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MANILA The Philippine embassy in Riyadh on Monday suspended the Saudi agency that recruited the Filipina maid whose employer's mother poured boiling water on her.

The case of Pahima Alagasi Palacasi, 23, of Malapaan, Pikit Cotabato, went viral on social media over the weekend after her cousin posted pictures of her burnt body on Facebook.

Palacasi, for her part, is determined to pursue her case against her employer, said Labor Attache to Riyadh Rustico Dela Fuente in his report to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

"OFW Palacasi is determined to file a case against the employer (identified by Palacasi as Adil Akmad Badjuid). The embassy and the POLO will assist her," he added.

Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ezzedin Tago, through the embassys Assistance to Nationals Section and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, immediately ordered suspension of Al Motkasess Recruitment Office, stopping it from recruiting more workers from the Philippines. Its partner in the Philippines is A-M Philippine Professional Services Corporation.

What happened

A few days after she arrived at her employers house in Riyadh last March 2014, Palacasi felt homesick and cried constantly. Palacasi said her male employer constantly kicked and lashed her.

Her employer then brought her back to the Saudi recruiter, who transferred her to the house of her employers mother because her employers wife did not want her back.

At about12 p.m. on May 4, the mother, who did not speak English, poured boiled water on Palacasi over a simple misunderstanding. In separate media accounts, Palacasi was allegedly slow in preparing the mothers cup of coffee.

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BINUHUSAN NG KUMUKULONG TUBIG | Saudi recruiter of abused OFW suspended

MIAMI Carlos Ruiz de Quevedo worked nearly two years to design and build a "green" home in a gentrifying section of the Little Gables, a labor of love for the architect and Realtor, with energy-saving features like energy-efficient impact windows, a solar-ready electrical system, and highly insulated walls and roof.

The two-story house has environmentally friendly details like cisterns that collect rainwater and air-conditioner runoff for watering the lawn, and it's wired for an electric car charger.

So when Ruiz de Quevedo listed the three-bedroom, three-bath house at $625,000, aiming to tap into the peak spring/summer house-hunting season, he hired a home staging company to furnish the place.

"They even put in a make-believe family to live in the place," said Ruiz, who bought the property in June 2012 with a run-down coral rock cottage that was beyond saving.

"There is a lot of competition, so you want your house to stand out," said Marisa Salas, who owns the South Florida franchise of Showhomes. "We stage all the rooms so people can envision how spaces are meant to be utilized."

In the current strong housing market, Salas said, her company is seeing growing demand for staging services. She furnishes the homes, places art on the walls and adds homey touches.

When Salas started out in the business during the downturn, "there were a lot of vacant properties," which made home-management services particularly appealing to owners. Besides staying on top of maintenance, the property manager helps ensure that squatters don't move in.

Staged homes fetch 5 percent to 15 percent more than those left vacant, according to Salas. The staged homes also sell faster than those that aren't, she added.

"We create the emotional aspect of a house. When people walk into a vacant house, they don't really appreciate anything," she said.

Home sellers tap "stagers" primarily for higher-end homes, in "the $1 million to $3 million range," Salas said. Fees typically run $3,000 to $10,000, depending on the home.

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'Green' spec home in Florida gets staging treatment

Photo: UNICEF/Olivier Asselin

An infant receives a dose of oral polio vaccine during a routine immunization session, at the Henriette Konan Bedie Community Hospital, Abidjan, Cte dIvoire.

Cape Town A series of papers published on Tuesday is laying the ground for concerted international action to reduce deaths among newborn babies - which reach their highest levels in sub-Saharan African countries.

Nine of the 10 riskiest countries in the world for a baby to be born are in Africa , the authors note.

"There has been a fatalistic acceptance from both communities and governments", Professor Joy Lawn, a Ugandan-born pediatrician at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told AllAfrica in a telephone interview.

A lead author of the series, Lawn says it is not inevitable that an African baby has the worst chance of survival . "Some of the poorest African countries have made the most progress in reducing newborn deaths, by picking simple things to do and doing them well."

She says over 70 percent of newborn deaths are preventable with currently available techniques. And in addition to saving the lives of newborns, applying the proven strategies will save the lives of mothers and improve the prospects for babies that would have survived but will also benefit from the interventions.

In 2012, the world's worst death rate for newborns was in Sierra Leone, with 49.5 deaths for every 1,000 live births. In Somalia and Guinea-Bissau, it was 45.7 deaths for every 1,000 live births, and only marginally better in the other African countries in the group: Angola, 45.4; Lesotho, 45.3; the Democratic Republic of Congo, 43.5; Mali, 41.5; the Central African Republic, 40.9; and Cote d'Ivoire, 39.9. Pakistan was the only non-African country in the world's worst 10.

