₦airaland Forum

[size=14pt]I have a strong feeling these people and clothes are of Nupe origin and not Yoruba.

What do you think?[/size]

[size=18pt]LCC: Robbing Addo/Badore to pay Ajah?[/size]

As a resident of Ajah axis of Lagos since the mid-2000s, when setting out for daily activities in the morning used to be terribly nightmarish, it was with a sigh of relief that I received the news of the contracting of the expansion of the Ajah-Lekki Expressway to the Lekki Construction Company (LCC) sometime in late 2006. Work started on the project in 2007, and we all regarded the further traffic gridlocks that occasioned the construction works as a necessary though bitter pill needed to solve our problem.

It is very unfortunate that in 2013, six years on, this road has not been completed. The length of time this project is taking calls to question the competence of the handlers, as one wonders why a 50-kilometre road expansion (adding just a lane per side, not fresh construction) will take so long. Worse still, works have been practically abandoned for months now, leaving us residents of the deeper parts of the axis at the mercy of renewed traffic gridlocks, that usually start after the Conservation Toll plaza every evening.

But while the post-toll plaza traffic is at least bearable, given the fact that we experience it on our way back from work when we are not exactly in a hurry, the poor execution of this project has created fresh nightmare for us residents of Addo/Badore/Langbasa axis. This is the worst part of it. Due to the obviously ill-planned roundabout at Ajah, the space available for vehicles coming from our axis to connect Ajah roundabout is too narrow for the volume of vehicular traffic in that Badore/Langbasa, one of the fastest developing parts of Lagos. Even if one is not a professional construction engineer, common sense calls for overhead bridge in that area, or a smaller roundabout, or another route to connect the road to another part of Ajah.

Whatever the solution is, the current ugly situation appears a robbery to us residents of that axis. Before the construction of that Ajah roundabout, we didn’t use to experience that traffic. The bad planning in the construction of that roundabout has brought untold hardship on us.

Addo to Ajah that took not more than 10 minutes to drive in the past, now takes 60 to 90 minutes in the morning. Yet, some of us are contracted to arrive our Victoria Island workplaces before 8am. If one spends one and a half hours before reaching Ajah alone, one leaves the reader to imagine the number of hours it takes to get to work, when there are other traffic spots like the Agungi side, the Lekki roundabout and Admiralty Toll Gate before reaching VI.

Some of us whose health cannot withstand waking up 4am and hitting the road 4:30am everyday, and as such cannot leave home earlier than 6am, have no option than to abandon our cars at home and ‘fly’ commercial motorcycles to Ajah roundabout before joining commercial transport, with all the safety and security risks, for that is the only way we can reach our workplaces before 8am. That is the only way we have been beating the LCC roundabout-induced Ajah-Addo traffic, which stretches two kilometres or more and takes not less than one hour. This was not the case before that Olympic-size Ajah roundabout was constructed.

So far, at least for those of us that live in deeper parts of Ajah, the six years construction exercise by LCC has only shifted the points of traffic burden, it has not eliminated it. For a project that we thought will bring smiles to our faces when it started, this turn of event is very unfortunate.



BY : Suraj Oyewale
http://businessdaynigeria.com/lcc-robbing-addobadore-pay-ajah

angel TI: This YUZEDO boy has made himself the most popular guy on nairaland! C as he diverted attention from d topic to himself

Yuzedo, ur head dey there jor

@topic

Is that picture not of 1004 Estate and not Banana Ice(cream)land?

Belt and suspenders?

A definite no! no!

Otherwise, fine!

All The President's Men: The unimaginable lengths needed to keep George Bush alive...

The fact that George W Bush is the most guarded president in the history of the USA is unremarkable. But as any Londoner who witnessed his motorcade last month will tell you, the lengths to which the Presidential Advance Team go to keep him alive are almost unimaginable.
Last updated at 4:31 PM on 07th July 2008

By KRIS HOLLINGTON

On an overcast day in March, a group of men dressed in black suits and wearing Motorola Bluetooth sunglasses stood in a golf course bunker.

None of them had any golf clubs. Instead they held notepads.

When they climbed out of the bunker, they began inspecting the trees and bushes that lined the fairway.

In nearby Windsor Castle, 15 similarly attired men were moving with as much tact as they could muster through the 900-year-old landings and chambers. In central London, yet another detachment was tracing a route from Regent’s Park to Downing Street.

In each case, the men’s sunglasses had a rather special feature. They housed tiny cameras that beamed every image seen by the men back to an operations room in Washington DC.

The images were played out live on a large multi-screen display and watched intently by the Presidential Advance Team (PAT), headed by Spencer Geissinger.

The day had not started well and was getting worse by the minute.

With every second of footage being sent back from London and Berkshire by the highly trained team of secret agents, Geissinger could see another potential catastrophe – another possible hiding place for a would-be assassin.

The Presidential Advance Team is by far and away the most complex, expensive and thorough presidential or premier advance guard unit in the world, and made more complex still by George W Bush’s seven years of incendiary foreign policies.

An invitation to President Bush to take tea with the Queen at Windsor – the first time an American head of state had received such an invitation in 26 years – should have been a moment to savour.

