Photos: Plane crash in Lagos (Updated)

A private jet  reportedly carrying the body of Ex-Ondo state governor, Segun Agagu, and 18 of his family members has reportedly crashed immediately after take-off. Although, the level of casualty is still unclear but there are reports that 8 people have been confirmed dead by LASEMA.

The casket containing the late governor's corpse is said to be intact as it was in a section that didn't crash

                      

                     

                         

General Manager of LASEMA just informed us that 8 people have been confirmed dead, while 4 people have been hospitalised and being treated for various degree of injuries.

  We'll provide more news as they unfold. May God grant the souls of the departed eternal rest.

George Zimmerman's wife doubts his innocence

Shellie, wife to acquitted Trayvon Martin murderer, George Zimmerman has claimed she is not certain her husband is innocent of the crime commited. She says her husband has changed since he was acquitted by a jury.

She's also not sure her husband acted in self-defense.

“I’m conflicted on that,” she said. “I believe the evidence, but this revelation in my life has really helped me to take the blinders off.”

                 

                 

Shellie said on thursday, she doesn't really know the man she's been married to whom she's about to divorce.

“This person that I’m married to that I’m divorcing, I’ve kind of realized now that I don’t know him,”...“And I really don’t know what he’s capable of.”

Is this not too late?

Chinese man grows new nose on forehead

A chinese man has decided to grow a new nose on his forehead after his nose became infected and useless after an accident.

                    

               

Doctors at the hospital placed a skin tissue expander on the man's forehead and cut it into the shape of a nose, then they planted cartilage taken from his ribs to mould the nose.

Hmmn! These people though

Justin Bieber throws best friends out of his home for stealing

Teenage pop star, Justin Bieber has thrown his best pals Lil Twist and Lil Za out of his California home after his expensive jewellery went missing. The duo were reported to have thrown a party in Justin's absence prompting the pop star to accuse them to have been directly or indirectly involved.

Good riddance eh? 

Peter Okoye (P Square) proposes to his girlfriend Lola Omotayo with a touch of CLASS (Photos)

Peter Okoye of P-Square has finally proposed to his girlfriend Lola Omotayo and he did it with all grace and panache - with a  diamond ring (looks like a Celtic), a sparkling new Range Rover Evogue, and a bouquet of flowers with a hand-written "Please say YES" message! Way to go, dude

As you would expect after going this length, she said an emphatic YES! to the proposal. Congrats to the couple.

 

Awesome!!! Woman with world's largest afro enters Guiness Book of Records (Photos)

Aevis Dugas' four-and-a-half-foot afro which has taken her 14 years to grow, takes 2 days to wash and 5 bottles of conditioner to get it to shape has entered the Guiness Book of Records...and she says her hair is inspiring lots of women to go natural. It should!

She said: 'I don't know why but there's something very important to me about little girls appreciating my hair and then wanting to wear their hair the same.

'I tell them there is nothing that I did special, there is no magical formula, we are born with our hair like this.'

Aevin was originally inspired by a picture of her mum Deborah Dugas wearing an afro in the sixties - and she remains one of her biggest fans today.

Mrs Dugas, 62, who runs a care home, said: 'I'm humbled by the fact she did this because she liked my natural hair, way before she was born.

                 

I hope this inspires our Brazilian-hair-crazy ladies here in Naija. I love her already. Isn't she lovely?  **winks**

Man who was born blind sees for the first time at age 68

All of his life, Pierre-Paul Thomas lived without the gift of vision, but a surprise surgery this year allowed the 68-year-old to see for the first time. Thomas was born with congenital nystagmus, a condition that made his eyes move side to side involuntary and had damaged optic nerves and cataracts on top of that.

He had resigned himself to the fact that he would never be able to see.

He can see now

But then he fell down a set of stairs in his Montreal apartment two years ago, and it may have been the best thing to ever happen to him. 

The fall required surgery on Thomas's face, where the thin bones around his eye sockets fractured. 

While consulting with a plastic surgeon, she asked nonchalantly: 'Oh, while we're at it, do you want us to fix your eyes, too?'

Thomas was shocked. he didn't think it was possible.

I can imagine how he'll feel seeing all the beautiful things he's been missing. God is great

Property tycoon loses wife and home to Barcelona star

Lebanese millionaire Elie Taktouk has lost his home to Barcelona star Cesc Fabregas months after losing his wife to the footballer as a judge refused to halt the sale of the house worth almost $12m to Fabregas

Elie Taktouk

Elie Taktouk whose former wife, Daniella Semaan, gave birth to Fabregas' baby in April, tried to block the sale on the basis that the Barcelona star's offer was $4m less than its true value.