"If current trends continue," a press release accompanying the studies says, "it will be over a century before a baby born in Africa has the same chances of survival as a baby born in North America or Europe."

The studies also show that Nigeria is one of three countries in the world - with India and Pakistan - which, with the highest number of births, also have the highest overall numbers of newborn deaths, and which have made slowest progress in reducing the death rate. Newborn deaths in Nigeria total 267,000 a year; for India the figure is 779,000 and Pakistan 202,400. The Democratic Republic of Congo is in the top five countries for newborn deaths, with 118,000 babies dying a year.

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Africa: 'No Excuse' for Newborn Death Rate

Our critic hops the ferry.

For years, Governors Island has been in a constant state of becoming. The decommissioned Army (and, later, Coast Guard) base has gradually insinuated itself into the consciousness of nonmilitary New Yorkers, who were invited to visit even before it was transformed. Most landscape architects have to imagine how people will use their creations; Adriaan Geuze, the landscape architect who co-founded the Dutch firm West 8, only had to watch. Under the tutelage of Leslie Koch, president of the Trust for Governors Island, the island effectively became a research station for the mechanics of leisure. Koch, Geuze, and their staffs noted where weekenders gravitated to picnic; who chose to bike, where, and how fast; how children played and how long grandparents snoozed; what kind of food they would buy, how much they would spend, and whether they stopped to examine the art installations.

Out of all that experimentation and observation has emerged a 30-acre park that is one of New Yorks new jewels. Liggett Hall, a long, narrow barracks building, cuts across the islands narrow neck, dividing the gracious 19th-century military campus from the new zone. The last time I visited, that south-facing expanse was a wafer of land, charmless, wind-strafed, and flat, though enlivened by an artistic mini-golf course that tried vainly to fill up the space. Today, shin-high rounded hedges flank sinuous pathways and enclose little graveled clearings. The shrubbery breaks up the landscape without interrupting sightlines: Parents can sit in the movable chairs or at caf tables and let their children roam. The adventure playgrounds have no fences, which will give kids the delicious illusion of total freedom on a car-free island where the curve of the paths pretty much forces bikers to saunter, and the only escape is by ferry. The greatest danger is that an outfielder on the gleaming new softball fields may get distracted by the full frontal close-up of the Statue of Liberty and get beaned by a fly ball.

All the plans produced the fear that one of New Yorks last leftover spaces, pleasantly battered and almost forgotten, would give way to a maritime version of the High Linea glittery tourist haven with all its attractive shabbiness ruthlessly manicured away. So far, that hasnt happened. There are no straight lines in Geuzes design, only round fountains, swooping paths, elliptical enclosures, fluid flower beds, and undulating lawns scattered with fire-engine-red Adirondack chairs. Some decisions have unintentionally happy results: Koch reports that the wide, round-topped white curbs that border paths turn out to be a 3-year-olds delight. Perhaps they sense that this is a hands-on landscape, not a precious diorama. Please keep on the grass.

This $75 million urban Eden, operated by a private nonprofit trust but paid for mostly by the city, opens just as Mayor de Blasio has stoked the debate over park equity, the principle that neighborhood parks should be tended on a par with velvet-lawned showpieces like Central Park. The beauty of Governors Island is that its both a destination and also everyones offshore neighborhood park. You can see that in the data: Visitors come from all over the city, no single Zip Code accounts for more than 5 percent, andfor now, at leastlocals vastly outnumber tourists. (After Memorial Day weekend, it will finally be open on weekdays.) A five-minute ferry ride from Brooklyn and Manhattan, it feels distant yet impossibly close, and the juxtaposition of vertical city and languorous landscape is almost surreal. From certain angles, the World Trade Center seems to have photobombed a view of a bucolic college campus.

Geuze understood years ago that the island would need some hills. When Hurricane Sandy hit, it spared all the earthmovers that huddled on a 16-foot rise, and failed to drown more than a few new trees. Today, when so many other coastal areas are still struggling to revive, Governors Island is giving off an I-told-you-so glow of Low Country foresight. The gentle terraforming that Geuze insisted upon endows the island with a personality thats still in formation. Eventually, toddlers will tumble down a 30-foot grassy slope that for now is just a mound of dirt, but already the gentle undulations feel satisfying underfoot.

The park is still in its infant stage. In the hammock grove, rows of saplings stand ready to fight each other for primacy and the right to shade nappers a few years from now. (Until then, the hammocks are strung between sturdy posts, naked to the sun.) Lawns are stubbly, and the hedges are still gasping from the winters onslaught. But you can sense a more verdant future, when lush, intimate corners of a landscape will offer a counterpoint to the harbors wide horizons.

*This article appeared in the May 19, 2014 issue of New York Magazine.

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Davidson on Governors Island's New 30-Acre Park

WEST MEMPHIS, AR -

(WMC) - Love letters from death row: A tell-all book has now been released revealing the letters written between Damien Echols and his wife during his time behind bars.

