₦airaland Forum

Jimasun:
In 2011 when North insisted on completing their term based on zoning, Igbos were at the forefront of "There is no zoning in Nigeria's constitution".
Rest abeg.

I can't believe I am on Nairaland, for the first time in a very long time. I am reading arguments for and against a tribal political discussion, without contributor's abusing and playing blatant tribalism.
I hope other political discussions on Nairaland, would be this intellectual and rancour free.

kponkedenge:
Lai Mohammed should shut up. The protesters have been left alone to protest for days, if not weeks,

Stop telling lies, they have only been protesting for days. And in the process still crippled the American Motor Manufacturing industry.
The Nigerian Govt did great by forcing the EndSars protesters off the streets, before they could tank the Nigerian economy.

The family that froze to death a world away from home.

The night Vaishaliben Patel, her husband Jagdish and their two children set out for the US-Canadian border they dressed in new heavy winter coats and snow boots. Temperatures where they walked, in Emerson, Manitoba, had dropped more than 35 degrees below freezing.

As they walked - maybe for a couple of hours, maybe for more - sharp winds carried snow and shards of ice across the plains, reducing visibility to nothing.

Canadian police found the four of them - Vaishaliben, 37, Jagdish, 39, their daughter, Vihangi, 11 and son, Dharmik, 3 - lying together, frozen, in an empty field on 19 January. They had died 12 metres from the US border.

The mysterious case of a young family that made its way from an unassuming village in Gujarat, India, to the bitter reaches of Manitoba, half a world away, has shocked Canadians and Indians alike, exposing the intense pressures and economic anxieties that may have led to tragedy.

Officials have said they believe the family's deaths to be a case of human smuggling, and authorities in the US and Canada are still trying to determine how the Patels reached Emerson and who may have led them there, ultimately to their deaths.
The Patels were found near Emerson, Manitoba, thousands of miles away from home in Dingucha. Some 12,000km away from Emerson, the town is home to about 3,500 residents, mostly middle-class agricultural workers and labourers in the province of Gujarat.

There, the Patels lived in a neat two-storey home with a rooftop balcony and a large welcome sign painted over the door. Their home sits snug among a line of row houses - concrete buildings painted yellow, pink and white.

Some residents apparently knew of the Patels' plans to travel, telling the BBC's Gujarati service that they went to Canada on visitor's visas.

On or about 12 January, the Patel's arrived in Canada on a flight to Toronto before traveling 2,000km (1,200 miles) west to Manitoba.

Police have not determined how they got to Emerson - by land or sky - though there is no record of them boarding a domestic flight.
The drive would have been long - 22 hours on the Trans-Canada Highway.

The town has one pharmacy, one grocery store, one school. The houses are modest single-storey homes with single-car garages and large yards. Residents call it a retirement town - a pleasant place to live, with not much to do.

The cold feels "like a dog biting your hand and not letting go", said George Andrawess, who runs Emerson's lone pharmacy, five minute's walk from the border.
"Your tears will freeze in your eyes," he said.

Both Jagdish and Vaishaliben were educated, local media said, at one point working as teachers. Like many other Gujaratis, the Patels had a second home nearby, in the nearest middle-class town, Kalol.
Their parents were often nearby, also dividing their time between Kalol and Dingucha.

Yet despite the appearances of a well-anchored life in India, something compelled the Patels to leave.

In Dingucha, this is common, residents told the BBC.

"Every child here grows with the dream of moving to a foreign country," a Dingucha councilman said.

Many locals spoke of an intense and pervasive social pressure to move abroad, with social status determined by connections in foreign countries. Those who stay are seen as incapable of raising the funds to leave, everyone else moves on, some said.

In Winnipeg, Indo-Canadians said they knew well the "craze" for moving abroad among middle and upper-middle class Indians.

"People think there are dollar trees here," said Mitesh Trivedi, a Gujarati-Canadian. "I had that in my mind when I came, I was 26 years old."

Mr Trivedi, now 59, settled in Canada three decades ago on a marriage visa and became a citizen in 2000. In many ways, his is the life that Indian economic migrants aspire to abroad: He owns a profitable restaurant, has raised a family, and his two daughters both hold graduate degrees in the medical field.

Though he was highly educated in India - Mr Trivedi is an engineer by training - upward mobility would have been limited there. "I was born lower-middle class. If I had stayed, I would have died lower-middle class," he said.

According to Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board, the country is experiencing an influx of irregular migration.

Most of these crossings are northbound - with migrants trying to cross into Canada from the US.

Last year, about 4,000 people were found trying to enter Canada this way, compared to 900 crossing into the US.

Emerson itself, with its wide stretch of unguarded border, is considered a hotspot for illegal crossings. US Border Patrol recently named this area as a high incident spot for human smuggling.

In 2017, two migrants from Ghana were badly injured by frostbite, each losing several fingers, when they tried to make the trek into Canada from the US. At the time, Emerson locals told the BBC they were afraid someone would die trying to make it across.

Police on both sides of the border have said that the Patels' case is probably linked to human smuggling.

