Inside Nigeria's Court 7, Aba (In Pictures)

Mount Etna Erupts For First Time In Eight Months

Mount Etna has erupted in a fiery show of lava in eastern Sicily.

The volcano's latest eruptions, which can last days and even weeks, began on Monday evening and are the first for eight months. The giant orange fountains of lava, spewing toward the sky, could be seen in the city of Catania and the resort town of Taormina.

Although volcanic ash clouds can cause flight disruptions, the nearby Catania airport was operating normally Tuesday. Authorities reported no danger to the towns that dot the mountain's slopes.

Etna, at 3,330 metres (10,926 feet), is the highest volcano in mainland Europe and can burst into action several times a year. The last major eruption was in 1992.

The eruption was not dangerous and the airport of Catania is still open and fully operating.

Nokia has re-released its classic 3310 model 17 years after it was first released

Nokia relaunches its old classic 3310 model 17 YEARS after it first launched complete with a month-long battery and SNAKE.

The new 3310 model pays homage to classic design but will come with colour screen. It has limited internet capabilities relying on 2.5G connectivity - slower than 3G. The old handset was very popular and sold 126m before it was phased out in 2005.

The iconic handset was a massive hit with users back in 2000 and now the mobile phone giant is relaunching it with a month-long battery, 22 hours of talk-time, and even its popular game, snake.

The 3310, a with a slick new look that pays homage to its original design, was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain.

While the handset looks similar to its predecessor, Nokia has brought its new model up to date and instead of the original display, a monochrome 84 x 84, it has a colour screen.

However, it has limited internet capabilities, relying on 2.5G connectivity, with users browsing at speeds slower than if they were using 3G.

It also has a single camera which has just two megapixels.

The phone, which sold 126million handsets until it was phased out in 2005, will be sold by Finish company HMD Global.

The firm believe the revamped 3310 offers users the perfect compromise to a modern life.

Chief executive Arto Nummela told the BBC: 'It's almost like a digital detox or a holiday phone.

'If you want to switch off to an extent but you still need to have a [mobile] lifeline, it's a brilliant solution.

Once the undisputed king of the mobile market, Nokia's fortunes took a turn for the worse after its decision to support the Windows mobile operating system exclusively.

With stiff competition from iOS and Android, the flagging firm's handset activities were sold in 2014 to Microsoft to allow Nokia to focus on mobile network equipment.

However, HMD now hope that they can cash in world's affection for the 3310 with handsets costing around £49 each.

The tragically powerful story behind the lone German who refused to give Hitler the Nazi salute

Adopted by the Nazi Party in the 1930s, Hitler's infamous "sieg heil" (meaning "hail victory") salute was mandatory for all German citizens as a demonstration of loyalty to the Führer, his party, and his nation.

August Landmesser, the lone German refusing to raise a stiff right arm amid Hitler's presence at a 1936 rally, had been a loyal Nazi.

Landmesser joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and began to work his way up the ranks of what would become the only legal political affiliation in the country.

Two years later, Landmesser fell madly in love with Irma Eckler, a Jewish woman, and proposed marriage to her in 1935.

After his engagement to a Jewish woman was discovered, Landmesser was expelled from the Nazi Party.

Landmesser and Eckler decided to file a marriage application in Hamburg, but the union was denied under the newly enacted Nuremberg Laws.

The couple welcomed their first daughter, Ingrid, in October 1935.

And then on June 13, 1936, Landmesser gave a crossed-arm stance during Hitler's christening of a new German navy vessel.

The act of defiance stands out amid the throng of Nazi salutes.

In 1937, fed up, Landmesser attempted to flee Nazi Germany to Denmark with his family. But he was detained at the border and charged with "dishonoring the race," or "racial infamy," under the Nuremberg Laws.

A year later, Landmesser was acquitted for a lack of evidence and was instructed to not have a relationship with Eckler.

Refusing to abandon his wife, Landmesser ignored Nazi wishes and was arrested again in 1938 and sentenced to nearly three years in a concentration camp.

He would never see the woman he loved or his child again.

The secret state police also arrested Eckler, who was several months pregnant with the couple's second daughter.

She gave birth to Irene in prison and was sent to an all-women's concentration camp soon after her delivery.

Eckler is believed to have been transferred to what the Nazi's called a "euthanasia center" in 1942, where she was murdered with 14,000 others.

