Three Nigerian Billionaires under 40

Sijibomi is notably the youngest Nigerian man so far to reach a billion in earnings from business investments. He is 34 and the CEO of Sijimoto, a real estate business empire. Sijimoto is a key player in real estate both in Nigeria and beyond. He currently has over 70 houses in Ikoyi listed as his own
Sijibomi was not born a success. He worked himself into it. He grew up in Agege but because of his vision, he decided to push on for a better life. At a very young age, the young lad would leave his suburb Agege to be at the Ikoyi Polo Club; his mission then was to be like the rich and opulent so as to emulate their unique lifestyles.
Today, his lifestyle suits his status as a billionaire. Sijibomi revealed his affection for fast cars and antique watches. At 33, he bought a pricey Patek Phillipe wristwatch that costs $150,000 (N23 million) and when asked, he said he procured it so his grandson can one day use it.
Ladi Delano
image: http://www.theheraldng.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/image-6.jpg
At 35, Ladi is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bakrie Delano Africa – a $1 billion joint venture with the $15 billion Bakrie Group of Indonesia.
He started the journey to riches from age 22 he founded Solidarnosc Asia, a Chinese alcoholic beverage company that made Solid XS, a premium brand of vodka. Forbes Africa listed him as one of Nigeria’s top earners to watch.
This is an excerpt from the report done on him by Forbes Africa back in 2013
The path may have been well lit, but hardship lurked around the corner. In his student days, Delano found he suffered from mild dyslexia and deafness in one ear. Learning became more and more difficult and the idea of school waned. Despite this, with the help of extra lessons, Delano made it to a top university on a day he describes as glorious. The novelty soon wore off and academia became Delano’s nemesis. In his second year of a political science degree, he made up his mind. “It became quite clear that I didn’t have a passion for my course. I think that lead to me being easily distracted and that, ultimately, culminated in me thinking that rather than flogging a dead horse, it would make more sense to do something I was more comfortable with. There are two types of education and each form of education is equally as valuable. The academic approach to education is vital, no business can operate and be successful without those who have spent the time to understand the academic side of anything. However, that approach to education is not necessarily for everybody. And in my case, it wasn’t. So, I decided to withdraw from the university,” he says. Delano’s decision didn’t go down well at home, but there was no stopping him. At least, university education had planted the idea of becoming an entrepreneur.“
Igho Sanomi
The 40-year-old Igho Sanomi is the founder and CEO of Taleveras Group, a Nigerian energy, power and construction conglomerate. Taleveras is arguably one of Africa’s largest energy trading companies, trading close to a billion barrels of crude oil and millions of tons of condensates, gasoline, jet fuel and LPG every year. Taleveras also owns substantial stakes in two oil blocks in Nigeria as well as lucrative production sharing contracts (PSCs) in three offshore oil blocks in Ivory Coast. The group Power subsidiary constructs electrical substations in Nigeria and also owns a majority stake in the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company. The towering conglomerate has an annual turnover of several billions of dollars. Igho Sanomi is the controlling shareholder of the group.
At 40, Mr Sanomi is arguably one of the youngest kings of oil and gas Nigeria has ever seen.

ISIS bomber kills 41 at football tournament

At least 41 people have been killed by a suicide bomber who blew himself as trophies were presented after a local football tournament in Iraq.
More than 100 others were wounded in the attack near the village of al Asriya, 25 miles (40km) south of Baghdad.
Video posted on social media shows a local official speaking in front of a table covered with trophies and calling out the name of a player before a huge explosion.
The footage cuts off with a yellow flash of light before resuming with the chaotic scenes afterwards.
Mayor Ahmed Shaker was among the dead, along with one of his bodyguards and at least five members of the security forces.
“The suicide bomber cut through the crowd to approach the centre of the gathering and blew himself up as the mayor was presenting awards,” an 18-year-old witness told AFP.
Islamic State said it carried out the attack, which it claimed was targeting Shia militiamen.
It also said it killed three Iraqi soldiers in an attack on a military base in Anbar province.
“Four suicide bombers this morning infiltrated the military base of Al-Asad on its northern edge,” said Major General Ali Ibrahim Daboun, head of the Al-Jazeera Operations Command.
IS has lost ground in recent months in Iraq and Syria and but has hit back with a series of attacks, including the Brussels bombings.
On Friday, the US said the group’s second-in-command had been killed in an American raid in Syria.
Defence Secretary Ash Carter told reporters the “well-known terrorist”, Haji Imam, also known as Abdul Rahman Mustafa al Qaduli, was the group’s finance minister.
In Iraq, a military spokesman announced the country’s troops and Sunni tribal fighters had recaptured the town of Kubeisa in Anbar from IS.
The day before IS fighters were pushed out of a string of villages in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province as the US-led military coalition carried out airstrikes.
Iraqi ground forces are working to build on recent gains in Anbar and prepare for an eventual push on Mosul, the largest city held by the militants in their self-declared “caliphate” in northern Iraq and Syria.
The US estimates IS has lost 40% of the territory it once held in Iraq, as well as around 20% of its territory in Syria.

