Nestlé Recalls Kit Kat Chunky Bars And Giant Egg In UK, Canada And Elsewhere Over Plastic Pieces

The residents of some countries may want to think twice before digging into their leftover Easter candy, because Nestlé has issued a voluntary recall of several varieties of Kit Kat Chunky bars and the Kit Kat Chunky Collection Giant Egg.

The recall comes after seven consumers in the U.K. discovered small plastic pieces in some products. As a precaution, Nestlé is recalling the following items in the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, Malta, Austria, Singapore, Philippines and Canada:

• Kit Kat Chunky Peanut Butter (48g); best before September 2013 to February 2014
• Kit Kat Chunky Hazelnut (48g); best before September 2013 to October 2013
• Kit Kat Chunky Chocolate Fudge (48g); best before September 2013 to October 2013
• Kit Kat Chunky Caramel (48g); best before June 2013 to July 2013
• Kit Kat Chunky Chocolate Fudge Multipack; best before October 2013 to December 2013
• Kit Kat Chunky Hazelnut Multipack; best before September 2013 to December 2013
• Kit Kat Chunky Collection Giant Egg; best before July 2013

The manufacture dates of affected products go back to September 2012. In acompany press release, Nestlé offered full refunds and an apology:

The safety and quality of our products are non-negotiable priorities for the company. We sincerely apologise to our consumers for any inconvenience caused by this voluntary recall.

When reached by The Huffington Post, a press representative would not confirm the total quantity of chocolate products involved in the recall, but stressed that the company did "not expect the financial impact to be material."

Kit Kat is one of Nestlé's top-selling brands; consumers worldwide chow down on about 150 bars per second.

HuffingtonPost

Florida Medical Marijuana Bill Stalled While Bongs Ban Advances

Medical marijuana patient Kevin Brown is smells marijuana available at The Apothecarium Medical Cannabis Dispensary in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. Medical marijuana dispensaries in the states where people can use pot with a doctor's recommendation are getting in the holiday spirit, holding canned food drives, stocking up on pumpkin and peppermint-infused edibles and offering customers specials on their favorite cannabis strains. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Eighteen states and D.C. have passed medical marijuana legislation but in Florida, the "Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act" can't even get a hearing in the state Senate or House.

The bill has stalled in Tallahassee despite the fact that seven out of 10 Floridians support legalizing medical marijuana. Meanwhile a bill banning bongs was unanimously approved by a Senate committee.

"Shame on us as a Legislature for not taking the opportunity to hear this bill this year," House bill sponsor Rep. Katie Edwards (D-Plantation) said at a press conference on Monday.

Edwards introduced the bill after getting sick herself last year and speaking with cancer patients about how marijuana alleviated their suffering.

"I thought, 'these are real people,'" Edwards told ABC Action News, "and I cannot turn a blind eye and stick my head in the sand and pretend like it’s not happening, because it is."

The bill is named for Cathy Jordan who has been suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease since 1986.

In February, the Manatee County Sheriff's Department staged an armed raid on the Jordans' home, seizing 23 marijuana plants, including two mature plants Cathy was using to treat her symptoms.

Opponents like Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-Panama City) think Cathy and other Floridians needing marijuana for medical reasons should move to a state where it’s legal, reports the News Herald.

Meanwhile an Orlando-based Democratic fundraiser John Morgan is focusing on collecting the 700,000 signatures required to get a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana on the ballot in November 2014.

"If voters mandate this upon us, we're going to be reactionary," Edwards said of the potential amendment. "I'd rather take a proactive role. We could have a regulatory framework in place."

Edwards told the News Herald that she plans to file a compromised version of the same bill next year, limiting medical cannabis use to oil, pill, or topical form to further distance it from recreational use.

And while state legislators won't even have a debate on medical marijuana, a Senate Criminal Justice commitee recently unanimously passed a bill banning the sale of drug paraphernalia like bongs and pipes in Florida.

HuffingtonPost

Pope Francis Kisses Muslims Foot: Reaches out to “Muslim Brothers” on Good Friday

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Pope Francis Kisses Feet of Women & Muslims in Unprecedented Ritual

Mar 29th at 1:24 pm by Seline Jung

The Catholic Church’s new Pope Francis chose to break tradition this Holy Week when he washed the feet of inmates at a juvenile detention center, including two women – something no pope has ever done before.
Pope Francis washed 12 inmates’ feet — including two Muslims’ — at the Casa del Marmo prison in Rome in a Holy Thursday Mass ritual symbolizing the biblical story of when Jesus washed 12 apostles’ feet the night before his crucifixition. In the past, popes have completed the ritual on fellow priests.

