Cyber Monday is the start of the holiday shopping season online, and a great day for bargains; but only if you know how to find them.
Here are several tips that should help:
Track the Deals
Use CyberMonday.com and dealio.com to stay on top of all of the Cyber Monday deals across the web, including information about free shipping offers and coupons.
Sign Up for Newsletters
If you plan to shop at a particular retailer, be sure to sign up for their e-newsletter a few weeks before the sales begin. It’s a good way to stay abreast of special deals and promotions, and a great way to score special subscriber-only coupons.
Shop at Sites that Offer Free Shipping
Many, but not all, stores offer free shipping on Cyber Monday; so spend some time looking for those free shipping deals. Don’t see free shipping offered on the site that you’re on? Then, check a competitor’s site.
Cyber Monday is the start of the holiday shopping season online, and a great day for bargains, but only if you know how to find them
Seek Out Coupon Codes
Head to currentcodes.com, retailmenot.com or one of the many other sites dedicated to finding and posting coupon codes. You may just find a deal – free shipping, free merchandise, a percent off your order – to sweeten the pot.
Bonus Tip: Bookmark Retailmenot.com. Then, the next time you’re shopping online, just click on the link, and it’ll display all of the coupons for the site that you’re on – now that’s bargain shopping made easy!
Order through a Rewards Site
Access a store’s website through a rewards site, and you’ll earn points or even cash for your efforts. Some rewards sites worth checking out: Upromise, MyPoints, FatWallet and Ebates.
Compare Prices
Before you place an order, use a price comparison website like pricegrabber.com to make sure you’re getting the best deal.
Cyber Monday is the first Monday after Thanksgiving. In 2012, it falls on November 26.
Cyber Monday was christened by Shop.org in 2005, because it’s known for online shopping sales. It follows the bricks-and-mortar shopping done on Black Friday, the first shopping day after Thanksgiving. Each year, new records are set as more and more people enjoy the convenience of shopping online.
In 2012, online holiday sales are expected to grow 12%, to $96 billion. That’s because 51.8% of people will take advantage of web-based sales, up from the 46.7% in 2011. On average, each person will do more than a third (38.8%) of their shopping online.
In 2011, Cyber Monday sales were $1.2 billion, up a whopping 22% over Cyber Monday 2010. On average, nearly 11% of shoppers used their mobile devices to visit retailers’ web sites. What were the most popular devices? The iPhone and iPad, followed by the Android.
Nearly 130 million Americans said they would shop on Cyber Monday – a third more than last year. More than half said they’d shop from work – naturally, during lunch hour or right after work.
The holiday shopping season is important for the economy because 19% of retail sales occur between Black Friday and Christmas. For some retailers, such as jewelers, it can be nearly 40% of their annual revenue.
Retailers Planned Bigger Sales
Thanks to the growing success of Cyber Monday, nearly 70% of online retailers expected their sales to increase at least 15% in 2011. This was even more optimistic than last year, when only two-thirds thought their sales would rise, and in 2009, when less than half thought so.
As a result, this year just about 90% of retailers offered great online sales. Nearly all offered free shipping, which was a large reason for the success of the record-setting 2010 Cyber Monday. This success spurred more than half of retailers to increase their “free shipping” budget, while one-third of retailers offered free shipping even earlier than they did last year. These retailers are smart, because 36% of shoppers surveyed said they’d increase their online shopping only if shipping were free.
Nearly half of the retailers offered coupons or a percent off deals (45.0%), while more than one-third had limited-time-only promotions. Fewer (15%) promoted a free gift-with-purchase.
Online retailers lured shoppers to Cyber Monday by promoting their sales even earlier than last year. More than half started their promotions by Halloween. These retailers are smart, since Halloween 2011 was the most successful spooky holiday yet. Nearly 40% waited a few weeks, starting their Cyber Monday promotions in mid-November. Just over half started promoting on Thanksgiving Day itself, while nearly all (92.2%) offered sales sometime over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Cyber Monday 2012
Why Holiday Shoppers Are Switching to Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday shoppers are very clear about why they like the day. More than 40% of time-strapped shoppers said the 24-hour convenience is their highest priority. Almost as many listed their desire to avoid the crowds on Black Friday as their primary reason for shopping online. Nearly a third of online shoppers said they like the ability to easily compare prices. A few online shoppers said they would buy less, thanks to expensive shipping charges, not being able to see or handle their purchase ahead of time, and having to wait for it to be shipped.
Shoppers are using social media more than ever. Nearly one third said they would go to a company’s Facebook page to get additional information about Cyber Monday sales. Twice as many would look at customer reviews on the company’s website before buying any products or services.
Growing Importance of Mobile Technology and Social Media
Online retailers are responding to shoppers’ use of mobile technology and social media by promoting there. More than half of retailers made sure their website sales were optimized for mobile devices. Another 20% were even optimizing for tablet device apps. More than a third used QR codes in magazine and billboard ads.
Online retailers also maximized their use of social media. Nearly three-quarters said they would promote sales on their Facebook pages, while more than 40% promoted on Twitter.
More than half (52.9%) of those who own smartphones, and even more (64.1%) of tablet-users will use them to do their holiday shopping. Nearly a third of smartphone users will research prices, while a fourth will find out store locations and sales. Only 15% will actually buy products with their phone.
With tablet users, on the other hand, the percentages go up,. More than 40% will compare prices, while 20% will redeem coupons. Most important, nearly a third will go ahead and buy online. (Source: National Retail Federation Annual 2012 Survey)
How to Get the Best Cyber Monday Deals
Retail sales can be found on CyberMonday.com, which features a schedule of what retailers offer deals at what times in a “Deal of the Hour” promotion. You can find sales from more than 800 online retailers.
Lazy chefs can rustle up a turkey casserole with winter veg, chipolatas, stuffing balls and cranberry jelly in a hassle-free 12 minutes…all from a can.
The self-heating festive feast comes in a compact 400 gram tin.
When December 25 arrives, simply remove the rubber cap, pierce the holes and open the insulated can.
This kick starts an exothermic reaction to warm the meal with all the trimmings, leaving the family more time to relax and open presents.
Retail website Firebox.com are selling the Christmas Dinner HotCan for the first time this year.
A spokesman said: “Christmas Dinner will never be the same again.
“There’s no need for pesky ovens, microwaves or kettles – just sit down, crack open the HotCan, relax and enjoy Christmas turkey with all the trimmings.
“Plus there is no need for washing up afterwards, freeing up more time to sit back and enjoy a good old James Bond film.”
Stressful hours peeling potatoes and preparing a turkey throughout the night could be gone forever thanks to HotCan Christmas Dinner
Budding gastronomes can rest easy, as the can’s contents still tickles the tastebuds.
The spokesman added: “HotCan recipes are really rather delicious.
“You won’t be awarding any Michelin Stars, but they are certainly up there with your respectable ready meals.
“Plus, Your Christmas Dinner HotCan is nutritionally balanced, so as well as satisfying all your Christmas cravings, you’ll stay trim and terrific.”
HotCans consist of a can of food surrounded by an outer can, with a water sachet and processed granular limestone in between.
Customers insert the spike into the rim of the can, piercing the sachet and causing the water to flow into the limestone.
This triggers a natural heat-producing reaction which warms up the food to 60 – 70 degrees Celsius.
