₦airaland Forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vq_eyeBAKc

This is new

[b]MADRID (AP) — The World Health Organization declared it's ethical to use untested drugs and vaccines in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa, although the tiny supply of one experimental treatment has been depleted and it could be many months until more is available.

The last of the drug is on its way to Liberia for two stricken doctors, according to a U.K.-based public relations firm representing Liberia. The U.S. company that makes it said the supply is now "exhausted." Later Tuesday, Canada said it would provide some of its experimental Ebola vaccine for use in West Africa.

A Spanish missionary priest who died Tuesday in Madrid was the third person to receive the experimental treatment called ZMapp. Two U.S. aid workers who received it in recent weeks are said to be improving.

The outbreak, the biggest in history, has killed more than 1,000 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.

There is no proven treatment or vaccine for Ebola; several are in early stages of development. ZMapp, made by Mapp Pharmaceuticals, is so new that it has never been tested in humans, although an early version worked in some monkeys infected with Ebola. It's aimed at boosting the immune system's efforts to fight off Ebola.

"If there are drugs that can save lives — as animal studies have suggested — shouldn't we use them to save lives?" Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, an assistant director-general at WHO, told a Geneva press conference Tuesday.

But it is "very important to not give false hope to anybody that Ebola can be treated now. This is absolutely not the case," she added.

ZMapp is made in tobacco plants, and U.S. officials have estimated that only a modest amount could be produced in two or three months, unless some way to speed up production is found.

The U.N. health agency says 1,013 people have died so far in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa of the 1,848 suspected or confirmed cases recorded by authorities. The killer virus is spread by direct contact with bodily fluids like blood, diarrhea and vomit.

Canada announced it would donate 800 to 1,000 doses of its experimental Ebola vaccine developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada. A small supply will be kept in Canada in case any is needed there. The vaccine has not been tested in humans, but has shown promise in animals.

"The trouble is, of course, with this very, very limited number of vaccines, who would you give that to?" said Dr. Gregory Taylor, deputy head of the agency.

He said the agency has been advised that it makes the most sense to give the vaccine to health care workers in Africa. They are among the most vulnerable because of their close contact with Ebola patients. Several doctors and nurses have died in the outbreak.

The same vaccine was actually used once in 2009. It was rushed to a German lab worker who pricked her gloved finger with a needle that had contained Ebola. She survived, though it wasn't known if she was ever really infected with Ebola and if the vaccine worked.

Some experts aren't convinced, though, that any novel drugs or vaccines would make a difference in ending the current outbreak.

Once they're put to the test, most experimental drugs that seemed promising in animal studies "don't turn out to benefit people," said Dr. Jesse Goodman, former chief scientist for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, now at Georgetown University Medical Center.

He said some drugs prove harmful. "Unless we can ascertain that carefully, how do we really help people in the long run?"

After the two Americans received the experimental drug ZMapp, officials in Liberia requested it. Officials in Sierra Leone and Guinea have expressed interest in getting experimental treatments but haven't yet asked.

"The Liberians can count on their government, but Guineans can only count on God in the face of Ebola," said Assiatou Diallo, a nurse in Conakry, Guinea's capital.

The Spanish missionary, 75-year-old Miguel Pajares, died in Madrid's Carlos III Hospital, the hospital and his order said. A doctor who was part of the team treating the priest confirmed he had received the experimental drug. The doctor, an infectious diseases specialist, spoke on condition of anonymity, not being authorized to discuss the treatment.

Pajares' body will be cremated Wednesday to avoid any public health risks, the hospital said. He had worked for the San Juan de Dios hospital order, a Catholic group, helping to treat people with Ebola in Liberia when he became ill and was evacuated.

The son of the U.S. missionary aid worker being treated for Ebola at an Atlanta hospital said his mother is doing well. Jeremy Writebol told NBC's "Today" show in an interview broadcast Tuesday that Nancy Writebol's eyes are getting brighter and she's even joking a little.

Jeremy Writebol said he had been concerned his mother might not make it when she was taken out of an ambulance at Emory University's hospital last week after being flown from Liberia. A second American, Dr. Kent Brantly, had been able to walk from the ambulance into the hospital.

Writebol said doctors have said they expect her to recover, though they haven't elaborated.

WHO said the size of the outbreak — the first in West Africa — made the experimental use of drugs ethical even though there is no evidence they work and it is possible they could be dangerous. The agency convened an expert panel of ethicists, infectious disease experts and patient representatives to discuss the issue on Monday.

