₦airaland Forum

It was the photograph that became an internet sensation - 80 birds of prey travelling in the cabin of a passenger jet. But the bizarre scene may not have been as unusual as you might suspect. Many wealthy Arabs collect falcons and the creatures receive care and treatment that is second to none. The birds, which cost at least £8,000 each, are carried around in luxury cars, exhibited with pride and even have the services of a specialist falcon hospital in Abu Dhabi. Several Middle East-based airlines have set rules and prices for owners who wish to take their birds aboard as living hand luggage. Falconry is an ancient art regarded as integral to Arab heritage and culture.

It is thought to have been practised in the Middle East for thousands of years, as Bedouin tribes used the birds to hunt in the desert.
Around 9,000 birds are treated each year for a range of ailments at the Abu Dhabi hospital. Combined with some of the vast wealth to be found in oil-rich Middle Eastern countries, it is not surprising the birds are often a little on the spoilt side. Owners ensure the birds are tagged with GPS devices in case they get lost. Prized specimens can reach huge sums, with outstanding breeding birds even selling for as much as £1million.
The falcons are trained using toy aircraft or drones which are flown with bait attached by strings, encouraging the creatures to perform in mid-air.

The birds were wearing special hoods to keep them docile and perched calmly among the human passengers. Falconry fans take their birds on a Qatar Airways flight to Baku. They escape the heat of Doha for a week to let the birds fly in the cooler air of Azerbaijan. It is believed the birds were booked onto a Qatar Airways flight but this has not been confirmed. Qatar Airways guidelines states: ‘You are permitted to carry one falcon on board the economy class passenger cabin of an aircraft, and a maximum of six falcons are permitted within the economy class cabin of an aircraft (country regulations may apply)'. Transporting the animals with the airline costs between £90 and £500 per bird depending on the destination. It means the 80 creatures may have cost as much as £40,000 to transport on this one trip. The Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital says it is the largest of its kind in the world. Established in 1999, it treats and examines about 11,200 falcons a year, with customers travelling from across the United Arab Emirates and from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.

The hospital boasts an operating theatre, advanced anaesthetic equipment, an ophthalmology unit, patient monitoring apparatus, latest laser technology, a digital radiography unit and endoscopy facilities. The hospital says it has ‘state-of-the-art intensive critical care units’ for up to 11 birds in separate rooms at the same time. There is also a separate falcon pox unit with thermo-cautery apparatus and other equipment to treat cases of avian pox. It also has its own breeding centre.



Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

One of the largest hospitals in the country (UK) is chasing a bill of more than £500,000 from a Nigerian woman who gave birth to quadruplets.

The 43-year-old, named only as Priscilla, went into labour three months early shortly after landing at Heathrow airport in November.

She had intended to give birth to the babies in Chicago, in the US, where she has family – but was turned away by border officials upon arrival.

They claimed that although she had a visa, she did not have required documents from a hospital stating that she had the money to pay for the birth.

Priscilla, a healthcare worker, said she was returning to Nigeria via London when she started having contractions.

She was taken to the Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in west London, part of Imperial College Hospital, where she delivered the four babies.
One sadly died shortly after birth while another, a girl named Deborah, passed away on Saturday. The other two, Elijah and Esther, are still being treated on the hospital’s neonatal intensive care ward.

Staff estimate that the total bill for the highly complex birth and the care of the babies is already more than £500,000.

Hospital overseas visitor manager Terry Facey said the cost to Priscilla would be huge and estimated intensive care would cost £20,000 per week per child. The cost of treating one baby in neonatal intensive care is £20,000 a week. Priscilla is currently staying at a hostel run by a charity and is unable to afford the bill.
Her husband is in Nigeria, and cannot come to Britain to help take care of her as he does not have enough money for a visa or the flight.

Priscilla underwent IVF treatment, which has a high risk of multiple births, as she was struggling to conceive naturally due to her age.

She was told by her doctor to fly to the US to have her babies, as Nigerian hospitals do not have the ‘facilities to cater for the children’.

When first warned of the high treatment costs by overseas visitor manager Terry Facey, she says: ‘I didn’t plan to come here.

‘It’s only money. Money can’t buy life. The last bill I had was £331,000 but – even if I worked every day – I would never earn that much money. My kids are priceless.’

