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Casey Anthony found not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter

2011-07-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Casey Anthony was found not guilty Tuesday of killing her 2-year-old daughter three years ago in a case that captivated the nation as it played out on national television from the moment the toddler was reported missing.

Anthony wept after the clerk read the verdict, which jurors reached after less than 11 hours of deliberation over two days. The 25-year-old was charged with first-degree murder, which could have brought the death penalty if she had been convicted.

Instead, she was convicted of only four counts of lying to investigators looking into the June 2008 disappearance of her daughter Caylee. Her body was found in the woods six months later and a medical examiner was never able to determine how she died.

Anthony will be sentenced by the judge on Thursday and could receive up to a year in jail for each lying count. Since she has been in jail since August 2008, she could walk free then.

After the verdict was read, Casey Anthony hugged her attorney Jose Baez and later mouthed the words "thank you" to him.

Prosecutors sat solemnly in their seats, looking stunned. Prosecutor Jeff Ashton shook his head slightly from side to side in apparent disbelief. Across the room, Anthony's father wiped tears from his eyes. Without speaking to Casey, he and his wife left the courtroom escorted by police as the judge thanked the jury.

"While we're happy for Casey, there are no winners in this case," Baez said at a news conference afterward. "Caylee has passed on far, far too soon. And what my driving force has been for the last three years has been always to make sure that there has been justice for Caylee and Casey, because Casey did not murder Caylee. It's that simple."

He added: "This case has brought on new challenges of all of us. Challenges in the criminal justice system, challenges in the media, and I think we should all take this as an opportunity to learn and to realize that you cannot convict someone until they've had their day in court."

State Attorney Lamar Lawson thanked the prosecutors from his office who tried the case, and he said the case was never about the defendant.

"It has always been about seeking justice for Caylee and speaking on her behalf," he told reporters.

Jurors told the court that they didn't want to talk to the media at the courthouse.

Anthony's attorneys claimed that the toddler drowned accidentally in the family swimming pool, and that her seemingly carefree mother in fact was hiding emotional distress caused by sexual abuse from her father.

Prosecutors contended that Caylee was suffocated with duct tape by a mother who loved to party, tattooed herself with the Italian words for "beautiful life" in the month her daughter was missing and crafted elaborate lies to mislead everyone from investigators to her own parents.

Captivated observers camped outside the courthouse to jockey for coveted seats in the courtroom gallery, which occasionally led to fights among those desperate to watch the drama unfold.

Prior to the verdict on Tuesday, the judge said: "To those in the gallery please do not express any signs of approval or disapproval upon the reading of the verdict."

Anthony did not take the stand during the trial, which started in mid-May. Because the case got so much media attention in Orlando, jurors were brought in from the Tampa Bay area and sequestered for the entire trial.

Baez conceded that his client had told elaborate lies and inventedimaginary friends and even a fake father for Caylee, but he said that doesn't mean she killed her daughter.

"They throw enough against the wall and see what sticks," Baez said of prosecutors during closing arugments. "That is what they're doing ... right down to the cause of death."

He tried to convince jurors that the toddler accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool and that when Anthony panicked, her father, a former police officer, decided to make the death look like a murder by putting duct tape on the girl's mouth and dumping the body in woods about a quarter-mile away.

Her father firmly denied both the cover-up and abuse claims. The prosecution called those claims "absurd," saying that no one makes an accident look like a murder.

Lead prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick concluded the state's case by showing the jury two side-by-side images. One showed Casey Anthony smiling and partying in a nightclub during the month Caylee was missing. The other was the tattoo she got a day before her family and law enforcement first learned of the child's disappearance.

"At the end of this case, all you have to ask yourself is whose life was better without Caylee?" Burdick asked. "This is your answer."

Prosecutors hammered on the lies Anthony, then 22, told from June 16, 2008, when her daughter was last seen, and a month later when sheriff's investigators were notified. Those include the single mother telling her parents she couldn't produce Caylee because the girl was with a nanny named Zanny — a woman who doesn't exist; that she and her daughter were spending time in Jacksonville, Fla., with a rich boyfriend who doesn't exist; and that Zanny had been hospitalized after an out-of-town traffic crash and that they were spending time with her.

