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One of the most striking is a photograph of what appears to be the fighter's brother-in-arms. This man looks older, his hair is long and is also parted. He stares intently at the camera. My eye is drawn to his hands, which are settled on his waist. Curiously, he is wearing black gloves. Underneath those hands, hidden by his shirt, there is a suicide belt. His thumbs rest on its bulge.

The memory card found on his body has other pictures, too.
There is a group shot of young men and boys. The fighter is not in the frame. He may be behind the camera, taking the shot. I would later learn that most of the men and boys were from Mosul and were part of the Nineveh Fire Support Group, a rear-line, back-up unit that sowed terror in the city. Their time in IS has forged a deep bond between them.

This is no longer a family album, it’s now a record of a martyr-to-be, a baby-faced suicide attacker, cleansed and ready to sacrifice himself for his cause.

Soon he is in military gear, a Kalashnikov is slung over his shoulder, a walkie-talkie in his top pocket.
In another he is asleep, it is almost certainly posed, the intention is to show a warrior at rest.

The photographs begin as bright family snapshots but soon darken. The young man, is seated, with the trace of a smile on his face. He is doe-eyed beside a little girl. Perhaps it is his sister. He holds her close, and she has her index finger raised - the Islamic sign for one true god.
His hair is curly, long and parted in the middle, and as the pictures progress they have been edited, his cheeks and lips turned a girlish pink, the whites of his eyes touched-up and bright.
A transformation is taking place.

The soldiers do one final check of the bodies. On the young man in the shadows, they find some cash - a small amount of Syrian pounds, almost worthless. But in his other pocket, there is something small and far more valuable - a memory card from a mobile phone.
The pictures on it will lead us to uncover fragments of the lives of the dead men, the deep camaraderie among them, their brutality, and their journey through the battle for Mosul. And it will cast light on the dead fighter in the shadows. Who was this young man and what secrets of Islamic State did he leave behind?

It is late February and these men are in the midst of the battle of their lives. In three days they made lightning progress across the territory to the south of Mosul. Ahead of them the village of the Al-Buseif, then the ruined airport and the neighbourhoods of the west of the city.
All would fall in rapid succession, but the closer to Mosul they come, the more IS fighters they encounter, and the more bodies end up strewn across the roads and pathways.
It is already clear from the assault on the city’s east - it took 100 days - that IS prepared well for this fight. Mosul was turned into a giant arsenal, with weapons dumps and hideouts in every neighbourhood.
Before we climb back up the hill to the base, I look again on the dead fighters. In the grass beside one, I find a small piece of paper marked with an IS stamp. It is a leave permission slip. On the back, it is smeared with his blood.
IS leave permission slip

It is likely to have been among the thousands of weapons and vehicles IS seized from retreating Iraqi forces when it swept through from Syria more than two years previously.
“Adel, Adel, does anyone have ammunition? I want a full magazine,” says a fighter searching the dead man. The M16 now belongs to the man who found it.
“We have to go, it isn’t safe here,” an officer tells me. The men are jumpy and want to return to the base. There are still other IS fighters in the area, they warn.

They are at the foot of an olive grove, which is serving as the temporary base of the ERD as they push towards west Mosul, the last major redoubt of IS in Iraq.
Up close I look upon the dead man. His right leg is mangled, sliced through to the bone. He appears to have crawled out of the bunker and found a small hiding place in the rocks by the riverside.
Even in death his face is distinctive - a narrow chin and a puckish nose. His beard is wispy. He is more of a boy than a man. Nearby, soldiers find an M16 rifle which is marked as property of the US Government.
Close up of the M16 machine gun

An Iraqi soldier investigates the scen

Two of the IS fighters are clearly dead. One, most likely a boy, is buried under the rubble of concrete bunker. His small, blackened hand sticks out from mangled remains. Nearby, an older fighter lies in the grass. His eyes are open, but part of his head is missing. He died in the same airstrike that took out the bunker.
But it is the third man, lying in the shadows, further ahead on the path alongside the River Tigris, who has the soldiers worried.
Be careful … Look to his hand, maybe he has a grenade. Go slowly.”
Mohammed
They fire a couple of shots into the prone figure. It does not move.
“He is a son of a bitch, he was hiding. Be careful, be careful,” says one of the soldiers. “I don’t think he has a suicide vest,” says another.