Mr Facey, who has worked at the trust for 12 years trying to collect bills for overseas patients, says: ‘Those invoices are going to be huge ... 20 grand a week for each baby [in intensive care].
Hospital staff said patients can 'frequently disappear into the community', and cited the case of a Palestinian man, who had an operation to remove kidney stones and then discharged himself early. A woman from the Philippines, known only as Sonia, had a heart operation after falling ill visiting her sister in the UK. Both have since flown home and neither can pay

'We will gently push forward and do what we have to do, we’re governed by the rules and regulations. They seem a bit fruitless at times.’

Mr Facey is also chasing a bill of £59,000 from a 56-year-old woman from the Philippines who underwent heart surgery.

Sonia became ill in November while visiting her sister, and had the procedure in the renowned cardiac unit at trust’s Hammersmith hospital.
It's only money. Money can't buy life. The last bill I had was £331,000 but – even if I worked every day – I would never earn that much money. My kids are priceless.

She has since recovered and flown home with her sister, but neither are able to pay the bill.

Sonia said she would have died if she had stayed in the Philippines as she would not have been able to afford the costs of surgery.

She developed sepsis shortly after the operation and was in intensive care for several days, which increased the bill further.



Mr Facey says: ‘There’s this assumption that its free of charge, but that isn’t the case.

‘Some people might say I’m hard hearted but I wouldn’t accept that at all.

‘I have a capacity to ask a difficult question of someone in very difficult circumstances.

‘You certainly have to distance yourself emotively. Turn your emotions off. Without that, you wouldn’t get the job done.

'It’s a question of informing people that they’re going to be charged on the one hand, but also of informing them that they will be treated appropriately on the other.’

Mr Facey says the majority of cases involve overseas patients who have fallen ill whilst visiting relatives in the UK.

He says only a few are health tourists deliberately targeting the NHS. A spokesman for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust declined to comment.

Last month it emerged that another hospital was chasing a Nigerian mother for a £350,000 bill after she had flown to Britain to give birth to twins.

The woman, who was not identified at the time, had a caesarean at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, after she was transferred there from another due to pregnancy complications.

Her twins then spent two months in intensive care.

The case was uncovered through a series of freedom of information requests, sent by the Daily Mail to all hospitals in England.

A spokesman confirmed the hospital was owed £348,683 by the mother, who gave birth in 2015.

Luton is one of just three paediatric intensive care units in the East of England, and the trust said it could not refuse treatment ‘if there was a danger to life’.

The responses from 90 hospitals revealed that 13,077 overseas patients were treated in the UK in 2015/16, including 3,066 pregnant women who flew in and had babies.

These women were responsible for some of the highest debts, the figures showed, and a significant number are understood to have come from Nigeria.




Source: dailymail.co.uk

Hello,
Ive always wondered why the caps of Neurogesic ointments crack shortly after purchase despite been stored within recommended room temperature. I feel this defect should be brought to the attention of the manufacturers as this wont do good to the image of the Nation if its been exported to neighbouring Countries and beyond.

A judge in Atlanta has ordered Bobbi Kristina Brown's partner, Nick Gordon, to pay $36 million in a wrongful death case on Thursday, according to her estate's lawyers.
Brown, the daughter of singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, was found face-down and unresponsive in a bathtub in her suburban Atlanta home in January 2015.
Gordon, who also lived there, and a friend were listed on the police report as being in the home when investigators arrived there.
The wrongful death suit said other people were there when Brown was initially found unresponsive.
She was in a coma for six months before dying in hospice care at the age of 22 on July 26, 2015.

Authorities found prescription drugs in the suite and evidence of heart disease and cocaine in Houston's body and determined her death was an accidental drowning.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford ruled in September that Gordon repeatedly failed to meet court deadlines in the civil suit. His order said that means the conservator of her estate wins by default. Bedford on Thursday awarded damages of $36,250,000, the estate's lawyers said in an emailed statement. In the statement, attorney David Ware said: 'There was an urgent need, in my mind, to get justice for Bobbi Kristina Brown and that's why I took the case.
We intend to pursue, with all vigor, the full collection of the judgment.
'We hope that in some small way this will allow Krissy's family to continue their quest for peace.'
Bobby Brown and his daughter, LaPrincia Brown, Bobbi Kristina's half-sister, were among the witnesses who testified at Thursday's hearing.
Her death was similar to the way her mother Whitney Houston died and drew worldwide headlines
The young woman's family blamed Gordon, accusing him in the lawsuit of giving Brown a 'toxic cocktail' before putting her face-down in the water. Gordon, an orphan three years older whom Houston had raised as her own, has not been charged with a crime. Brown had referred to Gordon as her husband.
Gordon wasn't in court Thursday and did not have an attorney in the civil case, but his criminal defense attorneys, Joe Habachy and Jose Baez, had said in August 2015 that the allegations were baseless. They also said that Gordon is 'heartbroken' and called the suit a 'fictitious assault'.

