₦airaland Forum

Main chicks get enough love everyday as a result I plead with u guys to give ur side chicks ONE DAY LOVE this thursday. Study and experience shows 1 in 2 guys has a side chick. ACT NOW! LOL

Pope Benedict Resigns, Vatican Confirms

Last Updated 11:21 11/02/2013
Pope Benedict XVI is to resign on February 28, the Vatican has announced.

He will be the first head of the Catholic Church to resign in almost 600 years. The Vatican said his departure would leave the post temporarily vacant.

The 85-year-old's resignation letter said: "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.

"I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering.

"However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me."

He will step down after almost eight years in the post, having been elected in April 2005.

The final post on his Twitter page, sent on Sunday, said: "We must trust in the mighty power of God's mercy. We are all sinners, but His grace transforms us and makes us new."

Edward Pentin, from the Catholic Herald, told Sky News: "It really is too early to say what his greatest achievement has been."

More follows...

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

DON’T RULE OUT HIGH INTENSITY EXERCISE!You might think that exercising exactly at your Fatmax intensity is the best way to lose body fat but this may not necessarily be the case. There are a number of reasons for this:Larger total calorie burn – suppose you exercise at 60% of your maximum heart rate (MHR) for an hour, burn 500 calories and 50% of those come from fat then you’ll have burnt 250 fat calories. But now suppose you exercise at 75%MHR for an hour and burn 700 calories (because you’re working harder). Even if only 33% of your energy comes from fat, you’ll still have burnt 230 fat calories but in total, you’ve also burnt an extra 200 calories from other fuels (mostly carbohydrate). This means that you’ll have an extra 200 calories to play with in terms of food intake and still stay the right side of the thermodynamic equation for the day (remember, you have to create a negative energy balanceIncreased fitness and fat burning – training at a higher % of your MHR will progressively increase your aerobic fitness; in very simple terms, as time goes by you’ll be able to train harder and burn more calories per hour for less perceived effort. Even more importantly, by increasing your oxygen processing capacity, your muscle cells will become more efficient at using fat for energy, even at higher intensities. This explains why someone who is fit finds it relatively easy to stay leanFor example, a fit runner who can sustain 16kmh (10mph) can easily burn 1000kcals in an hour. If they can do that while working at say 75% of MHR, they’ll probably derive something in the region of 400-500kcals from fat. But suppose you’re only ever used to working at 60% MHR. This kind of intensity presents little challenge to the aerobic system, so there’ll be relatively little improvement in aerobic fitness. With a total calorie burn of around 400-500 per hour and a maximum of around 50% from fat, it’s unlikely you would burn more than 200 fat calories in an hour. Of course, you could achieve the same fat calorie burn as our fi t runner by doubling the length of your workout, but quite apart from the boredom, most people simply don’t have time for 2-hour workouts, and you still wouldn’t be improving aerobic fitness at these lower intensities.Increased resting metabolic rate – as mentioned earlier, some resistance training can be a very useful adjunct to an aerobic training programme for fat loss. This is because very high intensity exercise such as resistance training increases muscle mass, which is a very desirable thing. Kilo for kilo, muscle mass is metabolically far more active than adipose (fat) tissue. Increasing your muscle mass with the addition of some resistance training means that the rate at which you burn up energy even while resting can be boosted significantly, helping you to achieve your negative energy balance more easilyThe best way to maximise lean muscle mass is to add one or two sessions of resistance training into your weekly aerobic exercise program. You don’t need to spend hours at the gym either; very significant benefits can be had by as little as two 30-minute resistance sessions per week. Sessions comprising of 10-12 exercises designed to work all the major muscle groups (one to two sets of 10-15 repetitions per exercise with enough weight set so that the repetitions can only just be completed) will produce good results in those who are not experienced resistance trainers.
FATMAX
Although several studies have looked at the relationship between exercise intensity and fat oxidation at a particular intensity, it was only recently that this relationship has been studied over a wide range of exercise intensities (2). In general terms, what happens is that carbohydrate oxidation increases proportionally with exercise intensity, whereas the rate of fat oxidation initially increases but decreases again at higher exercise intensities (see figure 2). The point at which fat burning reaches its peak is known as ‘Fatmax’ and the range of exercise intensities close to Fatmax is sometimes referred to as the ‘Fatzone’.

