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New Year's firecrackers in the Philippines left one man dead and hundreds injured after residents ignored government warnings about the dangerous devices.

Ronald Vericio died after shouting 'goodbye Philippines' as the firecracker exploded late last night, officials confirmed.

The noisy crackers, which are believed by many in the country to drive away bad luck, also set fire to more than 1,000 huts in Manila after revellers accidentally fired a rocket into an abandoned hut. 

New Year's firecrackers in the Philippines left one man dead and hundreds injured after residents ignored government warnings about the dangerous devices. Above, an injured man is helped out of a vehicle

Firecracker victims - including this young boy - were rushed into emergency rooms grimacing in pain as they held their bloodied limbs

The noisy crackers, which are believed by many in the country to drive away bad luck, also set fire to more than 1,000 huts in Manila

The 380 injuries come despite a gory government campaign showing pictures of past victims with horrific injuries.  

Firecracker victims were rushed into hospitals across the country grimacing in pain as they held their bloodied limbs.

An eight-year-old boy in the northern farming province of Nueva Vizcaya had three of his fingers amputated after a firecracker exploded in his hands, the country's health secretary Janet Garin said. 

At least nine children had their fingers amputated due to firecracker injuries, she added.

A young boy clutches his bloodied fingers as he waits in hospital following New Year's celebrations on Thursday

One boy squeezed his eyes shut as he was attended to by a medic after injuring himself in a firecracker explosion

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One young firework accident victim was taken to East Avenue Hospital by a medic who held her in his arms

A blood-covered young boy turns his head away as medical staff treated his wounds on New Year's Eve

Many of the victims came in with groups of friends who were also covered in blood following a night with the dangerous devices 

Elsewhere in the Philippines, 200 huts were razed to the ground after a separate fire spread. 

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A group of young boys were forced to run through a back alley as fire spread through a residential area in Manila

A resident jumps from their property as fire engulfs a house in Tondo, Manila at the height of New Year celebrations

An aerial shot shows the fire raging through the neighbourhood, which is one of the poorest in the area

A boy retrieves some items following an early morning fire that engulfed the poor neighborhood of Tondo while residents celebrated the New Year

Officials promoted professional firework displays at shopping centres and in cities in a desperate bid to stop residents putting on their own shows. Above, a display in Bocaue

A large religious group, Iglesia ni Cristo, said it set off more than 700,000 pyrotechnic devices to try to break a Guinness record for the largest fireworks display. 

Tens of thousands of church members and other revelers watched the spectacle in Bocaue town in Bulacan province, north of Manila. 

Meanwhile, an annual procession of the Black Nazarene - a wooden statue of Jesus Christ - was held a day earlier than usual on New Year's Eve to prevent injuries from mounds of trash and unexploded firecrackers. 

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'They forced us to pray before raping us, to them we were animals' ISIS rape survivor reveals

An ISIS rape survivor has revealed the terrible fate she suffered at the hands of the ruthless terrorist organization. Nadia Murad Basee Taha, 21, from the Northern Iraqi town of Sinjar was captured in her home and sold as a sex slave to ISIS militants who considered her as an infidel and did whatever they wished with her body. Speaking at Cairo University in Egypt, she told students:

"When Daesh entered my village, they killed children, the old and young men. The next day, they killed the old women and led the young girls, including me, to Mosul. In Mosul, I saw thousands of Yazidi women where they were distributed to their slave masters. There I saw a huge Daeshi, who wanted to take me. I implored to another man to take me instead when I saw he was smaller. But he turned out later to be one of the worst people I’ve ever seen. The Daesh used to force me and other captives to pray and then rape us. We were not worth the value of animals. 

"They raped girls in groups. They did what a mind could not imagine. In their so-called Sharia [Islamic law] courts, they had our names and phone numbers of our slave masters. They would call us whenever they wanted to spend time with us and sell us." 

Nadia was brave enough to escape from her so called "owner" and has now made it her point of duty to inform the world especially young girls and youths about the growing threat ISIS poses to the girl child and World Peace.

