Photos: Coffins waiting in Italy port for bodies of migrants, Nigerian survivors describe harrowing journey

Badly disfigured bodies of 21 young women and one man, including Nigerians who died in the Mediterranean Sea were recovered from rubber boats on Wednesday.
The search and rescue vessel run in partnership between Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and SOS MEDITERRANEE also rescued 209 people from the dinghies. The rescued include two pregnant women and 50 children, of whom 45 were travelling without parents or guardians.
The bodies were brought to port of Trapani, Sicily on Friday, July 2 as fellow migrants described scenes of panic and violence when water poured into their dinghy. Some survivors had bite marks, testimony to a desperate struggle onboard to escape death.

People on the rubber dinghy said human traffickers in Libya had pushed too many migrants aboard and the floor had split after the boat put to sea, proving a death trap for young women who had been sitting in the central section.

"I kept asking for help. Nobody would help. They were climbing on me to stay out of the water. I thought I would die," a 24-year-old Nigerian woman named Mary told MSF.

"I had to bite to be able to breathe. The woman I bit stood up. Men were standing on top of me. A woman stood on my face ... A woman who was pregnant died. We were under the water together." said Mary.

Erna Rijnierse, an MSF doctor who was aboard the rescue ship, the MV Aquarius, said there was an eerie silence when they neared the dinghy and it was obvious there had been a struggle.

"You can tell it from the nail scratches on people's arms and legs, but also we had 10 people with human bites on arms, a back and also on the lower back and ankles," she said.

Mary told MSF she had been held in prison in Libya - immigrants are often arrested there - for two months before finding a place on the dinghy. Rijnierse said she believed many of the victims had been detained prior to the trip and were too weak to fight their way off the floor.

"They rape there. They are looking for young girls, you cannot say no, they have guns, shout, speak in their language," Mary said, describing her ordeal in the prison before she managed to escape and meet up with her husband.

Another Nigerian survivor, a 30-year-old man called David, urged would-be migrants not to make the journey.

"Taking the boat is very dangerous. That is the truth," he said, adding: "I feel bad about the women who died. It wasn't supposed to happen." he said.

Nearly 3,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year while trying to reach Europe - three quarters of them en route from north Africa to Italy, the International Organization for Migration said on Friday. Just over 80,000 people, mainly from Africa, have reached Italy since Jan. 1, more or less in line with last year's numbers, according to official figures.




Source: MSF/REUTERS/UNHCR Italia

Wale and girlfriend welcome baby girl

TMZ announced yesterday that rapper Wale had to cancel his performance at the One Africa Music Fest which took place at Barclay's Center in NYC because his girlfriend, Chloe Alexis gave birth to their daughter, named Zyla, yesterday afternoon in New York. Wale took to his page to announce the birth himself and wrote...

Congratulations to them.

Photos: Malnourished 9 year old boy who had been chained for weeks at a Celestial church rescued by NSCDC officials

At about 10:30 am, officers from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, yesterday July 22nd, rescued a malnourished nine-year-old boy named Taiwo Korede, who had been chained for weeks in a 'Celestial Church of Christ key of Joy Parish Ajiwo', located at Ajibawo in Ado - Odo, Ota division 2, Ogun State. Another photo after the cut...

 

The case has since been transferred to the appropriate authorities for further investigation.

Popular Comedian and Oap Acapella releases new photos

Popular Comedian and Oap 'Acapella' releases new photos of himself. ANother photo after the cut... 

Saudi billionaire dies two weeks after his supermodel ex-wife was awarded £75m in divorce settlement

A former supermodel Ms Christina Estrada who dragged her former husband, billionaire Sheikh Walid Juffali to court demanding £196 million from the businessman to meet her 'reasonable needs' - which included two luxury houses, a huge clothes budget and five cars has been informed that her husband has passed away.

Her ex-husband, billionaire Sheikh Walid Juffali passed away in Zurich on Wednesday following a lengthy battle with cancer.

Dr Juffali, was chairman and heir of EA Juffali and Brothers, one of Saudi Arabia's most successful companies.

 Ms Estrada met the businessman in 2000 and got married soon after, then they had a daughter together. However the marriage ran into difficulty after Dr Juffali's decision in 2012 to marry a 25-year-old Lebanese model, who is now the mother of his two youngest children, while still married to Ms Estrada. The sheikh divorced Ms Estrada in Saudi Arabia in 2014 under Islamic law without her knowledge.

Earlier this month Ms Estrada, took the 61-year-old to the High Court where her fight for a share of his fortune became one of the highest-stakes divorce battles of its kind.
Ms Estrada claimed her 'needs' included £1million for clothes, £40,000 for fur coats, £109,000 for haute couture dresses and £21,000 for shoes every year.

She also said she needed enough from her ex-husband to afford a luxury home in London worth about £60million, a £4.4 million house in the country at Henley, as well as £495,000 for five cars - three in London and two in the US.

She told family judge Mrs Justice Roberts: ‘I am Christina Estrada.
'I was a top international model. I have lived this life. This is what I am accustomed to.’ Her lawyers estimated her ex-husband was worth £8billion.

Rather than the £196 million she demanded for her husband's lawyers offered £75million but rejected the offer which, added to her own assets, would have given her some £37million to live on.

Ms Estrada, who is in St tropez, has reportedly been informed of her husband's death this week and was said by friends to be 'devastated' at the news.

However the court hearing was brought forward due to his worsening health. High Court Family Division judge Mrs Justice Roberts had ordered Dr Juffali to pay Ms Estrada the lump sum by 4pm on Friday, July 29, however this could now be subject to a delay while his affairs are put in order. Dr Juffali's death will not affect the settlement. It is now legally binding and he will have to still pay her the money.

She was ultimately awarded a £53million cash settlement at London's High Court - with lawyers saying the payout is worth £75million when assets she has already been given are taken into account. 

Her lawyers said the award she received was 'by more than £50million the largest needs award ever made by an English court'.

But Dr Juffali had said in a written statement before he died said in his statement that he had left the vast majority of his wealth to his three oldest children, including his daughter with Ms Estrada, now a teenager, who cannot be identified.

Porsche owner abandons his car to floodwaters while another driver refuses to leave his three wheel deliver van in China

It is said that pictures tell a thousand stories, these pictures tell a tale of the haves and the have nots. In scenes which succinctly describe the yawning gulf between the rich and poor in China, the driver of a Porsche car left his luxury ride to the mercy of floodwaters while the driver of a three wheel delivery van refused to leave his vehicle despite being almost chest deep in floodwaters.
Another man was seen trying to pull his tricycle through the flood.

Following some of the worst flooding China has experienced in years, at least 75 people have been declared dead or missing in the northern part of the Asian nation.

Bimbo Thomas dedicates her son

Congratulations to the new mum.