Gospel Singer Performs In Church half naked

A photo of a half-naked gospel singer circulated various social media sites recently. According to a Malawian news site, the photo of the singer identified as ‘Only 1 Harmony’ (her stage name) was posted on Facebook by an outraged member of the church. The singer was said to be performing at the Riverside Church, New York, wearing a mesh pantyhose and sequin top. “It is shameful & very appalling that the Pastor of Riverside Church in New York, allowed singer ‘Only1Harmony’, to sing in their church half-naked,” said the angry church member. The church member continued: “As a matter of fact, I don’t call this praise & worship; rather I’ll call it perverted praise & whore-ship. They are just rubbishing the Christendom…if the senior pastor did not see anything wrong in this, what about the associate?” What do you think?

NIGERIA'S AIRFORCE DECLARES ITS ONLY FIGHTER JET PARTICIPATING IN THE FIGHT AGAINST BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS MISSING

The Defence authorities have declared missing
an
aircraft of the Nigerian Air Force in Adamawa.
The
Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris
Olukolade, said in an electronic mail in the early
hours of Sunday that the aircraft, an Alpha jet,
has been missing since Friday, September 12,
2014.
Olukolade said that the aircraft left Yola by
10.45
am on an operational mission and was expected
back to base by 12PM same day but has not
been
found. He said that the aircraft had two pilots on
board. The Defence spokesman said that the
military had started search and rescue efforts
meant to establish contact with the crew.
"An Alpha Jet (NAF 466) belonging to the
Nigerian Air Force is missing around Adamawa
State. The aircraft, with two pilots on board, left
Yola at about 10:45am on 12 September, 2014
on a routine operational mission and was
expected back by 12:00 noon. Since then all
efforts to establish contact with the aircraft have
not yielded any positive result. Meanwhile,
search
and rescue effort is ongoing to establish contact
with the crew," he said.

