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 Foreign Affairs / Black Student Group Complains University Is Letting In Too Many African Students by anonymous6(f): 4:54am On Oct 04, 2017 |
Black Student Group Complains Ivy League School Is Letting In Too Many African Students Cornell University’s Black Students United demanded the university start recruiting more black American students because the campus has too many African and Caribbean students Wednesday. Black Students United, a group for students identifying with the African diaspora, handed the university president a list of twelve demands, with one of them dealing with the disproportionate representation of African students compared to black students on the campus. “We demand that Cornell Admissions to come up with a plan to actively increase the presence of underrepresented Black students on this campus. We define underrepresented Black students as Black Americans who have several generations (more than two) in this country,” the group stated in their demands, posted by Legal Insurrection. Black Students United takes issue with the fact that there are more African and Caribbean students on campus when compared to black students. The group defines black students as those who come from black families that have lived in America for two or more generations. While the group said it doesn’t mind the university trying to recruit African students, they want the college to pay more attention to black students whose families have been affected by years of white supremacy. “The Black student population at Cornell disproportionately represents international or first-generation African or Caribbean students. While these students have a right to flourish at Cornell, there is a lack of investment in Black students whose families were affected directly by the African Holocaust in America. Cornell must work to actively support students whose families have been impacted for generations by white supremacy and American fascism,” the group wrote. The demands from Black Students United come after a black student alleged that fraternity Psi Upsilon members brutally assaulted him and called him a “n*gger.” The demands also call for the frat to be shut down and give up its house to students of color to gather. http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/28/black-student-group-complains-ivy-league-school-is-letting-in-too-many-african-students/ |
| Fashion / Re: The 10 Best Makeup Lines For Black Women by anonymous6(f): 8:12pm On Sep 15, 2017 |
....@op...please i ll like to know the price range for their make-up kits.... sorry its took years to respond but in America in stores like Macy's it will be like $60 and above unless their is a discount or deal during the holidays like Christmas or during the New year |
| Fashion / Re: The 10 Best Makeup Lines For Black Women by anonymous6(f): 8:09pm On Sep 15, 2017 |
What do Nigerian women think of the new Fenty beauty by Rihanna, I am not a fanatic of the line and I know Nigerian women are loyal to MAC but what's your opinion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zISrf-7V3U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ-iP-Xxqss |
| Foreign Affairs / Re: Nigerians Boycott Coca-cola Drinks After Court Rules Them 'poisonous' - CNN by anonymous6(f): 4:07pm On Jun 24, 2017 |
Horus: lol |
| Foreign Affairs / Re: ‘Sperminator’ Has 26 Kids, Many Fathered In Target Bathrooms by anonymous6(f): 4:04pm On Jun 24, 2017 |
| Foreign Affairs / ‘Sperminator’ Has 26 Kids, Many Fathered In Target Bathrooms by anonymous6(f): 3:59pm On Jun 24, 2017 |
This Father’s Day, he’s still the most in-demand dad in town. A year after The Post revealed that CUNY math professor Ari Nagel had fathered 23 kids — some conceived the old-fashioned way, others involving sperm handoffs at public spots such as the Atlantic Center Target in downtown Brooklyn — he’s back. Nagel, 41, has donated his supersperm to even more women, resulting in four kids born since last Father’s Day. And eight other ladies, from Florida to Maryland to the Bronx, are currently pregnant because of him. In fact, wannabe mommies from all over the globe have reached out to Nagel after seeing his story in The Post: He’s had inquiries from Turkey, Nigeria, South Africa and even China. The Sperminator’s summer is jam-packed with trips timed to ovulation schedules. He’s flying to Israel this week to meet a woman who will have Nagel freeze his sperm at a clinic in case her first attempt at pregnancy is unsuccessful. After that, he’s off to Vietnam. “This crippled woman’s story really hit home,” he said of a 30-something left in a wheelchair after a debilitating motorcycle accident a few years ago. “She said, ‘It’s all I ever wanted.’ You just have a vibe that she’d be an amazing mom.” Plus, it will diversify his portfolio: “I don’t have an Asian baby yet.” In mid-July, a hopeful from Taiwan is flying in to New York to see if Nagel can make her dreams come true. In every case, the women are covering the cost of the flights. But, as always, Nagel charges nothing for his sperm. “It’s a lot of fun [traveling], actually. Of course, no one’s ovulating in Hawaii — it’s Toledo, Ohio, and Flint, Michigan,” he said, insisting he loves helping strangers. “Creating a life and saving a life are my proudest moments. I donated my bone marrow twice and I never got to meet the recipients, I have no idea who it was,” he said. “[Fathering children] is a lot more fulfilling. It’s an honor to be chosen.” As The Post reported last year, the Sperminator often uses public restrooms — Target, Starbucks — for procuring samples: “Once a location is chosen, Nagel will go into the bathroom, pleasure himself while watching porn on his iPhone . . . and ejaculate into an Instead Softcup, a type of menstrual cup. He then delivers the specimen to the woman, who goes into the ladies’ restroom and inserts it into her cervix.” Nagel insists there’s no shame