But for the Patels, the central questions are left unanswered: what was waiting for them across the plains, was it worth the risk, or did they even know the risk they were taking?.

They didn't even make it to the border. In their final moments, they may not have known where they were at all.

"This story reminds me of Nigerians who are desperate to go abroad at all cost".

SOURCE BELOW
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60290955

Peru: How Ed Sheeran helped Fireboy DML's hit go global.
When Fireboy DML was told to check his DMs, he had to be convinced Ed Sheeran's message was real.

Ed had sent the Nigerian singer a note saying he was a fan and wanted to collaborate on a remix of his Afrobeats hit, Peru.

"He had apparently been listening to the song for weeks," Fireboy tells Radio 1 Newsbeat, from his studio in Lagos, Nigeria.

"Not only had he heard the song, but he'd already recorded a verse for it too."

'Everything you do is for the culture'
he says the "only thing" on his mind when he got Ed Sheeran involved with the remix was how it was "going to be amazing for Afrobeats."

"It's the selfless mind-set that comes with being an Afrobeats artist. Everything you do is for the culture."

In the song, Ed sings a couple of lines in Yoruba, a language predominantly used by millions of people across West Africa, especially in south western Nigeria.

"He did great," says Fireboy, who's real name is Adedamola Adefolahan.
Fast-forward, and now the Peru remix is only being kept off the top of the UK Official Singles Chart by We Don't Talk About Bruno, from Disney movie Encanto.

"It would be amazing for the whole Afrobeats genre if it got to number one," he says.
The remix with Ed Sheeran landed late last year, but Peru had already become Fireboy's biggest streaming hit to date and spent four weeks at the top of the Official Afrobeats Chart.
Meeting Ed was 'natural'
Anyone looking for any hidden or deep meaning in the track will be disappointed. As the song lyrics tell us, Fireboy performed it spontaneously after arriving off a flight from Miami.

He says he didn't overthink the song and recorded it as an off-the-cuff freestyle during an unplanned studio session last July.

"I knew I had a very beautiful, catchy song and when you've got a catchy hook in Afrobeats, you literally have a hit already .

Just before Christmas, Fireboy met Ed Sheeran face to face for the first time to record the video in New York.

"It was a great atmosphere," he says. "I've listened to him for more than a decade and he's the person who made me love the acoustic guitar."
With the success of Peru, Fireboy says he doesn't want to have "too many lofty dreams and aspirations."

"That's how you set yourself up for undue pressure."

But 2022 already looks like a busy year with US and UK tours, a third album and festival appearances, which he's hinted may involve his new mate Ed.

"Stay tuned. We want to give the fans some special memories this year."

Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-60147212

shawnfamous:
dude if use ask money from me I wouldn't give u because my friend refused paying me his debt ? Baba, if I see u fit and responsible, why won't I ?

You might be a young man. But you have the wisdom of someone who will successfully grow old.
As you have said, lend money only to someone who is fit and responsible.
@AbelAbdul and others who want to become money lenders, listen to this advise.
Always carry out a fit and responsibility test including demand of physical collateral from anyone before lending out money.
When you do the above, you will become a successful money lenders.

Wiseandtrue:
Whatever Wizkid is using dey strong oooo

Abi no be the same song we dey hear from here

Wizkid is an Ijebu boy. He was wired for success as soon as he was born.
Just ask Seun (Nairaland), he will explain it for you.

Jaylord12:
Them no trust his dead body...see as them handcuffs the nigga...no peace for the wicked

Stop posting like an illiterate by reading the report.
He was shot and wounded after which he was handcuffed, he probably passed out and was taken to hospital where he died on admission into the hospital.

Golan007:
Nobody is making mad money from forex.

I repeat nobody is making such profit - 20% bla bla bla.

If such a person existed, he wouldn't need your funds.

Common sense should tell you this but No, you would continue to argue.

Don't mind that Agbegbaoroboye, it is not possible to make 20% per month from forex trading because it is regulated and stabilised by governments all over the world.
Maybe he is amongst those duping gullible "Investors".

Nackzy:
This people should be sent to jail to chill forever

Sorry Nackzy, it is the foolish criminals who invest in the scam that should be sent to jail.
Reason being, they know it is a pyramid scam, but their criminal mind believes, he will somehow dupe fresh customers and use it to pay them plus a percentage.
Nigerian government should start arresting all these patrons of pyramid schemes and prosecute them to end this rubbish once and for all.

wonder233:
Most people commenting here don't drive. Look, when you inadvertently knock down a pedestrian or biker, you have a split second to make a decision: If you see in that split second the injury isn't bad, you can stop to offer assistance, if you see the person is dead, then you just have to make a run for it.
It may sound callous, but it is the ugly truth no one wants to admit to. It doesn't mean you don't feel remorse, but it was an accident, you didn't do it deliberately. The person has already died, your stopping to be lynched, killed, sent to prison adds no value to the situation.
This is the hard truth.

