Basketmouth buys Honda Crosstour for his wife as birthday gift

The comedian, who is one of the most traveled Nigerian entertainers, bought a brand new 2013 Honda Crosstour for his wife as her birthday gift. Elsie Uzoma Okpocha was a year older on July 14th.

tundeola.com

SHOCKING: Bird Turns Into Woman In Broad Day Light

Things like this were only seen in movies before now, but it happened on Thursday at Afromedia street in the Okokomaiko area of Lagos. The story behind the bird that changed in this woman is strange:

From what I hear, three (3) birds were flying in the area and suddenly one fell and landed into a water and to the surprise of all around, the bird changed into this woman.
A source told tundeola.com the bird-turned-woman was “arrested” by the police where she confessed to be a native of Ikole, a town in Ekiti State.

How do you think the police will handle this case?

____TUNDEOLA.COM

Famed hacker Barnaby Jack dies a week before hacking convention

 

Barnaby Jack, a celebrated computer hacker who forced bank ATMs to spit out cash and sparked safety improvements in medical devices, died in San Francisco, a week before he was due to make a high-profile presentation at a hacking conference.

The New Zealand-born Jack, 35, was found dead on Thursday evening by “a loved one” at an apartment in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood, according to a police spokesman. He would not say what caused Jack’s death but said police had ruled out foul play.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office said it was conducting an autopsy, although it could be a month before the cause of death is determined.

Jack was one of the world’s most prominent “white hat” hackers – those who use their technical skills to find security holes before criminals can exploit them.

His genius was finding bugs in the tiny computers embedded in equipment, such as medical devices and cash machines. He often received standing ovations at conferences for his creativity and showmanship while his research forced equipment makers to fix bugs in their software.

Jack had planned to demonstrate his techniques to hack into pacemakers and implanted defibrillators at the Black Hat hackers convention in Las Vegas next Thursday. He told Reuters last week that he could kill a man from 30 feet away by attacking an implanted heart device.

“He was passionate about finding security bugs before the bad guys,” said longtime security industry executive Stuart McClure, who gave Jack one of his first jobs and also had worked with him at Intel Corp’s McAfee, a computer security company.

“He was one of those people who was put on this earth to find vulnerabilities that can be exploited in a malicious way to hurt people,” McClure said.

Jack became one of the world’s most famous hackers after a 2010 demonstration of “Jackpotting” – getting ATMs to spew out bills. A clip of his presentation has been viewed more than 2.6 million times on YouTube.

Two years ago, Jack turned his attention to medical devices, while working on a team at McAfee that engineered methods for attacking insulin pumps. Their research prompted medical device maker Medtronic Inc to revamp the way it designs its products.

The U.S. government also noticed Jack’s work.

“The work that Barnaby Jack and others have done to highlight some of these vulnerabilities has contributed importantly to progress in the field,” said William Maisel, deputy director for science at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

Jack’s passion for hacking sometimes got him into trouble.

In 2010, he connected his laptop to a gold bullion dispensing machine at a casino in Abu Dhabi, according to fellow hacker Tiffany Strauchs Rad. She said Jack had permission from a hotel manager to hack the machine but security intervened.

It turned out the hotel did not actually own the gold machine and the American Embassy had to be called in to help resolve the misunderstanding, Rad said.

“He would hack everything he touched,” she said.

‘BELOVED PIRATE’

Jack’s most recent employer, the cybersecurity consulting firm IOActive Inc, said on its Twitter account: “Lost but never forgotten our beloved pirate, Barnaby Jack has passed.”

Jack, who was known as Barnes to his friends, had been scheduled to present his research on heart devices at Black Hat on August 1. Last week, Jack told Reuters he had devised a way to hack into a wireless communications system that linked implanted pacemakers and defibrillators with bedside monitors that gather information about their operations.

“I’m sure there could be lethal consequences,” Jack said in a phone interview.

He declined to name the manufacturer of the device but said he was working with that company to figure out how to prevent malicious attacks on heart patients.

Jack’s sudden death drew responses from the hacking community reminiscent of those that followed the suicide of hacker activist Aaron Swartz in January.

Dan Kaminsky, a well-known hacker, described the death as a tragedy. “Barnaby was one of the most creative, energetic, diverse researchers in our field,” he said.

