12 National & International Highlights To Know For Wednesday, September 24, 2014

GRAPHITTI NEWS collates national and international highlights from late-breaking news, up-coming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:

Participants observe a moment of meditation during the first plenary meeting of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly, at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 16, 2014. The UN General Assembly started its 69th session at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Niu Xiaolei)

1. ATIKU SAYS NIGERIA’S FUTURE SHOULD NOT BE SUBJECTED TO ‘LEADERSHIP EXPERIMENTATION’

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the future of Nigeria should not be subjected to “leadership experimentation”, insisting that there is leadership vacuum in the country.

Speaking at his formal presidential declaration on Wednesday in Abuja on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the former vice president expressed optimism that the opposition party will form the next government in 2015.

This will be the third time Atiku will run for the presidency in this Fourth Republic, the first as standard bearer of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2007 where he lost to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in the 2007 presidential poll as well as presidential aspirant of the PDP in 2011 where he was defeated by incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan at the party’s presidential primaries.

2. WE’RE FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO FISH OUT IGWE’S KILLER — LAGOS CP

The Lagos State Police Command yesterday said it is having challenges with the investigation into the death of late Vice-Chairman of The Sun Publishing Limited, Mr Dimgba Igwe who was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver three weeks ago in Ago-Okota area of the state.

The late Igwe, 58, was reportedly jogging when he was hit by a vehicle.

He was moved to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, for surgical emergency, unfortunately, he did not survive.

Speaking with newsmen yesterday, the CP, Kayode Aderanti, disclosed that the killer driver was yet to be apprehended despite intensified efforts.

Part of the difficulty faced by operatives of the State Criminal Investigation Department ,SCID, Yaba, according to the CP,  was inability to get information from eye-witnesses.

According to him: “My presence at the Sun Publishing Limited shows the commitment of the Inspector-General of Police over the death of the veteran journalist.

Late Igwe

‘’I have transferred the case to SCID for a thorough and comprehensive investigation because I want to take it beyond mere hit-and-run. I have even involved operatives of SARS.

‘’I am using this medium to appeal to members of the public to avail us with information because we tried to identify the kind of vehicle that knocked him down. So far, the information we have is scanty.

“That brings to mind the culture of having Closed-Circuit Television, CCTV, in our houses. This should not be left to government alone. Individual houses should also learn to install them in their premises.

If we had CCTV around, somebody, somewhere would have captured the incident and within 24 hours, we would have been able to solve this issue.”

He also appealed to the driver of the vehicle that knocked down  the late Igwe to come forward and give himself to the police, recalling that; “ A similar incident happened in Area ‘A’ sometime ago, where the driver showed up by himself in my office then, saying he was the one that hit the person in question. He said he had not been able to sleep since the incident occurred.

2. WORLD LEADERS MEET AT UN FACING TURMOIL FROM MULTIPLE CRISES, WITH FEW SOLUTIONS

Facing a world in turmoil from multiple crises ranging from wars in the Mideast and Africa to the deadly scourge of Ebola and growing Islamic radicalism, leaders from more than 140 countries open their annual meeting at the United Nations on Wednesday with few solutions.

The issue certain to top the agenda is the threat from Islamic terrorists intent on erasing borders, with the first U.S. and Arab airstrikes in Syria delivered Monday night in response.

Many diplomats hope that crisis won't drown out the plight of millions of civilians caught in conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza; the misery of the largest number of refugees since World War II; and global support for new U.N. goals to fight poverty and address climate change.

Looking at the array of complex challenges, Norway's Foreign Minister Borge Brende told The Associated Press: "It's unprecedented in a decade, that’s for sure."

He pointed to an unprecedented situation in which the U.N. and international donors are confronting four top-level humanitarian crises at the same time in Iraq, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Syria, which is now in the fourth year of a civil war which the U.N. says has killed more than 190,000 people.

Radical cleric Abu Qatada is pictured behind the bars at the state security court in Amman, Jordan. (AFP/STR)

3. JORDANIAN COURT ACQUITS RADICAL CLERIC ABU QATADA OF PLOTTING ATTACKS ON AMERICANS, ISRAELIS

A Jordanian court on Wednesday acquitted radical Muslim preacher Abu Qatada — known for his fiery pro-al-Qaida speeches — of involvement in a plot to target Israeli and American tourists and Western diplomats in Jordan more than a decade ago.

