@Gbengabig: February 2015

Saturday, 28 February 2015

54.3m out of 68.8m PVCs Distributed, Says INEC

: LAST UPDATED ON 28 FEBRUARY 2015; HITS: 56The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released another update on the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVC).

The news statistics reveals that out of 68.8m PVCs, 54.3m has been distributed, representing 78.9 percent of the total PVC.

With 98 percent already distributed, Jigawa State has the highest percentage distribution rate so far, while Ogun State with a meager 44 percent has the lowest.

See the full statistics below:

INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION
DISTRIBUTION OF PERMANENT VOTERS CARDS AS AT FEBRUARY 26, 2015
S/N	States	Number of Registered	Number of Cards	Remarks
S/N	States	Voters	Collected by Voters	%
(a)	(b)	(c)	(d)	(e)
1	ABIA	1,396,162	1,132,928	81.15
2	ADAMAWA	1,559,012	1,364,804	87.54
3	AKWA-IBOM	1,680,759	1,587,566	94.46
4	ANAMBRA	1,963,173	1,527,045	77.78
5	BAUCHI	2,054,125	1,938,192	94.36
6	BAYELSA	610,373	404,119	66.21
7	BENUE	2,015,452	1,566,186	77.71
8	BORNO	1,934,079	1,320,667	68.28
9	CROSS RIVER	1,175,623	919,622	78.22
10	DELTA	2,275,264	1,795,307	78.91
11	EBONYI	1,074,273	848,392	78.97
12	EDO	1,779,738	1,197,829	67.30
13	EKITI	732,021	505,829	69.10
14	ENUGU	1,429,221	1,169,408	81.82
15	FCT	881,472	552,381	62.67
16	GOMBE	1,120,023	1,064,577	95.05
17	IMO	1,803,030	1,352,554	75.02
18	JIGAWA	1,831,276	1,794,646	98.00
19	KADUNA	3,407,222	3,159,011	92.72
20	KANO	4,975,701	4,112,039	82.64
21	KATSINA	2,827,943	2,620,096	92.65
22	KEBBI	1,470,648	1,316,656	89.53
23	KOGI	1,350,883	926,013	68.55
24	KWARA	1,142,267	858,623	75.17
25	LAGOS	5,822,207	3,693,355	63.44
26	NASARAWA	1,242,667	1,026,657	82.62
27	NIGER	2,014,317	1,642,144	81.52
28	OGUN	1,829,534	808,590	44.20
29	ONDO	1,524,655	1,073,904	70.44
30	OSUN	1,407,107	1,021,169	72.57
31	OYO	2,415,566	1,603,168	66.37
32	PLATEAU	2,001,825	1,430,852	71.48
33	RIVERS	2,537,590	2,091,132	82.41
34	SOKOTO	1,611,929	1,428,098	88.60
35	TARABA	1,340,652	1,252,491	93.42
36	YOBE	1,099,970	824,401	74.95
37	ZAMFARA	1,495,717	1,397,296	93.42
	Total	68,833,476	54,327,747	78.93

Katsina: PDP Councilor Nabbed Buying PVCs

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) councilor representing
Dunkun-Agala ward of Baure local government area of Katsina
State, Ahmadu Narayya, was yesterday apprehended for allegedly
purchasing Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
Findings revealed that no fewer than 21 cards were recovered
from the councilor.
A source said most of the PVCs were owned by women in the
area, just as it was learnt that each card was bought for between
N15, 000 to N20, 0000.
It was further gathered that some APC youths in the area raised
the alarm when they spotted the councilor trying to make copies
of the PVCs at a business center.
The APC members reportedly accosted him and handed him to
the police, who then took him to the state command for
questioning.
However, a new twist was added to the arrest of the said PDP
councilor when members of opposition political parties accused
the police of “summarily releasing the suspect a few hours after
he was arrested.”
Addressing newsmen, chairman of the Katsina State chapter of
the Labour Party, Shafiu Salmanu, said officials of other
opposition political parties had approached the police over the
matter.
Salmanu stated that the parties were disappointed to find out
that the suspect was released a few hours after his arrest by the
police “suggesting that we can’t have confidence in the police to
safeguard law and order.”
Flanked by officials of other political parties in the state,
including APC and NCP, Salmanu urged the police to investigate
the matter and prosecute all those involved so as to ensure
security of the electoral process.
When contacted, the police spokesman, Aminu Sadiq said the
police was yet to ascertain the true identity of the person, adding
that investigation into the matter has since commenced.

