classified-news

Saudi actor arrested in a mall by religious police for taking photos with women

2015-10-27T06:35:00.001-07:00

Abdul Aziz Kassar was on Friday evening, October 23, arrested by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in a shopping mall in the capital Riyadh for mixing with unrelated women.

The Saudi actor who lives in Kuwait said that he had not expected the rousing welcome that led to his arrest by the religious police as he was being mobbed by several women who were taking pictures and selfies with him.

The religious police said that the artist who was on a working visit to Riyadh was disturbing public order, mixing with women unrelated to him and abusing social media, and remanded him to custody.

However, Al Kassar who was later released, told Gulf Rotana private television station that he had arrived on Thursday in Saudi Arabia on a work trip.

"I asked my followers on Snapchat about the best mall to visit and they recommended Al Nakheel, so I took up their suggestion and said on the social media that I was going there on Friday," he said.

"However, I did not expect to find so many people waiting for me. I want to clarify that the presence of young women at the mall was not something under my control. When I stepped in, several fans came over and surrounded me until someone came over and pulled me aside into a room that I learned was reserved for the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice inside the mall. I understood that the man who pulled me was a member of the commission and I did not resist him out of my respect for the Commission," he said, quoted by Saudi news site Al Marsad on Tuesday.

Al Kassar added that the members of the Commission and mall officials should have warned him about the presence of the large number of fans.

"They did not tell me to stay away and that not meeting them was better," he said. "They initially took away my mobile, but returned it to me later."

Al Kassar was given bail, but he will have to wait until the prosecution ends its investigation into the case, particularly now that the Commission had accused him of using social media to meet women and take pictures with them inside the mall in flagrant violation of the rules.

The actor has played several roles in Kuwaiti dramas and presented programmes in the country. He is active on social media and the number of his followers has increased following the incident at the Riyadh mall.

Source: Gulf News

She has no limit? Kim K posed completely full frontal nude for Pape

2014-11-13T05:49:00.004-08:00

Crazy Nudershian indeed.. Lol

If you thought yesterday's photos were bad, then you should see the ones that were released last night. Can't believe Kanye is cool with this. Kim posed full frontal. This is by far the raunchiest thing she's ever done. It was shot in September. See the pics after the cut...but please it's not suitable for office viewing...

Tallest Man Meet Shortest For Guinness World Record Day

2014-11-13T05:47:00.001-08:00

The world’s tallest and shortest men in the world met for the first time today to commemorate Guinness World Record Day in London, UK.

Mr Dangi and Mr Kosen meet in London today

Today is The Guinness Book of Records’ 60th anniversary. In 2004 the annual became the world’s best-selling copyright book. Guinness World Record Day was set up to commemorate the date.

Today hundreds of men including Sultan Kösen, who holds the Guinness World Record for tallest living male at 2.51 m, and Chandra Dangi, the shortest man in history measuring only 0.546 m, met to celebrate the occasion.

They met to commemorate the 10th annual Guinness World Records Day

His growth resulted from a tumour affecting his pituitaru gland. His stature is such that he must use crutches in order to walk. Kösen lives with his parents, three brothers and sister, who are all of normal height.

He was unable to complete his education because of his height and his job as a part-time farmer. Despite his height he claims to enjoy a normal lifestyle. He describes the advantages of being tall as seeing a great distance and being able to help his family with domestic tasks such as changing light bulbs and hanging curtains.

The shortest man in history

Mr Dangi is a primordia dwarf. Chandra came to news highlights of local media when a wood contractor saw him in his village. All of his family members are of usual size. He was awarded the title of shortest adult human ever recorded after his height was measured in 24 hours. He was subsequently enrolled in the Guinness World Record book

Mr Kosen, pictured with Mr Dangi also holds the
record for the largest hands of a living person

Dangi lives with his nephews in a remote village of Nepal which is some 400 km away from the country’s capital. He wishes to travel all parts of his country and the world. He stated that with him being the shortest man of the world and belonging toNepal, he wants to popularize his village and his country through the medium of this title.

Today in London

373 people dressed as penguins gathered near Tower
Bridge to be counted by Guinness

Other world record attempts that are taking place today include the farthest basketball shot backwards and the most people eating breakfast in bed. Last night, hundreds of people took part in the record breaking charity event, they gathered near London’s Tower Bridge to set the record of the largest gathering of people (373 persons) dressed as penguins.

Giant Anaconda Captured After Eating Neighbour's Dog

2014-09-19T02:39:00.001-07:00

Sebastien Bascoules called catching huge snake ‘a dream come true’; he was called to a friend’s house after the reptile snatched a dog from the riverbank

Man in French Guiana used bare hands to catch 17-foot anaconda. Photo is a screen grab from the video

A man in French Guiana used his bare hands to catch a menacing 17-foot anaconda from a river near a friend’s house and put the 175-pound snake in his bathtub overnight until he could relocate the reptile.

Sebastien Bascoules, 39, who has enjoyed handling reptiles since age 10, was called by a friend with news that the anaconda had snatched his dog, Minus, from the riverbank, according to Barcroft TV and various media outlets.

View video

Lagos State Governor hosts some Ebola survivors

2014-09-19T02:22:00.002-07:00

Lagos state Governor, Babatunde Fashola, today September 18th, hosted some Ebola survivors at his office at the state Secretariat in Alausa, Ikeja. Speaking with the survivors, the governor commended them for coming forward to share their experiences, saying that they are proof that the disease is not a death sentence.

The survivors in attendance included the widow of late Port Harcourt doctor, Dr Emenuo Kelechi (left), Dr Ibeawuchi Morris (second left), Dr Fadipe Akinniyi (centre), Mr. Dennis Akagha (late Nurse Justina Ejelonu's fiance) and Dr Adaora Igonoh.

While sharing their experiences, one of the survivors and staff of First Consultant Hospital, Dr. Ibeabuchi Morris, said he was the first to receive late Sawyer at the hospital where he was first treated for Malaria.

He said after the patient continued to have high temperature, he took the blood sample and sent it to the laboratory, then contacted Dr. Stella Adadevoh who advised him to continue attending to the patient pending the arrival of the test result. He said when the blood result arrived it was confirmed that he was EVD positive. Sawyer died a few days later.

Dr. Ibeabuchi disclosed that he started manifesting symptoms of the disease 12 days later as his body temperature continued to rise beyond 38.5 degrees Celsius. He said when his condition continued to degenerate, he reported to the Lagos State Ministry of Health and was advised to restrict his contact with members of his family.

According to him, his body temperature got to an all time high of over 40 degrees at which point the Medical team from Lagos State came and took him to the isolation centre after decontaminating his house. He thanked the Lagos State Government and all the other agencies and individuals who took care of him and made it possible for him to survive.

Another survivor, Dr. Adaora Igonoh, thanked the Lagos State Governor and the Government for their dedication in the battle to contain the spread of the disease which, according to her, made it possible for some victims, including herself to survive the virus.

Dr. Igonoh, who is also a staff of First Consultants Hospital, commended the hospital and the staff for the risk they took to ensure that the disease did not spread beyond the limit it did. She also paid tribute to those who lost their lives, adding that without their sacrifice, the story would probably have been different.

Also giving his testimony, Mr. Dennis Akagha, fiancee to Justina Akagha, a nursing staff of First Consultants Hospital who died days after attending to Patrick Sawyer, said he got to hear about his fiancee's contact with Sawyer when the death of the Liberian was announced on television. She later told him she'd treated Sawyer.

He said when the symptoms of the disease started manifesting in Justina, they first thought it was pregnancy induced or Malaria because she'd told him she wore protective gloves while attending to Sawyer. He said that on the 14th day, Justina's condition worsened and he took her to First Consultants from where he was directed to the Isolation Centre in Yaba where she later passed on.

He disclosed that he did not immediately go to hospital when he started manifesting the symptoms until he started vomiting and feeling dehydrated. He said he was finally taken to the Isolation Centre where he was treated and discharged after he tested negative of the virus.

Other survivors who gave testimonies were Dr. Fadipe Akinniyi, also a staff of First Consultants Hospital and Dr. (Mrs.) Kelechi Emenuo, wife of late Dr. Emenuo, who treated one of Mr. Sawyer’s companions in Port Harcourt and later died of the disease.

Rescue operation at Synagogue building collapse site ends, death toll put at 80

2014-09-19T02:16:00.000-07:00

Rescue operation at Synagogue Church of All Nations site ended today September 18th. NEMA officials say they are convinced that there are no more bodies at the site. The death toll has been put at 80. NEMA says the next phase is for proper identification and retrieval of the bodies by families of the victims.

Dr. Ada Igonoh survived Ebola – This is her Story

2014-09-16T04:58:00.003-07:00

As Nigeria battles with the outbreak of Ebola, we consistently commend the dedication and selflessness of the doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals.

Dr. Ada Igonoh

Lives have been lost, and families have had to undergo the trauma of isolation. The fear of the unknown even very crippling. We read about the numbers in the news, but when we put a face to the news reports, it brings it home. Dr. Ada Igonoh of First Consultants Hospital is one of the doctors who attended to Patrick Sawyer. She was infected by the virus and miraculously, she survives to share her story.

It is a long read but definitely worth reading as Dr. Ada details her experience. It’s a really gripping read which shows the story of strength, faith and dedication. We are grateful to Ada for sharing her story with us.

***

On the night of Sunday July 20, 2014, Patrick Sawyer was wheeled into the Emergency Room at First Consultants Medical Centre, Obalende, Lagos, with complaints of fever and body weakness. The male doctor on call admitted him as a case of malaria and took a full history. Knowing that Mr Sawyer had recently arrived from Liberia, the doctor asked if he had been in contact with an Ebola patient in the last couple of weeks, and Mr. Sawyer denied any such contact. He also denied attending any funeral ceremony recently. Blood samples were taken for full blood count, malaria parasites, liver function test and other baseline investigations. He was admitted into a private room and started on antimalarial drugs and analgesics. That night, the full blood count result came back as normal and not indicative of infection.

