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On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama signed into law health care legislation that expands health coverage for the poor, imposes new taxes on the rich and forbids
insurance practices such as refusing coverage to those with pre-existing
conditions.

In their expansionary phase, empires force people to go out, seek risks and fend for themselves, Murrin said, reminding of the dismantling of the
British empire after the war, when the National Health Service, which
ensures universal health coverage in Britain, was created.

"This (empire decline) is actually a dead-set course that societies get into and it will happen very quickly I'm afraid," he told "Squawk Box Europe."

"As you start to build a system it becomes cohesive because of its success… the fractures in the American system I think are more apparent than ever," Murrin added.

China's rise will be much faster than most people anticipate as the country's military prowess increases, he said.

"We all know there's going to be a change, the surprise will be the pace of that change," Murrin said, noting that "all empires when they decline they
underestimate their challengers."

The peak for commodities will be reached somewhere between 2020 and 2025 and it's the period before that that must be watched, as China seems much more willing to take risks than Western
countries, he predicted.

- Watch the full interview with David Murrin above.

"You have a lot more males in China then you do in the west," he said, noting that 56 percent of the Chinese society was male, because of the country's policies to
control population and because of traditions which value males more than
females.

"What that means is that they're far more risk-oriented than a society in the West…if you look at conflict and your ability to risk your males in
conflict," Murrin explained.

As the Police reverted from the gunshot wounds that was alleged to have slaughtered Rimi saying it was heart failure. The

Driver of the late Abubakar Rimi yesterday gave a blow-by-blow account of how the former Kano Stategovernor died, saying Rimi began gasping soon after he saw wounds in his brother’s head after a brush with armed robbers on Sunday night.

Alhaji Haruna Abdullahi, who worked with the Rimi family since 1979 when the late politician was elected governor, said their vehicle was forced to stop by a gang of armed robbers along the road to Darki/Gadar Janna near Wudil, south-east of Kano.

“The robbers had completely taken over the road when we approached Darki/Gadar Janna,” he said. “It therefore became compulsory for us to stop, otherwise they would shoot at us.”

“As we stopped, they searched us and collected our money and our handsets. They also beat my boss’ younger brother who was seated right behind me. The security aide to my boss was sitting at the front.

“The robbers were armed, but they did not use their weapons. They asked for money and we gave them. They asked me to open the boot and when I opened it, they searched all our luggage, including that of my boss, but one of the bags was difficult to open.

“At that time, I tried to frighten them by telling them that the police could come and open fire on us all.” Abdullahi said one of the robbers responded by saying: “to hell with the police!”

He said after the robbers were done with them, they asked them to proceed on the journey. As they moved on, Rimi said to him: “You see what robbery is nowadays. These men have now cheated us.” The deceased then said he would never travel at night again, because this was not the first time they encountered robbers.

“They have robbed us once and robbed us twice, therefore we should not fall victims again,” the driver quoted the late Rimi as saying.

He said at that point, Rimi’s brother Alhaji Sule Sa’a told them he was injured in the head and arm by the robbers. Rimi asked to see the wounds and immediately he saw them, he started coughing and gasping. He said as they got to Wudil town, Rimi’s son Nura rang the guard, whose hidden cell phone was not taken by the robbers.

Abdullahi said Nura suggested to them to take the late Rimi straight to hospital instead of coming home, though they assured him that Rimi was not physically attacked by the robbers.

“At that moment my boss started sweating to the extent that Alhaji Sa’a advised me to put on the car air conditioner. As we approached Gano town, my boss said to me ‘take me to Classic Clinic as soon as we get to Kano.’” At the Classic Clinic, Abdullahi said, “after he was examined by a female doctor, we were asked to take him to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH).” He said Rimi was already unconscious by the time they got to the teaching hospital.

“We—myself, Nura and the bodyguard—lifted him into the emergency ward. They later asked us to leave the room so that he could take fresh air. So I came out, but shortly Nura came out and started calling friends and family members to inform them that my boss was dead,” Abdullahi said.

