Igbo boys of Virginia get ready for Ekere Mgba

The Igbo Boys of Virginia USA, getting ready for "Ekere Mgba" (Traditional Wrestling). This is one of the ways they show patriotism in diaspora. Igbo Kwenu!

BBC Uses Fake pictures from 2003 to Incite War Against Syria - While You Slept

How well can we trust big name media such as BBC? OUR FRIENDS AT While You Were Sleeping featured a new interesting article about well, how little and credible they could be. 

When it is time to justify the invasion of a country that is of no threat to Allied forces, mass media deception kicks into high gear to sway public opinion. Only a few years after the “Watch-out-Saddam-is-gonna-nuke-us-all-with-weapons-of-mass-destruction” fabrication, mass media is now being flooded with horrible stories from Syria to incite people in Western countries to think “I hope we go in there and clean up this mess”. However, as it is often the case in war propaganda, lies, fabrications and deceit are used to justify military action.

A recent example of this is the BBC using a horrifying picture from 2003 in Iraq to illustrate an alleged massacre that happened in Houla, Syria. When a “reputed” news source such as BBC gets caught using fake pictures to demonize a country, one can wonder what other fabricated BS appears in the news and goes unnoticed. Here’s an article on BBC’s “mistake”. 

READ BBC Uses Fake pictures from 2003 to Incite War Against Syria - While You Slept

White student lauded after returning college scholarship meant for blacks

No big deal.

No big deal. 

That's how 17-year-old Jeffrey Warren describes his decision to return a $1,000 college scholarship meant for black students.

“I just thought it was the right thing to do,” says Warren, who is white.

His decision is winning him praise for his character – and offers of alternate financial help.

A hush, followed by some giggles, enveloped the Martin Luther King High School gym in Riverside, Calif., when it was announced on senior awards night that Warren was the winner of the scholarship awarded by the local Martin Luther King Senior Citizens Club.

The $1,000 scholarship, one of two awarded annually by the seniors club, is meant for African-American students. Club members didn’t know Warren is white until he rose to receive the award.

“We just couldn’t believe it at the outset. It was really something. There was mixed feeling in the crowd,” recalled Etta Brown, chairwoman of the club’s scholarship committee, of the May 22 ceremony.

“People were surprised. Laughter started to come up from crowd,” Warren said. “They still shook my hand, they still said ‘thank you.’”

After some contemplation, Warren and his parents decided to return the scholarship. They sent an email the next day informing the MLK senior citizens club of the decision.

Warren Family / Warren family

Jeffrey Warren and his mom Frances Warren on graduation night.

“They said they would accept it back. They were very nice about it. They thanked me for being generous and for being a great kid,” Warren told msnbc.com on Tuesday.

“Jeffrey and I wanted them to be happy,” Rod Warren, who teaches language arts at the high school, told the Riverside Press-Enterprise, which first reported on the episode. “The ladies were trying to do something really nice.”

The scholarship application itself stated only that African-Americans were “encouraged” to apply. Warren applied online and apparently never saw a separate letter sent to school counselors specifying that it was for black students.

Some club members felt Jeffrey should be allowed to keep the scholarship, Brown told msnbc.com. “It was a very thoughtful decision between his family and himself that they would not accept it,” she said.

“I think it says a lot for his character and it says a lot of the character for the family,” said King High School Principal Darel Hansen.

“This was not something the school or school district asked him to do. He in our opinion won the award in good faith though there was a mix-up.”

Jeffrey’s scholarship was later awarded to a runner-up -- a female African-American student.

Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com

Organizations using private money, like the MLK seniors club, are allowed to set their own eligibility criteria for scholarships they grant.

Brown said the club’s scholarship committee will meet to revise the language on the application to clarify it's for African-American students so there’s no misunderstanding in the future.

Warren won’t be totally lacking in financial help for college. Rod Warren told the Press-Enterprise his son applied for 27 scholarships and also won three others, two for $2,000 each and another $500 scholarship.

Hansen told msnbc.com that since the story made local headlines, several people have contacted the school “asking where they could send a check to make a donation to Jeffrey.”

Several teachers also showed up at his graduation party at his home on Saturday and presented him with an envelope with $351 in cash donations collected from school staff.

