Brazil great Ronaldo confirms retirement

Three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldo, whose goalscoring genius led Brazil to the 2002 World Cup title, confirmed his retirement on Monday at the age of 34.

The tearful Corinthians striker announced his decision at a press conference in Sao Paulo, saying that although leaving football felt like "death," his body could no longer match the demands he was putting on it.

"I'm stopping my career as a professional footballer," he said, his voice breaking. "It's been a beautiful, emotional, marvellous career.

"These last two years, I've had a long series of injuries, from one side to the other, one leg to the other, one muscle to the other. The pain pushed me to think about the end of my career."

Ronaldo also revealed that he suffered from a thyroid problem that had made it difficult to control his weight.

"Four years ago, in Milan, I discovered that I suffered from an under-active thyroid that slowed down my metabolism and that to control it, I had to take hormones that weren't authorised in football as they were considered a form of doping," he said.

"Lots of people must regret having made jokes about my weight. But I feel no anger towards anyone."

Having earlier indicated that he hoped to play on until the end of the year, injuries and Corinthians' early elimination from the Copa Libertadores prompted him to bring forward his retirement.

"These pains made me bring forward the end of my career," he said.

He made the decision last Thursday, explaining: "When I decided, I felt like I was in intensive care, in a terminal condition. This announcement is like my first death. It's very difficult to give up something that makes you so happy, has such a grip on you, and gives you such love."

During a glittering 14-year spell in Europe, Ronaldo scored goals at a prolific rate for PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and AC Milan, before returning to Brazil in 2009.

He won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and became the leading scorer in World Cup finals tournaments when he scored his 15th goal at the 2006 tournament in Germany.

He was twice named European Footballer of the Year, in 1997 and 2002, and finished his international career with 62 goals in 97 appearances.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, 'El Fenomeno' (The Phenomenon) won the World Cup with Brazil for the first time in 1994, though on that occasion the 17-year-old was part of the squad and did not play .  In 1998, he was among the losing finalists, beaten 3-0 at Stade de France by a rampant French side that included the inspirational Zinedine Zidane.

Brazil's star striker suffered a convulsive fit on the eve of the match and was removed from the starting line-up.

In a dramatic changing-room re-shuffle, he was reinstated just before kick-off but was a shadow of the intimidating forward who had scored four goals in the run-up to the final.

But the 2002 tournament was where he made history.

Shrugging off injury in the tournament, which was hosted by Japan and South Korea, he played a key role in helping Brazil to the trophy, scoring both goals in his country's 2-0 win over Germany in the final in Yokohoma.

At the 2006 World Cup in Germany he took his World Cup tally to 15 goals, surpassing the previous record held by Gerd Mueller by one goal.

Ronaldo, who began his career with Cruzeiro, had to fight back from three career-threatening knee injuries over the course of his career.

He was sidelined while playing for Inter by a knee injury in 1999 only to damage the same knee in his comeback for the club in February 2000, effectively keeping him out of action until March 2002.

In February 2008 he ruptured a tendon in his right knee playing for AC Milan against Livorno, an injury that ended his career in Europe.

RED CARPET AT THE GRAMMY AWARDS

HATIMAYE AFUKUZWA MADARAKANI!!!!

JE! TUMEJIFUNZA NINI  KUTOKANA NA HAYA YA TUNISIA NA MUBARAK?

Malawi to debate public farting ban

MALAWIAN lawmakers will next week debate a law change to criminalise public farting, which a cabinet minister said had been encouraged by democracy.

'The government has a right to ensure public decency. We are entitled to introduce order in the country,' justice and constitutional affairs minister George Chaponda told independent radio station Capital Radio. 'Would you like to see people farting in public anywhere?' Since the country embraced multi-party politics 16 years ago people had felt free to fart anywhere, said Mr Chaponda.

'It was not there during the time of dictatorship because people were afraid of the consequences. Now because of multi-partism or freedom, people would like to fart anywhere, he said. Mr Chaponda, a key figure in President Bingu wa Mutharika's government, said that if Malawians cannot control their farting 'they should go to the toilet instead of farting in public.'

'Nature can be controlled... it becomes a nuisance if people fart anywhere.' A lawyer himself, Mr Chaponda said that under the amended law farting will be considered a minor offence.

Mr Chaponda's Democratic Progressive Party will bank on its majority to pass the amendment to a law which was first introduced in 1929. The amendment, which will make farting in public an offence, is not yet public and it will be presented to parliament for debate as part of a review by the state-sponsored Law Commission of the country's penal code.

Nobody in Malawi has been arrested nor convicted for farting under the old law, as police did not enforce it. The old law states: 'Any person who voluntarily vitiates the atmosphere in any place so as to make it noxious to the health of persons in general dwelling or carrying on business in the neighbourhood or passing along a public way, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.'

Wakati sisi ni hivi...

Wao ni Carnival mtindo mmoja!!

Kwa kweli Dunia sio sawa...

Kwa miaka mingi hawa ndugu zetu wa Kimasai wamekuwa wakiishi kwenye nyumba zao za asili na kuwa na maisha ya kawaida kabisa., je! ni kigezo kipi kinatumika katika kuwashawishi kwamba kibanda kama hicho hapo juu si bora na wanahitaji nyumba ya kisasa?

Msimu huu "snow" imekuwa ni balaa mpaka Kanisa limefikia hatua ya kuweka tangazo kama linavyoonekana pichani!

JUST LOOK AT THEM...!!!!!

They all have to go...

IJUE PESA YAKO MPYA!!!!

Kinachoendelea Kwa Bwana H. Mubaraak kama ingekuwa ni Mugabe tayari tungesikia makelele ya kila namna kutoka kwa waheshimiwa, lakini sivyo itakavyokuwa! Kwani tofauti kati yao ni nini? Jamaa washachoswa na miaka 30 yakutawaliwa na huyu jamaa na wana kila haki ya kudai mabadiliko ya uongozi.

Former South Africa president Nelson Mandela returned home on Friday after two days of successful hospital treatment for breathing difficulties where he resolutely laughed and joked with visitors.

The country's surgeon general told reporters that the anti-apartheid hero had suffered an acute respiratory infection but was now sufficiently well to be treated at home, ending considerable concern about his health.
"He has been discharged," said Vejaynand Ramlakan, who leads the team of military doctors assigned to care for the former resistance leader who left prison in 1990 and became the country's first black president four years later.
"Dr Mandela is in high spirits. For a 92-year-old he surprises us on a daily basis with his powers of recovery."
Mandela's condition was stable but he will be subject to intense monitoring by medical specialists at home, Ramlakan said.

Kimbunga Kingine tena chatuweka majumbani!!!

Knicks contain James, beat Heat 93-88

South Africa's revered former president Nelson Mandela, pictured in 2010, was on Thursday described as "very sick" but his condition was "not life threatening".

Nyumba ya asili ya kabila la Kichaga!!