A body and a pile of clothes on the banks of the Tigris

Warning: Disturbing content
Mohammed is giddy with excitement as he films the discovery of three IS fighters on his mobile phone.
“Shoot him,” he shouts, gesturing at one of them.
His nervousness gives him away as the unit’s cook. He’s unarmed, but his fellow soldiers from the Iraqi police special forces - known as the Emergency Response Division - are armed to the teeth and are not taking any chances.

Three young IS militants lie dead on the banks of the River Tigris.
They left behind personal photos and documents which reveal the extraordinary story of their private lives.

U.S. singer Beyonce has given birth to twins in Los Angeles, several celebrity news websites reported on Saturday, citing unidentified sources.
Beyonce, 35, and rapper and music producer Jay Z, already have a five-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy.
E! News, citing multiple unidentified sources, reported the birth and that Jay Z and Blue Ivy were seen at a Los Angeles area hospital on Thursday.
Us Weekly , also citing multiple unidentified sources, reported that the couple welcomed twins earlier this week.
“Bey and Jay are thrilled and have started sharing the news with their family and closest friends,” one unidentified source told PEOPLE.
Reuters could not verify the reports. A representative for Beyonce did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The celebrity news websites did not provide additional details, such as the date and time the twins were born or the sex of the infants.
The “Lemonade” singer, one of the most powerful women in the music business, announced the pregnancy on her Instagram account in February along with an image of her posed in lingerie and caressing a noticeable baby bump.
The announcement got more than 8 million “likes” in the first 24 hours to become the “most-liked” Instagram ever.
The R&B singer performed live at the Grammy awards in Los Angeles two weeks later, proudly displaying her swelling belly in a motherhood-themed show. She has since posted numerous pictures of her bare baby bump on her social media accounts.
The birth of Blue Ivy caused a paparazzi storm in 2012, with New York’s Lenox Hill hospital shutting down part of its maternity wing to accommodate music’s royal couple.
News of the pregnancy came less than a year after the release of Beyonce’s 2016 album “Lemonade”, in which she appeared to address long-standing rumours of trouble in her eight-year marriage.
The lyrics of several songs spoke about being cheated on, and regretting being married. But Beyonce made clear in the final tracks of the album and in music videos featuring Jay-Z that she had decided to stay in the relationship.
The couple have never addressed the rumours publicly.

Nigeria apologises to Saudi Arabia over Ramadan dates

Nigeria has apologised to Saudi Arabia after 200 tonnes of dates the kingdom sent as a Ramadan gift were found on sale in local markets.

Dates are traditionally the first things Muslims eat when they break the Ramadan fast each evening.

The dates were intended for people who had fled their homes because of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency.

Nigeria's foreign ministry said an investigation was underway. However, no arrests have yet been made.

The foreign ministry said that Nigeria's Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons had drawn up a list of places where the dates would be distributed, which included IDP camps and some prominent mosques.

The dates were found on sale in markets in Borno state, which has been hardest hit by the Boko Haram conflict.

After eight years of unrest, some 8.5 million people need life-saving aid in north-eastern Nigeria, aid officials say.

I can never win this kind of competition... The tenth girl will just die. Because am sure by that time, I will still have erection, but I won't just come again