"I am the victim of terrorism disguised under the cloak of Islam. All these crimes are committed in the name of Islam. I’ve come to the Muslim world to complain and demand an Arab and Islamic stance against Daesh. No religion accepts enslaving women and raping children. We have the right to demand a united global stance because we share others values of humanity."

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South African king sentenced to 12yrs in prison for cruelty towards his subjects

South African king Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo has been sentenced to 12-years in prison for arson, kidnap and assault of his subjects. King Dalindyebo handed himself over to the Mthatha Correctional Center in Eastern Cape province minutes before midnight on Wednesday, December 30, after failing in an 11th-hour bid to evade incarceration by seeking a retrial or a presidential pardon.

In a statement, Justice spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said:

"We confirm that King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo handed himself to the head of Mthatha Corresctional Centre at 23h40 in the presence of the Regional Commissionerof the Eastern Cape"

In 2009, the controversial king was convicted of manslaughter, arson and assault charges for offenses committed more than two decades ago. He was sentenced to 15 years in 2009, but in October the Supreme Court dropped the manslaughter charge and reduced his sentence to 12 years on appeal.

This week he sought to further extend his bail, but a High Court judge in Mthatha threw out the request. The king's daughter, Yasmin Omar, stated that the judge had not given them reasons for his decision.

"No indication was given for when we can expect the reasons for the dismissal of the application and we will continue with the case," said Omar.

He is expected to serve his sentence in Wellington Prison, outside Mthatha.

The 51-year-old king, a self-confessed marijuana smoker, was found guilty of torching dwellings that housed some of his subjects and tenants who had resisted eviction.

He was also convicted of publicly assaulting three young men who had already been brutally beaten by his henchmen, and of kidnapping a wife and children of one of his subjects whom he considered a dissident.

The Supreme Court concluded that the king "ruled with fear and trepidation" and that "his behavior was all the more deplorable because the victims of his reign of terror were the vulnerable rural poor." It also accused him of "obstructive" action for changing his lawyers 11 times, causing 34 postponements of the case.

Dalindyebo became king of the Thembu, a Xhosa ethnic group that boasted Mandela as its most prominent clan member, in 1989. The royal family will meet next week to discuss whether a successor should be chosen due to their monarch's imprisonment.

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John McAfee: Developer of Anti-Virus software to run for US President as Libertarian Party Candidate

John McAfee had previously announced and filed his paperwork back in September to run for President under a brand new party that he was going to be starting called the "Cyber Party". Now, according to USA Today's Jon Swartz via a phone interview on December 25, McAfee said he will be joining the Libertarian Party and jumping into the race for their party's nomination.

Although there are already 10 declared candidates plus Jesse Ventura and Gary Johnson still contemplating jumping in, McAfee seemed to be confident that he can win the Libertarian Party's nomination. Considering the 10 candidates currently in the race, McAfee said laughing,

"They have 10 candidates running, none of whom have personality."

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FG removes fuel subsidy, says petrol to sell for N85 by Jan 1st 2016

Minister of State for Petroleum , Dr Ibe Kachikwu during a tour of the Port Harcourt refinery on Christmas Day said that the Federal government is working to reduce the pump price of petrol to about 85 or 86 naira per litre by Jan 1st.

He said efforts were on to get the refinery to achieve 60 percent production capacity and to supply about 11 million liters of petrol daily.

“If you look at the new PPPRA template that we developed and which I just signed off two days ago, when it is announced you will find out that for now ,and I use the emphatic word of the President for now, the price of the refined product will actually be lower than 87 naira, It will be 85. We will probably announce that in January if the prices hold.

“Like I said, we have done a modulation calculation and it is showing us below N87. I imagine that if PPPRA publishes it today, it will become effective immediately. But the 1st of January that is when we are looking at.”

“What that does for you is that its modulating. If it goes up you move up, if it comes down you come down. So we take away the fact of having to go find funds to pay for these subsidies that we cannot afford.

“More importantly we try to be as close to the pump price that we have now as possible,” he said.

Vanguard

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Turkey's president stops his motorcade to talk suicidal man off jumping from bridge (photos)

The president of Turkey, Recep Tayip Erdogan was passing through the 211ft Bosphorus bridge which links Europe with Asia after Friday prayers on Christmas day when he spotted a man attempting to jump off the bridge. He stopped his motorcade to talk to the man whom police had been trying to talk to for two hours. See the photos after the cut...

