KAKANKA: TWO AMERICANS GET A SECRET SERUM TO FIGHT EBOLA

KAKANKA: TWO AMERICANS GET A SECRET SERUM TO FIGHT EBOLA: After  weeks of discouraging news of the Ebola outbreak , the first reports of patients possibly fending off the disease have arrived: Two ...

Nigeria girl faces murder trial over forced marriage

Gezawa (Nigeria) (AFP) - A Nigerian court on Monday postponed the murder trial of a 14-year-old girl accused of poisoning the 35-year-old man she was forced to marry, a case that has thrown the spotlight on the influence of Islamic law in region.

Wasila Tasi'u has also been charged with the murder of three others who allegedly ate the food laced with rat poison that she prepared and served in April this year, a week after her marriage to Umaru Sani.

"Wasila was to appear today," but the case has been postponed indefinitely because of a backlog caused by a judicial staff strike, said Salisu Yakubu, registrar at the High Court in town of Gezawa.

Police say Tasi'u confessed to poisoning Sani and his guests at the wedding party in the village of Unguwar Yansoro village, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) outside Nigeria's second city of Kano.

"She did it because she was forced by her parents to marry a man she did not love," Kano state police spokesman Musa Magaji Majia told AFP.

Her lawyer Hussaina Aliyu rejects claims that her client made a legally valid confession.

She said Tasi'u was questioned by police without a parent or lawyer present and so any comments she may have made are inadmissable in court.

Aliyu, who works with International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), has sought to have the case transferred to a juvenile court, a bid rejected by justice officials in Kano.

"All we are saying is do justice to her. Treat the case as it is. Treat her as a child," Aliyu said.

The marriage of teenage girls to much older men is rampant in deeply conservative, mainly Muslim northern Nigeria, especially in poorer rural areas.

The region has since 2000 been under sharia Islamic law which some say does not prohibit the marriage of underage girls.

Under Nigeria's marriage act, which applies nationwide, a woman under the age of 21 who wants to marry must have the consent of her parents.

With that consent there is no minimum marrying age, including in the Christian south, "which is very, very unfortunate," said human rights lawyer Festus Keyamo.

But cases of underage marriage are rare in the south, and the Tasi'u case has called attention to the confusing hybrid legal system in the north, where the secular criminal code is unevenly applied as police and prosecutors try to strike a balance with sharia provisions.

TWO AMERICANS GET A SECRET SERUM TO FIGHT EBOLA

After weeks of discouraging news of the Ebola outbreak, the first reports of patients possibly fending off the disease have arrived: Two Americans, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, aid workers who were in Liberia with Samaritan's Purse, received an experimental “secret serum” and have showed progress in their conditions, reported CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

But what exactly is the secret serum? It’s a question  practically  everyone’s  been asking. The answer: Something the National Institutes of Health and Mapp, the biopharmaceutical firm that manufactured it, are largely keeping mum about. As far as we know, Gupta has the most details regarding the serum’s effect and what it does. As he put it in his CNN report:

The medicine is a three-mouse monoclonal antibody, meaning that mice were exposed to fragments of the Ebola virus and then the antibodies generated within the mice's blood were harvested to create the medicine. It works by preventing the virus from entering and infecting new cells.

In other words, the serum, named ZMapp, is a cocktail of antibodies, all proven to have effectively battled Ebola out of mice, that have been extracted for further testing. But before the serum got there, the outbreak occurred, resulting in its use now. Even without FDA approval, Gupta writes, the serum may have been given under the Agency's "compassionate use" regulation, allowing it to be administered in a time of emergency.

But ultimately, despite the serum's success, it’s only being used on the Americans, two victims who could be transported away from the outbreak. The rest of West Africa remains in a dire situation: TheWHO puts the latest estimate at 887 deaths and 1,603 cases. Without further testing and understanding of experimental solutions, doctors will continue to battle the outbreak using simply containment.

The serum, therefore, is a temporary solution: It isn't the end to Ebola, but it could be the beginning.

