Wednesday, 12 September 2012

Fighting For God? Islamists Protests in Lybia, Cairo, Over Film.

CAIRO (AP) — Protesters angered over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad fired gunshots and burned down the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, killing one American diplomat, witnesses and the State Department said. In Egypt, protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo and replaced an American flag with an Islamic banner.

It was the first such assaults on U.S. diplomatic facilities in either country, at a time when both Libya and Egypt are struggling to overcome the turmoil following the ouster of their longtime leaders, Moammar Gadhafi and Hosni Mubarak in uprisings last year.

The protests in both countries were sparked by outrage over a film ridiculing Muhammad produced by an American in California and being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States. Excerpts from the film dubbed into Arabic were posted on YouTube.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton confirmed that one State Department officer had been killed in the protest at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. She strongly condemned the attack and said she had called Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif "to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya."

Clinton expressed concern that the protests might spread to other countries. She said the U.S. is working with "partner countries around the world to protect our personnel, our missions, and American citizens worldwide."
"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," Clinton said in a statement released by the State Department. "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind. "
In Benghazi, a large mob stormed the U.S. consulate, with gunmen firing their weapons, said Wanis al-Sharef, an Interior Ministry official in Benghazi. A witness said attackers fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at the consulate as they clashed with Libyans hired to guard the facility.
Outnumbered by the crowd, Libyan security forces did little to stop them, al-Sharef said.
The crowd overwhelmed the facility and set fire to it, burning most of it and looting the contents, witnesses said.
One American was shot to death and a second was wounded in the hand, al-Sharef said. He did not give further details.
The violence at the consulate lasted for about three hours, but the situation has now quieted down, said another witness.
"I heard nearly 10 explosions and all kinds of weapons. It was a terrifying day," said the witness who refused to give his name because he feared retribution.
Hours before the Benghazi attack, hundreds of mainly ultraconservative Islamist protesters in Egypt marched to the U.S. Embassy in downtown Cairo, gathering outside its walls and chanting against the movie and the U.S. Most of the embassy staff had left the compound earlier because of warnings of the upcoming demonstration.
"Say it, don't fear: Their ambassador must leave," the crowd chanted.

Dozens of protesters then scaled the embassy walls, and several went into the courtyard and took down the American flag from a pole. They brought it back to the crowd outside, which tried to burn it, but failing that tore it apart.

The protesters on the wall then raised on the flagpole a black flag with a Muslim declaration of faith, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet." The flag, similar to the banner used by al-Qaida, is commonly used by ultraconservatives around the region.
The crowd grew throughout the evening with thousands standing outside the embassy. Dozens of riot police lined up along the embassy walls but did not stop protesters as they continued to climb and stand on the wall - though it appeared no more went into the compound.
The crowd chanted, "Islamic, Islamic. The right of our prophet will not die." Some shouted, "We are all Osama," referring to al-Qaida leader bin Laden. Young men, some in masks, sprayed graffiti on the walls. Some grumbled that Islamist President Mohammed Morsi had not spoken out about the movie.
A group of women in black veils and robes that left only their eyes exposed chanted, "Worshippers of the Cross, leave the Prophet Muhammad alone."
By midnight, the crowd had dwindled. The U.S. Embassy said on its Twitter account that there will be no visa services on Wednesday because of the protests.
A senior Egyptian security official at the embassy area said authorities allowed the protest because it was "peaceful." When they started climbing the walls, he said he called for more troops, denying that the protesters stormed the embassy. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
The Cairo embassy is in a diplomatic area in Garden City, where the British and Italian embassies are located, only a few blocks away from Tahrir Square, the center of last year's uprising that led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. The U.S. Embassy is built like a fortress, with a wall several meters (yards) high. But security has been scaled back in recent months, with several roadblocks leading to the facility removed after legal court cases by residents.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry promised in a statement to provide the necessary security for diplomatic missions and embassies and warned that "such incidents will negatively impact the image of stability in Egypt, which will have consequences on the life of its citizens."
One protester, Hossam Ahmed, said he was among those who entered the embassy compound and replaced the American flag with the black one. He said the group has now removed the black flag from the pole and laid it instead on a ladder on top of the wall.
"This is a very simple reaction to harming our prophet," said another, bearded young protester, Abdel-Hamid Ibrahim.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Egyptian police had removed the demonstrators who entered the embassy grounds.
Muslims find it offensive to depict Muhammad in any fashion, much less in an insulting way. The 2005 publication of 12 caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper triggered riots in many Muslim countries.
A 14-minute trailer of the movie that sparked the protests, posted on the website YouTube in an original English version and another dubbed into Egyptian Arabic, depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.
A YouTube spokesperson said the website would not take down the video at this point. The website's guidelines call for removing videos that include a threat of violence, but not those only expressing opinions. YouTube's practice is not to comment on a specific videos.
"We take great care when we enforce our policies and try to allow as much content as possible while ensuring that our Community Guidelines are followed," the YouTube spokesperson said. "Flagged content that does not violate our Guidelines will remain on the site."
Sam Bacile, an American citizen who said he produced, directed and wrote the two-hour film, said he had not anticipated such a furious reaction.
"I feel sorry for the embassy. I am mad," Bacile said.
Speaking from a telephone with a California number, Bacile said he is Jewish and familiar with the region. Bacile said the film was produced in English and he doesn't know who dubbed it in Arabic. The full film has not been shown yet, he said, and he said he has declined distribution offers for now.
"My plan is to make a series of 200 hours" about the same subject, he said.
Morris Sadek, an Egyptian-born Christian in the U.S. known for his anti-Islam views, told The Associated Press from Washington that he was promoting the video on his website and on certain TV stations, which he did not identify.
Both depicted the film as showing how Coptic Christians are oppressed in Egypt, though it goes well beyond that to ridicule Muhammad - a reflection of their contention that Islam as a religion is inherently oppressive.
"The main problem is I am the first one to put on the screen someone who is (portraying) Muhammad. It makes them mad," Bacile said. "But we have to open the door. After 9/11 everybody should be in front of the judge, even Jesus, even Muhammad."