It’s often claimed that you have to exercise at low intensities to burn fat, but you can see from the graph this is not necessarily true. The right hand side of the grey Fatzone is quite vigorous but still close to Fatmax. Another importantpoint to emphasise is that your fi tness level will have a big impact on the exercise intensity at which you reach Fatmax.

In a series of studies conducted by Professor Jeukendrup and his team of researchers at the University of Birmingham, it was found that for trained subjects, exercising at a moderate intensity (62-63% of VO2max or 70-75% of maximum heart rate [also known as HRmax]) was the optimal intensity for fat oxidation. However, for less trained individuals, Fatmax occurred at just 50% of VO2max(2,3). This is not surprising really as we know that regular aerobic training ‘teaches’ the body to burn fat more efficiently.

In reality, the exact intensity at which fat oxidation peaks is less important because within 5-10% of this intensity (or 10-15 beats per minute), fat oxidation will be similarly high (ie in the Fatzone), and only when the intensity becomes dramatically higher will fat oxidation will drop rapidly. Moreover, this intensity is usually identifiable because at this point, many people will perceive a significant step up in their rate of exertion.

EXERCISE RECOMMENDATIONS
Taken as a whole, the evidence suggests that for maximum fat burning during exercise itself, you should exercise aerobically at the higher end of your Fatzone, which depending on your fitness will be around 60-80% of your maximum heart rate (NB your maximum heart rate is roughly given as: 220 minus your age in years). As for duration and frequency of exercise sessions, the most important factor is your total energy expenditure over any given time period. So for example, six aerobic training sessions per week of 30 minutes’ duration at say, 70%MHR would be equivalent to three sessions of 60 minutes at the same %MHR (180 minutes in total). The goal is to increase your total volume so that you burn more fat calories (but see box ‘Safety first!’).

However, there is evidence to suggest that fewer but longer sessions (fitness permitting) may be advantageous for fat burning because we know that fat oxidation becomes an increasingly important fuel as the duration of exercise increases (4). So for example, in the example above, three sessions of 60 minutes may be preferable to six sessions of 30 minutes. Another benefit of structuring sessions this way is that it allows longer periods of recovery in between each bout of exercise.

Another caveat worth adding is that the type of aerobic exercise undertaken may impact the amount of fat burning even when the exercise intensity is identical. For example, fat oxidation has been shown to be higher for a given oxygen uptake during walking and running compared with cycling (5). The reason for this is not well understood, but some researchers believe that it is related to the greater power output per muscle fibre in cycling compared to running. Compared to running, the work done during cycling is concentrated in fewer muscle fibres because fewer muscles in total are involved in the cycling action. For the same workload therefore, these fibres have to contract more intensely and as we have seen, at high muscular intensities, carbohydrate burning becomes much more dominant.

Finally, and as previously mentioned, any fat burning programme should ideally include some resistance training for all the reasons given earlier.

SAFETY FIRST!When building up your total weekly volume, you need to ensure you do so only gradually to avoid the risk of injury or burnout. Unless you’re already an experienced trainer, it’s strongly recommended that you seek advice from a fitness professional before putting together any programme. This will help ensure you derive maximum benefits as safely and comfortably as possible.

EXERCISE TIMING
For many people, lifestyle factors such as work and family dictate what time of day they will train! However, if you have a choice, some evidence suggests that the longer the period between your last meal and your exercise session, the greater the proportion of energy that will be derived from fat (6). The most obvious way to take advantage of this effect is to train first thing in the morning before breakfast and indeed, research has shown that the total fat oxidised during exercise (and for two hours after exercise) is greatest when morning exercise is performed in the fasted state (ie before breakfast) (7).

