Nigerian courts suspend trial of gays

Two Islamic courts in Bauchi, northern Nigeria have been forced to suspend the trials of 10 men accused of homosexuality because of fears of mob violence, judges and officials have said.
An angry crowd last week pelted stones at seven men suspected of breaking Islamic law banning homosexuality after their hearing was adjourned at the Unguwar Jaki Upper Sharia Court in Bauchi.
Police were forced to use teargas and fire shots in the air to disperse the mob, who were demanding summary trial and execution for the defendants.
The seven had been due to reappear before the same court on Tuesday.
But registrar Isa Bununu told AFP: “We can’t continue with the trial in view of the security breach we had during the last court session.
“The court will have to suspend the trial pending the review of the security situation with relevant authorities to avoid a repeat of the mob action we saw last week.”
Nigeria banned same-sex marriage and civil unions earlier this month in a move that won widespread support in the religiously conservative country but triggered international outrage.
Homosexuality was already banned under sharia Islamic law, which exists alongside state and federal laws in the majority Muslim north of Nigeria and carries the death sentence.
A separate trial of three other suspects at another sharia court in the Tudun Alkali area of the city was also put on hold.
All 10 defendants were arrested on suspicion of belonging to a gay club.
“The trial has been suspended because of the stoning incident in the other court, which we are trying to avoid here”, said judge Nuhu Mohammed Dumi.
“The remand notice for the suspects expired today (Tuesday) but we will have to extend it.”
Dumi suggested that the new trial date would not be publicised and the suspects brought to court in secret to avoid unrest.
Lawyer Suleiman Musa, defending the three, has objected to his clients’ continued detention but Dumi said the decision was for their own safety.
“The families of the three suspects… came to me requesting bail and I told them that it was in their interests to stay in prison because they risk losing their lives at the hands of an angry mob if they are released on bail,” he said.
“They realised the danger.”

Tuesday’s aborted hearings left the Unguwar Jaki court almost empty apart from a few support staff and two litigants in a separate case waiting for the judge.
Rows of brown benches face the judge’s desk, behind which a copy of the Koran in a sheepskin bag for oath-taking and a horsewhip for flogging convicted criminals hang on the wall.
Men and women are usually seated separately.
Sharia proceedings are considered quicker, simpler and more straight-forward than secular courts as well as cheaper. They normally deal with marital, inheritance and financial disputes.
Civil cases are resolved by either testimony of witnesses, valid documents, confession or by swearing an oath on the Koran.
To be proven, the charge of sodomy, like adultery, requires the testimony of three reliable witnesses or a voluntary confession.
But the death sentence is rarely, if ever, carried out.
Dumi last week dismissed the testimony of a prosecution witness against two men accused of being gay lovers because they had not been caught “in the act”.
On January 16, however, he sentenced a 20-year-old man to 20 lashes in public and ordered him to pay a 5,000 naira ($30) fine for breaking the law on homosexuality.

Charla Nash struggles to rebuild her life four years after chimp attack as she reveals that no one at her nursing home comes near her

• Charla Nash lost her eyes, nose, mouth and hands when she was attacked by a friend’s chimpanzee in Connecticut in 2009
• She has since undergone a face transplant and been fitted with new teeth
• But she struggles with her loss of independence at a Massachusetts nursing home – where the staff and residents keep their distance
• She spends her days listening to audio books, walking the hallways and hoping that one day she will be able to return to a home

Charla Nash, the woman whose face and hands were ripped off in a brutal chimpanzee attack, has revealed how she is struggling to rebuild her life four years on.

In a moving interview, the 60-year-old revealed that she has no independence at her Massachusetts nursing home, where none of her fellow residents come near her.

‘Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot I can do,’ she told the Boston Herald. ‘I’ve lost so much independence… I could change my own truck tire, and now I can’t even feed myself.’

Nash’s life forever changed in 2009 when she was attacked by a friend’s chimp, Travis, in Stamford, Connecticut. She remembers none of the attack that claimed her eyes, nose, lips and hands.