The New York Times reports that Francis said, “This is a symbol, it is a sign. Washing your feet means I am at your service … This is what Jesus teaches us.”

Pope Francis reaches out to ‘Muslim brothers’ on Good Friday

ROME — Pope Francis reached out in friendship to “so many Muslim brothers and sisters” during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.
The new pontiff, who has rankled traditionalists by rejecting many trappings of his office, mostly stuck to the traditional script during the nighttime Way of the Cross procession at Rome’s Colosseum, one of the most dramatic rituals of Holy Week. Read more

The Bengali Muslim community, in the district Torpignattara in Rome, has decided to dedicate a prayer for the new Pope Francis, to emphasize that the Islamic community is on the side of the Pope.

The Bengali Muslim community, of the district Torpignattara, has decided to dedicate a prayer for the new Pope Francis, to emphasize that the Islamic community is on the side of the Pope for a peaceful coexistence between different faiths, in Rome and in the world and a special prayer for the deceased President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Zillur Rahman. Read more…

A new Era in Leadership

NewsRescue- This is a wonderful new era of leadership with humility and subservience, to be emulated by all leaders of the world. It will be recalled that at this same time in the era of the old Pope Benedict XVI, he was at 6 Flags, in his words, “getting closer to god,” through the scare of the rides, and he also made his historic trip to Auschwitz where he challenged God for “sitting back and allowing the Holocaust happen.”
Related: NewsRescue-Commentary- Does Pope Benedict XVI Forget The Congo Holocaust- 30 Million Murdered!

Pope in Auschwitz.


Pope John Paul II was also known for his inter-faith respect and compassion. he can be seen in the image below, kissing a Quran:

News+Rescue

Preacher Who Raped and Tortured 5-year-old Daughter To Death Released After Paying "Blood Money"

A "celebrity" Saudi preacher accused of raping, torturing and killing his five-year-old daughter has reportedly been released from custody after agreeing to pay "blood money".

Fayhan al-Ghamdi had been accused of killing his daughter Lama, who suffered multiple injuries including a crushed skull, broken back, broken ribs, a broken left arm and extensive bruising and burns. Social workers say she had also been repeatedly raped and burnt.

Fayhan al-Ghamdi admitted using a cane and cables to inflict the injuries after doubting his five-year-old daughter’s virginity and taking her to a doctor, according to the campaign group Women to Drive.

Rather than getting the death penalty or receiving a long prison sentence for the crime, Fayhan al-Ghamdi served only a few months in jail before a judge ruled the prosecution could only seek "blood money".

Albawaba News reported the judge as saying: "Blood money and the time the defendant had served in prison since Lama's death suffices as punishment."

Fayhan al-Ghamdi, who regularly appears on television in Saudi Arabia, is said to have agreed to pay $46,934 to Lama’s mother.

The money is considered compensation under Islamic law, although it is only half the amount that would have been paid had Lama been a boy.

Despite Saudi Arabia’s famously strict legal system, Women to Drive say fathers cannot be executed for murdering their children in the country.

Equally, husbands cannot be executed for murdering their wives.

Formal objections to the ruling have been raised by three Saudi activists, and the twitter hashtag #AnaLama (which translates as I Am Lama) has been set up.

Local reports say public anger over the settlement is growing across Saudi Arabia, with authorities planning to set up a 24-hour hotline to take calls about child abuse.

Naij.com

French 'Survivor' Doctor Thierry Costa's Suicide Linked To Contestant Gerald Babin's Death

Thierry Costa, the medical doctor who worked on the French version of "Survivor,"committed suicide in Cambodia, the TV series' production company confirmed Monday.

In a handwritten letter, Costa described how he was affected by the media coveragefollowing the death of one of the program's contestants.

The hit reality show, "Koh-Lanta," tests players' survival skills by putting them through a series of challenges and rewarding success with prizes and money. Gerald Babin, a 25-year old participant, died on March 22 after suffering a heart attack during the first challenge of the 2013 season.

"These past days, my name has been smeared in the media," the 38-year-old Costa wrote in a suicide note, which he requested be made public. Addressing his 20 years in the profession, the man said he had a feeling that all his efforts were diminished by what he called misleading stories.

After receiving anonymous testimony about certain "failures" regarding Babin's death, several French journalists questioned the contestant's cause of death, along with Costa's role in his passing.

