The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Florida

  • Nollywood Aki honoured in Miami, Florida

    Nollywood actor, Chinedu Ikedieze a.k.a Aki, has added another feather to his cap with the honorarium as a distinguished visitor to the city of Miami, Florida.

    The actor shared the news on his instagram page @Chineduikedieze with some pictures from the ceremony which took place in Miami, Florida.

    Ikedieze was full of thanks to the Mayor of Miami for according to him the renowned title.

    He said, ‘’When the world believed in you, believe in yourself also. Have faith in your abilities.

    “Without a humble or reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.’-Norman Vincent Peale’’

    “From the bottom of my heart I say thank you to Miami-Dade ,country office of the Mayor and the county commissioners for honouring me as a distinguished visitor to the city of Miami, Florida’’.
    ‘’You have just given me a key to more success in life’’, he said.

    The 39 year-old Abia State born actor joined the movie industry in 2000 and rose to fame after starring in the blockbuster movie ‘’Aki na Ukwa’’.

    Ikedieze is best known for playing alongside Osita Iheme popularly known as’’Pawpaw’’ and has acted in over 100 movies.

    He also plays the role of Efetobore Johnson in the current Television Drama Series- The Johnsons.

    In 2007, he received the lifetime achievement award at The African Movie Academy Awards.

    Similarly, in 2011 he received a National Award of Member of the Order (MON) .

  • Tiger Woods bags 12 months’ probation

    Tiger Woods bags 12 months’ probation

     

    Tiger Woods has been sentenced to 12 months of probation  after pleading guilty to reckless driving in connection with his arrest on May 29, when Florida police found him unconscious behind the wheel of his Mercedes-Benz.

    Woods will be required to take a diversion program, pay a $250 fine and court costs, perform 20 hours of community service, attend DUI School, and attend a workshop where victims of impaired drivers discuss how their lives were damaged by impaired driving.

    He will also be asked to take regular drug tests.

    Woods was arrested on May 29 in Jupiter, Florida on charges of DUI, reckless driving, and improper stopping. Toxicology reporters released by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office showed Woods had several pain killers, anxiety calmer Xanax, a sleeping pill, and the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, in his system

    Woods has been out of action since the Dubai Desert Classic in February, but his doctors did recently clear him to play following back surgery

    Palm Beach County’s First Time Offender pre-trial program allows DUI charges to be vacated with a guilty plea to misdemeanor reckless driving, according to FelonyFlorida.com.

    Deputy State Attorney Richard Clausi, who oversees the county’s misdemeanor prosecutions, said that less than 1 percent of the program’s participants have reoffended. He said the key has been getting offenders to take responsibility for their actions without requiring a trial and making sure they complete the program.

    Woods issued a statement in August saying he had been self-medicating for pain caused by his fourth back surgery and insomnia. He did not specifically address the marijuana issue. None was found in his possession.

    ‘I realize now it was a mistake to do this without medical assistance,’ Woods said then. He completed a drug treatment program in July.

    Woods’ attorney, Douglas Duncan, did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment about Wednesday’s hearing.

    The DUI arrest was the first time Woods had been in trouble since Thanksgiving weekend 2009, when he plowed his SUV into a tree and a fire hydrant outside his then-Windermere, Florida, home. That led to revelations that he had multiple extramarital affairs, and a divorce from his wife Elin Nordegren, the mother of his two children. He spent 45 days in a Mississippi clinic where he was treated for sex addiction.

    Though he has been a non-factor on the PGA Tour, Forbes Magazine lists Woods as the 17th best-paid athlete in the world in 2017, making $37 million, almost exclusively from endorsements.

  • Research shows hurricanes severely damaged Texas, Florida communications

    A research conducted by a firm, UrgentLink Disaster Communications System, has shown that hurricanes Harvey and Irma severely disrupted communications infrastructure on the Southern coast of Texas and South Florida.

    According to the company, the research relied primarily on daily tracking reports from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and discovered that counties on Texas Gulf Coast, South of Houston, faced widespread cell tower outages due to Hurricane Harvey.

    It said: “In Aransas County (where the City of Rockport is located), 95 per cent of the county’s cellular towers was down for three days. Harvey knocked out 283,000 landlines in Texas and Louisiana, even though the impact was far less severe than Irma had on landlines in Florida.

