Facebook Sues Law Firms, Claims Fraud

Facebook is suing several law firms that represented a man who claimed
he owned half of the social network and was entitled to billions of
dollars from the company and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, according
toAssociated Press.

The case was dismissed in April and the man, Paul Ceglia, is facing
related criminal charges.

Facebook Inc. and Zuckerberg filed a lawsuit Monday against DLA Piper
and other law firms and lawyers, saying they conspired to file and
prosecute a fraudulent lawsuit. DLA Piper is one of the world's
largest business law firms.

Ceglia claimed in a 2010 lawsuit that he and Zuckerberg signed a 2003
software development contract that included a provision entitling him
to half-ownership of Facebook in exchange for $1,000 in startup money
for the budding company.

Facebook's lawyers had claimed that while the two did have a contract,
references to the company were slipped in for the lawsuit.

In its lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court, Facebook claims
that the lawyers representing Ceglia "knew or should have known" that
his lawsuit was fraudulent and "based on an implausible story and
obviously forged documents."

Facebook, which is based in Menlo Park, California, is seeking
unspecified damages along with reimbursement of its expenses racked up
in defending itself against the lawsuit.

"We said from the beginning that Paul Ceglia's claim was a fraud and
that we would seek to hold those responsible accountable," Colin
Stretch, Facebook's general counsel, said in a statement.

"DLA Piper and the other named law firms knew the case was based on
forged documents yet they pursued it anyway, and they should be held
to account."

DLA Piper called the suit "baseless" and said it was filed to
intimidate lawyers from suing Facebook.

"DLA Piper, which was not part of this case at its outset or its
conclusion, was involved for 78 days," Peter Pantaleo, the firm's
general counsel, said in a statement.

"Facebook and Mr. Zuckerberg claim that they were damaged in those 78
days, yet a mere 10 months after DLA Piper withdrew from the case and
while the litigation was still pending, Facebook went to market with
an initial public offering that valued the company at $100bn."

Other law firms named in the suit, including Milberg LLP and Paul
Argentieri and Associates, could not immediately be reached for
comment Monday afternoon.

Ceglia is awaiting trial on criminal fraud charges related to the
case. He is accused of doctoring and destroying evidence to support
his Facebook claim, and has pleaded not guilty.

Facebook's lawsuit says Zuckerberg and Ceglia signed a two-page
contract in April 2003, "months before Zuckerberg had even conceived
of the idea that became Facebook."

"That contract had nothing to do with Facebook or any other social
networking service," the lawsuit says, adding that Ceglia and
Zuckerberg stopped communicating in 2004.

Facebook, then called Thefacebook.com, launched in February 2004 out
of Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room. It was first open only to Harvard
students and the decade since it expanded into the world's largest
online social network with more than 1.3 billion users.

The company went public in 2012. It now has a market value of nearly $200bn.

My Quotes

Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay
attention to their limitations again. --James R. Cook

Where Is The Ceasefire With Boko Haram?

Like other Nigerians, I was taken by surprise when news broke last
week that the Nigerian government had reached a ceasefire agreement
with Boko Haram. The announcement was swiftly followed by the Chief of
Defence Staff's directive to all troops to stop engagement with Boko
Haram.

It became even more curious when I heard the interview that President
Goodluck Jonathan's Private Secretary and Chief Negotiator, Hassan
Tukur, gave to the BBC's FOCUS ON AFRICA programme. Tukur sounded
optimistic that they had achieved a breakthrough, underlining that by
saying the people he negotiated with had forewarned about the releases
of the hostages freed in Cameroun early last week; therefore the
government had no reason to disbelieve their negotiation counterparts.

The most important element of the riddle was that Boko Haram had
allegedly agreed to release the Chibok Girls who have stayed six
months in captivity. That delighted me as every other Nigerian. Yet, I
was as apprehensive as every other person. What if the government had
been conned? And too many forces have "invested" heavily and reaped
abundantly from the five-year old insurgency!

Twenty four hours later we received a riposte as Boko Haram elements
continued their spates of killings in Borno. To underline the gloom,
Borno Elders came out publicly to say that they didn't believe that
the government team negotiated with the right people. As I write these
lines, Nigerian soldiers are continuing engagements with Boko Haram,
thus putting to naught the ceasefire announced by the Chief of Defense
Staff, Alex Barde.