Investigators with the medical examiner's office were unable to determine exactly how Brown had died. An autopsy showed she had morphine, cocaine, alcohol and prescription drugs in her body. But the medical examiner couldn't determine if she killed herself, if someone else killed her or if her death was accidental. Dontaye Carter, a spokesman for Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, said in an email Thursday that Brown's death is still under investigation.

Brown grew up in the shadow of her famous parents. She appeared with them in 2005 on the Bravo reality show 'Being Bobby Brown' and attended award shows with her mother and father.
Houston and Bobby Brown were married 15 years before their relationship ended in 2007. Bobbi Kristina was their only child together.
In August 2015, family and friends gathered at a cemetery in New Jersey and buried Bobbi Kristina Brown next to her mother.








Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Don't know about you but this is a heart breaking decision cause I will miss my compressed data. Adieu BB service!

Don't know about you but this is a heart breaking decision cause I will miss my compressed data

I received text message from Etisalat some days ago that its BB service is no longer available but I will continue to enjoy my current subscription till it expires.

real sad

the sketches

will upload sketches

A mother and father in Brazil discovered heart-breaking sketches drawn by their five-year-old girl showing how she was allegedly sexually abused by a priest.

Father Joao da Silva, 54, is said to have admitted the attack after the child's furious father confronted him in the city of Montes Claros, in Minas Gerais in Brazil.

The girl's parents found the sketches after their daughter suddenly refused to attend any more of da Silva's English classes, local media reported.

A mother and father in Brazil discovered heart-breaking sketches (pictured) drawn by their five-year-old girl showing how she was allegedly sexually abused by a priest

She was so distraught that they took her to a child psychologist who suspected sexual abuse and urged her parents to search her room for any signs.

Hidden among her books they found six heartbreaking drawings by their daughter detailing the sexual abuse.


One drawing shows a man apparently looming over a child who has a look of abject terror on her face.

Another harrowing image apparently shows a girl lying on a bed with a man forcing himself between her legs.

Underneath him the picture appears to show the girl screaming in either fear or agony.

The girl's parents found the harrowing sketches after their daughter suddenly refused to attend any more of da Silva's English classes, local media reported


When the father confronted the priest in a phone call, he told police, the cleric confessed to him, according to local media.


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3851332/Parents-discover-heart-breaking-sketches-drawn-five-year-old-girl-showing-sexually-abused-priest-Brazil.html#ixzz4NYAncrPb

Rice crash? Won't scarce dollars/forex be required to import them?

I suspect it is GMO (genetically modified) seeds..we are in trouble. Google the dangers of GMO foods world wide.

It really saddens me to read comments borne out of ignorance, tribalism, bigotry on this forum. The NBA Presidential seat was zoned to the North as agreed by the body hence the candidacy of AB Mahmoud and JK Gadzama who where interested in running for the office and slugged it out to the exclusion of other candidates from other zones. Therefore, it was either AB Mahmoud or JK Gadzama that could have won.

SA

Plot of land measuring 1,430.71sq situate at Gudu district.
Price: N45 million (Neg.)
Type: Commercial
Title: C of O
You can reach me with this no.: 08189388879

Good one

Price is 55k (slightly neg.). You will enjoy this ac no be small. Better than those used ones of unknown origin sold out there.

Still available. its been in storage and in mint condition even better than those used ones sold in the market.

It's back on the market so hurry and call now.

Op, why don't you state the exact location of the NNPC station or is there only one located in Lafia or Nasarawa State?

Decided to dig up this informative thread in view of the recent tire blow out accident(s) on our highways.

You can get it on OLX for that price I believe

I feel u..since u want that toks car groove and probably less costly way of fixing your situation, why don't you still park your car away from your area and see if there is a way you can have the same old reg numbers reproduced on the new plate design, since it is engraved all over the car. Then you can hit area with the fresh plates full of smiles..by the way are you breath taking pretty?

