3 New Suspected Cases of Ebola in Port Harcourt

 
Three people have been taken to the Ebola Virus Disease  quarantine centre at Oduoha,   Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State.

According to Punch, the State Commissioner for Health, Sampson Parker, made this known on Sunday just as the Federal Government said another emergency meeting of the National Council of Health over the EVD would hold in Abuja on Monday(today). The last meeting took place on August 11, 2014.

Parker, who addressed journalists,  said those quarantined are a doctor, a pharmacist and a woman who came into contact with Dr, Iyke Enemuo,who died of the virus in Port Harcourt on August 22.

The pharmacist and the doctor are members of staff of Sam Steel Hospital while the nurse worked at the Good Heart Hospital where Enemuo died.

Sam Steel Hospital was founded by   Enemuo, who contracted Ebola while treating an ECOWAS diplomat, Koye Olu-Ibukun, who travelled to Port Harcourt after coming into contact with the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer. 

The Health commissioner said, “They (pharmacist, nurse and doctor) have not been confirmed (as having Ebola) and we are waiting for the result of the investigation.

Parker, who as of 8pm on Sunday had not made the outcome of the tests public,   also confirmed   that Enemuo’s widow was at the isolation centre in Lagos where she is receiving treatment having tested positive to the virus.

Some 200 primary and secondary contacts have been traced, although about 60 had yet to be spoken to, he added. None of them had shown symptoms.

The commissioner said, “I have been telling you before now that almost 200 persons have been line-traced. Out of this number, we are still to be in touch with about 60 of them.

“But 50 high risk contacts have been identified. Because of stigma and the rest of them, these persons are not coming up but we are still on them.

“We are concentrating on the names we have to capture in our (monitoring) activities but the good news is that we have been making good progress in checking the spread of Ebola.”

When one of our correspondents visited the quarantinecentre on Saturday, he noticed that it was undergoing reconstruction.

As of 11am on Saturday when he left, no single patient had been brought there.

When informed of this development, Parker replied, “I am briefing you now. Operations are by the minute. They are three there now. They won’t let you into the centre now. That place is restricted. Probably when you went there, there were none, but I am telling you now that I was there when they were being brought in.”

The commissioner said Governor Rotimi Amaechi would meet with religious leaders on Monday (today) and traditional rulers in the state on Tuesday.

He counselled the people that Ebola was not a death sentence, stressing that those who came into contact with Enemuo and Koye should come up early for screening.

Parker said, “People should know that Ebola is not a death sentence and that they should come out. I must tell you that in Lagos, most of them that came up early survived. Only the ones that were going from one church to the other until their case degenerated, died.

“We must let the public know that any one that came into contact with primary and secondary contacts to Dr. Enemuo or the clinics and the hotel should voluntarily contact us. It does not mean they are infected. All we need is just to observe them.

“Chances of survival are very high. It is very important the members of the public know this so that we do not waste time looking for people who are hiding. We know some persons are hiding but we are advising them to come out.

“Some of them are running into churches and most of them are laying hands on them without knowing.

“People should please check their level of anointing before they do that. This is a strong advice for pastors .”

Parker also said the movement of corpses within and outside Rivers State would be supervised henceforth.

He said people must have the death certificates to enable the government to ascertain the cause of the death of their loved ones.

“People cannot just move corpses here and there without clearance with the Ministry of Health. In fact, the police could stop you and ask for your clearance. Before corpses are released from the mortuary, the   attendants must demand clearance documents.”

The commissioner said the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Sam Steel Hospital, Mandate Hotels and Good Heart Hospital had been decontaminated.

He added that the state now had a mobile laboratory for testing people.

Police Officer Dies While Fighting His Wife in Lagos

A Police Officer, Inspector Danjuma Daniel attached to a police division in Apapa, Lagos, died on Thursday afternoon during a fight with his own wife.

The scuffle between Inspector Daniel and his wife got so serious  that the couple fell from the balcony of their apartment ─ a two-storey building. The couple, it was learnt, was staying at the Ijeh Police Barracks, Obalende, Lagos.

The late police inspector and his wife, identified simply as Ada, who had lived in the barracks for about 10 years, sustained grave injuries from the fall...According to Punch, when they were rushed to a nearby hospital, Daniel was said to have been confirmed dead by the medical personnel, while the wife was admitted for treatment.

It was learnt that Ada, a trader in a nearby market, was discharged from hospital on Saturday morning.

