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Now, Can someone tell me what's wrong with each of these photographs?

14 September 2011 Last updated at 16:58 GMT


Trolling: Who does it and why?

By Tom de Castella and Virginia Brown

BBC News Magazine Celebrities are often targets for abuse

An internet "troll" has been jailed for mocking dead teenagers on various websites. Public figures, including Stephen Fry and Miranda Hart, have also been victims of trolling. So what is it and why do people do it?

For some the word derives from a fishing term for towing bait behind a boat, for others it comes from the Norse monsters. But today trolling is more likely to involve a keyboard and mouse than a trawler, and if not a monster, it is a very modern menace.

Opponents might characterise it as the internet equivalent of road rage, vandalising a grave, or kicking a man when he's down.

Trolling is a phenomenon that has swept across websites in recent years. Online forums, Facebook pages and newspaper comment forms are bombarded with insults, provocations or threats. Supporters argue it's about humour, mischief and freedom of speech. But for many the ferocity and personal nature of the abuse verges on hate speech.

In its most extreme form it is a criminal offence. On Tuesday Sean Duffy was jailed for 18 weeks after posting offensive messages and videos on tribute pages about young people who had died. One of those he targeted was 15-year-old Natasha MacBryde, who had been killed by a train. "I fell asleep on the track lolz" was one of the messages he left on a Facebook page set up by her family.

Continue reading the main story High-profile cases Natasha MacBryde - Sean Duffy was jailed for 18 weeks for posts on social networking sites about the 15-year-old after she took her own lifeHayley Bates - MP Karen Bradley raised trolling in Parliament after a Facebook page was set up mocking the 17-year-old's death in a car crash Jade Goody - Colm Coss was jailed for 18 weeks after posting obscene messages on Facebook sites set up in memory of the Big Brother star and several other dead people
Duffy is the second person to be jailed for trolling in the UK. Last year Colm Coss was imprisoned for posting obscene messages on Facebook tribute sites, including that of Jade Goody.

Trolling appears to be part of an international phenomenon that includes cyberbullying. One of the first high-profile cases emerged in the US state of Missouri in 2006, when 13-year-old Megan Meier killed herself after being bullied online. The bully, Lori Drew, was a middle-aged neighbour who had set up a MySpace account to win - and later betray - her trust. Drew was acquitted of unauthorised computer use in 2009 due to concerns that a conviction would criminalise false online identities.

The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects free speech and makes it difficult to punish people who post offensive messages. But concern over internet vitriol is growing.

Facebook's former marketing director Randi Zuckerberg and Google head Eric Schmidt have both suggested anonymous posting should be phased out.

One of the difficulties is that trolling is a broad term, taking in everything from a cheeky provocation to violent threats. And why people do it continues to baffle the experts.

"Online people feel anonymous and disinhibited," says Prof Mark Griffiths, director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University. "They lower their emotional guard and in the heat of the moment may troll either reactively or proactively."

It is usually carried out by young adult males for amusement, boredom and revenge, he adds.

Arthur Cassidy, a social media psychologist, says young people's determination to create an online identity makes them vulnerable to trolling. Secrecy is jettisoned in favour of self-publicity on Facebook, opening the way for ridicule, jealousy and betrayal.

And the need to define themselves through their allegiance to certain celebrities creates a world in which the rich and famous become targets for personal abuse. As a result trolling is "virtually uncontrollable" until the government forces websites to clamp down, he says.

But it's not just young people. Scan any football, music or fan site and there are people of all ages taking part in the most vituperative attacks. But many of the theories that have been put forward as to why people do it don't stand up, says Tom Postnes, professor of social psychology at Groningen University in the Netherlands.

Continue reading the main story View from the internet forums Will Brooks on setting up Myfootballclub.co.uk
It was £35 to join MyFC so I don't think anyone joined with the intention of trolling. But disagreements on the forum all too easily turned to abuse. Finding out that respected professionals in their mid-fifties could post in that way was an eye opener. I've since discovered that forums have a habit of turning sour as it only takes a minority to skew them. As a format they've lost their innocence.

After researching "flaming" - the term for trolling in the early days of the internet - he rejects the idea that people "lose it" when online. If anything they become more attuned to social convention, albeit the specific conventions of the web. Provoking people appears to be the norm in some online communities, he says.

Most trolling is not criminal - it's about having a laugh, says Rob Manuel, co-founder of the website B3ta, which specialises in altering photographs for comic effect. "Trolling taps into people's desire to poke fun, make trouble and cause annoyance," he says.

He first became aware of the phenomenon in the 90s when a friend cross-posted on fan sites for Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, asking: "Who'd win in a fight - the Emperor or Gandalf?" Manuel says his friend sat back and laughed like some "mad scientist looking at insects in a jar" as hundreds of passionate posts followed.

'No guilt'

We're all capable of becoming a troll, says Jaron Lanier, a computer scientist in the US and author of You Are Not A Gadget. Lanier admits he has sometimes behaved badly online and believes the cloak of anonymity can encourage people to react in extreme ways.

"The temptation is there and we can get caught up in impulses. If someone reacts, it's emotional and it can be hard to get out of. We can all become trolls."

Former Facebook executive Zuckerberg says anonymous posting should be phased out
Twitter has given the public direct access to celebrities. And stars, including Stephen Fry and Miranda Hart, have temporarily left the website after coming under fire. Internet experts say the key is not to "feed the troll" by offering them a response. Comedian Dom Joly takes a different approach.

