Clashes in Jammu after police remove Bhindranwale posters - The Times of India

Clashes in Jammu after police remove Bhindranwale posters - The Times of India: "JAMMU: Three cops were injured on Tuesday when a mob attacked them with sticks and kirpans for removing posters about a programme organized in a Sikh-dominated area here to pay tributes to Khalistan champion Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's ahead of his death anniversary on June 6.

A police officer said some members of the Sikh community had put up the posters praising Bhindranwale, who was killed along with his supporters inside Amritsar's Golden Temple in 1984. He said the posters were removed as they "sensed they might generate a controversy''.

The removal of the posters incensed the members of the Sikh community. They gathered at Rani Bagh and staged a protest demanding Satwari Station House Officer (SHO)'s unconditional apology and removal "for hurting Sikh sentiments" by removing the posters.

The protesters raised slogans like 'Khalistan zindabad' and in favour of Bhindranwale.

A police party rushed to the area was stoned, forcing cops to cane charge the protestors, who retaliated with sticks and kirpans."



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Man kills two minor daughters to compel wife for son - The Times of India

Man kills two minor daughters to compel wife for son - The Times of India: "BHILAI: A 32-year-old farmer has allegedly killed his two minor daughters by throwing them in a well on Monday evening after his wife refused to have another child to satisfy his demand for a son at Bheem-Kanhaar village in Balod district of Chhattisgarh.

IG (Durg Range) Pradeep Gupta told TOI on Wednesday that first the accused tried to mislead the police by providing sketchy information but later confessed during interrogation. Chandradei Kongera (32) was arrested on charges of murder for killing his daughters Madhuri (10) and Pooja (5), near his native place Farad-Dih village under Saregaon police station limits."



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Is China Repeating Korea's Mistakes? - Bloomberg View

Is China Repeating Korea's Mistakes? - Bloomberg View: "Beijing has been encouraging everyone in the country, from the richest princelings to the poorest of peasants, to buy stocks. And China's markets have been booming as a result: Over the past 12 months, the Shanghai exchange is up 141 percent, and the Shenzhen exchange is up 188 percent. Margin trading, which has fueled these rallies, seems to have jumped another 45 percent in May, to a total of $484 billion.

Chinese companies have been the greatest beneficiaries of these stock rallies. The higher equities are driven up, the easier it is for companies and banks to issue shares and improve their debt situation. Companies have raised $42 billion from share sales in 2015, on pace for the busiest year ever.

But who will suffer when stocks inevitably swoon? Beijing is making a risky bet, by assuming Chinese savers will be capable of dealing with the burden of a stock market downturn. This strategy is morally questionable -- it's another instance of Chinese savers being set up to take the fall for government policy, as they were during the hyperinflation of the 1940s, and in modern times, when they faced strict limits on deposit rates.

Moreover, it would be far easier for Beijing to bail out a handful banks and dispose of bad loans that are concentrated at a few dozen companies, than deal with debts that are distributed to households across the country. Increasingly, there are signs that a reckoning will soon be in the offing. On May 28 alone, Shanghai lost $550 billion in market value -- a reminder stocks can't surge 10 percent a week forever, not even in China. Why would the government want to risk the possibility hundreds of millions of aggrieved day traders heading onto the streets with protest banners?"



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Mistresses and second wives of Hong Kong businessmen in the Pearl River Delta | South China Morning Post

Mistresses and second wives of Hong Kong businessmen in the Pearl River Delta | South China Morning Post: "In the early 1990s I remember Chinese journalist friends telling me about the huge numbers of Hong Kong men who had taken mistresses and second wives across the boundary in the Pearl River Delta, confident that the barriers to migration into Hong Kong would forever keep their second families invisible.

I never believed the numbers of wives and mistresses colleagues described – literally hundreds of thousands. After all, global polls on sexuality around the world described Hong Kong couples as the least busy lovers in the world.

But I was mistaken. And two decades later, the fruits of these cross-boundary trysts have literally reshaped Hong Kong society. They have shown for perhaps the fourth time in my lifetime that Hong Kong’s population planners, who build population projections painstakingly on the basis of steadily falling birth rates, are profoundly wrong and wasting their time.

