Wednesday 20 November 2013
Happy Birthday to NIGERIA President, Goodluck Jonathan
Cool Club Hop with Star happening today at The Place By Papas
Student to die by hanging for stealing mobile phone & recharge cards
According to a report by Thisday,
a High Court in Effurun, Delta State, has sentenced a 24-year-old
secondary school student, Moses Akatugba, to death by hanging for
stealing mobile phones and recharge cards. Read the report below and
tell us if you think the sentence is appropriate or too harsh
"Akatugba was convicted on a two-count charge of conspiracy and armed robbery in contravention of Section 6 (b) and punishable under section 1 (2) (a) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act Cap R11 Volume 14 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The prosecution told the court that the convict with others now at large “robbed one Mrs. Akpor Mazino of the sum of N113,930, three phone handsets, 54 various denominations of MTN recharge vouchers, 28 Airtel vouchers and 25 Glo vouchers valued at over N100,000 at No. 30 NNPC Housing Complex Road,
 Ekpan.”
The victim in her evidence gave a vivid account of how she was robbed of the items at her shop at gunpoint.
An Asaba High Court also yesterday sentenced a 30-year-old commercial
motorcyclist, Paul Nwanegbo to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour
for robbing a female passenger of her telephone handset. The incident,
according to prosecution took place along Direct Labour Agency Road,
Asaba, on October 5, 2011 before the ban on operation of commercial
motorcyclists in Asaba metropolis and other designated cities.
The female passenger, Amaka Okafor told the court that on “realising
the gun was a toy, I resisted him but he overpowered me after biting me
with his teeth and snatched my phone from me.”
Kim K's lil sis Kendall Jenner shows off boobs in risqué photoshoot
Kim K's lil sis Kendall Jenner shows off boobs in risqué photoshoot
Iranian embassy bombing may be linked to Syrian war: Report
Nearly 23 people were killed in bomb blasts at the Iranian embassy in Beirut, Lebanon on Tuesday.
Iranian troops are fighting in neighboring Syria to support the dictatorship there.
The civil war in Syria is in its third year and it is becoming a fight between the two main branches of Islam-the Sunni and the Shi'a-a rift that extends through the region, CBS News reports.
In the morning, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated himself just outside Iran's embassy gate.
Moments later, a car bomb exploded down the street, killind a number of innocent people.
An extremist group with ties to al Qaeda-the Abdullah Azzam Brigades-claimed responsibility for the bombings.
The group said the attack was in retaliation for Iran's support of the Assad regime in neighboring Syria.
Iran is the main backer of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to join Assad's forces, the report said.
In the past few months, those fighters have tipped the balance in favor of the Syrian government troops.
This is not the first time that the Syrian war has moved into neighboring countries. But the attack on the Iranian embassy has raised fears the violence could escalate, the report added.
Iranian troops are fighting in neighboring Syria to support the dictatorship there.
The civil war in Syria is in its third year and it is becoming a fight between the two main branches of Islam-the Sunni and the Shi'a-a rift that extends through the region, CBS News reports.
In the morning, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated himself just outside Iran's embassy gate.
Moments later, a car bomb exploded down the street, killind a number of innocent people.
An extremist group with ties to al Qaeda-the Abdullah Azzam Brigades-claimed responsibility for the bombings.
The group said the attack was in retaliation for Iran's support of the Assad regime in neighboring Syria.
Iran is the main backer of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to join Assad's forces, the report said.
In the past few months, those fighters have tipped the balance in favor of the Syrian government troops.
This is not the first time that the Syrian war has moved into neighboring countries. But the attack on the Iranian embassy has raised fears the violence could escalate, the report added.
The Vagina Stadium: Design for Qatar's World Cup purpose-built stadium released
The architects are a little embarrassed that their design looks kinda like a vagina. They said the multi-billion dollar stadium is designed to resemble the sails of a dhow boat which is traditionally used for pearl fishing by Qataris...and not a vagina! See a video design of the stadium after the cut...
Forbes List Of The World's 25 Highest-Paid Musicians 2013...
1. Madonna - $125 million
2. Lady Gaga - $80 million
3. Bon Jovi - $79 million
4. Toby Keith - $65 million
5. Coldplay - $64 million.
6. Justin Bieber - $58 million
7. Taylor Swift - $55 million
8. Elton John - $54 million
9. Kenny Chesney - $53 million
9. Beyonce - $53 million (tie)
See the rest after the cut....
