Adidas "Handcuff" Sneakers Spark Controversy

adidas Originals x Jeremy Scott have collaborated on a number of different models and designs over the years. The styling of their joint efforts are usually highly eccentric as JS has a unique way of expressing his designer's touch. But one particular design has come across as controversial because of its handcuff-like feature.

The nickname to this adidas Originals model is the "Handcuff", two of which are seen in yellow on both sneakers. To some it may be a sick design but to others, it comes off as offensive, almost referring to times of slavery. One Facebook user says “I daresay that marketing & selling a shoe with a ‘chain & shackle’ accessory is a very bad idea. The ‘chain & shackle’ image has a bad connotation, that of slavery, in the African American community. I think it’s inappropriate. The idea of being chained to Adidas or any object is repulsive.”

Do you feel the same way about the adidas "Handcuff" and will you be copping the shoe when it drops in August for $350? Let us know.

Do not hesitate to drop a comment 

NY school bus monitor 'fine' with bully punishment

NEW YORK (AP) -- The upstate New York school bus monitor who was bullied by four seventh-graders says she's satisfied that they're being suspended for a year.

Speaking one day after the boys' punishment was announced, Karen Klein told The Associated Press on Saturday that she wants to meet with the boys who tormented her to ask them why they did it.

Klein told the AP she feels "fine" about the school system in the Rochester suburb of Greece handing down a year suspension and keeping them from regular bus transportation.

The students were caught on video mercilessly taunting the 68-year-old Klein on the bus.

She says the best part of showing her ordeal to the public is that it has inspired parents to talk to their kids and teach them what they shouldn't do.

Your Comments could instigate religious war: Tanko Slams David Mark

Elder statesman Alhaji Tanko Yakasai
yesterday dismissed comments by Senate President David Mark that the Boko Haram sect insurgency could break the country or instigate religious war.
Mark was quoted as warning during the opening of a three-day retreat for Senators in Uyo, the Akwa-Ibom
State capital that Nigeria may break-up if the wanton killings and destruction perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect were not checked. But reacting on the comment in Kano, Yakasai said
with such remark from Mark, he had demonstrated that he was not fit to hold office as Senate President. He described Mark's remark as reckless and ill-conceived, adding that he should resign his office immediately. Yakasai said: "The Boko Haram insurgency is only affecting 18 of the over 700 local government areas in Nigeria. I can say 700 are free from these disturbances. Therefore, the statement credited to Mark is a betrayal of his lack of grasp of the actual situation in the country. Majority of Nigerians are going about their usual businesses without any hindrance."By virtue of the position of the Senate President, he should not have made such unguarded statement, I expected him to be more matured be-cause of his age and position."For a man who is occupying the number three position in Nigeria, this is a reckless statement, ill-conceived, childish and immature. As a retired General in any country, he is capable of rising to the highest level of any military position."One would have expected that there should be enough maturity from that person. There is a saying that a fool at 40 is a fool forever. If a man who has reached the age of 60 and above will speak like a fool, what that man is telling the whole world is that he has been a fool for over 20 years, which means that all the positions he held when he was above 40 years were held erroneously and he was not fit to occupy those positions.

Source: Ascology
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

I waited so long to do it for my mum - Balotelli

Balotelli

Mario Balotelli fired Italy into the Euro 2012 final - then dedicated his brace to his adopted mother.


Balotelli's first-half double was enough to secure a 2-1 win over Germany in Warsaw, and book a showdown with champions Spain on Sunday.

And at the final whistle, the Manchester City star embraced Silvia, who brought him up from the age of two after he was born in Italy to Ghanaian immigrants, and he said: "After the game, when I went to my mum I said 'these goals are for you'."

He continued: "I waited for this moment for so long and I wanted to make my mum happy. Tonight was the most beautiful of my life - but I hope that this Sunday is even better."

His brace took Balotelli to three goals for the tournament and he is now favourite to win the coveted Golden Boot prize. "In the final I hope to make it four," he said. "I will try to score another goal but in football you can do that a lot and still never score. Sometimes you need a bit of luck."

Balotelli was quick to heap praise on his team-mates for their contribution to his performance, which surprisingly was not enough to secure the man-of-the-match prize, which went to playmaker Andrea Pirlo.

"These two goals are really important," he said. The first one was a really amazing pass from Antonio Cassano and then it was easy. The second one was a great pass from Montolivo, normally I shoot in the other corner but I went for the near post."

For Germany manager Joachim Low, it was another shattering disappointment as despite reaching the last four for the fourth tournament running, they are still to end their wait for a trophy, which stretches back to Euro 96.

"We've had two great years," said Low. The team has really developed well. We won 15 games in a row but lost today against an incredibly strong Italian side, with a strong axis and two great strikers.

"There's no reason to doubt ourselves. Our team was the youngest team here. Even though there's disappointment today, we played a wonderful tournament and I am sure we will be able to cope with this defeat."

Akeredolu’s choice won’t stop my ambition – Agunloye

Agunloye

Action Congress of Nigeria aspirant for the October 20 governorship election in Ondo State, Dr. Olu Agunloye, said on Thursday that the choice of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu as the party’s candidate for the poll would not stop his ambition.

Agunloye, a former minister, while addressing his supporters in Akure, however,  said the decision of the national leadership of the party to settle for  Akeredolu would not stop him from actualising his ambition.

He said the news of the party leaders’ decision came to him as “a rude shock and great disappointment”.

Agunloye told members of his political group, the Omoluabi Platform, at his campaign secretariat that the choice of Akeredolu had   dampened his morale and that of the over 100,000 members of the group.

He regretted that the leadership of the party did not take into consideration  the contributions of the aspirants to the mobilisation drive and the cohesion in the party.

He said, “Many of my supporters were also depressed because we have worked hard, we have done what we are supposed to do, we fasted, we did vigil.

“But I need to assure our people that this is not the end of life. If we don’t get the best from the ACN, we should be open to all other options, but one thing that is certain is that I will not walk away from the platform.

“It is unfortunate that people outside Ondo State do not know that we are responsible for building the party, maybe all the aspirants were telling them the same story about their contributions to the present status of the party in the state.”

Meanwhile, governors elected on the platform of the ACN on Wednesday  backed  Akeredolu for the election.

Ekiti State Governor  Kayode Fayemi at the presentation of the political memoirs of the Minority Leader of the Federal House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, in Lagos  said Akeredolu’s choice would benefit Ondo State.

Meanwhile, Akeredolu  said he deserved the ticket to represent the party at the poll.

Akeredolu,  who spoke through the Director General of his Aketi Campaign Organisation, Mr. Banji Ayiloge,  told our correspondent on telephone that the leaders of the party  did not make any mistake   picking him.

He said, “The choice of Akeredolu by the leaders showed that they appreciated his hardwork and great contributions to the party. His adoption by the leadership of our party showed that they recognised his competence to do the job well”

However, all efforts to get comments from one of Akeredolu’s co aspirants, Senator Ajayi Boroffice on Thursday failed as he politely told our correspondent that he would not say anything on the issue for now.

He said, “No comments!! I am not going to say anything now.”
Source: Punch

How to End Procrastination

Perseverance is about as important to achievement as gasoline is to driving a car. Sure, there will be times when you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, but you’ll always get out of the rut with genuine perseverance. Without it, you won’t even be able to start your engine.

The opposite of perseverance is procrastination. Perseverance means you never quit. Procrastination usually means you never get started, although the inability to finish something is also a form of procrastination.

Ask people why they procrastinate and you’ll often hear something like this: “I’m a perfectionist. Everything has to be just right before I can get down to work. No distractions, not too much noise, no telephone calls interrupting me, and of course I have to be feeling well physically, too. I can’t work when I have a headache.” The other end of procrastination – being unable to finish – also has a perfectionist explanation: “I’m just never satisfied. I’m my own harshest critic. If all the i’s aren’t dotted and all the t’s aren’t crossed, I just can’t consider that I’m done. That’s just the way I am, and I’ll probably never change.”

