10/08/14 ~ CROSS RIVER UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

TOP NEWS: For Kim-watchers, North Korean anniversary on Friday is pivotal

By James Pearson and Tony Munroe

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been out of sight for over a month and if he does not appear at a key political event early on Friday, speculation will intensify over his health and grip on power in the secretive country.

North Korea's state media, which usually chronicles the 31-year-old's whereabouts in great detail, has not made any mention of Kim's activities since he appeared at a concert with his wife on Sept. 3.

Friday is the 69th anniversary of the founding of North Korea's Workers' Party, an event Kim has marked in the past two years with a post-midnight visit to the Pyongyang mausoleum where the bodies of his father and grandfather are interred.

"Should he fail to appear, it will fuel speculation that the young North Korean leader has fallen on hard times of one kind or another," said Curtis Melvin, a researcher at the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

"The longer he remains out of the public eye, the more uncertainty about him, and the status of his regime, will grow."

Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, often appeared in state media at party events or factory visits on the Oct. 10 anniversary, newspaper archives show.

North Korean officials have denied that Kim's public absence since early September is health-related and a U.S. official following North Korea said this week there were no indications he was seriously ill or in political trouble.

Speculation that Kim's unusually long absence from public view may be due to ill health was fueled by a North Korean TV report late last month that he was suffering from "discomfort".

Some Pyongyang-watchers also suggest that Kim may have been sidelined in a power struggle, a scenario they say was reinforced by the unexpected visit on Saturday of a high-level delegation to the closing ceremony of the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. Another interpretation of that visit holds that it was meant to convey stability in Pyongyang.

"It would have to be a very subtle coup indeed not to disrupt international travel plans," said Andray Abrahamian of the Choson Exchange, a Singapore-based NGO currently running a program for North Koreans in Southeast Asia.

This is not the first time Kim Jong Un has been missing from public view. In June 2012, six months after coming to power, state media failed to report on or photograph him for 23 days. He re-surfaced the next month at a dolphinarium.

Kim, who has rapidly gained weight since coming to power after his father died of a heart attack in 2011, had been seen walking with a limp since an event with key officials in July.

He was absent from a Sept. 25 meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly, or parliament, the first he has not attended since coming to power three years ago.

However, Kim's name has not disappeared from state propaganda.

Thursday's edition of the Workers' Party newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, carried three letters to Kim from overseas allies on its front page, and has reported on returning athletes from the Asian Games who thanked "the Marshal" for his support during the competition.

Abrahamian said he believes Kim's absence has been due to health reasons, and not that he's been usurped.

"Kim Jong Un has always shared power with other key figures and even if the internal balance of power has shifted, it is unlikely that they would want to remove him, given his unmatchable symbolic value. Again, though, everyone is guessing," he said.

(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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TOP NEWS Ebola patient dies in Texas; five U.S. airports to screen for fever

23:10 No comments

By Lisa Maria Garza and Richard Valdmanis

DALLAS (Reuters) - The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States died on Wednesday, underscoring questions about the quality of care he received, and the government ordered five airports to start screening passengers from West Africa for fever.

Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan died in an isolation ward of a Dallas hospital, 11 days after being admitted on Sept. 28.

The case has stirred attention and concern that someone with Ebola had been able to fly into the United States from Liberia, raising the specter more passengers could arrive and spread the disease outside of West Africa, where nearly 4,000 people have died in three impoverished countries.

The White House said extra screening for fever will be carried out for arriving passengers from West Africa. The screening will start at New York's John F. Kennedy airport from the weekend, and later be used at Newark Liberty, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta.

Duncan's death prompted questions about the timeliness of his care. The patient initially sought treatment two days before being admitted, but was sent home with antibiotics.

"I trust a thorough examination will take place regarding all aspects of his care," Duncan's fiancée, Louise Troh, wrote in a statement. Troh, in quarantine, added, "I am now dealing with the sorrow and anger that his son was not able to see him before he died."

Dr. Craig Smith, medical director for infectious disease at University Hospital in Augusta, Georgia said Ebola, like any disease, was easier to beat the sooner it was treated.

"I'm not surprised he unfortunately passed away," Smith said. "I think two days would have made a big difference."

Duncan had been in critical condition and on a ventilator and kidney dialysis at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. He was given an experimental medication to try to keep him alive, starting Saturday, six days after being admitted.

But Ebola experts also asked why Duncan received the experimental drug brincidofovir, made by Chimerix Inc, which has not been tested on humans or animals, rather than Tekmira Pharmaceuticals drug TKM-Ebola, which has been tested on humans. TKM-Ebola was given to another U.S. patient, Dr. Rick Sancra, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia and was cured.

"We know Dr. Sacra was pretty damn sick when he began treatment," said virologist Thomas Geisbert of the University of Texas Medical Branch, who has done pioneering work on Ebola treatments. It "potentially saved him."

NO SYMPTOMS

Duncan was able to fly to the United States from Liberia because he did not have a fever when screened at the airport in the capital, Monrovia, and filled out a questionnaire saying he had not been in contact with anyone infected with Ebola.

Liberian officials have said Duncan lied on the questionnaire and had been in contact with a pregnant woman who later died.

Duncan was not screened on arrival in the United States. Starting this weekend, though, JFK airport will use a non-invasive device to take the temperature of passengers, who also will fill out detailed questionnaires created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Canada said on Wednesday it would step up airport screening of people arriving from affected West African countries. Those who are ill or say they have been in contact with a sick person will have their temperature taken by a quarantine officer.

Hospital spokesman Wendell Watson said in an emailed statement that Duncan died at 7:51 a.m. The hospital said he was 45 years old. About 48 people who had direct or indirect contact with Duncan since he arrived on Sept. 20 are being monitored, but none have yet shown any symptoms, according to health officials.

The CDC and other U.S. health officials say the chances of Ebola spreading in the United States are very slim.

Texas Health Presbyterian said a man had been admitted on Wednesday after reporting he had contact with Duncan and was exhibiting symptoms. Other officials said he was a law enforcement officer who had visited the apartment where Duncan had been staying, days after the Liberian went to the hospital.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Thomas Frieden described the person as someone who "does not have definite contact with Ebola or definite symptoms of Ebola."

The hospital has not released details on how it will handle Duncan's body but said it will follow protocols from the CDC. Texas State health authorities said Duncan's remains will be cremated. The guidelines recommend careful preparation of the body before movement, including enclosing it in two bags and disinfecting the bags. The body can then be transported without the need for protective gear for a driver or others who are near the body but they are not to handle the remains before cremation.

The current Ebola outbreak, the worst on record, began in March. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization updated its toll of the disease. WHO said Ebola has killed 3,879 people out of 8,033 cases by the end of Oct. 5. WHO says 41 people have been killed in an unrelated outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ebola can take as long as three weeks before its victims show symptoms, at which point the disease becomes contagious. Ebola, which can cause fever, vomiting and diarrhea, spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood or saliva.

