There is no great blooper in the world of high fashion, than when two people accidentally arrive at a function dressed in identical outfits. This is never more important than when the two people happen to also be high profile, as well as the world’s most powerful women.

Just such an accident happened when Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, arguably two of the most influential women in the world, met for bilateral talks. Clinton was in Berlin for the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall.

Learn how an accident also brought the wall down…

The world has been shocked by the arrest of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, two female journalists, who knew the extreme risks they were placing themselves in, when they travelled to the North Korean/Chinese border. They have been accused of crossing the frozen river Tumen, illegally. While other reports say the women were arrested on the Chinese side of the border, by North Korean guards, who objected to having their photos taken. The cameraman and guide managed to evade capture and escape from the area.

The journalists were investigating a story concerning the trafficking of Korean women and young girls, into the desperately female deprived society of China, where there is a surplus of around 32 million unwed males under the age of 25 years.

The two women were working for a San Francisco based Current TV, an Internet channel co-founded by the former US vice president, Al Gore.

The high court has found the journalists guilty of conducting undefined ‘hostile acts’ and sentenced them to 12 years of reform through hard labour.

“The charges against these young women are absolutely without merit or foundation,” said Hilary Clinton, US. Secretary of State.” Clinton is said to be demanding the immediate release of the women and was considering sending an envoy to try to negotiate. Now President Obama is considering sending Al Gore to North Korea.

A professor on North Korean legal affairs at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University in South Korea, Choi Eun-suk, said, “Ruling by Pyongyangs’s secretive high court are final and an appeal won’t be allowed.” The sentences are a lot hasher than was expected.

Harrowing tales of North Korea’s gulags (prisons) have been told by defectors, where inmates are classed as ‘tailless animals’, and arbitrary execution is not uncommon. The U.S. State Department estimates that between 150,000 to 200,000 prisoners are held in the camps, which are located in valleys in remote mountainous areas.
Al Jazeera quoted recent reports by human rights groups, saying conditions included ‘Nazi-style’ experiments, involving chemical and biological weapons, resulting in painful deaths of dozens of prisoners.

A 2007 Anti-Slavery International report says “The camps are overcrowded and unhygienic. This combined with inadequate food, water and medical care and the arduous forced labour, means that deaths in the labour camps are not uncommon.”

Some analysts see Pyongyang’s move as a negotiating tactic, at a time when the United States is pushing the United Nations for sanctions, in order to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test and barrage of missile tests, as well as Pyongyang’s recent belligerence.

This is not the first time North Korea has detained U.S. citizens.

The Most Powerful Woman on earth, Angela Merkel, is hell bent on challenging the Happiest Countries on Earth, such as Costa Ricca, Columbia, Vanuatu, Dominica and Panama. Countries which always seem to feature high on the Happiest Planet Index.

In late Aug 2008, Forbes Magazine announced their 11th annual list of the top 100 most powerful women in the world. The magazine’s criteria for power is based on a composite of how much financial clout the women wield, public profile and how often the women were mentioned by the paparazzi. Women in general however, hold only 15% of the top corporate jobs. Less than 3% of USA’s largest companies have women chief executives and only one out of six company directors are female.

The magazine estimates the women on the list, control in the vicinity of $26 trillion dollars. These women are are defined by their jobs, rather than by who they are.  It is said that some take home an annual pay of $11 million plus. They are women who took advantage of every Blue Moon Opportunity (opportunities that change peoples lives), that came their way.

Past career accomplishments, job title and the amount of money the woman controls, are taken into account by Forges magazine. The magazine then draws comparisons between the different financial realms the women work in, in an attempt to assess the women’s position on a level playing field.

• Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, tops the list in 2008 for the third time in a row
• Second was Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp
• PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi came in third, gaining two positions over last year
• Angela Braly head of the health insurance WellPoint retained fourth position, same as last year
• Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State came in seventh
• Ho Chin, Temasek Holdings and wife of the Prime Minister of Singapore, was No. 8, dropping from 3rd place last year
• Gail Kelly, head of Australian Wetspac Bank came in No. 11
• Hilary Clinton, with the highest media profile, ranked 28, dropping three places from last year
• Oprah Winfrey ranked 36, dropping all the way from 8th position last year
• First Lady Linda Bush ranked 44

Angela Merkel, nicknamed the ‘Iron Lady’, is following in the footsteps of ex British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, even down to having a similar kind of agenda. Vice Premiere of the People’s Republic of China, Wu Yi, who held third place last year, is also known as the ‘Iron Lady’.  Wu Yi, having been in the top rankings, since 2004, has finally dropped from view this year.

