Foundation Sets Plans to Celebrate Mandela’s 95th Birthday

Nelson Mandela’s foundation is moving forward
with plans to celebrate the global icon’s 95th
birthday, which coincides with Nelson Mandela
International Day on July 18. Despite Mandela’s
ongoing hospital stay, charities, companies and
individuals around the world have vowed to take
part in the annual day of service.
The foundation’s CEO Sello Hatang made the
recent announcement at the Nelson Mandela
Centre of Memory in Johannesburg. “We see this
as an opportunity for people to rise above
Madiba’s hospitalization,” Hatang said, referring to
Mandela by his clan name.

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Jay-Z Is Officially a Licensed Sports Agent

Jay-Z wasn’t kidding when he tweeted about
making “new rules,” turns out the proclamation
applies to every facet of his career.
In less than six months, Sean Carter has
transitioned from minority owner in an NBA team
to official sports agent. Roc Nation Sports
president Juan Perez confirmed to ESPN.com
that Hov has indeed earned his certification to
work as an agent for athletes in the NBA.
Additionally, a rep for the MLB Players Association
confirmed Jay is cleared to rep baseball players.
What’s unknown is when the 43-year-old will be
able to start working with athletes. As of
Wednesday (Jun. 19) he had yet to unload his
less than one percent stake in the Brooklyn
Nets, a necessary move since NBA agents are not
allowed to have ownerships in teams.

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All-Female Jury Chosen for Zimmerman Trial

After nearly two weeks of painstaking questions to
potential jurors, a panel – five of them white, one
Hispanic and all of them women – was selected to
determine the fate of George Zimmerman in the
racially charged case in the death of Trayvon
Martin.
An additional four alternates were selected for the
jury in the case of Zimmerman, who is facing
charges of second-degree murder. Zimmerman
has maintained that he acted in self-defense in
the death of the unarmed, 17-year-old Martin
more than a year ago in Sanford, Florida.

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‘World War Z’: Inside The Emotional Final Act

Even if you’re only vaguely aware of the
development phase of the movie business,
chances are you’ve heard reports that “World
War Z” endured a number of production
problems, including some reshoots of its final
act.And although moviegoers will likely be
unfazed by any of the on-set troubles by the
time they get to theaters on Friday (June 21),
the film’s shift in focus from a global scale to
something decidedly more intimate is
impossible to miss. (Those who haven’t seen
the flick should be warned: mild spoilers
ahead.) The filmmakers acknowledge that was
intentional, even if they were forced to make
that decision because of events outside of
their control.
In “World War Z”‘s climactic sequence, Brad
Pitt’s character infiltrates a medical facility
looking for materials that may lead humankind
to a cure for the worldwide zombie
epidemic.Director Marc Forster recently told
MTV News that they opted to go in a quieter
direction because they felt like they’d already
accomplished what they set out to on a grand
scale. “You know we originally we had this big
battle there, but we had it already in Israel, so
it’s almost [like] you’re repeating yourself
again,” he explained.”I thought a more
intimate, character-driven moment, and [Pitt]
and the Z one-on-one is more interesting
psychologically and emotionally than having a
huge third-act set piece, because every movie,
every big blockbuster does it, and I thought it
would be better this way.”Damon Lindelof was
one of two writers (along with Drew Goddard)
brought in to give that “intimate” ending new
life, so to speak. He observed that while the
rest of the film did an amazing job of creating
a sprawling epic against which Pitt’s character
could play hero, the ending really needed to
be equally scary but on a more personal
level.”I think that the writers that came before
us, from [author Max Brooks’] book to Matt
Carnahan’s script, we would have done exactly
the same thing those guys did. [But] we had
the benefit of coming in at the end with a very
targeted result,” admitted Lindelof, who may
be best known as the co-creator of the TV
series “Lost.””I think that if you’re going to
have a Brad Pitt zombie movie, there’s no way
that he’s going to be able to beat billions of
zombies,” Lindelof continued. “So it felt like
the thinking was, ‘Let’s scale it down, let’s
make it a little more intimate.’ Some of our
favorite zombie films and TV shows are just
about a small group of people versus a small
group of zombies, which can be every bit as
terrifying.”Meanwhile, Mireille Enos, who plays
Pitt’s wife, offered a more succinct explanation
for the change, and one that thematically
makes the most sense. “Actually, it’s the
appropriate scale. … Keeping it within the lines
and telling this family story, this third act does
that job,” she said.