    “Ninety-one per cent of Florida power and light customers lost power during Hurricane Irma.

    “Irma completely disabled 15 Emergency 911 call centres, knocked out 50 per cent of cellular towers in the Greater Miami area and 8.25 million landlines in Florida, Alabama and Georgia.”

    According to the President of MB Public Affairs, Mark Bogetich, the people knew “these mega-storms had a devastating impact on lives and property but were surprised by the degree of destruction they caused to communications networks”.

    The findings of the research, which was last week availed members of InfraGard, a council of the American Society for Industrial Security’s (ASIS) International, would be made public for use in emergency operations planning.

  • At least 10 dead in Hurricane Irma

    At least 10 dead in Hurricane Irma

    Hurricane Irma, the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, has so far killed at least 10 people and caused devastating damage as it barrels toward the the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

    Eight people died in the French Caribbean territories of Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin, French Interior Minister, Gerard Collomb, said on Thursday.

    Another 23 people were injured, Collomb told radio broadcaster Franceinfo, as a picture emerged of devastation on the path of the category-5 tropical storm.

    The island of Barbuda was left largely uninhabitable in Irma’s wake, with damage reported to about 95 per cent of properties. Around 2,000 people live on the island.

    One baby was killed in the hurricane, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne said.

    “Some properties have been totally demolished,” Browne told local broadcaster ABC, adding that the situation was absolutely heart-rending.

    One other person died on the British overseas territory of Anguilla.

    With wind speeds of 290 kilometres per hour (kph), Irma is now traveling at 26 kph west-north-west, with the Dominican Republic and Haiti next on its path, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Centre.

    Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries, is still suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, which left around 1,000 people dead in October 2016.

    Meanwhile, Florida is preparing evacuations, with Irma set to strike the U.S. state late on Saturday.

  • ‘More trouble for Tiger in the Woods’

    ‘More trouble for Tiger in the Woods’

     

    Tiger Woods could lose hundreds of millions of dollars following his early morning DUI arrest in Florida, claim sports experts.

    The fallen golfing star currently earns $45.5M-a-year alone in sponsorship money – including more than $20m from his mega-bucks Nike contract – but following his latest public humiliation the 41-year-old could lose lucrative endorsements.

    Despite some standing by him following his much publicized marriage breakup amid rampant infidelity and subsequent loss of form, observers believe backers such as Rolex and Bridgestone may re-examine their relationship with the 14-time Major winner.

    And to add insult to injury for Woods it is thought that Florida cops will release highly embarrassing dashcam footage of his 3am arrest on Tuesday, during which officers claimed the star – who is worth $740m – was ‘arrogant’.

    And before Woods broke his silence with a statement regarding the arrest on Monday evening some of the notorious womanizer’s ex-mistresses came to his defense.

    Model Coris Rist, who had a six-month affair with the golfer in 2006 when he was married to Elin Nordegren said that the news of his arrest was ‘kind of sad’ and that he ‘was going through a difficult time’.

    Furthermore, TMZ claimed that his current girlfriend, Kristin Smith found out about the arrest while shopping at a Neiman Marcus store in Dallas and ‘went crazy’, began crying and said ‘I knew it, I knew it’.

    TMZ then claims Smith – who is the ex-wife of former Dallas Cowboys safety Gerald Sensabaught – spent $5,000 in the store after crying and then left.

    Their relationship has survived his Thanksgiving Day scandal in 2009 when he crashed his car fleeing his home following a National Enquirer story that revealed his affairs and ultimately ended his marriage.

    Other big money backers of the sportsman are Bridgestone Golf who he has signed a golf ball deal with and TaylorMade Golf, who provide him with clubs.

    In addition, he has lucrative deals with Rolex, Japanese pharmaceutical company Kowa and Indian motorcycle maker Hero.

    One Forbes sports industry expert predicts that following this latest debacle Woods will lose at least three of his big-name contracts and can expect to see his income drop by at least $20m-per-year.

    However, they claim that his key endorsement from Nike will probably survive due to the length of their relationship.

    Some of his haters are not going soft on him in this difficult period as they have taken to the internet to mock his drink driving arrest saga

  • Noisy love birds interrupt crunch tennis match in Florida

    Noisy love birds interrupt crunch tennis match in Florida

    A crunch tennis match in Florida was interrupted by the sounds of a couple of people having noisy sex.

