Army insists soldiers killed Apo squatters in self defence

Author(s): Bunno Esdiake
Nigeria’s Army chief, Lt. Gen Azubuike Ihejirika, on Thursday told the House of Representatives that the seven men killed in an uncompleted building in Abuja last Friday, opened fire first at security personnel, a claim that has been disputed by witnesses.
Ihejirika testified at the beginning of the investigation by the House Committee on Public Safety and National Security. The Senate has ordered a separate inquiry into the killings which sparked outrage.

The scene following the shooting of eight people in Apo by men dressed in military uniforms.

The men, squatters in an uncompleted building in Apo, Abuja, were killed after security personnel opened fire in an early morning raid.
The State Security Service (SSS) said it carried out the operation jointly with the army to recover weapons buried by the men who they claimed were members of the Boko Haram sect.
They also claimed the security operatives came under “heavy fire” from the suspected insurgents as they approached the building that morning.
Witnesses, residents and survivors have rejected that claim, particularly because the SSS refused to admit there were deaths in a statement it released shortly after the killings.
They accused the army and the SSS of murdering innocent people and foisting on them the Boko Haram tag, a claim they said is not uncommon in the military’s fight against members of the sect.
Residents denied that the men belonged to the sect and also denied that anyone was armed at the time of the raid or fired at the armed soldiers.
The National Human Rights Commission said it has also opened investigation into the matter.
After the first hearing conducted behind closed doors on Thursday, Ihejirika said he had told the lawmakers at the House of Representatives that the soldiers indeed came under attack before they returned fire.
“I appeared before the House Committee on Public Safety and National Security on the joint operation conducted by the Directorate of State Security Services and a unit of the Nigeria Army,” he told journalists. “We briefed them and informed them of the mission which was to recover arms and weapons and make arrests. We also briefed them on the fact that on approach to the area, the security men were fired at and they had to return fire and also make arrests.”
He said the operation succeeded in “pre-empting planned attacks” on some parts of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
He, however did not explain why the army and the SSS have failed to produce the weapons they claimed were hidden. He also did not explain why the survivors of the attack, supposedly sympathisers of Boko Haram, were left unguarded at the hospitals.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, who also attended the hearing, said he was not consulted before the attack as the Chief Security Officer of the FCT, but said he took responsibility for it since it was about ensuring the security of Abuja.
Asked if the building will be demolished, he said doing so will pre-empt investigations that were ongoing.
He however warned that illegal and uncompleted buildings in Abuja metropolis will be demolished.
“We will ensure that all buildings that have exceeded the two-year period approved for building are demolished. If we cannot demolish, we will make it a Police Post. This time around, we will take a definite action,” he said.

Perversion: Man stands trial for defiling his own mother in Ekiti State

A 27 year old man, Akintunde Omoteinde, is currently standing trial for allegedly defiling his own mother. According to a report by Punch, the sick incident happened on August 23 at their residence at the Ajebamidele area of Ado Ekiti in Ekiti State.
A resident of the area who spoke with a Punch reporter said:

“The news was shocking. Not many of us believed the story at first but the truth cannot be hidden for too long. The woman, a petty trader, was said to have been defiled by her son. She was badly injured and was rushed to the hospital for medical attention.

“I can tell you that the family is presently living in shame. We hear that the family members are planning to move out of the house but we cannot confirm that.”

The accused young man was in court this past Tuesday and was remanded in prison custody until October 16th, when the case comes up again for hearing. r*pe your own mother? Unbelievable!

Tunisians Getting Pregnant Through ‘s*xual Jihad,’ Lawmaker Says

 
A number of Tunisian women have traveled to Syria to have s*x with rebel fighters, a senior Tunisian politician said Thursday. The practice is known as “s*xual jihad.”
The women “are swapped between 20, 30, 100 rebels,” Interior Minister Lotfi Bin Jeddo told an assembly of Tunisian lawmakers, according to Al Arabiya. “We are doing nothing and standing idle.”
“After the s*xual liaisons they have there in the name of ‘jihad al-nikah,’ they come home pregnant,” he said, according to Agence France-Presse. (Jihad al-nikah is an Arabic phrase meaning “s*xual holy war,” AFP explains.)
Jeddo did not specify how many Tunisian women have traveled to the embattled Muslim country.


A fatwa, or an Islamic religious ruling, was reportedly issued last spring, calling for women to travel to Syria to provide intimacy to jihadi fighters there, Al Monitor reported at the time. Although some said reports of the fatwa were false, Tunisia’s minister of religious affairs spoke out against the order, saying Tunisian women and girls were not required to obey it.
Why some women would obey such an order is less clear, but one expert suggests they may believe it’s an act of devotion.
“Muslim women prostituting themselves in this case is being considered a legitimate jihad because such women are making sacrifices—their chastity, their dignity—in order to help apparently sexually-frustrated jihadis better focus on the war to empower Islam in Syria,” writes author and Islam expert Raymond Ibrahim for The Investigative Project On Terrorism, a nonprofit research organization that studies jihad.

Matthew Flugence: ’6-Year-Old Ahlittia North Seduced Me Before I Killed Her’

 
Matthew Flugence, the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana man charged with the heinous murder of 6-year-old Ahlittia North, allegedly told a detective that the girl seduced him into having s*x with her before he stabbed her to death, reports NOLA.com.
“In his words, the little girl, she wanted to have s*x with him,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Detective Travis Eserman testified Wednesday during a preliminary examination.
The detective said Flugence told him he had s*x with the girl on July 14, the day she was killed. “That’s when he snapped,” Eserman testified. Flugence stabbed her four times and watched her fall to the blanket writhing in pain, Eserman testified.
“He said he just watched her die,” Eserman testified, adding that Flugence carried on with his day. “He goes to a family birthday party,” the detective testified.
Jeff Mays, Flugence is the nephew of Ahlittia’s stepfather and often served as her babysitter and sometimes lived with the couple.

According to an autopsy conducted by the Jefferson Parish Coroners Office. The child had four stab wounds and bruising all over her body. The fatal wounds consisted of two very deep cuts on the side of the girl’s neck. The knife wounds were deep enough to pass through the cartilage in her spine and into her bone.
After her death, Ahlittia’s body was wrapped in her own comforter and discarded in a dumpster not far from where the little girl lived.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office charged Flugence with first-degree murder in the Ahlittia’s death. He also stands accused of the alleged s*xual abuse of another 11-year-old Harvey girl, and was booked on an outstanding warrant for that crime.

SSS Arrests Most Wanted Kidnap Kingpin

 

KELVIN AND HIS GANG IN MILITARY CAMOUFLAGE, FITTED WITH HOODS AND MASKS, BRANDISHING HIGH CALIBER WEAPONS LAST WEEK ISSUED A 60-DAY ULTIMATUM FROM HIS BASE IN KOKORI, DELTA STATE, TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THREATENED TO WREAK HAVOC ON INNOCENT NIGERIAN CITIZENS.

The Department of State Services also known as State Security Service (SSS) said it has arrested one Kevin Prosper Oniarah, the alleged brain behind the recent Kidnapping of legal luminary Mike Ozekhome (SAN) along the Auchi-Benin road in Edo State last month.

