Russian Sanctions Are Political Nightmare for Brussels

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The Russian embargo on food imports from the EU will have not only economic but also political consequences.

Judging by the reactions of some European leaders, it can be speculated that Moscow managed to hit a vulnerable point of the European Union. Polish and Finnish officials have already expressed their intentions to seek financial compensation from the European Commission.
The problem is that although the European leaders have repeatedly mentioned the principle of European solidarity, there is no legal mechanism to compensate the countries suffering from Russian retaliatory measures. It is also safe to assume that finding additional funds in order to pay the compensations will be a difficult task, given the dire state of the European economy.

US Airstrikes on Militants in Iraq Open Door to Disastrous Consequences - Analyst

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US airstrikes on militants from the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq risk escalating the country’s civil war with “disastrous unintended consequences”, anti-war campaigner Kevin Martin told RIA Novosti Friday.
“The spreading of the violent civil war in Iraq has President Obama considering military strikes, along with air drops of food, water and medicine to beleaguered Yazidi and other persecuted minorities stranded on a mountain top in northern Iraq, besieged by the ISIS fighters,” said Martin, executive director of Peace Action.

Photos: Lagos State sets up Isolation Wards for Ebola victims

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 Lagos State Government has built Isolation Centers for patients with symptoms of the Ebola virus at the Mainland Hospital in Yaba. The isolation ward is situated at the back of the hospital and are tents 
under which patients are camped and fenced in with planks.  

The isolation centre was built to help contain the situation and reduce possible spread of the disease.

Lagos Governor Babatunde Fashola, Commissioners for Health, Dr Jide Idris, and Special Adviser on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina visited the place today and said the facility is ready for use. 

See what the Isolation centre looks like after the  break.

GEJ declares national emergency on Ebola, approves ₦1.9b special intervention fund

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Below is the State House press release...

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Friday in Abuja declared the control and containment of the Ebola virus in Nigeria, a National Emergency.

Accordingly, the President has directed the Federal Ministry of Health to work in collaboration with the State Ministries of Health, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other relevant agencies to ensure that all possible steps are taken to effectively contain the threat of the Ebola virus  in line with international protocols and best practices. Continue...

The wave pain for the EU is now slowly turning into a tsunami of mutually reinforcing problems

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This is great stuff!  RT reports:

Ukraine ready to impose sanctions against any transit via its territory, including air flights and gas supplies to Europe, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Friday.  Ukraine's Parliament will vote on the sanctions on Tuesday.  Kiev has also prepared a list of 172 Russian citizens and 65 legal enitites to put under sanctions for “sponsoring terrorism, supporting the annexation of Crimea, and violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine,”Yatsenyuk said at a briefing on Friday.  Proposed sanctions include asset freezes, bans on certain enterprises, bans on privatizing state property, refusing to issue licenses, and a complete or partial ban on transit- both aviation and gas.

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Photos : Suspected Ebola Victim passes on In Victoria Island, Lagos

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 The victim is suspected to have died from the ebola virus .. More details coming soon… more pictures below

Killer of Reuben Agboola’s daughter jailed

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A man who murdered his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter by kicking her so hard she was thrown six feet across the room and ruptured her liver, has been jailed for life.

Dean Harris, 20, killed Amina Agboola, daughter of former Super Eagles player Reuben Agboola, after becoming frustrated at her soiling herself, prosecutors told his trial at Cambridge Crown Court.
The force of the blow was so severe that it tore her liver in two. Paramedics described finding her lying “like a rag doll”.
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Sharia Law: Yemeni Man killed In Medina, Saudi Arabia Over Rape & Murder

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Authorities in Saudi Kingdom today executed a Yemeni man for the rape and murder of 2 women.
According to the interior ministry, the man identified as Awadha Ahmed Salem was convicted of raping and killing the unidentified women and burning the corpse of one of them with acid, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.  His execution in the western Medina region brings to 20 the number of death sentences carried out this year in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

French Women nabbed For Paracetamol Possession

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The paracetamol we get freely here at Pharmacies in Nigeria is a banned substance in Europe.
2 French women have been held in Georgia after they were found with Dafalgan (the French brand name for paracetamol) containing codeine, a painkiller readily available in French pharmacies on prescription.

Also known as co-codamol, the pills are available in other countries including the UK without a doctor’s note, but they are banned in Georgia which takes a hard line against any opiate-derived medication.
One of the two women, Arzu Bilici, from Strasbourg in eastern France, told France Info radio on Wednesday that she was holidaying in Turkey when she decided to take a day trip to neighbouring Georgia.
She explained that customs officers found her pills, which she uses for headaches, and she and another unnamed woman were arrested for possession of a banned substance.

