US-Africa Summit: Obama’s tough love

 

During the three-month preparatory period prior to the US-Africa summit there was much skepticism among Africa watchers in Washington.  The basis for the sentiment was the widespread belief that President Obama had already disappointed African nations who expected so much from an American President of African ancestry. Everything about the summit preparations appeared to confirm this view:

• Why did President Obama wait until his sixth year in office to hold the summit?  Was he just trying to play catch up with the Chinese?

• Why did Obama decide against having one-on-one meetings with each of the 50 African summit participants?  This could be considered demeaning to the Africans who needed presidential photo-ops for the citizens back home.

• Why was there no summit document to be announced at the end?  Did that mean there would be nothing substantive to announce?

Aliko Dangote donates N150million to fight Ebola in Nigeria

Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote has donated N150million to help in the fight of the spread of the Ebola virus in Nigeria.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Foundation, Mrs Adhiambo Odaga announced this at a media briefing at the Ministry of Health, Abuja on Monday. She said the money will be available for the establishment of an Ebola emergency operation centre in Lagos.

“After bilateral discussion with the honourable minister and his team, Dangote foundation has funded the establishment of the Ebola emergency operation in Lagos, that is being done through grant from the foundation of just a little over N150 million,” she said. Continue...

"The strategy that our chairman is deploying is the strategy to respond and to commend government for the effort, and to show that all Nigerians are concerned. We will continue to discuss with the ministry about what additional support can be offered.

“And we also have been approached by several parties who are interested in partnering with the government, and we would continue that discussion.”

Odaga relayed Dangote’s call to all Nigerians to join the federal government in the fight against Ebola, expressing optimism that the disease would be contained.

“The choice of the emergency operation centre as an investment for Dangote Foundation is based on the fact that is the critical platform through which the government is coordinating all that is happening to ensure that the crisis is contained,” she added.

THE BURIAL ARRANGEMENT FOR LATE NAFDAC BOSS: Prof Dora Akunyili.

The burial arrangement for late NAFDAC boss Prof. Dora Akunyili has been announced by her family. The burial arrangement is contained in a statement signed by her husband Dr Chike Akunyili which was posted on her Facebook. Find it below...
The family of former Minister of Information and Communications, late Prof. (Mrs.) Dora Nkem Akunyili, has released a week-long programme of activities for her funeral, culminating in her burial on Thursday, August 28, 2014.

The programme, released today in Enugu by Prof. Akunyili’s husband, Dr. Chike Akunyili, starts with a Christian Wake-Keep at No. 2A Bishop Onyeabor St., G.R.A. Enugu, to hold from 4:00 p.m. on Friday, August 22. 
A Night of Tributes is to hold at International Conference Centre Abuja from 5:00 p.m. on Monday, August 25, while a Mass would be held for her at Pro-Cathedral Catholic Church, Abuja, by 10:00 a.m. the next day, August 26.

Why does the U.S. intervene militarily in Iraq but not in Syria?

Since Islamic State fighters entered Iraq from Syria, they have given the world a revolting look at their ruthlessness.
They have left the severed heads of their vanquished on spikes. They have filled mass graves with the summarily executed. They have slaughtered and enslaved ethnic minority Yazidis.
When the Islamic State drove tens of thousands of them up mountains, where many died of thirst, it seemed the last straw.
U.S. President Barack Obama ordered airstrikes to beat them back.
 U.S. to expand military role in Iraq
But the same cruelty has fumed next door in Syria -- along with the atrocities committed by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad against rebel fighters.
 Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS
While the world focused on the plight of the Yazidis in Iraq, 500 Syrian civilians died practically unnoticed.
 Humanitarian crisis unfolding in Iraq

EBOLA:Nurse flees Lagos for Enugu

One of the primary contacts of the late American-Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, who escaped quarantine on suspicion of having the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, in Lagos, has been tracked to Enugu.

The suspect, identified as a nurse, said to have travelled to her home town to visit her family, is now under surveillance with 20 others she came into contact with in the city.

With the development, the total number of Nigerians under monitoring for the dreaded virus is now 198.

Revealing these facts yesterday after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, Information Minister, Labaran Maku, explained that Nigeria currently has 10 confirmed cases of Ebola, all stemming from the visit of the late Sawyer.

Maku explained that of the 198 persons under surveillance, 177 of them are in Lagos while 21 are in Enugu.

