Kristin F. Dalton | For the Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. More than 10,000 votes were cast in the "Best Shopping & Services" categories of the 2014 Staten Island Readers' Choice Awards.

Your wedding day is one of the most memorable days of your life and one of the most stressful. Everything has to be perfect.

And for the bride, there's tons of pressure for her to look "perfect," as all eyes will be on her as she walks her last single-girl walk down the aisle.

There are hundreds, rather thousands of choices for wedding dresses - color, off white or pearl; length, style, designer and the options go on-and-on.

And then there's the bridesmaid dresses, oy!

And your "Best Bridal Shop" winner is: Angel's Bridal - 5488 Amboy Rd., Great Kills; 718-356-2150; angelsbridalwedding.com - with 948 votes.

Angel's Bridal Shop carries a large selection of traditional and unique dresses from many different designers and collections.

They also have a large variety of bridesmaid dresses, mothers dresses, as well as sweet 16 and flower girl dresses.

1st runner up: Always a Brides Maid - 7233 Ambody Rd., Tottenville; 718-227-8647; alwaysabridesmaidboutique.com - with 437 votes.

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Staten Island's Best Bridal Shop: Angel's, Always A Brides Maid, Crown Elegance, Jacquie's among 2014 Readers' Choice ...

This September, A Mary, 47, got something she never thought she ever could -not a car or a home but a pension. A house help and a mother of two whose husband is a driver, Delhi-based Mary al ways viewed a pension as something only the affluent could afford -until her employer Kurt Strasser, a senior sector specialist at German development bank KfW, brought it within her reach.

Mary is a beneficiary of the Micro Pension Foundation's Gift-a-Pension initiative. Every month, Strasser gives her Rs.500 extra cash as part of her salary that she deposits in her pension account via one of the 2.5 lakh designated outlets.

The Micro Pension Foundation has tie-ups with companies such as Eko, ItzCash and PayWorld, and when Mary deposits the money at one of these outlets, it gets credited instantly, with an SMS confirmation. "Old-age care is a challenge facing India. Gift-a-Pension is an excellent initiative to make a pension product accessible to low income Indians," says Strasser.

At a time when the government is laying a thrust on financial inclusion, Gift-a-Pension demonstrates an efficient mechanism to deliver a financial product to India's poor. "It is a great initiative. No financial product today in India addresses this segment. High transaction costs for low-value products are a big deterrent. Micro Pension Foundation has done something that was difficult to do," says YSP Thorat, a former chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and a board member of Micro Pension Foundation.

Gift-a-Pension is targeted at over 35 million domestic workers (maids, cooks, cleaners, drivers and the like) who earn enough to make ends meet but not enough to create a financial cushion for the autumns and winters of their lives.Whilst the facilitators of the scheme are employers, they don't need to worry about being weighed down by the scheme's financial and logistical burden.

The key role of the employers is at the beginning -understanding and explaining the product details and enabling online enrollment.Their co-contribution to the pension account is optional. And the product is structured such that illiterate workers can easily manage it even as they change employers and switch cities (see Fast Facts).

Sound Start

Launched in September, the response has been encouraging with over 1,000 employers registering so far. Over 350 have gifted a pension to their domestic help. Most of the enrollments are from Delhi National Capital Region (91%), with Bengaluru (5%) and Mumbai (4%) bringing in the rest, says Parul Khanna, associate director, Micro Pension Foundation. Most of the beneficiaries are maids (45%), followed by drivers (27%) and cooks (13%). So far, almost half of the enrollments have been made using Aadhaar as proof of identity. Over 70% prefer monthly saving and 38% are putting away over `500 monthly into their pension account. About 10% of the employers have also set up a systematic investment on their credit cards for automatic deductions. "I have enrolled my maid of eight years. I helped her enroll and paid the `300 sign-up fee. Now, she takes care of it," says Mumbai-based Sonali MehtaRao, co-founder, MelaArtisans.com.

The Gift-a-Pension scheme has a helpline that is open from 8.30 am to 6.40 pm on all working days, with a staff of 20 in Pune and Bengaluru that can take queries in 14 regional languages.

