Members can earn 1,000 Bonus Points per night Thursday through Monday
MCLEAN, Va. - Sunday, October 21st 2012 [ME NewsWire]
(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Whether it is extending a business trip, planning a last-minute escape or enjoying extra days on a family vacation, this November and December, Hilton HHonors, the loyalty program for Hilton Worldwide’s 10 distinct hotel brands, is providing travelers with an extra incentive to plan weekend travel through its latest global promotion, 1,000 Reasons.
From November 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012, members will earn 1,000 Bonus Points per night for hotel stays completed Thursday through Monday at participating Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Hotels, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton and Hilton Grand Vacations.
“Weekend travel is always rewarding for HHonors members, but now, even more so, the 1,000 Reasons promotion helps members earn their way, faster, to even more unforgettable travel experiences with family and friends,” said Jeff Diskin, senior vice president, global customer marketing, Hilton Worldwide.
To participate in the 1,000 Reasons promotion, members can register at HHonors.com/1000Reasons. Hotel stays can be booked with the promotion between now and December 31, 2012. For more information or to become a Hilton HHonors member, visit HHonors.com.
About Hilton Worldwide
Hilton Worldwide is a leading global hospitality company, spanning the lodging sector from luxurious full-service hotels and resorts to extended-stay suites and mid-priced hotels. For 93 years, Hilton Worldwide has offered business and leisure travelers the finest in accommodations, service, amenities and value. The company is dedicated to continuing its tradition of providing exceptional guest experiences across its global brands. Its brands are comprised of more than 3,900 hotels and timeshare properties, with 640,000 rooms in 90 countries and include Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Hotels, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton and Hilton Grand Vacations. The company also manages the world-class guest reward program Hilton HHonors®. Visit www.hiltonworldwide.comfor more information and connect with Hilton Worldwide at www.facebook.com/hiltonworldwide, www.twitter.com/hiltonworldwide, www.youtube.com/hiltonworldwide, www.flickr.com/hiltonworldwideand www.linkedin.com/company/hilton-worldwide.
About Hilton HHonors
Hilton HHonors, the award-winning guest-loyalty program for Hilton Worldwide’s 10 distinct hotel brands, offers its 34 million members more ways to earn and redeem points than any other guest-loyalty program, enabling them to create experiences worth sharing at more than 3,900 hotels in 90 countries. HHonors members can now redeem points for any room, anywhere, anytime, including the most luxurious suites, using any of four room rewards: Premium Room Rewards, Room Upgrade Rewards, Points & Money Rewards and Standard Room Rewards. In addition, HHonors members can use points to purchase unique experience rewards, merchandise and vacation packages, make charitable contributions and more. HHonors is also the only guest-loyalty program to offer ‘No Blackout Dates’ and ‘Points & Miles’ for the same stay at its properties worldwide, including participating Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels& Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Hotels, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton and Hilton Grand Vacations. Membership in HHonors is free, and travelers may enroll online by visiting www.HiltonHHonors.comor connect with Hilton HHonors at news.hiltonhhonors.com.
Contacts
Scott Carman
Hilton Worldwide
(703) 883-5803
scott.carman@hilton.com
news.hiltonhhonors.com
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SALT LAKE CITY – When Josh Ferrin closed on his family's first home, he never thought he'd make the discovery of a lifetime — then give it back.
Ferrin picked up the keys earlier this week and decided to check out the house in the Salt Lake City suburb of Bountiful. He was excited to finally have a place his family could call their own.
As he walked into the garage, a piece of cloth that clung to an attic door caught his eye. He opened the hatch and climbed up the ladder, then pulled out a metal box that looked like a World War II ammunition case.
"I freaked out, locked it my car, and called my wife to tell her she wouldn't believe what I had found," said Ferrin, who works as an artist for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City.
Then he found seven more boxes, all stuffed full with tightly wound rolls of cash bundled together with twine — more than $40,000.
Ferrin quickly took the boxes to his parent's house to count. Along with his wife and children, they spread out thousands of bills on a table, separating the bundles one by one.
They stopped counting at $40,000, but estimated there was at least $5,000 more on the table.
Ferrin thought about how such a large sum of money could go a long way, pay bills, buy things he never thought he could afford.
"I'm not perfect, and I wish I could say there was never any doubt in my mind. We knew we had to give it back, but it doesn't mean I didn't think about our car in need of repairs, how we would love to adopt a child and aren't able to do that right now, or fix up our outdated house that we just bought," Ferrin said. "But the money wasn't ours to keep and I don't believe you get a chance very often to do something radically honest, to do something ridiculously awesome for someone else and that is a lesson I hope to teach to my children."
He thought about the home's previous owner, Arnold Bangerter, who died in November and left the house to his children.
"I could imagine him in his workshop. From time to time, he would carefully bundle up $100 with twine, climb up into his attic and put it into a box to save. And he didn't do that for me," Ferrin said of the man who had worked as a biologist for the Utah Department of Fish and Game.
Bangerter purchased the home in 1966 and lived there with his wife, who died in 2005.
After most of the money was counted, Ferrin called one of Bangerter's sons with the news.
Kay Bangerter said he knew his father hid away money because he once found a bundle of cash taped beneath a drawer in their home, but he never considered his dad had stuffed away so much over the years.