Britain vows to 'confront' the ISIS 'menace' after killing of David Haines

The killing of British aid worker David
Haines "will not lead Britain to shirk our
responsibility" to work with allies to take on ISIS,
British Prime Minister David Cameron said
Sunday.
Instead, he said, "it must strengthen our resolve."
Speaking a day after the Islamic terror group
posted a video showing Haines' beheading -- the
latest in a string of such videos -- Cameron
vowed to work with the United States to support
its "direct military action." He also emphasized
that "this is not about British troops on the
ground."
"We have to confront this menace," Cameron
said. "Step by step we must drive back,
dismantle, and ultimately destroy ISIL and what it
stands for." Together with allies, he said, "we will
do so in a calm, deliberate way but with an iron
determination."
The group, which calls itself the Islamic State, is
also known as ISIS and ISIL.
"This organization poses a massive threat to the
entire Middle East," Cameron said, making a
public statement before an emergency meeting of
security and intelligence officials.
The European Union joined Cameron in
condemning Haines' "atrocious
murder" and said it was committed to
fighting terror.
"Together with international and
regional partners, the EU will spare no
effort to ensure that an end is put to
this atrocious terrorist campaign and
all perpetrators are held accountable,"
the EU statement said.
Cameron listed five points in the
British strategy: to work with the Iraqi
government and Kurdish regional
governments and help them protect
minorities being slaughtered by ISIS;
to work at the United Nations "to
mobilize the broadest possible
support" against ISIS; to contribute to
U.S.-led military action; to assist in
humanitarian efforts; and to "reinforce
our formidable counterterrorist effort
here at home."
Some British Muslims have joined ISIS, and the
militant who killed Haines and two Americans --
James Foley and Steven Sotloff -- may be British.
'Not Muslim, but monsters'
The video of Haines' killing looks very similar to
those that showed the beheadings of Foley and
Sotloff , and the masked militant sounds like the
same man.
"It falls to the government and to each and every
one of us to drain this poison from our society
and to take on this warped ideology that is
radicalizing some of our young people," Cameron
said.
"Islam is a religion of peace," Cameron insisted,
saying of the ISIS militants, "They are not
Muslim, they are monsters."
Britons "need to know that this is a fanatical
organization" that plans attacks across Europe
and in the UK, Cameron said.
"It was an ISIL fanatic who gunned down four
people in a museum in Brussels," he said referring
to Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman from Roubaix
in northern France, accused of killing four people
at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in May.
Nemmouche recently spent a year in Syria and is
a radicalized Islamist, the chief prosecutor of
Paris said in June. French journalist Nicolas
Henin said last month that Nemmouche tortured
prisoners he guarded while fighting for ISIS in
Syria.
"He did beat me a number of times. I don't know
of any bad treatment to any other foreign
hostages coming from him specifically but I
witnessed him torturing local prisoners."
'Your evil alliance with America'
The video of Haines' death shows a masked ISIS
militant placing his hand on another captive,
whom he identified as Alan Henning, a British
citizen.
On Sunday, Henning's family distributed an image
of him holding a child at a refugee camp on the
Syria-Turkey border. The family asked media to
use this image rather than the one of Henning in
an orange jumpsuit kneeling beside his captor.
ISIS which controls large areas of northern Syria
and Iraq, previously publicized grisly videos of the
beheadings of American journalists Foley and
Sotloff. It has also brutally slaughtered large
numbers of Syrians and Iraqis in the territory it's
seized.
In the two previous videos, the killer directed his
comments at the United States, which had begun
airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq. But the latest one
singles out Britain.
"Your evil alliance with America, which continues
to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently
bombed the Haditha Dam, will only accelerate
your destruction and claim the role of the
obedient lap dog," says the militant.
The United States launched airstrikes on ISIS
positions near Haditha Dam in western Iraq a
week ago and is working to build a coalition of
countries to support its efforts to combat the
terrorist group.
"Cameron will only drag you and your people into
another bloody and unwinnable war," says the
killer, dressed all in black with only his eyes and
hands showing. He calls the beheading "a
message to the allies of America."
Like them, Haines appears kneeling
beside the executioner in a barren
desert landscape, dressed in a bright
orange jumpsuit. He had been shown
briefly in the earlier video of Sotloff's
killing.
'Just another bloke'
Haines, 44, went to Syria to help
organize the delivery of humanitarian
aid to a refugee camp in Atmeh, close
to the Turkish border. He was
abducted near the camp in March
2013.
"David was most alive and
enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles,"
his brother, Mike, said in a statement .
"His joy and anticipation for the work
he went to do in Syria is for myself
and family the most important
element of this whole sad affair."
Before becoming an aid worker, Haines worked for
the Royal Mail. He was an aircraft engineer with
the Royal Air Force before he went to work with
ScotRail, a Scottish train company, his brother
said. A stint with the U.N. in the Balkans would
change Haines' life path.
"There are many accolades from people in that
region that David helped. He helped whoever
needed help, regardless of race, creed or religion,"
his brother wrote. "During this time David began
to decide that humanitarian work was the field he
wanted to work in."
His brother also described Haines as an ordinary
man -- "just another bloke" -- who grew up with
strong family values that he carried into
adulthood.
"David was a good brother, there when I needed
him and absent when I didn't. I hope that he felt
the same way about me. He was, in the right
mood, the life and soul of the party and on other
times the most stubborn irritating pain in the ass.
He would probably say the same about me," Mike
Haines wrote.
David Haines had more than a decade of
experience doing aid work, helping victims of
conflict in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East.
He was in Syria as a logistics and security
manager for ACTED, a French aid group that was
helping to provide food, tents and water for tens
of thousands of people who had fled to the Atmeh
camp amid the vicious civil war.
When he wasn't working in troubled areas, Haines
lived in Croatia with his wife, Dragana, and their
4-year-old daughter, Athea.
He grew up in Scotland, and his first marriage
was to his childhood sweetheart Louise,
according to his brother.
His teenage daughter from that marriage,
Bethany, talked about how much she misses her
father in comments on a social network, Ask.fm,
late last year.
Asked what she wanted at that time, Bethany
replied simply, "For my daddy to come home."
'Warped ideology'
The British government said earlier this month
that it had attempted to rescue one of its citizens
held by ISIS "some time ago" but had failed. It
didn't provide any further details.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who announced
last week that U.S. airstrikes would go after ISIS
in Syria, condemned "the barbaric murder" of
Haines.
"The United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder
tonight with our close friend and ally in grief and
resolve," he said in a statement late Saturday.
The murderous, meteoric rise of ISIS has caused
alarm across the Middle East and beyond.
The Muslim Council of Great Britain issued a
statement Sunday condemning Haines' killing
"unreservedly."
"David Haines went out to the region to help the
people of the region," said Shuja Shafi, the
council's secretary general. "That extremists
chose to murder him only shows once again the
depravity of their warped ideology."
ISIS members "claim to be acting in the name of
Islam," Shafi said. "But there is nothing in our
faith that condones such behavior."
U.S. building anti-ISIS coalition
In his statement, Obama reiterated his intention
"to degrade and destroy this threat to the people
of our countries, the region and the world."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has spent
recent days in the Middle East trying to build
support for the U.S. strategy to combat ISIS.
Those efforts are expected to continue Monday in
Paris, where France is hosting an international
conference on the crisis in Iraq.
Countries in the Mideast and outside the region
"are prepared to engage in military assistance, in
actual strikes if that is what it requires" to fight
ISIS, Kerry told CBS' "Face the Nation" on
Sunday.
Some nations "are clearly prepared to take action
in the air alongside the United States and to do
airstrikes if that's what they're called on to do,"
he said. Some nations have offered to put troops
on the ground, "but we're not looking for that at
this moment anyway," Kerry added.
Pressed for more specifics, Kerry said, "It's not
appropriate to start announcing, 'Well, this
country will do this, this country will do that.'"
Australia is preparing to deploy as many as 10
planes, most of them combat aircraft, to the
United Arab Emirates in response to a U.S.
request to contribute to the coalition, Australian
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sunday.
It will also put together a team of special
operations personnel who could act as military
advisers to Iraqi forces and others fighting ISIS,
Abbott said in a statement .
"We are not deploying combat troops but
contributing to international efforts to prevent the
humanitarian crisis from deepening," he said.
In a Sunday interview, White House chief of staff
Denis McDonough declined to say if any members
of the emerging coalition would put troops on the
ground, but he said that there will be a focus on
training Syrian rebels and Iraqi and Kurdish
fighters to take on ISIS with coalition backing.
That backing will come in the form of airpower,
intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance and
training, he told CNN's "State of the Union," and
it will be especially important to draw Sunni
fighters into the battle.
Asked if American involvement could make things
worse, given the nature of ISIS threats against
the West, McDonough said that with Haines'
execution came a reminder that ISIS is inhumane,
barbaric and depraved.
"The thought we could make them more so is
faulty," he said.

EFCC Discovered $50m In Account Of PDP's Jarrett Tenebe

The saga of PDP's hopeful in Edo state
continued on September 12, 2014, Friday, as
new information has been leaked by some of the
investigators. According to them, $50 million
(N8,143,459,000) found in Mr. Tenebe's account
were a leftover of deposits from the illegal sale
of crude oil abroad through Saltpond Oil platform.
Jarrett Tenebe arrested by the EFFC in the
beginning of September 2014. Photo:
SaharaReporters
READ ALSO: Crude Oil Theft: EFCC Arrest PDP's
Jarrett Tenebe
In an attempt to clear the air on the initial report
the commission issued a press statement. It
challenged the story on the grounds that the
information did not emanate from its
spokesman.
"For the benefit of members of the public who
may have been misled by the attributions, all
information emanating from the EFCC to the
media are authenticated by the designated
official spokesperson, which is not the case with
this report."
The EFCC failed to explain why Mr. Tenebe was
arrested and put under investigation for close to
one week without making the information public
or charging the suspect to court.
Even then, the EFCC kept the arrest under wraps
until story appeared.
"The agency (EFCC) refused to make his arrest
public as pressure mounted by Tenebe's
accomplices within the Nigerian government and
the PDP party hierarchy," an anti-corruption
activist familiar with Tenebe's arrest said.
READ ALSO: India Becomes Main Importer Of
Nigerian Oil Overcoming US
It would be recalled that information on Tenebe's
arrest by the EFCC emerged on Thursday.
Investigators also reported about the
involvement of several senior government
officials and top politicians, including Mike
Oghiadomhe, a former Chief of Staff to President
Goodluck Jonathan, Tony Anenih, the Chairman
of the board of trustees of the PDP and the
Minister of Petroleum resources, Diezani Alison
Madueke.

