Gunman surrenders in N.C. drugstore standoff

A gunman surrendered to authorities after releasing three people he held hostage in a North Carolina drugstore early Friday after a robbery attempt, police said.
The gunman surrendered several hours after releasing the hostages who were in the store when he tried to rob it, Belmont Police Sgt. John Wilson said.
The man's name was not immediately released and there was no immediate word on the charges he would face.
Officers were called to the store shortly after 1:45 a.m. and exchanged gunfire with the man before realizing there were hostages in the store, police said.
The officers left the store and called for assistance. Officers from nearby Gastonia, Gaston County and Mount Holly surrounded the store while negotiations were held with the man.
The hostages were released shortly after 4 a.m. There were no injuries, Wilson said.
Belmont is about 15 miles west of Charlotte.

Nigeria army 'kills 74 suspected Boko Haram fighters' in raid

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Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Nigeria's army said Friday it had killed 74 suspected Boko Haram fighters in a raid on insurgent camps in restive Borno state, the latest operation in the military's bid to crush a four-year Islamist uprising.
"The operations, which involved ground and aerial assault...led to the destruction of the identified terrorists camps, killing 74 suspected militants," area army spokesman Mohammed Dole said of the Thursday raid in Borno in the northeast, Boko Haram's stronghold.
The strike targeted two villages in the Mainok local government area, not far from Borno's capital of Maiduguri, where Boko Haram was founded more than a decade ago.
It followed a Monday assault on Boko Haram camps in another part of Borno, which the military said left 37 Islamists dead.
The military launched its offensive against Boko Haram more than four months ago and has claimed major successes.
But last month, President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the country's top military leaders to redouble their efforts following a spate of brutal attacks blamed on the Islamists that killed hundreds of defenceless civilians, including scores of students.
The phone network in Borno has been switched off since the offensive was launched. The military's version of fighting has therefore been difficult to verify with local leaders and residents.

Nigerian Rebels Claim Contact With Kidnappers of Americans

A Nigerian militant group said it’s in contact with the captors of two U.S. citizens abducted off the coast of the West African nation and is working to ensure they are well treated before being freed.
The unidentified Americans were seized from a vessel called the C-Retriever in the Gulf of Guinea yesterday in an act of piracy, the State Department said. The kidnappings were carried out by a “heavily armed auxiliary outfit” that made contact with a commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the group said in an e-mailed statement.
“The Americans will not be handed over for our direct custody, but we will have the influence to visit them and ensure that they are well looked after before their subsequent release,” Jomo Gbomo, the spokesman of the movement that’s known as MEND, said in the statement.
West African piracy overtook Somali attacks as the greatest threat to crews of merchant ships for the first time in 2012, according to organizations including the International Maritime Bureau. Before the latest incident, seven vessels were hijacked this year in the Gulf of Guinea and 132 crew taken hostage, according to Oct. 17 data from the London-based agency that tracks crime at sea.
Nigeria is the seventh-biggest producer in the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in September. West Africa shipped about 10 percent of the world’s crude last year, the most after the Middle East and the former Soviet Union, according to figures from London-based BP Plc. (BP/)

‘Disturbing Increase’

“We are concerned by the disturbing increase in the incidents of maritime crime, including incidents of piracy off the coast of West Africa, specifically in the Gulf of Guinea,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said yesterday in Washington. “And we have and will continue to work with West African governments to build the capacity and political will needed to address piracy and related criminal activity.”
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said she couldn’t identify the captured crew members of the C-Retriever for privacy reasons. The vessel is an offshore supply ship owned by Offshore Service Vessels LLC of Cut Off, Louisiana, an affiliate of Edison Chouest Offshore International.
“Our concern at this point is for the safe return” of the two crew members of the ship, Harf told reporters yesterday in Washington

Soldiers Ambushed

Attacks including kidnappings and bombing of oil installations by groups including MEND cut more than 28 percent of Nigeria’s oil output from 2006 to 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The violence declined after thousands of fighters accepted a government amnesty offer in 2009 and disarmed.
Troops in a boat escorting construction workers to a site in the Andoni district of the delta were ambushed on the Ikuru River on Oct. 22, leaving two soldiers dead, Onyema Nwachukwu, a spokesman for the military task force in charge of security in the region, said today in an e-mailed statement. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack blamed by the army on pirates.
The increase in piracy off the coast of Nigeria comes as officials cite a decline in attacks off Somalia in East Africa amid tighter security and better intelligence to protect ships.
“Compared to 99 attacks in the first nine months of 2012, 17 attacks occurred against ships in the waters off the coast of Somalia in the first nine months of 2013, in which pirates were able to briefly hijack two dhows,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an Oct. 21 report to the Security Council, citing reports from the International Maritime Organization.
The 2009 hijacking of the container ship Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean by Somali pirates has gained new attention through “Captain Phillips,” a movie dramatizing the incident that stars Tom Hanks.
To contact the reporters on this story: Dulue Mbachu in Abuja at dmbachu@bloomberg.net; Larry Liebert in Washington at lliebert@bloomberg.net

Saudi women inching closer ever to the wheel

 

 Saudi female activists are gearing up to test a long-standing driving ban, with more defiant women already getting behind the wheel as the authorities seem to be taking a more lenient approach.