“You’ll be missed, bro,” tweeted another well-known hacker Dino Dai Zovi.

Jack’s sister, Amberleigh Jack, who lives in New Zealand, told Reuters her brother was 35 years old. She declined to comment further, saying she needed time to grieve.

Some of his friends pitched in to help the family with expenses. They collected $4,345 from 37 people over 13 hours through a crowdfunding website: here

Black Hat said that it will not replace Jack’s session at the conference, saying the hour would be left vacant for conference attendees to commemorate his life and work.

 

culled from (Reuters) –

Obama calls Korean War a victory, honors veterans

Obama marks 60 years of Korean War Armistice

By Matt Haldane

Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War, President Barack Obama said on Saturday that U.S. troops and their allies achieved victory in that conflict despite a lukewarm reception when they returned home.

The war ended in a stalemate in 1953, with the absence of a peace treaty resulting in a demilitarized zone that now separates North and South Korea. Pyongyang commemorated the day with a massive military parade and declared victory as well.

“Here, today, we can say with confidence that this war was no tie. Korea was a victory,” Obama said to cheers from an outdoor crowd populated by war veterans from the United States and South Korea.

“When 50 million South Koreans live in freedom … in stark contrast to the repression and poverty of the North, that’s a victory; that’s your legacy,” he said.

The Korean War started in 1950 when the United States rallied the United Nations to send troops to counter the North’s invasion of the South.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral James Winnefeld and representatives from the South Korean government attended the event, which included a wreath-laying ceremony conducted to “Taps” before the 19 steel statues of Korean War soldiers at the memorial on Washington’s National Mall.

The chairman of South Korea’s National Policy Committee, Kim Jung-hoon, who represented the country’s president, Park Geun-hye, acknowledged the ambiguous end to a long-fought war.

“This armistice was not the result of mere negotiations at the table,” Kim said. “It was signed after endless battles, countless sacrifices and pain endured by our veterans and their grieved families.”

When U.S. troops returned home, Obama said they went right back to work, with their sacrifices seemingly unacknowledged in what would become known as “The Forgotten War.”

“Unlike the Second World War, Korea did not galvanize our country. These veterans did not return to parades. Unlike Vietnam, Korea did not tear at our country. These veterans did not return to protests,” Obama said.

“Here in America, no war should ever be forgotten, and no veteran should ever be overlooked.”

About 5,000 people attended the event, according to the commemoration committee. The crowd was filled with South Koreans and Americans alike, with spectators singing the South Korean national anthem nearly as loudly as the U.S. anthem.

Obama also acknowledged the strong military ties Washington has with South Korea, where more than 28,000 U.S. troops are now stationed. For some younger Koreans, the continued presence of troops is controversial, but the crowd erupted in applause when Obama mentioned his commitment to U.S. military supremacy.

“Our allies and adversaries must know the United States of America will maintain the strongest military the world has ever known, bar none, always,” Obama said. “That is what we do.”

 

culled from(Reuters) –

Dozens shot dead, U.S. tells Egypt to pull ‘back from the brink’

CAIRO | Sun Jul 28, 2013 4:26am EDT

(Reuters) – The United States urged Egypt to pull “back from the brink” after security forces killed dozens of supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi and opened a dangerous new phase in the army’s confrontation with his Muslim Brotherhood.

Thousands of Brotherhood activists were hunkered down in a vigil at a Cairo mosque on Sunday, promising to stand their ground despite Saturday’s bloodshed when at least 65 pro-Mursi supporters were shot dead.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the killings suggested a “shocking willingness” by police and some politicians to ratchet up violence against their foes.

Backers and opponents of the ousted Islamist president clashed before dawn on Sunday in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, firing birdshot at each other before soldiers intervened, security sources said. Fifteen people were hurt in the violence.

The trouble started late on Saturday night, when gunmen fired on a church in Port Said during funeral prayers for one of the victims of the Cairo killings, the sources said.

Saturday’s carnage, following huge rival rallies, plunged the Arab world’s most populous country deeper into turmoil following more than two turbulent years of transition to democracy after the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Egypt’s Health Ministry said 65 people had died in the shootings, with the Brotherhood reporting that a further 61 were on life support after what it described as a ferocious assault by men in helmets and black fatigues.

