Donald Sterling's wife, girlfriend to face off over money......hmmmmmm

The woman who was dating Donald Sterling when she recorded him making racially insensitive remarks that cost him ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers faces a fight with his estranged wife that could cost her the fortune he gave her.

Shelly Sterling is going after the $2.5 million in real estate and cars her husband lavished on V. Stiviano in a trial scheduled to begin Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Shelly Sterling accused Stiviano, 32, of befriending and seducing older, wealthy men into loaning her money, giving her gifts or cheating them out of their wealth. She claims the gifts were community property her husband of 58 years had no right to give away.

Hmmmm some girls self no send all this old men self.

Source: Yahoo News

Man shoots, kills California officer who was checking on him

A man threatening to commit suicide unleashed a barrage of gunfire on Northern California officers called to check on him, killing a 14-year veteran of the San Jose Police Department in what the mayor is calling the city's "darkest hour."

Scott Dunham, 57, fatally shot Officer Michael Johnson Tuesday night, launching an hourslong manhunt for the gunman and forcing nearby homes to be evacuated. The search ended when Dunham was found dead early Wednesday on his apartment balcony, San Jose police spokesman Albert Morales said.

LIL WAYNE & CHRISTINA MILIAN going Public

Lil Wayne did it big in Hollywood ... as in big PDA with Christina Milian -- the first public confirmation of the rumors they're banging. 

Weezy and Christina were leaving a movie set on Tuesday and he had a firm grip on her hand ... something we've never seen them do out in the open. In fact, other than an appearance at an award show, the couple's been kinda like a unicorn. 

Christina -- who's signed to Young Money -- has been mum about dating the boss, but this is clearly their coming out.

As for why Wayne was holding her hand so tightly -- just a guess, but Drake was spotted in town.

Now, if we could just get "Tha Carter V" to go public

Source: TMZ

Eat rice cold for fewer calories

Scientists say they have found a way to make rice less calorific - boil it with coconut oil and then refrigerate for half a day before eating.

According to the Sri Lankan researchers, treating rice in this way reduces its calories by up to 60%.

They told the American Chemical Society how the method made the starch in the rice less digestible so the body took on less fuel than it otherwise would.

UK nutrition experts cautioned there was no quick fix to losing weight. Hmmmmm with our light issues in Nigeria makes it out of the question.

Nigeria election: Borders closed

Nigeria has ordered the closure of all its land and sea borders ahead of Saturday's tightly contested elections.

Intelligence reports indicated that foreigners planned to cross into Nigeria to vote, Interior Minister Patrick Abba Moro told the BBC.

The presidential and parliamentary polls are expected to be the most tightly contested since military rule ended in 1999.

Nigeria is also battling an insurgency along its northern-eastern border.

Regional forces have been recapturing territory from the Boko Haram insurgents in the last six weeks.

A government statement said the borders would be shut from midnight on Wednesday to midnight on Saturday, local time, to ensure the vote went off peacefully.

Germanwings plane crash: Black box 'has usable data'

French investigators say usable data has been extracted from the cockpit voice recorder of Germanwings 4U 9525 but it has so far yielded no clues as to the cause of the plane's crash.

They said the plane hit the ground in the French Alps at great velocity, suggesting no explosion in flight.

Flight 4U 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf crashed after an eight-minute rapid descent on Tuesday.

The French, German and Spanish leaders visited the crash site on Wednesday.

Remi Jouty, the director of the French aviation investigative agency, said there were sounds and voices on the cockpit voice recorder but that it was too early to draw any conclusions.

Top Gear Main Man Story Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Clarkson will not have his contract at the BBC renewed, in the wake of allegedly punching a producer. But how did he get to where he is now?

"In the competition between fame and fortune, you'd take fortune every day of the week," Jeremy Clarkson once said. "Fame is almost constant pain."

But the 54-year-old has made a career from being publicly controversial. The Top Gear host has managed to offend Argentines, Germans, Mexicans, Romanians and a host of others. Known for a fashion-proof love of tight denim, he's a friend of Prime Minister David Cameron and writes columns for two national newspapers.