Among the trial spectators was 51-year-old Robin Wilkie, who said she has spent $3,000 on hotels and food since arriving June 10th from Lake Minnetonka, Minn. She tallied more than 100 hours standing in line to wait for tickets and got into the courtroom 15 times.

She said she's fascinated with the case because she is a victim of violent crime.

"True crime has become a unique genre of entertainment," Wilkie said. "Her (Casey's) stories are so extreme and fantastic it's hard to believe they're true but that's what engrosses people. This case has sex, lies and video tapes — just like on reality TV."

Source

Nigerian militant group demands Republic of Niger Delta

2011-07-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

THE Niger Delta Liberation Force, NDLF, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to convene a sovereign national conference, SNC, to afford Nigerians the opportunity to discuss and possibly give birth to the Republic of Niger Delta as was witnessed in Sudan, where the people met and agreed on the formation of a new nation, South Sudan Republic, without spilling blood.

Spokesman of the militant group, “Captain” Mark Anthony, in a statement, noted that Nigeria’s problem was political and what was needed to resolve it was a political solution, involving a roundtable conference of all the ethnic nationalities in the entity called Nigeria.

He said: “In SNC, every ethnic nationality shall come forward through a delegation and put up a referendum for the interest of every geo-political region. The referendum shall determine the continued existence or separation of the contraption called Nigeria. Nigeria is a creation of falsehood and it is standing on a keg of gun powder being mismanaged by former military dictators.

“We use this medium to hail great men like Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, late Major Isaac Boro, Ken Saro-Wiwa and their followers, as well as all freedom fighters who had paid the supreme price with their lives for Biafra and Niger Delta, for their courage and patriotism. These great men were men of vision who saw the type of fake Nigeria left behind for us by the British imperialists.

“We also hail the people of the new South Sudan nation for their determination and doggedness. We the people of Niger Delta shall one day join the world to celebrate Niger Delta Republic. Nobody should deceive himself and play politics with our call for splitting Nigeria into segments for the interest of every geo-political region,” he added.

Source

Tony One Week is Anambra House Minority Leader

2011-07-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

The actor/musician turned politician who was elected into office on the platform of ACN during the April 2011 elections was last week chosen as the Minority Leader of the Anambra State House of Assembly

Frank and Katherine Edoho set to divorce

2011-07-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

It seems it's finally over between broadcasters, Frank and Katherine Edoho. The couple who have been married for over ten years and have three children together, separated a few months back and now live apart. Friends of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host say he has already started divorce proceedings against his wife. I know for sure he's moved on.

The Olori who was brutally attacked by her deposed Deji of Akure husband has died.

2011-07-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

The Olori who was brutally attacked by her deposed Deji of Akure husband in 2010, has died. She died yesterday morning Tuesday June 12 at St. Mary Specialist Hospital, Ojodu, Ikeja. She was only 35 year old.

Doctors say she died of cardiac arrest but family members say the late Olori had been receiving medical treatment from various hospitals since she was attacked by her husband who was then the traditional ruler of Akure on Sunday May 30, 2010.

On Sunday May 30, 2010, the then Deji of Akure, Oluwadare Adesina Adepoju, along with his first wife and thugs, stormed the residence of the late Olori Bolanle, who was the second wife, and brutally attacked her. The deposed monarch allegedly ordered his thugs to beat up the late Olori and then they poured hot ashes mixed with something else, on her.

Her cries attracted youths in the area who came to her rescue, but not before the thugs of the former Oba had inflicted permanent damage on her.

On June 10, 2010, the former traditional ruler was dethroned and banished by Akure Kingmakers for the attack on his wife. He's not been heard from since.

A year later, Olori Bolanle is dead. Probably from injuries she suffered that day. Family members say she's been going in and out of hospital ever since the attack. May her soul rest in peace...amen.

Woman with 7 miracle babies charged with child trafficking

2011-07-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

The woman who claimed to have given birth to seven children in 11 months, (read it here if you missed it) the General Overseer of the Holy Ghost Power Salvation Ministries, Mrs. Precious Ogbonna, was yesterday arraigned at an Owerri Chief Magistrate Court and charged with child trafficking.

Prosecutors say she along with some people who are at large, between the 6th May 2010 and 2nd April 2011 stole the children she claimed to have birthed. Doctors who ran several tests on the woman say there was no proof of a recent pregnancy, no proof she's ever breast fed any baby before and in fact her blood group was not found in four of the children. The children have since been taken from her. She's going down!