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One Direction, Rihanna, Drake Celebrate Miami Heat’s NBA Championship

The Miami Heat wrapped up their third NBA
Championship — and second of the LeBron/D-
Wade/uh, Bosh “Big Three” era — on Thursday
night, closing out the San Antonio Spurs in a
grueling Game 7.This was, of course, met with
much jubilation by the Heat’s celeb fans, who
took to Twitter to revel in the team’s victory.
Others, like Drake, attempted to join the
celebration in the Heat locker room, only to be
turned away in spectacularly hilarious fashion
(don’t worry, Drizzy eventually ended up
partying with LeBron and Dwyane until the
wee hours of the morning).Rihanna
congratulated the Heat on Instagram, posting
a pic of her mean-mugging in a LeBron James
jersey (and Heat sunglasses), and writing to
the two-time Finals MVP “I tried to tell ’em
King! They didn’t hear me doe! Shout out to
you for giving us yet ANOTHER legit reason to
talk that s—!” She also added several
hashtags, including #HEAT, #KING, and, of
course, #PhuckASpur.
Justin Bieber
was actually at Game 7, though the on-court
action apparently left him speechless, as all he
could tweet was “Great game.” Meanwhile,
One Directioner Niall Horan was much more
verbose, posting a lengthy congratulatory
tweet that read “Go Heat! Lebron James is a
monster! Talk about stepping up to the mark
under pressure,” and posting an adorable
Instagram pic of him decked out in Heat gear.
Of course,
there were a whole lot of Miami residents
rejoicing, too, including Rick Ross ( very
demurely), DJ Khaled, who went ALL CAPS, Flo
Rida’s manager, Lee “Freezy” Prince — who
loves the Heat so much he was willing to fight
about it — and, of course, unofficial Miami
ambassador Pitbull, who was ready to party.
Its all about @MiamiHEAT back to back world
champs @NBA daaallleee
— Pitbull (@Pitbull) June 21, 2013Ed Sheeran
was watching Game 7, too, though, he
obviously didn’t grasp the gravity of the
situation, tweeting “I’m watching a basketball
game, I haven’t a clue what’s going on.”
Meanwhile, noted Heat antagonizer Lil Wayne
has refrained from weighing in on the team’s
championship, instead using Twitter to send a
happy birthday message to his “lil homie
Cameron.”

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Catholic Church bombing: You’ve a case to answer, Court tells Kabiru Sokoto

