Boko Haram kidnaps Adamawa council vice chairman

The Adamawa State Police Command on Wednesday confirmed the abduction of the Vice Chairman of Hong Local Government, Bijida Yakubu, by gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko
Haram. The Public Relations Officer of the command, Othman Abubakar, who confirmed the incident, said three vigilante members that were with Mr. Yakubu lost their lives in the encounter. Mr. Abubakar, who did not give details, however, said the police officers investigating the incident have so far recovered the vice chairman’s shoes. A resident of Hong who simply identified himself as Hussaini said that the incident occurred in Gayafa Village of the area. “You know, insurgents attacked the village last week. The vice chairman who hailed from the village was on an assessment visit with some hunters when the insurgents attacked and over-powered them. “About seven insurgents were killed in the encounter before they over-powered the hunters and took away the vice chairman,” he said. Mr. Hussaini claimed that the abducted vice chairman was later allowed by his captors to call his wife with his cell phone before the device was switched off. The Chairman of Adamawa branch of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Sahabo Gurin, also confirmed the incident. Adamawa is one of the three states most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. The insurgency has caused the death of about 20,000 people in northern Nigeria with hundreds of thousands of others displaced. The Nigerian military recently began a major offensive against the group, reclaiming some of the territory initially seized by the insurgents. (NAN)

Photos: Perfectly healthy baby delivered still inside his amniotic sac

His hands and feet were clearly visible - but baby Silas Philips was in no rush to enter the world.
Born still inside his amniotic sac, he has since been described as a 'medical miracle' by doctors. Silas was delivered three months prematurely at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California. And doctors performing the Caesarean section on his mother, Chelsea, were astonished to see his amniotic sac was still intact. Pictures show Silas curled up inside with the placenta and umbilical cord, his tiny hands and a leg clearly visible.
And until the bag was broken, he was still getting oxygen through the placenta, CBS reported. The amniotic sac is a bag of clear, pale fluid inside the womb where the unborn baby develops and grows. The fluid helps to cushion the baby from bumps and injury, as well as providing it with fluids it can breathe and swallow. It also maintains a constant temperature for the baby. Typically the amniotic sac breaks on its own during birth, which is commonly referred to as a mother's 'water breaking'. Or during a C-section, the surgeon cuts through it to deliver the baby. Doctors say the chance of the amniotic sac remaining completely intact after birth is 'ultra rare'. It was a moment that mesmerised Dr William Binder, who delivered Silas. 'Even though it sounds cliched, we caught our breath,' he said. 'It really felt like a moment of awe... and one that will stick in my moment for some time.

'He was seconds old and still in the water bag, with the placenta and umbilical cord tucked inside.' After taking a few seconds to snap the incredible sight in front of him, Dr Binder set to work removing Silas out of his amniotic sac and getting him breathing.

However Silas's mother didn't realise the excitement her son had caused until her mother showed her Dr Binder's photo. 'It was definitely like a clear film where you could definitely make out his head and his hair,' she told CBS News. 'He was kind of in a foetal position and you could see like his arms and his legs curled up. 'It was actually really cool to see. And when I heard that was actually really rare I was like "oh my gosh you're a special little baby".' Despite being born at just 26 weeks, Silas is doing so well that doctors hope he will go home within the next month. Actress Jessica Alba has spoken out about her daughter Haven who was born inside the amniotic sac in 2011. She said at the time: 'The doctor had never seen anything like it before. He grabbed the nurse and said: 'Look at this!'. 'I was in the middle of pushing and he told me to hold on a minute and not to push. 'He was wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt and said: 'Oh I have to get my scrubs on for this!' The sac burst on its own after she came out. It was a trip.' In fact Jessica's experience inspired Haven's name. She explained: 'When I was in recovery we still hadn't chosen her name. [Her father Cash Warren] picked her up and said she came into the world in her 'safe haven' and [her name] clicked right then for both of us.'

Faces of evil! See Boko Haram members captured in Chad

Above is a photo of members of Boko Haram captured by Chadian soldiers yesterday in Gamboru, a
border town between Chad and Nigeria. 207 of the militants were killed during the gun battle...

How to Add Forums to a Website or blog

Forums are useful to communicate with your site visitors and helps to solve problems and generate traffic out of it. This article will show you how to add forums to website
1.Choose which method you want to use. Embeddable forums (hosted on some else server, generally forum service provider)

Photos: Actress Linda Ejiofor stuns for Cedar magazine

The actress sizzles in a shiny sexy black dress for the February/March issue of Cedar magazine. See
more photos after the cut...