Obafemi Martins Acquire N10m porsche Cayenne

2011-07-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

The footballer recently acquired a bullet proof black Porsche Cayenne and he's been cruising it round town...in Lagos.

Style Star: Naeto C and Sasha

2011-07-12T05:28:00.000-07:00

check out the outfit this is what the stars wore to Music meet runway .....Tushy i think ?? Wot do you think ....?

Mum 'killed kids and put them in boot'

2011-07-12T01:48:00.000-07:00

A mum suffocated her two young children and placed their bodies in the boot of her car, a court heard yesterday.

Fiona Donnison, 45, allegedly killed Harry, three, and two-year-old Elise after her relationship with their dad broke down.

She is accused of murdering them to hurt her ex in the most extreme way possible. She then allegedly wrapped the youngsters in holdalls.

Jurors were told she had moved out of the family home six months earlier without telling Paul.
Christine Laing QC, prosecuting, said: "This is understandably a complex case particularly in relation to the motive.

"We say that responsibility lies not as a result of any mental illness but we say as a result of her personality."
She said Donnison, who was not married to Paul but had changed her name by deed poll, was a narcissist with an overdeveloped sense of self-importance and entitlement.
The couple, who had met in 1999 when both were married to other people, had a strained relationship, the court heard.
Donnison was also jealous and controlling of her partner and often exhibited highly manipulative behaviour, it was said.

She had enjoyed a successful career in financial services in the City, but was made redundant in July 2009.

It is alleged she moved out of the family home in Heathfield, East Sussex, with the children on September 1 after returning from a holiday to Ireland.

She had left a note saying "for the sake of the children I feel I have no choice but to move out... I'm sorry, Fiona".
Mrs Laing said the two children, described as "delightful, well-mannered and affectionate", were last seen alive on the afternoon of January 26 last year.
It is believed they were likely to have been killed sometime that evening.

Donnison denies two charges of murder.

Source

Actress Mercy Johnson seeks peace with former foes ahead of wedding

2011-07-12T01:40:00.000-07:00

Talented actress Mercy Johnson is about to get married and she is making sure we don’t forget the date.

But what most people don’t know is that the actress has allegedly sworn to make her wedding the most attended by celebrities hence she is leaving no stone unturned to achieve that dream.

According to sources, the actress publicist has been making phone calls harassing all those the actress fell out with some time back and begging them to attend her wedding and make peace.

Actress Patience Ozokwor, who is mother of the day at the wedding, overheard she was mother of the day from TV and has not personally received an invites as of now.

Sources also reveal that actress Genevieve Nnaji was approached by the actress to play a major role at her wedding.

To those she has stepped on their toes in the industry, Mercy wants all activities and trampling of the past to stay in the past.
Source:

Actress Genevieve Nnaji and Dbanj at loggerheads

2011-07-12T01:25:00.000-07:00

Finally whatever thread that held the relationship between popular actress Genevieve Nnaji and known musician Dapo Oyebanji- Dbanj- is no more.

They have quarreled and gone their separate ways at press time.

This occurrence is said to be at the instance of the actress.

She is said to be tire of the growing controversies around her name and that of the artiste widely known as the Koko master.

Friends claim that she told them that the phenomenon has started taking away points from her career.

And in order not to end up as just one of the rungs on the ladder of Dbanj’s success she decided to call it quits with the arrangement that netted her two million naira as appearance fee in the musical video tagged ‘Fall in Love’

Investigations conducted revealed that though the video shoot served as publicity gimmick for the celebrated romance between them- an affair did transpired.

Insiders however insist it was only a fling.

Genevieve was said to be all about keeping it very quiet- but the Mo’HIT crew preferred to leverage on it to boost Dbanj’s image as a ladies’ man and the sale of the album, Entertainer.

But when the talks of pregnancy and abortion for the musician by the actress started making the rounds and feasted on by celebrity media, the actress was forced to pull out of the arrangement – with her earning intact.

She believes that the new twist to the affair would leave her with the short end of the stick in the deal.

Her handlers were said to have convinced her that the image of an irresponsible public figure that would result from the development would make nonsense of whatever credits she has to her name within weeks- hence the collapse of the ‘relationship.’

Video ....Soldiers give loaded machine gun to a chimp...check out what happened next!

2011-07-12T01:21:00.000-07:00

LWKMD......