Under the slogan "women's driving is a choice," they have called on social networks for a turn-out on Saturday in a campaign in the world's only country that bans women from driving.
"October 26 is a day on which women in Saudi Arabia will say they are serious about driving and that this matter must be resolved," said Manal al-Sharif, who was arrested and held for nine days in May 2011 for posting online a video of herself behind the wheel.
In a protest she led the following month, a number of women were stopped by police and forced to sign a pledge not to drive again.
The 34-year-old computer engineer who now lives in Dubai told AFP women have already begun responding to the call, and "more than 50 videos showing women currently driving" have been posted online during the past two weeks.
With the exception of two women who were briefly stopped by police, authorities have so far not intervened to halt any of the female motorists.
This, combined with what seems to be more social acceptance to the new phenomenon is encouraging more women to get behind the wheel along major roads across the kingdom.
A video posted on social networks this month shows a fully veiled woman driving in Riyadh as male motorists and families give her the "thumbs up" in support.
"There will be a November 26, December 26, a January 26, until authorities issue the first driving permit to a Saudi woman," said Sharif.
To reduce the risk of accidents, only women who have driving licences issued abroad are being invited to participate in the campaign. Obviously, none are issued in Saudi Arabia.
Dangerous for the ovaries?
But conservative religious figures are still opposed to women driving.
A Saudi cleric's warning last month that driving was dangerous to the health of women and of their children sparked an online wave of mockery.
"Physiological science" has found that driving "automatically affects the ovaries and pushes up the pelvis," Sheikh Saleh al-Luhaydan warned in remarks to news website Sabq.org.
"This is why we find that children born to most women who continuously drive suffer from clinical disorders of varying degrees," he said.
One female tweeter retorted: "When idiocy marries dogma in the chapel of medieval traditions, this is their prodigal child."
"What a mentality we have. People went to space and you still ban women from driving. Idiots," said another comment.
Women who have been calling for three decades for the right to drive in the ultra-conservative kingdom have learned that public gatherings can get them in trouble in the absolute monarchy where any protests are officially banned.
In 1990, 47 women were arrested and punished after demonstrating in cars. The minister of interior subsequently banned women from driving but no law was ever promulgated.
This time, "there will be no demonstrations or rallying points," activist Aziza al-Youssef told AFP.
Youssef spoke of "positive indications" from authorities. In particular, she cited the chief of the notorious religious police, Sheikh Abdullatif al-Sheikh, and Justice Minister Mohammed al-Issa affirming this year that no religious text bans women from driving.
Even so, Saudi Arabia's appointed advisory Shura Consultative Council rejected on October 10 a move by three female members to put the ban up for discussion.
Activists argue that driving does not violate Islamic law (sharia) as claimed by conservatives who support the ban.
"Just as wives of the (Muslim) Prophet (Mohammed's) companions travelled on camel and horseback, it is our right to drive using the transportation means available during our modern era," activists said in an online petition linked to Saturday's campaign.
The petition has amassed more than 16,000 signatures since September, despite being blocked only two weeks after its launch.
In another argument, activists point to the kingdom's underdeveloped public transport system and say many families cannot afford to hire drivers.
"My salary is 3,500 riyals (around $941/682 euros) and a driver costs me 1,200 riyals," a divorced mother wrote on the campaign website.
Women's rights have always sparked controversy in the kingdom.
King Abdullah's appointment of 30 women to the 150-member Shura Council in January drew protests from radical clerics in the kingdom.
His predecessor, king Saud, had to dispatch troops to protect the first girls' school in the 1960s.
For Sharif the campaign aims to push women in the kingdom to demand "rights which are even more significant than the right to drive."
Diplomats at a UN review of Saudi Arabia's human rights record on Monday condemned the kingdom's failure to abolish a system requiring women to seek permission from male relatives to do basic things such as leave the country, and criticised the ban on driving.
Saudi women, forced to cover from head to toe, still need permission from a male guardian to travel, work and marry.

US pastor home after being deported from Iran

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American Pastor Eddie Romero speaks to the media as he arrives at Los Angeles International Airport, October 23, 2013 after being deported

A Christian US pastor arrived home Wednesday after being deported from Iran for staging a protest outside a Tehran prison, denouncing what he called the "belligerent" Islamic regime.

Pastor Eddie Romero, from southern California, was arrested Monday and held for over 24 hours in the Iranian capital before being put on a plane out of the country.
Romero said he was treated well after being arrested.
"We had long good discussions. The primary interrogator spoke very good English. We really had a serious, serious discussion," he told reporters at Los Angeles airport.
"To me it was just a wonderful time together," he said.
Romero protested outside Tehran's Evin prison, calling for the release of five inmates who he said were prisoners of faith and conscience, including an Iranian Christian pastor and a prominent human rights lawyer.
"We have to do things outside the box," he told supporters and journalists gathered at Los Angeles airport.
"Because conventional ways are way too slow, way too slow for people who are languishing in prison, way too slow for families who are hurting to have their loved ones back."
Romero managed to livestream about five minutes of his protest, before being arrested and taken into the prison for questioning, according to organizers, who said he was detained for 32 hours.
He had been traveling with a tour group but left it three days before the protest, and went into hiding. Reports suggested he stayed at the Swiss embassy in Tehran, but this was not immediately clear.
"I'm a little bit unkempt right now, only because I have spent four nights on the streets of Tehran as a homeless person," he told reporters.
"At least that's what I appeared to be, until I was able to go to the gates of the prison and raise my protest, and then be taken in," he added.
Explaining why he did it, he said: "It is for freedom that Jesus Christ has set us free, not for bondage, not for tyranny. It's important for the church to understand that, and to work in many ways outside the box."
"It's enough for a belligerent government to try to stop people to have a good conscience and freedom of faith .. I'm just thankful to the Lord for the journey that we've been able to have here."

Norway's Somalis worry extremism is spreading

 

 

Somali immigrants in Norway fear that violent extremism is taking root in the community after reports of young Somali-Norwegians traveling abroad to join jihadist groups.One of the gunmen in the Nairobi, Kenya, mall attack that killed 67 people last month has been identified as Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, a 23-year-old Norwegian citizen who returned to his native Somalia in 2010.
Norway's Somali community was still coming to terms with that news when it was struck by another startling development: Two teenage sisters — 16 and 19 — had left their family in Norway to join the civil war in Syria.
"It is very shocking," said Mohamed Husein Gaas, a Somali-born East Africa expert at the Fafo research foundation in Oslo. "No one thought two young girls would travel to a place where they don't have any connection."
It's not clear how exactly the sisters from suburban Oslo, who have not been named, planned to participate in the Syrian war. But they told their family they wanted to take part in jihad, said Bashe Musse, a Somali community leader and local politician in Oslo.
Norwegian newspaper VG said they flew to Turkey and made their way to the Syrian border, without telling their family until they had left Norway.
Musse said he has been in contact with their father, who traveled to Turkey in hopes of finding the sisters near the border where the Norwegian police say they were last spotted.
He reached one of his daughters by phone, but she told him it was too late to stop them from joining the "jihadists," Musse said.