US Finally Declares War Against IS

Secretary of State John Kerry talked to the
nation with a series of television appearances
and he refused to tag the expansion of US
operations against IS in Iraq and Syria as "war."
But when forced to answer Obama's feelings for
the conflict, the White House and Pentagon left
little doubt.
"The United States is at war with ISIL in the
same way that we are at war with Al-Qaeda and
its Al-Qaeda affiliates all around the globe," said
White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
Meanwhile Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral
John Kirby said: "But make no mistake, we
know we are at war with ISIL in the same way
we're at war and continue to be at war with Al-
Qaida and its affiliates".
Obama is planned to be in Tampa Florida this
Wednessday to have a meeting with US Central
Command, which oversees American forces in
the Middle East.
Keery had on thursday taken a look at the
Middle East building an anti-IS coalition,and
refused to use the term "war" in referring to the
US campaign, telling people not to indulge in
"war fever."
"We're engaged in a major counterterrorism
operation, and it's going to be a long-term
counterterrorism operation," Kerry said.
"I think 'war' is the wrong terminology and
analogy but the factis that we are engaged in a
very significant global effort to curb terrorist
activity," Kerry said
The Islamic State (IS) formerly the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant Arabic or the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria is a Sunni jihadist group
in the Middle East. In its self-proclaimed status
as a caliphate, it claims religious authority over
all Muslims across the world.

ISIS executes British aid worker David Haines; Cameron vows justice

British aid worker David Haines has been
executed by ISIS militants, according to a video
posted Saturday to a website associated with the
group, making him the third Western captive to be
killed by the Islamist extremist group in recent
weeks.
The ISIS video post showing Haines' beheading
called his execution "a message to the allies of
America."
It is produced very similarly to the videos that
showed the executions of American journalists
James Foley and Steven Sotloff, the last of which
included Haines and the threat that he'd be killed
next.
The new video pictures a masked ISIS militant
placing his hand on another captive, whom he
identified as Alan Henning, a British citizen.
In a tweet, British Prime Minister David Cameron
called "the murder of David Haines" an "act of pure
evil."
Cameron added, "We will do everything
in our power to hunt down these
murderers and ensure they face
justice, however long it takes."
Haines offers brief scripted comments
on the video, as does the man who kills
him.
Directing his remarks at Britain, the
executioner -- who sounds like the
man who killed Foley and Sotloff --
says, "Your evil alliance with America,
which continues to strike the Muslims
of Iraq and most recently bombed the
Haditha dam, will only accelerate your
destruction and claim the role of the
obedient lap dog.
"Cameron will only drag you and your
people into another bloody and
unwinnable war."
Retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona -- an Air
Force veteran intelligence officer and CNN military
analyst -- surmised that if ISIS planned to dissuade
Britain for teaming up with the United States, the
group will be disappointed.
"ISIS has just guaranteed British cooperation with
the Americans on all phases of what we're going to
be doing," Francona said. "... I think this is now a
Western fight; it's not just a U.S. fight."
Brother: Haines 'just another bloke' who lived to
help others
News of the gruesome killing came the same day
that the 44-year-old Haines' family released a brief
message to his captors through the British foreign
office.
In it, the family says, "We have sent messages to
you to which we have not received a reply. We are
asking those holding David to make contact with
us."
Haines' face became known to the world in the ISIS
video, released September 2, in which he looks
forward and kneels as a masked ISIS militant
stands behind him.
The militant says in that video, "We take this
opportunity to warn those governments who've
entered this evil alliance of America against the
Islamic State to back off and leave our people
alone."
British officials said after the video's release that
they had sent troops to try to rescue an unidentified
British citizen "some time ago," but failed. They
released no other details.
Mike Haines, in a statement early Sunday, through
the British Foreign Office, noted that his brother
leaves behind two children and his wife Dragana.
He described his brother as "just another bloke"
whose "childhood was centered around our family"
and who was "brought up to know right from
wrong."
David Haines worked for the Royal Mail, then joined
the Royal Air Force. He later worked with the United
Nations in the Balkans, where "he helped whoever
needed help, regardless of race, creed or religion,"
according to his brother.
"During this time, David began to decide that
humanitarian work was the field he wanted to work
in," Mike Haines said. "... David was most alive and
enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles."
After working for ScotRail, David Haines went on to
get a job as a logistics and security manager for the
Paris-based humanitarian Agency for Technical
Cooperation and Development.
He was abducted in March 2013 near a refugee
camp in Atmeh, Syria, where he was working to
arrange for the delivery of humanitarian aid to
people staying at the camp. He had previously
worked on aid operations for victims of conflict in
the Balkans, African and other parts of the Middle
East, according to an ACTED spokesman.
"His joy and anticipation for the work he (did) in
Syria is, for myself and family, the most important
element of this whole sad affair," Mike Haines said.
"He was and is loved by all his family and will be
missed terribly."
British hostage of ISIS was helping displaced
Syrians, aid group says
Obama: U.S. 'stands shoulder-to-shoulder' with
Britain
Another hostage has been publicly killed by ISIS.
Another one's life has been threatened. And fighters
for ISIS -- which calls itself the Islamic State, in a
nod to its efforts to establish a vast caliphate in the
Middle East under its strict version of Sharia law --
are continuing to kill innocent civilians in Iraq and
Syria.
So what's next?
The threat from ISIS has been brewing
for some time. Having begun a decade
ago as al Qaeda in Iraq -- only to be
disowned earlier this year by al Qaeda,
the group behind the September 11,
2001, terrorist attacks, for its heavy-
handed tactics -- ISIS has taken
advantage of instability in Syria and
Iraq to become one of the most
prominent and feared groups in the
Middle East.
ISIS, which is also known as the
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or
ISIL, managed to become one of the
most successful rebel groups working
to overthrow Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad. It also rampaged through
much of Iraq, thwarting seemingly
overmatched Iraqi troops and
massacring those who did not
subscribe to its extreme version of
Islam.
It wasn't until last month -- albeit before Foley's
killing -- that the American military jumped into the
fray.
"It's a bit like trying to predict an earthquake: You
can see pressure building up on the fault lines but
not knowing when it's going to materialize (or how)
quickly it can disintegrate," Rep. Adam Schiff, a
California Democrat, said Saturday night. "Those
things are very hard to predict."
Partnering with the Iraqi military and Kurdish
fighters, U.S. warplanes have been striking ISIS
targets in Iraq regularly since August 8.
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama
announced that U.S. airstrikes would go after the
extremist group in Syria, and perhaps beyond.
"We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our
country, wherever they are," said Obama, who
insisted American troops wouldn't fight "on foreign
soil," though they will play support roles. "That
means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL
in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of
my presidency: if you threaten America, you will
find no safe haven."
The President vowed the United States won't do it
alone. To this end, U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry was in Egypt on Saturday seeking that
country's help in the fight against ISIS.
Britain is one country, at least, that has stepped up
-- even before Haines' killing.
That includes providing "urgent military support" at
the Iraqi government's request, including heavy
machine guns, body armor and nearly half a million
rounds of ammunition to Kurdish fighters known as
the Peshmerga.
The scale of that support, though, could ramp up
now with one Briton executed and Henning's life in
limbo.
To this end, 10 Downing Street announced early
Sunday that Cameron will convene an emergency
meeting of his top security officials to discuss what
Britain will do next.
Obama released a statement late Saturday after
what he called Haines' "barbaric murder," offering
his support for the aid worker's family and his
native Britain.
"The United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder
tonight with our close friend and ally in grief and
resolve," the President said.
"We will work with the United Kingdom and a broad
coalition of nations from the region and around the
world to bring the perpetrators of this outrageous
act to justice, and to degrade and destroy this threat
to the people of our countries, the region and the
world."