Giuliana and Bill Rancic seem intent on spreading their good cheer around, as they tour the chat shows in an attempt to publicize their reality series.
The new parents visited the Today Show and Katie on Tuesday as they prepared for a special episode of their show covering the birth of their son Duke.
Giuliana Rancic, 37, showed off her trim figure in a flattering black and white panel dress as she walked in New York.
She and smartly dressed Bill Rancic each had wide smiles on their face, as they posed together for the cameras.
Their reality show has chronicled the couple’s rocky journey to becoming parents, from their battles with infertility, through Giuliana Rancic’s cancer and their eventual decision to ask a surrogate to carry their child.
Giuliana and Bill Rancic tour the chat shows in an attempt to publicize their reality series
Tuesday night’s episode shows the moment the couple finally meet their son Edward Duke, as their surrogate gives birth.
Giuliana Rancic has just returned to TV as a host on E! News following her three-month maternity leave.
She has admitted she cried when she had to leave her baby for the first time to return to work.
“It was hard to leave the little guy I’m not going to kid you,” she told E!
“But… I’m fine. I’m going to do what most moms do. It is hard but hopefully I’m going to bring him in a couple of days of the week. He’s so new. He’s only 11 weeks old.”
Just two weeks ago Ralph Lauren announced it would be closing its younger prep brand Rugby, and now it has revealed RL Vintage, a new shopping site in its place dedicated entirely to the brand’s extensive vintage archives.
The RL Vintage online boutique features 45 handpicked pieces from the Ralph Lauren archives, a curated selection that will switch over every season to fit a new theme.
While the e-commerce site is supposed to be fully shoppable, the assuming high prices are available by request only.
The current collection for sale, titled Western, includes a hand-knit wool flag sweater that was created specifically for a Life magazine shoot.
Ralph Lauren wrote on the original item’s page: “When Life Magazine asked me to be on their cover, photographed at our Double RL Ranch, I wanted to wear something that was just as American as my weathered jeans and jean jacket.
“I decided to create a hand-knit sweater with the symbol of our country at its center. The reaction was so amazing that we put it into production.”
Ralph Lauren has revealed RL Vintage, a new shopping site dedicated entirely to the brand’s extensive vintage archives
Other items up for sale include a cropped suede jacket which was inspired by a jacket worn by Randolph Scott in a Western movie the designer says he remembers fondly from his childhood.
A sherling coat, corduroy wrap dress and a bevy of cowboy boots also feature.
However, more than 20 of the items have already sold since the site went live on Thursday.
The site also features a “Bring It Back” program, where users can vote for a list of iconic products they would like to see brought back into production.
Liu Xianping is a Chinese grandfather who has won worldwide fame after photographs of him modeling women’s clothing were posted to the internet.
Seventy two year old Liu Xianping posed in outfits from his granddaughter’s fashion store Yuekou for a joke.
But when Liu Xianping’s granddaughter, Ms Lv, posted the snaps online, the two were surprised to find the photos go viral almost overnight.
What began as a lighthearted joke fast became a successful publicity campaign after the images went global – and Ms Lv saw sales soar.
According to China Newsweek, Ms Lv said the stunt was all her grandfather’s idea.
“He picked up one piece and tried to give some advice on how to mix and match,” she said.
“We thought it was fun so we started shooting.”
The outfits, designed for teenage girls, feature bright pink capes, striped tights and over the knee socks, with plenty of lace, ribbon and frippery.
Seventy two year old Liu Xianping posed in outfits from his granddaughter’s fashion store Yuekou for a joke
Chenille scarves and pink-framed sunglasses finish off the looks, and Liu Xianping carries a wine-colored handbag in many of the shots.
Posing in a sequence of outfits, his long slim legs and slender physique shows Yuekou’s clothing off to its full advantage – and has earned the store infinite more hits than if a regular model had been used.
Indeed, since Liu Xianping’s photographs, posted on Tmall, one of China’s leading retail sites, went viral, sales at Yuekou have increased fivefold.
Liu Xianping’s legs are reportedly the envy of women all over China – even the world.
“He has such a good figure,”offbeatchina.comreported one fan as saying.
“He has such a good figure, especially those legs!” and another likening the elderly gent to Karl Lagerfeld.
For his part, Liu Xianping told China Newsweek that he is glad to model for the store – and happy to be able to help his family.
“Why unacceptable for someone like me to wear women’s clothes? Modeling for the store is helping my granddaughter and I have nothing to lose,” he said.
“We were very happy on the day of the shooting. I’m very old and all that I care about is to be happy.”
Natalie Khawam, Lebanese-born twin sister of Jill Kelley, the Tampa socialite at the centre of David Petraeus scandal, appeared at a press conference alongside celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred.
In an apparent bid to gain leverage for her client in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband Grayson Wolfe over their 4-year-old son, Gloria Allred portrayed Natalie Khawam’s case as “extremely important to single moms across the nation”.
David Petraeus, who resigned as CIA director after his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell was revealed when Jill Kelley complained to the FBI about harassing emails from her, wrote a letter in support of Khawam’s case.
General John Allen, NATO commander in Afghanistan and under investigation for potentially ‘inappropriate’ emails in a correspondence of up to 30,000 pages, also wrote a letter backing her.
Gloria Allred paid tribute to David Petraues and his wife Holly at a press conference in the Ritz Carlton in Washington.
“Both have known Natalie and her son personally for many years, and have had numerous opportunities to observe them together,” she said.
“They have loved Natalie’s child and emotionally supported her and her son through the toughest time in Natalie and her son’s life. They both spoke up through their court declarations in support of Natalie about what a loving, protective mom she was.”
Natalie Khawam, Lebanese-born twin sister of Jill Kelley, appeared at a press conference alongside celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred
A tearful Natalie Khawam, 37, declined to answer any questions but spoke of her relationship with her sister.
“My sister Jill and I aren’t just twins, we’re best friends. Literally inseparable,” she said.
“During my darkest time…she and my brother-in-law Dr. Kelley took me in with my son when we needed refuge and protection. Jill is the kindest, most generous person I know.
“We played tennis together. She played net and I served. We also played softball together. She was the catcher and I pitched. We love to cook. I usually bake and she sautés.
“We used to study together. I love math, she loves science and she excels in chemistry. We love to play piano and play chess.
“Jill has lovingly supported me through the years and I plan to love and support her unconditionally.”
Natalie Khawam lost an ugly child custody dispute with ex-husband Grayson Wolfe despite the letters written on her behalf by David Petraeus and General John Allen.
The judge said he had serious concerns and reservations over her mental stability and her grasp on reality and accused her of “outrageous conduct”, “bad faith litigation tactics”, and “illogical thinking” before awarding full custody to the father, who had been unable to see his child for more than a year.
According to the New York Post, Grayson Wolfe, won sole custody of the boy after the judge found out Natalie Khawam, a lawyer, repeatedly lied under oath and filed false domestic-violence and child-abuse claims against her husband.
Natalie Khawam was also accused of defying court orders to allow her estranged husband access to their son and sent emails to his friends and colleagues telling them he was a “horrible father and husband”.
Gloria Allred described her client as “a loving, caring mother” as well as a “highly educated academic scholar and a successful attorney”.
She described Jill Kelley’s relationship with David Petraeus as “social”.