in his game. “There’s homeless people in that Target bathroom all the time. What I’m doing is the least of their problems. You have people showering [in the sinks] there,” he said. “They should give us some free diapers for all this free press,” he said. Pregnant Bronx mom Paige Moxey “met him in the Target,” she said. The 30-year-old health care worker, married to wife Jasmine Belle, is due in February. Devin Vanderhorst, 35, got lucky at Target, too, but only after the customer service associate and her wife, Shawn, first met up with Nagel at a Midtown nightclub. (That initial attempt was not successful.) “I was at a friend’s birthday party, and [Vanderhorst] thought that she was fertile. We partied,” Nagel explained. “[But] it was very challenging to ejaculate into a cup after a few drinks.” Vanderhorst, who is due in September, only wants one thing for her future daughter, Khari (she said the name means “queenly” and “joyful” in Swahili): “I’m praying for [Nagel’s] blue eyes — they just set off the whole face.” And then there’s Amanda Santiago, who received a red Solo cup full of Nagel’s sperm at his friend’s backyard barbecue in Queens. “Don’t drink from this cup,” Nagel warned fellow guests, who, he said, quickly realized what the Sperminator was up to. “They were all creeped out — their whole demeanor changed.” Santiago, 26, a stay-at-home mom from Medford, LI, took the cup into the back of her Yukon Denali SUV and did the deed. She’s currently 37 weeks pregnant with a girl she plans to raise with her partner, Gabriella Bonilla. One Brooklyn mom allowed her 2-month-old girl to appear with Nagel for The Post’s photoshoot but declined to give her or the baby’s name because her family is in the dark about her daughter’s lineage. The single 30-something contacted Nagel after reading last year’s article. “It wasn’t just a story — it was a dream come true,” she said. “Five minutes after reading it, I emailed him and we met the next day. I was ready.” Nagel used the Softcup method at her home. “I’m not giving up on my dream [to meet someone], but . . . seeing her, I’m so glad I didn’t wait.” She’s already thinking about baby No. 2 with the Sperminator. There was a moment last year when Nagel thought about throwing in the towel. “It was a little overwhelming,” he said of the attention he got after his first Post story. “Between the media, the women emailing with requests and dealing with my family, it’s been a lot.” He was even recognized by a CUNY staffer while proctoring a final exam at the school. “He said, ‘OMG, we have to take a selfie,’ ” recalled a stunned Nagel. “I feel more infamous than famous.” A week after Nagel was first profiled in The Post last Father’s Day, he admitted that his wife — with whom he lives in downtown Brooklyn and shares three children, ages 13, 6 and 3 — of 12 years was upset by the situation. Although Nagel claimed his wife, with whom he said he did not have a romantic relationship, knew of his Sperminator hobbies, an anonymous tipster told The Post she “had no idea.” Today, Nagel won’t discuss his home life other than to say he and his “religious” wife’s arrangement hasn’t changed since last year. “She wasn’t livid” about his donations, per se, but rather about the media attention wreaking havoc on their otherwise private life. So he took a sperm sabbatical for three months. But Nagel found he couldn’t ignore his calling. “It’s hard to say no [to the women], especially when it’s something that’s so important to them and so easy for me to give,” he said. “If what I was doing was wrong, it wouldn’t feel right. But it feels good making someone’s dream come true. Why that’s controversial is so puzzling to me.” The moms agree. “I wouldn’t have a baby if Ari weren’t the father,” said pregnant Tiffany Harrison, a 42-year-old who works in church with her pastor wife, Yvonne. She had a successful conception after the Sperminator produced a sample on demand at her Easter party. It will be her family’s second Nagel baby: Yvonne gave birth to their daughter Zoe 2½ years ago. They consider Nagel a member of the family, and he even joins them on vacations — most recently in Las Vegas this past winter. Several mothers invite each other to baby showers and birthdays. “Some of the moms video-chat every day,” said Nagel. “They all love each other — maybe a little too much. [Some of] the moms are flirting and hooking up.” While about 10 percent of the mothers don’t include Nagel in their children’s lives at all, he has met all of the kids. For others, he is a regular at birthday parties and school events. He’s sometimes even in the delivery room. “I texted him at 6 a.m., and he came right away. That’s Ari — he’s always there. If it’s important, he’ll find a way,” said the unnamed Brooklyn mom of the baby girl. Nagel was also present this past spring when a Florida woman gave birth to his first set of twins. “It’s a bond that’s unexplainable to people,” Vanderhorst said of the relationship she imagines Nagel will have with her unborn daughter. “We want her to know she has a dad and make it as normal as possible for her. From the outside, [people] don’t get it, but from the inside, it’s a family thing.” Nagel doesn’t plan to procreate forever, however. “It’s only for another year or two,” he said. “There’s higher risks for birth defects as you get older, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable. I want the children to be healthy.” He joked that he’d like to pass the baton one day to his now-13-year-old son. “He’ll take over,” said Nagel, who has already talked to the boy about it, adding that he’ll need his own nickname: “ ‘You can be the Ejaculator, not the Sperminator,’ ” he told his son. Nagel admits that this is all a long way from his early life, when he was a “sheltered” kid from an insular Orthodox community in Rockland County. But he wouldn’t have it any other way: “Now I have family members from every stripe, race, creed, nationality and orientation. I’ve got a little United Nations.” http://nypost.com/2017/06/17/sperminator-has-sired-dozens-of-kids-and-there-could-be-more-coming/ |