It’s important to stress however that this approach becomes less appropriate for longer duration sessions (over one hour) where ‘training on empty’ could result in excessive fatigue as a result of low blood sugar and stored muscle carbohydrate (glycogen). A final recommendation that follows from the studies above is that where fat burning is the number one goal (rather than performance), consuming a carbohydrate drink before or during training is not recommended because it reduces the proportion of energy derived from fat during subsequent exercise (. More generally, your nutrition before, during and after exercise will play a powerful part in determining how much fat you’ll burn but that’s a whole different topic and one we’ll consider in part II of this series!

About Andrew Hamilton
Andrew Hamilton BSc Hons MRSC ACSM is the commissioning editor of, and sports nutrition writer for, ‘Peak Performance’, the worldwide leading research publication for athletes and coaches. He is also commissioning editor of and contributor for ‘Sport Injury Bulletin’, providing the very latest sports injury advances into practical advice on prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.
Andrew also writes for a number of other publications, including ’Cycling Weekly’, ’220 Triathlon’, ’The British Journal of Cycle Coaching’, ’Athletics Weekly’, and ’Workout Magazine’.


REFERENCES
1. Data from Bradley J, University of Central Lancashire, 2002
2. Int J Sports Med 24: 603-608, 2003.
3. Int J Sports Med 26 Suppl 1: S28-37, 2005.
4. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2007 Sep;15(9):2256-62
5. Metabolism 52: 747-752, 2003
6. Int J Obes (Lond). 2005 Aug;29(:966-74
7. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2006 Oct;31(5):502-11
8. J Sports Sci. 2003 Dec;21(12):1017-

Quite apart from the aesthetics of a slim toned body, for most sportsmen and women, lower levels of body fat equate to better performance. Andrew Hamilton explains the nuts and bolts of fat burning and how you can manipulate your training to burn more fat…

INTRODUCTION TO FAT BURNING
Although increased fat burning has beneficial implications for sport performance, many people who exercise regularly do so for general fitness, health and aesthetic reasons rather than to increase fat burning per se. So if you wander into almost any gym and ask people why they train or what spurred them to begin training, it’s hardly surprising that weight loss comes right at the top of the list!

Any exercise programme that promotes increased fat burning therefore can help you to reach and maintain your target body weight more easily, bringing you all the associated health and kudos benefits sooner rather than later. Together, these facts explain why there’s such an interest in fat burning and how to maximise it during exercise.

EXERCISE INTENSITY
One of the most powerful ways to manipulate the proportion of fat used to produce energy is to adjust the intensity of your exercise. The question that follows therefore is how hard should your aerobic training be to maximise fat burning? As we’ve hinted above, lower intensities favour fat burning but as the intensity increases, carbohydrate becomes more and more important until at very high intensities, almost all of the energy to fuel exercise comes from carbohydrate burning and none from fat-burning.

Figure 1 shows some actual data gathered from recreational cyclists. You can see that that as the exercise intensity (in watts) increases, the rate of fat burning increases, reaching a maximum of around 35 grams per hour at 180 watts. Above 180 watts, the amount of fat burned drops off rapidly so that by 300 watts, it’s contributing virtually nothing. Carbohydrate burning increases steadily too but at around 180 watts (just as fat burning drops off) it jumps dramatically so that by 300 watts, it’s contributing 100% of the energy for exercise.


THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF FAT BURNING
Body fat can be thought of as form of stored chemical energy. Each pound of body fat contains approximately 3500kcals of energy, so to lose a pound of body fat over any given time period, you have to burn 3500kcals more energy than is contained in the food and drink you consume. This can be achieved either by increasing your energy expenditure (ie by training/exercising more), or reducing your calorie intake (eg by following a calorie restricted diet), or, even better, by a combination of the two.
Although there seems to be a small degree of genetic variability that makes the process of fat burning somewhat easier in some individuals than others, these fundamental laws of chemistry and physics (energy in versus energy expended) are immutable.
However, while you can’t overcome the laws of thermodynamics, the good news is that by manipulating your exercise intensity/duration and food intake/timing, you can increase the proportion of your expended energy that is derived from fat burning, which (as we will see) can yield significant benefits.


