Two years after the Mumbai attack, and despite the intense global crackdown, one of the world’s most networked, resourceful and dangerous terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), remains operational in Pakistan, and ready to hit again.

Hundreds of university students, including foreigners, are reportedly (BBC Urdu Service, November 4, 2010) undergoing various stages of training at the new LeT training campus near Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK. The BBC quoted a 23-year old engineering student from Lahore as saying that hundreds of students from Pakistan and other countries were getting training to “wage jihad against India” in these camps. He said he completed the two-month training course-Daura-e-Aam-after completing his engineering course early this year.

Majority of the trainees were from Punjab where LeT operated from two parallel headquarters—one at Muridke near Lahore which, till the Mumbai attack, was the main training campus and second one at Chouburji in Lahore where Hafiz Saeed and his confidants run a madrasa-mosque complex. The report said the trained students were awaiting the orders of LeT amir or chief Hafiz Saeed to either go to Kashmir to renew their jihad against India or remain inside Pakistan to propagate Islam. LeT works for converting Pakistan into a radical Sunni State as part of its overall objective of establishing Caliphate.

The training was being carried out at Dulai where LeT had relocated its training camps after the Mumbai attacks. Till then, the main campus was at Shawai Nala near Muzaffarabad, called Baitul Mujahideen. LeT operational commander Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi used to run this complex. The Dulai campus is headed by Yusuf Muzamil, Lakhvi’s second-in-command and one of the main accused in the Mumbai attacks.

Like Baitul Mujahideen, the Dulai camp is LeT’s new command centre which is connected to the world with high-speed broadband internet and other communication facilities. The camp is located in an area of about 39325 square yards and was leased out by the terrorist group in March 2009 at a monthly rent of Rs 65000. Since the Mumbai attack, the group has built a mosque and 14 shelters within the complex besides a middle school named Quaid-e-Azam Academy and al Shifa Free Medical centre.

The Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, had trained at this camp for three months in 2009.

Almost all of the LeT top leadership, barring Lakhvi and some, remains free today and working openly to expand the terror network across new regions. Of those who are said to be in prison, Lakhvi, an al Qaida representative in the terror group, has been active in running the new training campus at Dulai from the prison. Lakhvi, closely aligned to ISI and Pakistan Army, has access to men, communication and other logistical requirements. Before his arrest, ISI had given him a satphone and a Landrover besides access to generous funds.

Hafiz Saeed is free and runs a billion-dollar charity and educational empire from a mosque in the heart of Lahore. He addresses the devout every Friday, meets with political leaders on a regular basis, addresses public rallies across Pakistan and is a special guest at the iftars thrown by the high and mighty in Pakistan, including the present ISI chief, Shuja Pasha. His clout could be gauged from the fact that he was recently (Nov. 11) invited as a guest speaker at a seminar organised by the Lahore High Court Bar Association where he criticised US President Barak Obama’s visit to India and said it was part of a conspiracy against China and Pakistan.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, LeT and its parent organisation, Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) have managed to hoodwink the world by calling itself Tanzeem Falah-e-Insaniyat (TFI), which incidentally operates from the same premises which was, till November 2008, occupied by the Islamic centres of JuD. TFI was one of the `shell` organisations floated by the terrorist group some time back to give it a cover of charity. These centres were nothing but madrasas to indoctrinate young students, recruitment and fund collection centres for jihad.

In Lahore, for instance, TFI works out of Jamia Masjid al Qadsia, one of the biggest mosques in the city which today houses the terrorist group’s brain-trust. Hafiz Saeed, his son Talha Saeed, brother-in-law Abdur Rahman Makki and son-in-law Khalid Waleed either lead the prayers or promotes and defends the group’s ideology and the need for jihad to free Kashmir from this mosque. In fact, days after Saeed was detained, his son addressed the gathering, calling for launching jihad across Asia to promote the cause of Islam.

In Karachi, the group runs its operations from Jamia Darasat al-Islamia (JDI)-a sprawling complex with a mosque, madrasa and a hostel besides TFI office. Before the Mumbai attack, LeT used to operate out of an office at Salman Terrace at Hassan Square in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Likewise, there are several smaller offices in Karachi-Jamia Masjid Khalid bin-Walid on Tariq Road, Masjid Hussain-bin-Ali in Quaidabad and a mosque in Sher Shah Colony-where the group continues to propagate jihad and other violent activities. These offices and centres are run by paid staff of the group, most of whom had shifted from Lahore after the crackdown. Average pay of each staffer is Rs 6000 per month.

