₦airaland Forum

One word.

METRO

Santa Cruz is a such great town, and very picturesque from what I've heard. One of my plans when I get a break from school, is to drive up the California coast, and experience the the tranquility many people say they experience when doing so.

Thanks for telling.

^ Thanks, I'm happy you're enjoying them.

Also, have you ever been to L.A? I've noticed you live in Sac-Town.

[center]Downtown from above.
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The Century City district skyline, in the foreground of the Downtown Skyline.
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Duck setting over L.A. with Downtown, seen from the U.S.C. campus.
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The Downtown Skyline, from the 100 Freeway.
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Heading into Downtown from Pasadena.
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[center]Skyline showing Mountains in the background.
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Overlooking South Bay area, while looking towards Downtown.
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Image of Downtown overlooking the industrial area of Los Angeles.
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Urban Paradise in the Hollywood District
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^ It happened in China.

Well, would you?

lol, I agree with Kobo.

. . . .which can be considered a revolution.

I also think having the Death Penalty for corrupt officials is another good way to start things off.

Joined.

This type of action would be great for Nigeria, and great for many other Africans nations who have problems with corruption. I'm in full support of this type of action, because with this in place, leaders will fulfill their duties of taking care of the people, instead of themselves and their cronies.

[size=15pt][center]Death penalty for China official[/center][/size]

China has sentenced the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration to death after he was convicted of corruption, state media has reported.

Zheng Xiaoyu was convicted on charges of taking bribes and of dereliction of duty, Xinhua news agency reported.

The sentence is unusually harsh for a senior figure, but Zheng could have his sentence reduced to life on appeal.

The verdict came as the government announced plans for the first ever recall system of unsafe food products.

Beijing has been under pressure to act over increasing concern both at home and abroad about the poor standards of Chinese-produced food and medicines.

Name poisoned

State television showed footage of a grey-haired Zheng - who was expelled from the Communist Party earlier this year - appearing in court in Beijing flanked by police officers.

He had been accused by an official investigation last month of accepting more than 6.5m yuan ($850,000) in bribes to approve hundreds of drugs.

One company, Kongliyuan Group, allegedly paid Zheng bribes in return for approving 277 drugs, mostly antibiotics.

Zheng's former secretary, Cao Wenzhuang, also faced trial, accused of accepting bribes.

Thirty-one other people were also alleged to have been involved in the scandal, including Zheng's wife, Liu Naixue, and his son, Zheng Hairong.

Following Zheng's sacking in 2005, the Chinese government announced a review of about 170,000 medical licences that were awarded during his tenure at the agency.

Dozens of people have died in China because of poor quality or fake drugs.

Last year, a sub-standard antibiotic, Xinfu, which was not properly sterilised, caused the deaths of 11 people.

Thirteen babies died of malnutrition in 2005 after being fed powdered milk that contained no nutritional value.

The Chinese government recently announced an urgent review of industry food standards after public alarm over a recent spate of cases.

US inspectors blamed exported Chinese pet food ingredients, contaminated with melamine, for the deaths of cats and dogs in North America.

And they recently halted shipments of toothpaste from China to investigate reports that they may be contaminated with toxic chemicals.

On Tuesday, as Zheng was sentenced, the government said a new recall process targeting "potentially dangerous and unapproved food products" would be brought in by the end of the year.

"All domestic and foreign food producers and distributors will be obliged to follow the system," Wu Jianping, of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, was quoted as saying.

BBC News

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[size=15pt][center]Labour 'floundering' on migration[/center][/size]

The government is "floundering around" on UK immigration because it believes the issue is an "electoral liability", the shadow home secretary has said.

Dominic Grieve spoke out after the government said the number of migrants entering via the points system may have to be cut owing to the economic crisis.

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas told the Times immigration became "extremely thorny" if people were losing jobs.

The Tories have urged the government to show how they would deliver the plans.

Mr Woolas said the government would not allow the UK population to pass 70 million.

He said setting a population policy - which would be a first for Labour - would enable the government to set a limit on migration.

In a wide-ranging interview Mr Woolas, who became immigration minister earlier this month, told the Times: "It's been too easy to get into this country in the past and it's going to get harder.

"There has to be a balance between the number of people coming in and the number of people leaving."

Tougher immigration policies would also require getting the British "back to work", for example with more retraining for the unemployed, he said.