FUNDAMENTAL FACTS
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of maximising fat burning, it’s important to understand that the fundamental laws of chemistry and physics still apply (see box 1) and there’s absolutely no way of circumventing them. If you want to lose weight, you have to create a ‘negative energy balance’ in your body – ie expend more calories than you consume. However, by enhancing fat burning, you increase the proportion of your expended calories that will come from stored body fat. A second important fact that needs to be born in mind is that all of us, all of the time are burning all three types of food calories (fat, carbohydrate and protein) to produce energy. The contribution from protein is minimal except when vigorous exercise is performed in the absence of carbohydrate (a subject we’ll discuss in part II of this article) so in actual fact, most of your energy is derived from carbohydrate and fat.It follows therefore that increasing the proportion of your expended energy from fat is associated with a reduced proportion from carbohydrate and vice-versa. You can think of it as a kind of seesaw effect. As the proportion of carbohydrate burning increases, fat burning decreases; as the proportion of fat burning increases, carbohydrate contribution decreases.A third fact that needs to be hammered home is that if maximising fat burning is desirable, aerobic type exercise (also known as endurance, cardiovascular or stamina training) such as jogging/running, cycling, swimming, rowing, skipping, X-country skiing etc should form the mainstay of any exercise programme. That’s because during aerobic type exercise, energy is provided by combining carbohydrate, fat and (to a small extent) protein calories with oxygen. The role of oxygen is especially important here because:

There’s an unlimited supply in the air around you and even a lean body contains a very large amount of stored chemical energy in the form of body fat. Providing you don’t exercise so vigorously as to ‘run out of puff’ (ie oxygen), you can continue to exercise for long periods without fatiguing, which helps you burn a lot of calories in total;
Unlike carbohydrate (the other main fuel for the body), fat needs an abundant supply of oxygen in order to be converted to energy. Provided your exercise intensity isn’t too severe (ie you have enough oxygen fl owing around your body), you can derive a large proportion of energy throughout this aerobic exercise from fat.
Very high-intensity exercise like sprinting or lifting weights (resistance training) uses different metabolic pathways to produce energy, most of which comes from carbohydrate burning. This is why it’s not an effective way to enhance fat burning, although some resistance training can enhance a weight loss programme by helping to sustain or increase muscle mass (see later).

As an accountant, u need to remember the four fundamental principles of ethics.

1. Integrity - u must be straightforward and honest in all your professional and business relationships

2. Objectivity - u must not allow bias, conflict of interest ou undue influence of others to override ur professional judgement

3. Professional competence and due care - be up to date and act diligently

4. Confidentiality - respect the confidentiality of information acquired as a result of ur professional and business dealings

5. Professional behaviour - let comply with laws and regulations and avoid any action that discredits the profession.

As a chattered account I only apply this to my profession and life in general

http://m.nbcsports.com/content/armstrong%C2%A0-oprah-yes%C2%A0i-used-peds

"Yes."

That was Lance Armstrong's response to Oprah Winfrey's initial question in her much-publicized interview with the former seven-time Tour de France winner, aired on Thursday night, on whether he used performance-enhancing drugs to aid his victories in all seven of the prestigious races.

Armstrong said a "win at all costs" mentality and "arrogance" were behind his cheating, and accepted blame for his mistakes, saying he deserves the scrutiny he's now come under in the wake of being stripped of his titles.

Armstrong answered "yes" to separate questions about whether he used EPO, whether he partook in blood transfusions, whether he took human-growth hormone and whether he used performance-enhancing drugs in all seven of his Tour de France victories. He answered "not in my opinion" when asked if he felt his accomplishments were possible without the assistance of banned substances.

Armstrong did insist that he did not use performance-enhancing drugs beyond 2005, and that his third-place finish in his 2009 comeback to the Tour de France was clean.

Reflecting back on his era of cycling dominance, Armstrong said that "the winning was almost phoned in," and he did not feel bad about using banned drugs, and furthermore did not feel that using banned drugs was cheating, revelations that he now, in hindsight, finds "scary." In a moment of contrition, Armstrong said that his longtime supporters "have every right to feel betrayed," and that he'll spend the rest of his life apologizing to make it up to them.