Warren said he plans to attend San Diego State University in the fall where he will major in English or business, or both. He says he wants to teach, like his dad.

“He’s a really neat student,” Brown said. “He deserved it (the scholarship). Martin Luther King would say he did everything right.”Brown thinks he has a bright future ahead.

RICH AFRICANS - Tony Elumelu covers Forbes magazine

Nigerian economist and top recognized banker graces the cover of Forbes Magazine as he talks about Capitalism, kidnapping and other topics.




SOURCE

Zimbabwean politician says aids can be stopped if women dress andbecome more unattractive

A Zimbabwean politician has sparked outrage by suggesting the spread of HIV can be curbed if women shave their heads, stop bathing and deliberately make themselves look unattractive. Morgan Femai, an MDC-T senator for Chikomo said the measures were required because men were finding it difficult to resist well-dressed, attractive women.

While addressing a parliamentary HIV awareness workshop in Kadoma on Friday, he said: “What I propose it that the government should come up with a law that compels women to have their heads clean-shaven like what the Apostolic sects do,”ZimEye reports. He added: “They should also not bathe because that is what has caused all these problems.” (DEAD)
Senator Femai also appeared to suggest female circumcision would help stop the spread of disease.
He told the workshop, which was organised in conjunction with the National Aids Council: “Women have got more moisture in their organs as compared to men so there is need to research on how to deal with that moisture because it is conducive for bacteria breeding. There should be a way to suck out that moisture.”
According to Unicef figures from 2009, more than 14 per cent of the adult population in Zimbabwe have HIV/Aids.

Deborah Jack, chief executive of NAT (National AIDS Trust) told Huffington Post UK: "These suggestions of how to fight the spread of HIV are totally misleading and potentially really damaging.

Senator, Sithembile Mlotshwa 

"They also unfortunately shift focus away from the proven ways to prevent HIV transmission - being aware of the facts of how HIV is passed on, using a condom during sex and ensuring you are tested for HIV when you've put yourself at risk."



According to All Africa, another MDC-T Senator, Sithembile Mlotshwa (Matobo), recently suggested men be injected with drugs that reduce their libidos. She also called for prisoners to be given sex toys to satisfy their sexual desires.
Source

Welp, there we go... Zimbabweans say the darndest things.... And this is a future leader. I don't blame the man, he's having a hard time getting females with his dead monkey looks, so if he gets them to tone down their sexiness, maybe they'll fall for him. I see your move player senator. 

Sex abuse victims ask International Criminal Court to prosecute pope

CNN - Victims of abuse by Catholic priests asked the International Criminal Court to charge Pope Benedict XVI and other top Vatican officials with crimes against humanity, a victims' group announced Tuesday.

The pope and other church leaders "tolerate and enable the systematic and widespread concealing of rape and child sex crimes throughout the world," the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a joint statement.

They filed more than 20,000 pages of documents with the international court in the Netherlands to support their charges, they said.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told CNN he was aware of the filing but had no comment.

The International Criminal Court did not immediately respond to a CNN question about whether it believed it had jurisdiction to prosecute the pope.

But Barbara Dorris, the president of SNAP, said it was the natural venue for the case.

"We are convinced this is the proper jurisdiction," she told CNN. "Who else can investigate violent crimes of a global magnitude? The ICC was created to deal with widespread systematic violent crimes against humanity."

The executive director of the International Bar Association, on the other hand, said it was unlikely the international court would find there was evidence of crimes against humanity.

"This requires a government policy, a plan, a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population," Mark Ellis said.

"Not to suggest that victims were not harmed, but to meet the level of crimes against humanity you really have to show that there is a policy or a plan to initiate this," he said.

People can be held responsible for crimes if they knew - or should have known - they were occurring, Ellis said.

But the blind eye victims accuse the Catholic Church of turning to abuse of children by priests does not rise to the level of crimes against humanity, he suggested.

"They are crimes and they are serious, but within the jurisdiction of the ICC you have to be very specific. I don't see that you would be able to tick the boxes necessary" to bring a prosecution, he predicted.

That the defendant is the pope - along with three senior cardinals - also raises "jurisdictional hurdles," he said.

But simply filing the request will force the prosecutor to look at the case, Ellis said.

It "might be beneficial to the plaintiffs to force the court to respond," he said, saying the filing was more than just a publicity stunt.