1000 Young Nigerians to Receive N500million Naira Grant for Start Ups

The YESGrant will provide business training for up to 600 aspiring young entrepreneurs

ABUJA, Nigeria, March 26, 2016/ — Over 1000 Nigerians will this year be beneficiaries of N500Million Naira Grant seed capital set aside for young Nigerian entrepreneurs and students.
This was disclosed today during the launch of the YESGrant Scheme (www.YESGrant.com) by the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF) (http://www. NYPForum.org) in partnership with Heritage Bank, which took place at the Four Point Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria.
The event which was very well attended by dignitaries, including representatives from the Nigerian University Commission (NUC), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), as well as captains of industries and top Government Functionaries as part of efforts to grow more indigenous entrepreneurs among young Nigerians and deliberately create over 50,000 jobs in the next 5 years of the program circle.
Speaking during the launch, Chairman of the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF), Moses Siloko Siasia, said he was inspired by the big impact small businesses can have on the economy and that was why the grant was created to provide incubator support to enable young entrepreneurial postulants with creative ideas in Agriculture, ICT and creative economy start or expand their business concepts in those areas.
“I have built businesses from the scratch and I understand the challenges people face and that is why I am optimistic that if given the necessary support, young Nigerians will not only grow the Nigerian economy, they will completely revolutionize it”.
Speaking also, the Managing Director of Heritage Bank (http://www.HBng.com), who was represented by the Head of Marketing Strategy Mr Obioma Emenike said he was optimistic that the initiative would lead to start ups and give a boost to economic growth and issued a call out to entrepreneurs to use their network to encourage their friends and colleagues apply for it.
The YESGrant will provide business training for up to 600 aspiring young entrepreneurs spread across all geo-political zones in Nigeria and will encourage expansion, specialization and spin-offs of existing businesses, which is to enable young entrepreneurs access a wide business professional network and improve their visibility, while entrepreneurs will receive up to 2million Naira annually as grant.
The YESGrant is to enable Nigerian students with extreme financial need pursue their academic dreams and aspiration in the areas of research and technological/scientific innovation and it will also help low income and disadvantage students with their tuition of which over 500 students will benefit from this year’s grant .
Furthermore, Students studying in Nigeria will receive up to 500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) while those studying in the United Kingdom will receive up to 3,000pounds and those studying in the United States will receive up to 5,000dollars annually as grant
To apply for the YESGrant available at www.YESGrant.com prospective recipients must be between the ages of 18- 40, be registered members of the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF) and have an account with Heritage Bank prior to the disbursement of the funds in August 2016. Student’s award recipients must in addition provide their matriculation number and academic progression report.

23 year old Frances Bean Divorced from Husband Isaiah Silva after 21months of marriage

Frances Bean Cobain

 

Frances Bean Cobain was spotted at the Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, just days after news broke that she had filed for divorce from husband Isaiah Silva.

The 23-year-old artist donned dark sunglasses with her hair in a ponytail as she walked through the airport. She was dressed casually, wearing a t-shirt and black pants with a tan and brown jacket.

Cobain, the daughter of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, and Silva are divorcing after 21 months of marriage, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE.

The Catholic Church puts one foot forward on the path to including women

In her 50th Easter season as a nun, Sister Antonia Sanchez participated in something new.

For the past 49 years, since she joined the order of Religious Mary Immaculate at age 16, Sanchez has watched priests wash the feet of men on Holy Thursday. This week, Sanchez was before the altar herself at the nation’s preeminent Catholic shrine. She was the one removing her shoes and socks. And then the pope’s representative to America washed her feet.

This was the first Easter since Pope Francis decreed in January that priests can include women in the foot-washing ritual, one of the most moving rites of the holiest week on the church’s calendar. The change had already happened in some churches, but since Francis made it official, it is now spreading worldwide.

Sanchez has been waiting for this for half a century. “I said, ‘Maybe sometime,'” she said. “This is the first time the pope said this opportunity has to be for ladies too. In this moment, I feel I’m privileged.”

The change is the most recent of Pope Francis’s slow but symbolically powerful efforts to expand women’s roles in church life.
On his first Easter after becoming pope in 2013, Francis washed the feet of women and Muslims at a juvenile detention center in Rome. While he has disappointed liberals within the church with his reiteration that women can’t be priests and his decision not to include women in his recent synods, he has also drawn attention to the gender wage gap, and he recently ended an inquiry into American nuns that many saw as anti-women.

As priests around the world took both women’s and men’s feet in their hands on Thursday, their gesture of humility represented to many the progress of inclusion in the Catholic church.
The Easter Week tradition models Jesus’s call for humility when he washed the feet of his Apostles at the Last Supper. In the gospel that was read on Thursday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the country’s largest Catholic church, the apostle Peter asked, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” And Jesus responded, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Jesus also instructed the apostles at the Last Supper to continue the tradition of foot-washing.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who is the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, spoke about the rite in his homily. “By cleansing their feet, he demonstrated his desire to cleanse their souls of sin,” he said. “Only God stooping down to us can lift us up.”
Then the archbishop removed his peaked hat and left his throne-like seat. As the choir sang, “Love one another as I have loved you,” each of the 12 people chosen by the Basilica to represent the 12 disciples solemnly removed their shoes, and Viganò knelt before each of them with a bowl and pitcher.

For centuries, foot-washing was done among clergy only, away from the presence of the laity. Men and women both participated, but most likely not in mixed company, according to Peter Jeffery, who wrote a book on the foot-washing tradition. Leaders in monastic communities would wash the feet of the lower members. Mother superiors would wash the feet of other nuns.
Then in 1956, Pope Pius XII revised the Holy Week liturgies to make foot-washing part of the Holy Thursday Mass.
The incorporation of the ritual into the Mass was “to make the Holy Week liturgies more interesting to the people,” said John Baldovin, a Jesuit priest who teaches historical and liturgical theology at Boston College. Pope Pius XII’s document specified that 12 men be chosen.
Pope Francis changed that language in the Roman Missal, the text which prescribes the format of Catholic Mass. Now it says instead of “men,” “those chosen from amongst the people of God.”

