Uganda Says A Traveling Congolese Girl Has Ebola

In this Friday, June 14, 2019 file photo, people coming from Congo wash their hands with chlorinated water to prevent the spread of Ebola infection, at the Mpondwe border crossing with Congo. Ugandan health authorities on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019 said a 9-year-old Congolese child has tested positive for Ebola in Uganda, after being identified and screened at the official Mpondwe border crossing, and was then taken to an isolation unit in the Ugandan border town of Bwera in Kasese district. (AP Photo/Ronald Kabuubi, File)

BY RODNEY MUHUMUZA

KAMPALA, UGANDA (AP) — A 9-year-old Congolese girl tested positive for Ebola in Uganda on Thursday after traveling from Congo, where an outbreak of the highly infectious disease has killed nearly 2,000 people.

The child, who is now in isolation at a hospital in the Ugandan border district of Kasese, traveled from Congo with her mother on Wednesday, Uganda’s health ministry said in a statement.

The girl, who was bleeding through the mouth and had a high fever, was identified and screened for Ebola at an official border crossing. She was immediately isolated. Ugandan health officials said they believed she had no contacts to worry about.

The Ebola outbreak, which was declared a year ago in eastern Congo, hasn’t shown signs of slowing down despite new treatments and vaccines given to more than 197,000 people in the region. New cases emerged in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, in recent months and have recently spread to a new province, South Kivu.

Insecurity has been one factor in a region where rebel groups have fought for control of mineral-rich lands for decades. Ebola also has spread because of mistrust by communities who have also staged attacks against health workers. Many people in eastern Congo don’t trust doctors and other medics.

But cases of cross-border contamination have been rare, in part because of stringent screening procedures at official border crossings in the neighboring countries of Uganda and Rwanda.

In June, a family of Congolese with some sick family members crossed into Uganda via a bush path.

Two of them later died of Ebola, and the others were transferred back to Congo.

There had been no confirmed case of Ebola in Uganda since then.

Survivors Demand US Investigation Of Mississippi Abuse deals

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Joshua K. Love sits in the living room of his home in Greenwood, Miss., Saturday, June 8, 2019. Love says he was sexually abused by two Franciscan friars at a local Catholic grade school. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

BY MICHAEL REZENDES AND EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS

JACKSON, MISS. (AP) — Catholic sex abuse survivors in Mississippi and Wisconsin on Thursday demanded that federal authorities investigate allegations from three black Mississippi men who say they were molested by Franciscan friars during the mid-1990s, when they were as young as 9 years old.

Mark Belenchia, the Mississippi leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, issued a statement calling for federal law enforcement agencies to “pursue any federal charges that may be possible due to the interstate transmission of the victims for the purpose of rape and exploitation by abusive clergymen.”

“It’s time for the outside authorities to come in and investigate ... find out what we know, what they know and what they’ve covered up — because I guarantee you, they covered it up. It’s just systemic,” he said, in a news conference in front of the offices of the Jackson diocese.

Cousins Joshua Love and La Jarvis Love and a third man, Joshua’s brother, Raphael Love, say they were repeatedly abused by Brother Paul West during the 1990s, when they were elementary school students at St. Francis of Assisi School, in Greenwood, Mississippi. Joshua Love says he was also molested by the late Brother Donald Lucas.

In addition, the alleged victims say they were repeatedly molested by West during excursions to Wisconsin and New York.

The calls for federal action came in response to an Associated Press investigation, which found that a Wisconsin-based group of Franciscans paid Joshua Love and La Jarvis Love $15,000 each to keep silent about their claims and never file lawsuits.

Raphael Love rejected a similar offer.

In Wisconsin, SNAP leader Peter Isely released letters to Matthew D. Kruger, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and Mike Hurst, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, urging them to investigate the Wisconsin-based group of Franciscans that sponsored the two alleged abusers.

“Your office and help are critical in the effort to secure justice for these survivors and to help prevent future cases of child sexual abuse,” Isely said in each of the letters.

The cash payments are far less than what other Catholic sex abuse survivors have typically received since the church’s abuse scandal erupted in the United States in 2002.

And the non-disclosure agreements violate a 2002 pledge by American Catholic leaders to eliminate them in settlements with survivors, unless specifically requested by victims.

Belenchia called upon the diocese to remove its victim assistance coordinator, Valerie McClellan, because she played a role in negotiating a settlement between the Franciscans and Joshua K. Love while acting as his therapist.

“She needs to be removed. She’s no longer effective. There’s no good reason that she should have been sitting in on a negotiation of something that’s not even supposed to be happening. Now, they’re going to give all kind of excuses as to why she was there. None of them are valid. They gave these men $15,000 apiece. They tried to negotiate — one of them, it started out at $10,000. This is deplorable.”

In its investigation, the AP also found that West, after being recalled from Mississippi following an abuse allegation by Raphael Love, took a job teaching fifth grade at St. John School, in Little Chute, Wisconsin.

The school issued a statement Wednesday saying background and reference checks on West found there did not find any allegations against him, adding that it had not received any complaints in the decade he was teaching there.

West declined to answer questions from the AP. Lucas died in 1999, an apparent suicide. But earlier this year, the Jackson diocese included West and Lucas on a list of “credibly accused” Catholic officials.

Belenchia said the Rev. James G. Gannon, leader of the Franciscan Friars of the Assumption Blessed Virgin Mary Province, had tried to “cover up a crime.”

“I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years and I’ve worked with a lot of survivors, and I’ve never seen anybody treated like this by the church. It’s tragic. And if anybody doubt that there’s racism involved here, they’re blind,” he said.

Gannon said the race and poverty of the three men had no bearing on the settlements they were offered. “Absolutely not,” he said.

Gannon also said he believes that each of the three men were abused.

