No ‘Northern’ or ‘Southern’ citizen in Nigeria – President Jonathan

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> #President Goodluck Jonathan, has on Thursday urged Nigerians not to see themselves as “Northern” or “Southern” citizens, but as people and a race bound by the same history and constitution.<br /> <br /> Jonathan gave the advice in Abuja at the annual National Migration Dialogue, organised by the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and internally Displaced Persons.<br /> Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who represented the President, called for an end to the classification of Nigerians as “indigenes” or “non-indigenes”of any particular state.<br /> “We must insist that in relating among ourselves as a nation, there are no Northern or Southern citizens neither are there citizens of any particular state in the East or in the West.<br /> “We are citizens of Nigeria, a people and a race bound by the same history and constitution.<br /> <br /> ‘We must continue to insist and uphold our constitution that guarantees the right of all Nigerians to live anywhere in Nigeria without any fear of economic, political, religious, or social exclusion.<br /> “Our ethnic diversity, ideally, should be a source of strength, not weakness; a country where people freely profess and practice their respective religious beliefs anywhere within our national boundaries, without any fear of discrimination.<br /> <br /> “The future I see is of a nation where people are no longer identified by their ethnic or religious affiliation but by the very virtue of their Citizenship as Nigerians,” he said.<br /> According to him, the Nigerian Constitution and the recommendationsof the recently concluded National Conference guarantee the right of every Nigerian to reside anywhere in the country without discrimination.<br /> <br /> While acknowledging the role migration plays in national development, the President noted that the country has the highest volume of international migrants, and the largest remittances in sub-Saharan Africa worth 20.76 billion dollars in 2013.<br /> He, therefore, stressed that Nigeria, while aiming to mitigate the negative impact of migration, would continually deploy strategies to encourage Nigerians in the Diaspora to invest remittances in social infrastructure,human capital development and other activities.<br /> The President further stated that his administration had made it a cardinal principle that Nigerians must be treated humanely and with dignify in any country of their residence.<br /> <br /> On internally displaced persons, the President said he had directed that victims must be given due care and maintenance without any form of social exclusion.<br /> Jonathan expressed the hope that the national migration dialogue would help shape Nigeria’s national migratory orientation.<br /> <br /> In her remarks, the Federal Commissioner for Refugees, Hajiya Hadiza Kangiwa, noted that Nigeria was the first country in ECOWAS sub-region to institute the dialogue.<br /> She said the dialogue was conceived as a strategy for mainstreaming migration into the post development agenda, and was also a derivation of the draft National Migration Policy document.<br /> <br /> According to her, the objective of the dialogue is to provide a platform for debating the impact and linkages between migration and development thereby shaping Nigeria’s national migratory linkages.<br /> She said the dialogue would also provide opportunity for reviewing the various operational challenges at the implementation level.<br /> <br /> The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants at the dialogue were drawn from the 36 States of the federation.<br /> It also has the participation of international development partners such as the International Organisation for Migration<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /></div>

No ‘Northern’ or ‘Southern’ citizen in Nigeria – President Jonathan

#President Goodluck Jonathan, has on Thursday urged Nigerians not to see themselves as “Northern” or “Southern” citizens, but as people and a race bound by the same history and constitution. Jonathan…

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NASA’s Kepler Reborn, Makes First Exoplanet Find of New Mission

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <h3> <img height="254" src="https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10407668_685407904906433_4762830622546606335_n.jpg?oh=03149957f5247f7fc623e80d15c3730a&oe=550B23E1" width="320" /><br />The artistic concept shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler #spacecraft operating in a new mission profile called K2. Using publicly available data, astronomers have confirmed K2's first exoplanet discovery proving Kepler can still find planets.</h3> <h3> <br />Image Credit:NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T Pyle<br />NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft makes a comeback with the discovery of the first exoplanet found using its new mission -- K2.<br />The discovery was made when astronomers and engineers devised an ingenious way to repurpose Kepler for the K2 mission and continue its search of the cosmos for other worlds.<br />"Last summer, the possibility of a scientifically productive mission for Kepler after its reaction wheel failure in its extended mission was not part of the conversation," said Paul Hertz, NASA's astrophysics division director at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Today, thanks to an innovative idea and lots of hard work by the NASA and Ball Aerospace team, Kepler may well deliver the first candidates for follow-up study by the James Webb Space Telescope to characterize the atmospheres of distant worlds and search for signatures of life."<br />Lead researcher Andrew Vanderburg, a graduate student at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studied publicly available data collected by the spacecraft during a test of K2 in February 2014. The discovery was confirmed with measurements taken by the HARPS-North spectrograph of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in the Canary Islands, which captured the wobble of the star caused by the planet’s gravitational tug as it orbits.</h3> <h3> <br />The newly confirmed planet, HIP 116454b, is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth and follows a close, nine-day orbit around a star that is smaller and cooler than our sun, making the planet too hot for life as we know it. HIP 116454b and its star are 180 light-years from Earth, toward the constellation Pisces.<br />Kepler’s onboard camera detects planets by looking for transits -- when a distant star dims slightly as a planet crosses in front of it. The smaller the planet, the weaker the dimming, so brightness measurements must be exquisitely precise. To enable that precision, the spacecraft must maintain steady pointing. In May 2013, data collection during Kepler's extended prime mission came to an end with the failure of the second of four reaction wheels, which are used to stabilize the spacecraft.</h3> <h3> <br />Rather than giving up on the stalwart spacecraft, a team of scientists and engineers crafted a resourceful strategy to use pressure from sunlight as a “virtual reaction wheel” to help control the spacecraft. The resulting K2 mission promises to not only continue Kepler’s planet hunt, but also to expand the search to bright nearby stars that harbor planets that can be studied in detail and better understand their composition. K2 also will introduce new opportunities to observe star clusters, active galaxies and supernovae.<br />Small planets like HIP 116454b, orbiting nearby bright stars, are a scientific sweet spot for K2 as they are good prospects for follow-up ground studies to obtain mass measurements. Using K2’s size measurements and ground-based mass measurements, astronomers can calculate the density of a planet to determine whether it is likely a rocky, watery or gaseous world.</h3> <h3> <br />"The Kepler mission showed us that planets larger in size than Earth and smaller than Neptune are common in the galaxy, yet they are absent in our solar system," said Steve Howell, Kepler/K2 project scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "K2 is uniquely positioned to dramatically refine our understanding of these alien worlds and further define the boundary between rocky worlds like Earth and ice giants like Neptune."<br />Since the K2 mission officially began in May 2014, it has observed more than 35,000 stars and collected data on star clusters, dense star-forming regions, and several planetary objects within our own solar system. It is currently in its third campaign.</h3> <h3> <br />The research paper reporting this discovery has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.<br />Ames is responsible for Kepler's mission concept, ground system development, science data analysis and K2 mission operations. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA's 10th Discovery Mission and was funded by the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.</h3> <h3> <br />For more information about the Kepler mission, visit:<br />http://www.nasa.gov/kepler</h3> </div>

NASA’s Kepler Reborn, Makes First Exoplanet Find of New Mission

The artistic concept shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler #spacecraft operating in a new mission profile called K2. Using publicly available data, astronomers have confirmed K2's first exoplanet discov…

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Singer J. Cole ousts Taylor Swift from top of Billboard 200 chart

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <div style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #141823; float: right; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 25.33333396911621px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> <img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/p240x240/150181_685401108240446_2691672509315116106_n.jpg?oh=a57758a3533824c5c3e6f3843baac8cd&oe=55458666&__gda__=1426982085_b3e61913432c44757c610545b4294371" /></div> <br /> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 25.33333396911621px;"><i>#American hip hop artist J. Cole bumped pop singer Taylor Swift from the top of the U.S. Billboard 200 on Wednesday, pushing her into second place.</i></span></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 25.33333396911621px;"><i><br /></i></span></div> Cole's "2014 Forest Hill Drive" album sold 354,000 full copies, 109,000 songs and was streamed more than 16 million times. Under Billboard's new formula, that totals 375,000 units in its debut week.</h3> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <br />Swift's "1989" album, which includes the triple Grammy nominated song "Shake It Off," sold 324,000 units, while a cappella group Pentatonix dropped to third place with its holiday album "That's Christmas to Me," with 218,000 units.</h3> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <br />In the new chart formula unveiled by Billboard two weeks ago, 10 songs equal one album unit and 1,500 online streams equals one album unit.<br />Carrie Underwood's "Greatest Hits: Decade #1" entered the chart at No. 4 with 103,000 units, followed by veteran rockers AC/DC's "Rock or Bust," who rounded out the top five after slumping from third place last week.<br />Singer K. Michelle was the only other new entry to the chart, placing sixth with her album "Anybody Wanna Buy a Heart?" with 87,000 units.</h3> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <br />In the digital songs chart, Swift retained the No. 1 spot with "Blank Space" with 249,000 downloads, while Irish Grammy-nominated musician Hozier climbed from third to second place this week with "Take Me to Church" selling 202,000 downloads.</h3> </div>

Singer J. Cole ousts Taylor Swift from top of Billboard 200 chart

#American hip hop artist J. Cole bumped pop singer Taylor Swift from the top of the U.S. Billboard 200 on Wednesday, pushing her into second place. Cole's "2014 Forest Hill Drive" album sold 354,000 …

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Chris Brown's bodyguard gets probation after punching fan