FIFA cancels Nigeria, Ghana friendly

Fans hoping to watch the Super Eagles take on the Black
Stars of Ghana in a friendly planned for London on
March 29 will have to wait longer as the world football
governing body, FIFA, has cancelled the game as it fails
to comply with the regulations of the world body.

The proposed friendly fell short of the directive by FIFA
which clearly states that no country should play two
games across two continents in three days.

The Eagles are billed to play Bolivia on March 26 in Uyo
(Africa) and then take on the Black Stars who narrowly
missed winning the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial
Guinea three days later in London (Europe).

While the Ghana game is now off the window due to
inexplicable negligence of the Nigeria Football
Federation, the Federation is believed to be making
frantic efforts at getting another African country play
the Eagles in order to make the most of the FIFA free
window.

EFCC Presents N9.6b Budget Proposal To Senate

The EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, yesterday presented a budget N9,589,748,795 to the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption.

Lamorde gave the breakdown of the proposed budget as follows – capital expenditure: N542,199,776; personnel cost: N7,053,942,866 and overhead cost: N1,993,200,000.

He pointed out that, the EFCC proposal of N9, 589,748,795 as against N9, 479,748,795 approved by the Budget Office leaves a gap of N110m which could affect the operation of the agency.

Commending the Commission for its efforts in projecting the image for Nigeria through the fight against economic and financial crimes, the chairman of the committee, Senator Victor Lar recalled that the picture was bleak four years ago when the seventh National Assembly was inaugurated, with Nigeria listed among the five most corrupt nations of the world. He appreciated the milestones recorded in the fight against corruption since 2011.

“Today, by the special grace of God, Nigeria has not only been delisted from the Financial Action Task force (FATF)’s target but are being considered for membership of FATF. The second after South Africa,” Lar said.

He expressed delight over the 126 convictions recorded by the EFCC in 2014 which he said was a significant improvement on the 87 and 117 recorded in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

North Korea vows ‘merciless’ war against US

North Korea vowed to wage a “merciless, sacred war” against the
United States on Thursday, days before the launch of annual joint
South Korea-US military exercises that have incensed Pyongyang.
“Nuclear weapons are not a monopoly of the US,” the ruling party’s
official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, warned in an editorial carried by
the state KCNA news agency.
“The US is seriously mistaken if it thinks its mainland is safe,” the
editorial added.
North Korea “will wage a merciless sacred war against the US now
that the latter has chosen confrontation”, the Rodong Sinmun said.
North Korea regularly ramps up the bellicose rhetoric before the start
of the annual joint military exercises that always see a sharp surge in
tensions on the divided peninsula.
Seoul and Washington insist they are defensive in nature, but they are
condemned by Pyongyang as provocative rehearsals for invasion.
North Korea had offered a moratorium on nuclear testing if this year’s
joint drills were cancelled — a proposal rejected by Washington as an
“implicit threat” to carry out a fourth nuclear test.
The editorial came as South Korea and the United States conducted a
joint naval drill Friday, involving 10 South Korean warships and a US
Aegis destroyer.
The drill was a prelude to the eight-week Foal Eagle exercise which
kicks off Monday and involves air, ground and naval field training, with
around 200,000 Korean and 3,700 US troops.
A week-long, largely computer-simulated joint drill, Key Resolve, also
gets underway Monday.
North Korea has made threats against the US mainland before,
although it has never demonstrated a missile strike capability of that
range.
Although its nuclear program remains shrouded in uncertainty,
Pyongyang is currently believed to have a stockpile of some 10 to 16
nuclear weapons fashioned from either plutonium or weapons-grade
uranium.
A new research report by US experts published this week estimated
that North Korea could be on track to have an arsenal of 100 nuclear
weapons by 2020.