The Belgravia flat which is only yards away from Buckingham Palace, had been ordered for sale as part of divorce proceedings, in order to provide money for Miss Semaan to buy her own home.

Daniella and Fabregas

Within three weeks of the apartment going on sale, Fabregas put forward an offer to buy it which was approved, prompting Elie Taktouk to go to court in an attempt to block the sale. The case has now been struck out.

APC registration finally gets the nod as INEC seals merger

After so much dilly-dallying, the All Progressive Congress (APC), a merger of three political parties; Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has finally been registered as a political party in Nigeria.

PRESS STATEMENT:

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved the application by three political parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – to merge into one, to be known as the All Progressives Congress.

On considering the application, the Commission found that the applicant-parties have met all statutory requirements for the merger, and has accordingly granted their request.

Consequently, the Commission has approved the withdrawal of the individual certificates of the applicant-parties, and the issuance of a single certificate to the All Progressives Congress. 

Abdullahi A. Kaugama

Secretary to the Commission

Aswad Ayinde, director of Fugees video 'Killing Me Softly', jailed for impregnating daughters

The award-winning video director was unmasked Thursday as a brutal, bizarre serial breeder who repeatedly raped his daughters to create a "pure" bloodline. Today he was told he'll be locked away for 90 years (just?).

Aswad Ayinde aka Charles McGill

Aswad Ayinde, who won an MTV award for directing The Fugees' "Killing Me Softly," fathered six kids with his daughters from the mid-1980s to 2002 - and delivered the babies himself, New Jersey prosecutors said.

Many of the rapes took place in  an abandoned funeral home. He even delivered the babies himself in a bid to keep his depraved plot secret.Ayinde, 55, fathered six children with his daughters from the  mid-1980s until 2002. He also had nine children with his former wife,  Beverly, and amother three with two other women in Brooklyn, according  to court documents.Reporting on his conviction, a reporter said: As Aswad Ayinde’s daughter stood up to speak, the judge ordered him  to put down the court papers he was hunched over and face the daughter  he had assaulted and raped since she was 8 years old, fathering her four children.

“I can’t describe how much you hurt me and my sisters,” the daughter, now 35, said Friday to her father, shackled in a prison jumpsuit, his  head still bowed, eyes never once meeting hers.As the woman rehashed the horrors her father inflicted on her and her sisters in Paterson, Ayinde burst out, “You should’ve told the truth  instead of lying,” bringing an admonishment from Superior Court Judge  Raymond Reddin, who told him that not only did he believe the daughter’s testimony, but also so did the 12 jurors who convicted him.Ultimately, the daughter said she forgave her father and hoped at some time he’d repent.“But obviously, with your head down like that, you do not  understand,” she said, three of her sisters fighting tears in the  courtroom pews.After the daughter finished, Reddin on Friday tacked on 50 years to  the 40-year prison sentence Ayinde, 54, received in 2010 after being  convicted of raping another of his daughters, who bore a fifth child.

The former music producer and self-proclaimed prophet faces three  more trials for allegedly sexually assaulting three other daughters  after requesting separate trials.Prosecutors have said that Ayinde dominated his children as a  god-like prophet who wanted to create a race that carried his pure  bloodline. Over the years, he molested five of his seven daughters and  fathered six children, the family and their attorney said.By about 2001, the family had mostly split up, Ayinde “bouncing  around,” but still in reach of his family, the daughter said. In 2003,  he tried to rape her for the last time.“That was it. … I just felt stronger,” she said.Yet, it wasn’t until she and her sisters learned that Ayinde had  fathered more children with other women that they decided to go to the  authorities in 2006.“We found out we had other siblings, young siblings, and we had to  put him to a stop,” the daughter said after the sentencing hearing.

Rick Ross wants Nicki Minaj to accept DJ Khaled's proposal

After DJ Khaled captivated the world on July 25 with his impromptu marriage proposal to Nicki, Rick says in a new interview that the potential couple has his blessing. And he even talks wedding gifts!

Groom and Best Man?

As to whether DJ Khaled and Nicki would have his blessing if they tied the knot, Rick told Los Angeles radio station Power 106, “I mean most definitely. I know Khaled, that’s my brother. I guess we all gotta sit back and wait.”

There have been some doubters out there saying that the (amazing) video is just a joke — some type of viral marketing — but Rick, who also says Khaled “has been infatuated with Nicki,” went on record saying he thinks Khaled was 100 percent serious.

Signs?

“I’m reading the small description underneath and it says he has a ring from Rafaello & Co., if I’m reading that correctly, that’s valued at about half a million dollars. If you spend half a million dollars, you’re dead-ass serious.”