The following day however, his condition worsened. He barely ate any of his meals. His liver function test result showed his liver enzymes were markedly elevated. We then took samples for HIV and hepatitis screening.
At about 5.00pm, he requested to see a doctor. I was the doctor on call that night so I went in to see him. He was lying in bed with his intravenous (I.V.) fluid bag removed from its metal stand and placed beside him. He complained that he had stooled about five times that evening and that he wanted to use the bathroom again. I picked up the I.V. bag from his bed and hung it back on the stand. I told him I would inform a nurse to come and disconnect the I.V. so he could conveniently go to the bathroom. I walked out of his room and went straight to the nurses’ station where I told the nurse on duty to disconnect his I.V. I then informed my Consultant, Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh about the patient’s condition and she asked that he be placed on some medications.

The following day, the results for HIV and hepatitis screening came out negative. As we were preparing for the early morning ward rounds, I was approached by an ECOWAS official who informed me that Patrick Sawyer had to catch an 11 o’clock flight to Calabar for a retreat that morning. He wanted to know if it would be possible. I told him it wasn’t, as he was acutely ill. Dr. Adadevoh also told him the patient could certainly not leave the hospital in his condition. She then instructed me to write very boldly on his chart that on no account should Patrick Sawyer be allowed out of the hospital premises without the permission of Dr. Ohiaeri, our Chief Medical Consultant. All nurses and doctors were duly informed.

During our early morning ward round with Dr. Adadevoh, we concluded that this was not malaria and that the patient needed to be screened for Ebola Viral Disease. She immediately started calling laboratories to find out where the test could be carried out. She was eventually referred to Professor Omilabu of the LUTH Virology Reference Lab in Idi-Araba whom she called immediately. Prof. Omilabu told her to send blood and urine samples to LUTH straight away. She tried to reach the Lagos State Commissioner for Health but was unable to contact him at the time. She also put calls across to officials of the Federal Ministry of Health and National Centre for Disease Control.

Dr. Adadevoh at this time was in a pensive mood. Patrick Sawyer was now a suspected case of Ebola, perhaps the first in the country. He was quarantined, and strict barrier nursing was applied with all the precautionary measures we could muster. Dr. Adadevoh went online, downloaded information on Ebola and printed copies which were distributed to the nurses, doctors and ward maids. Blood and urine samples were sent to LUTH that morning. Protective gear, gloves, shoe covers and facemasks were provided for the staff. A wooden barricade was placed at the entrance of the door to keep visitors and unauthorized personnel away from the patient.
Despite the medications prescribed earlier, the vomiting and diarrhea persisted. The fever escalated from 38c to 40c.

On the morning of Wednesday 23rd July, the tests carried out in LUTH showed a signal for Ebola. Samples were then sent to Dakar, Senegal for a confirmatory test. Dr. Adadevoh went for several meetings with the Lagos State Ministry of Health. Thereafter, officials from Lagos State came to inspect the hospital and the protective measures we had put in place.

The following day, Thursday 24th July, I was again on call. At about 10.00pm Mr. Sawyer requested to see me. I went into the newly created dressing room, donned my protective gear and went in to see him. He had not been cooperating with the nurses and had refused any additional treatment. He sounded confused and said he received a call from Liberia asking for a detailed medical report to be sent to them. He also said he had to travel back to Liberia on a 5.00am flight the following morning and that he didn’t want to miss his flight. I told him that I would inform Dr. Adadevoh. As I was leaving the room, I met Dr. Adadevoh dressed in her protective gear along with a nurse and another doctor. They went into his room to have a discussion with him and as I heard later to reset his I.V. line which he had deliberately removed after my visit to his room.

At 6:30am, Friday 25th July, I got a call from the nurse that Patrick Sawyer was completely unresponsive. Again I put on the protective gear and headed to his room. I found him slumped in the bathroom. I examined him and observed that there was no respiratory movement. I felt for his pulse; it was absent. We had lost him. It was I who certified Patrick Sawyer dead. I informed Dr. Adadevoh immediately and she instructed that no one was to be allowed to go into his room for any reason at all. Later that day, officials from W.H.O came and took his body away. The test in Dakar later came out positive for Zaire strain of the Ebola virus. We now had the first official case of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria.

It was a sobering day. We all began to go over all that happened in the last few days, wondering just how much physical contact we had individually made with Patrick Sawyer. Every patient on admission was discharged that day and decontamination began in the hospital. We were now managing a crisis situation. The next day, Saturday 26th July, all staff of First Consultants attended a meeting with Prof. Nasidi of the National Centre for Disease Control, Prof Omilabu of LUTH Virology Reference Lab, and some officials of W.H.O. They congratulated us on the actions we had taken and enlightened us further about the Ebola Virus Disease. They said we were going to be grouped into high risk and low risk categories based on our individual level of exposure to Patrick Sawyer, the “index” case. Each person would receive a temperature chart and a thermometer to record temperatures in the morning and night for the next 21 days. We were all officially under surveillance. We were asked to report to them at the first sign of a fever for further blood tests to be done. We were reassured that we would all be given adequate care. The anxiety in the air was palpable.

The frenetic pace of life in Lagos, coupled with the demanding nature of my job as a doctor, means that I occasionally need a change of environment. As such, one week before Patrick Sawyer died, I had gone to my parents’ home for a retreat. I was still staying with them when I received my temperature chart and thermometer on Tuesday 29th of July. I could not contain my anxiety. People were talking Ebola everywhere – on television, online, everywhere. I soon started experiencing joint and muscle aches and a sore throat, which I quickly attributed to stress and anxiety. I decided to take malaria tablets. I also started taking antibiotics for the sore throat. The first couple of temperature readings were normal. Every day I would attempt to recall the period Patrick Sawyer was on admission – just how much direct and indirect contact did I have with him? I reassured myself that my contact with him was quite minimal. I completed the anti-malarials but the aches and pains persisted. I had loss of appetite and felt very tired.

On Friday 1st of August, my temperature read a high 38.7c. As I type this, I recall the anxiety I felt that morning. I could not believe what I saw on the thermometer. I ran to my mother’s room and told her. I did not go to work that day. I cautiously started using a separate set of utensils and cups from the ones my family members were using.

On Saturday 2nd of August, the fever worsened. It was now at 39c and would not be reduced by taking paracetamol. This was now my second day of fever. I couldn’t eat. The sore throat was getting worse. That was when I called the helpline and an ambulance was sent with W.H.O doctors who came and took a sample of my blood. Later that day, I started stooling and vomiting. I stayed away from my family. I started washing my plates and spoons myself. My parents meanwhile, were convinced that I could not have Ebola.

The following day, Sunday 3rd of August, I got a call from one of the doctors who came to take my sample the day before. He told me that the sample which was they had taken was not confirmatory, and that they needed another sample. He did not sound very coherent and I became worried. They came with the ambulance that afternoon and told me that I had to go with them to Yaba. I was confused. Couldn’t the second sample be taken in the ambulance like the previous one? He said a better-qualified person at the Yaba centre would take the sample. I asked if they would bring me back. He said “yes.” Even with the symptoms I did not believe I had Ebola. After all, my contact with Sawyer was minimal. I only touched his I.V. fluid bag just that once without gloves. The only time I actually touched him was when I checked his pulse and confirmed him dead, and I wore double gloves and felt adequately protected.

I told my parents I had to go with the officials to Yaba and that I would be back that evening. I wore a white top and a pair of jeans, and I put my iPad and phones in my bag.
A man opened the ambulance door for me and moved away from me rather swiftly. Strange behavior, I thought. They were friendly with me the day before, but that day, not so. No pleasantries, no smiles. I looked up and saw my mother watching through her bedroom window.
We soon got to Yaba. I really had no clue where I was. I knew it was a hospital. I was left alone in the back of the ambulance for over four hours. My mind was in a whirl. I didn’t know what to think. I was offered food to eat but I could barely eat the rice.

The ambulance door opened and a Caucasian gentleman approached me but kept a little distance. He said to me, “I have to inform you that your blood tested positive for Ebola. I am sorry.” I had no reaction. I think I must have been in shock. He then told me to open my mouth and he looked at my tongue. He said it was the typical Ebola tongue. I took out my mirror from my bag and took a look and I was shocked at what I saw. My whole tongue had a white coating, looked furry and had a long, deep ridge right in the middle. I then started to look at my whole body, searching for Ebola rashes and other signs as we had been recently instructed. I called my mother immediately and said, “Mummy, they said I have Ebola, but don’t worry, I will survive it. Please, go and lock my room now; don’t let anyone inside and don’t touch anything.” She was silent. I cut the line.

I was taken to the female ward. I was shocked at the environment. It looked like an abandoned building. I suspected it had not been in use for quite a while. As I walked in, I immediately recognized one of the ward maids from our hospital. She always had a smile for me but not this time. She was ill and she looked it. She had been stooling a lot too. I soon settled into my corner and looked around the room. It smelled of faeces and vomit. It also had a characteristic Ebola smell to which I became accustomed. Dinner was served – rice and stew. The pepper stung my mouth and tongue. I dropped the spoon. No dinner that night.

Dr. David, the Caucasian man who had met me at the ambulance on my arrival, came in wearing his full protective ‘hazmat’ suit and goggles. It was fascinating seeing one live. I had only seen them online. He brought bottles of water and ORS, the oral fluid therapy which he dropped by my bedside. He told me that 90 percent of the treatment depended on me. He said I had to drink at least 4.5 litres of ORS daily to replace fluids lost in stooling and vomiting. I told him I had stooled three times earlier and taken Imodium tablets to stop the stooling. He said it was not advisable, as the virus would replicate the more inside of me. It was better he said to let it out. He said good night and left.

My parents called. My uncle called. My husband called crying. He could not believe the news. My parents had informed him, as I didn’t even know how to break the news to him.
As I lay on my bed in that isolation ward, strangely, I did not fear for my life. I was confident that I would leave that ward some day. There was an inner sense of calm. I did not for a second think I would be consumed by the disease. That evening, the symptoms fully kicked in. I was stooling almost every two hours. The toilets did not flush so I had to fetch water in a bucket from the bathroom each time I used the toilet. I then placed another bucket beneath my bed for the vomiting.
On occasion I would run to the toilet with a bottle of ORS, so that as I was stooling, I was drinking.

The next day Monday 4th of August, I began to notice red rashes on my skin particularly on my arms. I had developed sores all over my mouth. My head was pounding so badly. The sore throat was so severe I could not eat. I could only drink the ORS. I took paracetamol for the pain. The ward maid across from me wasn’t doing so well. She had stopped speaking. I couldn’t even brush my teeth; the sores in my mouth were so bad. This was a battle for my life but I was determined I would not die.