Marie Benedicte Bjoernland, the head of the Norwegian domestic intelligence service PST,

"I don't have words to express how difficult this was for the (Somali) community," Musse said. "In so short time, two cases. ... It's kind of a wakeup call."
He added that the vast majority of Somalis in Norway don't support violent extremism. About 30,000 people in Norway were either born in Somalia or have Somali parents. The wealthy Nordic country is one of the most popular destinations for Somali immigrants in Europe along with Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands.
The Syria conflict has attracted hundreds of foreign fighters from European countries, many of whom have joined Islamic militant groups. An estimated 30 to 40 people — and possibly more — have left from Norway alone, according to the domestic intelligence service PST. Security officials are concerned that they could pose terror threats once they return home combat-hardened and traumatized by war.
"Once they return they may be capable of carrying out a violent act in Norway," PST chief Marie Benedicte Bjoernland told The Associated Press in an interview late Wednesday.
Like in other countries, jihadist groups are targeting young Muslims, and in some cases Norwegian converts, through a mix of online propaganda and personal contact. Why Norwegian youth would give up a secure and comfortable life in one of the world's richest countries is something Bjoernland struggles to explain.
"We don't have a clear answer. It is a mental journey," she said.
For Dhuhulow, whose family moved to Norway in 1999, that journey started in the years before he returned to Somalia in 2010.
Norwegian authorities have declined to confirm his identity because the investigation is ongoing, but Bjoernland told the AP on Wednesday that the Norwegian suspect was well known to her agency in 2010 and that it even tried to steer him away from a path toward terrorism.

"We had several talks with him ... before he left Norway more than three years ago," Bjoernland said. "Obviously we didn't succeed, but there was quite an effort put into the preventive side of this."
She declined to give details of the conversations, and said the Norwegian "most likely" died in the attack, though PST investigators haven't confirmed that. The Kenyan government said Sunday it believes it has recovered the remains of the four gunmen seen in CCTV footage carrying out the attack.
Security camera images showed what appeared to be Dhuhulow and three other gunmen firing coldly on shoppers as they made their way along store aisles after storming the upscale mall last month.
The Somali Islamic extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility, saying the attack was retribution for Kenya's military involvement in Somalia.
Norway just recently made it illegal to receive training from terror groups. But even with that law it is difficult for authorities to prove that a suspected wannabe militant is traveling abroad to train with or join jihadist groups.
"When they are radicalized and when they are determined to go, for instance to Syria or other conflict areas, we don't have many legal measures to stop them," Bjoernland said.
"We do preventive work. We talk to them. We try to persuade them not to go, because it's a dangerous journey," she said. "I wish we were more successful. We have succeeded in turning some around from traveling. But quite a few have actually left."
 

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Armed Robbers Attack Bullion Van, Two Police Officer Injuried, One Robber Shot Dead

Commercial activities at Ijora Badia, in the Apapa area of Lagos State, came to a halt on Wednesday when policemen and robbers engaged in a gun duel.

It was learnt that the robbers, who had arrived Marine Bridge on several power bikes, dislodged a bullion van laden conveying a huge amount of money from its escort vehicle by opening fire at them.

It was said that the robbers started shooting sporadically into the air to scare motorists and residents, and attempted to escape with the bullion van. Their progress was said to have been slowed down by heavy traffic. 

Our correspondent learnt that the Divisional Police Officer, Apapa, Usman Ndanbabo, and policemen from the Area B Command arrived at the scene after being alerted by the sound of gunfire. The robbers reportedly disembarked from the bullion van and engaged the police in a shootout.

Other police divisions within the area command were said to have also blocked all the escape routes and dispatched anti-robbery teams to assist the Apapa Division.

In the gun duel which lasted for several minutes, a member of the Nigerian Navy and two other civilians were said to have sustained injuries.

However, one of the robbers was reportedly shot dead while another was arrested.

It was learnt that the Navy personnel and the others, who were injured were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. As of press time, the condition of the injured could not be ascertained.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos Police Command, Ngozi Braide, told our correspondent on the telephone that the remaining suspects escaped with bullet wounds.

Braide said, “The DPO of Apapa Division was informed of the gunfire around Ijora Badia Bridge and dispatched a team of anti-robbery policemen. The robbers opened fire on the policemen and our men retaliated. One of the robbers was killed, another arrested, while the others escaped with bullet wounds.

“A yellow unregistered power bike, with the inscription, Apache Hipar, was recovered from the robbers as well as two Ak-47 rifles with double magazine each loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition.

“Meanwhile, investigations are ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects but normalcy has returned to the area.”

Reported gathered on October 9, 2013, that some gunmen, on a bike, shot and killed three policemen in a patrol van in Ijora Olopa area of the state.

Police sources told our correspondent that they were working on the theory that it was the same gang of robbers that operated on Wednesday.

A policeman from Area ‘C’ Police Command, Surulere, Lagos, who pleaded for anonymity, identified the dead robber as one of the culprits.

“You may recall that two weeks ago, five policemen on patrol were shot and three of them died while two survived after the robbers on a bike opened fire on their vehicle. One of the surviving policemen gave us information and from what we put together, it is highly possible that it is the same gang,” he said.

A Case Of Political Witch Hunting : Honorable Moses Idahosa : I Do Not Know Ethel Joan Nwandike

Above is a photo that has been going around on various blogs claiming to be that of Ethel Joan Nwandike a Lady who claims she was invited for an occasion and raped by a Honorable Named Moses Idahosa from Benin City,on the 9th of October, in a story that somewhat seem like that from a Nollywood Movie.

The story goes like this: 

She is presently on admission in a hospital and she needs help,she needs encouragement,she needs you to help her find this man who has violated and mutilated her mentally and physically...Please spread this story and let us show Ethel love.

it goes on...... 

If you know any organisation that can help her recovery process please contact them and send them her email Haleyanderson48@yahoo.com.

Just to give you a recap of the story, the so called Ethel Joan Recounts the shocking story of rape, abuse, torture and near death!

