MI: Crazy female fan chased me out of Kano

By Tony Ogaga Erhariefe
Mr. Incredible, MI, has opened up on his scariest experience ever as a rapper. The Glo X Factor judge told Tony Ogaga Erhariefe that it was the day an eccentric female fan gave him a hot chase on the streets of Kano after he performed at a show!
“It was like a scene from Terminator 2. Remember where Mercury Man was chasing Sarah and John Connor on foot while they were fleeing for their lives in a car? The lady followed us to the car, almost got in before we zoomed off and chased my car for over 200 meters on foot before we could escape. At some point, I thought she was going to actually catch up with my car and grab me! Her speed was amazing! I was scared because I had never seen anything like that in my life.”
Trouble
According to MI, trouble began as soon as he mounted the stage at the venue of the show in the ancient city. The rapper says as soon as he started performing, the lady started shouting his name excitedly.
“From the moment I started performing, she stood in front of me and was screaming, ‘MI, MI’. Throughout the entire show I kept telling her, ‘don’t worry I’m going to bring you on stage’.
“I finally brought her on stage and as soon as she did, she raised up her blouse like she was taking it off and the next thing I saw were her boobs! Immediately, the crowd and bodyguards pounced on her and kicked her off the stage but she was not discouraged.
“Till the very end of my performance she was there shouting ‘MI, MI’. As soon as I came off stage she came for me; men, she was a pretty girl. I managed to make it into my car before she could grab me and as I zoomed off the chase began. She chased me for over 200 metres; it was a nightmare!”

Success tips
MI is aurguably the hottest rapper from Africa at least for now. From humble beginnings he has shared stages with some of the biggest names in hip hop including Rick Ross and has won several awards along the way including numerous endorsements.
Notorious B.I.G. once did a track entitled, The 10 Commandments of Crack. MI looks so polished and he’s been so successful as a rapper. Could he give us his 10 Commandments for success in hip hop considering his brilliant antecedents?
“Wow! I can give you five but let’s see how far I could go,” he says, gazing at me with that look of humility that has endeared him to many fans.
“Number one is respect,” he says with emphasis, “respect you have for the industry, respect for the legacy of Eedris Abdul Kareem, respect for Junior and Pretty of Monica Don Kill Me fame. Respect for Ruggedman, Eldee Da Don and Mode 9. Respect who they are and where they are coming from. Respect what they represent, learn about them, inform and equip yourself.
“When you do that you stand at a more informed point and you’re more equipped going forward and there’s nobody that has learnt more in this game than me. I even learn from rappers that are up and coming; I learn a lot from Ice Prince every day. It sharpens your mind.”
To MI, commandment number two is ‘confident humility’. Hear him: “In America, arrogant confidence is the key ingredient to success but in Nigeria, it’s humble confidence or what I would describe as confident humility. We’re such a respect driven culture and that’s in opposition to what obtains in America. In America, a young boy could tell his dad, ‘I don’t give a sh-t about you pops.’ In Nigeria, who are you to do that?
“Up till this day if my dad is talking to me I have to stop what I’m doing. I was talking to my dad like a month ago and I was scared! I had to listen attentively. So, there must be humility and respect. It’s not just about when you meet MI; it also applies to media people. You see somebody who’s been in the game for 15 years but he might not even own a car and so you think you’re something. But do you know what? This guy has seen so many stars come and go so if you want to be relevant, you need to give him his due.”
The musician states that his third commandment is having a strong appetite for hard work. “Number three is having a strong appetite for hard work. Ice Prince is so hard working; if you know of how hard this boy has worked over the last few years you’d be amazed! Olamide is another hardworking artiste.  Since he dropped his first and second albums, he’s done so many collabos and played every show. There must be appetite for hardwork which will enable you get there. You have to be absolutely hard working.
“Number four is networking. You have to be able to network. When I was coming up in the game, I couldn’t reach the editors and the prime movers and shakers of the industry. But at the red carpet I was friendly with all the presenters and camera men and these guys became my friends and so they always put me in prime position and whenever they saw me they’d say, ‘MI, come and do interview’ and they’d give me a good interview and before you knew it the boss up there was liking me and saying ‘where is MI’s interview?’ You must know that the guy behind that camera today is going to be a boss tomorrow so start networking and grow together. If you stay in your house you wouldn’t get anywhere.”
So what is his fifth commandment? His response: “Five I guess is luck. Because after everything I have said, without the grace of God, it’s all a big zero. You need God.”
According to MI, other factors such as having a great team has also helped propel him to the top of the industry. A smile breaks his visage as he continues: “I’ve had a great team, great partnerships and great relationships with the media people. Yes, you have worked so hard and prayed to God but the truth is you really don’t know why you’re so successful; it’s just something that happens.”
“Although, you could point to some things but you really don’t know why. Why would someone pick you over another rapper?” he asked rhetorically, “the truth is that you can’t tell. You can put your best song and video out there but nobody might like it when it reaches the fans. So, who makes that happen? No one can say.”
Born in Taraba State, MI grew up in Jos. Did he ever believe he could be this big?
“I didn’t know for sure that I could have seen this happening back then. I never thought that we’d be doing collabos with Fresh Montana and Wale. And I don’t want to talk about other features in the pipeline. I did a show once with Rick Ross and we both flew on a private jet together. He performed before me and in a way he opened for me here in Abuja,” he says laughing softly.