The spokesperson of the Service, Ms Marilyn Ogar, in a statement yesterday said Oniarah, reputed to be a notorious terrorist, kidnap kingpin and armed robber from Delta State, who was on the wanted list of security agencies, was arrested in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital by a combined security team of the Nigerian Army and SSS operatives.
“Kelvin Oniarah who is also known as Kelvin Ibruvwe masterminded the kidnap of Mike Ozekhome (SAN), he is also responsible for the following kidnaps: A Judge of the Edo State Judiciary; A top female official of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); Chudi Nwike, a former Deputy Governor of Anambra State, who was killed by Kelvin while in captivity and Several members of the NYSC and security agents,” the statement added.
Ogar, a deputy director (public relations department) in Nigeria’s foremost secret police organization, said Oniarah maintained operational bases and detention camps in Warri and Kokori communities in Delta State, Ugbokolo community in Benue State, Benin City in Edo State, and Aba in Abia State.

Who Is the 'White Widow'? U.K. Mom Could Have Kenyan Connection

 

Hostage reports that a white woman was among the armed terrorists in Kenya’s recent deadly attack at the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi have prompted rampant speculation that it could have been a suspect wanted for years by officials: Samantha Lewthwaite, otherwise known as the "White Widow."

More on Shine: Who Is Assata Shakur, the FBI's Most Wanted Female Terrorist?

“Nothing is being ruled out,” noted State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu regarding whether the woman could be among the dead hostage takers in the mall’s rubble.

Lewthwaite got her nickname from the British press after her husband, Germaine Maurice Lindsay, was named as one of the four suicide bombers in the deadly London “7/7”  attacks on the subway system in 2005. And although she initially condemned his actions, she went missing shortly thereafter, arousing suspicions, and later emerged as a terrorist suspect in her own right.

According to BBC journalist Peter Taylor, who just returned from Kenya, Lewthwaite has become a sort of “mythological figure,” adding, “If she is dead, then she would have achieved the kind of martyrdom that her husband, Germaine Lindsay, achieved.”

Still, some doubt that she could have played a role in the mall siege, as female involvement in such an attack would be "very unusual," according to CNN security analyst Peter Bergen. "Typically these groups are misogynist," he said. "Their view is the woman should be in a home and shrouded in a body veil."

More on Yahoo: Terrorists Claim 137 Killed in Kenya Mall Attack So why do so many speculate that Lewthwaite was involved? Here’s what we know about the 29-year-old mother of three (or four):

Her childhood. Born in Buckinghamshire, England, to British soldier Andy Lewthwaite and Christine Allen, Samantha spent much of her early life in the town of Aylesbury and in Northern Ireland. A local politician in Aylesbury, Raj Khan, who knew her family socially, told the BBC that he is surprised at the idea of her involvement in Kenya — especially speculation that puts her in a leadership role. “She was an average, British, young, ordinary girl. She had a very great personality. She didn’t have very good confidence,” he said. “She was not strong-headed. And that’s why I find it absolutely amazing that she is supposed to be the head of an international criminal terrorist organization,” he said.

Her conversion. Lewthwaite converted to Islam when she was a teenager, with the aid of a local Muslim family she befriended, according to the BBC. She stood out at school after that, teacher Novid Shaid told the radio network. “She seemed to be really proud wearing the hijab; there was a bubbly feeling around her,” he said, adding that, eventually, “we noticed her wearing the full jalabiya [robe], which some converts tend to do when they become more serious,” he said. She then studied religion at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London for two months.

Her marriage. The teenager met Lindsay in an Islamic Internet chat room, according to the BBC. They married after a few months, made their home in Aylesbury, and soon had a child together. Reports say that she had two or three more children after the birth of her second one, in 2005.

Her link to the London bombings. Lindsay, a Jamaican native and Islamic convert who became a radical terrorist, was one of four people who set off bombs in the subways, killing 56 people, including themselves. Pregnant at the time with their second child, Lewthwaite, then just 21, condemned her husband's actions as "abhorrent” and told the Sun, “How these people could have turned him and poisoned his mind is dreadful. He was an innocent, naïve and simple man. I suppose he must have been an ideal candidate.” Shortly thereafter, she disappeared.

Lewthwaite with Lindsay and their first child. Her reemergence. Lewthwaite has been wanted by Kenyan police on terrorist charges since 2011, for allegedly plotting an attack on “Western targets” in Kenya, reported the Telegraph. She was believed to be on the run in East Africa, possibly with Habib Ghani, who might have been married to her. The two were charged for allegedly working closely with Jermaine Grant (currently on trial in Kenya) when police discovered their bombing plots. Lewthwaite vanished. Earlier this month, Ghani reportedly died in an ambush outside of Mogadishu after fleeing Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab — the same group claiming responsibility for the latest Kenya attack. 

Her ties to South Africa. Lewthwaite used an assumed South African identity to take out bank loans and rent property in Johannesburg, eNews Channel Africa (eNCA) reported Wednesday. Using the known alias Natalie Faye Webb, she rented at least three properties around Johannesberg (though it was unclear whether she ever lived there), ran up debts of $8,600, and used the fake passport to enter Kenya in 2011.

Her alleged blog. Though unsubstantiated, reports in 2012 claimed Lewthwaite was behind a telling blog post (since removed from the Internet) called “Fears and Tears: Confessions of a Female Mujahid,” posted on the site of Muslim Youth Centre, a Kenyan ally of al-Shaabab. In it, the anonymous writer warned, “Fear can make you do many things,” and wrote, “My decision to revert [sic] to Islam is the most precious gift that my maker has bestowed upon me.” 

Blue Man Dies Of Heart Attack

 

Paul Karason, the man whose skin turned permanently blue 15 years ago, died in Washington on Monday.

Paul Karason, who became famous after his skin turned permanently blue, died at a Washington hospital Monday. He was 62.

Karason was admitted in the hospital last week after suffering a heart attack. He also had pneumonia and later suffered a severe stroke, his estranged wife, Jo Anna Karason, said Tuesday.
Karason was born a fair-skinned, freckled boy but his skin began turning blue 15 years ago after he contracted a rare medical syndrome known as argyria or silver poisoning from dietary supplements.
He was reportedly using a special silver-based preparation to treat a bad case of dermatitis. He had also been drinking colloidal silver.
Jo Anna Karason said some people started calling him “Papa Smurf” after his skin changed color. His white mane and long beard added to the resemblance.
“That was a nickname he didn’t appreciate, depending on who said it,” she said. “If it was a kid who ran up to him saying ‘Papa Smurf,’ it would put a smile on his face. But if it was an adult, well ….”

In 2008 a blue Karason emerged from reclusion and explained his condition on the TODAY show.
“He has been too ill to work for a while,” his wife said. “He didn’t like to go out in public much — only when he thought he needed to, like to go to the bank or to pick up tobacco.”
Karason’s ultimate cause of death as not yet been revealed.

Amazing: Nigerian Girl Born Without Hands Uses Her Legs To Write, Eat And Many More Things

 

Meet Sheidatu Abubakar who, though born without hands, uses her legs to eat, write, and even do henna decoration for ladies.
From a distance, Sheidatu Abubakar looks like most of her peers in school uniform. The hijab she wears conceals the fact that the SS1 student has no hands, unlike her school mates. But meeting the humorous teenager, you get the feeling that what she lacked in hands, she more than made up through the maximum utilisation of her legs, and this makes her the most popular girl in her hometown of Lapai, Niger State.

