₦airaland Forum

The first official photos of Prince William, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and their new infant, Prince George of Cambridge, have been released.

In the pictures, the baby – who is third in line to the British throne – is pictured with his parents, Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge.

The pictures were taken by Michael Middleton, Kate’s father, in the garden of their family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire.

- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/first-official-photos-of-prince-george-released/

webpro: Although I checked now and they have corrected it.

Dont mind him. The mumu commentator is confusing Odemwingie with Duvan Zappata, a Colombian striker who plays in Argentina. Henry Redknapp, QPR manager, is considering buying both players but the Colombian chap seems to be more interested in playing for an Italian club.

See http://www.urnaija.com/queens-park-rangers-may-be-reconsidering-odemwingie/

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC-T, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, announced on Friday that he would be withdrawing the Presidential election challenge he had filed earlier at the Constitutional Court.

Following the general elections, which took place last month, won by Mugabe’s party, their main opponents vowed to challenge the results in court relying on various cases of reported electoral malpractices as their main evidence.

The notice of withdrawal were filed at the Constitutional Court in Harare by Mr. Tsvangirai at exactly 17:25 on Friday and the withdrawal affidavits were served by MDC-T lawyer, Chris Mhike.

Mr. Tsvangirai, while speaking to the media, cited the following reasons as the reasons for his decision to withdraw the case: negative publicity by the state media, presence of the Chief Justice of Zimbabwe at the national shrine on heroes day and the unavailability of ballot material.

Hints that the MDC-T would be withdrawing the case had been given earlier by the party’s national spokesperson, Mr. Douglas Mwonzora during a press conference held at the MDC-T headquarters at Harvest House. He also cited grievances, which included disagreements with the electoral court, the Attorney-General and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

The Constitutional Court has deferred proceedings on the election petition to Monday the 19th of August at 10am.

Speaking on the decision to withdraw the suit against the election results, Robert Mugabe’s legal representative, Fred Gijima, who had already filed heads of argument on behalf of his client, said the pullout was un-procedural, null and void as such serious constitutional matter can only be withdrawn before the court itself and not prior to proceedings.

“If they have made a decision whether they want to withdraw the petition it’s up to them, but technically in terms of the constitution, you can’t withdraw such a petition, especially a petition regarding the challenge of the election of a president”.

“Its not possible to withdraw it, you have to appear in court, argue your case, you must understand that it’s a serious matter, serious allegations have been made against the President –the highest office in the country – and they can’t just withdraw after having made such serious allegations,” said Advocate Gijima.

Legal analysts have described the last minute pullout by the MDC-T leader as being influenced by a plot to attempt to smuggle its grievances to the SADC summit taking place this weekend in Malawi since the regional body has always made it clear that it does not interfere with matters before the courts.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/tsvangirai-withdraws-suit-challenging-mugabe/

baby-boy:
She was never ahead of Ahoure

She was ahead of Ahoure briefly.

Blessing Okagbare has won the bronze medal in the 14th IAAF Athletic Championship taking place in Moscow with a time of 22.32s, the same time with the silver medallist, Murielle Ahoure of Cote D’Ivore.

Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica won the Gold with an impressive time of 22.17s.

America’s hope in the 200m event, Allyson Felix, couldn’t complete the event unfortunately, as she succumbed to an undisclosed injury that made her limp off the track even before the 100m bend. Commentators believe it was her hamstring.

Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce led the pack right from the onset leaving Ahoure and Okagbare to battle for the silver medal. Blessing caught up with Ahoure, overtook her just slightly with only about 40m left but the Ivorien athlete who already had the silver medal in her sight doubled up her speed, which led to a photo-finish with Okagbare.

There is little doubt left that the 200m event is Blessing Okagabre’s forte. If the race had been a 210m event there was no doubt that she would have clinched the silver from Ahoure because she seemed to be able to go on even after the race while the other athletes were already looking spent.

We say a big congratulations to Nigeria’s golden girl even if the gold medal still appears elusive for now.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/200m-bronze-for-blessing-should-have-been-silver/

Barbadian singer Rihanna seems to have fallen into the arms of a new man as she was photographed getting really close with A$AP Rocky on set of a music video in New York on Wednesday night.

A$AP, whose real name is Rakim Mayers is an American Rapper and a member of the hip hop collective, ASAP Mob.

Whatever video they were shooting became insignificant as the highlight of the night was the chemistry between Riri and the 24-yr-old rapper who once shared the same stage together at the 2012 VMAs. A$AP Rocky also opened the show for her on the U.S leg of her “Diamonds World Tour,”

Rihanna who was dressed in a floor-lenght zebra print dress later changed into timberlands while getting cosy with A$AP.

