Mediaboss Marketing

2012-04-26 22:12

Johannesburg - Biltong, drowors and boerewors are the foods most missed by South Africans living in London, according to a survey released on Thursday.

"It's not surprising that three of the foods that came up in our top ten list were of Dutch origin - biltong, drowors and boerewors," said Ryan Mackie from SA Hotels, which conducted the research.

"It's interesting to see the long-term impact the Dutch have had on South Africa's current-day culture."

These three high-protein favourites were followed by Sparletta Creme Soda, Simba Nik Naks and Mrs Balls Chutney.

The other four foods making the top 10 were Peppermint Crisp, Ouma Rusks, maize meal (pap) and Tennis biscuits.

The research was done in London, where about half of the estimated 140 000 South Africans living in the UK are found.

Researchers interviewed the owners of South African food stores in the UK to find out what foods they sold most, and consulted expatriates through e-mail, phone and Facebook.

- SAPA

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SA expats miss biltong the most

It was a traditional Songkran celebration at the Pattaya City Expats Club meeting on April 15. Pettipont, in traditional Thai costume (a friend of club member Sermsakdi, who made the arrangements for the celebration) greeted members and guests as they entered the Amaris Tavern by the Sea Restaurant. Restaurant Manager Tok and member Marjorie Bassett were also on hand to extend greetings. They offered those entering an opportunity to pour water over the golden Buddha while it was resting on the Taverns front desk, and to perform a ceremonial wai.

When the meeting opened, master of ceremonies, Richard Silverberg, after a few introductory comments, turned the meeting over to Noi Nongkoonoi, manager and chief guide for the Sanctuary of Truth. Noi explained the unique history of the Songkran celebration - its origin as the Thai celebration of the New Year according to the lunar calendar, and the importance of the ceremony that all were about to participate in. Noi explained that the ancient ceremony was performed as a showing of respect for the familys elders, monks, and others of significance to the family or the village. The water, having been cleansed by being poured over the shoulder of the Buddha is considered Lustral Water, and is poured over the hands of the elders and others selected by the family as a gesture of respect and hope for the New Year.

Noi of Pattayas famous Sanctuary of Truth shares with PCEC members and guests the traditional origin and practice of Songkran - slightly different to the common practice of today.

The Club was honored to have a very special guest in attendance, Satil Kunplome. She is the mother of five children. They all have achieved important elective or appointive positions in Thai government including the mayor of Pattaya and the mayor of Bang Saen. She is also a noteworthy member of the Thailand Womens Development Group. At the clubs invitation, she graciously joined other elders of the club at the front table to be honored in this very important Thai traditional Songkran ceremony. To add to the occasion Satil was dressed in a traditional Thai ladies costume of the time. She was accompanied by two friends and her driver who also participated in the ceremony.

Following the pouring of the Lustral Water, Noi talked very knowingly about the ceremony that everyone had just experienced and its importance to the Thai people. Those in attendance felt that they had participated in a lovely and moving traditional celebration from Thai history. The club prides itself on having had continuous meetings since its founding eleven years ago. Rather than suspending its meetings during the hectic water throwing exuberance of Pattayas Songkran Festival, during the past few years the club has fostered the true meaning of Songkran to their fellow expats by holding a traditional Songkran celebration.

Following the ceremony, all posed for a group photo.

MC Richard Silverberg then updated everyone on upcoming events. This was followed by the always informative and sometime humorous Open Forum where questions are asked and answered about expat living in Thailand, Pattaya in particular. The Pattaya City Expats Club meets every Sunday. Read more about the Clubs activities on their website at http://www.pattayacityexpatsclub.com.

Arriving at the Pattaya City Expats Clubs annual Songkran celebration, member Marjorie performs the washing of the Buddha.

A tender moment as member Richard LeCavalier receives Songkran blessing from his lovely Thai wife, Phap.

Guest of Honor Madame Satil Kunplome receives the traditional Songkran blessing from PCEC member Janet Smith, while her husband Richard Smith receives the same from Pattaya Blatts editor, Elfi Seitz.

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Pattaya Mail

Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeighami says Iranian expatriates can invest in development of oil refining and distribution industries in the country.

The official said Friday that Pars condensate refinery of Shiraz is one of the most important candidates for building the countrys first national refinery, Mehr News Agency reported.