“We’ve hurt them tremendously and no amount of money would ever account for what happened to them,” he said.

___

Rezendes reported from Boston. He can be followed at https://twitter.com/mikerezendes

Rescued Trafficked Women Held In 'Abhorrent' Conditions In Nigerian Shelters, New Report Says

BY BUKOLA ADEBAYO

LAGOS, NIGERIA (CNN) -- When Adaura was promised a job as a domestic worker in Libya, she jumped at the chance. Little did she know she'd end up in a sex trafficking ring, enduring years of physical and sexual abuse. 

The woman who told her about the job said she'd earn more than $400 a month, a fortune for the then 18-year-old who had lived a life of poverty and abuse. 

She willingly embarked on a journey that took her from Nigeria, across the Sahara desert and into Libya in 2013. 

Adaura unwittingly became one of tens of thousands of vulnerable Nigerian girls trafficked across Africa and Europe by criminal networks that lure them with job offers that never materialize.

Thousands of people leave Nigeria for Libya -- a treacherous destination and route for migrants going to Europe in hopes of better job opportunities. Most are fleeing economic hardship and conditions that make them easy prey for traffickers.

More than 10,000 Nigerians stranded in Libya and other countries returned home between April 2017 and October 2018, according to the International Organization for Migration estimates.

Survivors held under abhorrent conditions

But Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a new report titled " 'You Pray for Death:' Trafficking of Young Women and Girls in Nigeria," said many rescued victims on their return are kept in "abhorrent" conditions in Nigerian shelters similar to those they faced when they were trafficked.

The report said though Nigeria has taken steps to address trafficking problems in the country by signing on to international laws and creating shelters, authorities have failed to provide adequate resources that survivors need to rebuild their lives.

Adaura, now 24, is interviewed in the rights agency report, where she is referred to as Adaura C. She said she was forced to work as a prostitute in Libya by her trafficker who told her she owed $4,000 paid to transport her from Nigeria. 

Adaura said a woman, who was part of the trafficking ring and known as the "madam" forced her to have sex with different men without condoms and made her have abortions when she became pregnant.

She was eventually rescued and sent back to Nigeria where she now lives in a shelter but says there is not enough food and she only receives 100 naira (around 27 cents) per day for transport. Adaura told researchers that she "sometimes thinks about killing herself."

Another unnamed trafficked woman told HRW in the report that she had been held against her will at a National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) shelter for six months.
"I have been here for almost six months.... I eat and sleep and shout. They do not open the gate...I told NAPTIP I do not want to stay here; I want to go home. They said they will allow me to go. I do not feel okay being here. I cannot stay here doing nothing," one of the women says in the HRW report.

Some of the women told HRW they were detained in government-owned shelters run by NAPTIP for months without adequate food, toiletries and medical care. Others said they were kept in closed shelters and denied access to their families.

"We were shocked to find traumatized survivors locked behind gates, unable to communicate with their families, for months on end, in government-run facilities," said Agnes Odhiambo, HRW senior women's rights researcher in the report.

They also told HRW they were kept in the dark about their rehabilitation process and officials did not give them information on when they would be reunited with their families.

HRW said the report was based on field research between 2017 and 2018, which included interviews with 76 trafficked victims, experts, NGOs and authorities working with survivors in Nigeria.

Odhiambo told CNN that many of the shelters visited were "rundown" and many of the women complained that their mobile phones were taken away from them.

"Women and girls looked so unhappy to be there. They complained about being controlled. Basically, like a transfer of conditions from captivity," Odhiambo said.

However, Arinze Osakwe of NAPTIP'S public education unit said the right's agency's report did not capture many aspects of their work in rehabilitating trafficked victims.

He admitted that some victims were delayed at shelter longer than the six weeks stated by the agency because of ongoing investigations from partner agencies. 

 
"Even among those rescued are traffickers who pretend to be victims to recruit more people from the shelter on their release back to Libya for instance. We work with a lot of agencies to profile them depending on the intelligence report we have from the countries they came from. Their release is not that simple," Osakwe told CNN.

He denied that victims were denied food and said the agency was working to make survivors as "comfortable" as possible.

Osakwe said the agency runs closed shelter for survivors and regulates their access and communication to protect victims from their traffickers who may still be after them.

"Most of the victims are witnesses to crimes committed by traffickers who will stop at nothing to get them. Let's not forget that the survivors were initially trafficked by family members who want to get them out of the shelter to recruit them again," Osakwe told CNN.

Osakwe said officials conduct medical screening on victims while tracing their families for joint counseling, a process that often takes time.

"We need to know they have family that will take them back. Some victims are rejected — the easiest person to traffick is a returnee victim with no support from society. We have had cases where we rescued and released a victim, and six months later, we are rescuing them from another country," he said.

Trafficking hub

Nigeria is a source, transit and destination point for many criminal trafficking networks operating in Africa, and the majority of their victims are women. 

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 11,000 women and 3,000 children who arrived by sea in Italy in 2016 were from Nigeria. More than half the victims have been sexually exploited, according to recent data from the UN migration agency.

One survivor shared a harrowing account of her journey across the Sahara desert to Europe.
"You pray for death. You cry until you cannot cry any more. People die, faint, are beaten, raped. I would not advise even my worst enemy to travel by land," the woman was quoted as saying in the HRW report.

The Next Recession Will Destroy Millennials

Millennials are already in debt and without savings. After the next downturn, they’ll be in even bigger trouble. Image: Max Whittaker

BY ANNIE LOWREY

THE ATLANTIC

The trade war is dragging on. The yield curve is inverting. Investors are fleeing to safety. Global growth is slowing. The stock market is dipping. The millennials are screwed.

Recessions are never good for anyone. A sputtering economy means miserable financial, emotional, and physical-health consequences for everyone from infants to retirees. But the next one—if it happens, when it starts happening — stands to hit this much-maligned generation particularly hard. For adults between the ages of 22 and 38, after all, the last recession never really ended.