12. Sir Paul McCartney - $47 million
13. Calvin Harris - $46 million
14. Jennifer Lopez - $45 million
15. Roger Waters - $44 million
16. Muse - $43 million (tie)
16. Rihanna - $43 million (tie)
18. Jay Z - $42 million
18. One Direction - $42 million (tie)
20. Dr. Dre - $40 million
20. Red Hot Chili Peppers ($40 million, tie)
22. Rolling Stones - $39 million (tie)
22. Katy Perry - $39 million (tie)
24. Tim McGraw - $33 million (tie)
25. Pink - $32 million (tie)
25. Tiësto - $32 million (tie)
Singer K Michelle's camel toe is on another level. (see pics)
Peter Okoye shares a pic of himself with his dad and Dangote at his wedding
Tuesday 19 November 2013
50 workers trapped by rubble in South Africa mall collapse: reports
A
roof at a South African shopping mall that was under construction
collapsed on Tuesday, killing at least one person and injuring 26,
police said
Rescue teams using search dogs are combing the rubble seeking survivors who may be trapped.
The mall — in Tongaat, north of the coastal city of Durban — was under construction, ambulance company Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha told the South African Press Agency.
Botha told Reuters that at least 26 people had been taken to hospital with “massive traumatic injuries.”
Kwazulu-Natal Police spokesman Thulani Zwane told news site eNCA.com that a woman who was a construction worker at the site had died.
None of the reports could be independently confirmed by NBC News.
Rescue teams using search dogs are combing the rubble seeking survivors who may be trapped.
The mall — in Tongaat, north of the coastal city of Durban — was under construction, ambulance company Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha told the South African Press Agency.
Botha told Reuters that at least 26 people had been taken to hospital with “massive traumatic injuries.”
Kwazulu-Natal Police spokesman Thulani Zwane told news site eNCA.com that a woman who was a construction worker at the site had died.
None of the reports could be independently confirmed by NBC News.
At least 23 killed, dozens hurt as explosions rock Iranian Embassy site in Beirut
Lebanese Red Cross workers carry a dead body at the scene of explosions near the Iranian Embassy in Beirut on Tuesday.
A man runs in front of a burned car near the Iranian Embassy in Beirut on Tuesday.
An al Qaeda-linked terror group claimed responsibility - the latest sign that Syria’s civil war is spilling over the border into Lebanon.
Burning cars, bodies and pools of blood littered the front of the embassy building, in the Hezbollah-dominated south of the city.
Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Rokon Abadi, was uninjured, but in an interview with Lebanese television station MTV he said his country's cultural attache, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ansari, was killed.
Eyewitnesses described charred bodies and a large crater.
Security camera footage indicated the first blast was carried out by suicide bomber who rushed toward the walls of the embassy, while the second was caused by a nearby car bomb, officials told Lebanese media.
One explosion blew out the large black main gate of the Iranian mission, damaging the three-story facility, Reuters said.
Lebanon's Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Reuters that at least 23 people were killed and 146 wounded, but the toll was changing rapidly as emergency workers and bystanders picked through the wreckage of burning vehicles.
"At one entrance of the Iranian embassy I counted six bodies outside. I saw body parts around and thrown two streets away," Reuters television cameraman Issam Abdullah said from the scene.
"There is huge damage, it looks like it is a car bomb. One car is twisted there. There were two Mercedes cars badly damaged," he added.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an Islamist terror group affiliated to al Qaeda, was behind the attack, according to a post on Twitter by Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat, the group's religious guide.
The group, also known as Kataib Abdullah Azzam, is opposed to the involvement of Iranian forces and Hezbollah in Syria’s civil war and was responsible for an attack on a Japanese oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in 2010.
U.S. Ambassador to Beirut, David Hale, strongly condemned the attack and called on “all parties to exercise calm and restraint.”
“Acts of violence such as this only reinforce the U.S. dedication to work with the institutions of the Lebanese state, including the Lebanese armed forces and including the security forces," he said.
Activist Ahmad Yassine posted pictures of the aftermath of the explosion to Twitter, showing burning vehicles and bystanders picking through the wreckage.
The area is home to a number of foreign embassies, including those of Egypt, Kuwait and China.