"He grew up in hard times and people that survived that era didn't have anything when they came out of it unless they saved it themselves," Kay Bangerter, the oldest of the six children, told the Deseret News. "He was a saver, not a spender."
Bangerter called the money's return "a story that will outlast our generation and probably yours as well."
"I'm a father, and I worry about the future for my kids," Ferrin said. "I can see him putting that money away for a rainy day and it would have been wrong of me to deny him that thing he worked on for years. I felt like I got to write a chapter in his life, a chapter he wasn't able to finish and see it through to its conclusion."
Extracted from 
Urban Reproductive Health Initiative, NURHI, has disclosed that not less than 750,000 abortions are committed yearly in the country, bemoaning the lackadaisical attitude of the three tiers of government to family planning.
Among these women that commit abortion, 545 of them die per 100,000 most of whom are married women whose percentage was put at 35.
This was disclosed by Mrs. Stella Akinso, State Team Leader, NURHI, and Dr. Celina Johnson at a sensitization workshop organised for various stakeholders in the helath sector in Ibadan.
NURHI with other groups such as Development Communication Network, Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria and many others assembled participants to enlighten them more on safe motherhood.
The workshop which witnessed large turn out also called the attention of government to the need for disbursing money allocated to family planning to the appropriate quarters.
Some of the participants who were sourced from local governments in the state also appealed to the government to stop diverting the money meant for family planning to other concerns.
It was surprise galore on Thursday at the Ogun State Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, when a 15-year-old boy, Wasiu Odunewu confessed that he cut off the head of the immediate younger brother of his father, Odunewu Ojo and sold it for N8,000...
The suspect confessed that he was forced to commit the crime due to financial constraints. "It was a week to the just concluded Ileya festival and I needed money to buy clothes and to entertain my friends. So when my friend brought the 'business', I quickly accepted it to raise money for the festival."
Police source at the Eleweran told Sunday Tribune that the suspects have confessed to the crime and investigations on the matters would soon be completed. The suspects - Wasiu Odunewu, Toibu Babalola, 23 and Shakiru Tiamiyu, 17 - are currently cooling their feet in one of the cells at Eleweran..
Speaking on what led them into the crime, one of the suspects, Toibu Babalola told Sunday Tribune that It was his immediate elder brother, Yusuff Babalola that requested that he should help him get a human head. "It was about a week to Ileya festival, I cannot remember the exact date when my brother came to our village from Lagos. He told me that I should help him get a human head, either fresh or dry. He promised to pay any amount. My brother is working in Lagos. When he gave me the assignment, I told him to give me sometime. I contacted my friend, Wasiu Odunewu about it and he (Wasiu Odunewu) agreed to get it at the cost of N10,000.00. I called my brother on his mobile phone to inform him about the development and he agreed to pay N10,000. To carry out the deal, Wasiu also informed his other friend, Shakiru Tiamiyu about the deal. So, we all agreed to carry out the assignment."
On how they carried out the deal, Toibu told Sunday Tribune that it was agreed among three of them that it would be very difficult to get a fresh human skull and that since the alleged receiver, Yusuff Babalola was not keen on whether the head should be fresh or dry, it was agreed that the suspects should dig a grave and cut off the head. Wasiu quickly suggested that he would lead them (suspects) to the grave of his uncle "when we agreed to carry out the assignment, Wasiu told us he would lead us to where his uncle Odunewu Ojo was buried. The three of us - Wasiu, Toibu and Shakiru left for their village in Debari in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State. We carried out the assignment in the night around 9.00 pm. But before then, we had gone to the burial site in the afternoon to survey the area. When we went to cut the head, we dug the ground and quickly remove the head and to avoid suspicions we covered the grave and left."
The suspect, Toibu told Sunday Tribune that immediately he got the head, he called his brother to come for it. "After carrying out the deal, I called my brother and he came from Lagos to take the head. He gave me N8,000 and I gave the money to Wasiu. He shared it with his friend, Shakiru. My brother must have used the head for the ritual he wanted to perform."
How they were arrested by the Police, Sunday Tribune learnt that some people in the community noticed that the grave had been tampered with and they raised alarm. They contacted the father of one of the suspects. The family of the dead man went to a traditionalist whom employing charms, the suspects confessed to the crime.
Also speaking and how they were nabbed. Wasiu, told Sunday Tribune saying, "You see, on the day of the operation, we went to the burial site of that my uncle in the afternoon and some people saw us. So, when they saw that the grave had been tampered with, I became the first suspect. The people in the community told my daddy about it and he brought out a charm and told me to tell him everything I knew about the missing head. At that point, I told him that I was responsible for it. He was very sad about it because, the head was that of his immediate younger brother whom he was fond of while alive. My father later invited the Police and I was arrested. I later gave the Police all the necessary information that led to the arrest of my colleagues."
All the suspects explained that they used the money realised from the deal to take care of the ileya festival expenses. "The deal came at a time I needed money for Ileya festival, so when he brought the idea, I could not resist it," Wasiu said.
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US rapper Rick Ross got paid $100,000 (US) in a deal that was brokered on the night (11th Dec) of the 2010 MAMAs in Lagos, to perform at a 10 year old’s birthday party in Abuja. On the spur of the moment . The name Rick Ross is not a household name here and I am sure the Parents of this Child had no plans whatsoever in hiring the Rapper who calls women "bitches" in his lyrics .
