Lilo Schuster was in her mid-40s, single, and looking for love. After years of bad luck with dating, she, like millions of people across the globe, started using online dating sites to meet new people.
A few years ago, she received what appeared to be a promising email on the dating site Match.com. The man told her that he was a U.S. Air Force pilot deployed to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. He said he was a widower with an adorable daughter — the type of man and family that she'd been looking for, and most of all, he seemed very interested in Schuster.
“I just thought my prayers are being answered," she told VOA.
The relationship quickly intensified, and Schuster fell hard, emailing multiple times each day. He sent her poetry and page after page of emails professing his love. The man even sent her a few pictures dressed in his military uniform, and he was very handsome.
Schuster noticed that her suitor had bad grammar, but that didn't really bother her because her immigrant father had poor grammar as well. She asked to speak with him in person or via Skype, but the man said that wasn't allowed.
“His thing was, ‘well, this is top secret, we're fighting the terrorists, we can't do anything that would compromise that, so I can't use the phone.' And I believed all this," Schuster said.
After a few weeks, the man told her he needed some money to help his daughter go on a school trip. She loaned him about $2,000 by wiring the money to Britain, where he said his mother lived with his daughter.
Schuster was happy to help him, excited even.
“This is for our future,” she told herself.
The money requests didn't stop there. Shortly after the first wire transfer, the man told her that he wanted to get out of the Air Force and join some of his pilot friends in starting a private company that flies charter planes. She was told the military wouldn't let him access his bank accounts, so he needed her help to make his dream happen.
Schuster had her doubts, but said she was so scared that she might lose him that she was willing to keep wiring the money through Western Union. In all, she sent about $22,000, and almost immediately after she sent the last wire, he stopped emailing her.
“My heart just sank and I thought, this doesn't seem right,” she said.
Multi-million-dollar scamming industry
For Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey, Schuster's story is all-too familiar.
“It's been just overwhelming. We are dealing with thousands of these,” he said.
Grey says he has personally spoken to women who've given more than $80,000 to someone that they've never met in person. His office has received calls from the United States, Japan, Britain and Australia — all from women who thought they were in love with a U.S. service member but were actually being duped.
Grey says many of these criminals work out of cyber cafes in west African countries such as Nigeria and Ghana. They steal soldiers' photos from social media, create a fake backstory and profile for the photographs and then target unsuspecting women on online dating sites.
The scams tend to pick up around the holidays, Grey said, so women dating online need to be careful.
“Trust your instincts. Never send money to someone that you've never met, never talked to on the phone,” he said.
Look out for inconsistencies
Grey told VOA there are several red flags to watch for when cyber scammers are looking for targets.
Look for:
~ Misspellings on the documents and capitalization errors.
~ Titles of organizations that don't exist. Grey said his office recently received a letter from the Sergeant of Arms for the "Senate Forces Command," but no such entity exists.
~ Mismatched logos. Citing an example, Grey told VOA that a scammer will sometimes send documents with U.S. Army logos, but that the dating profile may say the person is in the Navy.
~ Fake stories about frozen accounts or money for surgeries. The military does not freeze members' bank accounts or credit cards and provides health care for deployed service members.
~ Urgency to get off the dating site. Schuster said she was encouraged to use personal email immediately rather than the site. The faster the scammer is off the dating site, the lower the chances of being caught using a fake profile, according to Schuster.
Schuster turned her anger into action, and by sharing her story, she says she helped a woman in New Zealand and a fellow American in Boston discover that they were being duped. The scammer was using the same pilot story and the “same exact pictures” that were used with her.
If you suspect you're being scammed, do not send money abroad and contact local authorities or postal inspectors. They may be able to trace the emailer's IP address to stop the person from playing on women's emotions to steal their savings.
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Online Scammers Pose as US Soldiers to Rob Unsuspecting Women
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Cambodians Face Deportations to Homeland They've Never Known
In late November, Lim Morn traveled to Washington, her first trip outside Minnesota since resettling there as a Cambodian immigrant in 1986.
She made the trek to plead for the release of her son, Chheng Soeun, after he was detained in August by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Chheng was marked for deportation because of a criminal record.
"I asked that they keep my son in the country because … we have no relatives in Cambodia," Lim, a single mother of four, told VOA Khmer.
Chheng is one of eight Cambodian men who face deportation at any time after Cambodia issues the appropriate travel documents. Shawn Neudauer, the public affairs officer in Minnesota for the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, told VOA by email that ICE does not have any leeway in the cases.
"The eight Cambodian men in Minnesota, currently in ICE custody while awaiting removal to their birth country, all have serious criminal conviction records, and each has a Final Order of Removal issued by the immigration courts," he said. "ICE must carry out these court orders in as timely a manner as possible. ICE does not have the discretion to ignore the court orders."
