'War-weary' Obama says Syria chemical attack requires response

 Declaring himself "war-weary" but determined to hold Syria accountable for using banned chemical weapons, President Barack Obama said Friday he was considering a limited response to what U.S. intelligence assessed with "high confidence" as a Syrian attack that killed more than 1,400 people.

Obama told reporters he had yet to make a final decision, but hinted at a military strike that sources and experts say would entail cruise missiles fired from U.S. naval ships at Syrian command targets -- but not any chemical weapons stockpiles.

"It is not in the national security interests of the United States to ignore clear violations" of what he called an "international norm" banning the use of chemical weapons, Obama said at a meeting with visiting heads of Baltic nations Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

He called the Syrian attack a "challenge to the world" that threatens U.S. allies Israel, Turkey and Jordan while increasing the risk of such weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.

Earlier, Secretary of State John Kerry released details of a declassified U.S. intelligence report in an effort to muster support at home and abroad for a military response against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

However, NATO allies want the United Nations to authorize any military response, something that both Kerry and Obama said was unlikely because of opposition by permanent Security Council member Russia, a Syrian ally.



"My preference would have been that the international community already would have acted," Obama said, citing what he called "the inability of the Security Council to move in the face of a clear violation of international norms."

He expressed frustration with the lack of international support, saying that "a lot of people think something should be done, but nobody seems willing to do it."

"It's important for us to recognize that when over 1,000 people are killed, including hundreds of innocent children, through the use of a weapon that 98 or 99 percent of humanity says should not be used even in war, and there is no action, then we're sending a signal that that international norm doesn't mean much," Obama said. "And that is a danger to our national security."

The remarks by Obama and Kerry, and the release of the intelligence report, came as Obama's administration faced rising resistance to a military strike against the Syrian government both at home and abroad.

Britain's Parliament voted against joining a coalition sought by Obama to respond militarily, denying the president a key NATO ally that has steadfastly supported previous campaigns.

In Washington, questions about the veracity of the U.S. intelligence and whether Washington is headed for another long war based on false information -- like happened in Iraq -- have emerged from both parties in Congress.

"I assure you nobody ends up being more war-weary than me," Obama said, adding that he was not considering any option that would entail "boots on the ground" or a long-term campaign.

Instead, Obama said, he and his top military and security aides were looking at a "limited, narrow act" to ensure that Syria and others know the United States and its allies won't tolerate future similar future violations.

Earlier, Kerry insisted that the situation differs from Iraq, saying the intelligence community "reviewed and re-reviewed" its information "more than mindful of the Iraq experience." And he added: "We will not repeat that moment."

He cited particular evidence that shows al-Assad's regime was responsible.

"We know that for three days before the attack, the Syrian regime's chemical weapons personnel were on the ground in the area, making preparations," Kerry said. "And we know that the Syrian regime elements were told to prepare for the attack by putting on gas masks and taking precautions associated with chemical weapons."

culled:www.cnn.com

OBAMA SPEAKS AT MLK 50 YEARS SPEECH ANNIVERSARY

President Obama delivered the following remarks at the “Let Freedom Ring” ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 2013, at the Lincoln Memorial.

 To the King family, who have sacrificed and inspired so much, to President Clinton, President Carter, Vice President Biden, Jill, fellow Americans, five decades ago today, Americans came to this honored place to lay claim to a promise made at our founding.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
In 1963, almost 200 years after those words were set to paper, a full century after a great war was fought and emancipation proclaimed, that promise, those truths remained unmet. And so they came by the thousands, from every corner of our country -- men and women, young and old, blacks who longed for freedom and whites who could no longer accept freedom for themselves while witnessing the subjugation of others. Across the land, congregations sent them off with food and with prayer. In the middle of the night, entire blocks of Harlem came out to wish them well.
With the few dollars they scrimped from their labor, some bought tickets and boarded buses, even if they couldn't always sit where they wanted to sit. Those with less money hitchhiked, or walked. They were seamstresses, and steelworkers, and students, and teachers, maids and pullman porters. They shared simple meals and bunked together on floors.
And then, on a hot summer day, they assembled here, in our nation's capital, under the shadow of the great emancipator, to offer testimony of injustice, to petition their government for redress and to awaken America's long-slumbering conscience.

Obama, marchers mark 50th anniversary of civil rights turning point

 

President Barack Obama addresses the crowd gathered on the National Mall in Washington on Wednesday, August 28. Fifty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his watershed "I Have a Dream" speech during the historic March on Washington.

Throngs fill the mall to mark the 50th anniversary of the march and one of the most memorable speeches of the 20th century. Commemorating the long fight toward racial equality that many say hasn't ended, marchers on the National Mall on Wednesday -- including President Barack Obama -- commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

On that August day in 1963, when King and his fellow marchers attended what he labeled "the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation," few in that crowd could have imagined that half a century later, an African-American president of the United States would mark the occasion with a speech in the same location.

"His words belong to the ages, possessing a power and prophecy unmatched in our time," Obama told a crowd that gathered under gray skies and intermittent drizzle to attend the five-hour ceremony.
King, Obama said, "gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions," heralding leaders who braved intimidation and violence in their fight for equal rights.

"Because they kept marching, America changed. Because they marched, the civil rights law was passed. Because they marched, a voting rights law was signed," Obama said. "Because they marched, city councils changed and state legislatures changed and Congress changed and, yes, eventually, the White House changed."

While speakers Wednesday marked the great progress toward King's goal of racial accord, many suggested that the dream was far from realized, citing high minority unemployment, voter identification laws that critics say prevent African-Americans from casting ballots, and the verdict in the closely watched Trayvon Martin murder trial.

"We have come a great distance in this country in the 50 years. But we still have a great distance to go before we fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, adding that progress toward King's goal could be marked by his own election to Congress.

"But there are still invisible signs, barriers in the hearts of humankind that form a gulf between us," Lewis said.

OHAKIM AGAIN AND AGAIN

Even Jesus Cannot Save Nigeria From Running Down The Cliff – Ohakim.

Former Governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, yesterday, in Abuja, blamed Nigeria’s woes on public officers who according to him wrecked and destroyed it.

The former governor noted that the farther the country goes from its independence, the faster the rate of its decline.

Ohakim stated this at the public presentation of the book, Delicate Distress, written by a former Commissioner in Imo State, Dr Amanze Obi.

According to him, the problem with the country had to do with what he described as anger, blackmail, blame game and poor communication.

According to him, “there is distress in this country. This is a country that is on free fall; this is a country where we have hypocrites. The country is descending down the cliff.

“Even if you bring Jesus to be president, the country is running down the cliff. In 1965, the only means of transportation in Dubai was carmel so why are we descending?

“We must bring people who can think. The only way we can develop this country is minding the way we market it
“Is the structure in this country right? Are we running democracy? If we are, what kind of democracy are we running? He questioned.

The governor noted that Nigeria must be totally reformed. He said “This country will not collapse. It is so solid.”

Roman Catholic Priest kills himself with gun in Edo

Tragedy struck in Sobe community in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State as Catholic priest, Reverend Father Peter Ayala accidental shot and killed himself while cleaning his gun.Until his death, he was the priest in charge of Saint Thomas Moore Catholic Church, Sobe.
His congregation was thrown into confusion last Sunday morning when the priest who was to conduct the early morning mass was found dead in his apartment. Rev Ayala was yet to dress up for the 7 a.m. mass when the tragedy occurred.
It was gathered that the clergy man was cleaning his double-barrelled gun inside his apartment within the church premises, when the gun went off, killing him instantly.
Worshippers who had waited for the morning service to commence were said to have run in confusion and in different directions when they heard the sound of the gun.
Elders and mass servers of the church were said to be shocked when they forced the doors to the apartment of the priest open and found him lying lifeless in his blood.
The incident was immediately reported by the church elders to the Bishop of the Auchi Diocese, Dr. Gabriel Duniya, who later conducted a quick investigation with security agents and confirmed that the priest died when the rifle he was cleaning went off.
The Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Moses Eguavoen, described the incident as unfortunate, adding that the Command was yet to get the full details of what happened before the priest’s death.

