• China lends Nigeria Dollars 2bn in exchange for oil talks. • Ft com site : China oils Nigeria talks with loan

China, Nigeria, Latvia - there's quite amix."
The priority of Operation Pentameter 2 is to identify and aid the women who have fallen into the hands of the organised crime gangs.
Detective Chief Superintendent Campbell Corrigan, chairman of the Scottish Human Trafficking Group, said: "There has been action in every Scottish force since October 3 and there have been numerous days of action.
"We'll go through a multitude of brothel doors and uncover the off-street sex industry and rescue people.
"The by-product is organised criminals are arrested. But the first objective is to rescue women. This is a victim-centred operation."
Corrigan added: "Some people are employed in the sex industry to pay off a debt in their homeland. They can be bonded until that money is paid back.
"They can earn a wage as well and when the bond is paid they are free to go. But there is no stereotype.
"There are traditional sauna brothels but the people running brothels don't want the added annoyance that we might come through the door. So more recently, we're seeing off-street private rented houses being used. The women are in there and it's a brothel and they're held as modern-day slaves.
"They have nowhere to go. They have no passport and they feel they can't go to the police because of threats of violence to their families back home.
"People have an image they're locked in a cell - that's not the case."
Those behind the industry are often linked to drug dealing and other forms of organised crime.
Another team member, Chief Inspector Cameron Cavin, said: "We're talking about a lot of money and it's used to fuel other criminality.
"The victims will get professional levels of care first and foremost. The psychological damage is horrendous." Rescued women are cared for by Tara - the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance.
Detective Chief Superintendent Corrigan believes the public can help as much as they did in providing tip-offs to police about cannabis farms.
He said: "We'd like the public to report in if they see a couple of young women moving into a flat and notice an inordinate amount of people visiting. That gives us reason to visit."
ACCMalcolm added: "In England, one man who had used the services of a girl went back to the house and actually rescued the girl and took her to police.
"We're trying to touch the consciences of these people - so they don't treat these girls like commodities."
'Victims get professional care..the psychological damage is horrendous'
Document DRECRD0020071228e3cr0007g
Vanguard (Nigeria) - AAGM: Obasanjo Under Probe Over Telephone Loan.
Emmanuel Aziken

784 words

23 December 2007

Vanguard (Nigeria)

