| Bay Area Traveler Gets Runaround From Airline
Airlines have strict policies regarding rebooking flights if you get sick. One South Bay viewer turned to ConsumerWatch after spending months getting the runaround from one airline. Roland Borges hadn't been to India in 30 years. So when his 94 year old mother wanted to visit her homeland for a family reunion, Borges was thrilled to take her. "We went to see where she was born and where my grandparents lived. It was a wonderful experience," said Borges. But at the end of their trip, his mother was hospitalized with pneumonia and an embolism. They needed to postpone their 22 hour flight home on Virgin Atlantic. "I tried to contact their customer service in Mumbai and find out what kind of paperwork I needed," said Borges. He called repeatedly, but to no avail.
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Wild Card/Vacation Day 11 of 12
Only two more shopping days until I return to the final days of the City Council campaigns. Then, we'll have fun taking apart the campaigns. Any dirt yet? Any mudslinging. You know, the good stuff. Or is everyone behaving? My wife is now looking over my shoulder -- literally -- so I have to pretend that I'm just checking ball scores. See ya in two days. Here's Wild Card ... .
Police Violence and Abuses in Detention
They are crowded together in unsanitary conditions, with no privacy and little respect for their personal integrity. Detained children are vulnerable to mistreatment from staff members and from other detainees, sometimes with staff acquiescence. They are left in the hands of untrained and unqualified personnel. All of these conditions contravene international standards. As titular head of the Social Welfare Office (Oficina de Bienestar Social), First Lady Patricia de Arzú is responsible for Guatemala's juvenile detention centers, or "re-education centers," as some of them are known. Claiming a lack of resources and corruption among their own staff, the First Lady's office has virtually abdicated control over the juvenile facilities by inviting in REMAR (Rehabilitación de los Marginados), a Spanish evangelical organization, which purportedly provides its services free of charge.
Opposition won't let AWAs go without a fight
THE pros and cons of Australian Workplace Agreements are set to get another workout after the Senate launches an inquiry into the Rudd Government's legislation to scrap them. The Senate will vote on Thursday on an Opposition motion for a Senate committee inquiry. The Coalition can get its way in the upper house until June 30. The deputy leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Eric Abetz, yesterday gave notice of the motion, which says the inquiry should report by April 28. Although the Coalition can force the inquiry, it will not have a majority on the employment, workplace relations and education committee that will do it. There will be four Government members, three Opposition and one from the minor parties. In his speech written by the Government at yesterday's opening of the 42nd parliament, Governor-General Michael Jeffery said the Government's "first legislative act" would abolish the capacity to make AWAs.
Visa expects to raise up to $18.76 billion in public offering
NEW YORK (AP) — Visa said Monday it could raise almost $19 billion from an initial public offering, which would easily become the largest IPO in U.S. history. San Francisco-based Visa Inc. said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing it will offer 406 million shares at $37 to $42 per share. There will be an option for its underwriters to buy an extra 40.6 million shares to cover any excess demand. The filing also showed rival credit card companies MasterCard Inc. and American Express Co. trailing Visa in transactions in 2006. The Visa IPO, even at midpoint price, would surpass the $10.6 billion AT&T Wireless raised in 2000. It would be almost as big as the two largest past deals combined — AT&T's offering and Kraft Foods' $8.7 billion offer in 2001. Visa would follow Mastercard from being a privately held interest to a publicly traded company.
Spring Training: For McCutchen, being No. 1 no sweat
But McCutchen remains, without question, a work in progress, as his tumultuous 2007 illustrated. Coming off a strong spring, he was sent back to Class AA Altoona and went hitless in his first 15 at-bats. His average was .189 through April, .230 through May. The minor-league evaluators blamed the wicked cold in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania in that early going for icing McCutchen, and he shared that view. After that, the thinking went, he was so eager to get his average up to a respectable level that he reached out of the zone to grasp for hits. Big mistake. "That's not my game," McCutchen said. "It just snowballed." He settled eventually and, after a .301 run in his final 41 games with the Curve, was promoted to Indianapolis in late August and batted .313 in 17 games.
Several sure signs of spring
No comments posted. By STEVE BATIE / Lee Newspapers Thursday, February 28, 2008 7:05 AM CST LINCOLN, Neb. A reader wrote to me a while back, lamenting this endless winter and asking what I considered a sure sign of spring.The first thing that came to mind was the sound of melting snow dripping in the downspouts. The second thing, of course, would be no sound at all - because the snow already has melted. .
Grassley: Cut contract fraud loophole
Compliance has been voluntary, and over the past 15 years the number of company-reported fraud cases has declined steadily. Now, the Justice Department wants to force companies to notify the government if they find evidence of contract abuse of more than $5 million. Failure to comply could make a company ineligible for future government work. But the planned rule, as written by policy-writers who are reviewed by the OMB, specifically exempts "contracts to be performed outside the United States." The rule was published in the Federal Register in November. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and Justice Department both have criticized the loophole. The White House has refused comment on it before the rule becomes final later this year.
Police name murder victim
POLICE have named the teenager murdered in Erith at the weekend as 18-year-old Faridon Alizada. The post-mortem examination, which took place yesterday, gave the cause of death as two stab wounds to the chest. Mr Alizada who was also known as Fighterrr was a member of the IVS gang. A murder inquiry was launched after police were called to a reported stabbing incident in a third floor flat in Verona House, Waterhead Close in Erith. When police arrived at 3am on Saturday they found three youths in their mid to late teens suffering from stab wounds. One of the youths, Mr Alizada, believed to be from the Woolwich area, was pronounced dead at the scene. .
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