Adventure Line Productions (ALP), which produces the show, on Thursday filed a defamation suit against anyone who sought to exploit Babin's passing. However, a second witness came forward Friday and cast more doubt on the circumstances of Babin's death.

Costa served as the staff doctor on "Koh-Lanta" for four seasons, ALP confirmed in a statement. The production company commended Costa for his high level of professionalism and his humanity toward both the show's participants and production crews.

ALP also addressed the media in its statement, advising that "this tragic event should encourage those who accuse and comment indiscriminately to exercise responsibility."

As the Agence France-Presse notes, though Cambodian authorities declared Babin died of natural causes, French authorities have launched their own investigation into his cause of death.

Babin passed away during the first day of filming for the show's 2013 season. France'sChannel TF1 immediately canceled the show following the contestant's death.

HuffingtonPost

Health Insurance Giants Discover Way To Skirt Obamacare Regulations For Entire Year

Health insurance companies are looking to put off complying with health care reform rules that guarantee basic benefits and consumer protections -- and they've figured out how to do so for up to one more year.

The Los Angeles Times reports that big health insurance companies like UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint may attempt to skirt new regulations that take effect on Jan. 1, 2014 by renewing some of their customers in the meantime and letting them keep the coverage they currently have for as long as a year after the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is supposed to kick in.

The health care law requires insurance plans sold to individuals who don't get benefits through their employers to cover a minimum set of benefits, prohibits companies from refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions or to charge them higher rates than healthy people, doesn't allow health insurers to levy higher premiums on women than men, limits how much more older people can be made to pay, and guarantees customers can re-up their plans each year.

But those rules don't take effect until January -- or whenever a customer's current health insurance plan expires next year, which could be later. According to the Los Angeles Times, some insurers are weighing a lawful scheme in which they would renew customers' plans before 2014, thus preventing them from having to meet Obamacare standards until as late as Jan. 1, 2015.

Although adoption of this strategy could hamper the rollout of the health care law -- especially if some insurance companies target healthy people and leave sicker customers with higher medical bills to their competitors -- experts expressed skepticism that many health insurers would go to such lengths to evade Obamacare rules for such a short period of time.

"There are lots of things to worry about with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. I'd put this at the bottom," said Robert Laszewski, who consults for insurers and other health care companies as president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates in Alexandria, Va. The "huge, complex administrative mess" of reopening customers' health plans to change their renewal dates would scarcely be worth the trouble, he said.

"There's no real return on investment," Laszewski told The Huffington Post. "This isn't going to move the needle on their financials."

Despite their opposition to much of what's in the health care law, and theirongoing campaign threatening big premium increases next year because of Obamacare, health insurance companies are unlikely to take steps to impede the law's implementation after it survived a Supreme Court ruling, Obama's reelection and numerous votes in Congress to repeal it, said Larry Levitt, the executive director of the Kaiser Initiative on Health Reform and Private Insurance at the Menlo Park, Calif.-based Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

"Insurers have mostly wanted to get on with implementation and make it work and not put up roadblocks," Levitt told HuffPost.

Nevertheless, UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint at least haven't ruled out this method of delaying health care reform, although Kaiser Permanente has, the Los Angeles Times reports. (The health insurer is not affiliated with the Kaiser Family Foundation.) Online health insurance vendor eHealth Inc. also expects some health insurance companies to offer renewals to current customers before the end of the year, according to the newspaper.

Renewing their plans now could shield some younger, healthier people from increases in their health insurance premiums tied to market reforms and mandates that will make plans more comprehensive and more generous, said Sheryl Skolnick, co-head of research at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Conn. For these customers, a renewal of their current benefits could let them wait out the uncertainty about health insurance premiums during the first year of Obamacare, she said.

Older, sicker people who are poorly served on today's insurance market and stand to gain the most from Obamacare could suffer the consequences, however. If there are too few young, healthy people paying for benefits on the health insurance exchanges to balance out the costs for those needing more health care, sicker people would pay bigger premiums to cover their collectively high medical bills.

Renewing pre-Obamacare plans also would provide health insurance companies with some benefit, especially if it enabled them to lock in young, healthy customers for longer, Levitt said. "This allows an insurer to kind of extend that transition" to the full implementation of health care reform, but it would be short-term and wouldn't give insurers much of an advantage, he said.

"Mostly what this amounts to is some benefit on the margins to insurers that do this and maybe a delay of six to 12 months," Levitt said.

