text:
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — On Sunday, a local politician named Mukarram Shah was in his car in the remote Pakistani village of Banjot when a bomb was detonated by remote control. He was instantly killed.
The bomb was made out of a pressure cooker, a common appliance in Pakistani kitchens and an increasingly common tool of terrorism in South Asia. It is the same sort of device that is believed to have been used in the Boston Marathon bombings, although authorities caution that it does not necessarily point to South Asian perpetrators; anyone could have taken advantage of easy-to-find online plans that have been posted by Al Qaeda, among others.
"We are defusing pressure cooker bombs almost daily," said Shafqat Malik, chief of the bomb disposal squad for the Pakistani province that includes the violence-racked city of Peshawar; the Swat Valley, where Shah was killed; and the militant-ridden tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan. "They're very common. Pressure cookers are one of the favorite IED containers for the terrorist groups."
IED stands for improvised explosive device, an appropriate designation for a bomb created out of one of the humblest of kitchen devices. Once common in American kitchens, pressure cookers have become relatively uncommon outside of immigrant communities in the U.S., but remain staples in Pakistan, India and surrounding countries, where they are prized for their ability to quickly cook beans and other long-simmering foods by using highly pressurized steam.
Because they have tight-fitting lids and are generally made of heavy metal, they create a powerful blast when filled with explosives and projectiles such as carpenter nails and ball bearings.
"Blast waves don't escape suddenly; the pressure builds up before the cooker gets broken," Malik said. "So the effect can be more lethal compared to other kinds of containers. The pieces of the cooker move outward like projectiles, hitting the target like a bullet."
Pakistani militants often detonate pressure cooker bombs by remote control — with a cellphone, for example — and usually bury the devices in the ground, Malik said.
Reports of pressure cookers being used as bombs go back to at least the 1990s, when Maoists used them against the Nepalese government during the 1996-2006 civil war in that country. By the 2000s, there were reports of their appearance in terrorist training camps along the volatile Pakistan-Afghanistan border. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that pressure cooker bombs were common in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal and might be used in the United States.
"Because they are less common in the United States, the presence of a pressure cooker in an unusual location such as a building lobby or busy street corner should be treated as suspicious," the department said.
Since Malik began leading the bomb squad in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in 2009, his officers have defused more than 5,000 explosive devices, about half of which have been pressure cooker bombs, he said. This year alone, his bomb disposal technicians have defused about 125 bombs in pressure cookers, he said.
The most recent prominent attack was the one that killed Shah, a member of the secular Awami National Party, which has supported operations against the Taliban in Pakistan's volatile northwest. The party has been rocked by a wave of terrorist attacks against its leaders and candidates running in the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 11.
In Afghanistan, where pressure cookers are also commonly used for bombs, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization patrol detonated one along a road two weeks ago, according to spokesman U.S. Army Maj. Adam N. Wojack. An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman could not say how many of the 2,500 explosive devices detected and defused by Afghan forces last year were contained in pressure cookers, but said they were part of the mix of bombs, along with fertilizer bombs and those fashioned from rocket or mortar components.
The bombs have also been used extensively in India. In February, a pressure cooker bomb killed 17 people and wounded 119 in the Indian city of Hyderabad, according to forensic experts who determined that ammonium nitrate was the explosive substance used. One of the worst attacks occurred in July 2006, when seven pressure cooker bombs were planted beneath trains in Mumbai, killing more than 200 people.
Times staff writers Rodriguez reported from Islamabad and Magnier from New Delhi. Staff writer David Zucchino in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Tanvi Sharma of The Times' New Delhi bureau contributed to this report.


text:
Compact zone 1 pneumatic module for R. STAHL's remote I/O system
Bus module instead of a valve island: 8 solenoid valve block on the IS1 rail
Designed as a plug-in module and thus requiring little installation space, R.STAHL's new DOMV pneumatic module for the IS1 remote I/O system is a considerably more compact solution than conventional additional valve islands.
The module, which is snapped onto the BusRail, is supplied via the IS1 system. Furthermore, it is directly connected to the remote I/O system's internal data and address bus.
Thanks to this complete integration, no additional efforts are required for wiring, configuration and monitoring of the DOMV via IS1.
