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Dubai World to receive $9.5 billion in government aid

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Dubai World to receive $9.5 billion in government aid

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The government of Dubai announced that it intends to provide $9.5 billion to Dubai World to allow the government-owned investment company to restructure its debt.

The announcement comes as part of Dubai World’s plan to restructure more than $23 billion of debt, including converting nearly $9 billion of debt into equity, after its collapse last fall. The package includes $8 billion of funding to Nakheel, Dubai World’s real estate subsidiary, as well as $1.5 billion to Dubai World as a whole. The restructuring plan also seeks to, within eight years, repay all of Dubai World’s creditors.

According to the government of Dubai, $5.7 billion of the aid was from a former $10 billion loan to Dubai World, with the remainder being internally funded. The plan would transfer ownership of Nakheel, formerly a subsidiary of Dubai World, to the direct control of the Dubai government.

Response to the deal was largely positive, with one analyst saying the move “boosts sentiment because this is a strong commitment.” Christopher Davidson, author of books on Dubai and Abu Dhabi, said that while the new funding would “keep the wolves outside the gates a little longer,” the government could not be the sole funder of Dubai World and Nakheel.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Dubai_World_to_receive_$9.5_billion_in_government_aid&oldid=2715075”

Truthful Answers About Foreign Exchange

One of the largest money markets in the world today is the Forex market. Business people from around the globe meet both in person and online to negotiate different currencies for other currencies in the aim of making big money. But what is Foreign Exchange? How does it work? Whats involved with it? These and many more questions tend to come up when people look into the Forex market. The following is designed to help you discern what this new investment option is, how it works, and how you just might be able to make big bucks by working the system in your favor.

Here are some common questions relating to Forex Trading:

Who can share in the Forex Market?

Basically, only large financial organizations can. This boils down to multi-national banks and companies. There are some allowances for individuals to trade, but this must be done through a broker (and often leaves people open to fraud). There are a few arguements for this. First, the amount of money that is needed to make a decent make money in is usually more than a single individual can invest. Secondly, the way most trades are set up tend to make most of the money “on paper”, which means that while there is profit, it’s not usually profit you can take and directly put into your pocket. These two things alone make the Foreign Exchange fairly unappealing to individuals.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA-HTvQHy4A[/youtube]

How can you make money in the Forex Market?

It does seem toilsome when you consider that most currency exchanges at only a couple of cents more or less. For a moment consider this, the Euro recently traded at 1.29524 United States dollars. A twenty-nine penny divergence doesn’t look like like that much money, particularly when you look at the fact it’s rare for the value of a currency to shift much more than a couple of cents either way unless some major economic change occurs in one of the countries. That said, the organizations that do these trades tend to interchange money in very voluminous sums. At that size of money, even two or three cent differences can end up being a lot of money. In this way, organizations can make a lot of money by taking part of Foreign Exchange.

Are there any other factors that keep individuals from becoming a trader in the Forex Market?

There are a few factors, yes. The primary reason is in the way currencies are purchased. In order to make their own profit, the people who perform the actual trades charge a certain amount extra beyond just the exchange rate. The more money you can trade at once, the smaller that difference is, until you get to the top tier of trading where the difference is literally thousandths and hundred thousandths of pennies. Most organizations and most individuals can’t trade that much money at once, so the differences that they are charged are much more, which in turn makes the draw of Forex trading less attractive.

What are the most common organizations to take part in Forex trading?

The largest organizations to take part in Forex trading are large banks. Given that they tend to have billions of dollars, they can often access the top tier of Forex trading. After that, it would be Commercial companies and Central banks. These two organizations tend to do the most “on paper” trading, trading over longer periods. After that, it would be investment management firms. These companies tend to exchange currencies more to secure foreign assets for their customers than to make a profit. Lastly, retail brokers who take part in the market on behalf of individuals make up about two per cent of the whole market.

What is the Forex Market?