For several days, Egyptian media have been reporting on the video, playing some excerpts from it and blaming Sadek for it, with ultraconservative clerics going on air to denounce it.

Medhat Klada, a representative of Coptic Christian organizations in Europe, said Sadek's views are not representative of expatriate Copts.

"He is an extremist ... We don't go down this road. He has incited the people (in Egypt) against Copts," he said, speaking from Switzerland. "We refuse any attacks on religions because of a moral position."

But he said he was concerned about the backlash from angry Islamists, saying their protest only promotes the movie. "They don't know dialogue and they think that Islam will be offended from a movie."

___

Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper in Washington and Esam Mohamed in Tripoli, Libya contributed to this report.

NDLEA intercepts N294 million worth of heroin concealed in carpets

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have aborted an attempt by suspected drug syndicate to smuggle 24.5kg of heroin concealed inside carpets into Nigeria.

The consignment described in the airway bill as Pakistani hand-knotted new woollen carpets originated from Lahore, Pakistan. It left Karachi airport in an Emirate flight as unaccompanied cargo and taken to Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Shed, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos.
The estimated value of the drug is N294 million. It is the first discovery of drug inside carpets in the country.
The NDLEA airport Commander, Hamza Umar said the consignment was examined by the Agency when it was abandoned by the importers.
“The suspicious cargo was monitored by undercover operatives for a week after it arrived. We decided to conduct the search when nobody came to claim it. In all, there were twelve pieces of carpets but only six contained heroin. The heroin was prepared into tiny bits inside plastic hollow treads and weaved in a way that makes it difficult to detect unless it is unfastened” Mr Hamza said.
He added that the information on the airway bill was found to be incorrect by investigators.
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade who described the seizure as breath-taking promised to unveil the importers.
“The drug syndicate did their best concealing the drug but it was not good enough to go undetected. If drug barons will not lack concealment methods, we also will not be tired in detecting narcotics. This seizure is unique because it is the least place anyone will go to in search for narcotics. We shall continue with investigation until those behind the illegal shipment are brought to book” Mr Giade said.

N5000 note: Obasanjo is a good farmer but a bad economist – Sanusi

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido on Tuesday reacted to a statement credited to a former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who said that the planned introduction of the N5000 note will increase inflation in the country.

Mr Obasanjo had on Thursday said the introduction of the N5000 note would kill production and affect small businesses negatively.
The former president, who disclosed this at a roundtable advocacy forum organised by the Institute of Directors, in Lagos, said the way, Mr Sanusi, was fighting inflation by removing money from circulation was improper.
However, speaking at the sixth annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Mr Sanusi said Mr Obasanjo had introduced more high denomination in Nigeria than any other Head of State.
“General Obasanjo did N20; he did N100, N200, N500 and N1000. He has introduced more higher denomination than any Head of States,” Mr Sanusi said.
The CBN governor said that during the period Mr Obasanjo was introducing high denomination inflation in Nigeria was actually low.
“General Obasanjo did N100 in 1999; then he did N200 in 2000; he did N500 I think two years later; and did N1000. In that period, inflation was coming down because it was accompanied by very tight monetary and fiscal policies during his reforms.
“For somebody who have gone through that to come and stand up and say ‘introducing a higher denomination causes inflation’ I don’t know if somebody wrote his speech. I’m trying to see him or if he was misquoted.
“If he actually said that then he must be the single most important determinant of inflation in our history given the number of notes that he introduced,” he said
Mr Sanusi said printing higher denomination without increasing the money supply in the economy will not increase inflation. “This is simple economics,” he said.
He said that the cost of printing and minting all denomination of currency in 2009 was N47 billion and that by 2011 the CBN brought this cost down to N32 billion.
He said that by 2014 the cost would further be reduced to N25 billion thereby saving about 50 percent of the total cost of printing and minting all denomination of currency.
Mr Sanusi said the N5000 note would not cost more than N3 billion to print.

Source: Channels TV

Tuesday, 11 September 2012

Horror! Woman delivers horse in Edo church

The horse delivered by the woman in an Edo State church on Tuesday. Photo: Osagie Otabor

Worshippers of the World Liberation Ministry located along old Sapele-Benin express road on Tuesday took to their heels during a prophesy programme when a female member delivered a horse.

The horse was however dead by the time Journalists visited the church.

It was gathered that the woman whose identity was not yet known started screaming during the prayer session and began to bleed from the vagina before the horse came out.

The General Overseer of the church, Evangelist Silva Wealth, said he was still amazed at what came out of the woman.

He told Journalists that during prayers a revelation came that there was a woman with an issue and that something was blocking her womb.

Silva said as prayers intensified, the woman started screaming and bleeding started when the object came out.

The cleric said he couldn’t confirm whether the horse was dead or alive because he didn’t go near it.

“I can’t describe the object. We have seen people that vomited several things during our service but not this type of thing. God has been blessing our ministry with prophesies and miracles, “he said.

People rushed to the church to catch a glimpse of the horse when news of the delivery filtered into town.

Let's Go Spiritual! Jonathan, Mark, Oritsejafor, Adeboye, others storm Ibadan for national prayers

President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President, David Mark, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Ayo Oritsejafor, Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Bishop David Oyedepo of the Winners’ Chapel are among eminent Nigerians expected in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on September 22 for this year's National Fasting and Prayer Day.

