Desmond Elliot Not Joining Labour Party

An industry source has informed Nigeriafilms.com that popular actor Desmond Elliot turned movie director, Desmond Elliot has not joined the Labour Party to contest in the 2015 general elections, contrary to recent reports. 

We were told that the best friend of Uche Jombo has not yet decided under which party to achieve his political ambition in 2015. The industry source confirmed to us that the former 'Everyday People' actor is eyeing politics and is doing everything possible to become an Honourable come 2015. 

"Desmond has not joined the Labour Party, forget about the news reports flying around on the internet. He's yet to declare which party to make his dream come true in 2015," the source confided in Nigeriafilms.com. 

Desmond Elliot will not be the first entertainer eyeing political post. The likes of Tony One Week, Rotimi Makinde, RMD and others are with one political party serving their fatherland.

Gowon, Danjuma Warn Leaders against Unguarded Utterances

Yakubu  Gowon

Senator Iroegbu

Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.) has warned Nigerian leaders against unguarded utterances, in a veiled remark against the recent controversial public letter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Gowon made the call as the guest of honour at the 6th edition of Abuja Festival of Praise, which took place at International Conference Centre.

Lord Have Mercy! Guys See What This Lady Wore to An Event

Sexy or trashy

BlackBerry Had A Whopping $4.4 Billion Net Loss

BlackBerry earnings for Q3 are out.
It's bad.
The overall net loss for the quarter was a whopping $4.4 billion. Shares were down as much as 8% pre-market on the news, but later recuperated when interim CEO John S. Chen began talking on the company's earnings call.
The company also announced a five-year manufacturing deal with Foxconn, the same company that produces gadgets for Apple and many other tech companies. Foxconn will help BlackBerry make phones for Indonesia, where BlackBerry smartphones are still very popular.
Here are the most important numbers from the earnings report:
Revenue: $1.2 billion, which is down 56% from the same quarter last year.
1.9 million smartphones sold. (It sold 3.7 million last quarter.)
Loss of $0.67 per share, or $354 million. $4.4 billion net loss, or $8.37 per share.
The company has $3.2 billion in cash on hand.
BlackBerry attempted to sell itself and go private earlier this year. That plan failed when a private equity firm called Fairfax Financial couldn't raise the $4.7 billion it needed to take BlackBerry private. Instead, Fairfax invested $1 billion in BlackBerry and its then-CEO Thorsten Heins resigned. BlackBerry now has an interim CEO named John S. Chen who will attempt to have BlackBerry focus more on business customers than everyday consumers.
On the conference call, Chen said the new deal with Foxconn would allow BlackBerry to sell its handsets to emerging markets in Asia. Those areas have the biggest growth opportunities for smartphone makers since most consumers are still using regular cell phones.

NSA Spy Panel Wants Duplicate Oversight Board Replaced

WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, two review panels given nearly identical assignments by President Barack Obama have been studying how the White House should change or limit the National Security Agency's surveillance programs. They have functioned separately — with different experts and private and public hearings — but with almost the same mandate.

So it was at least a little surprising when the first panel, which recommended changes to NSA's programs this week, urged the White House to abolish the second panel and replace it with a new one.Among 46 recommendations spelled out in a 300-page document released Wednesday by the President's Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies is a proposal to scrap the independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which plans to issue its own report on NSA surveillance in January.

The review group concluded that the independent oversight board, which is authorized only to look into matters dealing with counterterrorism and intelligence, should also consider all foreign intelligence issues. To do this, the review group urged creation of a completely new oversight board — a move that would require new legislation since Congress set up the existing one.

The new board, the review group said, "should have broad authority to review government activity relating to foreign intelligence and counterterrorism whenever that activity has implications for civil liberties and privacy."

The chairman of the oversight board, David Medine, said Thursday the review group recommendation was worth considering. Medine said that, speaking for himself, he thinks a larger role for the board would require a greater government investment in staff and resources. The board currently has four part-time members and five staffers.

The original oversight board, which was created from a 9/11 Commission recommendation, was designed to be an independent agency not completely tied to the White House or Congress. The board's members are appointed by the president but they report to Congress.

The review group's five members were appointed by Obama and reported directly to him through National Intelligence Director James Clapper. While the oversight board headed by Medine has mixed all-day hearings open to the public with classified meetings with intelligence officials, the review group did all its work in secret and was exempted by Clapper from standard public access requirements.

"The review group clearly recognized that the government needs more watchdogging than PCLOB's oversight just into counterterrorism," said Greg Nojem, a senior counsel with the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties group.

The review group even suggested a similarly unwieldy title to replace the oversight board's already weighty name: The Civil Liberties and Privacy Protection Board, or CLPP.

Medine was less enthused about that possibility, worried that the CLPP board could be derisively referred to as "clipboard."

2013: The year we stopped trusting technology

technology
The tech world achieved some remarkable things in 2013 — but miracle gadgets come at a price
ANDREW LEONARD

I wrote a cover story for the San Francisco Bay Guardian alternative weekly in 1994 that boasted the proud title “How to Connect to the Internet.” It was well received, satisfying readers’ earnest curiosity about something new and amazing. But that was two decades ago. Now, surveying the regular outbreaks of absurdity, vileness and greed that haunt my every move online, I have wondered to myself more than once during this crazy year:
Dear lord, what have I done?
That’s a joke. Kind of. But also not really. In 2013, the awesome potential of our networked digital lives was realized in countless ways. Nineties hype is now 2013 reality — one very big reason why the current tech boom appears to have more staying power than the dot-com nuttiness ever did. We do things every day with our phones that just 10 years ago we would have deemed hopelessly impractical, or the stuff of “Star Trek.”
But 2013 was also a year in which the negative consequences of our full immersion in the future became more apparent than ever — sparking, amazingly, a full-throttle culture war in the Northern California birthplace of the digital revolution.
Our new tech put a networked supercomputer in almost every pocket, created vast sums of wealth and plugged us into webs of social media that are continuing to remake how we entertain and inform ourselves, and interact with each other. There are many aspects of these developments that are genuinely exciting. But our new tech has also enabled a pervasive surveillance society and contributed to (or at the very least failed to significantly ameliorate) growing economic inequality. The emerging culture of the tech leadership class — scornful of government, dismissive of “losers,” wallowing in conspicuous consumption — has made a mockery of its incessant we’re-changing-the-world-for-the-better rhetoric.