Pastor Bans Hair Weaves in His Church

The senior pastor at Resurrecting Faith Church in Waco, Texas has advised his female congregation not to wear weaves to church. 39 year old Pastor A.J. Aamir said he grew wary of looking out over his congregation and seeing a sea of hair weaves. Pastor Aamir feels women wearing weaves presents a false image of themselves and are associated with women who have low self-esteem.

“Our black women are getting weaves trying to be something and someone they are not. Be real with yourself is all I’m saying,” Pastor A.J. Aamir told AmericaPreachers.com.

He said he “highly disapproves” of women wearing weave in his church, where the average age of the congregation is 22. Meaning most female members wear weaves.

“Long hair don’t care. What kind of mess is that? I don’t want my members so focused on what’s on their heads and not in their heads. I lead a church where our members are struggling financially. I mean really struggling. “Yet, a 26-year-old mother in my church has a $300 weave on her head. No. I will not be quiet about this.”

But why is a pastor concerning himself with a woman's hair? I thought it was more about what's in your heart and soul and not what's on your head? Anyway, I'm sure he’ll change his mind when tithes and offering decreases. Then he will be yelling 'All weaves aboard' Lol. #kidding. Your thoughts?

Miley Cyrus upholds MTV VMAs tradition

  1984-  It's that time of the year again. The MTV Video Music Awards were Sunday and we look back on some of the show's best moments. Dressed in a revealing wedding dress, lace gloves and her infamous "boy toy" belt, Madonna performed "Like a Virgin" at the first Video Music Awards in 1984. Her album of the same name, which dropped that November, went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time.







Newlyweds Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley smooched on stage in 1994 after Jackson addressed the crowd, "And just think, nobody thought this would last." The pair of course parted ways less than two years later.
  1999-Lil' Kim wore a purple wig and pantsuit to the 1999 VMAs. Revealing her left breast, which was covered by a matching pasty, the getup gave a whole new meaning to off the shoulder. Diana Ross fondled Lil' Kim's exposed lady part during the show, and we've never been able to forget it.



  2003-How does an iconic pop star pass the torch? By kissing her successors on stage at the 2003 VMAs, of course. Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera donned wedding dresses to pay homage to Madonna's 1984 performance of "Like a Virgin" before Madge joined them on stage. She danced with and kissed each of the young singers before calling Missy Elliott to the stage.



2007-After shaving her head and seeking treatment in early 2007, Britney Spears' VMA performance was touted as her "comeback." However, the singer's awkward "Gimme More" performance was met with critical reviews. Time said the usually confident Spears looked "tired, nervous, uncomfortable, aloof and out of place."  



2011- After Beyonce finished singing her hit "Love on Top," she dropped the mic, opened her jacket and revealed the baby bump that would become Blue Ivy.
 
2013- Miley Cyrus was met with a general consensus of disgust after she twerked and gyrated on stage as Robin Thicke sang his hit single "Blurred Lines" during the 2013 VMAs.
Every awards ceremony has its reputation, and MTV's Video Music Awards proudly wears the badge of scandal.

Where the Oscars are elegant and the Golden Globes rowdy, the VMAs are all about testing the boundaries of what culture deems "decent" and reveling in youthful (and, yes, sometimes immature) freedom.

This reputation was cemented from the first VMAs broadcast in 1984, when a then-26-year-old Madonna sensually writhed on stage in a wedding dress to "Like A Virgin." At the time, she was told her antics would ruin her career -- when in fact the opposite happened. It's now one of the most well-known moments not only from the VMAs, but from the now 55-year-old's legendary career.

Countless pop stars and rockers have followed in Madge's footsteps, with each new year bearing the promise of an ever-shocking performance.

So when Miley Cyrus took the VMAs stage on Sunday and proceeded to provocatively dance (with teddy bears, no less) before removing even more clothing, was she committing the offense the Internet has claimed, or simply upholding 30 years of VMAs tradition?

With her striptease, 20-year-old Cyrus didn't do anything her predecessors haven't already. In 2000, Britney Spears was not yet 19 when she ripped off a pantsuit at the VMAs to reveal a sparkling, flesh-toned body stocking underneath.

As host network MTV has said of the memorable moment, Spears' "striptease (not to mention the accompanying panting and grinding) served notice that Britney was no longer the pigtailed schoolgirl of the '... Baby One More Time' video, but rather a full-grown, supremely sexy woman."

The singer followed up that headline-making move by dancing seductively with a snake in 2001. In 2003, as a callback to the VMA original "Like a Virgin" performance, Spears and Christina Aguilera wore wedding white for the performance. And then there was the famous Spears kiss with Madonna. When that scene threw Spears back into the crossfire, the pop star told CNN that she was just "performing and expressing myself."

And need we remind you of Nirvana's havoc-filled performance of "Lithium" in 1992, or Diana Ross feeling up Lil Kim's bare breast in 1999? (If you need a refresher, recall that Lil Kim was wearing a violet bodysuit that exposed one breast, which was covered with nothing more than a matching purple pasty.) Howard Stern, Marilyn Manson, Prince and Lady Gaga (the latter was at this very same show!) have all bared their bums for MTV's viewers.

To be sure, Cyrus' Sunday performance took notes from all of the above and combined them into one show-stealing set.

But that's more or less what the VMAs have historically been: A place to go wild (within reach of censors), and a platform for young stars to show the world that they're now adults, perhaps even one that feels comfortable bending over in front of an audience and dancing in a latex two-piece.

Yet the reaction to Cyrus appears to be more eviscerating than previous years. Some viewers were in awe that this is the same Cyrus who was once the Disney Channel's teen queen on "Hannah Montana," and others aghast at the provocativeness of her performance.

"Raise your hand if you feel personally victimized by Miley Cyrus' #VMAs performance," tweeted E! Online.

"Do you think (Miley's dad) Billy Ray Cyrus woke up with an achy breaky heart this morning after his little girl's performance at the VMAs last night?" said Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelly.

Judd Apatow, posting a picture of Cyrus from her 2012 movie "So Undercover," tweeted that he'll "always have this version of Miley. Let's live in the past and heal."

Cyrus herself has been silent about her set and its overwhelming reaction, but anyone who's paid the slightest attention to the star wouldn't be too surprised by her routine.

Although she rose to fame on "Hannah Montana," a role she landed at just 13, Cyrus has always had a rocky relationship with the squeaky clean image she was expected to uphold. At 15, the singer/actress came under fire after she posed topless for Vanity Fair, holding a sheet to her chest as she gazed at the camera.

The following year, Cyrus was criticized for her Teen Choice Awards performance, during which she danced atop an ice cream cart -- complete with a pole -- while singing her hit, "Party in the U.S.A." The moment would infamously become known as Cyrus' "pole dance." She was 16.

In the days following her 18th birthday in 2010, Cyrus was subjected to more scrutiny when a video surfaced of the star smoking a bong apparently filled with salvia. The attention has only increased in the years since, as Cyrus has tried to transition from her Disney days into being a grown-up pop star, complete with an eye-catching haircut and the occasional middle finger thrown up in photographs.

While her critics have been vocal about their discomfort with her behavior, Cyrus has said that she's simply being herself.

Speaking on her new album, "Bangerz," to Billboard magazine, she said that she feels like "I can really be myself. ... I really have more of a connection of who I am, and I feel like I can maybe express that more in my music now."

Basically, we're hearing Britney Spears 2.0. The moves Madonna and Spears once performed at the VMAs are now an indelible part of pop culture history, moments that make the VMAs appointment-viewing after 29 years. (BuzzFeed, for example, has come up with an astonishing 95 reasons why the "VMAs are absolutely nothing without Britney Spears.")

Will Cyrus' 2013 performance receive the same fate? It's far too early to tell. But if the legacy of the MTV VMAs is any indication, she's going to express what she wants -- whether we like it or not.

culled from www.cnn.com

Mike Tyson Still Struggling With Substance Abuse, 'I'm A Vicious Alcoholic'

Mike Tyson opened up during a press conference for ESPN's Friday Night Fights on Friday, revealing that he's a "vicious alcoholic".

The former heavyweight boxing champ says things have been difficult on his road to recovery, and that he's lied about being sober.