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <h2 style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"> <img src="https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/p240x240/10432483_685411794906044_4783208737017603073_n.jpg?oh=99d23c451034ab2a2842e8c31c85a6b3&oe=55443F04" /><br />The bodyguard of R&B singer Chris Brown was sentenced to one year of probation in a #Washington, D.C., court on Tuesday after being convicted of assaulting a fan.</h2> <br /> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <br />Christopher Hollosy had argued he was trying to protect Brown when he struck a 25-year-old man outside a downtown hotel last year, breaking the man's nose.</h2> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <br />The victim and two friends said they were trying to have their pictures taken with Brown when the singer became angered by the man's aggressiveness in crowding into the photo.<br />Brown pleaded guilty on Sept. 2 to misdemeanor assault for punching the man.</h2> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <br />"In that moment, Christopher Brown was the aggressor," Kendra Briggs, an assistant U.S. attorney, said during the sentencing hearing Tuesday.<br />After Brown hit him, "Mr. Hollosy stepped in and punched him," Briggs said.</h2> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <br />Hollosy, 36, did not speak during the hearing.<br />Seeking a light sentence, his attorney, Bernard Grimm, emphasized to the court Hollosy's lack of a prior criminal record and his charitable work that included volunteering at a homeless shelter in California.<br />He also said that a back injury Hollosy suffered in a vehicle accident in September would prevent him from doing heavy labor.</h2> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <br />In addition to probation, D.C. Superior Court Judge Patricia Wynn ordered that Hollosy be given a 90-day suspended jail sentence, that he do 24 hours of community service and pay $50 into a crime victims' fund.</h2> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <br />Hollosy, who appeared noticeably thinner than in previous court appearances, declined to comment after the sentencing.<br />He and Brown reached a settlement agreement of the lawsuit filed by Parker Adams, the alleged victim, in October for about $100,000, according to celebrity news website TMZ.</h2> </div>

Chris Brown's bodyguard gets probation after punching fan

The bodyguard of R&B singer Chris Brown was sentenced to one year of probation in a #Washington, D.C., court on Tuesday after being convicted of assaulting a fan. Christopher Hollosy had argued he wa…

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Did you know why people say "bless you" when someone sneezes?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="265" src="https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10801584_677979845649239_3834721940658820354_n.jpg?oh=71811660c0492e13e899d1753499d352&oe=550464A2" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400"></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">dangling sneeze<br></td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> </h2> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="line-height: 25.33333396911621px;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Why do we say "bless you" when someone #sneezes, but no one says anything when someone coughs, blows their nose, or burps? What makes sneezes speacial?</span></i></span></h2> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> </h2></div>

Did you know why people say "bless you" when someone sneezes?

dangling sneeze Why do we say "bless you" when someone #sneezes, but no one says anything when someone coughs, blows their nose, or burps? What makes sneezes speacial? …

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COLD vs FLU SYMPTOMS

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/s240x240/1600988_677972725649951_2006647789533824780_n.jpg?oh=93b091c99813584501fb9fe996e5494a&oe=55111D1A&__gda__=1426137471_30f0aa6cc28c2b176bfa570310d1b109" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">get well quick<br /></td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <h2 style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">                                               <br />Dry season has arrived here in Nigeria. Unfortunately, due to the dry harmattan wind across the Desert, it has also brought with it various germs (very small living things that cause disease). Many of us are now suffering from colds cough, catarrh and, if we are really unlucky, flu (a very bad cold, but with pains and a hot body). </h2> <h2> If you have caught a cold (got a cold) or come down with (started suffering from) the flu, you will probably want to tell someone about how bad you feel.<br />If you think flu is the same as cold, then you got it all wrong all this time. A cold is a milder respiratory illness than the flu. While, cold symptoms can make you feel bad for a few days, flu symptoms can make you feel quite ill for a few days to weeks. The flu can also result in serious health problems such as pneumonia and hospitalizations.</h2> <div> <br /></div> <h2> <br /></h2> <h2> If you have cought a flu, you might tell a good friend, who will be kind to you, or even a doctor if you are really poorly (ill). Here is a selection of words and phrases that you can use to describe your symptoms (physical feelings that show you have a particular illness).<br />Let’s start with the...<br />               </h2> <h2> <br /></h2> <h2> <br /></h2> <h2>                                                NOSE.<br />• runny nose (liquid coming out of your nosestrill all the time). A cold with a runny nose is often described as a streaming cold.<br />• bunged up or blocked up (you cannot breathe through it)<br />• blow your nose (to clear your nose by forcing air through it into a piece of soft paper).<br />• Catarrh,  A kind of flu that causes blockage to your noses, it causes heavy sneezing which usually bring lost of appetite.<br />                 </h2> <h2> <br /></h2> <h2>                                       THROAT<br />• sore throat (a hurting back part of the mouth).<br />• cough (have air come out of your throat with a loud sound).<br />• hacking cough (a loud cough; sounds as if it hurts).<br />              <br />             </h2> <h2>                                HEAD<br />• headache (pain in your head).<br />• splitting headache (a painful headache).<br />• Migraine, a kind of severe  headache that attacks one side of the patient face         <br />               </h2> <h2> <br /></h2> <h2>                                  BODY<br />• body aches (hurts continuously).<br />• fever or temperature. If you have a fever/temperature, your body – especially your head – is hotter than usual.<br />• raging fever (your body is very much hotter than usual).<br />Eventually, the cold or flu will go away and you may say I "got over it" or I "got better". When you are feeling 80 % better, you might describe yourself as "over the worst". If you are completely better, you may say you have "recovered". If you have recovered very successfully and are now feeling completely healthy, you may say you have "bounced back".</h2> <div> <br /></div> <div> <br /></div> <h2> <br />Posted by ettefreeguy</h2> </div>

COLD vs FLU SYMPTOMS

get well quick                                               Dry season has arrived here in Nigeria. Unfortunately, due to the dry harmattan wind across the Desert, it has also brought with it variou…

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Gold, Swiss franc fall after Swiss referendum

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> <img src="https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/p240x240/14396_675263235920900_7537233400282421064_n.jpg?efg=eyJvbGF0IjoxNjB9&oh=a3eb8deabbeefeb33be7c1e24037469c&oe=54FCD017" /></div> <br />  Gold prices fell the most in more than three weeks and the #Swiss franc dipped slightly on Monday after Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected proposals to boost gold reserves in a referendum.<br /> <br /> The measure, had it been approved, would have compelled the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to more than double its gold reserves and banned it from ever selling the metal, threatening its ability to defend a 1.20 euro cap on the Swiss franc imposed at the height of the euro zone crisis.<br /> <br /> Gold fell more than two percent to $1,142.91 per ounce, its lowest level in more than three weeks, while silver also took a hit, falling more than six percent to a five-year low of $14.42 per ounce.<br /> <br /> The Swiss franc dipped to 1.2042 on the euro from 1.2018 at the end of last week. It last stood at 1.2036.<br /> <br /> "The result should of course temporarily relieve the pressure on the SNB's currency floor, albeit whilst doing little or nothing in our opinion to reverse the fundamental downward trajectory of EUR/CHF," said JPMorgan analyst Paul Meggyesi.<br /> <br /> Oil prices hit new four-year lows, unable to find a bottom despite their biggest fall in 2 1/2 years last week after OPEC resisted cuts to output in the face of a supply glut.<br /> <br /> U.S. crude fell more than two percent to a four-year low $64.62 per barrel after a 13.5 percent last week. That marked a 40 percent decline from their peak in June.<br /> <br /> Sliding oil prices have stirred deflation fears in the euro zone and Japan, cementing expectations that the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan will take more steps to support their respective economies.<br /> <br /> The dollar, taking advantage of such concerns, attracted bids against the euro and yen.<br /> <br /> The euro was slightly weaker at $1.2441 after having fallen on Friday on data showing annual inflation in the euro zone cooled to five-year lows of 0.3 percent in November.<br /> <br /> Many traders expect the ECB may signal further action to ward off deflation later this week.<br /> <br /> The dollar also gained 0.2 percent in early trade to 118.81 yen, coming within sight of testing its seven-year high of 118.98 set on Nov. 20.<br /> <br /> The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, rose to 88.316, near four-year highs of 88.44 set on Monday last week.<br /> <br /> In Asia, falls in energy and raw material prices look set to hurt assets that are tied to the resource sector, including from Australian mining shares to the Malaysian ringgit.<br /> <br /> Australian shares dipped 0.2 percent in early trade, helping to push down MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan 0.3 percent.<br /> <br /> Nikkei futures in Chicago traded about 0.3 percent below Friday's local closing levels but traders say Japanese shares could benefit from both the fall in the yen and oil.<br /> <br /> Indeed, shares of some of the other oil consuming economies could gain after Wall Street shares rose for a sixth straight week, as strength in consumer names offset falls in energy shares.<br /> <br /> U.S. debt yields have fallen to six-weeks low of 2.166 percent on Friday as the fall in oil prices cooled inflation expectations.</div>

Gold, Swiss franc fall after Swiss referendum

 Gold prices fell the most in more than three weeks and the #Swiss franc dipped slightly on Monday after Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected proposals to boost gold reserves in a referendum. The mea…

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Owner of Virgins Airline, Richard Branson says Nigerian Politians Are too corrupt & Insane according to Branson