In many American churches, women have been participating in the ritual alongside men for years. These churches have interpreted the act as connoting service and humility, not as simply reenacting a gesture involving 12 male apostles.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which oversees the American Catholic Church, declared in 1987 that even though the Roman Missal specified men, women could also participate “in recognition of the service that should be given by all the faithful to the Church and to the world.”

The Rev. Michael J. Flynn, the secretariat of divine worship at the USCCB, said his organization does not track how many of the tens of thousands of parishes in the U.S. wash men’s or women’s feet, or include foot-washing in their Holy Thursday observance.

But he said that nearly every parish does choose to perform the well-liked rite, and the new guidelines will likely spur holdouts to start including women if they did not before.

“Given the understandable publicity over this recent change, it seems to me that there will be a certain level of expectation in most areas that both women and men will be included in the Washing of the Feet,” Flynn wrote in an email. “Like any change in our rituals, this alteration invites us to reexamine why we do it to begin with…. Perhaps part of Pope Francis’s motivation for altering the ritual is to remind us exactly who our neighbors are, whom we are called to serve.”

Not all Catholics looked favorably on the change. Some conservatives voiced disapproval, including the Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, a blogger popular among traditional Catholics. In a blog post, he said he feared that the change “could be interpreted to mean that liturgical norms mean very little and, worse, that liturgy means very little.”

But for many in the church, including women in the foot-washing service was not a tough decision.

“It was very simple. The pope changed the rules,” said Monsignor Walter Rossi at the Basilica of the National Shrine. The imposing domed shrine in Northeast Washington, central to American Catholicism, had never included women before in the rite. “We quickly said, ‘Oh, this is what we’re doing now.’”

Rossi said he recognized that the National Shrine is “a model for liturgy for the country.” When the cameras that broadcast the Basilica’s Mass online and on television went live on Thursday night, he knew many eyes would be on the foot-washing. “People watching on TV will be looking to see if we do it.”

The more interesting question for the Basilica was whom to invite for the honor of having their feet washed.

The church picked eight men and four women; members of its staff and two people who were homeless; lifelong devotees and a recent convert.

Rosie Armstrong of Gaithersburg became a Catholic last Easter, and this year, she was in front of hundreds of people who packed the Basilica’s long nave on Thursday evening.

Raised Baptist, Armstrong, 64, said felt the Catholic church was the place for her. “This was my home, where all races are family. It feels like my life is complete now, because I’m part of the community.”

When Viganò knelt before her and poured water over her right foot, she pushed her hands together in prayer.
“It cleanses the spirit. It cleanses the soul. It cleanses your whole being,” she said.
Lucy Guevara, 30, said she has trekked across the District to the Basilica frequently during her four years as a medical student at Georgetown University. “I felt that this was the place I needed, to recharge and get my bearings,” she said. “The shrine changed my life in the best way possible.”
Standing in the sacristy minutes before the Thursday Mass started, she said she would be praying for the sort of humility Jesus showed when he washed his disciples’ feet, so that she can connect with her neediest patients. “It’s going to take a lot in me to try not to cry.”
Each of Viganò’s 12 foot-washings was brief, about 20 seconds. But they were filled with meaning. Guevara gasped with emotion as the archbishop rinsed and dried her foot under the Basilica’s gleaming mosaic ceilings.
Guevara said she found it particularly potent to be in the first group of women honored in this way at the national shrine. “It’s such a great stage to show we are open to change as a faith and accepting of it,” she said.
Eddie Caparas, who has been one of the people whose feet were washed at the Basilica every year since 1998, except when he was having bypass surgery in 2011, said it never before crossed his mind to wonder why women weren’t there alongside him.
“It never dawned on me. But now that they’re here, I think it’s welcome. Regardless of who you are and what you are, it should be both men and women together,” Caparas said in the sacristy.
And then three bells clanged, his cue to proceed out onto the altar. And side by side with women and men of faith, he put his right foot forward.

Romelu Lukaku must join Man United or Bayern Munich – Father

Romelu Lukaku must consider leaving Everton for either Manchester United or Bayern Munich at the end of the season, according to his father.
Roger Lukaku told Het Laatste Nieuws‏ that his son, who has scored 25 goals for Roberto Martinez’s side this season, is ready to move on.
The 22-year-old Belgium international joined the Toffees in 2014 for £28 million after failing to make the first-team at Chelsea and has become the subject of interest for many of Europe’s top clubs with his performances.
“He’s ready,” Lukaku Sr. told Het Laatste Nieuws‏. “I see that there is interest from Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Chelsea and Manchester United.
“I think he must choose Manchester United or Bayern Munich. Manchester United is a team under construction with no real focus.
“Bayern Munich is a machine where he can rotate well. The only condition is if Robert Lewandowski leaves.”

Obama could go down as one of the most merciless presidents in history

On pardons, Obama could go down as one of the most merciless presidents in history

Photographed through a cell window, President Obama tours a federal prison in El Reno, Okla., last July.

George Lardner Jr., a former Post reporter, is scholar in residence at American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop. P.S. Ruckman Jr. is a professor of political science and editor of the Pardon Power Blog.

When the Obama administration’s new acting pardon attorney, Bob Zauzmer, arrived on the job last month, he ran headlong into a backlog of more than 9,000 clemency petitions awaiting a decision on whether they deserve the president’s consideration. Many of those petitions were the byproduct of the announcement of Clemency Project 2014, which was established by the Justice Department — to great fanfare — to process additional applications from federal prisoners seeking reductions of unjustifiably long drug sentences.

