.
At least 48 people died after a passenger plane crashed in Taiwan’s Penghu archipelago, amid stormy weather in the area.
The plane, carrying 58 people, crashed into buildings after a failed attempt to land at Magong airport.
The other 10 people on board were hurt. Two French nationals were among the dead, officials said. No crew members are thought to have survived.
Family members were flying to Penghu on Thursday, Taiwan media said.
Minister of Transportation Yeh Kuang-shih and aviation officials also flew to the island to start an investigation into the disaster, Taiwan’s CNA news agency said.
The ATR-72 TransAsia Airways plane crashed as it flew from Taiwan’s southern city of Kaohsiung to Penghu, a popular tourist destination in the Taiwan Strait.
Magong is the main city in Penghu, which consists of a main island and several smaller islands off the west coast of Taiwan.
TransAsia Airways plane, carrying 58 people, crashed into buildings after a failed attempt to land at Magong airport (photo NY Times)
It was Taiwan’s first fatal air crash in more than a decade and came after Typhoon Matmo struck, bringing torrential rain and high wind.
The plane crashed on its second attempt to land at the airport. It lost contact with controllers after telling them it was going around again. The aircraft then came down in Xixi village outside the airport.
Images late on Wednesday night showed firefighters dousing flames at the scene and and using torches to rescue injured passengers.
Five Penghu residents were injured on the ground but by Thursday morning all had been discharged from hospital, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said.
Official said visibility at the time of the crash was one mile and within acceptable standards for landing, despite the storm.
Airline representative Phoebe Lu told the Associated Press news agency that TransAsia suspected that typhoon weather had caused the crash but was awaiting the results of the investigation.
But Jean Shen, director of the CAA, said nine flights travelled that route between 14:00 and 19:00 on Wednesday.
“The weather reports showed it was totally OK for landing. We can not say for sure what went wrong at this point,” Reuters news agency quoted her as saying.
The transport minister, meanwhile, addressed questions over why the flight was allowed to go ahead.
“Many people were questioning why the plane took off in typhoon weather… according to my understanding the meteorology data showed that it met the aviation safety requirements,” Yeh Kunag-shis said.
TransAsia, a private airline, flies domestic routes in Taiwan and international routes in North and South-East Asia. The airline has apologized and says it will compensate relatives of those on board.
DJ Casey Kasem’s body has been flown to Canada from a Washington state funeral home, his longtime former agent announced on Wednesday.
Casey Kasem, the former host of the syndicated program American Top 40, was moved to Canada by his wife, Jean Kasem, his agent Don Pitts said, after being kept at the Gaffney Funeral Home in Tacoma, Washington. He died on June 15 at the age of 82.
Candace Corkum, administrative manager for the funeral home, confirmed last Friday that Casey Kasem’s body was no longer at the facility.
Casey Kasem had been the focus of a dispute between his three children from his first marriage – Kerri, Julie and Mike – and his second wife, Jean Kasem.
Casey Kasem’s body was moved to Canada by his wife, Jean Kasem (photo Getty Images)
The children said Jean Kasem prevented them from visiting him as he suffered from Lewy body dementia, an illness with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease.
Casey Kasem had wanted to be buried at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, California, said Danny Deraney, a spokesman for the siblings.
Danny Deraney said that while Casey Kasem’s wife has the legal right to move the remains without notifying anyone, she should let his friends and family know.
“Right now, she’s not divulging that location. For what reasons, I don’t know,” Danny Deraney said.
A Washington state judge on July 16 forbade movement of the body from the funeral home based on a request by Kerri Kasem to have an autopsy conducted to investigate suspicions of elder abuse, Danny Deraney said.
The order was delivered to the home a day after Casey Kasem’s body was moved, CNN reported.
A spokesman for the Santa Monica Police Department said there was an open and ongoing probe into allegations of elder abuse, but declined to provide further detail.
Prince George celebrated his first birthday on Tuesday, July 22, with a tea party at Kensington Palace.