"On October 9,2013 A friend of mine MOSES IDAHOSA reached me and invited me to come to Benin city for an event, i have known him since 2011 so I thought nothing of it,like no harm can be done after all we go way back and stuff,so I booked my ticket from Lagos and I flew to Benin on the 13th October a Sunday for the event.

 read more from here

Now that's the story that was supposedly given by Ethel Joan Nwandike, i wonder who cooked up this story as the person will well almost make a Good play writer, but did not perfect the job.

In an interview with the Honorable himself Moses Idahosa who has come out to confirm that this is obviously a case off political witch hunting by evil seeking people who will go to any lent to spoil his Good Name.

Honorable Moses Idahosa has confirmed that he dose not no anybody of that nature and so also the management of the said hotel (Alice hotel) was contacted to confirm if such an incident did really occur at their establishment which they said they are unaware of, so the question now is were did this whole scene play out?

The surprising issue here is that at the end of the story a plea is made for assistance in finding Honorable Moses Idahosa who Ethel Joan Nwandike, claims she has known since 2011 and that man invited her for the event in Benin, a well known figure The City of Benin in Edo State, that should shake up some dust...

And Ethel goes on to say shes not ashamed to come out and say she was raped and shes using this medium to reach out to the public.

Please take note of the photo below and see for yourself if this is Ethel Joan who claims she was raped and is not ashamed of coming out to the public

See pic that has been in circulation and i guess we all know the story of the Royal who beat his wife? same pics have been circulated as that of Ethel Joan 

Honorable Mose Idahosa is not in hiding he is a respected public servant, a respectful Husband and Father, whose image is being put to the test by certain individuals.

Honorable Mose Idahosa Speaks : please note i am unaware of these stories and i implore the well meaning people of Edo State and Nigeria to please disregard the stories being circulated.

Ethel Joan Nwandike, please come forward and present your case if indeed you exist!!!

N10billion Forced Extortion of Junior Officers over Sallah and Shares, Illegal Transfers of Igbo Officers to North

 


Information available to 247ureports.com obtained through competent sources within the police force headquarters in Abuja indicate that all may not be well with the Inspector General of Police [IGP], M. D. Abubakar. This is as some of the aggrieved police officers sought out our correspondent to share the rot ongoing within the Nigeria Police Force [NPF] Headquarters in Abuja and within the police units across the country. The police force has begun forced extortion of its junior officers of monies in excess of N15billion.
As gathered, eighty [80] police officers of South East extraction stationed in Imo State under the command of Commissioner of Police, Katsina were unceremoniously transferred out to the northern region of the country [Kaduna, Kano, Gombe, Kebbi, etc]. The rank of the transferred officers were said to range from DSP to CSP. The transfers which were announced in an abrupt manner by the Police Commissioner of Imo State struck the other police officers stationed in State with fear and confusion. Particularly, the sudden transfer of officer to the most unsettled regions of the country – did not unsettle the other police officers – but the refusal for the Police Commissioner and the IGP to refill and/or replace the positions left vacate by the transfer – has brought panic and anger within the police officers in Imo State and at the force headquarters in Abuja. The transfer took affect October 4, 2013.
The illegal mass transfer of Police Officer was reported to follow an odorous order from up the ranks of the Police demanding from all police officers to contribute monies against the Salah festivity to be forwarded to the IGP as Salah gift. Each of the officers were tasked the sum of N16,000 each – to be collected by zonal heads and forwarded to the force headquarters in Abuja for onward delivery to the IGP. A police source who spoke to 247ureports.com lamented that the requested for N16,000 is deceptively criminal because “if you refuse to contribute – trouble”. He went on to add that “the whole police system is corrupt from head down”. He told our correspondent that the request for N16,000 may force the officers to return to the street to collect money from motorists. “The IGP does not need our N16,000. He is more ok than us here”, he stated while adding that the IGP told them [officers] to clear the streets and expressway where they normal use to get extra monies to complement their monthly salaries, “but with this Salah demand of N16,000 where will I get it from?” asked the police officer. According to Police officer records, total police office sworn in numbers 371,800 – at N16,000 each – the sum amount exceeds N7.5billion.
It was also learnt that the fermenting situation inside the police reaches beyond the illegal mass transfer of south east officer to volatile areas of the north – and the forced contribution of N16,000 from each police officer for the IGP’s Salah gift – it also extends to extortion by use of purchase of Shares as a retirement investment for the police officers.
Our source revealed that two months ago, the police hierarchy – without prior warning – began deducting N5,500 from all the salaries of the Police Officers across the country. Two deductions were made – totaling N11,000. The police officers were not told before-hand of the deductions. Rather, after the two deductions were made – and the police officers reacted – that the administrators offered and explanation to the officers.
They explained that the two deductions were for the purchase of Shares in a firm [name withheld] – and that it will complement the retirement program of each police officer. Our source also revealed that a consulting firm was hired by the police IG to manage the Share Portfolio for the police. He added that the firm, interestingly, is owned by a former AIG. He complained bitterly that no one was given an opportunity to opt in or out of the program. “We became aware of the Shares purchase program after we started seeing N5,500 deductions from our salaries, two times”.
A deduction of N11,000 across the board of police officers around the country exceeds sum total of N4billion.
When 247ureports.com made efforts to reach the police department both locally in Imo State and nationally at the Police Headquarters in Abuja, it became apparent the police hierarchy were to unsettled by our inquiry. First it was the Police Public Relations Officer [PPRO] in Owerri, Mrs. Joy Elemoko who was contacted via the mobile phone. As she answered, our correspondent inquired whether 80 officers were transferred abruptly, she paused and then refused to answer – requesting/demanding that the source of the information be revealed to her. When our correspondent refused to expose our source, the PPRO suggested we visit the Station for face to face discussion.
We 247ureports.com contacted the PPRO, Frank Mba, at the force headquarters, the same scenario played itself out. Frank Mba was contacted through sms messaging. Our correspondent inquired from Frank Mba on the illegal transfer, the forced contribution of N16,000 and the N11,000 deductions – via sms message. He relied indicating that – he would not be able to provide the response through sms messaging. In his words, “will appreciate if we can talk about this tomorrow. May not be able to do justice to your question via text” [sms was received October 7, 2013, 10:38pm]. About twenty minutes [20minutes] later, Frank Mba sent another sms massage stating, “My brother, you are being fed with white and wicked lies. But just as I told you earlier, I am ready to answer all your questions tomorrow morning between 8:30 and 9am”. Our correspondent then requested for an email to send the questions, and Frank Mba relied indicating that all inquiries should be sent to doublefrank2000@yahoo.com. He send the email at October 8, 2013 by 8:44am. Till date, he is yet to respond.