    Frances Tiaofe and Mitchell Krueger were playing in the Sarasota Open when the noise of the copulating couple could be heard around the auditorium.

    Tiafoe was serving in the second set when he noticed the noise.

    Several players took to Twitter last night to discuss the hilarious video which is causing a sensation on the internet as fans share the footage online

    Several players took to Twitter last night to discuss the hilarious video which is causing a sensation on the internet as fans share the footage online

    Mike Cation who was commentating on the game said ‘I can still hear it. It’s still going’.

    It is understood the noise was coming from outside the court, much to the amusement of both players.

    According to Deadspin, fellow player Matt Reid who was commentating on the game claimed Tiafoe’s reaction was one of the funniest things he had ever heard.

    There was some speculation that one of the spectators might have clicked on some pornography on their phone.

    Cation told viewers: ‘Well, that is the most bizarre situation. I don’t know how to put this, folks, but somebody’s phone is going off in the stands … and it was an adult video.’

    He then suggested the noise could be coming from a nearby apartment: ‘No, that’s not a phone, that’s an apartment across the lake. Oh my God.’

  • Trump wishes “many enemies” well in New Year’s message

    Trump wishes “many enemies” well in New Year’s message

    US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday sent a New Year’s message referring to his “many enemies” as he prepared for a New Year’s Eve party at his resort in Florida.

    “Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don’t know what to do. Love!” Trump wrote in the provocative message.

    Trump is hosting a party at his Mar-a-Largo club in Palm Beach for 800 guests, including Sylvester Stallone, according to Sean Spicer, incoming White House press secretary.

    Spicer said Trump’s wife Melania and their son Barron are expected to attend. The glitzy celebration will include a cocktail party, dinner and dancing until 1 am Sunday (0600 GMT).

    U.S. President Barack Obama also sent a new year’s message on Saturday, saying it has been privilege of his life to serve as US president.

    Obama also thanked U.S. citizens for everything they have done “to make America stronger these past eight years.”

    The comments are part of Obama’s weekly audio message, one of the last of his two terms in office.

    He highlighted some of his administration’s achievements, including reversing an economic recession, withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and taking steps to provide US citizens with health insurance.

    “Almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago,” Obama said, adding that it will take all of the nation “moving forward together” to continue building on all that had been achieved. (dpa/NAN)

  • Miss Nigeria Florida visits home

    Miss Nigeria Florida visits home

    THE Miss Nigeria Florida cultural pageant team is in Nigeria. The group arrived late last week on a two-week promotional visit, meant to create awareness for the empowerment of the Nigerian-American women in Florida. One of the first set of activities, reports say, will be to support the efforts of Mrs. Patience Ozokwor, aka Mama G, and her orphanage in Enugu. Miss Nigeria Florida, Ayoyemi Ajimatanrareje, who was crowned in 2012 and Mr. Murphy Folorunsho, the pageant’s founder and director, made the transcontinental trip to broaden the impact while providing support to ‘Mama G’, who was the celebrity guest at the 2012 pageant.

    While in Lagos, the present cultural queen relayed and compared her experience in Nigeria as a child before and how staying abroad changed her life. She also noted the struggle she had to go through in order to maintain the Nigerian culture. “Nigeria has a lot to offer both abroad and in the country, and this is an opportunity for those who happen to be far from home to show that they still identify with Nigeria and its culture. I represent Nigerian culture completely, so with this opportunity my reach has been widened because now people will not only hear of Nigeria but also see what we are made of,” Ajimatanrareje explained.

    The Miss Nigeria Pageant has grown from a small event to one that continues to celebrate the beauty of the Nigerian culture and women. The 2012 event attracted numerous attendees and allowed Nigerians living in Florida the opportunity to celebrate their rich culture while abroad.

    According to Murphy Folorunsho, founder and director of the Miss Nigeria Florida Pageant: “This is a cultural pageant that seeks to maintain the beautiful Nigerian culture. It was founded in 2009 and my vision for creating the pageant is to restore and retain the African culture abroad, mostly through the Nigerian fabric. Last year, we had the opportunity to invite Patience Ozokwor, aka Mama G, and this thrilled the audience, Africans and Americans alike, with colourful display of the Nigerian print. The current cultural queen, Ayoyemi Ajimatanrareje, also impressed the judges with her presentation of the Nigerian culture at its best which greatly influenced her winning.”