However, Chheng's lawyer suspects authorities have become more aggressive since President Donald Trump took office on a platform that called for much tougher treatment of refugees and immigrants with criminal records.
"The change in administration has signaled a willingness to deport people with criminal records and not exercise any discretion at all," said Danielle Robinson Briand, who represents Chheng and the others.
Last week, Gen. Khieu Sopheak, the spokesman for Cambodia's Ministry of the Interior, said the government had agreed to receive 36 Cambodians from the U.S. It is not known if the eight men from Minnesota are covered by the agreement.
Child refugees
The Cambodian-American men, known collectively by supporters as the "Minnesota 8," all arrived in the United States as child refugees. Each man had been convicted of a crime and served his sentence before being detained by ICE.
Their repatriation is covered by the 2002 U.S.-Cambodian Joint Commission on Repatriation (JCR). The commission is an outgrowth of the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, federal legislation that expanded deportation criteria.
Although the U.S. law was passed in 1996, Washington had to negotiate deportation agreements with individual nations; Cambodia signed in 2002.
In Washington, Lin attended an informal meeting hosted by the Cambodian Embassy about the JCR. Comprising four Americans and four Cambodians who review individual deportation cases, the JCR was established as part of the 2002 agreement. JCR officials typically do not meet with family members.
The Minnesota 8 cases have sparked protests since the detentions. An open letter to the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security, signed by three members of Congress, condemned the use of the 1996 law to justify the Minnesota roundup.
Each of the eight men is the breadwinner for his family. None has immediate family in Cambodia. They barely speak Khmer, the primary language of Cambodia.
Chheng, convicted of a gang-related attempted murder in 1995 when he was 14, served 17 years in state prison. Since his early release for good behavior in 2012, he has worked as a barber and avoided further criminal activities, Briand said.
A counterterrorism measure
But under the 1996 legislation, permanent U.S. residents who aren't naturalized citizens and who have been convicted of crimes on U.S. soil, including some misdemeanors, can be detained without appeal, even if they have served their sentences in full. At the signing ceremony, then-President Bill Clinton said the legislation "strikes a mighty blow" against terrorism.
Critics say the law is based on what they call intentionally vague definitions of "moral turpitude" and a broadened index of crimes that can get permanent residents deported.
"The aggravated felony [clause, according to the 1996 provisions,] really does have a too-harsh effect," said Hiroshi Motomura, a University of California-Los Angeles School of Law professor who is an immigration and citizenship expert. "Not only does it expand the scope of deportation, but it also limits the ability of immigration judges to allow people to stay in the United States based on their individual circumstances."
Broadened in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the law's counterterror and immigration provisions have resulted in more than 500 deportations to Cambodia since 2002, according to the Returnee Integration Support Center in Cambodia.
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, represents the district in which Chheng's family lives, and has said the law needs "more flexibility in it. It needs to include mitigating circumstances."
Such circumstances could include whether a person slated for deportation had ever been to the country to which he was being sent, Ellison said.
Damaged families
Born in Thailand's Khao-I-Dang refugee camp in 1981, Chheng is one of many Cambodians who have never lived in their country of origin. Displaced by the Khmer Rouge genocide, which emerged from the political upheaval triggered in part by U.S. bombing campaigns of the Vietnam-war era, his family was granted U.S. refuge when he was a preschooler.
As VOA has previously reported, many Cambodians who survived the Khmer Rouge regime suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. This has complicated their integration into American life.
"War and genocide had caused so much damage to the families," Chum Bun Rong, Cambodia's ambassador to the United States, told VOA. "They continued to struggle on [U.S.] soil, and dealing with trauma might cause people to commit crimes."
In late October, Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked U.S. Embassy officials in Phnom Penh to temporarily suspend the 2002 repatriation agreement in an attempt to amend it.
David Josar, the U.S. Embassy's deputy spokesman, explained the U.S. response in an email to VOA's Khmer service: "We continue to work with the Government of Cambodia on repatriations of its citizens," he wrote. "We believe Cambodia should issue travel documents to its citizens and accept the return of those subject to final orders of removal."
The Cambodia Daily newspaper has quoted Chum Sounry, spokesman for Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying his country has created "a working group" on the agreement with a U.S. counterpart. Sopheak of the Interior Ministry told VOA a draft proposal will be presented to the U.S. once it is completed.
Am Sam Ath, monitoring manager at rights group Licadho in Phnom Penh, said this week that Cambodians who have never lived in their homeland and who are deported from the U.S. will find it hard to adapt to their new surroundings and will require support.
