Chris Brown Defends His Non-Rihanna Neck Tattoo: "I'm an Artist and This Is Art"

 
Chris Brown's new neck tattoo is causing a lot of controversy.
Some say his new ink resembles a bruised and beaten Rihanna (Brown's rep told E! News this is not the case). But if you ask Brown, this permanent new marking is art.

"I'm an artist and this is art. Dia de los Muertos," he tweeted Tuesday.

Chris Brown inspirts new neck-tattoo meme

Indeed, Brown's publicist told E! News the tattoo "is a sugar skull (associated with the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead) and a MAC cosmetics design he saw."

Tattoo artist Peter Koskela backed this up, telling E! News Brown's ink is "a sugar skull based on the MAC design that Chris brought me."

Fair enough. Funnily enough, just an hour after Brown defended his tattoo, he tweeted that his aptly titled "Don't Judge Me" video will be released soon.

U.S. embassies attacked in Yemen, Egypt after Libya envoy killed

 

SANAA/CAIRO (Reuters) - Demonstrators attacked the U.S. embassies in Yemen and Egypt on Thursday in protest at a film they consider blasphemous to Islam and American warships headed to Libya after the death of the U.S. ambassador there in related violence earlier in the week.

Hundreds of Yemeni demonstrators broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in eastern Sanaa, shouting "We sacrifice ourselves for you, Messenger of God". Earlier they smashed windows of security offices outside the embassy and burned cars.
"We can see a fire inside the compound and security forces are firing in the air. The demonstrators are fleeing and then charging back," one witness told Reuters. A security source said at least 15 people were wounded, some by bullets. An embassy spokesman said its personnel were reported to be safe.
In Egypt, protesters hurled stones at a police cordon around the U.S. embassy in central Cairo after climbing into the embassy and tearing down the American flag. The state news agency said 13 people were injured in violence which erupted on Wednesday night after protests on Tuesday.
Islamist gunmen staged a military-style assault on the U.S. consulate and a safe house refuge in Benghazi, eastern Libya on Tuesday. The U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in the assault, carried out with guns, mortars and grenades. Eight Libyans were injured.
U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to "bring to justice" those responsible and the U.S. military moved two navy destroyers towards the Libyan coast, in what a U.S. official said was a move to give the administration flexibility for any future action against Libyan targets.
Obama said security was being increased at U.S. diplomatic posts around the globe and on Thursday the U.S. consulate in Berlin was partially evacuated after an employee fell ill on opening a suspicious envelope.
About 1,000 Bangladeshi Islamists tried to march on the U.S. embassy in Dhaka after protests earlier in the week outside U.S. missions in Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco.
The U.S. military dispatched a Marine Corps anti-terrorist team to boost security in Libya, whose leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in a U.S.-backed uprising last year.
The attack, which U.S. officials said may have been planned in advance, came on the 11th anniversary of al Qaeda's attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
FILM
The attackers were part of a mob blaming America for a film they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad. Clips of the "Innocence of Muslims," had been circulating on the Internet for weeks before the protests erupted.
They show an amateurish production portraying the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer, a homosexual and a child abuser. For many Muslims, any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous and caricatures or other characterisations have in the past provoked protests all over the Muslim world.
An actress in the California production said the video as it appeared bore no resemblance to the original filming. She had not been aware it was about the Prophet Mohammad.
Among the assailants, Libyans identified units of a heavily armed local Islamist group, Ansar al-Sharia, which sympathises with al Qaeda and derides Libya's U.S.-backed bid for democracy.
Former Libya militant commander Noman Benotman, now president of Britain's Quilliam think-tank, said Western officials were investigating a possible link with a paramilitary training camp about 100 miles (160 km) south of the eastern Libyan town of Darnah.
U.S. officials said there were suggestions members of al Qaeda's north-Africa based affiliate may have been involved.
Yemen, a key U.S. ally, is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), viewed by Washington as the most dangerous branch of the militant network established by Osama bin Laden.
The attacks could alter U.S. attitudes towards the revolutions that toppled secularist authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia and brought Islamists to power.
The violence also could have an impact on the closely contested U.S. presidential race ahead of the November 6 election.
Republican Mitt Romney, Obama's challenger, criticized the president's response to the crisis. He said the timing of a statement from the U.S. embassy in Cairo denouncing "efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims" made Obama look weak as protesters were attacking U.S. missions.
Obama's campaign accused Romney of trying to score political points at a time of national tragedy.
The attack raised questions about the future U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya, relations between Washington and Tripoli, and the unstable security situation after Gaddafi's overthrow.
SAFE HOUSE
Stevens, a 52-year-old California-born diplomat who spent a career operating in perilous places, became the first American ambassador killed in an attack since Adolph Dubs, the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, died in a 1979 kidnapping attempt.
A Libyan doctor pronounced him dead of smoke inhalation. U.S. information technology specialist Sean Smith and two other Americans who have not yet been identified also were killed when a squad of U.S. troops sent by helicopter from Tripoli to rescue the diplomats from the safe house came under mortar attack.
"It was supposed to be a secret place and we were surprised the armed groups knew about it," Captain Fathi al-Obeidi, commander of a Libyan special operations unit ordered to meet the Americans, said of the safe house.
Libyan leader Mohammed Magarief and Yemeni President Mansour Hadi both apologised to the United States over the attacks and Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi condemned them on television while also rejecting any "insult to the Prophet".
Many Muslim states focused their condemnation on the film and will be concerned about preventing a repeat of the fallout seen after publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. This touched off riots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2006 in which at least 50 people died.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the making of the movie a "devilish act" but said he was certain those involved in its production were a very small minority.
The U.S. embassy in Kabul appealed to Afghan leaders for help in "maintaining calm" and Afghanistan ordered the YouTube site shut down so Afghans would not be able to see the film.