According to royal reports, Queen Elizabeth II has chosen a priceless gift for Prince George, from the Royal Collection, while first-edition Beatrix Potter books are also on the birthday boy’s thank-you list.
Wooden toys, including a train set spelling out George’s name, are said to be proudly on display in the nursery. Over the course of the day, Prince George has received countless gifts from stores and companies around the country.
Prince George celebrated his first birthday on July 22 with a tea party at Kensington Palace (photo PA)
My 1st Years, an online store that specializes in personalized goods, sent Prince George a hamper containing miniature Ugg boots with his name on them, a personalized pair of sneakers, and a smart blue-and-white striped shirt.
Celebrities have also sent plenty of gifts. Victoria and David Beckham, who were guests at the wedding, are said to have sent designer clothes over to the palace, while celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and his clothes designer wife, Jools Oliver, who has her own line for Mothercare, have reportedly sent Prince George a collection of collared onesies and a new pair of navy cruiser shoes. Mothercare has also reportedly sent Prince George his very own plastic Kensington Palace, complete with a figurine of himself.
A very special bottle of Pinot Noir from the Central Otagowine region in Queenstown, New Zealand, which Prince William and Kate Middleton visited in April, has also been sent to Kensington Palace. The magnum of Pinot Noir harvested the year the prince was born will be laid down in the cellars for George’s 18th birthday.
Sarah Palin was issued a speeding citation in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, court records showed on Wednesday.
The July 16 citation carries a potential fine of $154, and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has 30 days from the date of receiving the citation to respond to it, the records showed.
Sarah Palin was issued a speeding citation in her hometown of Wasilla
Police pulled the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president over while she was driving her black Toyota Tundra pickup bearing the license plate LOVUSA, the Alaska Dispatch News reported on July 23. It said Sarah Palin was driving 63 miles per hour in a 45-mph speed zone while returning from a bikram hot yoga workout.
“I was thinking, I wasn’t speeding, I was qualifying,” Sarah Palin told the Dispatch News.
Wasilla Police spokesman Officer Rick Manrique declined to comment on the case.
Whether through fraud, shoplifting, vandalism or robbery, transgressions against your company can make you feel like closing the doors and heading for the hills to live a solitary existence.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Before you turn over large profits and retire to the south of France with a supermodel in tow, however, there are more mundane things to consider.
To make a real success of your business, it’s important opportunistic thieves are not gnawing away at your profits faster than a beaver who’s guzzled an energy drink.
Want to know how to safeguard your business quickly and easily? Read on to find out …
Invest In Electric Fencing
It may seem overly protective, but electric fencing is designed to deliver a short and safe shock to would-be intruders, keeping them where they belong: away from your property. In addition, aside from the shock, a fence itself offers a great visual deterrent to those with nefarious thoughts.
Catch Them on Camera
If your business is lagging behind technologically, CCTV is a shrewd investment. Not only will its mere presence make camera shy criminals think twice, but if they do happen to go for it, their ugly mug will, hopefully, be captured on camera, making things a little bit easier for the police to accost them.
Set Up an Alarm
If a crafty criminal has somehow circumvented your electric fencing, dodged CCTV and made it in to your premises, you need an alarm system in place to send out a signal if your business is breached. This is typically done by using motion detectors to gauge any unauthorised movement inside.
Hire Security Staff
While we can all agree that technology is great, it’s often necessary to have a human security measure in place in case things go awry. Step forward your new security guard. Before rushing into a decision, though, make sure you’re hiring an accredited professional to protect your premises.
Buy a Safe
Finally, in case the above somehow fail catastrophically, it’s wise to keep most of your company’s valuables in a safe. Why? Because a criminal who’s evaded your other security measures needs no more invitation to swipe stock and cash before swanning past your security guard on the way out.
