Health politician calls for free Berlin condoms

 

 

Moves are afoot to give away thousands of condoms for free around Berlin – once a willing sponsor is found who would pay to have their logo on the packaging.

 

Thomas Isenberg, health affairs spokesman for the centre-left Social Democrats in the city-state's parliament, told The Local this week he wanted to see free condoms available in the German capital as soon possible.

“We are always looking for new ways to get the safe sex message out effectively, and they have been doing this very successfully in New York City, so we hope to do it too,” he said.

New York’s health authorities give away branded NYC condoms, and this February even launched a smartphone application to find the nearest place offering them.

Isenberg said he hoped to get the idea adopted in Berlin soon. “We have a number of large and mid-sized healthcare companies based in the city who might find it an interesting prospect to sponsor the condoms.”

“Berlin is a creative place, there are all sorts of possibilities. They could then be made available in hotels, clubs, bars, cafes, all sorts of places.”

The idea needs to be adopted by the state parliament's health promotion committee before being handed over to advertising agency Berlin Partner, which developed the ‘Be Berlin’ campaign.

The distribution of free condoms would certainly fit with Mayor Klaus Wowereit’s now famous description of Berlin as being arm, aber sexy – poor but sexy, that is.

 

 

 

 

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Noise Snare – photo radar for loud vehicles

It's a situation that everyone has experienced - you're walking down the street, when a vehicle drives by that's so loud, people cover their ears and cast angry glances at the driver. You assume that it's illegal to use a muffler that's so ineffective, or to have a stereo turned up that high, but if it is ... how come so many people seemingly get away with it? Well, part of the reason is manpower. While speeders and red-light-runners can be ticketed in the thousands using automated systems, actual police officers need to go out and manually check cars and motorcycles for noise violations. The designer of Noise Snare, however, claims that his unmanned system can automatically detect and identify overly-audible vehicles.

Noise Snare was invented by Mark Nesdoly, an electrical engineer from Edmonton, Canada. He was inspired to create it after a neighbor's loud motorcycle woke up his young daughter.

The system can be covertly mounted on a vehicle, which is then parked and left unattended at a location that municipalities wish to monitor. Once everything is armed, a microphone proceeds to register noise levels of passing vehicles. When a vehicle that exceeds legal noise levels is detected, a video camera captures footage of it, which is recorded - along with stereo audio - to DVD. Information such as the time, date and location of the infraction are superimposed on the footage, along with the vehicle's sound level in decibels.

 

As with photo radar, vehicle owners are identified via license plate numbers on the footage. Users can simply view the DVD to find out who's getting a ticket, or the system can notify them as it detects violations, via text messages or email. According to Nesdoly's company, Street Noise Reduction Systems, the system is able to accurately identify which specific vehicle is the guilty party, even in heavy traffic or on multi-lane roads.

The city of Calgary will start testing the Noise Snare within the next couple of months, pending council approval, and may become its first adopter.

Below is some test footage captured by the system, of vehicles that exceeded local allowable noise levels.

 

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Scandalous insurance reps filmed 'taking drugs' on other trips

 

 

The German insurance representatives who took part in a scandalous ‘motivational’ orgy reportedly indulged in blatant drug-taking on other trips abroad abroad with business colleagues.

While Ergo, now owner of the Hamburg-Mannheimer insurer, investigates potential legal measures it might take against those involved in organizing the 2007 sex party in Budapest, a video has emerged of a top sales rep taking what appears to be cocaine at a club on the Spanish island of Majorca.

The Bild daily posted images of the man and a woman openly snorting a white powder from a table on its website on Tuesday, blurring out the participants’ faces. The film was taken in Palma last September, the paper said, adding that it had similar pictures from another trip to Dubai last March.

“There was nothing that was not available,” one participant said of the trips.

A statement released by Ergo on Tuesday afternoon said the pictures showed people playing a drinking game with tequila, lemon and salt. This included, "snorting salt into the nose," the statement said, according to the Handelsblatt newspaper's website.
Ergo said it had statements made on oath from the participants that this was the case.

The Düsseldorf-based firm has been investigating the matter of the infamous Budapest trip since it was made public by the Handelsblatt last week, according to spokesman Alexander Becker.

The visit, which included the night at the historical Gellert thermal baths with around 20 prostitutes tagged with colored wrist bands to indicate who could use them, was offered for the top 100 sales reps of the company.

Becker said on Monday that checks were being made to see if there was any legal complaint to be made against those involved. “Until now there is no such indication,” he said.