He said: “All those who had primary contact have been quarantined. Secondary contacts have also been traced. So far, the number of people that have been traced is 198.

“Of this number, 177 are in Lagos and are being traced. Some are in quarantine, some are being monitored by health specialists.”

Meanwhile, the death toll world wide from the outbreak stands at 1,069 and total number of infections 1,975, according to the World Health Organisation.

Liberia was hit extremely hard this week, with 71 cases and 32 deaths from Sunday to Monday. Fifty-six deaths and 128 new cases were reported in that same period across all four West African countries affected by the virus.

21 Ebola suspects in Enugu under watch

Giving details on the escapee, Maku revealed that she travelled to Enugu from Lagos against instruction not to leave Lagos State.

He said: “The 21 persons in Enugu under watch now is as a result of their involvement with the nurse who disobeyed medical instructions and somehow travelled to Enugu. All those who she was in contact with, including her husband, are under quarantine. The medical team has been able to trace all those who made contact with her.”

While warning that government would prosecute anybody found spreading false rumours or unverified reports over the Ebola epidemic, Maku said government was expanding presence of health officers to strategic entry points in the country.

“Health workers are now in all our border units. At all the entry points into this country and exit points, we have port health workers that are working in our airports and seaports.

“We are calling on citizens, specifically, to co-operate. If health workers say you have had contact with A, B, C, don’t move to anywhere, respect that judgment. It is very important. In one or two cases where we have had disobedience, we lost one of them and this one now moved with it to another place (Enugu).

“So we are urging Nigerians, please to help us in making sure that all these messages and appeals we are making, we implement them.”

He noted that the Ministry of Health had set up a special committee specifically to take claims from Nigerians who believe they could help and so far “we have had a lot of reports from Nigerians at home and abroad who come forward to say they have possibility of developing therapies that could help in fighting the virus.

“There is no cure so far, anywhere in the world. Even the trial drug in the US is still a trial drug; it has not been established.

“One of the doctors and research experts that came forward was Dr. Simon Agwale, who has been one of the frontline global researchers on developing vaccines for HIV and other viral diseases.

“He also came forward and said he could help, both in terms of working to develop a vaccine, which he said he has started work on between himself and his fellow experts in the US and he said this is ongoing.”

Maku stated that the Minister of Health had given support and directed him to the committee. He also discussed the possibility of certain therapy which could be applied and again that is being discussed. Once it is approved, it could be used.”

Escapee nurse, husband arrested, returned to Lagos

There was anxiety among residents of Enugu, yesterday following reports that 21 persons have been quarantined in the city for having direct contact with a suspected Ebola patient who escaped from Lagos.

Officials of Enugu State Government claimed ignorance of the development but there were fears that the government might be keeping the information secret to prevent panic among residents.

The telephone line of the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. George Eze, remained switched off yesterday while another commissioner who was contacted said he was not aware of anybody being quarantined in Enugu.

But a medical consultant with the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH, Enugu, told Vanguard that some officials of the National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, in Lagos were in Enugu last week to pick the suspected female Ebola victim who escaped from a quarantine centre in Lagos.

The woman and her husband were picked up from their residence at Trans-Ekulu and were immediately taken to Lagos where they have been kept under surveillance.

The consultant said about 21 people believed to have had direct contact were being quarantined for close monitoring by officials of the state Ministry of Health, but he was not aware of the hospital.

FG deploys mobile lab in Enugu, others

The Federal Government is to deploy a mobile laboratory to Enugu as well as establish laboratories with capacities to diagnose Ebola Virus disease in Jos and Kano State within the next few days.

Addressing State House correspondents after a meeting between President Jonathan, governors of the 36 states of the federation and their health commissioners, Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu said the measures were meant to increase the capacity for early detection of possible infection and early action.

According to the minister, laboratories that can test for Ebola Virus Disease in the country include the Centre for Disease Control laboratories in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and Abuja, and Redeemer’s University laboratory in Ogun State.

He explained that as at yesterday, Nigeria has had 10 confirmed cases of Ebola and they are all those who had contacts with the Liberian.

His words: “There are no cases of secondary contacts. We have had three deaths. The Liberian, the nurse who attended to the Liberian and a protocol official who worked with Ecowas. Seven are alive and are making progress.”

Chukwu said waivers had been granted to two corpses to be brought back to the country; one from Kenya and another from India because the cause of death was not from Ebola virus.

In his remarks, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State said there was a collaborative effort between the tiers of government and called for cooperation as “government alone will not be able to solve this problem.

