TODAY 28TH MAY IN HISTORY

Real Madrid part company with Mourinho

Real Madrid have confirmed that manager
Jose Mourinho will leave the club at the
end of the season by mutual consent.
Speculation has been rife that the
Portuguese manager would leave the
Bernabeu and he has been heavily linked
with a return to former club Chelsea, who
are seeking a replacement for Rafael
Benitez.
And during a press conference on
Monday, Madrid president Florentino
Perez revealed the 50-year-old will leave
the club after their final match of the
season.
Perez said, "The time is right to bring our
relationship to an end.
"On behalf of the board of directors would
like to thank Jose Mourinho for all his
hard work. The team have improved in
his three years and we wish him all the
best."
The 50-year-old joined Real in 2010, after
completing the treble with Inter in the
2009-10 season. He won his first trophy
with the club in 2011, when they beat
arch-rivals Barcelona 1-0 in the final of
the Copa del Rey.
A year later he guided the club to a first
La Liga title in four years, obtaining 100
points in the process.
Despite domestic success, Mourinho has
fallen short in three attempts at the UEFA
Champions League, falling at the semi-
finals each time, including this season's
4-3 aggregate defeat to Borussia
Dortmund.
Though Mourinho broke Barcelona's La
Liga dominance in 2012, he has endured a
testing relationship with some of the
playing squad during his tenure, coming
under particular criticism for overlooking
goalkeeper Iker Casillas in favour of Diego
Lopez.

NEWS ACROSS THE GLOBE

LIBYA

Armed groups in central Africa are using
powerful weapons, some of which may be
left over from the civil war in Libya, to kill
elephants for their ivory, the United
Nations said on Monday.
In a report to the U.N. Security Council,
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said
elephant poaching was a growing security
concern, particularly in Cameroon, the
Central African Republic, Chad and Gabon.
Ban said the illegal trade in ivory may be
an important source of funding for armed
groups, including warlord fugitive Joseph
Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa's rand hit new four-year lows
on Monday after Mercedes Benz said
workers at an assembly plant had staged
an illegal strike and the government-allied
union demanded big wage hikes for coal
and gold miners.
The car maker said workers agreed to
resume operations on Tuesday after
several days of wildcat action in South
Africa's auto industry, centered on the port
city of East London.
But news of the halt spurred a currency fall
already underway after it emerged that
wage hikes of up to 60 percent had been
demanded by the National Union of
Mineworkers (NUM).
NUM also said it wanted 15 percent
increases for "all other wage categories,"
meaning more experienced and skilled
workers. Wage talks are due to begin next
month.
Employers and workers are squaring off for
next month's salary bargaining period
against a backdrop of high inflation and
shrinking company margins in Africa's
largest economy due to soaring costs and
sinking commodity prices.
The union battle poses a headache for
President Jacob Zuma's ruling African
National Congress (ANC), which faces
criticism that it mishandled last year's
mines violence. Opponents say it and the
mainstream NUM have neglected the
rights of workers and sided with mine
bosses, a charge they both deny.
The ANC's Secretary General Gwede
Mantashe, a former top NUM official,
defended the union on Monday, saying
that "recent attacks" on it were akin to an
attack on the ruling party's alliance with its
labour allies.
Last year's mine violence dented South
Africa's image with investors and led to
ratings downgrades for the economy.

CONGO
Congo's army used combat helicopters to
bombard rebel fighters on Monday near
the city of Goma in the first clashes in
nearly six months, days before U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was due to
visit the troubled eastern borderlands.
Fighting began in the early morning after
the Tutsi-dominated M23 rebels attacked
government positions around 10 km (6
miles) north of eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo's largest city, a military
spokesman told Reuters.
The M23 seized and briefly held Goma last
November despite the presence of
thousands of U.N. soldiers.
Government spokesman Lambert Mende
accused the M23 of trying to disrupt the
deployment of a 3,000-strong U.N.
Intervention Brigade charged with
neutralizing armed groups in the mineral-
rich region.
The first Tanzanian troops have already
begun deploying in the east.

SOMALIA
Somalia's new government said on Monday
it was pursuing talks to resolve rival claims
for control in the south that have stoked
fears of a return to the clan wars that
pitched the nation into anarchy two
decades ago.
A local assembly on Thursday declared a
former Islamist warlord, Ahmed Madobe,
president of Jubaland. Madobe is not
viewed favorably by Mogadishu and within
a day two other men had pronounced
themselves president, including Barre
Hirale, a former warlord and defense
minister seen as pro-government.
How the fate of Jubaland and its port city
Kismayu is resolved will be a litmus test for
Somalia as it rebuilds from the ruins of war
and cements a fragile peace, a quest
hampered by the central government's
weakness outside Mogadishu.
Islamist militants or clan militias, hovering
in the wings, could swoop if the
competition for Kismayu turns violent. But
guns have stayed silent so far and the
government's stated determination to
seek talks could help it stay that way.

OKLAHOMA TORNADO
A 3-km-wide tornado tore through the
Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on
Monday, killing at least 51 people including
20 children, destroying entire tracts of
homes and trapping two dozen school
children beneath rubble.
Rescue teams raced against the setting sun
and worked into the darkness in search of
survivors as the dangerous storm system
threatened several southern Plains states
with more twisters.
The Oklahoma medical examiner confirmed
51 deaths including 20 children, making it
the deadliest U.S. tornado since one killed
161 people in Joplin, Missouri. Area
hospitals reported at least 230 people
injured, including at least 45 children.
Emergency crews searched the rubble of
Plaza Towers Elementary School to look for
two dozen missing children, Oklahoma
Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb said. Lamb
told CNN the school took a direct hit from
the tornado.
Police and fire crews pulled some school
children from the devastation, a KFOR
television reporter said from the scene.

U.S. DRONES
President Barack Obama's administration
has decided to give the Pentagon control of
some drone operations against terrorism
suspects overseas that are currently run by
the CIA, several U.S. government sources
said on Monday.
Obama has pledged more transparency on
controversial counterterrorism programs,
and giving the Pentagon the responsibility
for part of the drone program could open it
to greater congressional oversight.
Obama will make a speech on Thursday at
the National Defense University in
Washington that will include discussion of
the government's use of drones as a
counterterrorism tool. It is unclear
whether he will announce the drone
program shift in that speech or separately.
Four U.S. government sources told Reuters
that the decision had been made to shift
the CIA's drone operations to the
Pentagon, and some of them said it would
occur in stages.
Drone strikes in Yemen, where the U.S.
military already conducts operations with
Yemeni forces, would be run by the armed
forces, officials said.
But for the time-being U.S. drone strikes
in Pakistan would continue to be
conducted by the CIA to keep the program
covert and maintain deniability for both
the United States and Pakistan, several
sources said.
Ultimately, however, the administration's
goal would be to transfer the Pakistan
drone operations to the military, one U.S.
official said on condition of anonymity.
The internal debate within the
administration about whether to switch
control of drone strikes to the military has
been going on for months.
Obama is under heightened pressure to
show that his administration is transparent,
after a series of scandals about civil
liberties and allegations of government
overreach broke last week.
According to a widely cited drone attack
database run by the New America
Foundation think tank, there have been
355 drone strikes in Pakistan and 66 in
Yemen.
The United States has also carried out
drone strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya
and East Africa, some of them operated by
the military.
The use of armed drones jumped in 2008
when President George W. Bush
authorized the use of "signature" strikes,
allowing the targeting of terrorism suspects
based on behavior and other characteristics
without knowing the targets' identities.
Rosa Brooks, a New America Foundation
fellow and Georgetown University law
professor, said she hoped that Obama
would publicly release the legal
justifications and analysis for the targeted
killings overseas, including of U.S. citizens.
U.S. – IRS
A White House spokesman on Monday said
two senior White House aides knew weeks
ago that a probe of the Internal Revenue
Service had found that the U.S. tax agency
had inappropriately targeted conservative
groups, but did not tell President Barack
Obama.
A Treasury Department official informed
White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler on
April 24 about the preliminary findings of a
report that would fuel the latest in a series
of scandals to confront Obama at the start
of his second term.
The report was issued by a Treasury
inspector general on May 14, four days
after an IRS official had acknowledged, and
apologized for, the agency's targeting of
conservative groups with names such as
"Tea Party" and "Patriots" that had applied
for tax-exempt status.
Ruemmler chose not to inform Obama
about the findings to avoid any appearance
that he had any role in shaping the report -
a role the president would not have taken
anyway, Carney said.
As a result, said Carney, Obama did not
learn of the findings until they were
announced last week - as the president has
himself stated.

BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING
A federal judge approved a request by
accused Boston Marathon bomber
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers that his jailers
hand over their files on him, including
suicide watch logs and psychological data,
according to court documents released on
Monday.
The defense has said it wants to track 19-
year-old Tsarnaev's injuries and mental
state while he is held in federal prison to
provide evidence of "the voluntariness of
his statements" while under interrogation.
Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler of U.S.
District Court for Massachusetts said the
prison's documents on Dzhokhar also had
to be shared with U.S. prosecutors,
denying the defense team's call for them
to be kept from the state.
Tsarnaev was found hiding in a trailered
boat in Watertown, Massachusetts, four
days after the April 15 blasts, which killed
three people and injured 264 others at the
finish line of the Boston Marathon.
He was shot in the throat before his
capture and is being held in a prison
hospital west of Boston. He has been
charged with using a weapon of mass
destruction resulting in death and could
face the death penalty if convicted.
IRAQ
More than 70 people were killed in a series
of car bombings and suicide attacks
targeting Shi'ite Muslims across Iraq on
Monday, police and medics said, extending
the worst sectarian violence since U.S.
troops withdrew in December 2011.
The attacks increased the number killed in
sectarian clashes in the past week to more
than 200. Tensions between Shi'ites, who
now lead Iraq, and minority Sunni Muslims
have reached a point where some fear a
return to all-out civil conflict.
No group claimed responsibility for the
bombings. Iraq has a number of Sunni
Islamist insurgent groups, including the al
Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq,
which has targeted Shi'ites in a bid to
kindle a wider sectarian conflagration.
Police and medics said 9 people were killed
in one of two car bombings in Basra, a
predominantly Shi'ite city 420 km
southeast of Baghdad.

U.S. DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
The White House on Monday said President
Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, will
travel to Senegal, South Africa and
Tanzania in late June and early July to
reinforce U.S. ties with countries in sub-
Saharan Africa. Obama will meet with
leaders from government, business and
civil society.
Obama traveled to Ghana during his first
term. The first lady traveled to South Africa
and Botswana independently.
Obama, the first black U.S. president, is
the son of a father from Kenya and a
mother from Kansas.
The White House said the president's trip
would go from June 26 to July 3.
YAHOO/TUMBLR
Yahoo Inc will buy blogging service Tumblr
for $1.1 billion cash, giving the Internet
pioneer a much-needed social media
platform to reach a younger generation of
users and breathe new life into its ailing
brand.
The deal, announced on Monday, is a bold
bet by Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa
Mayer to revitalize the company by co-
opting a Web property with strong visitor
traffic but little revenue.
The combination of Yahoo and Tumblr
creates an online powerhouse with roughly
one billion users, which will draw in more
advertisers and help Yahoo keep visitors on
its properties for longer periods of time.

NEWS HEADLINES IN NIGERIA FOR TODAY

NATIONAL MIRROR

EMERGENCY RULE: Troops secure 5 towns,
arrest 120 terrorists;
Nigerians not fleeing to Niger, Chad—
DHQ;
1,000 additional soldiers deployed;
Security reports on Ondo 2007 election
forged, police, SSS;
Again, Southern leaders demand national
confab; give January 2014 as deadline for
talks
Sovereign Wealth Fund opens 81billion
Naira portfolio in June;
My pardon was negotiated, says Alams;
FG has 1,000 unresolved pension
complaints;
Tax remittances: Reps threaten to arrest 9
bank MDs;
Security beefed up at airports…as unions
end strike;

DAILY NEWSWATCH
TAX EVASION: 9 bank CEOs risk arrest;
1,000 more soldiers deployed to Adamawa
120 terrorists held, more communities
secured;
Strange storm destroys 350 houses,
renders 6,000 homeless;
NASS may reject Sambo’s additional
9billion Naira residential budget;
Mimiko forged security report on Ondo
governorship poll—SSS;
BLUE PRINT
No vacancy in Aso Rock, say Clark, Alams;
PDP NWC flees secretariat over sack
threat;
Military arrests 120 Boko Haram members;
Man, 32, docked for killing brother;
Kwankwaso bans street begging in Kano;
VANGUARD
120 insurgents arrested at burial of Boko
Haram commander;
2015: Jonathan must contest, Clark tells
Northern leaders;
21-yr-old mother of 5 causes stir over
‘hunger’;
Windstorm kills one, displaces six
communities;
Achebe, A Man Ahead Of His Generation,
By Prof Bart Nnaji;
Ondo 2007 guber: Security reports were
forged – DG DSS;
4 die, 10 injured as rival youths clash in
Anambra;
NAPTIP prosecutes 4 over human
trafficking;
War on Terror: Defence HQ moves to
strengthen military/civilian relations;

PUNCH
Customs arrest suspects with $2.7m at
Lagos airport;
Tax remittance: Reps threaten to arrest
bank CEOs;
Insurgents regroup in Adamawa
mountains;
FG rules out supplementary budget for
military operations;
Amaechi, Akpabio camps intensify lobby for
NGF seat;
How Jonathan got his groove back;

GUARDIAN
Military captures 120 Boko Haram
members in Maiduguri
No hiding place for terrorists, says army
chief
Yobe relaxes curfew;
Govt allays fears as aviation workers end
strike;
Police beef up security, minister allays fear
Southern leaders urge confab, seek end to
corruption, others;
Clark against power shift from South;
Reps panel threatens arrest of bank chiefs
over tax remittance
Sovereign Wealth fund takes off in June
with $850m
Minister lists benefits of emergency rule;
Commonwealth nations move to empower,
protect persons with mental disorders;
Government now running agriculture
strictly as business, says minister;

DAILY SUN
STATE OF EMERGENCY: As Special Forces
storm Adamawa, 120 terrorists captured…
at burial of slain Boko Haram commander;
Insurgents’ camps destroyed; fresh curfew
in Yobe
Achebe’s body arrives aboard a British
Airways; leaves for Enugu today
Jonathan, Nnamani, others pay tribute
Ahead today’s Senate debate: APC
senators dump party to back emergency rule

SOCCER STAR
Mexico names Chicharito, Dos Santos for
Eagles;
Dynamo Kiev blasts Ideye, Haruna;
Ambrose targets Confed Cup glory;
Messi commits future to Barca;
Balotelli racially abused again;
Everton, Spurs to pay 2.1billion naira for
Onazi;
Hull City to splash point-seven billion naira
on Osaze;
Amodu thumbs up Mikel, Moses;

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY :TAP INTO YOUR CREATIVITY

The Bible says: ‘God created man in his
own image…male and female he created
them. God blessed them and said…”Be
fruitful and increase in number; fill the
earth and subdue it. Rule over…every
living creature that moves on the
ground.” Then God said, ”I give you every
seed-bearing plant on the face of the
whole earth and every tree that has fruit
with seed in it. They will be yours…’’’ (vv.
27-29 NIV). God has given you everything
required to succeed at whatever He’s
called you to do. But you must tap into
your God-given creativity! The Bible says,
‘Where there is no vision, the people
perish’ (Proverbs 29:18 KJV). Every great
accomplishment begins as a vision, and
every God-given vision comes with the
innate power to fulfil it. Others may be
more educated and experienced, but they
don’t have a monopoly on creativity. The
chances are, there’s a ‘God-idea’ inside
you right now that’s just waiting to be
released. By not tapping into it, you’re
settling for less than God wants you to
have. Whatever you feel called to do—
write, paint, preach, play a piano, build a
business, nurse, teach—make the leap
and do it. If you wait until you can do it
perfectly or without criticism, you’ll never
do it! Walking on water begins with one
step of faith. It also brings you closer to
Jesus. You see, Jesus wasn’t in the boat,
He was out on the water saying to His
disciples, ‘Come’ (Matthew 14:29 NKJV).
Only one of them did: Peter. And though
he did it imperfectly, it changed his life.
So don’t be afraid, tap into your creativity
and watch what happens.
Judges 4-6 , Mark 10:13-22 , Psalm
88:9b-18 , Proverbs 13:4-6
TODAY'S PRAYER - FROM PRAYER FOR
TODAY MAGAZINE
NO LIMITS
John’s teaching about the anointing which
rests upon Jesus reminds us that the
Spirit is given ‘without limits’. Pray that
we may come to a renewed
understanding of the magnitude of power
that is at our disposal as we seek to build
the Kingdom of God in our communities
and nations. Jesus spoke in terms of
‘thirsting for the Spirit’; pray that this
thirst may become a reality in our every
day lives as believers.