Rimi, a former minister of communications and presidential aspirant, died Sunday night of complications from high blood pressure an hour after he had an encounter with armed robbers on his way back to Kano from Bauchi. (Daily Trust)

We used to think Abacha and IBB both evil intheir own way but now whoever is in charge of Yaradua's movements has revealed a wickedness unprecedented.

Article:

Ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua failed to appear at the Friday Jumat service in Abuja today, dousing tension in the political and security quarters of the federal capital that he will be ending his four months absence from public space by praying at the National Mosque.

Wide claims that Mr. Yar’Adua will be at the Jumat service caused anxiety among Politicians of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) last night who heard that loyalists of the President planned to bring him to the Friday service today.

A presidency source who wanted to remain anonymous said the plan triggered an urgent security meeting that went into deep hours of the night, the resolution of which was a stern warning to elements of the Yar’Adua inner circle to tread carefully and restrain from plunging the nation into a crisis.

“Ï think a riot act was basically read out to the Yar’Adua team with a cautionary note that they will be held responsible for any security breach in the city and in the country” said the source who refused to read any meaning to the sudden news that the president and his inner team had prepared to appear in public today.

Last night party officials described it as disturbing that the president’s planned re-entry into public life was coming three days before the Senate begins the screening of ministerial nominees on Monday, and a day after the 2010 budget was passed. They also questioned the choice of a religious occasion for Mr. Yar’Adua’s re-emergence in public.

One source said, “if the President would be coming out four months after his absence, it ought not to be at a religious event because that will send the wrong signal.” Mr. Yar’Adua, a Muslim from Kastina State participated in the weekly Jumat service at the National Mosque located at the Central business district in Abuja until his illness kept him from public view.

The ailing President was flown out of the country on the 23rd of November 2009 to Saudi Arabia for a heart condition and has since been out of public view. The issue of Mr. Ya Adua’s appearance became subject of interest last week when two national dailies claimed that plans were afoot for the ailing president to make a public outing this week.

The last time Marion Jones played competitive basketball was in 1997. Now, 13 years, five stripped Olympic medals and one prison termlater, the former track star will make a return to the sport

.

Jones signed a one-year contract with the WNBA's Tulsa Shock on Tuesday. In December she announced her intentions to play in the women's professional basketball league, but assumed she'd haveto play in Europe first as a tune-up. Shock head coach and generalmanager Nolan Richardson didn't think so. He worked out Jones over theweekend and signed her to the rookie's minimum, $35,000, today.

"Watching her go through drills, I saw a player who's perfect for our system,"Richardson said at the news conference. "The one thing I do know is shecan run, and any player on my team who wants to be successful needs tobe able to run."

Richardson used his press-heavy "40 minutes of hell" basketball to lead the Arkansas men's basketball teamto the national championship in 1994. He plans to use the same style inthe WNBA, hence the necessity to run.

The same year Richardson and the Razorbacks were cutting down the nets, Jones was the freshmanpoint guard on the North Carolina women's basketball team that went33-2 and won a national title of its own. She started all four seasonsin Chapel Hill before leaving the sport in 1997 to focus on her trackcareer.

Jones went on to win five Olympic medals in sprints and long jump but was later stripped of those after admitting to usingperformance enhancing drugs during her career. During a federalinvestigation into the scandal, Jones lied about doping and her role ina check-fraud scheme. She served six months in a Texas federal prisonfor the offenses.

Her comeback is a boon to both her career and the WNBA. Though playing in Tulsa for a mediocre team is far removedfrom being a star of the Summer Olympics, Jones can rehabilitate hertarnished image with a good showing in the league. PEDs or not, she wasone of the best athletes in the world. Even after prison, pregnanciesand inactivity, it's hard to believe the 34-year old has slipped toomuch.

