AKWA IBOM:Governor Akpabio Promises To Repeal Amendments To Pension Law

By ThisDay Newspapers on June 4, 2014

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, yesterday promised to write to the state House of Assembly to repeal the amendments to the state Governors and Deputy Governors’ Pension Law.
The law, which was last week assented to by the governor after it was passed by the state lawmakers, has come under severe criticism by a cross section of Nigerians.

The law had specifically pegged the amount former governors and deputies could spend annually on medical bills to N100 million and N50 million respectively.

But this was misrepresented by the opponents of the state government while the figures attributed as the medical pension benefits to be enjoyed by ex-governors of the state and their deputies were grossly exaggerated.

Akpabio, in a statement made available to journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 said after due consideration of the misinformation and the opposition in the state, he would ensure that the lawmakers expunge the provisions putting a ceiling of N100 million and N50 million on the medical treatment of former governors and deputy governors of the state respectively from the law.

He asked the lawmakers to maintain the status quo by reverting to the open-ended situation inherent in the law before it was amended.

The governor, who said he was deeply saddened by the vilification of the state lawmakers for undertaking a course of action, which should have been applauded, added he would as an interim measure use his executive fiat to set up a medical council that would verify all future medical claims by former governors and deputy governors of Akwa Ibom.

But in the long-term, he said, a new legislation would be proposed to cater to a health insurance scheme for former executive office holders in the state.

The governor, who chronicled how the law was enacted in 1998 and amended in 1999, 2002 and 2007, stated that prior to the current amendment, it was being abused because of the lacuna in it.

“The Governors And Deputy Governors Pension Law was first enacted in 1998 as the Special Grant (Former Chief Executives) Edict. It was amended in 1999 by the Special Grant (Former Chief Executives (Amendment) Edict of 1999) and was retained in Cap. 122 Laws of Akwa Ibom State 2000.

“It was amended in 2002 by the Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law 2002, which was later repealed by the Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law 2006 assented to by my predecessor in office on 26th April 2007.

“In the course of its implementation, We noticed a lacuna in the 2007 law, particularly on account of its open-endedness in the provisions relating to the medical expenses and provision of funds for the employment of domestic staff for the former governors and deputy governors and working with the House of Assembly, we sought to protect the law from abuse by putting a ceiling on the medical expenses for the treatment of these senior citizens of Akwa Ibom State.

“The ceiling, which was pegged at N100 million per annum for former governors and N50 million per annum for former deputy governors, was never meant to be given either in part or in whole to anybody at anytime for any reason.

“It was meant to be paid to health institutions involved in the treatment of the former governors or former deputy governors and their spouses. It was, therefore, deliberate falsehood and organised misinformation to claim that the said money will be paid to former governors or deputy governors every year. This has never been the practice and the amendment has added nothing to give credence to this obviously politicised orchestration.”

Explaining further, Akpabio said: “In the course of its implementation, We noticed a lacuna in the 2007 law, particularly on account of its open-endedness in the provisions relating to the medical expenses and provision of funds for the employment of domestic staff for the former governors and deputy governors and working with the House of Assembly, we sought

SouthStarNews: AVIATION:Solar plane makes inaugural flight

SouthStarNews: AVIATION:Solar plane makes inaugural flight

AVIATION:Solar plane makes inaugural flight

By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
1 hour ago

The Solar Impulse 2 plane is as wide as a 747 jet but weighs less than three tonnes
A solar-powered plane that will be taken on a round-the-world journey in 2015 has taken off on its inaugural flight.

The Solar Impulse 2 vehicle lifted off from Payerne airfield in Switzerland.

It is a larger, upgraded version of the aircraft that flew across America last year with adventurers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg at the controls.

The two men want to push the boundaries for alternative energy and believe their plane can be a standard bearer.

For the maiden flight, test pilot Markus Scherdel was in the cockpit. Wheels up occurred shortly after 03:35 GMT (04:35 BST; 05:35 CEST).

It follows weeks of ground and taxi tests, which have seen the vehicle run up to near take-off speed. This had satisfied project leaders that the craft's systems were ready to go airborne.


Pilot Andre Borschberg gives a guided tour of the solar plane
The carbon-fibre aircraft has a huge wingspan, which at 72m is wider than a Boeing 747 jet. And yet, the vehicle weighs only 2.3 tonnes.

The tops of the wings are covered by 17,000 solar cells, which drive four brushless electric motors at speeds of up to 140km/h (90mph).


Piccard’s and Borschberg’s TransAmerica journey was completed last year
During the day, the solar cells will recharge lithium batteries, which can then be used to keep the plane’s propellers turning through the night.

The first Solar Impulse plane set a number of world records, including the longest manned solar-powered flight at 26 hours, the first inter-continental flight in a solar-powered plane, and the greatest distance covered on a piloted solar-powered flight. (Autonomous solar-powered drones can stay aloft for weeks).

That last record was set during Piccard’s and Borschberg’s epic TransAmerica journey in May, June and July last year.

But as challenging as that effort was, it will be dwarfed by the difficulty and complexity of completing a global flight.

This is because it will have to include passage across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The latter could take all of five days and nights to complete.

Only one pilot can fit in the cockpit. It has a reclining seat to make room for exercising and to permit Piccard and Borschberg, whoever is at the controls, to take short catnaps.


To make ocean crossings, Piccard and Borschberg must spend days alone in the cockpit

SUDAN RELIGIOUS DEATH SENTENCE:Meriam Ibrahim To Be Freed

Sudan Death Sentence: Meriam Ibrahim To Be Freed
Posted by: Channels Television Posted date: June 01, 2014 In: Africa | comment : 0
Sudanese authorities are to free a woman who was sentenced to death for having abandoned the Islamic faith.

Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth to a daughter in custody, would be freed in a few days.

Abdullahi Alzareg, an Under-Secretary at the country’s foreign ministry, said that Sudan guarantees religious freedom and is committed to protecting the woman.

This comes as the United Kingdom asked Sudan to lift what it described as the “barbaric” death sentence handed down to a Christian woman accused of abandoning Islam.

A Sudanese court ruled that Mrs Ibrahim, who was raised by her Christian mother and married to a Christian, was Muslim because her father was of the Islamic faith, a line of thought which she rejects.
Culled from Channels TV

LAGOS:Doctors resume strike Monday

The Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos Branch of the Association of Resident Doctors is to resume its strike on Monday, the association said in Lagos on Saturday.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the President of the association, Dr. Omojowolo Olubunmi, said in a statement that the resolution to resume strike was reached at an emergency general meeting of the association, held on May 28.



He said, “Rising from the emergency general meeting, the association unanimously agreed to resume our suspended industrial action and embark on an indefinite strike, commencing on Monday, June 2, by 8 a.m.”

He said the strike was due to the lack of progress in negotiations and deliberations with the hospital’s management on the issues raised in the three-day warning strike in April.

The association had embarked on a three-day warning strike in April, issuing a 21-day ultimatum to the management of LUTH.

AKWA IBOM:EX-SPEAKER REACTS TO PENSION LAW

Mr. Uwem Udoma

JUNE 1, 2014 BY ETIM EKPIMAH

A former Deputy Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr. Uwem Udoma, tells ETIM EKPIMAH that if the new pension bill passed by Akwa Ibom Assembly is signed into law by Governor Godswill Akpabio, the law will be challenged in court. Udoma belongs to a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state led by Umana Okon Umana

How do you see the amendment of the 2006 pension law in Akwa Ibom State?

The generality of Akwa Ibom people feel the present amendment of the 2006 law is very atrocious. In fact, we call for it to be rejected. The law has been passed; it has not yet been signed by the governor. When it is signed by the governor, it becomes a law.

Beyond calling for its rejection, are there steps you are contemplating towards stopping it?

We have two ways to go about it. The incoming government can amend the law or repeal it, or we can go to court to challenge it. Any law that is not accepted by the people can never stand. You make laws for Akwa Ibom people, the Akwa Ibom people were not made for the law.