Footage showed Erdogan's bodyguards bringing the sobbing man, who appeared to be in his early 30s, to talk to the President through the window of his car. After a few moments, the man could then be seen kissing Erdogan's hand before being escorted to safety.

Police had allegedly been trying for almost two hours to talk the man out of committing suicide.
He was said to have abandoned his car on the bridge and climbed over the side railing due to long-standing depression.
The man is as yet unidentified.

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Technically we have won the war against Boko Haram - Pres. Buhari

President Buhari says that his government has technically won the war against Boko Haram. He said this in an interview with BBC

"I assure you we haven't failed. Adamawa state, Yobe state are free from Boko Haram. Borno state which is there base, I think they have two to three local government. Boko Haram has reverted to using IEDs Improvised Explosive Device, indoctrinating young girls from 15 years and below to go and explode it in churches, mosques, market places, motorparks.
They have now been reduced to that but articulated conventional attacks on centers of communication and population in towns and so on, they are no longer capable of doing that effectively. So I think technically we have won the war because people are going back to their neighborhoods. We have our committees on the ground liaising with Local governments. People are going back. Our major problem now is rehabilitation because over 1.5 million Internally Displaced Persons, repairing the infrastructures, schools, health centers...the number of bridges blown..that is what we are facing now. But Boko Haram as an organized fighting force, I assure you that we have dealt with them"he said

When asked what his opinion is about  Nigerians criticizing him for always blaming the last government instaed of focusing on how to make the country better, he said 

"I think they are being unfair. Boko haram was effective on 16 local government areas before in the three states. Borno Yobe and Adamawa. Yobe and Adamawa are absolutely free and there are about three local governments were Boko Harams are there and I have told you they cannot marshal forces and attack towns or military installation as they did in Maiduguri before. I don't think this is mere talking. We have moved Service Chiefs, we re-organized the military.  We have got some hardware for them and we have gotten retraining from the British, Americans and with the French. A lot of is being done"he said

Listen to the interview here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03cxhw9?ocid=socialflow_facebook

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Photos: 36-year-old woman jailed for life for attacking her husband with acid

Vernicia Ruguru was yesterday, September 9, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by an embu court for burning her husband, Patrick Njue with acid on July 16, 2012 in Embu North, Kenya.

The 36-year-old claimed she committed the offense in self-defense, after the husband attempted to splash the acid on her. However, Principal Magistrate Robinson Oigara dismissed the claim stating that she would have sustained some injuries if that was the case.

On the day of the incident, the defendant is said to have prepared the children for school, completed her house chores then later walked into their bedroom where Patrick was lying in bed, and splashed acid on him. She then locked the door and escaped only for the neighbours to hear screams from the house, before coming to Njue's rescue.

Evidence presented in court proved that on hearing the husband was still alive, she rushed to the hospital Njue was admitted, in an attempt to finish her mission. Vernicia Ruguru was sentenced to life in prison but was granted 14 days to appeal the judgement.

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Neighbors left family of 7 to roast to death because of a quarrel?

Well, that's according to what a resident of Micheal Ogun street where a family of 7 including a 3-week old baby were killed by fire yesterday. According to Punch, Ejike Okpara, who resides in the area said that the neighbours did not help because there was animosity among the five tenants in the house. He said Nkiru who is the mother of the three weeks old baby had been accused of not greeting the other tenants, among other issues, which had caused series of fight in the neighbourhood.

“So, when the fire began, the neighbours from both sides did not come out. When they finally came out, it was to rescue their families.” he said

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Woman arrested for biting off neighbour's nipple and swallowing it

A mother of three, Mrs. Bola Olowolagba has been accused by her neighbour, Mrs Adelowo Taiwo of biting off and swallowing her nipple during a fight, P.M.News reports. The incident occurred after an argument between the two women over the dirty state of their compound located in Shasha, Lagos.

