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Couple's battle for $10,000 luxury holiday refund as hundreds consider class action

James and Victoria Sylvester were refused a refund when their $10,000 holiday to Dubai was cancelled because of coronavirus. Now hundreds of consumers in similar situations are considering launching a class action.




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Un Québec à deux vitesses

Depuis longtemps, on a l’impression que Montréal et le reste du Québec s’en vont dans des directions opposées.




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Jeux olympiques de Montréal: un projet grandiose qui a 50 ans

Fierté collective ou tache dans l’histoire, les Québécois débattent encore sur leur héritage des Jeux olympiques de 1976 à Montréal.




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Pêche aux homards: une saison prometteuse s’ouvre dans l’incertitude

Les pêcheurs de homard ont pris le large en Gaspésie pour une nouvelle saison sur laquelle planent beaucoup d’incertitudes en raison de la COVID-19.




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Cas Brendan Leipsic: Cinq autres sportifs coulés par les réseaux sociaux

Certaines opinions exprimées sur les réseaux sociaux viennent parfois jouer de vilains tours.




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Les États-Unis ne sont plus que l’ombre d’eux-mêmes

La crise révèle des vulnérabilités, la polarisation, le cynisme et le dysfonctionnement de la société américaine.




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Achat local: pleins feux sur le cidre

L’entreprise Vignoble et Cidrerie Coteau Rougemont a implanté un système de livraison dès la deuxième semaine du confinement.




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Le soutien d’une maman: pleins feux sur 10 mères bienveillantes à la télé

En ce week-end de la fête des Mères, pleins feux sur quelques mamans fictives qui veillent sur leur progéniture.




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Des collations qui plaisent aux jeunes

Voici des inspirations de desserts et collations qui allient plaisir et santé!




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Hausse de mortalité chez les patients cancéreux

Une étude rapporte que les patients cancéreux sont jusqu’à 6 fois plus à risque de développer des complications sévères et de décéder de la Covid-19.




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Salesforce Acquires Krux Digital for $750,000,000

Krux Digital helps anyone with a website safeguard, manage, and make responsible use of consumer data signatures across devices, sources, and formats. Krux arms web publishers with the technology and know-how to compete in a data game currently dominated by advertisers and market middlemen.




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Tanya Bardsley has put her luxurious Cheshire mansion up for sale

The Real Housewives of Cheshire star's home with footballer husband Phil Bardsley is on the market




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Justice Department Files Lawsuit Alleging Disability-based Housing Discrimination at Six Complexes in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against Equity Homes Inc, PBR LLC, BBR LLC and Shane Hartung in U.S. District Court in South Dakota for failing to provide accessible features required by the Fair Housing Act at multi-family housing developments in Sioux Falls.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Justice Department Enters Agreement to Make Kerrville, Texas, Cailloux Theater Accessible to Persons with Disabilities

The Justice Department today announced a settlement agreement with the city of Kerrville, Texas, and Playhouse 2000 to bring the Cailloux Theater into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Cargolux Airline Executives Indicted in Conspiracy to Fix Surcharge Rates on Air Cargo Shipments

A Miami grand jury returned an indictment today against two executives of Cargolux Airlines International S.A., a Luxembourg-based corporation, for participating in a conspiracy to fix and coordinate certain surcharges on air cargo shipments to and from the United States.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Justice Department Resolves Lawsuit Alleging Disability Discrimination in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

The Justice Department today announced a settlement of its lawsuit alleging that Equity Homes Inc, PBR LLC, BBR LLC and Shane Hartung violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by failing to provide features that would make their multi-family housing developments in Sioux Falls accessible to people with disabilities as required by the Fair Housing Act.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Cargolux Airlines International Executives Plead Guilty for Fixing Surcharge Rates on Air Cargo Shipments

Two executives of Luxembourg-based Cargolux Airlines International S.A. have each pleaded guilty and agreed to serve 13 months in prison for participating in a conspiracy to fix cargo rates for international air shipments.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Alabama Man Sentenced for Attempting to Hire Ku Klux Klan to Kill Neighbor

