₦airaland Forum

Problems of the world today.
Imagine how much money they drop into the local economy.




Wealthy Brits slam London ‘invasion’ of Arab playboys

https://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01646/Millionaire-Boy-Ra_1646988a.jpg

Expensive ... supercars parked outside Harrods
Oblong Films / SWNS.com
Last Updated: 03rd January 2013

WEALTHY Brits are moaning about an "invasion" of millionaire Arab playboys roaring around the streets in their expensive supercars.

Residents in some leafy areas of London claim unruly rich drivers are racing their Bugattis, Ferraris and Lamborghinis through their idyllic neighbourhoods.

While the show-off drivers are cheered by young camera-carrying followers known as Carparazzi, furious neighbours accuse them of ruining their lives.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4723049/Arab-playboys-supercars-flooding-London.html#ixzz2HEkhu2tz


https://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01646/Millionaire-Boy-Ra_1646987a.jpg
Fined ... Maserati seen parked on the red route outside Harrods

https://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01646/Millionaire-Boy-Ra_1646986a.jpg
Towed ... Lamborghini Aventador is seized by police

https://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01646/Millionaire-Boy-Ra_1646985a.jpg
Outrageous ... bright pink Rolls Royce





Millionaire Boy Racers of London in HD


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHcPevHHupE

There's new NL (SSS)in town



A New Sheriff in Town

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axb2IogkztY




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvzIRuIg288

Off topic but interesting.

Daughter of Nigerian parents starts magazine in Yankee.


Uzoamaka Maduka Leaves a Paper Trail With the American Reader

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/fashion/uzoamaka-maduka-leaves-a-paper-trail-with-the-american-reader.html?pagewanted=all

https://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/01/03/fashion/03MADUKA_SPAN/03MADUKA_SPAN-articleLarge.jpg
Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Uzoamaka Maduka, editor in chief of The American Reader, in her New York office last month.
By AMY O’LEARY

cap28: http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-france-deploy-troops-to-central-african-republic/5317655

good drop dude, we figured such ....


CAR President Bozize has urged the US and France to intervene against the rebel forces. In a speech last Thursday, Bozize accused unspecified “foreigners” of backing the rebels and suggested that the unrest was triggered by his granting of oil exploration contracts earlier this year to Chinese and South African corporations.

“Before giving oil to the Chinese I met with [oil company] Total in Paris and told them to take the oil. Nothing happened. I gave oil to the Chinese and it became a problem,” he said.

pendo89: What to do?
They are both competing to shower her with lovemoney.
Worst bit is the fact that no one is interested in showing her how to invest wisely.It's spend spend and spend.
But what a lazy brat.A 5 star hotel in comparison to her house? yet she can dine and wine,have everything done for her in the comfort and privacy of her home.
Happy new year.

Good talk there Ms Pandemonium. Nothing beats a woman with a practical, thrifty head on her shoulders.

talk2cj08: The Bible Prophecy Connection
While this bill will not be signed into law in its current form, it definitely is a shadow of things to come in the near future. According to Revelation 13:5-8, the Beast, otherwise known as the Anti-Christ, is given power over all peoples:


18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
It’s time to WAKE UP! and realize that as the government takes away our freedoms by monitoring the populace through police power and surveillance, they will be setting the stage for the Anti-Christ to takeover more easily every tribe, people, language and nation.

Topic Supplement .... 2 page long read

2013: DAWN OF THE LUCIFERIAN ERA

By Paul McGuire

http://www.newswithviews.com/McGuire/paul152.htm

pg2

http://www.newswithviews.com/McGuire/paul153.htm

Cheers to the looters and colonial masters. We know y'all are popping bottles and celebrating another year of success.

https://www.blogcdn.com/www.luxist.com/media/2010/06/dom-vintage-580cs052810-1276274401.jpg


Cristal Brut 1990 “Methuselah”
$17,625
https://www.dcclubbing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cristal-Brut.jpg

Dom Perignon White Gold Jeroboam
$40,000
https://www.dcclubbing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Dom-Perignon.jpg

Pernod-Ricard Perrier-Jouet
$50,000
https://www.dcclubbing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/perrier-jouet_48.jpg

https://blog.cognac-expert.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/hennessy-black-party.jpeg

[b]Hard to believe this materialistic twit has a boyfriend.



Is this the most spoiled girl in Britain? Meet Gina Rio, the 23-year-old who lives at the Savoy, drinks Cristal, owns £20k handbags - and STILL gets £10k a month pocket money from mummy

Gina, 23, receives £10k a month from her mother after falling out with her father and losing his £20k allowance
She lives at the Savoy while her £1m house in King's Cross, a gift from her mother, is refurbished
Five-bed house will have a walk-in wardrobe covering the entire top floor, a swimming pool, jacuzzi and home cinema

Spends £1k a month on chauffeurs and taxis, and £600 at the hair salon
'I could never date someone who is poor. That would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me'

By Katy Winter

Most twentysomethings have long been dropped from their parents' pocket money payroll.

But one - who some are calling the most spoiled woman in Britain - still receives a massive £10,000 payout each month from her mother - and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Gina Rio, 23, who lives in a suite at the five star Savoy hotel despite owning a house in London's King's Cross, is handed the money by her mother, Theresa, who took over the monthly payments after Gina fell out with her father, a successful businessman, in 2003 and he stopped the £20,000 allowance he used to provide.

Gina, whose parents split when she was aged 14 after her father had an affair, spends the generous allowance living the life of a princess.

She shops at designer stores, naming Louis Vuitton, Lanvin and Christian Louboutin as some of her favourite shops, and she eats lavish meals at London's finest restaurants, claiming on Twitter that she plans to dine exclusively at Michelin-starred establishments.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A212000005DC-260_640x417.jpg
Spolit: Gina poses with her various shopping bags at the Savoy hotel where she is staying while her house is refurbished

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A252000005DC-129_640x722.jpg
Gina, seen here posing with some of her many pairs of designer shoes at the Savoy, admits she sees her parents generosity as proof of their love for her

And she buys more designer goods than she could wear in a lifetime, including over 300 pairs of designer shoes and 70 designer handbags, one of which, a Hermes bag that she ordered her father to buy after she discovered he had bought a similar one for his mistress, cost £20,000.

She also spends an extravagant amount on being chauffeured around in private cars and taxis, the bill for which can exceed a staggering £1,000 a month, and pampers herself in the hairdresser on a regular basis - often spending £600 each month to keep her locks glossy.

As if the allowance wasn’t enough, Gina’s parents have also showered her with gifts over the years.

Her father, who owns a successful construction company, spent £10,000 on a 16th birthday party for Gina, while her mother recently gave her a white Mercedes SLK convertible, worth about £30,000.

While Gina doesn’t solely rely on her parents money - she earns £2,000 a month as a personal stylist - she has shockingly not managed to save a penny of the mini fortune lavished on her.