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> <img src="https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10404348_676934359087121_2889518446599884801_n.jpg?efg=eyJvbGF0IjoxNjB9&oh=5ae429d6ae57d6d77f6726e78802ec70&oe=54F99915" /></div> <br /> #International businessman with billions of dollars to his name, Richard Branson, has lambasted the crop of leaders we have in Nigeria for their high level greed which, according to him, is killing big brands wishing to do business with the government of the country, for the growth of Nigeria’s economy.<br /> Below is the revelations by Mr. Branson on his experience in Nigeria…<br /> <br /> The chairman of Virgin Atlantic said: “…we have virgin’s ill-fated footsteps by setting up a new airline in Africa in conjunction with Nigerian government…the details of the doomed attempts to crack the Nigerian market in the 2000s is better imagined…we put …together a very good airline-the first airline in West Africa that was ever IOSA/IATA operational safety audit accredited but unfortunately it got tied down to the politics of the country…we led the airlines for 11 years…<br /> <br /> “We fought daily battle against government agents who wanted to daily make fortune from us, politicians who saw the government 49% as a meal to seek for all kinds of favour…watchdogs (regulatory body) that didn’t know what to do and persistently asking for bribes at any point…Nigeria people are generally nice but the politicians are very insane…that may be irony because the people make up the politicians…<br /> <br /> <br /> “But those politicians are selfish…we did make N3billion for the federal government of Nigeria during the joint venture…realising that the government didn’t bring nothing to the table/partnership except dubious debts by the previous carrier, Nigeria Airways…The joint venture should have been the biggest African carrier by now if the partnership was allowed to grow, but the politicians KILLED it…Nigeria is a country we SHALL NEVER consider to doing business again..”</div>

Owner of Virgins Airline, Richard Branson says Nigerian Politians Are too corrupt & Insane according to Branson

#International businessman with billions of dollars to his name, Richard Branson, has lambasted the crop of leaders we have in Nigeria for their high level greed which, according to him, is killing b…

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Texas university loses 100 human brains

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlzPVdxDb54xrjJmdKW6SkA5uoBKdCrSGFc67_RPaTJHl7H0qGqgjCtwZx07hO7_uyfaTiBD2zE-edXmh2I40JUWXoobVZZ82FlHuH56NmstriIpXsiyNn3Jnm_DD4myjpD5tRrtBFsgni/s1600/mental+brain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlzPVdxDb54xrjJmdKW6SkA5uoBKdCrSGFc67_RPaTJHl7H0qGqgjCtwZx07hO7_uyfaTiBD2zE-edXmh2I40JUWXoobVZZ82FlHuH56NmstriIpXsiyNn3Jnm_DD4myjpD5tRrtBFsgni/s1600/mental+brain.jpg" width="220" /></a></div> <br /> The #University of Texas at Austin has lost about 100 brains stored in jars of formaldehyde, possibly including that of the man who killed and wounded dozens in a campus shooting spree nearly 50 years ago, school officials and media said on Tuesday.<br /> <br /> Roughly 200 brains were transferred from the state hospital to the university nearly 30 years ago but the psychology lab only had room for half of them and about 100 were stored in a basement, the Austin American-Statesman newspaper reported.<br /> <br /> "It's entirely possible word got around among undergraduates and people started swiping them for living rooms or Halloween pranks," psychology professor Lawrence Cormack told the paper.<br /> <br /> One of the missing brains may be that of ex-Marine Charles Whitman, who was shot by police after killing 16 people in a 1966 shooting rampage from the top of a clock tower.<br /> <br /> The school, which uses the brains as a teaching tool, agreed to remove identifying data from the specimens when it took them in, the newspaper reported, citing a psychology professor.<br /> <br /> The university said in a statement it plans to investigate.</div>

Texas university loses 100 human brains

The #University of Texas at Austin has lost about 100 brains stored in jars of formaldehyde, possibly including that of the man who killed and wounded dozens in a campus shooting spree nearly 50 year…

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Ex President urged the People to be alart

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 25.33333396911621px; margin-bottom: 6px;"> **GOOD STRATEGY!**<br />IBB Calls For Civilian Self-Defense ‘Jihad’ Against Boko Haram<img height="190" src="https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10805753_982509548429844_9073002568397706738_n.jpg?oh=c334be67c66dac8601827d48b6b8aacd&oe=5504418D" style="background-color: transparent;" width="320" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 25.33333396911621px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"> Ex-President, General Ibrahim #Babangida (IBB) has urged Nigerians to defend themselves against Boko Haram sect members.</div> <div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 25.33333396911621px;"> <div style="margin-bottom: 6px;"> He also called for Jihad against the sect members. According to him, there’s nothing wrong if people who are attacked prepare for self-defence, arguing that the act could be regarded as Jihad.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"> IBB stated this in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa, on Monday night.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"> While condemning the Kano central mosque bombings and commiserating with the government and people of the state, IBB lauded the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi, for calling for prayers and fasting for peace to reign.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"> He, however, assured that the Nigerian military has the ability to end the insurgency.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"> Change Is Inevitable!!<br />.............................................................................................................<br />Absolute Change Is The Solution To Our Problem.<br />There Is Need To Change The Way We Live, How We Live And What We Live For.Aspire For Unity, Progress In Development And Conducive Society For Every Nigerian<br />****************************************************************************************Help Nigerian Police With Information Any Time You Suspect Strange Persons And Movement In Your Areas. This Will Assist Them In Tackling Crimes.<br />"""'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""<br />Aspire For Unity, Progress In Development And Conducive Society For Every Nigerian, Join Us In The Quest For Absolute Change</div> </div> </div>

Ex President urged the People to be alart

**GOOD STRATEGY!**IBB Calls For Civilian Self-Defense ‘Jihad’ Against Boko Haram Ex-President, General Ibrahim #Babangida (IBB) has urged Nigerians to defend themselves against Boko Haram sect member…

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<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 25.33333396911621px; margin-bottom: 6px;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 25.33333396911621px; margin-bottom: 6px;"> Olanipekun, Adoke, Adegbonmire unveiled among Nigeria’s top 100 lawyers</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 25.33333396911621px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"> The roll call of the first-ever nationwide ranking of preeminent lawyers has been unveiled in the eagerly anticipated Nigeria’s Top 100 Lawyers listing.<br />The full list, disclosed today at <a href="http://www.citylawyermag.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.citylawyermag.com</a>, features leading litigators, transactional lawyers and lawyers in the academia who have shaped the legal industry over the years.<br />They include acclaimed litigators Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and M<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">r. Rickey Tarfa (SAN), Attorney-General & Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke (SAN), and ‘new kid on the block,’ Mr. Adeniyi Adegbonmire.<br />The ‘old guard’ was represented by Nigeria’s oldest surviving Senior Advocate, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), Prof. Alfred Bandele Kasunmu (SAN), Chief F. O. Akinrele (SAN) and Chief George Uwechue (SAN) among others.<br />From the human rights community are notably Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) and Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), even as women lawyers held down some positions through renowned arbitrators such as Mrs. Funke Adekoya (SAN), Mrs. Dorothy Ufot (SAN), and Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour.<br />While the list is perhaps expectedly dominated by Senior Advocates of Nigeria, several non-SANs muzzled their way into the listing, a clear indication that legal excellence can be found anywhere. Among the non-SANs who also made the list are respected solicitors such as Messrs Asue Igbodalo, Lawrence Fubara Anga and Bankole Sodipo.<br />According to Emeka Nwadioke, editor of the compendium designed to celebrate the selectees, the ranking – to be published every year – “follows months of research and nationwide peer survey by our editorial team.”<br />Nwadioke said the all-gloss compendium highlighting the career paths and accomplishments of the selectees will be released this month. The foreword to the over 100-page compendium was written by renowned Justice Emeritus of the Supreme Court, Hon. Justice George A. Oguntade (CFR).</span></div> </div>

Olanipekun, Adoke, Adegbonmire unveiled among Nigeria’s top 100 lawyers The roll call of the first-ever nationwide ranking of preeminent lawyers has been unveiled in the eagerly anticipated Nigeria’s…

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Trey Songz: he breaks fan's phone who just wanted to snap a pic!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> <img height="180" src="https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10429824_677905232323367_237187517530045670_n.jpg?oh=628862e9bf681f7a26254b39f9de2fb1&oe=54FBF2B1" width="320" /></div> <br /> We know that #Trey Songz AKA Trigger has hot blood, but what we know the less is that he doesn’t like being photographed, and even less without his permission, at the risk of starting a big anger from the singer! And it’s exactly what happened in a club in Virginia for the birthday of Trey.<br /> A source reports that an incident occurred between two fans and the artist who celebrated his 30-years-old in Norfol, Virginia. While he had reserved all the VIP part of the club for his after-party with his friends and several women, one of the two fans told what happened:“My sister is a long time fan of his. She was over the moon with excitement to be there.<br /> <br /> He had many groupies that were very sexually appealing women that had a very Miami/LA look that we were told he flew in because he didn’t want to risk not having pretty girls at his party in Virginia”.<br /> <br /> At getting ready to leave, the smallest of the sisters would have come up to Trey to wish him a happy birthday and tell him how much of a fan she was.“He seemed to be very kind and while they were talking, he went in to hug her”. But at this moment, the young woman made the error to take a photo.“I snapped a pic and he saw the flash. Before the photo even completed, he snatched the phone out of my hands”.<br /> ‘What the f***, don’t take no f**** pictures of me b****!’<br /> Seeing the quarrel, the singer's entourage came over and said: “Shorty, shorty he’s just drunk. He’s gonna do what he’s gonna do”, while, Trey kept going:“The more you b****s keep talking s*** the more likely I am to throw this phone across the f***** parking lot!<br /> <br /> ”While both fans apologized in vain, Trey asked his bodyguards to“Get these two f**** b****s out of here”.<br /> My honnie is getting too high, I thing he must have over  reacted. Easy Trigga!</div>

Trey Songz: he breaks fan's phone who just wanted to snap a pic!