I respect Kudirat more than I respect abiola

Michelle Obama reveals husband wore same tuxedo for eight years but no one noticed
'No matter what we do, he puts on that same tux,' says former First Lady
Barack Obama ’s dress sense was neither adventurous nor outlandish but it still garnered its fair share of admirers. Dubbed the most well-dressed President since John F Kennedy, Mr Obama arguably knew how to dress for every occasion.
While he was comfortable donning a classic black tuxedo for formal galas, he was equally comfortable in his infamous “mom jeans” and windbreakers for downtime. Sported on the 2008 campaign trail and at an MLB All-Star Game, the loose-fitting, stonewashed 80's style jeans were something of a signature look for the Chicago native.
Nevertheless, it has now emerged Mr Obama was putting in less time and energy than it appeared into his aesthetic. Michelle Obama has revealed her husband liked his tuxedo jacket so much he wore it for the eight whole years of his presidency.
The former First Lady explained that while her outfits were scrupulously scrutinised at all times, her husband managed to get away with wearing the same suit jacket for both terms in the White House.
“This is the unfair thing - you talk about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers - no matter what we do, he puts on that same tux,” Ms Obama explained during an appearance at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on Tuesday.
“Now, people take pictures of the shoes I wear, the bracelets, the necklace - they didn’t comment that for eight years he wore the same tux, same shoes.”
Michelle Obama as the First Lady
“And he was proud of it too. He’s like, ‘Mmm, I’m ready. I’m ready in 10 minutes. How long did it take you?’ I’m like, ‘Get out of here.’”
Ms Obama, who was called a style icon and a taste-maker during her time as First Lady, also revealed the anecdote behind the somewhat iconic photo of her gently altering Mr Obama’s bow tie just before he greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping and wife Peng Liyuan at the White House during a state visit in September 2015.
“We walk and in front of us are about 100 press people,” she recalled.
“So we’re standing there waiting for the cars to roll in and I was bored. So I sort of thought, let me make sure my husband looks good”.
Mr Obama has been equally as adored for his dress sense since leaving the White House in January, with many heaping praise on his backwards baseball hat on holiday and his brown leather jacket leaving the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
Reflecting upon life after he left the White House last May, he said: “I can wear my mom jeans in peace. I hate these tight jeans.”

Marriage appears to be good for your health, boosting your survival chances if you have a major heart risk factor such as high cholesterol, say researchers.
A loving spouse might spur you on to look after yourself better, they told a heart conference, based on their study of nearly a million UK adults.
All of these people had high blood pressure, cholesterol or diabetes.
The married ones fared much better than those who were single.
Wedded bliss?
Dr Paul Carter and colleagues at Aston Medical School, who carried out the work, have already shown that marriage is linked to a better chance of surviving a heart attack .
Their latest research, presented at the British Cardiovascular Society conference , hints at why this might be.
They suspect marriage helps buffer against big heart disease risk factors, including cholesterol and high blood pressure.
The study looked at deaths from all causes, including heart disease.
Men and women in their 50s, 60s and 70s with high cholesterol were 16% more likely to be alive at the end of the 14-year ACALM study if they were married rather than single.
The same was true for diabetes and high blood pressure, with married people having a survival advantage.
The picture was less clear for people cohabiting, separated, divorced or widowed.
Also, the researchers did not test if the wedded people were in happy marriages.
They suspect having someone special in your life is what's important, rather than simply getting hitched.
Dr Carter said: "We need to unpick the underlying reasons a bit more, but it appears there's something about being married that is protective, not only in patients with heart disease but also those with heart disease risk factors.
"We're not saying that everyone should get married though.
"We need to replicate the positive effects of marriage and use friends, family and social support networks in the same way."
Dr Mike Knapton, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The take-home message is that our social interactions, as well as medical risk factors such as high blood pressure, are important determinants of both our health and wellbeing.
"Whether you are married or not, if you have any of the main risk factors for heart disease, then you can call upon loved ones to help you to manage them."
Heart risk factors:
smoking
high blood pressure
high blood cholesterol
diabetes
being overweight/obese
being physically inactive
family history of heart disease
age (risk goes up with age)

melodyogonna:
hw e take concern u?? he beg u to come kneel for am?? this people sef

I know your type. There should be a age bracket for any body who wants to comment here. I am not sure you can comprehend the implication of the whole thing. You are just following the noise of the crowd

melodyogonna:
what does it look like??

FTC: i dedicate this to everyone who hates biafra, may your days be short

dont be blind...there is a point in is concern. is that man trying to be a king or spiritual head of biafra?

this is a moth my friend

you see what this stupid fake prophrets cause with their false prophesy. what if this young Man had died a muslim? They are a curse. making people twice a candidate of destruction

The world's most expensive footballer is on a pilgrimage to Islam's holiest city as he marks the start of Ramadan.

French international Paul Pogba shared a picture of himself in Mecca on Sunday, captioning it the "most beautiful thing I've seen in my life".

He also sent a tweet wishing everyone a "happy Ramadan".