We’re getting the tech we’ve always dreamed of, but in 2013, we also realized that we couldn’t ignore the dark side. The single best word to describe our relationship with technology in 2013?
“Backlash.”
Or maybe 2013 is just the year we started really growing up. At least I hope so, because in the worst scenario, backlash spawns another round of retaliatory aggression and we end up locked in a state of permanent squabble, rather than figuring out how to fix things. We can do better.
* * *
On Dec. 12, a group of activists aiming to publicize what they saw as the negative economic impacts of the tech economy’s takeover of San Francisco surrounded a privately owned “Google bus,” and immediately attracted intense social media attention. A provocateur took advantage of the moment to impersonate a Google employee and deliver a rant designed to exacerbate class-war tensions. “Why don’t you go to a city where you can afford it?” he screamed at the protesters. “This is a city for the right people who can afford it. You can’t afford it? You can leave. I’m sorry, get a better job.”
Before it became clear that the supposed Googler was a fake, that the rant was just another media stunt designed to provoke viral outrage and confusion, I started a Facebook thread about the incident. An impassioned and wide-ranging conversation broke out over the next several days — 160 comments and counting! —  examining in detail the economic and ecological implications of the proliferation of private buses; how best to deal with the lack of affordable housing in San Francisco; and the much larger question of how one of the most politically progressive regions in the country was struggling to deal with the economic consequences of Silicon Valley’s ascendance to the commanding heights of the U.S. economy.
It was a great conversation, with lots of meat and nuance. I was intrigued to see just how many participants in the thread were longtime veterans of the Well, the pioneering pre-Web online conferencing system founded in the Bay Area. All of these discussants, for better or worse, could be considered early adopters, people who initially embraced the Internet with gusto and believed deeply that we were on the cusp of a vast — and enthusiastically welcomed — transformation.
But here in 2013, they were coming down on all sides of the equation. Unity had disintegrated. Some worried about the culturally corrosive effects of runaway gentrification, while others defended the job-creating vigor of the tech economy. Some denounced the new arrogance of “bro-grammers,” while others attacked the dogmatic conservatism of anti-tech protesters. There was no consensus and lots of ambivalence. It was messy, and complicated.
The day after the Google bus incident, Valleywag exposed an inflammatory Facebook post by a Silicon Valley CEO attacking San Francisco’s homeless as “human trash.” A friend of mine started another Facebook thread about that story, and a longtime Silicon Valley consultant exploded in anger, declaring that it was only to be expected that “[a]fter months and months of outright hostility towards all tech workers as a class it isn’t surprising that some that aren’t very bright or tactful are lashing back.”
Wait just a minute, I thought, that’s not what’s going on here! It’s the other way around!
The growing class tension didn’t come from nowhere — it was generated by daily encounters with entitlement and arrogance and sexism. One big reason why the Google bus prankster struck a nerve is because we’ve all heard variations on the “if you can’t cut it in the new economy, you don’t deserve to live in San Francisco” theme, from real people.
I didn’t start it! You started it! No, you’re wrong, YOU started it!
Our current media ecology, in which everyone is constantly on the lookout for every incident of outrage — which then in turn gets amplified instantly across the planet via the social media megaphone — probably sharpens the edges of this conflict. We’re all a bit too quick on the draw.
Temperatures have been rising for years as the Internet economy became a creator of vast fortunes, even as incomes have stagnated or even fallen for most workers. 2013 was the year in which the pot boiled over. Now we have to figure out what we’re going to do next. Because the tech economy isn’t going away — its dominance is a crucial part of the ongoing narrative about economic growth and income inequality and social justice. It’s not enough to just create great wealth, have an awesome IPO or debut a killer app. We need to take a harder look at what we’re doing with all these tools, and whether we’re all benefiting from them.
* * *
After almost a decade as an editor and a blogger primarily concerned with economic policy, I returned to covering the technology beat full-time at the beginning of 2013. And I was thrilled to do so. What was happening in my smartphone seemed a lot more interesting — and hopeful — than what was happening in Washington, D.C. After getting bogged down and disillusioned with our country’s political response to the Great Recession, I was eager to cover a sector in which, increasingly, my science-fiction dreams were becoming manifest. Things worked. The potential for positive change using our new tools seemed extraordinary. I was excited, ready to resume my old role as something that more closely resembled a booster than a gadfly.
Indeed, when the writer Ellen Cushing launched a prescient broadside against the emerging values of Silicon Valley in her East Bay Express feature, “The Bacon-Wrapped Economy,” I unfairly dismissed (mocked, really) the piece as insufficiently appreciative of how San Francisco has always been a gold-rush town of hucksters and hustlers. Cities change, and booms are a lot better for everyone’s economic health than busts.
It’s fair to say that I have a more nuanced view of the current state of the tech economy than I did at the beginning of the year. But that nuance comes in a package wrapped in paradox. I find myself simultaneously joining and resisting the backlash. I see how the “sharing economy” is often just another way for businesses to reap profits by making an end-run around regulations — while at the same time offering real potential to address long-standing social problems, like healthcare and homelessness. I know that there are thousands of people who work in the tech sector who are determined to apply their skills and new technological capabilities to addressing social ills. It’s not all sexist brogrammers and libertarian millionaires. (But there are plenty of those, too!) One can simultaneously appreciate how a booming tech sector brings it with a vibrant economy and a robust job-creation engine while at the same time being critical of the new political influence of Silicon Valley and how that new wealth is being distributed. Even as all our devices are increasingly used to spy on us and market to us and distract us, they are also the most powerful tools that we’ve ever invented to help us get the job done — whatever that job may be.
If 2013 was the year of the great tech backlash, then let’s make 2014 the year in which we took a deep breath and said, “OK, what’s next? How do we make this work better, for everyone?”

What do ‘Duck Dynasty’ star Phil Robertson and 45 percent of Americans have in common?

“Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson called homosexuality a sin and compared it to bestiality in a GQ profile, stoking widespread controversy and earning a suspension from the television network that puts on his popular show.

What may surprise some people is that his viewpoint the part about homosexuality being a sin is espoused by nearly half the country.


Phil Robertson in A&E’s ‘Duck Dynasty.’ (Photo by Karolina Wojtasik Copyright 2013)

Even at a time when views about gay marriage are shifting quickly, the country is divided on gay rights and how it views homosexuality more broadly. And it’s important to note that views about gay rights are not the same as judgments about sin and morality. People might be fine with legalizing something they see as sinful.

A May Pew Research Center poll showed the public split right down the middle on the question of whether homosexuality is a sin, with 45 percent coming down on each side.


The data serve as a reflecting point not only of how much the public has shifted its thinking about gays in the last decade — consider that in 2003, 55 percent said homosexual behavior was a sin, and just 33 percent said it was not – but also how big a split there is in this country.

The divide is driven by a confluence of factors, including religion, geography and politics.

Robertson is an evangelical Christian. As the Pew poll shows, opposition to homosexuality runs high among white evangelicals, with 78 percent saying it is a sin.

And Robertson comes from Louisiana, a socially conservative state. In 2007 55 percent of Louisiana residents said homosexuality should be discouraged by society, 15 points higher than the nation overall in the Pew Religious Landscape survey (40 percent; 50 percent said it should be accepted).

Some prominent conservatives rushed to Robertson’s defense Thursday — not to vouch for the substance of his statement, but for his right to free speech, illustrating how the debate has become a focal point in the political realm, too.

But Robertson’s implication that gays are choosing to engage in sinful behavior is not a position that most Americans would agree with and his comparison to bestiality probably pushed him over the top.

A large majority in a March 2013 Post-ABC poll said being gay is just the way people are (62 percent), rather than something they choose to be (24 percent). In 1994, that split was a narrower 49 to 40 percent.

This much we know: Americans have moved steadily toward embracing gay rights in the last decade. For evidence of this, just look at the 17 states — including New Mexico which legalized gay marriage Thursday — plus D.C. where gay marriage is legal compared to the zero in early 2003.

Still, though, there remains a cavernous divide between advocates and opponents — not only in the gay rights debate, but on the question of morality, too. This latest incident with Robertson underscores that.

Fixbits:

Embattled Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) says he’s not resigning from Congress.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the debt ceiling will need to be raised by early March.

Brian Boitano came out as the third gay member of the U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympic Games in Russia.

Democrats caved to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on an immigrant bill.

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) will seek a 23rd term.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had some nice things to say about Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Emily’s List endorsed state Treasurer Gina Raimondo (D) in her bid for governor of Rhode Island

posted from Bloggeroid

Mills accused of abusing Paralympic official

CNN) - Heather Mills' dream of skiing at the 2014 Winter Paralympics is over but the recriminations keep on flying.

Earlier this week the British Paralympic Association said Mills had made herself unavailable for selection in Sochi after an issue with an adaptive boot she uses to ski.

Mills, former wife of Beatles star Paul McCartney, had her left leg amputated below the knee after a road accident in 1993 and declared her intention to try and make the Games over two years ago.

But now she has been accused of grabbing an official from the International Paralympic Committee during a discussion about the eligibility of her equipment.

Read: The free spirit of freestyle skiing

Craig Spence, the IPC's director of communications, told the UK Press Association that Mills had to be restrained after an alleged confrontation with the organization's skiing chief Sylvana Mestre.

