Leocadia blog

Stephen F. Austin holds off Nicholls State 64-57

THIBODAUX, La. – Jereal Scott scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds to lead Stephen F. Austin to a 64-57 victory over Nicholls State on Wednesday night.

The Lumberjacks (14-7, 5-4 Southland Conference), who entered leading the nation in points allowed per game (53.8), withstood a late rally to win their second consecutive game.

They led by seven until Dantrell Thomas hit two free throws and Ben Martin made a 3-pointer to pull Nicholls State (11-10, 5-5) to within 54-52 with 2:26 left.

Scott hit two free throws to push the lead to 56-52 with 1:37 to go and Eddie Williams' layup gave Stephen F. Austin a 60-54 advantage with 46 seconds left.

Anatoly Bose's 3-pointer cut the lead to 62-57 with 12 seconds left, but Darius Gardner sealed it with two free throws.

Antonio Bostic scored 14 and Amos Olatayo added 10 for the Lumberjacks.

Bose scored 26 and Thomas had 10 for the Colonels.

WikiLeaks: Nigeria stymied corruption case

LAGOS, Nigeria – The Nigerian government's top law enforcement official sought to stymie an investigation into a powerful politician with ties to late President Umaru Yar'Adua, according to diplomatic cables released Saturday by the WikiLeaks website.

Former Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa demanded evidence against former Delta state Gov. James Ibori be returned from the U.K. to Nigeria as it had come by "inappropriate channels," a cable claims. Ibori has faced charges over stealing $292 million in state funds while in office. U.K. investigators claim Ibori, who now faces extradition from Dubai to the U.K., put much of the money in English banks.

The cables also show that as Britain investigated Ibori, it tried to negotiate with Nigerian officials to send more than 1,000 Nigerians now held in U.K. prisons back to their home country.

Ibori served as governor in a state in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, where foreign firms pump out the millions of barrels of oil that fuel Nigeria's government coffers. Much of that money sloshes into politician's pockets in a nation routinely described by analysts as being one of the world's most corrupt countries.

Nigerian anti-graft investigators arrested Ibori in 2007, but the cases against him foundered as his political power grew. Ibori contributed his wealth toward the 2007 election of late President Umaru Yar'Adua and later served as a trusted confidant to the ill leader.

In a November 2008 cable, U.S. diplomats in London recounted a conversation with British diplomat James Tansley that touched on Ibori's case. Tansley said Farida Waziri, then the new head of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, appeared to be constrained from taking action by Aondoakaa.

"Tansley said the attorney general has put Waziri on a very short leash and that he has 'no doubt' that Aondoakaa is protecting the governors and other key officials from prosecution," the cable reads. "He also noted that Aondoakaa is very close to Ibori, who is generally acknowledged as one of President Yar'Adua's closest advisers. Tansley assessed that Waziri would prosecute small cases, but will not pursue any cases that are not in the government's interest."

Aondoakaa has been mentioned in several cables published by WikiLeaks, including one claiming he once demanded "$2 million immediately and another $18 million the next day" to sign a contract. He previously has called the WikiLeaks claims "rubbish." He could not be immediately reached for comment Saturday.

A cable from October 2008 also notes another British diplomat questioning Waziri's own preparedness. Since taking over the commission, Waziri has been slow to prosecute many of the high-ranking politicians once under heavy investigation — even after Yar'Adua's May 2010 death.

The diplomat "noted that it is bizarre how frequently Waziri asks for additional information on major cases, details that she should already be familiar with if she is 'really digging into her portfolio,'" the cable reads.

British diplomats told U.S. officials it viewed cases like Ibori's as important as it could serve as an "important anti-corruption message to Nigerian government officials," the cables claim. However, Britain's own interests also tempered the pressure they used on their former colony.

A July 2008 cable recounting a visit by Yar'Adua to London includes details of then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking him for help in sending more than 1,000 Nigerian prisoners now held in the U.K. back to Nigeria. Nigerian law now requires prisoners give their consent for such a transfer.

"In his meeting with Prime Minister Brown, Yar'Adua agreed that 'arrangements on prison transfers needed to be made,'" the cable reads. However, by October 2008, British officials acknowledged their plans had hit a dead end as Aondoakaa stalled the proposal amid the Ibori prosecution.

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Online:

WikiLeaks:

Ohio fraternity house shooting kills 1, hurts 11

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Two men involved in a dispute at a fraternity house party left the house and then returned, firing shots into the crowd early Sunday and killing a Youngstown State University student and injuring 11 other people, a police chief said.