At least 66 people were killed in August in tit-for-tat bombings in Sunni and Shiite strongholds in Lebanon.
“The situation in Lebanon has shifted,” analyst Lokman Slim told Al Jazeera. “We can expect more sectarian-based attacks of this kind in future.”
NBC News' Charlene Gubash and Paul Nassar, and Reuters contributed to this report. Alastair Jamieson and Ayman Mohyeldin reported from London.
Elon Musk laments ‘unjust’ public interest in Tesla fires
In the wake of a series of Model S fires that dragged on Tesla Motors Inc.’s stock recently, Elon Musk, the tweet-happy CEO of the electric-car company, took to Twitter on Tuesday to lament the public’s interest in the fires which did not maim or kill anyone. He also touted the safety of the Model S, claiming that it has the best safety record of any car on the road.
The tweets come on the heels of Monday’s announcement from the company that it has asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a full investigation to alleviate concerns about the overall safety of its cars and in effect, promising a recall of all Teslas on the road.
While we think it is highly unlikely, if something is discovered that would result in a material improvement in occupant fire safety, we will immediately apply that change to new cars and offer it as a free retrofit to all existing cars.Tesla’s TSLA +2.70% proactive stance has helped its stock to rebound more than 5% on Tuesday. The stock has shed roughly 12% in the three days following an incident last week where three workers were injured after a machinery malfunction at its Fremont, Calif. plant.
But the recent correction aside, the stock is still up 277% for the year, making it one of the most prominent high fliers of 2013 and helping Musk to win MarketWatch’s CEO of the Year title.
Meanwhile, it looks like Musk isn’t done tweeting for the day yet. As this story was going to copy, he fired off several more tweets, the last one about extending Tesla’s warranty to cover fire damage.
Rob Ford offers ‘teaching’ moment
MONTREAL — There’s a new drink on the menu at the Westin
Nova Scotian in Halifax: It’s called the Fordian Slip and it’s named for
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who has made headlines around the world for his
public admissions of drunkenness and crack smoking.
The drink, dreamed up by bartender John-Allen Moore of the hotel’s Roy Lounge, contains no alcohol: Rather, it’s a blend of mulled chai, marmalade, honey, orange and cinnamon. A mocktail, if you will.
According to a news release from the hotel on Monday, the mocktail is being served to raise money in support of National Addictions Awareness Week, Nov. 18 to 24.
Until Nov. 30, the hotel, located in the city’s Seaport District, will donate the full $3 cost of each Fordian Slip sold to the Mothers Against Drunk Driving organization.
In addition to being a non-stop newsmaker as well as fodder for late-night television comedy, Ford has raised awareness of the dangers of addiction, the release said.
“Mayor Ford has presented us with a once-in-a-lifetime teaching moment about the dangers of addiction and we sincerely hope that he gets well soon,” it cites Moore as saying.
“Hopefully, our cheeky little promotion can raise some money for an important cause and help start a conversation on a very difficult topic that affects far too many families. Maybe it will even inspire the mayor to get the help he needs."
The drink, dreamed up by bartender John-Allen Moore of the hotel’s Roy Lounge, contains no alcohol: Rather, it’s a blend of mulled chai, marmalade, honey, orange and cinnamon. A mocktail, if you will.
According to a news release from the hotel on Monday, the mocktail is being served to raise money in support of National Addictions Awareness Week, Nov. 18 to 24.
Until Nov. 30, the hotel, located in the city’s Seaport District, will donate the full $3 cost of each Fordian Slip sold to the Mothers Against Drunk Driving organization.
In addition to being a non-stop newsmaker as well as fodder for late-night television comedy, Ford has raised awareness of the dangers of addiction, the release said.
“Mayor Ford has presented us with a once-in-a-lifetime teaching moment about the dangers of addiction and we sincerely hope that he gets well soon,” it cites Moore as saying.
“Hopefully, our cheeky little promotion can raise some money for an important cause and help start a conversation on a very difficult topic that affects far too many families. Maybe it will even inspire the mayor to get the help he needs."
Monday 18 November 2013
Google chief says company has introduced software to block child sex abuse searches
Eric Schmidt writes in Britain's Daily Mail that Google and other Internet companies like Microsoft have been working with law enforcement to stop pedophiles from sharing illegal pictures on the Internet.