We know that #Trey Songz AKA Trigger has hot blood, but what we know the less is that he doesn’t like being photographed, and even less without his permission, at the risk of starting a big anger fro…

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

50 Cent: his bank account is blocked!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <img src="https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10556407_677055042408386_7276268507040880655_n.jpg?oh=b8766a808b4c545ad0651c3e74fc9852&oe=5515A1B9" /><br /> Apparently,#50 Cent is not able to get a penny from his bank account, because it was blocked. In fact last April, the 39 years old rapper lost a 3-year lawsuit against Sleek Audio, brand with which he has worked to create some Audio headphones. The brand accuses50 Centof having used the same design to start another company, SMS Audio, after their partnership collapsed in 2011.<br /> <br /> <br /> Fifty, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, was then ordered to pay $17 million! But it seems he has not the full amount or he simply has not yet paid. In the United States, if you don't pay a judgment, the winner of the lawsuit can freeze your bank accounts.<br /> <br /> <br /> However, "the rapper has full access to his business accounts only his personal accounts are frozen," reveals a source of TMZ. And it's not as if 50 Cent couldn't pay the modest sum of $ 17 million: he is part of the top 10 richest rappers of the year; Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at $140 million! In 2007, he won $100 million after Coca Cola has bought VitaminWater a company in which he held 10% of the shares. The rapper own also a label, G Unit Records, and a clothing brand.<br /> <img src="https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/1551506_677055039075053_8117295858659952025_n.jpg?efg=eyJvbGF0IjoxNjB9&oh=992097b2286f7e98b9672c0afe96111a&oe=551D0893" /><br /> <br /> <br /> $17 million shouldn't hurt him a lot. In any case, his personal account will remain locked until the fine is paid.</div>

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50 Cent: his bank account is blocked!

Apparently,#50 Cent is not able to get a penny from his bank account, because it was blocked. In fact last April, the 39 years old rapper lost a 3-year lawsuit against Sleek Audio, brand with which h…

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

Senators divided over President Jonathan's impeachment plot

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> <img height="116" src="https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10592646_678006152313275_7776404498167657620_n.jpg?efg=eyJvbGF0IjoxNjB9&oh=06c5d1dab297f95a82474e7baad51769&oe=55057E9C" width="200" /></div> <br /> What has been rumoured for about two weeks now as plot to impeach #President Goodluck Jonathan by the Senate came to the fore yesterday following the unmasking of Senator Abdulkadir Jajere as the person behind the move.<br /> Jajere (Yobe South) came out openly yesterday to announce that he is the promoter of the plot and insisted that as at yesterday, 63 senators had already signed the register to key into the impeachment plot.<br /> He disclosed that two other senators have shown readiness to sign into the project, and with that, they are ready to commence the process proper when the senate resumes from a two week break on December 16.<br /> But Jajere’s figure of 63 senators, which he said comprises eight Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and 55 opposition All Progressive Congress members, APC, senators casts doubt about the authenticity of his claims as there are altogether only 38 APC members in the senate, following the decamping of three senators from Ogun State, one from Edo, one from Oyo and one from Nasarawa.<br /> <br /> “As of today, the required signatures to initiate the impeachment notice had been obtained. The senate has adjourned to the 16th of December, so by that date the impeachment notice will be presented on the floor of the senate,” Jajare told newsmen yesterday.<br /> Despite the insistence of Jajere that he and his colleagues are hell-bent on going ahead with the impeachment, it was difficult to get any senator who admitted to the impeachment project from the the opposition senators and the majority senators.<br /> All the senators spoken to were non committal to the impeachment project.<br /> While the Senate’s spokesman, Enyinnaya Abaribe was quick to dismiss Jajere’s claims as, “figment of his imagination,” Senator Ayogu Eze simply described Jajere as a, “blatant liar and story teller.”<br /> Eze said: “Put me on record, Senator Jajere is a blatant liar for saying that 65 or 70 Senators have signed his alleged impeachment list against President Jonathan. The said list is non existence in the senate and why didn’t you tell him to show you the list on which he said he is number four and in particular, asked him who is number 65 there?”<br /> <br /> Continuing, Eze who is the chairman of the senate committee on works said, “Yes, there are some political opponents of the President in the Senate or even disgruntled ones, but the fact is that even if they want to make such move, they cannot even get up to 10 and where are they even going to table such rubbish. We are waiting for them anyway.<br /> “Even the reason reportedly cited by the senator for the so called impeachment move, stands logic on its head because how can you be bringing a non existing offences of 2011 as impeachment offences in 2014. Where were they in 2011 when the alleged offences were committed by the President and don’t they even know that three other appropriation bills had been passed by the senate after the 2011 one?<br /> “To me Jajere is a story teller We are waiting for him and his other signatories who are more of spirits than human beings in the Senate and let me put it to him and his other people that if they think they can intimidate the President or PDP out of power, they are just day dreaming because the man will contest the 2015 election and going by realities on ground, he will win. So the earlier they realise this, the better for them.”<br /> Earlier, Jajere had said: “I have signed the impeachment notice because there are impeachable offences against President Goodluck Jonathan. You are my colleagues and being a journalist who had practised journalism for 27 years and I know these things are not new. In 2011, this senate approved N240bn as subsidy fund but the same government spent N1.7trn which is a clear breach of the constitution, clear breach of the appropriation act.<br /> <br /> “The business of government is to curtail excesses but this government has shown that it is incurably deficient in handling the situations in this country. That government cannot say it want to continue. The president should have even resigned without waiting for him to be impeached.<br /> “The duty of the legislature is to act as a check and balance because it is the most important symbol of democracy. If you don’t have the legislature, you don’t have the legislature, you don’t have democracy because every other arm of government exists even when there is no democracy. It is only the legislature that makes a democracy, a government.<br /> <br /> “As at last week, 63 of us have signed up for the impeachment, my signature was the fourth but I can confirm to you that we have 63 signatures but after the session today, two people had called me and told me that they want to sign. One of them is an APC senator who was away doing campaign because he is contesting the governorship election of his state. The other person is a PDP senator.<br /> “The impeachment issue is not just coming now. It also a process that started early in the year but there was a hiccup but today, there are issues that have triggered the National Assembly to do what it should do. No matter what the time, it is a three legged issue; the National Assembly will now have to initiate the process and then, submit that process to the judiciary. The judiciary will form a committee through the CJN; the National Assembly will carry out the verification of the committee and conclude the remaining process. The National Assembly will soon conclude our own side and submit the notice to the judiciary.<br /> <br /> “Before the end of today I can assure you that the list will swell up to 70. It is on the impeachment day that we need two-third of the members to carry out the exercise but we need only one-third, which we already have, to initiate the process. It is just a matter of one day sitting. We will just push it before the two chambers.”</div>

Senators divided over President Jonathan's impeachment plot

What has been rumoured for about two weeks now as plot to impeach #President Goodluck Jonathan by the Senate came to the fore yesterday following the unmasking of Senator Abdulkadir Jajere as the per…

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

Idris Elba, footballers take to African airwaves to fight Ebola

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> <img height="133" src="https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10329282_678009282312962_1261463810880460372_n.jpg?oh=6113fbe1fedabef4a0583b801b7554ce&oe=550AB738" width="200" /></div> <br /> <br /> #British actor Idris Elba and a host of international football stars launched a public awareness campaign on Wednesday to help halt West Africa's Ebola epidemic and recognize the health workers fighting the deadly disease.<br /> <br /> The worst Ebola outbreak on record has killed more than 6,000 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three countries worst affected by the epidemic.<br /> <br /> The Africa United campaign (http://www.weareafricaunited.org), unveiled ahead of the African Cup of Nations draw in Equatorial Guinea's capital Malabo on Wednesday, broadcasts information on the disease and how to stop it spreading in French, English, Krio and other local languages.<br /> <br /> Messages will be sent out to the three countries and their neighbors via television, radio, billboards and phone text messages, said organizers.<br /> <br /> “For me the battle against Ebola is a personal one," said Elba, whose parents are from Sierra Leone and Ghana.<br /> <br /> "To see those amazing countries in West Africa where my father grew up and my parents married being ravaged by this disease is painful and horrific," said Elba, who came to fame in TV series 'The Wire' and played Nelson Mandela in the biopic 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom'.<br /> <br /> In one of the campaign's spots, Elba plays a football coach giving a halftime talk during West Africa's "life or death" match against Ebola and passing on tips on how to spot the disease and prevent new infections.<br /> <br /> In another, footballers Yaya Touré, Carlton Cole, Kei Kamara, Patrick Vieira, Fabrice Muamba and Andros Townsend pay homage to the work of frontline healthcare workers by wearing their names on the backs of their jerseys.<br /> <br /> Manchester City midfielder Touré hails from Ivory Coast, which shares borders with three countries hit by the disease but has so far been spared.<br /> <br /> "I could not sit back without doing something to help fight Ebola," he said. "(The campaign) pays tribute to the many, many African heroes who are in the villages, towns and cities using their skills, resourcefulness and intelligence to battle Ebola."<br /> <br /> The campaign was backed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation.</div>

Idris Elba, footballers take to African airwaves to fight Ebola

#British actor Idris Elba and a host of international football stars launched a public awareness campaign on Wednesday to help halt West Africa's Ebola epidemic and recognize the health workers fight…