"We don't have enough people to rely on the traditional methods if we want to stop the outbreak as soon as possible," Kieny said.

WHO said it was OK to use unproven treatments or vaccines if patients give their informed consent and are guaranteed confidentiality and freedom of choice.

There was no specific advice on who should get them; the panel only said more analysis and discussion was needed.

"I don't think there could be any fair distribution of something available in such small quantities," Kieny noted

WHO also said the world had "a moral duty" to collect evidence about the safety and effectiveness of Ebola treatments in scientific trials.

Canada's Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. is developing a drug that targets Ebola's genetic material. The FDA had halted a small safety study with questions about a reaction in healthy volunteers. Last week, Tekmira announced that the FDA had modified its restriction, clearing a roadblock to possible experimental use in patients, and said it was "carefully evaluating options."

West African nations are struggling to control both the deadly outbreak and the fear it has created. Some airlines flying in and out of the region have suspended flights.

The Ivory Coast, which shares borders with Liberia and Guinea, banned direct flights from those countries and said it would increase health inspections at its borders. Guinea-Bissau also announced it was temporarily closing its border with Guinea because of the Ebola outbreak.

On Tuesday, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf suspended all travel by executive branch officials for one month. She also ordered those already abroad to return home within a week "or be considered as abandoning their jobs," according to a statement.[/b]
http://news.yahoo.com/un-ok-untested-ebola-drugs-outbreak-183954212.html

[b]Geneva (AFP) - The World Health Organization 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 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.

"In the special circumstances of this Ebola outbreak it is ethical to offer unregistered interventions as potential treatments or prevention," WHO assistant director general Marie-Paule Kieny said in Geneva after a meeting of medical experts.

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 four decades ago, has killed 1,013 people since early this year, the WHO said.

The announcement came before West African regional bloc ECOWAS said one of its officials had died from the disease in Nigeria, taking the total number of deaths in the country to three.

Cases have so far been limited to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which account for the bulk of victims, and Nigeria.

Terror has gripped the impoverished west African countries ravaged by the disease, with harrowing tales emerging of people being shunned by their villages as the virus fells those around them.

When AFP visited the Liberian village of Ballajah, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the capital Monrovia, 12-year-old Fatu Sherrif had been locked away with her mother's body without food and water for a week.

Her cries went unanswered as panicked residents fled the village when both her parents fell sick.

Fatu later died and her brother Barnie, 15, despite testing negative for Ebola, was left alone and hungry in an abandoned house.

"Nobody wants to come near me and they know -- people told them that I don't have Ebola," he told AFP.

- Promising vaccines -

Elderly Spanish priest Miguel Pajares, who became infected while helping patients in Liberia, died in a Madrid hospital on Tuesday, five days after being evacuated.

He had been treated with ZMapp, which failed to save him but has shown positive effects on two US aid workers also infected in Liberia.

The Economic Community of West African States said a staff member of its Lagos Liaison Office, 36-year-old Jatto Asihu Abdulqudir, had died.

Abdulqudir, a protocol assistant, was among those who assisted the Liberian delegate to a regional meeting, Patrick Sawyer, who died from Ebola at a Lagos hospital on July 25.

The official had been quarantined since Sawyer was confirmed as having Ebola.

There is currently no available cure or vaccine for Ebola, which the WHO has declared a global public health emergency, and the use of experimental drugs has stoked a fierce ethical debate.

Despite promising results for the ZMapp treatment, made by private US company Mapp Biopharmaceutical, it had only been tested previously on monkeys.

ZMapp is also in very short supply and the company said it had sent all available doses to west Africa free of charge, after an outcry over its use on foreign aid workers.

The WHO's Kieny said the UN agency had been told three doses were sent to Liberia.

Sierra Leone's health ministry spokesman Sidi Yahya Tunis told AFP the country had officially requested a shipment of the serum.

While the ZMapp stock has been exhausted for now, Kieny stressed there were other "potential therapies and vaccines... considered very serious alternatives" and that two possible vaccines were moving rapidly towards clinical trials.

She pointed out that plenty of drugs had been developed "to a point", but companies had not footed the bill for expensive clinical trials as the virus was "typically a disease of poor people in poor countries where there is no market".

The use of unauthorised drugs that had proven safe and effective in monkeys could be a "potent asset" in the fight against Ebola, she said.

