GRAPHITTI NEWS collates national and
international highlights from late-breaking news, up-coming events and the
stories that will be talked about Monday:
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Presidents Idriss Deby of Chad, Hollande of
France and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of Nigeria at the West Africa Security
Summit hosted in Paris by Hollande earlier in 2014
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1.
NO SAUDI BAN OVER EBOLA FOR NIGERIANS GOING ON HAJJ - ARAB NEWS
Saudi
Arabia, which has barred pilgrims from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea from
the haj due to Ebola concerns, will allow Nigerians to attend, an official was
reported on Monday as saying, suggesting the smaller outbreak there was less
worrying.
Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone have been worst hit by an outbreak of the disease in
West Africa, with a combined death toll in those three countries since March of
2,097, as at Sept. 5, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
A
further eight people have died in Nigeria, out of 23 cases, and there has been
one confirmed case in Senegal.
There
are no approved Ebola vaccines or treatments.
Saudi
Arabia said in April it would not issue visas for the 2014 haj to pilgrims from
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea due to the Ebola outbreak in those countries.
Millions
travel to Mecca each year for the haj pilgrimage that all Muslims must perform
at least once in their lifetime, if they are able. This year's will take place
in October.
2.
BOKO HARAM: JONATHAN TO MEET CHAD PRESIDENT
President
Goodluck Jonathan will on Monday depart Abuja for Ndjamena for talks with his
Chadian counterpart, Idriss Deby.
The
trip is in continuation of the Federal Government’s efforts to forge a stronger
alliance with Nigeria’s neighbours in the battle against the Boko Haram
insurgents.
According
to a statement by the presidential media aide, Rueben Abati, the talks are
expected to lead to the strengthening of the Paris Accord on joint border
patrols, intelligence sharing and the prevention of the illicit movement of
terrorists, criminals, arms and ammunition across shared borders.
“In
continuation of the Federal Government’s efforts to forge a stronger alliance
against terrorism and violent extremism with Nigeria’s neighbours, President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will travel to Ndjamena tomorrow for talks with his
Chadian counterpart, President Idriss Deby.
3.
UPDATE: ANOTHER NIGERIAN TESTS POSITIVE FOR EBOLA
Nigeria
has recorded one more case of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), minister of health,
Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, has confirmed. The latest victim, the 19th case
according to the minister, is a fiancé of a primary contact of the index case,
Patrick Sawyer.
While
one more Ebola victim was being confirmed, another was declared successfully
managed and discharged from the hospital. The discharged patient, who was
treated in Port Harcourt, is a sister of the late doctor who attended to the
contact that fled Lagos for the capital of Rivers State.
“Total
number of confirmed cases now 19, with total number of deaths still 7 while
there are now 10 survivors of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Nigeria so far,”
Chukwu said. “Port Harcourt has a total of 477 currently under surveillance;
five have been discharged after completing 21 days observation.
“Total
number of contacts of Ebola currently under surveillance in Lagos has reduced
to 27. Total of 339 contacts previously on surveillance have been released
after completing 21 days of observation.” He clarified that the 15 out of the
19 recorded cases were in Lagos, while four were in Port Harcourt. Chukwu stated
that only the wife of the late Port Harcourt doctor is currently under
treatment.
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A campaign aimed at destroying The Islamic State
in Syria and Iraq could outlast Barack Obama’s presidency, senior officials
have warned
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4.
OBAMA PLANS TO OUTLINE STRATEGY WEDNESDAY ON COMBATING ISLAMIC STATE MILITANTS
President
Barack Obama plans to begin laying out his strategy for defeating Islamic State
militants expanding their grip in Iraq and Syria.
He'll
outline his evolving tactics when he meets with congressional leaders from both
parties at the White House on Tuesday and then delivers a speech Wednesday on
the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Lawmakers
said in advance that they would like the president to give specifics.
The
president should target command and control centres and oil refineries
controlled by insurgents within Syria, suggested Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who
sits on both the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees.
Rubio,
claiming that Obama has committed "presidential malpractice in his foreign
policy," said he is eager to hear directly what Obama "should have
said months, weeks ago."
5.
EBOLA EXPERTS: VIRUS IS SURGING IN PLACES WHERE IT WAS BEATEN BACK; ENTIRE
COUNTRIES AT RISK
Doctors
Without Borders shuttered one of its Ebola treatment centres in Guinea in May.
They thought the deadly virus was being contained there.