"I'm a bad guy sometimes," he told reporters. "I did a lot of bad things, and I want to be forgiven. So in order for me to be forgiven, I hope they can forgive me. I wanna change my life, I wanna live a different life now. I wanna live my sober life. I don't wanna die. I'm on the verge of dying, because I'm a vicious alcoholic."

Tyson fought back tears as he emotionally revealed it's only been days since he had his last drink or used drugs.

"I haven't drank or took drugs in six days, and for me that's a miracle," he said. "I've been lying to everybody else that think I was sober, but I'm not. This is my sixth day. I'm never gonna use again."

Iron Mike has had his share of troubles over the years, including an abusive marriage to TV star Robin Givens, a rape conviction and his addictions. He also famously bit part of fellow boxer Evander Holyfield's ear off during one of their fights.

WHY VICTORIA BECKHAM DO NOT SMILE

That successful fashion designer, Victoria Beckham looks unhappy all the time should by now be a very boring topic. But she has her reason just like we have reasons for doing certain weird things.

During a recent interview on this same topic, (people must have been really pained to bring the matter to her notice.lol) the mother of four revealed, "When you're in a position to be paparazzi-ed just walking down the street, you'd look a little daft if you were smiling all the time. I smile in family pictures."

Interestingly her footballer husband, David is not unaware that people find the whole look thing very odd, he recently defended her on facebook after posting a cute photo of Victoria. "See I told you she smiles."

DILLISH MATTHEWS WON THE $300,000.00- amazing

Dillish Matthews from Namibiahas won the Big Brother-Chase 2013, the price money of $300,000.00 would be resting in her bank account soon.
CONGRATULATIONS
Dillish Matthews

My affair with pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of COZA - by Ese Walter

Keep an open mind as you read this because this is just one side of the story. A lady named Ese Walter (pictured above) is accusing a pastor with the Common Wealth Of Zion Assembly of manipulating her sexually/spiritually. I'm hoping to get the pastor's side of the story later...that's if he's willing to talk. Read Ese's story, which she shared on her blog, below...

This article contains stories that most ‘church people’ don’t want to address. So, if you are one of those living in denial and covering up crap going on in the church, this is where you should stop reading. Thanks for stopping by.

Now, for the rest of us, please sit down and switch on your open mind. I want to talk about something I have kept bottled up inside for longer than necessary. I have also decided to use real names, as my defense for any accusation of slander is justification. I tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. However, feel free to throw your doubt around but know that I am past the shaming game (where victims of abuse are shot down by blame) I am no longer a victim but a survivor who is sharing her experience to help others caught in same web of abuse, guilt and shame. We only get to live once right? So here, it goes…

I recently came to know this event too was abuse (recently here means about 6 months ago). It has literally been eating me up having to drive by another billboard advertising preachers, or hearing his name, or even trying to ask about the validity of the entire salvation story and whether or not there is a God that truly watches over his people. That being said, I’m just going to say it as it is. This is a recap of my affair with Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of COZA (Common Wealth Of Zion Assembly) Abuja chapter. This affair I have come to know as a form of abuse as you would see the different elements of abuse very present.

I met Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo many years ago. I was getting bored of the church I was attending and someone suggested COZA. At the time, I had never heard about it. My friend said, go there, I’m sure you would enjoy the word. But he also gave me a strong warning. He said he would advice that I remain a member only and not join the workforce. I agreed. The first time I attended COZA, I felt it was my church and decided I was going to plant my ass there. About eleven months had gone by and I was still attending the services quietly and faithfully. I really did like the church. One day a worker in the church approached me that the senior pastor wanted to see me.

Me? I thought. Why would the senior pastor want to see me? Not the second man but the head nigga in charge? Ok na! I started to think my sin was oozing so bad the pastor could tell I needed Jesus. (Poor old me.) I saw him at the end of the second service (they had two services at the time) and he said to me that he would like me to work with him. I knew I had no intentions of becoming a pastor so I had to ask in what capacity. He said he’d like for me to join a department, preferably the Pastoral Care Unit (PCU).

A few weeks later, against my friend’s advice not to join the workforce, I was a PCU member. All of a sudden, I had some status in church. I was ‘somebody.’ Dress had to be on point, hair, shoes and what not… As workers, we were literally trying to outshine each other or so it seemed. Anyways, I felt like I was a privileged member of an elite circle. Hehehe. (It did feel good though, for the most part.)

About a year after joining the workforce, I was on my way to London for a Masters degree program that would last two years. As was the rule for workers travelling, I wrote to say I would be away for 2 years and Pastor Biodun Fotoyinbo asked that I keep in touch by sending him my number and email when I had settled in London so he “makes sure I continue in the faith” because according to him, people loose their faith when they leave home and he wanted to make sure I didn’t. So, on that note, as soon as I got a phone line in London, I was sure to call ‘my pastor’ to say I arrived safe, had settled in and also gave my phone number.

We had spoken a few times especially when COZA started to stream online. I always watched and would give feedback on quality of production and share a little bit on the challenges I faced settling in a new land. One evening, Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo called me that he was coming to London and needed me to help him make some hotel bookings as the person who was meant to do it couldn’t get it done (this was rather strange as I had never been involved in his travel itinerary) Later that day, he said it had been sorted and my help would not be required but that he would like me to arrange a cab to pick him up from Heathrow. I was happy to help my pastor from Nigeria and even saw it as a privilege. (I would later come to learn that all of this was a calculated attempt to hatch a plan that I suspect was set in motion when I was asked to join the workforce.)
The cab guy was there to get him the next day and when he arrived, he called to ask why I didn’t accompany the cab to pick him up (again, this was strange but I stopped my mind from overanalyzing the situation as I knew I had no business with his visit to London) About two hours later, he called me and said he would like to see me. When I arrived his hotel, I called from the reception but he asked that I come upstairs. I got to the room and tried to stop my mind from thinking why I was going to his room. As he opened the door and invited me in, I had to speak to my heart to stop its palpitations. My better judgment asked me not to go into the room but the kind of reverence I had for Pasotr Biodun Fatoyinbo bordered on fear and I steeped into that room.
“Care for a drink?” Asked Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo.
“No sir,” I said.
“You don’t have to be shy Ese, even if it’s alcohol, feel free and order what you want.” I wasn’t sure I heard my pastor asking me to order alcohol. I imagined it was a test and ignored the voice inside that was saying, “I’d have henny and coke please.” He proceeded to ask how I had been coping in London and if I was a committed member of any church. He also said he thought there was something special about me and wanted to know that I had not strayed from my faith. I really thought he had heard I was doing something I shouldn’t while in London but tried my best to focus on the conversation instead of my straying thoughts. He kept telling me to relax and feel comfortable with talking to him. After a few minutes, he asked that we go to the roof of the hotel as his room was a pent suite and had a connecting door to the roof.

While there, he sat on a reclining chair and asked me to come sit on his laps. This was a bit awkward for me and I froze for a moment as I asked why. He said he had told me to feel free with him and loosen up. I found myself strolling to sit on his laps. At that moment, I felt like a little girl who was experiencing something her mind couldn’t fathom. He asked me to kiss him and all I could think about was seeing him preach on the pulpit back in COZA Abuja, Nigeria, which was my home church. He again said ‘feel free Ese.’ And asked again, that I kiss him.

A few hours later, let’s just say, we were rolling under the sheets. It felt as though my mind had paused. I am not saying I was jazzed, (although it’s possible I was in some trancelike state and didn’t know it but I just was so afraid that I couldn’t say or think otherwise.) That was the beginning of this affair. A sexual affair that went on for a little over a week, DAILY!
I can hear somebody’s mind thinking, ‘well, you weren’t raped.” And I remember a pastor I opened up to when I couldn’t take all the mind games asking if I seduced him. No, I didn’t seduce him and no, I wasn’t raped but I felt trapped in this affair. Come to think of it, how could I have seduced him when I wanted nothing from him? I mean, I was too busy minding my business in London trying to get through with my masters program and I was overly comfortable. And even if I wanted to seduce anyone, it wouldn’t be a married man, not to mention a married pastor.
What I couldn’t reconcile the whole time, was how the same person who preached against the very things we were doing (i.e drinking in pubs, fornicating, committing adultery) was the same person endorsing and encouraging it.