Zauzmer has his work cut out for him — it has been widely reported that his predecessor, Deborah Leff, stepped down in January over frustrations with a lack of resources.
Was the administration ever serious about Clemency 2014? The rules for commutation requests even reaching the overburdened pardons office under the initiative are inexcusably discouraging. The worst is that inmates must have served at least 10 years of their sentence. Other rules state they must not have “a significant criminal history” (whatever that means); they must be nonviolent, low-level offenders; and they must be serving a sentence harsher than they would have gotten if convicted of the same offense today. Those who fall “outside of this initiative,” according to the Justice Department, can still seek clemency under the old rules if their applications are “especially meritorious.”
The results of this great, unprecedented effort? Obama has a clemency record comparable to the least merciful presidents in history. He has granted just 70 pardons, the lowest mark for any full-term president since John Adams, and 187 commutations of sentence. Meanwhile, 1,629 pardon petitions have been denied (more than five of the previous six presidents), as well as 8,123 requests for commutations (a new record). An additional 3,444 requests have been “closed without presidential action.”
Obama’s record is all the more deplorable because of assurances that he has made and that have been made on his behalf. On April 21, 2014, then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. encouraged federal prisoners to seek relief, noting that, despite sentencing reforms Obama signed into law in 2010, there were “still too many people . . . sentenced under the old regime” who needed attention. Holder said the White House had “indicated” that it wanted to “consider additional clemency applications to restore a degree of justice, fairness, and proportionality for deserving individuals who do not pose a threat to public safety.” In addition, the Justice Department was “committed to recommending as many qualified applicants as possible for reduced sentences.” Clemency Project 2014 has, however, become a bureaucratic disaster, assigned to volunteer lawyers and law students with little if any experience in the pitfalls of dealing with the federal criminal justice system.
In June 2014, the Hill reported that Obama was pushing forward with a review of the clemency system. In March 2015, the president told the Huffington Post that the pardon process had been “revamped” and that he would be exercising the pardon power “more aggressively.” Seven months later, he told the Marshall Project that clemency applications were being processed “more effectively” and a “steady ramp up” was in play. The Post recently reported that some additional grants are expected in the coming weeks, but “big” is hardly a word that appropriately describes what has gone on to date.
By now, Obama could have simply signed an amnesty proclamation covering everyone qualifying for lesser sentences. He could have taken the pardon process out of the Justice Department and given the job to a commission or an independent agency that would give him a degree of political cover if anything went wrong. Just such a move had been proposed by his first White House counsel, Gregory Craig.
Regardless, seven neglectful years allow for few pretty endings. If current patterns persist, Obama will go down as one of the most merciless presidents in history. On the other hand, even a moderate display of concern about clemency, with a few grants here and there, will almost certainly be viewed (and dubbed) as “a last-minute gesture,” granted to avoid any serious political accountability.
Any such grants will also be greeted with suspicion and exceptional scrutiny by the media and political opponents. Impressions left by any scandalous reports will be much deeper than if the president had simply been more merciful more evenly across the term, and not left everyone to wonder: “Why are these particular people being pardoned? And why are they being pardoned now? Why are they any more special than the thousands of applicants deemed unworthy before them?”
Having waited almost two years before granting his first presidential pardon, Obama would probably do as much harm to the general reputation of the pardon power as to his personal legacy with a controversial, Bill Clintonesque splurge in clemency just before leaving office. Sadly, many deserving recipients would be besmirched as well. This is the bed the president has made for himself.

Prophet predicts second civil war in Nigeria

A prophet of the Royal House of David, Godfrey Gbujie, has predicted that Nigeria would witness another civil war if the nation’s leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, did not act swiftly to resolve the national questions.
He said that part of the national question is, are Nigerians willing and ready to continue to co-exist in an entity called Nigeria, adding that much depends on the President to act now in resolving this issue without further delay.
This is even as the man of God said a serious air disaster would soon be recorded within the airspace of Imo State.
Gbujie, who gave the revelations in a press briefing held at his Akabo, Ahiara Mbaise, Imo State country home, yesterday, said that blood sucking demons were roaring across the six zones of the nation, noting that an honest approach in handling the affairs of the nation was needed from Buhari and other leaders of the nation to avert the imminent war.
“God’s anger on the leaders of Northern Nigeria was enormous in that another terrible rebellious group in addition to Boko Haram will spring up from the North very soon,” he said.
According to Gbujie, “this second rebellious group will be led by two seasoned Nigeria army trained generals, and soon after, a more terrible and fiercer opposition group led by a younger trained Nigeria military commander will emerge from the South.
“This southern force will eventually cause the final disintegration and collapse of the Nigerian nation,” he said.
He said that two signs would herald his prediction. The first, according to him, would be a serious air disaster to be recorded within the Imo airspace soon.
“The nose of the aircraft shall point towards the west and the burning tail, pointing to the east’’, he said.
“Another sign is that two very prominent Nigerians working and walking in partnership along a north/south highway shall make history.
“As they walk along, suddenly, the senior partner will get struck to death due to circumstance not very clear, and this will result to a serious commotion and public revolt in Nigeria,” he said.
He said that Nigeria under the present administration of President Muhammad Buhari was passing through a gathering storm of God’s anger and pitiable dangers.
Gbujie said that what informed his public revelation on the spiritual messages was the need for Nigerians and the world to take note and possibly apply the solutions to avert the dangers ahead.
“Due to certain overwhelming development in the spiritual realm over the Federal Republic of Nigeria, within the last few months, in my Christian divine ministry as God’s commissioned and covenanted prophetic watchman over the nation.
”I could not help, but step out on faith to boldly and courageously open up and deliver to you certain message of the development for onward dissemination to the public and government and people of Nigeria’’, he said.
Gbujie, while presenting the solutions to the predictions, urged Buhari to urgently resolve the national question.
According to him, “for Buhari to resolve the national question, he should convoke a conference for various parts of Nigeria to state if they still want to remain one country or not.’’
On the anti-graft campaign, the man of God stated that the way and manner the anti-graft was going on was one of the major issues threatening Nigeria’s unity, especially amongst the nation’s armed forces