LONDON
- Google and Microsoft have introduced software that makes it harder
for users to search for child abuse material online, the companies said
in a joint announcement Monday.
Writing ahead of a British summit on Internet safety, Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt said his company has fine-tuned Google Search to clean up results for over 100,000 search terms. When users type in queries that may be related to child sexual abuse, they will find no results that link to illegal content.
"We will soon roll out these changes in more than 150 languages, so the impact will be truly global," Schmidt wrote in the Daily Mail newspaper.
The restrictions are being launched in Britain and other English-speaking countries first. Similar changes are being brought out on Microsoft's Bing search engine.
The two companies are sharing picture detection technology to identify child abuse photographs whenever they appear on their systems, and Google is also testing technology to identify and remove illegal videos.
Other measures include warnings shown at the top of Google search for more than 13,000 queries to make it clear that child abuse is illegal.
Schmidt acknowledged that no algorithm is perfect and Google cannot prevent pedophiles adding new images to the web.
Campaigners welcomed the move but doubted how much impact the changes would bring. Pedophiles tend to share images away from the public search engines, they say.
"They don't go on to Google to search for images," said Jim Gamble, the former chief of Britain's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center. "They go on to the dark corners of the Internet on peer-to-peer websites."
Writing ahead of a British summit on Internet safety, Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt said his company has fine-tuned Google Search to clean up results for over 100,000 search terms. When users type in queries that may be related to child sexual abuse, they will find no results that link to illegal content.
"We will soon roll out these changes in more than 150 languages, so the impact will be truly global," Schmidt wrote in the Daily Mail newspaper.
The restrictions are being launched in Britain and other English-speaking countries first. Similar changes are being brought out on Microsoft's Bing search engine.
The two companies are sharing picture detection technology to identify child abuse photographs whenever they appear on their systems, and Google is also testing technology to identify and remove illegal videos.
Other measures include warnings shown at the top of Google search for more than 13,000 queries to make it clear that child abuse is illegal.
Schmidt acknowledged that no algorithm is perfect and Google cannot prevent pedophiles adding new images to the web.
Campaigners welcomed the move but doubted how much impact the changes would bring. Pedophiles tend to share images away from the public search engines, they say.
"They don't go on to Google to search for images," said Jim Gamble, the former chief of Britain's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center. "They go on to the dark corners of the Internet on peer-to-peer websites."
Toronto may further limit embattled mayor's powers
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford leaves his City Hall office after a day of city council meetings in Toronto November 15, 2013. Toronto city council voted to strip scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford of some of his powers on Friday but Ford, who admits he smoked crack cocaine while in office, promised to challenge the moves in court.
Ford, who has admitted to smoking crack cocaine, buying illegal drugs and driving after consuming alcohol, has issued a string of emotional apologies but has refused to resign.
He plans to stand for re-election next year, and told Fox News on Sunday that he hopes to run for prime minister one day.
Council cannot remove Ford from office or strip him of roles laid out in provincial law, such as representing the city at events. But it has been looking for ways to limit his power.
"What we're doing is saying to our deputy mayor, please represent our city until 2014, because we trust you more than we trust the mayor," Councillor Karen Stintz told reporters. Stintz, once a key Ford ally, now plans to run against him in the October 2014 election.
At an afternoon meeting on Monday, council is set to vote on a motion that, among other things, would cut Ford's office budget to that of a normal city councillor, and make the deputy mayor the chair of the cabinet-like executive committee.
"They're trying to pull a coup d'etat and overthrow an elected official," the mayor's brother, Councillor Doug Ford, who is the mayor's most loyal ally, told reporters on Monday.
Ford's lawyer, George Rust-D'Eye, was more circumspect. If the mayor cannot carry out the roles mandated by provincial law because of council's decisions, a court could intervene, he said.
"If it has those impacts then it could well be held by a court to ... be beyond the powers of the city council," he told Reuters. He does not plan to seek an injunction to stop Monday's vote, and will discuss next steps with the mayor after the city council meeting.
Stintz said council has sought advice from city lawyers, and is acting within its authority.
On Friday, council suspended Ford's ability to appoint and dismiss the deputy mayor and the heads of council committees. It also granted the deputy mayor, rather than the mayor, special powers to act during emergencies such as natural disasters. Both motions passed by wide margins.