The 23-year-old, who trained at Sylvia Young Theatre School, spent an eye-watering £50,000 in two days last month on clubbing and shopping for luxury clothes, after taking her father's credit card without his permission.

'My dad wasn't happy,' Gina's brother Sebastian says,' but he just shrugged it off.'

Gina compares herself to socialite and millionairess Tamara Ecclestone, and admits she often has no idea how much she spends on luxuries such as socialising, hair and beauty.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A207000005DC-63_640x596.jpg
Living the high life: Gina, 23, has been lavished with money and luxury gifts since the day she was born

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A222000005DC-636_640x419.jpg
Competition: 'When I found out that my dad bought his mistress a Hermes handbag, I wanted to have one that was bigger and better'

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B43210000005DC-438_642x948.jpg
5 star lifestyle: Gina is currently living at the Savoy, and clearly taking advantage of the restaurants, often tweeting pictures of her opulent meals

‘It’s really bad - I don’t even know how much I spend sometimes.’

Gina often posts about her lavish lifestyle on Twitter, tweeting on 21st December ‘Shopping in Knightsbridge with mummy! Love her, and her cards!’ and treating her 373 followers to daily reminders of her extravagant purchases and indulgent restaurant meals.

In one tweet she declares: ‘I decided I'm strictly eating at michelin star restaurants and 5* places, i'm tired of trying to be normal and eating at these other places!'

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B432A2000005DC-662_638x580.jpg
https://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01645/Gina_Rio_with_her__1645224a.jpg
Gina posted this picture of her receiving a £30,000 white Mercedes SLK convertible- tied with a ribbon. The car was a gift from her mother who also provides Gina with her allowance

On her blog, where readers can learn how to copy her lavish lifestyle; she lists Harrods, Bond street, exclusive jewelers Asprey and Cartier, Selfridges department store as personal shopping favourites.

While it might be easy to dismiss Gina as simply a spoilt brat, she is the first to admit she is using money as a substitute for her parents' love.

Devastated when her father had an affair and left the family for another woman, Gina, then aged 14, was given substantial handouts from him until, at age 17, she demanded an allowance of £20,000(N3,200,000) a month.

‘I know I’m spoiled, but I need my parents to buy me things to prove they love me,' she says.

'I think the most expensive item was a Hermes handbag which cost £20,000.

'When I found out that he'd bought his mistress a Hermes handbag, I wanted to have one that was bigger and better.

'I wanted him to prove that he loved me more than her - because she's horrid - she's horrid.

'He's my dad at the end of the day and I'm always going to love him, but he's chosen his new family over me.'

Gina fell out with her father over his new love in 2003 and he cut off her £20,000 a month, leaving Gina threatened with a normal life devoid of the countless luxuries to which she had become accustomed.

Luckily her mother Theresa stepped in to save her daughters extravagant way of life, offering £10,000 monthly to keep her in taxis and blowdries.

When Gina goes out, she lets her boyfriend - the 23-year-old rapper Ecksell - pick up the tab.

'I love my Cristal champagne and bellini cocktails,' she said.

'I have no idea how much it costs - hundreds maybe. When my boyfriend and I go clubbing, he goes crazy.

'Once he spent £25,000 in one night. Afterwards I told him that he might as well spend that on me.

'I could not imagine life without any money. Not being able to pay to have my hair done would be the worst thing ever.

'I always get what I want - I've never gone without.

'I've never caught the Tube or a bus. I would never go on public transport. It would be terrifying.

Unlike most girls her age, Gina has never set foot in Primark.

She said: 'I've driven past but I don't think I'd like it.'

Meanwhile Gina has carefully vetted all her suitors.

She said: 'I could never date someone who is poor. That would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me.

'When I met my boyfriend he told me he was signed to Warner Bros to impress me, but he really wasn't.

'Then I found out that his dad owns a brand of sauce sold in Harrods, I was pretty impressed and I knew his family would have a lot of money.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A216000005DC-935_316x576.jpg
This blue Hermes bag costs £20,000, and Gina owns around 70 more designer bags

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A242000005DC-622_638x458.jpg
Parental love: Gina, seen here at age 18 months, with her mother, who now provides her with £10,000 after Gina fell out with her father Paul

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A296000005DC-102_310x595.jpg
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A2DF000005DC-317_308x597.jpg
Gina, who admires socialite Tamara Eccleson, was in Dizzee Rascal's 'Come Dance With Me' video in her swimsuit, but says her dream lies not in the world of Hip Hop, but in opening a beauty spa

She said: 'I want my kids to have a nice life like me. When you've got money everything is a lot easier.'

But I don't want my kids growing up and taking money for granted like I used to.

'When my allowance was cut, I realised that that I had to cut back too. Before I used to buy things for the sake of it. Now I only buy clothes that I really like.'

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A247000005DC-308_640x421.jpg
Pampered feet: Growing up Gina had an allowance of £20,000 a month and was bought thousands of pounds worth of designer clothes, she now owns over 300 pairs of designer shoes

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A21C000005DC-517_640x576.jpg
'I have no concept of money': Gina poses with her different bags at the Savoy hotel

However, Gina claims her brother Sebastian, 38, is even more spoilt than her.

She said: 'People think that I'm spoilt, but he is on a different level, literally. Anything he asks for, he gets without any hesitation.

'He's wasted so much of my parent's money on his failed business ideas. Once they gave him £200,000 for a Caribbean restaurant that never went anywhere.'

In 2008 Gina performed in the Dizzee Rascal's 'Come Dance With Me' music video wearing a swimsuit.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A26A000005DC-617_310x471.jpg
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A283000005DC-263_312x469.jpg
Extreme views: Gina, currently residing at the 5 star Savoy hotel (right) says that dating someone poor would be 'the worst thing that ever happened to her'

She is currently living at the Savoy while her house in King's Cross is refurbished.

The five-bed house will have a walk in wardrobe covering the entire top floor, a swimming pool and jacuzzi and a home cinema.

Gina said: 'My mum bought the house for me ages ago - I reckon it must have cost at least a million.'

Meanwhile father Paul is picking up the tab at the Savoy - a bill costing thousands of pounds.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A2A0000005DC-933_314x500.jpg
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/31/article-2255279-16B3A2B3000005DC-305_310x502.jpg
Out of touch: Gina claims that the drop in allowance from £20,000 to £10,000 a month caused her to 'cut back' on her spending

Mum Theresa has no problem with Gina excessive spending.

She says: 'I tell Gina that I am proud of her and everything she gets she deserves. Why have money if you can't enjoy it?'

Looking forward, Gina says she is hoping to emulate her idol Tamara Ecclesone.

'I like Tamara - she's pretty and seems nice. Of course, she wants for nothing - and sometimes I think I'm just as bad as her.

'I'd like to start my own business - something like a beauty spa. I get bored sometimes so I think it would give me something to do.