43,000 ghost workers on the payroll of Ministries, Department and Agencies

2011-07-12T01:19:00.000-07:00

Former Minister of Finance who has been reappointed minister, Dr Olusegun Aganga, weekend, disclosed that about 43,000 ghost workers were on the payroll of Ministries, Department and Agencies, MDAs, of the Federal Government before the last cabinet was dissolved.

He said as a result of the biometric audit of 36 MDAs, the Federal Ministry of Finance fished out the names of former employees of the Federal Government who were either retired or dead but were still receiving salaries, thus adding to the cost of governance in the country.

He said the number of employees taking monthly pay in the said MDAs was 112,000 but after the biometrics it dropped by 43,000 to 69,000 employees. Although he did not give details of the amount saved, he said the biometric system introduced by the ministry had within one year saved government a lot of money and that it has been done for 36 MDAs of the Federal Government.

Aganga, who spoke to journalists in Lagos, weekend, shortly after receiving the Young Men’s Christian Association, YMCA, award for exemplary public office life, said feat in tha MDAs was achieved through the implementation of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.

He also called for a national re-orientation programme to restore lost values and tackle corruption. He said the country had to trim its personnel cost, which formed a major part of the unnecessary costs distorting the country’s expenditure pattern.

Aganga noted that personnel cost increased from N850 billion to N1.3 trillion between 2009 and 2010, adding that with the implementation of the IPPIS in 36 MDAs, it was discovered that 43,000 people should not have been on the government’s payroll.

According to him, the implementation of the IPPIS in the 36 MDAs had been divided into three phases and that the first phase, which covered seven MDAs, saved the country over N12 billion.

According to the minister, whose new portfolio has not been officially announced, the second and third phases will cover 11 and 18 MDAs respectively. He said: “We had to take action to reduce the overhead cost. That was why we introduced the IPPIS, where you take workers’ ‘bio-data.’”

N34trn for infrastructure

He said in the next four years Nigeria needs N34 trillion to invest in infrastructure, stating that the government is expected to finance infrastructure to the tune of N10 trillion, state governments, N9 trillion, private sector, N15 trillion.

Deficit budget

Aganga further said in the last 10 years, the government had been running a deficit budget and borrowing heavily from the domestic money market, thus denying the private sector access to funding. He said at the moment, the Federal Government borrowing from the domestic market had risen to about $37 billion while external debt is just about N5.2 billion.

He said the Federal Government was working very hard to address all of these issues in the budget as it would soon present a revenue bill to the National Assembly to ensure that MDAs remit 80 per cent of their operating surpluses to the federation account.

Multi-year budgeting

He said government would soon introduce the multi-year budgetary system in which projects spending will be spread over several years in the construction of such projects, adding that this will reduce the pressure on available resources. He said there are over 700 uncompleted projects handled by various MDAs, blaming the problem on lack of continuity in policy

New Video...2012 Range Rover Evoque 5-DOOR - driving

2011-07-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

Range Rover Evoque UK prices start at £27,955 ($39,984 USD)

Washington based Nigerian, Ikenna Njoku, Wrongfully Arrested for Check Fraud at Chase Bank

2011-07-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

On June 24, 2010, Ikenna Njoku walked into an Auburn, Wash., branch of Chase Bank intending to cash a $8,463 Chase cashier's check he'd brought in the day before.

Instead, members of the Auburn Police Department handcuffed Njoku and threw him in jail, where he sat for the next four days. Chase claimed Njoku had tried to cash a fraudulent check. Twenty-four hours later, Chase realized it had made an error.

"I was really embarrassed. I got put under arrest in front of a lot of people," Njoku said.

A year ago, the 28-year-old former construction worker had been thrilled to buy his first home, and qualified for the first-time home buyer tax rebate. According to a letter Njoku's lawyers wrote to Chase Bank, the Internal Revenue Service had wired more than $9,000 into Njoku's account. Chase deducted $600 to recoup the amount it was allegedly owed for Njoku's overdrafts and mailed Njoku the balance -- $8,463.21 -- in a cashier's check.

When Njoku went to Chase Bank to cash the check, he presented two forms of ID. Njoku said the teller was rude. "She looked me up and down and asked me a series of questions, like where I got the check and what I did for a living."
According to Matthew Knopp, one of Njoku's attorneys, the teller told Njoku that she could not cash the check immediately. When Njoku returned the next day, Chase refused to honor the check and instead had the Auburn Police Department arrest Njoku and haul him off to King County Jail.