Now Mills could be fined for her outburst, though the sequence of events presented by the IPC has been disputed by her own team.

"She was screaming, 'you're a b***h, you're a b***h, you don't know who I am, I'm going to make your life miserable,'" Spence was quoted as saying by the UK Press Association.

"Sylvana tried to walk away and Heather moved and grabbed at her and had to be restrained by the British coach.

"Heather has subsequently claimed in her statements that she has got an injury caused by the IPC forcing her to wear a heavier boot, but as far as we're aware she has been using the unapproved boot all season.

Morning Cup of Links: Where Christmas Trees Come From

Where Do Christmas Trees Come From? It takes real skill to fill the demands of the modern tree market.
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Who brings gifts to Europe? A map shows all the different names used for Santa in Europe.
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The 12 Weirdest Stories of Christmas. Suggested reading material when you've had too much comfort and joy.
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A few simple tips to help your food last longer. If you have kids, you'll be lucky to make it last as far as dinnertime.
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Why Are We Fascinated by the Bad Art of Terrible People? Works by Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, and George Zimmerman all bring big dollars for some reason.
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West Virginia Heathers: Was Skylar Neese Murdered by Her Best Friends? It's a parent's nightmare to think your own child could become such a victim -or a perpetrator.
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Conan O'Brien visited the American Girl doll store in Los Angeles. Once he buys completely into the fantasy, his doll companion becomes possessed with some sort of demon child.
*
Was Johannes Gutenberg a 15th-century con man? His brilliant printing press brought him no money at all because he was always getting sued over bad investments.

World's youngest country grapples with deadly growing pains: Turmoil grips South Sudan

A tank patrols a main road in Juba, South Sudan, on Monday after fighting broke out following months of tension after President Salva Kiir fired his deputy Riek Machar in July. Kiir blamed troops loyal to Machar for the violence

By Henry Austin, NBC News contributor
The world's youngest country is grappling with deadly growing pains, with hundreds killed this week amid fears that the violence may descend into the kind of ethnic bloodbath not seen since Rwanda in the 1990s.
Three U.N. peacekeepers are among 500 people killed and 800 wounded in South Sudan since Sunday night, when gunbattles erupted between army factions loyal to the country's president and his former vice president, who are members of different tribes. The conflict has deepened divisions in the two-year-old nation.

Civilians seek shelter at a United Nations compound in Bor, South Sudan, on Wednesday.

Roughly 34,000 people have sought refuge in U.N. camps and the U.S. and other countries are evacuating non-essential embassy staff and citizens. President Barack Obama said in a letter to Congress that 45 military personnel were dispatched to South Sudan on Wednesday to protect U.S. citizens and property.
The U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that civilians were among "hundreds of patients, including many with gunshot wounds" being treated in hospitals.
On Thursday, India's ambassador to the U.N. said militia groups had "targeted and killed" three of the country's soldiers serving as peacekeepers in South Sudan. The Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday morning.
Before the peacekeepers were slain, the United Nations had said its 7,000-strong force would not intervene in the conflict.
One government worker told NBC News that friends had revealed in panicked phone calls that soldiers were going door-to-door and making residents speak so they could determine their tribe.
If they were Nuer – the tribe of the former vice president – they "would get killed immediately," ministry of education employee Georget Roro said.
"I heard a lot of gunfire," said Roro, who lives near the barracks where the clashes first erupted on Sunday. "I couldn't see anything because I was hiding but we could hear the firing and the movement of the tanks. It was horrible."

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir blamed the skirmishes a coup attempt by backers of former Vice President Riek Machar, whom he dismissed in July. Eleven people, including seven former ministers, have since been arrested and Machar is being sought for questioning.
Human Rights Watch said Thursday that South Sudanese soldiers fired indiscriminately in highly populated areas of Juba earlier in the week.
But while its origins may lie in a politics, experts are concerned the conflict is rapidly turning into much more.

Selena Gomez Cancels Tour of Asia & Australia To ‘Spend Some Time On Myself’

Selena Gomez has canceled her upcoming tour of Asia and Australia using an excuse rarely heard at the top level: she needs some “me” time.
Gomez’ reps announced last month that her international "Stars Dance" tour would swing Down Under and through Asia in the New Year, including dates in Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
The singer and actress was booked to play 13 shows in the region from mid-January. A five-city tour of Australia – her first – was to start Feb. 1 at Perth Arena. The trek was then expected to head east for dates at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre (Feb. 4), Brisbane Convention Centre (Feb. 6), Sydney Entertainment Centre (Feb. 7) and wrapping Feb. 8 at the 15,000-capacity Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
Selena Gomez Talks 'Stars Dance' with Billboard **
The entire slate of “Stars Dance” shows in Japan, South-East Asia and Australia were nixed Friday.
“My fans are so important to me and I would never want to disappoint them,” comments Gomez in a statement issued by promoter Live Nation. “But it has become clear to me and those close to me that after many years of putting my work first, I need to spend some time on myself in order to be the best person I can be. To my fans, I sincerely apologize and I hope you guys know how much each and every one of you mean to me.”
The former Disney star celebrated her 21st birthday in July with her first No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with "Stars Dance."

Yellen expected to win U.S. Senate test vote Friday to head Fed

Janet Yellen, vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve and Paul Volcker, former Fed chairman, attend an event commemorating the Federal Reserve Act, the legislation that created the central bank, in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Dec. 16.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led U.S. Senate is expected to wrap up its work for the year on Friday by moving to clear President Barack Obama's nomination of Janet Yellen to head the Federal Reserve.

But under a bipartisan agreement reached on Thursday, the Senate will not vote to confirm Yellen, now the Fed's vice chair, until January 6, the day it returns for the new year. She would replace Ben Bernanke, whose term ends in late January.

The Senate is to vote at about mid-day on Friday on whether to bring debate on Yellen to a close. To prevail on this test vote and advance the nomination, Obama's Democrats, who hold the Senate, 55-45, need a simple majority and seem certain to get it.

Friday's vote on Yellen is expected to be the final Senate vote of the year.

Under the bipartisan agreement, the Senate on Friday is also expected to confirm three other Obama nominees: Alejandro Mayorkas as deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; John Koskinen to head the Internal Revenue Service, and Brian Davis to be a federal judge in Florida.

Republicans refused requests by Democrats to carry over until next year six other Obama nominees, all to relatively low-level posts.

That means they face the prospect of having to start the confirmation process all over again with Obama renominating them.

The stage was set for this end-of-year confirmation battle when Democrats changed the Senate rules last month to strip Republicans of their power to block most of Obama's nominees with procedural roadblocks known as filibusters.

Republicans accused Democrats of an unwarranted power grab. Democrats said they did it to combat unprecedented Republican obstructionism.

Under the new rules, a nominee needs the support of only a simple majority of the 100-member Senate, rather than the earlier 60, to be confirmed.

The change, however, did not strip Republicans of their ability to slow down matters by refusing to yield back allotted debate time, which for a Cabinet-level nominee such as Yellen is 30 hours. For most lower-level picks, Democrats and Republicans get four hours each.

Earlier Thursday, before reaching an agreement with Republicans to end gridlock on the nominees, Reid vowed to get all the picks confirmed and aimed to get Yellen approved on Saturday.

"These are crucial nominations, and if that means working through the weekend and next week, so be it," Reid said.

Assistant Senate Republican Leader John Cornyn said, "The irony is that none of these nominations are particularly urgent."

"Even Ms. Yellen - Bernanke's term doesn't end until the end of January - so this is all gratuitous from my perspective," Cornyn said.

McConnell said he would oppose the IRS nominee, denouncing as inadequate a probe into the tax-collection agency's "abuse of power" in targeting conservative groups for added scrutiny.

"The American people deserve answers about how and why this targeting happened," McConnell said. "And I will not be supporting any nominee to lead this agency until the American people get the answers they deserve."