Mr Grieve said Labour were matching Tory policies on setting immigration limits.

But he insisted it needed to be "carefully explained".

"The government hasn't got to grips with this issue at all, and that they're floundering around because they know it's now become a serious electoral liability."

He added: "Tough talk is simply not enough, they must now explain how they intend to deliver."

'Powerful controls'

The government recently introduced a new points-based system to attract migrants from outside the EU to certain jobs.

The Home Office said the UK's new system provided "a powerful and flexible set of controls" which allowed it to "raise or lower the bar" according to needs.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the population grew by nearly two million to 60,975,000 people between 2001 and 2007.

Various official projections predict this to rise to 77m in 2051 or 110m in 2081.

BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins said it was significant Mr Woolas had quoted an upper limit for the UK population.

The government had previously shied away from setting a "population policy" because it was difficult for ministers to explain how it would be managed, he said.

This is because immigration from inside the EU cannot be controlled, and neither can a limit be placed on genuine claims for asylum.

Former Labour minister Frank Field, a member of a cross-party group on immigration, welcomed Mr Woolas's comments.

The MP for Birkenhead said when the country was moving into a recession the immigration policy suitable for a boom was unsuitable.

He said the key was to "break the link" between people coming to the UK to work and gaining citizenship, which increased the population.

'Distorted picture'

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, which argues for balanced migration, told BBC Five Live Mr Woolas's remarks showed a significant development in the immigration debate.

"This is the very first time that a government minister has recognised the link between immigration and population," he said.

But the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, Keith Vaz, said he disagreed with Mr Woolas.

A Labour government had never supported a quota for immigration, he said, adding that the points-based system was based on needs of the economy and not numbers.

He said the government should avoid providing a vehicle for the "distorted picture the far right will want to portray".

Keith Best, chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, said immigration quotas were not workable in a modern trading economy.

"What are you going to say to the employer who is desperate to fill a job, but can't find anyone suitable in the European economic area?" he said.

"Are you going to say 'sorry, the quota has been filled, you'll have to wait till next year'?"

Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem's home affairs spokesman, said it was surprising the issue was being considered now, when many immigrants were returning home because of the financial crisis.

"I do find it rather worrying that Labour and the Conservatives seem to be opening up this debate now at a time when traditionally people have looked for scapegoats in immigrant communities for economic problems, and in fact exactly the opposite is the case.

"The people who get the hardest hit first are often migrant communities."

BBC News

[size=15pt][center]Britain to restrict immigration, minister says[/center][/size]

Saturday, October 18, 2008 | 8:40 PM ET

Britain is going to restrict immigration to preserve jobs for its citizens, Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said in an interview published Saturday.

“If people are being made unemployed, the question of immigration becomes extremely thorny … It’s been too easy to get into this country in the past and it’s going to get harder,” the Labour government minister told the Times of London.

Britain's unemployment rate rose sharply, to 5.7 per cent, in the last quarter.

Britain, which admits about 200,000 immigrants a year, adopted a tougher points-based immigration system in February. "Only those with skills the country needs can come," Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said at the time.

Woolas said the government should train British citizens for those jobs.

Government ministers had welcomed more immigration earlier this year.

Smith said that "migrants benefit this country economically, contributing an estimated £6 billion [about $12.3 billion] to our national output, as well as socially and culturally."

And in June, Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform Stephen Timms, commenting on a report on migrants from Eastern Europe, said: "These migrants have not taken jobs away from British workers and have not impacted on wages."

The opposition Conservatives have been pushing to cut immigration substantially below the 200,000 figure.

Labour MP and former minister Frank Field welcomed the policy change. "We shouldn't grow the population by immigration," he said.

Canada admits about 250,000 immigrants a year, and expects 240,000 to 265,000 in 2008, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley said in October 2007.

It's not known if Finley will remain in the immigration portfolio when Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new cabinet is sworn in.

CBC News

[center]Lively streetscene in the C.B.D.
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Police Patrolling near shops in the C.B.D.
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Looking up at buildings in the C.B.D
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Traffic in the C.B.D, with the Lunchtime crowd starting to disperse.
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Office Workers ready for lunch!
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[center]Shot of the Skyline, looking over Dodger Stadium (Home of the L.A. Dodgers!)
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Streetscene in East L.A., showing beautiful art on a building.
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The 405 and 10 Freeway Interchange in West L.A.
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The 110 Freeway bisecting itself through Downtown.
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In front of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.
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I don't know what channels you watch, but I haven't seen any lately.