While several American patients have been flown to the United States from West Africa for treatment, Duncan was the first person to start showing symptoms on U.S. soil. A nurse in Spain who treated a priest who worked in West Africa is also infected.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Roberta Rampton in Washington, Marice Richter in Texas, Sharon Begley and Yasmeen Abutaleb in New York, David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Writing by Richard Valdmanis and Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Peter Henderson and Grant McCool)

TOP NEWS Renewed assault on Kobani; 21 dead in Turkey as Kurds rise

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By Daren Butler and Jonny Hogg

MURSITPINAR Turkey/ANKARA (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters launched a renewed assault on the Syrian city of Kobani on Wednesday night, and at least 21 people were killed in riots in neighbouring Turkey where Kurds rose up against the government for doing nothing to protect their kin.

Heavily outgunned defenders said Islamic State militants had pushed into two districts of the mainly Kurdish border city late on Wednesday, despite U.S.-led air strikes that the Pentagon acknowledged would probably not be enough to safeguard the town.

In Turkey, street battles raged between Kurdish protesters and police across the mainly Kurdish southeast, in Istanbul and in Ankara, as fallout from war in Syria and Iraq threatened to unravel the NATO member's own delicate Kurdish peace process. The street violence was the worst Turkey had seen in years.

Washington said on Wednesday night that the U.S. military and partner nations carried out eight air strikes against Islamic State fighters near the embattled Syrian city of Kobani, which it said was still under the control of Kurdish militia.

"U.S. Central Command continues to monitor the situation in Kobani closely. Indications are that Kurdish militia there continue to control most of the city and are holding out against ISIL," the Pentagon statement said, using another acronym for Islamic State.

Central Command added that the strikes, in which Jordan took part, destroyed several Islamic State targets, including five armed vehicles, a supply depot, a command-and-control compound, a logistics compound and eight occupied barracks. The United States also launched three strikes against Islamic State in Iraq.

But Kobani remained under intense bombardment from Islamic State emplacements, within sight of Turkish tanks at the nearby frontier that have so far done nothing to help.

"Tonight, (Islamic State) has entered two districts with heavy weapons including tanks. Civilians may have died because there are very intense clashes," Asya Abdullah, co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main Kurdish group defending the area, told Reuters from inside the town.

U.S. IMPATIENCE

U.S. officials were quoted voicing impatience with the Turks, Washington's most powerful ally in the area, for refusing to join the coalition against Islamic State fighters who have seized wide areas of Syria and Iraq.

"There's no question the U.S. government thinks Turkey can do more, should do more, and that they are using excuses not to do more," said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We have been sending that message very clearly behind the scenes."

Analysts and U.S. officials said Turkey's hesitance to commit its military, NATO's second-largest, to save Kobani reflected a fear of emboldening and empowering its own Kurdish population, which has long sought greater autonomy.

Turkey says it could join only if Washington agrees to use force against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Sunni Muslim jihadists fighting him in a three-year-old civil war.

Turkey's Kurds, who make up the majority in the southeast of the country, say President Tayyip Erdogan is stalling while their brethren are killed in Kobani.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators who burned cars and tyres. Authorities imposed curfews in at least five provinces, the first time such measures have been used widely since the early 1990s.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara that 19 people were killed and 145 wounded in riots across Turkey, vowing that Turkey's own peace process with Kurdish separatists would not be wrecked by "vandalism". Dogan news agency later said the death toll had climbed to 21.

At least 10 people died in clashes in Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish city in Turkey's southeast. An all-day curfew there from Tuesday night was extended for another day on Wednesday. Pockets of protesters defying the curfew clashed with security forces there on Wednesday.

Others died in clashes between protesters and police in the eastern provinces of Mus, Siirt and Batman. Thirty people were wounded in Istanbul, including eight police officers.

Disturbances spread to other countries with Kurdish and Turkish populations. Police in Germany said 14 people were hurt in clashes there between Kurds and radical Islamists.

The unrest in Turkey exposes the difficulty Washington has faced in building a coalition to fight Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, two countries with complex, multi-sided civil wars in which every country in the region has a stake.

BLACK FLAG

Islamic State fighters besieging Kobani hoisted their black flag on the eastern edge of the town on Monday. Since then, U.S.-led air strikes have been redoubled. The town's defenders said earlier on Wednesday the insurgents had been pushed back, but the fighters appeared to be advancing later in the day.

Intense gunfire and loud explosions could be heard on Wednesday morning from across the Turkish frontier. Huge plumes of grey smoke and dust rose above the town, where the United Nations says only a few hundred inhabitants remain.

U.S. officials, acknowledging it will be hard to shield Kobani from the air, have played down its strategic importance.

"Air strikes alone are not going to do this. They're not going to fix this. They're not going to save the town of Kobani. We know that," Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told a news briefing.

Secretary of State John Kerry said: "As horrific as it is to watch in real time what is happening in Kobani ... you have to step back and understand the strategic objective."

Islamic State has been advancing on the town from three sides and pounding it with artillery despite dogged resistance from heavily outgunned Kurdish forces.

Kurdish media said Kurdish fighters thwarted a car bomb on positions in Kobani, saying the vehicle blew up before reaching its target. An Islamic State source on Twitter said the attack destroyed a police station. Neither account could be verified, but a huge explosion could be seen from across the border.

In Turkey, parliament voted last week to authorise cross-border intervention, but Erdogan and his government have so far held back, saying they will join military action only as part of an alliance that also confronts Assad.

Erdogan wants the alliance to enforce a "no-fly zone" to prevent Assad's air force flying over Syrian territory near the Turkish border and create a safe area for an estimated 1.2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey to return.

France said it supported the idea of a safe area, and Britain said it was studying it. But it is clear the proposal has not taken hold in Washington, which has been bombing Islamic State targets in Syria without Assad raising objections, and does not want to be dragged into a conflict against Damascus.

"At the moment, the American air force is flying all over Syria with the permission of the Assad government," said Tim Ripley, a defence expert for Jane's Defence Weekly.

"To try and impose a no-fly zone would potentially involve a major air war against one of the biggest air forces in the Middle East ... which would only be a distraction from the fight against (Islamic State)," he said.

Kerry, repeating lukewarm views of other U.S. officials, said: "The buffer zone is an idea that has been out there. It is worth examining, it's worth looking at very, very closely."

Pentagon spokesman Kirby said, "It is now not on the table as a military option that we are considering."

(Reporting by Daren Butler, Humeyra Pamuk, Gulsen Solaker and Jonny Hogg in Turkey, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Susan Heavey, Mohammad Zargham, Arshad Mohammed, Lesley Wroughton, David Alexander, Phil Stewart and Sandra Maler in Washington and John Irish in Paris; Writing by Peter Graff and Kevin Liffey; Editing by Tom Heneghan, Peter Cooney and Ken Wills)

HEALTHCARE NEWS: US EBOLA PATIENT IS DEAD

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A Liberian man who was diagnosed with Ebola in Texas has died, a hospital spokesman said Wednesday.

'It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 am,' said the statement from Texas Health spokesman Wendell Watson. 'Mr. Duncan succumbed to an insidious disease, Ebola.

