Hello there, happy Friday! We have a government again! (Sort of.) You know you don't want to work anymore, and neither do we. Let's do nothing together. And by nothing, I mean let's discuss topics of your choice in the Kinja™ below.
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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Qmflwaz0X2A/@marioaguilarLAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Shedding stark light on Nigeria's escalating war with Islamic militants, mortuary records from a single Nigerian hospital show the number of detainees who died in military custody more than tripled in June, the first month of a state of emergency in the troubled northeast region.
Overall, the records obtained by The Associated Press for the nine months from Oct. 5 to July 5 indicate that the military is killing thousands in its crackdown on the uprising in northeast Nigeria.
The records cover just one hospital, Sani Abacha Specialist Teaching Hospital in Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram, the movement fighting to uproot Western cultural influences from a country shared almost equally by Muslims and Christians. In the 30 days before the state of emergency was declared on May 14, 380 bodies were delivered to the hospital by the military. In the 30 days after, the number was 1,321.
For the whole of June, the number was 1,795, making it the worst month in the records seen by the AP, which has also witnessed many of the bodies being delivered to the hospital in military ambulances, escorted by armored cars.
The figure is much larger than the estimated number of Boko Haram fighters.
Nigerian government and military officials have refused to comment, and it's impossible to know how many of the dead had Boko Haram connections. But Nigerian law stipulates that even under a state of emergency, detainees are supposed to be brought before a magistrate within 48 hours and to have access to lawyers and family members.
A pastor said he was held at Maiduguri's Giwa Military Barracks after he and four other people were arrested because weapons were found hidden in the shoe factory where he works.
He described hundreds of naked people crammed into a cell meant for a couple of dozen. Once a day, he said, a soldier would throw a loaf of moistened bread into the cell to be brawled over. Some died of torture, he said.
He told the AP he was freed with the intervention of a Christian group, and his jailers' recognizing his prayers for salvation as Christian. He requested anonymity fearing military retaliation.
Amnesty International reported this week that hundreds are dying in detention: some taken from the cells and shot, some dying of suffocation or starvation.
The London-based human rights group said "credible information" from a senior Nigerian army officer indicated more than 950 people have been killed in the first six months of this year. The mortuary records seen by the AP list 3,335 bodies in that period, in just one hospital.
That figure alone is about nine times greater than the 400 civilians killed in Boko Haram attacks in the same period, according to an AP count of reported incidents.
However, Boko Haram has also done much to alienate public opinion. Fighters suspected of belonging to it have gunned down dozens of schoolchildren, some as they sat at their desks writing exams, and burned alive boarding school students locked into dormitories that were set ablaze.
The name Boko Haram roughly means "Western education is forbidden."
The group has also killed many more Muslims than Christians. In August, it gunned down 47 worshippers in a mosque. Last month it captured a muezzin, made him issue the pre-dawn summons to prayer and then killed at least seven elderly men who answered the call.
Local and international human rights groups say the troops deployed to combat Boko Haram are notorious for their excesses and have draconian powers to raid homes and detain people. They see a danger of a backlash from a poor population that feels marginalized and remote from the political center of Nigeria and its Christian president, Goodluck Jonathan.
The religions co-exist peacefully in the rest of Nigeria although fundamentalism, fueled by poverty and marginalization, has been growing among Christians and Muslims in the north.
Just days after the emergency was declared, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry noted "deep concern over credible allegations of gross human rights violations by Nigerian security forces." And in September, when he met Jonathan at the U.N., President Barack Obama "underscored the importance of countering terrorism via a comprehensive approach that creates economic opportunity and protects human rights," according to a State Department official.
On Thursday Nigeria was elected to a two-year seat on the U.N. Security Council. According to presidential spokesman Reuben Abati, President Jonathan believes it is "a glowing expression of support and encouragement for Nigeria's active participation in the promotion of peace, security and political stability in Africa and other parts of the world."
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Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-18-Nigeria-Killings/id-e0b51e0bc9874e40abdb1c6fccfed9c5'What Does the Fox Say?'
FOX COSTUMES EXPLODE
... Thanks to Viral Video
Exclusive
There are going to be MILLIONS of foxes running around this Halloween ... 'cause the furry animal costumes are selling at record numbers this year -- and it's all thanks to that insane viral video "What Does the Fox Say," TMZ has learned.
By now, you're probably one of the 131 MILLION people who watched the bizarre, hilarious (yet strangely fascinating) video by the band Ylvis on YouTube (and if you haven't seen it, GET OUT FROM YOUR FOX HOLE!).
We spoke to 3 of the biggest costume outlets in the country -- Spirit Halloween, Buycostumes, and Amazon -- and we're told that fox costumes are exploding this year, crushing last year's sales.
In fact, one outlet says fox costume sales are up almost 40% from last Halloween ... and the number is expected to rise, with Halloween still another 2 weeks away.
But don’t worry – the costume retailers tell us they’re beefing up orders of bushy tails and pointy fox ears ... so it's not too late to jump on the bandwagon and join the skulk (see below).