Do you see what’s going on here? A fault is being turned into a virtue. The perfectionist is saying that his standards are just too high for this world. This fault-into-virtue syndrome is a common defense when people are called upon to discuss their weaknesses, but in the end it’s just a very pious kind of excuse making. It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with what’s really behind procrastination.

Remember, the basis of procrastination could be fear of failure. That’s what perfectionism really is, once you take a hard look at it. What’s the difference whether you’re afraid of being less than perfect or afraid of anything else? You’re still paralyzed by fear. What’s the difference whether you never start or never finish? You’re still stuck. You’re still going nowhere. You’re still overwhelmed by whatever task is before you. You’re still allowing yourself to be dominated by a negative vision of the future in which you see yourself being criticized, laughed at, punished, or ridden out of town on a rail. Of course, this negative vision of the future is really a mechanism that allows you to do nothing. It’s a very convenient mental tool.

I’m going to tell you how to overcome procrastination. I’m going to show you how to turn procrastination into perseverance, and if you do what I suggest, the process will be virtually painless. It involves using two very powerful principles that foster productivity and perseverance instead of passivity and procrastination.

The first principle is: break it down.

No matter what you’re trying to accomplish, whether it’s writing a book, climbing a mountain, or painting a house the key to achievement is your ability to break down the task into manageable pieces and knock them off one at one time. Focus on accomplishing what’s right in front of you at this moment. Ignore what’s off in the distance someplace. Substitute real-time positive thinking for negative future visualization. That’s the first all- important technique for bringing an end to procrastination.

Suppose I were to ask you if you could write a four hundred-page novel. If you’re like most people, that would sound like an impossible task. But suppose I ask you a different question. Suppose I ask if you can write a page and a quarter a day for one year. Do you think you could do it? Now the task is starting to seem more manageable. We’re breaking down the four-hundred-page book into bite-size pieces. Even so, I suspect many people would still find the prospect intimidating. Do you know why? Writing a page and a quarter may not seem so bad, but you’re being asked to look ahead one whole year. When people start to do look that far ahead, many of them automatically go into a negative mode. So let me formulate the idea of writing a book in yet another way. Let me break it down even more.

Suppose I was to ask you: can you fill up a page and a quarter with words-not for a year, not for a month, not even for a week, but just today? Don’t look any further ahead than that. I believe most people would confidently declare that they could accomplish that. Of course, these would be the same people who feel totally incapable of writing a whole book.

If I said the same thing to those people tomorrow – if I told them, I don’t want you to look back, and I don’t want you to look ahead, I just want you to fill up a page and a quarter this very day – do you think they could do it?

One day at a time. We’ve all heard that phrase. That’s what we’re doing here. We’re breaking down the time required for a major task into one-day segments, and we’re breaking down the work involved in writing a four hundred-page book into page-and-a-quarter increments.

Keep this up for one year, and you’ll write the book. Discipline yourself to look neither forward nor backward, and you can accomplish things you never thought you could possibly do. And it all begins with those three words: break it down.

My second technique for defeating procrastination is also only three words long. The three words are: write it down. We know how important writing is to goal setting. The writing you’ll do for beating procrastination is very similar. Instead of focusing on the future, however, you’re now going to be writing about the present just as you experience it every day. Instead of describing the things you want to do or the places you want to go, you’re going to describe what you actually do with your time, and you’re going to keep a written record of the places you actually go.

In other words, you’re going to keep a diary of your activities. And you’re going to be amazed by the distractions, detours, and downright wastes of time you engage in during the course of a day. All of these get in the way of achieving your goals. For many people, it’s almost like they planned it that way, and maybe at some unconscious level they did. The great thing about keeping a time diary is that it brings all this out in the open. It forces you to see what you’re actually doing . . . and what you’re not doing.

The time diary doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. Just buy a little spiral notebook that you can easily carry in your pocket. When you go to lunch, when you drive across town, when you go to the dry cleaners, when you spend some time shooting the breeze at the copying machine, make a quick note of the time you began the activity and the time it ends. Try to make this notation as soon as possible; if it’s inconvenient to do it immediately, you can do it later. But you should make an entry in your time diary at least once every thirty minutes, and you should keep this up for at least a week.

Break it down. Write it down. These two techniques are very straightforward. But don’t let that fool you: these are powerful and effective productivity techniques. This is how you put an end to procrastination. This is how you get yourself started.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

Read More here...

Pastor runs mad while praying for mad man

Scene of the mad man and the pastor, at Oke-Ado, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday. Photo: Seye Adeniyi

PEOPLE living at Oke-Ado area of Ibadan, Oyo State, as well as shop owners and automobile dealers along Molete road in the town, on Thursday, watched a drama involving a pastor and a mad man.

The pastor, whose name is Timothy, according to an eyewitness, got to Ososami junctions of Oke-Ado around 5.20 p.m and went to meet the mentally-deranged man, popularly known as Tunde, who was sitting in front of a building in the area.

According to Semiu, a shop owner around the spot of the incident, the pastor began to read the Bible on sighting the mad man, while he moved closer to him and laid the hand on his head.

“At a point, there was a hot argument between the duo, which made the pastor to raise his voice as he was offering a deliverance prayer for Tunde, the mad man. The hot prayer lasted for over 15 minutes before another strange drama began,” Semiu told the Nigerian Tribune.

Speaking further, another witness, an okada rider, said at a point, the mad man removed the pastor’s hand from his head, adding that “suddenly, a strange spirit got hold of the pastor and he began to remove his cloth. He was naked and laid flat on the ground, speaking a strange language, with foam oozing out of his mouth.”

The mad man, it was gathered, initially left him in this position and sat at some distance away from the pastor, before the duo later sat closer to each other, while onlookers watched the strange drama.

The pastor remained in state of insanity until the Nigerian Tribune left the scene of the incident.

Via: Tribune

Business Titan Jimoh Ibrahim Quizzed By Police

Jimoh Ibrahim

Embattled business mogul and chairman of Air Nigeria, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, was today quizzed for six hours by the Nigeria Police in Abuja.

Mr. Jimoh was wanted in relation to a petition written by Air Nigeria's former Executive Director (Finance), Mr. John Nnorom, which contains many allegations about Mr. Ibrahim’s business practices, as well as threats to his life.

Mr. Nnorom, who resigned his appointment from Air Nigeria early in April, has become a whistleblower on the inside workings of the airline that endanger the safety of its travelers.  Upon the allegation that Mr. Ibrahim has hired assassins to silence him, the Inspector General of police is reported to be considering giving Mr. Nnorom protection.

Earlier in the week, it was also learnt that the EFCC interrogated the NICON Insurance Managing Director Emmanuel Jegede for as many as 12 hours as part of an investigation into pension fund fraud.

Sources say that EFCC investigators have also obtained financial information from the office of the Accountant General of Nigeria showing that some N10 billion approved for pensioners was diverted by Mr. Ibrahim to get a private jet through a New York based law firm.

As Jimoh's business operation faces further difficulties, the controversial businessman yesterday clamped down on about 12 pilots and engineers at Air Nigeria who are members of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, accusing them of disclosing safety and aircraft maintenance information to the media.

It is also understood that GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), which leased some aircraft to Air Nigeria, today concluded plans in Lagos to repossess four of them.

As the fortune of the airline crumbles, SaharaReporters can also confirm that Mr. Ibrahim plans to fire 85% of its employees.
By Sahara Reporters, New York

$620,000 bribe-for-clearance: House grills Farouk Lawan •Otedola meets panel July 3

Lawan Farouk

House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges yesterday grilled Hon. Farouk Lawan over the $620,000 bribe he allegedly collected from the Chairman of Zenon Petoleum and Gas, Mr. Femi Otedola. Lawan, former Chairman of the ad-hoc committee that probed the petroleum subsidy payments, was alleged to have collected the bribe to delete Zenon from the probe report.  