100,000 USD big ones! Who are his parents?!
Well they must be from Edo or Delta State or environs the little fellows name is Igho which is usually a short form for Ighodalo .when we get the name of these "loving"parents we will give you a holla !
The news was tweeted by his official DJ – DJ Sam Sneak, who accompanied him to Lagos for his MAMAs performance. Rick & his entourage were flown to Abuja Sunday afternoon to surprise little Igho. I hope MTV cameras were on hand to capture it all go down…this is definitely one for Sweet 16 10 – Naija Edition!
I will not bother calculating the Naira equivalent. It’s Monday morning & I don’t want to add to the depression I’m feeling about being broke (again!).
And they say there is no money in Nigeria…this is a country were 70% of the population lives below the poverty line, living on less than a $1 a day. well i calculated it out of sheer spite it is 15million Naira ! Igho You are one lucky kid just pray your folks dont go the James Ibori way (prison) or you might have to kiss your college fund goodbye any day soon son !
Photos: Rick Ross & DJ Sam Sneak Role models for Naija kids .
Fiery Lagos-based pastor, Tunde Bakare, has confirmed to Saharareporters that President Goodluck Jonathan provided a $50,000 cash bribe to a delegation of the Save Nigeria Group that visited him last Monday, but that the group sent back the money.
Pastor Bakare’s confirmation came in the midst of a tepid denial of our earlier report by Tony Uranta, one of Mr. Jonathan's political operatives. Uranta had claimed on his Facebook page yesterday that Saharareporters misrepresented the crux of the meeting between the president and the Pastor Bakare-led delegation.
Specifically, Uranta denied that Jonathan discussed his ambition to run for office with the SNG delegation. He also stated that no money was offered to the SNG team and claimed that, contrary to our earlier report, the Bakare group had not asked him to return the bribe money to Jonathan.
But in a telephone interview with Saharareporters on Sunday evening, Pastor Bakare confirmed that the details of our earlier exclusive report were factual and unimpeachable.
Bakare, who has a reputation for speaking out fearlessly on current political issues, affirmed that the Minister of the Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe, had offered the SNG delegation the sum of $50,000 on behalf of President Jonathan. The SNG had met with Jonathan to review his performance in office.
In the phone interview, Pastor Bakare stated categorically that his team was indeed offered money after it submitted a position paper on why it was opposed to the president's ambition to be re-elected. He confirmed that the cash was immediately returned to sender through Uranta, shortly after it was presented to the SNG delegation.
The SNG convener told Saharareporters that his team felt terribly embarrassed and offended by the orchestrated attempt by Jonathan and his team to buy the SNG’s support through illicit means.
An obviously angry Bakare said, “You can quote me. I don't do deals and I don't lie. Tony [Uranta] could be saving his own face. Tony lied that he didn't collect the money from us. There are living witnesses. Orubebe has confirmed to me that the money was returned. Mr. President is aware through Oronto Douglas that we returned his money through Tony.”
Bakare said he, Yinka Odumakin and other SNG officials went to the meeting with Jonathan with a written document that explained why the SNG would not support his candidacy.
“We submitted a document regarding the culture of impunity in which he (Jonathan) continues to swim," he said.
As Saharareporters had exclusively reported, Jonathan sought a meeting with the Save Nigeria Group to discuss his ambition to run for office after it dawned on him that former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, the consensus candidate chosen by the so-called Northern Political Elders Forum, was going to present a stiff political challenge.
A close aide to Mr. Jonathan told Saharareporters that, whilst Atiku is steeped in corruption, the president was also aware that the Atiku group had a dossier on corrupt deals by both Jonathan, his wife and his close associates and advisors, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
After Bakare made his presentation and accused Jonathan of having abused the goodwill offered him by Nigerians, the president tried to buy the group’s loyalty by giving its officials $50,000 through Orubebe.
An Abuja-based democratic activist told Saharareporters that, by attempting to buy the SNG's support, Mr. Jonathan had “exposed himself to charges of hypocrisy and doing the opposite of what he preaches.”
In a speech on Saturday, Mr. Jonathan had urged Nigerians to ignore politicians who seek to win elections by offering money to groups and individuals....The president gave the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do sermon at the 2010 graduation ceremony of the Senior Executive Course 32 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Plateau State. Vice President Namadi Sambo represented the president at the event and read the speech on Jonathan’s behalf.
The National Council of State has ratified the federal government’s decision to set a new minimum wage of N18, 000 for the nation’s workers, at an emergency meeting held in Abuja yesterday. President Goodluck Jonathan has also been asked to forward a bill to that effect to the National Assembly.
The governors have however urged the president to initiate a process that will remove the issue of minimum wage from the exclusive list, so that states can independently negotiate workers’ pay based on their individual financial capacity.
While briefing newsmen on the outcome of the council meeting, which was chaired by the president and attended by former heads of state, the governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje explained that the council agreed to support the president’s wage plan because, “it is in the interest of workers and the Nigerian economy, so that our workers can live decent lives and ensure that the problem between labour and government is resolved.