SANAA/CAIRO (Reuters) - Demonstrators attacked the U.S. embassies in Yemen and Egypt on Thursday in protest at a film they consider blasphemous to Islam and American warships headed to Libya after the death of the U.S. ambassador there in related violence earlier in the week.

Hundreds of Yemeni demonstrators broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in eastern Sanaa, shouting "We sacrifice ourselves for you, Messenger of God". Earlier they smashed windows of security offices outside the embassy and burned cars.
"We can see a fire inside the compound and security forces are firing in the air. The demonstrators are fleeing and then charging back," one witness told Reuters. A security source said at least 15 people were wounded, some by bullets. An embassy spokesman said its personnel were reported to be safe.
In Egypt, protesters hurled stones at a police cordon around the U.S. embassy in central Cairo after climbing into the embassy and tearing down the American flag. The state news agency said 13 people were injured in violence which erupted on Wednesday night after protests on Tuesday.
Islamist gunmen staged a military-style assault on the U.S. consulate and a safe house refuge in Benghazi, eastern Libya on Tuesday. The U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in the assault, carried out with guns, mortars and grenades. Eight Libyans were injured.
U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to "bring to justice" those responsible and the U.S. military moved two navy destroyers towards the Libyan coast, in what a U.S. official said was a move to give the administration flexibility for any future action against Libyan targets.
Obama said security was being increased at U.S. diplomatic posts around the globe and on Thursday the U.S. consulate in Berlin was partially evacuated after an employee fell ill on opening a suspicious envelope.
About 1,000 Bangladeshi Islamists tried to march on the U.S. embassy in Dhaka after protests earlier in the week outside U.S. missions in Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco.
The U.S. military dispatched a Marine Corps anti-terrorist team to boost security in Libya, whose leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in a U.S.-backed uprising last year.
The attack, which U.S. officials said may have been planned in advance, came on the 11th anniversary of al Qaeda's attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
FILM
The attackers were part of a mob blaming America for a film they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad. Clips of the "Innocence of Muslims," had been circulating on the Internet for weeks before the protests erupted.
They show an amateurish production portraying the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer, a homosexual and a child abuser. For many Muslims, any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous and caricatures or other characterisations have in the past provoked protests all over the Muslim world.
An actress in the California production said the video as it appeared bore no resemblance to the original filming. She had not been aware it was about the Prophet Mohammad.
Among the assailants, Libyans identified units of a heavily armed local Islamist group, Ansar al-Sharia, which sympathises with al Qaeda and derides Libya's U.S.-backed bid for democracy.
Former Libya militant commander Noman Benotman, now president of Britain's Quilliam think-tank, said Western officials were investigating a possible link with a paramilitary training camp about 100 miles (160 km) south of the eastern Libyan town of Darnah.
U.S. officials said there were suggestions members of al Qaeda's north-Africa based affiliate may have been involved.
Yemen, a key U.S. ally, is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), viewed by Washington as the most dangerous branch of the militant network established by Osama bin Laden.
The attacks could alter U.S. attitudes towards the revolutions that toppled secularist authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia and brought Islamists to power.
The violence also could have an impact on the closely contested U.S. presidential race ahead of the November 6 election.
Republican Mitt Romney, Obama's challenger, criticized the president's response to the crisis. He said the timing of a statement from the U.S. embassy in Cairo denouncing "efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims" made Obama look weak as protesters were attacking U.S. missions.
Obama's campaign accused Romney of trying to score political points at a time of national tragedy.
The attack raised questions about the future U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya, relations between Washington and Tripoli, and the unstable security situation after Gaddafi's overthrow.
SAFE HOUSE
Stevens, a 52-year-old California-born diplomat who spent a career operating in perilous places, became the first American ambassador killed in an attack since Adolph Dubs, the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, died in a 1979 kidnapping attempt.
A Libyan doctor pronounced him dead of smoke inhalation. U.S. information technology specialist Sean Smith and two other Americans who have not yet been identified also were killed when a squad of U.S. troops sent by helicopter from Tripoli to rescue the diplomats from the safe house came under mortar attack.
"It was supposed to be a secret place and we were surprised the armed groups knew about it," Captain Fathi al-Obeidi, commander of a Libyan special operations unit ordered to meet the Americans, said of the safe house.
Libyan leader Mohammed Magarief and Yemeni President Mansour Hadi both apologised to the United States over the attacks and Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi condemned them on television while also rejecting any "insult to the Prophet".
Many Muslim states focused their condemnation on the film and will be concerned about preventing a repeat of the fallout seen after publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. This touched off riots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2006 in which at least 50 people died.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the making of the movie a "devilish act" but said he was certain those involved in its production were a very small minority.
The U.S. embassy in Kabul appealed to Afghan leaders for help in "maintaining calm" and Afghanistan ordered the YouTube site shut down so Afghans would not be able to see the film.

