Thanks
to their lack of awareness for consequences, we'll always know exactly
what children are thinking - good or bad. There's something to love
about the most innocent time of life and honestly, I wish we could all
learn to speak our minds more often.
You should share this and spread the laughs!
Why John Kerry gave
Russia's foreign minister potatoes
Updated Tuesday, January 21st 2014 at 10:00 GMT +3
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Adapted from http://news.yahoo.com
Being the United States' top diplomat is an incredibly difficult job
that requires one to be smooth, tough and cool in knowing that you're
always one misstep away from starting an international incident.
But on the plus side, you sometimes get to give potatoes as gifts.
Secretary of State John Kerry, meeting with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov in Paris, presented his Russian counterpart with two
extremely large Idaho potatoes. Not exactly a PlayStation 4, but there
was a good reason for the gift.
NBC News reports that Kerry said that Lavrov had mentioned Idaho
potatoes during a previous meeting.
Via NBC News:
Russia's foreign minister seemed to appreciate the gesture, smiling and
remarking that the gifts were "impressive."
The Russians, not the type to receive a gift without having one to give,
presented State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki with a pink ushanka
hat, for keeping warm during the Sochi Olympics.
In 2009, then- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presented
Lavrov with a red "reset button" intended to symbolize a desire to
restart the two nations' relationship on a positive track after a split
over Russia's invasion of Georgia.
Often, the United States is on the receiving end of unusual gifts. For
example, in 2012, President Barack Obama received a saber with a
34-inch blade from Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.
For a full list of gifts received from foreign sources by employees of
the executive branch of the U.S. government, check out this long — but
fascinating -list. A nice perk, but keep in mind that just because you
get a gift doesn't always mean it's yours to keep.
Via State.gov:
GO TO PAGE 1 2 Next » Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000102851&story_title=why-john-kerry-gave-russia-s-foreign-minister-potatoes
Most
Nigerian musicians, doing Afro-Pop, Hip-Hop and Rap, do not have enough
stamina to stay in the game for too long and that’s because they sing
all the words in their brain pretty fast. But within the short period of
their reign, they spend carelessly, buying cars and stuffs that
depreciates fast.
This “sickness” seem to have caught up with singer 9ice. See his latest confession below…
“I’m leaving music, I need to go into something
more challenging. Music is no longer competitive for me, I’ve done all
that needs to be done in music,” 9ice told a reporter.
How can 9ice say he has achieved all there is to achieve in music
between 2008 and 2013, in just five years? I hope younger musicians will
see the message in this development and learn from them?
Some gay Ugandans have fled the country, saying they are being persecuted
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has refused to approve a controversial bill to toughen laws against homosexuals.
He has written to the parliamentary speaker criticising her for passing it in December without a quorum.
Homosexuals were "abnormal" and could be "rescued", Uganda's private Monitor paper quotes the president's letter as saying.
The bill includes life imprisonment for homosexual acts and also makes it a crime not to report gay people.
The BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga in the capital, Kampala says
the promotion of homosexuality - even talking about it without
condemning the lifestyle - would also be punishable by a prison term.
Mr Museveni said the bill was forced through despite his
advice to shelve it until the government had studied it in depth, the
Monitor reports.
"Even with legislation, they will simply go underground and
continue practicing homosexuality or lesbianism for mercenary reasons,"
he is quoted as saying.
The president is aware that if he signs the bill there will
be an international outcry, which could see some countries suspend aid
to the country, our reporter says.
Human rights activists say the bill highlights the intolerance and discrimination the gay community faces in Uganda.
One gay activist was killed in 2011, although the police denied he was targeted because of his sexuality.
The bill has been condemned by world leaders since it was mooted in 2009 - US President Barack Obama called it "odious".
The private member's bill originally proposed the death
penalty for some offences, such as if a minor was involved or the
perpetrator was HIV-positive, but this was dropped.
If
selected, Daniel Sturridge is fit and ready to make his first start
since recovering from injury when Liverpool take on Aston Villa on
Saturday, Brendan Rodgers has confirmed.
The striker returned to action with a bang as a second-half
substitute in Sunday's 5-3 victory at Stoke City; creating a goal for
Luis Suarez before getting on the scoresheet himself.