Thank you, most of the people who post on Nairaland don't have cars.
Same happened to me at Mosogar, Warri, a long time ago. After hitting a pedestrian that unexpectedly ran into my car, i came down. The car behind me stopped and the driver dragged me into his car and told me that I must escape from the scene or be killed by villagers. I quickly entered the vehicle, we drove to Benin straight to police Hq, where I gave myself up to the Police.
To cut a long story short, by the time I came in police convoy back to Sapele, the Sapele boys told me in the presence of the police that their plan was to burn me inside the vehicle, but I was lucky to escape.

Pimine:
Aswearugaaad

And why should I not do crypto, Mr Logic? Because your walking-dead president, his zombie cabinet, and his brain-dead cheerleaders say so?

Get lost, nicca!

China that has the biggest and fastest growing economy in the world also banned Cryptocurrency trading.
So Mr. Pimine, it's you that should get lost.

googlepikins:
This explanation is so annoying, how can you call people with crypto currency fraudsters.

American government are not even clamping down on Americans making money online through crypto currency. Not even UK or EU.

But the country that have been pushed to poverty capital of the world have ban crypto currency. Emefele and BUHARI are the two most useless humans on earth

This your submission is an indication of the low quality of Nigerians.
Because USA, UK and EU allows cryptocurrency trading, then Nigeria must allow it.
Are you aware that China has banned cryptocurrency trading in their country.
The reason is because it can bring down the economy, it is akin to a pyramid scheme.
If it brings down the Nigerian economy, the same you will start blaming Buhari and Emefiele, that they are the most useless persons on Earth, especially if you lose your money in the trade.
You sir and people with you mindset, are the most useless people on Earth.

Travis Scott 'devastated' by Texas festival deaths.

Rapper Travis Scott stopped performing when he saw fans in distress
Rapper Travis Scott says he is devastated by the deaths and injuries at his Astroworld festival and has pledged "total support" to the police.

At least eight people died and scores of people were hurt after a crowd surge on the opening night of the music event in Houston, Texas.

"My prayers go out to the families all those impacted by what happened," the rapper said in a statement on Twitter.

"I'm absolutely devastated by what took place last night," he said.

Emergency workers described how panic broke out after the crowd began to press towards the front of the stage during the rapper's headline set on Friday evening.

As the crush began causing injuries to people, the panic grew and the casualties quickly overwhelmed the on site first aiders, officials said.

Eleven people were taken to hospital with cardiac arrests, with eight of them dying. Some 300 people were treated for injuries such as cuts and bruises on Friday.

In his first statement since the tragedy, the rapper thanked the police and emergency services and said he was "committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need".

Some 50,000 people were attending the two-day outdoor event, which has now been cancelled.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Scott stopped multiple times during his performance when he spotted fans in distress near the front of the stage.

The rapper asked security to help them out of the crowd. Emergency vehicles, lights and alarms flashing, cut through the crowds several times, the paper says.

Amateur video from the concert appears to show fans jumping on an emergency vehicle in the crowd as the performance continues on stage.

Edward, who attended the concert, told the BBC that he saw people "clawing back out of the crowd, almost all of them crying".

"I personally had a girl grab and hold on to me for dear life. I had to calm her down first because she literally thought she was about to die," he said.

"I created a circle with my arms and let her catch her breath and escorted her through a small path that was just about to close again."

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said there was panic when people "began to compress towards the front of the stage."
A reunification centre has been set up at the Wyndham Houston Hotel for families who have not heard from loved ones at the festival.

Astroworld is an annual event held at NRG Park since 2018, though it was put on pause last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Travis Scott, 29, made his big breakthrough in 2013 and has since had eight nominations for Grammy Awards. He has a child with celebrity socialite Kylie Jenner, who also attended the concert.

Other acts scheduled at the festival over the weekend included rappers Chief Keef and 21 Savage, and Australian rock act Tame Impala.

Source below:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59193150

Luton man left shocked as his house is ‘stolen’
By Shari Vahl
Police initially told Mike Hall it was not fraud but are now investigating
A man has described his shock at returning to his house and finding it stripped of all furnishings after it was sold without his knowledge.

Having been alerted by neighbours, the Reverend Mike Hall drove to Luton and found building work under way and a new owner who said he had bought the house.

A BBC investigation found Mr Hall's identity had been stolen and used to sell the house and bank the proceeds.

Police initially told him it was not fraud but are now investigating.

Mr Hall, who was away from the property and working in north Wales, said he received a call from his neighbours on 20 August, saying that someone was in the house and all the lights were on.

The following morning, he drove there.

"I went to the front door, tried my key in the front door, it didn't work and a man opened the front door to me," he told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours.

"I pushed him to one side and got in the property. I really didn't know what he was doing there.

"The shock of seeing the house completely stripped of furniture; all furnishings, carpet, curtains - everything - was out of the property."

The Land Registry paid out a total of £3.5m in compensation for fraud last year
The man said he was doing building work, to which Mr Hall replied: "I haven't sold the house. This is still my property."