UNBELIEVABLE: Burna Boy Strips, Dances Half Naked At Felabration (PHOTOS)

There is a new 'Fela' in town and it is non other but Nigeria's pop sensation, Burna Boy. 


The singer thrilled his audience at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos early morning Monday, Oct. 21, when he stripped to his underwear like the late Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti while performing for the close of Felabration, an annual event paying homage to the Nigerian-born singer, afrobeat legend Fela who died in 1997.

Burna Boy must have seen Fela in his dreams.
What will you call this?
READ MORE:  http://news.naij.com/50174.html

READ MORE:  http://news.naij.com/50174.html

Are you 'normal' in bed?

 

 

 

 How does your sex life measure up? That's the central premise of "The Normal Bar," a new book by Chrisanna Northrup and sociologists Pepper Schwartz and James Witte.

Based on the responses of an Internet survey of some 70,000 people, "The Normal Bar" endeavors to ease people's concerns about their sexual relationships by providing readers with an idea of what's "normal" for most couples -- from how often they have sex, to how sexually adventurous they are, to how they romance each other outside the bedroom.

"It isn't about a 98.6 kind of normal -- just the normal of exceptionally happy couples (gay and straight) and what we can learn from them," Schwartz says.

One juicy nugget -- 86% of all men and women are intrigued by having kinky sex. "This just goes to show that both men and women want to be kept on their toes," says Patty Brisben, sex educator and entrepreneur. "I can't think of any couple who would be 'satisfied' with predictable sex for the same reason people don't watch the same movie every weekend: There's no mystery, no excitement."

Sexuality counselor Ian Kerner writes about sexual health and relationships for CNN.

Admittedly it's hard to resist checking out how we match up to other people between the sheets. "Couples that come into my practice with complaints about their sex life are often comparing themselves to a rather unrealistic and fictitious standard," Dr. Sue Varma says. "They have grown up watching Hollywood flicks believing that bedroom passion should be spontaneous."

Adds social psychologist Justin Lehmiller, "Almost all couples, both heterosexual and same-sex, worry about how their relationship stacks up. This naturally leads us to compare our relationships to those of other couples."

It may be natural, but is that comparison healthy? It depends, say experts.

"It's tempting to think that statistics about how often other people have sex can tell you how often you should be having sex," explains Emily Nagoski, a sex health educator. "But other people's sex lives have nothing to do with yours. Experiencing sex differently doesn't mean you're doing it wrong, it just means you're doing it differently."

On the other hand, the quest to keep up with the Jones' sex life can have its perks, too. Although comparison "can be destructive if you think of the 'norms' as being ideals to strive for, it can also be empowering if it makes you feel that your experience has been validated and that you are less alone," says Margie Nichols, a sex therapist and pioneer in her work with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

"Because kink and open relationships are more common among lesbian, gay and bisexual people, these couples face more options and choices, something that can add a layer of complexity to a couple's sex life as well as more freedom."

Comparison may even inspire you to amp up your sex life a bit. For instance, "The Normal Bar" authors found that 48% of men want their female partners to be more romantic -- and that the No. 1 thing they want more of is communication, not sex.

"Responses like these might encourage some women to raise the bar on how they talk and act in the bedroom," sex educator Jamye Waxman says.

The survey results call into question stereotypes that men compartmentalize sex and emotions, says Jean Malpas, a psychotherapist in New York.

"Men are often described as rigidly separating sex and feelings," he says. "However, many straight, gay or bisexual men I encounter in my clinical practice appreciate meaningful sexual intimacy. They often long for a sexuality anchored in the complicity and playfulness of their romantic relationship."

One of the goals of "The Normal Bar" is to get couples talking about their sex lives and trying new things. It's an experience that Nagoski sees reflected in her own work as a college sex educator.

"By the end of the semester, my students know they're normal, but not because their quantity, quality or frequency of sex falls within some statistical range, compared to other people," she says. "They feel normal because they understand how varied people are, how many different ways there are to be 'normal,' and that the real measure for 'normal' is mutual consent and satisfaction."

Beautiful but deadly: Latinos' curves put them at risk

 

 

 

Elma Dieppa wonders if her cousin Helen Casillas would still be alive today if she had been more aware of how her weight contributed to her diabetes.

"She refused to take care of herself by not watching what she ate or exercising," Dieppa wrote in a blog post honoring the woman she describes as the "life of the party" -- funny, beautiful and genuine.

Casillas died of a heart attack at age 44.

Although Casillas lived with diabetes for years and worked in the medical field, her perception of her own disease was skewed, Dieppa said. Casillas told her cousin that the doctor wanted to take an aggressive approach to her weight loss, but Casillas didn't believe she was obese.

"This is the problem within the Hispanic community," Dieppa wrote on the blog. "We love our curves, but the line between beautiful and deadly curves is blurred."

In a 2010 study, Abbey Berenson and her colleagues surveyed 1,076 Hispanic women who went to public health clinics in Texas about their weight. The researchers found about 25% of the overweight Hispanic women perceived their weight as "normal," while only 15% of non-Latino white women did.

"Hispanic and African-American women were more likely to consider their weight normal when in fact they were overweight," said Berenson, a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Helen Casillas died of a heart attack at age 44.

Latinos overall are also less likely to lose weight and "more vulnerable to cardiovascular disease risk factors and other obesity related diseases," the study authors wrote.

For example, diabetes affects close to 25.8 million people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- about 8.3% of the general population. But the debilitating disease disproportionately affects Hispanics, almost double those of non-Latino whites, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Unfortunately, diabetes isn't the only disease causing concern in the Latino community. Hispanics are also disproportionately affected by obesity and stroke, according to Dr. Helen Troncoso, who serves as a health and wellness consultant in New York.