PRIME TIME
A new television show featuring the mayor and his brother is set to debut on Monday evening on Canada's right-wing Sun News Network. The network is touting new confessions from "the most wanted man in news".
CNN is set to air a taped interview with the mayor at the same time, 8.00 p.m. Monday evening (0100 GMT). According to an article on CNN's website, the network also spoke with Doug Ford, who addressed allegations he trafficked drugs in the 1980s.
Doug Ford denied a report published in May by Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper that he sold hashish for several years in the 1980s. But he said he did offer small quantities of marijuana to friends.
"Thirty-one years ago. I smoked marijuana. I didn't deal marijuana. If you want to go calling, you know, going to your buddy and saying, 'Here is a joint for 10 bucks.' If that's what you want to call (dealing), so be it," he said, according to CNN.
Doug Ford could not immediately be reached for comment.
Cheney sisters spar over gay marriage on social media
Talk about a family feud: Former vice president Dick Cheney's daughters are having a heated disagreement over same-sex marriage that's playing out on TV and Facebook.
Liz Cheney, who is running in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in Wyoming, repeated on Fox News Sunday that she is opposed to gay marriage and supports a "traditional definition of marriage." Her younger sister, Mary, is married to a woman and their father endorses same-sex marriage.
"This is just an issue in which we disagree," Liz Cheney said, adding in the Fox News interview that she is opposed to a constitutional amendment allowing gay marriage and supports health benefits for same-sex partners.
Mary Cheney responded to her sister on Facebook. "Liz — this isn't just an issue on which we disagree you're just wrong — and on the wrong side of history," Cheney posted, according to The New York Times. It's a sentiment she's expressed before, also on Facebook.
Mary Cheney's wife, Heather Poe, wrote in a separate, stinging Facebook post on Sunday that she was "very disappointed" by what she described as Liz Cheney's "offensive" views.
"Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 — she didn't hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us," Poe wrote. "To have her now say she doesn't support our right to marry is offensive to say the least."
Fifteen states and the District of Columbia allow gay and lesbian couples to wed. Mary Cheney and Poe were married last June in the nation's capital and are the parents of two children.
Poe made a veiled reference in her Facebook post to Liz Cheney's move last year to Wyoming, after living in Virginia for years. "I can't help but wonder how Liz would feel if as she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was protected in one but not the other," Poe wrote. "I always thought freedom meant freedom for EVERYONE."
Liz Cheney is challenging Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.
Bitcoin’s Price Zooms Ahead of U.S. Senate Hearing
Bitcoin’s price just keeps on zooming. The virtual currency again hit
record highs Monday ahead of a U.S. Senate committee hearing on the
potential risks and benefits of virtual currencies.
Bitcoin
was recently trading at $525.62 on the CoinDesk price index, which
represents an average of bitcoin prices across large global exchanges.
The currency closed Sunday at $476.30 on the index, marking a new
record.
Meanwhile, bitcoin recently touched a high of roughly $619 on the Tokyo-based Mt. Gox exchange.
Bitcoin is a four-year-old virtual currency that isn’t backed by a central bank and can be traded on a number of exchanges or swapped privately. A small but growing number of merchants also accept bitcoin as payment because the transaction costs associated with the currency are generally lower than those with credit or debit cards.
The recent price surges come as the Treasury Department, U.S. Secret Service, Department of Justice and others have sent letters to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs saying that, like other currencies, bitcoin offers both risks and benefits.
The letters precede a hearing on virtual currencies that will be held later Monday by the U.S. Senate Committee titled “Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats, and Promises of Virtual Currencies.”
Bitcoin has been vaulting to new records in recent weeks fueled by growing views that the virtual currency can have a credible future as an alternative to traditional methods of payment.
The momentum is coming from around the world, as amateur investors, venture capitalists and technology enthusiasts pump money into businesses that are trying to figure out how to swap and use bitcoin to buy goods and services.
Bitcoin’s price has been highly volatile. The virtual currency jumped to a record of about $265 in April as interest in the currency grew. But in early October, in the wake of the bust of an online drug-trafficking website that used the currency, it plunged to around $90.
However Monday’s price moves extend a winning streak that bitcoin has logged of late. On Slovenia-based Bitstamp, bitcoin was up 5.6% in recent trading to $504.
