BREAKING NEWS

The experimental drug developed by a Nigerian in diaspora for the treatment of Ebola is expected to arrive the country , the Minister for Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said.   The drug, called “Nanosilver”, has been approved for use by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an experimental treatment ethical in the case of the Ebola epidemic. The Federal Govt  approved the use of experimental drugs in the treatment of the deadly virus.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Foundation, Mrs Adhiambo Odaga announced this at a media briefing at the Ministry of Health, Abuja on Monday. She said the money will be available for the establishment of an Ebola emergency operation centre in Lagos. “After bilateral discussion with the honourable minister and his team, Dangote foundation has funded the establishment of the Ebola emergency operation in Lagos, that is being done through grant from the foundation of just a little over N150 million,” she said. Continue...

World soccer governing body, FIFA has again ordered the return of the impeached president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Alhaji Aminu Maigari. FIFA in a letter ad- dressed to NFF scribe (which Daily Sunsports is in possession of) stated that the sacked NFF boss must preside over the August 26 congress. While regretting the confused state of Nigerian football, FIFA stressed that all the actions taken by the exco of late including the sacking of Barrister  Chris Green and Yusuf Ahmed Fresh, as well as the sacking of the electoral committee should be set aside. The FIFA letter stated in part: “It is regrettable that the situation has turned so confused while elections are planned for August 26….the recent decisions of the executive committee are highly question- able…furthermore, we advise that President Maigari must preside over the NFF congress on 26 August.

However, BlackBerry sales are still way off what they were a year ago BlackBerry CEO John Chen’s strategy might be showing a  little bit of traction. After three consecutive quarters of sequential decline, shipments BlackBerrys  rebounded slightly in Q2 of this year from the previous quarter, market research firm IDC reported Thursday in a report on smartphone shipments. It shipped 1.5 million units in the quarter ending June 30. On the other hand, for the same period a year ago it shipped 6.7 million smart phones. In this year’s Q2 it accounted for one half of one per cent of all smart phone sales. By comparison 7.4 million Windows Phones shipped — although that was a drop from 8.2 million in the same period a year ago. Apple shipped 35.2 million iPhones in Q2 this year — a drop of 12,7 per cent over the same period a year ago. BlackBerry saw improvement within one of its key markets, Asia/Pacific, as well as some gains among enterprise users wit...

US company sends all available supplies of experimental drug ZMapp to Africa as other potential drugs move rapidly towards clinical trials. Geneva (AFP) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has authorised the use of   experimental   drugs to fight Ebola as the death   toll   topped 1,000 and a Spanish   priest   became the first European to   succumb   to the   outbreak .   The  declaration  by the WHO, the UN's health  agency , came Tuesday after a US company that makes an experimental   serum  called ZMapp said it had sent all its  available  supplies to hard-hit west Africa.  UN  chief  Ban Ki-moon announced plans to  step up  the  global   response  to the  outbreak , while urging governments to "avoid  panic  and fear" over an easily-preventable  disease .  The  epidemic , the worst since Ebola was first  discovered ...

Nigeria has recorded another death from the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. This time it is a staff of the Lagos Liason office of the Economic Community of West African State - ECOWAS headquarters, Mr Jatto Abdulqudir. Confirming his death in a statement, ECOWAS management said the 36 year old man was among those who assisted the late Liberian Patrick Sawyerr when he came to Lagos for a regional meeting and was quarantined after Sawyerr died of the deadly disease. This brings to three the number of deaths from the deadly virus in Nigeria. The first two being Sawyerr and a Nigerian nurse. Find the full text of the ECOWAS statement after the cut...