The Foreign Exchange or Forex market is, at its most basic level, any place where one currency is exchanged for another currency. More specifically, it’s where one country’s currency is exchanged for another country’s currency. An organization, such as a bank or a company, in one country will exchange voluminous amounts of their own country’s currency for another country’s currency in the hopes that the exchange rate for the currencies will change in their favor. When and if they do, the organization will then exchange the foreign currency they have for their own country’s currency and will have made a profit.

Will Forex trading continue into the future?

For the near future, most certainly. One cannot, of course, foretell the future, but with as much money as is being made daily in Forex trading, it is doubtful that most people who are taking part would want to quit. When you add in the fact that many organizations simply cannot drop out of the market since they have so many assets tied up in it, you have a market that doesn’t show any sign of weakening. The only way the Forex market will die any time soon is if one or more of the current major trading countries has a huge economic downfall.

Photo source for Barack Obama presidential campaign “HOPE” poster discovered

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Photo source for Barack Obama presidential campaign “HOPE” poster discovered

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Netizens have discovered the photograph that was used to create the iconic Barack Obama “HOPE” poster, which became a national symbol during his 2008 presidential campaign in the United States.

Los Angeles, California street artist Shepard Fairey’s poster design is an almost exact match to an Associated Press photo from October 2006 or earlier. Prior reports beginning on January 14, 2009 claimed that the poster was based on a different photo, a shot by Reuters photographer Jim Young from January 2007. However, on January 20, 2009 Flickr user stevesimula and blog commenters identified the Associated Press photo that appears to be a much closer match.

Fairey had revealed that he found the photographic basis for his four-color screen-printed design using Google Image Search, but could not or would not identify which photo he used. News broke of a supposed source only days ago. According to an earlier attempted analysis by Michael Cramer, it was a photo from TIME magazine which was reversed and stretched slightly. That photo was credited to “Jonathan Daniel” of Getty Images, but this turned out to be a misattribution. Reporter James Danziger of The Daily Beast tracked down the actual photographer for the TIME shot, Jim Young, and in his words “solved the biggest photographic mystery of the 2008 election”. Reuters also celebrated their photo as the basis for such a phenomenon as Fairey’s poster, and a print of the photo was sold to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. But it took only a few days for internet sleuths to show that, while similar, the Jim Young photo was not the one Fairey used.

The most convincing evidence that a different photo is indeed the one comes from Flickr: stevesimula produced a graphic comparing the two purported sources. The side lighting in the alternative photo creates highlight and shadow areas closely matching those Fairey used in his high-contrast stencil-like image, and the overlaid images line up precisely from Obama’s eyes to the shadow on his collar to his tie. Jim Young’s photo would have required manipulation to simply match the profile of Fairey’s design, even without considering details like the highlights and shadows.

The actual photo came from the Associated Press, as Wikimedians discovered using the “reverse image search engine” TinEye.com. That tip led photographer Tom Gralish of The Philadelphia Inquirer to the original photo through a Google image search for both “Obama” and “associated press”. The original contained IPTC metadata identifying the creator as Mannie Garcia, which Gralish quickly confirmed. The shot came from an April 2006 event where George Clooney, not then-Senator Obama, was the main attraction: Clooney was addressing the National Press Club about his trip to Darfur.

Fairey’s appropriation raises questions of intellectual property, as apparently no attempt was made to secure reproduction rights from the Associated Press. Sales of the image (on posters, clothing, and other paraphernalia) were used to fund the production of more posters in support of the Obama campaign, and raised Fairey’s public image considerably. A large hand-finished collage version was recently acquired by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. The purchase price is not known.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Photo_source_for_Barack_Obama_presidential_campaign_%22HOPE%22_poster_discovered&oldid=3877820”

David S. Touretzky discusses Scientology, Anonymous and Tom Cruise

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David S. Touretzky discusses Scientology, Anonymous and Tom Cruise

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

David S. Touretzky, prominent free speech activist and critic of Scientology, discussed his opinions on the recent Internet backlash against the Church of Scientology in an interview with former Scientologist and Wikinews reporter Nicholas Turnbull. The recent conflict on the Internet between critics of Scientology and the Church has been spurred on in declarations by a nebulous Internet entity using the name Anonymous that the Church of Scientology “will be destroyed”. Anonymous has directed recent protests at Scientology centres across the world, which have attracted significant numbers of individuals supporting the cause. In recent e-mail correspondence with Wikinews, a representative of the Church of Scientology declared that the Church considers the activities of Anonymous to be illegal, and that Anonymous “will be handled and stopped”.

