Lady alleges relief materials meant for Agatu IDPs are being diverted by Benue state emergency workers

According to twitter user, Amina Ebele, relief materials meant for Internally Displaced Persons in Agatu, Benue state are now being diverted by workers at the Benue State Emergency Management Authority SEMA. Amina alleges most of the wives of the workers have opened provision shops. How sad!. See more of her tweets after the cut...

 

D'banj, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Phyno, others lived their music at #HeinekenGidiFest

 

The highly anticipated 3rd edition of the #HeinekenGidiFest went down on Saturday, 26 March 2016 with performances by several A-list artists and the first ever Heineken ‘Live Your Music’ – The TakeOver session in West Africa.

The event which held at the Eko Atlantic City, Lagos, had performances from D'banj, Tiwa Savage, YemiAlade, Phyno, Timaya, Adekunle Gold and others.

Fans were treated to THE TAKEOVER, a unique music experience which allows them to ‘takeover’ from the music DJ using customized wristbands provided by Heineken Nigeria.

“Heineken is as into live music experiences as their fans are. That’s why it celebrates, encourages, and enables music fans to be more active music live-rs,” said Ngozi Nkwoji, Senior Brand Manager, Heineken Nigeria. “Because to fully experience music, it's not enough to just listen to it, you have to live it.”

The event was hosted by Nigeria’s Sensei Uche and South Africa’s Nomuzi, while Heineken ‘Live Your Music’ – THE TAKEOVER session was hosted by David Jones David.

Heineken also provided free transportation for music ‘live-rs’ as part of its commitment to the 'Don’t Drink & Drive – Enjoy Heineken Responsibly' message.

About Heineken®

The Heineken® brand, that bears the founder’s family name - Heineken - is available in almost every country across the globe and is the world’s most valuable international premium beer brand.
To follow Heineken® on Twitter visit www.twitter.com/heineken and to become a fan on Facebook go towww.facebook.com/heineken. To view videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/heineken.

Enjoy Heineken Responsibly

Heineken continues to integrate its responsible consumption program into all activities. 'Enjoy Heineken® Responsibly (EHR),' our global brand-led approach to promote responsible consumption, first launched in 2004. Whilst the Enjoy Heineken® responsibly is the flagship of our commitments, we are of course promoting responsible consumption throughout our brand portfolio. As an industry leader, we believe we should lead by example, playing an active role in promoting responsible and moderate consumption of alcohol.

HEINEKEN employees are ambassadors for our responsible consumption agenda and, around the world, many markets have developed tailored activations to spread the message locally. We also work in partnership with many stakeholders to encourage responsible attitudes and to understand and address alcohol misuse.

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Animal rights activists try to shut down China dog meat festival

A group of animal rights activists are trying to shut down an annual summer dog meat festival in southern China which has been blamed for making the country's international reputation look bad, as well as fueling extreme cruelty to canines and unhygienic food practices.

Activists said on Monday that they will continue to press for the festival to be banned as well as press for legislation to outlaw the killing of dogs and cats and the consumption of their meat.

Accordingto research,about 10-20 million dogs are killed each year in China. The dog meat festival will take place on June 20 in the city of Yulin.

Yu Hongmei, director of the VShine Animal Protection Association, said China needs to follow the example of developed nations that have banned eating dog and cat.
He said:

"China needs to progress with the times,". "Preventing cruelty to animals is the sign of a mature, civilized society."

Restaurant owners defended themselves by saying eating dog meat is traditional during the summer, but animal activists say the festival that began in 2010 has no cultural value and was merely invented to drum up business.

In 2014, the local government disassociated itself from the event and forbade its employees from attending and limiting its size by shutting down some dog markets and slaughter houses.

As much as the activists try, over 10,000 dogs, many of them stolen, still wearing their collars, are slaughtered for the festival held deep inside the poor, mainly rural Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.


Source: AP

'Staying in any type of abusive relationship/marriage doesn't make you a strong girl'- Ify Jones

Nigerian international model, Ify Yolanda Jones, shared these on twitter handle this morning. See more after the cut...

