Scrooge...

Drone...

The use of armed drones in the Middle East, driven largely by sales from China, has grown significantly with an increasing number of countries and other parties using them in regional conflicts to lethal effects. 

China has won sales in the Middle East and elsewhere by offering drones  at lower prices and without the political conditions attached by the United States.

Countries across the Middle East locked out of purchasing U.S.-made drones are being wooed by Chinese arms dealers, helping expand Chinese influence across a region vital to American security interest.

It noted the use of Chinese armed drones across Mideast battlefields, including in the war on Yemen, employed by the Emirati air force. Iran has also violated Israeli airspace with armed UAVs from bases in Syria, provoking armed Israeli response on the suspected bases.

To cash in on the Misery of the Middle East.

Walked...

 Two-thirds of all the divorces are filed by women.  Most women believe that they have tried everything to turn things around before throwing in the towel.

Although there are a variety of reasons,  one stands out above the rest.

During the early years of marriage, a woman makes certain her marriage remains a priority, insisting on quality time together, meaningful conversation and shared activities. Then, more kids, more responsibilitys, etc.

When the marriage takes a back seat to other commitments and needs, she pursues her husband for more connection by having frequent heart-to-heart talks. If not, her complaints are no longer confined to her feeling unimportant.

She begins to find fault with many other aspects of their relationship. He hears, “If I had known what kind of father you’d be, I never would have had children with you,”

Suffice it to say, these complaints,  morphed from the real one, hardly prompt him to want to spend more time with her.

She tells herself, “I’ll leave when my youngest goes to college, or “find my soul mate and then I’ll leave,” or  I’m outta’ here.”
 Advise: Stay with the main problem or cause. Just a thought.

4-Days...

It sounds too good to be true, but companies around the world that have cut their workweek have found that it leads to higher productivity, more motivated staff and less burnout.

In New Zealand, insurance company Perpetual Guardian reported a fall in stress and a jump in staff engagement after it tested a 32-hour week earlier this year.

Even in Japan, the government is encouraging companies to allow Monday mornings off, although other schemes in the workaholic country to persuade employees to take it easy have had little effect.

The TUC Trades Union Congress argues that a shorter week is a way for workers to share in the wealth generated by new technologies like machine learning and robotics, just as they won the right to the weekend off during the industrial revolution.It would reduce the stress of juggling working and family life and could improve gender equality. Companies that have already tried it say it's better for productivity and staff wellbeing," said TUC economic head Kate Bell.

A Tale...

It’s a tale as old as time: Man meets woman. Man and woman fall in love and get married. She had an affair. The man disappeared, then believed to have been eaten by alligators, happens

Mike Williams went duck hunting at Lake Seminole the morning of December 16, 2000,  on his and Denise’s sixth wedding anniversary, and didn’t return.   They found his boat, jacket, waders, and hunting license, but no body hence the investigators’ gator theory. 
In June 2001, a judge declared Williams dead by drowning. Denise then collected $1.75 million in life insurance money, written by Brian Winchester, Williams’s best friend.  

Five years after Mike Williams' death, Denise Williams and Winchester got married. But their marriage began to dissolve around 2012, and in 2016 Winchester kidnapped her at gunpoint.  He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.  

Mike Williams’s body was discovered in December 2017, and that he had definitely been murdered. Denise was then arrested

 The 48-year-old beauty faces life in prison for conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree murder, for masterminding and concealing a wicked plot to free her from the marriage and collect nearly $2 million in life insurance money.

Did any one think they can get away with it, or just how far can she manipulate his soul?

Winchester divorced his wife and in 2005, he and married Denise.   

Imaginary...

Danger...

She lay by Lady Liberty’s foot, roughly 100 feet off the ground, swinging her legs, waving below and even taking off her shoes to try to climb farther.

All the while, NYPD officers surrounded her in helicopters and on the ground to get her down safely.

Visitors were evacuated from Liberty Island via tour boats, as two Emergency Services Unit officers climbed a ladder to the statue’s base, hoping to reason with the woman.

“In the beginning, she basically threatened to push us off, push the ladder off,” Police said.

Okoumou is charged with trespassing, interference with national park regulations and disorderly conduct. She’s being held at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan and now she is facing a judge.

Okoumou is now facing up to 18 months in jail. A New York judge denied her a jury trial.  

Private...

For nearly two weeks in September, developers who created apps for Facebook were able to access user photos that they should never have. Up to 6.8 million users may have been affected, Facebook says. 

Between Sept. 13 and Sept. 25, other photos were available, as well: Photos that a user posted to Marketplace, Facebook's platform for selling or buying goods. Photos posted to Stories, the platform for sharing images that disappear after 24 hours.

Even photos that were never actually posted on Facebook at all,  if a user had started to post a photo, then changed their minds, that picture also could be shared with developers. It didn't matter what privacy settings a user had placed on their images or posts.

"We're sorry this happened and we're instructing developers to delete the photos," Facebook says. Facebook users can learn whether their photos were involved.

Test...

A woman who is terminally ill with cervical cancer has encouraged women affected by the Cervical Check scandal to seek financial compensation after she agreed a settlement of €7.5 million.

Emma Mhic Mhathúna had sued both the HSE and Quest Diagnostics, the US laboratory it used to conduct smear tests. She was one of 209 women who received incorrect results, uncovered by a clinical audit into the screening program.

Ms Mhic Mhathúna, a mother of five from Kerry, was tested on three occasions in 2010, 2011, and 2013 but the results of all these three test were incorrect.  

Desert...

Egypt says its security forces have killed at least 27 suspected militants in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula and along its porous border with Libya.

The military said that forces destroyed 342 hideouts and weapons depots, dismantled 344 explosive devices and detained more than 400 suspects and around 3,000 illegal migrants, without giving a timeframe. 

It says airstrikes destroyed 61 vehicles containing weapons and ammunition in the Western Desert.

Egypt launched a nationwide operation against militants in February. It has struggled to defeat a long-running insurgency in the Sinai that is now affiliated with a known militant group. Who pays these militant?