At some point, I got really confused about what Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo and I were doing that I had to ask how he handles it. I will never forget what he said to me. He said and I quote, “I will teach you a level of grace that you don’t understand.” My mind couldn’t fathom that somehow grace was enough covering for not just fornication on my path, adultery on his path and the many lies that was bound to follow what we were doing that was clearly abominable. I somehow dealt with the thoughts and fears that followed on my path. He had said to me that he wanted me to be his girlfriend and he would take me around the world and spoil me with money and things. Somehow, money had never been one of the things that motivated me (I am from a home where all my needs have been adequately met) In all my ‘badness’ through finding myself, I never did things I did for money but more of rebellion against rules and authority.

Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo also said to me that he had a dream where I exposed what was happening to the media. Said it was all over the place and that people were calling me the girl that caused chaos in COZA. He also said I should remember the bible said to “touch not God’s anointed.” I immediately started to rebuke the devil and said I could never do anything like that. I was almost swearing with my entire family as I thought really I had touched God’s anointed by submitting my body to be used. Little did I know at the time that all of these were ways to mess with my mind and even manipulate my thoughts.
Fast-forward a few months later, I was back in Nigeria and my church had become uncomfortable. Anytime I sat in church and listened to Pastor Biodun preach, I felt shame. I finally sent him a message saying I wasn’t comfortable anymore. I was confused and needed to talk about what had happened. He said I should meet him to talk and I did. It was a really weird meeting for me especially when he tried to kiss me at our meeting. I finally realized at this point that he couldn’t help me. I thought God was angry with me and I couldn’t pray so I decided to withdraw completely from COZA. This was the beginning of my mental torture. I couldn’t talk to my family because already, I was the only one attending a different church and somehow my mom never liked the idea. As the days went by I tried to use drinking and smoking to cover up the deep shame and guilt I was battling with. But as soon as the high was over, the thoughts came back and I felt stuck like I couldn’t move forward.

Police: Gunman wielded AK-47 inside Georgia school; no one injured

A gunman who opened fire at a Georgia elementary school on Tuesday was armed with an AK-47 "and a number of other weapons," police said.

The shooter barricaded himself in the school's front office with employees before eventually surrendering to police, DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander told reporters.

No one was injured, authorities said.

Suspected shooter Michael Brandon Hill, 20, faces charges including aggravated assault on a police officer, terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said.

The shooter fired approximately six shots from inside the school toward officers as they approached outside, Alexander said, and police returned fire.

Police said it is unclear whether the suspect had any connection with the school, the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, which is about seven miles east of downtown Atlanta. Investigators believe the gunman entered the school behind someone, Alexander said.

As the standoff unfolded, a caller told CNN affiliate WSB's assignment desk that she was in the school office with a gunman.

The man had a message he wanted the woman to share with the local television station, assignment editor Lacey LeCroy said, describing the conversation during WSB's newscast Tuesday evening.

"She said he told her to tell me he was not afraid to die," LeCroy said.

The gunman also threatened to harm police, the woman said, according to LeCroy.

Later, LeCroy heard gunshots crack over the television station's phone line. The woman in the school office wasn't sure who had fired, LeCroy said.

Investigators initially suspected there could be explosives in a vehicle the shooter parked outside the school, but police found no explosives inside, Parish said.

Teachers and administrators had guided the students out to a lawn outside the school's gym, where they remained while investigators combed the school to make sure no other threat remained. Concerns about explosives forced SWAT teams to cut a hole in a fence by the school and evacuate students through the yard of a neighboring home, Alexander said. On a nearby street, school buses waited to take them to safety.

"This was a very unusual situation where we had to get the kids away from any possible explosives," Alexander said.

Students were reunited with their parents at a nearby shopping center Tuesday afternoon. The children smiled and waved and parents cheered as each school bus arrived with students aboard.

"Everybody's safe," DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Michael Thurmond said.

"This thing came out for the best," said Dale Holmes, DeKalb County's assistant police chief. "Thank God no one was hurt -- not even the suspect."l

culled from www.cnn.com

Zuckerberg's plan to connect the world

Most of us take the Internet for granted. But think about what Internet access would mean to 5 billion people who don't currently have it.

That's the idea behind a new campaign, internet.org, led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"We want to make it so that anyone, anywhere -- a child growing up in rural India who never had a computer -- can go to a store, get a phone, get online, and get access to all of the same things that you and I appreciate about the Internet," Zuckerberg said in an exclusive broadcast interview with CNN's "New Day" anchor Chris Cuomo.
"They're going to use it to decide what kind of government they want, get access to healthcare for the first time ever, connect with family hundreds of miles away that they haven't seen in decades."
More than 4.5 billion of the 7 billion people on Earth don't have Internet access, according to the World Bank. The biggest gaps are in Eritrea (just 0.8% have access), Timor-Leste (0.9%) and Myanmar (1.1%). Even in the United States, 19% don't have Internet access.
About 1 billion people are already using Facebook.
Zuckerberg imagines a world in which everyone has the "same ability to share their opinions and speak freely -- I think that would be a much better place."
"Connectivity is a human right," he added.


Zuckerberg knows connecting everyone is a tall order, and he has signed up big tech companies to join the effort, including Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung.
Other companies have embarked on a similar mission.
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) is sending balloons with radio antennas into the stratosphere as part of a project called "Loon" aimed at connecting people without Internet access. Alcatel-Lucent is bringing its inexpensive lightRadio technology to small villages without cell towers. And phone manufacturers are racing to develop smartphones that cost less than $15 -- a goal that even top-tier smartphone makers such as Nokia, Samsung and BlackBerry are working diligently to reach.
How much will it cost? Zuckerberg says he's already invested more than $1 billion in his mission to get people connected, and he's "hoping to do a lot more."
The key to the effort will be mobile, which is a big part of Facebook's growth strategy.
Facebook (FB) stock tanked after its IPO last year when investors worried about its efforts to generate advertising revenue from people checking Facebook on mobile phones.


The stock has had a rebound in recent months after the company began to show progress in that area. Another 5 billion "customers" certainly wouldn't hurt. But Zuckerberg bristles at the idea that the internet.org campaign is about profits.

"If we really just wanted to focus on making money, the first billion people who are already on Facebook have way more money than the next five or six billion people combined," Zuckerberg said. "It's not fair, but it's the way that it is. And, we just believe that everyone deserves to be connected, and on the Internet, so we're putting a lot of energy towards this."

 culled from www.cnn.com/money

Zuckerberg's plan to connect the world

Most of us take the Internet for granted. But think about what Internet access would mean to 5 billion people who don't currently have it.

That's the idea behind a new campaign, internet.org, led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"We want to make it so that anyone, anywhere -- a child growing up in rural India who never had a computer -- can go to a store, get a phone, get online, and get access to all of the same things that you and I appreciate about the Internet," Zuckerberg said in an exclusive broadcast interview with CNN's "New Day" anchor Chris Cuomo.
"They're going to use it to decide what kind of government they want, get access to healthcare for the first time ever, connect with family hundreds of miles away that they haven't seen in decades."
More than 4.5 billion of the 7 billion people on Earth don't have Internet access, according to the World Bank. The biggest gaps are in Eritrea (just 0.8% have access), Timor-Leste (0.9%) and Myanmar (1.1%). Even in the United States, 19% don't have Internet access.
About 1 billion people are already using Facebook.
Zuckerberg imagines a world in which everyone has the "same ability to share their opinions and speak freely -- I think that would be a much better place."
"Connectivity is a human right," he added.


Zuckerberg knows connecting everyone is a tall order, and he has signed up big tech companies to join the effort, including Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung.
Other companies have embarked on a similar mission.
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) is sending balloons with radio antennas into the stratosphere as part of a project called "Loon" aimed at connecting people without Internet access. Alcatel-Lucent is bringing its inexpensive lightRadio technology to small villages without cell towers. And phone manufacturers are racing to develop smartphones that cost less than $15 -- a goal that even top-tier smartphone makers such as Nokia, Samsung and BlackBerry are working diligently to reach.
How much will it cost? Zuckerberg says he's already invested more than $1 billion in his mission to get people connected, and he's "hoping to do a lot more."
The key to the effort will be mobile, which is a big part of Facebook's growth strategy.
Facebook (FB) stock tanked after its IPO last year when investors worried about its efforts to generate advertising revenue from people checking Facebook on mobile phones.