Mr Hall phoned the police, but the builder left and returned with the new owner's father, who said he had bought the terraced house in July, adding: "It is now my property. You are now trespassing. Get out."

'A civil matter'
Mr Hall said: "We then tried to access the Land Registry documentation online to find out whose name appeared... and it is, in fact, as of 4 August, this man's name.

"At that point the police said, 'Well, there's nothing further we can do here. This is a civil matter; you need to leave the house and contact your solicitors.'"

He then tried to contact police online, but received the same response.

"I was shocked - having seen the house in the state it was, I was in a bit of a state of shock anyway - but then to be told by the police they didn't believe a criminal offence had been committed here was just unbelievable," he said.

The BBC put Mr Hall in touch with Bedfordshire Police's fraud squad, which has begun an investigation.

A spokeswoman said there had been no arrests.

We obtained the duplicate driving licence issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Mr Hall's name, details of a bank account set up in his name to receive the proceeds of the sale, and phone recordings of the house being stolen.

'We will co-operate'
Once the house was sold to the new owner for £131,000 by the person impersonating Mr Hall, they legally owned it.

The solicitors involved in the property transaction said there was an ongoing police investigation and that it was inappropriate to comment further.

The Land Registry paid out a total of £3.5m in compensation for fraud last year.

It said: "We work with professional conveyancers, such as solicitors, and rely on them and the checks that they make to spot fraudulent attempts to impersonate property owners.

"Despite our efforts, every year we do register a very small number of fraudulent transactions."

"What baffled was the qualify of Police service in England, in which they initially claimed it was a civil matter. They are worse than Nigeria Police."

Source below:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-59069662

Juoflife1:
They are now blaming IOCs. Rivers people and blaming oil companies are like bread and butter. You are doing something illegal and putting millions of people at risk and still have the effontry to blame oil companies. 25 down, more to go.
We need good air in port-harcourt.

Thanks also for your post.
The IOC's doesn't owe that community any dime. Most of the communities that make the most noise dont even have oil on their land. What they do is break the oil pipeline passing through their community and blackmail the oil companies for compensation, when that does not work they start refining the spilled crude oil illegally using the crudest (pun intended) method of just boiling the crude inside drums to make low grade kerosene and petrol while spewing over 60% of the crude as soot into the atmosphere. Damaging their health and those of us in nearby Port Harcourt.

Realdeals:
Sad, unfortunately the victims still refuses to take responsibility for their actions.
This is one of the greatest undoing of Nigerian masses, always playing the victim card with full sense of entitlement.

Thanks @Realdeals for your honest assessment.
I was surprised that the irresponsible community rep of Rumuekpe was blaming Oil companies for illegal Refineries.
When in actual facts, it is the get rich quick and "our oil money" attitude of the communities that make them setup illegal refineries.
The oil companies don't owe anybody a means of livelihood in that community.
Also to clarify a technical point on Nairaland. The oil in Niger Delta is spread into only 30 to 35 percentage of land in the Niger Delta. So, 65 percent of those in Niger Delta who make noise on social media about "our oil" don't have any oil on their family land or communities.

whirlwind7:
Thank you.
Nigeria is filled with numskulls

You are the typical numbskull, who opens his mouth on Nairaland to comment on topics they can't comprehend technically.
@ Tarorfeeek is very wrong. Gas flaring is efficiently done and has been done since the 1960's in Nigerians Oil industry.
If you reside in PH, the problem of soot in the air started when so called Niger Delta militants started making money via local stolen crude distillation using crude refinery methods.
They turned to local Refining of crude when the Navy successfully blocked them from selling to foreign ships anchored offshore Nigerian coast buying stolen crude oil.
Recently the soot has increased because every Tom Dick and Harry in the creeks around PH fabricate local drums to heat up the stolen crude and get petrol and kerosene out of it, usually inefficiently with 60% soot production.
There is a reason the low grade petrol produced by the creek boys is called "Asari Fuel".

TarOrfeeek:
OP you're a government agent.

Because its not illegal bunkering that causes that soothe.

It's GAS FLARING
And guess who flares gas? Federal Government of Nigeria.

So essentially the wealth of this country that fuels the Nigerian Fulani hegemony comes at the cost of SE and SS lives and prosperity.

As usual the parasites will blame anything but themselves.

You are probably an agent of the boys operating illegal refineries in the creeks of Rivers State or an technical illiterate who doesn't know that the legal gas flaring in oil installation is efficiently done to minimize soot formation. While the creek boys are using very crude and basic methods to just heat up the oil, leading to wastage and heavy soot formation.
Since the oil is stolen anyway, they can afford to burn away a large quantity as soot and sell the little petrol and kerosene produced.
So get your facts right and stop stinking up the discussion with your illiterate diatribe.

honda001:
With his your analysis, there will be alots of electrocution from clippers

You are very correct, I have had a nasty shock in an hotel room in Abuja, while trying to shave, some years back, it was due to Earth leakage.
Also a highly placed DSS official died of electric shock in an hotel room in PH, while shaving.
Trust Nigerians, to them it was due to village people or his enemies.
We need to introduce stringent electrical building regulations in this country, to stop incidences of live current leaking into building earthing system. The problems of Earth leakages is due to low quality electric consumer panels installed in buildings and not fake chargers.