The ambulance service put the death toll at 72.

Washington, treading a fine line with an important Middle East ally and recipient of more than $1 billion in annual military aid, urged the Egyptian security forces to respect the right to peaceful protest.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke by telephone with Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the July 3 military overthrow of Mursi and whose face has since appeared on posters across the capital Cairo.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to two senior members of Egypt’s army-installed interim cabinet, expressing his deep concern.

“This is a pivotal moment for Egypt,” he said in a statement. “The United States…calls on all of Egypt’s leaders across the political spectrum to act immediately to help their country take a step back from the brink.”

“COVER-UP”

Saturday’s violence, and the threat of more, has deepened alarm in the West over events in the country of 84 million people, a vital bridge between the Middle East and North Africa.

Well over 200 people have died in violence since Sisi deposed Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, on the back of huge popular protests against his rule, ending a one-year experiment in government by the Muslim Brotherhood after decades spent in the shadows under successive Egyptian strongmen.

Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood’s leader, denounced Egypt’s political establishment, saying they had failed to speak out against Saturday’s killings.

“Unfortunately and shamefully, the responsibility falls on those who participated in the cover-up,” he said in a statement.

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim denied on Saturday that police had fired on the crowds, saying they had only used tear gas to try to break up clashes between the Brotherhood supporters and residents angry about the pro-Mursi camp.

He added that he hoped the vigil outside the Rabaa al-Adaweya mosque in northern Cairo would “God willing, soon be dealt with.”

A public prosecutor is reviewing complaints from residents unhappy with the huge encampment on their doorstep.

Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said the protesters would remain by the mosque until their demands are met and Mursi was reinstated. He accused Sisi of issuing a “clear, pre-determined order to kill.”

Saturday’s killings followed a day of rival mass rallies, triggered by a call from Sisi for a popular mandate to confront what he called “violence and terrorism”.

Human Rights Watch deputy Middle East and North Africa director said he thought the deaths might have been deliberate.

“It is almost impossible to imagine that so many killings would take place without an intention to kill, or at least a criminal disregard for people’s lives,” Nadim Houry said.

Mursi has been held in army detention at an undisclosed location since he was deposed. Ibrahim said he would likely be transferred shortly to the same Cairo prison where Mubarak is now held, after authorities launched an investigation of him on charges including murder stemming from his 2011 escape from jail during Egypt’s Arab Spring uprising.

(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla, Yasmine Saleh, Tom Finn, Omar Fahmy, Michael Georgy, Noah Browning and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo, Arshad Mohammed and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

 

: Reuters

2 heroes pin down man with ‘an AK-47’

Arrest … bank suspect

HAVE-A-GO heroes tackled a bank robber yesterday — despite the thief brandishing what looked like “an AK-47” .

The gunman tried to hold up a branch of Barclays but fled empty-handed, police said.

Two brave witnesses chased him, still with his rifle in a bag, and pinned him down until cops arrived.

Manford makes a meal of it with fans

Cheeky … Comedian Jason Manford invites himself round for dinner

COMIC Jason Manford tucked into a Muslim family’s feast after asking for an invite on Twitter.

He pleaded for a Ramadan meal after a gig and hundreds replied.

Manford, 32, wrote: “Is there any Muslims in the South Manchester area who when I get back from my gig tonight in Chesterfield fancy inviting me round for some of your lovely night time Ramadan grub?”

He later added: “Driving back to Manchester with my little sister to join in with Rabi Rana and her family having their Iftar — that’s the evening meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan (Thank you Wikipedia!)”

The dad of three, 32, was exposed in 2010 after sending explicit Twitter messages to fans.

He has split from wife Catherine and the divorce is believed to have cost him millions.

 

: The Sun.UK

U.S. intends to send two Guantanamo detainees to Algeria

 

 

By Jeff Mason and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON | Fri Jul 26, 2013 7:38pm EDT

(Reuters) – The Obama administration said on Friday it plans to repatriate two inmates to Algeria from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, resuming the transfer of detainees from the controversial prison for the first time in nearly a year.

