Council Chairmen Targets Of Armed Robbers In Sokoto

Attacks on local government chairmen in Sokoto State have become an ugly trend in the state as six of the 23 local government chairmen in the state have been attacked recently, according to a report, yesterday, by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Investigations by NAN revealed that the local government chairmen attacked recently were those of Shagari, Kebbe, Tambuwal, Tureta, Bodinga and Rabah Local Government Areas.
The latest of the attacks was on the Chairman of Rabah Local Government Area, Zayyanu Gandi, who sustained injuries and was discharged from the Uthmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto on September 21.
The Sokoto house of Gandi had earlier been attacked during the last Ramadan fasting in July.
It was also learnt that the Sokoto and Tureta houses of the Tureta Local Government Chairman, Ibrahim Dansarki, were similarly attacked by hoodlums.
In some of the raids, the robbers had carted away undisclosed cash and property, with scores of persons injured.
A strange twist to the attacks, as shown by investigations, is that such attacks are not often reported to various police divisions by the affected chairmen.
According to sources, some of the 23 local government chairmen were said to have rejected the policemen attached to their various houses.
The Chairman of Bodinga Local Government, Shehu Badau, said there was need for prayers at a time like this.

“We are only praying to God to provide a lasting solution to all the problems affecting Nigeria, including the current security challenges,” he said.
Badau also confirmed that he had asked the two policemen attached to his house at his hometown, Badau, to leave due to “some reasons”.
“One of them twice attempted to r*pe one of my female domestic aides and I asked them to leave.
“I had informed the authorities of the state police command about the reasons for my action.
“Only officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) are now operating at my house in Badau, from 6am to 6pm daily,” he said.
Confirming the attacks, spokesman of the Sokoto State Police Command, El-Mustapha Sani said that “most of them were not reported to various police divisions.
“The local government chairmen were also, hitherto, rejecting our police details but they have now started accepting them back. This is better,” he said.
He added that the police were ready to ensure the safety of lives and property of residents of the state.
“This is our constitutional duty and we will never renege in doing so, although we need the support of all the strata of the people of the state as usual,” Sani stated.

Having sex with four men, is it strange?

I started having sex at the age of 16 that was after after leaving secondary school and so far I have had four sexual partners.
I dated 2 of the boys while the other 2 guys was just for fun, nothing serious.
Recently I trusted a friend by telling how many men I’ve been with and I later saw text message coversations between her and another mutual friend of ours laughing at me and criticizing me.
They called me all sorts of names including wayward and loose. I’ve been with only four men, is that too much for a girl my age? I thought it was the norm so why are my friends condemning me and passing the info around?
I’m I doing anything out of the normal or is it a big deal? What do you think?

Jackson lawyer attacks promoter as trial nears climax

LOS ANGELES: The promoters of Michael Jackson's last tour were "so excited" about making huge profits that they hired an unfit doctor for the star, his family's lawyer said Tuesday in closing arguments.

As a five-month trial draws to a close, Jackson attorney Brian Panish said the self-styled King of Pop was "an easy target" for AEG Live, which was managing his "This is It" tour starting in London in 2009.

"We may never see the likes of Michael Jackson again," Panish told the 12-member jury in a courtroom in downtown Los Angeles, where the trial opened in April and has seen nearly 60 witnesses and over 800 pieces of evidence.

Jackson died on June 25, 2009 from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol at his rented Holmby Hills mansion outside Los Angeles, where he was rehearsing for the "This is It" shows at London's 02 Arena. He was 50 years old.

Dr. Conrad Murray, a cardiologist, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in a criminal trial in 2011 for giving the drug to the "Thriller" star -- who suffered from chronic insomnia -- to help him sleep. He was jailed for four years.

In the civil trial, the singer's mother Katherine Jackson, 83, is seeking massive damages -- her lawyers have cited $1.5 billion in lost income and an unspecified amount for emotional loss and other damages -- for Jackson's death.

She alleges that AEG Live negligently hired an inappropriate and incompetent doctor for her son and missed a series of red flags about his failing health in the run-up to his death.

"They chose not to check anything about Dr. Murray's background. They chose to run the risk, to make a huge profit, and they lost and they're responsible," he said.

