Lord Neil Benjamin Gibson and SFBBL AG Comment on Projects in Pakistan

Presently, opportunities abound in a variety of industries for many companies and organizations interested in sound, long term investments. Pakistan offers attractive choices for businesses that involve expertise in areas such as  power, banking, mining, natural resources exploration / exploitation, agriculture, infrastructure and telecommunications.

POWER

Pakistan is in dire need of adequate energy development to service a sizable sector not addressed, resulting in only 80% of the country’ energy requirements being met. Lord Neil B. Gibson, www.lordneilgibson.com, and SFBBL AG, www.sfbblag.com have received international attention for their continued work with the many of the world’s energy producers, and have set clear intention to with Pakistan’s banking system in starting to satisfy the county’s power needs.

SFBBL AG’s financial and development partners are well versed and retain extensive backgrounds in advising companies within the United States and abroad concerning projects related to energy production and distribution. As one of the critical components to achieving success for projects of these involves interacting with in-country key decision makers, SFBBL AG, as are its partners, currently maintain the right relationships and positions to effectively close in a timely manner.

EXPLORATION

Abundant sources of minerals, such as limestone, coal, gypsum, sulfur, crude oil and natural gas are well within Pakistan. As such, the Pakistani government has been making efforts to enhance its mining operations through modernization of their procedures and processing, including development of large production plants for large quantities of gypsum plaster, a material often used in construction.

Lord Neil Gibson and SFBBL AG are able to offer significant assistance with the financial and operational structures for the investments into the project, laying base for the mechanical functions for the project itself.   

INFRASTRUCTURE

Industrial growth has placed high demands and new pressures on virtually all facets of Pakistan’s air, sea, rail and road infrastructures. While the country has successfully been able to double the number of roads over the last 10 years, it is still far below meeting the needs of varying industries positive growth. Construction of roads and bridges remain a continual challenge, and are thus seeking extensive privatization and direct foreign investment,

Neil Gibson and SFBBL AG understand the crucial importance in keeping on pace with the expansion of economic growth of the country, while furthering transportations systems spreading throughout Pakistan. In response to this boom, Lord Gibson brings a team of experts with enormous management, economic and financial resource knowledge to address the matter in such a way as to begin curbing development problems.

AGRICULTURE

Pakistan boasts a significant agricultural economy, presently the country’s largest producer. Most investments are geared toward increasing productivity and furthering profitability in many related areas including crops, dairy, forestry, irrigation, land management and seed production.

The United States is presently one of the largest export markets for Pakistani agricultural goods.

Lord Gibson and SFBBL AG have strong histories in commodities, futures contracts and agricultural products in general. Through the years, Lord Neil B. Gibson has gained enormous relationships to help reach significant milestones in leveraging agricultural products, including enhancements and directly attributable skills from members of SFBBL AG.

PETROCHEMICAL

Deregulation of oil and gas has created a far more competitive market, which is also the most significant are of foreign investment in Pakistan. The need for oil and gas, however, has continued to become greater, as the transportation industry demand has increased substantially.

As the Pakistani government provides fair and equal treatment for foreign and local investors within the industry, the country is making notable strides in harnessing its domestic production of crude oil.

Lord Neil Benjamin Gibson and SFBBL AG are very familiar and knowledgeable with petrochemicals, having worked closely with a number of the world’s largest oil producing companies and families. Lord Neil B. Gibson’s approach will be one from a tactical, market responsive and, most importantly, relationship based strategy, keeping in mind the desire for Pakistan to first rectify its country’s demand for gas and oil.

OPPORTUNITIES ARE NOW OPEN IN PAKISTAN FOR LORD NEIL B. GIBSON AND SFBBL AG

An advantage that Lord Gibson maintains in bringing the business opportunities from concept to reality is access to local and national Pakistani and European government officials, agencies and decision makers.

Consequently, the Pakistani and foreign governments have collectively been working to foster increased liberalization, deregulation and privatization of Pakistan’s financial, commercial and other business markets.

