New Beyonce Album Confirmed

The rumors are true. Beyoncé will release a new album on Nov. 24 2014, but unfortunately it will only contain two new songs, “7/11” and “Ring Off.” According to a press release, “Beyoncé Platinum Edition” Box Set will include two CDs and DVDs, accompanying the two new songs would be four new remixes of the original self-titled album released last year.

The DVDs will feature 10 live performances from the “Mrs. Carter Show World Tour” and the music videos released as a visual album, and the CDs will be split into new songs (and remixes) and the original “Beyoncé” album.

A fake track list showed that “Beyoncé Vol. 2” would come out Nov. 25 (though it listed that date as a Monday instead of a Tuesday), and included songs like “Donk” (featuring Nicki Minaj) and “Cherry” (featuring Rihanna) which do not appear on Beyonces new project. Vulture found that they were both registered with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Theres a chance that each will appear on the next reissue of “Beyoncé.”

This is a full list of the album.

More Audio CD:
1. “7/11”
2. “Flawless Remix” (Featuring Nicki Minaj)
3. “Drunk in Love Remix” (Featuring JAY Z & Kanye West)
4. “Ring Off”
5. “Blow Remix” (Featuring Pharrell Williams)
6. “Standing on the Sun Remix” (Featuring Mr. Vegas)

Live DVD
1. “Run The World (Girls)”
2. “***Flawless”
3. “Get Me Bodied”
4. “Blow”
5. “Haunted”
6. “Drunk In Love” (Featuring JAY Z)
7. “1 + 1”
8. “Partition”
9. “Heaven”
10. “XO

Original CD
1. “Pretty Hurts”
2. “Haunted”
3. “Drunk in Love” (Featuring JAY Z)
4. “Blow”
5. “Angel”
6. “Partition”
7. “Jealous”
8. “Rocket”
9. “Mine” (Featuring Drake)
10. “XO”
11. “***Flawless” (Featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
12. “Superpower” (Featuring Frank Ocean)
13. “Heaven”
14. “Blue” (Featuring Blue Ivy)

Original DVD
1. “Pretty Hurts”
2. “Ghost/Haunted”
3. “Drunk in Love”
4. “Blow”
5. “Angel”
6. “Yonce/Partition”
7. “Jealous”
8. “Rocket”
9. “Mine”
10. “XO”
11. “***Flawless”
12. “Superpower”
13. “Heaven”
14. “Blue” (Featuring Blue Ivy)
15. “Grown Woman

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iPhone 6 & 6 plus comes to Lagos.

On November the 14th the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6Plus will be available at the iStore in Ikeja City Mall. Be the first to get your hands on an amazing and authentic Apple iPhone 6 or 6 Plus with the iStore’s pre-order system. The iStore recognizes how much everyone is in need of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and you can pre-order yours at myistore.com.ng

It’s easy to pre-order, and you can choose the model, colour and storage size that you want. When bought you not only get genuine Apple products you also get a one-year warranty, plus you’ll be eligible for the official trade-in offer next year when the next iPhone is launched. With your authentic Apple iPhone, you’ll also get free and expert advice, training and support.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are available in silver, space grey and gold, in different storage sizes 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB. The iPhone 6 prices range from N135 500 to N175 000, and the iPhone 6 Plus ranges from N155 000 to N195 000

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No agreement yet on Chibok girls, says FG

The Council of State rose from its meeting on Tuesday with a statement that the Federal Government had yet to reach any agreement with the Boko Haram sect on the fate of the abducted Chibok girls.

It said although discussions were still ongoing, it was clear that the media misunderstood the position of the government on the reported ceasefire.

Governor Godswill Akpabio said this while briefing State House correspondents of the outcome of the meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.

He was joined at the briefing by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State.

Akpabio said the council was briefed by the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), on the efforts being made to rescue the schoolgirls.

He said, “The NSA was of the opinion that high level contact with the Republic of Chad was made and that some persons who acted on behalf of Boko Haram and who claimed to have authority also had discussions with them and there are some Nigerian officials with them.

