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THAMER al Shanfari, the mega-rich former chairman of Cayman Islands-based mining company Oryx Natural Resources (ONR) believed to own the Glen Lorne house where crack units drawn from the police, immigration, Central Intelligence Organisation and Zimbabwe Revenue Authority flushed out two suspected diamond and gold dealers before deporting them, has threatened to use financial muscle to shut down the Zimbabwe Independent for reporting on the story which has angered him.

The Independent last week reported two senior Zanu PF politburo members, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Didymus Mutasa and his Indigenisation counterpart Saviour Kasukuwere, were linked to Israeli and Russian underworld gold and diamond dealers who were recently deported after a raid on their hideout in Harare's Glen Lorne suburb. The house is believed to be owned by Shanfari.

Mutasa and Kasukuwere confirmed going to the property located at Number 57 Follyjon Crescent during the January 3 raid. Mutasa however said he was only visiting, while Kasukuwere said he had gone there to meet some South African investors who wanted information on the indigenisation programme.

But those involved in the raid said the ministers were called by Russian national, Alexander Filegon alias Alexander Filatov and an Israeli Mike Raslan, who were accused of being diamond and gold dealers, to rescue them.

The story incensed Shanfari. In reaction, his lawyer Gerald Mlotshwa of GN Mlotshwa& Company Legal Practitioners initially called last Friday to complain but it was agreed that Shanfari, who was not part of the story besides mentioning that he owned the house and providing his background, wouldbe interviewed to give his own side of the story.

The Independent on Tuesday contacted Mlotshwa over the issue and it was agreed the interview would go ahead. However, midstream Shanfari dramatically changed and in subsequent conversations he exploded and threatened to close the newspaper.

Shanfari, instead of giving his own side of the story given the overwhelming public interest in the matter as shown by the involvement of two ministers, chose to threaten to close the newspaper and go after its journalists.

"You don't know who I am and what I do. You are fighting the wrong person and I will make sure your newspaper is closed," said Shanfari. "Do you know who I am? I'm going to go after you (Independent),"

He was particularly angered by a picture of his house which appeared in the paper showing part of his property which was raided by the police. He accused the Independent of being unprofessional for taking pictures of his house and "tarnishing his image".

"You guys are very unprofessional. Why did you take pictures of my house? I have reported you to the police," he said. "I will make sure your newspaper is closed."

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Zimbabwe: Tycoon Shanfari Threatens to Close Independent

March 23, 2012 APD arrest two for damage to coin-operated machines

Rich Flowers The Athens Review The Athens Daily Review Fri Mar 23, 2012, 07:11 PM CDT

Athens The Athens Police Department arrested two men, Thursday, for damage caused to coin-operated machines at a car wash on West Corsicana Street.

Jeffrey Bud Anding, 49, and Kevin Dwayne Smith, were each booked into the Henderson County Jail for criminal mischief ($1,500 to $20,000). Each of the suspects posted bond, Friday, and was released.

APD dispatch received a call Thursday morning reporting the damage to the machines. Lt. Michael Davis took the report, and gathered evidence concerning the offense. APD was able to identify Anding and Smith as suspects in the case.

Anding and Smith were brought to the police station, and interviewed concerning the car wash damage. Based on the evidence gathered and the interview, they were paced under arrest. Det. William Carlow also participated in the case.

Smith was arrested in December in connection with a series of burglaries in the Athens area. An arraignment hearing on that case is scheduled for April 4.

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APD arrest two for damage to coin-operated machines

By SANDRA GUY sguy@suntimes.com March 23, 2012 8:34PM

Jeff Schmidt, CEO of JAS Global Advisors, poses for a photograph at his company's office on N. Michigan Ave. Wednesday, March 14, 2012, in Chicago. | John J. Kim~Sun-Times

storyidforme: 27767139 tmspicid: 10031222 fileheaderid: 4547343

Updated: March 24, 2012 2:16AM

A Chicago company, JAS Global Advisors, is playing a key behind-the-scenes role in an unprecedented expansion of Internet domain names the webs equivalent of real-estate addresses dominated by .com, .gov, .org and .edu.

The expansion will open the way for new domain names ending in just about any word imaginable from .chicago for people looking to identify themselves as Chicagoans, to .jeans to .security to .YourNameGoesHere.

The process is highly charged: Critics say the expansion will offer new opportunities for cybersquatters, Anonymous-style hackers and trademark and patent trolls, and give pornographers their own .xxx suffix.

Supporters say the new names will give businesses new marketing opportunities and, if run correctly, tighten up online security.

A controversy also surrounds the nonprofit group that runs the Internet-naming process. The board of ICANN, the California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is battling U.S. Commerce Department concerns that its members may have too-close ties to companies that will bid on the new domain names. A board spokesman said the members operate under strict ethics rules. Separately, a national retailers advocacy group has complained that ICANN hasnt given clear direction on how businesses should apply for, appeal or otherwise respond to the new domain names.

As a March 29 deadline nears for applications for the new domain names, JAS Global Advisors, headed by international online security expert Jeff Schmidt, will be one of three companies nationwide that will evaluate applicants for their technical and financial qualifications.

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Local company playing key role in adding Internet domains

CEO Aaron Levie got lucky: The company that owned the dot-com of his company name wanted a lot, but not as much as they could have held him up for.

Just Box.

I just had a nice talk with Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box.net. I mean, Box. I had to ask him how much it cost for the company to drop the ".net" and become a ".com," a change that happened in December of 2011. I expected that the three-letter common-word domain of an already-successful, well-funded company would go for a lot, several million dollars possibly.

"How many zeros?" I asked.

"Six," Levie said.

How big an integer in front of those zeros? I asked.

"The lowest. And actually, it was five zeros with the highest integer."

Levie said he bought the domain nine months ago from Digimedia. "We got to know the guys who owned it over a couple of years," he said.

"You've been working them for a while, eh?" I asked.

No, Levie said, it wasn't like that. He said the Digimedia guys were really cool.

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How Box.net became Box.com for just shy of a million bucks

Twelve years ago, a total of $5 trillion in market value was lost when the "Dot-com" bubble burst. Many investors lost their life savings, their kid's college funds, or their retirements as a result.

Flash-forward to today, and I'm convinced many investors are running the risk of making the same mistake that caused those trillions of dollars in losses a decade ago.

Let me explain...

You've undoubtedly heard about the new multi-billion dollar "Web 2.0" companies like Groupon, Zynga, LinkedIn and Facebook. The mainstream financial press can't get enough of them...

For the past several months, investors have been blindly throwing money at these companies.

Take Zynga for example. Zynga is up 25% since it started trading back in December... but the company doesn't even turn a profit .

In fact, Zynga has lost $400 million during the past year. The firm's net loss came out to $1.40 per share... or more than 10% of its current share price.

LinkedIn (Nasdaq: LNKD ) , a social-networking site for professionals, is up slightly since going public . But it's been a wild ride. The stock trades at a P/E over 800.

G roupon (Nasdaq: GRPN ) doesn't even have a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio... because it has no earnings . In the past year, the company has lost $350 million or $0.97 per share.

Facebook -- considered to be the "hottest" of all these companies -- hasn't gone public yet. At this point, we can only guess what sort of enormous valuation it might see. Estimates are calling for a valuation of $100 billion. With net income of $1 billion in 2011, that means the stock could sell for 100 times earnings.

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Forget Facebook... Buy This Instead