Although stroke rates in the general population have declined dramatically over the last decade, Latinos are still more likely to experience a stroke compared to other ethnic groups. Particularly among Mexican-Americans -- the largest subgroup of Hispanics in the United States -- stroke is the leading cause of disability and third leading cause of death. Overall, Mexican-Americans suffer 34% more from this disease than non-Hispanic whites, according to a 2013 study published in the Annals of Neurology journal.

Experts say these health disparities can be attributed to many causes, but chief among them is a lack of access to quality health care.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates 1 out of every 3 Hispanics doesn't have health insurance. About half of whites are covered through an employer-sponsored health plan, compared to 28% of Hispanics, according to a Gallup Poll.

"Right now, many Latinos are unable to manage the costs for preventative care," Troncoso said, "and will often develop secondary conditions that can be even more serious because they could not manage their chronic conditions with proper treatment."

Once the Affordable Care Act goes into effect on January 1, it should ease the stress for many Hispanics who have lower-paying jobs that don't offer health insurance.

Cultural factors also play a role in putting the Hispanic community at risk for cardiovascular diseases.

Latinos are raised to be self-reliant, which may be the reason 42% of them say they've had "zero visits" to a medical provider. It was the ethnic group least likely to use prescription medicine in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"But with some lifestyle adjustments, like switching to a healthier diet and getting regular exercise, Latinos can drastically change their health issues," Troncoso said.

At their core, authentic Latino dishes include fresh fruits, herbs and beans, all of which are healthy. But with immigration and acculturation to the United States often comes a change in eating behaviors, such as cooking fewer meals at home, eating larger portions, preparing foods differently, and buying more cheap and convenient fast foods loaded with sodium, fat and sugar.

Because food and family play such an important role in the Latino community, organizations like the National Council for La Raza are focusing their efforts on implementing more healthy shopping programs like the "Comprando Rico y Sano" (Buying Delicious and Healthy) to help Hispanics make healthier and more economical choices when grocery shopping.

Photos: Notable Hispanics in medicine

"Familism is very strong in the Latino culture," said Manuela McDonough, program manager for the Institute for Hispanic Health at the National Council of La Raza. "The act of sitting down at the dinner table is more important than the actual food."

Many Latino parents feel guilty about putting their own health needs above those of their families, according to the American Diabetes Association. They feel their time and money could be better spent than using it for preventive care.

In an effort to break down this mindset, the diabetes association has a Latino Initiatives health campaign called Por tu familia — or "for your family" -- encouraging Latinos to stay healthy if they want to be there for their families.

While these efforts to help educate Latinos about lifestyle changes will help, Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center, said the health care system also needs to change so physicians don't struggle to get their patients the treatments they deserve.

"For each patient I see, I have to spend at least 20 minutes on the phone with insurance companies begging them to approve the proper diabetes medication for my patients, and I don't get reimbursed for that time," said Zonszein. "Unfortunately, Obamacare will not improve this condition."

While the Affordable Care Act may leave something to be desired from physicians, Dieppa hopes that with widespread access to health care, Latinos around the country will better educate themselves about their health and heed the warnings of their doctors.

Because knowing that Helen Casillas' death could have been prevented hurts more than anything else.

 

Global brands team up to fight slavery

From Coca-Cola to Microsoft, some of the most recognizable brands in the world of business have joined forces in the fight against human trafficking and slavery.
The International Labor Organization estimates that 21 million people are currently trapped in slavery, with almost every country on the planet affected, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Many of these victims are children, often caught up in sex trafficking and prostitution.
Read More: Women raped by Sinai traffickers find help
Now a group of corporate titans have decided to take action by forming the Global Business Coalition Against Human Trafficking (gBCAT).
The roll call of blue-chip businesses involved is diverse as it is impressive and includes Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil and Delta Airlines, ManpowerGroup, Carlson, LexisNexis, NXP, Microsoft and Travelport.
Read More: Nestlé advances child labor battle plan
Capitalizing on their combined expertise, resources and global reach, the group hopes to tackle issues such as sex trafficking – especially the commercial exploitation of children in the travel and tourism industry – by raising awareness among consumers, suppliers and partners.
One of the key strategies is to develop and share best practices for addressing the vulnerability of businesses to human trafficking in their operations.
"Fully engaging the corporate community is a critical step in the war to end modern day slavery,” said David Arkless, President, Global Corporate and Government Affairs, ManpowerGroup and co-chair of gBCAT.
“Human trafficking is a global problem which can only be eradicated by mobilizing global solutions. Corporations need to take action, get involved and become part of the solution.”

Saudi Arabia blasts U.N. Security Council, rejects offer to join

The U.N. Security Council is riddled with double standards and has failed the Middle East, Saudi Arabia said Friday as it rejected an offer to join the body.

The kingdom claims that the council is incapable of keeping the peace internationally, the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement published by the state news agency SPA.

"To have the Palestinian cause remaining without a fair and permanent solution for 65 years, which resulted in several wars that threatened international peace and security, is evidence and proof of (the) Security Council's inability to perform his duties and responsibilities," the ministry said.

It also blamed the Security Council for not preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction in the region -- especially nuclear weapons, a likely allusion to Saudi Arabia's adversarial neighbor Iran.

Lastly, the kingdom brought up the civil war in Syria, blaming the U.N. for not punishing the government after a poison gas attack there killed hundreds of civilians.

Saudi Arabia supports Syrian rebels and advocates the overthrow of autocratic Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Egypt's prime minister denounces Coptic church attack

 Mourners gathered outside a mortuary in Cairo before the victims' funerals

Egypt's prime minister has condemned an attack outside a Coptic church in Cairo on Sunday that killed four people, including an eight-year-old girl.

Hazem Beblawi said the security forces were searching for those responsible for the "callous and criminal act".
He also vowed that it would "not succeed in sowing divisions" between the Christian and Muslim communities.
Coptic activists have accused Mr Beblawi's interim government of failing to protect churches from attack.
Their community has been targeted by some Islamists who accuse it of backing the military's overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in July.
'Terrible act' In the latest attack, two masked gunmen riding on motorbikes fired indiscriminately at people emerging from a wedding service at the Church of the Virgin Mary in the capital's Waraa district on Sunday evening.

Health ministry and ambulance service officials said four people were killed, including the girl and a woman, and 17 others were wounded.