Oklahoma Tornado: Children Among at Least 51 Dead, 'Horrific' Damage

First responders began the grim task of
digging people -- including children at two
elementary schools -- out of piles of
rubble this evening after a devastating
monster tornado roared through the
Oklahoma city metropolitan area , leaving
at least 51 people dead.
Among the dead were children from one
of the devastated elementary schools in
Moore, Okla., local officials said.
Desperate parents stood around what was
left of the devastated Plaza Towers
Elementary School, many of them
sobbing, as rescuers worked to to help
pull out school children and faculty.
"I know there's a number of dead children
from that school," Oklahoma City Police
spokesman Sgt. Gary Knight said. "I know
the number is around seven."
Authorities said Briarwood Elementary
School in Moore, Okla., received a "direct
hit" from the storm and was also
destroyed, with its roof and walls blown
off.
Children were still in school because in
anticipation of the severe weather this
afternoon, schools in the Moore area did
not release their students at the end of
the day, according to Oklahoma
Emergency Management officials.
Entire neighborhoods have been wiped
out, cars were tossed around like toys and
were found on top of buildings.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said at a
news conference tonight that downed
powerlines and massive traffic jams have
made emergency responses difficult, and
cautioned those not involved in search
and rescue operations to stay away from
disaster areas.
"Our prayers and thoughts are with an
Oklahoma families hit hard," Fallin said at
a news conference today. "Our hearts are
just broken for the parents wondering
about the state of their children."
One sixth grade boy named Brady, who
goes to Briarwood, told ABC affiliate
KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City that he and
other students took cover in a bathroom.
"Cinderblocks and everything collapsed on
them but they were underneath so that
kind of saved them a little bit, but I mean
they were trapped in there," he said.
David Barnes, the director of Oklahoma
Emergency Management in Oklahoma
County, told ABC News that a single
twister tore through homes from
Newcastle to Moore, a path of 12 miles.
The damage was "widespread" and
people's homes were completely
destroyed, all the way to their
foundations, he said.
LIVE UPDATES: Tornado Damage in
Oklahoma
The National Weather Service said the
preliminary rating of the Newcastle-
Moore tornado was at least EF-4, meaning
wind speeds of up to 200 mph.
"It is absolutely devastating, this is
horrific," Oklahoma Lt. Gov Todd Lamb
said. "We're going to have fatalities. ...
We're going to have significant
injuries. ... We just don't know what
those numbers are. Schools have been
hit, a hospital has been hit, businesses
have been flattened, neighborhoods have
been wiped away -- we don't have the
numbers in yet but it is going to be
significant and it is going to be horrific."
PHOTOS: Oklahoma Tornado Levels
Towns
Moore resident Melissa Newton said the
hail from the tornado was "about the size
of golfballs."
The National Weather Service issued a
rare tornado emergency for the
Oklahoma City metropolitan area at 3:01
p.m., warning that significant damage and
fatalities were likely.
At least 105 people have been admitted
to area hospitals as more people emerged
from the rubble. Moore Medical Center,
the only hospital in Moore, sustained
major damage and was evacuating all of
its patients to other hospitals.
The Oklahoma University Medical Center
in downtown Oklahoma City had received
85 patients, 65 of which were children.
Integris Southwest Medical Center in
downtown Oklahoma City, said it received
33 patients, including three children.
First responders were reportedly having
trouble reaching Moore, which has a
population of about 56,300 people,
because people were stuck in their cars
on the highway.
"We've got so many people that are all on
the interstate that we can not get our
emergency responders to the scene
because we've got so many people tied
up in traffic on I-35," said Betsy Randolph
of the State Highway Patrol.
This twister was the latest in a group of
violent storms that swept through the
Midwest, starting Sunday, that has now
left dozens of people dead.
On Sunday, a tornado ripped through
Shawnee, Okla., killing a 79-year-old man
near a mobile home park that was
reduced to rubble, according to
Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth.
Twisters, hail and high winds also struck
Iowa and Kansas as part of a devastating,
northeastward-moving storm system that
stretched from Texas to Minnesota.
Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska
and Oklahoma were ravaged by 50
tornadoes this weekend.
Moore was the site of one of the most
destructive tornadoes in U.S. history. On
May 3, 1999, an EF-5 tornado ripped
through the Oklahoma City area, killing 42
people.

A STUDENT'S LETTER TO NIGERIAN LECTURERS

LETTER TO MY LECTURERS

Dear Sir/Ma

In as much as I love education, being the
only liberator of human minds, yet, the
kind of education you are giving us in this
part of the world is far from education
rather an exercise to imprison our human
mind.
Definitely, the late prof Claude Ake was
absolutely right when he said social science
as it is been thought is imperialism. Here,
education has it is now in Nigeria, is
imperialism, misleading and an exercise to
blindfold us.
Without any sentiment or bias and not
under any influence of alcohol, as I detest
beer, sir and ma, I can boldly say that your
kind of education here is not a liberator.
Education has been define by diverse
scholars especially from those in the
education sector. The word “education”
was derived from the Latin word “educare”
meaning to bring up, to lead out, to raise
up, to educate. For me, education is simply
a process to teach a person to have a mind
that seek for truth among lies. To bring us
up above lies, and lead us out of darkness.
Today, no education anywhere, not because
their is no school rather because today's
lecturers like you, sir/ma have obeyed the
military government of yore, that you
should teach what they paid you to
teach...And anyone that teach something
else will be throw into the labour market.
Now, what you are teaching or educating us
is simple, close your eyes to societal ills,get
a good grade in other to get a good job and
leave happily. In fact, one of you told me, "
you can't change this country, education
can never be free even Americas pay for
education, the best thing is,since you can't
beat them, so stylishly join then,money is
sweet o",
Sir/Ma, you once told us that university
ought to be the change agent of a society.
University ought to be moral compass of a
society. University ought to be where movement for social change springs up as
many society academian have done and
ours, ASUU had done like anti-
SAP,education funding, anti-military protest
and other struggles before, until you all
start teaching what they paid you to teach.
Today, commercialization of education is on
going, high unemployment, neo-liberalism
is expanding and corruption everywhere,
yet you are silent, teaching what they paid
you to teach us.
Today, our university don't raise curious
and inquisitive mind anymore. You breed
conformist that can't see beyond their
eyes. You breed educated illiterates that
can't question unworking status quo. You
breed educated illiterates that can't study
his society politics to realize the deceit and
lies.
You bread educated illiterates that sing
praises of government that construct road
with loan and take away education from
them. You breed educated illiterates that
don't bother to know the colour of their
constitution let alone study it. You breed
educated illiterates that easily praise
government for paper growth instead of
development, that knows theory not
applicability. You breed educated illiterates
that can't stand against sexual harassment
from you people. You breed educated
illiterates that can't reason that the
polarization of Hausas, Igbos and Yorubas is
for the continuous domination of them by
the ruling elites.
Sir/Ma, I hate this your type of education,
take away your degree, take away your
marks and scores, teach me what will
liberate my soul, teach me what I should
know, teach me that growth is not
development. Teach me that Africa was
once rich and in harmony before the
invasion of the whites. Teach me that
education can be free if these ruling elites
stop accumulating our collective wealth to
themselves. Teach me that with 500,000
minimum wage, my parent will pay
130,000 school fees. Teach me that
individualism above collectiveness breed
barbarism and poverty. Teach me that to
die for ones country is not gullibility. Teach
me to know that as long as our recurrent
expenditures is more than capital expenditure, no
development for us. Teach me that a
southwest governor that unlawfully took
1000 naira from workers salary for
whatever purpose is a criminal. Teach me
that I should revolt since 18,000 minimum
wage earner can't and will never be able to
pay 130,000 naira as school fees. Teach me
that we can change our country if we work
towards it. Teach me that APC/PDP are all
thieves as both have one interest to steal
and not ideology for our development.
Teach me that political-
economy,philosophy and law are must for
me to know even as I study music or
biochemistry or even English as what
happen in political economy of a society
determine the people lives and existence.
Teach me that our collective power is more
than the atomic bomb and we are 99%.
I believe by teaching me what I ought to
know, I will be able to achieve the main
purpose of education which is to develop
the individual so that he can be useful to
himself, his family, and the society
generally.
I hope this is not too much to ask my dear
lecturers as I even know that you are also
experiencing the hardship of the economy.
Some times you come to school with
empty stomach, board public transport
since you can't fuel your car, since your last
paid salary was four (4)months ago and
your illiterates landlord is nagging on you
for rent. Sir/ma, only by teaching me all
these can we fight this killing system.
Thank you as I look forward to your next
lecture.