New, non-military aid packages to support such financial endeavors in both domestic and international businesses have been deployed by a number of additional foreign governments. Pakistan, as confirmed by the World Bank, offers an excellent, high rate of return for projects in the country, and remains one of the top growing economies in the Asian continent.

Multilateral lending and export credit agencies, such as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); including local and international chambers of commerce are among the vast and notable experience Lord Neil B. Gibson and SFBBL AG have and Pakistan will benefit from.

The conceptual and practical ideas of industry, energy, construction, finance, international tax and private equity are among the core principals that is the Lord Gibson and SFBBL AG project development arrangement, conjointly guiding the partners in Pakistan through the full project cycle, including tactical solutions to optimize operations and appropriately target otherwise missed business opportunities. 

Henderson mountain-mansion development Ascaya back in business

Hong Kong billionaire Henry Cheng blasted away a Henderson mountaintop during the real estate bubble, with plans for mansions overlooking the valley from street names such as Heavens Edge, Stonecutter and Epic View.

He tabled the project after the economy collapsed, leaving dozens of cake-layered pads carved into the mountain without a single house. But now, with the economy on the mend, he wants to finish the job.

Cheng’s group is gearing up again to develop the project, known as Ascaya. After years of silence that led some locals to assume the land was seized through foreclosure, the developers, who spent at least $200 million building the site, recently listed some lots for sale, gave a broker a tour of the property and hired a public relations firm to promote it.

An announcement that Ascaya is open for business is expected next week, but for now, people involved in the project are staying mum on prices, development timelines and other details.

“It’s exciting, I can tell you that,” listing broker Florence Shapiro said.

Marketing materials say the project, more than a square mile in size and almost 1,000 feet above the valley floor in the McCullough Range, will offer sweeping views; big swaths of open space, proving Ascaya is “sensitive to sustainable practices without sacrificing beauty or luxury”; and a clubhouse with concierge service, an artist studio, fitness center, tennis pavilion and spa with private treatment rooms.

“Where stone rises up to meet the sky, there is a place called Ascaya,” marketing materials say.

The revived sales efforts come as other builders push ahead with plans for luxury housing tracts. In Summerlin, for instance, Howard Hughes Corp. and Discovery Land Co. are planning a 555-acre high-end community, with sales of lots and homes starting next year.

But luxury-home sales are slowing valleywide, and real estate pros are split on whether buyers will step up at Ascaya.

Cameron DeAngelo, owner of All Vegas Valley Realty, toured the site last month and said the project, south of Horizon Ridge Parkway off Roma Hills Drive, will be the “most prestigious luxury community in the valley.”

She expects wealthy foreigners to buy lots as second or third homes. The developers are imposing design restrictions to ensure buyers put up desert-themed, contemporary homes, and they want to prevent builders from buying up lots to flood the place with cookie-cutter mansions, DeAngelo said.

Developers on Aug. 1 listed for sale 11 of Ascaya’s 313 lots, according to DeAngelo. They are about a half-acre and cost $800,000 to $1 million each.

“To have the vision that (Cheng) did and assemble the land, and over the years chisel out this community, is remarkable,” she said.

Robyn Yates, owner of Windermere Prestige Properties, said she’s happy to hear Ascaya is back in business. But with the economy fragile, she is surprised the developers want to sell now.

Las Vegas’ luxury housing market improved dramatically last year, with 341 previously owned homes selling for at least $1 million each, almost double from 2012, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. But business is down this year, with 187 used million-dollar homes sold through mid-August, a pace of about 300 deals for 2014.

In the meantime, there are plenty of lots available where people can build their own mansions, according to Yates.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s strong demand right now,” she said.

Developers might sell eight or 10 lots at Ascaya, but not 300, said architect Bob Fielden, of RAFI Architecture in Henderson.

“I don’t think so. Not until things really turn around,” he said.

