Africans In China

Ten years ago, out of curiosity he came to Beijing, the capital of China. During the past ten years, he witnessed the city’s tremendous changes. Meanwhile, he learnt fluent Chinese, fell in love with Chinese cross-talk and became one of China’s well-known foreign comic stars.
Today, as ten years has passed, as a doctoral graduate from Renmin University of China, he shared with us stories about his life in China. He is Maurice GOUNTIN from Benin, a country in Western Africa

When Maurice was a child,
the concept of China, in his mind, equalled Chinese Kongfu actor Li Xiaolong’s movies or those Chinese goods with “made in China” label. He still remembers that China’s cooling
ointment was a household medicine in Benin. He recalled, “When I had a fever or caught a cold, my mum just rubbed some cooling
ointment on our body,
symphony will be relieved.” At that time, it never occurred to him that he would
learn Chinese and come to China one day.

In 1996, Maurice became a college student in the National University of Benin where he specialized in English. It was when Maurice started his first year that his college offered a new second-foreign-language course, which was Chinese. Maurice applied for the course of German language, yet out of his curiosity, he was in the class of Chinese as well. Chinese is a remote and unfamiliar language to him since the official language of Benin is French and he chose English as his major. Therefore, Maurice made up a fake name when he registered in the Chinese class. He thought that using a fake name would help disappearing from the class when the complexity of be the language will start.

Maurice said, at the very beginning of his English study, his teacher told them it was quite easy to learn Chinese, since images of many characters resemble those objects from real world, like Chinese character “hill” and “bird”. The vivid pictographic Chinese characters gradually aroused Maurice’s passion in continuing his Chinese study. What’s more, he got the first place in a Chinese examination after learning Chinese for one month which hardened his resolution to
learn Chinese. Maurice finally gave up the German course and put his focus on Chinese course.

Maurice was hard-studying in Chinese language. He always ranked among the best. When his second school year ended, Maurice’s Chinese teacher recommended he come to China for further Chinese study to eventually teach Chinese after getting a degree. It would be a bright future for Maurice. Officials from People’s Republic of China Embassy in Benin and director in Benin’s Chinese Cultural Centre all contacted Maurice, willing to offer a four-year scholarship for him.

Having weighed all alternatives in his mind, Maurice made the final decision. It was without doubt a difficult one. He decided to come to China and had to give up a bachelor degree which he would obtain after his third year and a master degree at the end of the fourth year (based on French educational system). Beijing Language and Culture University became his first stop in China.

Before Maurice came to China, his understanding of this country was so restricted to Chinese ancient stories, the Revolution of 1911 and China’s influential figures like Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek that he felt Chinese culture was distant and vague.
Maurice said when his
Chinese teacher taught in class that China’s Great Wall was more than 6000 thousand kilometers long, nobody believed.

“My classmates yelled “that’s just impossible. We couldn’t buy your story.” The very thought of my ignorance at that time almost makes me laugh.” Maurice said.
It was because of his lack of knowledge of China and fears of
Chinese language itself that Maurice thought before his set-out that his journey in China might be no more than three months. He said, “Chinese language is extremely subtle, like magic. I cannot believe people living in the other part of the world communicate in such a way.”

Maurice stepped on the soil of China in 1998. Unexpectedly it was a ten-year stay.

After his arrival in Beijing China, Maurice found what Beijing gifted him was more of a pleasant surprise. Maurice said, “Before I came to Beijing, I thought I would be very lonely there, hard to find people like me and just immersed in an ocean of Chinese people. Beyond my expectation, I saw so many people of all colors around me.”

Maurice put a lot of efforts into Chinese study in at school. He chose to register in a foundation class of Chinese and return to the starting point to solidify his foundations of Chinese. Through his hard work, Maurice still ranked first in Chinese examinations in his new class. His
Chinese teacher said to students who was from South Korea and Japan banteringly, “South Korea and Japan are a lot nearer to China and have many similarities in languages. Yet an African guy got the first place. Where have you been hanging out? ”

Since then, in order to keep on with his excellent results, Maurice redoubled his efforts. He made best use of every minute to practice Chinese. As time went on, his Chinese level was raised to a large degree.

On December 8th 2000, together with his schoolmate, an Irishman Richard Doran, Maurice performed a cross talk named “Eating Culture in Chinese” in the Beijing’s Overseas Student Theatrical Festival sponsored by the government. (Cross talk was a traditional Chinese show.)Their performance was highly praised and it also marked a starting point of Maurice’s ties with cross talk. During their rehearsal before their performance, their school teachers invited a famous Chinese cross talk actor Ding Guangquan to tutor them.

Afterwards, Mr. Ding asked whether Maurice and Richard whether will to be his apprentices to learn more cross talk.

At that time, Maurice even didn’t know what he would learn and what it was for. However, he thought to learn cross talk would benefit his Chinese study. Thus he took Mr. Ding’s suggestion and started his cross talk study.

He didn’t realize how hard the cross talk could be at the very beginning. Maurice said, “It is just because of our ignorance of cross talk that makes us get started. Otherwise, we won’t be engaged in it.”

Learning cross talk was a great opportunity for Maurice to improve his Chinese level. He learnt a lot of Chinese idioms and witticism from cross talk which made his expressions more natural, various and humorous.

Maurice often received performance invitations after he started learning cross talk, yet his studies at school weren’t disturbed. For him, studies at school were his mainline, but cross talk was no more than a hobby. Even if sometimes it was hard to refuse some performance invitations, Maurice would try to balance all alternatives to diminish their impact on studies.

During Maurice’s postgraduate studies, he was an all-subject-over-80 student. Before his postgraduate graduation, Maurice decided to give up his original plan to become a
Chinese teacher back Benin. And he went on with his further study in the realm of Sino-African relations. He hoped to become a bridge builder to link China and
Africa. Through his hard

work, Maurice got admission to Remin University of China to pursue a doctoral degree majoring China’s contemporary diplomacy. Moreover, he obtained one of 50 scholarships for outstanding overseas students in China granted by China’s government per year.

In this June, Maurice got his doctoral degree and he delivered a speech on behalf of all overseas students in Remin University of China at graduation ceremony. Maurice said, “The more I’ve learnt, the richer I felt Chinese culture is. Though a doctoral degree is in my hand, I still feel there’s a lot more to learn.”

