Newsworthy but not its own thread worthy

[alexora]

Company and product names aren't always well researched...

Meta: Facebook's new name
ridiculed by Hebrew speakers

Facebook's announcement that it is changing its name to Meta has caused quite the stir in Israel where the word sounds like the Hebrew word for "dead".

To be precise, Meta is pronounced like the feminine form of the Hebrew word.

A number of people have taken to Twitter to share their take on the name under the hashtag #FacebookDead.

The emergency rescue volunteers Zaka even got involved, telling their followers on Twitter: "Don't worry, we're on it".

Another Twitter user said: "Thank you for providing all Hebrew speakers a good reason to laugh."

Facebook isn't the only company to be ridiculed over translations of its branding.

Here are a few examples of when things got lost in translation.

'Eat your fingers off'

When KFC arrived in China during the 80s, its motto "finger lickin' good" didn't exactly go down well with the locals.

The motto's translation in Mandarin was "eat your fingers off".

But it didn't harm the company too much. KFC is one of the largest fast food chains in the country.

'Manure'

Rolls-Royce changed the name of its Silver Mist car as mist translates as "excrement" in German.

The car was named Silver Shadow instead.

Meanwhile when Nokia released its Lumia phone in 2011, it didn't exactly get the reaction it was expecting.

In Spanish, Lumia is a synonym for a prostitute, although it apparently only appears in dialects with a heavy gypsy influence.

Honda however had a lucky escape. It almost named its new car the Fitta, which is a vulgar description for vagina in Swedish. It apparently did not translate well in a number of other languages.

Apparently the issue was detected early on and a decision was made to name the vehicle Jazz in most countries.

Source:

http://bbc.co.uk/news/world-59090067

[alexora]

To squid o not to squid? That is the question...

Squid Game crypto token
collapses in apparent scam

A digital token inspired by the popular South Korean Netflix series Squid Game has lost almost all of its value as it was revealed to be an apparent scam.

Squid, which marketed itself as a "play-to-earn cryptocurrency", had seen its price soar in recent days - surging by thousands of per cent.

However, as the BBC reported, it was criticised for not allowing people to resell their tokens.

This kind of scam is commonly called a "rug pull" by crypto investors.

This happens when the promoter of a digital token draws in buyers, stops trading activity and makes off with the money raised from sales.

Squid's developers have made off with an estimated $3.38m (£2.48m), according to technology website Gizmodo.

"Play-to-earn" cryptocurrency is where people buy tokens to use in online games and can earn more tokens which can later be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies or national currencies.

Last Tuesday, Squid was trading at just 1 cent. In less than a week its price had jumped to over $2,856.

Its value has now plummeted by 99.99%, said cryptocurrency data website CoinMarketCap.

Squid was billed as a token that could be used for a new online game inspired by the Netflix series - which tells the story of a group of people forced to play deadly children's games for money. The game was due to go live this month.

However, cryptocurrency experts had warned of several tell-tale signs that it was likely to be a scam.

Most telling was that people who bought Squid tokens were unable to sell them.

Critics also highlighted that its website contained many spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. The website is no longer online and social media accounts promoting the tokens have also vanished.

"It is one of many schemes by which naïve retail investors are drawn in and exploited by malevolent crypto promoters," Cornell University economist Eswar Prasad told the BBC.

Professor Prasad said buyers need to be aware when buying cryptocurrencies as there is almost no regulatory oversight.

"In fact, open pump and dump schemes are rampant in the crypto world, with investors often jumping in with eyes wide open, perhaps hoping that they can ride the wave and dump their holdings for a quick profit before prices collapse," he said.

Squid was available for sale on decentralised crypto exchanges including PancakeSwap and DODO, which allows for buyers to connect directly to sellers, without a central authority.

"Nowadays new coins can be listed on decentralised exchanges on the first day they are created, without any regulation or due diligence," said Jinnan Ouyang from Singapore-based crypto company Openmining.

"So you could be buying coins from anyone with any agenda."

Source:

http://bbc.co.uk/news/business-59129466

[alexora]

When it comes to organized crime, my fellow Italians seem to be world leaders...