15-year-Old Nigerian Secures Admission In Harvard

Many parents dream of their children going to Harvard one day. But a Muslim girl has actualised the goal of getting into the prestigious university at the age of 15!

Saheela Ibraheem, of Edison, was also accepted to MIT and 13 other schools, including Princeton and Columbia before settling for Harvard after falling in love with the campus. She skipped two grades and said the key to success is figuring out what you love to learn as early as possible, something she did at age 5. “If you are passionate about what you do, and I am passionate about most of these things, especially with Math.”

She is well on her way to fulfilling her dreams of one day becoming a Neuroscientist. This fall, the 15 year-old high school senior will be heading to Harvard University. Harvard was one of the 14 schools that Saheela applied to. She was accepted into 13 of those schools: Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Williams College, Stanford, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Washington University in St. Louis. After much debate, she settled on Harvard because “she fell in love” with the campus. She hopes to study neurobiology or neuroscience while at the prestigious university.

She serves as president of the school’s investment club, which teaches students about the stock market by investing in virtual stocks. Saheela wasn’t sure any college would want to admit a 15-year-old. So, she hedged her bets and filled out applications to 14 schools from New Jersey to California. In the end, 13 colleges accepted her, including six of the eight Ivy League schools.

After weeks of debate, Saheela settled on Harvard. She will be among the youngest members of the school’s freshman class. Nationwide, this year’s college selection process was among the most competitive in history as most top colleges received a record number of applications.

Saheela joins a growing number of New Jersey students going to college before they are old enough to drive. Last year, Kyle Loh of Mendham graduated from Rutgers at 16. In previous years, a 14-year-old from Cranbury and two of his 15-year-old cousins also graduated from Rutgers. For Saheela, her unusual path to college began when she was a sixth-grader at the Conackamack Middle School in Piscataway. Eager to learn more about her favorite subject, Math, the daughter of Nigerian immigrants asked to move to a higher-level class. The school let her skip sixth grade entirely.

By high school, Saheela said, she was no longer feeling challenged by her public school classes. So, she moved to the Wardlaw- Hartridge School, a 420-student private school, where she skipped her freshman year and enrolled as a 10th-grader. Her three younger brothers, twins now in the ninth grade and a younger brother in second grade, all eventually joined her at the school. School officials were impressed Saheela, one of their top students, didn’t spend all her time studying. “She’s learned and she’s very smart. But she keeps pushing herself,” said William Jenkins, the Wardlaw-Hartridge School’s director of development.

Saheela also excels outside the classroom. She is a three-sport athlete, playing outfield for the school’s softball team, defender on the soccer team, and swimming relays. Saheela began applying to colleges last fall. Her applications included her grade point average (between a 96 and 97 on a 100-point scale) and her 2,340 SAT score (a perfect 800 on the math section, a 790 in writing and a 750 in reading). She was delighted when she got her first acceptance in December from California Institute of Technology. “I was so excited. I got into college!,” Saheela said.