Millennials got bodied in the downturn, have struggled in the recovery, and are now left more vulnerable than other, older age cohorts. As they pitch toward middle age, they are failing to make it to the middle class, and are likely to be the first generation in modern economic history to end up worse off than their parents. The next downturn might make sure of it, stalling their careers and sucking away their wages right as the millennials enter their prime earning years.

It was the last downturn — the once-a-century Great Recession — that set them on this doddering economic course. The millennials graduated into the worst jobs market in 80 years. That did not just mean a few years of high unemployment, or a couple years living in their parents’ basements. It meant a full decade of lost wages. The generation unlucky enough to enter the labor market in a recession suffers “significant” earnings losses that take years and years to rebound, studies show, something that hard data now back up. As of 2014, millennial men were earning no more than generation X men were when they were the same age, and 10 percent less than baby boomers — despite the economy being far bigger and the country far richer. Millennial women were earning less than gen X women.

Kids of the 1980s and 1990s have had a new, huge, financially catastrophic demand on their meager post-recession earnings, too: a trillion dollars of educational debt. About a quarter of gen Xers who went to college took out loans to do so, compared with half of millennials. And millennials ended up taking out double the amount that gen Xers did. No wonder, given that the cost of tuition has gone up more than 100 percent since 2001, even after accounting for inflation.

The toxic combination of lower earnings and higher student-loan balances — combined with tight credit in the recovery years — has led to millennials getting shut out of the housing market, and thus losing a seminal way to build wealth. The generation’s homeownership rate is a full 8 percentage points lower than that of the Gen Xers or the baby boomers when they were the same age; the median age of home-buyers has risen all the way to 46, the oldest it has been since the National Association of Realtors started keeping records four decades ago.

As a result, millennials have not benefited from the dramatic rebound in housing prices that has occurred since the financial collapse and the foreclosure crisis. Millennials have also been forced to shell out hundreds of billions of dollars in rent as housing costs have skyrocketed in many urban areas. This represents a large generational transfer of wealth from the young to the old. Boomers own the houses and bar municipalities from building more of them, thus benefiting from rising prices and soaking up endless rent checks forked over by younger and poorer families.

Cost pressures have also made it difficult or impossible for millennials to save or invest. The share of Americans under the age of 35 who own stocks has meandered down from 55 percent in 2001 to 37 percent in 2018, in part because employers are less likely to offer retirement-savings plans and in part because millennials have nothing left over at the end of the month to put away. Virtually all members of the cohort are “not saving adequately,” experts warn, and two-thirds of millennials have zero retirement savings. This means that millennials have benefited not a bit from the decade-long boom in stock prices, as their parents and grandparents have.

Millennials are worth less on paper than members of older generations are, and are worth less on paper than members of older generations were at the same point in their lives. The net worth of your average millennial household is 40 percent lower than for gen X households in 2001 and 20 percent lower than for baby boomers’ households at the end of the 1980s.

Could the millennials make up this lost ground? Perhaps, if wage growth suddenly and dramatically accelerates, urban cores start to build millions of new homes, and Congress announces a student-loan debt jubilee. But financial experts consider it unlikely. Millennials missed out on the big asset boom that occurred between 2010 and the present, and “appreciation is unlikely to be as rapid in the near future as it was during the recent period,” argue economists at the Federal Reserve. “With the baby boomers occupying most of the top jobs and much of the housing, millennials are doing less well than their parents,” concluded Credit Suisse. “We expect only a minority of high achievers and those in high-demand sectors such as technology or finance to effectively overcome the ‘millennial disadvantage.’”

The next recession — this year, next year, whenever it comes — will likely make that millennial disadvantage even worse. Already, millennials have put off saving and buying homes, as well as getting married and having babies, because of their crummy jobs and weighty student loans. A downturn that leads to higher unemployment and lower wages will force millennials to wait even longer to start accumulating wealth, making it far harder for them to accumulate any wealth at all. (Compound interest is magic, after all.) Their trajectory, already terrible, might get even worse.

And millennial suffering won’t just hurt millennials. There is accumulating evidence that the economy is more sclerotic and slower-growing than it might be if the millennials were able to buy homes, have families, start businesses, and spend like other generations — if the young were not existing just to pump up asset values for the old. Which reminds me — there’s one generation that might fare even worse than millennials: Generation Z.

Annie Lowrey is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she covers economic policy.

Trending: 23 Nigerians Waiting For Saudi Hangmen (Full List)

BY PM NEWS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2010

Trending right now in Nigeria is the list of 23 Nigerians said to be on death row in Saudi Arabia over drug-related offences. They were arrested between 2016 and 2017 at King Abdul-Aziz International Airport, Jeddah, and Prince Muhammad Bin Abdu-Aziz International Airport, Madinah.

The list was first published in April after the execution of Nigerian widow, Kudirat Afolabi, who had brought into Saudi Arabia, a prohibited drug.

The list, comprising mainly Yoruba and some few Hausa/Fulani people, all muslims, was exhumed on Sunday by some Twitterati to show that crime is not limited to a particular ethnic group in Nigeria.

The list #23Nigerians was the number one trending topic on Nigerian Twitter, supplanting #Igboyahooboys, which emerged after the FBI released on Thursday the list of almost 80 Nigerians, indicted for wire fraud, romance scams and Business email compromise crimes. Later another hashtag, #yorubadrugdealers emerged.

Commenters on Sunday bemoaned how the Nigerians, from the Yoruba and Igbo ethnic groups, are destroying the national reputation, internationally.

Some commenters even wondered why Nigerians would risk taking drugs to Saudi Arabia, when they knew the consequences, if caught.