The ruling capped a lengthy legal odyssey for the 53-year-old cleric who has been described as a onetime lieutenant to Osama bin Laden, but in recent months emerged as a harsh critic of the Islamic State militant group. Abu Qatada was deported from Britain to Jordan last year, after years of fighting extradition.

The three-judge panel unanimously acquitted Abu Qatada "because of the lack of convincing charges against him," said Judge Ahmed Qattarneh.

The gray-bearded Abu Qatada sat on a bench in a cage in the courtroom, largely blocked from view by black-clad riot policemen lining the case. When the verdict was announced he briefly punched his left fist in the air.

Several family members jumped up from their seats, one calling out "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great."

4. ANTI-ADDICTION ACTIVISTS CALL FOR US FDA CHIEF'S RESIGNATION AMID PAINKILLER ABUSE EPIDEMIC

Anti-addiction activists are calling for the United States Food and Drug Administration's top official to step down, saying the agency's policies have contributed to a national epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse.

In a letter released Wednesday, more than a dozen groups ask the Obama administration's top health official to replace FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who has led the agency since 2009. The FDA has been under fire from public health advocates, politicians and law enforcement officials since last October, when it approved a powerful new painkiller called Zohydro against the recommendation of its own medical advisers.

The new letter is the first formal call for new leadership at the FDA over the issue.

"We are especially frustrated by the FDA's continued approval of new, dangerous, high-dose opioid analgesics that are fueling high rates of addiction and overdose deaths," states the letter, which is addressed to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, who oversees the FDA and other health agencies. The groups signing the letter include Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, a 900-member advocacy group that petitioned the FDA to drastically restrict opioid use. The FDA rejected that petition last year.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services said opioid abuse "is a serious issue and one that the secretary is focused on."

5. INDIA DECLARES MARS MISSION A SUCCESS, WITH SATELLITE NOW CIRCLING RED PLANET FOR SCIENCE DATA

India triumphed in its first interplanetary mission, placing a satellite into orbit around Mars on Wednesday and catapulting the country into an elite club of deep-space explorers.

In scenes broadcast live on Indian TV, scientists broke into wild cheers as the orbiter's engines completed 24 minutes of burn time to maneuver the spacecraft into its designated place around the red planet.

"We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a live broadcast from the Indian Space and Research Organisation's command center in the southern tech hub of Bangalore.

"We have navigated our craft through a route known to very few," Modi said, congratulating the scientists and "all my fellow Indians on this historic occasion."

Scientists described the final stages of the Mars Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, as flawless. The success marks a milestone for the space program in demonstrating that it can conduct complex missions and act as a global launch pad for commercial, navigational and research satellites.

A herd of deer cross a snow covered gravel road, in this Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011 file photo taken near Prairie City, Iowa. Long the bane of gardeners and unwary motorists, soaring deer populations are also nuisances for airports and threats to pilots, especially at this time of year, according to aviation and wildlife experts. There were only about 350,000 of the creatures in the U.S. in 1900. By 1984 there were 15 million and by 2010 more than 28 million. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

6. SOARING DEER POPULATIONS ARE NUISANCES FOR AIRPORTS, THREATS TO PILOTS

Long the bane of gardeners and unwary motorists, soaring deer populations are also nuisances for airports and threats to pilots, especially at this time of year, according to aviation and wildlife experts.

Whether driven by hunger or just crazy for love, deer will do seemingly anything to get onto airport grounds and runways, including leaping over tall fences or squeezing under them. Once there, they like to warm themselves by sauntering on runways, which hold heat longer than cold ground. But put a deer and a plane together on a runway and both can have a very bad day.

From 1990 to 2013, there were 1,088 collisions between planes and deer, elk, moose and caribou, according to a recent joint report by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Agriculture Department. Most of the planes suffered damage, and some were destroyed, the report said. One person was killed and 29 others injured. No mention is made of the fate of the deer.