Female suicide bomber, two students killed in Kano Poly blast

AGAIN, a female bomber Wednesday detonated a bomb killing herself and two students at Kano State Polytechnic, Central administration, along BUK road. 

Kano state Police Commissioner Adenrele Shinaba who confirmed the blast at the scene noted that a young female dress in dark hijab rammed into scored of graduating students who were checking their NYSC posting list detonated herself, killing two and injured 10 others.

Kano State Police Public Relations Officer, Magaji Majiya, confirmed that the bomb explosion took place at the Central Administration building of the polytechnic.

The explosion occurred as students queued to check their names on a new admission list, they added.

Bodies lay strewn at the blast site, witnesses told the BBC.

The bomber was hidden in the crowd, a witness, Isyaku Adamu, told the AFP news agency.

Egypt army destroys 13 more Gaza tunnels

A Palestinian man is lowered into a smuggling tunnel beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Se

 Egypt's army said Sunday it has destroyed 13 more tunnels connecting the Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip, taking to 1,639 the overall number it has laid waste to.

Cairo has poured troops into the peninsula to counter a rising insurgency since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year, and its security operation involves the destruction of these tunnels.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is the main power in Gaza, reportedly uses the tunnels to smuggle arms, food and money into the blockaded coastal enclave.

Israel has been waging a military offensive on Gaza since July 8 to halt rocket fire, and it launched a ground assault on July 17 aimed at destroying the network of tunnels.

It accuses Hamas of using the tunnels to attacks on Israel.

Ties between Hamas and Cairo have deteriorated since the Egyptian army deposed Morsi on July 3, 2013. Hamas is an affiliate of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Cairo also accuses of Hamas of being involved in militant attacks inside Egypt, which have multiplied since Morsi was toppled.

Militant groups say their attacks are in retaliation for a police crackdown on Morsi's supporters. The crackdown has seen more than 1,400 people killed in street clashes.

Nigeria death shows Ebola can spread by air travel

Nigerian health authorities raced to stop the spread of Ebola on Saturday after a man sick with one of the world's deadliest diseases brought it by plane to Lagos, Africa's largest city with 21 million people.

The fact that the traveler from Liberia could board an international flight also raised new fears that other passengers could take the disease beyond Africa due to weak inspection of passengers and the fact Ebola's symptoms are similar to other diseases.

Officials in the country of Togo, where the sick man's flight had a stopover, also went on high alert after learning that Ebola could possibly have spread to a fifth country.

Screening people as they enter the country may help slow the spread of the disease, but it is no guarantee Ebola won't travel by airplane, according to Dr. Lance Plyler, who heads Ebola medical efforts in Liberia for aid organization Samaritan's Purse.

"Unfortunately the initial signs of Ebola imitate other diseases, like malaria or typhoid," he said.

The aid organization on Saturday said a U.S. doctor working with Ebola patients in Liberia had tested positive for the deadly virus. A Samaritan's Purse news release said Dr. Kent Brantly was being treated at a hospital in Monrovia, the capital.

Ebola already had caused some 672 deaths across a wide swath of West Africa before the Nigeria case was announced. It is the deadliest outbreak on record for Ebola, and now it threatens Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation. An outbreak in Lagos, Africa's megacity where many live in cramped conditions, could be a major diisaster.

"Lagos is completely different from other cities because we're talking about millions of people," said Plan International's Disaster Response and Preparedness Head, Dr. Unni Krishnan.

Nigerian newspapers describe the effort as a "scramble" to contain the threat after the Liberian arrived in Lagos and then died Friday.

International airports in Nigeria are screening passengers arriving from foreign countries for symptoms of Ebola, according to Yakubu Dati, the spokesman for Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria.

Health officials are also working with ports and land borders, he said. "They are giving out information in terms of enlightenment, what to do, what to look out for."

And Nigerian airports are setting up holding rooms to ready in case another potential Ebola victim lands in Nigeria.