He admitted collecting the bribe but claimed that he wanted to use it as an exhibit against Otedola. On Wednesday, he told the Police Special Task Force (STF), which is investigating the bribery allegation to give him more time to produce the balance of the bribe money. The police had earlier collected $10,000 from him during a search on his house. At the grilling yesterday by the Ethics Committee, which lasted for about four hours and which was held under closed-door, Lawan claimed  the bribery allegation was more political than what the public was being fed.  

A member of the probe panel, who did not want his name mentioned, said Lawan did not accept, collecting any bribe.  Addressing newsmen after the grilling, Chairman of the committee, Gambo Musa, said the quizzing of Lawan was to get details of the roles he played in the bribery saga. Asked to give details of the interrogation, he said vital questions were posed to the lawmaker and “desired answers were got”. 

He stressed: “We touched every area, regarding the allegation and I will say that we got satisfactory answer to every question.” On why the interrogation was held under closed-door, Musa said it was to avoid the investigation, jeopardizing the police probe. “You know the police are investigating this matter; we don’t want this probe to affect police investigation,” he explained. 

Besides, he said the aim was to prevent witnesses that will be summoned to testify before the panel from knowing what the other person said. “We don’t want witnesses to know what the other person said, so that they do not toe similar line”, he said. The chairman disclosed that Otedola would appear before the committee on July 3. He said: “We expect Otedola to appear before the committee next week. We are also expecting many others, who are involved in the matter.” 

A member of the panel, who also pleaded not to be named said Lawan gave a detailed account of his relationship with Otedola. He stressed that from the evidence the lawmaker gave, it would be difficult for Otedola to “win this bribery allegation. I was surprised when Lawan brought some facts to support his claims.” He added: “So far, from what I saw, we don’t need to just gun down Lawan. We got to know that lengthy discussions predated the $620,000. It is important that the public knows this at the appropriate time.” 

Lawan,  who came to the venue of the investigation  at 1.06pm, was besieged by newsmen. He gazed vaguely into the air and in apparent expression of surprise and discomfort at the crowd,   yelled: “Oh! This is a full house.” When he took his seat directly opposite Musa, other lawmakers, who sat near him, quickly relocated to other vacant seats. 

Lawan had last week claimed that his travail was ordained by God. He predicted that he would be vindicated at the end of the ongoing police investigation.

Source: Sun News Paper

SHOCKER: 6.5 million barrels oil theft: Suspects name top PDP, NNPC officials

There was a shocking revelation by the suspects of the 6.5 million barrels crude oil theft that some chieftains of the People’s Democratic Party and some top NNPC officials were the actual brain behind the deal.

Dailypost has learnt that the investigators will soon commence questioning of the two officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other two marketers fingered to have played various roles in the diversion of the crude.

Dailypost investigation has revealed that about six new suspects, including four other Filipinos as well as two Russians who also took active part in the deal have been arrested. Six o crew members of the French ship, MT Vannessa,that were also used for the movement of the crude were arrested   used for  on June 21 when the vessel was impounded with the oil.

However, it was gathered that two out of the vessels were said to be owned by two PDP top members. Meanwhile, the suspects have equally mentioned some top NNPC officials and other ships that were involved in the theft.

French ship was impounded on June 21 for allegedly stealing 500,000 barrels of crude on every working day starting from June 9 till the day the suspects were arrested with the said crude.

The Director of Naval Information, Commodore Kabiru Aliyu, had confirmed on Friday that the impounded ship had been taken to the Port Harcourt anchorage.

A member of the naval special squad which impounded a ship had confirmed on Wednesday that the Presidency had demanded for a report on the matter.

The source said, “The President is interested in the matter because of the increasing theft of crude oil.

“Anytime from now, there will be a meeting involving the Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, and top security officials. This matter cannot be swept under the carpet.

“Six more suspects have been arrested and two NNPC and two oil marketers have been declared wanted now.

“We are making progress in our investigation. The suspects had named four other ships that were involved in the illegal bunkering. In fact they said two of the ships are owned by two top politicians in the country.”

He, however, claimed that no crude oil was discovered in the ship. “The various storage tanks of the vessel were sounded to confirm products on board, However, no petroleum product was found on Vannesaa.”
Source: Daily Post

Iraq parliament bomb planners sentenced to death

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three men were sentenced to
death in Iraq on Thursday for masterminding a suicide
bomb attack on the parliament building last
November, Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said.
The suicide bomber managed to drive into Baghdad's
heavily fortified Green Zone on November 28 and
blew himself up in the car park of parliament, killing
one person and wounding six. The attack was claimed
by al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq.
"The central criminal court in Karkh (in central
Baghdad) sentenced three people to death by
hanging today after they were convicted of bombing
the parliament building last year," the Council said in
a statement.
Militants frequently fire mortars and rockets at the
Green Zone in central Baghdad, which also houses the
U.S. and other embassies as well as some ministries,
but only rarely manage to cross the perimeter.
While overall violence in Iraq has dropped from the
height of sectarian fighting in 2006-07, this month
has been particularly violent, with over. 150 people
killed in bombings targeting mainly Shi'ite Muslims.
Bombings in and around Baghdad on Thursday killed
13 people and wounded more than 50.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi
Pillay, in February criticized Iraq for carrying out a
large number of executions and questioned the
fairness of its judicial proceedings.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

A Benue Court has sentenced 2 brothers to death for robbing victims of cell phones & money to the tune of N39,040

The Benue Chief Judge, Justice Iorhemen
Hwande, on Wednesday in Makurdi sentenced
two brothers, Ibrahim Yau and Abubakar Yau to
death by hanging for armed robbery.
The two brothers were arraigned for criminal
conspiracy and armed robbery.
They were said to have conspired to rob one Simon
Tartyough and Isaiah Kena of valuable property.
The property, stolen at gun point, were said to have
included cell phones and money to the tune of
N39,040 on Makurdi-Guma Road, sometime in March,
2010.
The offences are in contravention of Sections 6(b)
and 1(2) and (b) of the Robbery and Firearms Act.
The convicts, however, denied the allegation,
testifying for themselves and calling only one
witness during the trial.
In his judgement, Hwande said that from the
evidence before the court, the prosecution had
proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt that the
convicts actually committed the offences.
The judge also said that their victims identified
them.
After listening to the pleas for mercy on behalf of the
convicts by their counsel, Mr R.B. Ayula, the Chief
Judge said that though the convicts had no evidence
of previous conviction, his hands were tied.
"The provisions of the law is that a convict of armed
robbery has no option than a death sentence under
the section 1(2) and (b) of the Robbery Act," he
explained.
Hwande said that it was only the legislature that
could amend the present law and reduce the
sentence to jail terms.