The WNBA needs Jones just as much as she needs it. The league has been floundering in recent years and any publicity theformer Olympic champion can bring to women's basketball will bewell-received.

If Jones starts the season on the roster, she'd make her WNBA debut on May 15.

Obi Mu O the number 1 video on top 9 at 9 by HiTV's Nigezie Music Channel

Turai Yar’Adua, the wife of Nigeria’s President, may have garnered a reputation as the viciously ambitious woman with a drive to occupy the number one position, her husband’s; but lurking within the shadows of the Yar’Adua-Saudi Arabian debacle is a man who may indeed be playing a more pivotal role than Mrs. Yar’Adua.

Yusuf Tilde, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the president, is believed by security sources to be the strongest force and influence in the national drama which began long before Nigeria’s ailing president succumbed to a devastating illness that caused him to be holed up in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Saudi Arabia for three months.

Mr. Tilde, unknown to many Nigerians, is not new to the business of executive decision making. Having established a league of formidable security officials in the presidency, a large number of whom who are loyal to Mr. Yar’Adua, Mr. Tilde was able to ensure that his boss remained in control and, for more than 70 days, had the Executive Council of the Federation (FEC) and legislators supporting the plans of Mr. Yar’Adua’s supporters - notoriously called the cabal - of which he is one.

Before leaving for Jeddah with his boss, the CSO, according to sources in the presidency who spoke on conditions of anonymity, was already carrying out presidential functions such as treating files, endorsing documents, and granting presidential approvals on behalf of the president whose failing health had begun to hamper his productivity.

Mr. Tilde, who has been described as ‘conservative but reasonably intelligent with good writing skills’ was surreptitiously handling affairs for Mr. Yar’Adua and had become one of the president’s most trusted aides.

The emergence of Tilde

The Bauchi-born CSO’s entrance into the presidency was not without some irregularities. Mr. Tilde took over his current position from the more cosmopolitan and broad-minded Bello Charanchi, a former State Director of the State Security Service (SSS) who spent a few weeks as Mr. Yar’Adua’s CSO before he was ousted.

“Yar’Adua’s kitchen cabinet felt that Charanchi was too professional and independent minded. They felt they could not encircle and control the president through him. Very quickly, they plotted for his exit and brought in a more pliable person,” a source said to NEXT.

According to our sources, succumbing to the call for a new CSO, the president’s only request was that the new person be ‘Muslim’. Mr. Tilde met this requirement and more; he had served as a state director of the SSS in three states, Adamawa, Katsina, and Kano.

While Mr. Tilde is thought to be very intelligent, his superiors at the SSS allegedly found his performance in his posting in Kano less than satisfactory, hence the redeployment to the Headquarters from where he was picked for his current assignment.

Mr. Yar’Adua’s kitchen cabinet, however, forwarded Mr. Tilde’s name to the president’s deputy Chief of Staff (COS), Moddibbo Aliyu, in the early days of his presidency, who made a special request to the SSS for the deployment of Mr. Tilde.

“Tilde became the first CSO who was beholden directly to the presidency. He was not interviewed by the director of the SSS for the new posting. Instead, he was interviewed by the Chief of Staff to the president. They side stepped the director of the SSS and asked for Tilde,” a source in the presidency said.

Growing Bigger

Mr. Tilde proved himself a Yar’Adua faithful. His hard work and commitment to his boss was phenomenal.

“In the early months, he [Tilde] would go through files for the president. He used to write comments on plain sheets after reviewing the files. The president would then copy his work. But in the later months, he [Tilde] wrote all the presidential reviews and had the president merely sign them. It is not uncommon for Tilde to work from 9pm to 5am,” our source said.

Some members of the executive council soon became aware of Mr. Tilde’s new powerful role and ‘began to accord him presidential respect’.

According to sources, ‘there was hardly any minister who could defy his orders’.

“There seemed to be a parallel between the Tilde Chief Security office and the Al-Mustapha Chief Security office,” a source said, comparing the CSO’s influence to that wielded by his contemporary in the Sani Abacha regime.