He describes himself as "troll slayer" and takes pleasure in tracking down the culprits and exposing them to public shame, especially from close family.

"There's something about a bully that really annoys me," he says. "They'll say something online that they'd never dare to say to your face."

The deviousness is "freaky". He discovered that one of those who'd threatened him was a 14-year-old girl with nine different online identities. They aren't always very intelligent about how they do it, he says.

Continue reading the main story The lawThe Communications Act 2003 governs the internet, email, mobile phone calls and text messagingUnder section 127 of the act it is an offence to send messages that are "grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character"The offence occurs whether those targeted actually receive the message or notCommunications Act 2003 - Section 127
"One guy tweeted from his work account that he hoped my kids die of cancer. I let the MD of the firm know and the guy was fired. I felt no guilt, he should have gone to prison."

Some think regulation is needed, but trolling is not the internet's fault, says Jeff Jarvis, author of Public Parts. "The internet does not create special threats. It's a public square where people will be saying all sorts of things, some of them offensive."

The answer is for newspaper websites and online forums to employ sufficient moderators to prevent the comments spiralling into petty vendettas, he says. To ban online anonymity in order to prevent trolling would be to remove the right of whistleblowers and dissidents to get their message across, he adds.

Manuel agrees. "People are saying nasty, stupid things. So deal with it. Shutting down free speech and stamping on people's civil liberties is not a price worth paying."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14898564

solaugo:
President Barack Obama on Thursday bestowed the highest U.S. military honor on Dakota Meyer, a young and humble Marine who defied orders and barreled straight into a ferocious "killing zone" in Afghanistan to save 36 lives at extraordinary risk to himself.

"You did your duty, above and beyond," Obama told Meyer after reciting his dramatic story. Though the corporal and a fellow Marine were going against orders — commanders considered their effort too dangerous — they were doing what they thought was right, Obama said.

Meyer killed at least eight insurgents despite suffering a shrapnel wound in his arm as he manned the gun turret of the Humvee and provided covering fire for the soldiers, according to the military.

"They told him he couldn't go in," said Dwight Meyer, Dakota Meyer's 81-year-old grandfather, a former Marine who served in the 1950s. "He told them, 'The hell I'm not,' and he went in. It's a one-in-a-million thing" that he survived.

"Dakota, I know you've grappled with the grief of that day, that you said your efforts were somehow a failure because your teammates didn't come home," the president said. "But as your commander in chief and on behalf of everyone here today and all Americans, I want you to know it's quite the opposite."

In the ceremony, Obama praised Meyer's humility and work ethic, noting that he would not even take a call from the president during his shift at a construction job because he was working. He is now out of the Marines. So they two arranged to talk over his lunch hour. Obama jokingly kidded him with thanks for taking the call.

I saw an interview with the guy on CBS.

The guys is a real hero. And very humble too.

"Change has come to America!"

I dey laff o!

[size=18pt]Obama's problem? No one fears him[/size]

(CNN) -- The White House loves to trumpet that one of President Barack Obama's greatest virtues is that he operates above the fray, choosing not to waste time with the political battles in the trenches.

"No Drama Obama" is what we heard during the 2008 presidential campaign -- that his cool, calm demeanor is his biggest asset. But as I look at how the GOP forced the president's hand on extending the Bush tax cuts; created political hay out of the debt ceiling, helping lead the nation to lose its AAA credit rating; and committed the gross disrespect of rebuffing the president's request to speak to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, it's fair to ask: When will this president strike back and exert some presidential muscle?

There is no doubt that President Obama has taken an aggressive position in going after al-Qaeda. We have taken out far more of the terror group's leaders than under President George W. Bush, including killing Osama bin Laden and the group's No. 2 leader. Even the hawkest of hawks can't complain about his decisions in Libya and Afghanistan.

But the 2012 election will not be decided on foreign policy. The economy will trump all that, and on that note, President Obama looks like a man with all the trappings of the most powerful position in the world, but one who uses little to none of the power.

Gergen: How Obama could be the leader in the room

This unwillingness to flex his muscle was first seen when Democrats were ready to tar and feather Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman for his stern opposition to then-Sen. Barack Obama in his battle against Sen. John McCain.

Democrats wanted to strip Lieberman of his committee assignments, but Obama quashed that, saying it wasn't necessary. How did Lieberman repay the president for his support? By being a thorn in his side during the health care debate. I would think that when you saved someone's butt, you might want to lean on him when you need to.

Didn't happen.

When the obscene AIG bonuses became public in early 2009, the American people reacted angrily, wanting to punish Wall Street executives. The White House reacted late with righteous indignation; then did nothing.

The president talks tough with banks one day, then has an olive branch for them the next. All while the banks screw Americans out of their homes, even though the American people kept the fat cat bankers from losing their own multiple million-dollar homes across the nation with billions of dollars in bailouts.

What did JP Morgan Chase leader Jamie Dimon do? Rip the president for picking on bankers, saying it was wrong to keep blaming them, even though their destructive plans of jacking up quarterly stock prices with foul schemes nearly destroyed the world financial system.

So the president helps fatten their balance sheets and they still dump on him? Has he jumped on the banks for refusing to modify loans? Nope. Their plan of action, according to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, is voluntary.

It is abundantly clear that President Obama is unwilling to fire back at his critics, who disrespect him and the office of the president. He wants to take the high ground, while his critics are ripping the ground out from underneath him. Instead of taking charge of his agenda, he is willing to let others blow him off to pursue their own.