In short, Hong Kong’s population never has been – and probably will not in my lifetime be – determined by birth rates. It has been driven by one force, and one force alone: migration.

The scale of the “family reunion” migration – embodied in the policy allowing 150 one-way permits to be issued daily, and introduced in 1995 – is bigger than most people imagine. The numbers are remarkable. Since 1995, a total of 1.32 million people – most of them young women married to significantly older Hong Kong men – have come into Hong Kong under the one-way permit scheme.

That is 18 per cent of Hong Kong’s 7.2 million population. Since arrival, many have raised young families, making their share of our population even greater.

Demographically, this immigrant community matches a very specific stereotype: women now in their 30s and 40s who arrived in Hong Kong marrying a man a decade or two older than them.

They arrived with rather few skills as Hong Kong’s low-skill job opportunities began to ebb, and were ill-equipped for the challenging professional jobs that were emerging in large numbers in Hong Kong’s increasingly specialized headquarter services economy."



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Working 9-to-5 becoming a less popular way to make a living - Yahoo Finance

Working 9-to-5 becoming a less popular way to make a living - Yahoo Finance: "Henry W. Brown ditched his fledging advertising career 11 years ago, sick of spending 15 hours a day at work and having "no life." Now he works 30 hours a week, juggling about four projects a year and earns a salary in the six figures designing websites and apps. Brown has time for two-hour yoga sessions, midday bike rides around his New York City neighborhood and lunch dates with friends. He also has more time for passion projects: He spent a month at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand this year, and he started a Facebook page called TheDogmatic, posting photos of dogs in shelters to help get them adopted. He never plans to work for just one employer again.

"Everything about an office was such a waste of time to me," he says.

When Brown first went freelance, he emailed companies asking for work. Now, most comes from referrals. Sometimes he checks in with a hiring agency. "I'm not clamoring for work," says Brown. "I can be picky and choosy with what I do."

Depending on the industry, the work can be lucrative. At hiring company Business Talent Group, independent contractors can make between $1,500 and $2,500 a day, says CEO Jody Miller. Most have a master's degree and at least 10 years working experience, she says. They can be hired by companies to help launch new products, research investments or other tasks.

Companies weren't always so thrilled about hiring freelancers, says Allison Hemming, CEO of New York staffing company The Hired Guns. When she started the company 15 years ago, companies would say, "if they were that good they would have a job," says Hemming. That's changed. "The concept of freelancers as slackers is completely over," Hemming says.

Spex, a company that makes software and apps used for home inspections, turned to Canopy Advisory Group to find a part-time publicist. CEO Brett Goldberg says he didn't have to post a job description, sift through resumes or conduct interviews, saving him time and money.

At food company Cargill, Michael Balay hires independent contractors with specialized skills to manage projects, such as combining groups of workers inside the company. Balay, who is a vice president of strategy and business development, has increasingly turned to hiring agencies.

"It cuts the search and qualification time down," says Balay. "It's way easier now."

Stephen Wunker left a consulting firm in 2009 to spend more time with his kids. Wunker and his partners started New Markets Advisors and are hired by companies to come up with business plans or create a growth strategy. He still works 40 to 80 hours a week, but his schedule is more flexible. He can take days off whenever he wants, and also spends about a month a year working from Ecuador."



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Muddy Waters Warns on Chinese Stocks: “Largest Pump-and-Dump in History”… Liquidity Is “crammed Into The System.” Government Says “buying Stocks Is Patriotic.” Insiders Go Hog-Wild.

Muddy Waters Warns on Chinese Stocks: “Largest Pump-and-Dump in History”… Liquidity Is “crammed Into The System.” Government Says “buying Stocks Is Patriotic.” Insiders Go Hog-Wild.: "And this, just when China’s economy is slowing sharply, when overcapacity has become a nationally recognized problem, when growth in car sales, another miracle, is grinding down, and when everyone, from the National government on down, is working furiously to sweep non-performing loans under the rug and out of sight. No one wants to see them. They’re too big and too ugly to behold.

But nothing is going to stop this daily stream of stock-market miracles. Even in the US, not a day goes by when we aren’t exhorted by one of the gurus to finally jump on the bandwagon and buy Chinese stocks. The whole world is caught up in the miracle."