The Saudi Arabian Government said back in April that the 23 suspects concealed the narcotic substance in their rectum, an act the Saudi Government says contravenes its narcotic and psychotropic substances rules.

The offence is punishable by death. Back in April then, Saheed Sobade, another Nigerian was also awaiting execution.

“It is well-known for all those interested in travelling to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that the penalty for drug trafficking is the death sentence and the said sentence is applied on all persons convicted without any exceptions, as long as the evidence is established against them, and this is conveyed to every person prior to his trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia said in April, after Nigerians criticised the killing of Afolabi.

See the full list of Nigerians arrested for drug trafficking:

Adeniyi Adebayo Zikri, Tunde Ibrahim, Jimoh Idhola Lawal, Lolo Babatunde, Sulaiman Babatunde, Idris Adewuumi Adepoju, Abdul Raimi Awela Ajibola, Yusuf Makeen Ajiboye, Adam Idrid Abubakar, Saka Zakaria, Biola Lawal, Isa Abubakar Adam, Ibrahim Chiroma, Hafis Amosu, Aliu Muhammad, Funmilayo Omoyemi Bishi, Mistura Yekini, Amina Ajoke Alobi, Kuburat Ibrahim, Alaja Olufunke Alalaoe Abdulquadir, Fawsat Balagun Alabi, Aisha Muhammad Amira, Adebayo Zakariya,

The Saudis have not said whether the trial of the 23 suspects have been concluded and whether they will all face the death penalty. Their last word on the matter was published in April.

Coffee Growers Help Reforest Mozambique’s Mount Gorongosa

Women process coffee beans at a coffee plantation in Mount Gorongosa, Mozambique, Sunday Aug. 3, 2019. On the slopes of Mount Gorongosa, more than 100 farmers are producing coffee that earns them incomes while at the same time restores the rapidly eroding rainforest. With peace on the mountaintop there are plans to dramatically scale up coffee production, as part of Gorongosa National Park’s innovative plan to boost the incomes of people living around the park as well as revitalizing the environment. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

BY ANDREW MELDRUM

MOUNT GORONGOSA, MOZAMBIQUE (AP) — A wiry woman, Querida Barequinha intently sorts through the coffee beans laid out on racks to dry in the sun, plucking out any that are cracked or misshapen.

“I like growing coffee because it earns cash that goes right into my pocket,” she said, with a darting smile. “I can buy soap, cooking oil, schoolbooks and other household items. It’s very useful.”

Barequinha has been growing coffee for four years on the upper slopes of Mount Gorongosa, where clouds frequently cover the rainforest at the top. Now that a peace agreement has been signed between Mozambique’s government and the Renamo rebels, whose military headquarters are nearby, she is planning to plant more coffee trees.

A mother of seven, Barequinha said she is encouraging her family to join her in coffee production.

“I’d love to see others in my family grow coffee,” she said, in chiGorongosi, a dialect of the Sena language. “It offers us a source of hope.”

Barequinha is one of 400 Mozambican farmers producing coffee that earns them valued cash incomes while at the same time restores the rapidly eroding rainforest of Mount Gorongosa. With peace on the mountaintop there are plans to dramatically scale up coffee production, as part of the national park’s innovative plan to boost the incomes of people living around the park as well as revitalizing the environment.

Mount Gorongosa rises 1,863 meters (6,112 feet) above Mozambique’s central plains and the tropical hardwood forest of its upper rainy regions is being stripped by local farmers who want to grow maize. Coffee is a crop that can stop that deforestation, say park experts. Shade-grown coffee shurbs produce better tasting coffee beans, so the trees are planted among indigenous trees. Areas that had been denuded of trees now boast verdant slopes of coffee trees interspersed with local trees such as albizias and other crops.

“Coffee thrives in this unique rainforest. It produces much better income than maize and it encourages farmers to re-grow the rainforest. It is a win-win development for the farmers and the environment, so this is great for the park,” said Matthew Jordan, associate director of the Agricultural Livelihoods Program of Gorongosa National Park. Coffee could produce 10 times more income than maize or other subsistence crops grown by local farmers, said Jordan.

Twenty years ago Gorongosa park was derelict as a result of the country’s devastating civil war and much of its wildlife had been poached. The park is now reviving thanks to a partnership between the Mozambican government and the Gorongosa Restoration Project, which is supported by American philanthropist Greg Carr. The organization allocates more than half of its annual budget on supporting the communities that live around the park.

The Gorongosa coffee project is ramping up its productions, spurred on by the peace agreement signed this month (August 1) between Mozambique’s government and rebels. It the past four years it has planted 40,000 coffee trees that this year produced 8 tons of coffee beans. Some 300,000 new trees will be planted this year and annually for the next 10 years, said Jordan.

“With peace we will have a quantum jump in our production,” said Jordan, gesturing to a plot of seedlings in bags about to be planted. “This will put Gorongosa coffee on the map. Our famers will get paid fair prices, premium prices for their shade-grown crop.”

There are more than 800 Renamo rebels in three armed camps at the top of Mount Gorongosa. Their presence restricted the expansion of coffee and other agriculture. But the promise of earning ready cash from coffee may entice many of them to give up their weapons and start tending shrubs, say park officials. The processing of the coffee beans could create seasonal employment for thousands of local residents, said Jordan.

Mozambique has not been one of Africa’s major coffee producers like Ethiopia and Kenya, but Mount Gorongosa’s unique climate makes it very promising. Already, international coffee giant Nespresso has shown interest in promoting the park’s coffee production, said Jordan.

The action is already evident on Mount Gorongosa, where families ford rivers carrying as many seedlings as possible, including balancing some on their heads. Hillside fields have rows of scooped out spots where coffee seedlings will soon be planted. “Coffee trees have shallow roots and do well in the topsoil here. Trees have deeper roots and fix nitrogen into the soil, so they do well growing together,” said Jordan.