After another week's worth of training at Melwood, Rodgers feels
Sturridge is fit enough to be considered for a starting berth when Villa
come to Anfield this weekend.
The boss told Liverpoolfc.com: "His qualities and fitness, aligned
with what I've seen in training, I think show that if we needed him to
start, he would be able to."
Despite having not figured since the Merseyside derby on November 23
due to an ankle problem sustained in training, Sturridge looked fresh as
he made his comeback at the Britannia Stadium.
It was a similar scenario at the start of 2013-14 when, despite
having his pre-season disrupted by injury, the 24-year-old began the
campaign with an immediate impact by firing in each of his first five
matches.
Rodgers added: "I think that says everything. He's a boy that is
blessed genetically with this wonderful gift of being able to recover -
but it's also a mark of his professionalism as well.
"When you've been out for so long, like he was in pre-season, to come
back and play as quickly as he did showed how hard he was working in
the off-season. And likewise now after the period out.
"He looks after his body, his body fat, his weight and that natural
fitness he has, alongside his work, allows him to come back and make the
impact he made last week.
"He's again looked very, very good in training, very sharp, and he'll be at a good level come the weekend."
playingalongside Obi,” Lampard told the Chelsea official website. ”He’s
a top holding midfield player, and for me personally being more
attacking in my game it helps to play with someone who has discipline
and moves the ball quickly, which Obi can do. He’s one of those players
who will not make headlines, but he’s happy to go unrecognised in his
work and he has a huge worth for the team when he plays.”
Mikel Obi, who arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2006 from Lyn Oslo, also
praised the England international and pointed him out as one of the
senior players, who helped him settle in at the club quickly. “Coming into a big club like Chelsea, as a young 18-year-old from
Africa, it was a dream come true. I remember coming into the dressing
room and I was shaking all through the first week. The players in there
really helped me settle in – John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba
and the other African players that were there at the time. I looked at
these guys every day and I learned a lot from them, how they act on and
off the football pitch, which helped me develop and mature as a person.
It was a growing up stage which I never had with any other team. I just
jumped straight into this team so I had to learn that way.”
Hull City are set to sign West Brom striker Shane Long after the clubs agreed a fee which could rise to £7m.
Long, 26, almost moved to the Tigers on transfer deadline day in September and will hold talks again on Thursday.
The Republic of Ireland forward, who scored 22 goals in 87 games for West Brom, has 18 months left on his deal.
Goals exit
With Romelu Lukaku and Peter Odemwingie gone and Long
set to depart, West Brom will have lost players who scored 30 of their
53 league goals in 2012-13.
"Despite our best endeavours, Shane has declined to sign a new contract," said West Brom sporting director Richard Garlick.
"We began talking to Shane about a new contract last
spring and, during the ongoing negotiations, we made two offers which
would have significantly increased his salary."
Long, who has scored 10 goals in 43 caps, would follow
Everton striker Nikica Jelavic to Hull after the Croatia international
joined the Tigers for a similar fee.
Former Reading frontman Long had a medical at the KC
Stadium in September, but then-West Brom manager Steve Clarke blocked
the transfer, despite signing both
Stephane Sessegnon and Victor Anichebe on the same day.
Long failed to score in his first eight appearances for
the club this season, before netting his only three league goals of the
campaign against Chelsea and Aston Villa in November.
Despite playing a full 90 minutes at Southampton in front of new boss Pepe Mel, who watched
the defeat
from the stands, Long could not be persuaded to stay at The Hawthorns.
"Shane effectively only has 18 months left on his deal
and with him no closer to accepting our terms and then Hull making an
acceptable offer, we felt it was in the club's best interests to accept
the bid," added Garlick
At 6’1 it may make it easy for Britain’s Alexandra Robertson, 20 to
make claim that she indeed is the possessor of the world’s longest legs.
The curiosity to find out how long her own legs came after Anastasia
Strashevskaya, a trainee Russian lawyer with 42 inch pins recently won
Russia’s Miss Long Legs contest. To her delight Robertson went on to see
that she had 5 inches over her Russian rival, measuring at 47 inch
pins.
Reflected the model who also happens to be a size 34 DD and wears
size 10 dresses: ‘It is crazy – I had no idea my legs were quite that
long.’
Robertson from Blackpool, who is 6ft 1, said that next year Miss
Longest Legs should be opened to the whole world, adding that she would
fancy her chances.