Born Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, on 11 April 1960, to art teacher Shirley and travelling salesman Eddie, the star has described his early family life in a 400-year-old farmhouse as happy.

Charles Taylor to stay in UK prison

Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor has been ordered to serve the rest of his jail term in the UK, after losing a request to be transferred to Rwanda.

He had argued that he was being denied his rights to a family life, because his wife and children had not been granted UK visas.

The judges rejected this argument, saying they had not properly applied.

A UN-backed court convicted him of war crimes over his support for rebels who committed atrocities in Sierra Leone.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone trial was held at The Hague on the agreement that he was jailed elsewhere.

The overseas venue for the court case was chosen in case the trial sparked renewed unrest in West Africa.

An act of parliament was passed to allow for Taylor to serve his sentence in the UK, at the cost of the British government, following his conviction.

Taylor was sentenced in 2012 and arrived in the UK last October, having unsuccessfully challenged the decision to be detained there.

Source: bbc

Zimbabwe expelled from 2018 World Cup

Zimbabwe have been expelled from 2018 World Cup qualifying for failing to pay former coach Jose Claudinei Georgini.

Football's world governing body Fifa said in a statement  it had taken the action "as a result of the non-payment of an outstanding debt".

Fifa added that Zimbabwe's Football Association (Zifa) failed to make the payments despite a grace period.

Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela told BBC Sport that the body would appeal against the ruling.

"We have already started to engage authorities in Zurich," he said. "In any process you can appeal - just because a ruling has been declared, it doesn't mean the door has been closed."

IS 'accepts' Boko Haram's allegiance pledge

Islamic State (IS) has accepted a pledge of allegiance from Nigeria's militant group Boko Haram, according to an audio message.

In the tape, which has not been verified, an IS spokesman says the aim of establishing a caliphate has now been expanded to West Africa.

Last week, Boko Haram posted a message saying it wanted to join ranks with IS.

Boko Haram began a military campaign to impose Islamist rule in northern Nigeria in 2009.

The conflict has since spread to neighbouring states.

Growing influence

In the tape, a man - who describes himself as IS spokesman Mohammed al-Adnani - says: "We announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to West Africa because the caliph... has accepted the allegiance of our brothers of the Sunni group for preaching and the jihad."

The spokesman also urges Muslims to join militants in West Africa, rejecting suggestions that Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition have recently had a series of victories against IS in Iraq and Syria.

The audio tape has not been independently verified.

IS aims to establish a caliphate, a state ruled by a single political and religious leader according to Islamic law, or Sharia.

Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is known to his followers as Caliph Ibrahim.

In the audio message posted on Saturday, the Boko Haram leader purportedly said: "We announce our allegiance to the caliph... and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity.

"We call on Muslims everywhere to pledge allegiance to the caliph."

IS has forged links with other militant groups across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

In November, Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi accepted pledges of allegiance from jihadists in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

IS seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria last year. It still controls the key Iraqi cities of Tikrit and Mosul, despite a major ongoing Iraqi offensive on Tikrit.

IS jihadists have attracted condemnation worldwide for its brutal tactics - including mass killings and the beheadings of soldiers and journalists.

GPS fail on bus sends Belgian tourists on 1,200km detour

A group of Belgian tourists were sent on a detour of close to 1,200km (800 miles) after a GPS navigation error by their bus driver.

They were meant to arrive at the French alpine resort of La Plagne for a skiing holiday.

Instead, they ended up hundreds of kilometres away, close to France's border with Spain.

The aspiring skiers eventually arrived in the Alps a day later - and were greeted with plates of Spanish food.

"There are three entries for La Plagne in France, and I selected the wrong one," the driver told Studio Brussel radio station. Studio Brussel is the youth channel of the Flemish public service broadcaster VRT, that organised the trip.

Rather than head to the Alps, the bus driver drove from Leuven, in central Belgium, to the village of La Plagne, in the south-west of France.

The smaller, snow-free, La Plagne is near Spain, some 600km (400 miles) south-west of the ski resort.