- Price hikes and food shortages -

Drastic containment measures have caused transport chaos, price hikes and food shortages, and are stoking fears that people could die of hunger.

Numerous countries around the globe have imposed emergency measures, including flight bans and improved health screenings.

Guinea-Bissau was the latest West African nation to close its borders with an affected country -- its neighbour Guinea. It has also taken a raft of radical measures such as banning group gatherings at weddings and funerals.

Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma meanwhile expressed his "utter dismay" at the "slow pace" of the international community in responding to the outbreak.

Eight Chinese medical workers who treated patients with Ebola have been placed in quarantine in Sierra Leone, but China's state news agency Xinhua said they showed no signs of Ebola symptoms as yet.[/b]
http://news.yahoo.com/eight-chinese-quarantined-ebola-hit-leone-184831106.html

I don't think it's either or, using condoms is not abortion and has nothing to do with abortion. To me abortion is the best thing after abstinence(which most won't chose) to avoid getting into the question of abortion 99% of the time in the first place

tpia1: its usually calabars who boast of being best at cooking.,

that's not a yoruba thing.

yoruba women are expected to know how to cook, its not about them saying they can cook because nobody will ask them to begin with, if they can.

are you sure you're yoruba?

same goes for intimate prowess, no yoruba woman boasts of that.

Well I don't know which tribe boast the most when it comes to cooking but I have witnessed igbo's, yoruba's, Edo's boast about their cooking and you know what, after eating their foods it wasn't as clear cut. I have tasted Nigerian food from Nigerian restaurants in the states and caterers who are yoruba, igbo, calabar, Edo, Hausa and some of them had good food and some were just ok, and surprisingly it was a split among the tribes.

Good for him, I tired of these 419 nigerian playing this nigerian fraud prince story

all4naija: OP is biased! Mixed heritage can also include one of the parents being white, yellow or black. Aye!

Leave the OP alone, it's her thread after all, this is the first time I've seen a thread dedicated to mixed tribal/heritage Nigerians. There are threads already that are dedicated to IR and mixed race Nigerians, so go there. I find the OP's thread interesting

Thank God they have a cure now

adaobi123: They should have put him to sleep. Some passengers might have been terrified.
This world is full of nutcases

so true, If I was them, I would have gave him a medication to knock him out, Now virgin just lost money. Nobody has time for that nonsence especially on a plane. crazy people and a plane don't mix.

Very sad, the man was a good actor and comedian. RIP Mr. Williams

so beautiful congratulations to both of them

Flight VS201 had to make U-turn just 90 minutes after departing Hong Kong
26-year-old man, known only as 'Robert', became 'out of control' on flight
He was arrested for violating aviation security ordinance once plane landed
Passenger claims the man was 'tied up with belts' during restraint by crew

An 'out of control' passenger forced a London-bound Virgin Atlantic flight to make a U-turn back to Hong Kong this morning.
Flight VS201, which was destined for London's Heathrow, was forced to turn back to Hong Kong International Airport after the 26-year-old man, identified only as 'Robert', became disruptive.
The flight had been in the air for just over an hour-and-a-half when the passenger 'lost control and didn't follow instructions from staff'.

Once the plane returned to the airport, the man was arrested and sent to hospital, authorities said.
'The foreign man called Robert, who is 26 years old, lost control on board and didn't follow instructions from staff on the flight,' a police spokesman told AFP.
'He was shouting... When the flight returned to Hong Kong, the man was arrested for violating aviation security ordinance and was sent to Princess Margaret Hospital,' he added.
A Hong Kong airport authority spokeswoman said the plane, an Airbus A340, had departed at midnight

One passenger, who claimed to be on board the disrupted flight, said the man had to be restrained with belts during the incident.
Katie Wong wrote on Facebook: 'He just gone out of control (sic). Talk loud and walking ard. Actually he touched my shouter (sic) and go intimidated at the aisle when the captain announced we're diverting the flight.

[b]'The crew ended up put him down temporarily with an injection (we guess) and tied him up with belts.'
Virgin Atlantic confirmed the flight had to turn back to Hong Kong after about 90 minutes, but was unable to confirm whether flight attendants had to restrain the man.
A spokesman said: 'Virgin Atlantic can confirm that due to a disruptive passenger flight VS201 to London Heathrow returned to Hong Kong and was met by authorities on arrival.
'Virgin Atlantic does not tolerate disruptive behaviour by passengers on-board and the safety and welfare of our passengers and crew is the airline's top priority.'

