.Khloe and family cheer Lamar at the NBA championship

Khloe Kardashian's Extravagant Victory Gift to Lamar Odom

.Khloe and family cheer Lamar at the NBA championship.

Noel Vasquez/Getty images Helping his team win the NBA championship title should be a gift in and of itself for Los Angeles Laker Lamar Odom, but his wife must have thought the big win needed more celebration than a ticker tape parade.



E! News reports that Khloe Kardashian, Lamar's wife of nearly nine months, bought him a Rolls-Royce.



The car is said to retail at $443,000, and Kardashian's mother, Kris Jenner, calling it "fabulous," told E! News a few details about the gift.



"It's a brand-new 2010 Rolls-Royce," Jenner said. "Drop-top coupe, white on white."



Jenner was most likely describing the 2010 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, which Car and Driver magazine calls "pretty much everything you'd expect from a convertible that costs half a million dollars."



The review of the Rolls, written by satirist and pundit, P.J. O'Rourke, also referred to the car as "faster than the stink of how rich you'd have to get to buy one."



Writer P.J. O'Rourke fishes from a Rolls Royce Phantom.

Car and Driver Some of the Phantom's features are classic: a teak wood deck ("the same kind of wood used in a really nice yacht," Car and Driver notes); a Rolls-Royce logo that remains upright on the wheel-heads even when they're in motion. But some are downright futuristic, like doors that close with the push of a button. It even has a mechanism to keep its iconic hood ornament safe: If someone messes with it, it drops into the car, and there's even a button on the dashboard that the owner can push to make the ornament disappear into the hood.

source: OMG from yahoo

Ibori: FG may sack NPA, NIMASA bosses

 There were indications on Monday that the Presidency may be planning to sack the leadership of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Nigeria Ports Authority over the escape of a former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, from the country.
One of our correspondents gathered that government’s action was based on reports that Ibori may have evaded arrest by fleeing through the country’s waterways.


Ibori fled the country to Dubai after he was declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission last month. He was declared wanted after he failed to honour its invitation over allegations that he used shares belonging to Delta State to secure a N44bn loan from a bank.


A competent source in the Federal Ministry of Transport told one of our correspondents in Abuja on Monday that government was unhappy that the officials of both agencies failed to apprehend Ibori. This, the official said, had fuelled the suspicion that some of them may have aided his escape.


Consequently, it was gathered that sweeping changes in the two agencies may be imminent in both agencies. Those likely to be affected are the Director-General of NIMASA, Mr. Temsare Omatseye, and Managing Director of the NPA, Mallam Abdul Salam Muhammed.


The ministry source said, “The DG of NIMASA has already been informed about his disengagement. Unless there is a last-minute change of mind by the President, his disengagement will be announced before the end of this week. Also, the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority may likely be affected.”


When contacted on the telephone, the Head, Public Relations, NIMASA, Mrs. Ego Nwokocha, said the agency was not aware of such a plan.


According to her, “I am not aware of any plan by the Federal Government to remove the DG. I think it is a mere speculation. Moreover, he came in not long ago.


“Removing him now will not augur well for the development of the maritime sector. However, I believe that there is nothing like that.”


When one of our correspondents contacted the NPA’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Musa Liya, on the telephone at 5:22 pm, he said, “In fact, right now, I am still in the office. I am not aware of such a development.”