In a comment given previously on their relationship, A$AP said: “We just cool, that’s it. That’s just the homie.”

A$AP is currently dating American model, Chanel Iman.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Uor37Yenw

- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/has-rihanna-got-a-new-man-watch-video/

Blessing Okagbare has qualified for the final of the women’s 200m event at the 14th IAAF World Athletic Championship in Moscow.

Blessing finished second in the second semi-final race behind Allyson Felix of the USA with an impressive time of 22.39s.
It was a relatively easy race for Blessing as she along with Allyson Felix pulled far away from the rest of the contestants after rounding the bend

towards the home stretch. It almost appeared like both athletes were training partners as they coasted towards the finishing line with about sixty meters left to run, obviously conserving their energies for the final race tomorrow.

The two athletes were clearly no match for the rest of the group yet their heat recorded the fastest qualifying time out of the three semi-final heats.

Considering the way Okagbare’s pulls out of the starting blocks later but catches up with the rest of the group and overtakes them in most of her 100m races a lot of commentators have opined that she is best suited for the 200m event and she seems to be proving them right.

Other qualifiers were Murielle Ahoure of Cote D’ivore, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, Shuanne Miller of Bahamas, Jeneba Tarmoh of the USA, Mariya Ryemyen of Ukraine and Charonda Williams of the USA.

The final event takes place tomorrow at about 1815hrs Nigerian time.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/okagbare-qualifies-for-200m-final/

Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare has qualified for the Semi-final of the women’s 200m event at the Moscow IAAF Championship.

She finished first in her heat with a time of 22.79s breezing past America’s Charonda Williams in the process.

Okagbare has tried to put behind her the disappointment of failing to clinch a second medal at the Moscow meet after she placed sixth in the final of the 100m event.

The semi-finals will be coming up later today at about 1645hrs, Nigerian time.

Blessing’s qualifying time was the eight fastest qualifying time heats although USA’s Allyson Felix’s fastest qualifying time of 22.59s is still slower than Blessing’s Personal and Season’s Best time of 22.31s.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica and Murielle Ahoure of Cote D’ivore also qualified for the semi-finals.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/okagbare-qualifies-for-200m-semi-finals/

Please send us an e-mail at stories@urnaija to receive tips on where you can get stories that we will publish

The Home Office has backed down in a legal battle over its vans warning illegal immigrants to go home, reports the Guardian.

According to the newspaper, ministers were threatened with court action by two clients of the Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London, who argued the rhetoric on the vans breached the government’s duties on equality.

Following the legal complaint, the Home Office has agreed to consult with local communities before attempting to embark on such a campaign again.

According to the claimants, the government has accepted it would in future need to have “due regard” to its duties under the Equalities Act, including the need to eliminate discrimination and harassment based on race and religion, as well as to foster good relations between people from different racial and religious groups.

There has also been an angry reaction to immigration spot checks, especially the government’s decision to issue updates on how many “immigration offenders” had been arrested, apparently prejudging their guilt.

A spokesman for Deighton Pierce Glynn, solicitors for the claimants, said: “Due to the inflammatory nature of the campaign, as voiced by several prominent public figures, including Vince Cable MP and the leaders of Brent and Redbridge councils, the due regard duty was high, and a consultation should have been carried out before the pilot began so that the government could have properly considered the effect of the campaign before deciding whether to go ahead.”

Raymond Murray, one of the claimants in the case, said he was “very pleased the Home Office has seen sense and will do things differently in future. Hopefully they’ll never try a stunt like this again.”

The East London forum said the vans and subsequent immigration spot checks had “caused much distress and upset to a cross-section of communities locally and nationally. The fact that the campaign has also been commented on extensively in the international media, suggests that this has tarnished the UK’s longstanding reputation as a tolerant and welcoming society.”

Shortly after the vans were launched in six London boroughs, Downing Street claimed they had been successful. However, ministers have still not taken a decision on whether it will be extended to other parts of the country.

The Home Office declined to comment.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/the-go-home-van-has-gone-home/

donedy: Well, I think you're the one that shouldn't allow ignorance or sentiments to suppress your sense of reasoning. The election that was held in Zimbabwe was more fairer the ones ever conducted in Nigeria. Your type would also say that Syria crisis is Assad's fault.

Just imagine the bolded, it narrate who elusive politics is to you. So, your point is that Mandela is genius by that statement. No insane politician in Nigeria would have supported that, just know it. In that case, apartheid has not ended, it's more like a change of style.

While I don't believe in hatred between blacks and whites in S.A., I still thinks that blacks should be given a provided a better means of compensating for the years of marginalization.