Yours sincerely
Ifade Olusegun
Signed

JOKE OF THE DAY

A man appeared in one village and
announced to the villagers that he would
buy monkeys for $10...... The villagers
seeing that there were many monkeys
around their village...., they went out to
the forest and started catching
them.........The man bought thousands at
$10. When supply started to diminish......
He again announced that he would now
buy at $20......This renewed the efforts
of the villagers and they started catching
monkeys again......... Soon the supply
diminished again....The man then
increased the offer rate to $25 but now
the supply of monkeys became so little
that it was an effort to even see a
monkey......, let alone catching
it! ......The man announced that he would
now buy at $100!.....and, since he had to
go to the city on some business, his
assistant would now buy on his
behalf........ In the absence of the
man..., the assistant told the villagers....
Look..all these monkeys in the big cage
that the man has bought.......I will sell
them to you at $75 and when the man
returns from the city, you can sell it to
him for $100......The villagers squeezed
up with all their savings and bought all
the monkeys........After they bought all
the monkeys.......they never saw the
man and his assistant disappeared, only
monkeys everywhere!!!....

Researchers: Women’s Handbags Contain More Bacteria Than The Average Toilet »

Tests showed that one in five handbag
handles is home to sufficient bacteria to
pose a risk to human health.
The research also revealed that the
dirtiest item in the average handbag is
hand cream – bottles of hand cream were
found to carry more bacteria than the
average toilet seat.
The study found that one in five handbag
handles is home to enough bacteria to
pose a risk to human health. Lipstick and
mascara packets were found to be little
better.
The tests, carried out by Initial Washroom
Hygiene, also revealed that leather
handbags are the most bacteria-riddled as
the spongy texture provides the perfect
conditions for bacteria to grow and
spread.
The researchers suggest that women
should regularly clean their hands and
bags with antibacterial wipes or gel to
prevent cross-contamination.
Peter Barratt, Technical Manager at Initial
Hygiene, said: ‘Handbags come into
regular contact with our hands and a
variety of surfaces, so the risk of
transferring different germs onto them is
very high, especially as bags are rarely
cleaned.
‘Once these germs are on the bags, they
can easily be transferred via hands onto
other surfaces.
‘Regular hand sanitisation is essential to
prevent the presence of bacteria in the
first place and thorough cleaning of bags is
recommended to prevent the build-up of
contamination.’
The researchers suggest that women
should regularly clean their hands and
bags with antibacterial wipes or gel to
prevent cross-contamination.
The research comes after another study
revealed that workplace kitchens are
dangerously dirty, to the point that they
could cause illness.
The study, also carried out by Initial
Washroom Hygeine, revealed that half of
surfaces in workplace kitchens are
contaminated by dangerously high levels
of coliforms – the bacteria present in
faeces which can lead to outbreaks of
gastrointestinal disease.
It also showed that more than a quarter
of draining boards were found to have
four times the safe level of coliforms.
The research also revealed that the
handles of shared fridge-freezers were
bacteria-rife, with a third carrying high
levels of coliforms, whilst 30 per cent of
shared microwaves were also shown to be
contaminated around the handles and
buttons.

World’s Youngest Self-Made Woman Billionaire, Sara Blakely’s Net Worth Hits $1.2 Billion

Meet Sara Blakely, a 42-year-old founder
of Spanx women’s shape wear.
According to Forbes Magazine, Sara
Blakely has become the first woman to
join Warren Buffett and Gill Gates Giving
Pledge.
Sara Blakely’s net worth is $1.2 Billion.
She has pledged half of her wealth to
charity.
Ms Sara Blakely is the sole owner of her
private company that recently topped a
list of America’s 50 Most Powerful
Mothers.

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY

To all my blog readers,just want to let you knw dat today 16th of may is my birthday. Expectin my gifts

BECKHAM ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

Paris Saint-Germain
midfielder David
Beckham has
announced that he will
retire from football at
the end of the season.
The 38-year-old only
moved to the French capital on a short-
term contract in January but the Parisiens
were keen for the former England captain
to extend his stay at the Parc des Princes
for another season.
However, even though Beckham played his
part in PSG ending their 18-year wait for a
Ligue 1 title, the midfielder has now
decided to bring the curtain down on his
illustrious career this summer.
"I'm thankful to PSG for giving me the
opportunity to continue but I feel now is
the right time to finish my career, playing
at the highest level," he said in a
statement.
"If you had told me as a young boy I would
have played for and won trophies with my
boyhood club Manchester United, proudly
captained and played for my country over
100 times and lined up for some of the
biggest clubs in the world, I would have
told you it was a fantasy.
"I'm fortunate to have realised those
dreams. Nothing will ever completely
replace playing the game I love. However,
I feel like I'm starting a new adventure and
I'm genuinely excited about what lies
ahead.
"I'm fortunate to have been given many
opportunities throughout my career and
now I feel it's my time to give back."
Beckham has established himself as one of
the most recognisable faces in sport during
a remarkable career that has spanned two
decades.
He made his name at Manchester United,
winning six Premier League titles, two FA
Cups and one Champions League with the
Red Devils before joining Real Madrid in
2003.
Beckham lifted La Liga in his final season at
the Santiago Bernabeu before shocking the
footballing world by moving to LA Galaxy,
with whom he won two MLS Cups. Perhaps
more significantly, though, he played a
massive role in boosting football’s
popularity in the United States.
After two loan spells with AC Milan during
his time in America, he eventually returned
to Europe earlier this year with PSG, picking
another domestic championship to become
the first Englishman to win titles in four
different countries.
In his homeland, though, he will probably
best be remembered for his captaincy of
the national team, and the trademark free
kick against Greece which secured his
country's qualification for the 2002 World
Cup.
"I'm honored to represent England both on
and off the pitch," he enthused. "I want to
thank all my team-mates, the great
managers that I had the pleasure of
learning from.
"I also want to thank the fans who have all
supported me and given me the strength
to succeed."
Beckham's final two outings are likely to
come against Brest, at the Parc des Princes
on Saturday, and away to Lorient, on May
25.

BlackBerry Plans to move BBM chat to Android & iOS

I'm not a tech person but I know the
difference between an Android phone and
a blackberry. Lol. Blackberry recently
announced that they want to make the
most peculiar feature on Blackberry (the
BBM instant messenger) available for the
first time to those who use iOS® and
Android™ .(subject to approval by Google
Play and the Apple App Store).
Now we know the competition is huge as
everyday brands are coming out with the
latest mind-blowing technology you can
find in phones.
This means, those who have Samsung or
Iphones can now use the BB messenger..
The question on everyone's lips is...would
this bring Blackberry down or elevate
them? Or is the addiction to Blackberry so
strong that original BB users wont
migrate....
In simple terms.. would you still buy a
blackberry if you know you can still have
the BB chat on Android or your Iphone?

