Mercyvill

If you are one of the rising number of people working part-time, earn some extra cash in dog walking or rampant veg growing Putting your skills or knowledge to practical use can earn you some extra pounds. H appy days are here again – or so you might assume from a recent wave of optimistic reports about the economic outlook and rising consumer confidence . But while unemployment is down, the latest labour market figures reveal a surge in part-time jobs as employers remain anxious about long-term recovery prospects, suggesting it may not be time to hang out the bunting just yet. With more of us working fewer hours and with a resulting earnings gap to close, there's arguably never been a better time to set up a business you can run in your spare time from home. Whether it's to help make ends meet, or to follow your passion, or maybe even both, we've asked the experts to come up with 50 practical and cheap ways to make some extra cash.

Station commander Barry Wilmore and flight engineer Terry Virts set out on six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk, the first of three outings over the next eight days In this TV image, astronaut Barry ‘Butch’Wilmore begins the spacewalk Saturday morning to wire the International Space Station. Photograph: Nasa-TV/AP A pair of US astronauts floated outside the International Space Station on Saturday to begin rigging parking spots for two commercial space taxis. Station commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 52, and flight engineer Terry Virts, 47, left the station’s Quest airlock shortly before 8am ET to begin a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk, the first of three outings over the next eight days. The work will prepare docking ports for upcoming flights by Boeing and privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, which are developing capsules to ferry crew to and from the station, which flies about 260 miles above the Earth.

A damaged building in Aleppo City, Syria. Photo: OCHA/Gemma Connell (file) The United Nations Secretary-General has appealed yesterday to all warring parties in Syria to de-escalate the conflict in order to provide a reprieve for the country’s long-suffering civilians. “An immediate de-escalation is a much needed step towards a political solution to the conflict,” said a statement issued by the Secretary-General’s spokesperson.

A team of technicians getting ready to handle a sample for Ebola testing in Sinje, Grand Cape Mount, Liberia. Photo: UNMEER/Martine Perret The United Nations World Health Organization ( WHO ) yesterday announced that it has approved for use a rapid diagnostic test kit for Ebola that can provide results in 15 minutes and correctly identify 92 percent of patients infected by the disease that has killed more than 9,400 people, mainly in West Africa.

(CNN) The scene of devastation is staggering in Debaltseve, the town at the heart of the battle between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in recent days. Barely a house is unscathed by shelling. Elderly civilians trapped by the fighting still cower in basements. After most Ukrainian forces pulled out Wednesday, the separatists are now in control. It's obvious there's been a seismic shift on the battlefield. But it's not yet clear what the Ukrainian withdrawal means for the shaky peace deal that came into force Sunday. Will the separatists halt their offensive, satisfied with the territory they hold? Or will they be emboldened to push for more? The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany spoke Thursday by phone in an attempt to patch up the deal, rocked by the fierce fighting for control of Debaltseve, a strategic railroad hub. They called for the ceasefire to be respected along the entire front line and for the withdrawal of heavy we...

The US President refuses to describe recent attacks as the work of Islamic radicals, saying people are responsible, not religion. The US is "not at war with Islam - we are at war with people who have perverted Islam", Barack Obama has insisted. Speaking at an international conference on combating violent extremism, the US President said he did not want to give groups like Islamic State religious legitimacy. "Of course the terrorists do not speak for over a billion Muslims who reject their hateful ideology. "They no more represent Islam than any madman who kills innocents in the name of God represents Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism or Hinduism.

(Science Photo Library) Elevators that can whisk people and cargo up from the planet’s surface into space could spell an end to polluting rockets. But making them reality is a challenge. Nic Fleming investigates. Elon Musk is considered by many to be visionary – a pioneer of private exploration, and the man behind the Hyperloop concept to shoot people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a metal tube in only 35 minutes. But there are some ideas that even he believes are too far-fetched. A space elevator is one of them. “This is extremely complicated. I don't think it's really realistic to have a space elevator,” said Musk during a conference at MIT last October, adding that it would be easier to “have a bridge from LA to Tokyo” than an elevator that could take material into space.