Airports in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three other West African countries affected by the current Ebola outbreak, have implemented some preventive measures, according to officials in those countries. But none of the safeguards are foolproof, say health experts.

Doctors say health screens could be effective, but Ebola has a variable incubation period of between two and 21 days and cannot be diagnosed on the spot.

Patrick Sawyer, a consultant for the Liberian Ministry of Finance arrived in Nigeria on Tuesday and was immediately detained by health authorities suspecting he might have Ebola, Plyler said.

On his way to Lagos, Sawyer's plane also stopped in Lome, Togo, according to the World Health Organization.

Authorities announced Friday that blood tests from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital confirmed Sawyer died of Ebola earlier that day.

Sawyer reportedly did not show Ebola symptoms when he boarded the plane, Plyler said, but by the time he arrived in Nigeria he was vomiting and had diarrhea. There has not been another recently recorded case of Ebola spreading through air travel, he added.

Nearly 50 other passengers on the flight are being monitored for signs of Ebola but are not being kept in isolation, said an employee at Nigeria's Ministry of Health, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Sawyer's sister also died of Ebola in Liberia, according to Liberian officials, but he claimed to have had no contact with her. Ebola is highly contagious and kills more than 70 percent of people infected.

Ebola is passed by touching bodily fluids of patients even after they die, he said. Traditional burials that include rubbing the bodies of the dead contribute to the spread of the disease, Krishnan added.

There is no "magic bullet" cure for Ebola, but early detection and treatment of fluids and nutrition can be effective, said Plyler in Liberia. Quickly isolating patients who show symptoms is also crucial in slowing the spread of the disease.

West African hospital systems have weak and "often paralyzed" health care systems, he added, and are not usually equipped to handle Ebola outbreaks. International aid organizations like his and Doctors Without Borders have stepped in, but they also lack enough funding and manpower. "We need more humanitarian workers," he said. "We need resources."

Nigeria government confirms Ebola case in megacity of Lagos

Dr. Jide Idris, Lagos' state commissioner for Health, speaks during a news conference on the death 

Extra precaution was taken at the hospital because the patient was suffering from "symptoms associated with Ebola," she added.
Patrick Sawyer, a consultant for the Liberian finance ministry in his 40s, collapsed on Sunday after flying into Lagos, a city of 21 million people, and was taken from the airport and put in isolation in a local hospital. Nigeria confirmed earlier on Friday that he had died in quarantine.

"His blood sample was taken to the advance laboratory at the Lagos university teaching hospital, which confirmed the diagnosis of the Ebola virus disease in the patient," Chukwu told a press conference on Friday. "This result was corroborated by other laboratories outside Nigeria."

However, at a separate press conference held by the Lagos state government at the same time, the city's health commissioner, Jide Idris, said that they were only "assuming that it was Ebola" because they were "waiting for a confirmative test to double check" from a laboratory in Dakar.

Paul Garwood, spokesman for the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, said the U.N. health agency was also still waiting for test results.

"We're still waiting for laboratory-confirmed results as to whether he died of Ebola or not," he said.

It could not be immediately determined why there was a contradiction in the comments from central government and city officials.

If confirmed, the man would be the first case on record of one of the world's deadliest diseases in Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy and with 170 million people, its most populous country. Ebola has killed 660 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since it was first diagnosed in February.

Sawyer was quarantined on arrival and had not entered the city, a Nigerian official told Reuters.

"While he was quarantined he passed away. Everyone who has had contact with him has been quarantined," the official said.

Liberia's finance minister Amara Konneh said Sawyer was a consultant for the country's finance ministry.

"Our understanding is that the cause of death was Ebola," Konneh told Reuters.

The victim's sister had died of the virus three weeks previously, and the degree of contact between the two was being investigated by Liberian health ministry officials, he said.

Earlier on Friday, WHO spokesman Paul Garwood said: "I understand that he was vomiting and he then turned himself over basically, he made it known that he wasn't feeling well. Nigerian health authorities took him and put him in isolation."