Every morning, I began the day with reading and meditating on Psalm 91. The sanitary condition in the ward left much to be desired. The whole Ebola thing had caught everyone by surprise. Lagos State Ministry of Health was doing its best to contain the situation but competent hands were few. The sheets were not changed for days. The floor was stained with greenish vomitus and excrement. Dr. David would come in once or twice a day and help clean up the ward after chatting with us. He was the only doctor who attended to us. There was no one else at that time. The matrons would leave our food outside the door; we had to go get the food ourselves. They hardly entered in the initial days. Everyone was being careful. This was all so new. I could understand, was this not how we ourselves had contracted the disease? Mosquitoes were our roommates until they brought us mosquito nets.

Later that evening, Dr. David brought another lady into the ward. I recognized her immediately as Justina Ejelonu, a nurse who had started working at First Consultants on the 21st of July, a day after Patrick Saywer was admitted. She was on duty on the day Patrick reported that he was stooling. While she was attending to him that night, he had yanked off his drip, letting his blood flow almost like a tap onto her hands. Justina was pregnant and was brought into our ward bleeding from a suspected miscarriage. She had been told she was there only on observation. The news that she had contracted Ebola was broken to her the following day after results of her blood test came out positive. Justina was devastated and wept profusely – she had contracted Ebola on her first day at work.

My husband started visiting but was not allowed to come close to me. He could only see me from a window at a distance. He visited so many times. It was he who brought me a change of clothes and toiletries and other things I needed because I had not even packed a bag. I was grateful I was not with him at home when I fell ill or he would most certainly have contracted the disease. My retreat at my parents’ home turned out to be the instrumentality God used to shield and save him.

I drank the ORS fluid like my life depended on it. Then I got a call from my pastor. He had been informed about my predicament. He called me every single day morning and night and would pray with me over the phone. He later sent me a CD player, CDs of messages on faith and healing, and Holy Communion packs through my husband. My pastor, who also happens to be a medical doctor, encouraged me to monitor how many times I had stooled and vomited each day and how many bottles of ORS I had consumed. We would then discuss the disease and pray together. He asked me to do my research on Ebola since I had my iPad with me and told me that he was also doing his study. He wanted us to use all relevant information on Ebola to our advantage. So I researched and found out all I could about the strange disease that has been in existence for 38 years. My research, my faith, my positive view of life, the extended times of prayer, study and listening to encouraging messages boosted my belief that I would survive the Ebola scourge.

There are five strains of the virus and the deadliest of them is the Zaire strain, which was what I had. But that did not matter. I believed I would overcome even the deadliest of strains. Infected patients who succumb to the disease usually die between 6 to 16 days after the onset of the disease from multiple organ failure and shock caused by dehydration. I was counting the days and keeping myself well hydrated. I didn’t intend to die in that ward.

My research gave me ammunition. I read that as soon as the virus gets into the body, it begins to replicate really fast. It enters the blood cells, destroys them and uses those same blood cells to aggressively invade other organs where they further multiply. Ideally, the body’s immune system should immediately mount up a response by producing antibodies to fight the virus. If the person is strong enough, and that strength is sustained long enough for the immune system to kill off the viruses, the patient is likely to survive. If the virus replicates faster than the antibodies can handle however, further damage is done to the organs. Ebola can be likened to a multi-level, multi-organ attack but I had no intention of letting the deadly virus destroy my system. I drank more ORS. I remember saying to myself repeatedly, “I am a survivor, I am a survivor.”

I also found out that a patient with Ebola cannot be re-infected and they cannot relapse back into the disease as there is some immunity conferred on survivors. My pastor and I would discuss these findings, interpret them as it related to my situation and pray together. I looked forward to his calls. They were times of encouragement and strengthening. I continued to meditate on the Word of God. It was my daily bread.

Shortly after Justina came into the ward, the ward maid, Mrs Ukoh passed on. The disease had gotten into her central nervous system. We stared at her lifeless body in shock. It was a whole 12 hours before officials of W.H.O came and took her body away. The ward had become the house of death. The whole area surrounding her bed was disinfected with bleach. Her mattress was taken and burned.

To contain the frequent diarrhea, I had started wearing adult diapers, as running to the toilet was no longer convenient for me. The indignity was quite overwhelming, but I did not have a choice. My faith was being severely tested. The situation was desperate enough to break anyone psychologically. Dr. Ohiaeri also called us day and night, enquiring about our health and the progress we were making. He sent provisions, extra drugs, vitamins, Lucozade, towels, tissue paper; everything we needed to be more comfortable in that dark hole we found ourselves. Some of my male colleagues had also been admitted to the male ward two rooms away, but there was no interaction with them.
We were saddened by the news that Jato, the ECOWAS protocol officer to Patrick Sawyer who had also tested positive, had passed on days after he was admitted.

Two more females joined us in the ward; a nurse from our hospital and a patient from another hospital. The mood in the ward was solemn. There were times we would be awakened by the sudden, loud cry from one of the women. It was either from fear, pain mixed with the distress or just the sheer oppression of our isolation.

I kept encouraging myself. This could not be the end for me. Five days after I was admitted, the vomiting stopped. A day after that, the diarrhea ceased. I was overwhelmed with joy. It happened at a time I thought I could no longer stand the ORS. Drinking that fluid had stretched my endurance greatly.

I knew countless numbers of people were praying for me. Prayer meetings were being held on my behalf. My family was praying day and night. Text messages of prayers flooded my phones from family members and friends. I was encouraged to press on. With the encouragement I was receiving I began to encourage the others in the ward. We decided to speak life and focus on the positive. I then graduated from drinking only the ORS fluid to eating only bananas, to drinking pap and then bland foods. Just when I thought I had the victory, I suddenly developed a severe fever. The initial fever had subsided four days after I was admitted, and then suddenly it showed up again. I thought it was the Ebola. I enquired from Dr. David who said fever was sometimes the last thing to go, but he expressed surprise that it had stopped only to come back on again. I was perplexed.

I discussed it with my pastor who said it could be a separate pathology and possibly a symptom of malaria. He promised he would research if indeed this was Ebola or something else. That night as I stared at the dirty ceiling, I felt a strong impression that the new fever I had developed was not as a result of Ebola but malaria. I was relieved. The following morning, Dr. Ohiaeri sent me antimalarial medication which I took for three days. Before the end of the treatment, the fever had disappeared.

I began to think about my mother. She was under surveillance along with my other family members. I was worried. She had touched my sweat. I couldn’t get the thought off my mind. I prayed for her. Hours later on Twitter I came across a tweet by W.H.O saying that the sweat of an Ebola patient cannot transmit the virus at the early stage of the infection. The sweat could only transmit it at the late stage.
That settled it for me. It calmed the storms that were raging within me concerning my parents. I knew right away it was divine guidance that caused me to see that tweet. I could cope with having Ebola, but I was not prepared to deal with a member of my family contracting it from me.

Soon, volunteer doctors started coming to help Dr. David take care of us. They had learned how to protect themselves. Among the volunteer doctors was Dr. Badmus, my consultant in LUTH during my housemanship days. It was good to see a familiar face among the care-givers. I soon understood the important role these brave volunteers were playing. As they increased in number, so did the number of shifts increase and subsequently the number of times the patients could access a doctor in one day. This allowed for more frequent patient monitoring and treatment. It also reduced care-giver fatigue. It was clear that Lagos State was working hard to contain the crisis

Sadly, Justina succumbed to the disease on the 12th of August. It was a great blow and my faith was greatly shaken as a result. I commenced daily Bible study with the other two female patients and we would encourage one another to stay positive in our outlook though in the natural it was grim and very depressing. My communion sessions with the other women were very special moments for us all.

On my 10th day in the ward, the doctors having noted that I had stopped vomiting and stooling and was no longer running a fever, decided it was time to take my blood sample to test if the virus had cleared from my system. They took the sample and told me that I shouldn’t be worried if it comes out positive as the virus takes a while before it is cleared completely. I prayed that I didn’t want any more samples collected from me. I wanted that to be the first and last sample to be tested for the absence of the virus in my system. I called my pastor. He encouraged me and we prayed again about the test.

On the evening of the day Justina passed on, we were moved to the new isolation centre. We felt like we were leaving hell and going to heaven.
We were conveyed to the new place in an ambulance. It was just behind the old building. Time would not permit me to recount the drama involved with the dynamics of our relocation. It was like a script from a science fiction movie. The new building was cleaner and much better than the old building. Towels and nightwear were provided on each bed. The environment was serene.

The following night, Dr. Adadevoh was moved to our isolation ward from her private room where she had previously been receiving treatment. She had also tested positive for Ebola and was now in a coma. She was receiving I.V. fluids and oxygen support and was being monitored closely by the W.H.O doctors. We all hoped and prayed that she would come out of it. It was so difficult seeing her in that state. I could not bear it. She was my consultant, my boss, my teacher and my mentor. She was the imperial lady of First Consultants, full of passion, energy and competence. I imagined she would wake up soon and see that she was surrounded by her First Consultants family but sadly it was not to be.

I continued listening to my healing messages. They gave me life. I literarily played them hours on end. Two days later, on Saturday the 16th of August, the W.H.O doctors came with some papers. I was informed that the result of my blood test was negative for Ebola virus. If I could somersault, I would have but my joints were still slightly painful. I was free to go home after being in isolation for exactly 14 days. I was so full of thanks and praise to God. I called my mother to get fresh clothes and slippers and come pick me. My husband couldn’t stop shouting when I called him. He was completely overwhelmed with joy.
I was told however that I could not leave the ward with anything I came in with. I glanced one last time at my cd player, my valuable messages, my research assistant a.k.a my iPad, my phones and other items. I remember saying to myself, “I have life; I can always replace these items.”

I went for a chlorine bath, which was necessary to disinfect my skin from my head to my toes. It felt like I was being baptized into a new life as Dr. Carolina, a W.H.O doctor from Argentina poured the bucket of chlorinated water all over me. I wore a new set of clothes, following the strict instructions that no part of the clothes must touch the floor and the walls. Dr. Carolina looked on, making sure I did as instructed.

I was led out of the bathroom and straight to the lawn to be united with my family, but first I had to cut the red ribbon that served as a barrier. It was a symbolic expression of my freedom. Everyone cheered and clapped. It was a little but very important ceremony for me. I was free from Ebola! I hugged my family as one who had been liberated after many years of incarceration. I was like someone who had fought death face to face and come back to the land of the living.