credit to Ascology
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

My ex-commissioner wife returned home without pant - Husband

David Erhabor, husband of a former
commissioner in Edo State, Florence Igbinigie-
Erhabor, on Wednesday, told a Benin High
Court, that his wife of 15 years once came
home without putting on pant.
He said, "There was a day she came back home
drunk and without a pant on her. She was in the
habit of keeping late nights."
David while testifying in a divorce suit, No
HAB/16D/2011, instituted by his wife, a former
Commissioner for Women Affairs, under Chief Lucky
Igbinedion, told the court he did not envisage a
broken home in his life.
The respondent said trouble started after his wife
was appointed commissioner, after which he said she
began keeping late nights.
David, an ex-Senior Adviser to former Governor
Oswerhiemen Osunbor, told the court that there was
a time the wife abandoned their two children,
absconded from home for three days, "only to be
caught red-handed inside a vehicle, romancing and
kissing a man who had earlier gassed him."
David recalled that it took the intervention of a
former chairman of Delta State Oil Producing
Community Development Commission, Chief
Wellington Okrika, to resolve some of their
matrimonial crises.
He also said his wife had once demanded N1m from
him before she could allow him to have sex with her,
adding that on another occasion, he ran from home
when he sensed that his wife was planning to send
hired assassins after him.
On the custody of their children, David said they
could always stay with whoever they chose when on
holidays.
Florence among other prayers is asking the court to
grant her divorce on the grounds of threat to life,
violent assault and infidelity on the part of her
husband.
The former commissioner, who has since 2009
separated from her husband, is demanding that she
should be paid N150, 000 as monthly upkeep for
each of their children. She also wants Erhabor to be
compelled to pay the children's school fees.
While being crossed-examined by David's lawyer, Mr.
Akakhomen Austine, Florence said her husband had
at a time squeezed the children inside a vehicle and
threatened to set them ablaze. She said it took the
intervention of members of both families to broker
peace.
The former commissioner said she had been solely
responsible for the children's upkeep, including
payment of their school fees over the past years.
She added that the children had been living in her
family house where she relocated to when she
suspected that her husband was after her life.
She also accused David of having extra-marital affair
with their housemaid.
Justice Anthony Erhabor adjourned the case till
August 4 for further hearing.

Via:Ascology News
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

Asa in court over Lesbianism Case

Top Nigerian International singer, Bulola Elemide
popularly known as Asa will today Thursday, June 28
be in a Lagos High Court, Ikeja for a case she has
against a Lagos soft sell Magazine 'News of People'
in 2010.
The magazine which published a story in 2010 said
that Asa was involved in lesbianism act with her
manager, Janet Nwose. Asa is slamming a 700million
naira lawsuit on News of the People, for libel
against her.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

‘N 422 bn in Subsidy Fraud to be Refunded to Federal Government’ – Aig Imokhuede led Committee

The Fuel Subsidy Claims committee headed by
Managing Director of Access Bank, Aigboje Aig
Imokhuede has recommended in its report that N
422 billion be refunded to the Federal Government
by oil marketers.
The committee includes other notable personalities
such as MD of Stanbic IBTC, Mrs. Sola David-Borha;
Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr.
Bright Okogu; Dr. Director General, Debt
Management Office, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo;
Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah
Otunla; and Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products
Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Mr. Reginald
Stanley.
Other members included former Group Executive
Director, Finance and Accounts, Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Michael
Akorodare; Deputy Director, CBN, Mrs. Onyinye
Ahuchogu; Mrs. David-Borha; National Secretary,
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of
Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr. Mike Osatuyi; and Executive
Secretary, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria
(MOMAN), Mr. Obafemi Olawore.
The report was submitted to the Presidency on
Tuesday and showcased how the audit committee
discovered 17 methods used by oil marketers to
defraud the government of hundreds of billions of
Naira.
According to the report, they are itemized below:
1. No evidence of sales proceeds in the banks –
N157,549,854,482.55, meaning that the marketers
did not have evidence of sales proceeds based on
banks' available records at the date of verification;
2. Subsidy payments without the signatures of external
auditors and independent inspectors on shore tank
certificates – N121,897,757,962.56;
3. Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not
found in locations claimed at the time of
transshipment – N21,361,071,313.24;
4. Subsidy payments for which there were no shipping
documents or evidence of payment for the products
in foreign exchange – N20,463,525,859.79;
5. $10 additional margin given to traders from
November 2010 to 2011 with approval of the Federal
Government contrary to the Petroleum Support Fund
(PSF) guidelines;
6. Specially mentioned transactions with various
infractions – N15,944,918,661.23;
7. Use of 1 per cent as bank spread instead of the
maximum 50 kobo approved by the CBN in
computation of foreign exchange rates used for
subsidy payments – N14,021,193,230.89;
8. Subsidy payments for which the mother vessels
could not be traced – N12,942,254,466.24;
9. Transactions disclaimed by banks –
N12,154,918,932.18;
10. Subsidy payments without proof of existence of the
mother vessel bill of lading or daughter vessel bill of
lading – N11,762,998,358.89; and
11. Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were no
longer operational at the time of transshipment –
N8,138,502,416.70.
12. Subsidy payments for which there was no copy of the
bill of lading for ship-to-ship transfer –
N4,634,317,239.53;
13. Payment of subsidy claims with no mother vessel bill
of lading in the file – N1,938,927,804.98;
14. Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were
located in the Far East (China) and in the South
Pacific when transshipment took place off the coast
of Cotonou – N1,713,787,473.21;
15. Differences between subsidies advised by PPPRA and
subsequent verification by external auditors –
N747,534,804.00
16. N20 million re-engagement fees not charged for non-
performance by marketers – N200,000,000
17. Difference between the volume on the shore tank
certificates and the volume used for the subsidy
payment – N33,383,300.79.
The oil marketers that committed these infractions
have been asked to refund the subsidy payments
they received unless they can provide contrary
evidence to the report of the audit committee.
Source: Dailypost
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

The benefits of eating fruits on an empty stomach

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits,
cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not
as easy as you think. It's important to know how and
when to eat.
What is the correct way of eating fruits?
IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS!
FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.
If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to
detoxify your system, supplying you with a great
deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.
FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD. Let's say you
eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The
slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the
stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from
doing so.
In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments
and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into
contact with the food in the stomach and digestive
juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil….
So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or
before your meals! You have heard people
complaining — every time I eat watermelon I burp,
when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet,
etc — actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit
on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the
putrefying other food and produces gas and hence
you will bloat!
Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark
circles under the eyes all these will NOT happen if
you take fruits on an empty stomach.
When you need to drink fruit juice – drink only fresh
fruit juice, NOT from the cans. Don't even drink juice
that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits
because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only
get to taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.
But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the
juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful
by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with
your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-
day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and
drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will
be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant
you look!
Source:Info Nigeria
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

FBI crackdown took 79 prostitutes off streets, over 100 pimps arrested

A three-day sweep by police agencies across the country has led to the removal of 79 teenagers from a life of prostitution and the arrest of more than a hundred pimps, the FBI reported on Tuesday.

Hundreds of FBI agents and thousands of state and local law-enforcement officers targeted the Internet as well as such places as truck stops, casinos and "tracks" where prostitutes are known to walk the street in the crackdown.

The teenagers -- 77 girls and two boys -- ranged in age from 13 to 17. They are being held in custody until they could be placed with child welfare organizations, Reuters reported.

The FBI said 104 suspected pimps were arrested during sting operations in 57 U.S. cities including Atlanta, Sacramento, and Toledo, Ohio.

It was the sixth nationwide sweep -- called Operation Cross Country -- organized as part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative to address the growing problem of child sex trafficking in the United States.

Information gleaned from those arrested often uncovers organized prostitution rings, the FBI said.

"It is clear that child prostitution and sex trafficking do not just occur somewhere else on the other side of the world," Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a partner in the effort, said in a news release. "These insidious crimes are occurring in American cities and the victims are American kids."

The average age of a child targeted for prostitution in the United States is between 11 and 14 years old, FBI assistant director Kevin L. Perkins told the Senate Judiciary Committee in March.

Police: Mother forced daughter into prostitution

The youngest victim ever recovered through Innocence Lost was 9, FBI spokesman Jason Pack told msnbc.com.

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Since 2003, Innocence Lost task forces and work groups have taken more than 2,200 children off the streets, leading to 1,017 convictions, the FBI said.

Perhaps the highest profile case was the 2005 "Precious Cargo" investigation that targeted pimps involved in sex trafficking of children and female adults at trucks stops in Harrisburg, Pa. More than 150 victims were identified, 45 of whom had been identified as being exploited as children. In all, 18 people were indicted on federal crimes in that investigation. The ring leaders, Terrance Williams, aka "Sleazy T," and Eric Kays, aka "International Ross," were both sent to prison for more than 35 years.