Good point, Rick.

Underage marriage: Senate to revisit report

Following intense pressure, the Senate on thursday promised to revisit the controversial Section 29(4)(b) of the  report of its Constitution Review Committee which the lawmakers were deemed to have voted in favour of underage marriage.

The section which the lawmakers had in the report  recommended for deletion,  deals  with the denunciation  of citizenship upon the attainment of 18 years of age.

During the clause  by clause consideration of the report,  the lawmakers at first okayed the deletion with 85  votes with 7 abstaining out of the 101 senators in attendance.

But when the issue was revisited following a point of order raised by Senator Ahmed Yerima,  the votes dropped to about 60, a number that was 13 short of the expected two-third the proposal should enjoy before sailing through.

But overwhelmed by the reactions that greeted the decision, Senate President David Mark yesterday assured Nigerians that the issue will be revisited by the upper chamber.

He gave the assurance while receiving in audience Gender Constitution and Reform Network(GENCRN), a coalition of women and civil society groups led by the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Zainab Maina  at the National Assembly in Abuja.

Concurring with the group’s demand for a deletion of the clause, Mark said: “I agree with all you have said here., so do all senators here today. Why we voted publicly is for everybody to know the position of every senator. But besides, the whole thing is been misunderstood.”

Explaining  how they got to this stage, the lawmaker recalled that at first voting it was 85 which favoured deletion, adding that when some religious dimension was added to it, the earlier position was defeated , hence the clause’s retention.

He said the lawmakers voted publicly so that “everybody will know the stand of every senator on every issue. He added: I think the problem is not whether we can delete this section 29(4) (b) or not. That is not the issue; it is whether we can get the number to be able to delete it.
“With all due respect, the entire Senate is being castigated because there was and there is still a complete misunderstanding of what the Senate had tried to do. We are on the side of the people, that was why we put it that we should delete it, that was what the people wanted.
While reiterating that the aspect had nothing to do with underaged marriage, the senate president however agreed that “if we take a wrong step we can retrace it.”

Earlier, the group in a position paper presented by Hajiya  Saudatu Mahdi, Secretary, Women’s Right Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA),  called for the deletion of  the clause, describing it as discriminatory.

A love tale: Born on the same day, married for 75 years and died a day apart

She didn't want to see him die and he didn't want to live without her. The story of Les and Helen Brown, she had stomach cancer, he battled Parkinson's disease.

Teenage lovers

Married for 75 years

The Browns were born on New Year's Eve, 1918. Their son said his parents met in high school and eloped in 1937 aged 18 because their parents thought the marriage between a wealthy man and a working-class woman would never last. They celebrated their 75th anniversary last September.

The couple moved to Long Beach in 1963. He was a photographer and she sold real estate.

Can stories like this happen in this present generation? Not from what we keep hearing everyday if you ask me. What do you think?

Wizkid’s outfit worth N500 000!

Starboy Wizzy

When it comes to successful Nigerian artists Wizkid is definitely up there and the young star dresses the part. Yesterday he posted a picture of himself decked out in designer clothing worth close to N500 000! The outfit included a Givenchy shirt worth US$615 (N98 400), Balmain jeans worth US$1 100 (N176 000) and Giuseppe Zanotti sneakers worth US$775 (N124 000)!

Ambassador: British Prime Minister wants to export gay marriage worldwide

David Cameron vowed last night to ‘export’ gay marriage around the world as he held a party to celebrate the passage of legislation in Britain.The Prime Minister told a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender reception in Downing Street of his personal pride at legalising gay marriage.

Addressing an audience that included BBC presenter Clare Balding and her partner, the former newsreader Alice Arnold, Mr Cameron boasted that Britain was now ‘the best place to be gay, lesbian or transgender anywhere in Europe’.

British PM, Cameron

But he risked controversy by suggesting that his ministers should now fan out across the globe to spread gay marriage around the world.

‘I’m personally proud of this,’ he said. ‘I think it’s a really good step. I’ve told the Bill team I’m now going to reassign them because, of course, all over the world people would have been watching this and we’ve set something of an example of how to pass good legislation in good time.

‘Many countries are going to want to copy this. I talk about how we’ve got to export more, so I’m going to export the Bill team.  'I think they can take it around the world.’

"Many countries are going to want to copy this"? We hear you

Ghanaian actress Jocelyn Dumas shows off killer curves

The Ghanaian TV star posted this picture of her in the gym recently

One word - Damnnn!

The Lagos State Government dumps 70 beggars and destitutes in Onitsha

No fewer than 70 beggars and the homeless were on Wednesday dumped at the Upper Iweka Bridge, Onitsha, Anambra State.