Microsoft Returns The Start Menu In Windows 9 | First Photo Of Window 9

After many complaints about Microsoft taking away
the Start Menu in Windows 8, they've returned it in
Windows 9.
A leaked screen shot of the new OS shows an all
new Start Menu.
The Windows 9 appears to have significant changes
from the Windows 8 with addition of Modern UI apps
running on the desktop, notifications center, virtual
desktops and more.
Windows 9 is being designed to adapt to the
hardware it's running on – traditional PCs will have
the desktop and no Start screen, while tablets will
have the Start screen and no desktop.

Pennsylvania State Trooper dies in shooting, another wounded.

Two Pennsylvania State Police troopers
shot late Friday night, one fatally, were ambushed
just outside the police barracks in Blooming
Grove, Pennsylvania, Commissioner Frank Noonan
told reporters. The shooter or shooters have not
been found, he said.
"I know a lot of people are wondering if the threat
is resolved. It is not," he said.
Police don't have a description of the shooters or
any information about what the motive was. But
Noonan said "this attack seems to be directed
particularly at the Pennsylvania State Police."
The shooting happened at 10:50 p.m. Friday
night at the agency's Blooming Grove barracks.
One trooper died in the shooting. Another was
wounded, had surgery and is in stable condition,
Noonan said.
He declined to release the identities of either
trooper.
Police from New York, New Jersey and
throughout the Northeast are assisting in the
search for the shooter or shooters, Noonan said.

Boko Haram under scrutiny over foreign fighters claim

Kano - Cameroon's claims this week that two
Tuareg fighters were among the dead when
troops bombarded Boko Haram positions have
sparked fresh interest in the group's links to the
wider jihadi network.
Communication minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary
did not elaborate on the nationality of the
foreigners, who were among the more than 100
dead during an attempted cross-border incursion
at the weekend.
But with the Tuareg people found in Mali and
Algeria, which are both home to Islamist groups,
the claim is coming under close examination.
Boko Haram was designated an al-Qaeda-linked
terror group earlier this year while its recent land
grab in Nigeria's northeast has prompted
comparisons to Islamic State militants in Syria
and Iraq.
Analysts remain sceptical, though, about the
extent of its direct operational links with outside
groups, despite claims that some fighters were
trained in Mali and arms are smuggled from
Libya.
Allowances
Security sources in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria,
say Boko Haram has for some time encouraged
mercenaries from neighbouring countries such as
Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
"These fighters are paid allowances after every
raid, which ranges between 50 000 naira ($300)
and 150 000 naira for each fighter," the source
told AFP in a recent interview.
Others said the recruitment was to be expected,
given the increase in violence this year that has
left thousands dead and prompted hundreds of
thousands of civilians to flee.
"It will not be surprising at this stage," said
security analyst Abdullahi Bawa Wase.
"The enlargement of the original Boko Haram with
mercenaries and criminal and political elements is
not in doubt."
Kyari Mohammed, a Boko Haram specialist from
the Centre for Peace Studies in Yola, Adamawa
state, said he, too, was not surprised at the
arrival of foreign fighters.
History of violence
But he questioned how many foreign guns-for-
hire had been recruited into Boko Haram's ranks,
which according to one recent estimate numbered
between 6,000 and 8,000 in total.
"When you are fighting this kind of war you
expect the influx of mercenaries, especially in this
region where we have porous borders and a
history of violence," he said.
"There could be infiltration of mercenaries across
these borders but not on a huge scale."
'Al-Qaeda in west Africa'?
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has
described Boko Haram as "al-Qaeda in west
Africa" and has been keen to play up a regional
dimension to the five-year insurgency.
Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh has said
weapons recovered during operations were "very
alien to Nigerian armed forces, which means there
are people from outside fuelling this thing".
"I know that people from outside Nigeria are in
this war. They are fighting us," he said earlier this
year.
Humanitarian crisis
But some analysts see Nigeria's position as a
way of deflecting criticism its own role in
transforming a largely peaceful domestic anti-
corruption movement into a heavily armed terror
group.
Boko Haram gained a higher international profile
in April this year when it abducted more than 200
schoolgirls from the remote northeastern town of
Chibok.
The United States said last week that it was
concerned by its capture of a succession of towns
and the potential for a humanitarian crisis.
Despite that, security experts say the conflict
remains largely an internal domestic issue and
that Boko Haram has localised aims.
Others point out that forced conscription of young
men from across Nigeria's borders could also
explain the presence of foreign nationals to boost
Boko Haram's depleted ranks.
In Cameroon, young men from towns and villages
near the Nigerian border have been conscripted
with inducements of motorcycles and 150 000
naira in cash as a "signing-on fee", the security
source in Maiduguri added.
Police in Cameroon's impoverished far north
region confirmed to AFP in August that hundreds
of young people had been forced to fight.
"Children from Kolofata were conscripted,
drugged, manipulated and sent against their own
city," one police officer said.