After his prison sentence, Landmesser worked a few jobs before he was drafted into war in 1944.

A few months later, he was declared missing in action in Croatia

How to move to Sweden and become a Swedish citizen

The Scandinavian country's idyllic land boasts some of the happiest people on earth, thanks to the country's egalitarian values, paid parental leave policies, single-payer healthcare system, and breathtaking scenery — all of which leads thousands of people to immigrate each year.

Applying for citizenship requires you to live in the country for five years and have a "proven" identity — which also means you'd have to adjust to wintertime darkness.

For those who weren't born there, here's how you become a Swede.

Be at least 18 years old — unless you know someone.

While the age requirements are hard and fast for adult citizenship, kids are given some leeway.

Parents of kids under 12 years old can apply for their child's citizenship as long as the parent is already a Swedish citizen. Kids over 12 must sign a consent form saying they want to become a citizen.

Once a child reaches 15 years old, they have to show they've been living in Sweden for at least three consecutive years "and have conducted themselves well," according to Sweden's immigration office.

Be able to prove your identity.

A passport or similar document with an accompanying photo is fine.

Alternatively, a relative or loved one can vouch for your identity, provided they're already a Swedish citizen. According to the immigration office, for a loved one to prove your identity, the two of you must have lived together before moving to Sweden.

"You must have lived together for such a period," the requirements read, "that your spouse has knowledge of your background and life story so that your identity can be attested to without doubt."

Have a permanent residence in Sweden.

If you're planning on spending more than 90 days in Sweden — for work, studying, or starting a business — you have to submit an application for a residence permit.

This is what you'll eventually need to become a citizen. 

Spend five years at that permanent residence.

If you want to be an actual Swede — a citizen — you have to prove you're in it for the long haul.

There are certain circumstances when you can cut the five years short, like when you've already been living with a Swedish citizen for two years somewhere else. In that case, you only need to live in Sweden for three consecutive years.

Be on your best behaviour.

Sweden makes it clear in no uncertain terms: Citizens obey the law.

"In order to become a Swedish citizen, you must have conducted yourself well during your time in Sweden," the immigration office says. "The Swedish Migration Agency looks both at how you have previously conducted yourself and how we believe that you will conduct yourself in the future."

The agency looks at whether you have any outstanding debts in Sweden, committed any crimes, or pose any security threats.

Learn Swedish (even if you don't technically have to).

Swedes are no slouches when it comes to speaking English.

That's comforting at first, but can become an obstacle if you're trying to fully integrate into Swedish culture.

That's to say nothing of the fact that Swedish is extremely difficult to learn. (Thankfully, you don't have to take a language test to become a citizen.)

Consider signing up for the free language-learning course, Swedish for Immigrants.

Prepare for lots of coffee.

The Swedes are an industrious folk, but they can't get by without taking a break or two.

Each day, people sit down for a cup of coffee and find something sweet to nibble on as they catch up on life.

It's a tradition known as fika, and it's just as much about the socializing as it is about the sustenance.

Buy a high-quality winter coat and get ready for darkness.

Swedish summers can offer 20 hours of daylight. During the winter months, meanwhile, nighttime can grip the country for just as long.

These stretches of cold weather mean lots of darkness and below-freezing temperatures, so best to brace yourself for the absence of sunlight.

At least the country is beautiful even when it's not lit up.

Don't bring fancy clothes.

Formal attire in Sweden looks more like professional attire in the US, which means everyday office employees — unless they're high-ranking professionals — don't wear dress clothes.

For the most part, jeans will get you by. So pack one suit or dress — it's too casual (and too cold) for much else.

New Florida passenger train unveiled

WEST PALM BEACH — After years of failed attempts to bring higher-speed rail service to the Sunshine State, officials with Brightline relished a historic moment Wednesday, showing off the first train set delivered to their operations center in this South Florida city.

According to ustoday.com, the two locomotives and four passenger coaches, collectively dubbed "BrightBlue," arrived in West Palm Beach last month and were put on public display for the first time Wednesday. The set will soon be followed by four more - BrightOrange, BrightPink, BrightRed and BrightGreen - with the hopes of starting regular service by this summer.

If all goes according to plan, it will be the first privately run and operated rail service launched in the United States in over 100 years. And for passengers, it will mark the culmination of years of efforts to create a higher-speed rail option between the tourist havens of Orlando and Miami.