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PIOs in US cross $100,000 median income - The Times of India

PIOs in US cross $100,000 median income - The Times of India: "However, a snapshot released by the US Census Bureau this week reveals that the median household income for Indian-Americans has crossed the $100,000 per annum milestone, the highest for any ethnic group, including white, native-born Americans.

In fact, the groundbreaking figure was crossed almost two years ago in 2013 but came to light only on Friday when the US Census Bureau put it out as part of the Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month which is celebrated in May. According to the bureau, the median income of households headed by the Asian population in 2013 was $72,472, much higher then than national median income of around $51,000.

But even among Asian-Americans, Indian-Americans racked it up at $100,547, almost double the national median income, and significantly more than even white, non-Hispanic Americans whose median income is approximately $57,000. Indian-Americans also out-earned other South Asian groups such as Pakistani-Americans ($63,000) and Bangladeshi-Americans ($51,000).

Previously, the census bureau's "American Community Survey in 2010" had put the Indian-American median family income at $86,135.

In contrast to the high-earning groups, the median income of Black-American households was $33,321 and that of Hispanic households was $39,005.

Though the census report did not address the religious angle, other surveys have long indicated that Jewish-Americans come closest to Indian-Americans in terms of income and education. According to a US Religious Landscape Study by Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2008, 46% of Jews reported family incomes of over $100,000 compared to 19% of all Americans, with the next highest group being Hindus at 43%.

And while 27% of Americans have had college or postgraduate education, 59% of American Jews have it, the second highest of any religious group after American Hindus."



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Indian among 3 charged with fraud in US - The Times of India

Indian among 3 charged with fraud in US - The Times of India: "NEW YORK: An Indian is among three men arrested here and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud for tricking distressed homeowners to sell their homes and reaping millions of dollars through the scheme.

Rajesh Maddiwar, Mario Alvarenga and Amir Meiri were presented in Manhattan federal court before US magistrate judge Kevin Fox on Thursday.

The three were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison.

Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara said, "In what is alleged to be a brazen fraud, these defendants manipulated and took advantage of vulnerable people, and in some cases even tricked individuals into losing their homes." "



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Israel scraps punishment of soldier who ate pork sandwich - The Times of India

Israel scraps punishment of soldier who ate pork sandwich - The Times of India: "US-born Israeli soldier who had caused a stink by violating the military's kosher rules by eating a pork sandwich while in uniform.

Earlier, the military said the soldier, whose name was not released, "violated rules and regulations," which required him to be disciplined.

The soldier was initially given an 11-day prison sentence."



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Sex for rent: The seedy underbelly of Australia's housing affordability crisis

Sex for rent: The seedy underbelly of Australia's housing affordability crisis: "As Sydney house prices creep towards a median of $1 million, the seedy underbelly of Australia's housing affordability crisis is emerging online.

Advertisements offering "free rent for services" are springing up across mainstream house-sharing sites.

Some are clear in their nature.

One advertisement on Craigslist read: "Are you a lovely female needing a room for a night or two . . don't want to pay over the top hotel fees?"

The advertisement continued, "My place is clean, close to transport and CBD ... the only catch is there is one bed only."

"A friends with benefits arrangement?"

Another advertisement is more detailed: "You've probably figured out the arrangement already, so let's get down to specifics."

"ME: Handsome, tall, in great shape, generous, self-employed, late 30's,"

"YOU: Young (under 21), gorgeous, adventurous, looking for free rent ... "

However, subtext can be lost on the vulnerable, particularly those with limited English.

*Tom has "a free room available in kings cross area for the right Guest...Obviously looking to make an arrangement. But flexible in what that is".

Another, unnamed person in Cronulla is offering free rent and "help with study" for female Asian students, with no indication of what is expected in return.

Sophie*, an international student from China, was shocked by Sydney's high rent.

"The equivalent in Beijing was around $150 a week, and here is so difficult," she said.

Two days after placing an advertisement on Gumtree for "cheap or free rent in exchange for cleaning and cooking", a young couple asked Sophie to share her body instead."



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Americans now piggybacking “Canadian Social Security”

Americans now piggybacking “Canadian Social Security”: "A loophole that allows Americans of any location, age or income level to begin collecting “work-free” income checks running from $400 to $4,700 per month.