Allen Wayne Densen Morgan, 29, of Munford, Ala., was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama to serve 72 months in prison to be followed by three years supervised release for attempting to hire members of the Ku Klux Klan to torture and murder his African-American neighbor.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Electrolux Agrees to Pay $750,000 Civil Penalty for Delay in Reporting Oven Hazard

The Justice Department’s Civil Division announced today that Electrolux Home Products Inc., of Charlotte, North Carolina, has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $750,000 to settle allegations that it knowingly failed to report immediately to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission a safety hazard associated with certain wall ovens sold to consumers.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Former Ku Klux Klan Officer Pleads Guilty to Committing Perjury During Investigation into Cross-Burning

Pamela Morris, former secretary of a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Ozark, Alabama, pleaded guilty today to committing perjury during a grand jury’s investigation into a racially motivated cross-burning in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama



  • OPA Press Releases

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Associations between sleep bruxism and (peri-)implant complications: lessons learned from a clinical study




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Rituximab for desensitization during HLA-mismatched stem cell transplantation in patients with a positive donor-specific anti-HLA antibody




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Author Correction: “Dysfunctions” induced by Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery are concomitant with metabolic improvement independent of weight loss




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Recent north magnetic pole acceleration towards Siberia caused by flux lobe elongation




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Osiraq Redux: A Crisis Simulation of an Israeli Strike on the Iranian Nuclear Program

In December 2009, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy conducted a day-long simulation of the diplomatic and military fallout that could result from an Israeli military strike against the Iranian nuclear program. In this Middle East Memo, Kenneth M. Pollack analyzes the critical decisions each side made during the wargame.

The simulation was conducted as a three-move game with three separate country teams. One team represented a hypothetical American National Security Council, a second team represented a hypothetical Israeli cabinet, and a third team represented a hypothetical Iranian Supreme National Security Council. The U.S. team consisted of approximately ten members, all of whom had served in senior positions in the U.S. government and U.S. military. The Israel team consisted of a half-dozen American experts on Israel with close ties to Israeli decision-makers, and who, in some cases, had spent considerable time in Israel. Some members of the Israel team had also served in the U.S. government. The Iran team consisted of a half-dozen American experts on Iran, some of whom had lived and/or traveled extensively in Iran, are of Iranian extraction, and/or had served in the U.S. government with responsibility for Iran.

Read more »

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Public pensions in flux: Can the federal government's experiences inform state responses?


In many policy-related situations, the states can be useful laboratories to determine the most appropriate federal actions. Variations across states in health care programs, earned income credit rules, minimum wages, and other policies have helped inform debates about federal interventions.

In this paper, we reverse that approach. Many state and local governments currently face difficulties financing future pension obligations for their workers. The federal government, however, faced similar circumstances in the 1980s and successfully implemented a substantial reform. We examine the situation the federal government faced and how it responded to the funding challenge. We present key aspects of the situation facing state governments currently and draw comparisons between them and the federal situation in the 1980s. Our overarching conclusion is that states experiencing distress today about the cost and funding of its pension plans could benefit from following an approach similar to the federal government’s resolution of its pension problems in the 1980s.

The federal government retained the existing Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) for existing employees and created a new Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) for new employees. FERS combined a less generous defined benefit plan than CSRS, mandatory enrollment in Social Security, and a new defined contribution plan with extensive employer matching. Although we do not wish to imply that a “one size fits all” solution applies to the very diverse situations that different states face, we nonetheless conclude that the elements of durable, effective, and just reforms for state pension plans will likely include the major elements of the federal reform listed above.

Section II discusses the federal experience with pension reform. Section III discusses the status and recent developments regarding state and local pensions. Section IV discusses the similarities in the two situations and how policy changes structured along the lines of the federal reform could help state and local governments and their employees.

Download "Public Pensions in Flux: Can the Federal Government’s Experiences Inform State Responses?" »

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Authors

Image Source: © Max Whittaker / Reuters
      
 
 




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How to Tell Real Fur From Faux Fur

After reports last year of "raccoon dog" fur being used and labeled as faux fur, the Humane Society came out with a few quick tests you can use to test whether any animals were hurt in production. First, look at the




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Five Scary Fall New York Fashion Week Faux Pas

We usually don't like to point out the negative aspects of things here on TreeHugger, but when it comes to New York's just ended Fall Fashion Week, I am forced to ask, "Wha' happened?"




