Thursday, 7 August 2014

KRISTEN STEWART: "I WILL NEVER SMILE FOR A PAPARAZZI PHOTO" - MOODY STAR INSISTS THE SCOWL IS STAYING



Kristen Stewart discusses fame, why she will never smile for the paparazzi as she heads down the aisle in new Elle chat

Michael Thompson for ELLEKristen Stewart on the cover of Elle


Sorry, Kristen Stewart hasn't done Cheryl Cole and married in secret. She's actually posed down a supermarket aisle for her latest photoshoot in Elle magazine.

The Twilight actress is the cover girl for the September issue and has opened up about growing up in the public eye, why she will never smile for a pap photo and what makes her want to "f**ing hang out and chat all day" with strangers. Sounds intriguing.

Kristen, who has been linked with Jennifer Lawrence's ex Nicholas Hoult, poses against a back-drop of organic produce, tuna cans, and bottles of pop in a number of retro glam outfits, including a pair of sequined navy jeans and matching Chanel gold jacket.

The cover of the magazine also shows her wearing a low-cut black bustier with a sequined black jacket slung over her shoulder and a gigantic necklace covered in heavy silver locks.


Michael Thompson for ELLEKristen shops for vegetables

Talking about the moment she realise Twilight was going to be a success, she said: "The day the movie came out there was a picture of me - in the New York Post, I think. I was sitting on my front porch, smoking a pipe with my ex-boyfriend and dog. And I was like, 'Oh shit, well, I have to be aware of that'."

The 24-year-old star finds it difficult to please people and insists her traditional scowl has to stay with her because she doesn't want to look like a "sell-out" posing for the paps.

She explained: "Now I feel like if I smiled for a paparazzi photo - not that I ever would - that’s exactly what people would be desecrating me for. They’d be like, 'Now you’re going to give it up, now you're a sell-out' like, okay. What do you want? What would you like?"

Michael Thompson for ELLEKristen is a retro glam girl

Discussing her career, Kristen went on: "Never at any point have I sat down and plotted how I should proceed from here on.

"As soon as you start thinking about your career as a trajectory - like, as if you’re going to miss out on some wave or momentum - then you're never doing anything for yourself anyway.

"Then you’re truly, actually, specifically working for the public. You're turning yourself into a bag of chips."

Well, we don't think she's turning herself into a bag of chips, but she probably got to handle plenty in that supermarket. It's one of Kristen's most interesting shoots to date. However, it would be nice to see her smile once in a while, wouldn't it?

BARACK OBAMA CONSIDERING INTERVENTION AGAINST ISLAMISTS MILITANTS IN IRAQ


The president is considering ordering a US intervention including air strikes, White House officials say.



President Barack Obama is actively considering ordering US intervention, including air-strikes, against Islamist militants in Iraq attacking Christian and religious minority groups in the north of the country, administration officials have said.

The potentially sharp reversal of US policy came as Islamic State (formerly ISIS) militants continued to make significant gains on Thursday including claiming to have seized control of Iraq’s largest dam, giving them control of vast water and power resources and access to the river that runs through the heart of Baghdad.

“The situation is nearing a humanitarian catastrophe,” warned Josh Earnest, White House spokesman, “We are gravely concerned for their health and safety.”

Mr Obama spent yesterday morning conferring with his national security team. Administration officials said he was considering a full range of “active and passive” options - from humanitarian air-drops to targeted air-strikes - with a decision expected imminently. “This could be a fast-moving train,” one official told The New York Times.

“The cold and calculated manner in which (Islamic State) has targeted defenceless Iraqis, like the Yazidis and Christians, solely because of their ethnic and religious identity demonstrates a callous disregard for human rights and it is deeply disturbing,” the White House spokesman added.

“In particular, we’re concerned about the welfare of the large community of Iraqi Yazidis who are stranded on Mount Sinjar without food, water or shelter and the Iraqi Christians who have been force to flee from their villages in the region.”

Officials stressed that any military action would be “very limited in scope”, aimed at objectives such as “protecting American personnel or confronting counter-terrorism threats”.

When Islamic State militants swept through central Iraq in July, at one point threatening Baghdad, Mr Obama denied requests from the Shia-led Iraqi government of Nouri Al-Maliki to strike them.

The apparent change of heart came as reports of the plight of the Yazidi minority hit America’s front pages, triggering calls for action from leading figures such as Senator John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate.