Passenger left stranded by the incident were put up in hotels in Hong Kong and will fly out again on this evening.
'The rest of the passengers were provided with accommodation before they depart tonight,' a Hong Kong-based Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman said.
Police said this morning that the man had not yet been charged.
Authorities were unable to confirm whether he was still in hospital and what treatment he had received.[/b]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2721616/Out-control-passenger-forces-London-bound-Virgin-Atlantic-flight-turn-Hong-Kong.html
http://www.firstpost.com/world/rowdy-passenger-forces-virgin-atlantic-flight-turn-back-1658333.html

I agree with Nigeria decision but I feel this is something that should have been done from the beginning.

[b]Lagos (AFP) - Nigeria has suspended the Gambian national airline from flying into the country, alleging "unsatisfactory" measures by the airline to contain the spread of Ebola virus, officials said on Sunday.

The "NCAA (Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority) has reviewed the measures put in place by your airline as contained in your letter of 30th July, 2014 and have found these measures unsatisfactory," NCAA said in a letter to Gambia Bird Airlines.

"Consequently, your flights into Nigeria have been temporarily suspended with immediate effect until such a time that you are able to put in place acceptable and satisfactory measures," said the letter, a copy of which was sent to AFP.

The contents of the airline's letter to the NCAA were not disclosed.

NCAA is the government agency that serves as watchdog for all airlines operating in the country.

The Gambian national carrier flies to Lagos twice weekly. It also flies to other African countries in the region: Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Senegal.

NCAA said that part of its efforts to curb the spread of the virus was to to direct all airlines operating into Nigeria from Guinea, Freetown and Monrovia "to put in place adequate measures to ensure that passengers with this disease are not boarded and brought into the country."

"Such measures may include suspension of flights into these countries," NCAA added.

An American Liberian who arrived Lagos from Monrovia, capital of Liberia, via Lome (Togo), eventually died of Ebola virus in a Lagos hospital last July 25.

A Nigerian nurse who had contact with the Liberian also died last week while seven others have been confirmed to have the virus in Lagos.

Nigeria along with Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are the hardest hit countries by the epidemic, which the WHO has called the worst in four decades. Nearly 1,000 people have died of the virus in these four countries, WHO said.

Nigeria's president on Friday declared a national emergency over the deadly Ebola virus.[/b]
http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-suspends-gambian-national-airline-over-ebola-virus-181708957.html

@OP
Your thread's story was a WOW and as much as it's a bitter reality that white dude said it doesn't surprise me because I was born and raised in America and have heard the most ignorant stuff from Americans of all race's even african americans about Africa, that it's not a shocker, just a cherry on the cake. One thing I would disagree with what the guy said though is the "lazy" part, I don't know about Zambia but with Nigeria, it's not laziness its the "I Don't Care Attitude" that's affecting Nigeria, it's from every class in Nigeria from a Market woman to a multi-millionaire Nigerian who sells goods, it happens in the government and legal system and etc. I don't think this happened over night, it was a process that happened in Nigeria, after our good leaders were killed off they were replaced with idiots or ones that didn't give a damn. I think in Africa in general, I think most people lost hope, and when you lose hope you don't care about anything. Thats why I respect Gov. Fashola of Nigeria, President Sirleaf of Liberia, Former president Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, Former President & and Legend Nelson Mandela and etc so much cause they represents african leaders that are most needed in Africa; they got things done. To me though I feel African women are the ones that will change Africa for the most part.

Caracta: My heart is on fire! However, it's not like we don't have people willing to make differences, but our leaders, our culture, our religion, our state of mind, have oppressed our ideas and cut off our expectations.
Our problem is beyond laziness. We have brilliant engineers, scientists, researchers in almost every city...but they don't have tools and resources to work with. No adequate training or facility. No opportunity to explore. No reasonable attitude to education. No place to learn. No teacher to guide us.
I'm not making up excuses but if many of us had the opportunity needed, we wouldn't be at this level. Our problem is really deep. Even when you want to stand out, you have people around you shouting you down.
Indeed, Africa is in total darkness! Where do we start from? Our leaders have failed us. We have failed ourselves too.