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court,
Friday, held that the alleged mastermind of
the Christmas day bomb blast that killed
about 44 persons and wounded 75 others at
St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger
State, in 2011, Kabiru Umar, a.k.a Kabiru
Sokoto, has a criminal case to answer.
Dismissing a no-case application that filed by
the alleged kingpin of the Boko Haram sect,
Justice Adeniyi Ademola, also ordered him to
produce his witnesses in court on July 5, with
a view to establishing his innocence to the
terrorism charge against him.
The judge said he was satisfied that going by
the totality of the proof of evidence before the
court, the government, had successfully
established a criminal case which would
warrant further explanation by the accused
person.
Sokoto who is answering a two-count charge
against him by the government had through
his team of lawyers led by Mr. Hassan
Lukman, maintained that the government
failed to establish a prima-facie case capable
of warranting his trial and conviction.
While praying the court to discharge and
acquit him, the accused person, Lukman
contended that none of the six witnesses that
testified against him in court was able to
establish a nexus linking him to the alleged
terrorist act.
Sokoto further queried the propriety of
allowing him to undergo trial “in view of the
fact that the prosecution has failed to tender
any evidence connecting him to the alleged
offence.”
He was initially docked before the High Court
on May 20, 2013.
Aside allegations that he trained over 500
men on how to manufacture and detonate
Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, the
Federal Government, said that he had prior
knowledge that the sect planned to bomb the
church on Christmas day but failed to disclose
it to any law enforcement officer as soon as
reasonably practicable. The said terrorists’
training camp was instituted at Abaji, a
suburb of Abuja
He was said to have between 2007 and 2012,
at Mabira Sokoto, Sokoto State, facilitated the
commission of terrorist acts including
planting bombs at the police headquarters
and some government organizations in the
state.
Though he was previously arrested by the
police in Abuja on January 14, 2012, he was
however declared missing two days later. He
was re-arrested on February 10, 2012.
His mysterious escape from custody
culminated to the sack of the erstwhile
Inspector General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim
and former Commission of Police in-charge of
the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Zakari Biu.
Biu was out rightly dismissed from the Police
Force.
The last prosecution witness had told the
court that Sokoto confessed that one of the
recognized leaders of the sect, Abubakar
Shekau, told him that only members of the
sect that had been initiated into the “Shurah”
cadre, were allowed to know the ideology
behind the current insurgency in the
Northern parts of the country.
The witness told the court that Sokoto had
further disclosed that whereas members of
the “Shurah” which he belongs to, plan and
mastermind attacks, others were recruited to
execute terrorist agenda of the sect.
However, Sokoto, through his lawyer, faulted
the testimony of the masked witness,
maintaining that he used the Hausa word
“Anche” in his statement, a word he said
means “they said.”
He told the court that he was only referring to
what he was told by those affiliated to the
sect.
One of the witnesses had earlier narrated
before the court how a donation of N40million
divided the sect.
According to the witness, Sokoto had in a
statement he made on January 14, 2012,
confessed that out of the said N40million
which he said was received from another
terrorist group in Algeria, he got N500, 000,
being the recognized Governor of Sokoto
State in the hierarchy of the group.