In 2011, she underwent a full face transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital – the hospital’s third – and was fitted with glass eyes. A hand transplant was unsuccessful.

Most recently, she was fitted with teeth that allow her to chew tougher foods, such as chicken. When she spoke with the Boston Herald, her speech was intentional and clear.

‘It’’s very hard to live. Not even live – half-live,’ Nash said. ‘Sometimes you want to cry, you want out, you want some kind of home. I don’t know what my future is, that’s the scary part.’

Violent: Nash, pictured before the attack (right), was attacked by her friend’s chimp Travis (left) in 2009

 

Now her days consist of listening to audio books and walking the hallways of the nursing facility. She also practices facial expressions and is slowly getting used to her new teeth.

‘They just made some bottom teeth for me recently,’ she said. ‘I’m not used to them yet. It’s still a little bit of work eating.

‘I can’t chew steak. I can chew chicken, it’s a little softer. I can chew pizza. The crust is hard, but the pizza is OK. I’m starting to get back into eating salads again. That was my favorite, salads.’

She hopes that one day she will be able to live at home instead of a facility. In the nursing home, she says that the staff and residents keep their distance, perhaps out of fear.

She said that it’s tough that the staff and residents aren’t making the situation easier for her, but that she’s determined to get on without their encouragement.

‘I’ve never been a quitter,’ said Nash, who bought up her daughter, Briana, on her own.

She also hopes to use her story so that others don’t have to face a similar ordeal, and is working with advocates on a video to encourage stronger laws restricting exotic animals.

She said she never felt at ease with Travis being locked up in her friend’s home. The friend, Sandra Herold, died of an aneurism in 2010.

Life changing: An illustration, left, shows how Nash’s face was damaged in the attack – she lost her eyes, nose and lips. But the transplant, right, gave her back these features Intense: A team of more than 30 physicians, nurses, residents and other clinical staff are pictured at work during the 20 hour procedure at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston After the transplant: She underwent a face transplant in 2011, pictured, and was given glass eyes

                                         

                                      New life: Nash is pictured at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Connecticut in 2012

‘I remember looking at him in his cage and feeling sorry for him,’ she said. ‘My thoughts were always, “How is she allowed this animal in her house? What if he gets loose someday and somebody gets hurt?” I know the animals are cute – but they’re just not pets.’

After the attack, her family sought permission to sue Connecticut for $150 million for failing to seize the animal before the attack.

But the state claims commissioner died permission, saying that state law did not prohibit the private ownership of chimpanzees at the time of the attack.

Source: Mail Online

Kim Kardashian shares a mommy and baby pics for the first time

She was reluctant to agree any magazine deals in publishing photos of her baby North West.
So instead, Kim Kardashian has released a staggered series of too cute Instagram snaps of little Nori, since she gave birth to her in July last year.
Bu on Wednesday, Kim posted her latest shot which for the first time showed her posing with Nori – but this time her child barely got a look in, as her face somehow ended up being cropped out of shot.

Kim is certainly no stranger to loving the limelight, and stealing it from her sister’s on the reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Kim captioned the photo ‘Good morning’ and appeared to be lying on a bed as she looked into the camera.
Just the top of Nori’s head was seen in the photo, as Kim lovingly had her head rested on her child.
Kim’s mother Kris Jenner recently revealed how she feels that motherhood has changed her daughter..’

Kris Jenner thinks motherhood has changed her daughter Kim Kardashian.

The momager says it’s ‘remarkable’ to watch Kim, 33, take dote on North, her seven-month-old daughter with fiancé Kanye West.

She said: ‘She’s changed, in a really good way. You watch your baby have a baby and it’s kind of remarkable to see the changes we all go through when you give birth and have a child you’re responsible for.’