Ascaya has been in the works for decades and long been controversial. Neighbors complained that the blasting shook their homes and cracked windows and foundations. Today, locals point to the empty lots as a painful reminder of Las Vegas’ building bust, the excesses of the boom years and a disregard of the valley’s natural beauty, as local mountain ranges are largely untouched.

“I thought it was rape and pillage when it was going on, and I don’t know that my perspective has changed,” Fielden said.

Cheng, the 67-year-old chairman of NWS Holdings Ltd., oversees an empire of tolls roads, power plants, water-treatment plants and container terminals, with investments in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.

Through their company W.L. of Nevada, Cheng's family began buying land in the Henderson mountains by 1990. Henderson city officials granted his group a zoning change in 1995, allowing two units per acre on the roughly 630-acre development, and other zoning changes in 2004. At that time, the developers planned to build 472 single-family lots at the project, then called Crystal Ridge.

Cheng’s group reportedly drilled, blasted and hauled away 15 million cubic yards of solid rock, cutting at least 140 feet deep. It opened a sales office around 2008, after the economy began slowing, with plans to have the first homes built in 2009.

However, the group reportedly suspended sales efforts that year, and since then, the project has sat untouched.

Building a home on a mountain is safe, as long as the rock beneath it isn’t layered with weaker soil and the slope isn’t too steep, said Neil Opfer, an associate professor of construction management at UNLV.

He would have preferred the mountains be left alone, but Opfer said mansions there will have incredible views, satiating homeowners’ cravings for “height might.”

“You get up high enough, you really don’t have to worry about anyone building in front of you,” he said

 COURTESY OF BIG KNOCKOUT BOXING Fighters approach each other in a rendering of Big Knockout Boxing’s “The Pit” in this promotional photograph. By Case Keefer (contact) Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014 | 2 a.m. Click to enlarge photo BKB GLOBAL Big Knockout Boxing's Bryan Vera More coverage The Sun's fighting section Bruce Binkow was initially skeptical when introduced to Big Knockout Boxing. A self-described “boxing traditionalist,” the veteran executive doubted the radical new take on the sport was anything worth watching. “I thought, ‘Why do we need to see something different than what I’m normally used to seeing in boxing?” Binkow said. “But when I finally got to see the guys spar and compete, I got caught up in the action and pacing of it. I became a convert.” Binkow, now the executive director of the new organization owned by DirecTV, believes many combat-sports fans will feel the same way after Saturday night when Big Knockout Boxing holds its debut at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Established middleweights Bryan Vera and Gabriel Rosado face off in the main event of the pay-per-view card. There's six other fights on the card. But anyone expecting them to climb into the ring and engage in a typical boxing bout will come away stunned. There’s no ring, no ropes and no corners. Big Knockout Boxing boasts there’s no place to hide in “The Pit,” a circle 17 feet in diameter used as its playing service. The action is faster in the space that’s about half the size of a standard boxing ring as fights feature either five or seven rounds of action at two minutes apiece. Boxing rounds are three minutes. “It was an amalgamation of new ideas thrown out there to create the sport and design what ultimately became BKB,” Binkow said. “We’re not attempting to replace or take over boxing. It’s a different sport. I would recommend that people sample it.” Some have no plans to extend Big Knockout Boxing that courtesy. Binkow himself has heard the cries of boxing purists who regard the sport as a gimmick at best and a hazard at worst. Concerns over fighter safety are frequently mentioned with the organization’s confined area. The Nevada State Athletic Commission had its reservations when BKB, which originally stood for Bare Knuckle Boxing, applied for a license in March. The commission eventually approved the petition for variances in the ring and rounds, but wouldn’t budge on the gloves, said NSAC Chairman Francisco Aguilar. New Hampshire allowed altered gloves with open slits at the knuckles for two minor events last year, but Nevada wouldn’t go beyond 10-ounce gloves with standard hand wraps. With the concession, Aguilar thinks descriptions of Big Knockout Boxing as more dangerous than other combat sports are baseless. “It’s a regulated environment,” he said. “I think when you look at all the advances we made from a health and safety perspective, they’re very similar to boxing and MMA. People were also skeptical MMA when it was first introduced, but when we started to regulate the sport, things changed and MMA advanced pretty well.” Mixed martial arts’ growth is often attributed to the UFC providing a new level of excitement at its live shows and on its broadcasts. The UFC improved on some of boxing’s faults. Proponents of Big Knockout Boxing anticipate a comparable effect. “Don’t get me wrong: The skills are great in boxing right now, but people want to see more fights,” Vera said. “They want to see us mixing it up, getting in there and being physical so they get what they paid their money for. If you’re running around and not doing anything the whole fight, they’re not attracted to that so I think BKB could be a good thing.” Vera wasn’t familiar with Big Knockout Boxing when he received the offer to star in the inaugural event. He accepted out of trust for his manager, who advised Vera to take the fight. Vera’s renowned coach, Ronnie Shields, also supported the idea. Shields customized a training regimen for Vera that included a heavier emphasis on lower-body strength and a makeshift circle in the middle of a ring. Vera spoke highly of a training camp that refreshed him with a break from the norm. “People probably would have paid money to watch us spar because you’ve got to stay in the circle and mix it up,” Vera said. “It’s made for some nice wars. It’s been a fun journey.” Vera hasn’t committed to Big Knockout Boxing long-term. His priority remains getting a fight against WBO middleweight champion Peter Qullin, who’s highly unlikely to ever enter “The Pit” as long as he holds a belt. Binkow and his staff have mapped out a plan for Big Knockout Boxing events over the next couple of years, but nothing is guaranteed. The future hinges on the success of Saturday’s card. “What we’re finding is that when people become aware of BKB, they become more interested in it so that’s a really good sign,” Binkow said. “The definition of success I would have is fulfilling our goal that every fan who experiences BKB Saturday night whether it’s in the arena or on television walks away getting their money’s worth.”

