GRAPHITTI NEWS collates 12 national and international highlights of late-breaking news,
upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday:
 |
|
The first case
of Ebola in Mali was confirmed tonight, making it the sixth West African
country to be touched by the worst outbreak on record of the deadly disease.
Above, a photo of a health worker checking the temperature of a child
entering Mali from Guinea at the border in Kouremale.
|
1.
GIRL, 2, IS FIRST CONFIRMED EBOLA CASE IN MALI
The
first case of Ebola in Mali was confirmed tonight, making it the sixth West
African country to be touched by the worst outbreak on record of the deadly
disease.
Health
Minister Ousmane Kone told state television that the patient was a two-year-old
girl who had recently arrived from neighbouring Guinea, where the outbreak
began.
The
child was brought to a hospital in the Malian town of Kayes - which is about
375 miles from the capital of Bamako - on Wednesday, and her blood sample
tested positive for the virus.
'The
condition of the girl, according to our services, is improving thanks to her
rapid treatment,' the minister said.
He
added: 'The sick child and the people who were in contact with her in Kayes
were immediately identified and taken care of.'
A
health ministry official, who asked not to be identified, said the girl's
mother died in Guinea a few weeks ago and the child was brought by relatives to
Bamako, where she stayed for 10 days in the Bagadadji neighborhood before
heading to Kayes.
Health
officials have long viewed Mali as one of the most vulnerable to Ebola's spread
as the nation borders Guinea - one of the hardest-hit countries - and Senegal.
The
news emerged after the World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier today that
it had 'reasonable confidence' the Ebola virus plaguing three West African
countries had not spread into neighbouring states.
Mali
becomes the sixth West African country to report an Ebola case - though nearly
all the cases and deaths have occurred in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Senegal
and Nigeria had imported cases though both have now been declared Ebola-free. Last
week, the WHO said it would send teams of experts to Mali and Ivory Coast to
check their preparedness.
The
economic damage of a major outbreak in Ivory Coast would be felt around the
world, since it and next-door Ghana produce about 60 percent of the world's
cocoa beans.
Although
Senegal and Nigeria managed to contain the disease imported by travellers,
Ebola is still raging in the three countries at the heart of the epidemic.
The
WHO's Emergency Committee advising on Ebola said screening people leaving
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea by air, land and sea remained critical for
reducing its spread.
At
a minimum, exit screening should consist of 'a questionnaire, a temperature
measurement and, if fever is discovered, an assessment of the risk that the
fever is caused by Ebola', the independent experts said after closed-door
talks.
 |
|
Mrs. Patience
Jonathan
|
2.
JONATHAN’S WIFE RESIGNS AS BAYELSA PERMANENT SECRETARY
Wife
of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, has resigned her appointment as
Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State Civil Service.
The
57-year-old Patience was said to have left the service voluntarily.
She
was one of the appointed 17 permanent secretaries in the state civil service in
July 2012.
The
appointment had caused outrage in the state at the time with some Bayelsa
residents accusing Governor Seriake Dickson of politicising the civil service
in the state.
Though
Ministry of Education sources said Patience disengaged from service
voluntarily, there were speculations that she resigned because of alleged rift
between her and Dickson.
The
alleged frosty relationship between the governor and the President’s wife was
said to have been triggered by Patience unwillingness to support Dickson’s
second term bid.
Instead,
it was learnt that Jonathan’s wife had expressed her preference for the Special
Assistant to the President on Domestic Matters, Mr. Waripamowei Dudafa.
It
was learnt that Patience resigned her appointment to enable her to have the
moral justification to push her candidate.
At
the state’s Ministry of Education on Thursday, many of the civil servants
refused to comment on the development.
But
our correspondent learnt from reliable sources that the ministry had computed
her terminal benefits already.
One
civil servant, who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity, said, “The
whole thing is political. It appears Madam (the President’s wife) is not happy
with the governor. With her resignation, the battle line has been drawn.