When it comes to the reason why Maurice chose to study for a doctoral degree, he said that links between Africa and China had been tightened since 2000. And there was still room for improvement in regard to the way of communication between Africa and China. People from Africa and China should deepen the understandings of each other. He hoped to contribute to the development of the bilateral relationship and to become a person whose words carry weight.

Maurice said, at present, a great number of Africans still read translated versions to get knowledge of China. Such books could be distorted or even written by some experts who lacked understandings of China. Maurice thought we were in need of those experts who had deep understandings of both African and Chinese cultures and got experiences of living in two areas. A good grasp of current economic and social trends in Africa and China and a speciality in international relations would add more weight to one’s words.

Maurice said, “You cannot fool me in the field of African and Chinese cultures,I’ve experienced both and also have deep academic knowledge about them.” He was confident that with his academic knowledge and rich experience in Africa and China he would help push forward Sino-African relations.

Maurice added that the image of China became clearer and clearer in eyes of Beninese. There were only 56 students in Maurice’s Chinese class when he was studying in the National University of Benin. However, in these days more than two hundred students chose Chinese as their second language. Apart from the National University of Benin, other schools also set up Chinese courses and more and more people developed their interest in China.

“There’s no enough time for any astonishment since China develops so fast. As China’s international status rises, compared with the year of 1998, African people’s understanding of China is totally another story. Especially after Beijing winning the bid for Olympics and China’s entry into WTO in 2001, China’s success in launching Shenzhou No. 5 manned spaceship in 2003 and the opening of Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006, people from all around the world, especially African people have seen the distance between us shorted.”

Maurice said, “In recent years, China’s aid programs boomed like building stadiums, paving a road and other projects. And more Beninese are familiar with China nowadays.”

In recent years, more and more African art troupes come to China to put on their performance. China also invited art troupes from different countries in the world to perform in Beijing in order to increase each other’s understandings.

Maurice said that China set up a number of cultural centers in Africa which focused on the spread of Chinese traditional culture like traditional Chinese paintings, acrobatics, calligraphies and Beijing Opera.

In Maurice’s viewpoint, highlights of Chinese traditional culture were appreciable for its vitality and profundity. “But Chinese traditional culture is so profound and complex that you feel a liking for it but feel hard to get close,” Maurice said, “If we can start with superficial and common layer of culture and then gradually deepen it, the effect of spreading of culture might better.”

“Beijing Opera troupes once performed in Africa, but most African couldn’t identify themselves with such style of performance. Instead, they thought make-up of Chinese actors was strange. It might produce a reverse effect, widening gaps between Africa and China.”
Maurice added, if Chinese people could perform African’s favorite street dance with Chinese elements, starting from the commonness of two cultures, it could produce a sense of warmth among African people. They could felt we were similar which would break down the Africans’ fearfulness towards Chinese culture.

Maurice also mentioned, large-scale evening party between Africa and China was rare. He thought China could invite famous African and Chinese singers and actors to perform on the same stage to improve our friendship. He had a special liking for the song named “In the Distant Place” sung by Chinese singer Han Hong and African man Hao Ge in 07’ Spring Festival Evening.

On the part of Africa, they should put more efforts in bringing African cultural elements to China. “Africa has more than 50 nations. Most of them have embassies and cultural counselors in China, but we saw few symbol to represent African cultures on the soil of China, according to my knowledge, no symbol at all,” Maurice said, “If African people could run Cultural centers in China including African-flavor restaurants, African art works like woodcarvings to China for exhibition, it would produce good effects to better Chinese people’s understandings of African cultures.”

Maurice thought there was not too much work left for embassies, rather non-governmental communication between Africa and China should been strengthened. “There’s too much to be done.”

When it turned to the topic of “image crisis of China”, Maurice said, “The image of China is in a transitional period. We cannot expect everything to be perfect. As it goes, to make an omelet, you have to first break the egg.”

High levels of melamine found in two baby formula products recalled this week might be from animal feed, the KwaZulu-Natal health department says.

This week the department recalled a batch of Nestle’s Nido Growing up Milk for one-year-olds manufactured in June, and a batch of Lactogen Starter Infant Formula with iron manufactured in July.

Provincial health department spokesman Leon Mbangwa said tests done this month on a sample showed that Lactogen contained a level of 1.6 mg/kg of melamine and Nido 3 mg/kg of melamine.

“This is more than the internationally accepted level of 1mg/kg for foodstuffs intended for infants and young children, such as infant formula, applied by the department of health as a cut-off level.”

Mbangwa said information from the manufacturer indicated that the product was made in South Africa and contained only locally produced ingredients like fresh milk.

INVESTIGATION INTO THE SOURCE OF THE CONTAMINATION

“The manufacturer has determined that the source of the contamination derived from animal feed used by some of its suppliers of fresh milk.”

Mbangwa said the health department had informed the agriculture department about the situation.

“The department of agriculture…is responsible for the control of the quality and safety of animal feed.”

He said the department had been requested to investigate whether the contaminated feed was produced locally or was imported — possibly from China.

Nestle spokesman Theo Mxakwe said since the melamine crisis in China in mid September, Nestle had been testing all its dairy products.

“Testing led to the discovery of melamine in a number of samples of cattle feed which is predominantly used in winter, which explains the presence of melamine traces in these batches.

“Consequently, Nestlé has also taken steps to ensure that the cattle feed used by its South African milk producers is melamine free.”

He said all Nestle dairy products sold in South Africa and worldwide were “absolutely safe for consumption”.

PRODUCTS MUST BE TAKEN OFF THE SHELVES - AND RETURN ANY FROM THESE BATCHES THAT YOU HAVE BOUGHT

Mbangwa said a total recall of the two batches on the market was requested immediately after the release of the test results.

The department had requested to be informed of all steps taken to seize and destroy the products by Friday.

Anyone who has the product from the batches in question should stop using it and return it to the store from which it was purchased.

Mbangwa said although the recalled products did not comply with internationally acceptable standards for the presence of melamine: “The level of contamination of the implicated product is considered not to pose a serious public health risk if the product is consumed in normal quantities”.