"At bottom, what Chase did was wrong," Knopp said. "They treated him in a way that no one wants to be treated or deserves to be treated."

Cmdr. Mike Hirman said that a Chase representative had left a voicemail message for a Police Department detective June 25, a Friday, saying that the check was valid and that it had made a mistake.

"This means there was no longer a probable cause for arrest, and Ikenna should have been released from jail," Hirman said.

But the detective was not in that day, and the Police Department did not hear Chase's message until Monday.

"It was tough sitting in jail for so long," Njoku said. "Chase is the company that's responsible. People go to cash checks every day and not every time do people get thrown in jail."

Hirman said, "The lawyers think Chase could have tried harder to get him out, like calling 911 to speak to someone or following up."

During his four-day jail stint, Njoku's favorite Infinity I30, which he'd parked in the bank's lot, was impounded. Without sufficient funds to retrieve it and pay the fees, the car was auctioned off.

A year later, Njoku is still without a car.

According to his lawyers, without a vehicle, Njoku couldn't get to work, and so he lost his job too.

Njoku's attorneys have demanded that Chase make "full and fair financial compensation" to their client.

"He lost a lot, and hopefully they will simply do the right thing," Knopp said.

Tom Kelly of Chase Media Relations said in a statement to ABCNews.com, "This is a very unfortunate and unusual situation. We apologize to Mr. Njoku and deeply regret what happened to him. We are working quickly to understand all the details so we can reach a fair resolution."

The original check had been seized as evidence during Njoku's arrest and not returned to him until five weeks later -- a major point of contention for Njoku's lawyers who said that Chase should have recognized its mistake and reissued their client a new check immediately.

"I'm hoping that their policy changes," Njoku said, "and this doesn't happen to anyone else."
Source

AY Comedian Aquires 2010 Range Rover Sports

2011-07-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

AY is one of the hardest working guys in entertainment. Big congrats to him.

Posted by Nugist:

OFFICIAL VIDEO Bracket Me & You

2011-07-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

How to make £3,300 from your Blackberry Phone

2011-07-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

I really like the idea of giffgaff. The mobile network is completely different to other networks out there in that it is community-based – if you have an issue, you don’t have to phone up a call centre in goodness knows where. Instead, you post your problem on giffgaff’s community pages, where fellow users will then post advice and help out.

There are two big bonuses to this model. First off, it keeps giffgaff’s costs pretty low as they don’t have to cover the cost of a call centre, meaning the network’s tariffs are exceptionally competitive.

But there’s also a benefit to be had from being helpful on the community board – by doing so, you earn points, which can then be exchanged for money off your bill, extra texts and internet access, or just cold, hard cash.

Last week giffgaff paid out more than £250,000 to its users, including £3,357.57 to one particularly helpful user, Usman Aslam from Birmingham. Not only does the network offer some great tariffs, but it also gives you the chance to make a few quid as well!

However, there are plenty of other ways that you can make a few quid from your mobile phone.

Recycling your old mobile

Perhaps the easiest way to make money from mobile phones is to recycle your old handsets once you upgrade.

So for example, with Mazuma Mobile, my old handset (the Nokia 5800) is worth £50. Not bad for a handset currently sat gathering dust at the back of the sock drawer!

Related how-to guide

Spend less on your mobile

Hate receiving your mobile phone bill every month? Don't put up and shut up - find out how to slash that bill and cut your costs!

See the guide

There are plenty of other outfits offering this service that are worth checking out, including Envirofone andSellmymobile.com, while you can even exchange your old handset for Airmiles withAirmiles Mobile Recycling.

Earn cashback

Since I discovered the magic of cashback websites, my online shopping habits have completely changed. Now, when the time comes to get presents for my loved ones, I always check to see if there’s the chance of getting a bit of cashback as part of the deal!

Cashback websites work very simply – you follow a link from the cashback website to the retailer you want to buy from. Your purchases are then tracked, and you get a percentage back in cash. It’s brilliant!

What’s more, you can now earn cashback when shopping on your mobile. TopCashback’s app works exactly like the website, but my personal favourite is the Quidco app. That’s because not only does it allow you to earn cashback on your online shopping, but also on any shopping you do in certain stores in person! Even better, you can get cashback just for ‘checking in’ at certain retailers – you don’t even need to spend a penny!