Mr. Tilde, presidency sources claimed, got every one who seemed to be in competition with him out of the way. The CSO also expressed a preference for ‘a unified security corridor’. According to sources, Mr. Tilde sought an arrangement that would allow the existence of only one CSO in the presidency. This process eventually led to the elimination of many Jonathan-loyalists.

“It was possible for him to do this because he worked with all major villa [Aso Rock] security officials, which he had himself planted, most of them Muslim northerners. The most prominent being Dahiru Dodo.”

Mr. Dodo, who is generally described as a very ‘wily fellow that is gifted in being street wise’, serves as the administrative officer for the president.

Returning to Nigeria

Since his return to Nigeria with his boss, who is still believed to be critically ill, Mr. Tilde has continued his covert activities. He, allegedly, continues to play a pivotal role in the current quest to keep the critically ill president in power.

Having successfully orchestrated the grand plan that brought in Mr. Yar’Adua stealthily into Nigeria on Wednesday, Mr. Tilde continues to map out ways to secure the presidential seat for his boss.

This past weekend, he had his hands full trying to convey the caravan intensive care unit set up in Katsina relocated to Abuja where the president will be transferred to because the one in the Villa malfunctioned and is generating a huge embarrassment for the first family.

Since his return to Nigeria, Mr. Yar Adua continues to lie lonesome in his sterile ambulance because there is no facility that can accommodate him in his degenerative state.

Not so with the fifteen sites here. These sites changed the Internet, mostly for good, in substantial ways. Included here is everything from Geocities (which could probably be blamed
entirely, either directly or indirectly, for every ugly web design
“trend” that’s ever been) to Wikipedia (which has made
information almost universally accessible) to Google (which has
changed or influenced virtually everything online)..

1. Wikipedia

Changed the way we find information. Before Wikipedia, most online encyclopedias were either sorely lacking in information, or required you to have a paid subscription to access their content. Wikipedia
changed all that by not only allowing anyone to view the content for
free, but also by allowing individual users to review and update
content, making it more complete and accurate overall. Wikipedia also
brought crowdsourcing and user-generated content to the mainstream
online, making both much more viable and valuable.

2. Amazon.com

Changed the way we shop. Prior to Amazon.com, online shopping wasn’t much different than shopping out of a mail-order catalog, except it wasn’t nearly as popular. While Amazon started out selling just books
and related items, it has expanded to sell virtually anything you can
think of, either directly or through partner sites large and small.
Amazon also made free shipping a standard on orders over a certain
dollar value, which has impacted the shipping rates and policies of many
other online retailers.

3. Hotmail

Changed the way we use email. Before Hotmail came along, email was basically tethered to a single computer. When you checked your email, it was pulled and deleted from the remote server, meaning the only place
you could view it was at your computer. Need an email at home that you
received at work? Too bad. There was no way to access it unless you went
back to the office. Hotmail changed all that by providing webmail that
could be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection. Now,
web-based email is widely used and provided by a huge variety of
providers. Even though Hotmail is no longer the primary provider of
webmail (and is now owned by Microsoft), they were still pioneers in the
technology.

4. Facebook

Changed the way friends connected. While Facebook wasn’t the first social network, it has definitely become the most popular and has really changed the way friends interact with one another. Sure, people use FB to talk
online, but they’re also increasingly using it as a way to plan
get-togethers offline. They’re using it to follow and interact
with their favorite bands, actors, and other personalities. People use
it to keep in touch with business contacts, friends, family, and
acquaintances. Facebook has made social networking mainstream, across a
variety of demographics and virtually worldwide.

5. Project Gutenberg

Changed the way we read. Project Gutenberg has a much longer history than most people realize. They created the first ebooks, and gave them away for free. You can now read virtually every major book in
the public domain, sometimes in multiple languages on their site.
Without the pioneering steps the founders of Project Gutenberg took,
ebooks would not be where they are today.