Manual compressor is without climate control thus you adjust cabin temperate manually while automatic compressor is with climate control which adjusts cabin temperature automatically ensuring set temperature is maintained or when set on Full auto it completely adjusts the cabin temperate to balance with the external temperature when it gets hot or cool.

they are balling all the way

They have been at loggerheads in the past.

But it seems Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone have put all that behind them when they went for lunch together on Saturday.

However, the Terminator actor couldn't resist showing off a little to his old sparring partner, turning up for their meet in a Bugatti worth over $1.7 million.

They say the They say the average Bugatti customer has about 84 cars, three jets and one yacht.

There are only 300 of each car are on the market, and their is no doubt Arnie's wheels would have cost more than $1,700,000– as that is just the standard model without any options or variations.

Even though Sylvester, 69, and Arnold, 68, had a much publicized and rancorous rivalry early in their careers, they have clearly gotten chummier as the years have gone by.

Arnold kept his outfit quite casual, opting for some blue Nike athletic shorts, some light brown suede slip-ons and his own brand of Arnold Classic Australia t-shirt.

Of course the bodybuilding icon also puffed on his trademark cigar while donning a pair of classic black shades.

Sly was just slightly more dressed up, as he wore some jeans, trainers and an untucked yellow button-down shirt.

The Italian Stallion blinged it up with some of his classic gold bracelets and rings.

Arnold especially so, as he had just celebrated his son Patrick's 22nd birthday the day before.


Source: mailonline

Despite the rising rate of poverty back home, Nigeria’s economic status appears rosy at London’s Heathrow, the busiest international airport in Europe. The Heathrow VIP says Nigerians are the biggest spenders at its luxury shopping section.

A statement issued by Heathrow’s Retail Director, Jonathan Coen, says an average Nigerian guest at the retail shop spends an average of £1,059 (approximately N314,000) per visit.

Coen adds that the VIP retail service has enjoyed a huge patronage from Nigerian visitors since it was thrown open to all business class travellers.

“Heathrow’s VIP was originally designed for dignitaries, such as heads of states. But we recognised that the privacy and exclusivity that we offered was something that many passengers are looking for in their own lives.

“Making the service available to first class and business class passengers, we now provide a quality experience that allows our passengers to enjoy a personalised service and we are delighted to welcome many of these from Nigeria,” Coen says.

According to him, the huge patronage the personal shopping service section has enjoyed from Nigerians and other big-spending guests is responsible for its phenomenal growth since 2013 when it started operation.

Coen explains, “The personal shopping service is incredibly successful at Heathrow, especially with our international passengers. The service started in October 2013 with a five-member team and just over a year, we have grown to 15 for employees who are on hand from the first to the last flight to offer assistance in 38 languages.”

The statement, according to a related report by the International Business Times, is based on a study complied by the management of the airport.

“When it comes to splashing cash in duty-free, it seems that Nigerians do it best,” the business magazine suggests.

Reviewing Coen’s statement, Ventures Africa reports that Nigerian shoppers enjoy the option of being catered for by members of Heathrow VIP staff who speak Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo languages.

Heathrow VIP was founded on the philosophy of giving a memorable experience to travellers transiting through the airport, says the company’s site.

Apart from retail service, it offers private lounges to those who are waiting for departure or connecting flights.

This is not the first time Nigerians would be given a pat on the back for contributing so much to the success stories of business brands in the United Kingdom. The Daily Mail, a London-based tabloid had, some years ago, claimed that Nigerian tourists were seriously competing with Arabs for the top-spender position in the UK retail market.

While people from the Middle East had a particular season for tourism, the newspaper suggested, fun lovers of Nigerian origin were in and out of the UK throughout the year.

Sadly, the rosy outlook of Nigeria abroad, especially in the UK, appears to mock the harsh economic reality at home and the depressing statistics churned out by the World Bank and other research organisations yearly.

For instance, ranking by the World Bank puts Nigeria as the third country with the largest number of poor people.

Other researchers have also put the country’s out-of-school and unemployment figures at rates many analysts have described as frightening.

The Heathrow VIP’s statement is causing a social media backlash. Many social media enthusiasts describe the report as a reflection of the injustice in the country’s economy.

One Lanre Akinola, a tweeter, says it shows “another spending milestone” of the Nigerian elite. He wonders why the rich continue to waste enormous resources outside the country while the majority of the ordinary people ae wallowing in poverty.

Others who commented on Facebook and Twitter say the overseas spending sprees shows how insensitive the few wealthy individuals are to the plight of the poor masses.