The step is the latest by President Barack Obama’s administration to show his commitment to closing the prison, which has held dozens of prisoners – most without charge – for more than a decade.

Obama promised to do away with the facility during his 2008 presidential campaign, citing its damage to the U.S. reputation around the world, but he has been unable to do so in 4 1/2 years in office.

Congress put tough restrictions on detainee transfers in January 2011. The administration considers the rules too onerous but had not attempted to use its ability to pursue case-by-case waivers even though 86 of the 166 men still held at Guantanamo were cleared for release years ago.

But some members of Congress, mostly his fellow Democrats but also some influential Republicans, have been pushing Obama to make good on his pledge to close the base, which he reiterated in a major national security speech this spring.

A hunger strike that has involved a majority of the inmates – and daily force-feeding of dozens – has fueled the calls to shut the detention center. This week lawmakers blasted its cost, about $2.7 million per prisoner per year, compared with $70,000 per inmate at maximum-security federal prisons.

Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a leading advocate for resuming transfers, ending the force-feeding and closing the prison, renewed her call to send home the 84 others cleared to leave.

“It is in the national security interests of the United States to transfer these detainees to their home countries rather than keep them at our isolated military base in Cuba,” she said in a statement supporting the two transfers.

Administration officials declined to provide personal information about the two Algerians being sent to their home country or discuss diplomatic arrangements.

‘INTENSIVE REVIEW’

“Over the past few months, a very senior interagency team conducted an intensive review of this matter,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said. “Based on their recommendations, and as mandated by Congress, (Defense) Secretary (Chuck) Hagel signed off on the legal requirements to move forward with the transfer of these detainees.”

Hagel backs Obama’s desire to close Guantanamo.

William Lietzau, the top Pentagon official who deals with detainees, said this week he was leaving his post, according to a copy of his farewell note to colleagues obtained by Reuters.

A transfer decision is only made after a receiving country provides assurances it will take measures to mitigate threats posed by the individual and provide him with humane treatment.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the transfer was being carried out in a manner that protects U.S. national security.

“We continue to call on Congress to join us in supporting these efforts by lifting the current restrictions that significantly limit our ability to transfer detainees out of Guantanamo, even those who have been approved for transfer,” he said in a statement.

The announcement came ahead of a trip to Washington next week by Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi that will include a visit with Obama at the White House and a trip to Capitol Hill. Roughly 90 of those locked up at Guantanamo are from Yemen, where al Qaeda has a dangerous presence.

The United States began repatriating Yemeni prisoners after Obama’s election in 2008 but halted the practice in 2010 after a man trained by militants in Yemen attempted to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in 2009 with a bomb concealed in his underwear.

Washington could decide to resume transfers to Yemen if it finds that its new government has taken adequate measures against al Qaeda and made the country stable.

The Yemeni government says it wants the detainees and is building a facility to hold them for rehabilitation.

But stiff opposition remains. Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte, like McCain a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said she opposed the transfers.

“Rather than releasing detainees who could potentially return to the battlefield, the administration should focus on developing a coherent policy for the long-term detention of foreign terrorists – something it has failed to do after four and a half years,” she said.

The White House said the transfer of the Algerian detainees was possible under current, “highly restrictive” U.S. law. The transfer would happen when all necessary conditions were met in Algeria, spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

The last prisoner transferred out of Guantanamo was Omar Khadr, the youngest inmate and last Westerner held at the base. He was sent in September to finish his sentence in his native Canada.

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington and Jane Sutton in Miami; Editing by Bill Trott)

 

: Reuters

Egypt – Dwelling in Rallies

Egyptian security forces shoot dead dozens of pro-Mursi supporters

 

CAIRO | Sat Jul 27, 2013 8:17am EDT

(Reuters) – Egyptian security forces shot dead dozens of supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Saturday, witnesses said, days after the army chief called for a popular mandate to wipe out “violence and terrorism”.

Men in helmets and black police fatigues fired on crowds gathered before dawn on the fringes of a round-the-clock sit-in near a mosque in northeast Cairo, Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood said.

“They are not shooting to wound, they are shooting to kill,” said Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad. “The bullet wounds are in the head and chest.”