People can report suspected sexual exploitation of children at cybertipline.com, or call          

  1-800-843-5678      .

Microsoft to buy Yammer for $1.2 billion

(REUTERS) - Microsoft Corp agreed to buy online social network firm Yammer Inc for $1.2 billion in cash, which will allow the software company to offer a service like Facebook Inc's to corporate customers.


Talk of a deal had circulated earlier this month, but the two companies only confirmed an agreement on Monday.

Four-year-old Yammer, which has 5 million users of its private, in-company social networks, helps companies' internal communications and collaboration by allowing employees to form groups and interact with each other freely. Companies such as Ford Motor Co, Supervalu and Deloitte are customers.

The 400-employee firm will keep its headquarters in San Francisco but will become part of Microsoft's Office unit under Kurt DelBene in Seattle. Yammer will still be led by current CEO David Sacks, a former PayPal executive.

The service should fill a growing gap that Microsoft was struggling to fill with its SharePoint application for creating private websites for intra-company projects.

"This acquisition will immediately make Microsoft a strong competitor in the enterprise social market," said Larry Cannell, an analyst at tech research firm Gartner. "It was a stretch to call the capabilities in SharePoint's MySite feature a social network site."

With Yammer, employees can use a private, online company directory to contact co-workers, form networks, chat, share links and post news. A basic version of Yammer is free, but a subscription buys more security and integration with other company-wide software. Yammer's subscription-based business model makes it different from ad-driven network companies like Facebook or LinkedIn Corp.

The deal, which values Yammer's users at about $240 each, may ignite interest in companies offering similar services, such as Salesforce.com Inc, Jive Software Inc and Telligent.

The area of internal networking for companies has attracted other big tech companies such as Cisco Systems Inc, which has a similar offering to Yammer called WebEx Social, and International Business Machine Corp with a rival product called Connections.

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Microsoft, which owns a small fraction of Facebook shares, has been looking for ways to make its desktop-bound products more interactive and attractive to its core corporate users and home consumers, and has even been experimenting with its own social network called So.cl (pronounced 'social').

Last year it paid $8.5 billion to buy online chat company Skype, which it is integrating into its offerings, including the next version of Office.

Microsoft's Office suite of applications - including Outlook email, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentation program - is the bedrock of most companies' day-to-day working software.

The Office unit is Microsoft's most profitable, contributing 60 percent of its profit last year, and amassing more sales than its flagship Windows operating system.

Microsoft closed down 2.7 percent at $29.86 on Nasdaq.

Drogba denies rumoured move to Barcelona

Former Chelsea striker, Didier Drogba, on Tuesday denied planning to move to Spanish side, Barcelona.
The 34-year-old footballer had last week reached a deal with Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua last week.
But Spanish media suggested he could make a U-turn on the move and head to the Nou Camp.
However, Sports PR Company tweeted, “Drogba to Barca story complete nonsense. As we told you he joins Shanghai in July.”
And Barcelona president Sandro Rossell also denied that Drogba could be set to sign, claiming reports the Ivorian was in the city were just a coincidence, The SUn of London reports.
Rossell said, “I don’t know anything about Drogba. If he is in Barcelona, he is on holiday. It has nothing to do with Barca.”
Drogba’s switch to Shanghai is the latest big-name move for the Chinese Super League.
Nicolas Anelka moved there from Chelsea, while Blackburn striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni is also believed to be a target.
Shenhua owner Zhu Jun said, “We have been wanting to sign Didier for a while, and are very happy that it has finally happened.
“He is an incredible player, who has won many trophies in his career. His experience and ability will be a very valuable asset to our squad.”
Drogba added, “I have considered all the offers I have received in the past few weeks, but I feel that Shanghai Shenhua FC is the right move for me at this time.
“I am looking forward to a new challenge and to experiencing a new culture and I am excited about the new developments in the Chinese Super League.
“When Chelsea went to China last year, we had a great time and I met some amazing fans.
“I hope to help promote Chinese football around the world and further improve the links between China and

Punch, Nigeria

Argentine Bishop Bargallo quits over 'amorous ties' row

Monsignor Bargallo had been leading the diocese of Merlo-Moreno since 1997 

The Pope has accepted the resignation of an Argentine bishop after the publication of pictures showing him embracing a woman on a Mexican beach.

Bishop Fernando Bargallo, 57, was photographed in the sea, hugging a woman in a bikini.

He initially said she was a childhood friend, but later admitted to having had "amorous ties" with her.

Bishop Bargallo was in charge of the diocese of Merlo-Moreno, in the province of Buenos Aires.

The scandal broke last week, when an Argentine television station broadcast pictures of Monsignor Bargallo on holiday at a beach resort in Mexico in the company of a woman.

'Childhood friend'

In one of the pictures, he is seen half-submerged in the water, embracing a woman in a bikini.

Shortly after the pictures were published, Monsignor Bargallo gave a public statement saying that the woman was a childhood friend, whom he had known all of his life.

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He said the situation in which he had been photographed was "imprudent, as it could lead people to jump to the wrong conclusion".

He asked his flock to forgive him for "the ambiguity of the pictures" and urged them to view the photos "in the context of a long friendship".

But later that same week, Monsignor Bargallo convened the priests of his diocese and told them he had had "amorous ties" with the woman and would resign.

The Vatican said he would be replaced by Monsignor Alcides Jorge Pedro Casaretto.

Credit: BBC 

Giroud signs deal with Arsenal

Arsenal Football Club on Tuesday announced that France international Olivier Giroud had agreed to join the club on a long-term contract.
In a statement on its website, the club said the 25-year old striker completed a medical before agreeing terms at the its training ground on Monday evening.
“The completion of the transfer is now just the subject of formal processes,” the club said.
Giroud arrives from French champions Montpellier, where 21 goals in 36 league appearances made him the French league’s joint top goalscorer last season and also earned him a place in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year.
Giroud, who enjoyed a two-year spell at the Stade de la Mosson and broke into the national team in November 2011, flew to London after representing Les Bleus at the European Championship in Ukraine and Poland.



The Chambéry-born player spent his formative years in France’s lower leagues, developing his game with Grenoble, on loan at FC Istres and then at Tours FC, where he played alongside Laurent Koscielny for a season before being awarded the Ligue 2 Player of the Year award in 2009/10.
Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger said, “We are delighted to have secured the signing of Olivier Giroud. He has a very good physical presence and is exceptional in the air, with a great work ethic.
“We are excited about Olivier joining us and he will add an additional dimension to our attacking options next season.
“He has proved that he is capable of performing at the top level with club and country, and we saw what a big influence he was in Montpellier’s championship-winning side last season. We all look forward to Olivier joining us and seeing him play in an Arsenal shirt.”
Giroud, whose contract with Arsenal will officially commence on July 1, said, “I am delighted to be here at Arsenal and to be part of one of the great teams in English football.
“It’s a huge satisfaction to join this great club and it’s been a dream since I was young to play in the Premier League.
“I was attracted by the philosophy of football and Arsène Wenger’s ‘touch’ at this club. I have always admired Arsenal with its great history and reputation, and I now hope to achieve great things here.
“I’m very proud to be a Gunner and I will give my best for all the Arsenal fans.”
Giroud will join up with the Gunners for the club’s pre-season preparations ahead of the new season.

Culed from Punch News

FBI credit card data sting snares 24 worldwide

The FBI notified credit card companies of more than 400,000 compromised cards

At least 24 people in 13 countries have been arrested in a US-led sting operation targeting illegal trafficking of credit card information.

The swoop came after a two-year undercover FBI investigation spanning four continents.

Operation Card Shop tracked those buying and selling information through a fake, FBI-run online forum on such "carding" schemes.

Twelve of the arrests were in the United States, with six in the UK.