Greatest moment
MI disclosed that his greatest moment so far was the day he bought his first car ever, a Honda End of Discussion. “I was the king of the world because the feeling I got from that first car was the greatest feeling I have ever had! Now I’ve had Range Rover and people are saying MI has a Bentley. The new guys coming are going to own private jets but they probably won’t see that dream now. And that’s why I bring in the luck factor because no matter how solid my plan was which was basically to perform at Star Trek, win Hip Hop World Awards and whatever, but without that element of luck I wouldn’t be here today.
“Now awards happen and I don’t even know. Things happen and you are not bothered because you’re now at a different vantage point. And it’s only the journey that could take you there because if you were to write your dreams before you start the journey, your best dream would never be on that list realistically speaking.”
With all the success he has enjoyed these last couple of years, when is he going to get married?
“Right now the woman in my life is my mother and she’s already married,” the rapper replies laughing mischievously.

Nigerian man survives 3 days at bottom of Atlantic

 Dramatic footage shows the unlikely rescue of a ship's cook, who survived for almost three days trapped in an air bubble in his sunken ship.

Annie Gowen DEC 2

The leader of the Common Man Party discovers what it’s like to go from moral icon to politician.

“But when he went to grab the hand, the hand grabbed him!” Tony Walker, project manager for the Dutch company DCN Diving, said of the rescue in May.
Harrison Odjegba Okene, the tug’s Nigerian cook, had survived for three days by breathing an ever-dwindling supply of oxygen in an air pocket. A video of Okene’s dramatic rescue — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArWGILmKCqE — was posted on the Internet more than six months after the rescue and has gone viral this week.
As the temperature dropped to freezing, Okene, dressed only in boxer shorts, recited a psalm his wife had sent him earlier by text message, sometimes called the Prayer for Deliverance. “Oh, God, by your name, save me. ... The Lord sustains my life.”
To this day, Okene believes his rescue after 72 hours underwater was the result of divine deliverance. The 11 other seamen aboard the tug Jascon 4 died.
On the video, there was an exclamation of fear and shock from Okene’s rescuers, and then joy as the realization set in that this hand belonged to a survivor. “What’s that? He’s alive! He’s alive!” a voice can be heard exclaiming.
“It was frightening for everybody,” Walker said of that moment, speaking in a telephone interview Tuesday. “For the guy that was trapped because he didn’t know what was happening. It was a shock for the diver while he was down there looking for bodies, and we (in the control room) shot back when the hand grabbed him on the screen.”
Walker said Okene couldn’t have lasted much longer.
“He was incredibly lucky. He was in an air pocket, but he would have had a limited time (before) ... he wouldn’t be able to breathe anymore.”
The full video of the rescue was released by DCN Diving after a request from The Associated Press. Initially, a shorter version of the rescue emerged on the Internet. The authenticity of the video was confirmed through conversations with DCN employees in the Netherlands. The video showing Okene was also consistent with additional photos of him on the rescue ship. The AP also contacted Okene, who confirmed the events.
Okene’s ordeal began around 4:30 a.m. on May 26. Always an early riser, he was in the toilet when the tug, one of three towing an oil tanker in Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta waters, gave a sudden lurch and then keeled over.
“I was dazed and everywhere was dark as I was thrown from one end of the small cubicle to another,” Okene said in an interview with Nigeria’s Nation newspaper after his rescue.
He groped his way out of the toilet and tried to find a vent, propping doors open as he moved. He discovered some tools and a life vest with two flashlights, which he stuffed into his shorts.
When he found a cabin of the sunken vessel that felt safe, he began the long wait, getting colder and colder as he played back a mental tape of his life — remembering his mother, his friends, but mostly his wife of five years, with whom he hadn’t yet fathered a child.
He worried about his colleagues — the Ukrainian captain and 10 Nigerians, including four young cadets from Nigeria’s Maritime Academy. They would have locked themselves into their cabins, standard procedure in an area stalked by pirates.
He got really worried when he heard a loud sound in the water outside — sharks or barracuda, he supposed — fighting over something big.
As the waters rose, he made a rack on top of a platform and piled two mattresses on top.
“I started calling on the name of God,” Okene told the Nation. “I started reminiscing on the verses I read before I slept. I read the Bible from Psalms 54 to 92. My wife had sent me the verses to read that night when she called me before I went to bed.”
He survived on a single bottle of Coke.
Okene really thought he was going to die, he said, when he heard the sound of a boat engine and an anchor dropping, but failed to get the attention of its crew. He figured, given the size of the sunken tugboat, that it would take a miracle for anyone to locate him. So he waded across the cabin, stripped the wall down to its steel body and banged on it with a hammer.
But “I heard them moving away. They were far away from where I was,” he said.
By the time the divers found him, relatives already had been told there were no survivors.
Using hot water to warm him up, the rescue crew attached Okene to an oxygen mask. He was put into a decompression chamber and then safely returned to the surface.
Before the slow ascent began, a voice on the video could be heard asking Okene to give a thumbs up if he understood what was about to happen. Slowly he raised his hand and stuck out his thumb.
“Good job, my friend. Well done,” the voice says. “You are a survivor.”
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Amadi Jennifer Enuolare Wins Miss Nigeria Ghana Beauty Contest