He fought courageously in this battle.' Duncan was the first patient diagnosed with Ebola outside West Africa, where the hemorrhagic virus has killed more than 3,400 people since the beginning of the year. He flew from Liberia to Texas to visit family, arriving in Dallas on September 20.

He began feeling sick four days later, but was not hospitalized until September 28.

'The past week has been an enormous test of our health system, but for one family it has been far more personal. Today they lost a dear member of their family,' said Texas health commissioner David Lakey.

'They have our sincere condolences, and we are keeping them in our thoughts.

' He said that the medical team in Texas has 'provided excellent and compassionate care, but Ebola is a disease that attacks the body in many ways.

' Health officials are monitoring dozens of people who may have come in contact with Duncan, including about 10 who are considered at high risk of contracting Ebola.

The virus is spread through close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, or by touching the corpse of a person who has died of Ebola, experts say.

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NEW WORLD RECORD: TOP 10 RICHEST PASTORS IN THE WORLD

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According to the www.richestlifestyle.com , here is the list of the Richest Pastors in the World and it is interesting to note that we have 5 Nigerian Pastors and 4 American Pastors on this list. Nigerians, does this say that we are the most religious people in the world???
Check out the list below:

10. Joseph Prince – Net worth: $5 Million (Singapore)

Annual salary of this Singaporean pastor is $550,000. Pastor Joseph Prince is the senior pastor of the New Creation Church in Singapore. The New Creation Church's financial income was reported at $44.7 million US dollars in 2008. He hosts a religious program called "Destined to Reign." He has addressed many congregations worldwide.

9) Chris Okotie – Net worth: $10 Million (Nigeria)

Chris Okotie was a pop musician in the 1980s. He embraced the Bible and set up the Household of God Church, one of Nigeria's most flamboyant congregations. He is an automobile lover and owns several posh cars which include a Mercedes S600, Rolls-Royce, Hummer and Porsche.

8) Matthew Ashimolowo – Net worth: $10 Million (Nigeria)

Matthew Ashimolowo's Kingsway International Christian Center is the largest Pentecostal church in the United Kingdom. It has assets worth more than $40 million and earns profit of more than $10 million.

7) T.B. Joshua – Net worth: $15 Million (Nigeria)

Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua is Nigeria's most powerful, controversial and philanthropic preacher. He heads the Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN), a congregation he founded in 1987. The Christian minister, televangelist and faith healer is a big giver; his humanitarian works include education, healthcare and rehabilitation programs. He is the owner of Emmanuel TV, a Christian television network.

6) T. D. Jakes – Net worth: $18 Million (United States)

Bishop T. D. Jakes is the apostle/bishop of The Potter's House, a non-denominational American mega-church that has over 30,000 members. His ministry's annual revival MegaFest draws more than 100,000 people.

5) Billy Graham – Net worth: $25 Million (United States)

Billy Graham is a southern Baptist. He earned celebrity status when his sermons were broadcast on radio and TV stations all over the USA. He founded the Billy Graham Evangelist Association in 1950.

4) Creflo Dollar – Net worth: $27 Million (United States)

This American televangelist, pastor is also a Word of Faith teacher. He is a founder of the non-denominational World Changers Church International. He has built a multimillion dollar ministry on the message "It is the will of God for you to prosper in every way."

3) Benny Hinn – Net worth: $42 Million (United States)

This Israeli-American televangelist earned wealth through his ministry and evangelical program. He is well-known for his regular miracle healing crusades, which are held in large stadiums in major cities and broadcasted in the TV.

2) Chris Oyakhilome – Net worth: $50 Million (Nigeria)

Chris Oyakhilome's church Christ Embassy has more than 40,000 members, several of whom are successful entrepreneurs and politicians. This pastor's diversified interests include magazines, newspapers, a TV station, a record label, hotels, satellite TV and real estate.

1) David Oyedepo – Net worth: $150 Million (Nigeria)

Bishop David Oyedepo is the richest pastor in Nigeria and the world. He is the founder of the Living Faith World Outreach Ministry. Ever since he founded this ministry in 1981, it has grown to become one of Africa's largest congregations. He hosts three services every Sunday in The Faith Tabernacle. This prosperous pastor owns private jets and homes in the US and the UK.

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SHOCKING NEWS: Google INC removed and shuts down 'Linda Ikeji’s Blog' [READ WHY]

14:21 No comments

Copyright infringement is an issue that so many ignorant culprits fail to address and its hurting to those caught in the mess.

Linda Ikeji is one of the most outstanding blogger ever seen, through this platform, she is one of the richest blogger in the world.

Most Bloggers are culprits, of a registered writers, most of her cases might comes from top most powerful people on planet earth she wrote wrong or abusive articles on, she once had a big blow on celebrities like, Olamide, Princess etc who always blast her of what she do wrote to get peoples attentions concerning them, most of her articles makes furious out of them, sometimes fake a news on them which they responded as abusive to google.

All sort of Criticism have come her way but she seem to thrive with the attention that comes with the criticism and seem she might have met a tough one as an individual tagged Mr. Aye Dee on twitter (Editor in Chief 15 past 8 media group) have come out with claims that linda ikeji's blog infringed on the copyright of his intellectual property and claims google which hosts linda ikeji's blogspot page might go a step further after taking down the materials in question to shutdown the blog.

It didn't come as a shock when google decided to shutdown Lindaikeji's blog today (8/10/2014)..

Its difficult to Imagine a blogsphere without linda ikeji....

We will miss you....wish you luck in your future endeavor....

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TECHNOLOGY NEWS: Sweden's Truecaller clinches $60 mln in venture capital funding

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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Truecaller, a global mobile phone directory and caller identification service, has secured $60 million in funding from U.S. tech funds and lured a founder of Internet calling firm Skype to its board, the Swedish startup said on Wednesday.

The Stockholm-based company drew funding from Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom's Atomico investment firm as well as from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, an investor in U.S. messaging companies Twitter and Snapchat. It will use the money to hire staff, develop products and expand in new markets.

Truecaller's mobile app and website lets its 85 million users search for people anywhere in the world by name or phone number through the contents of their phone books. It can also let users identify callers before answering. It is particularly popular in Asia and the Middle East, where unwanted, or "spam" calls are prevalent.

"Truecaller is solving a major pain point among smartphone owners who are looking for a better way to manage their contacts and always have the right information they need to stay connected," said Zennstrom, who will join the Truecaller board as special advisor.

Truecaller said that while it is primarily focused on growing the number of users, it offers a premium service starting at $1.99 a month offering features such as seeing who has viewed their profile and sending contact requests to people outside their network.

(Reporting by Mia Shanley, editing by Louise Heavens)

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TECHNOLOGY NEWS: AT&T to pay $105 million to settle charges it 'crammed' phone bills

14:01 No comments

By Diane Bartz and Alina Selyukh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AT&T Inc (T.N) will pay $105 million to settle allegations that it put unauthorized charges on customers' cell phone bills, a practice known as cramming, federal regulators said on Wednesday.