| Entertainment / Re: Nigeria’s Booming Film Industry Redefines African Life - New York Times by anonymous6(f): 3:52pm On Jun 24, 2017 |
AkQWA: I agree |
| Foreign Affairs / Nigerians Boycott Coca-cola Drinks After Court Rules Them 'poisonous' - CNN by anonymous6(f): 7:16pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Coca-Cola products Sprite and Fanta could soon carry health warnings in Nigeria. Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)Consumers of Sprite and Fanta have more to worry about than rotting teeth according to a Lagos High Court judge, who ruled that the Coca-Cola products could be "poisonous." The court held that high levels of benzoic acid and sunset additives in the popular soft drinks could pose a health risk to consumers when mixed with ascorbic acid, commonly known as vitamin C, according to local media. Justice Adedayo Oyebanji ordered the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) to place written warnings on Fanta and Sprite bottles against drinking them with vitamin C, and awarded costs of two million naira ($6,350) against the National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for failing to ensure health standards. "It is manifest that NAFDAC has been grossly irresponsible in its regulatory duties to the consumers of Fanta and Sprite manufactured by Nigeria Bottling Company," the judge said. "NAFDAC has failed the citizens of this great nation by its certification as satisfactory for human consumption products ... which become poisonous in the presence of ascorbic acid." Incendiary judgement The incendiary judgment followed a lawsuit brought against regulator NAFDAC and the NBC -- a member of Coca-Cola Hellenic group which bottles Coca-Cola products in Nigeria -- by Lagos businessman Dr. Emmanuel Fijabi Adebo. The claimant's company, Fijabi Adebo Holdings Limited, attempted to export Coca-Cola products to the United Kingdom for retail in February 2007. But authorities in the UK seized and subsequently destroyed a shipment, Adebo claimed, because the products contained excessive levels of sunset yellow and benzoic acid. The latter substance can form the carcinogen benzene when combined with ascorbic acid, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Lawyers for the NBC argued that the products were not intended for export, but Justice Adedayo Oyebanji rejected this defense. "Soft drinks manufactured by Nigeria Bottling Company ought to be fit for human consumption irrespective of color or creed," the judge said. Mr Adebo was pleased by the verdict but vowed to pursue further damages. "I'm happy that I'm victorious and we've alerted Nigerians and the entire world to what is happening in Nigeria," the businessman told CNN. "What the court fined NAFDAC is not one tenth of the amount I've spent on litigation ... We should have been awarded at least the amount that we spent in purchasing that product and in exporting it to UK. We are entitled to special damages for what we have gone through." Different standards Both the NBC and NAFDAC are appealing against the ruling, arguing that the Coca-Cola products do not exceed benzoic acid limits for Nigeria or international limits set by Codex, the international food standards body administered by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). "The UK standards limit benzoic acid in soft drinks to a maximum of 150 mg/kg. Both Fanta and Sprite have benzoic levels of 200 mg/kg which is lower than the Nigerian regulatory limit of 250 mg/kg," wrote Sade Morgan, legal, public affairs and communications director of the NBC. "The permissible ingredient levels set by countries for their food and beverage products are influenced by a number of factors such as climate, an example being the UK, a temperate region, requiring lower preservative levels unlike tropical countries." Codex recently reduced its international limit for benzoic acid volume from 600 mg/kg to 250 mg/kg, and is considering a further reduction in the coming years. "The previous levels are still considered as safe -- they are just not necessary," says Tom Heilandt, secretary of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, explaining the change. "More work will be done over the next few years to see if the levels could be further adjusted." The levels found in Nigeria Coca-Cola products should not pose health risks, according to Dr Markus Lipp, a senior food safety officer at the FAO. "The current acceptable limit for benzoates by the Codex Alimentarius Commission is set to be 250mg/kg," he told CNN. "This maximum use limit has a temporary designation, but nevertheless is considered for now to be appropriately health protective." "There simply does not seem to be health concern from our perspective," Lipp said of the Lagos case. Nigeria's health ministry also released a statement claiming that the products are safe. "NAFDAC and SON (Standards Organization of Nigeria) regularly monitor the manufacturing practices of food industries and conduct laboratory analysis to ascertain continuous compliance with required national standards," said the statement. However, Health Minister Isaac Adewole insisted that the government is responding to public concerns, and has opened an investigation into the safety of Coca-Cola products made in Nigeria. Consumer backlash Attempts to downplay the controversy are unlikely to succeed, at least in the short term, as alarm spreads among consumers. Nigeria's Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has opened its own investigation. "(The council) is extremely concerned about the questions that have arisen from, and on account of this judgement," said Director General, Mrs Dupe Atoki. "Fanta, Sprite and Coca Cola have arguably and consistently been the most widely consumed beverages in Nigeria. The