AIWVAN

English

The Financial Times Limited. Asia Africa Intelligence Wire. All material subject to copyright. Vanguard (Nigeria) (c) 2007 All rights reserved
The Senate is set to investigate why former President Olusegun Obasanjo obtained a $500 million (N59 billion) loan for a telephone project despite his government's claims of rapid privatization of the sector.
The rural telephony project for which the administration obtained the loan from China and caused Nigeria to pay 10% equity contribution is at the centre of the Senate enquiry under the aegis of the Senate Committee on Communications.
The Senate probe is coming against recent fear of the nation's growing debt burden despite the debt pay off agreement between Nigeria and the Paris Club of debtor nations two years ago.
Though neither of the first two phases of the project is yet to be completed or commissioned, Obasanjo had, according to a memorandum to the Senate from the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication, given a verbal order for the commencement of the third phase of the project.
Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, who confirmed the imminent Senate probe, told Sunday Vanguard that the Senate was more worried that the project was conceived at a time the Federal Government had already given license to telecommunication companies for the nationwide coverage of the country.
He, however, would not declare the rural telephony project nor the process of obtaining the Chinese loans as fraudulent asserting that the committee would like the former president to declare his stance at the imminent Senate probe.
Anyanwu, like the memo from the ministry, wondered why the government was again going into the business of providing telecommunication services despite its recent efforts at withdrawing from the sector with the privatization of NITEL, the country's first national carrier.
Besides, he expressed concern that the idea of the rural telephony project materialized at the same time the GSM operators were fanning themselves across the country making the idea superfluous.
"Unfortunately the time when these ideas were initiated were almost at the same time when NITEL and other communication agencies were being privatized," the Senate Committee chairman said.
"The same rural telephone project is being handled by several other providers. If you know what is happening, for instance, Globacom is almost everywhere, MTN is making the same effort to get their signals in all parts of the country. NCC also has a project called rural telephone project. We are concerned about the overlapping of efforts," he said.
Construction of the first phase of the rural telephone project was awarded to three Chinese companies namely ZTE Corporation, China Machinery Import and Export Corporation and Alcatel Shanghai Bell Ltd. in July 2002 following a $200 million loan from China.
Though work on the project is almost completed, the memo circulated to the Senate by the Ministry of Information and Communication, however, lamented that the "network is yet to be interconnected with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) - NITEL".
Senate officials and other stakeholders, Sunday Vanguard learnt, are concerned that NITEL is not in a hurry to connect the new exchanges as it is insisting on a purely commercial relationship with the new exchanges built by the Chinese.
"Due to the historical relationship that had existed between the Ministry and NITEL, the NRTP network, from the inception was conceived and designed to leverage on the existing NITEL infrastructure. However, due to the privatization of NITEL, the company's policies have changed. The company has therefore insisted that the ministry should pay fully for all the services required."
"Due to the delay encountered in accessing the funds for these services, it has become difficult for NITEL to cooperate or oblige interconnection with the NRTP which is critical to the functionality of the whole network," the memo stated.
With the first phase yet to come on stream, the Obasanjo administration in March 2006 signed another agreement with the Chinese government for the implementation of the second phase of the rural telephony project.
$300 million was provided as loan by the Chinese government for the implementation of the project with the Nigerian government providing 15% of the counterpart funds.
"The counterpart funds (down payments) of 15% of the contract values are being paid to the contractors," the memo revealed even though work on the second phase is yet to commence and with Nigeria already servicing the loans obtained for the Chinese companies to work on the second phase.
"The immediate past president had verbally granted approval for the contract of the 3rd phase to be processed within the tenure of his administration in order to ensure that all the local government areas (LGAs) in the country are covered," the memo stated.
Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media. (allafrica.com)
FVAN61001710
Document AIWVAN0020071223e3cn00002

Obasanjo Under Probe Over N59bn Telephone Loan
by Emmanuel Aziken

786 words

23 December 2007

07:01 AM

All Africa

AFNWS

English

(c) 2007 AllAfrica, All Rights Reserved
Abuja, Dec 23, 2007 (Vanguard/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- The Senate is set to investigate why former President Olusegun Obasanjo obtained a $500 million (N59 billion) loan for a telephone project despite his government's claims of rapid privatization of the sector.
The rural telephony project for which the administration obtained the loan from China and caused Nigeria to pay 10% equity contribution is at the centre of the Senate enquiry under the aegis of the Senate Committee on Communications.
The Senate probe is coming against recent fear of the nation's growing debt burden despite the debt pay off agreement between Nigeria and the Paris Club of debtor nations two years ago.
Though neither of the first two phases of the project is yet to be completed or commissioned, Obasanjo had, according to a memorandum to the Senate from the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication, given a verbal order for the commencement of the third phase of the project.
Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, who confirmed the imminent Senate probe, told Sunday Vanguard that the Senate was more worried that the project was conceived at a time the Federal Government had already given license to telecommunication companies for the nationwide coverage of the country.
He, however, would not declare the rural telephony project nor the process of obtaining the Chinese loans as fraudulent asserting that the committee would like the former president to declare his stance at the imminent Senate probe.
Anyanwu, like the memo from the ministry, wondered why the government was again going into the business of providing telecommunication services despite its recent efforts at withdrawing from the sector with the privatization of NITEL, the country's first national carrier.
Besides, he expressed concern that the idea of the rural telephony project materialized at the same time the GSM operators were fanning themselves across the country making the idea superfluous.
"Unfortunately the time when these ideas were initiated were almost at the same time when NITEL and other communication agencies were being privatized," the Senate Committee chairman said.
"The same rural telephone project is being handled by several other providers. If you know what is happening, for instance, Globacom is almost everywhere, MTN is making the same effort to get their signals in all parts of the country. NCC also has a project called rural telephone project. We are concerned about the overlapping of efforts," he said.
Construction of the first phase of the rural telephone project was awarded to three Chinese companies namely ZTE Corporation, China Machinery Import and Export Corporation and Alcatel Shanghai Bell Ltd. in July 2002 following a $200 million loan from China.
Though work on the project is almost completed, the memo circulated to the Senate by the Ministry of Information and Communication, however, lamented that the "network is yet to be interconnected with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) - NITEL".
Senate officials and other stakeholders, Sunday Vanguard learnt, are concerned that NITEL is not in a hurry to connect the new exchanges as it is insisting on a purely commercial relationship with the new exchanges built by the Chinese.
"Due to the historical relationship that had existed between the Ministry and NITEL, the NRTP network, from the inception was conceived and designed to leverage on the existing NITEL infrastructure. However, due to the privatization of NITEL, the company's policies have changed. The company has therefore insisted that the ministry should pay fully for all the services required."
"Due to the delay encountered in accessing the funds for these services, it has become difficult for NITEL to cooperate or oblige interconnection with the NRTP which is critical to the functionality of the whole network," the memo stated.
With the first phase yet to come on stream, the Obasanjo administration in March 2006 signed another agreement with the Chinese government for the implementation of the second phase of the rural telephony project.
$300 million was provided as loan by the Chinese government for the implementation of the project with the Nigerian government providing 15% of the counterpart funds.
"The counterpart funds (down payments) of 15% of the contract values are being paid to the contractors," the memo revealed even though work on the second phase is yet to commence and with Nigeria already servicing the loans obtained for the Chinese companies to work on the second phase.
"The immediate past president had verbally granted approval for the contract of the 3rd phase to be processed within the tenure of his administration in order to ensure that all the local government areas (LGAs) in the country are covered," the memo stated.
Document AFNWS00020071223e3cn0005m
Real Estate Spotlight: Lisa Huson, broker/owner of Brightskye Associates Inc.
563 words