The settlement comes after years of complaints from cell phone owners about being charged for services like daily horoscopes or trivia that they never requested. It was negotiated by the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and all state attorneys general.

AT&T will pay $80 million to refund customers while $20 million is earmarked for penalties and fees to all 50 U.S. states and Washington, said the FTC. The FCC also fined the company $5 million.

The FTC alleged that for companies whose billing was handled by AT&T, as many as 40 percent of subscribers complained about the charges.

"What's shocking to me, as I thought about this particular settlement, is that we're talking about reputable companies like AT&T and others. This isn't, you know, Phil's Phone Shack that's doing this," said Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler.

Prodded by state attorneys general, AT&T, T-Mobile US (TMUS.N), Verizon (VZ.N) and Sprint (S.N) agreed in November to stop billing customers for such third-party services.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler estimated that 20 million consumers a year are crammed, and said other wireless providers were under scrutiny. "Stay tuned," said Wheeler, hinting of potential actions against other carriers.

AT&T said it had "rigorous protections" against unauthorized billing but it eventually scrapped what it called premium short messaging services, or PSMS.

"We reached a broad settlement to resolve claims that some of our wireless customers were billed for charges from third-parties that the customers did not authorize. This settlement gives our customers who believe they were wrongfully billed for PSMS the ability to get a refund," an AT&T spokesman said in an emailed statement.

FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said consumers were often hit with $9.99 charges lumped together into "AT&T monthly subscriptions" on their bills.

When customers protested, Ramirez said, "Instead of acting to stop the charges, AT&T continued to make hundreds of millions of dollars from the practice by taking at least 35 percent of every charge and refused to provide refunds to many consumers."

The FTC has also moved against the smaller companies which originate the charges.

The FCC and the Justice Department are reviewing AT&T's proposal to buy DirecTV DTV.N for $48.5 billion.

In July, the FTC filed a complaint against T-Mobile USA, accusing the wireless provider of cramming. The commission asked the court to order T-Mobile US, the fourth-largest U.S. mobile phone provider by number of customers, to stop mobile cramming, provide refunds and give up revenues from the practice.

The FCC is also investigating T-Mobile US for cramming.

AT&T shares were up 0.3 percent in afternoon trade.

(Editing by Ros Krasny, Susan Heavey, David Gregorio and Bernard Orr)

TECHNOLOGY NEWS: Twitter sues U.S. Justice Department for right to reveal surveillance requests

13:59 No comments

By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) sued the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday, intensifying its battle with federal agencies as the Internet industry's self-described champion of free speech seeks the right to reveal the extent of U.S. government surveillance.

The lawsuit, which Twitter said follows months of fruitless negotiations with the government, marks an escalation in the Internet industry's battle over government gag orders on the nature and number of requests for private user information.

In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Northern California, Twitter said that current rules prevent it from even stating that it has not received any national security requests for user information.

The messaging service said such restrictions violate the Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

"This is an important issue for anyone who believes in a strong First Amendment, and we hope to be able to share our complete transparency report," Twitter said in a blogpost.

Tech companies have sought to clarify their relationships with U.S. law enforcement and spying agencies in the wake of revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that outlined the depth of U.S. spying capabilities.

Twitter's lawsuit follows an agreement between Internet companies like Google Inc (GOOG.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) with the government about court orders they receive related to surveillance.

The agreement freed the companies to disclose the number of orders they received, but only in broad ranges. A company that offers email services, for example, would be able to say it received between zero and 999 orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court during a six-month period for email content belonging to someone outside the United States.

In a separate case, a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday will hear arguments on whether the FBI can gag recipients of national security letters. A lower court judge had ruled those secrecy guidelines unconstitutional.

CAN'T EVEN DISCLOSE ZERO REQUESTS

Twitter, which allows its 271 million monthly users to send 140-character text messages, has traditionally taken an aggressive posture challenging government censorship requests and has previously described itself as "the free-speech wing of the free-speech party."

The American Civil Liberties Union praised Twitter's action, saying in a statement that the company was doing the right thing by "challenging this tangled web of secrecy rules and gag orders."

"The U.S. government has taken the position that service providers like Twitter are even prohibited from saying that they have received zero national security requests, or zero of a particular type of national security request," Twitter said in its complaint.

The Justice Department responded to the lawsuit with a statement on how it has worked with other companies.

"Earlier this year, the government addressed similar concerns raised in a lawsuit brought by several major tech companies," Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce said. "There, the parties worked collaboratively to allow tech companies to provide broad information on government requests while also protecting national security."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group that defends civil liberties in the digital world, said it had been disappointed that tech companies had given up their fight.

"EFF and a number of privacy and free-speech organizations expressed our profound disappointment that the companies dropped their lawsuit for so little," Nate Cardozo, staff attorney with the group, said on Tuesday.

The government's restrictions on providing more details about requests for user data, he said, are "useful for one thing, which is to keep the public in the dark about what authorities the government uses to get our data.

Twitter's lawsuit said the company has discussed the matter with the government for months. In a meeting with officials from the DOJ and the FBI in January, Twitter argued that it should not be bound by the disclosure limits that the government offered to Google and the other companies.

It said it submitted a draft transparency report with more detailed data to the FBI in April, but the agency denied Twitter's request to publish the draft five months later.

"We've tried to achieve the level of transparency our users deserve without litigation, but to no avail," Twitter said in Tuesday's blogpost. It said it was "asking the court to declare these restrictions on our ability to speak about government surveillance as unconstitutional under the First Amendment."

(Additional reporting by San Francisco newsroom; Editing by Leslie Adler)

TECHNOLOGY NEWS: PC shipments dip 1.7 percent, less than expected

13:55 No comments

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Personal computer shipments fell 1.7 percent in the July to September period from a year ago, tech research firm IDC said on Wednesday, marking the 10th straight quarter of declines but beating IDC's forecast of a 4.1 percent drop.

Gartner, a rival research firm, put the decline at 0.5 percent.

IDC's 1.7 percent decrease matches the April to June quarter, equaling the smallest decline since PC shipments started tumbling in early 2012 as sales of netbooks collapsed in the face of new competition from tablets.

U.S. and European shipments increased, boosted by companies buying PCs in bulk, which helped the top three PC makers Lenovo (0992.HK), Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) and Dell make market share gains. But shipments in Asia, the world's biggest computer market, continued to decline, offsetting the gains in other areas.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby)

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TECHNOLOGY NEWS: GT Advanced bankruptcy offers warning to Apple suppliers

13:54 No comments

By Noel Randewich and Reiji Murai

SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO (Reuters) - The financial implosion of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) supplier GT Advanced Technologies Inc (GTAT.O) this week offers a dramatic illustration of how the iPhone maker can put the screws to suppliers willing to take a short-term risk for future riches.

GT Advanced has offered little explanation as to what prompted its surprise bankruptcy filing on Monday. The company declined to comment for this story.

Analysts and industry insiders cited terms of GT Advanced's deal with Apple that involved building an Arizona factory to make scratch-resistant sapphire glass exclusively for Apple, but which the Cupertino-based company was under no obligation to buy.