Admittedly, there’s much more to protecting your business from interlopers than outline above, but by implementing these measures, you’ll be on the road to the south of France in no time …
Online review website TripAdvisor has released a ranking of the top 10 ice cream parlors across the US, based on its users’ reviews and taking into account factors like the reviews’ quality, quantity and time of posting.
With a five out of five bubble rating out of 868 reviews, Island Creamery on Chincoteague Island in Virginia has taken the top title for flavors like Bourbon Caramel Crunch, Birthday Cake, Snickers Cheesecake and Java Jolt, a coffee-flavored ice cream speckled with chocolate-covered espresso beans and brownie pieces.
Island Creamery on Chincoteague Island in Virginia has won best ice cream parlor in the US title
Ice creams are hand-made in small batches and come in 34 flavors.
Top 10 ice cream parlors in the US, according to TripAdvisor:
General Motors has announced six more recalls covering 717,950 vehicles in the US for varying reasons, although none were related to ignition switch issues, Reuters reported.
Only this year GM has recalled nearly 15 million vehicles worldwide for potentially lethal issues with ignition switches.
The largest recall announced on July 23 is for a potentially loose bolt in power adjustable front seats for several cars from model years 2010 and 2012.
Vehicles involved in the today’s recalls have been linked to two crashes and three injuries but no deaths, the carmaker said.
Most of GM’s recalls this year have been for older models, but many of the recalls announced Wednesday are for current-model vehicles, including about 57,000 Chevrolet Impala sedans from the 2014 model year for the loss of power steering.
GM will recall 717,950 vehicles in the US for varying reasons, although none were related to ignition switch issues
The latest recalls hit GM’s best-selling vehicles, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, from the 2014-2015 model years. They were among about 124,000 vehicles across eight model lines recalled because a weld on seat brackets may not have been done properly.
The company said it expects that 1% of welds were not completed properly.
Others recalled include three Cadillac models from the 2014 model year, – the ATS, CTS and ELR.
The largest of the recalls announced today was for 414,333 vehicles that may have a loose bolt to adjust front seat heights. Consumers are advised not to use the power seat height adjuster until dealers can replace a bolt.
Vehicles involved in this recall include the 2010-2012 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain crossovers; the 2011-2012 Buick Regal and LaCrosse sedans; the 2010-2012 Cadillac SRX crossovers and the 2011-2012 Chevrolet Camaro sports cars.
The carmaker did not report how many more vehicles will be included in the six recalls outside the US.
GM has recalled about 29 million vehicles worldwide this year, of which about 25.7 million have been in the US.
In a recent interview with Us Weekly, Duck Dynasty’s Si Robertson revealed the real reason his wife, Christine, doesn’t appear on the show.
Uncle Si, 66, told the magazine: “I always told people, <<She’s got better sense than the rest of us>>. But that ain’t the real reason.”
Si and Christine Robertson have been married for 43 years and have two children together (photo A & E TV)
“Sometimes we film 12 hours a day, and she’s just not healthy enough to go through the rigors of that,” the Duck Dynasty star said about his 67-year-old wife.
Si Robertson added: “But, ah, it ain’t no big deal. She wants no part of it anyway. She’s been married to me for 43 years. The last thing she needs is to watch us on a TV show.”
Si and Christine Robertson have two children together, Trasa Cobern Robertson and Scott Merritt Robertson.
It’s no secret catering can be a stressful field. With an endless array of weddings, birthday parties and business gatherings to prepare for, many catering businesses are constantly strapped for time. Fortunately, caterers who are at the end of their rope can find stress relief through a number of effective time-management techniques. By implementing these techniques, your catering business will become less harried and more efficient.
Online Invoices
Going to the trouble of calculating and designing invoices can be a real strain on catering businesses already flooded with work. At the end of a long job, you want nothing more than to kick back and put your feet up — not create a complex invoice from scratch. That’s where online invoices come in. If you create your invoices online at Aynax, you’ll be able to produce professional-looking invoices in mere minutes, send them to clients without hassle and effortlessly keep your business’s invoices organized.