Indeed, Bush’s team intended to make the most of this priceless piece of publicity. But the security issues the invitation threw up were Geissinger’s nightmare.

Already the Queen’s private office was making his job harder.

[b]The American Secret Service had been refused a number of outlandish demands.

Requests to reinforce the Royal palace walls, to allow a military helicopter to be constantly airborne over the palace and for agents to watch over the preparation of George Bush’s food had all been denied.

Her Majesty had made just one concession: agents would be allowed to inspect the rifles held by the Yeomen Of The Guard.

And there was another problem. Where was the President’s helicopter, Marine One, going to land?

Not too close to the castle, the PAT was informed; the noise would blow out the 200-year-old windows.

A team of agents had been sent off to march their way across the Windsor countryside a full three months before Bush’s visit. They inspected the Castle golf course, nearby tennis courts and a bowling green for possible landing areas and general security measures. It was decided that the helicopter would land in Home Park to the east of the Castle.

[/b]The landing site wasn’t the only security headache.

In London, agents had trawled the route of the most obvious demonstration of Bush’s security needs – his 21-car motorcade, the most heavily armoured of any US president. Geissinger signed off what orders he could.

The Secret Service had classed the golf, tennis and bowling areas as being too close to the Windsor landing points and demanded they be declared off-limits to the public during Bush’s brief visit. Agents were directed to identify bushes and trees that needed to be swept for snipers on the day.

There are good reasons for the agents’ paranoia. Bush is under constant threat of assassination.

In 2003, he received 500 death threats every month, more than any predecessor. Many can be instantly discounted, but between 25 and 40 each month are taken seriously enough to have made him the most protected president in history.

The logistics and costs of transporting Bush are mind-boggling.

For his recent trip to London, the work called on the expertise of 904 civilian staff from the Department of Defense, 600 from the Armed Services, 250 Secret Service officers, 205 White House staff, 103 US Information Agency staff, 44 Department of State staff, 30 more from the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Labour, Transportation and Treasury, 18 Senior Advance Office staff, 16 members of Congress (to tick legal boxes) and 12 sniffer dogs.

Bush’s European trip alone cost £13 million, while staff costs for his Secret Service amount to £580 million a year; the total allocation of money to ‘domestic protection of persons’ was £403 million in 2006.

And yet the PAT is invisible to the public. Agents never appear in media photos, as the part-classified Presidential Advance Manual sets out in its rules of engagement: ‘You do not eat up an inch of the frame’.

‘To get the job done,’ says John Liebech, a 30-year veteran from the US Defense Department and former Advance Team member, ‘you need to have a glimmer of crookedness, because emergencies crop up that call for acts beyond the normal call of duty.

If they could, the Secret Service would have the President arrive after dark at a military airport, stick him in a tank and make him stay the night in the vault at the Bank of England.

‘As far as they’re concerned, on every balcony there lurks an Oswald, on every street corner a Hinckley, in every crowd a Sarah Jane Moore or Lynette Fromme [both of whom tried to shoot President Gerald Ford]. No one wants to be known for losing the President on their watch.’

And the quickest and most obvious way of not losing a President on one’s watch is to secure that most public of appearances, the drive through town.

It is safe to say that, three weeks ago, when the President drove from his Ambassador’s residence in Regent’s Park to meet Gordon Brown at Downing Street, the PAT did not compromise.

Industry sources describe Cadillac One as ‘a completely unique vehicle with no shared technology’.

They are referring to the fact that although it is based on a Cadillac DeVille, the vehicle has just three components from the DeVille: the headlights, the brake lights and the badge.

Cadillac One is also known as the Rolling Fortress.

It contains the President (codenamed Trailblazer for his London trip) and the First Lady.

It is driven on a rota basis by five military chauffeurs, which is apt; everything about Cadillac One is military grade.

It has five inches of armour under every single part of its skin – with the added height and length, it brings the presidential limo in at four tons – and the car’s windows are not windows at all. They are actually transparent armour, which is why they don’t open.

The dark-blue leather interior is hermetically sealed against chemical attack.

Lit by a fluorescent halo lighting system – the windows are so thick they block out most natural light – the President and his First Lady or fellow passenger sit in individually reclining rear seats, separated by a folding desk. Arranged around them are stores of breathing equipment and antidotes for biological and chemical agents.

But the real tricks are up front.

The dashboard has controls for an infrared night-driving system that identifies movement outside the range of the headlights, electronic counter measure (ECM) devices – such as scramblers usually used by USAF jets to fool incoming missiles – and switches for four jacks in the body armour to which speakers can be attached, should the President feel like making a speech from inside the car.

Connected to the boot lid are five antennae, one of which has a link to the Comms vehicle elsewhere in the motorcade, as well as Cadillac Two, carrying some of the 18 Senior Advance Office staff.

The London leg of Bush’s visit was the weak spot, as far as the Secret Service was concerned.

The capital provided plenty of chances for an ambush.

Their pulses must have been racing as they left the Ambassador’s residence for the 15-minute drive into central London. Had every box been ticked?

Had they checked every building on the route? Should they have bombarded the road with X-rays looking for freshly dug tunnels? One thing was for sure – if anyone was foolish enough to try anything, they’d be met with everything the Secret Service had.