Coordinator of the World Christian Fellowship Foundation, organisers of the programme, Prophet Okoduwa Atorkpa, said the one-day event include, among other things, fasting and offering prayers to God to save Nigeria and the re-dedication of the nation to God.
Atorkpa, who spoke to journalists on Monday in Benin City, Edo State capital, said the theme for this year, “God Save Nigeria,” was aptly chosen by the organisers after a revelation from the Holy Spirit and following the recent insurgency and tragedies that had befallen the country.
According to him, for Nigeria to experience greater unity and prosperity, the people must forsake all the things that displease God and violate His word as God alone and not humans can save the nation from the impending calamities.
The coordinator, however, pointed out that Nigeria would not break up despite the myriads of problem confronting it, just as he foreclosed the prediction of the United States intelligent report to the effect that Nigeria might break up in 2015, saying they were words of men and not God’s words.
Atorkpa cautioned against the nation seeking only economic security without spiritual security, adding that, “the task of pulling down the strongholds and the works of the devil in this country and building a God fearing nation is the work of every Nigerian. Fasting and prayer is the key to all of God’s action on earth.”

A Chinese Thief Swallowed Fake Diamond!

A Sri Lankan security official (L) and uniformed police escort a Chinese national (C) who was accused of stealing a $13,800 diamond by swallowing it

A Chinese man accused of swallowing a diamond worth $13,000 (£8,200) actually ingested a fake gem in what may have been a ruse to help the real thief escape, police in Sri Lanka say.

Police say the gem that he passed after he was given laxatives was a fake.
They believe the real diamond was stolen by an accomplice who fled the scene in the capital, Colombo.
But the owner believes the real gem was taken earlier, saying the man only ate the fake in panic once police came.
Police say they are trying to track down the accomplice who fled the scene.
"We suspect that as habitual offenders, this group were in the habit of swapping real stones for fake ones," police spokesman Ajith Rohana told the BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo.
He said that the man who swallowed the stone had another six gems in this pocket, all of which were proved to be fakes.
Police say he could have swallowed the stone in an attempt to distract the diamond's owner, Suresh de Silva, while his accomplice stole the real gem.
Mr de Silva told the BBC that the Chinese men had visited the stall twice and he believed the diamond theft occurred during the first visit and not the second one, when the man swallowed the stone.
He insisted the man was trying to swap a fake stone for the real one and only swallowed the stone when he panicked after Mr de Silva apprehended him and alerted police.
"When the police arrived he had no option but to swallow it," Mr de Silva said.
Sri Lanka has a thriving gem industry but it does not mine diamonds. It is well known for its blue sapphires. Source: BBC News

Monday, 10 September 2012

BREAKTHROUGH? Nigerian university claims discovery of new drug, treatment for cancer

African University of Science and Technology has discovered a new drug and method for the treatment of cancer, an official said.
The President and Provost of the university, Prof. Wole Soboyejo, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.
Soboyejo said the feat was achieved in the course of the ongoing research into cancer treatment.
He said that the results of the research were already showing reasonable conclusions of a nanotechnology-based cancer treatment.
According to him, the research is collaboration between the university, Sheda Science and Technology Complex and Princeton University in the United States with funding from World Bank STEP-B Projects.
Soboyejo said to devote more time to the research, the project had been moved from the United States to Abuja, Nigeria.
He said that the treatment would utilise nanoparticles, which could be injected into the body through the blood vessels to the capillaries and then attach itself to the cancer cells.
The provost said the treatment would also utilise Biological Micro-electromechanical Systems and used for detecting and treating cancer.
Bio-MEMS refers to a special class of Micro-Electromechanical Systems where biological matter is manipulated to analyse and measure its activity under any class of scientific study.
Soboyejo said the research into the nanoparticles and Bio-MEMS was being anchored by experienced PhD students of the university.
“One of the things we have done is that we have moved the centre of gravity of that research from the United States to Abuja; we currently have two PhD. students that are working on nanoparticles.
“We also have two PhD students that are working on the bio-MEMS (biological micro-electromechanical systems) devices.
“We have now started the work to attach those particles to molecular recognition units which will attach only to cancer cells.
“That work now is at a stage where once the attachment is done, we are going to begin to do some cell and animal experiment.
“We are beginning to plan animal experiment and we are talking to some people who are basically helping us with setting up the animal cages to do the animal experiment.
“We are also setting up a bio-ethics committee because you know before you can start doing animal experiment you have to follow certain ethical procedures, so, we are in the final stages of receiving approval from the Nigerian Bio-ethics Board,” he said.
Soboyejo said that progress had been made in the bio-MEMS research ‘’as the implantable devices had the capability of soaking up drugs before they are implanted and squeezing them into cancer cells. ’’
He said that apart from squeezing out drug for chemotherapy, the devices could also be used to apply heat to the region where the cancer tumour was located.
He said that the centre of gravity of the research had also been transferred from the United States to Abuja with two PhD students working on the research, adding that one of them had already discovered an alternative treatment drug.
“One of the PhD students has actually in conjunction with the collaborator, Dr. Sola Odusoya, discovered a new cancer drug called Prodigosene.
“And what is special about this prodigosene is that we can make it from local bacteria and we can make it in sufficient quantities for drugs.
“We have separated it and we have tested it and shown that it has the same effectiveness in treating cancer as “Taxol”, which is a well-established cancer drug.
“We have also looked at the device design and tested the device design in terms of how it can soak up the drug and release the drug.
“Lastly, we have done experiments to show the effective killing of cancer cells by the release of the drug from the device and we are now ready to do the animal experiments.
“So, the animal experiments have been designed, once we receive bio-ethics approval we would like to conduct the initial experiment for demonstrating the shrinkage of the tumour in the last quarter of this year,” he said.
He explained that it was not ethical to test it in humans directly, saying it was the reason animal experiment would have to be carried out first before using it on humans.
Soboyejo said that beyond the use of the new drug, another PhD student was also looking at how to use a combination of heat and drug to kill cancer cells.
He said that because the laser beams had limited penetration, it could only be effective for near-surface tumours while the heat generated by oscillating magnetic fields at the nanoparticles would serve better in the treatment of bulk tumours.
He said that the university and its partners were considering the effect heat would have on cancer cells as well as how to control and regulate the heating while restricting it to only the area with cancer cells.
He added, “What we are now trying to do is to put a control system in place with some local detector that would make sure that that heat never exceeds the level that you need for treatment.
“The student is now designing and making the system and the idea that we have is putting in the ability to sense and also to control the temperature to do effective heating.
“So once we do that we would then be able to use that heat to release the drug as well as to kill the tumour and our plan is to follow the initial experiment on drug release on animals with the experiment on drug release and heat.
“The real reason for combining the two is you may be able to reduce the total amount of drug you need to have a therapy take effect and thereby reduce the side effects of the treatment.”
He said drug release must be controlled so that they would not enter the wrong hands as it had the potency to cause intoxication.
Soboyejo spoke on the process of testing the drugs and how they could be developed for the benefit of Nigerians.
“So, we would go from cells to animals and then our hope is that if everything looks good at this point then we would go to humans.
“The advantage of this is that: let’s say we go to humans and we have good results then the drugs are made here; the gels are made here; and the procedures can be developed here so at least it would benefit our own people,” he explained.
Soboyejo said that if the research into cancer treatment in humans was successful, studies into other drugs and treatment methods would be embarked upon for the benefit of the world population.
He expressed gratitude to the World Bank Science Technology Education Post-Basic projects for sponsoring the research, saying that without the funds, there would have been no advancement in the research.