Story by Alonge Michael

Miss Nigeria Ghana Despite the heavy downpour that almost thwarted the effort of the organisers of the beauty pageant competition in Ghana, Miss Nigeria Ghana 2013, last Sunday, the event which eventually held with glitz and glamour has produced Amadi Jennifer Enuolare, an orphan as the winner. The beautiful Nigerian based in Ghana was able to beat the other 35 contestants in a fierce competition. The new Miss Nigeria Ghana is from Rivers State, Nigeria and studies Human Resource Management at Knutsford University College, East Legon, Accra, Ghana. She loves cooking, listening to music and making friends. She entered into the Miss Nigeria Ghana 2013 to make a difference and represented Delta state. The first Miss Nigeria Ghana, Amaka Okosieme, according to Ghana web report, was present and did the honors of transferring the crown to the new successor who will continue to pursue the breast cancer awareness campaign in the ten regions of Ghana. The theme for the event was ‘Beauty Made in Nigeria’, and indeed Nigerian young women schooling in Ghana were at their best, representing each of the 36 states of Nigeria. Their cultural display, talent display and test questions and answers were employed by the Judges to determine the best and select the right person for the Miss Nigeria Ghana 2013. Prominent among the Judges was Nita J, Nollywood movie star, and Louisa Bua, Ghana’s fast rising model. Nigeria’s prominent photographer and writer Chuks Ineh was official photographer of the Miss Nigeria Ghana beauty pageant. The new Miss Nigeria Ghana was given gifts from Omatek computers, and a wrist watch from Swiss Watch, she was also presented with a car key from the Nigeria High commissioner representative.

incredible places you may have never heard of

 

 

Wisconsin’s ever-changing sea caves

Most of the world’s wonders are well trodden, but a few under-the-radar gems remain scattered across the globe. We chose our favourite among the more than 160 amazing places that people may have never heard of, debated on the question-and-answer community Quora.com.
Located on the largest lake in the US, the Apostle Islands are also known as the Jewels of Lake Superior. The connected sea caves, formed by waves crashing against the sandstone cliffs and eroding the space underneath the cliff faces, are located on Devil’s Island, Sand Island and the lakeshore mainland. They offer a remarkable expedition without the crowds found in the country’s better-known national parks.
Jason Nelser, who hails from Minnesota – the land of 10,000 lakes – kayaked in and out of the caves’ delicate arches and vaulted cavities during summer, but he also suggested checking them out in winter, when the caves take on a completely different look as the stalactites crystallise and icicles provide an ever-changing interior. Since Lake Superior freezes near the caves, people can take hike for two miles over the ice to walk within the mainland caves, while kayakers can still make the journey to the other island caves from the edge of the ice on calm water days.. (Tom Bean/Getty)

Police arrest another baby factory operator in Imo

… Rescue 16 pregnant teenagers

From GEORGE ONYEJIUWA, Owerri

Imo State Police Command yesterday arrested one Dr. Ezuma for alleged human trafficking, operating under the guise of a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Ezuma, a native of Ndiokeke Ndiakunwanta in Arondizogu in Ideato Local Government Area of Imo State, was arrested in his residence at Egbu Road, Owerri which he had allegedly registered as an NGO called women and children rights protection initiative along with 16 pregnant teenage girls.

Parading the suspect before newsmen, the state Commissioner for Police, Mr. Muhammad Katsina, said the suspect had used the NGO as a cover for his heinous activities of encouraging teenage girls to get pregnant and after delivery, they were paid N100,000 on the condition that they would abandon their babies. “You may wish to know that when a search was conducted in the premises being used as an office for an NGO, 16 pregnant teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 19 years, who are at different stages of pregnancy, were seen. Also recovered in the premises was an automatic eight loader pump action gun which is a prohibited firearm.” The police boss also  expressed concern over a missing newborn baby who was sold to unknown persons who were yet to be found. He said the child was delivered on November 24 by one Chinaza Nnachi, a native of Ebonyi State, who came to the home when she was stranded during her pregnancy. Katsina said efforts to locate the child proved abortive as the suspect had refused to lead the police to where the baby was being kept. “So far he has taken us to Abia State, where he said the baby is but we were unable to recover the baby; though investigations are still ongoing, the presumption at the moment is that the baby may have been used for ritual purposes.” The Imo State police boss alleged that the suspect was a gun runner who had been arraigned for unlawful possession of firearms. “It is pertinent to mention that the suspect was arraigned before an Owerri Chief Magistrate Court 1 in November 2013 for the offence of conspiracy and unlawful possession of firearms.” The police also found 10 unregistered vehicles which the suspect claimed to own; the commissioner however said Ezuma could not provide any proof of purchase or ownership of the vehicles. He warned parents and guardians to be vigilant and ensure that their children do not fall prey to exploiters, adding, that the command would continue in its campaign to ensure that the business of trading in unborn babies in the state was eradicated and the perpetrators brought to book.