6. Twitter

Changed the way we communicate. Twitter has made one of the biggest impacts on the Internet in recent memory. The idea that 140-character messages, broadcast publicly (for the most part), would change the way
people communicate with one another would have been hard to believe ten
years ago. But Twitter has become not just a powerhouse in the way
individual communicate with one another, but also in the way businesses
communicate with their customers. Complaining about poor customer
service on Twitter can often result in almost instant messages from the
company in question, and often results in a satisfactory resolution.
Twitter has also made celebrities more accessible, with hundreds of
celebs now using the service to interact with their fans.

7. Pandora

Changed the way we find new music. Before Pandora, if you wanted to listen to music online, you usually turned to a streaming radio station with pre-programmed content. Sure, you might get lucky and find a station
that had mostly music you liked, but maybe it wasn’t diverse enough, or
it still kept playing that one song you HATED. Pandora changed all that.
Now, you can program your own radio station by just entering the name
or a song or artist and then giving the thumbs up or down to music
played. With a minimal amount of user input, Pandora has gotten
surprisingly good at creating playlists that reflect one’s musical
taste. The bonus is that songs or artists you might not have heard of
are often thrown into the mix, based on what you already like.

8. Apple

Made minimalist web design cool. Apple had one of the first corporate websites designed with a minimalist aesthetic. As far back as the late 90s, Apple was starting to show a more minimalist take on web design
than many other corporate sites, and by early 2000, they’d adopted the
white and gray color scheme and top navigation they still employ today.

9. YouTube

Changed entertainment. Before YouTube, there weren’t many options if you wanted to watch a video online. You could sometimes find a video here or there, but with bandwidth costs, they were few and far between.
Website owners just didn’t want to pay the extra costs associated with
video content. Then YouTube came along and made it free to post any
video you wanted (as long as it wasn’t copyrighted or over ten minutes
long). Web users now had a centralized place to go to watch video
online. And because of YouTube’s pioneering effort, online video is now
enjoyed by millions every day.

10. Craigslist

Changed classifieds. Online classified sites used to be nearly unusable. Between the huge number of spam postings and the fact there were few if any local listings in most areas, there wasn’t
much point in using them. But then Craigslist
caught on and suddenly there was an online classifieds site that
rivaled most local newspaper classifieds. Now you can use Craigslist to
find almost anything, no matter where you live.

11. The Drudge Report

Changed the stature of online news. When the Monica Lewinsky/President Clinton story broke in 1998, it wasn’t a mainstream news source that first reported it. Instead, The Drudge Report held those
honors, forever changing the standing of online news sources. Now,
online news sources break stories on a regular basis, and are considered
by most to be just as reliable as television or print news sources.

12. GeoCities

Made the web more accessible. In the early days of the Internet, the only people online (for the most part) were scientists, academics, and those involved in technology. It wasn’t a
very exciting place. Then came GeoCities, and
suddenly anyone could set up their own webpage for free. Sure, GeoCities
spawned a legion of horrifically ugly websites, but it also got a lot
of regular people involved in the Internet for the first time and was
likely the first design experience of many early web designers.

13. Digg

Changed the way we find and share news. Digg was originally set up as an experiment, but it has completely changed the way many people find news online. The idea of users determining which news was important, relevant, and
interesting rather than editors or executives at big news organizations
was revolutionary. Now, user-generated news sites are all over the
place, both for mainstream news and for individual industries and
niches.

14. LiveJournal

Hooked millions on blogging. Blogging wasn’t invented by LiveJournal, but they were the first site to offer free blogs to their members. Millions now
use LiveJournal, and tens of millions more blog elsewhere, either
through other blog hosts or on their own websites. If it weren’t for
LiveJournal and similar free blogs hosts that came later, blogging might
not have caught on as the global phenomenon it has become.