BeeCube Bwala

PDP makes U-Turn on Amaechi, to settle out of Court

STRONG indications emerged yesterday that
the lingering political problem between the
Governor of Rivers State and Chairman,
Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, Chibuike
Rotimi Amaechi and the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP would soon be resolved.
This was even as Governor Emmanuel
Uduaghan of Delta State said yesterday that
the lingering problems in the party between
some governors and the ruling party would
soon be over.
Uduaghan spoke in an interview with
newsmen in Abuja at the end of a meeting of
the PDP Special National Convention, noting
however that viable opposition party or
parties was good for the development of
democracy in the country, even as he was
quick to add that the PDP was not in any way
threatened by the coming together of
opposition political parties to form the All
Progressives Congress, APC.
‘’We had our emergency NEC meeting
yesterday which was very successful and we
have a national convention which is coming
up on July 20, to regularize elections that
INEC has issues with at the party level. The
party is still very much intact and very very
strong for that matter. ‘’Some of these governors that people are
saying are not pleased with the party,
virtually all the governors were there
yesterday. May be one or two were not there
because they traveled.
‘’At the PDP Governors’ Forum; within
ourselves, we are doing a lot of reconciliation.
You would have noticed that even the coming
back of Wamakko had a lot of input from us.
We had to appeal to the leadership of the
party that the suspension should be reversed
and the party graciously agreed to reverse it.
So, whatever is left, we are handling it at that
level.
On the formation of APC, he said, ‘’I don’t
think the PDP has ever been threatened. Like
the President said, it is good that we have a
stronger opposition but it is not that there is
any threat.”
However, sources said that the decision by
the PDP to resolve its crisis with Governor
Amaechi became necessary in view of the
determination by the party not to lose any of
its governors especially ahead of 2015
general elections.
However, the Akwa Ibom State Governor and
Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, Godswill
Akpabio confirmed that moves were on to
ensure that Amaechi and the party withdraw
their cases from the court for amicable
settlement of their dispute.
Meanwhile, Chairman of PDP Special National
Convention Planning Committee, Professor
Jerry Gana has said that vacant offices arising
from the resignations of former members of
the National Working Committee, NWC, would
be open to all qualified members of the party
including the erstwhile officers during the July
20 Special National Convention to be
attended by about 4,000 delegates.
Gana said, ‘’4000 delegates are expected.
The offices that are vacant will be open to all
interested members of the party and we have
already written to INEC to inform them that
the NEC of our party has resolved to
reconvene the convention on July 20. The
only zonal congress that has been affected is
the one for the south west which we have
now scheduled for July 11.”
The Deputy Senate President and Secretary of
the Special Convention Planning Committee,
Senator Ike Ekweremadu also said that there
would be no re-zoning of positions occupied
by former members of the NWC who resigned
following the report of the INEC, adding that
the party took the 2012 convention for
granted where there was yes vote for a
candidate.
Ekweremadu said, ‘’I am not aware that
Nigerians decided that our chairman will
leave. It is not for Nigerians to decide for PDP.
PDP will decide whether their chairman will
stay or not. It was entirely an internal issue;
let us put it in a proper perspective; what we
are doing in PDP is to demonstrate that we
are a party that is committed to rule of law.
‘’Now the INEC made an observation
regarding our last Convention and the
observation is straight forward. They are
saying that we had a guideline that stipulated
that even when you have one candidate for a
particular position, there must be voting for
the person, but unfortunately, we took it for
granted that since we had one candidate for
each of these positions, we could as well do a
yes vote.
‘’Some of our colleagues went to court to
challenge the decision of the convention and
electing those other people in pursuant to the
voice vote. The matter is still in court, but we
said, instead of waiting for court to decide
one way or the other, why don’t we do it
again and in doing that, are you going to stay
those whose elections were said to be correct
to resign, it doesn’t make sense.’’
Governor Akpabio had said that the resolution
of the crises between the party and Amaechi
would, ‘’show that PDP is always able to
resolve every single conflict. It also shows that
we will continue to rule Nigeria for a long time
to come because we have stakeholders,
members of the party that think more of this
country; they want peace for this country,
they believe strongly on this country over and
above their personal interests.
’’That was a major significance of yesterday’s
event. When we had the National Executive
Committee, NEC, meeting of the PDP and
heard that all the officers from the deputy
National Chairman down to the deputy
Financial Secretary and Treasurer were
affected by the INEC report, we resolved that
the best way to go was to ask them to tender
their resignations in the interest of the party;
and to enable the party call for a Special
National Convention and regularize the
process that INEC pointed out.
‘’And for me, I was very elated and happy
that we have members and stakeholders who
are more concerned about the stability of the
party and about the future of Nigeria than
their personal interests. What that means in
essence is that PDP will always be in a position
to resolve its problems internally.”
On reconciliation between the PDP and some
of its governors, Akpabio who is the Deputy
Chairman, Special National Convention
Planning Committee said, ‘’the reconciliation
among the governors is already on going. If
you noticed yesterday, we had almost all the
governors of the PDP there even the recently
recalled brother of mine and governor of
Sokoto State attended the NEC meeting.
’’Almost all the PDP governors were there. If
there was any governor that was not there
yesterday, he was probably on an official duty
for the Federal Government and for this
nation because I know that the Governor of
Benue State, Gabriel Suswam is a member of
this IPP committee that is going around
looking for investors in the power sector; they
travelled to Hongkong.
‘’You can see that peace is gradually
returning to the fold of the entire PDP and I
assure you that all issues will be resolved
because the other day, a press man asked me
yes, you have recalled Wamakko, the
governor of Sokoto State through the National
Working Committee; what about the governor
of Rivers State? I pointed out that the
governor of Sokoto State did not go to court
and that the other matter regarding my
brother, the governor of Rivers State was in
court and was therefore subjudice, but we are
exploring all means to ensure out of court
settlement to bring back everybody to the
fold.
‘’I think it is important to note that we are
determined through the PDP Governors’
Forum to bring all our brothers together; the
intention of our forum is not to lose a single
governor, we want to increase the number.
When I came in as a governor in 2007, we
were almost 29 governors, but through
various court cases and internal wrangling,
the rank and file depleted until we are now
23. Under this new forum, we are now
determined to increase the number.”
Meanwhile, a group under the aegis, North,
South New Nigeria yesterday said the PDP
would win 33 states in 2015, just as it will
continue to control the National Assembly as
well as State Houses of Assembly.
The Chairman of the group and former
Minister of Education, Alhaji Dauda Birmah
said that it was formed to support the PDP
National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur,
and affirmed that President Jonathan would
contest for a second term in office.
Meanwhile, the PDP National Chairman,
Bamanga Tukur has described the outcome of
Thursday’s NEC meeting of the party, as
indication that PDP should be seen as a
strong and peaceful political association of like
minded patriots.
He however thanked President Goodluck
Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo,
Senate President David Mark, other members
of the National Assembly, members of NEC,
Board of Trustees, BoT, as well as the
governors for their support at the meeting
where he survived plots to remove him.
Tukur noted that PDP members were
nationalists united in their resolve to take
Nigeria to greater heights irrespective of
minor political differences, adding, ‘’the PDP
has by the successful hosting of the NEC
meeting proved that it is a political institution
which has come to stay in Nigeria’s political
hemisphere and cannot disintegrate as
doomsday prophets are bound to conjuncture
or surmise.”