We had to pass through several stations of disinfection before we reached the car. Bleach and chlorinated water were sprayed on everyone’s legs at each station. As we made our way to the car, we walked past the old isolation building. I could hardly recognize it. I could not believe I slept in that building for 10 days. I was free! Free of Ebola. Free to live again. Free to interact with humanity again. Free from the sentence of death.

My parents and two brothers were under surveillance for 21 days and they completed the surveillance successfully. None of them came down with a fever. The house had been disinfected by Lagos State Ministry of Health soon after I was taken to the isolation centre. I thank God for shielding them from the plague.

My recovery after discharge has been gradual but progressive. I thank God for the support of family and friends. I remember my colleagues who we lost in this battle. Dr. Adadevoh my boss, Nurse Justina Ejelonu, and the ward maid, Mrs. Ukoh were heroines who lost their lives in the cause to protect Nigeria. They will never be forgotten.

I commend the dedication of the W.H.O doctors, Dr. David from Virginia, USA, who tried several times to convince me to specialize in infectious diseases, Dr. Carolina from Argentina who spoke so calmly and encouragingly, Mr. Mauricio from Italy who always offered me apples and gave us novels to read. I especially thank the volunteer Nigerian doctors, matrons and cleaners who risked their lives to take care of us. I must also commend the Lagos State government, and the state and federal ministries of health for their swift efforts to contain the virus. To all those prayed for me, I cannot thank you enough. And to my First Consultants family, I say a heartfelt thank you for your dedication and for your support throughout this very difficult period.

I still believe in miracles. None of us in the isolation ward was given any experimental drugs or so-called immune boosters. I was full of faith yet pragmatic enough to consume as much ORS as I could even when I wanted to give up and throw the bottles away. I researched on the disease extensively and read accounts of the survivors. I believed that even if the mortality rate was 99%, I would be part of the 1% who survive.

Early detection and reporting to hospital is key to patient survival. Please do not hide yourself if you have been in contact with an Ebola patient and have developed the symptoms. Regardless of any grim stories one may have heard about the treatment of patients in the isolation centre, it is still better to be in the isolation ward with specialist care, than at home where you and others will be at risk.

I read that Dr. Kent Brantly, the American doctor who contracted Ebola in Liberia and was flown out to the United States for treatment was being criticized for attributing his healing to God when he was given the experimental drug, Zmapp. I don’t claim to have all the answers to the nagging questions of life. Why do some die and some survive? Why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God in the midst of pain and suffering? Where does science end and God begin? These are issues we may never fully comprehend on this side of eternity. All I know is that I walked through the valley of the shadow of death and came out unscathed.

Culled from BellaNaija

Kurdish fighters advance against jihadis in Syria

2014-09-16T04:45:00.000-07:00

BEIRUT (AP) — Kurdish fighters captured more than a dozen villages from militants of the Islamic State group in heavy fighting across northeastern Syria, an activist group and a Kurdish official said Monday.

The fighting in the mainly-Kurdish Hassakeh province came as diplomats at a Paris conference tried to agree on a global strategy to fight the extremist group, which has captured large tracts of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Kurdish fighters have been repelling the advances of the Islamic State militants for more than a year in northern Syria. The battle-hardened Kurdish force, known by its acronym YPK, has been the most successful at fighting the Islamic State group, which has routed Iraqi and Syrian armed forces.

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter launches mortar shells towards Zummar, controlled by Islamic State (IS), near Mosul September 15, 2014. (REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah)

As Syria's fractured rebels have fought a two-front war against President Bashar Assad's forces and the Islamic State group, Kurdish forces seeking greater autonomy have defended their region against the extremist group, occasionally partnering with rebels to beat back the Islamic militants.

After ignoring the spread of the Islamic State, the Syrian military has recently gone on the offensive against the extremist group, which has seized at least three army bases and killed hundreds of soldiers.

YPK fighters have captured some 14 villages around the northeastern area of Tal Hamis since the latest round of fighting with the Islamic State group began Saturday, according to the Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for Syria's powerful Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, whose members dominate the fighting group.

"We will fight them with all that we have," Khalil told The Associated Press by telephone. "Those (Islamic State) can only be deterred by force."

President Barack Obama announced last week that the United States will ramp up airstrikes and try to build an international coalition to degrade and eventually destroy the Islamic State group. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited several Arab states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in recent days in order to build a coalition aimed at beating back the extremist group.

Spokesman Khalil said the Kurdish fighters were "ready to join any political coalition to strike this terrorist group."

"We are fighting, on behalf of the world, the terrorism of Daesh," he said, using an Arabic name to refer to the group.

But the Kurdish fighting group is viewed with suspicion by the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition, which says the PYD is linked to Assad's government. Turkey is also wary of the group, which it believes is affiliated to the Kurdish PKK movement, which waged a long and bloody insurgency in Turkey's southeast.

In addition to losing the villages, the Islamic State group suffered another blow in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, where the only bridge linking parts of the city held by militants with its suburbs was blown up. Abdurrahman said Islamic State fighters would now have to bring in supplies by boat.

Syria's state-run television said government forces were responsible for blowing up the al-Siyasiyeh Bridge over the Euphrates river.

In the Golan Heights along the disputed frontier between Israel and Syria, U.N. peacekeepers withdrew from at least one base, said an activist in the area who uses the name Luay.

The withdrawal came after Syrian rebels, including the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, advanced across the Syrian-controlled part of the territory and briefly seized dozens of U.N. peacekeepers. They were later released unharmed. The activist Luay said peacekeepers withdrew from two bases earlier this month, but were spotted leaving yet another this week, near a town known as Khan Arnabeh.

An Israeli army spokesman said U.N. peacekeepers crossed into Israel, but would not provide further details. He spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with military guidelines.

In the northern city of Aleppo, at least 11 people were killed in government airstrikes on the rebel-held neighborhood of Marjeh, according to the Britain-based Observatory -- which relies on a network of activists inside Syria -- and Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Wissam.

Another 15 people were killed in the central opposition-held town of Talbiseh after Syrian military helicopters dropped crude bombs, according to the Observatory and a nearby activist, Tariq Badrakhan.

_______

Associated Press writers Diaa Hadid in Beirut and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Mum drowned toddler son before jumping with older child to their deaths

2014-09-16T04:31:00.003-07:00

A suicidal 24 year old mum drowned her 2-year-old son in their family home before going to a rock in Dartmoor and plunging 100ft to her death - with her five year old son on her back.

Katherine Hooper and five-year-old son Joshua Patterson were killed when they fell between 80-100 feet from Lowman Tor at Haytor Rock on Dartmoor last July.

When police later went to her family home in Paignton, Devon, they discovered her youngest son Sam dead in a double bed.

An inquest at Torquay, Devon, heard that a suicide note was found by police hidden within a book on a shelf at her home. It was not dated but detectives believe it was written a couple of weeks before the tragic triple deaths.

A coroner has ruled that Kat, as she was known, killed herself but unlawfully killed Joshua. He returned an open verdict on toddler Sam.

The hearing was told after a Dutch holidaymaker sent police a photo which showed Kat and Joshua on the rock in the moments before they fell to their deaths.

And other foreign and local people saw the death fall and had witnessed Kat moving closer to the edge of the drop from the granite rock with Joshua having a ‘piggy back’ ride on his 24 year old mum’s back.

Kat and Joshua both died from multiple injuries, suffering head and neck wounds which rendered them unconscious before they died.

But a pathologist was unable to ascertain what killed Sam.

The South Devon coroner Ian Arrow said: "I am not certain that I can record drowning as his medical cause of death.”
Mr Arrow said Sam ‘probably died well before’ the day his mum and older brother fell to their deaths and he said Kat and Joshua had left their home ‘in a hurry’ after he died.

A Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Russell Delaney said Sam’s death was ‘suggestive of drowning but not diagnostic’.

He said there was no evidence that Sam had been smothered but a bath half full of water was found by police.

Detective Sergeant Andy James, from the Major Crime Investigation Team, said on Friday, July 12th, police received reports from members of the public of two lifeless bodies being found at the bottom of Lowman Tor near Bovey Tracey, Devon.

He said people climbing on the famous Haytor Rock saw a woman with a young child which was not that unusual.

But he told the inquest: ”They seemed to be precariously close to the edge of the rock.”
He said one witness looked at them but felt they were intruding and although unnerved by the situation they ‘let them be’.

A German holidaymaker said Joshua was ‘on the back piggy back style walking slowly to the edge’ before sitting down.
They did not intervene because no one appreciated what was going to happen, he said.

The inquest heard from her father Peter Hooper, a Dartmoor builder, who said in his statement that his daughter was a ‘lovely, caring person’.

He said she met 52 year old Neil Patterson when she was 17 and had the two boys with him.
He said by Christmas 2012 ‘a little bit of the spark had gone’ from Kat and a week later she took an overdose of pills and went missing.

The two boys were taken into care and were returned to her two weeks later.

Mr Hooper said what happened in July was ‘a complete shock’ when she jumped off the rock killing Joshua and herself.
He said when he last spoke to her on the phone ‘she sounded alright’.

Police at the time said they know Kat and Joshua had left their home the day before their deaths and slept rough near a quarry overnight.

World's Shortest Man and Woman Meet

2012-08-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

For the first time in history, the shortest man and woman in the world have met. The shortest man, Chandra Bahadur Dangi, 72, is from a remote area of Nepal and stands 21.5 inches tall. Eighteen-year-old Jyoti Amge hails from Nagpur, India and measures just under 25 inches tall.

It was a match made in heaven for Guinness World Records, which arranged the introduction for a photo shoot to promote the upcoming release of Guinness World Records 2013 on September 13. To provide scale, a record book (12 inches in length) was placed between Chandra and Jyoti for one of the photos.

“It was an extraordinary moment,” says Marco Frigatti, the official Guinness World Records Adjudicator, who also took part in the photo shoot. “They’re both such incredible individuals. Everyone knew this was a special moment, and the atmosphere was magical.”

A Record-Breaking Birthday

Jyoti secured the World’s Shortest Woman title simply by reaching womanhood on her 18^th birthday in December of last year. She has a condition called achondroplasia, a genetic disorder that affects bone growth and cartilage formation. Achondroplasia is the most common cause of dwarfism.