SUFFERInSMILIIN:
Let me explain to you in the charger of a phone there is a step down transformer but when the charger of your phone begins to overheat violently that transformer cannot become reverse as the wires are shorting out in the charger so it'd of it be a step down transformer it becomes a step up transformer as the wires in the Transformers short out. It is the same thing with generators when did generator alternator is beginning to been out in some cases the voltage can step up to around 1,000 voltage as the wires and magnetic field begin to collapse and short circuits on the transformer of the phone. Expensive Falls like Samsung Sony and HTC have protection In their charges system. Cheap phones like tecno and infinix some of their charges do not have adequate protection

Your explanation does not hold any ground.
Even if he is using a fake charger with a fake transformer. The transformer will burn and the odour will fill the room, unless he has a limited sense of smell.
What probably killed him, if really he died holding the phone, is that the house has earthing problem, and live current leaked to the phone 5v output, which also explained why the wife also received a shock.
Police should arrest the Landlord and his electrician, because he died of leaking live current into the building earthing system, which affected him when he touched the phone.

NGpatriot:
So, hurting your own people is how to hurt Nigeria? Your own people are the sacrificial lamb, their blood must flow to hurt Nigeria, their businesses must be destroyed to hurt Nigeria, they must feel hurt and pain to hurt Nigeria?


I honestly think there's a manufacturing plant somewhere in the SE where they manufacture rettarded people with rettarded and badly formatted brain people.

It's like you drinking poison while hoping I die instead of you with the poison in your mouth.

I know we laugh at you people's insane and lunatic reasoning, but knowing that you people are really serious makes me wonder..

I don't understand the thinking of some Igbos. How can you think you will hurt the business of other Nigerians by destroying the business of fellow Igbos.
I now agree totally that lots of them have flat unproductive brains.

The flood that drowned American dreams
By Zhaoyin Feng
BBC News, New York

Published15 hours ago
Like many who come to America, Leng Hongsheng was looking for freedom.

He arrived in the 1990s, having lived through the tumult of a world war, a cultural revolution and the emergence of a nation into modernity.

He was thought to have been an engineer back in China. In New York, he collected rubbish for a living, peddling around Chinatown in Queens looking for plastic bottles and electronics to recycle.

Still, he found joy, brought his family to the US and got a green card, endeavouring to make a better life.

That hope ended last month, when Mr Leng, 82, along with his wife and daughter, drowned in the turbid waters that flooded his tiny basement flat - one of 14 victims of Hurricane Ida in New York City.

A memorial for the family was held on 3 October, a month after the devastating storm struck.

Most of the casualties in New York, including a two-year-old boy and a 86-year-old woman, were Asian and Hispanic immigrants living in illegal basement dwellings.

Hurricane Ida, a powerful Category 4 storm, made landfall in Louisiana with wind speeds of 150mph (240 km/h). As it moved north, it left a trail of destruction with dozens killed and tens of thousands of homes seriously damaged. When it hit the Northeast on 1 September it would become the deadliest storm the region has faced since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The deluge started around sunset and continued until past midnight. New rainfall records had just been set days earlier by a tropical storm, only for them to be broken again when Ida arrived. Rainfall averages for the entire month of September were reached within a few hours, triggering one of the worst urban flood disasters in US history.
It was around 11pm when Wu Ming was woken up by the sound of water. He opened his eyes, only to realise that flood waters were gushing into his ground-floor flat, on the same block as the Leng family's home.

He looked out the window and saw cars floating in the streets. "I had never seen anything like that in my 10 years of living in New York," Mr Wu told the BBC in Mandarin. (Wu Ming isn't his real name, as he has asked not to be identified.)

In less than two minutes, the water rose from his knees to his chest. He tried to escape through his front door, but to his shock, it wouldn't move an inch - he could not prise it open against the powerful cascade of water. He fled through the back door and spent a sleepless night on the outside staircase.

"I thought 'just endure tonight, we'd all be okay tomorrow,'" Mr Wu, a builder in his 50s, said.

There were glimpses of hope. A resident swam through the flash flood and rescued a cat and a dog from a flooded apartment. Residents on higher floors provided shelters to others.

It crossed Mr Wu's mind at some point that he had not spotted the Leng family.

"I wanted to help them," Mr Wu said, "but the floods were so overwhelming. I couldn't even see the door to their basement."

Today, some 1.5 billion people - about one in five people worldwide - face at least moderate flood risk, according to the World Bank.

In the US, about 41 million people are exposed to flood risk, concentrated in metropolitan areas where population density is high, and building on land newly prone to flooding is common.
A narrow outdoor stairwell led down to the Lengs' underground home, a nondescript red-bricked house on a quiet street in Flushing, with multiple families sharing the three floors of a few rooms each. Theirs was one of at least three blocks of such abodes in the neighbourhood.