The vast majority of collisions involved white-tailed deer, the smallest member of the North American deer family, but big enough to wreck a plane. There were only about 350,000 of the creatures in the U.S. in 1900. By 1984 there were 15 million and by 2010 more than 28 million. They've caused US$44 million in aircraft damage and 238,000 hours of lost flying time over the past 24 years. About 30 percent of collisions occurred during the October-November mating season.

Last month in Florida, the propeller of a small plane landing at night at the Ormond Beach Municipal Airport struck a deer, causing the plane's front landing gear to collapse, according to local police. The pilot and three passengers were unhurt.

7. TINY WASPS TASKED WITH SAVING INDONESIA'S CASSAVA CROP FROM DEVASTATING PEST

They are the size of a pinhead and don't even pack a sting, but these tiny wasps are cold-blooded killers nonetheless. They work as nature's SWAT team, neutralizing a pest that threatens to destroy one of the developing world's most important staple foods: cassava.

The wasps are being released in Indonesia, the latest country threatened by the mealybug. It's a chalky white insect shaped like a pill that's been making its way across Southeast Asia's fields for the past six years.

But unlike in Thailand, where infestations reached some 250,000 hectares (618,000 acres) of crops grown mostly as part of the country's huge export business, cassava in Indonesia is a vital food source second only to rice. That makes the mealybug a serious threat to food security in Indonesia, which already has one of the region's highest child malnutrition rates.

The parasitic wasps, or Anagyrus lopezi, need the mealybug to survive. Females lay their eggs inside the insect and as the larvae grow, they eat the bug from the inside out, slowly killing it until there's nothing left but its mummified shell.

On Wednesday, scientists will put 2,000 wasps into a holding cage at an affected field in Bogor, on the outskirts of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. They will be monitored to see how well they handle local conditions as they multiply to an expected 300,000 before being released into the wild to start their relentless killing spree.

8. INVESTIGATOR GARCIA CALLS FOR FIFA TO MAKE REPORT PUBLIC

Michael Garcia, the chairman of the inquiry into the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments, called on soccer's world governing body FIFA on Wednesday to make his report public.

In a statement, issued by his office in Chicago, Garcia, who submitted his 350-page report to German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert earlier this month, said FIFA should reconsider its position to keep it private.

While Garcia has led the investigation into alleged corruption surrounding the votes for the two tournaments, won by Russia and Qatar respectively, Eckert will decide what sanctions, if any, should be imposed.

In his statement Garcia said: "Given the limited role Mr Hans-Joachim Eckert envisions for the Adjudicatory Chamber, I believe it is now necessary for the FIFA Executive Committee to authorize the appropriate publication of the Report on the Inquiry into the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup Bidding Process.

"Publication would be consistent with statements made by a number of Executive Committee members, with the view recently expressed by Independent Governance Committee Chair Mark Pieth, and with the goals of the reform process."

Last week British Conservative MP Damian Collins said he had written to Britain's Serious Fraud Office asking that it obtains a copy of the investigation which could lead to criminal charges.

Earlier on Wednesday, a statement from Eckert said he expected to give some indication publicly at the beginning of November of his position regarding Garcia's findings, adding it was up to Garcia to decide whether any more specific proceedings should be started against individuals.

Eckert's statement went on to quote article 36 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, which effectively says that only the final decision of the adjudicatory chamber may be made public -- meaning what is in the report stays behind closed doors.

Garcia's statement on Wednesday comes the day before the start of a two-day FIFA executive committee meeting in Zurich.

In recent weeks FIFA executive committee members and vice-presidents Jim Boyce of Northern Ireland and Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, as well as Moya Doidd of Australia and Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, have all called for Garcia's full findings to be made public.

9. NO SINGLE EBOLA CASE IN NIGERIA, SAYS CHUKWU

After months of battling the scourge of the highly-contagious Ebola Virus Disease, Nigeria has been declared free of the hemorrhagic fever that has killed more than 2,800 people across West Africa.

Minister of health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, made the confirmation on Wednesday while speaking with Forbes ahead of a United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

“Presently, there is no single case of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria – none,” he said.

“No cases are under treatment, no suspected cases. There are no contacts in Lagos that are still under surveillance, having completed a minimum of 21 days of observation.”

The first case of the virus in Nigeria was recorded when Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American arrived the country from Liberia on July 20. Though seven Nigerians lost their lives to Ebola, almost that same number of people recovered from it.