15. Google

Changed everything. This one might seem a bit dramatic, but it really is true. Google has invaded virtually every aspect of the Internet. No matter what you
do online, you probably interact with one Google service or another
multiple times every day. And most people use at least one Google
product or service one a regular basis personally. Whether it’s a
Blogger blog, a Picasa photo album, a Google search, or even a YouTube
video (or any of the dozens of other services Google owns),
Google-controlled sites are everywhere.

About Author – Cameron Chapman is a professional Web and graphic designer with over 7 years of experience. She writes for a number of blogs, including her own, Cameron Chapman On Writing. She’s
also the author of Internet
Famous: A Practical Guide to Becoming an Online Celebrity.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Actress in a Supporting Role: Mo'Nique, Precious

Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker, Mark Boal

Adapted Screenplay: Precious, Geoffrey Fletcher

Animated Film: Up

Foreign Language Film: The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina)

Original Score: Michael Giacchino, Up

Original Song: "The Weary Kind," Music and Lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart)

Art Direction: Avatar

Cinematography: Avatar, Mauro Fiore

Costume Design: The Young Victoria, Sandy Powell

Makeup: Star Trek

Film Editing: The Hurt Locker, Bob Murawski and Chris Innis

Documentary Feature: The Cove

Documentary Short Subject: Music by Prudence

Animated Short Film: Logorama

Live Action Short Film: The New Tenants

Sound Editing: The Hurt Locker

Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker

Visual Effects: Avatar

Governors Award: Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman and Gordon Willis

Press Release

Google Selects Layer3 to Power the Largest G-Africa Event

Google has selected Layer3 to power G-Nigeria 2010. G-Nigeria is the largest G-Africa event yet and was held at the University of Lagos. The event gathered together software developers, entrepreneurs, computer science students in Nigeria as well as several Google employees and representatives from around the globe. Layer3 provided the entire wireless infrastructure, technical support as well as a 30mbps Internet backbone for this event.

“Google's choice of Layer3 was based on Layer3's unmatched service borne out of the highest level of professionalism, support and quality of service. As expected, we were not disappointed. They provided a world-class service with on-site personnel to provide support when needed” said Nyimbi Odero, Google Lead, English Speaking West Africa.

The three day conference which held from 18^th to 20^th February was themed 'Out of Africa’ and had very strong Nigerian content display. The Google representatives were on ground to enlighten, educate and guide delegates on business opportunity for entrepreneurs, career path for students and application tool kits for developers.

Google reinstated that part of their goal was to improve Nigerian local content, provide education on how to use the net, provide location based services that are geographically relevant, reduce latency by bringing content closer, and reduce internet cost.

Layer3 is fast becoming one of the leading IP Solutions and Managed Service Providers in Nigeria. Her bespoke solutions range from Managed Longhaul and Metro VPN services, to Network Security, Broadband Internet and Managed Data Back-up and Recovery Solutions. Layer3 still remains the first and only Juniper Network certified security partner in West Africa and has become the provider of choice for most corporate bodies.

Picture: On this faithful morning, passengers traveling on the Lagos-Benin road were stopped by men in police uniform for routine stop and search, but unknown to them the supposed security agents were armed robbers. Subsequently the armed robber hijacked the bus to this path, demanded money from the passengers and raped the women as much as they could. As if this was not enough, those who did not have money to give, were asked to lay face down. The driver at gun point was then asked to run over them several times.

Many unsuspecting Nigerians believe that Mr. President is now in Nigeria after his medical sojourn in Saudi Arabia, but intelligence sources have revealed that he is still in Saudi Arabia receiving treatment. Has anybody actually seen the President in Nigeria? All we saw at the airport were two aircraft that landed and an ambulance zooming away into the city centre, thereby creating an impression albeit false that a recuperating President had landed!