Cashews, honey, pineapples, avocados, citrus and litchis are other crops being encouraged that will simultaneously boost the incomes of local farmers and enhance Gorongosa’s environment.

“Our aim is to promote agro-forestry, high value crops,” said Jordan.

Short and animated, Vaida Frangene, is a vocal supporter of the park’s coffee growing enterprise.

“I started as a volunteer in the reforesting program and then I started growing coffee. I earned cash for it last year and there is more to come this year,” she said.

“I really, really like coffee because it earns money. Last year I bought new capulanas (brightly printed cloth used as skirts and scarves) and some things for the house. It was great,” she said.

“There are other things that I appreciate, too,” said Frangene. “I love the taste of coffee. I have learned new skills in growing coffee, picking coffee cherries and how to dry the beans. I have learned about the park.”

Tourists May Have Brought Measles To Southern California

In this Jan. 22, 2015, file photo, visitors walk toward Sleeping Beauty's Castle in the background at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif. A teenage girl traveling from New Zealand to Southern California this month was infectious with highly contagious measles and may have exposed others at Disneyland and a nearby hotel, health officials said Friday, Aug. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)


SANTA ANA, CALIF. (AP) — A New Zealand teenager who visited Disneyland and other Southern California tourist spots last week brought along more than just her luggage. She brought measles.

Public health officials in Los Angeles and Orange counties issued a warning Friday that people may have been exposed to the disease if they were at Disneyland or the Disney California Adventure Park on Aug. 12.

The girl had measles when she arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 11 and went to the Desert Palms Hotel in Anaheim, officials said.

After Disneyland, she is believed to have gone to Universal Studios, the TCL Chinese Theatre and Madame Tussauds in Hollywood, and the Santa Monica beach and pier on Aug. 14-15, authorities said.

The girl has since returned to New Zealand, said Dr. Nichole Quick, Orange County’s health care officer.

The California Department of Public Health said it wasn’t aware of any measles cases resulting from exposure to the traveler but is continuing to investigate.

However, local health agencies said it can take up to 21 days after exposure for symptoms, such as fever and rash, to appear.

“Measles is spread by air and by direct contact even before you know have it,” said Dr. Muntu Davis, Los Angeles County’s health officer.

Quick urged anyone who has symptoms to call a health care provider before going to the doctor to avoid additional exposures. People are also urged to check their records to determine if they have been vaccinated or previously had measles.

Quick said she expects to see more measles cases, generally, among international travelers who visit California because of an increase in the illness overseas.

“We’re in general concerned with the outbreaks going on in places in this country as well as internationally,” she said.

Measles cases are rising around the world. The number of cases nearly tripled globally during the first seven months of the year compared with the same period in 2018, the World Health Organization reported this month.

New Zealand — and the United States — are dealing with their worst outbreaks in decades.

Disneyland officials on Friday said no employees at the theme park were reported to have contracted the illness. Dr. Pamela Hymel, Disneyland’s chief medical officer, said in a statement that health officials said the risk to employees and visitors “is likely low.”

“We maintain rigorous sanitation standards to protect guests and cast, and earlier this year we strengthened our immunization program and educational resources for cast members,” the statement said.

Disneyland and adjacent Disney California Adventure Park are major tourist destinations, drawing tens of thousands of visitors a day.

In 2015, a measles outbreak involving Disneyland sickened 147 people and spread across the U.S. and into Canada.

As of early this month, Los Angeles County health officials reported 16 measles cases among county residents this year and — in addition to the New Zealand girl — 10 others among non-residents who traveled through.

Nigeria Misses Chance To Transform Lives – And Must Pay $9bn Damages

A woman sells fish by lantern light in Lagos, Nigeria. The aborted project would have generated 2,000 MW of power for the national grid . Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

UK court ruling over aborted project means country will have to pay one-fifth of its foreign reserves to gas supply company

BY ROD AUSTIN

Nigeria’s government stands accused of letting down its 201 million residentsby failing to complete a gas supply and production agreement that would have transformed their lives. Instead, the country will now have to pay $9bn (£7.4bn) in penalties or risk having its assets seized.

The accusation is being levied at the federal republic by lawyers representing Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID), a gas supply and engineering company, following a UK court ruling that paves the way for the seizure of assets belonging to Africa’s richest country. The extraordinary figure represents one-fifth of the country’s declared foreign reserves of $45bn.

“Completely wrong and obviously unjustifiable”, were the words used by Nigerian government officials to describe the ruling by a judge in London last week.

But yesterday, lawyers for P&ID vigorously defended their client’s position. A spokesman said: “Nigeria failed to live up to its contractual commitments … The project would have generated 2,000 MW of power for the national grid and could have been transformative for millions of Nigerians. At present, the World Bank estimates that in 2017, only 59% of the country had access to a reliable supply of electricity.”

The decision, at the commercial court, converted a 2017 arbitration tribunal award into a high court judgment, and gives British Virgin Islands-registered P&ID the right to seize $9bn in assets, following the failed gas supply and processing agreement.

The Nigerian government continues to dispute the UK’s jurisdiction to hear the matter, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the country’s Central Bank (CBN), said in an interview with Africa’s Premium Times: “We know that the implication of that judgment has some impact on monetary policy and that is why the CBN is going to step forward and strongly defend the country and the reserves of the federal republic of Nigeria.”

But unless the Nigerian government can reach a last-minute agreement, its assets are at risk. P&ID’s barrister Andrew Stafford QC said: “P&ID is committed to vigorously enforcing its rights, and we intend to begin the process of seizing Nigerian assets in order to satisfy this award as soon as possible.”