Asked whether Natalie Khawam had visited the White House, Gloria Allred said she had been there “essentially for a tour” but declined to say who had been the host.
Neither Gloria Allred nor Natalie Khawam would speak about John Allen or go into any detail about David Petraues.
Gloria Allred’s clients include former porn star Joslyn James and nightclub promoter Rachel Uchitel, for whom Allred reportedly helped win $10 million from Tiger Woods.
She is renowned as the go-to lawyer for women who find themselves caught up in celebrity scandals and has defended women against stars such as Charlie Sheen, Eddie Murphy, and Rob Lowe.
Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite at the centre of the David Petraeus sex scandal, took multiple flights on military aircraft at taxpayers expenses, it was claimed today.
Jill Kelley even reportedly flew to Washington D.C. with General John Allen – the military commander she is said to have exchanged tens of thousands of emails with while he was in Afghanistan.
It is not known why Jill Kelley, 37, flew to the U.S. capital with John Allen but it has emerged that in recent months she has had three visits to the White House.
The mother of three from Tampa has so far refused to comment publicly on her role in the scandal that ended the career of CIA Director David Petraeus and put the distinguished career of General John Allen in jeopardy.
The commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan is under investigation for “flirty” emails said to number as many as 30,000 that he exchanged with Jill Kelley.
An investigation by 10 News Tampa has revealed that Jill Kelley, whose complaint over threatening emails revealed David Petraeus’ affair, has enjoyed several trips on military planes.
The news stations said they have made several requests to defense officials to see how many times Jill Kelley has flown from the MacDill Air Force base where she acted as an unpaid social liaison officer.
Pentagon officials told News 10 they have not been able to track down the exact number of flights. But they did confirm she flew on a KC-135 jet in May 2010.
The KC-135 jets are primarily used to refuel other aircraft in mid-air.
“It’s an educational opportunity for people to just see what hard working military members are doing each day,” Lt. Col. Jack Miller told the TV station.
Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite at the centre of the David Petraeus sex scandal, took multiple flights on military aircraft at taxpayers expenses
Officials said about 150 people each year take an orientation flight at MacDill, with the flights leaving and then returning to Tampa.
“I’ve seen anything from community leaders to Cub Scouts to sports teams.
“But by in large, it’s generally folks throughout the community that just have an interest in the instillation. Sometimes it’s just a matter of requesting to do it.”
Jill Kelley, who is mired in debt and facing foreclosure on her $1.3 million home overlooking Tampa Bay, sparked the investigation into David Petraeus after she went to the FBI after receiving threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, the general’s biographer.
The latest example of how she rubbed shoulders with the military’s top brass comes after it emerged she has visited the White House three times in the past three months.
Jill Kelley and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, were invited to two “courtesy” meals in the Executive Mansion mess hall as a guest of a White House aide.
She met the mid-level aide through her work with MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, where she also rubbed shoulders with the military bosses including General David Petraeus.
On one further occasion, she received a White House tour with her family, the official added.
It confirms that Jill Kelley was telling the truth in an email she wrote to a reporter at the Tampa Bay Times on September 28, in which she boasted of visiting the White House.
“Btw I was made the [honorary] Ambassador to US Central Command’s Coalition!” Jill Kelley wrote.
“In addition to that, I was just recently appointed to be the Honorary Consulate General to South Korea! I’m in DC today – just left from breakfast at the White House…. I really hope to see you soon!”
In further examples of her attempts to use her contacts to her advantage, Jill Kelley sent a string of pleading emails to the Tampa Mayor, complaining she has been receiving threats and claiming: “The truth will one day prevail.”
The anguished messages, seen by the Tampa Bay Times, were sent to Bob Buckhorn, whom she knows socially, and claimed her children were scared and her husband had been forced to sleep at work.
Holly Petraeus has reportedly threatened David Petraeus with divorce after she was left humiliated by his affair with Paula Broadwell
Holly Petraeus, former CIA director’s wife of 38 years, has reportedly threatened David Petraeus with divorce after she was left “humiliated” by his affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, it has been claimed today.
Holly Petraeus is reportedly “furious” about the affair, which forced her husband to resign from the top of the CIA ten days ago, and is demanding to know how many other women he has shared trysts with throughout their marriage.
“She can’t turn on a television, go online or open a newspaper without being bombarded by the latest revelations about his cheating,” a source told the National Enquirer.
“No wonder she’s angry. David has been falling all over himself, apologizing and begging Holly to forgive him, but she isn’t listening. After all his lies, she doesn’t believe anything he says anymore, and she’s thinking about consulting a divorce attorney.”
The source claimed Holly Petraeus has suspicions that her husband had an affair with Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite who sparked his downfall after tipping off the FBI about threatening emails from Paula Broadwell.
While David Petraeus denies they have ever been involved, Holly Petraeus is uncertain and keeps demanding to know how many other women he has cheated on her with, the source said.
Jill Kelley has also denied any wrongdoing and said in a statement she was simply a friend of David Petraeus, whom she met through her work at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
Holly and David Petraeus attended lavish garden parties at Jill Kelley’s Tampa, Florida mansion, where she lives with her husband, their three children and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam.
The Petraeuses have been married 38 years after meeting on a blind date when David Petraeus was a student at the military academy at West Point, where Holly’s father was the superintendent.
David Petraeus graduated in June 1947 and the couple married the following month, before going on to have two children, Ann and Stephen, and travelling throughout the world with his work.
Despite moving 24 times in 38 years, Holly Petraeus has also built her own career.
She became a volunteer, performing military and family support roles on bases, before working with service members as a financial advocate to ensure they were treated fairly by businesses.
In 2011, Holly Petraeus was appointed to the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as head of the Office of Servicemember Affairs, a post she still holds.
Holly Petraeus’ threats of divorce come little more than a month after she and her husband were the picture of unity at their daughter’s wedding – three months after David Petraeus’ affair with Paula Broadwell had come to an end.
But on November 9, he stepped down from the CIA after the FBI uncovered his relationship with Paula Broadwell.
The affair was discovered after Paula Broadwell sent a string of “threatening” emails to military party planner Jill Kelley, whom she deemed a threat.
According to friends, Jill Kelley considered some of the anonymous messages death threats, after Paula Broadwell vowed to make Kelley “go away” – and the concerned housewife contacted the FBI.
The anonymous emails contained classified information about David Petraeus’ whereabouts and, thinking there had been a potential national security breach, the FBI was forced to investigate.
During their probe, they traced the emails back to Paula Broadwell and also uncovered emails revealing her months-long affair with David Petraeus, whom she had first met as a student in 2006.
In interviews and her biography of David Petraeus, All In, Paula Broadwell lauded Holly Petraeus as a “wonderful source of information” and revealed that she had read the book and enjoyed it.
In the book, Paula Broadwell recounted details from dozens of hours of interviews between Holly and David Petraeus in a description of how the couple met and fell in love.
Paula Broadwell described the relationship as virtually unbreakable – while at the same time carrying on an illicit affair with David behind Holly Petraeus’ back.
A basic brine makes this turkey breast more flavorful, moist, and tender.
Refrigerate the turkey in the brine overnight, then roast to perfection for a fabulous feast.
