The moment Guardiola snubbed Ronaldo at Ballon D’Or 2012

Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra, John Terry and Anton Ferdinand, Samir Nasri and William Gallas, Terry (again) and Wayne Bridge, and now Pep Guardiola and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The snubbed handshake is fast becoming football’s equivalent of unfriending someone on Facebook.
But while previous examples have had their origins in personal slights, it seems the latest entry to the list has its origins in good old fashioned club rivalry.
Tensions between Real Madrid and Barcelona are well known. Styles, cultures and attitudes both on and off the field are all wildly different and with the competitive edge thrown in, it makes for a fractious relationship.
One can only speculate on the reason behind Guardiola’s seemingly deliberate decision to ignore Ronaldo, though with the recent history in El Clasico gives a pretty large hint.
Red cards, close games, touchline clashes, title clinchers and cup finals have all made the meeting of Spain’s top two the most enticing of matches in world football.
But when former Barca boss Guardiola was approached by Madrid ace Ronaldo, the Spaniard stared for a second before turning away, leaving the Portuguese’s hand hanging in the air.
The look on Ronaldo’s face told a story of bemusement, while Pep went back to soaking up the atmosphere.
DailyPost

Alleged HIV/AIDS Breakthrough: UNIBEN Disowns Don

Prof. Isaiah Ibeh: Disowned over alleged HIV/AIDS cure invention.

Authorities of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), have disowned the Dean of School of Basic Medical Sciences of the University, Prof. Isaiah Ibeh, who claimed to have invented a possible cure for the dreaded HIV/AIDS.

Prof. Ibeh had on Tuesday announced the breakthrough in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Benin, capital of Edo State.
“We are at threshold of making history in the sense that we seem to have with us something that will permanently take care of what overtime seems to have defied all solutions.
“We are talking about the latest discovery of an oral drug made from plant extraction in Nigeria for the possible cure of the pandemic, HIV and AIDS virus,” Prof Ibeh had said in the interview.
But reacting to enquiries from journalists in his office, the Provost, College of Medical Sciences of UNIBEN, Prof. Vincent Iyawe, said the university has not endorsed the claims of Prof. Ibeh for now because the institution was not “carried along” in the research.
“The school would like to take credit for a breakthrough, but the school cannot align with the breakthrough because the college was not consulted, the university was not consulted, he did not carry anybody along.
“There are protocols and procedures.  Going from stage to stage, we give it clinical trials which will take it to the Federal Ministry of Health to do clinical trial and many other things involved. We will equally have to take it to NAFDAC, and many other things have to be done before you come out with your claims, and even take it to the World Health Organization,” Prof. Iyawe said.
According to the College Provost, all the university was doing was to protect Prof. Ibeh and the integrity of UNIBEN.
When asked for comment on his next line of action, the inventor of the alleged HIV/AIDS cure, Prof. Ibeh declined, adding, “I will naturally maintain a studied silence.”
Naijaurban

Fire razes Alaafin of Oyo’s Palace

The Palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi has been razed by a harsh inferno which gutted the house on Wednesday . The inferno razed down about 21 rooms of the ancient palace.
Confirming the incident, the Media Assistant to the monarch, Alhaji Azeez Fehintola, said the fire started around 6am on Wednesday, raging uncontrollably before the arrival of fire fighters about an hour later.
“The fire-fighters came at some minutes past seven and battled it till it was finally put out. Every part of the affected apartments were completely razed. It was a really sad day for the Ayabas because many of their property were destroyed. They keep their monies in the palace. Plasma television sets, jeweleries, clothes, and many other valuables,” Alhaji Fehintola said.
He added that the most affected part of the palace were rooms known as the Ile Ori, Ile Ifa where artifacts and other valuables were stored and also flats of Princess Folasade (Iyaa Meta), Princess Rukayat, and Princess Abibat.
Undisclosed large amount of money was lost in the inferno, though no life was lost or injury recorded in the incident.
However, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi refused to comment on the incident as he was
said not to be in the right mood to entertain any questions.
It was gathered that the fire was ignited from an electrical surge from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.
DailyPost

Virginia KKK Uses Obama’s Presidency As A Recruiting Tool

By Annie-Rose Strasser

The Ku Klux Klan of Virginia is trying to find new members, and it is using President Obama’s second term as a recruitment tool.
According to local Richmond television station WTVR, residents in the area have received two KKK fliers in their driveways in the course of as many months. The fliers read, “WAKE UP WHITE AMERICA!!” and explain that “the majority of HATE CRIMES in America are committed by BLACKS against WHITES!!!”
In an interview with the station, the KKK bragged that their recruitment has been up thanks to Obama’s election, and expect it to triple during his next term:

“Since Obama’s first term our numbers have doubled and now that we’re headed to a second term it’s going to triple, this is going to be the biggest resurgence of the Klan since 1915,” said one of the Klansmen interviewed.
The Klansman have been handing out flyers in a Mechanicsville neighborhood, and neighbors who received them have contacted CBS 6.
“We’re not trying to target anybody or scare anybody with hate, we’re just using our freedom of speech to drop fliers,” said one of the Klansmen interviewed. “Everyone thinks that we’re a hate group, we’re not a hate group, we don’t hate anyone, and we want to see good things come to our race.”

