Desmond Tutu calls on Dutch Fund to Divest from Israel

Desmond Tutu on Wednesday urged Dutch pension fund, the world's third largest, to "strike a powerful, non-violent blow for peace in the Middle East" by divesting from three Israeli banks.
An ABP spokesperson said the management board would discuss Tutu's appeal at its monthly meeting on Thursday, alongside a letter from 'Christians for Israel', a Dutch lobby group which wants the fund to remain invested in the Israeli banks.

GSK Set to Test its Ebola Vaccine on Humans

GlaxoSmithKline's experimental Ebola vaccine could be tested on patients in clinical safety trials in the US as soon as next week, as the death toll from the deadly virus continues to rise in west Africa.

Britain's largest drug-maker is developing the vaccine with the Vaccine Research Centre of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US. Phase-I trials have received the green light from the US health watchdog, the Food and Drug Administration, Bloomberg reported. This is the first test in humans to assess safety and efficacy – whether the drug works in a similar way to how it does in animals.

Ebola Risk: Outbreak Set to Get Worse, Official Warns

The Ebola outbreak currently gripping West Africa will get worse before it gets better, a public health official in the US has said.

Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control, said that in order to bring the epidemic under control, an “unprecedented” response would be needed.

According to the BBC, he said that it was the worst Ebola outbreak the world had ever seen. "The cases are increasing. I wish I did not have to say this, but it is going to get worse before it gets better," he said.

"The world has never seen an outbreak of Ebola like this. Consequently, not only are the numbers large, but we know there are many more cases than has been diagnosed and reported.”

Another Ragging Case in Scindia School in Gwalior, Parent Says Son Was Forced to Watch Porn

There has been another allegation of ragging from the Scindia School in Gwalior. The parent of a Class 8 student from Bareilly has alleged that he withdrew his son from the school due to ragging.

The parent in an email has alleged that his son was mentally tortured in the school and even forcibly made to watch porn.

Amaechi Claims His Enemies are Those He Gave Billions of Naira in Contracts

 Rivers state Governor, Rotimi Amaechi has disclosed that 80% of those fighting him are people he once gave billions of Naira in contract. VANGUARD has this story.

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, yesterday, explained why he was the target of attacks from some politicians within and outside the state.

According to him, “most of the people opposed to me are in the rank of those I assisted one way or another, some by contract awards but they failed to deliver.”

Speaking at a meet-the-people tour of communities in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state, Amaechi said: “If you check Obio/Akpor council, you will see how many persons that have grown through me. Almost 80 per cent of those fighting me today are people who I have given billions of naira in contracts and they have put the money in their pockets, they did not deliver and they claim they are Ikwerre people.
Click here to read more.>>>>>

Nigeria successfully contains Ebola Virus - Health Minister

The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced the successful containment of the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

Onyebuchi Chukwu, minister of health, who made this known in a statement by Dan Nwomeh, special assistant on media and communication to the minister, said that Nigeria had thirteen cases of EVD including the index case, Patrick Saywer, the late Liberian-American who imported the dreaded contagious disease while on a trip to attend an official assignment in Nigeria on July 20, 2014.

With yesterday been the 38th day since the deadly virus came into the country, Chukwu revealed that the country has only one confirmed case of EVD, a secondary contact of Patrick Sawyer’s and spouse of one of the physicians who participated in the management of the index case.

Ebola in the time of insurgency

Tayo Fagbule

The outbreak of terrorism in northeast Nigeria is a tempting metaphor for the outbreak of the Ebola virus. David Kilcullen, a counterinsurgency and counterterrorism expert, uses this analogy between medicine and insurgency in a 2009 paper Terrain, Tribes and Terrorists: Pakistan, 2006-2008.

The stages of an infectious disease include incubation, pre-eruptive, infectious and recovery. Developing an optimal control strategy depends on relative infectiousness in the pre-eruptive and infectious stage. Kilcullen lists four phases: infection, contagion, intervention and rejection. 

 When an agent (a pathogen e.g. a virus or bacterium) invades the body the disease is considered infectious; if easily transmitted from person to person it is contagious – 25 percent of the deaths in the world are caused by infectious diseases.