I see a lot of greed in the framing of this particular bill. You spend up to N350m on single individual; that is about N1.4bn for a year; and N1.4bn a year is almost equal to some states allocation for a month.

The government can do a lot with N1.4bn. If you are paying four people N1.4bn a year and we are 3.9m people in Akwa Ibom; how are you going to take care of the remaining 3.8m people if only four take N1.4bn, it is outrageous. It is not nice, at all.

What other grouse do you have with the bill?

The exclusivity clause in pension is not acceptable. If it is the pension law, it should be enjoyed by everybody, but this present amendment of the pension law 2006 that has been passed into law in 2014 has excluded so many people. Like the former governor of old Cross River State, Mr. Donald Etiebet, has been excluded, former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Uffot Ekaette, has been excluded, the former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Nsima Ekere, has been excluded, the present Deputy Governor, Valerie Ebe, as well as former deputy governor, Mr. Michael Udofia, has also been excluded.

In pension, you do not exclude anybody. You can only earn pension if you are up to 10 years in government service. This means if you have been working as a public servant, you can earn pension, but if you are an elected office holder, after your tenure of office, it is severance gratuity that you get.

But because the governors are chief executive officers of the state, they tend to make this law so that they can safeguard their lives. Coming through the back door to pass this law shows that this government is self-serving; the government is not protecting the interest of the people, at all.

In fact, we are wasting a lot of funds that we should use to invest in agriculture, which we should use in establishing industries that the government promised, at least, each in the 31 local government areas of the state. The government is not doing anything about that.

What alternative use do you think the amount can be put into?

Again this N1.4bn can be used to provide security of lives and property of the Akwa Ibom people. There is a lot of insecurity in Akwa Ibom. It is just one man that the bulk stops at his table, that is the governor. We urge the governor to go a step further by practising what he is preaching. If the governor wants the state to be peaceful come 2015, the state is going to be peaceful.

Taking you back to the pension law, the Speaker, Mr. Sam Ikon, said governors’ pensions in Rivers and Lagos states were higher than the one just approved by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. Is this not true?

It is not so. The bill is everywhere. That of Akwa Ibom State is almost 300 per cent higher than any other state in the country. I can say that as a former lawmaker. It is higher, it is outrageous; we do not accept it, at all. He is not correct.

Culled from Punch

AKWA IBOM: EX GOVERNOR CRITIZISE AKPABIO's PENSION LAW

Ex-Gov. Attah attacks Akpabio over scandalous pension law: Says “Publish what you pay me”


Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom with Sunrise crew that interviewed him.

Former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Victor Attah, has challenged the incumbent, Governor Godswill Akpabio, to publish how much he has paid him (Mr. Attah) and past leaders of the state as pension.
This followed claims by Mr. Akpabio that the government had been spending huge resources in taking care of former governors as well as deputy governors and their spouses.

Mr. Attah, who spoke in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Friday, also berated journalists, especially those who recently interviewed the Akwa Ibom state governor, for not asking Mr. Akpabio pertinent questions about his management of the state resources.

He said, “If Godswill Akpabio says he conceived the new law to put a ceiling to the expenses made on previous leaders of the state, somebody should have had the guts to ask him how much he has been paying to the past leaders.

“You journalists are afraid of Godswill Akpabio and that is why you have always shied away from asking some pertinent questions.”
Governor Akpabio, who appeared on a breakfast show on Channels Television earlier in the day had described as laughable, the criticisms that have trailed the new law that would enable him earn over N200 million as pension annually.

Mr. Akpabio said, “It’s a laughable situation that people generate controversy over the pension law. The law has been in existence in Akwa Ibom State. I am the one implementing it.

“I know what I am talking about and because I wear the shoe, I know where it pinches. All the former elected governors and their deputies have been enjoying the pension. The pension was first established in 2000 and was further amended with certain provisions added in 2006.”
While explaining the general principles of the new law, he said, “It’s really not a retroactive law, neither is it a new law. It is an existing law that went through amendment.

He noted that the old law was open-ended in terms of benefits payable to past governors, deputies and their spouses.
He said, “We had a situation where bills from former deputies and their spouses worth N29 million were brought from several hospitals they claimed they went for treatment abroad.

“Because the bill did not specify whether the hospital should be in Nigeria or not, most of what I have seen in the past seven years has been bills from hospitals abroad.”

In the course of implementing the existing law, Mr. Akpabio said some former governors and their deputies have brought bills ranging from $50,000, $70,000, and sometimes $112,000.
He argued that it was against decorum to question the medical bills of past leaders on grounds that there are high, and mentioned an instance where a former leader requested for funds to hire an airline to take his spouse for treatment abroad.

But Mr. Attah, who sounded angry said,  “Why don’t you people ask him how much the state has paid to its past leaders? Why don’t you people ask him how much has been paying to Obong Attah and others?

“I don’t like it when journalists always come to ask me about what is wrong in Akwa Ibom State instead of asking Godswill Akpabio.
“He is the one who said he has been paying so much to past governors and wanted to put ceiling on what is paid out to check wastage of public funds. Those who interviewed him should have asked him to mention just how much he has paid so far.

“They didn’t ask him such questions; they didn’t ask him to clarify on the projects he said he has been carrying out in the state.

“I don’t have anything to tell you since you do not have the guts to ask Governor Akpabio to present proofs of what he has been paying to past leaders of the state.

“You journalists should go and look at the law critically and ask him whether Obong Attah has been enjoying any of the benefits provided for in the law.
“You should also ask him whether he built a retirement home for me either in Uyo or Abuj

NIGERIA:Boko Haram sect has kidnapped two first class traditional rulers in Borno state

The extremist Boko Haram sect has kidnapped two first class traditional rulers in Borno state – the Emir of Uba, Ismaila Mamza and the Emir of Gwoza, Idrisa Timta, security officials aware of the incidence have told PREMIUM TIMES.
The two emirs were seized by gun-wielding insurgents at 10a.m Friday near Shaffa while they were travelling to Gombe to attend the funeral of the Emir of Gombe, Shehu Abubakar, who died on Tuesday evening at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, where he was undergoing treatment for cancer.
The two abducted emirs were elevated to First Class traditional ruler status only in January.
The Borno state government is yet to issue an official statement on the abduction.
The abduction came 46 days after the Boko Haram sect whisked away over 250 schoolgirls from their dormitories in Chibok.
Over 200 of the girls are yet to be freed.

BOKO HARAM: US indites Muslim Clerics and Government Officials

Muslim Clerics Recruiting, Gov’t Officials Take Bribes From Boko Haram – US Military Report
MAY 26, 2014
Nigerian soldiers of the 'Operation Flush' stand in a military camp in Maiduguri capital of Borno state on June 6, 2013 . (Photo Credit: Quentin Leboucher/AFP/Getty Images)

Nigerian Muslim clerics living in the border towns of Cameroon and Nigeria are recruiting Boko Haram members in their mosques, the government of Cameroon has alleged. Worse still, government officials in the North East states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa collaborate with the terrorists and take bribes from them, thereby, hindering the fight against the terrorists. Governors of these states also capitalise on their civilian fears to berate the army and the federal government.
These allegations were published in a report, yesterday, by US-based online military news agency, StrategyPage. The magazine explains that the army wants governors in the affected states removed because “many officials in those states are cooperating with Boko Haram (to avoid attack) and are taking bribes from the Islamic terrorists.

“Some of these officials are covering themselves in case Boko Haram should gain power and the governors are often just responding to civilian fears of army misconduct,” it noted.

The magazine said: “Cameroon is also concerned about pro-Boko Haram clerics from Nigeria quietly preaching and recruiting for Boko Haram in Cameroon mosques.

“Islamic conservative clergy are not unusual on either side of the border, but those who do not denounce Boko Haram are suspected of quietly recruiting young men to join the “jihad” (struggle) and fight (and often die) in Nigeria. These preachers have to recruit quietly because otherwise police in Cameroon will arrest and deport them, sometimes after a vigorous interrogation. Evidence of this recruiting is showing up when some of the recruits return from Nigeria with tales of disillusionment and adversity while with Boko Haram,” the report said.