Daily Inspiration: From Dominance To Complete Irrelevance

Just Promoted To Irrelevance

When Qwerty Uiop invented the
typewriter, the timing of its emergence
was impeccable. Everyone knew they
needed to have their letters typewritten
in the most arranged of manner but
nobody knew how to arrive at that with
the use of a machine and all Qwerty did
was to give the world this device.
This was the 1860’s and letters were
mostly handwritten. As with most new
products, the rich and government owned
establishment were quick to acquire it
and soon afterwards it was available to
the middle class. In a few decades, it had
grown to become an indispensible part of
both corporate and personal life as it
became cheaper and easier to use as time
went on until the 1990s. Events soon
began taking unexpected turn when
computers were introduced.
At first, it didn’t seem to pose so much of
a threat to the typewriter makers who
were already multi-millionaires; for the
computers were so large, complex and
expensive to own and maintain so the
masses couldn’t afford to buy one, so
everyone felt safe. But the computers
were fast becoming smaller, simpler,
cheaper and most of all, personal, by this
time, the typewriter makers were
becoming troubled. Although they have
been improving on the typewriter too,
but it was no match for the computer. By
1900’s, computers had gained a fair share
of the market.
And 2000s, typewriters had become so
obsolete that to find one, would be like
looking for a pin in haystack. It is very
easy to be promoted to irrelevance and
the easiest and simplest way to do this is
to do nothing. We have come to live at a
fast time: an age in which time is the
most important commodity. The
workplace is changing at terrific speed and
pace, each and every day, companies hire
smarter people. Competition has become
so fierce that to survive it at all, you
would have to lead it. And to lead the
competition is like skiing in the high
waves.
First of all, you must understand it, then
innovatively find a way of being far ahead,
this definitely would take hours upon
hours upon hours of hard work and
perseverance. Today everybody wants to
bank with Guaranty Trust Bank, we all
trust First Bank, but they are not the only
two banks in town; there are more than
twenty four others. Everybody wants to
go to Harvard, we all wish we could
attend MIT, University of Aberdeen,
Cambridge and so on, but they are not
the only universities in the world.
Somehow, they have managed to figure
out what the people really needed and
have worked so hard to offer the best
available for decades such that they have
run others into near obscurity with their
high level of excellence.
I sing in an orchestra and play the piano.
I have often had that wow moment when
you render a classical piano piece and
everyone is so awed and they all make a
noise inspired by the music that they the
music that they get lost in its maze. But
some time ago, a thought inspiring
incidence occurred. I had become
comfortable with my little level of success
and didn’t bother to practice or seek to
keep the cutting edge of my cunning
sharp and somehow, although not
immediately aware of its consequences, I
was being promoted, albeit to
irrelevance.
Then one day while I was still there,
another pianist was flown in from another
state miles and miles away. And while he
sat, grinding away at the piano and to the
awe and electrification of the enchanted
audience, I realized how irrelevant I had
become to the orchestra. Although what
he played I could have played also, had I
practiced, but I had lost value, and as the
orchestra was concerned, as a pianist I
was of no use to it.
When MTN came to Nigeria, the odds
were stacked against it pretty hard. It
was during the days in which the
Government-owned Nitel monopolized
everything. In those days, less than than
10% of Nigerians owned a phone, and of
this portion, a great part struggled to pay
the ever high tariffs. It didn’t look like
Nigerians needed phones, and besides
when they eventually manage to get one,
would they be able to pay their call bills?
Lots of questions remained unanswered
but they continued.
When eventually, they finally gained the
licence to operate, the banks would not
provide them the necessary funds
needed, for they were too skeptic as to if
their business idea would fly at all. Nitel
was too reluctant to realize the
implication of the that move and before
they could realize it, nobody including the
most loyal of customers needed NITEL
soon afterwards for MTN has offered far
more reliable and cheaper services at
rates everyone could afford and in a few
decades has risen to become the number
telecommunication company the country
has, boasting itself in its over 50 million
subscriber base.
But the Question is: Where is Nitel now?
It easy to move from dominance to
complete irrelevance. For an individual it
may mean losing a job but on a corporate
scale, its effect is far-reaching and could
go as far as resulting in bankruptcy, a
condition far more worse. What would
you have? Work hard and remain not just
relevant but dominant or fold your hands
and watch while you get promoted to a
position of cheer irrelevance like I was.
Think about it.
[Article by Igbokwe Ifeanyi]

10 fun facts about Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg

(CNN) -- Tuesday is Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg's birthday. He's 29. If that
seems insanely young for a billionaire,
remember that he co-founded Facebook
when he was a teenager.
Zuckerberg has a lot to celebrate. He's
amassed a fortune, inspired one of every
seven people on the planet to use his
product and changed how the world
communicates -- all before age 30.
By comparison, when they were 29, Steve
Jobs launched the Macintosh computer
and Bill Gates was readying the first retail
version of Microsoft Windows. And most
of the rest of us were just struggling to
pay the rent.
So happy birthday to Zuck! To mark the
occasion, we collected these 10 random
facts about the tech wunderkind:
1. Zuckerberg suffers from red-green
colorblindness and sees the color blue
best, which is why blue dominates
Facebook's color scheme.
2. AOL and Microsoft tried to recruit him
when he was in high school after he
created Synapse, a program that used
artificial intelligence to learn users' music-
listening habits.
3. He wears the same gray Facebook T-
shirt almost every day because he's busy
and it saves him time in the morning.
4. Despite Zuckerberg's casual wardrobe,
he said he wore a tie every day in 2009 to
show that Facebook was serious about
growing in the face of the global
recession.
5. He is a vegetarian and once said he will
only eat meat if he has killed the animal
himself. But among his "likes" on his
Facebook page are McDonalds and In-N-
Out Burger.
6. He has amassed 220,000 Twitter
followers despite the fact that he's only
tweeted 19 times in four years, and not
once in 15 months.
7. In October 2010, Zuckerberg took a
bunch of Facebook staffers to a public
theater to see "The Social Network," the
movie about the founding of Facebook. In
public comments afterward, he criticized
the film's portrayal of him as someone
who invented Facebook to gain social
status.
8. He owns a Hungarian sheepdog named
Beast, who has a Facebook page with 1.5
million fans.
9. He took some heat last year for giving
his wife, Priscilla Chan, a ruby wedding
ring that jewelers valued at about $
25,000 even though he was worth about
$19 billion at the time.
10. If you type @[4:0] in a Facebook
comment window and hit enter, his name
will appear.