Days after the storm, dirt, toppled furniture and rubbish laid strewn about the Lengs' flooded flat. Intense musty odours permeated the air and lingered around the neighbourhood.

In major US cities, as in many urban centres, a housing crisis has forced low-income renters into flats like those occupied by the family and other Ida victims.

"New York just doesn't have adequate housing for everyone who lives here, including the immigrants who are often very vulnerable," says Dr Jacqueline Klopp, co-director of the Center for Sustainable Urban Development at Columbia University.

There are around 50,000 illegal basement dwellings in New York City, according to the city's estimate.

Despite the hazards, tenants and homeowners often avoid reporting any issues due to fear of eviction or fines.

Two other household, also Chinese immigrants, shared the 93 sq m (1,000 sq ft) basement with the Lengs - but they were out at the time of the flood, one household having gone back to China for a visit and the other, a single man, out for work as a delivery man.

Only weeks before the storm, Mr Wu had asked Mr Leng's wife Shen why they kept living in such cramped conditions. The family had applied for federal housing, she told him, but it had not yet been approved.

"They did not realise their American Dream," Mr Wu said, sighing.

Five of the six properties where New Yorkers lost their lives during the floods are unlicensed cellar-level homes, city officials said.

Seven miles from the Lengs' home, the Lama family from Nepal lived in the basement of a brick house next to two major highways in Maspeth, Queens.

Ang Gelu Lama, 50, had come to the US from Nepal 14 years ago. He and his wife Mingma Yangji Sherpa had a two-year-old son Lopsang, who had red, chubby cheeks and liked playing with monkey toys. A family friend told the Washington Post that the family lived in the cramped basement space for the cheap rent.

The last phone call Mrs Sherpa made was to a neighbour upstairs, telling her that flood waters were seeping into her flat.
A makeshift memorial now stands in front of the Lamas' home, displaying a black-and-white family photo, Lopsang's stuffed monkey and two lollipops.

On a recent day, Nuku Sherpa, Mr Lama's aunt, broke down in tears as she chanted a Buddhist prayer for the Lamas. Ms Sherpa, who lives in New Jersey, had just cleaned up her own flooded flat when she learnt of their deaths.

"We are heartbroken," she said.
In all, Hurricane Ida tore through 1,500 miles of the continental US over the course of three days, spawning tornadoes in at least seven states, record rainfalls across the country and bringing about New York City's first-ever flash flood emergency.

Days after the storm, Mr Wu returned to salvage his belongings and to drain floodwaters from his mud-covered car, hoping that the engine could restart when dried. He couldn't bear to lose it, he said, after almost everything else had been taken by the water. "Even the trousers that I am wearing now are borrowed," he said.

The Lengs' deaths have been widely remarked upon in China, with many wondering on social media why the patriarch chose such a seemingly impoverished life for his family.

Asked one user: "He loved America, but did America love him back".

What got my attention was the fact that an Engineer in China, would migrate to the US to become a garbage collector and be living in abject poverty in New York.
Nigerian planning to emigrate should take note.

Source below:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58565627

festacman:
As young boy scout, we used to sing: "A Scout is a friend to all and brother to every other scout, no matter to what country, class or creed the others may belong."

I believe the same principle applies even more strongly to professional police personnel. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu/IPOB should have known that killing police in Nigeria breaks the hearts of police officer anywhere in the world. It was a matter of time before INTERPOL, in espirit de corps, tracked and arrested him.

The almighty God will bless you.
When some miscreants on Nairaland were jubilating the killing of Nigerian security forces by iPod operatives, I knew the end of their sponsor was near.
Security operatives all over the world were shocked about what was happening and the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu is the result.

It is unbelievable that Trump election lawyer is claiming her election rigging claims are lies.
Please read on.

Pro-Trump lawyer says ‘no reasonable person’ would believe her election lies.
Lawyers for Sidney Powell argued conspiracies she laid out constituted legally protected first amendment speech.
A key member of the legal team that sought to steal the 2020 election for Donald Trump is defending herself against a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit by arguing that “no reasonable person” could have mistaken her wild claims about election fraud last November as statements of fact.

In a motion to dismiss a complaint by the large US-based voting machine company Dominion, lawyers for Sidney Powell argued that elaborate conspiracies she laid out on television and radio last November while simultaneously suing to overturn election results in four states constituted legally protected first amendment speech.

“No reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact,” argued lawyers for Powell, a former federal prosecutor from Texas who caught Trump’s attention through her involvement in the defense of his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Powell falsely stated on television and in legal briefs that Dominion machines ran on technology that could switch votes away from Trump, technology she said had been invented in Venezuela to help steal elections for the late Hugo Chávez.

Citing lost business and reputational damage, Dominion filed a $1.3bn defamation lawsuit against Powell and her colleague on Trump’s legal team, Rudy Giuliani. A Dominion employee separately sued the Trump campaign after receiving death threats.

“It was clear to reasonable persons that Powell’s claims were her opinions and legal theories on a matter of utmost public concern,” her legal motion says. “Those members of the public who were interested in the controversy were free to, and did, review that evidence and reached their own conclusions – or awaited resolution of the matter by the courts before making up their minds.”