It is also instructive that the Federal Government has continued its
"negotiation process", without involving the governments of Borno and
Yobe states. Yet President Jonathan needs to deliver on his ceasefire
(or what Adamu Adamu once called "seize" fire, in the different
setting of conflict in the Gaza Strip), because inability to achieve
freedom for the 219 Chibok Girls, will cast a dangerous political pall
on his 2015 re-election campaign. And for President Goodluck Jonathan
and his handlers, the most important issue at hand is to hit the
campaign trail for 2015.

Yes, the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), blessed with the
ample presence of Anyim Pius Anyim and other Jonathan hangers-on are
doing a good job campaigning and keep President Jonathan in the minds
of the Nigerian electorate. The truth however is that the momentum
will gather pace if President Jonathan can deliver an effective
ceasefire and freedom for the Chibok Girls.

The cynical exploitation of freedom for the Chibok Girls is a central
plank of the political agenda of the Goodluck campaign. In the
euphoria that is expected to follow such a release, President Jonathan
will be painted as the ultimate patriot who got the job done! The
prevarications and irresponsible denial following the kidnap of the
girls will hopefully have been forgotten, by a Nigeria that seems ever
shallow in its ability to recollect or make the necessary
interconnectedness in social and political phenomena.

That is why the apparent unraveling of the process that Marshal Alex
Barde and Hassan Tukur so effusively announced a week ago, is not very
good for the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign. Mister President, what
happened to the ceasefire (who "seized" your fire please?) and may you
please hasten to #FREEOURGIRLS? This is their sixth month in captivity
Mister President, Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria's Armed Forces,
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan. And political time is running out!

General Yakubu Gowon: Officer and gentleman @80

I MET General Yakubu Gowon for the first time in 2005. The setting was
Bamako, the Malian capital. I was covering the meeting of the African
Statesmen Initiative, a forum of ex-African Heads of State, which
brought several old African leaders together in the setting of a
lovely hotel close to the River Niger.

When I told him I was a reporter from Nigeria, his face lit up in
delight and throughout the conference he was readily available for a
conversation, in his typically polite and friendly manner. The Darfur
crisis was on the front burner and I was very much interested in
getting the former Sudanese Prime Minister, Sadig El-Mahdi to give me
an interview on that hot subject; but he was not keen and all
entreaties for a couple of minutes away from the Bamako initiative
failed to impress him.
--Vanguard

My Quotes

Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open. --Thomas Dewar

My Sayings

When you talk, you are repeating what you already know. But if you
listen, you may learn something new.

Jonathan, Others Must Buy Form By Oct. 30 --PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party has said that all aspirants to elective
offices in 2015 from the party, including President Goodluck Jonathan,
must purchase their forms of intent latest by October 30.

The party said that all aspirants, including those angling to become
the President, governors, senators and others, must show interest in
the race by purchasing forms before they could stand for election or
the party's primaries.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh,
stated this while speaking with journalists on the outcome of the
meeting of the members of the National Working Committee of the party
in Abuja on Wednesday.

Metuh also debunked the allegation by a group from the Niger Delta,
who said they were at the party secretariat to purchase presidential
nomination form for the President but were turned back.

Members of the group said they were ready to pay the N22m for the form
on behalf of the President, but regretted that the NWC had refused to
sell the form to them.

Metuh said he was not aware of that, adding that any group willing to
purchase form for anyone was free to do so.

He added that the President, even though was adopted as the sole
presidential candidate of the party, must purchase form before he
could be recognised as the party's candidate.

Metuh said, "We are not aware of it. We have not been informed of any
group that wants to buy form for Mr. President. We are not yet aware.
I am just hearing it for the first time.

"Groups have come to purchase forms for senators and governors. I
don't think that the NWC is against anybody coming to purchase form
for the President.

"We know that the President has not declared and he has not signified
that he is going to contest. He has not given answer to the yearnings
of Nigerians but at the same time, the NWC will not be against any
group that wants to purchase form for him. I think they are dealing
with the wrong channel."

Speaking specifically on whether the President needed to pick form
despite the fact that he had been adopted as the sole candidate of the
party, Metuh said he had to.

"The Constitution of the party stipulates that there will be a
national convention, where decisions or memos from the National
Executives will either be approved or rejected and there is no way
that you can go to a presidential election and say you are adopting or
electing someone who has not bought the form.

"The 30th of October for purchase of forms will not be extended and it
is applicable to all candidates. That date and time would not be
changed."

It will be recalled that the members of the National Executive
Committee of the party had, at its meeting on September 18, adopted
Jonathan as its sole presidential candidate.