The magazine said that the Cameroonian government is “being criticized because recent claims of large (over 5,000 weapons) arms seizures near the Nigerian border could not be verified by reporters. Civilians living in villages near where the government said the seizures took place said they saw nothing. The government responded that the smugglers operated in remote areas and avoided civilians as well as security forces. There are also concerns that even if weapons were seized they would, as often happens, be sold back to black market arms dealers so that government officials could keep the cash.”

On the military, the report said: “Residents of those three states have justifiable complaints about the army, in particular the casual attitude of the military towards the safety of civilians and their property.

“The army is also unreliable when it comes to sharing information on casualties. Thus Boko Haram related deaths so far this year are believed to be (based on local reports) at least 1,500, which is 50 per cent more than what the army reports. Boko Haram related deaths from 2010 to 2013 were about 3,600, so the violence is not declining.

“The government has been saying, for several years, that Boko Haram would be crushed within a year and never happens. More insightful observers point out that the problem is mainly one of corruption and poverty, as well as the appeal of Islamic radicalism as a magical cure. All of Nigeria suffers from corruption.

“Poverty is more prevalent in the Muslim north, in part because of climate. That’s because the semi-desert Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert is found in the north. Another problem is the more conservative nature of Islamic populations and the lower education levels.”

NIGERIA:Breaking News: Gunmen Who Snatched School Bus In Nyanya Arrested

By editor on May 6, 2014


By The Paradigm

At least, two members of an armed gang that attacked a school in Nyanya this morning has been arrested.

The Paradigm learnt the the gunmen who are suspected to be Boko Haram members snatched a school bus in Nyanya, a suburb in the Federal Capital Territory where two bomb exploded within a span of two weeks.

The men stormed the school at about 7am on Monday and snatched the school bus after it dropped off some pupils at the school.


They were arrested in Lafia, Nasarawa state while transporting themselves in the bus they snatched from the school.

NIGERIA: Ebony: Man dies in female hostel during intercourse

A middle aged man, yesterday, died in Abakaliki while having marathon sex with a female student of Ebonyi State University, EBSU, Abakaliki. Vanguard report.

The incident happened at the girl’s hostel room near the Presco campus of the university. Sources however disclosed that the man died during the day, inside the room of the female student located at Goddy Ogbaga Avenue during a marathon sex with her.

The lover girl after the incident took the lifeless body of the deceased to his car before calling on the police. She was immediately arrested and is currently helping the police in the investigation of the incident.

According to a hostel resident account, the arrival of the police threw the entire hostel residents into confusion as everybody began to run helter-skelter  to evade police arrest. Some of the hostel residents have been arrested by police.

“I did not know what was happening until when police stormed our hostel and began to arrest everybody on sight. But from what I heard the man visited the girl and in the process of making love, he died.

“I cannot say for sure if the man was a mere acquaintance to the girl or not. All I can say for sure is that I have not been seeing the man visiting the girl in the past.

“I don’t know the girl very well because our hostel is very large. It is a three-storey building and many students are living there. I do not know who is who except my friends. So I don’t know the name of the girl, department or her level in school.”

Police spokesman in the state, ASP Chris Anyanwu, confirmed the incident.

- Vanguard News

NIGERIA:Boko Haram Is Fighting Against 13% Derivation – National Confab Delegate Junaid Mohammed

By Editor | The Trent on May 6, 2014


Sharing is caring!0000000
Second Republic lawmaker and a delegate at the National Conference, Dr Junaid Mohammed, in this interview, speaks on why the North wants derivation reduced to five per cent, accusing former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) of unleashing injustice on the polity with the help of Justice Niki Toby.

By Gbenga Oke

On what informed the northern delegates’ call for reduction of derivation from 13 percent to five percent
Part of the confusion arising from the derivation is the way it has been applied or misapplied to the detriment of all the 36 states of the federation and this has to do directly with the way former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar introduced the term ‘derivation’ and it to be loosely applied as to include other funds which are significant and which are not covered by oil.

This injustice done by Abdusalami was in violation of the Constitution and the principle governing this great injustice was put into the constitution without any debate and the constitution itself was never passed by referendum.



Derivation principle
In short, what is contained in the derivation principle is the understanding that first, oil producing communities do suffer deprivation arising from  oil exploration/exploitation and need to be compensated but not through a smuggled phrase coined by Niki Toby and smuggled with the help of Abdusalami Abubakar into the constitution.

There has been mention of the need to compensate the communities who suffer directly or indirectly in terms of environment degradation, their means of livelihood and other adverse effects of oil exploration. Decree 20 of 1992 created OMPADEC and what was at stake then was that in passing Decree 20 of 1992, Ibrahim Babangida took it to the then legislative arm of the Nigeria government which is the Armed Forces Ruling Council but in the case of Abdusalami, he did not do that.

Secondly, as to what percentage to accord those oil producing states, you decide to call it derivation which is misnomer. Thirdly, the wording of the derivation section was deliberately and loosely defined to mean all monies accruing to the coffers of the Federal Government which is what we call Consolidated Revenue Funds; the Niger Delta states must take 13 percent of it. If you give them a fraction of what belongs to them, you cannot also rake others and give to them.

For example, the value added tax which is a consumption tax and which is an indirect tax of everything you buy in Nigeria, others like export duties, import duties, etc are now included into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation and 13 percent is automatically removed before anything is shared to anybody including the Federal Government.

Abdusalami should have known that this kind of arrangement is unacceptable. What he did was to set in motion what may break up Nigeria because people are not going to live in a country where there is half-free and half-slaves. We cannot allow this kind of lopsided application of fiscal principle to undermine the integrity of the nation and there is no way this revenue allocation law can subsist and we will have peace.

The International law provides what is called law of the sea convention and it provides that a state bordering the sea has what is called territorial waters of 12 kilometres, beyond that the state may also claim what is called a contiguous zone of another 12 kilometres, beyond that, everything at sea is a common heritage of mankind which however have been structured in a way that nations who are contiguous with the sea can benefit from what is common heritage of humanity.

By any standard, international law is superior to domestic laws because there are many laws that have been passed in Hague which make international laws superior to domestic laws to a certain limit. What they are now saying is that anything found in the sea that has to do with oil production belongs to them.

NIGERIA:BREAKING NEWS: Children School Bus Hijacked In Nyanya

By editor on May 6, 2014
 


By Abusidiqu

Report just reaching Abusidiqu.com indicates that a school bus has been hijacked in the Nyanya axis of the Federal Capital territory where two separate bomb explosions occurred i the last two weeks.

Although details of the incidence remains sketchy, the bus belonging to a private school, Divine Kiddies Academy was said to have dropped off students of the school having routinely picked them from their various home when some armed men stormed the school premises and took away the bus.


One of the gaurdian of the school pupil who spoke to Abusidiqu on phone however said the students had already disembarked from the bus before the gunmen striked.

Parents have reportedly began trooping to the school to withdraw their ward for fear of any attack.

It is not immediately clear if the latest incidence was carried out by members of the Boko Haram sect which claimed responsibility for the Nyanya bomb blast or if it was just an incidence of theft.

NIGERIA:Terrible: Why I sell human skulls for N20,000 – Grandma reveals

 (PICTURED)

Posted in wpzoom Odd World on May 6, 2014 8:26 am

A grandmother in Lagos has been arrested by the police after she was alleged to be a dealer in human parts.

54-year-old Sukuratu Salami along with 2 others was paraded in the Ikeja area of the state after she reportedly confessed to being a dealer in human parts.

She was said to have admitted to selling human skulls for N20,000 and human innards for N5,000 or more.

Nigerian Eye reports:

The suspect, who was paraded alongside a cemetery guard and two others, were arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, in Joju area of Sango Ota, with a human head, intestines, bones, kidney and other human parts.

Salami, who admitted to have been into human parts business for a year, said she started as a herbs dealer.