Iraqis inspect the site of a double car bomb attack which took place in Kirkuk, north of Baghdad 

Calling reports of Islamic State advance “deeply disturbing” Mr McCain accused the Obama administration of failing to act against an organisation that, he said, now posed a “direct threat” to US national security.


Area in Iraq controlled by Islamic State in January 2014

In its crushing victory on Thursday, fighters of the Islamic State jihadist group swept aside resistance to seize the last remaining Christian towns of northern Iraq,


Area in Iraq controlled by Islamic State in August 2014

After overwhelming the Yazidi minority group of the deserts of north-western Iraq at the weekend, Islamic State broke the lines of Kurdish forces that had been defending the Christian towns of Bartella, Tel Kayf and Qaraqosh, north and east of the city of Mosul, after continuous bombardment in recent days.

“There was no electricity, no water, we were frightened. A lot of people left,” said Rowaid, 20, who until recently was a university student in the city Mosul, which was seized two months ago. He fled Tal Kayf with his family of seven, including two elderly aunts.

“There were a lot of skirmishes outside the town and the situation in our area was intolerable. And we knew what was coming.

“Since they began attacking with the mortars three of my relatives have been killed.”

The towns were the last remaining hold-outs from among the Christian populations that once dominated the biblical Ninevah Plain. All Christians were told to leave Mosul last month, with the 20 too old to leave said by the church to have been forcibly converted to Islam.

Displaced people who have fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar west of Mosul, take refuge at Dohuk province (Reuters)

The last three towns’ tens of thousands of inhabitants fled on Wednesday night and Thursday morning into the Kurdistan Autonomous Region, and its capital, Erbil. “All the territories of the Plain of Ninevah are now empty of Christians. It has come under the control of Islamic State,” Father Yousef Benjamin, the coadjutor bishop of Tel Kayf, who was among those who left, told The Telegraph.


Iraq's ethnic mix

He said that as well as Erbil, residents had sought refuge in the city of Dohuk, three hours’ drive away, and some Christian villages in the mountains. “The situation is extremely bad,” he said. “There are many people sleeping in the streets, public parks, and in the cars, while there are no services for them.”

The seizure of the Christian towns followed an abrupt withdrawal by the Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, that had pledged to defend them. “The Peshmerga withdrew - they didn’t tell us what happened, or why that happened,” Fr Yousef said. “It’s strange that an army could collapse all of a sudden just in some areas.

“The Peshmerga used to tell us that they would protect us, that our district’s security was as firm as Dohuk’s. That lasted for two months. They were fighting before but we don’t what happened yesterday.”

That collapse in Kurdish morale followed a similar withdrawal at the weekend from towns occupied by the Yazidi community, another religious minority who unlike the Christians are ethnically Kurdish. Thousands of Yazidis, who are termed devil-worshippers by the Islamic State, are stranded in the desert mountains south of the town of Sinjar, with some children already succumbing to dehydration and the heat.

Attempts to rescue them by a combined force of Peshmerga and guerrillas from the Kurdish regions of Syria and Turkey have so far failed.

The Islamic State posted a message on its social media pages celebrating its victories, saying it had taken 17 towns and cities and the Mosul Dam, Iraq’s largest, in five days. By taking the towns of Bartella and Qaraqosh, they were able to move to about half an hour’s drive from Erbil.

Wednesday, 6 August 2014

DEATH OF CLUELESS STAR BRITTANY MURPHY COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED IF HER MOTHER CALLED AN AMBULANCE 24 HOURS EARLIER





Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy would still be alive today if her mother had called for an ambulance 24 hours before she collapsed, a leading pathologist claimed yesterday.

Tragically Murphy was so frightened of the paparazzi outside her home she had turned into a social recluse and was reluctant to receive medical help when she first started having trouble breathing.

Miss Murphy was also very sedated due to the drugs she was taking and so may not have appeared as ill as she was.

As a result Miss Murphy’s mother Sharon only called 911 after her daughter sank into her arms, lifeless, on the morning of December 20, 2009.


Tomorrow night a new documentary will examine the final hours of the 32-year-old actress, who soared to fame after appearing in the hit 1995 comedy Clueless before starring in films including 8 Mile and Sin City.

Officially, the coroner attributed her death to pneumonia and anaemia - the same ailments that would kill her husband, British filmmaker Simon Monjack, 40, five months later. Rumours also circulated at the time that Miss Murphy was a cocaine addict and had an eating disorder.