Nigeria has some of the continent's least adequate healthcare infrastructure, despite access to billions of dollars of oil money as Africa's biggest producer of crude.

Some officials think the disease is easier to contain in cities than in remote rural areas.

"The fear of spread within a dense population would be offset by better healthcare and a willingness to use it, easier contact tracing and, I assume for an urban population, less risky funerary and family rites," Ian Jones, a professor of virology at the University of Reading in Britain, said.

"It would be contained more easily than in rural populations."

There have been 1,093 Ebola cases to date in West Africa's first outbreak, including the 660 who have died, according to the WHO.

Chelsea return for club great Drogba

 Premier League giants Chelsea announced on Friday that their former striker Didier Drogba has returned to the club on a one-year contract.

Citing the influence of manager Jose Mourinho, Drogba told the club website: "It was an easy decision. I couldn't turn down the opportunity to work with Jose again.

"Everyone knows the special relationship I have with this club and it has always felt like home to me. My desire to win is still the same and I look forward to the opportunity to help this team.

"I am excited for this next chapter of my career," added Drogba, who was pictured on the club website posing with Chelsea's new home shirt.

Drogba, 36, was a free agent after leaving Turkish side Galatasaray at the end of last season.

The Ivory Coast star scored 157 goals for Chelsea over an eight-year period and left the club in 2012 shortly after scoring the winning penalty against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.

"He's coming because he's one of the best strikers in Europe," Mourinho said.

"I know his personality very well and I know if he comes back he's not protected by history or what he's done for this club previously. He is coming with the mentality to make more history."

Mourinho brought Drogba to Stamford Bridge from Marseille in a £24 million ($40.7 million, 30.3 million euros) transfer in 2004 during his first stint as manager.

The burly, powerful centre-forward went on to become one of the greatest players ever to have played for the west London club.

He was instrumental in three Premier League title successes and also won four FA Cups and two League Cups, in addition to the Champions League triumph at Bayern's Allianz Arena.

In total he has made 341 appearances for the club, scoring nine cup-final goals, and was voted Chelsea's greatest ever player in a 2012 fan poll.

After leaving in 2012, he played for Chinese club Shanghai Shenua before joining Galatasaray on an 18-month deal in January 2013.

Drogba is likely to provide cover for new Chelsea signing Diego Costa, who completed a £32 million move from Atletico Madrid earlier this month.

Mourinho can also call upon Fernando Torres and Romelu Lukaku, who has returned from a season-long loan at Everton, but Demba Ba and Samuel Eto'o have both left the club.

British media reports suggested Drogba could be offered a coaching role at Chelsea, but Mourinho said that he was returning to the club to play.

"If you bring him back, it is not because he is Didier or scored the most important goal in the history of Chelsea, or because I read I need an assistant, no," the Portuguese told the Friday editions of several British newspapers, before Drogba's return had been confirmed.

Mourinho said that Drogba was returning because "as a player he has qualities to make the team stronger".

He added: "(Chelsea owner Roman) Abramovich is very intelligent and he feels that people belong to the club. We feel that Didier belongs to us."

River In China Mysteriously Turns Bloody Red Overnight

River In China Mysteriously Turns Bloody Red Overnight

A waterway in eastern China has mysteriously turned a blood red color.

Residents in Zhejiang province said the river looked normal at 5 a.m. Beijing time on Thursday morning. Within an hour, the entire river turned crimson. Residents also said a strange smell wafted through the air.

“The really weird thing is that we have been able to catch fish because the water is normally so clear,” one local villager commented on China’s microblogging site Weibo.

Inspectors from the Wenzhou Environmental Protection Bureau said they have not found the cause of the incident, although water samples seem to indicate the suspicious color was a result of illegal dumping in the river.

officially transitioned from male to female

Andreja Pejic, the Bosnian-born supermodel known for her striking androgyny, has come out as transgender, announcing on social media Thursday that she’s officially transitioned from male to female, and that doing so has saved her life.