Plane Door Falls, Crashes Onto Busy Street

Residents in a Seattle suburb are questioning how and why a sheet of metal the size of a refrigerator fell from the sky and onto a heavily trafficked street.

Witnesses say the object fell from the sky just before 7 a.m. Friday morning, crashing down onto a residential street in Kent, Washington's East Hill. The piece of metal skipped about 30 feet before coming to rest on the street, KOMO reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration was soon on the scene to investigate the incident. In a statement, the agency told ABC News the object was "a landing gear door from a Boeing 767."

Residents in Kent are still perplexed over exactly where the landing door came from. Just moments before the door crashed into the neighborhood, people described what looked like a cargo jet flying unusually low.

"It sounded like maybe a little distressed, or vibrating," Kent resident Diane Oien said.

Witnesses told KOMO that many people walk through the area each day, including children heading to school. Luckily, no one was injured in the incident.

Col. Stephen Ganyard, retired U.S. Marine Commander and ABC News Consultant explained that air force on the plane may have led to the door being stripped from the plane.

"What could have happened in this instance is, as the aircraft was coming in to land in Seattle, the force of the air on the landing gear door could have torn off an already weakened gear door that may have then lead to this piece of metal going into the residential area," he said.

This is not the first instance of plane parts being stripped from aircrafts and falling from the sky.

In May, pieces the size of cell phones from an Air Canada Boeing 777 scattered onto cars near Toronto.

Just days prior, a door from a small plane landed in the middle of a fairway on a Miami golf course.

In 2009, a dozen houses and numerous cars in Manaus, Brazil were reported damaged when parts -- one weighing as much as 550 pounds -- fell from a cargo freighter.

"This something that happens quiet frequently, especially as airplanes get older and things tend to break," Ganyard said.

A star footballer is to go on trial accused of torturing and killing his mistress, then feeding her dismembered body parts to his pet dogs

A star footballer is to go on trial accused of torturing and killing his mistress, then feeding her dismembered body parts to his pet dogs.

Married Bruno Fernandes de Souza, 27, a goalkeeper once tipped to play for Brazil, is alleged to have turned model Eliza Samudio 'into a human sacrifice' to preserve his reputation after she gave birth to his love child.

He is already serving a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence after being convicted of assaulting and abducting Ms Samudio, 25, but will be tried for her murder later this year.

Prosecutors allege that Bruno planned Ms Samudio's kidnap and murder with eight others, including his wife Dayane, a teenage cousin and former detective Luiz Santos, all of whom have been charged with murder, conspiracy to murder and kidnapping.

The goalkeeper, who played for Brazilian club Flamengo, is said to have watched as Santos committed 'barbaric tortures' on Ms Samudio before helping the former detective dismember her body.

Parts of the woman's body are alleged to have been fed to Bruno's dogs while the rest was buried in concrete.

Bruno is accused of ordering his wife to tell people that his love child, who was four months old at the time of the killing, had been adopted by them from a poor relative.

It is also claimed that Bruno told police Ms Samudio was 'a wh*re who will not be missed by anyone'.

A Brazilian newspaper has reported that the prosecution at the trial will allege that Bruno attacked a supporter, smoked cannabis and attended orgies with fellow players.

Edson Moreira, a detective who investigated the case, told the Sunday Express: 'An idol like Bruno, from such a major team, has turned out to be a monster.

'We have witnesses who will testify that he turned this girl into a human sacrifice merely to try to protect his reputation.'

The trial is expected to hear that Bruno met Ms Samudio at a party held by a teammate.

'Unfortunately for her, they slept together that night and she later discovered she was pregnant,' Mr Moreira said. 'When she approached de Souza and told him he was the father, he became enraged.

Prosecutors will allege that Bruno planned Ms Samudio's murder after she told him she would take legal action to prove he was the father of her child.

In a statement to police, his cousin claimed that, led by Santos, they kidnapped Ms Samudio from a hotel in Rio de Janeiro on June 4, 2010.

He said they drove her some 220 miles to a property in Belo Horizonte which the footballer and his wife used occasionally as a weekend retreat, where Ms Samudio was tortured.

It is claimed that Santos played loud music on the stereo to drown out the woman's screams.

Bruno, whose contract with Flamengo has been suspended, also faces charges of kidnapping, hiding a body and forming a criminal gang with intent to murder.

He has maintained his innocence throughout, claiming he has a 'clear conscience'.

Top Fuji artiste, Bayo Akanni Ojuyobo is dead!