The stock has had a rebound in recent months after the company began to show progress in that area. Another 5 billion "customers" certainly wouldn't hurt. But Zuckerberg bristles at the idea that the internet.org campaign is about profits.

"If we really just wanted to focus on making money, the first billion people who are already on Facebook have way more money than the next five or six billion people combined," Zuckerberg said. "It's not fair, but it's the way that it is. And, we just believe that everyone deserves to be connected, and on the Internet, so we're putting a lot of energy towards this."

 culled from www.cnn.com/money

How Shows Like Big Brother Under-Developing Africa

President Barack Obama recently decried the “change in culture” that has altered what he called the view of the American Dream. He took a swipe at Kim Kardashian and Kanye West for being the poster boy and girl respectively of this damaging culture.
Relieving the good old days, he said “There was not that window into the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Kids weren’t monitoring every day what Kim Kardashian was wearing, or where Kanye West was going on vacation”.
He could as well have been speaking for Nigerians, nay Africans. The African society is increasingly under assault as we make advances in modernity. This is fueled by the increasingly corrupt pop culture which is heavily influenced by the mass media. The pervasiveness of these collection of ideas can be seen all around as it permeates the everyday lives of the society. It has brought with it a certain superficiality, consumerism and sensationalism.
This can be seen in that decadent show that seems to have captured the imagination of not just the young but also the elderly. The exhibition of licentiousness going on in that house of shame called Big Brother Africa is more than a source of concern, it is the repudiation of morality and sanity in the name of modernity and it is being thumbed in our noses by Multichoice; an agency of western imperialism.
Reality television shows present unscripted situations, peopled by unprofessional actors, depending on the genre. But what does the Big brother genre of reality television want to impart to Africans?
The answer is perversion. The show has unleashed perversion at a level that will be very difficult to erase. It is damaging the scant morality we still subscribe to in a terribly debased world.
Big Brother was popularized by George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. But this is not the Big Brother he was talking about when he wrote that book. The term “Big Brother” was the lexicon for abuse of government power, particularly in respect to civil liberties, often specifically related to mass surveillance.
Every year, Multi Choice unleashes this vile content on the continent into millions of homes. But it must be seen for what it is; a slow destruction of societal values.
Reality television shows have a powerful hypnotic effect on viewers. But while reality television may seem like a harmless form of entertainment on the surface, the damage being done is so subtle but yet very powerful.
Why on earth will people be enticed to watch lewdness in the guise of education? What is the difference between this show and pornography? The vilest and the vainest are put on display in the guise of promoting Africa.
Big brother Africa is a glaring example of the extent of depravity being pushed to African societies. The question to be asked is if it is part of a western agenda or a South African plan to destroy the fabric of African societies because it goes against all the grain of Africanness. With the west aggressively pushing the homosexual agenda across the world, we might soon have a reality show of homosexuals and lesbians under the guise of equality.
Its high time we repudiate non value television shows in all its forms; we cant ruin the future of our youths and the very young with this Big Brother nonsense.
Our political, economic, cultural and social structures are going bankrupt and the combined effects is creating a society going out of balance, exemplified by the bling-bling capitalism-materialism, and we stare a global debt holocaust, we witness structured abject poverty for the masses and extreme wealth for the elite.
Decency and moral high standards have been thrown to the pigs. With this new and sustained assault, we need serious societal introspection by asking; do we really need another reality TV show or perhaps it’s time for a reality check? There is a need to look at ourselves and ask if we will succeed or fail at this rate. As Socrates succinctly puts it, “The unexamined life is not worth living”.
The display of wanton sexual excesses, destruction of family values, with pornography and homosexuality becoming the hallmarks of modern moral decadence, which as history supposedly shows, will not only lead to the decline but the destruction of our society, has to stop!

culled from  www.news.naij.com

Igbo scholar disgraces Femi Fani-Kayode •Demolishes claims on Igbo/Yoruba history with facts and figures