Reid urged confirmation of Koskinen to head the IRS, saying, "With all the problems we've had with the Internal Revenue Service ... we need to have someone running that agency."

Egypt: Leaks help, not hurt, el-Sissi's

CAIRO (AP) — In an audiotape, Egypt's military chief talks about his dreams, saying that in one nighttime vision he was brandishing a sword and that in another he told the late Anwar Sadat that he himself would be president one day. The tape, apparently leaked by opponents to embarrass the general, kicked off an online storm of parodies and mockery.

But to most Egyptians, among whom dream interpretation is commonplace, it only deepened an image of the country's most powerful figure — and very possibly its next president — as a spiritual man, in touch with the nation's traditions.

The twist illustrates the seemingly inexorable momentum for Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to run for president in elections due in 2014, the crowning step in the transitional roadmap laid out by the military after the general removed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi from office and threw him in prison.

For his supporters, he seems unable to do wrong. Since the July 3 coup, there has been a fervor for el-Sissi among the public, fed by a stream of support in pro-military media but also by a yearning among many Egyptians for a strongman savior who can bring stability after nearly three years of turmoil and instability.

"Apparently, those who leaked the last tape have not sufficiently studied the nature of Egyptians," said Negad Borai, a prominent rights activist and a lawyer.

New political alliances have sprung up to pressure el-Sissi to run. This week, one grouping called "Masr Balady" or "Egypt is My Country" — which brings together prominent figures, including a former interior minister and senior Muslim cleric Ali Gomaa — called on Egyptians to take to the streets next month to support his presidency.

El-Sissi's chief opponents are Morsi's Islamist supporters, who describe the coup as treason and brand the general as a murderer for the deaths of hundreds in a ferocious crackdown on pro-Morsi protesters that has been underway since the ouster. Faced with his soaring popularity, the Islamists have been striving to cast el-Sissi as a ruthless dictator, an enemy of Islam or an agent of America and Israel.

El-Sissi also faces opposition from secular activists who are worried over the power of the military and believe that if he became president it will lead to a new autocracy like that of Hosni Mubarak, ousted in the 2011 revolution.

"There is no way a military commander like el-Sissi who has no political background should be expected to believe in democracy as we see it in the West," said Borai. "El-Sissi, rightly or wrongly, is a reflection of the mood on the street, which has discovered that the cost of democracy is way too high."

The tape, which emerged last week, was the latest in a string of private conversations by el-Sissi believed to have been leaked by his opponents in an attempt to smear him. But often the leaks have fed his popularity, making him appear a committed soldier, pragmatic, modest, religious and close to the people.

El-Sissi has not ruled out a run. The latest leak, however, left little doubt in the minds of many that he will seek the job.

The audio recording was from comments he purportedly made to the editor of a privately owned newspaper on the sidelines of a recent interview. On the tape, he says he began to have dreams and visions starting 35 years ago but that he had stopped talking about them in 2006.

He said he saw himself in one dream carrying a sword inscribed with Islam's declaration of faith, "There is no god but God," in red letters. In another, he had been told "we will give you what we have never given anyone before."

He also cited another dream in which he was speaking to Sadat, the Egyptian president assassinated by Islamists in 1981 after 11 years in office. Sadat tells el-Sissi that he had known he would be president, and el-Sissi replied, "I will be president of the republic."

Yasser Rizk, the editor of the pro-military Al-Masry Al-Youm daily who was interviewing el-Sissi, confirmed the comments but he said they had been edited and were not in their original order — though he did not elaborate. The military has not commented on the tape.

Dream interpretation is an accepted religious tradition among Muslims, mentioned in the Quran. Having visionary dreams is seen as a mark of piety.

S. Azmat Hassan, a Middle East expert from New Jersey's Seton Hall University, noted that politicians sometimes use dreams to bolster their standing. El-Sissi "will certainly gain traction among some Egyptians who believe in the significance of dreams," he said.

The dream talk also fits with el-Sissi's background. He was born and grew up in the Gamaliya district of Cairo's medieval quarter, in the shadow of the city's best known mosques and shrines.

Soft-spoken and known to be a pious Muslim, el-Sissi has also drawn supporters with youthful looks and energy — as well as emotional catchphrases unusual for a military man that he often drops into speeches. Backers often tout that as a show of his humanity, though for others it rings of populism.

"Don't you know that you are the light of our eyes?" he said in one address to the public, using a common Arabic expression of love to show how much the military cares for Egyptians. "Egypt is the mother of the world and will be as great as the world," he often says to assure people that better days are to come.

"I grow suspicious every time a politician, let alone a general like el-Sissi, speaks of love," wrote Nader el-Masri in the independent daily Al-Tahrir. "This kind of love talk prevails specifically in North Korea."

Over the past months, a string of leaked videos and audiotapes of el-Sissi have been posted on pro-Brotherhood websites, claiming to reveal his unsavory side. In one example, he tells a private meeting of officers that people using mobile phones should pay for calls they receive as well as the ones they make.

In others, he talks of the need to manipulate the press or calls for a clause in the constitution that would protect the defense minister from being removed by the elected president.

Such a clause did end up in the final draft of the revised constitution that is to be put to a referendum in January, drawing criticism from rights activists who say it entrenches the military as an independent political power, unaccountable to the civilian leadership. Yet, there has not been much of an outcry from the broader public.

Instead, supporters pointed to his shows of humor and compassion that also appear in the leaks.

In one, el-Sissi berates an assembly of top officers for demanding perks and for mistreating underlings. He says officers should not insult or humiliate conscripts because it makes the army look bad before the public — a message appealing to many Egyptians who often complain of abuse by those in authority.

"In my whole life, I've never called anyone a D-O-G," he says, spelling out the insult rather than saying it. "If you want those around you to walk bowed over in humiliation, then the problem is you. I want them to walk happy, head held high.

Philippines Airport Shooting: Mayor Ukol Talumpa, Wife Among 4 Shot And Killed

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A mayor from the southern Philippines, his wife and two others have been fatally shot in a daring attack at a Manila airport terminal that also wounded four other people.

Manila airport General Manager Jose Angel Honrado says men on a motorcycle fired at Labangan Mayor Ukol Talumpa and his wife as they stepped out of Terminal 3 on Friday.He says they were declared dead on arrival at a nearby air base hospital along with two others, including a 1 ½-year-old boy. It was not immediately clear if they were related to the mayor. The gunmen escaped.

Philippine airports are usually packed with passengers and well-wishers during the Christmas season.

ANGEL HAZE ANNOUNCES NEW RELEASE DATE FOR DIRTY GOLD AFTER ATTEMPTED LEAK

Fed up of her record label’s tardiness, upstart rapper Angel Haze yesterday attempted to leak her own debut album, Dirty Gold.

The set was only up on Soundcloud for about half an hour and wasn’t made available to download (although audio rips are in circulation), so one wonders if the rapper really intended to leak the record or if it was all a flag-waving stunt to prod her label into action.
Regardless, Island Records and Republic Records have now put a new release date in place for the album, which was initially scheduled to appear in March 2014. Dirty Gold will be released on December 30 in the US and UK.
The rapper announced the news to her fans via Twitter:
My labels didn’t think that I would do it, but I did. It’s hard to put at risk everything I’ve spent this year working on but I had to for both me and you guys. No one should ever be afforded the opportunity to fuck with your dreams. REGARDLESS OF WHO THEY ARE. They do not own you or your faith or your future and because of what you guys helped me show them. My labels have agreed to release Dirty Gold December 30th. Uk & US. (Rest of the world, we are coming for you as well). Thank you all. Night
Earlier this year FACT spoke to the rapper about growing up in a cult and how Sylvia Plath and strippers influenced her debut album.
Hear album track ‘A Tribe Called Red’:

White House greets budget deal with caution, hope

passed a two-year budget deal, no declarations of a new era of cooperation in President Barack Obama's second term.

