All about Ebola Virus

All you need to know about Ebola Virus now: 1. It is a Central African disease that has travelled over countries in a living host to West Africa. It is easily spread by physical contact and eating contaminated bush meat. Major hosts are in 5 species of Bats but monkeys and apes are easily infected and killed. 2. It kills in a week, leaving no time to treat an individual. 3. It has no known vaccine or cure. 4. Known cases have been experienced recently in Guinea, Liberia and Central Africa Rep, spreading eastwards and westwards towards Nigeria. Death toll so far in West Africa is over 100. 5. The Ebola outbreak of 2014 is the most challenging one witnessed in Africa. What we can do? 1. Avoid eating any bush meat for now! Especially Apes and Bats. 2. Wash your hands as regularly as possible, especially after shaking a stranger. It is spread by contact. 3.The most straightforward prevention method during Ebola outbreaks is not touching patients, their excretions, and body fluids, or possibly contaminated materials and utensils. Patients should be isolated, and medical staff should be trained and apply strict barrier nursing techniques (disposable face mask, gloves, goggles, and a gown at all times). Traditional burial rituals, especially those requiring embalming of bodies, should be discouraged or modified. Awareness is key, don't just read or ignore...spread this campaign before the virus spreads. God bless you.

KUDUNA BOMB BLAST KILLED 82 WAS CONDEMNED BY BABANGIDA FORMER MILITARY PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA

KADUNA EXPLOSIONS: This Bloodletting Must Stop – Babangida Yesterday Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, has condemned the twin bomb attacks in Kaduna state on Wednesday, July 23, which left at least 82 people dead. General Ibrahim Babangida Babangida, in a statement yesterday, said: “The latest attack in Kaduna on Wednesday by yet unknown persons has once again thrown up new dimensions in the political life of our dear country. This, and several other attacks have tended to portray our dear country as a terrorist nation that is grappling with insecurity. To state the least, this bloodletting must stop. This bloodletting has to stop. “I have sat back in my quiet retirement home in Minna to ponder what could be the motivation for these several attacks, but I am yet to find any explanation why Nigerians would be killing fellow Nigerians. For those of us who fought the civil war, our painful sense of nostalgia still remains deep, as much as our patriotic attitude towards this great country, Nigeria. These wanton killings and needless bloodletting have continued to retard our growth and democratic journey, forcing the system to improvise all manners of mechanisms to arrest this descent to anarchy. It is callous and inhuman for anyone to goad this country on the path of perfidy, a path that is laid with landmines and bombs. This is totally unacceptable. RELATED: ‘I Still Don’t Know How I Came Out Alive’ – Buhari Reacts To Kaduna Bomb Explosion “Even as I sympathise with my colleague former President, General Muhammadu Buhari for escaping the bomber’s scalpel, I also wish to condole with the families of those who lost their lives in this attack. "It is frightening and calls for condemnation by all well meaning people of Nigeria. We all must rise above partisanship in our condemnation of this state of insecurity, as we all must be united in our clear-cut resolve to find solutions to this hydra-headed situation we find ourselves. We must see this state of insecurity as a Nigerian problem and not one that is pigeon-holed in any particular region, religion or tribe. Nigerians, by virtue of their nationality, should be free to live anywhere in the country without molestation, harassment and intimidation. “Let me also condole with Mr. President on this unfortunate incident and the recurring decimal of insecurity and crime against humanity that is fast polluting public morality. We all must join hands with Mr. President at this critical time of our national history and democratic journey to proffer solutions to this anti-development scenario that is fast enveloping us.” Meanwhile, the bomb attacks were reported to have targeted a Former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi. Although the two were unhurt in the attack, Buhari, however, expressed shock as he said no threatening message or warning was sent to him prior to the attack, while Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, who described the attack as ‘Un-Islamic, barbaric and condemnable’, said: “In Allah we trust, as such nothing evil shall happen to me". President Goodluck Jonathan, who condemned the attack, however, thanked God for sparing Buhari’s life. Buhari’s wife also expressed shock over the assasination attempt on her husband. Meanwhile, prominent Nigerians, the likes of ex Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, ex FCT Minister, Nasir El-Rufai, and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have condemned the July 23 terrorist attack. Former Niger-Delta militant, Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo, however, has a different opinion. He described the Kaduna attack as a plot to cause calamity in Nigeria and push the military to take over from the president, adding there’ll be more attacks.