Planning Sessions
Though crucial to staying organized in any field, planning is particularly important for catering businesses. Sit down with your staff at the beginning of the work week and carefully review your upcoming jobs. Go over the menu items you’ll need to prepare for each event and relay any special instructions you’ve received from the client. To ensure everyone’s on the same page, end each planning session by addressing employee questions and concerns.
By adhering to a strict schedule when catering events, you’ll make sure your clients stay happy — and well-fed. Everyone seems to have a horror story about disorganized caterers ruining important gatherings with slow service and overly-long preparation times. Devoting sufficient time to planning your jobs will ensure your business is never on the receiving end of a bad review.
Cut and Freeze in Advance
When looking for ways to save your business time, consider cutting and freezing certain ingredients in advance. This timesaving measure works in tandem with regular planning sessions. After reviewing your upcoming jobs, make a list of the ingredients needed for each client’s respective entrees. Next, have your staff slice up and freeze the required amounts of meat, fruit and veggies for each job. By getting this crucial preparation step out of the way early, you’re sure to earn the respect of clients who hate waiting for their food.
Regularly Clean Equipment
Keeping your preparation equipment nice and clean can go a long way in saving your business time. Produce slicers, blenders, oven trays and other catering essentials become far less effective without frequent cleanings. Not only will cutlery blades grow dull and ineffective if not regularly cleaned, trays will become prone to stickiness and burning. This ultimately leads to longer preparation times and botched entrees.
All reputable caterers clean their equipment at the end of each job but having a member of your staff clean your preparation tools during jobs can be a real timesaver. After all, clean culinary tools are productive culinary tools. Frequent cleanings will also extend the life of your tools, much to the delight of cost-conscious caterers.
Condense Menus
The desire to make your business stand out by offering clients an extensive list of menu items is understandable. The fiercely competitive nature of the culinary world often requires chefs to master a broad assortment of dishes in order to stay afloat. Unfortunately, large menus have a tendency to cause stress and disorganization within catering businesses. Not only will having to remember a seemingly endless array of recipes make your staff feel overtaxed, purchasing the ingredients for all those dishes is liable to put a strain on your finances. Worse yet, certain clients may feel overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of menu options.
Maintaining a small or medium-sized menu can help your business save time, money and manpower. According to About.com, condensing your menu can also dramatically reduce food spoilage. Rather than requiring your staff to learn a plethora of recipes, have them devote their time to truly mastering a select few. When it comes to fine dining, you’ll find quality is valued over quantity.
As any seasoned caterer will tell you, there’s no shortage of hungry clients. Gatherings packed to the brim with eager diners are being held left and right. So if your business’s schedule allows very little wiggle room, don’t hesitate to adopt some surefire timesavers.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages, is now rare.
It is a bacterial disease mainly affecting wild rodents that is spread by fleas. Humans bitten by infected fleas can then develop bubonic plague.
Once bacteria infect the lungs, human-to-human transmission of pneumonic plague can occur through coughing.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages (photo Wikipedia)
If diagnosed early, bubonic plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics, while pneumonic plague has a high mortality rate, the World Health Organization says.
The plague:
• Is one of the oldest identifiable diseases known to man
• Is spread from one rodent to another by fleas, and to humans either by the bite of infected fleas or when handling infected hosts
• Recent outbreaks have shown that plague may reappear in areas that have long been free of the disease
• Can be treated with antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline
• Madagascar recently recorded 60 deaths from plague
Yumen city in Gansu province, north-west China, has been partially sealed off and dozens of people placed in quarantine after a man died of bubonic plague on July 16, state media say.
A total of 151 people have been placed under observation, Xinhua news agency says. Authorities have isolated a part of the city centre and three sections of Chijin town which is an hour away.
The man was believed to have caught the infection after contact with a marmot.
Marmots are large, squirrel-type rodents that live in mountainous areas.
The victim is reported to be a 38-year-old man who had fed a dead marmot to his dog.