Mrs. Taiwo narrated how Mrs. Bola, a mother of four, littered the compound after holding a party and refused to clean up. She took it upon herself to clean the compound. It was then Bola came out of her apartment and confronted her. They got into an argument which eventually led to a fight.

In the process, Bola allegedly bit off Taiwo’s right nipple and swallowed it. According to Taiwo, she was rushed to Igando General Hospital where she is currently being treated. The police at Shasha Division arrested and charged Bola to Ejigbo Magistrates’ court for inflicting bodily injury on the complainant.

During her arraignment, Bola pleaded not guilty and the presiding Magistrate, Mrs J.O.E. Adeyemi, granted her bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum.

Mr. Bola was remanded in prison custody at Kirikiri pending when she will apply for bail. The matter was adjourned till 21 September.

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Frank Edoho writes handwritten love letter to his wife as she turns a year old

The TV personality's wife Sandra Onyenucheya took to social media to share the love letter he sent to her on her birthday. Below is what she wrote

"What's sexier than a man who pens down a love letter in 2015 The Little things mean so much to me. Because these are things money can't buy! I sure will be reading this on my 80th birthday still. You see this King right here, I am speechless... Handwritten by my King #bestbirthdaypresentEVER #birthdaywishes'' -

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Meet Aquafina Elite Model Look Nigeria 2015 Finalists (photos)

For the 32nd consecutive year, Elite is organizing the most prestigious modeling contest in the world, offering thousands of girls and boys (between the ages of 14 and 24) the opportunity to achieve their dream and to follow in the footsteps of top models such as Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Gisele Bundchen, Sigrid Agren, Constance Jablonski, Mayowa Nicholas and Victor Ndigwe. 

 

Head Of Marketing Seven Up Bottling Company PLC MR Norden Thurston said "Aquafina Premium Drinking Water and Elite Model Look Nigeria is a perfect partnership. This is the 3rd Year of this relationship and Aquafina is Happy to be part of this platform that celebrates inner beauty because real beauty is pure and comes within"  

 

The National casting for the Elite Model Look Nigeria 2015 competition held in Lagos on the 15th of August 2015 with over 4500 girls and boys in attendance, a total of 60 contestants were pre selected, after which contestants images were sent to Paris for the final selection, the contestants were cut to the final 20 finalist.

 

During the National final, the 20selected contestants will be welcomed to the elite boot camp for a unique and unbelievable experience, supervised by a professional team. The models will be accommodated in the boot camp for 7 days, makeovers, photo shoots, fittings and rehearsals have been scheduled to introduce the contestants to the world of modelling.  The selection of the contestants will be based on physical criteria natural beauty, photogenic, body, elegance and personality, character, motivation, attitude.

 

The 20 finalists for the 2015 edition of Elite Model Look Nigeria are:

EMLN 2015 winners will represent Nigeria alongside 80 other countries and will stand a chance of winning $150,000 USD at Elite Model Look International world finals

A chance to win a modeling contract with elite model management worldwide,

Two years modeling contract with Beth Model Management Africa 

 

 

 

BETH MODEL MANAGEMENT AFRICA IN CONJUNCTION WITH UPFRONT & PERSONAL ARE THE ORGANIZERS OF ELITE MODEL LOOK NIGERIA

 

Elite Model Look Nigeria 2015 is sponsored by: AQUAFINA and Supported by Maybelline, Veuve Clicquot, Dark and Lovely, Sari's signature and Hello Foods.

 

 

Event Details:

Date: Sunday 13th September 2015

Venue: Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos 

 

TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE AT THE FOLLOWING OUTLETS:

 

SARI HAIR SALOON

24 Idejo Street Opp. Lagoon Hospital, Victoria Island, Lagos

 

ELITE MODEL LOOK NIGERIA OFFICE

5B, Karimu Kotun, Off Akin Adesola, Victoria Island, Lagos

 

 

Photo Credits : @Jerrie_Rotimi

 

For more information, sponsorship and enquiries please contact 

08033278752 | Email: Laura@bethmodelafrica.comwebsite;www.elitemodellook.com/ng| Facebook:www.facebook.com/EliteModelLookNG | Follow them on Instagram:@elitemodellooknigeria

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