There are many unanswered questions in the purported arrival of Mr. President. The basic rule of the thumb (as any experienced spy or secret agent knows) during an extraction assignment or covert operation, anything that would draw unwarranted attention to the task is jettisoned. If the primary task was to sneak Mr. President into the country what was the purpose of deploying truck loads of soldiers around Abuja (attracting attention) when one truck load would have been more than adequate. Why would you ensure that the ambulance with lights flashings was made noticeable when the two aircraft were kept in the dark and out of the sight of journalist at the airport?

Was it an impossible task to switch off the siren lights of the ambulance or was it a deliberate act to convey the false impression that Mr. President was in the ambulance?

It was stated in the news that the Chief Security Officer (CSO) and ADC to Mr. President sauntered into the executives chamber of the Federal Executive Council (FEC)to exchange pleasantries with their friends and some ministers. This to me is strange when they ought to be around the vicinity where Mr. President was recuperating (if he was actually around) but instead the TWO of them chose (or were ordered) to make an appearance at the chambers to create the false impression that Mr. President will preside over the meeting of FEC .Some monkey business was definitely afoot!

Mr. President arrived and he was met on arrival by some serving Governors from the northern part of the country instead of the Acting President and service chiefs. Who better to assist and protect an ailing President than his trusted (?) vice and service chiefs, unless it was a grand charade put up for the benefit of the gullible public?

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is quite happy with this pretense because the diplomatic pressure placed on them by the international community that they were hiding the Nigerian President will automatically melt away and they can continue with the treatment of Mr. President unhindered without the vexatious motley of Nigerians coming to Saudi Arabia to seek the whereabouts of Mr. President and also to waste tax payers money.

By the way who leaked the purported arrival of Mr. President to the press and guaranteed the arrival prime time. Former Nigerian Presidents have arrived into the country before at odd hours to avoid the press and succeeded why was this different? I would have thought Aso Rock was built equipped with a helipad, could they not have airlifted Mr. President from the airport to Aso Rock if they truly wanted to avoid publicity?

The next few days will definitely be revealing. Nigerians…”SHINE YA EYES”

By Imohimi Uduigwome Airenevboise, Re written for 9jabook by Paul EFCC Adams

The return of Umaru Yar’Adua in a vegetative

state, with the reality of his not being able to ever function as president, has set two of his daughters, Zainab and Nafisatu, both married to sitting governors ,at war path over whose husband will be vice president to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan. The former is married to Kebbi State Governor, Saidu Usman Dakingari, while the later is fourth wife to Bauchi Governor, Isa Yuguda.

Sources close to the Yar’Adua family told pointblanknews.com Thursday night that since reality has dawned on their mother, Turai, is set to anoint either Yuguda or Dakingari as a VP candidate that would protect the interest of the family.

It was however learnt that Turai is more disposed to Yuguda considering his role during the drama. He was in Saudi Arabia, and was later in the US to, aside from be by his wife’s side that recently gave birth, he was also scouting for a hospital that could provide better service for his father-in-law. As for Dakingari, he is seen by turai as laid back, but our source said that his wife, Zainab, is the apple of Turai’s eye.

Both Yuguda and Dakingari are among those on the list of PDP hopefuls for the coveted office of vice president

Pointblanknews.com further gathered that in the last few days Turai has been speaking with her kids, and some top brass of the PDP concerning who works with Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan as VP She has told the PDP she would submit a name soon, but the disagreement between Zainab and Nafisatu is delaying the move..

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According to our sources, the sisters have for a while now been campaigning for their husbands. Turai who is close to feisty Zainab, wants them to agree within themselves as per who she should anoint for the PDP, but the sisters are yet to agree.