For a full rundown of this very clever app, be sure to read Get paid for walking into a shop!

Design your own apps

Back when I got my first mobile phone, all it was capable of was making phone calls and sending text messages. Being a phone, essentially.

Nowadays, smart phones are exactly that – smart. I can do my grocery shopping on my iPhone, I can order a pizza, organise my lovefilm list, even time the contractions during my wife’s labour!

John Fitzsimons looks at three simple ways to cut the money you spend on your mobile each month

Applications (or apps) for mobile phones are big business now, to the point that even a task on 'The Apprentice' was dedicated to them. If you’re a bit of a technological whizzkid you might like to have a go at designing the app yourself.

However, you can also use something likeFundedApps. It’s a new app that allows normal members of the public like you and me to submit an idea for an app of our own. All you have to do is put together an outline of what the app is, and who it is aimed at, and should the firm like the idea, they’ll invest into building it. At this stage you’ll get £250, and once the app is launched, you’ll be entitled to 25% of the app’s net profit.

Given that 27 million people in the UK have used an app at some stage, there’s a chance to make a few quid if you come up with a decent enough idea!

Get a better deal

OK, so this isn’t so much about making money as saving money, but the fact is that many of us are on the wrong tariff for our mobile phones. We pay for features, like free text messages or minutes, that we simply don’t use and waste a small fortune.

Part of this is down to our love of getting a phone for free when we take out a contract. But in the long run we end up spending more than if we had simply shelled out for the phone in the first place, as I explained in Why the EU is causing your mobile bill to go up.

If you know what you need from your mobile phone contract, then give Recombu a go, as it has a great selection of handsets and tariffs. Otherwise, you might like to have a go on the Bill Monitor on Mobilife.com, which will analyse your usual phone usage and recommend the most appropriate deal for you!

Source

Beyoncé - Year of 4.. New Video

2011-07-10T08:16:00.001-07:00

New Video : Samklef - Molowo Noni ft. Wizkid, D'Prince & Ice Prince

2011-07-10T08:11:00.001-07:00

Bow Wow Not the Dad on Birth Certificate

2011-07-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

Bow Wow's baby mama was so pissed that he was MIA during the birth of their baby, and the days that followed -- she 86'd him from the baby's birth certificate.

Joie Chavis tells TMZ ... she was shocked that B.W. wasn't there for her when she went under the knife for an emergency C-section on April 27. And if Bow Wow's excuse was squeamishness, it didn't explain his absence in the days that followed.

He finally showed up on the 6th day of the baby's life, to take them home.

Pissed as she was, Joie tells us Bow Wow has turned it around and now is all about baby Shai.

Joie says she's now willing to let bygones be bygones and put Bow Wow on the document, but it's going to take a judge to make that happen.
Source

Casey Anthony and Jurors Targeted by Death Threats

2011-07-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

Someone is threatening to kill Casey Anthony, her lawyers, and the jurors who found her 'not guilty' of murdering her daughter -- this according to Casey's attorney Cheney Mason.
Mason tells TMZ his team has been receiving "all kinds of threats" at his office since the controversial verdict came in ... including "one we just turned over to law enforcement."

There are reports Casey's parents are also being targeted and have gone into hiding.

For his part ... Mason doesn't seem worried. He laughed off the threats claiming the people behind them are simply "cowards."
Source:

South Sudan becomes an independent nation

2011-07-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

Celebrations erupted across Juba as jubilant crowds marked South Sudan's long-awaited day of freedom on Saturday, when the chronically underdeveloped region became the world's newest nation.

"Today we shall raise the flag of South Sudan to join the nations of the world," said Pagan Amum, the secretary general of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement, speaking at the base of a giant flagpole.

From early morning, thousands started to arrive at the official venue of Saturday's celebrations, singing songs and carrying flags.

It will be the largest international gathering ever seen in this war-damaged former garrison town on the White Nile that lacks even basic infrastructure.

Last-minute preparations have been taking place throughout the capital ahead of the historic ceremony, which is due to be attended by 30 African leaders and senior Western officials.

Workers were still fixing the awning above the VIP seating on Saturday morning, and security was tight, with sniffer dogs and heavily armed soldiers on the streets.