This digital output module shares the user-friendly features of the IS1 system, e.g. the units are suitable for hot swapping in hazardous areas. Eight pneumatic control circuits can be connected to the DOMV via 6 mm plug connections.
Suitable media are pressurized air or neutral gases; a 5 µm filter is recommended. The module can be operated at 2.5...7 bar. The internal 3/2-way solenoid valves are electronically controlled and monitored for wire breakages – even if a pilot valve is unpressurised. The valves reach up to approx. 1,000 switching cycles per minute (cpm).
The safety position in case of communication errors can be freely configured: options are "On", "Off" and maintaining the current operating state. A "Plant Stop" function that completely switches off all outputs is additionally available. The DOMV module is intrinsically safe with "Ex ib" explosion protection. It is suitable for installation in zone 1 and 2 hazardous areas.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Prepare to Invest
It's important to know what you want to accomplish with your investments before you actually invest. For example, you might want to purchase a home, fund a child's college education or build an adequate retirement nest egg. If you set financial goals at the outset—you are more likely to reach them.
You also want to get a handle on basic finances such as how much money is coming in and going out. This will help you control spending and manage debt. Most importantly, it will help you methodically save and invest, which is essential to building your net worth.
Use the information below to help you establish and meet your financial goals.
- Savings Calculator
Use our savings calculator to see how a consistent approach to investing can make your money grow.


text:
SHANGHAI Masters organisers have tightened security around Roger Federer after an online death threat.
Extra precautions for Federer, who has arrived in Shanghai with his family, were taken after an unknown blogger said he planned to "assassinate" the player, in a bizarre posting on a popular Chinese website, a report said Thursday.
"On October 6, I plan to assassinate Federer for the purpose of tennis extermination," read the message, posted under the name 'Blue Cat Polytheistic Religion Founder 07' on baidu.com.
The user also posted a doctored image showing a decapitated Federer on his knees on a tennis court, with a masked executioner dressed in black and holding an axe posing next to him.
Police and other government agencies have been contacted to increase security around Federer, an official with the tournament's organising committee told the Shanghai Youth Daily.
"We hope that it was an oral threat only, and the fan won't take substantive action. However, we have to take it seriously," Yang Yibin was quoted as saying.
"We have contacted the local police and we will upgrade the level of security for Roger. Meanwhile, we will also protect other players' security."
Mr Yang gave few details of the extra security, but he said Federer's arrival time was not disclosed to media and that he and his family were ushered through a VIP channel and driven straight to their hotel after flying in to Shanghai.
Attacks on tennis players are rare, but in 1993 Monica Seles was stabbed by a deranged fan during a match in Hamburg.
In the 2009 French Open final, a fan invaded the court and tried to put a beret on Federer, before being tackled by security officials.
Originally published asFederer targeted by death threats


text:
My French Kitchen
A Book of 120 Treasured RecipesBook - 2003
It's not surprising that Joanne Harris's novels -- Chocolat, Blackberry Wine, and Five Quarters of the Orange -- celebrate the pleasure and magic of food, since her fondest childhood memories are of making pancakes with her great-grandmother M#65533;m#65533;e, picking blackberries with her grandfather in Yorkshire, and exploring the early morning markets of Noirmoutier. Now, with coauthor Fran Warde, Harris shares her treasured collection of family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation in this illustrated cookbook.
Harris encourages cooks to engage all their senses when cooking -- look at what you're cooking, smell the ingredients, mix them with your fingers, and enjoy their sounds and textures. Cooking, she reminds us, is about as close to magic as modern society allows: to take a handful of simple, fresh ingredients and turn them into something wonderful, otherworldly.
The 120 recipes include French classics such as Onion Soup and Onion Tart, Coq au Vin, and Cr#65533;me Br#65533;l#65533;e, as well as family favorites like Anouchka's Chile Garlic Bread, great-aunt Simone's Marinated Tuna, and great-aunt Marinette's Slow Fudge Sauce. And, of course, there's an entire chapter devoted to chocolate -- cakes, meringues, and spiced hot chocolate.
My French Kitchen, a remarkable collaboration between Joanne Harris, a writer who loves food, and Fran Warde, a former chef who loves to write about food, belongs in your kitchen.
From the critics
Community Activity
CommentAdd a Comment
There are no comments for this title yet.
Age SuitabilityAdd Age Suitability
There are no age suitabilities for this title yet.