BeeCube Bwala

Banning Okada Was A Very Painful Decision By Oshiomhole – Edo Deputy Governor

Edo State deputy governor, Dr Pius Odubu,
yesterday said that banning commercial
motorcycles popularly known as Okada, was
the toughest decision taken so far by
Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
According to him, “It was a very painful
decision for Mr. Governor. The clamour has
been on for quite some time now, but with
recent happenings in some other states of
the federation, where okadas were banned,
the effect of those happenings was now
beginning to be felt here in Edo State. The
influx of those persons now into Edo state
increased crime and criminality.”
The deputy governor, who further explained
that Governor Oshiomhole had to take the
decision in light of security challenges in the
state, however, assured that the palliatives
being proffered by government in
collaboration with the leadership of the okada
union would ameliorate the pains of genuine
okada operators.
“Security reports every day indicate that
people use okada to perpetrate crime every
day. A decision now has to be made. The
governor has since met with the leadership of
okada riders and I am aware that palliatives
will be delivered in the shortest possible time.
It was a painful decision to be taken but part
of the responsibility of leadership is to take,
sometimes, very difficult decision, provided
that decision is in the interest of the vast
majority of the people” Odubu noted.

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Snake Expert Dies After Viper Bite During Presentation On Overcoming A Fear Of Snakes

A German snake expert died after being
bitten multiple times by a viper during a
presentation aimed at helping people ease
their fears of the scaly reptiles.
Dieter Zorn, a 53-year-old herpetologist,died
Tuesday evening of a heart attack minutes
after he was bitten by an Aspic viper,
according to Germany’s English-language
newspaper The Local. Zorn was in southern
France performing his “Reptile Show,” which
teaches people how to overcome their fears
of snakes, when he was bitten several times.
His co-host, Uschi Kallus, told The Local that
Zorn died from an “extremely rare allergic
reaction” to the bite, even though
emergency personnel administered a blood
thinner. She said he wouldn’t have wanted
the snake to be blamed for his death and
added that the incident was “exceptionally
uncommon.”
Zorn’s show encourages attendees to handle
the reptiles so as to get past “unfounded”
fears. France’s Midi Libre newspaper reported
“the audience, filled with curious people,
almost saw him die” on stage, according to a
Huffington Post translation.
Vipers are poisonous snakes, Animal Planet
notes. Snake venom is meant to kill prey,
with the poison working to damage an
animal’s nerves, heart, breathing, blood
vessels and body tissues. The Aspic viper is a
snake native to France, Switzerland, Spain
and Italy. It can grow up to 20 inches in
length and live in a variety of habitats.