The Canada Pension Plan — in case you didn’t already know — is the Canadian equivalent of the Social Security system we have here in the States…

…except for a few key differences.

Unlike American Social Security (which is run by overpaid government bureaucrats), the Canadian variety is managed by a highly skilled team of professional investors.

Also, unlike American Social Security (which you and I both know is a system that’s running on fumes), the Canadians have managed to more than DOUBLE their reserves since 2004.

In fact, from the projections I’ve seen… reserves for the Canada Pension Plan are set to QUADRUPLE by 2040 (which, ironically, is the same time when most experts believe American Social Security will be completely bankrupt)."



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Justices rule for Muslim denied job over headscarf - Yahoo Finance

Justices rule for Muslim denied job over headscarf - Yahoo Finance: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday for a Muslim woman who did not get hired after she showed up to a job interview with clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch wearing a black headscarf.

The justices said that employers generally have to accommodate job applicants and employees with religious needs if the employer at least has an idea that such accommodation is necessary.

Job applicant Samantha Elauf did not tell her interviewer she was Muslim. But Justice Antonin Scalia said for the court that Abercrombie "at least suspected" that Elauf wore a headscarf for religious reasons. "That is enough," Scalia said in an opinion for seven justices.

The headscarf, or hijab, violated the company's strict dress code for employees who work in its retail stores.

Elauf was 17 when she interviewed for a "model" position, as the company calls its sales staff, at an Abercrombie Kids store in a shopping mall in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2008. She impressed the assistant store manager with whom she met. But her application faltered over her headscarf because it conflicted with the company's Look Policy, a code derived from Abercrombie's focus on what it calls East Coast collegiate or preppy style."



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Israeli high school girls fight for right to be 'cool' - The Times of India

Israeli high school girls fight for right to be 'cool' - The Times of India: "JERUSALEM: Israeli high school girls have taken to social media to protest against rules that let boys wear shorts in the sweltering summer heat but bar girls from doing the same.

The teenagers, who come from mainstream secular schools across Israel, say their teachers insist on the ban to protect them from unwanted male attention, despite recent temperatures of up to 45 degrees celsius.

"Why does a woman have to suffer sexist and chauvinist comments just because it's hot?" one anonymous writer posted on Facebook.

"There's a situation here in which they are blaming the victim. They tell the girls not to come in shorts because the boys stare. We are the victims and they're blaming us," a 14-year-old student said in remarks quoted by Haaretz newspaper.

Girls who defy the ban say they have been barred from sitting exams, have had their cellphones confiscated and have had their parents called into school, the paper said."



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Wealthy Chinese send Vancouver housing prices soaring

Wealthy Chinese send Vancouver housing prices soaring: ""Mainland Chinese buyers are really driving markets from Sydney through New York to London, and Canadian cities like Vancouver — particularly Vancouver — are no exception," former ambassador to China David Mulroney told Canada's national broadcaster, the CBC, in March. Like many in Vancouver, Mulroney wants to restrict investments in high-end real estate to protect lower-income buyers.

The evidence of Chinese money flowing into Vancouver is unmistakable. South of downtown, the suburb of Richmond has been transformed into a bustling network of Chinese markets, shopping malls, hair salons and English schools. On Richmond's busiest street corners, signs in Chinese are more visible than those in English. It's easier to buy a pork bun than a hamburger, and you can shop all day without speaking a word of English. Along the light-rail corridors, gleaming condo developments are sprouting up to accommodate new buyers."



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New Lifetime Estimate of Obesity Costs: $92,235 Per Person | The Fiscal Times

New Lifetime Estimate of Obesity Costs: $92,235 Per Person | The Fiscal Times: "Now, a complex new study says that the lifetime societal and public health cost of obesity is on average $92,235 per person when compared with the costs associated with a person of normal weight.

Related: Budget Busting U.S. Obesity Costs Climb Past $300 Billion a Year

More than a third of all adult Americans – some 78.6 million people -- and 17 percent of young people are obese, according to research. Without major government and private intervention and a dramatic change in unhealthy eating habits, one study says the adult obesity rate could reach 50 percent by 2030.That means more obesity-related health problems such as Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke, hypertension, arthritis and even cancer."



