Over 450,000 Healthcare Workers to Strike in UK, Demanding Higher Salaries

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Over 450,000 National Health Service (NHS) workers are expected to strike over pay in England Monday.

"NHS staff across England are on strike for fair pay from 7am to 11am [06:00-10:00 GMT] on Monday 13 October," UNISON, one of UK's largest trade unions, reported on its website Monday, also saying that "UNISON members working in the NHS in England will go on strike on Monday 13 October from 7am to 11 am and will be taking action short of strike action from 14 to 17 October".
A total of five British unions, including UNISON and Unite, will take part in the protest.
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PICTURES: PDP Thugs On Rampage, Destroy Cars And Homes Of Lawmakers

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 Edo state continues to descend into political violence as thugs believed to be working for the Peoples Democratic Party stormed the Legislators quarters in Benin, the capital.

Marburg Haemorrhagic Fever(MHF)Virus Killed A Ugandan hospital Technician

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With West Africa, and indeed the rest of the world, still reeling from the deaths brought about by the Ebola virus, the recent death of a Ugandan hospital technician of another deadly viral disease, Marburg Haemorrhagic Fever (MHF), has brought fresh fears, Tribune Newspaper reports.

Your comments, reactions, likes and dislikes, suggestions, etc. for the new site

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Dear friends,

Please use this open thread to comment, email (omooduarere@gmail.com) about this site, it’s layout, design, logo, colors, different pages, ease of commenting or lack thereof, etc.  Please try to keep it short and clear so everybody (including omo oodua IT team) can read your comments.

Thank you very much!

The Omo Oodua Community !

Babcock University Student, Damiloa Koya Dies In His Sleep

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Damilola Koya DeadDamiloa Koya Dead: Babcock University Student Died In Sleep – Damilola Koya, a 300L Economics student of Babcock University, was found dead in his hostel room at the Bethel Splendour hall on Tuesday October 7th 2014.According to the reports, it is believed that Damilola Koya actually died in his sleep. His death is making it the second Babcock University has recorded in the last three months.

White House Scheme to Close Guantanamo Dangerous: US House Speaker

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- The White House's plan to close the Guantanamo Bay prison is dangerous, and is opposed by the majority of Americans, according to US House Speaker John Boehner.
"Even as Islamic jihadists are beheading Americans, the White House is so eager to bring these terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to the United States that it is examining ways to thwart Congress and unilaterally re-write the law," the statement issued by the speaker's press office on Friday reads.
"Not only is this scheme dangerous, it is yet another example of what will be this administration's legacy of lawlessness," Boehner stated.
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New US Military Base in Romania Due to Operate in 2015: US Navy Department

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A new US military base in Deveselu, Romania is due to be up and running next year as a part of NATO's overall ballistic missile defense (BMD) system, the US Department of the Navy said in a statement. "NSF Deveselu will utilize both a SM-3 missile interceptor battery platform and an Aegis SPY-1 radar platform," the statement reads.

"The Aegis BMD system is the key component in the Obama administration's plan for a phased deployment of a missile defense umbrella in Europe, which is intended to protect US forces and NATO allies from regional threats," the department said.
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2 Earthquakes Up to 5.2 Magnitude Rock Eastern Indonesia

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Two earthquakes, measuring 5.0 and 5.2 magnitude, struck off Indonesia's eastern coast without raising a tsunami wave, the nation's Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) reported early on Saturday.

The epicenter of the stronger quake was located 31 kilometers southwest of the Talaud archipelago in the Pacific, right on the maritime border between Indonesia and the Philippines. The center was under the Sulawesi sea floor at the depth of 42 kilometers.

G20 Finance Chiefs Consider Scrapping Russia Sanctions: Russian Finance Minister

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 G20 finance ministers and central bank governors discussed the outlook for lifting sanctions against Russia and settling the Ukraine crisis on the sidelines of IMF-World Bank fall meetings in Washington this week, Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Friday.


"During 'off-stage' meetings everyone was talking about their desire to resolve as soon as possible the situation in southeastern Ukraine, and to get rid of sanctions that are clearly in the way of their own business and economic stimuli," the Russian finance chief told journalists in Washington.
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Macedonia Seals Hotel after British Man with Ebola Symptoms Dies

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A British man with Ebola-like symptoms has died in Macedonia and the hotel where he was staying has been sealed off and those thought to have had contact with him put under quarantine.



Reuters reports that a Health Ministry official said the man had arrived from Britain on Oct. 2 and had been rushed to hospital at 3 p.m. on Thursday, where he died several hours later. Dr. Jovanka Kostovska of the ministry's commission for infectious diseases said the man had been suffering from fever, vomiting and internal bleeding, and that his condition had deteriorated rapidly. 