“Council deliberated extensively on the issue of the national minimum wage for the Nigerian workers and council resolved to advice Mr. President to send a Bill to the National Assembly requesting the National Assembly to enact the N18,000 as a minimum wage for workers because it has to be revisited. Our workers will live a very decent life. With this, I believe the problem between the government and the labour will be resolved finally. This is the position of the Council,” Mr. Goje said.
He said the decision on the new wage has been made binding on all the states and any organisation that employs over 50 workers..
The Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio said the council also noted the submissions from various states on their ability or otherwise to meet the newly approved minimum wage for workers.
“The council advised that the best approach for any deregulated minimum wage for the country, will be to tinker with the present constitutional provision and of course if the NASS want to effect any amendments, then the states in future could negotiate what their minimum wages will be so that it will reflect the true position of the federation. In due course, the law could be amended to allow states negotiate their own wage according to their capability. In the meantime, N18,000 per worker is what we have advised,” Mr Akpabio said.
We are not equal
Speaking on the fact that the minimum wage has remained on the exclusive list, the Gombe State governor said the resources available to the states in the country are not the same. “We are operating a federal system, states should be given the leverage to pay their workers in line with their peculiar situation,” Mr Goje said. “Others can decide to pay N40,000 per month, others can decide to negotiate downward according to their resources. But that can only be done if the constitution is amended. For now, the the minimum wage is binding on all governments and corporate bodies.”
The council was also briefed by the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega on the preparations for the forthcoming elections.
Imo State governor, Ikedi Ohakim, said the INEC chairman made a “clear and graphic presentation” of the commission’s intentions regarding next year’s polls and that “we are satisfied that INEC is fully prepared to conduct a free and fair election”.
Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola also added that Mr Jega’s presentation “shows a clear commitment to conducting free and fair polls.” He, however, added that “the big and next hurdle is the implementation of the plan which requires the participation of the stakeholders and compliance with the rules.” Former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari who was at the meeting, also commended the presentation by INEC although he observed too that implementation will be a serious challenge.
Other past presidents in attendance were Olusegun Obasanjo, Ernest Shonekan and Shehu Shagari.
More than 10,000 bootleg DVDs of popular Nigerian movieshave been seized this week after complaints from "Nollywood" film execs aboutrampant piracy in Brooklyn.
The pirated DVDs were found at nine stores inthe borough, along with several high volume disc duplicators, said DistrictAttorney Charles Hynes.
"The sale of bootleg and counterfeit goodsdeprives the city and state of New York of millions of dollars in sales taxrevenue," Hynes said yesterday.
"And it deprives the artists who madethe movies of their well-deserved proceeds."
The Nigerian film industry,known globally as "Nollywood," is extremely prolific, second only to India'sBollywood in terms of the number of films made.
Most are straight to DVDor TV, but extremely popular throughout the African continent...
Thatpopularity has followed to the communities of immigrants from Africa in theUnited States, where they are legally sold in DVD form for $5 apiece while thefakes sell for $3 each.
Among the titles recovered in the sweep this pastweek are feature films like "Material Girl," "Mind Games," the "Governor's Gift"and "Stolen Will."
WORKERS TO GO IN POWER Bonanza
Do the Math: 2.7million Per head !
N135 billion severance package ready For an epileptic Power Sector of Non Performing Staff ? They will still get jobs in the privatised companies being set up !
FOR the reform in the power sector to work, 50,000 workers in the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) would be sacked. However, the Federal Government is planning to pay N135 billion compensation for the workers..
Presidential Adviser on Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, yesterday confirmed this to the House of Representatives.
He said the workers would be sacked before the Federal Government hands over the 18 companies carved out of PHCN to their new owners in the first quarter of next year.
He also informed the House that N135 billion ($900 million) severance package is being worked out by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for approbation in next year’s budget for the workers.
The Speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole, was particularly worried since it has been established that lack of funds is no longer the bane of the power sector and since so much money has been pumped into the sector with no commensurate result.
In his presentation, the Speaker noted: “In the past two years, we have been doing all we can to ensure that the power sector is adequately funded yet, nothing has changed.”
Nnaji was in the Lower House with members of the Presidential Task Force to lobby the lawmakers on the need to come up with enabling legislations that would drive the reform.
Nnaji observed that the staff burden of the PHCN is worrisome. “There is a high operating cost in the company, gulping over N8 billion annually in which staff salaries and pension take 80 per cent of it”, he told the committee.
He said that 70 per cent of the cost of running the sector is incurred at the distribution business level. “The whole idea for the future of the sector is to cut a good deal for the workers for a more efficient power output for the country when the workers would have been been laid off. We would enter into an agreement with the new owners of the companies to absorb them.
“There is no way the new owners would work without trained and experienced workers. So, most of the workers would be fully re-engaged after entering into a new contract with the new owners.
“We are already working out a $900m (N135 billion) severance package for them with the CBN for appropriation in the next budget,” he declared.
He said that there were already strong interest from international investors in the country’s power sector.
“Essar of India plans to put in up to $2 billion of investment if the sector is reformed to logical conclusion. There are also strong interests from financiers and operators all over the world for our proposed sale of PHCN,” he said.