Brightline president Mike Reininger said he expects about 3 million passengers a year in the first phase of operations, which will run between stations in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. By the time rail lines and stations are completed to Orlando, possibly by 2018, Reininger said they hope to lure up to 5.5 million passengers per year.

During a media tour Wednesday, officials from Brightline and Siemens, the California company that built the cars, showed off the new train set and the operations facility where they will be serviced.

The two locomotives feature 16-cylinder, 4,000 horsepower engines that will both be running when the train is moving. Russ Harvey of Siemens said local laws limit the train's speed to 79 mph throughout the heavily-populated South Florida region. Once it gets a bit farther north on its way to Orlando, it can kick it up to 125 mph. And, if it were allowed, Harvey said it could go even faster.

"It can go 125 mph not even at full throttle," Harvey said with a grin.

The 32-inch wide aisles allow wheelchairs and strollers to easily pass through. The seats - 19 inches wide in the standard "Smart" coaches, 21 inches wide in the higher-end "Select" coach - are designed to recline in a way that doesn't interfere with passengers seated behind. All rows have power outlets, and tables include pop-up charging stations with power outlets and USB connections.






Each car has a large storage area that holds bicycles and larger bags. And each bathroom is designed to be completely hands-free, including doors, faucets and toilets that all operate with the wave of a hand.













Reininger said the Wi-Fi service on the train will be "continuous, powerful and free." And he said the trains will introduce a new concept - train stations built at the same level of the passenger coaches, meaning people won't have to climb up and down stairs to board.

The BrightBlue train set was pulled 3,000 miles from the Siemens factory in Sacramento, Calif., to the operations facility in West Palm Beach. That means the first test runs will start next week, with officials placing 40-pound bags of sand on each of the train's 240 seats to begin testing how it runs with passengers aboard.

After that, they expect to receive another train set per month, ending up with five sets that will begin operations this summer.

Members of ISIS nabbed in intelligence undercover

An undercover officer smashed a terror cell drumming up support for Islamic State extremists after he spent nearly two years infiltrating meetings to record their inflammatory speeches.

According to the telegraph.co.uk, the officer identified only as Kamal forged close relationships with the Luton chapter of a banned group linked to hate preacher Anjem Choudary as he collected evidence, a court heard.

Equipped with a false identity including a fake name, fake wife and fake business, he spent 20 months recording hundreds of encounters, and meetings where scores of people heard speeches praising Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isil).

In one rant, one of the gang spoke of 40 truck bombs “driving down Oxford Street”, the Old Bailey was told.

Speeches were delivered to up to 100 people, including young children, and the group praised Isil and urged others to travel to Syria to fight.

Zaiur Rahman, 39, was convicted of arranging meetings after putting up a marquee in his back garden to host the Luton chapter of Al-Muhajiroun. Meetings were also held in a nearby Methodist church hall.

Mohammed Choudry, 23, was found guilty of encouraging support for Isil, while Mohammed Istiak Alamgir, 37, Rajib Khan, 38, and Yousaf Bashir, 36, were convicted of similar offences last summer.

The invitation-only gatherings in June and July 2015 featured speeches calling for gay people to be thrown from buildings, the court heard.



One was held on the anniversary of the London Tube bombings while in another Choudry spoke of “40 trucks driving down Oxford Street full of explosives”.

Choudry, who is married with a young child, told his audience: “My brothers, there is a wave coming. Either you be part of it or you drown. Either you like it or you don't like it.'

Anjem Choudary, who was last year jailed for five-and-a-half years, spoke at one of the meetings in Rahman's garden.

Those attending the speeches included Shazib and Junead Khan. Junead Khan is serving a life sentence for plotting to kill a US soldier in the UK, while Shazib Khan is serving a 13-year jail term for plans to fight alongside Isis in Syria.

Rahman, from Luton, was convicted of three counts of arranging meetings in support of a proscribed organisation, while Choudry, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, was convicted of one count of encouraging support for a proscribed organisation.

Judge Michael Topolski QC told the pair they had been convicted “of arranging meetings and speaking at a meeting in support of a vicious terrorist organisation, who's members and supporters, just like you two, have hijacked and corrupted the principles and practices of an ancient and revered religion for its own purposes”.

Kamal accompanied Rahman and Choudry to a meeting where the speaker praised the massacre of 12 journalists at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The court heard a secret recording where the speaker says: “It's a great day, it's excellent news.”