'Tamara has her own show, Billion $$ Girl, to keep her occupied.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2255279/Is-spoiled-girl-Britain-Meet-Gina-Rio-23-year-old-lives-Savoy-drinks-Cristal-owns-20k-handbags--STILL-gets-10k-month-pocket-money-mum.html#ixzz2GfRfZUPC

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/4718170/gina-rio-britains-most-spoiled-girl.html









[/b]

[b]Guaranteed to piss some off!

December 30, 2012 6:32 pm

Opec cartel to reap record $1tn (Trillion)

Current members

Algeria
Angola
Ecuador
Iran
Iraq
Kuwait
Libya
Nigeria
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Venezuela

By Javier Blas, Commodities Editor

The Opec oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia, will pocket a record of more than US$1tn in net oil revenues in 2012 as the annual average price for Brent, the benchmark, heads to an all-time high in spite of weak economic growth.

The windfall will provide fresh capital to some of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the most influential members of the cartel, are home to three of the world’s 10 largest SWFs by assets under management, according to estimates by the SWF Institute.



With one trading day left before the year-end, Brent oil prices are on the point of seeing an average for the year of about $111.5 a barrel, higher than the previous all-time high set in 2011 of $110.9.

The benchmark closed at or above $100 every trading day in 2012, bar 24 in June and early July.

In January, Ali Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, said that the world’s largest oil producer aimed to keep oil prices at the triple-digit level throughout 2012. “If we are able as producers and consumers to average $100 I think the world economy would be in better shape,” Mr Naimi told CNN at the time.

The record run of $100-plus oil prices, coupled with strong production in the first half of the year, lifted Opec’s net oil export revenues to a peak of $1,052bn in nominal terms, up 2.5 per cent from last year, according to the US Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy. A decade ago, Opec countries made just under $200bn selling their oil.

In real terms, adjusted for inflation, Opec’s revenues in 2012 were also the highest ever, surpassing the peaks set during the oil crises of 1973-74 and 1979-81.

The huge revenue windfall has been unevenly distributed among the members of the cartel, which controls roughly 40 per cent of the world’s oil supplies. Iran took a smaller-than-usual share of the pot as US and European sanctions crippled its energy industry, pushing down its oil production to a 32-year low. Between January and November, Iran earned only 6.5 per cent of Opec’s total net revenues, down from a a share of 9-10 per cent during most of the 2000s.

The shortage of Iranian oil helped Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE to pump more, profiting from record annual prices. Also, Libya’s oil earnings recovered in 2012 from the slump triggered by the 2011 civil war.

The huge inflows will shore up the finances of the 12-member group, particularly as some Middle East countries lift social spending on the wake of the Arab Spring.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that Riyadh and Abu Dhabi both need oil prices at about $80 a barrel to balance their budgets. Only a decade ago they were able to balance their budgets with oil prices averaging $25.

[/b]

supplement ....


First African smartphone launched in Rep. of Congo
By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, December 29, 2012 16:30 EST


https://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-inventor-of-what-has-been-billed-as-Africas-first-tablet-computer-Verone-Mankou.-Photo-via-AFP..jpg


The inventor of what has been billed as Africa's first tablet computer, Verone Mankou. Photo via AFP.
Topics: central African nation ♦ Rep. of Congo A Congolese inventor ♦ smartphone


A Congolese inventor has unveiled what he says is the first African-designed smartphone.

Verone Mankou, 27, told AFP that the so-called Elikia, which means “hope” in the local language, went on sale the day before in the Republic of Congo.

Mankou, head of the company VMK, said the Android-powered device was on sale in only in Congo for now, but he planned to launch it in other countries.

The phone was initially due to go on sale in October but its launch was delayed “because of an explosion in demand,” he said.

Though the phone is Congolese by design, it is manufactured in China. It costs about 130 euros ($170) — a considerable sum in this central African nation.

The phone has a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 512 megabytes of RAM and a 650-Mhz processor. Its camera is five megapixels, and it also comes with GPS and Bluetooth.

Mankou last year designed what was billed as Africa’s first tablet computer.

[b]update ....

December 30, 2012
African Union Head Visits Central African Republic
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The leader of the African Union, Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi, has proposed a government of national unity to resolve the rebel conflict in Central African Republic.

Boni Yayi arrived here Sunday to try to find a negotiated resolution to the country's crisis. The president of the African Union met with President Francois Bozize and then made an appeal to the rebels.

"I beg my rebellious brothers, I ask them to cease hostilities, to make peace with President (Francois) Bozize and the Central African people," said Boni Yayi at a press conference in Bangui, the capital. "If you stop fighting, you are helping to consolidate peace in Africa. African people do not deserve all this suffering. The African continent needs peace and not war."

Boni Yayi said that Bozize had pledged to have an open dialogue with the rebels with the goal of establishing a government of national unity, which would include representation from the rebels and the Bozize government.

Bozize also addressed the conference and said, although he plans to stay in power until his term ends in 2016, he is not against having the rebels enter a coalition government with him.

"We'll probably be able to set up a national unity government. I apologize to the suffering Central African people," said Bozize. "It is a message of peace to my brothers of Central African Republic, "said Bozize.

The African Union's leader arrived in Bangui when many feared there would be a fight over the capital, Bangui, a city of 600,000.

According to several families in Bangui, members of the Presidential Guard have kidnapped people suspected of supporting the rebels who have seized 10 cities in the country's north over the past three weeks.

A rebel spokesman, Col. Juma Narkoyo, warned Bozize: "We warn the head of state and his family to stop abducting our parents. They have nothing to do with it. If he wants to solve its problems, he comes to meet us on the ground. We expect firm feet. " H0e said that a dozen people have already been arrested in Bangui.

On his arrival in Bangui, Yayi Boni had a private meeting for more than two hours with Bozize in the VIP lounge of Mpoko airport, which is secured by French troops.

So far Boni Yayi has no meetings scheduled with rebels or with the democratic opposition.

Boni Yayi's diplomatic effort comes as France has deployed an additional 180 troops to protect its interests.

The French reinforcements arrived Sunday from nearby Gabon, bringing the total French military force in the capital, Bangui, to nearly 600, Col. Thierry Burkhard told The Associated Press Sunday. The troops are to protect French residents in the capital, which many fear will be attacked by the rebels.

As fears mounted that the rebels would attack Bangui, Bozize imposed a curfew from 7 p.m. until 5 a.m.

Bozize earlier appealed to France for help against the rebels, but French President Francois Hollande's government said it would only protect French interests and would not prop up the Bangui government.

As the rebels have made a rapid advance across the country's north, residents in the capital now fear the insurgents could attack at any time, despite assurances by rebel leaders that they are willing to engage in dialogue instead of attacking Bangui.

On Saturday the rebels seized the city of Sibut, 185 kilometers (114 miles) from Bangui.

Sibut, a key transportation hub, fell without a shot being fired because the Central African Republic army and forces from neighboring Chad had pulled back to Damara, 75 kilometers (46 miles) from Bangui on Friday, said Minister of Territorial Administration Josie Binoua.

