Two women caned in Indonesia for selling food during Ramadan

Murni Amris receives three lashes after being caught selling food to the public.

 Two women have been publicly caned in Indonesia for selling food during Ramadan.
Murni Amris, 27, received three lashes and Rukiah Abdullah, 22, two in front of a crowd of hundreds which gathered at a mosque in the city of Jantho, southeast of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
They were found guilty of violating Islamic sharia law by selling rice on a stall at noon during the Muslim fasting festival.

 Source

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Ibidun Ajayi Ighodalo bags international Award.

 Former Miss Lux and CEO of Elizabeth R Event management firm, Ibidun Ajayi Ighodalo has just been honored in the UK with the prestigious International Entrepreneur of The Year Award. The award was inspired by her consistent innovativeness in the creative business. The event which held some weeks back also featured An evening with Elizabeth R.

Ibidun, who launched her out-of-this-world marquees and My Dream Wedding TV Show recently, is married to pastor Ituah Ighodalo of Trinity House.

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"Pulling Out" Rivals Condoms, Study Says

Ask most sexually active people today about the pullout method as an effective form of contraception and you're likely to induce eye-rolling and snickers.

But withdrawal before ejaculation during intercourse is more than just "better than nothing," a new study claims, noting that it is nearly as effective at preventing pregnancy as condoms.


The study, titled "Better than nothing or savvy risk reduction practice? The importance of withdrawal," appears in the latest edition of the journal Contraception.

The authors find:

"If the male partner withdraws before ejaculation every time a couple has vaginal intercourse, about 4% of couples will become pregnant over the course of a year. However, more realistic estimates of typical use indicate that about 18% of couples will become pregnant in a year using withdrawal. These rates are only slightly less effective than male condoms, which have perfect- and typical-use failure rates of 2% and 17%, respectively."

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'Save our souls' hit cinemas

Oby Edozien and Prof. Soludo

After staging a successful premiere, Oby Edozieh has taken her new block buster movie, Save Our Souls to the cinemas with Silverbird Cinema being the first of the cinemas to embrace the high budget movie that was shot in Nigeria, England and India.

The movie Save our Souls which is directed by Moses Iyang and has  the likes of Kenneth Okonkwo, Elebelu Elebuwa, Chioma Chukwuka, Ebere Okaro, Segun Arinze, Oby Edozie herself as cast is about the emotional and psychological trauma that comes along with cancer and its effect on victims and their families, as well as various ways people choose to deal with it.

Speaking on the movie, Edozieh said ‘the movie has been very involving in terms of budget and other logistics, especially since the cast and the movie had to be moved to the two countries, but with the quality of movie we came up with, all the effort was worth it’.

She further said “Save our Souls is not only an entertaining movie but a very educative one and has won the support of big shots, organisations that are deeply concerned about the pain of people with cancer and will at anytime support cancer management or if possible eradication, firms like First Bank, the Federal Ministry of Health and Oby Gold Foundation.

The sassy actress disclosed that she is elated that the movie is accepted in the cinemas; that means Nigerians are after qualitative and educative works. Speaking further, she revealed that the presence of the movie in the cinema will help in propagating the message against cancer.

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Winners at the Naija Stories Independence Contest.

First Prize of $150 - Emmanuel Iduma with Electronic Freedom.
Second Prize of $100 - Remi Roy with A Heart for the Game.
Third Prize of $50 - Dipo Adesida with Never Again
Naijastories.com is a website committed to promoting the writing and reading of Nigerian Fiction. The Nigeria Independence day contest was set up to mark the October 1st and Naija@50 celebrations. Short fiction pieces were required of contestants to reminisce on what’s changed in the past 50 years and what may be ahead. The total cash prize of $300 was used to sponsor the contest.  The contest opened on Sept 8th and received 35 entries. Out of the 28 stories that qualified for the first stage, 14 were shortlisted from popular voting and were further  reviewed by the Naija Stories Editors to select the winners.

The Naija Stories website and some of the contest entries were featured on the BBC News Nigeria Blog Round-up. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11445817
The winners were then selected and announced on Friday, Oct 1, 2010. Ten stories also got honorable mentions and are listed below.
Trumpeter on independence day - Henry C. Onyema
Nigeria by 2050 - Joshua J. Omojuwa
The Parade - Sylva Nze Ifedigbo
WHEN THE GREEN STORM CALMS - Emmanuel Ukoh
My Independence Day - Anderson Paul
Lonely Hearts - Funmi F
MR OLUMIDE'S EXPERIENCE - Lawal Opeyemi
I believe - Fabian Agakemeh
Breaking Free - Ifreke Inyang
Passing of a Memory - Fred Nwonwu.