Fuji musician, Bayo Akanni aka Ojuyobo has passed on. He died yesterday, Sunday September 9, 2012 at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja after a protracted illness.
But according to the information reaching AlabamaUncut the Fuji musician is said to have died of a heart related disease. Anyways he will be buried today at his residence in Mowe. This was confirmed by his manager, Mr Rafiu.

Lagos to introduce Chinese language in public schools corriculum

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The Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, said on Monday that the state government would introduce Mandarin, or Chinese language, in public schools’ curriculum as from next session.

Oladunjoye said this in a statement signed by the Ministry’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Lanre Bajulaiye.

The commissioner said this after a meeting with the delegation from the Chinese Confucius Institute, University of Lagos.

She said that learning the language in the state's public schools would be an opportunity for the pupils and students to speak the language and be able to adapt to the Chinese culture.

The Director of the Institute, Prof. Caleb Orimoogunje, said the institution was ready to assist the state with necessary logistics to make the teaching and learning of the language easier.

Orimoogunje added that Prof. Lirong Jiang, a co-director of the institute, would help in the take-off of the programme.

Jiang said the institute, as a representative of the Chinese culture in Nigeria, was set up to satisfy people's need about the country’s culture.

She noted that the language became necessary because China had become the new destination for economic growth and technological development.

``The Institute is prepared to provide Chinese instructors to teach the language and culture in the state's public schools as soon as the Memorandum of Understanding is signed between the state and the institute.

``The knowledge of Chinese language will help students to further their studies in China and carry out research in various fields of human endeavour as China has become a success story in the world economy,`` the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Jiang as saying in the statement.

Dead man appears 37 years after in Abeokuta

Barely a week after a child was reportedly born with Islamic rosary, (Tesbaha) in Sagamu, Ogun State, another amazing event was recorded in the ancient town of Abeokuta, as a man that was believed to have died about four decades ago was sighted at Mawuko area of Odeda local government, Ogun State.

The appearance of late Sheikh Ibraheem Nyaas at a newly constructed building in the area has continued to attract visitors both within and outside the State since the unusual event occurred few days ago.
Investigation by Leadership Sunday confirmed that last week Friday, the ghost of sheikh Ibraheem who had died for almost 37 years ago started appearing on the walls of a building belonging to one Saubana Fadeyi.
Expectedly, the strange happening has turned the sleepy Mawuko village into a Mecca of sorts as people thronged the area to see another oddity and seek the face of Allah.
The owner of the building who moved into the yet to be completed two bedroom flat a day to the eid el fitri celebration while speaking with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY confirmed that he started noticing a very faint brightness on the wall of his sitting room and the figure that showed on that wall was a replica of the portrait of Sheikh Nyass that he engraved at the entrance of the building.
His words: “My wife first noticed it and she rushed out to inform me, when I also saw it, I was greatly terified, wondering how such thing could have happened”.
“My thought was that the ghost would eventually disappeaed but on the second day, it brightenes more and started showing on all sides of the building which made me ran to a pastor of a church near my house for assistance”.
Collaborating the husband, Mrs Maryam Fadeyi said that when she saw that the happening was a strange thing, I told my husband to inform those that knows better than us, it was then we called on an Imam at a nearby mosque after the Pastor that we invited had adviced that we seek for help from muslim clerics to solve the misery”.
Fadeyi said that he immediately invited some Muslim clerics in the area to come and behold the strange happenings in his house”
Fadeyi said, “the shout of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) rented the air as hundreds of people trooped in to behold what happened”.