Yumen city has been partially sealed off and dozens of people placed in quarantine after a man died of bubonic plague (photo abcnews)
The deputy head of the hospital where the man died told reporters that the victim had arrived with an increased heart-rate and seemed to be slipping into shock. The hospital has since been quarantined.
It is not clear from reports how big the four quarantine zones are. Ten checkpoints have been set up around Yumen and Chijin.
Those in quarantine all had contact with the man, Xinhua said. None was showing signs of infection, it said.
Officials have told reporters that the group could be released after nine days of quarantine if no further cases of plague appeared among them.
Yumen is a small city in western Gansu province, which borders Xinjiang. The last reported case of bubonic plague in the city was in 1977, Xinhua said.
Gansu has seen at least five cases of the plague in the last 10 years, according to Xinhua.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages, is now rare.
It is a bacterial disease mainly affecting wild rodents that is spread by fleas. Humans bitten by infected fleas can then develop bubonic plague.
Once bacteria infects the lungs, human-to-human transmission of pneumonic plague can occur through coughing.
If diagnosed early, bubonic plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics, while pneumonic plague has a high mortality rate, the WHO says.
Boeing has reported high profits from April to June 2014 boosted by “strong” commercial aircraft sales.
Boeing’s net profits rose 52% to $1.65 billion from the same period last year.
During a quarter which saw the company deliver its first Dreamliner 787-9 aircraft, Boeing’s earnings from commercial aircraft operations helped to offset a fall in defense profits.
Separately, Delta Air Lines reported a 17% rise in profits thanks in part to higher fares.
Earnings from Boeing’s defense, space and security business fell 25% to $582 million, but profits from commercial aircraft rose 7% to around $1.6 billion.
Boeing boosted its full-year earnings forecast to between $7.90 and $8.10 per share, up from its previous forecast of $7.15 to $7.35 per share.
“Overall, our strong first-half financial performance, sustained focus on growth and productivity, and positive market outlook support our increased earnings guidance for the year,” said Boeing CEO Jim McNerney.
Boeing’s earnings from commercial aircraft operations helped to offset a fall in defense profits
Boeing expects higher full-year profits in part due to second-quarter tax settlements totaling $408 million.
The company said commercial aircraft deliveries rose 7% to 181 in the three month period. The total included 30 Dreamliner jets.
Boeing grounded a number of aircraft last year, including the Dreamliner fleet, following two incidents where batteries caught fire.
The aircraft maker said it had a total order book worth $440 billion, with more than 5,200 orders for commercial aeroplanes.
“With 783 new commercial airplane orders to date this year and significant contracts in the quarter for military aircraft and satellites, our backlog remains large and diverse,” Jim McNerney said.
Meanwhile, US carrier Delta Air Lines announced second quarter earnings rose 17%, to $801 million from a year ago.
Passengers flew more miles, at higher average fares, and fuel spending declined, the company said. Delta’s average fuel price was $2.93 per gallon in the quarter. The company owns its own refinery in Philadelphia.
The results from Delta come before American and United post second quarter figures on Thursday. Analysts expect the biggest US carriers to report large profits.
Two jets carrying bodies from crashed Malaysia Airlines plane have landed in the Netherlands where a day of mourning for the 298 victims has been declared.
Experts there will begin to identify the dead, most of whom were Dutch.
Pro-Russian rebels have been widely accused of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane on July 17.
UK government sources say intelligence shows rebels deliberately tampered with evidence, moving bodies and placing parts from other planes in the debris.
As fighting continued in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, officials in Kiev said that two aircraft, thought to be military jets, had been downed just 20 miles from the MH17 crash site.
The officials had no information on the cause of the crashes, or the fate of the pilots.
Planes carrying bodies from crashed MH17 flight have landed in the Netherlands (photo EPA)
US intelligence officials had earlier released evidence to the media that they said showed the separatists’ involvement in bringing down flight MH17.