Speaking with Punch in Lagos, Daniel’s first son, Emmanuel, said he was informed about his father’s death on the telephone. He explained that he was staying with an uncle in the Mile 2 area of the state.

He said, “I don’t know what could have caused the fight. I was not at home. Dad and mum have lived in this barracks for about 10 years now.

“We were formerly staying in Nasarawa State where dad initially served. In Lagos, I don’t stay with them, but my two sisters do. Mum has returned from the hospital, and she is back home now, but she cannot talk to anyone for now.”

However, it was learnt from a resident that Daniel, an Eggon man from Nasarawa State, had had clashes with his wife before the incident. The source added that the fight on Thursday suddenly turned ugly and led to their falling off from the two-storey building.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie: Honeymooning in Malta! Filming Hot New Movie Together!

The newly married Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are headed to their honeymoon in Malta, which it turns out is a sexy blend of the personal and professional.

Pitt, 50, and Jolie, 39, are preparing for their first on-screen reunion since 2005's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the movie that started Brangelina's road to the altar.
Their new film, By the Sea, is described as "an intimate, character-driven" drama and was written by Jolie herself. It is also not exactly family friendly.
Pitt and Jolie play a married couple in the South of France (where the couple lives in real life as well) who become sexually obsessed with their neighbors.
French actress Melanie Laurent, who costarred with Pitt in 2009's Inglourious Basterds, will play one of the neighbors in Angelina's latest screenplay.
"I wrote something a few years ago for Brad and me," Jolie said of By the Sea.
"Just for fun. Just an independent little art piece. Because we don't get to do those as much as we'd like. But it's something really small and experimental."
Experimental?
The couple, while mostly reserved and private, has opened up about their relationship very personally in the past, sometimes causing controversy.
Brad said in Jolie "is still a bad girl. Delightfully so. It's not for public consumption."
His comments came after Jolie expressed to 60 Minutes, "I'm still a bad girl. I still have that side of me. It's just in its place now ... It belongs to Brad."
The two also caught flak for talking reverentially about 2005's Mr. & Mrs. Smith as their family love story of sorts, as he was still married at the time.

To Jennifer Aniston. But it looks like Brangelina 4 Life after this week, and we should have new cinematic evidence of it within the next year or two as well.

Hollywood Gossip

Happy 56th Birthday, Michael Jackson!

The late, great Michael Jackson, without question the defining entertainer of his generation and beyond, would have been 56 years old on this 29th of August.

Michael Jackson pioneered so many dance moves, he pretty much is in his own category. No one ever moved like this guy.

 

Michael Jackson died in June 2009, but the commemoration of MJ's birthday has, for the sixth consecutive year now, sparked tributes to the musical icon.

He will forever be remembered for his mesmerizing dance moves, telegenic appeal, groundbreaking music videos and literally dozens of hit songs.

Not just ephemeral hits, but tracks that changed the music landscape forever, inspiring countless other artists and breaking every record in the books.

Michael, of course, was also known for personal eccentricities, a life plagued by scandal, speculation and shocking allegations that he faces to this day.

Fans remember him for his music and his compassion; Jackson's charitable contributions through the years were almost as immense as his career.

Most of all, he would surely like to be remembered for raising three wonderful kids, Prince, Blanket and Paris Jackson, all of whom feel his loss most deeply.

Here's wishing his family and friends the best on this somber but celebratory occasion, in the hopes that they find peace and think fondly of the man.

Michael shares his August 29th birthday with celebrities such as Courtney Stodden, Liam Payne and Lea Michele. Happy birthday to all from THG.

Police parade carpenter for concealing gun in a loaf of bread

The Abia State Police Command has paraded a suspected robber, Justice Onyebuchi, 22, a native of Amayi Umuokwu community of the state, for allegedly concealing a locally made short gun and two live cartridges in a long loaf of bread .

According to Police Commissioner, Ibrahim Adamu, the suspect was arrested on August 10, 2014 by eagle-eyed policemen during a stop-and-search operation at Umuikaa- Omoba Road in Isislangwa North council in an Owerri, Imo State – bound commercial vehicle .

Police said upon interrogation the suspect said a friend gave him the loaf of bread but when the said friend’s house in Aba was later invaded by the police he had fled.

According to police, efforts were on to pick up the fleeing accomplice while the suspect will soon be arraigned in the court for illegal possession of fire arms.

Later in an interview, the suspect who claimed he was a carpenter based in Owerri, told PUNCH that he never knew that gun was concealed in the bread .

He said he was invited by his fiend who lived in Aba for a job, and upon completion, the friend gave him that big loaf of bread to keep for him ( friend) in Owerri so he ( friend) could pick it later on his way to the village.