Jyoti won't grow any taller than her current height. Due to her size, she has her clothes specially made. She sleeps in a tiny bed and uses special plates and cutlery to eat. Jyoti is currently pursuing her dream of becoming a successful actress. She has already starred in a number of Indian films.

“Since being recognized by Guinness World Records, I have been able to visit lots of different countries,” says Jyoti. “I love travelling. I have visited Japan and parts of Europe, and now I can’t wait to visit the UK.”

Pre-order your copy of Guinness World Records

A Record-Breaking Discovery

In February this year, Chandra made headlines around the world when he was crowned the World’s Shortest Man. Until his recent discovery, he had spent his entire life in the remote Nepalese mountain village of Rhimkholi, about 250 miles west of Kathmandu. Because Chandra has never been examined by a doctor, the cause of his short stature is unknown. According to a report from the Daily Mail, doctors suspect he has a form of primordial dwarfism.

Chandra’s 21.5-inch height also snagged him the title of Shortest Man in History, breaking the previous record of India’s Gul Mohammed, who was 22.5 in tall.

“I’m very happy that I’m being recognized by Guinness World Records and that my name will be written in a book,” says Chandra. “It’s a big thing for my family, my village and my country. I am very happy.”

Nigeria's minister of power resigns

2012-08-29T01:49:00.002-07:00

Barth Nnaji

Abuja: Nigeria's Power Minister Professor Barth Nnaji has resigned from his post amid accusations that the minister had direct interest in a consortium that was involved in bidding for some power projects in the country.

Announcing his resignation, Nigeria's presidency has thanked Nnaji "for his services to the nation under the present administration."

The resignation came as a surprise move as there was no prior statement by the minister in this regard.

Although reasons behind Nnaji's resignation remain officially unclear, but the minister was accused of having direct interest in a consortium that was involved in bidding for power projects of the capacity of 776 megawatts in some parts of Nigeria.

Nnaji has been lauded by various sections of people in the country for his role in improving and upgrading the ailing power sector of the country.

I Rape Girls I Meet On Facebook, Cynthia Is My 5th Victim – Killer Reveals

2012-08-29T01:35:00.001-07:00

"I have done this say like, four times before now but none of the girls died. This is the first time someone died in the process. Whenever they take the drink, I will sleep with them and they will just lose memory of all that transpired," said Nwabufo Okwumo.

TON gathered that the killers also revealed that the late Cynthia had a vibrator sex toy with her which they also used on her. The details are sad but will teach everyone a lesson.

Emotions ran high at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters Ikeja on Wednesday, following startling revelations by two university students on how Cynthia Osokogu, the only daughter of a retired General was strangled inside a hotel in Festac area of the state.

While the police paraded the suspects, Nwabufo Okwumo, 33, and Odera Ezekiel, 23, discovered to be cousins, claimed their intention was never to kill the 25 year-old post graduate student of Nasarawa State University but to collect her money and jewelries.

The "main" suspects, Nwabufo, a 300 level Accounting student of the University of Lagos, admitted to have been chatting with the deceased on BlackBerry for sometime. In the process, she revealed her true background including the fact that she owned a boutique.

But unknown to her, Nwabufo who hails from Nnewi, Anambra State had a sinister motive. Along the line, the deceased, according to him, informed him that she was coming to Lagos to buy wigs and attachments for her saloon. The suspect then paid for the air ticket.

How the deed was done
The deceased arrived Lagos on July 21, 2012, and she was picked at the Murtala Mohammed Airport by Nwabufo and driven straight to a hotel called Casmilla on 6th Avenue, Festac town where Nwabufor had earlier made reservation with a fake name.

Inside the hotel, Nwabufo reportedly offered a bottle of Moet to Cynthia which she reportedly declined on the ground that she does not take alcohol. The suspect thereafter, asked her to take a Ribena drink from the fridge. But unknown to her, the three packets of Ribena had been drugged. He confessed that she took three; one in the afternoon, another in the evening and the third, the next morning.

Next day, she reportedly became tipsy. Even at that state, it was reliably gathered that Cynthia did not allow Nwabufo to sleep with her the previous night.

It was learnt that in the morning, the second suspect, Odera came in. At that point, Cynthia who apparently had started feeling the effect of the drugs asked who the visitor was. Rather than getting an answer, she was reportedly pinned down by Nwabufo, with her hands and legs tied. At that state, Nwabufo allegedly raped her twice. His cousin, Odera reportedly took over and used a sex vibrator on her.

What led to her being killed
In his confessional statement, Nwabufo said his intention was never to kill her. He admitted however, that Cynthia was not his first victim, disclosing that all he did was to propose to them through blackberry and later invite them to the hotel, where he drugged and dispossessed them of cash and other valuables.

According to him: “It was a mistake, I never meant to kill her. I invited her from Abuja as my friend on July 21. I was trying to dislodge her by tying her hands and I hit her in the process. I tied her because I did not want her to know I was escaping from the hotel. We had a mutual agreement for her to come over. I met her from BB (blackberry) group chat. She came to buy some things for her boutique in Abuja. We had a disagreement. I did not rape her. It was the devil’s handwork.

"I wanted to run because I knew I had committed a serious offence against her. I thought she had money on her that I can collect. So in the process, I tied her with cellotape to make her not to shout. I was not the only person, it was I and my cousin, Odera that did it. We tied her together and beat her together.

"Yes, I invited her and in the process we felt like robbing her of all she had. The condom the police saw on me is what I used personally. I used it on her based on the sex toy with her. She came with a vibrator sex toy, so I inserted the condom on the sex toy and later dropped it there. I did not make love to her. If they test the condom forensically, it will prove that I did not use it on her.

"I drugged her with RAFINOL through Ribena drink. I bought three packets of Ribena and when she took it, she became weak. It was my cousin that drugged the drink, he used a syringe and administered ten tablets of it inside the drink.

"Usually, I use hotels in Festac. I have used Opera mini Hotel, Benny, Chelsea and Concilia. I feel bad because I did not bargain for this – to kill her in the first instance. It is just unfortunate and it was an accident.”

His partner in the crime, Odera Ezekiel, said: “ I am also an Accounting student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The morning it happened, my brother called me to come to the hotel to help him bind the girl so that he can dispossess her of her belongings.

"My mission at the hotel was to come and help him bind the girl. In the process of trying to bind the girl, she put up struggle and we assaulted her and in the process, she passed out. I did not hit her with any hard object and we didn’t have any weapon with us. My brother only told me he wanted to take her money. I have not done it before. He asked me to buy the drink for him”.

World's Longest Bus Seats More Than 200 Passengers

2012-08-29T01:27:00.002-07:00

World's Longest Bus

Dresden, Germany, is getting ready to roll out the world's longest bus, the 98-foot AutoTram Extra Grand. Dresden news outlet the Local is reporting that the supersized bus, which can carry up to 256 passengers, just went for a test drive.

Even more surprising, the AutoTram can be driven by any bus driver; no special license is required. The bus got the green light because of a special train-like steering algorithm that ensures the two rear sections, which rest on four guided axles, perfectly follow the cab.

Designed and built by the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI in Dresden along with the Technical University Dresden, the bus is set to make its debut in congested Dresden traffic in October. Currently, it is undergoing tests in special facilities outside the city.

"Due to its high transport capacity, the AutoTram Extra Grand bridges the gap between conventional city buses and trams, offering new possibilities for an environmental friendly public transport," the Fraunhofer Institute said in a press release.

Matthias Klinger, director of the Fraunhofer Institute, told the Local there has been a lot of interest from cities in the developing world looking to develop cheap public transport systems.

Do you think the bus is a good idea, or an accident waiting to happen?

Taliban behead 17 Afghan civilians in Helmand

2012-08-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

Taliban militants

Kabul: Seventeen civilians, including three women, who were at a picnic were killed by Taliban militants at Musa Qala district in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand on Sunday night, an official said on Monday.

"The incident happened in Roshan Abad neighbourhood, a remote area in Musa Qala district, late Sunday evening," administrative district chief Nematullah told Xinhua.

Some of the slain non-combatants were beaten and others were shot dead, he said.

The area is under Taliban control and the reason for killing the innocent civilians was not clear so far, he said.

A local resident told the media that the Taliban insurgents killed the civilians for taking part in a picnic in an open area in the province, some 555 km south of Kabul.

Taliban militants during their rule in Afghanistan, which collapsed in late 2001, had banned music and all other entertainments including watching television and stage shows.

A total of 1,145 civilians were killed and 1,954 injured in conflict-related violent incidents and attacks in the first six months of 2012, a 15 percent decrease in overall civilian casualties compared with the same period in 2011, according to a UN report released in capital Kabul on August 08.

The report attributed 80 percent of the civilian deaths to the Taliban and other anti-government elements.

Police arraign four in court over the death of Cynthia

2012-08-27T10:10:00.002-07:00

Late Cynthia Osokogu

...Suspects remanded in prison

For their alleged involvement in the murder of Maj-Gen. Frank Osokugu’s only daughter, Cynthia Osokogu, four suspects, including two assistant pharmacists were on Monday arraigned before a Sabo-Yaba Magistrate’s Court, Lagos.

The defendants, Okwumo Echezona, 33, Ezike Olisaeloka, 23, Orji Osita 32, and Maduakor Chukwunonso, 25 were docked on an eight-count charge of conspiracy, administering obnoxious substance, murder, armed robbery and rape.

Prosecuting Superintendant of Police, Chukwu Agwu, told the court that the suspects committed the offence between 9pm of August 21 and 12pm of August 22, at room C1, Cosmilla Hotel, Lakeview Estate, Amuwo-Odofin, Festac, Lagos.

He said the deceased was administered an obnoxious substance known as Rohypnol Flunitrazepam through Ribena fruit juice, against her consent which they purchased at Oxpharm Pharmacy, 32 Road, Festac.

Agwu, who is the officer in charge of the legal department, at the State Criminal Investigation Department, (SCID), Panti, told the court the suspects bound Cynthia with chain and padlock.

"Her hands were bound with chain and padlock, and her leg, neck and mouth were cellotaped.

“The suspects gave the deceased many fist blows all over her body as well as several human bites, tortured and strangled her to death.

"The defendants while armed with weapons, unlawfully had sex with Udoka and robbed her of her valuables," Agwu said.