Lorri Davis was a landscape architect living in New York when she saw the documentary "Paradise Lost" about Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley and the murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis more than 20 years ago.

She started writing Echols. The book is filled with their letters.

Ashley Holingsworth, who lives in the West Memphis trailer park, where Damien lived, doesn't want to read "Yours for Eternity," which is full of personal thoughts. It reveals thousands of exchanged over 16 years while Echols was on death row.

"The personal level should have been between him and her. It's not supposed to be publicized, because no one needs to know those thoughts," said Hollingsworth.

Lorri writes, "There is no doubt in my mind that you are a very strong part of my past. Some door opened in my head and all I knew was 'You have got to locate this person ... it is crucial."

Damien writes: "With everyone who I ever become close to, I leave part of myself with them, and I carry part of them with me."

A few years later Lorri and Damien married behind bars.

There are graphic letters about their sexual fantasies about each other.

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Prison letters between Damien Echols, wife revealed in new book

A meticulous attention to detail in the design and construction created a spectacular hillside estate that sprawls atop a 14.25-acre lot offering panoramic views of Mt. Diablo.

About 7,478 square feet of living space wraps around a lavish indoor pool and spa with a two-story waterfall that rivals any luxury resort while the grounds provide an ideal horse property with room to roam.

Designed by architect Jan Hamby of Danville, the home at 1401 Dutch Mill Drive in Danville took more than a year to build in 1986. A $450,000 recently completed, floor-to-ceiling remodel included a 50-year stone-coated, steel roof; tri-color paver driveway, custom wrought-iron balustrades and railing, stone tile flooring, new kitchen appliances, updated bathrooms, exterior and interior paint, custom lighting, epoxy garage flooring and refreshed landscape.

A meticulous attention to detail in the design and construction created a spectacular hillside estate that sprawls atop a 14.25-acre lot offering panoramic views of Mt. Diablo. (Photo by Coldwell Banker, Team Ohlmeyer)

A multitude of large windows invite an abundance of natural light including two-story windows in the expansive foyer overlooking the pool and a stunning front door with leaded glass inset, side panels and arched transom.

At the center of the home is an enclosed four-season, solar-heated swimming pool and spa with a soaring, two-story ceiling, five 8-foot sliding glass doors along its backside and a waterfall cascading down boulders. Additionally there is a stone two-sided fireplace, built in barbecue, and lots of room to entertain poolside amidst lush, tropical foliage.

There are five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms in the main part of the house including one poolside. The attached guest/in-law quarters has two bedrooms and one full bathroom in addition to a living room, dining area, full kitchen and private covered deck with views of distant hillsides.

In addition to the formal living and dining rooms that showcase stamped steel ceilings and decorative millwork, there is a separate paneled game room with boxed beam ceiling and adjacent media room that opens to the pool area and shares a two-sided fireplace with the pool area, and an additional private office space that overlooks the pool from upstairs.

Expansive decks span the back of the home and provide perfect vistas of Mt. Diablo and rolling hillsides. A private covered deck is off the guest quarters.

A meticulous attention to detail in the design and construction created a spectacular hillside estate that sprawls atop a 14.25-acre lot offering panoramic views of Mt. Diablo. (Photo by Coldwell Banker, Team Ohlmeyer)

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One of a kind: Expansive Danville estate with panoramic views and horse property

Okanagan Valley, Vernon, British Columbia (PRWEB) May 19, 2014

While Europeans traditionally schedule a week or two of vacation each year to stay in a health resort, this is relatively a new trend for North Americans, states Hans-Peter Mayr, CEO of Sparkling Hill Resort Wellness Hotel and former general manager of several health destination spas in Austria. With an aging population in Canada and the US, and vacationers today focused on lifestyle values, health and sustainability, more of our guests are beginning to see the value and choose one of our week long health programs offered at our European-inspired, KurSpa. Here in Canada, Boomers 45+ represent 57.1% of the adult population, and with a growing interest in wellness vacations, this past year we have seen a 10% increase in room nights for wellness retreats and we anticipate this number to triple in 2015.

The integrative health clinic at KurSpa is characteristically distinct, innovatively combining all the services and amenities offered within a full-service spa in conjunction with naturopathic, homeopathic, psychology and kinesiology treatments all under one roof at the internationally acclaimed Swarovski crystal-infused Sparkling Hill Resort. Our programs are designed to treat the whole body with a combination of naturopathic and conventional therapies that eliminate chronic pain and inflammation, defy aging, and improve health, relationships, and work-life balance, says Dr. Ray Lendvai, medical director of KurSpa.We create personalized healing programs for our guests, comprehensively designed to improve the quality of ones life. Specialty programs include Cleanse and Detox, Healthy Weight Loss, Whole Body Wellness, 55+ Stay Young and Healthy, SHaRP Relationship Programs, Athletes Recovery and Executive Wellness Retreats. Wellness programs are led by the resorts two doctors, Dr. Lendvai and Dr. Strauss.