Neighboring African countries have agreed to send more forces to support the Bozize government.

Representatives from the 10-nation Economic Community of Central African States, or ECCAS, agreed at a meeting in Gabon Friday to send forces to CAR, but did not did not specify how many troops would be sent or how quickly the military assistance would arrive.

The ECCAS states, with more than 500 soldiers via their regional peacekeeping force in Central Africa, over the weekend warned the rebels to halt their advances.

"ECCAS forces are on high alert, and the city of Damara is the limit not to cross," said Antonio Di Garcia, the ECCAS representative in Bangui. He urged the government forces and the rebels to hold to their current positions and to begin dialogue.

The ongoing instability prompted the United States to evacuate about 40 people, including the U.S. ambassador, from Bangui on an U.S. Air Force plane bound for Kenya, said U.S. officials who insisted on anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the operation.

The United States has special forces troops in the country who are assisting in the hunt for Joseph Kony, the fugitive rebel leader of another rebel group known as the Lord's Resistance Army. The U.S. special forces remain in the country, the U.S. military's Africa Command said from its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.

The evacuation of the U.S. diplomats came after criticism of how the U.S. handled diplomatic security before and during the attack on its consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11. The ambassador and three other Americans were killed in that attack.

French diplomats have remained in Bangui despite a violent demonstration outside its embassy last week. Dozens of protesters, angry at France's lack of help against rebel forces, threw rocks at the French Embassy in Bangui and stole a French flag.

This landlocked nation of 4.4 million people has suffered decades of army revolts, coups and rebellions since gaining independence in 1960 and remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The current president himself came to power nearly a decade ago in the wake of a rebellion in this resource-rich yet deeply poor country.

Bozize's government earlier reached out to longtime ally Chad, which pledged to send 2,000 troops to bolster Central African Republic's own forces.

The rebels behind the most recent instability signed a 2007 peace accord allowing them to join the regular army, but insurgent leaders say the deal wasn't fully implemented.

The rebels say they are fighting because of their "thirst for justice, for peace, for security and for economic development of the people of Central African Republic." The rebels also are demanding that the government make payments to ex-combatants.

Despite Central African Republic's wealth of gold, diamonds, timber and uranium, the government remains perpetually cash-strapped.

The United Nations Security Council condemned the violence and reiterated its demand that the armed groups "immediately cease hostilities, withdraw from captured cities and cease any further advance towards the city of Bangui."

___

Associated Press Writer Greg Keller contributed to this piece from Paris.[/b]

vanstanzy: Your point being? Ok, just what is ur point exactly

I don't think I owe you the dignity of an explanation if you aren't aware of the perils and history of getting into debt to the banking class(Shylocks).

But I will post my favorite verse on the topic.

Proverbs 22:7

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.


Put your thinking cap on and see if you can figure out how it corresponds to the subject matter.

Pick your favorite verse

Bible Verses about Usury

Exodus 22:25 ESV /

“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.

Ezekiel 18:13 ESV /

Lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.

Ezekiel 22:12 ESV /

In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

Ezekiel 18:8 ESV /

Does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man,

Deuteronomy 23:19 ESV /
“You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest.

Ezekiel 18:17 ESV /

Withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father's iniquity; he shall surely live.

Leviticus 25:37 ESV /

You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.

Deuteronomy 23:19-20 ESV /

“You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

Luke 6:35 ESV /

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Jeremiah 15:10 ESV /

Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.

Proverbs 28:8 ESV /

Whoever multiplies his wealth by interest and profit gathers it for him who is generous to the poor.

Leviticus 25:36 ESV /
Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.

Proverbs 22:7 ESV /

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

Leviticus 25:35-37 ESV /
“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.

Psalm 15:5 ESV /

Who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

Nehemiah 5:1-13 ESV /

Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.” There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.” ...

Acts 2:44-45 ESV /

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Matthew 25:27 ESV /

Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

Isaiah 1:1-31 ESV /
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. ...

Psalm 15:1-5 ESV /

A Psalm of David. O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

Nehemiah 5:1-19 ESV /
Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.” There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.” ...

Deuteronomy 15:7-11 ESV /

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

Leviticus 25:1-55 ESV /

The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. ...

Matthew 25:1-46 ESV /
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. ...

Isaiah 10:1-34 ESV /
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth? Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! ...

Psalm 22:1-31 ESV /
To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. ...

Luke 19:23 ESV /

Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’

Matthew 21:1-46 ESV /

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” ...

Malachi 3:1-18 ESV /

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. ...

Isaiah 50:1 ESV /

Thus says the Lord: “Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.



Jesus drives the money-changers from the temple

[img]http://3.bp..com/-5lkSAKwSrvs/TvirfAG8QgI/AAAAAAAACkA/pZDYVmhperE/s1600/images-jesus_temple.jpg[/img]
https://www.themudflats.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/tissot-the-merchants-chased-from-the-temple-746x471.jpg

[b]Hopefully......


The Curse By The Nigerian Masses On The Nigerian Ruling Class By Paul Omoruyi
Posted: December 28, 2012 - 19:49
By Paul Omoruyi

It is no secret that Nigerians hate their rulers. But when Nigerian “prayer warrior” masses start to curse and pray for the death of their rulers, then there is a problem. In contrast to Nigeria, South Africans of all stripes grieved and wailed over Nelson Mandela’s hospitalization just some couple of weeks ago. If you want to infuriate an English man, insult, or speak evil about their WWII leader, Winston Churchill.

Not so long ago, Nigerians would shun verbal abuse, eschew cursing and have respect for human life. I remember when Nigerians would cry when they see a little spill of human blood say from a vehicular accident. When there is a complete loss of life, the neighborhood will be as silent as a grave yard. Then, even if a known enemy died, Nigerians still sincerely cry because they value human life. But those days are far gone.

Today, the Nigerian psyche has been hardened by years of rabid economic hardship, poverty, greed, cultism, corruption and hedonism. It is now a daily incident to see dead bodies on the streets of Nigeria. Cultist youths, political rivals, religious sects kill one another in the middle of the day. They simply say “nothing dey happen” while people walk past as if nothing anomalous has actually happened. The life of a Nigerian is not worth a cent anymore.

On the 27th of December 2012 alone, the breaking news from one major Nigerian online news outlet goes: “Teenage gunmen kill business mogul, three security officials, seven others in Maiduguri”; “ABU professor, Hyacinth Mbibu, shot dead in Zaria”; “Nine dead, 11 injured in Osun auto crash”; “JTF kill 5 suspected terrorists, demolish bomb factory in Kaduna”. Those headlines tell the story better than what I can express in words.

The ludicrous dimension to all of these is the euphoria and jubilation expressed by Nigerian masses when a member of the Nigerian thiefocratic class (President, Governor, Senator, House of Rep member, Minister, local government chairman, etc) dies.