Adamawa Youths, Vigilantes Kill 80 Boko Haram Members

In a fight to take over their towns back from
Boko Haram, reports coming in from
Adamawa state is that about 8o members of
the sect have been killed by youths and
vigilantes in Muchika and Madagali local
government of the state on Tuesday night,
September 9.
According to Punch the dreaded Boko Haram
armed with sophiscated weapons who have
been wreakingg continuous havoc in the
Northern states most especially Adamawa and
Borno fled into the rush after running out of
arms and ammunitions.
Meanwhile following the presence of troops
stationed in strategic places in the state,
normalcy has reportedly returned to the LGAs.
According to a resident of Michika, Vandi
Joseph, who told journalists on Wednesday in
Yola that the insurgents were overpowered by
youths and vigilantes said: “Our youths and
vigilance group members ambushed and killed
over 80 insurgents who escaped from soldiers
and hid themselves in the bush. Our youths
and vigilantes saw them and killed them.”
Meanwhile, the Emir of Mubi has denied the
report that he fled his palace following Boko
Haram’s threat of an impending attack.
The Ismalist group have killed thousands of
innocent people in their incessant attacks.
It was reported on Spetember 7, that the Boko
Haram Insurgents had taken over Michika
Town in Adamawa state.
Just recently on Monday, September 8, former
President, Olusegun Obasanjo’s son,
Lieutenant. Colonel Adeboye was shot by Boko
Haram during an attack in Baza , Adamawa
state but now recovering in the hospital and
expressed eagerness to return to the
battlefield.
In a bid to win the war against terrorism, on
September 9, it was reported over 40 members
of Boko Haram were reportedly killed by
troops from the 1 Division Kaduna, 3 Division
Jos and TRADOC, Minna during a fierce battle
at Vimtim in Adamawa state.

Great Things Coming To Manchester United

The Argentine defender is excited to join "one of
the best clubs in the world at the moment" and
welcomes the arrivals of marquee signings Angel
Di Maria and Radamel Falcao
New Manchester United signing Marcos Rojo
believes that Louis van Gaal has assembled a
squad capable of restoring the club to their
former glory.
The Argentina international signed for United fro
Sporting Lisbon in August in a deal worth €20
million but has not yet featured for his new club
due to delays in obtaining a visa.
However, he has now been granted the all-clear
to play and is relishing the chance to line up
alongside fellow new arrivals such as Radamel
Falcao and Angel Di Maria.
"It is a huge step forward in my career and my
life and I am very happy to play for one of the
best clubs in the world at the moment," Rojo told
Perform.
"There are some great players [here]. We
obviously need to give time so the new manager
can build his team but, with the great names we
have in our squad and the intelligence of the
manager, I am sure many achievements will com
along."
Di Maria arrived from Real Madrid for a British
record fee of €75m, making his debut at Burnley
before the international break, and Rojo is familia
with the winger from their time with the Argentin
national team.
"He's got a lot of quality," the defender
proclaimed. "He is very sharp and very fast so h
can help a lot attacking in the second line."
United - without a win from their opening three
Premier League fixtures - recruited Monaco
forward Falcao on loan on transfer deadline day.
"There are some good strikers in the squad," Roj
enthused, "but Falcao is always in the penalty
box; he is very sharp and capable to make the
most of any chance.
"I will try to find my place as soon as possible
and help in every way I can so we get important
trophies."

Van Gaal told he can spend again in January as Manchester United announce record turnover

