Arrest Made in the Death of Usher’s Stepson: Suspect Charged With Homicide by Vessel

                   
 
Nearly eight months after the death of Usher’s stepson, 11-year-old Kile Glover, justice is finally being served.
On Friday morning just after 7 a.m. ET, Jeffrey Simon Hubbard was arrested “without incident” at his mother and father’s home in Georgia and was “cooperative,” the arresting officer Sgt. Mike Burgamy, of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources said!.



 

Hubbard’s arrest comes just one day after a grand jury in Hall County, Georgia, indicted him on a slew of charges – including Homicide by Vessel, Serious Injury by Vessel, and Reckless Operation of a Vessel. In July 2012, Kile and another young girl were struck by a jet ski operated by Hubbard, a family friend of his father’s, as they rode in an inflatable raft. While the girl suffered minor injuries, Kile spent 10 days in a coma before he finally succumbed to his brain injuries on July 21.

Although Sgt. Burgamy would not go into detail of why Hubbard was charged, he did tell newsmen! the investigation into Kile’s death had been ongoing and once complete, evidence was brought before a grand jury, which indicted him on Thursday.
Hubbard is currently being held without bail and is expected to appear before a judge this weekend.

 

Kile’s mother, Usher’s ex-wife Tameka Raymond, has been fighting to make sure her son did not die in vain. On February 21, Raymond, who has two other sons with the “Numb” singer, was at the State Capitol to propose “Kile’s Law” to improve boat safety, which she documented on her Instagram page. “I won't stop,” she wrote that day. “Nope! My best friend and favorite person will never be forgotten #kileslaw.






Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.-William James

Uche Jumbo and husband at her movie premier

Pictures at Uche's Movie Premier

Ozone cinema was last night, Friday March 1, 2013, filled with several Nollywood stars, who gathered for the premiere of Uche Jombo Rodriguez’ much anticipated movie, My Life, My Damage.

Although the event which started with a red carpet session began behind schedule, guests in attendance seemed to have had fantastic moments at the premiere

Kenny Rodriguez excited about Nigeria

Being his first time in Nigeria and the heart city of Lagos, Kenny Rodriguez beamed with smiles all through the event attesting to his joy and content with his stay in Nigeria. Right from the chauffeur driven automobile that brought himself and his wife, Uche Jombo, Kenny couldn’t just keep his eyes off his surroundings as he keeps asking one or two things about what he saw.

On Uche Jombo’s eye popping dress

Delectable actress, script writer and producer, Uche Jumbo was looking smashing in her dress, which was a flowing black and silver studded gown. The dress, which seemed to have been specifically made for the occasion had the nods of many celebrities in attendance. Findings revealed that the dress was designed by a new designer simply known as Damilola.

The Rodrigoezs and the Idahosas

Justin Bieber Returns To His Hotel Shirtless

  

Teen singing sensation Justin Bieber pictured arriving back at his London, UK Hotel shirtless after performing at a Birmingham gig on February 28, 2013. Teen singing sensation Justin Bieber pictured arriving back at his London, UK hotel shirtless after performing at a Birmingham gig on February 28, 2013.

  

Immigrant taxi driver's death, South Africa has suspended eight police officers

South Africa has suspended eight police officers after the death of a man they tied to the back of a police van and dragged along the road while bystanders looked on.

Video footage showing the treatment of Mido Macia, in Daveyton, east of Johannesburg, has once more focused attention on South Africa's police force, already dogged by allegations of brutality, corruption and incompetence.

In the amateur video footage published by South African newspaper, the Daily Sun, Macia's hands are tied to the rear of a police van behind his head before it moves off. Just over two hours later he was found dead in a local police cell, according to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID). A postmortem gave the cause of death as head injuries with internal bleeding.

The video provoked outrage with President Jacob Zuma labeling it "horrific, disturbing and unacceptable. No human being should be treated in that manner." He has instructed the minister of police to investigate the matter.

Police chief Riah Phiyega said the eight officers involved had been suspended and the station commander would be removed from his duties. "We would like to assure the country and the world that what is in the video is not how the South African police service in a democratic South Africa goes about its work," she said.

The IPID responded by launching an inquiry and giving details of the police version of events. The police account alleged that Macia, 27, a taxi driver from Mozambique, assaulted an officer and took his firearm after officers asked him to move his taxi because it was obstructing traffic. They admitted only that there was a "struggle" to get the taxi driver into the police van.

But a further video published by the Daily Sun and provided to the Guardian casts doubt on the account. The new footage suggests Macia did not grab the gun or use violence against police, only struggling to free himself as police seized him and lifted him off his feet.