Thanks Donedy for joining in this discussion. You have brought everyone else into this thread, Nigeria, Assad, Syria, blacks and whites in SA but no mention of the people in Zimbabwe. No one cares about Mugabe's personal problems with the West but he shouldn't drag Zimbabweans into it.

Your third paragraph contradicts the second one. In your third paragraph you said you don't support racial violence in South-Africa yet you disagree with Nelson Mandela's warning that blacks in South-Africa should not touch the whites.

Thanks to Mandela, the South-African economy is the largest in Africa, almost twice that of Nigeria with only a third of Nigeria's population (please check latest GDP and population figures)

You think white people will easily give up what they believe belongs to them? Dream on! It's not violence that will make them give it up either. Like I mentioned earlier, white people always take care of their own. Its time we blacks started doing the same. Supporting someone oppressing his own people in a futile campaign against the West is not the way to go about it.

Thanks Horus, for the insightful video clip. If you listened to the narration on the clip you posted and had read the post It would appear that you totally missed the point, which was made in the last paragraph of the post.

No one cares about Mugabe sticking it up to the 'whites' (a very loose terminology used to describe an unidentifiable group of people). It's the ordinary people of Zimbabwe who are suffering as a result of that.

The narrator is obviously bitter about white people, using abusive terminology like "white man's nigger" and all that. Towards the end of the narration, he criticized Mugabe for the atrocities he's committed against Zimbabweans but all can be forgiven as long as he's 'dealing' with the West. See what bitterness causes. See what the writer of the article meant by saying, "your enemies' enemy is not necessarily your friend."

A lot of people have a problem with Mandela because he didn't punish the whites in South-Africa for what they did to him.
Meanwhile, Mandela warned black South-Africans not to touch the whites if they dont want the South-African economy to collapse. (wise old man!)
Mugabe probably meant well with the land grab policy in Zimbabwe but it backfired because white people take care of their own. They are punishing him for it.
As black people we also should learn to take care of one another and not support someone who is allowing his people to be oppressed because he wants to teach the "whites" a lesson. The average person in Europe and America is not affected by what he's doing in Zimbabwe. Even Nigeria provided land for displaced white Zimbabwean farmers. Who is going to speak up for the oppressed blacks in Zimbabwe?

Most of us in Africa are tired of being dictated to by the Western powers, tired of the way they prop up corrupt elites who loot our treasuries and dump the money in their countries. We are tired of all their subterfuge and chicanery. We must, however, realise that, “our enemies’ enemy is not necessarily our friend.”

By now, most Africans not living in Zimbabwe have forgotten about the elections held in the country over a week ago. Even before the conclusion of the elections, that fraudulently returned an 89-year-old geriatric to power for the seventh time, was concluded Zimbabweans had started raising alarm about electoral malpractices.

The mere fact that the government did not allow the UN and other respected agencies to send monitors to the elections is suspect on its own. Mugabe assembled a group of people from the ‘old boys club’ of African politicians to rubber stamp his sham elections and hoped that his hatred of Western nations will unite the rest of Africa behind him and his strategy seems to have paid off.

The facts are there for all to see: Firstly, If Mugabe was a civil servant he would have been retired over fifteen years ago yet he still holds the highest public office in the land. Secondly, have those who are saying the Zimbabwean economy has picked up in the last couple of years considered the fact that it probably has to do with fact that the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai’s party, has been part of the government within the same period?

We covered a story on revelations that emerged from the Zimbabwean elections here after the ‘old boys club’ had endorsed the sham elections ignoring the cries of 7,000 local monitors who noticed that a significant percentage of those who voted for Mugabe’s party must have risen from the dead to come and cast their votes.

We don’t need to search far to point to examples of African freedom fighters who led their countries to independence and bowed out when ovation was loudest.

The example that readily comes to mind is Nelson Mandela, next door to Mugabe. The 95-year-old was in hospital recently and the whole world held its breath, praying to God to spare his life. Our guess is as good as yours what people want God to do to Mugabe.

Another example still within Southern Africa is Sam Nujoma, first President of independent Namibia who led his country to independence in 1990 and left office in 2005 after serving three terms. Namibia today enjoys political stability, peace and relative economic stability.

No one is saying Namibia is like paradise but her citizens fare better than Zimbabweans. For instance, In 2013, global business and financial news provider, Bloomberg, named Namibia the top emerging market economy in Africa and the 13th best in the world. Only four African countries made the Top 20 Emerging Markets list in the March 2013 issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine, and Namibia was rated ahead of Morocco (19th), South Africa (15th) and Zambia (14th). Worldwide, Namibia also fared better than Hungary, Brazil and Mexico.”