Now pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd, who was involved in examining the deaths of Princess Diana and murdered Crimewatch host Jill Dando, has claimed Miss Murphy’s life could have been saved if she had been seen by doctors 24 hours earlier.



Dr Shepherd said: ‘By the time Brittany collapsed in her bathroom there was probably nothing the paramedics or hospital staff could have done to save her. But had she been taken to hospital 24 hours earlier and given intravenous drugs, there is a very good chance she would have survived and would still be here today.’

The pathologist doesn’t say it was deliberate, nor does he directly blame the mother. But it is the mother who called the ambulance in the end. Dr Shepherd does not blame Sharon for her daughter’s death and in the documentary explains they may not have realised how ill she was as she was addicted to prescription drugs and was in a sedated state.




Brittany Murphy, right, rose to fame for her role alongside Alicia Silverstone and Stacey Dash in the movie Clueless



He said: ‘Brittany was so sedated it’s quite possible neither Simon nor Sharon had any idea how ill she actually was. That may be the reason why they didn’t call an ambulance.’

In the days and weeks leading up to Miss Murphy’s death she had been taking a ‘cocktail’ of prescription medication, Dr Shepherd said, including anti-depressants, sedatives and anti-anxiety drugs.

She was also taking cough medicine to help ease the symptoms of her chest infection.

According to the pathologist the combination of drugs in Miss Murphy’s system might have contributed to her death.

Dr Shepherd said: ‘Drugs can have a very beneficial effect but they also have side effects. And mixing them together means that these side effects can combine and become lethal.’

He added: ‘Cough medication is designed to stop you coughing so that you feel better. But actually it also stops you bringing up the mucus and the bacteria out of your lungs. So it tends to make pneumonias worse. Brittany was perhaps coughing but she wasn’t coughing enough or fiercely enough to clear the mucus in her lungs.’

Theories about Miss Murphy’s death have ranged from anorexia to cocaine and even suspicion she was poisoned – none of which Dr Shepherd’s analysis of her autopsy report found to be true. Traces of Methamphetamine, for example, came from an inhaler not illegal drug usage.

But he said there is evidence the poor condition of her home – described by her mother-in-law Linda Monjack as ‘a place of unhealthiness’ – exacerbated her condition.

At the time, Miss Murphy’s mother asked the pathologist to investigate whether fungi in the mould growing on her walls and poorly ventilated rooms could have contributed to her death.

ARTICLE: THE RISE AND FALL OF EBOLA VIRUS



Today I write in fear, like every other residents of the only black continent in the world. Our world is ravaged by a dreadful holocaust and our existence under extreme threat. Africa, as the world knows it may soon become a park of flirt and death. The over one billion men and women, boys and girls, young and old may soon become extinct.

Ebola, the now most dreadful disease in the world has found succor within our realm and with the growing concern around the world and Africa being fingered as the breathing nest for this virus, it is only a matter of time before we become a threat to world peace which may force the Super Powers into taking decisive action against the continent.

Around the world already there have been growing demands to alienate countries with outbreak of Ebola. Borders are being closed, Airport under immense scrutiny, Visa application procedures under review and in some cases (see 'South Korea denies 3 Nigerian students visit') outright rejection. While the sole responsibility of every government is to protect the lives and properties of its citizens, it goes without saying that such decisions must be tempered with caution. In the process of keeping our countries safe we are gradually heading towards prejudicism.

The successful outbreak and spread of Ebola today is a result of the nonchalant, selfish and aloof behavior of African countries to one another. Late last year when reports of the disease became lethal and life threatening in Guinea and Sierra Leone, what measure(s) or step(s) did fellow African countries like Nigeria, Liberia, Ghana, Togo, Mali, Cote d'ivoire, Cameroon take to assist these countries? As usual, we didn't give a damn; our brothers and sisters may as well suffer and die but once we are unhurt is less our business!

Lets believe we decided to 'mind our business'; it would have made more sense if we had engaged on massive civil education on the disease and create contingent plans into truly safeguarding our territories. But as African as we are, we went to bed with noise of our neigbours house on fire hoping on divine that the wind of inferno doesn't locate ours. The case of the outbreak in Nigeria is more pathetic than unfortunate. First, a man with nearly fourteen days active symptoms from an Ebola prone country successfully boarded a flight en route Lagos, Nigeria unchecked. The airport staff and medical team relatively uninformed and perpetually unaware of the symptoms of the virus rushed unprotected to give a helping hand to the victim when he collapsed at the airport. The receiving hospital and doctor with little knowledge about the disease 'nakedly' attended to the victim and the rest is history.