Agents of the Lagos State Government reportedly brought the destitute to Onitsha.

The destitute told journalists that they were dumped about 3am at Upper Iweka after being detained in Ikorodu, Lagos, for over six months for alleged wandering and other minor offences by the Lagos State Kick Against Indiscipline officials. The destitute said they were brought to Onitsha in four buses, escorted by riot policemen.

One of them, Mr. Osondu Mbuto, from Ohaozara in Ebonyi State and a petty trader in Lagos, said he was arrested by the Lagos State Government officials while going to his shop on December 18, 2012. Mbuto added that the Lagos State Government officials were in company with some policemen.

The Chairman of Nigeria Red Cross Society in the South-East, Dr. Peter Katchy, described the action of the Lagos State officials as condemnable.

He said, “It’s very deplorable; it’s very disheartening that a state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria will bundle people, who are not even indigenes of Anambra State, and dump them under the flyover at Upper Iweka in Onitsha.

“Many of the people, we have interviewed are not indigenes of Anambra State. Some of them are from Ebonyi State; some are from Imo State among other states.

“It is an insult to Anambra State. We shall draw the attention of the governor of Anambra State to ask the reason for such an invasion of his territory.

Calls made to the mobile phone of the Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, for his reaction, did not go through.

I will destroy you! Dr Conrad Murray threatens Michael Jackson's family

You want the truth? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!

At least that's what Dr. Conrad Murray is saying to AEG and the Jackson family, claiming he's prepared to drop a nuclear bomb on the entire wrongful death lawsuit if he's forced to testify ... a bomb that neither side can begin to fathom ... and that will blow both sides out of the water.

Dr. Conrad Murray

It's the second time Murray's threatened AEG and the Jackson family with destructive testimony, suggesting he's been keeping a bombshell secret for years regarding Michael and the singer's true relationship with his family -- but the latest threat is borderline scary.

Murray made the threat in a recent voicemail message to a friend, pleading with AEG and the Jacksons for one last time to leave him in peace and spare him from testifying.

He says, "Please stop. If you don’t, let this serve as my final warning to both sides. Don’t incite me to testify. Consider this as an imminent nuclear warning. Enough is enough." He then hints at the nature of his "nuclear" secret.

Murray was subpoenaed to testify in Katherine's $40 billion lawsuit against AEG -- but he pled the 5th because he doesn't want to incriminate himself in any upcoming legal proceedings ... after he appealed to overturn his manslaughter conviction.

And it sounds like he has other reasons for not wanting to testify as well.

tmz.com

"Mermaid-like Creature" found in Ibadan is actually a baby Octopus (Photos)

A few days ago, the city of Ibadan went haywire as news of a certain "Mermaid-like creature" was said to have been found by a fish seller, Ramota Salawu. Apparently, the creature was only a baby Octopus.

Baby Octopus

Ramota reportedly claims the creature, which was found in a carton of frozen fish told her not to shout though she defied that and screamed for help. There was another 'eye-witness' account that  the 'mermaid' was shy and repeatedly swung her long hair around to cover her face (smh).

The Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Mohammed Ndabawa, on Wednesday described as untrue the story of a fish with human parts reported in Ibadan on Tuesday.He confirmed it was a baby octopus and displayed it for journalists to see

He also said the woman was placed under protective custody and would be released when tension dies down.

Family saved by Zimmerman refuse to associate with him

George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin’s killer saved a family from an overturned car sometime this week. While press and police urged them to talk about the incident, and how Zimmerman had saved them, the family declined.

Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara confirmed that the family canceled a planned news conference on Tuesday saying “They don’t want to be associated with George.”

                                                                     George Zimmerman

Mediaite.com reports

“Mark and Dana Michelle Gerstle told friends and neighbors that though they’re thankful Mr. Zimmerman helped them, they do not want to talk publicly about him for fear they will be accused of portraying him as a hero,” reads a Tuesday report in The Daily Mail.

“They are very grateful to Zimmerman for what he did, but they do not want to get involved,” an anonymous friend of that family told the Mail. “There is so much hatred directed towards him they have got to think about their own family. There are a lot of crazies out there. If they say anything in support of him it could backfire.”

On Wednesday, WESH-TV Florida reporter Bob Kealing confirmed that the family will not appear in public to discuss the event, in spite of police and press requests that the family explain what happened when Zimmerman allegedly saved them from a car wreck.

Nude in Sweden: Rihanna flaunts her thangs in Stockholm

Rihanna in a daring see-through top (Ol boy!)

Riri stepped out of her hotel in Stockholm to the delight (especially the guys obviously) of her numerous fans. She also performed there yesterday (July 22).