“As a transgender woman I hope to show that after transition (a life-saving process) one can be happy and successful in their new chapter without having to alienate their past,” the 22-year-old wrote in amessage to Facebook fans, in which she thanked everyone for their support over the years. “I think we all evolve as we get older and that’s normal but I like to think that my recent transition hasn’t made me into a different individual. Same person, no difference at all just a different sex, I hope you can all understand

“Andreja has been globally known for her beauty, and now she will be globally known for her courage,” Jenny Boylan, a noted transgender memoirist and GLAAD’s national board of directors co-chair, told Yahoo Health. “She is doing a very brave thing — being unashamed of who she is — which will send a message to other transgender people that there’s nothing wrong with who you are.”

On Twitter, transgender advocate and “Orange is the New Black” star Laverne Cox wrote to Pejic, “Congrats on publicly claiming your truth as a trans woman. You’re now part of a resilient, beautiful & mighty sisterhood.” Actor Wilson Cruz tweeted, “Happy for you!,” while Janet Mock, activist and “Redefining Realness” author, wrote, “Sending love to @andrejapejic as she steps fwd publicly as a #trans woman. Welcome to the sisterhood!”

Pope meets Sudanese woman sentenced to death

A mother put on death row for refusing to reject Christianity met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, just hours after she fleeing Sudan. Meriam Ibrahim was flown out of the country with her American husband and two young children. After an almost year-long ordeal that triggered outrage around the world, the State Department had been negotiating with Sudanese officials for weeks to secure the family's safe passage out of the country . Embassy in Khartoum for almost a month. That crime is punishable by death under Sudan’s strict Islamic law.Pope Francis met privately Thursday with a Sudanese woman who refused to recant her Christian faith in the face of a death sentence, blessing the woman as she cradled her infant daughter born just weeks ago in prison.

The Vatican characterized the visit with Meriam Ibrahim, 27, her husband and their two small children as "very affectionate.

The 30-minute encounter took place just hours after the family landed at Rome's Ciampino airport, accompanied by an Italian diplomat who helped negotiate her release, and welcomed by Italy's premier, who hailed it as a "day of celebration."

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the pope "thanked her for her faith and courage, and she thanked him for his prayer and solidarity." Francis frequently calls attention to the suffering of those persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Surgeons remove 232 teeth from Indian teenager

Surgeons in Mumbai have removed 232 teeth from the mouth of an Indian teenager in what they believe may be a world-record operation, the hospital said Thursday.

Ashik Gavai, 17, sought medical help for a swelling on the right side of his lower jaw and the case was referred to the city's JJ Hospital, where they found he was suffering from a condition known as complex odontoma, head of dentistry Sunanda Dhivare-Palwankar told AFP.

"We operated on Monday and it took us almost seven hours. We thought it may be a simple surgery but once we opened it there were multiple pearl-like teeth inside the jaw bone," she said.

After removing those they also found a larger "marble-like" structure which they struggled to shift and eventually had to "chisel out" and remove in fragments, she added.

The youngster's father, Suresh Gavai, said that the family had been worried that Ashik's swelling was a cancerous growth.

"I was worried that it may turn out to be cancer so I brought him to Mumbai," Gavai told the Mumbai Mirror newspaper.

Dhivare-Palwankar said the literature they had come across on the condition showed a maximum of 37 teeth being removed in such a procedure, whereas she and her team had counted more than 232 taken from Gavai's mouth.

"I think it could be a world record," she said.

Gavai's jawbone structure was maintained during the operation so it should heal without any deformities, the surgeon added.

Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt Are Finally Getting Married! Well, Sort Of..

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
After what felt like the longest wait ever, we'll finally get to see Brangelina tie the knot. Well, not exactly...

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are both starring in the upcoming film By the Sea (the first movie they've shot together since Mr. and Mrs. Smith), in which the lovestruck couple and parents of six will exchange vows. And while it won't be for real, we're at least getting to see the svelte superstar and her hunky beau in wedding wear.