Source: Punch

Celebrity sex-tape scandal grips Indonesia

AP – In his July 14, 2009 photo, pop singer Nazril Irham, better known as Ariel, left, and his girlfriend …

•  
•  By NINIEK KARMINI,

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesians grappled with their first-ever celebrity sex-tape scandal, casting aside social taboos as they swarmed around office computers and mobile phones to watch clips allegedly showing a much-loved pop star with two girlfriends.
The story topped newscasts for a week and dominated chatter on social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. But just as controversial was the reaction of officials in the newly democratic nation.
Police initially threatened to charge the "stars" under a strict anti-pornography law.
Several high schools were raided for mobile phones so the offending clips could be removed. And some ministers said the incident pointed, once again, to moral decay and the need for stricter controls of the Internet.
Indonesia, a secular nation with more Muslims than any other in the world, emerged from 32 years of dictatorship in 1998. It won praise for tackling the tough tasks of fighting corruption and terrorism and implementing widely lauded social and economic reforms.
But it still faces challenges on the road to democratization, from the explosion of grass-roots campaigning on the Web to old-style politicians, who speak to small constituencies or narrow-based parties rather than the central government, said sociologist Wimar Witoelar.
For some, the initial instinct still is to clamp down.
When the scandal spurred debate as to whether education about sex — a subject still taboo at home and in the classroom — should be added to the school curriculum, Minister of Education Muhammad Nuh responded with a flat out "no."
"I may be obsolete, but I don't see that sex education in schools is needed," he told reporters. "I believe people will learn about sex naturally."
Instead, he recommended authorities search students' mobile phones for copies of the tapes, the rapid dissemination of which "violates the rules and cultural norms in a religious society."
"Whoever is responsible should be punished," Nuh said.
The first six-minute video clip appears to show pop singer Nazril Irham, better known as Ariel, in bed with his girlfriend Luna Maya, a top model, actress and, up until the scandal, the face of Lux beauty soap.
The two deny it was them, saying the footage has been doctored, but were called in for questioning by police.
Initially officers threatened to charge them under a tough anti-pornography law, even though there was no indication the intimate but explicit sex scenes were ever intended for public viewing.
"If someone is proven to have intentionally distributed the videos, that person will be charged," said Brig. Gen. Zainuri Lubis, spokesman for the national police, adding even those caught downloading clips and copying it for others could face jail time.
Local media said the video started appearing in early June after Ariel's laptop was stolen and many similar tapes, with other celebrities, are still out there.
Then a second eight-minute video emerged, purportedly showing Ariel with a former girlfriend, also a well-liked model and television presenter, further fanning public appetite for more.
As the tapes were downloaded onto Facebook and YouTube (they have since been removed by the sites' administrator) and distributed from mobile phone to mobile phone, the country tottered on the verge of sexual hysteria.
Fifteen-year-old Bintang Irvano, a student at a high school in south Jakarta, huddled around a mobile phone with his two friends to look at the video "for about the fourth time."
He said after teachers started launching daily raids, teens started removing the footage from their phones ahead of class only to later upload it.
"It's easy to get it back again," said Raikhan Daffa, 16. "We just pass it to one another by Bluetooth."
"Hey, it's one way to learn about sex!" he said, laughing.
Work grinded to a halt at some offices last week, as employees discussed the scandal on Facebook or forwarded a steady string of jokes, the punch lines all tied to the scandal.
The country of 240 million has seen an explosion of social networking as more people have access to the Internet, prompting the government earlier this year to propose a bill to regulate content.
Public pressure forced it, eventually, to be shelved.
But, in the wake of the sex-tape saga, Minister of Information and Technology Tifatul Sembiring renewed calls for content control, and teams immediately set out to deploy firewalls for more than 2,000 Internet cafes around the country.
He said it was a "race against time" to protect children from harm.
Others argued while it is important to protect the young, new media has a key role to play in helping democratize the country, and curtailing content does not come without risks.
"The government may have good intentions," said Roy Suryo, an information and technology analyst. "But freedom of information and personal access rights have to be protected as well."

Source: yahoo news

Mandela relative killed after World Cup concer

Nelson Mandela with his great granddaughter Zenani, who was killed in a car accident following Thursday's kickoff concert. (AP 

Instead, South Africa’s beloved anti-apartheid icon stayed at home with his family Friday in northern Johannesburg during the opening ceremony and game, mourning his 13-year-old great-granddaughter Zenani, who died in a car crash on the way home from a tournament-eve concert in Soweto.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation said the tragedy “made it inappropriate” for the former president, who is 91, to attend the opening ceremony in Johannesburg.