At the rear of the motorcade (car 20), looking like it had just marched off the set of Starship Troopers, was the American counter-assault team on board a Chase Car, aka ‘War-wagon’.

This is a souped-up Range Rover supplied by the UK Police’s Special Escort Group.

The counter-assault forces are the elite of the elite and deadly efficient – but haven’t yet been put to the test.

They wear black jumpsuits and helmets, and carry Diemaco C8 CQB (Close Quarters Battle) short-barrelled assault rifles strapped to their chests.

More weaponry is on board, along with concealed gun-points through which shots can be fired without opening doors or windows. Other members of the squad are located inside an SUV further up the motorcade (car , closer to the President.

All of the agents had been handed the US Secret Service’s ‘Trip File’ of certain people who might pose a serious and deadly threat to the President. They must memorise the faces of any suspect individuals featured in the file’s photo album.

[b]In 1998, the Secret Service completed a classified study into lone-wolf assassination called the Exceptional Case Study Project.

Officers interviewed 83 people who had tried to assassinate a president or public figure in the US, including Mark Chapman (John Lennon), John Hinckley Jnr (Ronald Reagan) and Arthur Bremer (Governor George Wallace).

The report concluded that attacks on public officials are not impulsive actions.

They typically occur after weeks or months of planning.

[/b]Understanding this ‘pathway to attack’ is the key to stopping assassins before they strike. Public appearances abroad are all the more dangerous because monitoring suspects is harder.

Permission was not given for one particular vehicle to ride in the motorcade, or even enter the UK: the Secret Service’s most lethal weapon, a very special SUV.

From the outside, the vehicle looks identical to all the others, but in the back is an agent crouching below a collapsible mini-gun.

One flick of a switch, and the top of the car opens up into a turret surrounded by bulletproof plating. The agent is able to release 4,000 rounds a minute of armour-penetrating bullets, enough to lay waste to any attack force. After five minutes of firing, the spent shells would literally fill the interior.

Watching the motorcade leaving the American Ambassador’s official residence on the Monday morning in June was the Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Chris Allison.

He oversaw Bush’s visit from the second floor operations room at New Scotland Yard using high-quality CCTV images.

A total of 2,000 armed and riot police were stationed throughout central London, and on the roofs of a traffic-free Whitehall, spotters were checking for trouble, as demanded by the Secret Service.

As Allison said, all he wanted was for it all to go smoothly: ‘He [Bush] comes into town, he does the stuff he wants to do, people who want to protest have their protest, then he goes.’

There have been several attempts on Bush’s life.

Many were stopped at an early stage and so never made it onto the news. But the most notable was the 2005 attempt in Tbilisi, Georgia, when 27-year-old Vladimir Arutyunian, an Armenian/Georgian, threw a live grenade at Bush.

The only thing that prevented the President from being wounded or killed was the safety pin getting caught in the attacker’s scarf.

The Georgian authorities played down the attempt.

At first they said it wasn’t a live grenade; but once the US Secret Service found out that it was, they flew to Georgia with the FBI’s mobile forensic lab and hunted down the would-be assassin, who had escaped the scene of the attack.

After a ferocious gun battle in which the head of Georgia’s counter-terrorism unit was killed, the Secret Service made sure that Arutyunian was put away for life in a Georgian prison.

Despite such threats, as the Presidential Advance Manual states, nothing makes a better ‘mediagenic [sic] moment’ than a ten-second film-clip of the US President meeting dignitaries such as the Queen.

[b]The authors of the manual have a calculation of their worth: they state that 21.7 per cent of such trips are political, while 78.3 per cent are official.

[/b]So these events have to go ahead, but not without fierce arguments from the Secret Service.

They managed to get their own way over most of what the President could and couldn’t do on the London leg of his trip. There are, however, limits to their demands – on a previous Bush visit, the White House requested the closure of certain Tube lines.

British officials dismissed the idea.

But the pace and breadth of the Advance Team’s work is breathtaking.

As the manual states, ‘Advancing is an art’. In eight years, a US president makes about 3,000 public appearances, 800 of which will be abroad. Each foreign appearance requires a site survey by more than 100 Advance Team members, more if it’s a RON (Remain Overnight Visit).

The checklist for the UK Advance Team contains almost 500 items and stipulations covering 25 pages.

These include the effectiveness of the motorcade in rush-hour traffic, how to address the Queen, approval of presidential hand-shakers, no animals, no children (if possible), certainly no parachutists or balloons; then there are sketches, photos, 3D graphics of Heathrow, the Ambassador’s residence and grounds in Regent’s Park, departure points, corridors and walkways.

Ultimately, only 2,500 people showed up to the rally organised by the Stop The War Coalition, CND and the British Muslim Initiative.

A handful of them were snapped up by police snatch squads sent in to apprehend real or potential troublemakers, including one 60-year-old woman accused of indecent exposure.

After brunch with Gordon Brown and a press conference, Bush’s motorcade entered Whitehall.

A lone protester broke through the cordon but was quickly apprehended. It was just enough to make the Secret Service twitchy, and they whisked the President away at a blistering pace.

