Word: germane
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...vampire-as-vermin gets another workout in this weekend's Daybreakers, an imaginative but wanly executed effort from the German-born twins, Michael and Peter Spierig. They picture a near future in which a plague has turned 90% of the world into vampires. The upside: immortality. Then again, with the vast majority of the population now bloodsuckers, there's a significant shortage of bloodsuckees: the few remaining humans, most of whom are imprisoned and "farmed" in a vast, multi-tiered, Matrix-like abattoir where their blood is systematically drained. Still, it's not enough. As I learn from a fellow...
...glitch comes as a heavy blow to retailers feeling the pinch after last year's recession - and the gloomy holiday shopping period when sales were largely stagnant. According to HDE, the German retailers' association, at least a fifth of all payment terminals in German stores could not read the faulty cards after Jan. 1. Furious over the loss of sales that resulted, retailers have lashed out at the banks for failing to spot the problem earlier. "We have angry customers and lost revenues and it's simply not our fault," Stefan Genth, the head of HDE, told the German daily...
...Germany is a high-tech country and it's incredible this software bug could have happened here," Manfred Westphal, head of the financial-services department of the German Consumers' Association, tells TIME. "It's a lousy mistake - obviously the banks didn't test the software properly beforehand." Consumer groups say the banks have only given out piecemeal information to customers who are confused about which cards they can use in cash machines. German Consumer Minister Ilse Aigner has also criticized the banks' handling of the situation and said that consumers shouldn't be held liable for any bank charges they...
...Bank officials, however, are deflecting the blame, saying that the chipmaker Gemalto is the one responsible for the glitch. The company, which is a major supplier to German banks, said in a statement on its website that it is working with the banks to find a solution that would avoid replacing all the cards, which could cost up to $430 million. "We are fully focused on minimizing the inconvenience for the cardholders," said Olivier Piou, the head of Gemalto. "We will of course meet our contractual obligations, and continue to support our clients...
Born in Poland to Ukranian parents, Ševčenko began translating texts when he was a teenager and eventually mastered French, English, Czech, German, and the Classical languages—in addition to Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian, his native languages. He later published the Ukrainian translation of "Animal Farm...