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“We are sure that South Africans and people all over the world will stand in solidarity with Mr. Mandela and his family in the aftermath of this tragedy,” the foundation said, adding that Mandela “will be there with you in spirit today.”
Johannesburg Metro police spokeswoman Edna Mamonyane said the driver of the car had been arrested and charged with drunk driving. Mamonyane said the driver, whom police didn’t identify, could also face homicide charges.
“The Metro police found that he was drunk,” Mamonyane said. “He lost control of the vehicle and it collided with a barricade.”
Police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo, who earlier said the driver would appear in court for a preliminary hearing Friday, said that had been postponed for further investigations, and that the driver was not being held. Mariemuthoo said that was not unusual.
“It’s a decision of the prosecutor,” he said.
The Mandela foundation denied reports that the former president’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was in the car, but said she was treated in a hospital for shock after being told of the fatal accident. She was discharged after a few hours.
She was on the VIP list for the opening ceremony, and a press box official confirmed she was at Soccer City, but the foundation said later that Madikizela-Mandela did not attend.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who was in South Africa to lead his country’s delegation to the opening ceremony, were among those who offered condolences.
South African President Jacob Zuma, calling Mandela by his clan name Madiba — a term of affection—referred to the death in the Mandela family in an address to the crowd before the Mexico-South Africa game started.
He said Mandela had wanted to be there, “but unfortunately there was a tragedy in the Mandela family.”
“But he said the game must start. You must enjoy the game,” Zuma added.
Mandela has achieved glory as a politician and human rights campaigner, but suffered many personal tragedies.
In 1969, three years after arriving on Robben Island to serve a life sentence for sabotage, Mandela received a telegram from his younger son, Makgatho, informing him that his eldest son, Madiba Thembekile, died in a car crash.
Prison authorities refused to allow Mandela to attend the funeral.
“I do not have words to express the sorrow, or the loss I felt,” Mandela wrote in his autobiography. “It left a hole in my heart that can never be filled.”
Thirty-six years later, Makgatho died. Mandela announced his last surviving son died of AIDS-related complications, saying the only way to fight the disease’s stigma was to speak openly.
Mandela’s family life suffered during years devoted to politics, as an underground anti-apartheid fighter and in prison. Two marriages fell apart, the second to Winnie. He began his 27-year imprisonment only four years after marrying her.
Mandela was freed in 1990. Four years later, his lifelong battle over apartheid won, he became South Africa’s first black president. He served just one term, then devoted himself to international causes, including fighting AIDS.
He has announced his retirement and desire to devote time to his family several times. Increasingly, those close to him and other South Africans have said the reward for all he has done for his country should now be freedom from the public’s demands.
On his 80th birthday July 18, 1998, he married Graca Machel, a veteran of the anti-colonial struggle in her native Mozambique, former education minister, noted international child rights advocate and widow of Mozambique’s first president, Samora Machel.
Graca Machel once told a television interviewer she helped Mandela reconnect with his family. Family photos released by his foundation Friday showed a relaxed and smiling Mandela with Zenani and other great-grandchildren.
Zenani was one of the anti-apartheid icon’s nine great-grandchildren.

Source: Yahoo Sport

Wealthy businesswomen energize Calif. GOP voters

LOS ANGELES – A Republican primary season marked by a blistering campaign spending spree and less-is-more approach to government comes to an end Tuesday with two wealthy businesswomen poised to make history for the GOP.

Former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina have become the front-runners to lead the Republican Party this fall. If the most recent polls hold, it would be the first time the party would have put a woman — much less two — at the top of its ticket in the nation's most populous state.
Whitman has built a wide lead over her rival for the Republican nomination for governor, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, thanks in large part to spending from her personal fortune. The billionaire has spent $81 million so far, all but about $10 million of it from her own bank account.