On the topic of illegal testosterone use, Armstrong had a controversial excuse, saying he used it because he was running low on his natural supply of the hormone due to his battle with cancer.

Armstrong insisted that there was no directive within his U.S. Postal Service team requiring riders to conform with the doping program in which he and other riders partook. That stands in contrast with statements from former teammates, notably Christian Vande Velde, who says he was threatened with being kicked off the team before partaking in the program.

Armstrong also confessed to being "a bully," and wanting to control the narrative, reacting negatively to statements he didn't like. It's a pattern of behavior Armstrong said has followed him his entire life, and one evident in Armstrong's frequent denials of doping over the years before and since his retirement.

When asked pointedly whether he required or expected teammates to dope for the sake of achieving a certain level of team success, Armstrong responded, "absolutely not."

Armstrong flatly denied claims by former teammates Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis that he tested positive for EPO at the 2001 Tour de Suisse and told Hamtilton and Landis at the time that the positive test would not be made known.

Armstrong called Landis' decision to speak out about Armstrong's use of banned substances the tipping point of his cover-up, along with his 2009 comeback, which Armstrong claims did not sit well with his former teammate. Landis' comments sparked a two-year investigation into Armstrong by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which in-turn sparked the USADA investigation that resulted in Armstrong's titles being stripped and him being banned from elite competition last year. Armstrong said he regrets coming back to cycling, telling Winfrey, "If I didn't come back we wouldn't be sitting here."

Armstong hesitated before responding, "No," when asked if Dr. Michele Ferrari was at the head of the team's doping program, but also said he was reckless to be involved with the Italian physician and cycling coach, who's been issued a lifetime sports ban by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for multiple anti-doping violations. Armstrong characterized the entire period of his life as "reckless."

Armstrong said a donation made to UCI, cycling's chief organizing body, was made "because they asked me to," and not in an attempt to bribe officials to hide positive test results.

Winfrey pressed Armstrong on the topic of lawsuits filed against people who spoke out against Armstrong, among them Emma O'Reilly, a former masseuse for the U.S. Postal Service team. "It's a major flaw," Armstrong said of lawsuits against O'Reilly and others who were speaking the truth. "It's a guy who expected to get whatever he wanted and control every outcome. It's inexcusable."

Armstrong said he called Betsy Andreu, wife of former teammate Frankie Andreu and frequent victim of Armstrong's verbal abuse in recent years, and had a 40-minute phone coversation in which he saught to apologize for his behavior. However, Armstrong refused to discuss Andreu's 2006 claim of overhearing him discuss his doping regimen with cancer doctors at an Indianapolis hospital in 1996. He did, though, admit to insulting Andreu and O'Reilly with words like "crazy" and "LovePeddler," among others.

The International Olympic Committee didn't wait to listen to Armstrong's interview to act.

The IOC on Wednesday stripped Armstrong of his 2000 bronze medal, sending him a letter asking him to return it, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

Livestrong, the cancer charity Armstrong founded in 1997 and was forced to walk away from last year, said in a statement it expected him to be "completely truthful and forthcoming." A day earlier, World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman said nothing short of a confession under oath — "not talking to a talk-show host" — could prompt a reconsideration of Armstrong's lifetime ban from sanctioned events. And Frankie Andreu, a former teammate that Armstrong turned on, said the disgraced cyclist had an obligation to tell all he knew and help clean up the sport.

"I have no idea what the future holds other than me holding my kids," Armstrong said in the text.

Armstrong has held conversations with officials from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, including a reportedly contentious face-to-face meeting with USADA chief executive Travis Tygart near the Denver airport. It was USADA's 1,000-page report last year, including testimony from nearly a dozen former teammates, that portrayed Armstrong as the leader of a sophisticated doping ring that propelled the U.S. Postal Service team to title after title at the Tour de France. In addition to the lifetime ban, Armstrong was stripped of all seven wins, lost nearly all of his endorsements and was forced to cut ties with Livestrong.

