Celebrities to boycott Oscars ceremony over race issue

Invoking the Rev. Martin Luther King's legacy on his birthday, two prominent African-Americans announced Monday that they will boycott this year's Academy Awards over a lack of diversity among nominees.

Filmmaker Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett Smith posted separate messages Monday saying they would not be attending the February 28 ceremony. The Oscars have drawn criticism after an all-white slate of major nominees was announced Thursday for the second year in a row.

"We cannot support it and [I] mean no disrespect ... But, how is it possible for the second consecutive year all 20 contenders under the acting category are white? And let's not even get into the other branches," Lee wrote on Instagram. "Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all. We can't act?! WTF!!"

"Dr. King said, 'There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it's right,' " continued Lee, the outspoken director of such racially charged films as "Do the Right Thing" and "Malcolm X."

Lee said the " 'real' battle" over racism in Hollywood is not with the Academy Awards but in "the executive offices of the Hollywood studios and TV and cable networks," where gatekeepers decide which projects get made and which don't.

"People, the truth is we ain't in those rooms, and until minorities are, the Oscar nominees will remain lilly white," he wrote.

In a video posted to Facebook, Pinkett Smith said she would not even watch the Oscars on TV this year. Her husband, Will Smith, had been considered an Oscar contender for his role in "Concussion" but was not nominated.

"Today is Martin Luther King's birthday, and I can't help but ask the question: Is it time that people of color recognize how much power, influence, that we have amassed, that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere?" she said.

"Begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power. And we are a dignified people, and we are powerful," she said. "So let's let the Academy do them, with all grace and love. And let's do us, differently."

#OscarsSoWhite trended on social media last week after a number of black Oscar hopefuls, including "Beasts of No Nation's" Idris Elba; "Creed" star Michael B. Jordan; that movie's writer-director, Ryan Coogler; and the cast of N.W.A biopic "Straight Outta Compton" were overlooked by academy voters.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has faced years of criticism that its 7,000-plus members who vote on the Oscars are mostly older, male, white and out of touch with today's moviegoers.

Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is black, said over the weekend that she was "disappointed" by the Oscar nominations.

"But this is not to take away the greatness" of the nominated films, she told Deadline. "This has been a great year in film, it really has, across the board. You are never going to know what is going to appear on the sheet of paper until you see it."

Still, Isaacs acknowledged that the academy's efforts at boosting diversity among its membership and throughout Hollywood were moving too slowly. "We have got to speed it up," she said.

A longtime critic of the academy, Lee received an honorary Oscar at a banquet in Hollywood in November, where he said, "This industry is so far behind sports, it's ridiculous. It's easier to be president of the United States as a black person than be head of a (movie) studio. Honest."

Next month's 88th Academy Awards will be hosted by black actor-comedian Chris Rock, who has largely remained quiet about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Friday on Twitter, however, Rock referred to the show as "the white BET Awards."

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Man stabs friend to death with Civil War sword during mobile home brawl

MONROE COUNTY SHERIFF

Stanley Pace reportedly stabbed to death his friend with a replica Civil War sword.

Authorities have arrested an Alabama man accused of fatally stabbing another man with a replica Civil War sword after a fight at a mobile home in Mississippi.

Monroe County Sheriff Cecil Cantrell said, that 47-year-old Stanley Pace of Pale City, Alabama, chased 43-year-old Ronnie Max Duke of Amory down a street before stabbing him approximately 20 times with the sword late Friday night

Cantrell said investigators arrested Pace on a murder charge Sunday after Duke was reported missing. Monroe County Coroner Alan Gurley said Duke’s body was recovered Monday afternoon.

Cantrell said Pace had hidden Duke’s body beside the road before moving it to a garbage dump.

Pace was being held at the Monroe County jail pending his arraignment. It was not known whether he had a lawyer.



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'Doga' world record set in Hong Kong

Even though, this isn't the Year of the Dog, but a new world record for the biggest dog-yoga class was set in Hong Kong on Sunday. And 270 dog-and-owner pairs participated. It's called "doga" and led by doga-teacher, Suzette Ackerman.

For over half an hour, the participants massaged, twisted, and stretched their furry friends in a series of poses. "Doga" is hailed as a great way to bond and relax with your pets, especially amid big-city pressures. Owners said they were honored to be part of a new world record attempt and want to continue their "doga" disciplines. 

As for the dogs, it's a great opportunity to hang out with other members of the species. The record-breaking attempt has yet to be confirmed by Guinness World Records, but organizers are confident they have satisfied the requirements. The previous record was set in San Diego about a year ago with 265 dog-and-owner pairs. All proceeds from the Hong Kong event are going to the Hong Kong Guide Dog Association.

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21-year-old freezes to death after going to concert with friends

                              KANA KANE VIA FACEBOOK

A young woman who went to Milwaukee for a concert froze to death after leaving her friends and walking out into the subzero cold.

Elizabeth Luebke, a 21-year-old from Oshkosh, was seen on surveillance cameras collapsing in the snow around 4:30 a.m. near the house she left after an argument Saturday night.

Dressed only in shorts, stockings and a tank top, Luebke succumbed to the night’s frigid temperature, which were still hovering around six degrees below zero when she was found by a passerby at 9 a.m.

Wind chills dropped down to nearly minus 30.

Friends at the small party thought she had been picked up, and didn’t suspect that Luebke was fighting for her life in the snow nearby.