The Handelsblatt identified Kai Lange, co-founder with Carsten Maschmeyer of finance services provider AWD, as the organizer of the Budapest trip. Lange, who moved to work for Hamburg-Mannheimer in 1999, confirmed to the paper he had not only invited the sales reps on the three-day trip in June 2007, he was also there.

Entertainment was not only provided by the prostitutes, but also by fire-breathers, sword-swallowers and acrobats, while food was also provided. Lange said he had done nothing wrong, that he had stayed in the disco area the whole night, and had no idea what his sales reps got up to in the thermal baths. Lange left Hamburg-Mannheimer in 2008, the paper said.

There is also a ‘Top 5’ club of successful sales reps according to the newspaper, which went on foreign trips at least three times a year to places including Dubai, the Seychelles, Monaco and Kitzbühel, Austria, as well as Budapest.

The group supposedly has the motto, “The club where the extraordinary is ordinary”. During the day they take part in extravagant pastimes such as helicopter trips, playing on jetskis and diving. They stayed in only the best hotels, and partied at night.

“It was then like [Majorca's party district] Ballermann with dancing on the tables, Hallelujah on tables and benches. There was everything, coke in the nose, belly dances,” one participant said.

Important managers from the Hamburg-Mannheimer were included in the trips.

Sales reps even openly took cocaine in Dubai – snorting it from a bar table in the Roberto-Cavalli club, the paper said. The Kaelum club in Palma on Majorca was the scene of the video in which a top Hamburg-Mannheimer sales rep took what seems to be cocaine.

The ‘Top 5’ club was set to go to Monaco next weekend to watch the Formula One race, but this trip has apparently been canceled.

“We would separate ourselves from any representatives who were proven to take illegal drugs on our trips,” Becker told Bild

 

The Local/hc

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Iceland volcano: CAA have better ash cloud monitoring in place

Andrew Haines, Chief Executive of the Civil Aviation Authority, describes the latest tests to measure levels of volcanic ash in the air over Britain.

While the CAA have deemed it safe for all British aircraft to fly in medium density ash, the Met Office charts show that the levels are higher than this below 35,000 feet, meaning planes could have to navigate routes around the plume.

Met Office forecaster Charles Powell predicted the plume would cover large swathes of Britain by lunchtime.

He said: "This area of ash will start to make its presence felt across parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland and by midday I think much of the UK will be covered."

The latest eruption is, however, expected to be less serious than that of 13 months ago, because the ash is of a different consistency and aviation rules have since been changed giving airlines more say in whether or not it is safe to fly. 

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Plane Finder Apps Show Grimsvotn Ash Cloud Movements and Live Flight Tracking on a Single Map

Highly rated Plane Finder for iPhone and Plane Finder HD for iPad apps have been updated overnight to include the Grimsvotn ash cloud maps. The ash cloud maps are provided by the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Center and are updated every 6 hours to show the predicted plume spread. The live plane tracking data is real time and obtained via a private network of virtual radar aerial receivers across the globe.

Plane Finder live flight tracking apps have been updated overnight to show the Grimsvotn ash cloud maps and live flight tracking data on the same Google map. Users can now see the effects of the ash cloud on flights in real time via their mobile device.

Plane Finder apps have been a firm favourite with customers around the globe since 2009 and provided key visual information via mobile devices throughout the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull airspace disruptions. Since 2009 the private virtual radar receiver network has grown significantly – particularly in the USA and Europe - and most parts of the globe are now covered.

Small development company Pinkfroot Limited are committed to customer service and have worked closely with Apple to achieve this swift update to the Plane Finder apps. Technical Director Lee Armstrong says, “Customers are important to us and we recognised the need to include the ash cloud charts in the mobile apps as a matter of urgency. We are proud to have achieved this in less than 24 hours with assistance from Apple.”

Plane Finder and Plane Finder HD are available in the Apple App Store. Plane Finder data, including ash cloud, can also be viewed via http://www.planefinder.net

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Report: Pakistan wants Chinese to have naval base

Pakistan has asked China to build a naval base at its port of Gwadar, and wants the Chinese navy to maintain a regular presence there, Britain’s Financial Times reported Monday.

“We have asked our Chinese brothers to please build a naval base at Gwadar,” Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar, Pakistan’s defence minister, told the Times, confirming that the request was conveyed to China during a visit last week by Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.