“Of course, no agreement has been reached yet, it is just that the press probably misunderstood what was reported, the discussions are ongoing.

“What came out of the NSA’s briefings was that the President will do everything possible to ensure the release of those young girls and to ensure protection of lives and property.

“That will include dialogue where you can have the people to dialogue with, because you cannot dialogue with people that are faceless and therefore, every opportunity must be explored to ensure peace return to the region.”

Akpabio said the council was satisfied that the Defence Ministry and all the agencies had taken the right steps aimed at ensuring peace and tranquility.

While saying that the President was on course, the governor said sooner or later, Nigerians would hear good news.

He urged Nigerians to be patient and that the issues of terrorism were not issues that could be finished within a day of two.

“There are some instances in which countries had to contend with insurgency for years, but in the case of Nigeria, we said we must find a practical means of bringing insurgency to an end in the shortest possible time so that Nigerians can sleep with their two eyes closed.”

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Tayo still winning in BBA house

Tayo

Thirty-one days into the Big Brother Africa show, Tayo, the remaining Nigeria housemate in the show after Lilian’s premature exit, continues to escape eviction pang. Besides escaping the list, he is counting his laurels.

And, perhaps, among the housemates his character seems to be the most symbolic of the idea of the Big Brother Africa show: he is largely genuine and real or so he is perceived. Not even the fear of eviction has ‘faked’ him; he laughs when he needs to and fights when the occasion demands he does.

This has earned him foes and, maybe, more friends, a reason he probably bickered with JJ, Alusa, Nhanhla, Kacey and other male hotshots.

When JJ was picked as head of the house two weeks ago, many thought it was time Tayo got ready for eviction fever. But rather, Kacey Moore, Luis, Macky2, Mr. 265, Frankie, Sheilla, Arthur and manipulative Sheillah were listed for possible ousting while the Ghanaian (Kacey) and Luis that were eventually thrown out.

And as another six were enlisted on Monday, Tayo remained fortunate once again.

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Peter Okoye unveiled Olympic milk brand ambassador

Peter, the other half of singing duo, P Square, is really ‘tasting money’ as they sang in their recent song “Taste The Money.” The young guy has now been officially unveiled as the brand ambassador for Olympic Milk, a brand under Nutricima’s portfolio of products.

With a show-stopping performance, the popular music star and dancer was revealed at the launch of Olympic Milk campaign tagged, ‘Winning with Olympic: The Healthy Choice.’

Peter who was dressed in black suit with a black hat electrified the occasion with a dramatic entry into the hall with a suitcase which contained the ‘best kept secret.’

In a performance which wowed the audience that comprised notable personalities, Peter made sure the guests had a swell time.

Speaking on his deal as the new face of Olympic Milk, Peter said he felt honoured to be made the brand ambassador.

“Among thousands or perhaps millions of people in the entertainment industry, I feel honoured to be chosen as the brand ambassador.”

Sony reports quarterly loss of $1.2bn

Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony has reported a net loss for the three months to September of 136bn yen ($1.2bn; £762m).

The loss, which was attributed to its struggling mobile phone business, was not as great as analysts had expected, BBC reports.

In September the firm warned its annual loss might be more than four times bigger than initially forecast.

The firm said it now expects a full-year loss of 230bn yen, compared with a previous estimate of 50bn yen.

On Friday, Sony also reported an operating loss of 85.6bn yen for the September quarter, despite an increase in sales of 7.2% to 1.9tn yen for the period, compared with a year ago.

Sony said the rise in overall sales numbers was mostly due to a “significant increase” in its games and network services sales, “reflecting the contribution of the PlayStation 4.”

Tough competition

The electronics giant has been losing money due to competition in the smartphone sector from global rivals such as Apple and Samsung.

It said it would start to reduce its smartphone presence in China particularly, where it has been losing ground to domestic firms including Xiaomi.

Sony has also been struggling this year to turn around its television unit, which has been losing money due to competition from Asian rivals including Samsung Electronics.

Two years ago, chief executive Kazuo Hirai promised to return Sony’s underperforming electronics business to profit.