On Monday, mourners gathered at the church, whose walls were marked by bullets. Security personnel were also deployed on the street outside.
Father Dawoud, a priest at the Church of the Virgin Mary told the AFP news agency: "What is happening is that all of Egypt is being targeted, not just the Christians.
"Enough! People are getting sick and tired of this."
In a cabinet statement, Mr Beblawi said police were investigating the attack, which he called a "callous and criminal act".
"Such terrible acts will not succeed in dividing Muslims and Christians."
The grand imam of al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest religious authority, said the attack ran "contrary to both religion and morals".

Gunmen fired shots as people left the church

The National Coalition to Support Legitimacy, a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated alliance calling for the reinstatement of Mr Morsi, urged police to bring the perpetrators to justice quickly and stressed the sanctity of places of all places of worship.
The Association of Maspero Youth, a Coptic group formed in 2011 after more than 20 Christians were killed by soldiers outside the Maspero state television building, accused security forces of failing to protect churches.

"If the Egyptian government does not care about the security and rights of Christians, then we must ask why we are paying taxes and why we are not arming ourselves if the police are not protecting us?'' it said.

About 40 Coptic churches were destroyed in a wave of attacks in August after hundreds of people were killed when security forces broke up two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo.
Islamist extremists have accused the Coptic Church of having conspired to oust the president.
When the head of the armed forces, Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, went on television to announce that the Islamist president had been deposed in the wake of mass opposition protests demanding his resignation, Pope Tawadros II appeared alongside him.
Pope Tawadros said that the general's "roadmap" had been devised by honourable people, who had Egypt's best interests at heart.
He has since received death threats, while several Christians have been killed. Christian shops, homes and businesses have also been targeted.
The Coptic Orthodox Church is one of Christianity's oldest, founded in Alexandria around 50 AD. Today, Christians make up about 10% of Egypt's population of 80 million

'Super nun' in Congo helps victims of Lord's Resistance Army

 

 Sister Angelique Namaika has been recognized by the U.N. for helping female victims of the Lord's Resistance Army 

A Congolese nun working in the Democratic Republic of Congo is making a difference.

Sister Angelique Namaika has been recognized for her extraordinary humanitarian work with victims of atrocities committed by members of the Lord's Resistance Army, the militant group led by African warlord Joseph Kony.

The LRA took up arms against the Ugandan gvernment in the 1980s and soon became notorious for killing, kidnapping and brutalizing people throughout central Africa. Its members are known for hacking off the lips and ears of their victims, looting villages and burning huts, and stealing clothes and medicine from the communities they terrorize. Those who survived attacks have been deeply scarred.

Namaika, who has received the Nansen Refugee Award United Nations award for her work in the DRC, has helped rebuild the lives of more than 2,000 women and girls caught in the LRA's web. She has dedicated the award to all the women and children who were abducted by the LRA.

Sister Angelique Namaika meets the Pop, Oct. 18, 2013.

Namaika said she was inspired to follow the path of social work as a child when she saw a German nun, Sister Tone, who used to visit her village to help the less fortunate.

"I thought it was worth giving more efforts for the women that had suffered at the hands of the LRA for two to three years," she told CNN. "It was very difficult because I had to bring some sort of cure, to relieve them of what they had been through. One of the main goals of providing these trainings was for the women to feel valued within society and be autonomous."

Pope Francis offers blessing

The number of people trying to recover from the LRA's reign of terror is staggering. The group has displaced 2.5 million people in the DRC, Uganda, South Sudan and the Central African Republic over the last 30 years, according to the U.N., making it the world's largest and longest-running displacement predicament. Countless families have been destroyed or split apart in this time.

Rwanda's president talks Joseph Kony

The hunt for Joseph Kony

The 'Kony 2012' phenomenon

Namaika told CNN: "Some women did not directly witness the atrocities performed by the LRA, but they saw them through their children whom they counted on. This one woman had three of her children taken from her, two boys and a girl, one of the boys was killed in the jungle, the other had both his arms amputated, and the girl had a sexually transmitted disease. And this woman carries this pain in her heart."

Namaika recently met with Pope Francis and sought blessing for the victims of the LRA. Just before the meeting she said: "I am going to ask him for a special blessing for us and for me, for me to continue to have the courage I need to fulfil my mission to help women to find their lives again."'

Working in the north-eastern Congolese town of Dungu, Namaika said she has worked with women who were captured by LRA rebels when they were as young as 11 or 12.

"For me, the impact on the country is what they have done in the hearts of thousands of Congolese children. He kidnapped children, who represent the future of the country. It is as if they destroyed the future of the country."

"They still spread fear throughout the local villages, and no matter what anyone thinks, even if someone feels safe, Kony could come out with his group very unexpectedly. People are still very afraid of going through what they went through."

After years hiding in the jungle, the number of LRA fighters is thought to be down to a handful, and the U.N. report says there's been a drop in the frequency of attacks against civilians. It is good news, but as Namaika knows, the healing will go on for years to come.

Dangerous 'truth': The Kabul women's poetry club

In Afghanistan, women are determined to protect new-found freedoms. For the BBC's 100 Women season, I met the women poets who face great risk, including death threats, to express their deepest thoughts.

In a little room tucked behind a Kabul cinema bedecked with Bollywood billboards, Afghan women are waging a literary war that is both personal and political.
They call poetry their sword.
"We take pure and sacred words and express our feelings with those words, " explains 29-year-old Pakisa Arzoo, with an energy as bright as her striking emerald green veil.
"But I know my society has this belief that writing poetry is a sin."
A few dozen women writers meet every week to share poetry in a quiet place sealed off from the din of a bustling neighbourhood, and the pressures of a deeply conservative society.
Amil recites her poem with an emphatic cadence that captures everyone's attention. It is a story they all know well.
"The fire of war has started and is burning the country / My heart is burning in these flames, my body is burning."
The Mirman Baheer literary society brings women together to share and publish their poems, and find strength in greater numbers. It now counts a few hundred members in clubs in several Afghan cities.
"It's our form of resistance," explains one of the society's founders, Sahira Sharif, a member of parliament.
Afghan women are drawing on their own traditions to break taboos. For centuries, in a largely illiterate society, women used verse as a means of expression and escape from lives largely controlled by men, except for their deepest thoughts.
Brave risks Women poets have gone down in history. The warrior poet Malalai - who famously fought British troops in the 1880 Battle of Maiwand - and Rabia Balkhi - one of the first poets to write in modern Persian - are the stuff of legend.
Most members of the society in Kabul are educated women in professional jobs. But most still write under pen names. Some are chaperoned by male relatives who sit in neat rows of chairs on the other side of the room.