Reuters. Members of the South African Army transport a pilgrim, who sustained injuries in a collapsed church guesthouse in Lagos and was evacuated from Nigeria, upon arriving at an air force base north of Johannesburg September 22 2014.

10. SIX INJURED SOUTH AFRICANS DISCHARGED

Six people who were injured in a building collapse in Nigeria have been discharged from the Steve Biko Academic Hospital and have been cleared of any dangerous infections.

“It was five but now it’s gone up to six that have been discharged,” the hospital's deputy chief executive Dr Mathabo Mathebula told Sapa on the telephone.

“None of the (25 admitted) patients had any dangerous infections, they are all fine.”

Around 115 people, among them 84 South Africans, were killed and dozens trapped when a multi-storey guesthouse attached to the Synagogue Church of All Nations, run by Nigerian preacher TB Joshua, collapsed in Lagos on September 12.

11. CHINA MUST CLOSE SUICIDE "LOOPHOLE" FOR CORRUPT OFFICIALS -ACADEMIC

China must close the "judicial loophole" of suicide for corrupt officials in its ongoing battle against graft, a well-known scholar said in the official China Daily on Wednesday.

President Xi Jinping has vowed to target high-flying "tigers" as well as lowly "flies" in an anti-corruption drive that has ensnared many high-ranking officials, including the powerful former domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang, and Jiang Jiemin, once the top regulator of state-owned enterprises.

In a commentary, Lin Zhe, a professor of anti-corruption studies at the ruling Communist Party's Central Party School, said corrupt officials use suicide as a tool to evade punishment by the party's anti-graft authorities.

Corrupt officials who kill themselves can "preserve their titles and honor" as well as their ill-gotten gains, which remain in the hands of their families, he added.

"Considering the astonishing sums of money an official can obtain through corruption, that's a good deal for them and their families," Lin said.

Just 37 percent of officials who commit suicide actually suffer from psychological or other pressure, Lin said.

Some officials may kill themselves to avoid becoming witnesses in bigger cases, he added, saying authorities in China must take measures to "close that loophole".

"It might be difficult to change the principles, such as ending prosecution against dead suspects, but at least disciplinary investigations should continue against them, and dig deep into their background," he said.

"Only when corrupt officials realize that committing suicide will no longer protect their illegal income will they give up the idea."

Zhou, who was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee - China's apex of power - retired in 2012.

 Map of South Sudan and Location on the map of Africa

12. HOPES DASHED FOR NEW SOUTH SUDAN ECONOMY AS WAR GRINDS ON AND FAMINE LOOMS

When South Sudan was born, the world's youngest country had generous Western allies and sturdy oil exports, a formula that offered a chance to build a modern economy and drag its people out of their daily struggle to feed themselves.

Three years on, ethnic-fuelled conflict has flared, oil money has been spirited away through corruption or squandered on war and a nation that sits on Sub-Saharan Africa's third biggest reserves of crude is sliding towards famine.

In the capital Juba, a muddy Nile trading post where new office blocks had begun rising, trading firms and banks that had sprung up now struggle to survive after nine months of fighting between government forces and rebels.

In the rural hinterland, where most of the country's 11 million people till tiny plots of land or herd cattle on traditional pastures, hopes of development entertained when South Sudan split from Sudan in 2011 have been dashed.

"We are just living as you can see, with no job, no money. We thought our independence from Sudan would mean our children would go to school and see no war," said Simon Koul, a 47-year-old father of five in a Juba camp, one of an estimated 1.3 million people who have fled their homes due to fighting.

By year end, a third of the nation could face the threat of starvation. Already, almost 180,000 children between 6 months old and five years are being treated for severe acute malnutrition. Mothers are more likely to die in childbirth than anywhere else in the world, according to U.N. statistics.

"There was no country on earth that had a larger score of goodwill than South Sudan," Thomas Shannon, a U.S. State Department envoy for Africa, told Reuters. "But beginning in December it has been spending that goodwill at record speed."

The United States had heralded South Sudan's independence as a foreign policy success and, with other Western donors such as Britain and Norway, poured in aid, helping spur a mini-boom in the capital that was meant to spread to the rest of the nation.