Source: Leadership

How 55-year-old man spent almost N3 million naira wooing lady he met online

Struggling to find romance again, singer Wayne Denton tried a Ukrainian online dating site and found himself a new wife almost half his age.
Glancing at his watch, Wayne Denton spoke slowly and carefully to the glamorous blonde on his computer screen. Everything they said to each other had to be painstakingly repeated by a translator – and each minute was costing Wayne money.
Unbeknown to the dad-of-two, in just a few months this beautiful Ukrainian stranger, who was almost half his age, would be his bride. Since splitting up with his wife, Wayne, 55, who has two sons, Richard, 22, and Daniel, 13, had been on plenty of dates with women his own age, but never found lasting love.
Cruise ship singer Wayne, from Oldbury, West Midlands, found fame in the late 80s after performing on TV talent show, New Faces, which launched stars including Victoria Wood and Lenny Henry.
“I sang Neil Diamond’s ‘Hello Again’ and one of the judges said that I had a great Neil Diamond voice.
“I got through to the final but as I sang an original song I didn’t win the show,” says Wayne.
Afterwards he forged a successful career, working on cruise ships as a singer and agent, but as a single man in the entertainment industry he ended up going from one girl to the next, following his divorce in 1997.
“I had a few short-lived relationships. They would move in and then move out. It wasn’t all the girls’ fault.
“I blame myself, too, especially since I was away a lot with work. I got very lonely coming back to an empty house.”
So Wayne decided to try online dating on UK websites and went on lots of dates with women his own age.
“But the spark simply wasn’t there. I am used to being around young people in my business and I am very young at heart.
“A friend then said to me ‘You’ll end up with a young Thai bride or something.’
“At first I thought ‘No, of course I wouldn’t,’ but then I thought, ‘There’s no harm in looking abroad’.”
So Wayne logged on to a website called anastasiadate.com for meeting Russian and Ukrainian women.
“Apparently, one in five of their dates ends up in relationships and all the girls were vetted, so I felt like I was in safe hands.
“I clicked on Ukraine and saw one profile that stood out like a flashing light.
“Her name was Iuliia. She was 29, a mum of one and absolutely stunning. So I sent her an email and soon we started to converse.”
Wayne had to pay to send her a message and to read emails she sent him.
If he wanted to see any pictures she sent, he had to pay for them as well.
Wayne had a niggling doubt that it could all be a scam.
“The pictures could have been fake and there was no guarantee Iuliia was even real. It could have been a man writing to me.”
But Wayne got the proof he needed when the agency offered a video date service.
“It cost £30 for 10 minutes but I thought ‘What the heck!’ The first time we spoke online I was so excited.
“She was very beautiful, with massive blue eyes, but it was frustrating because she didn’t speak any English and we had to use a translator.
“The 10 minutes turned into 40 minutes, which was expensive.
“Iuliia told me she had an eight-year-old daughter, Mylana, and that she had split from the father about two years before.
“She was nervous using a dating site because there was a history of Ukrainian women ending up as prostitutes when they met Western men.”
In fact, Wayne was the first man that Iuliia met from the site.
“I was worried at first, but my friend who worked at the agency reassured me,” says Iuliia, who now speaks fluent English.
“I’d had a lot of emails from different men, but I never met any of them.
“Wayne stood out. His photo was handsome and he had beautiful eyes.”
Wayne was smitten, but he still had his doubts.
“You can’t help thinking, ‘Why does this girl like me? Maybe she wants a passport or money’
“When I brought up the age gap between us, Iuliia reassured me that most of the girls in the Ukraine on these sites are looking for a stable and happy relationship, so age isn’t an issue with them.”
After two months and £500 spent talking to Iuliia online, Wayne decided to meet her and flew to her home city of Mariupol in October 2010.
Iuliia took time off from her job as an interior designer.
“She met me at the airport and I fell in love straight away,” says Wayne.
Iuliia adds: “We spent nearly 24 hours together every day for 10 days. It was so romantic. I knew he was the one.”
Wayne set Iuliia up with a Skype account and a laptop and paid for her to have some English lessons.
He says: “It was with a heavy heart that I left her but we arranged to meet again. My work schedule made it hard to plan, though.”
That Christmas, Wayne told Iuliia he wouldn’t be able to see her because of family commitments.
Instead, he arranged for her to be taken by friends to an expensive karaoke restaurant.
“I got the people at the restaurant to tell Iuliia there was a message from me.
“When the music started, I walked out with a bunch of roses and sang Neil Diamond’s ‘Hello Again’. She was so emotional she cried.”
Iuliia didn’t even know who Neil Diamond was at the time.
“When I heard what I thought was a CD message I was crying already,” she says.
“Then I saw my Wayne and I couldn’t believe it. I cried a lot.”
It was at the end of that second visit that Wayne proposed and Iuliia accepted.
“I knew she was genuine and that she was in love with me and that’s all that mattered, regardless of what people thought.”
The next step was to start the visa application process, so that Iuliia could come to the UK.
But, while Wayne hadn’t kept his romance a secret from family and friends, when he told them he was now engaged, not all of them were delighted.
“They all thought I was bonkers meeting Iuliia, let alone marrying her.
“They all said ‘What if it doesn’t work out?’ I thought I could meet someone in the town next to me and it might not work,” says Wayne.
In March 2011, they married in the Ukraine, surrounded by Iuliia’s friends and family and some of Wayne’s.
“We had the civil ceremony in a restaurant, which is like a registry office, and a month later we had the reception and the celebration,” says Wayne.
They went to Thailand for their honeymoon and because Iuliia’s wages barely stretched to anything, Wayne footed the £2,000 bill.
In July last year, Iuliia was granted a spouse visa and Mylana followed her.
“When Iuliia arrived, she couldn’t believe that there was so much countryside. She asked where all the houses were!” says Wayne.
“What struck me most was the clean, fresh air,” says Iuliia.
“Back home the air is smoggy from all the factories.
“When I saw our home, I was overwhelmed – a four-bedroomed detached house with its own garden and a collie dog.
“One of my favourite things in all the world is having coffee in our own garden with Wayne.”
Next year she will have extend her visa for 12 months. After that she can apply for citizenship.
She has no regrets about leaving the Ukraine.
“I wanted a man to grow old with,” she says. “It didn’t matter to me what country he was from.
“I wanted him to have a good heart and that is Wayne.
“Both me and Mylana have settled in now and Wayne’s like a father to her. She’s even got two older brothers to look out for her.
“I love England, the polite people and chicken tikka!
“I do get homesick, especially when Wayne is away, but I hope to become a translator and possibly do modelling.”
Wayne spent a small fortune on meeting, wooing and then marrying Iuliia.
He says: “All in all, after the website subscription, eight flights to the Ukraine, the wedding and reception, and visas, I must have spent about 12 grand, but I think that’s the best money I have ever spent.”

Source: UK Mirror

Revealed: Borno cleric names Boko Haram sponsors, forwards list to Senate

by Akan Ido
A Maiduguri-based cleric, Pastor Kallamu Musa Ali Dikwa, has named several individuals who, according to him, are behind the activities of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Reports say the cleric went ahead to forward the names of the alleged sponsors of the militant Islamic sect to the Senate President, David Mark, in an open letter with the title: “Open letter to the Senate president: My Suggestion on how to tackle Boko Haram”.
The cleric was said to have accompanied the letter with documentary evidence detailing the activities of the Boko Haram members in collaboration with their sponsors, the evidence was reported to be contained in DVD/CDs sent to the senate president.
The senate president, according to sources, referred the issue to the appropriate senate committee with a view to conducting a thorough investigation into the authenticity of the cleric’s allegations on February 29 this year but nothing has since been heard of the committee’s findings.
The DVD/CD evidence allegedly contained details of prominent Nigerians who are connected with the Boko Haram sect.
In the said letter, the cleric urged the government to do everything within its powers to decisively tackle the terrorism menace and put a stop to the Boko Haram sect activities.
Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the special adviser to the Senate president (Media), said he was not aware of the said letter but promised to get back to the reporter after making his findings.
However, another source close to the office of the senate president admitted that the office received the letter and passed it to the appropriate quarters.
The source said, “It is true, a letter like that was received from a cleric. I can’t remember his name again but the Senate president acted on it. Maybe the investigation is still in progress, I don’t know. But now that you are raising it [the issue], we will find out. The claims of the cleric are nothing that can be overlooked; something will have to be done.”
The Boko Haram Islamic sect has since 2009 conducted violent attacks mainly in the northern part of the country targeting many people whom it considered as been against its religious ideology.