The dispute arose in 2010. Brendan Cahill, founder of P&ID, and his late business partner, Michael Quinn, signed a contract with Nigerian ministry officials in which it was agreed that the government would install pipelines and supply the gas that would connect to P&ID’s “state-of-the-art gas processing plant” in Calabar, south-east Nigeria, to be built free of charge to the state.

The intention was to convert wet natural gas to dry gas to power the country’s national electric grid, improving supply. P&ID would sell 15% of the propane, ethane and butane by-products on the international market, with an expectation of generating “$5bn to $6bn in profit over a 20-year period”. In return, Nigeria would receive 85% of the gas at no cost for generating electricity.

In 2012, however, the deal fell through after the Nigerian government allegedly failed to install pipelines or supply the gas. At the heart of the matter, said the government, was the fact that the company did not build the promised processing plants. P&ID claimed it was the government’s conduct that prevented them from fulfilling their side of the agreement.
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In a statement to the tribunal, Cahill explained that he had conceived the idea of processing gas from the Calabar region in 2006, after which P&ID “set about the necessary preparatory engineering work”. He alleges that over two years the company invested more than $40m on feasibility studies, licences, drawings and project management costs, before approaching the Nigerians.

Following several years of negotiations, the parties signed the contract in 2010, during the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan. Cahill alleges that the government failed to provide the necessary technical specifications for him to meet his contract and the parties fell into dispute after he discovered the government was engaging with a third party to process the gas.

During the 2015 tribunal, the Nigerian government argued that P&ID’s failure to build the gas processing plant was a fundamental breach of contract, as no gas could be delivered until this was done. The tribunal dismissed their arguments, finding them in breach of contract.

In January 2017, P&ID were awarded $6.6bn and claimed interest at the rate of $1.2m a day, which increased their claim to more than $9bn.

At the commercial court last week, P&ID sought to convert the tribunal’s award to a high court judgment. The Nigerian government contested the hearing, arguing that as the original contract had been signed in Nigeria, an English court had no jurisdiction, describing the tribunal’s award as “manifestly excessive”. Justice Christopher Butcher found in favour of P&ID, enforcing the $9bn award.

The Nigerian government is considering its next move. Emefiele said: “There are sufficient and strong grounds on the basis of which we could file a stay of execution and also an appeal against that judgment. There are certain anomalies in the process leading to the award of that contract which are currently being looked into by the economic and financial crimes commission.”

Responding to comments by Emefiele, lawyers for P&ID told the Guardian the high court judgment was “clear, decisive and consistent with prior legal findings”.

“It determined that compensation must be paid as it failed to uphold its contractual commitments. The tribunal, which included a former attorney-general of Nigeria, unanimously determined that the FRN was at fault for the project’s failure. Their arguments have been comprehensively rejected.”

The matter is still to be settled in the US, where P&ID are seeking permission to enforce the arbitration award. Nigeria’s defence in the US is the same as those just rejected by the English court.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Nigerian Roots At Core Of Motivation For Seahawks Rookie DB Ugo Amadi

Free safety Ugo Amadi practices during the Seahawks training camp, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019.


BY BEN ARTHUR

The boy was never supposed to have been conceived.

A Nigerian-immigrant mother, who'd already had four children, was dealing with serious health issues. She had heart problems during the birth of her most recent child. The doctor wasn't sure that her heart could handle the process again, so the message was clear and stern:

No more kids.

But she became pregnant again. Another child was on the way. She didn't tell the doctor that she was expecting a baby until four months later. Concern for her well-being grew to a peak.

No issues emerged throughout the pregnancy, however. And on May 16, 1997 in Nashville, she gave birth to a boy. There were no adverse health issues during labor. No heart issues. No side effects. Nothing. A miracle.

So she named the child 'Ugochukwu.' In the Nigerian language of Igbo, it means, 'a precious gift from God.'

It's a backstory to his life that Ugochukwu Amadi — Ugo for short — doesn't take for granted.

"People say how cool my name is and stuff like that," the Seahawks defensive back said. "It's a lot that I take pride in, especially the (Nigerian) culture that I'm from."

Amadi, a 2019 fourth-round pick out of the University of Oregon, takes pride in his game on the gridiron, too. Particularly with his versatility. The Seahawks are comfortable moving him around the secondary. And they like him for his special teams value, as both a punt returner and a gunner.

His big hit last Sunday on Vikings returner Olabisi Johnson in punt coverage, after beating a double team at the line of scrimmage, went viral on social media. It's been called perfection. In an era where rule changes have many football people scratching their heads on what it means to properly tackle, the 5-foot-9 Amadi showed the world how to do it in a nine-second span — with perfect timing and anticipation.

His emerging playmaking ability has made it hard to imagine a Seahawks' 53-man roster without him.


"He's just done something every time he's been out on the field," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "He's been a really exciting player for us."

On defense, Amadi is shuffling back and forth between free safety and nickel for Seattle. He's been primarily used at the former, but Carroll said he's still very much in the competition for the slot cornerback role — Justin Coleman's spot last season. It's a starting position by default because of how frequently the Seahawks play in nickel packages.


Amadi said it's not challenging juggling multiple responsibilities. He understands that he's a rookie, and that it's important for his role to be fluid. He's new, so Seattle is trying to find the best spot for him. But he hopes that his plays, like his bone-crushing tackle last week, shows that he's eager to make a big impact as a rookie.

Amadi leads the Seahawks in the preseason so far in punt return attempts at four, netting 19 yards. He's tied for second with two special teams tackles. He has five tackles on defense (including a quarterback hit) and a pass deflection. He's even done kickoff return, too. Amadi returned one kick in the preseason opener against Denver for 15 yards.


"This is how I want to be able to come into the NFL," Amadi said. "I want my presence to be felt. I want to just make sure that I'm not here to play around. I'm here to make a living, to make a name for myself."