According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Armstrong has information that might lead to his ban being reduced to eight years. That would make him eligible to compete in elite triathlons, many of which are sanctioned under world anti-doping rules, in 2020, when Armstrong will be 49. He was a professional athlete in the three-discipline sport as a teenager, and returned to competition after retiring from cycling in 2011.

That person also said the bar for Armstrong's redemption is higher now than when the case was open, a time during which he refused to speak to investigators. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a confidential matter.

Armstrong, who always prized loyalty on his racing teams, now faces some very tough choices himself: whether to cooperate and name those who may have aided, abetted or helped cover up the long-time use of PEDs.

Armstrong left his hometown of Austin, where the interview was taped at a downtown hotel, and is in Hawaii. He is named as a defendant in at least two pending lawsuits, and possibly a third. The Justice Department faces a Thursday deadline on whether to join a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping.

That suit alleges Armstrong defrauded the U.S. government by repeatedly denying he used performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong could be required to return substantial sponsorship fees and pay a hefty fine. The AP reported earlier that Justice Department officials were likely to join the lawsuit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Theo Walcott has agreed a new three-and-a-half-year contract in principle with Arsenal, reports claim.

Speculation raged over the England forward's future, with his existing contract set to expire in the summer.
Walcott would have been eligible to leave the Emirates Stadium on a free transfer, but has pledged his future to the club that signed him from Southampton in 2006 with his new deal worth around £100,000-a-week.
Arsene Wenger said on Thursday: "I was scared at some stage, yes, that he could leave because it is like that with the experience I have in negotiations.
"When things last too long, it is never a good sign. In that case, it took us some time to get where we want to get. It is still not finalised, but hopefully it will be done by this weekend.
"There is a possibility. My optimism is at 99 per cent now."
The 23-year-old stated that money was not the main consideration in contract negotiations - rather that he wanted the opportunity to play up front, rather than on the right wing where he has spent most of his Arsenal and England career.
Although Walcott's inconsistent performances have frustrated, Arsenal fans will be pleased to have held on to one of their leading players.
In recent years the Gunners have lost the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie in the transfer market.

The embassy here in London is crap.. Went there last week to get a passport and they threated me live a non Nigerian. The embassy is a full of arrogant Hausa ppl who think they are gods.

2003 us ur year of abundant blessing, uncommon favour, deliverance in Jesus Name

I think so. I get carried away @ work when sending official emails. Need 2 abbreviate less I guess. Thank God for spell check

tchidi: Dunno about others, but I have a strict 'no sex b4 marriage' rule!! If u can't wait till we r married, (not even traditionally sef, church!) Then back off! She should hold fast to her values! If he loves u, he'll love u even if u don't give him a child... My 2 cents sha!

You are very funny.. U will wait a long time. Look around u and check for how many ppl behind u that hold the same values. Talking about ur girlfriends not to talk of guys. I respect ur decision but u are on a long thing.

A virgin doesn't make u a good or bad girl as far as I'm concern. It ur character and personality that matters.

Y do must ppl with the same view change their mind. Reality kicks in. Also depends on how old u are.

I recalled the last Koko Concert hosted by D'banj in London last summer was very disappointing.

Mainly because u expect the very best for the value of your money. Personally I wished I could get my £50 back. A lot people said the same.

Maybe I just expected too much from a much celebrated artist with Mo'Hit no longer on his back.

What was Lagos experience yesterday?

God's kingdom

The guy no want make them kidnap am noni.. Think about how much dem go demand for ransom.

I'm sure they had make up on. Just a bad camera. Not many women go out without make up.

No doubt it will be getting this phone.. Very glad Nokia is back in the game. I have been a loyal iPhone fan for 6 yrs.

The camera is remarkable, HD + screen. Only downside is the weight of the phone. I like it thou

I think everyone should have a Living Will. It gives instructions on how you want to die or not die if you are in a lengthy coma or in a vegetative condition. Many people don't wish to inconvenience anyone for 40 years as in this woman's care nor even for 40 days if it is determined they will never recover from a vegetative condition and although she was not brain dead, she was in a vegetative condition.

