32 people, including 22 Nigerians arrested for multi-million credit card fraud in the US

  32 people, including 22 Nigerians have been arrested in a multimillion, multi-state identity theft and credit card fraud ring. See the report from www.nj.com below...

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office first got involved in the investigation in the early fall of 2012, when they received numerous complaints from victims as far away as California claiming that credit cards in their name made fraudulent retail purchases in Hudson County, officials said yesterday.

Using store video and physical surveillance, the detectives were able to identify several suspects, authorities state. Detectives then linked those suspects to hundreds of other accounts and millions of dollars in phony transactions.

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Ekiti State deputy governor, Funmilayo Olayinka, dies of cancer at 52

The Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Mrs Funmilayo Olayinka, has died of cancer. The 52 year old banker turned politician lost her battle with cancer today in Lagos. She's survived by her husband and three kids. May her soul rest in peace...Amen

Naira hits highest level since August

The Naira strengthened a fourth day to complete its best one-week performance since August after oil companies were said to sell dollars to meet local expenses.

The currency of Africa’s biggest oil producer rose 0.1 percent to 157.45 per dollar by 1 p.m. in Lagos, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The naira has gained 0.7 percent this week, it’s best performance since the five days through Aug. 17.
Oil companies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., are the second-biggest source of dollars after the Central Bank of Nigeria, which offers foreign currency at auctions on Mondays and Wednesdays to maintain exchange-rate stability.
“The naira strengthened on the back of foreign-exchange sales from oil companies earlier this week, expected dollar sales from the NNPC, and to a lesser extent, some modest foreign-capital inflows,” Samir Gadio, an emerging-markets strategist at Standard Bank Group Ltd. in London, said in an e- mail. “It is likely that dollar-naira will drift higher once the NNPC effect dissipates next week.”
The central bank sold $237 million at an April 3 auction, compared with $300 million at the previous sale on March 27. It didn’t hold an offer on April 1 because of a public holiday.
Borrowing costs on Nigeria’s local-currency debt due January 2022 rose six basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, to 10.89 percent, according to yesterday’s prices compiled by the Financial Markets Dealers Association.
Yields on Nigeria’s $500 million of Eurobonds due January 2021 declined three basis points to 4.33 percent today

Chris Brown and Rihanna no longer together?

Chris Brown was a guest on a radio station yesterday and here's what they are claiming he said when asked if he was still with Rihanna...

 

They've not been photographed together for weeks now so o possible...but I hope not....

The Forbes Five: Hip-Hop's Wealthiest Artists 2013

1. Diddy - $580 million: The bulk of the Bad Boy Records founder’s wealth comes from non-musical ventures, namely his deal with Diageo’s Ciroc. The agreement entitles him to eight-figure annual payouts and a nine-figure windfall if the brand is ever sold—and Ciroc’s value has never been higher

2. Jay Z - $475 million: He’s still rolling in cash from megadeals like his $204 million Rocawear sale in 2007 and his $150 million pact with Live Nation the following year. He continues to hold stakes in Roc Nation, Carol’s Daughter, the Brooklyn Nets and, more significantly, the Barclays Center itself, while adding new partnerships with the likes of Duracell, Budweiser and Bacardi’s D’ussé Cognac

See the last three after the cut...

Why You Need to Be Nice to People

Being nice to employees and co-workers isn't just good karma, it's good for business. Here's why.

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Ever since Bob Sutton wrote The No Asshole Rule, there's been a pretty broad movement underway to eradicate dysfunctional jerks from the workplace. I've got a problem with that for a number of reasons.
1. Judging character is entirely subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So are most human attributes. And different business cultures accept different types of behavior.
2. Everyone's a jerk sometimes. Even you.
3. Jerks have a right to work too. And they can be great workers. Bosses, too.
All that said, there are lots of very good reasons why, all things being equal, you should at least try to be nice to people, especially in this era of social media and political correctness.

4 Reasons Business Goals Must be set!

Here are four reasons why you should be setting goals for your organization.