I did not know how much the average Nigerian psyche has been crushed until the recent events in the last couple of months. In order to know the feeling on the ground when the plane of Governor Danbaba Suntai’s of Taraba State crashed, I placed a call to several friends. Needless to say, these are Nigerians I consider somewhat “God-fearing” and decent in many respect. The first response I got from each and every one of them is “make them all die, we are praying for the next one to die”. It was as if they were all reading from the same script.

“But na person papa, brother, uncle na?” I will respond. “Ok, dey talk for there. Na because say you no dey naija that’s why you dey talk like that na”. The suffer we dey while they send their children overseas and enjoy themselves from stealing Naija money hen, it reach make God take punish all of them with their families. Make all of them die, die, die”, they will conclude like Mountain of Fire prayer warriors.

One quoted the bible to buttress his point: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked bears rule, the people mourn. We will continue to mourn all of them one-by-one. Only Fashola and Oshiomole with their family will live long among the current thieves”.

Just barely some weeks after that discussion, we heard the ailment rumors of Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke and Sullivan Chime, Enugu State Governor and Minister of Petroleum Alison-Madueke. As if that was not enough, Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State was involved in a ghastly road accident that may have left one of his legs broken and his aide dead. I cannot help but remember all the curses and death prayers that Nigerian masses shower daily on their rulers.

Many Nigerians in recent times have become accustomed to cursing their rulers. Before you have a five minutes discussion on the state of Nigeria with a Nigerian these days they would have cursed the ruling class more than a hundred times. There is justifiable unprecedented hatred for the ruling class like never before in the history of the country.

I was not appalled when Nigerians seemed to celebrate the demise of Governor Yakowa. What surprised me was that Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State did not know (or pretended not to know) that Nigerian masses have a deep-seated hatred for the ruling class that have wasted and stolen the common wealth of the nation.

Following the celebration of Yakowa’s death, Governor Babangida Aliyu berated those Nigerians celebrating by saying “Immediately we start praying for our leaders to die, then we are asking that the whole society should die. We must pray for our leaders. We must go back to our faith and practice our religion as demanded by the almighty Allah. We must talk to our children. We must be involved in the moral and religious education of our children. This development shows that we are failing in the duty to train our children”.

Although Governor Aliyu used the word “leaders” in his statement, but I think he meant “rulers” because Nigeria in my opinion presently have very few public officials that we can ascribe the word “leaders”. So, I will stick to using the word “rulers” in place of “leaders”.

I concur with Governor Aliyu. Human life is sacred and should be valued. Unfortunately Governor, it appears to me that Nigerians cannot stop cursing or praying for the death of their rulers anymore. I will posit that the cursing and celebration of the death or misfortune of the ruling class will stop only when Nigerian masses feel their rulers care about them. Maybe they will stop cursing the ruling class when they stopped hearing about the billions of dollars embezzled by the rulers while they wallow in abject poverty.

When Nigerian masses see their rulers flaunting the wealth stolen from the national/state treasury; when they see the rulers flying abroad just for a stomach-ache while they die in Nigeria from just a head ache due to the lack of a health care system; when they see their rulers flying private jets while they travel on death-trap roads; when they see their rulers sending their kids to expensive schools abroad while they get crappy education, it is only human for them to start operating in a different frequency alas wishing death to the rulers.

https://saharareporters.com/sites/default/files/page_images/galleries/2012/abeokuta_schl4.jpeg?1344086739
https://saharareporters.com/sites/default/files/page_images/galleries/2012/abeokuta_schl6.jpeg?1344086739

Nigeria prayer warriors are to be feared. They are the best prayer warriors in the world. Nigeria rulers should immediately start doing the right thing that will please the Nigerian masses and their prayer warriors. If not, we will hear of more misfortune in the next couple of weeks, months and years ahead. All the rulers should henceforth take note because it will not be funny if the Nigerian prayer warriors are still shouting die, die die!!!

Is there any past or present Nigerian public ruler (or maybe you think should be called a “leader”) that you feel Nigerians should cry for or be proud of when something bad happens to him or her? Let me know your opinion.

May God bless Nigerians and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Blog: www.diasporascope.com
Email: eng.p.omoruyi@gmail.com[/b]

Symphony007: Fellow nairalanders, do you see a subway in the future of lagos?

Not with the the flooding and lack of proper drainage infrastructure we see during the rainy season.



NEW YORK: This Is What Your Flooded Subway System Looked Like After Hurricane Sandy

http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-sandy-photos-of-new-york-subway-flooded-2012-10#ixzz2GMoXq7b0

igbo2011: So what does France want and wht does car want? Is the president a puppet?

He may be the old puppet that got too greedy or uncooperative on some issue/s and now its time for him to be replaced with a new one.

Rebel forces including BH in 9ja are 99% financed and backed by secret colonial black ops budgets. Control of the continent's natural resources and politics by imperialists is an never ending dilemma.

Why purchase Tata buses and not Innoson brand?


Tata Marcopolo Motors Ltd.

Headquarters Dharwad, India


Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited (IVM),

Nnewi, Anambra



[img]http://3.bp..com/-zWBlt7WzVi4/TqMIf9dNrII/AAAAAAAAe48/bxWjT3POvEY/s400/nnewi.jpg[/img]
Innoson 6125 mass transit bus produced in Nnewi


https://www.iwatchlive.org/files/images/pic2.jpg

Ivory Coast, Libya, and now The C.A.R. all have one thing in common, regime change with a French footprint. The African Union is a flipping joke.


December 26, 2012
C. African Republic President Seeks Foreign Help


BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The president of Central African Republic on Thursday urgently called on France and other foreign powers to help his government fend off rebels who are quickly seizing territory and approaching the capital, but French officials declined to offer any military assistance.

The developments suggest Central African Republic could be on the brink of another violent change in government, something not new in the history of this resource-rich, yet deeply impoverished country. The current president, Francois Bozize, himself came to power nearly a decade ago in the wake of a rebellion.

Speaking to crowds in Bangui, a city of some 600,000, Bozize pleaded with foreign powers to do what they could. He pointed in particular to France, Central African Republic's former colonial ruler.

About 200 French soldiers are already in the country, providing technical support and helping to train the local army, according to the French defense ministry.

"France has the means to stop (the rebels) but unfortunately they have done nothing for us until now," Bozize said.

French President Francois Hollande said Thursday that France wants to protect its interests in Central African Republic and not Bozize's government. The comments came a day after dozens of protesters, angry about a lack of help against rebel forces, threw rocks at the French Embassy in Bangui and stole a French flag.

Paris is encouraging peace talks between the government and the rebels, with the French Foreign Ministry noting in a statement that negotiations are due to "begin shortly in Libreville (Gabon)." But it was not immediately clear what, if any, dates have been set for those talks.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, meanwhile, spoke via phone with Bozize, asking the president to take responsibility for the safety of French nationals and diplomatic missions in Central African Republic.

U.S. officials said Thursday the State Department would close its embassy in the country and ordered its diplomatic team to leave. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss the evacuation publicly.