 

 

Actress and former Face of Lux, Olaide Olaogun shows off her beautiful bump, shares baby shower photos

Nollywood actress Olaide Olaogun who came to fame on Wale Adenuga TV Soap Super Story series got married to her beau Babatunde Ojora in December 2015. She also hosted a show Soul Sisters alongside Kehinde Bankole and Sylvia Udeogu and also won the Face of Lux beauty contest in 2007.

 

 

FBI wants to access terror suspect’s Skype records

 

 

 

© Provided by Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC Alexander Ciccolo is being held with no bail.

The FBI is investigating whether a third, unknown person discussed an alleged terrorism plot with Alexander Ciccolo, the Western Massachusetts man accused of planning to attack a state university with guns and explosives on behalf of the Islamic State terror group.

FBI Special Agent Jeffrey J. Lawrence said in an affidavit filed in US District Court in Springfield last week that Ciccolo told a witness who was cooperating with the FBI that he had discussed his terrorism plans with one other person.

“There was a brother who wanted to be involved a while ago and he has not been responding to my messages,” Ciccolo told the witness, who provided copies of the July 1 online conversation to authorities.

Lawrence said in the affidavit, “It appears as though Ciccolo was telling [the cooperating witness] that at least one other individual had previously indicated that he wanted to be involved in his terrorism plot.”

The affidavit was part of an application for a search warrant authorities filed with the court. Officials are seeking access to Ciccolo’s online Skype account as part of their investigation into the alleged terror plot.

No one else has been charged in Ciccolo’s alleged scheme.

The witness who is cooperating with the FBI had alerted authorities to the alleged plot in June 2015, then at the FBI’s request agreed to provide weapons to Ciccolo in a sting operation.

Ciccolo, 24, of Adams, was arrested in 2015 after he had taken possession of the weapons – two rifles and two handguns, authorities said.

Ciccolo also allegedly built several Molotov cocktails and purchased a pressure cooker to build a bomb, similar to the one used in the Boston Marathon attacks, according to authorities. He had not obtained explosive powder, however, according to court filings.

The Globe has previously reported that Ciccolo’s father is a Boston police captain who alerted the FBI to his son’s desire to fight for the Islamic State, prompting the investigation.

Ciccolo has been held without bail on charges of illegally possessing a firearm and assault, for allegedly stabbing a nurse with a pen after his arrest.

Prosecutors say they may seek additional charges against him, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

His attorney, David Hoose, said he could not comment on the affidavit because of the ongoing case. He has argued that the FBI created the alleged terrorism plot by providing Ciccolo with weapons.

Lawrence said in the affidavit supporting the application for the search warrant that Ciccolo’s Skype account could contain “evidence, fruits, and instrumentalities of these crimes” in his ongoing investigation.

Skype is a social-networking website that allows users to participate in one-on-one and group video calls and messages over the Internet. According to Lawrence’s affidavit, terror groups such as the Islamic State are increasingly using social networking sites such as Skype as communication platforms to spread ideology and recruit supporters.

The affidavit also alleges that Ciccolo discussed the idea of creating a local terrorism cell to carry out local attacks.

The search warrant seeks to have Microsoft – which owns Skype – provide the government with logs and the content of conversations and written messages made on Ciccolo’s account, as well as passwords. The account was created under the username alialamriki1, which is similar to what Ciccolo used for other social-media accounts.

A spokesperson for Microsoft could not be reached for comment Sunday, though the company has said before that it provides law enforcement with whatever information is legally required and technically feasible. The company has been criticized before by privacy advocates who argued that the company redesigned Skype to make it easier for law enforcement to review user information.

According to Lawrence’s affidavit, authorities discovered some of Ciccolo’s Skype chats with a woman, Nicolette Baboolal, who had been engaged to marry Ciccolo and lives in the Caribbean nation Trinidad and Tobago.

According to the affidavit, Baboolal criticized Ciccolo’s rants about war and violence, saying they were not the true teachings of Islam. She threatened to end their relationship.

“Your whole motto is kill kill kill kill,” she had written to him on March 11, 2015, four months before his arrest, according to the affidavit. “That is worrying behavior.”