"This is very necessary," he said. "This is what the governments have to discuss and the U.S. is a country that implements democracy. Thus, they must understand rights and freedom of the people."
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Kutoka kwa Paul Makonda usiku huu na mistari aliyonukuu (+VIDEO)
Jina la Mkuu wa mkoa wa Dar es salaam Paul Makonda sasa hivi linatajwa sana kwenye headlines za sakata la dawa za kulevya na tayari akiwa amefanya awamu ya pili ya kutaja orodha ya Watu 65 wanaotuhumiwa kwenye sakata hilo. Pamoja na hayo kuendelea Paul Makonda amepost video kwenye Instagram page yake akisoma mistari ya […]
The post Kutoka kwa Paul Makonda usiku huu na mistari aliyonukuu (+VIDEO) appeared first on millardayo.com.
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Police show of might unacceptable: Speaker Ndugai
Dodoma. National Assembly Speaker Job Ndugai on Friday chides the police over recent stand-off as they attempted to arrest Members of Parliament.
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The Correspondents
The Correspondents is VOA’s weekly discussion of the world’s top stories, as seen through the eyes of our dedicated reporters in the US and around the globe. Hosted by Mil Arcega, our panel of journalists goes beyond the headlines to give listeners and viewer real context and understanding of what’s driving the story.
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VIDEO: “Tukienda kibabe namna hii tutavuruga Nchi” – Spika Ndugai
Spika wa bunge Job Ndugai leo wakati wa Bunge kuahirishwa amesimama na kuzungumzia ishu ya baadhi ya Polisi wa Tanzania kushika Wabunge bila yeye kupewa taarifa ambapo amesisitiza ‘hatuwezi kwenda namna hiyo’ Amesema hadhi ya Bunge iko palepale na kwamba Muhimili wa Bunge hauna ugomvi wowote na serikali, mambo ya Ofisa mmojawapo kusahau mipaka na […]
The post VIDEO: “Tukienda kibabe namna hii tutavuruga Nchi” – Spika Ndugai appeared first on millardayo.com.
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BUNGENI: “Tukienda kibabe namna hii tutavuruga Nchi” – Spika Ndugai
February 10 2017 mkutano wa sita wa bunge umeahirishwa na Waziri Mkuu Kassim Majaliwa ambapo baada ya kutoa hoja hiyo Spika wa Bunge Job Ndugai alisimama kwa dakika kadhaa. Katika kusimama kwake Spika Job Ndugai aliwataka Wabunge kusamehe makosa yote yaliyojitokeza katika kipindi chote cha Bunge kwenye ishu ya Wabunge kukamatwa na Polisi, tazama hii […]
The post BUNGENI: “Tukienda kibabe namna hii tutavuruga Nchi” – Spika Ndugai appeared first on millardayo.com.
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Karafuu za magendo zakamatwa Micheweni
Kamanda wa Polisi Mkoa wa Kaskzini Pemba, Haji Khamis Haji, akitowa maelezo ya kukamatwa kwa karafuu hizo ambazo zilikuwa zinataka kusafirishwa kwa magendo. Gari za aina ya Noha na gari la Ng'ombe ambazo zilikamatwa zikiwa zimepakia Karafuu za magendo mkoa Kaskazini Pemba.Picha na Hanifa Salim-Pemba.NA/ HANIFA SALIM—PEMBA.JUMLA ya magunia matano ya Karafuu kavu yenye uzito wa kilo 300, yamekamatwa na vikosi vya Ulinzi na usalama katika maeneo ya Chanjaani na kiperani Konde Wilaya ya Micheweni Mkoa wa Kaskazini Pemba.Magunia mawili yalikamatwa Januari 4 yakiwa katika gari aina ya Noah yenye namba Z529GH na matatu Febuari 8 mwaka huu yakiwa katika gari ya Ng’ombe ambayo yalikamatwa na askari wa Vikosi vya ulinzi na usalama wakiwa katika doria majira ya saa 7:00 usiku.Akizungumza na mwandishi wa habari Mkurugenzi mwendeshaji wa Shirika la ZSTC Zanzibar, Said Seif Mzee, aliwataka wananchi kuuza Karafuu ZSTC, alisema karafuu ni zao la nchi ambalo linamgusa kila Mzanzibar hivyo wananchi wanapouza karafuu ZSTC inasaidia Serikali kuongeza mapato. Alisema Serikali imefanya juhudi ya kuwalipa wananchi bei nzuri kwa mauzo ya zao la Karafuu ambayo bei hiyo haipatikani katika nchi yoyote, hivyo ni vyema jamii iache kusafirisha karafuu kwa njia ya magendo.