Graphitti News
collates 12 national and international highlights from late-breaking news,
upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:
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Late Professor Dora Akunyili, Former
Nigerian Minister and DG, NAFDAC
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1. CANADA PULLING EBOLA LAB TEAM FROM SIERRA LEONE
Canada is evacuating a
three-member mobile laboratory team from Sierra Leone after people in their
hotel were diagnosed with Ebola. The World Health Organization earlier
announced it is pulling a team out of the country.
The Public Agency of
Canada said in a statement late Tuesday none of the team members had any direct
contact with the sick individuals and they are not showing any signs of
illness. They will remain in voluntary isolation and be monitored closely.
The laboratory team was
helping to control the outbreak there by helping health care workers diagnose
and rule out infections. The agency did not say what city the team was in.
Canada said it will send
in another team once it is deemed safe. Canada has been rotating three teams of
scientists in out and out of West Africa.
The World Health
Organization said earlier Tuesday is pulling out its team from the eastern
Sierra Leonean city of Kailahun, where an epidemiologist working with the
organization was recently infected. Daniel Kertesz, the organization's
representative in the country, said that the team was exhausted and that the
added stress of a colleague getting sick could increase the risk of mistakes.
The disease has overwhelmed
the already shaky health systems in some of the world's poorest countries.
The outbreak has killed more than 1,400 people in West
Africa. There is no proven treatment for Ebola, so health workers primarily
focus on isolating the sick. According to WHO, the Ebola outbreak has killed
more than half of the more than 2,600 people sickened. The U.N. agency said an
unprecedented 240 health care workers have been infected.
2. JONATHAN, GOWON, OTHERS HONOUR AKUNYILI AS LATE
MINISTER’S HUSBAND RECOUNTS HER HEROIC MOMENTS
President Goodluck
Jonathan has urged public office holders to leave indelible marks that will
speak for them after they are gone.
Mr. Jonathan also
described the late Dora Akunyili as a public officer who distinguished herself
through her achievements as Director General of the National Agency for Food
and Drug Administration and Control [NAFDAC].
President Jonathan, who
spoke at the requiem mass for Mrs. Akunyili at the Pro Cathedral Garki, Area 3,
Abuja, on Tuesday, said he would have been sad if he had missed what he
described as the last assignment in her honour, because of his just concluded
visit to Germany.
Recalling his encounter
with the late information minister when he was still the deputy governor of
Bayelsa State, the President said, “At a time, we appreciated and encouraged
those working at the centre, unlike today that media aides to governors abuse
the President. She went into NAFDAC and changed the story of NAFDAC and now
everybody knows about NAFDAC.”
According to him,
although she held several positions, including Minister of Information
and Communication under the late President Musa Yar’Adua, her days at NAFDAC
was the most remembered because of her service to the nation.
3. FLEEING NIGERIAN TROOPS RETURN HOME — DHQ
Cameroonian authorities
have repatriated about 480 Nigerian troops who had previously fled into the
country after a fierce gun battle with Boko Haram insurgents. They arrived in
the country through Mubi, Adamawa State.
A resident of the town
(name withheld) told the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) that the troops arrived in Mubi, some with guns and some without guns
while others were with armoured personnel carriers (APC).
The agency reported that
“the troops were fed in Mubi Barracks; some of them were still in military
fatigue while others were on vest”.
Cameroonian army
spokesman on Monday told the BBC that 480 Nigerian troops fled to the country
after a gun battle with the sect, but Defence Headquarters debunked the
allegation saying the troops’ action was a “tactical manoeuvre”.
Meanwhile, the sect
yesterday attempted to blow up a bridge linking Nigerian and Cameroon after
overrunning a town and sending residents and soldiers fleeing, Cameroon police
and locals said. A Cameroon police officer stationed in the far north town of
Fotokol, Cameroon, told AFP that the militants tried to destroy the bridge,
which serves as the border crossing with Gamboru Ngala in Nigeria.