Those Somali Islamists are jokes. They wouldn't dare get two miles within Kenya's borders, or their skinny asses will get annihilated. I don't see why it's taking so long for Russia to blow their little pirate operation to shreds

[quote author=maasai!! link=topic=51356.msg2957633#msg2957633 date=1224274782]Why the hell should any one talk to this fool let him talk to himself, hopefully he will get tired and get something to do, and what humor is there in insulting ones country, africans are just their biggest enemies[/quote]Well said. Just continue with this great thread, and ignore the posters who insist on making bigoted, ignorant, and demeaning statements. Some people just can't help but expose their ignorance, and when that happens it's just best to ignore.

[center]Shot of the Eastern Columbia Building in Downtown
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Downtown Skyline Pic from West L.A.
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Century City Skyline in West L.A.
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Looking at the almost endless strip of buildings on Wilshire in Westwood
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The Mid-City district of Los Angeles. Lot's of gentrification here!
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Abuja is by far the most organized city in West Africa, with Accra following at a distant second place, with Dakar following a close third place, because of it's timeless historic architecture. I would put Abidjan at fourth best, but if it were to have kept it's charm, it would easily be first. It's a tragedy what happened to Cote d'Ivoire when it was on the fast path to prosperity, but the African curse claimed it. Yamoussoukro would be in Fifth place, the architecture in that city is also timeless with their marvelous basilica. Sorry Lagos.

This is how a list would look:

1. Abuja











2. Accra
3. Dakar

4. Abidjan
5. Yamoussoukro

I see the "Naija Cynic" is putting her work in on this thread.

Revolution isn't always violent.

I may sound very naive, or maybe a bit condescending with this, but some African countries may be better off being sold back to their colonial masters.

I like your idea "inquisitive", it would really start a much needed movement for Najia. You should really keep this going, because I really believe if enough people are involved, we can really achieve change. The internet is just the beginning.

[center][img]http://www.happynovisad.co.yu/slike/Moda/vesti/revolution_fist.jpg[/img][/center]

The vast, vast, vast majority of Fox viewers are Republicans. Many also hold a strong belief they "fix" the results, and for good reasons. Their polls are widely viewed on the same level as a common joke. More accurate polls are CNN, CBS, MSNBC, ABC, and Newswire.

To be honest, none of them were really all that riveting, but the first one was the best by default. The second one was extremely boring, and this one was just a failure for McCain. Obama performed well in all Three, while McCain only really performed in the First one, steadily declining in the rest.

You're welcome. But, on a side note, Hollywood has millions of opportunities, you just have to make yourself noticed!

[center] STOP THE HATE! [/center]

Nairalanders please! This discussion has really turned into something very disgraceful. This thread was created to celebrate the beauty of Kenya's wonderful capital of Nairobi, not to show it's ugly parts, nor was it created to ridicule Lagos, or Nigeria as a whole. The mud slinging exhibited in this thread is truly disheartening, and the personal attacks from both sides aren't in any way better.

We as Africans (Yeah, I consider us all one) need to put aside the hate and jealousy and learn to appreciate each other, and each others cultures more, and not let hate influenced by ignorance get the best of us. We should be proud to be able to see a city such as Nairobi that exhibits itself as being a very functional city, but it also shows it's many areas of potential.

We should be proud that their are cities across our great continent that are on the path of in the near future, to being able to be compared to cities such as New York City, Berlin, London, Tokyo, etc, Yeah, that may sound a bit far fetched to some, but when you look closely at the pace Africa's developing, this is truly possible if we keep going at this pace.

We should celebrate the fact not all of our cities in our great continent are suffering the worst effects of war, mismanagement, corruption, and just plain out madness. Think of Kinshasa, Bamako, Brazzaville, Mogadishu, Conakry, Niamey, Monrovia, etc, If you think the acknowledged "bad areas" of Nairobi and Lagos are as bad as some of you say, I suggest you venture into those cities and then re-evaluate your opinion.

To conclude, I once again reiterate that all the hate and spite shown recently in this thread is unacceptable and needs to be put to rest. This was an excellent thread until a few forumers had taken it upon themselves to start an all out war of words.

[center] STOP THE HATE! [/center]