Apple said on Wednesday it was surprised by GT's bankruptcy filing and is considering its next steps.

"We are focused on preserving jobs in Arizona following GT's surprising decision and we will continue to work with state and local officials as we consider our next steps," Apple spokesman Chris Gaither said in an email.

Companies vying to supply components for hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads have often struck seemingly lopsided deals with Apple. Being tapped by Apple can multiply a supplier's revenues and help it win other customers.

But the risks can eclipse the rewards.

Looking to potentially switch from Corning's (GLW.N) Gorilla glass to sapphire covers on its iPhones, Apple spoke with several manufacturers who balked at the terms it was offering, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be named.

One manufacturer that met with Apple walked away, concerned that Apple might insist on lower prices in the future, which would squeeze margins, the person said.

Under terms of the deal struck with GT Advanced in November, Apple said it would provide a prepayment of about $578 million to help install furnaces and other gear in the Arizona factory, which is owned by Apple and slated to employ more than 700. Apple would then be paid back over five years starting 2015.

The lump sum would be paid in instalments contingent on GT meeting unspecified operational targets.

Apple's arrangement to help finance GT Advanced's new factory is not unusual. In 2011, Apple invested around $1 billion in an LCD factory operated by Japan's Sharp Corp (6753.T) to make panels for the iPhone 4. Sales of the phone were slower than predicted, and Sharp was forced to temporarily halt production.

"Having an exclusive factory for one customer means you don't have the same reassurance as producing parts in response to demand," said a person familiar with Sharp's plans.

"The volume (produced by Apple) is very high so it can bring the factory to 99 percent of capacity, but if there are no orders then the factory will lie idle," the person said.

RELYING ON APPLE

A person familiar with Apple's involvement said GT Advanced said Apple had worked to help the supplier meet operational targets. Several analysts said Apple probably made a decision that burned its supplier.

Kevin Starke, analyst at CRT Capital, speculated that Apple, in forgoing sapphire glass in the iPhone 6, had effectively dealt a financial blow to GT.

"We could speculate that some milestone or other requirement laid out in the operative documents has been broken or become the topic of a dispute between the parties," Starke wrote in a note to clients on Monday.

Industry executives and analysts said GT's bankruptcy should serve as a warning to other companies.

"You swallow the Apple order, but it may not taste sweet," said a person whose company supplies Apple.

"It is like using Apple to build your resume. Once you supply for Apple, you use that to find more customers and you can diversify."

Les Santiago, an analyst at IT consultancy IDC, said the strategy adopted by chipmakers Dialog Semiconductor (DLGS.DE), and Cirrus Logic (CRUS.O), which get close to 80 percent of their revenue from Apple, offers an alternative to the GT story.

Both firms have used their windfall from Apple to expand their product lines and expand their customer base, he said.

(Additional reporting by Edwin Chan in San Francisco, JR Wu in Taipei and Sophie Knight in Tokyo; Editing by David Gregorio)

TECHNOLOGY NEWS: Icahn tweets he will send open letter to Apple

13:53 No comments

(Reuters) - Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn tweeted on Wednesday, saying he would send an open letter to Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Thursday.

"Tmrw we'll be sending an open letter to @tim_cook. Believe it will be interesting," he tweeted through his handle @Carl_C_Icahn.

The investor has in the past urged Apple to return more of its cash to shareholders and pressured the company to raise its stock buyback and dividend.

Icahn also tweeted that his fund had announced a large position in Apple just over a year earlier and noted that the company's stock had risen 50.6 percent since then.

Icahn was not immediately available for comment.

Apple shares were up 2 percent at $100.73 in late afternoon trading. More than 43 million shares had changed hands by 15:11 p.m. ET.

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore and Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston; Editing by Simon Jennings)

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TOP NEWS First person diagnosed with Ebola in U.S. dies in Texas hospital

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By Lisa Maria Garza and Richard Valdmanis

DALLAS (Reuters) - The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, died on Wednesday morning at a Dallas hospital, a hospital spokesman said.

"It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 am," hospital spokesman Wendell Watson said in an emailed statement.

Duncan became ill after arriving in the Texas city from Liberia on Sept. 20 to visit family, heightening concerns the world's worst Ebola outbreak on record could spread outside of the three worst-hit West African countries. About 48 people with whom Duncan had been in contact are being monitored.

Ebola has killed more than 3,400 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea since the outbreak began in March, nearly half of all those infected, according to the World Health Organization. While several American patients have been flown to the United States from West Africa for treatment, Duncan was the first person to start showing symptoms of the disease on U.S. soil.

A Spanish nurse who treated a priest who worked in the region is also infected.

Duncan was able to fly to the United States from Liberia's capital Monrovia, which is at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak, because he did not have a fever when screened at the airport and filled out a questionnaire saying he had not been in contact with anyone infected with Ebola.

Liberian officials have since said that he lied on the questionnaire and had been in contact with a pregnant woman who later died of the disease. Ebola can take as long as three weeks before its victims show symptoms, at which point the disease becomes contagious. Ebola, which can cause fever, vomiting and diarrhea, spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood or saliva.

Duncan began feeling ill shortly after his arrival in Texas. He went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Sept. 25, but was initially sent home with antibiotics. His condition worsened, he returned Sept. 28 by ambulance and was diagnosed with the disease.

"The past week has been an enormous test of our health system, but for one family it has been far more personal. Today they lost a dear member of their family. They have our sincere condolences, and we are keeping them in our thoughts," David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement.

Officials have said as many as 48 people may have been exposed to the disease by Duncan, and that the 10 people at highest risk are cooperating with public health authorities by staying in quarantine voluntarily. The other 38 people who may have been exposed are being checked routinely for fever.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said he was confident the disease would not spread widely within the United States. U.S. officials are also expanding their response in West Africa.

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis)

TOP NEWS Riots in Turkey kill 19 over failure to aid besieged Syrian Kurds

09:15 No comments

By Daren Butler and Jonny Hogg

MURSITPINAR Turkey/ANKARA (Reuters) - At least 19 people were reported killed in riots across Turkey, the deadliest street unrest in years, after the Kurdish minority rose up in fury at the government's refusal to protect a besieged Syrian town from Islamic State.

Street battles raged between Kurdish protesters and police across Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, as the fallout from war in Syria and Iraq threatened to unravel the NATO member's own delicate peace process. There were also clashes in the commercial hub Istanbul and capital Ankara.

Across the frontier, U.S.-led air strikes appeared to have pushed Islamic State fighters back to the edges of the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, which the militants have been poised to capture this week after a three-week siege.

Washington said its war planes, along with those of coalition ally the United Arab Emirates, had struck nine targets in Syria, including six near Kobani that hit Islamic State artillery and armoured vehicles. It also struck Iraq five times.

Nevertheless, Kobani remained under intense bombardment from Islamic State positions within sight of Turkish tanks that have so far done nothing to help.