Ibori’s conviction cost British govt N4.4bn –Senate

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial
Crimes and anti-corruption, Senator Victor Lar, revealed on Friday that
a whopping sum of £14m (N4.4bn) was spent to secure the conviction
of former Governor James Ibori, in the United Kingdom on April 17,
2012.
Lar, who disclosed this while Federal Government agencies under the
supervision of his committee were defending their 2015 budgets in the
Senate, however, said the case was at no cost to Nigerian anti-graft
agencies.
The senator stressed the need to amend the enabling laws of the
Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and Other Related
Offences Commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, so that
they could be receiving their funds directly.
“All the convictions were secured with very limited or no funds. People
are quick to celebrate the conviction of James Ibori in the UK. The
truth is that to secure Ibori’s conviction, a whopping sum of £14m was
expended.
“That is almost N4.4bn which is more than 10 years recurrent and
capital budgets of all the anti-corruption agencies put together,” he
stated.
Lar said that other countries were able to prosecute financial crimes
successfully because a percentage of funds recovered from the
proceeds of crime was usually retained by the recovering agency for
funding its activities.
“Once you are arrested and taken to court, it is outside the control of
the enforcement agencies. So it is not entirely the fault of the
enforcement agencies that there is corruption in the country.
“This administration has fought corruption more than at any other time
because we have more petitions, more people are taken to court and
we have more convictions now than ever before,” Lar said.
In 2012, for instance, Lar said the EFCC secured about 87 convictions,
116 in 2013 and 136 in 2014.
Heads of the anti-corruption agencies, while making the presentations,
lamented the poor funding of the agencies and urged the National
Assembly to expedite actions on its move to amend the enabling laws
that established them in order to get more funds.

Friday, 27 February 2015

54.3m Out Of 68.8m PVCs Distributed, Says INEC. Plus Statistics

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released another update on the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVC).
The news statistics reveals that out of 68.8m PVCs, 54.3m has been
distributed, representing 78.9 percent of the total PVC.

With 98 percent already distributed, Jigawa State has the highest percentage distribution rate so far, while Ogun State with a meager 44 percent has the lowest.

See the full statistics below:

INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION
DISTRIBUTION OF PERMANENT VOTERS CARDS AS AT FEBRUARY 26, 2015.

S/N States No of Registered No of Cards Collected Collection %

1ABIA 1,396,162 1,132,928 81.15

2ADAMAWA 1,559,012 1,364,804 87.54

3AKWA-IBOM 1,680,759 1,587,566 94.46

4ANAMBRA 1,963,173 1,527,045 77.78

5BAUCHI 2,054,125 1,938,192 94.36

6BAYELSA 610,373 404,119 66.21

7BENUE 2,015,452 1,566,186 77.71

8BORNO 1,934,079 1,320,667 68.28

9CROSS RIVER 1,175,623 919,622 78.22

10DELTA 2,275,264 1,795,307 78.91

11EBONYI 1,074,273 848,392 78.97

12EDO 1,779,738 1,197,829 67.30

13EKITI 732,021 505,829 69.10

14ENUGU 1,429,221 1,169,408 81.82

15FCT 881,472 552,381 62.67

16GOMBE 1,120,023 1,064,577 95.05

17IMO 1,803,030 1,352,554 75.02

18JIGAWA 1,831,276 1,794,646 98.00

19KADUNA 3,407,222 3,159,011 92.72

20KANO 4,975,701 4,112,039 82.64

21KATSINA 2,827,943 2,620,096 92.65

22KEBBI 1,470,648 1,316,656 89.53

23KOGI 1,350,883 926,013 68.55

24KWARA 1,142,267 858,623 75.17

25LAGOS 5,822,207 3,693,355 63.44

26NASARAWA 1,242,667 1,026,657 82.62

27NIGER 2,014,317 1,642,144 81.52

28OGUN 1,829,534 808,590 44.20

29ONDO 1,524,655 1,073,904 70.44

30OSUN 1,407,107 1,021,169 72.57

31OYO 2,415,566 1,603,168 66.37

32PLATEAU 2,001,825 1,430,852 71.48

33RIVERS 2,537,590 2,091,132 82.41

34SOKOTO 1,611,929 1,428,098 88.60

35TARABA 1,340,652 1,252,491 93.42

36YOBE 1,099,970 824,401 74.95

37ZAMFARA 1,495,717 1,397,296 93.42

Total 68,833,476 54,327,747 78.93

2015 Election:Things to know About INECs Card Readers

Question 1: Why use Card Readers?