According to him, the privatisation of the sector would not be possible if the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act 2005, which gives the time line for the sales of the entities carved out of the PHCN, is not adjusted to accommodate the proposed dates. They are made up of 11 Distribution Companies (Discos), six Generation Companies (Gencos) and one Transmission Company (Transco).
According to the Professor, the present PHCN is indebted to suppliers and other service providers to the tune of N90 billion and it is owed N100 billion by its customers.
He lamented that “there is a severe lack of business orientation in the PHCN, coupled with inadequate expertise, especially technical, but most prevalent at the distribution level of the company.”
The Chairman, House Committee on Power, Patrick Ikhariale, said there was no alternative to the privatisation of PHCN.
He, however, assured the presidential committee that lawmakers would give support to the Task Force. “We can assure you of our full support because the issue of power is of extreme importance to every Nigerian and we will work with you to see that the sector improves,” he said.
Nearly 400,000 Military Documents Reportedly Contain Details on Iraqi Torture, U.S. Misdeeds
The whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks today released a trove of classified reports that it said documented at least 109,000 deaths in the Iraq war, more
than the United States previously has acknowledged, as well as what it
described as cases of torture and other abuses by Iraqi and coalition
forces.
"The reports detail 109,032 deaths in Iraq, comprised of 66,081
'civilians'; 23,984 'enemy' (those labeled as insurgents); 15,196 'host
nation' (Iraqi government forces) and 3,771 'friendly' (coalition
forces)," WikiLeaks said in a statement regarding the documents'
release. "The majority of the deaths (66,000, over 60 percent) of these
are civilian deaths. That is 31 civilians dying every day during the
six-year period."
The new documents covered 2004 through 2009, WikiLeaks said, with the exception of May 2004 and March 2009.
A review of the documents by Iraq Body Count, an advocacy group that
long has monitored civilian casualties in the war, found 15,000
previously unknown civilian deaths, according to WikiLeaks -- a detail
first reported in The Guardian newspaper, one of a handful of
international news organizations that got an advance look at the
documents.
The U.S. military long has maintained that it does not keep an official
death tally, but earlier this month following a Freedom of Information
Act request, the Pentagon said some 77,000 Iraqis had been killed from
2004 to mid-2008 -- a shorter period than that covered by WikiLeaks.
Besides the different time periods, the New York Times, which also saw
the WikiLeaks documents early, noted that "some deaths are reported more
than once, and some reports have inconsistent casualty figures."
Al Jazeera, which also got an advance look at the documents, reported a
total of 285,000 war casualties on its Arabic-language website, a number
that included both dead and wounded. It also reported that the
documents said 681 Iraqi civilians were killed at U.S. checkpoints,
180,000 Iraqis were arrested during the war and 15,000 Iraqis were
buried without being identified.
The massive leak of 391,832 documents at 5 p.m. ET today, which
WikiLeaks billed as "the largest classified military leak in history,"
followed WikiLeaks' similar but smaller release on the war in
Afghanistan.
The new release was anticipated by the Pentagon, which has warned that publicizing the information could endanger U.S. troops.
"We strongly condemn the unauthorized disclosure of classified
information," said Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell prior to the
documents becoming public.
Morrell said the documents "expose secret information that could make
our troops even more vulnerable to attack in the future. Just as with
the leaked Afghan documents, we know our enemies will mine this
information looking for insights into how we operate, cultivate sources
and react in combat situations, even the capability of our equipment.
This security breach could very well get our troops and those they are
fighting with killed."
Amid such criticism, WikiLeaks said this time it "undertook the arduous
task of redacting any piece of information contained that might lead to
the identification of any innocent Iraqi."
The Pentagon said the documents it expected would be released include
tactical reports from late 2003 to 2010 containing brief unit-level
observations of what those units saw on a daily basis.
Those documents included descriptions of attacks on Iraqi security
forces and U.S. forces, detainee abuse, civilian casualty incidents, IED
blasts, discussions with Iraqis and inquiries into socio-political
relations, according to Department of Defense spokesman Col. David
Lapan.
Sources that saw the WikiLeaks documents in advance reported no major
revelations, but said taken together they could be read as a secret
history of the war written from a troop's-eye-view of the conflict.
WikiLeaks collectively referred to the trove as "The Iraq War Logs" and seemed to suggest they did contain revelations.
"There are reports of civilians being indiscriminately killed at
checkpoints, such as speeding to get a pregnant woman to hospital; of
Iraqi detainees being tortured by coalition forces; and of U.S. soldiers
blowing up entire civilian buildings because of one suspected insurgent
on the roof," WikiLeaks said in its statement.
"There are over 300 recorded reports of coalition forces committing
torture and abuse of detainees across 284 reports and over 1,000 cases
of Iraqi security forces committing similar crimes," WikiLeaks added.
"There are numerous cases of what appear to be clear war crimes by U.S.
forces, such as the deliberate killing of persons trying to surrender."
The documents also included evidence of state-sanctioned torture by the
Iraqi government, new evidence of Iraqi government death squads, and
Iran's involvement in funneling arms to Shiite militias, according to .
the international news outlets that reviewed them before their release.
ABC News did not begin to review the nearly 400,000 documents firsthand until after their release this evening.
As the details on the documents emerged, the main WikiLeaks site was down for "scheduled maintenance," but the 400,000 documents later could be searched by categories on a specially created Wikileaks page.
