For the "must have a soda addicts" - What happens to your body when you drink a Coke? Watch.....

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In a nutshell, If you can’t completely remove "soft drinks" from your diet then make sure you drink it in moderation. And if you’re trying to get your kids off this stuff, have them try this cool experiment.

Former Abacha death squad leader challenges Obasanjo to public debate

Two peas in a pod - Abacha (left) and Al-Mustapha

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Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, has challenged ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, to a public debate on any issue concerning Nigeria. 

The former leader of the dreaded strike force unit of the late military dictator, was reacting to news reports about portions of a letter written by Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan, alleging that snipers were being trained in North Korea.

He explained that he was not around when Obasanjo’s letter became public, but read about it in the media.

The former military officer said ex-President Obasanjo knows that he knows Nigeria as much as he (Obasanjo) knows the country. As such, he was ready to face the former President anywhere in the world to discuss Nigeria.

Al-Mustapha said “first of all, he (Obasanjo) did not mention me by name in his letter. Secondly, he knows that “I know Nigeria as much as he does, if he has something to tell me, I want him to come out and tell me straight.

“He should ask me or challenge me, I challenge him to (discuss) anything about Nigeria that he wants to talk about even long before he became Head-of-State (1976-1979), I am ready to meet him in public anywhere in the world”.

Responding to a specific question on allegations that he was privy to the on-going training of snipers, Al-Mustapha swore that there was nothing of the sort.

The former CSO said he is a Muslim and has over the years facilitated the recruitment of northerners into security agencies and has never been involved in anything to betray the north. But we would suppose that going by his antecedents and this uninformed statement, he has no qualms betraying Nigeria as he has shown in the past.

Al-Mustapha also said he has forgiven all those who harmed him during his travails. Interesting statement coming from someone who should actually be hauled before the International Criminal Court.

He observed that people who did not fear God find it difficult to understand how sincere he is when he said he has forgiven all.  

He accused an unnamed individual based in Kaduna, for spreading falsehood about his person and his activities.

According to him, from 1974 till date, there have been so many secrets that encouraged lies to cover the truth. This, he said could be cleared up if Obasanjo takes up the challenge to face him in public.

Jesse Owens' Nazi conquering gold medal sells for record amount at auction

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A gold medal won by the legendary American Olympic athlete, Jesse Owens has sold at an auction for a record $1.5 million. 

Owens symbolically won the Gold at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin much to the chagrin of Adolf Hitler who had hoped to use the games to further promote his Nazi propaganda of Aryan supremacy. 

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautions on antibacterial soaps.....

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned that antibacterial chemicals in soaps and body washes may pose health risks.

It proposed a rule requiring manufacturers to prove such soaps are safe and more effective against infection than plain soap and water.

Recent studies indicate an ingredient in such products could scramble hormone levels and boost drug-proof bacteria. 

The proposal rule does not apply to alcohol-based hand sanitizers and products used in healthcare settings.

Manufacturers have until the end of 2014 to submit the results of clinical trials on their products, the FDA said. The new regulations would be finalized in 2016.

"New data suggest that the risks associated with long-term, daily use of antibacterial soaps may outweigh the benefits," Colleen Rogers, an FDA microbiologist, wrote in a statement.

Certain ingredients in such products - such as triclosan in liquid soaps and triclocarban in bar soaps - may contribute to bacterial resistance to antibiotics, the agency added.

Such products may also have "unanticipated hormonal effects that are of concern", according to the statement.

Recent studies of such chemicals on animals have shown they may alter hormones, the FDA said, but such results have not yet been proven in humans.

"Because so many consumers use them, FDA believes that there should be clearly demonstrated benefits to balance any potential risks," the statement added.

If the FDA's proposed rule is finalized, companies would be required to provide data to support their product's health claims.

If they cannot, the products would be reformulated or relabeled in order to remain on the market.

In March of this year, a federal appeals court approved a lawsuit by the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council, aimed at forcing the FDA to review the health impacts of triclosan.

Former WWE publicist fired from IAC after racist Tweet

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Former WWE publicist, Justine Sacco has been fired from her job as a publicist with IAC following a racist tweet (see below).