Youngstown police Chief Jimmy Hughes said the house just north of the Ohio campus had been bustling with 50 or more people, some as young as 17. Six of the injured were students, authorities said.

"These guys were in the location for a little while before the shooting occurred," he said. "Something happened that they became unhappy. They had some type of altercation."

Investigators are trying to identify the shooters based on accounts from eyewitnesses, and the people who were shot have told police they had no problems with the suspected shooters, Hughes said.

"These guys were in the location for a little while before the shooting occurred," he said. "Something happened that they became unhappy. They had some type of altercation."

Members of the university-sanctioned Omega Psi Phi fraternity lived at the house, YSU spokesman Ron Cole said.

Omega Psi Phi doesn't own the house, said Christopher Cooper, a legal officer for the fraternity.

The Mahoning County coroner's office identified the dead student as 25-year-old Jamail E. Johnson. He was shot once in the head and multiple times on his hips and legs, and an autopsy is planned Monday, said Dr. Joseph Ohr, a forensic pathologist with the coroner's office.

The 11 injured were taken to nearby St. Elizabeth Health Center, and eight of them had been treated and released by early afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Tina Creighton said. She said she could not release the conditions of the other three.

"This is one of those days that every university president across the country, as well as many other officials, always dread," university president Cynthia Anderson said at a news conference on campus. She had visited the wounded and their families at the hospital earlier in the day.

Anderson said she had been assured by police that there was no threat to the northeast Ohio campus.

The shooting happened at a two-story brick house in a neighborhood of once-elegant homes, many of which are now boarded up. No one answered a knock at the door Sunday afternoon.

A neighbor, Rodger Brown, 54, said the house and an adjacent home with Greek lettering indicating a fraternity often have parties on Friday and Saturday nights but had caused no problems in the neighborhood.

"It's a nice, quiet neighborhood," he said. Brown said men living in the house were friendly to him and once offered him a beer and a ride as he walked home last fall.

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Associated Press writers Kantele Franko in Columbus, Ohio, and Sofia Mannos in Washington contributed to this report.

Pack gets 3 TDs on 2 turnovers, leads 21-3 2d qtr.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Aaron Rodgers has thrown two touchdowns and Ben Roethlisberger has thrown two interceptions, and the Green Bay Packers have a 21-3 lead over Pittsburgh late in the first half of the Super Bowl.

Rodgers' second TD pass was a 21-yarder to Greg Jennings with 2:31 left in the first half. That score came four plays after Jarrett Bush set the Packers up with an interception near midfield.

Nick Collins returned the other interception thrown by Roethlisberger 37 yards for a touchdown.

Green Bay is trying to its fourth Super Bowl championship. The Steelers are going for the third in six seasons and seventh overall.

Aaron Rodgers threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson with 3:44 left in the first quarter. That drive ended with a perfectly placed pass to Nelson, who had made a leaping catch with defender William Gay running with him down the right sideline near the end zone.

The Packers then kicked off and the Steelers started at their own 7 after a holding penalty on the return. On the first snap after that, Roethlisberger was under pressure when he threw. The ball floated and Collins intercepted it.

The championship game Sunday put the focus back on the field after a long, cold week in North Texas that included two wintry storms with snow and ice. There were no weather woes inside $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium, and it wasn't bad outside either on game day.

The 45th Super Bowl, the NFL's signature event, pitted two of its storied franchises and capped a season that saw the league reach new heights of popularity despite a string of off-field incidents and that potential lockout with the current collective bargaining agreement expiring next month.

Fans miss out on Super Bowl in seating blunder

DALLAS (Reuters) – Four hundred Super Bowl fans, who paid at least $900 per ticket, were denied their spots at the NFL's showcase game Sunday after an embarrassing mess-up over seating at the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium.

Another 850 fans with tickets in the affected section were relocated to other areas, the NFL said in a statement.

"Incomplete installation of temporary seats in a limited number of sections made the seats unusable," the NFL said in a statement.

The 400 fans were offered the chance to watch the game from a standing room only area or on monitors in a club area behind the Pittsburgh Steelers bench.

All the affected fans will receive a refund triple the cost of the face value of their tickets.

"We regret the situation and inconvenience that it may have caused. We will conduct a full review of this matter," said the NFL statement issued shortly before kickoff.

As well as the fall-out from the seating blunder, stadium officials had to deal with irate fans frustrated at the difficulty of moving between levels by elevator in the 100,000-seat venue.

(Reporting by Simon Evans in Dallas; Editing by Steve Ginsburg)