WikiLeaks said it would hold a press conference Saturday morning in Europe to elaborate on the documents.
Zimbabwe’s representative in the Big Brother All Stars reality television show, Photo:Munyaradzi Chidzonga on Wednesday met President Robert Mugabe and was feted with $300 000 compensatory ‘prize money.’
This means that Munya got more than the winner of the competition, Uti from Nigeria who pocketed $200 000 for winning the contest sponsored by Multi Choice.
Zimbabweans felt Munya was robbed after surviving eviction nine times when he was nominated and political heavyweights from President Mugabe’s Zanu PF party jumped at the opportunity to exploit to their favour.
The move was initiated by business mogul Phillip Chiyangwa, a nephew of the president and David Chapfika who initiated a fundraising campaign.
After meeting the president, Munya said: “That was something I wanted to do since I was very young. They say when you are young you are given the power of dreams.
“You live that dream until a certain time it is realised. I have always told young people around that we are a product of a group of men’s dreams and we have been given a platform.
“And I can proudly stand on that platform and say a black man is more powerful in Zimbabwe than anywhere else in the world.
“I have been given the blessing of travelling and seeing, not all of it, but much of the world and this is the best place. It is thanks to men like you Your Excellency.”
During the course of Big Brother, Munya said he wanted to meet President Mugabe and usually went around the house with the Zimbabwean flag draped over his shoulders.
President Mugabe said Munya was a people’s hero and the true winner of the Big Brother All Stars reality television show.
He hailed Munya’s performance in the “grueling” and “rough contest”.
“This is quite a joyous moment not just for Munya, not just for me, but to all of us in the country… you have done well for the country,” he said..
“And you went through it all. I didn’t think you would survive because you looked so young, perhaps the youngest of them all.
“The most handsome of them all… We were very proud of you and of your performance..
“When it came to the end, the top decision, the judges had to make sure that one (person) had to win. It was Nigeria versus Zimbabwe and Nigeria is a very big country so you deferred to Nigeria.
“But both of you won and from our point of view, for us, you were the winner. You made us proud. I want to say congratulations to you and the young Zimbabweans represented by you.”
The 24- year old Munya touched down at the Harare International Airport around midday and was driven straight to the State house.
According to host of BBA IK, this was the closest ever finale with the winner securing the votes from eight countries and the runner up from seven.
Uti initially participated in the third season of Big Brother Africa and was one of the housemates from previous seasons chosen to enter the Big Brother All Stars house.
The luxury hotel in central Tokyo began selling the plan a week ago as "something splashy" to commemorate its opening five years ago, said hotel spokeswoman Chie Hayakawa. It intends to apply for recognition from Guinness World Records once a reservation is finalized.
"When the hotel opened we had an exclusive party like this - black tie, cocktail dresses. There was music and drinks and food from the restaurants, and it was all quite grand," said Hayakawa, who took part.
"We thought it would be fun to offer the same experience to an exclusive group of guests."
Under the plan, the entire hotel - 178 guest rooms, all nine restaurants and all spas - would be reserved from 3:00 in the afternoon to noon the next day. It would include a cocktail reception for 500 people.
The price tag is 55 million yen ($671,800)..
"The only thing is, you have to pick a date where there are no reservations already," she added. "It's not as if you could just request it for later this week."
Nigerian musician and actor, Uti Nwachukwu, yesterday won the reality TV senatation, Big Brother Africa - the All stars edition.
Beating his Zimbabwean contemporary, Munya, to win the coveted price, Uti jumped up and danced proudly singing the Nigerian national anthem after he was announced the winner.
It was a tight race as Uti and Munya were the final housemates. According to host IK, this was the closest ever finale with the winner securing the votes from 8 countries and the runner up from 7.
Uti initially participated in the 3rd season of Big Brother Africa and was one of the housemates from previous seasons chosen to enter the Big Brother All Stars house. The final five housemates were
Sheila (Kenyan), Mwisho (Tanzanian), Lerato (South African), Munya (Zimbabwean) and Uti.
It was a sweet victory for Uti, who survived a number of eviction nomination during the 91-day spell in the Big Brother house and was never sent to the barn. Uti lost his father while he was in the house.
The finale featured performances from MI, Jesse Jagz, 2Face, and Kenya’s Wyre.
More:
After a thrilling 91 days in the Brig Brother Africa All Stars house, Nigerian musician/model/actor,Uti Nwachukwu has emerged as the winner of Big Brother Africa 2010 – Big Brother Africa All Stars.
It was a tight race as Uti and Munya were the final two housemates.
According to host IK, this was the closest ever finale with the winner securing the votes from 8 countries and the runner up from 7. Uti originally participated in the 3rd season of Big Brother Africa and was one of the housemates from previous seasons chosen to enter the Big Brother All Stars house. This is the second consecutive Big Brother Africa win for Nigeria as Kevin Chuwang Pam won Big Brother Revolution in 2009.
This season of Big Brother Africa has certainly been thrilling with various twists and turns. From the ‘barn’ to Meryl and Mwisho’s engagement. There was never a dull moment.
The finale was equally exciting. With performances from Nigeria’s MI, Jesse Jagz and 2Face as well as Kenya’s Wyre and Nigerian musician Maye Hunta who performed the Big Brother All Stars theme song “African Star“.
