Man Cuts Off Foot to Avoid Work

How far would you go to avoid work? For a man in Austria, the answer was cutting off his foot.

Hans Url used an electric saw to detach his left foot hours before unemployment officials were to determine whether he was physically fit for work, Austrian broadcaster ORF reported.

He had just learned that his benefits could be taken away if he did not accept the job that was found for him, according to the Daily Mail.

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After sawing off his foot above the ankle, he reportedly put it in a wood stove so doctors could not reattach it to his leg. With the risk of death from bleeding, he called an ambulance and was airlifted to the hospital.

Url may still qualify for work despite the loss of his foot, the Daily Mail reported.

Morningstar Launches Indexes Based on Picker Research

Morningstar Inc. launched three Morningstar Ultimate Stock-Pickers Indexes.

 

These indexes include the Ultimate Stock-Pickers, Ultimate Stock-Pickers Target Volatility 7 and Ultimate Stock-Pickers Target Volatility 10. BNP Paribas licensed these indexes to serve as benchmarks for three new structured bank notes expected to launch April 2.

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In April 2009, Morningstar equity analysts began to research the quarterly holdings, purchases and sales of 26 top investment managers, or what Morningstar calls the “Ultimate Stock-Pickers.” The Morningstar Ultimate Stock-Pickers Index combines the picks of these top managers with Morningstar’s independent equity research.

The Morningstar Index team first compiles a list of fund holdings from the managers selected by Morningstar’s research team and then pares the list down by excluding securities that Morningstar equity analysts believe are overvalued or inherently difficult to predict. Next, the index team examines how many of the well-regarded managers hold the security, how much of it they hold, and whether managers have been adding to the position to determine a fund manager conviction score. Securities with the highest manager conviction scores comprise the Morningstar Ultimate Stock-Pickers Index.

The Morningstar Ultimate Stock-Pickers Target Volatility 7 and 10 Indexes are similar in construction to the Ultimate Stock-Pickers Index, but seek to control volatility by moving assets in and out of cash positions to maintain standard deviations of seven and 10, respectively. Morningstar reconstitutes the indexes monthly.

For more information on Morningstar’s indexes, visit http://indexes.morningstar.com.

 

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