Answer: For the first time in Nigeria’s electoral history, electronic voter
authentication system, with the aid of smart card readers, is being deployed
for the 2015 general elections. Using Card Readers has enormous advantages,
which include:
Once configured, the Card Reader can only read Permanent Voter Cards
(PVCs) issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Any
person that shows up at the polling unit without a PVC or with a card not
issued by INEC will not be able to vote.
The Card Reader reads the embedded chip on the PVC, not the barcode, and
it shares a secret code with the PVC; thus it is impossible to falsify the cards.
The Card Reader authenticates the identity of the voter by cross-matching
his/her fingerprints with that stored on the embedded chip. No person can
vote using another person’s PVC.
The Card reader keeps a tally of all cards read, comprising the details of all
voters verified as well as those not verified, and transmits the collected
information to a central INEC server via GSM data service.
Information transmitted to the server will enable INEC to audit results from
polling units, as well as do a range of statistical analysis of the demographics
of voting.
Collation officers will also be able to use information transmitted by the Card
Reader to audit polling unit result sheets and determine whether
accreditation figures have been altered.

Question 2: Is the usage of Card Readers for 2015 elections legal?

Answer: The use of the Card Reader for the purpose of accreditation of
voters is one of the innovations introduced by the Commission to improve the
integrity of the electoral process. It does not violate the Electoral Act 2010, as
Amended, or the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as
Amended. It adds value to the process in line with the yearnings of
Nigerians for credible elections, and accords with international best
practices. Whereas the Electoral Act prohibits the use of electronic voting,
the Card Reader is not a voting machine and is not used for voting. The Card
Reader is used only for accreditation of voters, and only accreditation (and
not voting) data is transmitted by it.

Question 3: How does the Card Reader work?

Answer: The Card Reader uses a highly secure cryptographic technology that
is used commonly in devices that need to perform secure transactions, such
as paying terminals. It has ultra-low power consumption, with a single core
frequency of 1.2GHz and an Android 4.2.2. Operating System. The INEC staff
operating the Card Reader will scan the PVC of each voter to verify its
genuiness before allowing the voter to get accredited. It takes an average of
10 to 20 seconds to authenticate a voter.

Question 4: How long is the battery life of the Card Reader?

Answer: The Card reader has a 3200mAh battery, which can lasts for about
12 hours in continual usage when fully charged. The device hibernates when
not in use to save and lengthen the battery life.
Question 5: Who operates the Card Reader at the Polling Unit?
Answer: An Assistant Presiding Officer (APO) at the polling unit has the
responsibility to operate the Card Reader. Poll officials that will operate the
Card Readers have received extensive hands-on training and are well
equipped to handle the task. The Commission has also painstakingly outlined
the operational procedures in its ‘ Approved Guidelines and Regulations for the
Conduct of 2015 General Elections’.

Question 6: Have the Card Readers been tested ahead of the 2015 general
elections?

Answer: The Card Reader units have been broadly subjected to simulation
Quality Assurance, Integrity and Functionality tests and INEC has full
confidence in their performance for election purposes. The device has also
been subjected to Performance and Conformance Test, both locally and in
Texas, United States, laboratories by the Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) Research Centre and found to be of the highest quality grade. Besides
all these, and with additional time resulting from the rescheduling of the
2015 general elections, the Commission has directed that Stress Test be
conducted on the Card Reader device in mock election scenarios – two states
in each of the six geo-political zones – ahead of the new election dates.
(Details of this exercise will be unveiled by the Commission next week.)

Question 7: Can the Card Reader fail to function?

Answer: Going by the results of tests already conducted, it is highly unlikely
that the Card Reader will fail on Election Day. Still, INEC has drawn up serial
intervention plans in the unlikely event of the Card Readers failing.
(i) Should there be a challenge with battery power for the device, the
Commission has procured more than 35,000 back-up batteries that can be
rapidly deployed.
(ii) If the device itself fails in the course of accreditation, the
Commission has procured more than 26,000 spares that can be rapidly
deployed in replacement within the scheduled accreditation hours of 8a.m. –
1p.m. Whatever time is lost on these scheduled hours in the course of
replacement will be added and accreditation extended beyond 1p.m. to
compensate for the lost time.
(iii) In the extremely unlikely and isolated event that a faulty Card
Reader can’t be replaced within the scheduled accreditation hours, INEC has
come to a firm agreement with political parties that the exercise be repeated
the following day rather than revert to manual accreditation.
These procedures, which registered political parties have agreed to, have
been written into the ‘ Approved Guidelines and Regulations for the Conduct of
2015 General Elections’.

Question 8: What if the Card Reader verifies a voter’s PVC but his/her
fingerprints cannot be authenticated?

Answer: The Commission has come to an agreement with registered political
parties on what to do: namely that if a voter’s PVC has been read and it is
evident that he/she is the legitimate holder of the card, but the fingerprints
cannot be authenticated (or he/she doesn’t have fingers), the Presiding
Officer of the voting point will complete an incident form and the voter will
be accredited to vote. Party Agents and Observers would be there to witness
to this.

