Pictures from Lagos carnival

In Nigeria's biggest city, a Monday morning typically sees bumper-to-bumper traffic as people struggle through heat and exhaust fumes to get to work. This Monday, however, the roads were not filled with cars, but with people celebrating theLagos Carnival.

Dancers in colorful costumes resembling those of Brazil's Carnival shimmied and shook their way through the streets.

This year, Lagos' state government said the festival would commemorate the region's historical ties with Brazil. Portuguese explorers once came to the region and Brazilian-style homes can still be seen in the city's older neighborhoods.

The curious lined up to watch and take mobile phone pictures, some ogling the women dressed in bikini-styled outfits. Tuesday, though, the streets will again jam with traffic.

Here are some photographs of this year's festivities in Lagos.

‘Buckwild’ Star Shain Gandee Found Dead at 21!

MTV's controversial reality show "Buckwild" just took a sad turn south. One of its stars, Shain Gandee, was found dead on Monday morning, the network confirms.

The 21-year-old's body was discovered in his Ford Bronco in Sissonville, West Virginia, around 11:30 a.m., alongside the dead bodies of his uncle, David Gandee, and a third unidentified person, according to a Kanawha County official.

Dispatchers received a 911 call around 11:30 a.m. that the missing vehicle had been found. Officers used all-terrain vehicles to access the Bronco, which was found about a mile up a dirt road, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

The reality star and his uncle David, 48, were last seen leaving Larry's Bar in the neighborhood around 3 a.m. and claiming that they were going to go four-wheeling. The pair's family reportedly searched for them on Sunday before calling 911 to declare them missing.

The younger Gandee was still a trash collector for the city of South Charleston when "Buckwild" first began shooting. The show followed a handful of college-aged West Virginians partying – kind of like "Jersey Shore" with a gritty, Southern flair.

Needless to say, there seems to be more drama off-camera than on for its stars. Since the show's premiere in early January, star  Salwa Amin has been arrested twice and sent to jail for possession and intent to distribute heroin and OxyContin, while Michael Burford was   arrested for a DUI.

Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W. Va.) reportedly sent a letter to MTV urging the network to put a stop to the show. "As a U.S. Senator, I am repulsed at this business venture, where some Americans are making money off of the poor decisions of our youth,” he said. "I cannot imagine that anyone who loves this country would feel proud profiting off of ‘Buckwild.’ Instead of showcasing the beauty of our people and our state, you preyed on young people, coaxed them into displaying shameful behavior — and now you are profiting from it. That is just wrong."

Still, the show has been renewed for a second season. The show's executive producer, John Stevens, once told Entertainment weekly that it was Gandee – and the fact that he was a trash collector and had no cell phone – who made him think the show could be interesting.

"The parents have to go in the woods when I call to find him," he said. "Shain is usually out there on his ATV and motorcycle. That’s their idea of fun. That’s what so refreshing … These guys don’t have the crap in daily life that convolutes their lives."

A spokesperson for MTV said in a statement, "We are shocked and saddened by the terrible news about Shain Gandee, and those involved in this tragic incident. We are waiting for more information but at this time, our main concern is for the Gandee family and their friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Shain had a magnetic personality, with a passion for life that touched everyone he met and we will miss him dearly."

Kwam 1 christens child number 38!

God has been very good to K1 de Ultimate (aka KWAM 1, aka all the plenty other names he has had). information from reliable source confirms the iconic singer threw a “lavish party in Chicago” last Saturday, 23 March to christen his new daughter – with lover, Titi Masha.



The beautiful baby, named Fathia Whitney Anjolaoluwa is his second child with Ms. Masha and his 38th child over all.

 

Apparently, this is the third party since the baby was born in February.

 
And then there’s another one coming up on Lagos when Ms. Masha returns in a few weeks.

Lebanese gunmen kidnap eight Syrians, demand hostage exchange!

Gunmen kidnapped eight men from Syria's Alawite minority as they crossed into northern Lebanon on Monday, residents and security sources said, in a bid to gain the release of a Sunni Muslim man believed to be held by Syrian forces.
Lebanon's frontier has increasingly been drawn into violence from neighbouring Syria's civil war, now in its third year. Sectarian tensions have been on the rise in both countries, with Sunni Muslims in Lebanon supporting the largely Sunni revolt against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Residents of Lebanon's northern border town of Wadi Khaled said gunmen attacked a bus carrying the men who came to Lebanon for work, beating the driver and kidnapping eight Alawites.


They said the gunmen would release their hostages when a Lebanese Sunni man named Mohammed Hussein al-Ahmad, who residents say is being held by Syrian forces, was freed.
Shi'ites and other minorities have backed Assad, himself from the Alawite sect that is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

A security source said Lebanon's armed forces sent patrols to the northern border area to look for the Syrian hostages.
The Lebanese-Syrian border has grown increasingly tense with battles raging close to the frontier. Syrian forces have threatened to increase shelling on Lebanon's border areas due to the presence of rebel groups there.

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