Africa has come a long way. Amidst the thorns of scramble and partition, slavery, neo-colonialism and apartheid we rose to a continent of choice. Our continent now has a place in the UN Security Council; Nigeria the presumed capital of the continent made the MINT classification and South Africa a member of the G20 group. But beyond the tales of success our continent continues to wallow in extreme poverty and dearth orchestrated by corrupt public office holders who would rather take possession of the latest Private Jet than invest in the health sector, leaders with short or no foresight! Leaders who do not see the need for Africa to grow in research and technology believing that the dependence on foreign countries and their conditional aids is enough. Alas, Ebola is an African disease which means foreign countries may not be so moved into urgently producing cure and vaccine.

Africa must realize we are alone in this war against Ebola. Our greedy leaders must come to terms that their lives are also under threat. There is nothing so delicious in bats and monkeys if not for poverty! The governments must immediately create a welfare package to feed the nation, especially people in the rural areas. Massive education and enlightenment program should be embarked upon with jingles on radio and television. Rural communities, most of whom are oblivious to the disease must be reached out to. Primary and Secondary schools should also be visited and informed with a strategy that will create minimal panic and discrimination. Outright closure of borders and airspace against fellow African countries as Ghana did should not be an option, what we should focus on is screening individuals willing to travel to and fro.

We (all African countries either affected or not) must unite to fight this plague. It is high time Africa solved its own problem. Only Africa can solve African problems. It goes beyond setting up committee of friends and associate to further siphon public funds. African countries must declare an immediate emergency in the research sector. Brothers and Sisters far away in Europe, America, Asia and Middle East with vast experience in medical and scientific research must come home. The humble abode of the black race is under attack and together we must stand and fight.

BRITISH AIRWAYS AWARDS CERTIFICATE TO SIX NIGERIAN STUDENTS

Six Nigerian aviation students have returned
home from the UK after successfully
completing the inaugural British Airways’
Leaders of Tomorrow programme, an
internship aimed at promoting excellence in
Nigerian aviation.
The two-week internship included spending a
week with the airline’s commercial team in
Lagos and another visiting various
departments from engineering to revenue
management at its head office, Waterside in
the United Kingdom.
It culminated with Keith Williams, British
Airways’ chief executive, presenting the six
undergraduate students of Nigeria College of
Aviation Technology (NCAT) with global
airline aviation training certificates. They are
Zaria, Abimbola Caulcrick, Fajemisin Peter
Adebola, Adachie Eneojo, Banigo Michael,
Ubong George Itok, and Ogunranti Olaluwa.
Speaking during the presentation, Williams
said the British Airways Leaders of Tomorrow
programme celebrates the aspirations of
young aviation students who represent the
future of aviation in Nigeria. He commended
the winners for their outstanding
performance during the training in Nigeria
and United Kingdom.
“We embarked on the Leaders of Tomorrow
initiative because we recognise how
important a robust and well-run aviation
sector is for any economy and particularly
one with as much potential as Nigeria. We
hope that the knowledge, expertise and
experience we were able to pass on to these
students will contribute to in some small way
to the future of Nigerian aviation,” he said.
Fajemisin Peter, one of the winners who
spoke on behalf of the others after receiving
their certificates, expressed his delight at the
training and thanked British Airways for its
determination to implement the programme:
“On behalf of all the winners, we want to
express our appreciation to British Airways
for doing this for Nigeria. This internship
gave us access to extensive and professional
aviation training, covering both theory and
practice and which was championed by
experts. With what we have learned
throughout the programme, I can confidently
say that we will be going back to promote
excellence in the Nigeria aviation sector.”

YOU WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE UNTIL YOU LOSE IT

If you are in a relationship in which you are being adored by your spouse, return that love. It will be a disaster not expressing your feelings towards ya spouse because a one-sided relationship brings misunderstanding e.g; when you act like you don't care when actually you do, your partner may think that you don't care at all and may start drifting.
Doing things that will betray their trust in you is like breaking a glass, even though the pieces can still be stuck back together, it will never remain the same. In every relationship, your priority should be to love and trust each other, try and also impress your partner positively.

 Some people don’t know what they want, don’t value what they have and they are not contented with what they already have. Jealousy is when you count other people's blessing instead of yours, count your blessings and name them one by one. Its stupid when someone is in a  relationship with a person who loves and treasures them and also appreciates every little thing they do for them but still they have the audacity to flirt & sleep around with other people!