U.S. officials were quoted expressing impatience with the Turks for refusing to join the military coalition against Islamic State fighters who have seized much of Syria and Iraq. Turkey says it could join, but only if Washington agrees to use force against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as against the Sunni Muslim jihadists fighting against him.

Turkey's own Kurds say President Tayyip Erdogan is stalling while their brethren are killed in Kobani.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators who burnt cars and tyres. Authorities imposed curfews in at least five provinces, the first time such measures have been used widely since the early 1990s, local media said.

Ten people died in clashes in Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish city in Turkey's southeast, according to Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker. In live televised comments, he said an all-day curfew imposed in the city from Tuesday night would be reviewed on Wednesday.

Pockets of protesters defying the curfew clashed with security forces there later on Wednesday, local media reported.

Others died in clashes between protesters and police in the eastern provinces of Mus, Siirt and Batman. DHA news agency reported a death toll of 19 from two days of clashes.

The Istanbul governor's office reported 30 people wounded, including eight police officers, and 98 people detained in "illegal protests" in Turkey's biggest city.

Unrest spread to other countries with Kurdish and Turkish populations. Police in Germany said 14 people were hurt in clashes there between Kurds and Islamists.

The unrest in Turkey, which has NATO's second largest army, exposes the difficulty Washington has faced in creating a coalition of countries to intervene against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, two countries with complex, multi-sided civil wars in which every country in the region has a stake.

The advance by the jihadists of Islamic State in northern Syria drove 180,000 of the area's mostly Kurdish inhabitants to flee into adjoining Turkey.

BLACK FLAG

Islamic State fighters hoisted their black flag on the eastern edge of the town on Monday. Since then, U.S.-led airstrikes have been redoubled, and the town's defenders say fighters have been pushed back.

Intense gunfire and loud explosions could be heard on Wednesday morning from across the Turkish border, and huge plumes of grey smoke and dust rose above the town, where the United Nations says only a few hundred inhabitants remain.

"They are now outside the entrances of the city of Kobani. The shelling and bombardment was very effective and as a result of it, IS have been pushed from many positions," Idris Nassan, deputy foreign minister of the Kurdish-run Kobani district administration, told Reuters by phone.

"This is their biggest retreat since their entry into the city and we can consider this as the beginning of the countdown of their retreat from the area."

Kurdish media reported that YPG fighters had thwarted an attempted Islamic State car bombing on positions in Kobani, saying the vehicle had detonated before it reached its target.

An Islamic State source on Twitter claimed the attack had destroyed a police station where Kurdish forces were based. The attack could not be independently verified, but a huge explosion could be seen from across the Turkish border, sending a mushroom cloud high into the sky above the town.

Islamic State has been advancing on the strategically important town from three sides and pounding it with artillery despite dogged resistance from heavily outgunned Kurdish forces.

The Turkish parliament voted last week to authorise cross-border intervention, but Erdogan and his government have so far held back, saying they will join military action only as part of an alliance that also confronts Assad.

Erdogan wants the alliance to enforce a "no fly zone" to prevent Assad's air force flying over Syrian territory near the Turkish border and create a safe area for an estimated 1.2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey to return. Otherwise, he says, Turkish military action would only make the situation worse.

Washington, which has so far managed to bomb Islamic State positions in Syria without Assad raising objections, has not agreed to expand the mission to confront the Syrian leader.

U.S. IMPATIENCE

The conflict has already opened up a fissure in relations between the United States and Turkey, its most powerful ally in the area. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was forced to apologise last week after Erdogan took umbrage at comments Biden made at Harvard University, in which he blamed Turkey's open borders for allowing Islamic State to bring in recruits.

An unnamed senior U.S. official told the New York Times on Tuesday that there was "growing angst about Turkey dragging its feet to act to prevent a massacre less than a mile from its border".

"This isn't how a NATO ally acts while hell is unfolding a stone's throw from their border," the official said.

At the same time, official diplomacy intensified. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had spoken with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday night and Tuesday morning, and said Turkey was "determining what larger role they will play".

Retired U.S. General John Allen, charged with building a coalition against Islamic State after it seized about a third of neighbouring Iraq, was due in Turkey this week.

Ankara said on Tuesday it had urged Washington to step up air strikes against Islamic State to halt its advance on Kobani.

But, while taking in Kobani's refugees and treating its wounded, Turkey has deep reservations about deploying its own army in Syria. Beyond becoming a target for Islamic State, which is active along much of Syria's 900 km (550 mile) border with Turkey, it fears being sucked into Syria's three-year-old civil war and perhaps even having to confront Syria's formidable army.

It also distrusts Syria's Kurds, whom it sees as allies of its own Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which waged a decades-long insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in which around 40,000 people were killed.

The PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan has said any massacre of Kurds in Kobani would doom a fragile peace process with the Turkish authorities, one of the most important initiatives of Erdogan's decade in power.

The street protests across Turkey were already making the prospect of reconciliation with nationalists seem more remote, as protesters set fire to Turkish flags and attacked statues of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the HDP, Turkey's leading Kurdish party, condemned such acts as "provocations carried out to prevent help coming to the east (Kobani) from the west".

(Reporting by Daren Butler, Humeyra Pamuk and Jonny Hogg in Turkey and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; Writing by Kevin Liffey and Peter Graff)

TOP NEWS: Again, South Africa seizes $5.7m arms cash from Nigeria

02:00 No comments

The Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority has seized $5.7m (R64m) for yet another arms deal between South Africa and Nigeria.

This is the second multimillion-rand arms deal between the two countries in the past month that has resulted in the money being frozen in South African banks.

Last month, R103m in $100 bills stashed in suitcases was seized at Lanseria Airport, north of Joburg.

The money was frozen in both cases for allegedly being the proceeds of illegal transactions.

City Press' sister paper Rapport has learnt that the department for offences against the state in the Special Investigating Unit is also involved.

Documents in the newspaper's possession show that the earlier consignment was approved by the Nigerian government – that country's national security adviser personally issued the end-user certificate for the transaction.

An entire "shopping list" was supplied with the certificate, which included everything from helicopters to unmanned aircraft, rockets and ammunition.

Sources close to the investigation said the latest transaction was between Cerberus Risk Solutions, an arms broker in Cape Town, and Societe D'Equipments Internationaux, a Nigerian company in Abuja.

An impeccable source said this company paid the R60m into Cerberus' account at Standard Bank.

Cerberus was previously registered as a broker with the National Conventional Arms Control Committee, but the registration expired in May this year.

The marketing and contracting permits also expired at the same time.

The company has since applied for re-registration, but the application lay in the NCACC's mailbox for more than two months.

Sources told Rapport that Cerberus apparently tried to pay the money back to the Nigerian company, after which the bank became suspicious.

The NPA's Asset Forfeiture Unit subsequently obtained a court order in the South Gauteng High Court to seize the money.
Cerberus' attorney, Martin Hood, this week declined to comment on the matter.

NPA spokesperson Nathi Mncube said there were no indications that the two transactions were related.

"However, both are now the subject of a criminal investigation and all possible information and connections are being investigated," said Mncube.