18 December 2007

Daily Record (Rochester, NY)

DRRC

NA

English

Copyright 2007 Dolan Media Company. All rights reserved.
Byline: Danielle Derringer
Lisa Huson, broker/owner of Brightskye Associates Inc. starts every day with a morning run, but is never without her cell phone in case clients need her. Husen has been involved in the real estate industry for more than 20 years, and in 2001 opened her own brokerage, which she operates strictly online. "What I've found in the years that I've been in this business is that I never wrote any offers at an office in any brokerage I was with. ... I've found in this company, with no brick and mortar building, we're able to be mobile and meet our clients anywhere and I could be more generous with the agents, which makes them happier and more productive," Huson said. According to Huson, agents who used to be neighborhood experts, due to the enhancements in technology have become regional experts, which helps to expand the client base. Huson has an anthropology degree from the University of Rochester and said that has been useful, because she regularly works with clients from throughout the world. This year alone she has negotiated with clients from China, Nigeria and Sri Lanka who are interested in investments in the Rochester region. "Because of the Internet I was able to sell a piece of land in Wheatland to a client in Tokyo -- sight unseen," Huson said. "I also did work with a horse farm in the area and I received a call from Naples, Italy, and people actually flew in from Naples to see this property. It's amazing because, 20 years ago when I started, I was driving around with these phone book-size listings of houses that would come out every two weeks. Now everything is instant because of the Internet, which allows us to deal with clients we wouldn't dream of dealing with years ago." Brightskye has four other agents, and Huson's husband, Jim, set up the group's Web site and is the on-hand IT person. Having a great Web site that is informative and easy to navigate is a key element to the success of any brokerage, according to Huson. "What it [the Web site] did was allow a small, independent brokerage to have the same exposure throughout the whole world and be on the same playing field as any size brokerage," Huson said. All of Huson's agents are able to be reached by cutting the hassle of calling an office, Huson said. "People just don't want to call through to an office and be put on hold or sent to an extension. Everything in this day and age needs to be instant," Huson said. "Young people want an instant response and, with the cell phones, agents get all their calls directly without having to go through an office." Huson said she believes she will see more Web-based real estate companies in the future because it allows agents the comfort of working from home while offering more opportunity to be involved in professional organizations. "I am very active in organizations like the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Women's Council of Realtors. Having this type of business allows me to have that kind of life," Huson said. For more information visit www.brightskye.com .
COPYRIGHT 2007 Dolan Media Newswires
Document DRRC000020071220e3ci00001