This girl's family took care of her in a loving manner, those were their wishes, however, she might have wished they had just let her die a natural death rather than allowing her to lie in bed with a feeding inserted in her abdomin through which liquid nutrients flowed into her for 40 years.

How many people will wait that long to claim the money.. It not as if they millionaires.

I would have made profits with wise investments with that money.

On the other hand, they could have also squandered it been that young.

Two Palestinian brothers have claimed a $5m (£3.1m) lottery prize for a ticket they bought at their parents' store in the US six years ago.

Andy Ashkar, 34, and his brother Nayel Ashkar, 36, came forward with the winning ticket in March, just 11 days before the top prize in the "$500,000,000 Extravaganza" lottery would have expired, the New York Lottery said.

Andy Ashkar said he bought the ticket at his parents' store in Syracuse in 2006 and decided to share the winnings with his brother, officials said.

The agency said the younger brother said he waited so long to claim his prize because he was concerned the windfall could "negatively influence" his life if he didn't plan properly before being publicly introduced as the winner.

Andy Ashkar also told lottery officials that he also didn't want the windfall to influence his engagement and subsequent marriage.

Calls to phone numbers listed for the Ashkar brothers went unanswered on Wednesday.

Nayel Ashkar's wife, Sara, told The Post-Standard newspaper of Syracuse that news of the win was spreading fast, with family and friends calling to express their surprise and excitement.

"It's crazy. (It's) hard to believe. It's still sinking in," she said.

The brothers' mother, Wasa Ashkar, said her husband, Neyef, sold the winning ticket to Andy at the couple's Green Ale Market, but she couldn't remember exactly when.

She said she and her husband were Palestinians from Jerusalem, who immigrated to the United States nearly 40 years ago and have owned the shop for 12 years.

"I'm happy. Of course I'm happy," she said.

Lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman said the brothers claimed their prize at the agency's headquarters on March 1.

Unlike winning tickets for games such as Lotto and Mega Million that expire in a year, tickets for scratch-off games expire a year after a game is retired.

The Extravaganza game was retired on March 12, 2011, Ms Hapeman said.

She said the announcement of the winning ticket was delayed for seven months partly because of a fraud investigation, which is always carried out when the winner is related to the owner of the store that sold the ticket.

"It’s part of our routine procedure to put that on retailer hold, where our investigators contact the folks who presented the winning ticket, and also the people from the store,” Ms Hapeman said.

A blind man carrying a white cane received a 50,000-volt Taser shock from British police who thought his walking stick was a samurai sword.

"It felt like I was grabbing an electricity pylon," 61-year-old Colin Farmer told the BBC.

Lancashire police officer Stuart Williams said authorities had received several calls describing a man walking through the streets carrying a samurai sword.

"One of the officers who arrived in Chorley believed he had located the offender," Williams said. "Despite asking the man to stop, he failed to do so and the officer discharged his Taser."

However, even in offering an explanation, Williams said the police had "deep regrets" over the incident and says the Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation into the matter.

"We have clearly put this man through a traumatic experience, and we are extremely sorry for that," Williams said.

In fact, Farmer says he thought the police were criminals attempting to mug him when the assault took place. He said that once police approached him, he became "absolutely terrified," and repeatedly attempted to inform them that he was blind.

"I walk at a snail's pace. They could have walked past me, driven past me in a van or said: 'Drop your weapon,'" he said.

However, as far-fetched as it may sound, the samurai sword angle did not come out of nowhere. But the reality of the situation was far more mundane as opposed to resembling the plot line of the 1989 Rutger Hauer action film, "Blind Fury." After Williams was taken to a nearby hospital, police later arrested a 27-year-old man who was carrying a samurai sword and was suspected of being drunk and disorderly.

Williams said the police stayed with Farmer at the hospital until he was released and escorted him to a meeting with friends afterward, at his request.

http://m.yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/news/blogs/sideshow/police-taser-innocent-blind-man-thinking-cane-samurai-182202256.html?.b=index&.ts=1350512797&.intl=US&.lang=en