“Katika kuziangalia karafuu hizi ambazo zimekamatwa zimeonekana kuwa vimechanganywa na makonyo ambapo hii ni kutokana na kutaka waziongeze uzito njambo ambalo ni kosa kisheria” alisema.Hata hivyo thamani ya Karafuu hizo , haikuweza kupatikana kwa vile hazijafanyiwa upasishaji, na kutiwa bei yake halisi kulingana na ubora ilizonazo.Alieleza kwa mujibu wa sheria ya maendeleo ya Karafuu ya mwaka 2014, Sheria namba mbili sehemu ya 19 kifungu cha kwanza hadi cha sita, kimelezea usafirishaji wa karafuu kavu kutoka sehemu moja kwenda nyengine ni lazima kupata kibali.Alisema Shirika linaendelea kushawishi wananchi katika kuuza karafuu zao ZSTC na kuacha kusafirisha kimagendo jambo ambalo ni makosa na linasababisha kupunguza pato la nchi. Kamanda msaidizi Kamishna wa Jeshi la Polisi Mkoa wa Kaskazini Pemba, Haji Khamis Haji, akithibitisha kukamatwa kwa magendo ya karafuu hizo alisema, ni kweli askari walifanikiwa kuwakamata watuhumiwa hao kwa siku tafauti wakiwa katika shughuli zao za doria.“Kuna karafuu zilikamatwa na wenzetu wa KMKM Konde katika gari aina ya Noha ambapo mtuhumiwa alikimbia, lakini asubuhi walikamatwa na Febuari 8 tulimkamata mtuhumiwa mwenginea kutoka konde kwenda bandari ya Kichungwani Msuka na wote tutafikishwa mahakamani Jumatatu” alisema.Hivyo aliwataka wananchi na wakulima wote wa zao la Karafuu watumie fursa ya kuuza Karafuu zao ZSTC, ili kulipatia Shirika mapato halali ya nchi na kuacha kusafirisha Karafuu kimagendo pia wananchi kutoa taarifa kwa Jeshi la Polisi ili wananchi waache tabia hiyo.
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Rais Dk Shein afanya mazungumzo na mabalozi wateule Ikulu
STATE HOUSE ZANZIBAROFFICE OF THE PRESS SECRETARYPRESS RELEASEZanzibar 10.2.2017RAIS wa Zanzibar na Mwenyekiti wa Baraza la Mapinduzi Dk. Ali Mohamed Shein ameeleza haja kwa Mabalozi wanaokwenda kuiwakilisha Tanzania nchi za nje kutekeleza Sera ya Diplomasia ya Uchumi kwa kuhamasisha uwekezaji hasa katika sekta ya viwanda ambayo ndio kiu ya uchumi wa Tanzania hivi sasa.Dk. Shein aliyasema hayo leo Ikulu mjini Zanzibar, wakati alipofanya mazungumzo na Mabalozi Wateule wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania, waliofika Ikulu kumuaga Rais pamoja na kufanya nae mazungumzo ambapo alisisitiza kuwa sekta ya viwanda imepewa kipaumbele na kutiliwa mkazo mkubwa na Serikali zote mbili.Miongoni mwa Mabalozi hao ni Balozi Emmanuel John Nchimbi ambaye anakwenda kuiwakilisha Tanzania nchini Brazil, Balozi Mbelwa Brighton Kairuki anaekwenda nchini China, Balozi Geogre Kahema Madafa anaekwenda Italy, Balozi Profesa Elizabeth Kiondo anakwenda nchini Turkey.Wengine ni Balozi Dk. James Alex Msekela UN nchini Geneva, Balozi Samwel William Shelukindo anaekwenda Paris, France na Balozi mteule Lt. Jeneral (Mstaafu) Paul Ignance Mella anaekwenda D.R. Congo.Katika maelezo yake Dk. Shein alisema kuwa shabaha kuu ya Serikali zote mbili ya Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania na Serikali ya Mapinduzi ya Zanzibar ni kuimarisha sekta ya viwanda vikiwemo viwanda vikubwa, vidogo na vya kati hivyo ni vyema wakatumua fursa hiyo kuwakaribisha wawekezaji wa nchi hizo wanazokwenda kufanyia kazi.Akizungumzia kwa upande wa Zanzibar, Dk. Shein alisema kuwa licha ya Zanzibar kuwa ni visiwa ambavyo vimezungukwa na bahari sambamba na kuwepo ukanda wa bahari kutoka Tanga hadi Mtwara lakini maeneo hayo hakuna viwanda vya samaki ambayo ni bidhaa inayotokana na bahari.Alieleza kuwa eneo la bahari la Zanzibar ni maarufu sana kwa samaki aina ya jodari ambaye ni samaki anaependwa duniani lakini wamekuwa hawavuliwi ipasavyo na badala yake hutokea meli kubwa za kigeni za uvuvi ambazo huja kuwavua kwa njia za wizi.Dk. Shein alieleza kuwa hatua hiyo itasaidia kwa kiasi kikubwa kuimarisha sekta ya ajira na kupunguza changamoto iliyopo katika sekta hiyo hapa nchini hasa kwa vijana.Aidha, Dk. Shein alieleza haja ya Mabalozi hao kuitangaza Zanzibar na Tanzania nzima kiutalii ambapo kwa upande wa Zanzibar sekta hiyo imekuwa ni muhimu kutokana na kuchangia asilimia 80 ya pato la Taifa.Dk. Shein alieleza kuwa lengo la Serikali ya Mapinduzi ya Zanzibar ifikapo mwaka 2020 ni kupokea watalii zaidi ya laki tano kutokana na mikakati iliyopo hasa ikizingatiwa