The terrorist group’s publications are freely available in Lahore and Karachi, two cities which have considerable number of LeT cadres. Weekly newspaper Ghazwah is on the stands under a new name, Jarrar while the vitriolic women’s magazine, Tayyibat is called Al Sifat. The students daily, Zarb-e-Taiba is available in university campuses as Akhbaar-e-Taiba and the periodical Al-Daawa is called Al Harmian.

Since the Mumbai attack, the group has expanded its operations in Afghanistan. It has cells in five provinces of Afghanistan but has maximum presence in Kunar and Nuristan provinces where it works with the Haqqani network against the US-led NATO forces. LeT is actively engaged in recruiting new cadres for the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban wants to recruit about 50000 new fighters this year. Large scale recruitment is taking place in areas affected by the recent floods, particularly Khyber-Pakhtunwa, where LeT has been engaged in rescue and relief operations under the cover of Tanzeem Falah-e-Insaniyat.

LeT today has more than a core cadre strength of 50000 trained and armed men, strength of a Army Division, of which 5000 are in Karachi and rest largely distributed across Punjab, mostly concentrated in Lahore, Multan, Jhang and Jhelum. The group has a cadre of dedicated trainers, many of them ex-army and ISI commandos, access to latest weapons and funds, nearly $1 million of it from the Punjab government as grants last year!

Wilson John is Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi

Congrats to the 26 Florida billionaires who made the cut.  Florida ranked fourth in billionaireitis and California was #1 with 83 billionaires. In Florida Micky Arison came in at #1. Maybe that’s why he always looks so tan and studly. With 26 billionaires and that kind of cash floating all around Florida, it’s amazing that the most expensive home on the market is just $60 million (pictured left).

So, how big a number is a billion? Fasten your seatbelt.

A billion is a thousand million. If you wanted to count to a billion, it would take 31 years, 251 days, 7 hours and 39 seconds (if you counted one per second). A billion seconds ago, it was 1958. A billion dollars is 266 small U-Haul boxes jammed end-to-end and floor to ceiling in crisp $100 dollar bills. So you think a billionaire has a “ton” of money?  Well, a ton of $100 bills is about only, $90,800,000. Chump change. Most commercial jets fly about 7 miles high.  If you took crisp, new $1,000 bills, it would soar 63 miles high.

So, what would a billion dollars buy if you wanted be change the world?  According to The World Land Trust website and a little of my bad math, a billion would get you 12. 3 million acres of rainforest.  And in time, a cure for “tons” of diseases and reduce carbon offsets and stuff like that. That’s what I would consider.

Pretend just for a second that you had a loose billion and wanted to change the world. What would you do with it? ~Mike

Warren Buffett has pledged to give away 99 percent of his wealth; meanwhile, Jay-Z supposedly has 99 problems. But life’s pretty good when you’re big pimpin’.

Buffett and Jay-Z trade tips in Forbes interview | Reuters.

Jay Z & Warren Buffett

Jay-Z is making a pivotal move and appearing alongside philanthropist Warren Buffet on the cover of Forbes magazine.  

The two business men are featured as part of the “Forbes 400” issue, listing the 400 richest people in America.  

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates ranks #1 on the list with an estimated worth of $54 billion while Buffet; the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, ranks #2 with a reported wealth of $45 billion.  

Although the Roc Nation head didn’t quite make the list of the 400 richest with a total worth of $450 million, Forbes predicts that he’ll be one of 15 people worth a billion dollars by 2015.  

Forbes added Jay to their elite “Billionaires In The Making” list alongside Facebook President Sean Parker ($920 million), Zynga founder Mark Pincus ($850 million) , television/ movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer ($850 million), Jerry Seinfield ($800 million), Tiger Woods ($500 million) and Tyler Perry ($350 million).  

In addition to landing the cover, Jay gave an in depth interview with Forbes founder Steve Forbes alongside Buffet.  

According to Jay, one of the “greatest tricks in music” is convincing artist that there’s no money in their profession.  

“That was the greatest trick in music that people ever pulled off, to convince artists that you can’t be an artist and make money…I think the people that were making the millions said that. It was almost shameful, especially in rock ‘n’ roll .”  