WE WILL ALL MISS ROBIN WILLIAMS

The news of his death sent shock waves through Hollywood and the nation, and prompted an outpouring of grieving tweets and statements from everyone from the president of the United States to the Sesame Street gang.

"Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between," President Obama said in a statement. "But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien – but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most – from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets. The Obama family offers our condolences to Robin's family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to Robin Williams."

CNN reported a statement from Pam Dawber, Williams' co-star in the wacky Mork & Mindy of the late 1970s, which introduced Williams to an amazed nation. "I am completely and totally devastated. What more can be said?!" Dawber said.

"We mourn the loss of our friend Robin Williams, who always made us laugh and smile," the Sesame Street tweet read.

"I saw him on stage the very first time he auditioned at The Improv in Los Angeles," said Jay Leno in a statement. "And we have been friends ever since. It's a very sad day."

Williams' last tweet and Instagram was on July 31, when he wished his daughter, Zelda Rae, a happy 25th birthday and posted a picture of himself with her as a child. "Quarter of a century old today but always my baby girl," he captioned the photo.

In San Francisco, where Williams for a while lived in the fog-shrouded oceanside Sea Cliff neighborhood, residents were shocked and saddened.

"He seemed like a good San Franciscan," said Griff Behncke, 35, who was waiting to take the ferry ride back to Sausalito, near Tiburon. He remembers Williams donating blood after the 9/11 terror attacks, and then entertaining the long line of people waiting to donate.

Williams will reprise his role as Theodore Roosevelt in the third Night at the Museumfilm. Fox issued a statement, according to Entertainment Weekly.

"There really are no words to describe the loss of Robin Williams. He was immensely talented, a cherished member of our community, and part of the Fox family. Our hearts go out to his family, friends and fans. He will be deeply missed."

Williams, who won an Oscar for his supporting role in Good Will Hunting, also recently signed on to reprise his beloved role as Mrs. Doubtfire in a sequel to be directed by Chris Columbus, according to EW.