Fox Fact: a group of foxes is called a skulk ... now you know.
Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!!!
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Want to understand Justin Bieber better? Join the club!
Luckily, the Biebs is laying out all the clues to the mystery of his heart in the brand new lyric video for his newest song All That Matters.
Is it meant to move Selena Gomez the way that Heartbreaker did? Or is it a message to his fans?
Ch-ch-check out the video (above) to see Justin pour his heart out in 3D!
Tags: 3d, all that matters, heartbreaker, justin bieber, lyric video, music minute, selena gomez
Mayor Cory Booker talks to supporters during a Senate election night victory party Wednesday in Newark, N.J.
Cory Booker's victory Wednesday in New Jersey's special Senate election didn't surprise anyone.
From the moment he captured the Democratic nomination in the reliably blue state, the Newark mayor was the heavy favorite to defeat Republican Steve Lonegan.
With his media savvy and national celebrity, the senator-elect is already a recognizable figure outside his home state.
But here are a few things you might not have known about Booker's election:
An Historic Election
When Booker is officially sworn in, he will become the ninth African-American in history to serve in the U.S. Senate, and just the fourth to have been popularly elected.
The last African-American elected to the Senate? Barack Obama, out of Illinois in 2004. The other two were Massachusetts Republican Edward Brooke in 1966 and Illinois Democrat Carol Moseley Braun in 1992.
The only current African-American senator is Tim Scott, the South Carolina Republican appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley last December after Jim DeMint resigned to head the Heritage Foundation.
New Jersey, A Republican-Free Zone
Counting Booker's victory, Democrats have now won 14 straight U.S. Senate races in New Jersey — the party's third-longest winning streak in the nation.
The last Republican Senate victory in the Garden State came in 1972, when Sen. Clifford Case won his third term (other Republicans were appointed to the Senate during this period, but not elected).
Hawaii and West Virginia are the only states with a longer GOP drought. A Republican Senate candidate hasn't won in Hawaii since 1970 or in West Virginia since 1956.
Booker vs. Obama
Booker won fairly comfortably Wednesday night, earning about 55 percent of the vote to Lonegan's 44 percent. Still, the score was closer than many expected — and Booker even lagged behind President Obama's state performance in 2012 when he won 58 percent to Mitt Romney's 41 percent.
Of course, it isn't a perfect comparison. Off-year or special Senate races garner far less attention than presidential contests, meaning dramatically lower turnout. And on top that, the election occurred on a Wednesday, rather than the traditional Tuesday.
The Never-Ending Campaign
Booker supporters shouldn't even bother to take down their yard signs: He's back on the ballot again in about a year.
While senators typically have a six-year respite between elections, Booker only gets a short breather — he won a special election to serve out the remainder of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg's term, which ends in January 2015.
That means Booker will be back on the campaign trail in no time, and that Democrats can expect more fundraising pleas from him in the coming weeks.
Google is working to improve the shopping experience from search results on mobile, and the most recent improvements are coming to the set of top links after making a search. The group of pictures and associated links under "Shop with Google" are known as Google Shopping results, and they're getting a little more real estate in the search results page now.
Now when you search for products that Google Shopping has results for, instead of just two or three images at the top, you'll get a side-scrolling list of several results that match your request. In addition, the images and titles will now be larger, making it easier to see at a glance.
Google claims that the new format will drive more traffic to the participating retailers, and it's pretty simple math to see why that would be the case. These are big changes to drive even more traffic to retailers before the critical holiday shopping season.
Source: Google Commerce Blog
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ohI77v8G-Cg/story01.htmNEW YORK (AP) — A new report says funding for U.S. startups rose in the third quarter from year-ago levels, as venture capitalists poured money into a growing number of fledging software companies.
According to the report released Friday, total investments in startups rose 17 percent to $7.78 billion from $6.63 billion in the July-September quarter of 2012. The number of deals rose 7 percent to 1,005 from 937.
The software industry's $3.57 billion in funding accounted for the largest chunk of the total and marked a 77 percent jump from a year ago. It also marked the first time the industry passed the $3 billion mark in 12 years.
Software also accounted for the largest number of deals with 420, including nine of the quarter's 11 largest investments.
"It's an exciting time to be an entrepreneur with a software company," Mark McCaffrey, global technology partner and software leader at PriceWaterHouseCoopers U.S. said in a statement. "More venture capital dollars are going into more software deals than we've seen in the past decade."
McCaffrey added that innovative technologies in the software industry continue to become more valuable, prompting venture capitalists to increase their investments in the area.
Biotechnology came in a distant second place. Its funding fell 31 percent to $852.1 million for 123 deals, down one deal from the year-ago period.
The largest deal of the quarter was a $257.8 million infusion that went to San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc., which provides on-demand car service through iPhones and text messages. The money came from Google Ventures and TPG Capital LP.
Palantir Technologies Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of analytics software, took second place with $196.5 million in funding from an undisclosed firm.
The MoneyTree study was conducted by PriceWaterHouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters.