Amnesty International's human rights organisation's southern Africa director, Noel Kututwa, said the incident was "the latest in an increasingly disturbing pattern of brutal police conduct in South Africa". It comes after a series of setbacks for the South African police force, struggling to demonstrate that its low paid, reputedly poorly-trained, officers can be trusted to uphold – or even obey – the law. Last week, the case against Oscar Pistorius, accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, was undermined when the lead investigating detectives was removed from the case after being charged with seven counts of attempting murder himself. Last year's Marikana shootings, in which police opened fire on a crwoed os srticking miners, killing 34 at a platinum mine northwest of Johannesburg, are being investigated by a judicial commission.

Macia's case also evoked memories of the death of Andries Tatane, a mathematics teacher and community activist in 2011, which was also captured on video. Tatane was attacked at a peaceful protest march by 12 policemen who beat him with batons, kicked him and shot rubber bullets into his chest at close range.

The dispute between Macia and police officers began just before 7pm on Monday. Video shows him gesticulating at an officer but, although there are small gaps in the footage, there is no indication that Macia laid a hand on him. Daily Sun publisher Jeremy Gordin denounced the police account as "a tissue of lies".

Other officers move in and Macia is dragged away, being lifted head-over-heels as police attempt to get him into the police van. He is eventually tied to the van. Onlookers shout that they are going to film the incident and a bystander can be heard shouting in Zulu: "What has this guy done?"

The van moves off while Macia tries in vain to keep step. It then stops, two police officers pick up his legs and drop them to the ground as the vehicle picks up speed and drives off, beyond the view of the camera. The IPID said Macia was found dead in a police cell at 9.15pm.

South African police said the national commissioner, Riah Phiyega "strongly condemned" what had happened and urged people "to remain vigilant and continue to report all acts of crime irrespective of who is involved".

As well as provoking further soul-searching about state violence, Macia's death may also raise fresh concerns about the country's treatment of immigrants. In 2008, Mozambicans were among migrants targeted by rioters, and attacks against foreigners have continued, including allegations of police brutality.

Amnesty's 2012 annual report documented allegations against the South African police of excessive force, torture, rape and "extrajudicial executions". It said the IPID received 720 new cases for investigation of suspicious deaths in custody or in other policing contexts from April 2011 to March 2012.

The Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria has reported that the number of people shot dead by police doubled in the four years to 2010. Deaths in police custody or resulting from police action numbered 860 in 2009-10, against an average of 695 deaths a year from 2003-2008.

Pope Benedict's last day: What's next for the pope emeritus?

Pope Benedict XVI stepped onto a white helicopter on Thursday evening at the Vatican and fly off to the summer papal residence, Castel Gandolfo, and into retirement. At 8 p.m. sharp, Rome time, he ceased being Pope Benedict, and become pope emeritus (or Roman Pontiff Emeritus). This is virtually uncharted territory for the Roman Catholic Church — the last pope to abdicate the Chair of St Peter was Gregory XII in 1415. So what happens to a retired pope and the scandal - tinged church he leaves without a leader?

Early Thursday, the pope held a final meeting with the Colledge of Cardinals, urging them to work together "like an orchestra" to harmoniously pick his successor. He greeted each cardinal individually and said he'd pray for them as they deliberate during the upcoming conclave, adding, "Among you is also the future pope, whom I promise my unconditional reverence and obedience." At about 5 p.m. local time, Pope Benedict met with a small group of staff and members of the Swiss Guards who have protected him over the years, then boarded his Vatican helicopter.

When he arrives at Castel Gandolfo, in the hills outside Rome, the pope made one final public appearance on his balcony, then, "having greeted those gathered below, he stepped back inside and begin his life of seclusion,". The pope emeritus is expected to spend anywhere from a few weeks to a few months in Castel Gandolfo, starting what has been described as a quiet life of prayer and scholarship. Then he will return to the Vatican, to live in a converted convent.

There's an air of improvisation to this whole transition. Benedict, by his own choice, will keep his white garments, his title of "His Holiness," and the name Benedict XVI. He will share the services of his trusted secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, with the next pope. He is giving up his Twitter account, his Swiss Guard protection — he'll be guarded instead by Vatican police — and his famous red shoes, a papal symbol representing the blood of martyrs. (He will wear brown artisan-made shoes given to him in Mexico, the Vatican says.)