Sacco’s post remained on Twitter most of the day Friday because she was on a flight from London to South Africa. The response on the social media website was swift — the tweet generated the hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet, which became a trending topic Friday night. Not only that, but someone purchased the domain JustineSacco.com, which redirects to the Aid for Africa website.

Upon landing, Sacco, who was IAC’s senior director of corporate communications, first deleted the tweet and then her entire Twitter account.

IAC, which owns over 150 Internet brands, released a statement Saturday confirming that Justine Sacco had been fired. The company also removed Sacco’s name from its website.

“The offensive comment does not reflect the views and values of IAC. We take this issue very seriously, and we have parted ways with the employee in question,” the statement read.

“There is no excuse for the hateful statements that have been made and we condemn them unequivocally. We hope, however, that time and action, and the forgiving human spirit, will not result in the wholesale condemnation of an individual who we have otherwise known to be a decent person at core.”

Justine Sacco joined IAC in September 2011 after working as a publicist at WWE. Twitter user @Zac_R said he was at the airport when Sacco landed and spoke to her father, who is a wealthy South African businessman. 

Her father said he decided to raise his daughter in the United States because South Africa was too racist.”

George Zimmerman, his painting and blood money on eBay....

A very young Trayvon Martin (Trayvon Martin Family)

By Israel O. Jemibewon

Bidding on eBay for a painting by George Zimmerman, whose 2012 murder of a black teenager, Trayvon Martin sparked both national and global outrage, neared $100,000 on Tuesday in an online auction that ends Sunday.

The signed patriotic blue-hued portrayal of the Stars and Stripes flag is overlapped with the words "God, One Country, with Liberty and Justice for All" in typewriter font.

Think for a moment in the irony of the latter "Liberty and Justice" for all considering he has permanently denied that to Trayvon Martin. That he even mentions the name of an "All Knowing God" who despises "those that shed innocent blood" should further make anyone with even the slightest ounce of human decency, shudder at the thought of such an intellectual/moral misadventure.

Zimmerman, 30, a Neighborhood Watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida, fatally shot Martin on February 26, 2012 as the 17-year-old unarmed high school student was walking home with iced tea and candy.

More recently he faced arraignment next month for allegedly pointing a gun at his girlfriend, before she dropped the charges.

Said by his lawyers to be deep in debt, Zimmerman noted on his eBay listing that he created his debut canvas using house paint donated by a friend.

Good thing he did not use the blood of his victim as a canvas overlay, but then again, he is looking forward to a huge payday drenched in same.

CC, as a matter of policy, will not provide a link or any imagery that supports this despicable activity and even more telling is the support for the exercise, by those who have contributed financially to it. 

Jaguar's retort to Mercedes-Benz's new unofficial mascot.....

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Pretty sure Mercedes-Benz saw this coming as would not expect such a savvy brand to walk right into such a predictable rebuttal.

While Jaguar is a class brand, it might want to work on shedding its "scheduled breakdown" reputation before taking pot shots at its rivals.

See the videos (below) beginning with the one from Mercedes that led to the Jaguar jab. Just love it when "snubs" argue with one another.

Jon Stewart 'apologizes' to Megyn Kelly, Fox News for White Santa Jokes.....

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The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

Best of yesterday and last night courtesy of Politico.....

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Africa, the International Criminal Court and the West.....

U.S. President Barack Obama (not a party to Rome Statute)

By Lazarus Danjuma, Deputy Editor-in-Chief

Leaders of the African Union (AU) are meeting in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia and the seat of the AU Headquarters, to discuss Africa's relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC), among other issues of importance.

The ICC was created by the Rome Statute which came into effect on July 1, 2002. It's birth was in response to a growing need (purportedly at the time) to complement existing national judicial systems. The ICC may only exercise its jurisdiction when the said national courts (of member and non-member nations ostensibly) are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute alleged war crimes, genocide or crimes against humanity.

There are currently 122 member states (including 34 African countries) that are party to the ICC statute while the United States, Israel, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, China and India have refused to sign on, much less ratify the statute.