But earlier this year he forecast the firm would remain unprofitable until 2015.

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Wal-Mart ups ante on holiday shopping

Wal-Mart is doing whatever it takes to rope in holiday shoppers however they want to buy.

For the first time, Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated is offering free shipping on what it considers the season’s top 100 hottest gifts, from board games to items related to Disney’s hit film “Frozen” items, starting Saturday. The move comes as rival Target Corp. began offering free shipping on all items, a programme that started late October and will last through December 20.

According to Associated Press, Wal-Mart is also planning to offer discounts, or what it refers to as “rollbacks,” on more than 20,000 items on a broad range of products, from groceries to TVs, starting Saturday. The timing is similar to last year, but the discounter said the assortment is broader.

It is also pulling forward by nearly a month 15 24-hour online deals originally reserved for the Thanksgiving weekend and so-called Cyber Monday, about double from last year. For the first time, Wal-Mart will allow shoppers to pick up those 24-hour online specials at the store. They include 40-inch Element TVs for $199, down from $298, and Crayola Paint Makers for $12, down from $18.88. Customers will be able to purchase the deals online starting shortly after midnight on Monday.

The online deals are in addition to several hundred online holiday specials that start Saturday.

“We’re trying to offer the best deals when they want them,” said Steve Bratspies, Wal-Mart’s executive vice president and general merchandise manager for Wal-Mart’s US division.

Wal-Mart unveiled some of the details of its holiday strategy as it considers matching online prices from competitors such as Amazon.com, a move that could help grab more customers but could also hurt profit margins.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based discounter has matched prices of local store competitors but has not followed other retailers including Best Buy and Target in matching prices of online rivals. But last month, Wal-Mart started to test the strategy in five markets: Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas; Phoenix; and northwest Arkansas.

Wal-Mart is trying to rev up sluggish sales in the US as it battles competition from online retailers, dollar stores and drugstores. At the same time, it’s also dealing with a slowly recovering economy that hasn’t benefited its low-income shoppers. As a result, Wal-Mart’s US namesake stores, which account for 60 per cent of its total business, haven’t reported growth in a key sales measure in six straight quarters.

Wal-Mart’s move underscores how stores are being forced to step up their game for the holiday shopping season, which accounts for about 20 per cent of retail industry’s annual sales. The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, forecasts a 4.1 per cent sales increase to $616.9bn for November and December from last year. But online sales, which are included in the forecast, are expected to increase anywhere from eight per cent to 11 per cent.

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PIB passage, kerosene subsidy report suffer setback

The defection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to All Progressive Congress, and the subsequent adjournment of sitting of the lower house to December 3, may be a major setback to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill and the presentation of the kerosene subsidy report.

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Mr. Dakuku Peterside, told our correspondent that the kerosene subsidy report had been prepared, and would have been presented this week but for the adjournment.

In an interview on Tuesday this week, he also disclosed that the PIB had been harmonised, and would likely scale through before the end of the year.

However, talking to our correspondent, Peterside, who did not expect the house adjournment, expressed surprise.

Prior to the adjournment, Peterside had in Lagos said, “We are working on the bill and we are conscious of the fact that it is very critical to the economy of Nigeria, and so we are not taking it lightly. I want to reassure you again that we are taking the PIB very seriously and I am very optimistic that the bill would be passed before 2015.”

According to him, the PIB is critical to the survival and growth of the oil and gas sector and by extension the economy.

On the kerosene subsidy report, the legislator had told our correspondent last week that members of the House of Representatives would this week know the extent of malpractices in the kerosene subsidy scheme.

The probe of the kerosene subsidy scam by the legislators, our correspondent learnt, became necessary due to the irregularities that had been discovered in the scheme, where the government had continued to pay subsidy on the product without Nigerians benefiting from the arrangement.

Under the subsidy arrangement, Nigerians are meant to pay N50 per litre for the product; but that has not been the case as people are buying the product for N120 and above in filling stations nationwide.

Another legislator from the South-East geo-political zone told our correspondent in confidence that placing a December date for the passage of the PIB was becoming more unrealisable given the level of distraction in the polity and the abrupt adjournment of sittings.