Instead, the modest agreement that passed Wednesday served as a stark year-end reminder of how low expectations for Washington sank in 2013, particularly for a president who hoped his resounding re-election would clear the way for progress on immigration, the long-term debt and tax reform.

The president's advisers say they're still searching for the larger meaning in the bipartisan budget deal, if there is one at all. At best, it could provide an opening for making progress next year on Obama's stalled legislative agenda. It also could be a political play by Republicans to keep the focus on the disastrous rollout of Obama's health care law and avoid another partial government shutdown like the one in October that tanked the party's approval ratings.

Or it could simply be an isolated move by lawmakers eager to head for the exits after a year that was perhaps even more dismal for Congress than for the president.

The president's press secretary, Jay Carney, said administration officials were "not getting overexcited because we're not naive about the obstruction that continues to exist and the partisanship that tends more often than not to paralyze Washington and Congress."

Nine Republicans joined the Senate's Democrats in passing the budget deal Wednesday and sending it to the White House for Obama's signature. The GOP-led House approved the measure a week ago. The agreement is aimed at preventing another government shutdown for nearly two more years and eases the harshest effects of automatic budget cuts — known as the sequester — on the Pentagon and other domestic agencies. The pact was crafted by Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state.

Like the White House, Republicans were cautious in predicting whether Washington's brush with regular order was a preview of things to come in 2014.

"I don't know how to read into it in terms of what compromise opportunities lay ahead," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "What I think it does do is clear the deck of some potentially contentious issues and give everyone space to do the normal legislating and governing."

Buck cited immigration reform and a farm bill as two potential avenues for cooperation next year. House Republicans will gather for a retreat next month to map out a strategy on those issues, as well as a game plan for the next fight over increasing the nation's borrowing ability, which is supposed to hit its limit early next year.

It's the shadow of the debt ceiling perhaps more than anything else that has both parties wary of celebrating their end-of-the-year budget compromise. A debt limit standoff between Republicans and the White House brought the country to the brink of a default in October, and both sides are lining up behind their same hard-line positions once again.

Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, says Republicans will seek concessions from Democrats in order to raise the debt limit, declaring, "We don't want nothing out of this." But the White House continues to insist that Obama, buoyed by his success in forcing the GOP to bend this fall, will not negotiate over the borrowing limit.

"Unless there is massive amounts of self-delusion going on, the Republicans must know that the president is never going to pay ransom for paying America's bills," Dan Pfeiffer, Obama's senior adviser, said.

If Washington can avert another down-to-the-wire debt ceiling fight, White House officials hope to revive a stalled immigration overhaul while also trying to chalk up smaller victories on housing reform and infrastructure spending. And Obama will take a stab at increasing the minimum wage, though his advisers acknowledge that proposal faces tougher opposition from the GOP.

As in past years, the White House will also be looking for areas where Obama can act on his own. One proposal includes getting commitments from private companies to hire Americans who have been unemployed for lengthy periods of time. Executive orders are also likely on climate change and the economy.

With just three years in office left for Obama, Pfeiffer said there's a greater sense of urgency in the White House over making use of presidential powers if December's "kumbaya" moment quickly fades.

"We can't wait around," he said

China grants renewed press cards to several Western journalists

BEIJING — Several Western journalists facing expulsion from China were given renewed press cards on Thursday by the Chinese government, allowing them to apply for visas and remain in the country.

The move appears to end a weeks-long standoff between the government and journalists that included a personal appeal by Vice President Joseph Biden to China’s president earlier this month.

Journalists from the New York Times, Bloomberg News and other organizations were facing the loss of their Chinese visas around the end of December, at which point they and their families would be forced to leave the country.

While most reporters at the Times and Bloomberg still do not have visas, receiving their press credentials, removes a main impediment for many of their visa applications. And staff at both organizations said they were optimistic it means their visas won’t be further held up by problems with the government.

All of Bloomberg’s foreign staff in China and some of New York Times’ have received their press cards, according to members of both organizations. According to Times journalists, who asked to speak anonymously for fear of government retaliation on their visas, at least one of them was traveling abroad when the press cards were issued on Thursday and could not pick it up.

“We have received all of our China press cards and continue to operate as usual," said Bloomberg spokeswoman Belinda Tan.”

The Washington Post, which has two correspondents in China, has received a visa so far for one. The other also received his press card on Thursday and was able to apply for a visa.

China has long denied or held up visas to retaliate for coverage critical of Communist Party officials, but U.S. reporters say the practice has grown more intense under Xi, who assumed the presidency in March. But this year, entire news organizations, rather than individual reporters, faced threats that they would be kicked out of the country, the journalists said.

The tensions appear to stem primarily from Chinese displeasure with articles about corruption among top Communist Party members and government officials. Reports about the massive wealth acquired by “princelings,” the family members of elite government figures, are a particular sore point.

The New York Times’ David Barboza won a Pulitzer Prize this year for his reporting on the topic; Bloomberg won a George Polk Award in February for a series about it, including one article that focused on the riches of the president’s family.

Peter Ford of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China, said in a statement, “We hope that this development means that the New York Times reporters still awaiting their press cards will be given them soon, and that all the reporters whose visa procedure is still underway will indeed be issued with 2014 residence visas.”

Barbara Boxer, Carl Levin Warn Iran Sanctions May Derail Nuke Talks

Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) warned members of Congress Wednesday that new sanctions against Iran could derail nuclear negotiations.

In a column published in Politico Magazine, the leading Democrats lauded President Barack Obama for the preliminary deal just a month ago that would curb Iran's nuclear program. The senators noted the president's successes of bringing together international leaders in "what might be the most stringent international sanctions regime ever," and making clear the United States will stop at nothing to keep Iran free of nuclear weapons.

But some of their congressional colleagues -- namely Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) -- are drafting legislation that Boxer and Levin said may squelch efforts to negotiate a permanent nuclear accord.

"Media reports have suggested that Congress intends to pass legislation soon that would impose additional sanctions on Iran," Boxer and Levin wrote. "That would run the risk of derailing efforts toward a peaceful resolution, and risk the unity we have achieved with the world community that has been so crucial to our progress to date. Fortunately, many in Congress, us included, believe that we must test this window of opportunity, to see whether Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani can deliver on the promise of a comprehensive solution that closes Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon."

Boxer and Levin urged members of Congress to give the November agreement time, saying, "It is clearly what the American people want and expect."

Earlier this month, Secretary of State John Kerry appealed to lawmakers, urging them not to jeopardize the chances of a peaceful resolution.

"This is a very delicate diplomatic moment and we have a chance to address peacefully one of the most pressing national security concerns that the world faces today," Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "We're at a crossroads. We're at one of those really hinge points in history. One path could lead to an enduring resolution in the international community's concerns about Iran's nuclear program. The other path could lead to continued hostility and potentially to conflict."

Read the full column in Politico Magazine here.

‘You are bloody idiots…’ – Obasanjo replies Vanguard

Despite uproar, outrage and denials caused by an 11-page letter released by Vanguard and said to have been written to former President Olusegun Obasanjo by his daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo, the media house has stuck to its story.

Vanguard has maintained its stance on the exclusivity and the authenticity of the letter by continually releasing its contents “for the record.”

Vanguard correspondents were said to have made a phone call to Chief Obasanjo to get his reaction on the letter but the former president was said to have told them off and called them “bloody idiots”.

Vanguard reports:

Senator Iyabo Obasanjo spoke against the background of mixed reactions from Yoruba elders and politicians on the import of the letter which she said was the last communication with her father.

The former president himself was furious when approached by Vanguard, yesterday, as he hurled invectives at the newspaper. The exchange between Vanguard and the former president ran thus:

Vanguard: Sir, we tried reaching you all through yesterday, to no avail, over the letter written by your daughter, Iyabo, to you.
Chief Obasanjo: You are a bloody idiot, you have published the paper and you are now looking for me, you are an idiot, don’t call me again. When Iyabo finishes you in court…. (hangs up).

