Graphitti News collates national and
international highlights from late-breaking news, upcoming events and the
stories that will be talked about Monday:
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The Nigerian
U-20 women beat a hard fighting Mexican team as well as the DPRK on their way to the finals of
the world cup.
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1. NIGERIAN DOCTORS SUSPEND STRIKE
After 55 days of
industrial action, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) yesterday directed
its members across the country in federal hospitals to resume duty at their
working posts with effect from today (Monday) at 8am.
Doctors embarked on an
indefinite strike from July 1, following the expiration of two weeks’ ultimatum
to the federal government to accede to their 24-point demand.
The NMA’s demands
included a N100,000 monthly hazard allowance for doctors, the payment of
clinical duty allowance for honorary consultants and the appointment of a
deputy chairman, Medical Advisory Committee in teaching hospitals and Federal
Medical centres, and discontinuation of recognition of non-medical doctors as
directors and consultants.
But a source told reporters that it took the
intervention of the Senate president, David Mark, who personally swore on his
honour to meet their demands before the doctors could be persuaded to suspend
their strike.
However, the association has urged the federal
government to reciprocate its goodwill by ensuring that resident doctors whose
appointments were terminated are reinstated immediately without any punitive
measures.
2. CANADA 2014: FALCONETS FALL TO GERMANY AGAIN
Nigeria’s U-20 Women’s
team, the Falconets, have failed in their attempt to conquer the world as they
lost 1-0 to their German counterparts in the finals of the FIFA Women’s U-20
World Cup which took place early Monday morning in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium
in Canada.
The Nigeria women were
hoping to avenge the 2-0 loss suffered in the finals against the Germans four
years ago but despite pushing their opponents to the limits, the Coach Peter
Dedevho-tutored side cave in to the gritty European side early in the extra
time.
The Falconets will have
themselves to blame for not entering the record books as the first African team
to win a female World Cup title as statistics showed that they had more
possession and indeed attempts at goal than their German counterparts.
3. ACTOR AND DIRECTOR RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH DIES AGED
90
Oscar-winning British
film director Richard Attenborough has died at the age of 90, his son has said.
Lord Attenborough was one
of Britain's leading actors, before becoming a highly successful director.
In a career that spanned
six decades, he appeared in films including Brighton Rock, World War Two
prisoner of war thriller The Great Escape and later in dinosaur blockbuster
Jurassic Park.
As a director he was
perhaps best known for Gandhi, which won him two Oscars.
Sir Ben Kingsley, who
played the title role, said he would "miss him dearly".
"Richard
Attenborough trusted me with the crucial and central task of bringing to life a
dream it took him 20 years to bring to fruition.
"When he gave me the
part of Gandhi it was with great grace and joy. He placed in me an absolute
trust and in turn I placed an absolute trust in him and grew to love him."
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Lord
Attenborough, (wearing glasses) pictured with brother David, attracted wide praise on social
media on Sunday night (Photo credit: BBC)
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4. DANGER TO FOOD CHAIN? MICROPLASTIC CONTAMINATES
FOUND IN SYDNEY HARBOR
Scientists in the first
study of its kind have found microplastic contamination at the bottom of Sydney
Harbor, which may pose a threat to the food chain, Australian media reported.
The research by the
Sydney Institute of Marine Science tested 27 sites across the harbor, with
researchers finding up to 60 microplastics per 100 milligrams of sediment. This
was a higher volume than expected even in the cleanest and best-flushed
reaches.
Microplastics are tiny
fragments and threads of plastic, which are less than five millimeters long.
Professor Emma Johnston from the Sydney Institute, who leads the study, told
ABC Australia microplastics represent the “emergence
of a new contamination in our harbors.”
Johnston explained that
microplastics come from a range of sources, including fleece jackets, facial
scrubs and plastic bags and bottles. But scientists still know very little
about their effects on the environment.
Vivian Sim, a PhD student
from the University of New South Wales, told The Sydney Morning Herald that
from the sites searched in Parramatta River, Lane Cove and Port Jackson, the
highest densities of fragments were found in Middle Harbour.
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| The Sydney Harbour Bridge and city skyline (Reuters / David Gray) |
She also warned that
there is a risk of microplastics entering the food chain.
5. JAPAN READY TO OFFER FLU DRUG FOR EBOLA TREATMENT
Japan said Monday it is ready to provide a
Japanese-developed anti-influenza drug as potential treatment to fight the
rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters
that Japan can offer the anti-influenza tablet favipiravir, developed by a subsidiary
of Fujifilm Holdings Corp., any time at the request of the World Health
Organization.
Suga said Japan is watching for WHO's decision on
further details over the use of untested drugs. In case of an emergency, Japan
may respond to individual requests even before further any decision by the WHO,
he said.
The WHO said earlier this month that it is ethical to
use untested drugs on Ebola patients given the magnitude of the outbreak.
The drug, developed by a Fujifilm subsidiary Toyama
Chemical Co. to treat novel and re-emerging influenza viruses, was approved by
the Japanese health ministry in March. Fujifilm is in talks with the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration on clinical testing of the drug in treating Ebola,
company spokesman Takao Aoki said.
The company has favipiravir stock for more than 20,000
patients, Aoki said.