He was a big playmaker for the Ducks, especially on special teams. A Pac-12 All-Conference second-team selection in 2018, Amadi led the league with 15.93 yards per punt return. He became the first FBS player since 2015 and the first Pac-12 player since 2007 to record two pick-6's and a punt-return TD in the same year. As a senior, he was one of four Power 5 players with at least two interceptions returned for scores.

Amadi on defense posted 55 tackles, including five for loss, and 1.5 sacks in 2018. He was named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given annually to the top defensive back in college football.

He's been a humble learner in Seattle, according to teammate and fellow defensive back Bradley McDougald. He has stayed ahead of the game by constantly studying his playbook. He speaks less and listens more.

"If one player is getting coached, he takes the same advice for himself," McDougald said of Amadi. "You don't see him making a mistake that another rookie makes. That's a good trait to have."

Amadi has already performed a perfect tackle, but he doesn't know what his perfect rookie season would like yet. Why? He doesn't necessarily know what to expect. He's learning each day. He wants to run with the first-team defense in practice before he looks too far ahead.

But he does know the kind of effect he wants to have with the Seahawks in Year 1. He wants his competitive edge to show. He wants his teammates and peers to know that he's a playmaker — that when he gets the ball, he's going to do something with it. Something exciting.

He sees football as part of his name's meaning, his 'precious gift from God.'

"I'm going to be able to take care of my family with this career," Amadi said.

SOURCE: MY SAN ANTONIO

For Democrats, A Shift Toward The Middle On Health Care

In this Aug. 10, 2019 photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at the Presidential Gun Sense Forum in Des Moines, Iowa. Democratic voters appear to be re-assessing their approach to health care, and pragmatic ideas are getting a closer look. “Medicare for All” remains hugely popular, but in a recent poll, majorities of Democratic liberals and moderates said they would prefer to build on “Obamacare” to expand coverage. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

BY MICHELLE PRICE, RICARDO ALONSO ZALDIVAR

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Rank-and-file Democrats appear to be shifting to the middle on health care, worried about what’s politically achievable on their party’s top 2020 issue.

While “Medicare for All” remains hugely popular, the majority say they’d prefer building on “Obamacare” to expand coverage instead of a new government program that replaces America’s mix of private and public insurance.

Highlighted by a recent national poll, the shifting views are echoed in interviews with voters and the evolving positions of Democratic presidential candidates . Some have backed away from the government-run plan championed by Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts that for months had seemed to be gaining momentum.

It could mean trouble for Sanders and his supporters, signaling a limit to how far Democratic voters are willing to move to the left amid doubts that Americans would back such dramatic changes to their health care.

“We hear Medicare for All, but I’m not absolutely certain what that means and what that would then mean for me,” said Democrat Terrie Dietrich, who lives near Las Vegas. “Does it mean that private insurance is gone forever?”

Dietrich, 74, has Medicare and supplements that with private insurance, an arrangement she said she’s pretty comfortable with.

She thinks it’s important that everyone has health care, not just those who can afford it. She said she would support Medicare for All if it was the only way to achieve that.

But “I don’t think we can ever get it passed,” Dietrich added.

Erin Cross, her 54-year-old daughter and also a Democrat, said she’s uncomfortable with switching to a system in which a government plan is the only choice. She said Democrats won’t be able to appeal to Republicans unless they strike a middle ground and allow people to keep their private insurance.

“We’ve got to get some of these other people, these Republican voters, to come on over just to get rid of Trump,” she said.

Democratic presidential candidates also have expressed skepticism.

California Sen. Kamala Harris’ new plan would preserve a role for private insurance. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is open to step-by-step approaches. Meanwhile, health care moderates including former Vice President Joe Biden have been blunt in criticizing the government-run system envisioned by Sanders.

In Nevada, the early voting swing state that tests presidential candidates’ appeal to labor and a diverse population, moderate Democrats have won statewide by focusing on health care affordability and preserving protections from President Barack Obama’s law.

Nationwide, 55% of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic said in a poll last month they’d prefer building on Obama’s Affordable Care Act instead of replacing it with Medicare for All. The survey by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found 39% would prefer Medicare for All. Majorities of liberals and moderates concurred.

On a separate question, Democratic support for Medicare for All was a robust 72% in July, but that was down from 80% in April, a drop Kaiser says is statistically significant but not necessarily a definitive downward trend.

That said, Kaiser pollster Liz Hamel said it wouldn’t be surprising if it turned into one. On big health care ideas, she said, “as the public starts seeing arguments for and against, we often see movement.”

The Kaiser survey also found broad backing for the public-option alternative that moderates are touting, a government plan that would compete with but not replace private insurance. Eighty-five percent of Democrats supported that idea, along with 68% of independents. Republicans were opposed, 62% to 36%.

Large increases in federal spending and a significant expansion of government power are often cited as arguments against Medicare for All. However, the main criticism Democrats are hearing from some of their own candidates is that the Sanders plan would force people to give up their private health insurance. Under the Vermont senator’s legislation, it would be unlawful for insurers or employers to offer coverage for benefits provided by the new government plan.

Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan argued during the last round of Democratic debates that that’s problematic for union members with hard-fought health care plans secured by sacrificing wage increases. However, Sanders has long asserted his plan will allow unions to obtain bigger wage increases by taking health care out of the equation.

In interviews with The Associated Press, union workers in Nevada said they worried about how Medicare for All would affect their coverage.

Chad Neanover, prep cook at the Margaritaville casino-restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip, said he would be reluctant to give up the comprehensive insurance that his union has fought to keep. He has asthma, and his wife is dealing with diabetes. The union’s plan has no monthly premium cost and no deductible.

“I don’t want to give up my health insurance. I’ve personally been involved in the fight to keep it,” said Neanover, 44. “A lot of people have fought to have what we have today.”