The suspect said he was surprised at the discovery by the police that a gun was hidden in the bread, adding that he later took the police to the friend’s house in Aba to prove his innocence.

Asked the reasonability of accepting to carry a loaf of bread for a friend from Aba to Owerri when in fact such bread could be bought also in Owerri any time , the suspect became incoherent, swearing that he never knew the contents of the bread.

PUNCH

Tiwa Savage Tells Teebillz: You Can't Divorce me

Songstress and Mavin first lady, Tiwa Savage Balogun, has said her husband Tunji Balogun aka Teebillz can’t divorce her neither can he return her to her parents.
 
The ‘Eminado’ crooner took to her social media platform to tell her husband that he can not return her to her parents. She took up a board in which was written;

 “All sales are final, no exchanges, no returns” after which she captioned it. 
 “Which means you MrBillz @teebillz323 cannot return me to my parents or exchange me.”

 Tiwa Savage and her hubby got married in April in Dubai, in a beautiful and elaborate wedding ceremony attended by family, friends and other top celebrities in the music industry.

Photos: President Jonathan launches new national e-ID card in Abuja

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday 28th August, launched the nation’s electronic Identity Card, e-ID, in Abuja.

The president while speaking said his administration was prepared to provide subsidy for Nigerians but that it was critically important to identify those to be targeted .
He directed that all Government Ministries, Agencies and Departments, MDAs, involved in data capture activities, must align their activities, with a view to switching over to the National Identity Management Commission-NIMC infrastructure.
According to him, it would be cost-effective for all identification management projects to migrate to the NIMC project which would house a single ID database for the nation.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of Access bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, said that his organization was partnering with the NIMC in the e-ID project in recognition of its importance in the financial inclusion.
According to him, the Know Your Customer, KYC, requirement in the banking sector would be simplified through the e-ID and would therefore enhance the nation’s payment system.
 
His words:

 “the  scheme solves a lot of problems.  First, it solves the problem of identifying your customers, KYC, Know Your Customer. But today’s occasion is more important than all of that.   It helps in reducing the negative biases we have about Nigeria, just because we have no identity cards, so anybody from anywhere can claim to be a Nigerian.
“Now because this card is biometric in nature if your name is Herbert Wigwe, you cannot change that name because my thumb print and finger prints are on it.  So if there is fraud you can trace who the person is and where he is.  Your payment details are all there so if you like at the end of the day, it is showing who a person is truly is and we can identify that person as a Nigeria and what he is doing and things around fraud which are generally associated will come to an end.
Most importantly, this card, apart from being an identity card is also a payment card and will  support the electronic payment system in the country.
“It cuts across the whole spectrum of the people- the poor people, who can now take their money on the card.  Through this card can know people who are paying their taxes. It is another version meant to leapfrog what we have lost over the last 30 years.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the NIMC, Mr. Mr.Chris Onyemenam, said:

 “it will also reduce some of the security challenges that we have as a country because you  can truly identify everybody and thereby determine who comes from which country or not. We are coming from a situation where there was no proper identification”.

Cardholders can use it  for depositing funds ,withdrawals, getting social benefits and making payments for goods and services at any location accepting MasterCard worldwide.
3 million cards will be issued during this first enrolment phase, while other Nigerians who are 16 years and older are expected to be enrolled subsequently.

Do You Agree? Short men stay married longer than tall men (Must Read Why)

Tall, dark, and handsome is the popular description used to describe the perfect man for most women. From the brooding and sultry looks, women swoon over these men because of their celebrated physical attractiveness. However, science suggests setting your sights on much shorter, dark and handsome men because they make better life partners.

According to a recent study (not peer reviewed), short men have a higher income and are more likely to stay monogamous, making better boyfriends and husbands, and standing head and shoulders above their much taller peers. Short men have been stigmatized in society because of their stature. The cultural vision of taller men as being physically dominant and potential protectors has been embedded into the psyche of many women, creating a “prejudice” against shorter men. It’s unclear whether women prefer this because of society’s pressure for women to be slim or because of an evolutionary perspective. Dr. David Frederick, an assistant professor of Psychology at Chapman University, examines how social remission processes and our evolved psychology interact to influence our close relationships and our views of what is attractive. He has hypothesized women may prefer a taller partner because it can make them feel smaller, or women have developed a preference for taller men because of the advantages height can provide them in male-on-male competitions, The Huffington Post reported.