Williams has battled health problems and struggled with substance abuse for decades. Only last month he went into rehab at Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center in Minnesota, and was expected to stay there for several weeks.

Obama, with reluctance, returns to action in Iraq

WASHINGTON: In sending warplanes back into the skies over Iraq, US President Obama on Thursday night found himself exactly where he did not want to be. Hoping to end the war in Iraq, Obama became the fourth president in a row to order military action in that graveyard of American ambition. 

The mandate he gave to the armed forces was more limited than that of his predecessors, focused mainly on dropping food and water. But he also authorized targeted airstrikes "if necessary" against Islamic radicals advancing on the Kurdish capital of Erbil and others threatening to wipe out thousands of non-Muslims stranded on a remote mountaintop. 

As he explained himself to a national television audience, Mr. Obama made a point of reassuring a war-weary public that the president who pulled American forces out of Iraq at the end of 2011 had no intention of fighting another full-scale war there. Yet his presence in the State Dining Room testified to the bleak reality that the tide of events in that ancient land have defied his predictions and aspirations before. 

"I know that many of you are rightly concerned about any American military action in Iraq, even limited strikes like these," he said. "I understand that. I ran for this office in part to end our war in Iraq and welcome our troops home, and that's what we've done. As commander in chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq." 

Mr. Obama has spent months resisting just that. Even after the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, seized Falluja and other territory in the western part of the country at the beginning of the year and marched through Mosul and toward Baghdad by summer, the president expressed no enthusiasm for American military action. 

In June, he sent in 300 special forces troops not to fight but to assess the situation, an assessment that has yet to be completed, and he increased surveillance passes over Iraq. But Mr. Obama rebuffed calls, including those from within his administration, to quickly send in air power to hit ISIS forces. 

Aides said his hand was not forced until ISIS won a series of swift and stunning victories last weekend and Wednesday night against the Kurds in the north, who have been a loyal and reliable American ally, especially compared to the Baghdad government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. ISIS threats to wipe out Yazidis and other religious minorities trapped on Mount Sinjar, they said, added to the urgency. 

"You don't have to have a ton of insight to know he feels reluctant," said Douglas Ollivant, a former Iraq adviser in the White House under Mr. Obama and President George W. Bush. "He wants the Iraq problem not to exist. And that's exactly what the American people sent him to the White House to do." But "all these factors may kind of drag him kicking and screaming into some kind of decision." 

To longtime opponents of the Iraq war, the president's decision represented a step back down a dangerous path, one that may once again entangle the United States in a bloody and destructive venture. Far better, in their view, to find alternatives like urging the United Nations to help the Iraqis conduct their own humanitarian airdrop mission. 

"This is a slippery slope if I ever saw one," said Phyllis Bennis, a scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, a research organization for peace activists. "Whatever else we may have learned from the president's 'dumb war,' it should be eminently clear that we cannot bomb Islamist extremists into submission or disappearance. Every bomb recruits more supporters." 

Others disagreed. "I don't think this is a slippery slope; this is an isolated circumstance," said Representative Adam Smith of Washington State, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, saying he supported intervening on behalf of the Kurds, as opposed to the unpopular Baghdad government. "The Kurds are worth helping and defending." 

To some, this is a crisis Mr. Obama brought on himself by not trying harder to leave a residual force behind at the end of 2011 and neglecting to recognize the growing threat as the civil war in Syria next door increasingly spilled over into Iraq. Some argued that a virtual state under ISIS control posed more than the humanitarian threat Mr. Obama seemed to be focused on. 

"This is about America's national security," said Ryan Crocker, who was ambassador to Iraq under Mr. Bush and to Afghanistan under Mr. Obama. "We don't understand real evil, organized evil, very well. This is evil incarnate. People like Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," the ISIS leader, "have been in a fight for a decade. They are messianic in their vision, and they are not going to stop." 

