Meet the man who spent $9 million on a license plate

  Balwinder Sahni with two of his Rolls Royce cars bearing multimillion-dollar license plates

For high-rolling drivers in the United Arab Emirates, no car is complete without a single-digit license plate.
The oil-rich country's wealthy elite are willing to drop millions of dollars to get their hands on one.

  Dubai property developer Balwinder Sahni wanted a highly coveted plate bearing the number 5. He wanted it so much, he bid 33 million dirhams ($9 million) for it at a government auction earlier this month.
  It was one of the largest sums ever spent on a license plate, although still lower than the $14 million record set in 2008 by an Abu Dhabi businessman.
  Sahni found that his big purchase also brought him a lot of attention. He says he can't go out in public without people stopping him and asking to take a photo -- and some aren't impressed, accusing him of wasting his money.
  "It's hard, people giving comments without knowing the type of person I am," Sahni told CNNMoney. He described himself as "a simple man."
  The single-digit plates now adorn two of his six Rolls Royce cars. (He also has two more of the luxury vehicles on order.)
It's also not the first time Sahni has spent serious money on a license plate. He secured a No. 9 plate with a  winning bid of 24.5 million dirhams ($6.7 million) at a government auction last year.
Since Dubai has no income tax, Sahni says he sees the hefty license plate purchases as his contribution to the public coffers. He says he believes the money will go to charity and toward improving the city's infrastructure.
  "I believe in giving back," he said. "This city has given me a lot."
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority declined to comment on how the proceeds from the license plate auctions are spent. The authority holds several a year. Bids can start in the millions of dirhams.
  Private companies in the UAE are also trying to cash in on the license plate business. A secondary market where the more sought-after plates are traded has sprung up.
  Abdulkerim Arsanov and his brother set up a website, numbers.ae, to link sellers with buyers. The biggest deal through their website so far was for a two-digit plate that sold for 2.7 million dirhams ($735,000).
"Number plates have become more luxurious than the cars themselves," Arsanov said.
The brothers started their business two years ago after struggling to find ways to sell their own collection of unique plates. Their website isn't making them any money yet, but Arsanov hopes to expand it into markets beyond the UAE, like the U.K. and Russia. They plan to start charging for the services at a later stage.
  The site usually gets 500 to 800 visitors a day. but the auction where Sahni bid $9 million set off a wave of new interest. More than 8,000 views caused the site to crash and forced the brothers to upgrade their server.
And Sahni's habit of spending big on license plates could generate extra web traffic for them in the future.
"I always like to give myself a gift every year," he said. "When you work very hard, you need to present yourself something."

Beyonce's Formation Tour Sold Over 2 Million Tickets and Made Over $250 Million

Beyoncé performs on stage during closing night of 'The Formation World Tour' at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 7, 2016 in East Rutherford, N.J.

   Beyonce’s Formation stadium tour wrapped Oct. 7 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., as an unqualified blockbuster, taking in over $256,084,556 and selling 2.2 million tickets, according to Billboard Boxscore. The tour, which began April 27 at Marlins Park in Miami, averaged a whopping $5.2 million in gross and 45,757 paid attendance per show.
   Tour promoter Arthur Fogel, chairman of Live Nation’s Global Touring division, calls Beyonce an “amazing performer” with a  “rabid, committed fan base.”
   The highest-grossing stop on the tour came from two sellouts at London’s Wembley Stadium July 2-3 that took in $15.3 million and sold 142,500 tickets. Earlier in the run, an $11.5 million take from two sellouts at New York’s City’s Citi Field took in $11.5 million and moved 73,486 tickets as the highest-grossing date in North America.
   The tour received high marks for its extravagant production, but Fogel points out that Beyonce “rose above the spectacle” in her performances. “When everybody acknowledges the greatness of the production but, more than that, everybody is blown away by her, that’s the ultimately skill,” he says. “To not only use the platform of a great production, but to rise above it as a performer and artist, that’s her incredibly unique quality."
SOURCE:www.naijacop.com

Kim Kardashian gives glimpse of £3.5million diamond ring in carefree Vogue video filmed prior to Paris robbery

  

    AN UNSEEN video released by Vogue has shown Kim Kardashian flashing her £3.5million ring before it was stolen in a horrifying robbery.
   The reality TV star, 35, is seen part in a happy-go-lucky video where she answers some simple Would You Rather? questions.
    This includes whether she’d want to be invisible or fly for a day (fly) and eat Chinese takeout or McDonalds (McDonalds).
   But when she is asked whether she’d live without air conditioning in heat or the internet (air conditioning, of course), she uses her hand to explain and flashes her gigantic Lorraine Schwartz gem.
   Vogue have only just released the video, which was filmed prior to her harrowing ordeal which saw a gang robbers steal her ring.
   But Kim is unlikely to see her ring again.
Experts have said that the thieves who stole the ring will take great care in making sure that they are not traced back to the crime, and will likely get it re-cut by specialists.
   A diamond gang’s first move is usually to flee the country where they struck and head to a location where cops are not searching for them.

   Due to jewels’ small size, it’s almost impossible for border police to stop the items being taken abroad.
Diamond expert Fred Cuellar said: “Even with millions of Pounds of jewellery, we’re not talking about a wheelbarrow-sized amount of stones – more like a small box full of them. It’s very difficult to detect that.”
Kim's harrowing ordeal included her being tied up and left in the bath after robbers held a gun to her head.
The reality TV star had begged for her life and "feared she was about to be raped".
    She managed to escape after wiggling free of her plastic handcuffs and screaming for help on her balcony.
Kim Kardashian finally returned to social media this week, but rather than post anything she went on a huge deleting spree.
   On Wednesday, Kim appeared to pick a number of people she followed on the social networking site and deleted them.
SOURCE:www.naijacop.com

EFCC arraigns man over N50million fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) today, October 11, arraigned one Wahab Olawale Amoo and his company, Wahab Amoo and Sons Nigeria Limited before Justice Adedayo Akintoye of the Lagos State High Court, sitting in Igbosere o-count charge bordering on four counts bordering on Conspiracy, Forgery and Obtaining by False Pretence to the tune of N50million.

The accused person allegedly conspired with his company, the 2nd accused person, to defraud the complainant Fidelity Bank Plc of the sum of Fifty Million Naira (N50, 000, 000. 00) only by using forged documents to secure a loan facility through a property which was under caveat at the Land Registry, Lagos State. He pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him.

In view of his plea, the prosecution counsel Fadeke Giwa asked the court for a trial date and also requested that the defendant be remanded in prison custody. However, the defense counsel Eric Uteh told the court that he served the prosecution the bail application for his client, but Giwa said she was served in court and would need time to reply.

Justice Akintoye remanded the accused person in prison custody pending hearing of bail application and subsequently adjourned the matter to October 19, 2016.
SOURCE:www.naijacop.com