Was it worth the effort, the colossal cost, the blocking of basic mobile phone communications in patches of central London for two days?

In the curious world of Washington-think, the very fact that President Bush is alive and unmolested is taken as the final proof that every cent was well spent.

And now that the precedent has been set, the next President, be it Barack Obama or John McCain, will be burdened with the same level of security.

And what will that say about the foreign policies of the 43rd President of the USA?


Kris Hollington is a freelance investigative journalist who has worked for Panorama and Radio 4’s File On Four. He is the author of How To Kill, an investigation into the world’s most influential assassinations.

The first vehicles you need in any presidential motorcade are actually motorcycles. The six outriders from the Met’s Royalty And Diplomatic Protection Department, riding BMW R1200RTs, clear the way through traffic using whistles instead of horns (to reduce the noise that precedes a motorcade), ensuring the motorcade doesn’t have to stop moving at any point on the 2.3-mile journey from the US Ambassador’s residence in Regent’s Park to Downing Street. Note: the outriders carry firearms, the only motorcycle officers to do so.

British Range Rover containing four officers from Counter Terrorism Command, SO15 (previously known as SO12 Special Branch).

BMW 5 Series containing armed British officers. The BMW and a Jaguar XJ V8 (see No 4) drive either side of the first presidential limo, known as Cadillac Two.

Cadillac Two, a bomb-proof car (see also Cadillac One, No 6) containing the President’s Emergency Satchel – the ‘Nuclear Football’ – which houses the necessary equipment for the President to authorise the use of nuclear weapons while away from the White House Situation Room. The case itself is a metallic, bullet-resistant, modified Zero Halliburton briefcase carried inside a black leather case. The entire package weighs 18kg. A small antenna for the SATCOM radio protrudes from the bag near the handle. Cadillac Two also carries senior staff such as National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and White House Chief Of Staff Joshua Bolten.

Jaguar XJ V8, containing armed British police officers.
American lead support armoured GMC Chevrolet Suburban 911EP SUV. This six-litre, 366-horsepower V8-powered wagon (which does just 15mpg) contains four Secret Service close protection guards, along with military SWAT officers sitting by the open back for rapid access. The guards are heavily armed with automatic weapons and handguns.

Cadillac One containing the President and the First Lady. Where the President goes, Cadillacs One and Two go (as does the presidential helicopter, Marine One, fully loaded with anti-missile systems, which ferried the President to Windsor Castle to visit the Queen).

American lead support armoured GMC Chevrolet Suburban SUV containing up to six Secret Service officers.
American lead support armoured GMC Chevrolet Suburban SUV containing members of the Quick Reaction Force, a team able to ram and shoot against any attacker at both close and long range. They carry Diemaco C8 CQB (close quarters battle) short-barrelled assault rifles. These are small enough to be easily handled in tight spaces. More weaponry is also on board along with concealed gun-points through which shots can be fired without opening the window. Additional Quick Reaction Force members are at the rear – see No 20.

Metropolitan Police Range Rover – the car is from the Met’s Special Escort Group (SEG), containing five Specialist Firearms Officers, armed with Glock 17s.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1031210/All-The-Presidents-Men-The-unimaginable-lengths-needed-George-Bush-alive-.html#ixzz2WTC3Fojk

Why did you decide to become a whistleblower?

A: "The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.

"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things … I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-why

The Washington Post, at his request, also revealed Snowden's identity on Sunday and reported that his motivations stemmed from a desire to expose the growing ‘surveillance state’ in the US. Along with the Guardian, the Post published an explosive report about the existence of a program called PRISM on Thursday, which was based on documents provided by Snowden and showed that the spy agency has the ability to access the online data from the world's largest private internet systems.

“As I advanced and learned the dangerous truth behind the U.S. policies that seek to develop secret, irresistible powers and concentrate them in the hands of an unaccountable few, human weakness haunted me,” Snowden wrote in a note that accompanied the first documents he leaked to the Post. “As I worked in secret to resist them, selfish fear questioned if the stone thrown by a single man could justify the loss of everything he loves."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/06/10

The Washington Post, at his request, also revealed Snowden's identity on Sunday and reported that his motivations stemmed from a desire to expose the growing ‘surveillance state’ in the US. Along with the Guardian, the Post published an explosive report about the existence of a program called PRISM on Thursday, which was based on documents provided by Snowden and showed that the spy agency has the ability to access the online data from the world's largest private internet systems.

“As I advanced and learned the dangerous truth behind the U.S. policies that seek to develop secret, irresistible powers and concentrate them in the hands of an unaccountable few, human weakness haunted me,” Snowden wrote in a note that accompanied the first documents he leaked to the Post. “As I worked in secret to resist them, selfish fear questioned if the stone thrown by a single man could justify the loss of everything he loves."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/06/10

Jay5000: OP; The phrase "big brother" originally comes from a very interesting book titled "1984" by George Orwell (real name Eric Arthur Blair). Completed in 1948 and published in 1949, a year before his death, the book paints a prophetic and accurate picture of a future dystopia where we are all enslaved, controlled and our every move spied on by the elite. It is shocking how accurately this guy describes todays events in 1948. It is strongly believed he had access to manuscripts of the occult elite describing their plans for total physical and psychological enslavement of man and their plans for world government divided into "police-state" regions that are controlled by them. It talks about spy cameras used to spy on everyone and all. "Big brother" is the unseen eye of the government that monitors your every move. Get the book or look it up on Wiki. It'll answer all your questions. [size=12pt][/size]

1984 is here already.
Interview with Edward Snowden:

Why did you decide to become a whistleblower?