On the other hand, In Zimbabwe, Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% in 1998, to an official estimated high of 11,200,000% in August 2008 according to the country’s Central Statistical Office.

Since the formation of the Unity Government with MDC in 2009, however, the Zimbabwean economy has been on the rebound. GDP grew by more than 5% in the year 2009 and 2011. In November 2010, the IMF described the Zimbabwean economy as “completing its second year of buoyant economic growth”.

It’s obvious from the statistics above that Morgan Tsvangirai brought positive economic development to Zimbabwe. Even without the revelations emerging about electoral malpractices it should be clear to everyone that Zimbabweans want a change from what they have been stuck with for the past thirty-two years.

As Africans we should examine the facts carefully before we choose sides and should endeavour to choose sides not with governments that come and go like the wind blows but the ordinary people of Zimbabwe who are just like us.

- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/mugabe-v-west-on-whose-side-are-you/

The owner of a shop in Zurich where US talk show host Oprah Winfrey says she encountered racism has called the incident a “misunderstanding”, the BBC has reported.

Winfrey, one of the world’s richest women, claimed an assistant refused to serve her in an upmarket handbag shop.

She was apparently told one of the bags on display was “too expensive” for her.

Shop owner Trudie Gotz told the BBC that Winfrey was “absolutely allowed” to look at the $35,000 (£22,500) bag, which was kept behind a screen.

“My salesperson wanted to give her the handbag in her hand. But she didn’t want to take the bag,” claimed Gotz.

She said her assistant had worked in the Trois Pommes store “for a few years and takes care of the most spoilt customers from all over the world”, adding, “she is really a correct sales person”.

Winfrey, visited Zurich last month to attend singer Tina Turner’s wedding. Her programme The Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Switzerland.
Speaking to a US TV show, she said: “I go into a store and I say to the woman, ‘Excuse me, may I see the bag right above your head?’ and she says to me, ‘No. It’s too expensive.’

When Winfrey insisted, the shop assistant allegedly replied: “No, no you don’t want to see that one, you want to see this one because that one will cost too much. You will not be able to afford that.”

The star said she left the shop calmly without arguing, but that the experience was proof that racism continues to be a problem.

“There’s two different ways to handle it,” she said.

“I could’ve had the whole blow-up thing… but it still exists, of course it does.”
Ms Gotz did not call into question Winfrey’s perception of the events.

“I didn’t take care of [Winfrey]. I’m sure she felt like this – but my salesgirl promised me she took care of [her] really the best she could. So it must have been a misunderstanding,” she said.

Ms Gotz said her assistant spoke both Italian and English, “but her English isn’t as good”.

“She tried to show Mrs Oprah the same style in other qualities, because maybe she didn’t understand what she wanted.”
Winfrey’s claims come amid a political row over plans by some Swiss towns to ban asylum-seekers from some public places.

The BBC’s Imogen Foulkes in Berne says human rights groups have likened the plans – which include banning asylum-seekers from swimming pools, playing fields and libraries – to apartheid.

Officials say the curbs, which will also see asylum-seekers housed in special centres, are aimed at preventing tensions with residents.

About 48,000 people are currently seeking asylum in Switzerland. It has twice as many asylum seekers as the European average.

Winfrey’s interview is a public relations disaster for Switzerland, our correspondent says.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/oprah-racism-row-was-a-misunderstanding-shop-owner/

Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare has qualified for the final of the Women’s long jump event at the ongoing IAAF World Championship in Moscow with a jump of 6.83m.

Okagbare placed second behind Great Britain’s Shara Proctor who jumped a distance of 6.85m in her first attempt to automatically qualify for the final.

The minimum qualification requirement was 6.75m or at least the 12 best performance.

Other qualifiers are:

Teri Polk (USA) – 6.75m
Volha Sudarava (Belarus) – 6.71m
Darya Klishina (Russia) – 6.70m
Elena Sokolova (Russia) – 6.70m
Ivana Spanovic (Serbia) – 6.63m
Sosteme Moguenara (Germany) – 6.63m
Erica Jarder (Sweden) – 6.59m
Olga Kuchurenko (Russia) – 6.59m
Janay Deloach Soukoup (USA) – 6.58m
Britney Reese (USA) – 6.57

The final will be held tomorrow, 4pm Nigerian time or thereabout.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/blessing-okagbare-qualifies-for-long-jump-final/

It seems Barbadian singer, Rihanna, is keen to show the whole world that she has talents other than singing and er…, being skimpily clad by displaying her football skills on a beach in Barbados.

