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U.S. regulations more thorough
In the United States, the Consumer Product Safety Commission was established in 1972 as an independent administrative entity under the direct command of the president. The CPSC regulates and monitors the safety of more than 15,000 products, including home electric appliances, toys and bicycles. About 480 staffers of the commission decide safety standards on each of the products and directly receive complaints from consumers via telephone and the Internet. Also, they actively collect information from private consumer groups. Companies are obliged to report to the CPSC if their products are found to be potentially harmful to consumers. After consulting the CPSC, the companies take corrective measures such as recalling products. Companies and management violating these obligations face a fine or prison sentence.
Need Flexibility? Work From Home
There's a growing option for moms or others who are looking for jobs with a lot of flexibility - employment at a virtual call center. As customer service representatives, agents at a virtual center take incoming calls and handle requests through a computer networked within the company - and they can do it all from home. This is a great opportunity for stay-at-home moms, military spouses, disabled or physically challenged men and women, and those who are the primary caregivers to children or parents. It offers the ultimate in flexibility - you schedule your own hours. In this case, working from home is not only a benefit, it's a requirement of the job. There are about 100,000 home-based agents now in the United States. That number is expected to triple to 300,000 by 2010, according to industry research group IDC.
Considering a Home Remodel? Make Sure It Will Pay Off
(ARA) - If your family has to wait in line to take a shower, or if you're storing pots and pans in the laundry room due to lack of cabinet space, it could be time to consider a home remodeling project. Not only will an updated space make your house more pleasant for you and your family, it can pay off in higher resale value.To find out if your project will add to the resale value of your home, take stock of other houses in your neighborhood. Have many of them been upgraded in the past few years? If your house is the only one around without a finished basement, that would be a good project to consider. If everyone on the block has added a bathroom or upgraded their master suite, these projects would pay off as well. On the other hand, you may not want to price your house out of the market by adding a third or fourth garage if that's not the standard in your area.Remodeling magazine conducts an annual survey that compares construction costs with resale values.
Ryanair threatens government over airport security
Ryanair today threatened to sue the government for compensation unless airport security measures are returned to normal within seven days. Michael O'Leary, the outspoken chief executive of Ryanair, described the new restrictions as "farcical Keystone Cops security measures that don't add anything except to block up airports", as he issued the ultimatum. At a news conference in London, Mr O'Leary, described as "nonsense" the increased body checks and the new carry-on restrictions. Flanked by a Winston Churchill figure - in reference to the company's advertising campaign - he went on to say that the disruption at airports handed extremists a public relations victory. .
When food is the enemy
If some foods leave you feeling itchy and scratchy, queasy or sneezy, you're not alone. Millions of adults and children suffer from food allergies or intolerances. The most common allergens affecting children are milk, eggs, peanuts, wheat, soy and tree nuts such as walnuts and pecans. In adults, the most common are peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. Allergic reactions, such as hives, swelling of the throat and shortness of breath, result when the body's immune system sees food as an invader and produces an antibody against it. Children are more susceptible because their digestive systems are undeveloped and their immune systems are more often exposed to food proteins , said Andy Nish, an allergist. The exposure decreases as their bodies mature. Children tend to outgrow allergies to milk, egg and soy, but once you develop a true food allergy as an adult, you are unlikely to outgrow it, Nish said.
Suit snips red tape for Iraqi immigrant /BYBy BRENDAN KIRBY
Immigration officials have granted permanent U.S. residency to an Iraqi man and hope to untangle within 60 days red tape that has left his mother in a holding pattern for seven years. Nechervan Barwary and his mother, Shukrya Ahmed Barwary, sued in Mobile's federal court in May to force the federal government to act on their 7-year-old applications. They came to America in 1998 from Iraq's Kurdish region a year after the family patriarch, Saeed Barwary, won asylum and settled in a modest home on Maury Drive in Mobile. On Monday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services mailed a notice to Nechervan Barwary stating that his application had been approved. As a result, U.S. District Judge William Steele dismissed the lawsuit. In addition to dismissing Nechervan Barwary's complaint, Steele also agreed to freeze proceedings in Shukrya Barwary's case until Oct.
Background checks prevent the hiring of bad employees
When David Taitte was convicted of raping a woman to whom he had delivered a pizza, jurors in Omaha, Neb., decided that the Dominos Pizza shop where he worked was negligent and awarded $175,000 to the victim. Dominos had hired Taitte despite a record that included driving violations and a conviction for attempted first-degree sexual assault on a child. He even was jailed just four months before he was hired for allegedly stalking a woman he met while delivering for Home Team Pizza. Dominos, the jury found, never conducted a background check. .
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