Savannah Palmira, a 34-year-old union construction worker in Las Vegas, said she’s open to supporting Medicare for All, but wants to know specifically what it would look like, how the country would transition and how it would affect her plan.

“That’s one of the biggest things that I love about being in the union, is our quality health care,” Palmira said.

Medicare for All backers say their plan has been unfairly portrayed.

“The shift in polling on Medicare for All is a direct result of mischaracterizations by opponents,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a Sanders campaign co-chair.

People are most interested in keeping their own doctors, Khanna added, and Medicare for All would not interfere with that.

Longtime watchers of America’s health care debate see new energy among Democrats, along with a familiar pattern.

“The long-standing history of health reform is that people want to hang on to what they have,” said Georgetown University public policy professor Judith Feder, who was a health policy adviser in the Clinton administration.

Nonetheless, she noted a common interest among Democrats: “People want affordable, reliable, stable coverage.”

___

Alonso-Zaldivar reported from Washington.

Nigerian Immigrant Mother, 31, Bribed A Male NHS Nurse, 44, To Pose As Her Baby Daughter's Father So The Child Could Obtain A British Passport

After being sentenced to 14 months in jail she was immediately released as she had been under curfew since October. Adesanya now faces a possible deportation from the UK. (Pictured: Adesanya today outside Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester)

BY LUKE ANDREWS

A Nigerian immigrant mother who bribed a male NHS nurse to pose as her baby daughter's father so that her child could get British passport faces deportation.

Housewife Maria Adesanya, 31, paid £3,000 to UK citizen Adekunle Adeparusi, 44, to put his name down as the father on the child's birth certificate.

Adeparusi then pocketed a further £13,000 that he claimed in child tax credits even though he had no role in the daughter's life.

The pair hatched the plan in January 2014, three months after pregnant Adesanya entered the UK on an eight-month visitors VISA. They were only caught in February 2015 after the mother applied for a Derivative Authority Card.

During this time the mother found work using the ID cards of two EU nationals, a Portuguese and a Dutch citizen.

The child, now aged five, is thought to still be living in the UK.

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Adesanya, from Bury, was sentenced to 14 months in jail but immediately released on licence as she had been under curfew since October.

She was found guilty of false representation and possessing false ID documents.

Adeparusi, from Gavesend in Kent, was jailed for 33 months after admitting making a false statement with intent.

Sentencing Adesanya, Judge John Edwards said: 'This really was a performance of incredible stupidity by you.

'You have a child out of wedlock which is frowned on by your culture and feared what would happen to you and your child if you returned to Nigeria.

'The effect to them of their mother serving a period in prison would be shattering.

'You have spent 10 months worrying about your future and your children’s future. Being separated from the children would have a significant detrimental effect on their emotional wellbeing.

'But you displayed a blatant disregard for the immigration laws in this country. What you did was disgraceful and dishonest.'

When sentencing Adeparusi, the judge said: 'Organised immigration crime such as that which you engaged in can have and does have a significant impact on public funds and confidence, and the abuse of documents and the lawful exercise of the right to enter this country goes to the heart of the system which all of us rely on.

'When you came to this country in March 2007 and settled down with your family in Kent, qualifying as a nurse, I’m satisfied you intended to lead a constructive and contributing life.

'But that all ended when you met Ms Adesanya. You lied face to face to the registrar and the passport office and it didn’t end there.

'This was a highly devised and lucrative scheme, these are charges which completely undermine the integrity of the immigration system and garnered you a significant amount of money.'

After arriving in the UK in October 2013 and giving birth, prosecutor Robert Golinski said that Adesanya made contact with Adeparusi via another person who, for a fee, agreed to pretend to be the father.

'It is not clear how much he was to be paid but there are references to £3000, evidence of a payment being made by her to him at the end of January 2014 after the child was born,' he said.

'On 14th January 2014 they both attended Rochdale Registrar office to register the birth and in doing so fully confirmed that he was the father.

'The birth certificate itself contained a false statement that was used by him to make an application for a British passport for the child.

'On the 6th March 2014 the passport office issued a passport in the child’s name and on the 31st July 2014 Mr Adeparusi contacted the authorities and claimed tax credits he wasn’t entitled to because he wasn’t responsible for the little girl.'

'He continued to receive those credits at £7.54 per day until July 2017 - a period of under three years - the total being just under £11,000 in tax credits. He in fact continued to claim them even after he had been told in interview he wasn’t entitled to do so.

'Ms Adesanya submitted application to the home office for a Derivative Authority Card as a primary carer for a British citizen and in doing so submitted the fraudulently obtained passport. That application was refused in February 2015 - she appealed and the appeal was dismissed.

'She was unable to open a bank account in this country between July 2013 and December 2014 but she used one of Mr Adeparusi’s bank accounts to receive over £2000 in wages. During her period in the UK Ms Adesanya appears to have had no real means to support herself and sought to obtain employment.

'She wasn’t entitled to work in the UK and so she assumed the identity of two EU citizens, a Dutch national, and also a Portuguese national.

'She also obtained a false Portuguese ID card.'

In mitigation for Adesanya, defence lawyer Miss Sara Haque said: 'This is very complicated because of her children, she is a very caring mother and the children are thriving.'

For Adeparusi barrister Jide Lanlehin said: 'He suffers from a heart condition and he is on five different medications. I ask the court to bear in mind his remorse which words from me couldn’t express what he himself has expressed which speaks volumes in itself.

'The consequence on his family is immeasurable, the impact on those innocent children.

'The time he has spent in custody that has been a very difficult time for him and I ask your honour to consider a sentence which would meet the seriousness o the offence but if at all possible to ensure that he is able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

'A sentence which means he could be released as soon as possible and return to his duties and responsibilities.'

SOURCE: DAILY MAIL UK