The 25-yr-old singer has been pictured having a kickaround in a pink patterned string bikini with a female pal.

In one of the pictures she can be seen kicking a football while balancing a drink in one hand – a feat no premiership football could ever achieve.

Rihanna has taken a break from her tasking schedule for a week by returning to her home country where she attended the annual Grand Kadooment Parade on Monday.

She will next appear at the MTV Video Music Awards on August 25, where she is nominated in the Best Female Video category for her hit track, ‘Stay’.





- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/rihanna-shows-off-her-other-skills/

I'm very pleased with the maturity people have displayed on this thread, agreeing with the article. For those who do not agree however, like solidbroda, maybe they want to read this article written by a an English man who used to write speeches for David Cameron:

http://www.urnaija.com/we-need-nigerians-more-than-they-need-us-former-cameron-speech-writer/

Its a long article but the man who wrote it was able to make a distinction between Nigeria's hardworking and dynamic population and the corrupt government that western nations are propping up.

He also believes Britain's decision to impose a visa bond on Nigerians is going to cost the British economy greatly.

Nigeria’s preparation for the August 14 Mandela Challenge against Bafana-Bafana of South-Africa has suffered a set-back as Fenerbahce of Turkey latest recruit, Emmanuel Emenike, and youthful Chelsea defender, Kenneth Omeruo, have dropped out of the match.

According to allAfrica.com The Eagles Media Officer, Ben Alaiya, quotes Team Administrator, Dayo Enebi Achor, as saying that Emenike opted out of the encounter in other to quickly settle down at his new club.

“He may have been at the club before but he is highly valued in Turkey and he has requested that he be allowed to settle well at the club and the technical crew has obliged him”, Achor said.

On his part, Omeruo, who had pulled a shoulder during the Confederations Cup game between Nigeria and Spain in Brazil, is said to have had a relapse and has been ordered by his club doctors at Chelsea FC of England to undergo a proper and permanent solution to the injury. Omeruo was on loan at Dutch side, Addo Den Haag, last season.

As replacements, the Eagles handlers have invited Gege Soriola and James Okwuosa, both based in South Africa. The technical crew said they took the decision to call up two central defenders because there are enough options upfront for the encounter against the South Africans next Wednesday.

“We also need to start grooming new defenders who are promising for upcoming challenges and we found the two players invited thus far very promising”, Head Coach Stephen Keshi was quoted as saying.

Keshi added that Emenike has a lot of hurdles to cross at his new club and the management of the national team had to oblige him.

“We will need him in the World Cup qualifiers but he has a lot of things to do at his new club and we must give him that opportunity. But I must say we are in good contact and we are happy with the way things are going with our top players in the transfer market,” he said.

Emenike has not played for the Super Eagles since emerging highest goal scorer at the African Cup of Nations in February.

Meanwhile, six top South African players who play for Orlando Pirates have also pulled out of the match due to club engagements.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/emenike-emeruo-pull-out-of-south-africa-match/

lumeneng22: The url pls...

This is the URL:

http://www.urnaija.com/urnaija-pays-ngn250000-per-story/

Justosaus: so how does one guarantee payment after u've received d story? What proof would any one have that the story's actually his/hers, after u might have published d stories but fail to pay up for one reason or the other?

Hello Justosaus,

Thank you for your questions and interest. Your questions will be answered first.

If you send a picture with the story (It will be rare for us to publish a story without a picture),and we publish it then refuse to pay you, we risk our reputation, which is wayyyyy more than N2,500! As long as you can prove that the picture used in the story is yours you have every right to come on Nairaland to make your claim. You may not get any form of monetary compensation but trust Nairalanders, our reputation goes down the drain and you'll agree that we don't want that. That is the only guarantee we can offer for now, unfortunately. We hope that is enough. We know reputation may not count for much, as in, you cant take it to a bank but at the same time we don't want to alienate over one million Nairalanders!

We hope your questions have been answered, the proof you have are the pictures - as long as you still have the pictures on whichever device you took them with (digital camera, mobile phone or tablet), which will be the exact same ones we have published. Apart from the pictures, you would also have evidence that you sent it from your e-mail account.

Failure to pay: We pay with our reputation, which as stated above is worth 1 million nairalanders.

Hello Nairalanders,

This post is exactly about what it says on the title. There's a new blog that will pay N2,500:00 for stories published that was sent by a contributor and the opportunity is open to anyone.

No prior qualification or gimmicks involved.

You send a story that hasn’t been published anywhere else, we publish the story, N2,500 lands in your account and you can do the same thing the next day and the day after.

We can accept a maximum of two stories per contributor every day - that's 5K a day.