An Igbo scholar, Dr. Samuel Okafor, has made one-time Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, look so small and uneducated by using facts and figures to demolish the claims he made in the controversial August 8 article, “The Bitter Truth About The Igbo”, which set off a storm that almost threatened Igbo-Yoruba relations.
In the first part of an article entitled “The Lies of Femi Fani-Kayode”, Okafor, who has a First Class in History from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and then did a Ph.D in Nsukka on scholarship, dismissed Fani-Kayode as a “half-baked intellectual.” He then proceeded, point by point, to address what he termed “the most reckless amongst the tangle of reckless comments spewed by Femi, a character who with each punch of his keypad stresses his severely unwell conditions of logorrhoea, delusions of enlightenment, history and sociology – amongst others.”
Below are Okafor’s words:
FEMI AND HIS SEVERELY IGNORANT LIES:
•Femi Lies About the Yorubas Being Nigeria’s Earliest Graduates:
From his myopic bubble Femi FaniKayode claims the Yoruba were the first to acquire Western education; the first ever known record of a literate Nigerian in the English Language is the narrative of an Ibo slave who regained his freedom and documented his life history as a slave from the time he was 11 years old in present day Ibo land till the time when he gained his freedom in the middle of the 18 th century. He later married an English woman and had 3 children. He died in 1795.
Femi, a basic Google-research will do you good here; check out the name, Equanoh OLAODAH. Further Femi claims that the Yoruba were the first lawyers and doctors in Nigeria. This is again a big falsehood. The first Nigeria doctor was an Effik man Silas G. Dove who obtained a medical degree from France and returned to practise medicine in 1840 in Calabar. This fact can also be verified from historical medical records in Paris.
I would also ask that you google the name BLYDEN – Edward Wilmot BLYDEN – an educated son of free Ibo slaves who by the mid-19th century had acquired sound theological education. He was born in Saint Thomas in 1832. He is one of the founding missionaries that established the Archbishop Vining church in Ikeja. Before the next time you succumb to your long-running battle with logorrhoea, Femi please do some research.
What about the third president of a free Liberia – President J JRoyle – again, a man of Ibo descent. Please take some time to do some research so that we can discuss constructively. It is wrong to peddle lies to your people. It is academic fraud to knowingly misrepresent facts just to score cheap points with people who do not have the discipline to do research and accept anything you pour out simply because they say you are well educated. To again quote the great Nobel Prize Winner in Economics Joseph Stiglitz; Femi fits into the category of third rate students from first rate universities with an inflated sense of self-importance. Let’s go on!
Who was the first Nigerian Professor of Mathematics – an Ibo man – Professor Chike Obi – the man who solved Fermat’s Last Theorem. He was followed by another Ibo man, Professor James Ezeilo, Professor of Differentail Calculus and the founder of the Ezeilo Constant. Please do some research on this great Ibo man. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka and one of the founders of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Who was Nigeria’s first Professor of Histroy – Professor Kenneth Dike who published the first account of trade in Nigeria in pre-colonial times. He was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Who was the first Professor of Microbiology – Professor Eni Njoku; he was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos. Anatomy and Physiology – Professor Chike Edozien is an Asaba man and current Obi of Asaba. Who was the first Professor of Anatomy at the University College Ibadan? Who was the first Professor of Physics? Professor Okoye, who became a Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. He was followed by the likes of Professor Alexander Anumalu who has been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physics three times for his research in Intermediate Quantum Physics. He was also a founding member of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Nuclear Physics and Chemistry – again another Ibo man – Professor Frank Ndili who gained a Ph.D in his early ’20s at Cambridge Univesity in Nuclear Physics and Chemistry in the early ’60s. This young Asaba man had made a First Class in Physics and Mathematics at the then University College Ibadan in the early ’50s. First Professor of Statistics – Professor Adichie who’s research on Non-Parametric Statistics led to new areas in statistical research. What about the first Nigerian Professor of Medicine – Professor Kodilinye – he was appointed a Professor of Medicine at the University of London in 1952. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka after the war. What about Astronomy – again another Ibo man was the first Professor of Astronomy – please, look up Professor Ntukoju – he was the first to earn a double Ph.D in Astronomy and Mathematics.
Let’s go to the Social Sciences – Demography and statistical research into population studies – again another Ibo man – Professor Okonjo who set up the first Centre for Population Research in Ibadan in the early ’60s. A double Ph.D in Mathematics and Economics. Philosophy – Professor G D Okafor, who became a Professor of Philosophy at the Amherst College USA in 1953. Economics – Dr. Pius Okigbo who became a visiting scholar and Professor of Economics at the University of London in 1954. He is also the first Nigerian Ph.D in Economics. Theology and theological research – Professor Njoku who became the first Nigerian to earn a Ph.D in Theology from Queens University Belfast in Ireland. He was appointed a Professor of Theology at the University College Zambia in 1952.
I am still conducting research in areas such as Geography where it seems a Yoruba man, Professor Mabogunje, was the first Professor. I also am conducting research into who was the first Nigerian Professor of English, Theatre Arts, Languages, Business and Education, Law and Engineering, Computer Technology, etc. Nigerians need to be told the truth and not let the lies that Femi Fani-Kayode has been selling to some ignorant Yoruba who feel that to be the first to see the white man and interact with him means that you are way ahead of other groups. The Ibo as The great Achebe said had within a span of 40 years bridged the gap and even surpassed the Yoruba in education by the ’60s. Many a Yoruba people perpetually indulge in self-deceit: that they were the first to go to school; to be exposed to Western education; that they are academically ahead of other Nigerian cultures of peoples. Another ignorant lie.
As far back as 1495 the Benin Empire maintained a diplomatic presence in Portugal. This strategic relationship did not just stop at a mere mission but extended to areas such as education. Scores of young Benin men were sent out to Portugal to study and lots of them came back with advanced degrees in Medicine, Law and Portuguese Language, to name a few.
Indeed, some went with their Yoruba and Ibo slaves who served the sons of the Benin nobility while they studied in Portugal. These are facts that can be verified by the logs kept by ship owners in Portugal from 1494 to 1830. It is kept at the Portuguese Museum of Geographic History in Lisbon.
Why then would several Yoruba people peddle all these falsehoods to show that they are ahead educationally in Nigeria? The true facts from the Federal Office of Statistics on education tell otherwise, showing that 3 Ibo states for the past 12 years have constantly had the largest number of graduates in the country, producing more graduates than Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Oyo states. These eastern states are Imo, Anambra and Abia. Yet he calls Ibos traders. Indeed, the Igbos dominate because excellence dominates mediocrity – truth.
Let me enlighten this falsehood’s mouthpiece even further: before the civil war Ibos controlled and dominated all institutions in the formal sector in Nigeria from the universities to the police to the military to politics:
•The first Black Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan was an Ibo man
•The first Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos was an Ibo man
•The first Nigerian Rector of the then Yaba College of Technology was also an Ibo man
•The police was run by an Ibo IG
•The military as a professional institution was also run by elite-ilk Ibos.
Facts can never be hidden. To be first does not mean you would win the race; let us open up all our institutions and may the best man win. Let us not depend on handouts or privileges but on heard work. Let us compete and give the best positions to our brightest – be it Ibo, Yourba or Fulani, and then we shall see who is the most successful Nigerian.
I find it difficult not to respond to some of these long-held lies that are constantly being peddled by Yorubas. One is that the Yoruba have the largest number of professors in the country. I would again ask that we stick to facts and statistical records. The Nigerian Universities Commission has a record of the state with the largest number of professors on their records and as at 2010 that state is Imo State followed by Ondo State and then Anambra State; the next state is Ekiti and then Delta before Kwara State. I am sure you Yorubas are surprised. When you sit in the South-West do not think others are sleeping but I wish to address another historical fact and that is who were the first Nigerians to receive Western education. It is important that these issues be examined in their historical context and evidence through research be presented for all to examine.
I have continued my research for as the great sociologist and father of modern sociology – Emile Durkheim – put it, the definition of a situation is real in its consequence . What this simply means is that one must never allow a perceived falsehood to become one’s reality and by extension individuals who accept a defined position act as though the situation is real and apply themselves in that narrowly defined perspective.
Why is this important to state it is because for long the Yoruba have peddled lies that have almost become accepted as the truth by other Nigerians but it is important that we lay down the facts for others to examine and come to their own conclusion for facts are facts. Let’s go back to education. Historically, Western education resulted as a product of indigenous ethnic groups interacting with the whites through trade. The dominant groups sold slaves, ivory gold and a host of other products to their European counterparts in exchange for finished goods – wine, tobacco, mirrors, etc.
The Bini who were the dominant military force from the 15th to the 19th century raided and sold other ethnicities to the Europeans. Top on the list of those they sold were the Yoruba, Ibo and Igala. Various other ethnicities suffered as a result of the Bini military expansion. And the Benin Kingdom stretched from present-day Benin up to what is now geographically referred to as Republic of Togo. Indeed, the influence of the Benin Empire extended to the banks of the river Niger to present-day Onistha. There are huge Yoruba settlements in the Anioma part of Delta State who fled Yoruba land as a result of these attacks and constant raids. Yes, there are Yoruba people who are currently living with Ibos in the Ibo-speaking part of Delta and they are full citizens of the place no one refers to them as strangers and there is no talk about the Ibos being the host community like we hear from the Governor of Lagos State. But let me return to research. Slaves were moved from the hinterland to the coast and many were sold through Eko to the New World. These slaves were the first to encounter the Europeans and by extension their way of life – this included education in a Western sense. The Bini King had taken pains to establish a diplomatic presence in Portugal and the relationship developed into areas that extended beyond trade in the late 15th century and lasted well into the early 19th century. Scores of young Bpni youth were sent to Portugal and studied there, coming back with advanced degrees in various disciplines. The next set of people to receive Western education were the slaves themselves. Some of them managed to buy their freedom and develop themselves further.
For the Ibo it does not matter who your father is; the question is: Who are you? Who was Obasanjo’s father? Was he the most educated Nigerian? I am sure the answer is no. Yet this Great Nigeria led this nation two times as a military Head of State and as a civilian President. What about GEJ? Who was his own father? Was he the first Nigerian to go to London? The answer is no. In fact, he had no shoes, yet he is fully in charge. So it does not matter if your father was the first Lawyer or first Doctor in Nigeria but rather what matters is what an individual does with the talents the Almighty has given to him. Let us open up Nigeria for competition. That is the solution to our problems. Those who want privileges keep reminding us that their fathers were the first to go to school in London. Every generation produces its own leaders and champions. Like Dangote who is the biggest employer of labour in Nigeria today and the richest man in Africa. Was his father the first to go to study in London? Yet he is the master of people whose parents gave them the best. My brothers, the answer to the Nigerian problem is that we should establish a merit-driven society. “I get am before” no be property.

culled from www.newsexpressngr.com

Egypt on edge after at least 278 killed in bloodiest day since revolution

Supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsy shout during clashes with Egyptian police at the Rabaah Al-Adawiya protest camp in Cairo's Nasr City district on Wednesday, August 14. Egypt declared a monthlong state of emergency as more than 200 have died and more than 1,400 have been wounded nationwide, according to state TV. Violence began when Egyptian security forces stormed two makeshift camps to clear out Morsy supporters.    A woman tries to stop a military bulldozer from hurting a wounded youth during clashes on August 14 in eastern Cairo.  Morsy supporters run as Egyptian security forces fire toward them on August 14.

An injured youth is seen at a makeshift hospital in Cairo on August 14.


Egypt, including its capital Cairo, teetered on the edge early Thursday as clashes persisted following the bloodiest day since the revolution two years ago that was envisioned to bring peace and democracy to Egypt -- but has not.

The violence Wednesday pitted Egypt's military and current government against backers of deposed President Mohamed Morsy, though others also were caught in the fray.

At least 278 people were killed, including 235 civilians, state TV reported, citing an Egyptian emergency official. Interim Interior Minister Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim said that an additional 43 police officers died.

"It's an open war," said a protester who escaped one of two Cairo camps that were raided.

The intensity and violence lingered into Thursday morning, when state TV reported Morsy backers were attacking police stations, hospitals and government buildings despite a government-mandated curfew. More Egyptian troops were being deployed at entrances to Cairo and Giza, with the unrest prompting the closure Thursday of banks and the nation's stock market.