Ingredients:
1 turkey breast, bone-in, about 5 to 7 pounds
1 gallon ice cold water
1 1/2 cups kosher salt (if you only have table salt, use 1 cup)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3 bay leaves, crumbled
1 tablespoon allspice berries, crushed
1 tablespoon mixed or black peppercorns, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper
Creole seasoning, optional
Brined Turkey Breast
Preparation:
Rinse turkey under cold water.
Place turkey breast in a large cooking bag; place in a large roasting pan or other large container (just in case the bag leaks). Add the brine ingredients to the bag, then close the bag and twist until brine is covering turkey. Use a twist-tie to secure the bag. Alternately, you can use a large, nonreactive covered container. Place in the refrigerator for 12 hours or overnight.
Heat oven to 400°.
Remove turkey from brine and pat dry. Place on a rack, breast side up, in a large roasting pan. Discard brine. Rub the turkey with vegetable oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, along with a little sprinkling of Creole or Cajun seasoning, if desired. Place a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast, not touching bone. Roast at 400° for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 325° and continue roasting until turkey breast registers 170°, about 2 to 3 hours. Serves 8 to 10.
Black Friday is a day of huge sales at many chain stores. Consumers can get especially good deals on electronics, appliances, and sometimes even cars. Clothes, too, are often steeply discounted.
10 Tips for Smart Black Friday Shopping
Try to get Friday off work. Thanksgiving Thursday is a federal holiday, and public and private schools are closed on Friday. Still, many people including healthcare providers, retail sales clerks and restaurant workers will have to report into work on the day after Thanksgiving. So if you’re hoping to get big bargains on Black Friday this year, arrange beforehand to get that day off work. Note: In 2011, some retailers started Black Friday on Thanksgiving evening. In 2012, some started the week before Thanksgiving.
Avoid impulse purchases. The best way to do this is to make a shopping list before you set out, with some idea of what you want to pay for each item – and stick to it. When there’s a shopping frenzy all around you, having a list in hand is the best way to avoid making purchases you’ll regret later.
Scope it out first. You can’t be in two places at once, alas. Will you go to an individual store, like Century 21, or a mall? In Brooklyn, New York, you’ve got a growing choice of malls: the Atlantic Center Mall? Kings Plaza? Macy’s and the stores in the Fulton Mall? Or Gateway Mall?
Prioritize the most expensive items first. You won’t be able to get everything on your list, so you might as well save the most money on the largest items.
Make sure your credit or debit card is ready for Black Friday shopping. There’s nothing worse, or more embarrassing, than standing in line for an hour only to discover that your credit card isn’t accepting the charge.
Decisions, decisions: Are you a solo shopper? Or do you like company? For some, the motto “he who travels lone travels fastest” applies to shopping. Others like to bring their spouse, sister or friend. If you’ve got your eye on two very different big ticket items, like a TV and also a car, then you might need to enlist your family members or friends to help shop so you can get the best bargains early. If you’ve got young children, it’s wise to leave them with a babysitter; this is heavy-duty shopping, and kids won’t find it all that much fun.
Be prepared to wait outside or in. Wear comfy shoes, travel light and bring a snack. Wear weather-appropriate clothes, like a jacket or rain coat if you’re going to get to the store super early and wait online outside. Wear super comfortable shoes, too — and outer wear that won’t be bulky if you end up taking it off inside an overheated, crowded store. Bring snacks like an apple or energy bar, a bottle of water, and your patience. Lines can be long.
Work out your transportation: Figure out how you’re going to get to the store, and back. If you’re going very early, check the mass transit schedules or the parking situation. If you plan to buy a huge item, like TV, either drive or have the phone number of a car service handy.
Charge your cell phone or smart phone the day before so you can stay connected.
Even if you don’t arrive at 4 a.m. try to get there as early as you can. Some stores have limited quantities on the best bargains. Some end their sales when you might normally be enjoying your second cup of morning coffee. As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm.
Ten Tips for Smart Black Friday Shopping
Or … Stay home instead! Have a bagel, stay in your pajamas, and shop online. See www.DealsofAmerica.com or just check your favorite online sites.
Brooklyn shoppers — whether you’re visiting for Thanksgiving or live in Brooklyn — have more than a few choices. You can go to the local Brooklyn stores and malls, which offer a good selection. Or, head to Long Island or upstate New York to the discount malls. And, of course, you can always head to Manhattan, a shopping Mecca.
Tip: Some experts suggest that consumers can buy an item in advance, and then bring it with the receipt to adjust the price on Black Friday. This strategy carries the obvious risk that the stores will say no.
Black Friday is the retailers’ way of enticing shoppers to start spending for the big Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa season. Happy hunting!
Nicole Delien, a Pennsylvania teenager, slept for 64 days from Thanksgiving into January – her longest sleeping episode yet – as she struggles with a rare sleep disorder called Kleine-Levine, or Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, which affects an estimated 1,000 people around the world.
During her sleep spells, which began when she was six and a half, Nicole Delien, now 17,will wake up in a confused state for small periods of time to eat, drink and use the bathroom and then fall back to sleep.
“I don’t remember what happens [during that time],” Nicole Delien told the Today Show on Tuesday.
“It’s hard for me to talk about it, because I’ve missed so many days of my life. I just don’t like when people call it a fairy tale, because it’s really not.”
Nicole Delien’s mother, Vicki, says her daughter will sleep 18 to 19 hours a day, and when she eventually wakes up to eat she is in a “sleepwalking state which she doesn’t remember”, KDKA in Pittsburgh reported last week.
The Delien family also recently appeared on Jeff Probst’s syndicated talk show to make sure other families become aware of the rare disorder.
Vicki Delien told reporters that it was very frustrating trying to get a diagnosis for her daughter. She said it took several hospital trips to figure out what has been afflicting her.
Eventually, Dr. Michael Rancurello, a psychiatrist at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was able to pinpoint the disorder and offer some suggestions on how to manage it, including medication.
“It’s really not sleeping,” he told the Today Show, calling Nicole Delien’s unconscious state a “delirium”.
“I think it’s a manifestation of some brain malfunction,” he said.
Nicole Delien struggles with a rare sleep disorder called Kleine-Levine, or Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, which affects an estimated 1,000 people around the world
Individuals affected with the disorder may go for a period of “weeks, months or even years without experiencing any symptoms, and then they reappear with little warning” the Kleine-Levin Syndrome Foundation website states.
In addition to excessive sleeping, those symptoms include disorientation, hallucination, child-like behavior, binge-eating and periods of hyper-sexuality when awake, according to an Oxford Journals report.
That report says the disorder predominately affects young males.
Symptoms may be related to malfunctions in the parts of the brain that govern appetite, sleep and sexuality, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The cause of Kleine-Levin Syndrome is unknown, both medical sources indicate.
Eric Haller, a young college student with the disorder, told ABC News in February that he gets sick and falls into a sleeping episode about eight to 10 times a year.
He still shows an aptitude for working and learning. The 21-year-old from Placentia, California, maintains a 3.5 average at Fullerton State University and interns for the Los Angeles Clippers. However, his abilities decline when he slips into a trance.
Kleine-Levin Syndrome can last for eight to fourteen years of an afflicted person’s life, Dr. Michael Rancurello said, noting that Nicole Delien is reaching the mean length of symptoms right now. Medication helps spread her episodes further apart, her family says.