Italian ‘maxi trial’ results in conviction
of 70 ’Ndrangheta suspects

More than 350 people linked to organised crime are being tried, with biggest names yet to be judged

Italy struck an early blow on Saturday against the country’s powerful ’Ndrangheta organised crime group, convicting 70 mobsters and others in a first, crucial test of the largest mafia trial in more than three decades.

Judge Claudio Paris read out verdicts and sentences against 91 defendants in the massive courtroom in the Calabrian city of Lamezia Terme.

While 355 people have yet to be judged in proceedings expected to last two years or longer, those judged on Saturday had opted for a speedy trial.

That procedure, which took place behind closed doors, allowed them to have a third of their sentence shaved off if they were convicted.

Since January, a specially adapted courtroom has hosted the “maxi trial” of hundreds of suspects affiliated with the ’Ndrangheta, the country’s richest and most powerful mafia group.

Famed anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri – whose efforts to defeat the ’Ndrangheta have resulted in his having to live under police escort for more than 30 years – said the sentencing had gone “very well”.

“Out of 91 defendants, there were 70 presumed innocent who were convicted,” Gratteri told Italian news agency Adnkronos, adding that those acquitted had been minor players.

Some of the group’s most dangerous members received the maximum 20-year sentence requested by prosecutors. They included Domenico Macri of the group’s military wing; Pasquale Gallone, the right-hand man of alleged mob boss Luigi Mancuso, whose trial is still pending; and Gregorio Niglia, whose role included procuring weapons and extortion.

About a third of the group received sentences of a decade or more, while 21 individuals were acquitted, seven at the request of prosecutors, Gratteri said.

The ’Ndrangheta is entrenched in Calabria, one of Italy’s poorest regions, in the toe of the peninsula’s boot. It has surpassed Sicily’s Cosa Nostra in power and wealth. The group controls the bulk of cocaine flowing into Europe.

The biggest fish in the prosecution’s case – Mancuso “The Uncle”, 67, considered the leader of the ’Ndrangheta families who dominated the Vibo Valentia province of Calabria; and ex-senator and lawyer Giancarlo Pittelli, 68, accused of being Mancuso’s white-collar fixer – have opted for the longer trial.

Of the eight defendants in the fast-track trial who faced a maximum of 20 years, six received the full sentence. They included Gallone, 62, who helped orchestrate his boss Mancuso’s three years on the run beginning in 2014. Mancuso had only recently been released from prison after serving 19 years.

The ’Ndrangheta has approximately 150 families jockeying for position within the organisation. They are supported by at least 6,000 members and affiliates in Calabria, swelling to thousands worldwide, experts estimate.

Its reach is now international, with illegal gains reinvested in the legitimate economy. The ’Ndrangheta’s ability to infiltrate nearly all segments of public administration back home in Calabria has allowed it to reap lucrative contracts and cement its power.

Charges in the case include association with mafia, attempted murder, money laundering, usury, dealing drugs, extortion and illegal weapons possession.

The maxi-trial is being held in a sprawling courtroom to accommodate the hundreds of lawyers involved. More than 900 prosecution witnesses and 58 state witnesses have been called.

In comparison, Italy’s legendary maxi-trial of 1986-1987, which dealt a blow to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, resulted in 338 people being convicted. Anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were later assassinated by the mob.

Source:

http://theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/06/italian-maxi-trial-results-in-conviction-of-70-ndrangheta-suspects

[alexora]

This news is encouraging: female military personnel must be protected from abuse.

Defence secretary to meet Army
chiefs over culture concerns

A meeting of senior Army leaders will be chaired by the defence secretary later to address issues relating to the Army's culture and discipline.

Ben Wallace said the issues, including concerns about the sexual harassment of women, were "not acceptable".

It also follows claims that British soldiers may have been involved in the murder of a Kenyan woman in 2012.

An Army spokesman said Mr Wallace was working with Army leaders to "drive out unacceptable behaviour at all levels".

The defence secretary told the BBC it was "really important we get the culture right" in the Army.

Mr Wallace has promised to address concerns highlighted by a report led by backbench Conservative MP and former soldier Sarah Atherton on bullying and sexual harassment faced by women in the armed forces.

The report from the Commons defence committee found that almost two thirds of the 4,000 women who gave evidence had experienced bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination during their time in the armed forces, including "truly shocking evidence" of rape and sex for promotion or advancement.