SYMPTOMS TO LOOK OUT FOR

The health department was not currently aware of any infants or young children affected by consuming the product and the situation would continue to be monitored.

Symptoms to look out for in children affected by melamine-contaminated products included irritability, blood in urine or little to no urine.

Mbangwa said melamine could form crystals that could cause kidney stones.

Signs of kidney infection or failure would include lethargy, weakness, shortness of breath, generalised swelling, loss of appetite, fatigue, decreased mental function and high blood pressure.

“The department would like to advise mothers to feed babies breast milk. It is the best for babies.

“The public is advised to contact their nearest clinic for advice on alternative products,” he said.

SWEETS ALSO RECALLED

Last month, the health department recalled White Rabbit sweets after tests found they contained unacceptable levels of melamine.

The sweets, usually presented as an after-dinner treat at Chinese restaurants and sold in specialist supermarkets, were manufactured in Shangai, China.

They were the only product out of 107 tested in South Africa at the time with unacceptable levels of the industrial chemical.

Earlier this year, melamine in Chinese-manufactured dairy products was blamed for many infant deaths and illnesses.

Because South Africa did not have regulations on melamine levels, it used levels applied in the European Union, the USA and New Zealand.

ON THE WEB

Melamine is described as being “Harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Chronic exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage. Eye, skin and respiratory irritant.” When melamine and cyanuric acid are absorbed into the bloodstream, they can cause the kidneys to malfunction. - Click here for more info from Wikipedia

(sowetan)

China Railway Construction Corp has begun building a 2.2 billion dinars railway project in Libya, Libyan state media said on Thursday.

The 453 kilometre railway line will link the capital Tripoli with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s coastal home town of Sirte, and would connect Libya’s factories and plants to its ports, Libyan state news agency Jana said.

The railway line is part of a major Libyan plan to build a railway network linking it to other African states, including neighbouring Maghreb countries, Jana added.

Other foreign companies, including one unnamed Russian company, would be involved in the North African state’s countrywide railway plan, alongside the Chinese company, whose involvement marks the latest foray by a Chinese company into Africa.

China has been aggressively seeking trade and investment ties with a number of African countries in an effort to tap into energy and natural resources to help feed its booming economy.

Libya is one of China’s largest trading partners in Africa, with two-way trade estimated by Libyan officials at more than $2.0 billion during last year.

(Reuters)

The African Union’s top executive on Thursday expressed his concern over the prospect of an economic recession in China, a key trade partner and investor for the continent.

China’s economy has slowed sharply in recent months amid the global downturn and the World Bank has forecast growth of 7.5 percent for next year, down from 12 percent last year and the slowest expansion in nearly two decades.

“If you have a recession in China, which apparently will be the case, we will have a reduction in the demand of our raw materials,” AU Commission Chairman Jean-Ping told reporters.

“If it decreases in volume, it will also decrease in prices, so you can see the consequences for us,” he added.

Ping said he would head to Doha over the weekend for a donor conference amid concerns that the global financial crisis could curtail aid and investment for the world’s poorest continent.

“The African continent has only been receiving a small share of direct investment. If this investment is reduced, then it will be a catastrophe,” he said.

According to the African Union, trade between China and the continent reached 50 billion dollars (39.4 billion euros) in 2006, up from just a billion dollars four years earlier. The figure is expected to double by 2010.

(AFP

MTN Group will soon be offering high-end smartphones for less than $40. The Group has dispatched engineers to China to find mobile phones that can also be sold for $10 in Africa.

Nigeria exchange news today quoted an unnamed spokeswoman for the group as saying, “MTN is investigating the possibility of introducing ultra low cost devices that will break new industry price points as a means of fast-tracking mobile telephony accessibility on the continent. By removing handset cost barriers that remain traditionally higher than expected, MTN will be able to interconnect as more people in its region than ever before.”

This comes two weeks after Nokia announced its plans to sell a $32 phone. Chinese handset makers such as ZTE have been eating into its share, particularly in Africa.

Launched in 1994, MTN Group has grown into a multi-national telecommunications company with a proven track record of technological innovation and corporate culture that thrives on challenge.

MTN Group is rapidly achieving its vision of becoming the telecommunications leader in emerging markets. The company operates in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

(ITNewsAfrica)

The five women and three men were convicted of trafficking drugs and were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by a court in Guangzhou city on Tuesday, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

In China the reprieve normally results in a death sentence commuted to life imprisonment, dependent on the prisoners behaviour over the next two years.

Four of those convicted were from Uganda, two were from Benin and two from Zimbabwe, it said.

The convictions came in six separate cases uncovered during the last two years.

The youngest person convicted was 22-year-old Itayi Rufaro from Zimbabwe, it said.

One other Zimbabwean, a woman, was also sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking, it added.

In the biggest bust, a Ugandan woman identified as Jean Ndawula Kirunda, 39, was convicted of trying to smuggle 1.98 kilograms of a heroin mixture into China in December 2007.

In May this year, Habiba Musa, 29, also from Uganda, was caught trying to smuggle 1.2 kilograms of cut heroin after ingesting the packaged drug apparently with the intent to retrieve it later.

Four of the nine convicted were aged in their 20s, it said.

Seven of the convicted traffickers were busted trying to smuggle drugs into Guangzhou’s Baiyun airport, with several flying in from Bangkok, in Thailand, it said.

(zimdaily)

For a 19-year-old community college student in Pembroke Pines, Fla., the message boards on BodyBuilding.com were a place to post messages, at least 2,300 of them, including more than one about his suicidal impulses. In a post last year, he wrote that online forums had “become like a family to me.”

Skip to next paragraph

Abraham Biggs

“I know its kinda sad,” the student, Abraham Biggs, wrote in parenthesis, adding that he posted about his “troubles and doubts” online because he did not want to talk to anyone about them in person.

Last Wednesday, when Mr. Biggs posted a suicide note and listed the drug cocktail he intended to consume, the Web site hardly acted like a family. On BodyBuilding.com, which includes discussions of numerous topics besides bodybuilding, and on a live video Web site, Justin.tv, Mr. Biggs was “egged on” by strangers who, investigators say, encouraged him to swallow the antidepressant pills that eventually killed him.