He said Cynthia was robbed of her valuables including one Blackberry Bold 5 handset; international passport with no. A01249397 dated July 3, 2009; National Driver’s Licence with no. GRE0002AA dated March 15, 2010; pair of shoes; handbag; artificial sex toy; jewellery pack containing three wristwatches, four rings, three pairs of earrings, one pendant, and necklace, among others.

The court heard that the suspects conspired and sexually assaulted the deceased against her consent causing her grievous harm.

They first and second defendants were very conscious of cameramen present in the court premises and always hid their faces from the camera.

Agwu said the alleged offences were punishable under Sections 231, 221, 409, 295(1) (2) (a) (b), 258(1), 237 and 241 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2011.

Their pleas were not taken as the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

Presiding Magistrate O.A. Aka-Bashorun who held brief for Magistrate Patrick Adekumaiya remanded the suspects in prison custody pending the advice from the Department, Public Prosecution (DPP).

"I hereby remand the defendants to the prison pending the outcome of the legal advice from DPP," he said.

Deadly shooting near New York's Empire State

2012-08-24T10:00:00.003-07:00

At least two people said to have been killed and eight others wounded outside building, amid reports shooter is dead.

Two people have been killed and at least eight others wounded in a shooting outside of the Empire State Building in New York, according to a police source from the US city.

One of the dead was the shooter, the source said, adding that the incident did not appear to be terrorism-related.

A fire department spokesperson said it received a call about the shooting just after 9am local time (13:00 GMT) on Friday, and that emergency units were on the scene within minutes.

The spokesperson said paramedics are evaluating eight people but some of them may not have been shot.

'Shooting indiscriminately'

It is not clear what the casualties' conditions were, or what led to the shooting at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, just beside the city's iconic skyscraper.

One witness, Aliyah Imam, told TV station Fox 5 News that the gunman was "shooting indiscriminately at people".

She said a young woman standing next to her fell to the ground after being shot in the hip.

Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler, reporting from New York, said: "The New York department have confirmed that the gunman is dead, what they are not able to confirm is whether it was a self-inflicted gun wound or if he was shot by the police.

"There are varying numbers of how many people were injured by the shooting, eight to 10 people have been reported injured, but those numbers have not been confirmed."

Liberty Ross 'refusing to hide'

2012-08-24T02:09:00.000-07:00

Liberty Ross

Liberty Ross is refusing to "hide at home" following her husband's affair with Kristen Stewart.

Last month it was revealed that Kristen had an illicit romance with her married Snow White and the Hunstman director Rupert Sanders. Since then, Liberty and Rupert have kept a low profile. However, Liberty attended the Los Angeles premiere of Lawless on Wednesday evening where she posed on the red carpet without her wedding ring. Sources close to the model-and-actress are insisting Liberty wants to try and get her life back on track.

"She won't hide at home," a source told New York Post. "Liberty has shown incredible grace going through a difficult situation where all the intimate details are very public."

There have been rumours that Liberty has consulted lawyers and is considering divorcing Rupert.

However, other speculation suggests the couple are in counselling and Rupert is believed to be "desperate" to save his marriage.

"She is a very emotionally smart woman. She knows she can take her time and make her own decision, one that would be the best for her and her family," the source added. "One affair does not erase a ten-year history and many shared experiences together. It is just whether they are strong enough to weather it."

According to Us Weekly, Liberty is still "processing" the event and she has been meeting Rupert to talk through their issues.

The couple raise two children and the beauty wants to consider all her options carefully before she makes up her mind.

TMZ reports that if she does agree to work on their marriage she will impose a series of "conditions", including that Rupert must work on being a better husband.

Meanwhile, Kristen's heartbroken boyfriend Robert Pattinson has confirmed he has moved out of the home they shared together after joking he is "homeless".

How the Prince Harry affair saw red-tops deal with a new regime

2012-08-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

On one side ranged St James's Palace, the Press Complaints Commission and the shadow of Lord Leveson, busy drawing up recommendations on the future regulation of newspapers.

On the other lay the most talked-about pictures in the world: juicy images of the party-loving third-in-line to the throne, stark naked, promising a summer windfall guaranteed to rack up web hits and boost tabloid sales.
But where editors would once have cried "publish and be damned" and argued their case in court, on this occasion – at least initially – they reluctantly bowed to legal warnings not to publish pictures of a naked Prince Harry....

This outward display of responsibility, designed to safeguard the industry's long-term future, came at a price. The tabloids condemned a "farcical" situation which allowed web users around the world to view images which were denied to British print readers.

The issue then became less one of privacy, but of a battle between print and web. After an initial reluctance, The Sun to broke ranks last night and announced that it would be the first British newspaper to publish the photographs.

The newspaper's managing editor, David Dinsmore, explained the decision to publish the pictures was because the issue has become one of "the freedom of the Press".

"This is about the ludicrous situation where a picture can be seen by hundreds of millions of people around the world on the internet, but can't be seen in the nation's favourite paper read by 8 million people every day," he said.

A St James's Palace spokesman said: "We have made our views on Prince Harry's privacy known. Newspapers regulate themselves, so the publication of the photographs is ultimately a decision for editors to make."

Prior to The Sun's publication of the pictures of Harry, clutching his groin area during a game of "strip billiards" and bear-hugging a girl from behind during a party in his Las Vegas hotel suite, they had spread virally on social media after appearing on the US TMZ gossip website – prompting agonised debate in tabloid newsrooms.

Harbottle & Lewis, Prince Charles' lawyers, issued a note via the Press Complaints Commission, warning editors that the pictures should not be published as they were taken on "an entirely private occasion" where Harry had a "reasonable expectation of privacy".

With Lord Leveson compiling recommendations on a new system of press regulation, executives were fearful of any controversy over privacy which might nudge the judge towards proposing a statutory regime. US networks ran versions of the pictures on news bulletins and they appeared on the websites of the LA Times and Time. Until today, no British papers ran the pictures. Insiders suggested that the cautious approach, likely to play well with legislators when they consider Leveson's report, would outweigh the short-term gain from publishing pictures over which exclusivity had disappeared.

The Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Mirror are understood to have still explored a "public interest" defence which could override the UK privacy stipulations. Those newspapers were losing millions of website views, a crucial source of advertising revenue, by failing to run the pictures.

Since Harry's round-the-clock protection team had allowed him to get into a compromising situation, which could have left the Prince open to blackmail, the Mail and the Mirror asked whether the security issues raised might justify publication.

In Thursday's edition, in place of the originals, The Sun "mocked-up" the images on its front page, asking a 21-year-old undertaking work experience, Sophie Henderson, to strip and pose with picture editor Harry Miller. A caption said the pair had been "happy to strip" but the image, after initially appearing on the paper's website, was removed. Henderson tweeted: "lol 5 mins of fame #cringin". The paper said that the intern had not been placed under any pressure to strip for the camera and the picture had been published online "in error".

British newpapers, denied their picture boon, vented their anger at St James's Palace. The Mail wrote: "Farcically, British websites, newspapers and television stations were prevented from reproducing them after Prince Charles instructed lawyers to threaten legal action for infringing Harry's privacy."
The Daily Mirror remarked that censoring "won't save Harry's blushes".

"It was an extraordinary decision not to publish," said Professor Tim Luckhurst of the University of Kent's Centre for Journalism. "Newspapers want to demonstrate impeccable behaviour on privacy. But there was a powerful public interest defence. These were not paparazzi pictures… Did Harry have a legitimate expectation of privacy given that he invited these girls to his suite and allowed pictures to be taken?"

Assad's Aleppo backers abandon him, some shift support, cash to rebels in risky gamble

2012-08-24T01:20:00.002-07:00

A Syrian rebel sits in a van in Aleppo, Aug. 19, 2012.

(Credit: Getty)

(CBS News) LONDON - Eighteen months after anti-Assad street protests spiraled into all-out civil war, sources inside Aleppo tell CBS News that many of the business leaders, scholars and other prominent figures in Syria's largest city, who have backed President Bashar Assad and his family for decades, no longer see a future under his rule.

CBS News has learned that at least 48 of Aleppo's elite, calling themselves the "Front of Aleppo Islamic Scholars" (FAIS) - which has a Facebook page established just last year - have hand-picked a provisional city council to take over Aleppo when Assad loses his grip on the country - and they are gambling on one of the many rebel groups fighting in the city to become its eventual protectors.

A document obtained by CBS News details the various duties of the provisional administration's 18 members. This city government-in-waiting includes doctors, engineers, tradesmen and university professors, each tasked according to their knowledge and experience.

"The main objective for forming such a government is to fill in the administrative vacuum in the city and unite the efforts of revolutionary forces," says the document, indicating that while Assad ostensibly may still be in charge of Syria, his government is no longer able to run Aleppo to the satisfaction of its civic leaders.

The document, provided to CBS News by a trusted opposition source, lays out the new 18-member council, listing some of its members by name, others only by initials. Many of them will have been ardent supporters of the Assad regime, and with the fight for the city so far from over, some may still be backing his rule, in their official capacities, at least.

The defenders of Aleppo

Crucially, the document from FAIS states that one of the rebel factions fighting in the city, the al-Tawheed Brigades, has been entrusted with Aleppo's security. According to the document, the brigades' task now is to unite the other factions across the city to beat Assad's forces out of Aleppo, and then keep the city secure once they're gone.

"The management of the military operations goes to the leader of al-Tawheed Brigades, as the most prominent fighting group," reads the document, which has not been disseminated publicly. "As soon as all the other fighting factions are united, the management of the military operations would then be transferred to the higher military command."

FAIS has placed a great deal of faith in the hands of the Tawheed Brigades, perhaps because the scholars see no better option, but tapping the faction to act as the defenders of Aleppo is a decision which comes with baggage, and possible ramifications down the road.

The Brigades is comprised of smaller rebel fighting groups, including a significant number of former pro-Assad militias (shabiha) which have switched sides having seen their payment from the regime dry up. The Tawheed is one of about five large rebel factions fighting in Aleppo.

It is undoubtedly the group with the biggest public profile, having produced virtually all of the online videos to emerge from the city, which often depict fighters marching defiantly through the streets after apparent victories or crouching behind walls to take aim at unseen regime forces.