13-year-old steals brother’s car to go meet 12-year-old online boyfriend

Eight hundred miles is a long way to go to meet any man.
It’s even further when you’re a 13 year old girl driving your brother’s car — borrowed without permission, of course — to rendezvous with an online boyfriend whom you’ve never met in person before.
That’s how far Elizabeth Annette Robinson of Cypress, Texas, was willing to go to meet the 12-year-old guy whom she met while playing Xbox over the Internet, according to KHOU-TV.
Last Thursday, Elizabeth decided she’d rather play the game of love for real and stole her mom’s ATM card, snuck out her bedroom window, and hopped into her brother’s 2011 Nissan Versa, according to KRIV-TV.
Robinson drove north through Arkansas to meet the object of her affection, Dylan, in Nashville, Tenn.
Elizabeth’s mother, Tressa Robinson, started noticing some changes in the teen a little while before she made her break.
“She started staying in her bedroom more, isolating herself where she was always with the headset, always talking,” Robinson told the TV station. “That’s how they communicated through the Xbox.”
When Elizabeth’s dad took away the Xbox earlier this week, she decided to make her break and run away to Hodgenville, Ky., to meet Dylan in the flesh.
Although Dylan tried to talk her out of the road trip, Elizabeth went through with it any way.
The teenager was about 50 miles away from Nashville when local police finally apprehended her, Dep. Thomas Gilliland, spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, told the Houston Chronicle.
He was impressed that she was able to drive for so long without getting caught despite being three years away from getting a learner’s permit.
“It’s amazing she was able to manipulate the roadways,” Gilliland told the paper.
Elizabeth was taken into custody until her parents arrived. Once they retrieved her from the authorities, they decided to arrange a meeting with Dylan so their daughter could put the thing to rest.
No charges are expected to be filed against the lovestruck teenage car thief, Gilliland told the Houston Chronicle.

Sunday, 9 September 2012

Twitter Wedding: Couple exchange vows on social network

Twitter has hosted proposals and divorce announcements, so it was only a matter of time before the site serviced an actual wedding ceremony.
On Monday, a Turkish couple made it official by tweeting ‘I Do,’ in what’s believed to be the world’s first Twitter-hosted wedding. Actually they wrote ‘Evet’—the Turkish word for ‘Yes’—on their iPads, and added a few extra ‘T’s’ as is customary when expressing joy through digital mediums.
The groom, Cengizhan Celik, is a social media editor for the news website Ensonhaber.com, so it almost makes sense that Twitter would serve as his best man. The bride, Candan Canik, doesn’t seem to share the same enthusiasm for the service, considering her vow was her first tweet. But love is all about making sacrifices, right?
In a video of the ceremony, posted on YouTube, an officiant prompts the couple to confirm their vows and they both gaze into the faces of their respective iPads. By that point, Celik was already deep into live-tweeting the ceremony. Earlier, he’d kicked it off by posting the update: “Let the fun begin.” It was an open invitation for the world to virtually crash the party. And crash they did. The wedding received international coverage and Celik retweeted copious congratulations with abandon.
How Skype made one couple’s wedding dream come true
After they made it official and signed a marriage license with pen and paper (wah-wah), the groom tweeted a photo with his new bride, exhibiting the precise amount of web-friendly sarcasm as he held a finger-gun to his head and made a ‘what have I done?’ expression.
That photo joined the carousel of images on Celik’s personal Twitter gallery, also home to photos of Jeff Daniels and Webster.
It’s not the first wedding ceremony to rely on technological innovations. Skype and laptops have been integrated into ceremonies when one-half of a couple is separated by an ocean. Servicemen stationed oversees have been patched in virtually to make their marriages official when they’re far from home. One couple live-streamed their vows for guests who couldn’t catch a flight to their Dubai wedding in the aftermath of Iceland’s volcanic eruption.
More recently, a groom-to-be tracked his proposal process on Twitter, and celebrities like Kelsey Grammer and Ashton Kutcher have used the social networking site to release public statements about their divorces.
Celik’s decision to live-tweet his romantic milestone was simple. He told a Turkish newspaper he wanted “a little surprise.” The bar was already set pretty high with singing brides and zombie wedding photos. But, Celik may have bumped it up a notch. If nothing else, he captured a moment most newlyweds say flies by in an instant. Too bad so much of it was spent looking at an iPad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HZoU5lQfIN4