Jay also says feared his latest project The Blueprint III would leak after losing an Ipod on an airplane.  

According to Jay while in the process of buying back his album from his old Def Jam home, he lost an mp3 player full of BP3 tracks and was nervous for months that the tracks would hit the net.  

“The year I went over to create Roc Nation with Live Nation, I still had one album left to make with Def Jam. L.A. Reid, the chairman of Def Jam at the time, did a great thing for me. He allowed me to walk in and have the conversation with [chairman of parent company Universal Music Group] Doug Morris. We had a fantastic relationship. So it was very cool. I bought my last album back.   

What people don’t know is the day before I flew from Hawaii, where I was doing some recording and put it on an iPod. I had on jogging pants, and my iPod, with all the music I recorded, was missing. It was on the plane somewhere. I had to walk into Doug’s office the next day and buy an album back that might leak the next day. Every day I would wake up and check all the Internet places and everywhere. I was like that for three months.”

That was quick. We don’t have to wonder what the Jay-Z x Warren Buffet picture was about. If you have some time on your hands peep the video. A jewel or two is sure to be dropped.

Reuters:   An SEC watchdog said the timing of the charges against Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) was “suspicious.”

Reuters:   Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) released it table PC.

Reuters:   Facebook has begun work on two smartphones.

Reuters:   A Harris Interactive survey showed rapid adoption of e-readers.

Reuters:   A sale of Petrobras shares was oversubscribed.

Reuters:   Potash (NYSE: POT) sued BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) on its takeover offer.

WSJ:   Banks face legal pressure to make up for losses in pools of low-end mortgages.

WSJ:   Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is fighting a sabotage campaign by grocery stores.

WSJ:   Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT) recalled 5 million containers of Similac

WSJ:   Novartis received approval for its MS drug.

WSJ:   GM will need a very high valuation for its IPO to pay back the Treasury.

WSJ:   The pace of the Obama mortgage modification slowed again.

WSJ:   The chance that the Fed could buy Treasuries pushed gold up and the dollar down.

WSJ:   State and local debts will not be resolved to the satisfaction of pension holders and debtholders.

WSJ:   Japan may lower its corporate tax rate.

WSJ:   The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) warned on earnings due to ad trouble.

WSJ:   Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) will raise the price of some coffee drinks.

WSJ:   Nielsen may increase its role in measuring online ads.

WSJ:   An increase in cotton prices could hurt apparel earnings.

WSJ:   Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is paying record low yields on its new bonds.

NYT:   There is an industry that buys Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones in NYC and unlocks them to be sent to China.

NYT:   China stopped the exports of certain rare earth elements to Japan.

NYT:   Insurers are working to comply with new health care rules.

NYT:   The Facebook currency called Credits is gaining traction on the social network.

NYT:   Bill Gates and Warren Buffett stayed at the top of the Forbes 400.

FT:   The government will cut its estimate for the costs of TARP.

FT:   The US Congress may attack the valuation of the yuan.

FT:   Siemens promised some German workers jobs for life.

FT:   Blockbuster settled with creditors.

Bloomberg:   World central banks are having trouble moving away from crisis mode.

Douglas A. McIntyre

You might know Warren Buffett as the No. 2 richest man in the world according to Forbes, but he recently met his Forbes match when he sat down with Jay-Z, who topped the publication’s Hip-Hop Cash Kings list this year.

The two chopped it up at the first Forbes 400 summit, which took place in Buffett’s native Omaha, Neb. The entrepreneurs chatted for over an hour about their perspectives on wealth, their definitions of success, and the responsibilities that come with having money, power, and respect.

“Develop the habits of success. Look around you at the people you admire, and list what makes you admire them compared to someone else,” advised Buffett to Hov. “What am I going to say to this guy?” joked Jay when asked to offer some advice to the billionaire.

‎Houston ranks among the top five US cities in percentages of Hispanic-owned businesses, according to Census Bureau figures released this week. …

Even in tough times, 12 Houston billionaires make Forbes 400 list

‎Twelve Houston billionaires made the most recent Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the United States — up from nine billionaires …

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Zuckerberg, 26, who owns and controls approximately one-fourth of Facebook, is valued at $6.9 billion this year — a whopping rise of $4.9 billion from last year — putting him in the No. 35 position on the list. Jobs, on the other hand, is $1 billion richer than last year, but seven places behind Zuckerberg (No. 42) at $6.1 billion.