Rebels have also been accused of exaggerating the number of bodies transported from the crash site to the town of Kharkiv on Tuesday.
They had claimed 282 bodies had been loaded on to a train, but experts said only 200 could be verified.
The two military planes – one Dutch and the other Australian – carrying the first 40 coffins landed at Eindhoven air base to be met by members of the Dutch royal family, PM Mark Rutte and hundreds of victims’ relatives.
Churches around the Netherlands rang their bells for five minutes before the planes landed.
A fleet of hearses was standing by to convey the bodies to the Korporaal van Oudheusden barracks south of the city of Hilversum for identification.
PM Mark Rutte said that process could take months.
Earlier, the coffins had been slowly loaded on to the planes by a military guard of honor at Kharkiv airport in eastern Ukraine.
Ambassadors, officials and soldiers gathered to see off the planes.
Australian government envoy Angus Houston said the ceremony was intended to give the victims the “respect and dignity they deserve” after a “tragedy of unspeakable proportions”.
In a separate process, the “black box” flight-data recorders from MH17 have arrived in the UK, where they will be examined at the headquarters of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch in Farnborough.
A rebel militiaman told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he had been ordered to the crash site minutes after the MH17 plane had gone down.
He said his commanders had told him: “We’ve just shot down one of the Kiev fascists’ planes.”
The militiaman said: “We thought we were looking for baled-out Ukrainian pilots but instead we found dead civilians.”
Earlier in Washington, officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence presented evidence they had gathered on the involvement of the rebels.
“It’s a solid case that it’s an SA-11 [missile] that was fired from eastern Ukraine under conditions the Russians helped create,” said the officials, who requested that their names not be reported.
They said the “most plausible explanation” for the shooting down of the plane was that rebels mistook it for another aircraft.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has condemned Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip, saying that war crimes may have been committed.
Navi Pillay told an emergency debate at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that Israel’s military offensive had not done enough to protect civilians.
She also condemned Hamas for “indiscriminate attacks” on Israel.
Israel launched its offensive on July 8 with the declared objective of stopping rocket fire from Gaza.
“There seems to be a strong possibility that international law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes,” Navi Pillay said.
Israel’s Justice Minister Tzipi Livni described the UN Human Rights Council as an “anti-Israel” body, Reuters news agency reported.
At least 649 Palestinians and 31 Israelis have been killed in the past 15 days of fighting, officials say.
A foreign worker in southern Israel was also killed by a rocket fired from Gaza on Wednesday, police said.
The UN says about 74% of those killed in Gaza are civilians, with medical clinics among the facilities hit by air strikes.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has condemned Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip (photo AP)
“Civilians in Gaza have no safe place to go as 44% of the land has been declared a ‘no-go zone’ by the Israeli army,” the assistant secretary-general at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
“Families are taking the heart-wrenching decision to split to different locations – mother and son to one; father and daughter to another – hoping to maximize the chance one part of the family survives.”
There was heavy fighting in the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
Eyewitnesses say around 5,000 Palestinians, some waving white flags, are fleeing in a state of panic following a ground incursion by Israeli troops.
Meanwhile US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel on Wednesday to try to help negotiate a truce.
“We have certainly made some steps forward. There is still work to be done,” John Kerry said shortly after arriving.
John Kerry flew by military plane to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, as several US and European airlines continue to suspend civilian flights into Israel after a rocket from Gaza landed near the airport.
German airline Lufthansa announced on Wednesday it would extend the ban for another 24 hours.
At least five people died in an air strike in Khan Younis overnight. An Israeli soldier was also killed.
Earlier, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas should be held accountable for rejecting an Egyptian ceasefire proposal.
Referring to a July 16 Israeli air strike that killed children playing on a beach in Gaza, Navi Pillay said “the disregard for international humanitarian law and for the right to life was shockingly evident”.
She also condemned rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.
“The principles of distinction and precaution are clearly not being observed during such indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups,” she told the UN Human Rights Council.