Benedict has said he will remain "hidden from the world" in his Vatican retirement, but nobody quite knows what will happen with two popes within shouting distance of each other, and plenty of Catholics are worried. The discomfort is especially acute among cardinals and more conservative Catholics, says Michael mcGough at the Los Angeles Times. "Although a papal resignation is provided for in church law, Benedict's decision undermines the mystique of papal uniqueness," reducing the papacy to just another bishopric. (The pope is also the bishop of Rome, and Vatican officials had suggested Benedict would return to black clerical clothes and use the title Bishop of Rome Emeritus.)

Liberal Catholics long have emphasized that fact, sometimes referring to the pope as the head of the "college of bishops." Conservative Catholics prefer the pre-Vatican II view of the pope as the source of all human authority in the church, akin to a king. Indeed, it is conservative Catholics who have been insisting that the proper term for Benedict's decision is "abdication," not "resignation." An abdication is seen as a rupture is the natural order of monarchy, even when it is necessary. But the less seen of the former king, the better. Britain's Edward VIII became the Duke of Windsor after his retirement, not "king emeritus."... Granted that there is only one actual pope at a time (and only one who can make infallible pronouncements on matters of faith and morals), the existence of two men who are addressed as "your holiness" changes the ecclesiastical atmospherics. For a lot of traditionalist Catholics, two "popes" (even if one is emeritus) is one pope too many. [Los Angeles Times]

Not that all of Benedict's more liberal critics are happy with his resignation choices. Swiss theologian Hans Küng, a former longtime colleague of the pope who became one of his harshest critics, tells Germany's Der Spiegel that "with Benedict XVI, there is a risk of a shadow pope who has abdicated but can still indirectly exert influence." No one likes to have his predecessor right next door, and "even for the bishop of Rome, it is not pleasant if his predecessor constantly has an eye on him."

Andrew Sullivan is even more offended. "If you were trying to avoid any hint of meddling, of a Deng Xiao Peng-type figure pulling strings behind the scenes, you would not be doing this," he says at The Dish. And the fact that Benedict's longtime personal secretary will live in the convent with him? "This is not the Vatican. It's Melrose Place."

Other Vatican-watchers are more sanguine, of course. "I was somewhat surprised that Benedict would still be called 'His Holiness' and would wear white, but it's akin to the former U.S. presidents being addressed as 'Mr. President,'" Fr. james Martin tells The Associated Press. "It's a mark of respect for the former office he once held."

The next pope will likely be elected sometime in March, as soon as the 115 cardinal electors agree on one and send up the white smoke from their Sistine Chapel conclave. What happens to the Catholic Church in the meantime? "Vatican operations essentially go as still as the characters in Sleeping Beauty — frozen in time as of 8 p.m.," says Cathy Lynn Grossman in USA Today. Essentially, the Vatican will act as if the pope is dead.

All the arrangements are set by the camerlengo (chamberlain of the Church) chosen by the pope. Benedict chose Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of State, for that role but there's little for him to do with no funeral to arrange. All the cardinals and archbishops in the curia, the bureaucracy of the Church, lose their jobs on Feb. 28. It's a bit like all the U.S. president's cabinet resigning after a presidential election so the new head of state can name his team. But in the Holy See, many cardinals expect they'll be asked to stay on in the next papacy.... Vatican offices will be run by secretaries who handle ordinary, minor duties. All serious or controversial matters await the next pontiff.... Only three major officials keep their posts in the period between Benedict's resignation and a successor elected: The vicar of the diocese of Rome who cares for the city's pastoral needs; the major penitentiary who deals with the Holy See's confessional needs so there is always access to forgiveness; and the camerlengo, Bertone, who will deal with property and financial decisions for the Vatican for the time being. [USA Tpday]

With nobody really in charge, nothing much will happen in the Vatican until at least Monday, says Grossman. In fact, "for now, the busiest people in Rome may be the tailors at Gammarelli ecclesiastical tailoring shop. They're stitching up the vestments for the new pope in small, medium, and large sizes so that whoever is chosen will fit right in."

Sources: AFP, The Associated Press (2), CNN, The Dish, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today

Nigeria's big city razes homes as poor left behind

In this image taken Thursday Feb. 28, 2013 people search through the rubble of demolished houses at Ijora Badia slum in Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013.

The bulldozers came at dawn to this neighborhood of shanty homes and concrete buildings in Nigeria's largest city, followed by riot police carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles.

The police banged on doors, corralling the thousands who live in Ijora-Badia off to the side as the bulldozers' blades tore through scrap-lumber walls, their tracks grinding the possessions inside into the black murk of swamp underneath. Days later, children picked through the field of debris, their small hands dodging rusty nails to pull away anything of value left behind.

The demolition of this slum neighborhood follows others in Lagos, a city of some 17.5 million inhabitants where a dozen can sleep in a single room and more flock to every day from the countryside. While the city continues to grow, the government has started programs to improve roads and railways, but target poor neighborhoods for demolition and street traders for arrest.