Photos: Buhari interviewed in London earlier today

The APC Presidential candidate was a guest on "All Eyes on Africa" TV show earlier today. More
pics after the cut..

How to Add RAM to Your Desktop Computer

How to Add RAM to Your Desktop Computer...
 Is your computer running slowly? Are you considering buying a newer, faster computer? Adding

10 Powerful Ideas that Will Change the Way You Work

1. Dedicate time to playful exploration. In 2006, students from Xavier High School were given an assignment to write to their favorite living authors – several students chose Kurt Vonnegut.
Vonnegut’s response, the only one the class received, encapsulates essential insight on the importance of playful exploration as it relates to doing great work: “What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow. Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.” Although Vonnegut’s response was for young students to motivate them to start learning and exploring new ideas and skills, it’s easy for all of us to limit ourselves to one specific domain, like writing or coding or design. We get comfortable and never stretch our creative and intellectual muscles. We never become all that we can be. So keep the idea of playful exploration in mind and dedicate time to implementing it. Try new things for the sake of stretching yourself, making your soul grow and keeping things fresh in your life. The realizations you encounter during these activities can then be transferred over to your primary work, which will eventually make all the difference in the world.
 2. Track and appreciate every small step of progress you make. It’s in our DNA to want our hard work to matter… to know that our efforts made a difference. It’s why, believe it or not, janitors at hospitals have a fairly high job satisfaction ratings. When they walk into a dirty room they know what they need to do, how it should look when they leave, and the positive impact their work will have on others who use the room. Then as they leave, they look around and feel a strong sense of accomplishment. Your progress might not be as easy to see, but the more you appreciate your hard work, the more productive you will become. Try looking at what you’ve been able to accomplish at the end of each day, and be aware that acknowledging even the smallest wins is very important. Keep notes and write down at least one thing you made progress on each day and why it mattered. Do this consistently for 30 days and watch how it affects your happiness and productive output. Also, consider adding mini celebrations to your routines. Too often you probably finish a task and then just move on to the next thing. I catch myself doing this all the time. I might have just written a very intricate email that required a lot of thinking and planning, but the moment I send it off, I’m already moving on to the next thing. Next time you catch yourself doing this, take a quick moment and celebrate your hard work. I try to make my celebrations fun, energizing and healthy. Here are five simple ways you can celebrate after some hard work on a project. Listen to your favorite song. Take a short walk and appreciate the fresh air. Call a good friend or colleague and tell them about a particular accomplishment. Eat a small piece of dark chocolate. Write a couple lines in your gratitude journal. Simple celebrations like these keep you feeling positive and will grow your motivation for the next task ahead.
3 . Find meaning in your tasks and projects. Each task you set out to do can either add to or subtract from your happiness. It can be something that helps you build a better career or something that annoys you. Each task has a purpose – even the smallest ones. If you feel like they really don’t have a purpose that’s meaningful to you, it’s time to find a way to stop doing it or get someone else to do it for you. (We’ll talk more about this in #7 and #9.) Not all tasks were created equal, so look for ways that your tasks and projects are helping you accomplish your bigger goals. If you are asked to stuff thousands of marketing bags with corporate flyers, like I was asked to do at one point in my career, then understand the “why” behind it. Why are you choosing to accept this task? It could be as simple as your boss asked you to do it and you want to keep earning your paycheck to feed your family, or something more subjective like you are doing it because you hope, believe, or know that it will make future customers happy. When you can visualize the reaction that your hard work will have on others, it’s easier to stay motivated. Bottom line: By finding meaning in your tasks, you’ll do a better job and usually enjoy each task a lot more.
 4. Seek out ways to deliver a smile. Connection is a big part of why you do what you do. If you work hard on something and get a smile for doing so, that’s visual proof that your work matters. So next time you have low energy while working on a task, see if you can try switching to a task that will help deliver a smile to a colleague, customer, or boss. You’ll get a natural boost, and the next task will be easier to tackle.
 5. Leverage your motivating triggers. Everyone has motivating triggers that can help them when they need to take their energy up a notch. One of my triggers is music. I like to listen to classical music when I write. Mozart puts a little pep in my fingers. This motivation trigger helps me get in the zone and stay focused so I can get a large chunk of work done. Music may not be your motivating trigger, but you have to figure out what works for you. You can try something really simple like a couple deep breaths before you start a task to center your focus before you dive into the work. It can help you work better or make wiser choices. The best part is that if you keep doing this, it becomes a habit. It triggers your “zone state” so you can get into your zone much quicker and get more work done efficiently (we’ll talk more about this in #10).
