COMEDIAN JON STEWART LEAVES “The Daily Show.”...

Jon Stewart, 52, a comedian, said all the right things Tuesday that he would really, really miss “The Daily Show.”

For years, Stewart has turned “The Daily Show” into one of TV’s most enviable showcases – a platform that injected him into the cultural and political zeitgeist, while paying him a fortune and allowing him to have a hand in producing other programs for Comedy Central.

Stewart devoted the last few minutes of his program to telling the studio audience that “Seventeen years is the longest I have ever in my life held a job by 16 years and five months,” he joked, adding, “In my heart I know it is time for someone else to have that opportunity.”

Calling his “Daily Show” stint “an absolute privilege, the honor of my professional life,” Stewart noted, “This show doesn’t deserve an even slightly restless host, and neither do you.”

Comedians can be a strange breed, even one as thoughtful as Stewart. The fact something works isn’t always enough reason to keep doing it, as Jerry Seinfeld made clear by conspicuously retiring his old standup material, or Johnny Carson did by going from being one of the most visible people in America to absolute retirement.

 “I don’t have any specific plans,” Stewart said, other than “dinner, on a school night, with my family.”

The host should be taken at his word about looking forward to a new challenge, although one suspects the polarized, vitriolic nature of the times might have had something to do with making him somewhat weary, beyond just the regular daily grind.

Stewart closed by saying he would miss the people with whom he works, not being on television every day. Still, in terms of the best, most influential job he’ll ever have, it wouldn’t be a surprise at some point to see him look back wistfully and miss “The Daily Show” every bit as much as most of his fans are going to miss their nightly dose of him.

Source: MSN

SO SAD! DOCTOR HOOKED FEMALE PATIENTS ON DRUGS & SEXUALLY ASSAULT THEM

Jay J. Cho, 71, Pennsylvania doctor has been arrest Tuesday on a slew of charges including rape and aggravated indecent assault. He is accused of getting a dozen female patients hooked on prescription drugs before using their addictions to sexually assault them.

Police say he unnecessarily doled out strong narcotics such as Oxycodone to the women for as many as five years out of his Cumberland and Franklin County offices.

"The vast majority of the patients were afraid that he would not see them as patients anymore if they rejected his sexual advances," Upper Allen Township said in a release. "The manner in which Cho interacted with these patients was clearly outside the normal doctor and patient relationship."

Upper Allen Township Police Chief James Adams, in his own statement, further slammed the doctor for him "creating addicts and/or taking advantage of people with addictions for his own personal and perverted desires."

That sentiment was echoed by Hampden Township Police Chief Steven R. Junkin.

"A doctor who peddles drugs to addicts and then uses the control of the drugs to profit and further victimize the patient, transitions from practitioner to predator," he said. "There is no room in society for these predators and today, with endless hours, exhausting interviews, old fashioned hard work and interagency cooperation, we've hopefully removed this predator's ability to ruin more lives."

 According to the source, a sexual assault claim was filed  by a patient in 2010Ch but never followed through by police ,but in May of 2014  an investigation into Cho was re-launched after another female patient accused him of sexual assault.

Cho turned himself in to police Tuesday following the issue of a warrant for his arrest for charges of rape, aggravated indecent assault, drug delivery by a practitioner, criminal use of a communication facility, indecent assault, possession of a controlled substance and harassment.

He's being held on $375,000 bail.

Anyone else who believes they may have information related to the case is urged to contact the Upper Allen Township Police Department.

Source:NYDN

2-MONTH OLD BABY 'ZURI' BEATEN TO DEATH BY 11-YEAR OLD GIRL IN US

An 11-year-old girl, whom seemed like a normal, sweet girl, allegedly beat a 2-month old baby Zuri, to death over the weekend when the baby stay overnight with her and her mother in Cleveland.

"I definitely trusted her," Whitehead said. "I never thought my baby would be put in some type of harm."

Trina Whitehead, 31, said that she and the girl's mother were best friends and that she never saw anything in the girl's behavior that concerned her and that it was the girl who asked  the baby stay overnight with her and her mother.  Whitehead said her two daughters, who are 8 and 7 years old, previously stayed the night at the friend's home in suburban Wickliffe without any reported problems.

The 11-year-old has been charged with murder and is being held in a juvenile detention center. A judge entered a not guilty plea for the girl on Monday and has ordered a psychiatric evaluation.

Wickliffe police say the girl awakened her mother at about 3:30 a.m. Friday holding the unconscious infant, Zuri Whitehead. The 2-month-old died during surgery about six hours later. The medical examiner has not released a cause of death, but police have said Zuri received extensive head and internal injuries.

Whitehead said the 11-year-old's mother called her around 9:30 p.m. "She called and said she's sorry for what happened," Whitehead said. "She can't believe what's going on."

She has been trying to keep herself busy preparing for Zuri's funeral on Saturday while relying heavily on her faith.She called Zuri, which means "beautiful" in Swahili, "the most perfect baby ever."

"All she wanted was to be was held and loved," Whitehead said.

Source: AP

RAP MOGUL 'SUGE' TO STAY BEHIND BARS FOR MURDER CHARGE

The co-founder of Death Row Records, which once boasted Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg among its artists, Marion "Suge" Knight should remain behind bars until his next court hearing in March related to a deadly hit-and-run says the Judge.