Activists say Lagos' government continues to lay sod for parks to beautify a city long thought of as a nightmare of urban planning, but the face lifts often come at the expense of the poor without a thought about what will become of them.

"A mega city is not about its physical size or its beauty, but its people," said Felix Morka, executive director of the Social and Economic Rights Action Center, which is contesting the demolitions in court. "The poor also live here."

Poverty is difficult to escape from in Lagos, even on its islands, home to its political and business elite. Those missing limbs or with facial injuries approach cars idling at intersections to beg. People bath naked alongside highways or use ditches for toilets. Even those considered as being in the middle class live in crowded tenements or in informal settlements that spring up in the corners of abandoned properties and even on stilts over the Lagos Lagoon.

Ijora-Badia, alongside a road leading to Lagos' main port and across from its major brewery, sits on marshy soil. The first settlers were moved here when the government started constructing the nearby National Theatre in the 1970s. In the time since, Ijora-Badia grew along the railroad tracks and is now home to thousands of people.

The bulldozers arrived there on Feb. 23, a Saturday morning, along with the police. They tore down the homes quickly, leaving most people to sleep outside afterward. Days later, they were crowded into a community hall, an open-air room covered by a thin tin roof. Others slept in a nearby church, their possessions gathered on top of benches under the watchful eyes of pictures of Jesus Christ near the altar.

A spokesman for Lagos state government did not respond to requests for comment about the demolition.

All the newly displaced people interviewed by The Associated Press described being taken by surprise, with some saying that a local chief may have given his blessing for the homes to be razed. Stella Omogbemi said the police chased her away without a chance to gather anything.

"I said: 'I owe the government one bullet, you should shoot it now,'" Omogbemi said in the Yoruba language of southwest Nigeria.

On Thursday, days after the demolition, a single bulldozer continued to grind the remains into the ground. One man, who once ran a used oil shop in the neighborhood, stood barefoot in a swampy patch now completely turned black. With oil up his calves, he bent down with a rag to soak bits of it up, wringing it out into a nearby bucket.

The reason for the demolition is unclear. Some at the site said they believed the area would be converted into an upper-class housing estate, which seemed unlikely as it sits in an industrial area.

This is the latest of a string of demolitions to target slums in the city, most conducted without any prior warning. In July, police and state officials began razing homes in the waterfront slum of Makoko, an iconic neighborhood of Lagos where thousands live in shack homes rising out of the city's lagoon on stilts. The government stopped after a public outcry, but many fear officials could resume tearing homes down at any time. Similar demolitions have occurred elsewhere in the country, including Port Harcourt, where activists say some 25,000 families lost their homes.

The same fear permeates Ijora-Badia, where homes on the edge of the demolitions also saw their walls knocked down. Local activists say they'll challenge the government in court. However, justice from the courts can be incredibly slow in Nigeria. Others worry the same system that allows government corruption to flourish will affect the courts.

Friday Ogunyemi, a 21-year-old university student who lost all his admittance records and paperwork, said people can't expect the government to come to their aid, despite the nation abandoning military rule for democracy in 1999.

"They treated us like we are not Nigerians, like we are not existing," Ogunyemi said. "Our dividend of democracy is a bulldozer."

Kidnappers abduct 5 Lagos bound passengers along Benin-Shagamu road

ABDUCTION of persons by suspected kidnappers has taken a new worrisome dimension in Edo State following the kidnapping on Wednesday morning of five Lagos-bound passengers by gunmen on the Lagos-Benin road near Ogbemudia farms.

It was gathered that the passengers were among occupants of a Greener Line space wagon Sienna bus travelling from Warri, DeltaState to Lagos when they ran into a barricade along the Benin-Ore- Sagamu-Lagos road.

The suspected kidnappers were said to have blocked the highway with a truck, and the bus driver on sighting the barricade, slowed down.

Soon after, some gun-totting men were said to have emerged from the bush and took the passengers hostage after allowing the driver and one passenger to go and give information about the incident.

It was further learnt that one of the victims who lives in Lagos, was said to be returning to the state after a naming ceremony of his new-born baby in Warri when he was abducted along with other passengers.

The father of the victim, a retired army colonel, told newsmen that the kidnappers had made contact and demanded N3 million ransom to set his son free, even as he pleaded with them to release his son unhurt, saying that it was difficult for the family to raise the amount they demanded.

When contacted, Edo State Police Command Acting Public Relations Officer, Awhara Ejiroro, said he was yet to be briefed on the incident.