Mr. Biggs’s case is the most recent example of a suicide that played out on the Internet. Live video of the death was shown online to scores of people, leading some viewers to cringe while others laughed. The case, which has prompted an outpouring of sympathy and second-guessing online, demonstrates the double-edged nature of online communities that millions of people flock to every day.

Online communities “are like the crowd outside the building with the guy on the ledge,” Jeffrey Cole, a professor who studies technology’s effects on society at the University of Southern California. “Sometimes there is someone who gets involved and tries to talk him down. Often the crowd chants, ‘Jump, jump.’ They can enable suicide or help prevent it.”

On blogs and forums last week, some people wondered whether Mr. Biggs had hoped that by broadcasting his suicide, he would attract attention and cause someone to intervene. Viewers eventually called the police, but only after he had lapsed into unconsciousness. The video streaming Web site, Justin.tv, said Monday that it hoped its members would be “more vigilant” in the future.

It was not the first time someone had used the Web in this way. In Arizona in 2003, a man overdosed on drugs while writing about his actions in a chat room. In Britain last year, a man hanged himself while chatting online and webcasting. In both cases, other users reportedly encouraged the individual.

Sometimes other users show support in troubling ways. In a number of well-publicized cases in Japan, South Korea and elsewhere, people have formed suicide pacts on the Internet and met in person to carry out their plans.

“If somebody threatens suicide or attempts suicide, it’s never a joke,” said Joshua Perper, the chief medical examiner for Broward County, where Mr. Biggs lived. “It always requires attention. It’s basically a cry for help.”

Much of the evidence of Mr. Biggs’s suicide and the reactions of users was removed from BodyBuilding.com and Justin.tv after his death was confirmed. But according to a chronology posted by a fellow user, Mr. Biggs listed the pills he had obtained and posted a suicide note that he had copied from another Web site. He directed people to his page on Justin.tv, where anyone can plug in a webcam and stream live video onto the Internet. In a chat room adjacent to the live video, the “joking and trash talking” continued after Mr. Biggs consumed the pills and lay on his bed, according to the user, who said he tried to reach the local police from his home in India.

Several other concerned users called the police when it appeared that Mr. Biggs had stopped breathing. As officers entered the room, according to a screen capture of the incident that circulated online, 181 people were watching the video. In the chat room, users typed the acronyms for “oh my God” and “laugh out loud” before the police covered the webcam.

After his death was confirmed, words of sympathy were interspersed with complaints about Mr. Biggs’s behavior on the free-wheeling “Miscellaneous” section of BodyBuilding.com, where he frequently posted. Some users claimed that Mr. Biggs had threatened to commit suicide repeatedly in the past.

Mr. Biggs’s family has said he suffered from bipolar disorder and was being treated for depression. Telephone messages left at the home of Mr. Biggs’s father, Abraham Biggs Sr., were not returned Sunday. But in an interview with The Associated Press, the father said he was appalled by the lack of responsiveness on the part of the users and the operators.

“As a human being, you don’t watch someone in trouble and sit back and just watch,” he said, before suggesting that “some kind of regulation is necessary.”

The case remains under investigation by the Pembroke Pines Police Department.

Justin.tv said in a statement, “As a result of this event we are confident that all online community members will be ever more vigilant in monitoring and protecting their fellow users in the future.”

While sites like Justin.tv will remove content they find objectionable after the fact, the content of video sites and chat rooms are largely at the control of the users.

M. David Rudd, chairman of the psychology department at Texas Tech University, said the Internet did not fully live up to its potential to help with suicide prevention. “Most of what’s available via the Internet only serves to make the problem worse,” Mr. Rudd said, whether it is information about how to commit suicide or immature comments from chat room users.

Mr. Cole of the University of Southern California described the death of Alethea Gates, a teenager in New Zealand, who killed herself after using Google to read about different methods of suicide. Rather than blaming the Internet, her parents said they wished that the Google search had turned up links to suicide prevention Web sites. In effect, they wished the Web had shouted “step back from the ledge” instead of “jump.” (Many Google searches that include the word suicide include sponsored links to prevention Web sites.)

Mr. Rudd said he believed that Mr. Biggs was not seeking an audience online.

“What he was really doing was expressing his ambivalence about dying and, in an awkward manner, asking for help,” he said.

But the virtual nature of the community — distant, largely unaccountable and often seeking entertainment — was equally ambivalent. Hours after Mr. Biggs died, some of the forum users still sounded highly skeptical of the case. Others asked to see the video.

“The anonymous nature of these communities only emboldens the meanness or callousness of the people on these sites,” Mr. Cole said. “Rarely does it bring out greater compassion or consideration.”

(nytimes)

(gizmodo)

Research Triangle Park (NC) – You lost your notebook? You are worried about the data that might be exposed. No problem: Kill the notebook with a text message. Well, sort of.

As notebook theft is becoming an increasingly important topic in the IT world, we are now seeing innovative solution to protect users and corporations from data theft almost on a weekly basis. One of the most interesting and potentially most effective solutions was announced by Lenovo this morning.

A new feature that is expected to become available in Q1 2009 for select Thinkpad laptops will allow notebook owners to disable a notebook with a text message that is sent to a 3G-enabled system via a cellular network. The lockdown will happen immediately if a notebook is turned on or, when it is turned off, the next time the system signs on to a cellular network. To reactivate the disabled PC, a user needs to enter a pre-set passcode created during notebook startup.

Lenovo said that it worked with BIOS developer Phoenix to come up with this capability. The companies did not say what features of the notebook are exactly killed, but it seems that the hard drive of the system, which actually main contain critical data, remains active. In such a case, it would certainly be convenient to have a self-encrypting hard drive. Otherwise, Lenovo’s kill-feature may have very limited use – at least if data is the reason for a notebook theft.

The feature will be integrated in “selected” notebooks free of charge. It will work wherever GSM and SMS services are supported, Lenovo said.

(tgdaily)

In case you haven’t kept up-to-date on the rise in Internet fraud, watch out. They’re out there waiting to steal your money.

Internet thieves from West Africa and elsewhere send out millions of emails recruiting unsuspecting people to transfer funds and ship stolen merchandise, usually purchased on the Internet. In return, the “mules” who do the dirty work, get paid for transferring funds in-and-out of bank accounts and shipping stolen goods.