- Reuters
Meanwhile, bitcoin recently touched a high of roughly $619 on the Tokyo-based Mt. Gox exchange.
Bitcoin is a four-year-old virtual currency that isn’t backed by a central bank and can be traded on a number of exchanges or swapped privately. A small but growing number of merchants also accept bitcoin as payment because the transaction costs associated with the currency are generally lower than those with credit or debit cards.
The recent price surges come as the Treasury Department, U.S. Secret Service, Department of Justice and others have sent letters to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs saying that, like other currencies, bitcoin offers both risks and benefits.
The letters precede a hearing on virtual currencies that will be held later Monday by the U.S. Senate Committee titled “Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats, and Promises of Virtual Currencies.”
Bitcoin has been vaulting to new records in recent weeks fueled by growing views that the virtual currency can have a credible future as an alternative to traditional methods of payment.
The momentum is coming from around the world, as amateur investors, venture capitalists and technology enthusiasts pump money into businesses that are trying to figure out how to swap and use bitcoin to buy goods and services.
Bitcoin’s price has been highly volatile. The virtual currency jumped to a record of about $265 in April as interest in the currency grew. But in early October, in the wake of the bust of an online drug-trafficking website that used the currency, it plunged to around $90.
However Monday’s price moves extend a winning streak that bitcoin has logged of late. On Slovenia-based Bitstamp, bitcoin was up 5.6% in recent trading to $504.
Pa. pastor faces church trial over gay marriage
The Rev. Frank Schaefer, of Lebanon, Pa., officiated his son's same-sex wedding in Massachusetts six years ago. Now he faces a Methodist Church trial for breaking the church's rules. / WHP
The Rev. Frank Schaefer of Lebanon could face punishment ranging from a reprimand to suspension to losing his minister's credentials if a jury composed of fellow Methodist clergy convicts him of breaking his pastoral vows by presiding over the 2007 ceremony in Massachusetts.
The pastor told CBS Affiliate WHP that the church's Book of Discipline says United Methodist ministers are not allowed to marry homosexuals or to perform a union service for them.
"What I did was based on my conscience, even though it is against the church rules," Rev. Schaefer told correspondent Jesse Knutson.
Though not a common occurrence, church trials proceed just like any trial, with witnesses and evidence submitted.
"It just reads like an episode from 'Law and Order,'" Rev. Schaefer said. "There'll be a judge, there'll be a prosecution, there'll be a defense." And a jury of his peers -- all United Methodist pastors.
"We're talking about the love of a father for his son, and I'm hoping that the jury will really hear that message. I did this for my own son in a state where gay marriage was legal at the time."
Several dozen of Schaefer's supporters had lined up outside the camp's gymnasium, where the trial is taking place, wearing rainbow stoles, holding signs and singing hymns.
"I'm in support of the church becoming a new church that welcomes everyone," said Bunnie Bryant, 64, of West Chester, who was holding a sign that said: "Law or love? Jesus chose love." She continued, "I question the church's law trumping a father's love."
But a pastor who's also attending the trial says Schaefer's trial isn't about gay rights, but rather his breaking of church law and his pastoral vows.
The Rev. Judy Kehler-Shirey, a retired Methodist minister who has attended Schaefer's church, said she personally disagrees with the church's policy on gay marriage but would not officiate a same-sex wedding.
"I have a vow that is connected to all the other United Methodist pastors internationally. We have a covenant to follow the (Book of) Discipline whether we agree with it or not," she said. "That has to take priority."
The nation's largest mainline Protestant denomination accepts gay and lesbian members, but it rejects the practice of homosexuality as "incompatible with Christian teaching."
Frank Schaefer has said he informed his superiors in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference that he planned to officiate his son's wedding, and again after the ceremony, which took place at a restaurant near Boston.
The pastor said despite church rules forbidding him from doing so, he went ahead with officiating his son's 2007 wedding ""because I love him so much and didn't want to deny him that joy."
He said he faced no discipline until April -- about a month before the church's six-year statute of limitations was set to expire -- when one of his congregants filed a complaint.
Schaefer could have avoided a trial if he had agreed to never again perform a same-gender wedding, but he declined because three of his four children are gay.