When he came into office, President Obama decried the ways of Washington, saying voters don't want to see the acrimony. But they sure as hell want to see a president fight for what he believes in, even if that means losing a battle.

The White House bowed to Republicans in the Senate in not appointing Elizabeth Warren as head of the Consumer Protection Bureau. She was considered enemy No. 1 for them. So by appointing Richard Cordray, the Obama administration hoped the Senate would recess, allowing them to make his appointment effective during the recess. There was one tiny problem: The only thing the GOP hated more than Warren was the bureau itself. They didn't recess, and now Cordray will be put through the wringer on Tuesday during his Senate confirmation hearing.

Has the president made a stink about the GOP refusing to allow his appointees to move forward? Every now and then, but it is nothing close to the heat President George W. Bush and his supporters put on the Senate when his conservative judges and appointees were being held up.

Maybe White House senior adviser David Plouffe and campaign manager Jim Messina think the tactic the president is taking is appealing to independent voters. But the unwillingness to go to the mat on anything has angered some of his ardent supporters, who feel the White House will leave them hanging in the wind when it's time to fight.

After his Martha's Vineyard vacation, President Obama signaled he was ready to do battle leading up to the 2012 re-election. But the bungling, and eventual capitulation, over when he would address a joint session of Congress to present a jobs plan shows that we have seen more of the same: a decisive action taken by Obama, only to back down and acquiesce to the GOP.

After Obama buckled to Speaker John Boehner by postponing the speech to Thursday, a hardcore Democrat, who hates anything the GOP does and has never voted for a Republican for president, texted me the following: "Does the POTUS need back surgery? I think he does. He needs a spine transplant."

President Obama's feeble attempt to engage his foes is angering those who are ready to do battle and have his back. I've heard it from folks in the labor movement, civil rights leaders, women and young folks. And don't be surprised if polling shows that independents want a president who will stick to his guns, even if they disagree with him on policy.

Americans respond to decisiveness. They respond to a leader who makes clear what he wants and will use the power of the presidency to lead his troops up the hill to take on those who oppose him.

Right now, it appears President Obama is working to not lose, as opposed to fighting to win. And that simply ain't gonna cut it.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/09/02/martin.obama.power/index.html?iref=obinsite

FEMA funding faces now familiar congressional wrangling

Washington (CNN) -- As rescuers raced Tuesday to free people trapped by floodwaters caused by Hurricane Irene, Washington politicians bickered over how to pay for it.

The same budget arguments that nearly brought the first government default in history earlier this month now raise questions about whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will have enough money to deal with Irene's aftermath.

FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund has less than $800 million remaining, and given the pace of operations in the wake of Irene, could run out before the end of the current fiscal year on September 30.

With conservative House Republicans calling for spending cuts to offset any increase in emergency funds -- a condition opposed by many Democrats -- the ability of Congress to act quickly on the issue remains uncertain.

"The notion that we would hold this up until Republicans can prompt another budget fight and figure out what they want to cut, what they want to offset in the budget, and to pit one section of the country against the other and to delay this and create this uncertainty, it's just the latest chapter and I think one of the most unsavory ones of our budget wars," said Rep. David Price, D-North Carolina.

Irene first made landfall on the U.S. mainland in North Carolina, devastating some coastal areas. Price said GOP efforts led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of neighboring Virginia to offset additional emergency funds amount to "an untenable position and one that simply is unresponsive and insensitive to the kind of situation we face."

Cantor's spokesman, however, noted that an appropriations bill already passed by the House and awaiting action in the Democratic-controlled Senate includes additional money to replenish the FEMA disaster fund.

"That funding was offset," said the spokesman, Brad Dayspring. "The Senate has thus far failed to act on that legislation."

While the appropriations bill is for fiscal year 2012, which begins October 1, the money could be used for disasters that occurred in fiscal 2011.

"People and families affected by these disasters will certainly get what they need from their federal government," Dayspring said. "The goal should be to find ways to pay for what is needed whenever possible. That is the responsible thing to do. "

States can request FEMA Disaster Relief Fund assistance once the president declares a federal disaster within their borders. Most of the Eastern and Northeast states hit by Irene already have that designation.

Federal officials say they don't yet know how much money will be needed for all the emergency operations associated with Irene. After a series of destructive tornadoes earlier this year, including one that leveled a large swath of Joplin, Missouri, FEMA announced Monday that it was not approving new long-term reconstruction projects in order to ensure it has enough money for immediate emergency funding needs.

"Historically, when the balance in our Disaster Relief Fund has been under the range of $1 billion, we have employed this strategy," a FEMA statement said.

Rachel Racusen, a FEMA spokesperson, said in a statement that the revised funding strategy "prioritizes the immediate, urgent needs of survivors and states when preparing for or responding to a disaster."

"This strategy will not affect the availability of aid that any disaster survivors are receiving for recent disasters, such as tornadoes or flooding, or our response operations for Hurricane Irene or any event in the coming weeks or months," Racusen said.

Missouri legislators worried that FEMA was shifting priority from Joplin's recovery to focus on Irene because of the funding crunch.

"Recovery from hurricane damage on the East Coast must not come at the expense of Missouri's rebuilding efforts," Republican Sen. Roy Blunt said in a statement Monday. "If FEMA can't fulfill its promise to our state because we have other disasters, that's unacceptable, and we need to take a serious look at how our disaster response policies are funded and implemented."

To Price, the problem is the Republican demand for spending offsets, which he said ended up pitting regions against each other for needed emergency funding.