spectrum of consumption is also perhaps the widest, with consumption starting as early as age four and far into adult years." On social media, citizens expressed dissatisfaction with the way NAFDAC is handling consumer safety in the country. Several citizens accused the agency of placing more priority on generating revenues than protecting citizens. With more citizens worried about their health following the revelation, some drew connections between NAFDAC's displeasing performance and Nigeria's worsening health statistics. Since the verdict was made public, some citizens are choosing to stop drinking Coca-Cola products, with others calling for a boycott. The NBC acknowledge they face an uphill struggle to contain the scandal and rebuild their reputation. Coca-Cola hope that appeals against the ruling will be successful and rehabilitate the brands. "The Ministry of Health communique could not be more clear that there is no issue with the safety of Fanta and Sprite," says Hamish Banks, Coca-Cola VP for Public Affairs and Communications, Eurasia and Africa. "The levels of all ingredients in these products, including benzoates and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), are well within the conservative guidelines of the Codex Alimentarius and the Nigeria Industrial Standards." "While it is not appropriate to comment further on a pending case and while the court considers appeals by NBC and NAFDAC against the ruling, it is evident that there is no safety issue associated with these ingredients," he added. For one of the world's most successful and global brands, the hope is that the backlash does not travel beyond Nigeria's borders. http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/28/africa/nigeria-coca-cola-case/ |
| Entertainment / Re: Nigeria’s Booming Film Industry Redefines African Life - New York Times by anonymous6(f): 6:46pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
| Entertainment / Nigeria’s Booming Film Industry Redefines African Life - New York Times by anonymous6(f): 6:38pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
ASABA, Nigeria — Sitting on a blue plastic stool in the sweltering heat, Ugezu J. Ugezu, one of Nigeria’s top filmmakers, was furiously rewriting his script as the cameras prepared to roll. “Cut!” he shouted after wrapping up a key scene, a confrontation between the two leading characters. Then, under his breath, he added, “Good as it gets.” This was the seventh — and last — day of shooting in a village near here for “Beyond the Dance,” Mr. Ugezu’s story of an African prince’s choice of a bride, and the production had been conducted at a breakneck pace. “In Nollywood, you don’t waste time,” he said. “It’s not the technical depth that has made our films so popular. It’s because of the story. We tell African stories.” The stories told by Nigeria’s booming film industry, known as Nollywood, have emerged as a cultural phenomenon across Africa, the vanguard of the country’s growing influence across the continent in music, comedy, fashion and even religion. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, overtook its rival, South Africa, as the continent’s largest economy two years ago, thanks in part to the film industry’s explosive growth. Nollywood — a term I helped coin with a 2002 article when Nigeria’s movies were just starting to gain popularity outside the country — is an expression of boundless Nigerian entrepreneurialism and the nation’s self-perception as the natural leader of Africa, the one destined to speak on the continent’s behalf. “The Nigerian movies are very, very popular in Tanzania, and, culturally, they’ve affected a lot of people,” said Songa wa Songa, a Tanzanian journalist. “A lot of people now speak with a Nigerian accent here very well thanks to Nollywood. Nigerians have succeeded through Nollywood to export who they are, their culture, their lifestyle, everything.” Nollywood generates about 2,500 movies a year, making it the second-biggest producer after Bollywood in India, and its films have displaced American, Indian and Chinese ones on the televisions that are ubiquitous in bars, hair salons, airport lounges and homes across Africa. The industry employs a million people — second only to farming — in Nigeria, pumping $600 million annually into the national economy, according to a 2014 report by the United States International Trade Commission. In 2002, it made 400 movies and $45 million. Nollywood resonates across Africa with its stories of a precolonial past and of a present caught between village life and urban modernity. The movies explore the tensions between the individual and extended families, between the draw of urban life and the pull of the village, between Christianity and traditional beliefs. For countless people, in a place long shaped by outsiders, Nollywood is redefining the African experience. “I doubt that a white person, a European or American, can appreciate Nollywood movies the way an African can,” said Katsuva Ngoloma, a linguist at the University of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo who has written about Nollywood’s significance. “But Africans — the rich, the poor, everyone — will see themselves in those movies in one way or another.” In Yeoville, a neighborhood in Johannesburg that is a melting pot for migrants, a seamstress from Ghana took orders one recent morning for the latest fashions seen in Nollywood movies. Hairstylists from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, working in salons or on the street, offered hair weaves following the styles favored by Nollywood actresses. “Nigerian movies express how we live as Africans, what we experience in our everyday lives, things like witchcraft, things like fighting between mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws,” said Patience Moyo, 34, a Zimbabwean hair-braider. “When you watch the movies, you feel it is really happening. One way or another, it will touch