“I
feel the President’s wife resigned to enable her to have the moral right to slug
it out with Dickson ahead of the governorship poll in the state. Let no one
deceive you, the whole thing is politics. After all, she is 57 and the
retirement age is 60.”
When
contacted, Chief Salo Adikumo, who resigned during the week as Commissioner for
Education, said he was no longer the commissioner.
“I
resigned recently as commissioner to enable me to pursue my political ambition.
Please direct all your enquiries to the ministry,” he said.
However,
a ranking official of the ministry said it was true Patience had resigned
voluntarily.
The
official, who did not want her name in print because she was not authorised to
speak on the matter, said she was not aware of the resignation having political
undercurrents.
She
said, “I can say Patience Jonathan has voluntarily retired. But whether there
is political undertone in her resignation or not, I cannot say.
“I
think the First Lady felt that her continued stay as Permanent Secretary will
be depriving others. Now that she has resigned, it will afford others the
opportunity to take over her position.
“Already,
in accordance with the civil service rules, we have prepared all her
entitlements. Whatever is due her will be given to her. She will also be
receiving her pension.”
 |
|
Craig Spencer works as a fellow of
international emergency medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital
|
3.
NYC DOCTOR TESTS POSITIVE FOR EBOLA
A
New York doctor who recently returned from Ebola-hit Guinea in West Africa has
tested positive for the disease.
Dr
Craig Spencer, who treated Ebola patients while working for the charity Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF), came down with a fever on Thursday, days after
his return, officials say.
He
is the first Ebola case diagnosed in New York, and the fourth in the US.
Meanwhile,
Mali has confirmed its first case of Ebola after a two-year-old girl tested
positive for the virus.
4,900 people have died of Ebola - mainly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra
Leone - since March.
EU
leaders pledged at a summit on Friday to boost aid to combat Ebola in West
Africa to 1bn euros (US$1.25bn; £785m), EU president Herman Van Rompuy tweeted.
Member
states and the European Commission have already pledged nearly 600m euros.
Dr
Spencer, 33, left Guinea on 14 October, and returned to New York City on 17
October via Europe. On Tuesday he began to feel tired and developed a fever and
diarrhoea on Thursday.
He
immediately contacted medical services and was taken to the city's Bellevue
Hospital, where he is being kept in isolation.
President
Barack Obama said his thoughts and prayers were with the patient.
New
York officials said Dr Spencer had travelled on the subway and gone out jogging
before he started feeling unwell.
But
at a news conference late on Thursday, they sought to ease fears of an outbreak
in the densely populated city of 8.4 million people, saying officials had
prepared for weeks for an Ebola case. They added that those who came into
contact with Dr Spencer were not at risk.
WHO
describes outbreak, which has claimed 4,900 lives including at least 1,250 in
Sierra Leone, as global public health emergency.
 |
|
Floral tributes
to Cpl.Nathan Cirillo sit at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Thursday,
Oct. 23, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)
|
4.
POSSIBLE EXPLANATION EMERGES FOR DEADLY ATTACK IN CANADA
Canadians
are mourning the loss of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, the army reservist who was shot
dead as he stood guard before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Wednesday.
Flags were flown at half-staff to honor Cirillo, a 24-year-old a reservist from
Hamilton, Ontario, whose shooting on Wednesday began an attack that ended with
a lone gunman storming into Parliament and opening fire before being shot dead
himself.
The
gunman had talked about wanting to go to Libya or Syria, and may have lashed
out in frustration over delays in getting a passport.
5.
SOUTH SUDANESE WOMEN PLAN SEX STRIKE TO END CIVIL WAR
A
group of women peace activists in South Sudan has suggested that men in the
civil war-torn country be denied sex until they stop fighting.
The
idea emerged after women delegates, including parliamentarians, met in the
capital Juba this week to come up with ideas on how to "to advance the
cause of peace", a report said.