"I'm just very impatient and I think the American people are going to be impatient with any attempt to hold these funds hostage to political objectives," he said.

A Democratic Senate appropriations aide told CNN on condition of not being identified that the FEMA disaster fund was at $772 million on Tuesday morning, and that it would be about a week before the agency can estimate the costs associated with Hurricane Irene.

The House appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA, will come up in the Senate Appropriations Committee on September 6, according to the Senate aide.

It doubled the original $1.8 billion requested by President Barack Obama for fiscal 2012, adding $850 million for emergency funding that was offset by cuts in other DHS programs including the Coast Guard, first responders and FEMA, the aide said.

In addition, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, added another $1 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund that was offset by cutting funds for a fuel-efficient vehicles program, according to the aide.

Democrats take issue with cuts to Homeland Security funding to offset additional emergency funding, the aide noted. In July, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, who chairs the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee, criticized the House appropriations bill as "short-sighted."

Even the White House got involved in the fracas, with Press Secretary Jay Carney telling reporters Tuesday that he wished Cantor and other conservative Republicans had the same commitment to spending offsets "when they ran up unprecedented bills and never paid for them" during the administration of President George W. Bush.

That prompted a quick response from Cantor's office, which said: "The goal should be to find ways to pay for what is needed when possible. In the face of a $14 trillion national debt, that is the responsible thing to do."

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/08/30/fema.funding/index.html

When natural disasters become political disasters
By Julian E. Zelizer, CNN ContributorAugust 29, 2011 -- Updated 1115 GMT (1915 HKT)


Editor's note: Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" (Times Books) and editor of a book assessing former President George W. Bush's administration, published by Princeton University Press.

Princeton, New Jersey (CNN) -- As Hurricane Irene gathered force, moving its way up toward the populated areas of the East Coast, politicians in both parties scrambled to prepare. President Obama cut short his vacation on Martha's Vineyard to return to Washington. Governors and mayors in all the affected states issued warnings, with mandatory and voluntary evacuations, and state officials mobilized.

Every politician, red and blue, realized the stakes involved. The failure to prepare and respond effectively to this disaster could be politically devastating to the standing of any politician. The failure to clean up the damage from the hurricane in the next few days, swiftly and effectively, could undercut any political future.

Some presidents have been very effective at handling natural disasters. One of the famous cases took place with Hurricane Betsy in Louisiana in September 1965. Democratic Sen. Russell Long called the president to urge him to visit. When Lyndon Johnson hesitated because of his busy schedule, the canny Long said: "If you go there right now, Mr. President, they couldn't beat you if Eisenhower ran!"

Johnson, motivated by a mix of humanitarian and political incentives, went right away. He traveled the streets, talking to residents and inspecting the damage. Johnson leaned on Robert Phillips from the Office of Emergency Planning to take quick action and to do what was necessary to provide relief.

During one phone conversation, with Long on the line, he said: "Now, in times of distress, it's necessary that all the members of the family get together and lay aside any individual problems they have or any personal grievances and try to take care of the sick mother, and we've got a sick mother on our hands. And as I said the other night when I was there, we've got to cut out all the red tape. We've got to work around the clock. We've got to ignore hours."

Relief arrived, and Congress also passed the Flood Control Act of 1965, which helped to rebuild the area.


Julian ZelizerOther presidents have not done as well. President George H.W. Bush famously stalled in providing relief to Florida after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Following the devastating storm that ripped through the region, Bush did declare a state of emergency and promised that help was on the way. But the help did not come for days.

Indeed, Bush was not even aware at first of the full extent of the damage.

One frustrated emergency official in Dade County asked, on national television, "Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one?" When government assistance finally arrived, many Floridians were angry and frustrated, blaming the president personally for what had happened. The laggard response cost him approval ratings going into the election.

But the event that looms largest in political circles is Hurricane Katrina. In late August 2005, the hurricane devastated Louisiana and Mississippi. President George W. Bush, who had handled 9/11 with such masterful political effect, stumbled. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, under the direction of Michael Brown, who many felt was not qualified for the position, had immense trouble overseeing the response.

The contrast to President Bill Clinton, who had effectively used FEMA to deal with a series of hurricanes, made the situation even more embarrassing. The suffering that took place in New Orleans was immense, and it was broadcast on national television.




The problems in the post-Katrina moment raised questions about President Bush -- his ability to govern, his competence and about cronyism -- that lingered for years. Given the high percentage of African-Americans living in the city, the weak response weakened the president's claim to be a "compassionate conservative" who reached out to minorities. While many people blame the war in Iraq or controversial counterterrorism policies for Bush's downfall, Katrina was an equally important turning point.

Obama suffered early in his presidency with the slow and halting response to the oil spill in the Gulf Coast. While he recovered as the cleanup took place, the crisis was one of the first events to raise questions about how much better Obama was doing with some problems such as the environment than his predecessor.

Coming at a low point in his presidency, the aftermath of Hurricane Irene will be even more important. Obama can't afford to have any more situations that raise questions about his skill as a leader.

The challenge extends to others as well, including potential presidential candidates New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. When Christie was at Disney World during a massive snowstorm earlier this year, the media was unrelenting in its criticism. This time, Christie told state residents to "get the hell off the beach."

Congressional Republicans will also be in the spotlight. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's remark that the GOP would increase funding only if other spending cuts were made will sound harsh to many Americans -- and not exactly like a model of how to govern in times of crisis.