Infamous villain George Zimmerman rescues car crash victims

George Zimmerman was being hailed a HERO in Florida yesterday morning ... after cops said he helped RESCUE a family of 4 from an overturned vehicle just days after the Trayvon Martin verdict. 

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office tells TMZ ... around 5:45 pm on Wednesday July 17, Zimmerman noticed an overturned SUV off a highway in Sanford, FL ... and sprang into action. 

According to the SCSO, Zimmerman and another man approached the car and helped all 4 of the passengers -- 2 parents and 2 children -- get out of the wrecked car. 

Cops say ... "Zimmerman was not a witness to the crash and left after making contact with the deputy.  There were no reports of injuries to the vehicle occupants."


All occupants of the SUV vehicle were whites.

Culled from TMZ.COM

Patience Jonathan's mother dies in auto-crash

There was anxiety in Port Harcourt on Monday as news of the death of Mrs. Iwari-Oba, the mother of the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience,  spread in the Rivers State capital.

The mother of Mrs. Jonathan was said to have been involved in a ghastly motor accident along Elele Road in Rivers State.

It was gathered that the woman, who is from Okrika Local Government Area, was on her way to Bayelsa State when the accident happened.

Unconfirmed report indicated that her corpse was taken to Kpaiyama Mortuary by a team of policemen and a member representing Ogu Bolo State Constituency, Mr. Evans Bipi, who is a relative to the deceased.

Though, the police and the Federal Road Safety Commission in the state could not confirm the incident, an aide to Bipi said the First Lady’s mother died in a road accident, which occurred at about 4pm.

Bipi’s aide, Mr. Fred Itobo, told The PUNCH that the President’s wife’s mother was involved in the accident while she was on her way to Bayelsa State.

“Yes! She was involved in an accident and she died. Her body has been taken to a mortuary. Bipi was among those who took her body to the mortuary,” Itobo said.

When contacted, the State Director of FRSC, Dr. Kayode Olagunju, declined comment on the matter, saying, “I cannot say anything on this matter now until I get full details.”

Though effort to get reactions from the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, proved futile, she had already told a journalist on the telephone that she had not been briefed on such crash.

Kidnapped Briton freed in Lagos

The British national who was kidnapped on July 16th in Lagos has been freed as confirmed by the spokesman of the British High Commission, Wale Adebanjo, in Lagos. He was said to have been freed on Sunday.

Security sources had said that the abduction was carried out as the Briton was travelling from the airport in Lagos' Ikeja neighbourhood towards the city centre.

His driver was reported to have been shot and injured in the attack.

Police tracked the suspects by the phone number used to make a $1m ransom demand from the victim's family.

The British national was held in an unfinished two-storey building in the Okota Isolo area of Lagos state. 

One suspect has been arrested.

Kidnappings of both foreigners and wealthy Nigerians for ransom are fairly common in parts of the country.

Oprah Winfrey in racial slur

Oprah Winfrey, 59

Oprah's former co-star in the 1985 movie "Colour Purple" Rae Dawn Chong,  has taken a foul-mouthed racial dig at the business mogul. Rae whose mother is Afro-Canadian and featured alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the hit movie "Commando" claims Oprah is a self-centered fat "b***h"  who would have been a "house n**ger" back in the slave days. 

Rae Dawn Chong, 52

She went further and says Oprah was "lovely" to her back on the set of Purple in 1985 ... but when she moved on to her next movie, "Commando," that's when she says Oprah became "a total biotch."

"I starred in Commando. And she just wasn’t having me. She’s competitive. She didn’t like me. She just wasn’t having me."

It's clear, Rae doesn't like Oprah either -- 'cause for the next several minutes of the interview, she ranted on and on about how much she hates Winfrey -- and stooped so low, she even took shots at her appearance and invoked slave imagery. 
"If you look at the way [Oprah] looks, she looks like 60 years ago she would have been a house keeper luckily. She would have not been a house n**ger she would have been a field n**ger."

RDC continued the attack for several minutes. Among the lowlights: 

-- "Shes so enormously insecure. If you wanna distill Oprah Winfrey down to like her most basic components. She wants to be beautiful."

-- "Imagine being [Oprah]. She has all of the world. All the power in the world ... and she only wants something that is only chemical, purely impossible."

-- "The thing that’s really great about Oprah that you cant take away from her is that she's a great brown-noser."

Rae concluded the interview with a compliment wrapped in yet another pitiful attack -- "No matter how vile she is, you kinda gotta go, 'hello hats off' like, you’ve done an amazing thing you have actually shifted the DNA of the universe."

TMZ.COM