The
Macenta region, right on the Liberian border, had been one of the first places
where the outbreak surfaced, but they hadn't seen a new case for weeks. So they
packed up, leaving a handful of staff on stand-by. The outbreak was showing
signs of slowing elsewhere as well.
Instead,
new cases appeared across the border in Liberia and then spread across West
Africa, carried by the sick and dying. Now, months later, Macenta is once again
a hotspot.
The
resurgence of the disease in a place where doctors thought they had it beat
shows how history's largest Ebola outbreak has spun out of control.
It
began with people leaving homes in Liberia to seek better care or reunite with
families back in Guinea, a pattern repeating itself all over.
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S. Truett
Cathy, the billionaire founder of the privately held Chick-fil-A restaurant
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6.
SPOKESMAN: CHICK-FIL-A RESTAURANT FOUNDER S. TRUETT CATHY HAS DIED AT AGE 93
S.
Truett Cathy, the billionaire founder of the privately held Chick-fil-A
restaurant chain that famously closes on Sundays but also drew unwanted
attention on gay marriage in recent years because of his family's conservative
views, died early Monday, a company spokesman said. He was 93.
Chick-fil-A
spokesman Mark Baldwin told The Associated Press that Cathy died at home
surrounded by members of his family. Funeral plans had not yet been finalized,
he said.
Cathy
opened his first post-war diner in an Atlanta suburb in 1946 and by 1967 he had
founded and opened his first Chick-fil-A Inc. restaurant in Atlanta. Over
ensuing decades, the chain's boneless chicken sandwich he is credited with
inventing would propel Chick-fil-A expansion to more than 1,800 outlets in 39
states and the nation's capital. By early 2013, the company says on its website,
annual sales topped $5 billion as the chain offered up a taste of the South
that went beyond chicken to such offerings as sweet tea, biscuits and gravy.
Under
the religiously conservative founder, the chain gained prominence for its Bible
Belt observance of Sunday — none of its hundreds of restaurants are open on
that day, to allow employees a day of rest. Its executives often said the chain
made as much money in six days as its competitors do in seven.
Those
religious views helped win Cathy and his family loyal following from
conservative customers, but also invited protests when Cathy's son denounced
gay marriage.
7.
CEASE-FIRE HOLDS IN EASTERN UKRAINE AS COUNTRY'S LEADER VISITS WAR-TORN REGION
A
cease-fire between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government troops appeared
to be largely holding in eastern Ukraine Monday, a day after shelling and
clashes rattled nerves and imperilled the peace deal.
In
a statement published online, the city council of Donetsk said there had been
no reported casualties overnight and that public transport would be up and
running on Tuesday. No shelling or explosions could be heard overnight in
downtown Donetsk.
The
regional administration of Donetsk announced that Ukrainian president Petro
Poroshenko would be traveling to the coastal city of Mariupol on Monday, a
symbolic show of strength in a government-held city that has come under rebel
fire in recent days.
The
area around Mariupol had remained relatively untouched by violence until recent
weeks, when rebel forces pushed toward the coastal town, shelling the city's
outskirts as recently as Saturday. The city is strategically placed on the Sea
of Azov coastline, raising fears that the Moscow-backed rebels could be pushing
to link up mainland Russia with Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by
Russia in March.
The
Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Monday that 15 Ukrainian soldiers had
been released by rebel forces, another key element of a peace deal between the
rebels and Ukrainian troops.
8.
THREE ITALIAN NUNS KILLED IN BURUNDI
Three
Italian nuns were found killed over the weekend in a parish in the north of
Burundi's capital, officials and a priest in the African state said on Monday.
Police
said two suspects had been detained for questioning.
Father
Mario Pulicini, responsible for the parish in a northern suburb of Bujumbura,
named two of the nuns as Lucia Pulici, who was 75 and due to celebrate her
birthday on Monday, and Olga Raschietti, 82. He said they were found dead in
their dormitory on Sunday.
The
third nun, 79-year-old Bernadetta Boggian, was found early on Monday morning,
he told Reuters, adding that the killings appeared to happen at two separate
times.
"It
is very difficult to know the reason behind the killing, but nothing can
justify it," Father Mario said.
Italy's
Foreign Ministry also reported the three deaths.
The
Catholic diocese in Parma, Italy, said on its website that the death of Pulici
and Raschietti appeared to have been "the tragic outcome of an armed robbery
by a mentally unbalanced person".