Five Things You Must Do To Succeed As An Entrepreneur

There are certain musts that have to be fully developed, implemented and managed for your business to succeed. There are many business musts, but this article contains some of the more important musts that are required to start, operate and grow a profitable business.

1. Do what you enjoy.

What you get out of your business in the form of personal satisfaction, financial gain, stability and enjoyment will be the sum of what you put into your business. So if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, in all likelihood it’s safe to assume that will be reflected in the success of your business–or subsequent lack of success. In fact, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, chances are you won’t succeed.

2. Take what you do seriously.

You cannot expect to be effective and successful in business unless you truly believe in your business and in the goods and services that you sell. Far too many home business owners fail to take their own businesses seriously enough, getting easily sidetracked and not staying motivated and keeping their noses to the grindstone. They also fall prey to naysayers who don’t take them seriously because they don’t work from an office building, office park, storefront, or factory. Little do these skeptics, who rain on the home business owner’s parade, know is that the number of people working from home, and making very good annual incomes, has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years.

3. Plan everything.

Planning every aspect of your home business is not only a must, but also builds habits that every home business owner should develop, implement, and maintain. The act of business planning is so important because it requires you to analyze each business situation, research and compile data, and make conclusions based mainly on the facts as revealed through the research. A business plan also serves a second function, which is having your goals and how you will achieve them, on paper. You can use the plan that you create both as map to take you from point A to Z and as a yardstick to measure the success of each individual plan or segment within the plan.

4. Manage money wisely.

The lifeblood of any business enterprise is cash flow. You need it to buy inventory, pay for services, promote and market your business, repair and replace tools and equipment, and pay yourself so that you can continue to work. Therefore, all home business owners must become wise money managers to ensure that the cash keeps flowing and the bills get paid. There are two aspects to wise money management.

1. The money you receive from clients in exchange for your goods and services you provide (income)
2. The money you spend on inventory, supplies, wages and other items required to keep your business operating. (expenses)
   

   5. Remember it’s all about the customer.

   Your home business is not about the products or services that you sell. Your home business is not about the prices that you charge for your goods and services. Your home business is not about your competition and how to beat them. Your business is all about your customers, or clients, period. After all, your customers are the people that will ultimately decide if your business goes boom or bust. Everything you do in business must be customer focused, including your policies, warranties, payment options, operating hours, presentations, advertising and promotional campaigns and website. In addition, you must know who your customers are inside out and upside down.

The horrifying case of the husband-and-wife who deal in human parts

Arthur Rathburn as he walks out of a federal courthouse in Detroit last month. 

 

For nearly seven years, Arthur Rathburn and his wife, Elizabeth, ran a black-market business dealing diseased human body parts, federal prosecutors say.
He dismembered the bodies with a chainsaw, stored the parts — including heads and torsos — and prepared them for shipping, while she took orders from customers, according to court documents.
The Rathburns were charged earlier this year after investigators say they discovered that the couple from Michigan had been renting out often-diseased body parts to medical and dental students.
“This alleged scheme to distribute diseased body parts not only defrauded customers from the monetary value of their contracts, but also exposed them and others to infection,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in a January statement. “The alleged conduct risked the health of medical students, dental students and baggage handlers.”
The grisly case took a new turn earlier this week when Elizabeth Rathburn agreed to a plea deal, admitting that in 2012 she took body parts contaminated with hepatitis B and HIV to an American Society of Anesthesiologists conference in Washington and claimed they were free from disease, according to the agreement.
She pleaded guilty to wire fraud and agreed to testify against her estranged husband.
She also revealed that he had recently sent her a birthday present — violating a no-contact order, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“Oh, Jesus,” Arthur Rathburn snapped in court, according to the newspaper. “No contact means no contact,” his attorney said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday that his bond had been revoked and he had been taken into custody because he violated the order.
Arthur Rathburn came into public view when he was mentioned in a book called “Body Brokers: Inside America’s Underground Trade in Human Remains,” credited as an “investigative exposé of the lucrative business of procuring, buying, and selling human cadavers and body parts.”
It described Rathburn as “a tall man with an impressive mustache and a friendly demeanor” and said he had worked at the University of Michigan Medical School.
“At the university, he was responsible for tagging corpses and setting them up for students,” the book read. “When necessary, he arranged for the shipment of corpses to other medical schools in need of bodies, and to brokers.”
Rathburn was fired from his job at the university, which said he had been selling bodies for profit, according to the Detroit Free Press.
In 1989, the newspaper said, he set up his own shop as an independent body broker.

The Free Press reported that it wasn’t until federal authorities noticed “bizarre shipments arriving for Rathburn at Metro airport, including a bucket full of human heads that arrived from Israel one year,” that they started to investigate him.