Now Western and regional African diplomats talk of mounting frustration at President Salva Kiir and the deputy he sacked last year, Riek Machar, as they continue to command rival forces in battle. Nascent businesses that might have brought a modern economy are buckling under the pressure.

"There is fear. People don't want to expand their businesses, and those who are operating in the crisis areas, they lost a lot," said Bruna Siricio, deputy managing director of locally-owned Ivory Bank.

The bank moved its headquarters from Sudan's capital Khartoum to the south's capital Juba in 2009 to take advantage of the opportunities that independence would bring, but now faces a stark reality.

President Salva Kiir

In a country where only a tiny fraction of the population had ever had a bank account, Ivory Bank set up branches in remote locations. Government employees could be paid their salaries directly into their accounts, which could be used as guarantees for loans.

DEFAULT

Now, its branches in war-torn towns of Malakal, Bentiu and Bor, north of Juba, have shut. The government has stopped transferring salaries to customer accounts to avoid paying workers who rebelled, so many loans are not being serviced.

This month the bank advertised in newspapers telling defaulters to report to the bank or face legal action. Siricio said the bank had stopped all lending for the next three months.

"We are concentrating on collection," Siricio said at the bank's headquarters, which like other firms relies on a private generator for power in a nation where experts say just 1 percent of the population are connected to the grid.

One of the biggest challenges for banks and businesses is securing foreign exchange to pay for purchases abroad. Scarcity has a swift impact on the land-locked economy that relies heavily on imports from neighbours such as Kenya and Uganda.

The central bank initially reduced dollar sales to banks to fund letters of credit, and has now stopped such sales completely, bankers say. That makes it harder for importers to buy goods. While the official exchange rate is 2.95 pounds to the dollar, the cost of a dollar on the black market has risen from 3.50 pounds before the fighting to around 5 pounds now.

Central bank officials were not available for comment.

"I have South Sudanese pounds but it's harder for us to get dollars from the bank," said Abjata Abdi Abdullah, a Kenyan trader who needs hard currency to import clothes for his shop.

SAVINGS PLUNDERED

The currency shortage has led to rising prices and decreased availability of imported food, pushing the country further towards hunger.

John Semolina, a Ugandan grains store owner in Juba's Konyo Konyo market, said the dollar shortage means he has cut back on imports of maize and sugar, having a knock on effect on prices and availability down the supply chain.

"Sometimes it takes so long to find money to pay suppliers in Uganda," he said.

Bishar Oman, who sells electronics, said the steady pound weakening had pushed up the price of his laptops, mobile phones and other devices, so now even fewer customers can afford them.

South Sudan should be flush with cash from oil exports. But its savings have been plundered, after about US$5 billion of reserves was taken by officials in the years shortly before and after independence. Diplomats said efforts to recover the funds retrieved little of the missing cash.

Waves upon waves of refugees from the South Sudan conflict

Oil income has fallen. Crude production now runs at 160,000 barrels per day, a third lower than it was in December before fighting erupted and roughly half the 300,000 barrels per day or so it exported at the time of independence.

Officials suggest a large chunk of the income that still flows now goes on the war effort, halting development projects in a country the size of France with almost no tarmac roads and barely any public services.

Officials do not offer full details on spending, but parliamentary deputy Onyoti Agigo Nyikwac said about four fifths of a supplementary budget worth US$700 million went on "security".

One member of parliament said the government had to buy more guns after rebels emptied armouries when they deserted. Officials deny the government has bought weapons since fighting began but acknowledge priorities have changed.

"During this crisis, the demand for foreign currency has shifted from normal trade to other activities," said Ukuni Paul Omseon, a project officer for a Finance Ministry department that helps private business. He cited funding for "emergencies".

The government said in July it planned to borrow about US$1 billion from oil firms to help it balance the budget.

Some of the dollars that do make it into the market come via U.N. and other aid agency workers, as the aid groups ramp up activities to avert a deepening humanitarian disaster.

Mabior Deng, 29-year-old South Sudanese exchange dealer, makes a tidy income buying dollars from workers at the United Nations at a rate of 4.65 pounds and then selling them on for more. "I get my profit from there," he said.