Chibok girls: Govt knows where they are – Jonathan

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has called for effective international assistance in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency in some parts of the country and rescue of the over 200 girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State,  kidnapped 115 days ago.

The President also insisted that the government knew the whereabouts of the girls.

According to him, the Federal Government is encouraging intermediaries who have offered to persuade the Boko Haram terrorist group to release the girls.

Speaking, yesterday,  in an interview with the Washington Times in Washington, USA, where he is attending an African Leaders Summit convened by US President, Barrak Obama, President Jonathan explained that government considered the safety of the girls as very paramount, hence the adoption of several methods in the operation.

The President in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said he was appreciative of the support of the international community in the ongoing rescue efforts of the Chibok girls.

While describing a strict military approach to the rescue effort as ‘delicate,’ President Jonathan said: “If it is to risk a few dead bodies, it is easier. You can blast the place and carry the corpses. But is that what we have to do? So it is delicate.”

The President reiterated that the Federal Government had information on the location of the kidnapped girls, but was being mindful of the consequences of invading the location to avoid a repeat of an episode in February 2013 in which an offshoot of Boko Haram killed seven foreign hostages in northern Nigeria before authorities could rescue them.

I butcher human beings in 2 minutes, says Boko Haram chief killer

The Chief Butcher of the Boko Haram sect, Zakari Mohammed Ardo, yesterday, gave a chilling description of how the terrorist group used to slaughter people they capture, saying it only takes him two minutes to butcher victims and enemies condemned to death.

Ardo, who had been reported in some media (not Vanguard) as having escaped from Police custody, said the group’s butchering committee was made up of five persons of which he is the chairman, pointing out that the other members will hold down the already tired victim while he cuts off the head.

Chief Butcher Zakari Mohammed Ardo

Speaking through an interpreter in Kanuri, the ‘Chief Butcher’ who claims to be 30 years old and from Darazo Local Government Area of Bauchi State,  said: “I joined the Boko Haaram group two years ago. Before I was arrested, I have slaughtered five people.”

Police parade suspect, debunk rumour of his escape

Briefing newsmen on why self acclaimed “butcher” of the Boko Haram sect was paraded, Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Frank Mba, said the Police were using the opportunity to debunk his reported escape from custody.

Pope urges protection for fleeing Iraqi Christians

Pope Francis called on the international community on Thursday to protect the mostly Christian communities of northern Iraq fleeing a lightning advance by jihadist militants.

A statement delivered by his spokesman said the pope joined the urgent appeals for peace from bishops in the Middle East and called on the international community to “ensure the necessary help” reaches people fleeing fighters from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

Tens of thousands flee jihadist push in north Iraq a Christian clerics, witnesses said.

The Jihadist militants took over Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian town, and surrounding areas when Kurdish troops withdrew overnight, fleeing residents and Christian clerics said on Thursday.

“I now know that the towns of Qaraqosh, Tal Kayf, Bartella and Karamlesh have been emptied of their original population and are now under the control of the militants,” Joseph Thomas, the Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, told AFP.

Several residents contacted by AFP confirmed that the entire area in northern Iraq, home to a large part of the country’s Christian community, had fallen to the Islamic State jihadist group

Delta designates 7 hospitals as Ebola isolation centres

Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta has announced the designation of seven hospitals as isolation centres for identified cases of Ebola disease in the state.

  

Speaking at a meeting of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders in the Delta North and Delta South senatorial zones in Asaba, the governor said there was no case of Ebola in the state.  

“We have designated seven hospitals in the state as isolation centres where any suspected case will be managed.

“Every local government area has a contact person and there is a contact phone number – 32815 – where messages (SMS) can be sent to report any suspected case in the state,’’ Uduaghan said.

 Uduaghan said the government had also set up a committee to educate and sensitise the people about the prevention and management of the virus.

He said the committee, which comprised the commissioners in the ministries of health, information and environment, had been inaugurated and would brief the people about the measures already taken to ensure that the virus did not get into the state.

“There is no Ebola virus in Delta State and it will not come to the state. We are doing everything possible to deal with the scourge. 

“We have set up an inter-ministerial committee comprising the commissioners for health, environment and information to sensitise and brief the people on the measures in place to tackle any outbreak in the state,’’ said the governor.

He urged politicians to take the message to the nooks and crannies of the local government areas in the state to sensitise the people on how to maintain personal hygiene and to regularly wash their hands.

The governor also cautioned those who had relatives in any of the West African countries where Ebola had been reported and who needed to bring in any corpse from there to alert the state to ascertain the cause of death.

Photos: Relatives of Ebola victims dump their bodies in the streets in Liberia

In Liberia where the deadly disease is really spreading, relatives of Ebola victims have started dumping infected bodies of their loved ones in the streets of Monrovia for fear of catching the deadly disease, defying government order to leave the relatives at home.