Android Smartphone – Tips You Need to Know

Today mobile industry is growing at rapid pace; Android OS is becoming the most demanded mobile platform for the mobile phones. In near future Android platform will become more powerful and much demanded mobile platform than its rival Apple’s iOS.
Most of us these days are using Android smartphones. Android market is growing day by day, There are copious number of Android Smartphone available online that you can decide to choose from. Select a best Android Smartphone which suits you the best, in terms of budget and in the features.
Availability of millions of app in Google play is one simple reason why android phones are successful in this growing cut throat competitive technology world. If you are using android for the first time then you may feel bit lost in using android functions.
There are several lucrative Android tips and tricks that you can follow to learn more about your android device.

1. One Tap to call your favorite
Most of the android OS versions allow you to create you favorite contact icon on the home screen either gingerbread or the jelly bean. To add your favorite contact icon on the home screen just long press the empty space on the home screen, when the menu pops up choose Shortcuts and then Contact. From the contact list choose your favorite contact to add as an icon on the home screen.
2. Search anything with your voice
You can search on the Google with your voice on your android Smartphone; all you need to do is just click on the microphone after the search bar and search anything with your voice.
If you want to have digital personal assistant like the JARVIS in the iron man, you can download personal assistant from the Google play. It will perform several tasks such as scheduling appointment, set reminders, Facebook status update and much more.
3. Manage widgets on home screen
The best thing about android is that it comes with built-in widgets. You can customize widgets like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and Airplane mode. These widgets can be found on the menu, long press on the widget you want to have in your home screen. It is the best method to save your battery and time without going to the setting.
4. Sync with all your social sites
Most of us now these days spend more time on the social media website to connect with our family and friends. The role of social media website not just ended with the status update but business owners and blogger takes its advantage to engage their readers. Social media websites are also used by tech blogger to create community and to interact with their readers, if you have the tech blog and cannot always stick to the desktop to update any post on all social media sites then you must sync social media account with your Smartphone.
5. Use Drop box to Backup your phone
Drop box is one of the most popular and used cloud storage app. Drop box come with lots of feature that allows you to store and share documents, it has in-built text editor. You can download drop box android app to have the backup of your phone data. Drop box is easy to use all you need is just sign up after that select the document to upload on it.
A Final Thought!

If you want to get more familiar with your Android Smartphone then you must consider the above mentioned techniques and search more on it.

Dental student, 18, killed herself by stepping into the path of cars on unlit motorway after being dumped by her ‘controlling’ boyfriend

A teenage girl who was dumped by her ‘controlling’ boyfriend committed suicide by deliberately stepping into the path of traffic on a dark motorway, an inquest heard.

Lena Begum, 18, had been wandering around the three lane carriageway for up to two hours during which she recorded a 3am voicemail message for Quzlam Ahmed saying: ‘You will probably love me one day the way I loved you, but it will be too late.’

Minutes later the dental student was killed after walking in front of a van travelling at almost 60mph along the inside lane of the M65 near her home in Burnley, Lancashire.

The inquest heard that the driver, John Trainer, was unable to spot Lena until it was too late because the street lights on the motorway had been switched off by highway chiefs to cut costs.

Lena, who studied at Blackburn College, had met Mr Ahmed, known as ‘Kammy’, in October 2012, but he been ‘controlling’ and treating her ‘poorly’, it emerged at the hearing.

Her parents – from a traditional Bengali family – became concerned about the relationship and had reported Lena missing several times from the family home in Reedley.

After Mr Ahmed hit her on her 18th birthday and told her he had no longer wanted a relationship, Lena threatened to self-harm, claiming she was ‘not afraid of dying’ and that ‘death held no fear for her’.

Lena’s friend, Taslena Alam, told the Burnley hearing how the teenager was ‘mentally obsessed’ and ‘crazy’ about Ahmed, and had even etched the name ‘Kammy’ into her arm.

She said Lena would ‘drop everything’ to meet Mr Ahmed whenever he called, and as the relationship developed she went from being ‘happy and fun’ to ‘depressed’.

In a statement, she said Lena had told her she would ‘go onto a motorway and get herself run over.’

Miss Alam said: ‘I kept telling her to stop seeing him but she didn’t listen.’