The filing brought expressions of disbelief from Trump critics.

“This is her defense. Wow,” tweeted the Republican representative Adam Kinzinger.

As Trump fought to reverse his election loss in November, the former president himself reportedly supported Powell’s claims in private – and trumpeted them in public, touting Powell two weeks after the election as a key part of “the legal effort to defend OUR RIGHT to FREE and FAIR ELECTIONS”.

Powell was publicly exiled from the Trump camp a week after that tweet, after she appeared at a news conference hosted by the Republican National Committee alongside Giuliani, whose hair dye memorably ran down his face, and Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis.

The group was “an elite strike force team that is working on behalf of the president and the campaign”, Ellis announced.

Then Powell faced the cameras and claimed to have identified “massive influence of communist money through Venezuela, Cuba and likely China in the interference with our elections here in the United States”.

Source
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/23/sidney-powell-trump-election-fraud-claims

sgtponzihater1:
Chairman, I would strongly suggest that you do at least a pelvic ultrasound to check for undescended testes in your pelvic region and get this removed ASAP if there is any, as that would be a potential disaster. If there is no other testes missed then good luck as one testes is enough to do the job

Cheers

@Kiddo,
Above is the best reply for you.
Go and test for undescended testicle. It should be removed if found.
The normal descended one is enough for you to father 100 children, if you wish to do so.

grandlexuz:
Trumps failures is a topic for another day. I wouldn't say Obama was friendly to islamists militants by any proportion.. Most of the damage to ISIS was done by Obama under the Operation Inherent Resolve. Whilst we can't refuse Trump finished the job when he took over, the damage to ISIS had already been done before 2017. With Alaqeda defeated, can Obama take all the accolades cos he killed Bin Laden.? No, much of the credit goes to Bush as well.

By late 2016 ISIS had lost 62% of its land in Iraq having at the peak of its influence in 2014 captured 40% of Iraqi land mass. By late 2016 it had shrunk to just 10%. By 2016 the had lost 40% of their seized land in Syria. Before Trump took over, ISIS had been stretched to its limit and compromised at all fronts. Trump eventualy gave them the fatal blow. That Obama killed Osama can't have him take all the credit for defeating Alaqaeda.

You might not have noticed but I am a Cameroonian who has been on nairaland for over 13 years. I followed the 2015 election results all night having been totally disgruntled with the Goodluck's regime inability to fight insecurity and corruption. The Chibok girls and how cluelessly he handled it brought me tears. Despite the oil windfall of the Goodluck administration his biggest achievenent was corrupton and embezzlement by those around him. Obama didnt sit in Buhari. The Nigerian population did, with a vote difference of over 3 million. Don't be an Orubebe over this. Hahaha

Goodluck was very weak as a president hence the inroads by boko haram. I refuse to agree Nigerian was run down by BH cos Obama refused to sell weapons to Nigeria. The many abuses by the Nigerian army on innocent civilians, well documented by Amnesty International dented the army's reputation. Killing of innocent civilians was easier than BH. That said the Nigerian army had enough weaponary from other sources to defeat BH.

As much as you might hate Buhari the broader hardship of his government has been as a result of the fall of oil price a commodity Nigeria totally depends on for hard currency. You do know very well had GEJ been given another tenure Nigeria would have vanished from the surface of the universe by now.

Every American president has been enpowered to clip the wings of extremists around the globe. America is built on certain principles that only Trump has compromised. As much as the US government makes plenty of billions from the sales of military hardwares the are quick to restrict to sell if those arms stand to he abused.

During the Obama presidency even Saudi Arabia was refused certain grade of weapons as sanctions for hunan right abuses. Had the killing of the Saudi journalist (Kashogi) in Turkey taken place under Obama, the Saudi Prince would have been sanctioned without prejudice. Despite the huge anount of evidence Trump protected him even bragging he saved his ass.

I totally stand against Muslim extremist but not against Muslims. The two must be differentiated. Trump didnt know where to draw the line. He targeted Muslims all over the world ujustly not because he is a christian or prefers christians. He did because he wanted to please his base of supporters. It was always about TRUMP. His divisive politics brought him to power and also took him out early. In a couple of months he will be nothing. Whilst most ex presidents go on to live a very quiet life, he will be caught up in court cases that will last for decades.

Thanks for this your post.
If majority of those who post on Nairaland have the type of brain and precise analysis of events like you, Nairaland would have been a world standard as regards social discourse.
Instead what we have are semi illiterates and sponsored miscreants, taking over discussions on Nairaland.
I am also curious, your English is so smooth. Are you from the English or French speaking part of Cameroon.

Smellymouth:
Folorunsho Alakija, as in the Alakija we know, attended Laycon's birthday party?