The United Nations Security Council issued a press statement late Thursday reiterating its concern about the situation in the country and condemned the attacks.

"The members of the Security Council reiterate their demand that the armed groups immediately cease hostilities, withdraw from captured cities and cease any further advance towards the city of Bangui," the statement reads.

Bozize's government earlier reached out to longtime ally Chad, which pledged to send 2,000 troops to bolster Central African Republic's own forces. But it was unclear if the Chadian troops had all arrived, and even then, it is far from certain if the combined government forces could withstand rebel attacks.

At least four different rebel groups are involved, though their overall numbers could not immediately be confirmed.

Central African Republic, a landlocked nation of some 4.4 million people, is roughly the size of France. It has suffered decades of army revolts, coups and rebellions since gaining independence in 1960 and remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

The rebels behind the most recent instability signed a 2007 peace accord allowing them to join the regular army, but insurgent leaders say the deal wasn't fully implemented.

Already, the rebel forces have seized at least 10 towns across the sparsely populated north of the country, and residents in the capital now fear the insurgents could attack at any time, despite assurances by rebel leaders that they are willing to engage in dialogue instead of attacking Bangui.

The rebels have claimed that their actions are justified in light of the "thirst for justice, for peace, for security and for economic development of the people of Central African Republic."

Despite Central African Republic's wealth of gold, diamonds, timber and uranium, the government remains perpetually cash-strapped. Filip Hilgert, a researcher with Belgium-based International Peace Information Service, said rebel groups are unhappy because they feel the government doesn't invest in their areas.

"The main thing they say is that the north of the country, and especially in their case the northeast, has always been neglected by the central government in all ways," he said.

But the rebels also are demanding that the government make payments to ex-combatants, suggesting that their motives may also be for personal financial gain.

Bozize, a former military commander, came to power in a 2003 rebel war that ousted his predecessor, Ange-Felix Patasse. In his address Thursday, Bozize said he remained open to dialogue with the rebels, but he also accused them and their allies of financial greed.

Those allies, he implied, are outside Central African Republic.

"For me, there are individuals who are being manipulated by an outside hand, dreaming of exploiting the rich Central African Republic soil," he said. "They want only to stop us from benefiting from our oil, our diamonds, our uranium and our gold."

___

Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Sarah DiLorenzo in Paris contributed to this report.

[b]China has an interesting mix of communism and capitalism. I wonder how long it will be before the workers rise up against slave wages?




CHINA NEWS
December 26, 2012, 10:45 p.m. ET

Defying Mao, Rich Chinese Crash the Communist Party

By JAMES T. AREDDY in Shanghai and JAMES V. GRIMALDI in Washington


https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-BJ680_CPOWER_G_20121226173115.jpg

Xinhua/Associated Press

Seven of China's richest were part of the Communist Party elite gathered to anoint new leaders last month in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

When the Communist Party elite gathered last month to anoint China's new leaders, seven of the nation's richest people occupied coveted seats in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Wang Jianlin of Dalian Wanda Group, worth an estimated $10.3 billion and the recent buyer of U.S. cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings, took one of the chairs. So did Liang Wengen, with an estimated fortune of $7.3 billion, whose construction-equipment maker Sany Heavy Industry Co. 600031.SH -0.19% competes with Caterpillar Inc. CAT +0.22% Zhou Haijiang, a clothing mogul with an estimated $1.3 billion family fortune, also had a seat. As members of the Communist Party Congress, all three had helped endorse the new leadership.

For years the Communist Party in China filled key political and state bodies with loyal servants: proletarian workers, pliant scholars and military officers. Now the door is wide open to another group: millionaires and billionaires.

An analysis by The Wall Street Journal, using data from Shanghai research firm Hurun Report, identified 160 of China's 1,024 richest people, with a collective family net worth of $221 billion, who were seated in the Communist Party Congress, the legislature and a prominent advisory group called the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

China's legislature, called the National People's Congress, may boast more very rich members than any other such body on earth. Seventy-five people with seats on the 3,000 member congress appear on Hurun Report's 2012 list of the richest 1,024, which Hurun says it calculates using public disclosures and estimates of asset values. The average net worth of those 75 people is more than $1 billion.

By comparison, the collective wealth of all 535 members of the U.S. Congress was between $1.8 billion and $6.5 billion in 2010, according to the most recent analysis of lawmakers' asset disclosures by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

China has been grappling of late with political and social tension over its murky policy-making process and its growing income disparity. The party has been especially sensitive this year during the leadership change about revelations about fortunes amassed by the offspring of political leaders, known as "princelings," by leaders of state businesses and by other politically connected people. Many ordinary Chinese blame high prices, poor quality food and pollution on guanshang guojie—meaning, roughly, officials in bed with businessmen.

As political families move into business, private tycoons are entering the political sphere—although precisely what is driving that isn't clear. Other Chinese business leaders have cultivated relationships with party chiefs without entering politics themselves. But the Journal's analysis showed that people appearing on Hurun's rich list who also served in the legislature increased their wealth more quickly than the average member of the list.


Seventy-five people who appeared on the rich list from 2007 to 2012 served in China's legislature during that period. Their fortunes grew by 81%, on average, during that period, according to Hurun. The 324 list members with no national political positions over that period saw their wealth grow by 47%, on average, according to an analysis the firm ran for the Journal.

It is difficult to pinpoint precisely how holding political positions advances the business interests of the wealthy, if at all. They may do better because of their political positions, or, conversely, they may owe their positions to their business success. There are a multitude of reasons for Chinese companies to be on good terms with political leaders. Chinese companies routinely do business with the government, borrow money from state banks, even negotiate their tax bills with local authorities.

The business card of Mr. Zhou, the 46-year-old president of family owned Hongdou Group Co., lists 10 political positions. The clothing magnate said in an interview that his political positions give him opportunities to mix with "diverse elites"—businessmen, politicians and military officers.
"It makes me feel good to participate in this kind of exclusive group," he said. Every time he gets a chance, he said, he prods state leaders to cut taxes, noting that he personally pressed Premier Wen Jiabao to extend technology tax breaks to firms building brands. It is unclear whether such tax breaks were extended.

In the days of Chairman Mao Zedong, capitalists were considered enemies of the state. Some business owners were persecuted and most enterprises became government property.
[img]http://bongmendoza.files./2012/08/mao-zedong.jpg?w=550[/img]

That changed in the 1980s and in the early 1990s when paramount leader Deng Xiaoping was said to have declared that "to get rich is glorious." A 2002 constitutional amendment established that the Communist Party henceforth would consider valid the contributions of private enterprise, therefore providing a place for private entrepreneurs in the party system.

These days even lesser-known multimillionaires such as property developer Shi Yingwen of Guangxi Ronghe Co., shirt magnate Li Rucheng of Youngor Group Co. and wig queen Zheng Youquan of Henan Rebecca Hair Products Inc. 600439.SH -3.36% match Chinese mayors and generals in political rank. Self-made men and women serve in the legislature alongside party-appointed chairmen of state oil companies and banks.