To examine the effects of male height on various relationship outcomes in longer-term relationships, researchers Dalton Conley, a sociologist at New York University, and Abigail Weitzman, a Ph.D. candidate, collected data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics — a University of Michigan project that’s been collecting demographic data on 5,000 families for almost 50 years. This data was used to look at how a man’s height impacts different areas of his relationship after the initial dating period. Conley and Weitzman looked at two sets of data, from 1986 and 2009, and identified 3,033 heterosexual couples. The male sample size was restricted between the ages of 23 and 45, and consisted of men who were cohabitating with a woman. The male participants ranged in height from 4-foot-6 to 7-feet. In relation to their partners, their height ranged 9 inches shorter to 2 feet taller. The researchers categorized these men into three groups: “Short” men were defined as 5-foot-6 or less in 1986, 5-foot-7 or below in 2009; “tall” men were at least 6-foot-1 in 1986 and 6-foot-2 in 2009.

The findings revealed short men were less likely to get divorced, more likely to share housework, and be the breadwinners at home. These men were somewhat less likely to get married, with an 18 percent marriage rate lower than men of average height, at every age before 45. Weitzman believes this is because short men may have a harder time getting married, since they’re viewed as less masculine by society. However, when they do find a partner, the divorce rates are 32 percent lower for short men compared to the rates for tall and average men.

In regard to housework, shorter men perform eight hours and 28 minutes per week of housework — this comprises about 28 percent of the total — compared to seven hours and 38 minutes for average men and seven hours and 30 minutes for tall men, New Republic reported.

Weitzman believes tall men may be “aware of the status that is conferred by their tallness,” which may make them prone to do less work at home. While these men fare better with housework, but they also tend to have higher household incomes than their partners. The researchers estimated 79 percent of short men make more money than their significant others, compared to 70 percent of average men, and 71 percent of tall men. This finding conflicts with previous research that has found taller men earn more money.
Throughout the study, the researchers noticed a consistent pattern with short men and their partners: They were more likely to partner with women who are older, less educated, and younger. Twenty-one percent of these men were with women who had not completed high school, compared to 16 percent of average men, and just 12 percent of tall men. Also, when it comes to age, it is not just a number for them. In the entire sample size, only nine percent of men partnered with a woman who was more than three years older. Age is an area where the short men can exude their masculinity by partnering with a younger woman.

This study coincides with another recent study published in the Journal of Family Issues, which found women err on the side of caution when it comes to height and online dating. About 50 percent of women restricted their online dating searches to men who were taller than them. This finding was also consistent when the same team of researchers took a survey of college students and found about 30 percent of women would feel “awkward” or “weird” dating a shorter guy.

Perhaps it’s time to put an end to these men getting the shorter end of the stick. After all, your Mr. Right could be shorter than you.

Hilarious: Florida Couple Poses for a Divorce Selfie and Said they're Smiling Because It Happened! (Photo)

You've heard of the plane crash selfie, right? And the fighter jet selfie?

Well, Keith Hinson and Michelle Knight are here to introduce folks to the divorce selfie, as they snapped the following photo Friday night and legally ending their marriage and included along with it a caption that reads:

"Here's to the most friendly, respectful, and loving split imaginable. We smile not because it's over, but because it happened."

Keith Hinson and Michelle Knight

Wow. And we thought Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin went through an amicable break-up.

This even tops the woman who baked her ex a divorce cake.

Bravo, Keith and Michelle. We didn't think it was possible, but you give Florida Man and Florida Woman a very good name.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are MARRIED!!!!!

It was a long time coming, but Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have apparently gotten married. For real. This was not reported by In Touch, OK! or Life & Style.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are husband and wife, people! This is the real deal!

Their OWN SPOKESPERSON CONFIRMED the story. Brangelina is married!

 

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are married! At last! Here's a look back at some of their most gorgeous photos through the years.

Together for nearly a decade and engaged for several years now, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt tied the knot in Chateau Miraval, France, a rep for the couple tells NBC.

They wed in a small chapel in a private ceremony with family and friends.

Prior to the nondenominational civil ceremony, which took place on Saturday, the A-list actors also obtained a marriage license from a local California judge.

The judge also conducted the ceremony in France, making it official.

The couple's six kids participated in the wedding. Jolie walked down the aisle with her eldest sons Maddox and Pax, while Zahara and Vivienne threw petals.

Shiloh and Knox both served as ring bearers in their parents' wedding.

Congratulations to the couple on reaching this amazing milestone and doing so on their own timetable and in private. We would expect nothing less.