State of Emergency Declared in by Nigeria in three states(Borno,Yobe and Adamawa

UNDERSCORING his administration's
determination to confront the growing
incidence of violence and insecurity in the
country, President Goodluck Jonathan on
Tuesday declared a state of emergency in
three northern states of Borno, Yobe and
Adamawa.
Justifying the need for the measure,
Jonathan bemoaned the breakdown of
law and order in the affected states, parts
of where he said insurgents had taken
over.
Jonathan, who announced this in a
national television broadcast, said the
details of the emergency rule
proclamation would be transmitted to the
National Assembly.
He said, "Following recent developments
in the affected states, it has become
necessary for Government to take
extraordinary measures to restore
normalcy. After wide consultations, and in
exercise of the powers conferred on me
by the provisions of Section 305, sub-
section 1 of the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as
amended, I hereby declare a state of
emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa
states.
"Accordingly, the Chief of Defence Staff
has been directed to immediately deploy
more troops to these states for more
effective internal security operations. The
troops and other security agencies
involved in these operations have orders
to take all necessary actions, within the
ambit of their rules of engagement, to put
an end to the impunity of insurgents and
terrorists.
"This will include the authority to arrest
and detain suspects, the taking of
possession and control of any building or
structure used for terrorist purposes, the
lock-down of any area of terrorist
operation, the conduct of searches, and
the apprehension of persons in illegal
possession of weapons.
"I urge the political leadership in Borno,
Yobe and Adamawa states to co-operate
maximally with the Armed Forces and the
Police to ensure that the exercise
succeeds. We call on the citizenry to co-
operate with our security agencies to
ensure a return to normalcy within the
shortest possible time."
Before the presidential broadcast,
Jonathan had earlier in the day met with
the governors of Borno and Yobe states,
Kashim Shetima and Ibrahim Geidam,
respectively.
Nasarawa, where members of a cult
group, Omatse Militia, murdered 30
policemen late last week, however,
escaped emergency rule.
Curiously, however, the President said
the governors and other elected officers
of the three affected states would remain
in office during the emergency rule, a
measure that senior lawyers, Itse Sagay
and Femi Falana, hailed on Tuesday.
President's powers
SECTION 305 of the 1999 Constitution
provides for the imposition of a state of
emergency in the country or any part of
it. The section empowers the president
to issue the declaration by way of official
gazette.
Sub-section 3 (a-f) of the relevant section
states: The President shall have power to
issue a Proclamation of a state of
emergency only when:
(a) The Federation is at war;
(b) The Federation is in imminent danger
of invasion or involvement in a state of
war;
(c) There is actual breakdown of public
order and public safety in the Federation
or any part thereof to such extent as to
require extraordinary measures to
restore peace and security;
(d) There is a clear and present danger of
an actual breakdown of public order and
public safety in the Federation or any part
thereof requiring extraordinary measures
to avert such danger;
(e) There is an occurrence or imminent
danger, or the occurrence of any disaster
or natural calamity, affecting the
community or a section of the community
in the Federation;
(f) There is any other public danger which
clearly constitutes a threat to the
existence of the Federation.
Prelude to emergency
The President said the emergency
declaration became imperative because
the violence in the states had defied
various efforts by the government,
including persuasion, dialogue and
consultation.
He said from the various consultations he
had with security chiefs and other
stakeholders since he aborted his last
foreign trip, it had become clear that the
violence was no longer about mere
militancy but what he called "a rebellion
that poses great threat to the nation's
unity and territorial integrity."
He said, "The activities of insurgents and
terrorists have been reprehensible,
causing fear among our citizens and a
near-breakdown of law and order in parts
of the country, especially the North. We
have taken robust steps to unravel and
address the root causes of these crises,
but it would appear that there is a
systematic effort by insurgents and
terrorists to destabilise the Nigerian state
and test our collective resolve.
"Since I returned to the country after
cutting short my visit to South Africa and
aborting a planned state visit to Namibia,
I have received detailed briefings from
our security agencies. These briefings
indicate that what we are facing is not just
militancy or criminality, but a rebellion
and insurgency by terrorist groups which
pose a very serious threat to national
unity and territorial integrity. Already,
some northern parts of Borno State have
been taken over by groups whose
allegiance is to different flags and
ideologies.
"These terrorists and insurgents seem
determined to establish control and
authority over parts of our beloved nation
and to progressively overwhelm the rest
of the country. In many places, they have
destroyed the Nigerian flag and other
symbols of state authority and in their
place, hoisted strange flags suggesting the
exercise of alternative sovereignty.
"They have attacked government
buildings and facilities. They have
murdered innocent citizens and state
officials. They have set houses ablaze, and
taken women and children as hostages.
These actions amount to a declaration of
war and a deliberate attempt to
undermine the authority of the Nigerian
state and threaten her territorial
integrity. As a responsible government,
we will not tolerate this.
"Previously, we adopted a multi-track
approach to the resolution of this
problem through actions which included
persuasion, dialogue and widespread
consultation with the political, religious
and community leaders in the affected
states.
"We exercised restraint to allow for all
efforts by both State Governors and well-
meaning Nigerians to stop the repeated
cases of mindless violence.
"Yet, the insurgents and terrorists seek to
prevent government from fulfilling its
constitutional obligations to the people as
they pursue their fanatical agenda of
mayhem, mass murder, division and
separatism."
Senate's approval
The Senate on Tuesday said the
proclamation of state of emergency in the
three states was capable of stemming the
tide of insecurity in the states.
Leader of the Senate, Senator Voctor
Ndoma-Egba, told The PUNCH on the
phone after the broadcast by the
President that the formal communication
was being expected as prescribed by law.
He said, "It is my hope that the state of
emergency in the states will stem the
tide of insecurity.
"The state of emergency did not remove
the democratic institutions, but entails
the increase of troops deployment to the
affected areas."
It may not work -ACF
The umbrella political body for the
northern states, Arewa Consultative
Forum, in a prompt reaction to the
President's proclamation on Tuesday said
it doubted the workability of the
emergency rule.
Spokesman for the ACF, Mr. Anthony
Sani, in an electronic mail message to our
correspondent in Kaduna, reiterated the
earlier stance of the group that a state of
emergency was not workable to curb
insurgency in the region.
"We had earlier expressed our doubt
about the workability of a state of
emergency in bringing to an end the
security challenges," he said.
The northern leaders' preferential
solution to the violence in the north had
been that the Federal Government should
grant amnesty for the Boko Haram
insurgents. Led by the Sultan of Sokoto,
Abubakar Sa'ad, seen as the spiritual head
of Muslims in the country, notable
northerners had canvassed the amnesty
option for peace to reign in the region
though leader of the sect, Abubakar
Shekau, had rejected any amnesty to be
offered by government.
Shekau had indeed mocked the idea by
saying the government should rather beg
his group for amnesty.
That notwithstanding, the government
had recently set up a committee to
determine the propriety or otherwise of
granting amnesty to Boko Haram
members.
Support from , PDP, CPC, CAN
The Congress for Progressive Change and
the Northern chapter of the Christian
Association of Nigeria on Tuesday
appealed to Nigerians to rally round the
President in this trying period.
They said this in separate reactions to the
proclamation of a state of emergency in
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
Spokesman for the CPC, Mr. Rotimi
Fashakin, told one of our correspondents
on the telephone that it was gratifying to
note that the President did not remove
any of the political office holders in the
affected states.
Fashakin said, "We need to rally round the
President in this trying period. We pray
that with this action, peace will eventually
return to the states.
"However, it is gratifying that the
President did not behave like a former
President who removed the political
structures when he declared a state of
emergency in some states.
"The action of President Jonathan has
shown that the choice made by the
people through the ballot would not be
denied them. May God help our country."
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in the
two instances had imposed emergency
rule on Ekiti and Plateau states during his
tenure between 1999 and 2007. He
removed the governors and collapsed all
democratic structures in the affected
states while the emergency rule lasted.
Public Relations Officer of the Christian
Association of Nigeria in the 19 Northern
states and Abuja, Mr. Sunny Olibe, also
said though belated, the President's
action was a right step in the right
direction.
He said, "The declaration of emergency
rule by Mr. President did not come as a
surprise considering the degree of
hostilities by the Boko Haram Islamic
sect.
"No wise President will watch part of his
country being taken over by lawless
criminals without acting. It is the right
step, though belated considering the
number of lives lost."
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party
declared support for the President for
taking the step.
A statement by the National Publicity
Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh,
said the party would support every action
taken by the President to restore peace
to any part of the country.
"The PDP supports the President on all
actions that will restore stability, peace
and progress in the body polity," Metuh
said.
ANPP, ACN uncommitted
The Action Congress of Nigeria on
Tuesday said it was watching the
situation.
National Publicity Secretary of the Party,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said, "We are still
studying the situation." The All Nigeria
Peoples Party however said it was still
consulting to prepare an appropriate
response.
National Publicity Secretary of the party,
Chief Emma Eneukwu, said, "We are still
consulting to see whether we will address
the press tomorrow."
Jonathan in order - Sagay, Falana
Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Itsay
Sagay and Femi Falana, said Jonathan
acted within constitutional provisions by
not hiding under the declaration of a state
of emergency to remove the governors of
the affected states.
Both SANs, who spoke separately with
our correspondents after the the
President's address, said the constitution
gave no room for the removal of a
governor of a state where a state of
emergency was declared.
They both came hard on Obasanjo, who
according to them, indulged in "blatant
illegality" and "constitutional anomaly" by
removing sitting governors under the
pretext of a state of emergency.
Citing Section 11 (4 and 5) of the
constitution, both Sagay and Falana said
that even with its endorsement of the
declaration by the President , the
National Assembly, cannot go ahead to
remove the governors of the affected
states.
Sagay said, "What Obasanjo used to do
was blatantly unconstitutional and illegal.
A state of emergency does not affect the
sitting governor or the state house of
assembly at all.
"If you look at Section 11 (4 and 5) of the
Constitution, you will see that a state of
emergency does not affect the tenure of
the governor or the House of Assembly.
The President has kept to the
Constitution. If he had declared any other
thing, it would have been illegal."
Falana noted that Jonathan had not
followed "the dangerous precedent of ex-
President Obasanjo, who hid under the
state of emergency to remove elected
governors."
He said it was still impossible for a
governor to be removed even when the
National Assembly took over the
legislative responsibilities of the House of
Assembly of a state.

Neymar to Bayern is a done deal, claims former Santos official

Former Santos official
Vicente Cascione has
claimed that Neymar
will leave the club for
Bayern Munich in the
summer transfer
window to link up with former Barcelona
coach Pep Guardiola .
Barca are believed to be sitting in pole
position to sign the 21-year-old, with the
Brazil international having planned a trip to
Catalunya after the Confederations Cup to
discuss a potential transfer, while Real
Madrid are also closely monitoring the
attacker's situation.
However, Cascione has insisted that
Neymar will move to the Bundesliga
instead and has already wrapped up a
transfer to the Allianz Arena.
"I have this information first hand. Neymar
has signed for Bayern Munich. It's already
a done deal," Cascione wrote on his blog.
"I am not speculating here. This
information is irrefutable. From August this
year on, the player will be part of Bayern's
squad.
"So his next destination will not be Spain,
like many expected. He's not going to
Barcelona or Real Madrid. He will go to
Germany."
However, Bayern were quick to move to
deny the rumours, with club spokesman
Markus Horwick telling T-Online: "This is
complete nonsense. There's absolutely no
truth in this claim."
Neymar has a contract with Santos until
after the 2014 World Cup and his current
club have so far insisted that he will not
leave this summer.
Nevertheless, the attacker is keen to test
himself in Europe and could be tempted to
leave Santos this summer under the right
circumstances.

MANCHESTER CITY SACKS MANCINI

Manchester City
manager Roberto
Mancini has been
sacked.
As reported by
Goal.com on Sunday,
the club's defeat to
Wigan in the FA Cup final proved the last
straw for the City owners , who said in a
statement that the Italian had failed to
achieve any of the team's targets for the
season.
The decision comes exactly one year to the
day since Sergio Aguero's dramatic late goal
saw Mancini's side clinch their first league
title for 44 years, with Malaga coach
Manuel Pellegrini expected to be unveiled
as his replacement at the Etihad Stadium

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Roberto Mancini sacked by Manchester
City
Exactly one year to the day since his
side secured the Premier League title,
the Italian pays the price for a
disappointing season as he is dismissed
from the Etihad Stadium
May 13, 2013 10:30:00 PM
Manchester City
manager Roberto
Mancini has been
sacked.
As reported by
Goal.com on Sunday,
the club's defeat to
Wigan in the FA Cup final proved the last
straw for the City owners , who said in a
statement that the Italian had failed to
achieve any of the team's targets for the
season.
The decision comes exactly one year to the
day since Sergio Aguero's dramatic late goal
saw Mancini's side clinch their first league
title for 44 years, with Malaga coach
Manuel Pellegrini expected to be unveiled
as his replacement at the Etihad Stadium.
"It is with regret that Manchester City
announce that Roberto Mancini has been
relieved of his duties as manager," read a
statement on the club's official website.
"This has been a difficult decision for the
owner, chairman and board to make and it
is the outcome of a planned end of season
review process that has been brought
forward in light of recent speculation and
out of respect for Roberto and his
extensive contributions to the club.
"Despite everyone's best efforts, the club
has failed to achieve any of its stated
targets this year, with the exception of
qualification for next season's Champions
League. This, combined with an identified
need to develop a holistic approach to all
aspects of football at the club, has meant
that the decision has been taken to find a
new manager for the 2013-14 season and
beyond."
Club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak
declared: "Roberto's record speaks for itself
and he has the respect and gratitude of
Sheikh Mansour, myself and the board for
all of his hard work and commitment over
the last three-and-a-half years. He has
clearly also secured the love and respect of
our fans.