Before then, other arms of the party, such as the National Caucus,
Board of Trustees and the Governors Forum, had adopted the President.

However, a member of the PDP, who is the son of Nigeria's First
Republic Prime Minister, Dr. Abdul-Jhalil Tafawa-Balewa, said he would
contest the 2015 presidential election on the platform of the party.

Tafawa-Balewa also condemned what he described as a plot by the
leadership of the party to demoralise other presidential aspirants by
adopting Jonathan as the sole presidential candidate of the party.

It was, however, not clear if the aspirants would still show up at the
party's national secretariat to pick the presidential nomination form.

Still speaking on the outcome of the NWC meeting, Metuh announced that
the party had granted waiver to an unspecified number of returnees and
defectors to the party.

The waiver, he said, was granted to enable these set of people to
participate in the forthcoming ward delegates' conference.

"All party members are free to participate in ward delegates'
congress," he added.

He said the requirement for waiver did not apply to people who were
board members or board chairmen occupying such committee positions.

Metuh said, "We are granting the waiver because we have noted that
some chapters are planning to say that some people are either
returning or they are new members and cannot contest to be delegate
but the issue of three-man delegate is an adhoc, because immediately
after the convention, national or local government delegate, upon the
end of the congress, the delegate ceases.

"The waivers that the NWC is dealing with is the ones for the House of
Assembly, the House of Representatives, Senate and governorship and
presidential seats. Those are the waivers that we are looking at, not
issue of delegates.

"All party members, new and returning members, are free to participate
in the ward delegate congress."
--PUNCH

Djokovic Welcome Birth of Baby Boy

The top-ranked tennis player tweeted Wednesday that he and his wife,
Jelena, were celebrating the birth of their first child - a boy named
Stefan.

"Stefan, our baby angel was born!" Djokovic posted on Twitter early
Wednesday. "I'm so proud of my beautiful wife Jelena! Thank you so
much for your love and support. We love you all!!!"

On his website, Djokovic said the "birth passed in the best way, and
the baby and the mother are feeling fine."

RTS, Serbia's state TV, reported that Djokovic's wife gave on Tuesday
in Nice, France, close to Monaco where they reside.

The new parents first met in high school, and they have been together
for more than eight years.

The couple married on July 10, four days after Djokovic won Wimbledon
by beating Roger Federer in the final.

Djokovic said on his website that he intends to play at the Paris
Masters next week where he will try to defend the title and stave off
Federer's challenge for the year-end No. 1 ranking.

The Serbian said he will spend ''several days with the baby and wife
Jelena'' before travelling to Paris.

Turning Hobbies Into Thriving Ventures

Many people have turned their hobbies into viable enterprises.

Hobbies that people are passionate about can provide an opportunity
for them to establish their own businesses. However, the ability to do
this, even though the person involved is creative or talented does not
automatically translate into a successful enterprise, experts say.

An upcoming fashion designer, Adeola Adeuja has numerous skills that
relate to craft but her desire for fashion supersedes all the others.
According to her, after years of being at a dilemma as to what to do,
she eventually discovered that she loved designing clothes more than
others.

Adeuja says when she started making designs for money she was
overwhelmed by orders from people who admired them. She adds that
although the work is demanding, she enjoys it and is making money out
of it. While tapping into advanced technology, she offers her designs
for sale in online shops and has a fashion magazine that features the
best designs.

Similarly, a public speaker, John Okoye discovered that he liked
talking when he was a teenager and with the encouragement from his
family, he started reading books written by renowned motivational
speakers and listened to them speak. According to him, reading the
books helped him to develop writing skills. He says he now makes money
from his blog and gets invitation to different countries to speak.

Experts note that many of the social, demographic, economic and
technologic trends that spur small business formation in general are
also leading these hobbyists to start part and full-time small
businesses and this is particularly true of small business artists,
crafters, writers, artisans and other creative professionals.

A report by Intuit titled 'Future of Small Business' notes that
today's passion-driven hobbyists breed many of tomorrow's small
businesses. Stemming from the "Maker" movement, and enabled by
technology, these 'hobbypreneurs' - both knowledge and craft-based -
are leading a new generation of entrepreneurs who increasingly take
the step to turn fun into profit.

Moreover, it stated, that instead of inventing new technology, most
entrepreneurs focus on alternative products, reusing old products and
technology to carve a niche for themselves, adding that this
combination of attributes requires small business owners to rely on
innovative ideas, methods, approaches and business models to create
products and services.