Question 9: Is it possible to accredit all voters who turn out within the
stipulated hours for accreditation using the Card Reader?

Answer: The accreditation of a voter, using the Card Reader, is estimated to
last an average of 10 to 20 seconds per voter. Even if we double this time to
20 to 45 seconds for planning purposes, and working on the basis of a
maximum of 750 voters per voting point, and using a generous projection of
70% voter turnout (the average being 54% from past elections), which
equates to 525 voters, the card reader will need 6.5hours to process all the
voters. This is well within the operating time for the elections as well as the
battery life of the Card reader.

Question 10: How is the Card Reader programmed?

Answer: To prevent fraudulent use, the Card Rader is configured to work
only on Election Days. In addition, the device is configured to specific polling
units and cannot be used elsewhere without requiring reconfiguration by
authorised INEC personnel.

Question 11: How has the INEC’s Card Reader addressed the problems
experienced in other countries in the sub-region?

Answer: The challenge with a few of the Card Reader devices in Ghana, for
instance, during the country’s 2012 general elections was the battery power,
apparently because the affected devices were not fully charged. It was in
learning from this experience that INEC designed the Card Readers to be
used in the 2015 elections with 12-hour battery life in active usage, and also
procured more than 35,000 units of back-up batteries. The imperative of
adequate charging of the Card Readers is underscored during the trainings of
election personnel.
The supposed technology failures during Kenya’s general elections in 2013
had nothing to do with card readers, as the country used computer poll
books for accreditation. The challenge was rather with the electronic system
used in transmitting results, and not card readers.

One billion young at risk of hearing loss from loud music – WHO

More than one billion young people risk damaging their hearing through listening
to loud music, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
The WHO estimates that around half of those between the ages of 12 and 35 in
middle- and high-income countries are at risk due to unsafe levels of sound on
personal audio devices or smartphones.
Another 40 percent are at risk from damaging audio levels at concert venues and
night clubs.
“More and more young people are exposed to unsafe levels of sounds. Young
people should be aware that once you lose your hearing, it won’t come back,”
said Shelley Chadha, a WHO specialist on hearing impairment.
The UN health agency considers a volume above 85 decibels for eight hours or
100 decibels for 15 minutes as unsafe.
Exposure to traffic noise at peak hours can reach 85 decibels.
The vuvuzela, a popular wind instrument used in stadiums during the football
World Cup in South Africa in 2010, has a sound intensity of 120 decibels and over
nine seconds of exposure could result in irreversible hearing damage.
“It is something we can live without,” Chadha said referring to the vuvuzela.
To counter the risks, the WHO recommends that personal audio devices should
not be used for more than an hour a day, at reduced sound levels.
The use of ear plugs in loud conditions and regular check ups were part of the
recommendations as well.
The WHO also wants governments to play a role by imposing strict regulations on
noise in public places.
The UN agency estimates that 360 million people suffer from hearing loss
worldwide. In addition to noise related causes and ageing, it is also brought on by
infectious diseases, genetic conditions, complications at birth, and use of certain
drugs.

Somali pirates release fishermen held for five years

Four Thai fishermen held hostage by Somali pirates for nearly five years have
been released, local officials said.
“We collected the four Thailand men from a remote area,” Omar Sheikh Ali, an
official in Somalia’s central Galmudug administration told the AFP news agency
on Friday.
The four fishermen were among 24 crew members seized in April 2010 when
Somali pirates hijacked the Taiwan-flagged fishing vessel FV Prantalay 12.
Their nearly five-year captivity is one of the longest suffered by any victims of
Somali piracy.
Ali said the freed men were able to contact family members soon after their
release on Wednesday.
“They called their families by phone and cried and cried and cried,” he said.
Residents of Galkayo, where the Galmudug administration is based, said a
$150,000 ransom was paid but the information could not be independently
verified.
After its capture the FV Prantalay was used as a pirate mother ship to launch
attacks far out to sea before it capsized in July 2011 and the crew was taken
ashore.
Of the original 24 crew members, six died from sickness at various stages during
their captivity.
Another 14 crew from Myanmar were released to the government in the Somalia’s
northern Puntland region in May 2011 and repatriated by the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Hostage Support Programme.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia reached its height in 2011 when there were 237
incidents attributed to Somali pirates and 28 vessels hijacked.
But a combination of armed onboard guards and international naval patrols have
had a big impact and last year there were no successful hijackings, according to
the International Maritime Bureau which tracks piracy incidents worldwide.