Pastor Accused of Impregnating Church Member in Enugu

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A pastor in Enugu State has been arrested for allegedly impregnating a female member of his ministry and went a step further to force the girl to abort the pregnancy.

Meanwhile, men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, have arrested a 14-year-old boy in Enugu for allegedly sleeping with a she-goat. State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the alleged crime committed by the Pastor, said:

IS Poses Substantial Threat, Could Carry Out Terrorist Attacks in Europe: Expert

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© REUTERS/ Stringer

 Daria Chernyshova - The threat posed by the Islamic State (IS) is substantial, including terrorist attacks within European borders, as Syria-trained IS sympathizers return to their home countries with training and experience in the battlefield, Raffaello Pantucci, director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute, told RIA Novosti.
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WHO to officially Declare Nigeria Ebola- Free

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The World Health Organization (WHO) is hoping to announce later on this week that Nigeria and Senegal are free of Ebola after 42 days with no infections.

The 42 days is the standard period for declaring an outbreak over, twice the maximum 21-day incubation period of the virus.

According to a statement signed by the Director of Information in the Ministry of Health, Mrs. Ayotunde Adesugba, WHO will soon make the official declaration after Nigeria successfully curbed the virus which was imported into the country by Liberia-American, Patrick Sawyer, in July. The country recorded seven deaths in the process.

2015: Why Jonathan may lose as an incumbent

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For those who are upbeat about the chances of the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan winning re-election if he decides to run, I have bad news for them. The President may not only lose in 2015, he could lose by a landslide even with the incumbency factor perceived to be in his favour. Let’s even consider a massive defeat of an incumbent impossibility; he could still be edged out by a narrow margin. Indeed all evidence point to the first shocking defeat of an incumbent in a presidential election in the country. For the first time ever, it seems the incumbency effect may not matter. While I acknowledge the usual arguments about the incumbent advantage; 2015 may yet prove to be an exception.
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Federal Government of Nigeria to review the nature of its relationship with the U.S & SA

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By Egheomhanre Eyieyien

Time has come for the Federal Government of Nigeria to review the nature of its relationship with the United States of America and South Africa. The U.S. has become adversarial in its relationship with Nigeria in recent times. Despite its avowed commitment to supporting Nigeria in its war against terrorism, the U.S. Government has repeatedly blocked our bid to buy weaponry in that regard. And statements by ranking American officials have been needlessly critical of Nigeria.

African leaders unite against Boko Haram

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The Lake Chad Basin Commission Heads of State and Government as well as the representative of the Republic of Benin, on Tuesday in Niamey, Niger Republic, resolved to fight in synergy against the Boko Haram sect wherever it rears its ugly head in the region.

This was one of the resolutions of an Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the LCBC, attended by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The sect had so far killed about 13,000 Nigerians since it started his campaign of violence in Nigeria, especially in the north-eastern part of the country.

Asari-Dokubo took part in $9.3m arms scandal –APC

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The All Progressives Congress says ex-militant, Alhaji Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari, was involved in the $9.3m arms deal which led to the arrest of two Nigerians and an Israeli in South Africa.

The party, therefore, asked President Goodluck Jonathan to explain to Nigerians what Dokubo-Asari was doing on the plane where the money was found and confiscated by the South African authorities.

But Dokubo-Asari had distanced himself from the $9.3m botched arms deal.
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Nigeria donates $3.5m to Liberia, others

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The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Wednesday said Nigeria had already donated $3.5m as part of its intervention in the affected countries.

Chukwu said the sum was made up of $500,000 to each of the countries and the balance to the common ECOWAS Fund for the disease.

He also said 591 health practitioners had volunteered to join the international force that would go to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to help in the containment of the Ebola Virus Disease.

He said the volunteers registered with his ministry at three points in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt.
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Donetsk Republic Estimates War Damage at $1 Bln

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The cost of Kiev's military crackdown will weigh heavily on the besieged region of Donetsk, with war damage estimated at about $1 billion, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said Wednesday.

US in De Facto Alliance With Iran to Fight IS Threat: Expert

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 The United States has de facto formed an alliance with Iran to fight the Islamic State (IS) movement, despite the strong reluctance by US officials to admit it, the former director of the Iraq program at the National Security Council told RIA Novosti.

"We are in a unique position where, in the extremely short term, our interests and Iran's inside Iraq are almost identical," said Douglas Ollivant during a New America web discussion on Wednesday.

"So, de facto we're in an alliance with Iran. Now, I don't expect anyone in a position of power in the US government to ever say that," he said, continuing that much of the realities and facts of the region are "politically inconvenient to say."

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