It is absolutely necessary to attach pictures/video to any story sent.

You can make money from your eye-witness account of any breaking news!

We are the first Naija blog to introduce monetary payments for Citizen reporters!!

Please feel free to ask your questions on this thread. We are eager to answer your questions!!!

A British Member of European Parliament, Godfrey Bloom, sponsored by the United Kingdom Independent Party (Ukip), a far right political party in Britain, is currently under fire for referring to countries receiving financial aid from the United Kingdom as ‘bongo bongo land’.

The coalition government of the United Kingdom is committed to giving a certain percentage of UK’s GDP as foreign aid to less developed countries. Somalia, Nigeria and Pakistan are the biggest recipient of British aid.

Mr. Bloom, who represents the English constituency of Yorkshire and Humberside at the European Parliament, was caught on tape at a public meeting last month saying: “How we can possibly be giving a billion pounds a month when we’re in this sort of debt to bongo bongo land is completely beyond me”.

The phrase ‘Bongo Bongo Land’ has been notorious since Alan Clarke, then a conservative party minister, used it to refer to Africa in 1985 in an official meeting.

After giving a reluctant apology, which he said was only given after his party’s senior figures insisted on an apology he went on to boast that that he has succeeded in drawing public attention to what he called the “immorality” of spending “£1bn per month” on overseas aid during an economic crisis.

He went on to claim that he was standing up for “ordinary people at the pub, the cricket club, the rugby club, the sort of people who remain completely unrepresented under the political system that we have.”

This is not the first time the 63-yr-old politician would be courting controversy with his discriminatory comments about other people. This was what he said to journalists shortly after being appointed to the European Parliament’s women’s rights committee: “No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age.”



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/british-politician-calls-nigeria-bongo-bongo-land/

Chuka Umunna, a member of the British Parliament representing Streatham, South London, and the Shadow Business Secretary has been accused of hypocrisy by some members of the Conservative party after it emerged he received a £20,000 gift from an emeritus gambling executive at the same time as campaigning against the proliferation of betting shops in his constituency.

Chuka Umunna was born in the UK in 1978. His father Bennett Umunna, an Ibo man, died in a road accident in Nigeria in 1992. His Irish mother, Patricia, is a solicitor and the daughter of a High Court Judge, Sir Helenus Milmo, who was part of the team that prosecuted German Nazi officers at the end of World War II.

Mr Umunna, who is also a Solicitor, is widely regarded as a future Labour leader and has been dubbed ‘the British Obama‘, accepted the donation from Neil Goulden, the chairman emeritus of the Gala Coral Group, which owns more than 1,700 bookmakers.

According to the Independent, the shadow Business Secretary was accused of hypocrisy by the Tories for accepting the money. They pointed out he recently ran a campaign in his south London seat of Streatham in which he promised “new powers to control the number of betting shops”.

Mr Goulden spent 10 years as managing director, chief executive and chairman of Gala Coral and still acts as a consultant to the group.

Mr Umunna registered the gift last month and said he would use it to support his office and contribute towards staff costs.

A spokesman said: “This donation was made by an individual Labour Party supporter in a personal capacity and was accepted in accordance with the rules and properly declared.”

Mr Umunna, who is a close ally of Ed Miliband, has faced a series of controversies in recent months which supporters blame Conservative headquarters for generating.

They include the disclosure that in 2006 he protested that some London nightspots “seem to be full of trash and C-list wannabes”. Days later his office was accused of adding comparisons with Barack Obama to his Wikipedia entry.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/camerons-partys-bull-dogs-attack-nigerian-british-mp/

mannobi: Hope the tweeter man has learnt his lessons. *White man* with Nigerian mentality

Lol

Following FC Anzhi shocking move by placing Samuel Eto’o, William and some other players on the transfer market, Chelsea are reportedly interested in acquiring the services of both players while rejecting Barcelona’s repeated request for David Luiz.

On the other hand, The Mirror has claimed that Luiz is thought to find the move appealing and could push to leave Stamford Bridge by the end of the transfer window.

The same report suggests that Barca will have to come up with £50 million if they want any hope of landing the Brazilian.
Chelsea are apparently lining up a move for former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is reportedly keen on signing Eto’o along with 24-year-old Brazilian, William Borges Da Silva, after Russian club Anzhi put their entire side up for sale.

The fee for either player is unclear at the moment with Chelsea possibly waiting to see which other sides are going to make their interest official, which could trigger a bidding war.

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s planned transfer of Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has taken a slight knock.

Rooney has apparently admitted that if he can’t secure a move to Stamford Bridge, he will consider a foreign move to one of the top flight leagues around Europe.