From January 2007 until December 2013, authorities said, Arthur and Elizabeth Rathburn ran International Biological Inc., a Detroit-area corporation that purchased donated bodies from biological resource centers and rented them to researchers.
Human bodies bring in $10,000 to $100,000; brains, $600; and elbows and hands, $850, according to court records cited by the Free Press.
But they are suppose to be free of disease. Authorities said the macabre Michigan morticians rented out human remains that they knew had tested positive for hepatitis and HIV, among other diseases.
“Arthur and Elizabeth Rathburn sometimes obtained diseased remains from their suppliers at a reduced cost, due to the fact that end users of human remains generally reject infectious bodies and body parts for use in medical or dental training,” according to the indictment.
The couple would rent the remains to customers, “falsely representing to those customers that the remains were free of certain infectious diseases,” the indictment added.
The court documents said Arthur Rathburn increased the couple’s profit by not complying with standardized sanitation practices.
“Arthur Rathburn used a chainsaw, band saw and reciprocating saw to dismember bodies without taking sanitary precautions,” according to the indictment.
He “stored human heads by stacking them directly on top of each other without any protective barrier, apparently disregarding any risk of cross-contamination between infectious and non-infectious remains.”
Pools of frozen blood and bodily fluids were found in the freezers, the documents said.
The Rathburns were indicted in January on 13 counts, including wire fraud; aiding and abetting; transporting hazardous material; and making false statements.
The next month, Arthur Rathburn was released on bond.
Moments after his release, he stood on a street corner in a navy blue sweatsuit and orange Crocs, telling reporters it hadn’t been easy.
“I’m doing all right,” he said, according to the Free Press. “Or at least I’m trying to.”
If convicted, Arthur Rathburn could face up to 20 years in prison.
On Monday, Elizabeth Rathburn took her plea deal in the case.
In 2012, authorities said, she took diseased body parts that the Rathburns’ company had purchased at a discount to the American Society of Anesthesiologists conference; to do so, she filled out a form declaring that the remains had tested negative for HIV and hepatitis A, B and C, according to the plea agreement.
The court documents say conference organizers would not have accepted the specimens “had the organization known of the positive HIV or hepatitis test results.”
Under the plea deal, she agreed to pay $55,225 in restitution to the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
Elizabeth Rathburn’s sentencing is set for July 18. She faces up to 10 months in jail.
Her attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

source: WP

Roy Hodgson condemns disgraced former England winger Adam Johnson

England manager Roy Hodgson joined the condemnation of former international Adam Johnson after he was jailed for engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.
The 28-year-old was sentenced to six years on Thursday for taking advantage of the besotted teenage Sunderland fan.
Johnson started his career at Middlesbrough and won the league with Manchester City, with whom he won all 12 of his England caps, before joining Sunderland.
England manager Hodgson was in charge for Johnson’s final two international appearances and decried the winger.
“I don’t think it’s fair to put on us that we should suddenly now start with a damning judgement on the fact that three or four years ago he was playing well for Manchester City and got into an England squad,” Hodgson said.
“He was chosen purely and simply on his footballing ability at that time and we took advantage of it. Since that time, of course, circumstances have contrived to put him in the position where he is today.
“I have no wish to sort of comment on the case itself. I think enough has been said, enough has been done. My views on the subject are no different to anybody else’s, any reasonable human being.
“I condemn what he did and unfortunately he has to pay the price for it, but I don’t think it should be linked in particular to England, the fact he once played for England or that we once were actually quite a lot closer to him when he was a player under my leadership and a colleague of Gary’s [Gary Cahill, who was sat alongside Hodgson].”
Asked whether Johnson should keep his England caps, Hodgson said: “I have no idea about that. I didn’t know you could take England caps away.
“You’d have to go to the FA with that one if that is something which is done on a regular basis, if people who sin in some way have to give caps back. I’ve never heard of that.”
On Wednesday at Bradford Crown Court, Orlando Pownall, defending, told the judge that Johnson had “been stripped of his England caps”.
Despite Mr Pownall’s assertion, reports indicate that the player has not been stripped of the 12 he won. No other England internationals with criminal convictions have been stripped of their caps.
On Wednesday, the FA released a short film exploring the policies and practices the governing body, and the wider football industry, has in place with regards to safeguarding and child protection issues.

Adele Set To Embark On Five-Year Break From Music To Raise Son

Multi award-winning British singer Adele is set to embark on a five-year break from music to focus on raising her three-year-old son, Angelo.

The singer embarked on a world tour in February and will bring it to a close in November, after which she expects to focus on her son with boyfriend Simon Konecki.

A source told The Sun: ‘She has told her closest pals she will step away from the limelight for five years before she next brings out an album.
‘She’s still very new to motherhood and doesn’t want to miss out on Angelo growing up. It will be a hard thing for fans to hear.”

She stunned the world with her latest album – 25 – in November, after a three-year break to raise her son.

She is yet to personally confirm the development.

The Nigerian stadium that hosted the Nigeria-Egypt match has a capacity of 16,000. (Photo)

Yesterday, the Super Eagles of Nigeria hosted the Pharaohs of Egypt, in a match that ended 1-1 when Salah struck late to equalise, at the Mutarla Muhammed stadium in Kaduna. A 16,000-capacity stadium.

This Easter witness the power of faith in #MiraclesFromHeaven.

Morning sex boosts immune system, cuts risk of stroke

The morning is the best time of the day to get passionate with your partner.