It is Another Monday

Another new working week stars today monday,what are your plans and expectation for this week. Wishing you luck

'I couldn't walk': Woman sheds 276 pounds

(CNN) -- Theresa Borawski sat down
heavily on a neighbor's porch, somewhere
in between her front door and her good
friend's driveway. The distance between
the two was less than half a mile. It
might as well have been 20.
She had already taken a break on a tree
stump near the road. This was the last
stop, she told herself as she stood up
from the porch slowly. She was going to
make it.
Reaching her friend's house was like
reaching the finish line of a much longer
race.
"I was just like I had run in a marathon,"
Borawski remembers. "It was the biggest
moment in my life."
"He had to bring me home because I
couldn't walk back," she laughs, "but ..."
But the victory was sweet for a woman
who just six months before had primarily
relied on a wheelchair to get around, a
woman who had lived in her house for
two years without walking to the mailbox.
At her heaviest in March 2011, Borawski
weighed 428 pounds.
"I could no longer participate in life's
activities and was forced to become a
spectator while people around me lived
their life," she wrote on iReport.com.
"Today, I am 276 pounds lighter, 14 jean
sizes smaller, and no longer need a
wheelchair, walker or cane to get around.
I am a walking, talking miracle and have
been given a second chance at life."
Borawski's father died when she was 8.
Friends and family showed their
sympathy with food. The lunch lady at
school put extra fries on her tray; the
neighbors gave her more candy at
Halloween. Her grandparents were
caterers, and their extended family got
together often for exorbitant meals.
"I learned at a very young age that food
makes the happy times better and the
sad times more bearable," she says.
She was heavy throughout high school
and college but says her weight never
really affected her life until 2003, when a
series of setbacks sent her into a
downward spiral.
Borawski lost her church job of 15 years
and moved more than 200 miles to start
anew. She lost her grandfather and best
friend back-to-back a few months later.
Then her new job was cut from the
church's budget.
"All of a sudden I'm 42 years old, living
alone, unemployed, no income
whatsoever," she says.
So she comforted herself with food and
decided to go back to college.
Professor Chuck Bowden wasn't surprised
by Borawski's amazing transformation.
She caught his attention right away as a
student willing to work hard.
"I already knew she was dedicated,"
Bowden says. "I think starting over as a
college freshman had to be a challenge --
almost just as impressive."
I could barely function. Every bit of
energy I had went to just living.
Theresa Borawski
Over the next four years, Borawski gained
weight steadily. Her doctor diagnosed her
with rheumatoid arthritis, an extremely
painful chronic disease that inflamed her
joints. The extra pounds she was carrying
only made the condition worse.
She used a walker or cane to get around.
When she graduated from Mid Michigan
Community College, she could barely walk
across the stage to get her diploma.
By January 2011, "my life was in complete
chaos," Borawski says. She was working at
the college and traveled around campus
in an electric wheelchair.
"I always heard her whirring down the
hall," Bowden remembers. He and
Borawski had become friends and chatted
often about the future. "With the
(arthritis) and the extra weight, I got very
concerned that she might ... not be able
to take care of herself."
His fears weren't far off.
Borawski had difficulty standing long
enough in the shower to wash and
condition her hair. She could only shop at
stores that had mobile carts; it took her a
week to carry in her groceries from the
car because she could only carry one or
two bags at a time. She was seriously
considering moving into an assisted living
facility.
"I could barely function," Borawski says.
She got up, rode around in her
wheelchair, popped painkillers, ate and
went to bed every night at 7 p.m. "Every
bit of energy I had went to just living."
Her wake-up call came on March 1, 2011.
Her sister phoned to tell her she was
getting bariatric surgery. Borawski
pleaded with her not to -- she had heard
horror stories about the procedure's
aftereffects. When the sister hung up,
Borawski went to the refrigerator and
took out a bottle of peach soda.
"Something just clicked in my head," she
says. A quick calculation made Borawski
realize she had been drinking nearly
7,000 calories a week in soda -- the
equivalent of 2 pounds.
She opened up the bottle and dumped it
down the drain. Then she did the same
with the rest of her stash.
At that moment, Borawski gave up sugar
cold turkey.
Ten days later, she went to the doctor
and had lost 7 pounds. She bought a
calorie-counting book on the way home
and started reading food labels. Soon
after, she restricted her calorie intake to
1,000 calories a day (experts warn against
eating less than 1,200 calories a day
because it sends your body into starvation
mode). She says she wasn't hungry at
that limit because of her lack of mobility.
"Because I was so heavy, I had a lot of
success really quickly. I lost 45 pounds
between March and Memorial Day."
In October 2011, Borawski walked to her
mailbox without a cane for the first time.
Her next trip was to the neighbor's
mailbox. The first time she walked down
the steps at work, her student assistant
cheered.
To see somebody walk again? I
considered that miraculous.
Chuck Bowden
Almost a year later, she showed up in
Bowden's office doorway. He never heard
her coming.
"There's a chance we may have done a
little dance in the hall," he says with a
laugh. "To see somebody walk again? I
considered that miraculous."
Every time she lost 20 pounds, Borawski
went to the store and bought a pair of
pants in the next size smaller. They sat in
the corner of her room until she could
pull them on. They were her motivation
when she was tempted to cheat.
To celebrate losing 200 pounds, she
bought a black and white diamond ring.
She wears it every day as a reminder
never to go back.
"The first row of black diamonds is the
first 100 pounds, the second row is the
second 100 pounds," she says. "The white
diamonds in between are the new life
I've found."
Last month, Borawski walked three miles
for the first time. She does 200 to 300
squats a day to strengthen her legs after
years of immobility. She eats around
1,400 calories to maintain her weight at a
healthy 150 pounds. Her rheumatoid
arthritis has improved significantly, and
her doctors are "amazed and impressed"
at her overall health.
Borawski's goals now are simple: to walk
a 5K in September and to inspire others.
She keeps her electric wheelchair in her
office with a sign: "Theresa doesn't live
here anymore."
"The key for me was finding a plan that I
could live with for the rest of my life," she
wrote on iReport. "I am a brand new
person, have so much energy and am now
a participant in life, rather than just
watching it pass me by. I am blessed
beyond measure and can't wait to see
what the future holds for me!"