Senator Obasanjo nevertheless flayed the orchestrated attempt in the social media by a network of associates of her father to separate her from the letter.

Aremo Olusegun Osoba, former governor of Ogun State, who was cited in the letter, confirmed the meeting between him and Iyabo in Massachusetts, United States but distanced himself from the plot allegedly cited by her father to empower her with the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC for the next round of elections.

Besides, Aremo Osoba, several prominent Yoruba elders spoke on the development among whom were Afenifere leader, Chief Rueben Fasoranti, Afenifere bigwig, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, Chief Ebenezer Babatope and Hon. Femi Kehinde, a former member of the House of Representatives.

Senator Iyabo Obasanjo had written an open letter to her father accusing him of being a liar, manipulator, wife-basher and hypocrite who was desperate for a third term despite his denials to the contrary.

Missing $ 49.8 billion: Sanusi makes u-turn

ABUJA—CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria, CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Wednesday, reversed himself  from his initial declaration that the sum of $49.8 billion realized from the sales of crude oil between January 2012 and July 2013 and expected to be remitted to the federation account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, was missing.

Sanusi
Instead, he said $12 billion was the amount discovered not to have been remitted to the account within the period just as he regretted that his communication to the president was leaked to the public.
Sanusi, who stated this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance, to give insight into his letter he wrote to the president on the controversial missing money, said the letter did not indicate that the CBN had  concluded its investigation on the matter.
But the Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, countered the CBN Governor’s position, saying: “I just wanted to add that we found about $10.8 billion. He mentioned $12billion.”
Insisting that the letter was meant for the president to launch an investigation into the issue, Sanusi  told the committee’s chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi: “I repeat, Mr Chairman, that we did not see the letter as a conclusion of our investigation but an invitation to investigate. So, the conclusion that $49.8billion was missing was wrong even though we had the allegation that it was unremitted.”
“Now, since then, a lot has happened. We have heard the Minister of Finance, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Central Bank, FIRS, CPR, we have set up technical team and has started a process of reconciliation and there has been a lot of progress in that process.
“I found it very unfortunate it was leaked to the press and the answer is ‘yes’, the CBN Governor did send that letter with those contents. By way of those contents, the Central Bank and Finance Ministry and the government were very much concerned over the years at the very low rate of accretion to the reserves in spite of very high level of oil prices and in particular, depletion of excess crude account in spite of what seems to be very high level of oil sales.
“Now, in investigation and trying to understand where those leakages were, our attention was drawn to a huge difference between what appeared to be export of crude made by NNPC and amount repatriated into the crude equity account of the federal government.
“The numbers were about $65 billion exported by NNPC and about $15 billion repatriated to Federation Account out of that. Now, in view with our duty as the banker of the government, we had the responsibility of alerting the president and request a thorough investigation of this matter, he said.
He further explained that “the major progress has been the provision of Monetary Policy Committee, PMC, by the MPC documents to show that even though they did ship that amount in question which is a little more $67 billion, about $24billion was actually not their crude but crude shipped on behalf of third parties like oil companies, tax in crude and also for third party financing and so, that already addresses half of the amount.”
“So, the second half is the issues around domestic crude lifting of $28billion from which we feel there is a short fall, there is a general consensus among us on this even though the amount has been disputed. For us in Central Bank, there is a shortfall of $12billion”, he disclosed.
But even with the amount, he said the CBN was still in the process of reconciling the amount.
“Now, we still are in the process of trying to reconcile that number and we have not even started talking of the sales, the export sales tax, which is about $2billion, which will come after the sales. The Finance Ministry has told us that even before now, there is ongoing negotiation and discretion with NNPC ad-hoc committee and these numbers have always been discussed at the level of Commissions of Finance.
“Since the objective of this committee and for all of us on this side is actually to get to the bottom of it and find out exactly what is the amount unremitted and what is to be done and recommend actions.”
He pleaded for time so that the CBN, NNPC and all relevant agencies come up with a collective figure.
“What I would like to do is, given the progress we have made, to request that we be given little more time to continue with this process and come back with the final position that is a common position among us if the committee will so grant us, ”he added
He was subsequently granted the request.
Speaking at the event earlier, Senate President, David Mark,noted that the controversial amount was still allegation but stressed that it was a serious one.
“At this point what we have is allegations but it’s a serious allegation. When Senator Adetumbi raised the point of order, I did not allow comment on the issue
“It’s for us to get facts so that when we come back we can make useful and meaningful contributions. The Senate has no positions on it, nobody knows apart from what was published in the papers, that’s why we want the committee to establish the facts, the committee, your body language and utterances must be seen to be totally neutral because we have no facts, we have no position on it, we urge you to observe the facts, “he said.

210,000 Displaced In CAR Violence – UN

Attacks on Christians and mood of fear continue as thousands abandon their homes in the capital Bengui, UN agency says.

As attacks on Christians increase, the United Nations’s refugee agency has said that approximately 210,000 people have been displaced in the capital of the Central African Republic, Bangui, in the past two weeks as a result of sectarian violence.

Central Africans have been running away from the fighting between Muslims and Christians in the country, where France has around 1,600 troops, acting with the African Union-led forces on the ground.

Humanitarian organisations say that at least 500 people have been killed in Bangui in December in killing sprees on civilians by both sides.

“In Bangui, our staff are reporting continued shooting and a mood of widespread fear,” a UNHCR spokesman said on Tuesday.

“We continue to hear of attacks against Christians by former Seleka [mostly Muslim disbanded militias] with looting, killing and houses being set on fire.”

The agency also said that hundreds have risked their lives by fleeing the country by boat across a branch of the Congo River.

The UN World Food Program said on Tuesday that it was resuming food delivery to about 40,000 people near the Bangui airport after the security situation forced the work to stop over the weekend.

The agency also warned that up to a quarter of the mineral-rich nation’s 5.2 million population risks going hungry.

The UN has been criticised for its response to the crisis, but Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday said the international organisation is scaling up its humanitarian response.

Meanwhile, London-based rights group Amnesty International warned that more troops were urgently needed to protect residents in the capital where it said war crimes had been committed.

“The continuing violence, the extensive destruction of property, and the forced displacement of the population in Bangui are feeding enormous anger, hostility and mistrust,” Amnesty’s Christian Mukosa said on Tuesday.

The fighting in the former French colony is between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels – originally from neighbouring Chad and Sudan – and the Christian anti-Balaka whose name means “anti-machete”, the weapon of choice for Seleka.

The Christian fighters oppose the Muslim ex-rebels in charge of the CAR since March.

Breaking News: Another Bombing in Rivers, Justice's Office Affected

The political situation in Rivers State is getting messy by the day as an improvised explosive device was thrown at the Administrative Block of the Office of the Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru, in the early hours of today, causing a minimal damage to the building.

The Deputy Governor was unhurt in the explosion.

There has not been any official statement yet but Mr. Godswill Jumbo, the Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor confirmed that an incident like that happened, adding that he would issue a statement later.

Sources at the Government House assured that an official statement will be issued after Governor Chibuike Amaechi had inspected the scene.

Phone calls to Ahmad Muhammad, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, for the state, were not answered.

Facts are also emerging that the fire that engulfed the old section of the Mile One Rumuoji Market today may have been caused by an explosive device thrown into the stores in the market.

Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, the state Commissioner of Information and Communications, said that arson was not ruled out in the burning of the market as explosions were heard in some parts of the state capital the previous night.

She said explosives might have been thrown into the market.

Interestingly, Police Public Relations Officer Ahmad Muhammad told Premium Times that he was not aware of any explosion in the state.

If the attack is proven, it would be a fresh twist in a series of political crises that have rocked the volatile oil producing state for months.