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

Dirty Politics. PDP says Buhari is using Boko-Haram as his Political Strategy

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlzPVdxDb54xrjJmdKW6SkA5uoBKdCrSGFc67_RPaTJHl7H0qGqgjCtwZx07hO7_uyfaTiBD2zE-edXmh2I40JUWXoobVZZ82FlHuH56NmstriIpXsiyNn3Jnm_DD4myjpD5tRrtBFsgni/s1600/mental+brain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlzPVdxDb54xrjJmdKW6SkA5uoBKdCrSGFc67_RPaTJHl7H0qGqgjCtwZx07hO7_uyfaTiBD2zE-edXmh2I40JUWXoobVZZ82FlHuH56NmstriIpXsiyNn3Jnm_DD4myjpD5tRrtBFsgni/s1600/mental+brain.jpg" width="137" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dirty politics<br /></td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) of trying to make #political gains from the war against Boko Haram by stating that he will end Boko Haram insurgency in a few months if elected.<br /> In a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in Abuja on Wednesday, the PDP regretted Buhari's insinuation that the federal government has failed in its attempt to tackle the problem and it will only end when Buhari is elected.<br /> It said: "It is unfortunate that General Buhari, being a former head of state, has continued to play politics with a very serious security challenge which has claimed the lives of many Nigerians by always trying to use the pains of the people to score cheap political points at a time all patriotic Nigerians are joining hands with government to look for solution.<br /> "Rather than show patriotism by collaborating with the Federal Government, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant prefers that the nation has no solution until the time he is able to step in as president with his 'magic wand' to end the insurgency.<br /> <br /> "This not only exposes a height of insensitivity but also a clear absence of genuine love and concern for the people. Assuming, without conceding that he has the solution to the problem, should Buhari as a prominent citizen not have put the country first before any selfish political agenda and personal aggrandizement?"<br /> The PDP noted that whereas, the Federal Government has shown incontrovertible commitment to ending the insurgency by deploying troops and equipping the military, "opposition leaders including General Buhari have continued in their desperate attempt to sabotage the efforts by making statements that encourage insurgency and which are capable of demoralizing and dividing our security agencies."<br /> The statement added: "Nigerians appreciate the fact that the Federal Government has been able to sustain the battle to repel the insurgents through the gallant efforts of our armed forces, who have continued to put their lives on the line in defence of our nation and her people."</div>

Dirty Politics. PDP says Buhari is using Boko-Haram as his Political Strategy

Dirty politics THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) of trying to make #political gains from the w…

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

Israeli Firm confirmed that you can Recharge your phone in 30 seconds

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> <img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/1497456_672683442845546_7918002024732215503_n.jpg?oh=7480d003fe362e9c282a803707993e05&oe=55062096&__gda__=1427669591_a7bab7a56cd44d5f21b8eca4f9e69565" /></div> <br />  An Israeli company says it has developed #technology that can charge a mobile phone in a few seconds and an electric car in minutes, advances that could transform two of the world's most dynamic consumer industries.<br /> Using nano-technology to synthesize artificial molecules, Tel Aviv-based StoreDot says it has developed a battery that can store a much higher charge more quickly, in effect acting like a super-dense sponge to soak up power and retain it.<br /> <br /> While the prototype is currently far too bulky for a mobile phone, the company believes it will be ready by 2016 to market a slim battery that can absorb and deliver a day's power for a smartphone in just 30 seconds.<br /> "These are new materials, they have never been developed before," said Doron Myersdorf, the founder and chief executive of StoreDot, whose investors include Russian billionaire and Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich.<br /> The innovation is based around the creation of "nanodots", which StoreDot describes as bio-organic peptide molecules. Nanodots alter the way a battery behaves to allow the rapid absorption and, critically, the retention of power.<br /> The company has raised $48 million from two rounds of funding, including backing from a leading mobile phone maker. Myersdorf declined to name the company, but said it was Asian.<br /> With the number of smartphone users forecast to reach 1.75 billion this year, StoreDot sees a big market, and some experts think that -- with more work -- it could be on to a winner.<br /> <br /> "We live in a power hungry world ... people are constantly chasing a power outlet. StoreDot has the potential to solve this real big problem," said Zack Weisfeld, who has worked with and evaluated ventures in the mobile phone sector globally.<br /> "They still have some way to go, to deal with size of battery and power cycle rounds, but if solvable, it's a very big breakthrough," he told Reuters. A power cycle round refers to the number of times a battery can be re-charged in its lifetime.<br /> Myersdorf said a fast-charge phone would cost $100-$150 more than current models and would ultimately be able to handle 1,500 recharge/discharge cycles, giving it about three years of life.<br /> He hopes to use the same technology to create a car battery that recharges in two or three minutes, rather than current models which commonly need to be charged overnight.</div>

Israeli Firm confirmed that you can Recharge your phone in 30 seconds

 An Israeli company says it has developed #technology that can charge a mobile phone in a few seconds and an electric car in minutes, advances that could transform two of the world's most dynamic con…

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

Nigeria's parliament says Shell should pay $4 billion for 2011 oil spill

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <img height="133" src="https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10494528_673034392810451_6033478124330476786_n.jpg?oh=1474470deaab74cce75507272ad0a8ea&oe=550737FA" width="200" /><br /> Nigeria's National Assembly said on Wednesday oil major #Shell should pay $3.96 billion for a 2011 spill at its offshore Bonga oilfield in the latest assessment of damage to the environment.<br /> <br /> The non-binding decision comes after years of analysis by various Nigerian state agencies, which have proposed a range of fines as high as $11.5 billion.<br /> <br /> The parliament finally reached a decision based on the report of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), which previously recommended a fine of $5 billion.<br /> <br /> Shell declined to comment. The company has previously said it took responsibility for the spill and had cleaned the area.<br /> <br /> The parliament's decision is non-binding as it only has the power to recommend fines to the government and cannot enforce them.<br /> <br /> NOSDRA estimated that around 40,000 barrels were spilled when a tanker was loading crude at the offshore platform operated by Shell's subsidiary SNEPCO. The Bonga field was producing 200,000 barrels per day at the time.<br /> <br /> NOSDRA has previously said the spill had hurt locals in the area who rely on fishing for their livelihoods as the slick covered an area of around 950 square km.<br /> <br /> "Since all efforts by this committee were tactfully rebuffed by SNEPCO, (it) has decided to adopt the damage assessment report submitted by NOSDRA as the lead agency in all oil spill management," Uche Ekwunife, chairman of the environmental committee told the assembly.<br /> <br /> Shell is also being pursued in a class action case for two other spills in the Niger Delta in 2008. In June, it offered 30 million pounds ($51 million) in compensation to 15,000 residents in the Bodo Community but this was rejected.<br /> <br /> The United Nations Environment Programme has criticised Shell in the past for not doing enough to clean up spills and maintain infrastructure.<br /> <br /> Nigeria is Africa's largest oil exporter and an OPEC member but the environmental toll has been huge. The mangrove creeks of the delta region are heavily polluted mainly due to leaks from illegal pipeline tapping and sabotage.<br /> <br /> Foreign companies have been selling their stakes in onshore oilfields after becoming frustrated with industrial scale theft and resulting spills, which show no signs of abating.<br /> <br /> On Monday, Shell had to shut down a pipeline as a result of a new leak close to where it was removing oil taps.<br /> <br /> (This story has been refiled to add NOSDRA attribution for spill size in paragraph 6)</div>

Nigeria's parliament says Shell should pay $4 billion for 2011 oil spill

Nigeria's National Assembly said on Wednesday oil major #Shell should pay $3.96 billion for a 2011 spill at its offshore Bonga oilfield in the latest assessment of damage to the environment. The non-…

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Neocons stay in contact with ISIL: Analyst

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KpUGScVhgney6hCoEqJ0iYOHBv7R8Pk2nNgaOpKHBS33zfgKtgrYS6B-i6z7jb3NbGIvBWTAXODo2R2IrFcBwxtF8swMsheXBERl5IST6MGETJ_yuiJifKmswKbu21kFjY_yAuvztqFf/s1600/dangling+war.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KpUGScVhgney6hCoEqJ0iYOHBv7R8Pk2nNgaOpKHBS33zfgKtgrYS6B-i6z7jb3NbGIvBWTAXODo2R2IrFcBwxtF8swMsheXBERl5IST6MGETJ_yuiJifKmswKbu21kFjY_yAuvztqFf/s1600/dangling+war.JPG" width="143" /></a></div> <br /> Some neoconservative senators in the United States remain in direct contact with the #ISIL terrorist group, says a journalist.<br /> <br /> Yuram Abdullah Weiler, a columnist with the Tehran Times Daily from Denver, told DanglingReport that the neoconservatives and the Israeli spy agencies have maintained direct contacts with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the so-called leader of ISIL.<br /> <br /> “We also have evidence that John McCain was in direct contact with al Baghdadi and possibly he is involved with [Israeli spy agency] Mossad.<br /> <br /> This appears it is very much US creation,” he said, referring to hawkish US Senator McCain.<br /> The analyst said the United States has found a replacement for the red armies of the Communist era in the form of ISIL.<br /> Commenting on the ongoing unrest in Syria, he said that the United States and its regional allies were pursuing a vicious agenda of “regime change” through fueling militancy.<br /> The commentator went on to say that the Americans are preventing “a unified Iraq” by unleashing militant groups and spreading divisions.<br /> <br /> He also said the United States and its allies such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey and the Israeli regime are deeply involved in financing and training these militant groups.<br /> The remarks come as ISIL terrorists control some parts of Syria and Iraq. They have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations and crucifixions, against all communities in the two countries, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.<br /> The group has reportedly links with the Saudi intelligence and it is believed to be indirectly supported by the Israeli regime.</div>