Alamgir also collected money at the talks to pay the legal fees of convicted terrorist Omar Bakri Muhammed - Anjem Choudary's mentor, seen by many as the head of Al-Muhajiroun.

Speaking after the verdict, Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard’s counter terrorism command, said: "These men were closely associated with Al-Muhajiroun, a dangerous group which has inspired and influenced numerous terrorists.

"Speeches like theirs inspire the terrorists of tomorrow and I am immensely pleased with the excellent work of my officers and Bedfordshire Police.”

All five men will be sentenced at a later date.

Nigeria Prison nmates hits 47,817 awaiting trial

No fewer than 47,817 inmates are currently awaiting trial in Nigerian prisons out of a total number of 69,200 detai-nees, according to www.vanguardngr.com.

The Country Director of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, CURE-Nigeria, Mr. Sylvester Uhaa made this known at a roundtable for criminal justice actors in Benue State, put together by his organization in conjunction with the Benue State High Court of Justice, Makurdi.

Uhaa lamented that many detainees stayed on pre-trial longer than convicts and far longer than they would have stayed in prison if they had been convicted.

He said, “As a result the prisons are overstretched and overcrowded with many holding thrice their designated capacities.

They have also become breeding grounds for diseases and criminality, with huge consequences on prison inmates, their families and society.

In addition, there are either no or too little rehabilitation programs available in the prisons.”

He said the situation in the prisons had become almost impossible to manage and often resulting in jail breaks. “This situation is a time bomb we are all sitting on, and when it explodes, none of us, no matter how safe we think we are, will be spared”, he added.

Uhaa urged President Muhammadu Buhari and state Governors to take immediate steps to address the issue by decongesting the prisons in the country and also place emphasis on justice and prison reforms and prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration.

The most technologically advanced country in the world

The Baltic nation of Estonia only has 1.3 million citizens stands out from its Eastern European neighbors in that it has an advanced economy and a high standard of living. And it’s a technology paradise. You may know it as the home of Skype. But there’s a lot more to the tiny country than that.

In Estonia, voting, signing documents and filling out tax returns is done online, thanks to X-Road, an online tool that coordinates multiple online data repositories and document registries. X-Road provides all Estonians — ordinary citizens, enterprises and government officials — with unparalleled access to the data they need to do business, get licenses, permits and other documents that would take days, weeks or even months in other countries.

X-Road is built with scalability in mind, so that the growing number of services and repositories can easily be attached to the system. Although this digital backbone alone is rather impressive, it’s just one of many products in tech-forward Estonia.

Instead of being held back by its past and falling victim to ailments that plague many post-communist countries, such as corruption, a bloated government and an obsolete education system, Estonia has decided to start with a clean slate and invest in its future. To transform its society into a community of tech-savvy individuals, children as young as 7 are taught the principles and basics of coding. (In comparison, only one in four schools in the U.S. teaches computer programming.)

Such strong foundations have yielded impressive results: Estonians are driven, forward-thinking and entrepreneurial, and the same goes for the government. It takes only five minutes to register a company there and, according to The Economist, the country in 2013 held the world record for the number of startups per person. And it’s not quantity over quality: Many Estonian startups are now successful companies that you may recognize, such as Skype, Transferwise, Pipedrive, Cloutex, Click & Grow, GrabCAD, Erply, Fortumo, Lingvist and others. By the way, Estonia uses the euro.

If all this sounds enticing and you wish to become an entrepreneur there, you’re in luck; starting a business in Estonia is easy, and you can do it without packing your bags, thanks to its e-residency service, a transnational digital identity available to anyone. An e-resident can not only establish a company in Estonia through the Internet, but they can also have access to other online services that have been available to Estonians for over a decade. This includes e-banking and remote money transfers, declaring Estonian taxes online, digitally signing and verifying contracts and documents, and much more.

E-residents are issued a smart ID card, a legal equivalent to handwritten signatures and face-to-face identification in Estonia and worldwide. The cards themselves are protected by 2048-bit encryption, and the signature/ID functionality is provided by two security certificates stored on the card’s microchip.

But great innovations don’t stop there. Blockchain, the principle behind bitcoin that also secures the integrity of e-residency data, will be used to provide unparalleled safety to 1 million Estonian health records. The blockchain will be used to register any and all changes, illicit or otherwise, done to the health records, protecting their authenticity and effectively eliminating any abuse of the data therein.