Commuters consult their Wi-Fi connected electronic devices inside a train coach in the Moscow Metro on Dec. 1, 2014. (Dmitry Serebryakov/AFP/Getty Images) President Vladimir Putin of Russia may fear that the Internet is a CIA project, but unfortunately he is not alone. According to our recently released study about how the Russian public views the Internet, his views are widely shared by large portions of the Russian public. In fact, our research concludes, the Russian public’s distrust of Western sources and dissident information on the Internet creates a “perceptual filter” that bolsters Putin’s foreign and domestic policies.

Members of the opposition All Progressives Congress in the Senate on Tuesday, raised the alarm of a fresh plot by the Peoples Democratic Party to postpone the forthcoming general elections slated for March 28 and April 11. The senators, who walked out of the plenary to address the National Assembly correspondents in the Senate, alleged that the Presidency, in collaboration with the ruling PDP, were planning to arm-twist the electoral umpire to canvass a shift of using the card reader as an excuse. Their reaction followed the submission of Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, while moving a motion for the summon of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru jega, over the planned use of the card reader for the election.

(Shutterstock*) Many studies have shown that cooking foods increases their caloric value by increasing the absorption of starches and proteins. Now a new study from Harvard shows how cooking also increases the absorption of fat that you eat. In this study, mice fed cooked peanuts absorbed significantly more calories from fat than those eating the same amount of raw peanuts. Fat contains more than twice the calories per gram than carbohydrates or proteins do, yet a recent study suggests that nuts are not fattening, even though more than 80 percent of their calories come from fat. The new study from Harvard, conducted under the direction of anthropologist Dr. Richard Wrangham, shows that raw nuts are even less fattening than cooked nuts.

All political careers end in tears, said conservative British MP, Enoch Powell, in reference to the departure of former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, from Downing Street. He could have been referring to President Goodluck Jonathan, who has poured a lot of state resources into his election war chest and is still facing humiliating defeat. Is money everything? No! Nigerians are fed up and are determined to end Jonathan’s political career by sending him into the political wilderness at the polls. Did he get the memo? I doubt it. The awful thing about Nigerian politics is that the political leaders never learn from history. Where is Abacha today?

Rolf Harris is earning up to £1,300 every day from his cell at Stafford Prison, it has been claimed. Rolf Harris The convicted paedophile is said to be making the money from a host of investments. His earnings have reportedly shot up by £290,000, it has been suggested, with his companies earning £8.5 million. It comes after he was sentenced for five years and nine months for sex attacks on children. His fellow inmates at the Category C Stafford Prison make around £7 a day performing chores, but 84-year-old Harris is said to be earning up to £1,300.

Stop shooting, EU pleads as fresh Ukraine ceasefire teeters Last Updated: Monday, February 16, 2015 - 23:22 A two-day-old truce in Ukraine was under threat Monday with fighting unabated around a strategic railway hub and other violations reported, putting in peril an agreement to start withdrawing heavy weapons from the frontline. The European Union, which backed the fresh peace effort brought about last week through hard-won mediation by France and Germany, pleaded that "the shooting needs to stop". The bloc also imposed fresh sanctions on Russia, which it accuses of militarily backing the pro-Russian rebels fighting Ukraine`s government troops in a bid to carve out separate republics in the east. Russia, which denies involvement, vowed an "appropriate response" to the EU move. Kiev officials and rebels accused ea...