Said our source” it has been fight to finish between them. They cannot agree on who they should present to the mother. Turai although is close to Zainab, cannot take sides so she wants them to sort it out. This arose when, Turai realized it is over for her husband, so to protect the family’s interest, she wants a son-in-law to step in”

Media reports claiming that Mallams Nasir El-Rufai and Nuhu Ribadu are set to rebuff government's invitation to join in nation-building have recently been circulating the rumour mills and have been brought to the attention of these preeminent gentlemen.
We the undersigned, acting not on the instructions of these patriots who have enviable and proven track-records of service to the Father-land and whom are committed to the task of re-engineering this country into its rightful place of leadership and prominence in the continent and within the community of nations; hereby state unequivocally that Mallams El-Rufai and Nuhu Ribadu are willing to support the efforts of His Excellency, The Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to set our nation on its proper course, give hope and pride once again to the polity and deliver on the promise to our people.

Both the former FCT Minister and the former EFCC Chairman are willing to put the uncomplimentary events of the past behind, dissociate themselves from these rumours and are available to support the task of nation-building in any way possible.

We are unable to ignore the alleged assassination a few days ago of Danjuma Mohammed, a former EFCC investigator. Being aware that some elements continue to work relentlessly to rule this nation by proxy through intimidation and acts of terrorism, we urge all fair-minded Nigerians to disregard the afore referred rumours and chalk them up to the machinations of persons who are desperate to keep the nation under their thumbs and in perpetual slavery to their selfish ambitions and aggrandizement. Those statements emanated neither from Nasir El-Rufai nor Nuhu Ribadu.

Nigerians are not intimidated. We are not terrorized. May the gentle soul of the departed rest in peace.

G5 – Olowo

Amina

Roz

Mukaddas

Salihu

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, is not known for shunning the spotlight and with the appearance of Newer 77virgin minded terrorists like Osama B Laden and Our own Farouk Abdul mutallab .The Jackal a regular in Frederick Forsyth's Novels like (the Day of the Jackal).One wonders while legend around Osama & co. have not created a cult following novel writing.Dan Brown should maybe look into this .

Looks like he wants the top spot in the News back.

For years the world's most wanted terrorist, he once claimed, in front of the television cameras, to have killed more than 1,500 people in the pursuit of Palestinian liberation.

But the Venezuelan revolutionary, serving life imprisonment for the murder of two French intelligence officials and their informant in 1975, seems to have decided that not all publicity is good publicity.

With the help of his wife, a French lawyer whom he married in prison, Sanchez – once described as "the most dangerous man alive" – is suing a Parisian production company over a three-part television drama he claims could violate his "biographical image".

Isabelle Coutant-Peyre has demanded that the producers hand over the master copy of the footage for her to check for errors and potentially make changes before it is broadcast on the French Canal+ channel.

Coutant-Peyre told a court in Nanterre last month that the drama, which has not yet been finished, would make her husband out to be the instigator of crimes for which he has not been found guilty.

"You'd have thought it was the prosecutor narrating ... it's a film against Ramírez Sánchez," she said.

Lawyers for Film en Stock, meanwhile, insisted that handing over the film would signify a violation of its creative rights.

"How could we tarnish the image of Carlos when he himself has claimed to be behind almost 2,000 deaths?" the company's lawyer, Richard Malka, asked.

Daniel Leconte, the firm's owner and the producer of the three-part drama, said he had never allowed any of his subjects access to his material before it was aired.

"For us, this would be catastrophic," he said. "It would mean that every time we make a film we are giving our subjects the right to direct their own lives."

He said the film be presented clearly as a fictional interpretation of a real man's life and could not be taken as an attempt at a factual biography.

"As far as the facts are concerned, we know almost everything about him already," he said. "Carlos' own life actions destroyed his name. He doesn't need me for that."

A verdict in the case is due tomorrow.

Ramírez Sánchez, who was given his nickname after a copy of Frederick Forsyth's novel The Day of the Jackal was found in his belongings and mistakenly believed to be his, was wanted in at least five European countries at the peak of his infamy.

Eventually captured by French police while recovering from surgery in Sudan in 1994, he has been in prison ever since, having been sentenced in absentia to life in jail.

The 60-year-old is awaiting a new trial before a special anti-terrorism tribunal for other attacks in the early 1980s.