In my case, a thief in Africa (could wring his/her/its neck) ordered a Compaq computer and an Xbox from MobileDiscoveries, my eCommerce site (now offline) using a stolen credit card. The transaction was approved by Authorize.net and the issuing bank, even with a bill-to name that did not match the credit card. Yes, that’s true. Despite advanced security used in credit card transaction approvals, most transactions are authorized without even checking the card holder’s NAME. Figure that one out.

MobileDiscoveries was a new consumer electronics site and I was still learning the ropes about people and organizations who don’t think twice about ripping you off.  So I shipped the two items to West Virginia, even though the ship-to address differed from the bill-to address. At that time, I hadn’t turned on all of my merchant account’s fraud controls and my shopping cart’s IP identifier that tells you the location of the computer used for credit card transactions.

Well, you know the story. The real owner of the credit card saw the charges on his bill, notified his bank, which immediately notified my merchant account company, which debited my business checking account for the chargeback.

I contested the chargeback and asked for further investigation, including my calling the police department in a small West Virginia town.  I had previously called the mule’s neighbor, who didn’t know her but commented “she does seem to receive a lot of packages.”

Just received a callback from the sheriff investigating the lady, who claims she had an “arrangement” with a Steve Hackson, who moved to Africa from Pennsylvania (nice switch in climates) and only lately became suspicious of the “arrangement” when Steve (or whoever) asked her to ship increasing loads of products. (The sheriff impounded all the merchandise in her apartment.)

Too late for me, unfortunately. The Xbox and Compaq computer already shipped to Africa…and I’m out $2.500 (the cost of merchandise from my wholesaler and the chargeback). While MobileDiscoveries was live, I canceled over 60 suspicious orders after receiving fraud alerts within minutes of the purchase.

If you’re wondering why your credit card company, even in low-interest times, charges outrageous interest rates, look no further than the BILLIONS of dollars written off by banks and other credit card issuers due to Internet and retail fraud. In fact, if a credit card is actually stolen (not in my case), and the thief buys from a retail store, the credit card issuer writes off the loss and makes up for it by raising YOUR interest rates and shark-loan default rates approaching 30%.

A closing comment. I received a notice from CitiBank, notifying me they are increasing interest rates, over-credit line fees and other charges this past Sunday. Although I’ve been a loyal CitiBank credit card customer for years and pay off my balance each month, the bank on the same day the Feds were bailing them out tried a fast one.

Although the increased interest rates and fees don’t affect me directly, I was on the phone with CitiBank customer service in five minutes to “opt-out” of the additional fees once my credit card expired.

Know what’s amazing? The CS rep didn’t seem a bit concerned that CitiBank was losing a loyal customer who charges thousands of dollars a year, pays on time and generates profits for her bank.

After the rep asked “is that all,” I said “yes.” I told her that I would immediately stop using the card and close the account. She didn’t seem a bit disturbed. So I asked her: “Aren’t you concerned about losing loyal, paying customers?…Aren’t you even going to try saving my account?”

She finally got my message, put someone else on the line, who immediately lowered my interest rate but claimed he couldn’t change the other increased fees.

There’s more to tell about CitiBank and its efforts to destroy Morgan Stanley, the investment bank. But I’ll leave that for another post.

Meanwhile, go chase some mules for me, eh? And if you find Steve Hackson in Africa, get my merchandise back, please.

(marketingbeyond)

We’ve all done it, but usually when we do, we do it on the couch and wake up with dicks on our face. But if you’ve got no friends and no where to go, you’re likely one of the following top 10.

These are the top 10 signs you drank too much.

10. The gardener doesn’t even wake you

9. You’re walking on train tracks with cones on your head

8. You’re using your hand as a pillow

7. You passed out standing up

6. Foot on the bench, body on the floor

5. No shirt, Mumm’s, champagne flute and a suitcase?

4. Only Batman himself can handle 14 zombies

3. “Slow Hand” can’t handle the booze

2. No sink, no toilet, urinal it is

1. ‘Nuff said

(bannedinhollywood)

Mathabo Le Roux
Johannesburg

THE trade and industry department is to hold talks today on the possibility of extending quotas on Chinese clothing and textile imports, but retailers, who are affected most, will be excluded.

This has raised fears of decisions being taken without proper consultation.

According to sources familiar with the meeting, representatives of the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union , the South African Revenue Service, the International Trade Administration Commission and SA’s largest clothing and textile manufacturer, Seardel, will attend the meeting.

Representatives of the retail sector were yesterday unaware of the meeting.

National Clothing Retailers’ Federation executive director Michael Lawrence said the industry had received no communication from the department on whether the quotas would be extended . “If it is even remotely true that the government is contemplating the extension of the quotas, it would be absolutely scandalous that they have not properly consulted with us,” he said.

The department’s chief director for industrial policy, Nimrod Zalk, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Several government officials mooted a possible extension of the quotas recently.

A damning new report on the effect of the quotas says implementation was flawed, and they failed to stimulate growth and employment in the embattled sector, which continues to shed jobs.

The report, authored by Mike Morris and Lynn Reed of the University of Cape Town’s school of economics, found that only 9% of clothing manufacturers supported the import restriction, while 31% said the quotas had hampered their business.

The report is critical of the policy process followed, and cites a delay in implementing a customised sector programme (CSP) as the primary reason for a large share of the job losses between August 2006 and July last year.

The state envisaged that the lull in imports would provide a window to help manufacturers recover through an ambitious recapitalisation mooted in the CSP. However, the plan was never implemented because the trade and industry department lost the buy-in from retailers, who would have helped fund the recapitalisation.

Ironically, some of the sharpest criticism of the quotas was from the manufacturing industry, the sector they were supposed to help.

Jack Kipling, executive director of Clotrade, said his organisation’s lack of support for the quotas was not “in principle, but in the detail”, and the timing of the quotas had been the government’s most crucial error.

Morris said yesterday he was “flabbergasted” that the department would make the same mistake again. “I cannot believe the department would engage in ad hoc policy-making without proper research and adequate consultation with the players who drive this industry,” he said.

(allAfrica)

Greg Wyler, the founder of O3b Networks, explains why he wants to bring the Internet to Africa with low-orbiting satellites.