“We are working with the Federal Government. We are also working with private hospitals.

“This is not something you should keep in religious houses. It is important to come out to disclose any case. There should be no pretension about it.”

Sawyer, a terrorist — Presidency

Meanwhile, the Presidency has tagged Sawyer a terrorist for importing the virus into Nigeria.

Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Youths and Students , Mr Jude Imagwe said this in Abuja during the dinner lecture and awards nights organised by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Youth Vanguard to honour prominent members of the party in the country.

He said Sawyer’s misguided action had brought pains and hardship upon Nigerians who have been going about their daily duties. He said such a man deserved to rot in hell.

He said: “Patrick Sawyer has brought pain and hardship to Nigerians. So many things have now changed because he brought this upon us. Even in churches, we are not free anymore.

“The woman who wanted to assist the terrorist from Liberia is dead now. This is bad. This virus is not an infection for the rich or the poor. It can affect anybody. We need to be careful.”

Speaking on the Federal Government’s efforts at minimising the spread of the virus, the SSA said: “One of the surest means of prevention is constant washing of your hand by soap. Everyone of us must not say that because this virus is in Lagos, we should then neglect taking care of ourselves.

“Mr President has taken the initiative to close down primary schools. This shows that our President means well for Nigerians. The Lagos State Government has also done a good job. As Nigerians, we need to assist government in assisting these people.”

The presidential aide equally spoke on the plight of handicapped youths in the country, promising that the government will never abandon them in their time of need.

He said: “One assurance I want to give to our brothers is that Nigerian youths who are handicapped are not alone. We know that they suffer some degree of isolation and rejection. We

are with them and we will never abandon them. My heart bleeds over things that are happening in our happening. Enough is enough. An attack on any part of the country is an attack on all Nigerians. Our people in the North cannot sleep anymore. This has to stop. The earlier we realise that it is not a Northern war or Borno war, the better for us. We must avoid use of unguided utterances. These things cannot help us. We need to change the way we do things.”

FG okays use of trial drug

The National Health Research Ethics Committee of Nigeria has approved the use of an experimental Ebola drug, Zmapp, for treatment of patients infected with the virus. The committee, which comprises research scientists, is a national body under the Federal Ministry of Health. The endorsement is contained in a statement made available to journalists and signed by Dr. Clement Adebamowo, chairman of the committee. “It is ethical to use these treatments in the current situation without first submitting an application to National, State or Institutional Health Research Ethics Committee for prior review and approval. In addition, the committee waives the current requirement that international shipment of any biological samples out of Nigeria should be preceded by the establishment of a Materials Transfer Agreement. This waiver is to promote rapid international response to this global emergency,” the statement said.

ENUGU STATE DEPUTY GOVERNOR SLUMPS

Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi, slumped at about 11.35 am Wednesday while testifying before the Impeachment Panel probing allegations of misconduct leveled against him by the State House of Assembly.

He was rushed out of the court hall at about 11.38 am by his wife, Mrs. Nneka Ada Onyebuchi, his children and some of his aides present for medical attention.

EBOLA UPDATE:FEDERAL GIVERNMENT BANS INTER STATE MOVEMENT OF CORPSES

The National Council on Health has banned   the transport   of corpses and critically ill persons on both local and international routes   with immediate effect.

It said only dead bodies with waivers granted by the Federal Ministry of Health would be transported within and into Nigeria . Such corpses must be conveyed   only   in   ambulances.

To show its seriousness on the movement of corpses, the council advised state governments to enact legislation for   its effective compliance .

The NCH which is the highest policy making body in the health sector reached the decision after a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

Members of the council are   the Minister of Health,   the Minister of State for Health;   state Health commissioners ;   the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Federal Capital Territory ,   and the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health.

As the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, briefed journalists on the outcome of the meeting, the World Health Organisation said it had approved the use of trial drugs such as the ZMapp serum by persons infected with the Ebola Virus Disease.

Chukwu explained that the council deliberated extensively on strategies to contain the spread of the EVD beyond those who had primary contact with the late Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, who brought the virus to Nigeria.

He said since it had been established that the disease could only be spread through contact with either the corpse of someone who died of the virus or anyone who became sick as result of the viral infection, necessary steps had to be taken .

The minister added, “The corpses of all persons confirmed to have died of EVD must be buried according to WHO standard protocol.