While net-worths are only approximate estimations — valuations and stocks tend to vary, and most wealth is, as they say, strictly “on paper” — Zuckerberg’s rise can be attributed to the growing interest from private equity investments in Facebook which have valued the company at around $23 billion, triple its 2009 valuation of $7 billion.

On the other hand, while Jobs founded and is undoubtedly the biggest influence at Apple today, it might come as a surprise to some that the 55 year-old CEO’s financial interest in Apple is not the biggest contributor to his wealth.

In fact, the majority of Jobs’ wealth ($4.4 billion) comes from Disney, where he became the company’s largest shareholder after its acquisition of Pixar back in 2006. The remaining $1.3 billion is the stake in Apple he attained from its 1996 acquisition of NeXT and subsequent stock option grants from his tenure at the company.

The dichotomy between the two CEOs points to an interesting fact: where as Jobs was fired from his company back in 1985, Zuckerberg has done a commendable job of keeping in power, still controlling an unprecedented 25 percent of the company and the majority of board seats. The young CEO probably learned a thing or two from Jobs’ mishap, and it seems to have paid off. He also had good counsel from Sean Parker, the founder of Napster and Plaxo, who had been booted out of his companies. Parker, who was Facebook’s first president until he was ousted, was determined to raise funding in a way that would preserve Zuckerberg’s control of Facebook, and that strategy has by and large panned out. The story was chronicled in David Kirkpatrick’s The Facebook Effect book.

Interestingly, Zuckerberg has already become a philanthropist; today, the Wall Street Journal reported that Zuckerberg will donate $100 million to Newark, N.J. schools. He will do so by setting up a foundation and endowing it with Facebook stock.

Getting noticed is a challenge for everyone building apps. Join us at DiscoveryBeat 2010, and hear secrets from top industry executives about how to profit in the new cross-platform app ecosystem. The conference takes place on October 18th at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. Go here for conference details, or to apply to the “Needle in the Haystack” business contest. Tickets are available here.

I applaud this admirable, albeit not always successful, initiative. Warren Buffett, in a recent Financial Times article, shared tidbits of some of the less fruitful conversations. “Sometimes they’re just trying to get you off the phone. A few people had dynastic ideas about wealth because they had inherited their wealth themselves. And then there were others who said they had a plane to catch.”

Before we are too quick to criticize those who rebuffed Mr. Buffett’s request, we might do well to ponder how we would respond if Messrs’ Gates or Buffett asked us to do the same. I can assure you that in a world where more than one billion of the earth’s current inhabitants subsist on less than a dollar a day, God considers all who read this to be of wealth and abundance. Would we act in the same manner as the widow and her two mites or would we be less than polite in our response?

It is useful for each of us to thoughtfully ponder how we view our own wealth and material goods. Society would have us believe that we “own” our wealth; that we are entitled to spend our assets however we see fit, that it is only out of the goodness of our hearts that we even think of sharing with those less fortunate. However, the Bible offers a different ethical dynamic and expectation.

The Old Testament is filled with episodes of God showering bounty on His people, much like He continues to do to the Gates and the Buffetts of the world, as well as to you and me. But God makes it clear that these blessings are intended for the whole community, not for just an individual. It was unimaginable that a single person would hoard his goods and enjoy them in isolation from other members of the community. The Bible is clear in its message that our material blessings are meant to be shared. We are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others.

Each of us is endowed with a multitude of gifts. Along with them comes these rather ominous words from Jesus, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48). The bottom line question for each of us is, “How can we best use our wealth as an act of worship to God and actions of service to others?”

We at Lutheran Social Services are blessed to work daily with role models who understand that their good fortune is intended for the whole community. I think especially of our good friends Mildred and Lawrence Lieder who regularly remind my colleague David Kahle and me, “This isn’t our money we are donating to LSS, this is God’s money. Don’t thank us, thank God!”

When Warren Buffett, LSS, your congregation, or neighbor in need calls, it is my prayer that you will be generous in your response. Not because you have to but because you want to – as an act of worship and service to our Lord and Savior.