How long were you in Rwanda, who were working with and what were you doing? What were you doing prior to that?

Prior to Rwanda I had built a semi-conductor cooling company called Silent Systems which provided cooling components to the major personal computer manufacturers such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. After Silent Systems was sold in 1998, I became involved in several other high technology ventures. Eventually, I decided to devote my time to projects which would have a positive impact on the social and economic development of citizens in emerging markets. That is what brought me to Rwanda with John W. Dick in 2003.

Our original goal in Rwanda was to provide Internet connectivity to a small number of schools. With the help of several bright, enterprising university students, we achieved that goal. Building upon that success, Mr. Dick and I soon founded Terracom Communications, which built Africa’s first fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), network deploying more than 450 km of fiber. Terracom also built Africa’s first 3G cellular network.

What led you to start up O3b Networks and what kind of change do you think it can bring about in developing regions such as Africa? What might it mean for the average African in terms of connectivity and development?

As an ISP in Rwanda, and building world-class last mile infrastructure (gigabit Ethernet FTTH), we quickly found that there was still a huge bottleneck – global connectivity. No matter how much fiber, DSL, 3G or WiMAX was deployed locally, you still had the challenge of connecting to the global fiber infrastructure to ensure global connectivity.

Geosynchronous (GEO) satellites had too much latency to provide a quality Internet connection for web 2.0 and interactive applications, and also could not provide the hundreds of megabits per second of bandwidth necessary. Therefore, African ISPs – who really do a great job with what they have – needed lower-cost, low-latency, high-speed international access in order to meet the needs of their customers.

There was just no way to secure that access. After running a lot of fiber, we realized that fiber alone was not the answer. Africa is big, very big. It is as large as China, the U.S., the UK, Argentina, Western Europe and India combined. We realized that trenching hundreds of thousands of kilometers of fiber was not the answer.

In today’s global economy, Internet access and communications are a fundamental requirement for economic growth. The importance of a communications infrastructure transcends the individual at the computer. It is really an infrastructure that impacts all aspects of economic growth, from health care to education.

Take health care, for example, if you want to treat malaria, then you need to supply malaria medicine to the thousands of health centers in any given country. You need to manage inventories, distribution, and know who is taking what medicine and what the reactions are. All of this is important, and can only be done efficiently with an efficient communications infrastructure.

Has the endeavor been affected by the global financial crisis?

O3b Networks serves emerging markets, which have fared well so far in the current financial crisis. Most of these markets operate very conservatively when it comes to debt structures. Therefore, they have not been affected by the credit issues of the developed world.

In general, our markets have GDP growth between two and 10 percent. O3b Networks has the ability to move its capacity to reach the fastest-growing markets with the most demand. Our markets also have the lowest Internet penetration and the fastest growth; therefore, O3b Networks is a strong global investment opportunity, which focuses precisely on the markets that are developing. Because of this, we have been insulated from the global credit system. Our markets, taken together, represent relative safety compared to the turbulence of the New York markets and the echo impacts worldwide.

How much cheaper will your venture make high-speed Internet for Africans? I have seen one figure saying it will be 95 percent cheaper. How does this figure?

While we can’t speak to that figure, O3b Networks will have cost reductions for Internet service providers on the order of five to six times current high-quality satellites. This places the costs in line with fiber. But, because ours is a satellite-based solution, the bandwidth can be delivered anywhere in Africa (and most of the world). Two other items as important as cost are quality and availability. O3b Networks is designed to provide ultra-low-latency, high-speed links – multiple STM-1s, up to 10Gbps. These speeds are not available today in most of Africa.

Fundamentally, because the O3b Networks satellites are approximately five times closer to earth than GEO satellites, they offer a number of cost-saving advantages. For instance, they require less power on board, yet they have more power to the ground. They weigh less because they need fewer solar panels, fewer batteries and can generally be smaller and significantly less expensive than GEO satellites.

Will you be competing with cable companies Eassy, Teams and Seacom? How is what you offer different than what they offer and will the satellite links be equal in quality?

In general we are complementary to the cables which are coming to the shorelines. WiMAX and 3G networks today need the bandwidth at the edge, at the cell tower, while fiber cables typically bring it only to the core of the network. O3b Networks is designed to bring high-speed bandwidth directly to the 3G/WiMAX tower. Running fiber directly to towers is impractical, yet bringing high capacity directly to these towers is something O3b Networks can do very well.

In terms of price and quality, O3b Networks will be very similar to the fiber cables, but will not require any significant capital expenditure on the part of the customer. The satellite system will deliver very low latency (approximately 61 milliseconds one way), high-speed Internet trunking and thus is ideally suited for web 2.0 interactive applications such as video conferencing and voice applications.

Where does O3b Networks stand in terms of signing up telephone and Internet companies in Africa? Who and where might you have signed up?

O3b Networks fundamentally changes cost structure of deploying 3G/WiMAX functionality, especially for regional, rural and remote locations. For new greenfield systems, it can have even more dramatic cost savings. We are currently working with a number of major multi-country telecom and satellite service providers in Africa. We can’t disclose any of our customers at this time.

(allAfrica)

Although it was merely 3% of the total import and export value generated in Guangzhou, foreign trade with Africa has increased dramatically, said Gao Yaozong, Deputy Director of Guangzhou Municipality’s Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, when he was interviewed at CRI Online.

He said that the year 2007 saw a total trade value with Africa of USD2.4 billion, up by 52.7% over 2006. Although influenced by the global financial crisis, Sino-Africa trade in the first ten months of 2008 achieved USD2.7 billion, up by 38.6% over the same period of last year, of which export values totaled USD1.7 billion, up by 36% and import values were USD1 billion, up by 40%.

Gao introduced that China mainly exported to Africa mechanical and electrical equipment, light industrial products, audio and video products and imported mainly fuel gas and mineral ores.

Gao said that Guangzhou would increase trade with Africa. It would not only promote export but also require Guangzhou-based enterprises to improve their after-sale service, promoting foreign trade and strengthening cooperation with the help of consulates, embassies, chambers of commerce and trade associations in both China and Africa.