“Council further directed that the transport of corpses into Nigeria as well as inter-state transport be banned until further notice except with approved waivers that may be issued by the Federal Ministry of Health”

Ebola Drug Supply Is Exhausted After Doses Sent to Africa

The Ebola drug given to two Americans and a Spanish priest has been sent to treat infected doctors in two West African countries, and the supply of the medicine is now exhausted, its manufacturer said.

Countries including Nigeria and Liberia had requested the drug, called ZMapp. Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., based in San Diego, said it has complied with every request for the drug that was authorized by legal and regulatory authorities. The drug was provided at no cost, according to Mapp.

“It is our understanding that all patients offered treatment, treated, or expected to be treated were or are highly capable of providing informed consent for the use of an experimental drug not yet evaluated for safety in animals or people,” the company said in a statement.

Mapp and its partners, Defyrus Inc. and a subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc., are working with the U.S. government to quickly increase production, the company said in the statement.

“Additional resources are being brought to bear on scaling up,” the company said. “The emergency use of an experimental medicine is a highly unusual situation.”

Providing a small amount of an experimental drug to West Africa won’t help control the outbreak, said Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The focus needs to remain on basic public health and infection control measures, he said.

Too Little

“How can a couple of doses control an outbreak with hundreds and hundreds of people?” Fauci said by phone today. “You don’t control the epidemic with two or three doses.”

Mapp, in its statement, didn’t identify which countries had received the remaining doses. The company said it’s up to those who requested it to reveal their acquisition or use of the experimental drug.

The Ebola outbreak has killed 1,013 of the 1,848 people infected in West Africa as of Aug. 9, the World Health Organization said today in a statement on its website. While other diseases are much more common and deadly, there is no cure for Ebola and it has moved quickly between countries, putting the global health community in high alert. Widespread malaria, which killed more than 600,000 people last year, is preventable and curable, according to the WHO.

A panel of ethicists was convened today by the WHO to weigh the use of experimental drugs that have shown early promise against Ebola. The panel is considering whether the drugs, which haven’t been widely tested for safety, should be used in an outbreak where 40 percent of infected people survive and, if so, who should get them from what may be a limited supply.

‘Long Overdue’

“This is the first effort to have a long-overdue, transparent, public discussion about how to distribute life-saving medicines in an emergency,” said Arthur Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, in a telephone interview. “A ton of attention is going to follow this panel.”

The urgency to access the treatments has increased as health officials in the U.S., Canada and Hong Kong have isolated and tested travelers with Ebola-like symptoms, before ruling out the disease. Medical experts have said the deadly virus could travel outside of West Africa.

U.S. regulators last week said a treatment by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. could be tested in infected patients, while Mapp’s drug has already been used to treat two American aid workers Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who were infected in Liberia. The pair were flown to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where relatives and supporters have said they are improving, though it remains unclear if or how much the drug helped.

Awaiting Decision

:Ebola outbreak probably started with 2-year-old in Guinea

The worst outbreak of Ebola, which has killed 961 people and triggered an international public health emergency, may have started with a 2-year-old patient in a village in Guinea.

About eight months ago, the toddler, whom researchers believe may have been Patient Zero, suffered fever, black stool and vomiting. Just four days after showing the painful symptoms, the child died on December 6, 2013, according to a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Scientists don't know exactly how the toddler contracted the virus. Ebola is spread from animals to humans through infected fluids or tissue, according to the World Health Organization.

"In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines," WHO says, though researchers think fruit bats are what they call the virus's "natural host."

 Photos: Ebola outbreak in West Africa Photos: Ebola outbreak in West Africa

 Ebola coverage: informing vs. overhyping Delayed response cause Ebola to spread? Man loses 7 relatives to Ebola

Researchers who published the paper this year found a chain of illnesses in the toddler's family.

Pepe Reina Farewell Letter To Liverpool Fans

Former Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina has penned an open letter to the club's supporters, after completing a permanent move to Bayern Munich. The Spanish stoppe inked a three-year deal with the German champions, following last season's loan spell in Italy with Napoli.

He titled his letter  'Once a Red Always a Red'. - read below:
/ "I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone at Liverpool – and I mean everyone – for everything that they have done for me over years.
"I have been extremely fortunate to spend so many years at what I consider to be one of the greatest clubs in world football.

COVENANT UNIVERSITY LAWS

A Covenant University student  tweeted this picture of their school's phone outlaw undertaking form that all students are required to sign as they prepare for the next semester. Now see their laptop agreement form after the cut...