All of the detained are men ranging in age from 18 to 25. Some face 40 years in prison if convicted on fraud-related charges.

One of the men, Mir Islam, known online as "JoshTheGod", was charged with trafficking in 50,000 stolen credit card numbers.

In total, investigators notified credit card providers of more than 400,000 compromised accounts.

US officials said the operation prevented losses of $205m (£131m) from debit and credit cards.

The sting focused around an online forum called Carder Profit, set up by the FBI in June 2010, where users could exchange stolen account and card numbers.

Investigators identified alleged cyber-criminals in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia.

US district attorney Preet Bharara said in a statetment: "Clever computer criminals operating behind the supposed veil of the internet are still subject to the long arm of the law."

Credit: BBC

Jonathan fires NNPC boss, Austin Oniwon, names Andrew Yakubu as replacement

Oniwon, former GMD, NNPC

President Goodluck Jonathan has fired the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Austen Oniwon, and other top officials of the corporation.

Mr. Oniwon was sacked along other top management of the corporation in a sweeping move by Mr. Jonathan.

The NNPC management has been involved in several scandals including the petroleum subsidy payment scandal.

Part of the recommendations of the Farouk Lawan committee report by the House of Representatives is the removal of Mr. Oniwon and the NNPC management.

Andrew Yakubu, an engineer, has been appointed Mr. Oniwon's replacement.

Details later...

See full press release from the presidency on the new appointments below.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN APPROVES RE-COMPOSITION OF NNPC MANAGEMENT TEAM

To further strengthen the ongoing reforms and transformation of Nigeria’s Petroleum sector, and in furtherance of efforts to achieve greater transparency  and accountability in government, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has approved the re-composition of the executive management team of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as follows:


1.      Engr. Andrew Yakubu - Group Managing Director


2.      Mr. Bernard O.N. Otti - Group Executive Director (Finance and Accounts)


3.      Engr. Abiye Membere - Group Executive Director (Exploration and Production)

4.      Dr. Peter S. Nmadu - Group Executive Director (Corporate Services)


5.      Engr. Anthony Ogbuigwe - Group Executive Director (Refineries & Petrochemicals)

6.      Dr. Attahir B. Yusuf - Group Executive Director (Commercial & Investments)

7.      Dr. David Ige - Group Executive Director (Gas & Power)


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The incoming Group Managing Director, Engr. Andrew Yakubu graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1979 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He joined the NNPC in 1980. Positions he has held in the corporation include Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company and Group Executive Director (Exploration and Production). Engr. Yakubu is an indigene of Kaduna State and a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
President Jonathan has also approved the appointment of Engr. Victor Briggs as the new Managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
The incumbent Group Managing Director, Engr. Austen Oniwon, and Mr. Michael Arokodare (outgoing Group Executive Director (Finance and Accounts), Mr. Philip Chukwu, outgoing Group Executive Director (Refineries & Petrochemicals), and Engr. Billy Agha, outgoing Group Executive Director (Engineering & Technology) are to proceed on retirement.
President Jonathan commends the outgoing directors for their service to the nation and urges the new management team to be fully committed to rapidly implementing the critical interventions needed to positively transform Nigeria’s petroleum industry.
 

Reuben Abati

Special Adviser to the President
, Media & Publicity

June 26, 2012


Why Justice Adah suspended UNILAG renaming

Justice Steven Adah of a Federal High Court sitting in Ikeja on Monday gave an interim order suspending the renaming of the University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University, Lagos, adding that the status quo should be maintained throughout the hearing of all suits challenging the renaming of the university through a presidential broadcast.


The court’s order followed requests by the counsel representing the plaintiffs in the two suits, Mr Afolabi Fashanu (SAN), who urged the court to give “an interim order” to maintain the status quo, saying the application for the order was urgent because the Federal Government was “desperate” to give effect to the presidential pronouncement.

Some students of the school and the alumni association of the institution had filed suits separately challenging the propriety of renaming the university through a broadcast by President Goodluck Jonathan. Justice Adah had given the same order in the two suits separately but also ordered that the two suits be harmonised.

The judge had ordered that no action should be taken to jeopardise this res (subject matter of the suit) pending the hearing and determination of the suit,” he said.

During the hearing, the two counsels for the defence, representing the University of Lagos and the Council of the University of Lagos, Professor Taiwo Osipitan, SAN, and the other representing the Senate of the University of Lagos, Mrs Titi Akinlawon, SAN, did not oppose the request of the order.

Other parties in the matter, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Muhammed Bello Adoke and the National Assembly — the fourth and fifth defendants in the suits, were not present at the proceedings, neither were they represented by any counsel, despite confirmation by the plaintiffs’ counsel that all parties in the suits had been duly served with the court process.

Also, both Osipitan and Akinlawon had not filed any defence before the court and they told the court that this was as a result of their recent briefing on the matter.

The respondents in the two suits were the University of Lagos, the council of the University of Lagos, the senate of the University of Lagos, Adoke and the National Assembly.

Suing on behalf of the alumni association were the national president and secretary of the alumni association of the university, Professor Olayide Abass and Femi Olatunji respectively and they were asking the court for nine reliefs, as those contained in the one filed by the students.

Also, seven students — Ogunmola Olajide, Olawaye Elijah, Boatman Enieke-nemi, Mathias Abraham, Asimiyu Ayodeji, Banjo Omojomi and Balogun Ismalia — were suing on behalf of the entire students of the university.

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The plaintiffs asked the court for a determination of six questions and were seeking for a declaration of court that “the pronouncement of President Goodluck Jonathan in his national broadcast of May 29, 2012 to the effect that the University of Lagos is renamed by the Federal Government of Nigeria as Moshood Abiola University, Lagos is unconstitutional, illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever and howsoever.”

Also, they were seeking an order of injunction, restraining the Federal Government, represented by the fourth defendant, the Attorney-General of the Federation, either by itself or acting through any of its agencies, organs, person or persons howsoever, from renaming or changing the name of the University of Lagos with the name Moshood Abiola University, pursuant to the national broadcast of the president on May 29 and/or giving effect in any manner whatsoever to the said broadcast.

 Source:  Ascology

ISRAELI MAN JUMPS TO HIS DEATH OFF EIFFEL TOWER

PARIS (AP) — A 25-year-old man from Israel jumped to his death from the Eiffel Tower after thwarting security measures and climbing the Paris monument at twilight, authorities said Monday.
The man, who was not publicly identified, mounted the tower's western pillar after it was closed to the public Sunday night, a Paris police official said. The man was approaching the third-level observatory deck of the tower, at 276 meters (906 feet), when rescue climbers made it to the scene, the official said.
The rescue climbers starting talking to him but then he jumped, landed on the tower's second floor and died on impact, soon after midnight Monday, the official said. The official was not authorized to be publicly named because of police policy.
"He jumped into the air. ... It was not an accidental fall," Paris prosecutor's spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said. She said he was born in Israel and had an Israeli passport. It is unclear whether he was a tourist.
The tower was open as usual Monday after the incident. The company that manages the 324-meter- (1063-feet-) high tower says it was the first suicide there in two years. The company said such incidents are very rare but would not provide historical figures for how often they occur.
Some 7 million people visit the Eiffel Tower every year.

Beyonce and Jay Z's Daughter Named Honorary Citizen of Croatian island

Beyonce and Blue Ivy Carter

American superstars Beyonce and Jay-Z's daughter Blue Ivy Carter has been named an honorary citizen of the Croatian town of Hvar, after reports the couple named her for a local tree.
     "The story of the origin of your girl's name, Blue Ivy, has brought huge media attention and great tourism promotion to the town of Hvar," said Mayor Pjerino Bebic in a letter sent to the couple, "I have decided to grant your daughter the status of honorary citizen of the town."
      Blue Ivy, born in January, was reportedly named after a tree wrapped in blue ivy the couple had seen on the island during their visit in September 2011.
    Media in Croatia have recently broadcast a video that Beyonce, 30, shot during the visit to Hvar in which she posed next to a tree covered with ivy, saying her child could be named Blue Ivy.
     Bebic invited the couple with their daighter to pay another visit to the island. Beyonce and Jay-Z have already visited the most prominent Croatian coastal town, Dubrovnik, in August 2009.