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"I will never marry again" - 9ice says

"Toni and I are separated and a divorce is already in the pipeline. We can never come together again. If people are being fed by wrong sources about the possibility of reconciling, they are hearing from me now that it is not possible. We can't come back." 9ice said in a recent interview.
He went further to reveal that he will never get married again, though he plans to have two or three more children. He already has one son, Zion, with his ex, Toni Payne.

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When Nigeria's First Lady Patience Jonathan met Michelle Obama

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Henry Chukwuma Onyema wins the inaugural JLF writing Competition

Henry Chukwuma with Toni Kan

Henry Chukwuemeka Onyema, teacher by day and writer by night, has emerged the winner of the inaugural JLF writing competition. He won for his short story, “Can I Trust You With My Life,” an adaptation of the biblical story of Samson and Delilah, and smiled home with his $1,000 prize money.

Announcing the winners, Toni Kan, one of the judges said Henry’s story scored 336 out of 400 points and was chosen for “his beautiful prose, precise diction, exciting action and ability to draw character portraits that were almost real to life.

The event held September 25, 2010 @the Silverbird Lifestyle store.

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Another 6 students kidnapped in Aba

The released pupils with pressmen yesterday

As parents, residents of Abia State and Nigerians celebrated the release of the 15 kidnapped pupils of a private school in Aba, six students have again been kidnapped in Abia State.


The victims are students of Federal Govt College, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State. It was gathered that the kidnapped students were going back to school when gunmen ambushed their bus at Ohanze in Obingwa Local Government Area and took the hostage.

The kidnappers have asked for N12mil ransome and have threatened to kill the students if their demands was not met and in reasonable time.

When contacted, the PPRO, Abia State Police Command, Mr Geoffrey Ogbonna, confirmed the incident and said that efforts were on to effect the release of the students.

Source: The Sun Newspaper

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House of Nwocha's Fashion event coming soon!

Ugonna Umeruo

Ugonna Omeruo of House of Nwocha has announced the launch of her third fashion collection and fashion party called “ZION” and a ‘Face of Brand' unveiling. The event is scheduled to take place on the 24th of October, 2010 at Four Points by Sheraton, Lekki.

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Nigerian Biophysicist wins $500, 000 Science Prize

Dabiri

30year old biophysicist Genius, Nigerian Dr. John O. Dabiri is among the 23 winners selected across the globe in this years MacArthur Genius Awards, a fellows Program that awards “Genius” grants to exceptional inventors,  innovators and other creative types.


The MacArthur Foundation was quoted as saying that Dabiri is “investigating the  hydrodynamics of jellyfish propulsion, which has profound implications for our  understanding of evolutionary adaptation and such related issues in fluid dynamics as  blood flow in the human heart.”

This year’s honorees were contacted by The John D. and Catherine T.  MacArthur Foundation and offered $500,000 each with no strings attached over the next  five years to pursue work in their field of interest.

Biography
John Dabiri is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories and the Option of Bioengineering at Caltech.  He graduated from Princeton University with a B.S.E. degree summa cumlaude in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in June 2001.  In September 2001, he came to Caltech as a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow, Betty and Gordon Moore Fellow, and Y.C. Fung Fellow in Bioengineering. Under the supervision of Professor Morteza Gharib, he earned an M.S. degree in Aeronautics in June 2003, followed by a Ph.D. in Bioengineering with a minor in Aeronautics in April 2005. He joined the Caltech faculty in May 2005. In 2008, he was selected as an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator for research in bio-inspired propulsion, and Popular Science magazine named him one of its "Brilliant 10" scientists.

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"Nigerian Music is far better now than 50 years ago" - King Sunny Ade

"Fifty years ago, hardly would you find a family that allowed his child to play music. It is either you go to church and become a very strong member of the choir. Now, everybody wants to play music. In those days, the real traditional music was not being exposed. I don't know if it's intentional. It was when Fela Anikulapo Kuti took his music to London or America that we began to appreciate the power of Afrobeat. For instance, I started touring Europe and America from 1971 but not until 1984 that I became known all over the world. But now, Nigerian Music is far better. You release an album and you are known all over the place." - King Sunny Ade tells The Sun Newspaper

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Christiano Ronaldo's son pictured for the first time.