The final five housemates were Sheila, Mwisho, Lerato, Munya and Uti. With Sheila exiting first, followed by Mwisho and then Lerato.
In addition, all the previously evicted and removed housemates were present at the grand finale. Evicted housemates Meryl provided one of the highlights of the night when she was asked by IK what she would choose, her man – Mwisho or the $200,000 prize, she replied “As much as I love paper, I love my man“. Love is beautiful! We wish them all the best.
As for Uti, it is a sweet victory after a tough 91 days. While he was in the house, his father passed away. Now, he can go home and be with his family. In addition, he launched his debut single before he entered the BBA House. We bet the $200,000 prize will help him push his music career a bit further..
We voted on 9jabook
Will Uti Win Big Brother Africa All Stars?
The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has imposed N100, 000 fine on any driver found driving tankers at night.
The Executive Secretary of NARTO, Emmanuel Gowon, told the News Agency of Nigeria, in Lagos, on Saturday, that the fine would be paid by the guilty driver to the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD). “Driving at night attracts N100, 000 as fine,” he said..
Mr Gowon said that a written code was brought up by PTD members to NARTO, that no tanker should be seen driven after 6.00 pm. According to him, the policy came up about a month ago nationwide as it was observed that most accidents involving tankers usually happened at night and on roads with potholes.
“A driver may not identify all the numerous potholes on the roads at night,” he said. “No owner likes accidents to happen. We advise drivers to stop driving at night. A tanker owner loses N30 million as the cost of a tanker with all its accessories and components, and over N2 million as cost of 33,000 litres of petroleum products. No owner would want to lose close to N33 million in just a few minutes due to avoidable circumstances.”
Five months ago, a friend of mine, who edits a national daily, sent me a text message agreeing substantially with my column, ‘The Punch and the rest of us’, except the generalised conclusion that “all (journalists) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the profession”. There are still some journalists, he submits, who toe the narrow path of integrity. Of course I knew where he was coming from, but I also knew the context in which I had made that statement.
I revisit that statement in light of the stories spewing out of the political beat, specifically on the race for the 2011 presidential elections and how it affects the integrity of news.
As part of the effort to sell his candidature for the presidency, former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) invited as many as 40 journalists to his Minna home on August 14 for an interview. I have heard questions asked about why he should invite journalists to his home instead of a public place if he didn’t have an ulterior motive, and why he should offer monetary gifts to the journalists in the name of paying for their transportation.
One news medium, which has championed this opposition in the open, is the online agency, Sahara Reporters. According to SR each of the journalists received N10 million for heeding Babangida’s call on his presidential ambition. That is N400 million just for one night’s interview from an aspirant yet to win his party’s nomination if it were true. But it was not. When some of the journalists complained about the fictional sum, SR changed the story on August 19, saying it was just “a paltry N250, 000 each”. Rather than admit its initial error SR simply said, “our accountants have told us that going by the number of 40 journalists in attendance, we are still around the same ballpark of N10 million”. So much for credible reporting!
Three days later, SR followed up with ‘IBB and his Rogue Journalists’, accusing the journalists of roguery and professional misconduct; roguery, because they collected money from two sources—their employers who presumably authorised and funded the trip and their news source, IBB; misconduct because it is unethical for them to demand/receive gratification from news sources for their services.
And on August 23 in ‘IBB Nocturnal Press Parley: Punch fires Editorial board Chairman’, SR stayed on top of the story by reporting that Adebolu Arowolo, editorial board chairman of the Punch, had lost his job for going on that trip without his management’s approval..
Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, has said that 366,000 out of the 867,000 candidates who made cut -off points of 180 and above in the recent Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) would not be admitted in the nation’s tertiary institution because of lack of sufficient places.
He also disclosed that candidates did not apply for admission in some of the institutions, especially private- owned institutions as a result of the high fees charged in such schools.
Ojerinde, who described this year’s admission into tertiary institutions as the “survival of the fittest”, said the total space available for admission in the tertiary institutions is just about 527,000.
Speaking in an interview during the combined technical committee meeting on admission to degree-awarding institutions, National Diploma (ND), Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE) and National Innovation Diploma (NID) awarding institutions which held at the Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, Ojerinde said except access to tertiary institutions is increased, “we will continue to have this lot of people waiting endlessly for admission”.
He said the committee was meeting to select the first set of candidates into tertiary institutions, adding that most of the institutions attended the meeting and were ready with their lists to rectify them.
He explained further that the Panel Secretary and the Chairman will meet on the lists and decide whether the candidates have met the set criteria for admission or not, adding that once they meet the set criteria, by next week, the name of such candidates should be on the internet as those who have gotten admission.
“With this 180 cut-off points, we have about 867,000 candidates who made 180 and above, and yet the available space is just about 527,000, so the remaining 366,000 candidates will have no place to go. That is the point, except access to tertiary institutions is increased; we will continue to have this lot of people waiting endlessly for admission..
“One of the beauty of this UTME is that we have brought them together and we are saying that they can go to any institution. If university doesn’t work, college of education may work, if not polytechnics or monotechnics may work. But I am not saying that it is to be for everybody because the spaces available are still not sufficient, ” he said.