Neocons stay in contact with ISIL: Analyst

Some neoconservative senators in the United States remain in direct contact with the #ISIL terrorist group, says a journalist. Yuram Abdullah Weiler, a columnist with the Tehran Times Daily from Denv…

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Chimamanda, the Genius of our Time

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10612891_672032742910616_8230072235183042049_n.jpg?efg=eyJvbGF0IjoxNjB9&oh=c5a3361f22437a381ac7e013d56c9767&oe=551540CC&__gda__=1423082109_9171494c77a6f2265aab2fb96557c4b1" /><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In praise of the novel Half of a Yellow Sun, Chinua Achebe wrote; “We do not usually associate #wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers… Adichie came almost fully made.” Looking back to what has happened after this famous declaration, it is remarkable how prescient Achebe’s comment was.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">No storyteller on the continent in the last ten years has gripped the imagination of Africa like Chimamanda Adichie. Her Nigerian reading tours are major events with fans swarming the venues as if at a musical concert. During one of her recent readings in Lagos, a young woman broke down in tears at meeting her for the first time. Adichie’s striking personality, speeches and media interviews have enthralled audiences across the world. Her books are prescribed texts for secondary schools all over Africa. Scores of African PhD students anchor their thesis on her work.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Her multiple prize-winning novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, has now been turned into a motion picture in a </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">path-breaking </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">collaboration </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">between </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Nigerian </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">British </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">filmmakers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Scholars have written books on her. Children who were born after her infiltration of our national consciousness were named after her. Even Hollywood stars are fans; Will Smith recently called her to tell her so.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As is the case with some gifted people, Adichie’s talent was quick to announce itself. From writing plays that were acted by her classmates in elementary school to her first nibble at the intimidating narrative of the Biafran War with an early published work, For Love of Biafra, written when she was just a teenager, Adichie showed early signs of a girl who had the head of an old woman on her shoulders.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I recall my first interview with her in September 2003 in Lagos after Zoetrope had published her short story, Half of a Yellow Sun (which would later become the title of her second novel). Adichie had talked intensely about her dream of setting up a writers’ colony in Nigeria. It had all sounded wishful and quixotic. Today, although she has not fully achieved the dream of setting up the physical structures of a colony, Adichie has established a virtual one – a community of writers, weaned from the nest of her annual creative writing workshop in Lagos. This may well be her most astounding legacy.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a recent conversation, an influential second generation Nigerian poet argued that Adichie represented a rupture on the Nigerian literary scene. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He just might be right. Viewed against the backdrop of the literary famine that preceded her emergence, there are many people for whom Adichie represents the bold new voice of Nigerian writing. Personally, before her emergence, I had long decided that Nigeria’s rich tradition of storytelling ended with the Chinua Achebe generation. My impression came from the prolonged period of near-arid literary production caused by the long years of military dictatorship. For a considerable period, the Nigerian literary scene was an overcast rainy morning. There were occasional peeps of the sun, such as when Helon Habila won the Caine Prize in 2001, but many writers were locked up in guerilla journalism and human rights campaigns against the military regime of the time and had very little time to sustain Habila’s great effort by creating serious literature. Much of what was published during the period lacked the literary merit to produce more than a muffled echo within the Lagos arts community.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I began to take writing more seriously after reading Adichie’s short story Half of a Yellow Sun. I was gripped by her narrative power and stricken by the character of the bespectacled 13-year-old boy, Obi, whose scholarly thirst and uncanny wit I found so inspiring that when he died, I felt a sinking sense of loss. His character was fully realized. It was astonishing how, in such a short piece, Adichie powerfully dramatized this truth: war swallows the brightest amongst us. The story won her the David T. K Wong Prize for Fiction and turned literary ears in her direction.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The early promise of that story was fulfilled in her debut offering, Purple Hibiscus; a path-breaking novel that won a number of important prizes. It became wildly popular among Nigerian readers and non-readers alike. More than that, it inspired the emerging generation of writers to re-possess the Nigerian narrative. Said Tolu Ogunlesi, a writer and journalist, on Adichie’s enormous influence on new African writers –  “Her success has given a lot of us the confidence that our stories are worth writing. And her workshop, which is now in its seventh year, has kick started many literary careers and friendships.”</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ogunlesi, a member of the inaugural edition of Adichie’s workshop, was the winner of the 2009 CNN African Journalist of the Year in the Arts and Culture category. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Adeleke Adeyemi, winner of the Nigerian Prize for Literature (2011) who writes under the pen name Mai Nasara is also an alumnus of Adichie’s workshop.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Close observers see a degree of similarity in Chinua Achebe’s “opening of doors” to writers on the continent in his role as the pioneer editor of Heinemann African Writer’s series – and Adichie’s hugely successful workshop, which has sired a new generation of writers. In much the same way, the online writers’ community that emerged from Adichie’s workshop series compares quite favourably to the writer’s body, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) founded by Achebe. The similarities have continued to grow with the bold interrogation of racism in Adichie’s latest work, AMERICANAH, which stridently plumbs the deep silences of the world’s uncomfortable truths and echoes Achebe’s pointed confrontation of racism in his lecture ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” Even Adichie’s rumored rejection of an attempt by the Nigerian government to confer a national honour on her is reminiscent of Achebe’s famous rejection of national honours by the Nigerian government.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Eghosa Imasuen, author of Fine Boys, says that because of Adichie, a generation of writers have met and formed a community. “I remember my workshop set, the inaugural edition. It has been the simmering of talent, talent that has found a community of others. That has been due to her. I think that is her place, not the books, which are important by themselves, but that she brought a new generation of writers together.” Poet and novelist, Uche Peter Umez agrees.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> “Chimamanda’s impact on the literary scene has been nothing short of phenomenal. Her biggest contribution so far, beside her annual creative workshop, is in helping young writers discover their voices and use these voices to unflinchingly tell stories that are distinctively and diversely African.” Echoes journalist Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, who attended the workshop two years ago, “Within my experience and what I observe with members of my class, the workshop is immensely beneficial and has helped many in discovering their voices.”</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Purple Hibiscus  was a success, but what truly launched Adichie into the global literary orbit was her second novel Half of a Yellow Sun, now widely considered to be a modern classic. “She is one contemporary writer you’re certain people everywhere from Australia to Scandinavia will have heard about or read,” Tolu Ogunlesi surmised. He may well be right. Adichie is Africa’s most read novelist among her generation. Her work has been translated into over 30 languages across the world and has received awards in Africa, Europe and the United States. It was hardly surprising when she won the MacArthur Genius Grant, worth thousands of dollars, awarded to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality in their creative pursuits. Adichie achieved the status of an orator when she gave a talk at the TED Global conference in Oxford in 2009 titled “The Danger of a Single Story.” Her performance was the stuff of myth-making. The talk is now one of ten most watched TED talks. It wasn’t long before scholars began to look at the similarities between that talk and Achebe’s Image of Africa Lecture in the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, in 1975. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Both speeches show an astonishing resonance and topicality, further growing Adichie’s legend.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For taking on the intimidating horror of the Biafran war, Chinua Achebe described Adichie as ‘fearless.’ Many who know her well agree, pointing to her willingness to take on heavy subjects. Her seemingly fragile frame and striking beauty may not prepare an observer for her forthrightness. Those who know her well say that Adichie has no falseness or guile, two things many Nigerians arm themselves with to enable them negotiate their ways through our complex of overarching sensitivities. She says exactly what she thinks. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She holds strong views and never flinches from voicing them. But this is always done in a spirit of honesty and integrity. “She always talks about the importance of being truthful to yourself and your writing,” a participant from this year’s workshop said. Eghosa Imasuen simply interprets that as sensitivity. “The Chimamanda I know is a sensitive soul. The empathy displayed in her books is not forced; it is effortless.”</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For one who has given so much to writing and writers, it is interesting to see that there are pockets of resentment for Adichie even among her kindred of writers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The storm that trailed her recent interview in the Boston Review offered an insight into this resentment. I read the interview when it was first published and thought it displayed a witty playfulness, quite common for Adichie who often combines honesty with humour. In the interview, she jokes about feeling like a ‘proud mama’ on recounting the successes of her workshop participants, about starting a secret society of African writers in a basement, about Nigerian chauvinism, and even about her own possible failed attempt at humour.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But two parts of that interview offered her critics her open flanks to cast a spear in.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first in which she opined that the Caine Prize was not the best barometer to gauge African writing. The second was her referring to one of the Caine Prize nominees, Elnathan John (an emerging writer who applied to, was accepted, and attended her 2011 workshop) as ‘one of my boys at the workshop.’ John then wrote an insulting blogpost that spread like flu on the Internet, chiding Adichie for her comment and making her out as arrogant. Other insults and personal attacks on her followed. American academic, Aaron Bady, who conducted the Boston Review interview, is puzzled by the response. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He speculates that it might partly be due to bruised male egos. “When a woman becomes very famous, men in her field often resent that success, much more than they would resent a man, and jump at the chance to attack her. I feel like Ms. Adichie just said what a lot of people have said: that the Caine Prize is fine but also massively overhyped. I basically agree, and it’s not a slap at the shortlisted writers to say so. In the interview, I mentioned Igoni Barrett to her because I think he wrote the best book of short stories I’ve read this year so it was strange to see four Nigerian names on the shortlist, but not his. It doesn’t take anything away from the shortlisted writers to say that!”</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Adichie, a winner of many prizes – the most recent of which was the Chicago Tribune Heartland prize for AMERICANAH – has consistently said that prizes, in general, are good but are never the final arbiters of good writing. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“It’s lovely to win,” she said in a recent CNN interview, when asked about her awards. “But that isn’t why I write. If I hadn’t won anything I would still be somewhere today probably unemployed but writing. What matters the most for a writer, I think, is to be read.”</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Her ambivalence about the Caine Prize in particular may have been further shaped by her own personal experience. She was shortlisted for the prize ten years ago and later wrote a short story titled ‘Jumping Monkey Hill’ presumed to be about her experience. In the story, the administrator of a prize for African writers, an old Englishman, dismisses the stories by young African writers most of which are based on their lives and instead dictates to them what a ‘real African story’ should be. Some of the young writers resist but others are in an uncomfortable position because while they may not agree with him, they toe the line as they hope the Englishman will help them find international publishers. Adichie was lucky not to have to toe the line because, according to her manager, by the time she was shortlisted for the prize, </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">she </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">already </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">had </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">an </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">American </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">literary </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">agent </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">publisher.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Zimbabwean writer Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, in a nuanced piece titled, “Adichie and the Great Brouhaha” argues that the outrage following Adichie’s comments is in fact an impressive demonstration of Adichie’s power. Tshuma also suggests that those who interpret the interview negatively say more about their own prejudices than about what was actually said in the interview.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To be fair, an unbiased reader may well find Adichie’s comments offputting, especially since print interviews do not always capture the tone of voice or other nuances. Bady was kind enough to show me the full transcript of the interview. It makes clear, for example, that Adichie’s question “why this overprivileging of the Caine Prize?” was in response to Bady saying that he and a group of academics were following and blogging about the prize. Adichie also adds that the Caine Prize is a good thing that brings attention but is not the final arbiter of African writing.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yet even without these missed subtleties – understandable for an interview of limited space – the rabid negativity from certain writers to Adichie’s interview was so overblown as to suggest a deliberate attempt to manufacture controversy. Perhaps it is the lot of Chimamanda Adichie that anything she undertakes acquires a new and urgent weight.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bady himself, who is in the best position to parse the interview’s tone, says that Adichie was never condescending. “From my perspective, in the interview, I would never have expected someone like Elnathan to get that upset at being called “my boy.” At the time, it seemed purely collegial, friendly. Maybe there’s some kind of history between those two, and if so, that’s their business; I don’t know anything about it. But even if there’s some kind of buried back-story, it seems like a person should either tell the whole story or keep it to yourself.”</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While Adichie has chosen not to comment, close friends say there is no buried back story. A fellow participant at the workshop attended by John says, “Some of us thought he was an irritant, he thought he knew better than others and he thought his own writing was better than it was. Chimamanda always tried to strike a balance. She also cracked jokes with him, she joked with all of us. He called Chimamanda his mentor and his teacher. I remember she once told him that his problem is that he is a provocateur, that he should write more truthfully and not just to provoke. She liked his writing about gay themes because she encouraged writing about issues that people keep silent about. She also liked the fact that he was a Northerner because she said the Northern perspective is often not heard. I think that was the main reason she encouraged him and introduced him to her own literary agent in New York, which -by the way- many writers of her standing simply do not do.” This may well be true of many writers, especially in today’s publishing world where it is near impossible to be published by a mainstream publisher without an agent. But it is nothing strange for Adichie, who is also known to have helped other African writers, including Teju Cole, author of the critically acclaimed Open City. </span></span><br /> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She not only recommended Cole to her literary agency, but also hosted a pre-publication luncheon in New York that introduced editors to his new novel. The only thing close to a back story with John, say friends, happened some months ago. Adichie had given an interview in which she said that ‘for most Nigerian women, wearing their natural hair is unbearable.’ She was then deliberately misquoted as saying that Nigerian women with Brazilian hair had low self-esteem. John joined an online bandwagon that referenced the misquote. Adichie wrote him to say that she expected better from him, that he should have read the actual interview first to see what she actually said. He wrote to apologise. She later wrote to congratulate him on the Caine Prize shortlist. Said John’s fellow workshop participant, “We just didn’t understand where his blog was coming from. It makes no sense that he is now claiming ‘manhood-shrinking’ emails. He himself knows she meant ‘one of my boys’ in an affectionate way. She was claiming him which is a compliment. Many of us from the workshop told him point blank that he was seeking cheap publicity. People who had never heard of him before now know of him. Even if he truly believed she was denigrating him, why make it so public? After all the last communication between them was a private email she sent him congratulating him on the Caine Prize, so why wouldn’t he write her privately? How can you start a negative campaign against somebody who has done nothing but help you? He even complained that it took her time to reply his emails. Does he know how many emails she gets? How many other writers in her position even take time to read the work of upcoming writers? The truth is that he is entitled and has an inflated sense of himself. He felt bad that he didn’t win the Caine Prize and decided to lash out at somebody. </span></span><br /> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Chimamanda is an easy target because she is so prominent. Some others joined in, because some people like tearing successful people down, especially someone like Chimamanda who is a strong and confident woman. The sad truth is that Chimamanda is now going to be more careful and wary about how she opens herself up to upcoming writers.” Adichie may indeed have to become more wary. Either way, she has made deep impressions on the attentive world. Even her most vitriolic critic cannot dispute that. In doing what many writers have not done, Adichie has earned a place in the hearts of many who love and adore her. She has also earned the respect of those who are either undecided about her or do not have a friendly disposition towards her. </span></span><br /> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a prophetic comment, after Adichie’s win of the David T. K Wong’s Prize for Fiction in 2003, Obi Iwuanyanwu, a Professor at Central State University, Dayton, Ohio, said, “Given my knowledge of similar astounding young writers in history – I would make bold to describe her as a genius. I believe that Chimamanda, who was born seven years after Biafra, is destined to write the Great Biafran Novel.” It is serendipitous that ten years after Iwuanyanwu’s prophecy, a similar conclusion has been drawn by Kathryn Schulz, an American journalist writing in New York Magazine. Adichie’s recent novel AMERICANAH is, according to Schulz, “one of the better novels I’ve read about contemporary America, but I’m not tempted to call it a Great American Novel. Instead, it strikes me as an early, imperfect, admirable stab at something new: a Great Global Novel.” Adichie seems to be always drawn to “stabbing at something new.” With the impending release of the film adaptation of her groundbreaking Half of a Yellow Sun in October this year, this prodigious talent has more substance to keep the mythmakers busy for a very long time.</span></span></div>