Those
two nuns had served in Burundi for seven years, after working several years in
the east of another central African state, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
9.
INDIAN, PAKISTANI TROOPS HELP RESCUE PEOPLE STRANDED BY DEADLY FLOODING AS
RIVERS STILL RISE
Army
and air force troops on Monday worked to rescue thousands of people stranded in
Indian-controlled Kashmir and northern and eastern Pakistan, where flooding and
landslides have caused more than 320 deaths.
Six
days of rains in Indian Kashmir have left more than 120 people dead in the
region's worst flooding in more than five decades, submerging hundreds of
villages and triggering landslides, officials said. In neighbouring Pakistan,
more than 205 people have died and thousands of homes have collapsed.
In
Islamabad, Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority spokesman Ahmad
Kamal said the death toll had risen to 205 people with at least 383 more
injured over the past six days.
Pakistani
troops were helping civilian authorities in rescue operations and in getting
aid to stranded villagers, the Pakistani army said in a statement.
So
far nearly 9,000 people have been evacuated from nearly 530 villagers that were
inundated by flood waters, Kamal said.
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Special moment: The Duke and Duchess with their
son George arrive at Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, ahead of the christening
of the three month-old by the Archbishop of Canterbury on October 23, 2013
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10.
BRITISH ROYAL COUPLE EXPECTING SECOND CHILD; KATE BEING TREATED FOR MORNING
SICKNESS
The
Duchess of Cambridge, wife of Prince William, is expecting her second child and
was being treated for severe morning sickness, royal officials said Monday.
The
couple and their families were "delighted" with the news, according
to their office, Clarence House.
The
duchess was being treated at Kensington Palace for severe morning sickness,
Clarence House said. She suffered from morning sickness during her first
pregnancy with Prince George, who was born in July 2013.
Prime
Minister David Cameron said he was "delighted by the happy news that
they're expecting another baby."
The
new baby will become fourth in line to the throne, pushing Prince Harry to
fifth.
11.
FA HAS 'FORGOTTEN FAIR PLAY' - SEPP
Sepp
Blatter has confirmed he will definitely stand for a fifth term as FIFA
president and accompanied the announcement with a blast at the Football
Association.
Blatter
had said in 2011 that he would stand down next year, but has now firmed up
expectations that he will run for another four years.
The
FA was among the national governing bodies that had publicly opposed him doing
so - and Blatter claimed the organization has "forgotten" fair play
and was a bad loser following its humiliating defeat in the bid for the 2018
World Cup.
The
78-year-old, whose announcement comes after UEFA president Michel Platini's
decision last month that he will not stand for the FIFA post, said he would
officially inform the FIFA executive committee of his plans on September 23 and
24.
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FIFA president Sepp Blatter, pictured right, will stand for a fifth term
as FIFA president
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Blatter
said in a video interview played at the Soccerex conference in Manchester:
"I will inform the executive committee. It's a question of respect also to
say then to the football family, 'Yes I will be ready, I will be a
candidate'."
"You
see a mission is never finished. And my mission is not finished. "
He
said the backing of the majority of the national associations at the FIFA
Congress in Sao Paulo in June had convinced him to keep going - though FA
chairman Greg Dyke was among those who spoke out against Blatter in Brazil.
Blatter
said he "still respects" Dyke, who is "a good guy", but
that England should take defeat gracefully.
12.
SERENA LIVING THE DREAM IN NEW YORK
Serena
Williams never imagined she would one day rank alongside tennis icons Martina
Navratilova and Chris Evert.
By
beating close friend Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-3 in the US Open final, Williams
joined Navratilova and Evert on 18 grand slam singles titles.
And,
as she proved once again in a dominant display, at her best she has no rivals,
less than a month short of her 33rd birthday.
Steffi
Graf's Open era record of 22 is the next significant milestone, and there is no
reason Williams cannot equal that, too, in the not too distant future.
As
well as the magical 18, Williams also won a third straight title at the same
slam for the first time and claimed her sixth US Open crown, 15 years after her
first.
"It
means a lot to me," she said. "I just could never have imagined that
I would be mentioned with Chris Evert or with Martina Navratilova, because I
was just a kid with a dream and a racquet.
"Living in Compton,
this never happened before. And then it was eluding me for three tournaments.
That's a lot for me. I was really excited to get it. It was definitely
(weighing) on my shoulders."
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Serena Williams, pictured, retained her US Open
title after beating Caroline Wozniacki (AP)
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