your life somewhere.” When I first reported on Nigeria’s film industry more than a decade ago, the movies were slapped together in such a makeshift fashion that, during one interview, a production manager offered me the part of an evil white man. (Never mind my Japanese roots, he assured me, I was close enough.) After I casually threw out the term “Nollywood” in a conversation with a colleague, a copy editor created this headline for my article: “Step Aside, L.A. and Bombay, for Nollywood.” The name stuck — and spread. But success hasn’t robbed Nollywood of its freewheeling ways: During my recent visit to a Nigerian village where a half-dozen movies were being shot, a producer came over and, on the spot, offered me the role of an evil white man who brings a vampire to Nigeria. Back in 2002, the movies were simply known as Nigeria’s home videos. They were popularized at first through video cassettes traded across Africa, but now Nollywood is available on satellite and cable television channels, as well as on streaming services like iRokoTV. In 2012, in response to swelling popularity in Francophone Africa, a satellite channel called Nollywood TV began offering round-the-clock movies dubbed into French. Most Nollywood movies are in English, though some are in one of Nigeria’s main ethnic languages. Until Nollywood’s ascendance, movies made in Francophone Africa — with grants from the French government — dominated filmmaking on the continent. But these movies catered to the sensibilities of Western critics and viewers, and won few fans in Africa, leaving no cultural footprint. In Nollywood, though, movies are still financed by private investors expecting a profit. “You want to do a movie? You have the script? You look immediately for the money and you shoot,” said Mahmood Ali-Balogun, a leading Nigerian filmmaker. “When you get a grant from France or the E.U., they can dictate to you where to put your camera, the fine-tuning of your script. It’s not a good model for us in Africa.” Mr. Ali-Balogun was speaking from his office in Surulere, Lagos, the birthplace of Nollywood. Film production has since moved to other cities, especially Asaba, an otherwise sleepy state capital in southeastern Nigeria. On any given day, a dozen crews can be found here — “epic” films with ancient story lines like “Beyond the Dance” are in the works in nearby villages, while “glamour” movies about modern life make the city itself their sets. One recent entry in the glamour category was “Okada 50,” the story of a woman and son who, after leaving their village, open a coffin business in the city and terrorize their neighbors. Most films have budgets of about $25,000 and are shot in a week. Once completed in Asaba, the movies find their way to every corner of Africa, released in the original English, dubbed into French or African languages, and sometimes readapted, repackaged and often pirated for local audiences. Many movies are also propelled by a symbiotic relationship with Nigeria’s Pentecostal Christianity, which pastors have exported throughout Africa. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, pastors who visited Nigeria years ago returned with videocassettes and showed the films in church to teach Christian lessons and attract new members, said Katrien Pype, a Belgian anthropologist at the University of Leuven who has written about the phenomenon. Today in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, Nollywood permeates mainstream culture. Local women copy the fashion, makeup and hairstyles of the actresses; local musicians grumble at the popularity of Nigerian imports, like Don Jazzy and the P-Square twins. Trésor Baka, a Congolese dubber who translates Nollywood movies into the local language, Lingala, said the films are popular because “Nigeria has succeeded in reconciling modernity and their ancient ways, their culture and traditions.” Nollywood has also created a model for movie production in other African nations, said Matthias Krings, a German expert on African popular culture at Johannes Gutenberg University. In Kitwe, Zambia, local filmmakers were recently making their latest movie in true Nollywood style: a family melodrama shot over 10 days, in a private home, on a $7,000 budget. Burned onto DVD, the movie will be sold in Zambia and neighboring countries. Acknowledging the influence of Nigerian cinema, the movie’s producer, Morgan Mbulo, 36, said, “We can tell our own stories now". https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/world/africa/with-a-boom-before-the-cameras-nigeria-redefines-african-life.html?_r=0 14 Likes 3 Shares |
| Politics / Exclusive: $700 Million Raw Cash Found In Petroleum Minister’s House by anonymous6(f): 3:10pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Exclusive: $700 million raw cash found in Petroleum Minister’s house, Jonathan covers up The type of stealing and corruption going on in the Federal Government of Nigeria is mind boggling. Information available to newspunch.org suggests that a mind boggling sum of $700 million was allegedly found in the house of Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke. According to information from an impeccable source, the huge sum in foreign currency was discovered recently by some security agents while conducting a search of the house of one her aides who resides in the ministers house but allegedly stole $10 million from the Minister. Maduaeke according to source admitted to the ownership huge sum of $700 million. “she must have kept that very particular money in her aide’s apartment, because the unnamed aide is said to be one of the trusted one among others”, our source stated. It was further gathered that when this was reported to President Goodluck Jonathan, the president felt so sad and disappointed, he immediately invited Diezani Alison Madueke to his office for questioning and rebuked her severely. President Jonathan asked the Minister “for God sake what are