One passenger, Sven Ceuppens, posted on Twitter: "We saw the Mediterranean and Carcassonne. #bus #lost #thirsty."

Mr Ceuppens told the BBC: "We had a hard time convincing the driver he was going to Spain and had a few laughs.

"It was a sleeper bus, so when I woke up at first light, all I saw were vineyards. Nice, but very uncommon if you want to ski.

"Immediately we knew something was wrong, but it took a map of France to convince the driver to distrust the GPS."

The bus driver turned back at Toulouse, and the group reached the correct La Plagne 24 hours late.

Organisers from Studio Brussel greeted them with plates of Spanish tapas.

Many of the tourists told Belgian television they had enjoyed the unexpected diversion.

Cameroon in for long fight as its youth join Boko Haram

Cameroon's security forces are predicting a drawn-out battle with Boko Haram as evidence filters out that the insurgents are now recruiting there.

"We don't doubt that Boko Haram is recruiting in Cameroon," said Col. Joseph Nouma, commander of Operation ALPHA, a special military operation set up by Cameroon's government to fight the Nigerian terrorist group.

He says communities bordering Nigeria have been emptied of men between the ages of 10 and 45.

"Many of them are found across the border in Nigeria, training with the terrorists," he told CNN.

This has made it difficult for the country's defense forces to adequately estimate the power of the terrorist group. Nouma said the number of militants may be greater than is widely believed, though there is no reliable estimate of the group's strength.

"Boko Haram is a permanent metamorphosis, dying every day but recruiting every day as well," says Col. Jacob Kodji, interim commander of the 4th Military Region. "And this complicates a lot of things for us."

Nouma agreed: "We kill them, but they keep on coming."

A heartbreaking discovery

Boko Haram is a Nigerian-based Islamic group whose purpose is to institute Sharia, or Islamic law. They have carried out a campaign of terror in northern Nigeria, killing thousands, taking hundreds captive, and occupying swaths of territory in Borno state.

As many as 200,000 Nigerians have fled to neighboring countries, creating an urgent humanitarian situation, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported last month.

For the past two years, Boko Haram fighters have been carrying out cross-border raids on Cameroon, slaughtering hundreds and torching entire neighborhoods. But as the country's defense forces -- later joined by battle-hardened Chadian troops -- turned up the momentum against the insurgents, the terrorists began to swell their ranks with Cameroonians.

Nouma said he believes "most of the worst attacks we have suffered" were carried out by Cameroonians fighting for Boko Haram.

Also, the militants' ability to hit several different places at once, and with precision, suggests that "there are people over here giving them information," Nouma said.

In January, Boko Haram struck Fotokol, a Cameroonian town separated by only a bridge from Gambarou, Nigeria, a stronghold of the Islamist extremists. The attackers killed more than 400 people.

Cameroonian and Chadian soldiers stationed there managed to kill 150 invaders. Among them was the son of Ahmadou Moustafa, a Fotokol resident.

For two months, Moustafa didn't know the whereabouts of his son, Akim, or what he was doing. He didn't find out until the aftermath of the fighting, when locals removed the veil on one of the dead attackers to reveal his 15-year-old boy's face.

"I was really shocked and embarrassed at the development," Moustafa said.

Brazil femicide law signed

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has signed a new law which sets tough new penalties for the killing of women and girls.

Murders linked to domestic violence will carry sentences of between 12 and 30 years.

President Rousseff said the new law sends a clear message to women that the state would protect them.

She said 15 women were killed daily in Brazil.

In other cases - such as the killing of a pregnant woman, a woman who's just given birth, girls under 14, or women over 60 - the new law provides for even longer jail terms.

The new legislation alters the criminal code to describe femicide as any crime that involves domestic violence, contempt or discrimination against women.

Similar legislation has been introduced in other Latin American countries such as El Salvador, which has the highest murder rate for women in the world.

The Representative of UN Women in Brazil, Nadine Gasman, said "the law identifies femicide as a specific phenomena. This kind of law is preventive in nature."