Such a foothold would be the first overseas location offering support to China’s navy for out-of-area missions, the Times wrote, and so would be likely to reinforce international concerns over Beijing’s longer-term military ambitions.

In the past, China has shied away from military moves that might provoke the U.S. or its partners, such as India.

“This will definitely be a ‘game changer’ in China’s defense and security relationships,” said Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, a south Asia security expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “The construction of a naval base in Gwadar would provide its own ships and possibly submarines with ‘permanent’ basing rights, along with the possibility of regular patrols and exercises in the Arabian Sea to protect the growing number of Chinese-flagged oil tankers traversing the region to meet its increasing energy demands from the Gulf region.”

The decision comes at a time of heightened tensions between Pakistan and the United States.

U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in a raid on his fortified compound in Pakistan on May 2, without notifying Pakistan in advance. And just last week, Pakistan soldiers fired at two NATO helicopters that had entered Pakistan’s airspace.

During Gilani’s visit, Beijing agreed to expedite delivery of a second batch of 50 jointly developed JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, possibly within six months.

Pakistan’s defense officials also want the Chinese navy to build up its presence in the Indian Ocean and the northern Arabia sea, to counterbalance India’s naval forces. the Times noted.

Anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden have made China’s navy aware that it lacks port access for resupply and maintenance, and the force had lobbied for the construction of foreign bases.

Christopher Yung, senior research fellow at National Defense University in Washington, said in a recent paper that “the nature and degree of China’s access to out-of-area bases will be the ultimate indication and warning” of any intention to become a global military power.

 

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Icelandic volcano: hundreds forced to abandon plans as ash cloud forces more flight cancellations

Hundreds of passengers were forced to abandon their travel plans after ash from an Icelandic volcano caused yet more flight cancellations in Scotland. 

 

 

Hundreds of passengers spent the day waiting to hear if their planned journeys would go ahead.

But this evening brought bad news as more carriers cancelled flights from Scotland.

The disruption comes as a second volcanic ash cloud in a year made its way across the country's airspace from Iceland.

Ryanair was the first airline to announce it had cancelled all scheduled flights to and from Scotland for the remainder of the day.

And British Airways said it would not operate any flights to and from Glasgow and Edinburgh, following reports of "significant" volcanic ash in and around Scottish airspace.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Ryanair said: "Following a direction from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), Ryanair regrets that we have been forced to cancel all flights to/from Scottish airports for the remainder of the day."

Earlier today Ryanair carried out a test flight at up to 41,000ft in Scottish airspace, taking an aircraft from Glasgow Prestwick to Inverness and on to Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

The spokeswoman said there was no visible ash cloud or any other presence of volcanic ash and the post-flight inspection revealed no evidence of volcanic ash on the airframe, wings or engines.

She added: "Ryanair has renewed its calls on both the UK CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) and the IAA to reopen the airspace over Scotland and allow airlines to operate flights safely following the verification flight."

A spokesman for British Airways said: "British Airways has decided as a precaution that it will not operate any further flights to and from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle on Tuesday May 24.

"At present all other flights are unaffected, including our flights to and from Aberdeen."

Later, an announcement was made that all airlines operating from Edinburgh Airport had decided to cancel their flights for the rest of the day, based on guidance from the CAA..

Prestwick Airport reported it had no flights coming in or out of the airport throughout the day.

EasyJet's website stated that all flights to and from Scotland were cancelled until at least 7pm today

Scots regional airline Loganair scrapped all of its services until 1pm today, excluding Orkney inter-island services, with 38 flights due to depart or arrive between 6am and 1pm cancelled.

But it announced that flights between Aberdeen and Kirkwall, Aberdeen and Sumburgh and all services between Inverness Stornoway and Benbecula were operating as normal this afternoon.

Glasgow Airport's cafes were packed today as passengers waited for news.

Guy McKinven, from the Clyde Valley area, was travelling with easyJet to Stansted to spend a week with his grandmother.

He said: "You see people shouting and getting upset, but there's nothing you can do.

"EasyJet have been helpful and have told me I can have a refund for my flight."

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that the airport had seen around 40 per cent of its flights take off before lunchtime. moving into UK airspace, allowed planning throughout the night with airlines.

Ms McMillan added: "We took some lessons from last year, so I'm pretty proud how we've coped this morning."

MP Ann McKechin, Labour's shadow Scottish secretary, said: "It is good that the lessons from last year's widespread disruption caused by ash seem to have been learnt and I'm pleased to see the Scottish Government is taking the appropriate action of convening an emergency committee to deal with this issue." 

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