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Luxurious Alpha tiny house opens wide on both sides to let the outdoors in

This ingenious design features a roll-up garage door and a drop-down deck on either side, allowing the home to feel even more spacious.




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The Orchid is a luxurious Scandinavian-inspired tiny home

This modern take on the gabled farmhouse includes lots of clever space-saving ideas.




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Creepy doll redux: 8 reasons not to buy Hello Barbie

Why Mattel's diabolical darling could be a threat to children’s privacy, wellbeing, and creativity.




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6 International Resorts Dishing Pampered Eco Luxury

Luxury by its very definition means indulgence--while eco-consciousness, such as that employed by Scandic in its moderately-priced hotel chain, is more likely to mean slashing consumption.




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Luxurious small smart homes by Tiny Heirloom

High-end materials meets smart home automation in this country-styled tiny home.




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Luxury and "Eco" Try to Co-Exist at Cacao Pearl's Philippine Resort

Every developer worth his or her weight in white beach sand is vying to be able to proclaim his or her resort the first or best or truest eco-resort.




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Sakura is a luxurious modern tiny house for cold climates (Video)

Built on a gooseneck trailer, this big tiny home features a lot of clever small-space design ideas.




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"Eco-Luxurious" domes blend harmoniously with Quebec landscape

Bourgeois / Lechasseur architects figure out how to square the circle.




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Ramblers Way Creates Sustainable Luxury Casual Wear for Fall 2011

Organic wool comfort wear company Ramblers Way founded by Tom and Kate Chappell, of Tom's of Maine fame has come a long way since their first collection, comprised of natural blonde wool jersey knits




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Teddylux Recycled Cashmere Soft Toys

Abandon not all ye moth-eaten and shrunken cashmere sweaters—designer Brooke Serson Cernonok of Teddylux can sprout an entire menagerie from your castoffs.




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When the Sun Goes Down, Eco Resorts Combine Luxury and Adventure (Slideshow)

In the last few years ecotourism has grown from a buzzword to a trend, to full-blown industry. Whether travelers are looking for a rugged adventure or refined luxury, planet-conscious operators have sprung up to satisfy




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George Monbiot calls for private sufficiency, public luxury

He makes the case that it is better to have magnificent public parks than big private backyards.




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Artist's earth-inspired rugs feature luxurious landscapes

These textile works of art are bursting with soft corals, algae and more.




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Vedanta Resources' Orissa Bauxite Refinery Expansion Blocked by Indian Government

Two months after the Indian government stopped plans by UK-based Vedanta Resources to put a bauxite mine on a mountain held sacred by two indigenous tribal groups in Orissa, on the




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Alcoa, Major World Polluter, Brings Sustainable Transport to Bauxite Mine & Feeds Energy into Grid

It may sound like an oxymoron, bringing sustainable practices to mining operations, but unless we all stop consuming resources immediately, mining is also not going anywhere. So this is good news: since 2007, Alcoa's Jamalco




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Happy 25th birthday, Linux!

There's a lot for TreeHuggers to love about the little operating system.




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Microsoft's data centers in Ireland are getting an influx of wind power

The tech giant just agreed to purchase all of the energy from GE's Tullahennel wind farm.




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Luxurious Lupine tiny house features grand kitchen for chefs

This spacious tiny home is great for entertaining and cooking up a storm.




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Gyrecraft: creating luxurious objects from plastic ocean trash (Video)

Plastic pollution in our oceans is a big deal. These designers went out and collected some to create this surprising collection of items that look quite luxurious.




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Luxe tiny house has a chef's kitchen and secret dining room

A table for 12 in a tiny home? No problem with this smart and lovely design with loads of hidden storage.




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This luxurious tiny house is powered by coffee grounds (Video)

Compact but comfortable, this small home features clever small space design ideas and uses coffee grounds as fuel.




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No, that luxury brand bag won't make you happier

In fact, it'll likely make you feel worse because it doesn't reflect who you truly are.