Yes she is proudly Ogun State.

azzima:
This guy is the BIGGEST american mistake EVER!The day I saw this fool SHOVING the PRESIDENT of Montenegro during a Photo-Op, I knew America was in trouble. I remember growing up in NY in early 90s during the Central Park Jogger rape case. This UNAPOLOGETIC BIGOT paid for a WHOLE page denigrating the supposedly accused Black defendants ....it took OVER 20 years later for these kids to be released and monetarily COMPENSATED for WRONG IMPRISONMENT. ....That's why I get "incensed" when I see HOW African Baboons "worshipped" this idiot sore loser in American history. Foolish so called Nairaland Preacher( Righteous 99 whatever) who as a Christian NEEDS to STAY OUT OF POLITICS called Trump the "King Cyrus" of our time....Really? The man that is a PATHOLOGICAL liar, that says to grab a woman by the pussy Stupid AFRICANS!

Thanks azzima. The semi illiterate Nigerians who support Trump both on Nairaland and online, are not aware of all these Racism that Donald Trump represent.
The Nigerians and Africans supporting him, are a disgrace.

Businext:
On March 4th 1801, the second president of the United States, John Adams, refused to hand over office to his main rival at the 1800 election, Thomas Jefferson.

The rule of midday January 20 had not been written yet but despite his stubbornness, the office simply left him!

After Thomas Jefferson was sworn in at an event which the incumbent refused to attend, Whitehouse staff started to remove the former president’s belongings from the White house (Adams was the first president to reside at the new official residence).

All security organs cut all official communication and all presidential staff stopped taking instructions from Adams – THE OFFICE MOVED.

From that time all incumbents at the White House prepare early to leave in case they see signs of losing to avoid humiliation by the independent organs of state (the military, the Secret Service, the CIA, FBI and White House staff all operate under a code - serving a man/woman who has carried the WILL of the people at an election).

As soon as Biden clinches the 270 votes and is officially declared by all returning officers in the states, the following is going to happen

1. The Secret Service divides its attention between the incumbent at the incoming President.

2. CIA begins to give them both security briefings (including top secret intelligence which is traditionally reserved for the commander in chief).

3. The counter intelligence teams of the CIA which also ‘spy’ on the CIA also begin to brief both of them.

4. Whitehouse staff prepare to re-do the WH in-line with the taste of the president-elect.

5. At Midday on January 20, Whitehouse staff remove all the former president's belongings from the house and bring in the belongings of the new president (they wait for no one’s instructions).

6. The deductions for Whitehouse rent on Trump’s salary stops in January while the deductions for Whitehouse rent begins on Joe Biden’s presidential salary in January.

7. Melania Trump stops being the boss of Whitehouse on January 20 at midday and Dr. Jill Biden becomes the boss of Whitehouse on January 20 at midday.

8. At midday on January 20, all the power organs of the US cut official communication with Trump; The Pentagon, The CIA, The FBI, The Attorney General. The Secret Service however maintains minimal communication since it is going to guard the ex-president all his life.

8. The BEAST and AIRFORCE ONE salute Trump for the last time and move their attention to Biden. The BEAST begins to carry Biden’s blood samples as is the tradition.

All this without any executive orders or instructions from anyone! The system just kicks in.

#Copied

#74YearOldTrumpIsOut
#78YearOldBidenIn

@Businext. Thanks for your detailed explanation. Most Nigerian who post on Nairaland are usually not well informed, before they post, exposing , their ignorance.
Trump will be thrown out in January 20th 2021 if he doesn't go willingly.
His supporters talk about going to Supreme court. Yes he can, but even his party knows he doesn't have enough legal evidence to overturn the election results in the key states, where he lost the presidency.
The persons ranting on his behalf online. Are his Rightwing racist supporters, and Nigerian Evangelistic groups, who have lost their faces by supporting him blindly.

TruthHurts1:
Actually it's the media who have called it in favour of Biden. The US Supreme Court granted an order just this morning in favour of the Republicans for the mailed in votes that arrived after the election day to be counted separately from the regular votes. Later on polling agents from both parties will be present for an inspection and recount of those mailed in votes. I think the media ought to have been patient

[img]https://images./1iybC7Lz05msdf5VSLbzF2.jpg[/img]

They had already put those votes aside. And those votes have not been counted, so the supreme Court order is moot, because the electoral commission in Pennsylvania never counted them.
So CNN are correct to call it for Biden, since he has already won without those votes, and even if counted later and favour Trump, They are not enough to overcome Trump's deficit to Biden.

Emeraldgreene:
This life no balance.Trump is the winner of the elections.It was bloody hell rigged.Thats why they waited till Saturday to announce the results!They were burning Republican ballot boxes and bringing in unregistered voters to vote! It's what happens when a woman wants to take u down!I guess (hell)hath no fury like a woman scorned.We all know Mrs Clinton and Nancy Pelosi,the two Jezebels are behind this! Biden is just a puppet .the real president controlling Biden is madam Hillary who hates Trump so damn much since 2016 cos he took the white house win from her!

Stop talking rubbish, you, ma, is the Jezebel.
No woman brought him down, his racism, self centeredness, lack of respect for fellow human beings and his unchristian like behaviour, brought him down.