Natural disasters hurt all Americans -- rich and poor, black, white and Latino, male and female. Therefore, they are one of the few times when many Americans -- red and blue -- tend to turn to government for help and put aside their political biases.

How leaders respond to these crises, particularly after Katrina, can determine how the public sees them in the years to come.

The current crop of executives must show in that they can effectively manage through the post-emergency period, mobilizing and distributing resources so that Americans can rebuild their lives quickly. Rather than sparking more fear, they must also inspire those who are suffering to regain the confidence they need to move forward.

If they don't, as President George W. Bush learned, their failure will come back to haunt them in the court of public opinion.


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/27/zelizer.natural.disaster.politics/index.html

baba_eko:
I have not been in Lekki in 10 months now, but I want to know where you pass Johnie to avoid Ajah, lets assume that I'm coming from Abraham Adesanya, how else can I get to V.I and not get stuck in traffic, I hear of the beach road, but you can only go there with a strong jeep I heard. Do you know any shortcuts Johnie ?

Lastly, anyone knows where the road works have reached now, when I was last in the area they were in Jakande but however, hastly building the next toll at Chevron. Is the road still a nightmare, lets say I am coming from phase 1 and going to Abraham Adesanya, what is the commute like at the moment ?

The route through which you could have avoided Ajah is to turn into the 'New Road' just before Chevron round about to Alpha Beach. At Alpha Beach you would have turned left and go through the beach, through Lafiaji on to Okun Ajah and then through Lekki Scheme II to join the expressway at Abraham Adesanya.

All that was possible with any car (not necesarily a 4x4 SUV) until the last two weeks!

Unfortunately, that is history now as some portion of Alpha Beach has now been taken over by the ocean, totally wiping out the road that used to pass there.

With regards to work on the road, it is still going on but has gone beyond Jakande. The work on the second toll gate is ongoing and further expansion work on the road is going on around that area (i.e. Toll-gate/Ikota Bridge towards AJAH).

The President was at Alpha Beach and "promised" to do something about the coastal erosion. Before he came, a minister and the head of the ecological fund had been there separetely.

As I type this, nothing has been done. As a matter of fact, the coastal road in the area has been wiped out and some residents displaced. Mr. President should stop making these promises if he cannot deliver on them!

That is not to absolve the state government of any blame though. They have started playing politics with the matter by claiming that only the FG can solve the problem when they are not even doing what is within their authority.

The state commissioner for the waterfront had visited a number of times and in fact a promised was extracted from him some months back that something would done about the shipwrecks and coastal erosion.

What the state government has now resorted to is to claim that solution lies with the FG. Meanwhile, a major catalyst for the problem is the menace of sand sellers/block makers who illegally dis sand/make concrete blocks along the beach front. What has the state govenment done about that?

Where are those green-uniformed men/women who arrest those who cross the expressway? Can't they be drafted to rid the beaches of these people?

[size=18pt]Officer Fired For Having Sex On Car (GRAPHIC PHOTO) [/size]
by Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico state police officer has been fired after security cameras caught him having sex with a woman on the hood of a car.

The surveillance photos were taken from a motion-triggered security camera positioned at the front gate of the county-owned La Bajada Ranch south of Santa Fe. The encounter was at the remote Canyon Ranch.

Two photos showing a uniformed officer having sex on the hood were forwarded to Santa Fe Sheriff Robert Garcia, who identified the officer as being with New Mexico State Police. He forwarded the images to State Police Chief Robert Shilling.

An internal investigation was immediately launched, and Lopez, an eight-year veteran, was put on paid administrative leave for about three weeks.

Police officials would not comment on whether the dismissal was an indication whether the officer was on duty at the time of the incident.

The dismissal came days after investigators said the officer didn't commit a crime. Officials were assured the sexual encounter was not in exchange for anything related to his position as a law enforcement officer.

"It is an embarrassing situation for the department, but we have to remember the rights of the employee afford him due process we must follow so we won't be commenting further," said spokesman Sgt. Tim Johnson.

The department refused to release the identity of the woman or details about her relationship with the officer. It was unclear when the photos were taken, but Garcia said he believed it was either late July or early August.

If Lopez contests his firing, the appeal goes to a special commission within the New Mexico state police department and then state District Court, according to the New Mexican.

Lopez was named a 2009 state police office of the year and was awarded a "Challenge Coin" in July, an honor given to officers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/04/officer-fired-for-having-sex-on-car_n_948347.html

Govt arrested, released UN bombing suspects in 2007 
By Agency Reporter   
Friday, 2 Sep 2011   

. . .

[b]The UN Resident Coordinator, Daouda Toure, told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that the organisation had airlifted 14 victims of the bombing who had been on life support to South Africa for further treatment.

Explaining that arrangements had been put in place to help the family members of victims to travel to South Africa, Toure added that some of the affected family members had already been transported. Toure also said the UN Security Services and the UN country teams were on ground providing support and assistance to affected families.

He praised the Nigerian medical staff, especially doctors at the National Hospital, for doing a wonderful job stabilising the injured victims referred to it. He lamented that 80 percent of the injured were members of staff of the World Health Organisation. He, however, said it was premature to release their names because death certificates and other legal issues were involved.

Toure said, “This devastating attack has taken the lives of our colleagues and partners and maimed many people all of whom were in the building in pursuit of service to others.

“Their sacrifice will not be in vain; we will strive to pursue our work, the work for the people of Nigeria as proscribed in the UN Charter, which says ‘we the people’ we identify with the people, and only the people.