The 24-year-old became the most expensive footballer in history last summer, after Manchester United paid Juventus a reported £89m ($114m) fee.

On Wednesday, he lifted the Europa League cup after Manchester United beat Ajax in the final in Stockholm.


Following the end of the season, he shared a short video of himself with a suitcase, saying he was "en route" for his prayers. He is attending Umrah, a non-mandatory Muslim pilgrimage.

Pogba is reported to have visited Mecca at least once before, when he performed the Hajj, a journey every healthy adult Muslim who can afford it is supposed to make at least once in their lives.

Mecca is believed to be the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and no non-Muslim is allowed to enter.

Jh0wsef:
LEAVE KISS FOR NOW.

Thunder fire your generation

The American dream is a myth, just like the London investment banker’s fantasy. Those who make money are often not very talented at all. They were just lucky at the right points in their lives. They might have worked hard and often are driven and greedy, but thousands of others will have worked as hard as them, been just as greedy as them, and not consistently struck it lucky. Most often, those who make money had money given to them in the first place, through inheritance that increased their chances; but it is always down to luck. Don’t believe the myth of the nice, kind, gifted, self-made entrepreneur.
We live in a world in which those who have got to the top have got there not out of great merit, but because they often had a few unfair advantages to start with, such as being born male, white and rich, because they had many lucky breaks on the way up, and often because they were willing to stamp on others’ chances as they rose. The human world does not consist of just a few superior beings able enough to do the key things that need doing, and a lumpen mass of inferior beings who could never do these things and so should be penalised appropriately.

Danny Dorling is Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford and author of The Equality Effect: improving life for everyone. This article originally appeared on The Conversation, and is republished under a Creative Commons licence.

Customs officials in Kuwait have apprehended a pigeon carrying drugs in a miniature backpack, Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai reports.
A total of 178 pills were found in the fabric pocket attached to its back, the newspaper says.
The bird was caught near the customs building in Abdali, close to the border with Iraq.
An al-Rai journalist said the drugs were a form of ketamine, an anaesthetic also used as an illegal party drug.
Abdullah Fahmi told the BBC that customs officials already knew pigeons were being used to smuggle drugs, but this was the first time they had caught a bird in the act.
Law enforcement officials elsewhere have, however, identified previous cases where pigeons have been used to carry lightweight high-value narcotics.
In 2015, prison guards in Costa Rica caught a pigeon carrying cocaine and cannabis in a zipped pouch.
And in 2011, Colombian police discovered a pigeon that was unable to fly over a high prison wall because of the weight of a package of cocaine and marijuana strapped to it.
Pigeons have been used to carry messages since Roman times, using their powerful "homing" ability.
Racing pigeons can return to their lofts from distances of hundreds of kilometres.

A tutoring app developed by a 27-year-old Nigerian has won an engineering award given by the UK's Royal Academy of Engineering.

Godwin Benson designed Tuteria, a platform that links qualified tutors to students in their area and within their budget.

He developed the platform based on the experiences he had as a tutor.

The engineering innovation award was launched in 2014 and rewards innovators in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mr Benson beat 16 participants to clinch the £25,000 ($32,000) prize money.

Other entries in the competition included a system that reduces the amount of energy used to heat water, an app that controls water consumption and a smart jacket to identity pneumonia.

The group received coaching on preparing business plans and communication ahead of their final presentation on Tuesday in front of a live audience in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

The head judge of the competition Malcolm Brinded said that Tuteria could change the lives of people eager to learn:

"We're proud to have him as our third Africa Prize winner, and we trust Tuteria will go on to change the lives of millions of people who are eager to learn and develop new skills."

Mr Benson told the BBC Focus on Africa radio programme that he always knew he had a great project

"It is something that solves the problem of access to quality, personalised learning and helps people earn income from sharing their knowledge," he said.

The app has a ratings system, and allows students to book lessons using an upfront online payment system.

Tutors are then paid once the lessons have been confirmed, and Tuteria takes 15 to 30% commission for each paid lesson.

Tutors cover a range of academic subjects.

Mr Benson plans to use the prize money to widen Tuteria's offering "even beyond Nigeria." And to include online classes and video courses as well.

god punish that police man who raised his hand u. may that hand hang like that
disgracing nigeria because of #500?!!!