Copyright PUNCH.

The Chairman of the Gwer West Traditional Council in Benue State, the Ter Ityoshin, Chief Daniel Abomtse, has alleged that his domain is under the control of Fulani insurgents.

The Ter Ityoshin said this in a statement he signed and made available to The PUNCH on Thursday.

The statement read in part, “I wish to, on behalf of my council, submit to the President General of the Mdzough u Tiv of acts perpetrated by hitherto unknown strange Fulanis, who have moved into Gwer West Local Government Area, taking over half of the land mass, covering nine districts viz: Sengev, Mbachohon, Gbaange-Tongov, Tyoughatee, Saghev/Ukusu, Merkyan, Nyamshi, Sengev/Yengev and part of Tsambe/Mbasev, believed to be facilitated by the Coordinator, Civilian Joint Task Force Committee for Benue and Nasarawa.”

He alleged that the insurgents had visited his community ceaseless carnage, subjecting the natives to inhuman conditions.

The statement added, “It is not an exaggeration to say that Gwer West people in recent times are xenophobic or have prejudice for the Fulanis for the way and manner they have been slaughtering them like chickens, which began in 2011.

“I strongly wish to, on behalf of Nagi Traditional Council, to state that since February 8, 2011 to date, the Gwer West area have come under invasion by armed Fulanis, who have perpetually terrorised the area on a daily basis, occasioning heavy losses in human lives and property.

“The large expanse of land in the basin of River Benue, stretching from the lower basin farms at the Makurdi boarders of Mbaku communities of Makurdi LGA with Gwer West, to a distance of 35 kilometers in length and 45km in breadth, is deserted and in the firm control of herders, who always migrate into Gwer West from the Rukubi-Akpanaja boarder of Doma LGA in Nasarawa State.”





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Federal High Court in Abuja has summoned officials of the new Young Democratic Party to appear on March 23 over alleged misrepresentation of its judgment ordering the registration of the party.

The presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, said the court was embarrassed by the claim of the party officials at a press conference that in its judgment of March 4, 2015, it ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to shift the 2015 elections in order to accommodate the party in the polls. The party had on the strength of the alleged court’s pronouncement scheduled its primaries for March 26 and 27 ahead of the general polls scheduled for March 28 and April 11, 2015.

The court on Thursday ordered YDP’s lead counsel, Kelvin Nwofo (SAN), to investigate the issue and produce all the persons who addressed the press conference in court.

The judge made the order when the application for stay of execution of the March 4, 2015 judgment filed by INEC came up on Thursday. INEC is by its application seeking a stay of execution of the judgment on the grounds that it had filed a notice of appeal dated March 9, 2015 against the March 4 verdict before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.

The PUNCH had obtained a copy of the enrolled order made in the judgment by the court and reported on Thursday that the document showed that apart from ordering INEC to issue certificate of registration to the party, the court did not order that the party be allowed to participate in the polls.

Justice Mohammed, who said he received calls from different parts of the country and abroad, held in a short ruling that the party’s claim during the said press conference had put the court in “a very negative light.”

He said if Nwofo failed to comply with his directive to produce the persons involved in the press conference on March 23, the court would not hesitate to “cite any person who misrepresented its record and judgment for contempt.”

He added in his short ruling, “As far as the court is concerned no such orders were made. “In fact, even the plaintiff, the Young Democratic Party, did not seek such reliefs from the court. “It is therefore very unfortunate that that the court is portrayed in a very negative perspective.

“One would have expected that the person concerned to approach the court and obtain the certified true copy of the judgment to see the orders made by the court.

“In the light of the embarrassing situation, I hereby direct the learned senior counsel to the plaintiff to investigate this ugly development and bring the persons or possible persons who held the press conference to court on the next adjourned date to show the court where the said order was made, failing which the court will not hesitate to cite any person who misrepresented its record and judgment for contempt.”According to the enrolled order of the judgment, the court, only ordered the INEC to issue certificate of registration to the party.

The judge had held in the judgment that YDP was deemed registered as a political party by virtue of the failure of INEC to communicate its decision not to register the then political association as a political party within 30 days of receiving its (the plaintiff’s) application as stipulated in section 78 (4) of the Electoral Act. A copy of the court’s judgment also obtained on Wednesday showed that the plaintiff – the YDP – did not ask for inclusion in the polls in its amended originating summons dated December 2, 2014.

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