Russia has however signed on but refused to ratify the Rome Statute.

In the history of the ICC since its inception in 2002, the crux of the ICC's activities has focused on Africa.

Currently, the Prosecutor has opened investigations into eight situations in Africa - the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, the Central African Republic, Darfur in Sudan, the Republic of Kenya, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire and Mali. 

Of these eight, four were referred to the Court by the concerned states parties themselves (Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic and Mali), two were referred by the United Nations Security Council (Darfur and Libya) and two were begun proprio motu by the Prosecutor (Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire). 

Additionally, by Power of Attorney from the Union of the Comoros, a law firm referred the situation on the Comorian - flagged MV Mavi Marmara vessel to the Court, prompting the Prosecutor to initiate a preliminary examination.

The Court has publicly indicted 32 people (all African) and while four have had the charges against them dismissed, three of those indicted have died before trial (including the former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi who was tortured and then summarily executed by Al Qaeda-backed Libyan rebels).  

A close look at these clearly explains why Africans and African leaders are increasingly wary of the current motives of the ICC. 

There is the belief that it has been hijacked by the United States and Western European nations (namely France and Great Britain) with the egregious acquiescence of an increasingly discredited United Nations (through its Security Council) to ensure developing countries (mostly African countries) toe the line of their (Western) socio-economic and political agenda.

A graphic breakdown of who pays the piper (below) serves to further buttress the point being made by African opponents of the Court.

The European Union accounts for 60% of ICC contributions

   
According to a recent publication in a journal by the Parliament of Canada, "one recent concern of some significance is the ICC prosecutor’s exclusive focus on sub-Saharan Africa. A number of critics have expressed serious reservations about this practice, and voice fear about bias and the perception that the ICC is yet another instrument of foreign intervention in a long history of Western/Northern interference in African affairs.

Even if various geopolitical pressures have simply made it easier for the prosecutor to begin investigations in Africa rather than elsewhere, commentators contend that this sends a negative signal about how the ICC may continue to work, and they maintain that the ICC cannot investigate African crises alone."

The response by the ICC Prosecutor that some of these cases were actually referred to the Court by the countries in question does not hide the fact that there seems to be a systematic design to humiliate, discredit and embarrass the continent and its leaders, as if Africa is the only place where atrocities are being committed.

Furthermore that the same ICC would argue that Kenya (a country with one of the most sophisticated legal systems in Africa) would be seen as unable to handle the trial of its democratically elected leaders, while Libya (a country where the Premier was recently abducted and armed gangs essentially run the country) is seen as "able to handle" the trial of Qaddafi's former security chief, is at best comical and shows once again the blatant bias of the ICC and its adjacency towards Africa and Africans, south of the Sahara. 

Furthermore that the likes of Kofi Annan and Desmond Dutu were essentially recruited to speak against the legitimate concerns of Africans about the ICC and its imperial backers, is telling, giving the unflattering antecedents of those men.

Kofi Annan should be the one to "wear a badge of shame" for his inglorious and grossly incompetent reign as UN Secretary-General. The once-revered Desmond Tutu, on his part, continues to espouse doctrines and ideas that have no "logical" standing and increasingly portrays himself as a senile and out-of-touch rabble-rouser. 

The ICC has the option of either evolving into the real paragon of law and fairness it was intended to be or face increasing scrutiny and challenges from not just Africans, but people who believe in the true values and ideals of justice and equal treatment, under the law. 

That the United States and at least two other members of the U.N. Security Council are not signatories to the Rome Statute raises serious red flags, more-so when one of the latter (the United States) has had a recent history of leaders (George W. Bush and Barack Obama) who have acted with arrogant impunity and utter disregard for international law, to suit their own agenda. 

Africa's leaders must learn to speak and speak clearly with one voice. It's the only way to ensure that their voices are heard and they must do so with indisputable conviction.

The truth is that the ICC and its sister body, the United Nations, have become caustic tools of imperialism and neo-colonialism of declining and desperate imperial powers hell-bent on imposing their "own way of life" on others. 

That will simply not stand.