Western firearms recovered at Donetsk airport -----DPR

Several samples of firearms of western manufacture have been found at
Donetsk’s ruined airport, the spokesman for the Defense Ministry of the self-
proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Eduard Basurin, told a news briefing at the
Donetsk News Agency.
"Samples of Western firearms have been unearthed during debris-clearing
operations at the Donetsk Airport. Our specialists are now examining them," he
said., reports Tass.
Heavy weapons withdrawal in eastern Ukraine
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has pulled out 17 artillery groups
from the line of contact in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, defence ministry’s
spokesman went on to say.
"Howitzers were pulled out from our positions in Makeyevka and Illovaisk in the
presence of the monitors of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, OSCE. We have already withdrawn 17 artillery groups," he said.
Basurin also said that by now the DPR had no reliable proof of Kiev’s withdrawing
heavy weapons from the contact line.
Apart from that, he said the DPR militias had registered 19 violations of the Minsk
agreements by Ukrainian troops in the past 24 hours.
The DPR forces were not yielding to provocations, he stressed. "Violations have
been reported to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination, JCCC," he added

Baby stolen in South Africa 17 years ago found

A baby stolen from her sleeping mother’s arms shortly after birth has been found
by the family through an astonishing coincidence 17 years later, her biological
family and South African police said Friday.
A 50-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with kidnapping after pupils
noticed a remarkable likeness between the 17-year-old and her younger biological
sister who started attending the same school this year.
DNA tests have confirmed that the older girl is the daughter of Celeste and Morne
Nurse, who was snatched from Groote Schuur hospital as a three-day-old baby
named Zephany in April 1997, local media reported.
The parents, who later had three more children, have celebrated Zephany’s
birthday every year since she was kidnapped, never giving up hope that their first-
born would come back to them one day, her father Morne said.
Zephany grew up with a different name in a different family.
But last month her biological sister, Cassidy Nurse, started high school at the
same school as Zephany, and fellow pupils noticed the startling resemblance she
bore to a final-year student.
When Cassidy told her parents about the girl, the father approached Zephany at
the school. When he saw the striking resemblance between the girls, he
contacted the police.
Without knowing it, the Nurse family had been living within a couple of kilometres
of their kidnapped daughter.
“All the time she has been right under my nose,” the father told South Africa’s
Talk radio 702. “It was seriously heartbreaking”.
“She told me that her hangout at weekends was mainly the place where we went
to, which was shocking”.
“Emotions are running very high in my family, it’s actually good emotions,” said
Nurse.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel André Traut confirmed that a woman had
been arrested. She and her husband, who is also in his fifties, have no other
children.
“The suspect is being charged with kidnapping, fraud and contravening sections…
of the Children’s Act, in that she fraudulently pretended that she was the
biological mother of a child,” Traut said.
“The kidnapped girl has since been placed in the care of the Department of Social
Services of the Western Cape Government.”
On how Zephany has reacted on discovering her biological family, Nurse said “she
is actually very happy about it, at the same time highly disappointed in the family
(that has raised her)”

Ebola deaths hit 9,660-----WHO

The death toll from the current Ebola outbreak has reached 9,660, while the number of those infected amounts to 23,825, the World Health Organisation, WHO, said in a statement on Friday.

These cases were reported from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, reports Tass.

In line with statistics, the maximum number of Ebola-related deaths and cases
has been registered in Liberia — 4,057 cumulative deaths and 9,265 cumulative
cases. Liberia is followed by Sierra Leone (3,490 deaths and 11,370 cases) and
Guinea (2,113 deaths and 3,190 cases).

The number of Ebola deaths in these three countries rose by 71 and the number
of cases rose by 131 since February 25.

Separate cases have also been registered in Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, Great
Britain and the United States. In most of these countries the number of Ebola-
related cases does not exceed ten, with the only exception of Nigeria, where 20
people are infected by Ebola virus and eight have died.

WHO describes Ebola virus disease (formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic
fever) as "a severe, often fatal illness, with a case fatality rate of up to 90
percent." Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle
pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash,
impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external
bleeding.

The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and
tissues of infected animals or people.

People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus.

The incubation period is 2 to 21 days. There is no known cure or vaccine for the
disease. The only treatment offered is "supportive intensive care."