Meanwhile, an inquest into the death of a female recruit at the Army's Officer Training Academy at Sandhurst in 2019 has raised questions about the care given to vulnerable women.

Mr Wallace will raise the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who died in 2012. She was last seen in the company of two British soldiers and Kenyan magistrate Njeri Thuku concluded after an inquest in 2019 that Ms Wanjiru had been murdered by one or two British soldiers.

Mr Wallace said "contrary to media reporting", he, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office had provided help to the Kenyan authorities with their investigation.

He said the Ministry of Defence had given the names of British soldiers in Kenya at the time nine years ago, but he said the UK was unable to conduct a separate investigation when it fell under Kenya's jurisdiction.

It comes as ministers have expressed frustration about delays to the Army's new Ajax Armoured Vehicle programme. More than £3.2bn has already been spent but only a few dozen of the 589 vehicles have been delivered - and trials have had to be suspended twice over health and safety concerns.

Mr Wallace said: "I've asked [the Army] to make sure about how we're going to deal with the issues ranging from Ajax and the culture in the Army - to some of the discipline issues we've all been seeing recently.

"It's not acceptable and we'll have a discussion about what are the next steps."

An Army spokesperson said the Army board was due to meet Mr Wallace "in order to address several issues which are at the heart of the Army's reputation and capability".

"The secretary of state is determined to work with the Army's leadership to drive out unacceptable behaviour at all levels, particularly with respect to the treatment of women," the spokesman said.

"The Army's core value of respect for others must underpin everything it delivers on behalf of the nation, whether in the United Kingdom or operating around the world."

Source:

http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59200698

[alexora]

A matter of faith:

Last rites rights of condemned around the world

Death row inmate John Ramirez does not want to die alone; he wants to be comforted as he passes, by the hands of his pastor.

But that request was denied by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and now his final moments lie in very different hands - the US Supreme Court.

The 37-year-old former Marine, sentenced to death for robbing and fatally wounding a shop worker in 2004, said "prayer, song and human touch" at the point of death was an essential part of his Christian faith.

He felt having his last rites given to him by his Baptist pastor was his right, but Texas officials didn't buy his claims. They believed he was merely stalling his execution and manipulating the process with a "game of ecclesiastical whack-a-mole".

He sued them, claiming a violation of his First Amendment religious freedoms, and justices agreed to take up his objection, postponing Ramirez's scheduled execution date of 8 September until after Tuesday's hearing.

Ramirez's is the third execution halted in three years by the Supreme Court over how, if at all, religious advisers are allowed to attend to condemned prisoners as they die.

In 2019 there was public criticism after a Muslim inmate's plea to have his imam with him was rejected but a similar request from a Buddhist prisoner just a month later was allowed.

But the battle over religious - and other rights - at the point of death is not exclusive to the US.

Across the world, in countries where the death penalty is allowed, delicate negotiations have taken place over what is considered acceptable - and authorities don't always get it right.

In Japan, two death row inmates last week took legal action after being told they face same-day executions.

There, prisoners are notified only hours before they are put to death by hanging, but now rights groups are saying the short notice is "extremely inhumane" and materially affects mental health.

The men filed a suit in the district court in the city of Osaka last Thursday, in what is believed to be a first, arguing the rapid turnaround does not give them time to mentally prepare and contemplate the end of their lives.

It is secret executions that are causing international blowback against Iran.

In Iranian murder cases, where the defendant is sentenced to qisas (executions), family members of the victim are encouraged to carry out the actual execution themselves.

They can also grant a reprieve to an offender on death row - and it is this, that led to the extraordinary story of a grieving mother who, when faced with the man who killed her son standing before her with a noose around his neck, decided to forgive him and removed the rope.

The woman and the murderer's mother then hugged in front of the crowds who had gathered to witness an execution.

According to Iranian law, a defendant's legal representative must be informed 48 hours before any execution, but campaigners say this is not always happening, especially in political and security-related cases.

Further, it is claimed by Iran Human Rights, a non-profit campaign group, that standard practice throughout the country is to take prisoners to solitary confinement several days before death and leave them with hands permanently cuffed.

Meanwhile, in Singapore concerns are being raised about the execution of a man with an IQ of 69, a level widely recognised as indicating an intellectual disability.

Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for bringing 42.7g (1.5 ounces) of heroin into Singapore and was due to be hanged on Wednesday morning, but his case has sparked rare disquiet in the island nation where support remains high for the death penalty.

Dharmalingam's lawyers and rights groups fighting to save him say Singapore is violating international law by executing a person with a mental impairment. They have exhausted all other legal appeals and a petition to the president for clemency was unsuccessful.

But the Singapore government remains steadfast, saying the 33-year-old "clearly understood the nature of his acts and did not lose his sense of judgment of the rightness or wrongness of what he was doing".

Anger is also brewing over Egyptian capital punishment procedures.

Although the country's Child Law provides that all children under the age of 18 who have infringed the Penal Code shall not be "sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or forced labour", a report by Reprieve (a global campaign group led by international lawyers) says that at least 17 children have received death sentences there since 2011.

Prosecutors, say Reprieve, are using a loophole to put children before adult courts for trial, as the law allows for those over 15 where a co-defendant is an adult, to be tried jointly.

When the US Supreme Court this week rules on the case of Ramirez, it will be asked to focus on how to execute someone in a way that doesn't violate religious rights. But the tension between the principle of human dignity and the practice of capital punishment is inextricably entangled with that - and is one that applies throughout the world.

It is sure to turn into a larger debate around the rights of all men and women who face execution.

Source:

http://bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59228451

[JustKelli]

Two days ago this was the Coquihalla highway which is a major route heading out of Vancouver to western Canada...



Two days ago this was the Trans-Canada highway and rail system coming out of Vancouver into western Canada...



Large sections of the British Columbia interior have been heavily flooded due to relentless rain and whole towns have had to evacuate as roads collapsed and are wiped away by mudslides, people are washed away and our supply chain is cut off from the BC Vancouver port to the rest of western Canada as no Imports make it to us and our exports are cut off...

How is your day going LOL.

Hey it's not all bad in 45 minutes Canada takes on Mexico in a World Cup qualification match and there's only a foot of snow outside and -15C with the wind. The pitch was covered though so it will be pristine for kickoff

[maxhitman]

This is a crazy planet.

It is no wonder no ALIENS want to come visit us and say "Hello"

[JustKelli]

It's amazing the lengths that some people will go to just for a 66 million dollar prize. move over beauty pageant moms

Camels ejected from beauty contest over Botox use and other 'tampering'

Organizers of a popular camel beauty contest in Saudi Arabia have disqualified 43 contestants after cracking down on Botox injections and other forms of "tampering" by breeders.

The 40-day King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) northeast of the capital, Riyadh, launched at the beginning of December. In its sixth year, it sees breeders compete for more than $66 million in prize money, according to Saudi state media outlet Saudi Press Agency (SPA), so the stakes are high.

Unscrupulous breeders have been accused of using a number of methods to make their camels more likely to win, such as injecting silicone and fillers, and inflating body parts using rubber bands to enhance their appearance, reports SPA.

This year, organizers have dealt with 147 cases of tampering -- the largest number since the festival began. Forty-three contestants were disqualified.

Marzouk Al-Natto, spokesman for the festival's legal committee, said that breeders found to be tampering have to pay fines which vary according to the offense, reports SPA.

For example, the fine for injecting fillers, Botox or hormones can be as much as 100,000 riyals ($27,000) per camel, while braiding, cutting the tail or dying the camel incurs a fine of 30,000 riyals ($8,000).

In order to detect tampering, the camels are examined both physically and clinically, using devices such as X-ray machines and sonar devices.

The owners of winning camels receive cash prizes, and the recognition means they can sell the animals for higher prices.

Rare camels are big business in Saudi Arabia. An estimated 1.5 million of the animals are protected by their owners using microchips, according to SPA.

Camels are an important part of Saudi culture. The animals are well-adapted to life in deserts such as the Arabian Desert, large parts of which lie within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

[Wallingford]

Achmed is not laughing at you because you're f**king a camel, he's laughing at you because you picked the ugliest one in the pasture.

[maxhitman]

Yeah, I saw that in the news here. Hilarious !
WHY would anyone want to inject Botox into an animal which is already
not so good looking ?
AAAAAHAAHAHHAAH

What´s next? Gorillas ? They will have lips bigger than Mick Jagger.
Sorry Mick... you are still a great singer.