The man whose home she left told Fox 6 that the concert-goer had been drunk before storming out when she got mad at a friend.

Luebke’s mother, who drove to Milwaukee to file a missing person’s report for her daughter, said that she was hospitalized with five times the blood alcohol limit to legally drive last October.

In December the young woman posted on social media that she had quit drinking and stayed sober for a month.

Police in Milwaukee urged residents to stick together in groups while venturing into possibly dangerous conditions.

"I know you kids feel invincible, but this weather is ruthless. Please, all of you, don't underestimate this cold,'  Luebke's friend Julie Schmidt posted on Facebook.


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In eight years 55 people stole a total of 1.34 trillion Naira in Nigeria

Alhaji Lai Mohammed

The Federal Government has appealed to the media to join hands with it in sensitizing Nigerians to the damage that corruption has done to the nation, warning that unless Nigeria kills corruption, the vice is capable of killing Nigeria.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the appeal on Monday while kick-starting the National Sensitization Campaign Against Corruption at a press conference in Abuja.

To ensure the success of the campaign, the Minister urged the media to replicate the support they are giving to the Federal Government in its ongoing National Security Awareness Campaign

''Thanks to the support we have received from the media, especially in this (National Security) Sensitization Campaign, I can now tell you that Nigerians have taken ownership of the war against terrorism and are also giving their undiluted support to our gallant military. I commend the media for heeding our patriotic call to duty at a critical time in the life of our nation."

''Gentlemen, we are here today because of another patriotic call to duty. We want the media to once again lead the campaign to sensitize Nigerians to take possession of another war - the war against corruption,'' he said.

Alhaji Mohammed stressed the need to change the narrative on corruption, especially what he described as the wrong impression out there that the war against corruption is being fought only by the President or the Federal Government or the governing All Progressive Congress (APC), or the orchestrated misinformation that the war against corruption is a vendetta against the opposition, and that indeed it is one-sided.

The Minister said Nigerians must be made to know the damage that corruption ''has done to our nation, our people and our international image, how corruption stifles economic growth, hinders the fight against poverty, leads to decay in infrastructure and reduces educational standards, lowers life expectancy, stunts the fight against maternal and infant mortality and impacts negatively on the general livelihood of the citizens. No one is better placed than you, the media, to lead this charge.''

Alhaji Mohammed said, for example, that between 2006 and 2013, just 55 people allegedly stole a total of 1.34 trillion Naira in Nigeria, an amount that is more than a quarter of the 2015 national budget!

''Out of the stolen funds, 15 former Governors allegedly stole 146.84 billion naira; 4 former Ministers allegedly stole 7 billion naira; 12 former Public Servants, both at federal and state levels, allegedly stole over 14 billion Naira; 8 people in the Banking Industry allegedly stole 524 billion Naira; while 11 businessmen allegedly stole 653 billion naira."

''Using World Bank Rates and Costs, one third of the stolen funds could have provided 635.18 kilometres of road; built 36 ultra modern hospitals, that is one ultra modern hospital per state; built 183 schools; educated 3,974 children from primary to tertiary level at 25.24 million per child; and built 20,062 units of 2-bedroom houses. This is the money that a few people, just 55 in number, allegedly stole within a period of just eight years. And instead of a national outrage, all we hear are these nonsensical statements that the Government is fighting only the opposition, or that the government is engaging in vendetta,'' he said.

Commenting on the issue of the 2.1 billion-dollar arms deal, the Minister said irrespective of what anyone might say, there is no doubt that funds meant to fight terrorism were deployed to another 'fight', the fight to keep then President Goodluck Jonathan and his party, the PDP, in power at all cost.

''So far, based on what we know, no one who has been accused of partaking in the sharing of the funds has denied receiving money. All we have heard from them are ludicrous reasons why they partook in sharing of the money. One said he collected 4.5 billion Naira for spiritual purposes, another said he received 2.1 billion naira for publicity, while yet another said he got 13 billion Naira to pay someone else for the Maritime University land."

''Based on these revelations, should we now fold our hands and allow these people to go away with public funds? Is anyone thinking about the innocent soldiers who lost their lives just because they did not get the necessary weapons to fight the terrorists? What about the families left behind by these soldiers who were sent to their early graves because of the misappropriation of these funds? What about those who lost their means of livelihood after the terrorists overran their towns and villages? What of the millions of Nigerians, especially women and children, who are now living in IDP camps? Is it not clear that the cruel fate that has befallen these unfortunate people is a direct result of the misuse of the funds meant to fight the terrorists?" he queried.

Alhaji Mohammed said irrespective of political, religious or tribal leanings, and not minding whether anyone belongs to the APC, PDP, SDP or Labour Party, ''if you have stolen public funds, you must not go scot-free''.

He urged all Nigerians and every arm of government to ''rise up and be counted in this epic war, and defeat is not an option if our country is to survive. As President Muhammadu Buhari likes to say, if we don't kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. There is no better way to say it''.

The Minister said President Buhari is leading this fight by example and right from the front, adding: ''His unparalleled integrity, his uncommon love of country and his undiluted dedication to service all put him in good stead to wage this war, and we must all support him and own the war in order to ensure its success. This is not Buhari's war. This is not APC's war. This is Nigeria's war.''

He also appealed to the Judiciary, which he said is critical to the success of the war, saying unless everyone in the judiciary fully joins in waging this war, the pending cases of corruption will just drag on until they outlast this Administration.