"This is the special day," said Joseph Legge. "We cannot wait to see the flags swap -- north down and south up."

South Sudan's independence comes exactly six months after a referendum saw southerners vote almost unanimously to split with their former civil war enemies in the north.

For decades, until a peace agreement was signed in 2005, southern rebels fought successive wars with the north, leaving the region in ruins, millions of people dead and a legacy of mutual mistrust.

The independence ceremony is being held at the mausoleum of the late rebel leader John Garang, who died just months after signing the peace accord that ended Africa's longest-running conflict and opened the door to nationhood.

"This is a historic day, a day of justice, a day I am so happy to see. Today we can move on with a new life and forget the suffering and the pain," said Archbishop Daniel Deng Bol, head of the Episcopal Church of Sudan.

Military parades, prayers and a performance of the new national anthem are due to take place from 0815 GMT, followed by the declaration of independence, the raising of the Republic of South Sudan's flag and the new country's first president, Salva Kiir, taking the oath of office.

Southern officials have said the chief guest of honour at the celebrations will be Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur.

There were Darfuris among those waiting expectantly at Garang's mausoleum.

"We are here to welcome our brothers in the south in independence, and give a message to Bashir, that this is what happens when you oppress a people," said Mohammed Jamous.

Around 200 supporters of Darfur rebel leader Abdelwahid Nur held a banner that read: "The new beginning," and "Together we must stop genocide in Darfur, Nuba Mountains."

The Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state in the north have seen deadly clashes in the run-up to southern independence between northern troops and pro-southern militia.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has already said he will try to avoid an encounter with Bashir at the independence ceremony.

But Khartoum was among the first countries to officially recognise the fledgling nation, which needs all the help it can get to overcome the vast challenges of building a stable and prosperous future.

For this, it must strike a cooperative relationship with the Sudanese leader, given the strong ties that continue to bind the two countries, and despite the strain on relations caused by the bloodshed in the Nuba Mountains.

Talks in Addis Ababa aimed at resolving issues still outstanding between north and south, such as the future status of the disputed border district of Abyei, how to manage the country's oil sector and the fate of southerners in the north and northerners in the south, have so far failed to bear fruit.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon, another key guest at the ceremony, on Friday praised the "political courage" of the Sudanese government in accepting southern independence, after meeting Foreign Minister Ali Karti in Khartoum.

"I know secession is painful, emotionally and financially... While the people of north and south Sudan will soon live in different countries, their future will be closely linked," Ban said, before flying to Juba for the celebrations.
Source Yahoo News ..

Nigeria actress Rabi Ismail's death sentence upheld

2011-07-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

Nigeria's final court of appeal has ruled that actress Rabi Ismail should be hanged for killing a male friend to acquire his property.

The Supreme Court upheld rulings by two lower courts that Ismail drugged and drowned Auwalu Ibrahim in 2002 in the northern city of Kano,Ismail took part in films in the local Hausa language, and her case gripped Nigeria's entertainment industry.

Ismail took part in films in the local Hausa language, and her case gripped Nigeria's entertainment industry.

No-one has been executed in Nigeria since the end of military rule in 1999.
The court ruled that Ismail drugged Ibrahim with a sweet, before drowning him in a dam in Kano

'Immoral conduct'
The BBC's Chris Ewokor in the capital, Abuja, says the Supreme Court's verdict is final.

Ismail's lawyers have exhausted all their options to acquit her, our reporter says.

The High Court and the Court of Appeal had earlier ruled that she was guilty of murder and should be executed.

She was not in court when the ruling was made and is believed to be in a prison in northern Nigeria.

Our reporter says lawyers he spoke to expect the ruling to be carried though, although the Nigerian authorities have never implemented the death sentence since democratic rule was restored in 1999.

Kano has a popular film industry known as Kannywood - the Hausa-language version of Nollywood in southern Nigeria.

In 2007, the state's Islamic authorities denounced the industry, saying it promoted immoral conduct.

Islamic clerics also burned copies of a film which portrayed a man who beat his wife and used prostitutes before changing his ways.

Muslims form the majority in northern Nigeria
Source: BBC News

Whizkid Spotted with his Girlfriend

2011-07-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

Whizkid the Holla at your boy Crooner was Spotted with a young beautiful lady simply Known as Vee. Sources close to the talented young act claim that the relationship could be beyond a platonic one.