Chilean president justifies breaking protocol and sitting at Obama's desk by saying his daughter was born in America.

 'I'm going to sit at the President of the United States' desk': Chilean President Sebastián Piñera helps himself to the seat of visibly surprised President Barack Obama.

It was his first official White House visit, and already Chilean President Sebastián Piñera's causing a stir - for the wrong reasons.
In an embarrassing faux pas, the 63-year-old billionaire sat down at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office on Tuesday, breaking the White House’s political protocols.

'I’m going to sit at the President of the United States’ desk,' Piñera said in front of a visibly surprised President Barack Obama.

And to make matters worse, the businessman-turned-politician justified his actions by saying: 'You know my daughter was born in the United States.'

Huffington Post reports Piñera appeared to sit down spontaneously, without consulting Obama’s advisers or security personnel. 

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Amid surprised laughter, someone in the room asked Obama how many other world presidents had made such a bold move, as heard in this clip.

Gaddafi-linked assets worth $1bn 'in South Africa'

South African officials are investigating claims ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his family stashed $1bn (£600m) in assets in the country.

Libya has reportedly called for help in repatriating diamonds, gold and cash.
The assets were being held by four banks and security companies in South Africa, reports quoting Libyan investigators say.
Some estimates suggest that Gaddafi's total foreign assets could be worth as much as $80bn.
Gaddafi was captured and killed as he tried to flee his home town of Sirte during Libya's political uprising in October 2011.
Any assets belonging to him or his family are firmly considered by many Libyans as state-owned property that should be returned.

Nigeria: House Passes Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill.

In spite of threats of sanctions from some western nations, the House of Representatives yesterday passed into law a bill seeking to prohibit marriage contracts and civil unions entered between persons of same gender in Nigeria.
The passage of the bill means that such marriage contracts are illegal and shall not be recognised in the country. Those who indulge in such practices under any guise shall not be entitled to the benefits of a valid marriage.
The lower chamber took the bold step when it adopted the report of its relevant committees on the bill at the Committee of the Whole.
Under the new law, marriage contracts or civil unions entered between persons of same gender by virtue of a certificate issued by a foreign country shall not be recognised in Nigeria.

Kony's henchmen in Central Africa 'are killing elephants and using money from ivory to help fund his struggling group.

 
Fugitive African warlord Joseph Kony has been accused of ordering elephants to be killed for their ivory.

Members of a militia run by fugitive African warlord Joseph Kony are killing elephants across Central Africa and using the money to support his group, a watchdog has reported.
Kony's Lord's Resistance Army is struggling and has turned to elephant poaching 'as a means to sustain itself', using money from the illegal trade of ivory to buy food and supplies.

A report issued by a coalition of groups who want to enough defections from the LRA said Kony gave the order to butcher elephants for their ivory as far back as 2010.
'With prices at record-high levels, trading illegal ivory offers the LRA another way to sustain itself in addition to its habitual pillaging,' the report said.
'Former senior fighters who defected from the group report that the LRA trades ivory for arms, ammunition, and food.'

GHANA VODAFONE AWARD WINNERS 2013.

 VGMA 2013 WINNERS

CATEGORY	WINNER
* Vodafone Artiste of the Year	R2Bees
* African Artiste of the Year	WizKid
* Afro Pop Song of the Year	Fuse ODG
* Best Album of the Year	EL
* Best Collaboration of the Year	Herty Borngreat & Trigmatic
* Best Female Vocal of the Year	Efya
* Best Male Vocal of the Year	Knii Lante
* Best Rapper of the Year	Manifest
* Best Music Video of the Year	Chase
* Best Reggae Dancehall Song of the Year	Kaakie

Ghana Learns from hearings at the Supreme Court of an election petition.

We are all lawyers now in Ghana.
We use courtroom language in communicating with each other.
We suggest to each other, we put it to each other and we ask each other for further and better particulars.

Children object with the greatest respect to being asked to turn off the television and mothers overrule or sustain the objections as the mood takes them.

After three weeks of live broadcast of hearings at the Supreme Court of an election petition, it is fair to say that Ghana is in the grip of a one-item conversation subject.
Almost five months after we had parliamentary and presidential elections and almost four months after a president was inaugurated, the petition challenging the validity of the election of the president is now being heard at the Supreme Court.
We are in a lot of unchartered waters and it is doubtful we have ever watched so much television.
Television cameras are not normally allowed in Ghanaian courts and to most of us the entire judicial process is shrouded in mystery.
We tend to treat judges, lawyers and courtrooms with a lot of deference, verging on fear.
Traffic jams clear The live transmission of the Supreme Court proceedings has therefore gripped the public imagination and exploded a few myths.
There have been loud complaints that the live transmissions are wreaking havoc on the economy.

  Ghanaians are learning to use legal language thanks to the Supreme Court petition

The 2013 BET Awards nominations (complete list)

Drake leads the nominations for the BET Awards ’13. The Young Money rapper scores 12 nominations at this year’s show.

The 26-year-old is nominated five times in the Video of the Year category for his own singles “Started From the Bottom” and the Lil Wayne-assisted “HYFR,” plus collaborations with Kendrick Lamar (“Poetic Justice”), 2 Chainz (“No Lie”), and A$AP Rocky (“Fu**in’ Problems”). He will compete against Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z’s “Suit & Tie,” Kanye West’s “Mercy,” Miguel’s “Adorn,” and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop.”

Kendrick Lamar and 2 Chainz each pick up eight nominations, A$AP Rocky nabs five, and Miguel grabs four. Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, and Miguel earn three apiece.
Chris, Kendrick, Tamar Braxton, and Charlie Wilson were on hand to announce the nominees at the press conference in L.A. on Tuesday.

Millionaire who quit Microsoft to educate Africa's future leaders.

 

Having just quit a highly lucrative job with tech giant Microsoft in the United States, where he'd made millions working as a program manager, Patrick Awuah would wake up once in a while wondering if he'd done the right thing.

"And then I read the words of Goethe," remembers Awuah: "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it -- begin it now."

What Awuah wanted to begin was to create a university in his native Ghana, a state-of-the-art education hub that would help educate the country's next generation of leaders.

Inspired by the saying of the famous German writer, Awuah moved with his family back to Ghana. There, he invested his own money and with the help of other donors he founded