While there are many lessons that the U.S. and the rest of the world can learn from Estonia, these are especially important: A country must be willing to adapt and change the infrastructure of both the government and the economy if needed, and to continually optimize them. A nation needs to understand that a change of mindset should be thorough and start with the young. An education system should be designed in a way that doesn’t cripple young minds, or overburden them with too much irrelevant information. And, finally, if you want entrepreneurship to thrive, it is necessary to remove bureaucratic and technical obstacles at all levels.
How close is your country to Estonia in technology? Let me know in the comment section below.

Basket Mouth Is Now A Knight

Popular comedian Basket mouth has become a knight of the United Kingdom.

In a statement posted on his social media wall, he said " I am humbled, God is truly amazing. Your majesty, thank you for the great honour. Yours truly, Sir Okpocha Bright.

Meanwhile congratulatory messages have been pouring in since his post on social media. One of them is from his friend and comedian, Bovi, who wrote "Say hello to the latest knight in town, Sir Bright Okpocha, the Ogwi Microphone 1 of United Kingdom."

We say congratulations to him.

Girl, 12, livestreams her own suicide on Facebook after she was 'sexually abused by a relative'

The horrific suicide video of a 12-year-old girl has gone viral.

Katelyn Nicole Davis, of Cedartown Georgia, streamed herself on Facebook live on December 30, saying that she had been sexually abused by a family member. She continued filming as she hanged herself in the front yard of her Cedartown home.

Police rushed to Davis's home to save the girl on the evening of her suicide, but she was pronounced dead after being taken to Polk Medical Center’s Emergency Room.

The video - which ends with the girl hanging from the tree for around 20 minutes as the sun sets, while a woman off-camera can be heard calling her name - was then removed from her Facebook page.

According to Coosa Valley News Wednesday, Davis posted on her blog on December 27 that she had been sexually abused by a relative.

A January 1 capture of a blog purporting to be Davis's, but written under the pseudonym 'Dolly' - a name she used in other social media - lists abuse from a male relative including being hit with a studded belt. She adds he 'tried to rape me.'

It goes on to allege that the man told her to hang herself after she asked him to 'stop being so perverted in front of my younger siblings.'

In a second post the same day, the writer says she is suffering from depression and discusses different methods of committing suicide.

She ends by asking her readers to advise her on how to deal with depression.

In the weeks since her death, however, the Polk County Police Department has been flooded with calls from as far abroad as Britain, alerting them to websites sharing the video.

One was from a California police officer who saw the video on the night of Davis's death. 

'We want it down as much as anyone for the family and it may be harmful to other kids,' said Polk County Police Chief Kenny Dodd.

Rapper jailed for 23 years after raping, beating and torturing woman with hot iron in three day ordeal

Courtney Hutchinson, known as rapper DVS and 1ARDA on social media, held the 20-year-old in his flat before she managed to escape and flee naked into the street.

The 32-year-old even burnt her with an iron in scenes that mirrored British film The Intent in which he burns a man in a similar way as he is strapped to a table.

He even filmed his real life savage attack on his phone as he forced the woman to beg for her life while he told her to call her mum and say goodbye.

The attack on the victim began on February 5 last year when she drove to a flat Hutchinson used near London’s City Airport, east London.

He immediately began attacking, punching and kicking her.
Afterwards he forced her to eat a meal before going to bed before becoming even angrier then next morning and repeatedly hitting the victim.

He went on to push the legs of a chair into her stomach, drag her around the flat by her hair and whip her repeatedly with a phone charger cable.

Hutchinson pressed a heated iron onto her exposed skin several times before holding it above her face and demanding she burn herself as she pleaded with him to stop.

The force of his attack left the woman with 40 injuries, including a fractured eye socket, broken nose, dislocated shoulder, stab wound to the hand and severe burns.

Hutchinson told the victim that she would die the next day, and then raped her.
On the third day Hutchinson continued his assault, also forcing her into a hot shower and stamping on her burns.

He filmed her, making her state on camera that she was a bad person.

Throughout the entire ordeal he kept her naked until she finally saw an opportunity to escape.

The victim was taken to the Royal London Hospital and continues to receive treatment for the injuries inflicted.


