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Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, who recently presented her own brand of chocolate candies Shugarpova, donated over 2.28 million rubles (over $39,400) to orphanages in Russia. Sharapova posted a picture on her FaceBook account on Feb. 13 with her and Yang Seok, President and CEO of LOTTE, both holding a donation check worth over 2.285 million rubles. "With Mr. Yang Seok, President and CEO of LOTTE RUS, presenting the charity donation project: portion of the sales received from Sugarpova products sold at the mini-bar of Lotte Hotel Moscow to support orphanages in Russia," the tennis player wrote in a comment to her picture. Sharapova is Russia’s most decorated tennis player having won a total of five Grand Slam tournaments, namely Australian Open in 2008, French Open in 2012 and 2014, Wimbledon in 2004 and US Open in 2006. She is also a silver medal winner of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the 2008 Federations Cup champion. Currently serving a provisional suspe

Boko Haram Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state on Monday released the grim statistics of deaths and material losses suffered by the state due to the Boko Haram insurgency. Mr. Shettima gave the data at the annual Murtala Mohammed memorial lecture held at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja. The governor, who delivered a paper “Managing the Boko Haram Crisis in Borno State, Experiences and Lessons for a Multiparty, Multiethnic and Multireligious Nigeria”, said the insurgency has led to the deaths of almost 100,000 persons, based on estimates by community leaders in the state over the years. “The Boko Haram insurgency has led to deaths of almost 100,000 persons going by the estimates of our community leaders over the years,” he said. This casualty figure is the highest ever provided by any government official from a state where remote areas which witness attacks by the insurgents are difficult to reach. “Two million, one hundred and fourteen thousand (2,114,000) persons have be

Chris Weller EBay founder and chairman Pierre Omidyar in Delaware, December 7, 2009. REUTERS/Tim Shaffer Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment arm started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar,  has invested  $493,000 into an experiment giving people in Kenya free money. The experiment, put on by the charity GiveDirectly, tests an up-and-coming solution to poverty known as basic income. People under basic income receive a set amount of money on a regular basis to cover expenses like rent, food, and clothing. GiveDirectly is running a small pilot in just a few Kenyan villages at present, but once the full experiment launches in a few months it will be the largest basic income experiment in history. More than 26,000 people will receive free money in some form, whether it's for a period of 12 years, just a couple, or in a lump sum or spread out. Not much long-term research on basic income exists, but the studies that have been performed  suggest only good comes  from helping poo