A: "The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.

"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things … I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-why

'Beggar' who sat outside Natwest bank with a 'hungry and homeless' sign raked in £300 A DAY while living in a £300,000 flat


Simon Wright, 37, sat in ragged clothes with his dog in Putney High Street
Packed up sleeping bag at end of day and headed to plush Fulham home
Handed an Asbo banning him from begging in London or entering SW15
Duped commuter: 'I gave him about £20. I wonder if I can get that back?'

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 14:48 GMT, 5 June 2013 | UPDATED: 06:32 GMT, 6 June 2013

Sitting on the pavement next to his dog and sleeping bag, Simon Wright looked to all the world like a homeless beggar.

But what the passers-by who gave him cash didn’t know was that he was earning over £50,000 a year and living in a £300,000 council flat in west London.


At the end of every day he would pick up his handwritten sign and head back to his Fulham home.

Locals say he regularly went into bookmakers and amusement shops to change up his loose coins.

The homeless man... with a home: Simon Wright has been given an Asbo after it emerged he had been begging for years in Putney despite living in a plush £300,000 flat

On many occasions they added up to between £200 and £300. Magistrates have now imposed a two-year Asbo banning him from begging anywhere in London.

PC Oliver Strebel, who brought the case to court, said: ‘He had a reputation for getting a lot of gifts while begging.

'He used a sign saying he was homeless and people gave him money on that basis, which is clearly fraud. He would take the money from his cup and change it over at a local betting shop or amusement arcade.

‘He worked pretty much every day, and had done so for about three years. He certainly put in the hours.’

Wright proved Putney High Street in south-west London was such a lucrative venue that he attracted up to nine other beggars. Since his arrest, they have all but disappeared.

Wright would sit wearing ragged clothes outside NatWest bank in Putney High Street, near Putney station, with his dog and ask the public for money.

But after a hard day’s begging Wright would pack up his sleeping bag and, instead of heading to a shelter, he would make his way across Putney Bridge to his comfortable flat in Simms Court, Fulham High Street.

Commuters who fell for his bad luck story said they were shocked to learn Wright had duped them.

Chris Faversham, from Putney, said: 'I definitely gave him money over the years. Probably about £20. I wonder if I can get that back?'


In December 2012 suspicious residents were suggesting that something was not quite right about Wright’s predicament.

Some said he changed up his donations in Greggs in Putney High Street while others said he lived in a tent on Putney Embankment.

But Wright’s days of fleecing the public are over after magistrates slapped an Asbo on him banning him from visiting the SW15 area (Roehampton and Putney) and from begging anywhere in the capital.

Wimbledon Magistrates' Court, sitting on May 14, also ordered him to keep his dog muzzled and under control at all times in a public place after magistrates were told it had bitten at least one person.

The Asbo will remain in place until May 2015 but if Wright, who admitted fraud and begging, breaches any of its terms he could be sent to prison for up to five years and face an unlimited fine.

The council’s community safety spokesman Cllr Jonathan Cook said: 'Anyone who lives, works or shops in and around Putney High Street will be mightily relieved to see this unpleasant individual given his marching orders.

'He deliberately targeted people making cash withdrawals from this cashpoint and was extremely aggressive and abusive to anyone who refused to give him money.

'Many people felt frightened and intimidated by him and there is some evidence to suggest that he used his dog to threaten and pressure people into handing over their cash.

'His behaviour was an absolute disgrace. The fact that he was actually living in a comfortable flat in Fulham, something that many of his victims can only dream of, just adds insult to injury.



'Everyone who has been appalled by Mr Wright’s behaviour will I’m sure wish to congratulate the Thamesfield Safer Neighbourhoods Team, especially PC Oliver Strebel, who was the officer in the case and also the Crown Prosecution Service whose lawyers worked so closely with the police to bring about this very positive result for Putney.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2336145/Beggar-sat-outside-Natwest-bank-hungry-homeless-sign-earned-300-A-DAY-living-300-000-flat.html#ixzz2VW97joOt

Why put the projector on a chair?

donem: Let me see if he would be banned for Anti party activities.

You mean Tinubu, abi?

Philadelphia rescue crews pull 61-year-old woman 12 hours after deadly building collapse

Published June 06, 2013


Philadelphia rescue crews pulled a 61-year-old woman from the rubble early Thursday morning, 12 hours after a four-story building being demolished in the city’s downtown area collapsed, killing at least six, MyFoxPhilly.com reported.

Myra Plekam was reported to be awake and talking to rescuers before she was placed in an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital where she is listed in critical condition.

Fire crews continued their search and recovery operation through the night. There was activity on the pile Thursday morning. So far, 14 people were removed from the tons of debris.

Mayor Michael Nutter held a press conference on Thursday and said about 25 percent of the site was still being searched. He said there is now a large crane at the scene.