Nas’s song “Daughters” brings true meaning to saving our daughters and fathers across the world.

Nas is one of the most iconic hip hop legends of our time. He has  always challenged the growth of Hip-Hop culture and the generation  that follows by making music with sincere His new album, Life Is Good, is set to be released on July 17th.  With the  latest single, "DAUGHTERS", Nas has once again delivered a thought-provoking and touching message to Fathers and Daughter’s worldwide. As a father of two, Nas has always been a champion for uplifting the youth.

As Executive Director of Saving Our Daughters states, "we are very excited and blown away with Nas's incredible and powerful new song 'DAUGHTERS’; as I recently as a father lost my daughter at 11 years old to cancer (brain tumor) last year, and I am deeply touched personally from the song as well".

Nas will start off his national partnership with Saving Our Daughters with a special Father’s Day Brunch in conjuction with Hot 97 radio in NYC. Families will be selected from Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club in Bronx, NY. Nas will also be joining forces with the organizations' longtime family friend and supporter, T.I., who has been with the charity now for more than 7 years.

We Welcome Nas and the positive fathers and daughters that will follow.

Thank You!!

Saving Our Daughters

New Album LIFE IS GOOD Available July 17th!

New Single "Daughters" Available Everywhere!

AP Exclusive: Al-Qaida trains Norwegian to attack

STOCKHOLM (AP) - A Norwegian man has received terrorist training from al-Qaida's offshoot in Yemen and is awaiting orders to carry out an attack on the West, officials from three European security agencies told The Associated Press on Monday.

Western intelligence officials have long feared such a scenario - a convert to Islam who is trained in terrorist methods and can blend in easily in Europe and the United States, traveling without visa restrictions.

Officials from three European security agencies confirmed Monday the man is "operational," meaning he has completed his training and is about to receive a target. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly. They declined to name the man, who has not been accused of a crime.

"We believe he is operational and he is probably about to get his target," one security official said. "And that target is probably in the West."

A security official in a second European country confirmed the information, adding: "From what I understand, a specific target has not been established."

European security services, including in Norway, have warned in recent years of homegrown, radicalized Muslims traveling to terror training camps in conflict zones. Many of the known cases involve young men with family roots in Muslim countries.

But the latest case involves a man in his 30s with no immigrant background, the officials said. After converting to Islam in 2008, he quickly became radicalized and traveled to Yemen to receive terror training, one of the officials said. The man spent "some months" in Yemen and is still believed to be there, he said.

The official said the man has no criminal record, which would also make him an ideal recruit for al-Qaida.

"Not even a parking ticket," he said. "He's completely clean and he can travel anywhere."

The official would not specify what preventive measures were being taken but said "there is a well-established relationship between Western security services, and they share the information needed to prevent terrorism."

The officials declined to specify what makes them think the man is operational.

Signs that a would-be jihadist is ready for an attack could include the creation of so-called martyrdom videos for release online in conjunction with an attack, or an abrupt cutoff of communication and contacts with peers to avoid detection.

The man has not been accused of a crime in Norway, where traveling abroad to attend terror training camps is not a crime per se. In many European countries, suspects are not named unless they have been formally charged with a crime.

Yemeni military officials said they had information on Europeans training with al-Qaida in the southern part of the country but that they weren't aware of a Norwegian being among them. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

CIA and FBI officials in the U.S. declined to comment on the AP report.

Trond Hugubakken, a spokesman for Norway's PST security service, also declined to comment on the case. He referred to a PST security assessment in February, which highlighted that "several" Islamic extremists have traveled from Norway to conflict zones to attend training camps.

Hugubakken acknowledged that converts who turn to violent extremism pose a particular challenge.

"Converts will have a different level of cover, especially if they have no criminal record," he said, adding that most Muslim converts do not turn to extremism.

There are several examples in Europe and the U.S. of converts linked to terror plots, from failed shoe-bomber Richard Reid, a British convert, to a Pennsylvania woman dubbed "Jihad Jane," who pleaded guilty last year to charges that she plotted to kill a Swedish cartoonist who caricatured Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Norway saw the first convictions under its anti-terror laws this year when two men were given prison terms in January for plotting to attack a Danish newspaper that also had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad.

In March, Mullah Krekar, a radical Iraqi-born cleric who came to Norway as a refugee, was sentenced to five years in prison for making death threats against Norwegian officials and three Kurdish men he claimed had insulted Islam.

But Norway's most serious attacks happened last year at the hands of a right-wing, anti-Muslim extremist, Anders Behring Breivik, who admitted to killing 77 people in a bombing-and-shooting massacre on July 22. The self-styled militant's trial ended last week with conflicting claims about whether he is criminally insane. A verdict has been set for Aug. 24.

Source: Associated Press

Rapper 50 Cent injured in car accident

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has been released from a hospital after suffering minor injuries when his SUV was involved in a traffic accident early Tuesday morning in New York, according to Jackson's publicist.
Jackson's bullet-proof SUV was rear-ended by a Mack truck on the Long Island Expressway in New York City, according to the rapper's website thisis50.com.
Jackson, widely known by his stage name 50 Cent, was taken to New York Hospital Queens where he was treated for minor neck and back injuries.
"He was released this morning and is doing fine," Keesha Johnson, the rapper's spokesman at DKC, said in a statement.
Jackson was listed as the fifth-wealthiest hip-hop artist by Forbes in April, with a net worth of $110 million.
He has had two Billboard year-end No. 1 albums. His 2003 debut album, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'", sold more than 6 million copies in the United States, and "The Massacre" from 2005 topped 5 million, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which tracks nationwide album sales.

Full Credit to Yahoonews

Man receives 30 strokes, 1-year jail term for raping minor

An Upper Sharia Court at Gusau in Zamfara on Monday, sentenced a 36-year-old man, Saidu Abubakar, to one-year imprisonment and 30 strokes of the cane for raping a six-year-old girl.


Delivering judgement on Monday, the Presiding Jude, Alhaji Sanusi Magami, said that Abubakar, having pleaded guilty to the offence, was convicted as charged.

Magami said the convict had been given a leeway to consider the implication of his statement of guilt but had refused to withdraw it.

The judge said the 30 strokes of cane would be administered on Abubakar publicly in addition to the imprisonment, noting that the punishment was designed to serve as a deterrent to others.

Earlier the prosecutor, Malam Hamisu Ibrahim, told the court that Abubakar, a neighbour to the family of the victim, had on May 5, 2012 lured the little girl into an uncompleted building opposite his house and raped her.

He said that on the fateful day, the girl’s father returned from work and met his daughter crying.
When prodded on what happened, the girl told her father that somebody forced her into the uncompleted structure and sexually abused her.

The prosecutor stated that virginal normality and sexual diagnostic abuse tests conducted confirmed forceful penetration into the little girl’s organ.

He told the court that Abubakar deserved severe punishment because he was convicted for a similar offence last year.