A
key suggestion was to "mobilise all women in South Sudan to deny their
husbands conjugal rights until they ensure that peace returns," organisers
said in a statement.
Other
proposals included finding ways to meet the wives of President Salva Kiir and
his arch-rival, rebel chief Riek Machar, to "ask them to join the search
for peace and reconciliation by impressing upon their husbands to stop the
war".
Thousands
of people have been killed and almost two million have fled the fighting
between government troops, mutinous soldiers and tribal militia forces.
Civilians have been massacred, patients murdered in hospitals and people killed
while sheltering in churches.
6.
EUROPE PLEDGES TO EASE GLOBAL WARMING
Meeting
in Brussels, EU leaders agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40
percent by 2030.
 |
|
Luis Suarez
will make his Barcelona debut in Saturday's El Clasico
|
7.
SUAREZ TO DEBUT IN EL CLASICO
Head
coach Luis Enrique has confirmed that Luis Suarez will make his Barcelona debut
during El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
The
clash between Barca and Real Madrid has always been the biggest event on the
Primera Division calendar but Suarez's return from his four-month ban for
biting Giorgio Chiellini at last summer's World Cup adds extra spice to an
already highly-anticipated encounter.
The
manager now has a decision to make as to whether he starts his marquee signing
on the bench or goes with a three-pronged attack with Suarez, Neymar and Lionel
Messi.
The
head coach is highly unlikely to split the Argentinian and the Brazilian, who
have scored 13 goals between them in the last five games but he has revealed
that Suarez will definitely feature in some capacity on Saturday.
"Today
I cannot play this game but you will have assurance he will play minutes,"
he told Spanish media at his pre-match press conference. "How many? I do
not know.
"It's
an important occasion for him and he will have minutes."
8.
US PREPARING TO TRANSFER AFGHAN SUSPECT
The
move by the Obama administration would mark the first time a military detainee
from Afghanistan has been brought to the U.S. for trial.
 |
In this Feb. 11, 2011 file photo, more than 300
people participate in Barry University’s first ever College Brides Walk, with
many walking 7.5 miles in bridal gowns to bring awareness of domestic and
dating violence. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter, File)
|
9.
DATING NO LONGER A GAME
Teen
dating abuse — ranging from violence to taunts — is pervasive among American
adolescents, a survey finds.
According
to the National Survey on Teen Relationships and Intimate Violence, which is
federally funded, a majority of boys and girls describe themselves as both
victims and perpetrators of abusive dating behaviour.
10.
PAT ROBERTSON COMMENT ON AIDS ANGERS
KENYANS
Kenyans
are expressing anger and shock on social media and radio stations over comments
made by popular American evangelist Pat Robertson in a recent TV broadcast in
which he warned that towels in Kenya could transmit AIDS.
Robertson
made the remarks last week while answering a question his show "The 700
Club" from a viewer about whether a planned trip to Kenya is risky.
Robertson
responded: "You might get AIDS in Kenya. The people have AIDS in Kenya.
The towels could have AIDS."
The
Christian Broadcast Network issued a correction but Kenyans on social media are
demanding that Robertson apologizes personally on the TV show.
 |
| Montage of Pat Robertson with the 700 Club Logo in the background. |
Robertson's
show is popular in Kenya, where the majority of residents are Christian.
HIV,
which can lead to AIDS, is commonly spread through sex and drug users who share
needles.
AIDS
cannot be transmitted through towels, said Dr Fredrick Sanford Kinama from the Centre
of HIV Prevention and Research at the University of Nairobi.
"You
need a portal of entry and the medium to transmit the virus like blood or
semen," Kinama said.
The
Christian Broadcast Network, which airs "The 700 Club," said "Dr
Robertson misspoke about the possibility of getting AIDs through towels. CBN
Quickly recognized the error and quickly removed the statement from the online
archive. CBN recognizes the error and apologizes for any confusion."