The 2011 revolution that led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, who'd kept a firm grip on power for 30 years, was followed by Egypt's first democratic elections. Morsy -- a leader of the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood -- won the presidency in that 2012 vote, but was forced out by the military last month.

Morsy hasn't been seen since he was taken into custody. Yet his supporters have very public in voicing their opinions, massing on the streets of Cairo and elsewhere to slam military leaders and demand Morsy's return to the presidency.

Egypt's new government refused to back down, criticizing elements of the protest movement and specifically ordering them to leave two spots where they'd been gathering in Cairo for six weeks, or else they'd force them out.

On Wednesday, they did.

The story of what exactly transpired -- who attacked whom, who opened fire, who was to blame -- varied 180 degrees depending on where one stood in the debate over Egypt's past, present and future.

On the one side, there were Morsy supporters, one of whom accused government forces of waging a "full-on assault" on what they said had been, to-date, peaceful demonstrations. On the other, there were those like Ibrahim, who professed to being "surprised" by the "Muslim Brotherhood's (decision) to attack the security forces."

What couldn't be mistaken was the chaos, the bloodshed and the sense -- even with Prime Minister Hazem Elbeblawi's pledge "we hopefully will rebuild our nation" -- that the already volatile situation in Egypt could be getting worse.

"I think what we're seeing right now is just the beginning of what is promising to be a very, very long and bloody battle as the interim government and the security forces try to regain control of the streets," CNN's Arwa Damon reported from Cairo.

The government on Wednesday, according to state TV, issued a month-long state of emergency. This a loaded term in Egypt, given that Mubarak long ruled under such a decree that barred unauthorized assembly, restricted freedom of speech and let police jail people indefinitely.

The prime minister said the government felt compelled to act to ensure stability, praising security forces for their "calm" and claiming some activists had intent to undermine the government.

"We are here to build a democracy based on justice," Elbeblawi said. "... We have to reason and use common sense. We are all part of this nation."

Yet not everyone expressed faith in his government.

Mohammed ElBaradei -- a secular leader who was one of Morsy's biggest critics before joining the government that replaced him -- submitted his resignation Wednesday as vice president of foreign affairs, saying he didn't agree with decisions being carried out by the ruling government and "cannot be responsible for a single (drop of) blood." His decision spurred scorn from some former allies, with youth groups and June 30th coalition members questioning his stepping down "at this critical and historic phase," according to state-run EGYNews.

Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, sharply criticized "ongoing violence" by Brotherhood supporters against Coptic Christian churches in the country. He also chastised the government's crackdown on the Islamist group.

"Didn't have to happen," Roth tweeted. "MB had right to protest. No need for massive lethal force."

The European Union's top diplomat, Catherine Ashton, urged "security forces to exercise utmost restraint and ... the interim government to end the state of emergency as soon as possible, to allow the resumption of normal life."

In light of the ongoing violence, the United States is considering canceling next month's planned biennial military training exercise with Egyptian forces, an official in President Barack Obama's administration said.

Pressing Egypt's government "to respect basic human rights," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that Wednesday's "deplorable" events "run counter to Egyptian aspirations for peace, inclusion and genuine democracy."

"The path toward violence leads only to greater instability, economic disaster and suffering," he said.

Begins at 4pm local time on August 14

Declared by the interim president for a month

Army to help police maintain security

Police can detain people for extended periods of time

Unauthorized assembly barred

Authorities to monitor communications, media

A curfew imposed in Cairo and other provinces



The unpopular state of emergency law was in place in Egypt from 1967 to 2012

It was was lifted after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak

Morsy's government declared a limited state of emergency in January 2013



Source: CNN, Human Rights Watch

For weeks, the two makeshift Cairo protest camps had become cities unto themselves -- with people sleeping in tents, vendors hawking everything from haircuts to masks, and children playing in inflatable castles and splashing in kiddie pools.

At dawn on Wednesday, they came under siege.

Security forces rushed in, bulldozing tents and escorting away hundreds. Some mothers and fathers managed to whisk away their children, gas masks on their faces.

Within three hours, the smaller camp -- Nahda, near Cairo University -- was clear, except for shreds of torn-down tents that remained.

But the larger protest, near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in eastern Cairo, proved trickier. Facing heavy resistance, the military called in special forces.

Chaos ensued. Along with smoke, bursts of rapid gunfire filled the air, as did people's wails. Many protesters refused to leave, even in the face of bulldozers and surrounded by the injured and dead.

"They said they're prepared to die," CNN's Reza Sayah reported.

State TV reported that snipers from the Muslim Brotherhood -- Morsy's party -- exchanged gunfire with Egyptian security forces near a university building.

The dead included cameraman Mick Deane, who'd worked for UK-based news channel Sky News for 15 years and for CNN before that. Habiba Abdel Aziz of Gulf News, who was in Egypt on her own time having celebrated the Eid holiday, also died, editor-at-large Francis Matthew told CNN.

And Reuters photojournalist Asmaa Waguih was shot and wounded, the news agency told CNN. She was being treated in a hospital.

Ibrahim, the interim interior minister, claimed armed protesters were the aggressors -- including trying to storm police stations, the Ministry of Finance building and other targets in Cairo.

The fighting wasn't limited to the capital. Morsy backers reportedly besieged churches in Sohag, setting fire to Saint George's Church, a tour bus and a police car, EGYNews said.

Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian billionaire who helped found the anti-Morsy Free Egyptian Party, said his party had video of Muslim Brotherhood members "shooting machine guns on civilians, on police. So anyone who wants to call this a peaceful demonstration would be wrong."

But Ahmed Mustafa, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, told CNN that Sawiris was trying to misrepresent video of masked people with weapons.

Besides claiming they'd been shot at, the Muslim Brotherhood also accused police of throwing Molotov cocktails at makeshift clinics.

Security forces pushed doctors out of one hospital at gunpoint, a witness said, and a CNN crew at one point was "literally walking on the blood of the victims."

Yet Ibrahim said government forces had done what they could to limit casualties, with his ministry insisting, "Egyptian security forces are committed to the utmost self-restraint in dealing with the protesters."

Rather than uniting Egypt after Mubarak's fall, divisions remained rife -- and, in some ways, intensified -- during Morsy's time as president.

Critics accused him of being authoritarian, trying to force the Brotherhood's Islamic agenda, not being inclusive and failing to deliver freedom and justice.

The military coup to dismiss him, they said, was necessary since Morsy didn't fairly represent all Egyptians. So, too, were the efforts to force his supporters off the streets.

"We believe in human rights," said Shehab Wagih, a spokesman for the Free Egyptian Party speaking in favor of the military. "But at the same time, we cannot accept the idea of having a state inside a state."

Morsy's backers, meanwhile, accuse the military -- and the government it appointed -- of undermining the people's will, as expressed at the polls. The deposed president wasn't given a fair chance, they say, and his supporters have been unfairly targeted for expressing their opinion.

Talking Wednesday on CNN, Abdul Mawgoud Dardery of the pro-Morsy Anti-Coup National Alliance blamed "corrupt elements" in the Egyptian army for the bloodshed, calling their actions a "crime against humanity" and "state terrorism."

"All presidents make mistakes, but you don't have the army to remove them," Dardery said of Morsy. "... What are we telling to the rest of the Arab world, the Muslim world -- that bullets are better than ballots?"

culled from cnn.com

Egypt on edge after at least 278 killed in bloodiest day since revolution

 Supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsy shout during clashes with Egyptian police at the Rabaah Al-Adawiya protest camp in Cairo's Nasr City district on Wednesday, August 14. Egypt declared a monthlong state of emergency as more than 200 have died and more than 1,400 have been wounded nationwide, according to state TV. Violence began when Egyptian security forces stormed two makeshift camps to clear out Morsy supporters.

A woman tries to stop a military bulldozer from hurting a wounded youth during clashes on August 14 in eastern Cairo.

Morsy supporters run as Egyptian security forces fire toward them on August 14.
An injured youth is seen at a makeshift hospital in Cairo on August 14.
Plumes of smoke rise from the site of a protest in support of deposed President Morsy in Cairo on August 14.