Hutchinson pleaded guilty to rape, false imprisonment and GBH with intent on the second day of his trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in July.

Yesterday, he was jailed for life and was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Detective Sergeant Jimi Tele, from Newham police, said: ‘I would like to praise the bravery and determination of the victim of this truly harrowing ordeal.

‘Her resoluteness in coming forward and working with the police in securing the imprisonment of a truly dangerous offender is worthy of the highest recognition.

‘Courtney Hutchinson subjected his victim to the most shocking and repeated levels of violence.
‘It was her determination, in company with the skill of the investigation team, that allowed the full severity of the attack to be revealed and that ultimately led to Hutchinson’s arrest and conviction.’

Hutchinson, of Brixton, south London, will also remain on the sex offenders register for life.

Dylann Roof given death sentence for killing nine black church members

During the massacre in 2015, he walked into a Bible study group and sat listening for almost an hour before he took out a hand gun and opened fire, according to metro.co.uk.

He said he acted to try and bring back segregation or start a race war by killing congregation members at the historically black church of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

In his confession to the FBI, he said he felt that he ‘had to do it’. Speaking today, he said ‘I still feel that way.’
Roof, who is white, faced either life in prison or execution for the slayings on June 17, 2015. The same jury which found him guilty was tasked with deciding his sentence, and reached their conclusion after about three hours.

When asked by police why he ‘had to do it’, the killer replied: ‘I had to do it because somebody had to do something.’
He said he ‘was sitting there for 15 minutes’ thinking about whether he should carry out the attack.
‘I knew I could have just walked out because they didn’t say anything to me about the thing on my belt,’ he said in an FBI interview. ‘So I could have walked out, that’s what I was just thinking.
‘Then I just, like, I don”t know just like, I don’t want to say spur of the moment but I just finally decided I had to do it. And that’s pretty much it.’

His legal team said they were sorry that ‘despite our best efforts, the legal proceedings have shed so little light on the reasons for this tragedy,’ a veiled referenced to the mental issues they wanted to present during sentencing.

The juriors’ decision means Roof will be the first American to get the death penalty for federal hate crimes.
He was convicted last month of all 33 federal charges against him.

During sentencing, he represented himself and told jurors he didn’t have a mental illness.
But he didn’t offer any remorse or ask that his life be spared.

After the verdict today, the brother of Cynthia Hurd, one of Roof’s victims, said jurors made the right decision in sentencing him to death.

Malcolm Graham said it ‘sends a strong message’ that hate crimes will not be tolerated.
Graham said there is ‘no room in a civilised society for hatred, racism and discrimination.’

Elderly woman in wheelchair ‘pushed onto train tracks and smashed in the head with a rock’

A man has been held on suspicion of attempted murder after a woman in a wheelchair was ‘pushed onto train tracks and then beaten with a rock’.

CCTV footage from the station in Poland shows the disabled woman, 72, on the platform along with a figure dressed in black.

The film appears to show him push her wheelchair onto the rails, then jump down and start to beat her head with a rock

Other passengers then appear to pull him off her in the incident, which happened in the town of Leszno in south-western Poland.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was on her way to hospital and needed to change trains there during her journey from her home town of Czestochowa.

On the first train, she met a 33-year-old man, who is also unnamed, from the town of Ruda Slaska, and they spent the journey in conversation.

When they arrived at Leszno, he offered to help her catch her next train by pushing her in her wheelchair.
But he is then alleged to have pushed her to the edge of the railway platform and shoved her off, sending her over the edge and onto the tracks below.

The man then jumped down after her, picked up a large stone and started repeatedly hitting her in the head with it.

He had hit her more than a dozen times before witnesses spotted what was happening and ran over to pull the man off the woman and push him to the ground.

An ambulance was called and the woman was taken to hospital where she is being treated for multiple injuries including head wounds and broken ribs.

Police arrested the man and charged him with attempted murder.

He is being examined by psychiatrists to decide whether he is fit to stand trial.

FIFA approves the expansion to 48-team World Cup

The members of FIFA approved a measure on Tuesday that would expand the field of the World Cup from its current 32 teams to 48, a change that will be implemented in 2026.

The new format will see an initial round with 16 groups of three teams, with the top two teams advancing in each, leaving a field of 32.

Beyond concerns about diluting the talent with an expanded field, FIFA must also answer questions about how the extra two games for each team will affect the quality of play in the World Cup, and how wise it is to mess with the proven formula of the most beloved international soccer tournament in the world, according to Fox Sports.

New FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been a proponent of the expanded World Cup, initially proposing a 40-team tournament before eyeing an even larger field.

Spending Wisely. The Sniper's Approach

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Kenneth Ewoigbe
Motivational Speaker, Business Entrepreneur/Developer,
Webmaster, Internet Entrepreneur, Manpower Developer,
Human Capacity Developer,
Systems Consultant, Content Writer,
Fashion/Car Enthusiast

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"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars."
- J. Paul Getty

When it comes to investing, I prefer the 'sniper' approach as opposed to the 'machine-gun' approach.

A sniper is a highly trained marksman who targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the detection capabilities of enemy personnel.

One of the key secrets of a successful sniper is patience, good mastery of their weapon and self- control. A sniper can remain in the same position for hours or days if need be to achieve his objective.

On the other hand, 'machine-gunners' blaze in. They shoot sporadically at everything in sight, waste ammunition, sometimes fail in the mission and get killed in the process.

When it comes to investing, you do not want to be a 'machine-gunner'. Be a sniper.

A business tycoon, in his early days in business started learning to trade Forex online. He "...took the 'machine-gun' approach quite stupidly." he said.

He continued, "Ï refused to sleep for days and was constantly in and out of trades with 'cannon-type' position sizes and two things happened quite naturally:

1. I ran out of ammo. (I quickly emptied $6,500 plus -very quickly I must confess!)
2. I killed my investment portfolio and ran it into negatives on my accounts."

You see, although he must have used the 'Sniper' strategy long before he started trading forex, without knowing it, he never really understood it this way until I started trading forex.

To be 'sniper', you must first create a set of rules which will be your operating guidelines.

What's the point in planning to make a lot of money if you have no plan for keeping at least some of the money?

I have made this mistake many times. And I don't want you to make the same mistake, that is why you should create a set of rules to guide you.

Here is a guide for creating your rules. Rules will differ from person to person based on your age, education, religious orientation, personality traits etc

For instance there are people who can loose 15,000 in a deal and sleep soundly. There are yet others who will have a near nervous break-down if they were to loose 5,000.

Tomorrow, I shall break down different rules on which you can identify with at least one which you can run with. But until then, ponder on these, digest them or meditate on them; and if you like my articles, share my link, refer people to benefit from my blog. Share share share!!!

Until then, I say unto you my good friend. Bye bye!!

You Can Invest Without Money

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Kenneth Ewoigbe
Motivational Speaker, Business Entrepreneur/Developer,
Webmaster, Internet Entrepreneur, Manpower Developer,
Human Capacity Developer,
Systems Consultant, Content Writer,
Fashion/Car Enthusiast

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Intangible vs Tangible Investments

Over the years, I have met so many people who just won't move because they have no money. Agreed, you need cash when investing, but is it always?

My answer to that is no. There are intangible investments you can engage in that have an overall effect on your pocket. For instance, attend seminars (there are tons of free seminars).

Read books. Try to read at least one book a month. The average book will be 300pages. 'Book redox thinking'. Read ten pages a day. If that is too much work for you, get the audio version of the books and listen.

See http://audible.com - as I write this, I am almost completing a book by listening.

Learn a new language. Learn a new skill (manufacturing, animal rearing, programming, fashion design, etc). Meet people and get to know what they do. You never know when you will need a link or connection in your investment plan.

Read financial newsletters, spend time on financial websites. Just cut a little of your social media time and re-channel) etc.

Until I write to you again my good friend, I say unto you, have a wonderful day!

Spending Wisely (Good Investment)

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Kenneth Ewoigbe
Motivational Speaker, Business Entrepreneur/Developer,
Webmaster, Internet Entrepreneur, Manpower Developer,
Human Capacity Developer,
Systems Consultant, Content Writer,
Fashion/Car Enthusiast

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Redox Thinking

Mr. Rabbit has a goal of 1 million in 24 months. His monthly income is about 200,000. And to achieve his goal, he hatches a simple plan.

To buy lower priced parcels of land in areas on the fringe of development over a 2 year period and wait for appreciation. He gets good deals and gets plots of land nobody wants to buy at the moment for 60,000 per plot with a negotiation for 24 plots. Over the next two years, he pays 60,000 monthly as debt repayment with a payment plan of 60,000/mo which is 30% debt monthly.