Mumbi
Seraki, who hosts a popular radio show in Nairobi, said Robertson should
apologize personally on the show.
"Pat
Robertson 'misspoke' about contracting AIDS from towels while in Kenya. But is
he really sorry?" asked former legislator and human rights lawyer Gitobu
Imanyara
11.
CHAD SAYS NIGERIA DEAL WITH BOKO HARAM TO FREE GIRLS STILL ON
Chad
said it believed Nigeria's secret deal with Boko Haram Islamists to free more
than 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls would go ahead despite the breakdown of
a truce, and revealed that the key to the agreement was a prisoner swap.
The
accord mediated by Chad for the release of the girls seized from Chibok in
northeast Nigeria in April has been called into question since it was announced
by the Nigerian military last week. A ceasefire supposed to be part of the
agreement has been broken, and a further 25 girls were abducted this week.
Moussa
Mahamat Dago, the No. 2 official at Chad's foreign ministry, said it appeared
some Boko Haram factions were refusing to abide by the deal, brokered by the
Chadian foreign minister with two representatives of the Islamist group and two
Nigerian negotiators at meetings in Chad on Sept. 14 and 30.
"Quite
possibly those who are fighting are dissidents that even they (Boko Haram)
aren't able to control. So far, there is no reason for others to doubt this
agreement," Dago told Reuters late on Thursday in the Chadian capital
N'Djamena.
"What
I can say is that those that negotiated with the Nigerian government did so in
good faith ... We are waiting for the next phase which is the release of the
girls."
Dago
said the two sides agreed verbally to a series of points summarised in a
document he had seen, including the release of the schoolgirls and of jailed
Boko Haram fighters.
The
Nigerian insurgent group, which has fought a bloody five-year revolt mostly in
the northeast, has said it wants to carve out an Islamist enclave in the
religiously-mixed nation, Africa's top oil producer and biggest economy.
 |
A student who escaped when Boko Haram rebels
stormed a school and abducted schoolgirls, identifies her schoolmates from a
video released by the Islamist rebel group at the Government House in
Maiduguri, Borno State May 15, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer
|
"The
starting condition of Boko Haram was the liberation of some of their members
... That is the compensation," Dago said, adding that the specifics on the
names and number of Boko Haram fighters still to be released had not yet been
agreed.
Dago
said he still expected the girls to be freed, without giving a time frame. The
Boko Haram negotiators were no longer in Chad although they had agreed to
return in October after freeing the girls to hold more talks, he added.
The
first stage of the agreement made was the release of a group of 27 Chinese and
Cameroonian hostages by Boko Haram two weeks ago in northern Cameroon, Dago
said.
"We
remain optimistic. The two sides agreed to find a negotiated solution and to
show their good faith they already freed some hostages and announced a
ceasefire," he said.
Dago
admitted it would be embarrassing for Chadian President Idriss Deby's
government, which has taken a leading role in security and diplomacy in
Africa's turbulent Sahel region in recent years, if the girls were not freed.
"It
would be very disappointing. We are engaged in this now. If this negotiation
doesn't succeed that would be damaging for Chad's facilitating role," he
said.
12.
WHO: 5 MORE EBOLA VACCINES TO BE TESTED IN JANUARY 2015
The
World Health Organization says millions of doses of two experimental Ebola
vaccines could be ready in 2015 and five more experimental vaccines will start
being tested in January.
Still,
the agency warned it's not clear whether any of these might work against the
deadly virus that has killed over 4,800 people this year.
Dr.
Marie-Paule Kieny from the agency told reporters there could be millions of
doses of an Ebola vaccine in 2015 if early tests prove that the two leading candidates
are safe and effective. Trials of those most advanced vaccines have already
begun.
If those trials prove
effective, larger trials testing the vaccines in West Africa could begin as
soon as December, Kieny said. She said five other possible Ebola vaccines
should start testing in January.
No comments:
Post a Comment