The mayor reiterated that they don't know exactly how many people were in the store, so they cannot say for certain that there are no more people trapped.

At least 13 other people were hospitalized at nearby trauma centers with minor injuries and listed in stable condition.

"It's dangerous environment for our members, our firefighters, our paramedics -- we're going to take our time," Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said.

One witness, Marc Newell, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he heard an "unbelievable rumble," "like a freight train."

"You could hear the moaning," he told the paper.

The collapse involved a Salvation Army corner thrift store and a four-story building next door with a sandwich shop on the first floor.

Officials said the demolition contractor was Griffin Campbell Construction in Philadelphia. Messages left for Campbell were not returned.

Records show that Campbell was charged in 2005 with dealing crack cocaine near a playground. The charges were dismissed after prosecutors misplaced evidence.

He pleaded guilty in an insurance fraud case in 2009, and was acquitted of aggravated assault and related offenses in 2007.

Campbell has also filed for bankruptcy protection twice since 2010. The first bankruptcy was dismissed because he didn't follow through on a repayment plan approved by the court. A second bankruptcy petition was filed in March.


There were no existing violations on the collapsed building, and Campbell had proper permits for the work being done, according to Carlton Williams, of the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections.

The city issued a demolition permit for the four-story structure on Feb. 1. Records show the property owner as STB Investments Corp., a company linked to prominent businessman and developer Richard Basciano, who has been best known as the owner of porn theaters in New York City and Philadelphia.

Messages left at the company's New York offices were not immediately returned.

The accident happened on the western edge of downtown, between the city's business district and its main train terminal, 30th Street Station. The block had long been a seedy link between gleaming skyscrapers and the busy area around the station.

The collapse involved an empty building that once housed a first-floor sandwich shop and apartments above. The thrift shop was on one side. The other side was an adult bookstore and theater that had been taken down within the last few months.

A demolition expert wondered what precautions were taken to protect the Salvation Army store, especially since it remained open. Stephen Estrin, a Florida contractor who has testified as an expert at several trials involving building collapses, also questioned whether the demolition was being done by hand or with machinery. A piece of equipment with a claw device was seen amid the debris Wednesday.

"This is an inner-city demolition of a masonry building, which would normally be done manually because of the inherent risk -- predictable if certain things are not done very slowly and very carefully -- of a collapse," Estrin said. "One of the problems with claw work is it sets up a vibration in the walls."

Records show the collapsed building was sold to STB in 1994 for $385,894. Plans tentatively called for the block to be redeveloped into retail stores and apartments.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/06/rescues-under-way-after-building-collapse-in-north-philadelphia/

johnie: ^^^


Earlier Thursday, Cohen told reporters, "Obviously, no security system is 100 percent foolproof."

Even in the grand'ol US of A?

^^^
This is not new. Report from 1997:

Military weapons stolen; 6 Marines arrested

In this story:

Officials: 'Lethal' explosives involved
Captain arrested in Massachusetts
Joint undercover sting operation
Pentagon orders security review

October 16, 1997
Web posted at: 7:17 p.m. EDT (2317 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Six Marines and seven civilians were arrested Thursday in connection with what Pentagon and law enforcement authorities called a scheme to sell stolen military weapons.

The arrested Marines include a captain and five enlisted personnel. The case involves the theft of explosives and weapons from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, officials said.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, this is a 10," said one official, referring to the weapons that were seized.

However, Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said he understood that "there are primarily small weapons at stake" in the case.

"I am not aware that there has been a huge problem" with military arms thefts, Bacon said.

Weapons seized

[b]The stockpile of stolen weapons includes mortars, grenades, .50-caliber machine guns, land mines and C-4 plastic explosives, federal officials told CNN.

A Treasury Department spokesman described the plastic explosives involved as "very lethal weapons" and said they were the weapons of choice of terrorists.

[/b]The investigation, dubbed "Operation Longfuse," centered on "the theft and subsequent distribution of U.S. government property, particularly military ordnance, throughout the southeastern United States," said William Perry, special agent in charge of the FBI's office in Charlotte.

Two of the seven civilians arrested in the case were identified by the FBI as weapons dealers, including a manager at the Coach and Sons Military Surplus store in Raeford, North Carolina, and the manager of Classic Arms in Mount Pleasant, North Carolina.

The Coach manager, Alton Laverne Sharpe Jr., 34, was accused of illegally selling the C-4 explosives and "knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such material was stolen," the FBI said.

Weapons were reportedly sold out of the backs of cars at local gun shows in North Carolina.

Captain arrested in Massachusetts

The Marine captain was arrested at the Marine Reserve Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he worked. The man, identified by Marine officials as Capt. Thomas Crawford had recently been transferred from Camp Lejeune.


He was being returned to North Carolina.

Crawford's arrest came after federal agents seized what appeared to be crates of ammunition at his home in Millis, Massachusetts, a small town about 30 miles southwest of Boston.

In Millis, authorities cordoned off the area around Crawford's white frame home and seized at least 10 boxes and crates with military markings "similar to what munitions are usually stored in," said Naval investigator Jeff Morrow.

