Gambling in Senegal Consulate

Singapore police raided the Republic of Senegal 's consulate on Friday evening. The police action arose from a tip-off by The Straits Times, which had been alerted to the nocturnal activities taking place. Investigations by the ST showed that, while the consulate is open for official business during the day to deal with visa and other consular issues, it is filled from evening to dawn with about 100 gamblers, who crowd round its three baccarat tables.

Gamblers are mainly chinese in their 40s and 50s and about a S$1million (US$602,000) worth of chips changes hands every night, with the minimum bet per game set at S$100 and the maximum at S$30,000. The den even offers credit facilities for up to S$50,000 (US$30,000). The operation is sophisticated enough to cater even to high-rollers: A VIP room, in which only those with S$100,000 (US$60,000) worth of chips can play, is part of the set-up. These big-timers are afforded creature comforts: Among other things, a waitress brings them sliced fruit, drinks of their choice, and even hot towels.

Benny Kusni, an Indonesian businessman who lives here, is the republic’s honorary consul.
Honorary consuls are not paid for their diplomatic services and usually deal with applications for visas to the country which appointed them as representatives. While international conventions grant foreign consular officers and their premises immunity from local authorities, an honorary consul or his premises do not enjoy such privileges.

The den appears to be run by a Chinese Singaporean who looks to be in his 50s. He keeps a lookout for activities outside the consulate via the CCTV. A visit to the consulate on Saturday morning, during business hours, found it deserted save for two men, including one named “Johnson,” who described himself as Kusni’s assistant. (source: The Straits Times)
Tags: Singapore, Senegal, Consulate, The Straits Times, Baccarat, Gambling

20 Years

My tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson, the current manager of my favourite football team, Manchester United, who has been in charge for 20 years now.
Nationality: Scotland
Manager From: 6 Nov 1986
Years as Manager: 20
Premier League Title: 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
FA Cup: 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
League Cup: 1992, 2006
UEFA Champions League: 1999
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 1991
Inter-Continental Cup: 1999
FA Charity / Community Shield: 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003 (Joint holders: 1990)
Tags: Sports, Football, Soccer, Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United, English Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, Carling Cup

Negotiation

After watching sales falling off for three straight months at Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Colonel calls up the Pope and asks for a favour. The Pope says, "What can I do? "The Colonel says, "I need you to change the daily prayer from, 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken'. If you do it, I'll donate $10million to the Vatican. "The Pope replies, "I am sorry. That is the Lord's Prayer and I can't change the words. "So the Colonel hangs up.

After another month of dismal sales, the Colonel panics, and calls again. "Listen your Excellency. I really need your help. I'll donate $20 million if you change the words of the daily prayer from 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken.' And the Pope responds, "It is very tempting, Colonel Sanders. The church could do a lot of good with that much money. It would help us to support many charities. But, again, I must decline. It is the Lord's Prayer, and I can't change the words." So the Colonel gives up again.

After two more months of terrible sales, the Colonel gets desperate. "This is my final offer, your Excellency. If you change the words of the daily prayer from, 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken' I will donate $50 million to The Vatican." The Pope replies, "Let me get back to you."

So the next day, the Pope calls together all of his bishops and he says, "I have some good news and I have some bad news. The good news is that KFC is going to donate $50 million to the Vatican." The bishops rejoice at the news. Then one asks about the bad news.

The Pope replies, "The bad news is that we're losing the Gardenia account."

Tags: Jokes, Humour, Funny, Pope, Colonel Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Gardenia

Iran Test-Fires New Missiles

Why USA kept demanding for strict controls on weapons being developed in Iran? Well, the pictures below will tell you why. Iran has been on a mission to obtain the best technologies in getting the best for their missiles. They have been testing it regularly to maximise the effectiveness of it.
New range of missiles were being tested during a war game in a desert near the holy city of Qom, southeast of Tehran, 2 November 2006. Iran also tested the long-range Shahab-3 missile from mobile launch-pad as shown in picture.
"We want to show our deterrent and defensive power to trans-regional enemies, and we hope they will understand the message," the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi. (source: China Daily)
Tags: Iran, War, Missiles, Shahab-3

Saddam Hussein's Court Verdict

Saddam Hussein and his half brother were convicted and sentenced on Sunday to death by hanging for war crimes in the 1982 killings of 148 people in the town of Dujail, as the visibly shaken former leader shouted "God is great!" After the verdict was read, a trembling Saddam yelled out, "Life for the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!"

In addition to the former Iraqi dictator and Barzan Ibrahim, his half brother, the Iraqi High Tribunal convicted and sentenced Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the head of Iraq's former Revolutionary Court, to death by hanging. Iraq's former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Three other co-defendants were convicted of murder and torture and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. One defendant was acquitted for lack of evidence. (source: Associated Press)

Pray that the court verdict will not cause further eruption of conflicts in Iraq.
Tags: Saddam Hussein, Iraq, Iraqi High Tribunal, Court

Magneto movie

An upcoming movie based on the marvel comic character of Magneto (left pic) will be filmed and released by 2009. But the best part of it is that the story could involve Malaysia's former prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, which was highlighted in Internet Movie Database's website. Must be someone who has a good sense of humour while writing the script.

There is a movie preview done by Yahoo Movies about the said movie.
Tags: Movie, Entertainment, Marvel Comic, Magneto, Mahathir, IMDB

Shakira & Ricky Martin

Looks like Shakira did quite well in the recent Latin Grammy Awards. Shakira dominated the Latin Grammy Awards as she won five trophies, including album of the year for "Fijacion Oral Vol. 1", song and record of the year honors for "La Tortura", the best female pop vocal album and the best engineered album.
Her smoldering duet with Alejandro Sanz, on Thursday night stole the spotlight at the event - gyrating her way through a rendition of "La Tortura".

Thursday's show was broadcasted by Univision (Latin website) television for the second straight year. Musicians from Puerto Rico earned 33 Latin Grammy nominations, including all the nominations for best urban music album and best salsa album.

As for Ricky Martin, he was accorded the 2006 Latin Recording Academy Person Of The Year Tribute in honour of his accomplishments as a world-renowned entertainer, consummate performer and passionate humanitarian. I did blog about Ricky Martin in an earlier blog of mine here.
Tags: Music, Entertainment, Shakira, Ricky Martin, Alejandro Sanz, Latin Grammy Awards, Univision