A Muslim Brotherhood website said 120 people had been killed and some 4,500 injured. A Reuters reporter counted 36 bodies at one morgue, while health officials said there were a further 21 corspes in two nearby hospitals.

Activists rushed blood-spattered casualties into a makeshift hospital, some were carried in on planks or blankets. One ashen teenager was laid out on the floor, a bullet hole in his head.

Egypt’s Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told reporters only 21 had died and denied police had opened fire, accusing the Brotherhood of exaggerating for political ends.

Ibrahim said local residents living close to the Rabaa al-Adawia mosque vigil had clashed with protesters in the early hours after they had blocked off a major road bridge. He said that police had used teargas to try to break up the fighting.

Well over 200 people have been killed in violence since the army toppled Mursi on July 3, following huge protests against his year in power. The army denies accusations it staged a coup, saying it intervened to prevent national chaos.

The Arab world’s most populous state is battling economic woes and struggling with the transition to democracy two years after Hosni Mubarak was swept from power in the Arab Spring.

SISI

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians had poured onto the streets on Friday in response to a call by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for nationwide demonstrations to give him backing to confront the weeks-long wave of violence.

His appeal was seen as a challenge to the Brotherhood, which organized its own rallies on Friday calling for the return of Mursi, who has been held in an undisclosed location since his ousting and faces a raft of charges, including murder.

Brotherhood leaders appealed for calm on Saturday, but activists at the Rabaa al-Adawia mosque vigil voiced fury.

“The people want the execution of Sisi,” a cleric shouted to the crowd from a stage by the mosque. “The people want the execution of the butcher.”

Interior Minister Ibrahim said the pro-Mursi sit-ins would “God willing, soon … be dealt with” based on a decision by a public prosecutor, who is reviewing complaints from local residents unhappy with the huge encampment on their doorstep.

The Brotherhood is a highly organized movement with grassroots support throughout Egypt, making it hard to silence even if the army decides to mount a bigger crackdown.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she “deeply deplores” Saturday’s deaths and urged all sides to halt the violence. There was no immediate comment from the United States, which provides Egypt with some $1.5 billion dollars of aid a year, mainly military hardware.

Washington has delayed delivery of four F-16 fighters because of the turmoil, however, officials have indicated they do not intend to cut off aid to a country seen as a vital ally and which has a peace deal with neighboring Israel.

“BULLETS WHIZZING”

Witnesses said police first fired rounds of teargas at Brotherhood protesters gathered on a boulevard leading away from the Rabaa mosque, with live shots ringing out soon afterwards.

“There were snipers on the rooftops, I could hear the bullets whizzing past me,” said Ahmed el Nashar, 34, a business consultant, choking back his tears.

“Man, people were just dropping.”

Dr. Ibtisam Zein, overseeing the Brotherhood morgue, said most of the dead were hit in the head, some between the eyes.

The bodies were wrapped in white sheets and laid on the floor, their names scrawled on the shrouds. A cleaner busily mopped the floor, washing away pools of blood.

Haddad said the Brotherhood remained committed to pursuing peaceful protests, despite Saturday’s deaths – the second mass shooting of its supporters this month by security forces, who killed 53 people on July 8.

Brotherhood activists at Rabaa said they would not be cowed and warned of worse bloodshed if the security forces did not back down. “We will stay here until we die, one by one,” said Ahmed Ali, 24, helping treat casualties at the field hospital.

“We have the examples of Algeria and Syria in our minds. We don’t want it to become a civil war. If we take up arms it might become one. This is a religious belief.”

There was little mention of the violence on Egypt’s two state television channels, which broadcast weather reports and a talk show on Saturday morning. All three state newspapers headlined their morning editions with Friday’s rallies, saying Egyptians had given Sisi the support he had asked for.

“The people give the army and the police a mandate to confront terrorism,” said a strap headline on the bottom of a broadcast on the state’s Nile TV.

Ibrahim said Mursi, who has not been seen in public since his removal from power, was likely to be transferred shortly to the same Cairo prison where former leader Mubarak is now held.

(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla, Yasmine Saleh, Tom Finn, Maggie Fick, Omar Fahmy, Edmund Blair, Michael Georgy and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo, Abdel Rahman Youssef in Alexandria; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Louise Ireland and Michael Georgy)

Culled from Reuters