 

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 My only goal when I first launched a petty business was to ensure that I made enough money to survive the subsequent month, with little to no forward thinking or planning. Unfortunately, I think that many business owners still think that way regardless of their size, revenue or business offering. When I finally made the commitment to do some future business planning, it included many short and long-term benefits, including ensuring that my senior executives understood what we were trying to accomplish and the roles they would play in helping us get there.
Business owners should not fear setting goals or projections because there is absolutely no downside to doing so. Also, it is important to remember that goal setting doesn't have to be only about revenue. It could relate to innovation, employee retention, service offerings, or anything that is important to enhancing your business. Here are four reasons why you should be setting goals for your organization: See these reasons after the cut.....

The Secret to Getting More (and Better) Sleep

What if you could make better decisions, remember more, and get more done? It's possible, but you need more sleep. Here's how to get it.

jf-sebastian/Flickr

 

You constantly work to be more productive and more efficient.
You buy apps to save a couple minutes. You buy software to save a few more. You streamline your processes and rethink your workflow and do everything possible to maximize the hours you spend working.
But you pay no attention to improving the effectiveness of a major chunk of every day: the five to eight hours you spend sleeping.

What's Your True Definition of Success?

Don't let other people determine how you think about success. Define it for yourself.

 

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Susan McMullen wrote a children's book years ago about bullying. She shopped it to several publishers--but no one bought. When she lamented the fact that no publishing house would take it, her sister provided some sage advice about how Susan should define the book's success.
Success, Susan's sister insisted, can come in many forms. Instead of being published by a big publishing house, imagine the reward from printing out a few dozen copies and taking it to the local children's hospital to cheer up the patients. That's success

Why Carlos Slim Is The Richest Man In The World

Read on to see how the worlds richest man has come to be.

Carlos Slim is currently the world’s richest man. Carlos has been an entrepreneur since the age of 12, when he first decided to purchase shares in a Mexican bank. Now Carlos Slim is worth billions upon billions ($75.5 Billion to be exact).

If your pocket seems leaking… watch it, you are over spending?

You may not know it, but you may have already started to live beyond your means. You always have that notion that you are earning something relative, that should be able to pay for the bills, buy food and purchase the things that you want. But you may already be living beyond your means and already walking towards bankruptcy.

5 Tips for Finding the Perfect Co-founder

To head off problems down the road, any prospective partner must bring a lot more than talent to the table. Here's what else to look for.

 

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With artists for parents, Maida Fortune is intimately aware of the trials and tribulations creative types go through to sell their work. So her idea, Cureeo--an online marketplace for original art--made a lot of sense to her.
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business MBA candidate is smart, though, and knew better than to set off on her own. For one thing, while dreaming up Cureeo Fortune worked as a venture capital associate for Hyde Park Angels and OCA Ventures and saw firsthand that investors are skeptical of solo acts.

7 Things That Set Real Entrepreneurs Apart

Just because you wear a black turtleneck, jeans, and sneakers doesn't make you Steve Jobs. This is what makes an entrepreneur.

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A VC whose name escapes me once said, "There are entrepreneurs and there are Entrepreneurs!"
I'm not exactly sure what he meant by that, but I'll tell you what I think. I think the term "entrepreneur" has become more than a little overused, watered down, diluted.
That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. This is supposed to be the era of the entrepreneur. Practically everyone has a business, a brand, a blog. Everybody's a CEO of one. And yet, relatively few actually embody the true meaning of the word "entrepreneur." So what does it mean?

Why 'Win-Win' Negotiating Is the Surest Way You'll Lose

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Everybody loves a win-win answer to a problem. It's great when a potentially-contentious situation ends up with everybody coming out ahead. And isn't that the way most business deals should go, too? Let's all sit down and find a way for everyone to win. What could be better?
But when I surveyed people for my new book, Business Brilliant, one group overwhelmingly disagreed with the the idea that "win-win solutions are best." That group was self-made multi-millionaires, people whose net worth exceeds $30 million.

Nokia appoints Nick Imudia MD for West, Central Africa

 

Nokia has appointed Nick Imudia as managing director for its West and Central Africa operations.
Covering a territory that includes Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Liberia, Chad, Niger, Benin and Togo, Imudia will be based in the Nokia office in Lagos.