The new legislation deepens legislation sanctioned in 2006 by President Rousseff's predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Known as the "Maria da Penha" law, it paid tribute to Maria da Penha Maia, a woman whose ex-husband beat her for 14 years and attempted to murder her twice, leaving her paraplegic.

She is a notable figure in the movement for women's rights in Brazil.

The "Maria da Penha" law stated that aggressors were no longer to be punished with alternative sentences.

It increased the maximum sentence from one to three years.

It also ordered the removal of abusers from the home and banned them from proximity to the woman or children attacked.

During her term in office, President Rousseff has enacted other laws aimed at women and girls.

In August 2013, she signed legislation requiring all public hospitals to provide treatment against sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/Aids for rape victims.

It requires that victims be given access to emergency contraception, and in the case of pregnancy they have the right to an abortion, illegal in Brazil in most cases.

The Mexican immigrant who set up a global drone firm

Mexican immigrant Jordi Munoz says that waiting for his green card after he first moved to the United States made him feel as if he was living "in a big jail".

At the time he was 20 years old, and he and his girlfriend had set up home near Los Angeles.

Yet he could not legally work, or even enrol at a college, until he got the identity card that proved his right to live and seek employment in the country.

But instead of just sitting around during his frustrating seven-month wait back in 2007, Mr Munoz, a keen model plane enthusiast and computer programmer, started to build his own drone in his garage.

A drone, technically an unmanned aerial vehicle, is essentially a very high tech and stable version of a remote-controlled plane with a camera attached to take aerial photographs or record videos.

Using what parts he had to hand, Mr Munoz made the drone's autopilot system by taking the motion sensors from a games console remote control.

To attach the microchips to circuit boards he heated them up in a domestic oven.

Fast forward to today, and Mr Munoz, now 28, is the co-founder of the largest US-owned manufacturer of commercial drones.

The business, 3D Robotics, is expected to enjoy sales of $50m (£33m) this year.

Simone Gbagbo Ivory Coast's former first lady jailed

Ivory Coast's former first lady, Simone Gbagbo, has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for her role in the violence that followed the 2010 elections.

Gbagbo, 65, had been charged with undermining state security.

Her husband, former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court.

More than 3,000 people died in the violence that followed the presidential poll after the ex-leader refused to accept defeat to Alassane Ouattara.

She and her husband were arrested in 2011 after troops stormed a bunker where the pair had taken refuge in the main city, Abidjan.

Boko Haram conflict: Nigerian allies 'retake Damasak'

A regional force has recaptured the Nigerian town of Damasak a day after launching a major offensive against militant group Boko Haram, sources say.

The Islamist group had held the town near the Niger border since November, part of territory it had captured since stepping up attacks in the region.

Military sources say about 10 Chadian soldiers and 200 militants were killed.

The campaign to push back Boko Haram comes days after the group pledged allegiance to Islamist State (IS).

The militants have been fighting an insurgency to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria since 2009, and in recent months the violence has increasingly spilled over into neighbouring states.

This has led Niger, Chad and Cameroon to send troops into Nigeria to help drive back the militants.

A convoy of more than 200 vehicles has been seen heading from Niger into Nigeria, while air strikes have also been reported.

On Friday, the African Union endorsed the creation of a regional force of more than 8,000 troops to combat the group.

SUGE KNIGHT'S LAWYER BOTH VICTIMS HAD GUNS

Terry Carter -- whom Suge Knight ran over and killed -- was packing heat, according to his own family.

Suge's new lawyer, Matthew Fletcher, told TMZ, after Carter died, his relatives called the L.A. County Sheriff and asked detectives if they had Carter's gun.  

Our Suge sources say after Carter was pronounced dead, his daughter showed up to retrieve his car and noticed his gun wasn't inside a bag in which it was routinely stored.

Fletcher plans to use the gun reference to prove Suge was ambushed by armed men ... both of whom Suge struck in the Tam's parking lot.

Cle "Bone" Sloan -- was hit by the vehicle someone took an object from Bone and placed it in his waistband.