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Growing Obesity Rate Threatens America’s Poorest States | The Fiscal Times

Growing Obesity Rate Threatens America’s Poorest States | The Fiscal Times: "Every year, the United States sets a new record high obesity rate—this year climbing to 27.7 percent of the population. As the number of obese people expands, the cost of treating them also continues to soar.

Last year, researchers from the National Center for Weight & Wellness at George Washington University estimated that the annual cost of obesity to the United States is around $305.1 billion. That includes direct medical and non-medical services, worker productivity losses, disability issues and premature death."



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Regan: Marriage is going out of style, and that could hurt

Regan: Marriage is going out of style, and that could hurt: "According to the Pew Research Center, the American marriage rate hit a rock bottom of 50.3% in 2013, down from 50.5% the previous year. Compare that to 1960, when 72.2% of Americans married. Meanwhile, a new finding by the forecasting firm Demographic Intelligence, suggests marriage rates will continue falling into next year as millennials choose to opt out of traditional relationships.

Marriage is going out of style and that's a problem. An economic one.

This decline in marriage is the last thing a fragile economy needs. Historically, a rising household formation rate has contributed to America's financial success. People meet, they marry, they buy a home, they have children and they buy more things. One new household adds an estimated $145,000 to the U.S. economy thanks to the ripple effect of construction spending, home improvements and repairs.

That ripple effect is disappearing as millennials increasingly chose to live at home. In 2012, 45% of 18-30 year olds lived with older family members, up from 39% in 1990 and 35% in 1980. The Atlanta Fed says, "The decline in household formations is the main reason why the housing industry did not play its traditional role of driving the economic recovery."

Marriage and family also provides a sense of stability that encourages prosperity – especially for men. According to an American Enterprise Institute study by economists Robert Lerman and Brad Wilcox, young married men, ages 28-30 make, on average, $15,900 more than their single peers, while married men ages 33-46 make $18,800 more than unmarried men.

In a world of online dating and hook up apps like Tinder, where singles can browse pictures of nearby people they want to meet, society and government alike no longer seem to place as much value on the institution of marriage. Indeed, 41% of babies born today are born to single mothers – that's 2.5 times as high as reported in 1980 and 19 times as high as in 1940. Americans are also having far fewer children -- nearly half of child-bearing age women did not have kids in 2014, the most since the U.S.Census Bureau began tracking this stat in 1976."



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Yes sitting at work is bad, but is standing actually better? - Health & wellness - The Boston Globe

Yes sitting at work is bad, but is standing actually better? - Health & wellness - The Boston Globe: "Hedge said changing positions regularly is a good idea for all office workers.

What’s best for your muscle and joints and your mind’s productivity? Sit for no more than 20 minutes at a time, Hedge recommended, and stand in one position for no more than 8 minutes. You should also take a two-minute moving break at least twice an hour to stretch or walk around."



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Yes sitting at work is bad, but is standing actually better? - Health & wellness - The Boston Globe

Yes sitting at work is bad, but is standing actually better? - Health & wellness - The Boston Globe: "“Standing all day isn’t the answer,” said Alan Hedge, a design and ergonomics professor at Cornell University. “That’s where we were 100 years ago, and we needed to develop chairs to prevent curvature of the spine, backaches, and varicose veins.”

While standing still burns a few more calories as our hearts work harder to circulate blood upward, it also puts more strain on our veins, backs, and joints, especially if we’re overweight.

“Studies haven’t yet determined how much standing helps healthwise,” said Dr. I-Min Lee, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who has studied the risks of sedentary behavior. In population studies, researchers haven’t been able to determine whether the health benefits of reduced sitting time stem from moving around more or from standing still. And results on whether exercise reduces the health risks of sitting are conflicting.

A May study of nearly 17,000 Canadian adults found that those who reported the most time standing had a 33 percent lower risk of dying from any cause over 12 years compared to those who stood the least. But those who exercised at least two hours each week — even if they sat the rest of the time — enjoyed the same life-extending benefits as those who stood the most. The Harvard researchers, on the other hand, found in their study that regular exercise didn’t erase the increased death risk associated with prolonged sitting."



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The 'truth' about Stefan Molyneux

Jewish Conspiracies! | YouTube Comments - Rebutted! - YouTube:



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