Police nab woman with N11m worth of Indian Hemp

From GBENGA ADESUYI, Ibadan
A woman suspected to be a dealer in Indian Hemp has been arrested by the Oyo State Police command. Toyin (30) and David (27), according to the state Police Commissioner, Mohammed Indabbawa was arrested at Eleja village along Akanran area of Ibadan on November 29 with 646 bags of Indian Hemp worth about N11 million at about 9p.m.
While parading the suspects yesterday at Eleyele headquarters of the command, Indabbawa said information was received by the DPO of Ogbere Division that there was a consignment of weeds packaged and loaded for conveyance in a truck at a cannabis plantation at Eleja village.
He said the Indian Hemp was loaded in a DAF lorry marked XR 967 JJJ and on sighting the police, the other suspects took to their heels.
He said the police would expedite action to ensure that the other suspects are arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law.
While speaking with Daily Sun, David claimed to be a motor boy, adding that the owner and the driver escaped on sighting the police.
He added that Adegoke knew about the Indian Hemp and that she was following the lorry with her car before the police got them arrested.
He said the driver of the lorry and the owner asked him to alight at Olorunsogo area and that it was after the lorry had been loaded that he was picked up again.
“I did not know that it was Indian Hemp they were carrying in the lorry.”
But Adegoke said she was an orange seller and had come to Eleja village to purchase orange in large quantity from her base in Ilorin, Kwara State, adding that it was during the commotion that she was arrested by the police.
Also paraded was Sunday (20), who robbed a woman around Oluyole area with a sharp knife.
The victim, according to the police boss had told the police that the suspect along with two others robbed her and fled the scene on a motorcycle on sighting the police.

26 killed, five aircraft razed as Boko Haram attacks Maiduguri

By The Rainbow

The Islamic terror group Boko Haram has again shown it still possesses the strength to inflict maximum pains on the innocent populace despite the seven months old emergency rule in the northeast Nigeria.

Hundreds of the  Islamic militants in trucks and a stolen armored personnel carrier attacked an air force base and international airport on the outskirts of Maiduguri before dawn Monday.

The attack described by officials and witnesses as one of the most by the group lead to  the death of two military personnel, 24 insurgents, the destruction of three decommissioned military aircraft, two helicopters and property worth millions of naira, which were burnt during the onslaught.

As a result of the attack, , military authorities and the Borno State Government slammed a 24-hour curfew on the city and its environs.

A military official who was at the base told AFP that he saw three aircraft and several vehicles hit in the attack.

The state government quickly ordered everyone to stay home and extended a night-time curfew to 24 hours in Maiduguri, the city near the air base which is also the birthplace of the extremist Boko Haram movement.

The militants also attacked Maiduguri International Airport, the official said, and airlines reported it has been closed. International flights to Maiduguri stopped months ago but domestic flights had continued.

Explosions and automatic gunfire could be heard across the northeastern city from around 2:30 a.m. when the insurgents launched the attack with screams of “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.”

Government and military officials said scores of people may be dead. Reporters saw military ambulances ferrying bodies to the hospital morgue.

Civilians living around the military base, which is off a main road, said they saw bodies with slit throats and corpses of insurgents burning in vehicles.

The witnesses and officials spoke only on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The attack comes a week after the military bombarded forest hideouts of the Boko Haram terrorist network near the border with Cameroon with air strikes and ground assaults.

One military officer put the number of attackers at around 500. It was unclear how such a large convoy could move undetected at night in an area under curfew, though the insurgents have seized many military vehicles and arms at the scenes of other attacks and witnesses have said they sometimes wear the same military fatigues as the Nigerian army.

“I saw two air force helicopters burnt while in the whole of the 79 Composite Group (of the Nigerian Air Force) few buildings are still standing. Most of the structures have been attacked and destroyed,” said one man, who lives nearby, of Monday’s attacks.

“At the 33 Artillery (battalion of the Nigerian Army), the terrorists have destroyed the barracks and took away an armoured (personnel) carrier but left it along the highway.

“We heard women and children in the barracks crying and wailing. At the gate, I saw some vehicles destroyed and the checkpoint there in shreds,” said the man, a local government official, who asked to remain anonymous.

The man, who said he watched the attacks unfurl with his wife from his house, added that two people had been shot dead.