That’s bad news for Chelsea because Manchester United would surely prefer to sell to a team that can’t directly hurt them in the race for silverware.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/chelsea-move-for-etoo-william-as-they-reject-barcas-35m-luiz-offer/

Real Madrid has won the Guinness International Champions Cup after beating Chelsea 3 goals to 1 in the final at Sun Life Stadium in Miami on Wednesday night, Goal.com reports.

Marcelo scored the first goal after fifteen minutes of play following a decent start from the Spanish side, only for Ramires to equalise within moments with a cool finish.

Ronaldo soon took matters into his own hand, blasting an exquisite free kick home after 30 minutes.

Chelsea though, began to shake off its shackles as the half drew to a close. Frank Lampard turned superbly into a 20-yard drive, which was parried with equal skill by Casillas, who was quick to the rebound ahead of Romelu Lukaku.

The Blues carried that momentum into the second half, with Eden Hazard nearly drawing them level after a stunning run past two players and a stinging shot that forced the very best out of Casillas.

Kevin De Bruyne was next to try his luck, getting his head to a corner at the near post, but Casillas was once again well positioned to tip the ball over the bar.

However, Chelsea could not make the most of its positivity, and with 56 minutes on the clock, was made to pay at the other end when a defensive mix-up allowed Ronaldo to steal in unmarked to head home an Isco cross from six yards out.

The goal took a lot of the sting out of proceedings, and Madrid, in the driving seat began to slow play down in a bid to stifle hopes of a Chelsea comeback.

Mourinho’s men failed to seriously test Casillas in the time that remained, and in fact, it was Carlo Ancelotti’s men who could have added further gloss to the scoreline, with Angel Di Maria coming close with a pair of volleys, before having a late goal disallowed.

AC Milan had earlier bagged the third place in the friendly tournament with a 2-0 triumph over the Los Angeles Galaxy thanks to first-half goals from Mario Balotelli and M’Baye Niang.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/real-madrid-beat-chelsea-3-1/

It appears QPR are considering re-igniting their interest in Nigeria’s Peter Odemwingie.

According to The Mirror, Rangers boss, Harry Redknapp, was considering adding Colombian player, Duvan Zapata, who plays for Argentine side Estudiantes, to his side who are the hot favourites to get a promotion to the Premier league at the end of the season.

The 22-year-old, however, has not yet flown to England for talks as planned, because as Italian outfit Sassuolo – newly promoted to Serie A – have now offered more cash. Roma are also interested in Zapata, who had been linked with West Ham, so Redknapp is now trying to bring in Odemwingie.

The 32-year-old has been ostracised at West Brom since his unsuccessful attempt to switch to the London club in January, which saw him allegedly drive from the Midlands to London on his own on deadline day in anticipation of a deal.

He was filmed sitting in his car near QPR’s Loftus Road home, voicing his delight at joining them, but the deal fell through and Odemwingie had to stay at Albion – without ever starting another match.

The Nigerian can leave the Baggies for £3.5million, but Redknapp has to try to persuade him to drop down into the Championship.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/queens-park-rangers-may-be-reconsidering-odemwingie/

FC Anzhi Makhachkala, the Russian club reportedly paying Cameroun’s Samuel Eto’o £350,000:00 (about 87 million Naira) a week announced Wednesday evening that it was putting the Cameroonian and other star players on the market after starting the season badly.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Anzhi have failed to win any of their first four games of the new Russian season and former Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen is set to be sacked after just 16 days in charge.

The club, who are based in the volatile Russian republic of Dagestan, have spent millions on players since being taken over by billionaire Suleiman Kerimov in January 2011.

Apart from Samuel Eto’o, the club also has other star players like, Lassana Diarra, Aleksandr Kokorin, Igor Denisov, Willian and Christopher Samba .
However, according to Sports Express in Russia, Kerimov experienced health problems after the club’s embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to Rostov on Friday and has decided to pull the plug.

The club’s president Konstantin Remchukov confirmed on Twitter that the club was going to slash the budget.

“The main news is that Anzhi will undergo a reformatting,” wrote Remchukov.
“Many of our expensive stars will leave Anzhi, while the club’s budget will be decreased to $50-$70 million (£32.5-£45.5m) a year.
“We failed to clinch rapid success. Now Anzhi will develop its academy according to the medium-term plans of club development.”

It is believed that Kerimov has already met with the club’s players and told them of his plans.

Sports Express says he informed the players he will meet his financial obligations to them while trying to find them new clubs.

Striker Eto’o, who is still only 32, is the club’s highest profile player and his 87 million Naira a week wage makes him the highest paid player in the world.