1 The robber who tried to break into a house and ended up as a sexual slave for 3 days A Russian robber broke into the salon of 28-year-old hairdresser who was armed with significant martial arts training. The woman held the 32-year-old armed robber captive for two days as her personal sex slave. He was gagged, kept handcuffed to a radiator with pink furry handcuffs , and allegedly fed Viagra before being forced into intercourse with the woman on multiple occasions. After approximately 48 hours of punishment, the man was released from his prison, heading straight to the hospital for treatment for a torn frenulum. He then went to the police to report Olga for "actions of a sexual nature". Shocked police then arrested Olga, who promptly reported Viktor for robbery. “What a bastard,” Olga complained. “Yes, we had sex a couple of times. But I've bought him new jeans, gave him food and even gave him 1,000 roubles when he...

        This is Russia's Evgeni Plushenko practicing for the men's figure skating competition at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics . ( Source ) Note: A reader told us that this photo belongs to Albin Vidović, from Bjelovar, Croatia. He is a Paralympics contester. He suffered a cerebral paralisis as a child. ( Source ) Here's Kurt Roberts throwing during the men's shot put competition in 2012 to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team. ( Source ) ( Source ) ( Source ) Check out USA Olympic diver Nicholas McCrory. ( Source ) This is Manchester United's Phil Jones. ( Source ) ( Source ) Here's tennis player Andy Roddick during the semifinal match against Roger Federer at the 2009 Australian Open . ( Source ) Check out UK Olympic diver Peter Waterfield. ( Source ) Observe Australia's Matthew Mitcham diving during a practice session before the ...

      Detransitioning, or retransitioning , is the process of reverting back to the gender assigned at birth after transition has taken place. Take a look at 8 stories of people who went through this journey twice. 1 The man who underwent sex change then went back to being a man for his dying dad “The only thing that is constant is change.” The famous verse by Heraclitus is likely the mantra of Mark Marzo, a man who underwent many big changes in his life. A self-proclaimed gay man since birth, Mark had a sex change operation to become a female. However, because of his dying father's wish to have a grandson, Mark needed to give up the "big change" and return to being male. Despite his sexual preference, Mark, the youngest of 13 kids, was his father's favorite. Growing up, Marzo was fortunate to have the acceptance of his family. After his sex change, he changed his name to Maria Corazon Marzo and...

1 The man who makes money by eating just about anything in front of the camera Moms are always complaining about how their kids won't swallow food. But here's one person whose mother probably had no such problem. In fact, her struggles were probably the opposite – trying to make him stop! Today, Shoenice22 is making use of his unique talent of being able to eat anything (literally) and in the process entertain people and become a YouTube celebrity. Oh, and he also wants to stop world hunger. In the real world, "Shoenice22" is known as Chris Schewe. Schewe is aware that a lot of people think he's a complete idiot, but he isn't bothered by that. He's living in a time when he can really do whatever he wants, even stupid things, and become famous for them.

(Getty Images) Good looks can get you far in life, but psychologists say there are unrecognised pitfalls for the beautiful. David Robson reports. Scientists are hopeful that 'smart' insulins which are undergoing trials could revolutionise the way diabetes is managed Can you be too beautiful ? It is hardly a problem that most of us have to contemplate – as much as we might like to dream that it were the case. When treating people for pain, doctors tend to take less care over the more attractive people — One prejudice faced by the beautiful Yet the blessings and curses of beauty have been a long-standing interest in psychology. Do those blessed with symmetrical features and a striking figure live in a cloud of appreciation – or does it sometimes pay to be plain?

(Getty Images) To die, sometimes you need only believe you are ill, and as David Robson discovers, we can unwittingly ‘catch’ such fears, often with terrifying consequences. Scientists are hopeful that 'smart' insulins which are undergoing trials could revolutionise the way diabetes is managed Beware the scaremongers. Like a witch doctor’s spell, their words might be spreading modern plagues. It’s a consistent phenomenon, but medicine has never really dealt with it — Ted Kaptchuk, Harvard Medical School We have long known that expectations of a malady can be as dangerous as a virus. In the same way that voodoo shamans could harm their victims through the power of suggestion, priming someone to think they are ill can often produce the actual symptoms of a disease. Vomiting, dizziness, headaches, and even death, could be triggered through belief alone. It...