kuwa Zanzibar inavivutio vingi vya kitalii.Pia, Dk. Shein alisisitiza haja ya kuvitangaza vivutio vya kitalii vilivyopo nchini vikiwemo Mbuga za wanyama, sehemu za kihistoria, fukwe na vyenginevyo.Sambamba na hayo, Dk. Shein aliwatakia heri na fanaka Mabalozi hao katika utendaji wao wa kazi kwenye Balozi hizo na kueleza kuwa kwa vile anatambua utendaji wao wa kazi ana matumaini makubwa kuwa watatekeleza vyema dhamana zao hizo. Nao Mabalozi hao walimthibitishia Dk. Shein kuwa wamepokea maelekezo yote aliyowapa na kuahidi kuyafanyia kazi hasa kwa maeneo maaluma ya Zanzibar na Tanzania Bara.Akitoa maelezo kwa niaba ya Mabalozi wenziwe, Balozi wa Tanzania nchini Brazil Balozi Emmanuel John Nchimbi, alimuhakikishia Dk. Shein kuwa watafanya kazi kwa juhudi kubwa na maarifa kwa maslahi ya nchi yao na wananchi wake.Balozi Nchimbi kwa niaba ya wenziwe walitoa pongezi na shukurani kwa kwa Rais Dk. Shein pamoja na Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania John Pombe Magufuli kwa kuteuliwa kwenda kuiwakilisha Tanzania katika nchi hizo.Mabalozi hao walimuhakikishia Dk. Shein kuwa katika wadhifa wao huo juhudi za makusudi watazichukua kwa mashirikiano ya pamoja katika kuhakikisha uhusiano na ushirikiano uliopo kati ya nchi hizo na Tanzania unaimarishwa zaidi sambamba na kuimarisha maslahi kwa pande zote mbili za Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania.Rajab Mkasaba, Ikulu ZanzibarPostal Address: 2422 Tel.:0777427449. Fax: 024 2231822 E-mail: rajabmkasaba@yahoo.co.uk
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Trump says Israel should be 'reasonable' in peace process
US President Trump has described Israeli settlement growth as detrimental to achieving peace in the Middle East. The statement came ahead of a meeting between the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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London’s Spy Industry Thrives in Private Sector
Private intelligence companies are part of a booming business in London and the British government complains it is having trouble retaining talented agents who are being drawn by high salaries and more growth opportunities in a blossoming industry estimated to be worth $19 billion.
“Our mission is to fill a gap of knowledge or information in any situation,” said Patrick Grayson, founder and CEO of GPW, a respected mid-sized London intelligence firm. “There’s always something people should or could know in addition to what they do know. Our job is to answer that question. To fill that gap in knowledge.”
With legal firms as their key clients, Gray’s company has set up shop on London’s Chancery Lane in the heart of the city’s legal district, where solicitors and judges dressed in the traditional court garb that includes white wigs and black robes can be seen walking between the courts and their offices in the medieval Inner Temple area.
The business of private investigations was once regarded as less than respectable and downmarket – that of the stereotypical private eye in a trench coat under a streetlight; but industry observers note the private investigators of today have been pulled from the gutter and into the boardroom, where they take their places next to lawyers and accountants.
The man some in the industry credit as the inventor of the modern private corporate investigations sector is former prosecutor Jules Kroll, a New Yorker who in 1986 started Kroll investigations. The company’s revenues now top $1 billion.
It is at Kroll’s company that Grayson and other big names in the field learned the trade and brought it to London, where the city’s strategic geographic location between the United States and Asia and its long-established history as a center of espionage made it the right locale for the new industry.
Crowded playing field
Industry observers say the playing field has become crowded, mostly with small firms of as few as three people; but the sector continues to grow as big corporations expand operations overseas and seek to minimize risks in environments they do not fully understand.