Artist Spends 20 Years Building Life-Size Replica Of Noah’s Ark

Inspired by Noah’s Ark from the Book
of Genesis, Dutch artist Johan
Huibers built a modern day replica
spending a whopping $1.2 million on
it. His reasons for building the vessel –
he feared the effects global warming
would someday have on his country,
flooding included. The idea came to
him in 1992, when he had a dream
about his native land submerged in a
flood similar to the one in the Book of
Genesis.
He continued to think about it until he
finally did something about it. And the
result is a 130m long, 29m wide, 23m
high ark that he completed in 2005.
Weighing almost 3000 tons and built from
Swedish pine reinforced with steel, it is
quite hard to believe that ark might be
seaworthy at all, but this modern-day
Noah assures us it does indeed float.
A carpenter by profession, Johan
Huibers has now opened his full scale
ark to the public and is attracting
thousands of tourists from the world
over. Located in Dordrecht, the
Netherlands, the ark is something that
would even surprise Noah, for it has a
restaurant, two cinemas and of course,
a menagerie of life-sized plastic
animals. Towering over the flat Dutch
landscape, the ark is easily visible
from a nearby highway. Across the
arks main hold is a huge space of
stalls, where visitors can view a large
collection of stuffed and plastic
animals like zebras, gorillas, lions,
tigers, bears and buffaloes.
There’s also a petting zoo, where less
dangerous real-life animals like dogs,
sheep, rabbits, ponies and a few exotic
birds are housed . On each level of the
boat, around its edges, are displays
about the history and dress of the
ancient Middle East, a few scenes from
the life of Noah, and games for kids
like water pumps and levers that lift
bales of hay. But the ark is not just
about tourist attractions. Down below,
there exists a honeycomb system of
hatches, each opening an area where
food could be sealed in for long-term
storage. The curvature of the upper
deck could be used to collect rainwater
and also to let the horses and other
animals get some exercise. Huibers
says that his boat gives people a pretty
good idea of how Noah’s ark would
have worked in practice.
Jojan first built the half-scale version
in 2004 and let it float over the
country’s canals, before the larger one
was complete. When tourists flocked to
see the prototype which was open to
public, the proceeds went directly into
funding the full-scale version.
According to the original story, the ark
was supposed to be 300 cubits long, 50
cubits wide and 30 cubits high. It’s
hard to interpret this ancient system of
measurement, but Huibers did it based
on the length of the forearm,
determining that the final length had
to be maybe about 450ft long.
Over half the length of the Titanic, this
modern-age boat is called the ‘Johan’s
Ark’. Huibers completed the mammoth
task with the help of his two children
and some friends. He says that his
motivation was ultimately religious,
wanting to make people think about
their purpose on Earth. “I want to
make people question that so that they
go looking for answers.” The city of
Dordrecht might just need the ark
sometime in the future, given that it is
quite prone to floods. One of the
world’s deadliest floods occurred here
in the 15th century, claiming about
10,000 lives.
Let’s just hope nothing like that
happens anytime soon, and if it does,
perhaps Johan’s Ark could save
everyone. Meanwhile, he’s dreaming
of a new project – to get the Israelis
and Arabs to cooperate and build a
water pipeline from the
Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea.
Well, now THAT would be a miracle of
biblical proportions.

Phillip Patterson, Finishes Writing out Entire Bible by Hand

Four years after he began his project to
write out every word of the Bible, Phillip
Patterson penned the very last lines
Saturday at an upstate New York church.
"Every single curly-q, every single loop, it
was all worth it," said Patterson, 63,
moments after inking the final two verses
of the King James Bible. "I'm really going
to miss this writing."
It took Patterson just a few minutes to
copy the final lines of the Book of
Revelation before a crowd of about 125
people at St. Peter's Presbyterian Church
in Spencertown. He ended the ceremony
by saying "Amen."
Patterson, of Philmont, began copying the
complete King James Bible in his neat,
looping handwriting in 2009. He spent
two years copying the first five books of
the Bible as a prototype before starting
fresh. He said he'll spend about another
year working on the book's binding and
covers before donating the fully
completed Bible — more than 2,400
pages — to St. Peter's as a gift.
For now, he said, he'll just have to get
used to his new life without holding a
Pigma Micron pen every day.
"I'm going to miss the writing, that's what
I'm going to miss," he said. "My fingers
are fine, no callouses."
Patterson has said he started the project
to learn about the Bible, not as a spiritual
quest. But he said the project has helped
him become more patient, confident and
loving.
The project was slowed by his health
problems, including AIDS and anemia. The
retired interior designer relies on two
canes and leans on walls and furniture to
get around his apartment near the
Massachusetts border.
Paterson worked as much as 14 hours a
day on his project.

Pope Francis: a leader for believers and atheists alike

Somewhere in Rome, my name is on a list
of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. I'd
like to think it's done with ink quills on
parchment by a scrivener, but it's
probably kept on an Excel sheet. Baptized
in the Roman Catholic church, I'm still
counted among its members, though I
left the flock decades ago. Once you're
in, il capo says you're in for life.
So the pope inflates the number of his
followers. But that doesn't diminish his
position as the most powerful man on
Earth. He can't press a button and launch
a nuke, but with unfettered authority to
speak to and for a global audience that
influences politics in dozens of countries,
the Fisherman's Ring is the one ring of
power. If anyone has a bully pulpit, surely
it's him.
I've often been frustrated to see such
power squandered on paeans to peace
(has shaming a dictator ever worked?),
sermons that coddle when they should
challenge, and cover-ups of repugnant
acts. Time and again we see that power
corrupts, and when the perpetrators are
acolytes of Christ, it's a disgrace in the
truest sense of the word.
I'd never felt that I'd missed out by
being an atheist, but one thing I could
use is an occasional nudge away from
narcissism. It's easy to lapse into self-
absorption when convinced there's no
master plan or purpose for life, let alone
afterlife.
And I've certainly enjoyed the ride; I
direct all my efforts at making the world a
better place – for myself. I don't give
enough to charity or volunteer as much as
I could, and my sense of duty rarely
extends beyond my social circle. Someone
with sufficient moral stature could push
those buttons, switch on the dusty
machinery of my Catholic guilt, and
improve my behavior and thus better the
lives of others. That someone might be
the new pope.
Pope Francis has been impressive from
the start. The white smoke had barely
cleared before he began to signal his
priorities. He mingled with the crowd in
St Peter's instead of lording over them
from above, and he rejected the opulent
house . He washed the feet of women and
prisoners on Holy Thursday. He opened
an inquiry into the abuse scandal that he
says won't flinch, and he even had a kind
word for atheists, calling us allies to
"defend the dignity of man", fellow
seekers of truth, goodness and beauty.
Amen.
This pope is a rebel with a cause: to
alleviate the suffering of the other 1%,
those at the lowest rung of society. It's a
mission somehow radical and
conservative at the same time. Giving the
poor a better lot in life, a foundational
principle of Christian faiths, has been
drowned out by the din of the culture
wars. It brings to mind that quote
attributed to Gandhi:
"I like your Christ; I do not like
your Christians. Your Christians
are so unlike your Christ."
With a reformist pope, things are
changing and already, the humbuggery
about "family values" has given way to a
real issue. Francis is focusing on poverty,
which, like death and taxes, is a scourge
that will always be with us. But when
more people worldwide have cell phones
than toilets
– leaving 2.5 billion people without
sanitation – and we who consider iPhones
a vital bodily organ can only give a callous,
"Eh, whaddaya gonna do?" – it's a sign
we've lost our moral compass. We should
be ashamed, doubly so: of the terrible
fact and of our resignation to it. By being
complacent, we're being complicit, and
Pope Francis knows this.
Consider a recent kerfuffle over a statue
of a homeless Jesus , which was rejected
by the dioceses of New York and Toronto.
The sculpture is of a hooded figure asleep
on a park bench, his identity only
revealed by the stigmata on his bare feet.
Maybe the cardinals considered it too
uncomfortable a reminder of their own
languishing homeless – which I imagine
was exactly the point. Francis should put
that thing in St Peter's Square.
Francis should be less preoccupied with
ancient texts and more concerned with
improving the present, especially for the
world's marginalized peoples. I want a
pope who gets things done, when no one
else can, for people no one else helps. I
want Pope Batman. "Let us never forget
that authentic power is service," Francis
said in his inaugural mass, urging action
for "the poorest, the weakest, the least
important".
How refreshing. Too often, religious
devotion is measured by obedience to
doctrine – is foregoing a burger during
Lent really a sacrifice? – when it should be
about outcomes. Bertrand Russell put it
well:
"The whole conception of 'sin' is
one which I find very puzzling,
doubtless owing to my sinful
nature. If sin consisted in
causing needless suffering, I
could understand; but on the
contrary, 'sin' often consists in
avoiding needless suffering."
Euthanasia for the terminally ill,
contraception, premarital sex, divorce,
abortion, same-sex marriage – all could
alleviate suffering, create happiness, or
both. All sins, according to the Vatican.
It might be unrealistic to expect Francis
to change any official policies, but it's
tempting to ponder. The last pope was in
the Hitler Youth as a kid; the current one
had a girlfriend. That bodes a bit better
for the future of a more tolerant, modern
Vatican. On a topic like gay marriage,
Francis could silence legions who cloak
their bigotry in church-going finery. True
believers evolve when they see their
leaders have the courage to do it first.
Richard Nixon opened communist China
to the West. Bill Clinton reformed
welfare. Bob Dylan "went electric",
shocking his fringe-jacketed disciples. Plug
in, Francis! Your Newport Folk Festival
moment awaits.
I still feel that dogmatic faith
anaesthetizes the intellectual curiosity
that makes us human, and that it retards
progress on both personal and societal
levels. I'll never bow down in fealty to a
book or a statue or a pope, even this one.
But if Francis continues to lead by
example, not by fiat, he can show
Catholics, Christians and non-believers
alike that faith can deserve respect and
even make a difference. If not, he'll blow
his chance to speak with such conviction
that even heathen might hear him. And
that would truly be a sin.