What in the world?

1. Man Acquitted of Feeding Homeless People
Orlando: 22-year-old Eric Montanez was acquitted of charges brought against him for feeding the homeless through the volunteer organization Food Not Bombs (FNB). The city said he violated a city ordinance that bans feeding a large group of people.

The law, passed in 2006, requires a permit for feeding 25 or more people in downtown parks. Police sent in undercover officers to count the number of times he gave someone stew, and even took some of it in a vial as evidence after moving in on him.

Other cities have or are trying to pass similar laws as a way to drive out the homeless, but many are blasting the move, calling it inhumane. Taking soup lines to parks gives it more exposure to a thoughtless city, said FNB co-founder Keith McHenry.

2. The Tata Group, a Mumbai, India, company that handles customer-service calls for several U.S. firms, has outsourced some of its work to a firm in Ohio (according to an August Fortune magazine report), on behalf of a client that insists on operators knowledgeable about American geography. [CNN, 8-3-07]


3. A charity foundation's former accountant accused of embezzling heart disease research funds to pay a dominatrix to beat him pleaded guilty Tuesday to grand larceny and admitted he stole more than $US237,000 ($A336,576).

Abraham Alexander, 45, a native of India, admitted taking the money from the Cardiovascular Research Foundation by using company credit cards and writing cheques to himself.

At least $US11,000 went to pay Through the Looking Glass, an online company run by a Columbus, Ohio-based dominatrix, and other charges included flights between New York and Ohio and car rentals, according to District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's office.




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