Chimamanda, the Genius of our Time

In praise of the novel Half of a Yellow Sun, Chinua Achebe wrote; “We do not usually associate #wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers… Adichie …

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Revolution is possible in Nigeria – Justice Akanbi

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10411155_672311426216081_1666372757034397865_n.jpg?oh=45606b0cc2ceba6d269d744d46a9caff&oe=54D48659&__gda__=1427985104_1ccd96e7784794bf43996f8e20eff8ec" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Justice Akambi</td></tr> </tbody></table> The former #Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi (rtd), has said there is likely to be a revolution in the country because of disregard and neglect of the masses.<br /> He said that Nigeria was not different from other countries of the world that had moved forward through revolution by its oppressed citizens.<br /> <br /> Justice Akanbi made this known on Tuesday while briefing the press on the upcoming launching of his autobiography which will take place on Wednesday in Abuja.<br /> He said: “If you watch, the AU and the world frowns at violent revolution, when someone gets there with that, it’s not recognized and pressure is mounted to make sure you go through the democratic rule.<br /> “But if you see what happened at Ouagadougou recently when they had to go and burn some places, it’s not a coup as such but it’s a demonstration to show that the people are not going to take it. If you look at Hong Kong, before it became a less corruption free country, it was the people who rose up as a body to challenge the police.<br /> <br /> “When you push the people and they have their back against the wall, they are bound to react. Revolution means no more than a change, it can be violent and it can be peaceful, but what happened in Ouagadougou most recently is an object lesson for those who care to learn.”<br /> When asked if revolution is possible in Nigeria, he said,”it’s possible, if we go on without thinking about the ordinary people.<br /> <br /> “Let’s create an environment where the children of the weak and poor can have a place in the society, where they can compete very well with the children of the rich.”<br /> On the book launch, Justice Akanbi said the event which will take place on November 26 will have former President Olusegun Obasanjo as chairman.<br /> <br /> Other personalities that will grace the occasion are the Sultan of Sokoto, Emir of Ilorin, Oba of Lagos, the chairman People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and All Progressive Congress (APC).<br /> Revolution is possible in Nigeria – Justice Akanbi<br /> <br /> The former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi (rtd), has said there is likely to be a revolution in the country because of disregard and neglect of the masses.<br /> He said that Nigeria was not different from other countries of the world that had moved forward through revolution by its oppressed citizens.<br /> <br /> Justice Akanbi made this known on Tuesday while briefing the press on the upcoming launching of his autobiography which will take place on Wednesday in Abuja.<br /> He said: “If you watch, the AU and the world frowns at violent revolution, when someone gets there with that, it’s not recognized and pressure is mounted to make sure you go through the democratic rule.<br /> “But if you see what happened at Ouagadougou recently when they had to go and burn some places, it’s not a coup as such but it’s a demonstration to show that the people are not going to take it. If you look at Hong Kong, before it became a less corruption free country, it was the people who rose up as a body to challenge the police.<br /> <br /> “When you push the people and they have their back against the wall, they are bound to react. Revolution means no more than a change, it can be violent and it can be peaceful, but what happened in Ouagadougou most recently is an object lesson for those who care to learn.”<br /> When asked if revolution is possible in Nigeria, he said,”it’s possible, if we go on without thinking about the ordinary people.<br /> <br /> “Let’s create an environment where the children of the weak and poor can have a place in the society, where they can compete very well with the children of the rich.”<br /> On the book launch, Justice Akanbi said the event which will take place on November 26 will have former President Olusegun Obasanjo as chairman.<br /> <br /> Other personalities that will grace the occasion are the Sultan of Sokoto, Emir of Ilorin, Oba of Lagos, the chairman People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and All Progressive Congress (APC).Revolution is possible in Nigeria – Justice Akanbi<br /> <br /> The former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi (rtd), has said there is likely to be a revolution in the country because of disregard and neglect of the masses.<br /> He said that Nigeria was not different from other countries of the world that had moved forward through revolution by its oppressed citizens.<br /> <br /> Justice Akanbi made this known on Tuesday while briefing the press on the upcoming launching of his autobiography which will take place on Wednesday in Abuja.<br /> He said: “If you watch, the AU and the world frowns at violent revolution, when someone gets there with that, it’s not recognized and pressure is mounted to make sure you go through the democratic rule.<br /> “But if you see what happened at Ouagadougou recently when they had to go and burn some places, it’s not a coup as such but it’s a demonstration to show that the people are not going to take it. If you look at Hong Kong, before it became a less corruption free country, it was the people who rose up as a body to challenge the police.<br /> <br /> “When you push the people and they have their back against the wall, they are bound to react. Revolution means no more than a change, it can be violent and it can be peaceful, but what happened in Ouagadougou most recently is an object lesson for those who care to learn.”<br /> When asked if revolution is possible in Nigeria, he said,”it’s possible, if we go on without thinking about the ordinary people.<br /> <br /> “Let’s create an environment where the children of the weak and poor can have a place in the society, where they can compete very well with the children of the rich.”<br /> On the book launch, Justice Akanbi said the event which will take place on November 26 will have former President Olusegun Obasanjo as chairman.<br /> <br /> Other personalities that will grace the occasion are the Sultan of Sokoto, Emir of Ilorin, Oba of Lagos, the chairman People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and All Progressive Congress (APC).<br /> <br /> </div>