China's National People's Congress bears little resemblance to its U.S. counterpart. Legislators aren't popularly elected but are nominated by party institutions, which sometimes vote internally on nominees. Small groups of legislators write laws in consultation with top party officials. The broader legislature invariably passes them.

Political analysts sometimes describe China's legislative seats as ceremonial because of the limited power of officeholders. Nevertheless, Dow Jones Watchlist, a sister publication of the Journal that provides financial institutions with a global database of government officials, characterizes more than 150 people on Hurun's Rich List as "politically exposed persons" under international standards. Global anti-money-laundering conventions call on international banks to scrutinize transactions involving such individuals, their families and close associates.

Hongdou Group's Mr. Zhou was invited into the party congress before his father retired from the legislature in 2008. Over the past 30 years, his family has gobbled up farmland near Wuxi to expand the company. The facilities now include more than 100 Hongdou-owned factories, including one of Asia's biggest suit factories—and a hall honoring Communist leaders.

Hongdou was the first private company in China to win approval to launch a financing arm, and top party officials have supported its industrial push into Cambodia. Party leaders have adorned Zhongnanhai, the party's Beijing leadership compound, with trees from Hongdou's horticultural division, bolstering its claims that the plants provide therapeutic benefits.

In conversation, Mr. Zhou drops the names of top leaders, including Premier Wen, incoming president Xi Jinping and current President Hu Jintao. A quote from Mr. Wen adorns a full wall of Hongdou's headquarters. Mr. Zhou says of his political activity: "I'm just trying to act as a representative for private entrepreneurs."

Guo Guangchang, another member of the National People's Congress, spent 20 years building China's biggest private financial conglomerate, Shanghai-based Fosun Group. His fortune is estimated at $2 billion.

In March, he met with Mr. Xi, who was named China's next leader last month. He pressed for expanded protection in China's courts for insurers, more government investments into private-equity firms and increasing the scope of lending by nonbanks, according to a summary of his presentation on the company's website. "Guo Guangchang expressed hope for more substantive initiatives in the liberalization of financial services and in reducing the tax burden of enterprises and individuals," the website said.

Although it isn't clear whether Mr. Guo's efforts led to official changes, the fact that state media reported him airing views directly to Mr. Xi suggests that officials looked upon them favorably.

Mr. Guo and more than a dozen politically connected business leaders contacted by the Journal, including those mentioned in this story, either declined to comment on their government posts or didn't respond to requests for comment. Questions about the political activities of the wealthy sent by the Journal to the National People's Congress and other Chinese government and party organizations elicited no response.

Beginning as a tailor's apprentice for his father in the 1970s, Gao Dekang built an apparel business and an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion. He joined the National People's Congress in 2003. A year later, China's foreign ministry certified jackets made by his company, Bosideng International Holdings Ltd., 3998.HK +0.85% as "national diplomatic gifts." Russia's Vladimir Putin was one of the foreign dignitaries to receive one.

Mr. Gao has hosted President Hu at his home, according to his authorized biography. Bosideng's latest annual report says the company received "unconditional government grants" of about $3.9 million in the year ended March 31, which it said reflected its contributions to the development of local economies.

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, or CPPCC, is an advisory council to the Communist Party and the legislature. With about 2,200 members, it is intended to be representative of China's overall population, including those who don't belong to the party. In practice, its function is to support government initiatives.

The CPPCC is becoming more like a Chinese version the U.K.'s House of Lords—weaker than the British version but richer. Seventy-four members appeared on Hurun's rich list in 2012. The average wealth of those 74 was about $1.45 billion.

In a recent interview with the Journal, one CPPCC member criticized the influx of business people, saying she had witnessed "shameless" appeals by CPPCC members to Mr. Xi, China's incoming president. At a small gathering in March, she said, a media tycoon and an infrastructure developer had pressed Mr. Xi to use his muscle to fix their business problems.

Member Chen Siqiang is the chief executive and controlling shareholder of New Oriental Energy & Chemical Corp., NOEC 0.00% a fertilizer company based in Henan. In late 2010, the company, whose shares were then listed in the U.S. on the Nasdaq Stock Market, faced a cash squeeze, according to a filing made to the Securities and Exchange Commission at that time. In the filing, Mr. Chen asserted: "I will also use my political influence as a member of the National Committee of CPPCC to coordinate with government agencies and financial institutions to enforce government support."

About three months later, New Oriental announced the government in its home region had arranged $3.3 million in new loans. Nasdaq delisted New Oriental in 2011 after its capital fell below required thresholds.

The way political appointments are made is a murky business in China, and the process can involve currying favor with more-senior officials. In recent years, prosecutors in China have accused various officials of bribing their way into government positions and have jailed some of them for such activity. None of the wealthy individuals named in this story has been accused of such activities.

A Shanghai-based consultant said in recent interviews with the Journal that securing an appointment can involve a sophisticated campaign. He said he had devised and executed a "five-year plan" to try to gain political positions for an Internet-game tycoon. "Most people think you just have to bribe them, but it is actually quite subtle," he said about efforts to persuade government officials.

In 2007, the consultant prepared a 14-page political primer for his client and mapped alliances between certain Beijing officials and the provincial government. The consultant said he added evidence to the company's website that it was a "good citizen" that paid taxes and donated money. He said he staged a fake Communist Party meeting at the company in order to take photos.

The consultant hosted a dinner for the assistant to a senior Beijing official. During a foot massage, he said, the secretary hinted that a modest Chinese painting in traditional style might make an acceptable gift to the boss. The consultant said he bought one for around $3,000 and sent it anonymously to the official's assistant in Beijing. He mailed the certificate of authenticity separately to make it clear the gift was from his client.

His client was hoping to be appointed to the Communist Party Congress. In the end, he got a lesser post: a seat in a provincial CPPCC. But in the process, the consultant said, he got potentially valuable information about provincial government plans for an economic zone and technology subsidies, which the consultant claimed were worth more than the campaign's $320,000 cost.

Mr. Zhou, the clothing magnate, concedes that some people buy their way into power but calls such episodes "isolated incidents." He says his fellow entrepreneurs are joining political bodies "to keep pace with the direction for the country's development. If what I'm doing complies with the government principles, then every government official will support me."

https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-BJ681_CPOWER_DV_20121226173205.jpg
Bloomberg News

Guo Guangchang, Fosun Group

https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-BJ682_CPOWER_DV_20121226173316.jpg
Gao Dekang, Bosideng Intl

https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-BJ683_CPOWER_DV_20121226173425.jpg
Zhou Haijiang, Hongdou Group

https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-BJ676_CPOWER_NS_20121226174807.jpg
[/b]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323723104578187360101389762.html

was able to view a classic doc. of cinematic work by way of NL too powerful for the masses to see and had to be taken down.