Seriously, why dividing the love of your partner, someone who sacrifices a lot for you? Why betray someone who loves you? Why toying around with their heart? Why fool your loving partner when you know surely that you don't feel an atom of love for them? Why make your partner raise their hopes in you & plan their future with you yet you are not interested in being with them forever? Why do things that you know will hurt your partner's feelings? Why blind your partner with your sugar coated love? Why would you do stupid things that won’t strengthen your relationship?

What will you gain at the end of it all? Is it the good sex, money, luxurious earthly things, what? If it’s sex then thats myopic because sex is a temporary satisfaction. It can’t make someone have true love for you but rather lust after you & use you as a sex object for their own satisfaction. If they were not meant to be yours the good sex won’t make them love you & stay with you.

If it’s money you are up to, then you should know that money isn't everything. It can buy a bed but cant buy sleep, it cant buy sex but not love, it can buy a clock but not time, it can buy a book but not knowledge, it can buy you a position but not respect, it can buy you medicine but not health, it can buy you blood but not health so money is definitely not everything. Yeah, it can sustain your needs for a mean time but it can’t be enough & it can’t complete all your life desires.

There's nothing in this world you can compare to true love. Therefore, if you are in a relationship with someone that adores you so much, reciprocate it. Treat other people the way you will like to be treated. Because you were hurt in the past does not mean you should hurt others. You did not like it when you were hurt so why treat other people the way you disliked to be treated?

SCENARIO
A married man wanted a divorce with his wife but didn't know how to tell her. Eventually he told her. The wife expressed how hurt she was by crying out loud in his face. That night she was found on her desk doing some writing. the husband wondered what she was writing and at the same did not care. She wrote until morning and finally gave what she wrote to her husband. It was her conditions for divorce which stated that the husband should give her a month notice before divorce, carry her out of the bedroom to the exit door of their house every morning before she walks to the bus stop within the month notice because their son had exams within that month and so the wife did not want anything to distract him.

The husband did all those.

Day 1: he felt uncomfortable carrying her but managed.

Day 2: he was getting used to it

Day 3: When she leaned on his chest, he looked at her and noticed the little wrinkles on her face and pitied her

Day 4: He felt that intimacy coming back. Their son always saw his dad do that and was happy.

Day 5: His wife was looking for clothes to wear as she had grown too skinny that her clothes became too big for her. As he carried her out he felt that intimacy again just like on their wedding day and felt pity for her as she went skinny as a result of the divorce stress he caused her.

Day 6: Their son came and said "Daddy its time to carry mum out". As the wife was getting ready for work, he rushed out to his girlfriend's house to break up with her, on his way back he bought his wife flowers and wrote on it "I will carry you till death do us part". He got home and found his wife lying dead on the bed and found out that she has been struggling with cancer.
He also realised that The wife did not want the son to think that it was because of daddy that mummy died. The wife wanted the son to see a caring daddy carry his mum every morning. She loved him.

ANALYSIS
1. If the husband made out time for her, he would have found out her health problem.

2. Wrinkles are signs of old age which comes as a result of stress. If he cared for her, she wouldn't feel as much stress as she did when he did not show any care

3. If he always showed her love, she would have lived longer and treated in the hospital. she died too early because she had to work to earn income for she and her son as the husband was not doing that any more.

To maintain a good relationship, make out time for your partner always. Go out on holidays, go out on fun fares, do things together where possible. Send lovely text messages. Do things to make yourselves happy and most especially always confide in each other, it will draw you people closer until death do you part. Do not take advantage of your partner, do not judge your partner. Always be appreciative.

You will never know what you have until you lose it.

DAVIDO TALKS ABOUT BEEF WITH WIZKID

In an exclusive interview with Sahara TV, Davido, who is currently in the US, said his recent online beef with Wizkid was because of the shade Wizkid threw regarding their concerts in the US…

“It’s not beef at all..but I’m the type of person if I feel something..to me everything you do, you don’t hit your brother down. This is the first time I’m saying this but the only reason I
was upset was because of the NY concert.
I was even going to tweet like you know ‘make sure everybody turn up for my brother Wizkid’s concert’ and he threw a shade like that. I’m not going to take that…that’s why I
went and said what I said. But it’s all cool, at the end of the day, we got to keep it on the music. Shout out to him. I’m still a big fan. It was never nothing but don’t throw a shade
at me…especially when we were on the flight earlier. By the way, check the numbers on my last concert. Let’s leave it like that..” David said.