Narrating how she ventured into the business, the mother of three said: “A herbalist approached me last year and demanded for human parts. When he told me how much they buy the parts, I was tempted.

“I approached one Tantoloun, who works in a grave yard. He sold a skull for N10,000 and I sold it in return for N20,000. Greed made me to continue until I was arrested.

“I buy pieces of bones for N2,000, liver and intestines for N1,000 each and resell for N5,000 or more depending on the buyer’s bargaining power.

“I am not a killer. I have never killed anyone. I only request for decomposed human parts. I needed the money to feed my three children of ages 30, 27 and 23 respectively.

“Those who patronize me are herbalists and trado-medical practitioners. The parts are used to prepare concoction for sick children. So far, I have only sold 10 human skulls.”
She promised never to go back to the illicit business again if left off the hook.

On his part, the cemetery guard, Rasheed Tantoloun, from Oyo State, said he usually dig dead bodies out of their graves with the aid of one Ibrahim, whom he hired.

He alleged that his employer instructed them to exhume dead bodies that have stayed long in order to get spaces for fresh ones.

He said: “Anytime old corpses are exhumed, we usually collect the parts and sell to ready buyers who are usually agbo sellers (herbs dealers).

“My salary is N5,000 a month but since I started doing the business, I made three times more than the amount. We also dug corpses buried without caskets.”

Another suspect, Waheed Ibrahim, an Arabic teacher, said he was paid N3,000 for exhuming dead bodies.

According to him, “we usually tamper with dead bodies buried without caskets and those whose relatives never showed up after burial. My job is to exhume and dismember the bodies and at the end of which I would be paid N3,000.”

How they were arrested
The suspects reportedly met their waterloo after operatives of SARS, who got wind of their alleged dealings, posed as buyers.

The state Police Commissioner, Umar Manko, who paraded the suspects, said the command took interest in the case following the mysterious disappearance of persons.

According to him, “detectives led by the SARS commander, Abba Kyari, posed as buyers and bought a human head from Salami at N120,000.

“After arresting the suspects, Salami’s house was searched during which a human head, liver, intestines and other parts were found. We picked interest in this case because of the disappearances of people. With their arrest, we hope that we’ll get to the root of these disappearances.

“We discovered that most of these bodies are fresh. It is criminal to deal in human parts. A few weeks back, Soka Forest was discovered in Ibadan. As you can see, this crime happens all over.”

NIGERIA:First Lady planned to humiliate me - Borno gov’s wife

Wife of the Borno State Governor, Hajiya Nana Shettima, on Monday explained why she was absent from the meeting organised by Dame Patience Jonathan, the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, in Abuja, saying she knew she was going to be humiliated at the meeting.



The President’s wife on Monday reportedly accused the Borno Governor’s wife of showing less concern over the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls at the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, because she did not attend the meetings called by Mrs. Jonathan at the Villa on Saturday and Sunday.

The Press Secretary to the governor’s wife, Aisha Hassan, in a reaction on Monday said while Dame Patience painted a different picture, Mrs Shettima had actually travelled to Abuja all the way from Maiduguri on April 28 and met the First Lady at the Villa same day.

She said the governor’s wife took two hours to brief her on the schoolgirls abduction as well as her (Mrs Shettima) personal efforts and that of her husband towards securing the release of the girls.

She said some wives of service chiefs and National women leader of the PDP, Mrs. Kema Chikwe, were present when the Governor’s wife met with the First Lady, noting that the First Lady appreciated the efforts of the Governor’s wife and even consoled her when she noticed that she was obviously depressed.

Hassan noted that it was therefore shocking to the Governor’s wife when she heard Dame Patience on the television accusing the Governor of Borno as being responsible for the abduction.

She said, “It became clear to the Governor’s wife that from the body language of the First Lady and some of her close associates at the Saturday meeting, there was high possibility that the First Lady’s demand for the Governor’s wife on Sunday was to humiliate her, by accusing her husband to her face in the midst of participants at the meeting. She thought it was better she concentrates on her planned trip to Chibok on Monday morning.”

Hassan explained that before her meeting with Dame Patience on April 28, the Governor’s wife had held a meeting with a coalition of women groups that included stakeholders in Chibok; officials of the National Council of Women Societies; wives of security chiefs in Borno State; the Christian Association of Nigeria; and the Federation of Muslim Women of Nigeria.

Others, according to her, include the Association of Christian Widows, Association of Muslim Widows, the National Association of Women Journalists, selected female professionals that included university lecturers, political appointees and the Principal of the attacked school after which a communique was issued as was reported by the media.

Having it in the plane

A ‘drunken’ British woman has been questioned by police in the US after she reportedly having sex with a man in the toilets of an airliner.

Cabin crew were said to have intervened after the woman, who is in her 20s and flying with her parents, disappeared into the toilets with a man sitting next to her.

The woman was taken was later taken away for questioning by US authorities, after a row broke out with air stewards following the incident on a Virgin Atlantic flight.

Daily Mail report:

Another passenger told The Sun: ‘She started getting heated with the guy next to her.‘They went into the bathroom and people could hear loud noises. The cabin crew forced to door open, then she really kicked off.’The paper reported the incident happened on a flight from London Gatwick to Las Vegas in the US last week.The woman was questioned by police but released with a warning before continuing her holiday in the notorious Nevada resort.It comes just week after an Australian was arrested for apparently mistaking the cockpit door of a Virgin Australia flight from Brisbane to Bali for the toilet, triggering a hijack scare.

GUINEA: Ebola kills 80

Guinea: Ebola Outbreak Claims Over 80 Lives
2 May 2014 , Source: CISA
Conakry
The deadly Ebola outbreak in Guinea has so far led to the death of 84 people, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

The rise in death toll comes even after WHO said the outbreak remains in a "limited geographic area" adding that it was neither an epidemic or unprecedented and cautioned against any imprecise characterization of the spread of the virus.

"We need to be very careful about how we characterize something which is up to now an outbreak with sporadic cases," WHO spokesman Mr Gregory Hartl told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland.

WHO further stated that cases of Ebola in the capital Conakry which has a population of two million people and neighbouring Liberia can be traced to the south-east of Guinea where the outbreak began in the forest region where bats, a local delicacy are believed be carriers of the virus; their sale and consumption have since been banned since the outbreak.

Sierra Leone another neighbour to Guinea has also reported five suspected cases, none of which has yet been confirmed leading to other countries bordering the West African nation to take up measures in order to try and contain the spread of the virus; Senegal has since closed its land border with Guinea.

On Tuesday April 01, Saudi Arabia suspended visas for Muslim pilgrims from Guinea and Liberia as a result of the outbreak in what as reported by state news agency SPA, the Saudi health ministry termed "preventive" measures carries out "due to the danger of the disease and its highly contagious nature."

The tropical virus is named after Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), where one of the first outbreaks occurred in 1976. Ebola spreads by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of its victims. It leads to haemorrhagic fever, causing muscle pain, weakness, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, organ failure and unstoppable bleeding.

Meanwhile the Chief Administrator of the Lutheran Church-operated Curran Hospital in Zorzor District, Lofa County in Liberia is seeking support from government and international partners to pre-position needed equipment and supplies to make the hospital more effective in combating the Ebola virus.

Mr Peter Flomo said the hospital currently needs an additional ambulance, washable mattresses, and protective garments, among other essentials, to be used in isolated rooms for the treatment of Ebola patients.

Mr Flomo pointed out that the Curran Hospital serves as a referral hospital for people in Zorzor and Salayea Districts, as well as some towns in neighboring Guinea, and stressed the need for additional logistics to enhance the performance of health workers at the hospital in combating the Ebola disease.

In related development, Mr Flomo has disclosed that health workers in Salayea and Zorzor districts, in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee, have begun an awareness campaign on the Ebola virus, to educate citizens of the area about the dangers of Ebola and preventive measures to avoid contracting the deadly virus.

He said the awareness campaign began since the outbreak of the disease in the county about two weeks ago.