Bank settlements create windfall for U.S., and wrangling over how it is spent

Bank settlements create windfall for U.S., and wrangling over how it is spent Thu, Jul 24 01:13 AM EDT By Karen Freifeld and Edward Krudy NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities' $8.9 billion settlement last month with French bank BNP Paribas for sanctions busting will pay for New York cops to get live computer feeds of street crime and for new carpets in the offices of prosecutors, among many other things. In the past few months, American regulators and prosecutors have forced some of the world's largest banks to pay massive fines for everything from breaching U.S. sanctions to alleged mortgage abuse and illegal tax schemes. Now the question is what the U.S. is going to do with all the cash. In some places – particularly New York state – that is leading to ugly wrangling over how to spend it. Some of the $18.5 billion in penalties U.S. authorities have levied on banks since May was already earmarked in settlement papers for specific purposes, such as principal forgiveness on struggling homeowners’ mortgages. But a lot is not allocated for anything in particular, raising many questions. One is whether there should be clearer standards for how such money is used by a maze of state and federal authorities. Another is whether the money has distorted incentives for officials. One former prosecutor, who did not want to be identified, said the ability to use the money for broad purposes could motivate officials to demand higher settlements. The authorities dismiss that notion. "That's nonsense," said Matthew Anderson, a spokesman for New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky, whose office has been a major player in recent settlements. "If they don't want to face penalties, they shouldn't break the law by financially supporting regimes involved in terrorism and genocide." MAZE OF MONEY Since May, Credit Suisse has coughed up $2.6 billion for helping Americans evade taxes, BNP agreed to pay $8.9 billion for violating U.S. sanctions laws, and Citigroup last week agreed to pay $7 billion to resolve claims it misled investors about shoddy mortgage-backed securities. The majority of the money will go straight to the Treasury Department’s general fund, where it will help the U.S. pay its bills. The specifics of that spending are virtually impossible to track. But other federal authorities still have some of the cash to play with. For example, the Justice Department will get a 3 percent management fee - about $6 million - from the Citigroup deal for collecting the settlement money on behalf of another agency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The department didn't return a request for comment on how it would spend the money. It has used similar fees from a settlement with JPMorgan to pay for more lawyers to work on other mortgage securities cases. Also, most of the federal portion of the BNP deal - about $3.8 billion - will be swept into the Treasury and Justice Departments' asset forfeiture funds, where the cash will join seized proceeds from other criminal ventures. By statute, such money is used to support asset forfeiture operations around the country, and state and local law enforcement bodies can apply for funds. The requests can include everything from money for expert witness fees to the costs of drug evidence storage. New York authorities are getting some $5 billion from the settlements, far more money than other states, thanks to the roles its officials have played in the investigations and negotiations. New York prosecutors started the investigation that led to BNP and other foreign banks, and the state banking regulator has leverage from its authority to revoke the banks' licenses to operate in the state. The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance plans to use part of the $448 million it will keep from the BNP settlement on technology investments for the city’s police, including feeds from camera networks around the city. Once the fiber is laid, police will have the potential to retrieve video of, say, a suspect after an emergency call comes in. Vance is also considering using the money for an illegal-gun market study, to improve safety in public housing in the city, and for upgrades to the law enforcement agency’s decrepit office space, where carpeting in some areas dates to the 1980s. Chief Assistant District Attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said some of the projects have the ability to "transform" the criminal justice system. 