“Large companies draw on us because they don’t have the investigative capacity internally and where that capacity has its work more recently is in the international context. Our firm understands cultural sensitivities,” says Nicholas Connon, director of Quintel Intelligence, a London firm.
Clients include companies taking new clients and investing in emerging markets of Africa, eastern Europe, and east Asia that are unfamiliar territory and where things are sometimes not what they appear.
“We’re actually getting lots of requests, with the basic question, ‘can you tell me what’s going on,’” said Alex Bomberg of International Intelligence, which works in faraway places like India. “Even if you look at the books of the company, it’s not necessarily going to give you the full picture.”
Among their services, companies like Bomberg’s provide pattern of life studies that give a picture of the people in a company that can be different from the image portrayed on its website, and insight on how a company is really doing. “A swan might look great above the water line, but how people are living their lifestyle within that company can be a different kind of fish,” Bomberg said.
Usually not James Bond stuff
The work of corporate intelligence agents is more often not the exciting stuff of James Bond movies. It can involve combing through individuals’ credit histories and analyzing personal habits – work that can include going through people’s trash. “We’re talking about what car they drive, what’s going into their dust bin, where their wives are shopping,” said Bomberg.
Although the modern industry had its start in New York, London is a breeding ground for firms, and one where they naturally thrive. The city has for centuries been a center of espionage and the British are credited with being in the spying business perhaps longer than anyone else.
One reason is the nation’s history as a great colonial power.
“Britain has been a very fertile place for information, intelligence gathering, and that has to do with our position in the globe, the British tradition of exploring foreign parts and relying on accurate information to expand its interests,” said Grayson.
Getting that accurate information requires tools that are reminiscent of the movies. Gear commonly used include jamming equipment to ensure that boardroom discussions are not being recorded and bug-searching devices.
$1,000 an hour
Intelligence company officials and operatives interviewed agreed there is no piece of equipment that beats the human eyeball, and the knowledge and experience to know what to look for.
Observers say the British government faces a brain drain as agents employed by police forces, the military and civilian intelligence agencies leave their jobs for better paying positions in private sector firms that often bill at rates of more than $1,000 an hour.
“If they’ve been working for a government agency for a long time, the draw is money. There’s not a lot of money working for the government. Even the pensions are not great these days. You could quite easily double that overnight,” Bomberg said.
It is not only former intelligence officers who seek out firms. Recruits include financial advisers with backgrounds that include things like experience in property or construction, lawyers, and sometimes academics.
When the companies recruit people, they essentially buy experience.
“We recruit among whoever is the best,” said Connon. “We draw our expertise across the board to get into the specific situation.”
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Fitch Ratings: Trump Administration Poses New Risk to Global Economy
One of the major U.S. credit ratings agencies says the Trump administration represents a risk to international economic conditions and could alter global sovereign credit fundamentals.
The Fitch Ratings agency says risks have increased because U.S. policy predictability has diminished under Donald Trump, raising the prospects of unanticipated policy changes that could have global economic consequences.
The economic implications include the possibility of disruptions to trade relations, reduced capital flows and limits on migration and remittances, all of which could lead to heightened currency and financial market volatility.
But Fitch says parts of Trump's agenda could be positive for growth. That includes the president's promise to boost infrastructure investment, decrease regulations and cut taxes. Fitch says a lot will depend on whether those policies lead to bigger deficits or expand the U.S. debt.
All told, the balance of risks points toward a less benign outlook, given the administration's abandonment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and its desire to renegotiate established trade deals with Canada and Mexico. Much could still change, but Fitch says the aggressive tone from the White House is likely to make negotiations or compromise with other countries more difficult.
Countries most at risk from increased U.S. unpredictability are those with close economic ties that are now under scrutiny because of perceptions of unfair trade arrangements or exchange rate practices. They include Canada, China, Germany, Japan and Mexico.
Fitch says that, due to the size of the U.S. economy and its integration in the global supply chain, any actions Washington takes to limit trade in one country are bound to have effects on other countries.
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Poll: Europeans Favor Halt to Immigration From Mainly Muslim Countries
A majority of Europeans opposes any more immigration from Muslim-majority countries, according to a poll conducted before U.S. President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order temporarily curtailing immigration from seven countries in the Middle East and Horn of Africa.
The survey points to "significant and widespread levels of public anxiety in Europe over immigration from mainly Muslim states," say analysts at Chatham House, the British research organization. The survey found that most people across the 10 European Union countries polled want to stop all future immigration from Muslim-majority countries.
Chatham House found opposition to Muslim immigration is more intense among the retired and older Europeans, while those under 30 years old are significantly less opposed. There are also divides in opinion when it comes to education levels: respondents who only completed high school were 59 percent opposed to further Muslim immigration, while less than half of college graduates favored curbs.