Rev. Schaefer told WHP, "I'm nervous about the trial, but the outpouring of support from around the country has been so awesome, and I really take strength from that. And as I stand in the courtroom, I know that I won't just be representing myself, but I will be representing thousands of people in this country that want to see a change," he says.
The pastor can appeal a conviction, but neither the church nor the person who brought the charge may appeal an acquittal.
How Microsoft, Google and ISPs aim to halt child abuse images
Ministers and technology executives attend Downing Street summit called by David Cameron
In June, he berated web's biggest technology firms to do more to tackle the production, distribution and accessibility of abuse material online, and summoned Google, Facebook, Yahoo and others to a "council of war" in which he demanded that they provide more funding and technical support to identify and block images of child abuse online.
On Monday, Cameron called together senior ministers and technology executives for a cyber-security summit to announce the latest progress in identifying and blocking child abuse material from the internet.
Who is there?
Search firms Google and Microsoft will attend the meeting at Number 10, broadband providers BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, charity the NSPCC, web monitoring firm the Internet Watch Foundation and the UK's National Crime Agency.
How big is the problem?
The exact number of indecent images of children, both photos and video, is hard to pin down, but research by the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection agency (Ceop) notes that the number of individual pieces of content runs into the millions, while the number of children abused in the production of the material is thought to be tens of thousands. UK police seized 2.5m pieces of content in 2011. By far the biggest threat is from material spread on private networks, or peer-to-peer, where individuals can share files with each other directly and which bypass safety filters and search indexes. The vast majority of indecent and illegal imagery is distributed this way.
What kind of content is being shared?
As well as an increase in the volume of content, Ceop's research has found that photos and video of child abuse is becoming more violent and sadistic, and involving younger children and toddlers that would not be able to identify the abusers. The majority of content involves white children and perpetrators, and images are sometimes used by abusers to normalise the abuse and encourage children to reenact the activity. Offenders, Ceop notes, are generally socially skilled, educated individuals with access to children through family, work or their home.
What's the difference between 'child abuse material' and 'child pornography'?
'Pornography' attempts to legitimise the material. In the words of the NSPCC, the term gives "a misleading and potentially trivialising impression of what is a very serious crime" and favours the term "child abuse images".
Photos and video of sexual acts with children document a criminal act – the abuse of a child – and need to be labelled as such. One victim told Ceop of the terror of being pictured in abusive material: "I am scared because there are photos of me on the internet that other paedophiles know what I look like. I don't know if they know where I live."
What is being announced?
Google and Microsoft have expanded systems to block child abuse material from their search engines. Google has dedicated 200 engineers to ramp up these technologies, and is also sending a small number of engineers to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) which investigates URLs that reportedly link to abuse material. Google now more strictly controls search results for 100,000 terms related to underage sex abuse, and has edited its auto-complete feature, and will point searches for the most explicit search terms towards warnings and links to expert help.
Google has developed a Video ID tool which uses digital fingerprinting technology to identify and block child abuse videos, even if they have been edited and repurposed. Microsoft says it is looking at implementing Video ID on its own video services, and has a similar tool for photos called Photo DNA.
Crucially, Google and Microsoft are working with Ceop and the IWF to explore how to identify and stop distribution of material on P2P networks by removing direct links to content.
How does this affect parents?
The changes announced by Google and Microsoft today should make child abuse material harder to find and easier and quicker to remove, but very easy access to legal, adult content online is a different issue. Anyone taking out a new broadband contract by the end of 2013 will find age-appropriate safety filters automatically switched on, but concerned parents with existing broadband contracts can switch on their ISP's own filters now. Parents can use various guides to internet safety, such as the NSPCC's resources, to find out the risks and safety tools available to children on social networks, mobile services and how to activate age-restricted safety features.
What happens next?
The next step is for Google and Microsoft, working with Ceop and the IWF, to investigate and develop a reporting process for links to content hosted on P2P networks. Currently, the IWF only has a remit for investigating and blacklisting URLs of content on the open web which is indexed by search engines, which accounts for only a small minority of child abuse material. With an expanded remit and extra staff, the IWF could then begin to unpick 'the dark web' where content is shared with impunity.
Another major challenge is to tackle grooming on public areas such as social networks, where conversation may appear benign but where abusers groom children and eventually meet offline.
Mega-rich Arab men show off their 'ultimate status symbols'... super cars and big cats!