According to sexual health and wellbeing expert Samantha Evans, getting frisky first thing brings a tonne of health benefits; including boosting mood and helping you look younger. “Men accumulate testosterone as they sleep and from the time they wake up, they have a three hour window when they are brimming with testosterone,” she told Daily Star. “That early morning erection is not called ‘morning wood’ or ‘morning glory’ for nothing. “Whatever it is called, having an erection on waking up is as good a reason as any to initiate a little morning sex.” Getting passionate first thing helps give the brain a boost too, meaning you’ll get over that sluggish, post sleep, feeling quicker than ever. It’s also a good way to put your relationship first, as couples who are intimate regularly tend to feel more connected. All that’s left is to get over the morning breath and any sweaty pongs which might be lurking. That might seem hard, but a serious session should block out any fears about your partner’s hygiene. “Adults who start their day with sex are more likely to be happier and healthier than those who start their day with a cup of coffee and breakfast,” Samantha added. Morning romps can help improve your immune system, as people who get fruity one or more times a week tends to have higher levels of antibodies. These are the things which help ward off illness. They’ll improve your mood, because orgasms increase levels of serotonin, the chemical that helps us feel jolly. Orgasms also help boost oestrogen levels, a hormone while helps skin and hair look glossy, plus a good romp will improve circulation.

#Empire cast and crew want Beyoncé, Adele, and more to guest star

Despite a joke from Terrence Howard, O.J. probably won’t be on Empire’s mid-season premiere on March 30. But, speaking during a Friday night’s PaleyFest panel, the cast and crew revealed the celebs they’d like to see join the show’s impressive guest star roster.
Howard’s wish list includes Adele and Kendrick Lamar, while the name Prince was uttered, and Gabourey Sidibe kept whispering, “Beyoncé, Beyoncé, Beyoncé” into the mic.
Previously, there have been rumblings from team Empire​ about a guest appearance by Mariah Carey. Actor Jussie Smollett teased a Carey cameo last August but backpedaled in September. And series creator Lee Daniels told EW in September that “Mariah is coming on.”
Director Sanaa Hamri told EW outside of the panel, “Well, from my point of view, I’d like to bring more artists on to perform. I have a wishlist of having D’Angelo on the show, Kendrick Lamar, and French Montana … not too many guest stars, but just about integrating those artists. My passion is music.”
Actress Kaitlin Doubleday also remarked, “The guest stars are amazing, but I think they loved the family in the first season and learning who they were and the drama just between these seven people.”

culled from EW

Essayist and critic Roland Barthes—writer of "The Death of the Author"—died #onthisday 1980

'Empire' announces new soundtrack release date, shares two songs

Hear Jussie Smollett's 'Freedom' and Yo Gotti's remix of 'All Nite' right now.

Enlarge Photo

 

After almost four months away #Empire will finally return on Wednesday, and fans won’t have to wait nearly that long for the release of music from upcoming episodes.
Empire: Original Soundtrack, Season 2 Volume 2 will be released on April 29, Fox and Columbia announced Friday. The soundtrack will feature songs from the remaining episodes in the show’s second season including “Never Let It Die”, which Yazz and Jussie Smollett debuted on American Idol.
The show also debuted two new songs from the soundtrack – “Freedom” featuring Jussie Smollett and Yo Gotti’s remix of “All Nite” – when announcing the release date. Hear them below.
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See the track list for Empire’s new soundtrack.
1. Freedom (feat. Jussie Smollett)
2. Crown (feat. Jamila Velazquez, Raquel Castro, Yani Marin)
3. Look But Don’t Touch (feat. Serayah)
4. Good People (feat. Jussie Smollett, Yazz)
5. Like My Daddy (feat. Jussie Smollett)
6. Shine On Me (feat. Jussie Smollett, Bre-Z)
7. All Nite (feat. Yazz, Serayah, Jamila Velazquez)
8. Body Speak (feat. Serayah)
9. Last Night (feat. Jussie Smollett, Bre-Z)
10. Get It Started (feat. Jussie Smollett, Kelli Wakili)
11. Got That Work (feat. Yazz)
12. Good Enough (Negrito Remix feat. Jussie Smollett)
13. Chasing The Sky (feat. Terrence Howard, Jussie Smollett, Yazz)
14. No Competition (feat. Yazz, Serayah, Jussie Smollett)
15. Hemingway (feat. Jussie Smollett)
16. My Own Thang (feat. Jussie Smollett, Bre-Z)
17. Turn Around (feat. Bre-Z)
18. Fabulous (feat. DMK)
19. Never Let It Die (feat. Jussie Smollett, Yazz)
20. All Nite (Yo Gotti Remix) (feat. Yazz, Yo Gotti, Serayah and Jamila Velazquez)
Season 1’s soundtrack debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March 2015. The hit series starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson returns Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.

The Richest Women In The World 2016

With the global economy in turmoil in early 2016, women struggled to maintain their share of the Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires. The total number of female billionaires fell to 190 from 197 last year, and women make up 10% of the world’s 1,810 ten-figure fortunes.
View the full list of the 2016 billionaire rankings here.
Over the past year, 6 women billionaires died and the fortunes of 31 fell below $1 billion. But 27 women joined the ranks of the billionaires for the first time and another 3 returned to billionaire status after falling off in previous years.
Liliane Bettencourt of France is back in the seat of richest woman in the world, and is also the 11th richest person on the Forbes list. Her fortune slipped $4 billion in the past year as shares of L’Oreal fell. But the heiress was not just a victim of the markets. According to a French court, eight people, including several former wealth managers and celebrity photographer François-Marie Banier, were found guilty in May 2015 of conning the 93-year-old Parisian out of millions of euros. Banier was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay Bettencourt $172 million in damages. The court will hear his appeal in May 2016. Bettencourt and her family are worth $36.1 billion.
Alice Walton is the second richest woman in the world with $32.3 billion to her name. Her net worth is down $7.1 billion from last year due to a drop in the price of Wal-Mart stock. Walton, unlike her brothers Rob and Jim, is not actively involved in running the mega superstore chain her father Sam Walton founded in 1962. But she still shares in the wealth reaped by Wal-Mart. Instead, Alice focuses on collecting art and making political donations, including $25,000 to a super-PAC supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Jacqueline Mars, the third richest woman in the world, is worth $23.4 billion, down $3.2 billion this year. Mars and her brothers inherited pet food and candy maker Mars in 1999 after their father’s death. None of them play an active role in the company, which has $33 billion in annual revenue.