While pursuing a degree in musical theater, Alexandra Robertson also
pursues modeling, having being picked up by a local agency after
entering a competition when she turned 18. These days she primarily
models bridal wear and perhaps not surprisingly lingerie.
Told the leggy model: ‘I do get some stares and I suppose I do
intimidate men sometimes, especially in my high heels, but it’s not
intentional. I often hear things like “do you play basketball?” but I
just turn around and reply “no, do you play mini-golf?” and we end up
having a laugh.’
Fortunately Miss Robertson’s height doesn’t intimidate her boyfriend of two years, Laurson Moston, 21.
At 6ft, he is only an inch shorter than her. ‘He doesn’t mind my
height at all,’ she said. ‘He did ban me from wearing really high heels
when I’m with him, though, because I tower over him then.’
Being tall is something of a family trait. Miss Robertson’s sister Lorna Rycroft, 33, is the same height as her.
But it also has its pitfalls. Told the leggy model: ‘Getting clothes
to fit, especially fashion clothes, is a bit of a nightmare.’
Not that some of us don’t mind the occasional tall order.
Tukur’s Successor: Patience Jonathan Schemes To Install Her Candidate, SEE Who It IS
As the battle to replace the embattled chairman of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur continues, Dame
Patience Jonathan, first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is said
to have a preferred candidate for the position.
The
candidate that Patience is reportedly scheming to install as Tukur’s
successor is the current minister of transport, Sen. Idris Umar from
Borno State.
Tukur was said to have submitted his resignation letter to President
Goodluck Jonathan yesterday, but he denied it while speaking to State
House correspondents.
The first lady’s choice of Umar has however been criticised by some
leaders of the PDP who are of the view that she was part of the trouble
in the PDP.
The source said: “We have been on this struggle for long, even
before the G-5 governors made good their threat to dump the PDP; but
each time we tried to effect it, we were always hitting the rocks
because the president’s wife was convinced that it was only Tukur who
could deliver her husband in 2015. “And, unfortunately, there are some close aides of the president
who, in connivance with the chairman, were always drumming it to her
ears that those who want Tukur out were indeed after the president; all
these are tissues of lies that actually prolonged the ultimate decision. “But, again, even with his resignation, there is yet another
challenge that is now threatening the unity of the PDP, and it is the
influence of the president’s wife who again insists on Senator Idris
Umar, the transport minister, to be made chairman.She has
reached out to almost all those who matter in the party to support Umar
but we will not bow to this because it is high time Her Excellency was
counselled to be circumspect in the affairs of the PDP.”
However, the final decision on who takes over from Tukur would rest on the National Executive Committee (NEC) which meets today.
Prince Uche Secondus, the deputy national chairman, would take over
the leadership of the party in acting capacity, if the option to
immediately pick Tukur’s replacement from his zone fails.
A frustrated lady wrote...
Men!!!Men!!!Men!!! So complicated,
So confusing,
So hard to please.
If u try 2 pls dem, u re cheap. If u make love (sex) to them, u're a Love Peddler. If u don't, u re playing hard to get. If u show dem u love dem, u're too emotional. If u don't show it, u don't love dem. If u give them attention, u're bugging them, if u don't u're with other men. If u demand for attention u'rea nagging woman, if u don't u're not understandable If u dress sexy, u're attracting other men If u don't , u're awkward & local. If u cook & wash their clothes u're desperate If u don't, u're not a wife material. If u go to club/party, u're too exposed If u don't, u're naïve. If u re beautiful, u can't stay wit 1 man If u're ugly, u're not up to standard. If u're independent, u're chasing men away If u're dependent, u're a liability: If u try 2 satisfy dem in bed, U're a sex addict If u don't, u're making sex boring.
If u'r pregnant, u want to trap them: If u're not pregnant, u're not a woman or might hv damaged ur womb If u ask men for money U're too demanding What do men really want? Does that mean they don't even know what they want? O They can be so annoying!!! GOSH!! please, answer dis question: if u are a man pls be sincere, WHAT DO MEN REALLY WANT? Over to you men, your comments, please!
Just yesterday, Dillish’s mother, Selma Pashukeni, confirmed that
Abdi Guyo was the man who sired the Namibian beauty over 2 decades ago.