NIGERIA:More abducted school girls found

30.04.2014.
…sick, traumatised, recount ordeal Reps summon service chiefs Military failed to act –Senators Four more school girls abducted by suspected Boko Haram terrorists at Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok two weeks ago were yesterday rescued around Monguno area of Borno State. This brings to 48, the number of girls that have escaped so far...sick, traumatised, recount ordeal
Reps summon service chiefs
Military failed to act –Senators
Four more school girls abducted by suspected Boko Haram terrorists at Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok two weeks ago were yesterday rescued around Monguno area of Borno State. This brings to 48, the number of girls that have escaped so far from the clutches of the terrorists, while 230 were said to be still missing. Our correspondent gathered that the girls were rescued by some good Samaritans in a village near Monguno on Sunday before they were handed over to security operatives in Maiduguri, the state capital. Monguno is located about 134 kilometres from Maiduguri, while Chibok is to the south and about 130 kilometres to the state capital. The girls said they were abandoned in the bush by their abductors after they fell ill. According to a source familiar with the matter, “About four abducted school girls who were smuggled out of Sambisa forest en route Monguno were in the last few days rescued by villagers, In fact, the girls who looked traumatised and frustrated were sighted on the outskirts of Monguno. “Only one of them managed to talk and said they are students writing their final year exams in Chibok but were kidnapped by gunmen, and that when four of them developed serious illnesses while conveying them to unknown destination, they were later abandoned by their captors in the bush, before being rescued by some villagers”. The source added that the four rescued students were in the custody of a female security officer and were receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in Maiduguri. He said that as soon as their condition improved, they would be handed over to relevant authorities for onward delivery to their parents. The Caretaker Chairman of Chibok Local Government Area, Mr. Ba’ana Lawan, confirmed the development. He said: “Yes, I also heard that four of the abducted school girls have been rescued in Monguno before handing them over to the security operatives. “I was told that they are currently receiving treatment at one of the hospitals in Maiduguri due to the condition they found them. I quickly rushed to the hospital to verify such important information, but I was disappointed as I was not allowed and prevented from seeing or knowing the whereabouts of the girls by the security people and the hospital authorities.” Meanwhile, the House of Representatives yesterday summoned the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh; Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin, and Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal Adesola Amosu, over the abduction of the female students. A motion that led to the summons was sponsored by Hon. Peter Biye Gumtha, who represents Chibok/ Damboa/Goza Federal Constituency of Borno State. In his motion, Gumtha regretted that besides kidnapping the girls, their assailants torched market stalls and other property in the area, worth millions of naira unchallenged by the military. Gumtha, whose emergency motion came under Order 8 Rule 9 of the House Rules, lamented the worsening insecurity in that part of the country. Hon. Patrick Ikhariale from Esan/Iguebe Federal Constituency of Edo State regretted alleged double standards in the fight against terrorism in the North-East. Minority Whip, Samson Osagie, in his contribution, said that the citizenry was at the mercy of terror merchants. The Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Nnenna Elendu- Ukeje, recommended the collaboration of Nigeria with border countries of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and the United Nations Security Council in the fight against insurgency in the country.

NIGERIA:Police quiz Nyako over genocide claim3

30.04.2014.
Detectives from the Police Headquarters in Abuja were in Yola, Adamawa State, yesterday where they quizzed the Governor Murtala Nyako over claims that the Federal Government is sponsoring genocide in the North. The police officers who flew into the state were reportedly instructed to “interview” the governor in a mission that was described as ‘fact-finding’.Detectives from the Police Headquarters in Abuja were in Yola, Adamawa State, yesterday where they quizzed the Governor Murtala Nyako over claims that the Federal Government is sponsoring genocide in the North. The police officers who flew into the state were reportedly instructed to “interview” the governor in a mission that was described as ‘fact-finding’. Under the 1999 Constitution, state governors, like the president, are immune from prosecution, a legal provision that the delegates at the ongoing National Conference have advocated its removal. The governor had accused the Federal Government of murdering its citizens and immediately attributing such atrocities to the Boko Haram sect. Nyako made the accusation in a memo entitled: ‘Ongoing Full-fledged Genocide in Northern Nigeria’, which he sent to his colleague-northern governors. He accused President Goodluck Jonathan of using “mass murderers/cut-throats imbedded in our legitimate and traditional Defence and Security organisations.” He had said: “The administration has also hired militia from all across especially North NANAfrica, who have been deceived into accepting to come because they were made to believe that they would be fighting infidels.” When contacted last night, Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, said some officers were actually sent to Yola on a fact-finding mission. He said they were detailed to interview the governor. “Some of our people went to Yola to interview the governor. Some of our officers were there. They were on a fact-finding meeting with the governor,” he said, refusing to give further details. The police had earlier in the week warned politicians against making inciting comments, saying freedom of speech goes with concomitant responsibilities.
Culled from NM

NIGRRIA: Boko Haram torments mothers

Tearful mothers of the kidnapped schoolgirls at a meeting in Borno state. Picture: Reuters
By MARTYN MCLAUGHLIN
RELATIVES of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted at gunpoint by Islamist militants have vowed to search a forest where it is feared they are being held hostage.


Families of the 230 pupils in Borno state said they were prepared to scour the remote Sambisa forest reserve amid frustration over government and military inaction and growing concerns for their children’s safety.

The mass abduction of the teenagers, all aged between 16 and 18, took place on 14 April after militants overpowered a guard at their boarding school in Chibok, north-east Borno.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the abduction, but suspicion has fallen on the radical Boko Haram jihadist group, which has launched attacks on schools and colleges across north-east Nigeria in opposition to western education, and in particular women’s education. Over the past year, the group has focused its kidnapping attempts on schools, in particular female pupils, who are often forced to convert and are married off to Boko Haram fighters.

It believes women should stay at home to support their husbands and families, meaning that schools which teach girls are seen as targets.

Although around two dozen girls were able to escape after jumping off lorries on which they were being transported into the forest, the families of those still unaccounted for said they were becoming increasingly desperate.

Danuma Mpur, chair of the local parent-teacher association and whose two nieces are among the missing, said: “We pinned our hopes on the government, but all that hope is turning to frustration. The town is under a veil of sorrow.”

President Goodluck Jonathan convened an emergency security council on Thursday attended by state governors, security officials and spiritual leaders straddling Nigeria’s largely Christian south and mostly Muslim north, with a goal of bringing an end to the Islamists’ five-year insurgency.The government has said its priority is to rescue the girls but it has been nearly a fortnight since they were last seen.

Speaking after the meeting in Abuja, Kayode Fayemi, governor of the Christian-majority Ekiti state to the south of the country, said: “We must do everything to ensure that the abducted children are retrieved and rehabilitated and returned to their parents, and the military assured us that they are working on it.”

Despite the promises from the Nigerian government, the families are increasingly taking action to locate their loved ones, alongside an intensifying social media campaign using hashtags such as #BringBackOurGirls and #WhereAreOurDaughtrs.

Hamma Balumai, a farmer whose daughter, Hauwa, was abducted, pooled his savings with other parents and embarked on a two-day trek into the forest, near the border with Cameroon. However, the group was forced to turn around after being warned by other communities in the reserve that they would be at risk from the armed militants.

Mr Balumai said: “Even my wife was begging to come as she is so disturbed she hasn’t been able to eat anything. Our daughter, Hauwa, is only 16 years old and she has been missing for 11 days now.”

Professor Hauwa Abdu Biu, co-ordinator of the Baobab women’s rights group, told a press conference in Maiduguri that more could have been done to aid the initial search by family members. He asked: “What stopped security men from giving back-up to parents to go further into the bush?”

Mathieu Guidere, professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at the University of Toulouse, said: “Within communities of Borno province there is much sympathy for parents, but not a huge degree of shock. This is just the latest in a series of attacks blamed on one outfit, Boko Haram.”

INTERNATIONAL:Russia wants to start third world war, says Ukraine Prime minister

A pro-Russian armed man guards the mayor's office in Slavyansk on Friday.