Unbelievable! Man Divorces His Wife For Having Triplet

She was delivered of a set of triplet on May 4, 2012, and barely two days after the two boys and a girl arrived, her husband, Kabiru Yusuf, divorced her for giving him three babies at a time. Before giving her the red card, Yusuf beat the mother of the triplet silly. Welcome to the world of 26-year-old Zainab Siraju. When the news of Zainab’s ordeal first broke out about four months ago, not many residents of Kaduna, Kaduna State believed the story. All efforts to trace Zainab then, also proved abortive until August 30, 2012, when she returned to the hospital to enable the triplet undergo medical treatment. In an interview with Sunday Sun at the Yusuf Dantosho Memorial Hospital, where she was delivered of her babies, Zainab vowed that even if the father of her new babies made efforts to reconcile with her, she would never go back to a man who had no pity for her. “Two days after I put to bed and was discharged from the hospital, I received the beating of my life from my husband for giving birth to triplet. The next thing was that he issued me a divorce letter,” she said. The embattled woman, who could not hold back tears while narrating her ordeal, accused her run-away husband of lack of care. This was even as she alleged that she was beaten up by her brother in-law for daring to make her case known to the media. However, Zainab whose marriage to Kabiru Yusuf was her second, said she had no regret having the triplet despite the rejection by their father. Zainab, who also had three boys for her first husband, would not state why her first marriage crashed. She simply said she might have been chased her out of her first marriage by fate to have her three bundles of joy for Kabiru Yusuf. Zainag said: “Actually I was married before, but the marriage didn’t last. I had three children there who are presently with their father. I believed I left my first husband because I was destined to have triplet for Kabiru and these are my first delivery for him. “But, since he divorced me for having triplet, I moved in with my parents in Tudun Wada here in Kaduna, where assistance have come from good people, who have been assisting me with money, food and clothes.” The mother of six also disclosed that a few days after her return from the hospital, her husband’s younger brother also attacked her for disclosing her ordeal to the public through the media. Asked if she would go back to her husband, Zainab said: “I will not go back to him even if he begs me because of his uncaring attitude, which I am sure he can’t stop. He didn’t take care of me despite the fact that he works at Panteka. “He was aware before my delivery that I was carrying triplet. He was adequately informed, because we did scan and it was revealed that I was pregnant with triplet. “I am not disturbed that I gave birth to triplet. I use this opportunity to thank God for blessing me with the triplet and I pray to God to bless them for me.” Zainab also ruled out the possibility of getting married again, saying that all that mattered to her was how to cater for her children. Hear her: “I’m not planning to re-marry. I want to take proper care of my children, give them good training and a sound education. So, I will welcome any job opportunity that comes my way to enable me take care of my babies.” Also speaking to Sunday Sun, the Matron-in-charge of Paediatrics at the Yusuf Dantosho Memorial Hospital, Mrs. Ajiyana Ramatu, said: “After her delivery, her husband came here, as if he was going to do something, but did nothing. So, I had to go round my colleagues to see if there was any material assistance that we could give her. “In the process, some people gave some cash while others brought clothes. Two days later, when she was discharged from the hospital, she was divorced for giving birth to triplet.” Source: Sunday Sun

Top PDP Chieftain's Son Shot Dead By A Police Officer

Son of a one-time National Organising Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Umaru Dahiru, has been shot dead by suspected policemen in Bauchi metropolis in Bauchi State.
Sunday Sun learnt that Sulaiman Umaru Dahiru, aged 31, was allegedly shot when he refused to stop during a stop-and-search operation by officers and men of the Bauchi State Police Command.
Our correspondent further learnt that Suleiman was driving very close to his father’s residence at Murtala Muhammed Road, opposite Gwallaga Juma’at mosque in Bauchi city, when the security men on patrol allegedly ordered him to stop for identification.
The deceased allegedly refused and was shot by the joint patrol team.
His father, Alhaji Umaru Dahiru, who was until the tragedy a staff of the Federal Capital Development Authority, Abuja, and the Baraden Bauchi, confirmed the killing of his son, describing it as unfortunate.
He said: “We held a wedding ceremony in my house last Friday, so the boy was busy taking women that attended the occasion back to their various houses.
“We couldn’t see the boy and we tried to find out his whereabouts, but we only located his vehicle sprayed with bullets and discovered his dead body at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital riddled with bullet wounds.”
Dahiru, one time Commissioner for Finance in the state, explained that he was told his son was killed after he allegedly failed to stop during a stop and search operation, saying it was unfortunate that both criminals and innocent people were being killed.
On what the family intends to do, the PDP chieftain said there was nothing they could do, but to leave it to God to judge.
Commenting on the issue, the Chief Medical Director of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, Dr. Mohammad Alkali, said the police brought the deceased alive around 2 am on Saturday for treatment, but he later died.
When contacted the state’s Police Commissioner, Mohammad Ladan, said he was not aware of the incident.
Ladan said he was hearing it for the first time from the reporter. Source: The Sun

Accident Claims 12 Lives In Ogun

NO fewer than a dozen of passengers were feared dead and three others injured in auto crash on Odogbolu - Ososa (Ogun State) stretch of the Lagos- Ore expressway.
It was gathered that the auto crash which involved a Toyota Hiace bus marked XA 659DBC and which belonged to Ajetunmobi Express and a truck numbered LG 35BBG caused major traffic gridlock on the expressway.
The impact of the collision, it was gathered triggered an explosion that left the victims burnt.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement (TRACE), Mr. Ade Adebiyi, blamed the crash on over speeding.
The bodies of those that were burnt beyond recognition have been deposited at the mortuary of the General Hospital, Ijebu Ode.
Commander Adebiyi however warned motorists to desist from over said three persons escaped unhurt and warned motorists of the dangers of over speeding with approach of the end of the year.

Accident! A Police Officer Shot And Killed A Store Keeper Running Away From Armed Robbers

NEW YORK (AP) — A police officer shot and killed a convenience store worker who plowed into him on a sidewalk while frantically fleeing an armed robbery early Friday, a sudden encounter that the police department called a tragic accident.

Three men taken into custody at the shop after the shooting were charged with murder, robbery and weapons possession, prosecutors said.

Dramatic security video released by police shows the uniformed officer, his gun drawn, positioned outside the Bronx shop's front door moments after a 911 call. In a flash, the store manager rushes out the door. Closely behind with his head down is Renaldo Cuevas, who runs full speed into the officer, sending both men tumbling to the sidewalk.

A pool of blood appears to form on the ground the instant Cuevas lands on his back. The officer is kneeling and pointing his semiautomatic at Cuevas when the video clip ends.

Investigators believe the impact of Cuevas running into the officer caused him to fire one round, striking the 20-year-old victim in the left shoulder, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a news conference. Cuevas died later at a hospital.

Though the death appeared to be an accident, the officer was placed on desk duty pending an investigation, a routine practice for all New York Police Department shootings. Officials refused to release the name of the seven-year veteran of the police force.