On the night of the tragedy on April 10 last year, Miss Alam said she and Lena had been at the home of a friend Marcia Khan before heading to a shisha bar, where guests smoke flavoured tobacco in pipes.

Afterwards Lena asked to be dropped off on a road near the motorway. Miss Alam said: ‘All I remember is her going up some stairs, she seemed happy. She wasn’t saying about hurting herself, she never said anything.’

Miss Khan said during the evening Lena had confided in her about her romance with Ahmed. She said: ‘Lena was saying how he didn’t love her and she just wanted him to love her, that she does everything for him and he doesn’t do anything.

‘She was being quiet – before that conversation she was happy and bubbly. I’d heard a few things that she had tried doing things in the past but didn’t believe that she had the ability.’

She said at the end of the evening, Lena had, ‘walked up the stairs, turned around and smiled’. She added: ‘I smiled back.That was the last time I saw her.

‘She said she wanted to see her friend, and made it sound so realistic.’

But half an hour later Lena was spotted walking down the motorway slip road and into oncoming traffic, recording messages to loved ones as she held her mobile phone.

Driver Michelle Harris, who was coming off the motorway, said: ‘She was not dawdling, not staggering and appeared to be doing something with her mobile phone, holding it up with both hands at chest level.

‘I thought she was texting. I slowed and came to a stop and looked in my mirror and couldn’t see her. I thought she could have broken down.’

The inquest heard that deliveryman John Trainer, 48, was driving his Mercedes Sprinter van in the inside lane of the motorway at 3.50am when Lena walked in front of him.

His statement read: ‘There was no lighting, the area was pitch black. For a split second I caught a glimpse of a person who was walking across from lane two, almost at the line divider.

‘I pressed the brakes as hard as I could, I swerved to avoid. She didn’t even look towards me, she just continued to walk across. I couldn’t avoid the collision.

‘I don’t believe I could have done anything to avoid her, I do believe if there were motorway lights I would have seen her sooner and slowed down a lot sooner.’

Lena was pronounced dead at the scene despite attempts to save her. Records showed she had spoken to Ahmed twice on the phone for around 30 minutes.

At 2.05 am she posted a picture to Facebook and Twitter, and earlier in the evening posted messages on social networking sites.

One read: ‘I just wana say a big thank you ta all my true mates that have been there for me & my family, love ya loads.’

The other said: ‘Only thing that I would want from ya is ta remember me please more than anything else.’

Mr Ahmed, who did not attend the inquest, said in a statement he had last seen Lena four days before her death and had changed his number because she was ‘pestering’ him.

He confirmed he had spoken to her at around 2am on 10 April and she had told him she ‘didn’t want to live any more’, saying if he ‘didn’t want to be with her, she didn’t want to be here’.

Telephone logs revealed Lena’s mother Selina Begum had tried calling her daughter 16 times between midnight and the time of her death, and police later found Lena had recorded messages on her phone.

One said: ‘When I’m out of this s***** world and up there, that’s when you will realise.’

PC Richard Roberts said of the crash scene: ‘Street lighting was inoperative and turned off in 2011 as part of a cost saving scheme. It was very dark.’

Recording a verdict of suicide, assistant coroner Mark Williams said: ‘Lena had formed a relationship but it did not appear to be any good for her or her well-being.

‘In the last few weeks of that relationship he was calling it off and she didn’t want that. She was obsessed by him, crazy for him, she scratched his name into her arm.

‘The impression I get is that he treated her very poorly.’

He added: ‘There was nothing Mr Trainer could do after Lena suddenly appeared in the headlights.

‘She has done a deliberate act of walking in front of the van and he was unable to do anything to avoid a collision.’

After the inquest, Lena’s mother Selina Begum said: ‘She was a lovely girl, everyone loved her. She was my only girl, she had two younger brothers who she looked after.

‘As a mother this has been really traumatic.  My life is over, only when I’m dead will this be gone. She was a bright girl studying dentistry, hoping to become a dental nurse.

‘She had wanted to do chemistry. Her death hurts so much.’