“The death toll as at today remains 23. Of the 31 injured, 14 had to be evacuated out of the country. [/b]
“The evacuation process has ended. This was for people whose lives were really under threat; they’ve been flown out of the country to South Africa.”



He explained that the choice of South Africa was based on the “availability of modern standard hospitals and equipment” in the country.



Toure said the UN was determined to continue to assist Nigeria deal with cholera outbreaks and with the provision of emergency supplies to distressed families as a result of natural or man-made disasters.

Also speaking, the Country Representative of UNICEF, Sumi Sakai, said one of the dead victims was working a document needed to release vital vaccines to tackle childhood diseases in northern Nigeria.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art2011090265110

This Dauda Toure is not a Nigerian government official, is he?

Ocean surge hits Alpha Beach, renders thousand homeless
By Kunle Falayi
Tuesday, 30 Aug 2011



Frequent visitors to Alpha Beach on the Lagos Island would find it difficult to believe that their favourite fun spot is no more.

What is left of this tourist site is a broken coastline that shows the potency of angry water.

What used to be a tarred road running parallel to the beach had been broken up by the strong tide from the Atlantic Ocean which had been hitting the beach since two weeks ago.



The asphalt had been deposited against the walls of the few remaining concrete shops still standing on the beach. The road had been eroded, creating a gorge higher than three feet on the beach.



A mosque on the beach was also reduced to rubble while a church located on the beach was deserted.



The present fate of Alpha is the result of a continual surging of the Atlantic Ocean. It peaked to a frightful proportion at the weekend, pushing the coastline to the road and destroying shops and property along the beach.



The surge had consequently left many residents in the area homeless. The state government puts the figure at over 1000.



When PUNCH METRO visited the beach on Monday, the residents narrated how the ocean came thundering into the beach, destroying a large number of structures.



Some of the residents and business owners, whose shops were damaged, told PUNCH METRO that the ocean rises unexpectedly every evening and creeps toward houses and kiosks along the coast.



“But yesterday was different. I have been here for a while but I have not seen the ocean that high before. The ocean suddenly surged and washed away all the shops, especially the wooden kiosks and the bars constructed with bamboo,” a bar owner on the beach told our correspondent.



A Ghanaian, who identified herself simply as Iya Koffi, said she was still clueless about where she would go now that her shop where she sold drinks and pepper soup had been washed away. Even her home, located more than 100 metres away from the coast is now barely two metres away from reach of water at low tide



“At night we dare not stay inside because the tide covers every part of the house. I have never seen this ocean like that in my life. In the last two weeks it has been rising steadily, but we did not imagine it would even get this worse. Where the ocean is raging right now used to be where people sit to drink and relax,” she said.



When the ocean surged on Sunday, lucky residents who were around were able to salvage some of their property. Those who do business in the area and live away from the beach got a surprise on Monday morning when they could not locate their shops anymore.



Some youths told our correspondent that the night life, which made the beach popular, had been destroyed.



A resident, Nicholas Duka, said sex workers who ply their trade in the area have all been displaced due to the destruction of their brothels, which were mostly constructed with wood.



“Those girls make this place interesting. But they dare not come here in the evening or night anymore. This place is now a danger zone.



“What makes this place more dangerous is that this is not like the flood which ravaged most places in Lagos more than a month ago. This is the Atlantic at work. It is not something you can construct drainage to stop. It destroys anything on its path. That is why you cannot find any shop on the coast anymore.”



Shop owners and residents were seen removing the roofing sheet on the now decrepit shops.



Many youths who do petty business on the beach, stood around looking at the now empty beach that once served as a place where they made a living.



“This is not funny at all. This problem is not just about those who have shops here. There are lots of us who make money on this beach one way or the other, and it helps them stay out of trouble. That would not be possible anymore now as you can see,” one of the youths, Michael Ayinor, told PUNCH METRO.



He pointed to a spot about 100 metres away where he said he used to jog every morning.



“You can see now that the water level in the place would submerge an adult. We really don’t understand why this happened. It is like we woke up and the beach was gone. We don’t really know who to cry to for help because it is obvious that even the state government would need a lot of resources to combat this problem,” he said.



However the state government on Monday warned the state residents to stay away from its beaches.



It also warned residents living around coastal areas to be careful, saying that Lagos was experiencing ocean surge up to about five metres high.



The Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesegun Oniru, who gave the warning, said there had been a rising tide on the beaches.



He said, “It is a cause for concern. Alpha, Badagry and Kuramo are experiencing ocean surge as a result of strong waves coupled with beached vessels on the Atlantic. The wave is about 5 metres high.



“What we are experiencing right now is the ripple effect of happenings in the Caribbean and Hurricane Irene. So, Lagosians are advised to keep away from the waterfront since experts have said this surge in the ocean will last till Sunday.”



Oniru said the government had put some measures in place to control the situation including watch towers and beach guards to monitor the coastline and report back on an hourly basis.






http://punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201108301481864

Why won't it when it has been sent to Siberia which no one visits?

nawaforweo:
I really feel for him as he just removed his short immediately and covered his face.

No be short him remove o, na shirt!

.

I saw the rig yesterday and thought the militants or Boko Haram guys were at work.

Here's a picture of the rig on the Lagos Marina as seen from the top of the bridge.

.