Revolution is possible in Nigeria – Justice Akanbi

Justice Akambi The former #Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi (rtd), has said there is likely to be a revolution in th…

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A fretting president as Commander-In-Chief

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> <img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10805795_672331252880765_2383314993383062414_n.jpg?oh=7594600fa49e568b06f51aaf35b2b23f&oe=54DC240E&__gda__=1426756231_9bea1b5289157f85291135dd2f1d0444" /></div> <br /> President #Jonathan’s last minute change of mind on EPZ trip bad for his status as C-in-C<br /> <br /> President Goodluck Jonathan’s failure to commission the groundbreaking of the $16 billion export Free Zone facility in Ogidigben has further raised questions about his administration’s commitment to development, fairness and justice. The project, billed to position gas as an alternative to over-reliance on oil as source of revenue for the country, is expected to generate jobs for the youths and sharpen the skills of indigenous professionals to wean the nation off dependence on expatriates to run the oil and gas industry.<br /> <br /> Unfortunately, the project is now mired in the local Ijaw-Itsekiri conflict. The Ijaw have raised query over the location of the project, claiming that the land acquired includes a large portion of Ijaw territory, especially the Gbaramatu Kingdom of Warri South West, while the Itsekiri insist that it is wholly sited on Itsekiri land.<br /> We find it disheartening that President Jonathan allowed militants long used to threatening the peace of the country to frighten him away from performing a statutory function to which he had committed himself.<br /> <br /> Government Tompolo, one of the Ijaw militants who received pardon during the presidency of the late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua was breathing fire and brimstone if the President dared step down from his jet to perform the task. And, the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and symbol of the state lent credence to the suggestion that<br /> the<br />                                  Nigerian<br />                                  state<br />                                  is<br />                                       now<br />                                         too<br />                                         weak<br />                                     to<br />                                           show<br /> it as more powerful than any rabble-rouser or ragtag army.<br /> <br /> We find it difficult to appreciate the recent decline in the honour and power of the state. In the battle field of the North East, the Boko Haram scourge keeps raging. Territory after territory keeps falling to the insurgents and strange flags are being hoisted as if to show that our armed forces cannot rein in the terrorists. In the Second Republic when a similar sect, the Maitatsine, attempted to confront the nation, the fire was quickly quenched. The might of state was demonstrated and honour restored.<br /> <br /> No other sect attempted to test its strength against the Nigerian military. And, when forces from Chad made a move to annex Nigerian territory, the Third Armoured Division rose to the occasion by pushing them back far into Chad. It was reassuring.<br /> Nigeria has invested so much into resolving the Niger Delta crisis than to have this latest challenge of state power and authority. The project itself would have helped to assure the Niger Delta people that the course of reconciliation had not been abandoned. One of the grounds of the unrest in the region was that money being made there was being invested elsewhere; that the oil companies merely despoil the land of the South South, pollute the rivers and then build up Lagos and Abuja.<br /> <br /> <br /> In coming up with a project the size of the proposed EPZ, the Nigerian state was taking steps to correct the impression. But then, the likes of Tompolo and Ijaw irredentists have chosen to throw spanner in the works.<br /> We accept the submission of the Niger Delta that the region desires closer attention from the state and thus, investment in oil and gas should impact positively on the land. But, steps by men like Tompolo would not advance this cause.<br /> <br /> Tompolo who had earlier been touted as contractor handling the security of the waterways in Lagos, without the needed competence and experience ought to have been called to order by Dr. Jonathan who should have shown that no Nigerian President could be deterred from pursuing the just cause. It is high time Tompolo, who is fast becoming a Frankenstein monster was cut to size. Unless this is done, other militants would rise against the state in pursuing sectarian interests. Tompolo himself could begin to imagine that he is a Commander-in-Chief of the same stature as the Nigerian Head of State.<br /> <br /> We also call on Ijaw and Itsekiri leaders and governors of the zone to call their men to order. They should conserve the energy being exerted in this war of attrition for the war against poverty. The Nigerian state deserves honour from all for so long as we all belong to it. The symbols of state must be preserved and whoever challenges the country’s territorial integrity, sovereignty or stands in the way of development is a common enemy and should be treated as such.</div>

A fretting president as Commander-In-Chief

President #Jonathan’s last minute change of mind on EPZ trip bad for his status as C-in-C President Goodluck Jonathan’s failure to commission the groundbreaking of the $16 billion export Free Zone fa…

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The new CDC studies shows how vast majority of Americans who drink excessively are not alcoholics

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">                                                                    AMERICA<br /> Drinking excessively can cause serious #health risks and is responsible for an average of 88,000 deaths every year. But the vast majority of such excessive drinkers are not alcoholics, according to new government data.<br /> <br /> Nine out of 10 excessive drinkers are actually not dependent on alcohol, revealed findings within a study released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The study is one of the first national, multi-year looks at alcoholism among excessive drinkers, and debunks the assumption that most excessive drinkers are dependent upon alcohol.<br /> <br /> About<br /> 10<br /> percent<br /> of<br /> people<br /> who<br /> drank<br /> excessively<br /> also<br /> met<br /> the<br /> clinical<br /> definition for alcohol dependence.<br /> <br /> The vast majority of excessive drinking is binge drinking, a pattern of behavior where men consume roughly five or more drinks and women consume four or more within a short period of time.<br /> But the big takeaway here isn't that people who drink too much don't need to worry about their habits, said study author Bob Brewer, who heads the CDC's Alcohol Program in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.<br /> <br /> <br /> Rather, the study shows that combating excessive drinking as a public health problem needs to go beyond focusing only on alcoholism, a chronic medical condition.<br /> "Knowing that nine out of 10 people who drink too much are not alcohol dependent in no way diminishes the impact of alcohol dependence as a problem. It just says the problem we're dealing with is bigger than that," Brewer said. "We need to look at this problem with a wider-angle lens and consider not just treatment for those who need it."<br /> Alcohol dependence here is a "medical problem" and "based on the consequences and the science and symptoms of someone's drinking behavior," Brewer said.<br /> <br /> People with alcohol dependence report symptoms such as withdrawal, unsuccessful attempts to cut down or stop drinking and continuing despite problems arising from drinking.<br /> <br /> While about one in three adults drinks excessively, only one in 30 (or 3.5 percent) meets the clinical definition for alcohol dependence.<br /> The study also found that excessive and binge drinking, as well as alcoholism, was most common among 18- to 24 year-old men, with binge drinking most prevalent among people coming from households with an annual income of $75,000 or more.<br /> But<br /> alcoholism<br /> was<br /> most<br /> common<br /> among<br /> people<br /> who had family incomes of less than $25,000 and people who reported binge drinking 10 or more times in the past 30 days.<br /> The data comes from three years of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in which 138,100 people from around the country answered questions about their drinking habits.<br /> <br /> That means all of the information was self-reported, and that kind of data is usually considered under-reported, the study authors noted.<br /> <br /> Brewer said there are certain strategies that help reduce excessive drinking, such as increasing the price of alcohol and considering the geographic concentration of liquor licenses. The study<br /> "really gives us some further insight about what we need to be doing about dealing with this critical public health problem,"</div>

The new CDC studies shows how vast majority of Americans who drink excessively are not alcoholics

                                                                   AMERICA Drinking excessively can cause serious #health risks and is responsible for an average of 88,000 deaths every year. But the …

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