Camp Lejeune officials identified the other five as Staff Sgt. Timothy Witham of Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, North Carolina; and Master Gunnery Sgt. Alfred Gerich, Gunnery Sgt. James Sanders, Sgt. Ronald Moerbe, and Sgt. Darius Hill, all of Camp Lejeune.

The specific charges they face were not immediately known. Officials said the charges involved the illegal manufacture and distribution of firearms and explosives.

Joint undercover sting operation

The arrests stemmed from a joint undercover sting operation involving the FBI, the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

The investigation began after a non-commissioned officer noticed weapons were missing and reported the problem to his superiors. The arrests were made after suspects attempted to sell material to undercover agents.

The investigation also targeted the illegal manufacture and sale of automatic weapons and explosives.

Pentagon orders security review

In the wake of the arrests, Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered a 30-day review of security and accountability procedures for small arms and ammunition.

"It is imperative that we be confident that military arms and munitions are tightly controlled and safeguarded," Cohen said in a statement.

Earlier Thursday, Cohen told reporters, "Obviously, no security system is 100 percent foolproof."

http://edition.cnn.com/US/9710/16/stolen.weapons/

Marines, sailor arrested in San Diego sweep netting stolen cars, military gear, illegal drugs

By Associated Press, Friday, June 7, 12:38 AM

SAN DIEGO — Authorities in San Diego say seven active-duty Marines, seven former Marines and a Navy sailor are among 50 people arrested in a law enforcement sweep that busted up crime rings allegedly dealing in illegal drugs, stolen military gear and cars.

San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced the 64-count indictment Thursday following an eight-month investigation.

Dumanis says undercover detectives infiltrated the rings across the county and invited suspects to a storefront. The suspects were videotaped selling weapons, stolen cars, cocaine, methamphetamine, and military contraband, including bullet-proof vests, Kevlar helmets, night-vision goggles, gas masks, and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition and high-capacity magazines.

The case yielded nine firearms and 92 stolen vehicles worth nearly $700,000.

Charges include vehicle theft, gun possession to insurance fraud, among others.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/marines-sailor-arrested-in-san-diego-sweep-netting-stolen-cars-military-gear-illegal-drugs/2013/06/06/270a3714-cf02-11e2-8573-3baeea6a2647_story.html

U.S. Marines Sold Nearly $2 Million in Stolen Guns, Combat Equipment, To Gangs And Foreign Countries

By Laura Matthews | May 15 2012 5:00 PM

U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C., stole and sold approximately $2 million in guns and combat equipment to streets gangs and to China and Russia, military officials confirmed. The stolen guns and combat gear included assault rifles, night-vision goggles and flashlights.

More than 60 people have been implicated in the incident, the Daily News in Jacksonville, N.C., reported. 47 service members and 21 civilians have been charged so far. Several of them have already pleaded guilty, Ed Buice, public affairs officer for Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in Quantico, Va., told the paper.

Buice said the case is still active.

I can't go into much detail, he said.

The accused allegedly stole, over-ordered or or obtained the equipment by other means. An official familiar with the operation told the paper that those who were a part of the criminal network did so out of greed and because it was easy to steal the material.

We're talking about sophisticated, hi-tech flashlights that cost the government up to $800 per unit, that official said, as reported by Stars and Stripes. The temptation and ease with which to steal and sell them, for some, is irresistible.

Authorities managed to uncover the conspiracy within the Armed Forces through an investigation that began more than a year ago. At that time, Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) agents were carrying out undercover operations in an effort to reduce the theft, sale and transfer of stolen U.S. Government property.

The investigation has since grown to include manpower from several federal and local law enforcement agencies.

Military officials told the paper that Marine and naval authorities helped the NCIS recover $1.8 million in stolen property.

They found that some of the equipment was being sold through websites such as eBay and Craigslist. Items such as weapons and ammunition were being sold through yard sales and secret face-to-face meetings, the Daily News reported.

That paper said that two Marines have been convicted in the case. They are Sgt. Daniel Adam Reich and Capt. Donald E. Pump Jr. Reich was convicted Monday of selling and attempting to sell military property and conspiracy. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison and given a dishonorable discharge.

Pump was convicted of similar offenses, sentenced to 18 months in prison and dismissed from the Corps.

http://www.ibtimes.com/us-marines-sold-nearly-2-million-stolen-guns-combat-equipment-gangs-and-foreign-countries-698575#

Dis Guy: we go see train for august soo?

passed through costain (not too sure where this is but they sell goats etc there ) in march i saw some things built already

Any updates, Dis Guy?

Thanks Gbanikiti.

Kindly provide us with regular updates.

Ghana airport security boss arrested in US drug bust‎
By AFP | June 5, 2013

ACCRA, Jun 5 – The head of security at Ghana’s main international airport has been arrested in the US on charges of heroin trafficking, in the latest sign of a growing narcotics trade in west Africa, statements obtained by AFP on Wednesday said.

Solomon Adelaquaye, the head of a private firm contracted to run security at the Accra airport, was charged alongside his Colombian and two Nigerian co-conspirators, Ghana’s Narcotics Control Board and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) said.