CPSL, PGIC, PVTB, TARR, UNCL, URRE Have Also Been Added To Naked Short List Today
1,837 words

18 December 2007

M2 Presswire

MTPW

English

(c) 2007 M2 Communications, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
BUYINS.NET, www.buyins.net , announced today that these select companies have been added to the NASDAQ, AMEX and NYSE naked short threshold list: China Precision Steel Inc. (NASDAQ: CPSL), Progressive Gaming International Corp. (NASDAQ: PGIC), PrivateBancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB), Tarragon Corp. (NASDAQ: TARR), MRU Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: UNCL), Uranium Resources Inc. (NASDAQ: URRE). For a complete list of companies on the naked short list please visit our web site. To find the SqueezeTrigger Price before a short squeeze starts in any stock, go to www.buyins.net .
China Precision Steel Inc. (NASDAQ: CPSL) a steel processing company, engages in the manufacture and sale of high precision cold-rolled steel products in China. The company produces and sells precision ultra-thin and high strength cold-rolled steel products with thicknesses ranging from 7.5 mm to 0.03 mm. It also provides heat treatment and cutting of medium and high carbon hot-rolled steel strips. The company's precision products are primarily used in the manufacture of automobile parts and components, plane friction discs, appliances, food packaging materials, saw blades, textile needles, microelectronics, packing, and containers. It sells its products in China, Nigeria, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. China Precision Steel was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. With 37.38 million shares outstanding and 1.52 million shares declared short as of November 2007, there is a failure to deliver in shares of CPSL.
Progressive Gaming International Corp. (NASDAQ: PGIC) supplies integrated casino and jackpot management solutions for the gaming industry worldwide. The company's technology is used to enhance casino operations and drive greater revenues for existing. Its products include multiple forms of regulated wagering solutions in wired, wireless, and mobile formats. Progressive Gaming offers its gaming products to approximately 1,000 casinos worldwide. The company has strategic partnerships with Harrah's, Cantor Gaming, International Game Technology, and Shuffle Master. Progressive Gaming was founded in 1986. It was formerly known as Mikohn Gaming Corporation and changed its name to Progressive Gaming International Corporation in 2006. The company is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. With 34.91 million shares outstanding and 4.48 million shares declared short as of November 2007, there is a failure to deliver in shares of PGIC.
PrivateBancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB) operates as the holding company for The PrivateBank and Trust Company that offers various financial services to individuals, professionals, entrepreneurs, and real estate investors. The bank primarily engages in generating deposits and originating loans. Its deposit products include interest-bearing demand deposits, savings and money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, ATM/debit cards and investment brokerage accounts, and time deposits. The bank's lending activities comprise commercial real estate loans, commercial loans, construction loans, personal and home equity loans, and residential real estate loans. It also provides wealth management services, including investment management, personal trust, guardianship and estate administration services, custody services, retirement accounts, and investment services, as well as Internet banking services. In addition, the bank offers CD ROM imaging of cleared checks, remote deposit capture, lockbox services, and account reconciliation. As of December 31, 2006, it operated 18 branch offices in Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Atlanta metropolitan areas. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. With 22.19 million shares outstanding and 3.48 million shares declared short as of November 2007, there is a failure to deliver in shares of PVTB.
Tarragon Corp. (NASDAQ: TARR) and its subsidiaries engage in homebuilding and real estate development, and real estate service businesses in the United States. It develops, renovates, builds, and markets high and mid-rise condominiums; town homes, traditional new developments, and low-rise condominiums; and low and mid-rise rental apartment communities in the urban locations and communities. The company also engages in land development and conversion of existing rental apartment communities to condominiums. In addition, it offers real estate services, such as property management, condominium management, and acquisition and renovation of apartment properties, as well as provides mortgage lending services. As of December 31, 2006, Tarragon had 35 residential communities with 4,560 homes or home sites in inventory or under development in 6 states; and approximately 14,600 apartments in 12 states, including 11,000 in rental communities and 3,300 in condominium conversion communities. The company was founded in 1973 and is based in New York, New York. With 28.69 million shares outstanding and 5.39 million shares declared short as of November 2007, there is a failure to deliver in shares of TARR.
MRU Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: UNCL) a specialty