Hollywood Actress Halle Berry Gives Birth To Baby Boy

The baby is Berry’s second child and her first with French actor Olivier Martinez. Berry and Martinez, both 47, married in July. Berry has a five-year-old daughter, Nahla, with Canadian model Gabriel Aubry.

Berry’s representative declined to give further details.

A former model, Berry has appeared in over 30 films, and won a Best Actress Oscar in 2001 for her role in the drama “Monster’s Ball,” becoming the first and only African-American woman to win an Oscar for a leading role.

She will reprise her role as Storm in “X-Men: Days of Future Past” when the film hits theaters in May of 2014.

Berry was previously married to baseball player David Justice and R&B singer Eric Benet, and had a five-year relationship with Aubry that ended in 2010.

She and Aubry reached a custody agreement in November 2012 after a bitter public battle over their daughter.

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World debt comparison: Who Does The World Owe, Africa?

The global debt clock:Our interactive overview of government debt across the planet

The clock is ticking. Every second, it seems, someone in the world takes on more debt. The idea of a debt clock for an individual nation is familiar to anyone who has been to Times Square in New York, where the American public shortfall is revealed. Our clock (updated September 2012) shows the global figure for almost all government debts in dollar terms.

Does it matter? After all, world governments owe the money to their own citizens, not to the Martians. But the rising total is important for two reasons. First, when debt rises faster than economic output (as it has been doing in recent years), higher government debt implies more state interference in the economy and higher taxes in the future. Second, debt must be rolled over at regular intervals. This creates a recurring popularity test for individual governments, rather as reality TV show contestants face a public phone vote every week. Fail that vote, as various euro-zone governments have done, and the country (and its neighbours) can be plunged into crisis.

In the end analysis it will come back to the fact that the world owes this money plus more to Africa. I will you why.

Look at this analysis:  who does the world owe? One analysis says the governments owe this money to their citizens. This it says is because the governments of developed economies like Canada, US, UK, Germany, China etc take part of or cut the profits earned in Bonds, mutual funds etc so that with it they are able to crash the interest rates. Now interest rate in some of these countries is as low as 2%. At this rate individuals are encouraged to take loans from banks which in turn they will invest back into they economy.

In Africa the case is totally different. In Nigeria for instance it is highly not encouraging to take loans from banks at all and saving money in the banks is also not encouraged. Why? When you save in a savings account you get also nothing in interest. In fixed deposit you get a maximum of 7 – 8% and in Treasury Bills you get a maximum of 10%. But when you want a loan from the banks they ask you to pay between 20 – 30% interests. How does a home grown business survive in such a hash business climate? How can African economy develop in this kind of situation?

Every year in September the United Nations General Assembly meets in New York to discuss global challenges. Have you ever heard them discuss or even ask the question ‘how do we solve the problem of corruption in developing countries?

Every now and then the governments of these developed economies freeze or seize assets stolen from Africa by African Politicians. Currently the UK government is trying to seize a 90 million pounds worth of assets owned by one James Ibori a former governor of Delta State in Nigeria. How much of these assets do they return? You would recall the Abacha loot that is still being returned since 1998. How much of these loots are returned with accumulated interests? Now these are only the few we hear about in the public domain. What about the ones we don’t get to hear about? Every minute a corrupt government official steals billions out of Africa. These billions of Dollars are invested in these developed economies while the African economy suffers.

Until the world through the United Nations comes together to fight this corruption they owe Africa. The UN should enact a convention that would make culpable the government of any country in which these stolen wealth is invested and all member nations must sign and ratify the convention.

 

scott lee

Oct 10 2012: If you have a pension or mutual fund with a diverse portfolio that includes the bonds, than those countries might owe money to you. One of the problems with having low interest rates to stimulate the economy (which is what we are doing in Canada) is that people who have a lot of canadian bonds in their retirement fund are now getting lousy returns. The interest paid on those debts is the profits of the investors who put that money up front in the first place.

Debt today is bought, sold, divided, and cumulated, and distributed among large and small investors. Sometimes those investors are billionaires, sometimes they are financial companies which include them in mutual funds to sell to small investors, and sometimes they are nations.

If countries can't pay back their debt than investors won't want to buy bonds, which makes it harder for the governments to raise the money they need.

Debt is very different for nations than for individuals. Borrowing money provides profit for certain sectors of the economy. In international relations, governments can use their own resources to support allies or out maneuver adversaries. In the case of pensions, when governments pay off their interest, they are supporting the retirees who invested in their country when they were young.

It is not always bad, but it cannot be ignored

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 Jenner separation: Bruce has always been one without drama in the Kardashian Krew and has a way of staying away from the drama of others in the house and even though he is officially separated from Kris, he assures his fans that there wouldn't be any drama, and he says he'll still appear on "Keeping Up with the Kardashians."

In an interview with PEOPLE, the former Olympian insists, "I'm doing great. Kris is happy, I'm happy. Nobody is filing fordivorce."

Wishing no ill-will towards his wife of 22 years, the 63-year-old continues, "Kris has her own place and I have my own place. There's no animosity. Everything is good." So good in fact, that he laughed off the suggestion of dating, saying, "No! We're not going there. I have my family. I have my kids. All of my time is filled.

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Nissan Plans To Build Cars In Nigeria

Giant Japanese automobile manufacturer, Nissan has announced it plans to build a Manufacturing plant in Nigeria.

If this materializes, Nissan will become the first global car maker to build cars in Nigeria since west Africa's largest economy rolled out a policy to tempt investors into its nascent automotive industry.

“Nissan is preparing to make Nigeria a significant manufacturing hub in Africa,” the Japanese car maker said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement quoted Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan and Renault as saying: "As the first-mover in Nigeria, we are positioned for the long-term growth of this market and across the broader continent.”

The move comes as the Federal government is expected to approve a new policy designed to encourage the development of the automobile industry in Nigeria, the car makers said.

The first vehicle to be introduced was expected to be the Nissan Patrol SUV next year. The plant would also be opened to French auto group Renault, though the companies did not give any details.

Japan’s Nissan is aiming to double annual sales in Africa by 2016 from 110,000 units last year. It already plans to launch the Datsun brand in South Africa before the end of next year.

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