Those living in rural areas are more likely to want a halt to further Muslim migration than those living in cities. The age, location and education breakdown in the poll mirror the same divisions present with Brexit, Britain's vote last year to leave the European Union.
‘Underlying’ anti-immigration support
Overall, across all 10 of the European countries surveyed, an average of 55 percent want all further migration from mainly Muslim countries stopped; 25 percent neither agree nor disagree about curbs and 20 percent disagreed with a ban. Majorities in all but two of the 10 states agreed on curbs, ranging from 71 percent in Poland, 65 percent in Austria, 53 percent in Germany and 51 percent in Italy to 47 percent in Britain and 41 percent in Spain.
In no country did the percentage who disagreed with a ban surpass 32 percent. With the exception of Poland, the countries surveyed have either been at the center of the refugee crisis or suffered recent terrorist attacks.
The researchers — Matthew Goodwin and Thomas Raines, who are analysts at Chatham House, and David Cutts, a political scientist at the University of Birmingham — say the poll shows that there is "an underlying reservoir of public support" for Europe's anti-immigrant alt-right parties.
Upcoming elections
The Chatham House poll comes as mainstream politicians prepare for possibly epoch-changing elections later this year. Germany, France, the Netherlands, and possibly Italy will hold elections in 2017 and in all of them, far-right parties are gaining ground and predicting electoral breakthroughs, buoyed by Trump's upset election win in the United States.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's National Front party, who is likely to make it to a runoff for the French presidency, has predicted 2017 will be "the year of the patriotic spring."
"Our results are striking and sobering," the Chatham House analysts said. "They suggest that public opposition to any further migration from predominantly Muslim states is by no means confined to Trump's electorate in the U.S., but is fairly widespread."
The urgent question for establishment parties "is whether or not those who support a ban on travel and immigration from Muslim-majority countries will lead nationalist parties to victory," said John Lloyd, a former editor of Britain's left wing New Statesman magazine and a fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.
"The brief experience of the Trump presidency is that success, at least temporarily, goes to those who stay on the hard side of immigration politics," he argued.
Europe's alt-right leaders have been energized by the change in leadership in Washington, and populist right-wing figures such as Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Britain's Nigel Farage and Matteo Salvini of Italy have heaped praise on Trump's travel ban, which is currently being contested in U.S. courts.
Mainstream European politicians have chided the U.S. president.
Earlier this week in Britain, the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, told lawmakers he did not want to invite Trump to speak to parliament when the president visits the country later this year, stating, "I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons."
Bercow's comments prompted a political dispute in London, with Conservative lawmakers accusing him of insulting Britain's most important ally.
The Chatham House analysts note that their survey is in line with other broad-based polls in recent years of European attitudes to immigration. Last year, a Pew Research Center survey of 10 European countries found majorities had an unfavorable view of Muslims living in their country.
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EU's Mogherini warns US not to 'interfere' in European politics
The EU's foreign policy chief has cautioned Washington about meddling in the bloc's political life. Trump's administration has reached out to EU officials, asking which nation was next to leave, an ex-US ambassador said.
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Trump and Abe hail US-Japan alliance as crucial to peace and stability
US President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Abe both expressed a desire for "fair" trade relations between their nations. The leaders are expected to continue to address economic issues in two days of talks.
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Cats Crashing Prestigious Westminster Dog Show? Not Exactly...
This Saturday, New York City will once again host the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, as it has every year since 1877.
But this year, cats will be included in the week-long event, which has long been one of the most prestigious competitive dog shows in the world.
Yes, cats.
When that was first reported, some seemed to think that dogs would be sharing the stage -- and the competition for the title of "Best in Show" -- with felines. Disgruntled dog lovers were dismayed and took to Twitter to express their opposition.
One columnist even opined in an op-ed published by the Chicago Tribune that the news put the United States in danger.
"It pains me to say this," author Rex Huppke wrote, "But our country is in peril."
Of course, Huppke was just kidding. Even so, it was hard to imagine what cats would do at a dog show.
"It is just for public education and fun," explained Gail Miller Bisher, director of communications at the Westminster Kennel Club and a dog show analyst for Fox Sports.
In short, the show is a combination of two events -- the formal dog competition and what is known as the "meet the breeds" event.
"The American Kennel Club's "meet the breeds" is really a public education offering, so there are booths of every breed for the public to learn about," Bisher said. "The whole point is to touch the dogs, and learn about the breeds from the groomers, owners and handlers, so that [ticket holders] can know more about dogs before possibly bringing one into their home."
This year, the educational part of the dog show has been extended to cats.