There was no immediate confirmation of fatalities or other casualties from the authorities.

“Frankly speaking, if the insurgents had wanted, they could have killed all of us… because they came in large numbers… some with explosives, some with rocket-propelled grenades and some with AK-47 rifles,” he added.

Nigeria’s government imposed a state of emergency in Borno and two other northeast states in May, cutting phone links in a move designed to block militants from coordinating attacks.


View gallery.”


Kashim Ibrahim Way in the centre of Maiduguri is free from traffic after the military imposed a 24-hour curfew.


Details of the ongoing conflict have as a result been difficult to verify.

The latest violence began at around 3:00 am (0200 GMT) and included bomb and gun attacks, said an AFP correspondent in the city, where Boko Haram was founded more than 10 years ago.

“They entered Maiduguri from the bush, chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is great),” said one Nigerian intelligence officer, adding that some insurgents had been detained, without specifying numbers.

Ambulances were seen moving out of the air force base and the adjoining Ngomari neighbourhood, according to the correspondent. Roads in the city were deserted and the sound of sirens from military vehicles could be heard, he added.

The insurgents had also ambushed military checkpoints on the outskirts of the city, while shops and petrol stations were also said to have been set on fire, local residents said.

State government secretary Baba Ahmed Jidda called for calm, disclosing that only emergency service vehicles were allowed to move during the curfew, which would be lifted “as soon as the situation improves”.

Monday’s attacks came after suspected Boko Haram militants killed 24 people in two separate strikes in Borno state last week and following a military pledge to tighten security in border regions due to fears of Christmas and New Year attacks.

Boko Haram, whose name translates from the Hausa language of northern Nigeria as “Western education is sin”, wants to impose a strict form of Islamic law or sharia in the region and has been blamed for thousands of deaths since 2009.

President Goodluck Jonathan imposed a state of emergency in May in three states, acknowledging the insurgents had seized control of many towns and villages, and flooded the area with security forces.

The military quickly forced the militants out of urban centers but have appeared unable to halt attacks on soft targets like schools, remote villages and major highways where they set up impromptu roadblocks.

Last week, army spokesmen said troops are increasing security and deploying to border villages amid fears of attacks over the Christmas holidays and that the insurgency has spread to neighboring Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

Boko Haram militants have claimed last month’s kidnapping of a French priest in northern Cameroon, who had given refuge to Nigerian Christian refugees from the insurgency.

Hundreds of residents have fled Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, according to witnesses. Residents at the Borno state border with Adamawa state said more than 1,000 people, mainly women children and the elderly, are at the state border where they appear to feel safer.

The Islamic extremist uprising began in 2009 , has killed thousands and threatens the security and cohesion of Africa’s biggest oil producer and its most populous nation, with more than 160 million people, divided between the mainly Christian south and the predominantly Muslim north.

The extremists say they want to impose Islamic rule across all Nigeria.

In one of the group’s highest-profile attacks, a Boko Haram member detonated a car bomb at the United Nations main offices in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on Aug. 26, 2011, killing 25 people and wounding more than 100 others. The United States last month designated Boko Haram a terrorist organization.

Shocking confession from Nigerian actress Genevive Nnaji

By Moses Nkoyo

Genevive Nnaji

Shocking confession from the Nigerian actress Genevive Nnaji, who is said to be getting married soon. Our FNN reporter got into a steamy conversation with miss Nnaji where she revealed she haven’t had any sexual pleasure for the past ten years and that is one of the major reasons she wants to settle down.
”I have been single for so long, it hasn’t been easy..even when dbanj came along with his thing that wasn’t long..he kept saying NO LONG THING..NO LONG THING..never that was he meant till i saw it,it was even shorter than his harmonica… We couldn’t settle down, luckily for me, I have found a man now to spend the rest of my life with”
Miss Genny’s fans are now keeping their fingers crossed because they had earlier thought she had given up on settling down, especially with lyrics like “the more I gave him loving, the more he gave me nothing” From her NO MORE hit track.

UN starts drone surveillance in DR Congo

If the drones are successful in DR Congo, they could be used elsewhere

DR Congo Seeks Democracy

The UN mission in Democratic Republic of Congo has started to deploy unarmed surveillance drones to monitor rebel activity along the forested borders with Rwanda and Uganda.

This is the first time any UN mission has deployed drones.
The first two were launched from the eastern city of Goma, which was last year briefly occupied by M23 rebels.
The UN force in DR Congo played a key role last month in defeating the M23 but other militias still operate.
The BBC's Maud Jullien in eastern DR Congo says it has long been suspected that various armed groups in the North Kivu province get their supplies from neighbouring countries.