Touretzky, a research professor in artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience at Carnegie Mellon University, has been a prominent critic of the Church of Scientology since mid-1995, and has been protesting against Scientology vociferously since then; he has also run websites that publish material that Scientology wishes to keep suppressed from the public eye, such as extracts from Scientology’s formerly-confidential Operating Thetan (OT) materials. Touretzky views the actions of the Church of Scientology as being “a threat to free speech”, and has endured harassment by the Church of Scientology for his activities.

The Church of Scientology continues to suffer damage to its public reputation through increased exposure on the Internet and vocal protests by Scientology critics such as Prof. Touretzky. A recent event that focused intense attention on Scientology’s totalitarian attitude was the leak of an internal Church of Scientology propaganda video to the Internet video sharing site YouTube, in which celebrity Scientologist Tom Cruise spoke heavily in Scientology’s jargon and stated that that “we [Scientology] are the authorities” on resolving the difficulties of humanity. The declaration of war by Anonymous followed shortly after this leak, in the form of a video posted to the Internet.

The ongoing dispute, cast by some as Scientology versus the Internet, brought Scientology terms such as “SP” (Suppressive Person, an enemy of Scientology) and “KSW” (Keeping Scientology Working) into general usage by non-Scientologists from the late 1990s onwards; increased attention has been drawn to Scientology by the release of the Cruise video in addition to media coverage. This focus has caused an even greater propagation of these terms across the outside world, as Touretzky comments in the interview.

Wikinews asked Prof. Touretzky about the impact that the activities of Anonymous will have on Scientology, the public relations effect of the Tom Cruise video, the recent departure of individuals from the Church of Scientology’s executive management, the strategies that Anonymous will employ and Touretzky’s experiences of picketing the Church.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=David_S._Touretzky_discusses_Scientology,_Anonymous_and_Tom_Cruise&oldid=4608356”

Teen broadcasts suicide online

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Teen broadcasts suicide online

Sunday, November 23, 2008

A Pembroke Pines, Florida teenager killed himself Wednesday, November 19, while broadcasting on the live video site Justin.tv. After making suicide threats and being encouraged by Justin.tv viewers and Bodybuilding.com forum members, Abraham K. Biggs, 19, committed suicide by taking an overdose of opiates and benzodiazepine, which had been prescribed for his bipolar disorder.

Biggs first began blogging about his planned suicide 12 hours before the actual event. He died after taking pills and lying on the bed in front of the webcam. After the broadcast, viewers who apparently thought it was a hoax posted messages such as “OMG”, “LOL”, and “hahahah”.

Hours later, after being alerted by viewers who had noticed that Biggs had stopped breathing, law enforcement and paramedics arrived, discovered his body, and covered the camera. The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office has reportedly confirmed Biggs’ death.

According to Montana Miller of the Bowling Green State University, the circumstances of this case were not shocking: “If it’s not recorded or documented, then it doesn’t even seem worthwhile. For today’s generation it might seem, ‘What’s the point of doing it if everyone isn’t going to see it?'”

Biggs’ sister Rosalind was angry that neither the website nor its viewers reacted soon enough to save him. “They got hits, they got viewers, nothing happened for hours,” she said. She described him as “very happy” and “friendly and outgoing.” “On a normal day, you couldn’t really tell that he got as low as he did.” However, he did have relationship problems with his girlfriend, according to a friend.

Mental health professionals have warned about the possibility that other mentally troubled people would copy his actions. According to Dr. David Shaffer of Columbia University, “Any video showing it as heroic or romantic or glamorous could reduce the anxiety people might feel about suicide. It becomes a respectable behavior and lowers the threshold of suicide.” He and other psychiatrists recommend that potentially suicidal teens talk to others and “tell what’s going on.”