According to Bisher, there's no master plan or ulterior motive to cats being at a dog show.
"The AKC has worked with The International Cat Association (TICA http://www.tica.org/) in the past; so they invited TICA to bring up to 40 breeds of cats as part of that public education offering," she said.
Still, it's too close for comfort for some dog lovers, such as Rex Huppke, who writes:
"I'm calling for an immediate ban on any felines seeking to enter the Westminster Dog Show festivities. We just need to shut it down until we can figure this thing out....
This country was founded by people who loved dogs. It's an accurate historical fact, according to something I found on the Internet, that a 25-year-old Pilgrim named John Goodman brought both his mastiff and English springer spaniel with him on the Mayflower.
(There are also reports of a cat on the Mayflower, but I think that's just fake news)."
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South Sudan Now Largest Refugee Crisis in Africa
More than three years of civil war in South Sudan has forced 1.5 million people to flee into neighboring countries, creating Africa's largest refugee crisis and the third largest in the world after Syria and Afghanistan, the U.N. refugee agency reports.
Since fighting erupted between the government of President Salva Kiir and rebel forces led by First Vice-President Riek Machar in December 2013, the United Nations estimates more than 3.5 million people have become homeless.
More than 2 million people have been displaced within the country, and the rest — or more than 1.5 million — have taken refuge in six neighboring countries — Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Central African Republic.
Violence prompts people to flee
Intense fighting last July in the capital, Juba, prompted a huge uptick in the number of people fleeing South Sudan in 2016.
UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said more than 760,000 people fled across borders after the collapse of a peace deal between the government and opposition forces.
An average of 63,000 people were forced to leave the country every month. Some half-a-million had to flee in the last four months since September 2016.
"More than 60 percent of the refugees are children, many arriving with alarming levels of malnutrition — enduring devastating impact of the brutalities of the ongoing conflict," he said.
Impact on nearby countries huge
Newly arriving refugees have reported widespread suffering inside South Sudan, including massacres, kidnappings, and rape.
The UNHCR said the refugees told aid workers that “fears of armed groups and threats to life, as well as acute food shortage,” forced them to leave their homes and seek asylum.
Spindler told VOA the impact of hundreds of thousands of refugees on neighboring countries has been huge.
“There are refugees in camps,” he said, “but there are many who are hosted by the local communities, which are some of the poorest in those countries. That is why it is so important that those countries and those communities continue to receive assistance.”
Appeal for funds comes up short
Spindler explained that with so many “large-scale displacements” around the world, UNHCR humanitarian operations are suffering from a lack of attention and chronic underfunding.
He said it was particularly worrisome in the case of South Sudan, given the large size of its refugee crisis. He praised the generosity of the host countries, but noted that his agency's relief efforts were being hampered by a serious lack of money.
Last year's appeal for $649 million, he noted, was funded to only 33 percent, making it extremely difficult to provide critical services, such as clean drinking water, food, health and sanitation facilities.
He said the UNHCR currently was working with authorities in the host countries to provide life-saving support and basic needs for the many South Sudanese arriving in desperate condition.
Uganda's handling of refugees impressive
Uganda is hosting most of the South Sudanese refugees, nearly 700,000. Despite this huge burden, Spindler told VOA that the treatment of the refugees by the Ugandan authorities was exemplary in many ways.
“They are integrated into the community. They are allowed to have access to farming land. So, they are not all in camps,” said Spindler.
“So, the UNHCR approach is to help not just the refugees, but the communities hosting them, which are themselves, in some cases, very poor and in great need,” he said.
No end to crisis in sight
Spindler noted that no solution to this conflict, which was entering its fourth year, was in sight. As the numbers of refugees grew, so did the needs.
He said it was imperative that the international community responded to his agency's appeal for $782 million so that it could carry out its regional humanitarian operations.
He said millions of people displaced inside Sudan, as well as the refugees and the host communities sheltering them in neighboring countries depended upon a good response to the appeal for their survival.
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Turkmenistan's non-election election
Officially, there are several candidates and a campaign for president. In reality, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov will be reelected leader of Turkmenistan.
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Kamishna mpya dawa za kulevya afunguka
Rais John Magufuli amemteua Rogers Sianga kuwa kamishna mkuu wa Mamlaka ya Kuzuia na Kupambana na Dawa za Kulevya (DCEA).
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Mfanyabiashara akamatwa na kete 240 za unga Mwanza
Jeshi la Polisi mkoani Mwanza linamshikilia mfanyabiashara wa vipuri vya magari aliyetajwa kwa jina moja la Ahmad (43) kwa tuhuma za kukutwa na kete 240 za dawa ya kulevya aina ya heroine.
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