The report professes that the act of turning a hobby into an
enterprise, if inspired by the unique convergence of technology
economic and geographic trends, will continue to grow in numbers and
influence, creating new niche products and markets all over the world,
adding that along the way, they will spur growth and innovation in the
market place.

Although more research is needed to estimate the number of small
businesses that start as a hobby or passion, the report says it is
clear that the new Do-It-Yourself movement is creating new small
business opportunities and entrepreneurs are starting full- and
part-time businesses to pursue them.

It is easier and cheaper to make things

The cost of advanced, computer-controlled tools, such as laser
cutters, milling machines, three-D printers and computer-aided design
tools, has dropped to the point where small businesses can easily
afford them. A small business that does not want to bother with owning
and operating these tools can turn to production services such as
'Ponoko' and 'Shapewise,' which will take digital designs and turn
them into products. They will even handle warehousing and shipments to
final customers.

It is easier and cheaper to start and run a niche business

The Internet and related tools have substantially lowered the cost of
starting small businesses. Online marketing methods have also made it
easier and cheaper for producers of niche products and services to
connect with buyers. Cloud-computing - establishing a virtual presence
on the Internet - allows small business owners to look bigger than
they are which improves their position in the marketplace.

Online hobby social networks and web sites enable and empower small businesses

Social networks, websites and community forums provide a wide range of
instructional information and serve as meeting places for makers to
exchange ideas, methods and knowledge. This information might be
relevant for product development or for business operations, depending
upon the need for information and the sources tapped.

NYSC N4,000 Call-Up Fee Optional, DG Tells Reps

The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brig-General
Johnson Olawumi, told the House of Representatives on Wednesday that
the controversial N4,000 charged corps members for call-up letters
would remain optional.

He said the fee was strictly for the printing of the letters and not
for accessing the online portal of the agency.

Speaking at the hearing of a petition on the matter by the House
Committee on Public Petitions, the DG claimed that the agency opted
for the online portal owing to growing cases of fake call-up letters
flooding the society.

Olawumi told the committee that the policy resulted from a Private
Public Partnership which started in 2013 after Sigma, the partner,
emerged as the preferred bidder from a list of 49 firms.

The DG explained, "Corps members are supposed to pay more than N4,000
and we want the process to be optional.

"It is an optional thing and the process will remain optional as far
as the agreement subsists with Sigma.

"Even if the price crashes to N100, it will continue to remain optional."

He added that at the close of portal, 124, 831 corps members had
registered online.

However, he stated that only 23, 211 paid for the printing of the letters.

But, a group, Say No Campaign, which led the protest against the fee,
insisted that there was no justification for the it.
--PUNCH

Prisoners Crown Imo APC Chairman "Presido" in Abuja Prison As Govt Agents Beg Ilomuanya

The last has not been heard concerning the incarceration of the
chairman of the Imo state chapter of the All Progressive Congress,
APC, Hilary Ekeh who has spent ten days in prison custody.

Eke, it was learnt has turned to "Presido" of his cell where he was
kept with other inmates at Kuje Prisons Abuja on waiting trial
condition.

The embattled APC chairman found himself in the gulag when the bail
conditions extended to him on a two-count charge of forgery and
defamation of character could not be met after he was arraigned at the
a magistrate court in Abuja.

Sensing that Ekeh may continue to languish in detention because of
inability to meet the stringent bail conditions Trumpeta gathered that
the Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has reportedly sent
emissaries to Eze Ilomuanya for reapproachment and a possible way of
having out of court settlement to have the party chairman out of the
hook.

Based on the inability of police investigators to get a true copy and
certify that there was such a law court based in Calabar who gave the
judgement against Ilomuanya, Eke who advertised the criminal
conviction of Ilomuanya was dragged to court for forgery. And if found
guilty of the offence may be jailed for 14 years and two years
defamation.

Apparently aware of the sensitive nature of the case and the interest
Ilomuanya has shown for the prosecution of the matter, agents of the
state governor are said to have approached chairman of Imo state
council of Traditional Rulers for amicable resolution.

Trumpeta Abuja correspondent learnt that one female accomplice and an
appointee of the governor was in Ilomuanya's Abuja residence to broker
a truce where she was said to have requested the monarch to visit Imo
Governor's Lodge, in Abuja for a meeting with Okorocha.

Ilomuanya was said to have informed the agent that his having a
discussion with Okorocha should not be in the governor's terms and
govt lodge revealing that previous discussions he had in Govt House
with the number one citizen of Imo was worthless and meaningless.
Ilomuanya was said to have decried former meetings he had with
Okorocha since he became governor which yielded fruits.