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Teen_broadcasts_suicide_online&oldid=4579216”

Hockey Betting Tips For Starters

It is common that a lot of people think that hockey is not a very popular betting sports but what they dont know is that there are lots of followers for this sports. Aside from people taking interests, sports betting experts bet on this sport aside from the four major sports games available.

If you really want to start earning some cash and enjoy a good game then you better starthockey bettingtoday.

Since Hockey doesnt get all the attention the lines arent always as sharp as in other sports. A smart bettor can definitely take advantage and win more than enough bets to show a profit on hockey betting.

In the National Hockey League, there are three main kinds of bets where you can wager. First of all theres the moneyline which is of course the same as in other sports, so knowing this is necessary on your sports betting career.

The low down on the moneyline is that when you see a team that has a sign next to it like San Jose +150 then it simply means that you must bet $100 in order to win $150 or the amount listed. However, if you see a line such as -150 then you have to bet $150 in order to $100. Favorites will always have a (-) sign and underdogs will always have a (+) sign.

A little bit more complex is the puck line bet where it combines the aspects of the spread line and money line bets popular in other sports. The puck line does use a spread but its always the same one team is favored by exactly 1.5 goals over the other. The odds on both teams are seldom the same unlike in football where both sides on a spread line bet will usually pay -110, the payouts on puck line bets often look like this: San Jose +1.5 (-200)

In this case, San Jose is getting a 1.5 goal handicap, meaning that even if they lose by a single goal, a bet on them wins. But of course, theres a catch; San Jose as indicated is a heavy favorite to cover that spread.

If you really want to do well onhockey bettingthen you must do research. Hockey betting is a great sport to bet on since bookmakers arent that interested in hockey so they spend little less time when creating their hockey betting line. That means a gambler who does his homework will find sports where the sportsbooks have missed something and one side of a bet has a major edge.

Fire kills eleven at oil worker housing in Alkhobar, Saudi Arabia

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Fire kills eleven at oil worker housing in Alkhobar, Saudi Arabia

Monday, August 31, 2015

A fire in the eastern Saudi city of Alkhobar tore through a housing complex for oil workers yesterday, killing eleven, according to civil officials.

The Radium complex is rented by oil firm Aramco for their employees. According to nearby resident Mohammed Siddique the fire broke out early in the morning. Siddique says the building contains locals, as well as Westerners and Asians. The cause is unclear but the civil defence ministry tweeted “Cars and furniture caught fire in the basement of one of the towers”.

Over 200 people were injured. Firefighters scaled the burning tower on ladders, and helicopters were on-scene. Other towers in the complex were evacuated. Thick smoke from the blaze complicated rescue efforts.

Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser said the firm is “deeply saddened to learn of the fatalities and injuries. We offer heartfelt condolences to the families. Our immediate priority is to provide full support to those affected by this tragic incident.” Aramco, which produces and exports more crude oil than any competitor worldwide, say the fire is under investigation.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Fire_kills_eleven_at_oil_worker_housing_in_Alkhobar,_Saudi_Arabia&oldid=3851298”

Woman finds human finger in bowl of chili at Wendy’s restaurant

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Woman finds human finger in bowl of chili at Wendy’s restaurant
Story sources
  • Maria Alicia Gaura and Dave Murphy. “Wendy’s diner finds human finger in her chili” — San Francisco Chronicle, March 24, 2005
  • Chuck Carroll and Sandra Gonzales. “Exposure to `finger’ in chili would pose little risk, official says” — San Jose Mercury News, March 23, 2005
  • Dan Reed, Knight Ridder Newspapers. “Woman finds human finger in Wendy’s chili” — Kansas City Star, March 23, 2005
  • “Woman Eating Chili Bites Into Human Finger” — Associated Press, March 23, 2005
  • “Diner finds human finger in bowl of chili” — MSNBC, March 24, 2005

Thursday, March 24, 2005

San Jose, California — A woman eating a bowl of chili at a Wendy’s restaurant bit into a chewy bit that turned out to be a human finger. She immediately spat it out, warned other patrons to stop eating, and upon recognizing the object as a finger, vomited.