Liberia's Information Minister, Lewis Brown, told Reuters that this act is putting more people at risk 

"They are removing the bodies from their homes and are putting them out in the street. They're exposing themselves to the risk of being contaminated. We're asking people to please leave the bodies in their homes and we'll pick them up.'

Usually when a relative is found to be infected with the Ebola virus, government quarantines the rest of the family. Minus catching the disease, this is another reason relatives are dumping bodies in the street, to avoid facing quarantine, and having their homes decontaminated. See more pics after the cut

Must read: US State Department Ebola Alert

If you want to know more about the Ebola virus, then read this alert from the US Embassy here in Nigeria ... 

In order to help our Embassy Community better understand some of the key points about the Ebola virus we have consulted with our medical specialists at the U S State Department and assembled this list of bullet points worded in plain language for easy comprehension. Our medical specialists remind everyone that they should be following the guideline from the center for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation.

• The suspected reservoirs for Ebola are fruit bats.
• Transmission to humans is thought to originate from infected bats or primates that have become infected by bats.
• Undercooked infected bat and primate (bush) meat transmits the virus to humans.
• Human to human transmission is only achieved by physical contact with a person who is acutely and gravely ill from the Ebola virus or their body fluids. Continue...

Too early to send experimental Ebola drug to Africa – Obama says

US President, Barack Obama said yesterday August 6th that it's too early to send the unapproved experimental drug, Zmapp serum to Africa where the outbreak of the Ebola virus has recorded more deaths and threatens human existence. 

 

Zmapp serum has proven to be effective in treating Ebola cases as two American doctor infected with the virus in Liberia are currently being treated in the US and are said to have improved after the use of the drug. Continue...

Julius Agwu declares intention to run for Governor of Rivers State

This is no joke o, comedian Julius Agwu has officially declared his intentions to run for governor of Rivers State in 2015. Julius said he decided to join the governorship race after pressure from his people to lead them. The party he will contest under will be unveiled in due course he says. 

Chinese couple take their son to court to force him to get a job

A Chinese couple have gone to extreme lengths in a bid to force their adult son to get a job - they have taken him to court. Xu Qing, 29, has refused to work ever since leaving university, claiming that
employment is too boring. He has now moved his girlfriend into the home he shares with his parents and demanded he be fed and waited on hand and foot. (pic - the case being heard in court last week)

Initially his mother Xu Hsing cooked and cleaned after her only child at their home in the Chinese capital Beijing.

His father Ku arranged for him to have a job at a friend's company - but Qing quit after just three months saying it was too dull.

He now spends his day sleeping and surfing the internet but managed to meet a girl online, who is also jobless. Continue...

Child-bride: Girl faces murder trial over forced marriage

14-year-old girl, Wasila Tasi’u who was accused of poisoning the 35-year-old man she was forced to marry was set to go on trial for murder in northern Nigeria on today, a case that has thrown the spotlight on the influence of Islamic law in region.

Wasila

Wasila  has also been charged with the murder of three others who allegedly ate the food laced with rat poison that she prepared and served in April this year, a week after her marriage to Umaru Sani.

Police say Tasi’u confessed to poisoning Sani and his guests at the wedding party in the village of Unguwar Yansoro village, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) outside Nigeria’s second city of Kano.

“She did it because she was forced by her parents to marry a man she did not love,” Kano state police spokesman Musa Magaji Majia told AFP.

Her lawyer Hussaina Aliyu rejects claims that her client made a legally valid confession.

She said Tasi’u was questioned by police without a parent or lawyer present and so any comments she may have made are inadmissable in court.

Aliyu, who works with International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), has sought to have the case transferred to a juvenile court, a bid rejected by justice officials in Kano.

“All we are saying is do justice to her. Treat the case as it is. Treat her as a child,” Aliyu said.

Ebola-hit Sierra Leone’s ‘very essence’ in danger— president

Sierra Leone’s leader Monday appealed to the people of the Ebola-hit west African country to fight together against the deadly epidemic, warning that “the very essence” of the nation was at stake.

President Ernest Bai Koroma urged families to ensure that victims were reported to health authorities and asked every Sierra Leonean to take responsibility for raising awareness about the killer tropical virus.

“This is a collective fight. The very essence of our nation is at stake,” he said in a televised address marking a “stay at home day” aimed at recalibrating the state’s response to the outbreak.

Sierra Leone has seen 574 cases — the most of any nation — and 252 deaths since the virus spread from neighbouring Guinea in May.

“In this fight every individual counts, for if every individual or family, community or town fails to act, the risk is increased for the whole nation.”

Koroma declared a state of emergency last week ahead of a regional summit at which Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone agreed to a cross-border isolation zone at the epicentre of the world’s worst-ever outbreak.