(lifeofguangzhou)

“So when will China elect it’s first black president?” I posed this question to my Chinese friend Clark sitting across the table as we enjoyed some really good Japanese food. (It’s good to have a break from Chinese food every now and then!) I think this question caught him off guard as he looked very confused and immediately answered, “It is impossible!” The day Obama was elected I was very proud–proud at how far we had come as a country and excited at the historical magnitude of the event. I won’t lie, I would have liked to have been in the US for just this day, but on the other hand being in Beijing on election day gave me some insight into how the “other side” sees American politics.

The shared excitement over Obama’s victory led to many conversations about race, politics, and culture between my Chinese friends and I that ended up giving me the best insight I have into for a long time…

It is easy for us (as Americans) to assume that the whole world is like us–or at least that they want to be like us. As I have travelled here to China and even lived in a dorm of other international students from countless other countries, I see just how different America is than much of the world. I tend to over-criticize our country and point out her flaws more than most. This is not one of those flaws…

I love America. I love America because she is the unwanted step-child of the nations. We are a people of people. A culture of cultures. Although I have always “known” this to be true, seeing a country on the opposite end of the spectrum has aided in my perception. After I asked this question about Obama, I realized a very simple conclusion–China is not just a country. China is a race. China is a people. China is a language. China is a culture. China is China. The idea of a “non-Chinese” being president makes absolutely no sense. After this revelation, I frantically started thinking to other places– Germany (language, race, culture) –Japan (language, race, culture) — Korea (language, race, culture) — and the list goes on.

A terrible feeling came over me– I call it “perceived cultural illegitimacy”. As an American i suddenly felt like an overshadowed, sickly orphan boy wandering through the rows and rows of defined cultures wondering who I was and where I really came from. Who are we? I asked this out loud with a dismayed look and my Chinese friends didn’t really seem like they knew the words to make me feel better! Think about it– Anyone can be an American. Within 1 generation, any family can fully become English speaking, voting, working, Americans. This includes Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Senegalese, Kenyan, French, or anyone else you can think of. Who are we? We are us. This is the beauty of America that keeps bringing me back to her even in times of my deepest discouragement…

We are indeed the great experiment– a hodgepodge of peoples from every corner of the globe all coming together to risk a new life. America is beautiful because it is for anyone and everyone. We see this so much that we tend to take it for granted. Living in China for the past few months I have began to appreciate the beauty of diversity. Here, everyone knows I am not Chinese. I will definitely never be president here- no matter how much time I spend here. In America you can never pin-point the “foreigners” or the “real Americans.” Some attempt this and in doing so deny the very fabric of our flag –the very definition of our land. We are us. Whatever your political persuasion- you have to be in awe at a country where it is possible that the son of a Kenyan immigrant and Kansas woman can become president where just 50 years ago he would have been denied even the most basic of rights! That is something to be proud about. American identity is both a blessing and a curse. One one hand, we lack the kind of national unity and understanding that is so present in a place like here in China. We are a mutt-country. On the other hand, we were an experiment that worked– a beautiful bouquet of the world’s most colorful cultures coming together in one land.

American is a young country. We are a country that is constantly evolving and re-inventing herself. This is so incredibly different from this ancient culture that is had made me question my own identity. Here, family and ancestry is so important. It’s all about where you come from and who you come from. Some friends of mine who say they are “from” Shanghai although they had never been there–their family is from Shanghai. In a culture like this, how can an American not feel slightly left out? They want to hear me say I am British/Irish/German, but I am not-I am American–but what does that mean? Who are we? We are American. WE–And thank God it’s not just people who look, talk, and believe like me.

As I have come to appreciate and love this side of America, I realize the danger in creating our own “pseudo-nation.”With a recent rise in racist events and anti-immigrant behavior, it seems like many people need a lesson on America. I have met many people in the States that seem to imagine a Chinese-type society where everyone shares a race, language, and culture. (Coincidentally, this is white and English speaking.) I’m sorry–you can’t have it both ways! America is not like this. We never have been and we never will be, and the sooner people realize that the better off we will all be off! If you claim to be a patriot, then you need to love the real America–not the idealized and uniform version you have built up in your culturally monolithic communities. I love America precisely because she is a country unable to be defined– a country of countries. I love this America–complete with all the blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, and languages involved.

America is a passionate idea or it is nothing. America is a human brotherhood or it is chaos. ~Max Lerner, Actions and Passions, 1949

America! half-brother of the world!
With something good and bad of every land.
~Philip James Bailey

(http://matthewdb.blogspot.com)

AS the demand for communication technology continues to grow in Africa, Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) is intensifying efforts to speed up laying of underground fibre-optic cables throughout the country with a view to boast free flow of information.

Malawi is keen to ensure that it is easy to connect and inter-link with the world as far as information technology is concerned, and more importantly to enable the country to compete with the rest of the continent and the world at large.

As the historic FIFA 2010 World Cup comes to Africa for the first time, when it is hosted by South Africa, it appears most countries are catching up on the bandwagon of telecommunications and mobile technology advancement.

It is estimated that a total of US$30 million would be required for the ambitious project in Malawi in order to replace the old system of Very Small Aperture Technology (VSAT).

MTL information technology expert, Lester Tandwe, said the latest development sought to keep the country moving with the times in the field of information and technology.

“The first part of the capable will be operational by April 2009 while the second part will be operational by 2010 and will connect to international cables to provide international bandwidth,” said Tandwe.

Given growing user demand in technology, Malawi is now laying an average of 50 kilometres of underground capable with a view to provide internet and telecommunication services to both urban and the countryside.

Malawi is the second country in Africa after Namibia to broker the interconnection and sharing of infrastructure by service providers to promote effective and cheaper communication.

By ITNewsAfrica.com

Dear Firefox:

When we met three years ago, I thought: This is it, the browser I’ve been waiting for. I’ve found my life partner. So I dumped Internet Explorer faster than you can say “unrecoverable system error” and we moved in together. Sure, we had our ups and downs over the years, but overall it was great. Really.

Then, last September, Google Chrome came into my life. I admit I was totally infatuated.

She was sweet. Good looking, easy, and uncomplicated, just the way I like them. And she had something extra, something indefinable. Call it the Google magic. Whatever it was, I was hooked.