“I’m more of a Carl’s Jr. person,” the 39-year-old Las Vegas woman, Anna Ayala, told Knight Ridder. She said this incident was her first visit to a Wendy’s restaurant. Ayala described how she found the finger, “Suddenly something crunchy was in my mouth,” she continued, “and I spit it out.”

According to Devina Cordero, 20, after Ayala found the finger, she ran up to her and Cordero’s boyfriend and said, “Don’t eat it! Look, there’s a human finger in our chili.”

“We went up to the counter and they told us it was a vegetable,” Cordero continued. “The people from Wendy’s were poking it with a spoon.”

The restaurant is located at 1405 Monterey Highway, just south of downtown San Jose.

Wikinews reporter David Vasquez drove his car up to the drive-thru menu and found that chili was still on the menu, at a price of US$1.19 for a small serving. He also witnessed workers unloading supplies from a semi-trailer truck in the restaurant’s parking lot, and carting them into the back door of the establishment.

According to Ben Gale, director of environmental health for Santa Clara County, the finger did not come from any of the employees at the restaurant. “We asked everybody to show us they have 10 fingers and everything is OK there,” he said. The found portion of the finger likely belonged to a woman because of its long and manicured fingernail, also found in the food.

Officials seized the food supply at the restaurant and are tracing it back to the manufacturer, where they believe the finger may have gotten mixed in with the raw ingredients used to prepare the chili. The restaurant’s operators were later permitted to re-open after preparing new chili prepared from fresh ingredients.

As this story was filed, there was no mention of the incident on the Wendy’s corporate web site. Wendy’s issued a statement through a spokesman.

“Food safety is of utmost importance to us,” said Wendy’s spokesman Joe Desmond. He referred to the incident as an “unsubstantiated claim.”

“We are cooperating fully with the local police and health departments with their investigation. It’s important not to jump to conclusions. Here at Wendy’s we plan to do right by our customers,” Desmond said.

According to county health officials, the unfortunate woman who bit into the finger is doing fine, despite her initial reaction. Officials also noted that the finger would have been cooked at a high enough temperature to destroy any viruses.

The Santa Clara county medical examiner reported that the finger had a solid fingerprint, although investigators did not say if a search of fingerprint databases would be performed to find the owner of the finger.

This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.
This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.
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Fall ’08 styles at New York Fashion Week: the ’70s are back

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Fall ’08 styles at New York Fashion Week: the ’70s are back
By Admin | Posted in Uncategorized

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

The fourth day of New York Fashion Week debuted few daring designs even from designers known for such work. With few exceptions, the overwhelming theme was “old is new” and that the ’70s were even more in fashion than the shows on Sunday suggested. Among the designers to unveil their Fall 2008 lines on Monday were Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Betsey Johnson, Proenza Schouler and a rejuvenated Halston line, under the direction of designer Marco Zanini.

Both global warming and the slowing economy have been cited as reasons for the overwhelming use of lighter fabrics over heavier attire. Also, retro designs and continuing trends have been used in effort to save money, like the tights that were expected to go out of fashion this year. Even in the glamorous world of high-end fashion, money has been tight, and with the world economies in a collective downturn, major designers have been more wary of continuing to churn out the stream of couture designs that past Fashion Weeks have seen.

Proenza Schouler’s show took the ’70s retro theme to a fever pitch, liberally using bows on designs and debuting more retro-era wide-legged pants that were first seen in Sunday’s shows. Zanini’s Halston label also brought back the ’70s, resurrecting old designs that the founder of the line made famous. Since the designer Halston’s death in 1990, many designers have tried to take the label in different directions. Zanini’s unveiling on Monday brought the line back to its Studio 54 roots, while using trenchcoats, sheer fabrics, and cardigans to finish the ensembles with a modern twist.

