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The next time a beggar approaches you in China, you might not be able to fend them off anymore by saying "sorry, no spare change". Chinese beggars have lately been seen keeping up with China's cashless trend of e-payments by accepting donations via mobile phones. A number of them have been seen dangling a card on their neck with a printout of a QR code. One such beggar was spotted in Jinan, Shandong province in April this year. According to China Daily, he is said to be mentally ill and was given a QR code by his family. Photo: China...

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. I walked out of a WalMart in St. Petersburg, Florida, and I was confronted by a pandhandler. An elderly white gentleman in his mid-60's, neatly dressed and clean-shaven. And he had this cute little doggie on a leash. His spiel was that he only got 500 dollars a month in Social Security, and most of it went for the rent of his kitchenette apartment. He could just barely afford to feed himself. He couldn't afford dog food, so he was panhandling just to get some change to feed his dog. And that little doggie...

ABC Los Angeles affiliate KABC reported Fridaythat a panhandler approached the victim walking into a 7-Eleven store and asked him for money. The victim said no. When the victim left the store and got into his SUV, the 37-year-old transient reportedly doused him and the inside of his vehicle with a flammable substance and lit it on fire, engulfing the truck in flames with the man inside

A well-traveled panhandler who made national headlines last summer when he told an Oklahoma City police officer he'd made $60,000 in a year begging for money was arrested this week in Boise. ... Speegle was in Oklahoma City, where he told a police officer he was too lazy to get a job and didn't need to because he'd made $60,000 last year... The officer told Speegle he needed a $200 daily permit to panhandle, but Speegle suggested the price was within his means.

Panhandling has always been an important part of human existence, ever since people were put in poverty by a society that sometimes lacks mercy. It is not fair or accurate to say that you should never give money to a panhandler. There are people who would perish without the generosity of strangers. We can not presume to know that they created their own problems and should reap the results. There are plenty of people who became poor largely due to circumstances that weren't under their control. I have given coins out of my pocket to panhandlers under certain circumstances, and...

Somethings are just too incredible to believe unless you see it for yourself. Well what we have here is Shelby County (TN) Commissioner Steve Mulroy being interviewed by a TV reporter. While the camera is rolling, a panhandler walks up to the commissioner, tells him to keep his mouth shut and to hand over $2.00. After the commissioner refused to give him the money, the panhandler then demanded that the politician have two dollars for him every time he sees him. The whole incident is only funny after the fact because there was no physical violence. As you will...

Somethings are just too incredible to believe unless you see it for yourself. Well what we have here is Shelby County (TN) Commissioner Steve Mulroy being interviewed by a TV reporter. While the camera is rolling, a panhandler walks up to the commissioner, tells him to keep his mouth shut and to hand over $2.00. After the commissioner refused to give him the money, the panhandler then demanded that the politician have two dollars for him every time he sees him. The whole incident is only funny after the fact because there was no physical violence. As you will...

Clarence Ervin had panhandled on CTA trains all night, and he looked like it. Cold and bleary-eyed, he said he was afraid of getting caught — a surprising sentiment for a man who has been arrested 178 times, according to police and court records. Ervin, 52, has amassed charges ranging from panhandling on trains and disorderly conduct to drug possession and assault and battery, the records show.

It appears Victor Frost isn't the only Palo Alto panhandler willing to fight to defend his turf. On Monday, police said, one female beggar drew a knife and threatened to stab another who had taken her favorite spot, in front of Starbucks on University Avenue. Terry Barber, 51, was arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, police Sgt. Wayne Benitez said. Authorities were called to the scene at about 3:30 p.m. by the victim, a wheelchair-bound woman who said she had been threatened with what looked like a butcher knife, Benitez said. She said...

An undercover cop chased a Times Square scam artist through sidewalks crowded with holiday shoppers and tourists Thursday, exchanged gunfire with the suspect and killed him near a landmark hotel, police said. (snip) When the officer approached, the man took off running the streets and through the Marriott Marquis hotel's passenger drop-off area, Browne said. The sergeant pursued, and the man turned and fired with a Mac-10 machine pistol that held 30 rounds; he got off two shots before it jammed, Browne said. The officer returned fire, killing the suspect, Browne said. It's not clear how many shots he fired....

Panhandling will become illegal in the downtown core of Atlanta as soon as Mayor Shirley Franklin signs an ordinance adopted Monday by city council. The council, after two months of debate and numerous boisterous public meetings, voted 12-3 to ban verbal requests for money in the central part of the city, an area referred to as the "tourist triangle." Atlanta police arrested at least seven people, including a former councilman, at City Hall after the vote. People opposed to the ordinance repeatedly shouted, "Shame!" The legislation was drafted by the Franklin administration, and the council expanded it Monday to include...

Meet New York's 'Naked Cowboy' By Jeff Pearlman Newsday staff writer Originally published May 15, 2003 The sky is gray and the afternoon is long, and if ever a Monday in New York City has felt interminable, it is today. On the neon financial news crawlers that help light up an otherwise damp Times Square, bleakness rules. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE RISES FROM 5.9% TO 6% ... PLANNED U.S. LAYOFFS INCREASE FROM 85,396 IN MARCH TO ',399 IN APRIL ... 95,000 AMERICAN MANUFACTURING JOBS LOST IN APRIL; BIGGEST DECLINE SINCE JAN. 2002. How then, to explain ... this?

<p>NEW YORK (AP) -- After an 18-month bacchanal buying Manolo Blahnik, Gucci and Prada, Karyn Bosnak found herself unemployed and more than $20,000 in credit card debt.</p> <p>When the 29-year-old spotted a sign in a supermarket with an odd request -- "Wanted: $7,000 To Pay Off Debt" -- it made perfect sense. The television producer launched a similar appeal to a much larger audience: the World Wide Web.</p>

She wears a shabby red jacket. Her hair is grey and scraggly under a faded purple kerchief. A garbage bag covers her legs. People throw money on it. Lots of people. Sometimes they line up. "She got here about 11," says Const. Paul Stone, 50, on traffic duty at a construction site. "She started shaking as soon as she sat down. She's just rakin' it in now." At Harvey's across the street, photographer Alex Urosevic and I do some figuring. Thirty people in 15 minutes, Alex counts. Fifty in the time it takes me to eat a veggie burger and...