Ilomuanya was said to have demanded that any meeting or discussion
will be at his own instance and not that of the governor.

The woman left Ilomuanya's house in Abuja and is said to have not
returned to convey the response of the governor since last Thursday
she visited.

Trumpeta learnt on good authority that Ekeh is enjoying privileged
status in prison custody kuje, Abuja, as inmates have crowned him
"Presido"

Our correspondent who attempted to visit Eke was aksed if he was
looking for the new "Presido" of the cell.

As at the time of this report Trumpeta correspondent in Abuja noted
that efforts are on to get Ekeh a bail.
--Trumpeta

Why I Left APGA, Obi Replies Bianca Ojukwu

Former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, has reacted to
Monday's comments by Nigerian Ambassador to Spain and wife of Dim
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Mrs Bianca Ojukwu, following his recent
defection to People's Democratic Party, PDP,, where she expressed
shock and disappointment among others, over the defection from All
Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, to PDP.

In an interview granted a national newspaper (not Vanguard) of Monday,
20thn October, 2014 by Nigerian Ambassador to Spain and wife of Dim
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu- Mrs. Ojukwu, had said, inter alia, "It is
undeniable that Peter Obi made immense contributions to APGA. I remain
proud of his achievements, as governor of Anambra State. His exit
diminishes us, and many of his supporters and grassroots crusaders are
disappointed and demoralised".

PETER OBI: I have no ambition to go to senate

Mrs Ojukwu also described the action of the former governor as a
betrayal of her late husband and renowned Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu who had such great trust in him and his assurances
that he, Obi, would always stand by APGA.

But reacting, Obi, who had so far ignored all comments made about his
political decision opened up by pointing out that Bianca Ojukwu was
not a frivolous person and that her comments must be taken seriously
moreso, when he was the wife of his leader. .

Speaking to the newsmen, Obi said this response would be his last on
the matter to enable him channel his time and energy alongside other
well-meaning Igbos to work for the re-election campaign of President
Goodluck Jonathan and the place ofNdigboin the Nigerian politics.

He said Of all those who have spoken, and who continue to speak, on
the issue of my leaving APGA, only Bianca spoke with sincerity. She
does not fall into the class of those who are now displaying dated
video clippings and presenting matters out of context for political
reasons, without appreciating the sacrifice put into building the
House they are now destroying.

I want to have it on record that Bianca was right when she reported my
exchange with the Ikemba when he called me and asked whether I would
leave APGA, after the events of Abia State at that time, when the
Governor left APGA for reasons I believe to be genuine.

"I wish to reiterate that I am still loyal to our great leader, in
terms of what serves the interests of our people and the Federal
Republic of Nigeria. Everyone knows today that APGA is not what it
used to be. My assurance to our great leader did not imply that I
would be loyal to a platform that some people have resolved to turn
into an empty shell without an inner core of shared values. I remain
faithful to those values and principles our great leader asked me to
stand by and defend".

Obi insists that time would reveal whether the APGA of today is still
propagating the late leader's core principles. Obi said that he had
seen enough of violation of what APGA stood for, and therefore
cannot continue to stay in a place which had departed from the
original course and where clearly he was no wanted.
--Vanguard

We Haven't Banned Pomo --Minister of Agric

The Minister of Agric has released a statement concerning the ban of
pomo due to Ebola.

Dr Akinwunmi Adesina has reports that the government has banned the
consumption of "Pomo"
He said, "We need to develop efficient leather industry in Nigeria.
But government has not banned the consumption of pomo."

"I have seen a lot of stories saying that the
government has banned pomo. That is not the job of the government."

"What we are trying to do is to make people to understand that we can
make a lot of money through the sales of pomo."

"We have been importing leather into the
country. This is not good for our local leather
manufacturing companies."

The government was criticized by citizens after reports emerged that
the consumption of the much loved local delicacy would be banned.

Nokia To Change Name To 'Microsoft Lumia'

Microsoft is reportedly dropping the brand name "Nokia" from new
devices, less than a year after acquiring the Finnish mobile firm.

New Nokia Lumia smartphones will instead be known as Microsoft Lumia,
the company said.

Nokia's non-mobile division, which is not owned by Microsoft, will
continue to use the name.

The mobile operation was bought by Microsoft in April in a deal worth
$7.2bn (£4.6bn). Since then, Microsoft has quietly shifted away from
the Nokia brand.