The official added that USD 47.5 billion has been allocated for the development of various sectors of Iran's oil refining and distribution industry, including construction of refineries, oil and products transfer pipelines, oil storage facilities, and new oil tanks.

Total length of [oil transfer] pipelines should increase from [the existing figure of] 3,700 kilometers (km) to 5,100 km by the end of the Fifth Economic Development Plan (2015) and to 6,500 km by the end of the 20-Year Perspective Plan (2025), he stated.

Zeighami further said about USD 25 billion dollars should be invested in developing new oil refining capacity with priority given to Pars condensate refinery in Shiraz, Persian Gulf Star refinery, Anahita refinery in Kermanshah, Shahriyar refinery in Tabriz, and Hormoz refinery in Bandar Abbas.

Pointing to Iran's plan to invest about USD 7 billion in developing oil refineries of Isfahan and Abadan, the official said Iranian expatriate can invest as much as they can in various projects related to Iran's oil refining and distribution industries.

The deputy oil minister stated that USD 2 billion should be invested in developing storage capacity for oil products in Iran by 2015 and about USD 3 billion should be invested in building necessary pipelines.

Zeighami concluded by saying that about 70 percent of the process of building oil refineries has been indigenized by Iranian contractors and manufacturers and the figure can be increased up to 90 percent by the end of the Fifth Economic Development Plan.

SS/HGH

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Expats to help build refineries in Iran

April 26, 2012 Santiago, Chile

Should we crawl into bed with the IRS?

Thanks to the steady barrage of US government regulation ranging fromthe obtusely insipid Dodd-Frank financial reform to theimpossible-to-implement Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA),banks everywhere have to make this decision.

In short, Congress has arrogantly passed legislation to control foreignbanks on foreign soil. FATCA, for example, requires that every singlebank on the planet enter into an information-sharing agreement with theIRS.

Banks that dont comply will face severe penalties, including beingsubject to a steep withholding tax on funds sourced through the US.

In the long-run, Congress will have put the final nail in the coffin ofthe US banking system as the market will simply establish an alternativedestination to source, clear, and transfer funds.

For now, though, many banks are simply walking away from US customersaltogether throwing their hands up and saying we would rather not dobusiness with this entire market rather than deal with Uncle Sam everagain

To be clear, this is a bank-by-bank decision that each one is makingindividually. And were seeing -a lot- of banks around the world, fromSingapore to Panama to the Cayman Islands, say thanks but no thanks toUS customers.

But, as the saying goes, whenever one door closes, another one opens.OK, maybe not exactly 1 for 1 but there are still plenty of optionsaround the world where US taxpayers can establish foreign bank accountsto diversify their savings abroad.

Not a bad place to visit your money...

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Eight Places Where Americans Can Still Bank Offshore

OTTAWA Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino complained to the RCMP on Thursday about documents of unknown origin that purport to show details of offshore banking by Fantino.

"The allegation is completely false," said Chris McCluskey, Fantino's director of communications. "The minister has complained to the RCMP about possible mistaken identity, or identity theft."

Fantino personally denied having offshore accounts on Thursday after the website ipolitics.ca published a story revealing that Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson is looking at the documents.

"No, I don't have any offshore accounts," Fantino said. "I'm not going to get into that stuff. That's mudslinging. No. Unbelievable."

Postmedia News has had the documents for weeks but has not reported on them until now, because reporters were unable to determine their veracity and similar documents have been shown to be forgeries in the past.

The documents purport to show several accounts in the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas containing hundreds of thousands of dollars under the name Julian Fantino.

It is legal to have offshore accounts, but they are often used to avoid taxes, and Fantino's public declaration filed with Dawson do not show any such accounts.

The documents were provided to Dawson's office by Richard Lorello, an IT consultant and former Conservative candidate from Vaughan, the suburban Toronto riding that Fantino represents.

Lorello received the documents from an anonymous source last spring after he publicly raised questions about financial arrangements in the Vaughan Conservative riding association.

Lorello has been communicating via email with the source for months, but does not know the person's name. He said he forwarded them to the ethics commissioner because they raise questions that must be answered.

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Fantino calls in Mounties to probe 'mudslinging' over offshore accounts