Born 16 years ago without hands, Sheda, as she is fondly called among her peers, has refused to allow her physical challenges to stand in the way of her dreams. And determined to realise her potentials to the fullest, Sheda is not only going to school but is competing favorably in the classroom with her normal classmates, particularly in design and drawing.
“I use one of my legs to draw and design to specification. I have been using my toes to give women beautiful henna designs during marriage or naming ceremonies. And I do this (henna decoration) in about an hour or so depending on what the clients asked for,” she told Weekly Trust in Lapai, adding that “Nobody thought me how to make such designs.”
She said there are instances where she collects money for the service rendered. If I were to be paid, I collect N 50 per hand and leg, so the payment for complete service is N 200 per person. And I can do four in a day.”
Indeed, Sheida has been using her toes to do so many other things including writing in class, eating and washing clothes, as well as helping her younger ones to loosen their hair for plaiting. She, however admitted that she cannot plait as she would have loved to.
Speaking on her future plans, Sheida said she nurses the ambition of going to as far as university to study. “I started school after the age of six unlike most of my mates, but I will want to study Fine Art one day in the university,” she said.
No stigmatisation
Sheida told Weekly Trust that she has never experienced any form of stigmatization either from her mates in the school or from the people in her community. Rather, she noted, most of them adore me. “The physical challenge I have may be seen as a curse by some, but to me it is a blessing. Because of my nature, I have near unrestricted access to the Emir of Lapai. I have his direct line and can also call him.”
She said her only constraint in life is that her parents are financially weak. “But still if given the necessary support, the sky would be my limit in ensuring she that has acquired higher education,” she said, and appealed to the government and well spirited individuals to come to her aid toward realizing her dream.
“I hope to one day secure employment after my studies, so that I can buy a car for my father who has been toiling to take me to school on his old motorcycle, especially in this raining season.”
Going down memory lane, Malam Abubakar R. Daji, a staff of Lapai Local Government Council, said he still recalls the day (Friday, September 23, 1996) Sheida was born. “When my wife gave birth, the nurse attending to her came out in rude shock, saying ‘Inna lillahi Wa’inna ilaihi Rajiun’ (meaning ‘we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return’). She kept on reciting without saying anything to anybody.

“After calming down, she told me that the baby came out without both hands. Meanwhile, my wife, who was in the labour room, panicked thinking she had a still birth. I, therefore, quickly went to and told my wife, and calmed her by letting her know whatever comes from God be it good or bad we must accept in good faith. She understood.”
According him, shortly after the news hit the town, their house turned into a Mecca of sort as people trooped to see the baby. He said he would never forget the words of the former chairman of Lapai LG Umaru Sidi. He told me that a person that was born in similar circumstances in their community is not only alive today. but is one of the most influential people in the area.
He said he once wrote the Niger State government about six years ago seeking for assistance, but only a wheelchair was given to them. “I said to myself, a person without a limb cannot use a wheelchair, therefore we handed it over to someone to whom it would be useful.”
The father of the girl said initially they were not keen on sending the little girl to school until she started exhibiting her God-given talent. “When we saw her potentials, we enrolled her at a private school. But after sometimes, we had to withdraw her because even Sheida believed the school was expensive. Fortunately for us she is still doing pretty well in school.”
Sheida’s mother, Fatima Umar, said she is not finding it difficult to cater for her daughter. “Sheida, like other children, crawled before she started walking. But when she started crawling, instead of moving on hands and knees, she would be twisting her body while on ground.
Malama Fatima said the day she would never forget was the day she kept Sheida and her food on one side and rushed to get a stool, “but to my surprise on coming back I found Sheida feeding herself by using her toes to hold the spoon.
She further revealed that her daughter wears and removes her clothes without any difficulty, particularly her uniform as she always accused her younger ones of not washing it as it should be.
According to her, the little girl was still crawling when her mother gave birth to her younger brother. But when he started walking, she took that as a challenge and started learning how to walk.
Sheida, as a girl, is very active at the home front as she actively participates in the house chores, particularly kitchen activities. Her mother said Sheida cooks her favourite meal of pasta by herself, even though she requires some assistance like arranging of firewood and lighting the fire.
“It is my prayer that Sheida will one day realise her dreams in life,” Malama Fatima said.

Man's 'Forehead Nose' a Common Reconstruction Technique

 

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Despite his perhaps bizarre appearance, a man in China who is growing a new nose on his forehead is the beneficiary of a rather common nose reconstruction technique.
The man suffered damage to his nose and an infection after a severe car accident, and the infection had eaten away at the cartilage in his nose, making it impossible to for doctors to fix his original nose. Instead, the team decided to grow the man an entirely new nose on his forehead, according to the Huffington Post.
But despite its extreme appearance, this method is not that different from plastic surgery techniques used all the time, said Dr. David Cangello, an attending plastic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital and Manhattan, Eye Ear and Throat Hospital in New York.
"I would call it a different take on principles that we commonly use in reconstruction," Cangello said.
Forehead nose
The man's doctors placed tissue expanders, which create space to stretch the skin, under the man's forehead, and created the rough shape of a nose, probably using screws and plates. They then harvested cartilage from his ribs to fill in the nose. Once the nose is ready, they will rotate the entire assemblage — skin, blood vessels, cartilage and all — and move the new nose to where his current nose sits.
That is only slightly different from current methods of nose reconstruction, Cangello told LiveScience. Though reconstructive surgeons would also put tissue expanders under the forehead skin to stretch the skin enough to cover the new nose, they would place the nose differently.
"We typically take the cartilage from the rib, and we put it right where the nose structure would already be, and we bring the skin flap over it and cover it," Cangello said.
Afterward, the doctors suture together the skin flaps of the forehead, which will usually leave a small scar.
 
Key blood vessels
Though it may seem like a patient might prefer to grow a new nose on a different part of the body that could be more inconspicuous, there are good reasons to use forehead skin.
"We like to use similar tissues to reconstruct organs within the same area," Cangello said.
The forehead is also enervated with blood vessels that nourish the tissue transplant, so the surgeons don't have to disconnect and reconnect those vessels to place the nose in its correct position. If the doctors were to grow the nose on a forearm or a leg, for instance, they would have to undertake a laborious microsurgery to take the blood vessels that feed and drain the transplant.
 
Better nose?
The man still seems to have a nose that, at least in pictures, looks fairly normal. By contrast, his replacement nose is pretty large.
"To be honest, the little nose that he has almost looks more in harmony than what they have on his forehead," Cangello said.
But the new nose should shrink once it's in place, he added.
It's also possible the researchers needed to replace the man's current nose because he had trouble breathing properly.
"Whenever we perform a reconstruction, there are two things in mind," Cangello said. "It's not just form, but it's also function."

'White Widow' Samantha Lewthwaite: Was she involved in Kenya mall attack?

British-born Samantha Lewthwaite was once seen as a kind of victim of the July 2005 London terror attacks -- the pregnant wife of one of the suicide bombers who killed 52 people, now left alone to care for her children.