Egypt, including its capital Cairo, teetered on the edge early Thursday as clashes persisted following the bloodiest day since the revolution two years ago that was envisioned to bring peace and democracy to Egypt -- but has not.

The violence Wednesday pitted Egypt's military and current government against backers of deposed President Mohamed Morsy, though others also were caught in the fray.

At least 278 people were killed, including 235 civilians, state TV reported, citing an Egyptian emergency official. Interim Interior Minister Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim said that an additional 43 police officers died.

"It's an open war," said a protester who escaped one of two Cairo camps that were raided.

The intensity and violence lingered into Thursday morning, when state TV reported Morsy backers were attacking police stations, hospitals and government buildings despite a government-mandated curfew. More Egyptian troops were being deployed at entrances to Cairo and Giza, with the unrest prompting the closure Thursday of banks and the nation's stock market.

The 2011 revolution that led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, who'd kept a firm grip on power for 30 years, was followed by Egypt's first democratic elections. Morsy -- a leader of the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood -- won the presidency in that 2012 vote, but was forced out by the military last month.

Morsy hasn't been seen since he was taken into custody. Yet his supporters have very public in voicing their opinions, massing on the streets of Cairo and elsewhere to slam military leaders and demand Morsy's return to the presidency.

Egypt's new government refused to back down, criticizing elements of the protest movement and specifically ordering them to leave two spots where they'd been gathering in Cairo for six weeks, or else they'd force them out.

On Wednesday, they did.

The story of what exactly transpired -- who attacked whom, who opened fire, who was to blame -- varied 180 degrees depending on where one stood in the debate over Egypt's past, present and future.

On the one side, there were Morsy supporters, one of whom accused government forces of waging a "full-on assault" on what they said had been, to-date, peaceful demonstrations. On the other, there were those like Ibrahim, who professed to being "surprised" by the "Muslim Brotherhood's (decision) to attack the security forces

What couldn't be mistaken was the chaos, the bloodshed and the sense -- even with Prime Minister Hazem Elbeblawi's pledge "we hopefully will rebuild our nation" -- that the already volatile situation in Egypt could be getting worse.

"I think what we're seeing right now is just the beginning of what is promising to be a very, very long and bloody battle as the interim government and the security forces try to regain control of the streets," CNN's Arwa Damon reported from Cairo.

The government on Wednesday, according to state TV, issued a month-long state of emergency. This a loaded term in Egypt, given that Mubarak long ruled under such a decree that barred unauthorized assembly, restricted freedom of speech and let police jail people indefinitely.

The prime minister said the government felt compelled to act to ensure stability, praising security forces for their "calm" and claiming some activists had intent to undermine the government.

"We are here to build a democracy based on justice," Elbeblawi said. "... We have to reason and use common sense. We are all part of this nation."

Yet not everyone expressed faith in his government.

Mohammed ElBaradei -- a secular leader who was one of Morsy's biggest critics before joining the government that replaced him -- submitted his resignation Wednesday as vice president of foreign affairs, saying he didn't agree with decisions being carried out by the ruling government and "cannot be responsible for a single (drop of) blood." His decision spurred scorn from some former allies, with youth groups and June 30th coalition members questioning his stepping down "at this critical and historic phase," according to state-run EGYNews.

Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, sharply criticized "ongoing violence" by Brotherhood supporters against Coptic Christian churches in the country. He also chastised the government's crackdown on the Islamist group.

"Didn't have to happen," Roth tweeted. "MB had right to protest. No need for massive lethal force."

The European Union's top diplomat, Catherine Ashton, urged "security forces to exercise utmost restraint and ... the interim government to end the state of emergency as soon as possible, to allow the resumption of normal life."

In light of the ongoing violence, the United States is considering canceling next month's planned biennial military training exercise with Egyptian forces, an official in President Barack Obama's administration said.

Pressing Egypt's government "to respect basic human rights," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that Wednesday's "deplorable" events "run counter to Egyptian aspirations for peace, inclusion and genuine democracy."

"The path toward violence leads only to greater instability, economic disaster and suffering," he said.

Begins at 4pm local time on August 14

Declared by the interim president for a month

Army to help police maintain security

Police can detain people for extended periods of time

Unauthorized assembly barred

Authorities to monitor communications, media

A curfew imposed in Cairo and other provinces



The unpopular state of emergency law was in place in Egypt from 1967 to 2012

It was was lifted after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak

Morsy's government declared a limited state of emergency in January 2013

For weeks, the two makeshift Cairo protest camps had become cities unto themselves -- with people sleeping in tents, vendors hawking everything from haircuts to masks, and children playing in inflatable castles and splashing in kiddie pools.

At dawn on Wednesday, they came under siege.

Security forces rushed in, bulldozing tents and escorting away hundreds. Some mothers and fathers managed to whisk away their children, gas masks on their faces.

Within three hours, the smaller camp -- Nahda, near Cairo University -- was clear, except for shreds of torn-down tents that remained.

But the larger protest, near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in eastern Cairo, proved trickier. Facing heavy resistance, the military called in special forces.

Chaos ensued. Along with smoke, bursts of rapid gunfire filled the air, as did people's wails. Many protesters refused to leave, even in the face of bulldozers and surrounded by the injured and dead.

"They said they're prepared to die," CNN's Reza Sayah reported.

State TV reported that snipers from the Muslim Brotherhood -- Morsy's party -- exchanged gunfire with Egyptian security forces near a university building.

The dead included cameraman Mick Deane, who'd worked for UK-based news channel Sky News for 15 years and for CNN before that. Habiba Abdel Aziz of Gulf News, who was in Egypt on her own time having celebrated the Eid holiday, also died, editor-at-large Francis Matthew told CNN.

And Reuters photojournalist Asmaa Waguih was shot and wounded, the news agency told CNN. She was being treated in a hospital.

Ibrahim, the interim interior minister, claimed armed protesters were the aggressors -- including trying to storm police stations, the Ministry of Finance building and other targets in Cairo.

The fighting wasn't limited to the capital. Morsy backers reportedly besieged churches in Sohag, setting fire to Saint George's Church, a tour bus and a police car, EGYNews said.

Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian billionaire who helped found the anti-Morsy Free Egyptian Party, said his party had video of Muslim Brotherhood members "shooting machine guns on civilians, on police. So anyone who wants to call this a peaceful demonstration would be wrong."

But Ahmed Mustafa, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, told CNN that Sawiris was trying to misrepresent video of masked people with weapons.

Besides claiming they'd been shot at, the Muslim Brotherhood also accused police of throwing Molotov cocktails at makeshift clinics.

Security forces pushed doctors out of one hospital at gunpoint, a witness said, and a CNN crew at one point was "literally walking on the blood of the victims."

Yet Ibrahim said government forces had done what they could to limit casualties, with his ministry insisting, "Egyptian security forces are committed to the utmost self-restraint in dealing with the protesters."

Rather than uniting Egypt after Mubarak's fall, divisions remained rife -- and, in some ways, intensified -- during Morsy's time as president.

Critics accused him of being authoritarian, trying to force the Brotherhood's Islamic agenda, not being inclusive and failing to deliver freedom and justice.

The military coup to dismiss him, they said, was necessary since Morsy didn't fairly represent all Egyptians. So, too, were the efforts to force his supporters off the streets.

"We believe in human rights," said Shehab Wagih, a spokesman for the Free Egyptian Party speaking in favor of the military. "But at the same time, we cannot accept the idea of having a state inside a state."

Morsy's backers, meanwhile, accuse the military -- and the government it appointed -- of undermining the people's will, as expressed at the polls. The deposed president wasn't given a fair chance, they say, and his supporters have been unfairly targeted for expressing their opinion.

Talking Wednesday on CNN, Abdul Mawgoud Dardery of the pro-Morsy Anti-Coup National Alliance blamed "corrupt elements" in the Egyptian army for the bloodshed, calling their actions a "crime against humanity" and "state terrorism."

"All presidents make mistakes, but you don't have the army to remove them," Dardery said of Morsy. "... What are we telling to the rest of the Arab world, the Muslim world -- that bullets are better than ballots?"