Russia wants to start third world war, says Ukraine Prime minister Arseny Yatseniuk accuses Moscow of acting like a gangster by aiming to occupy Ukraine 'militarily and politically'.

 Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
Reuters in Kiev
Friday 25 April 2014 11.11 BST

The Ukrainian prime minister, Arseny Yatseniuk, has accused Russia of wanting to start a third world war by occupying Ukraine "militarily and politically".

"The world has not yet forgotten world war two, but Russia already wants to start world war three," he told his interim cabinet in remarks broadcast live. "Attempts at military conflict in Ukraine will lead to a military conflict in Europe."

In some of the strongest language he has used so far during the crisis, Yatseniuk accused Moscow of acting like a gangster supporting terrorists.

"It is clear that Russia's goal is to wreck the election in Ukraine, remove the pro-western and pro-Ukrainian government and occupy Ukraine politically as well as military," he added.

Both sides have deployed troops close to their frontier.

Yatseniuk took office in February after pro-European protests prompted the Kremlin-backed president to flee to Russia.

Ukraine plans to hold an election on 25 May to replace Viktor Yanukovich, but the Russian-speaking east of the country has been disrupted by pro-Moscow militants who have taken over the city of Slavyansk and public buildings elsewhere, demanding to follow Crimea and be annexed by Russia.

NIGERIA: Policeman rape and impregnate Pastor's 13 years old girl

A policeman in Anambra State has been accused of raping and impregnating the 13-year-old daughter of a popular pastor.

The police sergeant (names withheld) was said to have committed the crime at Nkpor, Idemili Council Area of the state.

The victim who is said to be two months pregnant hid the incident from her parents but had to confess to her mother last Saturday complaining about symptoms of pregnancy.

She later told her parents who was responsible for the pregnancy.

Read the Vanguard report below:

According to reports, the policeman initially denied the allegation and was supported by the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, which made the victim’s parents to petition a human rights group and the state Commissioner of Police.After the petition, the policeman was said to have accepted responsibility and agreed to take care of the girl till delivery.He promised to be giving the girl’s family N20,000 monthly for the girl’s up keep, which the father turned down, demanding N300,000 to enable him take proper care of her daughter till delivery.In the girl’s statement to her parents, she was quoted as saying that the policeman ordered her at gunpoint to have sex with him on her way from school, a claim the suspect denied, saying the action was carried out mutually between them and not by force.When contacted, the state PPRO, Emeka Chukwuemeka confirmed that the command received such report but said investigations were ongoing with a view to ascertaining the level of culpability of the said policeman.The command image‑maker, stated that proper investigation in the matter was necessary, because the state Commissioner of Police, Usman Gwary, does not tolerate acts of indiscipline by his officers and men.According to him, “the matter is under investigation and I will brief the press on it later.”

AKWA IBOM: Woman kills 15 years old son

Okokon’s house…Photo Credit: Punch

A woman, Mrs. Ita Okokon, aka, Eka Isaac, at Atai Obio Offot, Uyo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, has killed her 15-year-old son, Isaac Okokon, after a minor disagreement.

Isaac, an SSS II pupil of Offot Ukwa Secondary School, Obiofot, Uyo, was said to have died on Friday following a machete injury his mother inflicted on him.

According to a neighbour Miss Ekaette Effiong who narrated the story, when the mother beat Isaac, he retaliated instead of running away as a sign of respect.

Effiong added that Isaac hit his mother so hard that the woman fell to the ground.

“When Isaac hit his mother that hard, the woman felt humiliated. When she got up, she went inside the house and brought out the machete. She chased her son with the machete, but when she could not get him, she threw the machete at him, which cut through his body,” she said.

Effiong stated that neighbours, friends, relatives, and the mother rushed Isaac to a hospital where he died.

The mother was said to have fled Atai Obio Offot when she discovered that Isaac had died.

All attempts to reach out to Isaac’s father or other relatives proved abortive. Other tenants in the house where they live also refused to speak with our correspondent on the issue.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Akwa Ibom State Command, Mr. Etim Dickson, confirmed the incident.

He said the police had yet to uncover the whereabouts of the woman.

He said, “For now nobody has given us information about the whereabouts of the woman. We have sent in some detectives around the area to look for possible clues that can lead to the arrest of the woman.”

NIGERIA:Amodu Lauds Super Eagles’ Preparation

Amodu Lauds Super Eagles’ Preparation For World Cup
NAN
— April 22, 2014
Amodu Shuaibu, the Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), on Tuesday lauded the association for the “adequate preparation given to the Super Eagles“ ahead of the 2014 World Cup.

Shuaibu, a former coach of the Super Eagles, gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

He said the series of friendlies played and yet to be played by the national team would ensure coherence among the players ahead of the tournament.

“I don’t know what their priority is, but I think there is nothing wrong with what they have been doing.

“The team has been very busy until qualification and they have been playing friendly games.

“They still have another one next month; so, I don’t know what else you want them to do that they are not doing. For me, I think they are doing everything right.“

Shuaibu’s comments came on the heels of remarks by some Nigerians that the NFA was not doing enough to prepare the Super Eagles for the World Cup in Brazil.

According to him, the current Super Eagles coached by Stephen Keshi have played enough friendly matches so far, compared to the ones played when he (Shuaibu) was coach of the team.

NAN reports that the Eagles are scheduled to play Scotland in a friendly at the Craven Cottage ground of English Premiership side Fulham FC on May 28 and fly to the U.S. on May 29.

The team will also engage the Greece national team at the Philadelphia Union Stadium, U.S. on June 3.

The Super Eagles are also expected to confront the U.S. national team at the EverBank Field Stadium in Jacksonville, U.S. on June 7 before flying to Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 11.

The team, which has played teams like Mexico, Italy and Catalonia in international friendly matches, is in the same group with Argentina, Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina for the World Cup. (NAN)

USA: 45 Shot in Chicago

Chicago police face overwhelming gun crime as 45 people shot over weekend

Police officials point to need for stricter gun laws after city suffers bloody Easter weekend in which nine people were killed.

Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy compared the department's task on gun violence to 'drinking from a firehose'. Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters
Jon Swaine in New York
Monday 21 April 2014 20.53 BST

A senior Chicago police officer said that parts of the city are being overwhelmed by gun violence, after a weekend in which nine people were shot dead and at least 36 – including six children – were wounded.

Ronald Holt, the commander of the Chicago police department’s special activities division, said that the city was witnessing “fratricide” among young men who had come to believe “that the only way to resolve a conflict is to get a gun and go shoot to kill”.

“To tackle gun violence where it is overwhelming communities with the extraordinary loss of lives at an alarming pace, we must deal with it as a social disease and health issue,” Holt, whose 17-year-old son Blair was shot dead on a bus in 2007, told the Guardian in an email.

His remarks came as Chicago suffered its bloodiest weekend of the year. Dozens of residents were shot in a series of separate incidents. On the city’s south side, five children aged between 11 and 15 were shot while walking home from a park on Sunday evening.

The four girls and one boy were asked if they were affiliated with a gang, and then shots were fired from a light-coloured sedan, a police spokesman said. An 11-year-old girl was in a critical condition in hospital after being shot in the neck. A 14-year-old girl was in a serious condition after suffering a shot to her abdomen. A 14-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl were stable after being shot in the left leg and right arm respectively. Another 14-year-old girl suffered a grazed buttock.

The shootings occurred less than a mile from the south-side porch where Gakirah Barnes, a 17-year-old girl, died after being shot nine times the previous weekend. “We are looking at whether this could have been a retaliation for previous shootings,” Andrew Holmes, a community organiser, said on Monday morning.

About two hours after the five children were shot on Sunday evening, a 15-year-old girl was shot in the back while sitting in a car at a traffic light in the north-west of the city. Police said that a group of three men had flashed gang signs before one opened fire.