you doing with $700 million in your home?” Mrs . Madueke retorted “I am keeping the money for you”. We gathered that President Jonathan just smiled and promptly asked her to go in peace. President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has been criticize by many Nigeria as being the most corrupt considering the president’s stance on corruption. The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders has chided President Goodluck Jonathan over his unwillingness to tackle corruption in the country. According to the group, corruption is the biggest problem the country is facing, besides the Boko Haram insurgency. CACOL’s Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran, told SUNDAY PUNCH there was an urgent need to tackle the problem. “It is a known fact that corruption is the greatest problem confronting our country Nigeria, thus if combated frontally, it would definitely put an end to many other challenges facing us as a people,” he said. http://nigershowbiz.com/exclusive-700-million-raw-cash-found-in-petroleum-ministers-house-jonathan-covers-up/ |
| Culture / Re: Africans And African Americans? Are We Welcomed? by anonymous6(f): 1:52am On Apr 15, 2017 |
Jcolston89: There is ignorance when some africans do this to be honest but I need to be honest with you when most Africans say that to a extent, they are not talking about your ancestral heritage through DNA cause all black diasporians around the world came from Africa one way or another through slavery but when africans say "you are not african" they are talking about something else. They are talking about your current culture that you live right now tracing back many generations. To some of them african americans are not connected to any sole tribe, culture or country in Africa, and most african americans are culturally more American in their culture, way of thinking and etc. Another thing African american culture is very unique after 400 years in America, so the way a african american says they are african is different from how africans in the continent of africa interpret it. |
| Foreign Affairs / Re: Trump Is About To Find Out Why Obama Avoided Military Intervention In Syria by anonymous6(f): 1:36am On Apr 15, 2017 |
birdman: So true, Obama didn't want any more drama added to the drama he was dealing with, so two thumbs up for him, plus people forget Obama promised that during his presidency he will not start another war and he kept that promise, especially since Iraq and Afghanistan is still a current issue. |
| Foreign Affairs / Re: Trump Is About To Find Out Why Obama Avoided Military Intervention In Syria by anonymous6(f): 11:43pm On Apr 08, 2017 |
| Foreign Affairs / Re: Trump Is About To Find Out Why Obama Avoided Military Intervention In Syria by anonymous6(f): 11:20pm On Apr 08, 2017 |
GloriaNinja: How so? |
| Culture / Re: BBC's Documentary On The 'Bronze Cast Head Of The Ife King' by anonymous6(f): 11:19pm On Apr 08, 2017 |
YonkijiSappo: Glad you like it, please check out this documentary, it talks about african civilizations and the IFE kingdom and bronze cast art is mentioned http://www.pbs.org/show/africas-great-civilizations/ http://www.pbs.org/video/2365943926/ |
| Culture / Re: What Are The Top 5 Black Cultural Foods/Cuisines To You? by anonymous6(f): 11:16pm On Apr 08, 2017 |
| Culture / Re: What Are The Top 5 Black Cultural Foods/Cuisines To You? by anonymous6(f): 11:08pm On Apr 08, 2017 |
| Foreign Affairs / Trump Is About To Find Out Why Obama Avoided Military Intervention In Syria by anonymous6(f): 11:05pm On Apr 08, 2017 |
"WASHINGTON ― On Thursday night, President Donald Trump authorized the military to launch several dozen cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea at a Syrian airfield. The strike was meant to punish Syria’s President Bashar Assad for allegedly using chemical weapons to attack his own citizens. It was a dramatic reversal, not only from Trump’s own pledges to limit U.S. involvement in Syria but from his predecessor, who for years resisted growing calls to intervene militarily against the Assad regime. President Barack Obama’s decision to refrain from engagement in 2013 was criticized as feckless at the time and is cited now as one of the reasons that Trump was forced to act. But a revisiting of the arguments and calculations that led Obama to make his decision ― from the fear that it would not be a deterrent to the concerns over how the U.S. would respond to future attacks on civilians ― provides an important blueprint for the major hurdles that Trump will now have to confront. Even if the Assad regime stops using chemical weapons, it will continue to pummel civilians with barrel bombs, predicted Ilan Goldenberg, a former State Department official during the Obama administration. “You’ll see many more pictures of ‘beautiful [Syrian] babies’ [dying] on TV ― specifically to humiliate the United States and show the fecklessness of military action,” he said. “What will the United States do? Will it get drawn in the way it did in Libya where we started with a civilian protection operation and ended up with a regime change operation?” Goldenberg continued. “This is the biggest danger and I think this was Obama’s biggest concern.” The Obama administration resisted getting pulled into the Syrian civil war, which began during the Arab Spring protests in 2011. But in August 2013, a sarin gas attack allegedly carried out by the Assad regime killed 1,400 Syrians. It was a humanitarian catastrophe and a clear challenge to Obama’s self-imposed “red line” against the use of chemical weapons, which he laid out the previous year. At first, Obama appeared poised to respond quickly with limited airstrikes ― a variation of what Trump did on Thursday. Three days after the 2013 chemical weapons attack, the U.S. sent armed warships into the eastern Mediterranean Sea and the military drew up attack plans. But Obama never ordered the military to strike. In the