Both Rwanda and Uganda have denied repeated accusations that they supported the M23 rebels, which were recently defeated with the help of the 22,000-strong UN mission in DR Congo - the world's largest.
UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous told the BBC that the drones, or "unarmed, unmanned aerial vehicles" would be the "tool of choice" to monitor the activities of armed groups and the movement of civilians.
"We need to get a better picture of what is happening," he said.
He said that if they were successful in DR Congo, they could also be used in other UN peacekeeping missions.
The first two drones were made by an Italian firm, Selex ES, a subsidiary of the Italian giant Finmeccanica, reports the AFP news agency.
Mineral-rich eastern DR Congo has been wracked by conflict for the past two decades but the defeat of the M23 has raised some hopes of a more stable future.

7 Foods to NEVER Feed Your Cat

iStockPhotoAlthough it can be irksome for owners, being branded finicky could ultimately be a boon for cats - especially when it comes to ingesting potentially dangerous foods.

"The main drivers of palatability for cats are protein and fat content, with moisture and texture being important too," says Dr. Sally Perea, DVM, DACVN, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist at P&G Pet Care in Ohio.

Some "people food" is safe for cats in small amounts, but certain items - like raw fish and eggs - are definitely hazardous. Dr. Perea lists the top seven no-no foods for kitties:

Feline Food Offender #1: Raw Fish "Human-grade sushi is generally safe for people, but it can cause gastrointestinal upset in cats," says Dr. Perea. "There is thiaminase in raw fish that could break down an essential B vitamin called thiamine in cats. Thiamine deficiency can cause neurological problems - and even lead to convulsions."
Feline Food Offender #2: Onions and Chives

Cats are considered two times more susceptible than dogs to the toxic allium components found in onions and chives, which can damage red blood cells even if a kitty only consumes a trace amount. "It doesn't matter if the onion is cooked, raw or powdered," says Dr. Perea. "Cats do not metabolize these compounds."

For this reason, Dr. Perea cautions owners against offering human baby food to their cats to stimulate appetites, because it can contain onion powder, which could cause anemia in felines.
Feline Food Offender #3: Uncooked Eggs Cats benefit from protein, but raw eggs may expose them to salmonella and other parasites that could lead to an inflamed pancreas, known as pancreatitis. Dr. Perea adds that it's safe to serve your kitty cooked eggs - but only on occasion, and in small amounts.
Feline Food Offender #4: Bones Bones can splinter and cause a cat to choke, as well as block the intestinal tract, possibly even perforating the intestines. "Never give a bone to a cat," says Dr. Perea. "And never give them anything that is as hard as their teeth, because it can cause dental fractures."
Feline Food Offender #5: Fat Trimmings Feeding your feline fat trimmings could lead to gastrointestinal upset and even pancreatitis.
Feline Food Offender #6: Caffeinated Drinks Some cats may be drawn to lapping up your coffee, tea or soda, but according to Dr. Perea, too much caffeine consumption can cause an increased heart rate and agitation in your kitty.
Feline Food Offender #7: Milk In general, a cat's digestive tract becomes somewhat lactose intolerant once a cat reaches adulthood, causing diarrhea and other stomach upsets.


Foods That Are OK to Offer Your KittyY On occasion, Dr. Perea says it is safe to give your cat a little canned tuna or a small bit of cheese. But keep in mind that felines only need about 200 to 250 calories a day, so go easy on the portions, limiting treats to about 10 percent (20 to 25 calories) of their daily intake needs.

5 Jaw-Dropping Facts About Legal Marijuana

By Brian Orelli

The legal use of marijuana for both medical use and adult recreational use is on the rise. Here are five facts that might just surprise you about the drug.

Source: Chuck Coker, Flickr.

1. Marijuana could be the best-selling legal drug. Ever.
According to ArcView Market Research, the national market for legalized marijuana could hit $10.2 billion in five years. Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE  ) Lipitor currently holds the record for prescription drugs at about $13 billion. If ArcView's prediction is correct, it's not hard to see how marijuana could surpass that record in the following year. It's growing from a base of just $1.44 billion this year.
And unlike Pfizer, which saw Lipitor sales crash once generic versions hit the market, there isn't likely to be a cliff that causes sales to drop precipitously, short of having the federal government decide to crack down on state laws. Of course, unlike Lipitor, you can't invest in one company to capture all the revenue.
2. 14 states could join Colorado and Washington legalizing marijuana for recreational use
In fact, that's one of the driving forces behind ArcView's growth prediction. The sentiment has shifted recently; a majority of Americans now favor legalization. If they vote the same way they answer poll questions, it's likely that we'll see many more states where marijuana use is legal in the coming five years.
The driving force for the states is the potential revenue from taxes. They want to get their cut, which they don't get on illegal sales now.
It'll be interesting to watch Colorado and Washington as they try to deal with how to tax what many consider to be a drug to help people -- which are typically not taxed -- compared with a recreational drug, which, like cigarettes and alcohol, are typically highly taxed.
3. The government sends out marijuana cigarettes each month 
It's part of a study to see if marijuana could help patients with glaucoma. At its peak, there were 30 patients enrolled in the study, which stopped accepting new participants in 1992. Those still enrolled get sent their prescriptions from a special farm on the University of Mississippi campus that provides the drug for medical research.
4. Only 6% of studies on marijuana investigate its potential benefit.
According to CNN's Sanjay Gupta, the other 94% investigate its potential harm. The problem, as Gupta points out, is that it's very hard to run clinical trials on marijuana use since it's still illegal at the national level. While the University of Mississippi farm can provide the medication legally for studies, it's apparently not that all that easy to acquire medication from it.
Researchers also have to gain approval from the NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has a mission "to lead the nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction." That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for potential benefits of drugs.
5. The receptor that marijuana activates has been an (unsuccessful) drug target
Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, one of the active drugs in marijuana, is available as a prescription drug called Marinol, developed by Abbott's drug arm, now called AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV  ) , to stimulate appetite and control nausea and vomiting in patients taking chemotherapy. But the drug isn't widely used because it's absorbed by different people at different levels, making it hard to get the right dosage .
Sanofi (NYSE: SNY  ) tried to do the opposite and block the receptor, thus controlling appetite. While Sanofi's obesity drug, Acomplia, was fairly good at helping patients shed the pounds, it had psychiatric side effects including depression. The FDA never approved the drug, and Sanofi had to remove it from the market in Europe in 2008.