SummaryAdd a Summary
There are no summaries for this title yet.
NoticesAdd Notices
There are no notices for this title yet.
QuotesAdd a Quote
There are no quotes for this title yet.


text:
S&P Bullish on Select Dividend ETFs
With yields on many dividend stocks above those of the 10-year Treasuries and money-market accounts, investors have been pouring cash into equity-based ETFs.
With yields on many dividend stocks above those of 10-year Treasuries and money market accounts, investors have been pouring cash into equity-based dividend ETFs. That is a good idea, according to the views of S&P Capital IQ in a new research note.
Even under a fiscal cliff scenario that would likely see the top rate on dividend taxes surge, S&P is bullish on dividend ETFs, saying, "We expect that dividends will continue to have appeal as a form of income, and that corporate America could choose to increasingly utilize cash for special dividends before new tax law goes into effect, or for stock repurchases. Also, while equity ETFs are subject to the price volatility that stock ownership brings, they also typically offer diversification among their holdings."
In the note, S&P highlighted six equity-based dividend ETFs, rating three Marketweight and the other three Overweight. The three ETFs to earn the Marketweight rating are the nearly $11 billion iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index Fund (NYSEARCA:DVY), the WisdomTree Dividend ex-Financials Fund (NYSEARCA:DTN), and the WisdomTree Equity Income Fund (NYSEARCA:DHS).
DHS is the best performer of that trio on a year-to-date basis with a gain of almost 9%. The other funds are each up barely more than 7%. DHS also nudged DTN and DVY in terms of yield with a 30-day SEC yield of 3.94%, 10 basis points higher than DTN and almost 40 basis points higher than DVY. Eight of the top-10 holdings in DHS are Dow components, including AT&T (NYSE:T), General Electric (NYSE:GE), and Merck (NYSE:MRK).
S&P place Overweight ratings on the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSEARCA:XLU), the SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (NYSEARCA:SDY), and the iShares High Dividend Equity Fund (NYSEARCA:HDV).
XLU is by far the worst performer of that trio year-to-date with a gain of just 1.7%. Adding to that ETF's cautionary tale is the opinion of some market observers that US utilities are richly valued on a historical basis and relative to foreign equivalents.
In defense of XLU, it is one of the least volatile of the ETFs highlighted by S&P. The research firm said XLU has a beta of just 0.33 against the S&P 500 over the past three years.
SDY, which screens for stocks that have dividend increase track records of at least 20 years, has jumped 7.2% this year while HDV has added 9%.
By merely looking at the top-10 holdings of DHS and HDV, some investors are apt to think the two ETFs are quite similar. The performances of the pair seem to underscore that notion, too. However, it is worth noting that DHS has the higher yield, is home to over 300 stocks (HDV has 76 holdings) and is slightly cheaper than its iShares rival. DHS charges 0.38% per year while HDV charges 0.4%.
Editor's Note: This content was originally published on Benzinga.com by The ETF Professor.
Below, find some more great ETF and market content from Benzinga:
Windows 8 Draws Massive Crowds in Times Square
Euro Holds Steady But 2013 Outlook Is Bleak
Getting Diversification Right--The 90% Solution
Twitter: @Benzinga
Benzinga Pro covers this and all market news in real time. Get your free trial here.
- 1
The information on this website solely reflects the analysis of or opinion about the performance of securities and financial markets by the writers whose articles appear on the site. The views expressed by the writers are not necessarily the views of Minyanville Media, Inc. or members of its management. Nothing contained on the website is intended to constitute a recommendation or advice addressed to an individual investor or category of investors to purchase, sell or hold any security, or to take any action with respect to the prospective movement of the securities markets or to solicit the purchase or sale of any security. Any investment decisions must be made by the reader either individually or in consultation with his or her investment professional. Minyanville writers and staff may trade or hold positions in securities that are discussed in articles appearing on the website. Writers of articles are required to disclose whether they have a position in any stock or fund discussed in an article, but are not permitted to disclose the size or direction of the position. Nothing on this website is intended to solicit business of any kind for a writer's business or fund. Minyanville management and staff as well as contributing writers will not respond to emails or other communications requesting investment advice.
Copyright 2011 Minyanville Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Daily Recap Newsletter
entertainment, education and
smart market commentary.