British police slam Cameron's recruitment of US crime-fighting guru; riot arrests top 2,100

Police slam Britain's wooing of US crime adviser
By CASSANDRA VINOGRAD and SHAWN POGATCHNIK


[b]Police tensions flared Saturday over Britain's recruitment of a veteran American police commander to advise the government on how to combat gangs and prevent a repeat of the past week's riots and looting.

Leaders of the police unions in London and the northwest city of Manchester criticized the appointment of William Bratton, former commander of the police forces in Los Angeles, New York and Boston, as an insulting stunt.

Their criticism follows rising friction between Prime Minister David Cameron and senior British police officers over whether the government, or the police, deserve credit for bringing four days of riots under control.

"America polices by force. We don't want to do that in this country," said Paul Deller of the Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents more than 30,000 officers in the British capital.

Deller, a 25-year Met officer, accused the government of not being serious about following Bratton's recipe for reducing crime.

"When Mr. Bratton was in New York and Los Angeles, the first thing he did was to increase the number of police on the street, whereas we've got a government that wants to do exactly the opposite," he said, referring to Britain's commitment to slash law enforcement spending as part of debt reduction efforts.

Ian Hanson, chairman of the federation's Manchester branch, said local officers knew better how to police their own communities than "someone who lives 5,000 miles away."[/b]

Police have been on the defensive over their slow initial response to riots that rapidly spread Aug. 6 from the north London district of Tottenham to several London flashpoints and, eventually, to several other English cities. Cameron also criticized their tactics as too passive and announced Friday his government would receive policy advice from the 63-year-old Bratton, who resigned as Los Angeles police commissioner in 2009 after overseeing strong reductions in gang-related crime in all three of his commands.

Five people were killed during England's riots, including a 26-year-old man shot to death in his car and a 68-year-old man beaten to death after arguing with rioters and trying to extinguish a fire they had set.

In England's second-largest city of Birmingham, police said Saturday they had arrested two more men on suspicion of murdering three Pakistani men during street clashes there Wednesday. The arrests rose to five the number of men, aged 16 to 27, being interrogated over the killing of Haroon Jahan, 20, and brothers Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31. The trio were fatally struck by a speeding car that appeared to be driven deliberately into a crowd of South Asian vigilantes protecting a strip of family-owned shops in west Birmingham.

The father of the youngest victim, 46-year-old Tariq Jahan, told journalists at a Birmingham news conference he had received thousands of letters from well-wishers worldwide. He received national praise for declaring, just hours after his son's killing, that he bore no anger toward his killers, the police or the government, and for appealing to young Muslims in his neighborhood not to retaliate against the black gang members believed responsible. His repeated public appeals appeared to deter any retaliatory violence.

"I would like to thank the community, especially the young people, for listening to what I have to say and staying calm," Jahan said.

Scotland Yard said that, as of Saturday night, 1,276 suspected rioters and looters have been arrested, of whom 748 have been charged with various crimes.

Nationwide, more than 2,100 people have been arrested. Courts in London, Birmingham and Manchester have stayed open around the clock since Wednesday to process the cases.





http://www.newser.com/article/d9p3dl180/british-police-slam-camerons-recruitment-of-us-crime-fighting-guru-riot-arrests-top-2100.html

Riot claims see cops turn on PM David Cameron

A TOP British police commander has hit back at David Cameron after the Prime Minister accused police of serious tactical errors during a week of rioting which has left five men dead.

[b]Hugh Orde, a frontrunner to become the next head of Scotland Yard, rejected attempts by Mr Cameron to claim credit for the tougher police response.

"The fact that politicians chose to come back (from holiday) is an irrelevance in terms of the tactics that were by then developing," Sir Hugh told the BBC yesterday.

"The more robust policing tactics you saw were not a function of political interference; they were a function of the numbers being available to allow the chief constables to change their tactics."

Sir Hugh, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, dismissed the repeated claim by Home Secretary Theresa May that when she rushed back from her holiday two days into the riots, she personally ordered the cancellation of all police leave.

The Home Secretary has "no power whatsoever" to order the cancellation of leave, Sir Hugh said, adding that police commanders made the important decisions.

The spat between top cops and the Conservative-led government over who should get the credit and the blame for the past week could have long-term implications because police are increasingly lining up with the officers' union and Labour MPs against unprecedented cuts to police spending planned for the next four years.

Sir Hugh has been seen as a strong contender to replace the former Scotland Yard chief Paul Stephenson, who resigned last month over the News of the World phone hacking scandal, but his chances could have been damaged by his tiff with Mr Cameron and Ms May.[/b]

The Prime Minister insisted yesterday that his government's planned cuts to police funding were equivalent to only 6 per cent and would not hurt the response to future crises if police resources were used more effectively.

But Sir Hugh said the cuts amounted to 20 per cent after inflation and "that will lead to less police officers (meaning) we need to have some very honest conversations with government about what we stop doing if we are to maintain frontline service delivery at current levels".

Mr Cameron angered police chiefs yesterday by telling parliament that commanders had got it wrong in their initial response to the riots, which began in Tottenham, north London, following the police killing of a suspected drug dealer. While officers had worked bravely, "there were simply far too few police deployed on to our streets and the tactics they were using weren't working", Mr Cameron said.

"Initially, the police treated the situation too much as a public order issue, rather than essentially one of crime. The truth is that the police have been facing a new and unique challenge with different people doing the same thing - basically, looting - in different places all at the same time."

The situation was brought under control in London after the number of police on the streets was increased from 6000 to 16,000 on Tuesday night.

That shifted the focus of the riots to northern cities such as Birmingham and Manchester, which had joined two dozen other British police forces in sending officers to help in London.