A prosecutor and Knight's attorney asked for a delay in a bail-review hearing Monday, with both sides stating they needed more time to prepare.

The 49-year-old, former rap mogul, who appeared in court Monday, has been charged with murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run after authorities say he ran down and killed one man and seriously injured another in a parking lot.

Knight's attorneys have said he was trying to flee a vicious attack Jan. 29 when he hit the men with his pickup truck. Knight is due back in court March 20.

Source: AP

INEC NEVER READY FOR ELECTIONS....MUAZU

PDP Chairman Adamu Muazu says that INEC was never prepared for the earlier proposed date of February 14th for the general elections.

While in a related development, the Chairman of the PDP Presidential campaign organization, Sen. Ahmodu Ali, at a press conference in Abuja yesterday, said:

"From all indications, INEC is not fully prepared for the elections. These are issues with the PVCs. Almost 30 million people are yet to get their PVCs despite the fact that the date of distribution was extended. Will it be possible to have a credible election when millions of Nigerians are disenfranchised because of lack of permanent voter cards? There are also reports that the PVC readers are not fully distributed and tested.

How can INEC handle cases of faulty card readers? Do they have a credible plan B in situations where voters are lined up and the card readers refuse to work? Ballot boxes are reportedly inadequate. Adequate training of staff for the election had not been concluded and there are other problems facing INEC. Quite clearly, the shift in election dates is meant to save INEC from monumental embarrassment. I would like to reiterate that the PDP is ready for the election any day. We are querying the INEC for some aberrations in the distribution of PVCs.

How can Borno State which is under siege register more PVC collections than Lagos State? The INEC might have allowed the distribution of its cards to be tampered with. We hope that INEC will now use the extra time it has given itself to perfect its methodology; for example the card readers need to be tried and tested during the training of its operators”. he said.

FINALLY OBASANJO ENDORSES BUHARI & CAUTION ON COUP

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has declared his support for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

Obasanjo, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, made his opinion known during an interview with the Financial Times at the launch of his controversial autobiography titled, ‘My Watch’, in Nairobi, Kenya.

He said, “The circumstances he (Buhari) will be working under if he wins the elections are different from the one he worked under before, where he was both the executive and the legislature – he knows that. He is smart enough. He is educated enough. He’s experienced enough. Why shouldn’t I support him?”

Obasanjo said he was confident that Buhari would be able to effectively tackle corruption, insecurity and would restore the morale of the military which was needed in the fight against terrorism.

He said, “It is a question of leadership – political and military. I think you need to ask Jonathan how he let the army go to this extent. Many things went wrong: recruitment went wrong; training went wrong; morale went down; motivation was not there; corruption was deeply ingrained; and welfare was bad.”

Obasanjo added that he was saddened by the rate at which the nation’s resources were dwindling, adding that when he left office, Nigeria had $45bn in its reserve but the resources had been depleted by more than half despite the increase in oil prices.

Reacting to the postponement of the elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission for security reasons and a better distribution of Permanent Voter Cards, Obasanjo said he hoped the Federal Government was being truthful.

“I sincerely hope that the President is not going for broke and saying ‘look dammit, it’s either I have it or nobody has it’. I hope that we will not have a coup. I hope we can avoid it,” he said. - PUNCH.

MIGRANTS DIE OF EXTREME COLD ON BOARD OF ITALIAN COASTGUARD VESSELS

 At least 29 migrants have died of hypothermia (extreme cold) on board Italian coastguard vessels after being picked up from an inflatable boat en- route Lampedusa, the chief health official on the island of Lampedusa has said.

Two patrol boats picked up 105 migrants late on Sunday from the boat drifting in extreme sea conditions, with waves as high as eight metres (26 feet) and temperatures just a few degrees above zero, the coastguard said in a statement.

The migrants then spent about 18 hours on the decks of the small patrol boats taking them to Lampedusa, buffeted by high winds and spray. At least 29 died en route, Lampedusa’s mayor, Giusi Nicolini, said.

Nicolini blamed the closure of Italy’s search-and-rescue mission, known as Mare Nostrum, last year for the tragedy. “Mare Nostrum was an emergency solution to a humanitarian crisis, so closing it was a huge and intolerable step backward,” Nicolini said. Human rights groups repeatedly warned that ending the mission would endanger lives.

“The small patrol boats were completely swallowed by the waves during the trip back. If Mare Nostrum were still going, the migrants would have been given shelter inside a large ship within an hour.”

The patrol boats sent from Lampedusa are small vessels that ride low to the water so crew members can pull people in. But they cannot accommodate many below deck.

Mare Nostrum was abandoned partly because of public concern about the €114m (£85m) cost of the mission in its first year.

The EU now runs a border control operation, called Triton, with fewer ships and a much smaller area of operation.

Civil war in Syria and anarchy in Libya swelled the number of people crossing the Mediterranean last year. Many paid smugglers $1,000-$2,000 to travel.

The UN refugee agency says 160,000 seaborne migrants arrived in Italy by November 2014 and a further 40,000 in Greece. Thousands have died attempting the journey.

“To organised crime it’s not important if people make it across the sea alive or dead,” Nicolini said. “But now, without Mare Nostrum, it’s as if no one, and not just the criminals, cares if they live or die.” -  BBC