Top Khmer Rouge leaders guilty of crimes against humanity

Two top Khmer Rouge leaders have been jailed for life after being convicted by Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal of crimes against humanity.

Nuon Chea, 88, served as leader Pol Pot's deputy and Khieu Samphan, 83, was the Maoist regime's head of state.

They are the first top-level leaders to be held accountable for its crimes.

Up to two million people are thought to have died under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime - of starvation and overwork or executed as enemies of the state.

Judge Nil Nonn said the men were guilty of "extermination encompassing murder, political persecution, and other inhumane acts comprising forced transfer, enforced disappearances and attacks against human dignity''.

Lawyers for the pair said they would appeal against the ruling. "It is unjust for my client. He did not know or commit many of these crimes," Son Arun, a lawyer for Nuon Chea, told journalists.

They will remain in detention while this takes place.

'Anger remains'

The regime sought to create an agrarian society: cities were emptied and their residents forced to work on rural co-operatives. Many were worked to death while others starved as the economy imploded.

During four violent years, the Khmer Rouge also killed all those it perceived as enemies - intellectuals, minorities, former officials - and their families.

Nuon Chea was seen as an ideological driving force within the regime. Khieu Samphan was its public face.

Prosecutors argued that they formulated policy and were complicit in its brutal execution.

Barack Obama: Ebola drug 'not ready' for use in Africa

US President not confident drug is ready to use in the heart of the outbreak, despite signs it may be helping two Americans

US President Barack Obama has said it is "premature" to send experimental drugs for the treatment of Ebola to West Africa, which has been hardest hit by the deadly outbreak.
Mr Obama said affected countries should focus on building a "strong public infrastructure," adding: "I think we have to let the science guide us... I don't think all the information is in on whether this drug is helpful."
He emphasised that Ebola, a hemorrhagic virus that kills more than half of those infected, "is not an airborne disease.
"This is one that can be controlled and contained very effectively if we use the right protocols."
But he said: "the countries affected are the first to admit that what's happened here is the public health systems have been overwhelmed. They weren't able to identify and then isolate cases quickly enough."

"As a consequence, it spread more rapidly than has been typical with the periodic Ebola outbreaks that occurred previously," he added.
He said the United States is working with European partners and the World Health Organisation to provide resources to help contain the epidemic.
"We're focusing on the public health approach right now, because we know how to do that, but I will continue to seek information about what we're learning with respect to these drugs going forward."
A total of 932 people have died since March in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria, with 1,711 confirmed cases since the beginning of the year.
Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.
Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, red eyes, diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding.

SOURCE:www.telegraph.co.uk/

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DECLARES EBOLA A NATIONAL EMERGENCY

 

The Federal government has declared the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria a matter of national Emergency, adding that everyone is now at risk of being infected.

Speaking with State House correspondence at the end of today's Federal Executive Council meeting, the Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu said the Nigerian government has written to the Director of the United State Centre for Disease Control to request for the release of some of the unapproved ZMAG drug which has proven to be useful in the treatment of the Ebola disease. He said the Federal government awaits a response from the United state government and hopeful if the drugs are released, they could be used to treat the confirmed cases of the Ebola virus disease in Nigeria. Continue...

Politics Should Be Battle of Ideas

As voters in the State of Osun go to poll on Saturday to elect their governor for the next four years, the old question of the place of ideas in politics has again come into focus.  It is a sad commentary on the nation’s political development that instead of debate of issues that should define the election, the discussion is rather about the unwarranted militarisation of the electoral atmosphere, dangerous use of religion. It is instructive that in some respects there may be a rehearsal of 2015 in Osun.

Waziri Adio (the Pundit!) discharged his responsibility as a public intellectual on this page two days ago  in efficiently interrogating some of these issues especially the hugely diversionary factor of religion. Rather than repeating the points well put together by Adio, this column today is an adaptation of the review of a book on the efficacy of progressive ideas because of its relevance to the moment. The review was presented during the launch of the book in Lagos at a ceremony presided over by the governor of the old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa.

The candidate to beat in the Saturday election is the incumbent governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who is the subject of the book. A good reading of the book would show why Aregbesola should not be judged using a  religious yardstick, but by the potency of his progressive ideas in action. The book entitled Oranmiyan Phenemenon And the Trinity of Progressivism that on the basis of politics and policy Aregebsola is not religious bigot, but a convinced progressive politician. 