As for the film, it's actually written and will be directed by Angelina herself. The Maleficent front woman describes the movie as an "intimate, character-driven drama." The high-profile duo will be filming in Malta this August, an insider reports. "They'll be filming in Mgarr ix-Xini Bay in Gozo," the source told Us Weekly. "The whole family will be staying in Malta for eight weeks, arriving at the end of August."

2 bombs kill at least 39 in Kaduna, north Nigeria

KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) — Bomb blasts appearing to target former Nigerian military ruler Muhammadu Buhari and a prominent moderate Muslim cleric killed dozens of people Wednesday, but left both leaders unharmed, according to Nigerian state security.

At least 39 other people were killed in the two blasts, said State Police Commissioner Umar Usman Shehu. The death toll is expected to rise, as witnesses at both bomb sites said dozens of people were killed in each of the blasts.

The bombings were condemned by President Goodluck Jonathan who said he "denounces the dastardly targeting of the prominent political and religious leaders by terrorists and enemies of the nation in an odious attempt to inflame passions and exacerbate disquiet, fear, insecurity and sectional divisions in the country."

After surviving the marketplace bombing, Buhari said the attack "clearly an assassination attempt, came from a fast moving vehicle that made many attempts to overtake my security car. I came out unhurt, but with three of my security staff sustaining minor injuries."

Buhari is currently a leader of Nigeria's leading opposition party who has been outspokenly critical of President Jonathan. He is not yet a candidate for president as no contenders have been formally declared ahead of 2015 elections.

The other bombing appeared to target Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, who gave an annual Ramadan speech to thousands of faithful in an outdoor service. Bauchi is known for preaching against the violent extremism of Nigeria's Islamic militants, Boko Haram

"They were waiting for him," said police commissioner Shehu of the boy who threw a bomb at the sheik. "It's when he was passing the boy headed to him."

The cleric survived the blast but the boy was killed, said the police commissioner, who added that no arrests were made immediately.

The second blast, which hit the Kaduna marketplace where Buhari was about two and a half hours after the first explosion, left bodies and body parts scattered, said witnesses. More than 50 vehicles were destroyed, the witnesses said.

A 24-hour curfew was declared by Kaduna state governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero immediately after Wednesday's bombings, leaving many people stranded at their jobs, unable to go home for the night.

The governor did not directly blame Boko Haram but called the attackers a "common enemy" who are not true Muslims.

"Enemies of peace have visited us with their ungodly venom of wanton destruction of human lives," said Yero in a statement. "This blast, coming in the holy month of Ramadan is a clear indication that those behind the act have no iota of fear of God."

The U.S. State Department in a statement said the U.S. "deplores" the twin bombings and urges all Nigerians to avoid revenge attacks.

Boko Haram has killed thousands of people in five years of insurgency in Nigeria, including several prominent sheiks and politicians.

Kaduna is outside the region of Nigeria that is under emergency rule but it has been frequently targeted for violence by Boko Haram militants. In recent months, the Boko Haram insurgency has intensified, with near-daily attacks in the north, three bombings in the capital, Abuja, and more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped and held captive now for 100 days.

Plane crashes in Taiwan, killing at least 47

     

  A plane crashed while attempting to land in stormy weather at a small airport in Taiwan on   Wednesday, killing at least 47 people, officials there say.

TransAsia Airways Flight GE222, which originated from the southern port city of Kaohsiung, was carrying 54 passengers and four flight crew when it crashed during a second landing attempt on the typhoon-battered island of Penghu, officials said.

There were conflicting reports about the number of fatalities.

Taiwan's Transport Minister Yeh Kuang-shih told the government's Central News Agency that 47 people were "trapped and feared dead" and 11 others were injured in the crash. Earlier, a fire official said that 51 people had been killed and seven had been injured. Reuters reported 47 people were killed in the crash, citing China's Xinhua news agency.

The plane, a twin-engine turboprop ATR 72, was en route to Magong when it attempted the emergency landing, Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration told the Associated Press.

Typhoon Matmo hit Taiwan on Wednesday, bringing heavy rains and strong winds to the region.