Still, Nicole Delien says she has missed out on Thanksgiving, Christmas and other family celebrations due to those spells.
She also missed out on an opportunity to meet pop singer Katy Perry. But when Perry later learned about Nicole Delien’s disorder she made sure Nicole was able to visit her backstage at a performance in Connecticut.
As she grows older, Nicole Delien says she hopes to have “more good memories like that one”.
Nicole Delien’s last sleeping episode was in March.
She said that she’s scared of when it will happen again.
The “threatening” emails sent by Paula Broadwell to Florida socialite Jill Kelley – that eventually uncovered Broadwell’s affair with David Petraeus – vowed to make her perceived rival “go away”, it has been claimed.
The messages sent to Jill Kelley, who contacted the FBI after receiving them in May, were so menacing that the military party planner feared for her life, according to a friend.
The friend, who has not been identified, said that Jill Kelley, a military party planner in Tampa, had called her to seek advice after receiving the messages and read them out over the phone.
Speaking to the New York Daily News, she described the messages as much more threatening than originally reported, adding: “Any normal person who got emails like that would have immediately called police.”
In the messages, which were sent anonymously, Paula Broadwell promised to “make you go away” and boasted about her military background and having “powerful” friends, the Daily News reported.
“This wasn’t just a case of cyber-bullying,” the friend said.
“[Jill Kelley] was scared for her life. She had reason to be. These emails are the real thing. When she read them to me, I literally had the shivers.”
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that, in one email, Paula Broadwell had accused Jill Kelley of touching “him” underneath a table and asked if Kelley’s husband was aware of her actions.
In another, Paula Broadwell asked: “Who do you think you are?”
The threatening emails sent by Paula Broadwell to Florida socialite Jill Kelley vowed to make her perceived rival go away
Paula Broadwell also accused Jill Kelley, a David Petraeus family friend, of “parad[ing] around the base”, adding: “You need to take it down a notch.”
But the threatening emails, which had previously been described as “cat-fight stuff”, led to Paula Broadwell’s undoing after Jill Kelley contacted a friend in the FBI about the messages.
The anonymous emails contained classified information about David Petraeus’ whereabouts and, thinking there had been a potential national security breach, the FBI was forced to investigate.
During their probe, they traced the emails back to Paula Broadwell and also uncovered emails revealing her months-long affair with CIA boss David Petraeus, whose biography she had penned.
But investigators also found tens of thousands of emails between Jill Kelley and General John R. Allen, head of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and deemed some “inappropriate” and “flirtatious”.
General John Allen, a married father of two, is now under investigation, but both he and Jill Kelley deny any wrongdoing.
Jill Kelley has also denied being any more than friends with David Petraeus and released a statement saying: “We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus for over five years. We respect his family’s privacy and want the same for us and our three children.”
Jill Kelley’s twin sister sister, Natalie Khawam, has also been dragged into the scandal, with reports detailing her troubled child custody battles and shrewd socializing skills. Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred is now representing her.
The latest revelations about the contents of the emails – which eventually led to David Petraeus’ resignation from the CIA on November 9 – come as Paula Broadwell moved back home with her husband and children.
Fighters from the M23 rebel group say they have captured Goma, the main city in resource-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The rebels exchange some small-arms fire with the army but they otherwise met little resistance.
UN peacekeepers watched as rebels marched past their vehicles, he adds.
President Joseph Kabila, who flew to Uganda for talks, called on people to “resist” the rebels.
Aid agencies say tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in the last five days as conflict escalated.
One camp near Goma, where about 60,000 people from previous conflicts were taking refuge, has emptied as people flee, the agencies report.
This is the first time since the war officially ended in 2003 that rebels have entered Goma, which has a population of about 400,000.
Some five million people died in the war, which dragged in neighboring states – including Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola.
In a television broadcast, Joseph Kabila called on people to defend the country, AFP news agency reports.
“DR Congo is today confronted with a difficult situation. When a war is imposed, one has an obligation to resist,” he is quoted as saying.
“I ask that the entire population defend our sovereignty.”
He later flew to Uganda to discuss the conflict with his Ugandan counterpart President Yoweri Museveni.
Fighters from the M23 rebel group say they have captured Goma, the main city in resource-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Rwanda has denied persistent accusations that it backs the M23 rebels.
On Monday, it accused the Congolese army of deliberately firing across the border onto its territory.
The commander of United Nations peacekeepers in DR Congo, Lt-Gen Chandar Prakash, said the rebels had tried to attack his forces at the airport, but had been repelled.
Some rebels had used the cover of civilian houses to bypass the UN base there and enter the town, he said.
Government forces are no longer at Goma’s airport, but UN forces are still there.
The UN force has not tried to resist the rebel advance, and watched as about a dozen rebels marched past their armored vehicles.
He says the rebels have gone through Goma and have reached the border with Rwanda.
“The town of Goma fell at 11:33 local time [08.33GMT], despite the attack helicopters, despite the heavy weapons, the FARDC [Congolese army] has let the town fall into our hands,” M23 spokesman Colonel Vianney Kazarama told Reuters news agency.
German newspaper Tageszeitung‘s reporter in Goma, Simone Schlindwein, said she saw the bodies of 10 government soldiers lying in a pool of blood.
Residents told her there were many more corpses on side streets and in nearby fields.
Staff at the main hospital in Goma reported that one civilian had died and 90 had been wounded after being caught in the crossfire, Simone Schlindwein said.
Government forces had looted homes in Goma and were now retreating towards South Kivu province, she added.
Various rebels groups have been active in mineral-rich eastern DR Congo since the end of the war in 2003.
The latest conflict broke out after a mutiny in the army in April, when a group of former rebels formed the M23, also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army.
About 500,000 people have fled the fighting since then.
The M23 is largely made up of ethnic Tutsis, the same group which dominates the government in Rwanda.
The UN has about 22,000 peacekeepers in DR Congo.
Who are the M23 rebels?
Named after the 23 March 2009 peace accord which they accuse the government of violating
This deal saw them join the army before they took up arms once more in April 2012
Also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army
Mostly from minority Tutsi ethnic group
Deny being backed by Rwanda and Uganda
Believed to have 1,200 to 6,000 fighters
International Criminal Court indicted top commander Bosco “Terminator” Ntaganda in 2006 for allegedly recruiting child soldiers
The UN and US imposed a travel ban and asset freeze earlier this month on the group’s leader, Sultani Makenga
The UN’s latest assessment of global cases of HIV/AIDS shows there has been a further drop in new infections among children.
There were 330,000 new infections in children last year – the figure is 24% lower than in 2009.
But the report by UNAids also warns “significant additional effort is required” if broader targets to tackle HIV/Aids are to be achieved by 2015.
The agency’s director said the pace of progress was speeding up.
Overall, 34 million people around the world are now thought to have the virus that causes Aids.
The number of new infections in adults has stayed broadly stable for the past four years – at about 2.5 million new cases a year.
Many more people with HIV now receive life-saving drugs which keep the virus under control. But the report estimates seven million people who need treatment still do not have it.
The UN’s latest assessment of global cases of HIV-AIDS shows there has been a further drop in new infections among children
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most severely affected part of the world, though some countries there have made impressive efforts in reducing fresh cases.