The Dutchman spent big in the summer window,
acquiring the likes of Angel di Maria, Luke Shaw
and Radamel Falcao, but will be given the green
light to splash further cash
By Wayne Veysey
Louis van Gaal has been given the green light to
carry on spending as Manchester United
announce a record turnover of up to €535 million
and a profit of around €51m in their latest set of
financial results.
The accounts for the year ending June 2014 do
not take into account the club-record €75m
signing of Angel Di Maria or the late August
captures of Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind and
Radamel Falcao on loan.
United's commercial deals, including a €66m-a-
year shirt sponsorship deal with Chevrolet that
started this summer and a 10-year kit agreement
with Adidas worth €93m-a-year that kicks in nex
year, mean the 20-times Premier League
champions are able to withstand the cost of a
season outside of Europe's elite.
Real Madrid announced last week that their
annual revenue has soared to €598m, the highes
mark for any club in the world. But even the
Spanish giants and fellow big-hitter Barcelona
cannot rival the fresh commercial deals in place
at Old Trafford.
United have spent in excess of €187m this
summer on new signings, including the British
record signing of Di Maria.
Sources have told Goal that United could have
even afforded to have spent €250m on transfers
and have the finances in place to buy a player to
the equivalent value of Di Maria every year for th
next decade.
Further spending is expected to take place in the
January market as Van Gaal is given further
licence to continue his radical overhaul of a
squad that failed so dismally under David Moyes
last season and has begun the current campaign
in equally uncertain fashion.
The annual results should also include details of
pay-offs to former manager Moyes and his
coaching team, but the figures will not reflect an
financial losses incurred from failing to qualify for
Europe for this season.
It is believed Moyes was given a €4.3m pay-off,
equivalent to a year's salary, and a similar sum
was handed to his backroom team of Phil Neville,
Steve Round, Jimmy Lumsden and Chris Woods.
United’s surprise drop from champions in
2012-13 to seventh-place last season saw the
club suffer a reduction of £8.4m in Premier
League prize money last season – a campaign
which Woodward described as "very
disappointing" when addressing investors
following the publication of quarterly accounts in
May.
The absence of Champions League football this
season is worth a minimum €31m, and probably
at least €12.5m more, meaning the Moyes regim
cost the club in the region of €62.2m compared
to the heights usually reached under Sir Alex
Ferguson.

Man U spent $8 million paying off Moyes

Manchester — Manchester United spent more than
$8 million to pay off David Moyes and his
coaching staff, the club said Wednesday.
The 20-time English champions also said revenue
was expected to drop by about $80 million
because of the club's failure to qualify for a
European competition.
Moyes lost his job 10 months after succeeding
Alex Ferguson. United ended up in seventh place
one year after winning the Premier League title.
In its annual financial results, United highlighted a
cost of 5.2 million pounds ($8.4 million)
"primarily related to compensation payments on
loss of office to the former manager and certain
members of the coaching staff."
Louis van Gaal replaced Moyes, but has failed to
win in his first four matches, including an
embarrassing League Cup loss at third-tier club
MK Dons.
United, which is owned by the Glazer family and
listed on the New York Stock Exchange, remains a
commercial juggernaut, with 2013-14 revenue up
19 percent to a club record 433.2 million pounds
($699 million). But United forecast revenue in
2014-15 to drop by 10 percent to as low as 385
million pounds ($619 million) due in part to the
lack of UEFA income.
United has been reinvesting its sponsorship
revenue, which soared by 50 percent to 135.8
million pounds ($219 million) in the year to June
30, by bringing in new players. The accounts
show 78.9 million pounds ($127 million) spent on
players, including the signing of Juan Mata in
January for 37.1 million pounds (then $61
million). The wage bill rose by almost 20 percent
to 214.8 million pounds ($345 million).
Since the end of the financial year, United has
spent about $250 million, including a British
record fee of 59.7 million pounds ($99 million) to
sign Argentina midfielder Angel Di Maria from
Real Madrid.
"With Louis van Gaal at the helm as manager, and
the recent signing of some of the world's leading
players to further strengthen our squad, we are
very excited about the future and believe it's the
start of a new chapter in the club's history,"
United vice chairman Ed Woodward said in a
statement.
Van Gaal, who won titles with Ajax, Barcelona and
Bayern Munich, took his first job in English
football after leading the Netherlands to a third-
place finish at the World Cup.

Boko Haram: Government cautions against used cell phones

Abuja - The Federal Government on Tuesday
cautioned Nigerians against buying used cell
phones and pre-registered SIM cards, saying that
they might have been used by terrorists for
untoward activities.
Mike Omeri, the Coordinator, National Information
Centre, issued the warning while giving update on
the security situation in the North East.
"This caution becomes necessary to save
members of the public the embarrassment of
being apprehended for criminal activities
committed with the phones and SIM card found in
their possession.
"Accordingly, the public is strongly advised to
report cases of stolen phones and SIMs to the
police, and refrain from buying second hand
phones and SIM cards from unknown sources’’,
he said.
Omeri said the recent recapture of Bama from the
insurgents by troops was an attestation that the
military had might to defend and safeguard the
nation’s territorial integrity.
He said the troops were intensifying efforts to
dislodge the Boko Haram terrorists from Gulak
and Baza in Madagali and Michika Local
Government Areas of Adamawa.
The coordinator said this was in spite of the odds
that had confronted their operations in those
areas, and urged the people to support the
military with useful information.

Gambian leader set to sign anti-gay law

Banjul - Gambia's national assembly has
passed a bill to introduce the crime of
aggravated homosexuality into the criminal
code and make it punishable by life
imprisonment in some cases, according to a
copy of the bill seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
The bill defines aggravated homosexuality as
cases such as a person having homosexual
relations with someone under the age of 18, or
a person with HIV having homosexual relations.
President Yahya Jammeh is yet to sign into law
the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act, 2014,
which was passed by parliament on 25 August.
Homosexuality remains taboo in many socially
conservative African societies where some
religious groups have branded it a corrupting
import from the West.
"A person who commits the offence of
aggravated homosexuality is liable on
conviction to imprisonment [for] life," said one
section of the bill.
On the day the bill passed, Justice Minister
Mama Fatima Singhateh was removed from
office, though no reason was given for the
decision.
Some of the fiercest African debate over the
issue of homosexuality has come in Uganda,
where President Yoweri Museveni wants to re-
issue an anti-gay law rejected by a court, but
without tough penalties for consenting adults, a
ruling-party lawmaker said in August.
The original version of the law passed in
February punished gay sex with long prison
terms and alarmed Western donors, some of
whom withheld aid in protest. Uganda's
constitutional court overturned it on a
technicality in August.