4. ENUGU DEP GOV, ONYEBUCHI, IMPEACHED, SAYS I’LL GO TO
COURT
The Enugu State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, formally
impeached the state’s deputy governor, Sunday Onyebuchi, over the alleged
two-count charge of misconduct and disrespect to the constituted authority it
brought against him.
Onyebuchi’s impeachment came through when the House adopted
the report of the impeachment panel set up by the Chief Judge of the state,
Justice Innocent Umezurike, who found him guilty of the allegation of gross
misconduct levelled against him.
It was gathered that the Franklin Oraeke-led panel, last
Wednesday, concluded its investigation and found the former deputy governor
guilty of the three allegations levelled against him. He was alleged of rearing
poultry in his official quarters, failed to represent the governor in Anambra
State when President Jonathan came to launch the 2nd Niger Bridge as well as
failed to represent Governor Chime at the South-East Governors’ Forum meeting
held at Government House, Enugu, in June.
While moving for the deputy governor’s impeachment at the
floor of the House, the leader of the House, Honourable S.K.E Udeh-Okoye,
representing Awgu North Constituency, stated “the House, having carefully
considered the report on investigation of the allegations, do adopt it and it
is hereby adopted. Be it moved and is hereby moved.”
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Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Reuters
/ Chris Wattie)
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5. CANADA TO RUSSIA: ‘WE WILL DEFEND OUR SOVEREIGNTY IN THE
ARCTIC’
Canada is ready for a
confrontation with Russia if it expands its ambitions in the Arctic region,
Foreign Minister John Baird told a Danish newspaper. The oil-rich region is set
to become a key political battleground in the coming decades.
“We are deeply concerned, and we are determined to promote
and defend the sovereignty of Canada in the Arctic,” Baird said in an
interview with the Danish publication Berlingske, published in the native
language.
“For us, this is a
strategic priority. In connection with the militarization that we are seeing,
we would prefer to alleviate the conflict, but it's clear that we will defend
our own sovereign power.”
Russia, last year
unsealed a long-mothballed base on Novosibirsk Archipelago, off the
north-eastern coast of the country, which has since then reinforced the area
with warships and icebreakers that now constitute a coherent defense system.
Moscow and Ottawa also engaged in a frosty exchange earlier this summer, after
Canada scrambled its fighter jets to tail Tu-95 heavy bombers, which it said
came close to its airspace.
“We have seen Russian
provocations in the Arctic for decades, so there is nothing new under the sun,” said Baird, when
questioned about the incidents. “We
call once again upon the countries of the Arctic Council to sit down and solve
problems constructively.”
Canada however already
boycotted the high-ranking Moscow Arctic Council conference earlier this year,
and with harsh rhetoric, a further escalation seems inevitable.
6. DOZENS OF US STATES POLICE DEPARTMENTS SUSPENDED FOR
LOSING US MILITARY-GRADE WEAPONRY
Close to 200 state and
local police departments in the United States have been suspended for losing
military-level equipment transferred to them by the Pentagon, a new
investigation found.
According to the media outlet Fusion, its independent
investigation into the Pentagon’s “1033 program,” which equips state and local
police departments across the US with excess military equipment, turned up an
alarming trend: Not only did many law enforcement agencies fail to comply with
the program’s guidelines, they routinely lost dangerous weaponry.
Already, the
investigation has found that police departments in Arizona, California, Mississippi,
Missouri, Georgia, and others have lost or cannot account for various types of
weapons. This list includes M14 and M16 assault rifles, .45-caliber pistols,
shotguns, and even vehicles.
So far, 184 state and
local departments have reportedly been suspended in a program that involves the
participation of more than 8,000 agencies. Since 1990, the 1033 program has
administered more than $4.3 billion worth of equipment and weapons.
In the wake of heavy
police response to protests surrounding the death of unarmed teenager Michael
Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the topic of police militarization has emerged at
the forefront of public debate in the US. Police employed heavily armored
vehicles, sniper rifles, tear gas, and riot gear as they confronted demonstrators
against excessive force, sparking widespread concern throughout the country,
particularly over the Pentagon’s military equipment transfer program.