Recommended by Forbes

Another candy heiress, Maria Franca Fissolo of Italy, snags the title of fourth richest woman with a net worth of $22.1 billion. She is the widow of Michele Ferrero, who built Ferrero Group and died on Valentine’s Day 2015. The private company is owned by Fissolo and her son Giovanni, the CEO; its products include the popular Nutella spread, Kinder chocolates and Tic-Tac mints.
Susanne Klatten of Germany, the world’s fifth richest woman, secretly received additional shares of BMW from her mother over the years but the transfers only came to light when her mother, Johanna Quandt, last year’s ninth richest woman, died in August 2015. Klatten, worth $18.5 billion, and her brother Stefan Quandt (also a billionaire) together own almost half of BMW. Klatten is credited with steering German pharmaceutical and chemical company Altana AG toward $2 billion in annual sales.
Christy Walton, last year’s richest woman and daughter-in-law of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, slid out of the top ten this year after previously sealed information became available detailing how her late-husband John’s estate was divided between Christy Walton and their 29-year-old son Lukas. As a result Forbes lowered Christy’s net worth to $5.2 billion and inducted another young Walton to the billionaires club. Lukas Walton joins the list with a net worth of $10.4 billion.

Net worths for the 2016 Billionaires List were calculated using stock prices and exchange rates from February 12, 2016. Some net worths have already changed since that date.

Woman survives Brussels terror attack, pens note to unborn baby

Sneha Mehta wrote a letter to her unborn child after surviving the terrorist attack at the Brussels Airport.

• People cowered behind cars, sobbing, too frightened to move
• Mother: Our unborn child gave us the will to survive
• "I knew I had to protect you," mother writes in letter

(CNN)What Sneha Mehta remembers most is not so much the noise, the debris and the fear. It is instead the kindness of strangers.

She and her husband, Sameep, had just flown in from Abu Dhabi to Brussels on Tuesday when bombs went off in the airport and the ceiling started falling on their heads.

The arrivals area is below ground level, and it was difficult to know what to do. Sameep thought maybe they should drop to the floor in case gunfire broke out. But they decided instead to try to make it out of there.

She thought for a moment that she might die there. But she didn't fear death, she said. She was with the man she loved.

Then the moment passed.

She knew 'for sure' she would survive

Fortunately, the Mehtas knew the layout of the airport. They made their way to the parking garage. They saw people cowering behind cars and sobbing, too frozen with fear even to run.

Police and rescue crews were on the scene almost immediately, doing everything they possibly could to help people.

But she knew she would survive. "I knew for sure," Sneha said. "I knew for sure."

It was for the sake of the baby. She is 16 weeks pregnant.

The Mehtas ran onto the highway. A cab stopped to pick them up. The driver not only took them to the hospital, he also talked to them the whole way -- just what they needed at a time like that.

And then, at Sint Augustinus hospital, there was a beautiful moment: The ultrasound exam showed that the baby -- the Mehtas don't know yet whether it is a boy or a girl -- appeared to be healthy and content, safe in the womb, sucking its thumb.

'May you always be brave and healthy'

When she and her husband got home to Antwerp, Sneha felt she had to write a letter to her baby. Maybe it will be unsealed when the child is 16. Maybe later. She hasn't decided yet.

An earlier ultrasound of the Mehta's unborn child.

But she needed an outlet. And she needed, she said, to write the letter while the feelings were fresh and raw -- to capture them before they faded.

"Hi Sweetheart," she wrote.

"I don't know if we already acknowledged this with you in person, but when you were 16 weeks old, mum and dad were in an explosion at Brussels Airport.

"And no matter where humanity is today, I just want to tell you that life is a wonderful thing, and the world is really full of remarkable people.

"You didn't just give mum and dad faith and reason to live, you gave the awareness and presence of mind like never before.

"I felt more alive than I ever have, and I knew I had to protect you, so I was calm, composed and fully aware that we will survive.

"When we reached Sint-Augustinus emergency, and we saw you oblivious and sucking at your thumb at the ultrasound, and doing your general acrobatics, all the mistrust, hate and angst for the terrorist attack vaporized.

"I do hope with all my heart that you are born into a better world, and if not, then you do absolute best to make it that.

"You are absolutely precious to us, and have already been a hero today. I guess the world has sent so much love and hope your way, you owe your life to reciprocating that goodness.

"May you always be brave and healthy. We love you beyond words.

"Mum and Dad"

'Regardless of race, color or background ...'

And now, when she thinks of that Tuesday, Sneha thinks not so much of the few people so disfigured by hate that they perpetrated the attack.

She thinks instead of the emergency people doing their work and more, she said, with all their hearts. She thinks of all the drivers who stopped along the highway to pick up people sobbing at the side of the road.

She thinks of the community in which she lives. "And people are still coming together, regardless of race, color or background," she said.

She thinks instead of all life has to offer.

"It's a very unfortunate event," she said."But it's still largely a beautiful world."