Despite her condemnation of Hamas attacks on Israel, Navi Pillay clearly views Israel’s actions in Gaza as disproportionate.
“Israel is acting according to international law,” Tzipi Livni said.
“It is regrettable civilians are killed, but when we call on them to vacate and Hamas calls on them to stay, then that is what happens.”
A 2009 UN human rights report said that Israel’s military and Hamas had each committed potential war crimes during Israel’s 2008-2009 offensive in Gaza.
The Goldstone report was rejected by Israel and the US as biased and flawed.
A TransAsia Airways passenger plane has crashed after a failed emergency landing in Taiwan, killing more than 40 people, local officials say.
TransAsia Airways flight crashed near Magong airport on the outlying Penghu island, reports said.
There were a total of 54 passengers and four crew on board, Taiwan’s CNA news agency reported.
The TransAsia Airways passenger plane has crashed after a failed emergency landing in Taiwan
Aviation officials said flight GE222 aborted its initial landing and then crashed, local media reported.
Fifty-one people were feared dead and seven were injured, CNA reported, citing fire department officials.
Firefighters and other emergency personnel are still attempting to rescue those on board.
Local firefighters say the plane did not reach the airport landing strip, but crashed nearby, losing contact with flight radars for a few moments before the crash.
Peaches Geldof’s cause of death has been ruled as heroin overdose, a coroner has said.
Peaches Geldof, who died this year at 25, had been a heroin addict and took the substitute drug methadone for two-and-a-half years before her death, the inquest heard.
A police search found 6.9g of heroin in the TV presenter’s house but there was no indication she had planned to take her own life.
Peaches Geldof’s husband, musician Tom Cohen, told the hearing in Gravesend she had started using the drug again in February this year.
Tom Cohen had witnessed Peaches Geldof flushing drugs she had hidden in their loft down the toilet, but was not aware of any other drugs in the house until they were found by police.
In his evidence, the musician said his wife had taken weekly drugs tests since seeking treatment for her addiction two years ago.
Although she had informed him they were clear, Tom Cohen said he now believed Peaches Geldof had been lying about the tests.
Tom Cohen, who married Peaches Geldof in 2012, found his wife slumped on the bed at their home in Wrotham in Kent on April 7 after becoming concerned when she failed to answer the phone.
He had been away for the weekend with the elder of their two sons, Astala, leaving Peaches Geldof at home with their 11-month old son, Phaedra.
Peaches Geldof died of a heroin overdose (photo Getty Images)
Peaches Geldof was pronounced dead at the scene.
After a toxicology report was issued in May, the police launched a criminal inquiry “into the supply of drugs” in connection with her death. No arrests have been made so far.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham, who led the investigation, said “importation quality” heroin with a purity of 61% – “far exceeding” the 26% purity usually found at street level – was found in a black cloth bag inside a cupboard over a bedroom door.
“The black bag also contained 34 medical syringes, some were with needles and some without, some were sealed in original packaging and some contained traces of a brown colored residue,” he said.
“There were also 45 packaged and sealed syringes, alcohol wipes and cotton buds.”
Police also found a pair of knotted black tights under Peaches Geldof’s body and two other pairs of tights with knots in them elsewhere in the property, along with a number of burnt spoons.
The syringe containing the fatal dose was discovered in a cardboard box next to the bed, which also contained sweets.
Forensic scientist Emma Harris, who had been involved in examining the body, said: “Tolerance to heroin… appears to be lost fairly rapidly when users cease to use the drug, and deaths commonly occur in people who have previously been tolerant and have returned to using heroin.”
Pathologist Peter Jerreat said the levels of heroin in Peaches Geldof’s body were in a “fatal range”; while evidence of codeine, methadone and morphine were also found in her blood.
He further noted that puncture wounds were found on Peaches Geldof’s body on her elbows, wrists and thumbs.
Peaches Geldof’s mother, Paula Yates, died of a heroin overdose at the age of 41 when her daughter was 11 years old.