More acceptances followed from Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Williams College, Stanford, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Washington University in St. Louis. Saheela was torn between going to MIT and Harvard. A visit to both campuses last month made the choice easy. “She went to Harvard and she fell in love with the place,” said Shakirat Ibraheem, her mother.

She said she wants to major in either neurobiology or neuroscience and plans to become a research scientist who studies how the brain works. She credits her parents with teaching her to love learning and work hard. Her father, Sarafa, an analyst and vice-president at a New York financial firm, would often study with her at night and home school her in subjects not taught at school. “I try my best in everything I do,” Saheela said. “Anyone who’s motivated can work wonders.”

http://nationalmirroronline.net/religion/religion-news/48066.html

New Monkey Species Discovered In Africa

 

A new species of monkey has been identified in Africa, researchers have said.

The species, known locally as the Lesula, was discovered after a young female was seen being kept captive at the home of a primary school director in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2007.
The young animal resembled an owl-faced monkey, but its colouring was different to that of any known species, the researchers writing in the journal PLoS ONE said.
Other wild Lesula have since been found in a remote range in central Democratic Republic of Congo, where they live in forests and feed on leaf stalks, fruit and flower buds.
The discovery of the new species, in one of the country's last unexplored forest areas, is only the second time a new monkey species has been found in Africa in the last 28 years.
Although the 6,500 square mile area in which the shy Lesula is found is remote and sparsely populated, the researchers warn the monkey is vulnerable to extinction as a result of hunting.
They called for controls on hunting and the creation of a protected area covering its range to conserve the Lesula and other wildlife found in the region.
Researcher John Hart said: "The challenge for conservation now in Congo is to intervene before losses become definitive.
"Species with small ranges like the Lesula can move from vulnerable to seriously endangered over the course of just a few years."http://uk.news.yahoo.com/photos/monkey-species-discovered-africa-photo-7975756791-ec3d83dca3-1-400x240-20120913-003606-990-073327766.html;_ylt=AowkSHaVw0xSHA.v6L0SwSHffMl_;_ylu=X3oDMTQzYTdnbWpmBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIFJlbGF0ZWQEcGtnAzY0NGJkNmM3LWNkMmEtM2IwMy1hODNkLWYxODE3NDFkZDcxNARwb3MDMQRzZWMDTWVkaWFBcnRpY2xlUmVsYXRlZAR2ZXIDYWUzNDRlNTAtZmQ3NS0xMWUxLTlkMTYtMDNjYTc1OGMwZGNm;_ylg=X3oDMTJvc3BlNWQ3BGludGwDZ2IEbGFuZwNlbi1nYgRwc3RhaWQDOGYwNWJiMTMtYzdiYi0zMzIwLWFkY2UtZDFiNmQ1ODYxNGM1BHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZARwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2U-;_ylv=3

Kanye West Nominated for 17 BET Hip-Hop Awards

Love him or hate him, Kanye West isn't going anywhere.
The rapper continues to dominate the hip-hop world, and if you disagree with that statement, then just take in the fact that Yeezy is up for 17—yes, you read that right—BET Awards. There are only 18 categories!
Let that sink in for a minute.

http://uk.eonline.com/news/345546/kanye-west-nominated-for-17-bet-hip-hop-awards
Coming off an extremely successful ride with his Watch the Throne collabo album with Jay-Z, Kanye is up for Producer of the Year, Director of the Year, Hustler of the Year and Best Live Performance—just to name a few. Kim Kardashian must be so proud.
Rapper 2 Chainz scored 13 nominations and Drake earned 11 nods, respectively. You can see the full list of nominees, which were originally announced during tonight's episode of BET's 106 & Park, on BET's website.
The seventh annual BET Hip-Hop Awards, hosted by comedian Mike Epps, will air October 9.

Review: Is iPhone 5 worth it?

Apple's new iPhone 5 is the biggest redesign of the hit smartphone since it launched in 2007. Our video review runs through the differences between iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S, to work out whether this is an essential upgrade.

As with all Apple products, you're unlikely to see iPhone 5 discounted during the next 12 months, so  buying early is not a bad idea.

It's also worth considering switching network - the new handset's fast '4G' connection will only work on EE's new 4G network in the UK, so if you want to get the most out of the phone, it might pay to switch.

Is it worth upgrading if you own iPhone 4S?
Would I upgrade out of cycle if I had the iPhone 4S? No. But if you have an iPhone 4 or older, I say reach for the iPhone 5 if you can. Personally, I have been using a Samsung Galaxy SII for the last 6 months and I will be switching back to the iPhone 5 now that it has faster data, with the hope that my battery will last all day.