The executive director of UNAids, Michel Sidibe, said: “Ethiopia, Malawi and Botswana have achieved big reductions in new infections, showing they are capable of controlling the epidemic.
“Twenty-five countries have reduced the number of new infections by more than 50%.
“In general, we’ve moved from a phase of political rhetoric to programmes being implemented and having an effect.
“But some countries aren’t using the right strategies – Russia, for example, where infections are still growing.”
The report also shows significant increases in AIDS-related deaths in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
UNAids is monitoring progress against targets such as reducing sexual transmission of HIV by 50% by 2015, and providing antiretroviral therapy to all 15 million people who need it.
The report shows where challenges remain. For example, it says there needs to be a scaling up of efforts to offer circumcision to men, which trials have shown is effective in preventing some new infections.
And it describes how “intensive efforts” are under way to find effective non-surgical approaches to circumcision – avoiding the need for scalpels or stitches – so that trained nurses could carry out the procedure rather than doctors.
Dr. Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders Access Campaign, said: “Scaling up HIV treatment to 15 million people from 8 million today is feasible and has the crucial triple benefit of reducing illness, reducing death, and reducing the risk of transmission.”
Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi, who is leading mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, says he expects Israeli forces to end air strikes on Gaza later on Tuesday.
The comment came as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is heading to the region to support ceasefire efforts.
Israel says it has put plans for a land invasion of Gaza on hold.
But it has also told villagers in north, south and east of Gaza to move to central areas for their own safety.
Leaflets dropped in a number of villages say: “The Israel Defense Forces are not targeting any of you and they do not want to harm you or your families. For your safety we demand you to evacuate your houses immediately and move towards the centre of Gaza city.”
The conflict began last Wednesday when Israel killed a Hamas military leader, saying it wanted an end to rocket attacks from Gaza. More than 110 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed.
Tuesday has seen a reduced level of violence, correspondents say, even though Israel has conducted some strikes. One was a “direct hit” on two militants in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said.
It also said about 90 rockets had been fired from Gaza toward Israel, and that more than 50 had been intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system. Five soldiers were wounded in one rocket attack, the military said, without specifying the location.
Local journalists say they saw Hamas fighters summarily execute six people on Tuesday afternoon for being Israeli informers.
One eyewitness told AFP news agency: “Gunmen in a minibus pulled up in the neighborhood, pushed six men out and shot them without leaving the vehicle.”
President Mohammed Mursi said Israel’s “aggression” against Gaza would end on Tuesday and Egypt’s mediation efforts would produce “positive results” shortly, the official Mena news agency reported.
The content of the Egyptian plan is not known, but both Israel and Hamas have presented conditions.
Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi, who is leading mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, says he expects Israeli forces to end air strikes on Gaza later on Tuesday
Israel’s demands include no hostile fire of any kind from Gaza and international efforts to prevent Hamas from rearming, while Hamas is demanding an end to the blockade on Gaza and “Israel’s assassinations”.
Israeli troops are massed along the border, raising fears of a ground offensive similar to that of 2008-09. An Israeli spokesman said: “Israel wants talks to succeed but we’re prepared to go into Gaza.”
In a rare appearance, top Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif said: “The enemy should know that it will pay a heavy price for its heinous crimes against our people.”
He added that a ground invasion would “be the starting point for a new phase of the struggle of liberation”.
Hillary Clinton is due in Israel for crisis talks later on Tuesday. She will underline that “the best way to solve this is through diplomacy”, said Barack Obama’s Deputy National Security Adviser, Ben Rhodes.
During the previous night, the Israeli military said it had carried out about 100 strikes, mainly on smuggling tunnels and underground rocket-launching facilities. Hamas officials say seven people were killed.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met Arab League Chief Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo on Tuesday, before heading for talks in Israel.
“I’m here to appeal personally for an end to the violence and to offer my ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire,” Ban Ki-moon told a joint news conference in Cairo.
Ban Ki-moon warned against a ground operation in Gaza.
“Further escalating the situation will put the entire region at risk,” he said.
Egypt has been trying to broker a ceasefire with the help of Qatar and Turkey. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Arab foreign ministers are expected to visit Gaza on Tuesday.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, a year after winning a decisive victory in general elections. Israel withdrew from the strip in 2005 but maintains a blockade around it.
Israel, as well as the United States and the European Union, regards Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Kweku Adoboli, the City trader who lost $2.2 billion of Swiss bank UBS’s money, has been found guilty of two counts of fraud.
Kweku Adoboli, 32, of Whitechapel, east London, denied four charges of false accounting and two of fraud between October 2008 and September 2011.
The prosecution told Southwark Crown Court he was “a gamble or two away from destroying Switzerland’s largest bank”.
Kweku Adoboli, who was cleared of four charges of false accounting, was jailed for seven years.
Kweku Adoboli, who was arrested on 15 September 2011, worked in UBS’s global synthetic equities division, buying and selling exchange traded funds (ETFs), which track stocks, bonds and commodities.
He had joined the bank as a junior trader in 2006.
The court was told KwekuAdoboli lost $2.2 billion of the bank’s money in “unprotected, unhedged, incautious and reckless” trades.
But Kweku Adoboli, the Ghana-born son of a diplomat, told the jury his senior managers were aware of his actions and encouraged him to take risks.
He claimed he lost control over his trades during a period of market turbulence last year.
The court heard that at one point he stood to lose the bank $12 billion.
Kweku Adoboli was convicted of one count of fraud earlier on Tuesday.
The judge, Justice Keith, gave the jury a majority verdict direction, saying they could deliver a 9-1 verdict on the second fraud charge and the four false accounting charges.
Kweku Adoboli, the City trader who lost $2.2 billion of Swiss bank UBS’s money, has been found guilty of two counts of fraud
The jury had been reduced to five men and five women after two jurors were discharged.
Kweku Adoboli was found guilty by a majority verdict of the second fraud charge but acquitted of the four outstanding false accounting charges.
The prosecution said Kweku Adoboli had been a gambler who believed he had the “magic touch”.
But, giving evidence, Kweku Adoboli said everything he had done was aimed at benefiting the bank, where he viewed his colleagues as “family”.
Kweku Adoboli said he had “lost control in the maelstrom of the financial crisis”, and was doing well until he changed from a conservative “bearish” position to an aggressive “bullish” stance under pressure from senior managers.
He told the jury that staff was encouraged to take risks until they got “a slap on the back of the wrist”.
After the verdicts, Detective Chief Inspector Perry Stokes, from the City of London Police, which investigated Kweku Adoboli, said: “This was the UK’s biggest fraud, committed by one of the most sophisticated fraudsters the City of London Police has ever come across.
“To all those around him, Kweku Adoboli appeared to be a man on the make whose career prospects and future earnings were taking off. He worked hard, looked the part and seemingly had an answer for everything.
“But behind this facade lay a trader who was running completely out of control and exposing UBS to huge financial risks on a daily basis.
“Rules put in place to protect the bank’s position and the integrity of the markets were being bypassed and broken by a young man who wanted it all and was not willing to wait.
“When Adoboli’s pyramid of fictitious trades, exceeded trading limits and non-existent hedging came crashing down, the repercussions were felt in financial centres around the world.
“Now, just a year on, he is facing the reality that he was not above the law and will be made to pay for his crimes. Others who tread a similar path to his can expect the same fate.”