days following the 2013 gas attack, the administration attempted to drum up international and domestic support for a retaliatory response. Obama had hoped for a coordinated response with an ally, but the British Parliament voted down the United Kingdom’s participation. Their vote raised the specter of whether Obama, as well, would allow his government’s legislative branch to have a say. After a 45-minute walk around the South Lawn of the White House with his chief-of-staff, he announced that he would ask for congressional approval ― even as he maintained that he had the authority to order the strike without consulting lawmakers. By that point, however, it was becoming clearer that the American public, still reeling from drawn-out wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an ill-fated intervention in Libya, opposed the move. Lawmakers said they were inundated with calls from constituents urging them to vote against military action. After weeks of deliberation, it was unclear if Obama could get enough votes from Congress. By the time all the views within the administration had filtered up to Obama, he had heard passionate cases both for and against intervention, said Perry Cammack, a staffer for then-Secretary of State John Kerry, at the time. And then, in what appeared to be an-off-the-cuff rhetorical remark, Kerry told reporters the only way for Assad to avoid military action was to turn over his chemical weapons stockpile to the international community within a week. “But he isn’t about to do it and it can’t be done,” Kerry said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov jumped at the narrow opportunity. Five days later ― Washington and Moscow announced a deal in which Syria would do what Kerry had almost jokingly proposed. Obama called off the military strike. In the years since, even some of Obama’s most strident supporters questioned whether this was the right call. Backing down, they said, damaged U.S. credibility and strengthened Assad’s sense of impunity. But even as the civilian death toll in Syria mounted, Obama maintained that he’d acted prudently. A limited strike would have no practical effect on the Assad regime ― and surviving an attack from the U.S. risked emboldening rather than deterring the dictator, his camp argued. Obama also worried about starting down the slippery slope to deeper involvement in another quagmire in the Middle East. Whereas Obama has been faulted for overthinking matters to the point of crippling inaction, critics of the current president say his weakness is his apparent lack of interest in planning. “I have no confidence these guys have any plan whatsoever,” Goldenberg said. Moreover, all of the concerns that made the Obama administration second-guess military action in Syria are still relevant today. If anything, the situation there is messier now than in 2013. The Islamic State militant group controls parts of Syria and Iraq. The U.S. air war against the group depends, in large part on Syria staying out of the way. Meanwhile, Russia has entered the Syrian civil war as a staunch defender of the Assad regime, providing air support to the embattled dictator. The crowded airspace is managed by a fragile deconfliction pact between the U.S. and Russia. Trump seemed to recognize these complications too ― both during the 2013 debate when he strongly advised the U.S. not to engage in Syria and the presidential campaign when he warned that involvement would precipitate World War III. But in a span of a news cycle, his tune changed this week. During his daily intelligence briefing on the day of the attack, he asked for military options, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters. Two days later, he had settled on an option and ordered the military to move forward. His administration notified foreign allies and congressional leadership after the missiles were launched, minutes before they hit their targets. The haste with which Trump acted stands in contrast to the weeks of deliberation culminating in a decision not to strike in 2013. Cammack, the former Kerry staffer, described it as “a reflection of the temperaments of the two presidents.” But it also allowed Trump to avoid a pitfall that ensnared his predecessor. By moving swiftly, the president earned plaudits from lawmakers and pundits ― some of whom swooned over the images that the military had released of the damage to the Syrian airfield. Even those who have accused Trump of being unhinged in the past praised the strikes as a decisive and proportionate response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons. That might be because the U.S. was already regularly dropping bombs in Syria against ISIS, making the public somewhat desensitized to further military action there. But it also could be because by skipping the deliberative process that the Obama administration so meticulously engaged in, the Trump administration didn’t give the public time to sour on the idea. And yet, the speed with which Trump flipped positions and ordered military action based on his newfound distaste for the Assad regime risks doing exactly what Obama feared in 2013: sparking a series of unforeseen consequences. It is unclear whether the strikes will have any meaningful impact on the Assad regime. Hours after the U.S. attack, Reuters reported that Syrian warplanes took off from the base hit by American cruise missiles. On Friday and Saturday, Khan Sheikhoun, the opposition-held site of the chemical weapons attack earlier in the week, was hit by more airstrikes. “I’m worried about whether they did enough of their homework given how quickly decisions were made,” said Eric Pelofsky, a former National Security Council official in the Obama administration. “ What happens if the Assad regime targets our aircraft as they are continuing to prosecute the war on ISIS inside Syrian airspace? Are we prepared to take down their air defenses ― and for the consequences of doing that?” continued Pelofsky, who is now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Even some who criticized Obama’s inaction worried that Trump’s impulsive decision-making process could backfire. “Horrible as the Khan Sheikhoun attack was, the Assad government has used chemical weapons dozens and dozens of times, and has committed numerous other war crimes,” Kori Schake, a former Bush administration official, wrote Friday. “The indiscipline that has characterized the Trump’s actions may lead him to emotional reactions without corresponding strategy.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-2013-syria-trump-strike_us_58e8f930e4b00de14103d8f4 1 Like |