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Caught on CCTV: Mother calmly pushes her own child to her death

Found this heartbreaking news on UK Daily Mail. A 36 year old french mother named Fabienne Kabou, who felt her baby was 'incompatible' with her and boyfriend, strapped the little angel in a pram and calmly pushed her into a river. (pictured above right). Unbelievble!

From UK Daily Mail  

A mother faces life imprisonment after confessing she drowned her 15-month-old daughter in the English Channel because the child was 'incompatible' with her love life.

CCTV footage has emerged of Fabienne Kabou, 36, from Senegal, pushing little Adelaide to the coast of Berck sur Mer on November 19. The next day, Adelaide was found dead, strapped in a pushchair submerged in the water, by a fisherman.

After ten days of searching nationwide, police used DNA from the pram to trace Ms Kabou to the home she shares with a 63-year-old man in Paris, where she was arrested.

Ms Kabou, a philosophy student, told police she took the drastic move after deciding motherhood was 'incompatible' with her love life with Adelaide's father.

The case has sparked outrage as hundreds took to the streets outside the court and on the coast in a White March - a French style of demonstrating against child cruelty.

Ms Kabou had told her boyfriend, a sculptor, that she had handed over the little girl to her grandmother who had agreed to look after her in Senegal, police claim.

On Saturday, Kabou was taken under Police guard to Boulogne sur Mer and questioned for four hours by an examining judge in a closed court session. 

The judge placed her under investigation for murder. She was remanded in custody pending her trial.
Her lawyer Fabienne Roy-Nansion  who was present during the interrogation said that her client had made a full confession.

In an interview with Le Parisien newspaper the father of Adelaïde said that Fabienne Kabou had been 'a magnificent' mother to her child.Neighbours of the couple said they were at a loss to understand how the mother of the Adelaïde could have wanted to be rid of her.

Hundreds have taken to the streets in the past couple of days paying homage to the little girl in a White March.

The first White March took place on 1996 in Belgium as people demonstrated against Marc Dutroux, a serial killer and child molester.
Gerard Lopez, the president of the Institute of Victimology and legal expert at the Paris Court of Appeal, told 20minutes.fr: 'First and foremost, she wanted to save her marriage by killing her child. 

'This would probably not have changed anything. 'She is not crazy. Her actions were premeditated.

'The investigation will now determine whether the woman was a victim of domestic or psychological violence from her partner.
'Some develop narcissistic and immature behavior at the birth of a child.
'By getting rid of the child, she may have been trying to meet the needs of her boyfriend who wanted more attention.'

China space: 'Jade Rabbit' lunar mission blasts off

                                                    A model of the rover was shown at an industry fair in Shanghai earlier this mon

China has launched its first lunar rover mission, the next key step in the Asian superpower's ambitious space programme.

The Chang'e-3 mission blasted off from Xichang in the south at 01:30 Monday local time (17:30 GMT Sunday).
The Long March rocket's payload includes a landing module and a six-wheeled robotic rover called Yutu (or Jade Rabbit).
The mission should land in the Moon's northern hemisphere in mid-December.
Chinese state TV carried live pictures of the launch of the Chinese-developed Long March 3B rocket carrying the lunar probe.
This will be the third rover mission to land on the lunar surface, but the Chinese vehicle carries a more sophisticated payload, including ground-penetrating radar which will gather measurements of the lunar soil and crust.
The 120kg (260lb) Jade Rabbit rover can climb slopes of up to 30 degrees and travel at 200m (660ft) per hour, according to its designer the Shanghai Aerospace Systems Engineering Research Institute.