Naij, A History Of Nigeria | A Documentary
Ore Notes highlights 'Naij, A History Of Nigeria' by Jide Olanrewaju:


[img]http://afrogeekchic.files./2008/11/naij.jpg[/img]

[b]
Kenyan Women Create Their Own 'Geek Culture'

by Gregory Warner
December 24, 2012 1:24 PM


https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/12/24/1427571_susan-add347d35c0fc74910a3a4c29b0f555c2b8ec6fd-s4.jpg
Kenyan Susan Oguya created an app to help farmers in her homeland. Shown here in the office of her company, M-Farm, she also belongs to the group Akirachix, which seeks to bring more Kenyan women into the tech world.

When a collective of female computer programmers in Kenya needed a name for their ladies-only club, they took their inspiration from the Japanese cult film Akira.

"So akira is a Japanese word. It means energy and intelligence. And we are energetic and intelligent chicks," says Judith Owigar, the president of Akirachix.

A group like Akirachix would have been unthinkable even five years ago. But Kenya is making a big push toward IT — part of a plan to create a middle-class country by the year 2030.

Kenya has laid hundreds of miles of fiber optic cable. Google and IBM set up shop here. The city even has plans for a $7 billion technology hub just outside the capital, Nairobi.

But you need more than tech giants and broadband and even money to launch a local tech industry. You also need a culture of computer geeks. That's where Owigar and her collective Akirachix come in. They want to make sure that the girl geeks are encouraged as much as the guys.

Bridging The Gender Gap

"You know you're the oddball just because of your gender," Owigar says.

It turns out that in Kenya, exactly as in Silicon Valley, the problem with getting more women in tech is that there aren't more women in tech.

"There are probably other women in tech who are alone, and they think they're the weird ones, but if enough of us meet together, you know, it won't be so weird anymore," Owigar says.

Susan Oguya is also an Akirachick. She grew up on a farm in western Kenya without a computer. But she was lucky enough to have an uncle who worked in Nairobi.

When he came home for the holidays, he would haul his entire workstation in the car back with him — the monitor, the CPU, the keyboard, the mouse — and set it up in Oguya's living room. Oguya was 15.

"So he'd bring it over, we'd use it, and then he would go back with it," Oguya says. "So in the times when I didn't have a computer, there were books that he left. Books about what is a computer, parts of a computer, what is a ROM, what is a RAM. It's really basic."

When she got to a university, she majored in IT. She had an idea for a mobile phone app that would help farmers like her parents.

One of the striking things about Kenya is that even impoverished farmers have cellphones. For decades, Kenya was too poor to lay copper telephone wire in the ground, so the vast majority of Kenyans use cellphones as their primary phone.

Now, all those Kenyan cellphone users are set to take advantage of an increasingly mobile world. Oguya's app would allow farmers to check the crop prices with text messaging, skipping the middleman.

"Yeah, corrupt middleman," Oguya says. "Let's say skipping the corrupt middleman."

But Oguya was one of only 10 women in her department of 80 — about the same ratio you'd find in a computer science class at Stanford. Her teachers doubted her ability to actually program this app she'd thought up.

"In my culture, it's like men can only communicate with men. And I was like, 'OK.' Then if I could share this passion, like try and explain to the person, this is what I want to do? It's only a woman who could understand me better," Oguya says.

It wasn't until her third year that she met a computer researcher at the same university, Jessica Colaco, who says she bumped into Oguya in the hallway. "I remember when I met her in the corridor, Susan was really shy. She was like, 'Excuse me, are you Jessica Colaco?' " she says.

"So she invited me and was like, 'Come meet other women who also have a passion like you, but they want to relate to other women who don't know that this exists,' " Oguya says.

Oguya started spending some Saturday mornings with Colaco and other women, snipping code and poring through hacker cookbooks. These informal gatherings became the Akirachix.

Oguya graduated and turned her mobile phone idea into a company called M-Farm. At 25 years old, she now has a staff of 18. And 7,000 African farmers use her app.

Solving Local Problems

One floor up from Oguya's office is a kind of oasis of geekdom — a gathering space for Nairobi's tech community called the iHub. It feels like any sort of hacker space in Silicon Valley or New York, with comfy couches, fast Wi-Fi and cappuccinos served by a barista named Miss Rose.

But the techies you meet here aren't trying to come up with the next Facebook or another app to share your photos. They're solving local problems.

There's one app that brings math and reading help by cellphone to village schools.

There's an app that lets Kenyans who don't have computers do their online shopping by cellphone.

There's a micro-insurance product that measures the rainfall at cellphone towers and automatically distributes money to farmers in drought.

These are all applications started by women. Akirachix's Owigar says they're sending a message to the next wave of girl geeks. "We need them to see that we are doing it and we enjoy it. You know, you don't find many African women looking for the spotlight. Most of them tend to hide their awesomeness," Owigar says.

The best time to carve a spot for women in geek culture, she says, is when there isn't much geek culture yet.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/12/24/167961947/kenyan-women-create-their-own-geek-cuture

[/b]

May Ikenga/Shango bless these two gifted entrepreneurs with a successful multi N,($), or billion(£) entertainment business collaboration in the very near future.

delete, duplicate thread

President Dwight D. Eisenhower exit speech on Jan.17,1961.
Warning us of the military industrial complex.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY

Eisenhower Farewell Address (Full)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWiIYW_fBfY


[img]http://www.japantimes.co.jp/images/photos2012/fl20120415x3c.jpg[/img]

https://mycatbirdseat.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/US-Military-Bases-Around-the-World.png

I don't think carrying cash is the way to go for large international business transactions.

I remember a lecture on letters of credit between banks to close legitimate deals.


A letter of credit is a document issued by a financial institution, or a similar party, assuring payment to a seller of goods and/or services.[1] The seller then seeks reimbursement from the buyer or from the buyer's bank. The document serves essentially as a guarantee to the seller that it will be paid by the issuer of the letter of credit regardless of whether the buyer ultimately fails to pay. In this way, the risk that the buyer will fail to pay is transferred from the seller to the letter of credit's issuer.The letter of credit also insures that all the agreed upon standards and quality of goods are met by the supplier.

Letters of credit are used primarily in international trade for large transactions between a supplier in one country and a customer in another. In such cases, the International Chamber of Commerce Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits applies (UCP 600 being the latest version)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_credit#International_Trade_Payment_methods

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Letter_of_credit_1.png/220px-Letter_of_credit_1.png
After a contract is concluded between buyer and seller, buyer's bank supplies a letter of credit to seller



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_credit

@Find Out!

Debosky vs Seun <---dat was before my time on NL, I may have to search the archives in my spare time to get up to speed on that particular classic board history.

Your analogy of said parties siblings discovering each other 20 years henceforth is worthy of an Achebe/Shakespeare award nomination for literary creativity.

I rather enjoyed reading that brief NL family drama/brouhaha, but am very happy it has been amicably settled.

Real politicians should take note and learn a valuable lesson in solving disagreements rapidly, humility, and moving forward.

Much respect and honor to all involved.