The following night, police mounted a second surge into those northern cities and with thousands of police on foot patrols on what seems to be every major road in London, the effort has shifted to tracking down offenders.

Police in Birmingham yesterday arrested two youths, aged 16 and 17, and a 26-year-old man over the hit-and-run killing of three men of Pakistani descent on Wednesday. A 32-year-old black man who had already been arrested on suspicion of triple murder was released on bail.

On Monday, Trevor Ellis, 26, from Brixton Hill, was shot in the head and killed during a car chase that police believe was part of a tussle over looted goods.

The latest fatality was Richard Bowes, 68, who died yesterday after being attacked by arsonists while trying to put out a fire near his home in Ealing, west London.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/riot-claims-see-cops-turn-on-pm-david-cameron/story-e6frg6so-1226114014709

UK riots: top cops round on David Cameron over riot slurs

TWO of Britain’s most senior cops yesterday slammed David Cameron for claiming credit for quelling the riots, as the PM went on a whistle-stop tour of violence-hit areas.

Police chiefs leader Sir Hugh Orde and acting Met Commissioner Tim Godwin were livid with the PM and Home Secretary Theresa May for saying THEY ordered the crackdown on thugs.

Mr Godwin pointed out Mr Cameron and Mrs May were still on holiday at the start. He said: “I think after any event like this, people will always make comments who weren’t there.”

Mr Cameron was in Manchester and Salford yesterday visiting police who tackled rioting but he still refused to reconsider his plans to cut 16,000 officers over the next four years.

Angry Sir Hugh, the head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the politicians had made no difference to the police operation to end the mayhem on Britain’s streets.

He said: “That politicians chose to come back is an irrelevance in terms of the tactics that were by then developing.”

He added: “The more robust policing tactics you saw were not a function of political interference – they were a function of numbers being available.”

Police are appalled at the way the Government has tried to take credit for tackling the disorder after officers worked round the clock and put themselves at huge personal risk to take on the thugs.

Mrs May has claimed she ordered the “robust approach” and cancelled all leave but Sir Hugh said last night that she has “no power whatsoever” to do that.

Mr Godwin also played down the Home Secretary’s involvement in the policing operation.

He said: “What I can say is that I have some of the best commanders in the world, they showed great restraint as well as great courage.

“As a result of that we were able to nip this in the bud after a few days.

“The issue around the numbers, the tactics – they are all police decisions and they are all made by my police commanders and myself.”

Police are already at loggerheads with the ministers over cuts plans and Sir Hugh pointed out that fewer officers would make more difficult to maintain public safety.

He said: “We need to have very honest conversations with the Government about what we are to stop doing if we are to maintain front-line service delivery at current levels.”

Mr Cameron, who came under fire for not returning from a holiday in Tuscany immediately when the riots began, praised local officers – but refused any suggestion of going back on police cuts plans when speaking to reporters.

He said: “I pay tribute to the incredible bravery of the officers involved. The bravest of the brave. It is an incredibly difficult thing we ask the police to do.”

Mr Cameron said there was a real sense of anger among law-abiding people who were left “sickened” by the rioting but the “swift justice” being handed out by the courts was a silver lining to the troubles.

He said: “I have been impressed that there have been some quite exemplary sentences.

“I saw one newspaper this morning complaining that someone had stolen some water bottles and got six months in prison. I have to say, I was cheering. Swift justice is good justice.”

In a Lidl supermarket which was looted of £200,000 stock and then torched, he shook his head and said “unbelievable”.

Firefighters had raced to the store but had to withdraw after coming under attack from the mob.

SPINNING

Police Federation vice chairman Simon Reed said the Government’s efforts to take credit for quelling the riots were “a slight on the professionalism of the police service”.

Shadow Minister for Policing Vernon Coaker added: “Instead of the Prime Minister and Home Secretary spinning the police they should be supporting them.

“It is incredible that this government is hell-bent even now in cutting over 16,000 police officers at the very time that they are needed more than ever.”

3SOME 71% of people oppose the Government’s plan to cut the number of frontline police, a ComRes poll reveals today. It found 54% believed David Cameron had failed to show “necessary leadership” in the rioting while just 36% had confidence in his ability.



Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2011/08/13/uk-riots-top-cops-round-on-david-cameron-over-riot-slurs-115875-23340604/#ixzz1V51FE149

No I don't, I generally avoid that route because of the traffic.

Anyone with a picture could post.

Btw,seun/mods, I still insist that this thread should not be in this section and many who should benefit from the info here are being deprived of that opportunity.

Please return the thread.

Taking 15m from the market side will wipe out what is currently the car park of the market.

To take 15m from the Estate side, they would have to relocate the High tension wire masts further into the estate.

This is a tricky one for bros Fash, the way I see it.

What the market people have done is to put him on the spot by choosing to publicly appeal to him in a civil manner rather than protest on the streets or anything of the sort.Making such protest could have led to a shutdown of the market.

That particular portion of the road (Ajah) is diretly responsible for the traffic jam experienced by users whether in the morning or at evening. Once that place is sorted out, users will begin to enjoy the road.

But the question is: what will Fash do?

djustice:
Johnie, you might like living like a wild animal, hunted, or hunting for prey out of sheer hunger, but many of us who live here don't. We will take our Lagos from you lot eventually, and return it to sanity.

Why the attack on my person?

The writer of the article is Abimbola Adelakun of the Punch Newspaper.

Check the link provided!

Misdirected aggression.