The Cameroonian has one year remaining on his contract.

Attacking midfielder Willian was the club’s record signing when he joined from Shakhtar Donetsk last season for a reported fee of £30.8m. The Brazilian is only 24 and is another who is likely to have plenty of suitors on the transfer market.

Former Manchester United coach, Dutchman Meulensteen, only took charge of the team on July 22 following the departure of Guus Hiddink but it looks like his spell in Russia will be short-lived.

Gadzhi Gadzhiyev – current manager of Krylia Sovetov Samara – is expected to take charge.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/fc-anzhi-makhachkala-puts-samuel-etoo-others-on-transfer-market/

Various allegations of rigging have been levied against Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF following their victory in last week’s elections one of the allegations being that the oldest person who voted in Zimbabwe’s 31 July poll is 135 years old and still serves in the Zimbabwe National Army.

This particular allegation was levied by Zimelections13.com in a tweet.

“The oldest person who voted in Zimbabwe’s July 31 poll is 135 years old and still serves in the Zimbabwe National Army”, it tweeted.

The allegation comes as the outcry over the outcome of the just ended disputed elections in Zimbabwe continues to rattle the country and the international community, with the US saying it noted a “number of serious concerns”.

Zimbabwe’s incumbent president Robert Mugabe won overwhelmingly in the polls which have been dismissed as a ‘sham’ by his long-time arch rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement Democratic Change.

Tsvangirai and his MDC party are preparing to mount a legal and political challenge against the vote that looks set to extend Mugabe’s 33-year rule.
The case could delay 89-year-old Mugabe’s inauguration for another five-year term.


Pls click link below to see more outrageous revelations of electoral malpractices in Zimbabwe







- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/oldest-zimbabwean-voter-was-135-yrs-old/

In what could only be explained as an intoxication over a commercial endorsement, the Australian media have revealed that Manchester United were willing to disappoint over 80,000 fans in Sydney in row over fizzy drinks.

The Manchester based team beat the Australian A-League All-Stars 5-1 last month in front of a sell-out 83,127 at the ANZ Stadium but it turns out the match came close to being cancelled.

With only 20 minutes left before kick-off the match was still on the brink of cancellation because United were refusing to take the pitch as long as the stadium’s giant screens were flashing up ads for Coca-Cola.

This was unacceptable to Manchester United’s commercial department who were on the last stages of signing a multi-million pound sponsorship deal with Pepsi in the Asian-Pacific region which has since been confirmed as signed.

That deal does not even include Australia, but United were not going to take any chances about offending Pepsi.

“Man U’s commercial department threatened that the team would not run out if the Cola-Cola sign stayed on the big screen,” an ANZ Stadium spokesman has confirmed.

“It wasn’t discovered until the team arrived at the ground.”

Coca-Cola are one of the main backers of the stadium which complicated the issue.

The Football Federation of Australia were even called in to help mediate proceedings and a compromise was finally reached where all Coke ads were replaced by ads for Mount Franklin water – another Coca-Cola Amatil product, but not a direct rival to Pepsi.

“There was a fairly heated discussion which involved FFA as well,” an FFA insider confirmed.

“The odd part is that there were lots of Man U people at the stadium three nights earlier for State of Origin and nothing was said about the signs.
“They could hardly say they were caught by surprise.”



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/manchester-united-players-intoxicated-on-pepsi-cola/

According to statistics obtained from the Nigerian Communication Commission on Friday, there are more internet connections in Nigeria than the entire population of England, by far the largest of the four nations that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

According to the statistics, at the end of June, a total of 57.7 million telephone subscribers had Internet subscriptions, compared to 57 million people living in England according to populations figures obtained. Of the 57.7 million subscriptions a total of 48.3 million were active subscribers. This means that just about 9.4 million Internet subscriptions were inactive.

Investigations also indicate that a total of 48.3 million telephone subscribers actively browse the Internet on their mobile phones.

These statistics also showed that Internet subscriptions through the telecommunications operators increased by 26.44% between May 31 and June 30, 2013.
At the end of May, the active mobile Internet subscription stood at 38.2 million. This means that within a period of one month (between May and June), 10.1 million active subscribers started accessing the Internet on their phones, a difference of 26.44%.

The total number of connections at the same period (end of May 2013), however, stood at 44.69 million. This indicates that in addition to the 38.2 million telephone subscribers, 6.49 million other subscribers were inactive or a total of 14.52%.

With an active subscription of 24.5 million, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited had the largest mobile Internet subscription rate at the end of June. This means that 50.72 per cent of all mobile Internet subscribers as of June 30 were connected to the MTN network.



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