At least nine people were killed around the city over the Easter weekend, including 16-year-old Jordan Means, who, along with 18-year-old Anthony Bankhead, was found shot dead in an apartment on the south side on Saturday morning. Means’s mother, Camille Cochran, told local media that the pair were shot over a dispute that had been raging on Facebook.

The weekend’s death toll brought the total number of suspected homicides so far this year to 90, compared to 92 at this point in 2013, according to figures compiled by RedEye Chicago. Superintendent Garry McCarthy on Monday compared the task his department faces as it tries to tackle gun violence to “drinking from a firehose”.

“We can do things to improve what’s happening, but until such time as we get some help with the gun laws in the state of Illinois, we’re up against it,” McCarthy told CBS News. But Illinois law has recently moved towards looser gun controls. The first permits allowing residents to carry concealed firearms, under a law passed by the state legislature last year, were sent out last month.

The Guardian reported on Saturday that a feud between rival rappers had been linked to a series of shooting deaths in the city, including that of Barnes and, two days later, Mario “Big Glo” Hess. Hess, an up-and-coming rapper formerly known as “Blood Money”, had recently received a $50,000 record deal advance.

Holt, whose special activities division works to tackle gang violence, said that some rappers from Chicago “can't seem to loose themselves from their own gritty and dangerous surroundings” even as they

DRUGS:Marijuana Use Tied To Multiple Brain Abnormalities In Students

Marijuana Use Tied To Multiple Brain Abnormalities In Students, Even Those Who Smoked As Little As Once A Week

By Chris Weller | Apr 15, 2014 05:00 PM EDT

Marijuana use, even casually, impairs the motivational and emotional centers of students' brains. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
Students who smoked marijuana as rarely as once a week still showed significant brain abnormalities in terms of the organ’s size, density, and volume, a new study finds. The two areas most affected by the marijuana use were the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens, which regulate, among other things, emotion and motivation.

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, is the first to examine marijuana’s effects on casual smokers. It found that the number of joints a person smokes directly relates to the degree of brain impairment, challenging the notion that recreational use is somehow exempt from causing neurological damage.

“People think a little recreational use shouldn't cause a problem, if someone is doing OK with work or school,” said co-senior study author Hans Breiter in a statement. “Our data directly says this is not the case.”

Subjects for the study included 40 students, aged 18 to 25, split up evenly according to whether they currently smoked marijuana. Before conducting a range of neuroimaging tests, the researchers ensured none of the 20 current users exhibited any signs of addiction. Later, they tested for the density of subjects’ gray matter, the size of their brains, and the overall volume. They also compared the two groups’ brains to see how marijuana may have altered users’ responses to motivation and emotion.

"These are core, fundamental structures of the brain," said co-senior study author Anne Blood, director of the Mood and Motor Control Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "They form the basis for how you assess positive and negative features about things in the environment and make decisions about them.

Overall, subjects who smoked had a larger-than-average nucleus accumbens and prominently displayed changes in size and shape. Relying on former studies in rat models, the researchers concluded that marijuana’s key psychoactive ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was conferring the wiring changes in the subjects’ brains.

"It may be that we're seeing a type of drug learning in the brain," lead author and psychology instructor at HMS, Dr. Jodi Gilman, said. "We think when people are in the process of becoming addicted, their brains form these new connections."

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S. A 2008 survey found 15.2 million people had used marijuana in the past month. And despite ongoing legal actions around the country, most of which shines a positive light on the plant, and growing public support for the drug’s medicinal effects, medical science knows little about marijuana’s actual effects on the brain. Such studies require long-term investigation to untangle the external factors from what’s actually going on.

What scientists do know is that drugs like marijuana can cause the brain to release more dopamine than it would for other pleasure-seeking activities, such as food, socializing, and sex. Even if they don’t physically addict people like the nicotine in cigarettes, marijuana addictions are problematic because they gradually numb a person’s response to dopamine. Activities that were once pleasurable turn unappealing.

Weed is also stronger today than it was in the 1960s and 70s. Forty years ago, the THC content hovered between one and three percent. Now, it typically ranges in potency from five to nine percent. This concerns people like Gilman and Breiter because it means that pot’s growing acceptance could mean greater damage on still-developing brains, despite many advocates’ well-meaning intentions.

"I've developed a severe worry,” Breiter said, “about whether we should be allowing anybody under age 30 to use pot unless they have a terminal illness and need it for pain."

HEALTH:Chinese Herb Shows Promise As Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment

Chinese Herb Shows Promise As Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment; Could Be Cheaper Than Methotrexate

By Anthony Rivas | Apr 14, 2014 06:30 PM EDT


People have used traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years, so it's no surprise that an herb known as the Thunder God Vine shows promise in treating rheumatoid arthritis (possibly) better than current medications. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) — not to be confused with osteoarthritis — affects an estimated 1.5 million people in the U.S. As an autoimmune disorder, it develops when the immune system starts attacking the body’s own tissue, affecting people at any age (but most frequently in middle age and up) with joint inflammation and pain, among many other symptoms, that often come and go in so-called flares. While there are currently drugs to treat the disease, including methotrexate, they sometimes don’t work. Now, a new study finds that a Chinese herbal remedy may be able to treat people with RA more effectively.

Originating in ancient China, traditional Chinese medicine has been implemented in many parts of the world for thousands of years. It includes various practices of well-being, including acupuncture, tai chi, qi gong, and the use of Chinese herbs for treating disease. Many Chinese “herbs” aren’t actually herbs either, and sometimes include minerals or animal products that are formulated into teas, capsules, liquid extracts, and powders.

“Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TwHF) is used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of joint pain, fever, chills, oedema, and local inflammation,” the researchers wrote. It’s sometimes called the Thunder God Vine and is recognized for its anti-inflammatory properties, as well as the ability to suppress the immune system and possibly fight cancer. Its ability to remedy these ailments, according to researchers of the new study, come from its chloroform-methanol extract and compounds — some of over 300 — derived from it, known as diterpenoids.

 Known as the Thunder God Vine, tripterygium wilfordii Hook F might be better at treating rheumatoid arthritis than current medications.  

Looking to see just how effective this ancient remedy is, the researchers split a group of 207 patients with RA into three groups. Some took the RA medication methotrexate (12.5 milligrams once a week), while another group took 20 milligrams of TwHF three times a day, and the last group took a combination of both. The treatment period lasted 24 weeks — 84 percent of participants got to the end.

Of these participants, the researchers found that 46.5 percent of patients treated with methotrexate reached ACR 50, a level of response defined by the American College of Rheumatology indicating that symptoms were relieved by 50 percent. By comparison, 55 percent of patients who took the TwHF supplements, and 77 percent of patients who took both reached ACR 50.

The results are promising because all groups of patients showed similar patterns of symptom reduction. Meanwhile, those who took TwHF were more likely than the others to experience irregular periods — a known side effect — so the researchers said it would be best for postmenopausal women and those who are no longer interested in having children to take it. Furthermore, they said that 12.5 milligrams of methotrexate was lower than some doses given to RA patients in the U.S., and that it was unclear, though unlikely, whether higher doses would sway the results. For patients who can’t afford methotrexate, TwHF may be a more affordable option if longer term studies prove their safety and efficiency

DRUGS:Doctors Prescribe Codeine To Children When Less Powerful Drugs Will Do

Too Many Doctors Prescribing Codeine To Children When Less Powerful Drugs Will Do

By Matthew Mientka | Apr 21, 2014 12:00 AM EDT


New research shows U.S. emergency room doctors are still prescribing codeine to children in high numbers to treat injury pain, when less harmful and more effective substitutes exist. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Emergency room doctors continue to prescribe codeine to children at high rates rather than less harmful alternatives such as ibuprofen or hydrocodone. But rather than merely “educating” these clinicians, some experts say the health care system should eliminate the doctor’s discretion to prescribe such powerful pain meds to children.

Sunitha Kaiser, a pediatrician at Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, says the evidence is clear on wisdom of prescribing alternative medications to children. "Despite strong evidence against the use of codeine in children, the drug continues to be prescribed to large numbers of them each year," she said in a press release. "It can be prescribed in any clinical setting, so it is important to decrease codeine prescription to children in other settings such as clinics and hospitals, in addition to emergency rooms."