But if not, then the question arises: How far is Mr. Obama willing to go? He said on Thursday that there is "no American military solution" to the Iraqi insurgency, pointing again to the need for a new politically inclusive government in Baghdad. What he might do if that fails he did not say. And while aides stressed this is a narrow mission, they acknowledged scenarios in which it could expand. 

Mr. Obama likewise strived to explain why this humanitarian emergency demands American military intervention when others elsewhere have not. Just a week ago, at a news conference, he made the point that the United States cannot intervene everywhere there is a crisis. 

"Nobody has the sense about why in some cases and not in others," said James B. Steinberg, a former deputy secretary of state under Mr. Obama and now dean of the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. "His last news conference just leaves you scratching your head. Yeah, we can't do everything. But what matters to us?" 

Iraq, of course, offers a special case, given the amount of American blood spilled since Mr. Bush's invasion in 2003. Beyond that, Mr. Obama said that this was an instance where there was a genuine calamity in the making; the government of the country requested help, and the United States had the capacity to step in and make a difference. 

"The United States cannot and should not intervene every time there is a crisis in the world," he said. But in this case, he added, "I believe the United States cannot turn a blind eye."

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CEASEFIRE IN GAZA

Israel is willing to extend a ceasefire that ended a month of fighting in Gaza beyond a Friday deadline, an Israeli official has said, but Hamas has denied that a new deal has been reached.

The official, quoted by the Reuters news agency, said: "Israel has expressed its readiness to extend the truce under its current terms," referring to the 72-hour deal brokered by Egypt that took effect on Tuesday.

But Hamas deputy leader Musa Mohammed Abu Marzouk, part of the Palestinian delegation holding talks in Cairo, denied on Wednesday night that there was yet any agreement for an extension.

"There is no agreement to extend the ceasefire," he wrote on Twitter.

"Any news about the extension of the truce is unfounded," added Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his country's military actions during the four-week-long assault, blaming Hamas for the fatalities in Gaza.

 

In a news conference in West Jerusalem, Netanyahu said: "Israel deeply regrets every civilian casualties. The people of Gaza are not our enemy, our enemy is Hamas".

"Every civilian casualty is a tragedy, a tragedy of Hamas's own making."

His comments came as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the deaths in Gaza "have shocked and shamed the world".

The UN chief has also called for investigation into bombing of UN facility in Gaza. 

"Attacks against UN premises, along with other suspected breaches of international law, must be swiftly investigated," he added.

'Senseless cycle of suffering' 

Netanyahu said Israel's intense bombardment of Gaza was a necessary response to Hamas attacks.

"It was justified. It was proportionate," he said.

The prime minister said also that "Hamas is using tactics adopted by other terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group".

A spokeswoman for the Israeli army told news agency AFP that 27,000 reservists called up for the conflict had been sent home, leaving a force of 55,000 still on active duty, in another sign of growing hopes for long-term quiet.

The UN has called on all parties in the Middle East to find a lasting peaceful solution to the conflict in Gaza.

In a special meeting of the UN General Assembly convened at the request of Arab countries, Ban Ki-moon said: "The senseless cycle of suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in Israel, must end.

"We will build again but this must be the last time to rebuild. This must stop now," he told the 193-nation assembly.

Ban called for an end to rocket fire from Gaza and weapons smuggling as well as lifting an Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza and bringing the besieged territory back under one Palestinian government.

The Palestinians have demanded an end to the eight-year Israeli blockade of Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners. Israel has resisted those demands.

The Egyptian-mediated 72-hour ceasefire that went into effect on Tuesday has brought relief to both sides after fighting that erupted on July 8 killed 1,875 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side.

In Gaza, where about a half-million people have been displaced by a month of bloodshed, some residents left UN shelters to trek back to neighbourhoods where whole blocks have been destroyed by Israeli shelling and the smell of decomposing bodies fills the air.

Streets in towns in southern Israel, which had been under daily rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, were filled again with people.lordneilgibson.com