‘Iyabo Obasanjo trending for twerking on YouTube?’: Top 10 reactions to the purported letter to OBJ

It’s a season of open letters, an 18-page letter which was written by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan accusing him of destroying the country went viral sparking mixed feelings on social media, especially Twitter.

Now, Twitter is buzzing again with the news of an 11-page letter addressed to the ex-President written by his daughter Iyabo Obasanjo accusing him of being “a liar, hypocrite and a manipulator.”

Here are the top 10 reactions on Twitter:

Only deadly brain person will believe that Iyabo Obasanjo will insult is daddy. Iyabo is a daddy’s girl and will not see any wrong in him

— Dame Funmi Aiyeola (@FunmiAiyeola) December 18, 2013

She twerked on YouTube. “@_Mslouiee_: Sorry why is iyabo obasanjo trending anyways ? :s”

— Segun Benedict (@clubheadz001) December 18, 2013

Now looking forward to Patience’s open letter to GEJ since we are in the season of open letters! http://t.co/Q8AWR3mjDD

— Idris Ayodeji Bello (@idrisayobello) December 18, 2013

So me I go use my data”bunduru” dey read Iyabo obasanjo film script to her father? That family needs Jesus Christ

— IG:@akobioluwa (@akobioluwa) December 18, 2013

Dis one iyabo obasanjo is trending is she about to give us a dance track like Tonto dike

— #HappyDay Dec 09 (@illone_bwe) December 18, 2013

In unrelated observation, iyabo obasanjo is biurifu. Agbani Ko-sele-ri.

— Olumuyiwa Olumide (@MrEnclave) December 18, 2013

Boom! Boomerang!! Iyabo writes Daddy, like Daddy did Johnny!!! Not pretty. Vanguard News http://t.co/9jpv9uslpY — Kunle Adeboye (@reynria) December 18, 2013

When God fights for a man, the man does not even have to lift a finger! — Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) December 18, 2013

GBAM RT “@DoubleEph: Iyabo is a smart girl.She probably still wants to be minister & doesnt want her agbaya bitter father to spoil her runs”

— Ife || Genvoices.org (@IfeAdebayo) December 18, 2013

GBAM. Reno has noticed her. He will inform his boss RT “@Princetayo1: @ogundamisi iyabo is just looking for attention”

— Ife || Genvoices.org (@IfeAdebayo) December 18, 2013

Awoosbilahi. Just reading Iyabo’s letter to Obj. I don’t understand God. How do you repeatedly bless a man who is such a personal failure? — F (@DoubleEph) December 18, 2013

And Reno is here!!! LMAO. *grabsPopcorn* *staysGluedToTL* — Ife || Genvoices.org (@IfeAdebayo) December 18, 2013

Hahahahaha RT “@Ebuka: I should actually write an open letter to Park n’ Shop. They sold me unripe kiwi fruits.”

— Ife || Genvoices.org (@IfeAdebayo) December 18, 2013

Lmfao!”@SirJohnnyKay: Money is on OBJ to win both RT”@olatostar: *OBJ 1-0 GEJ (HT)…. IYABO 1-0 OBJ (26 mins).. #2015NationsCupQualifiers“”

— OLUWADAMILOLA (@i_am_dammy) December 18, 2013

Iyabo 1-0 ObJ…..me self go soon write open letter to ma crush…..

— Niklaus (@Capt_Gt007) December 18, 2013

Need popcorn and coke to read this Iyabo’s letter to her daddy,Obj.

Blondie, Miley Cyrus, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Added to Ryan Seacrest's NYE Lineup

Blondie, Miley Cyrus, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Icona Pop are confirmed to the lineup for "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest" telecast.
The traditional New Year's Eve party will again be aired live on Dec. 31 at ABC from 11:30 p.m.
The newly-added performers will take the stage in New York's Times Square, where Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy will host. Seacrest will lead the midnight countdown.
Blondie's Debbie Harry on the Billboard Women In Music Red Carpet 2013**
The addition of Blondie is neatly-timed; 2014 will mark Blondie's 40th anniversary. The Debbie Harry-fronted New Wave group made their first appearance on "Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve" back in 1979. Harry, Chris Stein and Clem Burke will return to the New Year’s "Rockin’ Eve" stage for the first time in more than 30 years, taking their place with more-recent bandmates Leigh Foxx (bass), Tommy Kessler (guitar) and Matt Katz-Bohen (keyboards).
The festivities spill over with a West Coast celebration featuring Ariana Grande, Capital Cities, Daughtry, The Fray, Robin Thicke, Enrique Iglesias, Jason Derulo, Fall Out Boy, Florida Georgia Line and Jennifer Hudson, with Fergie on hosting duties.
New Year's Eve Without Dick Clark: Ryan Seacrest, 'Rockin' Eve' Execs Reflect
"Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest" is a presentation of Dick Clark Productions. Seacrest and Allen Shapiro are executive producers and Barry Adelman is co-executive producer. Larry Klein is producer.
Guggenheim Partners, the parent company of Dick Clark Productions, also owns Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter.

Arguments Waived On Michael Jackson Doctor's Appeal

Attorneys handling an appeal by the former doctor convicted in the death of Michael Jackson have waived oral arguments in the case, court documents filed Tuesday show.
Defense lawyer Valerie Wass and Supervising Deputy Attorney General Victoria B. Wilson filed letters with the 2nd District Court of Appeal waiving the arguments in the case of Conrad Murray unless justices have specific questions.
The appeals court had set arguments for Jan. 9.
Michael Jackson's Family Files Paperwork for New Trial in Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Wass said the decision was made because both sides felt they had filed extensive papers laying out their cases and the court doesn't want to hear repetitive arguments.
"The waiver is in large part due to the Court's generous permission allowing the parties to file briefs at double the word limit," Wilson wrote in a letter to the court.
Murray was convicted in 2011 of giving Jackson a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol. He was released in October after serving two years in jail.
Jackson died in June 2009 while preparing for a series of comeback concerts titled "This Is It."
Michael Jackson's Touring Life After Death: The Billboard Cover Story
Murray argues in his appeal that the trial judge excluded jurors from hearing key evidence and should have sequestered jurors in the high-profile case.
The attorney general's office has said the issues cited by Murray's lawyers were not errors and are not a basis for a new trial.

Bangladesh violence risks spinning out of control as polls

trol as polls near
.
Reuters By Serajul Quadir and Mike Collett-White 37 minutes ago
By Serajul Quadir and Mike Collett-White

DHAKA (Reuters) - When an ally in Bangladesh's ruling coalition threatened this month to pull out of upcoming elections, elite troops broke open the gates of the party leader's home, brushed aside his guards and hauled him away.

"It was horrible to see sir being dragged into a car in front of our very eyes, and yet we could do nothing," said an official of Hossain Mohammad Ershad's party. The official, who declined to be named for fear of arrest, was at the home of the one-time military ruler at the time of the raid.

The detention of Ershad, 83, was widely seen as an attempt by the ruling Awami League (AL) to prevent him from withdrawing his party from the January 5 election, which would have further undermined the legitimacy of a ballot already being boycotted by its main rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

As it is, the BNP's boycott means that more than half of the 300 parliament seats at stake will go uncontested, dimming hopes that an inclusive ballot could restore stability to this strife-plagued South Asian country.

The crisis has spilled onto the streets, where people are shot, beaten or burned to death daily in clashes between rival groups and police. More than 200 people have died in political violence this year, half of them since November 25, when the Election Commission announced a date for the vote. Many say that emergency rule under the army looks increasingly likely.

Rolling general strikes staged by the opposition and blockades of roads, rail lines and waterways are also hurting the $22 billion garment industry, which supplies some of the world's top retailers, employs four million people and accounts for 80 percent of the impoverished country's export earnings.