She condemned the attacks but then vanished. Now, Kenyan authorities say, she is the infamous "White Widow," alleged to be a supporter and financier of people linked to the Somali terror group Al-Shabaab.

Reports that a white woman was among the terrorists who stormed Nairobi, Kenya's, upscale Westgate Shopping Mall on Saturday -- an operation for which Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility -- have prompted a slew of media speculation that she might have been involved.

But no official confirmation has been given. A senior Kenyan government official said a woman was among the attackers. Yet it is "impossible," based on the government's photo evidence (and before a forensics examination is complete), to determine who that might be.

Lewthwaite, born in Buckinghamshire, England, earned her nickname as the widow of Germaine Lindsay, one of the four suicide bombers who attacked London's transportation system on July 7, 2005.

Now age 29, Lewthwaite met Lindsay, a British Muslim, when she was 17, according to the Daily Mail. A convert to Islam, she married him in 2002.

After the London attacks, she denied having knowledge of the plans. Later, Kenyan authorities said, she emerged in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa and became part of a terror cell linked to Al-Shabaab.

In December 2011, Kenyan authorities raided three homes in Mombasa, including one allegedly used by Lewthwaite, and arrested some people on suspicion of planning to destroy a bridge, a ferry and hotels frequented by Western tourists.

At Lewthwaite's residence, investigators found the kind of bomb-making materials that were used in the London attacks, Kenyan counterterror police said. But Lewthwaite was not found.

A security guard who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity in 2012 said he saw a white woman leave the residence hours before the raid. Authorities have yet to catch up to her.

Kenyan authorities also suspect Lewthwaite of hatching a plot to break fellow Briton Jermaine Grant out of jail after he was arrested in connection with the alleged Mombasa plot.

'An innocent young person'

But in the English town of Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire, where Lewthwaite lived with Lindsay for a time, she is remembered by local councilor Raj Khan as a good, helpful woman.

"She was an innocent young person," said Khan, who said he knew Lewthwaite as a "family friend" before the July 2005 bombings.

"She would do anything to accommodate other people. She was a very good human being. She did everything to help others."

He warned against judging her based on rumors and speculation.

"I'm worried that the picture that has been demonizing her may be premature because it has not been substantiated," he said. "Unless there is hard evidence, we should not just unnecessarily jump to conclusions."

Lewthwaite also reportedly spent time in Banbridge, in Northern Ireland, where her grandmother, Elizabeth Allen, still lives.

A family friend, local councilor Joan Baird, said Monday that Allen was elderly and ill, and had been "in and out of hospital."

This speculation about her granddaughter is upsetting, Baird said.

"This is very distressing for all the family, a decent family. And it got worse with the news (from Kenya). It's also very distressing for the people of Banbridge, on behalf of the family," she said.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, Lewthwaite's father was a British soldier posted to the area who married a local woman.

'Very unusual'

Kenyan officials have given differing accounts of the involvement of a white woman in the Westgate Mall attack.

Senior Kenyan intelligence officials told CNN that surveillance video from inside the mall appeared to show such a woman taking part in the attack. Analysts believe she is British, the sources said.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed told "PBS NewsHour" on Monday that a British woman was among the attackers. "She has, I think, done this many times before," she said of the woman but did not name the suspect.

Kenyan State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu told CNN that "multiple witnesses" have said they saw a woman among the attackers.

"We have also been told that if it is the same woman that they say they saw, that she would have been killed very early on in the attack," he said.

But he cautioned, "We don't know for sure that we had a woman. And secondly, because of the bodies trapped under the rubble, we don't know if she is who everyone says she might be."

Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku previously told reporters that all the attackers were men. Some of them apparently had dressed as women, he said.

But on Wednesday, he revisited the speculation that a woman was involved, saying that authorities were "hearing possibilities and information," including from the public. "We want to again request you to allow the forensic experts to determine whether that is true," he said.

Female involvement in such an attack would be "very unusual," said CNN security analyst Peter Bergen.

"Typically these groups are misogynist," he said. "Their view is the woman should be in a home and shrouded in a body veil."

Questions linger after Nairobi mall attack

Some answers may be revealed in blood-stained halls or deep in the rubble of Nairobi's Westgate Mall. Others may never be known.

That's the reality for investigators and the people of Kenya on Wednesday, still coming to grips with a vicious attack and armed standoff that ended a day earlier.

At least 61 civilians and six Kenyan security officers died in the attack and rescue efforts, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Tuesday, but the death toll will rise as recovery workers retrieve bodies buried in the rubble of the partially collapsed mall.

Kenyan forces killed five of the terrorists, and 11 other people are in custody for possible links to the attacks, Kenyatta said, declaring that his country had "ashamed and defeated" the attackers.

But even though Kenyatta declared the siege over, an immense amount of work remains to learn how Al-Shabaab, a terror group thought to be badly bruised by recent losses of territory in its Somalian homeland, was able to pull off such a well-coordinated and brazen attack.

How did they do it?

It started on Saturday when the attackers stormed into the upscale mall and began shooting. A senior Kenyan government official said they took "very few" people captive; the attackers were primarily out for blood.

"They were not interested in hostage-taking," the official said. "They only wanted to kill."

The attackers were well-enough equipped to kill dozens of civilians, then fend off Kenyan security forces for four days -- not the sort of action that can be pulled off on a whim.

That raises a number of questions: How could such a significant plot, involving travel arrangements, arms transfers and other details, have escaped the attention of intelligence officials? Did the attackers have inside help, either at the mall or within security forces?

So far, Kenyan and U.S. authorities aren't answering such questions, certainly not publicly. But The New York Times, citing unnamed American security officials, said Wednesday that it appeared the attack had been well-planned and that the attackers must have had access to storage at the mall to stash their weapons.

One official quoted by the newspaper said militants had access to a heavy belt-fed machine gun that couldn't have been openly carried into the mall without attracting notice.

Al-Shabaab grew amid Somalia's lawlessness

Who were the attackers?

Kenyan authorities have said 10 to 15 attackers were believed to be involved.

One of the attackers was Dutch, another British, Kenya State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu told CNN on Wednesday.

Al-Shabaab had previously claimed that Americans were involved in the attack, a claim Kenyatta noted Tuesday but said has yet to be verified. Esipisu said Wednesday that Kenyan authorities believe attackers of "a few other nationalities" were involved.

Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku told reporters Wednesday that authorities cannot confirm the nationalities of the terrorists until forensic testing is complete. He said the United States, Israel, Britain, Germany, and Canada are helping in the mall forensic investigation.

Citing unnamed American officials, The Times reported that American officials believed Al-Shabaab may have recruited the attackers from the United States and other Western countries for their skill in English, which is widely spoken in Kenya.

One of the more tantalizing rumors suggests the involvement of Samantha Lewthwaite, a British woman whose husband killed himself in a 2005 London suicide bombing. Known as the "White Widow," Lewthwaite has been wanted by international counter-terrorism officials since authorities found bomb-making materials in her Mombasa, Kenya, apartment in 2011. She vanished shortly before a raid.

Was the "White Widow" involved?

A senior Kenyan official said Tuesday that a woman was involved in the attack. Esipisu said Wednesday that authorities can't say much about who the woman was or what she was doing.