Although the Pentagon
stated the program is meant to “enhance public safety and improve homeland security,”
critics argue that the inability of police to keep track of their equipment
adds another layer of doubt to the idea that security is being improved.
“The case for giving
military weaponry to these small police departments was already thin in the beginning,” Tim Lynch of the CATO
Institute’s project on criminal justice said to Fusion. “Now that we’re finding that there is
insufficient accountability for tracking this equipment, then the case is
beginning to fall apart.”
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Reuters / Lucy Nicholson
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7. PERU POLICE SEIZE 3.3 TONS OF COCAINE
Peruvian police say they
have seized at least 3.3 tons of cocaine, the year's biggest haul, hidden in a
shipment of coal that was bound for Belgium and Spain.
Counter-narcotics police
chief Vicente Romero flew reporters from the capital to see the drugs Tuesday
near the northern port of Trujillo.
He said the house in the
countryside holding the cocaine was raided the previous day after a six-week
joint operation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that included wiretapping.
He said two Mexicans and
five Peruvians were arrested and that a Mexican cartel was believed to be
behind the operation.
Romero said it was the
biggest cocaine seizure this year in Peru, which in 2012 overtook Colombia as
the world's No. 1 cocaine producing country.
8. TWO NATO WARSHIPS HEADING TO BLACK SEA – REPORT
A US Navy destroyer and a French frigate are expected
to enter the waters of the Black Sea next week, a diplomatic and military
source said.
“Two NATO warships at once will arrive in the Black
Sea on September 3. They are US Navy’s destroyer USS Ross and frigate,
Commandant Birot, of the naval forces of France,” the unnamed
source told RIA-Novosti news agency.
There’s currently one NATO ship present in the Black
Sea, with French surveillance ship, Dupuy de Lome, expected to remain in the
area until September 5.
USS Vella Gulf, which was patrolling the black Sea
since August 7, recently left for its port of commission.
The maintenance of the operational rotational presence of NATO ships does not
promote stability in the Black Sea region in any way, the source noted.
According to the Montreux Convention of 1936, warships
of non-Black Sea states can stay in the Black Sea for no more than 21 days.
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Reuters / Konstantin Grishin
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9. RUSSIA, UKRAINE AGREE TO KICK-START STALLED GAS TALKS
Leaders of Russia and
Ukraine have decided to resume talks on energy issues between the two countries
in September, as fears of gas delivery disruptions and Kiev's unwillingness to
settle disputes and pay bills threaten Europe’s energy security.
Following an intense round of direct talks between President
Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko, the head of the
Russian state said that both leaders were able to reach an agreement on the
resumption of consultations on energy and gas.
Yet Putin said, there are
“a lot of concrete questions,”
stressing that while Russia fully complies with all the conditions of the gas
contracts with Ukraine, the actions of Naftogaz create risks for gas transit to
Europe.
In June, Russia’s
national gas company Gazprom stopped gas deliveries to Ukraine over chronic
late payment and an unpaid bill of over US$5 billion.
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| Photo credit: Daily Mail |
10. REPORT FOUND THAT AROUND 1,400 CHILDREN WERE SEXUALLY
EXPLOITED IN ROTHERHAM, SOUTH YORKSHIRE, UK; PCC URGED TO QUIT OVER ABUSE
REPORT
A landmark report has revealed children as young as 11
were trafficked, beaten, and raped by large numbers of men between 1997 and
2013 in Rotherham, South Yorkshire (pictured). And shockingly, more than a
third of the cases were already know to agencies. But according to the report's
author: 'several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic
origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist'.
The report comes four years after sex attackers (left
to right) Adil Hussain, Razwan Razaq, Mohsin Khan, Umar Razaq, and Zafran
Ramzan were jailed for grooming girls as young as 13. The men, all British-born
Pakistanis, attacked the four girls in play areas, parks and in the back of
their cars, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
In the landmark report, Professor Alexis Jay warned
that a lack of reports was partly down to a fear of being racist as the
majority of the perpetrators were described as 'Asian men', and many were said
to be of Pakistani origin.