We went everywhere together. Sometimes I’d have 20 or 30 tabs open at once. She was a free spirit, and nimble as hell. I loved the cute little button that let me quickly open new tabs and the way she showed me thumbnails of my favorite sites; I didn’t even have to ask. And if I needed a little private time, no problem – she’d open an incognito window for me and quietly step away.

I thought it would be a three-day fling. I never imagined we’d move in together.

But when you showed up, it got ugly. She hated it when another browser came into the room. And not just you; Safari, Flock, Opera, even IE during those desperate moments when a Web site just insisted on it. My system would freeze tight and I’d have to crawl under my desk and yank the power cord. It was humiliating.

So I made a difficult decision. I made Chrome my default. I committed.

Things went great for a while. Then they began to change. Chrome became moody and unstable. She didn’t like the scroll wheel on my mouse. She refused to save my Web pages as text files. She couldn’t remember my log-ons and passwords, no matter how many times I wrote them down for her.

And — I don’t know how to put this delicately – she stopped putting out. Sometimes video would play, sometimes it wouldn’t. Yet the same Web video displayed just fine when I came back to you.

I tried to tell myself that Chrome’s just a beta, she’ll grow out of it, give her time. Then I looked at her older sisters, Gmail and Froogle. And her brother Lively, may he rest in peace. Train wrecks, the lot of them. I guess that’s just how it is when rich parents spoil their kids.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry. I’ve been a cad, and I know it. But I’ll do anything to make it right. I’ll contribute to the Mozilla Foundation. I’ll take down that poster of Larry and Sergey dressed as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Whatever you want. Name it and its yours.

Please. Will you forgive me? I want to come home.

(computerworld)

The Chinese Society of African Historical Studies in collaboration with Shanxi University’s School of History and Culture organised a symposium under the theme: Sino-African Relations and the Contemporary World, in Taiyuan on October 15-18, 2008.

The Sino-African symposium was of particular importance because it broadened the scope of the society’s activities compared to similar events in the past. It brought together more than 120 participants, including Chinese academics and, for the first time, two African scholars and ten African students in China.

Another first was the financial support the event received from the German Böll Foundation.

Apart from the Chinese and African academics, Chinese volunteers with experience working in Zimbabwe and a number of Chinese entrepreneurs with business interests in Africa took part in the forum and shared their first-hand knowledge of the African continent.

Various presentations from the Chinese participants showed their concern about the challenges China faces as a new actor in Africa, a continent traditionally regarded as a sphere of influence of Western powers. Some of the issues addressed were China-Africa cooperation and its implications for the West, competition between the West and China in Africa, Western Nations’ ODA and African democratization. The USA AFRICOM and implications for China’s strategy to Africa also formed part of the deliberations. Through these discussions, the Chinese scholars argued that China still had lot to do to secure stable, long-term relations with African nations.

The Darfur crisis was considered a critical issue in China-Africa relations and Chinese scholars offered presentations on the China-Sudan weapons trade and comparisons between the Chinese and US policies on Darfur. The researchers expressed their anxiety about the impact of the Darfur issue not only on China-Sudan relations but also on China-Africa relations in general. Professor Li Guangyi of Xiangtan University defended China’s weapons sales to Sudan, saying they complied with relevant international laws and that China was a non-partisan actor in the Darfur crisis. But, other Chinese participants, including Jiang Hengkun of Zhejiang Normal University said China needed to take more action to settle the crisis, given that China claims to be a responsible player in world affairs.

Other bilateral topics of particular interest amongst Chinese participants were China-South Africa educational exchanges and cooperation, and the development of science education in Nigeria.

But apart from Sino-African relations, it was rewarding to see Chinese research on specific national and societal phenomena in Africa, reflecting the deepening understanding of African civilisation. The topics debated ranged from the activities and impact of religious non-government organisations in Africa, African literature, population pressures in Tanzania and Cairo to South Africa’s domestic political environment and debates around President Mbeki’s resignation. Others presentation included assessments of South Africa’s world heritage protection and management and an analysis of contemporary Ethiopian civil society.

A number of younger Chinese scholars argued that there were not enough resources in China to study Africa and its people. Peking University student Yuan Ye criticised the lack of teaching of African languages in China, pointing out that fewer than four universities in the entire country provided courses in Swahili or Hausa languages and class sizes were very limited. Yuan said a better understanding of Africa rested on training more Chinese students in African dialects because official western languages in most African nations did not reveal the nature of African culture. He said learning African languages could help Chinese scholars gauge a better understanding of African culture and develop original empirical findings. Chinese anthropologist Ma Yankun agreed, saying that by developing such knowledge Chinese researchers had engage closely with African societies and communities. Only then could Chinese policy towards Africa be well developed.

African participants used their presentations to highlight the need for reciprocity in China-Africa relations. Speaking on China-Africa Relations in an Era of Globalisation: The Role of African Trading Communities in China, African scholar Adams Bodomo, from Hong Kong University concluded that African traders in Guangzhou, Guangdong province were important actors and played significant roles in the commercial and cultural relations between China and Africa. He suggested Chinese authorities examine these [African] traders’ contributions to the development of China-Africa relations and facilitate their settlement in China.

On the question of cultural cooperation, another African researcher argued that although China seemed to be engaging in wider cultural exchanges with African nations, there were just three Chinese cultural centres on the continent despite more than 50 years of relations with Africa. While Chinese Confucius Institutes have begun to emerge at various African universities, their numbers are still few compared to expectations. The African scholars concluded that although China still had work to do in introducing its culture to Africans, its investment in the field had already yielded much. As for the African nations, they still had to make much more effort to introduce their culture to Chinese people. After 50 years of cultural exchanges, there is no African cultural symbol in China. China and African nations should work together to also reach a win-win situation in the domain of cultural exchanges.

In conclusion, the symposium revealed an interest among Chinese scholars in current China-Africa ties as well as an eagerness to know more about the history and societal phenomena across Africa. It is no exaggeration to say that the Chinese scholars know Africans better than Africans know China and that there was a strong call for mutual development in this regard. In order to develop responsive policies towards China, African scholars, and not just African governments, need to be better informed about China and understand its core.

* Summary compiled by Maurice GOUNTIN PhD in China’s Contemporary Diplomacy based at Renmin University, China.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/52086