The man behind Gift-a-Pension is Gautam Bhardwaj, director of Micro Pension Foundation, for whom the scheme has been a gleam in the eye since 1990. The think-tank he founded, Invest India Economic Foundation, was the main architect of the National Pension System (NPS), which was rolled out by the government in 2004 for its workers. For the next five years, he worked with the government to open up NPS for all.

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A Pension Scheme that's Maid in India

CNBC must miss former anchor Maria Bartiromo, who decamped to Fox Business Channel earlier this year.

The Englewood Cliffs, NJ-based CNBC is spending big bucks renting studio space in Midtown in order to set up its Squawk Box studio just two blocks north of the Fox Business headquarters on the Avenue of the Americas.

Squawk is hosted by Joe Kernen, Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Competition is so tough, top business executives tell us, that CNBC is stepping up its haranguing of guests about appearing on any parts of the Fox Business lineup and has threatened these executives with banishment from CNBC if they appear on Fox first.

Booking wars are nothing new, but it seems some of CNBCs hosts lack a team spirit, our sources say. The culture there seems to be kill your colleague, one person quipped over bookings. They [the hosts] seem to think theyre more important than the guests.

When you are first in business worldwide, sometimes confidence is misinterpreted as arrogance, and if that were ever the case, we would certainly be apologetic, said a spokesman for CNBC.

Tinseltown isnt known for its soft side, but when it comes to watching the North Koreans (allegedly) open Sonys kimono, theres a distinct lack of schadenfreude and more of it could have been us.

Hackers breached Sonys internal systems and illegally released a handful of upcoming movies online, then dumped data exposing the most intimate details of Sonys deals, employee contracts and actors salaries, among other things.

Sony just never seems to be able to dig out from unfortunate situations.

In 2012, its factories got swamped in the tsunami. Then in 2013, Sony came under attack by hedge-fund operator Dan Loeb, who shamed the studio, saying its movies sucked and the entertainment unit should be sold.

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CNBCs Squawk Box looks to compete with Fox Business

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In this photo taken Monday Sept. 8, 2014, former Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger stands next to his official portrait, done by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwin, after it was unveiled at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. The portrait of the two-term Republican governor ... more >

By Judy Lin - Associated Press - Friday, December 5, 2014

SACRAMENTO, Calif. The official portrait of former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been hung alongside past governors at the state Capitol after getting a touch-up on the spot where his wifes image was removed.

Capitol curator Koren Benoit said Friday that Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein smoothed out a smudge over the spot that once featured a lapel button showing the face of Maria Shriver.

That part had been noticeably painted over when the portrait was unveiled in September.

The two separated after embarrassing revelations emerged about an affair Schwarzenegger had with his maid that produced a son.

The painting of the two-term Republican governor was hung Friday on the Capitols third floor. The realist-style portrait features a steel frame and captures a youthful Schwarzenegger standing in front of the state seal.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger portrait gets hung in state Capitol

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SINGAPORE: A growing number of households in Singapore have family members who require specialised care at home, and some maid agencies in Singapore are attempting to meet this need by training foreign domestic workers to provide specialised services - such as caring for the elderly or disabled.

Homekeeper maid agency trains its maids to provide customised care for the individual household they have been assigned to. The services provided are tailor-made based on information gathered about the patient and his or her family.

Ms Carene Chin, managing director of Homekeeper, said: "Some families, for example, have a bedridden, elderly parent. The maids may need to know how to shift the person, the patient, or transfer him from a bed to the wheelchair. Sometimes, they need specialised skills.

"A lot of accidents happen and we do know it is because of the lack of proper training for the maid. We can reduce such risks by having a proper custom-made training programme designed for the family."