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POLITICS NEWS: PDP elders at loggerheads with Akpabio

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SOMe People's Democratic Party elders and leaders in Akwa Ibom State, on Monday, drew the battle line against the state governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, for inciting the youths against them.

Akpabio had publicly declared during the 27th anniversary of the state that the elders were not useful, adding that if the youths followed them, they would be misdirected.

Akpabio had said, "As the youths of the state, you have a responsibility, the future belongs to you…..On this 27th anniversary, my challenge to you is not to look at the elders. They don't have anything to offer you."

The leader of the group and former Minister of Petroleum, Don Etiebet, described the comments as an incitement of the youths against the elders of the state.

He asked the youths not to listen to the governor's call but to look up to the elders for inspiration, training, counselling, blessing and preparation to takeover from them in the future.

"We, therefore, use this opportunity to call on our youths to know that the future belongs to them but you need the elders for training, advice, direction, blessing and preparation to takeover tomorrow," he said.

The ex-minister criticised Akpabio for lying against them and telling people that the elders had distanced themselves from his administration because he refused to share the resources and allocation of the state with them.

Etiebet, who challenged Akpabio to substantiate his allegation, emphasised that Akpabio decided to cook up such lies against them just because they advised him against extravagant expenditure.

He said, "We, the elders, have counselled him against extreme profligacy, arbitrary and non-budgetary spending, awards of contracts without due processes, lack of accountability in budget implementation, lack of information and transparencies on total receipts of revenues from all sources."

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SHOCKING NEWS: ‘GIRL ABANDONED BY BOKO HARAM NOT FROM CHIBOK’ says a Chibok elder

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A teenage girl that was abandoned by her captors in Adamawa State two weeks ago is not one of the schoolgirls abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents last April, leader of the Chibok Elders Forum, Dr. Pogu Bitrus, has said.

The girl was abandoned at Mararraban Mubi in Hong Local Government Area of the state and was speculated to be one of the Chibok schoolgirls.

Villagers took her to a police station at Mararaban Mubi, where she told officers that she was among the girls abducted from the school in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14.

The girl of about 20, was found after she was dumped at an unidentified location from where she trekked for three days to a village near Mararraban Mubi, in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State. She was later moved to Abuja and kept in custody of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI).

Daily Trust gathered that leaders of Chibok community in Abuja and the Vice Principal (Academics) of Government Girls Secondary Chibok were brought to Abuja to ascertain if she was among the abducted girls.

However, Dr. Bitrus told Daily Trust that they have been able to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the girl in question was not one of the Chibok girls.

He said: "We have confirmed that she is not from Chibok and is not one of the girls abducted in April, but the remaining story is with the security agencies because she is in their custody."

The Chibok leader also hinted that the girl in question might have been abducted from another location by Boko Haram and married off to one of their commanders.

Dr. Bitrus had told Daily Trust that preliminary medical examination has revealed that the girl is four months pregnant. A police source at Mararraban Mubi had said the girl gave her name as Suzanna Ishaya.

When contacted on the matter yesterday night, the Army spokesman Brigadier General Olajide Laleye said he did not have any details on the issue.

He promised to provide more details after looking into the matter.

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POLITICS NEWS: APC locks horns with PDP over Ebola

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The All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party on Sunday accused each other of insincerity in the containment of the Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria.

While the APC asked President Goodluck Jonathan to stop taking credit for stopping the spread of the virus, the PDP accused the opposition of wishing that the scourge continued .

Ironically, the bickering occurred just days after the social media were abuzz with reports by major United States newspapers, including the Washington Post, praising the pro-active measures adopted by Nigeria in curtailing the spread of the EVD and advising Texas where the Ebola case was recorded to learn from Nigerian example

APC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said it was sheer dishonesty for Jonathan and the PDP to turn what was a collective effort to a PDP campaign issue.

According to the opposition party, the President and the PDP are wrong to have appropriated the credit for the containment of the EVD without giving due attention to the real heroes of the successful battle.

It mentioned the late Dr. Stella Adadevoh and her colleagues at the First Consultant Hospital in Lagos; officials of the ministries of Health in Lagos and Rivers States and the patriotic Nigerian volunteers, among others as the heroes.

The APC described as a cheap shot and a shameless venture, the President's decision to make the Ebola success story a campaign issue during a PDP rally in Benin, Edo State. It claimed that Jonathan created the impression that only the PDP deserved the credit for the successful containment of the disease.

APC said while indeed the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, exhibited the kind of professionalism and purposefulness that were not common with the Jonathan administration during the battle against Ebola, it would be uncharitable for the PDP-led Federal Government to pretend as if the governments of Lagos and Rivers states did nothing.

The statement partly read, "The cities of Lagos and Port Harcourt are perhaps the largest metropolis to have ever been hit by the EVD since the first outbreak was recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo almost 40 years ago, and any mishandling of the disease could have spelt disaster not just for the cities but for the country as a whole.

"But the ever-dogged and determined Governors Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers States employed the same winning strategies that have stood their states out of the pack and quickly rose to the occasion, putting in place measures that ensured a quick curtailing of the EVD spread.

"The measures inclu ded painstaking contact-tracing, unrelenting follow-up and creative treatment of infected patients even without access to the experimental drug Zmapp.

"There is no doubt that Nigeria is fortunate that the EVD outbreaks were recorded in those two states. It is a measure of the high premium that the chief executives of the states place on human life, a testimony to the strong health systems they are building and an indication of their purposeful approach to governance that they successfully contained the disease, thus earning Nigeria a rare accolade from the global community."

The party also advised President Jonathan not to use the Ebola containment effort as another tool to divide Nigerians along party lines.

The APC said it was sad that the President who inherited a united Nigeria was dividing its people along ethnic and religious lines on the altar of selfish personal ambition and short-term opportunism.

"It will amount to a monumental tragedy if the President will again use the Ebola success story, which has earned Nigeria a rare acclamation from the global community, as a tool to further divide Nigerians,'' it said.

But the PDP, through its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, described APC's statement as another failed attempt to discredit the PDP-led Federal Government and relegate its efforts in the containment of the EVD in Nigeria.

Metuh said in a statement that the APC was frustrated and unhappy because Nigerians were happy with the PDP-led Federal Government for "the speed and energy with which it tackled the scourge and brought it under control."

"We know that the APC prefers that the Ebola scourge continued unabated in Nigeria so as to have what to blame the PDP-led government for. Now that it has been contained, the APC is frustrated because the people are happy with President Jonathan and the PDP-led Federal Government for the proactive manner with which the disease was confronted and overcome," he added.

According to him, the success recorded on the EVD was because Jonathan did not politicise it.

The statement partly read, "The PDP makes bold to state that the multi-sectoral approach deployed by the Federal Government with the concerted collaboration of the federal ministries of Health, Aviation, Information, Education, Transport and other relevant agencies such as the Nigerian Immigration Service for intensive screening, quarantine and treatment efforts as well as the massive awareness ended the spread of the disease and resulted in its containment in our country.