'EXTREMELY CONFUSING' About $4 billion from the recent settlements is destined for the New York state general fund and has already set off politicians, community activists and government officials who have all been lining up competing proposals for next year’s budget negotiations. "There are huge question marks here and no transparency," said Bennett Gershman, an expert on prosecutorial ethics who is a professor at New York's Pace Law School. He said the discretion given to authorities on how to use the cash creates opportunities for abuse. There have already been some unseemly struggles in New York in recent years. In 2009, then New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg accused then Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau of maintaining secret bank accounts amid a fight over whether the city was getting its fair share of big settlements. A similar feud developed between New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the state’s Governor Andrew Cuomo over last year's $13 billion mortgage-related settlement against JPMorgan. Cuomo accused Schneiderman of having too much power over how to spend the $613 million obtained by the attorney general. Cuomo himself previously had used such power over settlement monies when he held the attorney general’s job from 2007-2010. Cuomo managed to get legislation passed in the state capital Albany earlier this year requiring certain settlement cash to be deposited into the state's general fund, which the governor and legislators control. Some budget watchers are already cautioning politicians against making frivolous election-year promises that commit the latest windfall to paying for operating costs, funding pet projects, or for tax giveaways that could be hard to reverse. Cuomo' is committed to a tax cutting agenda. His office declined to comment on uses of the money. Republicans in the state Senate want to use some of the money for tax rebates for homeowners. They would also use it to scrap a $500 million tax on utilities and phase out a $1.3 billion payroll tax that funds the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Robert Astorino, the Republican challenger to Cuomo, a Democrat, in November’s election, wants funds to help replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge that spans the Hudson River north of New York City. Budget expert Elizabeth Lynham, of New York’s Citizens Budget Commission, would like the state to use the money to retire debt or reduce state liabilities, such as pension or retiree health costs. "The reason Albany's finances are at best stretched thin or completely out of whack is because of the feeding frenzy that occurs when money appears like manna from heaven," said Blair Horner, legislative director at the New York Public Interest Resource Group. Often money from settlements has been used for general budget purposes even though it may have been targeted more specifically. For years, U.S. states have found ways to divert some of the $200 billion tobacco companies agreed in 1998 to pay over 25 years away from smoking and other health programs. Similarly, some of the money from a national foreclosure settlement stemming from the 2008 financial crisis was used by the states to balance budgets and other projects rather than to help people hit by foreclosures. This can store up financial trouble if authorities and others get too reliant on the money and then the spigot stops flowing as fast, leaving a budget hole or program that must be maintained. Robert Hockett, professor of financial law at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York, said it was important for the money to go first to victims of any fraud that led to the settlements rather than to those who have influence over politicians. "We don't want it to be treated as a bonanza," Hockett said. (Reporting by Karen Freifeld, Edward Krudy and Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Karey Van Hall, Martin Howell)