“Start Quote

We talk to the paper with our pen and we fight for our rights on paper”

Seeta Habibi Afghan Women's Writing Project

Others write in secret, their work hidden from their families. Determined and defiant, they take brave risks to belong to this special sorority, if only by telephone.
When a phone rings at the back of the room, Pakisa Arzoo rushes to take the call.
A schoolgirl is on the line with her poem from a village on the outskirts of Kabul.
Ms Arzoo carefully holds the mobile phone next to a crackling microphone so everyone can hear her tribute to her teacher.
"As I am serving today, I have become a doctor / Teacher, if I am an engineer today / It is all because of your hard work / That today I have become a soldier of this nation / I can feel all the pain and suffering you have been through…"
"When we recite our poems, we remove our pain," says Seeta Habibi, Country Director for the Afghan Women's Writing Project, a group established with the help of writers living in the United States.
"We talk to the paper with our pen and we fight for our rights on paper," she explains. "Someday we hope we will win."
Threats from the Taliban in the west of Afghanistan forced Ms Habibi, the only female journalist in her province, to leave her home.
Karima Shabrang faced a similar fate in her village in the remote northern province of Badakhshan. Local elders condemned her as a bad moral influence for her romantic laments of love and loss.
"They said I should be got rid of. They meant I should be killed," she recalls in the simple mud brick home in the poor suburbs of Kabul where she now lives with two brothers who came to her rescue.
Unspoken subjects She recites a poem with mementoes of Badakhshan around her: a striped rug of bright colours; a quail, issuing its staccato call from its cage.
But her explicit images of intimacy seem to belong to another place.

Women at the Mirman Baheer often write in secret, as a form of resistance

"I miss you… my hands are stretching from the ruins of Kabul… I want to invite you to my room for a delicious smoke… and you will give me refuge in your shivering red body."
Is poetry worth a life in exile?
"I would prefer a dignified death to a life lived as a hostage in silence," is Ms Shabrang's softly voiced, strongly worded reply. Her work was recently honoured with an award by the Afghan chapter of PEN.
"It's true these topics are not acceptable in today's society but that doesn't mean what I express is not true."
'Stronger than a letter' Truth can be hard to tell in country struggling to emerge from 30 years of war.
The walls of the Kapisa Writers and Poets Society, two hours' drive north of Kabul, are plastered with photographs of Afghan kings, presidents, and warlords.

Dr Masouda says the warlords do not like to hear the truth

That does not stop Dr Masouda from taking on the men with guns.
"Oh my God, all the warlords testing their weapons again and earning a lot of money out of war..." she recites from a handwritten poem.
But local commanders threatened her with dire consequences if she did not censor her published work. I ask her what they did not like about her poems.
"The truth, the truth," she insists. "They want us to ignore crimes in Afghanistan, killings and bombings."
But for all the poets' pain, they believe they are making progress.
"Last year, five women won poetry prizes and their families realised poetry could be something positive," says Dr Sharif, an MP.
"If a family member takes a step with them, even for just one hour or one day, it helps their struggle with wider society."
At the poetry club in Kabul there is a poem to Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai.
"I stand in your presence, president / Take my request. / I have come tired, restless and injured. / Your criminals made me cry."
I later ask the president if he knew about the poem.
"Yes," he replies with immediate recollection. "The poet read it to me when I visited her province."
"A poem is always stronger than a letter," says Dr Sharif.

 As worries mount over their fragile gains of the past decade, women writers are now waging their own fight for their rights, including their right to write and be heard.

See What A Husband Did To His Wife For cheating On Him With Best Friend

This ugly incident happen somewhere in kogi state,a man return from work only to find his beautiful wife making love to his best friend on their matrimonial bed,this was really a shocking to him all that came to his mind was to beat the hell out of her,after enough beating with annoyance he mistakenly choked a knife in one of her eye…See pics after the cut:
WARNING: VIEWERS DISCRETION ADVISED!!!!

Snowden leaks: France summons US envoy over spying claims

Edward Snowden's leaks led to claims of systematic US spying across the world 



French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has summoned the US ambassador over newspaper claims that the US spied on millions of phone calls in France.

 France has labelled such activity between allies as "unacceptable".
 Le Monde says the data, based on leaks from ex-intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, suggest the US NSA agency monitored businesses and officials as well as terrorism suspects.

The intercepts were apparently triggered by certain key words.
The paper says the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on 70.3 million phone calls in France in just 30 days between December 10 last year and January 8, 2013.

The agency also apparently captured millions of text messages.

It was unclear whether the content of the calls and messages was stored, or just the metadata - the details of who is speaking to whom.
And the paper did not say whether the operation, codenamed US-985D, was still in progress.
Mr Fabius announced that he had summoned the US ambassador to discuss the claims "immediately".
Interior Minister Manuel Valls had earlier said the allegations were "shocking", and added: "If an allied country spies on France, this is totally unacceptable."
The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says the outrage is largely for public consumption, because the French government has been accused of running its own snooping operation similar to the US.
Le Monde reported in July that the French government stores vast amounts of personal data of its citizens on a supercomputer at the headquarters of the DGSE intelligence service.
Connections inside France and between France and other countries were all monitored, Le Monde reported. Emails, text messages, telephone and internet browsing records are stored for years, it said.
The latest revelations follow claims in the German media that US agents hacked into the email account of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Edward Snowden, a former NSA worker, went public with revelations about US spying operations in June.

The information he leaked led to claims of systematic spying by the NSA and CIA on a global scale.
Targets included rivals like China and Russia, as well as allies like the EU and Brazil.
The NSA was also forced to admit it captured email and phone data from millions of Americans.
Mr Snowden is currently in Russia, where he was granted a year-long visa after making an asylum application.
The US wants him extradited to face trial on criminal charges.