Poizner, himself a wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneur, has spent $25 million.
Fiorina has had a come-from-behind story in her race for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, greatly outspending her two challengers. She also has appealed to conservative voters with her views on abortion, guns and gay marriage but will face a difficult task trying to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer if she emerges victorious in Tuesday's primary.

She holds double-digit leads against former congressman Tom Campbell and state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

Republicans hope the anti-incumbent mood that has swept the nation will help them defeat Boxer and state Attorney General Jerry Brown, two of California's most well-known Democrats. Brown is seeking a comeback as governor, a post he held from 1975-83 in the era before term limits.

Brown emerged from the fog to vote at a fire house in the Oakland hills after walking from his nearby home.
"I feel very confident about this primary election. I'm going to win this one," joked Brown.
Brown said he would not talk about the individual Republicans jockeying to challenge him in the governor's race. But he took a veiled swipe at GOP frontrunner Meg Whitman's reputation for tightly controlled campaign appearances.
"I'm looking forward to a campaign where people get to see the candidates, not just the commericals," Brown said.
Brown and Poizner scheduled public events on Election Day, while Whitman has no planned public appearances, an unusual move for a top-tier candidate.

Whitman's campaign said she will avoid the typical Election Day photo-op because she already has cast her mail-in ballot. Whitman has been criticized for her poor voting record and has acknowledged that she did not vote for most of her life. She had been expected to vote near her home in Atherton, south of San Francisco.
Her spokesman, Tucker Bounds, said Whitman decided to vote absentee for convenience because she will be in Los Angeles on Tuesday. She planned to meet with campaign workers and supporters, he said.
Democrats have been raising money in anticipation of what are expected to be difficult and expensive campaigns for governor and U.S. Senate.

A union-funded group that supports Brown reported raising more than $4 million over the last two weeks and planned to begin airing its first television commercials Wednesday, a day after Republicans select their challengers. Whitman and Fiorina have campaigned on promises to cut government spending.
Beyond the top candidate races, Californians also will decide whether they want to transform the state's primary election process and test public financing of campaigns.

Passage of Proposition 14 would allow all voters to cast ballots in a primary, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the general election, regardless of party. In highly gerrymandered districts, that could mean two Democrats or two Republicans on the November ballot.

The proposition was placed on the ballot in a budget deal last year between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and then-state Sen. Abel Maldonado, who said he would support higher taxes if the Legislature agreed to place the open-primary measure before voters. He has said it will benefit more moderate candidates such as himself in state legislative and congressional primaries.
Earlier this year, Schwarzenegger appointed Maldonado lieutenant governor, and the former lawmaker is on Tuesday's ballot as a candidate for that job. The two were scheduled to appear together Tuesday morning to promote the measure.
California voters also could opt for a trial run of public financing of campaigns, somewhat ironic in a year of record political spending in the GOP race for governor.

Turnout for the primary is expected to be relatively light, with perhaps a third of registered voters casting ballots. Of the 16.9 million Californians registered, 40 percent — or 6.8 million — requested vote-by-mail ballots. As of Monday, 1.8 million of those ballots had been returned.


Interest is expected to be higher among Republicans because of the gubernatorial and Senate contests. Brown and Boxer did not face serious challengers.
Source:  yahoo news

Jega is new INEC chairman

President Goodluck Jonathan has named Attahiru Jega, a former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, as the new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Mr. Jega's appointment was approved today at the meeting of the Council of State, which largely composed of former heads of state and state governors.

His nomination, which still requires the approval of the Senate, followed the recent sack of the former electoral commission boss, Maurice Iwu.

Mr. Jega, a Professor of Political Science, is the current vice chancellor of Bayero University, and a former consultant to the commission and participated in the electoral reform project headed by Justice Mohammed Uwais.
Source: NEXT

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