Bigger Screen
The body of the iPhone 5 has been elongated, adding about a quarter inch to the screen height without changing the width. This will allow for HD video to display in its true 16:9 format and give game designers more real estate to work with.  While the body is longer, the iPhone 5 is 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S — and 20% lighter.


Faster Processor
The brains of the iPhone have been given a significant bump and now have a faster processor than even the new iPad. According to Apple, the new A6 chipset will result in applications loading twice as fast, graphics running smoother and photos capturing 40% faster.

The Camera
The camera has gotten 25% smaller, has better low light processing, and can produce panoramic images. The video camera can shoot 1080p HD video, has improved video stabilization, and allows you to take still pictures simultaneously while you shoot video. Apple's video conferencing app, Facetime, will now transmit HD video, and Facetime can be enabled over cellular networks and WiFi alike.

LTE Data & Battery Life
The new iPhone will connect up with the UK's EE 4G network - which means that it may be worth switching network to enjoy all that iPhone 5 can offer. This will mean significant increases in web browsing and download speeds. This data network is a notorious drain on battery life, so Apple made a big call-out that the battery life of the phone will remain consistent if not a little better (10% improvement overall) than battery life on past iPhones. They claim 8 hours of talk time, 225 hours of stand-by, and 8 hours of LTE web browsing.

Smaller Dock Connector
The 30-pin dock connector that has come standard on every iPhone to date was certainly due for an upgrade. It takes up a lot of space, and it was big entry spot for dust and moisture. Apple has introduced an 80% smaller connector they are calling Lightning that can be plugged into the phone in any direction, offers faster data transfer, and better durability. This switch will be painful and costly as users are forced to buy extra charging cables, docking speakers/alarm clocks or cases.  Apple will be selling adapters, but they will not ship until October.

IOS 6
The IOS operating system has over 200 changes, the biggest of which is turn-by-turn navigation using Apple's own maps and 3D bird's-eye images. There will be deeper social media integration within the operating system for posting to Facebook and Tweeting, and the web browser will now allow a full screen view that takes advantage of the bigger screen.

Price, Timing, and Design Options
The new iPhone will come in black and white with a new, brushed metal back. It will be available for pre-order September 14th and in stores September 21st. The 16GB model will retail for $199, 32GB for $299, 64GB for $399. The iPhone 4S goes down in price to $99. Initial countries where the iPhone 5 will be available: United States, Canada, UK, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, France, and Australia, Availability in more countries by the end of the year.


Is it Worth the Upgrade?
The iPhone 4S was only a superficial upgrade to the device, and I did not recommend an upgrade except for those who really needed a new phone. But the iPhone 5 is an iterative step forward from Apple. The faster processor, speed increases from LTE data networks, a better and faster camera, and consistent battery life despite the LTE drain (real world tests pending), make this a worthy purchase.


Specs in a nutshell:
Weight: 112 grams (20 percent lighter than 4s)
Thickness: 7.6 mm (18 percent thinner)
Screen: 4-inch display (up from 3.5 inches), 1136x640 pixel resolution (up from 960x640), a fifth row of icons on the screen, 44 percent more color saturation
Connectivity: LTE network compatible, available on Verizon/Sprint/ATT
Processor: new A6 chip (processor and graphics are 2x faster).
Battery: 8 hours talk time, 8 hours browsing, 10 hours wifi browsing, 10 hours video, 40 hours music, 225 hours standby.
Camera: 8 mp, 3264x2448 resolution, f/2.4 aperture, 25% smaller, improved low-light quality, panorama feature, 1080p HD video, front-facing Facetime camera updated (720p) and face detection, improved mics and speakers.
Dock and connector: New connector is called Lightning, 8 pin, reversible (adaptor available for current connector).

Boko-Haram Cannot Islamize Nigeria - Borno Governor

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima says no amount of attacks can lead to the Islamization northern Nigeria.

Shettima said the North consist of different religious and ethnic representation that would allow for the Islamisation of the region by some terrorist group.

The governor was speaking today at the government House Maiduguri while playing host to the Chief of Defence Staff and the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar.

” No terrorist group can Imlamise the north. The north is too big to be Islamise by any terrorist group.” Shettima said

The governor said his administration will continue to introduce policies and programmes aimed at alleviating poverty in the state.

Shettima stated the state and Federal government is currently winning the fight against the Boko Haram terrorist stressing that all hand must be on deck to ensure a total success against sect.

“This is the last lap of our fight against the boko Haram sect,I believe we are winning the battle but you all know that the last lap of every relay is always stressful and very demanding hence all hands must be on deck.”



http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/exclusive/boko-haram-cannot-islamize-nigeria-borno-gov/