A caring cat named Sonya plays surrogate mother to an adorable litter of orphaned hedgehogs.
Sonya, the ginger cat from central Russia, only had one kitten of her own meaning there was plenty of milk to spare, so she readily adopted the four baby hedgehogs into the family.
She treats them, exactly as if they were her own, allowing them to suckle to their hearts content and then snuggle up to sleep in her fur when they’re full.
It is common practice for abandoned animal babies to be placed with surrogate mother’s of the same species to avoid re-abandonment at a later date – but sometime a mother of the same species just isn’t available.
There are cases of cats adopting rabbits, racoons, squirrels and even, in the case of a cat named Smaigel from Jordan – puppies as their own children, but this is the first time we’ve heard of one adopting hedgehogs.
Mother dogs, in particular, are well known for taking on all sorts of unruly youngsters including lions and tigers.
Sonya, the ginger cat from central Russia, only had one kitten of her own meaning there was plenty of milk to spare, so she readily adopted the four baby hedgehogs into the family
As the milk from mammals is very similar, it is a better option than bottle feeding. The youngsters are provided with all what they need, and suckling means they are less likely to be rejected in later life.
One of the weirdest cases of animal adoption is that of Sai Mai The Tiger from Thailand’s Sriracha Tiger Zoo who adopted and a group of orphaned piglets.
And perhaps one of the most heartwarming is that of Owen the baby Hippopotamus who was rescued after being swept into the Indian Ocean in the 2005 tsunami and adopted a giant male Aldabran tortoise as his “mother”.
These kitties are surely risking one of their nine lives in a hilarious skydving stunt to promote Swedish insurance firm Folksam.
Despite its convincing appearance, it has emerged that the commercial was produced using green screen technology.
The advert is for customer owned Swedish insurance company Folksam in honor of one of its customers, Eva Leijonmark, who has her beloved cat covered by the firm.
Folksam had asked its customers for advertising ideas, but probably didn’t bargain on Eva’s wacky concept.
The video shows the cats appearing to freefall with squinted eyes and the wind rushing through their fur.
The group then join up in formation linking paws in an adorable attempt to spell out the word Eva across the sky.
Set to R Kelly’s 1996 hit I Believe I Can Fly, the ad then shows the moggies parachutes opening as they begin the slow descent back down to earth.
The advert is for customer owned Swedish insurance company Folksam in honor of one of its customers, Eva Leijonmark, who has her beloved cat covered by the firm
Produced by advertising agency Akestam.holst, the 40 second video has gone viral with almost 500,000 hits on YouTube.
While most viewers appear to see the funny side of the clip, some seem to be fooled into thinking that the cats involved were actually thrown from a plane.
The company has said that it followed animal welfare laws to ensure that the animals were unhurt in during the filming.
Folksam is one of Sweden’s oldest insurance firms and the advert is, of course, designed to promote its pet insurance policies.
The French conservative UMP party has chosen Jean-Francois Cope as its next leader after a tight election marred by claims of fraud and ballot-stuffing.
Jean-Francois Cope, an ally of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, won 50.03% of the vote, defeating ex-PM Francois Fillon, who polled 49.97%, by just 98 votes.
The final result was delayed for more than 24 hours.
Jean-Francois Cope, the UMP secretary general, is on the right of the party, while Francois Fillon is seen as more of a centrist.
Party grandees had urged the two candidates to end their war of words, warning that the UMP had been damaged.
Jean-Francois Cope, 48, said he had telephoned Francois Fillon, 58, to ask him to join him at the heart of the UMP “because our opponents are on the left”.
“My hands and my arms are wide open,” he told supporters after the result was announced.
“It is in that state of mind that I telephoned Francois Fillon this evening, it is in that state of mind that I asked him to join me.”
Francois Fillon, speaking after his rival’s victory speech, mentioned “many irregularities” in the electoral process but stopped short of rejecting the result.
He also warned of a deepening split in the UMP.
“What strikes me is the rift at the heart of our political camp, a political and moral fracture,” he said.
The French conservative UMP party has chosen Jean-Francois Cope as its next leader after a tight election marred by claims of fraud and ballot-stuffing
Opinion polls had consistently given Francois Fillon the edge, but initial results on Sunday showed a narrow lead for Jean-Francois Cope.
The UMP held the presidency of France for 17 years, until May, when Socialist candidate Francois Hollande defeated Nicolas Sarkozy’s bid for a second term.
The two candidates have different visions for the party.
Jean-Francois Cope is considered more right-wing. Last month he produced “A Manifesto for an Uninhibited Right” in which he claimed that gangs in the city suburbs were fostering “anti-white racism”.
Francois Fillon is seen as sober and more restrained.
The winner will inherit a party in difficult financial straits, after a series of electoral setbacks over the past five years, culminating in Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidential defeat to Socialist rival Francois Hollande.
Jean-Francois Cope
Secretary-general of the UMP since November 2010
Aged 48 – born 5 May 1964 in Paris to Jewish parents of Romanian and Algerian origin
Croatia’s former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has be sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking bribes, in a case closely watched by the EU.
Ivo Sanader, in office from 2003 to 2009, was convicted of taking millions of dollars in bribes from a Hungarian energy company and an Austrian bank.
The former prime minister denied wrongdoing at his trial.
Croatia, which hopes to join the EU in July of next year, is under pressure to tackle widespread corruption.
Correspondents say the EU is taking a harder line with the Balkan state than with Romania and Bulgaria, which were allowed to join the bloc despite struggling to address their problems with corruption.
Ivo Sanader, 59, is the most senior official to have been convicted of corruption in Croatia.
He was found guilty of accepting a bribe of $12.8 million (10 million euros) from the Hungarian oil company MOL in return for securing it controlling rights in Croatia’s state oil company Ina.
Croatia’s former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has be sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking bribes
Unless Tuesday’s verdict is overturned on appeal, Croatia may review MOL’s shareholder agreement with Ina, Reuters news agency says.
In 1995, when Ivo Sanader was a deputy foreign minister, he received $695,000 in bribes for a credit deal with the Hypo Alpe Adria Group, which gave the Austrian bank a leading position in Croatia.
At the time, Croatia was still fighting its war of independence from Yugoslavia, meaning it had trouble accessing the international markets.
Prosecutors described Ivo Sanader’s action as “war profiteering”.
Ivo Sanader argued that the case against him was politically motivated.
He is also on trial, separately, for allegedly creating slush funds for his political party, the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), by skimming off profits from state companies and manipulating public tenders.
The HDZ ruled the country for eight years until its defeat in elections in December 2011.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s classic novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published 50 years ago this month.
A short, simply-told tale about a prisoner trying to survive the Gulag – the Soviet labor camp system – it is now regarded as one of the most significant books of the 20th Century.
“It was still dark, although a greenish light was brightening in the east. A thin, treacherous breeze was creeping in from the same direction. There is no worse moment than when you turn out for work parade in the morning. In the dark, in the freezing cold, with a hungry belly, and the whole day ahead of you. You lose the power of speech…”
In November 1962, one story shook the Soviet Union.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn described a day in the life of a prison camp inmate, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov.
The character was fictional. But there were millions like him – innocent citizens who, like Alexander Solzhenitsyn himself, had been sent to the Gulag in Joseph Stalin’s wave of terror.