Now all eyes have shifted to Dillish Mathews who had so far not seemed very receptive to him.
In the past couple of days her tweets have been anything but
positive, with her insistence that her father is Somali and not Kenyan.
This morning however, her tweets seem to have taken a turn. She
tweeted that she was proud to be a Borana girl and that the Lord has
given her what she was begging for.
Her icing on the cake, “I am a mommy and daddy’s girl”!
While we have no official statement from Dillish we can only hope she
has warmed up to Abdi and that this is the fairy tale ending that she
had hoped for.
Dillish Mathews expressed her eagerness to meet her father
Just a day ago, Pulse broke the story
that a Kenyan man named Abdi Guyo had come out to claim paternity of
BBA winner Dillish. The humble Abdi who is of Somali origin, gave a
detailed interview at the Standard Group offices saying that he indeed
fathered Dillish during his peacekeeping mission to Namibia in 1989.
The news received mixed reactions with many saying that he was after
her new found fortune. But the reaction that mattered the most,
Dillish’s, was anything but positive.
On her twitter account the Namibian beauty tweeted “Why is this weird dude claiming to be my dad! My dad is Somali! Where did he fall from haaaaaaai -_-” and went ahead to retweet those who thought that Abdi was lying.
It has been said that only a mother knows the real father to a child
and today, Selma Pashukeni, Dillish’s mother, put the naysayers to
shame.
In a Google hangout organized by the Kenyan Embassy in Namibia and
the Standard Group, Selma and Abdi were able to talk to each other for
the first time in close to 23 years.
Selma was joined by the Kenyan Ambassador to Namibia, Peter Gitau,
Dillish Uncle and Aunt. Abdi was at the Standard Group offices for the
hangout.
The emotions ran deep and Selma was visibly overcome by the reunion.
It was clear that she recognized him and willing to talk. If there had
been any hard feelings in the past, they were not visible in this
hangout as the two gushed about their time together while in Namibia.
It was a trip down memory lane as they reminisced about the places
they had been to and the airport where they last saw each other.
The youthful looking Selma who seemed to have the sharpest memory
asked about Abdi’s colleagues who according to Abdi had passed on.
Abdi explained that while he tried his best to keep in touch, his
hectic army schedule and the extremely slow communication modes caused
them to drift apart.
The uncle was quick to remind Abdi to visit Namibia with loads of
money as gratitude for all the work he did raising up Dillish in Abdi’s
absence.
By the end of the hangout, Abdi has been invited to Namibia to celebrate Dillish’s 23rd birthday which will happening on the 16th of September.
It yet to be known what Dillish thinks of this turn of events but hopefully there will be a happy ending to the story.
Young men are not as adventurous as their fathers a generation ago Photo: Ocean/Corbis
Young men are not as adventurous as their fathers a generation ago
because they are less fit and lack motivation, according to a new study.
It found that males have become less willing to engage in thrill-seeking activities over the past 35 years.
Research conducted in the late 1970s found that men were 48 per cent
more likely than women to be involved in adrenaline-fuelled sport.
However, today men are only 28 per cent more likely than women to
participate in adventures activities, such as parachuting, scuba diving
or mountaineering.
The researchers claim this is an indication of dwindling male
appetite for thrill-seeking activities rather than an increase in women
interested in these sports.
Dr Kate Cross, who conducted the study at the University of St
Andrews, said that the results indicate that young men have lost the
spark needed to get involved in exciting activities.
‘The decline in the sex difference in thrill and adventure-seeking
scores could reflect declines in average fitness levels, which might
have reduced people’s interest in physically challenging activities,’
she said.
A loss of interest in thrill-seeking activities could be also be
attributed partially to a decrease in gender-related differences.
‘This interpretation is consistent with evidence that participation
in college sports is becoming more gender balanced across time in
response to concerted efforts to encourage female sports participation,’
said the study.
Dr Cross said an alternative explanation for the results is that the questions designed in the 1970s could now be out-of-date.
Skiing, for instance, may no longer be viewed as a novel or intense activity.
The study also showed that sex differences in other areas have not changed across time.
For example, men consistently reported higher average scores than
women for disliking dull or repetitive activities, and for enjoying
challenging social situations.
The research has been published the journal Scientific Reports. Daily Mail