Streets in the capital Freetown were empty on Monday as people observed “stay at home day”, called to give the authorities breathing space to reorganise the battle to halt an epidemic that has seen more than 800 deaths across west Africa since the start of the year.

“Freetown is as quiet as a graveyard,” health worker Claudius Williams told AFP.

“As we move around in our sensitisation drive, you could hear a pin drop as people remain inside their houses with doors firmly shut. We have to knock endless times before they open them.”

- ‘Disturbing spread’ -

Russia tells Israel to agree to ceasefire

Russia said Monday it had called on Israel to agree to a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, in a phone call between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also told his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman that the foes “should reach an agreement that excludes the return to violence in which mostly innocent civilians suffer”.

The Russian foreign ministry statement did not mention whether Lavrov had brought up the Palestinian casualties suffered during three attacks on UN-operated schools and refugee centres in Gaza that the militants and most Western leaders blame on Israeli troops.

Moscow supported the Palestinian cause in the Soviet era but established warmer ties with Israel in the past two decades.

But its influence in the region has dropped off substantially and Moscow no longer plays an important mediating role between the two sides.

Bitter Kola cannot cure Ebola— Health Minister

The Minister for Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said there is no scientific evidence of Garcinia kola, popularly known as bitter kola curing or preventing Ebola virus disease.

The research work that people are laying claims, to according to the minister is inconclusive.

It would be recalled that in 1999, a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Professor of Pharmacognosy, Maurice Iwu, alongside some American researchers conducted a research that showed that extract from bitter cola tend to neutralize the effects of virus. But the outcome of that research work has not been scientifically confirmed to be true or not.

He said, “Information that is being circulated especially through the social media and the rest of the internet tend to suggest that because right now, there is no known vaccine for Ebola Virus Disease and there is no known specific drug as effective against EVD. If we don’t streamline a lot of these information, the unwary will become so vulnerable. People have said that they know that a fruit is sufficient to cure EVD.

“As I speak to you now, there is no proof yet of any such fruit. I repeat, there is no proof yet of any fruit.

“One that has been mentioned is that just keep chewing bitter kola and you will be alright. As the Minister of Health of the Federal Republic of Nigeria I say that right now, there is no scientific yet to suggest that if you just eat bitter kola you will get to prevent the disease or where you have it, it will help to cure it.

“However, we are aware that in 1999, Prof. Maurice Iwu worked along with an administration in United States of America and conducted research which at the level of the laboratory is what we call in-vitro research which means it is still in the test tube as it were and it is not in any living body which we call in-vivo.

“This shows that some extract they had obtained from the bitter kola which is common in West Africa and in Nigeria and which we use for so many purposes in Nigeria including social reasons tend to have some activities against the virus. But that research was not concluded and therefore as at today, there is no evidence to link that as a cure or preventive measure against Ebola Virus Disease.”

Photos: Charly Boy attends Stockholm Gay Pride

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Charly Boy who is currently in Sweden attended the annual Stockholm Gay Pride which held in the city today and shared some photos on his instagram page. See more pics after the cut...

Pic of 'ghost wielding axe' aboard old military ship causes storm

A photo showing a 'ghost wielding an axe' and peering around a doorway on board an old military decommissioned vessel has caused quite a stir. The photo was posted on Imgur by a dock worker named Stevgoldhound.

"Last month we came into dry dock to carry out refit and repairs. Next to us was an old Military frigate being broken down for scrap. Once all the sensitive stuff had been removed, the dock workers were free to go on. The dock foreman, 'John' went on board first with a camera to take pictures of work areas. He later sent all of the pics to his boss, who upon seeing this one, called John straight away asking 'Who is the guy with the axe at the edge of the camera flash?' John had no idea. He never saw anyone. Due to the fact that it was a military vessel the police were called.

"A search was carried out but no one was found. There was one way on and off the ship, and that was by a gangway covered by CCTV."Stevgoldhound said

An Imgur user helped Stevgoldhound to clean up the image, and adjusted the light levels to reveal an even more haunting picture. Continue...

Ebola: No need for panic, understand the facts

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”– Benjamin Franklin

The first time that I heard Ebola was from a Reader’s Digest that I read many years ago. The depiction of its virulence, rampant potency of the disease was that of horrific movies. So I thought it was consigned to the past. Was I wrong? The virus emerged in 1976 in an isolated village near the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo and that is where it got its name – Ebola; Ebola is real and so far, has claimed hundreds of lives in West Africa and rest of the world is anxiously waiting that it does not visit its shores. The latest outbreak in West Africa is the worst on record – killing more than 670 people – and is also the first to affect people in cities and not just remote villages. In Guinea, the epidemic has reached the capital, Conakry. “The scientific world agreed that it is a major concern that might spread to the rest of the world. We all need to take personal responsibility and ensure that we do not help to spread the disease.