16-Year-Old Justin Bieber Drives Diddy's $200,000 Lamborghini...
Posted Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:46pm PDT by Lindsay Robertson in Stop The Presses!
It seems P. Diddy wasn't kidding when he promised Justin Bieber he'd give him the keys to his Lamborghini when the teen pop star turned 16.On Tuesday, Bieber was spotted driving to get some frozen yogurtwith his friend Sean Kingston in Diddy's white Gallardo Spyder. (It'snot clear if Diddy gave it to Bieber for keeps or just for a spin.)
Bieber, who turned 16 on March 1 and passed the driving test soon after, laughed off Diddy's promise, telling People magazine in March, "[Diddy] said when I turn 16 he willgive me his Lamborghini. But we all know Diddy's not going to give mehis Lamborghini, he's all talk."
[Video: How to get Justin's hair]
The white Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (henceforth affectionately referred to as a "Bieberghini") retails for upwards of $210,000, according to Yahoo! Autos. Lamborghinis have become a sort of go-toluxury vehicle for famous people. Other celebrities who've been known todrive Lamborghinis include Soulja Boy, Kobe Bryant, Bam Margera, BenjiMadden, David Beckham, and Wilmer Valderrama.
[The world's most beautiful cars]
Bieber's fro-yo cohort, rapper Sean Kingston, has his own Lamborghini. In 2009, Kingston challenged Bow Wow to a race in their respective "Lambos." Bow Wow caused a bit of a stir in January when he tweeted about driving his Gallardo while "tipsy." He later apologized for the tweet, saying it wasn't a great way to kick off 2010.
Diddy's Lamborghini isn't even the first car Bieber has received as a gift: His mentor, Usher, gave him a Range Rover for his 16th birthday. Maybe Diddy is trying to show up the R&B singer with something flashier.
[Photos: See Justin on stage and more]
Their Lambo stroll wasn't the first time Kingston and Bieber have teamed up,of course -- nor the first time they appeared with a fancy car. Checkout the wheels and the Bieber-Kingston duet in the video for "EenieMeenie," a song the two performers co-wrote.
After the U.S. Government took action against several sites connected to movie streaming recently, nerves arejangling over the possibility that this is just the beginning of a widercrackdown. Now it appears that a free blogging platform has been takendown by its hosting provider on orders from the U.S. authorities ongrounds of “a history of abuse”. More than 73,000 blogs are out ofaction as a result..
Hot on the heels of recent threats from Vice President Joe Biden and Intellectual Property Enforcement CoordinatorVictoria Espinel directed at sites offering unauthorized movies andmusic, last month U.S. authorities targeted several sites they claimedwere connected to the streaming of infringing video material.
‘Operation In Our Sites‘ targeted several sites including TVShack.net,Movies-Links.TV, FilesPump.com, Now-Movies.com, PlanetMoviez.com,ThePirateCity.org, ZML.com, NinjaVideo.net and NinjaThis.net. In almostunprecedented action, the domain names of 7 sites were seized andindications are that others – The Pirate Bay and MegaUpload – narrowlyavoided the samefate.
Fears remain, however, that this action is only the beginning, and that more sites will be targeted as the months roll on. Indeed,TorrentFreak has already received information that other sites, so farunnamed in the media, are being monitored by the authorities oncopyright grounds.
Now, according to the owner of a free WordPress platform which hosts more than 73,000blogs, his network of sites has been completely shut down on theorders of the authorities.
Blogetery.com has been with host BurstNet for 7 months but on Friday July 9th the site disappeared. The following Monday the owner receivedan email from BurstNet:
The Director-General of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa, Dr. Sule Yakubu-Bassi, on Wednesday alleged that Nigerian soldiers who participated in the ECOMOG peace operations in Liberia fathered over 250,000 children.
Nigeria and some member-states of the Economic Community of West African States contributed troops to the ECOMOG peace operations during the civil war that ravaged the West African country, beginning from 1990.
Yakubu-Bassi made the disclosure in Abuja during a meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora, which is chaired by Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
According to the DG, the soldiers abandoned the children in Liberia when they returned to Nigeria.
He added that the children's mothers were now worried over the development and had made series of failed attempts to trace the soldiers.
Yakubu-Bassi called on the committee and the Federal Government to intervene in the matter by re-uniting the children with their fathers in Nigeria.
"Their mothers are trying to make sure they are properly documented and so on.
"The Nigerian Embassy in Liberia is doing something about it.
"Definitely, you can't run away from your people. These are our people; they are still young and they need to go to school and they will also need to be nurtured just like every other Nigerian," he stated.
The DG expressed the support of his agency for the proposed Nigeria Diaspora Commission, adding that such a body would help in reducing the lack of coordination between Diaspora Nigerians and their people back home.
According to him, an estimated $17 bn was remitted home yearly by Nigerians in the Diaspora.
Some Nigerians resident in Gabon also complained to the committee that their host government was about repatriating around 210,000 Nigerians.
The leader of Nigerians in Gabon, Mr. Babatunde Yekini, said that the authorities just wanted to send the Nigerians home because of their rising numbers.
Dabiri-Erewa assured the two groups that the committee would look into their complaints by drawing the attention of the appropriate government agencies to their plight..