He said Ebola and influenza viruses are the same type
and theoretically similar effects can be expected on Ebola.
Several drugs are being developed for Ebola treatment.
But they are still in early stages and there is no proven treatment or vaccine
for the highly fatal disease, and Fujifilm's drug is one of only a few new
drugs that may work on Ebola.
Favipiravir inhibits viral gene replication within
infected cells to prevent propagation, while conventional ones are designed to
inhibit the release of new viral particles to prevent the spread of infection,
the company said.
Recently, two American doctors recovered from their
bouts of Ebola after being treated with experimental drug ZMapp, though it was
unclear whether they were cured by the drug.
ZMapp, developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., had
never been tested on humans, although an early version worked in some
Ebola-infected monkeys. It's aimed at boosting the immune system's efforts to
fight off Ebola.
Ebola has killed more than 1,400 people in West Africa
in the latest outbreak.
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| In this image made from undated video obtained by The Associated Press, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a man believed to be Peter Theo Curtis, a U.S. citizen held hostage by an al-Qaida linked group in Syria, delivers a statement. The U.S. government said on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014 that Curtis, who had been held hostage for about two years, had been released. (AP Photo) |
War planes have bombarded
Tripoli, while the city’s main airport was severely damaged by fire. This came
a day after it was captured by rebel fighters, the Fajr Libya (Dawn of Libya)
coalition, who also says it has control of the Libyan capital.
The rival sides accused
one another of setting the airport ablaze. The airport’s main building was
completely burnt down, and all planes that were parked in front of the terminal
were damaged, along with houses and office buildings on the road leading up to
the airport, Reuters cited witnesses as saying.
Libya’s capital was also
bombed by unidentified war planes, according to residents. Witnesses heard jets
flying over, followed by explosions. Diplomats, foreign nationals and thousands
of Libyans have fled the capital.
7. U.S. JOURNALIST HELD BY AL-QAIDA-LINKED GROUP
RELEASED
Peter Theo Curtis of Massachusetts is freed less than
a week after the horrific execution of American journalist James Foley by
Islamic militants.
8. NOT-SO
NATO-ALLY? GERMANY SPYING ON TURKEY FOR ‘38 YEARS’
German foreign
intelligence agency has been tapping Turkey for almost four decades, reports
Focus amid the ongoing spy scandal between Berlin and Ankara. Some German
officials defend the practice, saying that not all NATO allies can be treated
as friends.
The German Federal
Intelligence Service, BND, has been eavesdropping on Turkey since 1976
following the Social Democrat Chancellor Helmut Schmidt’s government approval,
Focus magazine wrote on Saturday.
Passions over previous
spying allegations revealed in the media are still running high, but a new
report may add fuel to the fire triggering further tensions between the two
long-time North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies.
As for the current BND’s
mandate to keep their eye on Turkish political and social institutions, it had
also been given a green light by a government working group, which brought
together representatives of the chancellor's office, the defense, foreign and
economy ministries, reported Focus, citing government sources.
A spokesman for the
German government declined to comment on the report, Reuters writes.
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| German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (Reuters / Tobias Schwarz) |
9. WHY ISRAEL LEADER TRIES TO LINK HAMAS, IRAQ
EXTREMISTS
Israel's prime minister tries to capitalize on the
gruesome video of an American journalist's beheading by the Islamic State
extremist group, saying Hamas is an equally vicious foe.
10. BELGIUM RECALLS WWI LEUVEN LIBARARY DESTRUCTION
The German destruction of the university library
served little strategic purpose beyond ruining what people held dear — a
practice that continues to thrive today, especially in the Middle East and
Africa war zones.
11. WHAT THREATENS $9B FLORIDA CITRUS INDUSTRY
Blame a mottled brown bug no bigger than a pencil
eraser and a disease called "the yellow dragon."
12.
FRENCH GOVERNMENT RESIGNS AS ECONOMY STALLS
France's government of Prime Minister Manuel Valls has
resigned; after senior ministers slammed President Francois Hollande's plans
for taxation and spending cuts, and called for alternative ways to Germany-led
austerity to exit the crisis.
The statement published
Monday said the new office would be formed on Tuesday and would be in the "direction he (the president) has
defined for our country."
The announcement comes a
day after the country’s Economic Minister Arnaud Montebourg and Education
Minister Benoît Hamon criticized Hollande's economic policy, calling to shift
the focus form the deficit-reduction measures.
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French Prime
Minister Manuel Valls.(AFP Photo / Charly Triballeau )
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"The priority must
be exiting crisis and the dogmatic reduction of deficits should come
second,"
Mr. Montebourg said in an interview with Le Monde published ahead of the annual
Fête de la Rose
meeting of Socialist Party activists at Frangy-en-Bresse in eastern France.
Montebourg also said it
was time to resist Germany's "obsession"
with austerity and work out some alternative ways to promote household
consumption.
"France is the
eurozone's second-biggest economy, the world's fifth-greatest power, and it
does not intend to align itself, ladies and gentlemen, with the excessive
obsessions of Germany's conservatives," Montebourg said.
The Ministers reminded that
the economic weakness was causing political extremism and could turn into
recession.
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