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Customised training for maids to provide specialised services

Iv-AGA part of the Iv-Groep of companies is expanding. We are seeking to hire a Senior Planner/Scheduler. Candidate will be responsible for handling Establishment of Project execution schedule in cooperation with Project Manager, Engineering Manager, Contracts Manager and relevant lead company personnel. Reporting of progress status to the Project Manager and supporting the Project Manager by monitoring, analyzing and forecasting the ongoing project. This are of the process should last 4 years or more. This position is based on a rotational base to Abuja, Nigeria. Abuja is the capital of Nigeria and is highly commercialized. All travel, driver and living arrangements are handled. Meals and maid services are also provided.

SUMMARY:

Project is a Gas field in Nigeria in water depth of 1500 meters and is to be developed with FLNG & Subsea System. The position would start as a rotation positon consisting 3 months on and 1 month off during the first year. After the first year candidate would take business trips as needed regarding phases of the project needs. Otherwise candidate would be working out of our Houston offices.

Establishment of Project execution schedule in cooperation with Project Manager, Engineering Manager, Contracts Manager and relevant lead company personnel Reporting of progress status to the Project Manager and supporting the Project Manager by monitoring, analyzing and forecasting the ongoing project. Early identification of risks/opportunities and assistance on activity prioritizing. Input to Contractor progress reports. Participate in Risk Assessments as required. Interface with Corporate Teams for pre-FEED and FEED follow-up and reporting. Analyze data and interface with project delivery team in relation to potential over/under-runs, and assist with mitigation measures. Co-ordinate & maintain a robust Change Management process and recommend actions accordingly.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

Bachelor Degree or equivalent in a relevant Engineering, Business or Oil & Gas based discipline. Considerable engineering/tendering experience, proven track record of tendering EPC work in the Oil & Gas Industry. FPSO is a plus. Minimum of 15 years background as a Planner/Scheduler and/or Project Controls experience, with a strong EPC, Oil & Gas background. Must have a high degree of knowledge and experience related to Project Cost Control and planning techniques. Knowledge of engineering, procurement, contracts, construction and startup work processes. Ability to use spreadsheets, databases, word processing and PowerPoint, with experience of specialist Project Controls applications. A strong client facing background with previous experience of dealing and presenting information to major clients on large projects. Ability to interpret contract, manage financial risk, estimating and forecasting.

Local candidates please. Candidates will also work in Houston, Texas.

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Senior Planner/Scheduler

Tami Chappell/REUTERS The home where a 13-year-old boy who reportedly has been missing for four years, was located by police hidden behind a false wall in a closet in the home is pictured in Jonesboro, Georgia.

Police found Gregory Jean Jr hidden behind a false wall, a captive in his fathers house, but for four years he had been in plain sight, an abused child growing up in a Georgia suburb. And still he remained invisible.

Police did not search because they did not know he was missing. Child services reportedly knew but were unsure where to look. His school in Atlanta knew something was not right, but lost track after his father and stepmother withdrew Gregory, supposedly for home schooling.

It was the price of life on the margins. His father, Gregory Jean Sr, and stepmother, Samantha Davis, allegedly kept him to avoid paying child support to his biological mother, Lisa Smith.

Smith, 38, believed to be an immigrant from Haiti, lived some 400 miles south in Florida. She alerted child services but did not notify police, possibly because she was afraid to do so.

Gregory said he was beaten with a stick, humiliated, forced to work as a maid, banned from celebrating Christmas, and isolated from his alleged captor family and the wider world.

A Cinderella, said some. But in a twist that could have been scripted by Mark Zuckerberg, the 13-year-old orchestrated his escape not by shimmying down a drainpipe or appealing to a neighbour, but by sending his mother a Facebook friend request, triggering the police search that eventually found him.

It was not straightforward: Gregory had to connect a cell phone without a service provider to a wifi network, then download an app that enabled calls via wifi. I just went on [Google] Play Store and I downloaded an app called Magic Jack and I called my mom, he later told reporters. He sent the address and picture of the house in Clayton county, near Atlanta.

Police visited last Friday but left after Gregorys father and stepmother said they had not seen him in years and suggested he was in New York.

There was a lot of deception, Clayton county police sergeant Joanne Southerland told a press conference later. They denied, but no physical obstruction.

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Missing Atlanta teen was hidden in plain sight in Georgia suburb for four years

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