Betsey Johnson also debuted old and new styles on Monday, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her fashion label. Copies of her original 1978 one-piece bathing suit as well as some early 1980s fashions started off the show. Her new pieces, such as animal print leggings coupled with a short twill jacket, were perceived as very skintight and criticized for not representing more fuller figures. Johnson brushed off the criticism, noting, “It’s tighter and sexier, but I still believe the girl brings the sex to the clothes…You won’t look sexy in a tight, below-the-knee skirt if you don’t feel good in it.”

The lone daring designer for the day was Carolina Herrera, who discarded the furs she promoted in the Fall 2007 show to focus on a Peter Pan theme, with earth tones and bird feathers. To further the “flying Peter Pan” motif, models donned such designs as a chiffon dress with ostrich feathers and a taffeta gown with a feather waistband.

Oscar de la Renta opted for more traditional blacks, golds and grays, debuting lines for men and women in fabrics he is familiar with. Men were outfitted in tweed while women were fitted in dresses that experimented with embroidery and tulle, both shades of past collections.

New York Fashion Week runs until Friday. Among others, labels Badgley Mischka, Diesel, and Vivienne Tam unveil their newest collections on Tuesday.

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Baking Potatoes Using A Convection Oven

By Roger Mitch

It is always best to have quality kitchen equipment. It is important, for example, to have the best convection toaster ovens in your kitchen to have the best cooking experience. Among the convection toaster ovens in the market only a small number products belong to the high quality ones. Get these if you are serious in your cooking.

Convection ovens are kitchen cooking appliances that are famous for facilitating the even-heating and cooking of different types of food. Whether your roasting, beef, pork, veal or chicken, or baking cookies, pies, pizzas and more, this type of oven can outwit and outpace your conventional oven. Here’s how to cook mashed potatoes with broth using the reliable convection oven.

The Convection Current – Moving Heat Into Food Faster

A convection oven’s secret to evenly-cooking food may be due to its unique convection current. While it uses heat in the same way as a regular oven, its convection current transfers heat much faster to food. Te machine actually uses microwave radiation that moves the food’s polar molecules, which essentially steams the food from the inside out.

Baked Potato Recipe: How To Bake Potatoes in A Convection Oven

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at3lDNBGJlA[/youtube]

In creating crisp, melt-in-your mouth baked potatoes, a convection oven can actually deliver a more mouth-watering baked potato variant as compared to conventional ovens or burners. So get your butter, and other condiments ready, because we’re now ready to whip up freshly-baked potatoes using the convection roasting machine.

– Select your potatoes for baking, although any potato variant will do. The potatoes should be blemish-free, and of the same size.

– Wash the potatoes under cool, running water, and use a vegetable scrubber brush. Pat or shake the potatoes dry before baking..

– Perform a number of incisions on the potatoes, using a sharp knife. If you fail to create incisions, the potatoes may build up steam inside, which will cause them to explode.

– Lightly rub or dab butter or oil over the surface of each potato. Roll the potatoes over a little salt, to add extra flavor.

– Place the potatoes directly on the rack of the convection oven, and bake at 375F for 45 minutes until the potatoes turn golden brown. Also turn the potatoes halfway over during the baking period, to ensure balanced crispiness and avoid uneven darkening of the sides.

– Remove the potatoes from the oven once the baking time ends, and cut the top of the potatoes. Sprinkle or garnish the potatoes with your favorite condiments, sauces, butter or cream.

In baking or cooking potatoes and other vegetables, regardless of where you place the items to be baked, these food items will surely baked evenly and uniformly in a convection oven.

The best thing is that you can actually bake or roast two or three items in the fan oven at the same time, and you can cook both vegetable and meat dishes, without mixing the flavors, or dampening the visual appearance of each food type. With using this type oven, you’ll be able to handle cooking multiple party dishes in one easy, hassle-free manner.

About the Author: Want to make your cooking easier? Why not take a look at how

convection toaster ovens

and the

delonghi convection oven

can help you cook up different recipes!

Source:

isnare.com

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