The Tawheed is also the best-connected of Aleppo's rebel armies. They come from the rural districts to the north of the city - the districts through which the vast majority of the weapons, ammunition and money from abroad reach Aleppo via Turkey. The group has alleged connections to Turkish intelligence.

They are also strong in number - claiming to be the largest of the factions fighting in Aleppo. With the only available evidence - the many videos the Tawheed Brigades produce - seeming to back this claim, and with their control over the supply route from Turkey, they may have been the logical choice for FAIS.

An opposition united, for now

A commander from another of Aleppo's rebel groups, however, based in the east of the city, tells CBS News that the Tawheed Brigades' claims are exaggerated. He says the brigades make up just 15 to 20 percent of the rebels in the city, and that men from its ranks are to blame for the looting and crime which has left many local residents distrustful, even disdainful, of the rebels on the whole.

Asked about those allegations, Abu Majid, a Tawheed Brigades commander in Aleppo, tells CBS News "there have been acts of looting and pillage in Aleppo, but those were individual incidents and not a general trend, and they are not limited only to Tawheed Brigades."

"Tawheed Brigades enrolled many fighters when it moved into the city from the northern provinces; We had to do that in order to be able to cover the large areas of the city. But in doing so, we couldn't carry out the necessary checks on the background of each group of fighters."

Majid said the issue was being addressed with the formation of a security committee, "tasked with policing the various fighting groups on the ground and making sure that criminal activities are stopped."

The commander from the other rebel group also says the Brigades - which, according to its own leaders and according to the document composed by FAIS, should be acting as distributors of ammunition and weapons to the other groups as the clashes with their common enemy flare up around the city - is cooperating only on its own terms.

He tells CBS News that a fight to maintain a foothold in the Salaheddine district earlier this month was lost to Assad's forces because the Tawheed Brigades would not heed requests from the local rebel group for more ammunition. He says the local group even offered to hand over their positions in Salaheddine to the Brigade to continue the fight, but they declined.

His account is lent credence by rebel fighters who told a CBS News crew as they left the Salaheddine battle that they had to abandon the fight when ammunition ran out.

The loss was called a tactical retreat by rebel leaders, but it served the Assad regime a fresh propaganda victory to show they were reclaiming territory in the vital city.

The Tawheed brigade is composed largely of farmers and other men from the rural northern districts of Aleppo. Other factions are made up of more religiously motivated subgroups. Each has its own identity and motivations. Right now, they appear to be working more or less in unison against Assad's forces, but it's clear the various groups will not always see eye-to-eye.

Backing from FAIS will channel more funding - local funding from Aleppo's business elite who are keen to ensure their interests are protected in the post-Assad era - directly to the Tawheed Brigades. But other groups in the city are still fighting independently, still managing to rearm, and they won't necessarily be eager to embrace the Tawheed as their new commanders when the common enemy is defeated.

The battle for control of Aleppo may rage on, even after Assad falls.

(Credit: CBS)

Curiosity Mars rover wiggles its wheels and takes a drive

2012-08-23T02:55:00.001-07:00

Above, Curiosity's first track marks on Mars are visible. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Curiosity Mars rover really can move, NASA has established.

The mobile laboratory took its first test drive on Wednesday, after wiggling its wheels in preparation. It's not the fastest vehicle in the universe, with a top speed of less than 4cm per second, but its first perambulation was a success.

Curiosity's forward, reverse and turning movements all work, NASA said, adding that the test journey was around six meters long.

It was good news for the team, particularly after they found earlier this week that one of Curiosity's two wind sensors had been irreparably damaged during its landing on 5 August.

"We have a fully functioning mobility system with lots of amazing exploration ahead," lead rover driver (remotely of course) Matt Heverly said in a statement.

NASA also took the opportunity to name the spot where Curiosity landed. The site will now be known as Bradbury Landing, after the science fiction author Ray Bradbury, who wrote The Martian Chronicles, and who died earlier this year.

"Many of us and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars," Curiosity program scientist Michael Meyer said.

Life on Mars

Life on Mars is indeed deeply intertwined with Curiosity's purpose. The rover's primary mission is to help scientists work out whether Mars ever was inhabitable. To do this, it is analysing the mineral content of rock samples to see what part water might have played in their formation.

However, Curiosity is sending back all sorts of data to scientists on Earth. Part of that data comprises environmental observations, including that of the Martian winds.

On Tuesday NASA said one of Curiosity's wind sensors had been damaged during the landing — it was a relatively exposed instrument, and possibly had some wiring cut by rock fragments. Whatever happened, it's impossible to fix, so NASA is going to have to rely on the remaining wind sensor from now on.

The rover will spend the next few days checking its instruments, before it sets off on an epic 400m journey to its first destination, 'Glenelg', which lies at the intersection between three types of interesting terrain.

Nicole Kidman bares her bum on the cover of V magazine

2012-08-23T01:01:00.000-07:00

Just because you’re 45 doesn’t mean you can’t have a killer body! Do you think Nicole looks amazing?

Nicole Kidman went nearly naked on the cover of V Magazine – we can’t believe how incredible she looks! For the shoot, the actress went completely bare except for a small skirt that gave a peak at her impeccable bum! The 45-year-old mom must be spending some serious time in the gym to have a body like that!

5 WAYS & THE TRUTH ON HOW TO GROW TALLER

2011-10-28T02:19:00.000-07:00

5 WAYS TO GROW TALLER

#1 Stretching exercises

Height increase is possible with stretching exercises. Results do take time since there are three levels of development which consist of Level 1: Tonal & Muscular development of the back muscles Level 2: Spinal decompression & Straightening Level 3: Progressive spinal disc regeneration & thickening.

Stretching exercises can add up to three inches of height permanently. While there are numerous exercises that target the spine, our researchers have developed the best possible combination of yoga style exercises that tone, strengthen, and develop the muscles that support the spine leading to height increase.

Once these muscles have developed appropriately, the spine will begin to lengthen as well as straighten another inch or two through spinal decompression.

Then, with time and proper implementation of the exercises the spinal discs as well as the cartilage that supports your arms, legs, and spine will begin to thicken leading to a proportionate and taller body.

Pros: Grow taller, up to three inches. Exercise has other benefits such as health, increased metabolism, decreased body fat, enhanced immune system. Effective at any age.

Cons: Exercises take 15-20 minutes of your time but are worth it.

#2 Supplements

The right supplements are as important as the proper exercises. There are numerous supplement currently available but most of them do not contain the vital ingredients that stimulate growth.

Our Growth Enhancer Plus™ supplements contain the necessary ingredients that will help you grow taller including glucosamine, amino acids, and multivitamins. The ratio of each ingredient is important since the body can only utilize certain ingredients efficiently in the presence of other important ingredients.

Through years of research and development we have come up with the best supplement available to grow taller: Growth Enhancer Plus™.

You can grow taller by an additional 2-3 inches with the right supplements.

Pros: Grow taller, up to an additional three inches. Take anywhere and with your favorite drink. Takes no time at all to take. Ingredients will also increase energy, increase vitality, and improve focus. Effective at any age.

Cons: Expensive but are well worth the height increase.

#3 Human Growth Hormone

One of the most expensive medications is synthetic human growth hormone. Prior to biomedical research and technological advances, doctors would gather cadavers and extract growth hormone from brain tissues.

Today synthetic human growth hormone is produced in medical laboratories. This medication can increase height effectively particularly in kids with low hgh levels.

Human growth hormone can increase an individuals height up to five inches within many months. However, there are numerous side-effects associated with hgh which make it more risky than the other methods to grow taller.

Pros: Grow taller, up to five inches. Results are permanent. Quick application

Cons: Very expensive. Require needle injections. Have bad side-effects. Only effective if your growth plates are still open.

#4 Limb Lengthening

Limb lengthening is a surgical procedure that requires either internal or external rods placed inside the limbs which have to be adjusted periodically. This procedure is currently being performed for cosmetic reasons outside of the United States.

Although limb lengthening is very effective it does require extensive recuperation and time. Approximately 1mm of height per day can be added which translates to an inch per month. Pain medication, hospital stay, and a high cost makes this procedure almost very expensive and out of reach to most individuals.

Also, since this is a surgical procedure, infection is possible which will lead to higher medical bills.

Pros: Grow taller, up to twelve inches. Height is permanent. If you have short legs, you will end up with legs for miles.

Cons: Extremely expensive makes it out of reach to most individuals. Most of the height will be on the legs. Possible risk of infection. Hospital bills, medication, and time.

#5 Human Growth Hormone Stimulators

Human growth hormone stimulators are amino acid combinations that naturally force the pituatary gland into making human growth hormone. This procedure is effective and much safer than expensive synthetic growth hormone. There are no negative side-effects since your body makes hgh naturally.

In particular, effective stimulators come in liquid form. Results take time and positive side-effects also occur. Usually, a decrease in fat deposits and increased metabolism, are the positive side-effects.

The problem with human growth hormone stimulators is that they are only effective on younger individuals below an average 28 years of age.

Pros: Grow taller, up to two inches. Take anywhere anytime. Decreased fat deposits. Increased metabolism.

Cons: Works on younger individuals mostly.

Combining Methods For Maximum Height Increase

If you want to increase your height quickly and permanently you need to combine at least two of the methods described above.

For example, by combining stretching exercises with Growth Enhancer Plus™ you will increase height faster. Also, it will take you less of an effort to grow taller. If it takes three months to grow one inch of height then it will take only two if you combine the exercises with our supplements.

Remember, height increase is possible at any age but some methods are better than others. However, all do require a physical, emotional, and financial effort.

Ask yourself this question: How much is height worth to me? In the long run studies show that every additional inch of height increases your chances for financial success as well as relationships with the opposite sex!

THE TRUTH ABOUT GROWING TALLER

A human's height is determined by a number of factors. Genetics is first and most important. If your parents are short, you are unlikely to ever bump your head walking through a doorway. A tall grandparent might give you some hope. Your genes determine the maximum height you can potentially be.

Other factors can prevent you from reaching that potential. Growing to be as tall as you can is mostly a matter of avoiding things that will prevent proper development.

This means that you need to eat a proper balanced diet that includes calcium-rich foods as well as protein to provide material for both bones and muscles. There really is no one miracle food that you need to be tall, it's a matter of balanced nutrition. Reasonable amounts of exercise should also help, but care needs to be taken to avoid high-impact activities that can injure bones and joints in the critical growth period. Swimming and running are good. Extreme weightlifting less so.