"What we've been told by multiple witnesses is that they saw a woman. We have also been told that if it is the same woman that they say they saw, that she would have been killed very early on in the attack," Esipisu said." We don't know for sure that we had a woman. And secondly, because of the bodies trapped under the rubble, we don't know if she is who everyone says she might be."

Where are they?

Some of them are dead, inside the rubble of the partially collapsed mall, Kenyatta said.

But while he said five of the terrorists had been killed by Kenyan forces and 11 people were in custody, it was not clear if all of the attackers had been accounted for, or if some may have been able to slip out in the chaos.

While a senior Kenyan official said forces were able to drive two attackers trying to escape by car back inside the mall, it's unclear if any others might have been able to successfully elude authorities early in the crisis. Others could have escaped by posing as civilians, perhaps after ditching their weapons and changing clothes.

How to help

On Wednesday, a high-level source who asked for anonymity told CNN that Kenyan counterterrorism police had arrested a British national of Somalia descent who had injuries on his face and was acting suspiciously as he tried to board a Turkish Airlines flight. It's not clear if Kenyan authorities suspect the man of being inside the mall during the attack, but authorities found they had no record of the man's entry into the country, the source said.

Kenyatta, whose country boasts deep counterterrorism ties to the United States, vowed to track down and punish the attack's perpetrators.

"These cowards will meet justice, as will their accomplices and patrons wherever they are," he said Tuesday.

The Kenyan spirit cannot be broken, says eyewitness

Nigeria: U.S. to Discuss Boko Haram Next Week - Congressman

United States Congressman Chris Smith yesterday announced that the US congress will next week deliberate terror with consideration for activities of Nigerian insurgents, Boko Haram.
Book Haram which says it wants to entrench Islamic state has been involved in mass atrocities in Nigeria leaving over 1000 people dead and many more displaced.
Smith who was hosted by the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor in Abuja said, "God is not pleased with the use of the Quran to kill. When I go back [to the US] we'll make better responses.
"Following the US 9/11 incident, congress passed Victims Compensation Fund through which those traumatised were given help. "We hope that happens here."
Earlier, Oritsejafor told the visitors, "We're passionate about compensation.
"We're hoping the National Assembly with the Federal Government will create fund to help victims.
Mr. Smith was also received by Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who called on the United States of America to have stronger collaboration with Nigeria in order to fight terrorism in the country.
Tambuwal who was speaking when he played host to a delegation of US members of congress said Nigeria needed stronger collaborations with developed countries like US to be able to tackle acts of terrorism and insurgency in the country.

Reasons That Keeps Women Single

Myth 1: The Hookup Culture Is Everywhere

These days, pretty much everyone’s having séx while dating, right? Wrong! “The hookup culture is more urban legend than reality,” says Walsh. A recent National Survey of Family Growth study showed one quarter of college students are vírgins, she offers. “If you take that 25 percent off the market, and then you look at what’s left over, you have this belief that most people are having more séx than they are,” explains Walsh. “Men included! Since the perceptions exist, many women feel pressured to have séx well before they’re ready.”
Makes sense, right? But what about all of the women you know who speak openly and vividly about their séxual escapades? “It’s the talk that’s damaging, because it normalizes the practice,” insists Walsh. “These women engage in risky behavior because they think everyone is doing it.” Walsh offers an interesting analogy for what she feels is the “high supply séxual economy” we live in today: “I believe, when it comes to séx, there are two distinct dating markets: One ‘sells’ bulk séx at a low price, and that price could be the cost of a drink or a well worded séx, and the other sells séx to a very narrow market. And these are women who charge a high ‘price’ for séx, and that price can be love, attention, care or commitment. And, I like those ones.”

Myth 2: Séxual Chemistry Helps Relationships

When women are debating casual séx, many will say séxual chemistry is an important deal breaker for them. But, does it really determine whether your relationship will thrive or fail? Walsh says no-way. “Many women believe that jumping into bed very early in a relationship is the best way to test séxual compatibility,” she says. “I’m sure that men created this myth! If this theory were true, the people who did not test their séxual chemistry before committing to each other would therefore have shorter less happy relationships.”

Walsh says a recent study she examined looked at 2,000 couples and when they committed to each other. The results showed that the better the séx early on, the worst the relationship outcomes later, and the more volatile those relationships were. “It’s because séx confuses the brain,” Walsh explains. “As soon as you get that rush of dopamine, you are not making good choices. You are not deciding if this is going to be a good partner for you, you are now diluted with feelings that he must be a good partner. Science says hot séx too early in a relationship is a prescription for disaster.”

Myth 3: Women Have Séxual ‘Needs’

Women have their séxual “needs,” just like men do, right? Wrong again! Walsh says wanting séx is less physical and more psychological where women are concerned because they have very different séxual needs than men. “We respond to séxual opportunity,” she explains. “When we see a cute guy that we like, everything sort of turns on for us. But when women breakup from a séxual relationship, they are less likely to replace it with pornógraphy and masturbatión like a guy would.”

For women, Walsh insists that feeling turned on by a man has an important psychological component. “It’s often an extension of their emotional need for companionship,” she explains. “Some research has found that women often desire to be desired, and that’s a whole lot different than a biological desire for any séx with anyone.” Still need more proof? Walsh compels you to ask yourself this, "Why haven't drug companies been able to come up with a drug that enhances a woman's séxual libído, only men's?" Touché.

Myth 4: Séx Leads to Love and Longevity

There are many important and valid reasons to wait to have séx with a man you deeply care for, but here’s one that’s often overshadowed: Good séx doesn’t make him care for you any more than he did before you do it! “Slightly more than half of women in their 20s believe that a séxual hookup can be a stepping stone to a serious relationship, but the research shows something entirely different,” says Walsh. “Having séx early on in a relationship, good or bad, is bad for the relationship. I found a study that showed that if you have séx within 30 days of meeting somebody, you have an 88 percent chance of breaking up within one year. Eighty-eight percent! But if you wait 31-90 days, you’ve got a one in four chance you’re going to be together a year later. Just like that, it rises 25 percent.”

We know what you’re thinking: What about the men who insist that intimacy will bring them closer to a woman? Are they full of it? Yes! “The more séxual partners a man has had, the more he perceives diminished attractiveness in each new mate,” says Walsh. “Therefore, séx does not lead to love for a man. If a guy is a player, séx leads to disdain for you, because he’s looking for something that doesn’t exist, and he thinks he’s going to find it by more séxual conquests. Men fall in love because of trust, not séx!”

Myth 5: Promiscuity Can Be Turned Off

Did you know that sleeping around now can and will create trouble for you when you decide to commit or marry? Real talk! Faithfulness is a learned behavior. “Many of the women I’ve spoke with told me that they’re just hooking up because they’re auditioning mates but they’re confident that when they commit they can be faithful,” reveals Walsh. “Again, the research doesn’t support this! These women are training their bodies to be future cheaters. We can train our body for almost anything. The only way to train for monogamy is either to abstain from séx, or be monogamous.”

99-Yr-Old Woman Gets High School Honorary Diploma

 

WATERLOO, IOWA — A 99-year-old Iowa woman who dropped out of a high school more than 80 years ago despite needing only one credit to graduate has finally received her diploma.

Audrey Crabtree, of Cedar Falls, smiled Monday as she received an honorary diploma for her time at Waterloo East High School.