You said it all, I think African governments have failed us and we failed ourselves as well. Many african countries don't care about the big picture but what they can gain for themselves. In Nigeria, the country makes billions of dollars through oil but most of that money is not around to build better roads, better hospitals, better opportunities and jobs for recent graduates, simple electricity that stays on 24/7, a decent police force to protect it's own citizens and etc but it gets in the hands of greedy leaders that use it to buy houses, have big parties and show off, and that cycle keeps repeating themselves. It has repeated itself so much many Nigerians don't believe at all the government is for them any more, so everybody is out for themselves.

lol I don't wish anybody death but damn

Apatheist: So Patrick Sawyer was a homosexual? or was he "immoral"?

Since the religious leaders are obviously neither homosexual or "immoral" they should be immune from the virus.

exactly, Africa doesn't need this, especially from religious leaders that influence the masses. They have a chance to spread factual health conscience facts to the citizens to quench this disease.

All I can do was laugh when I read the title and saw the picture, this is pathetic, lmao

Amen, now find boko Haram, kill them and return the girls to their mothers and fathers

blizard44: In our very own Africa, it is not uncommon to see a man in his sixties - seventies marrying a woman of no more than thirty-five years.
This is a woman he was probably already thirty-four years old before she was concieved.

Awful,right?

This happening is not restricted to a particular area of Africa only. It exist in virtually all the cultures of Africa - from the Berbers of the Algerian clime to the Negros of the Niger area; they are all into it and why the society thinks nothing is wrong with it can best be said to be a question for the gods.

But in the same Africa, marrying a woman who is even just a year older is seen as an abberation to a popularly held convention - a taboo of sort. Though, there are minor and almost insignificant exception in the union of certain celebrities due to their societal status, yet, they are not totally immune to the condemnation that comes with the seeming abnomality. Their family members most times find the pill too bitter to swallow.

Now, my question is : Why the double standard, if we think it aint right for a man to marry an older woman, what justification have we for the men marrying far younger womens , with some even going as far as wedding child brides?
Why berrate a man for choosing to swim with who he wills?

I think it's beacuse in general Africa is patriachal(the exception Ghana) from the ancient times till now, so they have a upper hand in having thier way. Also I think medical is involved, men can have a child till the day they die but for a woman 99% of the time once they reach their mid 40's having children is not easy, by the time their in their 50's it's a wrap. I think those are two reasons that has contributed to the double standard. However I must add I don't agree with the system entirely, I have seen couples where the woman is two years older then her husband and they are happy and I have seen some couples on TV or media of Nigeria or other african countries, where a 60-70 year old man is marrying a female in her early 20's or younger, and at times it's nasty but these females are adults and have a right to chose what they want(some don't get to chose though, especially if it's arranged, another topic I guess). I think the double standard will continue in Africa for a long time cause of the position they have put african women in the first place. To me personally though I don't agree with elderly people(female or male; even though you rarily see elder women doing that) going out with young people that are the ages of their grandchildren.

[b]Leading churchmen from the Liberia Council of Churches (LCC) claim that the deadly Ebola Virus is a plague sent by God to punish homosexuals and others committing “immoral acts.”

The Independent reports that religious leaders recently attended a meeting of the LCC to talk about an appropriate “spiritual response” to the disease which has now claimed almost 1,000 lives across West Africa.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced a 90-day state of emergency in the country, warning that “ignorance and poverty, as well as entrenched religious and cultural practices,” were the reasons that the disease was spreading so rapidly.

She said that the state of emergency was necessary for “the very survival of our state and for the protection of the lives of our people.” She had instructed that the military would be deployed to quarantine badly hit communities.

A report from The Daily Observer stated that the church leaders at the meeting agreed unanimously that “God is angry with Liberia” and decided that Ebola has been sent “as a plague” on the country.

The resolution said (in part): “Liberians have to pray and seek God’s forgiveness over the corruption and immoral acts (such as homosexualism, etc.) that continue to penetrate our society. As Christians, we must repent and seek God’s forgiveness.”

The LCC also strongly suggested that Liberians should remain indoors for a three-day period of fasting and prayer.

Part of the problem in Liberia is that families are hiding sick relatives in their homes. Bodies of victims are being abandoned in the streets as many are suspicious of Western medicine and refuse to go to isolation wards.

Operation White Shield — as the military deployment is called — is expected to be fully in place by Friday. Residents in the capital, Monrovia, received the announcement with fear and concern; the exact details of the emergency powers have not yet been made public.

Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva were involved in a series of meetings to hash out an agreement on emergency measures to tackle the highly contagious virus. Today, Friday, they have declared the Ebola Virus outbreak to be an international public health emergency[/b]
http://www.inquisitr.com/1399512/liberia-churches-ebola-virus-sent-by-god-to-punish-homosexuals/

[b]WASHINGTON (AP) — Caterpillar has evacuated a handful of employees from Liberia. Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd. has suspended a drilling project. British Airways has canceled flights to the region. ExxonMobil and Chevron are waiting to see whether health officials can contain the danger.

The Ebola outbreak, which has claimed nearly 1,000 lives, is disrupting business and inflicting economic damage in the three African countries at the center of the crisis: Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. So far, analysts say the crisis doesn't threaten the broader African or global economies.

"We must make sure it is controlled and contained as quickly as possible," said Olusegun Aganga, trade minister in Nigeria, which has confirmed nine cases of Ebola. "Once that is done, I don't think it will have a lasting impact on the economy."

The World Health Organization on Friday declared the outbreak an international public health emergency. The WHO didn't recommend any travel or trade bans. But it cautioned anyone who had had close contact with Ebola patients to avoid international travel and urged exit screenings at international airports and border crossings.

"When you have a widespread outbreak of Ebola, you can end up with a panic," said John Campbell, senior fellow for Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. "People won't go to work. Expatriates will leave. Economic activity will slow. Fields won't get planted."

The World Bank estimates that the outbreak will shrink economic growth in Guinea, where the crisis emerged in March, from 4.5 percent to 3.5 percent this year.

Ama Egyaba Baidu-Forson, an economist at IHS Global Insight who focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, is cutting her forecasts for growth this year in Liberia and Sierra Leone. She warned that prices would rise as food and other staples become scarce and that the region's already fragile governments would run up big budget deficits in fighting Ebola.

Baidu-Forson says the countries hit by Ebola ultimately could require financial help from the International Monetary Fund.

In the meantime, multinational companies that do business in the resource-rich region are scrambling to respond to the crisis. Among them:

— Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc., based in Peoria, Illinois, has "evacuated less than 10 people" from Liberia, company spokeswoman Barbara Cox said by email. In a statement, Caterpillar said: "The health and safety of our people is our top priority.... We will continue to monitor the situation closely."

— British Airways has announced that it's suspending flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone through Aug. 31 "due to the deteriorating public health situation in both countries."

— Tawana Resources, an Australian iron-ore company, said it had suspended "all non-essential field activities within Liberia" and sent all non-essential African workers, expatriates and contractors home.

— London-based mining company African Minerals has begun imposing health checks and travel restrictions on employees in the region.

— Canadian Overseas Petroleum, based in Calgary, has stopped drilling in Liberia. And some of its expatriate employees have left the country.

— ExxonMobil said in a statement that its offices remain open and that "we're taking precautions to ensure the health and safety of our employees." The company has offices in Liberia, Nigeria and several other African nations.

— Chevron, which has an office in the Liberian capital of Monrovia and is in the process of exploring for oil off Liberia's coast, said it's "closely monitoring the outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa." But the company wouldn't say whether it was withdrawing any employees or taking any other steps as a result of the outbreak.

So far, the economic damage has not affected West Africa's biggest economy, Nigeria's, though the disease has already spread to that country.

"It's not stopped commerce; it's not stopped buying," said Danladi Verheijen, managing director of the investment firm Verod Capital. "The flights are still full going into Nigeria."

Timi Austen-Peters, chairman of the Nigerian engineering and manufacturing firm Dorman Long, met in Washington on Friday with investors who were interested in Africa. Ebola, he says, didn't come up in the discussion.

"We were having a good old-fashioned business meeting," he says. "They were not in any way spooked."[/b]
http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-starting-economic-toll-region-130641888.html

Fulaman198: I owe this thread and dedicate this thread to my Yoruba brethren. Amnestylaw1 made and created a wonderful thread dedicated to the Fulbe (Fulani) peoples, I'm not quite doing this to repay him for his kind deeds, I just thought that the Yoruba, masters of sciences, masters of talking drum (gan gan), and beautiful women and kind gentlemen deserved this thread.

So here it goes:

https://www.weddingfeferity.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/pruple-red-yoruba-wedding-couple-attire_01.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/1383264_676629119060450_433901028_n.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Kwarastatedrummers.jpg

beautiful thread Fulaman, I'm actually seeing it for the first time

Do you agree with President Sirleaf that culture is one of the reasons Ebola has reached epidemic levels?