An opioid, codeine is prescribed to treat mild to moderate pain as well as to suppress cough. However, a third of children receive no benefit from the medication, given variability in how children process the opioid. But much worse, as many as one in 12 children prescribed codeine may accumulate toxic amounts, causing slowed breathing and, in some rare cases, death.

The American Academy of Pediatrics first warned of the dangers of codeine in children in 1997, saying again in 2006 that science lacks evidence supporting the effectiveness of the medication in treating pediatric pain and cough. Likewise, the American College of Chest Physicians issued its 2006 guidelines on treating children’s cough with an advisory against the use of codeine.

In the new study, Kaiser and her colleagues found the frequency of codeine prescriptions dropping from 2001 to 2010 from 3.7 percent to 2.9 percent for emergency room visits involving children ages 3 to 17. However, those percentages represent a still rising overall number of codeine prescriptions for children, which rose during that time from 559,000 to 877,000 prescriptions per year in the U.S.

HEALTH:Extroverts Are Happier Than Introverts, No Matter The Cultural Setting

By Dana Dovey | Apr 19, 2014 05:39

Researchers have found that no matter the culture or the country, extroverts tend to be happier than their introverted counterparts. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
A new study suggests that key to happiness has nothing to do with material items or socio-economic surrounding, but rather lies in your own personality. Researchers looked at the mood and behavior of young people in countries across the globe and found that, regardless of the culture, those who felt or acted more extroverted in daily situations were happier. Although similar studies conducted in the West have shown the same results, this is the first time researchers have proved this true on such an international scale.

The study was conducted on college students living in the United States, China, Japan, the Philippines, and Venezuela and is published online in the Journal of Research in Personality. The ultimate goal of the study was to explore the link between extroversion and happiness in more community-based cultures such as those in Asia and South America. Most of the previous studies on happiness and personality were conducted in Western nations, where a high value is placed on independence and individualism, according to a recent press release. In the most recent study, researchers found they still got the same results, no matter their geographical location. “We are not the first to show that being more extroverted in daily behavior can lead to more positive moods. However, we’re probably the first to extend this finding to a variety of cultures”, the study’s author, Timothy Church, explained in the press release.

Results showed that many cultures share similar major personality traits and that being outgoing may be one way to increase happiness in all of them. “Cross-cultural psychologists like to talk about psychic unity. Despite all of our cultural differences, the way personality is organized seems to be pretty comparable across cultural groups,” Church concluded.

Extroverts are often stereotyped as party animals that like to speak loudly, and be the center of attention. They are more likely to take risks, are better able to manipulate and charm others, and overall have more of a chance of getting what they want with their dominating personality.

The evidence from this study also showed that 40 to 50 percent of the variation in personality traits has a genetic basis. These figures coincide with a previous study carried out at Edinburgh University in Scotland. Researchers there studied more than 800 sets of identical and non-identical twins. This was done to understand which had more of a play in personality; genetics or upbringing. The study’s results showed that identical twins were twice as likely as non-identical twins to share the same personality traits. This further backed the idea that DNA has more to do with personality than science has previously believed.

HEALTH:Ebola Outbreak In Guinea Kills 61

 With 109 Confirmed Cases, WHO Says: How Far Has The Virus Come?

By Matthew Mientka | Apr 21, 2014 10:11 AM EDT

WHO officials continue the fight against Ebola virus in Guinea. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Sixty-nine people have died since January of Ebola in the West African country of Guinea with 109 cases now confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Sakoba Keita, who’s leading the government’s ebola prevention efforts, says the limited outbreak remains dangerous. “The biological analysis can be achieved henceforth quickly,” he told Time magazine this week, referring to the ongoing epidemiological operation.

Near the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the deadly infectious disease first emerged in 1976, simultaneously striking Sudan. Yet after nearly two generations, epidemiologists have developed no cure for the highly fatal disease, formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever. The pathogen leaps from animals in the wild to human populations in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests — and is then spread rapidly from person to person. The disease is transmitted through direct contact with blood and tissue of infected animals or people, with the greatest risk for infection incurred by health workers fighting the disease.

Although no vaccine yet exists for ebola in animals or humans, the world health community fought the infection this month with 3.5 tons of medical supplies sent to Conakry, the capital of Guinea for distribution by WHO officials. Those supplies included disposable protective clothing for health workers, as well as hazmat-secure burial material for the infected dead.

“With protection equipment, we feel reassured and can do our job to help patients,” said Dr. Lansana Kourouma, head of emergency care at the Chinese-Guinean Friendship Hospital, where five patients remained under observation this week. WHO said the country Senegal had also sent technicians to the hospital to conduct on-site rapid testing for the disease.

SCIENCE:Corn biofuels worse than gasoline on global warming in short term – study

Corn biofuels worse than gasoline on global warming in short term – study

• $500,000 study paid for by federal government
• Conclusion: 7% more greenhouse gases in early years


Biofuels made from corn residue have attracted more than $1bn in federal support. Photograph: Marvin Dembinsky Photo Associate/Alamy
Associated Press in Washington
Sunday 20 April 2014 20.48 BST

Biofuels made from the leftovers of harvested corn plants are worse than gasoline for global warming in the short term, a new study shows, challenging the Obama administration's conclusions that they are a much cleaner oil alternative and will help combat climate change.

A $500,000 study – paid for by the federal government and released Sunday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change – concludes that biofuels made with corn residue release 7% more greenhouse gases in the early years compared with conventional gasoline.

While biofuels are better in the long run, the study says they won't meet a standard set in a 2007 energy law to qualify as renewable fuel.

The conclusions deal a blow to proponents of cellulosic biofuels, which have received more than a billion dollars in federal support but have struggled to meet volume targets mandated by law. About half of the initial market in cellulosics is expected to be derived from corn residue.

The biofuel industry and administration officials immediately criticised the research as flawed. They said it was too simplistic in its analysis of carbon loss from soil, which can vary over a single field, and vastly overestimated how much residue farmers actually would remove once the market gets underway.

"The core analysis depicts an extreme scenario that no responsible farmer or business would ever employ because it would ruin both the land and the long-term supply of feedstock. It makes no agronomic or business sense," said Jan Koninckx, global business director for biorefineries at DuPont.

Later this year the company is scheduled to finish a $200m-plus facility in Nevada, Iowa, that will produce 30 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol using corn residue from nearby farms. An assessment paid for by DuPont said that the ethanol it will produce there could be more than 100% better than gasoline in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

The research published in Nature Climate Change is among the first to attempt to quantify, over 12 corn belt states, how much carbon is lost to the atmosphere when the stalks, leaves and cobs that make up residue are removed and used to make biofuel, instead of left to naturally replenish the soil with carbon. The study found that regardless of how much corn residue is taken off the field, the process contributes to global warming.

"I knew this research would be contentious," said Adam Liska, the lead author and an assistant professor of biological systems engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "I'm amazed it has not come out more solidly until now."

The Environmental Protection Agency's own analysis, which assumed about half of corn residue would be removed from fields, found that fuel made from corn residue, also known as stover, would meet the standard in the energy law. That standard requires cellulosic biofuels to release 60% less carbon pollution than gasoline.

Cellulosic biofuels that don't meet that threshold could be almost impossible to make and sell. Producers wouldn't earn the $1 per gallon subsidy they need to make these expensive fuels and make a profit. Refiners would shun the fuels because they wouldn't meet their legal obligation to use minimum amounts of next-generation biofuels.

An EPA spokeswoman, Liz Purchia, said in a statement that the study "does not provide useful information relevant to the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from corn stover ethanol".

But an AP investigation last year found that the EPA's analysis of corn-based ethanol failed to predict the environmental consequences accurately.

The departments of Agriculture and Energy have initiated programmes with farmers to make sure residue is harvested sustainably. For ins