Censorship and fear had prevented the truth about the camps from being published, but this story made it into print. The USSR would never be the same again.
“We were absolutely isolated from information, and he started to open our eyes,” remembers writer and journalist Vitaly Korotich.
Life in the camps was something “it was impossible even to think about” he says.
“I read it and re-read it and I simply thought about how brave he was. We had a lot of writers but we never had such a brave writer.”
It was Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev who had sanctioned publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s novel nearly a decade after Stalin’s death. Allowing a book on the Gulag, he thought, would help debunk Stalin’s personality cult. However, one story sparked many more.
“After it was published, it was impossible to stop it,” Vitaly Korotich recalls.
“Immediately we received a lot of illegal publications. A lot of people who were in prison started to remember how it was.
“It was not the time of computers and printers. Books were printed on cigarette paper, it was the only way to make more copies. The Soviet Union was destroyed by information, only information. And this wave started from Solzhenitsyn’s One Day,” he said.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s classic novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published 50 years ago this month
“According to his dossier, Shukhov was in for treason. He’d admitted it under investigation – yes, he had surrendered in order to betray his country and returned from a POW camp to carry out a mission for German intelligence. What the mission could be, neither Shukhov himself nor his interrogator could imagine. They left it at that – just <<a mission>>. The counter-espionage boys had beaten the hell out of him. The choice was simple enough: don’t sign and wear a wooden overcoat, or sign and live a bit longer…”
Hardline communists tried to put the genie back into the bottle. Nikita Khrushchev was deposed, de-Stalinization halted, and in 1974 Alexander Solzhenitsyn was arrested and expelled.
But that didn’t save the Soviet Union. And once the USSR had fallen apart, the full scale of Stalin’s crimes became clear.
On the edge of Moscow, Anatoly Mordashev shows me 13 mass graves stretching 1km (0.6 miles) around a field.
What happened here on the Butovo firing range was kept secret for more than half a century.
Between August 1937 and October 1938, 20,760 prisoners were brought to this place and executed by Stalin’s secret police. People living nearby were told the gunshots were just shooting practice.
Murdered here were Soviet workers and peasants, scientists and sportsmen, engineers and office clerks. They had been declared enemies of the people. And this was just one of many Stalin-era killing fields across the USSR.
Anatoly Mordashev tells me that now Russia knows the truth, it must never lose sight of what happened.
And yet Russia has already started to forget.
According to a recent survey, 48% of Russians today believe that Stalin had a positive influence on their country. Only 22% consider it was negative.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s widow, Natalya Dmitrievna, blames the leaders of modern Russia, including Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, for failing to make the country face up to its past.
“They didn’t carry out any de-Stalinization,” she said.
“On a state level, no-one ever declared communism to be criminal, or Stalin a tyrant who waged war on his own people. Now it’s too late for words.”
“All Eastern Europe after the end of the Soviet Union tried to finish with the communist way of life, in Poland, in Germany, everywhere,” recalls Vitaly Korotich.
“But not here. We needed our Nuremberg, like in Germany. But we never had it. And until we start discussing the problem of communism on the level Solzhenitsyn started 50 years ago, we’ll still live in this half-Soviet country which wants to be part of mankind, but is afraid of information about its own history.”
*If using a frozen pie crust, do not thaw; preheat a baking sheet in the oven and place the pie on the cookie sheet to bake.
In small bowl, combine one egg, pumpkin, 1/3 cup sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Spread in pie crust.
In medium bowl, beat remaining two eggs slightly. Stir in corn syrup and remaining 2/3 cup sugar, the butter and vanilla; stir until well blended. Stir in pecans. Carefully spoon over pumpkin mixture.
Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until filling is set around edge. Cool pie completely on wire rack.
Donald Trump plans to spend his eternity in New Jersey, if the residents of the rural town of Bedminster will let him.
Donald Trump has decided to build a cemetery for himself, his family members, as well as lifetime members of his country club at his Trump National Golf Course in New Jersey’s Bedminster Township, according to the NJ.com.
His plans include two cemetery lots, one containing 82 plots and the other containing 942 plots, that would cover nearly three acres of the 516-acre course.
The Bedminster Township Committee, a board of local officials in the sprawling rural town, was scheduled to meet and discuss Donald Trump’s plans on Monday evening. The committee has previously rejected a former request from Trump to build a cemetery on his golf course.
The denied request included a blueprint for a giant family mausoleum located at the course’s first hole, which could be seen from the road.
The mausoleum would have included a 19-foot tall stone structure with four imposing obelisks surrounding its exteriors and a small altar with six vaults inside.
Donald Trump has decided to build a cemetery for himself, his family members, as well as lifetime members of his country club at his Trump National Golf Course in New Jersey’s Bedminster Township
Bedminster objected to the original plans, for fear that it would be too gaudy and out of taste with the town’s character, according to the Star-Ledger.
“If he wants a mausoleum and he wants to do it for himself, and he wants to put that on the golf club proper, I don’t have a problem with that,” former town council member Sally Rubin told New Jersey Public Radio.
“It’s a large piece of property and he has a lot more flexibility there. But I did not want it on a scenic rural road in our community.”
Donald Trump’s attorneys insist that the new plans are tamer.
If the plans are approved, members of the Trump National Golf Club – each of whom pays $200,000 to join and at least $20,000 in annual dues – will have the opportunity to be buried alongside the Donald.
But why would Donald Trump want to be buried at Bedminster and not any of his other golf courses across the world?
The New Jersey course has long been Donald Trump’s favorite and he has been trying for years to lure the U.S. open there.
“I wanted to build this course to the absolute highest standards in golf,” Donald Trump said at a press conference at the course in May.
“If the choice is ever made to [hold the U.S. open here], I know it would do fantastically well. If that should happen, it would be a great honor.”
US Attorney General Eric Holder is reportedly staying on in his position for at least another year past President Barack Obama’s first term, according to Fox News.
Barack Obama had previously asked Eric Holder to continue in his role beyond January and Holder accepted his request, but they did not specify a timeline, the Wall Street Journal had reported earlier.
There was some uncertainty as to whether Eric Holder would stay on in the administration after he told a college audience in Baltimore earlier this month that he had not made up his mind on the matter.
“Do I think that there are things that I still want to do? Do I have some gas left in the tank?” Eric Holder mused.
Eric Holder was under fire last week as questions emerged over why he did not tell Barack Obama that ex-CIA Director David Petraeus was having an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
He was told by the FBI that they were investigating the relationship between the director of the CIA and Paula Broadwell in late summer, but he appears not to have shared the information with anyone else.
Barack Obama did not find out about the scandal until after the election, just two days before David Petraeus resigned, even though senior officials had apparently been aware of it for months.
Attorney General Eric Holder is reportedly staying on in his position for at least another year past President Barack Obama’s first term
Eric Holder was also under fire in July, when the Republican-controlled House of Representatives charged him with contempt of Congress over the “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal.
The charges were a reaction to Eric Holder’s refusal to turn over to lawmakers all of the Justice Department documents they demanded on the botched gun-tracking operation.
Republicans questioned how much the Justice Department – and the White House – knew about the operation, which allowed U.S. guns to be moved into Mexico in hopes of tracking them to drug traffickers.
The operation backfired when at least one of those guns was used to kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent in 2010.
The White House denied any involvement in the program.