"And I feel so much smarter," Crabtree quipped.

Crabtree, who began her education at a one-room school house in northeast Iowa, left high school in 1932 due to a swimming and diving accident that forced her to miss several school days. She also had to care for her sick grandmother.

"I was a senior, but I was short a credit, so I would've had to go back the next fall," she told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier 

That would have interfered with her plans to marry her first husband. In 1957, the couple bought the flower shop where Crabtree had worked after their two children started school. But her husband died of a heart attack two months into their business venture.

Crabtree operated Flowers by Audrey for 28 years. She married two more times and outlived both husbands. Her family today includes five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Despite Crabtree's professional and family success, those around her had noted her 

dissatisfaction with not finishing school.

"She had voiced quite a while back the one regret she had in life was that she never had gotten her diploma," said Shelley Hoffman, Crabtree's granddaughter.

Hoffman contacted Waterloo Community Schools and helped arrange the diploma ceremony.

Family and friends surrounded Crabtree as the current principal of East High handed her a diploma during an education board meeting.

"I wouldn't advise anyone to drop out," she said. "I just have to say in my life the Lord has been so good."

Crabtree was given a copy of her last report card and memorabilia from her time at the high school, including a jacket and homecoming pins. She also received more than 100 handmade congratulatory cards from middle school students.

Free Marijuana To Be Given Out For Flood Relief In Colorado

 

There’s going to be some smoke on the water in Boulder, CO.

After devastating floods shut down the state and claimed the lives of ten people, residents in this college mountain town are trying to get back tobusiness as usual, which includes smoking some ganja.

Organizers are set to hand out free joints today on Boulder’s bustling Pearl Street Mall, the Daily Camera reported.

While much of the city is focused on rebuilding, the giveaway is an effort to help “stressed out recreational users” who may have lost their stashes to flooding. It’s also supposed to serve as a protest a marijuana sales tax ballot that will ask voters in November to approve a 15-percent excise tax.

“Boulder has been victimized by floods,” said Rob Corry, who helped organize the event and hopes to defeat the tax ballot. “We want to bring some flood relief to folks.”

The idea first started two weeks ago, when Corry and other organizers against the ballot handed out free joints in Denver. Despite long lines and a police presence, there were no arrests, The Denver Post reported.

“I wish I could have gotten a bigger one because there were blunts in there,” said recreational user Janet Osborn, 27, at the Denver event. “I got probably the smallest one. But it’s OK. It’s free.”

Monday’s event is expected to see smaller numbers than the Denver event saw, where more than 600 joints were passed out.

“I’m sure there won’t be too much public consumption [at the Boulder event],” Corry said.

Flood relief donations also will be accepted at the event

Kanye says his relationship with Kim works coz she doesn't ask him for money

I know men would say yay to this.Lol Kanye said in an interview with BBC Radio1 that his relationship with Kim works because:

'She was in a powerful enough situation, where she could love me without asking me for my money, which is really hard for me to find,'She gave me everything. She gave me a family. She gave me a support system" 

So Ladies, want that man to love you don't ask him for money..Kim is worth $40million...

Okada man caught making love in the bush with a married woman

A mild drama played out in Orlu, Imo State, when a commercial motorcyclist, a father of two (names withheld), was caught pants down making love to a married woman in a lonely bush.

While the 45-year-old housewife was making a case of rapé against the randy motorcyclist, the 30-year-old man insisted that the woman was his concubine.


Giving account of what transpired to the police, the woman said she engaged the motorcyclist at Orlu to take her to her matrimonial home at Obibi-Ochasi.

She said when they got to a solitary area along the route, the man stopped ostensibly to ease himself.

She further told the police that while she was waiting for him to finish easing himself, the man emerged and started asking that they sleep together, adding that when she refused the amorous advance, the man grabbed her and forcefully lifted her into the bush.

The woman equally claimed that the rapist tore her inner wears to shreds, over-powered and rapéd her.

In his defence, the man claimed that the woman had been his concubine for years, adding that he had previously had fun with her at different times and places, including the spot where they were caught in the act.

He also claimed that he called the woman on her mobile line and asked her to meet him at the agreed spot in Orlu.

The man also claimed that when they got to the bush, the woman stripped herself nakéd, spread her wrapper on the ground and laid down before he started the act.

The randy motorcyclist, however, agreed that along the line there was a minor misunderstanding on the amount he should pay after they had satisfied themselves.

While the man claimed that the woman was asking for N500 for the service, he offered N200, which he said was the only money on him at the time.

NE equally gathered that plan was in top gear to arraign the alleged rapist in court to face trial.

Ghanaian Actress Jackie Appiah (Vanessa) Tests Positive for HIV... Now Faces STIGMA!

The beautiful Canadian born Ghanaian actress who has received several awards and nominations, including the awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 2010 African Movie Academy Awards and Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the African Movie Academy Awards in 2007, tested positive for HIV as Vanessa in a movie entitled - STIGMA also featuring Hilda Dokubo, Emeka Ike, Emeka Duru and Ngozi Nwosu among others, produced and directed by multiple award winning Nigerian filmmaker Dagogo Diminas. 

STIGMA is set to be released coming December. Read touching synopsis and watch trailers below!

A drama about ignorance and the consequences of carelessness. But also about the power to overcome desperate situations in life, to burst one's bonds and finally to be what you want to be.

 
The life that surrounds Vanessa in the small community in Obonoma is manageable. Her mother, Ibiso, works as the local midwife, she is the only child of an already finished relationship and her mother's job permits her to go to school

There are few obligations for her until her mother decides to accept the rampant promises of Smart Bob Manuel and marry him. Quickly this new stepfather shows his real face including his penchants for other women, stealing the mother's money and spend it for his extensive journeys to the local bar. Finally his way ends in the house and in the arms of Ibiso's best friend.

Vanessa's childhood come to an abrupt end when her mother becomes ill, first without knowing the reason, and Vanessa needs to work in her mother's profession to aliment the family with now two more little children. She must learn about the enormity of ignorant thinking when a doctor and very good friend of hers diagnoses AIDS to her mother which results in the community including family members and her stepfather ostracize her mother and her. In this very moment they need help and support, but get only indifference and refusal.
 Stigmatized, Ibiso dies in desperation and loneliness. Vanessa's heritage is a continuous stigmatization and financial problem because the instilled fear makes most of her patients stay away. Although she's working with more medical precautions than her mother, Vanessa becomes infected with the virus also. 

The young woman is going to cave in, remembering the sad way in which her mother was taken, and to be left alone from her dearly beloved longtime boyfriend.

When Vanessa decides to end her tragic life by herself, it takes a turn for the better, for the only reason that there's someone who is not following that antiquated ways of thinking. With the help of that person Vanessa is no more a prisoner of circumstance and social rape.
 She turns her illness into the possibility to begin a new life and buries the stigma of beeing HIV positive by starting a career as a motivational speaker and famous advocate of people with AIDS. Her successful fight not only initiates her personal reformation but also companions of Vanessa's past developed and now want to come back to her life. 

But forgiveness is not easy to grant and sometimes it could be too late....

Penis health: Identify and prevent problems

Penis health involves more than erections. Find out what affects penis health, the most common penis problems and strategies to promote penis health. 