KurSpa is a whole body, mind and soul experience - a 40,000 sq. ft. European spa oasis where guests explore a better level of health from walking on the acres of private hiking trails to experiencing 7 unique aromatherapy steam and sauna rooms, and having access to over 100 therapies and treatments, 50% of which are health oriented. Health treatments such as Fango and chelation therapy remove harmful toxins from the body that have built up over the years. KurSpa encapsulates the beauty of the natural landscape outside the floor to ceiling windows surrounding salt water pools, Kneipp hydrotherapy, and relaxation and tea rooms. The abundant natural light and setting in nature is naturally healing and uplifting, ideal for health and wellness retreats.

About Sparkling Hill Resort Sparkling Hill Resort opened in 2010 and is a premier international destination spa resort for extended heath vacations with 149 guest rooms that are in themselves a wellness retreat. World renowned, it is the only resort in the world to incorporate Swarovski crystal elements into every aspect of its design. Located in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia near Vernon, Sparkling Hill Resort is easily accessible from Kelowna International Airport (YLW) with daily flights from Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. The valley is recognized for its majestic mountains, refreshing waters, award winning wineries, world-class golf, winter skiing and one of the warmest climates in Canada.

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Sparkling Hill Resort Wellness Hotel Identifies a Surge in Wellness Vacations

May 19, 2014

The waterfall in Lembah Kiara Park. March 19, 2014. "I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art anybody could ever want." Andy Warhol.

The costly exposed HDPE pipes have being dug up for disposal on 16 May 2014 by the Landscape department following the article in the Malaysian Insider "Taxpayers' monies down the drain in Kiara Park".

The solid steel railings which had been lying in wait at a stream in the valley in Kiara Park will also be disposed of, after concerns were raised by park-users that the new steely bridge may not be able to withstand its heavy weight. They will be replaced by nylon nets according to the chief contractor, Haji Yuril, who was overseeing the removal of the HDPE pipes.

How will the public, in the face of rising costs of living, perceived these afterthoughts on the action of the department? Was it a sheer waste of taxpayers' monies washed down the drain? Granted of course that the rectification is necessary to prevent erosion on the slopes and possible collapse of the steely bridge.

Or will they perceive positively that such remedial actions of the Landscape Department signal a step towards consultative management of the people's park?

Park-users had in fact celebrated with jubilation the removal of barbed wire that had suddenly sprouted out along fencing in Bukit Kiara in April 2014 after FoBK ( Friends of Bukit Kiara) highlighted that "barbed-wire has no place at all in a forest". They had mistakenly thought that the " Great Wall of Bukit Kiara " had been dismantled!

The question raised is why does the Landscape department have to wait only after the damage has been done and for park-users, FoBK and TRAKS (Trails Association of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor) to cry and scream before any action is taken, if at all?

The disastrous slope rectification in Bukit Kiara since January 2014 which exposed the hill and park-users to the elements and caused collateral damage to a new Angel Trail on the opposite slope where earth removed had been dumped callously is a classic case in point.

The HDPE pipes removed at the Lembah Kiara Park. March 19, 2014.Will the landscape department and the relevant authorities henceforth move towards a consultative management of Bukit Kiara with stakeholders to ensure its sustainability ? And that hard-earned money of taxpayers are spent wisely and accounted for by the relevant authorities for the benefit of the people?

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The_waterfall_in_Lembah_Kiara_Park.jpg

Some 250 families in Kampong Speu provinces Phnom Sruoch district have sought intervention from rights group Adhoc to help resolve a land dispute involving a business they allege is headed by the son of former provincial governor Kang Heang.

Families from three villages say Heang, who left his position last year, offered a 910-hectare land concession to Master International Perison Group in 1997.

We have filed to every government institution our last choice is to depend on NGOs for help, community representative Sao Pom said.

In 2011, the company began clearing fields, which prompted violent clashes.

Villager Sao Yuy, 64, said Prime Minister Hun Sens student land measurers had promised to demarcate the families land if they voted for the ruling party at last years election.

We have already fulfilled our jobs, so this time well act through our own means, she said. The authorities have given economic land concessions to the company blindly without knowing the land belongs to families farming yearly, so the authorities stoke disputes.

A document signed by former Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun says the concession was Heangs idea. However, he denied wrongdoing yesterday.

We never seized peoples land. It is state land. We do not know where these stupid people and idiots come from, he said, adding his son was not involved in the company.

Link:
Land fight in Kampong Speu

Swati Singh Interior Designer Portfolio

By: Md. Riaz

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Swati Singh Interior Designer Portfolio - Video