20 policemen Still Missing After Boko Haram Attack

Abuja - Twentypolice officers are still missing
three weeks after Boko Haram fighters attacked a
training academy outside the remote north-
eastern town of Gwoza, the country's police chief
said on Tuesday.
Inspector General Suleiman Abba told reporters
that police would "not relent in the efforts of
tracing them".
Initially, police said 35 officers were missing after
the attack on 21 August. Abba said some had
since returned, without explaining how.
"We have been able to trace some of the officers
who have reported back to their bases. Some
have even reported back to their families," he
said.
Boko Haram Islamists attacked the police
academy near Gwoza in Borno state two weeks
after they seized the town and declared it part of
an Islamic caliphate they are seeking to establish.
Also Read: People flee advancing Boko Haram
fighters
They went on to capture Bama, 50km to the north
on 1 September, killing scores of people.
The government, which has faced criticism for its
failure to effectively confront the militants, said
on Tuesday it was fighting back successfully.
"Only this morning it was reported that the
military is in total and firm control of Bama,"
government spokesperson Mike Omeri told
reporters.
"Consistent effort is ongoing to ensure that firm
control is taken of areas that are being challenged
by insurgent actions."
Boko Haram is blamed for more than 10 000
deaths since 2009 and has repeatedly targeted
the police and military.
It is believed to be in control of large swathes of
Borno, its historic stronghold, as well as towns
and villages in neighbouring Adamawa and Yobe.
The three states have been under emergency rule
since May last year.

Texas police chief killed in traffic stop

(CNN) -- A police chief in a small Texas town
was shot multiple times during a traffic stop
Saturday afternoon and later died, authorities
said.
Michael Pimentel served in Elmendorf, a suburb
southeast of San Antonio with about 1,500
residents.
According to Rosanne Hughes, spokeswoman of
the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, Pimentel pulled
over a vehicle in a residential area. There was a
struggle and Pimentel was shot, Hughes said.
The chief was flown by helicopter to University
Hospital in San Antonio, where he died of his
wounds, according to Hughes.
The Bexar County Sheriff's Office took 24-year-
old Joshua Manuel Lopez into custody and he will
face charges of capital murder of a police officer,
said Hughes.
According to Hughes, Lopez had an active
misdemeanor warrant for graffiti at the time he
was pulled over.
At a press conference, Sheriff Susan L. Pamerleau
expressed her department's condolences and said
"even on a quiet, peaceful day in a small town, it
can turn deadly in an instant."
Before he was Elmendorf's top officer, Pimentel
served as police chief of the San Antonio
Independent School District, according to the
Officer Down Memorial Page.
A call placed to what is believed to be the Lopez
family residence was not immediately returned.
From CNN's Joseph Netto

Iraq conflict: UN warns of 'massacre' in siege town

The UN has called for action to prevent what it
says may be a possible massacre in the northern
Iraqi town of Amerli.
The town, under siege by Islamic State for two
months, has no electricity or drinking water, and
is running out of food and medical supplies.
Violent attacks were also carried out in other
parts of Iraq, with security forces in Kirkuk
targeted by car bombs, leaving 10 dead.
Jim Muir reports.

Atletico Beat Real To Win Super Cup

Mario Mandzukic scored his first goal for
Atletico Madrid who overcame star-studded city
rivals Real to win the Spanish Super Cup 2-1 on
aggregate.
Atletico won 1-0 on the night, with the Croat
firing in low from inside the area after just two
minutes.
Raul Garcia also went close for the league
champions, who had coach Diego Simeone sent
off for patting the head of the fourth official.
James Rodriguez had Real's best chances with
two shots that flew past the post.
The Colombia World Cup star, who scored in the
first leg, also had an effort pushed away by
keeper Miguel Angel Moya and headed wide.
Mario Mandzukic signed for
Atletico from Bayern Munich
for about £20m in the
summer
The £71m signing from Monaco was one of
Real's better performers inside the Vicente
Calderon stadium, with Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos
and Karim Benzema all disappointing. And
Cristiano Ronaldo barely threatened when he
came on in the second half.
As for Atletico, they resembled the battle-
hardened side who won the title much more than
the team that drew 1-1 against Real in Tuesday's
first leg.
Their coach also picked up where he left off in
the Champions League final by being sent to
the stands by referee David Fernandez Borlaban.
Simeone was seen protesting that right-back
Juanfran had not been allowed back onto the
field quickly enough after receiving treatment for
a facial injury before he patted the fourth official
on the head, which led to his dismissal.
Atletico coach Diego
Simeone (second right) was
sent from the dugout after
patting the fourth official
(right) on the head
The match on the whole was a more entertaining
affair and was given an early jolt when Croatia
striker Mandzukic scored moments after the kick
off.
Moya, who replaced Thibaut Courtois in the
summer, launched the ball downfield which found
its way to Antoine Griezmann. The France
international, acquired from Real Sociedad during
pre-season, found Mandzukic who ran in on goal
and drove his shot past Iker Casillas.
Real looked for an quick response with Rodriguez
leading the fight. The midfielder was first denied
by Moya, before twice shooting wide and
directing his header off target.
That was the sum of Real's best efforts on the
night, with Ronaldo, who started on the bench
because of a back injury, barely troubling Moya
with a 25-yard strike.
Real also ended the night with 10 men when
midfielder Luka Modric was shown a second
yellow for clattering into Cristian Rodriguez in
stoppage time.
Atletico came close to adding more, with Raul
Garcia - arguably the man of the match - going
close on three occasions, the best of which was a
header that came off the bar.
Simeone, who spent much of the match marching
back and forth in the stands, has now guided the
Rojiblancos to Spanish league title, the Europa
League, Copa del Rey and Uefa Super Cup during
his three years in charge.