Growth is controlled by hormones. Hormones are chemicals produced by various glands in the body. Their production can be affected by other chemicals, and so it would only make sense that the less foreign chemicals make it into your system the better your chances to be taller would be. As trite as that sounds, don't smoke, kids. Avoiding drugs and industrial chemicals is also a good idea.

The above largely applies to teenagers. Humans generally stop growing by their early 20's. Any significant height changes after that are highly unlikely.

A lot of people are very insecure about their height. There are many companies out there trying to take advantage of that by selling "miracle pills", exercise systems, and silly gadgets. Shoe lifts were all the rage about 40 years ago. Gadgets are junk. Pills can be dangerous. Exercise systems can cause injury. At best, these things will do nothing. At worst, you risk unbalancing your endocrine system, and that can get really nasty. Human hormonal balance is a delicate thing, easy to upset and tough to fix. Hormone imbalances can cause men to grow breasts and women to grow mustaches. Use of growth hormones has been linked to cancer. Personally, I would take short and alive over tall and dead from cancer any day.

If you are a teenager and have a concern about your growth, see an endocrinologist. They can run tests and see if your glands are working properly. If there is a problem, it is best to catch it early to have the best chance of fixing it. The tests involve checking hormone levels. The answers can only come from a lab and not from a website.

If you are an adult, you are probably stuck being the height you are. There is an extremely difficult and painful surgical method of adding length to your limbs that involves breaking bones and gradually stretching them with special devices so that new bone grows to close the gap. It's called the Ilizarov technique, and it's about the only thing proven to work. As any surgery, it is risky, and no reputable doctor will do it unless you have a genuine case of dwarfism.

Your best bet is to change your outlook. Short people have it great - they can drive smaller cars and pay less for gas. They use less fabric for clothes. Besides, height is not what makes a person. Napoleon, being slightly less tall than the average Frenchman of his time, managed to conquer most of Europe.

Making money on Your Hit YouTube Video

2011-10-28T01:22:00.000-07:00

Mr President by Carexxx a well done Picture video on Youtube

Katie Clem posted a video on YouTube this month of her daughter Lily's poignant and funny reaction to her sixth birthday present, a trip to Disneyland, for her friends and family. Then it went viral.

In three weeks it has been watched more than five million times, and Lily has become a minor Internet celebrity. Of far more importance, at least to Lily's parents, the video is poised to make enough money from advertisements to send Lily to college.

Creating a video that attracts millions of viewers and becomes a pop culture phenomenon involves an unpredictable cocktail of luck and timing. A dash of cute babies or people acting like idiots can only help. But once a video goes viral, making some cold cash depends on quick action.

Here is some advice on how to take advantage of your 15 minutes of Internet fame from people who did just that.

Make an outstanding video. There is no recipe for creating a viral video, but there are a few common traits.

Take the time to identify the video by writing a detailed title and description so people and search engines can find it easily, said Kevin Allocca, manager of YouTube Trends. "Surprised Kitty" (55 million viewings and counting) is far better than "Video of Tigger."

Share it widely on social networks, he said, and let people embed the video on other Web sites. It helps if a celebrity links to it. "Double Rainbow," a sensation last year, had only 200 views between its debut in January and July — when Jimmy Kimmel posted a link on Twitter and it took off. Current count: 31 million viewings.

It's not as easy as it looks, Mr. Allocca said. "Make really good content," he said. "That's the one nobody wants to hear, but it's the truth."

It seems to help if the videos include funny people (especially old people and babies), animals (especially babies) and dancing (again, especially when the dancers are babies). Make a video that is universal yet original to you, recommends Randy McEntee, who posted an iPhone video, "Talking Twin Babies," showing his twin baby boys having an animated conversation in gibberish.

"I think the reason it's caught on around the world is there's no language," Mr. McEntee said.

Another common piece of advice: don't set out to make a viral video. "We didn't try," said Ms. Clem, who shot her video on a Flip camera and had never posted on YouTube. "I don't have any advice because I literally went to bed that night and woke up and our lives were completely different."

Get money from YouTube ads. If your video is on the road to viral success, YouTube, a part of Google, is eager to make money from you. It will send you an e-mail asking if you want to become a partner. If you give your permission, the site will run ads alongside your video and share more than half the revenue with you, sending you a check each month.

Some of the people behind viral videos, like the father of the boy coming down from dental anesthesia in "David After Dentist," have made more than $100,000 from YouTube ads. Ms. Clem has made $3,000 in three weeks and stands to make much more because Disney wants to use her video in a TV ad.

Early on, YouTube would sign people up as partners after videos had been watched more than a million times. But it has since developed an algorithm, which it calls reference rank, to predict whether a video will go viral when it has had as few as 10,000 views.

The most important element is whether influential Web sites post the video. When Reddit posted Mr. McEntee's video, for instance, its views jumped from 1,000 to six million in three days. YouTube also analyzes other data, like the number of viewers, how many times a video is shared on social networking sites and the rate at which people comment on the video.

Protect the video with a YouTube program called Content ID, which gives video owners the right to block others from using their videos or to be paid when they do. That helps to prevent people from creating copies that might be watched instead of yours. Parodies, translations or autotuned song versions, however, tend to add to the original's traffic.

YouTube does not offer live customer service for viral video creators. YouTube said it would be impossible to talk to millions of video creators but it has help forums for people to ask questions.

Appear on television. YouTube may turn us all into TV producers, but one of the best ways to get people to watch your online video is to appear on old-fashioned TV.

Ms. Clem's video spiked after she appeared on Fox News and Mr. McEntee's after he was on "Good Morning America." It rarely helps to try to contact TV shows directly — instead, wait for producers to call you, which they will in spades if your video is popular and touches a nerve, viral video veterans say.

Remember that a dip in views does not mean your 15 minutes are over. The talking twins video had almost five million viewers on its best day, dropped to 50,000 and now gets a couple hundred thousand a day.

Sell merchandise. When the boy in "David After Dentist" asked the camera, "Is this real life?" more than 101 million viewers could relate. David's father took swift advantage of that, opening an online store selling T-shirts and stickers with the tagline.

"All the top creators do that," said Shenaz Zack, product manager for YouTube partnerships.

Tracking who watches your video can suggest markets. At YouTube Insight, video creators can see detailed data about their audience, like where viewers come from and which Web sites have linked to the video.

They can also read YouTube Trends, a blog YouTube started in December to analyze what makes videos popular, whether they are about babies using iPads or scenes from the earthquake in Turkey.

Make a game plan for fame. The celebrity and money that come with viral YouTube videos are not always fun, say people who have lived through it.

The phone rings constantly with TV producers who want to show the video. Do not sign any contracts without consulting a lawyer, said Ms. Clem, because some of the contracts ask you to sign away your rights to the video.

"It's so exciting and you want it out there, but it's dangerous because people want to take advantage," she said.

Set up rules early on, said Mr. McEntee. For his family, that meant no travel to be on TV, no other videos of the children and "to behave in a way that our children would be proud of," including letting them remove the video when they are old enough to understand.

Talk to other people who have become YouTube celebrities about what they went through — the father of David wrote on his blog that at first he had worried that people were watching the video because they were making fun of his son, for instance.

"It's actually a really lonely place because there's no one out there that really has all the answers," Mr. McEntee said. "It's just such a rare thing."

U.S. Govt. pressurise African dictator's son to surrender Ferrari, Estate & Michael Jackson's glove

2011-10-27T04:38:00.000-07:00

The U.S. government may soon own one of Michael Jackson's white gloves, a $530,000 Ferrari and a $30 million Malibu estate if it succeeds in seizing them from the son of a corrupt African dictator.

In a case kept hidden from public view until last week, the U.S. Department of Justice says it's pursuing more than $32 million in assets from Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, whose father Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has ruled over oil-rich Equatorial Guinea for 32 years -- and has been accused by authorities around the world of illicitly siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars for himself and his family.

A 2010 U.S. Senate report detailed how Obiang the younger, known as Teodorin, had moved $110 million into the United States through shell companies and anonymous transactions, propping up a hard-partying lifestyle that included spending $30 million on one of Malibu's largest mansions and a $38.5 million Gulfstream V jet. Obiang was also known to collect supercars like they were Hot Wheels, with at least 32 cars and motorcycles at one point, including eight Ferraris, two Bugatti Veyrons and a $2 million Maserati.

While the U.S. Department of Justice has said a probe into Obiang had been ongoing since 2004, the first signs of legal trouble for Obiang came from France, where authorities seized 11 of his cars last month, including the $2 million Maserati MC-12. While the Justice Department had sought seven cars from Obiang in California, its latest request mentions only one -- a 2011 Ferrari 599 GTO.

The documents unsealed last week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles offer the first glimpse of the case built by the Justice against Obiang, accusing him of spending more than $100 million garnered from extortion and embezzlement in Equatorial Guinea. The feds also revealed how Obiang bought $3.2 million worth of memorabilia from Michael Jackson's estate earlier this year, including the white crystal-studded glove Jackson wore on the "Bad" tour, the MTV Music Video Award for "We Are The World" and several of the life-size figurines Jackson used to keep at his Neverland Ranch.

So far, no representatives of Obiang's has officially responded to the government's bid, and the Justice Department has not yet responded to a request for comment from Classified news. Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group long critical of inaction against the Obiang family, has called on the United States and other countries to move against the clan despite their control over a key oil supply.

“The move to freeze Teodorín’s assets in the U.S. is overdue,” said Arvind Ganesan, business and human rights director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. “But the real test will be if the U.S. government vigorously pursues the inquiry to its conclusion without letting diplomatic or business ties stand in the way.”

Boffins in France have published details about the size of the average French penis

2011-10-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

Boffins in France have published details about the size of the average French penis -- so garlic munching men don't worry about the size of le tackle.

Researchers at Paris-based National Academy of Surgery hope the study will curb a recent rise in penis enlargement surgery.

And so to the numbers...
the academics say the "normal" penis is between 9 and 9.5cm when flaccid and between 12.8 and 14.5cm when erect.

Girth of the typical French member is between 8.5 and 9cm circumference when as soft as a floppy beret and then 10 to 10.5cm when doing a baguette impression.

A statement from the National Academy of Surgery said: "The feeling of having an insufficiently-large penis can be a source of anxiety and psychological suffering for a man.