In February 2012, Adelaquaye used his influence at the airport to guide a laptop packed with heroin through security in exchange for $10,000, (7,600 euros), according to the DEA.

Then, last month, the group made new plans to move 3,000 kilograms of cocaine through Accra in 25-kilogram instalments.

All of their negotiations, held mainly in Accra, were caught on tape by uncover DEA agents, statements said.

Adelaquaye, 48, and the two Nigerians – Frank Muodum, and Celestine Ofor Orjinweke – were arrested in New York on May 9, according to the DEA.

It was not clear why they travelled to the US ahead of their arrest and the US embassy in Accra did not immediately respond to enquiries.

Samuel Antonio Pinedo-Rueda, 72, was arrested in Colombia on May 16 and is awaiting extradition, the DEA said.

“Drug trafficking in west Africa has become a plague,” Derek Maltz, DEA special agent said in the June 3 statement.

http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2013/06/ghana-airport-security-boss-arrested-in-us-drug-bust%E2%80%8E/

ilugunboy: We now can see the testimonies of actual stakeholders....not some people that have nothing doing around the axis..but here on NL are making noise about tolling..

I have something doing on that axis and I can categorically tell you three things I am angry about with the tolling of the Lekki-Epe Expressway:

1. The many odd roundabouts are serious bottlenecks causing traffic on the axis and increasing the risk of accidents;
2. Several months after we started paying the toll, the lights on the road are not always functional.
3. I doubt the long-term efficacy of the 'alternatives' to the plazas. The one at the Conservation Plaza is going to be a sight to behold when they start tolling there.

I however commend the quick and professional help offered by LCC to owners of broken down vehicles. If LASTMA was given that job, people would have had to pay heavily for break-downs!

^^^

So, it was the Phase 1 and Parkview people that were causing all the traffic between Falomo and Admiralty Plaza?

The perennial traffic from Lekki Phase 1 first gate through the Admiralty Plaza to Falomo seems to have disappeared this morning. Or was I just imagining it?

Is that the effect of the Lekki-Ikoyi bridge?

Let's observe for a few days.

naptu2: By the way, I think it's time we revive your thread "What's Happening on the Badagry Axis". The first phase of the Blue Line (Orile - Mile 2) is scheduled to be completed this month. I passed there about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I saw metres and metres of track. Workmen were laying the tracks. I saw the dummy train that's being used to test the tracks. It looks like they might actually meet their target, but they've still got some work to do at the Mile 2 station. Maybe we can get Berem to feed us info (she lives in that area).

Berem, over to you o!

Jamie b: they are not twins. This is the work of photoshop and corel draw. Just wasted my 1MB now!!

And you made others lose extra 1MB by repeating the original post!

naptu2: I forgot. He also said the bridge will be opened to the public on June 1st, when the tents and other things used during the commissioning would have been removed[/i].

I just saw this now.

[i]Na so the party sweet reach?

I tried to use the bridge to beat the terrible go-slow at Rewane/Kingsway Road on my way to Lekki last night.

To my shock (and am sure many other 'smart-alecs' like myself), the bridge was closed!

Is it fully open now?

Who would dare to wake him up?

naptu2: Awolowo Road has been commercialised and there's a company responsible for maintaining it.


Ozumba Mbadiwe Road was completed by Hitech in 2008. It is being maintained by the Lekki Concession Company.

This bridge will also be managed by a private company and I believe they will do a much better job than what we've

Can you explain how Awolowo Road is commercialised?

Ozumba Mbadiwe is not completed!

They have been working on the Falomo (old Oceanic Bank H/O end) to Bonny Camp (Cantonement) for months now. The stress this lingering work creates especially in the evening is too much!

jonot: Found this on Wikipedia:

Ovonramwen Nogbaisi came to be the Oba of Benin in 1888.[1]
At the end of the 19th century, the Kingdom of Benin had managed to retain its independence and the Oba exercised a monopoly over trade which the British found irksome. The territory was coveted by an influential group of investors for its rich natural resources such as palm-oil, rubber and ivory.[2] The kingdom was largely independent of British control, and pressure continued from figures such as Vice-Consul James Robert Phillips and Captain Gallwey (the British vice-Consul of Oil Rivers Protectorate) who were pushing for British annexation of the Benin Empire and the removal of the Oba.
A British invasion force headed by Phillips set out to overthrow the Oba in 1896. The force's weapons were hidden in baggage, with troops disguised as bearers. Phillips plan was to gain access to Ovonramwen's palace by announcing that he intended to negotiate. Ovonramwen's messengers issued several warnings not to violate Benin territorial sovereignty, claiming he was unable to see Phillips due to ceremonial duties. Having been warned on several further occasions on the way, Phillips sent his stick to the Oba, a deliberate insult designed to provoke the conflict that would provide an excuse for British annexation.[3] Phillip's expedition was ambushed and all but two were killed. Subsequently a military operation against Benin in 1897 led by Harry Rawson resulted in the burning of Benin City and the deaths of untold numbers of its inhabitants. Although the British had orders to hang the Oba, Ovonramwen escaped, but later surrendered.
Ovonramwen was exiled to Calabar with his two wives, and died there in 1914.

Why does this remind of the Allied invasion of Iraq?