Experimental drug likely saved Ebola patients

On Thursday, Dr. Kent Brantly thought he was going to die.
It was the ninth day since the American missionary worker came down sick with Ebola in Liberia.
His condition worsening by the minute, Brantly called his wife to say goodbye.
Thankfully, the call was premature.

Brantly is back on his feet -- literally -- after receiving a last-ditch, highly experimental drug. Another American missionary with Ebola got the same.
Brantly's and Nancy Writebol's conditions significantly improved after receiving the medication, sources say. Brantly was able to walk into Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after being evacuated to the United States last week, and Writebol is expected to arrive in Atlanta on Tuesday.
On July 22, Brantly woke up feeling feverish. Fearing the worst, Brantly immediately isolated himself. Writebol's symptoms started three days later. A rapid field blood test confirmed the infection in both of them after they had become ill with fever, vomiting and diarrhea.
Photos: Ebola outbreak in West Africa

Nigerian to Hang in Malaysia for Marijuana Trafficking

 
 A Nigerian college student was sentenced to death by hanging in Malaysia after being found guilty of trafficking 26.533kg, or 58.5 pounds, of cannabis on Wednesday.
Uchechukwu Nelson Ohaechesi, 37, was arrested on October 17, 2010 in Cheras, a suburb of Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur, near the stairwell of an overhead bridge that crosses the Taman Connaught Highway.
He was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1952, which carries a mandatory death sentence upon conviction for trafficking.

Hopkins pays $190M in pelvis exam pix settlement

A "rogue" gynecologist who used tiny cameras to secretly record videos and photos of his patients has forced one of the world's top medical centers to pay $190 million to 8,000 women and girls.
Dr. Nikita Levy was fired after 25 years with the Johns Hopkins Health System in Baltimore in February 2013 after a female co-worker spotted the pen-like camera he wore around his neck and alerted authorities.
Levy committed suicide days later, as a federal investigation led to roughly 1,200 videos and 140 images stored on computers in his home.

"All of these women were brutalized by this," said their lead attorney, Jonathan Schochor. "Some of these women needed counseling, they were sleepless, they were dysfunctional in the workplace, they were dysfunctional at home, they were dysfunctional with their mates. This breach of trust, this betrayal — this is how they felt."
The preliminary settlement approved by a judge Monday is one of the largest on record in the U.S. involving sexual misconduct by a physician. It all but closes a case that never produced criminal charges but seriously threatened Hopkins' reputation.
Lawyers said thousands of women were traumatized, even though their faces were not visible in the images and it could not be established with certainty which patients were recorded or how many. Schochor said it would be impossible and only cause more distress to "sit around a table and try to identify sexual organs without pictures of faces."

World Cup 2014: Brazil's meltdown caught us by surprise

 
It is not about words. Sometimes there are no words to describe what we witnessed. I find myself virtually speechless in writing this
It is a gut feeling. It is one of absolute shock. One of devastating emptiness. As I write, I am almost numb with disbelief at what transpired in the first semifinal. No one in their right mind could possibly have predicted such a meltdown for a country so rightly proud of its football tradition.
In Brazil, football is life. Germany just murdered it in cold blood and got away with the crime.

Poor defending 

In truth, the hosts committed football suicide. The defending for the opening goal in Belo Horizonte set the tone. Thomas Müller was never going to refuse the gift of an early goal and the subsequent die was cast. The avalanche of four goals in six minutes ended the contest long before the half hour mark.

KIDNAP OF UMARU DIKKO:30 YEARS AFTER

I have been revisiting the controversial attempt to kidnap Umaru Dikko in 1984.  Dikko was one of the most powerful and notorious figures in the government of President Shagari between 1979 and 1983.  This is the concluding part of the series which recounts the circumstances, timing and details of the kidnap. 

 

Mossad boss Nahum Admoni felt that London was the most likely hideaway for Dikko.  London was a favourite haunt of Nigerian fugitives from justice.  They were typically Anglophile and had residences in the most affluent areas of London.  Some Mossad agents set up base in London along with Nigerian Major (retired) Mohammed Ahmadu Jarfa Yusufu.  Yusufu was a 40 year old former army officer.  After the military coup that overthrew Shagari he was transferred to the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs and posted to Nigeria’s High Commission in the UK on May 1984.  Although Yusufu entered the UK on a diplomatic passport, the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office was not notified that he was a member of the Nigerian diplomatic mission.  Clearly, he had been planted for the specific purpose of taking part in the Dikko operation. 