 

Penis health is an important part of men's health — and it goes beyond your ability to get and keep an erection, ejaculate and reproduce.
Penis problems can be a sign of an underlying health condition. Ongoing health issues affecting your penis also can impact other areas of your life, causing stress or relationship problems and harming your self-confidence. Know the signs and symptoms of penis problems and what you can do to protect your penis health.

What affects penis health?

Various factors can affect penis health — some modifiable and some not. For example:

• Unprotected sex. You can contract a sexually transmitted infection if you have unprotected sex.
• Heart disease and diabetes. Restricted blood flow caused by diabetes and atherosclerosis — hardening of the arteries — can cause erectile dysfunction.
• Certain medications and treatments. Certain medications and treatments can affect your penis health. For example, surgical removal of the prostate gland (radical prostatectomy) and surrounding tissue as treatment for prostate cancer might cause urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
• Smoking. Smoking doubles your risk of erectile dysfunction.
• Hormone levels. Hormone imbalances, such as testosterone deficiency or too much of the hormone prolactin, have been linked to erectile dysfunction.
• Psychological problems. Depression can cause a loss of libido. Likewise, if you experience an erection problem, you might be concerned that it'll happen again — causing anxiety or depression. This can compound the problem and lead to impotence. Trauma — such as child abuse — can lead to pain associated with sex.
• Neurological conditions. Stroke, spinal cord and back injuries, multiple sclerosis and dementia can affect the transfer of nerve impulses from the brain to the penis, causing erectile dysfunction.
• Getting older. Testosterone levels decline normally as you age. This might lead to a decrease in sexual interest, a need for more stimulation to achieve and maintain an erection, a less forceful ejaculation and a need for more time before you can achieve another erection.
• Piercings. A penis piercing can cause skin infections.
• Aggressive or acrobatic sex or masturbation. If your penis is bent suddenly or forcefully while erect, the trauma might cause a penis fracture. Penis fractures are rare.

What are the most common penis problems?

Conditions that can affect your penis include:

• Erection or ejaculation problems. These might include the inability to get and keep an erection firm enough for sex (erectile dysfunction) or, uncommonly, a persistent and usually painful erection that isn't caused by sexual stimulation or arousal (priapism). Other concerns might include the inability to ejaculate, premature ejaculation, delayed ejaculation, painful ejaculation and retrograde ejaculation, when semen enters the bladder instead of emerging through the penis.
• Sexually transmitted infections. Various sexually transmitted infections can affect the penis, including genital warts, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and genital herpes. Common signs and symptoms might include painful urination, penis discharge, and sores or blisters on the penis or in the genital area.
• Problems with the foreskin. A condition known as phimosis occurs when the foreskin on an uncircumcised penis can't be retracted from the penis head. Paraphimosis occurs when the foreskin can't be returned to its normal position after being retracted.
• Other diseases and conditions. A yeast infection can cause a reddish rash and white patches on the penis. Inflammation of the head of the penis (balanitis) might cause pain and a foul discharge. Peyronie's disease, a chronic condition that involves the development of abnormal scar tissue in tissues inside the penis, might result in bent or painful erections. Penile cancer — which might begin as a blister on the foreskin, head or shaft of the penis and then become a wart-like growth that discharges watery pus — also is a rare possibility.

What are signs or symptoms of penis problems?

Consult your doctor as soon as possible if you have:

• Changes in the way you ejaculate
• Bleeding during urination or ejaculation
• Warts, bumps, lesions or a rash on your penis or in your genital area
• A severely bent penis or curvature that causes pain or interferes with sexual activity
• A burning sensation when you urinate
• Discharge from your penis
• Severe pain after trauma to your penis

What can I do to keep my penis healthy?

You can take steps to protect your penis health and overall health. For example:

• Be sexually responsible. Use condoms or maintain a mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who's been tested and is free of sexually transmitted infections.
• Get vaccinated. If you're age 26 or younger, consider the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to help prevent genital warts.
• Stay physically active. Moderate physical activity can significantly reduce your risk of erectile dysfunction.
• Practice good hygiene. If you're not circumcised, regularly clean beneath your foreskin with soap and water.
• Know your medications. Discuss medication use and possible side effects with your doctor.
• Pay attention to your mental health. Seek treatment for depression and other mental health conditions.
• Stop smoking and limit the amount of alcohol you drink. If you smoke, take the first step and decide to quit — then ask your doctor for help.
• Regular use. Frequent sex or sexual activity might help you maintain erectile function.

Remember, some penis problems can't be prevented. However, routinely examining your penis can give you greater awareness of the condition of your penis and help you detect changes. Regular checkups can also help ensure that problems affecting your penis are diagnosed as soon as possible.
While you might find it difficult to discuss problems affecting your penis with your doctor, don't let embarrassment prevent you from taking charge of your health.

Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor among Westgate mall victims

Former diplomat killed and son injured in Nairobi shopping centre attack after travelling to Kenya for literary festival

Kofi Awoonor, who was praised by his fellow Ghanaian poet Nii Ayikewei Parkes as 'witty, wise and incredibly magnanimous'. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A renowned Ghanaian poet was among the scores of casualties of the Westgate shopping mall attack in Kenya.
Prof Kofi Awoonor, a former diplomat, was killed in the attack in Nairobi. He was in the city attending the Storymoja Hay literary festival, a celebration of pan-African writing and storytelling.
His fellow Ghanaian poet Nii Ayikewei Parkes said people attending the festival had realised something was wrong when Awoonor, known affectionately by many in Ghana as "Prof", failed to turn up for a session at which poets from west Africa and east Africa were due to perform a reading.
"Professor Awoonor and I and two other poets were representing west Africa, and there were four poets from east Africa," said Parkes, author of Tail of the Blue Bird, who is also Awoonor's nephew.
"The high commissioner had phoned to say that [Awoonor's] son Afetfi was injured in an attack at the mall, and that they had lost track of [Awoonor].
"Later that night the high commissioner phoned and said that his body had been found."
Awoonor is believed to have gone to the Westgate mall with his son, Afetfi Awoonor, who left him in the car. It was unclear whether Awoonor was attacked in the car park, or whether he entered the mall looking for his son after hearing initial gunfire.
Afetfi Awoonor, who had travelled to Nairobi to support his 78-year-old-father, was shot in the shoulder and is believed to be recovering in Nairobi but is said to be "in shock".
"It was the first time I had met [Awoonor]," said Parkes. "He was very witty, wise and incredibly magnanimous. The Ghanaian high commissioner and several very successful Ghanaians in Nairobi dropped everything when they heard that he was speaking to come and hear him. Yet he was humble and warm," Parkes said.
A memorial tribute has been organised at Nairobi's national museum on Monday, where wellwishers have been invited to carry a candle in honour of the poet, and to sign a sympathy book for his family.
Awoonor, who is known for his experimental writing and poetry including the acclaimed novel This Earth, My Brother, was also a public figure in Ghana, with a particularly close relationship to the late president John Atta Mills.
"Professor Awoonor was a great African, a leading light whose footsteps leave big footprints," the Storymoja Hay organisers said. "His legend must live on."