Liberian Govt cries out, says Ebola-Nigerians are harassing our citizens-

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The Liberian government had complained that its citizens are now being harassed from the time the initial case of Ebola in Nigeria was recorded with a Liberian .The Ambassador to Nigeria Martin George told Nigeria's Health Minister ,Onyebuchi Chukwu

 See his statement after the break.

18 year old househelp eliminates his boss'78 year old mom

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Yavine was brought into Lagos in April 2014 by his elder sister on the request of late Mrs Abiola's daughter. He was then taken to the Ikeja home of the late 78 year old woman to serve as her househlp as well as an assistant at her alcohol distribution shop. A month after his arrival, her home was demolished by the state government, prompting her to temporarily relocate to her daughter's home at the Ijaiye Low Cost Housing Estate, Pen Cinema Lagos where his primary assignment was to take care of her and also clean her daughter's house.

B'Haram Recruits Hundreds Of Young Cameroonians To Attack Cities

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Since the Ebola virus became a plague from hell, the activities of Boko Haram has been sort of masked because the attention that the sect wants is not given to them.  The sect has recruited and trained hundreds of young Cameroonians and forced them to carry out attacks in their own country.  This attack may equally spread to other parts of the Cameroon if care is not taken. 

“Boko Haram has recruited many young people” from Cameroon’s Far North region, a police officer from the area told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Continue..

Henry Abebe, Younger brother of late Ex-1st Lady Stella Obasanjo dies

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Younger brother late former First Lady, Mrs Stella Obasanjo, Henry Abebe, has died. He died in the first hours of today Friday August 8th at a hospital in Abuja after having a struggle with Liver Cirrhosis, a source near to the family has revealed. The businessman and onetime Executive Director at the Nigerian Ports Authority is survived by aged parents, his wife, Beatrice and children.

WHO declares Ebola an International Health Emergency

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The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola Epidemic an International Health Emergency, stating that "a coordinated international response is deemed essential to avoid and reverse the international spread of Ebola" which has killed almost a 1000 people in four west African countries.

 

At a crisis meeting today August 8th, the Geneva based UN health agency said the declaration of an international emergency may help in raising the degree of vigilance for transmission of the virus.

Continue..

Jonathan Didn’t Sack Me Because I Was Incompetent – Gulak

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A former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, on Thursday refuted the report that he was fired by the President for being incompetent.

The former presidential aide while speaking with newsme in Abuja on Thursday said he could not possibly be in office for ever and that he had worked with Jonathan for seven years.
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late Gen. Abacha loot: US to return $480million to Nigeria

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The U.S has taken control of $480million which is part of money stolen by former military dictator General Sani Abacha, after a court ruling in D.C on Wednesday August 6th. The U.S Department of Justice will now hand over the stolen money to Nigerian government, U.S government spokesman said yesterday.

According to court documents, late General Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others embezzled, misappropriated, extorted money from the Nigerian government and stashed them in various banks across the world. Continue...
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Obama authorises air strikes on Iraq

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US President Barack Obama says he has authorised air strikes against Islamic militants in northern Iraq but will not send US troops back to the country.

He said Islamic State (IS) fighters would be targeted to prevent the slaughter of religious minorities or if they threaten US interests.

No strikes have been made yet but the US has made humanitarian air drops to Iraqis under threat from the militants.

Continue..

Aviation fuel scarcity causes flight delays, cancellations

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Delays and outright cancellation of scheduled flights have nearly paralysed activities in the Nigerian aviation industry in the last two weeks.

As a result, passengers scheduled to travel to domestic and foreign destinations have been expressing dismay at the increasing cases of interruptions to their flight schedules and the consequent toll on their business activities.

Investigations by our correspondent showed that major airlines flying both local and international routes had been affected by the crisis, which was traced to inadequate supply of aviation fuel.

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Detailed expert analysis of the MH17 downing

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Just found this detailed analysis on a friend's blog and decided to share it with readers.

You can download his full report by clicking on either one of the following links:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByibNV3SiUoobnpCVDduaHVORHM/edit?usp=sharing

http://www.mediafire.com/view/61qa99yt6v3dq64/MH17Analysis_Parts_1_and_2.pdf

One could be getting increasingly frustrated and angry at the fact that clearly the Dutch and the British, obviously under the orders of Uncle Sam, are sitting on the data of the flight data recorders and not releasing them.  At the very least, the following countries have the recordings of the radio contacts between MH17 and the Kiev ATC:

Russia Extends Snowden’s Asylum for 3 Years – Lawyer

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Russian authorities have extended the temporary asylum for fugitive National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden for three years starting from August 1, his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said Thursday.

Russia’s Federal Migration Service refused to comment on the report.

«Political asylum is not under consideration. In this case, a decision was made about his residence permit. The permission was issued for three years with a possibility of extension for another three years," Kucherena told reporters in Moscow.

The lawyer said that a foreign national may apply for Russian citizenship after living in the country for five years, but said it was up to Snowden to decide.

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