America’s super rich are getting poorer. For only the fifth time since 1982, the collective net worth of The Forbes 400, our annual tally of the nation’s richest people, has declined, falling $300 billion in the past 12 months from $1.57 trillion to $1.27 trillion.

Faltering capital markets and real estate prices, along with divorce and fraud, pushed the fortunes of 314 members down and drove 32 plutocrats off the rankings.

Hurt the most: Warren Buffett, America’s second-richest citizen. The Oracle of Omaha dropped $10 billion from his personal balance sheet as shares ofBerkshire Hathaway ( BRK -news - people ) fell 20% in 12 months. He is now worth $40 billion.

Beating out Buffett for the 16th straight year as America’s richest man is Microsoft ( MSFT -news - people ) co-founder Bill Gates. Sluggish Microsoft shares and declining outside investments pushed the software visionary’s net worth down $7 billion in 12 months.

Rounding out the top 10 on The Forbes 400: Oracle founderLarry Ellison ($27 billion); Wal-Mart ( WMT - news - people ) heirs Christy Walton ($21.5 billion), Jim C. Walton ($19.6 billion), Alice Walton ($19.3 billion), and S. Robson Walton ($19 billion); media maven Michael Bloomberg ($17.5 billion) and energy titans Charles and David Koch ($16 billion each).

The 10 richest Americans lost a combined $39.2 billion in the past 12 months, a 14% decline.

Other big losers include casino mogul Kirk Kerkorian, whose nest egg shed $8.2 billion in the past year. Shares of his gambling giant MGM Mirage ( MGM - news -people ) have fallen 90% from their October 2007 high.

Also hitting the brakes: Enterprise Rent-A-Car founder Jack C. Taylor. The rental car titan’s fortune is down $7 billion in a year as the travel industry slows and private-company valuations fall.

The biggest gainer is banker Andrew Beal, who tripled his net worth to $4.5 billion buying up cheap loans and assets as the markets crumbled last fall.

via The Forbes 400 – Forbes.com.

The combined wealth of the top 10 is $342.2 billion dollars.

The GDP of Pakistan, the 6th most populous nation on earth is $164.6 billion dollars.

The GDP of the Philippines, the 12th most populous nation on earth is $166.9 billion dollars.

The GDP of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the 19th most populous nation on earth is $11.6 billion dollars.

The combined total population of these three nations is 329.6 million human beings.

330 000 000 : 10

Does that make sense to you?  Can that possibly make sense at all?  And really that’s just a statistic I made up by grabbing a bunch of numbers from wikipedia.  I imagine if you actually counted the poorest people, starting at the bottom, you could pile up a billion (maybe two?) on the scale opposite those 10 champions of not-sharing.

But inequality is real, right?  So it goes.  There’s no reason in denying it.  But maybe that’s where the problem is.  Not with the 10, or even 10,000 wealthiest monkeys, but with the rest of us for being somehow OK with this reality.  Apathy carries a terrifying toll, after all.

If only we were “somehow OK with this reality.”  In truth, we hoist our champions of sin #3 of 7 onto flat-screen pedestals.  All around us, those successful in their tireless pursuit of dollars are draped in applause and adoration.  If only I could be like them, then I would be happy.

So who should be celebrated then?  If wealth in dollars is not real wealth at all, what is?

We all know the answers of course.  Of what value are the relationships that make you whole?  And how important are those songs that heal your soul?  What is the dollar value of each moment that has taken your breath away and sent you spinning into the clouds?  And what of love – that you give, and are given?  Or the many lives you touch gently as you pass on your ways?  I want to buy the memories you cherish, how much per gram weight?

The beautiful thing is that all the people who excel on those lists are too busy being alive to bother with this silly list.

The tragedy is, that we’re all at the table together.

So when you pile up so many billions of these “dollar things” – so many that it is really quite impossible for a human mind to even fathom it – on one side of the table, it doesn’t really leave a whole lot for that other couple billion people down the end of the table who could really use a blanket.  Gobble, gobble, gobble.

What about preventing another human being from enjoying life?  Is that something we value?  Do you like it when people stand in the way of you getting the first drink of clean water you have ever had in your life?  Or do you more-so dislike those people?

This is really where the problem is revealed, you see the shitty thing about greed here is that way over where you can’t see, it has an impact on the lives of real human beings.

Do you expect that impact is positive or negative? … and didn’t yo’momma teach you to share?