Ascology

Bauchi Bomb Blast Injured 9 Person-PM News, Lagos

An explosion near a cluster of bars in the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi, recently targeted by Boko Haram Islamists, has injured nine people, police said Monday.
The home-made explosive device planted in an unfinished building next to a group of pubs went off at around 10:00 pm on Sunday in the city’s Tudunwadan Dan-Iya neighbourhood, Bauchi state police commissioner Mohammed Ladan told AFP.
“It was an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) planted in the relaxation spot that caused the explosion which injured nine people but there were no deaths,” Ladan said.
“We still don’t know who was behind the attack but we have commenced investigation into the incident.”
Among those injured were seven men, a woman and a three-month old girl, he specified.
No group claimed the attack, but the city has been previously targeted by Boko Haram, responsible for more than 1,000 deaths since mid-2009.
The Islamists claimed a suicide blast at a church in Bauchi city on June 3 that killed at least 15 people.
The United States last week said it had designated the head of the main branch of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, a “global terrorist” along with two others tied to both

In Documents on Pain Drug, Signs of Doubt and Deception

Dr. Steven Nissen is overseeing a trial on Celebrex that is scheduled for completion in 2014, the year the drug’s patent expires. He dismisses any claim that Pfizer has delayed the study.

A research director for Pfizer was positively buoyant after reading that an important medical conference had just featured a study claiming that the new arthritis drug Celebrex was safer on the stomach than more established drugs.

“They swallowed our story, hook, line and sinker,” he wrote in an e-mail to a colleague.

The truth was that Celebrex was no better at protecting the stomach from serious complications than other drugs. It appeared that way only because Pfizer and its partner, Pharmacia, presented the results from the first six months of a yearlong study rather than the whole thing.

The companies had a lot riding on the outcome of the study, given that Celebrex’s effect on the stomach was its principal selling point. Earlier studies had shown it was no better at relieving pain than common drugs — like ibuprofen — already on the market.

The research chief’s e-mail, sent in 2000, is among thousands of pages of internal documents and depositions unsealed recently by a federal judge in a long-running securities fraud case against Pfizer. While the companies’ handling of the research was revealed a dozen years ago, the documents provide a vivid picture of the calculation made by Pfizer at the time and its efforts ever since to overcome doubts about the drug.

The documents suggest that officials made a strategic decision during the early trial to be less than forthcoming about the drug’s safety. They show that executives considered attacking the trial’s design before they even knew the results and disregarded the advice of an employee and an outside consultant who had argued the companies should disclose the fact that they were using incomplete data.

In one e-mail, an associate medical director at Pharmacia (which was later bought by Pfizer) disparaged the way the study was being presented as “data massage,” for “no other reason than it happens to look better.”

In another, a medical director at Pfizer described it as “cherry-picking the data” even as officials were publicly boasting of the study’s success. Dr. M. Michael Wolfe, a gastroenterologist who had cautiously praised the study in a medical journal at the outset, said after reviewing the new documents: “I always try to give investigators the benefit of the doubt, but these communications make it quite challenging for me.”

The importance of Celebrex to Pfizer is indisputable. It is one of the company’s best-selling drugs, racking up more than $2.5 billion in sales, and was prescribed to 2.4 million patients in the United States last year alone.

The drug is the last of the so-called COX-2 inhibitor pain drugs, after Vioxx and Bextra were withdrawn in 2004 and 2005 because of safety concerns.

Some of the Celebrex’s detractors contend that its risks are still not fully understood, and argue that Pfizer is dragging its feet on a study — now nearly six years old — evaluating the drug’s heart risks. The study is scheduled to end in May 2014, the same month that Celebrex loses its patent protection and sales of the drug are expected to plunge.

Then and now, Pfizer has defended its decision to release partial results from the 2000 study and denies any intent to deceive. Company officials have said the drug has demonstrated its worth and safety. The proof, they say, is that 33 million Americans have taken it. “The bottom line is Celebrex is a very important option for many of these patients,” said Dr. Steve Romano, head of the medicines development group in Pfizer’s primary care unit.

The decision by Pfizer and Pharmacia to withhold crucial data became widely known in 2001, after the Food and Drug Administration released the study’s full results. The revelations, along with similar reports of withheld data by other drug companies, led to calls for reforms in the way data from clinical trials is published, including in The Journal of the American Medical Association, which ran an article featuring the partial results from the study.

TThe withheld data also led to a lawsuit, filed in 2003, by several pension funds that charged that by handling the results the way they did, Pfizer and Pharmacia had misled investors and were responsible for a drop in Pharmacia’s stock value when the full results were revealed.

Lawyers for Pfizer and for the pension funds declined to comment. In a statement, company officials said they were confident they would prevail when all the evidence was heard. “The few documents handpicked by lawyers suing Pfizer and being reported by The New York Times are not a fair representation of this body of evidence,” the company said.

The documents show that in February 2000, Pharmacia employees came up with a game plan on how they might present the findings once they were available.

“Worse case: we have to attack the trial design if we do not see the results we want,” a memo read. It went on: “If other endpoints do not deliver, we will also need to strategize on how we provide the data.”

Another document, a slide, proposed explaining poor results through “statistical glitches.”

Pfizer officials said the memo appears to reflect discussions by some Pharmacia employees about both the Celebrex study and a similar study of Vioxx. The slides, the company said, appeared to have been prepared before the results were known and discussed several situations.

While officials were boasting of the study’s success, employees behind the scenes were questioning its value. In September 2000, Dr. Emilio Arbe, a Pharmacia associate medical director, expressed his reservations.

After describing the decision to use the limited results as “data massage,” Dr. Arbe wrote, “I wouldn’t feel too comfortable presenting a fudged version of the facts.”

In May 2001, Dr. Mona Wahba, who worked on Celebrex, sent an e-mail to colleagues describing as “cherry-picking” a new analysis that also used six months of the results. Pfizer officials said Dr. Wahba’s e-mail was sent after the full study became known. In a deposition, Dr. Wahba said she did not recall what she meant.

Dr. Samuel Zwillich, who wrote the “hook, line and sinker” e-mail, testified in another deposition that his comment probably had to do with his concerns around a lesser claim that Celebrex led to less blood loss than other drugs. Through a Pfizer spokesman, he declined to comment.

Pfizer has argued that presenting the limited data was legitimate because so many people taking a comparison drug, diclofenac, dropped out, biasing the later results.

The controversy over the safety and effectiveness of Celebrex continues today. Celebrex and Vioxx, which was made by Merck, brought in billions in sales almost as soon as they were introduced in the 1990s.

But the excitement skidded to a halt in 2004, when Merck withdrew Vioxx after studies linked it to an increased risk for heart attacks. Some studies indicated that Celebrex, too, carried elevated risks. In part to address those concerns, Pfizer announced in 2005 that it was starting a trial that would compare the heart risk for Celebrex with ibuprofen, the drug in Advil and Motrin, and naproxen, which is sold as Aleve. The trial is not expected to be finished until 2014 when the Celebrex patent expires.

Dr. Steven Nissen, the Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who is overseeing the trial, said Pfizer has spent hundreds of millions of dollars and enrolled 18,000 patients. Recruiting has been difficult, he said, in part because European Union countries have barred patients with heart risks.

Dr. Nissen dismissed claims from critics that Pfizer has been delaying the trial out of fears about its outcome. “The last thing in the world I want to do is to be sitting here twiddling my thumbs with a public health concern,” he said.

Others were not so sure.

“One could draw conclusions,” Dr. Alastair J. J. Wood, who was chairman of the F.D.A. advisory panel that examined COX-2 inhibitors, said recently. He is a partner at Symphony Capital, which invests in drug development. “It clearly would have been nice to have had this information long ago.”

Despite its success, Celebrex’s place among pain drugs is not settled. According to Pfizer, 93 percent of insured patients have access to Celebrex.

Some doctors said Celebrex has advantages because it can be taken once a day and studies have shown that it causes less stomach discomfort than other drugs, although some have argued those types of findings are not always reliable.

“You’re dealing with softer, subjective endpoints,” said Garret FitzGerald, chairman of pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania.

There is still no clinical proof that Celebrex is better at preventing serious gastrointestinal injuries.

Dr. David Borenstein, who conducted some trials of Celebrex for Pharmacia, said the drug relieved pain in some patients when other drugs failed. “It’s easy to talk about theoreticals when you’re not hurting,” he said.