Watch it:
Whether or not the KKK is fabricating its recruitment numbers, the technique underlines a scary trend in the United States. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, antigovernment groups and hate groups are on the rise, and racial animosity toward the President has been a consistent issue during his time in office.
The racially driven hatred toward the President has also tracked with the rise of the Tea Party, whose leaders have made not-so-subtle dog whistle attacks against Obama.
TP

Heard of Hoodoo? It’s the ‘exploited and forgotten’ African religion

Are you familiar with the religion Hoodoo? Not the West African religion Voodoo or Vodoun, but Hoodoo. Hoodoo first emerged in the southeastern region of  the United States in the 1800′s when people from West African tribes of the Congo, Sierra Leone, and present-day Ghana were brought over to the country as slaves and combined each of their religious traditions to create Hoodoo.
“The cultural profile of those three regions is very different and the religions are different,” scholar Katrina Hazzard-Donald says. “But after 1807, the African slaves are united under a common material culture and Hoodoo begins to emerge out of these three distinct African religious traditions.” Hoodoo beliefs are purely naturalistic and practices used naturally obtained supplies like herbs, minerals, and even animals. One example of the religion’s practices was “chewing the root.” It was a ritual done to release the sap of a plant to conjure spiritual power. The tradition of herbal healing known as Hoodoo is about more than using hex-breaking oils and candles to ward off bad vibes, according to a new book by Hazzard-Donald.
Sadly, Hoodoo lost its religious status after the 1880′s, and Hoodoo practices began to be commercially marketed, modified, and fabricated. “A tremendous amount of exploitation has taken place among merchants and Hoodoo emerges as a commercial enterprise right around World War I among people who were not believers or practitioners even though they were willing to sell it,” Hazzard-Donald explains. “What many people start to see is something that I call commercialized or tourist Hoodoo. It has been presented as the ‘real authentic’ Hoodoo.”
YNaija.com

Marijuana Legalization Petition Draws White House Response

  By Nick Wing

The White House weighed in once more Tuesday on the issue of marijuana legalization, responding to a trio of highly popular petitions submitted to its "We the People" website.
President Barack Obama's administration dispatched Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and a well-known marijuana foe, to handle the query. He began by acknowledging that the nation was "in the midst of a serious national conversation about marijuana," and then referred petitioners to the administration's previous response to recent legalization measures passed in Colorado and Washington. Kerlikowske declined to say what, if any, progress had been made on the Justice Department's review of those states' initiatives, and went on to quote from Obama's most recent comments on marijuana legalization, given to Barbara Walter of ABC News.
Kerlikowske selected a particularly innocuous segment of Obama's response, in which the president describes the necessity for his administration to "reconcile a federal law that still says marijuana is a federal offense and state laws that say that it's legal."
The administration has responded to petitions on marijuana legalization in the past. Before "We the People" was utilized predominantly as a forum to air strange grievances, push for the deportation of a British media personality or express Star Wars fanaticism, it was used primarily to press the administration on drug policy.
Marijuana legalization advocates eventually got a response, also from Kerlikowske, that then broke no new ground on the longheld White House position that marijuana is a dangerous drug with no medical value.
In its latest response, it appears that the administration has at least been forced to shift the framing of their approach to the issue of marijuana legalization. That said, they are apparently not yet ready to answer questions about a federal response to the recent progress in Colorado and Washington.
Tom Angell, chairman of legalization advocacy group Marijuana Majority, saw some promising signs in Kerlikowske's rhetoric:

"From 'legalization is not in my vocabulary and it's not in the president's,' as Gil Kerlikowske often used to say, to 'it is clear that we're in the midst of a serious national conversation about marijuana' is a pretty stark shift," he said. "Of course, what really matters is to what extent the administration actually shifts enforcement priorities and budgets, but I sure do like hearing the U.S. drug czar acknowledge the fact that marijuana legalization is a mainstream discussion that is happening whether he likes it or not."
HuffingtonPost

Genevieve Nnaji’s clothing line makes a surprising comeback (PHOTOS)

inShare

by Rachel Ogbu

In 2008, Genevieve Nnaji launched a clothing line called St. Genevieve, which donates a percentage of its proceeds to charity. Well it looks like it’s still going strong as she is spotted here wearing her own label in its latest range for women.
Her new line looks very chic and ready to wear for women of any shape and size.
These ladies look stunning, don’t they!

 YNaija.com