 

Two separate groups of undercover agents worked underground among London’s Nigerian community.  The search was narrowed to west London where many Nigerian officials had opulent residences purchased with embezzled Nigerian state funds.  The Dikko trail seemed to be running cold until a chance encounter during the summer of 1984.  On June 30, 1984 a Mossad agent spotted a man fitting Dikko’s description in London’s wealthy Bayswater neighbourhood.  The agent surreptitiously followed Dikko on foot to a house at number 49 Porchester Terrace.  For several days the house was continuously watched by the agents, and Dikko’s routine and movements were noted. 

 

Logistics

 

The plans for Dikko’s capture were assembled by a small team.  It involved making arrangements to capture, anaesthetise, and then transport Dikko out of the UK to Nigeria to face trial.  Dr Levi-Arie Shapiro was a 43 year old Israeli national, a consultant and director of the intensive care unit at Hasharon hospital in Tel Aviv.  “Lou” Shapiro was also a reserve Major in the Israeli army.  Shapiro was recruited into the plot by a 27 year old Mossad field officer named Alexander Barak who gave him money to purchase anaesthetics which would be used to stupefy Dikko.  Barak was from the Israeli coastal town of Netanya and came from a family of diamond dealers.  Another Mossad field officer named Felix Abithol (31 years old) arrived in London on July 2, 1984 and checked into the Russell Square hotel.  Meanwhile Major Yusufu hired a van which would be used to convey Dikko once he had been captured.  Strangely, Yusufu’s men opted to hire a bright conspicuous canary yellow van. 

 

On July 4, 1984 a Nigerian Airways Boeing 707 cargo plane flew in with no cargo from Lagos and landed at Stansted airport.  The UK authorities were informed that the plane had come in to collect diplomatic baggage from the Nigerian High Commission in London.  Several Nigerian security officers were onboard the plane and had orders not to leave the airport. 

 

 

UMARU DIKKO DIES

 
There must be something about Alhaji Umaru Dikko and London: this is the city where he survived drugging in 1984 and this is the city where he could not survive strokes 30 years after.
The second republic politician, who was generally regarded as the de facto No. 2 in the government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari from 1979 to 1983, died in the Queen’s city on Tuesday morning at 78.
Two things defined Dikko: the statement credited to him that Nigerians were not as poor as being portrayed by the media since they had not started eating from the dustbin ─ and the failed attempt to smuggle him out of the UK in 1984 to come home and face corruption charges.

The two were linked, in some sense. Nigerian economy was in tatters in 1982-83, partly as a result of a global economic crisis and partly because of mismanagement. As prices of goods and services went haywire and workers were being owed salaries, Dikko ─ then minister of transport ─ told the media Nigerians were not that poor. His “dustbin” analogy drew public anger.
But the Shagari government soon collapsed as the military took over to the delight of millions of Nigerians who had been enduring economic hardship. Dikko and several other top politicians fled the country and took asylum in the UK. The new head of state, Major-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, began to prosecute and jail politicians for corruption. Dikko, who was the chairman of the presidential task force on rice, was declared wanted, accused of embezzling £1 billion.
The plot to kidnap him from London and parcel him in a crate to Nigeria failed, leading to a diplomatic face-off between Nigeria and the British government, led then by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Britain recalled its high commissioner to Nigeria ─ and Buhari replied in kind in a massive row between the two countries that lasted for two years.
The Nigerian government insisted it was not behind the kidnap attempt, but it was impossible to believe.
Culled from the Cable

The Socialist World Cup

 
Money talks in global soccer, as it does everywhere else, perhaps more so. The sport is big business. The likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar are international brands, as recognizable as any Hollywood star. Compare a club’s wage bill to its success rate: the correlation is overwhelming. When billionaires acquire clubs like Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City or Chelsea, their fortunes change. When a very rich country like Qatar wants to host the World Cup, it gets its way even if entirely unsuited to the undertaking.

All this often undermines the beauty of the game. Sulky and overpaid stars, dubious deals and rapacious players’ agents are now part of the scenery. Football has been no exception to the inexorable process that sees the authentic and the genuine undermined by big money and manufactured images.

Until along came Diego Simeone and his “socialist football.” Think of him as the Thomas Piketty of the soccer world. It is impossible to understand what has been happening at the remarkable World Cup in Brazil without considering his impact.