Americans and Briton 'among mall attackers', says Kenyan foreign minister

Amina Mohamed says Briton who has 'done this many times before' was involved in attack with 'two or three' Americans

Smoke rises from the Westgate mall on Monday. Photograph: Boniface Muthoni/Corbis

A British woman who has allegedly taken part in terrorist activity "many times before" was among the attackers who laid siege to a Kenyan shopping mall, the country's foreign minister has said.
Amina Mohamed said the militant acted alongside "two or three" Americans during the atrocity in Nairobi which has killed at least 62 people, including six Britons.
The announcement will fuel speculation that the British terrorism suspect Samantha Lewthwaite, who was married to the 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, was involved.
Lewthwaite is known to be in east Africa and is wanted by Kenyan police over alleged links to a terrorist cell that planned to bomb the country's coast.
In March last year officials said she had fled to Somalia and that officers were hunting a woman who used several identities, including hers.
The Kenyan authorities had claimed all the militants involved in the three-day mall siege were men, but Mohamed appeared to contradict this in a US television interview on Monday.
"From the information that we have, two or three Americans [were involved] and I think so far I have heard of one Brit ... a woman ... and I think she has done this many times before," she told the PBS NewsHour programme.
Mohamed said the Americans were 18 to 19 years old, of Somali or Arab origin and lived "in Minnesota and one other place" in the US.
US officials said they were looking into whether any Americans were involved. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday the department had "no definitive evidence of the nationalities or the identities" of the attackers.
White House spokesman Ben Rhodes said US officials have seen "reports coming out of al-Shabaab that indicate information along those lines", referring to possible involvement of Americans in the attack.
"But we have to run those to ground, of course," he said. "We do monitor very carefully and have for some time been concerned about efforts by al-Shabaab to recruit Americans or US persons to come to Somalia.
"This is an issue that has been tracked very closely by the US government, and it's one that we'll be looking into in the days ahead."

Al-Shabaab's American allies

                                                                                           Of all al Qaeda's affiliated groups, the Somali terrorist organization Al-Shabaab has over the past several years had the deepest links to the United States. Some 15 Americans have died fighting for Al-Shabaab, as many as four of them as suicide bombers in Somalia, and an American citizen even took up a leadership role in the group.

Al-Shabaab has also found supporters in places as diverse as Seattle, St. Louis, San Diego, Minnesota, Maryland, Ohio and Alabama.

Al-Shabaab had particular success recruiting Somali-Americans to its cause after the Ethiopian army invaded Somalia in 2006, which Al-Shabaab cast as Somalia being taken over by a "crusader" army. Ethiopia is a majority Christian nation.

             

The largest group of American citizens and residents who have provided manpower and money to Al-Shabaab reside in Minnesota. According to a count by the New America Foundation, 22 residents of Minnesota have funded or fought with Al-Shabaab during the past four years.

Opinion: How Al-Shabaab picks its targets

Three of them provided funds to Al-Shabaab, and 19 have been indicted for traveling to fight in Somalia or have died in the war there.

The story of Minnesotan support for Al-Shabaab began in late 2007, when Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax, an American citizen of Somali descent in his early 30s, and several other men met at a Minnesota mosque and discussed traveling to Somalis to fight for Al-Shabaab.

Faarax told the group that he had "experienced true brotherhood" while fighting in Somalia and that "jihad would be fun" and they would "get to shoot guns," according to the U.S. Justice Department.

That meeting resulted in seven men traveling from Minnesota to Somalia to fight for Al-Shabaab in late 2007.

One was Shirwa Ahmed, a 26-year-old naturalized American citizen. Ahmed became the first American to conduct a suicide attack when he drove a truck loaded with explosives toward a government compound in Puntland, northern Somalia, blowing himself up and killing 20 other people in October 29, 2008. He is buried in a cemetery in Burnsville, a suburb of Minneapolis.

Other American suicide attackers would follow. In early June 2011, Farah Mohamed Beledi, 27, of Minneapolis detonated a bomb, becoming one of two suicide attackers responsible for killing two African Union soldiers in Somalia, according to the FBI.

The third American to conduct a suicide attack was Abdisalan Hussein Ali, a 22-year-old from Minneapolis who took part in a strike on African Union troops in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on October 29, 2011.

There may even have been a fourth American suicide attacker in Somalia. On September 17, 2009, two stolen U.N. vehicles loaded with bombs blew up at the Mogadishu airport, killing more than a dozen peacekeepers of the African Union. The FBI suspects that 18-year-old Omar Mohamud of Seattle was one of the bombers.

For those Americans who have traveled to Somalia to fight for Al-Shabaab, it has often proved to be a one-way ticket. A 2011 report by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security found that at least 15 Americans had died while fighting for Al-Shabaab (as well as three Canadians).

Opinion: What threat do foreign jihadists pose?

Some of the young men who volunteered to fight in Somalia had grown up in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, which is one of the poorest places in the United States. In recent years, Somali-American family incomes there averaged less than $15,000 a year, and the unemployment rate was 17%.

Al-Shabaab's American support network also extended well beyond Minnesota.

Basaaly Saeed Moalin, a cabdriver in San Diego who was in contact with an Al-Shabaab leader, was convicted of sending funds to the group along with three co-conspirators this year.

In St. Louis, Mohamud Abdi Yusuf pleaded guilty in 2012 of providing funds to Al-Shabaab.

A resident of Ohio, Ahmed Hussain Mahamud, was indicted in 2011 for funding Somali-Americans traveling to join Al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab's support network in the United States has reached beyond the Somali-American community. Ruben Shumpert, an African-American convert to Islam from Seattle, was killed in Somalia in 2008.

A former U.S. soldier, Craig B. Baxam, 24, of Laurel, Maryland, was arrested by Kenyan authorities in December 2011 as he tried to make his way to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab, which he told FBI agents he considered to be a religious duty.

Omar Hammami of Daphne, Alabama, grew up Baptist and converted to Islam when he was in his teens. In a lengthy autobiography that Hammami posted online last year entitled "The Story of an American Jihadi," he explained his long journey from growing up Christian in a small town in Alabama to fighting on the front lines in Somalia with Al-Shabaab.

The journey began with a life-changing trip to Syria, the homeland of his father, when he was 15 that sparked his interest in Islam. Hammami wrote in his autobiography (PDF), "when I came back from that vacation, I had become a different person."

Over the past several years, Hammami rose up the ranks in Al-Shabaab, becoming an important leader. Disputes with other Al-Shabaab leaders led him to split off from the group. He was killed this month, probably by members of Al-Shabaab, according to Islamist websites.

In the wake of many of these developments, for the past three years, the Justice Department and the FBI have engaged in a serious effort to crack down on U.S. support for Al-Shabaab, in particular in Minnesota, in an effort codenamed Operation Rhino.

This seems to have had some success, as the number of Americans indicted for supporting Al-Shabaab on the front lines or with their wallets has dropped sharply since the launch of Operation Rhino.

Al-Shabaab breaks new ground with complex Nairobi attack

Over the weekend, Al-Shabaab issued a list of nine names it claimed were among the attackers who carried out its deadly assault on the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Al-Shabaab alleged that three of the attackers were from the United States. The FBI is looking into whether these claims are true.

Whether or not any Americans played a role in the massacre in Nairobi that has claimed 62 lives, there is a deadly history of American support for Al-Shabaab.