David Shukman visits an exhibition in Guiyang, southern China, that explores China's obsession with the Moon

Its name - chosen in an online poll of 3.4 million voters - derives from an ancient Chinese myth about a rabbit living on the moon as the pet of the lunar goddess Chang'e.
Last week, Prof Ouyang Ziyuan told the BBC's science editor David Shukman that the mission would test key technology and carry out science, adding: "In terms of the talents, China needs its own intellectual team who can explore the whole lunar and solar system - that is also our main purpose."
The lander's target is Sinus Iridum (Latin for Bay of Rainbows) a flat volcanic plain thought to be relatively clear of large rocks. It is part of a larger feature known as Mare Imbrium that forms the right eye of the "Man in the Moon".
Other details of the mission are sketchy; the rover and lander are powered by solar panels but other sources suggest they also carry radioisotope heating units (RHUs) containing plutonium-238 to keep them warm during the cold lunar night.

“Start Quote

No humans have set foot on the lunar surface since America's Apollo missions ended in 1972”

David Shukman Science editor, BBC News

• Read more from David
• Why China is fixated on the Moon

The US Apollo astronauts Eugene Cernan and "Buzz" Aldrin have also remarked in a recent article that the landing module is substantially bigger than it needs to be to carry the rover, suggesting that it could be precursor technology to a human landing.

If successful, the mission, aimed at exploring the Moon's surface and looking for natural resources such as rare metals, will be a milestone in China's long-term space exploration programme, which includes establishing a permanent space station in Earth orbit.
Assertive China Chang'e 3 is "the most complicated and difficult task yet in China's exploration of space" and incorporates lots of new technology, Xinhua reported Wu Zhijian, a spokesman with the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, as saying.

The Chang'e 3 lander is heading for a crater known as Sinus Iridum

But one unnamed US scientist recently told the magazine Aerospace America: "Except for a ground-penetrating radar on the rover, none of many science instruments on the lander/rover are expected to discover much new on the Moon."
The launch comes at a time when the Asian superpower is asserting itself in other areas, such as control of airspace over the East China Sea. China considers its space programme a symbol of its rising global stature and technological advancement, as well as of the Communist Party's success in reversing the fortunes of the once impoverished nation.
Future lunar launches planned by China include a mission to bring back samples of lunar soil to Earth. But officials have also stated an ambitious goal of sending humans to the Moon, in what could be the first manned lunar missions since the US Apollo programme in the 1960s and 1970s.
Prof Ouyang, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also highlighted the potential for exploiting the Moon's environment and natural resources. With only a very thin atmosphere, solar panels would operate far more efficiently, he believes, and a "belt" of them could "support the whole world".
He also pointed out the potential riches in terms of minerals and metals, which could eventually be mined. "The Moon is full of resources - mainly rare earth elements, titanium, and uranium, which the Earth is really short of, and these resources can be used without limitation."

A Flying Wizard Crash Lande​d Near A River in Ghana

I have always thought we only had witches and wizards who fly and crash land in Nigeria, there was one that happened at Ejigbo where a that bird was flying crash landed in front of a church and turned into a human being and started confessing, similar incident has happened again as A man believed to be in his 70s, who claimed to be a wizard, was on Wednesday found on the banks of the Okrudu River at Kaimebre, a settlement near the Kasoa New Market in the Central Region Ghana. The man, who gave his name as Charles Atta, looked frail, pale and bore protruding breasts like that of a teenage girl. His body was smeared with mud from the bank of the river where he was found by two brothers, Liberty Obeng and Innocent Obeng, who claimed they found the strange man crying for help. According to him, they were flying

New York train crash: Metro-North derailment in Bronx

Aerial footage shows the derailed train and emergency crews at the scene

At least four people have been killed and dozens injured as a passenger train crashed off its tracks in the Bronx area of New York City.

The Metro-North train's locomotive and carriages derailed as the train went into a bend in the railway line.
Some 130 firefighters are at the scene, and reports tell of bloodied passengers being helped from the carriages, some of which had fallen on their sides.
The train was the 05:54 from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central Station.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said none of the carriages had gone into the adjacent Hudson or Harlem rivers - although pictures from the scene suggest this nearly happened.

The train appeared to be going "a lot faster'' than normal as it approached the curve, one passenger said

One of the derailed carriages ended up very close to the water

Dozens of firefighters arrived at the scene to free trapped passengers

The injured were ferried to local hospitals

The Fire Department of New York said the derailment had occurred at 07:20 near Spuyten Duyvil station.
The train appeared to be going "a lot faster'' than normal as it approached the curve coming into the station, passenger Frank Tatulli told WABC-TV.
Joel Zaritsky was travelling on the train to attend a dental convention in New York City.
"I was asleep and I woke up when the car started rolling several times," he told the Associated Press news agency.

Two eyewitnesses who live in the area describe the scene

"Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming. There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train.''
Metro-North is a rail service that serves commuters from New York City's northern suburbs. It is not part of the New York City subway system.
Hudson Line services have been suspended, the MTA says.
New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo is at the scene.
He confirmed that four people had died and added that 63 had been injured, 11 of them critically