"It was thunderstorm conditions during the crash," Hsi Wen-guang, a spokesman for the Penghu County Government Fire Bureau, told reporters. "A few empty apartment buildings adjacent to the runway caught fire, but no one was inside at the time and the fire was extinguished."

According to TransAsia's website, eight earlier flights from Kaohsiung to Magong were canceled on Wednesday. A midafternoon flight did make it, but it took more than twice as long to complete the usual 35-minute trip. All flights after the crash were canceled.

In a statement, President Ma Ying-jeou called it "a very sad day in the history of Taiwanese aviation." Hsu Yi-Tsung, TransAsia Airways' general manager, "bowed deeply before reporters and tearfully apologized for the accident," the Central News Agency said.

According to the Central News Agency, about 200 military personnel were being sent to help recover the victims.

Video taken in the aftermath of the crash shows rescue workers with flashlights sifting through the plane's wreckage in what appears to be a residential area

Man United 'ready to break transfer records'

Manchester United's new coach Louis Van Gaal speaks during a press conference
Manchester United are prepared to break transfer records in order to give new manager Louis van Gaal the players he wants, according to executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.

English giants have already spent over £50 million ($85 million, 63 million euros) on England left-back Luke Shaw and Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera, and Woodward says that they are ready to spend even more.

Some of United's European rivals have spent big recently. Real Madrid on Tuesday signed James Rodriguez from Monaco for a fee of around £63 million ($107.4m), while Barcelona paid Liverpool around £75 million ($127.8m) for Luis Suarez.

 if United were able to pay a similar amount for a player, Woodward said: "It is in our capabilities. The club are not afraid of doing that -- spending significant amounts of money in the transfer market."

United are rebuilding under Van Gaal after a dismal 2013-14 season and Woodward says that in the context, the club will have no qualms about sanctioning big-money signings.

"Whether it's a record or not doesn't really resonate with us," he added, in comments reported by the British media on Wednesday

 What resonates is a top, top elite player that the manager wants that is going to be a star for Manchester United. We are in a very strong financial position. We can make big signings.

"I get pointed in the direction of a target that the manager wants and there is an assessment of what that might cost and I'll negotiate hard to do the best I can on the trade."

United have been linked with a host of players in recent weeks, including Germany centre-back Mats Hummels, Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen, and the Dutch trio of Daley Blind, Stefan de Vrij and Kevin Strootman

Woodward endured a trying first close-season last year, when United missed out on a succession of major targets, and he admits he still needs to prove his worth to the club's supporters.

"You gain credibility through experience and through time," said the former investment banker.

"You can't expect credibility from day one and I wouldn't ask that of the fans. You keep learning on the job and I'll continue to learn for a long period of time.

"I don't mind reading (criticism), because it's extremely important for me to listen to the fans. Criticism can change into positive comments over a period of time."

Foreign players abandon Ukraine clubs

Kiev (AFP) - At least seven foreign players for two top Ukrainian football teams have refused to return to the country as tensions mount after the Malaysia Airlines crash, media reported Sunday.Six players for champions Shakhtar Donetsk players and an Argentine with Metalist Kharkiv are too worried for their safety, the reports said.

The six Donetsk players refused to fly back to Ukraine after their side were beaten 4-1 by Lyon in a friendly Saturday in the French town of Annecy, ITAR-TASS news agency said.

It named five of the players as Brazilians Alex Teixeira, Fred, Douglas Costa, Dentinho and Argentine Facundo Ferreyra.

"I don't want to give any comments for the moment," Shakhtar general manager Sergei Palkin was quoted as saying by Tribuna information site.Meanwhile, Metalist Kharkiv's Argentine midfielder Sebastian Blanco refused to return to Ukraine from a training camp in Austria, the R-Sport agency reported.

"After the Malaysian plane's crash I have no intention to return to Ukraine," the 26-year-old footballer was quoted as saying.

"The situation there is currently abnormal. I decided to stay in Buenos Aires."