South Yorkshire's Police
and Crime Commissioner is facing increasing pressure to resign after a shocking
report found 1,400 youngsters in a town suffered sexual exploitation in a
16-year period.
Shaun Wright was the
cabinet member responsible for children's services in Rotherham from 2005 to
2010, in the middle of a period when, according to a report released yesterday,
gang rapes, grooming, trafficking and other sexual exploitation on a wide scale
was taking place.
Rotherham Council leader
Roger Stone resigned yesterday following the publication of Professor Alexis
Jay's report, and there were calls for Mr Wright, a former Labour councillor
who was elected as PCC in 2012, to follow suit.
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WBO Welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, left,
of the Philippines, and WBO junior welterweight champion Chris Algieri of
United States, right, pose for photographers during a news conference in Macau,
Monday, Aug. 25, 2014. The boxers are scheduled to battle in WBO welterweight
title match at The Venetian Macao on Nov. 23 in Macau. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
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11. PACQUIAO TO HELP SET UP BOXING ACADEMY IN CHINA
Champion Boxer, Manny
Pacquiao is setting up a boxing institute in China and believes the country of
1.4 billion people can produce professional world champions.
Pacquiao said Wednesday
that he has partnered with a Chinese company and the Chinese government to set
up an institute in his name, with the aim of imparting the experience that has
seen him win eight world titles.
He was speaking from
Shanghai where he is promoting his Nov. 22 fight against Chris Algieri for a
WBO welterweight title in Macau. He will be defending the welterweight crown he
won in a rematch earlier last year with Timothy Bradley, avenging his 2012
loss.
Pacquiao, 35, said the
Manny Pacquiao Boxing Education Institute will "start in Beijing, and the
plan is for the whole of China."
While China has produced
accomplished fighters and Olympic champions at amateur level, there is
potential to translate that to professional ranks, saying the local boxers
"just need some knowledge about boxing and should be taught the
basics."
"Of course, with 1.4
billion population for the whole China, they can produce good fighters like
other champions," he said.
Pacquiao, who is also a
congressman, told ABS-CBN television in Manila he intends his new venture to
also foster warmer relationships between the Philippines and China, whose
territorial dispute in the South China Sea has intensified in recent months.
"This will even help
in strengthening our relationship ... especially since in this project, the
Chinese government is involved," he said.
Pacquiao said he would
visit the academy "once a month, once in three months, to supervise them."
On top of his duties in
the academy and as congressman and boxer, Pacquiao has taken on the role of
playing coach of a new Philippine professional basketball team which will see
action for the first time in October.
He said the team trains
every day, except on weekends. "I can handle it," he said.
The well-loved
Bible-quoting boxer is regarded as a folk hero by Filipinos, and his win over
Brandon Rios in Macau last November was a boost to a country recovering from
Typhoon Haiyan which killed more than 6,300 in the central Philippines.
12. FEDERER TURNS ON THE STYLE
Roger Federer put on a
show in front of Michael Jordan to reach the second round of the US Open.
Federer tweeted a picture
with the former basketball great on Monday and Jordan was in the Swiss star's
box as he opened his campaign at Flushing Meadows with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7/4) win
over Marinko Matosevic.
Federer arrived in New
York brimming with confidence after reaching the final at his last four
tournaments and winning his first Masters title for two years in Cincinnati
last weekend.
Australian Matosevic, who
has acquired the nickname 'Mad Dog', is a feisty competitor but it was not long
before he was being forced to admire Federer's shots.
Matosevic did a pretty
good job of holding onto his serve under pressure but Federer finally broke
through to lead 5-3 in the first set and then did so again in the seventh game
of the second.
Federer was really
turning on the style by this point, and a 'tweener' shot between his legs that
hit Matosevic had Jordan in stitches.
When Federer broke serve
again in the seventh game of the third set, it appeared the end was nigh, and
Matosevic tried to lighten his darkening mood by engaging with Jordan, pointing
at him and saying, 'I just want to be like Mike'.
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Roger Federer continued his good form under the
lights at Flushing Meadows (AP)
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