 6. Schedule recharge breaks. You don’t have an endless supply of energy. Think of yourself as a battery that needs to be recharged throughout the day. Most people hit their peak energy output about two hours after they wake up, and it lasts for about three hours. Then their energy plummets, especially after lunch. You’ve likely suffered through an afternoon slump more times than you can count. This is when most people go for a caffeine or sugar boost, which is not healthy. So what’s a good alternative? Schedule short recharge breaks to help you keep a more consistent energy level, and will also help you avoid unhealthy snacking. Try scheduling your breaks when you know the energy slumps usually hit. You might schedule a walk and a healthy fruit snack, and take the time to breathe and regroup for 10 minutes before you go back to work.
 7. Ask for help the minute you need it. If you are a type-A personality, this especially pertains to you. You may be good at a lot of things, but you can’t do it all, all of the time. Other people have skills that can help you accomplish more work and make your efforts more effective. It’s important to lean on other people when you are feeling fatigued or overwhelmed. Try asking for help when you need it. The funny thing about asking for help is that most people actually love to help others when given the opportunity. They get a boost by helping you smile, and you get a boost by not having to do everything all by yourself.
 8. Flip the script. One of my clients, Amy, loathed doing performance reviews. She always procrastinated until the last minute on finishing the performance reviews for her employees, and the experience was equally bad for her and her team. She hated doing them because she didn’t feel like her team needed them or wanted them. So she flipped the concept on its head and asked her employees to review and develop a career plan, with her guidelines, for the next 12 months. It worked. They all collaborated and invented a better process that her employees were excited about. If there’s some task or project in your life that is troublesome, try finding a fresh way to tackle it. It might take a few tries to find a better solution, but if you can find a way to enjoy a task that you dislike, you’ll be happier and so will the people around you.
 9. Learn to circumvent tasks that don’t excite you. Simply learning to say “no” is one of the major components of doing more work that you love and creating a happier life in general. If there’s a project that’s a bad fit for your skills, you need to figure out a way to say “no.” The key here is to put your foot down without making the other person feel rejected. For example, if your boss comes in with a project for you to do that doesn’t excite you or fit your strengths, then it’s your responsibility to find a better solution to her problem. So instead of just saying “no,” give her another option that solves her problem so she can say “yes” to you. Everything is negotiable. Be a creative problem solver and everyone wins. Another powerful idea, which I will quote from Marc’s recent Forbes interview: “Invest a little time to save a lot of time. How can you spend a little time right now in order to save a lot of time in the future? Think about the tasks you perform over and over throughout a work week. Is there a more efficient way? Is there a shortcut you can learn? Is there a way to automate or delegate it? Perhaps you can complete a particular task in 20 minutes, and it would take two hours to put in place a more efficient method. If that 20 minute task must be completed every day, and a two-hour fix would cut it to 5 minutes or less each time, it’s a fix well worth implementing. A simple way of doing this is to use technology to automate tasks (email filters, automatic bill payments, etc.). Also, teaching someone to help you and delegating work is another option. Bottom line: The more you automate and delegate, the more you can get done with the same level of effort.”
 10. Block out time to be in the zone. Getting in the zone quickly is one of the most important habits for highly effective workers. If you can get your important work done early and efficiently, it leaves you time to relax or to test out new, creative ideas. Getting in your zone can start with leveraging tip #5, motivational triggers. If you can use triggers to help you get into the zone quicker, then you’ll get more done each day. The next step, and one that’s maybe even harder, is doing the right things when you’re in the zone. And that means not allowing any distractions to get in your way. To this point, I will again quote Marc, from his recent Forbes interview: “Anyone who wants to achieve their goals needs to do two key things. First, focus on the right things, and second, be ruthless about eliminating all distractions. Several research studies have shown that people never get more done by blindly working more hours on everything that comes up. Instead, they get more done when they follow careful plans that measure and track key priorities and milestones. So if you want to be more successful and less stressed, don’t ask how to make something more efficient until you’ve first asked, “Do I need to do this at all?” Simply being able to do something well does not make it the right thing to do. I think this is one of the most common problems with a lot of time-management advice; too often productivity gurus focus on how to do things quickly, but the vast majority of things people do quickly should not be done at all. Once you know you’re actually working on the right things, eliminating all distractions for a set time while you work is one of the most effective ways to get things done. So, lock your door, put a sign up, turn off your phone, close your email application, disconnect your internet connection, etc. You can’t remain in hiding forever, but you can be twice as productive while you are. Do whatever it takes to create a quiet, distraction free environment where you can focus on your work