BeeCube Bwala

Catholic Church bombing: You’ve a case to answer, Court tells Kabiru Sokoto

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court,
Friday, held that the alleged mastermind of
the Christmas day bomb blast that killed
about 44 persons and wounded 75 others at
St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger
State, in 2011, Kabiru Umar, a.k.a Kabiru
Sokoto, has a criminal case to answer.
Dismissing a no-case application that filed by
the alleged kingpin of the Boko Haram sect,
Justice Adeniyi Ademola, also ordered him to
produce his witnesses in court on July 5, with
a view to establishing his innocence to the
terrorism charge against him.
The judge said he was satisfied that going by
the totality of the proof of evidence before the
court, the government, had successfully
established a criminal case which would
warrant further explanation by the accused
person. Sokoto who is answering a two-count charge
against him by the government had through
his team of lawyers led by Mr. Hassan
Lukman, maintained that the government
failed to establish a prima-facie case capable
of warranting his trial and conviction.
While praying the court to discharge and
acquit him, the accused person, Lukman
contended that none of the six witnesses that
testified against him in court was able to
establish a nexus linking him to the alleged
terrorist act.
Sokoto further queried the propriety of
allowing him to undergo trial “in view of the
fact that the prosecution has failed to tender
any evidence connecting him to the alleged
offence.”
He was initially docked before the High Court
on May 20, 2013.
Aside allegations that he trained over 500
men on how to manufacture and detonate
Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, the
Federal Government, said that he had prior
knowledge that the sect planned to bomb the
church on Christmas day but failed to disclose
it to any law enforcement officer as soon as
reasonably practicable. The said terrorists’
training camp was instituted at Abaji, a
suburb of Abuja
He was said to have between 2007 and 2012,
at Mabira Sokoto, Sokoto State, facilitated the
commission of terrorist acts including
planting bombs at the police headquarters
and some government organizations in the
state.
Though he was previously arrested by the
police in Abuja on January 14, 2012, he was
however declared missing two days later. He
was re-arrested on February 10, 2012.
His mysterious escape from custody
culminated to the sack of the erstwhile
Inspector General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim
and former Commission of Police in-charge of
the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Zakari Biu.
Biu was out rightly dismissed from the Police
Force.
The last prosecution witness had told the
court that Sokoto confessed that one of the
recognized leaders of the sect, Abubakar
Shekau, told him that only members of the
sect that had been initiated into the “Shurah”
cadre, were allowed to know the ideology
behind the current insurgency in the
Northern parts of the country.
The witness told the court that Sokoto had
further disclosed that whereas members of
the “Shurah” which he belongs to, plan and
mastermind attacks, others were recruited to
execute terrorist agenda of the sect.
However, Sokoto, through his lawyer, faulted
the testimony of the masked witness,
maintaining that he used the Hausa word
“Anche” in his statement, a word he said
means “they said.”
He told the court that he was only referring to
what he was told by those affiliated to the
sect.
One of the witnesses had earlier narrated
before the court how a donation of N40million
divided the sect.
According to the witness, Sokoto had in a
statement he made on January 14, 2012,
confessed that out of the said N40million
which he said was received from another
terrorist group in Algeria, he got N500, 000,
being the recognized Governor of Sokoto
State in the hierarchy of the group

BeeCube Bwala