| Fashion / Re: Black Women Rocking Their Natural Hair by anonymous6(f): 3:26pm On Dec 17, 2016 |
| Fashion / Re: The 10 Best Makeup Lines For Black Women by anonymous6(f): 3:23pm On Dec 17, 2016 |
| Foreign Affairs / Re: African Union Launches All-africa Passport - CNN by anonymous6(f): 9:17pm On Sep 21, 2016 |
OfficialAwol: I agree actually, it could be a way for these terrorist to just spread every where and spread their crazy behavior. To me I feel each country will put their own law restrictions when it comes to this for security for their country. |
| Foreign Affairs / African Union Launches All-africa Passport - CNN by anonymous6(f): 1:58pm On Aug 22, 2016 |
[b](CNN)As the European Union threatens to unravel in the wake of Britain's vote to leave, the African Union is pursuing a path of closer integration through the launch of a common passport that will grant visa-free access to all 54 member states. The first of the electronic passports were unveiled at the AU summit in Kigali, Rwanda, where they were issued to heads of state and senior officials. The Union aims to distribute them to all African citizens by 2020. "The opening ceremony was marked by a symbolic act of Pan-Africanism with the launch of the African Union (AU) passport aimed at facilitating the free movement of people on the continent," the Union announced in a statement. The passports represent a key plank of the Agenda 2063 action plan, which emphasizes the need for greater continental integration, drawing on the popular vision of Pan-African unity. Freedom of movement has been a longstanding priority among member states, as enshrined in previous agreements such as the 1991 Abuja Treaty. Common passports have already been adopted for several regions, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Open door policy Currently, just 13 African states are open to all African citizens without advance visas, with many placing severe restrictions on travel. A recent report from the African Development Bank advised that easing entrance requirements would support economic growth, citing the case of Rwanda, which saw GDP and tourism revenues climb after abolishing visas. AU Director for Political Affairs Dr. Khabele Matlosa believes opening borders will have a profound effect for workers at the lower end of the scale. "We have a problem now that young people are risking their lives to cross the Sahara Desert or travel on boats to Europe," says Matlosa. "If we open opportunities in Africa we reduce that risk." The Director has been studying the example of Europe, but believes a closer African Union will not be so threatened by concerns about immigration or loss of sovereignty. "Africa is a continent of migrants so we are not as suspicious of refugees," he says. "This is a test of our Pan-Africanism, the doctrine which underpins the African Union's existence. We are committed to this philosophy." However Matlosa acknowledges the target of providing all citizens with the passports by 2018 is ambitious, conceding that full coverage may not be achieved until several years later. Risks and rewards Analysts have highlighted logistical challenges of the initiative. "Not all countries have the same level of technology needed for the biometric system and to register their citizens," says David Zounmenou, senior research fellow at the Institute for Security Studies. "The timeframe is too short -- 2020 would be a fine effort." Zounmenou adds that the closer union will face a complaint familiar to European counterparts -- that of more powerful states overriding smaller members. "Not every country will buy into it," he says. "Visa revenue is an important source of income for some countries and removing it will affect the local economy unless there is compensation." But Zounmenou believes that common passports will support international trade within the continent, reducing the widespread dependence on Western goods, and offer new opportunities to many citizens. "Many people ask 'what are the practical benefits of being a member of the AU?'" he says. "This can be one of the most important social and economic responses, which allows business to flow, students to travel, and people to move from one corner of the continent to another." Critics have suggested open borders risk strengthening terror groups and organized crime, but Zounmenou disagrees. "One key advantage is that we will have centralized records to show who is going where," he says.[/b] http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/05/africa/african-union-passport/ 2 Likes 1 Share |
| TV/Movies / Re: Nigeria's Nollywood Eclipsing Hollywood In Africa by anonymous6(f): 2:14am On Aug 09, 2016 |
anonymous6: had to put in the correct link: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/nigerias-nollywood-eclipsing-hollywood-in-africa-5540975.html |
| Foreign Affairs / Re: Melania Trump Plagiarised Michelle Obama's Speech - PUNCH by anonymous6(f): 12:52pm On Jul 19, 2016 |
yup she plagiarizes a speech of the first lady of a president that Donald Trump hates lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1HL_GLf8QE 9 Likes |
| Fashion / Re: Black Women Rocking Their Natural Hair by anonymous6(f): 5:30pm On Jun 08, 2016 |
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