3-month old baby Cristiano out for a walk with grandma

Cute...!

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Despite blast, Nigeria @50 celebrations colourful

More pics when you continue...

 

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Goodluck Jonathan: The Facebook President - By George Webster for CNN

 At over 246,000 and counting, he has more Facebook fans than the combined tally of British Prime Minister David Cameron, German chancellor Angela Merkel, and South African head of state Jacob Zuma.


Since Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's president, created his profile in June of this year, rarely a day goes by without a fresh update -- which appear to be written by Jonathan himself -- concerning recent news events, government policy and, of course, the coming elections.

He also seized public momentum and stole a march on his rivals by choosing the hugely popular social networking site to announce his standing for the forthcoming presidential elections in 2011.

"I Goodluck Ebele Jonathan by the grace of God hereby offer myself and my services to the Nigerian people as a candidate for the office of President" read his Facebook status on September 15, ending a long period of speculation about the likelihood of his candidacy.

"This is the first time in our country that Facebook has ever made the headlines of a national newspaper," Chude Jideonwo, founding member of influential Nigerian activist site Enough is Enough, told CNN.

Jideonwo notes that the surprise announcement was made at precisely the same time that one of Jonathan's main presidential rivals, former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, put his own election hat into the ring. "Many people believe this was a strategic move to overshadow Babangida's announcement -- and if it was, frankly, it worked," said Jideonwo.

But the Nigerian president's Facebook activity appears to go beyond headline-grabbing stunts. In one fairly typical instance, he addresses a Facebook user who has made a suggestion for meeting Nigeria's growing energy demands: "Again I spent time reading your comments and yesterday a youth named Toyin Dawodu indicated that he had an idea for a project that could deliver 4,000 MWs of electricity ... Toyin, someone from my office will make contact with you regarding your idea. I know I can not attend to every comment or suggestion due to time constraints, but please do know that I read them and they influence my actions."

It's this direct and personal form of interaction that seems to be endearing the Nigerian president to his country's growing young and web-savvy electorate. Each new post from Jonathan attracts thousands of comments and some have garnered in excess of 6,000 responses.

"What distinguishes Jonathan from other politicians is that he seems to have genuinely embraced Facebook," explained Jideonwo. "You can consistently hear his voice in the posts and it feels like he is really trying to communicate with the voters -- this is what makes him so popular."

With a population of over 150 million, Nigeria has just fewer than 44 million internet users, according to internetworldstats.com, and of these 1.7 million are on Facebook. While this represents Africa's biggest internet market, as well as the continent's largest Facebook user base -- the numbers make up only a small proportion of the overall electorate.

Is it too soon then for social media platforms to play a meaningful role in Nigerian politics?

"What you have to bear in mind is that there is a critical minority of opinion leaders on Facebook -- local business CEOs, young activists, and university graduates," Ken Banks, founder ofkiwanja.net, an information technology site that provides support for NGOs, told CNN. The president's high profile on the world's biggest social network has not, however, escaped criticism. In a post that made international headlines, Jonathan claimed that a decision to reverse his proposed two-year suspension of the Nigerian football team following their early exit in the 2010 World Cup Finals was prompted by a wave of opposition from his Facebook followers.

But, as Nigerian journalist Tolu Ogunlesi told CNN: "The fact is his hand was forced by FIFA regulations preventing political interference with the national football team. His comments on Facebook were really just to protect his image."

For some, this is a worrying reflection of the incumbent president's use of social media to, perhaps cynically, bolster his election hopes. "It's obvious that this is a calculated attempt to win the heart and minds of Nigerians who are active on Facebook, in a bid to secure electoral victory," Nigerian Internet entrepreneur, Oluniyi Ajao, wrote in a recent post on his popular blog.

Similar criticisms have been voiced by a number of the Facebook users Jonathan is attempting to engage: "We are tired of rhetoric, what we need is action," wrote one commentator in response to a post concerning Nigeria's frequent power shortages. But, for the time being -- at least as far as Facebook is concerned -- any disparaging remarks are drowned out by a bellowing chorus of support.