Merkel is crusading to get governments around the globe, to join a Tax Cartel, so that a heavy-handed fist can be brought to bear on all tax havens. The recent purchase, by Merkel, of confidential client data of alleged tax evaders, stolen from a Lichtenstein bank, has highlighted Merkel’s tax-crusade. It is said the Lichenstein bank sold the same material several times over, netting the bank a tidy profit.

Tax havens play an important role in driving the tax rate down in high-taxed countries. Merkel’s crusade could cost the world more than her crusade is worth. Without the availability of alternative competition, afforded through tax havens, taxes would soar.

We live in Vanuatu, one of the tax havens the Iron Lady would like to close down. We sincerely hope Angela’s crusade dies in the traps.

You can find out more about the author and a genuine Blue Moon Opportunity at http://winaresort.com

Women in politics deserve all the encouragement they can get, in a male dominated arena. It is great to see Ms Hilary Clinton once more in the headlines now backing Barack Obama. A world away on the tropical island of Vanuatu, in the South Pacific, another woman faces unbelievable odds, in an even more male oriented arena, Mrs Jenny Ligo. Jenny is taking up the challenge to go for her once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity. An opportunity that will completely change her life, no matter the outcome.

Jenny follows in the footsteps of her famous aunty when she was granted a chiefly title by the head of the national Council of Chiefs, Chief Paul Tahi, earlier this year. Jenny had to ceremoniously killing eleven pigs, to gain that honour and in order to enter the brutal field of politics. A feat she also did at her wedding to Joe Ligo late last year, on the island of Pentecost.

Jenny is the niece of political and women’s rights’ activist, Grace Molisa. Jenny’s Aunt became the first woman to hold the post of Private Secretary to the country’s first Prime Minister, Father Walter Lini, after the nation’s Independence, 28 years ago.

It is now only weeks to the general election, in Vanuatu and Mrs Ligo has returned to her home, the tropical island of Ambae. All should have been plain sailing for this courageous lady, as she travelled to most parts of the island on her election campaign. Wrong!

Chief Moli Tari, speaking on behalf of some of the chiefs of the island of Ambae, says that Jenny  is not allowed to contest in her home island, according to custom principles. It seems strange that this principle never floated to the surface at Jenny’s pig killing ceremony. Perhaps ancient custom principles of the island change from day to day?

Because of her marriage to Joe Ligo on Penetecost, the Chief told Jenny, she can only contest the Ambae constituency on one condition. She must perform another custom ceremony, by presenting the chiefs with ten tusked pigs.

Now, Jenny can’t just slip out and buy 10 tusked pigs, like going to the supermarket. Pig and their tusks are real currency in parts of Vanuatu. They are the wealth of every village and one of their highly prized possessions.

Pigs, chosen to produce the highly valued tusks, have their top teeth knocked out.  The bottom teeth then grow into the coveted curled tusk. It is then necessary for the pig to be hand fed for the remainder of its life and tied up, in order to prevent the animal breaking or damaging the valuable tusks.

Where does Mrs Ligo find the 10 pigs she may have to pay to Chief Moli and his group of chiefs? Particularly as Chief Moli is not a resident of the island of Ambae. Will Jenny have to present the pigs on the island of Ambae, or to the chief residing on the distant island of Santo? Will the pigs have to be flown to the island of choice, for the presentation as going by ship could not be an option.The elections would be over by the time the pigs reached their destination. This may make Vanuatu, one of the first countries in the world, where pigs can fly.

Two more chiefs have now stepped into the political arena. Chief Benwel Garae of North Ambae and Chief Pascal Sese of Lolopuepue. They come from the chiefly rank of Mambuhangvulu, the second highest rank of the Ambae chiefly system. They told the local newspaper in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, the call made by Chief Moli is childish and has no substance.

Jenny would be happy to meet face to face with Chief Moli, but for some unknown reason, Chief Moli, living on the island of Santo, is not available to see Mrs Ligo.

Jenny truly deserves to be congratulated and seen as one of our modern day heroines. Jenny could make a difference in the education of the next generation. A soft spoken mother, with iron strong determination, Jenny will look after the future of the children.

Postscript: Jenny didn’t get elected this time round, so is now planning her next election campaign for four years time. I hope she makes it then. Jenny however, is an inspiration for other women to give it a go in a male orientated society in the tropics. Jenny won’t give up until her Blue Moon Opportunity comes to pass.

Take time out to find out more about the author and a genuine Blue Moon Opportunity at http://winaresort.com