A post on Nokia France's Facebook page confirmed the branding shift.
The renaming will roll out globally in due course, Microsoft has said.

The announcement comes despite Microsoft agreeing to a 10-year deal to
use the Nokia name on mobile products.

Microsoft is currently having a big shake-up. In July, chief executive
Satya Nadella announced the cutting of 18,000 jobs.

Land Dispute: Man Sues Christ Embassy For Exhuming Mum's Remains

A resident of Effurun in Warri, Delta State, Mr. Richard Loromeke, has
instituted a N100 million suit against the registered trustees of
Believers Love World, also known as Christ Embassy, for trespass on
his parcel of land and exhumation of remains of his mother, Madam
Cecilia Loromeke, buried on the land situated in Aba, Abia State.

The defendants in the suit include Messrs Samson Enwereji, Registered
Trustees of Believers Love Church and Remi Chijioke.

Counsel to the claimant in the suit instituted at an Abia State High
Court, Mr. R. O. Irikefe and Mr. Patrick Awo-Osagie, said Loromeke was
also claiming N992,300 as special damages.

He also prayed the court for an order of perpetual injunction
restraining the defendants by themselves, servants, agents, workmen,
surrogates, thugs and/or privies from any further trespass on the
disputed land.

The claimant prayed the court to declare that he was the person
entitled to the statutory right of occupancy in respect of the parcel
of land, completely fenced with blocks, known as Egbelu Obuda
measuring approximately 100 feet by 483.712 feet square metres.

In his statement of claim, supported by a 25-paragraph affidavit, the
claimant averred that his late mother purchased the land in dispute
from one Jacob Enwereji in 1997 for farming.

He explained that after his mother's death and burial in 2006, he
continued to manage the estate and collect rent from tenants made up
of electricians, mechanics and artisans that her mother leased the
land to when she could not farm anymore due to failing health.

He averred that in November 2011, the first defendant started to
foment trouble by trespassing on the said land in dispute when he came
to serve all the tenants court orders during his absence, which
propelled him to warn the trespasser to steer clear of the land.

The claimant noted that while away to Senegal, the first defendant in
December of the same year, chased away all the tenants and that in
November 2012, without his consent, invaded the land in dispute,
demolished his mother's grave house, which he had erected over his
mother's tomb.

The claimant said he reported the incidents to Zone 9, Police
Headquarters, Umuahia, from where officers arrested him, adding that
due to the involvement of the police, family and community leaders,
the first defendant agreed to rebuild the grave house, which he never
did.
--Vanguard

Serena Williams 'Embarrassed' By Loss

(Photo: Simona Halep celebrates her remarkable win)

Serena Williams was thrashed 6-0 6-2 by Simona Halep at the WTA Finals
in Singapore on Wednesday, equalling the worst defeat of her career.

The 18-time grand slam champion saw her 16-match winning streak
brought to a shuddering halt by the Romanian in an incredible Red
Group clash.

Williams, who won just nine points in the opening set, had not
suffered such a heavy loss since she was beaten 6-1 6-1 by Joannette
Kruger in Oklahoma City in 1998. At that stage she was just 16.

Now 33, Williams had won her opening match in Singapore by beating Ana
Ivanovic in straight sets on Monday.

However, she was all at sea from the word go against Halep, reeling
off error after error.

Halep's level was much higher and she refused to let Williams off the
hook when she briefly threatened a fightback at the start of the
second set, the fourth seed saving several break points.

The Romanian, who now has two wins out of two in the group, closed out
the match in just 65 minutes.

She told the crowd in her on-court interview: "It was the biggest
match in my life.

"I can't explain how I feel now. I'm really happy."

She added: "I don't think it was her best day today, but I played
really well, I was very aggressive and took the ball early, moved up
the court very well, served very well. I've found my best tennis
again. It's crazy."

Wlliams later told a press conference that she was "embarrassed" by
her performance and that she had served like a 10-year-old.

"Embarrassing, I think, describes the way I played," she said. "Yeah,
very embarrassing.

"I've seen her play a lot. Like I said, she's never played like this
before. My serve was, at best, in the 10 and under division in
juniors."

Ivanovic beat Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard 6-1 6-3 in the
second match of the day, a result which ensured all four players
remain in with a chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Bouchard committed too many errors and converted just one of seven
break points as Ivanovic dominated proceedings.

With two defeats so far, Bouchard will need to beat Williams in
straight sets in her final match to stand any chance of making
progress to the knockout stages.