"Whatever his motives," Jideonwo concluded, "the president has opened up a new channel of popular involvement in Nigerian politics, encouraging young people to feel like they have a voice. This can only be a good thing."


Culled from CNN website.

Thoughts?

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Diss song for 9ice by Ruggeman's protege Chinaydu.

These guys really went in on 9ice...
Listen to it here

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Pictures from TFA 2010 launch

More pictures after the cut...

 

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Rigobert Song quits Cameroon National Team

Cameroon National Team captain, Rigobert Song has retired from his country's national side. The 34yr old centre-back who captained the Indomitable Lions to a back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations titles in 2000 and 2002 quietly quit international football sometime in August.

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D'Banj, Tuface and Don Jazzy to collaborate

Who would you 'hit'? :-)

It's official! These trio are already in the studio working on a song together. It's D'Banj featuring Tuface and produced by Don Jazzy. And I hear it's a dance track and will be on D'banj's Mr Endowed album scheduled to be released in December.
Looking forward to it!

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Diva Dynasty berths.

Ngozi and Adaora

There's a new programme that is set sail to hit your screens sooner than you think!  It is "Diva Dynasty"  a thirty minutes edutainment / inspirational show created to uplift the hearts of viewers who seek to be inspired by successful women’s’ stories. It is a show designed to celebrate outstanding women who are positively affecting our economy.


Presented  by Nollywood actress, Adaora Ukoh and produced by Ngozi Kalu, the duo have  interviewed lots of successful women, ranging from Joke Silver-Jacob (top actress in Nollywood), Tara Fela-Duruotoye (Pioneer of Make-up in Nigeria), Josephine Effa-Chukwuma CEO/Founder Project Alert(An Organization that fights all form of violence against women and young girls )Joan Okorodudu (top fashion designer / model manager), Amede Nzeribe (fabric designer/fashion designer and daughter of Flora Nwapa, author of Efuru to name a few. 

Watch out for more info and behind-the -scenes pics on the programme in upcoming interviews.
  
The programme debuts on HITV this coming Monday, 4th of October at 8.30 pm

Source

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Naija's Anniversary cake...!

Quite lovely! Only I can't find the diamonds that make it worth so much..:-)

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N75 million Anniversary Cake...that nobody will eat!

Our Independence Anniversary cake (pictured above) is reportedly worth N75 million.
The gala night that was supposed to hold this night has been canceled due to the tragedy that occurred earlier today at the independence celebrations. Lives lost. Billions of Naira gone down the drain. What's going on Nigerians?

And N75mil for that cake? That has got to be the most expensive cake in the world. Where are these Guinness Book of Record people when you need them. SMH!

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Nigerian independence day car bombs kill 10.

Militant group Mend (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) threatened to target the independence celebrations at the Eagles Square, Abuja and they carried out the threat. About 10 people have been confirmed dead and several others injured after three bomb-laden vehicles exploded outside the justice ministry, not far from the Eagle Square, where the Nigerianse had gathered for the official celebrations.

What a shame! A lot of foreign news agencies came to cover these celebrations, now they must think we really are a terrorist nation.

Images from the blast when you continue

A man injured from the blast

A body of a dead man being moved by security personnel

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Mario arrested for attacking his mother.

Mario's mug shot. Still hot! :-)

R&B singer Mario's mother called that police after he attacked her inside the apartment they share for the second time this week.

From The Baltimore Sun

At 12:53 a.m., an officer was dispatched to the 900 block of Fells St for a call for a "mental case breaking up property" inside an apartment. Officers met Shanita Hardaway in the front lobby - she was crying and appeared very upset, officers wrote. She said Mario was "throwing and damaging property" in the apartment they share, and had pushed her using his hands and forearms, causing minor pain. When police went up to the apartment, they found a damaged china cabinet and the floor littered with broken glass. A mirror was broken, and there was a large hole in a closet door.

She said it was the second such time he had put his hands on her in recent days - on Sept. 27, she said, they got into an argument in which he pushed her "eight feet into a living room wall, where Ms. Hardaway hit her head on the wall," police wrote in charging documents.

"When this officer asked the victim if she fears for her life in reference to her son's actions, the victim replied 'yes'," the officer wrote.

No word on what sparked either incident.

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Nigerian appointed ICAO President

Demuren left

On Wednesday September 29, 2010, the Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren, was elected as President of the General Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) at an event that held in Canada.

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