"We are also amused by the contradictions in the APC's statement in which it also commended the roles played by the Minister of Health in the containment effort.

"We ask, is the minister not appointed and supervised by President Jonathan? Is he not of the PDP? Or is the APC now trying to appropriate him?"

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HEALTHCARE NEWS: Ebola: ‘US yet to request for assistance’

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THE Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu on Monday said there had been no formal request from the United States for Nigeria's assistance in combating the Ebola Virus disease.

"As at Friday really, there was no formal request by the United States, for assistance in the containment of Ebola Virus Disease", the minister, who spoke through his Special Assistant (Media and Communications), Mr. Dan Nwomeh, said during an enquiry by our correspondent on Monday in Abuja.

The US had last week recorded its first case of EVD in circumstances similar to the importation of the virus to Nigeria by the Liberian-born American Diplomat, late Mr. Patrick Sawyer.

Thomas Duncan, the first person to have been diagnosed with EVD in the US, is said to be fighting for his life in a hospital in Dallas.

Based on the feat recorded by the Federal Government in the containment of EVD in Lagos and Port Harcourt, speculations had been rife that the President Barak Obama's administration would seek the intervention of Nigeria.

The EVD case in US was recorded in Dallas, and was from a patient who had reportedly flown in from Liberia.

A statement from the Director of Centre for Disease Control and the Texas Health Department, Dr. Tom Frieden, said the patient had been hospitalised while contact tracing had commenced.

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EXCLUSIVE NEWS: 2015 PDP, APC battle to woo Obasanjo

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The Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress have begun what can be described as the last battle to woo former President Olusegun Obasanjo ahead of the presidential primaries.

Investigations by our correspondents on Sunday showed that separate meetings the former president held with Senate President, David Mark, and an APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, marked the beginning of the last attempt to get Obasanjo's support ahead of party primaries.

Although the PDP has endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as its sole presidential candidate, it presidential primary would hold on December 6, 2014

On its part, the APC will choose between former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and an ex-Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) at its national convention on December 2, 2014.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, party primaries will hold between October 2 and December 11, 2014.

Our correspondents gathered that the meeting with Tinubu, which was also attended by the APC National Vice-Chairman, Segun Oni, centred on what should constitute the interest of the South-West in the forthcoming presidential election.

It was gathered the APC leaders specifically solicited the support of the former president for the party.

Obasanjo was said to have advised the opposition party to choose a presidential candidate with a clean record.

A top APC chieftain in the South-West, who confided in one of our correspondents, said, "The two former governors said that the interest of the South-West should determine the candidate our people should support.

"You will agree that our people have not been fairly treated by the present government at the centre, but Baba in his characteristic frankness advised the APC to choose a candidate with an untainted record."

It was learnt that the PDP and Jonathan chose Mark to head the reconciliation team because of his closeness to Obasanjo.

The former president had on several occasions expressed his opposition to Jonathan's second term ambition on the grounds that the President in 2011 promised not to re-contest.

But a top PDP chieftain, who confided in one of correspondents, said, "The President has not lost hope. He still respects Obasanjo and believes the former president can still support him."

A source, who was part of the team that visited Obasanjo, confided in one of our correspondents, in Abuja on Sunday that Mark's team arrived Obasanjo's residence when the retired general was seeing off Tinubu and his team.

The source, who pleaded for anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the meeting between Mark and Obasanjo lasted for about four hours.

According to him, the meeting centred principally on the need for the former President to lend his support to efforts being made by the party to fully re-integrate all aggrieved members back into its fold.

He said, "The Senate President is playing a crucial rule in the current integration efforts by the leadership of the PDP to bring back the aggrieved leaders of our party into the mainstream again and Obasanjo is very key to the success of the team's assignment. So, that is why we went to him.

"The 2015 elections is around the corner and the leadership of the PDP is determined to ensure success in all the geo-political zones. This will be a little bit difficult if the aggrieved leaders and members are not integrated back to the system."

"Apart from the Senate President being the chairman of the South-West PDP reconciliation committee, he enjoys a father son relationship with Chief Obasanjo. He went to the see former President Obasanjo as part of his assignment."

It will be recalled that a day before meeting with former President Obasanjo, Mark had met with stakeholders of the party from the South-West.

"Since the issue is reconciling aggrieved party members, you cannot be talking about reconciling members of the PDP in the South-West without the former President," he explained

It was gathered that the former president had not changed his position on Jonathan's 2015 ambition.

When contacted, an aide to the former President, who pleaded anonymity, said, "Baba Obasanjo did not disclose what he discussed with David Mark and Tinubu at separate meetings he held with them."

But the APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, justified Tinubu's visit to Obasanjo.

He stated, "In politics, you cannot ignore anybody that can help you. The leader must have his reasons for visiting the former President; he is doing it for Nigeria.

"What is at hand in 2015 is about Nigeria, it is not about the APC alone. Whoever we can talk to and can assist us to change this clueless government we will meet."

The APC leaders, including Tinubu; the interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, had in December, 2013, visited Obasanjo as part of moves to solicit the former president support for the party.

At the APC leaders' meeting with the former president held at Obasanjo's Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, were Governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo); Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), and Abdul-Fatah Ahmed (Kwara) and former Adamawa State Governor, Alhaji Murtala Nyako.

But the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said the adoption of Jonathan as sole presidential candidate of the PDP had rattled the PDP.

Maku said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday.

He described the APC as a party ridden with internal crisis and an accident waiting to happen.

The minister said, "Since the PDP gave President Jonathan the go-ahead to contest the 2015 presidential election, the APC has been adopting vicious lies and propaganda to hide its chronic internal crisis and division over who becomes its presidential candidate in the coming elections.

"They keep attacking the PDP for uniting behind the President. They are afraid of the new unity of purpose in the PDP and the President's leadership and achievements!

"Since 1999 which incumbent president or governor was ever replaced by the ruling party in mid-term elections? When a party changes a sitting governor or president in mid-term polls, it's an admission that the party in power has not performed and doesn't deserve re-election."

The minister said in most presidential democracies, particularly the United States, sitting presidents normally adopted if they had not exhausted their terms, adding that "mid-term primaries are often a waste of resources and worthless internal distraction."

Maku explained that it was standard practice that when a ruling party had "confidence in its sitting president or governor especially when they are performing it gives him/her a second chance."

He observed that even the APC had always fielded incumbents in all mid-term governorship elections and wondered why the fuss about President Jonathan's endorsement.

"This has been the reality so far across all parties. So why attack the PDP for following a widely accepted and well tested democratic practice? The APC propaganda will not save them from the simmering volcanic eruption that is about to tear the party apart over who becomes its presidential candidate," he said.

Maku predicted a resounding defeat for the opposition party in the forthcoming 2015 general elections.

In response, the South East Zonal Publicity Secretary of the APC, Osita Okechukwu , said Maku was simply amplifying the lame excuse of a non-performing party.

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Wednesday, 8 October 2014

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EXCLUSIVE NEWS: 2015 PDP, APC battle to woo Obasanjo

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