Customers could refuse to renew and instead purchase a different plan on the law's state-based health insurance exchanges, which are scheduled to open Oct. 1 for people to shop for coverage that would take effect next year. But those who do renew their existing plans under pre-Obamacare rules wouldn't be eligible for the health care law's tax credits to help pay for their insurance, said Timothy Jost, a professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law who has worked with federal and state officials on implementing the law.

Several states including New York, Oregon and Rhode Island are eyeing regulation or new laws to prevent health insurance companies from extending plans in advance of the new rules, Jost told HuffPost. By contrast, the Arkansas Department of Insuranceadvised companies how they could do so last month, the Los Angeles Times reports.

HuffingtonPost

“I Stand For Change. Do You?” Read Banky W’s Inspiring Speech at the Bola Tinubu Colloquium

Benjamin Franklin once said “when you’re finished changing, you’re finished”. I’d like to take that a step further by saying “we must be a part of the change we seek, or risk being changed ourselves”.
The question is no longer “will Nigeria change?” But rather, it’s “will it change for the better or worse?” and “who will lead that change?”
History is rife with instances of regimes, institutions and societies seeming stable and unshakeable, but young people being fed up with the status quo, became the catalysts of change in their societies.

In recent times we’ve seen young people all over the world clothe themselves with the “change” mantle and become a part of the movement. We’ve seen that no matter the society, and no matter the circumstances of oppression and corruption, change is possible if the people decide that enough is enough. From Tunisia, to America, to Egypt, young people are changing the world every day. Nigeria should be no different.
They say “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. We cannot continue the same behaviours, year in, year out and expect better results. Except for prayer, you can’t do the same thing over and over again and expect things to be better. And even with prayer, you actually have to get up and do something after all they say heaven helps those who help themselves.
Things young people can do:
1)   Be involved in the political process:

1. Register to vote
2. Actually Vote for the right candidates.
3. Or Sit back and let someone else steal your voice.

2)   Peacefully protest

1. Media: Old & New; Twitter, Facebook etc – I believe that even though the internet accessibility in Nigeria is still low, we cannot ignore the importance of such platforms. They serve as tools that can help in the movement. And things are changing everyday… many phones today have some internet capability or the other.
2. Efforts like Occupy Nigeria, Light Up Nigeria, Enough is Enough, etc
3. Newspapers, blogs, etc.

3)   Become fully involved in the Political process.

1. It’s easier to talk about and/or criticize people that are working than to do the work yourself. Join a party and try to help influence policy. We can level the playing field if we all get involved in this Movement for Change. And it’s not just at the federal level. Young people need to start getting involved even from the local and state  levels in order to properly influence policy and society.

4)   Use whatever voice or platform you have constructively. I’m a musician and so you’ve seen me singing and speaking publicly about the need for the change in our country but you can use whatever sphere of influence you have, be it with family, friends, school, neighborhood, church or mosque. Everyone has a voice and a role to play.
I’m here because I’m a dreamer. Everything I have now, that God blessed me with was born out of my dreams. I dreamt of becoming a singer; dreamt of owning my own Record Label company, and other businesses. Dreamt of being able to influence my surroundings, my city, my state and my country through my work. But some people stop at dreaming while others actually wake up and set about trying to make those dreams come true.
I dream of a changed Nigeria where each child, no matter the background has a dream of his/her own, and is given access to education, healthcare, and basic amenities in life to make those dreams come true.
I dream of a changed Nigeria where the opportunities abound for anyone willing to work for them; where every man, woman and child is given a fair shot to avoid poverty and become a success at whatever they set their minds to do.
I dream of the day in Nigeria where we finally live up to our potential – as citizens, leaders, countries, and as a Continent.
If our children and future generations witness Nigeria in the same conditions we have her today, then we would have failed them. That’s why I’d rather be here, speaking with like minds and putting my hands to the plow, than sitting at home being an arm chair critic.
We’re all here because we want to be a part of changing Nigeria for the better. That’s why we are getting involved. Whether or not each person’s intentions are pure, only God would know, only time will tell and only history will judge.
However I’d rather be a part of the movement for change, than be one of those that are content to sit back and criticize. I’d rather be a player on the field, or a coach, or a worker on the team, than be a fan in the stands, or home watching on TV.
One of my favorite sayings is “the best way to predict your future is to create it”. We can extend that to say that we must create the Nigeria that we want to live in. We must all speak up. We must all work for it. We must all stand up and be counted, if our dreams are to become reality.
I’m Banky W, and I stand for change. Do you?
 Abusidiqu.com