4 years after, development reaches his lands. He flips the lands at 400,000 each, and banks 9.6 million which he uses to repeat the process. That's good debt at work.

But hold it. Don't just run off and start getting into debt. Every investment has an element of risk. In my next article, I will explain Risk to Reward ratio of investments, and give you some tips to smell a bad deal. I will also explain more on different types of investments.

Until then, I say unto you my good friend, Chao!

Good Debt vs Bad Debt - Tangible vs Intangible Investment

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Kenneth Ewoigbe
Motivational Speaker, Business Entrepreneur/Developer,
Webmaster, Internet Entrepreneur, Manpower Developer,
Human Capacity Developer,
Systems Consultant, Content Writer,
Fashion/Car Enthusiast

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Good Debt/Bad Debt

So what exactly is good debt vs bad debt, and how can you use it to your advantage?

Good debts are debts that are necessary, sustainable and which have the capacity to improve your life, that is productivity and pocket. On the other hand, bad debt is not just unnecessary but totally unsustainable.

Examples

If you borrow to go to school and prepare yourself for a better future, good debt. You can't quantify knowledge, and your knowledge can return what you borrow in multiple fold.

Consumer purchases are NOT investments; beds, cars, tvs, kitchen gadgets, clothing, - anything that naturally depreciates. When you borrow to get such items, you can safely classify as bad debt.

Now, let me make it simpler. Good debts are those things you cannot afford to pay for without wiping out your cash but which can return in multiple fold after you have them.

A good example is property. You've got 300,000 - the property is 300,000. Instead of wiping out your cash reserve, you do a down payment of 50,000 and service the rest over 12 or 24 months. Now that makes sense. Same goes for machinery for your business. Egg incubators for your farm, tractors, drilling machines etc.

Now, don't confuse yourself into thinking your tab is good debt if all you do is view movies and play games on it. Good debts generally have an inherent ability within them to pay for their own cost.

Playing games and seeing movies won't pay the bills. Or will it?

How do you use good debt in your favour?

Simple. Go into debt for things with a super ability to jump start your bank balance/networth. How? Till I write to you again tomorrow.

Until then I say unto you my good friend, Chao!

Spending Wisely

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Kenneth Ewoigbe
Motivational Speaker, Business Entrepreneur/Developer,
Webmaster, Internet Entrepreneur, Manpower Developer,
Human Capacity Developer,
Systems Consultant, Content Writer,
Fashion/Car Enthusiast

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Parkinson's Law

In 1955 - C. Northcote Parkinson, made an observation which today is known as Parkinson's Law and I rephrase in a simple, easy to understand way: "Your expenses will always rise to meet your income"

Unfortunately, we have a basic instinct to obey this law absolutely. Here is how it works. You earn 30,000 per month and you are happy and comfortable. You exist within the limits of 30,000.

Suddenly, there is a raise and you are booted up to 55,000 a month. Within a week, the scales fall off your eyes and you realize that you should have more than one shoe.You suddenly realize that drinking water directly from the well or tap isn't so in vogue and you start buying 'bottled water'. You suddenly discover that you should add beverages to the menu.

Then you need a gas cooker, hot plate burner and a microwave oven which then needs a generator to power it if you live in Nigeria-which means changing from small to a bigger one, and then you need to spend money to buy more fuel and pay for maintenance cost. You need a tab and a good phone to match the status of the job promotion too!

Get the drift?

And then a jump from 30,000 to 55,000 which you were ecstatic about 30 days earlier now looks like a curse because you are now spending more than you used to and the situation is worse than ever before.

Because your expenses has risen to match your income and exceeded it, you start borrowing and go into debt, and this is where the trouble really starts.

What happened?

You obeyed Parkinson's law to the later.

In truth, sometimes it makes sense to borrow. A lot of the time however, it doesn't.

In my opinion, the total debt you are paying in a month should not be more than 25-30% of your monthly income. If you are currently doing more than this in debt (especially towards servicing bad-debt), sit down and check it again.

It is very easy to spend more than you make. Very, very easy. In fact, no matter how much you earn, your expenses will somehow blow up to match your income and then exceed it, which leads to a state of deficit. That is why you need to consciously DISOBEY Parkinson's law! And for good.

Till I write to you again tomorrow, I say unto you my good friend "have a great day!"

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