From UK Daily Mail
For mega-wealthy young men of the Gulf Arab states nothing says 'I am rich' more aptly than to Instagram yourself and your lion or cheetah posing alongside your Mercedes or Lamborghini or motoring along in a speedboat.
Showing off the Persian Gulf's latest 'ultimate status symbol', the penchant for posting big cat photos on Instagram betrays the young men's sheer bravado or stupidity, depending on your point of view. Indeed, while the intimacy on display the owners seem to share with their cats is clearly touching, others could possibly think of better ways to flaunt their wealth than sharing feeding time or bathing with fully grown 400pound lions
Eagerly followed by over 250,000 followers on the popular photo-sharing website, Humaid AlBuQaish, has become cult viewing as he regularly posts himself and his big cats online.
While it is not entirely clear what AlBuQaish does for a living or how he accumulated his fabulous wealth and pets, it is clear that he lives a life of luxury that most can only dream of.
Trusting his cats implicitly, AlBuQaish is pictured feeding his menagerie of lethal predators and wrestling with them - all the while showing off the fact that he owns such magnificent creatures.
The trade in big cats in the Gulf reflects how status among the wealthy is all important, where a rare white lion will sell for around $50,000.
Jasim Ali runs the Ras Al Khaimah Wildlife Park in the United Arab Emirates and he adopts and cares for those animals that are discarded once they become too large and dangerous for their boastful owners.
D'banj stuck in SA...laments about missing Peter Okoye's wedding
50 people die in Russian plane crash
The Boeing 737 had taken off from Moscow and was trying to land but exploded on impact at about 19:20 local time (15:20 GMT), officials said.
The Emergencies Ministry said there were 44 passengers and six crew members on the Tatarstan Airlines flight.
Investigators are now looking at whether a technical failure or crew error may have caused the crash. Among the dead was Irek Minnikhanov, a son of the president of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, according to the official passenger list.
Reports said the pilot had already tried to land several times before crashing. The crew had said they were not ready to land because of technical problems, Russian news agencies report.
A journalist who said she had flown on the same aircraft from Kazan to Moscow earlier on Sunday told Russia's Channel TV that there was a strong vibration during the landing in the Russian capital.
"When we were landing it was not clear whether there was a strong wind, although in Moscow the weather was fine, or some kind of technical trouble or problem with the flight," said Lenara Kashafutdinova.
"We were blown in different directions, the plane was tossed around. The man sitting next to me was white as a sheet."
The airport in Kazan - the capital of Tatarstan - has been closed since the accident and is expected to re-open on Monday morning.
Kazan lies about 720km (450 miles) east of Moscow.
Although some of Russia's biggest airlines now have very good reputations, frequent crashes by smaller operators mean the country has one of the worst air safety records in the world.
Source - BBC
Peter and Paul Okoye show off their sons at Peter's wedding...
Johnnie Walker brings Formula One Race Car Caparo to Nigeria
Chaos on Ajah Road in Lagos as trailer kills five school children
The people protesting are insisting they won't leave the area until Governor Fashola shows up. They are blaming the gruesome accident on the lack of a pedestrian bridge in the area. The two express lanes have been blocked by the angry protesters which has caused heavy traffic in the area. There's heavy police presence in the are. Will keep y'all updated.
Chaos on Ajah Road in Lagos as trailer kills five school children
The people protesting are insisting they won't leave the area until Governor Fashola shows up. They are blaming the gruesome accident on the lack of a pedestrian bridge in the area. The two express lanes have been blocked by the angry protesters which has caused heavy traffic in the area. There's heavy police presence in the are. Will keep y'all updated.
Chaos on Ajah Road in Lagos as trailer kills five school children
The people protesting are insisting they won't leave the area until Governor Fashola shows up. They are blaming the gruesome accident on the lack of a pedestrian bridge in the area. The two express lanes have been blocked by the angry protesters which has caused heavy traffic in the area. There's heavy police presence in the are. Will keep y'all updated.
Chaos on Ajah Road in Lagos as trailer kills five school children
The people protesting are insisting they won't leave the area until Governor Fashola shows up. They are blaming the gruesome accident on the lack of a pedestrian bridge in the area. The two express lanes have been blocked by the angry protesters which has caused heavy traffic in the area. There's heavy police presence in the are. Will keep y'all updated.
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