Cryopreservation: ‘I freeze people to cheat death’

(Thinkstock)
Max More will have his brain frozen after he
dies, and he’s not alone. Rose Eveleth asks
him why he signed up – and how the strange
procedure of cryopreserving bodies actually
works.
In 1972 Max More saw a children’s science
fiction television show called Time Slip that
featured characters being frozen in ice. He didn’t
think much about it until years later, when he
started hanging out with friends who held
meetings about futurism. “They were getting
Cryonics magazine,” he says, “and they asked
me about it to see how futuristic I was. It just
made sense to me right away.”
More is now the President and Chief Executive
officer of Alcor , one of the world’s largest
cryonics companies. More himself has been a
member since 1986, and has decided to opt for
neuropreservation – just deep freezing the brain
– over whole body preservation. “I figure the
future is a pretty decent place to be, so I want
to be there,” he says. “I want to keep living and
enjoying and producing.”
Cryopreservation is a darling of the futurist
community. The general premise is simple:
medicine is continually getting better. Those
who die today could be cured tomorrow.
Cryonics is a way to bridge the gap between
today’s medicine and tomorrow’s. “We see it as
an extension of emergency medicine,” More
says. “We’re just taking over when today’s
medicine gives up on a patient. Think of it this
way: 50 years ago if you were walking along the
street and someone keeled over in front of you
and stopped breathing you would have checked
them out and said they were dead and disposed
of them. Today we don’t do that, instead we do
CPR and all kinds of things. People we thought
were dead 50 years ago we now know were not.
Cryonics is the same thing, we just have to stop
them from getting worse and let a more
advanced technology in the future fix that
problem.”
Of course, the premise of cryonics also makes it
essentially untestable. Nobody has ever tried to
bring a human back to life after preservation.
While researchers working on ‘ suspended
animation’ are finding that they can cool a
living being down to appear apparently dead
before reviving them, freezing a body for
decades is a different matter. More points to
studies in which scientists have studied the
preservation of cells and tissues and even
worms, but scaling that up to a full human body
isn’t a trivial proposition. But whether the
science is there or not, people are being frozen
in liquid nitrogen with the hope of seeing some
distant tomorrow.
Death plan
Alcor’s members come from all over the world.
Ideally, More says, the company will have an
idea of when their members are going to die.
Alcor maintains a watch list of members in
failing health, and when it seems as though the
time has come they send what they call a
“standby team” to do just that – stand by the
person’s bed until they die. “It could be hours,
days, we’ve gone as long as three weeks on
standby,” More says.
Once the person in question is declared legally
dead, the process of preserving them can begin,
and it’s an intense one. First, the standby team
transfers the patient from the hospital bed into
an ice bed and covers them with an icy slurry.
Then Alcor uses a “heart-lung resuscitator” to
get the blood moving through the body again.
They then administer 16 different medications
meant to protect the cells from deteriorating
after death. As they note on their website,
“Because cryonics patients are legally deceased,
Alcor can use methods that are not yet
approved for conventional medical use.” Once
the patient is iced up and medicated, they move
them to a place for surgery.
View image of In the operating theatre, the
body is treated to avoid freezing damage, and
the head removed if requested (Courtesy of
Alcor Life Extension Foundation)
The next step includes draining as much blood
and bodily fluids as possible from the person,
replacing them with a solution that won’t form
ice crystals – essentially the same kind of
antifreeze solution used in organ preservation
during transplants. Then a surgeon opens up
the chest to get access to the major blood
vessels, attaching them to a system that
essentially flushes out the remaining blood and
swaps it with medical grade antifreeze. Since
the patient will be in a deep freeze, much of the
preparatory work involves trying to ensure that
ice crystals don’t form inside the cells of the
body.
View image of Surgeons prepare a body for
‘perfusion’ of a solution that prevents ice
formation in tissue (Courtesy of Alcor Life
Extension Foundation)
Once the patient’s veins are full of this
antifreeze, Alcor can begin to cool them down
by about one degree Celsius every hour,
eventually bringing the body down to -196C
after about two weeks. Eventually the body finds
its final home for the foreseeable future: upside
down in a freezer, often alongside three others.
This is the ideal scenario. But it doesn’t always
go this way – if a patient hasn’t told Alcor they
were sick, or if they die suddenly, the process
can be delayed for hours or days. In one of their
most recent cases, an Alcor member committed
suicide, and Alcor staff had to negotiate with
police and the coroner to get access to the
body. The longer the wait between death and
preservation, the more cells will decay, and the
harder it will be to resurrect and cure the
patient, More says.
View image of Groups of four are kept in
refrigerators cooled by liquid nitrogen (middle
and left), after treatment in the operating room
(right) (Courtesy of Alcor Life Extension
Foundation)
If this all sounds like a lot of risk for a slim
reward, it might be. More is the first to admit
that cryonics comes with no guarantees. “We
don’t know for sure, there’s a lot of things that
can go wrong,” he says. It’s possible that Alcor
and companies like it are simply storing a lot of
dead bodies in liquid nitrogen. But he also
claims that cryonics is unlike a lot of other
futuristic technology. “There’s no fundamental
physical limit to be able to repair tissues,” he
says, “it’s not like time travel.” The science of
tissue regeneration is steadily advancing. But
nobody really knows when they’ll be able to
wake these patients up, or if they’ll be able to
at all. When forced to take a guess at how long
we’ll have to wait for medicine to catch up to
save Alcor’s members More put the number
between 50 and 100 years. “But it’s really
impossible to say. We probably don’t even know
what repair technology would be used.”
As of today, 984 people are signed up with Alcor
to be preserved when they die. People who sign
up for Alcor’s services pay a yearly membership
fee of about $770. When it comes time to
actually preserve a person the cost ranges from
$80,000 to preserve just the brain up to
$200,000 to preserve the whole body. Some of
that money, More says, goes into a patient care
trust fund that keeps the facilities running and
the bodies inside preserved for the long haul.
And More is quick to point out that many
patients get a life insurance policy that factors
in the cost of their eventual freezing. “It’s not
only something for the rich,” he says, “anybody
who can afford an insurance policy can afford
this.”
A video tour of Alcor, recorded by Nikola
Danaylov of singularityweblog.com
Most members, More says, are somewhat
squeamish about the actual process of
cryopreservation – but they see it as a means
to an end. “We don’t want to be cryopreserved
– we hate the idea in fact. The idea of sitting in
a tank of liquid nitrogen not able to control our
own destinies is not appealing. But it’s a lot
more appealing than the alternative, to be
digested by worms or incinerated – that doesn’t
appeal to us at all.”