Ukrainian Football Federation (FFU) is maintaining the start of the national championship for July 25 despite the troubles in the east of the country heightened by the apparent shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines jet on Thursday.

"The entire country mourns over the tragedy that happened. It's terrible," an FFU spokesman Pavel Ternovoi said. "But it will not influence the national championship kick off. We insist that football should stay out of politics."

Boko Haram strikes in Adamawa, kills 9, burn down churches, bank

                                  
Barely 24 hours after the attack on the Federal Government college in Yobe state where 43 young students were killed, suspected men of the Islamist group yesterday night attacked settlers at Kirchinga, Michika, Shuwari and Shuwa district all in Adamawa state. Several cars, houses, catholic churches, shops and even a First Bank Complex were burnt down.

The men also burnt down 3 catholic churches in Shuwari as well as a seminary school, Saint Joseph Minor Seminary in Shuwa.

KAKANKA: Indonesia volcano erupts; 3 killed, 100K evacuated...

KAKANKA: Indonesia volcano erupts; 3 killed, 100K evacuated...: SUGIHWARAS, Indonesia (AP) — A powerful volcanic eruption on Indonesia's most populous island blasted ash and debris 18 kilomete...

KAKANKA: Indian villages fear man-eating tiger on the prowl...

KAKANKA: Indian villages fear man-eating tiger on the prowl...: MANIWALA, India (AP) — She lies in wait while her victims are collecting firewood, or taking cattle to graze, or working in the fields. ...

Indian villages fear man-eating tiger on the prowl

MANIWALA, India (AP) — She lies in wait while her victims are collecting firewood, or taking cattle to graze, or working in the fields. She has grabbed people in broad daylight, carrying them away silently into the forests or the sugarcane fields. By the time the victims are found, often little is left but a pair of shoes, unspeakable gore and a ring of drying blood.

Over seven weeks she has traveled, almost completely unseen, for more than 120 miles (190 kilometers). She has crossed villages, small towns and at least one highway.

A killer is stalking the villages of north India. She has killed at least nine people, all of them poor villagers living on the fringes of one of the world's last wild tiger habitats. They are people who cannot afford a day off work, people who have no indoor plumbing and must use the fields as their toilets. They are people who know little about India's recent successes in tiger conservation.

But with the sudden appearance of one tiger, they look at an animal so beloved to outsiders and see only a monster.

"She has turned into a man-eater," said Vijay Pal Singh, whose neighbor, a 22-year-old farm laborer named Shiv Kumar Singh, was killed as he worked at the edge of a sugarcane field in January. In an area where nearly everyone works outside, this means life has been completely upended. "People are afraid to go into the fields," said Singh. "Everything has changed."

While hunters are brought in to kill man-eating tigers every year or so in India, it has been decades since a tiger killed as many people as this one, or stayed on the run so long.

In this Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014 photo, pug marks left by a tiger that attacked and killed a young m …

"She won't stop now. She'll keep killing," said Samar Jeet Singh, a hunter with an aristocratic pedigree, a curled-up moustache and a high-powered heirloom rifle. For almost a month he has been tracking the female tiger, most recently through the forests and dried riverbeds near where she made her last kill, cutting down an elderly buffalo herder last week. Searchers found just part of one arm and one leg. The tiger left the buffalos unharmed.

When he finds her, he said, he will shoot her dead.

"The time for tranquilizing is over, the time for caging is over," he said. "Now she must be killed."

For generations, few in these villages even thought about tigers. The encroachment of towns, widespread poaching and incompetent wildlife programs had devastated India's tiger populations, forcing them into ever-smaller enclaves. Corbett National Park, one of India's premier tiger reserves, is barely 25 miles away, but while the villagers around here are used to living with wildlife — the forests and fields shelter leopards, monkeys, foxes, bears and wild boars — tigers were extremely rare.

The last decade, though, has seen improvements in tiger conservation and growth in the tiger populations. If that is good news in many ways, it has also increased the chances of encounters between tigers and people.