In China, Apple's focus pays off while Samsung feels squeeze

TOP NEWS In China, Apple's focus pays off while Samsung feels squeeze Thu, Jul 24 07:55 AM EDT BEIJING (Reuters) - The mobile industry has long held that Samsung's broad range of mobile devices makes it nimble in changing markets, while Apple loses out by rigidly sticking to its high-end gadgets. But manufacturers' recent earnings reports challenge those assumptions, at least in China, the world's biggest mobile market - where the roll-out of the next-generation 4G wireless network has been touted as a booster for smartphone makers seeking growth as demand in advanced countries falters. Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) latest quarterly results showed sales of its high-end phones in China grew at nearly twice the pace analysts had expected. Meanwhile, budget offerings from Chinese firms won at the cheaper end, effectively squeezing industry leader Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS). Even as Apple posted strong China sales, the South Korean tech giant warned this month that quarterly earnings could drop 25 percent due to an inventory build-up of cheaper phones and weaker demand for 3G products in China. That could suggest that Samsung's strategy of offering everything to counter every price point may actually have left it stranded between being a price competitive brand and a premium gadget seller. By contrast, Apple has studiously cultivated its high-end aura, and its iPhones and iPads continue to command a higher price tag on average than its rivals. Samsung has strong brand loyalty in China, but charges 60-100 percent more than Chinese-made phones with similar features, said Tom Kang, an analyst at Counterpoint Research in Seoul. "Even though they have a brand premium, that's a bit too much." Samsung declined to comment for this article. Samsung's high-end smartphones and tablets such as its Galaxy S range, its answer to the iPhone and iPad, accounted for just a quarter of its January-March sales volume in China, while devices priced below 500 yuan ($80.75) made up the vast majority, according to data firm Canalys. At the same time, Samsung has come under pressure from the rise of Chinese budget handset makers like Xiaomi, which this week released the Mi 4, its new 1,999 yuan 4G handset. Underscoring the challenges Samsung faces, it had just one model in China's top-5 best sellers in May and June - with its big-screen Galaxy Note 3 tied in fifth place with a Lenovo Group (0992.HK) phone, according to Counterpoint. CHINA SURPRISES Apple said this week its third-quarter revenue was buoyed by unexpectedly strong results in China, where iPhone sales jumped nearly 50 percent in April-June. "China, honestly, was surprising to us ... we thought it would be strong, but it went well past what we thought. The unit growth was really off the charts across the board," CEO Tim Cook told analysts on Tuesday. China Mobile Ltd's (0941.HK) 4G customer growth has been accelerating after a tepid start in February. The number of 4G subscribers rose to nearly 14 million in June, up from just 1.3 million at the end of February. "A lot of China Mobile customers have been holding on to old phones, so when the high-speed 4G came out they naturally switched to a 5S or 5C and upgraded. This trend will only become more apparent with the iPhone 6's release," said C.K. Lu, an analyst at Gartner. China Mobile, the world's biggest carrier by subscribers, declined to disclose the current breakdown of its 4G subscribers, but its chairman, Xi Guohua, said in March that "most of our 1.34 million 4G users are using an iPhone." For Samsung, the widely anticipated 4G roll-out has delivered a mixed result. "The roll-out of 4G helped both Samsung and Apple initially, but the operator and regulatory body's ... policies had recently been unfavorable towards Samsung as the 3G demand and subsidy dropped," said Counterpoint's Kang. "Samsung had been selling quite a lot of volume of 3G phones to Chinese operators but that demand dropped sharply. The recent pro-4G policies that penalized 3G vendors ... was not favorable to Samsung." Samsung said earlier this month its China sales were hurt by price competition in the low- to mid-tier sectors as well as tepid sales of 3G devices, as buyers wait to buy high-end 4G phones. IPHONE 6 DUE As China Mobile expands services and smaller rivals China Unicom (0762.HK) and China Telecom (0728.HK) prepare to launch their preferred competing 4G technology, handset makers are bracing for more surprises - with new product plans including Apple's widely expected bigger-screen iPhone. "Right now, what we've seen is just a small part of the users who want to upgrade to 4G," said Lu. "The broader set of consumers, the relatively mainstream ones who want a large screen, are still waiting for the iPhone 6. So when that comes, the effect on high-end brands like Samsung will be even bigger." Kang at Counterpoint also said an iPhone with a large screen would "go directly into Samsung's territory" and Samsung may respond with something unique, such as a curved display. Apple is confident it can gain further traction in China thanks to its relationship with China Mobile and an army of some 150,000 Chinese developers making apps for the local App Store. "They continue to do the roll-out," Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told Reuters this week, referring to China Mobile's 4G network. "They continue to add points of sale, they're starting to do more marketing activities, so we think we have a really good runway in front of us with China Mobile." (Reporting by Beijing Newsroon; Additional reporting by Edwin Chan, Christina Farr in SAN FRANCISCO and Tony Munroe in SEOUL; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Ian Geoghegan)