"AEG wanted the King of Pop in their arena in London. They would do whatever it took to get him on stage... They were so excited about how much money they were going to make," he added.

"They knew what they were getting. Now they want to come in and deny it."

Summing up his case, he said Jackson may have been one of the world's most famous entertainers but in his mind he was like "a real-life Peter Pan."

"He was an easy target" for the corporate promoter, long experienced in running tours for some of the biggest acts in the world, he said.

AEG Live counters that it did not sign a contract with Murray, and that a promised $150,000 a month for his services would come from an advance it was making to Jackson, meaning effectively that the star hired his own doctor.

The issue of who hired Murray is crucial to the case, and Panish re-played video clips of AEG Live CEO Randy Philips, in which he told Sky News that Murray was "willing to leave his practice for a very large sum of money.

"So we hired him," said Philips, in what could prove decisive in the jurors' decision-making process.

Panish told the jury they will get a sheet with five key questions, to which they must answer Yes or No, when they retire to consider their verdict, possibly by the end of this week.

The first question asks them whether, in their view, "AEG Live hired Dr Murray," followed by whether "Murray was unfit or incompetent to perform the work for which he was hired."

Others include whether AEG Live "knew or should have known that Dr Murray was unfit or incompetent, and this unfitness or incompetence created a particular risk to others."

First Miss America of Indian heritage

A 24-year-old from New York, Nina Davuluri, has become the first Miss America of Indian heritage.

Nina Davuluri, the first Miss America of Indian heritage.  

 

Moments after winning the 2014 crown, Miss Davuluri said she was delighted that the nearly century-old pageant sees beauty and talent of all kinds.

"I'm so happy this organisation has embraced diversity," she said in her first press conference after winning the crown in Atlantic City, New Jersey's Boardwalk Hall. "I'm thankful there are children watching at home who can finally relate to a new Miss America."

Her pageant platform was "celebrating diversity through cultural competency."

The native of Syracuse, New York wants to be a doctor, and is applying to medical school, with the help of a $50,000 (£31,000) scholarship she won as part of the pageant title.

She is the second consecutive Miss New York to win the Miss America crown, succeeding Mallory Hagan, who was selected in January when the pageant was still held in Las Vegas. The Miss America Organisation will compensate Miss Hagan for her shortened reign.
Miss Davuluri's victory led to some negative comments on Twitter from users upset that someone of Indian heritage had won the pageant. She brushed those aside.
"I have to rise above that," she said. "I always viewed myself as first and foremost American."
She had planned to go to the scene of a devastating boardwalk fire in the New Jersey communities of Seaside Park and Seaside Heights on Monday afternoon. But pageant officials cancelled that visit after learning that Gov. Chris Christie was making cabinet officials available at that same time to business owners victimised by the fire.
Her first runner-up was Miss California, Crystal Lee. Other top 5 finalists included Miss Minnesota, Rebecca Yeh; Miss Florida, Myrrhanda Jones, and Miss Oklahoma, Kelsey Griswold.
In the run-up to the pageant, much attention was given to Miss Kansas, Theresa Vail, the Army sergeant who was believed to have been the first Miss America contestant to openly display tattoos. She has the Serenity Prayer on her rib cage, and a smaller military insignia on the back of one shoulder.

Cheerleading 'most dangerous sport for US women'

Cheerleading causes two thirds of the very serious sports injuries suffered by girls in the United States and many concussions are not reported, according to a new study.

At the college level, cheerleading, or "competitive cheer," caused more than 70 per cent of the catastrophic injuries among females.

Researchers found that the number of visits to casualty resulting from high school and college cheerleading injuries rose from 4,954 in 1980 to 26,786 in 2007.

The sport accounted for around 66 per cent of "catastrophic" injuries – those resulting in permanent disability or medical conditions – to girls, research published in the Journal of Pediatrics said.

At the college level, cheerleading, or "competitive cheer," caused more than 70 per cent of the catastrophic injuries among females.

There were a total of 110 head and spine injuries resulting in "permanent brain injury, paralysis or death" over the last three decades. Other injuries included heart problems and heat stroke An estimated 3.6 million people take part in cheerleading in the US and four per cent of those are boys.

The study analysed a group of girls with head injuries and found that some may have failed to report symptoms of concussion.