"It raises the profile of these issues," he said.

In addition to the pope, SNAP and the CCF want prosecutions of Cardinal William Levada, the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State; and Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Dean of the College of Cardinals.

9 Tips for Identifying Fake Online Profiles

"She was smoking hot, unbelievably sexy ... super beautiful." This was how Nev Schulman, a 24-year-old photographer, described Megan, a fellow artist who became friendly with him on Facebook in 2007.

An online courtship began, and Schulman's filmmaking friends documented his excitement. Not until Schulman knocked on Megan's door months later did he discover that his love interest looked nothing like her profile photo. "Megan" was actually Angela, a 40-something wife and mother of two who later said she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Schulman and his friends made a high-profile film, "Catfish," out of being duped by a false Facebook profile. Other cases have had more tragic endings.

In 2006, co-workers Thomas Montgomery and Brian Barrett became so entangled in an online love triangle with a young woman who identified herself as "talhotblond" that Thomas eventually murdered Barrett at their office. Neither man realized that they were fighting over an overweight, middle-aged, stay-at-home mom.

So before falling hard for an online-only acquaintance, here are a few tips, gleaned from "Catfish," to help you detect fraudulent profiles on social networking and dating sites.

Hot Online Romance Takes Surreal Twist Watch Video

2. Be wary if the profile describes a personality that complements your own or is too good to be true. Often, imposters will create interests and activities that mirror your own in order to start a conversation.

1. The perfect person is not a real person. A supermodel or retouched profile photo should raise the first red flag.

3. Check how many friends and followers are listed in the person's network. The average Facebook user has 130 friends. An imposter will often have significantly fewer.

4. Determine whether any of your "mutual friends" have actually met your newest online acquaintance in person.

5. Use search engines to do a quick background check on the name and basic information used in a profile. If the profile claims the person attended Oxford, currently works as a CEO at an international company or runs marathons, you should be able to find mentions of these achievements on alumni, company or running sites, respectively. Schulman admitted that Googling Megan earlier in their relationship could have saved him a great deal of embarrassment and heartbreak.

6. Peruse posted pictures and albums carefully. A real person will often have pictures with friends and family, who will have tagged and commented on photos. By contrast, imposters will often use modeling photos featuring only glamorous shots of the individual rather than group photos.

7. Don't be tricked if your friend has multiple people who vouch for him or her online. One person can easily make multiple accounts to make it appear as if there is a support network of family and friends.

8. Imposters will often try to interact with your own friends and family members to create a broader sense of familiarity and build up a broader network of trust.

9. Finally, if you've been harmed by someone who posted a fake profile, report it to site monitors and authorities. Although it may be humiliating to be duped online, authorities will be able to identify imposters and close their accounts more quickly than you working independently.

Earthquake alters MLK Dedication Event plans

The official Wednesday night opening event of the five-day dedication celebration of the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial has been moved from the National Building Museum to the Washington Convention Center, officials announced.

The event, a gala dinner entitled “Honoring Global Leaders for Peace,” had to be moved because the museum suffered damage in Tuesday’searthquake, according to Harry E. Johnson Sr., the president of the foundation that built the memorial, located on the northwest shore of the Tidal Basin.
The statue at the Martin Luther King Jr memorial by the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. in August 2011. (Marvin Joseph)

“Although the earth shook in greater Washington yesterday, our spirits are still strong as we kick off our...dedication events this week,” Johnson said in a statement on the dedication week website.

A 3,000 person interfaith service scheduled for Saturday to mark the opening of the memorial is moving from the Washington National Cathedral after the earthquake cracked spires that stand 300 feet above ground. The service will now take place at the Basilica of the National Shrine.

The formal dedication of the memorial is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday. “We invite everyone to join us throughout the week and on the Mall on Sunday — come rain or shine,” Johnson said.

In addition to the earthquake, dedication organizers are monitoring Hurricane Irene, which is currently forecast to be centered off the Delmarva Peninsula Sunday. “We have a rain or shine event,” said project architect Ed Jackson Jr. “It’s too large a venue to move somewhere else. It’s got to happen there.” Tens of thousands of people, including President Obama, are expected to attend the ceremony on the Mall in the area around the memorial.

By Michael E. Ruane and Michelle Boorstein  |  0