He said it was very likely that campaigning among candidates could steal the show when the house finally would reconvene in December.

He also described the situation as unfortunate, saying it would take extra commitment on the side of the legislators to address pressing issues like the PIB and kerosene report holistically before the end of the current National Assembly.

The PIB has been in the works for the past six years. It first found its way into the legislature in 2008 when the administration forwarded the PIB 2008 to the sixth National Assembly. After making some progress, the bill suffered setbacks in 2011.

In 2012, the technical committee and a special task force on the PIB were set up by the new administration. The committee was to harmonise the various versions of the draft bill, while the task force was saddled with the responsibility of incorporating all changes made by the committee, among other things.

The process which culminated in the PIB 2012 was sent to the current National Assembly.

In February this year, Tambuwal said that available records indicated that the Federal Government spent over N1tn on kerosene subsidy between 2010 and 2013.

Tambuwal said in spite of the expenditure not having the approval of the National Assembly, the product was not available for Nigerians to buy.

“Curiously, since there were no budgetary provisions for subsidy on kerosene, the people of Nigeria would obviously be interested in knowing the source of funding of kerosene subsidy and on whose authority such money was appropriated,” the Speaker had said.

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Pirate Bay co-founder jailed in Denmark

The Swedish co-founder of file-sharing website The Pirate Bay was sentenced to three years and six months in jail Friday in the largest hacking case in Denmark’s history, AFP reports.

Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, 30, was sentenced at a Copenhagen district court a day after he was found guilty of “hacking and aggravated vandalism”.

The prosecutor had requested a six-year jail term for Warg, and two years for his co-defendant, a 21-year-old Dane, who received a six-month sentence instead.

The court in Frederiksberg, in central Denmark, said Warg’s “piracy was systematic, intensive and long-term.”

“In addition, significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information were downloaded,” the court said.

The court said they hacked into the Danish systems of IT giant CSC and illegally downloaded police files and social security information between February and August 2012.

Warg had denied all charges saying that his computer had been used remotely to carry out the attacks, but the court dismissed his claim.

Warg was handed over to Denmark in November 2013 from Sweden, where he was serving a one-year sentence for hacking into the computer systems of contractors working for the national tax authority.

The Pirate Bay, which Warg created with another computer nerd in 2003, has evolved into one of the most visited sites for sharing copyrighted works.

In 2009, Warg was sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay criminal damages to the music and film industry for his part in founding the website.

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36 killed in fresh clashes in Benghazi

Clashes between the Libyan army, backed by the renegade general Khalifa Haftar, and Islamist militias in the eastern city of Benghazi, killed 36 people on Friday and Saturday, according to medical and military sources.

“The center has received, in the last 24 hours, 21 dead bodies killed in clashes and random shooting,” a medical source in Benghazi medical center said.

“The remaining 10 include two women and a child killed by random shooting. Libya Croissant Society team found three dead bodies, including two journalists assassinated, as well as military soldiers killed in battles,” the source added.

Another medical source in the hospital of Al-Marj, some 100 km east of Benghazi, said that the hospital “received 15 bodies of army soldiers on Saturday.”

Since the outbreak of the battles in mid October, nearly 254 people were killed.

“The army forces are progressing in southeast of the city after taking control of Benina area, where Benghazi International Airport is located,” said a spokesperson for special forces and thunderbolt battalions.

“A unit of the army elite arrived on Friday to its main camp near the airport, which is controlled by the Islamists since last July after violent clashes,” the source added.

Colonel Ahmad Al-Mismari, official spokesperson for the army, said that “the eastern axes of the city is totally secured and controlled by the army.”

Libyan army, reinforced by gunmen loyal to Haftar, have been waging a street war since mid July, against Islamic militants in the city of Benghazi in an attempt to regain control of the city, which fell into the hands of Islamists since last July.

Benghazi was the birthplace of the 2011 protests that toppled Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi. The city has witnessed a drastic escalation of violence and become a major extremist base in North Africa since the U.S. ambassador to Libya was killed in 2012.

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