Political unrest was chiefly to blame for a 40 percent drop in export orders in October from a year earlier, according to Riaz Bin Mahmud, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA)

The owner of a garment company that employs around 12,000 workers said the drop continued into last month, when he saw his orders fall by around 50 percent from November 2012.

None of the factory owners Reuters interviewed for this story were willing to speak on the record about the impact of the unrest, concerned that there could be reprisals for appearing to criticize the political parties involved.

The collapse in April of a garment-factory complex in which more than 1,100 people died had already raised the alarm among Western brands. Now, the BGMEA says, some are turning to India, Vietnam and Indonesia even though their labor costs are higher.

"They (protesters) are not burning our vehicles, they are burning our economy," said a local garments buyer for a major Western firm. "My appeal to the brands is: do not allow this country to become another Somalia."

In the port city of Chittagong, even the weekly auction of tea -- one of the biggest in the world -- had to be called off this month because of the mounting political turmoil.

EXECUTION TRIGGERS MORE KILLINGS

Making matters worse, activists from the Jamaat-e-Islami party, an Islamist ally of the BNP, have gone on the rampage as a tribunal pursues its leaders for atrocities committed during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

Last week Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah was hanged, the first war crimes execution in Bangladesh. He was accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces, who were eventually defeated with India's help.

Protesters from Jamaat and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, attacked members of the ruling AL party in deadly reprisals after the execution, while hundreds of people staged vigils in the capital, Dhaka, to celebrate his death.

Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal has exposed divisions in society over what role Islam should play, and the strong public reaction to its verdicts have raised fears that young Jamaat members are being radicalized.

The 1971 war, in which an estimated three million people died in nine months, is a festering wound not only for those personally affected, but also many young Bangladeshis.

"The young generation wants to see the end to this culture of impunity. Whoever you are, you are not beyond justice," said Tapas Baul, a 33-year-old prosecutor at the tribunal.

HOPES FADE

A resolution to the crisis could rest on two women.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the AL and the BNP's Begum Khaleda Zia have dominated politics in Bangladesh for more than two decades, and mutual suspicion bordering on hatred has blocked attempts at reconciliation between them.

Hasina wants to do away with a tradition of introducing a caretaker government to oversee elections, even if it means running unopposed.

"Without elections as announced ... there will not be any legitimate government and the country will plunge into a serious constitutional crisis," said H.T. Imam, Hasina's adviser. "The BNP, by boycotting, is contributing to the crisis."

But the BNP insists an interim government be introduced and Hasina step down before agreeing to take part in the poll.

They say the AL has crushed the opposition by arresting leaders, using the tribunal to hound Jamaat after a court in August barred the Islamist party from contesting elections.

"The root of the anger is one party not being included," said Shamsher M. Chowdhury, vice chairman of the BNP. "If the government goes through with a one-party election, it would be disastrous for the country."

The crisis has raised the prospect of a return to emergency rule, last imposed in 2007 and ending two years later with elections that saw Hasina win a landslide victory, partly on a promise to pursue war criminals.

The AL's Imam played down the prospect of army intervention.

"Bangladesh is one of the largest contributors to U.N. peace-keeping forces, which is a very lucrative and very important attraction for the military," he told Reuters. "The United Nations does not approve of military takeovers."

Imam said the BNP had become hostage to Islamist groups such as Jamaat and Chhatra Shibir, but senior Jamaat leaders blamed the government for the political impasse.

"If the government gives space to political parties, I am of the opinion that 80 percent of the violence would come to an end," said Abdur Razzaq, assistant secretary-general of Jamaat and a barrister at the crimes tribunal.

Both sides have held talks in Dhaka, assisted by the United Nations, and Hasina is under international pressure to find a solution. But these are faint glimmers of hope amidst the gloom.

"The capital is cut off, the economy is at a standstill, people are in constant fear. We've come to the end of the road," Razzaq said.

(Additional reporting by Ruma Paul; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by John Chalmers and Mark Bendeich)

Music meets comedy at Rhythm Unplugged

It was one of the few shows where tickets were completely sold out, leaving late buyers stranded.
Harp Rhythm Unplugged, it appears, got more than it bargained for, with a lineup of artistes that seemed too irresistible for music lovers.
Traffic in and around Eko Hotel and Suites, venue of the concert, last Sunday night, posed great difficulty. The several packing slots at the venue were completely occupied, leaving many more at the mercy of ‘hustlers’ who sourced space for guests at a price, thereby filling up all sidewalks and roadsides.
Organised by Flytime Promotions in partnership with DataBox Technologies, the show, which was streamed live on MeetOrbit.com, was anchored by Nigerian comedian, Bovi, and visiting American artiste, Wyclef Jean.
As many continued to make their way into the hall, the show began with Bovi, treating guests to situation comedy that resulted in tears-induced laughter.
I Go Safe, another stand-up comedian, complemented Bovi’s jokes with a one-off session, which he used to advantage.
Interestingly, the show, which featured a potpourri of activities, introduced another set of entertainers. This time, it was the energetic dance group called Dance Na De Main Thing (DNMT). A sight to behold, the group’s creativity went from beautiful choreography to snippets of hilarious dance drama carried out with beautiful attires.
Never- say-die artiste, Sound Sultan, rekindled memories of 15 years ago, when his hit song, Jamgbajantis held sway. The popular song, with its satiric video, had criticized bad governance of both the military and civilian leaderships.
From Jagbajantis, the artiste went into Ajo dabi ile, a song which decries incessant migration of the country’s productive youthS to foreign land. With his six-man band and skillful dancers, he had used his usual graphic illustrations to had verve to his act. Sound Sultan, it could be said, led the way for a proper live performance at the event, ushering Wylef to the stage, amidst great cheers from the crowd.
A few minutes of banters between Bovi and Wyclef added to the fun, as the American tried a few words of Pidgin. It was obvious how much the visiting artiste cherished entertainment. He confided in the crowd on this, saying, “Politics is not sexy, so I’m back to my entertainment business.” The entertainer had tried his luck in the American politics, but could not find headway.
He wanted to know more about Tonto Dikeh whose music, he observed, made 4.5 million downloads on the Internet. But Bovi didn’t think that the downloads amount to fame. He told Wyclef that the actress cum singer could also get as much deleting as her number of downloads in a day.
Next on line, Tony Tones, a photographer, surprised many with her music and dance prowess. She soon departed the stage for one of the finest female acts, Waje. The sonorous-voiced diva opened her session with a tribute to the late Nelson Mandela. Thereafter, she did her regulars, wrapping it up with the dancehall hit track, I Wish.
Acclaimed queen of hip hop, Sasha P, came up next, as the first artiste to mime her songs. The rapper was coming back on the music scene after a while, and she tried to teach the crowd the chorus of Recognise, a new song she just dropped last Monday. It was obvious she has lost grip on her fans base-the crowd did more of listening than reacting to her performance.
Bearing the new nickname of Eja Nla, D’banj’s slot began with his look-alike brother, K Switch, storming the stage with a backup singer. With same mannerism, he whetted the appetite of the eager crowd with three songs before the Kokomaster, as he (D’banj) is fondly called, got on stage.
Spotting a blazing red jacket, red shoes and a pant laced with red, the ovation for the showman got louder as he sang his hit track: Top of the World. He closed his act, singing the daring song, Don’t Tell Me Nonsense.
When Tuface Idibia came on stage, everyone knew live music had resumed. Without the complement of erotic dancers, Tuface held sway as the foremost live music performer who does not require a Dee Jay’s playback from his CDs. The crowd went wild for his True Love track, with which he started his show.
Other artistes, who performed at the show, included P Square, Wizkid, Davido, Banky W, Burna Boy, Iyanya, Olamide, Dr. Sid, Omawumi, KCEE and DJ Jimmy Jatt.
Other artistes, who also performed, were I Go Dye, Gordons, Seyi Law, Buchi and Apororo, among others.
It was the longest show of the year, wrapping up around 5:30am, the next day.